Our 2026 Looking Ahead Report explores the trends, developments, and emerging risks shaping financial services in the year ahead, covering topics like agentic AI in fintech, corporate fraud prevention, cybersecurity, workforce strategies, a regional spotlight on the Middle East and much more. Here is an excerpt:

Global workforce strategies for the financial sector

As financial…

Illinois has entered a pivotal year for workplace regulation. Employers face a series of new requirements, with significant and wide-ranging changes—from paid lactation breaks and NICU leave to expanded whistleblower protections, stricter contract rules, and new obligations around AI use in hiring and employment decisions. These new laws will reshape policies on employment agreements, leave…

On December 11, 2025, President Trump signed an Executive Order on “Ensuring A National Policy Framework For Artificial Intelligence” (the “Order”). The Order represents the Administration’s latest and most pointed attempt to stop and reverse the wave of state AI legislation that has emerged over the preceding year, which the Order asserts “creates a patchwork…

In 2025, multinational giants across industries are redefining the scale and scope of global workforce reductions—with some cutting tens of thousands of jobs at a time in particular divisions, shuttering certain factories worldwide, moving to different countries, or otherwise undertaking large-scale restructuring—and this trend is likely to press on. Indeed, the World Economic Forum’s Chief…

As noncompete agreements continue to face legal scrutiny, employers are focusing on trade secret protection as a more sustainable strategy. 

For employers, this shift raises a host of practical questions:

• What’s happening with noncompete enforcement at the federal and state levels?
• How can employers tailor noncompetes to remain compliant?
• Why are trade secrets gaining traction

…

On July 23, the White House unveiled its much-anticipated AI Action Plan. The Action Plan follows President Trump’s Executive Order 14179 of January 23 on “Removing Barriers to American Leadership in Artificial Intelligence”—which directed the development of the Action Plan within 180 days—and subsequent consultation with stakeholders to “define the priority policy actions needed…

As AI adoption accelerates across workplaces, labor organizations around the world are beginning to take notice—and action. The current regulatory focus in the US centers on state-specific laws like those in California, Illinois, Colorado and New York City, but the labor implications of AI are quickly becoming a front-line issue for unions, potentially signaling a…