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Finovate Blog
Tracking fintech, banking & financial services innovations since 1994
Welcome to Q2! We’re looking forward to first-looks at how fintechs are faring in 2026, especially with regard to investment trends. For now, we’re seeing new C-suite leadership in digital banking, partnerships in insurtech, and a new fintech that is leveraging stablecoins for cross-border payments. Be sure to check back here at Finovate’s Fintech Rundown in the days to come for the latest fintech news headlines.
Lush UK to deployQuadient’s accounts payable (AP) automation software to enhance its finance operations.
Derivative Pathdelivers FX payments solution powered by Wells Fargo’s FX Payment Solutions and connected through Jack Henry’s Treasury Management platform.
ASN Bank chooses core banking platform provider Ohpen as its new strategic technology partner to enhance its mortgage operations.
Fraud prevention
Marqetaenhances its Real-Time Decisioning (RTD) offering with an AI-powered risk score that analyzes transaction risk levels.
Finovate Best of Show winner 1Kosmosannounces that its platform has secured Department of War (DoW) Impact Level 4 (IL4) authorization.
iDenfy and 5 Star Jets team up to integrate identity verification and AML screening into the aviation company’s payment verification process for both fiat and cryptocurrencies.
We’re fresh off an outstanding FinovateEurope conference in London (meet our Best of Show winners!) and already gearing up for our Spring event in San Diego. In the meanwhile, here’s a look at some of the fintech headlines that have crossed the wire in recent days. Be sure to check back here at the Fintech Rundown all week long for updates!
Digital banking
Oklahoma-based Blue Sky Bank partners with Jack Henry, deploying the fintech’s Banno Digital Platform along with other integrated solutions.
UK-based embedded insurance company Wriskacquired real-time financial intelligence platform Atto to build an integrated embedded finance platform.
DeFi
Payoneerteams up with stablecoin infrastructure platform and Stripe company Bridge to support its launch of new embedded stablecoin capabilities.
Netherlands-based paytech and stablecoin issuer Quantozteams up with Visa, enabling the firm to issue irtual Visa debit cards as serve as a BIN-sponsor for third-party fintechs and platforms.
For all of the innovations in the world of investing, fractional investing—which involves enabling investors to buy and sell portions of a single share of stock—is among the most significant. Fractional investing has helped democratize access to investments that historically have been out of reach for many individual investors. Fractional investing enables both lower minimum investment requirements as well as micro-investing to help investors with limited capital create diversified portfolios.
Bits of Stock, a New York-based fintech that won Best of Show in its return to the Finovate stage earlier this year at FinovateSpring in San Diego, is an example of a company that is bringing the benefits of fractional investing to a wider range of investors, including members of credit unions like Cardinal Credit Union. Last month, the not-for-profit cooperative announced a partnership with Bits of Stock to offer a new stock rewards program for Cardinal CU checking account holders aged 18 to 28.
The program enables these young adult investors to automatically earn stock rewards with every Visa debit card purchase. These rewards can then be redeemed into fractional shares in select publicly-traded stocks. The program leverages fractional stock ownership to help young adults begin to build wealth, develop good investing habits, and expand their understanding of finance.
This age range may be key to the successful adoption of stock rewards programs based on fractional investing. In their statement, Cardinal CU cited industry research that indicated that 67% of those in Generation Z (individuals aged 13 to 28), believe that the ability to invest with smaller amounts is a major factor in their decision to begin investing.
“We are helping student and younger members build a strong foundation while making investing accessible and rewarding,” Cardinal CU CEO Christine Blake said. ” There is tremendous value in this program as it encourages investors to learn about accumulating assets and building wealth in early adulthood.”
Mentor, Ohio-based Cardinal CU has integrated Bits of Stock into its digital banking platform, which is powered by Lumen Digital. Bits of Stock’s dashboard provides a brokerage account-like experience for users, helping them become more familiar with the standard tools used by traders and investors to buy and sell stocks in the market.
“Bits of Stock is redefining how people think about rewards and investing,” Bits of Stock CEO Arash Asady explained. “This initiative is a game-changer for younger investors, allowing them to start building wealth through everyday spending and to watch their investments grow.”
More recently, Bits of Stock announced that it had forged a strategic alliance with fellow Finovate alum Jack Henry. As with Cardinal CU, the partnership with fintech solution provider Jack Henry will involve embedding Bits of Stock’s fractional share-based stock rewards capability into a digital banking platform—in this case, Jack Henry’s Banno Digital Platform.
In their alliance announcement, the companies underscored the success that Credit Union One of Oklahoma experienced after launching a comprehensive three-tier checking account with embedded Bits of Stock capabilities. This enabled the institution to test a variety of offerings, from free accounts with round-ups to premium accounts that provided 1% stock rewards on all purchases.
“We were so impressed with member response during testing that we integrated stock investing capabilities into every checking account tier,” Credit Union One of Oklahoma President and CEO Tyrel McCain said. “It creates a natural progression where members can start with free entry points and graduate to earning stock rewards as they deepen their relationship with us. It’s driving both new account openings and fee income while helping our members build wealth through everyday spending.”
Founded in 1949 to serve employees working in a handful of state agencies, Credit Union One of Oklahoma became a community chartered credit union in May 2003. The institution today boasts more than 3,700 members and $48 million in assets.
FinovateFall may have wrapped up last week, but the fintech news cycle continues to roll on. Check out the latest happenings in banking and fintech below. We’ll continue adding news to this post throughout the week, so stay tuned!
Crypto and DeFi
Stablecore, which enables community financial institutions and credit unions to offer stablecoins and other digital assets, secures $20 million in funding.
The fallout from JP Morgan’s plan to charge companies for access to client bank account data continues as—according to a report from Bloomberg—Visa has announced that it is shuttering its open banking unit.
We’ve got a lot to say about the fight for open banking next month at FinovateFall. For now, be sure to check in to Finovate’s Fintech Rundown for all the latest fintech news!
AI-powered credit intelligence company martini.ailaunches its Financial Autonomy Ladder, a framework for measuring an institutions evolution from manual to autonomous decision-making systems.
MeridianLinkexpands its partnership with Jack Henry, which will resell the suite of Meridian Link One platform solutions, including MeridianLink Mortgage and MeridianLink Consumer.
First Northern Credit Union selectsAppli to modernize member lending experience.
Small business solutions
Expensifyannounces upgrades to its Expensify Travel offering including central billing, event management, and employee itineraries.
Jack Henry is launching Tap2Local in partnership with Moov to enable banks and credit unions to offer small business clients tap-to-pay card acceptance.
Tap2Local is exclusive to financial institutions, offers automated account reconciliation, and doesn’t require any extra hardware.
Tap2Local integrates into the Banno Digital Platform and will roll out to over 1,000 banks and credit unions after closed beta testing.
Small banks are under increasing pressure to match the tech-forward tools offered by larger competitors. Financial services platform Jack Henry is aiming to help them rise to the challenge with its latest solution, which is designed to enable banks and credit unions to provide merchant acquiring services to their small business clients.
The Missouri-based company developed the new tool, Tap2Local, in partnership with payment infrastructure company Moov. With Tap2Local, businesses will be able to accept debit and credit card payments using tap-to-pay, which eliminates the need for hardware. The tap-to-pay functionality is available on both Android and iOS through all major card networks. Tap2Local also offers continuous, automated account reconciliation to the business’ accounting platform of choice.
“Tap2Local is the first new key component of our overall SMB strategy to help banks and credit unions win with small businesses and capture significant new market opportunities,” said Jack Henry President and CEO Greg Adelson. “This innovative solution integrates with banking services, enabling financial institutions to simplify the payments experience for small businesses, capture more deposits, and win back business from payments-only fintechs.”
Moov’s Tap2Local is offered exclusively through banks and credit unions. The technology, which is in closed beta testing with several financial institutions, will be rolled out to more than 1,000 banks and credit unions using Jack Henry’s Banno Digital Platform over the next several months.
For many small banks, competing with tech capabilities that legacy players offer is more than just a challenge; it has increasingly become a survival issue. Merchant acquiring, in particular, has become a lucrative area dominated by fintechs and large institutions. Tap2Local will help level the playing field.
“Tap2Local helps all small businesses and the millions of people who participate in the gig economy accept card payments face-to-face and on-the-go,” Jack Henry Chief Technology Officer Ben Metz said. “We’ve made it easy for them to enroll through their bank or credit union and start accepting payments in their banking app within minutes. Additionally, our automated accounting feature can save them time, giving them back valuable hours to focus on their passion.”
Moov was founded in 2017 by Wade Arnold, who originally launched Banno in 2008 before selling it to Jack Henry in 2014 for an undisclosed amount. Moov’s cloud-based payment processing technology helps businesses accept, store, send, and spend money through a single integration. The company has built its platform with developers in mind, offering open-source libraries and a growing community.
Over the weekend we learned that fintech investment in the UK reached $7.2 billion in the first half of 2025. That figure is down slightly from last year’s total of $7.6 billion, according to KPMG’s Pulse of Fintech report. Meanwhile, here in the US, President Trump has signed an executive order enabling investors to buy alternative assets, including cryptocurrencies, for their 401(k) retirement savings plans.
Be sure to check back for more fintech news headlines all week long here at Finovate’s Fintech Rundown!
Digital banking
New Zealand-based Co-operative Bank partners with 10x Banking for core replacement.
The dust is still settling in the wake of Circle’s “buzzy IPO” in the words of MarketWatch. We’ll see if the fintech headlines can keep up this week!
Digital banking
KAF Digital Bank goes live with Temenos SaaS to bring Islamic digital banking services to customers in Malaysia.
ABN AMRO’s payment app Tikkie has developed a full-service bank, BUUT, that caters to younger customers.
Digital bank N26unveils an updated version of its premium subscription, N26 Go.
Open banking solutions provider Salt Edgepartners with digital banking experience platform Plumery.
Farsightraises $16 million in funding, announces Series A to automate financial workflows and decision-making.
Fraud prevention and identity verification
FrankieOne launches new risk and compliance platform that offers fraud detection and identity verification.
Cybercrime consultancy We Fight Fraud partners with Salv to facilitate intelligence sharing between financial institutions in Europe.
Regtech iDenfyteams up with international hosting provider SpaceCore to bring optimized customer verification to global hosting.
The Bank of International Settlements (BIS) and the Bank of England (BoE) collaborate on testing to see if AI can spot fraudulent activity in retail payments data.
AML and CFT solutions provider AMLYZEonboards Advanzia Bank as part of its European expansion.
Veleraadds real-time account validation functionality to digital channels.
Legislation in California moves forward to give the state authority to seize unclaimed cryptocurrency assets held on exchanges after three years of inactivity.
This week marks Eid al-Fitr, the festival celebrating the end of Ramadan and the breaking of a month-long fast. Similarly, the close of this quarter feels like fintech is breaking its own fast, with Klarna filing its IPO prospectus, Rocket Companies announcing major acquisitions of Mr. Cooper and Redfin, and regulatory frameworks beginning to ease in the U.S. As we enter into the second quarter, here’s a look at this week’s fintech news as we leave the time of fasting behind. We’ll continue adding news to this post throughout the week, so stay tuned!
Finastra‘s cloud-based loan document preparation system LaserProunveils enhanced features and sees further adoption by community-based financial institutions.
Business financial management
Tesoriolaunches AI agent that autonomously manages portal-based invoicing.
Enterprise spend management platform Mendelcloses $35 million Series B round led by Base10 Partners with participation from PayPal Ventures.
New leadership for digital banking solutions provider nCino and the fallout from the recent ouster of CFPB director Rohit Chopra are among the major fintech headlines as the first full week of February begins.
Be sure to check back here at the Fintech Rundown all week long for the latest updates and announcement in fintech!
Digital banking
nCinointroduces new President and Chief Executive Officer Sean Desmond.
Uphold, an infrastructure provider for on-chain payments, banking, and investments resumes staking services for its UK customers who hold cryptocurrencies.
Property data innovator Chimney announced a new collaboration with digital banking solutions provider Jack Henry.
The collaboration will make Chimney’s product suite available on Jack Henry’s digital banking platform.
Chimney won Best of Show at FinovateFall 2023 in New York. Previously known as Signal Intent, the company also won Best of Show at our online FinovateSpring conference in 2021.
A collaboration between property data innovator Chimney and Jack Henry will help financial institutions empower their homeowners with actionable advice about their home value, home equity, borrowing power, and more. That’s because Chimney has made its product suite, including its latest offering Chimney Home, available via Jack Henry’s digital banking platform.
Chimney’s embedded financial tools enable banks and other financial institutions to engage more account holders digitally, generate more deposits, and fund more loans by leveraging intelligent recommendations to guide customers to the products that are most appropriate for them. Chimney Home, the company’s latest product, gives homeowners actionable information about the value of their home, potential borrowing power, and the availability of pre-qualified offers — all embedded within the bank’s digital channels.
“For many years, financial institutions have lacked the resources needed to personalize product recommendations for homeowners,” Chimney Co-Founder and CEO Matthew Covi said. “At the same time, getting approved for a home equity loan is a big feat, sometimes taking months and causing frustrations for many consumers. That’s why we created Chimney Home.”
Among the financial institutions currently using Chimney’s tools via Jack Henry’s digital banking platform is Financial Plus Credit Union. The technology will help the institution better serve members who are homeowners with the data they need to maximize their home’s value and equity. Chimney’s offering also replaces the credit union’s previous, more cumbersome cross-departmental strategy in favor of an omni-channel approach that makes access easier for homeowners and the process more efficient for the credit union’s mortgage services team.
“By combining financial health data and blending it with a homeowner’s property data, we’re empowering financial institutions to make more personalized loan recommendations in the fiercely competitive home equity space and allow account holders to take action on those recommendations right within their digital banking app,” Covi said.
Jack Henry first demoed its technology on the Finovate stage at FinovateFall 2010. Today, the Monett, Missouri-based company provides banks and credit unions with an ecosystem of modern technology solutions developed internally as well as the ability to integrate with leading fintechs. Founded in 1976, Jack Henry is a publicly traded company on the NASDAQ under the ticker JKHY. The company has a market capitalization of $13 billion.
Jack Henry is teaming up with payments platform Moov to offer enhanced payment services to SMEs.
The services will include the ability to accept payments with the tap of a phone, automate reconciliations to accounting software systems, and more.
The companies will begin beta testing the new payment services by mid-2025.
A newly announced collaboration between Jack Henry and digital payments processor Moov will empower regional and community financial institutions to offer enhanced payment services to their SME customers. These services will give SMEs a range of payment capabilities, from accepting payments with the tap of a phone to receiving same-day funds for payments accepted, to automating reconciliations to accounting software systems.
“This innovation is made possible by our technology modernization strategy to offer community and regional financial institutions cloud-native, API-first services that allow them to differentiate strategically, compete successfully, and meet the evolving needs of their customers,” Jack Henry President and CEO Greg Adelson said. “We are pleased to collaborate with Moov on this unique solution that will provide modern, innovative business payment capabilities to our clients that are seamlessly integrated with deposit and core banking services.”
The Jack Henry/Moov collaboration comes at a time when an increasing number of regional and community banks, as well as credit unions, are seeking ways to better serve their small business customers. A 2024 Jack Henry survey revealed that 78% of its clients expect to grow their small business capabilities over the next two years. Unsurprisingly, almost seven out of 10 respondents highlighted payments as the SME service they are most eager to introduce to their customers.
Smaller financial institutions do have their work cut out for them. According to a 2023 Datos Insights survey, 56% of small businesses do their banking with one of the four largest banks. Only 18% bank at a smaller financial institution. As such, solutions like those from the Jack Henry/Moov collaboration could go a long way toward helping regional and community banks, and credit unions better compete with their larger rivals.
“This solution will provide many benefits to SMBs, including one-click enrollment, automated itemized transaction processing and reconciliation, instant balance transfers from linked accounts to cover same-day transaction needs, and an integrated payment relationship with the financial institution,” Moov CEO and Co-founder Wade Arnold said.
Beta testing of the new payment services is expected to begin by mid-2025.
Cedar Falls, Iowa-based Moov offers a money movement platform that provides a straightforward and scalable way to integrate payments into products. As a payment processor, issuer, registered PayFac, program manager, and technology provider, Moov serves as a one-stop payment solution for businesses with complex money movement needs. Named to The Tech Tribune’s 2024 Best Tech Startups in Iowa roster, Moov was founded in 2018.
Founded in 1976 and headquartered in Monett, Missouri, Jack Henry has been a Finovate alum since its debut at FinovateFall in 2010. Today, the company is a major technology solution provider for banks and credit unions, offering its own internally developed capabilities as well as facilitating integrations with leading fintech innovators.
Jack Henry is a publicly-traded company on the NASDAQ under the ticker JKHY. The firm has a market capitalization of $12 billion.
