Robinhood Markets, Inc. has entered into agreements to acquire PT Buana Capital Sekuritas, an Indonesian brokerage, and PT Pedagang Aset Kripto, a licensed Indonesian digital financial asset trader. These acquisitions will mark Robinhood’s entry into Indonesia, accelerating our expansion across Southeast Asia and globally. 

With more than 19 million capital market investors and 17 million crypto investors, Indonesia is a compelling market for equities and crypto trading. 

Klarna, the global digital bank and payments provider, today launched its AI for Climate Resilience Program, a pioneering initiative using artificial intelligence to strengthen climate adaptation and community resilience across some of the world’s most affected regions.

N26, the mobile bank, today announced a new membership agreement with Wero, the pan-European digital wallet and instant payment solution developed by the European Payment Initiative (EPI).

What 2025 was all about

"Over the past few years, businesses have accelerated digitization, automation, and global scaling, yet in many cases, B2B payments remain largely manual. However, in 2025, we can finally see payments becoming embedded, intelligent, and proactive. That’s a shift that is fundamentally transforming how businesses buy, sell, and manage cash."

What we’ll start to see in 2026

Tuhk Inc., a fintech startup founded by Ethoca and NuData Security veterans, secured US$6 million in seed funding led by FINTOP, with participation from Lloyds Banking Group and Capital One Ventures. The platform aims to revolutionize payments by enabling secure, real-time collaboration among merchants, banks, and service providers to combat the global US$10.5 trillion cybercrime threat.

Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume and users, today announced a landmark regulatory achievement: The Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA) of ADGM, the international financial centre of Abu Dhabi, the Capital of the UAE, has formally approved the authorisation of Binance's global platform, Binance.com, under a comprehensive regulatory framework.

Even with significant investment in data and technology, data quality and governance challenges threaten to undermine strategic AI ambitions for Payments and Fintech firms in the year ahead, according to a new report from data and analytics firm Dun & Bradstreet. 

More than half of Payments (54%) and Fintech (51%) firms state that AI projects have failed as a result of poor data. 

Volt, the global real-time payments platform, has appointed former Checkout.com Director of Product Mathew Tuvesson as its new VP of Product. Mathew will take centre point in delivering a new generation of Volt’s product suite, as the company ramps up its evolution and prepares to add stablecoin payments and treasury solutions to its real-time payments capabilities.

YouLend, a leading global embedded financing platform, today announced a landmark partnership with Upwork Inc., the world’s human and AI-powered work marketplace, aimed at expanding access to financing for freelancers, agencies and microbusiness owners across the United States.