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
The Hong Kong Monetary Authority published its finalized guidelines for authorizing virtual banks following a public consultation. Virtual banks must meet the same criteria as conventional banks, including HK$300 million minimum paid-up capital. The HKMA rejected industry requests for phased regulatory requirements or exemptions, setting a high bar for digital-only bank entrants.
Tradeshift raised $250M in Series E funding led by Goldman Sachs and PSP Investments, reaching a $1.1B valuation. The API-driven supply chain payments marketplace had raised over $400M total. Funds support global expansion, platform growth, and investments in blockchain and AI capabilities.
MassChallenge announced a zero-equity fintech accelerator program sponsored by Citizens Bank, Fidelity Investments, MassMutual, and other financial institutions. The six-month program pairs later-stage fintech startups with industry leaders for co-development and product validation. It offers up to $250,000 in cash prizes and aims to foster fintech-bank partnerships.
Entities: MassChallenge · Citizens Bank · Fidelity Investments · MassMutual · Putnam Investments · John Hancock · Eastern Bank · FinTech Sandbox
Citizens Bank's small business digital lending platform, built in collaboration with Fundation Group LLC, was recognized with an industry award for partnership innovation. Fundation provides digitally-enabled, integrated small business lending solutions embedded within bank platforms. The partnership exemplifies early bank-fintech collaboration in embedded lending.
PayPal announced an all-cash acquisition of Stockholm-based payments startup iZettle for $2.2 billion to bolster its point-of-sale capabilities. The deal positioned PayPal to compete more directly with Square and Stripe in offline small-business payments. iZettle operated in 12 markets across Europe and Mexico, processing $6 billion in payment volume.
Deutsche Bank acquired Quantiguous Solutions, an API platform provider, to accelerate its open banking development. The acquisition supported the bank's transaction banking programs by enabling API-based integrations for partners and fintechs.
Argentina's Banco Masventas partnered with fintech Bitex to enable customers to send international transfers using Bitcoin as an alternative to SWIFT. This marked the first domestic bank in Argentina to adopt Bitcoin for cross-border payments, reducing costs and enhancing digital banking services.
Goldman Sachs announced plans to expand its digital retail bank Marcus to the UK and mainland Europe. The move demonstrated how established financial institutions were adopting fintech-style digital banking approaches. Marcus had already gained traction in the U.S. with competitive savings rates and a streamlined digital experience.
MindBridge AI secured $8.4M in Series A funding led by Real Ventures with participation from National Bank of Canada. The AI Auditor platform serves banking analytics and compliance infrastructure with 125 customers across six countries. The investment supports growth of AI-powered financial auditing tools.
Entities: MindBridge AI · Real Ventures · National Bank of Canada
San Francisco-based fintech Seed partnered with FDIC-insured The Bancorp to offer free mobile-only banking for small businesses. The service included checking accounts, debit cards, bill pay, mobile deposits, ACH, and wire transfers via a white-label banking model.
The U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency decided to grant special purpose national bank charters to fintech companies, enabling them to operate nationwide. The decision faced immediate legal challenges from state banking regulators who argued the OCC exceeded its statutory authority. This represented a landmark moment for the BaaS and embedded finance landscape in the United States.
Entities: Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC)
Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) and Accenture signed an agreement to strengthen FinTech Hive at DIFC's global position. The partnership aims to expand the fintech accelerator's reach and capabilities. This reinforces DIFC's role as a hub for banking and fintech innovation in the MENA region.
Entities: Dubai International Financial Centre · Accenture · FinTech Hive
Saxo Bank announced a partnership with Microsoft to migrate its trading and investment platform to the Microsoft Cloud. Saxo Bank operates a white-label banking-as-a-service model supporting over 120 partnerships globally. The cloud migration aims to enhance scalability and performance for Saxo's BaaS partners, providing access to over 35,000 financial instruments.
Swedish fintech Tink launched an API platform enabling developers to access financial data from banks for account aggregation and categorization. The platform allows third parties to build applications on top of bank data, facilitating early embedded finance use cases across Europe.
OCBC Bank became the first bank in Singapore to enable instant digital card issuance and provisioning to Apple Pay via its mobile app. The service covers both Visa credit and debit cards, allowing customers to use newly issued cards immediately through Apple Pay. OCBC described the experience as 'embedded and frictionless' digital banking.
Fiserv introduced a white-label developer portal enabling banks to engage third-party providers under open banking regulations. The portal includes tools like FinKit for authentication and consent management. This positions Fiserv as an infrastructure provider helping banks comply with PSD2 and open banking mandates while enabling fintech partnerships.
Moorwand, an FCA-regulated Electronic Money Institution, obtained its license in April 2018 and began offering BIN sponsorship, digital banking (BaaS), and compliance services to fintechs. The launch positioned Moorwand as a sponsor-like entity enabling fintechs to access payment infrastructure without obtaining their own banking licenses.
Solarisbank (now Solaris) received full banking license approval from BaFin and the European Central Bank, making it one of the first digital Banking-as-a-Service platforms to obtain such a charter in Germany. Founded in March 2016, the company secured the license just nine months after filing its application. The approval enabled Solarisbank to rapidly connect partners to its payment, lending, and digital banking APIs.
Entities: Solarisbank · BaFin · European Central Bank
Equistone Partners acquired a majority stake in Small World, a cross-border payment provider. The deal supports Small World's growth in international money transfers, an area increasingly integrated into embedded finance offerings by banks and fintechs.
Cross River Bank was highlighted by Wharton Finance as a key banking-as-a-platform infrastructure provider for fintechs. The state-chartered bank offers API-driven services enabling fintech partners to leverage scalable banking infrastructure. This model allows fintechs to focus on innovation without building proprietary banking systems.
UK-based BaaS and payments provider Contis entered a landmark partnership with fintech Wirex to enable everyday spending of converted cryptocurrencies. Virtual Visa cards launched on March 20, 2018, with physical cards expected by mid-May. Contis provides the banking infrastructure and Visa sponsorship, while Wirex handles the crypto-to-fiat conversion and customer-facing product.
Reports emerged that Amazon was planning to launch a co-branded credit card for small businesses in partnership with JPMorgan Chase. This move signaled Amazon's deepening push into embedded financial services. The initiative represented a major tech platform leveraging a bank partnership to offer financial products directly within its ecosystem.
Turkey's Ziraat Bank launched Bankkart Mobil, a proprietary mobile wallet, on March 12, 2018. The product was developed in collaboration with fintech firms VeriPark and MagiClick Digital. The launch represents a bank-fintech partnership to deliver embedded digital payments capabilities to Ziraat's customer base.
Entities: Ziraat Bank · VeriPark · MagiClick Digital
Mexico published its landmark Fintech Law on March 9, 2018, establishing a regulatory framework for crowdfunding platforms and electronic wallets. The law creates a legal foundation for embedded finance services operating through digital platforms in Mexico. It represents one of the first comprehensive fintech regulatory frameworks in Latin America.