Apple Taps JPMorgan to Replace Goldman Sachs on Apple Card... as Mastercard Remains

Apple Taps JPMorgan to Replace Goldman Sachs on Apple Card... as Mastercard Remains
Apple Taps JPMorgan to Replace Goldman Sachs on Apple Card... as Mastercard Remains

Hey FinTech Fanatic!

Apple has found a new banking partner for Apple Card. JPMorgan Chase will become the new issuer. 

The transition is expected to take around 24 months. A long runway for one of the most closely watched partnerships in consumer finance.

Mastercard remains the card network. Goldman Sachs has been looking for an exit for more than two years. The Apple Card business generated multi-billion-dollar losses and never fit comfortably inside Goldman’s consumer strategy.

“We’re thrilled to work with Apple and Chase to continue our partnership on Apple Card. The innovation has taken the consumer payments experience to the next level,” said Linda Kirkpatrick, Mastercard’s president of the Americas.

Sources say Goldman is expected to offload roughly $20B in outstanding balances at a discount of more than $1B. A costly lesson in scaling consumer credit.

"We’re incredibly proud of how Apple Card has transformed the credit card experience for customers by delivering innovative tools that empower users,” said Jennifer Bailey, Apple’s vice president of Apple Pay and Apple Wallet.

Curious where FinTech is heading next? Dive into today’s updates 👇 Next week, I’ll be back with more FinTech stories you should have on your radar.

Cheers,

Marcel


ARTICLE OF THE DAY

📰 The iDEAL to Wero Transition: What 2026 Will Teach Us About Building Payment Infrastructure in Europe. While policymakers and regulators warn that reliance on non-European players poses strategic and data-sovereignty risks, the transition exposes a core challenge: consumers prioritize familiarity and trust over abstract notions of sovereignty. Read the full article here


Q&A

📰 The secret sauce behind payment performance. A conversation with Checkout.com’s Daniel Linder. Arthur Bedel speaks with Daniel, Senior Product Director at Checkout.com, about why real payment performance is about maximizing value for merchants, not just approvals, and how Checkout.com combines technology, data, and issuer relationships to do it at scale.

The Secret Sauce Behind Payment Performance

FINTECH NEWS

🇮🇹 Satispay launches three new funds and inaugurates investment section. With the new products, Satispay inaugurates the new Investments section of the app, "designed," for a clear and simple experience, and to provide access to all the information needed to monitor the progress of one's choices.

🇺🇸 Polymarket strikes a major deal with Dow Jones, WSJ to distribute prediction data. The partnership marks prediction markets' growing acceptance despite ongoing debates about gambling regulation and insider trading concerns. Continue reading

🇬🇧 YouLend reaches 370,000 businesses funded, delivering profitable growth built to last. Since 2022, YouLend has grown revenue at an average annual rate of around 60%, reaching $230 million in FY24/25. Profit increased year on year to $12 million, underscoring the strength of YouLend’s scalable, highly automated operating model.

🇬🇧 FinTech Wales launches new community academy alongside leading Welsh employers. Through funding offered by the Jobs Growth Wales+ programme, the academy will offer participants the chance to earn a nationally recognised qualification with placements at some of Wales’ most recognisable FinTech organisations.


PAYMENTS NEWS

🌍 Mollie joins EPI Company, accelerating Wero adoption as the pan-European payment method. This development marks a significant milestone in the rollout of Wero and underscores Mollie’s commitment to enabling the next generation of pan-European payment experiences for merchants and consumers alike.

🇪🇺 BVNK secures direct SEPA access for 24/7 instant euro payments. As a result, customers gain 24/7 instant euro payments settling in seconds, with greater resilience and visibility, as payments are delivered directly by BVNK rather than through partner banks.

🇪🇬 Arab Financial Services launches SoftPOS in Egypt following central bank approval. The new solution is designed to transform any NFC-enabled Android smartphone into a secure, fully functional payment terminal. AFS aims to simplify digital commerce and foster a more inclusive financial landscape by lowering the barriers to entry for merchants.

🇺🇸 Polygon Labs unveils ‘Open Money Stack’ to power borderless stablecoin payments. The stack is designed to work with different blockchains and be customizable, allowing financial institutions and FinTech firms to integrate components such as on-chain settlement, fiat access, and compliance tools.

🇺🇸 Volante Technologies unveils Low-code Studio. New solution empowers financial institutions to modernize at record speed by deploying and maintaining high-quality payment workflows and processing systems with greater autonomy, reduced costs, and accelerated time to market

🇺🇸 JPMorgan to replace Goldman as Apple Card issuer. The deal would cement JPMorgan's position in the credit cards segment and mark another win for CEO Jamie Dimon, under whose leadership the bank has become a dominant force in retail and investment banking.


FINTECH RUNNING CLUB

🇦🇪 Our New Dubai Chapter is here!💪🏼 Meet our new host, Drup Kubadia, and join a run!

FinTech Running Club!

OPEN BANKING NEWS

🇲🇽 Open Finance takes the CNBV to court. Open Finance is a fundamental link in financial inclusion. By interconnecting not only banking data but also multiple universes of information, it allows for the creation of products and services tailored to each individual.


DIGITAL BANKING NEWS

🇪🇸 Revolut reaches six million customers in Spain, positioning itself as the fourth largest bank in the country by market penetration with a 13% share, ahead of institutions such as Sabadell and ING. This was announced by the company in a press release.

🇵🇹 Revolut employees pressured with "unrealistic" metrics. The Union of Workers in Large Surface reported that it has received several complaints from employees of the digital bank, which employs around 1,200 people in the country, about abusive labor practices. Additionally, Revolut launches its credit card with Tinder and WeWork subscriptions. Revolut began sending early access invitations to this product to some customers, with three different offers.


BLOCKCHAIN/CRYPTO NEWS

🇺🇸 Trump Crypto Venture World Liberty applies for Bank Charter. World Liberty Financial’s subsidiary WLTC Holdings has lodged a “de novo” application with the US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) for a national trust bank charter.

🇨🇭 Nexo unveils Zero-interest credit with 0% APR and no fees. ZiC enables Bitcoin and Ethereum holders to access liquidity at 0% interest through a fixed-duration term, free from the risk of premature forced liquidation. Zero-interest Credit is designed for clients who want liquidity without sacrificing their long-term positioning. 

🇺🇸 Morgan Stanley to launch digital wallet for tokenized assets by 2026. The wallet will support tokenized assets such as traditional investments and private-company equity. Bitcoin, Ether, and Solana trading will also be introduced via E*Trade in early 2026.


PARTNERSHIPS

🇺🇸 Aevi and Verifone partner to simplify and scale in-person payments globally. Together, the companies address the fragmentation, proprietary integrations, and operational complexity that have historically slowed international in-person payment expansion.

🇺🇸 Fiserv collaborates with Microsoft to accelerate AI-driven innovation. The two firms will work together to embed AI into Fiserv platforms, equipping its global workforce with advanced tools and driving intelligent capabilities to deliver greater value to Fiserv clients.

🇺🇸 Apex and Allfunds join forces to expand access to offshore investing for global investors. This integration will simplify access to international investing and eliminate the need for firms to manage countless individual connections with different fund houses.

🇺🇸 Stripe helps power a new shopping experience in Microsoft Copilot. Copilot users in the US will be able to buy products from Etsy businesses and retailers like Urban Outfitters and Anthropologie, all without leaving the chat. Keep reading


DONEDEAL FUNDING NEWS

🇲🇦 Moroccan FinTech Woliz raises $2.2M pre-seed to digitize small retailers, sets up chari showdown. Woliz plans to use the funds to expand its team and accelerate the onboarding of merchants across various Moroccan cities. Read more


M&A

🇺🇸 Hg to acquire OneStream in a $6.4bn deal. The deal will see OneStream shareholders receive $24 per share in cash, representing a 31% premium to the company's closing share price on 5 January 2026. Hg is acquiring all outstanding shares of OneStream, including those currently held by private equity firm KKR.

🇮🇳 LKP Finance acquires Stake in Gyftr, moves to surrender NBFC licence. The company said the change reflects evolving opportunities in digital payments, rewards, and merchant engagement, areas that have seen rapid growth in India's financial technology sector.


MOVERS AND SHAKERS

🇺🇸 Marqeta appoints Patti Kangwankij as CFO. Ms Kangwankij will oversee all aspects of Marqeta’s financial operations, supporting the Company’s strategy to drive rapid growth and enhanced profitability. Ms Kangwankij is an experienced finance executive with over 20 years of experience.

🌍 Neil Budd appointed Finshape CEO. Neil Budd brings experience from Finshape competitors Accenture and Finastra, and will look to scale the company to Western Europe, the Middle East, and APAC as the new CEO. Read more

🇺🇸 Binance lands Dugan Bliss as Global Head of Litigation. In the new role, Bliss will oversee a global docket of litigation matters, according to Binance, as the crypto exchange remains subject to court-appointed monitorships imposed under a $4.3 billion plea agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice and other regulators.


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