Visa. Mastercard. Affirm. AI-ronic Evolution.
Future of Fintech - Edition #162 (29th April - 5th May, 2025)
Fintech’s building with new bricks, not patching old cracks.
From AI-led shopping experiences to debt dashboards that think ahead, the week proves money tech isn’t slowing down. Finance is adapting fast, and so are the tools behind it.
✔️ Agents are stepping up in everyday transactions
✔️ Crypto and cards are playing in the same league
✔️ Infra is flexing across borders and backends
Get into it. The signal is loud. 🔊
NuConsignado is Nubank’s not-so-secret weapon in Brazil’s payroll lending game.
While much of fintech races toward high-yield risk, Nubank is playing a smarter game: de-risking credit from the ground up and reshaping consumer lending economics in the process.
📍By targeting payroll-deducted loans—starting with federal employees, pensioners, and military personnel—Nubank taps into ultra-reliable repayment flows.
📍This lowers default risk dramatically, giving the bank room to slash interest rates while still maintaining solid margins.
📍Even in the private sector, CLT-backed job security is allowing Nubank to expand credit access without absorbing unsecured-loan risk.
This approach is powerful. By engineering stability into the lending pipeline, Nubank, more than just offering loans, is widening access, reducing costs, and expanding its total addressable market all at once.
From risk-pricing to product design, this is a masterclass in financial leverage, minus the volatility »»»
👉 Dive deeper into the NuConsignado strategy here.
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What’s on the fintech menu today?
🌟 Fintech Fiesta: The Week's Hot 10!
🌐 ‘Byte’ Buzz: Fintech highlights, sorted by segment!
🔗 Link Up: Your gateway to resourceful links!
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Brewed fresh from the fintech café - bold moves in every sip. ☕
The Week's Hot 10!♨️🔟
AI Takes the Lead
⤷ Affirm launched AdaptAI, an AI-powered promotions platform offering personalized checkout incentives.
⤷ Visa launched the Visa Intelligent Commerce platform, enabling AI agents to make purchases on users' behalf.
⤷ Mastercard unveiled Agent Pay, enabling AI-powered agents to conduct autonomous transactions.
Smarter Payment Rails
⤷ Trustly partnered with Paytweak to enhance account-to-account (A2A) payments for European merchants.
⤷ Moneyhub extended its partnership with Experian to help users manage and pay off debt faster through a smart credit dashboard.
LATAM Fintech Momentum
⤷ Nu Mexico obtained regulatory approval to become a full-service bank, expanding its product offerings in Mexico.
⤷ Visa partnered with Bridge to launch stablecoin-linked cards across six Latin American countries.
Strategic Market Expansion
⤷ Global Payments to acquire Worldpay for $24.25B and to sell its Issuer Solutions business to FIS for $13.5B. This strategic move aims to position Global Payments as a leading merchant solutions provider with expanded global reach and capabilities.
⤷ Engine by Starling, the SaaS arm of Starling Bank, established its first overseas subsidiary in the US to expand its presence in the North American market, focusing on providing modern banking infrastructure.
Borderless Finance Stack
⤷ bunq launched 'bunq Crypto', allowing users in several European countries to invest in 300+ cryptocurrencies via its banking app.
⤷ Rain and Visa are developing blockchain-native credit cards, with real-time settlement and transparency.
⤷ Railsr and Equals Money partnered to deliver embedded finance solutions for cross-border businesses and brands.
Now, for the ‘byte’-sized fintech buzz –
Embedded Finance is syncing up speed with scale, doubling down on flexible flows and real-time finance for everyday journeys.
Affirm partnered with UATP to offer pay-over-time plans to travellers through the UATP network. The collaboration allows merchants on the UATP network—including airlines, rail carriers, and travel agencies—to provide customers with Affirm’s flexible payment options.
Qonto and Mollie announced a two-way collaboration to integrate payment and banking services for European SMEs and freelancers. This integration enables faster payouts and real-time financial insights, aiming to enhance the financial operations of SMEs and freelancers across Europe.
Open Finance is stepping into implementation mode—moving from pilot buzz to public rollouts and deeper retail hooks.
Banked, a global Pay by Bank provider, partnered with Australia's retail pharmacy group Chemist Warehouse and shopping, rewards, and payments platform ShopBack to launch the country's in-store Pay by Bank experience that also allows consumers to earn cashback and rewards.
The Central Bank of Nigeria officially approved the implementation of Open Banking, making Nigeria the first African country to implement such a system. The approval sets a launch date for August 2025, allowing banks to begin Open Banking implementation by August 1, 2025.
Digital Finance is blurring category lines—layering lifestyle perks and banking benefits into everyday business tools.
Revolut introduced mobile phone plans in the UK and Germany, offering unlimited calls, texts, and data, along with a 20GB roaming allowance across Europe and the US. This move integrates mobile services into Revolut's "superapp," aiming to disrupt traditional telecom offerings.
Square expanded its banking services to provide sellers with better cash flow control. The updates include streamlined applications for Square Checking and Savings accounts, personalised savings recommendations, and features facilitating seamless cash flow management for small businesses.
Fintech Infrastructure is tuning into intelligence, offering more clarity, control, and confidence behind every payment layer.
FIS introduced the Money Movement Hub, a unified platform designed to help financial institutions connect to various payment networks—including instant payments, wires, and ACH—through a single API.
Modern Treasury unveiled an AI-driven platform specifically designed for enterprise payment workflows. This platform features an AI agent that provides auditable and context-aware insights into the entire payment lifecycle, including metadata, reconciliation logic, and exceptions.
The bridge between TradFi and DeFi worlds continues to build, wrapping crypto in compliant pipes and bank-grade access points.
MoneyGram introduced the "MoneyGram Ramps" API, enabling developers to integrate compliant cash-to-crypto and crypto-to-cash services into wallets, exchanges, and fintech apps.
Kraken launched "Kraken Embed" to help banks and fintechs offer crypto access to their customers. The solution allows customers to buy, sell, and hold cryptocurrencies directly through their existing banking apps.
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! –
Banks and Public Sector Drive Stablecoin Adoption Report - Citi
State of Fintech Q1 2025 Report - BCG
Open Banking and Pay by Bank in 2025 Blog - Neonomics
Reforming Mexico's Digital Markets Blog - Canning House
MENA Fintech Trends (Q1 2025) Roundup 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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