ID-Pal’s strategic acquisition of NorthRow, a specialist in compliance solutions, will enhance the Irish company’s compliance intelligence for Know Your Business (KYB), Know Your Customer (KYC), and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) operations. The move will combine ID-Pal’s AI-powered verification platform with NorthRow’s expertise in KYB and business due diligence, enabling ID-Pal to offer a single solution for ensuring one perpetual risk view for both individuals and organizations. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed, but post-acquisition, NorthRow’s services and operations will operate without interruption under ID-Pal. The acquisition comes at a time when new regulations in the UK, and the US Corporate Transparency Act, are putting pressure on compliance teams and making strategies like continuous KYC, AML, and KYB monitoring essential features. In a statement on the company’s website, ID-Pal Founder and CEO Colum Lyons put the acquisition in the context of his own firm’s founding. “Alongside co-founders James O’Toole and Robert O’Farrell, ID-Pal was created to support businesses with accurate identity verification built on privacy preservation,” Lyons said. “As the financial services space becomes more regulated, and with AI-driven document fraud becoming the biggest threat our industry has faced, it is essential that businesses have a unified view of the risks ahead and how to manage them. Our acquisition of NorthRow allows ID-Pal to unify this process with one comprehensive platform that defends businesses against fraud at every entry point and avoids noncompliance fines.” The acquisition builds on ID-Pal’s identity verification tools, adding native end-to-end KYB checks to provide continuous monitoring of changes in a business’s status, structure, or directors. The deal also helps ID-Pal deliver on its goal of providing scalable, AI-powered solutions that can tackle ever-evolving compliance challenges. NorthRow’s technology will help companies adapt to regulatory changes worldwide by providing real-time data on companies, from ownership structure to financial health. ID-Pal will also benefit from expanding its portfolio with major financial services companies such as Caxton, Equifax, and Hargreaves Lansdown. Caxton COO Alana Parsons praised the strategic acquisition for creating “a powerful platform for the future.” Parsons added, “We’re excited to start working with ID-Pal and to benefit from the innovation in KYC and KYB risk intelligence that this partnership will deliver.” ID-Pal most recently demoed its technology at FinovateFall 2025 in New York. At the conference, the company showed how its ID-Detect solution provides an additional layer of verification designed to detect evidence of document fraud. ID-Detect is a standard feature of ID-Pal’s identity verification, helping businesses deal with the growing challenge of AI-generated fake identification cards and other documents. ID-Pal’s technology is used in more than 250 jurisdictions, covering more than 16,000 document types and accessing 400+ trusted data sources. Photo by Caio Cardenas The post ID-Pal Acquires KYB Specialist, NorthRow appeared first on Finovate.       

Wealthfront filed an S-1 with the SEC, planning to raise up to $485 million by offering 34.6 million shares at $12 to $14 each, targeting a $2 billion valuation. The wealthtech firm was founded as kaChing and rebranded to Wealthfront in 2010 and has expanded from robo-advisory into high-insurance checking, savings, and credit products. The IPO follows a previously canceled $1.4 billion UBS acquisition, and positions Wealthfront among a new wave of fintechs going public, including eToro, Chime, and Klarna. Wealthtech firm Wealthfront revealed this week that it has filed an S-1 with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, taking its first formal step toward an IPO. According to the filing, Wealthfront plans to offer 34.6 million shares at $12 to $14 each, which would raise up to $485 million and value the company near $2 billion. The company plans to list on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol WLTH. Founded in 2008 and making its Finovate debut as kaChing a year later, the company rebranded to Wealthfront in 2010 and has since solidified its place as a pioneer in the wealthtech space. Since launch, Wealthfront has evolved its platform to add challenger banking features such as a checking account with up to $8 million in FDIC insurance, which is made possible via the company’s partnerships with 32 program banks. The fintech also offers a high-yield savings account, a portfolio line of credit, an automated bond ladder, and is working on a mortgage lending product. Wealthfront generally targets younger investors who hold an average balance of $67,000, while 180,000 of its clients hold more than $100,000 in assets and over 10,000 clients have assets more than $1 million in assets on the platform. This isn’t Wealthfront’s first move toward an exit. In January 2022, the company formed a $1.4 billion deal to be acquired by UBS. At the time, that price reflected a premium of at least 2x on Wealthfront’s most recent private market valuation. Wealthfront called the acquisition a “strategic partnership” that would enable the company to offer new services and give its customers access to “UBS’s industry-leading investing insights and research.” Two weeks after unveiling the acquisition plans, however, UBS called off the deal. Shareholders were reportedly spooked, as it came during a period of significant decline in fintech valuations. Notably, however, Wealthfront’s current $2 billion target valuation is significantly higher than the $1.4 billion acquisition price UBS had offered in 2022, which would equate to roughly $1.55 billion in today’s dollars after adjusting for inflation. In going public, Wealthfront is in good company with other fintechs including eToro, which debuted in January of 2025; Chime, which went public in June of 2025; and Klarna, which debuted in September 2025 after postponing the move for six months. With the S-1 now public, Wealthfront will enter the SEC review process and prepare for a roadshow, which places its likely IPO window in early 2026. The post Wealthfront Files S-1, Targeting $2 Billion IPO appeared first on Finovate.       

Backbase and Unblu have forged a new strategic partnership to transform self-service banking into a trusted, human-connected experience that combines the best of both worlds. The partnership will integrate Unblu’s Conversational Engagement Platform with Backbase’s AI-powered banking solution, adding features such as live chat, voice and video calling, and AI-powered chatbots. Both Unblu and Backbase most recently appeared on the Finovate stage at FinovateFall 2021 in New York. Backbase is a four-time Best of Show winner that first demoed on the Finovate stage in 2009. A new strategic partnership between Backbase and Unblu is designed to help transform self-service banking into a trusted, human-connected experience. The two companies will offer a joint solution that combines Unblu’s Conversational Engagement Platform with Backbase’s banking platform, adding features such as live chat, voice and video calling, co-browsing, and AI-powered chatbots. “Digital banking should never come at the expense of human connection,” Backbase Global VP of Marketplace Mayank Somaiya said. “By embedding Unblu’s collaboration tools into our ecosystem, banks can deliver effortless transitions from automated service to expert guidance, helping customers feel supported throughout their digital journey.” The goal is to enable customers to transition seamlessly from digital self-service to human-assisted interactions in a single engagement. The solution will enable relationship managers, case workers, and frontline service agents to access the customer’s individual context in order to better serve them. A unified employee workbench connects capabilities that were previously isolated across the bank’s tech stack. This empowers bank employees to deliver seamless human-digital interaction within the Backbase platform, benefit from AI-enhanced productivity that automates routine tasks and produces real-time insights, and maintain complete regulatory compliance via encrypted communications, audit trails, and built-in data residency controls. Use cases for the joint offering include onboarding and account opening, wealth management, customer service, and enabling hybrid branch experiences. The pre-integrated solution will be available to Backbase customers around the world in early 2026. “We’re excited to partner with Backbase to help financial institutions deliver the kind of personal, frictionless customer experiences today’s users expect,” Unblu Co-CEO Jens Rabe said. “By bringing our digital interaction tools directly into the Backbase platform, we’re enabling banks to build deeper relationships while maintaining the compliance and security standards they can’t compromise on.” A Finovate alum since 2009, Backbase is a four-time Finovate Best of Show winner. Based in Amsterdam, Backbase offers an AI-powered banking platform that helps banks modernize their operations across retail, SME, commercial, and private banking, as well as wealth management. Backbase has enabled financial institutions to achieve year-over-year increases in retail transactions by 51%, customer satisfaction rates of 78%, and app onboarding in less than five minutes. Founded in 2003, Backbase forged a partnership with Facilization, a consulting, system integration, and financial services software firm, in October. The company also teamed up with Akkuro, a core banking technology provider, and Prove, a digital identity company, in September. Founder Jouk Pleiter is Backbase’s CEO. Founded in 2008 and headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, Unblu most recently demoed its technology on the Finovate stage at FinovateFall 2021. At the conference, the company showed how its technology helps 170+ financial institutions around the world deliver an “in-person” experience online. The company’s customers include UBS, Deutsche Bank, and Intesa Sanpaolo, and the firm has forged partnerships with fintechs—and fellow Finovate alums—such as Temenos, Avaloq, Q2, and ebankIT. Just days after the company announced its partnership with Backbase, Unblu reported that founder and Co-CEO Luc Haldimann would be transitioning into the newly created role of Chief Strategy Officer. Rabe, who joined the company as Chief Marketing Officer and later served as the firm’s Chief Operating Officer, has been serving as Co-CEO and will become the company’s sole CEO as of January 2026. “Luc built Unblu from the ground up and shaped it into an internationally respected technology leader,” Rabe said. “As CEO, I look forward to continuing the collaboration with Luc in his new strategic role to ensure Unblu remains at the forefront of secure, human-centered digital engagement.” Photo by Javier M. on Unsplash The post Backbase and Unblu Transform Self-Service Banking into Human-Connected Experiences appeared first on Finovate.       

The holiday season is well underway, and once it wraps up, FinovateEurope will be right around the corner. And with fintech evolving faster than ever, next year’s event, taking place February 10 and 11 in London, is shaping up to be one of the most important gatherings of the year for anyone working in financial services, banking, and fintech. The event features more than 100 expert speakers, 30+ live demos, and a packed agenda with deep dives into AI, embedded finance, decentralized finance, and cross-border banking. As someone who studies and writes about fintech, here are the handful of sessions I’m most excited about and why I think they matter for the next wave of fintech: Keynote Address: AI First Banking – Why Agentic AI is Truly A New Frontier In Banking Alpesh Doshi, Managing Partner at Redcliffe Capital will examine how banks can harness agentic AI, discuss agentic commerce, and take a look at a future where bots are customers. AI, Everything, Everywhere, All At Once: Getting Beyond The Hype – How Financial Institutions Can Use AI To Make Money Or Save Money This panel, featuring Theo Lau, book author and Founder of Unconventional Ventures; Arthur J. O’Connor, Academic Director of Data Science & Generative AI at CUNY School of Professional Studies; and Norman Tambach, Group Chief Financial Officer at Mashreq; will spend 25 minutes filtering out AI hype from reality. The group will unpack how to measure the success of AI investments, reveal what they see as the biggest opportunities when it comes to leveraging AI, examine AI regulation, and more. Analyst All Stars: How financial services have been changed forever This is always one of my favorite sessions, because it offers a fast-paced look at the top up-and-coming trends. Four leading fintech analysts will each be given seven minutes on stage to present their analysis of what has changed, what is new, and what is coming next in the industry. Digital Banking In The Artificial Intelligence Era – How Can Banks Adapt To Serving Non-human Customers? This fireside chat with David Birch, Principal at 15Mb, will offer a peek into the new era of digital banking, one that will be fueled by AI. While banks are prepping their own AI tools for internal use, consumers are also adapting to the AI-first world. Birch will discuss how banks can serve the new era of non-human customers. Live Demo Sessions + 30+ Fintech Innovation Showcases Far more than just talking points, Finovate’s hallmark demos give attendees a first look at real, deployable fintech products across payments, lending, compliance, and more. For anyone serious about fintech transformation or looking for new tools, the demo stage is the best place to see the future before it hits the market. As FinovateEurope gets closer, we’ll be covering more highlights and takeaways from the agenda, as well as speaker highlights and a deeper dive into the demos. If you missed it, be sure to take a closer look at three of the Executive Briefing sessions. The post FinovateEurope is Coming Up. Here Are My Top Agenda Picks. appeared first on Finovate.       

Behavioral and device metadata analytics innovator Credolab has unveiled its Income Prediction Model. The new offering will enable lenders to estimate applicant income using privacy-consented smartphone metadata. This will help them serve would-be borrowers with limited credit histories and proof-of-income. Founded in 2016, Credolab made its Finovate debut at FinovateAsia 2018 in Singapore. Peter Barcak is Co-Founder and CEO. One of the biggest challenges for lenders seeking to expand into new markets—especially emerging, underbanked, and digital-first markets—is accessing accurate proof-of-income and credit history information. Even in a world in which open banking is embraced—making financial data more accessible overall—customers who have little data to share will remain on the outside, unable to benefit from a growing range of critical banking and financial services. To meet this challenge, behavioral and device metadata analytics company Credolab has launched its Income Prediction Model. The new offering leverages machine learning to enable lenders to estimate applicant income by using privacy-consented smartphone metadata. The solution analyzes thousands of anonymized behavioral signals that, put together, correlate with income levels. These signals include app ownership patterns, device model and age, and interaction habits. Individual client institutions can train models on their own specific datasets and customize them based on the unique characteristics of their local populations. Importantly, Credolab’s Income Prediction Model never accesses personally identifiable information (PII) or demographic data like age, gender, or education. Credolab uses proprietary feature engineering to convert raw metadata—collected with explicit user consent via its SDK—into more than 11 million behavioral features. The technology uses selection strategies based on information value, correlation filtering, and gradient boosting to narrow these features into a few dozen highly predictive indicators. The models use elastic-net logistic regression and tree-based ensemble techniques and validate them with out-of-time and out-of-sample testing to ensure both robustness and explainability. “In many markets, a lack of verified income data is the biggest barrier to financial inclusion,” Credolab Co-founder and CEO Peter Barcak said. “Our new model gives lenders a privacy-safe and statistically sound way to infer income levels using only device behavior. It’s a powerful step toward fairer, faster, and more inclusive credit decisions, especially among populations for whom traditional data simply doesn’t exist.” Founded in 2016 and headquartered in Singapore, Credolab made its Finovate debut at FinovateAsia 2018. Since then, the company has become the device and behavioral data partner for more than 150 banks, financial services companies, and fintechs around the world. The company’s solutions for risk management, fraud prevention, and insight-driven marketing have delivered decreases of up to 21.9% in the cost of risk and fraud, increases of up to 32% in applicant approval rates, and decreases of up to 28% in the cost of acquisition. Photo by Christian Dubovan on Unsplash The post Credolab Unveils Income Prediction Model appeared first on Finovate.       

Sokin raised $50 million in Series B funding, bringing its total raised to $96 million and boosting its valuation to $300 million following 100% year-over-year revenue growth. The fintech offers global payments, multi-currency accounts, and treasury tools across 170+ countries, positioning itself as a fast-scaling competitor in the $56 trillion cross-border payments market. Investors see Sokin as part of a new wave of infrastructure-focused payments challengers aiming to solve cross-border complexity at a global scale. Global payments fintech Sokin raised $50 million in Series B funding this week. The round boosts the UK-based company’s total raised to $96 million since it was founded in 2019. Today’s investment was led by Prysm Capital with additional contributions from Watershed Ventures and existing investors including investment funds managed by Morgan Stanley Expansion Capital, Aurum Partners, Gary Marino, former Chief Commercial Officer at PayPal, and Mark Britto, former Chief Product Officer at PayPal.  With the new round, Sokin’s valuation has increased to $300 million. Prysm said that it invested in Sokin because of its “rapid and profitable growth” in the global business payments market, a subsector that is projected to see $56 trillion in transaction volume by 2030. The company’s revenues have increased by 8x since 2022, rising 100% year-over-year since then. “Sokin is at a transformative stage, having demonstrated impressive year-on-year business growth,” said Prysm Capital Co-founder and partner Muhammad Mian. “The company is perfectly positioned to become the definitive leader in cross-border payments. Critically, Sokin has already built the infrastructure to capitalize on what we see as a huge addressable market.” Sokin’s platform brings together global payments, payment acceptance, and treasury management tools to support businesses operating across borders. The company provides access to more than 70 currencies and enables customers to hold 26 currencies in multi-currency accounts, facilitating transactions in over 170 countries. “We’ve spent the past six years building a comprehensive financial infrastructure that makes global business faster and more efficient,” said ‍Sokin CEO and Founder Vroon Modgill. “For too long, payments, treasury management, and international accounts have been fragmented and outdated. We’ve built the platform that brings it all together, and this funding lets us accelerate that vision globally.” In the next year, Sokin will continue to build out its global infrastructure across Asia, the Middle East, and South America, including securing additional regional licenses and banking partnerships. Sokin will also invest in its platform and embedded solutions to expand its accounts payable and receivable capabilities. This funding round positions Sokin on a growing list of challengers building global payments infrastructure, competing not just with banks but also with new providers like Airwallex, Nium, and Rapyd. Investor appetite for these organizations shows that the winners in this new era of payments will be those that solve cross-border complexity at the infrastructure level, not just through front-end interfaces. If Sokin can turn its rapid revenue growth into market share, it may emerge as a key operator in the growing cross-border payments market. Photo by Pixabay The post Payments Fintech Sokin Raises $50 Million to Build Out Global Infrastructure appeared first on Finovate.       

The final month of the year is upon us. And with some of the season’s biggest holidays only weeks away, expect a crush of news from banks, fintechs, and other financial service providers over the next several days. We’ll keep you in the know—right here on Finovate’s Fintech Rundown! Digital Banking Southland Credit Union chooses Eltropy’s unified conversations platform via its partnership with digital sales and service platform provider Alkami Technology. Digital bank Grasshopper and digital banking platform provider Narmi announced new enhancements to their Model Context Protocol (MCP) server, including expanded functionality to support ChatGPT and OAuth 2.0-based data access authorization. interface.ai introduces agentic AI BankGPT platform purpose-built for credit unions and community banks. Lending Nova Credit unveils its Eligibility Compass to modernize eligibility verification for affordable and public housing. FIS expands its asset finance platform to include US consumer auto finance capabilities. Insurtech Insurance payments company SnapRefund launches digital claim payments solution ClaimsSnap. Insurtech startup Pibit.AI secures $7 million in Series A funding to leverage AI to enhance the underwriting process. Fraud prevention DataVisor announces availability of its DEFEND training, a free, self-pace program to help workers better defend themselves against fraud and AML threats. Digital banking fraud prevention and payment security company Entersekt unveils Entersekt Orkestrate, which makes it easier to add authentication and real-time decisioning to digital banking systems. Payments Payments company Stuut Technologies raises $29.5 million in Series A funding in a round led by Andreessen Horowitz. Photo by Oliver Kiss on Unsplash The post Fintech Rundown: A Rapid Review of Weekly News appeared first on Finovate.       

Kraken is launching the Krak Card, a crypto-to-fiat debit card offering 1% cash back and multi-asset spending across 400+ crypto and fiat currencies, with initial rollout in the UK and EU. The card supports direct deposit, no foreign exchange or monthly fees, and flexible funding rules that let users choose which assets cover each purchase. With the Krak Card, Kraken is positioning itself closer to a full-service financial platform, further blurring the lines between TradFi and DeFi and enabling everyday spending of digital assets. Cryptocurrency exchange platform Kraken revealed plans to launch a crypto-to-fiat debit card that pays 1% cash back rewards on all purchases. The Krak Card will first be available to users in the UK and EU, and will be offered to customers in additional markets in the coming weeks.  In addition to paying rewards, the Krak Card also allows direct deposit for salaries and offers expanded wealth-building opportunities. Kraken anticipates that the new upgrades will bring users one step closer to replacing their traditional banking relationships by helping them explore the unique opportunities available within digital assets. “To us, everything is money. You should be able to use whatever assets you hold to pay for everyday goods and services in the digital era we live in,” said Kraken Global Head of Consumer Mark Greenberg. “From groceries to getaways, the Krak Card makes value move freely, no matter who you are or how you choose to store your money.” Powered by Mastercard, the physical Krak Card comes in two color options and is available in a virtual format, as well. With no foreign exchange or monthly fees, the card delivers instant spending using multiple balances with no FX or monthly fees. Uniquely, the Krak Card offers multi-asset spending, supporting more than 400 crypto and fiat assets. Purchases can be funded from either crypto, fiat, or a mix of both. The app lets users preset which assets are used first and allows them to exclude specific holdings from payments. The 1% cash back on every purchase is paid in either the local fiat currency or Bitcoin. The cash back rewards help differentiate Kraken from other debit products, as it is quite rare to find a debit card that pays cash back. Since its debut six months ago, the Krak app has seen over 450,000 downloads in over 130 countries. Kraken expects that the launch of its debit card will accelerate this number. In the coming months, Kraken plans to launch new features, including credit products, additional card options, enhanced merchant rewards, simplified onboarding, and broader support for assets. Kraken’s move, as it positions itself against traditional banks and neobanks, is an example of the pending convergence of traditional finance (TradFi) and decentralized finance (DeFi). By combining multi-asset spending, direct deposit, and cash-back rewards into a single debit product, Kraken is offering another way to spend crypto while building an everyday money hub. The new capabilities allow consumers to bridge their digital assets and real-world payments without the friction of conversions or fees. Photo by Karola G The post Kraken Debuts Debit Card with 1% Cash Back appeared first on Finovate.       

Klarna revealed plans to launch KlarnaUSD, a new stablecoin built on Stripe and Paradigm’s Tempo blockchain. Set to debut on the Tempo mainnet in 2026, KlarnaUSD will leverage early access to Tempo for testing and integration. The move positions Klarna to capture value in the $120 billion cross-border payments market, using stablecoins to cut costs for both consumers and merchants as stablecoin usage surpasses $27 trillion annually. Two months after reaching one million card sign-ups in the US, BNPL leader Klarna has revealed plans to launch its own stablecoin, KlarnaUSD. Klarna is launching its new stablecoin on the Tempo blockchain. Launched in September 2025, Tempo is an independent, layer-1 blockchain created by Stripe and Paradigm that’s built for payments. KlarnaUSD is built on Open Issuance by stablecoin infrastructure platform Bridge. “With 114 million customers and $118 billion in annual GMV, Klarna has the scale to change payments globally: with Klarna’s scale and Tempo’s infrastructure, we can challenge old networks and make payments faster and cheaper for everyone,” said Klarna Co-founder and CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski. “Crypto is finally at a stage where it is fast, low-cost, secure, and built for scale. This is the beginning of Klarna in crypto, and I’m excited to work with Stripe and Tempo to continue to shape the future of payments.” Klarna will launch its stablecoin on the Tempo mainnet in 2026. Tempo has granted Klarna early access to its infrastructure in advance of the KlarnaUSD launch to allow the fintech to conduct advanced testing, prototyping, and integration. Klarna and Stripe first teamed up in 2021 when they partnered to allow Stripe users in 20 countries to offer Klarna’s BNPL option, with Stripe as the preferred payments partner in the US and Canada. The partnership between Klarna and Stripe’s blockchain, Tempo, deepens the relationship between the two players. Today’s announcement comes as cross-border payments are estimated to generate $120 billion in transaction fees annually, and as stablecoin transactions top $27 trillion a year. Launching its own stablecoin isn’t just a way for Klarna to jump on a recent trend. The company will leverage the benefits of stablecoins to reduce costs for both consumers and merchants. Photo by appshunter.io on Unsplash The post Klarna Debuts KlarnaUSD Stablecoin appeared first on Finovate.       

The agenda for FinovateEurope 2026 (February 10—11) in London is still taking shape. We’ve already shared a preview of some of the top themes that the conference will address. Today we’re looking at a trio of Executive Briefings that will offer attendees concentrated deep dives on a few key issues and trends in fintech and financial services. This year, women in fintech, integrating AI into financial services, and the embedded finance revolution are the three areas of focus for our FinovateEurope Executive Briefings. Stay tuned for more on our moderators and speakers. For now, check out this advance look at how we’re tackling these top issues for 2026. Women in Fintech: How Can We All Make Sure We Are Moving The Needle? Ladies first! Tuesday morning will feature the first of three Executive Briefings at FinovateEurope: our Women in Fintech Briefing. This session, open to all attendees, will examine and discuss the status of women in fintech and financial services today. From strategies to encourage intentional change at the executive level to ideas on how to make mentoring relationships successful, our Women in Fintech Briefing will share experiences with successful initiatives to grow and retain female talent. The session will also explore ways that fintech and financial services professionals can drive change in their companies and the industry, at large. How Can We All Make Sure We Are Moving the Needle? And How Can We Support Women in the Toughest Job Market We Have Seen In Years? Tuesday, February 10. 10:40am—11:20am The AI Competitive Imperative: Ten Solutions You Need to Know About Today On Tuesday afternoon our Executive Briefing on the increasing importance of AI in fintech and financial services will take place. This session will focus on practical, real-world applications of AI technology in core financial services operations ranging from fraud prevention and compliance to lending and customer intelligence. Our Executive Briefing on AI will discuss every aspect of the integration process: from pilot to production, emphasizing the best practices that have enabled leading financial institutions to successfully deploy AI-powered solutions to increase profitability, lower costs, boost efficiency, and better engage customers. The AI Competitive Imperative & the Ten Solutions You Need to Know About Today. Tuesday, February 10. 3:20pm—4:00pm From Embedded Finance to Platform Banking On Wednesday, Day Two of FinovateEurope, we will present our Executive Briefing on the latest developments in the field of embedded finance and the growth of platform banking. Embedded finance continues to be one of the most revolutionary developments in fintech. As the ability to offer banking and financial services becomes increasingly ubiquitous, what are the opportunities for banks to expand their own distribution footprint? This session will examine the current challenges faced by banks from nonbank rivals and discuss ways—including platform banking—that can enable them to compete with the integrated user experiences from Big Tech, Big Retail, and super apps. From Embedded Finance to Platform Banking—How Can Banks Capture This Huge Opportunity, Create a Robust API Strategy & Defend Against Super Apps & Ecosystem Threats? Wednesday, February 11. 11:30am—12:10pm The post FinovateEurope 2026: AI, Embedded Finance, and Women in Fintech appeared first on Finovate.       

From AI-enabled commerce to AI-powered voice agents in insurance, companies across the fintech spectrum are busily integrating AI into their operations to boost efficiency, cut costs, and enhance the customer experience. It is a holiday-shortened week, so be sure to check in to Finovate’s Fintech Rundown to keep you informed on the latest fintech headlines. Insurtech Eleos Life unveils AI voice agent to provide 24/7 customer support. HawkSoft partners with AI automation company Liberate to leverage the company’s Voice AI to enhance sales and service operations. Payments European payment provider Mollie announces payment integration with ChatGPT. Worldpay unveils its Worldpay MCP (Model Context Protocol). Revolut reaches a valuation of $75 billion following a share sale and investment from NVIDIA’s venture capital arm, NVentures. TerraPay introduces payments interoperability network, Xend. Australian payments and rewards platform pay.com.au raises $53 million to fuel US expansion. Payments platform Paysafe partners with independent cloud gaming provider Boosteroid. Lending Tech Mahindra launches its advanced, sustainable lending platform i.GreenFinance. Fraud prevention GFT Technologies and FICO team up to help banks leverage AI to stop fraud in real time and simplify risk decision-making. Lithuania-based Electronic Money Institution (EMI) Wallter UAB partners with regtech AMLYZE to bolster its AML screening. Open banking Intuit QuickBooks partners with SiSS Data Services (SISS) to facilitate open banking data feeds for its customers in Australia. Photo by Balazs Busznyak on Unsplash The post Fintech Rundown: A Rapid Review of Weekly News appeared first on Finovate.       

This week’s edition of Finovate Global looks at recent fintech headlines from South Africa. Lesaka Technologies to Acquire Bank Zero Lesaka Technologies, a fintech that provides low-cost financial services to underbanked South Africans, has secured approval from the Competition Commission to acquire Bank Zero. An app-only bank co-founded by Michael Jordaan in 2018 and publicly launched three years later, Bank Zero today has more than 40,000 funded accounts and deposits of more than $22 million. The financial institution offers personal and business banking solutions to both underbanked and tech-first customers. Initially announced in July, the acquisition is valued at $60 million. The transaction consists of a combination of newly issued shares in Lesaka and up to $5 million in cash. Post-transaction, Jordaan will remain as Bank Zero’s chairman, and co-founder Yatin Narsai will continue to serve as CEO. Bank Zero’s entire management team will also remain in place. Lesaka anticipates that the acquisition will fortify its balance sheet, enhance lending performance, and reduce the firm’s dependence on bank debt. The fintech suggested that the move could lower its gross debt by $57 million. “The acquisition of Bank Zero is a transformative event in Lesaka’s journey, enabling us to better serve our consumers, merchants, and enterprise clients, by embedding a trusted, well-engineered neobank capability into our fintech platform,” Lesaka Chairman Ali Mazanderani said. “I am delighted to welcome the Bank Zero team to Lesaka as partners.” Lesaka Technologies offers banking, lending, and insurance products to consumers and cash management, billpay, business funding, and card acquiring solutions to retail merchants in both the formal and informal sectors. Founded in 1997, the company is headquartered in Johannesburg, South Africa. South African Retailer Explores New Banking Venture One of South Africa’s largest discount retail groups may be getting into the banking business. Pepkor Holdings operates more than 5,800 stores across a wide number of brands including PEP, Ackermans, and Tekkie Town. A subsidiary of Steinhoff International, Pepkor is reportedly looking to launch a new banking venture—informally referred to as “Pep Bank”—that will leverage the company’s market reach to offer zero-fee banking to millions of consumers with lower incomes. The company is said to be in conversation with Investec, seeking a partner to support the new bank’s regulatory, operational, and financial infrastructure. There has been no public commentary from Pepkor on the initiative, and press reports assert that the talks are in “early stages.” Further, the launch of a new bank would require approvals from the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) and the National Credit Regulator, and no such engagement has been reported to date. That said, the move could be a major expansion for Pepkor, which would benefit significantly from its relationship to its sizable—and largely underbanked—low-income customers. And leveraging the businesses’ nearly 6,000 retail outlets to offer those customers banking services geared toward their specific needs could give Pepkor’s new bank a strong start and make it an instant competitor to current providers. Revolut applies for South African banking license Speaking of launching banking operations in South Africa, Revolut announced that it has officially begun the process of securing a banking license in the country. The company has confirmed that it submitted a Section 12 application under the country’s Banks Act, the first step in becoming a licensed bank in South Africa. Revolut first signaled its intention to launch a bank in South Africa in September, highlighting the country as a “key growth market” with increasing rates of digital adoption and an openness to innovative financial products and services. “Becoming a licensed bank will allow us to bring a full suite of products to the market and ensure we become the go-to financial app for millions of South Africans,” Revolut South Africa CEO Jacques Meyer said. As a sign of the company’s growing engagement with the South African market, Revolut has appointed Dr. Gaby Magomola as Chairman of Revolut South Africa. A pioneer in the history of banking in South Africa, Dr. Magomola has served in senior executive roles at Citibank, Barclays Bank, First National Bank, and African Bank. He most recently served as Deputy Chairman of the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA). “Dr. Magomola’s experience is invaluable as we deepen our commitment to the South African market,” Meyer said. “His strategic counsel will be critical in navigating the local regulatory environment, ensuring we build a locally relevant service that addresses the financial needs of all customers in South Africa.” Revolut’s presence in South Africa would bring significant additional competition to the country’s digital bank industry, which consists of TymeBank, Discovery Bank, and Bank Zero, which has been acquired by Lesaka Technologies, as we noted in this week’s column. Already one of the largest digital banks in the world, Revolut has said its expansion in South Africa is part of the company’s goal to grow its customer base from 65 million to 100 million by 2027. Revolut also seeks to be active in 30 markets by 2030. Here is our look at fintech innovation around the world. Asia-Pacific Japan’s largest trust bank, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank, selected SCSK Corporation and OneSpan to enhance security for its mobile banking operations. Australian superannuation fund Brighter Super partnered with Napier AI to enhance its compliance infrastructure. Is Jack back? South China Morning Post featured Alibaba Group Holding founder Jack Ma’s return to the campus of Ant Group. Sub-Saharan Africa South African fintech Lesaka Technologies received approval to acquire Bank Zero in a deal valued at $60 million. Revolut has applied for a banking license in South Africa. South Africa’s Discovery Bank announced new crypto trading offering. Central and Eastern Europe Lithuanian regtech iDenfy unveiled its new solution that conduct instant license checks during the KYC process. The European Payments Initiative (EPI) announced that Wero for e-commerce is now live in Germany. Mastercard introduced open loop transit payments in Azerbaijan. Middle East and Northern Africa Crypto payments company MoonPay expanded its partnership with Israel-based Zengo Wallet. The firm’s venture arm, MoonPay Ventures, also announced a strategic investment in the self-custodial crypto wallet. First Abu Dhabi Bank teamed up with Thunes to enable global mobile wallet payouts. Israel-based fintech PayMe announced plans to expand into the European market. Central and Southern Asia Yuze Digital, a AI-powered fintech platform for freelancers and independent businesses, launched its pilot in India. Pakistani fintech Abhi partnered with UAE-based digital platform Numou to help SMEs access financial services. Indian fintech Yubi raised $46.4 million to enhance its debt marketplace, collection systems, and AI capabilities. Latin America and the Caribbean Uruguay-based cross-border payment platform dLocal partnered with global payouts orchestration company PayQuicker to help the firm serve more merchants in emerging markets. Latin American accounts receivable management and collections automation platform Moonflow acquired Mexican fintech Kobro. Colombian fintech Addi raised $50 million in debt funding. Photo by Madiba.de African Inspiration on Unsplash The post Finovate Global South Africa: Acquisitions and Licensing Innovation in Banking appeared first on Finovate.       

How can financial institutions determine the correct digital modernization strategy that will help them achieve their goals while respecting the role of legacy technologies? Can organizations effectively modernize their operations, leveraging enabling technologies like AI, without risking the potential disruptions that change—even positive change—can bring? This year at FinovateFall 2025, I caught up with Casey Ferguson, VP of Marketing at Zoot Enterprises to discuss the company’s phased approach to modernizing financial systems and integrating legacy technologies. Ferguson explains how effective transformations should embrace incremental progress, cross-functional collaboration, and layered fraud defenses. At Zoot we look at modernization this way: it’s not about tearing everything down. When you look at this kind of ‘rip and replace’ mentality, you have to remember it can be pretty risky. It can be very expensive and it can be slow, as well. When you think about the pace of change, architecting the perfect environment, the world may have changed by the time you have a perfect picture of all this. So working on things incrementally and in phases can really make a difference. Headquartered in Bozeman, Montana, and founded in 1990, Zoot Enterprises provides acquisition, origination, and decision management solutions for businesses ranging from leading banks and payment providers to automobile manufacturers and retailers. Zoot’s technology leverages advanced analytics to deliver actionable insights for compliance, risk management, fraud prevention, customer experience, workflow efficiency, digital transformation, and more. The company boasts more than 90 partners and providers, and 300+ data connections to access the most accurate and reliable data in real time. Photo by Kanhaiya Sharma on Unsplash The post Modernizing Financial Systems with Casey Ferguson of Zoot Enterprises appeared first on Finovate.       

Superannuation fund Brighter Super is upgrading its compliance infrastructure courtesy of a partnership with Napier AI. Migrating to Napier AI’s Continuum platform enables Brighter Super to benefit from Kubernetes-based scalability and intuitive rule-testing capabilities, helping compliance teams adapt to changing regulations. Headquartered in London, Napier AI made its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope 2018. One of the largest superannuation funds in Queensland, Australia, Brighter Super, has partnered with financial crime prevention platform Napier AI. The fund will leverage Napier AI’s Continuum solution to improve scalability, increase regulatory preparedness, and boost operational efficiency. “Brighter Super is an excellent example of how a forward-looking institution can use technology to drive compliance transformation,” Napier AI CEO Greg Watson said. “By adopting Napier AI Continuum, Brighter Super has built a scalable, future-ready compliance operation that not only meets today’s regulatory expectations, but also positions them for continued growth.” Based in Queensland, Australia, Brighter Super migrated from an on-premise system to Napier AI’s hosted environment. The fund now features streamlined post-merger integration, Kubernetes-based scalability, and intuitive rule-testing capabilities that will help future-proof compliance teams, enabling them to better adapt to ever-evolving regulations. “Napier AI has been instrumental in helping us modernize and scale our compliance operations to keep pace with an evolving superannuation industry,” Brighter Super Chief Risk Officer Shawn Chan said. “As we integrated multiple funds and transitioned to a cloud-based environment, Napier’s platform gave us the flexibility and control we needed—without added complexity. The user-friendly interface meant our team could adapt quickly, even during structural changes.” Brighter Super manages more than A$36 billion ($23.3 billion) in retirement savings for more than 348,000 members. The fund has experienced significant, M&A-related growth in recent years, merging with Energy Super in 2021 and acquiring Suncorp Portfolio Services Limited in 2022. This fall, Brighter Super announced that it had chosen SuperChoice as its clearing house partner ahead of the new Payday Super regulations that go into effect in July 2026. Also this fall, Brighter Super extended its partnership with MATES in Energy. MATES is a construction industry charity created in 2008 to help reduce the high suicide rate among construction workers. The charity has since been expanded to include workers from other industries, such as energy. Headquartered in London, and founded in 2015, Napier AI made its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope 2018. The company began this year securing a majority growth investment from Marlin Equity Partners, which took the company’s total funding to more than $55 million. The past few months have been especially busy for Napier AI. The company appointed Noel King as Chief Technology Officer in June, Kenneth Paqvalén as Chief Financial Officer in July, and Adam Flowers as new Chief Revenue Officer in September. Napier AI partnered with UAE-based lottery operator Game LLC in October and, earlier this month, was selected for FCA Supercharged Sandbox launch—supported by fellow Finovate alum NayaOne. “When deployed in specialist areas such as financial crime, AI can drive billions in cost savings,” Napier AI Chief Product Officer Will Monk said. “The Napier AI / AML Index showed that UK financial institutions could save £2.5 billion annually through AI-driven AML solutions, and the FCA’s Supercharged Sandbox is the perfect platform to streamline this development and deployment to put this cost saving into action.” Photo by City of Gold Coast on Unsplash The post Superannuation Fund Brighter Super Selects Napier AI to Upgrade Compliance Infrastructure appeared first on Finovate.       

This is a sponsored blog post from Capgemini, a financial services consulting and technology firm. Unlock large-scale growth with cloud-powered AI agents Cloud and AI agents boost efficiency and personalization, but adoption remains nascent. Cloud-powered AI agents unlock value by automating tasks and enabling real-time, personalized CX. To maximize impact, financial institutions must redesign processes and align cloud-AI strategies with compliance. AI is rapidly becoming a cornerstone of almost every industry. Today, it’s everywhere – discussed, adopted, and integrated across sectors. Now, we’re entering the era of agentic AI. Here’s what it means for financial services.  According to Capgemini’s latest World Cloud Report – Financial Services 2026, 87% of financial institutions have implemented some form of AI, but only 10% are using AI agents at scale. This gap represents a major opportunity for banks, insurers, and market operators to move beyond basic automation and embrace the AI-driven revolution.  Meanwhile, cloud platforms have evolved from simple infrastructure providers into powerful innovation engines. Today, they enable AI-driven transformation across the entire value chain, delivering speed, resilience, and compliance in a highly regulated environment. Together, cloud and AI promise faster time-to-market, hyper-personalized experiences, and greater operational agility. However, according to the report, success requires more than technology. It demands a cultural change, robust governance, and a clear roadmap.    Adapt: Embracing AI evolution and cloud’s changing role  AI has traveled an impressive path, from early machine learning models to generative AI and now agentic AI. These intelligent agents go beyond responding to prompts, and now autonomously manage workflows, make decisions, and learn continuously. For financial services, this means moving past traditional tools like robotic process automation toward systems that can handle complex tasks like underwriting, fraud detection, and customer onboarding with minimal human intervention.  According to the report, 75% of banks and 70% of insurers already deploy AI agents for customer service. Other top use cases include fraud detection, loan processing, and claims handling. Yet, despite these advances, only one tenth of firms have scaled AI agents’ enterprise-wide, signaling untapped potential.  Cloud is the enabler of this evolution. Hybrid and multi-cloud strategies are gaining traction, with 26% of financial institutions migrating more than half of their workloads to hybrid environments. The reasons include scalability (87% of respondents), legacy modernization (86% of respondents), and compliance (32% of respondents). Forge: Creating business value with cloud-powered AI agents  By utilizing the scalability and flexibility of cloud platforms, firms can gain efficiency, optimize operations, innovative topline growth and deliver superior CX. These agents automate manual tasks such as underwriting and credit scoring, reducing errors and accelerating turnaround times. With orchestration capabilities and unified large language model layers, they enable seamless coordination across workflows and drive real-time decision-making.  Building on these efficiency gains, AI agents also help institutions evolve toward autonomous operating models. Tasks once dependent on human oversight, like risk scoring and policy servicing, are increasingly performed by AI, freeing employees to focus on more strategic initiatives. This shift is supported by smaller, task-specific models that improve speed, explainability, and compliance while reducing compute costs.  Customer experience is another key dimension. Intelligent agents deliver hyper-personalized interactions, proactive query resolution, and faster service, helping banks and insurers boost acquisition, engagement, and retention.   Orchestrate: Building a cloud-native, AI-centric future  The orchestration phase is where strategy meets execution. Financial institutions are mapping business processes to identify where cloud-based AI agents can deliver the greatest optimization. Capgemini’s latest report divides these into 4 categories:   Quick wins – high-value and easy to adopt  Open for evaluation – strategic but more complex  Need for education – simple to adopt but offer limited value   Investigate – low in both priority and ease of adoption.   Quick wins like credit underwriting and CRM-integrated sales stand out as ideal starting points for rapid returns.  Orchestration goes far beyond technology deployment. It demands strong governance and compliance frameworks. With 96% of executives citing regulatory complexity as a major barrier, institutions must embed explainability, fairness, and accountability into AI systems from the start. At the same time, numerous behavioral challenges still remain. In fact, 92% of leaders report skill gaps and cultural resistance. Overcoming these requires enterprise-wide AI literacy programs, clear communication of benefits, and collaborative development models. Closing thoughts  AI agents are poised to redefine financial services, unlocking speed and innovation. Firms should start with a clear buy-or-build strategy that weighs solutions, internal capabilities, compliance, scalability, and privacy, supported by resilient cloud infrastructure.  Leaders must drive an AI-first culture by securing stakeholder buy-in, prioritizing high-value use cases, and enforcing safeguards like human oversight and transparency. Training teams and democratizing access to tools accelerates adoption and creativity.  Embedding these initiatives into digital transformation and cloud strategies enables specialized agents, autonomous operations, and multi-agent collaboration. Combined with a solid cloud strategy to cut costs and remove geographic limits, this approach positions financial institutions to lead the next era of agility, personalization, and growth, where those who act boldly will set the pace for the industry.  Download the report today. The post From Process Automation to Industry Reimagination appeared first on Finovate.       

Digital banking solutions provider ebankIT has forged a strategic partnership with banking and financial services software company Alogent. The partnership integrates ebanktIT’s omnichannel digital banking platform with Alogent’s advanced remote deposit capture (RDC) and item processing technologies. Founded in 2014 and headquartered in Porto, Portugal, ebankIT won Best of Show in its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope 2015. Digital banking solutions provider for community financial institutions (CFIs), ebankIT, has announced a strategic partnership with banking and financial services software firm Alogent. The partnership integrates ebankIT’s omnichannel digital banking platform with Alogent’s advanced remote deposit capture (RDC) and item processing technologies. This will create a unified experience that enables financial institutions to accelerate digital transformations, boost security, and enhance customer journeys. “Our partnership with ebankIT delivers secure, seamless experiences that build trust and keep users engaged across every channel, helping financial institutions modernize faster and smarter,” Alogent VP of Business Development Chris Wilson said. “The combined strengths of both organizations empower banks and credit unions to provide consistent, digital experiences that enhance customer engagement and meet evolving market demands.” The partnership combines Alogent’s expertise in image capture, deposit automation, and fraud mitigation with ebankIT’s omnichannel capabilities, responding to a demand from community financial institutions, including credit unions, for greater integration between digital banking and payments technologies. This collaboration facilitates flexibility, speed-to-market, and greater customer engagement, and the integrated solution delivers robust compliance, reduced implementation time, and continuous innovation with AI-driven insights and personalized financial tools. “This partnership is a natural fit,” ebankIT VP of US Market Development Paul Provenzano said. “Alogent’s deep expertise in payments and deposit automation perfectly complements ebankIT’s vision for a flexible and scalable digital banking ecosystem. Together, we’re helping financial institutions deliver seamless journeys, from deposits to payments, within a single, intuitive interface.” Headquartered in Peachtree Corners, Georgia, Alogent offers solutions for check payment processing, enterprise content and information management, and loan and exception tracking. Serving financial institutions of all sizes—from global banks to credit unions—Alogent helps companies lower costs, boost processing efficiency, mitigate fraud, generate revenue, and enhance the customer experience across channels. The company announced a number of new partnerships last month, including collaborations with lending accelerator for banks and credit unions Vine, Georgia-based Embassy National Bank ($285 million in assets), and Pennsylvania’s First Capital Federal Credit Union ($350 million in assets). Company co-founder Dede Wakefield is CEO. A Finovate alum for more than a decade, ebankIT won Best of Show in its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope 2015 in London. The company demonstrated its technology most recently at FinovateFall 2025, showing how it is leveraging Agentic AI to bring automation and intelligence to a growing number of operations from payments to fraud detection. Photo by Linda Gerbec on Unsplash The post ebankIT and Alogent Forge Digital Banking and Payments Partnership appeared first on Finovate.       

Insights-led customer engagement platform MoEngage helps marketers and product owners leverage AI-powered automation and optimization to enable hyper-personalization at scale. Effective across multiple channels including mobile and web push, email, SMS, on-site and in-app messaging, cards, and more, MoEngage empowers brands to analyze customer behavior and engage consumers through highly personalized communication. This is what UAE-based Union Coop sought when it selected the San Francisco, California-based company as its customer data and engagement partner this week. “Union Coop’s success is rooted in how we cater to our loyal member base,” Union Coop Chief Marketing Officer Sanjay Patney said. “To deliver on this promise and as we enhance our app-based Tamayaz loyalty program, we needed to move to a complete, all-in-one solution. We chose MoEngage for its powerful ability to unify our members’ data and orchestrate the beautifully designed, highly personalized campaigns our members deserve. This partnership is a key step in leapfrogging our digital strategy to boost engagement and reward our loyal, repeat shoppers.” Headquartered in Dubai and founded in 1982, Union Coop is one of the largest consumer cooperatives in the UAE. Union Coop operates 28 hypermarket branches throughout Dubai and manages seven shopping malls in the emirate. Union Coop will use MoEngage’s Customer Data and Engagement Platform to unify member data from across multiple systems to provide a single, comprehensive view; orchestrate highly personalized, app-based journeys in real time; increase member engagement; and incentivize repeat shopping with personalized campaigns. More than 1,350 international consumer brands—including Samsung, McAfee, and Deutsche Telekom—use MoEngage’s technology to boost campaign velocity, shorten time-to-market, optimize at scale, and reduce redundancy while ensuring both data security and privacy. MoEngage helps brands engage 20% of the world’s population a month, analyzing a trillion data points. The company made its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope 2022 in London. MoEngage’s partnership news with Union Coop comes just days after the company announced that it had achieved Amazon Web Services (AWS) Financial Services ISV Partner Competency. The designation recognizes MoEngage’s industry expertise as well as its success in providing innovative engagement solutions for customers in banking, insurance, fintech, capital markets, and more. “(This achievement) underscores our commitment to delivering industry-specific engagement solutions that help financial services providers build trust, drive loyalty, and unlock growth,” MoEngage Head of Strategic Alliances Sanjay Kupae said. “From hyper-personalized onboarding journeys to AI-driven retention strategies, we’re enabling banks and financial services to connect with customers in a secure, compliant, and intelligent way.” MoEngage was founded in 2014. Raviteja Dodda is Co-Founder and CEO. Photo by David Rodrigo on Unsplash The post Union Coop Chooses MoEngage as Customer Data and Engagement Partner appeared first on Finovate.       

U.S. Bank partnered with Kyriba to launch Liquidity Manager, an AI-powered cash forecasting and liquidity management tool for commercial clients. The solution offers real-time visibility, scenario planning, reconciliation, and multi-bank reporting, helping firms automate workflows and reduce operational risk. The move signals U.S. Bank’s push into tech-forward treasury capabilities, positioning it to compete with modern finance platforms like Ramp. U.S. Bank has teamed up with treasury solutions company Kyriba to launch a cash forecasting tool to offer businesses visibility and control over their cash and liquidity positions. The new tool, Liquidity Manager, is powered by Kyriba’s liquidity performance platform. Leveraging Kyriba, U.S. Bank will deliver cash forecasting, scenario planning, and operational efficiencies to its mid- to large-scale commercial clients. Kyriba’s SaaS solutions empower CFOs, treasurers, and IT leaders to connect, protect, forecast, and optimize their liquidity. Founded in 2000, the company aims to help companies and banks improve their financial performance and increase operational efficiency.  “Many companies struggle to obtain a timely and accurate view of their liquidity, especially when managing multiple bank accounts across geographies and currencies,” said U.S. Bank Treasury and Payment Solutions Lead Kristy Carstensen. “This solution builds on the strengths of both U.S. Bank and Kyriba to address these challenges. By automating processes and providing actionable insights, U.S. Bank Liquidity Manager, powered by Kyriba, will empower our clients to make strategic financial decisions with confidence and ease.” The new tool will improve firms’ cash forecasting by using historical cash flow data to predict future inflows and outflows, providing greater accuracy in daily cash position reporting and supporting more informed scenario planning. Liquidity Manager will also include cash positioning and reconciliation, cash pooling for zero-balance accounts, multi-bank balance and transaction reporting, and real-time visibility for all stakeholders. U.S. Bank expects these capabilities will help firms reduce costs through automated, centralized cash oversight and streamline workflows that minimize manual effort and operational risk. Liquidity Manager will be available through U.S. Bank’s treasury management platform SinglePoint, which the bank updated a few weeks back. The new SinglePoint release aims to reduce manual work, deliver actionable insights, optimize common user flows, and help clients uncover operational blind spots. “Working together, Kyriba and U.S. Bank can elevate liquidity management and cash forecasting for businesses,” said Kyriba CRO Bruno Ferreira. “By combining Kyriba’s secure, trusted AI-enabled technologies with U.S. Bank’s deep payments and banking expertise, we deliver real-time visibility across every account and region. This clarity empowers treasurers and finance teams to make confident decisions exactly when they need to, without guesswork or delays.” Launching advanced treasury management tools may be U.S. Bank’s way of competing with platforms like Ramp, which are expanding beyond spend management into broader operational finance functions. Ramp, in fact, has proven that there is an appetite for this model, disclosing in a funding announcement yesterday that it is now valued at $32 billion. By strengthening its digital treasury stack, U.S. Bank positions itself as not just a traditional banking partner, but as a technology-minded bank capable of meeting CFO-level expectations around automation, visibility, and real-time decision support. Photo by olia danilevich The post Kyriba Powers New Cash Forecasting Tool for U.S. Bank appeared first on Finovate.       

Accounting software provider FreeAgent has partnered with spend management platform Pleo. The partnership makes Pleo FreeAgent’s preferred expense management partner, enabling seamless, automated syncing of data from Pleo into FreeAgent. Headquartered in Edinburgh, Scotland, FreeAgent made its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope 2013 in London. A new partnership between accounting software provider FreeAgent and spend management platform Pleo will help small businesses in the UK better manage both day-to-day expenses as well as cash flow. As part of the alliance, Pleo will now serve as FreeAgent’s preferred expense management partner. This will enable seamless syncing of expenses, card transactions, receipts, and attachments—as well as categories and VAT—from Pleo into FreeAgent. Automated syncing removes the reliance on error-prone and cumbersome manual entry, makes it easier for employees to complete their expense reporting responsibilities, and provides for more accurate, up-to-date bookkeeping for small businesses. “We know how frustrating and time-consuming it can be for small businesses to keep track of spending, especially when lots of different people are making purchases,” FreeAgent CEO and Co-Founder Roan Lavery said. “This partnership with Pleo takes a huge amount of that stress away. Expenses are recorded and sent straight into FreeAgent without the usual chasing around for receipts or spreadsheets. It just works in the background, so business owners can focus on running their business, not wrestling with their books.” Pleo provides small businesses with smart virtual or physical company cards that enable complete control over spending limits and policies. The technology automatically tracks, categorizes, and matches all transactions with a receipt in Pleo, then syncs directly into FreeAgent. This integration will provide business owners and finance teams with comprehensive, real-time visibility of company spending, from one-off purchases to recurring expenses. “Pleo is thrilled to launch our integration with FreeAgent, two partners with a shared vision of empowering SMBs with seamless financial tools,” Pleo SVP Haresh Bajaj said. “This partnership is a step forward in simplifying workflows and unlocking greater value for our customers, and we’re excited about the impact we’ll achieve together.” Headquartered in Copenhagen, Denmark, Pleo offers solutions for expense management, accounts payable, reimbursements, and vendor management, as well as smart business expense cards with individual spending limits. With more than 40,000 business users of its technology, Pleo notes that 75% of administrators using Pleo have said its solutions have made their companies more productive. Pleo recently announced its Cash Management solution which combines spend and cash management to give businesses full visibility over all accounts, lower FX costs, and earn on idle cash in a single resource. Founded in 2007, FreeAgent offers accounting software and support for small businesses and their accounting and bookkeeping teams. The Edinburgh, Scotland-based fintech made its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope 2013, and was acquired by NatWest Group in 2018. With more than 200,000 users, FreeAgent also recently announced a partnership with Australian corporate performance management (CPM) software provider Fathom. Photo by Adam Wilson on Unsplash The post FreeAgent and Pleo Team Up to Help Small Businesses Manage Expenses, Cash Flow appeared first on Finovate.       

Automated regulatory intelligence company CUBE has agreed to acquire agentic AI compliance specialist Kodex AI. Terms of the acquisition were not immediately available. The acquisition will enable CUBE to leverage Kodex AI’s agentic AI technology to offer “co-worker functionality” for compliance teams to help them keep up with ever-evolving regulations. Headquartered in Berlin, Germany and founded in 2022, Kodex AI made its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope 2024 in London. Agentic AI compliance specialist Kodex AI has agreed to be acquired by automated regulatory intelligence company CUBE. Calling the agreement “more than an acquisition,” Kodex AI framed the deal as the “beginning of a new era for regulatory technology” in a statement on the company’s website. The acquisition combines CUBE’s regulatory data and risk capabilities with Kodex AI’s agentic AI technology to offer an AI that is more co-worker than tool to assist compliance teams as they seek to implement ever-evolving regulations. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. “Combining Kodex AI’s technology leadership with CUBE’s market-leading regulatory and risk data is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to redefine the compliance and risk space,” Kodex AI Co-Founder Thomas Kaiser said. “This is the perfect use case for advanced AI, and together we’ll push the boundaries of what’s possible.” The technology integration, specifically the introduction of co-worker functionality, will automate complex processes, reduce operational costs, and leverage continuous monitoring and proactive updates. This will promote better—and easier—adherence to regulatory requirements. The addition of Kodex AI’s technology will also enable access to richer data sources and broader coverage across jurisdictions. “Thomas and Claus (Lang) have built an exceptional and disruptive European technology business, pioneering the use of agentic AI through an agent-based architecture to solve regulatory complexities,” CUBE Founder and CEO Ben Richmond said. “Kodex AI is a natural next step in CUBE’s strategy, allowing us to instantly deliver enhanced, AI-based compliance and risk capabilities to our global customers.” With 1,000 customers in banking, insurance, payments, asset and investment management, and more, CUBE specializes in Automated Regulatory Intelligence (ARI) and Regulatory Change Management (RCM). Founded in 2011, the London-based regtech offers a RegPlatform product portfolio powered by its regulatory AI engine (RegBrain). The technology tracks, analyzes, and monitors laws and regulations in every country to provide always-up-to-date regulatory insights. Based in Berlin, Kodex AI made its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope 2024 in London. At the conference, the company showed how its AI-powered solution empowers financial professionals to find information, analyze data, and instantly draft reports in minutes rather than days. The company’s specialized Large Language Model (LLM) and Generative AI Agents are designed for financial data, providing a targeted approach that ensures factual intelligence without “hallucinations.” Kodex AI was co-founded in 2022 by Thomas Kaiser (CEO) and Claus Lang (CTO). Photo by Adam Tamasi on Unsplash The post Agentic AI Compliance Specialist Kodex AI Announces Acquisition by Regtech CUBE appeared first on Finovate.