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Finovate Blog
Tracking fintech, banking & financial services innovations since 1994
Financial services software provider Finastra has announced an extension of its long-term partnership with Japan’s MUFG (Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group).
MUFG will deploy Finastra’s GlobalPayplus payments hub to support ACH services in the US.
Finastra was formed via a merger between Finovate alum Misys and D+H in 2017. The company is headquartered in the UK.
MUFG (Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group), the largest bank in Japan, has selected Finastra’s Global PAYplus to support ACH services in the United States. The announcement marks an expansion in a partnership between MUFG and Finastra that dates back more than five years when MUFG first initiated its ISO 20022 migration.
The current agreement will extend Finastra’s modern, unified payments architecture across three major regions, representing MUFG’s successful payment architecture transformation in both Japan and Europe. Adopting a modern, standardized platform will enable MUFG to achieve greater efficiency for both domestic and cross-border payments, with straight through processing rates exceeding 95% across its international operations.
“In 2021, we began our ISO 20022 journey with a bold decision to replace the core payment engine with a completely new one,” MUFG Americas CIO Alla Whitston explained. “After careful evaluation, we selected Finastra as our partner to first modernize our legacy ACH platform, benefiting from their global payments’ expertise and modern technology stack. Global PAYplus offers highly configurable capabilities to modernize our payments systems more broadly too, driving ISO 20022 compliance, and providing the flexibility to launch new services.”
Finastra’s GlobalPAYplus will deliver the scale, resilience, and configurability necessary to support MUFG’s operations worldwide, managing growing digital payment volumes and adapting to local market needs. The solution is a modular, composable, multi-cloud, multi-country, multi-rail, highly configurable, ISO 20022-native, API-based payment hub designed to enable banks and other financial institutions to modernize their payment infrastructures. The technology has more than 300 customers around the world and processes more than $7 trillion in payments value daily.
“MUFG’s continued investment is a strong signal of where banking is headed—toward modern, unified, and highly adaptable payments infrastructure,” Finastra EVP of Payments Barry Rodrigues said. “We’re proud to partner with them on this journey, helping deliver the resilience, speed, and flexibility that banks need today, while building a foundation that can evolve with future demands.”
Forged via a union between Finovate alum Misys and D+H (Davis + Henderson) in 2017, Finastra today is a trusted financial services software partner for more than 7,000 customers—including 40 of the world’s top banks. The company has expertise in lending, payments, and universal banking, and includes scalable, mission-critical solutions such as Loan IQ, LaserPro, Trade Innovation, Payments to Go, and Financial Messaging in its product portfolio—along with Global PAYplus. The company is headquartered in London. Chris Walters is CEO.
The 2026 Finovate Awards are here! Celebrating the best and brightest in fintech and financial services, this year’s awards will crown more than 30 winners in fields such as payments, lending, alternative investing, financial inclusion, and more! Nominations are now open, so check out this year’s Finovate Awards categories and submit your nomination. Submit before April 24 and save $100 on the nomination fee.
This year’s competition will be judged by a team of experts from the banking, fintech, and financial services industries. “An award is only worth something if the people giving it know their stuff, and our amazing lineup of judges this year should be exciting for everyone involved,” Finovate VP of Strategy Greg Palmer said, “It’s great to see so much talent on the roster!”
Take a look for yourself at this year’s selection committee. Also joining this year’s judging team will be Finovate VPs Greg Palmer and Heather Stowell, along with Finovate Research Analysts Julie Muhn and David Penn.
Mary Wisniewski, Editor-at-Large, Cornerstone Advisors
Wisniewski is editor-at-large at Cornerstone Advisors where she helps shape content strategy and hosts Money Isn’t Everything, a biweekly podcast that explores early-stage fintech ideas. She also writes a monthly editor’s note, Finteching with Mary, on LinkedIn.
A frequent speaker at leading digital banking events, Wisniewski has covered fintech and digital banking for more than 12 years, with bylines in GonzoBanker, American Banker, Bankrate, the Associated Press, and more.
Kilian Thalhammer, Managing Director, Deutsche Bank AG
With more than 20 years in payments, fintech, e-commerce, and loyalty, Thalhammer is an expert in managing critical product, strategy and business development issues. After being Director Solutions for the Swiss Post, he joined RatePay (Otto Group) as CPO and was global CPO of PAYMILL (Rocket Internet) until 2014.
Kilian is now responsible for the business unit merchant solutions at Deutsche Bank. This covers Deutsche Bank’s global issuing and acceptance business and the business with fintech, platform & technology clients.
Stave serves as Chief Technology Officer of RBC Clearing & Custody, where he has built a 25-year career spanning leadership roles across technology, finance, and operations—most recently as Chief Operating Officer before assuming his current position in 2021.
As CTO, Stave oversees technology product management, technology strategy, data management, engineering, fintech partnerships, service & support, technology training, and consulting for the firm.
Lisa Gold Schier, Advisor, Reading Cooperative Bank
Schier is a trusted C-Suite adviser specializing in fintech evaluation and go-to-market strategy within the banking and technology sectors. She brings deep expertise in assessing financial technology solutions and guiding their successful market entry and adoption by financial institutions.
Schier is recognized for building and leading strategic partnerships from ideation through contract negotiation to financial institution adoption and ongoing business development.
Glen Sarvady, Founder, 154 Advisors
Sarvady is a 25 year veteran of the payments and fintech industries. His firm 154 Advisors provides actionable insights, data-driven analysis and strategy formulation to help FIs navigate the rapidly evolving payments landscape.
Sarvady is a former Federal Reserve Bank examiner and part of the startup team that launched the University of Pennsylvania Student Federal Credit Union. He also managed Deluxe’s financial services check and payments programs for two years.
Ransom is an SaaS entrepreneur, executive, investor, and advisor. He has started, grown, and/or led eight B2B and consumer SaaS companies during startup and growth phases.
He is currently the Managing Director of BankTech Ventures, a strategic investment fund focused on empowering disruptive technologies for community banks. Founded and funded by leaders in the community banking world and endorsed by the ICBA (Independent Community Bankers of America) and The Venture Center, the fund won Finovate’s 2020 Accelerator of the Year.
Jim Perry, Senior Strategist, Market Insights
As Senior Strategist at Market Insights, Perry helps financial institutions across the country make smarter decisions and unlock new paths to growth through custom research and data-driven strategy. A trusted advisor to banks and credit unions across the US, Perry brings clarity to complex challenges and a fresh perspective to conversations about growth, innovation, and relevance in a rapidly changing landscape.
Co-founder of the Fintech Book Club and named one of the “Top 100 Fintech Influencers” by Onalytics, Perry is a regular on the speaker circuit at industry events from local associations to global conferences.
Lohith Paripati, Director of Digital Product Management, American Express
Paripati is a seasoned product leader with over a decade of experience building and scaling fintech and commerce platforms. He currently leads AI-driven initiatives for Walmart Marketplace sellers, focusing on applying generative AI to payments and financial workflows to drive growth and efficiency at scale.
Paripati brings deep expertise in payments, monetization, and platform strategy, with a strong focus on aligning customer value with business outcomes.
Tiffani Montez, Principal Analyst, EMARKETER
Montez is Principal Analyst leading the Analyst Access Program for Financial Services at EMARKETER formerly Insider Intelligence. She oversees the content across Banking, which provides actionable insights on advancements in how value is stored, managed, transferred, and spent, for an audience of top banks and neobanks.
Her unique blend of experience as a practitioner, analyst, and vendor solution provider gives her the foundation to be able to provide thought leadership to clients through all lenses of the financial services ecosystem.
William Mills III, Chief Executive Officer, William Mills Agency
Mills joined the firm in 1983 and founded their public relations services in 1989 which now accounts for more than 90% of their billings. He serves as lead consultant for the agency’s clients and has personally advised more than 500 C-level executives on marketing strategy, business development, mergers and acquisitions, company branding and public relations.
Mills’ other responsibilities include agency financial management, client consulting and leading business development and marketing services for the agency.
Eric McCabe, Head of Embedded Finance, Citizens
McCabe serves as Head of Embedded Finance at Citizens. In this capacity he guides the bank’s effort to embed Citizens financial products in third-party platforms used by Citizens customers, and to enable platforms, brands, and fintechs to provide financial services to their customers, backed by Citizens.
Prior to joining Citizens, McCabe held roles in Embedded Payments, Fintech Strategy, Product and Operations at SVB and Citi.
Suraj Manjunath, Executive Director, Investment Banking Technology, JP Morgan
Manjunath is a senior product leader shaping the future of investment banking through AI-driven innovation. He is experienced in leading large, cross-functional teams to drive strategic change and unlock growth, efficiency, and competitive advantage across the global investment banking ecosystem.
Manjunath specializes in applying artificial intelligence, automation, and data-led insight to reimagine how financial institutions operate, make decisions, and deliver value.
Luther Liang, SVP, Head of Product, Grasshopper Bank
Liang leads the strategy and execution behind fintech products that empower small businesses, consumers, commercial enterprises, and fintech (Banking-as-a-Service) partners.
Grasshopper’s product roadmap to delivered the bank a premium exit at ~2.5x tangible book value $369M acquisition by Enova International in December 2025 that significantly outperformed the 1.5x industry median.
Sam Kilmer, Managing Director, Cornerstone Advisors
Kilmer leads Cornerstone Advisors’ fintech advisory practice working with industry providers, fintechs, and investors. He also leads selective strategy engagements with banks and credit unions. Sam’s prior experience includes leadership at two financial tech firms and two midsize banks including digital banking, marketing, analytics, implementations, partnerships, and strategy.
Kilmer is a nationally sought-after speaker, industry research author, host of Fintech Hustle podcast, and a contributor to GonzoBanker and the industry press.
Bruno Jivan, Head of Innovation and Research, Novobanco
Jivan is Director of Innovation & Research at novobanco. He has broad and diversified experience across the financial sector, including credit analysis, risk, project finance, M&A, product, marketing, transformation and innovation.
In his current role, he focuses on fostering innovation culture and mindset, strengthening connections with the fintech ecosystem, and leading the large‑scale adoption of AI across the organization to deliver practical, customer‑centric impact.
Nicolai Farcas, Chief Technology Officer, Consumer, Small & Business Banking Digital, Wells Fargo Bank
Farcas is a senior executive leader with over 25 years of experience driving enterprise strategy, transformation, and execution across global financial services organizations. He specializes in Consumer and Small Business Banking, including the Move Money portfolio, enterprise PMO leadership, and large-scale business and technology transformation initiatives.
During his tenure at Wells Fargo, Nicolai has held senior leadership roles including Global C-Suite Executive, Chief Technology Officer, and Head of the Project Management Office (PMO).
Sam Das, Managing Director, TruStage Ventures
Dasis Managing Director of TruStage Ventures, the venture capital arm of TruStage. Since joining, Das has focused on sourcing, investing and advising early-stage fintech and insurtech startups. He is also the Vice President of Corporate Development at TruStage, evaluating and executing a broad range of strategic transactions for the organization. Das joined TruStage in 2017.
Prior to joining TruStage, Das was the founder and CEO of a fintech startup and served as an investment banker at firms including Houlihan Lokey and Fox-Pitt, Kelton.
Sushma Daggubati, Manager of Product Management, Mastercard
Since 2016, and over her eight years at Mastercard, Daggubati has consistently progressed to more challenging positions every two years from release management to software engineering, leading to her current position, denoting an exceptional ability to transition from pure technical roles to more commercial ones.
She has also contributed to the industry by developing several patents which have been cited by some of the world’s largest and most prestigious firms including Shopify, Walmart, and Worldpay.
Soner Canko, Founder, SC Management Advisory
Canko graduated from the Faculty of Political Sciences at Istanbul University, where he also earned his Master’s and PhD degrees. He began his career in multinational corporations, holding various roles at Procter & Gamble, Citibank, Hewlett-Packard (HP), and First Data.
Recognized for his work in financial technologies, Canko currently serves as a management consultant and independent board member. He is also actively involved in the following platforms: Turkish Enterprise Institutions, FinTech Istanbul, Blockchain Türkiye.
Tanya Andreasyan, Managing Director and Editor-in-Chief, FinTech Futures
Andreasyan is MD and Editor-in-Chief of FinTech Futures, the definitive source of intelligence for the global fintech sector. An experienced journalist and a long-term resident of the fintech ecosystem, she has extensive understanding and knowledge of the industry and its participants.
With in-depth coverage of fintech issues on a worldwide scale, FinTech Futures is a leading resource for technology buyers, sellers, developers, integrators and other specialists across the sector.
FinovateSpring is right around the corner (May 5-7). So while we’re busily compiling and sharing the top fintech headlines and announcements of the day, please forgive us for occasionally sharing our excitement at what we believe is an incredible line-up at this year’s conference.
From the more than 40 companies that will be making their Finovate debuts to an all-star roster of insightful banking and fintech keynote speakers and panelists, FinovateSpring 2026 in sunny San Diego is an event you won’t want to miss!
Until then, we’ll keep you posted on the fintech news you need to know here at the Fintech Rundown!
Wealth management
Mackenzie Investments teams upOneVest to power a full digital transformation, including the launch of modern advisor and investor portals, a new mobile app, and more.
GCC-based wealth management firm, The Family Office, launches its AI-powered assistant, Wealth Mermaid, fully integrated into its Client app.
This week’s edition of Finovate Global looks at recent fintech headlines from Guatemala, El Salvador, and Aruba.
Credit Assessment Platform CreditYa Launched in Guatemala
Colombia-based financial services company YUMIVI S.A.S has brought its AI-powered credit assessment platform, CreditYa, to Guatemala. CreditYa is a digital microcredit platform designed to provide small, fast, accessible, and reliable financing to individuals and small business owners. Founded by Wingston Oswaldo González Reyes, CreditYa’s entry into the Guatemalan market is the company’s first expansion beyond its native Colombia. The company’s Regional Operations Lead María Gabriela noted in a statement that the launch was “the first step in (the company’s) long-term commitment” toward making financial services more accessible to “every hard-working Guatemalan with a digital footprint.”
Gabriela added: “In Guatemala, business opportunities are often fleeting. Whether it is purchasing materials in advance to meet a sudden surge in orders or repairing store equipment that fails unexpectedly, entrepreneurs need timely access to fast and flexible financial support—not an endless approval process. Our goal is to eliminate delays through technology. Users only need to download the app, complete identity verification, and authorize data access within minutes to receive a preliminary credit assessment and, in most cases, gain access to financial support within 24 hours.”
Using advanced data analytics and AI intelligence, CreditYa delivers fast and convenient digital financial services to individuals and microenterprises in Latin America. The company has established partnerships with local payment gateways and data processing providers to ensure that its operations are compliant with local regulations. CreditYa will also work with community organizations to deliver financial education and boost financial inclusion in the Guatemalan market.
“We are not just a financial app,” Gabriela said. “We aspire to be a trusted partner for users as they pursue a better life and grow their businesses.”
Tether Introduces New Stablecoin Wallet
Digital asset company and issuer of the USDT stablecoin, Tetherlaunchedtether.wallet, the People’s Wallet, this week. Tether.wallet is a self-custodial digital wallet that puts the company’s international financial infrastructure directly into the hands of its users.
“Tether has achieved, without any doubts, the widest financial inclusion success story in the history of humanity,” Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino boasted. “With more than 570 million people already using Tether’s technology, the next step is making that digital infrastructure even more accessible and usable by the end users. The objective is to remove the complexity that has prevented broader adoption while preserving the properties that make the digital assets technology valuable.”
Until now, Tether operated primarily as part of the underlying layer of the digital economy, enabling liquidity, settlement, and payments across more than 160 countries, with its USDT stablecoin becoming among the most popular digital representations of the US dollar. The launch of tether.wallet puts this entire infrastructure in the hands of end users, enabling them to transact in digital dollars by way of USDT and USAT, gold by way of XAUT, and via Bitcoin. The wallet is built to remove the complexity that tends to limit broader embrace of digital assets, for example, enabling users to send funds with simple, straightforward, human-readable identifiers such as “[email protected]” rather than long, error-prone wallet addresses.
The solution is 100% self-custodial. All transactions are signed locally on the user’s device before being broadcast to the network, and private keys and recovery phrases remain under exclusive control of the end user.
“Tether.wallet is ‘the People’s Wallet’ because it truly reflects the natural evolution of Tether’s role, from building the foundation of the digital asset economy to making it directly usable by anyone, ready for a future in which tens of billions of humans, machines, and trillions of AI agents will transact seamlessly at the speed of light,” Ardoino said.
Founded in 2014, Tether named El Salvador as its formal headquarters last year after securing a license under the country’s Digital Asset Issuance Law. The goal was to capitalize on El Salvador’s status as an emerging crypto currency hub and its embrace of Bitcoin. The move gave Tether its first physical headquarters. The firm was previously incorporated in the British Virgin Islands.
Aruba-based AIB Bank Partners with Finastra for Digital Banking
AIB Bank, an Aruba-based financial institution with nearly $2 billion in assets, has inked a deal with Finastra to deploy its Finastra Essence core banking solution. The deployment is part of AIB Bank’s goal of establishing the first fully digital bank in the country. Finastra Essence will deliver an enhanced core solution that blends broad and deep digital banking functionality with advanced technology to empower banks to offer customers faster transactions, greater reliability and security, and the kind of modern, personalized digital experiences that customers have come to expect.
“Choosing Finastra Essence allows us to position ourselves at the forefront of full-service digital banking innovation in Aruba and across the Caribbean,” AIB Managing Director Frendsel Giel said. “This transformation of our recently acquired commercial bank will not only enhance the way we serve our customers but also establish a solid foundation for accelerated growth and long-term success in Aruba and the region.”
Founded in 1987, AIB Bank is a privately owned financial institution based in Oranjestad, Aruba. The company specializes in loan syndication, agency services, corporate lending, program and project management, as well as advisory services, and has structured large and complex financing through Aruba and the region.
Formed via a merger between D+H Corporation and Finovate alum Misys in 2017, Finastra works with banks and other financial institutions to help them deliver secure and trusted mission-critical financial services technology. Headquartered in the UK, Finastra has more than 7,000 customers around the world using its financial services software, including 80% of the top 50 global banks, and moves $7 trillion in transactions every day. Chris Walters is Finastra’s CEO.
Here is our look at fintech innovation around the world.
Sub-Saharan Africa
PitchBook looked at the current state of venture capital funding for fintechs in Africa.
South African bank Capitec partnered with Wise Platform, Wise’s international payments infrastructure for banks and enterprises.
Visa Africa Fintech Accelerator reached 100 startups since inception with its fifth cohort.
Central and Eastern Europe
Germany’s Deutsche Börse purchased a 1.%% fully diluted stake in crypto platform Kraken.
Polish fintech PragmaGO, which provides financial services for small and medium-sized businesses, expanded to Croatia.
Cryptonews examined how the recent election in Hungary could rekindle debate on crypto policy and regulation.
Middle East and Northern Africa
Central Bank of the UAE unveiled its e-KYC platform
Trading and investment platform eToroannounced plans to acquire Israel-based crypto wallet Zengo.
Nu Mexico, the Mexican subsidiary of Brazil’s Nubank, topped the 15 million customer milestone, establishing itself as one of Mexico’s three largest financial institutions by customer base.
Uruguay-based cross-border payment platform dLocal partnered with Italy’s NEC to power international remittance payouts.
Aruba’s AIB Bank teamed up with Finastra and will deploy the fintech’s core banking solution Finastra Essence.
Asia-Pacific
Japan’s largest bank, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, expanded its partnership with Finastra to support ACH payments in the US.
Indonesian bank CIMB Niaga, Google Cloud, and Artefact unveiled enterprise AI agents to bring greater personalization to the banking experience for customers.
Australian Trade and Investment Commission sent a delegation to Vietnam to support deepening fintech ties with the country.
Backbase and Ninth Wave have announced a strategic partnership to enable banks to connect their business clients ERP and accounting systems to their banking data.
The partnership follows research from Ninth Wave that indicated that an overwhelming number of Chief Financial Officers and their teams would consider switching banks in order to access open finance capabilities.
Amsterdam-based Backbase was founded in 2003 and is a four-time Finovate Best of Show winner. Ninth Wave, headquartered in New York and launched in 2018, most recently demoed its technology at FinovateWest 2020.
Banking technology provider Backbase has announced a strategic partnership with open finance connectivity specialist Ninth Wave. The two companies will work together to enable banks to offer a seamless connection between their business customers’ ERP and accounting systems and their banking data. This will enhance the customer experience by providing better cash flow visibility, improved reconciliation, faster payment execution, and more efficient banking operations.
Courtesy of the partnership, Backbase’s bank customers can offer their corporate clients direct, permissioned access to banking data used by their financial systems, while Ninth Wave’s connectivity layer serves as a bridge between the bank and the corporate client’s ERP or accounting software. Managing consent, activity logs, and API governance within a single platform, the solution provides accurate, real-time data transfer with comprehensive audit trails and integrated compliance controls. The technology also eliminates the need for manual workarounds, batch uploads, and unreliable data scraping.
“Commercial clients prefer not to log into a portal and re-enter data that their ERP system already has,” Backbase Global VP for Marketplace Mayank Somaiya said. “By partnering with Ninth Wave, we give banks a direct integration path into how their corporate clients actually operate. That’s what keeps relationships sticky and opens the door to real value-added services.”
The partnership between Backbase and Ninth Wave comes in the wake of research conducted by Ninth Wave that pointed to growing interest in Open Finance functionality among Chief Financial Officers and their finance teams. In 2025, Ninth Wave research noted that 86% of those surveyed would consider changing banks in order to access open finance features. Those surveyed who were connected reported saving more than five hours a week due to the greater efficiency of direct bank access.
Going forward, Backbase and Ninth Wave will expand ERP connectivity features, support multi-country corporate payments, and develop real-time cash management dashboards for international businesses.
“Backbase offers a robust, modern foundation for commercial banking, and Ninth Wave simplifies connectivity by managing API connections, ensuring strong security, and providing a management hub to oversee their open finance operations,” Ninth Wave VP of Strategic Partnerships Joe Fiorillo said. “Together, we are delivering the modern banking services that business clients require.”
A Finovate alum since 2009, Backbase is a four-time Finovate Best of Show winner. Headquartered in Amsterdam and founded in 2003, the company offers an AI-native banking operating system that transforms fragmented banking operations into a unified front line. This enables customers, employees, and AI agents to work as one across digital channels, front office, and operations. More than 120 banks around the world use Backbase’s technology across retail, small business, commercial, and private banking, as well as wealth management.
Founded in 2018 and headquartered in New York, Ninth Wave most recently demonstrated its technology on the Finovate stage at our all-digital event, FinovateWest 2020. The company provides secure data connectivity between financial institutions and third-party applications such as aggregators, fintechs, accounting and ERP systems, and other business tools. Ninth Wave works with financial institutions throughout North America, offering an open finance Hub that links more than 120 bank accounts via secure, reliable, and scalable connections to the open finance ecosystem.
AI is making a major impact on all aspects of banking, fintech, and financial services, and the world of investing is no exception. From helping investors better understand the volumes of financial, economic, and market data available to them to creating more personalized investment strategies, AI is empowering average retail investors to make smarter decisions and take greater control over their financial futures.
At FinovateEurope 2026 in London this year, I sat down with Nitzan Nachum, Chief Revenue Officer at BridgeWise to talk about the company’s mission to make investing more accessible to a greater range of investors. We also discussed the key role AI is currently playing in helping investors find the information they need and ensure it is accurate and from trusted sources.
“When BridgeWise was founded, it was about filling the gap of financial information asymmetry in the market. For years, for decades, information has been owned only by professionals or by people that are really early adopters of technology and know how to find the right information. But for many, and for most retail investors, most of them couldn’t find information about their portfolios except through the news or through a professional such as their relationship manager or wealth advisor …
We wanted to make this (information) accessible to everyone, so that everyone would have the same information when they are in the process of decision-making about whether they want to invest in a certain stock, fund, or any financial asset.”
Chief Revenue Officer at BridgeWise, Nitzan Nachum has more than eight years of experience leading fintech growth and revenue operations. With degrees from Tel Aviv University, Nachum has demonstrated expertise in global sales, international expansion, and go-to-market strategy across multiple markets.
BridgeWise is a technological research company that leverages AI-based analysis and large language models (LLMs) to offer comprehensive insights into global stocks. The company’s solutions are designed to bridge the knowledge gap in the investment world to empower investors of all types to become “super investors.” Integrated into brokerage platforms and the infrastructures of other financial institutions, BridgeWise provides instant fundamental analysis of stocks around the world, as well as bespoke investment strategies, to enable millions of investors to make informed investment decisions.
Headquartered in New York and founded in 2019. BridgeWise recently published its inaugural State of AI for Wealth report. The report is a comprehensive review of international sentiment towards using AI for investment information and surveyed 2,100 individuals across 19 countries.
Embedded payments innovator CoreChain Technologies has agreed to be acquired by business management solution provider Acumatica. Terms of the deal were not immediately available.
The acquisition will enable Acumatica to offer embedded supply chain financing to its customers directly from its platform instead of relying on outside partners.
CoreChain Technologies made its Finovate debut at FinovateSpring 2024. The company is headquartered in New Haven, Connecticut.
Here’s Finovate alum acquisition news from earlier this year that slipped beneath our radar. CoreChain Technologies, which made its Finovate debut at FinovateSpring 2024, has agreed to be acquired by business management solution provider Acumatica. The announcement was made in January and builds on a relationship between the two companies that extends back to 2023, when CoreChain introduced a direct, integrated solution for Acumatica users with the launch of CoreChain Pay.
Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.
“I am tremendously excited to announce that Acumatica has acquired CoreChain Technologies,” CoreChain Technologies CEO Chris Aguas wrote on his LinkedIn page earlier this year. “CoreChain has focused on modernizing B2B payments for the past 7+ years, and embedding AP payments capabilities directly into ERP workflows has been a key focus since the very beginning of our journey.”
Since inception, CoreChain Technologies has processed more than $1 billion in B2B payments. CoreChain’s network of networks streamlines the financial supply chain by offering simple and secure digital B2B payments between buyers and suppliers—including digital payment options such as virtual cards and ACH. The acquisition will enable Acumatica to offer embedded supply chain financing directly while continuing to provide customer choice via an open marketplace.
The acquisition further transforms Acumatica’s business software into an actual fintech platform. Offering CoreChain’s blockchain-based payment system as a core part of its solution will enable Acumatica to leverage embedded finance to offer key financial tools such as supply chain finance directly instead of relying on third parties.
“We’re living in an incredibly exciting age of AI, with endless possibilities and impact that organizations are experiencing today,” Acumatica CEO John Case said. “We see it with customers who are combining new AI capabilities with human ingenuity to enhance performance and empower people to do their best work.”
Based in Bellevue, Washington, Acumatica offers a comprehensive business management solution designed to assist small and mid-market companies with connected, collaborative work environments. The company’s flagship offering, Acumatica Cloud ERP, was recently updated to include expanded AI capabilities, enhanced reporting tools, and new collaboration features. The enhancements are designed to better connect field teams with their back offices and to introduce early access to Acumatica’s AI Assistant, which facilitates a more intuitive, conversational way to access insights from their data.
Founded in 2019, CoreChain Technologies made its Finovate debut at FinovateSpring 2024. At the conference, the New Haven, Connecticut-based company demonstrated its CoreChain Pay solution. Billed as “Venmo for Business,” CoreChain Pay enables businesses to seamlessly and securely pay vendors digitally directly from their accounting systems. The technology makes accounts payable easier and allows companies to consolidate their vendor payments in a single solution, avoiding back office expenses, payment fees, and fraud risk.
Interested in learning more about exciting new fintechs like CoreChain Technologies? Join us next month in San Diego for FinovateSpring 2026, May 5-7, featuring more than 40 demoing companies making their Finovate debuts!
Heritage Family Credit Union (HFCU) has announced a new partnership with Quinte Financial Technologies.
The Vermont-based financial institution will deploy Quinte’s ServiceDESK solution to enhance its operational risk and case management capabilities.
Founded in 2019, Quinte Financial Technologies made its Finovate debut at FinovateSpring 2025 in San Diego.
A new partnership with Quinte Financial Technologies will enable Vermont-based Heritage Family Credit Union (HFCU) to boost its policy-driven oversight and reinforce operational consistency throughout the credit union. The community financial institution has selected Quinte’s ServiceDESK model, which combines review and refinement with structured workflows designed to integrate with HFCU’s current systems and operational environment.
“As our operations continue to grow and evolve, it is critical that our risk oversight processes remain structured, consistent, and well-coordinated,” HFCU EVP and Chief Financial Officer Christine Messer said. “Quinte’s model strengthens our operational framework while giving our teams the clarity and support needed to manage risk effectively. By streamlining workflows and improving coordination across our case management activities, we are ensuring our processes remain aligned with how we intend to operate, strengthening our ability to protect our members and maintain their trust.”
Quinte’s ServiceDESK provides experienced operations teams, policy expertise, and structured workflows designed to orchestrate and streamline credit union operations. ServiceDESK helps community financial institutions like HFCU bridge the gap between policy design on the one hand, and day-to-day execution on the other. This ensures that governance, risk, and compliance frameworks are consistently implemented and able to scale. ServiceDESK integrates seamlessly with Quinte’s flagship CaseHUB platform, an intelligent dispute and fraud case management solution that helps financial institutions manage regulated case activity within a single policy-controlled system, embedding regulatory timelines, compliance controls, and workflow automation directly into operational execution.
“HFCU’s approach to risk oversight reflects its commitment to strong operational controls and disciplined decision making,” Quinte President Sriram Natarajan said. “Implementing structured case management workflows enables the credit union to improve oversight across case activities and evolve with regulatory expectations.”
Based in Vermont and serving members in New Hampshire, New York, and Massachusetts, HFCU is a member-owned, member-first, not-for-profit cooperative. With more than 54,000 members, HFCU offers a range of comprehensive financial services such as personal and business accounts, loans, and credit cards, as well as investment services through Heritage Way Financial Services. Established in 1956, HFCU has total assets of more than $832 million.
Founded in 2019, Quinte Financial Technologies made its Finovate debut at FinovateSpring 2025 in San Diego. At the conference, the New York-based fintech demonstrated its Advanced Dispute Manager (ADM) solution that automates dispute management across ACH, POS, ATM, checks, wire transfers, and Zelle. ADM provides full Reg E compliance courtesy of seamless case documentation and communications, reducing risk, controlling losses, and supporting regulatory adherence.
Quinte’s partnership news comes just a few weeks after the company announced the launch of its compliance controls platform, QiDesk. Featuring AI automation and built-in compliance controls, QiDesk embeds intelligent automation leveraging large language models directly into workflows that demand strong governance and oversight. Enabling financial institutions to deliver faster, more consistent responses across email, chat, and voice while also facilitating easier customer document management, QiDesk is designed to enhance compliant customer support and ease document discovery for financial institutions.
“QiDesk represents the next phase of our platform strategy,” Quinte SVP of Strategic Growth Ankit Maharaj Singh said. “CaseHUB created a strong foundation for governed case management. With QiDesk, we are extending that foundation to help institutions coordinate execution across systems and channels, so they can move faster while maintaining the control and auditability required in regulated environments.”
Utah-based payments and collections platform BlytzPay announced an “evolution” of its platform and the launch of Blytz, which connects payments, customer engagement, and automation in a single layer.
Blytz consists of three components: BlytzPay, a text-first billpay solution; BlytzCollect, which uses text-based payment links to enhance outreach; and BlytzCash, which facilitates in-person cash payments via a network of 88,000+ retailers around the US.
Founded in 2017, BlytzPay won Best of Show in its Finovate debut at FinovateSpring 2019 and again later that year at FinovateFall 2019 in New York. Robyn Burkinshaw is Founder and CEO.
BlytzPay, which won Best of Show in its Finovate debut at FinovateSpring 2019 and again later that year at FinovateFall, has announced an “evolution” of its platform and the launch of Blytz. Blytz represents a new iteration of the company’s intelligent payments and collections platform that connects payments, AI-powered customer engagement, and automation into a single operational layer.
The announcement reflects the company’s growth from a modern automotive payments solution into a comprehensive platform that supports automobile financing, property management, and consumer finance. BlytzPay helps companies enhance the way they communicate with customers, collect payments, and manage revenue operations.
“We didn’t just build a payments product; we built what actually happens around a payment,” Blytz CEO and Founder Robyn Burkinshaw said. “Conversations. Follow-ups. Real outcomes. The industry keeps pretending payments are just transactions, but they’re not. Blytz is payments and collections in one motion, which is the way it should have been all along.”
The Blytz platform includes three elements—BlytzPay, BlytzCollect, and BlytzCash—that connect payments, engagement, and automation into a single operational layer. BlytzPay supports modern, text-first, Bankless Bill Pay payment experiences to make it easier for customers to pay and for businesses to collect. BlytzCollect enables finance teams to leverage AI-driven voice and BlytzPay’s instant, text payment links to automate outreach and improve recency via on-time payments. BlytzCash delivers payment accessibility that allows customers to pay with cash in-person at any one of BlytzPay’s national network of more than 88,000 retailers. The platform helps turn data into automated conversations, frictionless payments, and real-time visibility resulting in faster payments, lighter workloads, and stronger customer engagement.
“Most payment providers are focused on processing transactions as cheaply as possible,” Burkinshaw said. “But businesses don’t just need transactions; they need better outcomes, because getting paid isn’t just about moving money—it’s about how you engage the customer before, during, and after the payment.”
The company noted that Blytz will be introduced across its website, product interfaces, and marketing materials over the next few weeks. Existing customers will be able to continue using the same products and services they are currently using within the broader Blytz platform and ecosystem.
Founded in 2017 and headquartered in Lehi, Utah, BlytzPay made its Finovate debut at FinovateSpring 2019 where it won Best of Show. The company returned to the Finovate stage later that same year for FinovateFall in New York, where BlytzPay again took home Best of Show honors. An innovator in the field of pay-by-text, the company offers a payments and collections management platform that boosts collections efficiency by up to 50% in as little as three months. BlytzPay boasts a 53% chargeback dispute win rate and notes that collection teams working for BlytzPay’s automobile dealership partners have reported time savings of 30%.
This week’s edition of Finovate Global reviews recent fintech news and headlines from Thailand.
DV8 Public Company to Acquire Rakkar Digital
Pending regulatory approvals, DV8 Public Company has announced plans to acquire Rakkar Digital, a digital asset custody provider, and invest up to $3 million (THB100 million) in the firm. DV8 has inked a share sale and purchase agreement to buy Rakkar’s ordinary shares from its existing shareholders. The transaction marks DV8’s latest entry into regulated digital asset operations. The company invested in Korean digital asset treasury platform Bitplanet in 2025.
Rakkar Digital was established in 2022 as a joint project between SCBX, the parent company of Siam Commercial Bank, and Fireblocks, a global digital asset infrastructure provider. Headquartered in Singapore, Rakkar Digital provides institutional-grade digital asset and cryptocurrency custodian services and has more than $700 million in assets under custody. In a statement, DV8 noted that Rakkar Digital’s regulatory standing, operational framework, and trust among institutional customers made the company a wise acquisition and will help DV8 compete in Asia’s rapidly growing digital asset ecosystem.
Founded in 1978, DV8 Public Company is a media and advertising agency based in Bangkok, Thailand. Formerly known as Demeter Corporation Public Company Limited, the company rebranded in 2020 and is currently transforming itself into a builder of regulated digital asset infrastructure. DV8 announced this pivot last summer, appointing Thai business leader Chatchaval Jiaravanon as its new Chairman and raising approximately $7.4 million (THB 241 million) in funding.
Mastercard and Krungthai Complete Agentic Transaction in Thailand
Mastercard announced that it has completed a pilot project in Thailand to deliver its first authenticated agentic transaction in partnership with Krungthai Card Public Company Limited (KTC). The project featured Mastercard Agent Pay and was initiated by AI agents in a secure, transparent pilot environment with full consumer control. The transaction used tokenized credentials, authenticated by Mastercard Payment Passkeys, to provide customer verification and data protection.
“AI-driven innovation in payments marks a significant step forward for the financial industry,” Krungthai Card President and CEO Pittaya Vorapanyasakul said. “Our collaboration with Mastercard reflects our strategic commitment to integrating agentic commerce into KTC’s ecosystem—enabling smarter, more secure, and intuitive experiences for consumers. This milestone reinforces our role in advancing payment innovation in Thailand.”
The pilot project demonstrated how AI can complete everyday tasks for consumers safely and efficiently. In this instance, an AI agent booked transportation from Suvarnabhumi airport to Central Chidlom via global mobility provider Elife. Both the booking and the agentic transaction were facilitated by the AI agent, which was connected to Elife’s services network.
Thailand is the latest country where Mastercard has tested its innovations in agentic commerce. So far in 2026, the company has completed authenticated agentic transactions in Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Malaysia, India, South Korea, Taiwan, and Hong Kong.
“Thailand continues to be one of the region’s most attractive travel destinations, and its dynamic travel environment provides an ideal, real-world testbed for agentic commerce,” Mastercard Country Manager for Thailand and Myanmar Winnie Wong said. “Through this collaboration with Krungthai Card (KTC), Mastercard’s first partner in Thailand to test agentic AI transactions, consumer-authorized AI agents can help make travel experiences more seamless, while embedding trust, authentication, and security directly into payments.”
KTC is a major Thai financial services provider that specializes in credit cards, personal loans, and other payment services. Founded in 1996, the company is headquartered in Bangkok.
Wise Secures Licenses for Wallet and Card Services in Thailand
International money transfer innovator Wise (formerly TransferWise) has obtained five licenses that will enable the firm to offer banking and financial services in Thailand. The UK-based company is the first non-bank to secure five licenses in the country: an electronic money service license, an electronic fund transfer license, an authorized money transfer agent license, an authorized electronic money business operator license (also known as an FX e-Money License), and a foreign business license.
These licenses reflect the relatively complex nature of Thailand as a market for international payments. However, the effort is likely to prove worthwhile. Thailand one of the most internationally connected economies in Southeast Asia, and the APAC region is an especially important one for Wise, accounting for 20% of the fintech’s global revenue.
“Thailand’s cross-border payments market has long been dominated by traditional banks, and Wise is bringing a faster, more transparent alternative,” Wise Head of Banking and Expansion for APAC SK Saraogi said. “With these licenses, customers will soon be able to manage money seamlessly whether they are sending it abroad or using it locally. Beyond Thailand, we see strong demand for our products across APAC and will continue to increase our regulatory footprint to bring our products to even more customers.”
A Finovate alum since 2013, Wise is an international fintech specializing in global money movement and management. Launched in 2011 as “TransferWise” by Kristo Käärmann and Taavet Hinrikus and headquartered in the UK, Wise supported more than 15 million individuals and businesses with its fund transfer services in fiscal 2025. The company processes £9 billion in cross-border transactions every month, saving customers around £1.5 billion a year.
Here is our look at fintech innovation around the world.
Asia-Pacific
Mastercardcompleted a pilot project that delivered the first authenticated agentic transaction in Thailand with Krungthai Card Public Company Limited.
Australian Payments Plus agreed to sell its payments app Beem to Bolt Group.
StraitsX and KBank established real-time payments between Singapore and Thailand.
Sub-Saharan Africa
African fintech Moniepoint acquired Sumac Microfinance Bank, accelerating its entry into the Kenyan market.
Paytech Flutterwave announced plans to establish a regional hub in Anambra, in the southeast part of Nigeria, to help target small businesses.
The Fintech Times reviewed Ghana’s fintech ecosystem.
Payment orchestration platform MoneyHash inked a new partnership with Bahrain-based Eazy Financial Services.
The Times of Israel looked at the current state of fintech investment in Israel.
Central and Southern Asia
Indian lending platform KreditBee achieved a valuation of $1.5 billion after raising $280 million in new funding.
A merger between CityPay and Chhito Paisa is expected to bolster Nepal’s fintech sector.
Glaas, an India-based embedded credit infrastructure company, raised $5 million in funding from Devesh Sachdev, who joined the company as co-founder and managing director.
Latin America and the Caribbean
Stablecoin issuer and infrastructure company Balboa Corporation launched in Panama.
Data and technology company Experian launched its Experian Express solution this week.
Experian Express is a self-service platform that will enable smaller lenders such as credit unions and community banks to credential, onboard, and access credit reports through a fully online, fully digital process.
Experian made its Finovate debut at FinovateSpring 2011. The company’s North American headquarters is in Costa Mesa, California.
International data and technology company Experian introduced its Experian Express solution this week. The new offering is a self-service platform that enables credit unions, community banks, and smaller lenders to digitally credential, onboard, and pull credit reports quickly and efficiently via a 100% online process. Experian Express provides data on more than 245 million credit-active consumers, ensures 99.9% data freshness in North America, and offers understandable, human-readable reports.
Writing about the new offering on the Experian blog, Nathalie Stecko, Marketing Program Manager for the company’s commercial solutions, highlighted the challenges faced by smaller lenders when it comes to securing reliable credit-reporting solutions. “Many available options frequently require technical integration, such as full Application Programming Interface (API) implementation or enterprise-level approvals, creating barriers that small lenders cannot easily overcome,” Stecko explained. “Minimum volume requirements further intensify the challenge, forcing smaller creditors to pay disproportionately high costs for the limited number of reports they need.”
Experian Express serves US lenders with lower-volume credit report access needs. The platform streamlines access to high-quality credit data, providing smaller lenders with real-time credentialing through a guided, online application process. Clients can choose between two subscription plans tailored for common credit workflows: the Essentials plan, suited for manual credit review, compliance checks, and basic fraud risk mitigation; and the Pro plan, which includes all Essentials features plus enhanced identity verification during the account opening process. Experian Express uses VantageScore 4.0, blending trended credit data with machine learning. This provides a more dynamic view of consumer credit behavior over the most recent 24 months. Clients can also enhance risk mitigation with built-in fraud prevention solutions such as Experian’s Fraud Shield or PreciseID.
“Small lenders play a vital role in expanding consumer access to credit,” Experian Chief Product and Analytics Officer Molly Poppie said. “Driven by our commitment to financial inclusion, Experian Express brings digital onboarding to a traditionally manual process, giving lenders a faster, more efficient way to obtain the credit insights they need to confidently extend credit and support consumers across the communities they serve.”
With North American headquarters in Costa Mesa, California, and a corporate headquarters in Dublin, Ireland, Experian leverages data, analytics, and software to help redefine lending practices, fight fraud, and promote financial wellness. The company operates in markets such as financial services, insurance, agrifinance, healthcare, and more. Listed on the London Stock Exchange under the ticker EXPN, Experian has 22,500 employees across 32 countries.
Bringing more personalized financial products and services to consumers is one of the great promises of enabling technologies like AI. It is also increasingly recognized as one of the best ways for banks, credit unions, and other financial services providers to differentiate their offerings from rivals—including those from Big Tech and Big Retail.
At FinovateEurope 2026 earlier this year, I spoke with Gregor Bierent, CEO of NF Innova, about how the company helps traditional banks embrace digital transformation through their innovative platform, FinTense. In our conversation, Bierent discussed the power of FinTense’s digital banking score, the importance of micro-personalization, and how AI-driven solutions can enhance customer experience and boost banking efficiency.
“We see that there is more and more drive and demand for banking to become more unique (and personalized). No matter which bank you’re working with, banking for private individuals or for the small and microenterprises, what we see is that user experience needs to be individual … Your banking needs are different from mine. You like different colors. You have different ways of finding something, of clicking and navigating. This is where personalization—or micropersonalization—kicks in.”
Gregor Bierent is a veteran C-level executive with a track record of growing and improving business in the international information technology and services industry. With a background in consulting, digital strategy, and enterprise software, Bierent has a demonstrated history in providing strong leadership and driving both revenue and profitability. He joined NF Innova as CEO in 2021.
NF Innova, a Noventiq company, helps banks achieve their digital transformation objectives. The firm’s FinTense digital banking platform enables incumbent banks to enhance customer engagement across all digital touchpoints, automate customer-facing processes, and adopt other innovations to better compete with fintechs and challenger banks. The company recently demonstrated its technology at FinovateEurope 2024, presenting its personalized banking experience module. Founded in 2015, NF Innova is headquartered in Belgrade, Serbia.
