Author: Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz)

Payments Fintech Sokin Raises $50 Million to Build Out Global Infrastructure

Payments Fintech Sokin Raises $50 Million to Build Out Global Infrastructure
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Daily news, Funding
  • Sokin raised $50 million in Series B funding, bringing its total raised to $96 million and boosting its valuation to $300 million following 100% year-over-year revenue growth.
  • The fintech offers global payments, multi-currency accounts, and treasury tools across 170+ countries, positioning itself as a fast-scaling competitor in the $56 trillion cross-border payments market.
  • Investors see Sokin as part of a new wave of infrastructure-focused payments challengers aiming to solve cross-border complexity at a global scale.

Global payments fintech Sokin raised $50 million in Series B funding this week. The round boosts the UK-based company’s total raised to $96 million since it was founded in 2019.

Today’s investment was led by Prysm Capital with additional contributions from Watershed Ventures and existing investors including investment funds managed by Morgan Stanley Expansion Capital, Aurum Partners, Gary Marino, former Chief Commercial Officer at PayPal, and Mark Britto, former Chief Product Officer at PayPal. 

With the new round, Sokin’s valuation has increased to $300 million. Prysm said that it invested in Sokin because of its “rapid and profitable growth” in the global business payments market, a subsector that is projected to see $56 trillion in transaction volume by 2030. The company’s revenues have increased by 8x since 2022, rising 100% year-over-year since then.

“Sokin is at a transformative stage, having demonstrated impressive year-on-year business growth,” said Prysm Capital Co-founder and partner Muhammad Mian. “The company is perfectly positioned to become the definitive leader in cross-border payments. Critically, Sokin has already built the infrastructure to capitalize on what we see as a huge addressable market.”

Sokin’s platform brings together global payments, payment acceptance, and treasury management tools to support businesses operating across borders. The company provides access to more than 70 currencies and enables customers to hold 26 currencies in multi-currency accounts, facilitating transactions in over 170 countries.

“We’ve spent the past six years building a comprehensive financial infrastructure that makes global business faster and more efficient,” said ‍Sokin CEO and Founder Vroon Modgill. “For too long, payments, treasury management, and international accounts have been fragmented and outdated. We’ve built the platform that brings it all together, and this funding lets us accelerate that vision globally.”

In the next year, Sokin will continue to build out its global infrastructure across Asia, the Middle East, and South America, including securing additional regional licenses and banking partnerships. Sokin will also invest in its platform and embedded solutions to expand its accounts payable and receivable capabilities.

This funding round positions Sokin on a growing list of challengers building global payments infrastructure, competing not just with banks but also with new providers like Airwallex, Nium, and Rapyd. Investor appetite for these organizations shows that the winners in this new era of payments will be those that solve cross-border complexity at the infrastructure level, not just through front-end interfaces. If Sokin can turn its rapid revenue growth into market share, it may emerge as a key operator in the growing cross-border payments market.

Photo by Pixabay

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Kraken Debuts Debit Card with 1% Cash Back

Kraken Debuts Debit Card with 1% Cash Back
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Daily news
  • Kraken is launching the Krak Card, a crypto-to-fiat debit card offering 1% cash back and multi-asset spending across 400+ crypto and fiat currencies, with initial rollout in the UK and EU.
  • The card supports direct deposit, no foreign exchange or monthly fees, and flexible funding rules that let users choose which assets cover each purchase.
  • With the Krak Card, Kraken is positioning itself closer to a full-service financial platform, further blurring the lines between TradFi and DeFi and enabling everyday spending of digital assets.

Cryptocurrency exchange platform Kraken revealed plans to launch a crypto-to-fiat debit card that pays 1% cash back rewards on all purchases. The Krak Card will first be available to users in the UK and EU, and will be offered to customers in additional markets in the coming weeks. 

In addition to paying rewards, the Krak Card also allows direct deposit for salaries and offers expanded wealth-building opportunities. Kraken anticipates that the new upgrades will bring users one step closer to replacing their traditional banking relationships by helping them explore the unique opportunities available within digital assets.

“To us, everything is money. You should be able to use whatever assets you hold to pay for everyday goods and services in the digital era we live in,” said Kraken Global Head of Consumer Mark Greenberg. “From groceries to getaways, the Krak Card makes value move freely, no matter who you are or how you choose to store your money.”

Powered by Mastercard, the physical Krak Card comes in two color options and is available in a virtual format, as well. With no foreign exchange or monthly fees, the card delivers instant spending using multiple balances with no FX or monthly fees. Uniquely, the Krak Card offers multi-asset spending, supporting more than 400 crypto and fiat assets. Purchases can be funded from either crypto, fiat, or a mix of both. The app lets users preset which assets are used first and allows them to exclude specific holdings from payments.

The 1% cash back on every purchase is paid in either the local fiat currency or Bitcoin. The cash back rewards help differentiate Kraken from other debit products, as it is quite rare to find a debit card that pays cash back.

Since its debut six months ago, the Krak app has seen over 450,000 downloads in over 130 countries. Kraken expects that the launch of its debit card will accelerate this number. In the coming months, Kraken plans to launch new features, including credit products, additional card options, enhanced merchant rewards, simplified onboarding, and broader support for assets.

Kraken’s move, as it positions itself against traditional banks and neobanks, is an example of the pending convergence of traditional finance (TradFi) and decentralized finance (DeFi). By combining multi-asset spending, direct deposit, and cash-back rewards into a single debit product, Kraken is offering another way to spend crypto while building an everyday money hub. The new capabilities allow consumers to bridge their digital assets and real-world payments without the friction of conversions or fees.

Photo by Karola G

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Klarna Debuts KlarnaUSD Stablecoin

Klarna Debuts KlarnaUSD Stablecoin
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Klarna
  • Klarna revealed plans to launch KlarnaUSD, a new stablecoin built on Stripe and Paradigm’s Tempo blockchain.
  • Set to debut on the Tempo mainnet in 2026, KlarnaUSD will leverage early access to Tempo for testing and integration.
  • The move positions Klarna to capture value in the $120 billion cross-border payments market, using stablecoins to cut costs for both consumers and merchants as stablecoin usage surpasses $27 trillion annually.

Two months after reaching one million card sign-ups in the US, BNPL leader Klarna has revealed plans to launch its own stablecoin, KlarnaUSD.

Klarna is launching its new stablecoin on the Tempo blockchain. Launched in September 2025, Tempo is an independent, layer-1 blockchain created by Stripe and Paradigm that’s built for payments. KlarnaUSD is built on Open Issuance by stablecoin infrastructure platform Bridge.

“With 114 million customers and $118 billion in annual GMV, Klarna has the scale to change payments globally: with Klarna’s scale and Tempo’s infrastructure, we can challenge old networks and make payments faster and cheaper for everyone,” said Klarna Co-founder and CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski. “Crypto is finally at a stage where it is fast, low-cost, secure, and built for scale. This is the beginning of Klarna in crypto, and I’m excited to work with Stripe and Tempo to continue to shape the future of payments.”

Klarna will launch its stablecoin on the Tempo mainnet in 2026. Tempo has granted Klarna early access to its infrastructure in advance of the KlarnaUSD launch to allow the fintech to conduct advanced testing, prototyping, and integration.

Klarna and Stripe first teamed up in 2021 when they partnered to allow Stripe users in 20 countries to offer Klarna’s BNPL option, with Stripe as the preferred payments partner in the US and Canada. The partnership between Klarna and Stripe’s blockchain, Tempo, deepens the relationship between the two players.

Today’s announcement comes as cross-border payments are estimated to generate $120 billion in transaction fees annually, and as stablecoin transactions top $27 trillion a year. Launching its own stablecoin isn’t just a way for Klarna to jump on a recent trend. The company will leverage the benefits of stablecoins to reduce costs for both consumers and merchants.

Photo by appshunter.io on Unsplash

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

From Process Automation to Industry Reimagination

From Process Automation to Industry Reimagination
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Sponsored
This is a sponsored blog post from Capgemini, a financial services consulting and technology firm.

Unlock large-scale growth with cloud-powered AI agents

  • Cloud and AI agents boost efficiency and personalization, but adoption remains nascent.
  • Cloud-powered AI agents unlock value by automating tasks and enabling real-time, personalized CX.
  • To maximize impact, financial institutions must redesign processes and align cloud-AI strategies with compliance.

AI is rapidly becoming a cornerstone of almost every industry. Today, it’s everywhere – discussed, adopted, and integrated across sectors. Now, we’re entering the era of agentic AI. Here’s what it means for financial services. 

According to Capgemini’s latest World Cloud Report – Financial Services 2026, 87% of financial institutions have implemented some form of AI, but only 10% are using AI agents at scale. This gap represents a major opportunity for banks, insurers, and market operators to move beyond basic automation and embrace the AI-driven revolution. 

Meanwhile, cloud platforms have evolved from simple infrastructure providers into powerful innovation engines. Today, they enable AI-driven transformation across the entire value chain, delivering speed, resilience, and compliance in a highly regulated environment. Together, cloud and AI promise faster time-to-market, hyper-personalized experiences, and greater operational agility. However, according to the report, success requires more than technology. It demands a cultural change, robust governance, and a clear roadmap.   

Adapt: Embracing AI evolution and cloud’s changing role 

AI has traveled an impressive path, from early machine learning models to generative AI and now agentic AI. These intelligent agents go beyond responding to prompts, and now autonomously manage workflows, make decisions, and learn continuously. For financial services, this means moving past traditional tools like robotic process automation toward systems that can handle complex tasks like underwriting, fraud detection, and customer onboarding with minimal human intervention. 

According to the report, 75% of banks and 70% of insurers already deploy AI agents for customer service. Other top use cases include fraud detection, loan processing, and claims handling. Yet, despite these advances, only one tenth of firms have scaled AI agents’ enterprise-wide, signaling untapped potential. 

Cloud is the enabler of this evolution. Hybrid and multi-cloud strategies are gaining traction, with 26% of financial institutions migrating more than half of their workloads to hybrid environments. The reasons include scalability (87% of respondents), legacy modernization (86% of respondents), and compliance (32% of respondents).

Forge: Creating business value with cloud-powered AI agents 

By utilizing the scalability and flexibility of cloud platforms, firms can gain efficiency, optimize operations, innovative topline growth and deliver superior CX.

These agents automate manual tasks such as underwriting and credit scoring, reducing errors and accelerating turnaround times. With orchestration capabilities and unified large language model layers, they enable seamless coordination across workflows and drive real-time decision-making. 

Building on these efficiency gains, AI agents also help institutions evolve toward autonomous operating models. Tasks once dependent on human oversight, like risk scoring and policy servicing, are increasingly performed by AI, freeing employees to focus on more strategic initiatives. This shift is supported by smaller, task-specific models that improve speed, explainability, and compliance while reducing compute costs. 

Customer experience is another key dimension. Intelligent agents deliver hyper-personalized interactions, proactive query resolution, and faster service, helping banks and insurers boost acquisition, engagement, and retention.  

Orchestrate: Building a cloud-native, AI-centric future 

The orchestration phase is where strategy meets execution. Financial institutions are mapping business processes to identify where cloud-based AI agents can deliver the greatest optimization. Capgemini’s latest report divides these into 4 categories:  

  • Quick wins – high-value and easy to adopt 
  • Open for evaluation – strategic but more complex 
  • Need for education – simple to adopt but offer limited value  
  • Investigate – low in both priority and ease of adoption.  

Quick wins like credit underwriting and CRM-integrated sales stand out as ideal starting points for rapid returns. 

Orchestration goes far beyond technology deployment. It demands strong governance and compliance frameworks. With 96% of executives citing regulatory complexity as a major barrier, institutions must embed explainability, fairness, and accountability into AI systems from the start.

At the same time, numerous behavioral challenges still remain. In fact, 92% of leaders report skill gaps and cultural resistance. Overcoming these requires enterprise-wide AI literacy programs, clear communication of benefits, and collaborative development models.

Closing thoughts 

AI agents are poised to redefine financial services, unlocking speed and innovation. Firms should start with a clear buy-or-build strategy that weighs solutions, internal capabilities, compliance, scalability, and privacy, supported by resilient cloud infrastructure. 

Leaders must drive an AI-first culture by securing stakeholder buy-in, prioritizing high-value use cases, and enforcing safeguards like human oversight and transparency. Training teams and democratizing access to tools accelerates adoption and creativity. 

Embedding these initiatives into digital transformation and cloud strategies enables specialized agents, autonomous operations, and multi-agent collaboration. Combined with a solid cloud strategy to cut costs and remove geographic limits, this approach positions financial institutions to lead the next era of agility, personalization, and growth, where those who act boldly will set the pace for the industry. 

Download the report today.

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Kyriba Powers New Cash Forecasting Tool for U.S. Bank

Kyriba Powers New Cash Forecasting Tool for U.S. Bank
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Daily news, US Bank
  • U.S. Bank partnered with Kyriba to launch Liquidity Manager, an AI-powered cash forecasting and liquidity management tool for commercial clients.
  • The solution offers real-time visibility, scenario planning, reconciliation, and multi-bank reporting, helping firms automate workflows and reduce operational risk.
  • The move signals U.S. Bank’s push into tech-forward treasury capabilities, positioning it to compete with modern finance platforms like Ramp.

U.S. Bank has teamed up with treasury solutions company Kyriba to launch a cash forecasting tool to offer businesses visibility and control over their cash and liquidity positions. The new tool, Liquidity Manager, is powered by Kyriba’s liquidity performance platform.

Leveraging Kyriba, U.S. Bank will deliver cash forecasting, scenario planning, and operational efficiencies to its mid- to large-scale commercial clients. Kyriba’s SaaS solutions empower CFOs, treasurers, and IT leaders to connect, protect, forecast, and optimize their liquidity. Founded in 2000, the company aims to help companies and banks improve their financial performance and increase operational efficiency. 

“Many companies struggle to obtain a timely and accurate view of their liquidity, especially when managing multiple bank accounts across geographies and currencies,” said U.S. Bank Treasury and Payment Solutions Lead Kristy Carstensen. “This solution builds on the strengths of both U.S. Bank and Kyriba to address these challenges. By automating processes and providing actionable insights, U.S. Bank Liquidity Manager, powered by Kyriba, will empower our clients to make strategic financial decisions with confidence and ease.”

The new tool will improve firms’ cash forecasting by using historical cash flow data to predict future inflows and outflows, providing greater accuracy in daily cash position reporting and supporting more informed scenario planning. Liquidity Manager will also include cash positioning and reconciliation, cash pooling for zero-balance accounts, multi-bank balance and transaction reporting, and real-time visibility for all stakeholders. U.S. Bank expects these capabilities will help firms reduce costs through automated, centralized cash oversight and streamline workflows that minimize manual effort and operational risk.

Liquidity Manager will be available through U.S. Bank’s treasury management platform SinglePoint, which the bank updated a few weeks back. The new SinglePoint release aims to reduce manual work, deliver actionable insights, optimize common user flows, and help clients uncover operational blind spots.

“Working together, Kyriba and U.S. Bank can elevate liquidity management and cash forecasting for businesses,” said Kyriba CRO Bruno Ferreira. “By combining Kyriba’s secure, trusted AI-enabled technologies with U.S. Bank’s deep payments and banking expertise, we deliver real-time visibility across every account and region. This clarity empowers treasurers and finance teams to make confident decisions exactly when they need to, without guesswork or delays.”

Launching advanced treasury management tools may be U.S. Bank’s way of competing with platforms like Ramp, which are expanding beyond spend management into broader operational finance functions. Ramp, in fact, has proven that there is an appetite for this model, disclosing in a funding announcement yesterday that it is now valued at $32 billion.

By strengthening its digital treasury stack, U.S. Bank positions itself as not just a traditional banking partner, but as a technology-minded bank capable of meeting CFO-level expectations around automation, visibility, and real-time decision support.

Photo by olia danilevich

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Ramp Valued at $32 Billion After $300 Million Financing Round 

Ramp Valued at $32 Billion After $300 Million Financing Round 
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Daily news, Funding
  • Ramp raised $300 million at a $32 billion valuation, bringing its total funding raised to $2.3 billion.
  • The company surpassed $1 billion in annualized revenue, doubled customers year-over-year, and is scaling AI-driven automation across its platform.
  • Ramp is evolving from a corporate card provider into a more holistic finance operations engine, which raises the bar for value creation in corporate spend management.

Corporate card and expense management platform Ramp is unveiling an updated valuation this week after a new funding round. The New York-based company closed $300 million in funding, boosting its valuation to $32 billion and bringing its total raised to $2.3 billion in equity.

The investment was led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, with continued support from existing investors Founders Fund, D1 Capital Partners, Coatue, GIC, Avenir Growth, Thrive Capital, Sutter Hill Ventures, T. Rowe Price, Khosla Ventures, ICONIQ, Glade Brook Capital Partners, Soma Capital, Emerson Collective, 8VC, Lux Capital, Definition Capital, 137 Ventures, General Catalyst, Box Group, Kultura Capital, Pinegrove Venture Partners, Anti Fund, and Stripes. New investors, including Alpha Wave Global, Bessemer Venture Partners, Robinhood Ventures, 1789 Capital, Epicenter Capital, and Coral Capital also participated.

Ramp’s all-in-one solution offers corporate cards with expense management, bill payments, procurement, travel booking, treasury, and automated bookkeeping to help organizations save time, reduce costs, and focus on their core competencies. Ramp was founded in 2019 and has since experienced notable growth. As of November 1, the company has:

  • Generated more than $1 billion in annualized revenue
  • Served over 50,000 customers, doubling the number year-over-year
  • Grown its enterprise customer base by 133% year-over-year, with over 2,200 customers contributing $100,000 or more in annualized revenue.

This growth comes shortly after a busy year of development for Ramp. In January, the company launched Ramp Treasury to hold users’ cash deposits in partnership with First Internet Bank of Indiana. Later in the year, Ramp unveiled multiple Agentic AI solutions, including Agents for Controllers and Agents for AP.

It is clear that Ramp isn’t using Agentic AI simply because it is a buzzword. In October alone, the company’s AI made 26,146,619 decisions across over $10 billion in spend.

These adoption metrics, paired with Ramp’s accelerating AI-powered automation, underscore how the company is positioning its platform as a growth and efficiency engine rather than a traditional spend-control tool. According to Ramp CEO and Co-founder Eric Glyman, “Our goal is to make every customer more profitable. On average, companies that switch to Ramp spend 5% less and grow 12% faster—results that outpace nearly every benchmark. The most disciplined and fastest-growing teams choose Ramp because it helps them scale more efficiently. We are working hard to bring that advantage to every business.”

Ramp’s upward trajectory shows that corporate card fintechs are now competing on more than simply card issuance. In order to win in this space, fintechs must create value beyond cards and expense management to materially improve operational outcomes throughout a client’s organization. As procurement, treasury, travel, and automated accounting converge, Ramp is staking its claim as a leader in the space while raising competitive pressure on both incumbents and newer players alike.

Photo by nappy

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

JPMorgan on Data Access Agreements: “The Free Market Worked”

JPMorgan on Data Access Agreements: “The Free Market Worked”
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Julie's Column, Thought Leadership

In July, JPMorgan Chase (JPMC) began notifying fintech data aggregators that it intended to begin charging significant fees for access to its customers’ bank account information. The shift triggered concern among aggregators about their business models, stirred interest among other banks eyeing similar moves, and raised red flags with regulators concerned about the broader economic fallout. Now, nearly five months later, the bank and its fintech partners have struck a deal on those fees, according to CNBC.

JPMC spokesperson Drew Pusateri said that the bank has updated contracts with aggregators that make up more than 95% of the data pulls on its systems, including Yodlee, Morningstar, and Akoya. Plaid was the first player to mutually agree on a new data access contract, inking a deal in September.

“We’ve come to agreements that will make the open banking ecosystem safer and more sustainable and allow customers to continue reliably and securely accessing their favorite financial products,” Pusateri said in a statement. “The free market worked.”

In this “free market” that Pusateri referenced, JPMC ultimately agreed to charge data aggregators a lower and more predictable price than what was initially proposed in July. While still a paid model, the fact that the terms were negotiated within four months indicates that market pressure, bargaining power, and competitive dynamics shaped the final outcome without the need for regulation.

While the parties declined to disclose specific details regarding the price, as well as the term of the agreements, it is clear that the revised agreements preserve commercial viability for the aggregators while allowing JPMC to monetize the data access.

By agreeing on reasonable terms, aggregators are able to operate with certainty when it comes to data sharing and open banking as the formal agreement brings clarity to open banking operations at a time when the CFPB has paused to revise Section 1033 of Dodd-Frank.

Importantly, today’s announcement marks a sea change in financial services. JPMC, which has historically been a leader in many aspects of banking, has signaled to other firms that they can generate a new revenue stream by leveraging their consumers’ financial data. And given JPMC’s scale and market influence, the move to charge fees will not be an isolated event. Other major banks are now positioned and incentivized to adopt comparable fee structures.

Regardless of the time frame it takes others to adopt a similar strategy, the potential of a new revenue stream will reshape the economics of US open banking over the next 12 to 24 months.

Photo by Savvas Stavrinos

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Trulioo Expands into Credit Decisioning

Trulioo Expands into Credit Decisioning
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Trulioo
  • Trulioo is launching a new credit decisioning tool, adding financial, credit, and risk insights to its global identity platform.
  • The update unifies identity, fraud, risk, and credit intelligence into one workflow, enabling faster, more accurate onboarding powered by AI-driven models.
  • With this expansion, Trulioo shifts from ID verification to full-stack onboarding and risk assessment, putting it in direct competition with Alloy, Prove, Experian, Equifax, and Bureau.

Digital identity platform Trulioo is launching credit decisioning this week. The new capability offers financial, credit, and risk insights through Trulioo’s global identity platform, its tool that connects to hundreds of international data sources to instantly verify people and businesses in nearly every country.

Trulioo’s credit decisioning tool will facilitate smarter evaluation, routing, and decision-making during the onboarding process by bringing identity, fraud, risk, and credit intelligence into a single workflow. The company will leverage its global identity platform to bring these insights into AI-driven models that not only accelerate onboarding but also improve decision accuracy.

“Trulioo is the only solution global enterprises need for KYB,” said Trulioo Chief Product Officer Zac Cohen. “We continue to push the boundaries of innovation, building the most sophisticated engine for onboarding businesses, understanding their risk profiles and driving faster, more confident growth. With credit decisioning, we’re uniting identity, fraud, and credit intelligence to redefine what streamlined, trusted onboarding looks like on a global scale.”

Adding credit decisioning to its identity and fraud intelligence suite, Trulioo is extending itself beyond identity verification. It’s positioning itself as an end-to-end onboarding and risk-assessment platform. This move pushes Trulioo into more direct competition with global decisioning and underwriting players such as Alloy, Prove, Experian, Equifax, and Bureau, while differentiating itself through its broad international coverage.

The credit decisioning tool sits alongside Trulioo’s existing identity verification and fraud intelligence solutions that cover 195 countries and can verify more than 14,000 identity documents and 700 million business entities while checking against more than 6,000 watchlists.

Headquartered in Canada and founded in 2011, Trulioo has raised $475 million. The company has demoed at 10 Finovate events, most recently showcasing its identity platform at FinovateEurope 2023.

Photo by cottonbro studio

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Building Trust: How PrivacyGuard Translates Identity Protection into Diversification

Building Trust: How PrivacyGuard Translates Identity Protection into Diversification
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Speaker series, Streamly

With hundreds of unique fintech solutions available to help diversify your offerings, identity protection may not be at the top of the list. However, as identity fraud becomes increasingly common, differentiating your firm with an identity protection solution may be beneficial for both your firm and your customer.

In this video interview, recorded at FinovateFall 2025 in New York, we explore how PrivacyGuard is turning validation into a competitive edge. I spoke with Christopher D’Aprile, Director of PrivacyGuard, who joined us in a conversation where he explored the latest trends in identity protection, its relevance for banks and credit unions, and actionable strategies for implementation.

“You want to find new products and services to bring to your customers,” said D’Aprile, “but let me be honest with you. Your customer does not want to buy a magazine subscription from a bank. They want something relevant. Identity theft protection is exactly that. If you can adopt that solution, we already have the recipe to turn it into a non-interest revenue-generating machine.”

Connecticut-based PrivacyGuard was founded in 1991 and offers a comprehensive suite of credit reporting, credit monitoring, and identity theft protection services. The company offers alerts from all three credit bureaus and scans the dark web for users’ personal details. PrivacyGuard offers three plans: Identity Protection, Credit Protection, and Total Protection.

D’Aprile serves as Director of PrivacyGuard. He is well-seasoned in the importance of digital identity, having previously held an executive position at Allstate Identity Protection. With more than 30 years of experience driving growth across financial services, insurance, and technology sectors, he specializes in building partnerships with banks and credit unions to deliver identity theft protection solutions that both safeguard consumers and open new non-interest revenue streams.

Photo by Pixabay

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Cash App Debuts 151 Upgrades, Including Stablecoin Support

Cash App Debuts 151 Upgrades, Including Stablecoin Support
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Daily news
  • Block’s Cash App rolled out its largest update ever, adding 151 new features spanning banking, bitcoin, payments, and AI-driven automation.
  • The app will soon let Cash App’s 58 million users send and receive stablecoins, automatically converting between fiat and crypto to bypass legacy payment rails.
  • A new Moneybot feature delivers personalized financial insights, while Cash App Green expands banking perks like 3.5% APY savings and fee-free overdrafts.

Block-owned Cash App unveiled its Fall Release this week. The move marks the brand’s most significant product expansion since it was founded in 2013. The new release brings 151 new features across banking, bitcoin, commerce, peer-to-peer payments, and AI and automation on the platform. 

Among the releases, one of the most relevant is the new stablecoin capability. When it goes live early next year, Cash App’s 58 million customers will receive a blockchain address that will allow them to send and receive stablecoins directly on the platform. When users receive stablecoins, they are automatically converted to fiat currency within the app. Conversely, fiat dollars sent out convert back to stablecoins on-chain. Leveraging the blockchain to transfer funds will help Cash App bypass ACH, card networks, and correspondent banking.

Other notable releases among the 151 announced are:

Cash App Green

Arguably the second most significant piece of the new launch is Cash App Green, a flexible banking program that expands banking tools to more than eight million qualifying customers. Cash App is positioning the banking program as a benefits program, and will pay 3.5% APY on savings, offer free overdraft coverage of up to $200, facilitate no-fee cash withdrawals from in-network ATMs, extend higher borrowing limits, offer free overdraft protection, and lend up to $500 without a credit check. Users can unlock these benefits by spending $500 or more with their card or depositing $300 or more in paychecks each month.

Moneybot

This AI-powered feature offers users real-time insight and personalized suggestions within the app. The feedback, which is based on in-app activity, helps customers budget smarter, identify trends, and build financial confidence. 

Expanded access to credit

Cash App’s lending product, Borrow, is now available to eligible customers in 48 states. This expansion targets underserved populations with low credit scores. Cash App disclosed that 70% of Borrow users have credit scores below 580, while repayment rates remain above 97%.

Expanded teen savings and safety features

Cash App’s teen accounts for users 13 to 17 year of age now earn 3.5% APY on their savings balances. Additionally, the company is releasing new parental controls to allow the primary accountholder to set spending caps, limit features, and approve contacts.

Making bitcoin everyday money

In addition to the stablecoin capabilities mentioned above, Cash App customers will be able to spend, send, and hold bitcoin. When users select USD as a currency for Lightning QR Code payments, they can make the payment without spending or holding bitcoin. Additionally, customers can access a new map to find and pay nearby merchants who accept bitcoin. 

Cash App was founded in 2013. At the time, Cash App most directly competed with Braintree’s Venmo. Twelve years on, Cash App still has its roots in peer-to-peer payments, but has since diversified into a more robust digital banking platform that enables users to hold funds, deposit their paychecks, spend their money, invest, manage their bitcoin, and file their taxes.

Today’s announcement, which comes four months after Cash App launched a group payment feature called Pools, is a clear statement that the company is seeking to compete in the challenger banking arena.

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Gusto Taps SymphonyAI to Protect Small Businesses

Gusto Taps SymphonyAI to Protect Small Businesses
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Gusto
  • Gusto is partnering with SymphonyAI to bring enterprise-grade financial crime protection to its 400,000+ small and mid-sized business clients.
  • SymphonyAI’s risk intelligence platform gives Gusto’s clients faster detection, deeper visibility, and fewer false positives across fraud, AML, and sanctions monitoring.
  • The partnership marks Gusto’s evolution beyond payroll, strengthening its risk management capabilities and expanding its role as a full-scale financial operations platform.

Payroll, benefits, and HR management solutions company Gusto is bringing new benefits to its small business customers today. The California-based company is teaming up with SymphonyAI to offer its small business clients another tool to fight financial crime.

SymphonyAI’s financial crime and risk intelligence platform offers financial crime detection, investigation, and reporting capabilities to more than 2,000 enterprise customers across the globe, including 200 of the top financial institutions. The tools give compliance teams a synchronized view of risk across fraud, AML, and sanctions. As a result, organizations benefit from faster investigations, fewer false positives, and greater transparency.

“Small businesses deserve enterprise-grade protection, and SymphonyAI helps us deliver exactly that,” said Gusto’s Head of Financial Crime Compliance and AML/BSA Officer John Wiethorn. “Their platform gives our team deeper visibility and faster insight so we can stay ahead of risk and keep our customers’ operations safe and seamless.”

SymphonyAI’s financial crime platform enables Gusto’s compliance team to analyze massive transaction volumes, identify risks faster, and minimize false positives on its 400,000+ small- and mid-sized business clients.

“Gusto’s implementation shows how vertical AI delivers tangible, immediate impact,” said SymphonyAI President of the Financial Services Division John Edison. “Our platform automates the entire financial crime lifecycle—from detection and investigation to compliance and reporting—unifying processes that have historically been fragmented. This end-to-end automation is transforming how institutions fight financial crime, improving speed, accuracy, and operational efficiency.”

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. Earlier this fall, Gusto acquired retirement specialist Guideline.

Adding SymphonyAI’s capabilities to its lineup will strengthen Gusto’s risk management framework and mark another step in its evolution from payroll processor to full-scale financial operations platform.

Photo by Ketut Subiyanto

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Fintech Rundown: A Rapid Review of Weekly News

Fintech Rundown: A Rapid Review of Weekly News
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Fintech Rundown

We have two more weeks until the holiday season slowdown, but the fintech news pulse is already beginning to slacken. So far this week, we’re seeing a lot of news in the fraud and compliance spaces, as well as the payments subsector, with Visa and Mastercard reaching a revised $38 billion settlement with merchants. Here is some of the biggest news from this week so far. We’ll continue adding news to this post throughout the week, so stay tuned!

Fraud and security

Agent IQ enhances fraud prevention capabilities with integrated risk-based authentication platform from IDScan.net.

P1FCU strengthens security and member experience with IllumaSHIELD’s Voice Authentication.

Compliance

Solutions By Text launches its first customer with Rich Communication Services (RCS) messaging.

Payments

PayPal brings no-fee Buy Now Pay Later offering to Canada.

Block enables Bitcoin payments for millions of Square sellers.

Visa, Mastercard reach new swipe fee settlement with merchants.

Back Office

Digits automates the monthly close with AI bank reconciliations.

DeFi

Coinbase launches new platform for early access to digital tokens.

Photo by Karola G

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook