Companies

UK Fintech Revolut Gains Conditional US Banking License

Yahoo Finance

“British digital bank Revolut announced it has won conditional approval for a US banking license, bringing it a major step closer to launching as a national bank in the United States.  The approval by the US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency opens the door to Revolut eventually offering loans, credit cards and insured […]

Tags: Revolut

CBDC Digital Currency European Union

Episode 301 - Casting Light on the Digital Euro, with Nicola Branzoli, Banca d'Italia

In this episode, Nicola Branzoli, Head of Division for the Digital Euro Regulation, Research, and Technical Support at the Banca d'Italia, joins Glenbrook's Ashley Lannquist and Simon Skinner for an in-depth exploration of the digital euro. Listen in as they cover the objectives and value proposition, design choices and pilot details, and what the digital euro means in the broader European payment context. 

Companies

PayToMe.co Accelerates Global Expansion of Its AI-Powered Commerce Platform

PR Newswire

“PayToMe.co, a Silicon Valley AI and financial technology company, announced the continued global expansion of its AI-powered commerce platform, connecting FinTech, commerce, logistics and travel through an integrated ecosystem. Its platform combines AI, intelligent workflow automation, embedded payments, Text-to-Pay, digital invoicing, KYC/KYB, financial management, data intelligence and enterprise APIs to reduce manual processes across transactions, […]

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Companies

Advent, Stripe Are Said to Abandon $50 Billion Pursuit of PayPal

Yahoo Finance

“A consortium of buyout firm Advent and payment processor Stripe has decided to abandon its pursuit of fintech pioneer PayPal Holdings Inc. (PYPL), according to people familiar with the matter.”

Tags: PayPal Stripe

Industry

Citi, HSBC, Standard Chartered Adopt Ant International’s Forex AI Tool

Euronext

“Ant International launched an upgraded version of its artificial intelligence model, signing up major global banks as financial institutions accelerate the adoption of specialised AI to manage liquidity risks. The Singapore-based fintech giant rolled out its Falcon Time-Series Transformer Model 2.0 and has partnered with six large banks according to Kelvin Li, the firm’s general […]

Companies

Stripe to Buy OpenRouter as Fintech Expands Deeper Into AI

CNBC

“Stripe said it’s acquiring OpenRouter, as the payments company expands into the artificial intelligence model market. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but the New York Times said the price tag is about $7.5 billion, with $1.5 billion allocated to OpenRouter’s founders. The deal will “maximize profitability by routing their requests intelligently and spending their tokens […]

Tags: Stripe

Companies

A Fintech App Built by Crypto Exchange Kraken Just Launched a Cash Back Debit Card in Bid for Consumer Wallets

CNBC

“Kraken is launching a cashback U.S. debit card, vying for a place in consumer wallets as crypto evolves from an asset class into infrastructure for mainstream financial products. The card, called the Krak Card and issued by the affiliate money app of the same name, offers up to 2% cash or bitcoin back, with the […]

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ACH Artificial Intelligence Bitcoin Digital Currency Fast Payments Financial Inclusion Payments Fraud Payments on Fire Podcasts Tokenization

Episode 300 - Reflecting on 12 Years of Payments on Fire

2026 is a milestone year for Glenbrook as we celebrate the 25th anniversary of the firm. We also find ourselves airing the 300th episode of our Payments on Fire podcast - founded by George Peabody in 2014, nurtured by Yvette Bohanan, and now continued on through the hosting efforts of most of the team. We thought there would be no better way to mark the 12 year achievement - and pay respect to what George and Yvette built - than to revisit the journey with clips from the first 299 episodes. From early episodes on digital currency and AI, to fast payments evolution and financial inclusion efforts (and how could we leave out tokenization), listen in as Bryan Derman and Jill Wurst guide you through significant moments in the podcast’s history.

Companies

Alipay Unveils Full-Stack Agentic Commerce Infrastructure in China

Crowdfund Insider

“On August 17, 2026, Alipay hosted its inaugural AI ecosystem conference. The fintech platform, operated by Ant Group, introduced the country’s first comprehensive full-stack agent commercial foundation along with the AHA (Agent Hub Access) multi-agent cross-device interconnection protocol suite. This rollout aims to equip merchants with tools for intelligent operations while enabling seamless collaboration among […]

Tags: Alipay

Companies

Chime Explores Stablecoins for Consumer Banking App

Investing

“Chime Financial Inc. is exploring how to bring stablecoins into its consumer banking platform, in the latest sign that the new form of money is evolving beyond crypto markets and into everyday payments, according to reporting from Bloomberg. The San Francisco-based fintech asked blockchain technology companies to submit proposals in late spring to provide “end-to-end” stablecoin […]

Tags: Chime

Global

PSD3 Is Coming: Is Your Payments Licence Ready for 2028?

FinTech Global

“According to Vixio, the third Payment Services Directive (PSD3) and its companion Payment Services Regulation (PSR) are nearing official publication in the EU, with entry into force expected in Q3 2026. That triggers a 21-month transition period, putting the compliance deadline at around mid-2028. Payent institutions (PIs) and e-money institutions (EMIs) face a substantial workload before […]

Tags: European Union

Regulation

Regulators Reject Bunq's US Bank Charter Bid for a Second Time

Startup Fortune

“The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency denied bunq’s application for a national bank charter in a decision dated August 4, 2026. The agency said the Amsterdam-based fintech raised significant supervisory and compliance concerns, including questions about capital, management experience and whether the proposed bank could run safely in the US. That’s blunt language. […]

Tags: OCC

Companies

Nuvei and BlackLine Partner to Modernize the Invoice-to-Cash Process Through Embedded Payments

Nuvei

“Nuvei, the global fintech building the infrastructure for every payment, everywhere, today announced a partnership with BlackLine, the Agentic Financial Operations Platform™ for the Office of the CFO, to embed payment acceptance directly into BlackLine’s invoice-to-cash platform. The partnership combines BlackLine’s invoice presentment and payment capabilities with Nuvei’s payments infrastructure, enabling customers to settle an […]

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Companies

Revolut to Offer ChatGPT Subscriptions in OpenAI Deal [UK]

UKTN

“Fintech Revolut will give its retail customers access to ChatGPT Go as part of a new partnership with OpenAI. ChatGPT Go is a medium tier subscription for the AI chatbot that typically costs users a monthly fee of £7. Revolut will offer retail customers on its Metal and Ultra subscriptions free access to the premium […]

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Companies

Financial Services Intelligence Report July 2026

J.D. Power

“The great unbundling of the banking and financial services industry may have reached a turning point. After several quarters of losing share of new account openings to FinTech challenger brands, the big banks have come roaring back in the second quarter of 2026. According to JD Power Signals Intelligence for Financial Services, major national brands […]

Tags: J.D. Power