ABN AMRO and Techstars launched the 5th edition of their Future of Finance Accelerator in Amsterdam, selecting nine early-stage European fintechs from over 520 applicants. The program focuses on embedded finance, AI, decentralized finance, and financial health. Startups receive three months of in-person mentorship, go-to-market support, and funding connections.
Entities: ABN AMRO · Techstars · 1-CP · Avido AI · Auxilius.ai
Valley Bank launched an enterprise resource planning (ERP) banking solution powered by Koxa, embedding financial services into corporate clients' workflows. The partnership integrates banking capabilities directly into ERP systems. This targets corporate banking clients seeking streamlined financial operations.
Stripe launched Tempo, a blockchain network developed with Paradigm, designed for enterprise-scale stablecoin payments. The network targets tens of thousands of transactions per second with sub-second finality. This represents a significant push by Stripe into blockchain-based embedded finance infrastructure.
Lithuanian fintech Kashimi raised $1.36 million in pre-seed funding to expand its open banking payment infrastructure. The company offers a single API enabling account-to-account payments across European, UK, and US banks. It serves PSPs, lenders, and digital wallets with streamlined bank connectivity.
The OCC appointed Stephen Lybarger as Senior Deputy Comptroller for Chartering on September 9, 2025. He will oversee national bank and stablecoin issuer charter applications. The appointment signals the OCC's continued focus on accommodating fintech and crypto-native firms seeking federal bank charters.
Entities: Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC)
U.S. Bank launched an embedded payroll solution integrated directly into its online banking platform for small business customers. The product allows small businesses to manage payroll within their existing banking experience. This represents a major bank embedding fintech-like payroll capabilities natively.
BaaS provider Synctera announced a partnership with lending platform LoanPro to deliver an integrated solution for banking and credit card products. The collaboration enables fintechs and banks to launch deposit and credit offerings via a unified platform. The partnership includes sponsor bank visibility, compliance, and regulatory support, streamlining the path for embedded finance programs.
North Bay Credit Union, a $150M credit union, has expanded its global fintech sponsorship program to process $1 billion in monthly transactions through partners like Braid. The credit union leveraged compliance expertise from cannabis banking to build its sponsor bank business. This highlights how smaller institutions can compete in the BaaS sponsor bank space.
Spare, a Riyadh-based open banking infrastructure startup, raised $5 million in a pre-Series A round. The company enables fintechs and businesses to build financial services through its open finance platform. The funding will accelerate product development and expansion of its API-driven banking infrastructure in the MENA region.
Chase (JP Morgan) partnered with Nova Credit to leverage income and expense data along with international credit tools for underwriting. The partnership enables Chase to expand credit access using alternative data sources. This collaboration reflects the growing trend of major banks integrating fintech data capabilities into their lending processes.
Cross River, a leading BaaS provider, launched Fedline Direct upgrades and a Postman API collection to streamline fintech integrations. The updates aim to reduce onboarding time for fintech partners building on Cross River's banking infrastructure. This reinforces Cross River's position as a core bank-fintech connectivity layer.
Saudi-based fintech Bwatech raised $16 million in a round led by Sharaka Financial to expand its digital bank guarantees, account management, and open banking platform. The company provides integrated banking infrastructure services in the MENA region. The deal reflects growing embedded finance activity in Saudi Arabia's rapidly developing fintech ecosystem.
Gemba joined JPMorgan Chase's 12-week Fintech Forward Programme in September 2025, an accelerator providing early-stage fintechs with mentorship, networks, and scaling support. The program targets neobanks and digital finance startups. JPMorgan's involvement signals continued big-bank investment in fintech ecosystem development.
Kamino raised funding to expand its embedded banking platform, which provides integrated financial services for businesses. The company's embedded banking model aligns closely with BaaS principles, offering API-driven accounts and payments infrastructure. The deal was part of a broader wave of fintech funding in September 2025.
Thread Bank chose Finxact from Fiserv as its core banking platform to power embedded banking strategies for community banks. The API-first platform will be integrated with Infinant's Interlace Platform for a modern embedded and core banking experience alongside payment processing.
Entities: Thread Bank · Fiserv · Finxact · Infinant
Alloy's Embedded Finance platform won the Best KYC/KYB Innovation award from Datos Insights' 2025 Fraud & AML Impact Awards. The platform helps sponsor banks like Grasshopper Bank scale compliance and risk controls across fintech partners using a parent/child account model, automating fraud prevention for BaaS programs.
Entities: Alloy · Grasshopper Bank · Datos Insights
Modak, a family financial literacy fintech, announced Legend Bank, N.A. as its new BaaS sponsor bank, effective June 2025. Legend Bank provides the regulated banking infrastructure behind Modak's parent accounts and youth debit card program. The Texas-based community bank, with over $1.1 billion in assets, supports fintechs through its embedded banking solutions division.
Erebor, the digital bank backed by Palmer Luckey, had not received OCC approval as of August 7, 2025, despite submitting its application in June 2025 with expectations of approval by late 2025. Industry experts suggested the timeline was unrealistically optimistic, noting that bank charter approvals typically take a year or longer.
FinWise Bank highlighted its expanding relationship with Plannery, which evolved from a single lending sponsorship into a multi-pronged partnership spanning lending, payments, and capital services. The partnership exemplifies FinWise's fintech offering across its lending sponsorship, credit enhancement, BIN sponsorship, and payments programs.
LendAPI joined the American Fintech Council after launching infrastructure-first embedded finance capabilities. The company offers modular APIs for lending, banking, and digital wallet solutions aimed at scaling integrated financial products.
Wix launched Wix Checking and Wix Capital, embedded financial tools for small businesses on its platform. Wix Checking offers a free business checking account with debit card and real-time insights, powered by Lincoln Savings Bank. Wix Capital provides merchant cash advances.
Diebold Nixdorf is collaborating with the European Central Bank as one of 70 private sector contributors to its digital euro innovation platform. The partnership integrates Diebold Nixdorf's Vynamic Transaction Middleware with digital euro interfaces. This cloud-native payments processing solution enables banks to rapidly support new services like card transactions and instant payments on a platform basis.
Fifth Third Bank launched Newline by Fifth Third, an embedded finance banking interface platform enabling businesses to access deposit products and advanced embedded finance technology via APIs. The launch positions Fifth Third as a direct competitor in the BaaS space, allowing non-financial companies to integrate regulated banking services into their platforms.
Moka United selected Algbra Labs to introduce its digital banking brand RUUT to the UK market, targeting the Turkish diaspora. The partnership aims to deliver a fully operational platform within six months.