Weekly FinTech & Financial News
Subscribe to our Weekly Newsletter
✉️
Subscribe to our Weekly Newsletter ✉️
September 7-11, 2026
Top FinTech Updates this Week
🤝 Digital Commerce Payments (DCPayments), a Calgary-based payments provider and part of Digital Commerce Group, launched a new checkout capability that enables merchants to offer the Interac e-Transfer Business Request Money feature alongside credit cards within an online purchase experience
🤝 BVNK and Marqeta, Inc. partnered to deliver stablecoin-backed card capabilities to crypto-native and non-crypto companies
🚀 Visa introduced a new approach to onchain credit designed to help stablecoin-linked card programs and FinTechs access working capital using onchain lending infrastructure and Visa data
🚀 Zum Rails, a Montreal an all-in-one instant payments ecosystem and embedded finance provider becomes Canada’s first payments company to operate as a self-issuer for prepaid and secured credit cards
🚀 Focal AI, US-based agentic AI platform purpose-built for Canadian financial advisors, launched a set of AI agents that complete administrative work beyond meeting automation
🚀 The Government of Canada unveiled its National AI Literacy Initiative delivering on a promise outlined in Canada’s broader National Artificial Intelligence Strategy
Top Financial Institutions Updates this Week
🚀 RBC introduced a CA$1.4B (US$1B) initiative to invest in Canadian technology companies with the potential to scale into global powerhouses
🚀 RBC launches 15-minute self-serve Pre-Arrival Account Open capability, allowing newcomers to open an RBC Advantage Banking account before they come to Canada and transfer up to C$75,000 in one to three instalments
🚀 BMO InvestorLine introduced unlimited commission-free trading on all stocks, ETFs and options, the elimination of all brokerage account administration fees and the reduction of options contract fees
🌟 Scotiabank published its Canadian Defence Issuance Framework, becoming the first organization in Canada to establish a dedicated framework for labelled defence issuances
-
Onchain lending has emerged as one of the fastest-growing segments of digital finance. Visa is helping bridge that gap by combining VisaNet settlement data with onchain credit infrastructure. This information can help lenders better understand how a program is operating, making it easier to evaluate financing opportunities that fit their needs and extend capital to support their goals. It builds on Visa's broader stablecoin strategy, which includes the recent launch of Visa Stablecoin Platform, enabling stablecoin settlement, expanding stablecoin-linked card programs, and helping financial institutions access new digital asset capabilities. An early example of this model is Visa's work with Credit Coop, which provides working capital and settlement financing for stablecoin-linked card programs using smart contracts to automate funding, collateral management and repayment. | Visa
The Interac e-Transfer service is a cornerstone of the Canadian digital economy, with over 1.6 billion transactions processed last year. Available through DCPayments’ transaction acquiring solution, the capability allows customers to select Interac e-Transfer at checkout and approve the payment through their participating financial institution in a way that feels like they’re never leaving a merchant’s website. Merchants can offer it as an additional payment choice or encourage its use for larger purchases where credit card processing fees can have a greater effect on margins. The integrated flow also streamlines payments by Interac e-Transfer. Rather than giving customers an email address and separately matching incoming transfers to orders, businesses can combine the payment request, transaction status and checkout experience into one process. Payments can be completed in near real time, giving merchants fast access to cash with no option for chargebacks. | Business Wire
Mastercard is introducing a suite of tools designed to bridge the gap between traditional e-commerce and AI-driven purchasing. The core of this offering is Mastercard Agent Connect, which serves as a unified integration point for merchants, digital platforms, and payment providers. This system allows AI agents to navigate the entire shopping journey: accessing merchant-provided product catalogs, recommending items for a shopper’s cart, and completing transactions using secure credentials from any network. To ensure security in these non-human interactions, Mastercard Agent Pay utilizes a framework called Verifiable Intent, which requires explicit consumer authorization before a purchase is finalized. The Agent Suite for Merchants further supports this by incorporating a commerce agent blueprint developed in collaboration with Anthropic. This allows businesses to build their own shopping agents using Claude AI models, integrated with Mastercard’s existing commerce intelligence and payment capabilities. | Merchant’s Eye
The activation of the MALPB charter marks the completion of a three-phase journey for Checkout.com, progressing from initial application to regulatory approval and now active volume processing. By operating under this specific Georgia framework, Checkout.com gains direct access to major card networks. This structural shift is designed to reduce the complexity of the payment lifecycle, providing the company with greater control over transaction flow and operational execution. The MALPB status allows for the integration of AI-powered payment optimization and provides a foundation for future product innovation tailored specifically to the US market. For enterprise merchants, this transition promises higher performance and increased flexibility. The Georgia Department of Banking and Finance, which oversees the MALPB framework, noted that the charter requires significant governance and preparation, positioning Checkout.com as a regulated participant in the state's established payments ecosystem. This development follows years of investment into the region’s regulatory and operational infrastructure, strengthening its capabilities in the world’s largest digital economy as it begins processing volume through the charter. | Merchant’s Eye
The capability allows Zūm to issue cards directly to businesses without relying on a sponsor bank, bringing another layer of financial infrastructure in house. It gives the company greater control over card issuance, a capability historically concentrated among banks and consumer-facing neobanks. | LinkedIn
-
The deal is expected to close in 2027, subject to customary closing conditions and receipt of regulatory approvals, including approval from the Monetary Authority of Singapore. The acquisition will accelerate Circle's mission to build the infrastructure layer for global digital finance. Tazapay brings deep payment infrastructure across APAC and emerging markets, where it see increasing demand for USDC-denominated transactions. This acquisition will increase Circle’s capability to originate and terminate payments globally, near-instant and 24/7, which is a meaningful step toward making USDC the default payment rail for cross-border commerce. | Business Wire
The integration will enable Marqeta’s customers to embed stablecoin capabilities into wallets, cards and everyday financial products. Together, the companies are unlocking stablecoin spendability to allow users to transact in digital dollars at millions of merchants globally with a standard payment card. The partnership is noteworthy as it connects Marqeta with two existing parts of Mastercard's network. Mastercard is one of Marqeta’s major network partners, while BVNK's stablecoin infrastructure has been part of Mastercard since its acquisition of the business in August 2026. Over time, the growing collaboration will give Marqeta's customers a path to additional Mastercard capabilities through the same integration, rather than a separate build. Mastercard, Marqeta and BVNK are also all supporters of Open USD, a global standard for stablecoins that is collaborative, transparent and built to scale. By bringing together companies across the payments ecosystem around a common standard, Open USD will help create a shared foundation for stablecoin payments that works across networks, providers and use cases, making it easier to adopt digital dollars and scale them across payment operations. | Business Wire
By introducing Coinbase equity perpetuals, the exchange aims to bridge the gap between traditional equity markets and the flexibility of crypto-native financial products. These derivative contracts, often referred to as "perps," allow traders to maintain long-term market positions without the administrative burden of rolling over contracts at expiration. This structural efficiency is a major competitive advantage for retail and institutional investors who require continuous exposure to underlying assets. The move is a direct response to proven international demand for these instruments. Currently, many U.S. investors are excluded from these markets due to a lack of a clear regulatory framework. Coinbase is positioning itself as the primary gateway for regulated derivative access, ensuring that users can engage with complex financial products under the oversight of the SEC and eventually the CFTC. This strategy focuses on enhancing market liquidity and providing a more robust suite of tools for the modern trader. The filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is only the first step in a complex multi-agency process. Following SEC review, the product will require CFTC regulatory approval to move forward. This dual-track oversight is necessary because the products sit at the intersection of securities and commodities regulation. Coinbase has already demonstrated success in this arena, having secured perpetual crypto futures approval earlier this year alongside the prediction platform Kalshi. | TradeTech Eye
-
Stride is a nationally chartered bank that has been Chime's bank partner for more than seven years. Upon closing, Stride will become Chime Bank, N.A. and operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of Chime. The transaction marks an important milestone in Chime’s evolution from industry challenger to category leader. Chime’s technology-driven, payments-led model has reshaped the industry and now helps more than 10 million Active Members make financial progress. The combination of Chime’s digital core, trusted brand, and primary account relationships with Stride’s national charter and bank infrastructure will create an end-to-end platform built for the AI era. | Business Wire
Neo said the company has grown rapidly over the years, allowing complexity to creep in and ultimately slow operations down. The company said parting ways with so many employees was a difficult decision made in the interest of serving its overarching mission. Laid off employees will receive severance pay, extended benefits coverage, and a waived equity cliff, according to Neo. The company said it will also provide career transition support for any employees who want it. | BetaKit
Future capabilities include scam detection, faster onboarding, real-time spending insights, smarter budgeting and savings tools, enhanced card controls, digital-first wealth planning and AI personalization, alongside expanded business banking. The strategy is underpinned by a major technology overhaul for Tangerine’s more than two million clients, including a 10-year agreement with Engine by Starling to replace its core banking system with a cloud-native platform that will streamline onboarding, accounts, cards and money-management tools while reducing operational complexity and speeding product launches. Tangerine also aims to make wealth-building tools more accessible, building on a mobile feature that gives clients a consolidated view of their finances. The modernization comes as Canada’s financial system evolves, with Payments Canada’s Real-Time Rail expected to launch in Q4 2026 and consumer-driven banking giving Canadians greater control over their financial data. | Fintech.ca
-
Through the collaboration, financial institutions will be able to access Mastercard capabilities that support personalization, analytics, customer engagement and cyber resilience alongside the Backbase AI-native Banking Operating System, helping them deliver more connected banking experiences and drive business growth. Key capabilities available through the collaboration include: Dynamic Yield by Mastercard, which can support personalization and customer engagement across digital banking journeys | Test & Learn, which can help financial institutions assess the commercial impact of product, pricing, campaign, and customer experience changes | SpendingPulse, which can provide macroeconomic and sector-level spending insights to support business decision-making | Cyber Quant, which can support cyber risk assessment and resilience conversations with financial institutions. | Finextra
-
Robinhood will begin routing a selection of football event contracts to Crypto.com’s prediction markets platform through its CFTC-regulated exchange and clearinghouse. As part of the deal, Robinhood Markets will hold equity stakes in Crypto.com and OG.com following the latter’s spin-off as an independent trading platform. The equity will be priced in line with the recent investment of Citadel Securities into Crypto.com Group at a $20 billion valuation. While event contracts on Robinhood will still also be routed to Kalshi, ForecastEX, and Rothera, the deal with Crypto.com and OG.com comes just in time to help bolster our football prediction markets hub. | Robinhood
The new Focal AI platform introduces new agentic AI capabilities which autonomously read and fill forms, read and draft emails, build client deliverables, and update your client data across advisor CRMs. The launch addresses a critical bottleneck in Canadian wealth management. Advisors spend more than half their working time, over 20 hours a week, on non-revenue-generating administrative manual tasks across too many tools. Focal AI is already used by advisors across major Canadian wealth networks like Financial Horizons and integrates with CRMs they rely on, including Equisoft, Maximizer, Laylah, Cloven, and more. The new agentic capabilities extend those integrations from moving information between systems to helping complete the workflows themselves. Focal AI now expands beyond AI note-taking and meeting prep with agentic AI that automates back-office processes. The Focal AI agentic platform can embed natively inside broker-dealer infrastructure and the modern wealth firm technology stack: Core Platform: Delivers time savings for advisors through AI note-taking, meeting preparation briefs, automated CRM syncing, and performance coaching | Agentic AI Workflows: The Focal AI agent processes documents, emails, creates deliverables, and completes admin work advisors currently handle by hand, both inside of Focal and across other websites. | Business Wire
-
As part of that initiative, the new RBCx Growth Fund I will primarily focus on making direct equity investments in Canadian companies whose growth RBC is uniquely positioned to identify and accelerate. RBC will invest up to $416 million (US$300 million) and give investee companies access to commercialization opportunities, strategic partnerships and expansion support that are often unavailable through traditional investors. The fund aims to generate attractive returns through investments in sectors where Canada's strengths—energy, agriculture, AI, healthcare and frontier technologies—intersect with its world-class R&D and talent pool. RBC will bring its market knowledge, expertise and network to identify top opportunities across the country and help the companies it invests in outperform. The growth fund will be led by Sid Paquette, Head of RBCx, the technology and innovation arm of RBC dedicated to helping both startups and scaleups unlock growth across every stage of their journey. | PR Newswire
As the first direct investing brokerage owned by one of Canada's five largest banks to eliminate commissions on stock and ETF trades, BMO InvestorLine is making self-directed investing more accessible, giving Canadians access to a full-feature digital investing platform with professional research, intelligent tools, valuable insights and support to help them build their portfolios with confidence. The launch builds on recent enhancements to the BMO InvestorLine platform that support both active traders and long-term investors through a suite of investing capabilities, including: Multi-leg options trading; Advanced options screeners; Strategy-building tools; Enhanced educational resources and Real-time market data and research. BMO InvestorLine also recently introduced 'paper trading' capabilities for BMO Active Trader clients that allow them to use a practice account to learn how the BMO Active Trader platform works, test new trading strategies and build trading skills without risking their money. | BMO
The awards recognize 104 women across nine categories whose leadership and innovation are shaping industries, organizations and communities across Canada, selected by an independent panel of judges. The recognition comes during a transformational period for EQ Bank, including the integration of PC Financial and continued investment in technology, AI and customer growth. The achievement reflects the depth of leadership driving the bank's next phase of growth while advancing women in senior leadership and technology roles. Anilisa Sainani joined EQ Bank in 2025 at a pivotal moment for Canada's Challenger Bank. She has been central to the acquisition and integration of PC Financial, a defining move that significantly expanded the bank's reach, impact and ability to create more choice and value for millions of Canadians. Janet Lin, who joined EQ Bank in 2021, leads the bank's technology and AI agenda. She established EQ's AI foundation through its AI Centre of Excellence and enterprise governance framework, and set the bank's AI ambition with the executive leadership team in 2026, helping translate emerging technology into better experiences for customers while equipping EQ's workforce to thrive. | EQB
Pallavi Tripathi, Senior Vice President, Capital Markets, Treasury and Commercial Technology, is recognized in the AI and Technology category. Her leadership reflects deep technical expertise, strategic vision, and a commitment to excellence that continues to advance innovation and transformation at CIBC. Gurveer Bains, Director of Business Management, Alternate Solutions Group, Payments, is recognized in the Emerging Leaders category as one of the next generation of leaders helping to shape the future of CIBC. The WXN Canada's Most Powerful Women: Top 100 Awards celebrate outstanding women leaders across private, public, and not-for-profit sectors. Recipients are selected by WXN's Diversity Council of Canada across nine categories. | CIBC
With expanded debit rewards across most BMO chequing accounts, clients can now earn 1 Point for every $2 spent on eligible grocery, wholesale, gas and EV charging purchases, plus 2x Points through select partner offers. Blue Rewards is seamlessly integrated into BMO Mobile Banking and Online Banking, making it easy to discover offers, track rewards and access benefits—all in one place. | BMO
The Framework provides the basis for Scotiabank to issue Canadian Defence Instruments, including Canadian Defence Bonds, to finance or refinance eligible activities supporting Canada's defence, security and resilience priorities. The Framework establishes the criteria under which Scotiabank may issue Defence Instruments in the future and does not itself constitute an issuance of securities. The publication of the Framework comes as Canada and its allies increase investment in defence capabilities, industrial capacity, critical infrastructure and strategic technologies. By establishing a dedicated framework, Scotiabank aims to support the mobilization of capital across Canada's defence and security ecosystem while providing transparency regarding the allocation of proceeds from Defence Instruments issued under the Framework. | Scotiabank
-
The round was led by Alpha Edison with participation from Garage Capital, Ride Home Fund, Jeremy Zimmer, and JS Cournoyer. The company intends to use the funds to accelerate platform development, expert onboarding, and research and evaluation as it heads toward public availability. Onix provides a personal intelligence platform that delivers private, expert-owned AI systems trained exclusively on licensed expert knowledge. The solution allows users to access private, expert-driven AI models across health and wellness categories while enabling experts to license their IP and maintain governance over how their intelligence systems operate. | FinSMEs
-
Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) is a computer language used to control the visual layout of web pages written in HTML. Founded in 2017, Tailwind has developed a popular, utility-first CSS framework that helps developers quickly style websites. The CEO noted that AI had also led to developers bypassing its core marketing channel, fuelling a 40-percent dip in traffic to the company’s documents—how clients find its paid offerings—since 2023, and forcing it to lay off three employees, or three quarters of its engineering team, to ensure its sustainability. Since then, multiple AI companies have stepped up to sponsor Tailwind. | BetaKit
A partnership between Amii and the federal government, the $13-million initiative will launch on Sept. 21. It will be led by Amii, which has an established track record of producing AI literacy programming upon which the federal government has modelled the national initiative. Initiative programming will be rolled out across three streams: one for students, one for educators, and another for the Canadian public. Streams focus on providing “practical learning opportunities” around the essentials of AI that the federal government believes will help Canadians “understand AI, use AI, and, for those who choose, build with AI.” Programming will also look to provide learners with the skills to assess AI-generated information, identify things like misinformation, bias, or privacy concerns, and enable them to use AI technology “more confidently and responsibly,” according to statements from Innovation, Science, and Economic Development Canada (ISED). The initiative’s programming will be rolled out in a tiered process over the coming months. A free, three-hour course for post-secondary students, as well as the first chapter of an Essentials for Educators course are both planned to come online on Sept. 21. Five additional chapters are slated to be published through the fall. ISED expects the initiative’s programming to reach up to one million post-secondary students and more than 50,000 K-12 educators. | BetaKit
The platform combines an adaptive client questionnaire, automatic document reminders, AI-powered expense categorization from bank statements, and a summary showing where each client file stands. Its questionnaire changes based on a client’s answers, while the expense tool categorizes bank transactions using CRA and IRS codes. Together, the features are intended to reduce the emails, phone calls, and manual follow-ups that consume firms during tax season. Rather than adding another disconnected application to an accountant’s technology stack, Taxformify aims to bring the different stages of client intake and document collection into a single workflow. | Fintech.ca
Complex Questions,
Simple Answers
FathomPRO applies advanced financial analysis to reveal critical signals, emerging trends, and tailored, actionable insights. Discover FathomPRO for yourself
