Data + AI Summit 2026: Insider’s Guide for Financial Services Leaders

Let's be honest: most industry conferences are a lot of badge-scanning and rubber chicken. Data + AI Summit is not that. This year, financial services has its own gravitational pull inside the event, with dedicated sessions, a lounge you'll actually want to hang out in, and a speaker list that reads like a who's who of firms quietly winning the AI race. Morgan Stanley, JPMorganChase, Mastercard, Santander Group, RBC Capital Markets, First American, Vantage Bank, and more are all here, and they're actually talking about the hard stuff.

Whether you're a CFO trying to modernize treasury or FP&A or a CEO looking for a sharper read on where the industry is heading, here's how to spend your week wisely.

The Can't-Miss Sessions

Underwriting the Future
Tuesday, June 16 | 11:30 AM – 12:10 PM
Insurance teams, circle this one. First American and American Modern Insurance Group show how proprietary data sharpens underwriting. Practical, specific, and rare on a conference agenda.

Scaling Responsible AI in Banking and Payments
Tuesday, June 16 | 1:50 PM – 2:30 PM
Vantage Bank Texas, Santander, FIS, and Acxiom. This one cuts through the hype and gets into governance, growth, and making AI work at scale. Good for anyone whose job involves both ambition and accountability.

THE MAIN EVENT | Financial Services Forum
Wednesday, June 17 | 1:00 PM – 2:30 PM | Marriott Marquis

This is the main event. Think executive firesides with leaders from Morgan Stanley, JPMorganChase, Mastercard, and RBC Capital Markets, the kind of candid conversation you don't get from a press release. Block it. Don't double-book it.

Delivering AI in Professional Services
Wednesday, June 17 | 3:00 PM – 3:40 PM
EXL, Bain, and EY on scaling AI inside service-heavy organizations. If your firm sells expertise, this one will resonate.

The Alpha Advantage: Building the Intelligent Capital Markets Firm
Thursday, June 18 | 11:30 AM–12:10 PM
LSEG and Franklin Templeton weigh in on what an AI-native capital markets operating model actually looks like. Worth the Thursday morning effort.

Browse 200+ financial services sessions here.

The Room You'll Keep Coming Back To

The Financial Services Industry Lounge in the Moscone Expo is the hidden gem of the week. It's where demos live, Databricks experts roam, and the Agentic Banker and Virtual CFO use cases get real. Think of it less as a booth and more as a strategy pitstop, part hallway conversation, part proof-of-concept, part reality check on where the market is actually moving. Drop in between sessions. Stay longer than you planned.

Don't Just Listen. Build Something.

Data + AI Summit isn't just about hearing what's next — it's also a chance to build skills through courses on AI Agents, Lakebase, Apps and more. Your opportunity to build skills. Training, hands-on labs, and certification sessions help attendees move from AI strategy to execution.

A good approach: let executives focus on industry insights while technical teams attend training. You'll leave with both the vision and the know-how to make it happen. 

Contact your Databricks account team for more information on training sessions. 

The After-Hours Rundown

Conference parties matter. So do the right dinners.

• Insurance Networking Breakfast with Deloitte— Tuesday, June 16 | 7:00 AM – 8:30 AM | SPIN. Early, yes. Worth it.
• Banking & Payments Happy Hour — Tuesday, June 16 | 5:00 PM – 8:30 PM | Olympic Club. Industry talk in a room that isn't a convention hall.
• Financial Services Executive Reception — Tuesday, June 16 | 6:00 PM – 9:00 PM | EPIC Steak. Waterfront views, peers you actually want to talk to, and a proper reset after a full day.
• Conference Party at Oracle Park — Wednesday, June 17 | 7:30 PM – 10:30 PM. The Chainsmokers headline. Go for the crowd, stay for the skyline.

Contact your Databricks account team for invitations and event access.

Five Tips for Not Losing Your Mind

1. Anchor your agenda around the Financial Services Forum and build everything else outward from 1 PM Wednesday
2. Use Brickbot by Genie in the Databricks Event app (available on Apple and Google Play Store) to build a custom schedule on the fly. 
3. Add a 10-minute buffer between the Marriott Marquis and Moscone (it's a seven-minute walk and you will not always be on time)
4. Lock in executive programming early since those sessions fill and the conversations don't repeat
5. Leave white space because the best insight of the week might come from a demo you wandered into or a hallway chat you didn't plan

The financial services track at Data + AI Summit 2026 isn't just a packed schedule. It's a concentrated, high-signal look at how the industry's best operators are actually thinking about AI, transformation, and competitive edge right now. That's rarer than it sounds.

See you at the summit. In case you can’t make it in person, register for the virtual experience or a regional watch party, like this one at the Vue in London.

Follow Databricks for Financial Services on LinkedIn and become part of our financial services community.