Ohio-based KeyBank made its sixth acquisition today. The bank purchased Banking-as-a-Service company XUP, a platform that helps banks take control of the merchant experience. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Founded in 2018, XUP connects merchants, third party financial service providers, and acquirers across channels to help banks offer a more integrated and seamless payments experience. KeyBank will use XUP’s technology to improve its embedded banking strategy and improve the user experience for its commercial users. The bank describes the move as the “next step in providing digital innovation at scale.”

Today’s news is only the latest development in the relationship between KeyBank and XUP. The bank contributed to XUP’s $3 million Seed round closed in February and the two were strategic partners. According to KeyBank, XUP helped accelerate the volume growth of its merchant payments capabilities. The bank now counts 150 million card transactions each year, accounting for $13.6 billion in annual card volume.

“We’ve long embraced the software innovation that’s sweeping through the financial services industry, and the acquisition of XUP allows us to continue to be a leader in this space,” said KeyBank’s Head of Enterprise Payments & Analytics Ken Gavrity. “XUP’s highly experienced team has accelerated us on the journey to build connectivity across our systems, our partners, and our customers, to make it easy to do business with Key.”

XUP will continue to operate as its own entity and support its customer base. “Our end-to-end software solutions, combined with Key’s scale and deep financial services expertise, will perfectly blend to provide clients a best-in-class payment experience,” said XUP President Chris May.

KeyBank was founded in 1825, has $187 billion in assets under management, is headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, and has 1,000 branches across the U.S. The bank’s other acquisitions include AQN Strategies, Finovate alum HelloWallet, First Niagara Financial Group, EverTrust Financial Group, and Leasetec. Among the company’s strategic partners are AvidXchange, BillTrust, and Bill.com.

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MoneyLion made a move today that will help it catch the eye of prospective customers and retain its existing ones. The digital bank acquired MALKA, a creator network and content platform, to help it better engage with consumers and connect with communities.

MALKA was founded in 2012 and works with creators to develop content across digital mediums including advertising campaigns, original branded content, e-gaming livestreams, podcast series, feature length documentaries, sports representation, and marketing. One of MALKA’s differentiating factors is that it maintains a talent base of 170 employees in-house in order to maintain relationships instead of working with different freelancers on different projects.

MALKA will help MoneyLion, which already offers MoneyLife content, in its mission to become a daily destination by bringing evergreen content to educate, inform, and support customers’ financial decisions. Ultimately, integrating MALKA’s content into MoneyLion will support the digital bank’s marketing and brand-building efforts.

“Through this acquisition, which we anticipate will be accretive and cash flow positive in 2022,” said MoneyLion Co-Founder and CEO Dee Choubey, “we will now be able to fully leverage MALKA’s capabilities so that the MoneyLion brand can truly live wherever our customers are investing their attention.” CMO Bill Davaris added, “This fundamental shift will allow us to own and not rent the relationships we are cultivating with new and existing MoneyLion customers.”

At face value, a tie-up between a digital bank and a content creation company seems a bit odd. The acquisition, however, can be seen as MoneyLion simply buying its own creative marketing and content department. No matter how you look at it, the acquisition is a hat tip to the new creator economy and speaks to how content-driven today’s consumers are.

MALKA will operate independently from MoneyLion and the company’s Founder and CEO Louis Krubich and Co-Founder and President Jeff Frommer will continue to lead daily operations. “This partnership will allow us to exponentially grow our creator network and engage with millions of more fans,” said Krubich.

MoneyLion launched in 2013 and offers a full-service platform that delivers mobile banking, lending, and investment solutions. Earlier this year the company teamed up with Zero Hash to launch the ability for users to buy, sell, and hold cryptocurrencies. The company went public on the New York Stock Exchange in September via a SPAC merger with Fusion Acquisition Corporation.

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BM Technologies (formerly known as Bank Mobile) has agreed to merge with Seattle-based community lender First Sound Bank for $23 million. The combined entity will be called BMTX Bank and will serve customers across the country digitally while maintaining a community banking division that will continue serving customers in the greater Seattle market.

“This is a thrilling milestone for BM Technologies and is a major step forward in executing our vision to create a disruptive FinTech bank that combines the best of financial technology with a strong and compliant FDIC-insured institution,” BM Technologies, Chair, Founder, and CEO Luvleen Sidhu said.

BMTX will pay up to $7.22 in cash for each share of First Sound Bank common stock, which amounts to approximately $23 million. Subject to regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions, the strategic merger is slated to close in the second half of 2022. The deal is expected to add significantly to the combined company’s revenue, EBITDA, and earnings trajectory over the next one to three years. Sidhu said that the strategic merger will enable BMTX Bank to offer a variety of new services including direct to consumer and small business operations, marketplace lending, robo-advisory, and blockchain-based payment systems.

“As one of the largest digital banking platforms in the country with approximately 2 million accounts, this merger allows BMTX to lead a new wave of financial innovation by enhancing its focus on technology, inclusion, easy-to-use products, and customer education with the mission of creating ‘customers for life,'” Sidhu explained.

Sidhu will serve as Chair and CEO of BMTX Bank, and will be directly responsible for digital banking initiatives. First Sound Bank President and CEO Marty Steele will serve as COO of BMTX Bank and will lead the company’s community banking division.

“As a local bank, we remain committed to our community and are excited about the opportunity to leverage BMTX’s innovative digital banking technology, Banking-as-a-Service business model, low-cost deposit funding, and better access to the capital markets in order to scale our SBA, commercial and private banking, mortgage, and other business lines,” Steele said.

Founded in 2004 with the largest initial capital base of any de novo bank in the Pacific Northwest at the time, First Sound Bank provides commercial banking services for SMEs, not-for-profit organizations, entrepreneurs, and professional service firms in the Puget Sound region. Headquartered in Seattle, Washington, First Sound Bank has approximately $150 million in assets.

Formerly known as Bank Mobile, BM Technologies was launched in 2015 with a goal of providing a simple, affordable, and financially empowering, digital-first banking experience. The company went public via SPAC at the beginning of the year, listing on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker BMTX. BM Technologies currently has a market capitalization of $145 million.

The company’s strategic merger announcement comes on the heels of BM Technologies’ Q3 results. Among the quarter’s highlights, BM Technologies reported that serviced deposits topped $2 billion for the first time. The company also earned recognition in the 2021 Finovate Awards in September, winning Best Fintech Partnership courtesy of its collaboration with T-Mobile.

To learn more about BM Technologies, check out our Fireside Chat with Luvleen Sidhu from FinovateFall 2021 in New York.

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Accounts receivable automation firm Billtrust made its first acquisition since going public via a SPAC merger a year ago. The New Jersey-based company purchased collections management company iController for $58 million.

Belgium-based iController was founded in 2017 and offers a SaaS product that provides credit and collections professionals visibility into cash flow management. Billtrust will acquire the iController team, along with the company’s 566 Europe-based clients. iController employees will continue working in the company’s offices in Belgium The Netherlands.

“Acquiring a great company like iController is consistent with our growth plan of strategic global expansion in targeted ways to broaden our customer footprint and provide extended value to our current customers,” added Billtrust Founder and CEO Flint Lane.

Billtrust was founded in 2001 and today’s deal marks the company’s eighth acquisition.

Billtrust offers a wide variety of products, including credit, ecommerce, invoicing, payments, managed services, training, and more. The company also offers a collections tool, which will be enhanced with iController’s collections product. Billtrust President Steve Pinado described iController as “a strong strategic fit,” saying that the company will help Billtrust not only expand its physical presence in the European market but also enhance its collections capabilities.

In 2013, Billtrust launched its Business Payments Network, a service that connects suppliers to accounts payable automation platforms buyers are using to pay, as well as to a network of third-party banks and ERPs. Earlier this year, the company updated the platform to now support bi-directional exchange of transactional data and documents. The new release now enables invoice presentment to accounts payable portals.

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U.K. bank NatWest acquired children’s allowance-tracking app RoosterMoney this week. Financial terms of the deal are undisclosed.

NatWest plans to integrate RoosterMoney’s Star Chart, Virtual Money Tracker, and Chore Manager into its own offerings in order to provide tools for families and children to learn to manage their allowance money and other funds.

“We want NatWest to be the easiest and most useful bank for families and young people,” said Head of Youth, Retail Banking at NatWest Group Simon Watson. “We know that the world of money is changing, and we want to help parents, carers, and young people feel confident and capable – Rooster helps us do just that.”

Rooster was founded in 2016 and helps its 130,000 U.K. users to learn the basics about money– earning, spending, saving, and giving. In addition to a digital chore chart, RoosterMoney offers a debit card that pairs with the app to offer parental control such as turning the card on and off, blocking certain merchants, and real-time spending notifications.

“At RoosterMoney we believe that if you build financial capability early on, you’re better prepared to take on the challenges that life throws at you,” said RoosterMoney CEO Will Carmichael. “That’s totally aligned with the bank’s purpose and we’re very excited about working together to help more parents and kids to build their financial confidence.”

NatWet said that it will allow RoosterMoney’s existing customers to continue to use the app as usual.

This isn’t NatWest’s first entrance into the youth banking products market. The bank has offered its MoneySense financial education program, that targets kids ages five to 18, for 25 years. Additionally, NatWest recently launched HouseMate, a bill-splitting app for renters, and Island Saver, a game to help young customers learn about money management.

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Southeast Asia’s super app Grab is moving even further into the payment solutions space this week. The company has more than doubled its stake in e-wallet app OVO.

Grab’s stake in Bumi Cakrawala Perkasa, OVO’s parent company, has gone from 39% to 90%. Currently, the remaining 10% of OVO is split equally between two firms, IDE Teknologi Indonesia and Cakra Finansindo Investama, which both claim a 5% stake.

“We are pleased to complete the first part of a wider exercise to restructure our ownership. We welcome a greater commitment from Grab,” said an OVO spokesperson. “We’re working in close consultation with the regulators to complete the ownership restructuring process, and are confident this will allow us to better serve the financial services needs of Indonesians.”

OVO was launched as a corporate rewards system for Lippo Group and in 2017 expanded to e-payments. According to data released last year from Bank Indonesia, OVO processed 37% of all digital wallet transactions in Indonesia, marking the largest share in the nation.

According to Nikkei Asia, Grab will likely bring more Indonesia-based investors to acquire stakes in OVO. That is because the region’s central bank, Bank Indonesia, stipulates that at least 15% of e-payment operators needs to be locally owned. Nikkei Asia cited local media conglomerate Elang Mahkota Teknologi as a potential candidate for the purchase.

To date, Grab has acquired three companies, including B2B2C wealthtech provider Bento, mobile payments solutions provider iKaaz, and ecommerce solutions company Kudo.

After launching as a ride-hailing company, Grab has expanded to offer a wide variety of products and services (hence its classification as a super app). The Southeast Asia-based company now serves consumers, merchants, and drivers with deliveries, financial services, a hotel-booking tool, payment processing and rewards, business financing, and more.

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