Nu Is Taking Its Digital Banking Playbook Global
Hey FinTech Fanatic!
Nu spent 13 years proving that a digital bank could scale across Latin America. Now it wants to see how far that model can travel.
The Brazilian FinTech has officially launched in the U.S. with a new banking offering — and introduced Nu Global, a multi-currency account built for people whose lives and money cross borders.
The U.S. proposition is pretty aggressive: a 3.50% APY account, a metal card with unlimited 1.5% cashback, fee-free transfers, and plans to push those benefits even further. Nu Global goes a step further, using USDC and EURC as the underlying digital dollars and euros, with yield, global transfers, spending, and crypto access inside one app.
And this isn't a small FinTech testing a new market. Nu now serves 140M+ customers, has generated more than $1B in quarterly net income, and has already built one of the largest digital banking franchises in the world.
Now the question is whether the playbook that worked in Latin America can work in the U.S. — and eventually everywhere else.
Let’s get into today’s Digital Banking stories. 👇 See you on Monday!
Cheers,
INSIGHTS
💡 The Netherlands’ Billion-Dollar FinTech Club. The Netherlands has built six FinTech companies valued at $1B+, led by Adyen at $33.1B and Mollie at $6.5B. What stands out is the focus on infrastructure: payments processors Adyen and Mollie dominate the list, alongside Backbase in digital banking, while only bunq represents the consumer-facing side. The Dutch FinTech story is less about consumer apps and more about building the rails powering modern financial services.
FINTECH NEWS
🇺🇸 Mastercard gives merchants a simpler way to build, connect and scale, launching a unified developer platform for payment acceptance. The platform consolidates APIs and tools to help merchants integrate Mastercard services more efficiently.
🇭🇰 Unlimit expands its Asia-Pacific presence with a Hong Kong money service operator licence. Hong Kong ranked as the world's fourth largest FX centre with $883 billion in average daily turnover in April 2025. From its new hub, Unlimit will add local payment channels for businesses operating across the region.
🇵🇭 GCash receives SEC approval for up to P92.32 billion IPO, potentially the largest in Philippine history. The offer period is scheduled from October 6 to 12, 2026, with a target listing on October 20 under the ticker GCASH. Mynt expects to generate approximately P14.95 billion in net proceeds from the primary portion.
🇦🇪 PhonePe receives a UAE central bank licence, marking the Indian FinTech's first overseas market. CEO Sameer Nigam confirmed the company will offer wallet, gift cards, remittances, and local merchant payments. PhonePe plans to build a global business over the next decade.
🇨🇭 Helvo launches its financial operating system for Swiss SMEs after a beta phase with around 50 businesses. The platform connects accounts, payments, invoicing, accounting, and payroll into a single system built on a Swiss business account with CHF and EUR IBANs. Accounts can be opened in 48 to 72 hours, subject to approval.
PAYMENTS NEWS
🌏 Mastercard launches Wallet Pay to scale digital wallets worldwide, enabling wallet providers to offer Mastercard-branded payment credentials. The solution aims to accelerate digital wallet adoption across Asia Pacific and beyond.
🇺🇸 Checkout.com records triple-digit US growth, launching new products across North America. Q2 2026 US payment volume grew 126% YoY, with total processing volume on track to exceed $100 billion by year end. New capabilities span direct acquiring, payouts, issuing, and ISV solutions.
🇪🇺 BNP Paribas supports the accelerated rollout of Wero to merchant and retail customers across Europe. Air France, Decathlon, Fnac Darty, and Orange now offer Wero as an online payment method in France. All BNP Paribas retail customers in France can now use Wero for online purchases at participating merchants across five European markets.
🇮🇳 DBS Bank India expands DBS MAX, simplifying multi-gateway digital payment collections for businesses. The upgraded solution helps merchants improve payment resilience and gain consolidated visibility across digital collections. It supports optimised transaction flows through a single platform for multiple payment gateways.
🇺🇸 Intuit completes FedNow Service certification, enabling instant payments for small and mid-market businesses. The milestone lets Intuit partner with financial institutions to send instant payment transactions on behalf of customers. Businesses on the platform can now access real-time settlement and faster cash flow.
🇮🇳 Visa, AU SFB and Cheq launch India's first LED-enabled credit card, combining a dynamic display with contactless payment technology. The card shows real-time transaction details and balance information on an embedded LED screen.
DIGITAL BANKING NEWS
🇺🇸 Nu launches in the United States and introduces Nu Global, marking its expansion beyond Latin America. The digital bank now offers a full U.S. banking suite alongside a multi-currency account spanning 35+ countries. Nu serves over 140 million customers and is positioning itself as a global digital banking platform.
🇱🇺 Revolut looks to expand its Luxembourg footprint, recruiting for local roles as it reportedly applies for crypto-asset and electronic money licences. The move signals a deeper European regulatory presence for the British FinTech. Read more
🇺🇸 Community and regional banks are choosing FIS to accelerate modernization of their core banking infrastructure. The partnership aims to help smaller institutions compete with larger players through updated technology. Keep reading
🇮🇳 Revolut India CEO urges rethink of AI job cuts, calling the trend a "no-win" for companies at the Global Fintech Fest 2026. Paroma Chatterjee said businesses should create roles that work alongside AI rather than replacing people. Revolut's own AI model Pragma, built with NVIDIA, boosts efficiency in fraud detection and credit analysis without relying on layoffs.
🇺🇸 Lumin Digital advances secure open banking connectivity with MX, strengthening data sharing capabilities for credit unions and banks. The collaboration aims to give financial institutions more control over how consumer data is accessed and shared. Read more
BLOCKCHAIN/CRYPTO NEWS
🇮🇳 Maple reports August agreement revenue of $1.47M, marking four consecutive months of growth for the institutional lending protocol. Of that total, 10% funded a SYRUP buyback of 676,294 tokens at an average price of $0.2175.
🇺🇸 Ripple Treasury brings the industry's first governed AI for enterprise treasury, automating cash management and liquidity decisions. The solution applies governance controls to AI-driven treasury workflows for institutional clients.
🇮🇳 India issues its first tokenized corporate bond, using blockchain and digital rupee settlement under SEBI's Regulatory Sandbox. State-owned REC raised ₹500 crore with a 7.30% coupon, drawing demand of ₹796 crore from around 20 institutional investors.
STABLECOINS NEWS
🇺🇸 MoneyGram Card goes live on Rain, giving users a way to spend stable dollar balances anywhere Visa is accepted. Powered by stablecoin rails under the hood, the card works at over 175 million merchant locations. MoneyGram is on pace to run roughly $3 billion of FX trading through stablecoins annually.
🇺🇸 Coinbase CEO eyes stablecoin payments as a key growth engine, signalling a strategic pivot toward payments infrastructure. Brian Armstrong sees stablecoins as central to Coinbase's next phase of expansion.
🌍 Wirex is now live on Tempo for enterprise stablecoin card programs, enabling partners to use Tempo as a settlement layer. Wirex, a principal member of Visa and Mastercard, reached $1 billion in annualized onchain volume just 131 days after launch. The integration combines Wirex's regulated card stack with Tempo's stablecoin settlement and advisory services.
PARTNERSHIPS
🌏 Ant International, Mastercard and Visa initiate collaboration on Know-Your-Agent interoperability to scale agentic commerce. The initiative aims to establish shared standards for AI agents that browse, buy, and transact on behalf of users.
🇱🇧 Mastercard and Banque du Liban collaborate to expand digital payment acceptance for SMEs and women entrepreneurs in Lebanon. The initiative targets underserved business owners with tools to accept digital payments and grow online.
🇱🇧 Bank Audi and Mastercard launch an initiative to empower 10,000 Lebanese entrepreneurs to join the digital economy. Eligible businesses receive free bank accounts and Mastercard business debit cards, with Mastercard providing digital acceptance solutions and merchant training programmes.
🇪🇺 Solidgate partners with Klarna to bring flexible payments to merchants across Europe, including the Baltics and Central and Eastern Europe. Merchants on Solidgate's platform now access Klarna's BNPL options across Pay in Full, interest-free installments, and longer-term financing for its 120M+ shoppers.
🇩🇪 BW-Bank expands its digital investment offering to include crypto trading for retail clients via Bitpanda Enterprise. The rollout extends an existing LBBW Group partnership, letting retail customers buy and sell selected crypto assets through their securities account.
🌍 DashDevs partners with Sumsub to embed compliance into its composable FinTech Core platform from day one. The integration covers KYC, KYB, KYT, and sanctions screening in a single system. Clients launching banking, payments, or digital asset products can now access built-in verification and monitoring.
🇨🇦 Peoples Group partners with Feedzai to advance fraud defenses ahead of Canada's Real-Time Rail rollout in late 2026. The collaboration integrates Feedzai's AI-native RiskOps suite into Peoples Group's core transaction framework. The move prepares the bank to support 24/7 instant payment settlement with real-time fraud protection.
🇺🇸 Coinbase teams up with Moov to bring stablecoin payments to over 1,000 community banks and credit unions across the U.S. Coinbase supplies the regulated digital asset infrastructure while Moov embeds stablecoin acceptance, merchant settlement, and real-time funding into its existing payments platform.
🌍 VaultN and Paysafe join forces to bring real-time B2B payment settlement to game distribution. Built on the Skrill Business platform, VaultN Payments & Wallet settles transactions at the moment of sale. Take-Two Interactive is among the first major publishers to operate with the embedded B2B wallet.
🇺🇸 Remitly and Etsy partner to simplify global seller payouts, making Remitly an additional payment provider for Etsy Payments in 15 countries. New international sellers can choose Remitly during onboarding to receive earnings via local bank accounts and mobile wallets, with the option to hold balances in USD and convert locally.
🇪🇺 Revolut joins MetLife to offer payment protection insurance on its loans, available for contracting directly from the app. The coverage is designed to protect borrowers against unexpected events that could affect their ability to repay.
DONEDEAL FUNDING NEWS
🇺🇸 Nasdaq Ventures to invest $100M in Kraken parent company Payward, expanding a relationship that also includes a new market surveillance agreement. The deal covers continued development of the Nasdaq Equity Token framework, with Nasdaq Equity Tokens planned for launch in Q2 2027.
🇺🇸 TRM Labs announces a Series C expansion at a $2B valuation, led by Blockchain Capital, to continue building crimefighting AI. The company's ARR has quadrupled in three years, with TRM reporting that AI adoption by criminals surged 40% YoY in 2026.
🇺🇸 HelmGuard raises $7.3M for its agentic GRC platform, targeting governance, risk, and compliance automation with AI agents. The funding will support development of autonomous compliance capabilities for the platform.
🇺🇸 Savvy Wealth raises $100M Series C led by Ryan Smith and Ryan Sweeney's Halo Fund. The round supports the wealth management platform's continued growth and product development. Continue reading
M&A
🇸🇬 Grab Holdings is in talks to buy a majority stake in Singapore BNPL firm Atome, according to a report. The acquisition would deepen Grab's financial services footprint across Southeast Asia.
🇸🇪 Mynt acquires CostPocket to strengthen AI expense management and regional growth across Finland and the Baltics. The Estonian company brings AI-driven receipt capture and integrations with over 40 accounting and ERP systems. CostPocket will continue operating as a separate brand with access to Mynt's payment infrastructure.
MOVERS AND SHAKERS
🇲🇽 Mastercard names Sidney Massunaga Country Manager for Mexico, appointing him to lead the company's business strategy in the country. Massunaga brings over 20 years of experience in financial services and strategic consulting across Latin America and Asia. He will strengthen Mastercard's commercial capabilities and drive innovation across Mexico's payments ecosystem.
🇺🇸 First Internet Bank promotes Nick Campbell to Chief Lending Officer. Campbell takes on expanded responsibilities overseeing the bank's lending operations. Read more
🌍 Blytz names Eben Esterhuyse Chief Technology and Product Officer. Esterhuyse will lead the company's technology strategy and product development. Keep reading
🌏 Bolttech appoints Emma Butler as CEO of Asia Pacific and Philip Weiner as CEO of North America in a leadership reshuffle. Butler joins from her role as Regional General Manager for Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam, while Weiner succeeds Jon Walheim in the North American role.
🇬🇧 Zopa Bank appoints Bruce Fletcher and Paula Walter to its board, strengthening governance as the digital bank scales. The appointments add experience across financial services and technology leadership.
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