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Finovate Blog
Tracking fintech, banking & financial services innovations since 1994
ThetaRay has launched Ray, an Agentic AI investigation suite designed to help banks automate and standardize transaction monitoring investigations amid rising alert volumes and regulatory scrutiny.
The platform targets growing regulatory demands from frameworks such as the EU’s AMLR and FinCEN’s AML/CFT directives by delivering faster, more consistent, and audit-ready investigations with traceable, explainable AI.
Ray helps firms create compliance-critical workflows and scale AML operations without relying on manual processes or increasing headcount.
Financial crime detection company ThetaRay has launched a new set of tools to help firms keep up with evolving regulations in the face of advanced fraud. Called Ray, the new Agentic AI investigation suite aims to help banks conduct transaction monitoring investigations.
Ray is embedded into ThetaRay’s Investigation Center, an Agentic investigation suite designed for banks, fintechs, and payments platforms balancing high alert volumes with rising regulatory demands. Ray combines autonomous investigations with on-demand analyst support. The fintech anticipates Ray will ultimately help banks reduce the time it takes to resolve cases and create more consistency in investigations that span internal teams and jurisdictions. ThetaRay created Ray toautonomously handle the full investigation by validating the geolocation, analyzing patterns, and scanning adverse media to prepare a structured, audit-ready case-file document.
The launch is strategic and comes at a time when regulators across the globe are raising their expectations for investigative quality and documentation. The EU’s new Anti-Money Laundering Regulation (AMLR) and AML Authority framework require stronger due diligence, more rigorous monitoring and record-keeping, and consistent compliance controls across jurisdictions. In the US, FinCEN’s AML and Counter Financing of Terrorism (CFT) directives require transparent, evidence-based investigations and Suspicious Activity Report (SAR) narratives.
“This is an incredibly important moment for us and for the industry,” said ThetaRay CEO Brad Levy. “I couldn’t be more energized by the opportunity to tackle one of the biggest challenges in financial crime compliance. Our mission is simple: to help make global markets more modern and secure for all. The future will be shaped by people who care and by megatechs and specialized fintechs working closely together to raise the bar for transparency, accountability, and lasting trust.”
However, as regulators require higher investigative quality, documentation, and more defensible decisions, alert volumes continue to rise and place a strain on investigation teams, requiring manual data gathering.
“Financial institutions are moving beyond experimentation toward real, production-grade use of Agentic AI in compliance-critical environments,” saidMicrosoft Global Head of AI Strategy and GTM for Payments and Banking Tyler Pichach. “Platforms like Ray demonstrate how Agentic AI, when deployed on a secure and governed cloud like Microsoft Azure, can help banks modernize complex investigation workflows while meeting regulatory expectations for transparency, control, and trust.”
With Ray, firms can prepare for this increased strain by using it to automate evidence collection, behavioral and counterparty analysis, open-source checks, and document review and narrative generation. Built and deployed on Microsoft Azure, Ray offers an on-demand AI assistant that supports questions from analysts and deeper exploration.
“Manual investigations inevitably vary from analyst to analyst. Ray introduces a consistent reasoning framework across the entire operation, reducing subjectivity, and ensuring that each case, no matter who handles it, stands up to scrutiny,” said ThetaRay Regulatory Affairs Manager David Shapiro. “Most importantly, Ray was built so that every decision is traceable back to evidence. In a regulatory environment that demands transparency, AI explainability is the foundation.”
As regulators require more defensible, consistent, and transparent investigations, financial institutions are under pressure to modernize workflows that rely on manual analysis and fragmented tools. By embedding Agentic AI directly into the investigation process, ThetaRay is positioning Ray amid the next generation of AML operations in which regulators require speed, consistency, and explainability.
Founded in 2013, ThetaRay offers transaction monitoring, transaction and customer screening, and customer risk assessment suites to help firms fight financial crime. The Israel-based company helps its 100+ institutional clients leverage AI to monitor 15 billion transactions valued at $20 trillion on an annual basis.
Fiserv and Affirm are bringing BNPL to debit cards, enabling banks and credit unions to offer pay-over-time capabilities through existing debit programs without building new lending infrastructure.
Offering BNPL with bank-issued debit cards shifts installment lending from the merchant checkout to bank-owned channels, allowing financial institutions to retain customer relationships, data, and engagement within their own apps and card programs.
The model positions banks as the primary gateway for flexible payments, placing BNPL distribution within core payments infrastructure.
Core banking platform and payments player Fiserv is bringing buy now, pay later (BNPL) capabilities to its debit cards.
The Wisconsin-based company is collaborating with Affirm to bring pay-over-time capabilities to its debit card programs, empowering Fiserv clients, including community banks and credit unions, to offer their end customers flexible payment options without having to build new lending products.
According to Fiserv, the move is designed to help smaller financial institutions compete more effectively while keeping customer relationships anchored to their own debit products. “Community and regional banks and credit unions want to meet evolving consumer expectations around greater flexibility in how they pay for purchases all the while building a strong relationship with their primary financial institution,” said Fiserv Head of Card Services Erik Wichita. “This partnership gives our clients a practical, scalable way to offer such payment flexibility through their existing debit products—helping them compete effectively, deepen customer and member relationships, and drive top-of-wallet engagement with their products.”
Today’s announcement comes four years after Affirm and Fiserv first teamed up, integrating Affirm’s Adaptive Checkout to Fiserv’s Carat global commerce hub. The move allowed merchants using Carat to offer BNPL to their shoppers.
Adding pay-over-time capabilities to debit cards instead of just offering the option at the point-of-sale moves the payment from a merchant-led experience to a bank-centric one. Instead of being offered only at checkout with participating retailers, debit-based BNPL allows shoppers to access installment payments across a wider range of purchases and merchants, using their preferred payment card. For banks and credit unions, this model retains the customer relationship, data, and engagement within their own debit programs and mobile apps.
Affirm, for its part, sees the partnership as a way to bring pay-over-time options directly into the primary banking relationship, rather than positioning BNPL as a standalone checkout experience. “Millions of consumers depend on their local financial institutions, including for their top-of-wallet debit cards,” said Affirm CRO Wayne Pommen. “By partnering with Fiserv, we’re helping these institutions offer transparent pay-over-time options so customers can get the flexibility they need from the banks and credit unions they already depend on, rather than having to look elsewhere. We’re excited to enable this co-branded offering for Fiserv’s partners, allowing them to natively offer Affirm’s flexible payments through their existing debit cards.”
Fiserv and Affirm are aiming to make an easy transition for banks by managing all of the technical aspects, including real-time underwriting, loan origination, and funding. As a further benefit, consumers can use Affirm anywhere their debit cards are accepted. Additionally, Affirm’s 420,000 merchant partners give cardholders access to custom financing offers.
The companies are enabling banks and credit unions to participate in BNPL economics without giving up customer ownership to third-party point-of-sale providers. This could reshape how flexible payments are delivered and position banks as the primary gateway for installment lending.
Fiserv has been involved in the payments space since it was founded in 1984. The company serves merchants, banks, and fintechs with payments tools, customer analytics, and fraud prevention technology. Fiserv is publicly listed on the NYSE under the ticker FI and has a market capitalization of $35.39 billion.
Kast has launched Kast Earn, a yield-bearing cash management feature that uses Gauntlet’s institutional-grade DeFi vaults to generate variable APY (currently 4%–9%) on user deposits.
User funds are deployed via onchain lending strategies and actively managed using quantitative risk models, with earnings accruing continuously and remaining liquid through Kast’s spending account.
The move positions Kast in direct competition with banks and money market funds.
Stablecoin-based challenger bank Kast is making its stablecoin banking platform more enticing this week. The company is launchingKast Earn, a tool that allows accountholders to earn yield on funds in their account.
Powered by Gauntlet, Kast Earn will employ users’ deposits for onchain lending, allowing users to earn yield on fiat funds in their account. Founded in 2018, Gauntlet offers an automated risk platform with institutional-grade vaults that enable decentralized finance to provide risk-adjusted yields at scale. Kast said it partnered with Gauntlet because of its experience building quantitative decentralized finance strategies.
When a user deposits US dollars, their funds go into the Gauntlet USD Alpha vault, which is designed to generate sustainable yield by prioritizing long-term, risk-adjusted returns and proactively adapting as markets change. This vault has $73.8 million in total value locked, or TVL (roughly equivalent to assets under management).
Once a user deposits funds, their capital is distributed across a diversified set of established digital lending markets and actively managed using quantitative risk and performance models developed by Gauntlet. The yield compounds continuously through Vault Share tokens, and the users’ earnings are reflected in the rising value of their shares. Accountholders can cash in on their shares at any time by transferring funds back to their KAST spending account. While the rate of return is variable, the vault currently offers a variable APY between 4% and 9%.
Founded in 2024, Kast bridges traditional finance and decentralized finance by offering a digital money app where users can deposit cash, USDC/T, and crypto. It also allows users to spend their crypto like cash with its Solana payment cards that are accepted at more than 150 million merchants and ATMs and in over 160 countries.
In 2025, Kast evolved from a simple solution to spend stablecoins into a full-fledged global money app. Last year alone, the company launched MOVE cashback, KAST Convert, USD virtual accounts, global bank transfers, and KAST Tags to add more bank-like functionality.
By offering yield-bearing cash management, Kast is placing itself in competition with banks and money market funds. By embedding onchain lending and quantitative risk management directly into a consumer-facing banking app, Kast is testing whether DeFi-based yield products can be delivered with the simplicity, liquidity, and trust. If users are able to trust Kast’s offerings as much as those from their traditional financial institutions, offerings like Kast Earn could change how both challenger banks and incumbents think about generating returns on customer balances in a stablecoin-driven financial system.
PayPal has acquired Cymbio to accelerate its push into agentic commerce, adding marketplace and drop-ship automation capabilities that help merchants sell across AI-driven channels like Microsoft Copilot and Perplexity.
The deal builds on an existing partnership between the two players, which first teamed up in October 2025.
The acquisition reinforces PayPal’s broader ambitions in agentic commerce.
PayPal just acquired drop-ship and marketplace automation platform Cymbio for an undisclosed amount. The move fits with PayPal’s push into agentic commerce, as Cymbio’s payment orchestration platform helps brands sell across agentic channels, including Microsoft Copilot and Perplexity.
Financial terms of the deal, which is expected to close later this year, were undisclosed.
PayPal’s acquisition comes three months after PayPal first partnered with Cymbio to launch agentic commerce services, a suite of solutions to help merchants attract customers in an AI-powered commerce environment.
“PayPal has established itself as a leading commerce partner for merchants looking to sell within top AI platforms,” said PayPal Executive Vice President and General Manager of Small Business and Financial Services Michelle Gill. “Acquiring Cymbio’s technology and team will enhance our agentic commerce capabilities and accelerate the expansion to more of our merchants. By making their product catalogs discoverable on AI surfaces, merchants can increase sales while expanding product choice to the millions of consumers shopping on AI platforms today.”
Cymbio was founded in 2015 and is headquartered in Tel Aviv. The company’s marketplace and social commerce automation platform facilitates collaboration between brands and retailers by automating processes such as product listing, inventory management, pricing, order fulfillment, and returns. Cymbio connects to 800 brands’ and retailers’ internal systems to enable strong collaborations that can be scaled quickly. The company has raised $35 million from investors including PayPal Ventures, and counts Balmain, Reebok, Abercrombie & Fitch, New Balance, Steve Madden, and Fabletics among its customers.
Once the deal is finalized, PayPal will use Cymbio to power Store Sync, one of PayPal’s agentic commerce services that allows merchants’ product data to be discoverable within AI channels. Store Sync drops orders to merchants’ existing fulfillment and management systems. The system allows the merchant to remain the merchant of record and retain customer relationships and control over their brand.
As a pioneer in fintech, PayPal is seeking to be an early mover in agentic commerce as well. In late 2025, the company rolled out agentic commerce services to help merchants connect product catalogs and checkout experiences to AI platforms like Perplexity. PayPal has also collaborated with AI ecosystem partners such as OpenAI to support instant checkout via the Agentic Commerce Protocol. It is clear that the company is seeking a top spot in the agentic commerce battlefield.
OnePay is expanding its partnership with Klarna to launch Swipe to Finance, a feature that will enable eligible customers to convert debit card purchases into post-transaction installment payment plans.
Specific details of the terms around post-purchase financing have not been disclosed, but the feature will position OnePay alongside players like PayPal and Affirm by offering flexible repayment options beyond the point of sale.
Swipe to Finance strengthens OnePay’s push to compete with digital banks such as Chime and Dave, adding to its growing suite of banking, payments, investing, and crypto tools backed by Walmart’s scale and embedded distribution.
Walmart-owned digital banking platform OnePay is deepening its ties with BNPL player Klarna to launch Swipe to Finance, a new feature that will offer customers the option to pay over time even after they’ve made the transaction.
“Not every purchase comes at the right time,” said Thomas Hoare, Chief Commercial Officer at OnePay. “Customers want and deserve financial flexibility when they need it most, which is why we’re excited to offer new ways for them to pay over time and do it simply, transparently, and all in the OnePay app.”
After making a purchase with a OnePay debit card, eligible customers can use the OnePay app to convert transactions into fixed-term payment plans. While the company has not disclosed details about launch timing, eligible purchases, or available plan options, OnePay’s post-purchase financing may resemble models offered by PayPal and Affirm, which allow users to either pay in four installments or spread payments over longer repayment periods ranging from three to 36 months.
“Post-purchase payments are becoming a core part of how people manage money,” said David Sykes, Chief Commercial Officer at Klarna. “With Swipe to Finance powered by Klarna, we’re giving customers a simple, transparent way to take control of payments after the fact, directly in the OnePay app. It’s another step in expanding smarter payment options and meeting consumers wherever they choose to pay.”
This week’s Swipe to Finance announcement comes about 10 months after OnePay and Klarna first teamed up to offer BNPL options at the point of sale for consumers. The company hinted at plans to deepen ties with Klarna even further, stating, “Additional products and features are planned for later this year that expand OnePay’s types of flexible payment options and can reach new customers.”
Today’s announcement comes at a time of major growth for OnePay, which is seeking to compete with well entrenched digital banks such as Chime and Dave. Last fall, the company partnered with DriveWealth to offer embedded investing tools and teamed up with Zero Hash to facilitate bitcoin and ether trading within its app. In addition to these new capabilities, the OnePay app also offers traditional banking tools such as a high-yield savings account, peer-to-peer money transfer capabilities, and cross-border payments. However, the app also differentiates itself from traditional banks and even other digital banks with a credit builder card, tax filing service, and even a low-cost mobile phone plan via a partnership with Gigs.
OnePay is seeking to compete with entrenched digital banking players such as Chime and Dave. The company is well positioned to do so thanks to its second-mover advantages and embedded distribution through its parent company, Walmart, which launched OnePay in January 2021 in partnership with Ribbit Capital. In January 2022, Walmart expanded OnePay’s capabilities by acquiring two fintech platforms, Even and ONE, which helped Walmart create its version of a financial services super app.
Financial institutions are scaling digital products, expanding into new markets, and automating their decision-making more than ever in 2026, which makes managing controls, models, and regulatory obligations just as important as stopping fraud.
At FinovateEurope 2026, two new fintechs are showing how banks can move beyond manual processes and static controls toward more dynamic, data-driven approaches to compliance and risk. Check out how the following companies are helping banks reduce cost, improve transparency, and turn regulatory requirements into tools for smarter decision-making.
FinovateEurope 2026 will take place at London’s InterContinental O2 on February 10 and 11. Tickets are available now. Visit our FinovateEurope hub today and take advantage of big early-bird savings!
UK-based FINTRAC helps financial institutions automate controls and workflows across the model lifecycle, enabling stronger governance with less manual effort. Its platform replaces fragmented, spreadsheet-driven processes with centralized controls, audit-ready documentation, and richer analytics that improve transparency across risk, compliance, and model management teams.
Because its tools are integrated into banks’ existing systems, FINTRAC allows banks to reduce costs while maintaining regulatory compliance in real-time.
Serene helps firms turn compliance and collections data into actionable insights by helping lenders optimize arrears management, reduce defaults, and expand access to credit by combining compliance discipline with frontline intelligence.
Serene positions compliance as a feedback loop that improves decision-making across collections and lending operations. The company offers organizations data and guidance to enable them to balance risk management with customer outcomes while remaining compliant.
Why banks should care
As banks continue to digitize lending, payments, and risk decisioning, compliance and control functions can no longer rely on manual processes. In fact, regulators are increasingly expecting firms to implement continuous governance, which places more pressure on teams to move faster, adopt AI-driven models, and reduce operational cost.
Fintechs like FINTRAC and Serene are good examples of how compliance and risk intelligence are being embedded into everyday operations. By automating controls and leveraging compliance data for actionable insights, banks can improve transparency, strengthen risk management, and scale more confidently.
Airwallex is acquiring Paynuri to enter South Korea, securing payment gateway, prepaid electronic payment instrument, and foreign exchange business registrations to support cross-border payments and FX services.
The move gives Korean businesses access to Airwallex’s global financial platform, enabling multi-currency spending, international payments, and cross-border expansion.
The acquisition signals intensifying competition in APAC payments, as Airwallex uses its fresh Series G capital to accelerate regulatory access, expand headcount locally, and strengthen its position against regional fintechs and global incumbents.
Commercial payments and banking platform Airwallex is expanding its global reach this week. The Singapore-based company is acquiring Paynuri, an entity that holds payment gateway and prepaid electronic payment instrument licenses in South Korea. Financial terms of the deal are undisclosed.
Airwallex plans to use these licenses to empower companies in Korea to expand across borders by offering Korean businesses a comprehensive platform for managing their financial operations across multiple markets and currencies. The acquisition will also give Airwallex the benefit of Paynuri’s South Korea Foreign Exchange Business registration, an accreditation that will further support cross-border payments and FX services in Korea.
“We are excited by this significant investment by Airwallex into the Korean market,” said Invest Seoul President and CEO Lee Jihyung. “We believe Airwallex’s entry will strengthen the financial operating environment for both Korean and global companies in the market.”
Airwallex’s spending capabilities, for example, allow businesses to manage company spending across multicurrency payment cards, expense management, and bill payments. The company’s multi-currency account facilitates the management of global banking, FX conversion, and international transfers, while its payments offerings allow businesses to accept online and in-store payments across the globe in more than 160 payment methods.
“This acquisition marks a pivotal milestone for Airwallex as we expand the global reach of our financial platform,” said Airwallex General Manager of APAC, Arnold Chan. “Korea’s fast-growing ecommerce, creative, and entertainment sectors present immense opportunities for Korean businesses on the global stage. Our goal is to support these businesses with a more efficient solution to expand beyond borders.”
Airwallex, which already operates across Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and Vietnam, has been growing rapidly in the APAC region. In 2025, the company reported an 85% year-over-year increase in revenue and a 71% year-over-year boost in transaction volume. Globally, during the month of December 2025, Airwallex achieved $1.2 billion in revenue and recorded $266 billion in transaction volume.
To meet this demand, Airwallex will boost its workforce in Korea with plans to add 20 employees across multiple functions by the end of this year.
Founded in 2015, Airwallex holds 80 licenses and permits that enable customers to operate in 200+ countries and regions and support multi-currency checkout at scale. In 2025 alone, the company extended its regulated and local capabilities across 12 new markets, securing licenses and launching products in France, the Netherlands, Israel, Canada, Korea, Japan, New Zealand, Malaysia, Vietnam, Brazil, Mexico, and the UAE.
Today’s investment comes about six weeks after Airwallex’s $330 million Series G fundraise, which valued the company at $8 billion. Airwallex’s expansion into the Korean market is a direct result of that investment.
By securing payment, prepaid, and foreign exchange approvals in South Korea, Airwallex is positioning itself to serve Korean businesses that are scaling internationally while avoiding the delays associated with organic licensing. The move also strengthens Airwallex’s position against both regional fintechs and global incumbents vying to serve global businesses.
Gusto is testing stablecoin payouts for global payroll through a partnership with zerohash.
The beta test is using regulated on-chain settlement infrastructure to enable faster, more transparent cross-border payments.
If successful, the beta could signal stablecoins’ shift into core payroll infrastructure, modeling how HR and payroll platforms can adopt digital assets in a compliant, scalable way.
Payroll, benefits, and HR management solutions company Gusto revealed today that it is testing stablecoin payout capabilities across its global payments. The California-based fintech will leverage a partnership with digital asset infrastructure provider zerohash.
Founded in 2017, zerohash is a crypto, stablecoin, and tokenization platform that brings instant money movement to banks, brokerages, and fintechs. With more than six million end customers, the company has settled $65 billion in transaction volume, is available in more than 200 jurisdictions, and supports over 100 assets.
Gusto said it chose zerohash for its deep regulatory expertise, operational maturity at scale, and the ability to support global expansion securely and seamlessly.
In teaming up with zerohash, Gusto will use zerohash’s regulated on-chain settlement infrastructure to allow its clients to receive their earnings in digital dollars. Gusto will use zerohash’s stablecoin rails to enhance speed and transparency to allow workers to receive payments in the form of stablecoins.
When compared to traditional cross-border payments, which can take three-to-seven days to settle, stablecoins will allow Gusto to move funds from employer to worker across the globe in minutes. In addition to real-time settlement, leveraging digital currencies will also allow for on-chain traceability and compatibility with both custodial and self-custodial wallets.
Pointing to the growing mismatch between global workforces and legacy payment infrastructure, zerohash Founder and CEO Edward Woodford said stablecoins offer a faster and more flexible alternative for moving money across borders. “As the workforce increasingly becomes more global and more digital, traditional payment rails can no longer meet the speed and accessibility that modern businesses require,” said Woodford. “Gusto is one of the most forward-thinking platforms for businesses, and we’re proud to provide the infrastructure that enables them to deliver instant, transparent, and flexible payouts across borders. Stablecoin rails unlock real-world benefits for millions of workers, and this partnership is a major step toward modernizing how money moves.”
Gusto, originally known as ZenPayroll, was founded in 2011 to provide a cloud-based payroll, benefits, and HR management solution. The company’s tools help businesses track time and attendance, onboard new employees, manage existing talent, and more. With more than 400,000 small business clients, Gusto processes tens of billions of dollars of payroll each year and provides employee benefits, including 401(k) accounts, which are powered by the company’s 2025 acquisition of retirement specialist Guideline.
According to Samant Nagpal, Head of Payments and Risk at Gusto, the partnership allows the company to introduce stablecoin payouts while maintaining the compliance and scalability required for global payroll. “At Gusto, our mission is to grow the small business economy. We believe payment choice is integral to helping small businesses and their teams thrive, which is why we’re committed to ensuring they can pay anyone, anywhere, anytime,” said Nagpal. “zerohash’s regulatory posture and global infrastructure allow us to offer stablecoin payouts in a way that is simple, compliant, and scalable. This partnership means that we can deliver a faster, more seamless global payments experience for our customers and their teams.”
This partnership is another example of how stablecoins are shifting from experimental use cases into core financial infrastructure, especially in cross-border payments. Testing stablecoin payouts within a regulated framework gives Gusto the ability to expand payment choice for its small business customers. While Gusto’s trial of stablecoin payouts is still in beta, if successful, the approach could set the standard for other HR and payroll platforms as global workforces continue to grow.
We’re more than halfway through the first month of the year, and topics like AI and stablecoins continue to dominate both the headlines and the mindshare in fintech. Below, we’ve aggregated the top news in fintech for the week. We’ll continue to add more announcements as the week progresses.
Feedzai and Matrix USA are launching a Center of Excellence to deliver a standardized, repeatable approach to help financial institutions deploy fraud and AML solutions.
The partnership addresses the growing AI-driven fraud threat, as more than 50% of fraudsters now use AI.
By combining AI-native technology with deep implementation expertise, the companies aim to help banks modernize fraud and AML programs at speed and scale without disrupting day-to-day operations.
Risk management solutions provider Feedzai is teaming up with advisory and technology services company Matrix USA to help financial institutions fight the rising threats of fraud and money laundering.
The two companies are collaborating on a Center of Excellence that will create a standardized approach to deploying fraud and anti-money laundering (AML) solutions.
Highlighting the need for fraud prevention strategies that can keep pace with increasingly sophisticated threats, Feedzai Co-Founder and CEO Nuno Sebastião said AI has permanently reshaped the financial crime landscape. “AI has changed the fraud landscape forever, and financial institutions need solutions that can evolve just as quickly. That requires advanced technology with the right expertise to put it to work effectively. Together, Feedzai and Matrix USA will help financial institutions translate powerful capabilities into real-world impact against sophisticated, AI-enabled financial crime.”
Feedzai was founded in 2011 as a risk operations platform specializing in identity verification, fraud prevention, and financial crime detection. The company’s AI-powered solutions span KYC, AML, watchlist screening, and transaction fraud monitoring to help financial institutions stop fraud in real time without compromising the customer experience. Today, Feedzai protects over one billion consumers in more than 190 countries and safeguards over $8 billion in transactions annually.
Founded in 2006, Matrix USA provides advisory services to help financial institutions prevent financial crime and stay compliant when leveraging agentic AI, AI and LLM, automation, and model validation tools. The New Jersey-based company operates in more than 20 countries and has implemented more than 1,000 projects.
With new advancements in AI becoming more accessible than ever, the partnership comes at a key time. According to research from Feedzai, more than 50% of fraudsters now use AI. When paired with banks’ outdated infrastructure, the enabling technology is widening the gap between increasingly sophisticated financial crime and the tools institutions have used for decades.
Regarding the pressure banks face as they modernize legacy systems, Matrix USA CEO Lior Blik said financial institutions must strengthen fraud and AML defenses without slowing business operations. “Financial institutions are under tremendous pressure to modernize their fraud and AML defenses without slowing down business. By pairing Feedzai’s industry-leading AI capabilities with our deployment and integration expertise, we’re giving customers a faster, more reliable path to advanced prevention and stronger compliance.”
By combining Feedzai’s AI-native financial crime prevention technology with Matrix USA’s implementation and advisory expertise, the two companies aim to deliver a structured, repeatable approach that helps financial institutions fight fraud and money laundering at speed and scale without disrupting day-to-day operations.
CES is known for flashy gadgets and fun consumer technology. For most banks, CES is not a must-attend event because it does not focus on fintech and banking. There is, however, still value in attending the show, as emerging technologies can signal how customer expectations and new operating models are evolving.
U.S. Bank understands this and sent two executives, Don Relyea, Chief Innovation Officer, and Todder Moning, Head of R&D, Innovation, on a “Future Safari” to check out what’s new, what’s next, and what’s possible when it comes to implementing technologies.
After they returned to the office last week, we interviewed Relyea and Moning to unpack what CES 2026 revealed from a banker’s perspective. From embedded AI and robotics to agentic commerce and cross-industry convergence, they highlight new trends, unpack which were overhyped, and explain what bank leaders should be paying attention to over the next 12 to 24 months.
From a banker’s perspective, what signals did CES send this year about where technology investment is actually heading—and which trends felt more operationally real than hype?
Don Relyea and Todder Moning: Well, it’s safe to say the technology investment is increasing across the board. We love taking Future Safaris™ to CES because it is a great way to get ideas and see and follow emerging trends across many spaces that will allow us to improve the customer experience as well as integrate with other new tech innovations.
Trends that stuck out to our team this year include:
Everywhere Intelligence – Embedded in Everything: Artificial intelligence is no longer a standalone category—it’s being woven into devices large and small, at the edge (on-device) and in the cloud, turning ordinary products into smart, context-aware companions. In terms of potential financial implications, personalized financial assistants that understand behavior, spending patterns, and context could dramatically improve user experience and trust in the future. However, increased reliance on AI raises privacy, bias, and regulatory concerns—especially as financial decisions become automated.
Digital Health/Wellness/Longevity Tech: Tech that senses, analyzes, and predicts health was signposted at CES 2025 and carries into 2026 with smarter biofeedback devices. We see healthcare as connected to financial services and even have a saying: “healthcare is wealth care.” Money is emotional and has impacts on people, their families, and businesses, both good and bad, and helping to reach better wealth care outcomes (financial outcomes) positively impacts people’s health and wellness.
The convergence of AI, wearables, brain interfaces, and other age-tech are going to extend life. There is an opportunity for banks to weave that into a more holistic planning process for our clients. We also saw numerous wearables and other AI-based innovations that monitor various metrics and values to inform you about health risks or concerns. This is relevant because there is a strong correlation between physical health and financial health. These innovations could also help catch costly medical problems before they occur, saving people money and stress. For example, transaction metrics could flag early signs of dementia or an eldercare abuse issue.
Robots for industrial and home use: The resurgence of robotics was the most visible trend at CES this year. “Embodied AI” or what some call “Physical AI” are catchier names for intelligent robotics. We’re seeing tons of AI and far more robotics this year than in prior years, and as the two domains merge more deeply, a wave of AI-enabled, more general purpose, and often more human-like robotics solutions are emerging.
Robots, humanoid, non-humanoid, and robotic exoskeletons that you wear are graduating from controlled environments to unstructured, real-world contexts—folding laundry, navigating homes, manufacturing or even autonomous vehicles.
Looking ahead: CES shows a shift from gadget splendor to system-wide integration—everything is connected and intelligent. AI, robotics and immersive interfaces are converging—not just making things “smart” but connecting behaviors, identities and environments.
As CES showcased advances in consumer hardware, AI assistants, and connected devices, what new expectations do you think customers will bring back to their financial institutions?
Relyea and Moning: You’re hitting on two of the five themes about why we like to take Future Safaris and why CES is one of the best—what we call lateral and longitudinal. At CES, we’re able to see many industries and domains in a concentrated amount of time. Taking the lateral view, we see what and how numerous industries use similar technologies to do something. This is a great way to collect and curate direct or indirect ways that you can do metaphorically similar things in your future, industry and domain of interest.
On the longitudinal view, if you’re in a place and time where lots of technologies, developments, or business models are present, it’s a great opportunity to gauge how each technology, development, or business model is changing over time. This was the bank’s 15th year at CES, which allows us to gauge how each technology or development is changing over time. Are robots getting better and more useful, or are they developing slowly (or worse, stalled and in decline)? Is AI advancing and if so, in what places and ways? Is a touted technology delivering against the hype, or is it prancing around with no real innovation use. In Texas, we call the latter “big hat, no cattle.”
The big idea is that technology, design, and experiences are erasing the barriers and boundaries between industries. If one comes to expect what’s possible to do in one industry, business, or product, they will likely come to expect that for other industries and businesses. That’s the kind of meta-trending we try to find and then apply to what that means for banks and financial services going forward.
Customer interactions continue to become increasingly digital and increasingly enabled by AI and sensors, and U.S. Bank is at the leading edge of visioning where tech is headed and what our customers need from us—as we provide the technology and guidance that make their financial lives simpler and more convenient. We’re proud to have one of the longest running dedicated innovation practices in banking today.
AI being embedded in everything is going to raise the bar for consumer expectations of what good is. This year AI was not front and center at CES, it was embedded and improving the automation of consumer devices in subtle and easy to use and easy to access ways. Think rings, pins, and business card form factors that you can talk to (that may or may not connect to other devices or the cloud) and ask them to transcribe, translate, make PowerPoints, fill out forms, manage calendars, and many other things. This is going to raise the expectations of customers that more should be done for them.
Did you notice fintech concepts like embedded finance, identity, or real-time payments showing up inside non-financial technology at CES?
Relyea and Moning: Yes, we saw things like an AI-enabled oven that helps you grocery shop for ingredients.
We saw several biometric payment checkout interfaces. These were easy to use and set up and could be integrated into anything requiring identity and payments pretty easily.
We saw biometric technology using keyboard behavior that could help flag a significant behavior change in an employee (for example), who is either under duress or as a disgruntled employee could make poor decisions impacting the business. Another example we saw is asset-tracking technology that could be used off-grid, to say track trucks, railcars, mining equipment, etc.
For the majority of bank leaders who didn’t attend CES, what is one emerging theme from the show that you think will impact financial services over the next 12 to 24 months, and why?
Relyea and Moning: I’d say the embedding of AI into devices and what has started happening in agentic commerce. Devices of all sorts are showing signs of becoming commerce orchestrators and agents for customers—and it’s a short jump from there to having devices become a type of customer. Many of the things we see at CES come with subscriptions—for instance, the longevity mirror I used came with an annual subscription for you and your family to use its AI data and models. You can imagine that many of these monthly or annual subscriptions we might have in the future. Are you going to manage all of those, or will the device manage it for you with limited spending capabilities you provide it?
Tell us about the coolest non-banking use of technology you saw at CES?
Relyea and Moning: I think the exoskeletons were really cool. Don was able to wear the leg ones that helped him climb stairs much easier and faster. I was able to wear one on my back and hips that helped me to pick up a heavy item with ease. I also liked the sustainable printed battery that was paper thin. It could be embedded into most anything and power airtags in things like your passport carrier, purse, wallet, that kind of thing. And when you throw it away, it is completely compostable.
And we always love the autonomous mobility work that the big agricultural and construction/mining brands show—autonomous combines with autonomous hoppers that keep pace with the combine, and AI-assisted and autonomous Bobcats and construction excavators. It just shows how autonomous mobility is happening, even if its pace is slower than was originally expected at the beginning of the decade.
Worldline is launching new AI capabilities to help merchants move from experimenting with AI agents to deploying them in real-world commerce.
The company’s MCP servers act as a bridge between LLMs and payment APIs to allow AI agents to initiate transactions, issue refunds, and manage payment workflows using natural language.
Worldline acknowledged its support for emerging standards like Google’s AP2 and UCP, as well as European regulatory requirements.
Global payments company Worldline is making new moves to join the agentic future. The France-based firm is launching new capabilities that are helping companies to move from experimenting with AI agents to deploying AI agents.
According to McKinsey, agentic commerce could see between $3 trillion and $5 trillion in global retail value by 2030. To help users leverage this opportunity, Worldline is unveiling two new capabilities to interface with AI agents and help merchants experiment with AI-powered workflows and commerce experiences.
For the first capability, Worldline is using its Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers to act as a translation layer between LLMs and Worldline’s APIs. This bridge will enable consumers to participate in AI-driven shopping by allowing agents to share secure payment links. Shoppers can use AI agents to initiate a transaction using natural language, while merchants can support agent-initiated actions such as payment creation, refunds, status checks, and payment captures.
Worldline views its new AI capabilities as a foundational step toward making agentic commerce practical at scale. According to Gertjan Dewaele, VP of Product & Technology at Worldline, the introduction of MCP servers helps bridge the gap between experimentation and real-world deployment. “The shift to agentic commerce is underway, and MCP servers are the first building block for moving merchants from experimentation to real-world deployment. By providing secure, simple access to Worldline’s payment capabilities for AI agents, we enable the next generation of agentic commerce and streamline internal operations.”
Worldline has also introduced ConnectAI, which will allow developers and merchants to explore, build, test, and prepare for agentic commerce. ConnectAI serves as a hub that offers tools, documentation, and guidance for new agentic payment protocols.
According to Worldline Head of Global Commerce Stijn Gasthuys, the company sees agentic commerce as a catalyst for broader innovation in payments. “Agentic commerce will unlock new waves of innovation, helping merchants deliver better customer experiences. Our investments in this area position Worldline to capture a growing global market for AI-powered transactions, delivering secure, scalable infrastructure that empowers merchants and developers to innovate with confidence.”
Worldline’s move comes during a major shift in the payments industry, which is racing to accept the reality that AI agents are starting to participate in commerce. By focusing on infrastructure, standards alignment, and regulatory compliance, Worldline is positioning itself among the players willing to enable agentic commerce safely and at scale.
Worldline’s new capabilities make it easier for merchants to experiment while reducing the operational and compliance risks that slow adoption. The tools make it easier for companies to transition from AI pilots to real, revenue-generating use cases.
As part of today’s announcement, Worldline is actively supporting emerging standards, including Google’s newly launched Agent Payments Protocol (AP2) and Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP). The company also noted that it will place “a strong focus” on complying with European regulatory and trusted requirements.
Founded in 1974, Worldline offers payments technology and solutions customized for hundreds of industries. The company counts more than one million businesses as clients around the world and generated $5.3 billion (4.6 billion euros) in revenue in 2024.
