5 Takeaways from Trump’s Executive Order on Fintech and Regulatory Frameworks

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: List series

In last week's Finovate Weekly newsletter, I shared some thoughts on what fintechs might hope for from President Trump's summit meeting with Chinese president Xi Jinping. While the meeting does not appear to have delivered anything of substance from a fintech or financial services perspective, Trump did sign an Executive Order (EO) shortly after returning from Beijing that actually has plenty for fintechs and financial services companies to think about—if not cheer for.

Let's take a look at five top takeaways from the EO, titled Integrating Financial Technology Innovation into Regulatory Frameworks.

From containment to enablement

The executive order directs Federal financial regulators to review existing policies to "facilitate innovation and greater competition in the provision of financial services." Even more directly, the order calls upon regulators to "take steps to encourage innovation by, and growth of, fintech firms and federally regulated institutions of all sizes."

The "fintechs…

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NMI Acquires Account-to-Account Payments Infrastructure Innovator Dwolla

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Dwolla

Embedded payments infrastructure company NMI has acquired account-to-account (A2A) payment infrastructure innovator Dwolla.

The acquisition creates a combined entity that will process nearly $700 billion in annual transaction volume and will fortify NMI's status as a major embedded money movement infrastructure firm.

Dwolla has been a Finovate alum since 2011, winning Best of Show honors in its appearances at FinovateSpring 2011 and FinovateSpring 2012.

Embedded payments infrastructure company NMI has acquired account-to-account (A2A) payment infrastructure provider Dwolla. The acquisition combines NMI's payment acceptance, channel distribution, onboarding, and merchant lifecycle management with Dwolla's capabilities in account-to-account infrastructure, real-time payments, open banking, and many-to-many funds flow. NMI will benefit from additional payment acceptance, orchestration, and money movement capabilities, enabling its ISO, ISV, and SaaS platform clients to accept, manage, and move money across a greater number of rails and use cases via a single infrastructure provider.

"This acquisition is a continuation…

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Regtech Eisen Raises $18.5 Million to Streamline Escheatment

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni profile, Eisen, Funding

Eisen, a fintech that specializes in end-to-end escheatment and unclaimed property compliance automation, has secured $18.5 million in funding. The capital comes in the form of a $10 million Series A led by MissionOG and a previously unannounced $8.5 seed round led by Index Ventures. Cowboy Ventures, First Round Capital, Homebrew, and Restive Ventures also participated in the investment.

Eisen innovates in an often-overlooked area of financial services: escheatment and the recovery of unclaimed property. State law requires that abandoned funds eventually be turned over to the government in a legal process called escheatment. While each state has its own rules regarding dormancy periods, notice requirements, and remittance deadlines, the concept of escheatment is designed to help protect consumers when financial institutions lose track of them. Nevertheless, the process of retrieving those assets can be both complex and cumbersome. As such, it is little surprise that more than…

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Intention.ly and the Challenge of Brand Building and Differentiation in Financial Services

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Intention.ly, Interview

This month marks the launch of a new series of interviews with companies that recently made their debuts on the Finovate stage. I had a great opportunity earlier this month to catch up with a number of companies demoing at FinovateSpring in San Diego, and am looking forward to introducing our blog readers to these innovative fintechs!

First up, we checked in with Joe Steuter, Partner and Chief of Client Strategy with Intention.ly. Founded in 2021 and headquartered in King of Prussia, Intention.ly is a growth consultancy and marketing agency for financial services companies. At FinovateSpring this year, Intention.y demoed its Advisor Brand Builder platform that enables breakaway advisors, fast-evolving firms, and acquiring enterprises to build professional, high-impact brand identities and brand stories.

What problem does Intention.ly solve and who does it solve it for?

Joe Steuter: Intention.ly helps financial services firms grow by solving one of the…

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Fintech Rundown: A Rapid Review of Weekly News

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Fintech Rundown

The second half of May begins with raft of announcements highlighting continued innovation with—and investment in—both stablecoins and AI. Be sure to check back here at Finovate's Fintech Rundown for the latest in fintech news and headlines.

Payments

National Australia Bank acquires account-to-account payments platform Banked.

equipifi raises $34 million to help banks offer embedded Buy Now, Pay Later payment options.

Fraud prevention

Mitek Systems announces that its Mitek Verified Identity Platform is now available on FICO Marketplace.

Credit unions

State Employees' Credit Union (SECU) partners with credit union core processor Corelation.

Stablecoins

Tether, the issuer of stablecoin USDT, announced an investment in cross-border remittance platform LemFi.

Digital Assets Clearing Center raises $10 million in funding.

Stablecoin-powered digital banking and investment platform Fasset secures $51 million in Series B funding.

Open Finance

The Centre for Finance, Innovation, and Technology (CFIT) introduces its Open Property roadmap.

…

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equipifi Raises $34 Million to Build Flexible Payments Infrastructure

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Daily news, Funding

Embedded BNPL provider equipifi has raised $34 million in Series B funding to help banks and credit unions offer pay-over-time options directly within their own platforms.

equipifi’s infrastructure enables consumers to access BNPL through their existing banking app and debit card without opening a new account, filling out an application, or using a third-party provider.

equipifi's growth reflects a broader shift in BNPL from a standalone fintech product into embedded financial infrastructure.

Buy now, pay later (BNPL) infrastructure company equipifi has raised $34 million in Series B funding. The new round boosts the Arizona-based company's total funding to $49 million.

The investment was led by Left Lane, with participation from existing investors Curql, PHX Ventures, New Stack Ventures, SixThirty Fund, Baleon Capital, Rise of the Rest, and SaaS Ventures. New strategic partners, SWBC and the Bankers Helping Bankers Fund, also contributed.

equipifi was founded in 2021 to offer consumers access…

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Xero Announces Integration with Anthropic’s Claude

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Xero

Small business management and accounting platform Xero has launched its live integration with Anthropic's AI assistant Claude.

The integration comes less than a month after Xero announced its multi-year partnership with Anthropic. It will enable users to leverage real-time financial intelligence to gain insights into revenue, profit, contacts, receivables, as well as financial health and cash position.

Founded in 2006, Xero has been a Finovate alum since 2011. Sukhinder Singh Cassidy is CEO.

Small business management platform Xero announced its live integration with Anthropic, the AI company behind AI assistant Claude.

The live integration follows the company's multi-year partnership announced in March. The goal of the partnership is to integrate Claude's AI directly into Xero and to bring Xero's financial data and tools into Claude.ai. The partnership will give small businesses and their accounting and bookkeeping teams the ability to put real-time financial intelligence to work managing their…

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Finovate Showcases Asian American and Pacific Islander Fintech Voices

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Diversity in Fintech, FinovateSpring 2026, Speaker series

We recently commemorated Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month with a feature highlighting the Asian American and Pacific Islander fintech innovators that introduced their companies to our FinovateSpring 2026 audience.

Today, as part of our continued commemoration, we turn our attention—and our thanks—to the Asian American and Pacific Islander mainstage speakers and panelists who shared their insights and experiences with us at last week's event in San Diego.

Theodora (Theo) Lau, Founder, Unconventional Ventures & Author

Theodora Lau is the founder of boutique consulting firm, Unconventional Ventures. She is a public speaker, an advisor, the author of Banking on (Artificial) Intelligence (2025), and co-author of The Metaverse Economy (2023) and Beyond Good (2021). Lau also hosts One Vision, a podcast on fintech and innovation. 

At FinovateSpring this year, Lau participated in a number of executive briefings and power panels on AI in financial services.

Kristie Han, Principal, Canapi Ventures

…

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5 Things to Know about the CLARITY Act

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: List series, Thought Leadership

The US Senate Banking Committee unveiled the latest version of the CLARITY Act this week. The Act aims to establish a clear regulatory framework for digital assets.

The CLARITY Act offers enforceable guardrails for digital asset markets in an effort to protect consumers and investors, counter illicit finance and security threats, and support innovation in the US.

The bill is controversial, as it includes provisions to limit liability for decentralized software developers and enters an ongoing debate around whether stablecoins should be permitted to offer yield or yield-like rewards. After more than 10 months of bipartisan negotiations, the Senate Banking Committee is preparing for a key procedural markup. Here are five things you need to know about the new version of the CLARITY Act.

More than crypto regulation

While crypto regulation is making headlines, the Act comes with broader stakes as it also attempts to define who controls the future infrastructure of…

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Apex Fintech Solutions Forges Partnership with Plaid to Streamline Account Transfers

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Apex Clearing Corporation, Plaid

Apex Fintech Solutions and Plaid have teamed up to streamline account transfers and boost digital capabilities for brokerage firms.

The partnership combines Plaid's secure connectivity and data validation with Apex Fintech Solutions' ACATS infrastructure and risk engine to bring greater efficiency to the fund transfer process.

Apex Fintech Solutions' subsidiary Apex Clearing made its Finovate debut at FinovateSpring 2015. Plaid has been a Finovate alum since 2014.

A new partnership between Apex Fintech Solutions and Plaid will enable Apex to offer Plaid's suite of financial data products to streamline account transfers and help brokerage firms improve their digital capabilities. The partnership combines Plaid's secure connectivity and data validation with Apex's ACATS infrastructure and risk engine to reduce the number of errors and delays in the fund transfer process while also boosting efficiency for brokerages and their customers.

ACATS stands for Automated Customer Account Transfer Service, a system managed by the…

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FinovateSpring Celebrates Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Diversity in Fintech, FinovateSpring 2026

May is Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month. May was officially established as "Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month" by President George H. W. Bush in 1990, expanding on a joint resolution signed by President Jimmy Carter in 1978 that had designated the week of May 4-10 as "Asian/Pacific American Heritage Week." The name of the commemoration was changed to "Asian American and Pacific Island Heritage Month" in 1997 in an effort to make the occasion both more accurate and inclusive.

Here at Finovate, we are happy to celebrate the achievements of our alums who share Asian American and Pacific Islander heritage. Today, we highlight six of these fintech leaders whose companies made their Finovate debuts last month at FinovateSpring 2026.

Anna Joo Fee, Founder/CEO, Goodfin

Goodfin is an AI-native wealth platform that unlocks access to private market investing and accelerates wealth for a new generation of investors. Goodfin's AI delivers…

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Kraken Parent Company Payward Seeks National Trust Charter

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Daily news

Kraken parent company Payward has applied for a national trust charter from the OCC to launch a federally regulated digital asset custody entity called Payward National Trust Company (PNTC).

The move would help Payward expand its institutional business by offering bank-level custody and trust services to clients that require a regulated qualified custodian.

The company also announced plans to raise funds at a reported $20 billion valuation.

Kraken parent company Payward is seeking a national trust charter from the US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC). If approved, Payward would be able to establish the Payward National Trust Company (PNTC), which would offer custody and related services for digital assets.

With PNTC, Payward plans to serve institutional clients and individual customers seeking regulated, bank-level custody and trust services for digital assets. The charter will leverage Payward’s existing infrastructure, risk management, compliance programs, and subsidiaries to establish a federally…

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