SGB Net Bridges Legacy and Digital Finance Through Real-Time Settlement
SGB has launched SGB Net, a real‑time settlement platform that links traditional banking infrastructure with digital‑asset ecosystems through SWIFT and stablecoin integration. The service processes roughly $2 billion in monthly volume and is growing at a 50% month‑on‑month rate. Backed by a full banking licence and a partnership with J.P. Morgan’s Wire 365, the platform serves more than 60% of digital‑asset firms while remaining regulated by the Central Bank of Bahrain. SGB plans to extend the network into personal banking, stock trading and wealth‑management products.
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...
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...
DLocal Simplifies Global Commerce Through Unified API Strategy
Cross‑border payments specialist dLocal has launched a unified “One dLocal” platform that consolidates a single API, contract and technical integration for merchants entering emerging markets. The solution gives more than 700 enterprise clients, including Amazon, Microsoft and Zara, access to...
Mastercard Sets Out Five Core Principles to Defend Its Position in Europe’s Payments Sovereignty Debate
Mastercard has outlined five core principles to defend its role in Europe’s payments‑sovereignty debate, emphasizing stability, standards, security, seamlessness and success. The company highlighted processing €3 trillion in cardholder activity last year and announced a €250 million investment in new French data...
Ripple Redefines Enterprise Payments with Unified Stablecoin Platform and Global Adoption
Ripple announced a major upgrade to its Ripple Payments platform, delivering a unified solution that moves both fiat and stablecoins across traditional and digital rails. The expansion incorporates the Palisade custody suite and Rail virtual‑account technology, enabling end‑to‑end collection, exchange,...
Payaza CEO: Infrastructure Directness Is the Ultimate Moat
Payaza has become the only Visa‑certified payment processor headquartered in Sub‑Saharan Africa, choosing to bypass traditional aggregators and secure direct access to card schemes. This infrastructure‑first strategy cuts intermediary fees, improves margins and enables reinvestment in product development. The firm...
Wise Appoints Former ICE CFO Scott Hill to Board of Directors as Cross-Border Ambitions Grow
Wise has appointed former Intercontinental Exchange CFO Scott Hill as an independent non‑executive director. Hill brings 14 years as ICE CFO and prior leadership roles at IBM, CS Disco, and Cardlytics. Wise aims to leverage his public‑company and U.S. market...
Littlepay, Google, and Go-Ahead Launch Global First for Prepaid Transit Passes in Digital Wallets
Littlepay, Google and the Go‑Ahead Group have launched the world’s first prepaid transit passes that can be bought and used directly from Google Wallet on Brighton & Hove Buses. The solution uses Littlepay’s Card As Authority to Travel (CAATT) model,...
Innovate Finance Warns Bank of England Proposals Could Kill the GBP Stablecoin and Risk ‘Dollarisation’
In a submission to the House of Lords, Innovate Finance warned that the Bank of England’s draft rules would effectively prevent the launch of a GBP‑denominated stablecoin. The proposal includes strict user‑holding limits, a requirement that 40 % of backing assets...
Weaker Dollar and Diversification Drive Global Investors Toward Emerging Markets, Says Finnfund
Global investors are rapidly shifting capital into emerging markets as a weaker U.S. dollar and a push for diversification away from the United States drive demand. Over the past twelve months the MSCI Emerging Markets Index has surged 47%, far...
ACI Worldwide Unifies Global Payments with Cloud-Native ACI Connetic for Cards
ACI Worldwide has introduced ACI Connetic for Cards, a cloud‑native suite that consolidates card issuing, acquiring, and ATM/self‑service functions into a single modular platform. The solution embeds real‑time AI‑driven fraud intelligence and supports the full transaction lifecycle for the 300 billion...
ANNA Money Secures HMRC Making Tax Digital Approval, Launches Free Auto Accountant Tool
ANNA Money has received HMRC certification as a Making Tax Digital (MTD) software provider for Income Tax, allowing its users to file quarterly returns directly through the platform. The fintech also launched Auto Accountant, a free AI‑driven tool that prepares...
UWE Bristol and FinTech West Partner to Bridge the Fintech Talent Gap in the South West
University of the West of England (UWE Bristol) has entered a strategic partnership with FinTech West to close the fintech talent gap in the South West. The collaboration will see FinTech West co‑design UWE’s MSc FinTech programme, linking students to...
FinTech Australia Launches New Data Horizons Summit to Spotlight Real-World Open Banking Impact
FinTech Australia announced the inaugural Data Horizons Summit, a one‑day event on 8 May 2026 in Sydney. The summit builds on its successful Consumer Data Right and Net Zero gatherings, highlighting that more than one million Australians now use open‑banking...
In Profile: Cumbuca CEO Daniel Ruhman
Cumbuca, led by CEO Daniel Ruhman, provides a licensed proxy that lets global fintechs tap Brazil's regulated payments ecosystem without building their own licences. The platform connects clients directly to infrastructure such as Pix and open‑finance while handling compliance, allowing...
UK Consumer Awareness of ‘Pay by Bank’ Plummets Despite Open Banking Boom
Yaspa’s 2026 Index shows UK open‑banking transactions jumped 53 percent year‑on‑year in 2025, yet consumer familiarity with the term “Pay by Bank” fell to 38 percent, down from 55 percent a year earlier. The survey of 2,157 adults highlights fragmented terminology—merchants use multiple...
Algeria’s Fintech Ecosystem in 2026 by Building Momentum
Algeria’s fintech ecosystem in 2026 remains modest, with roughly 30‑35 startups focused on payments, digital banking and crypto services. Recent policy moves, including the Fintech Strategy 2024‑2030 and the Bank of Algeria’s entry into the Pan‑African Payment and Settlement System,...
PawaPay and Deriv Join Forces to Scale Mobile Money Deposits Across Africa
PawaPay has partnered with online trading platform Deriv to enable mobile‑money deposits in eight African countries, with plans to broaden coverage across the continent. The integration gives Deriv users a single, compliant connection to local mobile operators, allowing instant funding...
Qomply Expands Into Hong Kong as APAC Regulators Tighten Transaction Reporting Scrutiny
Qomply, a regulatory‑technology firm specializing in transaction reporting, has opened a new office in Hong Kong, extending its footprint in the Asia‑Pacific region. The expansion comes as Australia, Singapore and Hong Kong roll out extensive OTC derivatives reporting reforms, marking...
Tide Enters the Telecom Battleground with UK’s First Business Banking Mobile Plan
Tide, the UK‑based business‑banking platform valued at $1.5 billion, has teamed with telecom infrastructure firm Gigs to launch a native mobile plan powered by Vodafone’s 5G network. The service embeds a dedicated business phone number and eSIM directly into Tide’s all‑in‑one...
OKX Pivots to Activity-Driven Stablecoin Yield with Native Katana DeFi Integration
OKX has launched a native integration with Katana, a DeFi‑first chain backed by Polygon Labs and GSR, allowing users to earn stablecoin yield directly within the exchange. The solution ties rewards to on‑chain activity, a design that complies with U.S....
FundBank Acquires Irish Blockchain Startup Trrue Chain in €10m Deal as Institutional Crypto Demand Rises
FundBank, a U.S. institutional banking firm, has acquired Irish blockchain startup Trrue Chain for €10 million, marking its first major European crypto‑focused investment. The deal coincides with a sharp rise in institutional demand for digital assets and benefits from recent U.S....
Bybit Bridges Traditional Banking and Digital Assets with Direct AED Trading Pairs
Bybit, the world’s second‑largest crypto exchange, has introduced direct United Arab Emirates Dirham (AED) trading pairs, enabling users to trade USDT, BTC, ETH and SOL against AED without intermediate conversion. The service leverages local UAE bank transfers, allowing instant on‑exchange...
Behind the Idea: Bloxx
Bloxx is a fintech platform that lets buyers secure a home with just a one‑percent deposit and fixed monthly payments, eliminating the need for a traditional mortgage. The model creates equity for homeowners while linking renters, builders, and institutional investors...
Hands In and UATP Partner to Bring Split Payments to the Global Airline Industry
UK‑based split‑payment provider Hands In has partnered with global airline payment network UATP to embed its split‑payment API into UATP’s Ceptor platform. The integration lets airlines offer travellers the ability to combine multiple cards, payers and payment methods at checkout...
Generic AI Falls Short for Banks: Glia’s New Benchmark Report Reveals the Power of Purpose-Built Tools
Glia’s 2026 Banking AI Benchmarks Report finds that 95% of generic generative‑AI pilots never reach production, urging banks to switch to industry‑specific tools. The study of 400 financial institutions shows purpose‑built AI delivers a 92%+ understanding rate, up to 94.8%...
Hub71 Startup Skipr Raises $2m to Build ‘Autonomous Trust Fabric’ for AI
Abu Dhabi‑based startup Skipr closed a $2 million seed round, valuing the company at $10 million. The funding will accelerate the rollout of its autonomous trust fabric, a sovereign‑grade infrastructure that secures AI‑to‑AI communication across borders. Skipr’s platform combines cryptographic identities, policy‑driven...
Cardiff Fintech Delio Acquired by New York Infrastructure Firm iAltA Holdings
New York‑based iAltA Holdings has completed the acquisition of Delio, a Cardiff fintech that supplies a white‑label operating system for private‑market distribution and reporting. Delio’s Core OS, built on low‑code modules, is used by more than 50 global financial institutions...
GFA Exchange Hits 10,000 UK Business Milestone to Plug Private Credit Data Gap Ahead of AIFMD 2
GFA Exchange, a UK fintech portfolio intelligence platform, now hosts live data on 10,000 lower‑mid‑market businesses, covering the top 1,000 firms across all Industrial Strategy sectors plus Real Estate and Retail. The rollout arrives as the UK prepares for AIFMD 2,...
The U.S. Fintech Market Is Heating Up Again
U.S. fintech is entering a third evolutionary phase where profitability, robust infrastructure, and AI‑driven efficiency eclipse the previous growth‑at‑all‑costs mindset. After two years of valuation compression, deal flow is reviving, with investors favoring companies that can demonstrate margin expansion. Stripe...
Bison Bank Integrates Elliptic’s AI Analytics to Supercharge Digital Asset Compliance
Lisbon‑based Bison Bank has partnered with blockchain analytics leader Elliptic to embed the firm’s AI‑powered “copilot” into its digital‑asset subsidiary, Bison Digital Assets. The integration enables real‑time monitoring of more than 1,000 crypto tokens and automates data collection, fund‑flow analysis,...
MoneyGram, Vodafone, and eToro to Operate Privacy-Enhancing Blockchain Nodes for Midnight
The Midnight Foundation announced that MoneyGram, Vodafone’s Pairpoint unit, and eToro will each run one of the ten founding nodes for Midnight, a fourth‑generation privacy‑enhancing blockchain. The three regulated firms join existing operators such as Google Cloud, Blockdaemon, Shielded Technologies...
MoonPay Launches Non-Custodial Financial Layer to Power the Autonomous AI Agent Economy
MoonPay announced MoonPay Agents, a non‑custodial software layer that gives AI agents direct access to crypto wallets and funds. Built on the MoonPay CLI, the platform lets users complete KYC, fund a wallet, and then allow autonomous agents to trade,...
SumUp Expands Form3 Partnership to Bring Real-Time SEPA Payments to Millions of European SMEs
SumUp announced an expanded partnership with cloud‑native payments platform Form3 to power real‑time SEPA Instant, Credit Transfer and Direct Debit across Europe. The move extends the existing UK‑focused integration, giving SumUp’s 4 million merchants in 37 countries access to instant European...
DLocal and Open English Introduce Bre-B Instant Payments to Eliminate Checkout Friction in Colombia
dLocal and Open English have launched Bre‑B, Colombia’s government‑backed real‑time payment rail, as an instant checkout option for the e‑learning platform. The integration lets students pay via bank‑linked llaves or QR codes, confirming transactions in seconds and eliminating the need...
First Fidelity Bank Taps Bud Financial for Insight-Driven Digital Banking Upgrade
First Fidelity Bank (FFB), a regional community bank with $2.9 billion in assets, has gone live with Bud Financial’s Enrich and Engage platforms to upgrade its digital banking experience. The partnership embeds Bud’s transaction‑data enrichment and personal financial management (PFM) widgets—such...
Paysafe Unveils Strategic Partnership with Spreedly to Boost Global Open Payments
Paysafe announced a strategic partnership with payment‑orchestration provider Spreedly, integrating its gateway as an acquirer on Spreedly’s Open Payment Platform. The collaboration instantly enables card‑present and card‑not‑present transactions for merchants in Europe, North America and other regions, leveraging Spreedly’s connections...
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...
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...
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...
Crowdcube and LSEG Unlock Private Market Liquidity with First TPEIC Offer on the Private Securities Market
Crowdcube and the London Stock Exchange Group have completed the first Tradable Private Equity Investment Company (TPEIC) transaction on the FCA‑approved Private Securities Market. The deal uses the PISCES framework to list Oxford Science Enterprises, a £1.3 billion balance‑sheet vehicle that...
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...
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,...
TransferGo Enters New Stage of Growth as Bank of Lithuania Expands EMI Licence
The Bank of Lithuania has broadened TransferGo's electronic money institution licence, allowing the fintech to keep its core cross‑border money‑transfer and payment‑account services while adding new consumer products. The company plans to roll out TransferGo payment cards across the European...
Taranis Capital Launches Exclusive Global Investor Newsletter Amidst Flagship Fund Activations
Taranis Capital has introduced an invitation‑only Global Investor Newsletter to satisfy growing demand from sophisticated investors worldwide. The publication will deliver strategic updates on the firm’s flagship funds, which span data centres, biotech, disruptive technology, green biotech and real estate....
Bitget’s Layer-2 Network Morph Sharpens Payments Focus with USDC and CCTP Integration
Bitget’s Ethereum layer‑2 network Morph has partnered with Circle to issue USDC directly on the chain and integrate the Circle Cross‑Chain Transfer Protocol (CCTP). The native USDC token becomes the canonical settlement asset, while CCTP’s burn‑and‑mint mechanism enables instant, verifiable...
Northern Ireland Accelerates as Global Fintech and RegTech Hub
Northern Ireland is emerging as a global fintech and RegTech hub, driven by a collaborative ecosystem linking industry, academia, and government. The region produces roughly 5,500 finance and technology graduates each year, with half of all higher‑education students studying STEM...
The Majority of Businesses Manage Payments Through Disconnected Systems, Corefy’s 2025 Study Finds
Corefy’s State of Payment Maturity 2025 study, based on 672 global assessments, reveals that 58.5% of businesses still operate fragmented payment systems, limiting visibility and control. While manual handling has fallen to just 1%, only 11.7% of firms have reached...
Ctrl Alt and Dubai Land Department Unlock Secondary Market Trading in Phase Two of Real Estate Tokenisation Pilot
Ctrl Alt and the Dubai Land Department have launched Phase Two of Dubai’s real‑estate tokenisation pilot, adding a controlled secondary market for tokenised property assets. The new phase makes roughly 7.8 million tokens issued in Phase One eligible for resale, allowing investors to...
