Airtel Money’s $7 billion IPO shows that strong demand doesn’t guarantee a strong debut
Hey FinTech Fanatic!
Going public is a big milestone for any FinTech, but what happens when investors rush to buy in and the stock still struggles on day one?
That’s the story with Airtel Money, the African mobile money business that made its London debut today with a valuation of around $7 billion. Despite its IPO being several times oversubscribed, shares slipped below the offer price of £1.96, trading at £1.93 after initially climbing to £2.00.
The listing raised around $703 million for existing shareholders, while parent company Airtel Africa remains the majority owner. Airtel Money serves users across 13 African countries, including Kenya, Malawi and Tanzania, offering mobile transfers, bill payments and digital banking features.
So, what went wrong? The muted debut came amid a broader sell-off in telecom stocks, but it also highlights a bigger point: heavy demand for an IPO doesn’t automatically translate into strong performance once shares start trading. With London working to attract more listings, Airtel Money’s debut will be an interesting one to watch.
And fraud remains a major challenge: Plaid and Javelin report $38 billion lost to identity fraud and scams in 2025, with new-account fraud victims up 31%. See how they’re tackling the problem.
That’s just one story from today’s FinTech news.
There’s plenty more below, so let’s get into it.
See you tomorrow!
Cheers,
INSIGHTS
📑 Plaid’s latest report with Javelin puts some striking numbers behind the fraud problem: $38B was lost to identity fraud and scams in 2025, while new-account fraud victims increased 31%. And in 56% of scam cases, people lost data rather than money. The report looks at why fraud can leave clues across onboarding, logins and transactions - and what happens when those signals are connected earlier. See how Plaid and Javelin are thinking about detecting fraud risk earlier.
FINTECH NEWS
🇬🇧 Airwallex strengthens its London presence as geopolitical tensions rise. The Australian founded FinTech renamed its UK company Airwallex Global, creating a global financial holdings company in London. CEO Jack Zhang and CFO Pranav Sood are based in London, where the company is hiring for more than 50 roles.
🇮🇪 Mastercard expands its European tech hub in Dublin. The announcement adds to Mastercard's technology presence in Ireland's capital and was published through the company's European newsroom. The Dublin site serves as a technology base for Mastercard in Europe.
🇬🇧 Airtel Money makes its London trading debut in a £5.3B IPO. The listing raised approximately £529M through the sale of existing shares at £1.96 each. The mobile payments business serves 53 million monthly users across 13 African markets, with unconditional trading expected to begin October 14.
🇬🇧 etoro launches connectors for Claude, ChatGPT, Grok and Grok Bot. Built on the Model Context Protocol, the connectors bring an investor's etoro account into their AI assistant with no API keys or code. Users can choose read only access or read and act access, with any action proposed for review.
🇬🇧 Nivo launches Lender Collect, an AI assistant for lending. Available to UK specialist lenders, the tool automates document collection, verification and underwriting preparation. It also tracks outstanding requirements and prepares draft reports, while credit decisions remain with lenders.
🌍 Revolut is searching for a scent branding agency to create its own fragrance. Head of global brand design Gareth Morgan invited agencies to pitch on LinkedIn. The post drew more than 300 comments in a day. Read on
HOW FINTECH PERFORMED LAST WEEK
📈 A snapshot of last week’s stock moves across public FinTechs:
PAYMENTS NEWS
🇨🇦 Airwallex helps Walmart Canada sellers receive faster USD and CAD payouts. Canadian businesses can connect Airwallex to Walmart Seller Center to receive marketplace payouts into their Airwallex global accounts, hold funds in USD or CAD, and reduce eligible transfer and FX costs. Sellers can also use the funds to pay suppliers or manage business spending through the platform.
🇺🇸 MassPay adds Cash App to its direct payout network, bringing near real time payouts to one of America's most used financial services platforms. Clients can now send payments directly to recipients' Cash App accounts for a fee through MassPay's existing single integration. Cash App has more than 59 million monthly transacting active users in the US.
🇧🇭 BEDE Bahrain unveils a multi currency World prepaid card with Sinnad and Mastercard. The card was revealed at FinTech Forward 2026, where BEDE presented the new product alongside its partners. It brings several currencies together in a single World prepaid product built with Sinnad and Mastercard.
🇺🇸 Mastercard bets shoppers will trust AI agents one purchase at a time. Consumers may give agents more purchasing authority after repeated transactions show they follow their preferences. AI could also recommend which payment credential to use based on benefits, offers and available credit. Merchants will need to make inventory, pricing and product information available for agents in real time.
🇺🇸 Crossmint launches Agent Commerce Toolkit, letting AI agents pay with any card and check out online through one integration. The live, self-serve toolkit replaces the four or more vendors agent payments require with a single API. It combines card storage, Visa Intelligent Commerce and Mastercard Agent Pay credentials, and merchant checkout.
🇺🇸 Amex is hit with a $350M penalty for AML deficiencies. The US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency found weaknesses in staffing, internal controls and transaction monitoring at American Express National Bank. The failures led to approximately $13B in suspected money laundering activity going insufficiently reported over the past decade.
DIGITAL BANKING NEWS
🇺🇸 Revolut CEO Nik Storonsky targets JPMorgan Chase and American Express in the US. The FinTech is positioning itself to compete with established US financial institutions, while Storonsky favors a primary US listing if the company goes public. He has previously indicated that an IPO would not take place before 2028.
🇮🇹 Revolut passes 6 million customers in Italy, ranking as the country's third largest bank by customer count behind UniCredit and Intesa Sanpaolo. Under 35s make up 60% of its Italian customers, while its business customer base has reached 62,000. Credit cards and mortgages are now priorities, even as the ECB has ordered Revolut to slow new product launches.
🇩🇪 Crédit Agricole launches Crédit Agricole Deutschland, a new digital first universal bank for German retail customers. The bank will open to the public at the end of October 2026, backed by 20 branches and 600 Creditplus employees in major cities.
🇭🇰 Ping An Digital Bank enters Hong Kong's private funds market. The Lufax subsidiary now offers private funds to professional investors. It includes semi-liquid products with JP Morgan Asset Management and Aberdeen Investments.
ARTICLE OF THE DAY
💡Huawei: From Digital Banking to AI-Native Banking: The Rise of Machine-Speed Finance. A new look at how AI is reshaping financial services, moving banks beyond digital channels toward real-time, intelligent and personalised experiences. Drawing on China's banking transformation, the article explores why AI alone isn't enough: modern core systems, reliable data, domain-specific intelligence and robust governance are essential to scaling AI across financial institutions. The key takeaway: the winners won't simply have the best AI models, but the infrastructure and engineering to make AI work securely and continuously at scale. Read the full article here
BLOCKCHAIN/CRYPTO NEWS
🇹🇭 Thailand will allow Bitcoin and Ether ETFs from October 16, after finalizing 11 regulations for listings on the Stock Exchange of Thailand. Each fund must maintain at least 80% average exposure to one cryptocurrency over each accounting year. Brokers cannot offer margin loans for crypto ETFs or sell foreign alternatives to retail customers.
🇦🇷 Argentine FinTech Cocos launches Cocos Crypto, a standalone app to buy, sell, store, send and pay with crypto. The split lets Cocos add deposits, accounts and credit as it becomes a bank after acquiring Banco Voii.
🇺🇸 Securitize launches global onchain trading of US stocks with security entitlements. Securitize Stocks launch first on Solana, covering shares including AAPL, MSFT, NVDA, TSLA and PLTR. The tokens are backed 1:1 by underlying shares and are expected to trade on the NYSE's new 24/7 digital venue, subject to its launch.
🇪🇺 BNY expands its Digital Asset Custody platform in the EU under MiCA. BNY becomes one of the first global systemically important banks to offer regulated digital asset custody in the region. Its European entity joined the ESMA MiCA register in July 2026, supporting assets including BTC, ETH, SOL and USDC.
🌍 Zcash developers set a January target for quantum resistant payments. The upgrade would add support for hash based signatures, initially protecting transparent transactions that account for about 70% of issued ZEC. No activation date is confirmed.
STABLECOINS NEWS
🇪🇺 EU gives crypto exchanges three months to drop unauthorized stablecoins. ESMA set a January 8, 2027 deadline for MiCA licensed firms to block EU customers from buying stablecoins that fail MiCA's requirements. Existing holders can still sell, convert, withdraw or transfer their tokens. ESMA added that customer warnings will not count as a fix.
🇫🇷 France advances a stablecoin tax plan and 10 year crypto loss relief. The Finance Committee backed taxing crypto conversions into qualifying stablecoins from January 1, 2027, ending an existing exemption. A separate amendment would let crypto trading losses offset future gains for up to 10 years. Both measures still require further parliamentary approval.
🌎 Gennius brings stablecoin and digital asset services powered by Coinbase to banks across Latin America. Banks will be able to offer stablecoin payments, custody and trading through the banking platforms they already run. Continue reading
PARTNERSHIPS
🇺🇸 Zip US collaborates with Google Cloud to build an AI-Native Product Factory. Built with Gemini Enterprise, the factory will connect research, design, engineering, risk, legal and compliance in one governed agentic environment. Zip says the model lets teams work in parallel and shortens the time between insights and launch.
🇺🇸 Samsung selects Bastion as licensed stablecoin custodian for Samsung Wallet, enabling remittances to 60+ countries. The feature launches across 82 million eligible U.S. Galaxy devices in late October.
🇺🇸 Deel becomes the official HR and Payroll Partner for the Golden State Warriors. The NBA franchise has also joined Deel's customer base, extending the company's presence in professional sports. The partnership also covers the Golden State Valkyries, Santa Cruz Warriors and Chase Center.
🌏 Animoca Brands and Franklin Templeton expand NUVA's tokenized asset access. The strategic collaboration broadens the NUVA marketplace beyond products linked to Provenance Blockchain. The companies also launched a research series in four parts and are exploring tokenized cultural assets, with details expected later in 2026.
🇸🇬 UOB and AWS sign an MoU to explore AI driven banking across ASEAN. The companies will explore a dedicated cloud environment in Singapore under a hybrid infrastructure model for UOB's five ASEAN markets. Initial focus areas include hybrid cloud architecture, data analytics and AI powered customer engagement.
🌏 ClearToken and Consensys bring 24/7 settlement infrastructure to wholesale markets. The two companies are offering settlement infrastructure that runs around the clock for wholesale market participants. The collaboration was announced through a press release published on Finextra.
🇺🇸 Ramp and the San Francisco 49ers announce a new multi-year partnership. The NFL team will use Ramp's AI-powered expense management and receipt matching tools to streamline financial operations and improve spending oversight. Ramp will also gain visibility at Levi's Stadium and collaborate on content for Bay Area businesses.
🇺🇸 nCino partners with Parlay to power AI-native SBA lending nationwide. The integration combines AI-driven borrower intake and loan application processing with nCino's banking platform, helping lenders reduce manual work, accelerate SBA loan origination and improve the borrower experience.
🇪🇸 CaixaBank expands its strategic collaboration with Google Cloud, extending the alliance formed in 2023 until 2033. The bank will deploy Gemini Enterprise to build AI agents that automate routine tasks and summarize complex financial information.
🇧🇭 Tarabut signs a memorandum of understanding with Khaleeji Bank, to explore open banking solutions and enhanced digital financial services. The collaboration aims to improve access to Sharia-compliant banking services and develop more seamless digital experiences for customers in Bahrain.
DONEDEAL FUNDING NEWS
🇺🇸 DailyPay completes $200M asset backed securitization, expanding funding capacity for On-Demand Pay. The second ABS issuance brings its total funding backed by On-Demand Pay receivables to about $1.4B. Citi acted as lead bookrunner, and the platform serves more than 2,000 employers and over 6 million employees.
🌍 NAGA Group secures $8M at a 57% premium, anchored by its CEO's share pledge. Presto and MDream invested through a 36 month convertible bond with an 8.0% annual coupon, implying a valuation of roughly $99.2M before the investment. CEO Octavian Patrascu committed up to 762,742 of his own shares if conversion happens at a reduced price.
M&A
🌍 Behavox acquires Apiax to extend its controls platform into cross-border and content compliance. The acquisition expands Behavox's compliance offering into additional areas of regulatory oversight, including cross-border requirements and content-related controls. Read the announcement.
🇺🇸 Veriv acquires bankVOD to unify financial verification. The deal combines bankVOD's two decades of banking relationships with Veriv's technology to streamline income, employment and asset verification across lending, auditing and government services. The network spans over 70 countries. Financial terms were not disclosed.
MOVERS AND SHAKERS
🌍 Revolut appoints Ryan Brosnahan as New Zealand CEO and Piotr Bednarski and Radek Pluhar to its European Supervisory Council. Brosnahan, a former ANZ and Bendigo executive, will lead Revolut's New Zealand operations as it pursues local bank registration. Bednarski and Pluhar join Revolut Bank UAB's Supervisory Council to strengthen oversight of its European banking business.
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