Natech Banking Solutions, a leading European provider of banking software and financial technology solutions, today announced the appointment of Alexandros Tsaparas as a new non-executive member of its Advisory Board. Mr. Tsaparas, who currently serves as Group Chief Financial Officer at OneDealer and Chief Financial Officer at Metis Ship Management, joins Natech's Advisory Board to provide strategic counsel on the company’s financial structure and international growth plans.

Nayax Ltd. , a global commerce enablement, payments, and loyalty platform designed to help merchants scale their business, today announced its strategic partnership with Unipaas, the leading embedded payments provider for SaaS platforms, to deliver a fully unified card present and online payments solution for SaaS platforms in the UK.

Creditspring, the subscription-based credit provider on a mission to improve financial stability across the UK, has closed 2025 with its strongest year to date, having provided over 1.7 million loans to members across the UK since the company’s inception in 2016, totalling more than £715 million.  

In a move to redefine digital commerce in Brazil, Juspay, a global leader in payment infrastructure, has announced a strategic partnership with Visa for the large-scale implementation of Click to Pay. This collaboration focuses on solving two of the biggest challenges in e-commerce in the country: high cart abandonment rates due to checkout complexity, and the need for robust transaction security.

Ottu, a leading regional fintech, has signed a strategic agreement with Mastercard to drive digital commerce across the GCC. The partnership brings together Mastercard Merchant Cloud with Ottu’s regional expertise to simplify and scale local payment methods for businesses.

Thread Bancorp, Inc., the parent company of Thread Bank, a wholly-owned subsidiary, today announced it has closed a $30.5 million funding round, consisting of a $27.6 million initial raise and a $2.9 million extension. Portage Ventures led the round, with additional participation from Rockmont Partners and other strategic investors.

Mastercard has partnered with Fuelin, an Egypt-based fleet-tech innovator, to digitize how businesses across MENA manage payments for fuel. The collaboration integrates Fuelin’s real-time controls and analytics with Mastercard’s secure, globally accepted network, driving the mobility sector’s transition from cash-based processes to seamless, data-driven digital transactions.

Through this initiative, Fuelin will enable virtual and physical commercial cards that operate across Mastercard’s open-loop ecosystem.

Akamai Technologies, Inc., the cybersecurity and cloud computing company that powers and protects business online, today announced a strategic collaboration with Visa to bring stronger identity, user recognition, and security controls to the emerging world of agentic commerce.

Unlimit, a leading global fintech company providing the world’s largest portfolio of financial technology services, today announced that it has received final authorisation from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to operate with a Payment Aggregator - Cross Border licence (PA-CB).

As another year closes, many will be thinking about how to improve their financial well-being in the year ahead, from saving more and reducing debt, to improving their credit scores.