Bill Open to M&A Deals, CEO Says
Bill Holdings CEO René Lacerte told investors at the Morgan Stanley TMT conference that the company is actively evaluating merger‑and‑acquisition opportunities as activist shareholders increase pressure. He cited recent fintech consolidations—such as the sales of Brex, AvidXchange and Melio—as proof that larger players are entering the business‑payments space. Bill has also secured integration agreements with ERP and HR giants Paychex, Acumatica and Oracle NetSuite, signaling broader market interest. The firm reiterated its focus on hitting the Rule of 40 metric to balance growth with profitability.
Thales Updates and Enhances Naranja X’s Payment Security
Thales announced that Argentina fintech Naranja X has expanded its use of the Thales D1 Platform, adding Entersekt’s authentication suite to secure online payments. The cloud‑native solution enables tokenized Apple Pay and Google Pay wallets and implements 3‑DS protocols for e‑commerce. Naranja X reports over...
Amex Taps Customers for Fraud Fight
American Express is leveraging direct conversations with cardholders who have faced fraud to gather real‑time intelligence on scam tactics. The data helps the firm refine detection models as U.S. consumers lost $12.5 billion to fraud in 2024, a 25 percent rise. Executives...
Wiss Expands NetSuite Automation Capabilities
Wiss announced its new status as a Certified Netgain Implementation Partner, giving it the authority to deploy Netgain’s native NetSuite add‑ons directly within client ERP environments. The partnership enables Wiss to embed automation across critical accounting workflows such as fixed‑asset...
SUNRATE and Repayd Join Hands to Power Global Payments
SUNRATE, a global payment and treasury platform, announced a strategic partnership with travel‑focused merchant‑account provider Repayd at ITB Berlin 2026. The alliance merges SUNRATE’s worldwide financial network with Repayd’s specialist travel payment infrastructure. Together they will deliver faster international payouts,...
Digital Bank N26 Bolsters European Expansion Efforts with Madrid Operations Hub
N26 announced a new Centre of Excellence in Madrid, its second dedicated operations hub, to support its expanding Spanish workforce and coordinate banking, customer service, and process functions across Europe. The 2,000‑square‑metre facility complements the existing Barcelona tech centre and...
Mastercard and Visa Enrich Stablecoin Settlement Capabilities to Supercharge Global Payments in 2026
Mastercard and Visa announced expanded support for stablecoin settlement, enabling tokenized dollar transactions on their networks starting March 2026. The move includes the launch of stablecoin‑backed debit cards that settle directly in digital dollars rather than traditional fiat. By shifting...
Truist’s Dontá Wilson: ‘Innovation without Empathy Is Empty’
Truist’s Chief Consumer and Small Business Banking Officer, Dontá Wilson, highlighted the need for banks to blend digital excellence with genuine human empathy. He explained Truist’s multi‑year growth plan, which leverages AI to enhance both its 20,000‑person workforce and its...
ARQ Raises $70M To Expand Stablecoin Banking In Latin America
ARQ, formerly DolarApp, raised $70 million in a Series B led by Sequoia Capital and Founders Fund. The funding will fuel a rebrand, team expansion, and rollout of new financial products beyond its core stablecoin remittance service. With more than two million...
RegTech Firm Vivox AI Secures £1.3m Funding
RegTech startup Vivox AI announced a £1.3 million first‑round funding to scale its compliance‑focused AI platform for banks and other regulated financial institutions. The round attracted high‑profile backers such as former German central bank president Axel Weber, former Google UK MD...
The Hidden Cost of Manual Processes in Wealth Management
Wealth managers are still burdened by manual workflows despite aggressive digitalisation. A PwC survey shows 84% expect technology to boost efficiency, yet studies reveal 30‑40% of staff time is spent on manual reconciliation and exception handling. Experts warn that these...
Nomba Wants Nigerian Merchants to Collect Pounds Directly From UK Banks
Nomba has teamed with UK Open Banking platform Volume to let Nigerian merchants collect British pounds directly from UK bank accounts, sidestepping traditional card processors and saving 6‑7% of revenue. The integration uses the Faster Payments rail, settles instantly into...
Irish Consumers Amongst European Leaders in Digital Payment Adoption
BearingPoint’s Europe‑wide payment study shows Irish consumers leading digital payment adoption, with 73% regularly using contactless and 62% favoring Revolut for peer‑to‑peer transfers. Cash usage in Ireland fell to 58%, and 24% say they will definitely abandon cash within ten...
LSEG to Upgrade Australian Securities Exchange’s Derivatives Trading Platform
London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) has signed an agreement with the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) to upgrade the ASX 24 derivatives trading platform. The partnership will embed LSEG’s Markets Technology, delivering a high‑performance, low‑latency system with greater resilience and lower...
‘Khamenei Out’ Market Becomes Legal Headache for Kalshi
Law firm Lieff Cabraser is probing Kalshi over its "Ali Khamenei out as Supreme Leader" prediction market, which generated over $50 million in volume before being halted. Kalshi invoked a contractual "death carve‑out" clause, settling contracts at the last price prior...
Evlo Partners with CreditLadder to Tackle Financial Exclusion and Boost Renters’ Credit Profiles
UK fintech Evlo has announced a partnership with CreditLadder, the country’s leading rent‑reporting platform, to automatically submit renters’ monthly payments to major credit bureaus. The collaboration targets tenants with thin or non‑existent credit files, aiming to convert rent—one of the...
IG Launches Junior ISA with up to £250 Investment Match
IG has introduced a Junior Stocks & Shares ISA that matches new customers' first £50 deposit with a guaranteed £50 cash contribution. The first 200 applicants who meet a £50 minimum will receive an enhanced top‑up of up to £250,...
Axis Bank Ties up with Tesla as Preferred EV Financier in India
Axis Bank announced it will serve as Tesla's preferred financing partner in India, becoming the first lender to provide loan tenures up to 10 years for premium electric vehicles. The partnership will roll out across major metros and emerging EV...
Modulr Partners with HiBob to Streamline Payroll Payments
Payments automation platform Modulr has partnered with HR tech provider HiBob to embed its payment engine directly into HiBob’s payroll module. The integration lets customers initiate salary and tax payments without leaving the HR system, eliminating file exports and multiple...
Diligent AI Raises $2.5M to Support KYC and AML Teams with AI Agents
London‑based Diligent AI, a Y Combinator‑backed startup, has closed a $2.5 million seed round led by Speedinvest with participation from fintech investors and strategic angels. The company builds autonomous AI agents that automate repetitive KYC and AML tasks such as risk...
Airtel’s SmartCash Hits 3 Million Users in Nigeria’s Mobile Money Push
SmartCash, Airtel Nigeria's payment service bank, reached nearly three million active users, defined by transactions in the past 30 days. The platform offers zero‑fee transfers, bill payments and a 15% annual interest on savings, positioning it against fintech rivals OPay...
BNPL Fintech Affirm Shares Insights on Managing Rental Payments
Affirm warns that many renters face predatory BNPL schemes that can charge over 180% APR, turning a simple rent split into costly debt. The fintech highlights its own consumer‑friendly approach, offering a zero‑interest Pay in 4 plan that breaks rent...
Cardlytics Inc (CDLX) Q4 2025 Earnings Call Transcript
Cardlytics reported Q3 2025 billings of $89.2 million, a 20.3% decline driven by content restrictions from its largest financial‑institution partner. Revenue fell 22.4% to $52 million, yet adjusted EBITDA improved to $3.2 million and contribution margin hit a record 57.7%. The company announced...
Cambridge Launches Initiative to Align, Improve Digital Identity Regulations
The University of Cambridge has launched the Cambridge DPI Regulatory Programme to help governments align digital identity regulations. The initiative, led by the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance and its spinoff Financial Innovation for Impact, will produce four reports and...
Cinareo Teams Up with Aspect to Boost Contact Center Performance
Cinareo has partnered with workforce‑management specialist Aspect to fuse scenario‑driven capacity planning with real‑time scheduling. The joint solution lets contact centers replace spreadsheet‑based forecasts with structured, what‑if modeling that aligns staffing, budgets, and service goals. Aspect’s AI‑powered platform will execute...
Ripple Payments Now Handles More of the Payments Lifecycle
Ripple has expanded its Ripple Payments platform into a single, end‑to‑end solution that unifies fiat and on‑chain payment flows. The expansion follows Ripple’s 2025 acquisitions of custody firm Palisade and stablecoin‑powered payments network Rail, adding virtual accounts, FX, and liquidity...
PayPal and TCS Blockchain Modernize Logistics Payments
PayPal and TCS Blockchain have partnered to launch a blockchain‑based payment platform that uses PayPal USD (PYUSD) stablecoin to settle freight invoices. The solution promises same‑day, year‑round settlement and cost reductions of up to 90% compared with traditional invoice factoring....
Zūm Rails Teams Up with Fiserv to Bring In-House Card Acceptance to US and Canadian Businesses
Zūm Rails has partnered with payments‑technology giant Fiserv to become an official payment facilitator, unlocking in‑house credit‑card acceptance for merchants across the United States and Canada. The new capability lets businesses embed fully customized checkout flows directly into their platforms,...
Billtrust Debuts Agentic Credit to Catch Payment Risks
Billtrust announced the Agentic Credit Lines product, an AI‑driven credit risk tool embedded in its AR workflow. It leverages a proprietary network of 13 million buyers and 25 years of B2B payment data to analyze payment history, utilization patterns, and external credit...
Stablecoins Power Philippines’ Thriving Gig Economy
The Philippines’ gig workforce, now about a quarter of employed workers, is turning to stablecoins for cross‑border payouts. Traditional bank transfers can delay payments for days and erode earnings by up to 10% through fees and FX conversion. Stablecoins such...
Astnex Reviews: A Professional Approach to Crypto Trading Organization
Astnex positions itself as a professional crypto‑trading hub, offering ultra‑fast order execution, a stable 24/7 platform, and access to more than 300 digital assets. The broker couples high leverage—up to 200:1—with built‑in risk‑management alerts and automatic margin calls. Users benefit...
How Clearview FCU's CIO Gets Employees to Use and Trust AI
Clearview Federal Credit Union, serving 140,000 members in the Pittsburgh area, is accelerating AI adoption under CIO Raymond George. The credit union has deployed ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot and Zest’s Lulu to automate tasks ranging from HR and BI analysis to fraud...
Japan Opens My Number Card to Private App Integration by Toshiba in Digital ID Shift
Japan has authorized Toshiba Digital Engineering to install private‑sector applications in the unused space of the My Number Card’s IC chip, turning the national ID into a platform‑style digital identity. The move allows regulated businesses to run services on the...
Stop Payment Fraud Before It Starts
Automated bank account verification protects AP departments from payment fraud. Fraudsters now use AI‑generated emails and deep‑fake audio to hijack bank‑change requests, leading to costly losses. Real‑time verification confirms account ownership, status, and matches supplier data while creating an immutable...
How Nigerian Neobank Kuda Built Its In-House Core Banking Application
Nigerian neobank Kuda, serving over seven million customers, built its own core banking application, NERV, to overcome scalability and reliability limits of a third‑party provider. Starting in 2019 with a modest pre‑seed fund, the engineering‑first team ran NERV in parallel...
MPE – Merchant Payments Ecosystem: Conference Overview
The Merchant Payments Ecosystem (MPE) conference highlighted three major fintech developments. OpenAI’s partnership with the Pentagon sparked industry backlash over ethical AI use. Capitec Pay launched instant bank‑payment capabilities for Paystack merchants, streamlining payouts. BitGo Europe expanded its crypto‑as‑a‑service offering...
Next Steps in Papua New Guinea’s DPI Rollout Include Digital ID for KYC, AI Adoption
Papua New Guinea is advancing its digital public infrastructure (DPI) with a pilot that uses the SevisPass digital ID and SevisWallet app to enable remote KYC for online bank account openings, led by MiBank and the government. The rollout is...
Why Bermuda Is Testing a Fully Onchain Economy Instead of Crypto Mandates
Bermuda announced a phased plan to become the world’s first fully on‑chain national economy, partnering with Circle and Coinbase. The strategy relies on regulated pilots that embed stablecoin‑based payments into government services, banks, insurers and merchants. Rather than mandating crypto...
Bank of Japan Expands Blockchain Settlement Sandbox and Says CBDC Efforts Are Ongoing
The Bank of Japan announced an expansion of its blockchain sandbox to experiment with settlement of central bank reserves using tokenized deposits, targeting interbank and securities use cases. Governor Kazuo Ueda said the pilot will test connections to existing systems...
Wealthsimple Becomes First Canadian FinTech to Join SWIFT Network
Wealthsimple has become the first Canadian fintech to gain direct membership in the global SWIFT network, allowing it to send and receive international wire transfers without intermediaries. The integration will launch this spring with a flat $15 fee for outgoing...
How Data Analytics Is Transforming Modern Risk Assessment
Data analytics is reshaping risk assessment from a reactive practice into a predictive science across finance, insurance, healthcare, and transportation. Predictive modeling, machine‑learning, and real‑time dashboards now enable firms to forecast exposure, micro‑segment customers, and allocate capital with greater confidence....
Paysafe Touts a New Wallet And Agentic Commerce As It Navigates 2026
Paysafe reported mixed Q4 2025 results, posting a $25.2 million net loss despite 4% revenue growth to $438.4 million and a 10% rise in transaction volume to $43.9 billion. The company highlighted its new Paysafe Wallet, now available in 18 countries with 500,000 users...
Apple, Google Wallets Get Personal
Digital‑wallet platforms from Apple and Google are evolving beyond simple payments, with startups like Badge turning them into interactive commerce channels. Badge’s infrastructure lets brands push real‑time, location‑aware offers and loyalty updates directly to a consumer’s wallet. The San‑Francisco‑based company...
Enrico Palmerino Explains Botkeeper's Fall
Botkeeper, a venture‑backed accounting automation platform, shut down in February after a rapid loss of its core client base. CEO Enrico Palmerino explained that 30‑40% of revenue came from just ten large accounting firms, and a wave of mergers among...
Payment Friction Wins in Africa
African ecommerce still wrestles with deep‑rooted trust gaps, turning checkout into a conversational process often mediated through WhatsApp. Local platforms like Paystack, Flutterwave, and Egypt’s Fawry have succeeded by offering instant bank transfers, mobile‑money protocols such as STK Push, and cash‑at‑kiosk...
EuroCrowd: Germany’s Investment Crowdfunding Market Remains Partially Realized at Best, Undermines Goal of ECSPR
EuroCrowd warns that Germany’s investment crowdfunding market is only partially aligned with the European Crowdfunding Service Provider Regulation (ECSPR). The country continues to rely on the Vermögensanlagengesetz (VermAnlG) and subordinated‑loan structures, creating a parallel regulatory channel that sidesteps ECSPR. As...
EU: End of Temporary Transition Period for Crypto-Asset Service Providers (CASPs) and Electronic Money Tokens (EMTs)
The European Banking Authority’s temporary relief from full PSD2 compliance for Crypto‑Asset Service Providers (CASPs) ended on March 2, 2026, forcing firms to secure payment‑institution authorisation or cease payment services. Providers already approved under PSD2 can continue, while those with pending applications...
SoFi and Mastercard Join Forces to Integrate SoFiUSD for Global Settlement
SoFi and Mastercard announced a partnership to embed the neobank’s USD‑backed stablecoin, SoFiUSD, into Mastercard’s global payments network. The integration will allow SoFiUSD to be used for settlement across the network and on Mastercard’s Multi‑Token Network, a digital‑asset platform. Launched...
Creator Payment Platform Blitz Wants to Eliminate Net-90 From the Creator Economy
Blitz, founded in April 2024 by Alex Roa, offers a creator‑payment platform that eliminates traditional net‑90 cycles by delivering payouts in three hours or less. The New York‑based startup integrates with enterprise ERP systems to automate invoice formatting, approval routing, and...
Generali Launches Core Tech Software Factory
Italian insurer Generali has unveiled Generali Core Tech, a dedicated software factory aimed at speeding its digital transformation under the “Lifetime Partner 27” strategy. The factory will manage the “Insurance in a Box” platform, already live in Spain and Switzerland...