Finovate

SumUp and Sage Help Merchants Tackle New Digital Tax Reporting Requirements

2026-03-09T21:42:49Z

SumUp announced a new, free offering, powered by Sage, that will help UK merchants prepare for new compliance obligations from the Making Tax Digital for Income Tax (MTD) mandate, which comes into effect in April.
The new offering leverages AI to streamline workflows and reduce the administrative burden for merchants, while helping merchants meet MTD requirements.
Founded in 2012, SumUp won Best of Show in its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope 2013 in London.

Just in time for tax season, international payments provider, SumUp, is launching a new tax preparation offering. Powered by Sage, the solution will be embedded into the SumUp platform interface and is designed to help merchants in the UK deal with new tax reporting regulations coming into effect in April.

“At SumUp, we are committed to building a world where every merchant can thrive,” SumUp SVP of Global Banking Felix Lamouroux said. “Merchants don’t start a business for the administrative side of things, yet they are increasingly having to adapt to stay on top of new regulations.”

Specifically, the new regulation—Making Tax Digital for Income Tax (MTD)—will mandate that sole traders with incomes in excess of £50,000 per year record their income and expenses digitally and send quarterly tax reports to the HMRC instead of full tax returns. Unsurprisingly, sole traders have some work to do in order to be ready to comply by the April 6 deadline; according to research from Sage, 70% of sole traders are not prepared to meet compliance obligations, instead still relying on spreadsheets (or worse, pen and paper) to complete their self-assessments. The new offering from SumUp brings finance-grade AI capabilities into everyday workflows to help sole traders streamline their income tax reporting and ensure compliance with HMRC requirements including MTD.

“Making Tax Digital for Income Tax represents a significant shift for sole traders, and too many are still unprepared for the change ahead,” SVP for Fintech & Embedded Services at Sage, Gordon Stuart, said. “By embedding Sage’s accounting and tax capabilities, including AI-powered auto-categorization of transactions, directly into the SumUp interface and experience, we’re removing complexity where small businesses already manage their money.”

The integration of Sage’s embedded accounting technology transforms the payments, expense, and banking data already in the SumUp ecosystem into compliant MTD for income tax reporting. SumUp automatically captures all relevant revenue streams—not just digital transfers—without manual input, recording and categorizing income and expense data in real time. The integration not only enables sole traders to prepare and file directly to the HMRC from within the SumUp interface, it also gives users a real-time estimate of tax liabilities to facilitate forward-looking cash flow management.

“This collaboration brings income tax reporting into everyday workflows, helping sole traders stay on top of their obligations without needing specialist knowledge or additional software. It’s a clear example of how embedded accounting technology can meet small businesses where they are and make compliance simpler, more intuitive, and more accessible,” Stuart added.

Founded in 1981 and headquartered in Newcastle upon Tyne, England, Sage specializes in providing software solutions for payroll, financial management, human resources, and more. The company’s Sage Intacct solution is a cloud accounting and financial management platform that enables users to connect data, reduce manual tasks, and leverage AI agents and automation to secure real-time insights. Used by more than 30,000 finance teams and with 350+ integrations, Sage Intacct has helped institutions close books 70% faster and achieve a fivefold return on investment (ROI) within six months.

SumUp won Best of Show in its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope 2013. In the years since then, the company has grown into an international payments solutions provider serving more than four million merchants in 37 markets. SumUp’s partnership news with Sage comes just a month after the company unveiled its latest card reader, Solo Lite, a portable and easy-to-use payment solution for small businesses and entrepreneurs throughout Europe.

“Solo Lite benefits from over a decade of learning from merchants—it’s always been our quest to make business as simple for the 4+ million businesses of all sizes we support globally,” SumUp Chief Hardware Officer Tomer Sabag said. “When it came to designing Solo Lite, it was critical that we brought to market a product that wasn’t just affordable but powerful, and could be a day-to-day partner of a merchant.”

Founded in 2012, SumUp is headquartered in London. Luke Griffiths is the company’s UK CEO, appointed in October 2025.

Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash

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Airwallex Launches Yield in the US

2026-03-09T20:44:05Z

Airwallex launched its Yield treasury product for US businesses that allows customers to move idle balances into money market funds to generate higher returns.
First introduced in Australia in 2023, Yield has expanded to multiple regions and has now surpassed $1 billion in assets under administration.
By embedding treasury yield directly into its financial platform, Airwallex is competing with fintech treasury tools from companies like Stripe, Brex, and Wise that help businesses earn returns on operational cash.

Business financial management tool Airwallex unveiled that it is bringing its treasury management tool called Yield to the US after testing the product in the region in early January.

Originally debuted in Australia in 2023, Yield gives customers an alternative to traditional savings accounts, which notoriously offer a low APR. The product allows customers to move funds from their Airwallex cash balances into a money market fund that yields a higher return than funds held in traditional savings accounts.

Unlike traditional interest-bearing accounts, Yield functions more like a treasury management tool that allows businesses to sweep idle balances into money market funds while maintaining operational liquidity within the same platform.

The product was initially available to wholesale customers, then expanded to all Australian businesses after Airwallex obtained an Australian Financial Services License in July 2024. Since then, Airwallex expanded Yield to Hong Kong, Singapore, New Zealand, and to businesses registered in the European Economic Area (EEA), surpassing $1 billion in assets under administration.

“Topping $1 billion is a testament to the demand for a new kind of banking experience–one that is global, digital-first, and institutional-grade,” said Airwallex Co-founder and CEO Jack Zhang. “With the launch of Yield in the US, we are closing the gap in the market for a unified platform. We are giving US businesses a seamless way to operate across currencies, while ensuring their working capital is actively generating value, not sitting in an idle account.”

Funds held in Yield are invested through a J.P. Morgan US Government Money Market Fund, which helps customers put their idle balances to work. The offering gives businesses access to yields comparable to those available in institutional money market funds.

In addition to offering higher yields, Airwallex allows small businesses to shift their cash balances in and out of high-yield accounts overnight, with no minimum lock-up periods. This helps customers maximize their return on idle cash while retaining the ability to shift funds to meet financial obligations like payroll. Additionally, Airwallex brings a business’ money movement to a single dashboard, allowing customers to move funds between payments, payouts, corporate cards, and Yield accounts.

Airwallex’s Yield helps the company compete with fintech treasury platforms such as Stripe, Brex, and Wise, which have introduced similar products designed to help businesses earn returns on idle operating cash. As interest rates have risen over the past several years, traditional banks have also become competitors as banks turn operational accounts into yield-generating treasury tools.

Founded in 2015, Airwallex holds 80 licenses and permits that enable customers to operate in 200+ countries and regions and support multi-currency checkout at scale. In 2025 alone, the company extended its regulated and local capabilities across 12 new markets, securing licenses and launching products in France, the Netherlands, Israel, Canada, Korea, Japan, New Zealand, Malaysia, Vietnam, Brazil, Mexico, and the UAE.

In January, Airwallex acquired Paynuri, an entity that holds payment gateway and prepaid electronic payment instrument licenses, in order to expand into South Korea.

Photo by www.kaboompics.com

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Fintech Rundown: A Rapid Review of Weekly News

2026-03-09T17:24:03Z

After last week’s news of new bank charter announcements across the globe, this week’s top topic shifts back to the TradFi-DeFi bridge, as stablecoin platform Kast raises $80 million. Check out more on this, plus take a look at other fintech news highlights below. We’ll continue to add more announcements as the week progresses.

Stablecoins

KAST raises $80 million as stablecoins move from infrastructure into mainstream financial services.

Payments

Irish banks launch in-app instant payment service.

Visa launches intelligent authorisation tool for acquirers.

NjiaPay secures $2.1 million seed funding led by Newion to scale payment performance across Africa.

Business financial management

Sage to power SumUp’s new digital tax product.

Tide taps Gigs to offer mobile plans to small business clients.

Fraud and security

Evervault raises $25 million in Series B financing to deliver end-to-end encryption for highly sensitive data.

Photo by Gije Cho

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Finovate Global Malaysia: Agentic Commerce, Embedded Finance, and Shariah-Compliance

2026-03-06T23:17:52Z

This week’s edition of Finovate Global looks at recent fintech news and headlines from Malaysia.

Agentic Commerce: Mastercard Completes Pilot Project

One of the biggest stories in payments in 2026 is the rise of agentic commerce. This week, Mastercard announced that it had completed an AI-powered commerce pilot project in partnership with Kuala Lumpur-based CIMB Group Holdings Berhad (CIMB), Malayan Banking Berhad (Maybank), and RHB Banking Group (RHB). The project involved using Mastercard Agent Pay to show how AI can help consumers complete common tasks such as coordinating transportation. Specifically, as part of the pilot, an AI agent booked a ride from Kuala Lumpur International Airport to KL Sentral via hoppa, an international mobility provider. The transaction was facilitated by CardInfoLink’s AI agent connected to hoppa’s taxi and airport limousine service.

“This milestone underscores how AI can simplify everyday interactions without compromising customer control,” CIMB Bank Berhad and CIMB Malaysia CEO Gurdip Singh Sidhu said. “It reflects our vision of banking that is intuitive and seamlessly woven into life. Our collaboration with Mastercard enables us to deliver secure and responsible AI-powered experiences to our customers.”

The transaction leveraged tokenized credentials that were authenticated with Mastercard Payment Passkeys to ensure strong customer verification and data protection. This pilot project was designed to confirm the feasibility of agentic transactions in Malaysia. Commercial deployment of the technology will be introduced in phases with Mastercard working with issuing banks and partners to educate consumers on agentic commerce and the safe use of AI-powered payments.

“Mastercard’s first live agentic transaction in Malaysia demonstrates how AI can engage in commerce responsibly,” Mastercard Country Manager Malaysia, Beena Pothen said. “With Agent Pay, we’re embedding trust, authentication, and transparency directly into AI-driven payments. In collaboration with CIMB, Maybank, and RHB, we’re meeting the highest standards of tokenization, enhancing security and consumer protection.”

This week’s news is the latest example of Mastercard’s involvement in bringing agentic commerce to the Asia Pacific region. It follows authenticated agentic transactions completed previously in Australia, New Zealand, and India.

Embedded Finance: Boost Bank Unveils Insurance Offering

Customers of Malaysia’s Boost Bank can now access insurance plans directly from their banking app. Courtesy of a partnership with Great Eastern General Insurance Malaysia, Boost Bank will offer three protection plans for travel (TravelProtect), personal accidents (CoreProtect PA), and daily commutes (CommuteProtect).

Priced at RM15 ($3.30) annually, TravelProtect offers coverage of up to RM250,000 ($55,000). CoreProtect PA provides personal accident coverage, including accidental death and permanent disablement benefits, of up to RM50,000 ($11,000). CommuteProtect specifically covers personal accidents of up to RM25,000 ($5,500) during daily commutes. Both CoreProtect and CommuteProtect will be available for RM25 ($5.50) a year. The average monthly income in Malaysia is between RM3,000 ($660) and RM4,000 ($880).

Purchasing any of the three plans will unlock the new Protect Jar feature under the Special Jars section of the Boost Bank app. The Protect Jar offers 3.3% per year in daily compounding interest. Customers who make deposits into the Protect Jar will get a complimentary TravelProtect Lite PA plan. The plan provides coverage for personal accidents and travel disruptions such as flight delays.

Headquartered in Kuala Lumpur, Boost Bank began operations in January 2024 as Malaysia’s first fully digital bank. A joint venture between Axiata’s Boost and RHB Banking Group, and licensed by Bank Negara Malaysia, Boost Bank offers digital banking services, including lending, savings, and e-wallet solutions.

Compliance: Regulating Islamic Fintech and a Look at the Malaysian Model

There are countries in the Asia-Pacific that have higher Muslim populations than Malaysia. Indonesia, for example, has the largest Muslim population in the world with more than 230 million Muslims (87% of its population). Bangladesh has about 150 million Muslims who represent approximately 91% of its population.

By comparison, Malaysia’s 20 million Muslims might seem small. Yet Muslims do represent the majority of the country’s population at 63%. This creates a significant opportunity to provide financial services, specifically Islamic and shariah-compliant financial services, to customers throughout the country.

We discussed the challenges and opportunities in Islamic finance in a Finovate Global interview a little over a year ago. A recent essay in Salaam Gateway took a more focused look at innovation and Islamic finance, highlighting the approach taken by Malaysia’s Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM), which oversees and establishes standards for Islamic banking and Shariah-compliance for financial institutions, and Securities Commission Malaysia (SC), which regulates capital markets, digital asset exchanges, and peer-to-peer (P2P) lending platforms.

The article discusses not only the internal operations of BNM and SC—and the institutions’ partnerships with entities such as the Islamic Development Bank—but also notes that Malaysia’s Shariah governing system has positively influenced regulators and policy advisors in Muslim-majority markets in Southeast Asia. Indonesia was highlighted specifically for its recent efforts to expand its fintech regulatory sandbox, and pursue stronger coordination between financial regulators and those committees and boards providing Shariah certification.

Here is our look at fintech innovation around the world.

Central and Eastern Europe

Lithuanian P2P lending platform Finbee secured an investment of €5 million from venture builder Tesonet.
Estonian fintech group lute Group to establish its first fully digital bank in Ukraine.
Latvia unveiled a new specialized credit institution license to empower new financial service providers and fintechs.

Middle East and Northern Africa

Dubai-based Network International announced that it was powering card tokenization for Apple smartphones for select banks in Egypt.
Payment orchestration platform MoneyHash partnered with Iraq-based fintech startup Wayl.
IBS Intelligence looked at the rise of Qatar as a Islamic fintech hub.

Central and Southern Asia

Mongol iD, Mongolia’s largest payment infrastructure firm, has joined RTGS.global’s liquidity network.
FinHarbor completed the core deployment of a hybrid neobank platform for Asterium, a fintech project based in Uzbekistan.
India’s Pine Labs announced plans to launch stablecoin payments outside of the country.

Latin America and the Caribbean

Latin American neobank Ualá raised $195 million at a valuation of $3.2 billion.
Mexican fintech Bravo secured $235 million in financing for its debt settlement and credit solution.
Uruguay-based cross-border payment platform dLocal partnered with stablecoin offramp solution provivder Stable Sea.

Asia-Pacific

China announced that it will provide state banks with $44 billion to support technology investments.
Malaysian financial institution Boost Bank partnered with Great Eastern General Insurance Malaysia to offer three protection plans via its app.
Southeast fintech platform Fiuu issued a report highlighting recent developments in the Philippine fintech industry.

Sub-Saharan Africa

Kenya’s Capital Markets Authority (CMA) announced plans to bring robo-advisors and digital investment platforms into its licensing framework.
Western Union and Sasai Fintech partner to launch a new international money transfer mobile app for consumers in South Africa.
Ghana-based digital lender Fido Ghana raised $5.5 million in debt financing.

Photo by Mohd Jon Ramlan on Unsplash

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Celebrating the Women of FinovateEurope 2026

2026-03-06T07:33:20Z

Finovate kicks off its Women’s History Month commemoration with this salute to the women who introduced their companies to our FinovateEurope 2026 audience last month in London.

These CEOs, founders, executives, and analysts demoed a range of fintech solutions to help banks and other financial institutions integrate enabling technologies, grow their businesses, and enhance the customer experience for financial services consumers everywhere.

Natalia Corobco, CEO, Founder, and Marzia Niccolai, Chief AI Officer, Francis

Francis helps financial institutions and fintechs tackling open finance problems put AI at the center of the client’s value proposition. Headquartered in London, England, Francis was founded in 2025. Demo video.

Triin Preem, Head of Strategic Partnerships, Northern Eruope, Mifundo

Mifundo helps banks grow business volume by up to 15%, reflecting the share of foreign and cross-border customers in most European markets, by enabling them to serve this segment effectively. Headquartered in Tallinn, Estonia, Mifundo was founded in 2022. Demo video.

Erin Smith, Policy & Impact Analyst, MyPocketSkill

A digital technology companies working at the nexus of fintech and edtech, MyPocketSkill is making Gen Z more money savvy and able to save and invest. Headquartered in London, England, MyPocketSkill was founded in 2020. Demo video.

Svitlana Vyetrenko, Founder & CEO, Outsampler

Outsampler improves research productivity by 40% so that portfolio managers can focus on high-value client conversations. Headquartered in Strasbourg, France, Outsampler was founded in 2025. Demo video.

Marya Bazzi, CEO & Co-Founder, Sea.dev

Sea.dev automated underwriting workflows, eliminating copy-paste and document collection so credit analysts can focus on higher-value analysis, faster decisions, and growth—ultimately serving more of the economy. Headquartered in London, England, Sea.dev was founded in 2024. Demo video.

Savannah Price, Founder & CEO, and Lizzie Collins, Chief of Staff, Serene

Serene transforms a compliance burden into sustainable growth. The company’s technology delivers insights that optimize collections, reduce arrears, empower front-line teams, and safely expand lending to underserved markets. Headquartered in London, England, Serene was founded in 2023. Demo video.

Magda Targosz, CEO, Skill Studio AI

Skill Studio AI reduces training costs by 95%, accelerating compliance readiness from weeks to minutes, and scales globally with 170-language support—eliminating a regulatory risk and operational bottlenecks. Headquartered in Dublin, Ireland, Skill Studio AI was founded in 2025. Demo video.

Ashley Parekh, CEO, Syntex

Syntex lets clients submit applications and documents digitally while giving bank teams visibility into approvals, document status, and ownership, reducing delays, drop-off, and lost deposits. Headquartered in San Francisco, California, Syntex was founded in 2025. Demo video.

FinovateSpring 2026 will take place at The Sheraton San Diego on May 5-7. Register today using this link and save 20%.

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Tyfone Unveils New Loan Servicing Solution Loanovia for Credit Unions

2026-03-05T17:42:40Z

Digital banking solutions provider Tyfone announced the launch of new loan servicing and payments business unit, Loanovia.
Loanovia’s flagship lending solutions have already been deployed in more than 80 applications at credit unions throughout the US.
Among Finovate’s earliest alums, Portland, Oregon-based Tyfone made its Finovate debut at FinovateSpring 2008.

Digital banking solutions provider Tyfone announced the formation of Loanovia, a new loan servicing and payments business unit. The company added that Loanovia’s suite of lending solutions—Skip-A-Pay, Quick Pay, and Collect—have already been deployed in more than 80 applications at credit unions across the US.

Loanovia’s solutions will help credit unions automate payment processes, lower operational costs, enhance the member experience, and generate non-interest income. Skip-A-Pay is an automated, self-service loan skip solution that enables members to defer a loan payment in real time, while generating non-interest income for the credit union via skip fees. Quick Pay is a real-time, digital-banking-agnostic loan payment solution that enables account holders to pay any loan from any device using any payment method without requiring a digital banking login. Collect centralizes outreach, payment processing, and performance reporting into a unified workflow to provide financial institutions with greater visibility into delinquency trends, automate follow-ups, and improve recovery rates.

“Loanovia was established with a simple mission: to make lending services easy for credit unions,” Loanovia President John-Ashley Paul said. “We recognized that loan payments and loan skips were pain points. They were time-consuming, manual, and often frustrating to the member and the credit union. Working in collaboration with credit unions, we resolved those issues and have found the perfect balance in generating operational savings and workflow efficiencies, while providing an invaluable service. Members are empowered to pay or skip loans anytime, from anywhere on any device, without requiring a branch visit or phone call. The initial response was overwhelmingly positive; it is a great tool for building long-term relationships and loyalty.”

In a statement, Tyfone announced that Loanovia had partnered with the Iowa Credit Union League (ICUL) to make the company’s loan servicing solutions available to a broader range of credit unions. Based in West Des Moines, Iowa, ICUL is a non-profit trade association that represents the interests of Iowa’s state and federally chartered credit unions, serving more than 1.5 million members.

“At ICUL, we are committed to delivering meaningful value to our member credit unions through thoughtfully selected service offerings and strategic partnerships,” Iowa Credit Union League Chief Operating Officer Matt Oakley said. “This partnership with Loanovia reflects that commitment and our continued focus on connecting credit unions with trusted providers offering innovative, proven solutions. These solutions drive efficiency, streamline processes, and strengthen member loyalty—further advancing the member-first philosophy that defines Iowa credit unions.”

One of Finovate’s earliest alums, Tyfone made its Finovate debut at FinovateSpring 2008. In the years since then, the Portland, Oregon-based company has grown into a major digital banking solutions provider with more than 100 customers and 200+ integrations. Tyfone integrates digital banking, instant payments, and intelligent, AI-powered tools to help financial institutions streamline operations, improve efficiency, and enhance customer experiences.

Are you a credit union that is looking for ways to build your membership community, offer innovative new solutions and take advantage of enabling technologies like AI? This year’s FinovateSpring2026 in San Diego—May 5 through May 7—will feature a range of sessions dedicated to helping credit unions grow and thrive.

Check out the FinovateSpring agenda today for more information on our AI on a Shoestring executive briefing, our Credit Union Spotlight and Breakfast, and more!

Photo by Jimmy Woo on Unsplash

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The Pitfalls of the 95% Confidence Paradigm for Banking Data Quality

2026-03-04T20:13:03Z

The following is a sponsored post from Ted O’Connor, SVP and Head of Business Development—Sell Side, with global fintech company Arcesium.

Arcesium delivers an advanced data, operations, and analytics platform used by some of the world’s most sophisticated financial institutions, including hedge funds, banks, institutional asset managers, and private equity firms.

Every bank is in a different stage of its data journey. Recently, while attending the InvestOps Europe conference in Paris, one of the presenters mentioned that when it comes to gauging the level of confidence banking leadership has in the integrity of its data, 95% confidence in their data is the barometer to which they need to adhere. Ninety-five percent has always been a desirable grade to get on a paper or in a class, but is it good enough when talking about a multinational bank operating in dozens of jurisdictions?

Like the air we breathe, data is odorless, colorless, silent, and hard to measure. That is, until data is presented next to dollar signs on a disclosure report, balance sheet, or interminable spreadsheet; then it becomes real. The past few years have seen financial institutions grappling with suddenly ballooning volumes of financial data, not an easy ask for legacy data systems and banks that might run on scores of different systems.

The 95% confidence fallacy

While a 95% confidence interval ^[i] in data is the target, banks really have only 80-90% confidence in their data today. In a 2024 study of sell-side reference data operations, over 90% reported that poor data quality caused issues in clearing and settlement, risk management, and regulatory reporting, with 80% citing challenges in automated trading and market connectivity emanating from inaccurate data.[ii] Moreover, that 80-90% is a bit of an illusion. Here’s the reality. Say, I am a bank CTO or chief data scientist, and I have 80% confidence in the data that is coming to me via any type of transaction. I then push that data into the clearing or matching process. Then, I push it into the settlement process—and there’s cash movement that goes along with this. That data keeps getting pushed from one process to the next, to the next, and the next, which means there’s a little bit of degeneration that happens all the way through. By the time I get to the end of my processes, I have 50% confidence in my data, and that little anomaly from the first process becomes a serious data problem 10 steps later. However, this is an inscrutable problem to recognize, much less solve. It depends on the robustness of the institution’s existing data and operational infrastructure, the stage of its data transformation journey, and the asset classes and structures involved.

Meanwhile, the risk of getting it wrong is high. On the undesirable end of the 95% spectrum, Citi shelled out about a billion dollars in fines in the last five years for irregularities in its regulatory reporting data and governance failures, and responded by spending millions modernizing its technology.[iii] Deutsche Bank, Wells Fargo, and Mitsubishi Bank are examples of institutions that have worked through confidential supervisory findings called Matters Requiring Attention (MRAs) and Matters Requiring Immediate Attention (MRIAs). Many of these have been rooted in data processes. In this context, even 95% (and even if it were a true 95%) isn’t enough for global banks—UBS, for instance, has a balance sheet larger than the Swiss economy. A Swiss bailout of such a bank is challenging. The risk needs to be near-zero, which means confidence needs to be near-perfect.

Is AI the key?

AI has lit a fire in the bellies of buy-side and sell-side institutions alike, as they know their data house must be in order for the AI house to be in order. According to Deloitte, “Banks’ AI readiness is often slowed by the data foundations that models depend on. Poor infrastructure can result in data sprawl, vulnerability, and limited data-led innovation, limiting model efficacy.”[iv] But once a bank has their AI game in place, it can play a pivotal role in bringing order to the data chaos. There are several data quality management functions that AI agents are already helping with. For example, one financial institution recently leveraged generative AI to automate data lineage capture and metadata generation, achieving 40% to 70% productivity gains in specific tasks.[v]

AI presents ready-assistance for unstructured data, in particular. If managing structured data is like sorting pre-labeled packages, managing unstructured data with AI is like instantly reading thousands of handwritten letters, identifying key facts in each one, and organizing those facts into a searchable spreadsheet—a task impossible for humans at scale. But, again, the art of the possible when it comes to AI will come back to data quality; it will require institutions to centralize their data management capabilities, with an emphasis on tools that support strong data lineage and reporting accuracy.

The 100% data confidence paradigm

Having a 95% data confidence barometer presents several pitfalls when executing tech transformations. Regulatory considerations, data governance challenges (especially with unstructured data), surging market volumes, private credit, and the adoption of AI in the financial services industry are forces that cannot be ignored. Realistically, banking leaders need to keep their eyes on the 100% prize for quality data management .[vi] Everybody under the roof will do a better job if they trust that the information they do their jobs with is reliable, timely, and precise.

[i] Investopedia, May 6, 2025. https://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/confidenceinterval.asp#toc-explain-like-im-five

[ii] Acuity Knowledge Partners, November 2024. https://assets.ctfassets.net/cy2jgjrgaerj/5V6yrRfzYZU1LXqUgvulAD/ed8d59627717a3fafe96f36123d36e8e/increasing-efficiency-in-sell-side-reference-data-management-fow.pdf

[iii] Banking Dive, July 11, 2024. https://www.bankingdive.com/news/citi-occ-fed-135-million-penalties-2020-orders-data-quality-risk-management-control-fraser-hsu/721061/

[iv] Deloitte, October 30, 2025. https://www.deloitte.com/us/en/insights/industry/financial-services/financial-services-industry-outlooks/banking-industry-outlook.html

[v] BCG, May 6, 2025. https://www.bcg.com/publications/2025/tech-banking-transformation-starts-with-smarter-tech-investment

[vi] Arcesium, February 2, 2026. https://www.arcesium.com/resources/driving-trusted-data-framework-for-banks?utm_source=one-off&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=MC-2026-Q1_SS-Data-Quality-To-Do-List&utm_content=finovate-sponsored-article

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TAPP Engine’s 9Squid Launches Private Markets Platform for Credit Unions and CFIs

2026-03-04T18:29:47Z

A subsidiary of TAPP Engine, 9Squid Private Markets has introduced its AI-powered private markets platform for credit unions and community financial institutions (CFIs).
9Squid will enable credit unions and CFIs to launch securitization initiatives thanks to modern asset-liability management (ALM) and liquidity management tools.
TAPP Engine, headquartered in Quincy, Massachusetts, made its Finovate debut at FinovateSpring 2025 in San Diego.

9Squid Private Markets, a subsidiary of TAPP Engine, has unveiled its AI-powered private markets platform for credit unions and community financial institutions. The platform enables credit unions and CFIs to access modern asset-liability management (ALM) and liquidity management tools, making securitization a systematic, repeatable balance sheet strategy rather than a complex, one-off transaction.

“Community institutions play a central role in capital formation, yet many have been priced out of securitization markets,” Tapp Engine Founder and CEO Tosin Osunsanya said. “9Squid brings securitization, balance sheet modeling, and an AI-powered platform built for credit unions and community financial institutions of all sizes. It provides a repeatable and efficient path to institutional capital while preserving cooperative governance and relationship banking.”

Credit unions in the US hold approximately $2.4 trillion in assets—and more than $1.7 trillion in consumer loans. CFIs, specifically community and regional banks, hold another $6 trillion in assets and more than $4.1 trillion in consumer, small business, and commercial loans. This data is from the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) and the Independent Community Bankers of America (ICBA), respectively. Despite these sizable holdings, the rate of securitization among credit unions and community banks is lower than it could be.

Securitization would enable credit unions and CFIs to convert their loan assets into marketable securities that could be sold to institutional investors. Backed by the cash flows generated from underlying loans, securitization provides credit unions and CFIs with greater liquidity, balance sheet optimization, and risk diversification.

Unfortunately, securitization often brings costs, structural complexity, and minimum size thresholds that have made it difficult for credit unions and CFIs to participate and access institutional private markets. 9Squid helps lower these barriers, enabling efficient access to institutional capital. The platform uses balance sheet impact simulation and optimization to enable institutions to evaluate securitization scenarios before execution. This allows institutions to understand projected impacts on liquidity, capital ratios, earnings, and concentration exposure. The platform helps ensure disciplined decision-making, making securitization an ongoing balance sheet management tool rather than a singular transaction.

This point was underscored in a statement by TDECU Holdings President Michael Massey, who noted that “what stood out was the ability to understand balance sheet outcomes before committing to a transaction. That level of visibility allows credit unions to evaluate securitization as a practical and repeatable balance sheet strategy.”

9Squid currently supports securitization of personal loans, auto loans, and home equity lines of credit using regulator-aligned structures. With regard to the current partnership, five credit unions are in the initial pipeline, and plans are in effect to onboard additional credit unions and CFIs of all sizes.

Based in Quincy, Massachusetts, Tapp Engine made its Finovate debut at FinovateSpring 2025 in San Diego, California. Founded in 2021, the company partners with credit unions and CFIs to increase financial wellness, enhance loyalty, attract new users, and boost revenue and deposit retention. At the FinovateSpring last year, Tapp Engine demonstrated how its platform blends intuitive design, educational resources, and an emphasis on accessibility to deliver self-directed, automated investing experiences to accountholders—all from within their digital banking environment.

Are you a credit union or community bank looking for ways to enhance the customer experience, attract new members, and grow deposits? FinovateSpring 2026—May 5 through May 7—will feature a range of special sessions dedicated specifically to the issues of credit unions and community financial institutions. Check out the FinovateSpring agenda to learn more!

Photo by Sasun Bughdaryan on Unsplash

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Cinareo Teams Up with Aspect to Boost Contact Center Performance

2026-03-03T21:11:33Z

Capacity planning and insights platform Cinareo announced a partnership with workforce management and engagement solutions company Aspect.
The partnership will help contact centers reduce reliance on spreadsheets in favor of modern, scenario-based workforce management and capacity planning tools.
Cinareo made its Finovate debut at FinovateSpring 2025 in San Diego. The Ontario, Canada-based company was founded in 2022.

Capacity planning and insights platform Cinareo has forged a partnership with workforce management and engagement solutions company Aspect. The two firms will join forces to help contact centers reduce spreadsheet risk, align budgets with service goals, and transition from planning to performance faster and smarter.

The partnership will help contact centers move away from spreadsheets and siloed assumptions in order to forecast demand and build schedules, as well as model “what-if” scenarios, compare service-cost tradeoffs, and manage long-range staffing decisions. Cinareo and Aspect will empower companies to align day-to-day workforce operations with customer experience targets, budgets, hiring plans, and more by connecting scenario-based capacity planning to real-time scheduling and intraday execution.

“Cinareo was built to eliminate the limitations and risks of spreadsheet-based planning by providing structured, scenario-based capacity planning across staffing, financials, and recruitment,” Cinareo CEO Karen Elliott said. “Together with Aspect, we’re delivering a unified workflow from planning to execution so organizations can plan with confidence, staff accurately, and adapt easily as demand changes.”

Cinareo’s technology enables guided, scenario-based capacity plans across both weekly and monthly horizons—supporting planning up to 52 weeks and extending up to three years—that are aligned to budgets, hiring windows, and service targets. Aspect takes approved plans and enables organizations to build actionable schedules and manage intraday adjustments as circumstances demand. The combination of Cinareo’s technology and Aspect’s intelligent platform will allow companies to plan with precision, execute with confidence, and prove impact with plan-vs-actual variance tracking, thresholds, and more.

“Contact center leaders need a defensible plan they can trust, and the ability to operationalize that plan as conditions change,” Aspect VP of Partner Ecosystem Anna DeGraftenreed said. “By partnering with Cinareo, we’re linking scenario-driven capacity planning and financial alignment with Aspect’s real-time scheduling and intraday management, so teams can make better decisions earlier and deliver more consistent outcomes.”

Headquartered in Boulder, Colorado, Aspect offers an enterprise workforce management solution, powered by Aspect Intelligence, that unifies AI forecasting, dynamic scheduling, and real-time performance analytics to enable firms to anticipate demand, take timely action, and ensure service quality. With more than 400 contact centers using Aspect’s technology, Aspect counts American Airlines, Bank of America, and Dell among its global brand customers. Jeff Kupietzky is the company’s interim CEO, joining the firm in December 2025.

Founded in 2022, Cinareo made its Finovate debut at FinovateSpring 2025 in San Diego. At the conference, the Ontario-based company demonstrated how its technology streamlines contact center operations and mitigates risk with precise resource allocation and data-driven decision-making. Learn more about Cinareo and the challenge of workforce management and capacity planning in our Finovate Global interview with company CEO Karen Elliott.

Speaking of FinovateSpring, tickets for our 2026 conference in sunny San Diego—May 5 through May 7— are available now. 80% of our demo lineup is already set. Take advantage of big savings and secure your ticket today!

Photo by Narciso Arellano on Unsplash

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Ripple Payments Now Handles More of the Payments Lifecycle

2026-03-03T20:32:14Z

Digital asset company Ripple is expanding its digital payments platform, Ripple Payments, to create a single, end-to-end platform that consolidates the payments stack.

The California-based company aims to speed up settlement and reduce friction with a full payments infrastructure platform that allows fintechs to operate in the onchain economy by supporting payments made on both fiat and onchain rails. Using the new platform, organizations can collect money, hold it, convert it from fiat to stablecoin and back, manage liquidity, and pay it out.

Bringing all of these capabilities into a single place allows fintechs to manage their entire payments operation. Instead of using one provider for wallets, another for custody, another for FX, and another for payouts, fintechs can now do all of this through Ripple Payments.

Prompting this change are two acquisitions made in 2025. In November of last year, Ripple acquired digital asset custody company Palisade for an undisclosed amount. In August, the company purchased stablecoin-powered global payments platform Rail for $200 million. The added capabilities offer the ability to provision named virtual accounts and wallets, automate collection flows, and exchange and settle funds into operational accounts. Overall, Ripple Payments has processed more than $100 billion in total volume, with Rail adding another $10 billion annually.

“For the global financial system to evolve, fintechs and financial institutions need infrastructure that treats digital assets with the same rigor as traditional finance,” said Ripple President Monica Long. “Success in this space requires enterprise-grade infrastructure, extensive licensing, and deep liquidity—capabilities few can match. Ripple has built the blueprint for blockchain-based enterprise solutions designed to operate at global scale for regulated finance.”

By adding these new capabilities, Ripple can now handle the entire payment lifecycle. The company is positioning itself as more of a regulated global payments infrastructure provider that supports both fiat and stablecoins instead of simply a crypto rails provider. This new role places Ripple in competition with traditional cross-border payment processors and infrastructure vendors such as SWIFT, Visa Direct, Mastercard Cross-Border Services, and large correspondent banking networks, as well as fintech infrastructure players like Stripe, Adyen, and Airwallex.

By combining custody, liquidity management, FX, and payout orchestration into a single platform that supports both fiat and stablecoins, Ripple is positioning itself as a direct challenger to well-established incumbents.

Founded under the name OpenCoin in 2012, Ripple debuted at FinovateSpring the following year. The company provides blockchain-based solutions across traditional and digital finance. Its solutions span global payments, custody, liquidity, prime brokerage, and treasury management tools for banks, fintechs, payment service providers, and crypto businesses.

Ripple offers a stablecoin, RLUSD, that is designed to be used for settlement, liquidity management, and digital dollar transactions within its platform. RLUSD has surpassed $1 billion in market cap since launching in December 2024. Ripple’s cryptocurrency, XRP, is often used as a bridge asset to move value between currencies in cross-border payments.

Photo by Dan Cristian Pădureț

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80% of Demos Locked In for FinovateSpring 2026

2026-03-03T12:31:43Z

FinovateSpring 2026 takes place in sunny San Diego on May 5-7. Register to attend by March 20 and save $400.

With just two months to go, the excitement for FinovateSpring 2026 is building as our demo lineup fills up fast.

On May 5 and 6, more than 50 fintech and financial services companies will take the stage to showcase their latest innovations, giving attendees a front-row seat to the cutting edge of fintech.

Every demo is handpicked to highlight fresh, impactful technologies that solve real-world challenges and drive efficiency. This is the place to be to see where the industry is headed and discover solutions that can transform your business.

Here’s a sneak peek at what our 2026 demo lineup will help you achieve:

Revolutionize payments: Enable low-cost, near-instant global transactions with stablecoin-powered FX.
Empower financial wellness: Offer integrated Earned Wage Access solutions to retain customers.
Boost deposits: Add digital business savings accounts to your strategy.
Approve smarter loans: Use AI-driven underwriting to reduce costs and expand SME market share.
Gain cash visibility: Automate treasury management with real-time insights.
Simplify compliance: Reduce back-office work and save money with tailored, attorney-reviewed solutions.
and more!

And that’s just the beginning!

Stay tuned as we reveal the full lineup in the coming weeks. Whether you’re looking to solve a specific challenge or simply want to stay ahead of the curve, FinovateSpring 2026 is where innovation meets opportunity.

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Celebrate Cinco de Mayo with us!
FinovateSpring kicks off on May 5, but the festivities start early in San Diego. Explore vibrant Cinco de Mayo celebrations the weekend before and on the day itself in iconic neighborhoods like the Gaslamp Quarter and Old Town.

On May 5, we’ll bring the holiday spirit to FinovateSpring with themed lunches, special drinks, and more!

Stay tuned for more details, and get ready to enjoy San Diego while discovering the latest in fintech innovation.

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Eltropy Unveils Agentic AI Platform for Credit Unions

2026-03-02T21:51:46Z

Eltropy is introducing a governed agentic AI platform built specifically for credit unions.
The new platform enables credit unions to create, deploy, and supervise AI agents within defined operational and compliance guardrails.
By centralizing agent deployment and governance, Eltropy positions credit unions to scale AI safely and competitively, narrowing the innovation gap between smaller institutions and large banks with larger technology budgets.

Member communications platform Eltropy is launching an agentic AI platform specifically for credit unions this week. The tool offers a single location for credit unions, fintechs, and core banking providers to work collaboratively on an agentic AI project.

The platform allows users to create, govern, integrate, and deploy AI agents. The tool offers credit unions visibility into what an AI agent did, why it did it, what data it used, and how it reached its decision. Every AI agent is subject to standard operating procedures and authentication protocols, so the agents are unable to take actions outside of the procedures or data boundaries.

Additionally, Eltropy’s agentic AI platform offers organizations control over which employees are able to access and control the agents. “This ensures Agentic AI is innovative but controlled, powerful but predictable, open but always safe,” said Eltropy CEO and Co-Founder Ashish Garg.

Offering credit unions the ability to build and govern AI agents in-house reduces vendor sprawl and creates a structured distribution channel for fintech partners. Rather than layering solutions across consumer touchpoints, credit unions can centralize automation under a governed agent framework.

Crucially, Eltropy’s agentic AI platform positions credit unions to compete more effectively with large banks that have significantly larger IT and R&D budgets. By embedding auditability, authentication protocols, and role-based controls, the platform lowers the regulatory and operational risk that often prevents smaller institutions from deploying advanced AI tools.

“This is just the beginning,” said Abhishek Tiwari, Chief Product Officer, Eltropy. “For us, agentic AI is not about automation for its own sake, it’s about delivering measurable business outcomes. Our AI agents already authenticate members and provide account information, and we’re rapidly expanding into payments, loan system updates, collections workflows, and more. The goal is simple—drive real operational impact across the credit union. This is how agentic AI becomes real.”

Eltropy’s Agentic AI platform helps shift agentic AI from experimental chatbot deployments to core operational infrastructure. With AI advancements moving rapidly and traditional financial institutions struggling to keep up, agentic AI platforms like Eltropy’s will be crucial fintech infrastructure as the industry continues to evolve.

If you’re a credit union, check out opportunities in our Credit Union Spotlight Program at FinovateSpring, taking place March 5 through 7 in San Diego, California.

Photo by Google DeepMind

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