Lithuania-based regtech AMLYZE has forged a partnership with Vinted Pay, the payments division of European online marketplace for second-hand fashion and other goods, Vinted. Vinted Pay will use AMLYZE’s technology to provide real-time and retrospective transaction monitoring and customer risk assessment during onboarding and payment processes. Headquartered in Vilnius, Lithuania, AMLYZE made its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope 2024. Lithuanian regtech AMLYZE announced a partnership with Vinted Pay, the payments subsidiary of European online marketplace for second-hand items, Vinted. Vinted Pay will leverage AMLYZE’s technology for real-time and retrospective transaction monitoring and customer risk assessment to ensure that Vinted Pay’s onboarding and payment processes meet AML/CFT requirements. A leading second-hand fashion marketplace in Europe and a self-described “go-to destination for all kinds of pre-loved items,” Lithuania’s Vinted offers an online platform that connects millions of members across more than 20 markets. Founded in 2008, Vinted became the country’s first unicorn in 2019, and reached a valuation of more than €5 billion with a €340 million fundraising round in October 2024. That same year, the company reported a boost in net profits of 330%, exceeding €76 million. “We are proud to partner with Vinted, a key player in the online marketplace industry,” AMLYZE CEO and Co-Founder Gabrielius Erikas Bilkštys said. “Now that Vinted Pay has successfully joined our platform, our advanced solutions will support Vinted Pay in maintaining strict compliance standards, including during onboarding processes, ensuring it continues to be a safe and trusted platform for its users. This collaboration underlines our commitment to providing world-class AML/CFT services and improving the prevention of financial crime across Europe.” Launched in 2023, Vinted Pay is the latest initiative from Vinted, and is part of the company’s strategy to provide buyers and sellers across Europe with a secure, reliable payment option. Integrated into the Vinted App, Vinted Pay will ensure that members have access to safe, efficient, and easy online transactions with the platform. Members will be able to use Vinted Pay to shop for second-hand merchandise on the Vinted platform or, as Vinted recently announced, to enable members to transfer funds from sales to a secure digital account. These funds can be used to make purchases on the Vinted platform or withdrawn to a personal bank account outside of Vinted. “Vinted Pay is dedicated to providing a safe and reliable payment experience for our community,” Vinted VP of Payments Modestas Tursa said. “The expertise and innovative technology of AMLYZE helps ensure we continue to foster trust within our platform as we gradually introduce and scale Vinted Pay across markets.” Founded in 2019 and headquartered in Lithuania, AMLYZE made its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope 2024. At the conference, the company demonstrated its anti-financial crime information sharing framework that leverages synthetic data to facilitate AI model training, testing of automated monitoring solutions, and more. Photo by Gantas Vaičiulėnas on Unsplash The post AMLYZE Teams Up with Vinted Pay to Bring AML/CFT Monitoring to Payments appeared first on Finovate.       

Gusto is testing stablecoin payouts for global payroll through a partnership with zerohash. The beta test is using regulated on-chain settlement infrastructure to enable faster, more transparent cross-border payments. If successful, the beta could signal stablecoins’ shift into core payroll infrastructure, modeling how HR and payroll platforms can adopt digital assets in a compliant, scalable way. Payroll, benefits, and HR management solutions company Gusto revealed today that it is testing stablecoin payout capabilities across its global payments. The California-based fintech will leverage a partnership with digital asset infrastructure provider zerohash. Founded in 2017, zerohash is a crypto, stablecoin, and tokenization platform that brings instant money movement to banks, brokerages, and fintechs. With more than six million end customers, the company has settled $65 billion in transaction volume, is available in more than 200 jurisdictions, and supports over 100 assets. Gusto said it chose zerohash for its deep regulatory expertise, operational maturity at scale, and the ability to support global expansion securely and seamlessly. In teaming up with zerohash, Gusto will use zerohash’s regulated on-chain settlement infrastructure to allow its clients to receive their earnings in digital dollars. Gusto will use zerohash’s stablecoin rails to enhance speed and transparency to allow workers to receive payments in the form of stablecoins. When compared to traditional cross-border payments, which can take three-to-seven days to settle, stablecoins will allow Gusto to move funds from employer to worker across the globe in minutes. In addition to real-time settlement, leveraging digital currencies will also allow for on-chain traceability and compatibility with both custodial and self-custodial wallets. Pointing to the growing mismatch between global workforces and legacy payment infrastructure, zerohash Founder and CEO Edward Woodford said stablecoins offer a faster and more flexible alternative for moving money across borders. “As the workforce increasingly becomes more global and more digital, traditional payment rails can no longer meet the speed and accessibility that modern businesses require,” said Woodford. “Gusto is one of the most forward-thinking platforms for businesses, and we’re proud to provide the infrastructure that enables them to deliver instant, transparent, and flexible payouts across borders. Stablecoin rails unlock real-world benefits for millions of workers, and this partnership is a major step toward modernizing how money moves.” Gusto, originally known as ZenPayroll, was founded in 2011 to provide a cloud-based payroll, benefits, and HR management solution. The company’s tools help businesses track time and attendance, onboard new employees, manage existing talent, and more. With more than 400,000 small business clients, Gusto processes tens of billions of dollars of payroll each year and provides employee benefits, including 401(k) accounts, which are powered by the company’s 2025 acquisition of retirement specialist Guideline. According to Samant Nagpal, Head of Payments and Risk at Gusto, the partnership allows the company to introduce stablecoin payouts while maintaining the compliance and scalability required for global payroll. “At Gusto, our mission is to grow the small business economy. We believe payment choice is integral to helping small businesses and their teams thrive, which is why we’re committed to ensuring they can pay anyone, anywhere, anytime,” said Nagpal. “zerohash’s regulatory posture and global infrastructure allow us to offer stablecoin payouts in a way that is simple, compliant, and scalable. This partnership means that we can deliver a faster, more seamless global payments experience for our customers and their teams.” This partnership is another example of how stablecoins are shifting from experimental use cases into core financial infrastructure, especially in cross-border payments. Testing stablecoin payouts within a regulated framework gives Gusto the ability to expand payment choice for its small business customers. While Gusto’s trial of stablecoin payouts is still in beta, if successful, the approach could set the standard for other HR and payroll platforms as global workforces continue to grow. Photo by Ann H The post Gusto Unveils Global Stablecoin Payout Capabilities  appeared first on Finovate.       

A strategic partnership between Jet Bank and banking platform Backbase will power the launch of Albania’s first digital-only bank. A greenfield digital bank able to leverage modern, enabling technologies, Jet Bank chose Backbase to serve as its digital engagement layer, orchestrating customer interactions across channels while integrating with core banking, card processing, and third-party services. “Our ambition is to set a new standard for digital banking in Albania by building a bank that feels intuitive, reliable, and relevant in everyday use,” Jet Bank CEO Fatbardha Rino said. “This partnership with Backbase gives us the digital foundation to launch quickly while maintaining the trust and discipline expected from a licensed bank. We’re not just launching an app—we’re building a platform that can continuously evolve with our customers.” So far, the collaboration between Backbase and Jet Bank has enabled the institution to transition from setup to User Acceptance Testing in three months, and gain full operational capability as a licensed digital bank within six months. The platform also supports monthly product releases, enabling Jet Bank to launch new products and services based on actual customer demand while ensuring uninterrupted customer journeys. The solution provides end-to-end banking capabilities ranging from customer onboarding and lending to wealth management and intelligent assistance—all orchestrated via a single unified experience. Additionally, Jet Bank noted that Backbase’s marketplace-driven approach was a major reason why the institution sought out the collaboration. Specifically, the bank pointed to the ability to quickly launch new products and third-party services within a consistent digital experience, a critical capability for a digital bank. “Jet Bank represents the future of digital banking—fast to market, built for continuous innovation, and designed around customer needs from day one,” Backbase Regional Vice President Robert Mihaljek said. “Their strategic choice to partner with a single, unified platform rather than assembling disconnected channels demonstrates the discipline required to build a truly scalable digital bank. We’re proud to support their vision and help them bring world-class digital banking to Albania.” A Finovate alum since 2009, Backbase is a four-time Finovate Best of Show award winner, most recently securing top honors at FinovateEurope 2018. Founded in 2003 and headquartered in Amsterdam, Backbase offers an AI-powered banking platform that unifies all servicing and sales journeys into an integrated suite. Backbase’s technology enables banks to modernize operations across retail, SME, commercial, and private banking, as well as wealth management. More than 150 financial institutions around the world use Backbase’s solutions and services. This week’s collaboration is not the first between Backbase and an Albanian bank. Last spring, Backbase announced that Albania’s Tirana Bank would deploy Backbase’s Engagement Banking Platform to power its digital transformation. The five-year strategic partnership will enhance Tirana Bank’s suite of solutions including new capabilities for web and mobile banking, digital lending, and other services. Founded in 1996 as the first bank in Albania launched entirely with private capital, Tirana Bank surpassed total assets of €1.5 billion ($1.6 billion) in 2024. The institution is located in Tirana, Albania’s capital city with an estimated 542,730 residents—more than 800,000 in the greater metropolitan area. Photo by Mario Beqollari on Unsplash The post Jet Bank and Backbase to Launch Albania’s First Digital-Only Bank appeared first on Finovate.       

A look at the companies demoing at FinovateEurope in London on February 10. Register today using this link and save 20%. Candour Identity Candour Identity offers identity verification that continuously prevents rapidly evolving fraud attempts and provides a frictionless user experience for everyday use. Features Counters rapidly evolving fraud attempts Delivers continuous fraud prevention Provides a great user experience for everyday use Who’s it for? Banks, financial services, and telecom operators. Darwinium Darwinium is an AI fraud prevention platform born in the age of AI, using advanced AI tools to defeat the latest attacks, including scams, mules, and app cloning. Features Deploys in minutes at the perimeter edge Protects touchpoints in the customer journey without an engineering resource Uses adversarial AI red-teaming and an AI copilot to close the loop between detection and remediation Who’s it for? Banks, fintechs, enterprises, and SMBs. Hagbad Hagbad is a fintech platform that digitalizes social group savings into secure, transparent financial infrastructure, enabling communities to build financial visibility and long-term economic growth. Features Offers digital, invite-only group savings with automated contributions and payouts Provides transparent, auditable records that strengthen trust and accountability Delivers intelligent insights that support financial growth Who’s it for? Individuals and communities using group savings, particularly cash-based, diaspora, and ethically motivated users seeking secure, transparent, and interest-free financial tools. Tweezr Tweezr turns legacy code into system knowledge and business process maps, helping banks deliver safer core changes faster while avoiding risky big-bang programs. Features Presents explainable impact analysis and dependencies Delivers business process maps and feature evolution Offers incident investigation with end-to-end traceability Who’s it for? Banks, credit unions, and payment providers. The post FinovateEurope 2026 Sneak Peek Series: Part 2 appeared first on Finovate.      Related StoriesFinovateEurope 2026 Sneak Peek Series: Part 1FinovateEurope is Coming Up. Here Are My Top Agenda Picks.FinovateEurope 2026: AI, Cybersecurity, Stablecoins, Quantum Computing and More! 

We’re more than halfway through the first month of the year, and topics like AI and stablecoins continue to dominate both the headlines and the mindshare in fintech. Below, we’ve aggregated the top news in fintech for the week. We’ll continue to add more announcements as the week progresses. AI AI voice start-up ElevenLabs in funding talks at $11bn valuation (paywall). Synechron launches suite of AI agents to automate complex workflows, reduce risk and speed adoption. Payments dLocal partners with HONOR to launch localized payments in Peru’s growing tech landscape. TreviPay launches Pay by Invoice for issuers, enabled by Visa Credentials. Blackhawk Network’s Giftcards.com expands access to digital gift cards across PayPal. Lending Block surpasses $200 billion in credit provided to customers, continuing to address global lending gaps. Fraud and compliance eflow client base surges 23% as trading complexity intensifies surveillance demands. Tax PayPal introduces free DIY tax filing for PayPal debit card customers in partnership with April. Community banking Infusion Marketing Group, QwickRate and IntelliCredit combine to form OptimaFI. Photo by Google DeepMind The post Fintech Rundown: A Rapid Review of Weekly News appeared first on Finovate.       

Feedzai and Matrix USA are launching a Center of Excellence to deliver a standardized, repeatable approach to help financial institutions deploy fraud and AML solutions. The partnership addresses the growing AI-driven fraud threat, as more than 50% of fraudsters now use AI. By combining AI-native technology with deep implementation expertise, the companies aim to help banks modernize fraud and AML programs at speed and scale without disrupting day-to-day operations. Risk management solutions provider Feedzai is teaming up with advisory and technology services company Matrix USA to help financial institutions fight the rising threats of fraud and money laundering. The two companies are collaborating on a Center of Excellence that will create a standardized approach to deploying fraud and anti-money laundering (AML) solutions. Highlighting the need for fraud prevention strategies that can keep pace with increasingly sophisticated threats, Feedzai Co-Founder and CEO Nuno Sebastião said AI has permanently reshaped the financial crime landscape. “AI has changed the fraud landscape forever, and financial institutions need solutions that can evolve just as quickly. That requires advanced technology with the right expertise to put it to work effectively. Together, Feedzai and Matrix USA will help financial institutions translate powerful capabilities into real-world impact against sophisticated, AI-enabled financial crime.” Feedzai was founded in 2011 as a risk operations platform specializing in identity verification, fraud prevention, and financial crime detection. The company’s AI-powered solutions span KYC, AML, watchlist screening, and transaction fraud monitoring to help financial institutions stop fraud in real time without compromising the customer experience. Today, Feedzai protects over one billion consumers in more than 190 countries and safeguards over $8 billion in transactions annually. Founded in 2006, Matrix USA provides advisory services to help financial institutions prevent financial crime and stay compliant when leveraging agentic AI, AI and LLM, automation, and model validation tools. The New Jersey-based company operates in more than 20 countries and has implemented more than 1,000 projects. With new advancements in AI becoming more accessible than ever, the partnership comes at a key time. According to research from Feedzai, more than 50% of fraudsters now use AI. When paired with banks’ outdated infrastructure, the enabling technology is widening the gap between increasingly sophisticated financial crime and the tools institutions have used for decades. Regarding the pressure banks face as they modernize legacy systems, Matrix USA CEO Lior Blik said financial institutions must strengthen fraud and AML defenses without slowing business operations. “Financial institutions are under tremendous pressure to modernize their fraud and AML defenses without slowing down business. By pairing Feedzai’s industry-leading AI capabilities with our deployment and integration expertise, we’re giving customers a faster, more reliable path to advanced prevention and stronger compliance.” By combining Feedzai’s AI-native financial crime prevention technology with Matrix USA’s implementation and advisory expertise, the two companies aim to deliver a structured, repeatable approach that helps financial institutions fight fraud and money laundering at speed and scale without disrupting day-to-day operations. Photo by Tara Winstead The post Feedzai and Matrix Partner to Create Standardized Fraud Fighting Approach appeared first on Finovate.       

Heading into 2026, there are some challenges to banks, fintechs, and financial services companies that are almost universal. How can firms navigate regulatory uncertainty? What is the most sustainable pace for the adoption of enabling technologies like blockchain and AI—much less basic modernization and digital transformation? What do consumers expect from banks and financial services providers in 2026 and how can these institutions do a better job of serving them? With FinovateEurope coming to London in less than a month, this week’s Finovate Global will examine these issues in the context of fintech in the United Kingdom. Future editions will look at how these trends are playing out in Western and Southern Europe, the Baltics, as well as Central and Eastern Europe. Navigating Regulatory Complexity: Balancing Innovation and Risk More than a decade later, the consequences of the UK’s decision to leave the European Union continue to reverberate throughout the region: and its financial sector is no exception. In the years since Brexit, the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has created and implemented its own financial regulations, including guidelines for the use of enabling technologies like crypto assets and AI, that diverge from those in the EU. The UK’s Financial Services and Markets Act (FSMA), for example, regulates stablecoins through use cases related to payments, whereas the EU’s Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) Regulation, is broader, including asset-based tokens as well as e-money tokens. Policies in both regions have been credited for their emphasis on consumer protections. Nevertheless, some have suggested that the UK’s approach, by comparison, is more focused on balancing innovation with risk management, in alignment with the UK’s efforts to position itself as an international hub for digital finance. Unsurprisingly, this pattern is also apparent in the differing approaches the UK and the EU have taken toward AI regulation in financial services. Whereas the UK’s approach seeks to grant more space for financial institutions and fintechs to experiment with AI technologies and relies on existing regulators (i.e., the FCA) to ensure compliance, the EU approach, with its AI Act, puts a primary focus on risk management. The Act itself categorizes AI systems by “risk levels” (high, limited, minimal) and mandates risk assessments, transparency disclosures, and compliance with other technical standards. Accelerating Technological Transformation: Early Embrace Leads Broad Adoption The UK’s early embrace of open banking has helped the region not only develop a robust open banking and finance ecosystem, but also has fueled its embedded finance industry. The combination of an active regulator in the FCA, innovations such as standardized APIs, and the availability of regulatory sandboxes have helped the UK reach a point where analysts believe its embedded finance market alone could double from 6.5 billion pounds ($8.7 billion) in 2024 to 15.8 billion pounds ($21 billion) by 2029. This far surpasses the EU’s embedded finance growth expectations of $194.6 million by 2030. While fraud and cybersecurity threats are as much a concern in Europe as they are in the UK, the UK’s status as a major international financial hub also means that it suffers from a disproportionately high rate of cybercrime and fraud. Even innovations like Faster Payments have had the unfortunate consequence of making certain types of fraud—such as Authorized Push Payments (APP) scams—easier for cybercriminals to pull off. It is true that the UK does an exceptional job when it comes to fraud reporting; in the UK tracking and analyzing fraud data is more centralized compared to the EU where this data is predictably more fragmented. However, this alone does not account for the difference in fraud rates. One area of transformation that still haunts much of the UK banking and financial services sector is the reliance on outdated infrastructure. The persistence of outdated core systems significantly limits the ability of banks and other financial services providers to innovate and scale. Successfully modernizing and digitizing their systems is key to enabling them to take advantage of some of the enabling technologies noted here: from AI and blockchain technology to faster payments and tougher cybersecurity protections. It is true that both the UK and the EU suffer from more mainframe-based core banking infrastructure and layers of middleware than is beneficial to either region’s financial sector. This is especially true when the less developed areas of both—the UK’s north and the EU’s east—are taken into account. What is interesting is that the demand for modernization is greater in the UK, where there is both strong pressure from regulators and from increasingly digitally savvy consumers. The dominance of a few major banks in the UK also puts significant constraints on modernization, and encourages a tendency to innovate and modernize “around the core” rather than engage in wholesale replacement. Meeting Customer Expectations: Incentive Innovation, Increase Engagement The UK banking and financial services customer is sophisticated, digitally savvy, and is willing to experiment with new banking and fintech innovations across payments, lending, investments, and more. Because of this, the UK enjoys a relatively high trust in banks, creating a virtuous circle that, along with these other factors, incentivizes innovation in financial services and a higher degree of engagement among financial services consumers. As such, it is no surprise that the chief concern for UK banking consumers is financial crime and fraud. If anything, it is refreshing that a population open to new technologies and methods in an area as delicate as finance is similarly focused on ensuring that these new financial products and services are secure. Moreover, because fraud fears are a consistent, but not necessarily dominant concern, it is worth noting that much of what drives concerns over financial crime involve recent developments such as faster payments and greater personalization. In this light, it is clear that the key to ensuring continued adoption of innovations in fintech and financial services—for individuals as well as businesses—lies in a path to adoption that is accessible, transparent, regulated, and safe. Here is our look at fintech innovation around the world. Latin America and the Caribbean Brazilian fintech Agibank filed for an IPO in the US with a goal of raising $1 billion. Latin American stablecoin infrastructure platform VelaFi raised $20 million in funding. Uruguay-based fintech infrastructure company Skyblue Analytics, secured strategic funding. Asia-Pacific WeLab, a Pan-Asian fintech that operates a number of digital banks in the region, raised $220 million in a debt and equity round involving HSBC and Prudential. Liminal Custody, a digital asset custody firm, joined the Fintech Association of Japan. Temenos and Myanmar Citizens Bank partnered to fortify core banking operations and facilitate real-time payments. Sub-Saharan Africa Capital.com secured a license from Kenya’s Capital Markets Authority (CMA). Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations de Côte d’Ivoire announced an investment in local fintech GREEN-PAY. US fintech PayServices filed a lawsuit in US federal court against the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) over a failed banking and payments infrastructure modernization project. Central and Eastern Europe German insurtech Enzo raised an additional €4 million in seed extension funding. Banking Circle opened a new branch in the Czech Republic. Berlin-based wealthTech NAO and ARK Invest Europe forged a strategic partnership. Middle East and Northern Africa Payment orchestration platform MoneyHash teamed up with Spare to promote open banking payments in the UAE. Oman’s first licensed payment service provider Thawani Technologies inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Oman-based fintech Monak. Floss, a fintech based in Bahrain, secured a $22 million credit facility arranged by UAE-based investment company Shorooq. Central and Southern Asia Leading banks in India announced a plan to deploy more than 17,000 ATMs across the country’s banking network to promote cash recycling. Crowdfund Insider looked at how Pakistan’s fintech industry is dealing with a payments ecosytems that is still dominated by cash. TBC Uzbekistan introduced its TBC Plus subscription service to expand its range of financial and lifestyle offerings. Photo by Deeana Arts The post Finovate Global UK: Regulatory Complexity, Tech Innovation, and Keeping Consumers Safe appeared first on Finovate.       

CES is known for flashy gadgets and fun consumer technology. For most banks, CES is not a must-attend event because it does not focus on fintech and banking. There is, however, still value in attending the show, as emerging technologies can signal how customer expectations and new operating models are evolving. U.S. Bank understands this and sent two executives, Don Relyea, Chief Innovation Officer, and Todder Moning, Head of R&D, Innovation, on a “Future Safari” to check out what’s new, what’s next, and what’s possible when it comes to implementing technologies. After they returned to the office last week, we interviewed Relyea and Moning to unpack what CES 2026 revealed from a banker’s perspective. From embedded AI and robotics to agentic commerce and cross-industry convergence, they highlight new trends, unpack which were overhyped, and explain what bank leaders should be paying attention to over the next 12 to 24 months. From a banker’s perspective, what signals did CES send this year about where technology investment is actually heading—and which trends felt more operationally real than hype? Don Relyea and Todder Moning: Well, it’s safe to say the technology investment is increasing across the board. We love taking Future Safaris to CES because it is a great way to get ideas and see and follow emerging trends across many spaces that will allow us to improve the customer experience as well as integrate with other new tech innovations. Trends that stuck out to our team this year include: Everywhere Intelligence – Embedded in Everything: Artificial intelligence is no longer a standalone category—it’s being woven into devices large and small, at the edge (on-device) and in the cloud, turning ordinary products into smart, context-aware companions. In terms of potential financial implications, personalized financial assistants that understand behavior, spending patterns, and context could dramatically improve user experience and trust in the future. However, increased reliance on AI raises privacy, bias, and regulatory concerns—especially as financial decisions become automated. Digital Health/Wellness/Longevity Tech: Tech that senses, analyzes, and predicts health was signposted at CES 2025 and carries into 2026 with smarter biofeedback devices. We see healthcare as connected to financial services and even have a saying: “healthcare is wealth care.” Money is emotional and has impacts on people, their families, and businesses, both good and bad, and helping to reach better wealth care outcomes (financial outcomes) positively impacts people’s health and wellness. The convergence of AI, wearables, brain interfaces, and other age-tech are going to extend life. There is an opportunity for banks to weave that into a more holistic planning process for our clients. We also saw numerous wearables and other AI-based innovations that monitor various metrics and values to inform you about health risks or concerns. This is relevant because there is a strong correlation between physical health and financial health. These innovations could also help catch costly medical problems before they occur, saving people money and stress. For example, transaction metrics could flag early signs of dementia or an eldercare abuse issue. Robots for industrial and home use: The resurgence of robotics was the most visible trend at CES this year. “Embodied AI” or what some call “Physical AI” are catchier names for intelligent robotics. We’re seeing tons of AI and far more robotics this year than in prior years, and as the two domains merge more deeply, a wave of AI-enabled, more general purpose, and often more human-like robotics solutions are emerging. Robots, humanoid, non-humanoid, and robotic exoskeletons that you wear are graduating from controlled environments to unstructured, real-world contexts—folding laundry, navigating homes, manufacturing or even autonomous vehicles. Looking ahead: CES shows a shift from gadget splendor to system-wide integration—everything is connected and intelligent. AI, robotics and immersive interfaces are converging—not just making things “smart” but connecting behaviors, identities and environments. As CES showcased advances in consumer hardware, AI assistants, and connected devices, what new expectations do you think customers will bring back to their financial institutions? Relyea and Moning: You’re hitting on two of the five themes about why we like to take Future Safaris and why CES is one of the best—what we call lateral and longitudinal. At CES, we’re able to see many industries and domains in a concentrated amount of time. Taking the lateral view, we see what and how numerous industries use similar technologies to do something. This is a great way to collect and curate direct or indirect ways that you can do metaphorically similar things in your future, industry and domain of interest. On the longitudinal view, if you’re in a place and time where lots of technologies, developments, or business models are present, it’s a great opportunity to gauge how each technology, development, or business model is changing over time. This was the bank’s 15th year at CES, which allows us to gauge how each technology or development is changing over time. Are robots getting better and more useful, or are they developing slowly (or worse, stalled and in decline)? Is AI advancing and if so, in what places and ways? Is a touted technology delivering against the hype, or is it prancing around with no real innovation use. In Texas, we call the latter “big hat, no cattle.” The big idea is that technology, design, and experiences are erasing the barriers and boundaries between industries. If one comes to expect what’s possible to do in one industry, business, or product, they will likely come to expect that for other industries and businesses. That’s the kind of meta-trending we try to find and then apply to what that means for banks and financial services going forward. Customer interactions continue to become increasingly digital and increasingly enabled by AI and sensors, and U.S. Bank is at the leading edge of visioning where tech is headed and what our customers need from us—as we provide the technology and guidance that make their financial lives simpler and more convenient. We’re proud to have one of the longest running dedicated innovation practices in banking today. AI being embedded in everything is going to raise the bar for consumer expectations of what good is. This year AI was not front and center at CES, it was embedded and improving the automation of consumer devices in subtle and easy to use and easy to access ways. Think rings, pins, and business card form factors that you can talk to (that may or may not connect to other devices or the cloud) and ask them to transcribe, translate, make PowerPoints, fill out forms, manage calendars, and many other things. This is going to raise the expectations of customers that more should be done for them. Did you notice fintech concepts like embedded finance, identity, or real-time payments showing up inside non-financial technology at CES? Relyea and Moning: Yes, we saw things like an AI-enabled oven that helps you grocery shop for ingredients. We saw several biometric payment checkout interfaces. These were easy to use and set up and could be integrated into anything requiring identity and payments pretty easily. We saw biometric technology using keyboard behavior that could help flag a significant behavior change in an employee (for example), who is either under duress or as a disgruntled employee could make poor decisions impacting the business. Another example we saw is asset-tracking technology that could be used off-grid, to say track trucks, railcars, mining equipment, etc. For the majority of bank leaders who didn’t attend CES, what is one emerging theme from the show that you think will impact financial services over the next 12 to 24 months, and why? Relyea and Moning: I’d say the embedding of AI into devices and what has started happening in agentic commerce. Devices of all sorts are showing signs of becoming commerce orchestrators and agents for customers—and it’s a short jump from there to having devices become a type of customer. Many of the things we see at CES come with subscriptions—for instance, the longevity mirror I used came with an annual subscription for you and your family to use its AI data and models. You can imagine that many of these monthly or annual subscriptions we might have in the future. Are you going to manage all of those, or will the device manage it for you with limited spending capabilities you provide it? Tell us about the coolest non-banking use of technology you saw at CES? Relyea and Moning: I think the exoskeletons were really cool. Don was able to wear the leg ones that helped him climb stairs much easier and faster. I was able to wear one on my back and hips that helped me to pick up a heavy item with ease. I also liked the sustainable printed battery that was paper thin. It could be embedded into most anything and power airtags in things like your passport carrier, purse, wallet, that kind of thing. And when you throw it away, it is completely compostable. And we always love the autonomous mobility work that the big agricultural and construction/mining brands show—autonomous combines with autonomous hoppers that keep pace with the combine, and AI-assisted and autonomous Bobcats and construction excavators. It just shows how autonomous mobility is happening, even if its pace is slower than was originally expected at the beginning of the decade. Photo by Pixabay The post From Gadgets to Systems: What CES 2026 Signals for the Future of Banking appeared first on Finovate.       

Worldline is launching new AI capabilities to help merchants move from experimenting with AI agents to deploying them in real-world commerce. The company’s MCP servers act as a bridge between LLMs and payment APIs to allow AI agents to initiate transactions, issue refunds, and manage payment workflows using natural language. Worldline acknowledged its support for emerging standards like Google’s AP2 and UCP, as well as European regulatory requirements. Global payments company Worldline is making new moves to join the agentic future. The France-based firm is launching new capabilities that are helping companies to move from experimenting with AI agents to deploying AI agents. According to McKinsey, agentic commerce could see between $3 trillion and $5 trillion in global retail value by 2030. To help users leverage this opportunity, Worldline is unveiling two new capabilities to interface with AI agents and help merchants experiment with AI-powered workflows and commerce experiences. For the first capability, Worldline is using its Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers to act as a translation layer between LLMs and Worldline’s APIs. This bridge will enable consumers to participate in AI-driven shopping by allowing agents to share secure payment links. Shoppers can use AI agents to initiate a transaction using natural language, while merchants can support agent-initiated actions such as payment creation, refunds, status checks, and payment captures. Worldline views its new AI capabilities as a foundational step toward making agentic commerce practical at scale. According to Gertjan Dewaele, VP of Product & Technology at Worldline, the introduction of MCP servers helps bridge the gap between experimentation and real-world deployment. “The shift to agentic commerce is underway, and MCP servers are the first building block for moving merchants from experimentation to real-world deployment. By providing secure, simple access to Worldline’s payment capabilities for AI agents, we enable the next generation of agentic commerce and streamline internal operations.” Worldline has also introduced ConnectAI, which will allow developers and merchants to explore, build, test, and prepare for agentic commerce. ConnectAI serves as a hub that offers tools, documentation, and guidance for new agentic payment protocols. According to Worldline Head of Global Commerce Stijn Gasthuys, the company sees agentic commerce as a catalyst for broader innovation in payments. “Agentic commerce will unlock new waves of innovation, helping merchants deliver better customer experiences. Our investments in this area position Worldline to capture a growing global market for AI-powered transactions, delivering secure, scalable infrastructure that empowers merchants and developers to innovate with confidence.” Worldline’s move comes during a major shift in the payments industry, which is racing to accept the reality that AI agents are starting to participate in commerce. By focusing on infrastructure, standards alignment, and regulatory compliance, Worldline is positioning itself among the players willing to enable agentic commerce safely and at scale. Worldline’s new capabilities make it easier for merchants to experiment while reducing the operational and compliance risks that slow adoption. The tools make it easier for companies to transition from AI pilots to real, revenue-generating use cases. As part of today’s announcement, Worldline is actively supporting emerging standards, including Google’s newly launched Agent Payments Protocol (AP2) and Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP). The company also noted that it will place “a strong focus” on complying with European regulatory and trusted requirements. Founded in 1974, Worldline offers payments technology and solutions customized for hundreds of industries. The company counts more than one million businesses as clients around the world and generated $5.3 billion (4.6 billion euros) in revenue in 2024. Photo by Possessed Photography on Unsplash The post Worldline Connects AI Agents to its Global Payment Ecosystem appeared first on Finovate.       

Digital banking development platform Plumery unveiled its AI Fabric this week. The new offering will help banks operationalize AI safely and aid them as they deploy AI-assisted digital banking solutions. Headquartered in Amsterdam, Plumery made its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope 2025 in London. Ben Goldin is Founder and CEO. A new offering from digital banking development platform Plumery will help banks safely operationalize AI and provide a foundation for AI-assisted digital banking. Plumery’s AI Fabric gives financial institutions a standardized way to connect AI and generative AI models and agents to banking data. This alleviates the need for customized system integrations and helps direct institutions toward an event-driven, API-first architecture that scales as firms grow. “Financial institutions are clear about what they need from AI. They want real production use cases that improve customer experience and operations, but they will not compromise on governance, security, or control,” Plumery Founder and CEO Ben Goldin said. “Our AI Fabric gives them a standard, bank-grade way to allow AI use within their tools and data without rebuilding integrations for every model. The event-driven data mesh architecture improves the process by transforming how banking data is produced, shared, and consumed, instead of adding another AI layer on top of fragmented systems.” One of the biggest challenges faced by banks when seeking to operationalize AI is data fragmentation across legacy cores, channels, and integrations. This means that each new AI project tends to start from scratch, with additional infrastructure setup, security review, and governance—all of which can slow the process, delay value realization, and increase risk. Growing regulatory concerns regarding AI auditability and explainability also put pressure on institutions trying to take an ad-hoc approach to implementing and scaling AI. Plumery’s AI Fabric empowers institutions to integrate and exchange AI capabilities as the ecosystem evolves. The technology presents quality, domain-oriented banking data streams and events across products, channels, and customer journeys in a consistent, governed, and reusable manner. Plumery’s AI Fabric distinguishes systems of record from systems of engagement and intelligence to enable institutions to innovate continuously, integrate new capabilities seamlessly, and deliver consistent experiences across channels. The company’s latest offering enables institutions to move away from point-to-point integrations and one-off data pipelines, simplifying changes and making adjustments safer, cheaper, and less complex. Because Plumery’s AI Fabric provides institutions with clear data lineage, ownership, and control, companies can explain decisions, manage risk more effectively, and satisfy compliance regulations. Founded in 2016 and headquartered in the Netherlands, Plumery made its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope 2025 in London. At the conference, the company demonstrated its Super App Accelerator, which empowers financial institutions to launch a comprehensive Super App within weeks. Last fall, Plumery unveiled its cashback management capability, which helps banks build and launch their own cashback programs in weeks, featuring real-time, personalized rewards to boost customer engagement. Learn more about Plumery and its innovations in digital banking in this interview from the company’s FinovateEurope appearance last year. Photo by Igor Passchier The post Plumery Launches AI Fabric to Help Banks Operationalize AI appeared first on Finovate.       

A look at the companies demoing at FinovateEurope in London on February 10. Register today using this link and save 20%. AAZZUR AAZZUR is an easy and cost-effective way for brands and platforms to seamlessly integrate financial products and increase customer value. Features 10x cheaper and 4x faster: Launches banking and cards in 4 to 6 months 70+ plug-and-play modules and use case packages: Delivers hassle-free embedded finance Vendor-agnostic orchestration: Offers one integration for 30+ fintech partners Who’s it for? Challenger brands and mid-stage fintechs. Francis Francis is a personal finance AI for people in tech that turns fragmented financial data into actionable wealth insights. Pensions, property, investments, cash – all data in one place. Features Tracks all pensions and ISAs in one place Checks and optimizes investment fees Benchmarks the user’s portfolio against a market index Estimates total investable cash Who’s it for? Francis is for all of the unadvised, mass-affluent tech and digital professionals with global compensation, starting with big tech in the UK. mAI Edge mAI BrandOS is an AI-powered creative system for banks. Fine-tuned per brand, it generates publish-ready, compliant marketing content across dozens of channels in minutes. Features Fine-tuned per brand: Encodes visual identity, tone, and compliance rules Delivers publish-ready outputs: No manual rework or supplier delays Provides built-in governance: Audit trails, GDPR compliant, EU AI Act ready Who’s it for? Tier 1 and Tier 2 retail and commercial banks or insurance companies in CEE, DACH, and Western Europe. R34DY ABLEMENTS is a context engineering platform that transforms complex IT landscapes, systems, data, processes, and architecture into AI-ready intelligence that enables enterprise transformation. Features Automates legacy discovery Accelerates M&A integration Drives digital transformation and AI enablement Who’s it for? Banks, credit unions, and enterprises struggling with legacy complexity and system integrators delivering digital transformation and M&A integration. The post FinovateEurope 2026 Sneak Peek Series: Part 1 appeared first on Finovate.      Related StoriesFinovateEurope is Coming Up. Here Are My Top Agenda Picks.FinovateEurope 2026: AI, Cybersecurity, Stablecoins, Quantum Computing and More!FinovateEurope 2025 Best of Show Winners Announced 

Klarna has launched peer-to-peer payments in 13 European markets, enabling users to send money, split bills, and gift cash directly within the Klarna app. The move shifts Klarna beyond buy-now, pay-later toward becoming an everyday digital hub for spending and money management. While initially limited to Klarna users sending domestic payments to other Klarna users, the company plans to expand P2P payments to non-users, cross-border transactions, and potentially stablecoin-based options in the future. Digital payments app Klarna is taking a step to become more like a bank. The Sweden-based company has launched peer-to-peer (P2P) payment capabilities this week, making it possible for users to send funds to family and friends. The new P2P capabilities will initially be available in 13 European countries: Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, and the UK. Customers in these nations will be able to use the Klarna app to split bills, gift cash, and send funds under the protection of a regulated bank. Klarna, which originally launched as a buy-now, pay-later tool in 2005, views this launch as the next step in its evolution as an everyday digital hub for spending and money management. “Customers are sick of the friction and fees of traditional banking, which is why millions signed up to Klarna Card within a few months of launch,” said Klarna Co-founder and CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski. “With peer-to-peer payments we’re making it even easier to manage all of your payments through Klarna, now including small transfers, making managing your money quicker, easier, and cheaper.” At launch, P2P payments will only work between Klarna users sending domestic payments. To send funds, users need a recipient’s phone number or email address, or they can use a QR code or saved contact. When the sender confirms the amount, Klarna checks the transaction details for fraud. The company plans to expand the capabilities to non-Klarna users and to cross-border payments in the future. This is among the first major announcements Klarna has made since going public in September 2025. And while it comes two months after the company debuted the KlarnaUSD, its stablecoin, the company said that its P2P payments will initially run over traditional payment rails, though it is exploring stablecoin-based options. The launch of the new P2P payment capabilities marks Klarna’s first move in 2026 after a busy 2025, when the company saw the deposits in its Klarna Balance account double from $9.5 billion in 2024 to $14 billion in 2025. Additionally, Klarna’s debit card saw more than four million sign-ups just four months after launching. Klarna made no mention of plans to launch P2P payment capabilities in the US, where it would face entrenched competitors such as Cash App, Venmo, and Zelle. However, adding P2P payments to an already robust app deepens Klarna’s role in users’ daily financial lives, which would reinforce its ambition to move beyond buy-now, pay-later and closer to a full-service digital banking experience. Photo by cottonbro studio The post Klarna Launches P2P Payments in Europe appeared first on Finovate.       

While perhaps not as flashy as AI or blockchain technology, embedded finance, open banking, and open finance are already transforming the way individuals and businesses interact with banks, financial service providers, and even retail organizations. By enabling firms to leverage partnerships and APIs to offer services and products they would struggle to offer on their own, these technologies give companies a tremendous opportunity not only to enhance their offerings with greater efficiency and personalization, but also to expand their product lines, provide new solutions, and secure new sources of revenue. This week, in our continuing series previewing companies that will demonstrate their latest innovations at FinovateEurope 2026, we showcase four companies that are helping banks and other financial institutions take advantage of the opportunities made possible by embedded finance, open banking, and open finance. FinovateEurope 2026 will take place at London’s Intercontinental O2 on February 10 and 11. Tickets are available now. Visit our FinovateEurope hub today and take advantage of big early-bird savings! AAZZUR AAZZUR enables brands—both small and medium-sized businesses as well as large corporations—to launch their own embedded finance solutions with a single integration. The company’s open banking platform serves as a layer above banks and fintechs, facilitating the exchange of data, messages, and transactions to boost satisfaction, retention, and monetization, while enhancing the way fintechs work with banks. Headquartered in Berlin, Germany, AAZUR was founded in 2017. Francis Francis enables financial institutions and fintechs to leverage AI to resolve challenges in their open finance initiatives. The company’s technology transforms fragmented financial data from pensions, property, investments, cash, and other sources into actionable wealth insights. Francis uses AI to process unstructured data and integrates it with market data, providing a holistic view of both personal and business finances. Founded in 2025, Francis is based in London, England. Opentech Opentech, a digital payments and transaction enrichment services provider, develops and operates full-stack solutions currently deployed by financial institutions and service providers in Italy, Switzerland, and Austria. The company’s open and scalable platform fosters interoperability between banks, card issuers, and international payment networks. Founded in 2003, Opentech is headquartered in Rome, Italy. Hagbad Hagbad works with organizations to digitize trust-based savings. The company modernizes traditional group savings systems through its secure digital platform, enabling compliant engagement, expanding customer reach, and promoting inclusive growth via a regulated, culturally aligned financial infrastructure. Hagbad’s platform features automated tracking and real-time transparency to ensure that contributions, payouts, and group activity are effectively monitored. Headquartered in the UK, Hagbad was launched in 2025. Why banks should care Embedded finance, open banking, and open finance offer banks an exceptional opportunity to introduce new products and services and to compete more effectively with rivals in both Big Tech and Big Retail. All three innovations foster increased accessibility, enabling financial institutions reach customers where they are. They also support greater personalization, empowering firms to offer more tailored financial products to customers, while simultaneously creating new revenue sources to divto ersify beyond traditional banking offerings. Catch these and other innovative fintech companies next month at FinovateEurope 2026. With less than a month to go, there’s no better time than now to visit our FinovateEurope hub and secure your spot to the first big fintech conference of the year! Photo by Ashkan Forouzani on Unsplash The post Four Innovators in Embedded Finance, Open Finance & Banking Infrastructure appeared first on Finovate.       

B2B2C crypto enablement platform Coinme has agreed to be acquired by Web3 software development firm Polygon Labs in a deal that also involves onchain payments company Sequence. The two acquisitions will help Polygon Labs complete its Open Money Stack, which is designed to enable regulated stablecoin payments and transfers. Founded in 2014 and headquartered in Seattle, Washington, Coinme made its Finovate debut at FinovateSpring 2022. Neil Bergquist is CEO. Coinme, a US-based B2B2C crypto enablement platform, has agreed to be acquired by Web3 software development firm Polygon Labs. Polygon Labs is also acquiring Sequence, which facilitates onchain payments at scale. Acquiring the two firms gives Polygon Labs the core infrastructure it needs for its Open Money Stack, an open and integrated suite of services and technologies that enable regulated stablecoin payments and money movement, powered by Polygon’s blockchain rails. “By combining Coinme’s regulated US payment infrastructure and nationwide cash network with Polygon’s ecosystem, we’re creating something powerful: a turnkey solution that enables Web2 and Web3 companies to embed compliant stablecoin payments directly into their platforms,” Coinme noted in a statement. “This means seamless movement between traditional fiat systems and onchain settlement—the kind of infrastructure needed to support the global stablecoin payments market, projected to exceed $2.8 trillion in transaction volume by 2028.” The transaction is pending customary regulatory approvals. Following the acquisition, Coinme will operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of Polygon Labs, managing its regulated exchange, wallet, and Crypto-as-a-Service platform. Coinme operates a network of 50,000+ locations across the US where individuals can exchange cash for cryptocurrencies, and holds a money-transmitter license in 48 US states. The Sequence acquisition is intended to “complement and accelerate” Polygon Labs’ interoperability goals. Sequence offers enterprise-grade smart wallets and a solution, Trails, which acts as a one-click, cross-chain routing and intents engine. Sequence also provides infrastructure that conceals bridging, swaps, and gas fees from end users. This helps applications move stablecoins between networks without exposing users or payment teams to underlying blockchain complexity. The popularity of stablecoins is soaring, particularly in use cases such as serving as a settlement layer for cross-border and international payments. According to Polygon Labs, the primary barriers to more robust use of this technology are the requisite regulation, orchestration, and integration needed to make stablecoins easier for companies to deploy. The company’s acquisition of Coinme and Sequence, running on Polygon rails that have already facilitated trillions in onchain value transfer, will make it possible for more financial systems to deploy onchain money and achieve faster settlement, lower fees, better execution, and capital that is always at work. “By combining regulated access, enterprise infrastructure, and onchain settlement, Polygon Labs establishes a clear path to more than $100 million in annual revenue, driven by real payment flows,” Polygon Labs said in a statement. “Combined, these companies have already processed $1 billion in offchain sales and $2 trillion in onchain volume.” The statement also mentioned that successful execution will mean that the company is no longer reliant on financial support from the Polygon Foundation. “Instead,” the statement continued, “Polygon Labs is building payments infrastructure that earns revenue the same way the global payments industry always has: by moving money reliably, at scale.” Founded in 2014 and headquartered in Seattle, Washington, Coinme made its Finovate debut at FinovateSpring 2022. Today, the company is a licensed and regulated B2B2C crypto enablement platform provider that enables its partners to quickly launch and scale native crypto products into their offerings. Coinme customers leverage the firm’s crypto infrastructure, compliance program, and regulatory licensing to offer crypto trading, custody, and on/off ramps. Neil Bergquist is Co-founder and CEO. Photo by Declan Sun on Unsplash The post Polygon Labs Acquires Coinme, Sequence to Facilitate Stablecoin Payments appeared first on Finovate.       

Checkout.com has received approval for a Merchant Acquirer Limited Purpose Bank (MALPB) charter in Georgia. The charter enables the UK-based payments provider to operate as its own acquirer in the US. The move marks a major expansion of Checkout.com’s North American strategy, as it expects full banking operations in 2026. Digital payments provider Checkout.com has received approval for its Merchant Acquirer Limited Purpose Bank (MALPB) charter from the Georgia Department of Banking and Finance. For UK-based Checkout.com, this regulatory approval will allow the fintech to transition to operating a MALPB in the US. Checkout.com sees the approval as the next step in its journey, which includes direct US card network integration and the ability to operate as its own acquirer in the US market. Bringing both of these aspects in-house will offer Checkout.com more control, allow it to move faster, and offer better acceptance rates in order to deliver the performance US merchants expect. The approval reduces Checkout.com’s dependence on sponsor banks, which will enable greater control over settlement, risk management, and merchant onboarding. These capabilities are increasingly important as payment volumes and regulatory scrutiny grow in the US market. “With our MALPB charter now approved, the ‘definitive catalyst’ we identified in October is officially activated. This milestone paves the way for a new era of payment performance,” said Checkout.com MALPB CEO and Head of North American Banking Jordan Reynolds. “Our focus is now on scaling our infrastructure and building up talent in Atlanta and the US to meet the rigorous conditions of our approval. We are on track toward full charter banking operations in 2026, doubling down on our commitment to provide US enterprise merchants with the performance and reliability they demand.” As Reynolds hints, while the charter has been approved, Checkout.com will still need to meet regulatory and operational milestones before fully launching banking operations, which it expects to complete later this year. Today’s move indicates that Checkout.com is interested in significantly expanding its North American operations. The US bank charter will offer US enterprises a payment platform optimized for the complexities of the US market. The company operates a US headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia with additional offices in New York and San Francisco. Checkout.com was authorized as an electronic money institution in the UK in 2017 and in France in 2019. In 2023, the company obtained its Retail Payment Services license from the Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates and since then has brought Mada (Saudi Arabia’s National Payment Network) and Apple Pay to merchants across the UAE and KSA. Founded in 2012, Checkout.com is a global payments platform that empowers businesses to accept, process, and manage payments seamlessly. The company uses its payments network to enable organizations to accept payments locally and internationally with global acquiring capabilities. The company also offers a suite of services that allows businesses to create and manage their own payment cards, advanced risk management tools to optimize performance and reduce fraud, and treasury management services to streamline cash flow and reconciliation. Checkout.com processed more than $300 billion in ecommerce volumes last year and counts Uber, eBay, Pinterest, Klarna, and GE Healthcare among its clients. Photo by cottonbro CG studio The post Checkout.com Gets the Thumbs Up to Operate as its Own Bank Charter appeared first on Finovate.       

Nationwide has selected Moneyhub to enrich and categorize card and direct debit transaction data using AI-driven analysis. The partnership enables deeper transaction-level insights that support better personal finance management for customers, alongside improved fraud detection, risk monitoring, and personalization for Nationwide. The deal highlights how transaction data is becoming a strategic differentiator for banks competing on insight-led products and customer experience. UK financial services company Nationwide has selected open data platform Moneyhub to help categorize, enrich, and better understand consumer transaction data. Nationwide will leverage Moneyhub’s AI-driven Categorization and Enrichment engine to analyze consumer transactions made on cards and with direct debits. The transaction analysis will allow Nationwide to see details such as contact and location data for the website or store where the purchase was made. This deep understanding of transaction details will benefit both customers as well as Nationwide. The additional data will help customers better manage their personal finances and quickly identify fraudulent transactions. For Nationwide, the granular insights support more accurate transaction categorization, improved risk detection, and the ability to deliver more personalized products and services. By working with Moneyhub, Nationwide is positioning itself to turn raw transaction data into actionable insights that can power smarter products, clearer customer experiences, and more proactive financial support. “At Nationwide our tech teams work to deliver fairer, more rewarding, and more convenient banking, so selecting the right partners is crucial, to make sure we’re giving our customers the best experience possible,” said Nationwide Chief Data and Analytics Officer Sri Kanisapakkam. “Moneyhub’s AI-driven tech will help enrich the data we’re giving back to our customers and set us up for success with even more personalized products and services in the future.” Moneyhub was founded in 2014 and offers personal finance technology tools, open data APIs, decisioning solutions, and payments capabilities. Its platform is designed to empower financial institutions, employers, and technology providers to deliver more tailored financial experiences through real-time data access and intelligent analysis. Regulated by the FCA, Moneyhub’s infrastructure supports a wide range of use cases, including budgeting tools, affordability assessments, wealth insights, and financial wellness programs. “Moneyhub exists to help our financial services clients build services that improve their customers’ digital experience and deliver better financial outcomes,” said Moneyhub CEO Alastair McGill. “Presenting retail customers with a fine-grained understanding of their income and expenditure is an essential part of this journey, so we’re delighted that Nationwide selected our Categorization and Enrichment engine. We look forward to working with Nationwide as they continue to further enhance their customer engagement.” Across the globe, transaction data is becoming a strategic asset for banks. As competition heats up in the traditional banking space, financial institutions face growing pressure to improve personalization, fraud prevention, and customer trust. Fortunately, the broad availability of AI tools combined with open banking regulations such as PSD2 make it easier than ever for firms to gain insights from transactions. Moneyhub demoed its enterprise platform at FinovateEurope 2017. Last year, the company formed a partnership with Lloyds, deepened ties with Experian, and appointed a new CEO. Photo by Xi Qiao The post Nationwide Selects Moneyhub for Consumer Spending Insights appeared first on Finovate.       

Challenger bank Revolut has launched new anti-impersonation functionality on its app to help its users avoid deepfakes and scams. The new in-app identification feature works in real-time to let users know if they are receiving a call from a legitimate Revolut agent or a potential fraudster. Founded in 2015, Revolut made its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope the same year. Nik Storonsky is Founder and CEO. How confident are you that you can tell the difference between a genuine caller and an AI-powered deepfake impersonation? All the time? Most of the time? Some of the time? According to a report from the National Library of Medicine, only 25% of people can accurately identify a deepfake voice, making impersonation scams that much more effective and turning voice calls into what it called “a critical vulnerability.” In response, Revolut has unveiled its solution to the rising security challenge of AI deepfakes and impersonation scams. The company announced a new in-app identification feature that detects when users are in a call and verifies if the call is coming from a legitimate Revolut employee or a potential scammer, all in real time. “As fraudsters adopt AI and advanced deepfake tools, we need to innovate fast to defend our customers and stay ahead of rapidly evolving fraud threats,” Revolut Product Owner Rami Kalai explained. “This new feature not only gives users real-time, contextual warnings in the moment they need them most, but also guides them to identify impersonation scams, providing clear, actionable steps to keep their money safe while the fraud attempt is happening.” Revolut’s anti-scam solution is straightforward. When a user receives a call, they simply check their mobile Revolut app. If the call is legitimate, a banner or pop-up will appear to confirm that the call is from Revolut. If the call is not from Revolut, the pop-up will turn red and warn the user. At this point, the user can tap the pop-up to alert Revolut that they have received a potential scam call, and then hang up immediately. The technology is currently active for all Revolut customers using iOS devices. Customers using Android will need to specifically authorize the new functionality from the Security Hub. The range of scam types is truly staggering, including purchase scams, investment scams, impersonation scams, job scams, romance scams, delivery scams, charity scams, rental scams, and triangle scams. Revolut’s new anti-impersonation feature is only the latest solution the company has deployed to help its customers deal with the growing threat of fraud and financial crime in recent years. Among these solutions are biometric verification to help prevent transfer mugging (in which a victim is coerced or threatened into transferring funds from their account to a fraudster) and advanced machine learning strategies to identify suspicious transactions. A Finovate alum for more than a decade, Revolut first demoed its technology on the Finovate stage at FinovateEurope 2015. Today, the company boasts more than 65 million customers around the world—12 million in the UK alone—offering a range of banking services via its mobile app. Revolut retail and business customers have access to money transfer services, stock trading, a cryptocurrency exchange, current accounts, a pre-paid debit card, insurance, and more—as well as premium services available via subscription. Operating under a European banking license, and having licenses and approvals in Mexico, Australia, Japan, the UK (restricted) and the US (via partnerships), Revolut has a presence in more than 48 countries. Headquartered in London, England, Revolut was founded in 2015. Nik Storonsky is founder and CEO. Photo by Christian Gertenbach on Unsplash The post Revolut Unveils Anti-Impersonation Scam Solution appeared first on Finovate.       

International data, analytics, and technology company Equifax UK has teamed up with Greece’s sole credit bureau Tiresias. The strategic partnership is designed to help Tiresias develop modern business tools to enhance credit assessment, bolster fraud prevention, encourage responsible lending, and improve debt management. Equifax UK is a division of Atlanta, Georgia-based Equifax located in London, England. In Greek mythology, Tiresias was a blind prophet famous both for his clairvoyance and for being transformed into a woman for seven years by the Greek goddess Hera. Tiresias is also the name of the sole credit bureau in Greece and is the latest strategic partner of global data, analytics, and technology company Equifax UK. The two entities are collaborating in an effort to boost financial inclusion, stimulate economic growth, and bring advanced credit assessment and fraud prevention to businesses and consumers in Greece. “Our partnership with Tiresias is a testament to everything we have built at Equifax and the strength of our global solution capabilities and expertise in the marketplace,” Equifax UK Chief Strategy & Innovation Officer Craig Tebbutt said. “This collaboration will further strengthen Tiresias as a strategic pillar of the Greek economy, drawing on Equifax data, analytics capabilities, and cloud technology to drive insights and decision-making confidence, helping more people live their financial best.” Tiresias will benefit from access to Equifax’s advanced data and analytics expertise, technology platforms, and best-in-class practices to assist the bureau as it develops new, modern products and services. Among these new offerings are business tools to enhance credit assessments, bolster fraud prevention, encourage responsible lending, and improve debt management. In a statement, Tiresias highlighted Equifax’s global reach, with operations in 24 countries, as well as the firm’s combination of differentiated data, analytics, and cloud technology. “This marks a new chapter in the Greek credit market, where transparency, reliability, and innovation will combine to deliver modern, safe, and more effective services to benefit society, while safeguarding the rights and freedoms of individuals and protecting their personal data,” Tiresias Chief Executive Officer Ilias Xirouchakis said. Founded in 1992 and based in Marousi—a suburb north of Athens—Tiresias is an interbank company that provides reliable data on the assessment of credit risk for businesses and private citizens. The company seeks to limit the over-indebtedness of individual borrowers, facilitate responsible lending, protect against fraud, and enhance the security of commercial transactions via its Tiresias Risk Control System (TSEK). Headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, Equifax has been a Finovate alum since 2011. The company’s UK-based division, Equifax UK, offers credit scores and credit reports, as well as identity protection tools. The company also provides resources to help consumers find the right loan, credit card, automobile financing, and insurance offers, as well as educational information on financial subjects ranging from debt management to mortgages. Photo by Hans Reniers on Unsplash The post Equifax UK Partners with Greek Credit Bureau Tiresias appeared first on Finovate.       

Google launched Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP), an interoperability layer that lets AI agents discover products, authenticate users, and complete transactions. Unlike AP2, which governs how agents move money, UCP orchestrates the entire commerce flow. UCP will require banks to create new approaches to authentication, consent, liability, and trust as AI agents become active participants in commerce. Google unveiled its Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP) today, which essentially serves as the plumbing for how AI agents buy things on consumers’ behalf. But what does it really do and how is it different from Google’s AP2 launched last fall? Here’s a simple breakdown of the newly launched protocol. What does UCP do? Co-developed with major retailers and ecommerce players, including Shopify, Etsy, Wayfair, Target, and Walmart, Google’s Universal Commerce Protocol is essentially a standardized way for AI agents to discover products, request prices, authenticate users, and complete transactions. You can think of it like HTTPS, which is a set of rules that serves as a standardized protocol that governs and encrypts how browsers request and servers send web content over the internet. Similarly, UCP is an interoperability layer that allows many systems to talk to each other and enables AI agents to make purchases and decisions on a consumer’s behalf, instead of just making product recommendations. UCP is more than a marketplace or a wallet. The new protocol coordinates the various aspects of how agents, merchants, identity systems, and payment rails interact during a transaction. Google plans to use UCP to power a new checkout feature on select Google product listings that will allow shoppers to check out using Google Pay and PayPal from eligible retailers in AI Mode within Search and in the Gemini app. From an end users’ perspective, this may seem similar to OpenAI’s partnerships with retailers like Walmart that allow shoppers to make purchases within ChatGPT. Google’s move, however, is markedly different. That’s because Google owns the payment rails. While the retailer remains the seller of record, Google controls the checkout experience as well as the protocol, which standardizes identity, payment credentials, shipping information, and consent. How does UCP differ from AP2? The final quarter of 2025 brought a deluge of new agentic commerce protocols to the market, creating confusion about the roles of protocols and the players involved. Among the protocols launched last year was Google’s AP2, its Agent Payments Protocol. AP2 is much narrower in scope than UCP, however, because while AP2 governs how an AI agent is allowed to move money, UCP orchestrates the entire commerce flow. UCP handles product and service discovery, pricing and availability queries, merchant interaction, user intent and authorization checks, transaction confirmation, and fulfillment. AP2, on the other hand, is entirely payments focused. It handles payment initiation, authorization limits, credential handling, transaction execution, and settlement signaling. What does all of this mean for banks? Agentic commerce is moving fast and is set to change how transactions are initiated, authorized, and executed. As AI agents take on a more active role in purchasing, banks will need to rethink their role in the transaction stack and consider how to authenticate AI agents and create policies around who is liable when an agent transacts. Fortunately, protocols like UCP create auditability and can program trust into every transaction. Photo by Growtika on Unsplash The post Google Just Launched Its Agentic Commerce Protocol, the HTTPS for Agent-Led Shopping appeared first on Finovate.       

There is a race to the top in Agentic commerce, and Google is here to make sure its name is front and center. The tech giant launched its Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP), a new open standard for agentic commerce, and payments companies like PayPal and Ant International are jumping on board. Read on for more fintech news headlines. We’ll continue to add more announcements as the week progresses. DeFi Rain raises $250 million Series C to scale stablecoin-powered payments infrastructure for global enterprises. BNY extends digital cash capabilities for institutional clients. Ripple receives FCA permissions to scale Ripple Payments in the UK. Payments and Commerce Walmart and Google partner to launch agent-led commerce. FIS launches tool to help banks participate in agentic commerce. PayPal announces support of Google’s Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP). Google launches the Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP), a new open standard for agentic commerce. MoneyHash and Spare partner to advance open banking adoption in the UAE. Digital banking The State of Georgia Department of Banking and Finance has officially accepted Checkout.com‘s application for a Merchant Acquirer Limited Purpose Bank (MALPB) charter.  Wio Bank unveils first UAE bank account for content creators. Prometeo becomes a member of FDATA. Photo by John Robertson The post Fintech Rundown: A Rapid Review of Weekly News appeared first on Finovate.