Mantas Raises $1.77m to Bring Parametric Insurance to Cloud Downtime
Mantas, a digital‑infrastructure insurer, emerged from stealth after closing a $1.77 million seed round led by Nuwa Capital and other investors. The funding will fuel product development, risk‑modeling enhancements, and early deployments across the MENA region and North America. Mantas offers parametric insurance that triggers automatic payouts when predefined cloud‑outage conditions occur, targeting fintechs, SaaS firms, e‑commerce platforms, airlines and other regulated enterprises. The solution aims to transform cloud downtime from a technical nuisance into a priced financial liability.
Screening vs Monitoring: Stopping Fraud in Payments
Fraud losses surged to $12.5 billion in 2024, a 25% rise, as criminals embed illicit activity within everyday payments. The article distinguishes transaction screening—pre‑approval checks against sanctions, PEPs and watchlists—from transaction monitoring, which analyzes post‑payment behavior for anomalous patterns. Relying on...
How Akur8 Boosted Pricing at Idaho Farm Bureau
Idaho Farm Bureau Insurance adopted Akur8’s advanced pricing platform to replace fragmented, manual pricing processes. The insurer moved beyond traditional GLMs, integrating penalisation, credibility techniques and spatial analysis for more stable, long‑term rate predictions. Real‑time dashboards now let actuaries and...
Flagright Partners Vilja to Modernise AML on BaaS Cores
Flagright and Vilja Solutions have forged a strategic partnership to link Vilja’s cloud‑native BaaS core banking platform with Flagright’s AI‑driven real‑time AML monitoring. The integration will stream transaction data directly into Flagright’s investigation and reporting workflows, cutting integration complexity and...
Ozow and RelyComply Boost AML-Led Onboarding in SA
Ozow has partnered with RegTech firm RelyComply to embed AI‑driven AML verification into its merchant onboarding process across South Africa. The integration aims to flag high‑risk profiles—such as fake identities, mule accounts and fraudulent business registrations—earlier, speeding up approvals while...
Techficient Expands InsurTech Stack with Forthright Launch
Techficient unveiled Forthright, an AI‑driven fraud detection platform for insurance carriers and distributors. The solution continuously monitors common fraudulent behaviors, enabling earlier intervention and stronger compliance controls. Forthright extends Techficient’s InsurTech suite, which already includes the Dynamic quoting engine that...
What Is the Outlook for Regulation in 2026?
Star Compliance’s 2025 Quarterly Executive Brief highlights a surge in regulatory expectations, especially around digital assets and the UK’s Senior Managers and Certification Regime (SMCR). Market‑abuse supervision is tightening, with regulators expanding insider‑trading definitions to include shadow trading. The report...
The Major Trends Shaping the Future of Know Your Customer Compliance
The KYC sector is undergoing rapid change as AI‑driven agents enable true straight‑through processing (STP), eliminating manual breakpoints in onboarding. Muinmos showcases how collective AI agents, combined with client lifecycle management (CLM) platforms, can automate decision‑making, regulatory checks, and document...
Sage Capital Management Launches Integrated Private Banking for Digital Assets
Sage Capital Management has unveiled an integrated private banking service tailored for institutional digital‑asset clients, combining fiat and crypto operations in a single platform. The offering includes multi‑currency accounts linked to UK Faster Payments, SEPA, SWIFT and over 140 currencies,...
Jelou Raises $10m to Scale WhatsApp-Based Transactional AI
Jelou announced a $10 million Series A round, led by Wellington Access Ventures, to expand its WhatsApp‑based transactional AI platform across the Americas. The raise brings the fintech’s total funding to $13 million. Its Brain platform lets AI agents execute payments, open accounts,...
Banqup Secures €6m Shareholder Loan and Sells Baltic Unit
Banqup Group secured a subordinated shareholder loan of up to €6 million, with €5.45 million already subscribed, to fund working capital and its French market expansion. The loan carries a 9% annual interest rate, capitalised yearly, and may be converted into equity...
Malaysia Tests Bank Readiness for MyDigital ID Rollout
Malaysia’s Ministry of Finance announced that 18 banks have entered Phase 2 of the MyDigital ID sandbox, testing e‑verification capabilities for digital onboarding and high‑value transactions. The sandbox, overseen by Bank Negara Malaysia and MyDigital ID Sdn Bhd, evaluates operational readiness...
Ensembling AI Models to Improve Compliance Risk Detection
Financial services firms are turning to ensemble AI to strengthen compliance risk detection across multimodal communications. Theta Lake reports that combining lexicon‑based rules, fuzzy matching, and multiple machine learning models yields higher accuracy and fewer false positives than single‑model approaches....
AML Under Pressure: Coverage, Precision and Case Aging
AML teams are grappling with soaring alert volumes that mask true risk exposure. Regulators are moving beyond simple activity counts, demanding evidence of coverage, precision, prioritisation, and case‑aging in daily operations. The focus now is on whether high‑risk alerts surface...
Quantexa Launches Claims AI Accelerator on Guidewire
Quantexa has launched a Decision Intelligence accelerator for Guidewire ClaimCenter, enabling insurers to embed real‑time analytics into their claims workflows. The accelerator, now listed on the Guidewire Marketplace, provides instant claims segmentation, fraud detection and contextual analytics across the entire...
Tokio Marine Invests $5m in InsurTech Igloo
Tokio Marine has invested $5 million for a 1.65% minority stake in Singapore‑based InsurTech startup Igloo, joining investors such as Openspace Ventures and Blue Orchard. Igloo operates across eight Southeast Asian markets and has facilitated over 600 million insurance policies since its...
Fourthline Appoints Fleur De Roos as Chief Operating Officer
Fourthline, a European AI‑powered identity verification and RegTech provider, announced the promotion of Fleur de Roos to chief operating officer, effective immediately. De Roos, who joined as general counsel in 2022, brings a background in corporate law, financial services, and...
Michael Allain Joins Red Oak as Chief Revenue Officer
Red Oak, a compliance connectivity platform for financial services, has appointed Michael Allain as chief revenue officer to drive scalable revenue growth and operational excellence. Allain arrives with over 30 years of B2B sales experience, including two decades in highly...
ResiQuant and Skyway Team up for Smarter Catastrophe Underwriting
Skyway Underwriters has partnered with ResiQuant to modernize underwriting of Florida’s coastal wind risk, deploying ResiQuant’s structural risk intelligence across its apartment and assisted‑living programs. The integration blends automated workflows with engineering‑level data, enabling building‑specific risk scores while maintaining underwriting...
Mea Platform Partners with Moonrock to Power AI-Led MGA Operations
mea Platform and Moonrock Insurance have partnered to embed mea Operations, an AI‑first operating platform, across Moonrock’s MGA business. The integration will automate core workflows—including submission intake, data ingestion, claims handling and finance—enabling faster, more consistent processing. By replacing legacy...
Here Are the 20 FinTech Deals of the Past Week
FinTech fundraising fell to $898 million across 20 deals, down from $1.5 billion the week before. The biggest round was UAE‑based WealthTech startup Mal, which raised $230 million to launch an AI‑native Islamic digital bank. U.S. music‑tech firm Duetti secured $200 million, while PayTech...
UAE Group Pensions: Designing Digital-First Savings
Insurers, employers, and technology providers in the UAE are transitioning from discussion to deployment of digital‑first group pension programmes as recent gratuity reforms shift end‑of‑service benefits toward funded pensions. Kidbrooke’s analysis shows that flexibility, modularity and user‑friendly design are now...
Hawk Launches Analytics Studio to Streamline AI Model Governance
Hawk has introduced Analytics Studio, an AI lifecycle management platform aimed at banks and payment firms tackling anti‑money laundering and fraud. The solution bundles pre‑built financial‑crime model templates, copilot‑guided creation, performance dashboards and automated documentation to speed regulator‑ready deployments. It...
Pave Finance Integrates with Fidelity to Automate RIA Workflows
Pave Finance announced a direct integration with Fidelity, enabling registered investment advisors to link client accounts to Pave’s platform without moving assets. The connection automates portfolio construction, ongoing management and trade execution, leveraging Pave’s ten‑year‑tested Asset Intelligence Layer. Advisors can...
Vestmark and T. Rowe Price Launch Custom Premier for RIAs
Vestmark and T. Rowe Price have unveiled Custom Premier, a personalized model‑portfolio solution for registered investment advisors. The offering blends Vestmark’s tax‑aware implementation engine with T. Rowe Price’s model‑portfolio design, allowing advisors to construct ETF and mutual‑fund blends that reflect client risk,...
Financial Advisers Face Rising ML/TF/PF Risk Pressures
Financial planners and investment advisers are under mounting pressure to address money‑laundering, terrorism financing and proliferation financing risks. Regulators now require defensible, evidence‑based risk assessments rather than periodic checklists. Arctic Intelligence has introduced a sector‑specific ML/TF/PF Risk and Control Assessment...
OneDosh Raises $3m Pre-Seed to Build Stablecoin Payments
OneDosh, a fintech focused on borderless payments, closed a $3 million pre‑seed round to develop a stablecoin‑powered cross‑border payment infrastructure. The platform promises instant transfers using stablecoins or cash, with transparent pricing that removes hidden foreign‑exchange fees. It also issues virtual...
SurgePays Prices $2.5m Public Offering to Support Growth
SurgePays, a wireless and FinTech point‑of‑sale firm serving subprime and underserved consumers, priced a public offering of 2 million common shares at $1.25 each, generating roughly $2.5 million in gross proceeds. The transaction includes a 45‑day underwriter option to purchase up to...
Was 2025 a Good Year for the WealthTech Sector?
FinTech Global interviewed Kidbrooke’s head of business development, Zaliia Gindullina, to assess 2025’s performance in WealthTech. While the sector saw a noticeable dip in funding rounds and total capital raised, established players continued to expand. Providers shifted from experimental pilots...
How Virtuoso Partners Scales Document Automation with M-Files
Virtuoso Partners, a UK‑based intelligent‑automation firm, has leveraged its partnership with M‑Files since 2021 to modernise document‑heavy processes through metadata‑driven management and workflow automation. By combining M‑Files’ contextual content handling with its own AI, RPA and intelligent‑document‑processing expertise, Virtuoso delivers...
Napier AI Powers MV Shield for Building Societies
Napier AI and Mutual Vision have launched MV Shield, a purpose‑built AML and financial‑crime compliance platform for UK and Canadian building societies and credit unions. The solution is offered as Compliance‑as‑a‑Service, pairing Napier AI’s technology with Mutual Vision’s sector expertise....
New LSEG Data Reveals Ownership Behind One-Third of Sanctions Exposure
London Stock Exchange Group’s Risk Intelligence unit has launched the Sanctioned Securities Data File, an instrument‑level dataset that links sanctions designations to specific securities. Initial analysis shows about one‑third of sanctions exposure stems from ownership or control relationships, even when...
Karavel Raises £1.25m Pre-Seed to Modernise AI-Driven Compliance
Karavel announced a £1.25 million pre‑seed round led by Fuel Ventures to accelerate its AI‑driven compliance platform across the UK and Europe. The solution bundles marketing ad reviews, real‑time horizon scanning, regulatory gap analysis and actionable guidance in one interface. By...
Pagaya Launches $350m Revolving Personal Loan ABS Deal
Pagaya Technologies closed a $350 million revolving asset‑backed securitisation, PAID 2025‑REV1, backed by consumer loans originated on its AI‑driven network. The deal features a 24‑month revolving period that can double funding capacity to $700 million as loans are repaid. Structured with 26North Partners,...
How CCOs Can Manage AI Notetaker Risks Safely
Financial services firms are rapidly adopting AI note‑taker tools to streamline meeting documentation, but the technology creates a new class of records that can capture material non‑public information before compliance review. Unvetted AI‑generated summaries risk breaching information barriers, misrepresenting nuanced...
How to Scale Insurance Compliance without Errors
Insurance agencies and MGAs hit a compliance breaking point around 50 producers, where small errors can halt half the team’s ability to write business. As firms scale from 15 to 200 producers, data points multiply from dozens to thousands across...
Major Firms Leave Critical Cyber Risks Unpatched for Months
A KYND study of over 2,000 firms, including FTSE 350 and S&P 500 members, found that 11% were exposed to vulnerabilities actively exploited by attackers. Of those, 88% remained unpatched for six months or longer, highlighting chronic remediation delays. Remote...
Digital Fraud Prevention: 8 Steps to Protect Your Identity
Digital fraud losses surged to $12.5 billion in 2024, a 25% rise from the prior year, as criminals leverage AI, automation, and social engineering. The article outlines eight practical steps—from slowing down on suspicious messages to deploying multi‑factor authentication and secure...
Inter Miami CF Names ERGO NEXT Insurance as Main Partner
Inter Miami CF announced a multi‑year deal naming ERGO NEXT Insurance as its Main Partner, Training Apparel Partner, and Official Insurance Partner for the 2026 season. The insurer’s logo will feature on the first‑team training kit, second‑team apparel, and signage...
Akur8 Brings Takayuki Saito on Board to Transform Insurance Pricing
Akur8 has appointed Takayuki Saito as senior advisor to accelerate its Japanese expansion and guide insurers toward transparent, machine‑learning‑based pricing. Saito brings deep actuarial experience from Rakuten, AXA, EY and Deloitte to help local carriers improve profitability. The move targets...
More than Two-Thirds of Investment Managers Now Use AI in Front Office
SimCorp’s 2026 InvestOps Report shows 70% of buy‑side firms now deploy AI in front‑office functions, up sharply from roughly 10% a year earlier. The survey of 200 senior asset‑manager executives indicates AI has moved from pilot projects to business‑critical tools....
Ecommpay and NORBr Partner to Enable Seamless Global Payments
Ecommpay has teamed up with infrastructure‑as‑a‑service provider NORBr to embed its full‑stack acquiring and orchestration platform into NORBr’s ecosystem. The joint solution gives merchants, PayFacs, ISVs and ISOs instant access to more than 100 local and international alternative payment methods,...
Revolut Pay Targets Agentic Commerce with AP2 Integration
Revolut Pay announced integration with Google’s Agent Payments Protocol (AP2), making it one of the first EU payment methods compatible with the open, agent‑led commerce framework. The partnership enables one‑tap, account‑to‑account transactions within AI‑driven shopping experiences across the UK and...
Gen Z Prioritise Everyday Perks over Interest Rates when Choosing Banks
Pay.UK’s latest research shows UK Gen Z customers judge banks more by everyday rewards and digital convenience than by traditional interest rates. Seventy‑two percent of respondents aged 16‑28 prefer perks such as free coffee, food discounts and cashback, while 66...
Financial Advisor Compliance: Policies, Tech and Audits
Financial advisor compliance has shifted from a back‑office checklist to a strategic imperative as regulations tighten and client expectations rise. Core requirements now include adherence to the SECURE Act, Regulation Best Interest, and Form CRS, demanding precise documentation, conflict management,...
TechAssure Strengthens Brazil Presence Through Vitae Group
TechAssure, an international insurance broker network, has incorporated the São Paulo brokerage team of Brazil’s Vitae Group. The addition brings on‑the‑ground insight into Brazil’s rapidly evolving, innovation‑driven risk landscape. TechAssure now operates over 37 broker teams in 20 countries, strengthening...
HawkSoft Partners with AgencyFocus to Boost Financial Clarity for Agencies
HawkSoft, a leading agency management system provider, has teamed up with financial advisory firm AgencyFocus to deliver enhanced financial visibility for independent insurance agencies. The collaboration will embed AgencyFocus’s valuation, growth‑planning and acquisition expertise into HawkSoft’s platform, launching a suite...
Credura Launches AI-Based Insurance Adviser for Private Customers
Credura, a FINMA‑licensed Swiss InsurTech, has launched the first AI‑driven insurance adviser for private customers after a successful pilot. The platform consolidates policies from 17 insurers, continuously monitors market changes, and provides proactive optimisation recommendations. Users access an interactive dashboard...
Lloyd’s Names PwC Veteran Jim Bichard as New CFO
Lloyd's announced Jim Bichard, a PwC veteran, will become chief financial officer in April 2026. He will join the executive team, report to CEO Patrick Tiernan, and sit on the Council of Lloyd's. Bichard brings 30 years of insurance‑focused finance,...
Why FinCrime Detection Is Delayed and How to Fix It
FinCrime detection latency occurs when the signal arrives late or lacks context, not because analysts are slow. Opoint outlines four timestamps—event, first public mention, internal awareness, and decision—to expose where delays happen. Early‑stage OSINT, especially from non‑English sources, can close...