Rio, Reais, and Revolut! 🇧🇷💰
Future of Fintech - Edition #154 (26th Feb-3rd March, 2025)
Fintech is moving at full throttle! 🚀 From borderless payments to tighter crypto oversight, the industry is rewriting the rulebook. When payment rails stretch across continents, and regulators start calling the shots, you know something big is happening. The week’s pulse is electric:
✔️ Instant money movement is scaling globally
✔️ Merchants are gaining more control over payments
✔️ Crypto’s Wild West days might be numbered
Big shifts, bold plays, and a whole lot of action—let’s get into it!
Pledge your access to fintech analysis and exclusive insights ⚡
What’s on the fintech menu today?
📖 The Week’s Featured Story: The UAE’s Open Finance Revolution: Standardized, Centralized, and Monetized
🌟 Fintech Fiesta: The Week's Hot 10!
🌐 ‘Byte’ Buzz: Fintech highlights, sorted by segment!
🔗 Link Up: Your gateway to resourceful links!
Featured Story of the Week 📰
The UAE’s Open Finance Revolution: Standardized, Centralized, and Monetized
Unlike Bahrain’s early regulatory-first push or Saudi Arabia’s phased Vision 2030 approach, the UAE took a market-first route—allowing fintechs, banks, and infrastructure players to shape Open Finance through real-world experimentation before setting formal rules. Now, with the CBUAE’s Open Finance Regulation (2024), the country is executing a structured yet market-tested approach, solidifying its position in MENA’s Open Finance ecosystem.
🔑 3 Key Shifts Defining UAE’s Open Finance Playbook:
DIFC and ADGM were early enablers of Open Banking, but CBUAE is now bringing national-level oversight. With Nebras Open Finance LLC, the UAE is standardizing financial data-sharing, ensuring a unified API infrastructure.
Incumbents like Emirates NBD, ADIB, and Mashreq are leveraging APIs to embed banking services into fintechs and corporates, shifting from product providers to infrastructure enablers.
Fintechs like Dapi & Thimsa are powering A2A payments, StashAway is embedding investment automation, and even retailers like Malabar Gold are integrating API-driven supplier payments. The industry is moving from bank-led Open Banking to embedded finance across sectors.
What role will banks, fintechs, and third-party providers play in this new centralized framework? What strategies are UAE banks using to turn Open Finance from a compliance requirement into a revenue engine?
Uncover how regulation, banks, and fintechs are converging to shape the next wave of financial connectivity in the UAE. Get the answers in our latest deep dive!
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Sip, scroll, and stay ahead! ☕ Edition #154 is freshly brewed, just for you!
The Week's Hot 10!♨️🔟
LATAM Expansion
⤷ Revolut entered the Brazilian market, offering services such as a checking account in Brazilian reais, complete with a debit card, bill payment capabilities, and PIX integration, with plans to include a local credit card and a subscription-based benefits program.
⤷ Credibanco and Dock collaborated to support Bre-B, a new instant payments tool launched by Colombia's Central Bank, aiming to enhance the efficiency and speed of financial transactions in the country.
Cross-Platform Payment Integration
⤷ Checkout.com partnered with Mastercard to enhance money transfer services in the UAE, and provide more efficient and secure transactions.
⤷ PayPal and J.P. Morgan Payments teamed up to enhance payment solutions and financial services for a more efficient experience for their customers.
Payment Method Diversification
⤷ Temu partnered with Nuvei Corporation to enhance the shopping experience by providing customers with greater access to their local payment methods.
⤷ Nexi and Klarna partnered to expand payment options for European merchants, boosting revenue potential.
Reshaping Local Fintech Landscapes
⤷ GoTyme Indonesia partnered with Danabijak and Olsera to introduce a Merchant Cash Advance program for quick and flexible financing to MSMEs.
⤷ Italy-based BANCOMAT acquired a controlling stake in FlowPay to strengthen its presence in open banking and enhance its digital payment technologies.
Digital Asset Advancements
⤷ Dubai's Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority to enforce regulations requiring crypto service providers to disclose the identities of major cryptocurrency holders.
⤷ Ondo Finance announced its plans to bring RWAs to Mastercard's Multi-Token Network, enabling 24/7 yield and bridging TradFi with blockchain.
Now, for the ‘byte’-sized fintech buzz –
Embedded Finance is embedding deeper into payments and lending, making financial services an invisible yet essential part of transactions.
Marqeta partnered with Green Dot Corporation to enhance cash services, leveraging Green Dot's extensive money movement network to offer more convenient and affordable options. Simultaneously, Marqeta also acquired TransactPay to strengthen its card program management capabilities across Europe and the UK.
Italy-based Scalapay collaborated with Stripe, making its services available on Stripe's platform. This integration will allow businesses using Stripe to offer Scalapay's BNPL options, enhancing the shopping experience and potentially increasing sales and revenue.
Open Finance is pushing past boundaries, turning into new business opportunities and unlocking smoother financial flows.
K33 Markets partnered with Neonomics to enable Norwegian clients to initiate NOK deposits, ensuring faster access to trading opportunities for K33’s users with 24/7 instant or near-instant crediting of deposits.
Digitinary got accepted into JoRegBox as an Open Banking and Open Finance Aggregator by the Central Bank of Jordan, marking a significant milestone in empowering the fintech sector and SMEs in Jordan.
Digital Finance is cutting the wait, making money move faster for businesses, investors, and everyday transactions.
Allica Bank expanded its commercial mortgage offerings to include specialist buy-to-let (BTL) residential mortgages, targeting professional real estate investors and businesses.
GoTyme Indonesia partnered with Danabijak and Olsera to introduce a Merchant Cash Advance (MCA) program, aimed at providing quick and flexible financing to MSMEs.
Fintech Infrastructure is fine-tuning payments, making them frictionless for merchants and consumers alike.
PayPal and Verifone launched an integrated omnichannel solution to streamline payment processing for merchants, enhancing the customer experience across various sales channels.
PagBrasil introduced 1-Click Pix, a solution that allows retailers and e-commerce businesses to offer faster and more convenient Pix payments, enhancing the checkout experience for online shoppers in Brazil.
DeFi is bridging gaps, pulling in mainstream finance while reinforcing its own foundation with better liquidity, security, and accessibility.
Uniswap collaborated with Robinhood, MoonPay, and Transak to facilitate crypto-to-fiat transactions, allowing users in over 180 countries to sell supported crypto assets and deposit funds directly into their bank accounts - enhancing the accessibility and usability of cryptocurrencies.
Ripple Labs partnered with South Korea’s BDACS to provide institutional-grade custody for XRP and RLUSD. Simultaneously, it also unveiled plans for an institutional DeFi ecosystem on the XRP Ledger and a new multi-purpose token (MPT) standard.
And that's a wrap 👋
We hope you enjoyed this edition of the Weekly Fintech Brew!
As a reward for making it this far, enjoy a curated list of awesome fintech resources to keep your curiosity cuppa full to the brim. Cheers to continuous learning!
🔗 Link Up! –
Financial Services State of the Nation Survey 2024 Report - Finastra
The Future of Business Payments: 2025 Technology Transformation Report - PXP Financial
The Instant Payment Regulation: Why it matters for PSPs Blog - Yapily
How BaaS is Creating the Next Wave of Fintech Giants Blog - Sam Boboev via Fintech Wrap Up
The State of Embedded and Digital Finance Roundup (Jan 2025) Report - WhiteSight
Roundup 2024: How Open Banking Empowers Credit Decisioning Blog - WhiteSight
If you're someone who likes to read think pieces, you will likely love our monthly blog, Fintersections, where our team members analyse the convergence of fintech with the world.
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