“Two weeks after delaying the deadline to close its acquisition of People’s United Financial, M&T Bank on Friday received the Federal Reserve’s approval. The central bank’s blessing, announced late Friday afternoon, was the final regulatory thumbs-up that Buffalo, New York-based M&T needed to complete the $7.6 billion deal, which was originally expected to wrap up during the fourth quarter of 2021.”

“Atomic, a provider of payroll APIs, has raised $40 million in Series B funding just five months after announcing its Series A financing …The Salt Lake City, Utah-based company’s API-delivered product, which focuses on payroll data, powers 70 banks, credit unions and fintech companies such as Coinbase, Dave and Propel. Atomic said it now serves more than 120 million Americans, or more than 60% of the country.”

“FLEETCOR Technologies, Inc. (NYSE: FLT), a leading global business payments company, announced today the acquisition of Levarti, an airline software platform company. Levarti provides a suite of solutions that automate passenger disruptions including passenger notifications, flight re-bookings, hotel accommodations, transfers and vouchers.”

“European spend management startup Payhawk has added $100 million to its Series B round that I already covered back in November . The startup confirms that it has reached a post-money valuation of $1 billion, as The Information’s Kate Clark previous reported .”

“JPMorgan Chase ( JPM ) announced on Monday that it would make a “strategic investment” in TRM Labs, a blockchain analysis firm, becoming the latest in a growing number of Wall Street firms expanding their footprint in the cryptocurrency sector. The analytics software used by TRM and others has become a go-to for regulators and law enforcement agencies looking to keep tabs on the flow of illicit crypto transactions. Last week, banking giant BNY Mellon, announced it would begin integrating similar analytics tools from Chainalysis.”

TabaPay, the leading instant money movement platform, announced today an investment by the SoftBank Vision Fund 2, the world’s largest technology-focused investment fund. This new investment validates TabaPay’s vision and expansion of products and services to power future growth.

“Shift4 (NYSE: FOUR), a leading provider of integrated payment and technology solutions, today announced that it will acquire both Finaro , a cross-border eCommerce payments provider with a large European presence, and The Giving Block , which specializes in cryptocurrency fundraising for nonprofits.”

“Toronto-Dominion Bank said it is accelerating its long-term growth strategy in the U.S. by acquiring Tennessee-based First Horizon Bank for $13.4 billion. The Canadian banking and financial services company said it would pay $25 a share in the all-cash transaction.”

“Volante Technologies , the global leader in cloud payments and financial messaging, announced it received additional growth funding from BNY Mellon and Poste Italiane . With this investment, both banks are solidifying their commitment to payments modernization and affirming the key role Volante plays in the evolution of payments.”

“Zip Co Limited (ASX: Z1P) (“Zip”) and Sezzle Inc. (ASX:SZL) (“Sezzle”) are pleased to announce they have entered into a definitive agreement under which Zip has agreed to acquire Sezzle in an all-scrip transaction by way of a statutory merger under the laws of the State of Delaware (the “Proposed Transaction”).”

“Skipify, an “instant checkout” platform for merchant websites, has received a strategic investment round from PayPal Ventures, Synchrony, Amex Ventures, and Okta Ventures. The amount of the investment was not disclosed.”

“Pakistan’s NayaPay Pvt. has raised $13 million in early stage funding as it seeks to capture millions of users in one of the world’s largest under banked nations. The Karachi-based startup’s seed round was led by Zayn Capital, MSA Novo and Silicon Valley early-stage investor Graph Ventures, Chief Executive Officer Danish Lakhani said in an interview. NayaPay became the first startup to offer financial services after receiving a license from the State Bank of Pakistan in August.”

“Mashreqbank PSC is exploring a sale of its payments business in a deal that could value the division at around $500 million, according to people familiar with the matter, the latest lender in the United Arab Emirates to consider pulling back from the sector. The Dubai-based bank is working with Goldman Sachs Group Inc. to sound out potential buyers for the unit, which handles the processing of transactions made with credit and debit cards, the people said, asking not to be named because the information is private.”

“Chargebee , the leading subscription management platform, announced it has acquired collections management platform numberz and launched Chargebee Receivables. Subscription businesses will now be able to smartly automate their entire receivables process from purchase to payment, in addition to managing subscription products and invoices, leading to better data collections and insights for more confident decision-making.”

“Italian bank BPER Banca said it had received a non-binding offer for its merchant payment business from NEXI , in the latest acquisition by the fast-growing Italian payments giant. BPER, Italy’s fifth-largest bank, said it had given NEXI two months exclusively to submit a binding offer for the asset. NEXI already runs BPER’s shop payments services through a commercial partnership.”

“TransUnion (NYSE:TRU) has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Verisk Financial Services, the financial services business unit of Verisk (Nasdaq: VRSK). Verisk Financial is relied upon by leading financial institutions, payments providers and retailers worldwide for competitive studies, predictive analytics, models and advisory services to provide a clear perspective on where their business stands today — and how to best position them for success in the future.”

“SoFi Technologies Inc. is buying banking-software maker Technisys SA for about $1.1 billion, the latest in a string of deals designed to transform the lender into a one-stop financial shop. The all-stock deal is equivalent to roughly 10% of SoFi’s market value. The deal gives SoFi control of its own core-banking platform, the back-end technology that banks use to power mobile-banking apps, open accounts and keep track of customer deposits.”

“Fintech company Circle Internet Financial said on Thursday it was valued at $9 billion under new deal terms for its merger with blank-check firm Concord Acquisition Corp (CND.N) . The previous agreement with Concord announced in July that valued the company at $4.5 billion has now been terminated, Circle said. The company cited its improved financial outlook and competitive position, particularly in the USD Coin (USDC) market, as a key reason for amending its deal with Concord.”

“Thailand’s Siam Commercial Bank Pcl (SCB.BK) on Tuesday announced a $100 million investment in Indonesian fintech startup Akulaku, as part the bank’s expansion overseas and into technology. SCB last year announced major restructuring and expansion with a target of 200 million customers by 2025 for its businesses in Southeast Asia, which operate in six of the region’s markets.”

“As startups increasingly embed payroll into their software products, Check, a three-year-old startup that provides software tools for digitizing payrolls, announced Wednesday that it has raised $75 million in a fresh funding round.   The Series-C investment round was led by payments platform Stripe along with fellow repeat investors Bedrock, Thrive and Index. This latest round leaves Check with a total of $119 million in funding and a $725 million valuation.”

“African fintech Flutterwave has raised $250 million in a Series D round that tripled the company’s valuation to over $3 billion in just twelve months…Led by founder and CEO Olugbenga “GB” Agboola , Flutterwave facilitates cross-border payments transactions of small to large businesses in Africa via one API. The company also helps businesses outside Africa expand their operations on the continent. Some of its international clients include Booking.com, Flywire and Uber.”

“This morning Airbase , a startup in the corporate spend space, announced that it is working with Amex on a pilot that will see its service offered to certain customers of the credit giant. The deal also included a “strategic investment,” which TechCrunch reads as a modestly sized check, given that the dollar figure was not disclosed…The corporate spend market is also a notable startup battleground, with Airbase competing with other well-known firms, including Brex ( which most recently raised $300 million ), Ramp ( $200 million in its most recent round ) and Divvy ( sold to Bill.com for $2.5 billion ).”

“Contact Financial Holding, Egypt’s non-bank consumer finance provider, has invested $9 million in the country’s ecommerce super-app Wasla , setting the stage for the rollout of new online shopping capabilities, products and regional expansion.”

“Large merchants, particularly those that operate in more than one geography, have to support an array of payments methods. Each payment integration requires in-house technical work and the remodeling of one’s platform to fit their plugins.  It’s an extensive process that has seen some Big Tech companies build dedicated teams to manage different connections, data and cycles with the payments gateways in the markets where they are present.”

“Spain’s BBVA (BBVA.MC) on Monday said it agreed to buy an additional 21.7% stake in Neon Payments for around $300 million after taking part in a share capital increase. After completing the subscription, BBVA will hold direct and indirectly around 29.7% of Neon Payments, which is headquartered in the United Kingdom and owns 100% in the Brazilian company Neon Pagamentos.”

“MoneyGram International, Inc. (NASDAQ: MGI ) (the “Company”), a global leader in the evolution of digital P2P payments, and Madison Dearborn Partners, LLC (“MDP”), a leading private equity firm based in Chicago, today announced a definitive agreement under which funds affiliated with MDP will acquire all outstanding shares of MoneyGram for $11.00 per share in an all-cash transaction valued at approximately $1.8 billion.”

“Billtrust (NASDAQ: BTRS), a B2B accounts receivable (AR) automation and integrated payments leader, announced today it has acquired Netherlands-based Order2Cash , a leading B2B order-to-cash platform provider. The acquisition follows the October 2021 purchase of iController , broadening the company’s European footprint, global presence and ability to expand its innovative Business Payments Network (BPN).”

“Banked is a FinTech startup that offers an alternative to card schemes. Consumers are able to pay without entering financial data, no need to create an account, no financial details are shared, authorization is biometric, and the merchant receives the funds in real-time. Businesses use it to drive customer engagement and loyalty with incentives and rewards embedded inside the payment process.”

“Financial technology leader FIS ® (NYSE: FIS) announces it has enhanced its embedded payments strategy with the acquisition of Atlanta-based, Payrix . This acquisition aligns with FIS’ strategy to expand its e-commerce offerings to companies of all sizes, and in any industry, by embedding payments capabilities within Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platforms.”