Latest news headlines: Finextra Research

NatWest buys stake in SME finance fintech Bourn

NatWest is buying a minority stake in Bourn, a London-bases small business financing fintech, according to Sky News.

4 hours

Visa and AWS join forces on agentic commerce

Visa is bringing its Intelligence Commerce platform to AWS Marketplace in a move designed to make it easier for developers and enterprises to deploy agentic AI commerce options.

6 hours

/payments

Payments fintech Sokin raises $50m

UK B2B cross-border payments outfit Sokin is targeting international growth after securing $50 million in Series B funding led by Prysm Capital.

10 hours

/security

Santander creates fake AI-generated social media ads to warn consumers of increased risk

As Generative AI gives fraudsters more ways to scam victims, Santander has produced fake AI-generated social media adverts of popular Christmas gifts to to show just how realistic the bogus adverts can be, whilst helping Brits spot the tell-tale signs.

11 hours

/sustainable

FCA aims to rebuild trust in ESG ratings

The UK's Financial Conduct Authority has set out proposals to rebuild trust in ESG ratings with the introduction of new rules governing transparency and governance.

11 hours

/ai

HSBC to adopt Mistral AI foundational models across the bank

HSBC has signed a multi-year deal with Mistral AI to accelerate the use of generative artificial intelligence across the bank.

13 hours

/payments

Wise enters Africa

Global money movement firm Wise has received its first regulatory licence in Africa, securing conditional approval from the South African Reserve Bank (Sarb) to operate as a Category 2 Authorised Dealer in Foreign Exchange with Limited Authority (ADLA)

13 hours

/markets

CME Group suffers hours-long outage

A data centre cooling system problem halted futures and options trading at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange for several hours.

28 November 2025

/payments

Vodacom M-Pesa Tanzania adds cross-border payment options

Vodacom Tanzania has struck several deals that expand the ways in which people can use its M-Pesa mobile payments service around the world.

28 November 2025

/sustainable

EU regulator accuses Commission of rushing sustainable transparency proposal - Reuters

EU’s Ombudswoman has accused the European Commission of rushing new rules on sustainable reporting.

28 November 2025

/regulation

European Council and Parliament reach agreement on new payment services regulation

The European Council and European Parliament have reached an agreement on amending the existing payment services directive (PSD2) that they say will step up the fight against fraud and increase transparency.

28 November 2025

/crypto

US Bank tests stablecoin issuance on Stellar Network

US Bank is testing the issuance of custom stablecoins on the Stellar blockchain network.

27 November 2025