The Liminal view
A year where AI moves from experiment to infrastructure, market volatility reshapes narratives, and financial services comms steps confidently into a more integrated, accountable and opportunity-rich era.
Key themes shaping financial services communications in 2026
So, 2026. It feels like this came around super quickly, yet, at the same time, it was a lifetime ago I was writing my outlook for 2025.
The predictions in that newsletter turned out to be a bit of a mixed bag: the Trump ripple effect (yes), more stability (no), AI embedded in agency life (sort-of); and “an interesting year ahead” didn’t even begin to cover it!
Last year was a strange one for a lot of people. Certainly for those in my comms and financial sector network, but also for contacts in totally unrelated fields.
Uncertainty prevailed, the world continued to become even madder than before, and for many organisations impetus stalled across the board.
Ride on!
But I have the strong sense the tide has turned. This year has started with huge promise, and a real sense of new energy, momentum and progress (thank you, Year of the Horse?).
Things Are Happening, and I’ve genuinely not felt this optimistic for a long time.
There are so many interesting themes emerging, but if I had to pick three that will be critical in the world of financial services communications in 2026 I’d go for:
AI (of course)
While last year was about dabbling, and I’m confident that pretty much everyone is still trying to work it all out, 2026 will definitely see key AI-enabled processes and workflows become totally commonplace across the agency world, and beyond.
While I still feel extremely strongly that we shouldn’t be looking for AI to do our jobs, I more and more see the myriad practical ways it can help us do our jobs better, and I’m sure at Liminal we’re not alone.
Volatile markets
Whether it’s Trump turmoil, an AI-valuation bubble, private-credit-GFC 2.0, or something as-yet over the horizon, the doom-mongers are preparing for a wild ride in global markets this year.
From a comms standpoint, I think there’s real appetite from a lot of journalists for these kinds of risk stories. Those in the private credit space will need to be especially on their toes when communicating with the press, and not be surprised or disheartened when greeted with scepticism.
The PR industry
As I say, I’m extremely optimistic about the year we have ahead of us. And not just at Liminal; I think the industry as a whole has a lot to look forward to. I predict we’ll be hearing a lot about new business wins, hiring picking up, and the different strands of comms, marketing, digital and experience being woven ever more effectively together.
For me, the jury is still out on GEO. Absolutely this is real, and undeniably a great thing for both PR and the trade press. But we need to be able to better quantify the impact we’re having, as Boards will still want to see hard numbers they can understand (maybe one for 2027’s newsletter!).
2026
So, yes, I am excited! Many of the things we’ve been working so hard on at Liminal over the last couple of years are starting to really pay off, and the prevailing winds seem to be in our favour; so here’s to 2026, may it be a great year for us all!
- 2026, January, Newsletters, Out and about
- 2026, In conversation, January, Newsletters