Global Fintech Awards 2026 honour leaders shaping the future of finance

MUMBAI: The Global Fintech Awards (GFA) 2026 have recognised fintech leaders and organisations driving innovation across banking, payments, artificial intelligence, lending, insurance and wealth management.

The awards were announced at a gala held on 9 September at the Jio World Centre in Mumbai. Instituted as part of the Global Fintech Fest (GFF), the awards are organised by the Payments Council of India (PCI) and the Fintech Convergence Council (FCC), with Visa as the presenting partner.

The theme for this year’s awards was “Potential to Impact – Trusted, Connected, Global Systems for Inclusive Finance”, reflecting the industry’s focus on building financial systems that are more intelligent, secure, connected and inclusive.

With Agentic AI, tokenisation and quantum technology emerging as key areas of transformation at GFF 2026, the awards recognised innovators across both established and emerging areas of financial technology.

The 2026 edition featured 26 categories covering banking, fintech, AI, digital trust and identity, payments, lending, insurance, wealth management, cybersecurity and regional innovation.

Among the key individual winners, Groww co-founder and CEO Lalit Keshre was named Fintech Person of the Year – Male, while Go Digit General Insurance MD and CEO Jasleen Kohli won Fintech Person of the Year – Female. Dhan was named Fintech Startup of the Year.

AI-powered fintech innovation

The awards also highlighted the growing role of AI across financial services.

The winners in the Excellence in AI-Powered Financial Innovation categories were:

• PhonePe: Best Use of AI in Payments
• Falcon: Best Use of AI in Banking
• Signzy Technologies: Best Use of AI in Lending
• ScienceSoft: Best Use of AI in Insurance
• 360 ONE: Best Use of AI in Asset / Wealth Management

The winners represent a broad cross-section of the fintech ecosystem, with technology increasingly being used to make financial services more accessible, efficient, intelligent and resilient.

The Global Fintech Awards 2026 followed a comprehensive evaluation process, with entries assessed by a jury of 41 industry leaders along with a special jury comprising senior leaders from the financial services and fintech ecosystem.

The awards underline how the fintech sector is moving beyond technology-led disruption towards measurable impact, with AI, tokenisation and other emerging technologies becoming increasingly central to the next phase of financial transformation.