Klarna & Zilch Cards; QED & BCG Report; Circle IPO (TWIF 6/6)

Hello Fintech Friends,

Welcome to the 866 new readers who’ve joined us since last week. You’re joining 185,000+ other subscribers. Today's newsletter is brought to you by our friends at Persona.

We're still catching up from an amazing conference week at Stablecon – if you missed it, we released the official aftermovie yesterday, all 43 content sessions are now on our Youtube, and tickets are now on sale for 2026. And if that weren't enough, stablecoin issuer Circle went public yesterday in a blowout NYSE debut, trading up over 300% in the day. (More on that this Sunday: Stablecoins are here to stay.)

I had the pleasure of moderating a great couple panels yesterday with Bitso founder Daniel Vogel, Current founder Stuart Sopp, and Pagaya founder Gal Krubiner at the release of the 3rd annual BCG x QED Investors Global Fintech Report, entitled Fintech’s Next Chapter: Scaled Winners and Emerging Disruptors.

I particularly enjoyed the conversation with QED founder Nigel Morris and BCG's Deepak Goyal, on everything from AI in fintech to private credit to the IPO market to their #1 piece of advice for founders. The group brought together a wealth of perspective and I highly recommend checking out the report.

It was also bittersweet to wrap up Julie and Jillian's great AI in Fintech podcast series this week. Julie wrote up a great reflection on the series this week on LinkedIn:

You can still watch all the great episodes, with interviews of Blackstone, Stripe, Ramp, Middesk, Brex, Lithic, Hummingbird, and more in our podcasts section. And stay tuned for Fintech OGs Season 3!

Lastly, we're hiring a full-time Head of Content! Give us a shout if you know any great candidates from the media or conference space.

Please enjoy another week of fintech and banking news below.

(👍👎 Have feedback for us? Let us know. Find me at @nikmilanovic, @twifintech, and @ndm)

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Santander announced plans to launch a British pound–denominated stablecoin and expand retail access to cryptocurrencies, aiming to enhance digital asset infrastructure and enable faster, more cost-effective payments in the UK.

Deutsche Bank partnered with Mastercard to enhance open banking payments across Europe. They will integrate Mastercard’s open banking technology into Deutsche Bank’s Merchant Solutions platform, enabling merchants to offer pay-by-bank functionality through the Request to Pay (R2P) service.

ABN AMRO developed a new full-service neobank named Buut, targeting young customers. Built in 12 months by the team behind the Tikkie payments app, Buut was designed to be easy to use, interactive, and visually driven, aligning with the preferences of the new generation.

Visa launched its account-to-account (A2A) payment service in the UK, allowing consumers to manage bills and subscriptions through their bank apps with protections similar to card payments. The service uses Pay.UK’s Faster Payments system.

JPMorgan Chase accelerated the rollout of its J.P. Morgan Financial Centers, opening 14 new branches across California, Florida, Massachusetts, and New York to cater to affluent clients.

Apollo partnered with JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs to develop a platform for trading private credit, aiming to bring more liquidity and transparency to the $1.7 trillion market.

Mastercard launched the Small Business Navigator program in the U.S., providing entrepreneurs with tools, data, and education to support growth.

The Trump administration rescinded a 2022 Biden-era guideline that discouraged 401(k) plan fiduciaries from offering cryptocurrency investments.

U.S. Representative French Hill introduced the Digital Asset Clarity Act, aiming to provide clear regulatory guidelines for digital assets and foster innovation in cryptocurrency.

Barclays' Head of Fintech Strategy departed from the company. 

Klarna launched the Klarna Card, a new debit product combined with access to built-in flexible payment options, powered by Visa Flexible Credential and issued by WebBank. The Klarna Card will allow consumers to pay immediately or pay later when needed - online or in-store.

Zilch also partnered with Visa to roll out a physical card, giving customers additional flexibility to use its BNPL services both online and in-store globally.

Neema unveiled a dynamic routing engine designed to optimize every cross-border transaction for FX rate efficiency, speed, and seamless processing.

IG launched crypto investing for UK retail clients, allowing users to trade major cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum via its share dealing platform.

BCP introduced a British pound–denominated stablecoin called Libra, aimed at enhancing digital asset infrastructure and enabling faster, more cost-effective payments in the UK.

Revolut launched its first ATMs in Spain, featuring a sleek design and offering customers unlimited free withdrawals and access to physical card dispensing.

PPRO launched a new subscription payments feature for local payment methods, enabling merchants to offer recurring billing across multiple global markets without relying on cards.

Payabl launched virtual business cards, giving its clients enhanced control over corporate spending, real-time tracking, and easier expense management.

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Manual Know Your Business (KYB) processes slow down onboarding and open the door to fraud. Download Persona’s latest guide to learn how to modernize your KYB and KYC workflows to onboard users faster, stay compliant, and build trust. Download the guide today.

Want to sponsor a newsletter? See our sponsorship information here.

We're hiring for a full-time Head of Content to join the team at TWIF and Stablecon! Know anyone great from the conference and media space?

Global payroll provider Deel announced a $1 billion revenue run-rate, with 35,000+ customers globally.

TransactPay signed a partnership with Griffin, selecting the UK-based banking-as-a-service platform to support its e-money services to streamline compliance and infrastructure as TransactPay prepares for expansion in the UK.

Kraken partnered with Ivy to provide crypto users with integrated banking solutions, including real-time payments and crypto-fiat on/off ramps.

Carta launched a new fund expense management solution in collaboration with Ramp, enabling venture capital firms to automate and track fund expenses more efficiently.

Investing platform Public is sunsetting their social investing app.

Remember when Rippling accused Deel of spying? Well Deel now asserts that Rippling put a spy in their office.