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September 28-October 2, 2026
Top FinTech Updates this Week
🤝 Manulife launched a new CoverMe plugin in ChatGPT, making it easier for Canadians to explore travel insurance and receive a personalized quote
🤝 Interac Corp. reported that Global Payments, a leading payment technology and software company that powers commerce for businesses of all sizes worldwide, will enable Konek across its merchant network in Canada
🚀 Jobber, Edmonton-based provider of software for home and commercial service businesses Model Context Protocol (MCP) integrations that let Jobber bring a service pro's business context into ChatGPT and Claude
🚀 Robinhood, US-based wealthtech platform launched Robinhood Agents, an embedded AI trading experience, alongside 24/7 weekend equities trading and perpetual futures to empower active retail traders
🚀 OneVest, Calgary and Toronto-based wealth management platform launched Canada's first agentic account opening solution, delivering seamless, autonomous client onboarding for financial advisors, wealth management firms, and operations teams
💼 Quantum eMotion (QeM), Montreal-based quantum security firm to acquire Plurilock, Victoria-based cybersecurity firm for nearly $34M CAD
💼 Stripe is acquiring Parafin, US-based financial infrastructure and embedded finance provider for small businesses to integrate advanced embedded credit infrastructure, enabling platforms to offer tailored financial products to small businesses and bypassing traditional lending constraints
🌟 Payments Canada welcomes six new members as expanded membership eligibility reaches one-year milestone: Bounce Pay, FIS Everlink, Nium, Pesa, Remitly and Vancouver City Savings Credit Union (Vancity)
Top Financial Institutions Updates this Week
🤝 Citi and Coinbase expanded collaboration to launch two core initiatives Coinbase Virtual Accounts and Spring by Citi to connect digital and fiat payments for corporations and consumers
🤝 CIBC to join Project Agorá, the global public-private collaboration convened by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) and the Institute of International Finance (IIF) to test the use of new technology and tokenization for wholesale cross-border payments
🤝 BMO and Mastercard introduced the availability of a new embedded Commercial payments capability that enables eligible Corporate Card clients to initiate and manage BMO Commercial virtual card payments directly within the software platforms they use to run their operations
🤝 BMO entered in an exclusive strategic partnership with MoneyPrep, Edmonton-based financial literacy program to bring financial literacy education to more elementary students across Canada
🌟 Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) is advancing its quantum strategy with the appointment of a Director of Quantum, the signing of strategic partnerships with the University of Waterloo's Institute for Quantum Computing, University of Toronto, Xanadu and a multi-year roadmap to drive innovation while ensuring quantum-safe operations
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With Money Plus, everyone earns 2.25%* as a standard rate. As a reward to our early members, earn 3% for your first three months. What happens after 3 months? You can keep earning 3%*. Here’s how: Beacon rewards you with 3% on your balance in Money Plus when you spend $500+ a month across your card, international transfers, international bill payments and recharges. In short, what you do this month rewards you next month. No fees. No minimum balance. No teaser rate that quickly evaporates to near zero. Your funds sit with regulated Canadian institutions, CDIC-eligible up to $100K, and your earnings are calculated daily and paid out monthly. Meanwhile, Finny sits with you so you can figure out whether switching to Money Plus actually makes sense for you and to help you manage your money once you do. Try telling Finny about your savings and it will tell you the best place to keep it to get the most returns. Put together, these are not just two features launching on the same day. It is the next chapter: an AI-native financial institution where Beacon isn't just how you send money home it is how you grow it, manage it, and make it work harder, all in one place. | LinkedIn
The services combine identity, intent, behavioural, and fraud insights to support authorisation decisions and reduce unnecessary friction for consumers. The new capabilities form the intelligence layer of the Agent Pay Trust Framework. Mastercard structures the framework around five components: identity, intent, controls, execution, and intelligence. The first service is now rolling out for testing in the US. It is a probability score indicating how likely it is that a transaction was initiated by an AI agent, and it is designed to give issuers confidence to approve legitimate agent-led purchases. Mastercard plans to add further intelligence over time on behaviour, merchant risk, transaction patterns, credential risk, and consumer propensity. This will provide a broader view of AI-driven activity across the transaction lifecycle. | The Paypers
By acquiring Parafin, Stripe integrates advanced credit infrastructure into its ecosystem, allowing platforms to offer tailored financial products like 'Pay Over Time' to their users, bypassing traditional, often restrictive, lending institutions. Parafin has established itself as a leading embedded platform by supporting complex giants such as Jobber and Mindbody. Their technology allows these platforms to act as a financial home base for their users, offering products like Pay Over Time and Spend to manage cash flow effectively. This integration ensures that embedded financial products are no longer exclusive to large corporations but are available to every small business owner. The addition of Parafin’s complementary credit products significantly expands the utility of Stripe Capital. As traditional financing remains constrained, Stripe is positioning itself as the primary financial infrastructure provider for the global internet economy. By acquiring Parafin, Stripe gains acute leadership expertise in risk management and credit underwriting, which are essential for scaling high-intent financial services to over 18,000 platforms. | Merchant’s Eye
Konek is Canada’s digital wallet, powered by Interac and backed by the country’s leading financial institutions. The integration of Konek with Global Payments will give thousands of Canadian businesses nationwide the opportunity to enable account-based payments, along with card-based payments, for their customers. Account-based payments from chequing or savings accounts are powered by Interac Direct®, available exclusively on Konek. Global Payments is rolling out Konek, starting with its API and expanding into built-in online checkout and hosted payment solutions for merchants. Konek is expected to be available to a broad range of Global Payments merchant customers in Canada by fall 2026. | Interac
Twenty-two new members have joined since 2025 regulatory changes, a necessary step for those seeking access to critical national payment infrastructure, including the forthcoming Real-Time Rail. This milestone coincides with the first anniversary of expanded Payments Canada membership eligibility, a strategic shift driven by two converging legislative developments that took effect in September 2025: historic amendments to the Canadian Payments Act to expand membership eligibility and implementation of the Retail Payment Activities Act (RPAA). Combined, these developments have enabled continued membership growth and momentum. By expanding membership to payment service providers (PSPs) registered under the RPAA, local credit unions that are members of a central, and clearing houses of systems designated under the Payment Clearing and Settlement Act, a broader range of organizations are eligible to become members of Payments Canada and may choose to apply to participate directly in payment systems. These are Lynx (Canada’s high-value payment system), the Automated Clearing Settlement System (ACSS, Canada’s retail batch payment system) and the Real-Time Rail (RTR), Canada's forthcoming real-time payment system. | Payments.ca
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The launch of a USDC-native clearinghouse represents a fundamental shift in how derivatives are settled. By utilizing USDC as the primary collateral asset, Coinbase can bypass the limitations of traditional banking hours, offering instantaneous 24/7 settlement. This is purpose-built for the always-on nature of crypto markets, ensuring that capital is never trapped in legacy clearing cycles. Business owners and institutional traders can now access fully collateralized contracts with greater transparency and speed. The integration of native stablecoin collateral reduces the friction typically associated with converting between fiat and digital assets during the clearing process, providing a seamless trading experience for regulated products. | TradeTech Eye
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Coinbase has selected Citi's Virtual Account Wallet solution, part of Citi Services’ Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS) capabilities, to power Coinbase Virtual Accounts. This provides Coinbase’s payments customers with bank-account-like functionality to accept, hold, and pay funds, with incoming fiat automatically converted into stablecoins – an industry-first. In parallel, Citi will enable its institutional clients to accept stablecoin payments at checkout through Spring by Citi, its integrated payment acceptance platform. Coinbase Payments powers the stablecoin acceptance. The solution automatically converts digital currency into fiat, with Citi settling funds as the bank of record. This allows merchants to serve over 150 million stablecoin holders globally without needing to hold, custody or manage digital assets directly. | Citi
The pilot focused on settlement, the behind-the-scenes process through which financial institutions exchange funds to complete and reconcile payment activity, rather than on how payments themselves are made. Through a series of real-world transactions, Lloyds and Visa tested how stablecoins could be used alongside existing settlement processes, assessing their impact on speed, transparency and operational processes. The seven-day pilot involved a series of US dollar settlement obligations totalling US$750,000. To complete these settlements, Lloyds used USDC purchased through Archax, a UK-regulated digital asset exchange. The settlement volume, booked through Lloyds' Corporate Markets branch in Jersey, was then transferred to Visa in the US. The pilot demonstrated how blockchain-based settlement can improve speed and flexibility, with funds reaching Visa in under an hour, including during the weekend. For banks and the businesses they serve, knowing when funds will arrive is important for managing liquidity, meeting obligations and planning with confidence. Yet cross-border settlement can slow when transactions are initiated outside traditional banking hours. | Lloyds Banking Group
The TAB Global 1000 rankings recognize institutions that demonstrate resilience, financial discipline, and stability in a dynamic global operating environment. This recognition reflects the strength of CIBC's business and the disciplined approach the bank take to delivering sustainable growth and long-term value. The bank remain focused on maintaining a strong balance sheet, investing in businesses, and deepening the relationships they have with clients. It is also a credit to highly-connected team, whose expertise and commitment continue to drive performance. | CIBC
Convened by the Bank for International Settlements and the Institute of International Finance, Project Agorá brings together public- and private-sector participants to test the use of tokenization and programmability in international payments. CIBC aims to contribute to the project's next phase, building on successful real-value testing conducted in July 2026. The project is seeking to establish a shared platform for tokenized commercial bank deposits and central bank reserves to support atomic (simultaneous) settlement of wholesale transactions in multiple currencies. The initiative aligns with CIBC's focus on modernizing financial infrastructure and exploring practical ways to improve the speed, efficiency, and certainty of institutional payments. CIBC's participation in Project Agorá builds on its broader track record of payments innovation, which includes CIBC's Dynamic Currency Conversion product, enabling local banks to offer international cardholders the ability to complete ATM transactions in their home currency using real-time foreign exchange rates. | CIBC
The TD Scholarship for Indigenous Peoples launched in November 2022 and remains in partnership with AFOA Canada, a not-for-profit led by Indigenous Peoples. Soon to welcome its fifth cohort, the program has supported over 100 students to date. A total of 25 applicants will be selected and will each receive $15,000 annually, with a maximum of $60,000 across or up to four years of schooling, to support tuition and living costs. The applicants will be invited to intern with TD, gaining relevant work experience that aligns with their career goals. The scholarship is available to students who are members/citizens of a First Nation, Métis, or Inuit community. Applicants must be permanent residents of Canada and have applied for or are currently enrolled in a full-time, minimum two-year program with an approved post-secondary institution in Canada. Employees of TD and its subsidiaries and their children are not eligible for this scholarship. | TD
Through this expansion, BMO becomes the first Mastercard issuer in Canada to offer an integrated embedded finance and payment experience by virtual card within participating platform integrations. Now available for eligible clients in Canada and the United States, the solution integrates Commercial payments into enterprise resource planning (ERP), procurement, accounts payable and travel management systems, helping businesses manage payments inside their existing workflows. By integrating BMO Commercial virtual cards into participating software platforms through Mastercard's Commercial Express framework, eligible clients can execute secure payments for supplier invoices, travel, and corporate expenses without ever leaving their primary operational workflows. The framework also provides participating platforms with a standardized framework for enabling issuer-backed virtual card payments, helping reduce implementation complexity and support broader adoption across the ecosystem. | BMO
The initiative will help young Canadians build a stronger foundation early, gain confidence to make informed financial decisions and achieve real financial progress. As financial literacy moves higher on the national agenda, foundational financial skills are increasingly being incorporated into school curricula as early as Grade 1. This growing focus reflects broader efforts across Canada to strengthen financial literacy, including through the federal government's National Financial Literacy Strategy. Through the partnership, teachers across Canada can use practical, classroom-ready lessons and tools at no cost to help students build essential money skills. As financial decisions become increasingly complex, introducing money concepts at a young age can help students build the practical skills and confidence to navigate everyday choices. By learning how to save, spend thoughtfully and plan toward a goal, children can establish a foundation for lifelong financial well-being and greater financial resilience. | BMO
Clients can now send same-currency International Money Transfers from their Euro, British pound, and Hong Kong dollar accounts without paying any RBC transfer fees. Key features of RBC's International Money Transfer service include: Send money directly in the currency held in RBC U.S. and RBC Foreign Currency Accounts. USD, EUR, GBP or HKD can now be sent abroad in that currency | No exchange rate surprises. By sending International Money Transfers in the foreign currency they already hold, clients avoid foreign exchange surprises at the time of the transaction and gain greater clarity on what will arrive for recipients | Digital self-serve. Send International Money Transfers any time through RBC Online Banking and the RBC Mobile app. No branch visit required | No minimum balance required, no monthly account fee. There is no need to carry a minimum balance in an RBC Foreign Currency Account and it's a no-monthly-fee account | Transfers can arrive at the destination within minutes. Clients can send up to C$50,000 equivalent per day ($C100 equivalent minimum per transfer), with funds typically arriving within 2 days | Pay $0 in RBC transfer fees. Send International Money Transfers from RBC U.S. and RBC Foreign Currency Accounts with no RBC transfer fee. | RBC
Dr. Elizabeth Iwasawa has joined RBC as Director of Quantum. In this newly created role, Dr. Iwasawa will lead a team of quantum researchers and developers and manage the development and buildout of the bank's quantum strategy. RBC has signed two multi-year partnerships to help advance quantum growth at RBC and contribute to Canada's quantum talent pipeline. A partnership with the University of Toronto to help advance quantum growth at RBC and contribute to Canada's quantum talent pipeline, and focus on PhD fellowships and conference sponsorships. In addition, RBC is collaborating with Canadian photonic quantum computing company Xanadu to host a hands-on workforce training program where the team will learn quantum application development using Xanadu's open source frameworks. RBC is implementing a comprehensive program designed to achieve quantum-safe client services in the next several years. RBC's quantum program builds on RBC's established leadership in artificial intelligence and reinforces the bank's commitment to emerging technologies that can drive competitive advantage and enhance client experiences. | RBC
Together, RBC Capital Markets and Women of Influence will help elevate the achievements of women across a wide range of sectors and disciplines, amplifying their stories and making their impact more visible across Canada and beyond. The 2027 Top 25 Women of Influence Awards will recognize women through four defining pillars: Initiative, Impact, Inspiration and Influence. These criteria reflect what these women have achieved and how they have created meaningful change, inspired others and used their influence to shape their industry, community or field. New this year, the Lifetime Recognition Award will recognize a woman whose career has made an enduring contribution and helped pave the way for others. | RBC
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NuBank remains focused on its core markets in Brazil, Mexico, and Colombia, alongside its global expansion through Nu Global. While the firm typically maintains a strict no-comment policy on specific M&A opportunities, the scale of recent reports regarding a potential Nubank Monzo acquisition prompted a formal clarification. The company stated, "while we have a great deal of respect for Monzo, the Company is not pursuing a transaction with Monzo." This move aims to stabilize investor expectations and redirect focus toward their existing roadmap. By explicitly ruling out the deal, Nu is signaling that its current capital allocation is reserved for organic growth and established regional priorities rather than entering the competitive European retail banking landscape through a costly acquisition. | Fintech Finance News
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The introduction of Robinhood AI trading agents allows users to build and deploy autonomous strategies directly within the mobile app. By selecting models from leading labs like OpenAI GPT-Luna, traders can automate research and execution without manual intervention. The system is built with dedicated agentic accounts to ensure safety, allowing users to set strict limits on accessible funds. Since the initial beta launch, over 150,000 customers have opened accounts, with agents now performing 30 million tool calls daily. A new feature called "Loops" will soon allow these agents to execute standing, ongoing instructions on repeat, ensuring that retail investors never miss a market move, even while they sleep. | TradeTech Eye
OneVest's new AI agent directly solves the administrative burden by orchestrating the account onboarding lifecycle end-to-end, from initial client intake through to account funding, while ensuring wealth management professionals maintain full visibility and control. OneVest's agentic account opening solution connects natively with major Canadian custodial institutions, including National Bank Independent Network (NBIN), Aviso Wealth, and CI Investment Services (CIIS), with additional custodial integrations underway. By providing a single, standardized operational interface across custodians, wealth management firms can scale their operations seamlessly. To ensure full operational transparency, every action taken by the AI agent is logged through OneVest Pulse, a centralized activity feed and governance log. OneVest Pulse provides operations teams, compliance officers, and advisors with an immutable audit trail and real-time visibility into every onboarding milestone, eliminating manual status checks while upholding institutional compliance standards. | Newswire
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This innovative, technology-enabled program is designed to support members on disability experiencing acute or chronic Musculoskeletal (MSK) conditions, like neck, back and joint pain, and help improve recovery outcomes that support a safe and sustainable return to work. Musculoskeletal conditions are among the leading causes of disability and workplace absence in Canada, often making it difficult for individuals to work, stay active, and participate fully in everyday life. The first phase of this partnership will provide eligible members on disability with access to licensed Canadian physiotherapists, supported by a Health Canada-approved motion-tracking tablet. Together, these tools enable personalized treatment plans, real-time progress tracking, educational resources, and ongoing communication with care teams, helping members stay on track throughout their recovery journey. In 2027, Manulife and Sword will advance to the next phase of the partnership, expanding the program to all Group Benefits members with Extended Health Care coverage and increasing access to physiotherapy support across Canada. | Manulife
The launch effectively marks a first-of-its kind plugin in ChatGPT, as well as Manulife’s first plugin in ChatGPT globally. Combining Manulife's leadership in travel insurance with its ambition to become an AI-powered organization, this plugin helps meet travellers in the digital experiences they already use to research and plan their trips. Travel planning is happening increasingly in digital and AI-powered environments, creating new opportunities for brands to support customers earlier in the travel experience. The launch builds on Manulife's focus to leverage AI to improve customer experiences by making information and services easier to access when and where customers need them. The plugin was developed in alignment with Manulife’s Responsible AI Principles(opens in a new tab), which help guide how AI solutions are designed, developed, and deployed across services. | Manulife
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Eligible customers now have the option to pay over time, which can give them more control over how their purchases fit into their plans. Eligible shoppers can use Affirm online and in stores across all three brands in the United States and Canada , and pay over time in biweekly or monthly payments starting at 0% APR. Customers can see what they’ll pay before they check out, with no late or hidden fees or compound interest. Crate & Barrel Holdings joins Affirm’s network of over 570,000 active merchant partners, which includes StubHub , REVOLVE, Net-a-Porter, StockX, Expedia and many more. | Affirm
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The deal is meant to accelerate its transition from developing quantum-secure technologies to a broader commercial cybersecurity business. Plurilock brings that in the form of an established cybersecurity platform and revenue base, including enterprise and government customer relationships, as well as public-sector procurement channels. The combined company will be led by QeM president and CEO Francis Bellido, while adding Plurilock CEO Ian Paterson and CFO Veera Singh as executive vice-president and senior vice-president, respectively. Plurilock shareholders will have a chance to approve the deal in November, shortly after which QeM and Plurilock expect the transaction to close. | BetaKit
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AdBio also said it’s launching its third fund with a target size of 120 million euros ($193 million CAD), backed by 7 million euros ($11 million CAD) from Québec labour-sponsored fund Fonds de solidarité FTQ. AdBio is framing its expansion into Canada as an opportunity to build a bridge between the country and Europe—coinciding with the Canadian government’s ongoing campaign to bring in new foreign investment (and reduce reliance on the US). | BetaKit
Through its cloud-based platform, Orgvue supports large global enterprises in designing, planning and optimizing their workforces. The company serves close to 200 global enterprise customers, alongside more than 50 globally active consulting firms that leverage Orgvue as part of their workforce transformation and organizational planning activities. CIBC are pleased to support Main Capital and Orgvue on this transaction and to help provide the capital needed to advance the company’s next stage of growth. | CIBC Innovation Banking
The services combine identity, intent, behavioural, and fraud insights to support authorisation decisions and reduce unnecessary friction for consumers. The new capabilities form the intelligence layer of the Agent Pay Trust Framework. Mastercard structures the framework around five components: identity, intent, controls, execution, and intelligence. The first service is now rolling out for testing in the US. It is a probability score indicating how likely it is that a transaction was initiated by an AI agent, and it is designed to give issuers confidence to approve legitimate agent-led purchases. Mastercard plans to add further intelligence over time on behaviour, merchant risk, transaction patterns, credential risk, and consumer propensity. This will provide a broader view of AI-driven activity across the transaction lifecycle. | The Paypers
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Through the Jobber Plugin in ChatGPT and Jobber Connector for Claude, service pros can ask questions about their business, identify what needs attention, and complete everyday administrative work—all with the context of their own Jobber account data. When other supported services are connected to ChatGPT or Claude, Jobber can draw information from them directly, so nothing needs to be re-entered manually. For example, a business owner could have a service inquiry in their email inbox, and the plugin in ChatGPT or connector for Claude can use that information to create a Client, Property, and Request in Jobber. The lead now lives in Jobber with automations, follow-ups, and reporting attached, ready to move forward. | PR Newswire
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