Your next great read: From fintech frontlines to the messy middle

Whether you’ve already had your summer vacation or you’re still counting down the days to your end-of-season adventure, there’s always room for a good book—whether that’s on a sun-lounger by the pool, a quiet evening in the garden sipping wine, or wedged between your laptop and your morning coffee on a commuter train. If you’re looking for some inspiration, here’s a shortlist to keep your mind as engaged as your imagination.

This one is a Sunday Times bestseller for a reason—a sharp, fascinating deep-dive into the battles shaping the future of finance. It pulls back the curtain on the rivalry, innovation, and disruption happening across fintech, spanning crypto, big tech, and beyond. It’s fast-paced, accessible, and essential reading for anyone trying to make sense of where money is headed next.

For those who want insights into the reality of building in fintech, Leda Glyptis offers not one, but two excellent reads. Beyond Resilience asks whether success in building fintechs or leading digital transformation is predictable enough to be repeatable. Through candid interviews with leaders who’ve been there and done it, it uncovers patterns, pitfalls, and course corrections that make or break ventures, avoiding the glossy founder myths in favor of hard truths. 

Her first book, Bankers Like Us, explores the “messy middle” of transformation—those frustrating loops, fits, and starts that are all part of reinventing financial services. Whether you’re new to the industry or a seasoned veteran, both are must-reads.

If artificial intelligence is more your thing, Theodora Lau cuts through the hype to explore what AI really means for financial services—a highly regulated yet disrupted industry. It covers real-world use cases, the opportunities and risks, the importance of responsible AI, and the human impact of technology. Lau asks the big questions: how do we balance innovation with trust, ensure fairness, and keep humans in the loop while harnessing AI for a more equitable future?

For a bold leap into the future, Bank 4.0 imagines what banking will look like when cash, cards, and today’s systems are gone. This book has been out for a while, but is still highly relevant and a fantastic read. Through global examples—selfie-pay in China, blockchain in Africa, self-driving cars with bank accounts—it’s a vision of financial services embedded into daily life, far beyond the walls of any bank branch.

In this book, Scarlett Sieber and Sophie Guibaud take on one of the most transformative trends in fintech today. From big tech giants like Google and Amazon to nimble niche players, embedded finance is changing how customers interact with money—making payments seamless, contextual, and part of the overall experience. The book explores its global impact, the opportunities it creates, and how companies of all sizes can seize them.

Finally, for those who want to understand the plumbing of payments, Ahmed Siddiqui (an ex-Marqetan!) breaks down exactly what happens when you swipe or tap a card. It’s perfect for developers, entrepreneurs, or anyone curious about how money moves, how to build a neobank, or how to issue a card. Clear, practical, and packed with insights, it’s an excellent guide for unlocking payment opportunities.

So, what are you in the mood for? A page-turning fintech thriller, a brutally honest take on transformation, a thought-provoking look at AI, a glimpse into the future of banking, or a crash course in the mechanics of payments? However you spend the rest of your summer, these books will leave you thinking differently about the future of money—and your role in shaping it.

Here at Marqeta, we thrive on helping innovators bring the future of payments to life—whether that’s embedded finance, real-time payouts, or entirely new card experiences. If these books spark an idea, let’s talk about how we can turn it into reality.