INVISIBLE BANKING AND EMBEDDED FINANCE 3.0: PARADIGMATIC TRANSFORMATION OF FINANCIAL SERVICES IN THE DIGITAL ECONOMY
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.35774/Keywords:
invisible banking, Embedded Finance 3.0, open banking, agentic artificial intelligence, Banking-as-a-Service, digital transformation, contextual finance, PSD3, financial inclusion.Abstract
Introduction. The rapid acceleration of the development of the global digital economy has caused a profound change in the paradigm of providing financial services, which calls into question the traditional understanding of banking institutions as independent institutions to which users turn consciously and directly, and causes their transition to decentralized, integrated into everyday banking processes.
The purpose of the article is to develop a systemic theoretical framework for understanding invisible banking and Embedded Finance 3.0, analyze their technological, regulatory, and socio-economic dimensions, and identify key risks and contradictions accompanying the transformation of the financial sector.
Results. The article investigates the fundamental transformation of financial services architecture driven by the convergence of Embedded Finance technologies, Agentic Artificial Intelligence, and next-generation Open Banking. The concept of “invisible banking” is revealed as a natural consequence of the evolution from a product-centric financial services model to a contextual, ambient financial infrastructure integrated into consumers’ everyday lives. The evolutionary trajectory from Bank 1.0 to Embedded Finance 3.0 is analyzed across technological, regulatory, and socioeconomic dimensions. The concept of Embedded Finance 3.0 is substantiated as the third evolutionary stage of embedded finance, characterized by the transition from data sharing to shared infrastructure and from passive integration to autonomous financial decision-making. The three-tier technological stack of the new paradigm – Data Fabric, Agentic AI, and API-first architecture – is characterized. The regulatory landscape is examined, including the evolution from PSD2 to PSD3/PSR and the Digital Identity 3.0 concept. The “invisibility paradox” is identified as the contradiction between the disappearance of the bank as a visible institution and the growth of its infrastructural significance.
Conclusions. Key risks of the new model are systematized: commoditization of financial services, erosion of consumer trust, data privacy threats, deepening of the digital divide, and systemic cascading failures. Strategic recommendations are formulated for banks, FinTech companies, regulators, and the academic community.
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