AI-Powered Home Finance Fintech Smartlayer Set to Close
Smartlayer, a London‑based AI fintech that built a white‑label data platform for residential lending, announced it will cease operations after three years. Founded in 2022, the company raised $835,000 in a 2024 seed round and launched HomeScore, a product co‑developed with Lloyds Bank that fused smart‑meter, IoT, EPC and open property data to accelerate mortgage approvals. CEO Tahir Farooqui cited personal capital, a year‑and‑a‑half of intensive co‑design with Lloyds, and the toll of operating without a salary as reasons for the shutdown. The closure joins a wave of fintech wind‑downs in 2026, including in1bank, Zero and Seis.
SEA QR Payments Surge, Powering Cross‑Border Trade
The IMF has a MUST-READ report covering Southeast Asia’s (SEA’s) QR-based digital payment revolution that is transforming cross-border payments, promoting local currency usage, and boosting trade and inclusion. Humble QR payments, born in China back in 2014, are now changing all...
Businesses Struggle to Adapt as Late Payments Surge, Tariffs Reshape Costs, Report Reveals
Billtrust’s March 31 report reveals finance leaders grappling with longer invoice cycles, rising tariff costs, and economic uncertainty. Two‑thirds of respondents say customers are paying later, prompting nearly half of firms to tighten cash handling and 70% to delay or cancel...
Benchmark Starts Coverage on Digital Assets Firm Securitize
Benchmark has started analyst coverage of Miami‑based fintech Securitize, assigning a Buy rating and a $16 price target. The firm is set to list on Nasdaq via a merger with SPAC Cantor Equity Partners II. Securitize commands roughly 70% of the...
London Fintech Ecosystem Solidifies Through Rigorous Recognition Framework
The Fintech Awards London has cemented its role as the UK’s most rigorous fintech recognition platform, using a three‑day, face‑to‑face due‑diligence process rather than automated scoring. Since its 2022 launch, the awards have spotlighted winners such as Zopa, Allica Bank,...
Intellect Design Arena Secures Order From Major Middle Eastern Logistics Firm
Intellect Design Arena announced that a major Middle‑East logistics firm handling over 90 million container shipments annually has selected its Purple Fabric Accounts Payable platform. The solution will automate high‑volume invoice processing using AI and large language models (LLMs). By ingesting...
AI Driving Changes in Nordic Financial Services
Nordic banks and insurers are accelerating AI adoption as digital‑only challengers like Lunar capture market share. Lunar has raised €540 m (≈ $594 m) to turbo‑charge its AI‑driven expansion, while incumbents such as Tryg, Danske Bank and If Forsikring launch AI hubs and digitisation...
Press Release: AccessPay Accelerates Growth with Majority Investment From Leading Software Investor, Accel-KKR
AccessPay, a UK‑based bank integration and payment automation SaaS, has secured a majority investment from private‑equity firm Accel‑KKR. The capital infusion will fund product development, scale operations and enable strategic acquisitions, positioning AccessPay to meet rising demand for AI‑ready finance...
Kingfin Affiliate Program Review: Deep Dive Into the Olymptrade Partnership Experience
Kingfin runs the direct affiliate program for Olymptrade, a licensed online broker operating since 2014. The platform offers a low $10 minimum deposit, 250 tradable assets and 24/7 support, making it attractive for emerging‑market audiences. Affiliates can choose from four...
Blog 111a. Banking’s Identity Problem: Why Digital Cards and Instant Payments Need a Human-Verified Security Layer
The article argues that modern banking’s security still leans heavily on credentials, sessions, and device identifiers, leaving digital cards and instant payments exposed to fraud. It highlights regulators’ push for layered authentication yet notes that criminals routinely bypass these controls...
Press Release: Launch of New Global Acceptance Features for Virtual Cards
SAP Taulia unveiled its Supplier Acceptance suite, a set of global features that eliminate key obstacles to B2B virtual‑card adoption for suppliers. The toolkit automates reconciliation, enables instant payments on invoice approval, and supports multi‑use cards that bypass terminal limits....
Press Release: FIS Launches New Cleared Derivatives Solution for Prediction Markets
FIS announced its CD Prediction Clearing solution, delivering 24/7 real‑time post‑trade clearing for regulated prediction markets. The cloud‑native platform replaces batch processing with high‑volume, instant risk updates, handling millions of transactions daily. Built on the existing CD Books and Records...
Visa and Ramp Expand Partnership to Launch AI Agents that Automate Corporate Bill Pay and Expense Controls
Visa and Ramp have deepened their multi‑year issuing partnership by introducing AI agents that automate corporate bill payment, enforce spend controls, and surface cost‑saving opportunities. The new agents sit on Visa’s global payments network and Ramp’s finance platform, extending the...
TikTok Applies for Brazilian Fintech Licenses to Offer Payments and Lending to 131 Million Local Users
TikTok has filed applications with Brazil's central bank for two financial licences: one to operate as an electronic‑money issuer allowing users to hold balances and make in‑app payments, and another to act as a direct credit company that can lend...
Revolut Expands LATAM Presence with Peru Bank License
Revolut has been granted an Organisation Licence by Peru’s Superintendency of Banking, Insurance and AFP, making it the first fully digital bank authorised in the country. The licence allows the UK‑based neobank to incorporate locally and move toward a functional...
Goeasy Technologies Posts C$337 M Q4 Loss, Halts Dividend and Buybacks
Goeasy Ltd. announced a C$336.94 million (≈$249 million) net loss for the fourth quarter, driven by LendCare-related charges and higher credit losses. The board also suspended its regular dividend and share‑repurchase program indefinitely to preserve capital. The results mark a sharp reversal...
CFTC Chief Miller Vows Crackdown on Insider Trading in Prediction Markets
CFTC enforcement chief David Miller announced a new enforcement drive against insider trading on prediction‑market platforms such as Kalshi and Polymarket. He pledged to hire additional staff, pursue civil and criminal cases, and roll out a streamlined cooperation policy, signaling...
BitRail Rolls Out Fee‑cutting Merchant Suite with PaymentLock Partnership
BitRail announced a new merchant payment suite built with PaymentLock that adds online and card‑not‑present tools, promising up to 50% fee savings for merchants while preserving their own branding and compliance.
Bybit Expands Earn Carnival with $1.2M Prize Pool and Extends Tomorrowland Brasil Deal to 2027
Bybit, the world’s second‑largest crypto exchange, announced a $1.2 million USDT prize pool and bonus APRs for its Earn Carnival products, while also extending its exclusive payment partnership with Tomorrowland Brasil through 2027. The moves aim to lock in users with...
The New Competitive Advantage
Regulatory maturity has become a differentiator for UK fintech firms, turning compliance into a growth catalyst. Companies that embed strong governance, operational resilience, and anti‑financial‑crime controls are scaling faster and attracting capital, with the UK capturing over a third of...
Latitude Raises $8M to Help U.S. Businesses Make Fast International Payments Using Stablecoin Rails
Latitude, a fintech founded by alumni of Stripe, Coinbase, Uber and Meta, closed an $8 million Series A led by NEA with participation from Lightspeed Faction, Coinbase, Paxos and the Solana Foundation. Its flagship offering, Global Payouts, converts U.S. dollars into stablecoins...
CBDC Leaders Still Back Cash, Not Eliminating It
Is this what passes as scholarship at the @OMFIF these days? "Don’t kill cash - OMFIF" No CBDC-building nation has proposed the elimination of cash. Look at China and India as examples of the two largest. Both...
Revolut’s $6B Revenue Masks Four Hidden Fault Lines
Revolut: $6B revenue. 38% margins. The North Star of banking. I found four fault lines that the earnings release doesn't mention. Full analysis on Substack / Subscribe 👇 https://t.co/kJ1iPnoooe https://t.co/B0plPkOngz
Your Platform Pays 50,000 Users But Your Payout Stack Was Built for 500. Payoro Sees This Problem Every Day.
Platforms often integrate a low‑volume payout solution to launch quickly, but as users grow from hundreds to tens of thousands the same stack becomes a bottleneck. Sequential batch processing stretches payout runs from minutes to hours, failure rates climb, and...
Integrate AI Into Banking Operations for Competitive Edge
AI is no longer a “test and learn” exercise. Those who integrate it into live operations will set the pace for competitive advantage in banking. https://t.co/9jfjXgRP2i
FinCode: 10 Years of Building the Infrastructure Behind Africa’s Fintech Growth
FinCode, a stealth fintech infrastructure firm in Africa, celebrates ten years and is now opening its full‑stack platform to a broader market. The company built core rails—including payment switching, remittance‑as‑a‑service, digital wallets, lending and identity management—through its Songhai Exchange API...
Agentic Commerce in 2026: Where We Stand and What Lies Ahead
Financial services firms are accelerating AI‑driven, autonomous decision‑making to overhaul checkout experiences, a trend dubbed agentic commerce. The model enables software agents to discover, evaluate, purchase, and manage post‑sale tasks within predefined guardrails, shifting the consumer role from shopper to...
CBN Begins Virtual Asset Anti-Money Laundering Supervision, Names Paystack, Flutterwave for Pilot
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has launched an anti‑money‑laundering, counter‑terrorism financing pilot targeting a select group of virtual asset service providers (VASPs). The pilot includes prominent fintechs such as Paystack, Flutterwave, KuCoin and others, and will require monthly AML/CFT...
Corum Advises Twikey in Majority Acquisition by Smile Sail
Corum Group announced that Smile Sail has taken a majority stake in Belgian fintech Twikey, a platform that streamlines recurring payments across Europe. The investment comes from Smile Sail’s €275 million (~$302 million) evergreen private‑equity fund and will finance Twikey’s next growth...
CBN Gives Banks 21 Days to Grade Their Cyber Defences
Nigeria's central bank has issued a circular requiring banks, fintechs and other financial institutions to complete a new Cybersecurity Self‑Assessment Tool (CSAT) within 21 days for deposit banks and five weeks for other entities. The move follows a surge in...
Square Launches Zero-Fee Bitcoin Payments for US Merchants Through 2026: Square
Square announced a zero‑fee Bitcoin point‑of‑sale program for U.S. merchants that will run through December 2026. The initiative eliminates processing charges, allowing small retailers and local vendors to accept Bitcoin without eroding margins. Payments are settled instantly in U.S. dollars, giving...
Six Months Out of Stealth, Credibur Hits €2B in Facility Volume
Credibur, a Berlin fintech that emerged from stealth six months ago, now supports €2 billion (about $2.16 billion) of structured debt facilities on its platform. The company raised $2.2 million in pre‑seed funding led by Redstone to build an API‑ and AI‑driven infrastructure...
NinjaTrader Implements Adclear AI Finprom Marketing Compliance Platform
London‑based Adclear has partnered with retail futures platform NinjaTrader to embed its AI‑driven financial promotions compliance engine into NinjaTrader’s marketing workflow. The integration will automatically scan both NinjaTrader‑produced content and influencer‑generated posts, flagging regulatory breaches and cutting review time by...
Asian Banks' Personal Touch Losing to Tech Scale
🌏Are Asian banks’ human-led model losing the #wealth war to tech rivals? Traditional #banks can no longer rely on personal ties alone as tech rivals use massive digital scale to rewrite the rules of #WealthManagement. Ed Lin, @BainandCompany via @AIWealth_net: https://t.co/Oxb9J9WGa4 #WealthTech...
StanChart Among First Banks to Launch FPS Cross-Border Payment Service for Offshore Fin Institutions
Standard Chartered Bank Hong Kong (SCBHK) has become one of the first banks in Hong Kong to offer a Faster Payment System (FPS) cross‑border service for offshore financial institutions and PayTech firms. The service enables real‑time, 24‑hour settlement of payments up...
Airwallex Obtains E-Money and Class A Licences From Bank Negara Malaysia
Airwallex has secured both e‑money issuing and Class A licences from Bank Negara Malaysia, allowing it to offer a full suite of payment services in the country. The approvals expand its regulated footprint beyond its existing Class B Money Services Business licence...
SEBI Algo Trading Norms Kick in Today: 2FA, Audit Trails for Brokers Now Mandatory
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has activated new algorithmic trading regulations, requiring brokers to maintain comprehensive audit trails for every automated trade. Mandatory two‑factor authentication, password‑expiry policies, and daily auto‑logout must secure API access. The rules also...
TD Rolls Out Easy Trade App to Lower Barriers for New Self-Directed Investors
TD Bank has launched the Easy Trade mobile app to attract first‑time investors in Canada. The platform eliminates traditional barriers by offering zero account minimums, no monthly fees, and a generous allotment of commission‑free trades—50 free stock trades per year...
From Documents to Data: How AI Is Transforming the Future of Trade Finance
Artificial intelligence is rapidly reshaping trade finance by automating document extraction, rule‑based decisioning, and real‑time error prevention. HSBC’s Trade Pulse Survey shows 38% of firms already use AI, with another 46% planning adoption, accelerating predictive, near‑instant execution. Parallel regulatory advances—UNCITRAL’s...
Fintech and Wider Digital Overview of the Kingdom of Bhutan 2026
By 2026 Bhutan has moved from early digital adoption to embedding fintech within a broader economic redesign led by the Royal Monetary Authority. The central bank’s Fintech Bhutan programme underpins a growing digital payment ecosystem, including the Bhutan Financial Switch,...
Advancing Taiwan's Nation‑State Bitcoin Adoption Strategy
Many thanks to Legislator @dAAAb for hosting me at the Legislative Yuan to speak on Nation-state Bitcoin Adoption Strategies for Taiwan. Dr. Ko is a great ally & works to advance Bitcoin adoption in Taiwan, engaging with the Central Bank...
High Street Banks Could Learn From Revolut’s Fee Bonanza
Revolut has introduced a steep fee increase across its premium subscription tiers, raising charges by roughly 20% and projecting an additional $150 million in annual revenue. The move follows a broader strategy to monetize value‑added services such as crypto trading, travel...
Payments Shouldn’t Depend on Location in 2026
This is sooo needed. Getting paid shouldn't be a geography problem in 2026. This is awesome to see. @koshmoney go get it 🔥
USD-Backed Stablecoins Fuel Nigeria’s Trade Amid FX Uncertainty
Fintech Verto’s CEO Ola Oyetayo says Nigeria’s recent naira volatility has pushed businesses toward USD‑backed stablecoins for cross‑border trade. Traditional banking liquidity dried up, prompting payment providers to use mixed local and global pools and dynamic pricing. The Central Bank...
Consultants Stress Capital Commitment When Retirement Recordkeepers Choose Tech Partners
Consultants Jeffrey Snyder and Scott Parry warned retirement recordkeepers that the decisive factor in selecting a technology platform is the provider’s long‑term capital commitment. Their remarks, aired on three syndicated programs, underscore a growing consulting focus on vendor investment and...
Kalshi Defends Event‑Trading Model as Derivatives, Not Sportsbook, Amid $2.7M Weekly Fees
Kalshi is pushing back against state regulators who label its sports‑related binary contracts as gambling, insisting the platform matches traders rather than taking bets. The dispute, involving $2.7 million in weekly fees and courts in Massachusetts, Nevada and New Jersey, could...
RedotPay Secures ISO/IEC 27001 Certification, Boosting Trust in Stablecoin Payments
RedotPay announced it has earned ISO/IEC 27001 certification for its information‑security management system, a milestone that validates its security‑first culture and enhances credibility with global banks and payment institutions. The certification, granted by SGS, signals robust controls for the fintech’s...
BingX Launches ‘Access More. Go Further.’ VIP Upgrade, Promising $1.4 Million Quarterly Airdrops
BingX announced a major upgrade to its VIP program called “Access More. Go Further.” The new tier structure offers free trials, a lower‑entry BingX Elite level and a guaranteed $1.4 million in quarterly Xpool token airdrops, while Q3‑2025 data showed the...
AI ‘Machine Customer’ Secures Home Loan in Under 10 Minutes in New Cloudcase Demo
Cloudcase, an Australian‑origin digital origination platform, demonstrated an AI assistant completing a full home‑loan application for two borrowers in under ten minutes. The AI handled document verification, identity checks, eligibility assessment and final submission without any human‑filled forms. The workflow,...
Revolut in Talks to Acquire Major Asian Bank
Revolut is reportedly in advanced talks to acquire an Asian bank to secure a full banking licence and accelerate its regional push. While a takeover of DBS Group is dismissed as financially impractical, analysts point to smaller digital‑only institutions as...