Hello Fintech Friends,
Today’s newsletter is brought to you by our friends at Lithic.
PayPal dominated this week’s dealmaking as its board pushed back on a $53 billion takeover offer from Stripe and Advent.
Bank consolidation continued with First Hawaiian’s $2 billion acquisition of TriCo, while fintech and crypto companies looked toward a potentially more receptive IPO market.
This week’s reads also examine why distribution still matters in remittances and what taxi medallions can teach investors about defensible moats.
SPONSORED
When Mercury's 3DS-authenticated transactions became a concentrated source of fraud risk, they needed a solution built into the authorization flow, not layered on top of it. By expanding their partnership with Lithic, Mercury gained programmable, real-time controls that cut total card fraud losses tied to 3DS transactions by 40%, without compromising the cardholder experience. See how they did it.
Reads of the Week
IPOs & SPACs - Fintech
Phalanx Acquisition I filed to raise $175 million in a Nasdaq IPO, with plans to pursue financial-services and fintech companies valued between $1 billion and $3 billion.
Fintech and crypto companies could find a more receptive IPO market in the second half of 2026 as investors look beyond the year’s blockbuster listings, Fortune reports.
M&A - Fintech
Stripe and private equity firm Advent International offered to acquire PayPal for about $53 billion.
Home Credit India agreed to acquire education lender Varthana Finance for approximately $100 million (₹967 crore).
CSI acquired treasury and payments infrastructure provider Qolo to expand its commercial banking and embedded finance capabilities. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Crypto exchange LCX acquired multichain DeFi platform MasterDEX to support its expansion into the U.S. decentralized finance market.
Regtech companies Fourthline and Veridas agreed to merge to create a global identity-verification and compliance platform spanning Europe and the Americas.
TRG Screen acquired market-data consultancy BST America to expand its financial-data management platform into strategic advisory services.
CRC-Oyster acquired Modern Regulatory Services to expand its broker-dealer compliance and financial operations advisory capabilities. Financial terms were not disclosed.
M&A - Banks and Financial Institutions
First Hawaiian agreed to acquire California-based TriCo Bancshares in a $2 billion all-stock deal that will create a bank with about $34 billion in assets.
First Bancorp agreed to acquire First Carolina Bancshares for $166 million, doubling its branch presence in South Carolina.
Italy’s Monte dei Paschi di Siena said Intesa Sanpaolo’s takeover bid undervalues the Italian bank as it continues evaluating a competing merger proposal from Banco BPM.
Catalyst Bancorp completed its acquisition of Lakeside Bancshares, creating a Louisiana community bank with approximately $620 million in assets.
Fulton Financial completed the operational merger of Blue Foundry Bank into Fulton Bank following its earlier acquisition of Blue Foundry Bancorp.
PSB Bank completed its operational merger with Bank Star, creating a Missouri community bank with more than $1 billion in assets.
Register for Stablecon
Stablecon, taking place in Washington, D.C. on Sept. 9-11, is a global event dedicated to reinventing the global movement of value by connecting the brightest minds in fintech and crypto, advancing critical regulatory conversations and driving the adoption of stablecoin infrastructure.
