Cross-Border Hiring Accelerates as B2C Payout Solutions Simplify Global Payrol
Cross‑border hiring is accelerating as businesses adopt B2C payout platforms to streamline global payroll. Providers such as Thunes, Wise Platform, Payoneer, Stripe Connect, Adyen and Airwallex now offer APIs that consolidate local payment methods, currency conversion and compliance into a single integration. These solutions reduce the operational friction of paying freelancers, sellers and employees in multiple jurisdictions. The market is shifting from fragmented bank transfers to unified payout infrastructures that scale with international growth.
Rexi Raises $1.2M Pre-Seed Funding
Argentine fintech Rexi announced a $1.2 million pre‑seed round backed by multiple U.S. venture capital firms. The AI‑native platform automates bank reconciliation for fintechs, banks and payment companies by deploying intelligent agents that match transactions and resolve queries within minutes. The...
Gary Liu and Liu Xiaochun on What Role Stablecoins Could Play in China and the US
Gary Liu and Liu Xiaochun argue that stablecoins will become the backbone of cross‑border payments and remittances, eliminating high fees and slow settlement. They foresee AI agents executing billions of decisions daily, using stablecoins for instant settlement. The U.S. Genius...
SEC, Gov’t Agencies Boost Crackdown on Abusive Lending Practices
The Philippine Securities and Exchange Commission, together with the Department of Information and Communications Technology and the National Privacy Commission, issued a joint advisory tightening compliance for online lending platforms. The directive reinforces the Data Privacy Act and consumer‑protection rules,...
Digital Payments via InstaPay, PESONet Surged 43% in January ’26
Philippines’ central bank reported a 43% year‑on‑year jump in digital payments through InstaPay and PESONet, reaching a combined value of roughly $47 billion in January 2026. Transaction volume surged to 688 million, more than triple the previous year’s level. InstaPay alone grew...
Senator Calls for FTC Investigation Into FICO Score Pricing
Senator Josh Hawley has asked the FTC to open an investigation into Fair Isaac Corp.'s (FICO) mortgage‑score pricing after documenting a 16‑fold jump from $0.60 to $10 per pull over five years. He argues the surge adds roughly $500 million in...
Mexico’s Cash Culture Faces Infrastructure Shift as BNPL Scales
Mexico’s payment landscape is shifting as buy‑now‑pay‑later (BNPL) moves from a niche offering to core infrastructure. With 52% of the population unbanked and 79% of purchases still made in cash, Kueski’s BNPL platform has issued roughly 40 million loans, leveraging AI‑driven...
FIS Debuts Clearing Solution for Prediction Markets
FIS has launched the CD Prediction Clearing solution, delivering 24/7 real‑time post‑trade clearing for regulated prediction markets. The platform replaces fragmented batch processes with continuous, high‑volume transaction handling and instant risk updates, capable of processing millions of trades daily. It...
Wallets and Interoperability Drive Next Phase of P2P Competition
Digital wallets have become mainstream in the United States, especially for cross‑border and consumer‑to‑consumer transfers, but fragmentation still hampers seamless use. Nearly 28% of consumers cite incompatibility between sender and recipient platforms as a barrier, while one‑third of SMBs point...
Automating Complex Finance Workflows with Multimodal AI
Finance leaders are turning to multimodal AI frameworks to automate complex document workflows. By pairing vision‑enabled parsing tools like LlamaParse with large language models, extraction accuracy improves 13‑15% over raw OCR. Gemini 3.1 Pro, combined with Gemini 3 Flash for...
European B2B Buyers Want AI, but only if It Removes Friction
European B2B buyers are increasingly adopting AI, with nearly 80% using it regularly in procurement and payments, according to TreviPay’s survey of 550 buyers across the UK and key European markets. The technology is most prized for enhancing decision‑making, fraud...
European Retailers Fight EU Plan to Mandate Cash Acceptance
A coalition of European retailers and wholesalers, led by EuroCommerce, is opposing an EU proposal that would obligate all businesses to accept cash. The group is urging policymakers to embed broad exemptions for unmanned sites, safety‑critical environments, and high‑cost scenarios,...
Wall Street’s Crypto Push Has Been Years in the Making, Says Morgan Stanley
Morgan Stanley’s head of digital asset strategy, Amy Oldenburg, emphasized that Wall Street’s move into crypto is the result of years of infrastructure development, not a sudden hype‑driven rush. The bank has expanded beyond indirect exposure, adding spot Bitcoin ETFs...
Crypto Finance Is Beginning to Look at Lot More Traditional, Aave and Ethena Founders Say
Crypto finance is shifting from speculative token trading toward fixed‑income‑style products that promise steadier returns. Aave founder Stani Kulechov and Ethena CEO Guy Young highlighted new tools, such as Pendle's fixed‑to‑floating rate swaps, that let users lock in yields despite...
How Adding Send for Instant Payments Spawned Good Surprises for BofA
Bank of America launched real‑time payment sending in March 2024, following its receipt‑only capability introduced in November 2018. The bank’s smart, future‑proof design allowed it to add the send function without cannibalizing its $1.9 trillion‑daily wire transfer volume. Industry forecasts suggest...
Big Banks Are Leading the On-Chain and Stablecoin Race
American Banker’s 2026 Value of On‑Chain survey of 199 banking professionals shows large banks are furthest along in adopting on‑chain technology. About 30% have implemented or piloted on‑chain solutions, with cross‑border payments emerging as the leading use case for both...
Feedzai Unveils RiskFM, Aimed at a Frustrating Plague of Financial Fraud
Feedzai has launched RiskFM, a fraud‑prevention platform that moves beyond sole reliance on card‑network data by incorporating customer onboarding, payments and broader digital activity. The solution processes roughly $9 trillion in global payments across 120 billion events each year. Early testing is...
How eSIM Technology Is Changing Travel Connectivity in 2026
In 2026 eSIM technology is reshaping travel connectivity by replacing physical SIM cards with embedded, software‑provisioned modules. By Q1, eSIM‑compatible devices accounted for roughly 60% of premium smartphone sales and are projected to exceed 75% by year‑end. The shift enables...
Guideline's Path to Product-Market Fit — The Early Decisions That Powered Its Acquisition by Gusto
Kevin Busque, former TaskRabbit VP, discovered that only 36% of employees used the company’s 401(k) plan, exposing costly, clunky legacy systems. He co‑founded Guideline in 2015 to build a transparent, fee‑free retirement platform for SMBs, designing the entire software stack...
Podcast | Global Regulation Tomorrow Plus: Future of Payments Series – Episode 1 PSD3 and PSR
On March 24, 2026, a new podcast episode launched as part of the Global Regulation Tomorrow Plus Future of Payments series, focusing on the EU’s upcoming Payment Services Directive 3 (PSD3) and the Payment Services Regulation (PSR). The hosts, joined by...
Fira Launches Fixed-Rate DeFi Lending Market with $450M in Deposits
Fira, an Ethereum‑based DeFi lending protocol, launched with roughly $450 million in deposits, largely migrated from Euler Finance users. The platform introduces a fixed‑rate credit market that lets borrowers lock costs and lenders lock returns for defined maturities, mirroring traditional fixed‑income...
Spade Raises $40M Series B for Finance AI Platform
Spade announced a $40 million Series B round led by Oak HC/FT, backed by Andreessen Horowitz and other fintech investors. The New York‑based fintech reported 470% year‑over‑year growth and a peak daily transaction volume of 1.9 billion, underscoring rapid adoption. The capital will...
Electronic Transactions Association Acquires Peer
The Electronic Transactions Association announced it is acquiring the American Transaction Processors Coalition to bolster its advocacy, education, and member‑engagement capabilities. ATPC’s executive director, Jay Morgan, will join ETA as an advisor, reinforcing the trade group’s policy work. The combined...
Tether Hires a 'Big Four' Firm for a Full Audit of USDT Reserves
Tether announced it has engaged an unnamed Big Four accounting firm to perform its first full financial‑statement audit of the $184 billion USDT stablecoin. The audit will scrutinize the token’s assets, liabilities, internal controls and reporting processes, moving beyond the periodic...
Bank of Montreal Launches Tokenized Cash Platform with CME and Google
Bank of Montreal (BMO) announced a tokenized cash platform built with CME Group and Google Cloud, aiming to deliver near‑instant settlement for capital‑market participants. The service will allow continuous fund movement, eliminating traditional banking‑hour constraints and reducing capital tied up...
How AI Agents Are Cutting Costs in AML Operations
AI agents are transforming AML operations by automating the labor‑intensive alert review and decisioning stages, where most costs reside. WorkFusion’s Evan can analyze adverse media results in two to three minutes, cutting review time by 80‑90% compared with human analysts....
Solana Lands Mastercard, Western Union on New Dev Platform
The Solana Foundation unveiled its Solana Developer Platform (SDP), targeting enterprise developers building tokenized real‑world assets and stablecoin solutions. Early adopters include Mastercard for stablecoin settlement, Worldpay for merchant payments, and Western Union for cross‑border transfers. SDP launches with issuance...
Solana Foundation Taps Mastercard, Western Union, Worldpay for Institutional Developer Platform
The Solana Foundation has unveiled the Solana Developer Platform (SDP), a toolkit that lets enterprises build tokenized assets, stablecoins and payment flows on Solana via APIs. Early adopters include Mastercard, Western Union and Worldpay, signaling strong institutional interest. SDP bundles...
Modernizing Payments: Tackling the Toughest Tech Challenges
Banks are racing to modernize payments as real‑time transactions surge and AI reshapes the industry. A recent ACI survey of 200 banks placed payments modernization as their top priority, emphasizing faster product launches and innovative customer solutions. Executives highlighted the...
Omnes, Apex to Tokenize Bitcoin Mining Exposure via Structured Note on Base
Omnes and Apex Group announced a tokenized secured debt note, the Omnes Mining Note (OMN), that provides institutional investors exposure to Bitcoin mining hash‑rate on Base, Coinbase’s Ethereum layer‑2 network. The structured note packages mining output into a regulated on‑chain...
Wall Street Will Eventually Submit to the Rules of DeFi
Mitchell Amador argues that DeFi will not fracture under regulation but will evolve into interoperable tiers ranging from fully permissionless to highly compliant. In 2026 regulatory pressure will push institutions toward on‑chain liquidity, creating a hybrid ecosystem where compliant players...
Worth, the Startup From the Founders of Stax, Just Raised $30 Million to Deliver ‘Simplicity for Small Businesses’
Worth, the fintech startup founded by Stax alumni Sal Rehmetullah and Suneera Madhani, announced a $30 million Series A round. The funding, led by Amex Ventures, Fulcrum Equity Partners and TTV Capital, reflects the founders' proven track record and strategic investor relationships....
Agents for Finance Startup Zalos Raises $3.6M to Transform Finance Departments
Zalos, a London‑San Francisco fintech, raised a $3.6 million seed round led by 14Peaks Capital to develop AI agents that automate finance‑team workflows. The startup’s agents log into existing ERP, CRM, spreadsheet, and banking systems, handling tasks without requiring a stack...
Worldpay Becomes European Payments Initiative (EPI) Principal Member
Worldpay announced its admission as a principal member of the European Payments Initiative (EPI), the continent‑wide effort to build a unified, low‑cost payment scheme. The move gives Worldpay direct influence over EPI's governance and access to its expanding network of...
It's Past Time for Paper Checks to Follow the Penny Into Extinction
Paper checks remain a costly, fraud‑prone legacy in the United States. In 2024 the Federal Reserve processed $175 billion in checks, incurring nearly $700 million in support costs, while checks accounted for 65% of payment‑fraud losses. Check volume has dropped 83% over...
$2 Trillion in Mobile Money Transactions Were Clocked Last Year
The GSMA’s 2026 State of the Industry Report shows mobile money transactions surpassed $2 trillion in 2025, doubling the value reached just four years earlier. Active 30‑day accounts grew 15% to 593 million, driven largely by Sub‑Saharan Africa, while monthly usage climbed...
Optasia Wants to Do for Banks What It Did for Telcos
Optasia, the South African fintech that pioneered AI‑driven credit vetting via mobile wallets, is expanding into formal banking. The company’s micro‑financing line now generates 63% of revenue and posted a blended default rate of 1.2% for 2025. FirstRand Group invested...
Addi Named to Fast Company’s Annual List of the World’s Most Innovative Companies of 2026
Addi, the point‑of‑sale financing platform, has been named to Fast Company’s 2026 list of the World’s Most Innovative Companies. The company recently closed a $200 million Series C round, bringing total funding to $350 million and expanding its operations into the United States....
Financial Crime Risk Assessments: The New Regulatory Standard
Regulators worldwide are elevating enterprise‑wide financial crime risk assessments from a compliance formality to the core blueprint of AML/CTF programmes. The new standard demands assessments that are accurate, complete, evidence‑based and fully integrated with governance, controls and risk appetite. Generic...
ECB Prepares for Digital Transformation, Anticipating Impact of AI, Tokenized Finance, Payment System Advancements
The European Central Bank is intensifying its focus on AI, tokenised finance, and cross‑border payment integration to boost euro‑area productivity and market efficiency. ECB officials estimate AI could raise total‑factor productivity by 0.2‑0.4 percentage points per year, with employee adoption...
Why Top Banking Executives Are Choosing Startups — and What It Takes to Get Them There
European fintech venture builder 0TO9, targeting 1,000 fintechs by 2045, launched Flow & Partners, a working‑capital financing startup. The firm offers cash‑flow‑based funding and factoring for deals up to €50 million ($54 million) across four European markets, with plans to expand to...
Mobile Money Accounted for $2 Trillion in Transactions in 2025, Doubling Since 2021 as Active Accounts Continue to Grow
Mobile money transaction volume surpassed $2 trillion in 2025, doubling the $1 trillion milestone reached four years earlier. The GSMA report shows registered accounts climbed to 2.3 billion, with active 30‑day users rising 15% to 593 million, driven largely by Sub‑Saharan Africa. Providers expanded...
Littlefish Raises $9.5 Million to Scale Its Merchant Operating System Across Africa
South African fintech littlefish has closed a $9.5 million Series A round led by Partech to accelerate its merchant operating system across the continent. The platform bundles point‑of‑sale, CRM, payments and API services into a white‑label SaaS solution that banks can offer...
DB Investing Launches DB Pay Across Fiat and Crypto
DB Investing has launched DB Pay, a payments and digital‑asset platform that provides AED and USD IBAN accounts for individuals and businesses across the UAE and wider MENA region. The service uses a subscription model—$3 per month for individuals and...
Digital India: The Next Phase>
The MVIS Digital India Index, the benchmark for VanEck’s DGIN ETF, is overhauling its methodology to mirror India’s shift from export‑focused IT services to a domestically driven digital economy. A new rule requiring over 50% of revenue from Indian customers...
GTN Secures Type 1 License From Hong Kong SFC
Fintech firm GTN obtained a Type 1 licence from Hong Kong's Securities and Futures Commission, expanding its regulatory footprint. The licence creates a dedicated Hong Kong team, making GTN its sixth licensed subsidiary after the UK, US, Singapore, UAE, and South...
The Caucasus: Armenia’s Fintech and Digital Ecosystem in 2026
Armenia’s fintech sector has moved from an emerging niche to a structured ecosystem, leveraging a decade of government‑backed digital‑economy investments and a talent‑rich labor pool. By 2025 startup activity rose 22.8% and total funding reached roughly $164 million, while the banking...
4 Ways to Automate Rillet
Enterprise resource planning systems often delay financial closes, forcing manual reconciliations that can take weeks. Rillet, an AI‑native accounting platform, was built for a continuous close and offers native integrations with Salesforce, HubSpot, and Stripe. By leveraging Zapier’s extensive app...
Connecting the Global Travel Industry: YeePay Builds a Bridge Between China and International Aviation Markets
At ITB Berlin’s 60th anniversary, YeePay introduced a one‑stop Global Corporate Account solution that streamlines cross‑border payments for airlines and travel agencies. The platform leverages over two decades of Chinese aviation expertise, linking all Chinese carriers and nearly 10,000 OTAs...
Revolut Eyes Trading and Wealth Push Amid Hiring Spree
Revolut has announced a major push into wealth and trading after securing a full UK banking licence, launching a dedicated division and a global hiring spree. The fintech is recruiting product owners and risk managers to build margin‑trading capabilities, a...