fintech

Brazilian digital bank Nubank is reportedly in early-stage talks with British challenger bank Monzo over a full takeover, while private equity firm Advent International has been named as one of several buyout firms interested in acquiring a minority stake. If a deal proceeds, it would mark one of the largest acquisitions in the UK fintech sector and a major expansion for Nubank into the British market.

The European Central Bank has launched Pontes, a new platform for settling transactions in digital securities. The move is part of the Eurosystem's broader work on blockchain and digital market infrastructure, aiming to let financial institutions settle digital asset trades using central bank money. The initiative is drawing attention across European banking and fintech circles as a step toward modernising euro-area settlement systems.

Brazilian digital bank Nubank is reportedly in early-stage talks to acquire UK challenger bank Monzo in a deal valued at up to £10 billion. If completed, the takeover would mark one of the largest acquisitions of a British fintech and would give Nubank a major foothold in the UK banking market. Analysts and investors are watching closely for confirmation from either company.

Mastercard, former Meta executive Sheryl Sandberg and former Google CEO Eric Schmidt are investing in a finance platform serving small businesses, according to Forbes. The backing from a major payments company and two of tech's most prominent figures signals growing investor interest in lending and financial tools aimed at small firms, an area often underserved by traditional banks.

U.S. regional bank Valley National has agreed to buy Israeli fintech Bluevine for $340 million. The deal gives the bank a digital small business lending platform and is expected to accelerate its technology and artificial intelligence strategy. Industry commentators are watching it as another sign of traditional banks buying fintech capabilities rather than building them in-house.

Amazon has expanded its partnership with Affirm to let shoppers pay for purchases over up to 48 monthly instalments directly in checkout. The move extends buy-now-pay-later beyond short-term instalments, making long-duration financing a standard option on one of the world's largest retail platforms and deepening the fintech's presence in mainstream e-commerce.

According to the headline, 19 Indian startups raised a combined total of more than $397 million in funding between September 21 and September 26, 2026. The rounds spanned a wide range of sectors, including electric vehicles, foodtech, cleantech, healthtech, defencetech, footwear, fintech and artificial intelligence. No further details about the individual companies, investors or deal sizes are given, so the full picture of the week's fundraising activity remains limited.

Payward, the parent company of crypto exchange Kraken, says it is working to build financial infrastructure that extends beyond its core exchange business. The move signals an effort to diversify into broader financial services, positioning the company as a wider fintech provider rather than a crypto trading platform alone. Details on specific products or timelines were not provided.

Argentine regulators have approved Revolut's acquisition of Banco Cetelem, clearing the way for the British fintech to take over the consumer bank. The deal marks a significant step in Revolut's expansion into Latin America, giving it a local banking licence and established customer base in Argentina, one of the region's largest financial markets.

Revolut has received approval from Argentina's central bank to proceed with its acquisition of Banco Cetelem, the Argentine banking unit. The clearance removes a key regulatory hurdle for the fintech company's expansion into Argentina's retail banking market. The move marks a significant step in Revolut's push into Latin America, allowing it to operate through an established local bank rather than building its licence from scratch.

Fintech firm Moneyview's upcoming IPO is in focus, with investors tracking its grey market premium as a signal of expected listing gains. Commentary, including in The Economic Times, is weighing whether the issue can deliver long-term growth for high-risk investors, as sentiment ahead of the listing remains mixed.

Revolut is promoting 'selfie payments', a pair of new features that use facial biometrics to make checkout faster, as part of its broader push to disrupt traditional banks and legacy payment providers. Commenters are weighing what the fintech stands to gain from the move and whether biometric payments will catch on with shoppers and regulators.

Former Stripe employees are founding a series of new payments companies, continuing a pattern in which alumni of the payments giant go on to build their own ventures in the sector. The trend highlights how Stripe's workforce has become a breeding ground for fintech entrepreneurship, with ex-employees applying what they learned there to new payments plays.

South African financial services firm Purple Group has launched Hello Purple, a new division focused on embedded finance. The unit is expected to allow other businesses to integrate Purple's financial products and infrastructure directly into their own platforms, tapping growing demand for banking-as-a-service offerings. Details on partners, products and launch markets have not yet been widely reported.

Block, the payments company founded by Jack Dorsey, has joined the x402 protocol and added support for the Bitcoin Lightning Network. The move ties Block's Bitcoin-focused payments infrastructure to x402, a standard for machine-to-machine payments that has drawn attention from fintech and crypto firms. Details on the scope of the integration have not been widely reported yet.

Valley National Bancorp announced an agreement to acquire Bluevine Inc., a digital small business banking provider. The deal is intended to speed up the bank's digital small business growth strategy and strengthen its core funding capabilities. Details on price, timing and regulatory approval were not included in the initial announcement.

Fintech startup Mavi is betting that the AI boom will create demand for a new kind of accountant, one adapted to working alongside automated systems rather than replaced by them. The company is positioning itself to serve businesses whose financial operations are being reshaped by AI tools. The report, published by TechCrunch, has drawn attention in startup and fintech circles, with observers discussing whether traditional accounting roles will evolve or shrink as automation spreads.

Valley National Bancorp has agreed to acquire Bluevine, a small-business banking platform, in a deal valued at $340 million. The acquisition gives the New Jersey-based bank a larger footprint in digital banking services for small businesses, combining a traditional regional lender with a fintech-focused banking provider. Terms beyond the headline price have not been detailed in initial reports.

Verona has launched verUSD, described as the first stablecoin designed specifically for AI agents, enabling automated systems to hold and transact in a dollar-pegged digital currency. The announcement is drawing attention from crypto and AI communities, who see it as a step toward machine-to-machine payments and autonomous commerce infrastructure.

Payments company EBANX has announced a partnership with NetEase Games to process payments across Latin America. The deal means NetEase Games will use EBANX's local payment infrastructure to support its titles in the region, expanding access for players there. The announcement has drawn attention from gaming and fintech outlets as a sign of continued growth of games monetization in Latin American markets.

Block has joined the x402 Foundation, an effort to establish shared standards for agentic commerce — AI-powered systems making and receiving payments autonomously. The x402 protocol, originally developed around Coinbase's stablecoin payments work, enables machine-to-machine transactions over HTTP. By joining the foundation, Block signals its intent to help shape how automated AI agents transact commercially as the technology matures.

Payments company Ebanx is working to broaden payment access for gamers across Latin America, a region where many players lack access to traditional banking and credit cards. The push reflects growing interest in serving local payment methods for gaming purchases. Details on specific partners or products were not provided.

Experian has become the first personal finance application to launch on Google's Gemini platform. The move places the credit bureau's services within the AI assistant environment, potentially letting users manage or access financial tools through Gemini. The announcement was reported by fintech news outlet The Paypers, with details on functionality and availability not yet fully disclosed.

Financial technology firm Finastra has announced the launch of an AI-powered supply chain finance solution aimed at helping banks grow their working capital offerings. The product is designed to let lenders automate and scale supply chain finance services for corporate clients. News of the launch is circulating across financial technology trade coverage, with attention focused on how banks may adopt artificial intelligence to expand working capital business.

Purple Group has launched Hello Purple, a new embedded finance division that packages the group's in-house financial technology as a service for fintech developers. The move lets other companies build Purple's banking and payments capabilities directly into their own products, and the announcement is drawing attention across the fintech and banking sector as embedded finance continues to grow as a business model.

Finastra has introduced SCF, a software solution designed to help banks deliver supply chain finance faster. The product is aimed at streamlining how financial institutions offer financing to businesses across their supply chains, reducing processing times and operational friction. Details on pricing, launch partners and customer adoption were not included in the initial announcement.