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Fintech

Riverty opens Luxembourg bank as BNPL firms chase charters

Bertelsmann-owned Riverty starts operating as a licensed Luxembourg bank in July 2026, days after Klarna filed for a US charter. The pattern is not a coincidence.

NinjaTrader cuts off Alpha Futures over rival platform

NinjaTrader terminated Alpha Futures after the prop firm built a rival platform, closing its Premium plan and converting earned payouts into refunds.

Fed’s skinny payment account won’t replace a bank charter

The Fed's proposed payment account gives fintechs direct Fedwire and FedNow access, but no ACH, no correspondent banking. Comments close July 27, 2026.

JetBlue ties TrueBlue points to BNPL in ClarityPay launch

JetBlue and ClarityPay launch loyalty-linked pay later: TrueBlue points on financed bookings, 0% intro APR, $50-$50,000 range. Why white-label BNPL wins.

Stripe, Advent bid $53bn for PayPal in record fintech deal

Stripe and Advent International offer $60.50 a share for PayPal - a $53bn record fintech deal that would fold 439m accounts into Stripe's rails. Who wins?

Flex raises $70m at $1.2bn to bank business owners globally

Flex raises $70m seven months after its Series B, doubling to $1.2bn, as the owner-first private banking platform launches stablecoin-railed Flex Global.

Deutsche Bank, MIGA launch €1bn trade finance guarantee

MIGA's first programmatic trade finance guarantee platform with a commercial bank gives Deutsche Bank €1bn of cover on frontier-market state-bank risk.

Lloyds and Stripe launch ‘Lloyds Accept’ for 1m UK SMEs

Lloyds has launched Lloyds Accept, powered by Stripe, giving 1 million-plus business customers tap-to-pay, payment links and terminals to fight neobank rivals.

Klarna files for US bank charter to end WebBank reliance

Klarna has applied to the FDIC and Utah regulators for an industrial bank charter, Klarna Bank USA, to run payments and credit in-house and drop sponsor WebBank.

Indian fintech funding jumps 2.3x to $2bn on debt-heavy deals

Indian fintech raised $2bn across 48 deals in Q2 2026. But the flagship round was 84% debt - and that reframes the whole funding surge.

Mastercard explores Vocalink majority sale at £400m valuation

Mastercard is in early talks to sell 51% of Vocalink at a GBP400m valuation - half what it paid in 2016. Why it may be a willing seller of the UK's rails.

US fintech funding hits $16bn as small rounds shrink 17%

US fintech raised $16bn in Q2 2026 — the best quarter in five. But sub-$100m funding fell 17% year on year. The rebound is megadeals, not a recovery.

Nubank’s Visa-veteran CFO starts amid US bank charter push

Rob Livingston takes over as Nubank CFO on July 13, 2026. Hiring a Visa finance chief — not a banker — signals how the US charter push will be monetised.

Airwallex hits $11bn valuation as fintech funding rebounds

Airwallex raised $320m at an $11bn valuation. Payments is now just 30% of its revenue - which is exactly why the round priced at a software multiple.

Riverty opens Luxembourg bank to serve 1,800 merchants

Bertelsmann's Riverty starts as a licensed EU bank in July, turning a BNPL book of 25m customers into a deposit-funded merchant lender. Why charters win.

Kord raises £6.4m to fight AI fraud in regulated sectors

UK RegTech Kord has raised £6.4m led by Guinness Ventures to unify onboarding, compliance and payments for regulated firms — a bet that AI fraud forces re-bundling.

REPAY closes $372m KUBRA deal to scale US bill payments

REPAY has closed its $372m cash acquisition of KUBRA, betting on recurring, non-discretionary consumer bill payments over the crowded checkout arms race.

TrueLayer adds credit to Pay by Bank with in3 as FCA rules land

TrueLayer has folded Dutch fintech in3 into its Pay by Bank network to launch BNPL and credit at checkout, days before the FCA's deferred-payment-credit rules take effect.

Equifax buys Círculo de Crédito for $750m to expand Mexico

Equifax pays a $750m enterprise value — about 12x EBITDA — for Mexico's Círculo de Crédito, answering TransUnion's Buró de Crédito move in the LatAm data race.

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