Infrastructure and M&A to drive fintech investment in H2

PE investors are looking for opportunities to roll-up and consolidate distressed companies.

Infrastructure and mergers will be amongst the key trends that will drive investments in the financial technology (fintech) space in the second half of 2026, according to KPMG.

Consolidations are likely to intensify within the fintech sub-sector, particularly payments, in the last six months of the year, the accounting firm said in its Pulse of Fintech H1 2026 report.

Private equity (PE) investors are likely to become more active and look for opportunities to roll-up and consolidate distressed companies that haven’t been able to attract investment, it said.

Infrastructure is also going to be a major investment priority, with a strong focus related to stablecoins and digital assets.

“[Interest] will likely be broader as traditional financial institutions across regions increasingly focus on improving their core infrastructure to become more competitive and to better protect their data and core operations,” KPMG wrote.

Interest in artificial intelligence (AI) will remain and continue to attract very large investments across sectors, but it will increasingly shift from pilot projects to investments and startups that can prove their ability to create value.

Agentic commerce and development of sovereign capabilities are expected to be amongst investors’ fintech interests in H2.

There will likely be a growing focus on the development of sovereign and regional solutions in areas like digital identity management and cybersecurity, KPMG said.