Alexandros C. A.

🚨𝗝𝗨𝗦𝗧 𝗜𝗡: BVNK granted direct access to SEPA payments infrastructure. Here's what it means and why it matters: BVNK has been granted direct access to SEPA, becoming a technical partner in the Bank of Lithuania 🇱🇹 CENTROlinksystem. That’s a big deal. Here’s why: Until now, most stablecoin infrastructure players still relied on banking intermediaries for euro rails. BVNK just removed that layer entirely. What changes: 👉 Direct access to SEPA Credit Transfer (SCT) and SEPA Instant (SCT Inst) 👉 Instant euros + stablecoin payments on one licensed platform 👉 Full control over settlement speed, uptime, and ops 👉 No dependency on third-party banks The numbers are telling: <10s settlement (99% <5s) 95% payout success rate 96% fully automated processing This isn’t just another payments integration. It’s stablecoins moving from “overlay” to first-class citizen inside Europe’s payment infrastructure. 💬 “Our customers now have 24/7 access to instant euro payments, delivered directly by us, settling in under 10 seconds – 99% in under 5 seconds." - Catriona Wingate - Head of Banking – Europe/APAC at BVNK Also worth noting: this comes shortly after reports of acquisition talks with Coinbase and Mastercard, at rumored valuations of $1.5–2.5bn: https://lnkd.in/dZHSM377 More about this in my newsletter! Find this helpful? [ 𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗼𝘀𝘁 ] Anything to add about this subject? [𝗶𝗻𝘃𝗶𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁] Nice story, Marcel. Next! [ 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 ] 

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Introducing Asima: the enterprise engine for UK open banking Today we launch Asima, the enterprise division of Wonderful. Built for fintechs, platforms and merchants, Asima delivers developer-first open banking infrastructure with the competitive, transparent and predictable pricing you would expect from the Wonderful team. This is a pivotal moment. The FCA’s Future Entity will raise the standard for UK open banking with consistent API performance and certification. At the same time, UK Payments Initiative Ltd is moving to deliver Smart Debits - recurring payments where customers set limits on payment amounts and duration, and merchants collect within those parameters. With the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025 now in law, the UK has the legal certainty to accelerate open banking adoption and extend its principles into other sectors. Asima is ready: • Transparent, predictable pricing that challenges outdated models; • Developer-first APIs designed for scale, speed and simplicity; • Smart Debit support from day one once the scheme goes live; • Tech-for-good heritage, already processing millions in free charity donations. We are also migrating to Google Cloud, combining its scalability, security and AI toolkit with our own payments expertise. This powers our proprietary transaction monitoring and fraud prevention systems, moving from reactive alerts to proactive protection. “Asima delivers fast, secure and transparent payments, with a pricing model that puts fairness first. We are giving businesses the tools they need to thrive in the next phase of open banking.” ~ Carmen James, Head of Operations “Google Cloud gives us the scale, security and AI capabilities to innovate faster, detect threats earlier and protect our customers better than ever.” ~ John Blackmore, Head of Technology https://lnkd.in/duDraVku #OpenBanking #Payments #Fintech #SmartDebits #EnterprisePayments #GoogleCloud #UKFinance

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💡 Behind the scenes: How we helped Seccl create a user-friendly investment management platform. 🤝 Designed for scaleups and challenger brands (think Monzo Bank level expectations): clean, trusted, fast, transparent. 💻 Choose modern, developer-friendly tech like Next.js, Storybook, and a custom component library to ensure fast onboarding and maintainability. 🧠 UX design grounded in user research and interviews, asking real users what works & what doesn’t, to reduce friction. Find out more: https://buff.ly/2B8ZWMg #FinTech #UXDesign #DigitalTransformation #InvestmentTechnology #Monzo #ProductDesign

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UK SMEs no longer need to choose between bank loans and crowdfunding. The smartest are blending both to unlock validation, reduce risk, and scale faster🚀 In this deep-dive, we cover: 📊 When crowdfunding complements, not competes 🔄 How to sequence funding for maximum impact ⚠️ Avoiding structural pitfalls in hybrid financing 📈 Using campaign traction to improve loan terms If you're ready to turn funding into a competitive advantage, not just a necessity, read the full guide: 🔗: https://loom.ly/oICVSjE #SMEs #UKBusiness #Crowdfunding #BusinessLoans #AlternativeFinance

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Barclays is actively exploring a blockchain platform for payments and deposits, aiming to partner with technology providers by April, and has invested in Ubyx to enhance digital money connectivity.

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UK Payments Startup yetipay Raises £3.5m from re:cap and Super Angel Investors to Power Next Phase of Growth “We focused on raising the minimum amount required and selecting investors that bring valuable deep payments industry experience, combined with innovative non-dilutive funding from re:cap,” said Oliver P., Founder of yetipay. “We are in a David vs Goliath battle with our larger competitors, where their massive OPEX commitments present a significant opportunity for our nimble, innovative and customer-centric approach. We’ve stayed lean, raised capital in a sustainable non-dilutive way, and delivered products that offer real benefits – there’s more to come in 2025.” https://lnkd.in/e2WWU4at Richard Howson re:cap Christian Luecke Will Benton-Diggins Polina Khokhonova Matt Yule-Bennett Niall Wallace Gherardo A. #fintech #finance #banking #paytech #payments #fintechnews #paymentsnews

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Swedish digital lender Froda and Mimo, a UK-based fintech platform, have teamed up to make up to £92m available in flexible lending for small and medium-sized enterprises across the British Isles. https://lnkd.in/eA-r-uKu

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AMLYZE Teams Up with Vinted Pay to Bring AML/CFT Monitoring to Payments Lithuania-based regtech AMLYZE has forged a partnership with Vinted Pay, the payments division of European online marketplace for second-hand fashion and other goods, Vinted. Vinted Pay will use AMLYZE’s technology to provide real-time and retrospective transaction monitoring and customer risk assessment during onboarding and payment processes. Headquartered in Vilnius, Lithuania, AMLYZE made its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope 2024. Lithuanian regtech AMLYZE announced a partnership with Vinted Pay, the payments subsidiary of European online marketplace for second-hand items, Vinted. Vinted Pay will leverage AMLYZE’s technology for real-time and retrospective transaction monitoring and customer risk assessment to ensure that Vinted Pay’s onboarding and payment processes meet AML/CFT requirements. A leading second-hand fashion marketplace in Europe and a self-described “go-to destination for all kinds of pre-loved items,” Lithuania’s Vinted offers an online platform that connects millions of members across more than 20 markets. Founded in 2008, Vinted became the country’s first unicorn in 2019, and reached a valuation of more than €5 billion with a €340 million fundraising round in October 2024. That same year, the company reported a boost in net profits of 330%, exceeding €76 million. “We are proud to partner with Vinted, a key player in the online marketplace industry,” AMLYZE CEO and Co-Founder Gabrielius Erikas Bilkštys said. “Now that Vinted Pay has successfully joined our platform, our advanced solutions will support Vinted Pay in maintaining strict compliance standards, including during onboarding processes, ensuring it continues to be a safe and trusted platform for its users. This collaboration underlines our commitment to providing world-class AML/CFT services and improving the prevention of financial crime across Europe.” Launched in 2023, Vinted Pay is the latest initiative from Vinted, and is part of the company’s strategy to provide buyers and sellers across Europe with a secure, reliable payment option. Integrated into the Vinted App, Vinted Pay will ensure that members have access to safe, efficient, and easy online transactions with the platform. Members will be able to use Vinted Pay to shop for second-hand merchandise on the Vinted platform or, as Vinted recently announced, to enable members to transfer funds from sales to a secure digital account. These funds can be used to make purchases on the Vinted platform or withdrawn to a personal bank account outside of Vinted. “Vinted Pay is dedicated to providing a safe and reliable payment experience for our community,” Vinted VP of Payments Modestas Tursa said. “The expertise and innovative technology of AMLYZE helps ensure we continue to foster trust within our platform as we gradually introduce and scale Vinted Pay across markets.” Founded in 2019 and headquartered in Lithuania, AMLYZE made its...

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“The world is changing very fast. Big will not beat small anymore. It will be the fast beating the slow.” This quote by Rupert Murdoch hits home for people and businesses across all sectors – but especially for community banks. Community banks have access to the tools they need to keep up with Big Banks, but right now, their speed of change is not fast enough…⬇️

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10 years ago, the big fight was building the best neobank app. Today, in emerging markets, that fight is still about mobile and UX, who can make things faster, lighter, and easier for millions of new users. But in developed markets, the next big battle is starting to look very different. It’s no longer about who has the best interface. It’s about who owns intelligence and trust. AI will decide who understands people better than they understand themselves. Stablecoins will decide who controls the most trusted form of digital money. When these two collide, money won’t just move, it’ll think. Imagine an AI that can make decisions, verify, negotiate, and even pay on behalf of users, powered by stablecoins that make those transactions instant and global. That’s a whole new financial stack being built right now, with AI agents that can earn, spend, and invest automatically. It sounds far off, but the foundation is already here. The last decade was about who could serve users best. The next one will be about who users trust to think and transact for them.

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Introducing the Fintech UK 50: 2025 Edition Low growth but high efficiency. This was the mantra for the fintech sector in 2024, as showed in my lasted Report about the state of the UK Fintech sector. - Median annual revenues growth rate 2024: +29% (+45% in 2023, +68% in 2022); - Median EBITDA Margin: -6.4% (-37% in 2023, -97% in 2022). Takeaways: The fintech sector in the UK generated total revenues of £8.9bn in 2024 and a total positive EBITDA of £1.2bn; Revolut and Monzo together represented around 50% of the total revenues of the industry in 2024. In 2024 just 3 companies were able to grow by more than 100% YoY, vs. 12 in 2023. Vitesse and Cleo were the best performers, growing respectively by 122% and 106% vs 2023.  Just 8 companies achieved in 2024 a higher growth rate than in 2023. On the other side, the fintech sector introduced efficiencies and cost cutting in its P&L structure, generating a total profit of £1.2bn, a 5x increase compared to 2023. However, excluding Revolut, the sector as a whole generated just £100m of positive EBITDA (Revolut generated by itself £1.1bn of EBITDA). Total number of employees in the sector remained flat at 35,000. 22 companies were profitable in 2024 vs. 17 in 2023. Only 16 out of 50 companies exceeded the Rule of 40 benchmark in 2024 vs. 20 in 2023. From an EBITDA Margin perspective, OakNorth was again the company with the highest profitability of the UK fintech sector, with an EBITDA Margin of 73% (but its top line grew just by 4% in 2024), followed by Revolut and Trading 212 UK. Valuation side, the top 50 UK companies achieved a combined value of over £100bn, thanks to the upside secondary rounds of Revolut and Monzo Bank. Revolut by itself, represents almost 55% of the total value of the UK Fintech Industry. The number of unicorns increased from 9 to 10, thanks to Tide. Tide was the only company able to close a growth round in the last 12 months with a £150m investment from TPG in September 2025, valuing the company at 5.8x the Revenues 2024. The only relevant M&A transaction was the acquisition of Freetrade by IG Group in January 2025 for £160m (5.7x revenues 2024). The UK private fintech sector trades with a median of 8.4x last 12 months revenues, a rich valuation considering that the listed fintech companies trade with a median of 3.9x the last 12 month revenues (and they are also highly profitable, 37% EBITDA Margin ). Send me a message if you want a full copy of the Report.

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In merchant acquiring and agency banking, institutions face a strategic decision: build every layer internally, or deploy infrastructure that is already engineered for scale and control. At 3Line, we do not compete for your merchants. We build the systems that help you serve them better. Through Gravity, your institution gains a centralised dashboard to monitor transaction success rates, terminal activity, and agent performance all under your brand. Operational efficiency is embedded into the structure. From seamless NIBSS TID generation within the system to strengthened admin protection with 2FA, the focus is simple: control, visibility, and security without brand dilution. You own the relationship, we provide the reliability behind it. If you are refining your white-label strategy, it may be time to work with the architect behind the brand. #3Line #AgencyBanking #MerchantAcquiring #FintechSystems

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