Huawei Wants Banks to Own Their AI
Hey FinTech Fanatic!
Huawei is making a pretty big bet on where financial AI is heading.
The company has launched Fintelligent AI, a new solution built around the idea that banks should own and control their AI capabilities rather than simply rent access to models.
The interesting part is the infrastructure behind it: Agent Factory, Token Factory and Data-Knowledge Factory, covering everything from deploying AI agents at scale to managing compute and turning a bank’s data, documents and legacy business rules into knowledge AI can actually use.
Huawei is also positioning its open-source openJiuwen platform as the foundation for building and managing financial agents across the enterprise.
The bigger shift here is that AI in finance is moving beyond individual copilots and chatbots. The focus is increasingly on building the infrastructure needed for agents to operate across real banking processes — securely, repeatedly and at scale.
And that connects with a point Ove Kreison of Tuum recently highlighted: $23 trillion is sitting in low-rate accounts, and AI agents could help banks turn that passive money into something more dynamic by searching, comparing and executing transactions for customers.
Let’s get into today’s FinTech stories. 👇 See you tomorrow!
Cheers,
INSIGHTS
💰 $23 trillion is sitting in low-rate accounts, according to McKinsey, with Tuum highlighting how AI agents could finally get that money moving by searching, comparing, and executing transactions for customers. For banks, being the “bank of choice” increasingly means being machine-readable, API-accessible, and always on.
FINTECH NEWS
🇺🇸 Plaid adds new risk controls to its Identity Verification product, letting customers configure escalation logic with Rule Groups. The updates also include improved reporting and visibility tools so teams can preview the impact of threshold changes before committing.
🌏 Huawei launches its Fintelligent AI Solution for global financial institutions. Built on the open-source agent platform openJiuwen, the solution features Agent Factory, Token Factory, and Data-Knowledge Factory to accelerate production-grade AI agent deployment at scale.
🌏 Reap launches Reap Sentry, a managed fraud and risk service for card programs. The service handles end-to-end transaction risk management, from configuring fraud rules to processing chargebacks, eliminating the need for in-house fraud specialists.
🇪🇺 Kybix launches an AI-powered KYB platform, backed by Euroclear and Liminal, to help financial institutions and multinational companies collect, share and reuse trusted business identity data. The platform aims to reduce repetitive compliance work and move KYB toward continuous monitoring.
🇮🇳 MoneyView's valuation is trimmed to $624 million ahead of its IPO, down from a prior peak. The markdown reflects revised investor expectations as the Indian lending platform prepares to go public.
PAYMENTS NEWS
🇦🇪 Network International launches Network MAX, a new suite of business card solutions for UAE SMEs. Developed with Mastercard, the digital platform gives merchants instant access to settlement funds while offering cashback and tools to manage employee spending.
🇰🇷 Bank of Korea launches a 24-hour offshore won settlement network trial, aiming to lower barriers for foreign investors. The pilot program will enable round-the-clock settlement of won transactions outside traditional banking hours.
🇸🇦 Visa Direct ecosystem expands in Saudi Arabia, as demand for digital money movement accelerates. Card transaction volume on Visa Direct in the Kingdom grew over 50% YoY, with alrajhi bank, Alinma Bank and SAB among participating institutions.
🇬🇧 FMPay unveils a card acquiring and payout model for mid-sized digital businesses and B2B FinTechs. The FCA-authorized payment institution handles pay-ins and payouts across Visa, Mastercard and UnionPay without intermediaries.
DIGITAL BANKING NEWS
🇲🇽 Revolut hits one million customers in Mexico, less than eight months after launching full banking operations. The digital bank has invested $167 million locally and is using Mexico as a platform for its Americas expansion.
🇨🇴 Revolut Colombia plans 1,000 ATMs and a 2027 public opening after receiving its banking licence. The British digital bank has committed 400 billion pesos (about $125 million) over five years, with credit cards and remittances among first products.
🇨🇴 Lulo Bank launches Lulo Empresas, a fully digital business banking ecosystem in Colombia. The platform has already onboarded 194 companies and mobilized over $500 billion COP through enterprise accounts in 2026.
🇦🇿 Bir says digital banking now reaches 5 million users, covering more than half of Azerbaijan's population. CEO Farid Huseynov presented the group's strategy at Money20/20 Middle East in Riyadh.
🇲🇽 Klar Empresarial expands its 360 platform to Mexican PFAEs and RESICOs, opening credit, debit, investments and cashback to independent professionals and small businesses. The platform targets a segment of 10 to 12 million registered taxpayers who have historically lacked access to tailored corporate banking products.
🇺🇸 Bastion receives conditional OCC approval to operate as a national trust bank, becoming one of the first crypto-native firms to reach this regulatory milestone. The approval allows Bastion to offer crypto custody and related services under federal oversight.
BLOCKCHAIN/CRYPTO NEWS
🇰🇷 Hana Bank taps Euroclear blockchain for a $100M bond issuance, marking South Korea's first digital bond directly using Euroclear's infrastructure. The distributed ledger network shortened settlement from days to same day for the five-year foreign-currency bond.
🇪🇺 The ECB launches Pontes to settle tokenized wholesale assets in central-bank money. The platform connects distributed-ledger technology to the Eurosystem's TARGET Services, offering an alternative to stablecoins for institutional settlement.
🇺🇸 Coinbase now offers IPO allocations to US retail traders, starting with Oura's listing this week. Eligible customers can request shares at the offer price before open-market trading begins.
STABLECOINS NEWS
🇧🇷 Binance launches 24/7 FX perpetuals with 100x leverage, starting with a USDT-settled USD/BRL contract. The product trades through weekends and holidays using a dual pricing system that draws on external feeds during market hours and orderbook data when FX venues close.
🌏 Bybit launches the world's first 24/7 TradFi options, debuting SpaceX and Nvidia as underlying assets. The USDT-settled Perp Options contracts give traders round-the-clock access to US equity options without a separate brokerage account.
PARTNERSHIPS
🇦🇪 UPFRONT and Mastercard collaborate to expand digital payment solutions for SMEs. The partnership will integrate Mastercard commercial card capabilities into UPFRONT's platform, giving SMEs new ways to manage working capital and business expenses across MENA.
🇩🇰 Danske Bank performs an AI agent transaction with Mastercard, becoming one of the first banks to test agentic commerce in a live banking environment. The trial demonstrates how AI agents can initiate and complete payments autonomously within an established bank's infrastructure.
🇺🇸 TransPerfect selected by Evolent for enterprise-wide telephonic interpretation, expanding language access across Evolent's payer network. The hybrid model combines AI-enabled technology with professional interpreters to support Medicare, Medicaid and health equity requirements.
🇸🇬 Convera and JustLogin partner to enable cross-border payroll across Southeast Asia. The integration lets JustLogin customers initiate payroll in up to 16 currencies from within the HR platform, while Convera handles payment execution.
🇸🇦 GFH Bank partners with AlNassr Saudi Club for the 2026-2027 season, aiming to strengthen brand presence across key regional markets. The deal creates new fan engagement opportunities across Saudi Arabia and beyond.
DONEDEAL FUNDING NEWS
🇨🇴 Nubank plans to invest $1.58 billion in Colombia by 2030, CEO David Velez announced. The digital bank has grown to five million Colombian customers and now holds over $3.49 billion in local deposits.
🌍 Paymob secures $35M in a pre-Series C round, scaling its payments infrastructure and AI solutions across the Middle East and Africa. The raise expands Paymob's merchant acceptance network in a region where digital payments adoption is accelerating.
🇮🇩 01F Group announces an investment in DANA, Indonesia's leading digital e-wallet and financial services platform. The deal backs Indonesia's fast-growing digital payments market, projected to approach $1 trillion by 2030.
🇬🇧 AI-driven cashback-to-mortgage app Sprive raises $10 million, continuing its push to help homeowners pay off mortgages faster. The funding supports automated overpayment features that redirect everyday cashback directly toward mortgage balances.
🇮🇳 BharatPe raises ~$14M in debt ahead of a potential IPO, adding to the Indian FinTech's pre-listing momentum. The debt raise strengthens BharatPe's balance sheet as the company moves closer to a public market debut.
🇬🇧 FintechOS raises £21 million to double down on US growth after reaching profitability. The London-based agentic platform grew recurring revenue 40% YoY in H1 2026, with 130% growth in the US market.
🇸🇦 Saudi FinTech Abwab.ai raises $4 million in a seed round led by Speedinvest, marking the VC firm's first Saudi investment. The Riyadh-based startup's lending infrastructure has processed over SR10 billion in SME loans across more than 10 institutions.
🇺🇸 Footprint bags $25 million in a Series B led by QED Investors to scale its agentic AI compliance platform. The funding will double engineering and sales headcount as the firm rolls out its Percy AI operating system for financial crime.
M&A
🇮🇳 Mastercard Asia Pacific may divest its 4.3% stake in Pine Labs through a block deal worth up to Rs 892.5 crore. The floor price is set at Rs 179.50 per share, with Citigroup as sole placement agent and settlement scheduled for September 23.
🇺🇸 BlackLine acquires NetNow, expanding its Invoice-to-Cash suite with AI-enabled customer onboarding and credit risk management. The deal connects upstream credit decisions more closely with receivables and cash flow processes.
MOVERS & SHAKERS
🇬🇧 Reward taps Lloyds veteran Enrique Del Rio as president, UK & Europe. Del Rio brings over 30 years of financial services experience to lead commercial development across banking loyalty, transaction intelligence and commerce media.
Trusted reach among senior decision-makers in FinTech, Payments & Banking.
👉 Explore Partnership here
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