Latest news by Rick Steves
Mastercard explores Vocalink majority sale at £400m valuation
Mastercard is in early talks to sell a 51% stake in Vocalink, the operator of Britain's core payment rails, in a deal that would value the business at roughly £400 million ($535 million), according to…
US fintech funding hits $16bn as small rounds shrink 17%
US fintech companies raised $16 billion across 445 deals in the second quarter of 2026 — the strongest funding quarter in five — and almost none of that recovery reached the companies that need it…
Why Hong Kong’s OTP ban resets crypto operational security
Hong Kong's Securities and Futures Commission has ordered licensed virtual asset trading platforms and internet brokers to stop using one-time passwords for client login and device binding, with a hard deadline of July 8, 2027…
Nubank’s Visa-veteran CFO starts amid US bank charter push
Rob Livingston takes over as global Chief Financial Officer of Nubank on July 13, 2026, and the most telling thing about the appointment is where he came from. Nubank did not hire a banker. It…
Airwallex hits $11bn valuation as fintech funding rebounds
Airwallex has raised $320 million in a Series H at an $11 billion valuation, a 38% step up from the $8 billion it commanded six months earlier. The round lands in a quarter when United…
FCA finalises UK crypto rules and refuses to copy MiCA
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) published the final rules for the United Kingdom's cryptoasset regime on June 30, 2026, cutting stablecoin capital from 2% to 1%, building a bespoke market-abuse regime, and explicitly refusing to…
Riverty opens Luxembourg bank to serve 1,800 merchants
Riverty, the payments and credit arm of Bertelsmann's Arvato Group, begins operating as a licensed bank in Luxembourg this month, converting a Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) business serving more than 1,800 merchants into a…
Kord raises £6.4m to fight AI fraud in regulated sectors
Regulatory technology spent a decade unbundling. Artificial-intelligence fraud is forcing it to bundle back up. UK fintech Kord has raised £6.4 million in a Series A round to combine client onboarding, identity checks, compliance and…
REPAY closes $372m KUBRA deal to scale US bill payments
The flashy corner of payments is checkout. The profitable one is the electricity bill. REPAY has closed its $372 million cash acquisition of KUBRA, and the logic is the opposite of the agentic-checkout arms race:…
ASIC’s $300m CFD penalty lands as retail rules diverge in 2026
Retail contracts-for-difference (CFD) regulation is entering a divergence year. Australia's product intervention order sunsets in May 2027 with an industry consultation due in 2026, Cyprus is tightening notional caps, and the European Union's regime is…