Sokin Is Giving AI Agents a Way to Actually Move Money
Hey FinTech Fanatic!
AI assistants are getting pretty good at answering financial questions. Sokin wants them to start doing the actual work.
The FinTech has launched an MCP connector that lets finance teams use tools like ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Perplexity to check balances, get live FX quotes, prepare beneficiaries and line up cross-border payments — all from an AI conversation.
The important part? AI doesn’t get the final say. Every instruction still needs customer confirmation and follows existing approval rules before the payment hits Sokin’s licensed rails.
In testing, the connector handled 10 multi-currency invoices and treasury moves in under 10 minutes. That’s where this gets interesting: agentic AI isn’t just becoming a smarter interface — it’s starting to interact with the financial infrastructure underneath.
And if you want to see where the wider FinTech market is heading, here’s another interesting comparison: European 🇪🇺 vs. American 🇺🇸 FinTech: Who Wins on Valuation?
Let’s get into today’s FinTech stories. 👇
Cheers,
INSIGHTS
💡 European 🇪🇺 vs. American 🇺🇸 FinTech: Who Wins on Valuation? European FinTech has a clear standout in Revolut at $115B, but the US leads at the very top with Stripe at $159B. The US also has deeper representation among the largest companies, with Robinhood, PayPal, Block, Coinbase and others, while Europe’s strongest names span digital banking, payments and infrastructure. The comparison highlights two different strengths: Europe’s rise of digital banking and the US dominance in payments and financial infrastructure.
FINTECH NEWS
🇺🇸 Anthropic targets financial advisers with a new Claude tool, designed to help advisors research and analyse client portfolios. The product brings Claude's AI capabilities directly into financial advisory workflows.
🇺🇸 Jump introduces AI-assisted real-time account opening with Schwab Advisor Services and Fidelity. The feature uses AI to streamline the onboarding process, enabling advisors to open client accounts in real time across both custodians.
🇬🇧 Payhawk launches agentic Playbooks that run inside Claude and ChatGPT, letting finance teams execute tasks like closing books and chasing receipts on live data. The Fall '26 edition also adds an Implementation Agent that configures the platform for new customers in hours.
PAYMENTS NEWS
🇬🇧 Ramp officially launches in the UK, its first major expansion outside North America. The corporate finance platform acquired Stockholm's Billhop in March for regulatory payments authorisation and now serves UK companies from a growing London office.
🇬🇧 UK banks launch fundraising to build a new payments infrastructure vehicle, targeting £50m to fund the UK Payments Delivery Company. Nineteen firms including Barclays, HSBC, Citi, PayPal, and Wise back the entity, which aims to create a domestic alternative to Visa and Mastercard.
🇰🇷 Coocon links Kakao Pay to Seoul Pay, enabling QR code payments at 270,000 merchants across South Korea. The integration connects Kakao Pay users to Seoul Pay's merchant network through Coocon's business data platform.
🇰🇷 Kakao Pay completes an agentic payment proof of concept, letting AI agents link to its digital asset wallet and pay in stablecoins. The test covered both purchase payments and seller revenue settlement, built on the x402 web payment protocol.
🇪🇺 ECB calls on merchants to join the digital euro pilot scheme, inviting retailers to participate in testing ahead of a potential launch. The central bank wants merchant input to shape how the digital euro works at the point of sale.
DIGITAL BANKING NEWS
🇨🇴 Revolut gets banking license in Colombia, planning to launch operations in the South American country in 2027. The company will invest an additional $62M in Colombia for digital banking infrastructure, doubling its initial investment.
🇺🇸 Eclipse Bank picks Lumin Digital for banking upgrade, adopting the cloud-native platform for its retail and commercial clients. The Louisville-based community lender aims to deliver a more tailored digital experience across mobile and online channels.
BLOCKCHAIN/CRYPTO NEWS
🇦🇪 UAE to integrate Avalanche crypto to power its digital ID infrastructure, marking a significant step in the country's blockchain adoption. The move positions Avalanche as a core layer for national identity verification in the UAE.
🌍 CoinEx announces an orderly cessation of operations, citing a prolonged market downturn and rising compliance costs. Withdrawals remain open until December 22, 2026, with all user assets fully backed by reserves above 100%
STABLECOIN NEWS
🌎 Infinia expands its Programmable Money OS to support LATAM and UK stablecoins. Enterprise platforms can now collect, convert and disburse using Brazil's BRLA, Mexico's MXNB and the UK's TGBP. Support for Colombian and Argentinian local stablecoins is scheduled next.
🇰🇷 Rain adds support for KRW1, the world's first Korean won stablecoin issued by BDACS. Businesses can now power won-denominated stablecoin card programs accepted at 175M+ Visa merchant locations.
PARTNERSHIPS
🇺🇸 ID.me and Plaid announce partnership to strengthen the integrity and speed of government benefit payments. Agencies can now verify both the person and the financial account receiving a payment in one place.
🇬🇧 Checkout.com becomes one of the first to adopt Primer for Partners, gaining direct control over its integration roadmap. The partnership lets Checkout.com bring new payment capabilities to shared merchants on its own timeline.
🇸🇦 Mastercard collaborates with HyperPay to launch HyperSpend, a spend management platform for SMEs in Saudi Arabia. The product offers fully digital onboarding with automated KYC and KYB capabilities.
🌍 Cardano Foundation joins Mastercard's Crypto Partner Program, targeting cross-border payments and B2B transactions. The collaboration aims to integrate stablecoins and settlement processes on the Cardano blockchain.
🇵🇦 Unibank and Mastercard launch a new cross-border payments experience for Panamanian SMEs. The partnership gives small businesses access to faster international transfers through Mastercard's network.
🌎 dLocal selects Oscilar to optimize compliance operations across its international payment network. The cross-border payments platform will use Oscilar's agentic risk platform to strengthen compliance across multiple markets.
🇰🇿 VEON and Beeline Kazakhstan sign payments cooperation memorandum, partnering with the National Bank of Kazakhstan. The five-year framework will explore connecting VEON's digital services with Kazakhstan's national payment infrastructure to make transfers more accessible.
🇺🇸 Carolina Panthers and Bank of America launch 3rd & Goal, a flagship community platform targeting 10,000 students across the Carolinas. The program focuses on literacy, physical wellness and personal well-being for children in Title I schools.
🇭🇰 Banking Circle expands its collaboration with OSL to support stablecoin-to-fiat settlement across six currencies. The partnership enables institutional clients to receive, convert and settle funds globally through a single platform.
🇺🇸 Nasdaq Verafin and Stablecore partner to unify fiat and digital asset financial crime detection. The collaboration aims to bring together traditional and digital asset monitoring. Continue reading
🇹🇭 TrueMoney partners with Fireblocks to embed a THBT wallet in Thailand's dominant e-wallet app. The pilot allows up to 20,000 users to test baht-pegged blockchain payments under central bank oversight with keyless wallet technology.
🇭🇰 Allfunds and HSBC launch same-day T+0 settlement for Hong Kong money market funds. The capability reduces settlement times from the standard cycle to same day execution through the Allfunds platform.
DONEDEAL FUNDING NEWS
🇸🇦 barq closes a $329.5M Series A at a $1.85B valuation, with participation from Noon Investments, Sohar International Bank and M20 Fund. The Saudi digital payments company has surpassed 15 million users within two years across 210+ nationalities.
🇧🇷 Brazilian FinTech A5X raises $70M in a Series D, led by Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs and Kaszek. The company is building a new derivatives exchange to challenge B3's dominance in Brazil's capital markets, with operations expected in Q2 2027.
🇺🇸 Fin.com raises $20M in seed funding to expand stablecoin payments infrastructure. Led by Expa and Uber cofounder Garrett Camp, the round includes Coinbase Ventures. The startup builds white-label tools to convert stablecoins into local currency across 30+ countries.
🇬🇧 Visa, Circle and Ripple back Velocity at a $200M valuation, extending its Series A to $48M. The London-based startup builds infrastructure to move payment settlement and treasury operations onto stablecoin rails.
🇺🇸 tZERO announces funding round to advance tokenized financial markets infrastructure. The round was led by Marc and Max Cohodes, with participation from Intercontinental Exchange and others. tZERO plans to expand its infrastructure-as-a-service offering for tokenized securities.
M&A
🇺🇸 Vista Equity is exploring strategic options for financial software provider Finastra, including a potential sale. The process is at an early stage, with advisers appointed to gauge buyer interest.
🇦🇺 Netwealth buys Paradino for $20m, adding the financial planning software provider to its platform. The acquisition expands Netwealth's adviser technology offering in the Australian market.
🇸🇬 Grab agrees to buy 60% of Atome Financial for $1.49B, expanding its financial services footprint in Southeast Asia. Read more
🇫🇷 Red Alert Labs joins Fime, bringing its cybersecurity evaluation expertise and CyberPass platform into the group. The acquisition supports Fime's strategy to become a global Digital Trust Provider with continuous assurance capabilities.
MOVERS AND SHAKERS
🇦🇹 Christian Trummer becomes Co-CEO of Bitpanda, effective immediately, as CEO Lukas Enzersdorfer-Konrad plans to step down in Q1 2027. The board has initiated a structured succession process considering both internal and external candidates.
🇦🇪 Revolut hires Nilesh Khatwani as Global Head of Institutional Sales, Crypto, based in Dubai. He joins from Crypto.com, where he held a similar role for three years.
🇬🇧 Former United Fintech Americas head Mark Lawrence joins Barclays. He spent the past five years at the banktech umbrella group as Head of Americas. Keep reading
🇵🇱 BLIK appoints Piotr Puchalski as new CEO, effective January 2027, replacing Dariusz Mazurkiewicz. Puchalski brings 20+ years of experience from BNP Paribas and mBank in the financial and payments sector.
🇸🇬 Standard Chartered Capital appoints Abhinav Trivedi as MD and CEO, effective immediately. Trivedi takes on the role as the firm strengthens its leadership across its investment management business.
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