Ballerine has launched an agentic detection system that flags high-risk merchants and coordinated fraud networks in under 60 seconds, a response to what payments industry figures are calling an "AI scamdemic" of automated merchant fraud. The San Francisco company's new Scam & Fraud Detection API went live on 21 April 2026, targeting a structural weakness in how acquirers and payment providers currently identify bad actors before money moves. The tool departs from conventional

Nuvei has launched direct card acquiring in Mexico, a move that gives merchants processing payments in Latin America's second-largest online market access to local infrastructure without routing through intermediary acquirers. The Montreal-headquartered fintech, which now holds acquiring licenses in 52 markets globally, is betting that local processing will deliver the approval-rate gains and data visibility that cross-border payment models cannot match. The launch positions

A publicly traded US bank is routing cross-border payments over a stablecoin network, a move that tightens the gap between regulated banking and on-chain settlement and gives fintech operators a live production corridor rather than a pilot. Coastal Financial Corporation (Nasdaq: CCB), which carries roughly $4.7 billion in total assets, will settle international payments on Tempo using USD stablecoins through its banking-as-a-service arm, CCBX. The partnership, disclosed on 21

FinanceX Magazine is delighted to announce its official media partnership with Future Finance Fest (3F) , the internationally attended event dedicated to fostering collaboration between fintech practitioners and leading finance academics. The partnership underscores our commitment to covering the ideas and institutions shaping the future of financial services. Taking place on 5 June 2026 at the nhow Amsterdam RAI hotel, Future Finance Fest is ideally positioned at the heart o

A Cardiff startup founded by two former Royal Mint executives has secured £500,000 in angel and co-fund backing to bring institutional precious metals infrastructure to retail investors and wealth platforms alike. Goldwise, a Cardiff-based fintech building fractional physical precious metals trading infrastructure, has closed a £500,000-plus seed round to fund its UK market launch. The round comprises £250,000 from the Wales Angel Co-Investment Fund, managed by Angels Invest

Otoma launches with a no-code Innovation Suite designed to compress payment feature development from months to days, backed by the leadership team that built Fundtech. A new global payments infrastructure company, Otoma , launched publicly on April 21, 2026, positioning itself as a direct counter to the vendor lock-in that has constrained bank payment modernisation for decades. The company's platform is designed to let banks build, test, and deploy new payment capabilities in

With €10M in total funding and more than 80 companies already on the platform, Seapoint is betting that founders who can see their money clearly will keep it longer. Startup financial management platform Seapoint  has closed a €7.5M seed round, bringing its total funding to €10M, and opened its product to any startup founder in the UK and Ireland. The round was led by 13books Capital , with participation from Ventures Together , Portfolio Ventures , and more than 40 individua

Alpaca has closed its acquisition of London-based WealthKernel , giving the US brokerage infrastructure provider a licensed broker-dealer entity, custody infrastructure, and tax-advantaged product shelf across the UK and EU in a single transaction. Simultaneously, the company has gone live with equities trading on Germany's Xetra exchange , marking its first operational foothold in European public markets. What Did Alpaca Actually Acquire? WealthKernel was already authorised

FinanceX Magazine is proud to announce its official media partnership with FinTech Roadmap 2026 , one of Central Europe's most significant financial technology conferences. The fifth edition of the event will take place on 14 May 2026 at the Czech National Bank Congress Centre in Prague, Czech Republic. FinTech Roadmap has established itself as a flagship professional gathering for the Czech and broader Central European fintech community. Organised by the Czech WealthTech Ass