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 labels for the same service—causing confusion at checkout. Legacy payment names like BACS remain recognized by 77 percent of shoppers, underscoring the power of consistent branding. Industry leaders warn that without a unified consumer‑facing term, the full potential of open‑banking will remain untapped.
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...
Riyadh Prepares to Host the World’s Tech Ecosystem as LEAP 5 Targets Global Expansion and Billions in Investment
LEAP 5, the flagship Saudi tech conference, returns to Riyadh from April 13‑16, 2026, aiming to cement the Kingdom’s role as a global innovation hub under Vision 2030. Organised by the MCIT, SAFCSP, and Tahaluf, the event builds on a...
ADX and Al Ramz Capital Launch Stock Trading Competition Offering 1 Million Etihad Guest Miles
The Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX) and Al Ramz Capital have launched the Al Ramz Investment and Trading Competition, the region’s first hands‑on stock market contest. Participants compete monthly for up to 1 million Etihad Guest Miles, with runner‑up prizes ranging...
Visa Targets North Africa Growth with New Egypt, Libya and Sudan Sub-Region
Visa announced a new sub‑regional structure covering Egypt, Libya and Sudan, part of its broader North Africa, Levant and Pakistan growth strategy. The reorganisation appoints Malak El Baba as country manager for the three markets and moves veteran Ahmed Mohey...
NoCFO Taps Salt Edge to Deliver In-App ‘Pay by Bank’ for SMEs in Finland and Germany
NoCFO, the AI‑native financial management platform, has partnered with open‑banking specialist Salt Edge to embed a Pay‑by‑Bank payment‑initiation service directly into its app. The new feature lets Finnish SMEs approve and pay invoices without leaving the platform, currently serving more than...
Rentify Launches UAE’s First AI-Native Rent Infrastructure with ‘Rentify Pay’
Dubai fintech Rentify unveiled Rentify Pay, the UAE’s first AI‑native rent‑infrastructure platform. The service expands beyond its original "Rent Now, Pay Later" model to digitise the entire rental lifecycle for tenants, landlords and property managers. Leveraging AI automation, the platform...
EBay Introduces ‘Pay by Bank’ for UK Shoppers and Backs TrueLayer with Strategic Investment
eBay has partnered with TrueLayer to introduce a Pay by Bank option for UK shoppers, allowing payments directly from bank accounts at checkout. The integration promises instant, secure transactions without sharing bank login details, and all eligible purchases remain covered...
Fintech Firms Are Losing Out on Media Coverage by Overcomplicating Press Releases
Fintech companies in the UK have raised £2.6 billion, yet many are sabotaging their own growth with overly technical press releases. JournoLink’s analysis shows 74 percent of founders use AI for internal efficiency, but external communications remain cluttered with jargon. This complexity...
Aria CEO Warns Against ‘Black Box’ AI in High-Stakes B2B Credit Decisions
Aria CEO Clément Carrier warns that opaque, black‑box AI models are unsuitable for high‑stakes B2B credit decisions, where a single error can erase profits. He notes that B2B lending differs from consumer credit because of larger ticket sizes, infrequent purchases,...
Botim Money Adds Digital Silver to Its Fractional Investing Suite From AED 10
Botim Money, the fintech arm of UAE messaging platform botim, has launched a digital silver investing option within its in‑app “Invest” feature. Eligible users can buy, sell and hold fractional silver starting at AED 10, extending the company’s precious‑metal suite that...
Souhoola Gains Approval for New Prepaid Card in Partnership with Banque Misr, Visa, and Modupay
Egyptian fintech Souhoola has secured initial regulatory approval to launch a reloadable prepaid card in collaboration with Banque Misr, Visa, and payment‑technology firm Modupay. The card will be instantly activatable via an app, allowing real‑time balance tracking, cash withdrawals and...
UK’s First Online Fintech Platform Launched to Help SMEs Manage Debt and Avoid Borrowing Pitfalls
Leeds‑based fintech Debeo has launched what it calls the UK’s first purpose‑built online platform to help small and medium‑sized enterprises (SMEs) understand and manage their debt. The service aggregates loans, overdrafts and asset‑finance agreements into a single, real‑time view, enabling...
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Wakam UK launched in April 2024 as a fully authorised digital insurer built to serve MGAs, insurtechs and embedded insurance platforms. Leveraging an API‑driven, AI‑native core, the firm can design, underwrite and launch bespoke products in weeks rather than months....
Wio Bank and Kibsons Partner to Bolster UAE Food Supply Chains and Reward Grocery Shoppers
Wio Bank PJSC has teamed up with UAE fresh‑food retailer Kibsons to embed digital banking services into the grocery ecosystem. The deal provides supply‑chain finance that improves liquidity and cash‑flow visibility across Kibsons’ import, distribution and e‑commerce operations. From now...
Emirates NBD Brings Carbon Tracking to ENBD X App to Drive Sustainable Spending
Emirates NBD has integrated a carbon‑tracking feature, the ENBD X Carbon Calculator, into its ENBD X mobile banking app, targeting roughly two million active users. The tool automatically analyses transaction data to estimate associated CO₂ emissions and presents monthly breakdowns,...
Quantoz Partners with Visa to Unlock Stablecoin Spending at the Checkout
Quantoz Payments has become a direct Visa principal member, allowing it to issue virtual Visa debit cards and act as a BIN sponsor for fintechs. The partnership lets customers spend regulated e‑money and stablecoins on any Visa‑accepted merchant, including online,...
Penny Software Expands Global Footprint with New UK Office to Drive AI Procurement
Penny Software, the Saudi‑based AI procurement platform, has opened a new office in Derby, UK, to serve as a regional hub for its growing European client base. The move follows rapid adoption of its cloud‑native solution across more than 75...