Funds Giant DE Shaw in Talks to Back £7bn Digital Bank Monzo

Hey FinTech Fanatic!

How much is Monzo really worth?

We may be about to find out. Funds giant DE Shaw is in talks to back Monzo at a valuation of around £7 billion, according to Sky News. It has reportedly indicated interest in leading a fundraising of at least £300 million in the coming weeks.

Nothing has been agreed yet.

It's been a busy few months for Monzo. In October, Nubank confirmed it wasn't pursuing a deal, after reports of takeover talks. Monzo was also reported to be in early talks with buyout firms about selling a minority stake.

For context, Monzo was valued at £4.5 billion in a secondary share sale in October 2024. So £7 billion would be a big step up.

What I find interesting is the shift. A few weeks ago, the talk was about a takeover. Now it looks more like a classic funding round, which would keep Monzo independent for now.

The big question is whether this round finally settles Monzo's valuation ahead of an eventual IPO. Definitely one to watch.

Anyway, plenty more happened in FinTech today.

Let's dive in, and I'll be back in your inbox tomorrow!

Cheers,

Marcel

INSIGHTS

💡 Paddle: Apple Changes App2Web Economics in Europe. In this analysis, Andrew Davies, Chief Innovation Officer at Paddle, explains how Apple's new EU rules give app developers more control over monetisation. Since October 1, developers can choose between a 26% commission for in-app purchases, 20% for alternative in-app checkout, and 15% for web checkout. But the real metric is net proceeds: payment costs, conversion, and operational expenses all affect how much revenue developers actually keep. The shift creates more opportunities to experiment with pricing, subscriptions and direct customer relationships. Read the full analysis here

FINTECH NEWS

🇬🇧 Zilch CEO confident of $2B valuation in planned IPO. Philip Belamant said the listing could come as soon as the second half of next year, though no bankers have been appointed. Zilch's annual revenue rose 36% to £147.5M.

🇬🇧 Robinhood launches IPO Access in the UK. UK customers can request shares in eligible US listings at the official offer price before trading begins, commission-free. The company has offered more than 50 IPOs since launching the feature in the US in 2021.

🇰🇿 Kaspi. kz's Q3 revenue rises 18% to KZT1.1 trillion. Net income reached KZT281B, while constant-currency e-commerce revenue grew 23%. Kaspi is also launching Magnum Daily stores in the neighborhood grocery market after a 42-store pilot.

🇸🇬 MAS proposes making Singapore's financial sector quantum-safe by 2034. Under the consultation paper, financial institutions would submit migration plans by the end of 2027 and complete the transition of remaining systems by 31 December 2034. The consultation remains open until 23 November.

🇬🇧 AI accounting firm Rillet launches in the UK. The agentic ERP platform, valued at $1B following a $100M Series C led by ICONIQ, has opened a London office and serves nearly 1,000 customers across 75 countries.

🇵🇭 Philippine SEC confirms data leak exposing users' tax IDs. Names, contact details, dates of birth, addresses and Tax Identification Numbers of platform users were exposed, and affected users were notified on 9 November.

PAYMENTS NEWS

🇨🇦 Canada launches its Real-Time Rail payment system. Payments Canada's 24/7 system offers real-time clearing and settlement, with initial participants including Wealthsimple, KOHO and Bank of America. Canada's largest banks are expected to join in stages.

🇰🇷 KakaoBank and Toss Bank prepare to introduce Apple Pay in South Korea. The move could end Hyundai Card's exclusive access to Apple Pay after more than three years. Shinhan Card, KB Kookmin Card and BC Card are also interested.

🇨🇦 PhotonPay registers as a payment service provider in Canada. Its Canadian entity is now registered with the Bank of Canada under the Retail Payment Activities Act, adding to its FINTRAC MSB registration. The company holds 35 payment licences and registrations globally.

🇦🇺 Uber introduces cash payments for rides in Australia. Riders in most areas, excluding Queensland, Tasmania and the Northern Territory, can now pay in cash, with drivers able to opt out through a trip filter and any change returned to riders as Uber credits.

#FINTECHREPORT

💡 Worldline: Q3 2026 Results: Revenue Returns to Growth, but Net-Net Revenue Remains Under Pressure. Worldline reported Q3 revenue of €946M (+2.5%), with Merchant Services revenue up 4.0% and Merchant Sales Value growing 3.4%. Transaction volumes also increased across Axis (+8.8% YTD) and GoPay (+10.9% YTD), while Financial Services orders surged 91% YTD. However, higher scheme and partner fees in Merchant Services offset the growth, leaving net-net revenue flat at €517.1M. Group net-net revenue declined 1.0% to €700.7M. The results highlight the key challenge in Worldline’s turnaround: growing transaction volumes is not enough if the company cannot retain more revenue from that activity. Read the full Q3 results breakdown here

DIGITAL BANKING NEWS

🇺🇸 Coinbase receives final OCC approval for its national trust bank. Coinbase National Trust Company will mainly provide institutional custody and cannot take retail deposits or lend. Coinbase plans to move its custody business into the entity over three years.

🇬🇧 D.E. Shaw in talks to lead Monzo funding round at about £7B valuation. The round could raise at least £300M, Sky News reports, after takeover talks with Nubank collapsed. Monzo and D.E. Shaw declined to comment.

🇦🇪 Tabby Cash accounts top 1 million in two months. The BNPL firm, valued at $6.5B, aims to become customers' primary financial relationship, adding fee-free international transfers to over 50 countries. Tabby Cash operates under a CBUAE Stored Value Facilities licence.

🇮🇪 Revolut enters Irish mobile market with €9.99 monthly plan. Revolut Mobile, an eSIM service managed in the Revolut app and built with Gigs, offers the introductory price to the first 25,000 customers before rising to €12.99. Revolut has about 3.4 million Irish users.

🇪🇬 CIB targets Q1 2027 launch for Yomo digital bank. Commercial International Bank plans to invest about $300M over three years and is aiming for 10 million customers within five years. Yomo received initial Central Bank of Egypt approval in August.

🇪🇺 ECB approves transfer of part of Revolut Bank's Lithuanian operations to France. Some assets and liabilities will move to the French entity, covering customers in France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Portugal and Spain, with completion expected in early December.

🇦🇹 Scalable Capital launches fixed deposits in Austria paying up to 3.25%. Terms run from six months at 2.75% to 24 months at 3.25%, from €1, as Scalable competes with Trade Republic and Revolut. Its instant-access rate is 2.60%.

PODCAST RECOMMENDATION

💡 Incognia: The Fraud Economy, Episode 3: When the Person Behind the Account Changes. In this episode, payments strategist Dwayne Gefferie speaks with André Ferraz, CEO and Co-Founder of Incognia, about account takeovers, phishing, coercion and account handovers into mule networks. One investigation revealed that more than 4% of accounts opened at a financial institution had changed hands within just three months, despite passing the original identity checks. The discussion explores why valid credentials and KYC verification don't guarantee that the original customer remains in control, why transaction data alone may not detect these changes, and how location intelligence can help identify whether a new device is still behaving like the legitimate customer. The key takeaway: authentication confirms credentials, but it doesn't necessarily confirm who is actually operating the account. Watch the full episode here

BLOCKCHAIN/CRYPTO NEWS

🇺🇸 US Treasury moves to cut off MEXC over $16B in alleged illicit flows. FinCEN's order would bar US financial institutions from transacting with the Seychelles-based exchange, citing nearly $1.5B in alleged Russian sanctions evasion. MEXC says it is reviewing the order.

🇪🇺 Binance tells users in some European countries to withdraw crypto before fees start. From 29 November, a monthly fee of 0.025% of balances or 10 USDC will apply, and accounts will close by 31 December. Binance still lacks a MiCA licence.

🇹🇭 Thailand moves to block Bitget as its local acquisition stalls. The SEC filed a criminal complaint against Bitget's operator and asked to block its website and app from 5 December. Its acquisition of local exchange GMO-Z has been delayed to 30 November.

STABLECOINS NEWS

🌐 BVNK makes Open USD live for business customers. Eligible businesses outside the EEA can mint and redeem the Open USD stablecoin at zero cost on Ethereum, Solana, Base and Tempo. OUSD is backed by a consortium including Mastercard, Stripe and BlackRock.

🌐 Zama spin-off Raycash launches confidential stablecoin payments on Ethereum. The app offers private USDC payments and yield using ERC-7984 confidential tokens, starting as a private beta. More than 75,000 people have joined the waitlist.

🇿🇼 Green Dollar Stablecoin seeks ZIMRA approval for tax payments. The Zimbabwean stablecoin has asked the revenue authority to accept it for selected taxes and customs duties, subject to ZIMRA's assessment and approval.

PARTNERSHIPS

🇪🇬 Mastercard and Housing and Development Bank collaborate on Egypt's digital payments. The partnership will strengthen HDB's debit, credit and commercial cards. The bank has more than 2 million customers, about 100 branches and 457 ATMs.

🇿🇦 Mastercard and Glyde launch virtual card payments for Southern African travel businesses. Built on the Mastercard Wholesale Program, Glydepay lets travel agencies issue a unique virtual card for each booking. It is the programme's first card issuance in Southern Africa.

🇺🇸 PNC pilots incoming stablecoin payments with Coinbase. Eligible corporate and institutional clients can receive USDC on Ethereum, which is converted 1:1 to dollars in a PNC deposit account. The service runs on Coinbase Payment products.

🇺🇸 Coinbase and Morpho launch gold-backed loans. Coinbase users can now borrow stablecoins against Paxos's tokenised gold in the Coinbase app, via a new Morpho market on Base. Gold is the first non-crypto collateral on the integration.

🇦🇪 Liv by Emirates NBD integrates CBUAE-registered stablecoin USDU. Built with issuer Universal and Aquanow, the integration adds the dollar-backed stablecoin to the Liv app, launched with a three-month zero-fee crypto trading campaign.

🇬🇧 Chase partners with PayPoint on cash deposits. Chase UK customers will be able to deposit up to £500 a month at more than 30,000 PayPoint locations using an in-app barcode, with no fee and funds usually arriving within 10 minutes.

🇰🇪 WayaWaya and Choice Bank launch digital banking in Kenya. WayaWaya Banking offers accounts, multi-currency holdings, local and international transfers and bill payments under the Central Bank of Kenya framework. WayaWaya aims to build a pan-African neobank.

🇩🇪 PayPal offers YouLend term loans to German merchants. Loans of €1,000 to €1M for up to a year now appear on PayPal's German business page, arranged by YouLend and funded by Banking Circle. PayPal has not formally announced the product.

DONEDEAL FUNDING NEWS

🇿🇦 Yoco secures $100M credit facility from Victory Park Capital. The TPG-backed payments firm's first debt deal will fund merchant finance and cash advances of up to R1.5M per business. Pricing and maturity were not disclosed.

🇬🇧 Seva Money raises $5M seed round for remittance wallets. Blockwall and Revent co-led the round for the London-based firm, which provides white-label wallets and cards for remittance recipients in India and Mexico. Five more markets, including the Philippines and Kenya, are planned.

🇸🇦 Ejari expands Partners for Growth credit facility to $50M. The Saudi rent-now-pay-later firm is increasing a facility first set up in 2024 ahead of a commercial rental push. A Series A round is expected to close soon.

🇺🇸 Numica raises $21M to acquire accounting firms. Roosh X and Flashpoint Capital led the round for the New York company, which buys accounting firms with succession issues and automates their work with AI.

M&A

🇩🇪 Nexi agrees to sell Ratepay to Affirm. The two firms also signed a DACH partnership MoU. The deal for the German pay-by-invoice provider is expected to receive regulatory approval in the first half of 2027; terms were not disclosed.

🇺🇸 Morgan Stanley agrees to buy transfer agent Vinyl Equity. The deal adds digital transfer agency capabilities to Morgan Stanley at Work and could support future tokenisation. It is expected to close in Q1 2027; terms were not disclosed.

🇮🇹 Crédit Agricole proposes merging its Italian unit with Banco BPM. The friendly proposal offers Banco BPM shareholders a 20% premium and a €1B extraordinary dividend, raising Crédit Agricole's stake to about 45%. It projects €800M in annual synergies.

🇬🇧 Chester Rose secures £4.9M OakNorth facility to acquire Bespoke IFA. £2M will fund the acquisition, adding about £250M in assets under administration for a total of around £900M.

🇬🇧 Saepio acquires cloud security consultancy Remitech. The UK cybersecurity firm's second acquisition adds a consultancy whose clients include UK FinTechs. Terms were not disclosed.

AI DEVELOPMENTS

🇨🇦 BMO deploys AI agent to speed up credit card inquiries. AI Agent Assist helps contact centre staff with transaction matching and case preparation. BMO aims to cut resolution times by 20-30% and process about 40% of eligible refund requests automatically.

🇨🇾 Bank of Cyprus launches the island's first AI banking assistant. DANAI, developed with technology partner Avenga, is available 24/7 in the mobile app in Greek and English.

🇺🇸 Ramp data shows AI spending growth stalling. Token spend rose 1.5% across August and September after 42% growth in July, according to Ramp economist Ara Kharazian, though October spend rose 8.9%.

MOVERS AND SHAKERS

🌐 Binance CFO Kaiser Ng steps down nine days after record hack. He will be succeeded by Justin Yek, a former Airwallex finance executive. Co-CEO Yi He said the transition was planned over the past six months and that Ng is pursuing a new venture.

🌐 Blockchain.com appoints Lisa Nelson and Luis Berruga to its board ahead of IPO. Nelson, a former Microsoft executive, and Berruga, former CEO of Global X ETFs, join the crypto brokerage's board, bringing its total membership to 10 directors as the company prepares to go public.

🇬🇧 Trade Nation's head of payments Tariq Ahmed departs. Ahmed, with the CFD broker since 2021 and head of payments and client onboarding for the past year, has left the firm. No successor was named.

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