Mastercard Is Bringing AI Into the B2B Payment Layer
Hey FinTech Fanatic!
B2B payments have no shortage of data. The harder part is actually knowing what to do with it.
That’s what Mastercard is targeting with Advanced B2B Analytics, a new AI-powered platform designed to help banks and corporate buyers identify which suppliers are most likely to accept card payments, and where the biggest opportunities are hiding.
Instead of relying on fragmented accounts-payable data and manual analysis, issuers can use dynamic acceptance scoring, interactive dashboards and payment-flow insights to identify suppliers, improve working capital and drive more commercial card adoption.
And the opportunity is huge: Mastercard puts the addressable B2B payments market at around $80 trillion.
What I find interesting is where Mastercard is taking this next. The company says this is just the first foundational B2B capability, with plans to extend AI and intelligence across suppliers, acquirers and more of the commercial payments lifecycle.
So AI here isn’t really about replacing the payment process. It’s about making the infrastructure around the payment smarter.
Not at Sibos? I’ve got you covered. Scroll down to see the key announcements, deals and developments worth knowing.
Let’s get into today’s FinTech stories. 👇 See you tomorrow!
Cheers,
🔴 LIVE FROM SIBOS
Presented by ACI Worldwide
Not at Sibos? I’ve got you covered.
I’m tracking the announcements, deals, and developments coming out of Sibos across banks, FinTechs, payments companies, and infrastructure providers, and filtering it all down to what I think you need to know.
Here’s what stood out today:
1. 🇺🇸 Mastercard launches Advanced B2B Analytics, an AI-powered platform unlocking supplier payment insights for issuers and corporates. The platform uses AI-driven acceptance propensity scoring to help issuers identify and prioritize card payment opportunities across the roughly $80T B2B payments market.
2. 🌍 Finastra launches Supply Chain Finance at Sibos 2026 to help banks accelerate working capital growth. The cloud-native platform supports buyer and supplier onboarding, fulfillment, risk management and secondary market distribution. SCF integrates with Finastra's Trade Innovation and Loan IQ platforms through the Nexus API suite for connected trade and lending services.
3. 🌍 Swift opens cross-border gateway to Bizum, PayID and Pix users. The integration lets banks send international payments to recipients identified by their mobile wallet or instant payment alias.
4. 🇺🇸 BNY unveils Pay-to-Wallet technology option, giving banks a new way to route payments directly into digital wallets. The capability aims to simplify disbursements for financial institutions serving wallet-based customers. Read more
5. 🌐 Chainlink launches CCIP 2.0, its next-generation cross-chain interoperability protocol for blockchain networks. The upgrade delivers faster finality, lower costs, and expanded chain support for developers building cross-chain applications.
6. 🇦🇪 Traydstream and Mashreq expand partnership to transform trade finance operations. The collaboration deepens automation of trade finance document processing for Mashreq's banking operations.
That’s it for now. Back at it tomorrow with more from Sibos.
INSIGHTS
🤖 Your core banking platform shouldn’t decide which AI to use, with Tuum emphasizing the importance of an open core as AI evolves faster than vendor roadmaps. Built-in AI can solve problems today, but an open architecture lets banks adopt the best technology as it emerges, without compromising the reliability, control and security of the core.
FINTECH NEWS
🇭🇰 Payward is betting billions on becoming financial infrastructure, moving beyond the Kraken exchange. Co-CEO Arjun Sethi outlined plans to expand into futures, payments and broader financial services through heavy acquisition spending. The strategy positions Payward as a full-scale financial infrastructure provider rather than a standalone crypto exchange.
🇺🇸 Apple faces a class-action lawsuit over Apple Pay fees charged to card issuers. A U.S. federal judge certified the class action, allowing thousands of banks and credit unions to sue over allegedly unfairly high transaction fees. The lawsuit claims Apple blocks competing contactless wallet services while imposing excessive charges on issuers.
🇮🇳 Google tests buying from Flipkart through Gemini and AI Mode in India. Select users see a "Buy" button on Flipkart product listings within the AI interface, enabling checkout without leaving Gemini. Google plans to roll out the experience more broadly in October ahead of India's festive shopping season.
🇪🇺 Capital.com launches stocks and ETF investing across its European markets. The broker now offers direct ownership of more than 2,280 stocks and ETFs across U.S. and European exchanges with no commission. The move extends the platform beyond short-term trading to include long-term investing for eligible EEA clients.
PAYMENTS NEWS
🇺🇸 ACI Worldwide and Cognizant demonstrate strong card processing performance on AWS. BASE24-eps sustained more than double its target transaction load for 30 minutes with no failed transactions under simulated POS load. Across the full test, the system processed more than 4.6 million transactions without a single failure.
🇭🇰 PhotonPay launches local collection accounts in Nigeria and Ghana, expanding its emerging market infrastructure. Global businesses can now collect Nigerian naira and Ghanaian cedi through compliant local settlement channels.
🇪🇸 Wallapop incorporates Bizum as a new payment method for both in-person and shipped transactions. Users can complete purchases using only their Bizum-linked phone number, without entering bank card details. Remote sales paid via Bizum are covered by Wallapop Protection, holding funds until the buyer confirms receipt.
🇭🇰 Hong Kong and Indonesia central banks deepen cooperation on cross-border QR payments. The HKMA and Bank Indonesia signed an MoU to establish QR code-based payment links between the two markets. The agreement aims to make cross-border transactions faster and more affordable for consumers and businesses on both sides.
🇸🇦 Aljazira Bank selects Thunes to power next-generation global remittances from Saudi Arabia. Through Thunes' Direct Global Network, Aljazira Bank customers gain real-time access to pay to billions of bank accounts and mobile wallets worldwide. Saudi Arabia has one of the highest volumes of cross-border payment activity globally.
🇬🇧 PlayStation patents an idea for a controller that can take contactless payments. The patent describes a game controller with built-in payment capabilities, making in-game purchases simpler. The filing comes as Sony prepares to phase out physical discs in 2028, shifting further toward digital commerce.
DIGITAL BANKING NEWS
🇬🇧 Monzo is in talks with Nubank about a sale at around a $10 billion valuation. Sky News reported the two neobanks are in early discussions, with Nubank exploring a potential acquisition. The deal would combine two of the world's largest digital banks into a single global consumer banking group.
🇬🇧 Sainsbury's Money and NatWest Boxed launch embedded loans and savings for Nectar members. The partnership brings personal loans and savings products directly into the Sainsbury's ecosystem. Nectar members can access the financial products through a joint platform powered by NatWest Boxed, the bank's embedded finance unit.
🇬🇧 iwoca reports 56% revenue growth to £366 million in 2025 and launches a business credit card for UK SMEs. The lender provided £1.5 billion in funding across roughly 100,000 SME loans, taking total lending past £6 billion since 2012. Profits rose to £85.1 million as the company reinvests in new products including Credit Compass and iwocaPay.
🇧🇾 Belarus registers its first crypto banks, a milestone for the country's digital economy and financial system. The newly registered institutions must obtain National Bank accreditation and join its crypto bank registry before beginning operations.
BLOCKCHAIN/CRYPTO NEWS
🇺🇸 Citi Token Services expands into Japan and the UAE, advancing its always-on liquidity strategy. The service uses tokenized deposits to enable near-instant cross-border fund movement across seven live markets.
🇭🇰 Hong Kong regulators expand financial reporting oversight to licensed crypto firms under a new MoU. The SFC and AFRC agreement covers compliance reporting by licensed virtual asset service providers and establishes a framework for information sharing and coordinated inspections. SFC Chair Kelvin Wong said the expanded cooperation provides more comprehensive oversight.
🇭🇰 Bitget clarifies that $388 million in assets were affected by its security breach, up from the initial $352 million estimate. The revised figure includes assets on Zcash and TRON not counted in the first report. Withdrawals remain paused and the exchange has launched a bounty program to recover the funds.
🌏 Aave just turned tokenized Apple stock into DeFi collateral. Users can now deposit Backed Finance's bAAPL token as collateral to borrow against on Aave. The integration brings real-world equity assets into on-chain lending for the first time on the protocol.
🇺🇸 Aave V4 now accepts seven Coinbase tokenized stocks as collateral for USDC loans on Base. Eligible non-US users can borrow against Apple, Nvidia, Tesla and four other tech tokens with collateral factors ranging from 65% to 79%.
🌍 Tether and Shiga plan self-custodial wallets for Africa and the Gulf Cooperation Council. Two products are planned: ENTA for individuals and businesses, and Pulse for banks and FinTech firms, both built on Tether's open-source Wallet Development Kit.
STABLECOINS NEWS
🇦🇪 Mastercard research finds UAE SMEs among global leaders in stablecoin and digital asset payments. The Dreamonomics report shows 1 in 7 UAE SMEs accept cryptocurrency, while 10% already pay business expenses in stablecoins. Two-thirds of UAE SMEs are excited about AI for their business, with 48% interested in AI-powered fraud protection.
🇭🇰 Stablecoin payments firm RedotPay completes a financial audit as it presses ahead with U.S. IPO plans. Both the financial audit and an AML compliance review were conducted by Big Four firms. The company has 8.5 million users and is targeting a valuation above $5 billion for its planned listing.
PARTNERSHIPS
🇦🇪 Checkout.com integrates Jaywan into its UAE acquiring platform, enabling merchants to accept the domestic card scheme through local payment rails. Jaywan is operated by Al Etihad Payments, a subsidiary of the Central Bank of the UAE. The integration automatically routes Jaywan transactions domestically, reducing reliance on international rails.
🇺🇸 Plaid and Decagon partner to power financial experiences with AI customer support agents. Decagon's agents can now verify bank accounts and complete payments inside the conversation without redirecting users.
🇭🇰 Citi, Mastercard and FTAHK co-host a forum on the agentic future of finance in Hong Kong. The third annual event brought together regulators, financial leaders and FinTech innovators to discuss scaling agentic AI responsibly. Speakers from the HKMA, Google Cloud, NVIDIA and others explored AI's impact on wealth management, banking and payments.
🇺🇸 Citi expands its digital assets footprint with a Coinbase partnership, deepening its presence in the institutional crypto space. Citi will use Coinbase Prime for custody and trading of digital assets on behalf of institutional clients.
🇮🇪 Revolut Pay launches with Harvey Norman in Ireland, bringing one-click checkout to the retailer's online store. Revolut's 3.4 million Irish customers can pay using their existing balance or saved cards with automatic detail population. For the first 30 days, customers earn five times the usual RevPoints on purchases made through Revolut Pay.
🇩🇪 Deutsche Bank and IPID announce a strategic partnership to enhance payment decision intelligence. IPID's verification, fraud and compliance signals will expand across Deutsche Bank's global payments business.
🇿🇦 Paystack launches onsite Shopify card checkout in South Africa, allowing Shopify merchants to accept card payments directly within their stores without redirecting customers to a separate payment page. The integration is designed to make checkout faster and smoother for South African online shoppers, while giving merchants access to Paystack's payment infrastructure across Shopify stores.
🇦🇪 Botim and GCash partner as Philippines remittances on Botim surge 145%. Botim users in the UAE can now send money directly to GCash wallets in the Philippines. Botim already serves more than 60% of the Filipino community in the UAE, with 548,000 verified Filipino users on the platform and 2.2 million users in the Philippines.
🌍 Vodafone teams with France's Digital Virgo on payment processing across Europe and Africa. Digital Virgo will incorporate Vodafone network APIs into payment services it provides to about 300 merchants and 150 operators. The partnership starts in Germany, Greece, Spain, South Africa and the UK with plans to expand further.
🌎 EBANX partners with NetEase Games for Latin American payment processing across Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Chile and Peru. The integration brings local payment methods including Pix, SPEI, PagoEfectivo and Mercado Pago to NetEase Games Club. In Latin America, only one in four adults has a credit card, making local payment access critical for reaching players.
🇺🇸 Volante Technologies and Circle announce a stablecoin collaboration to bring USDC payment integration to global banks. The partnership aims to let financial institutions process USDC payments through existing infrastructure.
DONEDEAL FUNDING NEWS
🇸🇦 erad raises $22 million in Series A funding to accelerate SME financing across the GCC. The round brings the Saudi alternative financing platform's total equity funding to $32 million. erad focuses on providing working capital solutions to small and medium-sized enterprises in the Gulf region.
🇬🇧 OakNorth participates in a £250M club loan supporting Essar Energy Transition Retail's acquisition of SGN Retail. The deal backs the purchase of a UK fuel retail network. Keep reading
M&A
🇺🇸 Valley National Bancorp to acquire Bluevine, the digital small business banking platform. Bluevine serves roughly 175,000 active customers and brings approximately $2.1B in low-cost digitally sourced deposits growing at about 35% CAGR.
🇺🇸 Finalsite expands K-12 payments capabilities with its acquisition of RevTrak. RevTrak serves more than 13,000 schools, handling digital payments for meals, athletics, events and fees.
🇮🇪 Bridgepoint and Astorg consider a £2B-plus Fenergo sale, sources say. The Irish RegTech firm serves over 300 banks and insurers; a formal sales process could launch early in 2027.
🇫🇷 Shine acquires Libeo to strengthen its SME financial platform. Libeo specializes in expense management and supplier invoice payments, serving around 3,000 businesses and accounting firms. The acquisition adds AI-assisted purchase cycle controls to Shine's existing suite of business accounts, invoicing and accounting tools.
MOVERS AND SHAKERS
🌍 Revolut appoints Álvaro Alberdi as Head of Business Growth for Southern Europe and Latin America. Alberdi will lead customer acquisition strategy, partnerships and go-to-market execution for Revolut Business across both regions. He joins from Planet, where he served as Global Head of Marketing across EMEA.
🇺🇸 Circle's Chief Financial Officer Jeremy Fox-Geen will step down from the stablecoin firm. Fox-Geen joined Circle in 2021 and led the company's financial operations through its IPO preparations. Circle has begun a search for his successor as it continues its path toward a public listing.
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