Wealth management firm True Potential has partnered with financial data infrastructure firm Origo, joining the company’s Integration Hub. Joining the Integration Hub will put automated, daily investment and pension valuations directly into the existing workflows of financial advisers on True Potential’s platform. Headquartered in Newcastle upon Tyne in the UK and founded in 2007, True Potential made its Finovate debut at FinovateFall 2014. UK-based wealth management company True Potential has teamed up with Origo, a financial data infrastructure company that specializes in wealth management and pension schemes. True Potential will join the firm’s Integration Hub, giving advisers the ability to access automated, data-rich, daily valuations from multiple providers directly in their current workflows. “For today’s advisers, choosing a back-office partner is about making a decision on where they want to be in five years and how to remove some of the obstacles that stand between them and their clients,” True Potential Adviser Services CEO Gregg Lang said. “Manual valuation requests are exactly that kind of obstacle—time-consuming, error-prone, and entirely avoidable. Our partnership with Origo, along with existing processes, will give advisers even more time to focus on what they do best—giving brilliant advice—and is the latest in a series of investments True Potential has made in the tools that allow advisers to run better businesses, serve more clients and grow with confidence.” The Origo Integration Hub is a popular option for financial services providers, platforms, and adviser technology ecosystems, providing a single connection that delivers automated valuation data directly into existing workflows. By standardizing and routing everything from account opening, trading instructions and transaction histories to pension and investment valuations and remuneration data, the Integration Hub removes administrative complexity by eliminating the need for multiple point-to-point integrations. Currently live and available to True Potential’s Directly Authorized advisers, the new service can be activated on an opt-in basis by advisers at no additional cost and requiring no new processes or procedures. “Advisers should not have to contend with fragmented, manual processes to access something as fundamental as valuation data,” Origo CEO Anthony Rafferty said. “We are delighted to welcome True Potential to the Origo Integration Hub, marking another important step forward as our network grows to more than 65 connected organizations across the industry.” Founded in 1989 and headquartered in Edinburgh, Scotland, Origo helps financial services companies improve performance, become more efficient, and reduce integration costs while enhancing financial outcomes for customers. The company’s Integration Hub delivers faster connections between advisers’ software systems, platforms, and providers—which can then share data between different parties connected to the Hub. The result is improved and simplified integrations between organizations and trading partners, as well as an extended market reach that helps smaller firms compete with larger ones. Origo also offers transfer services and tracking, asset migration, and mortality screening. A Finovate alum since its debut at FinovateFall 2014, True Potential was founded in 2007. The company combines personal financial advice and leading technology to offer advisers a hybrid advice approach to helping people reach their financial goals. True Potential offers tax, savings, inheritance, and investment advice services as well as ISAs, pensions, and cash savings services. True Potential began the year with an announcement that its True Potential Investments division had appointed Amundi as a strategic investment solutions partner for its Growth-Aligned fund management team. The partnership will include the provision of bespoke index-level funds for True Potential’s Growth-Aligned fund, streamlining portfolio construction and enabling greater client transparency. “Delivering exceptional client outcomes is our number one focus, so we are always looking at how we can evolve and improve our investment strategy to deliver those outcomes,” True Potential Investments Chief Executive Officer Jeff Casson said. “This appointment is a strategic move that demonstrates our agile approach to investment management and will allow us to build on the top quartile investment performance we already deliver for our thousands of clients.” Photo by Kamil on Unsplash The post True Potential Joins Origo’s Integration Hub, Giving Advisers Greater Access to Valuation Data appeared first on Finovate.       

Between last week’s announcement that it now allows parents to send money to their kids on Google Wallet and today’s press release stating that it has added Venmo as a payment option on Google Play, it appears that Google is rethinking payments. Here’s a look at the top fintech news headlines for this week. We’ll continue to add more announcements as the week progresses. Fraud and security EDGE partners with Socure to help lenders catch AI-driven fraud earlier. Navan partners with DataVisor to strengthen real-time fraud protection. iDenfy adds BankID Norway to its identity verification platform for the Norwegian market. Credit cards and payments Bilt expands Bilt OS for hospitality to include tools for travel advisors. Lending and mortgages nCino releases Mortgage MCP to allow lenders to connect AI agents directly to the nCino mortgage suite. Photo by Christina Morillo The post Fintech Rundown: A Rapid Review of Weekly News appeared first on Finovate.       

This week’s edition of Finovate Global highlights recent fintech announcements from the countries of the Caribbean. Belize Bank Inks Digital Modernization Partnership with Backbase The biggest bank in Belize is also among the first financial institution in the Caribbean to embrace a full retail and business digital banking stack in addition to AI-powered lending and onboarding. Belize Bank Limited announced this week that it has partnered with Backbase in a major, six-year partnership to implement the company’s AI-native banking OS. The financial institution, with more than $1 billion in total assets and the nation’s largest branch network, had sought a platform that would scale with its growing operations and provide consistently high-quality digital experiences across its customer base. Deploying Backbase’s AI-native Banking OS for both retail and business banking will enable Belize Bank to replace fragmented workflows with self-service, accelerated digital onboarding, and unified cash-flow visibility for business customers. Importantly, Backbase’s Banking OS sits above Belize Bank’s existing banking core, leveraging Backbase’s Connectivity Layer (Grand Central) to provide seamless integration with the bank’s existing systems. “Belize Bank is exactly the kind of institution Backbase was built for—a market leader that takes its responsibility to customers seriously and wants technology that matches that ambition,” Backbase CEO Jouk Pleiter said. “Embarking on this comprehensive modernization across retail, SME and digital lending is a true reflection of the strategic discipline of the team at Belize Bank. We are proud to partner with them to architect the financial backbone of Belize’s future economy.” Belize Bank Limited is both the country’s oldest and largest financial institution. The full-service commercial bank holds approximately 43% of the nation’s total banking assets and serves 100,000 retail and business banking clients. Headquartered in Belize City, Belize Bank was founded in 1987. “Our strategic partnership with Backbase represents a transformative step toward delivering a new era of banking—one that is seamless, intelligent, personalized, and built around the evolving needs of our customers,” Belize Bank Limited Executive Chairman Filippo Alario said. “By combining Backbase’s innovation with Belize Bank’s commitment to excellence and customer-first vision, we are laying the foundation for a future where digital banking goes beyond transactions—creating more meaningful connections, empowering our customers, and transforming the way Belizeans experience banking.” Four-time Finovate Best of Show winner Backbase was founded in 2003 and is headquartered in Amsterdam. The company’s AI-native Banking OS transforms fragmented banking operations and workflows into a unified frontline in which customers, employees, and AI agents work as one across digital channels, front-office, and operations. More than 120 leading banks around the world use Backbase’s technology solutions across verticals ranging from retail, small business, commercial, and private banking to wealth management. Creditinfo Group Acquires EveryData Group to Boost Caribbean Presence UK-based Creditinfo Group has completed its acquisition of EveryData Group, a data, analytics, and software company operating in the Caribbean. The acquisition is the culmination of a long-term partnership between the two firms, and will enable Creditinfo Group to bring advanced technology and new data solutions to financial institutions and consumers throughout the region. The greater technology integration and shared infrastructure across Creditinfo Group’s global network will also benefit customers of both firms. “This acquisition reinforces our commitment to helping build stronger financial ecosystems around the world,” Satty Saha, Group CEO at Creditinfo Group, said. “EveryData has built an impressive business with a strong reputation across the Caribbean, and together we are well positioned to bring greater innovation and value to customers throughout the region. By combining our global expertise with EveryData’s deep local knowledge, we can accelerate the delivery of new products and technologies that improve access to finance and support economic growth.” The transaction fortifies Creditinfo Group’s international presence, specifically in the Caribbean, adding primary credit bureau operations across Jamaica, Barbados, Guyana, and the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union (ECCU) of St. Lucia, Antigua and Barbuda, St. Kitts and Nevis, the Commonwealth of Dominica, Grenada, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Anguilla, and Montserrat. The company noted that it will continue investing in technology, talent, and innovation throughout the region, helping leaders and professionals in financial institutions make better decisions while promoting financial inclusion and sustainable economic development. Barbados Launches Instant Payment System BiMPay Launched by the Central Bank of Barbados, a new instant payment scheme BiMPay is now available to individuals and businesses in the country. The new system operates 24/7, on weekends and public holidays, enabling users to send and receive money in seconds. BiMPay, according to officials, will help modernize the country’s financial system by making payments faster, more efficient, and more convenient. The first transaction on BiMPay was conducted by Barbados Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley, who sent money to a local vendor. “A modern economy needs a modern payment system,” Central Bank Governor Kevin Greenidge said. “People need to be able to send money quickly. Businesses need to be able to receive funds and have them available to spend. Vendors want to get their funds and access their money immediately. We need a space to innovate, to compete, and to build the fintech industry that needs to be built.” The launch of BiMPay comes after months of testing with financial institutions and other stakeholders. Currently, six commercial banks and the country’s three largest credit unions are connected to the BiMPay system. Seven institutions are also linked to the BiMPay e-wallet, which enables users to make payments, request funds, and complete transactions using phone numbers, email addresses, or QR codes. Here is our look at fintech innovation around the world. Middle East and Northern Africa Israel-based payments and loyalty platform Nayax teamed up with mark-to-market credit and structured finance infrastructure company Zaria Systems. One Zero, a digital bank based in Egypt, announced a new initiative to allow customers to use the AI agent of choice to receive financial information. PayPal and stc pay Bahrain launched a cross border transfer service. Central and Southern Asia Indian fintech Cred has raised $900 million in Series H funding from Meta. Pakistan-based fintech group Abhi announced plans to launch an IPO of its microfinance bank. HonestAI inked a Memorandum of Understanding with Mongolian financial IT company Nubisoft. Latin America and the Caribbean Creditinfo Group aquired EveryData Group to boost its presence throughout the Caribbean Grupo Cibest acquired 100% of Colombian fintech Avista Colombia. Belize Bank announced a new six-year partnership with Backbase to modernize its digital banking operations. Asia-Pacific Malaysian fintech and digital bank Boost launched its agentic AI banking platform. South Korean fintech KSNet signed a memorandum of understanding with the Solana Foundation to jointly build next-generation digital asset payment infrastructure. VNExpress looked at the evolution of Vietnam’s digital asset industry. Sub-Saharan Africa Pan-African payments firm Moment secured $22 million in Series A funding. Africa-based fintech PalmPay has begun preparations for a Hong Kong IPO. Yellow Card, a stablecoin infrastructure company founded in Nigeria and currently based in Atlanta, Georgia, raised $40 million. Central and Eastern Europe Lithuanian regtech solution provider iDenfy has added Czech Bank iD to its verification platform. Wealth management platform FNZ announced plans to sell its German FNZ Bank business to Advent. Cryptocurrency platform Bybit obtained an Electronic Money Institution (EMI) license in Austria. Photo by Jamie Tudor on Unsplash The post Finovate Global Caribbean: Instant Payments, Digital Banking, and Credit Analytics appeared first on Finovate.       

FinovateFall 2026 is just over a month away. Coming to New York’s Marriott Marquis Times Square, from September 9 through 11, this year’s FinovateFall conference will feature both the familiar—in the form of our signature, seven-minute live fintech demos and standout keynote addresses—and the new, as represented by initiatives ranging from our Credit Union Spotlight to our Executive Debates to our special IMPACT Funders and Founders event. With so much on offer, it can be easy to miss or overlook a session, panel, or address. To this end, we’re going to spend the next few weeks highlighting some of the presentations we think you won’t want to miss. Today, we look at some of the mainstage addresses on the agenda across all three days of the conference. Special Address: If You Already Own the AI, Then Why Are You Still Shopping Featuring Melissa Solis, CEO of Inbenta, this presentation will discuss why most customer experience AI fails on the basics and how to tell apart a vendor that actually delivers from one that just demos. Solis also will offer a framework for auditing your customer experience against what you actually need rather than simply what you are being sold. Headquartered in Texas, Inbenta offers an agentic AI platform, Encore, that serves financial services, e-commerce, healthcare, and travel with more than 98% accuracy, near-zero hallucinations, full auditability, and more than 850 integrations to help avoid vendor lock-in. Wednesday, September 9: 10:10 am—10:25 am Special Address: Introducing Madison—Agentic Workbench for Banks This session, led by Siva Surendira, Founder and CEO of Lyzr AI, will show how Architect by Lyzr enables business users to describe a problem and get a working, governed AI agent in minutes. Surendira will also explain how thousands of those AI agents provide leadership with a live, crowdsourced view of where automation ROI truly lives. Lyzr is a category leader in agentic AI infrastructure. The company’s technology powers the internal AI platforms of firms including Accenture and Prophet. Wednesday, September 9: 3:15 pm—3:30 pm Special Address: Trust at the Speed of AI In this special address, Charlie Schilling, CEO of Macabacus, explains why trust rather than caution is what unlocks AI’s full value in finance: trust that the model being built is accurate, trust that the data is consistent across the pitch, and trust that every piece of content is on brand. Based in New York, Macabacus is a productivity and brand compliance suite for investment banks, private equity, venture capital, financial planning and analysis (FP&A) teams, and consulting firms. Thursday, September 10: 9:25 am—9:40 am Quick Fire Keynote: Fraud in the Age of AI. How to Respond When the Attacker Has Better Tools Than You Senior Director, Global Banking and Payments Intelligence for JD Power, Jennifer White, will share her insights on the challenges faced by banks, credit unions, financial services providers, their members and customers when it comes to the rise of AI-powered fraud and financial crime. White will discuss how fraud and financial crime are being increasingly globalized and industrialized, and how defenses against these threats must evolve in order to keep individuals and systems safe. JD Power is a leader in business-critical data and intelligence that supports automated decision-making. The company’s proprietary data, advanced analytics, and deep industry expertise supply lenders, insurers, original equipment manufacturers, and other firms with guidance and intelligence about customer interactions with their brands, products, and services. Thursday, September 10: 4:55 pm—5:05 pm Out of the Box Keynote Address: AI-Enhanced CX to Create Trust and Loyalty Jon Lakefish, Founder of the Lakefish Group, will deliver a practical guide to all the AI tools currently available to help enhance the customer experience and how to make the most of them. Lakefish will also host a special hands-on, interactive session in the afternoon (1:10 pm—2:00 pm) in which he will walk participants through real scenarios so they can experience firsthand how AI can save time and money, while enhancing decision-making. Lakefish Group provides speaking and hands-on workshops, as well as consulting and training, to help businesses take advantage of modern, practical AI tools to enhance their marketing and branding initiatives. Friday, September 11: 9:50 am—10:20 am FinovateFall 2026 comes to the Marriott Marquis Times Square, September 9—11. Save up to $400 when you book your ticket by August 21. The post FinovateFall 2026: My Top Five Agenda Picks appeared first on Finovate.      Related StoriesFinovateFall 2026 Agenda Revealed!FinovateFall 2025: AI, Fraud Prevention, and the Art of What’s PossibleFinovateFall 2025 Best of Show Winners Announced 

AI transformation specialist Tavant is integrating its TOUCHLESS AI mortgage automation platform with the Empower loan origination solution (LOS) from Dark Matter Technologies. The integration is designed to reduce workflow fragmentation and manual handoffs, support faster decision-making, and a more connected loan manufacturing process. Headquartered in Santa Clara, California, and founded in 2000, Tavant most recently demoed its technology on the Finovate stage at FinovateSpring 2025 in San Diego. AI transformation specialist Tavant announced the integration of its TOUCHLESS AI mortgage automation platform with Dark Matter Technologies’ Empower loan origination solution (LOS). The integration brings Tavant’s AI-driven automation capabilities to the Empower ecosystem, enabling lenders to streamline underwriting, accelerate cycle times, boost loan quality, and deliver Tavant’s exception-based, data-driven, loan decisioning technology to Empower LOS users. “Tavant is focused on helping lenders transform mortgage operations with classical, generative, and agentic AI-based automation that delivers measurable efficiency, higher levels of operational productivity, and a far better borrower experience,” Tavant Head of Fintech Products Mohammad Rashid said. “Our integration with Dark Matter extends that vision by augmenting the Empower LOS with TOUCHLESS automation capabilities, making it easier for lenders to adopt agentic workflows, exception-based processing, and automated underwriting and decisioning.” The integration enables lenders to automate key stages of the mortgage lifecycle, including loan setup, document classification, data extraction and intelligent comprehension, processing, underwriting, conditions management, and pre-close quality checks. The solution provides lenders reduced cost per loan, automation of repetitive and time-intensive tasks, improved data accuracy and consistency. This is thanks to standardized, AI-powered automation and the ability to scale loan production without significant increases in headcount. The partnership between Tavant and Dark Matter will also be a boon for borrowers, who will benefit from faster approvals, fewer requests for documentation, and a more predictable and transparent lending timeline. “We designed Empower as an open platform so partners can connect their best ideas directly to our lenders,” Dark Matter CEO Vikas Rao explained. “Tavant’s TOUCHLESS integration is a strong example of the innovation an open platform makes possible, giving lenders more ways to automate and close faster.” Headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida, and founded in 2023, Dark Matter offers an integrated platform for modern mortgage operations that combines its Empower LOS, next-generation automation, and powerful servicing capabilities to streamline and simplify the lending lifecycle. In addition to Empower LOS and its loan servicing solution Elevate, Dark Matter also offers Exchange: a connected partner marketplace for compliant, secure integrated access to a range of service providers, and Aiva, which provides AI-powered automation for documents, income, asset, and post-close quality control. Tavant made its Finovate debut at FinovateSpring 2017 and most recently demoed its technology on the Finovate stage at FinovateSpring 2025 in San Diego. At the conference, the Santa Clara, California-based company demonstrated its LO.ai solution, an AI-powered platform that enhances loan officer productivity and borrower empowerment. LO.ai integrates generative AI, voice-enabled conversational AI, and advanced data security measures to lower costs, increase lead conversion, and guarantee compliance with industry regulations. Photo by Tierra Mallorca on Unsplash The post Tavant Integrates with Dark Matter’s Empower LOS appeared first on Finovate.       

Lending has always depended on a financial institution’s ability to assess risk, make informed decisions, and deliver capital efficiently. But many of the systems supporting that process remain slow, fragmented, and heavily manual. Commercial lenders still spend days gathering documents and spreading financials, while consumers and small businesses increasingly expect faster decisions, flexible payment options, and seamless digital experiences. The companies demoing at FinovateFall 2026, taking place on September 9 through 11 in New York, are approaching these challenges from several angles. Some are using AI to accelerate underwriting and automate operational work. Others are embedding financing and flexible payment options directly into digital banking, helping institutions identify household opportunities, or rebuilding commercial lending around borrower self-service. Together, these five companies demonstrate how smarter technology can help financial institutions improve speed, efficiency, and access to financing. ALoan ALoan uses AI to automate commercial underwriting and help lenders move from borrower documents to a completed credit memo in less than 30 minutes. The platform spreads financial information from tax returns, bank statements, and borrower financials, applies the lender’s credit policies, and links each figure and conclusion back to its original source. By automating document collection, financial spreading, and credit memo preparation, ALoan enables commercial lending teams to increase throughput and reach term sheets faster without adding staff or replacing existing systems. Clockout Clockout helps banks and credit unions embed financial wellness and liquidity tools into their customer experiences. The platform is designed to increase direct deposit relationships, generate new fee revenue, and strengthen customer engagement by providing users with more ways to manage short-term financial needs. For financial institutions seeking to deepen primary account relationships, Clockout offers a way to combine financing access with broader financial wellness. equipifi equipifi enables banks and credit unions to offer Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) and flexible payment options directly within their digital banking platforms. Its technology allows financial institutions to present personalized purchasing power and financing offers based on customer behavior and purchase intent, including through real-time mobile notifications. By bringing BNPL inside the banking relationship, equipifi helps financial institutions participate more directly at the point of sale rather than ceding that interaction to third-party providers. OptimaFI OptimaFI’s Household Insights platform gives community banks and credit unions a household-level view of customer accounts and performance. The platform benchmarks institutional data against more than 14 billion private peer data points and provides segment-level recommendations related to growth and risk. Because it does not require a core integration, financial institutions can begin using the platform in a matter of days to identify opportunities across deposits, lending, and broader household relationships. QuickFi QuickFi offers an end-to-end digital platform for commercial equipment financing that allows borrowers to self-serve from application through final payment. The company replaces manual, paper-heavy lending processes with a digital experience that can deliver financing decisions and documentation in minutes, 24 hours a day. QuickFi helps banks and equipment manufacturers serve small business borrowers more efficiently while reducing the staffing and operating costs associated with traditional commercial lending models. Why banks should care Speed has become a competitive advantage in lending. Borrowers are less willing to wait weeks for a credit decision when another provider can deliver an answer in hours or minutes. At the same time, banks and credit unions are under pressure to grow loan portfolios without proportionally increasing headcount or operational expense. Technologies that automate underwriting, document collection, reconciliation, and servicing can help institutions make faster decisions while preserving the judgment and oversight required for responsible lending. The definition of lending is also expanding. Flexible payments, embedded financing, household intelligence, and digital self-service are blurring the lines between traditional loans, payments, and financial wellness. Financial institutions that treat these capabilities as part of a broader customer relationship may be better positioned to capture more borrowing activity, deepen engagement, and compete with nonbank providers. The companies demonstrating at FinovateFall 2026 show how institutions can modernize both the front-end borrower experience and the operational infrastructure that supports the lending process. Photo by Monstera Production The post Five Fintechs Creating Smarter Lending, Credit, and Financing Tools appeared first on Finovate.       

Core banking platform 10x Banking has raised £40 million ($53.8 million) in funding from AshGrove Capital. The UK-based fintech will use the capital to drive sales and go-to-market activity. The investment comes in the wake of the pair of major announcements from 10x Banking: becoming EBITDA-positive and topping the 10 million live account milestone. Based in London, 10x Banking won Best of Show in its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope 2023. Antony Jenkins is Founder, Chair, and CEO. SaaS core banking platform 10x Banking has secured £40 million ($53.8 million) from AshGrove Capital. The funding will fuel the UK-based fintech’s sales and go-to-market efforts and comes as the company reports becoming EBITDA-positive and surpassing the 10 million live account milestone. Additionally, in the last 12 months, 10x Banking has onboarded 10+ new financial institutions and boosted annual recurring revenue (ARR) by more than 30%. In the company’s statement, the firm underscored that its recent positive financial outcomes are the result of growing demand from financial institutions seeking to modernize legacy infrastructure, drive continuous product innovation, or develop the data and flexibility necessary to support AI-enabled banking. “Financial institutions have a clear ambition to innovate, but many remain constrained by infrastructure that was not built for real-time, digital banking,” 10x Banking Founder, Chair, and CEO Antony Jenkins said. “We created 10x to remove those constraints, enabling financial institutions to launch products faster, serve customers in real time, and compete more effectively. Our platform is now proving its value at significant scale. AshGrove’s investment is a strong endorsement of the progress we have made and will help us meet growing demand from banks around the world.” 10x Banking offers a cloud-native, core banking platform that enables banks to deliver new hyper-personalized products, services, and experiences to both retail and corporate customers faster, more efficiently, and more cost-effectively. The platform processes more than 10,000 transactions per second and runs at 99.99% uptime. Leveraging fourth-generation core banking, 10x Banking features a microservices architecture, real-time data screening, an API-first design, and a managed core that allows banks to configure rather than rebuild for each new offering. “10x Banking has built one of the most compelling technology platforms in core banking today,” AshGrove Capital Co-founder and Managing Partner Phil Fretwell said. “Delivering a cloud-native platform at enterprise scale is exceptionally difficult, yet 10x has already proven its capabilities across millions of live accounts and with some of the world’s leading financial institutions. We believe the company is well positioned to benefit from powerful industry tailwinds as banks continue replacing legacy systems with more flexible, real-time, and AI-ready infrastructure.” 10x Banking won Best of Show in its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope 2023 in London. At the event, the company demonstrated its 10x SuperCore Cards solution that enables banks to create a card proposition in minutes using the 10x Bank Manager interface. The technology empowers financial institutions to build and launch an enterprise-grade, full-stack, functional cards business solution in as little as 12 weeks. Founded in 2016, 10x Banking counts leading financial institutions such as Westpac and Chase UK among its customers. Photo by Aron Van de Pol on Unsplash The post 10x Banking Raises £40 Million from AshGrove Capital appeared first on Finovate.       

Credit union members and community banking customers readily trust their credit unions and community banks with their capital when it comes to saving and borrowing. But what about investing? In most instances, those same members and customers will seek out other institutions and businesses when it comes to investing for the future and managing their wealth. What if credit unions and community banks instead could keep those members and customers by catering to their investing and wealth management needs? How might this positively impact customer and member relationships and deepen engagement? This week, our Finovate First-Timers series features Ariel Leachman, Co-founder and Chief Operating Officer at Bluum Finance. Headquartered in Los Angeles, California and founded in 2025, Bluum Finance offers a unified platform for embedded wealth management and investing, providing brokerage and AI-powered advisory infrastructure via APIs. The company combines multi-asset, multi-market brokerage, custody, and reporting in a single integration, enabling credit unions, banks, and fintechs to offer seamless investing experiences for their members and customers. Bluum Finance made its Finovate debut at FinovateSpring 2026 in San Diego. Co-founder Ope Sonusi is CEO. In our conversation, Leachman discusses the opportunity that credit unions and community banks have by integrating investing and wealth management capabilities directly into their existing platforms. Leachman also explains how Bluum Finance streamlines the process for smaller financial institutions, delivering access to a range of asset classes and international markets via a single API. Finally, she shares her thoughts on what it will take to make cross-border investing as easy and commonplace as cross-border payments. What problem does Bluum Finance solve and who does it solve it for? Ariel Leachman: Credit unions, community financial institutions, and consumer fintechs have built strong relationships with their customers. The challenge is that when those customers are ready to start investing and building wealth, they often have to leave for another platform. Bluum enables fintechs and financial institutions to launch investing and wealth management directly within their existing platform, enabling them to expand their offering, generate new revenue, and strengthen customer relationships. How does Bluum solve this problem better than other companies? Leachman: Many embedded investing platforms focus primarily on trade execution. We take a broader approach by combining multi-asset investing, AI-powered wealth management, and the underlying brokerage infrastructure in a single platform. Rather than having to stitch together brokerage, custody, compliance, reporting, and portfolio guidance from multiple providers, our partners can launch through one API while we manage much of the complexity behind the scenes. Our platform also supports a range of asset classes and international markets, giving financial institutions a single platform to help their customers build diversified investment portfolios. Who are Bluum’s primary customers and how do you reach them? Leachman: Our primary customers are consumer fintechs, community banks, and credit unions that want to add investing and wealth management to their existing product offering without the high cost and operational lift of building a brokerage platform from scratch. Most of these institutions already have strong customer relationships and are looking for practical ways to expand their offering while keeping the experience simple for both their teams and customers. We primarily reach them through direct relationships, strategic partnerships, and industry events like Finovate. Can you tell us about a favorite implementation or deployment of your technology, or a particularly valuable partnership experience? Leachman: One of the most rewarding parts of building Bluum has been working with financial institutions that genuinely want to help their customers build long-term wealth. Credit unions, in particular, have earned a tremendous amount of trust within their communities. Helping them extend that relationship beyond everyday banking into investing feels especially meaningful because it allows more people to access wealth-building tools through an institution they already know and trust. What in your background gave you the confidence to respond to this challenge? Leachman: As co-founders, we’ve spent years working in financial services and technology before launching Bluum. My co-founder, Ope Sonusi, spent his career building fintech platforms for US and international markets, and I spent my career in investment banking and private equity, building deep expertise in capital markets, investment products, and financial institutions. As we spent more time speaking with financial institutions and fintechs, one thing became clear: many wanted to offer investing, but the infrastructure required to do it was too costly and complex. That insight became the foundation for building a platform like Bluum Finance. You demoed at FinovateSpring in May of this year. How was the experience? Leachman: FinovateSpring was a great experience. It gave us the opportunity to demo the Bluum platform and engage directly with credit unions, community financial institutions, fintechs, and industry leaders to better understand their priorities around investing, wealth management, and member engagement. The event reinforced our view that embedded investing and wealth management are becoming essential components of the modern digital banking experience, and that financial institutions are looking for simple, compliant solutions they can bring to market quickly. You have talked about the opportunities in frontier and emerging markets and how the challenge is making cross-border investing as seamless as cross-border payments. Can you elaborate on this idea? Leachman: Cross-border payments have become dramatically easier over the past decade. Today, a financial institution can enable cross-border payments through a single integration without having to build the underlying infrastructure. Cross-border investing hasn’t evolved in the same way. Offering investment access across markets still requires coordinating brokers, custody providers, regulatory requirements, and reporting, which creates a lot of complexity. Our goal is to simplify that experience so financial institutions can offer access to both US and international markets without having to manage the high cost and onerous operational lift themselves. We believe the next evolution of financial services will make cross-border investing as seamless and accessible across global markets. What are your goals for Bluum Finance over the balance of 2026 and into next year? Leachman: We are focused on growing our partnerships with financial institutions, consumer fintechs, and credit unions. We’ve seen strong interest from institutions that want to offer investing but don’t want to build and operate the infrastructure themselves, so we’re focused on helping more partners bring those capabilities to market. We’re also excited about expanding the range of investment opportunities available through Bluum, including private markets and digital assets. Photo by PiggyBank on Unsplash The post Ariel Leachman of Bluum Finance on the Rise of Embedded Investing appeared first on Finovate.       

Connect Credit Union, a Florida-based financial institution with $103 million in assets, has partnered with smart financial calculator builder, Appli. Appli’s AI-powered calculators are designed to turn passive visitors into active financial consumers by enabling them to assess loan opportunities, calculate property values in real-time, plan for retirement, and more. Founded in 2024 and headquartered in Cedar Hills, Utah, Appli made its Finovate debut at FinovateFall 2025 in New York. Florida-based Connect Credit Union has teamed up with Appli, builder of AI-powered smart financial calculators, to provide members with a new, interactive way to learn about their lending options, assess how best to save for future goals, and identify optimal savings instruments. “Connect’s members are digitally savvy, and they expect that from every part of their credit union experience now, not just online banking,” Appli CEO Tim Pranger said. “Rolling this out right after their website relaunch means members will see it as part of one connected upgrade, not a separate tool bolted on later.” Appli’s AI-powered smart financial calculators are designed to convert passive visitors into active financial consumers. Embedded in websites, mobile banking apps, and across marketing campaigns, Appli’s solutions deliver real-time, personalized experiences that boost consumer confidence and drive conversions, giving financial institutions the ability to guide customers and members through major loan and savings decisions. The credit union will use Appli’s calculators for auto loans, personal loans, mortgages, and balance transfers. Scheduled to go live with the new offering in September, Connect Credit Union anticipates introducing smart calculators for other products over time. The partnership comes in the wake of the credit union’s website relaunch of its website, making the calculators part of the institution’s brand refresh. “Financial decisions can feel overwhelming, particularly when members are trying to determine what fits comfortably within their budgets,” Connect Credit Union EVP/COO Cynthia Ryan said. “Appli gives our members an easy, interactive way to explore financial scenarios, better understand their options, and make decisions with greater confidence. This partnership allows us to combine the convenience of technology with the personal service and trusted guidance our members expect from Connect Credit Union.” Connect Credit Union serves employees of the State of Florida, retirees of the Florida Department of Transportation, and those who live and work in Martin, St. Lucie, Indian River, De Soto, Glades, Okeechobee, and Charlotte counties in south and central Florida. Founded in 1962, the financial institution has $103 million in assets and offers services and products including auto loans, mortgages, home equity and personal loans, debit and credit cards, as well as savings, checking, and money market accounts. Founded in 2024 and headquartered in Cedar Hills, Utah, Appli made its Finovate debut at FinovateFall 2025. At the conference, the company demonstrated its Smart Financial Calculators and its newest loan lead generation platform. Appli’s technology is designed to capture high-intent shoppers, convert interest into action, and provide financial institutions with data-driven insights to help them grow deposits, increase loan volume, and secure long-term revenue growth. Interested in companies that are developing innovative solutions for credit unions and their members? FinovateFall 2026 will feature a special credit union spotlight and networking session on Tuesday, September 8. Learn more about this unique, invite-only opportunity. Photo by Roman on Unsplash The post Connect Credit Union Turns to Appli for AI-Powered Smart Financial Calculators appeared first on Finovate.       

When we announced IMPACT Funders & Founders, we described it as a new kind of event designed to bring together fintech founders and the investors backing the next generation of fintech in a setting built for meaningful conversations, targeted networking, and real fundraising opportunities. Now, we’re excited to share our speaker lineup. The inaugural IMPACT event, taking place alongside FinovateFall on September 11 in New York City, features venture capitalists, startup founders, corporate investors, accelerators, and ecosystem builders who are actively shaping fintech’s next chapter. Rather than focusing on broad industry trends alone, these speakers will tackle the practical questions founders and investors face every day, such as raising capital, scaling a company, navigating exits, leveraging AI, embedded finance, and the changing venture landscape. Learn from investors writing today’s checks Whether you’re raising your first institutional round or preparing for growth-stage funding, one of the biggest advantages of IMPACT is direct access to active investors. The speaker roster includes partners from venture capital firms, private equity firms, and strategic investors who are evaluating fintech opportunities every day. They’ll discuss what they’re looking for in founders, how investment priorities are evolving, and where they see the greatest opportunities in today’s market. Hear from founders who’ve been there Building a fintech company is about far more than securing funding. IMPACT speakers include founders who have navigated product launches, customer acquisition, regulatory hurdles, hiring, scaling, and fundraising firsthand. Expect candid conversations about the realities of building a fintech company, including the lessons learned from both successes and setbacks. Gain practical insights from fintech operators Alongside founders and investors, the program features experienced executives from banks, fintechs, and industry organizations who understand what it takes to bring new financial products to market. Sessions will explore topics including: AI and emerging technologies Go-to-market strategy Customer acquisition and growth Bank partnerships Regulatory considerations Fundraising strategy Scaling operations Explore the full speaker lineup The IMPACT speaker roster continues to grow as additional investors, founders, and industry leaders are announced, but here is a taste of who you can expect to see on stage. Browse the complete speaker lineup to see who will be joining us in New York. If you’re looking to connect with the people funding and building the future of fintech, there’s still time to register. Photo by Clint Patterson on Unsplash The post Meet the Investors, Founders, and Operators Taking the Stage at Our IMPACT Funders & Founders Event appeared first on Finovate.       

Digital payments giant Visa has agreed to acquire fraud and financial crime prevention platform BioCatch for $2.4 billion in cash. The acquisition will add to Visa’s existing cyber, fraud, risk, and security solutions and provide greater defense against newer threats including account takeover and money mule fraud. BioCatch was founded in 2011. The company made its Finovate debut at FinovateFall 2014 in New York. Visa has inked a definitive agreement to acquire behavioral and device intelligence innovator BioCatch. Visa will purchase the company from funds advised by Permira and other shareholders for $2.4 billion in cash. The move will add to Visa’s current array of cyber, fraud, risk, and security solutions and is expected to be especially helpful in managing threats such as account takeovers, scams, money mules, and application fraud. Subject to customary closing conditions, including receipt of all relevant regulatory approvals, the acquisition is expected to close by the end of Visa’s fiscal Q2 of 2027. “Real-time insights into customer intent continue to grow increasingly essential for institutions to establish trust within digital banking sessions,” BioCatch CEO Gadi Mazor said. “For more than a decade, we’ve demonstrated behavior’s unique ability to distinguish the criminal from the legitimate. In the last couple of years, we’ve shown how real-time intelligence-sharing networks between our customers can amplify the power of our behavioral intelligence further still. Together with Visa, we’re even better positioned to advance our mission of making the world a safer place to transact and protect consumers from financial crime.” BioCatch offers AI and machine learning-based solutions that analyze thousands of application, behavioral, device, and network signals such as keystrokes and mouse activity, touch gestures, and device handling. This enables BioCatch’s technology to detect fraud and distinguish between legitimate and fraudulent users in real time. BioCatch’s models provide continuous monitoring to assess user intent and identify signs of potential coercion or manipulation throughout the digital banking session. More than 350 financial institutions around the world leverage BioCatch’s technology to protect 760+ million users from fraud and financial crime. Visa’s acquisition of BioCatch comes at a time when AI, biometrics, identity, cyber defense, and fraud prevention are converging. To this point, in addition to this week’s transaction, Visa has launched its Visa Vulnerability Agentic Harness solution, an open-source, AI security tool to help customers spot and mitigate vulnerabilities at scale. Visa noted in a statement that, over the last five years, the company has invested more than $13 billion in technology and infrastructure to secure its payments ecosystem and drive fraud rates lower. “Account takeovers and scams cost the global economy over $1 trillion annually and AI is enabling these attacks at unprecedented scale,” Visa’s president of value-added services Andrew Torre said. “BioCatch will help our clients stop fraud before it reaches the point of payment. This acquisition is part of our strategy to help clients prevent cyber threats upstream, building trust into every transaction.” Founded in 2011 and headquartered in New York, BioCatch made its Finovate debut at FinovateFall 2014. In the years since then, the company has grown into a major financial crime prevention platform analyzing 18 billion user sessions per month and protecting 1.7 billion devices. In 2025 alone, BioCatch assessed more than $17 trillion in transactions and prevented $4 billion in fraud. Photo by Markus Winkler on Unsplash The post Visa Acquires Behavioral Biometrics Innovator BioCatch for $2.4 Billion appeared first on Finovate.       

August is off to an auspicious start in the fintech world, with news of acquisitions in behavioral biometrics and regtech, and good news for a pair of firms seeking approval to initiate digital asset operations in New York and the UK, respectively. Be sure to swing by Finovate’s Fintech Rundown all week long for the latest updates and fintech headlines! Wealth management Asset and wealth management software specialist ZILO launches its digital transfer agency platform, integration mutual fund administration with digital asset capabilities. Payments London-based financial services provider Teya unveils new payments card machine. Fraud prevention Visa agrees to acquire behavioral biometrics company BioCatch for $2.4 billion in cash. Bank of America to acquire UK-based information security firm MDSec Consulting. Digital assets Circle secures limited purpose trust charter from the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS). Robinhood receives authorization from the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to offer cryptocurrency services in the country. Capital markets tokenization platform Licuido announces strategic investment from Ripple. Unlimit Crypto, a division of financial infrastructure company Unlimit, secures a Crypto-Asset Service Provider license from the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission. Regtech Enterprise financial controls and reconciliation automation company AutoRek acquires UK-based compliance platform Grath. Credit unions Appli, maker of AI-powered smart financial calculators, inks partnership with Florida-based Connect Credit Union. Photo by Christina & Peter from Pexels The post Fintech Rundown: A Rapid Review of Weekly News appeared first on Finovate.       

InvestiFi raised $20 million in a strategic funding round led largely by credit unions and fintech investors to expand its embedded investing platform for community financial institutions. Community banks and credit unions are increasingly competing with fintechs like Robinhood, Wealthfront, Betterment, and Coinbase for the primary customer relationship, making embedded investing a key retention strategy. The investor lineup signals strong industry confidence that integrated wealth management tools will be critical for smaller financial institutions to remain competitive with digital-first providers. Credit Union Service Organization (CUSO) InvestiFi has landed $20 million in a funding round led by Vibe Credit Union, with participation from BankTech Ventures, ICCU (Idaho Central Credit Union), Navari (formerly CUSG), United Financial Credit Union, Coastal Credit Union, Mid Minnesota Credit Union, Truity Credit Union, and Southpoint Credit Union. “What makes this raise especially meaningful is that so much of it comes directly from the consumer-focused financial institutions and strategic partners who use our platform every day,” said InvestiFi CEO and Founder Kian Sarreshteh. “They aren’t just customers — they’re believers in our mission to democratize investing and to make sure community financial institutions can compete and win in this space.” InvestiFi plans to use today’s funds to scale its platform and increase adoption among credit union members and community bank customers. Specifically, the organization’s goal is to help these smaller financial institutions retain and gain back deposits from the 43% of Millennial and Gen Z users who have transitioned to third-party investment platforms because they felt that their credit union or community bank didn’t offer adequate investing options. While community banks and credit unions used to compete against each other and larger banks, this is no longer the case. Fintechs like Robinhood, Wealthfront, Betterment, and Coinbase have become commonplace among users. And because these fintech options are increasingly offering savings tools, checking accounts, and even credit cards, there is also increased competition for the primary customer relationship. InvestiFi’s tools that allow community banks and credit unions to embed investing tools directly within their website or app will help retain primacy. The makeup of the investor base is perhaps as noteworthy as its size. With many of InvestiFi’s own credit union customers participating, the raise shows how community financial institutions are increasingly investing in fintech infrastructure they view as essential to remaining competitive with larger banks and digital-first financial providers. “For generations, credit unions have earned trust by helping members save, borrow, and achieve their financial goals,” said Vibe Credit Union Chief Operations and Strategy Officer Jeff Pascoe. “The next chapter is helping them build wealth through that same trusted partnership. As a credit union, we believe we have a responsibility to invest in innovations that strengthen not only our own members’ experience, but the future of the credit union movement itself. InvestiFi helps make that future possible.” InvestiFi, which enables credit unions and community banks to offer digital investing directly within online banking, was founded in 2020. The organization helps its 60 financial institution clients offer tools like fractional investing, guided investing, IRAs, cryptocurrency trading, and stablecoins. Interested in hearing more about specialized tools for community banks or credit unions? Register for FinovateFall and enroll in the Credit Union Spotlight or the Community Bank Spotlight to get a dedicated networking space where you can share best practices, talk through common challenges, and discover innovative solutions designed for you. Photo by RDNE Stock project The post CUSO InvestiFi Raises $20 Million to Help Community Banks and Credit Unions Retain Deposits appeared first on Finovate.       

In the run-up to FinovateFall, which takes place on September 9 through 11 in New York, we asked several speakers for their perspectives on technologies shaping financial services, the biggest challenges facing banks, and why they keep coming back to Finovate. Below is a preview of what five speakers had to say ahead of this year’s event. Michael Reynolds, Business Technology Executive at KeyBank Michael Reynolds leads intelligent automation at KeyBank, where he oversees robotic process automation, intelligent document processing, low-code development, and generative AI initiatives. Under his leadership, KeyBank’s digital workforce now performs the equivalent of more than 500 employees’ worth of work. Why Finovate? “Finovate is one of the few conferences where you can see real, working technology, not concept slides. The live demo format lets banks quickly assess what is production-ready, identify emerging fintech partners, and compare innovation across multiple categories in just a few days. Finovate highlights hundreds of fintech demos and attracts a large audience of banking decision-makers, making it a highly practical venue for both learning and networking.” What will banks need to prioritize over the next 18 months? “Banks will need to prioritize AI-powered productivity and agentic automation. The winners will be institutions that combine AI with strong governance, security, and operational integration, not those simply deploying chatbots.” Where is AI making the biggest impact today? “Inside our organization, the most immediate impact is in operations and employee productivity: automating manual processes, accelerating knowledge retrieval, improving service delivery, and helping teams focus more time on higher value work while maintaining appropriate controls and oversight.” Sam Kilmer, Managing Director at Cornerstone Advisors Sam Kilmer leads Cornerstone Advisors’ work with fintechs, financial institutions, and private equity firms. A longtime banking executive and host of the Fintech Hustle podcast, he spends much of his time helping organizations navigate innovation and partnerships. Why Finovate? “Finovate is fast-paced, so likes hit fast and dislikes are over quickly. It exposes me to a lot of earlier stage companies.” What should the industry focus on next? “Banks will need to improve showing outcomes and storytelling authentically to stand out from increasingly AI-generated content and claims.” Andrew Endicott, CoFounder at Gilgamesh Ventures Andrew Endicott is Co-Founder of Gilgamesh Ventures, an early-stage fintech venture capital firm investing globally in companies from pre-seed through Series A. Before becoming an investor, he co-founded credit card fintech Petal and recently authored the book Is Finance Technology? Why Finovate? “Great mix of financial institutions and fintechs all in one place. Really excited to be part of it.” What financial services problem still needs solving? “There are many problems in finance that are unsolved, but I feel that wire transfers are a big one.” Katherine Avery, Founder at Chimayo Consulting Katherine Avery is founder of Chimayo Consulting and a veteran enterprise risk executive with more than two decades of experience spanning banking, capital markets, commodities, digital assets, and AI governance. She helps financial institutions build governance frameworks that keep pace with rapidly evolving technology. Why Finovate? “Finovate earns its place because it’s practitioner driven rather than vendor theater. The demos are live and unscripted, judged by people who actually implement this technology, which forces a level of rigor other conferences don’t demand.” What should banks prioritize over the next 18 months? “Banks need to operationalize AI governance now, not after deployment. The institutions that treat model risk management, explainability, and third party AI oversight as foundational, rather than bolted on post-launch, will be the ones still standing when regulators catch up to the pace of adoption, which they will within this window.” What is one change you believe will fundamentally reshape fintech in the next five years? “The change I believe will fundamentally reshape fintech in the next five years is the shift from AI as a discrete tool to AI as an embedded decision maker across underwriting, monitoring, and customer interaction. That shift collapses the old boundary between innovation and risk functions. Governance can no longer sit downstream of deployment.” What is one fintech trend you believe will accelerate in the final quarter of 2026? “One trend I expect to accelerate in Q4 2026 is the move toward agentic AI in back office and compliance functions. Institutions are getting more comfortable letting AI take bounded, delegated actions in monitoring and control testing, and that comfort will keep building through year end.” What is one problem in financial services that fintech still hasn’t solved well enough yet? “The problem fintech still hasn’t solved well enough is third party risk visibility. Banks are stitching together more vendors and platforms than ever, and most risk frameworks still can’t see deep enough into that supply chain to catch concentration or contagion risk before it becomes a real event, not just a checkbox on an assessment.” Vivek Valecha, SVP of Intelligent Automation at Xebia Vivek is Senior Vice President of Intelligent Automation at digital engineering company Xebia, where he leads the charge on Agentic AI to help enterprises move beyond automation into autonomous, intelligent decision-making that reimagines customer experience and unlock new levels of employee productivity. Why Finovate? “Finovate stands apart because it’s built for demos, not just discussions. It’s one of the few conferences where banks and fintechs see technology in action rather than in slide decks — that hands-on, no-fluff format is exactly where real partnerships and practical ideas take shape.” What should banks prioritize over the next 18 months? “Banks should prioritize agentic AI. Banks have spent the last few years automating discrete tasks — the next wave is about deploying AI agents that can reason, make decisions, and orchestrate multi-step processes with minimal human intervention. Institutions that move from “AI-assisted” to “AI-agentic” will have a real competitive edge in speed, cost, and customer experience.” What is one change you believe will fundamentally reshape fintech in the next five years? “In five years, autonomous AI agents will handle entire workflows—from underwriting to fraud investigation to customer servicing—with humans stepping in only for exceptions. That shift won’t just improve efficiency; it will fundamentally redefine what “operations” even means inside a bank.” See them on stage at FinovateFall These are just a few of the perspectives you’ll hear at FinovateFall this September. From AI governance and intelligent automation to venture investing and emerging fintech trends, our speakers bring firsthand experience from the institutions building—and funding—the future of financial services. Browse the full agenda and register today to hear these experts, watch live fintech demos, and connect with leaders from across the banking and fintech ecosystem. Photo by Leeloo The First The post Meet Five FinovateFall Speakers: Their Thoughts on AI, Banking, and What’s Next appeared first on Finovate.       

In the run-up to FinovateFall, which takes place on September 9 through 11 in New York, we asked several speakers for their perspectives on technologies shaping financial services, the biggest challenges facing banks, and why they keep coming back to Finovate. Below is a preview of what four speakers had to say ahead of this year’s event. Michael Reynolds, Business Technology Executive at KeyBank Michael Reynolds leads intelligent automation at KeyBank, where he oversees robotic process automation, intelligent document processing, low-code development, and generative AI initiatives. Under his leadership, KeyBank’s digital workforce now performs the equivalent of more than 500 employees’ worth of work. Why Finovate? “Finovate is one of the few conferences where you can see real, working technology, not concept slides. The live demo format lets banks quickly assess what is production-ready, identify emerging fintech partners, and compare innovation across multiple categories in just a few days. Finovate highlights hundreds of fintech demos and attracts a large audience of banking decision-makers, making it a highly practical venue for both learning and networking.” What will banks need to prioritize over the next 18 months? “Banks will need to prioritize AI-powered productivity and agentic automation. The winners will be institutions that combine AI with strong governance, security, and operational integration, not those simply deploying chatbots.” Where is AI making the biggest impact today? “Inside our organization, the most immediate impact is in operations and employee productivity: automating manual processes, accelerating knowledge retrieval, improving service delivery, and helping teams focus more time on higher value work while maintaining appropriate controls and oversight.” Sam Kilmer, Managing Director at Cornerstone Advisors Sam Kilmer leads Cornerstone Advisors’ work with fintechs, financial institutions, and private equity firms. A longtime banking executive and host of the Fintech Hustle podcast, he spends much of his time helping organizations navigate innovation and partnerships. Why Finovate? “Finovate is fast-paced, so likes hit fast and dislikes are over quickly. It exposes me to a lot of earlier stage companies.” What should the industry focus on next? “Banks will need to improve showing outcomes and storytelling authentically to stand out from increasingly AI-generated content and claims.” Andrew Endicott, CoFounder at Gilgamesh Ventures Andrew Endicott is Co-Founder of Gilgamesh Ventures, an early-stage fintech venture capital firm investing globally in companies from pre-seed through Series A. Before becoming an investor, he co-founded credit card fintech Petal and recently authored the book Is Finance Technology? Why Finovate? “Great mix of financial institutions and fintechs all in one place. Really excited to be part of it.” What financial services problem still needs solving? “There are many problems in finance that are unsolved, but I feel that wire transfers are a big one.” Katherine Avery, Founder at Chimayo Consulting Katherine Avery is founder of Chimayo Consulting and a veteran enterprise risk executive with more than two decades of experience spanning banking, capital markets, commodities, digital assets, and AI governance. She helps financial institutions build governance frameworks that keep pace with rapidly evolving technology. Why Finovate? “Finovate earns its place because it’s practitioner driven rather than vendor theater. The demos are live and unscripted, judged by people who actually implement this technology, which forces a level of rigor other conferences don’t demand.” What should banks prioritize over the next 18 months? “Banks need to operationalize AI governance now, not after deployment. The institutions that treat model risk management, explainability, and third party AI oversight as foundational, rather than bolted on post-launch, will be the ones still standing when regulators catch up to the pace of adoption, which they will within this window.” What is one change you believe will fundamentally reshape fintech in the next five years? “The change I believe will fundamentally reshape fintech in the next five years is the shift from AI as a discrete tool to AI as an embedded decision maker across underwriting, monitoring, and customer interaction. That shift collapses the old boundary between innovation and risk functions. Governance can no longer sit downstream of deployment.” What is one fintech trend you believe will accelerate in the final quarter of 2026? “One trend I expect to accelerate in Q4 2026 is the move toward agentic AI in back office and compliance functions. Institutions are getting more comfortable letting AI take bounded, delegated actions in monitoring and control testing, and that comfort will keep building through year end.” What is one problem in financial services that fintech still hasn’t solved well enough yet? “The problem fintech still hasn’t solved well enough is third party risk visibility. Banks are stitching together more vendors and platforms than ever, and most risk frameworks still can’t see deep enough into that supply chain to catch concentration or contagion risk before it becomes a real event, not just a checkbox on an assessment.” See them on stage at FinovateFall These are just a few of the perspectives you’ll hear at FinovateFall this September. From AI governance and intelligent automation to venture investing and emerging fintech trends, our speakers bring firsthand experience from the institutions building—and funding—the future of financial services. Browse the full agenda and register today to hear these experts, watch live fintech demos, and connect with leaders from across the banking and fintech ecosystem. Photo by Leeloo The First The post Meet Four FinovateFall Speakers: Their Thoughts on AI, Banking, and What’s Next appeared first on Finovate.       

MoonPay launched PayBox, enabling ChatGPT and Claude users to authorize AI agents to make purchases, trade tokens, interact with DeFi, and move assets using natural language. The platform combines Visa’s agentic commerce protocol, x402, and cryptographic security to let AI transact while keeping users’ card details and wallet keys protected. PayBox reflects the growing shift toward agentic commerce, as companies build the payment infrastructure that will enable AI agents to transact safely on users’ behalf. Stablecoin infrastructure provider MoonPay launched PayBox this week. The new payment vault allows users’ AI agents to trade tokens, bridge assets, interact with DeFi, and transact online without leaving the conversation. The new capability enables Claude and ChatGPT users with a PayBox connector to offer their AI the ability to transact by describing what they want in natural language. In addition to requesting their AI to make purchases like booking a flight, customers can also ask things like, “Maximize yield using Aave” or “Onramp $100 into PYUSD.”  After the user installs PayBox on Claude or ChatGPT, the AI prepares the transaction, then the user approves the transaction with a passkey and PayBox moves the money without having to involve a developer tool or third party. MoonPay is using x402, an open protocol that enables AI agents and web services to initiate and settle payments programmatically across the internet, to allow AI to pay any service on the consumer’s behalf. PayBox works with two payment methods, cards and wallets, both of which are kept secure. MoonPay leverages Visa’s agentic commerce protocol to avoid seeing or storing full payment details, while wallet keys are protected by threshold cryptography and secure enclaves. These protections never offer MoonPay or the agent access the full private key or allow the agent to sign transactions without user approval. Users can choose between an approval mode, in which every transaction requires passkey confirmation, or an autonomous mode that lets AI agents complete transactions within user-defined spending limits and policies. Even in autonomous mode, the agent never gains access to users’ card credentials or wallet private keys. “The card hid the cash. The phone hid the card. This is the era where money disappears into conversation,” said MoonPay CEO and Founder Ivan Soto-Wright. “Billions of AI agents are coming online, and every one of them will need to hold, move, and spend money safely. Someone had to build the trust layer for that world. We just did. PayBox is the product that MoonPay was built to make.” Agentic commerce is moving beyond experimentation as AI assistants are starting to complete transactions on users’ behalf. To capture this opportunity, companies are racing to provide the payment layer for AI agents, especially as stablecoin infrastructure, payment networks such as Visa, and emerging standards like x402 continue to converge. PayBox is launching with support for Solana, Ethereum, Hyperliquid, Tempo, Base, Robinhood Chain, Arbitrum, and Polygon, with plans to add more chains. The first PayBox integrations are already live, and MoonPay expects to introduce additional use cases every week. Additionally, MoonPay noted that support for AI platforms beyond Claude and ChatGPT is coming soon. The post MoonPay Lets AI Agents Transact with PayBox appeared first on Finovate.       

While it used to be largely experimental, AI has quickly evolved into a practical tool that is reshaping how banks and fintechs operate. Today’s AI platforms are helping bankers, advisors, operations teams, and customer service representatives work more efficiently by automating routine tasks, surfacing insights faster, and reducing the amount of manual work required to serve customers. At FinovateFall 2026, which takes place September 9 through 11 in New York, we’ll see 68 companies take the demo stage, more than a dozen of which will use their seven-minute slot on stage to demonstrate how they’re putting AI to work across financial services. From advisor copilots and employee training to customer support, analytics, workflow automation, and personalized banking experiences, these fintechs are helping financial institutions become more productive without sacrificing the customer and partner relationships that remain central to banking. Below are 14 companies that will showcase how AI can help banks, credit unions, and fintechs work smarter. AdvisorHelpAI AdvisorHelpAI equips financial advisors with an AI-powered assistant designed specifically for wealth management. The platform helps advisors quickly access firm knowledge, prepare for client meetings, summarize documents, and streamline administrative work, allowing advisors to spend more time building client relationships instead of searching for information. Covecta Covecta uses AI to help financial institutions automate knowledge work and improve operational efficiency. By organizing institutional knowledge and making it instantly accessible through conversational AI, the platform helps employees find answers faster and reduces time spent navigating internal documentation and procedures. CUltivate Built specifically for credit unions, CUltivate leverages AI to improve employee productivity and member service. The platform helps staff quickly locate policies, procedures, and operational guidance, enabling faster responses while creating a more consistent member experience. FinzeeAI FinzeeAI helps credit unions connect biometric data from wearables to real-time financial decisions in order to stop impulse buying before it happens. The company provides an intelligence layer between the user’s money and their health to intervene in real time when the shopper’s body signals stress, stopping the impulse purchase from happening. GPTAdvisor GPTAdvisor brings generative AI capabilities to financial advisors, helping automate research, summarize complex financial information, and assist with client communications. The platform aims to reduce administrative burdens while allowing advisors to focus on delivering higher-value financial advice. Inbenta Inbenta combines conversational AI, chatbots, and intelligent search to improve customer support. Its platform enables financial institutions to resolve customer inquiries more quickly through self-service while seamlessly escalating more complex issues to human representatives when needed. Lemonade LXP Lemonade LXP helps banks train and support employees using AI-powered learning experiences. Rather than relying on static training materials, financial institutions can provide personalized guidance that helps employees build knowledge, stay compliant, and confidently serve customers. Palomonte Labs Palomonte Labs’ Cube2 makes financial APIs AI-readable to enable developers and AI agents to safely understand and execute financial integrations. The AI infrastructure enables AI agents to automate financial integrations and maps business use cases into validated AI workflows. Pyramid Insights Pyramid Insights applies artificial intelligence to help financial institutions uncover meaningful business insights from large volumes of operational and customer data. By surfacing trends, opportunities, and performance metrics more quickly, the platform supports better-informed business decisions. ScreenSteps ScreenSteps provides AI-assisted employee guidance that helps frontline staff complete complex banking processes accurately and consistently. The platform delivers step-by-step instructions within existing workflows, reducing training time while improving service quality and compliance. Titan AI Titan AI helps financial institutions automate routine banking tasks while providing employees with AI-powered assistance for everyday operations. The company’s platform is designed to improve efficiency, reduce manual effort, and enhance customer service across the organization. Tweezr Tweezr uses AI to simplify internal workflows and help teams complete operational tasks more efficiently. By reducing repetitive manual work and improving process execution, the platform enables financial institutions to accomplish more with existing resources. Ventus AI Ventus AI transforms raw banking transactions into semantic customer intelligence, enabling personalized experiences, smarter analytics, and human-centered digital banking without changing core infrastructure. The tool offers plug-in intelligence for any core banking system, turns transactions into dynamic personas, and detects life events before customers tell their bank. Vertice Analytics AI Vertice AI’s OPTIMIZE transforms institutional growth goals into optimized, AI-executed marketing campaigns with human approval at the strategic level. The company offers autonomous campaign planning and execution with one-click approval, delivers end-to-end, goal-driven campaign optimization, and provides AI-generated, compliant, personalized multi-channel marketing. Why banks should care The conversation around AI in banking has matured considerably over the past two years. Financial institutions are moving beyond asking whether they should adopt AI and are instead determining where it can deliver measurable value. The greatest opportunity often comes when eliminating the repetitive work that prevents employees from focusing on customers, strategic decisions, and higher-value activities. AI-powered copilots, knowledge assistants, workflow automation, and intelligent analytics can improve productivity across nearly every department, from the contact center and lending operations to wealth management and compliance. In looking at the companies demonstrating at FinovateFall 2026, it is clear that AI has become an enabling technology that touches every aspect of financial services. Whether banks are looking to improve employee efficiency, strengthen customer service, accelerate decision-making, or uncover deeper business insights, these solutions demonstrate practical ways to deploy AI today. For financial institutions seeking to compete in an increasingly digital marketplace, understanding these emerging capabilities may prove just as important as evaluating the next generation of payments, lending, or fraud technologies. Photo by Jakub Zerdzicki The post 14 AI Solutions that Help Banks Work Smarter appeared first on Finovate.       

AI-native lending platform EnFi has raised $15 million in Series A funding. The round was led by FINTOP and the investment brings the firm’s total capital raised to date to $22.5 million. The funds will be used to enable the Boston, Massachusetts-based fintech to scale its offering, grow its team, and boost its go-to-market efforts. EnFi made its Finovate debut last year at FinovateFall 2025 in New York. Co-founder Joshua Summers is CEO. Here’s some Finovate alumni funding news from earlier this year that slipped beneath our radar: EnFi, which leverages agentic AI to complete end-to-end commercial lending workflows, has raised $15 million in Series A funding. The Massachusetts-based fintech will use the capital to scale its technology, grow its team, and accelerate go-to-market efforts. The investment takes the company’s total funding to $22.5 million. The round was led by FINTOP, and featured participation from Patriot Financial Partners, Commerce Ventures, Unusual Ventures, and Boston Seed Capital. In its statement, the company noted that these investors collectively span more than 150 financial institutions. FINTOP’s network of strategic investors consists of approximately 90 community and regional banks. Patriot Financial Partners has invested in 66 banks through its three active funds. Commerce Ventures has more than 20 strategic enterprise limited partners (LPs), including seven of the largest banks in the US. EnFi enables commercial lenders to rapidly scale their portfolios while enhancing risk management. The firm’s AI agents can be deployed across the full commercial credit spectrum and loan lifecycle to boost the capacity of lending professionals by completing a range of end-to-end tasks, from deal screening to portfolio monitoring. Readily deployable and productive within 60—90 days, EnFi’s agents help lenders originate and manage more loans efficiently, leading to greater profitability and lower rates of loss. An under-discussed challenge for lenders in the US is what EnFi referred to as a “growing talent crisis.” Noting that “tens of thousands of credit analyst positions remain unfilled at any given time”—despite $112 billion spent annually on credit labor—many institutions have been compelled to make tradeoffs that undermine their potential as lenders. These include processing fewer loans, lowering underwriting standards, and overworking existing lending teams. This point was underscored by both FINTOP Partner John Philpott and Citadel Credit Union Chief Lending Officer Michael Desimone. Philpott warned that “the human talent pool cannot scale at the rate credit demand is growing.” Desimone highlighted the importance of being able to “respond to rising demand more efficiently without increasing … our risk profile, by extending the capacity of our credit teams.” Citadel Credit Union went public about its deployment of EnFi’s technology in February, when the funding announcement was made. “We have seen this consistently across hundreds of conversations with lenders,” EnFi Co-founder and CEO Joshua Summers said. “Our investors have wide exposure to the challenge through their banking LP networks and portfolio investments. They are investing in agentic human infrastructure, not just software. EnFi enables commercial lenders to operate beyond traditional capacity limits while strengthening risk oversight and accelerating credit decisions.” Founded in 2024 and headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, EnFi made its Finovate debut at FinovateFall 2025. At the conference, the company introduced its AI-native lending platform and showed how its suite of agentic AI solutions handles data ingestion and extraction, automated spreading, and relationship management. The technology also features orchestrations that combine agents into larger automated workflows such as deal screening, underwriting, and portfolio monitoring. EnFi’s agentic infrastructure delivers audit-ready accuracy with human oversight, enabling rapid deployment, full data access, and seamless legacy system integration for high-performance lending. Photo by Osman Rana on Unsplash The post EnFi Secures $15 Million to Bring Agentic AI to Commercial Lending appeared first on Finovate.       

Increase has launched Increase Bank, combining an FDIC-member institution with its API-first banking core and direct connections to the Federal Reserve, The Clearing House, and Visa. The company entered banking through its 2025 acquisition of Washington-based Twin City Bank, which continues serving existing community customers under the Twin City Bank name. By operating its own bank while continuing to work with partner banks, Increase is integrating more of the embedded-finance stack and gaining greater control over product development, compliance, payments, and economics. API-first banking fintech Increase is launching Increase Bank to bring its modern bank core to help businesses build and launch financial products. With today’s launch, Increase now includes Increase Bank, an FDIC-member institution, plus its built-from-scratch banking core with direct connections to the Federal Reserve, The Clearing House, and Visa. “This is a bank built by a team of product-obsessed operators for ambitious companies that are just as obsessed with building the best possible products for their customers,” said Increase Founder Darragh Buckley. “It is programmable at scale and designed for reliability, speed, and flexibility.” Rather than pursuing a new bank charter from scratch, Increase acquired Washington-based Twin City Bank in 2025, giving it a regulated banking institution to complement its API-first infrastructure platform. The single-branch bank now operates as Increase Bank while continuing to serve Twin City Bank’s existing community banking customers under the Twin City name. While the bank expands Increase’s role in the financial stack, the technology remains central to its strategy. Instead of serving exclusively as middleware between fintechs and sponsor banks, the company is integrating more of the stack by operating its own bank while continuing to partner with others. The move gives Increase greater control over product development, compliance, and payment operations, while positioning it to capture a larger share of the economics behind embedded finance. “A fintech company’s ability to scale often comes down to whether they have a banking partner that can move at their pace, build solutions to the edge cases they are solving, and give them direct access to payment rails,” said Stripe Head of International Diede van Lamoen. “Increase was built by people who have first-hand experience with these challenges and a drive to support users from the first payment to their billionth.” Founded in 2020, Increase provides the banking infrastructure behind companies including Gusto, Ramp, and Stripe. Its API-first platform enables developers to build products for money movement, deposit accounts, and card issuing using programmable banking components. Photo from Mike Hindle on Unsplash The post Increase Brings Banking and Banking Infrastructure Under One Roof appeared first on Finovate.       

Ramp has officially launched in Canada, marking the spend management platform’s first expansion outside the US and bringing its corporate cards, expense management, bill pay, and accounting tools to Canadian businesses. The Canadian platform includes localized features such as CAD and USD spending without FX markup, automatic GST/HST/PST/QST tax coding, Canadian-dollar accounting integrations, and cards issued through Peoples Trust. Ramp’s expansion comes as competition in business banking intensifies, following Expensify’s UK and EU corporate card launch and Intuit’s introduction of a QuickBooks-connected corporate credit card. Corporate card and expense management platform Ramp is moving across international borders this week. The New York-based company is now available to businesses in Canada. Today’s launch comes after Ramp piloted its Canadian operations with a select few Canada-based small businesses. With the broad launch, businesses headquartered in Canada can now use Ramp’s capabilities for managing spend, paying bills, and closing their books. Notably, Ramp is still not available to businesses based in Quebec or Saskatchewan. Ramp’s new Canadian operation is built for Canadian businesses, allowing businesses to spend in CAD and USD without additional FX markup. Additionally, the platform is designed to accommodate Canada’s tax system by automatically coding transactions with the appropriate GST, HST, PST, or QST, helping finance teams streamline expense management and tax compliance. The Canadian offering brings the same capabilities as the US platform, including corporate cards, expense management, reimbursements, bill pay, and accounting sync. However, Canadian businesses make payments in CAD and cards are issued through Peoples Trust. Card transactions sync natively with QuickBooks Online, Xero, Microsoft Business Central, NetSuite, and Sage Intacct in Canadian dollars. To support its Canadian expansion, Ramp will open its first office in Toronto, where it will build a local team to provide sales, implementation, and customer support for Canadian businesses. The local presence underscores Ramp’s longer-term investment in the Canadian market as it expands beyond the US. Ramp, which is used by over 70,000 businesses, was founded in 2019 and has experienced notable growth, most recently fueled by a $300 million financing round that valued it at $32 billion. The company powers over $100 billion in purchases annually. Interestingly, Ramp’s launch into Canada comes before the company’s expansion into the UK and EU, which Ramp announced would happen “this summer” after its March acquisition of Billhop, a Stockholm- and London-based payments platform. Today’s announcement comes at a time when competition in business banking is heating up. Just last week, Expensify launched its corporate card across the UK and EU, while five days ago, Intuit launched its own corporate credit card that will be connected to QuickBooks. Together, the moves underscore how providers are racing to expand both geographically and across the business finance stack, giving small and midsize businesses more integrated options for managing spending, payments, and accounting. Photo by Cedric Fauntleroy The post Ramp Expands Internationally into Canada appeared first on Finovate.