Top 5 Stories of the Week in FinTech
Banco Santander and Mastercard have successfully processed Europe’s first live end-to-end payment executed by an AI agent. The transaction marks the first instance of an agentic payment carried out within a regulated banking environment, signaling a shift in how financial institutions may soon manage transactions initiated by non-human actors.
The pilot was conducted in a controlled setting using Mastercard Agent Pay, a solution launched in mid-2025 designed to integrate AI agents into the existing financial ecosystem as governed participants.
By processing the transaction through Santander’s live payments infrastructure, the partners validated the operational and control frameworks required for AI systems to act on behalf of customers under real-world conditions.
BEA International Bank Taps Temenos SaaS for French Debut
Algeria’s largest bank enters the European market with a cloud-native core banking launch to drive its universal banking model in France.
In a move that highlights the growing trend of established regional giants adopting agile, cloud-native technology to bypass legacy constraints, BEA International Bank has successfully gone live with Temenos Core Banking and Financial Crime Mitigation (FCM) on a software-as-a-service (SaaS) basis.
The launch marks a strategic pivot for BEA as it seeks to establish a firm foothold in the Eurozone.
With approval from the Autorité de Contrôle Prudentiel et de Résolution (ACPR) and the European Central Bank (ECB), BEA International Bank has opened its doors in Paris, Marseille and Saint-Denis.
ACI Worldwide Unveils Connetic for Cards Payments Hub
ACI Worldwide has announced the launch of ACI Connetic for Cards. This next-generation, modernised card payments suite is fully integrated within ACI Connetic, which ACI claims is “the industry’s first” unified cloud-native payments hub.
Despite the rise of real-time payments, cards continue to dominate globally. Fuelled by contactless adoption, e-commerce growth and B2B digitisation, global card transactions totalled 776 billion in 2024 and are projected to reach 1.1 trillion annually in 2029 – a 43% increase, according to research from Nilson Report.
ACI Connetic for Cards aims to address this volume by unifying the company’s global strengths in acquiring, issuing and ATM solutions.
Flexible Finance Available to Stripe AI Agents with Klarna
The partnership ensures flexible payment options remain available as autonomous AI agents begin to dominate the digital checkout landscape.
The rise of agentic commerce – where autonomous AI assistants find, negotiate and purchase goods on behalf of humans – is transforming the retail landscape. However, until recently, these digital agents have largely been restricted to traditional card-on-file transactions. This technical bottleneck has threatened to sideline alternative payment methods, such as Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL), just as they reach peak popularity.
To bridge this gap, global digital bank Klarna has announced that its flexible payment options will soon be supported within AI agent-driven shopping experiences. This is made possible through Stripe’s Shared Payment Tokens (SPTs), a tool designed specifically to facilitate secure, automated transactions. The move ensures that US merchants already using Klarna via Stripe can offer these options to AI agents without needing any additional integration.
Why has Revolut Applied for a US Banking Licence?
Popular neobank Revolut has applied for a full banking licence in the US and appoints a new US CEO as it aims to target 100 million users by 2027.
Revolut has officially submitted its application to the US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation for a national bank charter.
The move – which would see the entity operate as Revolut Bank US, N.A. – represents a definitive shift in the firm's North American strategy as it seeks to transition from a digital wallet provider to a fully licensed financial institution.
The filing is a pivotal step for the London-headquartered fintech, which currently serves 70 million customers across 40 markets.
By securing a federal charter, Revolut aims to bypass the fragmented state-by-state regulatory landscape in favour of a single national framework, providing the infrastructure necessary to scale its suite of retail and business services.
Executives
Kevin Miller
Payments, Risk, and Support
Matias Sánchez Garcia
Global Head of Cards and Digital Solutions. Senior Executive Vice President
Santhosh Rao
Managing Director - Middle East, Africa
Thomas Warsop
President and CEO
