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."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gq4kTZETHZc&list=PLZS3s3f_02JU&index=3

Rooney is…

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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…

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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…

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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…

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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…

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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…

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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…

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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…

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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,…

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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…

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LoanPro Launches New Payments, Disbursement, and AI Servicing Tools

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, LoanPro

LoanPro launched three new products spanning payments, card-based loan disbursement, and AI-assisted servicing: LoanPro DirectPay, Beyond Credit, and LoanPro MCP.

The launches bring more of the lending lifecycle onto LoanPro's platform, helping lenders reduce reliance on separate vendors and integrations for payments, disbursements, and servicing.

LoanPro MCP allows lenders to connect AI agents to servicing workflows while applying the same permissions, compliance guardrails, and audit trails used for human employees.

Lending and credit platform LoanPro revealed its three newest launches this week. The Utah-based company unveiled multiple new products covering payments, card-based loan disbursement and AI-assisted servicing.

Among today's launches are LoanPro DirectPay, Beyond Credit, and the LoanPro MCP (Model Context Protocol). The company also announced RiskRadar delinquency prediction, ongoing compliance monitoring, LoanPro Connect, full support for secured cards, and added two new payment partners, Moov and CheckAlt.

"Lenders have asked us for years to handle more…

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Crux Analytics Secures $2.2 Million in Seed Funding

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Crux Analytics, Funding

New York-based Crux Analytics has raised €1.9 million ($2.2 million) in seed funding.

The investment in the relationship intelligence platform was led by Castle Creek Launchpad and also involved three credit union investment funds, Chartway Ventures, One Washington Financial, and Curql.

Crux Analytics made its Finovate debut at FinovateSpring 2025. The company was founded in 2023 by Jacob Bennett (CEO) and Nathan Bennett (CTO).

Relationship intelligence platform Crux Analytics has raised €1.9 million ($2.2 million) in seed funding, bringing the company's total capital raised to €2.8 million. The round was led by Castle Creek Launchpad, a joint venture fund with 35 community banks as limited partners. Chartway Ventures, One Washington Financial, and Curql, three credit union investment funds, also participated in the round. Crux said that it will use the additional capital to grow its team and accelerate product development.

Crux combines workflow automation and business-specific insight to enable bankers…

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