Bitpanda and Raiffeisen Are Bringing Crypto Closer to Banking
Hey FinTech Fanatic!
Crypto is getting a little closer to becoming a normal part of banking. 👀
Raiffeisen and Bitpanda are taking their partnership beyond Austria, with plans to bring digital asset access to Raiffeisen’s wider network across Central and Eastern Europe.
The two have created a new framework that could eventually reach around 18 million customers.
And I quite like the simplicity of it. Instead of sending customers to a separate crypto platform, digital assets could become another service available through the bank they already use.
That’s an interesting shift for FinTech: crypto doesn’t necessarily need to replace traditional banking. It can simply become another layer of it.
And this shift isn’t only happening at the customer-facing layer. Ove Kreison from Tuum recently highlighted how AI could help banks untangle decades of legacy complexity, making core modernization possible in months rather than multi-year migrations — without leaving the existing business behind.
Let’s get into today’s FinTech stories. 👇
See you tomorrow!
Cheers,
INSIGHTS
⚙️ Multi-year core migrations are becoming yesterday’s constraint, with Tuum highlighting how AI can untangle decades of legacy complexity in a fraction of the time. Instead of waiting years for a full rebuild, banks can modernize the areas under the most pressure and see ROI in months, bringing the speed of greenfield players without leaving their existing business behind.
FINTECH NEWS
🇬🇧 Airtel Money targets an $8 billion to $9 billion London IPO, according to a Financial Times report. The African mobile money unit is exploring a listing that would rank among the largest London flotations in recent years. Keep reading
🇸🇪 Tink founders launch Freda, a new venture focused on compliance built as an agentic operating system. The FinTech unicorn's founders are applying their open banking experience to regulatory and compliance workflows. Freda aims to automate compliance processes using AI agent technology.
🇵🇭 GCash owner Mynt secures over 20 cornerstone investors, including BlackRock and T. Rowe Price, for a potential record Philippine IPO. The offering could raise up to $1.3 billion when shares begin trading on the Philippine Stock Exchange on October 20.
🇦🇪 EQT launches its Middle East platform and opens an Abu Dhabi office, marking its first on-the-ground GCC presence. The private markets firm manages $389 billion in assets and will pursue investment opportunities aligned with GCC economic transformation. The ADGM-based office covers private equity and infrastructure strategies.
🇴🇲 Oman launches a national FinTech strategy and centralized digital portal to attract investment and accelerate innovation. The Central Bank of Oman leads the initiative alongside the Financial Services Authority and the Istidama programme. The strategy aims to improve digital infrastructure and interoperability across the financial system.
#FINTECHREPORT
💡 dLocal: How Gamers Pay and Play in Emerging Markets. The latest dLocal whitepaper looks at how localized payments are becoming critical to gaming expansion across Africa, Asia, and Latin America. As mobile gaming, internet access, and digital adoption accelerate, gamers increasingly need payment methods that match how they already pay locally — from mobile money and digital wallets to local banks and vouchers. Brazil stands out with 155M people and 16M companies connected to Pix, while 89% of Brazilian adults had used Pix for payments by May 2024. Across emerging markets, the message is clear: access to gaming is growing, but payment localization can determine whether that demand actually converts into revenue. Read the full article here
PAYMENTS NEWS
🇧🇪 Monizze and IDEMIA Secure Transactions launch Monizze Pay, Belgium's first mobile payment solution for employee benefit vouchers. The NFC wallet feature lets users pay in-store via smartphone for meal, eco, and gift vouchers on iOS and Android.
🇨🇴 Visa migrates 6 million Nequi cards to Pismo, marking a major cloud-native processing milestone in Colombia. Over 5 million users can now access virtual card technology, with roughly 900,000 physical cards also running on Pismo's cloud infrastructure. Visa said the migration supports its broader push to serve SMEs through neobank partners.
🇺🇸 Finzly earns certification for Request for Payment on the RTP Network, enabling financial institutions to send and receive RfP messages. The certification positions Finzly's clients to offer real-time bill payment and collections through the RTP network.
🇬🇧 Form3 launches AI agentic payments infrastructure, designed to let autonomous agents initiate and manage payment flows. The platform targets financial institutions looking to embed agentic capabilities into real-time payment processing. Keep reading
🇮🇳 BHIM launches myUPI, an AI assistant for transaction tracking, complaints and fraud support. The tool aims to simplify UPI issue resolution for users across India.
🇦🇪 Foloosi secures UAE Central Bank approval for a payments licence, clearing a key regulatory hurdle. The approval allows Foloosi to operate as a licensed payment service provider in the UAE.
DIGITAL BANKING NEWS
🇬🇷 Klarna celebrates four years in Greece, reaching 700,000 shoppers and 13,000 merchant partners. The BNPL provider now works with 66 of the top 100 Greek merchants across fashion, electronics, travel, and beauty.
🇳🇱 Bunq becomes the first bank to complete Wero rollout across four European markets. The Dutch neobank has fully deployed the instant payment solution, positioning itself ahead of larger banks in the Wero ecosystem.
🇳🇱 Bunq introduces flexible credit cards that put users in control of their spending. The new cards let customers set their own spending parameters and adjust limits directly within the Bunq app.
🇺🇸 Paywhere launches its AI banking channel, letting banks and credit unions serve customers inside AI tools like ChatGPT, Claude, and Copilot. The programmable platform provides a financial-grade connective layer that keeps the institution's brand and controls intact.
🇺🇸 Zact launches a commercial banking platform, aiming to help banks reclaim business relationships lost to FinTechs. The platform targets commercial banking with tools designed to modernize how banks serve business clients.
BLOCKCHAIN/CRYPTO NEWS
🇪🇺 Bitwise launches the first crypto ETP tracking Lighter, a decentralized exchange challenging Hyperliquid. The Bitwise Lighter Staking ETP (ticker BLIT) is listed on Deutsche Börse Xetra and tracks the Kaiko Lighter Reference Rate Index. The product also captures staking yields without requiring investors to manage wallets or keys.
🌐 RedotPay expands its US licensing footprint, obtaining two state lending licences to broaden its domestic operations. The crypto-linked card provider adds the new licences to its growing US regulatory portfolio.
STABLECOINS NEWS
🇦🇪 Noah Co-Founder & CEO Shah Ramezani joined Johny Fernandez on FINTECH. TV to discuss how the Gulf built its stablecoin infrastructure differently from the US, with the UAE developing its framework around payments. He highlighted clear regulatory ownership, AE Coin’s use for government fees and projections of ~$500B in GCC assets moving on-chain by 2030.
🇪🇺 ECB urges the EU to drop MiCA's 60% stablecoin bank deposit requirement, arguing the rule could create financial stability risks. The central bank wants reserve rules changed to reduce concentration of stablecoin reserves in bank deposits. Continue reading
🇨🇦 Tetra Trust launches CADD, Canada's first CAD-backed stablecoin issued by a regulated financial institution. Now live on Base, Ethereum, and Tempo, CADD enables near-instant on-chain settlement of Canadian dollars under full regulatory oversight.
PARTNERSHIPS
🇦🇹 Bitpanda and RBI build a crypto framework for 18 million bank customers across Central and Eastern Europe. Bitpanda Enterprise will provide digital asset infrastructure to RBI's network of subsidiary banks across 11 markets. Individual banks will decide their own product rollout based on local regulations.
🇦🇲 Viva, Amio Bank and Mastercard launch a digital card offer that can cover customers’ mobile tariff payments through everyday spending. Subscribers using the Amio-Viva Mastercard Digital card can have their tariff covered if they make more than AMD 50,000 in cashless transactions over the previous 30 days.
🇪🇺 ClearBank Europe partners with Pay.com, providing embedded banking infrastructure for the payments platform. The integration lets Pay.com merchants hold funds, make SEPA transfers, and pay out at speed without leaving the platform.
🇺🇸 NYSE and Blockchain.com partner on 24/7 tokenized U.S. stock trading, bringing round-the-clock equity access to crypto users. The collaboration will enable tokenized trading of U.S. stocks on Blockchain.com's platform outside traditional market hours.
🌍 Visa and Reap expand stablecoin credit cards to over 100 markets worldwide. The partnership uses Reap's existing Visa card issuance infrastructure to bring stablecoin-linked spending into EMEA and Africa. Reap has already processed $20 billion in stablecoin settlement across 175 million merchant locations.
🇦🇪 Al-Futtaim partners with Juspay to unify payments across 50 brands and 12 markets. Juspay will deploy payment orchestration with fraud management, network tokenisation and consolidated analytics starting September 2026. The rollout includes Juspay's Breeze commerce stack for digital-first checkout.
🌏 HSBC and Conferma expand virtual cards for suppliers in Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia. The partnership extends a relationship that began in 2011 with corporate travel payments into procurement and accounts payable workflows. Businesses can now initiate virtual card payments within existing ERP and finance systems.
🌍 Thredd partners with Velocity to expand its global payments platform with stablecoin-powered money movement. The collaboration adds stablecoin settlement capabilities to Thredd's card issuance and processing infrastructure. Read more
🇬🇧 Bybit selects OpenPayd to unify global fiat settlement and on/off-ramp infrastructure. The crypto exchange, serving over 80 million users, will use OpenPayd's single API for USD SWIFT connectivity, virtual IBANs and FX. The integration consolidates settlement, account infrastructure and foreign exchange in one platform.
🇨🇦 Shopify partners with Meta to bring Shop Pay to Muse, allowing the AI agent to discover products from Shopify merchants and complete purchases on users’ behalf. The integration brings Shop Pay’s checkout infrastructure directly into Muse, turning AI-assisted shopping into an actual checkout experience.
🇬🇧 Santander UK partners with Sibstar to support financially vulnerable customers. The partnership will integrate Sibstar's specialist tools into Santander's banking services, giving customers and their carers greater control over day-to-day spending.
DONEDEAL FUNDING NEWS
🇺🇸 Numeral raises $100M Series C, led by Insight Partners, to expand its AI-powered tax compliance platform. The San Francisco-based company will deploy capital across product, engineering, and sales as it targets larger businesses facing complex state and international tax requirements.
🇬🇧 Argentex founder Harry Adams raises £7.5 million for his new startup Tenora. The FX industry veteran is building a new venture after founding the London-listed currency specialist.
🌏 AI-powered stablecoin platform Infini raises $6M in seed funding and launches its mobile app. The round will support expansion of Infini's stablecoin payment and savings products.
🌎 Open payments network Atum raises $13.5M in seed funding from Variant, PayPal Ventures and other investors as it emerges from stealth. The startup is building a coordination layer that connects payment companies, developers and enterprises across stablecoins, blockchains and traditional payment rails.
🇧🇷 NG.Cash raises $15M from Blockchain Capital, boosting the Brazilian crypto platform's growth plans. The São Paulo-based platform secured the funding to expand its crypto offering for younger Brazilian users.
🇦🇹 Hansmann Family Office invests in Vienna RegTech 3Folio, which builds a finance and compliance platform for digital assets. The undisclosed investment follows the appointment of Samuel Brandstätter as CEO to lead the next growth phase.
M&A
🇺🇸 MoonPay to acquire North Capital, expanding into onchain capital markets. The deal combines North Capital's regulated private markets infrastructure, which has supported over $8.7 billion in transaction volume, with MoonPay's platform for tokenized assets.
🇦🇪 UAE-founded Huspy announces $86 million investment in Italy, acquiring Integra Finance to enter the market. The AI-powered mortgage and real estate platform now operates in 15 cities across the UAE, Spain, Saudi Arabia and Italy. Huspy plans to build one of Italy's leading operators in mortgage finance.
MOVERS & SHAKERS
🇧🇷 Agi announces Rafael Siqueira as new CTO, tasking the 30-year tech veteran with accelerating AI adoption across the bank. Siqueira previously served as Partner and Technology Leader at McKinsey for Latin America.
🇳🇬 Flutterwave appoints former Access Holdings CFO Morounke Olufemi as its new Global CFO. Olufemi brings extensive experience from one of Africa's largest financial services groups to the payments company. Keep reading
🇲🇦 Chari appoints former Visa executive Aurélien Pichon as independent board director. Pichon led a global team of nearly 5,000 at Visa and joins as Chari pushes into regulated FinTech infrastructure across Morocco.
🇺🇸 James Wester joins ModoPayments as Chief Payments Officer, bringing payments industry expertise to the Dallas-based platform. Wester steps into the newly created CPO role to help shape ModoPayments' strategic direction.
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