Finovate

5 Things to Know about the CLARITY Act

2026-05-13T19:32:35Z

The US Senate Banking Committee unveiled the latest version of the CLARITY Act this week. The Act aims to establish a clear regulatory framework for digital assets.

The CLARITY Act offers enforceable guardrails for digital asset markets in an effort to protect consumers and investors, counter illicit finance and security threats, and support innovation in the US.

The bill is controversial, as it includes provisions to limit liability for decentralized software developers and enters an ongoing debate around whether stablecoins should be permitted to offer yield or yield-like rewards. After more than 10 months of bipartisan negotiations, the Senate Banking Committee is preparing for a key procedural markup. Here are five things you need to know about the new version of the CLARITY Act.

More than crypto regulation

While crypto regulation is making headlines, the Act comes with broader stakes as it also attempts to define who controls the future infrastructure of digital finance in the US. Supporters argue the Act helps preserve a more market-driven and decentralized approach by defining the boundaries of governmental power while protecting the autonomy of private developers and individual users.

This debate extends beyond crypto trading and will ultimately determine who will own and govern the next generation of financial rails. Stablecoins, tokenized assets, and AI-driven financial agents are on the rise, and the rules governing those future financial rails are yet to be settled. The companies and platforms controlling the new infrastructure could hold influence similar to what cloud providers, mobile operating systems, and card networks hold today.

Delineates between securities and commodities

The debate over whether digital assets are considered securities has been around for about a decade. That’s why determining when a token is treated like a security and when it can transition into a commodity is one of the biggest goals of the CLARITY Act. The determination will dictate how exchanges and platforms operate, which regulator oversees it, and what disclosures are required.

Yield is a battlefield

The debate over whether or not stablecoins can pay yield (or yield-like rewards) has been a major sticking point between banks and crypto firms. While banks argue that stablecoin yield products could compete directly with deposits and pull money out of the traditional banking system, crypto companies argue that restrictions would hurt innovation and competitiveness.

The Act does not explicitly use the term “yield” in relation to stablecoins. However, it does establish a regulatory framework that distinguishes between different types of digital assets based on whether they provide a financial return, such as interest. The CLARITY Act implies that if a digital asset provides a right to interest, it would likely fall under the jurisdiction of securities laws rather than being treated as a digital commodity or a permitted payment stablecoin.

While separate stablecoin legislation continues to evolve in parallel in the form of the GENIUS Act, the CLARITY Act intersects with those debates because of how digital assets offering financial return may ultimately be categorized.

About global competitiveness

Supporters of the Act argue that it is less about embracing crypto speculation and more about preventing the next generation of financial infrastructure from being built outside the US. Europe, Hong Kong, the UAE, and Singapore have already moved ahead with digital asset frameworks, and if the US does not create a set of regulatory guardrails within this arena, banks, fintechs, and crypto firms will feel less safe innovating in the digital asset space.

Even if it passes, the debate is far from over

The legislation does not resolve every concern. In fact, there are still ongoing debates around AML protections, DeFi oversight, systemic risk, political conflicts of interest, and consumer protection. So while the CLARITY Act brings more regulatory transparency to crypto, it also accelerates a broader debate about who will govern the future infrastructure of digital finance as stablecoins, tokenized assets, and AI-driven financial systems become more integrated into commerce and payments.

Photo by akbar fathi

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Apex Fintech Solutions Forges Partnership with Plaid to Streamline Account Transfers

2026-05-13T18:42:52Z

Apex Fintech Solutions and Plaid have teamed up to streamline account transfers and boost digital capabilities for brokerage firms.
The partnership combines Plaid’s secure connectivity and data validation with Apex Fintech Solutions’ ACATS infrastructure and risk engine to bring greater efficiency to the fund transfer process.
Apex Fintech Solutions’ subsidiary Apex Clearing made its Finovate debut at FinovateSpring 2015. Plaid has been a Finovate alum since 2014.

A new partnership between Apex Fintech Solutions and Plaid will enable Apex to offer Plaid’s suite of financial data products to streamline account transfers and help brokerage firms improve their digital capabilities. The partnership combines Plaid’s secure connectivity and data validation with Apex’s ACATS infrastructure and risk engine to reduce the number of errors and delays in the fund transfer process while also boosting efficiency for brokerages and their customers.

ACATS stands for Automated Customer Account Transfer Service, a system managed by the Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation (DTCC) that automates and standardizes asset transfers from one account to another. Apex’s ACATS infrastructure delivers reliable processing and conformity with ever-changing industry protocols and, together with Plaid’s expertise in financial data connectivity, supports an account transfer experience that is more comprehensive than either company would produce on their own.

“For too long, account transfers have been a source of frustration for investors and a missed opportunity for firms to grow,” Apex Chief Customer Officer Connor Coughlin said. “Plaid brings world-class account connectivity, and we bring proven ACATS infrastructure—together we’re delivering something neither of us could build alone. Now firms can offer a transfer experience as modern as the rest of their platform—and focus on building relationships with investors instead of chasing down paperwork.”

Key capabilities of the integration include automated account linking via Plaid with secure connections that eliminate manual data entry errors and common rejection triggers, and real-time processing and event-driven updates to provide status updates as soon as changes are announced. The integration will also deliver simplified infrastructure that consolidates multiple endpoints into a single API endpoint, unified audit trail interface and operational visibility, and day-one alignment with new protocols, including a fully configured simulator environment to facilitate transfer testing before going live.

“Transferring assets between investment accounts is still far too manual, slow, and error-prone for investors,” Plaid Head of Partnerships Adam Yoxtheimer said. “By integrating Plaid’s Investments Move with Apex’s clearing infrastructure, we’re delivering a first-of-a-kind, end-to-end ACATS solution. The solution can deliver a better transfer experience that gets investors’ assets into their new accounts faster with reduced error rates. We’re excited about what we can continue to build together.”

Headquartered in Dallas, Texas, Apex Fintech Solutions enables hundreds of clients to launch, scale, and support digital investing for tens of millions of investors. The company provides infrastructure and an ecosystem of cloud-based solutions to enable and streamline trading, wealth management, tax reporting, and more. The firm serves wealth management firms, full-service broker-dealers, startups, banks and credit unions, cryptocurrency trading platforms, corporate treasury managers, and through its subsidiary Apex Clearing, also offers custody and clearing services.

Apex’s partnership with Plaid comes less than a month after the firm announced that it had forged a new data relationship with real-time financial news and market data provider Benzinga. Apex is making Benzinga APIs available to its network of financial platforms, brokerages, and developers, enabling them to integrate real-time market intelligence structured financial datasets directly into their offerings.

A Finovate alum since 2014, Plaid offers a data network that enables users to connect their financial accounts to the apps and services that help them manage and improve their financial lives. The company’s network covers more than 12,000 financial institutions across the US, Canada, the UK, and Europe. Plaid’s partnership announcement with Apex is just one of a number of announcements the San Francisco-based company has made in recent weeks. Plaid recently announced an expansion of its Bank Intelligence solution with four new capabilities across two areas: Fraud Insights and Loyalty Insights. The enhanced offering will bring stronger fraud defense to the open finance channel and enable firms to better understand where their customers are in their financial lives.

Photo by Alina Grubnyak on Unsplash

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FinovateSpring Celebrates Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage

2026-05-12T20:45:28Z

May is Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month. May was officially established as “Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month” by President George H. W. Bush in 1990, expanding on a joint resolution signed by President Jimmy Carter in 1978 that had designated the week of May 4-10 as “Asian/Pacific American Heritage Week.” The name of the commemoration was changed to “Asian American and Pacific Island Heritage Month” in 1997 in an effort to make the occasion both more accurate and inclusive.

Here at Finovate, we are happy to celebrate the achievements of our alums who share Asian American and Pacific Islander heritage. Today, we highlight six of these fintech leaders whose companies made their Finovate debuts last month at FinovateSpring 2026.

Anna Joo Fee, Founder/CEO, Goodfin

Goodfin is an AI-native wealth platform that unlocks access to private market investing and accelerates wealth for a new generation of investors. Goodfin’s AI delivers on-demand intelligent analysis and expert-level guidance to accredited investors looking to invest in top pre-IPO companies.

Educated at Harvard University and Harvard Law School, Anna Joo Fee founded Goodfin in 2022. Previously, she was Chief Operations Officer and Chief Legal Officer for Liquidly, a company she co-founded in 2017.

Victor Fu, Co-Founder/CTO, Level

Level is a venture-backed technology company that helps automotive lenders resolve insurance claims more effectively, delivering better outcomes for both lenders and borrowers.

With degrees from the University of Southern California and UCLA, Victor Fu has interned with the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Tesla. He co-founded Level in August 2023.

Wye Yew Ho, Co-Founder/CEO and Zi Zhang, Co-Founder/CTO, Proximitty

Proximitty helps build autonomous business loan servicing teams for fintechs and banks. Their AI agents monitor loan portfolios and collect commercial loans autonomously with their proprietary agent studio.

Wye Yew Ho was educated at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). He previously worked as a consultant with McKinsey & Company and as a fincrime team leader with Taptap Send. He is currently CEO of Proximitty.

A graduate of the University of Minnesota, Zi Zhang was previously Head of Engineering at ACI.dev and a Platform Security Tech Lead with Bloomberg. Zhang is Proximitty’s Chief Technology Officer.

Marco Ma, Co-Founder/CEO, Ventus AI

Ventus AI transforms raw banking transactions into semantic customer intelligence, enabling personalized experiences, smarter analytics, and human-centered digital banking without changing core infrastructure.

Marco Ma was educated at Boston University’s Questrom School of Business and at Brown University, where he was Entrepreneur in Residence for six years. He co-founded Ventus AI in October 2025.

Caitlyn Truong, CEO, Zengines

Zengines transforms how organizations handle data migrations and legacy system modernization by empowering business users and technical specialists with AI-powered tools. The company won Best of Show at FinovateSpring 2026.

Caitlyn Truong co-founded Zengines in May 2021. Previously, she worked as a Managing Director with Accenture and as Vice President and Partner with Strategy&, formerly Booz & Company. Truong is a graduate of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.

Photo by Kevin Segal on Unsplash

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Kraken Parent Company Payward Seeks National Trust Charter

2026-05-12T18:37:25Z

Kraken parent company Payward has applied for a national trust charter from the OCC to launch a federally regulated digital asset custody entity called Payward National Trust Company (PNTC).
The move would help Payward expand its institutional business by offering bank-level custody and trust services to clients that require a regulated qualified custodian.
The company also announced plans to raise funds at a reported $20 billion valuation.

Kraken parent company Payward is seeking a national trust charter from the US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC). If approved, Payward would be able to establish the Payward National Trust Company (PNTC), which would offer custody and related services for digital assets.

With PNTC, Payward plans to serve institutional clients and individual customers seeking regulated, bank-level custody and trust services for digital assets. The charter will leverage Payward’s existing infrastructure, risk management, compliance programs, and subsidiaries to establish a federally regulated custody offering under OCC oversight. The regulated offering will expand access for institutional clients who require a federally regulated qualified custodian, broadening Payward’s client base in the US.

“Our long-held belief has always been that the right path forward for digital assets runs through robust, transparent regulation,” said Payward and Kraken Co-CEO Arjun Sethi. “A national trust company provides the certainty institutions require and establishes the infrastructure to build the next generation of custody. This is not about being first; it is about getting the framework right so markets can scale with clarity, interoperability, and long-term vision for what clients will demand as these systems mature.”

Along with its national trust charter announcement, Payward also disclosed that it is seeking to raise capital at a $20 billion valuation. While Payward did not comment on the matter, experts speculate the funds will be used to fuel acquisitions. The Wyoming-based company acquired stablecoin payments company Reap for $600 million earlier this month and bought digital asset derivatives platform Bitnomial for $550 million in April. These deals follow Payward’s 2025 mega deal to purchase NinjaTrader for $1.5 billion.

Taken together, the trust charter application, funding, and ramp-up in acquisition activity are preparing Payward for its IPO. However, while the company filed its S-1 in November of 2025, it halted IPO plans in March, citing unfavorable market conditions.

For Kraken, the trust charter could help deepen its role in institutional finance without becoming a traditional bank. Instead of pursuing a full banking charter, Payward appears focused on building regulated custody and trust capabilities around digital assets, potentially allowing it to expand relationships with institutional investors, asset managers, and enterprises seeking compliant crypto infrastructure.

Photo by Kindel Media

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Boku Goes Live with Popular Payment Option Pix in Brazil

2026-05-12T18:19:46Z

Global paytech Boku announced that it is live and transacting with Pix in Brazil.
Pix is Brazil’s default payment method with more than 150 million Brazilians—approximately 70% of the population—using the technology. Boku was granted its payment institution license from the Brazilian central bank in April 2025, becoming a Regulated Pix Participant.
Headquartered in London, Boku made its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope 2011. Stuart Neal is CEO.

International local payments partner Boku announced this week that it is live and transacting with Pix in Brazil. Boku secured its payment institution license from the Central Bank of Brazil last spring, allowing the company to enable merchants to access local payments. The default payment method for more than 150 million Brazilians, Pix is used by 70% of the Brazilian population and processes more transactions in the country than both Visa and Mastercard combined.

“Boku is now live and open for business in Brazil,” Boku CEO Stuart Neal said in a statement on LinkedIn. “This is an important milestone for our merchants and for any global business looking for a regulated, scalable route into Brazil. Pix has become a must-have payment method in Brazil, and it also reflects a much bigger shift in global payments. Governments, regulators, and consumers are increasingly backing domestic payment infrastructure that is fast, secure, and built around local needs. That movement towards payment sovereignty is reshaping how global merchants need to operate.”

Via Boku, merchants will be able to offer account-to-account (A2A) payments through the Sistema de Pagamentos Instantâneos (SPI) network to millions of Brazilian consumers. Boku will also support one-time Pix payments, with both local and cross-border settlement. Additionally, the launch will make it easier for Boku to take advantage of future innovations in Pix, such as tokenized recurring payments. In its statement, the company previewed further capabilities including Pix Automatico for recurring payments and Pix JSR which enables Pix without redirection.

“By connecting through Boku, merchants can access one of the world’s most successful real-time payment systems through a regulated partner that understands both global commerce and local payment infrastructure. As Pix expands into recurring payments, cross-border flows, and new credit use cases, Boku is well positioned to help merchants capture the next generation of payment growth in Brazil,” Neal added.

Founded in 2008 and headquartered in London and San Francisco, Boku is an international provider of localized payment solutions. With a global payments network featuring more than 200 local payment methods worldwide, Boku offers digital wallets, direct carrier billing, and both account-to-account and real-time payment schemes that reach more than seven billion consumer payment accounts in 60+ countries. Making its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope 2011, Boku now serves popular brands including Spotify, Meta, Microsoft, Netflix, and Tencent.

Photo by F Cary Snyder on Unsplash

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Credit Karma Opens Platform to America’s “Credit Invisibles”

2026-05-11T22:41:10Z

Credit tracking platform Credit Karma will offer memberships to credit invisible or “thin file” customers, a new policy from the financial wellness firm.
In a statement, the company highlighted a number of solutions on its platform that will help these thin file customers build their credit and boost their financial literacy, including its Credit Spark and Credit Builder tools.
Acquired by Intuit in 2020, Credit Karma won Best of Show at FinovateFall 2008. The company was founded in 2007.

Financial wellness and credit tracking platform Credit Karma has announced that it is offering memberships to the 17 million Americans who do not have a credit score. These “credit invisible” or “thin file” adults have been unable to open a Credit Karma account up until now. A newly announced reversal of this policy will now enable these individuals to sign up for an account and take advantage of Credit Karma’s tools to help them build their credit and enhance their financial literacy.

“As these members begin building their financial identity, Credit Karma will serve as both the starting point and foundation for their journey,” the company noted in a statement. “We’ll help them achieve their first score while building financial literacy and equipping them with the tools to manage and grow their money, access better financial products, and make financial progress year-round.”

Credit Karma’s policy shift comes at a time when millions of American adults are considered “credit invisible” or “thin file.” This means they have no significant credit history and are unable to generate a valid credit score. This can prevent individuals from participating in major financial milestones, from securing a first apartment to buying a car to landing a mortgage for a new home. Credit Karma noted in its policy announcement that credit invisibility is more problematic for individuals who are just beginning their adult financial lives, reporting that nearly half (46%) of 18- to 24-year olds feel at a financial disadvantage because they do not have a credit history.

In its statement, Credit Karma highlighted three tools in particular that will be helpful for these new “thin file” members. These include Credit Spark, a free, automated solution that transforms on-time payments for existing services such as utilities and phone bills into credit history; and Credit Builder, which offers a locked savings account to help members make more consistent payments. Credit Karma also offers credit-building card options such as secured credit cards that provide credit invisibles with a safe, structured way to use credit and build a positive credit profile.

“Until now, individuals who were credit invisible couldn’t access Credit Karma’s tools and guidance to help them start building their credit,” the company added. “Today, that changes. We are proud to announce that credit invisible individuals can now create Credit Karma accounts and take their first steps towards building a credit score and achieving their financial goals.”

Founded in 2007, Credit Karma is among Finovate’s earliest alums, earning Best of Show in its FinovateFall 2008 appearance. Headquartered in Oakland, California, the company today serves more than 130 million individuals with free access to credit scores and reports from VantageScore, TransUnion, and Equifax, as well as daily monitoring, financial wellness tools, tax filing, bill tracking, and more. Credit Karma was acquired by Intuit in 2020 for approximately $7.1 billion in cash and stock, combining Intuit’s tax and financial management tools with Credit Karma’s consumer-based platform.

Photo by Ronan Furuta on Unsplash

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Circle Raises $222 Million in New Token Presale

2026-05-11T22:25:10Z

Circle launched Arc, a new blockchain network and native token designed specifically for institutional finance.
Arc, which aims to provide banks, corporations, and treasury teams with faster settlement, raised $222 million in a presale led by Andreessen Horowitz.
Alongside Arc, Circle introduced its new Agent Stack tools.

Stablecoin issuer and infrastructure company Circle launched a presale of a new token this week that raised $222 million. The new token, Arc, is the native token of Circle’s newest blockchain and the 10 billion tokens released give Arc a network valuation of $3 billion.

Andreessen Horowitz was the lead investor in the round, contributing $75 million. Other investors include BlackRock, Apollo Funds, Intercontinental Exchange, SBI Group, Janus Henderson Investors, Standard Chartered Ventures, General Catalyst, Marshall Wace, ARK Invest, IDG Capital, Haun Ventures and CoinDesk owner Bullish.

Circle holds 25% of the initial Arc tokens released, while 60% of the tokens will be distributed to users to build on, use, and contribute to the Arc network; 15% of the tokens will be held in long-term reserves.

The new expansion will help Circle diversify beyond its existing USDC stablecoin, which the company launched in 2018. As Ali Yahya and Noah Levine explained in a blog post on a16z crypto, “While USDC has become the trusted digital dollar for banks, corporations, and financial institutions seeking the speed of crypto without its volatility, there remains a problem. The internet infrastructure which USDC runs on today wasn’t built with big institutions in mind. It was built for individuals and crypto enthusiasts.”

Arc is essentially Circle’s attempt to build a blockchain network designed specifically for large financial institutions and global payments. Instead of being built for crypto traders or retail users, it is designed for companies that need to move money quickly, securely, and within regulatory requirements.

Arc can help treasury teams manage and move money in dollars using blockchain infrastructure, while still maintaining many of the controls and oversight traditional finance requires. With Arc, transactions settle almost instantly, privacy settings can be adjusted, and the network is run by approved institutional operators instead of anonymous participants.

“[Blockchain] infrastructure is becoming as important as mobile operating systems or cloud platforms,” Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire said in an interview with CNBC. “We want to build an operating system that has many, many stakeholders in it … major companies who are running the infrastructure with us and who ultimately help to govern it.”

Arc will benefit from Circle’s expertise in operating USDC, which has grown to become one of the largest stablecoins with a market capitalization of over $77 billion. This network effect gives Circle a stronger starting position than other new blockchain projects that launch without established customers, products, or liquidity.

Along with the debut of Arc, Circle is launching the Circle Agent Stack, the company’s new chain-and protocol-agnostic open infrastructure designed for the agentic economy. At launch, Agent Stack includes three products that enable agents as autonomous actors: Agent Wallets to allow for controlled agent access to USDC and ERC-20 tokens, Agent Marketplace for discovering agentic services, and Circle Command Line Interface for executing agent financial actions through natural language.

Combined, the new token and agentic tools show that Circle is positioning itself for an agentic commerce future in which banks will be powered by autonomous software agents operating on blockchain infrastructure. Instead of just focusing on stablecoin issuance, Circle is building the underlying rails, governance structure, and tooling needed for banks and AI agents to move money, execute transactions, and interact with financial systems in real time.

Photo by Laura Lumimaa

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FIS to Streamline Reconciliations for Australia’s CommBank

2026-05-11T21:27:41Z

Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CommBank) announced a new partnership with FIS.
The Sydney-based financial institution will use FIS Data Integrity Manager to enhance its reconciliation operations.
FIS Data Integrity Manager processes more than 150 million transactions per day, and uses real-time visibility and insights to improve decision-making and deliver automated alerts to resolve issues in minutes rather than hours.

Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CommBank) has turned to FIS to enhance its reconciliation operations. The institution, working with FIS, will leverage the fintech’s FIS Data Integrity Manager to consolidate and automate reconciliation across the bank.

“By bringing reconciliation onto a single, intelligent platform, we are enabling CommBank to unlock seamless integration and operational efficiency while ensuring the stability, security, and compliance essential to supporting Australia’s largest bank,” said FIS President of Capital Markets Andrés Choussy. Choussy referred to the technology as a “cutting-edge reconciliation solution that meets the demands of a rapidly evolving financial landscape.”

Able to process more than 150 million transactions daily, FIS Data Integrity Manager is a modern platform that supports the automation and management of all reconciliations across the business. The solution leverages real-time visibility and insights to deliver more informed decision-making, providing automated alerts to surface discrepancies and a unified view across business lines. This enables teams to identify and resolve issues quickly.

FIS Data Integrity Manager is available as a Software as a Service (SaaS) solution via Microsoft Azure, with upgrades managed by FIS to ensure faster delivery of new capabilities. The partnership will also enable CommBank to leverage FIS’ enterprise-grade risk, security, and compliance capabilities—including SOC1 and SOC2 certification—as well as support the institution’s federated software architecture.

“This implementation reflects our focus on investing in technology to continue to strengthen operations to ultimately benefit our customers,” Commonwealth Bank General Manager of Financial Control & Transformation David Pont said. “With FIS Data Integrity Manager as a strategic partner, we gain a platform that can scale with our business and support our continued growth.”

An Australian multinational bank with operations in New Zealand, Asia, the United Kingdom, and the United States, Commonwealth Bank of Australia delivers retail, business, and institutional banking services to more than 20 million customers. Founded in 1911 in Melbourne and currently headquartered in Sydney, CommBank recently opened a San Francisco Technology Hub to enable its Australian technology team to connect with leading AI partners. The institution reports that 70% of its engineering teams use AI tools.

FIS helps institutions and businesses leverage financial technology to bring innovation to payments, investment, savings, and more. The company’s technology supports more than 73 billion transactions a year, servicing more than $8 trillion in assets. Headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida, FIS serves 95% of the world’s leading banks and more than 4,900 financial services companies and credit unions with digital banking solutions, payment processing, lending, treasury management, investment, and data-based services.

FIS’s partnership announcement with CommBank comes days after the fintech reported that it was working with Anthropic to bring agentic AI to banking. The initial project will feature the development of a financial crimes AI agent that combines Claude’s reasoning with FIS’s banking data and regulatory infrastructure. The agent will accelerate Anti-Money Laundering (AML) alert and case investigations, reduce false positives, and boost investigative and SAR narrative quality. Two institutions—BMO and Amalgamated Bank—are in development with the new agent; general availability is planned for the second half of 2026.

“Every bank in the world wants AI that acts, not just assists,” FIS CEO and President Stephanie Ferris said. “The future is about a trusted provider who manages the data, who governs the agents, and who stands between your customers and the AI making decisions about their money.”

Photo by Joey Csunyo on Unsplash

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What I Heard Between the Sessions at FinovateSpring 2026

2026-05-11T19:54:03Z

FinovateSpring wrapped up last week, and with content running Monday through Thursday, there was a lot to take in. Because I spent the majority of the time running from microphone to microphone, from stage to camera, I missed many of the key demos and presentations.

I did, however, have time for a lot of quality conversations (both on and off stage). Here are some of the insights from the event.

Lines are blurring

It is clear that the world of fintech and banking we had from 2010 to 2023 is slowly fading away. Conversations with multiple people, especially my on-stage breaking news analysis session with Jim Perry, solidified this sea change.

As an industry, we are no longer talking about banks vs. fintechs or banks partnering with fintechs. Instead, the lines are blurring between what is a bank and what is a fintech as fintechs shift to becoming infrastructure providers. Similarly, in the payments world, consumers no longer need to understand the difference between decentralized finance and traditional finance. The increased use of stablecoins with easy on and off ramps to fiat currencies removes the complexities involved in leveraging decentralized finance and makes it easy for consumers to use new tools without ever changing their habits.

Distribution channels are shifting

LLMs are slowly becoming a major distribution channel for a range of bank tools. Consumers are increasingly consulting their preferred LLM to shop for loans, life insurance, credit cards, and more. As AI agents become more prolific, the customer relationship will be one step further removed from the lender, insurance company, and credit card provider. Instead, these players risk becoming infrastructure providers operating behind the scenes while AI platforms control discovery, recommendation, and engagement.

AI progress may not be linear

We are moving very quickly toward an AI-first future and if you don’t already have a team of AI agents running tasks behind the scenes, it is easy to feel like you are behind. There are, however, a few downsides to AI that may change the trajectory of adoption.

First, banks are built to handle human risk, not AI agent risk. While banks implement access controls, require approvals, and document audit trails, this is not sufficient for AI agents, which have been known to circumvent guardrails and even blackmail users in order to accomplish their own objectives. Given these risks and systemic limitations, banks may need to slow their progress, especially when it comes to using agentic AI.

Second, scaling AI is limited. While we often talk about AI like scaling software, in reality, it is closer to building up infrastructure. The energy demand for AI tools is exploding, and compute is constrained by the construction of data centers, which can be expensive and difficult to approve and build because of regulatory and environmental constrictions.

Additionally, it is important to consider the risks that happen when decisions are made in real time. When AI models are making decisions quickly, any mistakes, manipulation, or fraud within the model will propigate at the same rate.

Finovate is still about community

Finovate isn’t the biggest fintech conference, and it never will be. That’s because we have a focus on community. Instead of attending a frenzied event where you only get five minutes with each person you meet, the Finovate networking hall creates space for deeper conversations and genuine connections.

The focus on the fintech community is intentional. It is what keeps people coming back year after year. At a time when so much of the industry is being shaped by automation and digital interactions, there is still real value in face-to-face conversations, spontaneous introductions, and the kind of discussions that continue long after a panel ends.

Some of the most valuable insights from last week came from hallway conversations, lunch meetings, dinners, and the moments in between sessions where people could speak candidly about what they are building, where they are struggling, and where they believe the industry is heading next.

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Fintech Rundown: A Rapid Review of Weekly News

2026-05-13T15:52:48Z

It’s the Monday after FinovateSpring, which means there are plenty of new ideas about the future of banking and fintech to talk about. Meanwhile, the news keeps flowing. Here are the top fintech news highlights from the week. We’ll continue to add more announcements as the week progresses.

AI tools

Nscale secures $790 million in financing to support AI infrastructure buildout in Norway.

Experian launches its “Know Your Agent” service, Experian Agent Trust.

Payments

Wise debuts US listing on Nasdaq.

Paymentology raises $175 million.

AdvicePay celebrates its 10-year anniversary.

Global Payments unveils AI-first handheld built for the future of commerce.

Loyalty and rewards

Ualett launches Ualett Rewards to give back to gig workers.

Digital banking

A pair of Finovate Best of Show winners—core banking platform 10x Banking and provider of deterministic AI for legacy system understanding Tweezr—announce a partnership to make core transformation easier.

Fintech startup Parker files for bankruptcy.

InstaSwitch launches account activation infrastructure for business banking and announces $4.7 million in funding.

Augustus receives OCC conditional approval to charter the first clearing bank for the AI era.

Atos and Backbase to accelerate secure, AI-native banking across regulated markets.

Credit unions

VyStar Credit Union selects Diebold Nixdorf to modernize and manage its self-service network of ATMs.

Small business tools

Xero integrates with Claude.

Photo by Shamia Casiano

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FinovateSpring 2026 Best of Show Winners Announced!

2026-05-07T05:47:59Z

Congratulations to the winners of FinovateSpring 2026’s Best of Show awards!

From solutions that help banks, credit unions, and other financial institutions deliver new, innovative products and services to their customers and members to novel uses of enabling technologies like AI and stablecoins, the companies that won Best of Show at this year’s FinovateSpring reflect many of the most important trends in fintech and financial services today.

This week marks the second time that we’ve brought our annual spring fintech conference to sunny San Diego. And given the success we’ve had, we’re looking forward to bringing the show back to the city affectionately known by some as “Silicon Beach” next year. We want to thank our demoing companies, our sponsors and partners, our outstanding AV team, our staff of conference day assistants, and—of course—our wonderful attendees for their enthusiasm and support.

Next stop? FinovateFall 2026 in Times Square, New York. And tickets are already on sale!

Clockout for its solution that drives member and customer growth, increases direct deposits by 10-25%, generates $16-$50 monthly per-user revenue, and creates competitive differentiation through embedded financial wellness.

Cobalt for its technology that automatically maps real system dependencies across complex banking environments, enabling agentic AI, real-time visibility, safer changes, reduced risk, and confident operations.

Crebit Pay for its stablecoin-powered FX platform enabling low-cost, near-instant global payments for students, while helping credit unions onboard and serve international members.

Finalytics.ai for its technology that enables financial institutions to instantly unleash the power of AI by offering segment-of-one digital experiences for visitors informed by behavioral, transactional, and third-party data.

Zengines for its solution that modernizes off mainframes without losing critical logic, satisfying auditors faster, and making legacy systems searchable so transformation and compliance don’t stall.

Notes on methodology:

1. Only audience members NOT associated with demoing companies were eligible to vote. Finovate employees did not vote.

2. Attendees were encouraged to note their favorites during each day. At the end of the last demo, they chose their three favorites.

3. The exact written instructions given to attendees: “Please rate (the companies) on the basis of demo quality and potential impact of the innovation demoed.”

4. The five companies appearing on the highest percentage of submitted ballots were named “Best of Show.”

5. Go here for a list of previous Best of Show winners through 2014. Best of Show winners from our 2015 through 2026 conferences are below:

FinovateEurope 2015

FinovateSpring 2015

FinovateFall 2015

FinovateEurope 2016

FinovateSpring 2016

FinovateFall 2016

FinovateAsia 2016

FinovateEurope 2017

FinovateSpring 2017

FinovateFall 2017

FinovateAsia 2017

FinovateMiddleEast 2018

FinovateEurope 2018

FinovateSpring 2018

FinovateFall 2018

FinovateAsia 2018

FinovateAfrica 2018

FinovateEurope 2019

FinovateSpring 2019

FinovateFall 2019

FinovateAsia 2019

FinovateMiddleEast 2019

FinovateEurope 2020

FinovateFall 2020

FinovateWest 2020

FinovateEurope 2021

FinovateSpring 2021

FinovateFall 2021

FinovateEurope 2022

FinovateSpring 2022

FinovateFall 2022

FinovateEurope 2023

FinovateSpring 2023

FinovateFall 2023

FinovateEurope 2024

FinovateSpring 2024

FinovateFall 2024

FinovateEurope 2025

FinovateSpring 2025

FinovateFall 2025

FinovateEurope 2026

Photo by Erwan Hesry on Unsplash

The post FinovateSpring 2026 Best of Show Winners Announced! appeared first on Finovate.

Meet the International Alums of FinovateSpring 2026!

2026-05-11T17:01:02Z

With FinovateSpring 2026 right around the corner—May 5-7—we wanted to take a moment here at Finovate Global to highlight the international companies that will be demoing their latest fintech innovations live on stage next week.

While both our European conference FinovateEurope and our flagship event FinovateFall tend to showcase the lion’s share of our international alums, we are thrilled to host these eight fintech innovators from Greece, India, Israel, Italy, Singapore, and Switzerland this year at FinovateSpring!

Join us next week—May 5-7—at the Sheraton San Diego Resort for FinovateSpring 2026. 1200+ senior-level fintech attendees. 600+ attendees from banks and financial institutions. 50+ live fintech demos. Save your spot. Book your room. And we’ll see you in sunny San Diego!

BankUniverse—Greece

BankUniverse delivers a privacy-first ‘intent engine’ that identifies high-value prospects and automates conversion, increasing digital sales by 20%+ without sharing sensitive customer PII. Headquartered in Greece, the company was founded in 2024.

Cobalt—Tel Aviv, Israel

Cobalt automatically maps real system dependencies across complex banking environments, enabling agentic AI, real-time visibility, safer changes, reduced risk, and confident operations. Headquartered in Tel Aviv, Israel, the company was founded in 2025.

ContexQ — Singapore

ContexQ is forensic Graph AI that detects fraud, money laundering, and hidden beneficial ownership by seeing the relationships every other AI misses. Headquartered in Singapore, the company was founded in 2024.

CRIF—Italy

CRIF is a global technology company delivering credit bureau services, business intelligence, advanced analytics, decisioning platforms, and digital solutions that power smarter lending and risk management worldwide. Headquartered in Italy, the company was founded in 1988.

Holdyn—Tel Aviv, Israel

Holdyn is a trust-first fintech platform enabling secure, structured transactions, and conditional payments. In addition to moving funds instantly, Holdyn also allows users to define how and when funds are released, reducing counterparty risk in both local and cross-border transactions. Headquartered in Tel Aviv, Israel, the company was founded in 2025.

Nextvestment — Singapore

Nextvestment enables safe, self-service exploration while guiding advisors to intervene at the right moments, improving client engagement and advisor productivity without changing advisory models. Headquartered in Singapore, the company was founded in 2024.

uncharted group—Zurich, Switzerland

uncharted group’s operating system turns commoditized AI into a proprietary, compounding advantage for investment firms. Headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland, the company was founded in 2024.

Yubi—Chennai, India

Yubi is India’s AI-powered debt marketplace—connecting 17,000+ enterprises with 6,200+ lenders, having facilitated over $36 billion in financing. Now they’re bringing this breakthrough technology to the U.S. Headquartered in Chennai, India and Delaware, the company was founded in 2020.

Here is our look at fintech innovation around the world.

Middle East and Northern Africa

Saudi Arabian financial app barq introduced international cross-border QR payments in partnership with Alipay+.
Dubai-based, B2B embedded finance platform Comfi raised $65 million in funding.
Blockchain-based enterprise solutions company Ripple opened the doors on a new regional headquarters in the UAE this week.

Central and Southern Asia

India-based fintech Pine Labs announced the acquisition of next-generation online checkout optimization platform Shopflo.
Central Asian digital banking ecosystem TBC Uzbekistan launched its AI assistant Lola.
Indian fintech Mobikwik secured approval from the Reserve Bank of India to initiate lending operations.

Latin America and the Caribbean

Cross-border payment infrastructure company TerraPay forged a strategic partnership with Nicaraguan remittance payout services company Banco de la Producción S.A (Banpro Grupo Promerica).
Argentina-based fintech belo secured $14 million in Series A funding in a round led by Tether.
The IMARC Group predicted that Mexico’s fintech market size will reach $67.2 billion by 2034.

Asia-Pacific

South Korea-based fintech RiskX secured seed funding for its technology that will enhance the pricing, risk analysis, and investor communication for structured derivatives.
Commonwealth Bank of Australia deployed an agentic AI system designed to detect emerging fraud and scam patterns in payments and transaction data.
Crypto payments network MoonPay joined Sungho Electronics and Seoryong Electronics in an investment in Soutk Korean fintech Finger as part of an effort to support a Korean won stablecoin ecosystem.

Sub-Saharan Africa

South African bank Absa Group Limited improved its self-solve cases of digital and card fraud by 47% by using WhatsApp to instantly confirm suspected fraud transactions with customers.
Nairobi, Kenya-based cross border payments company WapiPay secured approval from the Bank of Jamaica to begin operations in the country.
PitchBook looked at the state of VC funding for African fintechs.

Central and Eastern Europe

European paytech Nexi integrated new digital payment option, Wero, bringing it into Germany’s ecommerce system via its German subsidiary, Nexi Germany.
Austrian cooperative banking group Raiffeisenbankengruppe Oesterreich partnered with nCino for its unified corporate lending platform
Finom unveiled a new, standalone version of its accounting solution for freelancers and small businesses in Germany.

Photo by Andrew Stutesman on Unsplash

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