Visa and the Banque Centrale du Congo (BCC) signed a memorandum of understanding targeting financial inclusion and payment modernization in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The agreement aims to advance digital payment infrastructure in the country. This partnership between a global payment network and a central bank signals intent to develop foundational payments infrastructure in an underserved market.
HES FinTech expanded its partnership with Acquired.com to integrate Visa A2A recurring payments and cVRPs into its HES LoanBox lending platform. The native API integration unifies multiple payment rails—cards, Direct Debit, Open Banking, and cVRPs—for real-time settlements via the Faster Payments network. This reduces failed payments and improves cash flow across lending lifecycles.
CTBC Bank USA selected Narmi's digital banking platform for account opening and consumer and business banking capabilities. The partnership equips the bank with a modern digital front end to improve customer experience. This reflects continued fintech adoption among mid-tier U.S. banks.
SmartCard Marketing Systems (SMKG) updated its PaaS portfolio, expanding paytech infrastructure and BaaS enablement for banks, neobanks, and fintechs. The update supports scaling digital payments, cards, and compliance capabilities. This broadens SMKG's embedded finance toolkit for financial institution clients.
Ratio, a B2B lendtech company, raised $15.8 million in venture financing to accelerate development of its AI agents. Alongside the equity round, Ratio announced a $100 million extension to its lending capacity supporting its embedded buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) product. The combined funding positions Ratio to scale its embedded finance infrastructure for B2B buyers.
Backbase and Ninth Wave announced a strategic partnership to enable banks to connect business clients' ERP and accounting systems to banking data via open finance APIs. The integration enhances cash flow visibility, reconciliation, payments, and operations for commercial banking clients. Ninth Wave's API layer manages consent, governance, real-time data transfer, and compliance, eliminating manual workarounds.
American Express agreed to acquire Hypercard Network, an AI-powered expense management technology company. The deal deepens Amex's AI capabilities in its commercial payments and card offerings. This acquisition signals continued investment by major card networks in AI-driven embedded finance tools.
Nedbank and Mastercard signed a 10-year commercial agreement to expand their collaboration across Southern Africa. The landmark deal aims to transform digital payments in the region. This long-term partnership signals deepening bank-network alliances to drive financial inclusion and embedded payments across emerging markets.
CPI Card Group and Fiserv formed a major alliance integrating CPI's Card@Once SaaS instant card issuance platform into Fiserv's ecosystem. The partnership serves over 10,000 U.S. financial institutions, modernizing the issuance experience by combining digital and physical card capabilities. CPI becomes a preferred Fiserv partner for instant issuance.
Embedded finance platform Alviere announced a technology partnership with InComm Payments to enable cash loading at over 90,000 retail locations. The deal expands Alviere's cash deposit capabilities for its embedded finance clients. This partnership strengthens the cash-in infrastructure available to fintechs and brands using Alviere's platform.
I.B.E. GmbH and Treezor announced a strategic partnership leveraging Treezor's modular BaaS platform. The deal provides safeguarded customer funds, PCI DSS certification, and seamless API integration. The partnership is designed to serve German SMEs with embedded financial services.
Worldline and YouLend launched an embedded cash advance product in Poland targeting small and medium-sized enterprises. The product integrates YouLend's financing capabilities into Worldline's payment infrastructure. This enables Polish merchants to access convenient financing directly through their existing payment relationship.
UnDosTres and Paymentology announced a partnership to advance embedded credit and cards-as-a-service across Latin America. The collaboration combines Paymentology's card issuing platform with UnDosTres's digital ecosystem to expand financial access. The deal targets millions of underserved consumers and merchants in the region with tailored credit and payment solutions.
Synctera raised $15 million co-led by Fin Capital and Diagram Ventures, bringing total funding to $94 million. The BaaS leader also acquired Cable, a compliance automation firm, to strengthen oversight across its financial ecosystem serving customers like Bolt and Unified Signal.
Entities: Synctera · Cable · Fin Capital · Diagram Ventures · Bolt · Unified Signal
The Central Bank of the UAE (CBUAE) partnered with Swedish regtech firm Norbloc to develop a nationwide e-KYC platform. The initiative is part of the CBUAE's Financial Infrastructure Transformation program. The platform will enable digital onboarding across banks and fintechs operating in the UAE.
Pinwheel announced it was selected as the direct deposit launch partner for Robinhood Banking, powering deposits with its Deposit Switch and PreMatch technology. The partnership aims to reduce the industry's 40% inactivity rate after first funding by improving direct deposit onboarding. Robinhood chose Pinwheel for its advanced switching experience to boost user engagement in its banking product.
Paxos Labs closed a $12 million strategic round led by Blockchain Capital and launched Amplify, its embedded financial utility stack for digital assets. Amplify features three modules: Earn (yield), Borrow (lending), and Mint (branded stablecoin issuance). Early partners Aleo, Hyperbeat, and Toku are already live.
Nevermined integrated Visa Intelligent Commerce and the x402 protocol to enable autonomous AI agent payments. The integration embeds advanced payment logic into AI-driven commerce workflows. This positions Visa's infrastructure as a backbone for emerging agentic commerce use cases.
FinWise Bancorp's FinWise Bank entered a BIN sponsorship agreement with Vera, Inc. to launch an unsecured consumer credit card program targeting prime and near-prime U.S. consumers. The cards, built on Zeta's Tachyon cloud-native processing platform, offer no annual fee and three customizable rewards modes. This expands FinWise's BaaS capabilities in the credit card space.
Entities: FinWise Bancorp · FinWise Bank · Vera, Inc. · Zeta
Barclays US Consumer Bank extended its multi-year core banking agreement with FIS to support retail online deposits growth. The deal leverages FIS Profile, a cloud-ready platform for real-time, multi-currency deposit processing. FIS Profile already powers approximately 30 global digital banks, reinforcing FIS's position in core banking infrastructure.
DWTC Free Zone signed a memorandum of understanding with Wio Bank to provide its licensees with digital banking access, faster onboarding, and dedicated support. The partnership targets businesses licensed within the Dubai World Trade Centre Free Zone. This positions Wio Bank to capture embedded banking distribution through a free zone channel in the UAE.
Synctera, a banking-as-a-service provider, acquired Cable, a compliance fintech specializing in real-time compliance verification and automated control testing. The acquisition adds continuous oversight capabilities to Synctera's BaaS platform, replacing manual audits for sponsor banks monitoring fintech partners. Cable's team will join Synctera, and the product will also remain available standalone.
Entities: Synctera · Cable · Axiom Bank · Quaint Oak Bank · Griffin · Midland States Bank · Grasshopper · Mercury
OwlTing integrated Visa Direct into its OwlPay platform, enabling debit card USDC on-ramps. The integration bolsters crypto-enabled payments infrastructure by connecting traditional card rails to stablecoin transactions. This bridges embedded finance and digital assets via established payment networks.
Wamo, a European financial operating platform for SMEs, closed a €10 million Series A led by TCEE Fund IV (advised by 3TS Capital Partners). The funding will support geographic expansion into Italy and the Nordics, along with AI-powered feature development. Oleka Capital and existing investors also participated.
Entities: Wamo · 3TS Capital Partners · Oleka Capital