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Finovate Blog
Tracking fintech, banking & financial services innovations since 1994
Welcome to the working week! As October draws to a close, fintechs are raising capital, launching new offerings in agentic commerce and digital assets, and partnering with credit unions to help them modernize their operations. Be sure to check back here at Finovate’s Fintech Rundown all week long for the latest updates and announcements.
This week’s edition of Finovate Global features recent fintech news from Denmark, Norway, and Sweden.
Norwegian open finance innovator Neonomics raises $4 million in new funding
Open finance platform Neonomics has received an investment of $4 million. The funding comes from the Norwegian firm’s existing shareholders and follows a strategic transformation that reduced its operating cost base by nearly 50% while maintaining high service quality and existing customer base.
“We have fundamentally strengthened Neonomics, creating a more focused and efficient business with a clear direction for growth,” Neonomics CEO Alfonso Muñoz said. “The combination of a significantly improved cost structure, growing customer demand and continued shareholder support puts us in a strong position to execute on our strategy.”
Founded in 2017 and headquartered in Oslo, Neonomics offers a full-stack open finance platform. Via a single secure API, the company unifies Pay by Bank payments, enriched account data, and AI-ready financial intelligence and connects businesses to more than 3,500 banks across 30 European markets. In a statement, the company added that they are working to move further up the value chain in financial data by helping firms structure, enrich, and interpret that data to build better, more personalized products and experiences for customers.
“Providing access to financial data is only the starting point,” Muñoz said. “The real value lies in turning that data into intelligence that improves financial products, workflows, and decisions. We see significant potential here alongside the continued growth of our payments business.”
AI-native personal finance platform Matters emerges from stealth
Swedish AI-native personal finance platform Matters has emerged from stealth with $5 million in pre-seed funding. The company, led by Per Österström, founder of consumer loan broker Sambla Group, secured the investment from Jakob Johansson, a Swedish angel investor, along with former Klarna COO Knut Frängsmyr and other angel investors.
Matters will use the capital to apply for licenses, expand across the EU, and add talent to its team. The company is also considering strategic acquisitions. Matters also announced that it has brought in Lars-Åke Norling—former CEO of savings and investment platform Nordnet—as chair of its board.
“Banks earn more when consumers manage their money worse,” Österström said. “At Matters, we’re purposely traveling in the opposite direction. Our goal is to build a bank that actively makes financial wellbeing available to anyone, not just those who already enjoy it.”
For a flat monthly fee, Matters offers neobank services along with an AI advisor to help users increase savings through more conscious spending. “One that helps you spend less on lunch out, finds subscriptions you forgot you had, gets rid of late fees, and books the cheapest possible deal on your summer trip to Spain, among other things,” Österström added in a post on the company’s LinkedIn page. “We believe everyone should be able to afford their own private banker, in their pocket, who cares about the same goals you do.”
Founded in April 2026, Matters is headquartered in Stockholm.
Danish VC firm Seed Capital closes fifth fund with focus on fintech
Seed Capital, a venture capital fund based in Copenhagen, has closed its fifth fund at €130 million. The fund will target 15-17 startups from seed through Series A throughout the Nordics with initial investments of between €3 million and €6 million. The fund will continue to emphasize investments in fintech and AI-powered B2B technologies while adding cybersecurity and resilience as new areas of investment.
Founded in 2004, Seed Capital has historically invested solely in Danish startups. But with its fifth fund, the firm plans to expand beyond Denmark, with Sweden a strategic priority. Seed Capital is among Denmark’s largest funds specializing in seed-stage technology companies. The fund’s portfolio has included companies such as Trustpilot, Lunar, and Flatpay. The fund has already begun deploying that €130 million in capital with investments in Fortiv, Moxso, Repodo, and Oplane.
“Broadening into the Nordics is a natural extension of the fund model we’ve built over 20 years, combined with bringing our track record and operational experience in fintech, cybersecurity, and resilience to founders across the region,” Seed Capital Managing Partner Christian Brøndum said. “Staying close to founders is central to how we work and with the Nordics. Here we can be on the ground in under an hour and be there for the founders we partner with.”
“There are right now great opportunities at the intersection of security and AI,” Seed Capital General Partner Geeta Schmidt added. “As companies are building faster with AI, secure software becomes essential and these shifts and solutions we’re seeing are the ones we want to invest in, in Sweden and across the Nordics.”
Here is our look at fintech innovation around the world.
Middle East and Northern Africa
Egyptian fintech MNT Halan concluded the retail portion of IPO with official trading on the Egyptian Exchange slated to begin next week.
Ethiopia joined the Pan-African Payment and Settlement System network.
The central banks of UAE and Georgia inked a Memorandum of Understanding to support cross-border payments and fintech innovation.
Central and Southern Asia
Pakistan-based Islamic bank Meezan Bank completed migration of its payments business to BPC’s SmartVista platform.
Nepal-based software firm InfoDevelopers launched its customer onboarding and identify verification solution VeriXa.
Latin America and the Caribbean
Brazilian fintech NG.CASH raised $15 million in funding to expand credit access.
Peruvian electronic money issuer Ligo announced an expansion into six Latin American markets: Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia, Brazil, Mexico, and Ecuador.
Colombian fintech Fronte secured an undisclosed pre-seed round led by Rally Cap VC and Bankless Ventures.
Asia-Pacific
Visasecured approval from the People’s Bank of China to establish a domestic bank card clearing business in the country.
Japanese banks completed a stablecoin proof-of-concept.
Regulators in New Zealand outlined expectations on cyber risks associated with frontier AI.
Sub-Saharan Africa
South African fintech startup Kuunda completed a $5 million secondary share transaction led by E4E Africa.
MoneyHash partnered with South Africa-based fintech Ozow to expand access to online payment options for merchants.
Uruguay-based payments platform dLocal partnered with Western Union to expand remittance services to Africa.
Central and Eastern Europe
Payments Industry Intelligence showcased Latvia’s efforts to become a major EU fintech hub.
Slovakia’s QR-based loyalty platform BonusQR unveiled a redesigned customer app and dashboard, along with expanded coupon management.
Revolutlaunched its mobile phone plan, Revolut Mobile, in Germany.
At a time when more and more banks and financial institutions are integrating AI-powered solutions into their systems and processes, what separates successful deployments of AI technology from failed, expensive, or incomplete ones?
At FinovateFall 2026, I sat down with Mark Susser, GTM Lead for Financial Services at ElevenLabs. In our conversation, Susser explained what separates successful AI deployments from those that stall, how companies can identify the right use cases for a given AI solution, and why modularity and meeting customers where they are are key.
“The ones that stall out typically make one of two main mistakes: One is that they have too much of a broad platform initiative. Nothing specific to prove, no use case that has been picked out, and they’re more focused on what the technology could do versus what the actual business needs. Another area that we see some faltering in is that they don’t bring in their compliance partners from day one. What we find is that when compliance partners are brought in on day one, they’re actually architecting the foundational elements that will make sure that it’s successful and it’ll get approved once it goes into production.”
Mark Susser is GTM Lead for Financial Services at ElevenLabs. ElevenLabs is an AI company that enables businesses to deliver seamless and intelligent customer experiences, with the integrations, testing, monitoring, and reliability necessary to deploy voice and chat agents at scale. The company builds voice and audio models and delivers them in a platform that can power every interaction across a company: from AI agents for sales, support, and business operations, to creative tools for marketing and media. Founded in 2022, ElevenLabs is headquartered in London.
Financial operations platform for spend and expense management Extend has introduced its AI Receipt Agent.
The Receipt Agent automates the routine work of matching receipts with card transactions, while keeping finance teams in control of every decision.
Headquartered in New York, Extend made its Finovate debut at FinovateSpring 2019. The company powers billions in transaction volume and has more than 10,000 business customers.
Spend and expense management platform Extendunveiled its AI Receipt Agent this week. The new offering for the firm’s bank partners automates the work of matching receipts to card transactions while keeping finance teams in control of every decision. As part of Extend’s effort to make trusted AI tools accessible to its small and mid-market business clients, the AI Receipt Agent was developed in conversation with finance teams and is designed to earn trust via useful, understandable automation.
“Every business owner we talk to wants AI to take the tedious work off their plate, and every one of them also wants to know exactly what it’s doing with their data,” Extend CEO and Co-Founder Andrew Jamison said. “We don’t think those two things are in conflict. As a small business ourselves, we want the same thing: tools that make the busywork disappear without creating new risk. That’s why we are building all of our AI agents to handle the routine work well and to show their work at every step. We help banks deliver AI their customers will actually trust, so no one has to trade control for convenience.”
To this end, the Receipt Agent handles the searching and matching while finance teams remain in charge of reviews and approvals. The agent automatically searches for and retrieves receipts from employees’ Gmail or Outlook accounts, using the same security and access controls that already protect their spend data. All matches are explainable so that finance teams can see what the agent matched and why, and then correct matches when needed.
The pilot includes small, mid-market, and enterprise businesses alike, and Extend anticipates expanding availability through the rest of the year. The company will continue working directly with its bank partners to responsibly introduce AI capabilities into their business banking offerings, initially focusing on areas where automation is most effective and easiest to verify.
“In finance, trust is earned with the boring stuff first,” Jamison said. “The technology to automate far more of this work already exists. What’s harder is earning the right to be trusted with it. We would rather show our work and go slower than move fast and lose that trust, and we think that’s exactly the approach banks need as they bring AI to their business customers.”
New York-based Extend made its Finovate debut at FinovateSpring 2019. Today, thousands of firms use Extend to create and manage virtual cards, streamline payment workflows, and secure real-time visibility into team and vendor spend. The company powers billions of dollars in transactions and has more than 10,000 business customers.
Payment orchestration platform PayQuicker launched its next-generation API platform, API v2, this week.
The new solution will give PayQuicker clients access to a range of new capabilities, including real-time webhooks, high-volume batch processing, payment retractions, and expanded visibility.
Founded in 2007, PayQuicker made its Finovate debut at FinovateFall 2022. The company is headquartered in Rochester, New York.
PayQuickerunveiled its next-generation API platform, API v2, this week. The new offering gives PayQuicker clients access to advanced capabilities such as real-time webhooks, high-volume batch processing, payment retractions, and expanded visibility into fund activity.
The capabilities of API v2 include signed notifications for payee registrations, payment status changes, account receipts, and batch job progress. The new offering also enables users to submit up to 5,000 payments or invitations per job, with payments schedulable up to 30 days ahead. API v2 also supports payment retractions to enable users to recover the remaining balance of a payment that was sent erroneously directly through the API. Finally, the new API enhances funds visibility, allowing users to access funding balances and transaction activity through the API.
“API v2 gives customers more ways to automate payout workflows, manage payments at scale, and gain real-time visibility into funds activity,” PayQuicker CTO James Legan said. “From processing thousands of payments in a single job to responding to payout activity as it happens, these capabilities give program administrators greater efficiency, flexibility, and control over their payout operations.”
The new API enables PayQuicker customers to react to events as they occur rather than having to repeatedly check for updates. It also supports high-volume batch processing of payments and invitations and provides greater visibility into funds activity. The new API will not impact existing integrations, which remain fully supported to ensure that customers can upgrade on their own timelines.
PayQuicker’s API launch news follows its August announcement that the firm has secured a strategic investment from Clearhaven Partners. The amount of the investment was not disclosed, but the company said that the funds will help it expand its payment network internationally and scale its commercial capabilities. PayQuicker’s President and CEO, along with members of the company’s leadership team, invested alongside Clearhaven.
“As our customers have grown and their payout needs have become more complex, we have continued to expand the reach, flexibility, and capabilities of our platform,” PayQuicker President and CEO Paul Beldham said. “Clearhaven brings deep software and technology expertise, a shared commitment to our customers, and resources to help us accelerate the next phase of PayQuicker’s growth.”
Headquartered in Rochester, New York, PayQuicker made its Finovate debut at FinovateFall 2022. At the conference, the company showed how its Payouts OS platform intelligently determines the quickest and most cost-effective way for customers to send payouts to businesses and consumers around the world, facilitating payments across more than 200 countries in more than 40 currencies.
Ocrolus, a vertical AI workflow and analytics platform for lenders, has announced that its document fraud detection solution, Ocrolus Detect, will now be included at no additional cost for all its mortgage customers. Ocrolus Detect reviews bank statements, pay stubs, and tax forms for tampering. Underwriters see the results of the review in the Ocrolus platform or the Encompass embedded viewer where they already review the file.
Ocrolus has leveraged its integration with Resistant AI to enable Detect to spot documents that are created or edited by generative AI. Unfortunately, Generative AI makes it easy and inexpensive to produce false financial documents across different types of lending. Ocrolus has determined that 12% of loan applications processed via its platform contain suspicious activity. Detect determines both what a document says and how it was created, and gives each document an authenticity score with reason codes to indicate to the underwriter where the issue was located and why it was flagged.
This latter point is key. Detect identifies specific issues in flagged documents and gives lenders an explainable result. This can help lenders meet new AI governance requirements from Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae that went into effect earlier this year. To this end, Ocrolus has also integrated with Fannie Mae’s Income Calculator and Freddie Mac’s AIM Check, and maintains a formal AI governance program with controls mapped to both frameworks. The controls are audited every year by independent third parties and through application security testing.
Lenders using Detect have already reported positive results. JMAC Lending, a wholesale lender based in Costa Mesa, California, analyzes every file in its Encompass pipeline with Detect. In doing so, JMAC prevented nearly $2 million in fraudulent loan volume in the first months of use. The lender reported that in one instance, Detect uncovered a bank statement showing a $300,000 deposit in an account that held only $1,200.
“The conversation with lenders has moved from ‘Can AI do this?’ to ‘Can I trust it enough to put it into production?'” Ocrolus General Manager of Mortgage Nadia Aziz said. “Fraudulent bank statements and income documents can now be created in minutes and are becoming harder to distinguish from the real thing. Fraud screening should be built in, not an added expense for lenders. Detect shows underwriters exactly why a document was flagged, and the underwriter makes the call.”
Founded in 2014 and headquartered in New York, Ocrolus won Best of Show in its FinovateFall appearance in 2021 and most recently demoed its technology on the Finovate stage at FinovateFall 2023. At the conference, the company showed how its AI-driven document automation platform optimizes credit decisions in small business, mortgage, and consumer lending, enabling firms to automate financial analysis and help borrowers access the financing they need faster and on the best possible terms. Ocrolus’ platform analyzes 750,000 credit applications a month, and its technology powers digital lending experiences for more than 500 customers, including SoFi, PayPal, Square, and Zillow. Sam Bobley is co-founder and CEO.
Stablecoins have emerged as one of the most interesting developments in the DeFi industry, with the potential to reshape payments more broadly. Stablecoins are cryptocurrencies pegged to a reserve asset, typically a fiat currency such as the US dollar, and are designed to combine the technological advantage of digital currencies with the relative price stability of traditional money. They have become increasingly attractive because they can facilitate fast, low-cost transactions—especially across borders—and help bridge the gap between decentralized finance and traditional finance.
What are the opportunities for banks and other financial institutions when it comes to embracing stablecoins and, importantly, what are the risks? Are stablecoins just the latest fad from the cryptocurrency world (remember NFTs?) or, as with AI, could they offer financial institutions more efficient ways to serve a wider range of customers and members?
To discuss this and other issues surrounding stablecoins and digital assets, we spoke with Nick Elledge, Co-founder and Chief Operating Officer for Stablecore. Headquartered in Dallas, Texas, and founded in 2025, Stablecore offers a platform that enables community and regional banks, as well as credit unions, to deliver instant payments, stablecoins, tokenized deposits, and digital asset solutions from within their own current banking environment. The company won the “Excellence in Stablecoins, Tokenized Deposits, and Tokenized Assets” category of the 2026 Finovate Awards.
Congratulations on winning the “Excellence in Stablecoins, Tokenized Deposits, and Tokenized Assets” category of the 2026 Finovate Awards. What does this recognition mean for Stablecore and what do you think ultimately set Stablecore apart?
Nick Elledge: This recognition validates something we have believed from the start: money movement across the U.S. banking system will require infrastructure for stablecoins and tokenization.
Our team deliberately built a platform only for regulated American banks and credit unions. It means a great deal to see our team’s work recognized by Finovate. Many thanks to the Finovate team and the panel of judges.
What sets us apart is that we only focus on banks and credit unions. You cannot waltz in off the street and do that—it takes deliberate focus to serve the technology, compliance, and risk needs of the banking market.That focus is what has led to our success. This is a unique and robust platform in the banking market.
Tell us about the problem you set out to solve. What was missing from the market, and how did that shape your approach?
Elledge: Despite the interest in stablecoins and tokenized deposits, most institutions had no credible, compliant way to offer any of it because their existing tech stacks did not support digital assets. That reality shaped our approach at Stablecore.
We treated compliance as a first-class feature: a policy engine that controls which stablecoins, transaction types, limits and customer segments are enabled; blockchain screening through Chainalysis, TRM Labs and Notabene; and transaction data feeding Nasdaq Verafin and LexisNexis so digital assets flow through the AML and BSA workflows a financial institution already runs.
We also give clients pre-built model risk assessments and disclosure templates built for examiners. Essentially, we addressed integration and implementation the way a bank would, so onboarding to Stablecore would be as turnkey as possible.
What have you learned from bringing your offering to market? Are there particular results, customer outcomes, or milestones that demonstrate its impact?
Elledge: The biggest lesson is that institutions want stablecoins to feel like banking, not like crypto. Customers (retail and commercial) should be able to hold stablecoins as native account balances, send money globally in seconds, and move between fiat and digital assets without friction. This leads to stronger relationships between banks and their customers.
We also confirmed our belief in the power of network effects. Joining the Jack Henry Fintech Integration Network and announcing our partnership with Q2 Innovation Studio put these capabilities in front of thousands of institutions through platforms they already use. More recently, Velera and Nasdaq Verafin—a huge name in anti-financial crime management—announced us as key technology partners. Plus, we have the endorsement of six state banking associations. This evolving network has opened up so many important conversations between bankers and Stablecore.
For our clients, the outcomes are non-interest income from transaction fees, deposit retention from customers who might otherwise flock to crypto and fintech apps, and new deposits from customers bringing stablecoin holdings back into the banking system.
Additionally, we have heard directly from our clients that Stablecore can be a bridge to creating and maintaining relationships with a new generation of digital natives who expect to hold and move money on-chain—the importance of this cannot be overstated.
Looking at the broader stablecoin, tokenized deposit, tokenized asset landscape, what is changing most significantly right now, and how is that influencing your strategy?
Elledge: The conversation inside banks has shifted from “whether” to “how.” As the regulatory framework matures, boards and examiners are asking practical questions about compliance, custody and risk, which is where our work starts. At the same time, individuals and businesses are already using stablecoins through crypto platforms, so institutions that wait risk losing deposits and relationships.
We are also seeing stablecoins, tokenized deposits and instant payment rails converge. Institutions will not want a separate system for each. Instead, they will require a level of smart, agentic payment routing that optimizes for speed, cost, and context. That’s what we’re building inside of Stablecore—a way to manage multiple rails (including FedNow and RTP) from one centralized, compliant interface. We’ve also designed our architecture for broader tokenized assets such as securities, loans and treasuries. Our strategy is to be the single infrastructure layer that lets a bank or credit union add the next rail or asset class without rebuilding.
What’s next for Stablecore? What should we expect to see from you over the next 12 to 18 months?
Elledge: We expect that more clients will turn on tokenized deposits via Stablecore. Deposits are critical for relationships in banking and this is the next evolution. Additionally, Stablecore will deliver a better, smarter payments manager. We can and will empower banks and credit unions to manage stablecoins side by side with instant payments like FedNow and RTP , with one policy engine and one compliance view. This will be a huge win for our clients.
Lastly, look for more announcements on the expansion of our alliance network across the banking tech stack and more endorsements and preferred vendor relationships. Our focus will remain consistent. We’re building for U.S. banks and credit unions and ready to help them embrace the digital assets era.
A partnership between BMO Financial Group and financial education platform Zogo will help boost financial literacy among young adults in Canada.
The partnership targets young adults between the ages of 18 and 24 and provides practical lessons and quizzes to help users build financial knowledge that will have real-world applications in their lives.
Founded in 2018 and headquartered in Austin, Texas, Zogo won Best of Show in its Finovate debut at FinovateFall 2019.
BMO Financial Group announced this week the launch of Zogo in Canada. The new offering brings Zogo’s interactive, gamified financial literacy experience to eligible students throughout Canada. Designed for young adults aged 18 to 24, the partnership will help them develop their financial knowledge in order to make informed financial decisions throughout their lives.
Zogo features practical lessons and quizzes to help users learn about budgeting, saving, credit, and money management. Through the Zogo mobile app, BMO clients can complete financial lessons, earn points, and redeem rewards while building practical skills they can apply to their everyday lives.
“Bringing this experience to Canada alongside BMO makes this partnership especially meaningful for us,” Zogo President Ben Brooks said. “BMO’s commitment to helping the next generation make financial progress is evident in the care its team has put into this launch. Together, we’re making financial education more accessible, engaging and rewarding for Canadian students, with practical skills they can carry well beyond the classroom.”
BMO’s partnership with Zogo is part of the banking group’s drive to make financial literacy more accessible. BMO recently announced a strategic partnership with MoneyPrep, which provides teachers with free access to financial literacy lessons and tools designed for elementary school-aged children. The first financial institution to bring Zogo to Canada, BMO sees the partnership as an extension of its support for financial literacy across all stages of learning, from the classroom through adulthood.
“Building financial knowledge and confidence early can help establish the foundation for lifelong financial well-being and real financial progress,” said Sumit Sarkar, Head of Everyday Banking Products for BMO. “With Zogo, BMO is making financial education more engaging, accessible, and relevant for young Canadians, empowering them to navigate important financial decisions at every stage of life.”
The eighth-largest bank in North America by assets, BMO Financial Group has total assets of $1.5 trillion as of July 2026. The firm offers a wide range of financial services, including personal and commercial banking, wealth management, and investment banking across Canada, the US, and select international markets. In addition to its partnership with Zogo and MoneyPrep, BMO offers tools and resources for financial education and wellness, including BMO SmartProgress, an online financial education platform; BMO My Financial Progress, a digital goal-planning platform; BMO Insights, a spend-monitoring solution; and BMO Credit Coach, a credit-health management platform.
Zogo won Best of Show in its Finovate debut at FinovateFall 2019 and returned to the Finovate stage two years later for FinovateFall 2021. Founded in 2018 and headquartered in Austin, Texas, Zogo also introduced its Zogo Shorts financial video series earlier this month, designed to make learning about finance fit into users’ everyday routines. The company also announced an integration with Alkami that brings its financial education resources directly into Alkami’s digital banking experience.
It’s a dual holiday today in the US, with Americans celebrating both Columbus Day and Indigenous Peoples’ Day to start the week. There’s no break in the fintech news flow, though, and Finovate’s Fintech Rundown has you covered. Be sure to check back all week long for the latest updates.
Fraud prevention
Document intelligence specialist Veryfiintroduces its Fraud Detection and Prevention Suite.
Identity document verification and bank card scanning solutions provider OCR Studio and payment infrastructure company FinOnteam up to enhance security across onboarding and online payments.
On-Demand Pay specialist DailyPayannounces $200 million asset-backed securitization of its On-Demand Pay receivables.
This week’s edition of Finovate Global showcases recent fintech news from South Korea.
Gwangju Bank and Toss announce stablecoin QR payment PoC
Korea’s Gwangju Bank announced that it had successfully completed proof of concept (PoC) for stablecoin-based QR code payments in partnership with Seoul-based superapp Toss. The PoC linked the Gwangju Bank mobile app, the Toss app, and Toss Place payment terminals. Selecting stablecoin payment in the bank app opens the QR scanner in the Toss app, where the user can scan the QR code displayed on the merchant’s payment terminal to verify the payment amount and complete the transaction.
The demonstrated flow was designed to transfer stablecoins from the customer’s wallet to the merchant’s wallet. The payment result could then be verified in the Gwangju Bank app, completing the app-to-app payment process. The PoC used a virtual merchant, and no actual customer data or assets were involved.
The two entities added that they plan to streamline the process by reducing the number of steps customers must take. The bank and fintech are also discussing a second phase of testing involving actual merchants in the Jeonnam and Gwangju regions.
“The PoC conducted with Toss is significant in that it established a technological foundation to proactively respond to the digital asset payment environment and verified the user experience from a customer perspective,” Gwangju Bank Vice President Byun Mi-Kyung said.
Gwangju Bank is a regional South Korean financial institution and a subsidiary of JB Financial Group. Founded in 1968, the bank reported total assets of approximately KRW 34.4 trillion ($54 billion) at year-end 2025. It operates branches in Gwangju, Jeonnam, Seoul, Incheon, and Seongnam.
Founded in 2015 as a money transfer service, Toss has grown into one of Korea’s leading superapps with 30 million users. Toss offers an ecosystem of more than 100 financial management and e-commerce services, along with more than 10,000 mini apps through its Apps in Toss platform, which runs within the Toss app.
Canton Foundation forges strategic partnership with LG CNS
In a bid to expand institutional adoption of the Canton Network in Korea, the Canton Foundation has announced a strategic partnership with Seoul-based IT services provider and systems integrator LG CNS. Together, the Canton Foundation and LG CNS will develop technical capabilities to support Canton implementation as help build a broader technical partner ecosystem.
“Korea is a critical market for institutional adoption of Canton in Asia,” Canton Foundation Head of APAC Thomas Chou said. “This partnership is about building the market together, combining Canton’s growing institutional ecosystem with LG CNS’s deep technology capabilities and relationships across the Korean financial sector. Together, we aim to help institutions move from identifying opportunities to implementation, while building the broader technical ecosystem needed to support adoption at scale.”
The Canton Network is a public, permissionless blockchain designed specifically for institutional finance, while individual applications can define their own permission requirements. Announced in 2023, the network’s mainnet went live in July 2024. It was designed to balance blockchain transparency with the confidentiality required by regulated financial institutions and markets. Canton operates as a modular blockchain ecosystem in which participating institutions maintain their own ledgers while connecting with others via a shared synchronization layer. Canton’s “network of network” architecture enables real-time secure synchronization and settlement, atomic transactions that ensure that complex exchanges involving multiple parties are completed in full or not at all, and privacy for sensitive financial information.
The partnership between the Canton Foundation and LG CNS will focus on three areas: institutional market development, technical enablement and implementation, and technical partner ecosystem growth. LG CNS has been a major player in Korea’s blockchain-based financial industry since 2015. Beginning with the issuance of blockchain-based electronic securities, the company has built the infrastructure for the issuance, distribution, settlement, and trading of digital assets such as CBDCs, tokenized deposits, security tokens, and stablecoins, as well as digital wallets and KYC systems for financial institutions. LG CNS has also built and operated core systems for major commercial banks, insurers, credit card companies, and securities firms for more than 30 years.
“Financial institutions are increasingly moving from exploring blockchain technology toward practical implementation,” said LG CNS EVP and Head of Digital Business Division Hongkeun Kim. “Through our partnership with Canton Foundation, we look forward to combining LG CNS’s technology and implementation capabilities with the Canton ecosystem to develop meaningful opportunities with institutions in Korea. We also look forward to contributing our experience to the development of a broader technical partner ecosystem that can support institutional adoption over the long term.”
The Canton Foundation is the advocacy and expansion arm of the Canton Network. The organization is dedicated to expanding the network’s reach and promoting broader institutional adoption.
Korea Fintech Industry Association announces new anti-hacking strategy
In response to a series of suspected, AI-assisted cyberattacks and data leaks that struck at least seven major South Korea financial institutions in recent weeks, the Korea Fintech Industry Association brought fintech firms and electronic payment providers together this week to discuss the importance of coordinated data-sharing and early risk checks to enhance their defense against cyberattacks.
Kim Jong-hyun, chairman of the association, said recent cyber incidents should not be viewed as problems affecting individual companies alone, but as threats to public confidence in financial services as a whole. His remarks underscored the need for coordinated information-sharing and greater cooperation with regulators to strengthen security. The chairman also emphasized the importance of building systems that will enable teams to identify risks early and respond proactively.
The discussion also covered the Financial Supervisory Service’s (FSS) IT security self-inspection checklist, which the country’s Financial Services Commission has asked firms to use. The 12-point checklist addresses threat intelligence and blocklists, system abnormality detection, access controls and vulnerabilities, system hardening, and incident investigation.
Here is our look at fintech innovation around the world.
Central and Eastern Europe
Czech fintech Dateio secured its biggest contract to date thanks to a partnership with ING.
Bulgaria’s Fibank partnered with Bitpanda Enterprise to integrate crypto investing into its My Fibank app.
Poland’s mBank introduced BLIK Recurring Payments, the ninth bank in the country to offer the service.
Middle East and Northern Africa
Valley National Bank acquired Israeli fintech Bluevine for $340 million.
Diebold Nixdorfannounced that it will deploy cash recyclers for digital wallet and mobile payments company stc pay Bahrain.
US-based money transmitter Viamaericas has added Ethiopia and Morocco to its remittance network.
Central and Southern Asia
TBC Uzbekistan launched its first secured lending product for SMEs.
India’s Pine Labs introduced a unified payments platform for merchants in Singapore.
DK Bank to establish a subsidiary in the UAE, becoming the first Bhutanese bank to expand its financial services offering internationally.
Latin America and the Caribbean
Brazilian fintech Asaas raised $55.6 million in new funding to supports its payment, financial management, and credit tools for small businesses.
SoFi Tech Solutions (formerly Galileo) teamed up with Orbi and Mastercard to launch a crypto-linked card in Mexico.
Latvia’s Regula and Chile’s Bernini.ai announced a partnership to provide ID verification for AI agents.
Asia-Pacific
South Korea’s Gwangju Bank and fintech Toss successfully completed a proof of concept involving stablecoin payments using QR codes.
Vietnam’s MB Bank partnered with OceanBase to modernize its database infrastructure.
The Korea Fintech Industry Association announced new anti-hacking measures in the wake of series of recent cybersecurity incidents involving financial services companies.
Sub-Saharan Africa
Pan-African payments aggregator PawaPay secured a Payment Service Provider (PSP) license from the Bank of Mozambique.
South Africa’s WalletDoc launchedVisa Payment Passkeys for merchants in the country.
Pan-African neobank Mukuru introduced its new account and card in South Africa, in partnership with Bank Zero and Mastercard.
Know Your Business (KYB) platform Intrepid Fox has teamed up with KYB data and public register provider Topograph.
The partnership will combine Intrepid Fox’s KYB workflows with live company records from official registers for onboarding and ongoing reviews.
Intrepid Fox most recently demoed its technology at FinovateEurope 2025 in London.
UK-based Know Your Business (KYB) platform Intrepid Foxannounced a partnership with Topograph, a company that provides the data layer for B2B onboarding. The partnership is designed to close the information gaps that can develop after business customers are initially onboarded and keep databases up to date with information on a company’s status, ownership, address, and more. Intrepid Fox’s AI agents provide updated company information that can be compared with data that is already on file. The agents can determine whether follow-up is required and can create context to support human agents in their investigations.
The goal is to combine detection with action through a structured review that records the evidence, follow-up, and human decision-making. This enables compliance teams to focus on those changes that are most critical instead of having to manually review and refresh every company file.
“Monitoring tells you that something changed. A compliance team still needs to understand what changed, whether it matters to the relationship, and what evidence supports the next step,” Intrepid Fox CEO and Co-founder Roman Zilber said. “Working with Topograph helps us connect that signal to a review where context and human judgement remain visible.”
As vital as KYB processes are, they are only as reliable as the records they start with. By monitoring company records directly from their official registers, Topograph provides updated information that is live and traceable to its source. This approach avoids the problems of stale databases, manual searches, and compliance gaps. The company offers a single API that enables teams building onboarding and KYB flows to get live company data, beneficial ownership information, and official documents, while monitoring their systems for changes—all of which is normalized across markets and traceable back to the source. Headquartered in Paris, Topograph was founded in 2024.
“Compliance decisions are only as good as the data behind them,” Topograph CEO and Co-founder Pierre-Henri Janssens said. “That’s what guides our work at Topograph: we connect to more than 100 official registers ourselves, which lets us monitor company records in real time and trace each data point back to its source. Intrepid Fox builds on that foundation, so compliance teams can work through each change with the full context in front of them.”
Founded in 2024 and headquartered in London, Intrepid Fox made its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope 2024 and returned the following year for FinovateEurope 2025. The company leverages GenAI to power document collection and accelerate business customer onboarding for banks and fintechs. Intrepid Fox’s technology helps reduce follow-ups and the operational burden of KYC, while enriching collected data from online and open sources.
Intrepid Fox’s partnership news comes just a few weeks after the company announced an integration with real-time company data provider Kausate. Like Topograph, Kausate connects platforms directly to official registers to provide real-time access across European jurisdictions.
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