The boundaries between banking, payments, capital markets and asset management are dissolving as money, assets and execution become programmable. A new financial stack is taking shape across five control layers: money, assets, execution, connectivity and trust. The institutions that control several layers at once will set market structure, capture margin and own the customer relationship. Banks, asset managers, infrastructure providers and crypto-native firms are now competing, and partnering, to decide who sits where.

This closing session brings together a large bank, a crypto-native multi-layer player, an infrastructure provider and an asset manager to debate how the stack will be divided. Each will lay out which layers they intend to own, where they’ll partner and what they’re prepared to concede. Together, they’ll examine where margin is migrating as transactions commoditize and coordination becomes the source of value. 

Panelists will also consider how network effects across layers will reshape competition, whether incumbents or new entrants are better positioned, and what build, buy and partner decisions executives must make in 2027 and 2028 to secure their place in the next generation of financial services. Key points of the discussion include:

• Which layers will your institution own, which will it partner on, and which will it concede?
• As settlement and payments commoditize, where does margin move?
• Will the next market structure be led by incumbents, crypto-native firms or new alliances between them?