A ride-hailing app that offers drivers insurance. A retail platform that allows a shopper to split a purchase into multiple payments. A wealthtech app that permits someone to buy a fraction of a share without the app ever using the word “brokerage.” What is embedded finance, in plain terms? It’s exactly this: financial capability built seamlessly into a product that the user does not notice where one product ends and a regulated financial product or infrastructure begins.

That’s supposed to be the future of how financial services get built. Here’s the problem: it assumes the infrastructure underneath is ready for it, and mostly, it isn’t. In a 2025 study, IBM found that 94% of core banking modernization projects exceeded their planned timelines. That figure concerns banking systems, but it offers a useful warning: changing the infrastructure beneath a polished customer experience is hard. An API alone cannot solve slow onboarding, fragmented account records, or manual work behind the scenes.

Why 2026 Feels Different Anyway

Here’s what’s changed recently: it isn’t the technology. API-first infrastructure has existed for years, and the fact that 94% of modernization projects still run over timeline proves most of the industry hasn’t adopted it yet. What’s different is that three separate trends that used to move on their own timelines are now moving together.

AI use cases are putting more pressure on clean data and dependable APIs. Developers increasingly expect financial capabilities to fit into the products they’re building. Regulatory requirements are evolving too, although what firms can offer and how still varies by market. Together, those pressures make the quality of the infrastructure behind an API more visible.

What Compounding Trends Actually Do

Each of these forces on its own would produce incremental change. Together, they compound. A bank sitting on legacy infrastructure isn’t just behind on technology, it’s behind on three fronts: unable to serve AI-driven demand, slower to capture the regulatory room that’s opened, and unable to meet developers where their expectations already are.

Think back to the ride-hailing app offering driver insurance, or the wealthtech app offering fractional shares. Neither of those companies are asking whether embedded investing infrastructure exists anymore, they’re asking why a provider’s version of it is slower or more limited than the one they read about last week. That’s the present-tense expectation these three trends have created together.

What This Means If You’re Building Right Now

Put the gap and the convergence together, and the picture is clear: the institutions with the most ground to make up are the ones still treating modernization as optional. Waiting doesn’t buy optionality anymore. It just buys a slower path to a market that’s already moving.

ViewTrade works on giving banks, brokers, and fintechs a practical way to connect investing experiences to the onboarding, trading, custody, and clearing services behind them. The question for a builder isn’t simply whether an API exists. It’s whether the workflows behind it can support the product as it grows.

Sources

IBM Institute for Business Value, “The 94% core banking problem” (Sept. 2025): https://www.ibm.com/thought-leadership/institute-business-value/en-us/report/core-banking-modernization

Compliance Disclosure

This article reflects the author’s own views and general industry observations; it is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment, legal, tax, or regulatory advice. Statistics and third-party research are attributed to their original source where cited and should be independently verified before publication. Brokerage, clearing, and custody services referenced are offered through ViewTrade Securities, Inc., a broker-dealer registered with the SEC and a member of FINRA/SIPC. Nothing in this article is an offer or solicitation in any jurisdiction where ViewTrade is not authorized to do business.