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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.
India-based fintech Intellect Design Arena introduced its AI-first payments platform, Intellect Payments, this week. The announcement is part of the firm’s continued expansion into the US.
The new offering will help banks and financial institutions take advantage of a US real-time payments market that analysts expect to be worth $2 billion by 2030.
Intellect Design Arena made its Finovate debut at FinovateSpring 2025. The company was founded in 1993 and serves more than 500 customers in 60+ countries.
Intellect Design Arena has launched its AI-first payments platform, Intellect Payments. Part of the Indian company’s US market expansion, the new offering integrates with existing core systems, channels, and operations to allow for incremental modernization rather than large-scale replacement. The technology relies on a low-code/no-code composable framework, making it easy to quickly deploy new payment rails as institutions scale. Intellect Design Arena’s Purple Fabric AI intelligently validates and enriches payments before they enter the flow, using real-time anomaly detection and exception prediction as transactions route, execute, and settle via a centralized control plane.
“Banks face a binary choice: lead the payment transformation or risk becoming outpaced by competitors,” Intellect Design Arena’s Manish Maakan said. Maakan is Executive President & Group Chief Revenue Officer and CEO of Wholesale Banking. “As real-time payments scale, incremental upgrades are no longer sufficient. Banks need AI-first payment platforms designed specifically for the realities of regulated banking—platforms that combine speed, resilience, and operational intelligence without adding complexity. American banks need partners who understand their infrastructure, their competitive pressures, and their growth ambitions. That is exactly what we are focused on delivering in the US market.”
Intellect Payments is built on eMACH.ai principles—eMACH.ai is the company’s comprehensive, composable, and contextual open finance platform, launched in 2023—and purpose-built Pay9 architecture. The platform’s AI models work at pre- and in-flight decision points to support anomaly detection, exception prediction, and operational decisioning. The new solution delivers a single orchestration layer across major US payment networks, including TCH RTP, FedNow, ACH, Fedwire, and SWIFT.
Intellect Design Arena’s offering comes at a time when banks and other financial institutions are pursuing opportunities arising from the growth of instant payments. Analysts estimate that real-time payments in the US could reach $2 billion by 2030, with an annual growth rate of 40%. And while a sizable number of businesses have indicated an interest in instant payments—with a growing minority of them willing to switch banks to secure this functionality—many banks, nearly two-thirds of them according to analysts, have yet to join instant payment networks.
Founded in 1993 and headquartered in Chennai, India, Intellect Design Arena made its Finovate debut at FinovateSpring 2025. At the conference, the company demonstrated its no-code platform that empowers banks to quickly build and launch role-based digital journeys for corporate customers. Intellect Design Arena’s suite of solutions ranges from wholesale and consumer banking, treasury, capital markets, and insurance to help banks and other financial institutions modernize their operations, lower costs, and remain competitive. With 500+ customers in more than 60 countries, Intellect Design Arena counts six out of the top 10 North American banks, five out of the top 15 Middle Eastern banks, seven out of the top 10 Southeast Asia and ANZ banks, nine of the top 10 European banks, and 13 out of the top 15 Indian banks among its clients.
Intellect Design Arena’s new product and US expansion announcement comes just days after the company announced a multi-year partnership with Canada-based, independent mutual fund dealer and national MGA Carte Financial Group. The partnership will integrate Intellect Design Arena’s Governance, Risk & Compliance (GRC) platform—powered by Purple Fabric—into Carte’s regulatory, onboarding, and governance workflows. This will enhance speed, transparency, and accuracy.
“Securing this flagship partnership with Carte Financial Group is a defining win for Intellect as we expand our footprint across North America, specifically into Canada,” said Banesh Prabhu, CEO of IntellectAI; Insurance, Wealth & Capital Markets, a division of Intellect Design Arena. “This milestone reflects our strong alignment with Carte’s vision of transforming compliance into a strategic advantage and showcases the confidence they have placed in our technology and approach.”
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.
A look at the companies demoing at FinovateEurope in London on February 10. Register today using this link and save 20%.
Elephant
Elephant by Pipl delivers identity intelligence and fraud signals to help businesses verify users, detect risk, and make confident decisions across onboarding, payments, and compliance.
Features
Identity resolution (fully GDPR compliant)
Actionable fraud and trust signals
Faster, more accurate onboarding decisions
Who’s it for?
Banks, fintech lenders, payment providers, marketplaces, and digital platforms.
Opentech
Opentech’s OpenPay for Merchants (O4M) brings Buy Now, Pay Later into merchant-owned journeys, turning checkout into a new distribution channel for bank consumer credit.
Features
Offers merchant touchpoints as a consumer credit distribution channel
Delivers a pre-qualified customer base for consumer credit offers
Provides access to detailed spending data
Who’s it for?
Banks and institutions offering consumer credit. Card issuers willing to offer payments products embedded into digital assets of merchants.
Sea.dev
Sea.dev automates business underwriting workflows, eliminating copy-paste and document collection so that credit analysts can focus on higher-value analysis, faster decisions, and growth.
Features
Embeds underwriting-grade AI capabilities straight into existing workflows
Enables expert teams with human-in-the-loop control
What trends are driving fintech innovation in the UK and Europe as 2026 begins?
With FinovateEurope 2026 kicking off in just two weeks, we are showcasing some of the major themes in banking and financial services that will be addressed—on the demo stage as well as through our keynote addresses, fireside chats, and panel discussions—when the conference begins on Tuesday, 10 February.
From agentic AI to post-quantum cryptography, the enabling technologies of today are transforming banking and financial services. Making the most of these innovations to better serve customers, create new revenue streams, and successfully compete in an ever-more complex marketplace is the goal of every banker and financial services professional. Come see the solutions for yourself this year at FinovateEurope 2026.
Innovations in Verification, Fraud Prevention, and Workflow Automation
From the demo stage, expect to see a range of innovations in identity verification and fraud prevention. With the proliferation of technologies ranging from faster payments to agentic AI to digital assets, ensuring that consumers and businesses are able to engage in these services safely has become increasingly important. Additionally, with technologies like AI empowering a new generation of fraudsters and financial criminals, a wide range of innovators are developing solutions that target specific vulnerabilities and attack vectors with continuous surveillance and defense.
Also among the top trends reflected in the demoing companies at this year’s FinovateEurope are innovations in embedded finance and open finance. As paths toward unlocking new revenue streams and deepening customer engagement, both embedded finance and open finance offer financial institutions unique opportunities and are increasingly supported by regulatory guidance in both the UK and across Europe.
Another area where we will see a great deal of innovation this year at FinovateEurope is in workflow automation and system modernization. A number of companies will be demoing solutions that do everything from enhancing developer productivity to accelerating compliance readiness to managing complex models and calculations for banks and other financial institutions. The sheer variety of startups in this space—many of them hailing from Eastern and Central European nations—is a testament to the range of challenges that fintech is capable of solving. It also speaks well of the number of technologists from outside of fintech that are turning their talents toward problems in banking and financial services.
Modernization and Transformation in the Age of AI
Many of the same themes from the live demos will also be manifest on the plenary stage. With regard to modernization, for example, FinovateEurope will examine the ways that fintech, AI, and the cloud could help transform legacy banking. The conference will also look at the challenge of modernizing legacy authentication, specifically by moving to technologies like post-quantum cryptography (PQC) that are designed to secure systems against threats from quantum computers. To the problem of fraud and financial crime, speakers will discuss the use of network APIs to fight scams and how banks and fintechs can work together to meet the unique cybersecurity challenges of the AI age. Accomplishing all of this while avoiding additional friction for the user is a top theme and chief concern for banks and financial services companies alike.
Other key themes such as personalization, open banking, and open finance will also be topics of discussion at this year’s conference. Both in the context of wealth management and retail banking, open data promises not only more engaging, personalized experiences for customers, but also provides financial institutions with better, more data-driven decision-making; more efficient operations; and better risk management.
Unsurprisingly, AI continues to be a main theme in any conversation on technology, banking, and financial services. FinovateEurope’s keynotes and special addresses will investigate issues such as how generative AI is shaping the future of mobile banking as well as the rise of agentic AI and the challenge of “nonhuman customers” such as AI-powered bots and agents. Other presentations will discuss the EU’s AI Act and its implications for banks and financial services providers, as well as “lessons learned” from tech giants like Google, Meta, and Microsoft and their AI innovation journeys.
It is fair to say that innovations in AI continue to drive what’s possible in fintech, and the number of mainstage special addresses at FinovateEurope covering different use cases and applications of AI reflect this fact. Indeed, for another year, FinovateEurope is featuring an industry stage dedicated specifically to applications of AI for banking and financial services. But while AI is a clearly major force in technological innovation, it is just one of a number of technologies—along with open finance/banking/data, embedded finance, and DeFi—that continues to transform fintech.
FinovateEurope 2026 comes to London’s Intercontinental O2, 10 February through 11 February. Tickets to the conference are on sale now. Register today to save your spot at the first big fintech event of the year!
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.
The final week of the first month of the year has arrived. Partnerships in payments, embedded finance, and DeFi are among the top headlines in fintech as the week begins. And with FinovateEurope only two weeks away, we’ve got our eye on interesting developments like JPMorgan Chase’s acquisition of UK-based WealthOS. Be sure to check Finovate’s Fintech Rundown all week long for the latest updates!
Payments
Global payments infrastructure platform Mercuryoteams up with Visa to provide crypto-to-fiat off-ramping via Visa’s real-time payments platform, Visa Direct.
European payment service provider and acquirer Finbypartners with the European Payments Initiative (EPI) to support the pan-European digital wallet, Wero.
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.
Last week, Finovate Global looked at how key trends are shaping fintech innovation in the UK. This week, our Friday column crosses the channel to consider the most significant forces shaping fintech innovation on the Continent, especially among advanced industrial economies in the West and Baltic north.
In our examination of the UK, we highlighted navigating regulatory complexity, accelerating technological transformation, and meeting rising customer expectations as three key issues facing banks and financial services providers there. These issues are also important to markets in the advanced markets of Europe. However, there are additional themes that distinguish the concerns of bankers in developed Europe from their colleagues in both the UK and the US.
Profitability and Competitiveness in the Shadow of NIRP
One of the challenges that European banks are still dealing with is the legacy of negative interest rates. Just as the US economy was emerging from its post-Global Financial Crisis (GFC)-initiated ZIRP or zero interest rate policy, the EU was plunging into what would be a seven-year experiment in negative interest rates (NIRP). A response to the threat of deflation in the wake of the Global Financial Crisis and, more acutely, the sovereign debt crisis of 2010-2012, the EU’s NIRP policy lasted longer and was more extreme, with rates falling to -0.50%.
The impact on EU banks has been significant. Even as interest rates have normalized since NIRP ended in 2022, net interest income for EU banks has remained squeezed, impeding profitability. Additionally, European banks suffer from structural challenges to greater profitability that extend beyond the legacy of NIRP. Among them is one fundamental issue: there are a lot of banks in Europe, arguably too many, all chasing too few customers. Considered on a per capita basis, countries such as Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Italy have a very large number of banks and similar financial institutions relative to their populations. By comparison, the UK is significantly less “bank dense,” and even the US, which is often accused of having “too many banks,” is considered only moderately bank dense.
Along with excess capacity, issues of market fragmentation and high cost-to-income ratios all contribute to an environment in which achieving profitability as an EU bank remains a challenge. Banks struggling to make money often hesitate to make the necessary investments in technology that can help them reach new customers, access new markets, and offer new products and services.
A More Integrated Union? Overcoming Fragmentation to Enable Innovation
Both the EU and UK face challenges when it comes to digital transformation. But the differences between the two regions are significant and in some ways related to the issues of market fragmentation that plague EU bank profitability. When it comes to digital transformation and investing in technology, fragmentation and diversity between member states make the task more difficult and more expensive. Larger EU banks often have country- and product-specific legacy cores—sometimes even different cores built in multiple decades. These legacy cores not only fail to communicate well with each other, but also often exist in increasingly outdated mainframe environments. On the other hand, smaller banks and financial institutions in the EU often simply can’t afford major core replacements.
Uneven development and country-specific challenges often hold back fintech innovation in the EU. Even where the EU has effectively encouraged innovation, such as PSD2, which mandated open banking, adoption and implementation has varied widely by country. While open banking adoption rates in parts of Europe, such as the Baltics, are exceptional, many other countries, including Western European countries like France, Germany, and Spain, have had more modest rates of implementation. In this context, it will be interesting to see how the different countries embrace Wero, the new pan-European instant payments and wallet scheme currently being introduced throughout the EU. Here, countries like France, Germany, and Belgium are experiencing strong implementation and user adoption trends, while others, including Spain, Italy, and Switzerland are lagging.
How are some of the other enabling innovations—such as AI and DeFi—shaping banking and financial services in Western Europe? The European Banking Authority characterizes adoption of AI in its industry as “widespread but cautious.” Unsurprisingly, use cases in customer service are the most common, as is the use of AI to help in AML/CFT screening. In addition to customer service, streamlining internal workflows is another popular use case for AI among EU banks. Generally speaking, the larger markets of the EU—Germany, France, the Nordics—are experiencing the most robust use of AI in banking and financial services.
The story is similar with DeFi and blockchain technology adoption in banking: the larger countries tend to have more banks engaged in activities such as digital asset custody services, tokenization, and trade finance. One especially interesting development is the pursuit of a euro stablecoin, an effort led by a consortium of EU banks including ING, UniCredit, and SEB that is expected to lead to a MiCA-compliant euro stablecoin launch later this year.
A Regulatory Year of Reckoning for Payments, Crypto, and AI in the EU
There is a variety of regulatory events coming this year. Some of them are the latest chapters in policies that were enacted last year, while others will make their compliance debut here in 2026. With regard to the former, regulations such as DORA (Digital Operational Resilience Regulation) which was passed in 2025 and deals with ICT, third-party, and operational risk, will continue to have an impact as institutions look to ensure compliance with resilience requirements for governance, testing, and incident reporting. Elements of the Basel III reforms, initially designed to help fortify banks in the wake of the Global Financial Crisis, have been postponed from scheduled implementation this year to 2027. Speaking of postponements, another significant regulation, the Enhanced Operational Risk Reporting Deadline, has been moved forward to June of this year.
Other key regulatory developments to anticipate for EU banks and financial services providers include the rollout of new payment regulations including PSD3, which focuses on licensing and institutional requirements, and PSR (Payment Services Regulation), which deals with day-to-day operational issues. PSD3, in particular, will be an important mandate insofar as it seeks to correct a number of problems with the previous open banking directive, PSD2. PSD3 features significant guidelines and requirements with regard to fraud prevention and liability, and also paves the way for open finance.
What about the enabling technologies highlighted in the previous section? With regard to DeFi and crypto, the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) comes fully into effect in 2026. Among the requirements are that cryptocurrency firms must have MiCA licenses to operate by the middle of the year. While this will address centralized service providers (CASPs) in the DeFi market, it does not specifically define the parameters of DeFi, including what services should be subject to MiCA. This conversation will be key for EU policy-makers in 2026.
As for AI, 2026 will be a big year, as well. Enacted in 2024, the EU AI Act will require AI systems designated as “high risk” to adhere to new guidelines with regards to creditworthiness, loan origination, risk evaluation, and automated decisioning. Additionally, the Act will require these systems to use strong governance, risk management documentation, transparency, human oversight, and quality control. Note that the Act categorizes AI systems by risk: minimal/no risk, which is virtually unregulated; limited risk, where compliance consists largely of transparency obligations; high risk, which is strictly regulated; and banned AI, which includes capabilities such as social scoring by governments and real-time remote biometric identification. Another key development is the launch of national AI regulatory sandboxes in each EU member state by August of this year, as mandated by the Act. Here, both Denmark and Spain have been credited as being ahead of the game in terms of getting these initiatives underway.
Here is our look at fintech innovation around the world.
Asia-Pacific
Singapore-based Airwallex acquired Paynuri in bid to enter the South Korean market.
Indonesian fintech UangCermat raised $26.4 million in a combination of equity and credit facilities.
Vietnam announced that crypto firms that want to participate in the country’s pilot digital asset market will need a minimum capitalization of VND 10 trillion ($400 million).
Financial infrastructure and payment solutions provider Montran opened a new office in Dubai.
Saudi Arabia’s EdfaPay, a payment infrastructure solutions company, secured approval to launch SmartPOS service in the Kingdom.
Central and Southern Asia
Indian digital payments giant PhonePe secured approval from the country’s financial regulator to launch an IPO, slated for mid-2026.
Pakistan-based fintech Neem raised an undisclosed sum in Pre-Series A funding in a round that featured participation from Epic Angels, the largest all-female investment collective in the world.
Kazakhstan enacted a range of new laws to regulate digital assets and to allow banks to expand into fintech, AI, and digital payments infrastructure.
Latin America and the Caribbean
Uruguayan cross-border payment platform dLocal teamed up with international AI device ecosystem company HONOR to launch local payments in Peru.
Cryptocurrency exchange Bybit launchedBybit Pay in Peru via integrations with the country’s Yape and Plin digital payment platforms.
UK-based stablecoin infrastructure company Noah partnered with Brazil-based digital wallet and investment platform Picnic.
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.
FinovateEurope 2026 is only weeks away—but there’s still time to grab your ticket and save your spot. Be sure to visit our registration page today and take advantage of early bird savings!
We recently kicked off our FinovateEurope 2026 Sneak Peek series to help you get to know this year’s demoing companies. Today, we’re sharing a look at the content side of things: starting with four keynote addresses—two for Tuesday and two for Wednesday—that you won’t want to miss.
From the impact of geopolitics on financial decision-making to the rise of agentic AI to the possibilities of open banking and open finance, these FinovateEurope keynotes will explain how the most significant trends in fintech and financial services are impacting bankers and financial services professionals—and will share insights on how to make the most of these exciting new developments and innovations.
The Global Economic Outlook & the Escalation of Geopolitical Risk and the Impact on Banks and their Customers
Manas Chawla, Founder and Chief Executive of London Politica, is a political risk expert who has advised heads of state, UN agencies, and a range of Fortune 500 companies on how to navigate geopolitical risk and volatility. Chawla is also the Director of the Oxbridge Diplomatic Academy.
London Politica is the world’s largest political risk advisory for social impact. Founded in 2020, the organization leverages a global network of more than 300 experts to provide locally grounded insight with a global perspective.
Catch Chawla’s presentation at 10:20 am on Tuesday, 10 February!
AI-First Banking—Why Agentic AI is Truly a New Frontier in Banking
Alpesh Doshi, Managing Partner at Redcliffe Capital, will discuss how banks can harness agentic AI to reimagine a range of business process. With a focus on delivering real value for both customers and banks, Doshi’s keynote address will help bankers understand how they should be thinking about a Brave New World in which bots are the customers.
Redcliffe Capital specializes in investing and building companies that help enterprises and entrepreneurs leverage innovation in technology such as digital transformation, data, and artificial intelligence.
Catch Doshi’s presentation at 3:50 pm on Tuesday, 10 February!
Finding a Commercial Model for Open Banking in Europe—What is the State of the Market & Where Have We Seen Real Success Stories for Retail Customers & Corporates?
Taner Akcok, Head of Global API Banking, Deutsche Bank AG, is a serial entrepreneur, intrapreneur, and investor. With two exits on his resume and a spot on the Forbes 30 Under 30 roster in Europe, Akcok has extensive experience with API platforms, open banking, banking-as-a-service (BaaS), embedded finance, and contextual banking.
Germany’s Deutsche Bank is the country’s leading financial institution. Founded in 1870 to support emerging German businesses, Deutsche Bank today includes investing, corporate, and retail banking among its core services along with asset and wealth management. The institution operates in more than 70 countries and trades publicly on the Frankfurt and New York Stock Exchanges.
Catch Akcok’s presentation at 2:30 pm on Wednesday, 11 February!
Open Data Will Enable Hyper-Personalization—How Do You Do It & What Do Customers Actually Want?
Jurgen Vandenbroucke, Director at everyoneINVESTED, has more than two decades of experience in financial services. He combines expertise in financial engineering, behavioral finance, and digital innovation to transform the way people think about investing. With a PhD in Applied Economics, Vandenbroucke’s mission is to make investing easy, personal, valuable, and reliable.
everyoneINVESTED empowers financial institutions around the world to boost digital investment engagement via solutions based in behavioral science, regulatory compliance, and user-centric design. The company is the WealthTech spin-off of KBC Group and is a recognized WealthTech 100 company.
Catch Vandenbroucke’s presentation at 3:10 pm on Wednesday, 11 February!
Accounting software provider FreeAgent has partnered with reporting, analysis, and forecasting platform Fathom.
The partnership will enable small businesses in the UK to access real-time profit and loss reporting, cash flow forecasting, KPI dashboards, and interactive management reports.
Founded in 2007, FreeAgent made its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope 2013 in London.
A newly announced partnership between accounting software provider FreeAgent and all-in-one reporting, analysis, and forecasting platform Fathom will enhance the ability of small businesses in the UK—and their accountants—to better manage their finances and make smarter business decisions.
“By partnering with Fathom, we’re giving accountants and their clients the tools they need to scale up their financial scrutiny and analysis,” FreeAgent CSO Stewart Hurd said. “Rather than simply giving an overview of the current financial position, our integration offers deeper, visual insights, forecasting, and scenario modeling into small business data—meaning that accountants are better prepared to answer the questions that really matter.”
Automatically syncing data between FreeAgent and Fathom will enable companies to access real-time profit and loss reporting, cash flow forecasting, KPI dashboards, and interactive and customizable management reports. The integration will also allow accountants to support multiple clients with different reporting needs, and provide them with advisory insights. The latter will come courtesy of Fathom’s technology, which delivers in-depth reporting, forecasting, and scenario modeling that will enhance the ability of small business accountants to provide greater value to their clients.
“FreeAgent has built award-winning accounting software that thousands of UK SMEs rely on daily, but we’ve consistently heard that many businesses outgrow basic reporting as they scale,” Fathom Country Manager Darren Glanville said. “This integration changes that entirely. FreeAgent users now get direct access to Fathom’s enterprise-grade toolkit—which, for accounting partners, means they can deliver genuine strategic advisory services whilst clients stay in the platform they already know. We’re not just connecting two systems, we’re fundamentally upgrading what’s possible for ambitious businesses using FreeAgent.”
Based in Brisbane, Queensland, Fathom is an Australian firm that specializes in corporate performance management (CPM) software. Founded in 2012, Fathom offers a management reporting, forecasting, and financial analysis tool that helps business owners assess business performance, monitor trends, and identify areas for improvement. More than 90,000 businesses and advisors use Fathom’s technology, and the firm enjoys a 36% market share in the Australian financial reporting software category, according to Practice Protect’s Australian Cloud Accounting Apps Report 2025-2026. Fathom was acquired by The Access Group in 2022.
FreeAgent made its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope 2013. In the years since then, the UK-based fintech has grown into an accounting software provider with more than 200,000 users. FreeAgent’s platform features tools for tax self assessment, VAT, and MTD. The technology enables firms to send invoices and automatic payment reminders, and record expenses and mileage to easily track business costs. FreeAgent also helps business owners make smarter business decisions by providing them with deep insights into profit and loss, cash flow, and overall business performance.
Acquired by NatWest Group in 2018, FreeAgent was founded in 2007. Co-founder Roan Lavery is CEO.
