How Banks Are Competing with Fintech Apps for Small Businesses
Banks are feeling pressure as small businesses shift payments to fintech peer‑to‑peer apps like Venmo and Cash App. To retain these customers, banks are rolling out integrated tap‑to‑pay, instant payment tools such as Zelle, and white‑label solutions that let merchants collect card payments directly into business accounts. They also emphasize security, lower total transaction costs, and superior customer service compared with fintech platforms. The strategy aims to keep small‑business transaction volume and long‑term banking relationships within traditional institutions.
Repay’s Latest Proposal and Other Digital Transactions News Briefs From 4/20/26
Repay Holdings Corp. disclosed an unsolicited, non‑binding cash offer from Forager Capital Management at $4.80 per share, topping the $4.11 closing price. Nayax Ltd. announced the upcoming launch of Yellow Account, a business‑checking product aimed at small sellers with real‑time...
TechCreate Group Ltd. And pQCee Intend to Collaborate on One of the First Quantum-Safe QR Hybrid POS Terminal
TechCreate Group Ltd. announced a partnership with quantum‑security firm pQCee to embed NIST‑approved post‑quantum cryptography into its QR‑Hybrid point‑of‑sale terminals. The collaboration will replace vulnerable RSA and ECC algorithms with quantum‑safe encryption, aiming to thwart harvest‑now‑decrypt‑later attacks. Both companies plan...
Hardware Wallet Tangem Announces Global Rollout of Its Retail Payments Service
Switzerland‑based hardware wallet maker Tangem has launched Tangem Pay, a retail payments service that lets users spend USDC via virtual Visa cards on Apple Pay and Google Pay. The product, now available in the United States (excluding some states), Latin America and...
Flutterwave Denies Knowledge of Reported $75 Million Nigerian Government Investment
Flutterwave publicly denied reports that Nigeria’s federal government had invested $75 million in the fintech and that the company was preparing a $250 million IPO. The startup, valued at over $3 billion after a $170 million raise in 2021, said the circulating information was...
OCBC Launched Physical Gold Fund Token
OCBC, Lion Global Investors and DigiFT have launched GOLDX, Southeast Asia’s first tokenised physical gold fund on public blockchains. The token is available on both Ethereum and Solana and can be bought with stablecoins or fiat through the DigiFT platform....
Beyond Chatbots: Designing Conversational Banking Experiences That Scale
Consumers are increasingly turning to conversational AI for personal finance, with 31% of users in the US, Canada and the UK engaging AI tools for financial questions. A significant 24% of these interactions occur on third‑party platforms like ChatGPT, creating...
Polymarket Seeks $15B Valuation as It Raises Capital Ahead of U.S. Regulatory Outcome
Polymarket is in talks to raise an additional $400 million, expanding its current round to $1 billion and valuing the platform at roughly $15 billion. The funding follows a $600 million investment from Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), which may increase its strategic stake to $2 billion....
FedNow Tries to Take Its Domestic Success Global
The Federal Reserve is proposing a rule change that would let FedNow members use non‑Fed intermediaries to handle the international leg of cross‑border payments, while keeping the domestic settlement instant. FedNow, launched in 2023, now has about 1,700 member banks...
The Money Engines that Built Fawry’s $1 Billion Business
Fawry, Egypt’s largest mobile‑money platform, has scaled from a modest e‑payment switch in 2008 to a $1.3 billion market‑cap fintech by 2026. Revenue surged 1,900% to EGP 8.65 billion ($166.7 m) in 2025, with net profit of EGP 3.1 billion ($59.7 m). Transaction fees remain the core...
Banks Had an Uneventful Q1, but Competition for Financial Flows Is Heating Up
Q1 2026 was largely steady for U.S. banks, with consumer spending flat and credit metrics holding up. Major players—J.P. Morgan, Citi and Wells Fargo—pivoted toward controlling cash‑flow, payments and digital interfaces rather than traditional loan growth. JPMorgan reported $16.5 billion net income on $50.5 billion...
Nearly Half of UK Shoppers Experience Payment Failures at Checkout, Research Finds
Nearly half of UK shoppers—46%—reported a payment failure at checkout in the past year, according to Transaction Network Services (TNS). The study links most breakdowns to fragmented network connectivity rather than the payment software itself, especially in POS systems, kiosks...
Mackenzie Taps OneVest to Power Next Phase of Advisor and Client Digital Overhaul
Canadian asset manager Mackenzie Investments has selected fintech firm OneVest to power the next phase of its digital transformation. The partnership will deploy OneVest’s API‑driven operating system to launch new advisor and client portals, onboarding tools, and a mobile app...
Groww Crosses Rs 3 Lakh Cr in Customer Assets; to Deploy Profits and Fresh Funds Into Lending Biz
Fintech platform Groww announced that its customer assets have crossed ₹3 trillion (about $36 billion), a 36% year‑on‑year increase. In Q4 FY26 the company posted revenue of ₹1,535.5 crore (~$185 million) and PAT of ₹686 crore (~$83 million), marking strong profitability. Active users grew to 16.7 million,...
Payaza Achieves New Double Ratings: Releases Ground Breaking Features for African Businesses.
Payaza secured two major rating upgrades—a jump from A to AA‑ by DataPro and an A‑ investment‑grade credit rating from Intelligent Africa—marking its fourth credit rating overall. The firm also unveiled “Chat and Pay by Payaza,” enabling merchants to accept...
Revolut’s Blockbuster IPO Is Two Years Out, Says Nik Storonsky
Revolut founder Nik Storonsky told Bloomberg TV the fintech’s public listing is at least two years away, pushing the IPO timeline to 2026 or later. The company recently secured a $75 bn valuation in a secondary share sale that included Nvidia’s...
PayDo Launches C2B Settlement Accounts to Accelerate Pay-by-Bank Transactions
PayDo, a UK‑licensed electronic money institution, has launched customer‑to‑business (C2B) settlement accounts that let merchants accept pay‑by‑bank payments via open banking. Funds transferred from a shopper’s banking app are settled to the merchant’s business account in under two seconds, with...
Stablecoins Are No Longer Arriving—They’re Here
Stablecoins have moved from a niche concern to a core component of traditional finance strategy, driven by the July 2025 GENIUS Act and subsequent OCC charters for major digital‑asset firms. The OCC’s proposed 376‑page rule and the FDIC’s upcoming regulation...
Contracts Are Turning Into Budget Protectors with Spend Intelligence
Financial contract intelligence, an emerging AI category, converts static vendor contracts into structured, queryable financial data. By parsing pricing, terms, and obligations, platforms like SpendBrain enable finance teams to validate charges, spot overpayments, and proactively manage renewals. This transforms spend...
Tapping Into the Latest Emerging Payment Solution Trends
Consumers now expect a broad menu of payment options, with 61% using digital wallets and 35% trying buy‑now‑pay‑later services in the last 90 days, according to Discover’s 2025 Payments State of the Union research. Adoption of account‑to‑account (A2A) rails is...
Why Cognitive Banking Is Integral to the Future of Banking
Cognitive Banking is an AI‑driven platform that consolidates fragmented customer data to deliver real‑time, context‑aware financial insights. By moving beyond product‑centric models, it anticipates needs such as automated savings, overspending alerts, and subscription management. A 2025 Global Banking Survey shows...
The Business Case for Blockchain in B2B Payments
Blockchain is being repositioned as a utility for B2B payments, distinct from cryptocurrency. Finance leaders can use distributed ledger technology to speed settlement, cut intermediaries, and improve transparency. Stablecoin‑based rails and integration with ERP systems enable automated, auditable transactions, reducing...
Tesco Urges Customers to Act as Clubcard Pay+ Is Axed
Tesco announced it will close its Clubcard Pay+ prepaid debit card and Round Up savings accounts on April 26, ending a four‑year experiment that began with a high‑profile advertising campaign. The service, trialled with 45,000 customers and marketed as a way to...
Payment Sovereignty Debate Accelerates: What CB Payments Network in France Has to Say Against Visa and Mastercard
France’s Cartes Bancaires (CB) network is positioning itself as a sovereign alternative to Visa and Mastercard, amid growing political pressure to curb reliance on foreign payment schemes. The Financial Times reported that French officials are urging the CB system to...
Propinder Goes Live: The First Trader-First Prop Firm Matching Platform, Backed by FXStreet
Propinder, a new prop‑trading comparison platform launched by FXStreet, is now live for traders worldwide. The free tool uses a two‑minute profiling survey and anonymized trader data to recommend the three most suitable prop‑firm challenges for each user. Unlike many...
Piero Cipollone: Sparking the Transformation of Finance - Tokenisation and the Role of Central Banks
Piero Cipollone of the BIS argued that tokenisation and distributed ledger technology could finally reduce the long‑standing 2% cost of financial intermediation in the United States and Europe. He contrasted this potential breakthrough with past innovations—derivatives, electronic trading, dematerialisation—that improved...
Decentro Platform Joins NPCI Banking Connect to Boost High-Value Transaction Flow
Fintech infrastructure firm Decentro announced its integration with NPCI’s Banking Connect, the high‑value payment rail operated by Bharat BillPay. The connection allows Decentro’s API suite to route large‑value transactions directly through the NPCI network, eliminating many of the manual steps...
XTransfer Export PMI: Emerging Markets Drive Growth, High-End Upgrading Opportunities Stand Out
XTransfer reported that emerging markets generated 73 % of its inbound cross‑border payment collections in Q1, rising 45 % year‑on‑year and outpacing China’s export growth to those regions. Collections from Africa, Latin America and Southeast Asia surged 115 %, 97 % and 18 % respectively....
Three Major Japanese Financial Institutions Tap Canton to Bring Government Bonds On-Chain
Mizuho Financial Group, Nomura Holdings and Japan Securities Clearing Corporation have launched a joint proof‑of‑concept with Digital Asset’s Canton Network to manage Japanese Government Bond (JGB) collateral on‑chain. The initiative, backed by the Financial Services Agency’s Payment Innovation Project, aims...
Kimberly Waldron on Global FinTech Scaling and AI Application
Kimberly Waldron, managing director of Startup PR, highlighted a shift in global fintech from early‑stage hype to mature, internationally‑focused growth. She noted that firms often carry pre‑seed support structures into later funding rounds, creating scaling friction. AI and stablecoins dominate...
Exclusive: Retail Options Trading App Investa Gets FCA License
Investa, a UK‑based retail options‑trading app, received direct authorization from the Financial Conduct Authority on April 17, 2024, ending its status as an appointed representative of Richdale Brokers. The London‑run platform, built by former Citi options brokers and Freetrade co‑founder Ian...
ASX Confirms Release 1 of CHESS Project Ready to Provide Clearing Services
ASX announced that Release 1 of its CHESS modernization project is live, delivering clearing services on a new, resilient platform. All Approved Market Operators successfully connected ahead of the April 20, 2026 market open, and the system will be monitored throughout the day....
Razorpay Plans Confidential IPO Filing Soon; Targets $600-700 Million Raise at $5-6 Billion Valuation
Razorpay is preparing a confidential IPO filing within weeks, targeting a $600‑$700 million raise at a $5‑$6 billion valuation, down from its $7.5 billion peak. The fintech recently completed a reverse flip to India, incurring roughly $150 million in tax costs, and reported FY25...
Asia’s Banking Leaders to Convene in Kuala Lumpur for The Asian Banker Summit 2026
TAB Global will host the 27th Asian Banker Summit on 13‑14 May 2026 at the Mandarin Oriental in Kuala Lumpur. More than 800 senior leaders from banks, central banks, regulators and tech firms across 20 countries will gather under the...
Colombia’s Bre-B Surpasses 600 Million Transactions: What the Milestone Means for Latin American Instant Payments
Colombia’s central‑bank‑backed instant payment system Bre‑B has processed 638.7 million transactions and registered over 34 million users in its first six months. The average transaction value is roughly $43, and the platform has created 103.38 million payment keys since its October 2025 launch. By...
IoT-Driven Embedded Finance: Transforming Customer Experience in Service Industries
The article explains how embedded finance—payments, loans, and insurance built directly into non‑financial platforms—is merging with the Internet of Things to reshape service industries. IoT devices now generate real‑time alerts that can instantly present financing or payment options, turning a...
Stablecoins Can Help Businesses Turn Costs Into Revenue, Paxos Labs Cofounder Says
Paxos Labs raised $12 million to build an Amplify Suite that lets firms earn yield, borrow against digital assets, and mint branded stablecoins. The utility stack moves stablecoins from basic payment rails to revenue‑generating tools, enabling merchants to slash 2‑3% transaction...
How to Automate TradingView Strategies to MEXC Futures in 2026
MEXC opened its Futures API on March 31 2026, removing the exchange‑side barrier for automated trading. The new workflow links TradingView strategy alerts to AlgoWay, which translates alert JSON into a concise execution payload for MEXC. AlgoWay’s schema requires only four core...
Fintech Landscape and Wider Digital Overview of Chile in 2026
Chile’s fintech ecosystem in 2026 is maturing within a stable, $350 billion economy that boasts the highest GDP per capita in Latin America. With roughly 400 fintech firms operating across payments, lending, wealthtech and insurtech, the sector is shifting from basic...
Charles Schwab Is Bringing Bitcoin to Its 39 Million Clients – but without the Protections They Expect
Charles Schwab announced a phased rollout of Schwab Crypto, allowing its 39 million brokerage clients to buy spot Bitcoin and Ethereum directly through the same app used for stocks and retirement accounts. The offering is fee‑based at 0.75% per trade and...
VPBank Partners Western Union to Launch Real-Time Remittance Payouts in Vietnam
Vietnam's VPBank has deepened its alliance with Western Union to roll out real‑time remittance payouts to e‑wallets and bank accounts across the country. The service lets senders in over 200 jurisdictions transfer funds instantly, with recipients receiving Vietnamese dong without...
The Finanser’s Week: 13th April – 19th April 2026
The UK Financial Conduct Authority released a regulatory roadmap that openly admits the current open‑banking framework is broken and calls for a new approach. At the same time, Anthropic’s new AI model Claude Mythos demonstrated the ability to uncover deep software...
Paymentology Expands Payment Processing to Australia
Paymentology announced its official launch in Australia, bringing a cloud‑native issuer‑processor platform to the country’s fast‑evolving payments ecosystem. The service connects directly to domestic rails such as the New Payments Platform, EFTPOS and Bank@Post through a partnership with Cuscal. By...
UK’s Allica Bank Reports Profitability and Remains Focused on SME Clients
Allica Bank posted its third consecutive year of profit, with underlying profit before tax jumping 34% to $55.5 million despite a $38 million technology spend. Total revenue rose 27% to $471 million and its lending portfolio grew 23% to $4.7 billion, while deposits increased...
Congress on Verge of Making Regulated Dollar Stablecoins Act Almost Like Digital Cash
Congress is aligning regulated dollar‑pegged stablecoins with cash by pairing the GENIUS Act’s licensing framework with the Digital Asset PARITY Act tax draft. The PARITY draft would exclude modest gains and losses on qualified stablecoins from gross income, provided the...
BitsStrategy Unveils a Quantum AI Trading App Designed for Faster, Data-Driven Trading Decisions
BitsStrategy announced a quantum AI trading app that leverages artificial intelligence to parse real‑time market data and generate faster, data‑driven trade signals. The app emphasizes a streamlined, app‑first experience, offering new registrants a $10 real‑earnings credit to encourage trial. By...
Citadel Securities Looks at Prediction Markets as Trading Scales
Citadel Securities, the leading market‑making firm, is actively evaluating entry into the burgeoning prediction‑market space. President Jim Esposito said the firm is monitoring developments but cites limited liquidity as a barrier, while anticipating that the market will scale. Competitors such...
Digital Banking : Nubank Subsidiary Nu Mexico Reports 15M Customers
Nubank’s Mexican arm, Nu Mexico, has surpassed 15 million customers, placing it among the country’s three largest banks by user base. The digital‑only bank added roughly 12,000 new accounts each day, delivering 36% year‑over‑year growth and tripling its scale in two...
Galaxy Digital Strengthens Institutional Offerings with Business Focused Platform
Galaxy Digital has launched GalaxyOne for Business, extending its GalaxyOne platform from retail investors to U.S. LLCs, trusts and similar entities. The new solution bundles cash management, brokerage and crypto custody, offering up to 8% passive returns on cash and...
JanelaRAT Malware Now Hijacking Banking Sessions of Users in Latin America : Research
Kaspersky’s GReAT team has identified a new JanelaRAT variant that specifically targets online banking customers in Brazil and Mexico. The malware disguises itself as a pixel‑art program and is delivered via phishing emails containing malicious VBS scripts. Unlike earlier versions,...