October 1, 2026 @ 5:01 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Citigroup (NYSE: C) has recently activated instant payments across several countries through Swift’s payments scheme, giving correspondent banks a simpler path into domestic real-time rails without building a local presence in each market. Announced on 29 September 2026, the capability is delivered through Citi’s WorldLink… Read More

 Tagged citigroup, payments, real-time transactions, swift

October 1, 2026 @ 12:51 pm By JD Alois  |  

ZA Bank is one of the first approved digital banks in Hong Kong. This week, the company reported “sustained profitability.” According to a release, for the 6 months ending in June, the bank generated a net profit of HKD 70.6 million (~USD 9million), an increase… Read More

 Tagged banking, digital bank, hong kong, za bank

October 1, 2026 @ 12:20 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Valley National Bancorp has reached a definitive agreement to purchase Bluevine Inc., a digital banking platform built for small businesses, in a transaction valued at about $340 million. The announcement, made on September 28, 2026, positions the deal as a way for Valley to strengthen… Read More

 Tagged acquisition, banking, bluevine, sme's, us, valley national bancorp

October 1, 2026 @ 9:27 am By JD Alois  |  

The Payments Association in the UK advocates for the payments and transfer sectors, including crypto participants. Today, the Payments Association says it has acquired its European counterpart, the Payments Association – EU (TPA-EU). Any monetary considerations were not revealed. Together, the two entities will now… Read More

 Tagged EU, payments, the payments association, uk

October 1, 2026 @ 8:30 am By Michael Wong  |  

Asia Pacific businesses are demanding faster cross-border payments as a wider range of payment providers and methods reshapes the international payments market, according to new research from Nium and financial research firm Celent. The study found that 73% of businesses in the region want international… Read More

 Tagged celent, nium, payments

October 1, 2026 @ 8:28 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Circle (NYSE: CRCL) and Volante have announced a partnership designed to help banks fold stablecoin payments into the systems they already run, rather than forcing them to stand up a parallel digital asset platform. On September 28, 2026, Volante Technologies, a payments-as-a-service provider whose platform… Read More

 Tagged circle, payments, stablecoins, usdc, volante

October 1, 2026 @ 7:43 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Small and mid-sized firms that sell or buy across borders are preparing to change how they move money. A Mastercard (NYSE: MA) study produced with Bain & Company finds that 91 percent of internationally active SMEs expect to leave their current cross-border payment provider within… Read More

 Tagged banking, Cross-Border Transactions, fintech, mastercard, research, sme's

October 1, 2026 @ 6:21 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Elio Mortgage has stepped out of stealth after securing $5.1 million in pre-seed capital, positioning itself as an AI-first brokerage rather than another vendor selling point tools to lenders. Motive Partners and Social Leverage led the round, with Insight Partners co-founder Jeff Horing joining as… Read More

 Tagged elio mortgage, funding round, motive partners, social leverage

October 1, 2026 @ 2:59 am By Omar Faridi  |  

UK’s competition regulator has raised formal concerns that The Brink’s Company’s planned takeover of NCR Atleos could reduce rivalry in parts of the UK cash-machine market. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said the $6.6 billion cash-and-stock transaction may be expected to result in a… Read More

 Tagged brink, cma, ncr atleos, uk, united kingdom

September 30, 2026 @ 5:44 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Citigroup (NYSE: C) has extended its institutional blockchain liquidity platform, Citi Token Services, into Japan and the United Arab Emirates, bringing the network to seven live markets. The addition allows corporate and financial institution clients with accounts in those two jurisdictions to move funds around… Read More

 Tagged citi, japan, token services, uae