Dreamforce 2026: Your guide for Banking & Lending

Dreamforce 2026 sessions for banking and lending

Here's where we see the most value if you're building a banking and lending schedule for DF26, catalog sessions and the Zenn Lounge panel included.

Financial Services Keynote: Your Pilot-to-Profit Playbook
Keynote | Intermediate Wed, Sept 16 | 9:15 - 10:05 AM PDT | Moscone West, L3, Keynote - Room 3001
First come, first seated Why does AI scale at some financial services firms but stall at others? Salesforce's SVP & GM of Financial Services, Eran Agrios, joins the SVP of North America FINS Enterprise and the product team to lay out what separates the firms actually scaling AI from the ones still stuck experimenting. This is the marquee financial services session every year, and worth building your first day around.
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Banking Breakfast & Panel: Why money stays. Winning the primary account
Zenn Lounge panel Sept 15 | 8:30 - 9:30 AM | Zenn Lounge

Money has never moved this easily, and customers can chase yield without lifting a finger. Over breakfast, banking and lending leaders talk honestly about what's working, from deepening relationships before customers start shopping to closing the data gaps that make the next generation of customers easier to lose. Sponsored by Zennify and Moody's. Space is limited and reserved for banking and lending professionals.

From Data to Deal: Agentforce for Commercial Banking
Theater | Intermediate Tue, Sept 15 | 1:30 - 1:50 PM PDT | Moscone North, LL, Campground, Theater 1
First come, first seated KeyBank's SVP of Strategic Planning & GTM, Alpa Yagnik, shares how AI agents eliminate hours of client research and partner with relationship managers to deliver actionable insights that boost productivity and close deals faster. This is the one with an actual bank telling its own story, not a vendor walking through a roadmap.

Banking on AI: Reinventing Sales and Service with Agentforce
Breakout | Advanced Thu, Sept 17 | 1:30 - 2:10 PM PDT | Moscone West, L3, Room 3018 
‍First come, first seated AI is changing banking sales and service fast. This session digs into how leading banks are growing sales revenue and delivering smarter service with Agentforce, and what it would take to drive the same outcomes for your bank.

Roadmap Session: Agentforce Innovations for Banking & Wealth
Breakout | Advanced Offered twice: Wed, Sept 16 | 3:00 - 3:40 PM PDT, Metreon AMC, L3, Theatre 14, or Thu, Sept 17 | 3:00 - 3:40 PM PDT, Metreon AMC, L3, Theatre 10
First come, first seated An exclusive preview of what's new in Agentforce for Financial Services across banking, wealth, and asset management, straight from Salesforce's product management team. Worth the seat if you want to see what's shipping before it's announced from the keynote stage.

Scaling Hyper-Personalized Banking with Headless AI
Theater Tue, Sept 15 | 12:30 - 12:50 PM PDT | Moscone North, LL, Campground, Theater 1
First come, first seated A global bank is architecting the future of banking on MCP and A2A rather than a traditional Agentforce build-out. See how a headless agentic mesh will equip 6,000 reps and elevate service for 30 million customers. The architecture angle here is different enough from the other picks to be worth the seat on its own.

Also worth a look: Reimagine What's Next for Banking with Salesforce, an executive roundtable on where banking is heading with Salesforce's latest innovations. Time and room for this one weren't in the batch we pulled, confirm before publishing.

Where banking and lending leaders connect

Keynote Watch Party & Brunch: Brunch, bubbles, and big ideas
Tue, Sept 15 | 9:30 - 11:30 AM | Zenn Lounge
Watch the DF26 keynote from a comfortable seat, with a chef-prepared brunch, fresh coffee, and mimosas instead of a crowded hall.

Annual Women in Financial Services Panel & Cocktail Hour: Raise a glass to industry leaders
Tue, Sept 15 | 3:00 - 5:00 PM | Zenn Lounge
A panel discussion with women leaders across financial services, followed by wine, cheese, and conversation that outlasts the conference floor.

The Tequila Lounge
Wed, Sept 16 | 3:00 - 5:00 PM
A guided tasting of premium tequilas before Dreamfest, in a small-group setting built for real conversation.

Dreamfest Recovery Lounge
Thu, Sept 17 | 9:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Massage therapists, green juice, and a quiet corner to wrap up email before the flight home.

Explore the full agenda

Why this year matters for banking and lending

Banking and lending are dealing with a customer who has more options and less patience than ever. Deposit switching now takes minutes through a mobile app, which means the old assumption that customers stay put out of sheer friction no longer holds.

A few forces make DF26 worth the trip this year:

• Deposit retention is now a service problem, not just a rate problem. The banks holding onto customers are the ones resolving issues fast enough that customers never start comparing rates elsewhere.
• Lending speed is a competitive line item. Borrowers increasingly expect same-day answers, and the lenders that can't deliver are losing deals to the ones that can.
• AI is moving from the contact center into the balance sheet. Fraud detection, underwriting support, and collections are where banks are seeing the fastest returns on agentic AI right now.

Tips for getting the most out of DF26

Cap yourself at four or five sessions a day. Dreamforce spans Moscone West, South, and North, and the walk between buildings takes longer than the schedule suggests, so build in buffer time rather than stacking back-to-back sessions in different venues.

Reserve seats in Agenda Builder as soon as it opens. Popular sessions fill up fast, and if a session shows "drop-in only," plan to arrive at least 15 minutes early to queue.

Wear shoes you've already broken in. Moscone's floors are concrete, the days run long, and San Francisco's temperature can swing 20 degrees between morning fog and afternoon sun, so pack a layer you can shed.

If you miss a session, don't panic. Most of the main catalog is available on Salesforce+ afterward, so it's fine to prioritize live seats for the sessions with limited capacity or a customer speaker you actually want to meet in the room.