The The first half of September saw fintechs push deeper into regulated banking, AI and financial infrastructure, led by Revolut’s conditional OCC approval in the US, Chime’s Stride Bank acquisition and growing adoption of AI across banking, wealth and payments.
✔ Digital banks are deepening regulated market presence
✔ AI is moving further into banking, wealth and open finance
✔ Payments and core infrastructure continue to modernise
Ready to connect the dots? 👀
🚨 Story of the Week: Revolut Clears a Key U.S. Charter Milestone
Revolut has received conditional approval from the OCC for its U.S. national bank charter, around six months after filing in March 2026. That puts it on the same broad path as Nubank, which received conditional approval in roughly four months after applying in September 2025.
Two of the large digital banks built outside the U.S. have both chosen to pursue a national bank charter, rather than rely only on partnership-led distribution.
This could eventually give Revolut more control over:
→ Deposits and funding, instead of depending mainly on partner banks
→ Lending and credit products, built on its own regulated balance sheet
→ U.S. expansion economics, with deeper product ownership over time
The U.S. remains one of the hardest banking markets to enter at scale. So this approval is more about Revolut laying the regulatory foundations for a much bigger long-term play. If it clears the remaining steps, the company moves closer to turning its U.S. business from a product layer into a regulated banking platform.
Our deep dive on Revolut breaks down how Revolut has scaled its customer base, expanded its global licensing footprint and built a broader banking, payments and subscription ecosystem around that growth.
Download the full report here.
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🚀 Startup Spotlight: Savvy Wealth
This edition, we’re spotlighting Savvy Wealth, an AI-native wealthtech founded in 2021 that combines technology with an affiliated RIA to help independent advisers run and scale their practices.
Savvy recently raised $100M in Series C funding at a $600M valuation, as it scales a network of 150+ advisers managing around $9B in assets.
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Edition #193 focuses on how fintechs are deepening regulated market access , embedding AI and expanding financial infrastructure.
The Hot 10 that formed September’s first half !!♨️🔟
Market access is widening through banking and payments licences
⤷ Revolut received conditional approval from the OCC to form a US national bank, advancing its plans to launch regulated banking services in the market.
⤷ Ant International received a payment licence in Brazil, allowing it to provide regulated payment services and expand its local operations.
Financial products are expanding across consumers and businesses
⤷ Wise launched a chequing account in Canada, adding everyday banking features for customers managing money across borders.
⤷ Split Pay raised $125M to expand its BNPL offering for higher-value purchases and larger consumer expenses.
AI is moving deeper into both consumer experiences and core infrastructure
⤷ Meta partnered with Plaid to bring consented financial data into Meta AI experiences.
⤷ Mambu launched Intelligent Core, adding AI capabilities to automate core banking operations.
Capital is flowing into new financial infrastructure
⤷ Aqua raised $18.8M to expand infrastructure for alternative investments and private-market
products.
⤷ Softloans launched its SME lending platform in Romania, offering fully online, unsecured business loans with credit decisions within 24 hours.
Payments are becoming more direct and locally embedded
⤷ secupay integrated Mastercard’s Pay by Bank, enabling merchants to accept direct bank payments from customers.
⤷ Monzo invested €25M into its Irish operation as it builds out its local banking presence and prepares for further growth in the market.
Now, for the ‘byte’-sized fintech buzz –
Digital banks are combining local market investment with stronger payments capabilities, as firms deepen their presence while improving how customers and merchants move money across markets.
Revolut partnered with Yuno to expand payment orchestration across its merchant ecosystem, improving routing, acceptance and access to local payment methods.
Monzo invested €25M into its Irish operation as it builds out its local banking presence and prepares for further growth in the market.
Digital payments is consolidating across regions and payment types, with firms using acquisitions to broaden merchant reach across cards, bank payments and recurring transactions.
PayTabs agreed to acquire Amazon Payment Services’ MENA operations for more than $100M, expanding its merchant payments footprint across the region.
Mollie completed its acquisition of GoCardless, expanding its payments offering across cards, bank payments and recurring payments.
Digital wealth is strengthening institutional infrastructure, with firms expanding capabilities across due diligence, manager monitoring and access to alternative investments.
Nasdaq completed its acquisition of Dasseti, adding due diligence, monitoring and data management capabilities for institutional investment and asset management workflows.
Aqua raised $18.8M to expand infrastructure for alternative investments and private-market
products.
Embedded finance is broadening into insurance and travel, with financial services being integrated more directly into employee benefits and booking journeys.
Certua partnered with Heka to embed health and wellbeing benefits into its insurance infrastructure, enabling businesses to offer employee protection and wellness services.
dLocal partnered with Alternative Airlines to add local and flexible payment methods for travel bookings across emerging markets.
Open finance is moving closer to transaction execution, with firms using connected financial data to simplify onboarding and enable one-tap investment experiences.
Socure partnered with Aeropay to streamline onboarding, enabling users to verify identity and link bank accounts using only a phone number and two clicks.
SmartCrowd and Lean Technologies have launched the One-Tap Invest feature using Open Finance and Pay by Bank infrastructure in the UAE.
Fintech Infrastructure is combining core modernisation with AI-led automation, as banks and technology providers upgrade the systems supporting digital banking and embedded finance.
Celtic Bank selected Jack Henry to modernise its banking and fintech technology infrastructure, supporting digital banking, payments and embedded finance partnerships.
Mambu launched Intelligent Core, adding AI capabilities to automate core banking operations.
And that’s a wrap 👋
We hope you enjoyed this edition of the Weekly Fintech Brew!
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