TikTok Seeks Brazilian Licenses for Payments and Credit
Hey FinTech Fanatic!
TikTok has applied for FinTech licenses with Brazil’s central bank that would allow it to offer both payments and credit products, leveraging its massive 131 million adult users for "distribution first, financial services next."
According to two sources directly related to the matter, via Reuters, TikTok aims to become an electronic money issuer, enabling prepaid accounts for storing balances, receiving funds, and seamless in-app payments.
It’s also pursuing a credit license to lend from its own balance sheet or connect borrowers and lenders.
TikTok's Brazil FinTech push echoes Elon Musk's vision for X as an "everything app" with integrated payments and financial services inside a social network.
Distribution first. Financial services next. We’ve seen this playbook before.
More from FinTech below. Let's go! 👇
Cheers,
INSIGHTS
📰 The Next Era of Payments: Agentic Commerce and Tokenized Money by Mastercard. Mastercard highlights the next evolution of payments, pointing to agentic commerce powered by AI and tokenized currencies like stablecoins as the two major paradigms set to reshape the industry. Read the full article here
Mastercard Virtual C-Suite
FINTECH NEWS
🇧🇷 TikTok seeks Brazil FinTech license to offer credit. TikTok has applied for two licenses with the regulator. One would allow it to operate as an electronic money issuer, offering prepaid accounts for users to hold balances, receive funds, and make payments within its app. The second license would make it a direct credit company.
🇺🇸 Block’s Jack Dorsey outlines AI-powered vision to cut middle managers. Dorsey outlined his thesis for the future of organizational structures in a blog post co-authored by Sequoia Capital partner Roelof Botha, arguing that AI could replace layers of management that traditionally coordinate work across companies.
🇦🇺 FinTech Startup Eazy-C announces 2026 Australian launch to solve substantiation gap for 1.1 million gig workers. Eazy-C connects to a sole trader's bank account, identifies platform income and business expenses throughout the year, and generates an organised, substantiated record, ready to hand to a registered tax agent at lodgement time, or to use when self-lodging via myTax.
🇸🇪 Klarna agrees to a $1.7 billion transaction supporting up to $40B+ of lending. The deal, led by Värde Partners, enhances Klarna’s capital efficiency and builds on its broader strategy to scale lending and global operations. Read more
🇺🇸 FinTech Monzo shutting down US operations to focus on the UK and Europe. The London-based digital bank will stop onboarding new customers and lay off about 50 employees. Existing customers can continue to use their accounts until June. Keep reading
PAYMENTS NEWS
🇲🇾 Airwallex begins operations in Malaysia with the launch of payment services. Qualified Malaysian businesses will be given access to Airwallex's fast, transparent, and cost-effective foreign exchange conversions and payouts in more than 130 countries, empowering them to grow and operate globally.
🇳🇱 Retailers and payment companies clash over iDeal successor Wero. The rollout of Wero is facing industry pushback, with payment providers like Adyen and Mollie raising concerns over higher costs, increased fraud risk, and more complex dispute processes.
🇦🇺 Australia to ban credit, debit card surcharges in a hit to banks. The move aims to simplify payments, increase transparency, and align Australia with global markets, while potentially reducing bank revenue and saving consumers billions annually.
🇸🇦 FinTech unicorn Tabby reports $387M in revenue from Saudi unit. Revenue increased by 42% year-on-year from $267 million in 2024, while net income rose by 82% from $30 million, marking the company’s second consecutive year of profitability.
🇦🇺 Zeller launches Terminal 1x. The new Zeller Terminal 1x (T1x) combines payments and point-of-sale (POS) into a single device, priced at a low one-time price of $199 with no ongoing monthly software or hardware fees, positioning it as one of the most affordable end-to-end checkout solutions in Australia.
🇮🇩 Bank of Korea launches QR payment link in Indonesia, allowing users to make purchases by scanning local codes with their existing financial apps. Using the system, Korean users can pay at more than 32 million merchants that support the country’s standardized QRIS payment network.
OPEN BANKING NEWS
🇳🇿 New Zealand to extend open banking to SME channels. The decision expands a system that lets customers share banking data with approved third parties. For businesses that can support services such as loan comparison tools, accounting automation, payment processing, and cash flow monitoring.
DIGITAL BANKING NEWS
🇻🇳 Cake Digital Bank launches GlobalX international remittance solution. GlobalX international money receipt service nationwide enables users in Vietnam to receive overseas funds quickly, securely, and at a lower cost, marking a new step in expanding cross-border financial solutions on a fully digital banking platform.
BLOCKCHAIN/CRYPTO NEWS
🇧🇪 Swift’s blockchain-based shared ledger progresses to MVP implementation. The MVP introduces a shared digital orchestration layer that will record and validate interbank payment commitments. The ledger enables payments to be executed using tokenised deposits as the underlying representation of value, leverages existing compliance processes, and supports multiple settlement options.
PARTNERSHIPS
🇬🇧 Checkout.com integrates with SAP’s Open Payment Framework to accelerate enterprise ecommerce payments. Through the integration, merchants can deploy Flow, Checkout.com’s customizable checkout solution that enables businesses to accept payments through a single integration.
🇮🇳 Razorpay launches RBI-compliant biometric Passkey for online card transactions, allowing users to verify payments with fingerprint or facial recognition instead of OTPs. Built in partnership with Mastercard and Visa, the solution enhances checkout speed, reduces fraud, and improves the overall user experience.
🇺🇸 Ramp and Visa deepen partnership to power the next era of autonomous finance by deploying Visa Intelligent Commerce and the Visa Trusted Agent Protocol across its platform. The collaboration aims to help global enterprises streamline payments with real-time controls, automation, and reduced friction at scale.
🇨🇱 FinTech Mendel joins BICE and Visa to launch a business credit card in Chile. The product integrates a digital platform that allows customers to manage corporate expenses in real time, with tools to assign limits, monitor transactions, and centralize information in one place.
🇮🇹 Nexi and PayPal expand European collaboration for integrated merchant payments. The integration embeds PayPal's payment ecosystem directly into Nexi's platform, enabling merchants to activate PayPal services through a single onboarding process and manage payments, funds, and reporting within a unified system.
DONEDEAL FUNDING NEWS
🇺🇸 Former Stripe and Coinbase employees raise $8 million for Latitude, a startup whose core product is stablecoin-based Global Payouts. When a business sends money internationally, the process can be slow and expensive. Latitude aims to fill this gap by helping firms make fast, affordable international payments using stablecoin rails while abstracting away the complexity.
🇰🇷 FinTech Startup V1C successfully closes KRW 13.4 billion Pre-A investment round. Through its ClovAI and Clov Finance solutions, the company is rapidly scaling financial management and lending services for SMEs, positioning itself as a key player in Korea’s evolving B2B finance ecosystem.
🇪🇸 Brickken secures €3M to expand tokenisation infrastructure. The newly raised capital will be used to establish The Brickken Group and strengthen the company’s regulatory capabilities across key international markets, supporting further expansion of its global operations and infrastructure.
M&A
🌏 Revolut is in talks to acquire a major Asian bank. The move would align with Revolut’s ambition to scale globally, despite significant regulatory and market challenges in Asia. Continue reading
🌍 Polish FinTech Zen buys PINbank, and Ukrainian Asvio Bank buys motor-bank at auction. ZEN has won the auction to acquire insolvent PINbank, while Asvio Bank secured Motor-Bank, marking continued M&A activity in Ukraine’s banking sector. The transactions remain subject to regulatory approval before completion.
MOVERS AND SHAKERS
🌏 BigPay restructuring impacts senior leaders across three markets. The changes come amid a broader strategic shift at Capital A, with BigPay no longer listed among its core business priorities. Continue reading
🇧🇷 Nubank appoints Diego Piacentini to the Board of Directors, bringing extensive experience from Amazon and Apple. His addition supports Nubank’s ongoing global expansion as it scales its digital-first financial services platform. Keep reading
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