Registry — Vantage Bank Texas (US) added to the registry
Enforcement — Termination of Enforcement Action issued against Deutsche Bank AG, DB USA Corporation, and Deutsche Bank AG New York Branch · Federal Reserve · Aug 25, 2026
Partnership — Revolut Japan Partners with Minna no Ginko via BaaS Banking Agency Agreement · Aug 25, 2026
Product — Absa Develops Embedded Payment Tool for Township Small Businesses · Aug 22, 2026
M&A — I-Remit Approves P20 Million Capital Infusion Into Surepay Technologies · Aug 22, 2026
M2P Fintech (formerly YAP) secured $10 million in Series B funding co-led by Flourish Ventures and Omidyar Network India. The company provides payments infrastructure APIs used by over 300 businesses including Ola, Cred, and Razorpay. M2P partners with 20+ banks to enable embedded finance across multiple countries.
Entities: M2P Fintech · Flourish Ventures · Omidyar Network India · BEENEXT · 8i Ventures · DMI Group · Better Capital
Cheese, a Pasadena-based fintech, launched a digital banking platform on March 10, 2021, targeting Asian-American and immigrant communities. The platform offers zero-fee FDIC-insured accounts via Coastal Community Bank, debit Mastercard cards, cashback rewards up to 10%, and early direct deposit. Cheese integrates embedded fintech features with a social impact mission, pledging $100,000 in donations to Asian nonprofits.
Entities: Cheese · Coastal Community Bank · Mastercard
SoFi announced a $22.3 million acquisition of Golden Pacific Bancorp, a small community bank in Sacramento, to obtain a national bank charter. The deal enables SoFi to reduce its reliance on sponsor bank partnerships and directly offer banking products. This represents a significant strategic shift for the fintech toward becoming a chartered bank.
Priority Technology Holdings (NASDAQ: PRTH) announced a definitive agreement to acquire Finxera Holdings, a Banking-as-a-Service platform provider. The combined entity targets pro forma 2021 revenue of ~$540 million and Adjusted EBITDA of ~$130 million. The deal merges Priority's payments technology with Finxera's BaaS capabilities for rapid banking integration, virtual banking, and e-wallets.
Intuit's QuickBooks announced an agreement with Modulr on March 3, 2021, to power a new QuickBooks Business Account for small businesses. Modulr's embedded payments infrastructure enables SMEs to manage digital payment accounts directly within their accounting software, exemplifying the embedded finance trend in business tools.
BaaS provider Unit announced a partnership with Plaid on March 2, 2021, enabling technology platforms to link external bank accounts and move funds with minimal code. The integration supports compliance and fraud prevention while allowing platforms to embed accounts, cards, and payments in just 1-2 lines of code.
Western Union launched its White Label Digital Partner technology, enabling banks and fintechs to offer branded international money transfers through their own interfaces. The solution connects to over 200 countries and 130 currencies. It won the 2021 FinTech Breakthrough Award for Consumer Payments Innovation.
WebBank, a US sponsor bank, partnered with UK digital lender Capital on Tap to launch an SMB credit card product. WebBank serves as the issuer and lender while Capital on Tap provides the technology platform for delivery. The partnership exemplifies the sponsor bank model enabling fintechs to offer lending products without state-by-state licensing.
Wells Fargo received a Celent Model Bank Award in 2021 for its embedded finance SDK that enables business clients to integrate instant credit card applications into e-commerce checkouts. The low-code SDK includes security, tokenization, and eliminates the need for customer redirects during the application process.
Revolut filed a draft bank charter application with the FDIC and the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation in March 2021. The UK-based challenger bank simultaneously launched US business accounts. The move signals Revolut's intent to operate with its own state banking license rather than relying on partner banks in the US market.
Entities: Revolut · FDIC · California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation
Square Financial Services officially launched as an FDIC-insured industrial loan company (ILC) bank in Utah in March 2021. The launch followed years of regulatory review and made Square one of the few major fintechs to secure its own banking charter. This milestone enables Square to offer deposit accounts and loans directly through its ecosystem.
TymeBank, a Johannesburg-based digital bank, raised $109 million from UK and Philippines investors to support growth and commercial expansion across South Africa. The funding positions TymeBank as one of the best-capitalized digital banks on the African continent. The round reflects growing global investor appetite for digital banking platforms in emerging markets.
UAE-based BaaS provider NymCard launched its fully public Open API platform for payment card processing and issuing. The launch enables fintechs and businesses across the MENA region to integrate card programs via self-service APIs. This marks a significant step toward opening up card-issuing infrastructure in a region with growing fintech demand.
Corporate credit card fintech Brex applied for an Industrial Loan Company (ILC) charter with the FDIC and Utah Department of Financial Institutions. The application followed renewed interest in ILC charters after Square and Nelnet received approvals in March 2020. Obtaining a charter would allow Brex to take deposits and reduce reliance on bank partners.
Entities: Brex · FDIC · Utah Department of Financial Institutions
The OCC granted conditional approval to Protego Trust Company to convert to a federally-chartered trust bank. Protego, a Seattle-based crypto custody and trading provider, became the second crypto firm to receive a federal bank charter after Anchorage Digital Bank. The approval requires Protego to meet operational, capital, and compliance conditions within 18 months.
Entities: Protego Trust Company · Office of the Comptroller of the Currency
Berlin-based embedded finance startup Banxware disclosed €4M in seed funding to scale its white-label SME lending solution. The platform enables marketplaces and payment providers to offer embedded loans to merchants via APIs. The round supports Banxware's expansion as demand for embedded lending grows across European platforms.
Tel Aviv-based PayKey launched an expanded embedded banking solution allowing users to access accounts, payments, investments, and loan applications directly from their mobile keyboard within messaging and social apps. The platform integrates with over 20 banks worldwide including ING, Unicredit, and Standard Chartered Bank Korea. This deepens the embedded finance model by bringing full banking services into everyday communication apps.
Entities: PayKey · ING · Unicredit · Standard Chartered Bank Korea
Mastercard expanded its strategic partnership with CleverCards through the Fintech Express program to scale digital card issuance across Europe. The collaboration enables CleverCards to leverage Mastercard's network and infrastructure for embedded digital payment card solutions. This partnership highlights the growing role of card-network-facilitated embedded finance for fintechs.
Visa announced a pilot program enabling fintechs to offer Bitcoin and cryptocurrency trading and custody through Visa's crypto APIs. First Boulevard, a Black-owned digital bank, was named the first partner. The initiative embeds crypto capabilities directly into fintech banking experiences via Visa's infrastructure.
Stitch, an African banking API company building a fintech graph to connect businesses to financial services, raised $4M in seed funding co-led by Raba Capital and firstminute capital. The company aims to be a foundational layer for embedded finance across the African continent.
Entities: Stitch · Raba Capital · firstminute capital
Narmi, a US fintech providing digital banking infrastructure for community banks and credit unions, raised $20.4M in a Series A led by New Enterprise Associates (NEA). The platform enables banks to offer modern online experiences and digital account opening, positioning it in the bank-enablement technology space.
The FDIC appointed its first-ever Chief Innovation Officer in February 2021 to encourage bank-fintech collaboration. The move came amid evolving OCC true lender rules and growing regulatory attention to BaaS and sponsor bank partnerships. The appointment signals federal regulators' intent to facilitate responsible innovation in embedded finance.
UAE-based BaaS provider NymCard raised $7.6 million in funding to expand its card issuing and banking-as-a-service platform across the MENA region. The round supports NymCard's mission to power fintech growth through its infrastructure. The company also launched fully public APIs around the same time to drive fintech adoption.
Berlin-based digital business banking platform Penta raised €30M in a Series B+ round led by ABN AMRO Ventures, with participation from existing investors finleap and HV Capital. The platform provides SME banking services and represents a bank-fintech partnership model with ABN AMRO's strategic investment arm leading the round.
Entities: Penta · ABN AMRO Ventures · ABN AMRO · finleap · HV Capital