The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency granted SoFi preliminary conditional approval for a national bank charter on October 28, 2020. SoFi had applied in July 2020 and still required additional approvals from the Federal Reserve and FDIC. The charter would allow SoFi to operate under unified federal regulations rather than a patchwork of state requirements, positioning it to compete more directly with traditional banks.
Entities: SoFi · Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC)
Visa agreed to acquire YellowPepper, a Latin American digital financial solutions provider serving 50 clients and 5 million users. The deal builds on Visa's 2018 investment in YellowPepper. It strengthens Visa's embedded finance and digital payments capabilities across the LATAM region.
Temenos launched Transact Data Hub, a real-time SaaS data platform for core banking with API access. The embedded platform enables banks and fintechs to access and leverage banking data in real time. This product strengthens Temenos' position as infrastructure for BaaS and embedded finance implementations.
First Horizon Bank migrated its digital banking to the NCR D3 platform hosted on AWS, modernizing consumer and business digital experiences. The cloud-hosted platform upgrade represents a bank-fintech infrastructure partnership to enhance digital capabilities. This move positions First Horizon for improved digital customer engagement.
A Philadelphia-based SPAC merged with Billtrust, a New Jersey-based B2B payments software company, with SPAC investors owning 17% of the combined entity. The deal provides Billtrust with growth capital to expand its accounts receivable automation and payments platform. It reflects the SPAC boom enabling fintech companies to access public markets.
Stripe acquired Nigerian payment gateway Paystack for over $200 million to expand its payments infrastructure across Africa. The deal represents one of the largest fintech acquisitions on the continent. It signals Stripe's strategy to embed its payment services in fast-growing African markets.
Utimaco and BPC expanded their partnership to deliver secure cloud-based As-a-Service payment solutions using BPC's SmartVista platform and Utimaco's hardware security modules (HSMs). The collaboration supports PSD2 and open banking requirements. This enables banks and fintechs to deploy white-label payment infrastructure more rapidly in the cloud.
Apiture raised $20 million in funding backed by T. Rowe Price Associates and Pinnacle Bank. The investment will accelerate development of its API-first, cloud-native platforms Apiture Xpress and Apiture Open. Apiture serves over 400 U.S. financial institutions with digital banking experience tools.
Entities: Apiture · T. Rowe Price Associates · Pinnacle Bank
Alkami, a digital banking solutions provider, acquired ACH Alert, a payments fraud prevention technology company. The deal integrates real-time ACH approval and check positive pay services into Alkami's platform. This strengthens fraud prevention capabilities for the banks and credit unions Alkami serves.
Comviva rebranded its flagship digital financial services platform from mobiquity Money to mobiquity Pay. The cloud-native, microservices-based platform serves as middleware with open APIs supporting over 1,000 integrations for banking and fintech partners. It processes $130B in annual transactions across 50+ countries, serving 120M consumers including banked and unbanked users.
Step officially launched its no-fee banking app for teens and families on October 2, 2020. The app provides FDIC-insured bank accounts and Visa cards through partner Evolve Bank & Trust. The launch followed a pilot with over 100,000 users, positioning Step as a major entrant in the teen banking segment.
Westpac launched a cloud-native banking-as-a-service platform in October 2020, with Afterpay as its inaugural partner. The platform enables fintechs to offer embedded transaction accounts, savings accounts, and cashflow tools under Westpac's banking license. Afterpay planned to roll out these services to its 3.3 million Australian customers by Q2 2021.
Standard Chartered's nexus Banking-as-a-Service platform partnered with Indonesian e-commerce platform Sociolla to co-create financial products including savings accounts, loans, and credit cards. The products will be offered under Sociolla's brand, targeting Indonesia's large unbanked population. This is nexus's second Indonesian partnership, expanding Standard Chartered's embedded finance footprint in a high-growth e-commerce market.
Entities: Standard Chartered · SC Ventures · Sociolla
Bloom Credit raised $13 million in a Series A round to expand its API that connects businesses with U.S. credit bureaus. The platform enables fintechs and financial institutions to integrate credit data into their products. This investment supports critical embedded finance infrastructure for lending and credit products.
JPMorgan Chase launched QuickAccept, a payment acceptance product enabling easy merchant onboarding similar to Stripe's model. The product allows small businesses to accept card payments quickly through Chase's ecosystem. It represents a major bank's move into embedded, payfac-style payment services.
Alkami Technology, a cloud-based digital banking solutions provider, closed a $140 million funding round led by D1 Capital Partners with participation from Fidelity and others. The investment targets digital banking infrastructure expansion. Alkami is a key provider of cloud-native banking platforms for financial institutions.
Entities: Alkami Technology · D1 Capital Partners · Fidelity
Noyo raised $12.5 million in a Series A round to develop APIs supporting the full insurance lifecycle, from quotes to enrollment. The platform provides embedded insurance infrastructure for fintechs and businesses. This funding reflects growing investment in API-driven embedded finance beyond traditional banking products.
Myanmar's state-owned Myanma Foreign Trade Bank (MFTB) selected Intellect Design Arena to provide a scalable digital core banking platform with a 'one middleware' approach. ACE Data Systems will serve as the implementation partner. The deal aims to modernize MFTB's banking infrastructure with API integration capabilities and streamlined operations.
Entities: Myanma Foreign Trade Bank · Intellect Design Arena · ACE Data Systems
TONIK, the first pure-play licensed digital bank in Southeast Asia, launched its core banking capabilities powered by Finastra's technology to serve the Philippines' 70% unbanked population. The partnership aims to attract over a million customers within five years. This represents a significant embedded finance initiative for financial inclusion in APAC.
Volante Technologies partnered with Goldman Sachs to power its new Transaction Banking Platform, launched September 23, 2020. The cloud-native, API-enabled platform offers payments processing (U.S. wires, ACH, SWIFT), virtual accounts, liquidity management, and FX. Volante itself became a client of the platform, underscoring the depth of the partnership.
Ally Lending announced a partnership with Sezzle to offer retail lending options to consumers. The deal pairs a bank-backed lender with a BNPL-style fintech, extending embedded finance into point-of-sale credit. This represents an early example of traditional banks collaborating with installment payment fintechs.
Cross-border payments fintech dLocal raised $200 million led by General Atlantic, achieving a $1.2 billion valuation and becoming Uruguay's first fintech unicorn. The platform enables global enterprises to process payments in emerging markets. The round highlights growing investor appetite for embedded cross-border payments infrastructure.
Payments platform Veem closed a $31 million funding round led by Truist Ventures, the newly launched corporate venture capital arm of Truist Financial. The round also included MUFG Innovation Partners and AB Ventures. The investment reflects growing bank interest in fintech payments infrastructure.
Truist Financial Corporation, the sixth-largest U.S. bank, unveiled Truist Ventures as its dedicated venture capital division focused on fintech investments. The launch was announced alongside its first investment in payments platform Veem. This signals Truist's strategic commitment to bank-fintech partnerships.