Nubank Powers Into U.S. Banking
Future of Fintech - Edition #182 (19th - 31th Jan‘ 26)
Fintech is in its no more small moves era.⚡One headline is about fresh banking charters and new markets opening up; the next is about instant rails stretching across borders and checkout becoming a smarter, more flexible layer. Add tighter fraud controls and data-led finance into the mix, and it’s clear, money is moving faster, it’s being rebuilt in real time.
✔️ Banking charters and new markets
✔️ Instant rails and smarter checkout
✔️ Trust tightened with data-led controls
Ready to connect the dots? 👀
🚨 Featured Story of the Week:
Nubank’s Post-LATAM Bet: A U.S. National Bank Charter
Nubank secured conditional OCC approval to form Nubank, N.A., a de novo US national bank marking a major step toward launching US deposits, credit cards, lending, and even digital asset custody under a single federal framework.
The real story: this is Nubank breaking out of the LATAM box and attempting to prove its digital-first bank thesis in the most competitive banking market, without relying on sponsor banks or patchwork state licensing.
What to watch next
Regulatory gatekeeping: FDIC + Federal Reserve approvals still required.
Execution clock: capitalize within 12 months → open within 18 months.
Want the deeper blueprint? WhiteSight’s Nubank Deep Dive 2025 breaks down Nu’s growth engine, cost-to-serve, credit playbook, ecosystem expansion, and why its model scales.
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🚀 Startup Spotlight: WealthAi
This edition, we’re spotlighting WealthAi, a WealthTech startup building an AI-native operating system for wealth managers, family offices, and private banks, aimed at cutting through tool sprawl and replacing spreadsheet-heavy workflows with role-aware automation.
The pitch is simple: instead of ripping out legacy systems, firms can plug in modular AI agents and use an agentic assistant to orchestrate tasks end-to-end, lowering operational cost while strengthening controls and scalability.
Got something cool brewing in fintech? We’d love to feature you next- drop us a note at hello@whitesight.net 👋
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Edition 182 highlights the moves accelerating finance’s next chapter!
The Week’s Hot 10!♨️🔟
Charters for Global Scale
⤷ Nubank receives conditional approval from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) of the United States to establish a US national bank.
⤷ Revolut launches full banking operations in Mexico via Revolut Bank SA Institución de Banca Múltiple after a beta phase.
Real-Time Money Movement
⤷ Thunes teams up with UnionPay International (UPI) to enable instant debit card money transfers into China, via Thunes’ Direct Global Network.
⤷ TrueLayer launches Pay by Bank in Finland via Kustom Checkout, powered by Stripe, enabling merchants to offer instant payments at checkout.
Checkout Becomes a Platform
⤷ Adyen partners with Raptor, a hospitality POS provider in APAC so Raptor can embed payments using Adyen for Platforms in Singapore.
⤷ Affirm partners with Bolt to make Affirm the default BNPL provider within Bolt’s checkout experience across the US.
Finance Inside Daily Workflows
⤷ Uber collaborates with Mastercard and Griffin to launch the Uber Pro Card in the UK with various perks.
⤷ Pave integrates with Fidelity so RIAs can connect Fidelity-held accounts to Pave for automated portfolio construction, management, and trading.
Trust Rails Tighten Up
⤷ Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank (ADIB) rolls out Open Finance under AlTareq, the UAE Central Bank’s Open Finance initiative.
⤷ Equifax launches Synthetic Identity Risk, a fraud tool that detects synthetic identities from account opening through ongoing use.
Now, for the ‘byte’-sized fintech buzz –
Digital banking is shifting from features to formats, with subscriptions and AI-native design transforming how users engage beyond the basic account.
TBC Uzbekistan introduced TBC Plus, a subscription-based service that bundles premium payment monitoring, boosted cashback on its Salom Card, prize draws, and partner lifestyle subscriptions.
SCBX partnered with KakaoBank and WeBank Technology Services to launch a virtual bank in Thailand, designed to be AI-native to power personalised experiences, operational efficiency, and data-driven decisions.
Digital payments is making checkout more inclusive and borderless, expanding local payment choice while simplifying cross-border acceptance for merchants.
Gr4vy teamed up with Ecommpay to give merchants access to a broader mix of local and international payment methods through a single integration including Alternative Payment Methods (APM) like iDEAL, BLIK, cards and wallets.
PayPal partnered with NEO PAY so UAE merchants can accept PayPal, leveraging NEO PAY’s acquiring infrastructure to simplify onboarding and enable secure cross-border checkout.
Digital wealth is getting more automated and data-rich, combining AI-first workflow layers with broader ETF coverage to improve advice and research.
WealthAi raised an $800k pre-seed round (led by Fuel Ventures and Founders Factory) to build an AI-first operating system for wealth managers, family offices, and private banks.
BridgeWise partnered with Ultumus to add Ultumus’ ETF data into BridgeWise’s FundWise platform, expanding coverage by 800+ ETFs in Europe and more than 3,000 ETFs worldwide.
Embedded finance is bringing working capital closer to the point of sale, using real-time payment data to approve and repay funding directly from turnover.
NEO PAY teamed up with Wio Bank to launch a PoS lending solution for SME merchants across the UAE, offering faster access to funds using the merchant’s sales data and linking repayments to sales.
Worldline partners with YouLend to launch Cash Advance, an embedded financing product that uses real-time payments data to offer SMBs up to €250,000 in 48 hours, with repayments tied to daily turnover.
Open finance is putting cash-flow data at the centre of decisions, using real-time signals to widen access and sharpen underwriting beyond credit scores.
UPFRONT collaborated with CredibleX to standardise real-time SME financial data so CredibleX customers can run receivables, payables, payments, and cashflow in one structured system for financing decisions.
Seen Finance partnered with Nova Credit to use cash-flow data in underwriting so more qualified applicants can be approved for Seen’s credit card including second-look reviews and pre-qualification invites.
Fintech infra is strengthening financial crime operations with automation, using AI-led investigations and continuous screening to cut effort and improve consistency.
ThetaRay launched Ray, an agentic AI AML investigation suite embedded in its Investigation Centre to help financial institutions investigate transaction-monitoring alerts faster and more consistently.
iDenfy launched a new AML screening product that lets businesses check and continuously monitor people and companies in real time against sanctions lists, PEP databases, adverse media, and other risk data sources.
And that’s a wrap 👋
We hope you enjoyed this edition of the Weekly Fintech Brew!
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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