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
Funding — Startup Embedd Raises Pre-Seed Investment Round · Aug 25, 2026
Deal Feed
Partnerships, funding rounds, product launches, and M&A across the ecosystem.
Clerkie launched its AI-powered financial assistant app and announced a $2 million seed round led by Flourish Ventures. The app aims to democratize financial advice for middle-class Americans using embedded finance principles. The funding supports development of automated financial planning tools.
Marqeta raised $260M in Series E funding led by Coatue Management, valuing the modern card issuing platform at nearly $2B. The API-driven issuer processor enables fintechs and enterprises to launch and manage card programs. Funds will support global expansion, including a new London office.
Finastra announced updates to its FusionFabric.cloud open platform enabling banks, fintechs, and SMEs to collaborate via open APIs across retail banking, lending, and payments. The platform includes co-innovation with nbkc bank on a conversational banking app. This positions Finastra as an open infrastructure layer for embedded finance use cases.
OpenFin raised $17M in Series C funding led by Wells Fargo with participation from Barclays, bringing total funding to $40M. The company provides a financial desktop operating system and Cloud Services enabling banks and asset managers to build private app stores. The investment highlights bank interest in platform infrastructure for financial services.
Saxo Bank detailed its evolution toward full-service, API-first white-label outsourcing partnerships for financial services operators. The platform provided multi-asset clearing, settlement, 24/7 support, and financial crime compliance. Open APIs enabled efficient client onboarding and flexibility in responding to regulatory changes.
Open banking platform Tink partnered with NatWest to integrate account aggregation, payment initiation, and personal finance management into NatWest's mobile app. The partnership enables NatWest customers to view accounts and transactions across multiple providers. This is a significant step in embedded finance, leveraging PSD2-enabled open banking for personalized financial insights.
A U.S. District Court in the Southern District of New York ruled that the OCC lacks authority under the National Bank Act to issue special purpose national bank charters to non-depository fintech companies. The ruling denied the OCC's motion to dismiss a lawsuit brought by the New York Department of Financial Services. This decision effectively stalled the OCC's fintech charter program, which had been open for applications since July 2018.
Evolve Bank & Trust partnered with middleware provider SynapseFI (Synapse) to offer banking-as-a-platform services for fintechs via APIs for payments, deposits, lending, and investments. Synapse handles middleware while Evolve provides backend infrastructure including BIN sponsorship and compliance. Fintechs such as Empower, Beam, Oxygen, and Debitize built consumer-facing products on the Evolve-Synapse stack.
Pacific National Bank (PNB) announced plans to launch a digital-only bank using Nymbus' SmartLaunch Banking-as-a-Service platform, targeting deployment within 90 days. The partnership enables PNB to offer a fully digital banking experience powered by Nymbus' turnkey BaaS infrastructure. This represents an early example of a community bank leveraging BaaS technology to compete with neobanks.
ING announced a strategic partnership with fintech lending platform Kabbage, launching a pilot program in May 2019. The collaboration reflects ING's strategy of partnering with fintechs to enhance its digital lending capabilities rather than building solutions in-house.
Visa invested in Banking-as-a-Service provider Bankable and formed a strategic partnership enabling Visa members to deploy digital banking and real-time payment services via Bankable's platform. The deal supports Bankable's expansion into North America, Latin America, and MENA within 12 months.
BMO Financial Group announced a new Technology & Innovation Banking Group led by Andre Salvi. The group provides funding, strategic advice, and partnership facilitation for fintech and technology companies across all lifecycle stages. This builds on BMO's existing fintech collaborations and signals deeper commitment to the bank-fintech ecosystem.
Bankable announced expansions to its Banking-as-a-Service platform in April 2019, providing modular banking solutions including real-time payments capabilities worldwide. The company focuses on enabling partners to embed financial services through its BaaS infrastructure. The announcement underscores growing demand for configurable, API-driven banking modules.
Meed Banking Club launched in the US on April 26, 2019, partnering with Oklahoma-based Vast Bank to deliver embedded mobile banking features. The fintech-bank collaboration offers savings tools, travel rewards, and member-exclusive benefits through a consumer app. This represents an early example of embedding financial services into a club-like digital experience powered by a chartered bank.
Ally Financial announced a partnership with Better.com to create an end-to-end digital mortgage experience. Ally Ventures also made an additional capital investment to increase its ownership stake in Better.com. The deal combines Ally Bank's funding capabilities with Better.com's digital platform to streamline mortgage origination.
Sunrise Banks publicly detailed its successful BaaS-style partnerships with fintechs including TrueConnect and Self Lender. The community bank emphasized how it provides regulated banking infrastructure while fintechs deliver user-facing platforms. This represented an early articulation of the sponsor bank model gaining traction in 2019.
BankMobile, a division of Customers Bank, won the 2019 Most Innovative Bank of the Year award at LendIt Fintech. The recognition highlighted over two years of collaboration with a major white-label fintech partner on innovative financial services for millennials. BankMobile's model of partnering with fintechs to deliver basic banking services exemplifies the embedded finance approach. The award reinforced BankMobile's strategy of leveraging fintech partnerships for consumer-facing innovation.
Envel launched its 'Driverless Banking' platform on April 8, 2019, offering AI-automated money management targeting millennials and Gen Z. The platform integrates with BaaS provider Cambr, backed by StoneCastle's deposit network of over 800 community banks and Q2's CorePro digital processing. It replaces traditional checking accounts with automated categorization of income into savings, bills, contingency, and spending.
Boost Payment Solutions, a B2B payments fintech focused on commercial card optimization, secured $12 million in Series B funding combining equity and venture debt. The round was led by Mosaik Partners and North Atlantic Capital. Funds will support global expansion across sectors including healthcare, telecom, freight, and real estate via a Mastercard alliance.
WebBank, a subsidiary of Steel Partners Holdings, acquired National Partners to expand its private-label premium-finance loan offerings. The acquisition supports WebBank's strategy of providing customized credit products for brand partners including retailers and fintechs. WebBank is a key BaaS bank powering lending programs for numerous fintech companies. This deal strengthens its position as a leading infrastructure bank for embedded lending.
The ICBA ThinkTech Accelerator, hosted by Venture Center in Arkansas, concluded its program pairing community banks with fintech startups through investments and partnerships. Sponsored by the Independent Community Bankers of America, it aimed to bring innovative technology solutions to community banking. The accelerator represented a structured approach to bank-fintech collaboration.
Varo Money received conditional approval from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) for a national bank charter, making it one of the first mobile-only fintechs to reach this milestone. The approval positioned Varo to eventually become a full-service bank without relying on a partner bank for BaaS infrastructure. This was a landmark moment in the fintech-bank charter debate amid ongoing legal challenges to the OCC's authority to grant such charters.
KeyBank closed its acquisition of Laurel Road's digital lending platform, originally agreed in January 2019. The deal enables KeyBank to expand its digital lending capabilities and pursue Open Banking initiatives. Laurel Road specializes in student loan refinancing and personal loans via a fully digital experience.
Upstart announced "Powered by Upstart," a white-label AI lending platform enabling banks to run their own branded lending programs. Launch partners include First National Bank of Omaha, First Federal Bank of Kansas City, and Accion Chicago. The program allows banks to leverage Upstart's AI risk modeling while maintaining their own credit policies, positioning Upstart as a BaaS-style collaborator. Existing partners Customers Bank and its BankMobile division had already launched Upstart-powered credit card products.