Mastercard and Alchemy Make AI Agents Payment-Ready
Hey FinTech Fanatic!
Would you let an AI agent make a purchase with your card? 👀
Mastercard and Alchemy are making that possible with AgentCard, giving AI agents Mastercard payment credentials they can use to make online purchases wherever Mastercard is accepted.
That means your AI could book a flight, order something online or pay a subscription for you — while you stay in control of spending limits, merchants and individual transactions.
And the setup is getting surprisingly simple: Alchemy says developers can give an AI agent an identity, wallet, and payment credentials in under a minute.
Here’s what else is happening in FinTech 👇
See you tomorrow!
Cheers,
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FINTECH NEWS
🌏 Ant International launches AI-native finance tools, expanding its technology stack for global merchant payments. The suite targets financial institutions and merchants across Asia-Pacific markets.
🇨🇴 Bancoomeva launches Scalo to finance FinTechs in Colombia, projecting over $1 billion COP in credits over four years. The platform will offer deposits, lending, and API-ready tech solutions built for the FinTech ecosystem. Scalo was co-created with the founders of Mono.
🇬🇧 Airtel Money is considering trimming its London IPO size, Bloomberg News reported, citing people familiar with the matter. The mobile money unit is now seeking to raise at least $800 million, down from an earlier target of $1.5 billion to $2 billion.
🇺🇸 Nasdaq Private Market unveils PAM, an AI agent designed to open up private market investing. The tool aims to help investors navigate private market data and opportunities through an AI interface. Read more
HOW FINTECH PERFORMED LAST WEEK
📈 A snapshot of last week’s stock moves across public FinTechs:
PAYMENTS NEWS
🇺🇸 Mesta launches Agentic Payments, a new product enabling businesses to initiate and manage transactions through AI-driven workflows. The company provides payment infrastructure using integrated fiat and blockchain-based rails.
🇺🇸 Mesta surpasses $2.5 billion in total payment volume, a milestone for the payment infrastructure provider. Mesta enables businesses to manage global transactions via integrated fiat and blockchain-based payment rails. Read more
🇺🇸 Corpay agrees to pay $100M to settle FTC matter related to marketing and disclosure practices in its U.S. Vehicle Payments business. CEO Ron Clarke said the company is committed to transparent disclosures and consent-based practices going forward.
🇮🇳 Apple Pay eyes India rollout with Axis Bank, according to sources familiar with the matter. The move would mark Apple Pay's entry into one of the world's largest and fastest-growing digital payments markets.
DIGITAL BANKING NEWS
🇺🇸 Alkami's MANTL surpasses 1 million in-branch applications as banks and credit unions expand digital account opening. The milestone highlights growing demand for streamlined onboarding tools across community financial institutions. Read more
🇲🇦 Banque Populaire launches Morocco's first numberless bank card, displaying no card number or security code to reduce fraud risk. Sensitive data is accessible only through the secure Pocket Bank app, meeting advanced international payment-security standards. Keep reading
🇲🇩 Moldova expands EVO digital ID wallet into banking, with four banks now accepting digital credentials via QR code. The move aligns with efforts to match Europe's digital identity wallet framework ahead of the 2026 deadline.
🇳🇬 Bankit transitions to WayvePay, unveiling a new digital banking and payments platform for Nigerians. The rebrand introduces enhanced technology and expanded savings, transfers, and money management tools.
BLOCKCHAIN/CRYPTO NEWS
🇭🇰 Hong Kong plans to launch a wholesale CBDC for interbank payments by year-end as part of Project EnsembleTX. The HKMA aims to ease time constraints in payment systems and enable 24-hour settlement for tokenized asset and deposit transactions.
🌍 Zcash targets a November upgrade to make private payments up to three times faster. The NU7 upgrade would cut block times from 75 seconds to 25 and begin setting aside transaction fees for future mining rewards. About 2.4 million ZEC participated in the community vote backing the changes.
🌎 Circle launches Arc Studio, an AI coding agent that generates full stack onchain apps from natural language prompts. Developers can test generated applications across nine blockchains and export the code to their own repositories.
STABLECOIN NEWS
🌎 World launches World Money across 150+ countries, bringing stablecoin balances, global transfers, digital asset trading, and Morpho-powered Earn programs into one self-custody app. Stripe is powering the U.S. funding flow, while Bridge handles virtual account deposits and Lead Bank provides account details.
🌍 ARACORE joins Global Dollar Network, accelerating the global expansion of its stablecoin infrastructure. The partnership aims to broaden access to dollar-denominated digital assets across new markets. Keep reading
PARTNERSHIPS
🇺🇸 Alchemy and Mastercard launch AgentCard, enabling AI agents to make secure purchases anywhere Mastercard is accepted online. The partnership bridges agentic commerce with existing card infrastructure to unlock AI-driven purchasing at scale.
🇺🇸 Ramp teams with Ingram Micro and is now available on Microsoft Marketplace, expanding its reach across North American enterprise channels. The move gives Ingram Micro's partner network direct access to Ramp's spend management platform.
🇲🇽 Nu Mexico and Jalisco's Secretariat for Economic Development sign a framework agreement to promote financial and technological inclusion. The first initiative, "Generación Nu," will fund 300 tech training scholarships for women through a partnership with Laboratoria. Beneficiaries receive 12 weeks of intensive training in technical skills and personal financial management.
🇺🇸 Abra expands its partnership with Fireblocks to launch integrated qualified custody for tokenized asset strategies. The product automatically places eligible strategy tokens into custody operated by Fireblocks Trust Company, a NYDFS-regulated entity.
🇪🇺 Nexi and ReFiBuy partner to launch agentic commerce optimization for European merchants. The collaboration aims to enhance merchant discoverability for AI agent-driven purchasing across European payment networks.
🇺🇸 MoonPay and WisdomTree partner to expand access to the tokenized fund WTGXX for eligible U.S. investors. MoonPay also plans to include WTGXX as part of its stablecoin reserve management strategy.
🇺🇸 MassChallenge and SMU Cox launch a FinTech Coalition to connect North Texas financial services with global founders. The initiative includes a four-month accelerator recruiting early-stage FinTech startups for a hybrid program in Dallas.
DONEDEAL FUNDING NEWS
🇺🇸 Kastle raises $24M Series A led by Insight Partners to build AI agents for banking operations. The platform has processed more than $1.8 billion in transactions, with AI agents powering consumer lending work across major enterprises and banks.
🇸🇬 dtcpay expands its Series A to US$25 million, backed by Japan's SBI Group through SBI Ventures Asset and the SBI-NTU-Kyobo Digital Innovation Fund. The Singapore-based firm plans to grow its merchant network and launch an updated business portal for enterprise customers.
🇲🇾 Affin Bank secures US$400 million from IFC, a long-term financing package to widen MSME access to funding across Malaysia. The financing will prioritise women-owned businesses and enterprises in underserved regions, with IFC estimating it could create at least 42,000 jobs over five years.
🇪🇺 Creem raises EUR 5 million in a seed round to build out its AI-native billing platform. The funding will support the development of automated billing infrastructure for digital businesses. Keep reading
M&A
🇺🇸 StrategyCorps acquires Quantuma, an AI-native relationship solution for commercial banking. The deal establishes MonetizeIQ for Business Banking, giving relationship managers an AI partner to identify commercial opportunities before competitors do.
MOVERS & SHAKERS
🇬🇧 Raisin UK appoints ex-Goldman Sachs exec Jules di Mambro as its new CEO. Di Mambro takes the helm at the savings marketplace as it continues to expand its UK deposit platform.
🇬🇧 Phoebe Chibuzo Hugh to depart Monzo after three years at the digital bank. Hugh confirmed her departure on LinkedIn, stating that it was her last week at the company. Read more
🇲🇾 Former Ryt Bank CEO Melvin Ooi joins Bank Islam as group chief technology and transformation officer. Ooi brings over 24 years of experience spanning digital banking, payments, and FinTech across Asia and Australia to lead the lender's modernisation agenda.
🇧🇷 Nubank appoints Sarah Wilson as Chief Legal Officer, effective September 28. Wilson joins from Circle Internet Group, where she served as General Counsel and co-led the company's NYSE IPO in June 2025.
🇺🇸 BitGo names Alex Rozman Chief Compliance Officer as the digital asset infrastructure firm expands its institutional business. Rozman joins as BitGo continues to scale its compliance and regulatory operations.
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