nCino Brings its Lending Platform to Austrian Banking Cooperative

nCino Brings its Lending Platform to Austrian Banking Cooperative
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, nCino
  • Agentic banking innovator nCino has teamed up with Austrian banking cooperative Raiffeisenbankengruppe Oesterreich.
  • The financial institution will use nCino as its unified lending platform, supporting the complete financing lifecycle from initial application to final disbursement.
  • Founded in 2012 and headquartered in North Carolina, nCino made its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope 2017 in London. Sean Desmond is President and CEO.

Agentic banking platform provider nCino announced a new partnership with Austrian financial institution Raiffeisenbankengruppe Oesterreich. The company, one of the largest cooperative banking institutions in Europe, will use nCino as its unified corporate lending platform to support the entire financing lifecycle, including origination, underwriting, pricing, compliance, and portfolio monitoring.

“Raiffeisenbankengruppe Oesterreich is aware of its responsibility towards society and provides strong momentum for the promotion of the regional economy,” Chairman of the Raiffeisen Kooperationsgenossenschaft, Reinhard Schwendtbauer, said. “Raiffeisen focuses on long-term customer relationships, which are always built on trust—trust between our eight Raiffeisenlandesbanken, our local Raiffeisenbanken, and the communities they serve. nCino gives us the modern foundation to honor the trust of our customers and our responsibility towards them—with a platform designed specifically for how we work.”

The nCino platform spans financing products from current account credit to term loans. The platform’s features include Banking Advisor, an AI chat interface that generates credit memo narratives and application summaries, and standardizes documentation, while Priority Manager tracks file completion. The platform also offers mortgage lenders a multilingual AI chat interface, Mortgage Advisor, that provides 24/7 guidance and Doc Validation that accelerates document collection and classification. Combined, these automation tools help financial institutions lower costs, accelerate speed-to-close, and provide positive borrowing experiences for customers.

“In the DACH region, Raiffeisenbankengruppe Oesterreich is a powerful example of what’s possible when a traditional cooperative banking institution decides to modernize at scale,” nCino Managing Director of EMEA Joaquín de Valenzuela said. “They bring a century of community banking expertise to this partnership and nCino brings the platform and the cooperative banking expertise to help them take it further. We look forward to working alongside their team to bring a new standard of efficiency and innovation to corporate lending across Austria.”

One of Europe’s largest and most complex cooperative banking institutions, Raiffeisenbankengruppe Oesterreich has eight regional Raiffeisenlandesbanken that serve as central financing institutions for 270 local Raiffeisenbanken throughout Austria. The institution has its origins in the Raiffeisen movement in Germany and Austria in the 1880s, which was a cooperative banking initiative based on the ideas of mutual aid, self-help, and community solidarity. The movement was designed to address the financial challenges faced by farmers and others in rural communities, providing them with affordable financial services. Raiffeisenbankengruppe Oesterreich’s international operations are consolidated under Raiffeisen Bank International (RBI), which is owned by Raiffeisenlandesbanken. The group reported assets of €404.5 billion ($445 billion) as of the end of 2024.

Founded in 2012, nCino made its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope 2017 in London. Today the North Carolina-based fintech has more than 2,700 customers around the world—including community banks, credit unions, independent mortgage banks, and other financial services providers. The company’s dual workforce of AI agents and human teams helps financial institutions become more efficient, make more informed decisions, and deliver better outcomes for their customers.

nCino is a publicly traded company on the NASDAQ under the ticker NCNO. The company has a market capitalization of $1.97 billion.

Photo by Pierre Blaché on Unsplash

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Impact+ Heads to FinovateSpring to Spotlight Early-Stage Fintech Innovation

Impact+ Heads to FinovateSpring to Spotlight Early-Stage Fintech Innovation
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: FinovateSpring 2026

New for FinovateSpring 2026, Finovate is bringing its Impact+ session to offer early-stage fintech founders a dedicated platform to pitch their ideas directly to an audience of investors, banks, and industry leaders.

The session, which debuted at FinovateEurope earlier this year, is designed to create a structured environment for founders and investors to connect, exchange insights, and explore partnerships at a stage when ideas are still forming and companies are actively shaping their trajectory.

Taking place on Monday, May 4, Impact+ will feature a keynote from Stripe’s Asya Bradley, followed by an investor panel and a series of four-minute startup pitches. The evening concludes with networking, giving attendees the opportunity to continue conversations sparked on stage.

Why Impact+ Matters

Early-stage fintech is often where the most interesting ideas emerge, but it’s also the hardest to get visibility into. Impact+ aims to close that gap by bringing founders and investors into the same room.

The concise format gives founders just four minutes to clearly articulate the problem they’re solving, how their solution works, and why it matters. This high-speed format offers investors a way to quickly evaluate emerging opportunities.

Meet the Startups Taking the Stage

At FinovateSpring, eight early-stage companies will take part in the Impact+ session, each tackling a different piece of the financial services stack—from underwriting and compliance to agentic commerce and investment intelligence.

Agentix

Agentix is positioning itself as the infrastructure layer for agentic commerce, enabling AI agents to transact across systems through a single integration. By focusing on discoverability across AI interfaces and enabling agent-to-agent transactions, the company is building toward a future where payments are initiated and completed by software agents rather than humans.

BUOH

BUOH is building an AI guidance layer for banks and insurers, designed to improve how institutions engage with customers during financial decision-making moments. By detecting intent and delivering personalized guidance, the platform aims to increase conversion rates, reduce customer acquisition costs, and improve long-term value.

CustomerPlus

CustomerPlus is rethinking client onboarding and compliance by replacing fragmented tools with a unified client management platform. By embedding regulatory rules directly into workflows, the company enables automated KYC assessments and more consistent compliance processes across products and jurisdictions.

Draco AI

Draco AI is focused on automating underwriting for small business lenders, starting with the merchant cash advance market. Its platform replaces manual analysis, such as reviewing bank statements and aggregating debt positions, with AI-driven workflows that compress hours of work into minutes.

Fintellion

Fintellion is an AI-native investment intelligence platform designed to bring institutional-grade research capabilities to smaller firms. By combining equity research, portfolio intelligence, and real-time insights into a single system, it aims to enable faster, more informed investment decisions without the need for large analyst teams.

Mercata

Mercata is building intelligence infrastructure for hedge funds by connecting internal knowledge such notes, ideas, and research, with external market data. The platform creates a persistent memory layer for investment teams, helping firms track evolving narratives and identify opportunities in real time.

ValueAssure

ValueAssure is developing protection products for niche markets underserved by traditional insurance. Its flagship offering, ValueAssureAUTO, provides trade-in value protection for vehicle owners, addressing gaps not covered by standard auto insurance or GAP products.

Ventus AI

Ventus AI is creating a customer intelligence layer that transforms transaction data into actionable insights. By identifying behavioral patterns and life events, the platform enables financial institutions to deliver more personalized experiences aimed at improving conversion, retention, and assets under management.

If you’re an investor interested in attending this session, there’s still time to register. We’ll see you in San Diego!

Photo by Evie Shaffer

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A Look Back at the 2025 Finovate Awards

A Look Back at the 2025 Finovate Awards
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Finovate Awards

Now that the nominations for the 2026 Finovate Awards are open and the judging teams are being assembled, we thought we’d take a look back at some of the winners of last year’s competition.

The 2025 Finovate Awards featured a wide variety of companies from around the world, all competing for top industry honors in more than 25 different categories. Here, we present a seven-member sampling of that year’s category-winning companies, from Best Anti-Fraud Platform to Best Wealth Management Solution.

The 2026 Finovate Awards will be announced September 10 during FinovateFall 2026 in New York. The nominations window remains open until May 22. To learn more and to nominate your favorite fintech company, bank, solution, or financial services professional, visit our Finovate Awards hub today!

Best Anti-Fraud/AML Solution – Oscilar

For its technology that powers real-time risk decisioning across fraud, credit, and compliance with a single unified solution. The company’s no-code AI Risk Decisioning platform leverages agentic AI and advanced signal processing to analyze complex data, detect anomalies, and automate decisions quickly and accurately. Learn more about Oscilar.

Best Banking-as-a-Service Provider – Zindigi-JS Bank

For its platform that empowers users to take control of their finances, providing them with an all-in-one finance app that enables them to securely move money, purchase mobile credit for any number, pay bills, invest in mutual funds, and more. Users can access an enhanced experience with Zindigi Ultra, which provides increased transaction limits and seamless international transactions. Learn more about JS Bank’s Zindigi.

Best Consumer Lending Solution – Wisetack

For its platform that provides embedded pay-over-time options for in-person services such as HVAC repair, plumbing, electrical, fencing and flooring, pest management, and more. Via APIs, Wisetack can be embedded into any software or user experience, putting the technology directly into the software tools that businesses are already using. Learn more about Wisetack.

Best Consumer-Facing Payments Solution – Engage People

For its Access Plus platform that serves more than 80 million active members who can use points to pay at a range of major retailers including Amazon, Apple, Best Buy, and PayPal. Engage People leverages agentic loyalty to transform traditional loyalty programs into AI-powered shopping experiences in which members engage with a personal agent that knows their balance and their preferences. Learn more about Engage People.

Best Digital Bank – Nubank

For serving more than 100 million customers across Brazil, Mexico, and Colombia with one of the largest digital banking platforms in the world. The company, known as Nu, leverages proprietary technologies and innovative business strategies to offer individuals and small businesses simple, intuitive, low-cost, empowering financial solutions. Learn more about Nu.

Best Financial Mobile App – DBS Bank

For its DBS digibank app that enables users to manage a range of banking tasks with just a few taps on their smartphone. Users can enjoy up to 5% interest per annum on their savings, conduct free 24×7 fund transfers via UPI, IMPS, NEFT, and RTGS, make fee-free mutual fund investments, quickly access loans, and more. DBS is a leading financial services group headquartered in Singapore with a presence in 19 markets. Learn more about DBS Bank.

Best Wealth Management Solution – Flourish: Enabling Wealth 3.0

For its Flourish Platform that supports more than $8 billion in assets under management and is used by more than 1,100 wealth management firms representing more than $2.6 trillion in assets under management. The company’s technology empowers RIAs to implement the holistic financial plans that they create for their clients, helping advisors move beyond the traditional stocks-and-bonds portfolio to offer comprehensive financial services that address clients’ entire financial lives. Learn more about Flourish.

Photo by Jason Leung on Unsplash

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Blockrise Looks to bunq for Financial Infrastructure

Blockrise Looks to bunq for Financial Infrastructure
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Daily news
  • bunq is launching a live BaaS use case, partnering with Blockrise to offer Bitcoin-friendly bank accounts with embedded banking services.
  • Blockrise users will gain regulated banking benefits, including fiat deposit protection up to €100,000 under the Dutch Deposit Guarantee Scheme via bunq’s license.
  • BaaS enables crypto–bank convergence in which banks provide compliant infrastructure while crypto platforms own the customer relationship.

European neobank bunq is going live with its BaaS offering, partnering with Bitcoin platform Blockrise to offer users Bitcoin-friendly bank accounts. 

Netherlands-based Blockrise users will gain access to Bitcoin services alongside embedded bank accounts. By leveraging bunq’s European banking license, fiat deposits will be protected up to €100,000 under the Dutch Deposit Guarantee Scheme.

“Up to now, Dutch Bitcoin users had to choose between security and convenience. With bunq’s infrastructure, they get both—a bank account that works seamlessly with Bitcoin, protected by the Dutch Deposit Guarantee Scheme,” said Blockrise Founder and CEO Jos Lazet. “We are proud to be the first-ever Bitcoin platform that is able to offer full bank accounts to our clients.”

The partnership marks the first live use case of bunq’s BaaS offering, which integrates bunq’s financial infrastructure into a business’ existing product by building on bunq’s open API. bunq anticipates that its BaaS service will offer users better, safer products. Because bunq handles the complex compliance and security requirements involved in offering bank accounts, businesses are able to focus on their core competencies and move with more agility.

The collaboration also reflects a convergence between traditional banking and digital asset platforms. As regulatory frameworks mature in Europe, licensed banks like bunq are becoming key enablers for crypto firms looking to offer more complete financial services. With BaaS-crypto partnerships, banks provide the compliant infrastructure, while crypto platforms own the customer relationship, which blurs the line between decentralized finance and centralized finance.

Founded in 2012, Amsterdam-based bunq offers both retail and commercial accounts with a range of tools, including budgeting and term deposits for consumers, and expense management and payment acceptance tools for businesses. Earlier this year, bunq applied for a US banking license for the second time, after it withdrew its original application in 2023.

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SumUp Expands its Small Business Product Suite

SumUp Expands its Small Business Product Suite
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, SumUp
  • SumUp is expanding its platform in the US with an all-in-one small business offering, combining POS Lite, a handheld terminal, card readers, and invoicing into a single ecosystem.
  • Today’s expansion of services comes 10 years after the company initially launched in the US.
  • The strategy reflects fintech’s rebundling, moving beyond payments to unify operations, sales, and business management tools in one platform.

Payment acceptance company SumUp is expanding its core product ecosystem in the US to give small business owners an integrated suite of tools to run their operations.

The new ecosystem breaks down into two categories: the first aims to help users run their business while the second helps them with payment acceptance. Combined, the tools offer business owners a complete set of business management tools in a single platform.

The first category offers businesses access to POS Lite, a point-of-sale solution built for merchants who need a fast, lightweight way to manage sales without the overhead of a full system; and SumUp Terminal, a handheld device that combines full POS functionality, payment acceptance, and business management tools in a single standalone unit.

SumUp has offered payment acceptance tools since it was founded in 2011. The fintech’s new business suite will include portable, plug-and-play card readers that accept chip and PIN, contactless, and mobile wallet payments; as well as an invoicing tool that generates professional invoices with built-in payment links.

“Small businesses shouldn’t have to stitch together five different tools just to run their day,” said SumUp USA Head of Product Ben Brazier. “We built this ecosystem around how merchants actually work—starting with payments, and layering in the management tools they need to stay on top of their business. The Terminal is the clearest expression of that philosophy: one device, everything you need, nothing you don’t.”

SumUp’s expansion echoes the wider “rebundling” trend that is taking place in fintech right now. Instead of offering fragmented point solutions, SumUp is bringing businesses a set of unified tools that bring payments, operations, and business management in a single platform, raising the bar for what small businesses expect from their financial and operational partners.

SumUp has more than four million merchant clients across the globe. Today’s expansion of services comes 10 years after the company initially launched in the US and five years after the fintech acquired payments and marketing platform FiveStars, a move that helped SumUp scale in the region. Overall, SumUp operates across 37 markets on four continents.

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KeyBank Deepens Ties with Qolo to Launch New Virtual Card Program

KeyBank Deepens Ties with Qolo to Launch New Virtual Card Program
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Alumni profile, Qolo

KeyBank is launching a new commercial card program this week. The Ohio-based bank is deepening its partnership with card issuing company Qolo to launch its Key Virtual Card (KeyVC), a virtual commercial card program that helps businesses manage and track payments. 

“KeyVC is designed to reduce that complexity by allowing clients to use virtual cards alongside other treasury tools, with consistent reporting and simplified reconciliation across payment types. Businesses want payment tools that fit naturally into how they already operate,” said Qolo Chief Operating Officer Rouzbeh Rotabi. “Working with KeyBank, we’ve built a virtual card solution that feels like a seamless part of the treasury environment–giving finance teams more flexibility, stronger controls, and clearer insight into their spending.”

KeyVC will enable KeyBank’s commercial clients to create and manage virtual cards within the bank’s Virtual Account Management platform (KeyVAM). Adding virtual cards to their existing treasury management tools will offer KeyBank’s commercial clients a way to pay suppliers while maintaining oversight of spending and facilitating reconciliation.

“Commercial clients are increasingly looking for simpler and more controlled ways to manage payments,” said KeyBank Head of Commercial Cards John Withrow. “By expanding our partnership with Qolo, we’re making virtual cards easier to use within our existing treasury platforms, helping clients streamline accounts payable, improve visibility, and maintain better control over how and when money is spent.”

Qolo, which demoed at FinovateFall 2022, was founded in 2018 with the aim of simplifying payments through a unified infrastructure layer. Its platform combines an embedded ledger, card issuing, money movement, real-time reconciliation, and cross-rail connectivity into a single API. Rather than requiring banks to replace legacy cores, Qolo overlays its technology on top of existing systems, enabling institutions to deploy new payment capabilities in months, not years.

In an interview at FinovateFall last year, I sat down with Patricia Montesi, Qolo Founder and CEO, to discuss how the company helps modernize payments infrastructure. “We set out to build an entire, comprehensive payments stack that includes ledger, card, payments, virtual account management—everything all available through a single API served up to you so that you can then focus on your customers,” said Montesi.

Qolo and KeyBank have worked together since 2024, when the two launched KeyVAM. Expanding this partnership will enable KeyBank to prioritize embedded payment experiences inside treasury workflows, rather than offering standalone payment tools. Qolo’s API-based approach will allow KeyBank to avoid a core overhaul while still providing modern card-based capabilities.

Embedding virtual cards within treasury environments shifts competition from facilitating payments to providing a more holistic workflow solution. The integrated approach brings payment tools directly into how finance teams manage liquidity, reconcile transactions, and control spend.

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Vernon Building Society Partners with FintechOS to Power New Mortgage Platform

Vernon Building Society Partners with FintechOS to Power New Mortgage Platform
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, FintechOS
  • Vernon Building Society has partnered with FintechOS to power its new mortgage platform.
  • The new platform spans the entire mortgage origination workflow and will run above the building society’s core infrastructure, making a system replacement unnecessary.
  • Headquartered in London, FintechOS most recently demoed its technology at FinovateFall 2021 in New York.

Vernon Building Society has teamed up with FintechOS to power its new unified mortgage platform that spans the complete origination workflow. From initial inquiry and decision-in-principle to application, underwriting, offer, and completion, the platform will run above Vernon’s current core infrastructure, alleviating the need for a system replacement.

Powered by FintechOS 8, the new unified system will feature decision workflows, as well as built-in compliance rules. Vernon’s financing teams will be able to use no-code configuration and AI-enabled capabilities to design and launch new mortgage products, and to respond more quickly to evolving customer preferences and shifting market conditions. Additionally, the platform unifies product and pricing governance with origination execution. This enhances the ability of Vernon to configure and evolve business rules, eligibility criteria, and construction logic within a governed layer above the core system. With versioning and auditability supporting consistent outcomes for both brokers and advisor workflows, the platform reduces redundant tasks while providing greater flexibility.

“A common misconception is that financial institutions have an AI problem; in reality, their challenge is largely an operationalization one,” Founder and CEO of FintechOS, Teo Blidarus, said. “We built FintechOS 8 around a simple premise: AI in financial services only works when it is grounded in real product data, real workflows, and real governance. This release makes data and AI operational for financial institutions, not experimental.”

FintechOS 8 also features FintechOS Dex, an AI copilot that provides in-context guidance for all roles across the product lifecycle. The copilot helps users navigate cases, access needed data faster, and apply governed generative assistance within approved workflows. The technology also supports AI-enabled document ingestion and data extraction to manage document-heavy processes. It limits automation to those high-friction activities such as capturing and validating data and routing exceptions for review to ensure human oversight, traceability, and audit readiness. The new platform will give brokers a dedicated portal that will enable them to track cases in real time. Borrowers will benefit from a shorter path from application to offer, and financing teams will be relieved from manual, repetitive tasks, enabling them to focus on personal service and human decision-making.

“This is what pragmatic modernization looks like—modernize the core, unify product and pricing logic with origination execution, and move faster without the risk and disruption of full system replacement,” Blidarus said.

Based in Stockport, Cheshire, Vernon Building Society offers mortgages, savings, and investment products to savers and homebuyers in the Greater Manchester area. The institution is also a leading provider of bespoke or specific-need mortgages to customers throughout England and Wales. Vernon has total assets of £534m ($667.5 million), a year-over-year gain of 5.4%, and recently reported growth in its mortgage book (4.6%) and its retail savings balances (6.2%). Founded in 1924, the institution today has more than 24,000 members across the UK.

Headquartered in London, FintechOS made its Finovate debut at FinovateFall 2021 and most recently demoed its technology at FinovateFall 2025 in New York. Founded in 2017, FintechOS enables banks, credit unions, building societies, and other financial institutions to modernize the way they build, launch, and manage financial products and services by running them above their current core systems. FintechOS has more than 60 customers across North America, Europe, and APAC, and manages assets exceeding $100 billion.

Photo by Balazs Bezeczky from Pexels

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AU10TIX Partners with Camunda for KYC/KYB Workflow Orchestration

AU10TIX Partners with Camunda for KYC/KYB Workflow Orchestration
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Daily news
  • Identity verification and fraud prevention company AU10TIX has partnered with enterprise platform for agentic orchestration Camunda.
  • AU10TIX will leverage Camunda’s platform to support Know Your Customer (KYC) and Know Your Business (KYB) workflows at scale.
  • Camunda Financial Services Transformation Lead Jawwad Rasheed will speak about the benefits of agentic orchestration at FinovateSpring 2026, Wednesday, May 6.

Identity verification and fraud prevention specialist AU10TIX has selected Camunda to support Know Your Customer (KYC) and Know Your Business (KYB) workflows at scale. Camunda’s enterprise platform for agentic orchestration enables users to manage complex identity processes without embedding decision logic inside the application code. Externalizing decision logic, as Camunda’s platform does, enables businesses to manage complex workflows efficiently and to adapt to changing circumstances without disrupting applications.

“Camunda gives us robust orchestration for some of the most critical processes in our business,” AU10TIX VP of Research and Development David Voschina said. “By leveraging standardized, configurable workflows, we can scale faster, introduce new verification scenarios more efficiently, and provide greater transparency. Continuous innovation is essential to staying ahead through a proactive defense framework, and Camunda strengthens our ability to anticipate threats.”

Camunda’s technology coordinates document and photo capture, automated authenticity and consistency checks, third-party risk screening, and decision handling into a sole transparent business process. Decisions are consolidated into a single case, automating approvals and declines and routing exceptional cases to human agents for manual review as needed. The platform’s Optimize feature gives users operational oversight, performance transparency, and SLA accountability across operations.

“Identity verification sits at the heart of trust in digital services,” Camunda VP of EMEA Sales Stéphane Faivre-Duboz said. “With Camunda, AU10TIX has a scalable orchestration foundation that connects systems, services, and decisions into one governed process—enabling both compliance and continuous growth.”

Amsterdam-based AU10TIX provides identity verification and management solutions to help businesses defend themselves against fraud. The company’s automated global identity management system detects organized mass fraud attacks by analyzing traffic patterns and cross-referencing data. Since inception, the platform has authenticated billions of identities and prevented more than $24 billion in identity fraud. AU10TIX’s technology enables seamless customer onboarding and verification while proactively adapting to emerging threats and regulatory mandates.

Founded in 2008 and headquartered in Berlin, Germany, Camunda enables firms to automate complex business processes across agents, people, and systems. The company creates production-ready, enterprise-grade agents with built-in governance that are designed to manage business-critical processes. More than 700 businesses around the world leverage Camunda’s platform to reduce time-to-value, boost operational efficiency, and enhance customer experiences.

The partnership between AU10TIX and Camunda reflects a number of growing trends within fintech: from the increased importance of identity and fraud prevention solutions to the embrace of agentic orchestration as a way of not only managing and automating workflows, but scaling those workflows, as well. The partnership is an example of how fintechs are working together to bolster fraud defense, improve efficiency, and remain one step ahead of both the latest fraud threats as well as evolving regulatory demands.

Catch Jawwad Rasheed, Camunda Financial Services Transformation Lead, at FinovateSpring 2026 next month in San Diego for his special address, “Invisible Infrastructure, Visible Results: The Case for Agentic Orchestration in Financial Services.”

Photo by Andrew Konstantinov on Unsplash

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Meet the Keynotes: FinovateSpring Spotlights Innovations in AI

Meet the Keynotes: FinovateSpring Spotlights Innovations in AI
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: FinovateSpring 2026

Are you interested in how AI can help banks, credit unions, and other financial institutions boost engagement, offer new products and services, and grow revenues? This year, FinovateSpring 2026, taking place in sunny San Diego, California, May 5-7, is set to deliver the latest insights into innovations in AI that enable financial services providers to compete more effectively in the 21st century.

In special addresses and keynotes over three days, FinovateSpring will showcase how AI can enhance customer experiences through greater personalization, improve contact center efficiency using agentic AI, and more. Featuring a range of AI experts and innovators, the conference will highlight how banks and financial institutions can maximize AI and successfully deploy what many believe is the most revolutionary technological innovation of our time.

FinovateSpring 2026 will be held at the Sheraton San Diego Hotel and Marina, May 5-7. Buy your ticket. Book your room. And join us for the next, must-attend event on the fintech conference calendar!

AI That Makes It to Production: Deploying Trusted CX in Days, Not Months

Merlin Bise, CTO of Inbenta AI, will show how organizations can go from zero to product-ready AI in less than a week, how to deploy assistants that understand customers in any language, eliminate hallucination risk with traceable and explainable responses, and integrate AI solutions into existing CX infrastructure—no platform replacement required.

Headquartered in Texas, Inbenta delivers enterprise AI solutions to more than 1,000 organizations, including BBVA, Deutsche Bank, and Samsung. The company’s flagship Encore platform serves companies in financial services, e-commerce, healthcare, and more with 98% accuracy, near-zero hallucinations, full auditability, and 850+ integrations that eliminate vendor lock-in.

See the keynote on Tuesday, May 5, 10:25am!

From Plateau to Compound: Why the AI That Got You to 65% Call Resolution Will Never Get You to 100%

Henry Pezzo, Sales Director at Omilia, will discuss the challenge of how to effectively deploy AI in enterprise contact centers. He will explain how an agentic, self-learning platform that monitors every interaction, identifies what to improve, and builds better agents automatically can serve as an alternative to manual tuning, vendor dependency, and generic language models.

Based in Larnaca, Cyprus, and founded in 2002, Omilia specializes in AI-driven customer service transformation. The company’s self-learning agentic CX platform enables enterprises to automate interactions with precision, empowering agents in real time and delivering seamless, personalized experiences across channels.

See the keynote on Tuesday, May 5, 2:00pm!

Scaling Support Without Losing Trust: How Acorns is Rebuilding Customer Care with AI

Trish Vogeler, Support Systems & Tools Lead for Acorns, and Stacy Osorio, Director of Customer Success for Cresta, will explain how Acorns is rethinking customer care to understand the key drivers of customer satisfaction. Vogeler and Osorio will discuss how Acorns uses AI to surface actionable insights from customer interactions, redesign quality assurance around behaviors, and introduce automation via voice AI agents that enhance rather than compromise the human experience.

Acorns offers straightforward tools to help Americans manage their finances better—from wiser spending to smarter saving and investing. The company’s Acorns Early is a smart money app and debit card that helps children develop sound financial wellness skills as they grow up. Since its inception in 2014, Acorns has helped more than 13 million customers save and invest more than $22 billion.

Headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, and founded in 2017, Cresta combines AI and human intelligence to turn customer conversations into competitive advantages. Cresta uses AI agents, AI-augmented human agent assistance, and quality management to transform contact centers, improve the customer experience, and grow revenues. The company counts firms such as Alaska Airlines, Cox Communications, and Intuit among its customers.

See the keynote on Tuesday, May 5, 3:20pm!

Invisible Infrastructure, Visible Results: The Case for Agentic Orchestration in Financial Services

Jawwad Rasheed, Financial Services Transformation Lead for Camunda, will discuss the challenges that financial services organizations face when embedding and scaling AI into their core operations. He will explain the importance of agentic orchestration, which is often the missing ingredient in AI strategy that enables businesses to avoid the agentic value trap and break through the automation ceiling.

Headquartered in Berlin, Germany, and founded in 2008, Camunda is a leader in agentic orchestration, automating complex business processes—including high-value knowledge work—across agents, people, and systems. The company offers production-ready, enterprise-grade agents with built-in governance to manage business-critical processes.

See this keynote on Wednesday, May 6 at 12:30pm!

Creating Trust and Loyalty Through AI-Enhanced CX

Jon Lakefish, Founder of Lakefish Group, will explore the most powerful AI tools currently available that enable individuals and teams to enhance the customer experience, improve communication, and boost operational efficiency. Lakefish will focus on practical applications instead of theory and will introduce the latest agentic platforms that are transforming AI’s role in organizations.

Headquartered in Duvall, Washington, Lakefish Group is an AI-driven marketing and branding firm that leverages 20+ years of strategic expertise with the power of AI and the gig economy to deliver campaigns that compete with billion-dollar brands at a fraction of the cost. The company specializes in AI consulting, brand identity development, and strategy advisory services.

See this keynote on Wednesday, May 6 at 12:45pm!

Other scheduled keynotes include:

The Global Economic & Geopolitical Outlook & the Direction of Travel for the US Economy—Manas Chawla, Founder and Chief Executive, London Politica. Tuesday, May 5 at 10:40am.

Why Agentic AI is Truly a New Frontier in Financial Services & How Agentic Commerce Will Reshape the Retail Landscape—Chris Nichols, President of Institutional Banking, SouthState Bank. Thursday, May 7 at 10:00am.

The $84 Trillion Handover: What Banks Need to Understand About Gen Z’s AI-First Relationship with Money—Tyler Brown, Industry Analyst, tylerbrown.co. Thursday, May 7 at 3:00pm.

Photo by Immo Wegmann on Unsplash

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Banking Circle Launches Stablecoin Settlement Services

Banking Circle Launches Stablecoin Settlement Services
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Daily news
  • Banking Circle launched fiat-to-stablecoin and stablecoin-to-fiat settlement, enabling banks to move funds seamlessly across traditional and blockchain rails with instant settlement and regulatory traceability.
  • The move comes days after Banking Circle received its CASP license, which positions Banking Circle to embed stablecoin capabilities directly into a bank’s existing infrastructure.
  • Stablecoins are quickly emerging as an always-on settlement layer that is becoming standard in cross-border payments.

European cross-border payments fintech Banking Circle is narrowing the gap between stablecoin and fiat today. The fintech is launching stablecoin settlement services, a suite of fiat-to-stablecoin and stablecoin-to-fiat capabilities that will facilitate the movement of funds, regardless of whether they sit on bank rails or blockchain rails.

The announcement comes days after Banking Circle received a Crypto-Asset Service Provider (CASP) license from the Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier (CSSF). The newly minted license will allow Banking Circle to expand from cross-border fiat services into digital asset services.

“The award of our CASP license is an important milestone for Banking Circle, as well as for the broader payments ecosystem,” said Banking Circle CEO Laust Bertelsen. “Stablecoins have fast evolved from a peripheral innovation into core infrastructure for cross-border settlement, treasury management, and financial inclusion.”

Banking Circle will integrate its new stablecoin settlement service into banks’ existing infrastructure to help them take advantage of stablecoin rails. The new tools will offer increased security, lower risk, and more convenience than traditional global settlement rails, creating efficiencies for banks.

After they integrate with Banking Circle’s core platform, clients will be able to interoperate between fiat currencies and leading stablecoins, including USDC, USDG, and EURI. Leveraging stablecoin rails, Banking Circle will offer instant settlement and full regulatory traceability.

“We have spent years building the financial infrastructure that enables more than 750 payment companies, financial institutions, and marketplaces to efficiently move and convert over €1.5 trillion annually across the globe,” said Banking Circle Chief Digital Asset Officer Kirit Bhatia. “Stablecoins are a natural extension of that infrastructure and central to our mission of eliminating unnecessary cost and complexity through technology.”

Founded in 2013, Banking Circle was acquired by private equity firm EQT in 2018 for $300 million. Headquartered in Luxembourg and regulated by the Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier (CSSF), the bank is fully licensed and serves as a correspondent bank offering multi-currency bank accounts and virtual IBANs as well as bank connections for local clearing and cross-border payments.

Banking Circle has branches in Denmark, Sweden, Germany, Norway, Poland, the Czech Republic and the UK, and subsidiaries in Liechtenstein, Singapore and Australia. 

Banking Circle’s announcement shows that banks across the globe are rethinking the underlying infrastructure of payments. Stablecoins are emerging as an always-on settlement layer that can complement traditional correspondent banking networks. As banks across the globe integrate stablecoin payments rails into their platforms, and as the global stablecoin market reaches approximately $293 billion, it is becoming clear that stablecoin rails are slowly becoming a standard part of cross-border payments, rather than an alternative.

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Fintech Rundown: A Rapid Review of Weekly News

Fintech Rundown: A Rapid Review of Weekly News
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Fintech Rundown

As we prepare to welcome the month of May, take a look at this week’s latest fintech and banking news. The top of the week brings very payments-heavy headlines, but I expect we’ll see an uptick of news across the board as New York Fintech Week heats up. We’ll continue to add more announcements as the week progresses.

Payments

India’s central ​bank cancels Paytm Payments Bank’s payments license.

Western Union plans stablecoin launch to modernize its payment systems.

Pine Labs acquires a 100% stake in D2C checkout platform Shopflo Technologies.

Banking Circle launches stablecoin clearing service.

OnePay partners with Tempo for stablecoin-powered payouts and account funding.

Nium and Coinbase partner to power global stablecoin payments and settlement.

PayNearMe appoints Niall Hayes Chief Development Officer, EVP of Engineering.

Financial management

Prophix launches the next wave of Prophix One Agents, defining the delegation era for finance.

Digital banking

Akbank AG completes Phase 1 of its core banking transformation to Mambu. 

Loyalty Credit Union goes live with authenticated chat through Eltropy and Mahalo integration.

Fraud and identity

Jumio announces Mark Lorion as Chief Executive Officer.

Former Okta President of Auth0, Shiven Ramji, to join Cellebrite as President, Products and Technology.

Photo by cottonbro studio

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Finovate Global Libya: Chatbots, Payments, and Expanding E-Wallet Access

Finovate Global Libya: Chatbots, Payments, and Expanding E-Wallet Access
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Finovate Global

This week’s edition of Finovate Global features recent fintech news from the north African nation of Libya.

Tadhamun Bank Libya partners with JMR Infotech for AI Chatbot and Voicebot

Tadhamun Bank Libya has turned to JMR Infotech, a digital transformation and banking technology solutions provider, to assist in the implementation of its AI-powered Smart Social Banking Chatbot and Voicebot. The announcement expands the relationship between the two entities; JMR Infotech has been a strategic technology partner to Tadhamun Bank since providing the financial institution with transformation programs such as Oracle FLEXCUBE, Oracle Banking Digital Experience (OBDX), and Oracle Financial Services Analytical Applications (OFSAA), as well as ongoing managed services support.

The new Chatbot and Voicebot will automate customer onboarding and enable instant interactions, boosting customer engagement while simultaneously reducing reliance on traditional support channels. The technology will be deployed across the web, WhatsApp, and Messenger channels, enabling customers to interact with the bank for onboarding, fund transfers, real-time query resolution, and more. The bank believes that the new offering will improve response times, optimize service delivery, and reduce both call center volumes and operational costs.

“Our focus is on continuously enhancing customer experience while improving operational efficiency,” Tadhamun Bank General Manager Osam Alabearsh said. “JMR Infotech’s AI-powered Smart Social Banking Chatbot and Voicebot stood out for its practical use cases, flexibility, and ability to integrate seamlessly with our existing platforms. This initiative will play a key role in simplifying onboarding and enabling more accessible, always-on banking services for our customers.”

Founded in 2007 and headquartered in Bangalore, India, JMR Infotech is an information technology solution provider that specializes in helping financial institutions and other businesses better interact with their customer and extended eco-systems. An Oracle Platinum Partner, JMR has been part of multiple core transformations and includes core and digital banking modernization, regulatory compliance, customer experience platforms, enterprise planning solutions, advanced analytics, and AI-powered engagement among its areas of expertise. Jayafar Moidu is Founder and CEO.

“We are delighted to extend our partnership with Tadhanum Bank through the introduction of our AI-powered Smart Social Banking Chatbot and Voicebot,” JMR Infotech Head of Global Sales and Business Development, Naman Jain, said. “This engagement reflects the trust we have built over the years and our shared vision of driving meaningful digital transformation. Our solution is designed to combine intelligence, scalability, and flexibility, enabling banks to deliver superior customer experiences while achieving measurable business outcomes.”

With $421 million in total assets, Tadhamun Bank was founded in 1998. Headquartered in Tripoli, the institution is known for its emphasis on innovation and customer service relative to its larger, state-owned rivals.

Network International teams up with Al Seraj Islamic Bank

Speaking of fintech and bank partnerships, UAE-based Network International has partnered with Libya’s Al Seraj Islamic Bank. The company will provide the bank with an end-to-end system to facilitate digital payment processing in a bid to help boost financial inclusion.

“Al Seraj Islamic Bank’s decision to partner with us reflects our leadership in the MEA region and our ability to deliver innovative, dependable solutions that transform payment ecosystems,” Mohamed Abu Gebba, Network International Regional Managing Director in charge of processing for North Africa, said. “Together we aim to advance financial inclusion, support the bank’s growth ambitions, and empower communities with secure, modern payment services.”

The partnership will deliver a range of digital payment processing solutions to the Libyan bank. These solutions include Visa sponsorship, prepaid issuing capabilities, as well as a suite of value-added services. Combined, the technology will empower Al Seraj Islamic Bank to streamline operations and expand access to digital payment options throughout the country.

“Partnering with Network International was a strategic decision driven by their proven service excellence, strong market reputation, and deep understanding of Libya’s banking landscape,” Al Seraj Islamic Bank CEO Foze Ghaith said. “Their end-to-end processing capabilities will enable us to launch advanced digital products, enhance customer experience, and accelerate our growth trajectory. This partnership reinforces our commitment to delivering world-class, Sharia-compliant digital banking solutions across Libya.”

Headquartered in Benghazi, Al Seraj Islamic Bank is a relatively new financial institution, founded in 2024. The bank is focused on delivering optimized banking services based on Sharia principles.

Founded in 1994 and headquartered in the UAE, Network International helps simplify commerce and payments for businesses throughout the Middle East and Africa. The company offers in-person, e-commerce, and payment gateway solutions; business payment and processing solutions; and value-added services for both merchants and processors. Network International operates in more than 50 countries and serves more than 130,000 merchants, as well as 250 financial institutions and fintech customers, while managing more than 16 million customer credentials.

Libyan Central Bank OKs E-Wallets for Foreign Residents

The Central Bank of Libya has announced new regulations that will allow non-Libyan legal residents in the country to access electronic wallet services.

The new policy enables licensed financial service providers to issue e-wallets to foreign residents who pass modest verification requirements including a valid passport or residency document issued by official Libyan authorities as well as a registered mobile phone number linked to their identity. Expanded access comes with new fund transfer limits, which have been implemented to manage the flow of digital funds and help ensure financial stability. Libyan citizens will face transfer limits of up to 100,000 dinars between individuals, 500,000 dinars from individuals to companies, and up to two million dinars between companies. Non-Libyan residents will have transfer limits of up to 50,000 dinars between individuals and up to 100,000 dinars from individuals to companies.

The new regulations are designed to expand access to formal financial services and reduce reliance on cash transactions in a country that is largely cash-based. Introducing e-wallet services will help support the development of Libya’s electronic payments ecosystem, and send a signal to investors and entrepreneurs that the country is increasingly committed to establishing a more formal and modern financial system.

Here is our look at fintech innovation around the world.

Central and Eastern Europe

  • Lithuanian regtech IDenfy launched an identity verification app for WooCommerce merchants.
  • Italian paytech Nexi teamed up with Visa to modernize card issuance in Germany.
  • Polish fintech PragmaGo has brought its Merchant Cash Advance (MCA) model to the Croatian market.

Middle East and Northern Africa

  • Libya’s Tadhamun Bank announced that it would deploy JMR Infotech’s social chatbots.
  • GCC-based wealth management firm, The Family Office, launched its AI-powered assistant, Wealth Mermaid, fully integrated into its Client app.
  • Payment orchestration platform MoneyHash teams up with Oman-based Thawani Pay.

Central and Southern Asia

Latin America and the Caribbean

Asia-Pacific

Sub-Saharan Africa

  • South African fintech Ozow teamed up with SME funding provider Lula to expand access to business financing for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) across South Africa.
  • UK-based cross-border payments company LemFi expanded its remittance services to Kenya.
  • A new report from Boston Consulting Group (BCG), Beyond Payments: Unlocking Africa’s Second FinTech Wave, suggested that revenues from African fintechs will grow 13x to $65 billion by 2030.

Photo by Moayad Zaghdani on Unsplash

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