December 30, 2025 @ 8:18 am By Omar Faridi  |  

QED Investors, a venture capital firm based in Alexandria, Virginia, that is focused on investing in Fintechs, has shared some end-of-year insights with CI. QED Investors, which also invests in financial services initiatives in the U.K. and Europe, Latin America, India, and Southeast Asia, has commented on… Read More

 Tagged fintech, insights, outlook 2026, perspective, qed investors

December 30, 2025 @ 8:05 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Upvest has noted that it entered 2025 on a high, fresh off the announcement of their €100 million Series C last December and having reportedly reached a milestone 20 million orders processed during 2024. Fast forward to December 2025 and Upvest has claimed that they… Read More

 Tagged europe, fintech, germany, investing, outlook 2026, trading, upvest

December 29, 2025 @ 10:20 pm By Michael Wong  |  

Malaysia drew 54.13 billion ringgit ($13.3 billion) in approved Malaysia Digital (MD) investments in the third quarter of 2025, projects expected to generate 21,815 high-value jobs across 402 digital companies, according to the Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC). MDEC said the investment pipeline underscored sustained… Read More

 Tagged digital investment, malaysia

December 29, 2025 @ 8:26 am By Omar Faridi  |  

China’s central bank, the People’s Bank of China (PBOC), has unveiled a comprehensive action plan to elevate its central bank digital currency (CBDC), the digital yuan (e-CNY). Effective January 1, 2026, this initiative will introduce an upgraded governance framework, operational mechanisms, and supporting infrastructure, marking… Read More

 Tagged banking, cbdc, china, digital yuan, digitalization, payments, pboc

December 29, 2025 @ 5:28 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Smart Data Group (SDG) has recently appointed Dr. Ruth Wandhöfer as independent  Mobilisation Lead as the industry focuses on efforts to unlock the next phase of Open Banking and build the foundations for a more scalable, secure and resilient smart data economy in the United… Read More

 Tagged open banking, sdg, smart data group, uk, united kingdom

December 28, 2025 @ 9:42 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Thailand’s aggregate card payments market is now being projected to grow by 2.7% in 2025 to reach THB2.3 trillion (appr. $65.4 billion), supported by the ongoing expansion of digital payment acceptance infrastructure, government-led financial inclusion initiatives, and the growing adoption of contactless payments, according to… Read More

 Tagged credit cards, insights, payments, research, thailand

December 28, 2025 @ 9:35 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Circle (NYSE: CRCL) noted that every day trillions of dollars move between businesses. These business-to-business (B2B) transactions underpin everything from “keeping factories running to facilitating digital services, with an estimated ~$88 trillion in B2B transactions in 2024 alone.” Despite despite their size and importance, the… Read More

 Tagged b2b, circle, digital technology, payments

December 28, 2025 @ 8:12 am By Omar Faridi  |  

The Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) has set out changes that will give businesses more information on the card payment fees they pay. This follows its market review, which found that Mastercard and Visa don’t face competition due to rising fees and a lack of clarity… Read More

 Tagged payments, psr, uk, united kingdom

December 27, 2025 @ 5:27 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Fintech Plaid has noted in a blog post that credit underwriting has long relied on credit bureau data, which provides many years of structured, standardized information on loans, repayments, and delinquencies. However, Plaid also mentioned that these files have certain “blind spots, saying little about… Read More

 Tagged credit score, open banking, plaid

December 26, 2025 @ 3:51 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Mastercard (NYSE: MA) SpendingPulse has unveiled that savvy consumers and e-commerce are fueling U.S. holiday retail sales growth by 3.9% year over year. Getting a strong early start, consumers have now seemingly embraced convenience and connection through the season, blending online and in-store purchases and… Read More

 Tagged consumer behavior, insights, mastercard, research, spending