Mobile Payments Transforming the Retail Checkout Experience
Mobile payments are rapidly reshaping retail checkout, driven by consumer demand for speed and the pandemic‑induced shift to contactless transactions. Retailers report higher customer satisfaction, shorter transaction times, and lower processing costs as they adopt smartphone‑based wallets and biometric authentication. Emerging AI‑powered fraud detection and blockchain‑backed ledgers are enhancing security while providing richer data for personalized marketing. However, integrating these solutions with legacy point‑of‑sale systems and training staff remain significant hurdles.

Beyond the PIN: How Biometric Authentication Is Redefining UPI Payments
PhonePe has launched biometric authentication for UPI payments, allowing users to approve transactions up to Rs 5,000 with a fingerprint or facial scan. The feature leverages the smartphone’s Secure Enclave, keeping biometric data on‑device and adding a hardware‑grade security layer. A...

Network International Seals Deals to Streamline Digital Payments in Egypt, Libya
Network International announced two strategic deals to deepen its footprint in North Africa. In Libya, it partnered with Al Seraj Islamic Bank to deliver an end‑to‑end digital payments platform, Visa sponsorship and prepaid issuing capabilities. In Egypt, the firm enabled...
The Digital Economy’s Next Chapter Must Be About Inclusion
The digital economy is moving beyond mere connectivity toward genuine inclusion, emphasizing the ability of individuals to create value, innovate, and influence technology. While roughly four‑in‑five people are online, 2.2 billion remain offline and many connected users lack the skills and...

The Intelligence Revolution
Chris Skinner’s webinar frames finance’s evolution as three technology revolutions: mainframe‑driven automation (Finance 1.0), digital transformation driven by cloud, APIs and platforms (Finance 2.0), and today’s shift to intelligent ecosystems powered by AI, generative models, and emerging quantum and blockchain capabilities. He...
Top Crypto Coins to Invest in 2026: APEMARS Presale Hits $280K Milestone as MYX Finance Falls and Solana Price Prediction...
The APEMARS presale has crossed the $280,000 mark, selling 12.2 billion tokens and opening Stage 10 at $0.00009131 with a planned $0.0055 listing price. The token promises a staggering 5,923% ROI for early buyers, backed by 63% APY staking and a 9.34%...

Webinar | 15 April 2026 | Agentic AI in Banking: Exploring Key Applications and Best Practices for Implementation
An upcoming webinar on 15 April 2026 will examine how agentic AI is reshaping banking. It will showcase use cases such as real‑time fraud prevention, predictive credit‑risk analytics, and back‑office automation, while addressing ethical, privacy, and regulatory concerns. Speakers will...

'Signing Is the Easy Part': How Airwallex Turned Sport Into a Global Growth Engine
Airwallex has expanded its sports sponsorship from a single global deal to a portfolio that includes McLaren F1, Arsenal FC, the San Francisco Giants, and regional teams in Australia and New Zealand. The company says the partnerships are already boosting brand trust,...

American Express Hits Full Throttle On Fan Experience At Melbourne GP
American Express returns for a second year as the official payments partner of the Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix, unveiling an upgraded Amex Lounge and a suite of new fan experiences. The lounge now showcases premium food and beverage partners such...

Visa Taps Veteran Leonardo Collado to Lead Pismo’s Global Growth
Visa has appointed senior vice president Leonardo J. Collado as general manager of Pismo, effective April 1. Collado, who oversees value‑added services for Latin America and the Caribbean, brings 25 years of payments experience to the role. The move follows...

With the Blessing of Ex-IRS Chief, Prime Meridian Unveils Free Tax Filing Platform
Prime Meridian, a Palo Alto startup, unveiled a free AI‑native tax filing platform on Thursday. The service guides users from document upload to filing, supporting both simple and complex returns such as K‑1s, investment income, and multistate wages. Backed by...

Online Lender Bets on 47-Second Mortgages in AI Race with Giants
Better Home & Finance has launched a ChatGPT‑powered underwriting tool that can evaluate mortgage applications in as little as 47 seconds, positioning the company as a mortgage‑as‑a‑service provider for banks, brokers and fintechs. The solution integrates Better’s Tinman engine with...

Insurtech CyberCube Warns of Surging Iranian Cyber Risks to Businesses
CyberCube warned that Iranian-linked hacker groups pose a rising cyber risk to U.S. firms, especially in critical sectors, after recent U.S.-Israel military actions. Its AI-driven assessment found 12% of U.S. companies with over $1 billion in revenue at elevated risk, flagging...
Beef.com Plans Digital Platform to Connect Ranchers with Pricing and Payments
Beef.com is building a digital infrastructure platform to link cattle producers directly with real‑time pricing data, transaction routing and settlement services. The system will feature a Beef Index for verified price discovery, a digital settlement layer to accelerate payments, provenance...

MUFG Launches First Own Brand Real Estate Security Token for $142 Million
MUFG’s trust division has launched its first own‑brand real‑estate security token, the MUFG Realty Token, valued at ¥22.4 billion ($142 million) for the Osaka Dojimahama Tower. The token is issued on Progmat, the blockchain platform MUFG founded and now partially owns. Distribution...

Tyfone Unveils New Loan Servicing Solution Loanovia for Credit Unions
Tyfone has launched Loanovia, a dedicated loan‑servicing and payments unit aimed at credit unions. Its three core tools—Skip‑A‑Pay, Quick Pay and Collect—are already live in more than 80 credit‑union applications across the United States. The suite automates payment handling, reduces operational...
Brighty Launches Banking AI Agents for Corporate Clients
Brighty, a European crypto‑native digital finance platform, unveiled a Banking API that lets AI agents perform full‑cycle business banking functions such as balance queries, payments, currency exchange, payroll, and reconciliation. The developer‑ready infrastructure enables autonomous invoice processing, approvals, and fund...

The Top 50 Originators Account for 91% of Total ACH Commercial Payments Volume, Nacha Says
Nacha reports that the top 50 ACH originators processed 30.7 billion payments in 2025, representing 91.4% of commercial ACH volume, while the top 50 receivers handled 23 billion payments, accounting for 65.1% of total flow. Wells Fargo led originations with 8.7 billion payments, and...

Three Surprising Insights From The Forrester Wave™: Merchant Payment Providers, Q1 2026
The latest Forrester Wave™ for Merchant Payment Providers reveals that uptime is no longer a competitive edge; instead, strategic factors dominate. Five of nine evaluated vendors have recently undergone leadership or ownership changes, prompting potential shifts in pricing, packaging, and...
Inside a Startup Building Tools for AI Agents
Circuit & Chisel, a New York startup founded by former Stripe crypto executives, raised $19.2 million to launch ATXP, an agent transaction protocol that enables AI agents to navigate and execute payments autonomously. The company’s backers include Stripe, Polygon Labs, and Samsung Next, signaling strong...
Building the ROI Case for AP Automation – Webinar Highlights
Controllers Council hosted a webinar, sponsored by AvidXchange, on building a data‑driven ROI case for accounts‑payable (AP) automation. Speakers highlighted the hidden costs of paper‑based AP, from lost invoices to error‑driven delays, and outlined six ROI categories such as labor...
Behind the Idea: Cumbuca
Cumbuca, founded by Daniel Ruhman, acts as a regulatory proxy that grants international fintechs direct access to Brazil’s Central Bank payment infrastructure. By holding its own payment‑institution licence, the company lets clients launch in weeks instead of the years typically required...

Revolut Names US CEO as It Seeks New Banking Licence
Revolut has appointed former Raisin chief executive Cetin Duransoy as its U.S. CEO, coinciding with the fintech’s application for a national bank charter from the OCC and FDIC. The company aims to operate as Revolut Bank US, giving it direct...

Revolut Business Introduces Titan in the UK, Offering 10GB Global Data, Other Incentives
Revolut Business has launched Titan, a premium Visa‑linked corporate card for UK companies, bundling 10 GB of global mobile data, unlimited airport lounge access, and a 1:1 RevPoints rewards scheme. The card integrates real‑time expense tracking, receipt matching, and instant reconciliation...

Nigeria’s Loan Apps Are Pulling Back From the Small Loans that Built Them
Nigeria’s digital lending boom built on instant nano‑loans of ₦5‑10,000 is receding. Regulatory crackdowns on intrusive phone‑data and new FCCPC fines have stripped lenders of cheap risk tools, while credit‑bureau fees and high recovery costs make tiny loans unprofitable. Lenders...
Exclusive: Founded By 2 Brothers In Their 20s, YC-Backed Denki Raises $4.1M To Automate Financial Audits
Denki, a YC‑backed AI startup founded by two brothers, raised $4.1 million to automate financial audits for public companies. The funding, led by Base10 Partners and Shine Capital, comes as fintech AI investment surged 27 % in 2025. Denki’s platform replaces manual,...

Reframing Corporate KYC: Encompass Targets Back-Book Exposure with Scalable EC Review
Encompass has introduced EC Review, a scalable service that automates the remediation of legacy corporate KYC records for banks. Using the firm’s EC360 data engine, the solution processes thousands of client profiles in batch, delivering refreshed ownership and control data...

TransUnion Unveils AI Agent to Accelerate Financial Analytics Workflows
TransUnion announced its AI Analytics Orchestrator Agent, an AI‑driven layer on the TruIQ platform that leverages Google Vertex AI and Gemini models to automate credit analytics. The agent translates natural‑language queries into governed workflows, generating models, studies, and recommendations in...

Affirm’s Full-Stack Ambition Is Bigger than Consumer Finance Alone
Affirm kicked off 2026 with a flurry of strategic announcements, including a rent‑payment partnership with Esusu, a bank‑charter filing, and a debit‑card‑embedded BNPL solution via Fiserv. The firm also secured default checkout status with Bolt and integrated its BNPL service...

CMC Markets Begins 24/7 Blockchain Settlements with J.P. Morgan’s Kinexys
CMC Markets has launched a 24/7 blockchain settlement platform in partnership with Kinexys Digital Payments, a JPMorgan unit. The solution uses JPMorgan’s JPMCoin on the public Base blockchain to move cash instantly across currencies and regions. Live testing confirmed near‑real‑time...
Prop Firm JoinX Capital Selects Leverate Trading Infrastructure
Leverate announced a partnership with Swiss‑backed prop‑trading firm JoinX Capital, designating Leverate’s end‑to‑end infrastructure as the technology backbone of JoinX’s global platform. The collaboration supports a community of over 47,500 traders in 184 countries, offering multi‑asset access to Forex, crypto...

Nosh Launches eSIM to Power Global Connectivity & Borderless Digital Payments
Nosh has introduced an eSIM feature that lets users buy, activate, and manage digital SIM plans directly within its app, expanding the fintech’s services beyond digital asset trading and bill payments. The eSIM offering includes data‑only and full voice‑text‑data plans...
Why Portfolio Companies Struggle with Third-Party Cyber Risk
Portfolio companies are grappling with third‑party cyber risk as digital ecosystems expand and vendor reliance grows. Traditional perimeter defenses have eroded, leaving sensitive data and operational resilience dependent on external partners. Lean security teams and rapid onboarding prioritize speed over...
Revolut Files for US Banking Licence
Revolut has formally applied to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the FDIC for a U.S. national bank charter, abandoning an earlier plan to acquire an existing lender. The fintech appointed Cetin Duransoy, a veteran of Capital One and...
FCA Smart Data Accelerator Commissions Oxford Saïd and Raidiam for Open Finance Infrastructure Research
The FCA’s Smart Data Accelerator has commissioned a joint research programme between Oxford Saïd Business School and secure data‑ecosystem provider Raidiam. The initiative will design and test infrastructure models for an open‑finance ecosystem in the UK, examining APIs, standardisation, emerging...
Inside the Modern Underwriting Strategy
Underwriting is transitioning from retrospective portfolio reviews to AI‑driven, real‑time decision support. A 2025 Accenture study shows 71% of underwriting executives view AI and automation as critical, and 75% expect meaningful AI impact within three years. Modern workbenches now surface...
DBS Hong Kong Teams with Know Your Customer on Digital KYC
DBS Bank Hong Kong has teamed with RegTech firm Know Your Customer to embed AI‑driven digital KYC into its SME onboarding workflow. The platform provides real‑time business verification and automatic UBO mapping across more than 140 jurisdictions, cutting manual compliance...
Structured Payments Data Strengthens AML Compliance
Financial institutions are accelerating payment‑system upgrades as instant‑payment demand surges, with ISO 20022 becoming the default messaging format on SWIFT after the November 2025 cut‑over. Structured payments data under ISO 20022 enriches transaction details, enabling real‑time AML monitoring and more...
QFEX Launches with $9.5m Seed Round to Disrupt Global Trading
QFEX, a Cambridge‑backed trading exchange, launched after closing a $9.5 million seed round that values the startup at $95 million. The platform offers 24/7 direct trading of traditional assets, perpetual futures with no expiry, and up to 50× leverage, eliminating brokers and...
Arctic Intelligence, BitCompli Team up on Digital Asset Risk Tools
Arctic Intelligence and BitCompli announced a strategic partnership to deliver enterprise‑wide risk assessments for digital‑asset firms worldwide. The collaboration combines Arctic’s Arctic Accelerate platform with BitCompli’s regulatory expertise to meet tightening rules such as the UK FCA, EU MiCA, and...

Capitec’s New AI Tool Knows Your Problem Before You Explain It
Capitec has introduced Pulse, an AI‑powered contact‑centre tool that delivers real‑time context about a client’s issue before the call starts. By aggregating payment data, app diagnostics and risk signals, Pulse enables agents to resolve queries faster, cutting handling times by...

After Raising $5.5 Million for Hyperbridge, Polytope Labs Wants to Build for Nigerian Fintechs Too
Polytope Labs, fresh from a $5.5 million raise, is building an on‑chain stablecoin infrastructure to streamline foreign‑exchange settlement for Nigerian fintechs. The product sits atop its Intent Gateway, part of the Hyperbridge protocol, which has already processed roughly $500 million in cross‑chain...
CPI Card Group Inc (PMTS) Q4 2025 Earnings Call Transcript
CPI Card Group reported third‑quarter 2025 net sales rising 11% year‑over‑year, propelled primarily by the ArrowEye acquisition and strong growth in its instant‑issuance SaaS platform. Gross profit margin contracted to 29.7% from 35.8% due to an unfavorable sales mix, lower...

Western Union Teams with Crossmint to Support USDPT Stablecoin on Solana
Western Union has teamed with crypto‑payments firm Crossmint to launch its USDPT stablecoin on the Solana blockchain. The collaboration embeds Crossmint’s wallet and payment APIs into Western Union’s infrastructure, allowing fintech platforms to move funds via the stablecoin and tap...

Idemia Public Security, Proof Partner on Single Portable Digital Credential
Idemia Public Security and Proof have announced a strategic partnership to launch a verifiable digital credential (VDC) that merges biometric verification with PKI‑based digital signatures. The solution delivers a single, portable credential that is user‑controlled, privacy‑preserving, and revocable, leveraging selective...
BlockDAG Price Prediction 2026: Pepeto Stands Out as Best Crypto to Buy Now as BDAG Faces Post-Launch Volatility and BitGo...
BitGo Europe launched its crypto‑as‑a‑service platform across all 30 EEA nations under the EU’s MiCA framework, giving banks and fintechs regulated custody, trading and fiat‑on‑ramp APIs. The rollout removes a major regulatory barrier, paving the way for institutional capital to...
Uniswap Price Prediction 2026: Pepeto Presale Stakes a Claim as Best Crypto to Buy Now as UNI Eyes $27M Revenue...
Uniswap’s governance vote on March 2, 2026 proposes extending its fee switch to eight additional Layer 2 networks, potentially adding $27 million in annual revenue and bringing total fee‑burn funding to about $61 million. The move follows BlackRock’s recent investment and pushes UNI toward becoming...

The Pitfalls of the 95% Confidence Paradigm for Banking Data Quality
Bank executives often cite a 95% confidence level as the benchmark for data quality, yet studies show most banks operate at only 80‑90% confidence, which can erode to 50% as data moves through multiple systems. The shortfall has tangible costs:...

Trump Met Coinbase CEO Before Slamming Banks over Crypto Bill: Report
President Donald Trump met privately with Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong after a delegation of Coinbase representatives visited the White House. Trump subsequently posted on Truth Social demanding that the U.S. "get Market Structure done, ASAP," and warned banks against undermining...
A Transaction-Grade Performance Blueprint for Spring Boot FinTech Microservices (Tracing, Histograms, and Kubernetes)
FinTech payment‑authorization microservices demand continuous performance tuning, not a one‑off effort. The article presents a transaction‑grade blueprint that combines Kubernetes orchestration, OpenTelemetry tracing, and Prometheus histograms to meet strict latency and error SLOs. It walks through defining service‑level objectives, instrumenting...