Finovate Global Indonesia: Payments, MSMEs, and the Challenge of Progress

Finovate Global Indonesia: Payments, MSMEs, and the Challenge of Progress
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Finovate Global

This week’s edition of Finovate Global features the latest fintech news from Indonesia.

Digital financial platform DANA secures investment

Indonesian digital financial platform DANA has secured an investment from 01Fintech, the growth-stage fintech private equity arm of 01FGroup. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

A leading Indonesian digital e-wallet and financial services platform, DANA serves consumers, merchants, and financial institutions, providing digital payments, QRIS, money transfers, and AI-powered financial solutions. Founded in 2018 and headquartered in Jakarta, DANA supports millions of users in both metropolitan and non-metropolitan regions of the country, as well as micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs), especially across Tier 2 to Tier 4 regions.

“We are pleased to welcome 01Fintech to DANA’s journey,” company Co-Founder and CEO Vince Iswara said. “Beyond capital, 01Fintech brings specialized fintech expertise, strategic regional connectivity, and a shared commitment to sustainable growth. Together, we remain focused on strengthening our core platform, supporting everyday merchants, and providing trusted financial tools to communities across Indonesia.”

Together, 01Fintech and DANA will investigate ways to create value across the broader financial services ecosystem. These opportunities include expanding credit and capital access for MSMEs, broadening access to financial services via products like micro-insurance and digital savings, and supporting regional connectivity to bring more efficient cross-border payment solutions to Indonesian merchants and consumers.

“Our investment in DANA is grounded in three core convictions: the platform’s exceptional operational discipline, its essential role in empowering local MSMEs, and the team’s unwavering resilience,” said Founder and Managing Partner of 01FGroup Kenny Man. “We are not just capital providers; we look forward to being a long-term partner to DANA as it continues to strengthen Indonesia’s digital financial infrastructure and broaden access to trusted financial services.”

Japanese investor in talks to fund paytech Durianpay

DANA is not the only Indonesian fintech attracting investor dollars right now. Durianpay, a payment infrastructure startup that enables local and international firms to accept payments, automate payouts, and more, has attracted interest from Japanese investors.

According to reporting in Deal Street Asia, the potential funding of the Indonesian payments infrastructure provider is another sign of Japanese investors’ interest in Indonesian fintech. If the investment goes through, the capital is expected to support Durianpay as it expands beyond Indonesia. The funding will also help the company develop new products and services focused on international money movement and digital-asset infrastructure.

“Digital payments in Southeast Asia are poised to grow at 10-13% CAGR for the next few years,” the company noted on its LinkedIn page. “With no clear winners identified yet, we believe the time is right to enter and build mobile-optimized solutions for these markets.”

Durianpay enables connections to more than 20 local payment methods from virtual accounts, e-wallets, cards, QRIS, and more through a single integration. Founded in 2020 and based in Jakarta, the firm serves more than 400 merchants and processes more than five million API requests per day. Durianpay was ranked as the third-fastest-growing fintech in the Asia-Pacific region according to the Financial Times, with an absolute growth rate of more than 1,600%. The company recorded its first full fiscal year of profitability in 2025, processing more than $5.5 billion in total payment volume. In September 2026, the company was named to the Forbes Asia 100 to Watch 2026 list in the finance category.

The challenge of progress: P2P lending in Indonesia

A recent op-ed in Eurasia Review asks an interesting question in the face of rapid technological change: how can value be captured from an economy that moves faster than the state’s capacity to monitor it?

The authors, Andi Mohammad Illham and Andi Mohammad Johan, examine the peer-to-peer lending sector of Indonesia as what they call “a striking case study in the digital age’s most vexing tax challenge.” Through a combination of historical review and statistical analysis, Illham and Johan show how policies in Indonesia that embraced financial inclusion and serving underserved markets combined with a crackdown on the domestic P2P lending industry in China contributed to an influx of Chinese capital, a surge in Indonesia’s outstanding P2P lending debt, and what the authors call “a shadow economy, digitally native, cross-border, and largely invisible to the Directorate General of Taxes (DJP).

The op-ed is an interesting read because it shows how the intersection of policies that encourage and take advantage of greater inclusion—whether they are underserved consumers or capitalists seeking new opportunities—can lead to unintended consequences. The goal of the op-ed is to encourage regulators in Indonesia to look beyond using tax reform to merely close withholding gaps but instead examine the relationships between Indonesian P2P subsidiaries and their parent companies in China. “Until Indonesia extends its reform agenda to the cross-border profit allocation dimension … it will continue taxing only the tip of the value chain,” the authors warn.

Here is our look at fintech innovation around the world.

Sub-Saharan Africa

  • Mastercard teamed up with The Mojaloop Foundation and AfricaNenda Foundation to help build more inclusive payment systems in Africa.
  • Pan-African payment infrastructure provider Kora launched One Rail to support stablecoin transactions.
  • Visa unveiled the sixth cohort of its Africa FinTech accelerator, featuring 21 companies from nine countries.

Central and Eastern Europe

  • UniCredit acquired a stake in German fintech VC Trade.
  • Latvia’s Atrya Technologies secured a MICA crypto license from Latvijas Banka.
  • Czech fintech Flowpay earned Sifted 100’s ranking as the fastest-growing company among 100 tech firms from Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Central and Eastern Europe.

Middle East and Northern Africa

  • Egyptian payments infrastructure provider Paymob raises $35 million in pre-Series C funding.
  • Saudi Arabia’s Aljazira Bank partnered with Thunes to enhance its international remittance services.
  • Jordan FinTech Academy (Jordan FTA) inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the MENA Fintech Association (MFTA).

Central and Southern Asia

  • Apple Pay has launched in India via a partnership with Axis Bank.
  • Uzbek fintech Alif Moliya announced plans to issue Islamic bonds in Astana
  • The Kathmandu Post featured Niraj Sharma, the new CEO of eSewa, the largest digital wallet in Nepal.

Latin America and the Caribbean

  • Colombian fintech KOA secured $25.6 million via a debt securitization on the Colombian Stock Exchange.
  • Venezuelan fintech Fina Partner raised $1 million in seed funding to scale its financial platform for small and medium-sized businesses.
  • ColombiaOne looked at the potential impact of a proposed tax reform on the nation’s fintech industry.

Asia-Pacific

  • Thailand-based international money transfer firm DeeMoney partnered with SEON to enhance fraud defenses.
  • Australia’s WeMoney launched Connect, its AI and open banking-powered lending assessment service.
  • MoonPay has officially launched MoonPay Korea in partnership with KakaoBank, Woori Bank, and KB Financial Group.

Photo by kevin yung

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Stripe Agrees to Acquire Embedded Finance Platform Parafin

Stripe Agrees to Acquire Embedded Finance Platform Parafin
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Daily news, Mergers & Acquisitions
  • Stripe has agreed to acquire embedded finance platform Parafin, marking its third acquisition of 2026 and 24th overall.
  • Parafin brings embedded credit and risk capabilities that have helped more than 60,000 small businesses access capital through platforms including DoorDash, Gusto, Jobber, and Mindbody.
  • The acquisition advances Stripe beyond its payments roots, expanding the infrastructure platforms can use to become more comprehensive financial hubs for their business customers.

Payment infrastructure fintech Stripe has agreed to acquire embedded finance platform Parafin. The move comes about a month after the California-based company acquired legal infrastructure startup Clerky, marking Stripe’s third acquisition this year and its 24th overall. Financial terms of the agreement were undisclosed.

Founded in 2020, Parafin offers platforms like DoorDash, Gusto, Jobber, and Mindbody provide credit offerings for their small business customers. Since launch, the company has helped more than 60,000 businesses gain access to capital. In addition to its capital offering, Parafin also offers two credit products, Pay Over Time and Spend, that give businesses flexibility in managing their cash flow. Stripe plans to leverage Parafin to support small businesses by offering them the credit they need to grow.

“We started Parafin to give small businesses access to the modern credit products that were only available to large companies,” said Parafin Cofounder and CEO, Sahill Poddar. “Stripe’s financial infrastructure and global reach will help us move faster and serve millions more businesses through the platforms they rely on.”

Stripe has more than 18,000 clients leveraging its platform to build, manage, and grow their businesses. While it is best known for its payment processing tools, the company also offers tools such as Stripe Capital to help small businesses generate new revenue opportunities. Stripe reports that, in the second quarter of 2026, new businesses launching on Stripe increased 86% year-over-year while only 41% of small business loan applications were approved in the US in 2025.

“Platforms power millions of small businesses throughout the world and are central to Stripe’s mission,” said Stripe Business Lead Neetika Bansal. “Sahill, Vineet, and the Parafin team bring acute expertise and leadership in credit, risk, and embedded financial products. Together, we’ll be able to offer a wider range of credit products to a larger ecosystem and increase credit access for high-growth businesses.”

Stripe’s acquisition of Parafin shows Stripe’s ambitions to move beyond its roots in payments. Rather than simply adding another financial product, Stripe is building out the infrastructure that platforms need to serve as comprehensive financial hubs for their business customers. Parafin’s credit and risk capabilities, combined with Stripe’s existing payments, treasury, issuing, and lending tools give businesses another reason to consolidate more of their financial stack with Stripe.

Photo by Vladimir Srajber

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Hyperlayer’s Rob Rooney on Why Banks and Credit Unions Are Poised to Win in the AI Era

Hyperlayer’s Rob Rooney on Why Banks and Credit Unions Are Poised to Win in the AI Era
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: FinovateFall 2026, Speaker series

For years the discourse on technological innovation in banking and financial services favored the fintechs. But is it possible that the ones best positioned to take advantage of the biggest technological revolution in decades—artificial intelligence—aren’t bold, new fintech startups, but are instead banks and credit unions?

In this fascinating conversation with Rob Rooney, Co-Founder and CEO of Hyperlayer, we discuss what banks and credit unions can do to overcome the disadvantages of legacy technology, and how these financial institutions can leverage trust and community relationships to “win the future” of agentic finance and the agentic economy.

“Incumbents are very well positioned. They have the customers. They have the regulatory approvals. They have the breadth of products and, critically, they have the trust. They have to leverage those advantages and lean into the agentic economy. It’s coming, but with the trust factor they can really be winners here.”

Rooney is Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Hyperlayer. He is also CEO of Hyperjar, an intuitive digital account with a prepaid debit card that bills itself as the “spending super-app.” Previously, Rooney spent more than 30 years as an executive at Morgan Stanley, serving in multiple roles including CEO of Morgan Stanley International, Global Head of Technology, Operations, and Firm Resilience, and Senior Advisor for Technology and Innovation. He is a graduate of Columbia University.

Hyperlayer is a programmable banking platform that enables financial institutions to innovate at pace without replacing the core systems that provide stability. The platform’s configurable design allows banks, credit unions, wealth managers, and merchants to launch innovative financial products—including agentic solutions—quickly and cost-effectively while maintaining control and remaining compliant.

Photo by Tara Winstead

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EquiTrust Life Partners with Sureify to Streamline Data Exchange

EquiTrust Life Partners with Sureify to Streamline Data Exchange
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Sureify
  • EquiTrust Life Insurance Company has announced a strategic partnership with life and annuity platform Sureify.
  • EquiTrust will deploy Sureify’s CoreCONNECT platform to connect its core systems via a single integration layer that facilitates efficient movement of data internally.
  • Headquartered in San Jose, California, Sureify made its Finovate debut at FinovateSpring 2014.

EquiTrust Life Insurance Company announced a strategic partnership with life and annuity platform Sureify this week. The collaboration is designed to advance EquiTrust’s digital transformation, modernizing the firm’s technology infrastructure by connecting systems, enhancing the flow of data, and reducing operational complexity throughout the business.

At the center of the partnership, EquiTrust will deploy Sureify’s CoreCONNECT platform, connecting its core systems via a single, modern integration layer that allows data to move internally with greater efficiency. CoreCONNECT will also help EquiTrust comply with data exchange standards set by the Insured Retirement Institute. The platform is designed to give distribution partners direct API access to the data and tools they need to deliver innovative digital experiences, reduce manual processes, and enable faster, more efficient growth.

“EquiTrust has built an exceptional company by staying focused on the people it serves,” Sureify Chief Business Development Officer Bryan Padgette said. “Its commitment to financial professionals, policyholders, and long-term value is evident in the way the organization approaches its decisions. We are grateful for the opportunity to support EquiTrust’s vision and proud to play a role in the company’s continued success.”

CoreCONNECT is available as a stand-alone solution or integrated with Sureify’s LifetimeAGENT or LifetimeSERVICE agent and policyholder portal modules. The solution’s APIs aggregate data that is siloed across systems of record, bringing dozens of legacy system data sets together. Sureify noted that CoreCONNECT helps “depressurize” legacy system decision-making by giving IT teams more flexibility and the ability to separate digital experience decisions from system-of-record decisions.

“By creating a more connected and adaptable technology foundation, we can reduce complexity, help our employees work more effectively, and make it easier for financial professionals and policyholders to do business with us,” said Jai Kuchimanchi, SVP for Information Systems with EquiTrust. “Our partnership with Sureify will support EquiTrust’s growth while allowing us to continue delivering the responsive, relationship-focused experience people expect from us.”

EquiTrust Life Insurance Company provides annuity and life insurance products via a network of independent sales representatives and independent marketing organizations. Founded in 2003 as a subsidiary of FBL Financial Group, today the company has total invested assets of more than $37 billion and a solvency ratio of more than 109%. Headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, EquiTrust was named to the Ward’s 50, which recognizes top-performing companies in the life and health insurance industry, for the 11th consecutive year in 2026.

Founded in 2012, Sureify made its Finovate debut at FinovateSpring 2014. In addition to CoreCONNECT, the company offers a modular enterprise product suite, Lifetime, that integrates data from every legacy access point. The suite includes LifetimeACQUIRE, which connects the life and annuity sales journey to eDelivery; LifetimeAGENT, which gives agents a portal to sell, service, and digitally manage their relationships; and LifetimeSERVICE, which enables policyholders to securely access policy information and make transactions. Sureify’s technology facilitates more than 1.5 million agent and policyholder interactions every month; offers more than 80 pre-built, ready-to-launch life and annuity transactions; and features 40+ off-the-shelf form integrations.

Photo by Nick Page on Unsplash

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Bluevine Agrees to $340 Million Acquisition by Valley National Bank

Bluevine Agrees to $340 Million Acquisition by Valley National Bank
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: BlueVine, Mergers & Acquisitions
  • SME digital banking platform Bluevine has agreed to be acquired by Valley National Bank for $340 million in cash and stock.
  • The acquisition will help Valley expand its small business franchise and accelerate its digital and AI strategy.
  • Bluevine was founded in 2013. Headquartered in Jersey City, New Jersey, the company made its Finovate debut at FinovateFall 2014.

Small business digital banking platform Bluevine has agreed to be acquired by Valley National Bank (“Valley”). The approximately $340 million transaction will consist of approximately 75% cash and 25% Valley common stock.

Bluevine serves 175,000 small business customers and has served more than 415,000 businesses since inception. The company offers an integrated suite of digital banking, payments, lending, and financial management solutions—including high-yield business checking, accounts payable, debit and credit cards, loans, and lines of credit—all tailored for small and medium-sized businesses. The acquisition by Valley will enhance the financial institution’s funding base, expand its small business franchise, and accelerate its digital and AI strategy.

“Bluevine was founded to give small business owners the financial tools and digital experience they need to manage and grow their businesses,” Bluevine Co-Founder and CEO Eyal Lifshitz said. “Valley shares that commitment and brings the balance sheet capacity, relationship banking expertise, and broader capabilities necessary to support our customers through every stage of their journey. Together, we will be able to expand our impact while preserving the technology, customer focus, and entrepreneurial culture that have driven Bluevine’s success. We look forward to joining Valley and continuing to enhance our small business banking platform.”

The acquisition is expected to close in early 2027, subject to standard regulatory approvals. Lifshitz will join Valley as Head of Small Business Banking.

In acquiring Bluevine, Valley National Bank gains a scaled digital small business platform and more than $2 billion in low-cost, digitally-sourced deposits. Valley will also benefit from access to a suite of integrated banking, payments, lending, and financial management solutions designed specifically for small businesses. Additionally, Bluevine’s engineering, product, data science, and AI talent will be valuable in boosting the bank’s longer-term technology strategy. At the same time, access to Valley’s branch network and treasury management, credit, insurance, wealth, and capital markets solutions will give Bluevine customers a more comprehensive value proposition.

“The acquisition of Bluevine directly advances the strategic priorities we have previously communicated to our shareholders,” Ira Robbins, Valley National Bank Chairman, President, and CEO, said. “It is expected to enhance our core funding capabilities, add a proven small business growth platform, and meaningfully accelerate our digital and AI capabilities. Bluevine has built an impressive franchise which has generated a diversified base of small business operating deposit relationships, a highly engaged customer community, and a modern technology platform purpose-built for the needs of small businesses.”

Valley National Bank is a regional financial institution with more than $66 billion in assets. The principal subsidiary of Valley National Bancorp (NASDAQ: VLY), Valley has more than 220 branch locations and commercial offices across New Jersey, New York, Florida, Alabama, California, Illinois, Pennsylvania, and Arizona. The bank was founded in 1927.

Founded in 2013 and headquartered in Jersey City, New Jersey, Bluevine made its Finovate debut at FinovateFall 2014. Since inception, the company has delivered more than $14 billion in loans and has more than $1 billion in managed customer deposits.

Photo by Ambre Estève on Unsplash

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Plumery Offers DBP Rescue Plan to Help Banks Transition to New Platforms

Plumery Offers DBP Rescue Plan to Help Banks Transition to New Platforms
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Plumery
  • Digital banking development platform Plumery launched its DBP Rescue Plan this week to help banks and other financial institutions migrate away from banking platforms that no longer serve their needs.
  • The offering includes a specialist migration team, migration tooling and playbooks, as well as a Proof of Migration framework that allows institutions to test the migration before committing to it.
  • Headquartered in Amsterdam, Plumery made its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope 2025 in London.

Digital banking development platform Plumery unveiled its DBP Rescue Plan this week. The new offering is an international program designed to help banks and other financial institutions transition away from digital banking platforms that no longer serve their needs.

Plumery’s DBP Rescue Plan removes the primary barriers to migration, providing financial institutions with a defined path away from their current platform that doesn’t require them to take on the full risk and expense of switching platforms. Plumery is making the offering available to 10 financial institutions on a first-come, first-served basis. Participating banks will receive a specialist migration team, migration tooling and playbooks, as well as a Proof of Migration framework that enables them to test the migration against their own systems and environment before committing to the program.

Plumery notes that after the transition, banks and other financial institutions will be able to move beyond vendor dependency and create new products and services with greater flexibility and speed. This will ultimately give development teams more control over the kind of digital banking experiences they can provide to customers. Plumery aims to complete all ten migrations within 12 months.

The DBP Rescue Plan arrives at a time when a growing share of bank IT budgets are being dedicated toward maintaining technical debt. Banking trends research from Accenture noted that in 2026, 70% of bank IT budgets were devoted to these costs. At the same time, software costs have outpaced banking revenue growth, growing by 8% annually since 2017. In this context, in some cases, upgrading an existing platform can be more expensive than building a new platform from scratch. This problem is all the more acute when the bank believes that their current platform is no longer meeting their needs.

“Too many financial institutions stay with digital banking platforms that are no longer working for them because leaving feels riskier than staying,” Plumery CEO Ben Gold said. “The DBP Rescue Plan is designed to remove some of that risk. By combining migration expertise, proven tooling, and a commercial model that removes software licensing costs for up to two years during the transition, we’re giving (financial) institutions a practical way to move forward and take back control over their digital future. Now the real risk is staying.”

Founded in 2016, Plumery made its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope 2025 in London. The company helps banks and other financial institutions modernize their tech stacks and assemble new digital and AI-native banking experiences for their customers.

Photo by Javier M. on Unsplash

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Finastra Introduces Supply Chain Finance, Repair Recommendations

Finastra Introduces Supply Chain Finance, Repair Recommendations
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni profile, Finastra

Financial services software provider Finastra announced a pair of new offerings this week.

Finastra Supply Chain Finance (SCF) will help banks scale working capital programs faster and stimulate growth. SCF is integrated with Finastra’s Trade Innovation and Loan IQ platforms via the Nexus API suite and allows banks to offer connected trade, lending, and supply chain finance services.

SCF supports buyer and supplier acquisition, onboarding, fulfillment, servicing, risk management, and secondary market distribution. The technology provides straight-through processing and connects with ERP systems and trade ecosystem partners through the Nexus API suite. SCF also offers a rich data foundation for decisioning and portfolio management. The solution is built on a cloud-native architecture and is available via a variety of deployment models, from on-premises to SaaS.

“Banks are looking for ways to bring new working capital solutions to market faster to capture new revenue streams delivered through STP journeys, and lower costs, while addressing operational risks and regulatory complexity,” Vinay Mendonca, Finastra’s Head of Product, Trade Supply Chain Finance and Corporate Channels, said. “By combining new supply chain finance capabilities with Trade Innovation and Loan IQ, we’re enabling banks to take a more connected approach to working capital. This launch marks an important milestone in the evolution of our Trade Innovation platform as we look to bring more API, AI, and cloud-led innovation to the market, leveraging our deep expertise in the trade domain, to help institutions innovate and grow.”

SCF will help banks accelerate product launches, provide holistic working capital management, automate risk distribution, enhance risk management, and scale efficiently thanks to straight-through processing, real-time servicing, and high-performance architecture. Finastra noted that it plans to expand the capabilities of SCF to include purchase order (PO) finance, pre- to post-shipment finance, inventory finance, distributor finance, as well as other working capital solutions.

The release of SCF is the company’s latest investment in its Trade Innovation and Loan IQ offerings. Trade Innovation is Finastra’s digital trade finance platform that enables institutions to automate workflows, reduce risk, and improve working capital efficiency. Loan IQ is the company’s commercial and corporate loan management and servicing software. SCF extends Finastra’s goal of offering institutions a connected working capital ecosystem through a unified commercial and risk management framework.

Finastra also unveiled a new AI-powered capability within its OperatorAssist solution. Repair Recommendations, announced this week, will enable banks to respond faster to rising payment volumes by bringing better decision-making into their existing workflows. The new offering is designed to help banks avoid the kind of errors and disruptions that can hinder traditional payment processing by enabling teams to resolve issues faster, manage higher volumes more efficiently, and boost success rates without introducing additional complexity.

Repair Recommendations simplifies complex repair scenarios, identifies payment discrepancies and underlying causes, decreases dependence on specialized expertise, and reduces the amount of time and effort required by payment operations teams to manage and resolve payment exceptions. This allows banks to manage higher payment volumes more efficiently as demand from real-time cross-border activity, infrastructure modernization, and digital commerce continues to grow.

“With Repair Recommendations, we’re empowering banks to upgrade their payment operations—reducing resolution times and minimizing errors,” Barry Rodrigues, Finastra EVP, Payments, said. “As payment volumes increase, AI can help deliver immediate value by accelerating repairs, streamlining onboarding, and strengthening resilience. We’re helping banks to scale their operations and deliver faster, more reliable services to their customers.”

Headquartered in London, Finastra was formed in 2017 through the combination of Finovate alum Misys and D+H. In addition to its loan servicing and trade innovation platforms, Finastra offers solutions for payments (Global PAYplus and Payments to Go), core banking (Essence), mortgages (Mortgagebot), and more.

Photo by Rinson Chory on Unsplash

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Mifundo Teams Up with Yapily to Enhance Cross-Border Credit

Mifundo Teams Up with Yapily to Enhance Cross-Border Credit
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Mifundo
  • Credit data platform Mifundo has partnered with open banking infrastructure provider Yapily.
  • The combination of Mifundo’s cross-border credit assessment platform with enriched bank account data from Yapily will make it easier for lenders to serve borrowers who live and work in multiple countries, and provide more accurate credit assessments overall.
  • Estonia-based Mifundo most recently demonstrated its technology at FinovateEurope 2026 in London.

Pan-European credit data platform Mifundo has teamed up with Yapily, an open banking infrastructure provider based in London. The partnership will combine Yapily’s enriched bank account data with Mifundo’s cross-border credit assessment platform via Yapily’s Data Plus product. Combined with verified credit bureau information from European markets, this data will enable the creation of a single, standardized, cross-border credit report. This will allow lenders to benefit from having multiple sources and types of financial information consolidated into a single report.

“Cross-border credit assessment requires more than one type of financial data,” Mifundo Founder and CEO Kaido Saar said. “Credit bureau data shows how a customer has managed credit over time, while open banking data provides additional insight into their current financial situation. Mifundo brings these different data sources together across countries and standardizes them into one report that banks can use in their credit assessment. Yapily is an important partner in providing open banking connectivity within that wider ecosystem.”

Currently, even as cross-border consumer lending is growing, credit data is typically siloed behind national borders. A consumer may have a strong credit history in one country, but have virtually no credit history in another country where they may be seeking to obtain a loan due to the absence of portable data or cross-border data access. The combination of Mifundo’s credit bureau and registry network and Yapily’s open banking connectivity will enable banks and other lenders to see a more complete picture of a borrower’s finances, their long-term credit management, and their current financial situation.

The partnership also comes at a key moment as the revised Consumer Credit Directive (CCD2) will apply throughout the European Union from November 20, 2026. Article 6 of this directive includes a non-discrimination provision when it comes to accessing consumer credit, which includes discrimination based on a borrower’s place of residence.

“Open banking has an important role to play in making financial data more accessible across borders, and to do that, it needs data that is ready to act on the moment it lands, not a raw feed that still has to be interpreted,” Yapily Director of Sales EMEA, Irene Brime, said. “Our Data Plus product delivers bank account information already categorized and enriched, complementing credit bureau information and helping lenders build a more complete view of customers with financial histories across different countries. We are excited to be partnered with Mifundo and to contribute to a solution addressing a real challenge for European lenders.”

Open banking API infrastructure platform Yapily securely connects its customers to thousands of banks across Europe, enabling them to access financial data, initiate payments and conduct other operations from credit assessment to onboarding. Founded in 2017 and headquartered in London, the company recently reported 2025 revenues that were up 2.5x over 2024, and has achieved and sustained profitability since Q1 2025.

Headquartered in Tallinn, Estonia, and founded in 2022, Mifundo most recently demoed its technology at FinovateEurope 2026. At the conference, the company demonstrated how its cross-border credit data solution enables banks to access the verified credit history of borrowers from other countries. This helps them make lending decisions that are not just more accurate, but also avoid discriminating against worthy borrowers who live, work, or move across international borders. Mifundo makes foreign credit data accessible, standardized, and operational within existing bank processes, facilitating compliant, scalable cross-border lending across the European Union.

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Banks Know What You Spend. AI Knows Why.

Banks Know What You Spend. AI Knows Why.
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Julie's Column, Thought Leadership

At FinovateFall earlier this month, there was one question brought up in multiple panel conversations and on the networking floor: in the age of AI, who owns the customer?

Historically, banks have had an obvious, structural advantage. They hold the checking account, receive the direct deposit from the paycheck, see transactions, and often serve as the place consumers turn when they need to dispute a payment, borrow for a home, finance a major life event, start investing, etc.

The LLM’s role

However, what happens when the place consumers go first with their financial questions isn’t their bank or even a fintech? With LLMs offering increasingly powerful financial capabilities and reliable bank account connections, a customer’s first stop for financial information may be their preferred LLM.

In 2026, consumers have become comfortable using LLMs for a vast array of tasks. People are using LLMs to research questions, plan vacations, manage work projects, interpret health and fitness data, meal-plan, get parenting and school help, navigate relationships, make purchases, and increasingly analyze financial information.

The retailer’s role

Before taking a deeper look at LLM’s relationship with consumers, let’s examine another stakeholder in this equation, the retailer. Retailers, especially big box retailers like Walmart, Costco, and Target, have always held a more intimate level of information about consumers than banks have. They not only see how much the consumer is spending, but they also see each individual item the consumer is purchasing.

So while banks have valuable data regarding their consumers’ financial lives, and retailers see the exact items in customer’s basket, LLMs get to form a picture of customers through their actual lives. Oftentimes, consumers will consult their preferred LLM about details before large purchases and events such as a move, vacation, wedding, new baby, home renovation, or job change. Because of this, the LLM has the data about the consumer before the resulting transactions even appear on their bank statement.

As an example, a bank may see the consumer spent $2,389 at Costco, while Costco sees a consumer who purchased patio furniture, kids’ clothes, hummus, and carrots. That item-level data gives retailers context banks traditionally haven’t had. Retailers can distinguish grocery spending from clothing or home improvement even when everything happened at the same merchant. To summarize, the bank sees the transaction, the retailer sees the purchase, and the LLM sees the person.

The steakhouse that got me thinking

The LLM introduces another layer to this because it understands the rationale behind the purchase. To offer up a personal example, I recently planned my in-laws’ 50th wedding anniversary celebration in Colorado. Because I am not local to the area, I used ChatGPT to help plan details such as photography, celebration locations, a restaurant, and logistics. Ultimately, after using ChatGPT to compare the options, we chose Twin Owls Steakhouse in Estes Park and it was fabulous.

Weeks later, I was reviewing my finances that are connected to ChatGPT via Plaid. On a monthly basis, ChatGPT offers a written overview of my finances with red flags and suggestions. In this report, ChatGPT identified that my restaurant spending for the previous month was higher than normal and exceeded my monthly stated budget. Unprompted, it went one step further. It recognized the Twin Owls Steakhouse charge as the anniversary dinner I had previously planned using ChatGPT. Instead of simply flagging the category as overspending, the LLM distinguished an intentional, one-time celebration from a potentially concerning spending trend.

My bank knew I spent money at Twin Owls. ChatGPT not only knew why I was there, it knew I had planned to spend the money before I even spent it, and crucially, it helped inform the decision of where I ultimately spent the money.

Banks’ new role

So where does this leave banks? When operating alongside LLMs, banks have three options:

  • Build: Banks can create AI experiences that sit within their app or website that develop meaningful customer context that extends beyond answering questions about the customers’ transactions.
  • Join: Banks can make bank data, products, and execution available within the existing LLMs and AI ecosystems where customers already go to make decisions.
  • Differentiate: Banks can double down on what external LLMs cannot independently provide, such as regulated custody, trusted execution, credit, identity, fraud protection and dispute resolution. These services are hard to replicate in an LLM setting and banks retain a significant advantage in these areas.

For years, banks have invested in creating a 360-degree view of the customer. But the next battle for primacy will be won by the company with the most comprehensive view of the customer’s life first.

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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: Experian, Finastra, Fintech Rundown, FIS

As we head toward the final quarter of the year and autumn begins in earnest, we’re seeing a raft of news in the insurance/insurtech space with new product launches and a look at the role of agentic orchestration in the industry.

Be sure to check back here at Finovate’s Fintech Rundown all week long for the latest fintech news updates!

Business banking

Lloyds integrates invoicing and payment collection directly into its business banking app

Payments

Deutsche Bank teams up with IPID to integrate AI-driven payment decision intelligence.

FIS integrates with Spade, bringing real-time transaction enrichment to its debit processing platform.

BNY launches Pay-to-Wallet capability, enabling financial institutions to facilitate cross-border payments.

Cosmos provides connectivity to help banks participate in Swift’s ledger for 24/7 cross-border payments.

Stablecoins and DeFi

Volante Technologies and Circle advance stablecoin payment and settlement capabilities for financial institutions.

Episode Six launches E6 Token Control ledger to give banks a system of record for tokenized money.

Insurtech

Bold Penguin unveils Dex ai to power automation in commercial insurance.

Xceedance announced efficiency gains of up to 50% in insurance operations thanks to AI orchestration.

Federato earns a spot on CB Insights’ Insurtech 50.

WTW launches Radar AI Assistant, a natural language capability within its performance and experience monitoring tool for insurers.

Lending, credit, and analytics

Experian integrates its personal finance app with Google Gemini.

LoanPro and Spring Labs partner to automate complaints, disputes and quality assurance for lenders.

Trade finance

Financial services software company Finastra launched its new Supply Chain Finance platform.

Photo by Jeremy Thomas on Unsplash

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FedNow Announces Support for Cross-Border Payments

FedNow Announces Support for Cross-Border Payments
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Daily news
  • The Federal Reserve is adding cross-border capabilities to FedNow, allowing banks to use the instant payments network for the US leg of international transactions.
  • Initial use cases include international payroll, corporate payments, insurance claims, and treasury management, with correspondent banks handling the international portion.
  • The expansion strengthens FedNow’s position as stablecoins gain traction in cross-border payments, giving banks a faster, 24/7 option within established banking infrastructure.

The US Federal Reserve is improving its FedNow real time payment scheme this week. The organization is building out cross-border transaction support to allow financial institutions to meet needs of clients who conduct business across geographic borders.

Cross-border payment capabilities will allow institutions to support customers whose transactions involve sending and/or receiving funds to parties outside of the US for international payroll, corporate payments for global businesses, international insurance claims, and global treasury management. While FedNow is covering the US leg of the transaction, the organization is leveraging correspondent banking relationships to move funds on the international portion of the transaction, similar to how the Fedwire Funds Service operates.

“Cross-border transaction capabilities will give financial institutions powerful new ways to serve internationally active customers. After several years focused on growing the domestic instant payments market, this is an important first step toward meeting the global needs emerging across our ecosystem,” said FedNow Chief Executive, Nick Stanescu. “Participants have consistently told us that enabling cross-border use cases is a priority, and this milestone reflects our commitment to delivering on that feedback. It’s a meaningful step forward—and just the beginning of what’s to come.”

While the service is not currently live, a group of organizations will soon begin testing FedNow to send and receive the US domestic leg of cross-border payments. The organization said that all FedNow participants can adopt these new messages to support cross-border capabilities “soon.”

“Our upcoming integration with cross-border functionality supported by the FedNow Service reflects our commitment to providing financial institutions with a faster, more transparent solution for the US leg of international transactions, while elevating safety by un-nesting complex payments, screening each party instantly, and digitizing every risk and compliance process to deliver the highest standards our industry requires,” said Payall President and CEO, Gary Palmer. “As commerce increasingly demands instant execution across borders, we’re proud to support the infrastructure that makes this possible for our clients and their customers.”

FedNow went live in July of 2023 and now reaches 1,900 participating financial institutions, up from more than 1,500 at the end of 2025. While participation continues to expand, the Federal Reserve is still working to encourage institutions to activate and increase their use of both send and receive capabilities. Earlier this month, Federal Reserve Financial Services announced a new discount program launching in 2027 that will offer financial institutions incentives of up to $80,000 for enabling and scaling FedNow payments.

FedNow’s expansion into cross-border payments is strategic. While the network was built to give banks an always-on, real-time alternative for domestic payments, stablecoins increasingly offer many of those same benefits across borders. Stablecoins can move value around the clock without relying on the operating hours and intermediaries that have traditionally made international payments slower and more expensive. The Federal Reserve itself has acknowledged that stablecoins have the potential to become a faster, lower-cost alternative for cross-border payments.

That makes international functionality an increasingly important piece of FedNow’s value proposition. By allowing banks to use FedNow for the US leg of a cross-border transaction while correspondent institutions handle the international portion, the Federal Reserve is extending the speed and 24/7 availability of its instant-payment rail to more global use cases. It doesn’t eliminate the correspondent banking infrastructure the way some stablecoin-based payment models seek to, but it gives banks another way to deliver faster international payments while keeping settlement within familiar regulated banking infrastructure.

Photo by Alexas Fotos

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Finovate Global Cambodia: Partnerships in Fraud Fighting and Innovations in Payments

Finovate Global Cambodia: Partnerships in Fraud Fighting and Innovations in Payments
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Finovate Global

This week’s edition of Finovate Global features fintech news from Cambodia.

Cambodia and the UK partner to fight online scams

The UK and Cambodia have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) declaring their intent to work together to combat networks of illegal scam centers. The agreement calls for more data sharing and greater coordination against criminal gangs in order to bring scammers to justice. The two countries also noted the role of human trafficking in international financial crime and have pledged to make sure that victims of trafficking are supported as well.

The problem of scam centers is the focus of the agreement, which marks the first time the two countries have established a joint working framework for tackling scam networks. Scam centers and networks have been effective in launching and scaling fraud attacks against thousands of victims simultaneously. These criminals deploy sophisticated tactics to con individuals into sending them money, including romance scams. In some cases, the people carrying out these scams are themselves victims of human trafficking, forced to commit fraud under threat of violence. Many of these scam centers and networks are based in Southeast Asia, which has increasingly become an international hub for this kind of illicit activity.

“Fraudsters don’t respect international borders,” UK Minister for Fraud, Lord Hanson, said. “Over two-thirds of fraud affecting the UK originates overseas so agreements like this are vital to reducing the threat to the public here at home. I’m pleased to have reached this agreement with Cambodia which will strengthen our work to dismantle scam centers and stop these criminals profiting from misery. We will pursue fraudsters wherever they operate from.”

The UK will also help bolster the capacities of Cambodian law enforcement through training in cybercrime investigations, digital forensics, and investigative procedures. The UK and Cambodian governments will also collaborate via the Global Fraud Taskforce, jointly developed by the UK and INTERPOL. This will involve identifying suspects and providing support to operations to dismantle scam centers, as well as tracing and disrupting the financial flows that support them.

UPI acceptance goes live in Cambodia

Through of a partnership between NPCI International Payments Limited, the international arm of the National Payments Corporation of India, and ACLEDA Bank, Unified Payments Interface (UPI) acceptance is now live in Cambodia via the country’s own national QR code, KHQR.

The launch, currently in Phase 1, will enable Indian consumers to scan KHQR at more than 4.5 million merchant outlets, allowing them to make secure and seamless QR-based payments at tourist attractions, retail outlets, restaurants, and other businesses using their UPI-powered apps. The next phase of the partnership will enable Cambodian travellers in India to use their Cambodian payment and banking apps at millions of UPI QR-enabled merchant locations throughout the country, creating a bilateral, interoperable payment corridor between the two nations.

“ACLEDA Bank is proud to launch Phase 1 of our cross-border interoperability initiative, enabling Indian travellers to execute secure digital transactions via UPI-enabled applications across our extensive KHQR merchant network,” ACLEDA Bank President and Group Managing Director In Channy said. “This partnership represents a significant achievement in our digital transformation roadmap.”

Officially launched in July 2022 by the National Bank of Cambodia, KHQR made Cambodia one of the first countries in Southeast Asia to deploy a national standardized QR code payment system. The system is widely used in Cambodia; by the end of 2024, banks had onboarded approximately 4.5 million merchant accounts that could accept KHQR payments. KHQR is integrated with Bakong, Cambodia’s national payment system, which was unveiled in October 2020.

“By integrating the payment gateways of Cambodia and India, we are removing transactional friction and foreign exchange volatility for travellers,” In Channy added. “This synergy empowers local merchants by providing direct access to a high-velocity digital market, optimizing liquidity management, and enhancing operational throughput via secure, real-time settlement protocols. Ultimately, this collaboration drives financial inclusion and strengthens the bilateral economic corridor through robust, scalable technology.”

Named Cambodia’s leading bank for trade finance by Global Finance 2025, ACLEDA Bank is one of the country’s largest banks by assets and has a strong standing among rural communities and with small businesses. ACLEDA Bank was founded in 1993 as a non-governmental organization (NGO) that provides microfinance services. The institution became a specialized bank in 2000 and a full commercial bank in 2003. As of 2025, ACLEDA Bank has assets of more than $10 billion.

ABA Bank earns top marks from Forbes

ACLEDA Bank is not the only financial institution in Cambodia making headlines this month. ABA Bank, one of the Big Four Cambodian banks (along with ACLEDA, Canadia Bank, and KB Prasac Bank), was named by Forbes as the country’s number one bank in its World’s Top Performing Banks 2026 ranking. The listing puts the institution at number 31 globally among all Lower Mid-Size Banks, and represents a significant milestone for ABA Bank.

Founded in 1996 as the Advanced Bank of Asia Limited, providing commercial banking services to a small group of corporate customers, ABA Bank today is the largest commercial bank in the country and is recognized as a leader in digital banking. With assets of more than $16 billion and more than five million mobile banking customers, the institution maintains 106 branches, 45 self-service banking locations, and more than 2,000 self-service banking machines.

“This achievement reflects the strength of our business and the consistency of our performance, but it also represents something broader,” ABA Bank Chief Executive Officer Askhat Azhikhanov said. “It is the result of the trust of millions of customers, the dedication of our people, and our continued focus on building a strong, resilient, and forward-looking bank. We are proud to see ABA’s performance recognized on a global stage, and we remain committed to raising the bar even further.”

Here is our look at fintech innovation around the world.

Asia-Pacific

  • AIFU, a Chinese-based, Nasdaq-listed, AI-powered financial services platform raised $140 million in a private placement.
  • 01F Group, via its fintech private equity arm 01Fintech, announced an investment in Indonesian digital financial platform DANA.
  • Philippine fintech unicorn Mynt won approval from the country’s stock exchange for a nearly $1.3 billion IPO.

Sub-Saharan Africa

Central and Eastern Europe

  • Estonia-based pan-European credit data platform, Mifundo, teamed up with open banking infrastructure provider Yapily.
  • Payment app Blackcat and Prague-based non-profit consumer organization Fundurama announced a new partnership.
  • Estonian fintech CostPocket agreed to be acquired by Swedish fintech Mynt.

Middle East and Northern Africa

  • Egyptian payments infrastructure company Paymob raised $35 million in a pre-Series C funding round.
  • Fintech Galaxy announced that it has become the first company in Jordan to achieve multi-bank open banking integration and account aggregation.
  • The Central Bank of Oman (CBO) announced a new national fintech strategy.

Central and Southern Asia

  • Payment technology company EBANX announced its expansion into Pakistan.
  • India’s Pine Labs partnered with Google Cloud to build agentic AI infrastructure.
  • The Astana Times looked at the role of modernizing financial infrastructure in supporting the country’s growing fintech industry.

Latin America and the Caribbean

  • Mexico-based financial services company Kapital raised $125 million in combined equity and debt.
  • Brazilian fintech NG.CASH secured $15 million to boost access to credit.
  • New report from Uruguay-based fintech dLocal emphasized the value of local payment options for consumers in countries in the Global South.

Photo by Nara Tsitra

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