Finance News, Analysis & Insights — Fintech Pulse

Payments & Transfers 📊 Objective

Velera's BNPL Push for Credit Unions: Smart Move or Desperate Catch-Up?

Velera's betting big on credit unions to claw back BNPL from fintech giants. Debit installments and Apple Pay splits sound convenient—until you ask who's really paying the fees.

4 min read 2 weeks, 1 day ago

Digital Banking 📉 Bearish

PNC's Rewards: Bank Bait or Bust?

PNC's dangling rewards like a carrot. But in banking's loyalty wars, this carrot looks suspiciously limp.

3 min read 2 weeks, 1 day ago

Payments & Transfers 📊 Objective

CHIPS Network's $2T Daily Surge: Billions Saved, But Is It Enough?

Ever wonder why banks hoard cash like dragons? CHIPS just shaved off billions in trapped liquidity. Skeptical? Let's unpack the numbers.

3 min read 2 weeks, 1 day ago

Payments & Transfers 📊 Objective

EPAA and Monash Forge APAC Payments Alliance — Hype or Real Progress?

Signatures dry on the dotted line: EPAA and Monash University Malaysia just locked in a partnership to rethink APAC payments. It's academia meeting industry — but will it fix the real fractures?

4 min read 2 weeks, 1 day ago

Crypto & DeFi 📊 Objective

Bitget Teams with MuleRun for AI Trading Assistant That Promises Pro Signals to Retail Traders

Picture this: you're a retail trader staring at crypto charts, wishing for Wall Street intel. Bitget's new AI trading assistant with MuleRun might just hand it to you—naturally.

4 min read 2 weeks, 1 day ago

Payments & Transfers 📈 Bullish

Trustly's 120 Million Users: Pay by Bank Quietly Eclipsing Plastic

Everyone figured Pay by Bank would fizzle out against debit loyalty. Trustly just proved them wrong—with 120 million users. Here's why this flips the script on everyday transactions.

4 min read 2 weeks, 1 day ago

Payments & Transfers 📊 Objective

Merge's Named EUR IBANs: The Fiat-to-Stablecoin Bridge We've Been Waiting For — Or VC Bait?

Picture this: You're an exchange desperate for smoothly EUR ramps without the banking headaches. Merge says their new named EUR IBANs solve it. But after 20 years in this circus, I'm asking — at what cost?

4 min read 2 weeks, 1 day ago

Payments & Transfers 📈 Bullish

BanCoppel Bets on BPC's SmartVista to Escape Mexico's Payment Nightmares

Everyone figured BanCoppel would cling to its legacy stack or chase flashy U.S. vendors. Instead, they're handing the keys to BPC's SmartVista — a move that screams desperation for real scalability in Mexico's wild payments scene.

4 min read 2 weeks, 1 day ago

RegTech & Compliance ⚠️ Warning

Lloyds Dabbles in Quantum to Hunt Money Mules – Hype or Help?

Everyone figured AI would clean up financial crime. Lloyds just threw quantum computing into the mix, targeting money mules. Bold move – or total overkill?

4 min read 2 weeks, 1 day ago

AI in Finance ⚠️ Warning

Wales' New AI Hub: Fintech Lifeline or Another Empty Promise?

Imagine scraping by in Cardiff's fintech scene. Now Wales drops an AI Hub on you—courtesy of FinTech Wales and AI Wales. Sounds promising. Or does it?

4 min read 2 weeks, 1 day ago

Payments & Transfers ⚠️ Warning

Late Payments Are Bleeding Small Businesses Dry

Imagine running a thriving bakery, only for a big client to sit on your invoice for 90 days. Suddenly, lights flicker off because slow money costs more than you earn.

3 min read 2 weeks, 1 day ago

Payments & Transfers 📈 Bullish

60% of Banks Ditch New Rails for Payments Hubs—Smart Move or Desperate Patch?

What if the battle for faster payments isn't won by building more tracks, but by mastering the switches? Six in ten banks say yes—and they're deploying payments hubs now.

4 min read 2 weeks, 1 day ago