Navigating the Future of Finance — Market Trends and Turbulence
Three forces are converging on finance and banking teams in 2026, and boards are naming all three as top priorities at once: regulated digital assets moving from experiment to infrastructure, agentic AI taking on real decision-making in trading and credit, and ESG and climate-risk disclosure hardening into standardized regulatory requirements rather than voluntary reporting.
On the digital asset side, the passage of the GENIUS Act in the United States created the first comprehensive federal framework for stablecoins, requiring issuers to hold fully liquid reserves and meet anti-money-laundering standards long used by traditional banks. In parallel, Europe's MiCA regulation is completing its transitional period this year, creating a single licensing regime across the EU. Major banks and payment firms are responding by piloting programmable payments and on-chain treasury management rather than treating digital assets as a side experiment.
On the AI side, agentic systems are moving beyond chatbots into functions like fraud monitoring, credit decisioning, and compliance checks that once required manual review. Regulators are moving in step: the EU AI Act's obligations for high-risk financial systems phase in later this year, requiring institutions to document and audit their AI deployments rather than deploy them quietly.
And on sustainability, climate-risk disclosure is shifting from a competitive differentiator to a baseline regulatory expectation, with standardized metrics increasingly required across major markets. Banks are integrating ESG risk assessment directly into existing credit and lending frameworks rather than running it as a parallel process.
Navigating the Future of Finance: Market Trends and Turbulence, newly published by Routledge, is built around exactly this convergence. Across twenty research-based chapters, the volume examines machine learning in trading, blockchain and digital currency regulation, ESG and socially responsible investing, and banking resilience — grounded in empirical case data from both emerging and established markets rather than trend forecasting.
The book is organized in two parts. The first traces innovation in market dynamics: AI-driven trading, fintech adoption, digital currency regulation, and the rise of ESG investing. The second turns to banking specifically, covering digital financial services efficiency, comparative banking regulation across five countries, and M&A trends in the sector. It's edited by Ranjan Chaudhuri (EMLV Business School), Navita Nathani (Amity Business School), Vijay Prakash Gupta (GLA University), and Dipak Saha (Institute of Engineering and Management, Kolkata).
For finance faculty, banking professionals, and risk and compliance teams trying to make sense of a fast-moving regulatory landscape, this is a reference built on evidence rather than headlines.
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Q&A
Q: What does this book cover about the future of finance?
A: It covers how AI, blockchain, digital currencies, and ESG considerations are reshaping financial markets and banking, drawing on empirical case studies from India and other markets.
Q: Is this book relevant to banking professionals specifically?
A: Yes — Part II is dedicated to the evolving banking landscape, including bank resilience, digital financial services, and M&A trends.
Q: Does the book address ESG and sustainable finance?
A: Yes, ESG considerations and socially responsible investing are addressed as a recurring theme throughout the volume.
Q: Who edited this volume?
A: Ranjan Chaudhuri, Navita Nathani, Vijay Prakash Gupta, and Dipak Saha, academics with combined expertise in finance, marketing analytics, and management.
Q: What format is this book available in?
A: Hardcover, published by Routledge in June 2026 as part of the Contemporary Management Practices series.