Pendo Unveils AI Agent Performance Analytics Solution

Pendo Unveils AI Agent Performance Analytics Solution
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Pendo
  • Software experience management platform Pendo launched its Pendo Agent Analytics solution today.
  • The new offering enables companies to analyze and review the performance of their AI agents as well as measure the adoption rates of the technology.
  • Pendo made its Finovate debut at FinovateSpring 2022. The company is headquartered in Raleigh, North Carolina.

How effective are your AI agents really? A new offering from software experience management platform Pendo is designed to answer that question.

Pendo Agent Analytics, introduced today, enables companies to measure the performance of their AI agents and to measure the adoption of their agentic AI technology as readily as they do for their SaaS applications.

“The shift to intelligent software is happening faster than we could ever imagine, and enterprises are faced with improving their SaaS applications, while accelerating agent and AI innovation,” Pendo CEO and Co-Founder Todd Olson said. “I’m proud that we are supporting customers wherever they are on their transformation journey.”

The new offering is designed to provide companies with systems to help them better understand and optimize the way AI agents have become a part of org charts, workflows, and product roadmaps. From IT teams that have compliance and productivity concerns, to R&D teams focused on business outcomes, achieving greater transparency in AI agent operations is a critical step in the road to broader and more effective adoption of the technology.

To this end, Pendo Agent Analytics provides metrics and reports that track both homegrown and third-party agent operations along with usage of traditional software. The technology also provides insight into how users act before and after they interact with an agent, analyzes conversations with agents to identify prompt trends, and maps agent usage to task completion to help measure ROI.

Headquartered in Raleigh, North Carolina, Pendo made its Finovate debut at FinovateSpring 2022. At the conference, the company demonstrated how its platform helps firms analyze, assess, and act to enhance software investments across online, mobile, SaaS, AI, and agentic applications. With more than 14,000 companies in 163 countries around the world using Pendo’s technology, the company has collected a total of 23 trillion events, providing a wealth of insights for training conversational AI and agentic software systems.

Pendo’s new product offering comes as the company announced a raft of platform enhancements designed to meet the needs of the “agentic era” of AI. These included AI agent deployment tools, optimized user acquisition tools, enhanced support analysis and AI-powered bug reporting, and improved data cleanliness and insights integration.

“Nearly every week our teams are showing me new prototypes and ideas for the future of Pendo. Our summer release includes so much of that work, new features and products that will improve your SaaS foundation and set you up with a strong AI foundation,” Olson said.

Photo by Brandon Griggs on Unsplash

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Grammarly Taps Gr4vy to Power Modular, Scalable Payments

Grammarly Taps Gr4vy to Power Modular, Scalable Payments
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Daily news
  • Grammarly is partnering with Gr4vy to streamline its checkout experience using no-code, cloud-based payment infrastructure, giving it access to 400+ payment service providers without requiring custom integrations.
  • The move reduces development time, lowers transaction costs, and improves approval rates, while also automating recurring billing and maintaining PCI compliance.
  • This partnership highlights a growing trend of software companies using modular payment orchestration to boost agility, conversion, and retention.

Payments infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) company Gr4vy announced today that AI writing assistance platform Grammarly has selected to use it to enhance its checkout experience. Grammarly will use Gr4vy’s no-code cloud system to create bespoke checkout experiences for its users.

Gr4vy will offer Grammarly access to multiple payment service providers (PSPs) without having to directly integrate them into its checkout. This will not only save Grammarly time in the form of development and maintenance, but it will also allow the company to select from the more than 400 different PSPs in Gr4vy’s network. Eliminating the need for Grammarly to use custom-built PSP connections will lower transaction costs, increase approval rates, and speed up time-to-market.

“Grammarly’s decision to use our platform is a testament to the simplicity and flexibility we offer, as well as our ability to deliver efficient and scalable solutions that will drive customer growth and retention,” said Gr4vy’s Founder and CEO John Lunn. “We are thrilled to empower Grammarly with the flexibility it needs to optimize payment processes while focusing on its core mission of helping people and teams do their best work.”

Gr4vy is cloud-native, PCI Level 1-compliant, and enables merchants to set up dedicated instances in specific regions to improve transaction speed and comply with data localization laws. Founded in 2020, the company provides businesses access to a range of PSPs, offers anti-fraud tools, and helps payment service providers optimize their payment stack without the need for IT expertise. In 2022, the California-based company was awarded Top Emerging Fintech Company at the Finovate Awards. Earlier this year, Gr4vy partnered with bike manufacturer Trek to power an online-to-offline payment experience and offer consumers accurate inventory checks and simplified checkout.

In addition to leveraging Gr4vy’s PSP network, Grammarly will also use the payment fintech’s hosted payment fields to securely collect sensitive card data and ensure PCI compliance. Additionally, Grammarly will use Gr4vy’s Account Updater to handle recurring billing transactions efficiently, automating the management of expired cards and ensuring uninterrupted subscription service.

Today’s payments partnership mirrors a broader trend of software companies embracing modular, cloud-native infrastructure to stay agile. When creating a frictionless user experience is paramount and when recurring revenue models are increasingly common, enabling payments orchestration can directly impact conversion rates and retention. The partnership is a good example of how smart payment orchestration is evolving from an operational function into a strategic advantage.

Photo by Jason Leung on Unsplash

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Plaid Partners with Experian; Launches Fraud Prevention Solution Plaid Protect

Plaid Partners with Experian; Launches Fraud Prevention Solution Plaid Protect
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni profile, Experian, Plaid

Financial data network Plaid has been in the fintech headlines of late for its new partnership with data and technology company Experian, and for the launch of its Plaid Protect fraud prevention solution.

“Today we’re launching Plaid Protect: a real-time fraud intelligence system that helps detect and prevent fraud from the moment a user first interacts with your app or service,” Plaid Head of Fraud Alain Meier wrote on the company blog. “By drawing on fraud signals across a billion devices in the Plaid network, Protect goes beyond what any single company can see—surfacing fraud patterns that exist between linked bank accounts, connections to financial apps and services, and more.”

Plaid Protect is built on an adaptive, machine learning-powered risk engine that provides real-time risk scores and attributes that evolve as the user context changes—from initial contact during onboarding through account linking to ongoing user activity. Calling their fraud model Trust Index (Ti), Plaid’s first production model can access 10,000 high-signal attributes including cross-app patterns, device history, bank account risk signals, and more. The Trust Index leverages network intelligence, bank account risk, consortium feedback, and advanced identity intelligence, keying in on fraud signals that are difficult for criminals to manipulate or fake. Plaid reported that one of the solution’s early adopters found in testing that enhancing verification for just 5% of its users would have intercepted nearly 40% of first-party fraud.

Currently available in beta, Plaid Protect provides an intuitive dashboard that uses semantic search powered by natural language. This means that users can ask questions about the data in plain English (i.e., “all users who opened new accounts in the last 30 days”) instead of needing to use SQL or custom queries.

“With this new lens on fraud, companies can reduce fraud losses, dramatically improve conversion, and make smarter decisions from the very first user interaction and every step thereafter,” Meier wrote.

Plaid’s new product announcement comes days after the company reported that it had partnered with fellow Finovate alum, Experian. The two firms have entered into a strategic collaboration designed to help businesses access cashflow solutions and expand financial inclusion.

“This is just the beginning of what we believe will be a very powerful relationship with Plaid,” Group President Financial Services of Experian North America Scott Brown said. “Together, we’re helping to accelerate the adoption of cashflow insights to drive faster decisions, stronger portfolios, and new financial opportunities for consumers. We’re achieving this while delivering an experience that is transparent and provides consumers with control every step of the way.”

Courtesy of the collaboration, financial institutions can access Plaid’s secure connectivity capabilities—used by 50% of all US bank account holders—and Experian’s expertise in advanced credit analytics and decisioning from a single solution. Once a borrower agrees to share cashflow data from their bank account as part of the loan application process, Plaid’s consumer reporting agency generates a Consumer Report on their behalf. The report is delivered securely to Experian which analyzes the applicant’s data, produces a predictive Cashflow Score or set of Cashflow Attributes, and delivers it to the lender in near real time.

The report features up to two years of historical data and cashflow information from 12,000+ financial institutions. Experian reports that its Cashflow Score provides an increase of as much as 25% in predictive performance compared to scores that rely on more conventional credit data. The new offering will empower banks, credit unions, and consumer lenders to accelerate decision-making, make more accurate risk assessments, and improve borrower outcomes.

“Our work with Experian is about removing long-standing barriers, making it easier for lenders to access consumer-permissioned data and make better decisions,” Plaid Chief Operating Officer Eric Sager said. “Together, we’re building a more inclusive, intelligent, and competitive financial system.”

Founded in 2013 by Zach Perret and William Hockey and headquartered in San Francisco, Plaid introduced itself to Finovate audiences at our developers conference, FinDEVr Silicon Valley 2014. In the years since, the company has grown into a major financial data network covering more than 12,000 financial institutions in the US, Canada, UK, and Europe. With partners including Venmo and fellow Finovate alums SoFi and Betterment, Plaid works with fintechs, Fortune 500 companies, and leading banks to enable their customers to connect their financial accounts to the apps and services they count on every day.

Photo by Marek Ruczaj on Unsplash

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Big Brands Are Leveraging Stablecoins– Are You Next?

Big Brands Are Leveraging Stablecoins– Are You Next?
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Julie's Column

Stablecoins are blowing up the financial ecosystem. They are quickly evolving from a crypto-native concept into a mainstream financial tool. As proof, we saw news last week that major retailers Walmart and Amazon are exploring leveraging their own stablecoins.

If retailers are jumping onto the stablecoin bandwagon, should your firm or fintech be considering doing so, too? To answer that, let’s take a look at the benefits of leveraging proprietary stablecoins. We’ll consider Amazon’s and Walmart’s possible strategy and discuss pros and cons of doing so.

Walmart

Walmart filed a patent for a USD-backed digital currency in 2019. The retailer would use the stablecoin for internal settlement, supply chain payments, employee payroll, and in-store consumer purchases. As an additional benefit of leveraging stablecoins, Walmart would be able to provide a direct-to-consumer financial product geared toward underbanked customers that would offer a low-fee, efficient alternative to traditional banking.

Amazon

While not officially confirmed, Amazon has also explored blockchain-based payments. The Wall Street Journal revealed (paywall) that Amazon has listed job postings hinting at its crypto ambitions. The retailer could use stablecoins to power consumer incentives such as rewards programs, marketplace settlements, and cross-border payments.

Benefits of stablecoin usage

Both retailers have massive internal ecosystems that stand to benefit by reducing interchange fees by eliminating or reducing third-party payment processing fees from traditional players such as Visa and Mastercard. They would also benefit from the real-time settlement that stablecoins offer, which would save costs on both sides of the transaction. Additionally, stablecoins could foster more loyalty if customers are incentivized by rewards built into stablecoin usage. Control would be another benefit, as stablecoins could offer retailers full control over the payment rail and user data, and they could leverage stablecoins to enhance fraud detection efforts and improve analytics.

It is worth noting that neither retailer has officially announced plans to issue a stablecoin, as that hinges on the passage of the Genius Act, which, if passed, would offer a regulatory framework for stablecoins.

Should you issue your own stablecoin?

These benefits sound appealing, but does all of this mean that your firm should launch its own stablecoin? The answer is likely, “no,” but here are three major things to consider before launching your own.

1) What is your use case?

If your business processes a high volume of payments or regularly encounters steep interchange fees, issuing a stablecoin could help lower transaction costs. For companies that move money across borders or between vendors, stablecoins offer the advantage of near-instant settlement. And for consumer-facing businesses that offer rewards or loyalty programs, stablecoins present an opportunity to merge loyalty and payment into a single, seamless digital currency.

2) What is your level of consumer trust?

If customers already trust you with financial transactions or stored value (such as gift cards or mobile wallet accounts), you may already have the trust foundation needed to support a proprietary token. Additionally, you’ll need some sort of ecosystem that facilitates spending, saving, and earning that customers trust and frequently engage with in order to facilitate stablecoin transactions.

3) Are you prepared for regulatory implications?

Firms with skilled, in-house blockchain capabilities are best poised to succeed when it comes to launching their own stablecoin. Make sure you have resources in place to engage with regulators on stablecoin licensing, AML/KYC, and reserve requirements and that you can support one-to-one asset backing.

Alternatives to issuing

As with many things in financial services, the majority of firms will have more success partnering with an existing stablecoin provider when it comes to leveraging stablecoins. If your firm can’t rationalize issuing your own stablecoin using the framework above, consider working with established issuers like Circle, which issues USDC, or Paxos, which issues PYUSD, or another alternative. This will reduce development cost and time, eliminate legal requirements, and reduce operational costs. It can also facilitate a faster time-to-market without the need to build infrastructure or receive regulatory approvals.

Alternatively, offer multi-stablecoin support by enabling wallet use for USDC, PYUSD, or other popular stablecoins. Leveraging this existing infrastructure can help reduce risk while still reaping the benefits of stablecoin usage.

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SmartStreamAir Expansion Takes Company into the Insurance Business

SmartStreamAir Expansion Takes Company into the Insurance Business
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, SmartStream
  • Transaction Lifecycle Management (TLM) solutions provider SmartStream is entering the insurance business with the latest expansion of its reconciliation and data management platform, SmartStream Air.
  • SmartStream Air leverages AI and machine learning to automate the process of reconciling and managing large volumes of data.
  • Founded in 2000 and headquartered in London, SmartStream made its FinovateEurope debut in 2022.

London-based financial Transaction Lifecycle Management (TLM) solutions provider SmartStream is bringing its technology to the insurance sector. The company announced an expansion of its AI-powered reconciliation and data management platform, SmartStream Air, that will help insurers deal with rising transaction volumes, data quality challenges, and an increasingly complex regulatory environment.

For companies that have front office systems that need to report to back office systems or are transitioning from legacy infrastructures to new technologies, SmartStream checks and assures data integrity throughout the process. SmartStream Air enables institutions to reconcile and manage large volumes of data, leveraging AI and machine learning to automate this process.

In the insurance business, this means identifying and resolving discrepancies in data such as payments, reimbursements, claims, policyholder transactions, or investment operations. SmartStream Air can serve numerous insurance-specific use cases including premium collection and processing, commission payments, claims management, financial reporting, reinsurance settlements, policyholder refunds, investment account reconciliation, data validation, risk and reserve management, expense tracking, and fraud detection.

SmartStream’s announcement comes as regulations like IFRS 17 and DORA create new challenges for insurance companies when it comes to accounting and operational resilience, respectively. These challenges—and others—have exposed both operational inefficiencies and compliance risks. And while analysts such as Celent’s Karlyn Carnahan expect this to be a “transformative year in insurance,” there is still a sense that “getting arms around AI from a compliance and use case perspective is difficult.” To this, SmartStream’s AI-powered solution serves as opportunity, in Carnahan’s words, to deploy “proven technologies from other industries” that will help insurers grow effectively and efficiently.

SmartStream Global Head of Reconciliations Robin Hasson highlighted this point. “Our heritage and experience in working with the world’s top 100 banks gives us a strong foundation to support the insurance sector as firms identify use cases for increased automation.” Hasson added, “We’re already partnering with leading insurers to implement AI-powered solutions that enable data-driven agility. In today’s environment, insurers must respond swiftly to market shifts and customer expectations, or risk falling behind due to inefficiencies and increased exposure.”

Founded in 2000, SmartStream made its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope 2022. At the conference, the company demonstrated how SmartStream Air provides fast AI and machine learning data quality analysis without requiring training or an IT skillset. The company has more than 2,000 customers and analyzes more than one billion SaaS transactions monthly.

This spring, SmartStream launched its RegRegistry Service as part of its Reference Data Services (RDS) business. The company’s RegRegistry Service identifies counterparty and trading venues as required by regulatory authorities such as ESMA, FCA, GLEIF, CFTC, and ISO MIC. Also this year, SmartStream announced a partnership with fellow Finovate alum Finastra to extend collateral management workflows across treasury and capital markets.

Photo by Chris Panas

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Autobooks Taps Fundbox to Launch Autobooks Capital

Autobooks Taps Fundbox to Launch Autobooks Capital
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Autobooks, Daily news
  • Autobooks is launching Autobooks Capital, a short-term working capital tool embedded directly into its platform and powered by Fundbox.
  • The embedded lending experience helps financial institutions retain small business clients by offering fast, flexible funding without requiring third-party apps or extra accounts.
  • By partnering with Fundbox, Autobooks is enabling over 2,000 financial institutions to deliver capital access seamlessly inside their digital banking platforms.

Small businesses often face a frustrating gap between sending an invoice and getting paid. Payment and accounting platform Autobooks is seeking to change that with the launch of Autobooks Capital, a funding product embedded within the Autobooks platform. The new short-term working capital tool is powered by embedded capital infrastructure provider Fundbox.

With fast underwriting, competitive rates, and flexible repayment options, Autobooks Capital is designed to complement traditional lending programs by helping small businesses access working capital. By embedding Fundbox’s funding tools directly into its platform, Autobooks enables financial institutions to retain customers, compete with alternative lenders, and serve as the primary operating hub for small business clients.

“While Fintech 1.0 tried to sidestep financial institutions, we believe that working with banks where small businesses already manage their finances is critical to addressing the trillion-dollar SMB capital opportunity,” said Fundbox CEO Prashant Fuloria.

Teaming up with Fundbox will allow Autobooks to offer flexible funding directly within its platform without redirecting the borrower or requiring extra accounts. By placing Autobooks Capital within the Autobooks product suite, the company is able to offer small business owners working capital right when and where they need it. Autobooks’ product suite also includes digital invoicing, payment acceptance, automated bookkeeping, and financial reporting.

The embedded aspect of Autobooks Capital is key. Embedding lending tools directly into digital banking platforms helps turn lending products into seamless, context-aware experiences. Instead of sending small businesses to third-party lenders or apps, Autobooks Capital meets business owners where they already manage cash flow tasks such as invoicing, payments, and bookkeeping.

“The launch of Autobooks Capital gives financial institutions a powerful new way to support small business growth with fast, flexible funding, delivered right inside digital banking,” said Autobooks CEO Steve Robert. “By partnering with Fundbox and leveraging our distribution network of over 2,000 financial institutions, we’re embedding capital access directly into the banking experience—in a way that complements and does not compete with financial institutions. It’s seamless, intuitive, and built to help bridge short-term cash flow gaps for small businesses.”

Founded in 2013, Fundbox is a digital-first provider of capital infrastructure for small businesses. Its platform enables customers to seamlessly embed financial tools into their own user experiences. To date, Fundbox has helped over 150,000 small businesses access more than $6 billion in capital.

With more than 2,000 financial institutions in its distribution network, Autobooks is well-positioned to scale this offering rapidly. As embedded finance continues to mature, embedded products like Autobooks Capital will be a successful way for small businesses to access capital from inside their banking app.

Autobooks was founded in 2015 and now serves more than 60,000 small businesses with a range of tools including digital payment acceptance, online invoicing, online enrollment, accounting, bookkeeping, financial reporting, billpay, and now lending. The company white labels its technology to firms including TD Bank, Alkami, Bottomline, CSI, FIS, Jack Henry, NCR, and Q2.

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Fintech Rundown: A Rapid Review of Weekly News

Fintech Rundown: A Rapid Review of Weekly News
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Autobooks, Experian, Fintech Rundown, Salt Edge

With Father’s Day behind us and the first official day of summer ahead, we keeping our eye on the fintech headlines as the summer news slump approaches. Be sure to check in with Finovate’s Fintech Rundown all week long for the latest announcements in the industry.

Open banking

Crypto / DeFi

Credit unions

Payments

Fraud prevention

Lending

  • Baker Hill unveils enhancements to its platform to help financial institutions better manage commercial real estate, CECL compliance, AI-driven compliance, agricultural spreading and financial analysis.
  • Vine Financial secures seed funding, forms Board of Directors.
  • African remittance startup LemFi buys UK card issuer.
  • AKUVO automates repossessions and adds RDN.
  • Finastra’s Filogix boosts Gen AI capabilities to empower mortgage brokers.

Digital banking

  • Digital banking solution provider for small businesses, Autobooks, introduces Autobooks Capital, powered by Fundbox, integrating business lending directly within the Autobooks platform.

Photo by Josh Willink

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Finovate Global Southeast Asia: Payments, Lending, and the Rise of Islamic Digital Banking

Finovate Global Southeast Asia: Payments, Lending, and the Rise of Islamic Digital Banking
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: AMLYZE, Finovate Global, Mambu, MoneyGram, Revolut, VISA

This week’s edition of Finovate Global showcases recent fintech news from three countries in southeast Asia: Vietnam, Malaysia, and the Philippines.

Visa brings Click to Pay to Vietnam

A growing number of Vietnamese banks have become early adopters of Visa’s Click to Pay service. Click to Pay provides a faster, more secure, and convenient checkout experience for online transactions by enabling cardholders to make their purchases with fewer clicks—including relieving them of the need to manually enter card and shipping details. Instead, Click to Pay allows users to identify themselves through their email address or mobile phone number. The service uses advanced security technology—including the Visa Token Service—to keep transaction data secure and is designed to meet EMVCo standards for digital checkout.

“With e-commerce being so prevalent in Vietnam and aligning with the Vietnamese government’s digitization objectives, we are pleased to introduce this solution through our banking partners,” Visa Country Manager for Vietnam and Laos Dung Dang said. “Click to Pay with Visa has the potential to transform online shopping and support the development of a more connected digital economy.”

Cardholders with Vietnam Technological and Commercial Joint Stock Bank (Techcombank) and Vietnam Prosperity Joint-Stock Commercial Bank (VPBank) can enroll in the Click to Pay service through their banking apps or with participating online merchants. Visa has also teamed up with Vietnamese payment platform Payoo, which will integrate Click to Pay across its merchant ecosystem. Visa announced that cardholders using Click to Pay at Payoo-affiliated merchants will be eligible for exclusive promotional offers “in the near future”. Additional merchants are expected to be added in the coming months.

BNPL provider Atome secures $75 million to support Philippines operations

Singapore-based Buy Now, Pay Later fintech Atome has received an asset-back financing facility of $75 million. The financing, from Lending Ark Asia Secured Private Debt Fund, will help support Atome’s expansion in the Philippines.

“The Philippines is a key growth market for Atome,” Atome Chief Commercial Officer Andy Tan said. “This financing reflects the continued confidence in Atome’s ability to deliver inclusive, risk-managed credit at scale.”

Atome is part of Advance Intelligence Group, a fintech and AI platform backed by investors such as SoftBank Vision Fund 2, Warburg Pincus, Northstar, and Singapore-based EDBI. This week’s funding comes as the company has been expanding its BNPL offering throughout Southeast Asia, bringing alternative credit solutions to unbanked and underbanked populations in the region. The financing also arrives one year after Atome secured a three-year term loan facility from EvolutionX Debt Capital.

“The launch of innovative and fit-for-market solutions like the Atome Card (PayLater Anywhere) and lending products demonstrates their ability to expand offerings while leveraging local market expertise,” EvolutionX Partner Rahul Shah said.

Malaysia’s KAF Digital Bank goes live with Temenos

The growth of Islamic digital banking is one of the most underappreciated developments in international fintech. Helping power this trend are companies like Temenos which recently partnered with Malaysia’s KAF Digital Bank as the institution launches its new Islamic digital bank in the country.

“Powered by Temenos SaaS, KAF Digital Bank is redefining Shariah-compliant banking with smarter, simpler financial solutions and a seamless, customer-first digital experience,” KAF Digital Bank CEO Rafiza Ghazali said. “The successful go-live and early access customer launch marks a key milestone in our journey, enabling Malaysians to take control of their financial futures with greater confidence.”

Temenos SaaS will enable KAF Digital Bank to offer a range of Shariah-compliant financial solutions that make financial management easier for customers who require or simply prefer Islamic banking. The offering includes comprehensive core and digital banking services with payments, analytics, and Temenos Data Hub on Microsoft Azure cloud infrastructure. In a statement, Temenos APAC Managing Director Will Dale noted the growth and importance of the Islamic banking customer in the country.

“This go-live not only strengthens Temenos’ regional footprint in SaaS, but also shows the unique breadth of functionality and advanced technology we deliver,” Dale said. “With proven capabilities tailored to the Malaysian market and Islamic banking, Temenos SaaS empowers KAF Digital Bank to achieve faster time-to-market, greater efficiency, and drive future growth.”

KAF Digital Bank secured approval to operate as a digital bank at the beginning of the year, and will be the fourth digital bank to operate in the country. The bank was launched by KAF Investment Bank Berhad, in partnership with Carsome, MoneyMatch, Jirnexu, and StoreHub. KAF Investment Bank Berhad was established in 1975.

Here is our look at fintech innovation around the world.

Middle East and Northern Africa

  • Saudi Arabian finance app tiqmo partnered with global payments network MoneyGram.
  • Revolut reported that it has entered talks with the Bank of Israel to expand operations in the country.
  • MENA-based financial institution Mashreq launched its NEO PLUS Saver Account.

Central and Southern Asia

Latin America and the Caribbean

  • Brazilian fintech Matera partnered with Circle to integrate stablecoins as a payment method.
  • Cross-border payment platform dLocal teamed up with payment infrastructure solutions provider JusPay.
  • Tether announced an investment in Chiliean crypto exchange Orionx to support financial inclusion and digital payment adoption in Latin America.

Asia-Pacific

  • Visa launched its Click to Pay solution in Vietnam.
  • Buy Now, Pay Later provider Atome secured a $75 million asset-backed financing facility to support its expansion to the Philippines.
  • A new trading platform, moomoo, has gone live in New Zealand.

Sub-Saharan Africa

  • Africa.com profiled African fintech giant Paystack.
  • Online payment service provider PayU GPO launched account-to-account payments in Nigeria.
  • Critics warn that Kenya’s 1.5% tax on crypto transactions could hamper the development of the country’s fintech industry.

Central and Eastern Europe

  • Berlin-based paytech Payrails raised $32 million in Series A funding.
  • Lithuania’s largest credit union, Lietuvos centrinė kredito unija (LCKU), inked a long-term agreement with regtech AMLYZE.
  • German SaaS cloud banking platform Mambu announced that Sweden-based Marginalen Bank has migrated to its core.

Photo by Pixabay

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Coinbase Unveils New Business Platform

Coinbase Unveils New Business Platform
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Coinbase
  • Coinbase announced plans to launch Coinbase Business, a crypto operating account designed to help small businesses send, receive, and manage crypto payments with no fees.
  • The platform offers instant settlements, high-yield USDC savings of up to 4.1% APY, and integrations with QuickBooks and Xero to streamline crypto-powered financial workflows.
  • With this move, Coinbase enters the commercial crypto space, competing with Circle and Fireblocks.

Crypto exchange platform and wallet Coinbase is expanding its horizons into the business world. The California-based company revealed plans to launch Coinbase Business, a crypto operating account that small businesses can use to manage payments, crypto assets, and automated payouts.

“At Coinbase, we’ve spent over a decade building the trusted foundation for the cryptoeconomy to increase economic freedom around the world,” the company announced on its blog. “Now, we’re bringing that same security, scale, and compliance to everyday businesses with Coinbase Business—a modern financial stack built with the speed and scale of crypto.”

The new, fee-free accounts will allow businesses to benefit from the fast, borderless, and low-cost aspects of transacting in crypto and stablecoins. Coinbase built its Business accounts to streamline financial workflows and create a single place for businesses to send and receive payments, manage crypto assets, and automate payouts.

Coinbase Business is designed for startups managing global contractors, ecommerce companies accepting stablecoin payments, DAOs distributing tokens, or service providers working with clients in emerging markets. With automated USDC payouts and integration with QuickBooks and Xero, Coinbase is allowing businesses to leverage crypto as not just an investment tool, but also use it as a part of their working capital infrastructure.

Among the features of Coinbase Business are: crypto payments with instant settlements, no delays, and no chargebacks; the ability to buy, sell, and exchange crypto directly from the business account; high interest savings of up to 4.1% APY earned on USDC; simplified onboarding; and streamlined accounting with reconciliation into QuickBooks and Xero.

Coinbase’s entrance into the commercial space highlights a growing interest that small businesses have shown in crypto infrastructure. As traditional banking systems remain slow, expensive, and siloed across regions, crypto can serve as an alternative for faster money movement, especially across borders. With Coinbase Business, companies can avoid high foreign exchange fees, streamline vendor payments, and integrate crypto into day-to-day operations without needing specialized knowledge.

The launch places Coinbase in competition with other crypto-native business tools like Circle’s USDC treasury services, Fireblocks, and even legacy fintech platforms that are starting to explore stablecoins. Coinbase, however, can differentiate itself with its built-in user base, regulatory compliance, and direct access to a deep liquidity pool via its exchange.

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Klarna Unveils New Debit Card Powered by Marqeta

Klarna Unveils New Debit Card Powered by Marqeta
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Daily news, Klarna, Marqeta
  • Klarna and Marqeta are launching a new debit card powered by Visa Flexible Credential (VFC), allowing users to pay now or later with the same card.
  • The Klarna Card marks a shift from BNPL-only into mainstream payments, which supports consumers’ demand for flexible, app-connected spending tools.
  • The launch supports Klarna’s pre-IPO growth strategy, which includes partnerships with Clover and Walmart as the company continues to mull its public debut.

BNPL giant Klarna has teamed up with card issuing platform Marqeta to power the Klarna Card: a new debit card powered by Visa Flexible Credential (VFC) that offers flexible payment options.

This development follows Marqeta’s move in July of 2024 to become the first issuer processor in the US certified for VFC. Using VFC, Marqeta will enable Klarna Card users to pay at the time of the transaction, or to pay later using the same card. Klarna is currently trialing the Klarna Card and plans to roll it out to a broader US user base later this year.

This isn’t the first collaboration between Marqeta and Klarna, who first teamed up in 2018 when Marqeta agreed to power Klarna’s virtual cards in the US. Since then, the two companies have expanded and Marqeta now supports Klarna in six countries.

“The future of payments is flexible, and we’re proud to enable this new offering together with Visa,” said Marqeta Chief Product and Engineering Officer Rahul Shah. “Our ongoing partnership with Klarna is a true testament to what’s possible with Marqeta’s platform and how we enable our customers to grow and innovate at global scale.”

Releasing the Klarna Card is a notable evolution for Klarna, shifting its focus from short-term BNPL loans into mainstream spending habits. By enabling “pay now” or “pay later” choices on the same card, Klarna and Marqeta are blurring the lines between credit and debit by offering a single, flexible product that caters to consumers’ expectations for control and choice at checkout.

Klarna isn’t the first BNPL player to expand into card-based products. California-based Affirm launched its own debit+ card in 2021 and just recently surpassed two million debit cards.

Marqeta was founded in 2009 to provide infrastructure and tools to help companies build and manage their own payment programs. The company enables developers to launch and scale new programs with flexibility. Headquartered in California, Marqeta processed almost $300 billion in annual payments volume in 2024.

“Through our continued partnership with Marqeta and Visa, we’re evolving the Klarna Card into a truly dynamic and versatile payment experience,” said Klarna Chief Marketing Officer David Sandström. “We’re excited to continue innovating alongside Marqeta as we scale the Klarna Card to provide smart, seamless payments that empower smarter, more informed shoppers everywhere.”

The news announcement comes as Klarna has been strategically ramping up its public presence in preparation for going public. While the company postponed its IPO plans earlier this year, it has partnered with Clover for in-store BNPL, signed an agreement to serve as Walmart’s BNPL provider, and announced that it reached 100 million active consumers in April 2025. 

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Breaking News: First Wave of Demos Announced for FinovateFall 2025

Breaking News: First Wave of Demos Announced for FinovateFall 2025
By Heather Stowell Posted on
Categories: FinovateFall 2025, Marketing

FinovateFall returns returns to New York this September with a best-in-class demo lineup. 

Over 60 companies will have just 7 minutes to show why they’re industry leaders and disruptors. And then you’ll decide who takes home the coveted Best of Show award. Make sure you’re there to see it!

Curated to reflect fintech’s state of play, this year’s demo lineup hits all the high notes for emerging tech. Here’s why to tune in: 

  • First impressions matter: Delight new customers with a personalized onboarding switch kit
  • Plant seeds early: Supercharge teens’ digital banking experience and deposit growth
  • Break the scam spell: Disrupt high-risk situations with AI trained on human vulnerabilities and exploit techniques 
  • Strike (more) gold: Automate 90% of client interactions to manage (and build) even more wealth
  • Mine your data: Transform scattered data into an intelligent ecosystem with more opportunities for growth and automation 
  • Raise your shields: Combat the rising tide of deepfakes and synthetic identities without customer inconvenience
  • Help them nest: Nurture first-time homebuyers from curiosity to closing with a personalized journey

And here’s who you’ll meet:

Are you a fintech or tech company? Demo applications are still open—if you’re working on something new and groundbreaking in fintech, apply now.

Are you a financial institution, venture capitalist, or another leader in the finserv space? Early-bird delegate passes expire THIS FRIDAY, JUNE 13. Register today!

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Streamly Snapshot: What the Great Wealth Transfer Means for Banks and Fintechs

Streamly Snapshot: What the Great Wealth Transfer Means for Banks and Fintechs
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: FinovateSpring 2025, Speaker series, Streamly

For decades, the idea of generational wealth transfer has been more of a long-term planning theme than a present-day priority. But that priority is beginning to change. With trillions of dollars moving from Baby Boomers to Gen X, Millennials, and Gen Z over the next two decades, banks and fintechs are staring down a pivotal question: how will they capture the attention and loyalty of younger, digitally native inheritors?

In a recent Streamly interview, Tapp Engine CEO Will Dolan spoke about this massive economic shift and the opportunities it presents for financial institutions. He explained that the winners in this space will be those who not only meet younger generations on the digital platforms they use every day, but also those who understand the emotional context of wealth and inheritance in modern families.

“Technology has become such an important parat of everybody’s day-to-day lives… people have a lot more information at their disposal now that they’ve every had…. How do you engage with people out there that you want to draw into the opportunities that your company possesses? If you’re not digital, if you’re not thinking AI, if you’re not thinking mobile, you really need to re-think your strategy because that’s the way that most people are looking to utilize solutions, consume information, and companies really need to respond to that.”

Founded in 2019, Tapp Engine is a digital experience platform that helps financial institutions thrive in the digital age by modernizing customer engagement through embedded tools and adaptive experiences. Instead of offering static interfaces or one-size-fits-all financial products, Tapp Engine enables banks and fintechs to build modular, white-labeled experiences tailored to users’ life stages and financial goals. With features like real-time personalization, guided decision flows, and behavioral insights, Tapp Engine helps turn generic banking apps into trusted, go-to financial companions.

As President of Tapp Engine, Dolan brings a human-centered lens to a category that often defaults to technology-first thinking. His insights reflect years of experience working at the intersection of product design, user experience, and fintech innovation.

Photo by cottonbro studio

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