Latest news headlines: Finextra Research

Wise mulls UK banking licence

Money transfer giant Wise is mulling a banking licence application as a means to gain direct access to the UK's payments rails.

1 hour

/payments

PayPal faces chaos in Germany after banks shut down payments over security fears

PayPal is working with German banks to resolve outstanding issues that disrupted online payments for millions of consumers last week.

3 hours

/retail

UK open banking hits 15 million users

More than 15 million people and businesses in the UK - equivalent to nearly one in three adults - used services powered by open banking in July.

12 hours

/markets

US Department of Commerce puts economic data on-chain

The US Department of Commerce has enlisted Chainlink and Pyth to put macroeconomic data, including GDP, on the blockchain.

12 hours

/crypto

CFTC reiterates support for crypto asset trading facilitation in US

While this news primarily reiterates existing policy, the reminder signals that the CFTC is increasingly receptive to offshore exchanges that operate in jurisdictions that the US considers as having 'credible' regulatory frameworks.

29 August 2025

/regulation

FCA’s targeted support proposal sparks debate on advice boundaries and consumer access

The UK's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has released rules for targeted support, which would allow organisations to provide guidance to specific consumers on financial products that would best suit them.

29 August 2025

/retail

Caixabank enables Apple Pay installment payments in Spain

CaixaBank Payments & Consumer, a specialist consumer financing and payment methods subsidiary, tackles card payments in the Iberian market, with a fleet of more than 34 million cards, more than 16 million customers and a share of 31% in invoicing purchases.

29 August 2025

/payments

TransBnk secures $25 million in funding from Bessemer Venture Partners - Techcrunch

Combined with this most recent funding, TransBnk has raised around $26 million in total, increasing its valuation seven times according to the Indian startup's leadership team.

29 August 2025

/crypto

Stablecoin platform Rain raises $58m

Stablecoin platform Rain has raised $58 million in a Series B funding round led by Sapphire Ventures.

29 August 2025

/wholesale

Google Cloud blockchain to rival Stripe and Circle

Google Cloud’s head of Web3 strategy has been talking up the firm's Universal Ledger Layer-1 blockchain as a "credibly neutral" infrastructure for financial services, contrasting it with rival options from Stripe and Circle.

29 August 2025