Most Powerful Women in West African Fintech
A new profile highlights ten women shaping West African fintech, from Visa’s SVP Aminata Kane steering a $1 billion investment to PiggyVest COO Odunayo Eweniyi growing a platform with 4.5 million users. Leaders such as Kemi Okunsanya at Hydrogen have processed roughly $91 billion in transactions, while Carine Coura Sène’s Wave became the region’s first francophone unicorn. The list also features senior executives at Mastercard, GhIPSS, Paystack, SANEF, Moniepoint and HabariPay, underscoring their roles in payments infrastructure, policy and financial inclusion. Their combined influence drives rapid digital‑finance adoption across 23 markets.
Variance Raises $21.5M Series A to Automate Financial Crime Investigations
Variance, a San Francisco AI risk‑compliance startup, closed a $21.5 million Series A led by Ten Eleven Ventures, bringing its total funding to $26 million. The round will fund expansion of its agentic AI platform that automates KYC/KYB investigations, delivering auditable decisions in...
Why Standardization Beats Local Expertise for Global E-Invoicing
The article contends that local e‑invoicing compliance is merely a baseline for multinational firms, while standardized platforms are essential for scalable growth. Managing dozens of local vendors inflates fees, multiplies contracts, and creates disparate data formats, especially as EU initiatives...
How PAPSS Is Fixing Africa’s Cross-Border Payments, Four Years On
The Pan‑African Payment and Settlement System (PAPSS) launched in January 2022 to slash the cost and delay of intra‑African payments by routing transactions in local currencies. Four years on it is live in 19 countries, linking over 160 commercial banks...
Why Mastercard Is Ditching Traditional Payment Rails for AI-Driven Agentic Payments
Mastercard is pivoting from traditional payment rails to AI‑driven, agentic payments, aiming to become the orchestration layer that links intent with transaction. The company has piloted fully authenticated AI transactions in India, completed a live end‑to‑end AI purchase in South...
Shojin Financial Services Limited Enters Administration
Shojin Financial Services Limited, an FCA‑regulated crowdfunding platform that financed property‑development loans, entered administration on 23 March 2026. Joint Administrators Simon Carvill‑Biggs and Ian Corfield of FRP Trading Advisory were appointed to manage the process. The FCA is working with the administrators to safeguard...
Debt Intelligence Platform 9fin Scores £130m Round
AI‑driven debt intelligence platform 9fin has become a unicorn after closing a $170 million (≈£128.8 million) Series C round, pushing its valuation to $1.3 billion. The funding, led by HarbourVest and joined by CPP Investment Board and other investors, will fund AI enhancements, dataset...
Solana 101: What It Is and Why some Banks Use It
Solana is positioning itself as a high‑throughput blockchain alternative to Ethereum, boasting over 25,000 transactions per second and fees that are a fraction of a cent. The network’s cryptographic clock eliminates ordering disputes, enabling a multi‑lane processing model. Major financial...
Chainalysis Adds 'Natural Language' AI Agents to Its Blockchain Investigation Platform
Chainalysis is adding customizable natural‑language AI agents to its Reactor platform, letting users build investigative workflows through plain‑English prompts. The agents draw on roughly ten million prior investigations, providing audit trails and evidentiary standards without requiring coding expertise. The feature...
Hybrid Finance: Why It Matters for Investors
Hybrid finance merges traditional financial infrastructure with blockchain systems, creating a new investable asset class. Major institutions like BlackRock, Franklin Templeton, and Visa are deploying tokenised Treasuries, on‑chain money funds, and stablecoin settlements, with daily stablecoin transaction volumes surpassing $200 billion....
U.S. Bank, Mastercard Take Amazon's Small-Business Cards From Amex
U.S. Bank will assume issuance of Amazon’s Business and Business Prime credit cards, with Mastercard serving as the network provider, replacing American Express. The move opens a cross‑sell channel to Amazon’s roughly 1.9 million U.S. small‑business sellers and adds to U.S. Bank’s existing base of...
Q&A: How Corastone Aims to Streamline Private Market Transactions
Corastone is a blockchain‑based platform that links general partners, wealth managers, and fund administrators to automate private‑market transactions. Backed by institutional investors such as KKR, Apollo, CAIS, Fidelity and Future Standard, the firm aims to replace PDFs and spreadsheets with...
Visa Pushes Subscription Management Tool
Visa announced a partnership with Pinwheel to embed an enhanced subscription manager directly into banking apps, giving cardholders a consolidated view of recurring charges, alternative payment options, and one‑click cancellation. The rollout begins this summer for North American issuers, with...
Hybrid Finance: Why It Matters for Investors
Hybrid finance blends traditional financial infrastructure with blockchain‑based settlement, tokenisation and stablecoin layers, creating a unified ecosystem rather than a replacement. Major institutions such as BlackRock, Franklin Templeton and Visa are already deploying tokenised assets and stablecoin pilots, while stablecoin...
Faster Settlement May Make for Poorer Markets
Settlement cycles are accelerating worldwide, with the U.S. shifting equities to T+1 in 2024 and other regions targeting similar timelines by 2027. Blockchain‑enabled atomic settlement promises instant finality, already driving over $1.8 trillion in stablecoin transfers. Yet, the removal of settlement...
Brickken Secures €3M to Expand Tokenisation Infrastructure
Barcelona‑based Brickken, a tokenisation infrastructure provider for financial institutions, closed a €3 million (≈$3.3 million) pre‑Series A round. The round attracted strategic European investors, including Dedagroup founder Marco Podini and venture firm GRX. Brickken’s platform enables banks, asset managers and issuers to tokenise equity,...
Calculated Ambition: ChangeNOW Defies Market Uncertainty with New Dubai Headquarters.
ChangeNOW, a nine‑year‑old non‑custodial crypto exchange, has launched its regional headquarters in Dubai’s Convention Tower at the Dubai World Trade Centre. The move signals a shift from a purely digital service model to a physical presence aimed at deepening ties...
Pepkor Eyes 2027 for the Rollout of a New South African Bank
Pepkor Holdings, Africa’s largest clothing and mobile phone retailer, has hired Merwe Scholtz to lead a new banking division, aiming to launch an independent lender by 2027 and possibly as early as next year. The initiative will add deposit services...
In the World of Stripe: Acquisitions, Agentic AI, and Stablecoins
Stripe, now valued at roughly $159 billion after a 74% jump from the prior year, is reportedly in early‑stage talks to acquire PayPal. The potential deal would give Stripe immediate access to PayPal’s 439 million active consumer and merchant accounts and its...
Why Plug-and-Play Should Be the New Standard for Embedded Finance
Embedded finance is merging financial services with digital platforms, unlocking new revenue streams for software providers and expanding credit access for SMEs and underserved consumers. Bain & Company projects the U.S. market to exceed $51 billion in revenue and $7 trillion in...
Swift Advances Blockchain Shared Ledger to Pilot Phase for 24/7 Global Payments
Swift has moved its blockchain‑based shared ledger from planning to full‑scale development, creating a minimum viable product that will pilot live tokenized deposits in 2026. The platform extends Swift’s existing payment standards with an open‑source, EVM‑compatible layer built on Hyperledger...
Lentra Appoints Rajesh Kumar Rathanchand as CEO
Lentra has named Rajesh Kumar Rathanchand as its new chief executive officer, succeeding his tenure as managing director and CEO of TransUnion CIBIL. Rathanchand brings more than three decades of experience in retail credit, risk management and analytics, previously leading...
From Gen Z to Retirees: Digital Wallets’ Cross-Generational Rise Will Unlock £453 Bn of UK Spend by 2030
Global Payments’ latest report projects UK digital‑wallet transactions to surge from $342 bn in 2025 to $575 bn by 2030, a 68% increase. Adoption spans generations, with two‑thirds of 18‑24‑year‑olds and nearly a third of 55‑64‑year‑olds naming wallets their preferred method. While...
Dynamic Adds Embedded Wallet Infrastructure to TON for Telegram Apps
Dynamic, now part of Fireblocks, has launched embedded wallet infrastructure for The Open Network (TON) within Telegram Mini Apps. The solution lets developers automatically generate and manage TON wallets, eliminating the need to build custom wallet, contract, and transaction layers....
Russia Moves to Narrow Crypto Trading to Regulated Intermediaries
Russia’s government approved draft bills that force all domestic crypto trades through licensed exchanges, custodians or approved banks, capping retail purchases at 300,000 rubles (about $3,700) per year and requiring a competency test. Qualified investors receive broader access, while residents...
Russia’s Sanctions-Busting Cryptocurrency Empire
Russia’s state‑backed fintech A7 has built a crypto‑based sanctions‑evasion network centered on the ruble‑linked token A7A5. Backed by Promsvyazbank and the Kyrgyz firm Old Vector, the platform lets Russian firms swap rubles for A7A5 and instantly convert to dollar‑pegged stablecoins...
On the Journey with 9fin From Day One to Their $1.3 Billion Valuation.
9fin announced a $170 million Series C round that lifts its valuation to $1.3 billion, bringing total capital raised since its 2017 launch to over $250 million. The AI‑native platform tackles the decades‑old data fragmentation in debt capital markets by centralising documents, emails and...
Swipe Fees Hit Record-Setting $198.25B
U.S. merchants paid a record $198.25 billion in credit and debit card swipe fees in 2025, according to the Merchants Payments Coalition. The total represents a 5.9% jump from 2024 and an 80% increase since the pandemic, with fees climbing 219%...
5 App Entry Moments Engagement Teams in Finance Can’t Afford to Break
Finance and fintech engagement teams must treat app entry as a continuation of user intent, not a simple link. When deep‑linking fails—whether during account activation, secure messages, re‑engagement, offline prompts, or post‑login verification—customers often disappear without retrying. These silent failures...
The Case for Modern Client Lifecycle Management in Banking
Modern client lifecycle management (CLM) software is emerging as a solution to the fragmented, multi‑system processes that banks use for prospecting, onboarding, compliance and ongoing relationship management. By unifying these stages on a single platform, CLM reduces the months‑long onboarding...
Wealthtech Startup Bachatt Raises $12 Mn in Series A Led by Accel
Bachatt, an AI‑driven savings and wealth platform focused on India’s self‑employed, closed a $12 million Series A round led by Accel, with Lightspeed and Info Edge Ventures also participating. The funding follows a $4 million seed raise last year and will be used...
The New Gold Rush to Become a US Bank
The OCC has seen a surge in U.S. bank charter applications, receiving more in the last six months than in the previous four years combined. Major foreign neobanks such as Brazil's Nubank, Europe's Revolut, and the Dutch Bunq are among...
Credit Unions Want FinTechs on Speed Dial
FinTech partnerships with credit unions surged nearly 20% last year, shifting from a supplemental tactic to a core modernization strategy. Credit unions favor these alliances for speed, with 56% crediting FinTechs for faster, larger‑scale innovation. Payments and data analytics dominate...
Virtual Cards Bring Flexibility to SMB Payments Stuck in the Past
A February PYMNTS Intelligence report, conducted with Mastercard and surveying 412 U.S. SMB owners in December 2025, finds that nearly half of small and medium‑sized businesses are eager to cut reliance on cash and checks. Cash still dominates daily transactions,...
Razorpay Introduces RBI-Compliant Biometric Authentication Solution ‘Passkey’
Razorpay has launched “Passkey,” an RBI‑compliant biometric authentication solution for online card payments, developed with Mastercard and slated to integrate Visa soon. The technology leverages device‑bound fingerprints or facial scans, removing the need for one‑time passwords that cause roughly 35%...
5 Crypto Wallet Models Fintech Leaders Should Know
Fintech executives are being urged to move beyond a one‑size‑fits‑all approach to digital‑asset storage as transaction volumes surge to half a million Bitcoin moves daily. The article outlines five distinct crypto‑wallet models—custodial, non‑custodial, hot, cold, and multi‑signature—that differ in control,...
What Happens to My Crypto when I Die?
A recent panel of regulators, crypto technologists, legal experts and bank executives debated the looming inheritance crisis in digital assets. Participants highlighted that lost private keys can render cryptocurrency permanently inaccessible, leaving heirs unable to claim rightful wealth. While self‑sovereignty...
A Chat with Wio Bank, a Fully Digital, Platform-Based Bank
Wio Bank, launched in Abu Dhabi in 2022, is the region’s first fully digital, platform‑based bank backed by ADQ and FAB. It began with a focus on SME and creator banking and now serves over 400,000 customers, achieving profitability in...
CNS Modernization Client Testing Plan to Begin July 13, 2026
The National Securities Clearing Corporation (NSCC) announced that client testing for its CNS modernization will commence on July 13, 2026 in the Production Simulation Environment (PSE). The testing covers Machine‑Readable Output (MRO) files, the Intraday ISO 15022 message, and the transition...
Over 47,000 Cabbies Adopt Octopus, Card Readers Ahead of E-Payment Regulations
More than 47,000 Hong Kong taxi drivers have installed the commercial Octopus app or mobile POS devices ahead of new e‑payment regulations that require each cab to offer at least two digital payment options. The Transport Department opened service stations...
MobiFone Digital Payments Launches to Build Vietnam’s Next-Generation Payment Infrastructure
MobiFone Digital Payments (MDP), a joint‑stock company backed by MobiFone Telecommunications, received a State Bank of Vietnam license on November 27, 2025 to offer financial switching, electronic clearing, payment gateway and collection services. The launch aims to build Vietnam’s fourth‑generation...
AI Agents Are Democratizing Finance but Also Redefining Risk
AI agents are now moving capital autonomously, turning complex arbitrage strategies into simple commands and democratizing access to sophisticated finance. Users have seen outsized returns, such as a $300 investment growing to over $2.3 million in four months, thanks to rapid,...
NCino Inc (NCNO) Q4 2026 Earnings Call Transcript
nCino reported second‑quarter fiscal 2026 revenue of $148.8 million, a 12% year‑over‑year increase, with subscription revenue climbing 15% to $130.8 million and organic growth of 10%. Mortgage and non‑U.S. subscription revenues surged 22% and 30% respectively, while platform pricing conversion reached 21%...
Review of Merchant Card Payment Costs and Surcharging – Conclusions Paper
The Reserve Bank of Australia’s Payments System Board released a Conclusions Paper outlining sweeping reforms to the nation’s card‑payment system. It will remove mandatory surcharging on debit, prepaid and credit cards, lower interchange fee caps and boost fee‑transparency across eftpos,...
Tracking the Top Fintech Trends at FinovateSpring 2026
FinovateSpring 2026 will convene in San Diego May 5‑7, spotlighting eight fintech trends shaping the industry. Highlights include the rise of agentic AI, expanding stablecoin adoption, and banks leveraging embedded finance and hyper‑personalized customer experiences. Sessions also address US open‑banking...
Mined in America Act Aims to Bring Crypto Mining to the US
The bipartisan Mined in America Act, sponsored by Senators Bill Cassidy and Cynthia Lummis, proposes a voluntary certification program for U.S. crypto‑mining facilities. It seeks to eliminate hardware sourced from geopolitical adversaries while providing federal energy grants and technical assistance...
Tim Draper On Bitcoin And The Future Of The Financial System: 'After The Automobile, People Still Ride Horses For A...
Tim Draper told Benzinga that Bitcoin will eventually reshape the financial system, likening its adoption to people still riding horses after the automobile arrived. He highlighted that AI is currently in an "assist" phase, enhancing rather than replacing banking processes....
A LatAm Fintech’s Guide to Florida and the US Market
LatAm fintechs eyeing the U.S. market face a choice between obtaining their own state money‑transmitter license—often starting in Florida—or partnering with Banking‑as‑a‑Service (BaaS) providers. A Florida license costs roughly $10,000‑$50,000, while a national rollout can exceed $250,000 in fees and...
LoanDepot Partners with Texas Builder for New Lender Launch
LoanDepot has launched Olive Branch Home Loans, a mortgage affiliate for West Texas builder Betenbough Cos., which sells over 2,000 homes annually across eight sales centers. The partnership gives Betenbough access to LoanDepot’s wholesale infrastructure, technology and customer‑service expertise while...
Mobile Payments Stall as Switzerland Clings to Cash and Debit
Switzerland’s payment landscape remains dominated by cash and debit cards, with mobile wallets such as Apple Pay and Twint capturing only 17% of transactions in 2025, a slight decline from the previous year. Debit cards lead at 37% of all...