The Fintech Times Bi-Weekly News Roundup takes a look at the latest fintech stories from around the world on Thursday 26 June 2025.
Appointments
Open banking fintech Yaspa has named Chris Lowe as chief financial officer. Lowe, who had been serving as fractional CFO since October 2024, joins full-time from Fitzgerald Power to support Yaspa’s next stage of growth. The London-based fintech is planning expansion into new markets and sectors, building on its instant payments and identity platform for igaming.
Craig Ramsey, head of real-time and account-to-account payments at ACI Worldwide, has been elected to the US Faster Payments Council board of directors. Representing the technology providers segment, Ramsey will begin a three-year term on 1 July, bringing over 30 years of payments experience to the industry-led body advancing faster payments in the US.
Bitget Wallet has appointed Jamie Elkaleh as chief marketing officer. Elkaleh, who has led the wallet’s rebrand to a user-first platform for trading, payment, and Web3 discovery, will focus on global growth, product storytelling, and accessibility initiatives. He will also spearhead academic and developer engagement as part of Bitget Wallet’s mission to make crypto usable for everyday life.
Digital asset insurance broker Native has appointed George Frith as divisional director, Bitcoin mining and AI compute. Frith joins from Relm Insurance and brings over a decade of experience in underwriting and broking, including several crypto insurance firsts. He will focus on developing bespoke cover for digital infrastructure risks, from bitcoin mining to AI data centres.
Wealthtech firm Orion has named Valli Nachiappan as chief technology officer. Formerly VP of engineering at Zendesk, Nachiappan brings over 20 years of experience in AI and scalable platform development. She will lead Orion’s global tech strategy, with a focus on data integration, infrastructure scaling and advisor-client experience innovation.
More appointments
TBC Uzbekistan, the digital banking arm of London-listed TBC Bank Group, has formed a new supervisory board for its holding company, TBC Digital. The board will be chaired by Oliver Hughes, former Tinkoff CEO, and joined by David Nangle (VEF) and Matthew Risley (QED Investors), bringing deep fintech and emerging market expertise as the company scales in Central Asia’s largest market.
Finova, a UK cloud-based mortgage and savings software provider, has appointed Richard Marsh as chief customer officer. Previously chief operating officer, Marsh will lead the new customer success function, unifying support, implementation and insights to drive client outcomes and retention. The move is part of Finova’s wider leadership reshuffle and reflects its focus on aligning operations with customer needs.
Partnerships and collaborations
UAE-based streaming tech firm Hibrid has forged a strategic partnership with Alibaba Cloud to deliver enhanced streaming and infrastructure services across the Middle East and Gulf Cooperation Council. The collaboration aims to improve content delivery, reduce latency and support regional digital transformation through scalable, AI-powered solutions.
Yahoo Finance is expanding globally with a new London studio and daily live show, Morning Brief: Market Sunrise. The move coincides with extended programming hours and a partnership with Blue Ocean Technologies to offer 24/5 US stock data, supporting round-the-clock market coverage for international investors.
Prosper, the wealth-building platform that helps its members grow their wealth through access to select investment vehicles on a low-fee basis, has teamed up with Griffin, the UK bank for fintechs and platforms. With this partnership, Prosper has updated its banking infrastructure to streamline operations, solve reconciliation challenges and offer Griffin’s savings accounts to its members.
Greek fintech COSMOTE Payments has joined forces with UK-based Snowdrop Solutions to enhance transparency in digital transactions. The integration, now live for payzy users, enriches payment data with merchant names, logos, and categories, aiming to improve clarity, reduce confusion and boost engagement across COSMOTE’s digital payments platform.
Digital payments firm SWIVEL has unveiled a strategic integration with Paydoff, a provider of collections automation tools for financial institutions. The partnership enables credit unions to enhance collections efficiency while improving the member experience through personalised, machine learning-powered engagement and flexible digital payment options.
DIMOCO, an Austrian-licensed payments firm and carrier billing company, has become the first authorised provider of carrier billing for Germany’s regulated igaming sector. The approval from national regulator GGL allows licensed operators to offer mobile payments within set player limits. NEO.bet, a sportsbook operated by Malta-based Greenvest Betting, will be the first to roll out the method.
More partnerships
Digital asset infrastructure provider BitGo has integrated WalletConnect via WalletKit, a connectivity SDK from Reown, a specialist in onchain user experience and builder of the WalletConnect Network. The integration enables institutional clients to access DeFi protocols, DAO governance and token swaps directly from BitGo’s self-custody hot wallets, without compromising on enterprise-grade security.
East Africa’s I&M Group, a regional financial services provider, has partnered with ThetaRay, a global specialist in cognitive AI for financial crime compliance, to roll out an end-to-end anti-money laundering platform across five countries. The system will replace legacy tools with unified onboarding, monitoring and reporting capabilities, supporting I&M’s regional growth and regulatory readiness.
Global information and insights company TransUnion has made a minority investment in Omnisient, a South Africa-founded fintech specialising in privacy-preserving data collaboration. The partnership aims to accelerate the use of alternative data to boost financial inclusion across Africa, leveraging Omnisient’s platform to securely unlock non-traditional data for credit risk and decisioning.
Asia Commercial Bank (ACB), a major retail bank in Vietnam, has partnered with global digital payment software provider OpenWay to roll out Southeast Asia’s first Visa Flex Credential. Enabled by OpenWay’s Way4 platform, the card enables users to switch between debit and credit functions in real time, aiming to improve customer choice and payment flexibility.
Trading platform eToro has partnered with global asset manager Franklin Templeton to launch six target-date investment portfolios aimed at retail investors planning for long-term financial goals. The portfolios, starting from $1,000, automatically rebalance from equities to fixed income over time. A special offer includes full capital protection for users investing at least $2,000 in the Target2030-FT portfolio.
Company updates and launches
Amazon Web Services (AWS) has launched its first Innovation Hub in Asia Pacific, located in Singapore, toT accelerate AI and cloud transformation across the region. Alongside this, AWS and Digital Industry Singapore (DISG) unveiled the AI Springboard programme, offering up to S$600,000 in cloud credits and training support per enterprise, plus co-funded consultancy to help 300 local businesses scale AI adoption.
SoFi is expanding its digital financial services with upcoming crypto investing and blockchain-based international money transfers, both expected later this year. The move marks SoFi’s return to crypto and introduces self-serve remittances directly in-app, aiming to offer faster, lower-cost global payments and broaden access to digital assets like Bitcoin and Ethereum.
Alibaba.com has launched CoCreate Pitch, a global product-based competition offering nearly £750,000 in prizes to help SMEs realise innovative product ideas. UK entrepreneurs can enter online, with finalists pitching at a new London event on 14 November. Winners will gain funding, sourcing credits and access to Alibaba.com’s AI-powered tools and supplier network.
Wealth platform Moneybox has unveiled a new Business Saver account offering UK sole traders and SMEs four per cent variable interest with easy access and next-day withdrawals. Aimed at helping businesses grow cash reserves and manage liquidity, the account requires a £500 minimum deposit and is available via the Moneybox app without needing an existing account.
Austin-based fintech Onramp Funds has launched an independent sales organisation (ISO) programme, enabling qualified brokers to offer its non-dilutive, performance-based funding to e-commerce SMBs. The initiative helps merchants access capital faster than traditional loans, aligning repayments with sales cycles to support strategic growth.
More company updates
Financial management platform Expensify has expanded its international capabilities, now supporting company card imports from over 10,000 banks, multilingual access in 10 new languages, Euro-based billing, and global reimbursements. The Expensify Card is also rolling out in the UK and EU, with Canada next, advancing the company’s goal to simplify expense management worldwide.
Financial platform Bourgeois Bohème (BOBO), which serves high-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth individuals, has enabled Apple Pay for its cardholders. The integration enables BOBO customers to make secure, contactless payments using iPhone, Apple Watch as well as other Apple devices, while retaining all existing rewards and benefits.
Funding and investments
Singapore-based fintech Lana has bagged funding from Liminal, founded by Temasek, and Twynam Investments to expand its platform for financing corporate decarbonisation. Lana helps APAC businesses cut energy and carbon costs through blended finance, advanced risk modelling and access to global climate tech, addressing rising energy prices and upcoming carbon taxes.
Cryptography startup Zama has raised $57million in a Series B round led by Pantera Capital and Blockchange Ventures, becoming the first unicorn in fully homomorphic encryption (FHE). The funding supports the launch of Zama’s Confidential Blockchain Protocol, enabling encrypted smart contracts on Ethereum and beyond, as the company pushes for scalable, privacy-preserving applications in finance, identity and Web3.
Milan-based fintech Sibill has secured €12million in Series A funding led by Creandum, with participation also from Keen Venture Partners. Sibill’s platform centralises financial tasks for SMEs using AI and now plans to expand into the accounting sector with new tools to automate bookkeeping and reconciliation. The company serves over 2,600 clients across Italy.
