Editor-in-Chief
American Banker
Chana R. Schoenberger is the editor-in-chief of American Banker. Previously, she was the editor-in-chief of Financial Planning after joining Arizent in 2020.
In her prior role, she was the managing editor for U.S. wealth management at J.P. Morgan. Before that, she was a columnist and freelance journalist, and previously worked at Bloomberg News, Dow Jones/The Wall Street Journal, and Forbes. A graduate of Harvard College, she received her master’s degree as part of Columbia Journalism School’s Knight-Bagehot Fellowship for business journalists. She is now based in New York City after stints in Tokyo and Canada.
Digital wallets are rapidly becoming the primary interface for consumer spending, digital identity, loyalty and emerging real-time and tokenized payment rails. As the financial industry moves into 2026, the acceleration of wallet adoption is no longer a trend at the margins—it’s reshaping the economics, customer relationships, and competitive dynamics of retail and commercial banking. This panel brings together leaders from banking, payments, fintech, and big tech to unpack what’s driving the surge and how banks must respond.
The panel will delve into the drivers behind wallet dominance, the shift from card rails to platform- and real-time-centric payments, how wallets are rewriting the bank-customer relationship, and the strategic implications for banks and the priority to establish wallet-first customer strategies. Bankers will leave with a clear understanding of the forces accelerating digital wallet adoption, the threats and opportunities it creates for banks, and a pragmatic framework for building wallet-ready capabilities and partnerships that strengthen customer engagement rather than weaken it.
Merchant payments are being reshaped by open-banking rails, embedded finance, and real-time settlement. As merchants demand faster, cheaper, and more integrated payments experiences, banks must rethink their role, from traditional acquirers to data-driven, platform-based partners. This panel unpacks the new economics of merchant payments: the rise of Pay-by-Bank, buy now, pay later (BNPL) regulation, AI-driven fraud management, and the expanding role of embedded finance. Hear from leading banks, fintech innovators, and merchants on how business models, infrastructure, and customer expectations are changing—and what strategies are required for banks to stay relevant in 2026 and beyond. The panel will discuss key factors transformation, including: