AI Is Changing More Than Products
Hey FinTech Fanatic!
For years, AI in FinTech was mostly about building better products and improving customer experiences.
Now it's starting to reshape the companies themselves.
Visa announced it will reduce its workforce by around 7% as it shifts resources toward areas such as AI, cross-border payments, stablecoins, and business payments. It's another sign that the biggest players are rethinking where they invest as the next phase of financial infrastructure takes shape.
You'll also find this week's comparison of Mastercard and American Express, showing how two payments giants continue to grow with very different business models.
Now, let's dive into today's biggest FinTech stories. 👇 See you tomorrow!
Cheers,
INSIGHTS
📰 Taxbit: CRS 2.0 Expands Global Tax Reporting for Digital Assets. Taxbit explains that CRS 2.0 broadens the OECD's Common Reporting Standard by extending tax reporting requirements to certain digital financial products while complementing the Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework (CARF). Read the full article here
FINTECH NEWS
🇺🇸 Cross River powers X Money. With Cross River providing the banking backbone and X connecting users across the United States, the collaboration represents a new standard for money movement, combining compliance, speed, and scale in a way that meets the needs of today’s digital-first consumers.
🇪🇸 Payhawk launches Agent Fetch, a new feature for its Financial Control Agent. Fetch Agent is designed for online services and recurring payments to suppliers whose invoices are typically stored in secure areas using access credentials. Continue reading
PAYMENTS NEWS
🇺🇸 Corpay introduces agent card capability to power secure agentic commerce. With Agent Card, Corpay extends their AI first approach a step further, allowing AI agents to act on a business's behalf directly, within the same controls that have always defined Corpay's approach to payments.
🇺🇸 Visa to cut 7% of workforce as CEO seeks to revamp payments firm. Visa will eliminate approximately 2,600 jobs as part of an efficiency drive aimed at reallocating resources to higher-growth areas. The payments giant plans to reinvest in consumer payments, commercial and money movement solutions, stablecoins, cross-border payments, and value-added services.
🇿🇦 NjiaPay launches one-click payments solution to transform South Africa’s ecommerce checkout. The new offering enables merchants to provide a faster checkout experience across multiple payment providers, unlike traditional one-click solutions that are often limited to a single payment service provider.
#FINTECHREPORT
📊 Mastercard 🆚 American Express
Here's how Q1 2026 looked, side by side👇
OPEN BANKING NEWS
🇬🇧 Open Banking surpasses one billion payments and 100 billion API calls, highlighting its growing role in the country's financial infrastructure. The latest data also showed record API activity, continued growth in Variable Recurring Payments (VRPs), and faster response times, reflecting rising adoption and improved ecosystem performance.
DIGITAL BANKING NEWS
🇧🇷 Nubank presents its new segment, Nubank Croma, with an exclusive selection of benefits. With it, customers have access to a Mastercard Platinum card with 0.8% cashback or 1 point for every $1.40 spent on all credit purchases. Keep reading
🇬🇧 Nimble AppGenie accelerates AI-powered banking app development for global financial institutions. By focusing on user-centric design combined with robust backend AI, the Nimble AppGenie framework prioritizes scalability and security, allowing banks to deploy next-generation features without compromising on performance or regulatory compliance.
🇬🇧 Starling Bank has launched integrated Starling eSIM plans to provide retail customers with transparent, competitive data roaming across 130 countries. Powered by Gigs, the service eliminates surprise roaming fees, allowing users to purchase and manage mobile data directly within the Starling app for a seamless travel experience.
🇺🇸 Rent FinTech Flex is the latest firm to ask for a bank charter. Flexible Finance, the parent company behind Flex Rent, announced that it has submitted applications to the Utah Department of Financial Institutions and to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation to establish a bank subsidiary called Flex Bank. The proposed bank subsidiary would make Flex an FDIC-insured institution.
🇬🇧 Monzo Business reaches 1 million customers, cementing its role as a leading UK business bank. The milestone comes as the digital bank expands its business banking platform with tools for payments, savings, tax management, invoicing and expense management, while now serving one in six UK businesses.
BLOCKCHAIN/CRYPTO NEWS
🇨🇭 Cantor is advising crypto bank AMINA on the path to a potential public listing, as the Swiss digital asset bank seeks capital to support its next phase of growth. While the company has evaluated several listing routes, it says its current priority is securing long-term strategic investment rather than pursuing a near-term market debut.
🌏 Binance co-founder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao pushes ASEAN crypto passports, allowing companies licensed in one member country to seek streamlined approval in others. The initiative aims to reduce regulatory friction while preserving each jurisdiction's authority to review applicants and impose local requirements.
🌍 Nexo confirms MiCAR compliance across the EEA. The move strengthens the digital assets platform's regulatory foundation as it expands its crypto lending and investment services under the new European framework. Read on
🌎 Brazil and Argentina embrace stablecoins, defying IMF red flags, central bank bans. The IMF said crypto rails, led by stablecoins, now process most cross-border transfers in Brazil, while major Argentine banking groups are developing peso-backed stablecoins for institutional use, highlighting growing adoption of digital assets across Latin America.
🇬🇧 1inch launches Aqua to the public, introducing the first shared liquidity layer for DeFi. The self-custodial shared liquidity layer enables liquidity providers to use the same wallet balance across multiple positions without locking assets in liquidity pools.
🇬🇧 Crypto exchange Luno will reduce about 20% of its global workforce as it restructures to lower costs and expand its institutional and B2B businesses. The company also plans to invest further in stablecoin infrastructure, compliance, and cross-border payment services while continuing to serve its 16 million users.
PARTNERSHIPS
🇦🇪 3s Money has partnered with IFZA Dubai to provide eligible businesses with multi-currency accounts, international payments, foreign exchange services, and AED account capabilities, supporting companies as they expand their global operations.
🌎 ACI Worldwide and dLocal bring Latin America's leading local payment methods to global merchants. The partnership enables ACI's enterprise merchants and FinTech partners to expand into Latin America through a single integration while maintaining full control over their payment strategy.
🇺🇸 MassPay partners with Finexio to launch cross-border AP payments in 180+ countries. Under the partnership, Finexio customers will initiate international vendor payments from their existing AP workflow, and MassPay's infrastructure will handle routing, funds delivery, and local payment rails in each market, with screening and verification built into the flow.
🌍 The Central Bank of the UAE and Indonesia strengthen strategic ties to advance cross-border payment connectivity. By interconnecting payment systems and implementing Local Currency Transactions (LCT), the partnership aims to facilitate faster, transparent, and cost-effective financial flows to support bilateral trade.
🇨🇳 Africa's largest bank helps China reshape cross-border payments with $1.2 billion in transactions. Standard Bank has processed more than CNY8 billion in payments through China's Cross-Border Interbank Payment System (CIPS) within a year of becoming Africa's first direct participant.
🇺🇸 Klarna to power Apple upgrade, a new hardware leasing program offered by Apple. Customers can select from 12- and 24-month leasing options for iPhone and Apple Watch, and 24- and 36-month leasing options for Mac and iPad. Read more
🌍 PayPal and Amazon launch PayPal Ratenzahlung, a buy now, pay later for customers in Germany and Austria. With PayPal Ratenzahlung, customers benefit from a clear way to split purchases between 30€ and 10,000€2 into fixed monthly payments.
🇩🇴 Asprofin Bank and Digital TRVST launch BaaS alliance as embedded finance hits $7 trillion. This alliance enables Digital TRVST to offer licensed banking services, including Mastercard programs and institutional custody, targeting a projected $5 billion in annual transaction volume.
DONEDEAL FUNDING NEWS
🇦🇷 Argentine FinTech SiloReal raises US$2.5M to boost its digital verification technology for agricultural assets. The new capital will be used to further its regional expansion, integrate the platform more fully with banks, insurers, and other ecosystem players, add to its team, and refine its technological processes.
🇬🇧 9fin completes first employee share sale after $170m raise. The move reflects a growing trend among European FinTechs to provide liquidity for employees without pursuing an IPO. Read more
🇺🇸 PEX secures $160m to scale payments, credit and finance automation platform. The firm will use the capital to accelerate growth of its charge card programme, spend management platform, and invest in sales and partnerships. Continue reading
🇮🇹 Satispay has secured a €30 million securitisation backed by Credito Lombardo Veneto to support the expansion of its "Paga in 3" buy now, pay later service. The deal provides new funding for the BNPL platform while highlighting growing collaboration between traditional banks and FinTech companies in Italy.
M&A
🇨🇦 Vena to acquire Morpheo AI to strengthen its AI-powered financial planning capabilities. The acquisition enhances Vena's data intelligence platform following its earlier purchase of Acterys, supporting more advanced planning and decision-making across the Microsoft ecosystem.
MOVERS AND SHAKERS
🇪🇸 Embat launches a global banking product and appoints Pleo’s Álvaro Dexeus to lead expansion. Led by former Dexeus, the platform enables businesses to open accounts in 22 countries within days, significantly accelerating international expansion.
🇬🇧 HSBC hired Val Riabtsev, the man behind Revolut's agentic AI platform. Riabtsev previously led Revolut's agentic AI platform and will focus on developing AI agents to enhance the bank's wealth management operations. Read on
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