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Finovate Blog
Tracking fintech, banking & financial services innovations since 1994
This week’s edition of Finovate Global looks at recent fintech headlines from Spain.
Payments and liquidity solutions company Wannme raises €7M
Wannme, a Madrid-based fintech that specializes in payments and liquidity solutions, announced a €7 million strategic financing from IDC Arena Credit Ventures, a division of IDC Network, with Arena Investors also participating in the funding.
The company will use the financing to continue providing marketplace sellers with instant payment advances. This allows them to secure earnings on a daily basis instead of having to wait more than 14 days, as is typically required by marketplaces. Wannme Founder and CEO Jaime de Villa said that the credit facility will enable the company to “empower more sellers with the liquidity needed to sell more and grow.”
“This partnership marks an important milestone for Wannme as we scale our impact in the marketplace ecosystem in Europe,” de Villa added. “IDC Arena Credit Ventures understood our business model and structured a financing solution aligned with our growth strategy.”
Founded in 2017, Wannme facilitates e-commerce by automating and optimizing payment flows to help solve payments and liquidity issues for online merchants. The company provides merchants with advances of up to 90% of their net sales daily, and also offers an online payment gateway that enables them to accept a wider variety of payment methods, including recurring and automated payments. These methods also include both Apple Pay and Google Pay, which Wannme integrated into its platform in February.
Mortgage platform Wypo partners with financial app Plazo
Wypo, a Spanish mortgagetech platform that helps would-be homeowners locate and sign customized mortgages online, has struck a strategic partnership with financial wellness app Plazo. A division of Spanish fintech ID Finance, Plazo will offer Wypo users access to credit lines of up to €5,000 through its Plazo Credit solution directly from the Plazo app.
“This partnership is a great opportunity to deliver complete and accessible financial solutions to our users,” Wypo CEO Elena Ansótegui said. “At Wypo, we are committed to offering resources that meet real needs. The alliance with Plazo strengthens our focus on continuously improving the customer experience and enables us to go a step further in offering key financing options when users need them most.”
Wypo customers will benefit from digital access to both debit and credit solutions courtesy of the partnership with Plazo. Also included are the ability to participate in an extensive cashback program and access to free, online legal and medical advice through a service called MeetingPros.
“We are delighted to collaborate with Wypo and to provide added value to new homeowners, helping them cover initial expenses for refurbishments or repairs, buy furniture, appliances, home decor items, and more,” Plazo CMO Carlos Martín said. “They’ll also benefit from all the additional features offered by Plazo, designed to bring greater financial peace of mind.”
Founded in 2021, Wypo is headquartered in Torrelavega, Cantabria. The mortgagetech’s partnership news comes amid a significant increase in home purchase loans in Spain, reflecting an 11% year-over-year gain. This has been accompanied by a comparable rise average housing prices in the country. Wypo’s partnership with Plazo will help the firm provide additional services to its customers, further differentiating its offering from competitors.
CaixaBank and Salesforce team up to leverage AI to personalize CX in banking
A newly signed agreement between Spain’s CaixaBank and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) solution provider Salesforce will help “jointly advance artificial intelligence projects for the digital transformation of banking services.” More specifically, CaixaBank will leverage Salesforce technology to enhance its customer relationship channels to improve the customer experience.
This technology includes solutions such as AI-based Agentforce—the integrated AI assistants on the Salesforce platform—as well as Salesforce Data Cloud for data management and analysis. Agentforce enables the deployment of AI agents to offer specialized assistance to CaixaBank employees and customers alike. These agents operate proactively and continuously across apps, chatbots, physical offices, and call centers, processing large amounts of data quickly to optimize decision-making and improve the efficiency of task execution.
By implementing Salesforce Data Cloud, CaixaBank will leverage the cloud data management and analysis technology to manage the transmission of data produced by the institution to ensure it is immediately available for any query. The data will be recorded securely and will allow for real-time consultation.
Based in Valencia, CaixaBank is the leading financial group in the Spanish market. With a digital customer base of nearly 12 million, the company provides banking, insurance, and investment services. CaixaBank’s partnership with Salesforce is part of the firm’s overall digital transformation strategy, which has enabled the institution to earn recognition as the Best Bank in Western Europe and Best Bank in Spain in 2024 by Global Finance.
Here is our look at fintech innovation around the world.
Central and Eastern Europe
Munich-based, AI-powered anti-money laundering and fraud prevention firm, Hawk, raised $56 million in new funding.
Nets, a division of European payment technology company Nexi Group, teamed up with Latvian financial institution, BluOr Bank.
Turkish embedded finance company Sipay secured $78 million in funding at a valuation of $875 million.
This week’s edition of Finovate Global looks at recent fintech developments in Canada.
Float Unveils Float FX to Help Canadian Businesses Save on Currency Conversion Costs
Toronto, Ontario-based business finance platform Floatunveiled a new solution for Canadian businesses this week. The new offering, Float FX, will enable Canadian companies to instantly convert funds at rates as much as 90% lower than with traditional banks. Float noted that the solution is part of the company’s broader goal to help support businesses that do business in the US as they navigate volatility in both currency markets and US trade policy.
“With the Canadian dollar under pressure and potential trade disruptions looming, we designed Float FX to give Canadian businesses an advantage when operating across the border,” Rob Khazzam, Co-Founder and CEO of Float, said. “Combined with offering high-yield interest on CAD and USD balances, Float provides material opportunities for companies to save on costs and protect margins—at a time when every dollar counts.”
Even before recent trade tensions with the US, businesses in Canada were facing significant challenges when it came to currency exchange. According to a recent survey—The Financial Outlook of SMBs in 2025—Float learned that more than half of the Canadian businesses queried said that they struggled to deal with high fees and poor exchange rates. In their report, Float pointed to legacy banking infrastructure and inefficient processes as the culprit, noting that many companies continued to patronize financial institutions that required time-consuming in-person visits and manual reviews, or long settlement times. This leaves businesses with exposure to fluctuations in potentially volatile exchange rates, as well as increasing their vulnerability to hidden fees.
Float FX will offer fees of 0.25% all-in, a figure that is up to 90% lower than that offered by Canadian banks. Companies will also benefit from seamless, built-in currency conversion within the Float platform, enabling them to convert, hold, and spend USD in a single location.
With more than 4,000 Canadian companies as customers, Float offers a business finance platform that helps businesses spend, save, and scale. Founded in 2019, the company provides corporate cards, automated expense management, next-day billpay, high-yield accounts, and more.
Float began the year securing $70 million CAD in Series B financing in a round led by Growth Equity at Goldman Sachs Alternatives. OMERS Ventures, FJ Labs, Garage Capital, and Teralys also participated in the investment. The funding brought the company’s total funding to more than $120 million CAD in the past year. Float has used the capital to expand its product offerings and recruit talent.
Banco Santander, Kraken Secure Key Canadian Approvals to Fuel Expansion
Canadian regulators are in a “yes” mood of late when it comes to helping fintechs expand operations in the country. This week we learned that Banco Santander has secured a Canadian banking license as part of the financial institution’s effort to grow its footprint in the Americas. Also this week, crypto exchange Kraken reported that it had obtained a Restricted Dealer registration from the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC).
First up, Banco Santander. The Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI), Canada’s banking regulator, authorized Banco Santander’s Santander Consumer Bank to begin operations in March. Banco Santander has been active in the Canadian market since acquiring car financing company Carfinco Financial Group in 2014. The firm applied for a Schedule II banking license in 2019, which allows subsidiaries of foreign banks to offer financial services including deposits, lending, wealth management, and credit cards. Santander Consumer Bank was incorporated as a federally regulated financial institution in 2024 by Canada’s Minister of Finance, with OSFI approval being the final step.
Second, cryptocurrency exchange Kraken has secured a Restricted Dealer registration in Canada that will enable the firm to better serve its customers in the country. As part of the announcement, the exchange announced that it would offer free Interac e-Transfer deposits to all of its Canadian clients.
“This achievement marks the culmination of a rigorous pre-registration undertaking (PRU) process, during which Kraken consistently enhanced its governance, security, and compliance protocols to meet the highest industry standards,” the Kraken blog stated this week. “As a result, our Canadian clients now benefit from a solid regulatory foundation, ensuring access to some of the most innovative and secure crypto products in the local ecosystem under the supervision of the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC).”
In addition to securing its restricted dealer registration, Kraken also announced the appointment of Cynthia Del Pozo as the company’s new Canadian General Manager. With nearly 15 years of experience in corporate development, operations, and fintech consulting, Del Pozo will guide an operation that has grown significantly in recent years, including surpassing $2 billion CAD in combined client assets under custody and a doubling of both team size and the number of monthly transacting users during the PRU process.
“Canada is at a turning point for crypto adoption, with a growing number of investors and institutions recognizing digital assets as a vital part of the financial future,” Del Pozo said in a statement. “The Restricted Dealer registration is a testament to the high bar Kraken has always set for consumer protection, client service, and robust security.”
Founded in 2011, Kraken enables more than 10 million traders and investors to buy and sell more than 200 digital assets and six different national currencies including USD, GBP, EUR, CAD, CHF, and AUD on its platform. David Ripley and Arjun Sethi are co-CEOs.
Meet Finovate’s Newest Canadian Alums!
Over the past year, Finovate has been proud to host a handful of innovative fintechs headquartered in Canada. Below is a look at four firms, all Canada-based, that have demonstrated their fintech innovations live on the Finovate stage of late.
PromoComply – Montreal, Quebec – FEU 2025: Offers technology that automates compliance for financial promotions, reducing legal risks, and enhancing transparency for consumers in real time.
TRIYO – Toronto, Ontario – FS 2024: Offers a work intelligence platform that integrates with existing systems, processes, and workflows to bring visibility to high-value processes across financial services.
Brim Financial – Toronto, Ontario – FF2024: Works with financial institutions, fintechs, and brands to enable them to offer their customers an end-to-end credit card and payments platform.
ZayZoon – Calgary, Alberta – FF2024: Offers an embedded Earned Wage Access (EWA) solution to enable small and mid-sized businesses to offer EWA directly from their own platforms.
Next month at FinovateSpring, we’re happy to introduce our audience to one more Canadian fintech, Cinareo Solutions (Toronto). For more about our upcoming FinovateSpring conference, visit our FinovateSpring hub today!
Here is our look at fintech innovation around the world.
This week’s edition of Finovate Global features an interview with Stav Levi-Neumark, CEO and Co-Founder of revenue workforce solutions provider Alta.
Founded in 2023 and headquartered in Israel, Alta leverages data and AI to help drive revenue growth at every level for businesses. The company’s AI Revenue Workforce agents ensure that everyone on the team is connected, aligned, and equipped with the data insights and AI automation they need to enable their businesses to scale efficiently and grow faster. Alta’s agents have helped produce a 3x increase in qualified leads, a 15% increase in win rates, and a 80% reduction in costs.
Our conversation with Levi-Neumark is also a part of Finovate’s and Finovate Global’s commemoration of Women’s History Month. Be sure to check out her thoughts on gender diversity, current opportunities for women in fintech, as well as her advice for female CEOs.
Can you tell us a little bit about Alta and the revenue workforce solutions business?
Stav Levi-Neumark: AI is impacting almost every industry now. But go-to-market and revenue teams across many vertical markets are struggling to fully harness AI for sustained growth. Choosing the right tools to enhance capabilities of salespeople while also automating relevant tasks is a real challenge.
Alta is an AI revenue workforce that is data-driven. It supports revenue teams, allowing each person to be like a 10x version of themselves.
Alta agents automate repetitive and mundane tasks that require limited human oversight, such as researching potential leads and conducting personalized outreach across multiple channels. The agents also provide actionable insights based on real-time data across all revenue functions. This streamlined workflow helps companies achieve improved revenue growth by working more efficiently, accelerating their sales cycle, and enabling humans to focus on relationship-building opportunities, strategic, and creative work.
Who are Alta’s primary customers and how do you reach them?
Levi-Neumark: Alta has really diverse customers across virtually every business sector, and they range from SMBs to Fortune 500 companies. We’ve been able to ramp up the number of clients we have really quickly as well, adding almost 100 customers in less than six months.
Your latest solution—AI Revenue Workforce—leverages innovations in agentic AI. Can you talk about how this technology and new product empower go-to-market and revenue teams?
Levi-Neumark: Agentic AI has endless potential to dramatically improve efficiency and drive revenue growth. By leaving automated tasks to AI agents, human-led go-to-market and revenue teams can work smarter and faster, focusing their attention where it matters most: developing strategy, building relationships, closing deals, and increasing ROI through creative thought.
AI agents in Alta’s workforce include Katie, a Sales Development Representative (SDR), Luna, an AI RevOps agent, and Alex, an AI Calling agent. The workforce can integrate into more than 50 internal and external marketing, sales, and revenue systems that include CRMs, ERPs, payment, advertising, social media tools, and more.
Alta is a very young company, founded in 2023. There has been a lot of discussion about the current environment for tech startups. How would you characterize the climate for startups today?
Levi-Neumark: The founders who thrive will be those who can harness technological advancements while building businesses with solid foundations that can stand on their own, beyond the AI hype. Here’s the advice I typically share when talking with other tech founders:
Success means your customers attribute significant revenue growth directly to your product. When they look at their business results and can clearly see your impact on their bottom line, that’s when you’ll know you’ve truly succeeded.
Maintaining balanced, healthy growth is key. While it may be tempting to focus more attention on one specific area of your organization, it’s critical to ensure all departments grow at an equal pace.
Be proactive rather than reactive to market shifts to position yourself ahead of certain trends. When deeply focused on product development and customer acquisition, it’s easy to miss emerging signals from the broader ecosystem.
Alta recently secured $7 million in seed funding. What does this investment mean for the company and what will it enable Alta to do?
Levi-Neumark: This funding solidifies Alta’s position as an industry leader in workforce intelligence automation. It will allow Alta to continue developing out-of-the-box solutions that redefine the relationship between AI and sales teams to unlock limitless revenue growth opportunities.
We plan to utilize the investment to expand into new markets, grow operations, scale R&D, and accelerate product development to meet increasing market demand from enterprise and mid-market customers. In fact, we are currently developing our newest AI agent, Greg, a sales assistant for account executives, to further bolster our workforce’s capabilities.
You are one of very few female CEOs in the enterprise AI space. Are there unique challenges to greater gender diversity in enterprise AI compared to other areas of technology, fintech, or financial services?
Levi-Neumark: I don’t feel there are unique challenges specific to the AI space compared to other tech sectors. The gender diversity issues we face in enterprise AI mirror what we see across technology, fintech, and financial services more broadly.
The fundamental challenges remain consistent: representation gaps, unconscious bias in hiring and promotion, and the need for more visible role models.
That said, I prefer to focus on the opportunity. AI is still a relatively young field, and at the end of the day, our success is what will define us. I hope more female founders and women will enter this market and look forward to welcoming them.
What advice would you give to female CEOs, especially those who are new to the role?
Levi-Neumark: I would advise female CEOs, especially those new to the role, to build strong support networks early. Connect with other female founders and executives who understand your specific challenges—these relationships become invaluable resources for candid advice and emotional support that you can’t always find within your company.
Trust your unique leadership style and perspective. There’s often pressure to conform to traditionally masculine leadership traits, but the most effective leaders bring their authentic selves to the role. Your different viewpoint is actually a strategic advantage that can help identify opportunities others might miss.
Be strategic about which battles to fight. As a female CEO, you’ll likely face additional scrutiny and challenges. Learn to distinguish between issues that are worth addressing directly and those where it’s better to let your results speak for themselves.
Prioritize building a diverse leadership team from the start. This not only leads to better decision-making, but also creates a culture where different perspectives are valued.
Finally, remember that your visibility matters. By succeeding in your role, you’re creating pathways for others. Share your journey, mentor upcoming leaders, and when possible, be the voice and representation you wished you had when starting out.
Here is our look at fintech innovation around the world.
Asia-Pacific
UK-based open banking payments company Atoa announced an integration with New Zealand-based small business platform Xero.
This week’s edition of Finovate Global looks at recent fintech headlines from the South American countries of Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay.
Ualá Raises $66 Million at $2.75 Billion Valuation
In a funding round that featured participation from Mexican media titan TelevisaUnivision, Argentina-based fintech Ualá has added $66 million in funding to its Series E round. The additional funding brings the round’s total to $366 million and gives the company a valuation of $2.75 billion.
The capital comes via an equity sale and will be used to fuel Ualá’s growth throughout Latin America—with a particular emphasis on expansion in Mexico. Ualá Founder and Chief Executive Officer Pierpaolo Barbieri praised the participation of TelevisaUnivision, which he called a “very relevant and influential outlet, across Spanish-speaking markets but especially in Mexico.” Barbieri added, “It will help us create confidence and closeness with a lot of Mexicans that still don’t know us.”
The first close of the Series E round was led by Allianz X, German insurance company Allianz SE’s venture capital arm. Also participating in the first close were Stone Ridge Holdings Group and Pershing Square Foundation. Additional investors in the extension round were not named.
Founded in 2017 in Argentina, Ualá offers financial services including payment accounts connected to an international Mastercard prepaid card, as well as savings accounts, loans, investments, business collection solutions, and more. The company has nine million users in the region, including in countries such as Argentina, Colombia, and Mexico.
Ualá began the year by announcing the availability of six new mutual funds in its ecosystem, including one fund denominated in dollars. In February, the company integrated an advanced artificial intelligence platform, powered by OpenAI’s GPT-4, into its customer service process.
dLocal partners with Temu, Belmoney
Uruguayan fintech and cross-border payments company dLocal announced a pair of partnerships in recent days. First, dLocal launched a new collaboration with Europe-based, remittance-as-a-service (RaaS) provider Belmoney. The goal of the partnership is to facilitate cross-border payouts, leveraging the integration of more than 900 local and alternative payment methods (APMs) such as credit and debit cards, bank transfers, and instant transactions. The collaboration is also designed to boost service reliability and efficiency for those making cross-border transactions in countries including Bangladesh, Ecuador, Peru, and Pakistan.
“Our partnership with dLocal is a game-changer in the remittance space,” Belmoney CEO and Founder Bruno Pedras said. “By integrating with dLocal’s comprehensive network, we can significantly lower costs, improve transaction speeds, and provide a better cross-border payments experience for both senders and recipients.”
Second, dLocal announced that it has formed a strategic partnership with Temu, the international e-commerce platform of China’s PDD Holdings. Together, the two companies seek to provide shoppers in Africa, Asia, and Latin America with new seamless and secure payment options that are suited to local preferences. Millions of customers in 15 emerging markets in these regions stand to benefit from the collaboration.
“By partnering with dLocal, we’re excited to extend these benefits to millions of customers in emerging markets, ensuring that more people can enjoy accessible, convenient shopping experiences,” a Temu spokesperson said in a statement.
Launched in 2022, Temu is an online marketplace that offers consumer goods at significantly discounted prices. Shipping goods directly from the People’s Republic of China, Temu reportedly has more than 292 million monthly active users of its app worldwide. The app was among the most popular in US app stores for both iOS and Android in 2024.
Founded in 2016, dLocal is headquartered in Montevideo, Uruguay. The country’s first unicorn, dLocal offers an all-in-one payment platform that enables companies to accept and disburse a wide range of local payment methods and currencies. In 2024, the company processed more than $25 billion worth of payments. dLocal works with 700+ merchants, supports 900 payment methods, and operates in more than 40 countries. A publicly traded company on the Nasdaq exchange under the ticker DLO, dLocal has a market capitalization of $2.7 billion. Sebastián Kanovich is CEO.
Ant International’s Bettr brings embedded finances services to ecommerce merchants in Brazil
Speaking of partnerships between businesses in Asia and Latin America, we learned this week that Bettr, Ant International’s AI-driven lending business, has gone live in Brazil. Bettr will help expand lending opportunities for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) by working with local partners such as AliExpress. Through this partnership, Bettr will introduce a new financing solution, Bettr Working Capital, for local merchants working on AliExpress’s platform.
“This collaboration reinforces our commitment to helping small and medium-sized businesses thrive by providing accessible and efficient financial tools that can take their operations to the next level,” LatAm director of AliExpress Briza Bueno said. “In this way, we are not only supporting the individual growth of these entrepreneurs but also contributing to the advancement of e-commerce in the country.”
Bettr Working Capital will be introduced gradually; the first round of disbursements began this week. The technology analyzes merchant sales records and other unstructured business data from AliExpress to make smarter, tailored, more affordable loan solutions. This will help small and medium-sized businesses better manage cash flow and expand into new markets.
Headquartered in Singapore, Ant International is an international digital payments and financial technology provider. Bettr is the company’s digital lending business, which specializes in serving micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs). The firm combines emerging technologies like AI and data-driven credit modeling to offer secure financial solutions that better fit borrower needs.
Here is our look at fintech innovation around the world.
Latin America and the Caribbean
Argentina-based fintech Uala raised $66 million at a valuation of $2.75 billion in an extended Series E round.
Remittance company Pomelo integrated with Visa clearing house in Mexico.
Asia-Pacific
Indonesian ride-hailing service InDrive teamed up with Singapore’s Fingular and Indonesia’s Sharia-compliant P2P lending platform Ammana to launch its new inDrive.Money app.
Malaysian wealth management platform Versa raised $6.8 million in Series A funding.
Japan’s international payment brand JCB partnered with integrated payment provider First Cash Solution, expanding JCB Card acceptance in Germany.
Sub-Saharan Africa
African payments technology giant Flutterwave integrated with Pay With Bank Transfer to support businesses in Ghana.
Mastercardextended its collaboration with London-based Paymentology to boost financial inclusion in South Africa.
Compliance and fraud prevention platform Sumsubannounced a partnership with the Association of Fintechs in Kenya.
Central and Eastern Europe
Lithuanian identity verification provider iDenfy announced a collaboration with mobility provider Evemo.
Estonian fintech Hoovi raised €8 million in funding via a structured bond issue from Finland’s Multitude International Bank.
Moldova-based digital wallet and electronic money institution (EMI) Paynet partnered with open banking services provider Salt Edge.
Middle East and Northern Africa
Israeli fintech FINQ became the first Israeli company to secure a US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Registered Investor Advisor (RIA) license without relocating to the US.
Egyptian fintech Fawry inked a strategic agreement with Contact Financial Holding to expand access to Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) services.
What happens when an ongoing revolution in payment innovation meets a regulatory regime determined to ensure secure and safe transactions for individual consumers, business entities, and even governments? This is the payments landscape in the UK and EU in 2025. As a proliferation of payment options promises to streamline banking and commerce, regulators, fintechs, and financial services companies are looking for ways to make sure that the challenges to these new payment options—from technical complexity to new forms of fraud and financial crime—are met.
To discuss these and other issues involving payments and the emerging regulatory environment, we caught up with Stuart Neal, Chief Executive Officer of Boku. Appointed CEO in January of 2024, Neal previously served as the company’s Chief Financial Officer and Chief Business Officer of Boku’s Identity Division. A champion of payment choice, Boku supports a global network of localized payment solutions, including Direct Carrier Billing (DCB), digital wallets, and account-to-account connections. Founded in 2008, Boku is headquartered in London.
Local Payment Methods (LPMs) have proliferated around the world over the past decade. Socially and technologically, what has powered this growth?
Stuart Neal: Local Payment Methods (LPMs) have had a meteoric rise over the past decade. It’s hard to overstate what a significant and rapid change we’ve seen, and behind it are two main driving forces: changing consumer preferences and rapid technological innovation.
Payments as an industry is finally beginning to reflect the diversity of people’s preferences around the world. And that’s a really positive development. It’s fair to say that traditional financial systems left many people and communities underserved, but LPMs—from mobile wallets in Africa to RTP schemes like UPI in India—bridge this gap, and they’re empowering billions of consumers to participate in the digital economy. This financial inclusion is great for society, for merchants and for the payments industry as a whole.
At Boku, we want to be at the heart of this transformation. People just want convenience, and we’re here to help them buy what they want, the way they want. With one of the biggest LPM networks in the world, we’re making it easier than ever for global merchants to meet consumers where they are.
Looking at Europe specifically, what role has the European Payments Initiative (EPI) played in driving this trend?
Neal: While still in its early stages, the European Payments Initiative (EPI) is playing a crucial role in reshaping the EU payment landscape. Its focus on creating a unified, pan-European payment solution, fostering instant payments, acquiring established players like iDEAL and Payconiq, and advocating for regulatory changes positions it as a future leader in European payments. By competing with global giants, EPI is pushing Europe toward a more integrated, efficient, and competitive payment system. However, full market transformation will likely take a few more years, with real change expected in 2025.
So far the EPI has excelled in laying the groundwork for this payments evolution by clearly articulating its vision and aligning strategically with the key pillars of ecommerce. By fostering strong relationships with merchants, PSPs, and issuing banks, EPI is now in a great position to effect significant change and shape the future of digital payments across Europe.
Part of this was the launch of the real-time payment system Wero last summer. Can you tell us a little about the significance of the Wero launch and how adoption has been so far?
Neal: The Wero Wallet, launched by the European Payments Initiative (EPI), serves as a strong entry into the EU market with the goal of unifying Europe’s fragmented payment landscape. Initially focusing on person-to-person (P2P) payments, Wero will expand to e-commerce in 2025 and in-store payments by 2026, offering various options such as instant payments, installment plans, and subscriptions. With the acquisitions of Dutch payment solution iDEAL and Luxembourg-based Payconiq International or the transition of the former Paylib P2P user base in France to Wero, EPI / Wero is well-positioned for success. However, EPI has opted for a phased market rollout, like what we have seen by other payment schemes in the past, starting with smaller-scale P2P launches in countries like Germany and France, while the true transformation is expected to unfold in 2025. Notably, these acquisitions continue to operate under their original brands, allowing for organic user growth before transitioning fully to Wero.
Has adoption of Wero been uniform across Europe or have some markets remained more reluctant? What distinguishes the eager adopters from the more cautious?
Neal: This is an interesting question, and one that will be clearer by the end of 2025, when we can fully assess the impact of Wero’s initial e-commerce launches. However, what we can say so far is that Wero’s adoption has been strongly shaped by key market dynamics. Starting in July 2024, users of participating German banks were able to sign up for Wero, with Belgium following suit by the end of 2024, also seeing gradual, organic growth. Around the same time, Wero benefited from a significant boost in France, where the transition from Paylib to Wero provided a built-in user base of approximately 35 million registered Paylib users. Looking ahead, the exit of local payment schemes like Giropay in Germany is expected to reshape the competitive landscape, presenting new opportunities for Wero to establish itself as a leading player in the market.
What can be done to encourage broader acceptance of solutions like Wero and less reliance on cards?
Neal: Accessibility is key to the adoption of anything. And if solutions like Wero are to be more broadly adopted, they must become more accessible for consumers and merchants. So to start with we need to integrate these solutions seamlessly into merchant payment ecosystems and do so in a way that matches–or ideally betters–the convenience of cards. You need a frictionless experience for people on both sides of the counter, as it were, if you want to drive adoption.
And then trust. When it comes to sending and receiving money, trust is non-negotiable. Wero and other solutions like it must be really secure, have robust fraud prevention, and partner with regulators to ensure compliance. When consumers and businesses feel confident, they’ll naturally shift to these modern, local payment methods.
The final piece is education and awareness. A lot of consumers, especially in places like the UK and the US, stick to cards out of habit. If it’s familiar and it works, why change right? That being said, in the last year we’ve seen a huge shift in payment habits and greater awareness and adoption of alternatives. Research by Juniper reveals that 60% of all ecommerce transactions will happen via local payment methods by 2028. To put that into context, it’s equivalent to $7 billion a year flowing through hundreds of different payment methods and away from the legacy card networks. Merchants and payment providers need to highlight the benefits of solutions like Wero—whether it’s lower fees, faster transactions, or better alignment with local preferences.
You have just concluded your first year as CEO of Boku. What are your biggest takeaways from the first year and what are you hoping for in 2025?
Neal: It’s been a whirlwind year for sure. I’m very proud of the progress we’ve made, which has been underpinned by the demand for more convenient payment solutions from consumers. From where we were at the start of 2024, we’ve positioned ourselves as one of the world’s largest and most innovative global networks for Local Payment Methods with significant expansion in key global markets and more significant launches planned for this year.
I think my biggest takeaways would be the size of the opportunity for LPMs and the interwoven nature of the industry. Collaboration is so important, between merchants, PSPs, local payment providers, and indeed consumers. All of these need to be on the same page for digital commerce to flow smoothly, which is why the breadth and depth of our network is so important.
Looking ahead to 2025, ecommerce is going to continue to grow as you’d expect. Research that we’ve commissioned actually estimates that the industry will reach an astonishing $10.6 trillion in value by 2028 (from $5.75 trillion today). Local payment methods are no longer an alternative, they are mainstream. For my part, and for Boku, our focus will be on continuing to innovate and scale our offering across Europe, APAC, Africa and Middle East, as well as some exciting planned launches for Latin America, all as part of our push and our mission to give people the freedom to buy what they want, the way they want.
Here is our look at fintech innovation around the world.
Central and Southern Asia
Indian B2B Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) company Perfios acquired financial crime detection and risk management platform Claris5.
Pakistan fintech ABHI launched its microfinance bank.
Indian insurtech InsuranceDekho raised $70 million in a funding round co-led by existing investors including Beams Fintech Fund and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG).
International enablement and payments platform Nayax announced its strategic acquisition of Brazilian digital payments firm UPPay for $5.3 million.
Chilean fintech Banca.me locked in $3 million in new funding.
Asia-Pacific
CTBC Bank Philippines turned to Hitachi Asia to upgrade its digital corporate banking platform.
inDrive partnered with Fingular to launch its inDrive.Money solutions for customers in Indonesia.
Malaysia’s central bank and finance ministry granted licenses to a pair of new digital banks: KAF Digital Berhad and YTL Digital Bank Berhad.
Sub-Saharan Africa
Flutterwave secured a payment system license from the Bank of Zambia.
The Bank of Ghana and the National Bank of Rwanda inked an MoU to provide companies with a license passporting framework and cross-border payment interoperability.
Nigerian fintech ProsperaVest EGG introduced eNsc, a stablecoin pegged 1:1 to the Nigerian Naira.
Central and Eastern Europe
Lithuanian identity verification service iDenfy announced a partnership with Highvibes to help protect artists from fraud.
Online payment and checkout solutions provider Montonio expanded its partnership with Inbank to bring BNPL and Hire Purchase options to customers in Latvia and Lithuania.
Austrian Reporting Services (AuRep) teamed up with the Nasdaq to provide regulatory reporting technology and support to companies in Austria’s financial services industry.
Middle East and Northern Africa
UAE fintech Flow48 raised $69 million in combined debt and equity funding.
Egyptian fintech Khazna secured $16 million to power its expansion into Saudi Arabia.
Sadad teamed up with Mastercard to enhance digital payments in Qatar.
This year at FinovateEurope 2025, our 32 demoing companies represent a baker’s dozen of countries from around the world. Of the 32 companies, nine are headquartered in the UK, and seven of them are making their Finovate debuts this year.
Last year, FinovateEurope featured companies from 15 different countries. This year, we’re thrilled to see a similarly diverse group. Here’s where the rest of our FinovateEurope 2025 demoing companies are based.
FinovateEurope is right around the corner: 25-26 February at the Intercontinental O2 in London. Friday, 14 February is the last day to take advantage of big, early-bird savings on the price of your ticket. If you haven’t registered yet, visit our FinovateEurope hub today and save your seat!
Here is our look at fintech innovation around the world.
Middle East and Northern Africa
Tabby, a financial services and shopping app in MENA, announced a $160 million Series E funding round that brought the company’s valuation to $3.3 billion.
Qatar-based Islamic financial institution Al Rayan Bank partnered with financial software application provider Finastra to launch its new Islamic core banking solution.
Israel fintech BitStock raised $400,000 in seed funding.
Central and Southern Asia
The Banker featured Golomt Bank and the rise of open banking in Mongolia.
Indian digital payments firm ToneTag secured $78 million in new funding.
Rippleteamed up with Portuguese currency exchange provider Unicâmbio to support cross-border payments between Portugal and Brazil.
Brazilian payments and banking technology provider Dock introduced new Chief Technology Officer Thiago Teixeira.
Latin American global collections firm Takenos launched its Spicy Card, enabled by Pomelo, in Argentina.
Asia-Pacific
Malaysian Earned Wage Access (EWA) specialist Payd raised $400,000 in an extension of its seed funding round.
New Zealand’s Inland Revenue service issued a Request for Information (RFI) as part of an effort to influence the growth of open banking in the country.
Bangladesh-based commercial bank Trust Bank teamed up with TerraPay to help students pay tuition fees.
South African fintech Stitch acquired ExiPay, a company that enables brick-and-mortar stores to securely accept in-person payments via point-of-sale (POS) terminals.
Advanced Television looked at the evolution of South African fintech marketing.
Central and Eastern Europe
Berlin-based invoicing and payables automation management platform Monite unveiled iFrame solution to help SMB platforms deliver financial products and services.
This week’s edition of Finovate Global looks at recent fintech news and headlines from Australia.
Digital private equity manager Moonfare goes live in Australia
Eligible investors in Australia stand to benefit from the arrival of digital private equity investing platform Moonfare. The Berlin-based company announced that it is bringing its wealth management technology to what is now its 23rd country. Moonfare Asia Pacific head Adam Banks, who joined Moonfare in October, noted that the firm’s APAC investor relations team is already “in active discussions with potential clients” in Australia.
Founded in 2016, Moonfare enables eligible investors to access a selection of curated funds from managers such as KKR, EQT, and the Carlyle Group. The company’s proprietary portfolio investments provide diversification and low minimums across a range of strategies, including buyout, growth equity, venture, and infrastructure. Investors on the platform can also participate in secondaries, private credit, and co-investments.
“There is clearly a growing appetite for private equity investing in Australia,” Moonfare Founder and Co-CEO Steffen Pauls said. “But so far access has been limited, especially for people wanting exposure to non-domestic managers and strategies. Moonfare’s digital private equity platform plans to fill that gap by providing seamless access to globally leading top-quartile managers.”
Moonfare boasts more than €3.3 billion ($3.4 billion) in assets under management and access to more than 110 funds. The company began the year with the appointment of Heike Hövekamp as Chief Legal & Compliance Officer. Hövekamp joins Moonfare from Société Générale, where she was Head of Compliance.
Australian regtech Nuj raises $4 million in seed funding
Is there any debate that 2025 is shaping up to be the year of regtech? The fact that regtech increasingly seems to provide fertile ground for new fintech startups may be yet another indication of the growing importance of this subsector.
Australia’s Nuj is another fintech startup that is taking advantage of interest in regtech. The company announced that it has raised $4 million in equity and debt financing to develop its superannuation data platform. A superannuation is Australia’s pension program, created to benefit of employees. They are similar in many respects to an individual retirement account (IRA) or a 401(k) in the US.
Mimecast Co-Founder Peter Bauer led a $2 million seed round as part of an overall $4 million equity and debt package. He praised Nuj’s “powerful data platform that addresses an expensive challenge across the super industry — one of staying ahead in compliance with regulations.” Founded in 2020 by Matthew McKenzie, Nuj is a data platform and insights engine that sits between superannuation funds and the regulator. The technology provides real-time insights to superannuation trustees and executives, enabling them to better manage their risk programs. The company’s platform is used by institutions such as MUFG, AMP, and Equity Trustees.
The investment in Nuj comes as regulatory reporting requirements and calls for increased transparency for superannuation funds are growing. McKenzie noted that funding will help “fuel (the platform’s) capabilities for faster data processing and sharper insights, empowering funds to make informed decisions, and driving better financial outcomes.”
Headquartered in Sydney, Nuj was founded in 2020.
Ozone API and ProductCloud team up to help Australian firms meet open banking regulations
A new partnership between Ozone API and ProductCloud will help companies in Australia comply with Open Banking API regulations, specifically Consumer Data Right legislation. The partnership will provide Australian companies with a technology platform that enables them to quickly and securely deliver open APIs aligned to the most recent version of the Australian Consumer Data Standard.
“Our platform is already helping banks and financial institutions around the world to deliver standards compliant with open banking APIs, including in line with the CDR standard,” Ozone API Co-founder and CEO Huw Davies said. “We’re really excited to combine our global expertise in open finance with ProductCloud’s innovative product management platform. Together, our solutions remove the complexity of achieving and maintaining CDR compliance, allowing organizations to focus on their core business.”
Founded in 2017 and headquartered in London, Ozone API is a leading standards-based platform designed to take the complexity out of open banking and help companies meet regulatory and commercial requirements for open APIs. In addition to its partnership with ProductCloud, Ozone API also recently announced its collaboration with FinovateEurope 2024 alum ShareID to, in the words of ShareID CEO and Co-founder Sara Sebti, “enhance the Open Banking ecosystem” and, as Ozone API GM for Europe James Bushby put it, “strengthen trust in open finance.”
Melbourne-based ProductCloud offers a cloud-based, SaaS solution that streamlines product information management for financial institutions. Serving banks, neobanks, mutuals, and non-bank lenders, ProductCloud provides a single tool for both Open Banking Product Reference Data and Design and Distribution Obligation compliance. The company was founded in 2020.
“Since launching ProductCloud back when CDR kicked off, we had our sights on being the go-to Product Information Management and CDR Compliance platform for financial institution product managers,” ProductCloud Co-founder and CEO Mark Evans said. “Partnering with Ozone API is an exciting development because they have also been a pioneer in Open Finance. Collaborating with our respective SaaS platforms and out-of-the-box APIs will provide a unique offering for rapid and cost-effective open banking compliance.”
Here is our look at fintech innovation around the world.
Central and Eastern Europe
Romanian crowdfunding service provider, Venevo, partnered with regtech solutions hub iDenfy.
Lithuanian fintech ArcaPay agreed to be acquired by UK-based financial services provider Ebury.
International money movement firm TerraPay partnered with airport retailer Dubai Duty Free.
Central and Southern Asia
India-based payments and API banking firm, Cashfree Payments, raised $53 million in funding at a valuation of $700 million.
Egyptian fintech Halan Microfinance Bank expanded into Pakistan with a pledge to invest $10 million in 2025.
Indian fintech Cred became the first fintech platform to provide access to India’s central bank digital currency project.
Latin America and the Caribbean
Payment orchestration provider Yuno to launchMastercard Payment Passkey Service across Latin America.
Kuady teamed up with BridgerPay to enhance payment solutions throughout Latin America.
Latin American ecommerce company MercadoLibre now offers transactions using its payment processors in Argentina via Brazil’s instant payment system, Pix.
The regulatory landscape for fintechs and financial services companies operating in the European Union is expected to undergo significant changes this year, with new standards, guidelines, and rules governing payments, data privacy, digital assets, and more.
In this week’s edition of Finovate Global, we caught up with Maya Shabi, Senior Risk Strategist with EverC, a firm that provides tech-driven risk management solutions for ecommerce companies. In our extended conversation, Shabi discusses the policy and regulatory changes that are expected in the EU in 2025, what these changes are designed to achieve, and how they will impact fintechs, financial services companies, and their customers.
Founded in 2015, EverC offers a fully-automated, AI-driven, cross-channel risk management platform that helps drive growth for innovators in the online seller ecosystem. With domain expertise in risk intelligence, data science, and payments, EverC scans 30 million items a day — more than 10 billion products since inception — helping businesses detect and remove high-risk merchants, products, and services so they can safely grow and expand into new verticals and new markets.
In your opinion, did the regulatory environment of 2024 help or hinder innovation in fintech and financial services in the EU?
Maya Shabi: The EU’s regulatory push has been a double-edged sword for innovation in fintech and financial services. On the one hand, clear and consistent rules across member states have lowered barriers to entry, making it easier for fintech companies to collaborate, innovate, and scale across the EU. On the other hand, tighter regulations come with higher compliance costs and can limit the flexibility that’s often critical for driving rapid innovation. Given how quickly crime risks evolve in the financial sector, especially with the advent of AI, I see the overall impact of EU regulations as balanced — supporting innovation in some areas while slowing it down in others.
One early issue will be compliance with the Instant Payments Regulation (IPR). What is this policy about? What are the implementation challenges and what are the opportunities for those that get it right?
Shabi: The Instant Payment Regulation (IPR) is designed to make instant euro payments secure and accessible across the EU. Its goal is to modernize the region’s payments landscape by improving the speed and efficiency of transactions within the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA). SEPA is a broad payment integration initiative that allows consumers and businesses to make cross-border euro payments under the same conditions as domestic transactions, simplifying and unifying payments across EU member states and a few neighboring countries.
With the IPR in place, PSPs must offer instant payment services that process transactions within 10 seconds and are available 24/7 for all euro payments. For European consumers, this means faster, more reliable payments without delays —even during weekends or holidays. It enhances convenience, supports smoother online shopping experiences, and improves cash flow for businesses by eliminating waiting times for fund transfers.
Implementing the IPR presents several challenges for PSPs and other financial institutions. Many FIs need to significantly upgrade their payment processing systems to handle real-time transactions, which also need to uphold fraud detection and AML/CTF rules in real time. The cost of upgrading systems alone is huge, not to mention the added technical challenge of ensuring interoperability between different PSPs and banks across borders. I think it’s pretty safe to assume that not all FIs have the same level of digital maturity, leaving many to play catch-up.
That said, there are several opportunities for those who comply with the IPR sooner rather than later. Early adopters of IPR-compliant systems can position themselves as leaders in innovation and customer service. Offering seamless, instant payments can attract more customers and build trust. Additionally, faster cross-border payments lower barriers for businesses to expand across the EU.
Another policy that will kick in early in 2025 is DORA, the EU’s Digital Operational Resilience Act. What does this policy call for and why is it important?
Shabi: The Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA) is a pivotal regulation aimed at strengthening the financial sector’s ability to withstand digital disruptions and cyber threats. It sets clear IT security standards, focusing on managing information and communication technology (ICT) risks, improving incident reporting, and overseeing third-party ICT service providers. Financial institutions will be required to assess “concentration risk” when outsourcing critical or significant operations to external vendors.
For some added context, the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) emphasizes protecting personally identifiable information (PIII) through consent and data security, whereas DORA shifts the focus to the digital supply chains of financial institutions. This introduces a new and potentially more challenging regulatory environment that pushes firms to strengthen their defenses against IT disruptions. It is designed to prevent major outages, like the devastating CrowdStrike software update last summer, from crippling banking, payment, and investment services. Under DORA, similar service interruptions will be met with stricter oversight and accountability, driving firms to prioritize digital resilience. Otherwise, non-compliance could lead to fines of up to 2% of a firm’s annual global revenue, and individual managers could face personal penalties of up to €1 million for breaches.
In terms of new open banking regulations, what are your expectations?
Shabi: Open banking regulations opened the door for greater innovation and competition, but they also brought meaningful friction as FIs worked to keep up with rising fraud risks. Under the EU’s Second Payment Services Directive (PSD2), banks are required to share customer data with third-party providers through APIs — a move that, while promoting transparency and choice, also widens the attack surface for cybercriminals. It increases the risk of data breaches, identity theft, and payment fraud.
To counter these threats, PSD2 and its upcoming successor, the Third Payment Services Directive (PSD3), mandate stronger security measures like enhanced customer authentication and tighter oversight of third-party access. While these safeguards are critical, they can slow down user experiences and complicate partnerships. Still, this added friction is necessary to strike a balance between the advantages of open banking and the growing need to protect consumers and the broader financial system. Given that the PSD3 is expected to take hold in late 2025 or early 2026, FIs must prepare to ensure they remain compliant.
The EU AI Act passed in 2024. What kind of impact will this regulation have in 2025 and what should companies in financial services be doing now?
Shabi: Governments worldwide are racing to regulate the perceived risks of artificial intelligence. The US issued an AI Executive Order, the UK released a non-binding Declaration of Principles, and China introduced what appears to be a business-friendly AI framework. The EU’s AI Act marks the most significant step yet toward bringing structure to an industry that has largely operated like the Wild West, at least for now.
What makes the EU AI Act stand out is its risk-based approach. Instead of applying blanket regulations to all AI technologies, it scales oversight based on the potential for societal harm — the greater the risk, the stricter the rules. This method strikes a crucial balance between fostering innovation and protecting fundamental rights. In the payments industry, we’re no strangers to how effective a risk-based framework can be when navigating the fine line between managing risk and driving innovation.
Notably, over 100 companies – from global corporations to smaller financial institutions – have already pledged to comply with the AI Act ahead of its full enforcement. This early buy-in signals broad industry support or, at the very least, an interest in collaboration. Even critics who argue the law is either too sweeping or too narrow recognize that engaging with regulators and key stakeholders is often the smarter path. By collaborating early, companies can help shape the conversation surrounding AI instead of being sidelined and forced to comply without having a voice.
Other areas that are likely to receive regulatory scrutiny in 2025 in the EU are crypto and Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL). What developments are most likely for businesses in these spaces?
Shabi: Complying with the MiCA framework is the first thing that comes to mind when cryptocurrency and the EU are mentioned in the same sentence. MiCA is the EU’s first comprehensive legal framework for crypto assets that introduces clear and consistent rules across member states. Although it’s been in development for several years, key compliance deadlines took effect in 2024 and will continue through 2025. We’re already seeing major crypto firms like Coinbase adjusting their operations to meet MiCA’s requirements, while others are reassessing their market strategies — some even shifting focus to countries with more relaxed crypto regulations. For any crypto business operating in the EU, heavy compliance standards are becoming the norm, much like other industries that come with significant AML/CTF risks.
BNPL, however, presents a different regulatory challenge. In many ways, BNPL is just a modern spin on subprime lending — a long-standing issue in financial services when it comes to consumer protection. The explosive growth of BNPL services has raised concerns about rising consumer debt, as the lack of transparency about fees, terms, and penalties leaves consumers exposed to hidden costs. Additionally, weak credit checks and poor due diligence practices heighten the risk of users falling into financial overextension. These issues harm individual financial stability and pose systemic risks, especially since BNPL providers often operate across borders with inconsistent oversight.
To address these concerns, regulators across the globe are scrambling to regulate BNPL providers similarly to traditional credit frameworks. EU regulators updated the Consumer Credit Directive to strengthen consumer protections in the credit market, explicitly covering BNPL services. For businesses operating in this space, this means significant regulatory changes are on the horizon. EU member states must implement the directive into national law by November 20, 2025, with full enforcement beginning on November 20, 2026.
By this time next year, what areas of fintech/financial services do you think will have benefitted the most from greater regulatory clarity? Where do you anticipate that more work will be needed?
Shabi: By this time next year, crypto-assets, payments, and RegTech will likely be the biggest winners from greater regulatory clarity in the EU. The full rollout of the MiCA will finally bring consistency across member states, giving crypto firms the green light to develop secure, consumer-friendly products without second-guessing compliance. Likewise, updates to the Payment Services Directives are set to streamline open banking, tightening data security while making it easier for fintechs to access and use consumer data — fueling innovation in payments.
Simultaneously, the growing complexity of EU compliance is driving up demand for RegTech solutions. Fintech companies offering tools to automate compliance, manage risk, and strengthen cybersecurity will be well-positioned for growth as firms scramble to meet evolving requirements under regulations like DORA as well as AML/CTF directives. Ideally, this regulatory progress will create a more stable, trustworthy environment that supports responsible innovation across the financial sector.
However, several areas still need more attention. The EU AI Act doesn’t fully address how AI is used in financial services — especially in critical areas like credit scoring and fraud detection — leaving gaps around transparency, data use, and risk management. Cross-border payments and digital identity systems also remain fragmented, making it harder to streamline transactions and verify users across the EU.
Emerging asset classes like NFTs and tokenized assets are another blind spot, lacking comprehensive oversight and leaving both consumers and markets exposed to risk. Smaller fintechs, too, may struggle to keep up with strict cybersecurity and operational resilience requirements under DORA, highlighting the need for more scalable compliance pathways. Closing these gaps will be key to ensuring the EU can balance innovation with long-term financial stability and consumer protection.
How will this evolving regulatory landscape impact your customers and the work EverC does for them?
Shabi: As platforms and payments continue to evolve, bringing more of our finances (and our lives) online, fraudsters will continue to exploit these opportunities, and regulators will continue to create structures to protect consumers. The evolving regulatory landscape is a challenge that marketplaces and payment providers must meet to continue doing business successfully.
The cost of noncompliance — in terms of enforcement actions and fines, lawsuits, decreased revenue, and loss of reputation and consumer trust — will always outweigh the cost of creating and maintaining a solid risk and compliance strategy. With technology, we can fight fraud and make ecommerce and digital finance safer while allowing our customers to benefit from operational efficiencies and more effective resource allocation.
EverC enables payment providers, ecommerce players, and financial institutions to meet these challenges with customer-centric innovation. That innovation is accelerated with the power of GenAI for scalable, tech-forward solutions. Our experts stay current with regulatory trends so we can anticipate and meet our customers’ needs as they navigate this rapidly evolving landscape.
Here is our look at fintech innovation around the world.
German fintech 21X partnered with AllUnity, a joint venture between DWS, Flow Traders, and Galaxy Digital.
Lithuania-based Urbo Bank (formerly Medicinos Bankas) announced a collaboration with certified payment technology company DECTA to go live with Visa card issuing services.
Dubai-based cybersecurity firm CyberHive inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with business planning and operations smart solutions provider Meerana.
Israel-based conversational AI innovator and Finovate Best of Show winner eSelf.ai raised $4.5 in seed funding.
Egyptian financial services company Paymob secured a Retail Payment Services (RPS) license from the Central Bank of the UAE.
Brazilian fintech Nubank partnered with Mexican convenience store chain Oxxo to expand its cash deposit and withdrawal network.
El Salvador bought twelve Bitcoin this week despite an agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to reduce its activity in the cryptocurrency market.
Philippines-based Netbank partnered with Discovery Credit Solutions Corporation (DCSC) to launch a new solution to optimize loan management.
South Korea’s Personal Information Protection Commission (PIPC) fined KakaoPay and ApplePay $5.8 million for violations of the country’s Personal Information Protection Act.
Revolutlaunched its robo-advisor service in Singapore.
This week’s edition of Finovate Global focuses on recent fintech headlines from Mexico, which boasts the second largest economy in Latin America.
Belvo and JP Morgan Partner to Enhance Recurring Payments in Mexico
A strategic collaboration between Latin American open finance platform Belvo and J.P. Morgan Payments aims to automate and streamline the management of recurring payments via direct debit. The partnership will enable businesses in multiple sectors to deploy direct debit quickly and securely, enhancing the customer experience and boosting engagement.
“This alliance with J.P. Morgan Payments is a milestone for Belvo and the financial ecosystem in Mexico,” Federica Gregorini, General Manager of Belvo in Mexico, said. “Direct debit offers a modern and efficient solution that not only improves companies’ operational processes but also makes life easier for users. With this collaboration, we are taking recurring payment automation to the next level, making it more accessible for all types of businesses.”
Now a member of J.P. Morgan Payments Partner Network, Belvo will give companies in industries such as lending, insurance, utilities, subscription services, and more the ability to automate their recurring collections. By leveraging direct debit, these companies will reduce errors, ensure timely payments, and increase convenience for customers who will no longer have to make manual payments.
Founded in 2019 and headquartered in Mexico City, Belvo is a leading open finance and data payments platform. With partners including BBVA, Citibanamex, and Finovate alum Nubank, Belvo first launched its direct debit recurring payments solution in Colombia and Mexico in the fall of 2023. This week’s strategic collaboration with J.P. Morgan Payments will bring this technology to more businesses throughout Mexico.
“We are pleased to work with Belvo to offer our clients in the country access to a best-in-class direct debit solution, providing higher transaction success rates, new features such as partial debit payments, and more efficient settlements,” Francisco Molina Viamonte, Head of Mexico for J.P. Morgan Payments said.
TransUnion Acquires Trans Union de Mexico from Mexico’s Largest Credit Bureau
International information and insights company TransUnion has signed a definitive agreement to acquire majority ownership of Trans Union de Mexico, the consumer credit business of Mexico’s largest credit bureau, Buró de Crédito.
“Our expansion in Mexico continues our commitment to making trust possible in global commerce,” TransUnion President and CEO Chris Cartwright said. “Credit bureaus are a catalyst for financial inclusion, and we are excited for the opportunity to bring the benefits of our state-of-the-art technology, innovative solutions, and industry expertise to Mexican consumers and businesses.”
TransUnion currently owns approximately 26% of Trans Union de Mexico. Cash consideration for the transaction, in which TransUnion will acquire an additional 68% ownership stake, is $560 million (MXN 11.5 billion), with an enterprise value of $818 million (MXN 16.8 billion). Buró de Crédito’s commercial credit business is not a part of this transaction.
“We anticipate that our planned acquisition of Buró de Crédito’s consumer credit business will strengthen our leadership position in Latin America and will make TransUnion the largest credit bureau in Spanish-speaking Latin America,” Regional President of TransUnion Latin America Carlos Valencia said. “We see substantial opportunity to introduce global products like trended and alternative credit data, fraud mitigation solutions, and consumer engagement tools. We also plan to expand beyond traditional financial services into adjacencies such as FinTech and insurance.”
TransUnion made its Finovate debut in 2016 at FinovateFall. The company returned to the Finovate stage last year for FinovateSpring 2024 to demonstrate its Enhanced BreachIQ solution, which provides modern, gamified consumer identity protection. Part of TransUnion’s TruEmpower suite of solutions, Enhanced BreachIQ builds an Identity Safety Score based on the user’s individual and unique data breach history. It also provides Breach Risk Scores that measure the severity of incidents in which their data was exposed, and a Personalized Action Plan of practical risk mitigation steps.
Founded in 1968, TransUnion is headquartered in Chicago. The company trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker TRU and has a market capitalization of $18.4 billion.
Airwallex Acquires MexPago as Part of Latin American Expansion
Speaking of acquisitions in Mexican fintech and financial services, global financial platform Airwallex has finalized its acquisition of Mexico-based payment service provider MexPago, a licensed Institution of Electronic Payment Funds (IFPE). The acquisition, along with recent news that Airwallex has secured a payment institution license from Banco Central do Brasil, will enable the company to connect its international financial infrastructure with Brazil and Mexico, supporting local businesses.
“Mexico plays a pivotal role in the global economy, serving as a key link between North and South America and a critical hub for cross-border payments,” MexPago CEO and founder Luis Castillejos Ordaz said. “We’re proud to join forces with Airwallex to enable seamless and secure cross-border transactions for businesses worldwide. MexPago’s domestic capabilities, combined with Airwallex’s global reach will deliver even greater value to our shared customers. Together, we will unlock borderless opportunities for businesses here in Latin America and around the world.”
Founded in 2014, MexPago is headquartered in Huixquilucan, part of Greater Mexico City. Post-acquisition, Castillejos will serve as Country Manager for Airwallex, Mexico, where he will manage operations and help Airwallex’s customers successfully navigate the Mexican market.
Here is our look at fintech innovation around the world.
Asia-Pacific
UnionDigitalBank, the digital banking arm of Union Bank of the Philippines, partnered with fintech lending platform JuanHand.
Backbase announced that its client, Vietnam-based An Binh Commercial Joint Stock Bank (ABBANK) has launchedABBANK Business, a new digital banking platform.
Sub-Saharan Africa
KCB Bank Kenya and UnionPay International (UPI) teamed up to boost e-commerce payment capabilities in Kenya.
MENA-based fintech startup Zywa, which offers banking solutions for Gen Z customers, raised $3 million in funding.
Saudi Arabian payments services provider HyperPay secured a license from the Saudi Central Bank (SAMA) to support the development of the financial services ecosystem in the kingdom.
Central and Southern Asia
Amazon acquired India-based Buy Now, Pay Later firm Axio for $150 million.
Pakistan-based commercial bank Bank Alfalah acquired a 9.9% equity stake in Jingle Pay.
Indian equity management platform Hissa launched a new fund to help workers at growth-stage startups convert their vested stock options into cash.
This week’s edition of Finovate Global looks at recent fintech headlines from Ireland.
NomuPay secures $37 million at a valuation of $200 million
Dublin, Ireland-based fintech NomuPay announced an investment of $37 million this week. The funding round, which began in September, gives the company a valuation of $200 million. The company will leverage the new capital to help accelerate the expansion of unified payment access in Asia.
“Over the past two years, we’ve grown our revenue by 100% annually and are on track to become profitable this year with an Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR) of $20 million,” NomuPay’s Faye Duncan wrote on the NomuPay website. “Our valuation has reached $200 million, and with this latest funding round, our total funding now stands at $90 million. We’re proud to support over 1,600 merchants — including Ikea — and look forward to expanding into markets like Indonesia, Japan, and Vietnam, while continuing our M&A efforts.”
Founded in 2021, NomuPay offers state-of-the-art, unified payment solutions to help businesses scale in high-growth regions in Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. The company’s uP Platform offers high-penetration alternative payment methods; real-time payout disbursements; and compliant, end-to-end marketplace funds management.
This week’s investment will help NomuPay assist international acquirers, merchants, Payment Service Providers (PSPs) and Independent Sales Organizations (ISOs) as they seek to expand in markets such as those in Asia, where differences between local regulations and a broad variety of payment methods add to both cost and complexity.
To this point, NomuPay CEO Peter Burridge noted that many organizations are stymied by the offerings of the dominant international gateway acquirers that, in some instances, provide limited access or fewer payment options. Burridge called for a more “sophisticated and less prescriptive approach.”
Experian acquires debt consolidation technology from Paylink
To help millions of consumers better manage their debts, international data and technology company Experian announced this week that it will acquire ReFi, the debt consolidation innovation from Paylink Solutions. ReFi, which specifically helps manage the “double counting” challenge in lending, will become a part of the Experian Consumer Services Marketplace.
“Our research shows that millions of consumers are stuck in a revolving debt trap, due to the systemic issue of ‘double counting’ when consumers apply for debt consolidation products,” Experian Consumer Services Managing Director Edu Castro explained. “ReFi’s innovative solutions will play a crucial role in addressing the debt challenges faced by many consumers, unlocking access to debt consolidation products that could help them save money on their debt and even pay it off sooner.”
Double counting can occur when an individual applies for a debt consolidation loan and a lender counts both the individual’s original debts and their new consolidation loan as part of the affordability assessment. Lenders “double count” because there is no guarantee that the funds from the new consolidation loan will be deployed to retire existing debt. This means that otherwise creditworthy individuals can be denied consolidation loans to help them more affordably pay off their debts.
ReFi provides this assurance for lenders, working with both parties to settle debts directly with existing creditors. This enables applicants for consolidation loans to be assessed solely on the basis of the consolidation loan amount. And as debt is paid off, old accounts are closed, providing convenience for customers and further bolstering confidence for lenders.
“The team who built ReFi feel tremendously privileged to already have helped thousands of people reduce their monthly outgoings and cut the amount of interest they have to pay overall,” Paylink CEO Jake Ranson said. “Becoming part of Experian will enable us to further innovate, accelerate, and grow the impact ReFi will have on delivering better outcomes for lender and borrower alike.”
Founded in 2017 and headquartered in Grantham, Lincolnshire, U.K., Paylink Solutions launched its ReFi solution in the fall of 2023. Piloted by financial wellness company Salary Finance, ReFi has saved Salary Finance customers more than £10 million in interest payments.
With its corporate headquarters in Dublin, Ireland, Experian helps businesses around the world enhance lending practices, fight fraud, and better engage their customers. A Finovate alum since 2011, Experian is a FTSE 100 Index company, publicly traded on the London Stock Exchange under the ticker EXPN.
Data privacy firm Dataships raises $7 million in Series A funding
Data privacy software company Datashipssecured $7 million in Series A funding. The round was led by Osage Venture Partners, and featured participation from Lavrock Ventures and the Urban Innovation Fund. In a statement, the company said that the funding will help “accelerate our mission to help merchants dramatically grow their marketing lists while maintaining ironclad data privacy compliance.”
Founded in 2019 and headquartered in Dublin, Dataships began as a compliance technology company and has since transitioned to compliance management. The company notes that it has helped its merchant customers realize a 10x increase in SMS opt-in rates, a 3x to 4x boost in email marketing contacts, and $112 million in additional revenue generated via 1.1 million repeat purchases. Dataships recently announced a pair of new innovations to its platform: SMS Easy Opt-in, which replaces “Reply Y” with in-checkout verification, and A/B Testing Engine that provides transparent measurement of baseline versus opt-in rates.
“We’re building Dataships to be the essential growth platform for modern e-commerce brands,” the company’s Matt Gottron noted in a blog post. “One that transforms compliance from a burden into a competitive advantage, helping merchants build larger, more engaged marketing lists that drive sustainable revenue growth.”
Here is our look at fintech innovation around the world.
Latin America and the Caribbean
Latin American payments service processor Kuady introduced its new physical prepaid Mastercard for users in Peru after launching a virtual version in September.
Onchain finance solutions provider Tokeny has teamed up with El Salvador-based Digital Asset Service Provider Ditobanx.
Visalaunched its 2025 Accelerator Program for African fintechs.
BusinessDay Nigeria examined the impact of cybercrime on Africa’s fintech and digital banking industries.
Central and Eastern Europe
Germany-based fintech unicorn N26 announced its first profitable quarter to close out 2024.
Lithuania and Romania earned praise for their growth potential in sustainable banking in a recent report from the International Sustainable Finance Centre (ISFC).
Financial Times featured German fintech Trade Republic as the firm announces it has no intention to go public at this time.
Last year, we published an edition of Finovate Global that featured new developments in Islamic finance. This week’s column will explore further the world of Islamic and Shariah-compliant financial services with Dilshod Jumaniyazov, CEO and co-founder of Musaffa.
Launched in 2020 and headquartered in New York, Musaffa offers a comprehensive platform for ethical investing, Halal stock trading, and financial education. More than 487,000 Muslim investors in 195 countries use Musaffa’s platform, which provides access to stocks in countries ranging from the U.S., U.K., and Australia to Malaysia, the UAE, and Turkey.
Musaffa recently launched its Purification Calculator, which enables Muslim investors to confidently identify and invest in Shariah-compliant businesses. And at a time when more investors are looking for investments that align with their values, Musaffa’s advanced screening tools, financial education, and other solutions can be useful to ESG-oriented investors as well as faith-based ones.
In our extended conversation, Jumaniyazov helps us understand the size and scope of Islamic and Shariah-compliant finance, the unique needs of the customers in this growing market, and how enabling technologies are bringing innovation to Islamic financial services in areas such as banking to wealth management.
How big is the market for Shariah-compliant financial solutions? How has this market grown in the West in particular? Are there countries in the West where the demand for Shariah-compliant financial solutions is especially strong?
Dilshod Jumaniyazov: The market for Shariah-compliant financial solutions is not just big—it’s growing fast. In 2022, the global Islamic finance industry expanded by 11%, reaching $4.5 trillion in assets, and it is expected to grow to $6.7 trillion by 2027, according to the ICD-LSEG Islamic Finance Development Report 2023.
In the West, Islamic finance has gained significant traction, particularly since the 2008 financial crisis, when it emerged as a more stable and ethical alternative. In the U.K., Islamic banks have doubled their assets over the past decade, reflecting a growing demand for Islamic finance. Sukuk issuances have also increased across Europe, with countries like Luxembourg and Germany leading the charge. The broader trend of sustainable and values-based investing has played a crucial role in driving this growth.
Certain Western countries stand out for their strong demand. According to Global Finance Magazine, the U.K. is a clear leader, serving as a global hub with five Islamic banks and more than 20 conventional banks offering Shariah-compliant products. Luxembourg, the first Eurozone country to issue a sovereign sukuk, hosts a wide range of Shariah-compliant funds. Germany has made significant strides by issuing sukuks and licensing its first Islamic bank, highlighting its growing interest in the sector. Meanwhile, France, with Europe’s largest Muslim population, holds enormous untapped potential despite its relatively underdeveloped Islamic finance market.
This combination of ethical investing and increasing demand in key regions has positioned the West as an emerging force in Shariah-compliant finance.
What are we talking about when we talk about Shariah-compliant finance? How is it different from financing in the West?
Jumaniyazov: Shariah-compliant finance is rooted in Islamic principles that emphasize fairness, transparency, and social responsibility. It prohibits earning or charging interest (riba), excessive speculation (gharar), and investments in harmful industries such as gambling, alcohol, and weapons. Instead, it focuses on ethical investing, risk-sharing, and linking all financial transactions to real economic activities. For example, rather than relying on traditional interest-based loans, Shariah-compliant finance uses models like mudarabah (profit-sharing) and musharakah (joint ventures), where risks and rewards are shared among all parties. This approach ensures that financial activities create tangible value and benefit society.
What sets Shariah-compliant finance apart from Western finance is its deeply embedded ethical framework. While Western finance often revolves around interest-bearing loans and speculative investments, Shariah-compliant finance requires every transaction to align with moral principles and economic justice. It’s not just about profit — it’s about creating shared prosperity and avoiding harm. This focus on equity, accountability, and real-world impact makes Shariah-compliant finance a compelling alternative, especially for those seeking a more values-driven approach to managing wealth.
How has digital transformation impacted the market for Shariah-compliant finance. Has technology made it easier to innovate and create new solutions for the community?
Jumaniyazov: Digital transformation has completely reshaped the landscape of Shariah-compliant finance, making it more accessible and innovative than ever before. With the rise of digital banking and mobile payment platforms tailored to the needs of Muslim consumers, financial services are now reaching communities that were previously underserved. This has opened up opportunities for growth and inclusion on a global scale.
Technology has also sparked exciting developments like digital sukuks and blockchain-based smart contracts, which align perfectly with Islamic principles. These innovations have not only made processes more efficient, but have also introduced entirely new ways to approach halal and ethical finance. By breaking down barriers and reducing costs, digital transformation has turned Shariah-compliant finance into a dynamic, forward-thinking sector that’s more relevant than ever in today’s world.
Is there a role for AI in Shariah-compliant finance?
Jumaniyazov: AI is revolutionizing Islamic finance by making it more efficient, innovative, and accessible while staying true to its ethical principles. One of its most significant contributions is in screening stocks and ETFs for Shariah compliance. AI can analyze large datasets to assess whether investments meet Islamic criteria, streamlining a process that would otherwise be time-intensive and complex. This ensures that investors can confidently align their portfolios with their faith.
AI is also transforming Islamic financial products, such as sukuk. By enabling smart contracts, it has improved the transparency, efficiency, and trustworthiness of sukuk issuances. With applications like blockchain integration and advanced analytics, AI is not just addressing operational challenges but also opening doors for innovation, making Islamic finance more dynamic and globally relevant while adhering to Shariah principles.
You are CEO of Musaffa, a company that has developed Shariah-compliant solutions. Can you tell us a little about Musaffa and how you came to co-found the company?
Jumaniyazov: Of course. The journey to founding Musaffa began with a deeply personal challenge. Over my 16 years of investing, I often faced a dilemma — questioning whether my investments aligned with my faith and values as a Muslim. Every time I ventured into the stock market, I carried the weight of uncertainty, wondering if I was compromising my principles. As I shared my experiences with friends and colleagues, I realized this was not just my struggle — it was a challenge faced by millions of Muslims worldwide in a financial landscape that offered little guidance or transparency for faith-aligned investing.
This realization sparked a vision over a decade ago: to create a platform that would empower Muslims globally to invest ethically and confidently while staying true to their faith. However, I quickly recognized that making this vision a reality required more than just ambition. It demanded deeper knowledge, broader experience, and substantial capital.
Determined to bridge these gaps, I pursued an MBA at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and earned my CFA designation to strengthen my expertise in finance. I gained invaluable experience working with the technology team at Wells Fargo Securities, where I contributed to launching several trading platforms. Alongside this, I saved diligently, setting aside funds from my paychecks and 401(k) savings over the years. By late 2020, with $250,000 of my own savings, I was ready to bring Musaffa to life.
Musaffa is more than just a platform — it’s a solution to a deeply felt problem. At its core, Musaffa provides access to over 90,000 stocks and 9,000 ETFs globally, all meticulously analyzed for Shariah compliance. The platform enables users to seamlessly buy and sell halal stocks through an integrated network of brokerages.
Education is another cornerstone of our mission. Through Musaffa Academy, we offer tailored courses in financial literacy and Islamic finance, equipping our users with the knowledge to make informed decisions. These tools are designed not just to help Muslims invest, but also to empower them to understand and take control of their financial journeys.
As a result, Musaffa has grown to serve over 482,000 users across 195 countries. Our users trust us to provide peace of mind and a way to align their investments with their faith. With features like advanced Shariah compliance screening, integrated trading options, and a robust educational platform, Musaffa has become a trusted partner for Muslim investors worldwide.
Looking ahead, we are excited to expand our offerings by launching proprietary Shariah-compliant ETFs and further integrating into global markets. Our goal is to make halal investing even more accessible and to continue simplifying access to the $30 trillion Shariah-compliant market.
What sets Musaffa apart are not just the tools we provide but our unwavering commitment to solving real challenges. We’re not just offering a platform; we’re creating a global financial ecosystem rooted in faith, trust, and ethics.
Today, I am incredibly proud of how far Musaffa has come. It stands as a testament to years of dedication, the belief that financial success should never come at the expense of one’s values, and a vision that’s empowering Muslims around the world to invest with confidence and purpose.
Who are Musaffa’s primary customers and how do you reach them?
Jumaniyazov: Musaffa’s primary customers are individual investors worldwide who seek to invest in alignment with their values, as well as both Islamic and traditional financial institutions. We engage with them through a strategic mix of targeted digital campaigns, partnerships with Islamic organizations, and our robust education platform, Musaffa Academy, which drives the majority of our traffic. Additionally, we leverage the Musaffa Ambassador Program, which empowers passionate individuals to represent our brand and bring more users to the platform. Word-of-mouth referrals also play a pivotal role in building trust and expanding our reach within this values-driven audience. Together, these channels foster a strong and authentic connection with our customers.
You recently launched a Purification Calculator? Can you tell us about this solution: why you launched it, what it does, and how the reception of it has been so far?
Jumaniyazov: The Purification Calculator is an indispensable tool designed to ensure that Muslim investors can maintain Shariah compliance in their investments. Purification is a mandatory condition for any investment to be considered Shariah-compliant, as it involves cleansing portfolios of any unintended non-compliant income. The calculator simplifies this process by determining the exact amount that should be donated to charity, enabling investors to align their earnings with Islamic principles.
We launched this solution to address a critical concern for Muslim investors and to simplify a process that many found complex or uncertain. The feedback has been overwhelmingly positive, as the tool empowers users to invest with confidence, knowing their financial activities align with both their faith and values.
What are some of the most interesting things going on in Islamic finance right now to you personally?
Jumaniyazov: For me, one of the most exciting developments in Islamic finance is the growing focus on halal investment research. With more Muslims wanting to align their financial decisions with their faith, the demand for tools and analyses to identify Shariah-compliant opportunities is stronger than ever. This isn’t just about screening stocks; it’s about providing in-depth research and actionable insights that help investors make confident, informed decisions in a complex market.
Another area I find fascinating is how digital platforms are transforming access to halal investments. From sukuk to Shariah-compliant ETFs and stocks, technology is making it easier for people to find and invest in Shariah-compliant and ethical assets. This combination of research and innovation is bridging a critical gap for Muslim investors, helping them grow their wealth while staying true to their values; it’s an exciting time to see how the industry is evolving to meet both faith-driven and financial needs.
What can we expect to hear from Musaffa in 2025?
Jumaniyazov: In 2025, at Musaffa, we plan to launch a comprehensive Islamic finance education platform, introduce our proprietary Shariah-compliant trading platform, and begin offering exclusive Shariah-compliant ETFs following SEC licensing approval. Our goal is to solidify our position as the premier global platform for halal investments while significantly expanding our user base.
Here is our look at fintech innovation around the world.
Central and Southern Asia
Mashreq Pakistan secured a license from the State Bank of Pakistan to initiate digital banking pilot operations.
Serbian IT company Saga teamed up with Salt Edge to help banks in Serbia take advantage of opportunities in open banking.
German fintech Cleversoft announced its intention to acquire Turkish financial messaging and AML compliance solutions provider Fineksus.
Middle East and Northern Africa
Qatar-based Doha Bank to go live with Visa Commercial Pay, the first bank in the market to do so.
Iraqi fintech company Qi Card launched its app SuperQi, which serves as both a lifestyle super app and a digital bank.
Italian software company TeamSystem acquired Israeli fintech Morning for $150 million.
Interested in demoing at FinovateEurope 2025 in London? Applications are still being accepted from innovative companies with new solutions that are ready to show. Visit our FinovateEurope hub today to learn more.
As 2025 approaches, where will new opportunities arise for financial institutions, financial services providers, and fintechs looking to expand into new markets?
In this week’s Finovate Global interview, I talk with Lewis Ide, Vice President for 10x Banking, about the opportunities in high-growth markets in APAC and Africa.
Part of the company’s senior leadership team, Ide is responsible for the strategy, growth, and execution of the business objectives at 10x Banking. He has a 13-year career in financial services technology with leadership roles in payments, financial infrastructure, and AML platforms.
10x Banking first introduced itself to Finovate audiences with its debut at FinovateEurope 2023 in London. The company won Best of Show for a demonstration of its 10x SuperCore Cards which enable banks to build a card proposition in minutes with 10x’s Bank Manager interface. Founded in 2016, 10x Banking is headquartered in London, U.K.
There is a lot of interest in high growth markets around the world, especially in the APAC region and in Africa. What is driving growth opportunities in these markets – starting with APAC?
Lewis Ide: I think it comes down to demographics first of all: APAC in particular has a young, growing, digitally-native population. Economies in this region are growing rapidly and with that come opportunities for growth in the financial services industry. And typically the countries across APAC are very innovation-friendly.
Regulation also really supports innovation. One example is in Thailand, where the regulator is releasing new digital banking licenses to support the growth of the industry from a digital-first point of view.
This all feeds into banks being able to benefit from core transformation, moving away from batch transactions to real-time transactions. They are also able to scale in user numbers and transaction volumes as the population grows and becomes even more digital-first. And the thing that makes that growth even more sustainable is the hyper-personalization that modern cores allow for, so banks in APAC can create unique offerings that consumers need.
What do small businesses in APAC need that they have not been getting from traditional financial services?
Ide: I think the first thing to say here is that traditionally, SME offerings have been bucketed into either the retail or the corporate bank offerings. Neither of these is really built around what small businesses need, so there is a demand in the market for tailored solutions.
The next thing is cost: these services are typically costly for SMEs because they aren’t tailored. I think what we’re now starting to see is a shift away from that bucketing towards banks being able to launch services that are specific and personalized to the needs of small businesses. That includes broadening access to credit, making it cheaper, and designing the products that the business needs at the time that they need them.
And again it’s innovation that is enabling this. The availability of agile, cloud-native infrastructures allows for a much more effective cost-to-income ratio control. And that in turn means that they can pass the cost benefits on to their customers in the form of new products at compelling price points. So the shift here is from high-cost services to tailored, personalized ones. And that’s been made achievable by agile, cloud-native core platforms.
What has prevented or limited the ability of financial institutions to respond to these pain points?
Ide: I would say the biggest thing is the legacy technology in place. In the last decade or so, neo cores emerged as a way to address the problems of legacy infrastructures, but they now come with almost a “neo legacy” of their own with limited ability to scale or personalize. Those that are able to be personalized can be very challenging to maintain or upgrade once the code has been written.
But in the last five to six years we’ve started to see a huge positive shift within the neobanks that has highlighted where the legacy and neo core platforms are now coming under pressure with those changing customer expectations.
That pressure comes from the way those legacy architectures were constructed. They were monolithic in nature and didn’t necessarily allow for hyper-personalization. They were also batch-based systems, very expensive to run on the mainframe. All of this requires specific and costly resources and makes it difficult for banks to respond to all of these pain points.
What changes have taken place or are taking place that are giving innovative companies the opportunity to step in with new solutions?
Ide: The adoption of cloud-native platforms that are microservice and API-based has been transformational in terms of the industry opportunity. This is why we launched the world’s first meta core at 10x Banking — to give customers access to a cloud-native core banking platform that overcomes the compromises of both legacy and neo cores.
This then allows customers to launch products at speed, gives them the hyper-personalization that they need, as well as doing so at a very low cost and with the ability to scale to hundreds of thousands of transactions per second, overcoming a number of the challenges that the industry has faced with great success.
What specific roles do you see for AI in helping institutions improve their operations and expand their services?
Ide: I think from our perspective, before we get to AI, it’s about data. The data structures that we use in this industry are the foundations of AI capability. You need to have access to high-quality, unsiloed data so there is a single source of truth across the business from which AI models can be launched.
From a core banking perspective, there are many things AI can enable, but three that spring to mind. First, at the customer layer, AI can personalize recommendations, power chatbots and make credit lending more efficient. Next is integration and transformation, enabling banks to connect all their systems together in a more efficient, composable architecture. Banks have a real opportunity to leverage AI to build better migration capability here. Finally – and this is something we are looking to support at 10x – is the ability to use AI to help code and create hyper-personalized products and services.
What the meta core allows our customers to do, for example, is get their data ready for AI, so they can unlock its full potential. So I always go back to that: making sure the data is clean and the structures are unsiloed so it’s all ready to go when you do start using AI.
Looking at Africa, particularly sub-Saharan Africa, what is driving growth there?
Ide: Africa is similar in some ways to APAC, so what I mentioned before in terms of the young demographic holds true here too. It’s a massive region, of course, so it’s hard to generalize. But there are some notable nuances in the way innovation is deployed in Africa. The mobile telecommunications networks like Safaricom and M-Pesa have been at the center of that, offering money transfer services alongside the telecommunications services.
Much of the growth here is driven by the desire to bring more people into the banked economy. Financial inclusion is big on the agenda. If you can reduce the percentage of unbanked people from, for example, 20% to 10%, that’s a big growth in customer numbers for banking and financial services. That’s a lot more people to provide services to, which again links back to the importance of scalability and personalization.
Some have suggested that Africa is the ideal example of a region unencumbered by complex legacy financial systems. Can you elaborate on how this impacts the environment for innovation and new ideas?
Ide: I would say that’s not the full story. The mobile telephone networks and operators have driven a lot of innovation as I touched on before, and there is a broad appetite for innovation across Africa in general. But there are challenges around the continued use of mainframe infrastructure, which is slowing banks down. As that has become more obvious, banks have been looking to core modernization, as well as partnerships with the mobile networks. This will enable them to extend their capability and services, which is a benefit for both the banks and the mobile networks.
Are there any trends in banking and financial services in the APAC or Africa that you think are underappreciated or even unrecognized? Are there opportunities there that 10x Banking is pursuing?
Ide: The major trend that goes underappreciated at the moment is in corporate banking. We have been working and investing heavily in this area, so I can speak from first-hand experience, with active projects in Vietnam, Thailand, Australia, South Africa, and Kenya to name a few. At the moment, there is a massive shift underway in corporate banking, moving from batch to real-time transactions, modernizing their cores. This will enable them to radically increase transaction processing volumes to better serve the demands of new and existing customers in the market.
Here is our look at fintech innovation around the world.
Middle East and Northern Africa
Israeli fintech startup and chargeback management specialist Justt raised $30 million in Series C funding.
Merchants in Paymob’s network in Egypt can now accept Apple Pay.
Middle East-based payment solutions provider Magnati partnered with Arabian Automobiles Company (AAC).
Central and Southern Asia
India’s Karnataka Bank partnered with hybrid multicloud computing company Nutanix.
TBC Uzbekistan launchedOsmon Card, its first credit card product.
India-based high-yield savings account Curie Money raised $1.2 million in seed funding.
Latin America and the Caribbean
El Salvador announced its intention to continue accumulating Bitcoin, but will discontinue its Bitcoin wallet Chivo as part of a financing deal with the IMF.
Uruguay-based cross-border payments company Bamboo teamed up with monetization platform Coda to enhance the gaming payment experience in Colombia.
Latin American payment platform AstroPay launched its multi-currency wallet.
Nigeria’s Bamboo became the first Nigerian fintech to acquire a U.S. broker-dealer license.
Central and Eastern Europe
Bulgaria joined the European Central Bank’s TARGET Instant Payment Settlement (TIPS) service.
Episode Six partnered with Secupay to provide asylum seekers in Germany with payment cards to access financial assistance from the government.
Bank of Georgia turned to Cloudera to better leverage data analytics to enhance the customer experience.
Interested in demoing at FinovateEurope 2025 in London? Applications are still being accepted from innovative companies with new solutions that are ready to show. Visit our FinovateEurope hub today to learn more.
