finmid raised €17 million led by Big Pi Ventures, with Mainset co-investing and Earlybird following on. Total funding now stands at €52 million. The round coincides with two new programme launches: multi-year vehicle financing with Bolt and merchant lending with Skroutz.
Entities: finmid · Big Pi Ventures · Main Set · Earlybird · Wolt · Delivery Hero
Cliq and Vast Bank announced a multi-year payments partnership on Oct 15, 2026. The deal pairs Cliq's ACH payments technology with Vast Bank's national charter. Both companies cited a shared mission to advance fair access banking.
Hyperlayer raised £19.5 million from existing investors on Oct 21, 2026, bringing total funding to £50 million since October 2025. The round backs the UK programmable-banking company's accelerating growth. It marks the second raise in 12 months.
DRB expanded its sponsor banking product portfolio to include card issuing, acquiring, and real-time payment rails such as RTP and FedNow. The bank reported 8x growth in loan originations over the past two years. New fintech partners include Taekus, ClarityPay, and VIVA Finance.
Mural closed a $15 million Series A led by Tether, with North Island Ventures also participating. Total funding reached $28 million. The capital will support global expansion and investment in regulatory and payments infrastructure for fintechs and platforms.
Shares completed its acquisition of Treezor from Société Générale on Oct 13, 2026. The deal preserves Treezor's BaaS offering, serving clients like Swile and Bling, while adding investing capabilities to the platform.
CRB Group, parent of Cross River Bank, agreed on Oct 20, 2026, to acquire Accrue, a fintech powering branded wallets, stored value, and loyalty rewards at the payment layer. The deal folds Accrue's technology into Cross River's embedded finance platform. It remains subject to customary closing conditions.
The Bancorp launched Finetics, a bank-led embedded finance platform for nonbank companies. The product consolidates the bank's BaaS capabilities into a single branded offering. Details on pricing and launch partners were not disclosed.
Meow raised $31.6 million in a Series B round led by Stifel, with participation from Archetype. Total funding now exceeds $60 million. Stifel will offer a white-label version of Meow's platform to its commercial banking clients, starting with venture and fund banking.
Revolut received conditional approval from the OCC on Sep 3, 2026, to form a U.S. national bank. The company still needs FDIC, Federal Reserve, and final OCC approvals before launch. Revolut targets a 2027 opening for the proposed bank.
Modern Treasury applied to establish a national trust bank with the OCC. The filing places the payment operations fintech among a wave of firms seeking federal trust charters. A charter would let the company offer fiduciary and custody services under direct federal supervision.
Lloyds partnered with BankiFi to launch a free Making Tax Digital tool for UK small businesses. Powered by BankiFi's platform, the tool lets sole traders and landlords keep digital records and submit quarterly updates to HMRC within the Lloyds Business Account. No subscription fee applies.
Nagad signed a partnership agreement with Bengal Commercial Bank PLC covering remittance delivery, e-wallet top-ups, and interbank transfers. The deal was signed on Aug 23, 2026, at the bank's headquarters in Gulshan, Dhaka. Nagad will also maintain a trust cum settlement account through the bank.
Embedd raised €2.31 million in a pre-seed round led by Seedcamp on Aug 25, 2026. The startup builds software infrastructure for physical AI and semiconductor integration. Funds will go toward platform development and expanding partnerships with chip manufacturers.
Itaú Unibanco received conditional OCC approval to operate a U.S. bank subsidiary from a single branch in Miami. The bank must launch with at least USD 507 million in capital. Final approval still requires sign-off from the Federal Reserve and the FDIC.
Entities: Itaú Unibanco · Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC)
Minna no Ginko and Revolut deepened their partnership to launch banking agency operations in Japan. The arrangement allows Revolut to act as an intermediary for yen-denominated bank account opening within its app. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Entities: Revolut Technologies Japan · Minna no Ginko
Fasset raised $68 million in Series C funding led by SBI Group, valuing the Los Angeles-based AI-powered stablecoin neobanking platform at $1 billion. The round brings Fasset's total 2026 funding to $119 million. It marks the company's entry into the global fintech unicorn category.
Visa, _able, and Onafriq partnered to expand credit access across CEMEA using Visa Flex Credential. The technology links multiple funding sources to a single card credential. Onafriq will handle payment processing for eligible prepaid card implementations.
PDAX and RCBC signed a Memorandum of Understanding to build digital asset infrastructure, with tokenized gold as the first asset under evaluation. RCBC's mobile banking channels would serve as the distribution layer. The MOU is exploratory, with no binding product commitments disclosed.
HSBC and Standard Chartered executed the first live cross-border transaction on Swift's blockchain-based ledger, moving tokenised deposits between the two banks. Settlement ran through each bank's existing infrastructure. The transaction was reported on Aug 20, 2026.
Alipay+ added Hang Seng Bank as its first banking partner in Hong Kong, extending its cross-border QR payments network beyond wallet-based users. The deal gives Hang Seng customers access to QR code payments at merchants across Alipay+'s international network.
Payload closed a strategic investment led by Fifth Third, its first outside capital since the company was founded in 2019. The embedded payments platform processes nearly $500 million per month, trending toward $6 billion in annual volume. The round size was not disclosed.
Hana Bank signed an agreement with Korea Technology Finance Corporation and Korea Credit Guarantee Fund to provide 200 billion won ($144 million) in guaranteed loans to young entrepreneurs. The Y-BRIDGE program covers business owners aged 39 or younger, with loans up to 300 million won per firm.
Entities: Hana Bank · Korea Technology Finance Corporation · Korea Credit Guarantee Fund
The Saudi Central Bank (SAMA) granted Vision Bank a non-objection to commence digital banking operations in Saudi Arabia on Sep 15, 2025. The approval supports SAMA's goals of promoting financial inclusion and competition in the banking sector. It aligns with broader objectives under Saudi Vision 2030.