Author: Wamala Sipirian

The UK’s fintech sector is entering another policy cycle with competing priorities around fraud prevention, open finance, stablecoins, digital identity and access to European markets. Innovate Finance has used its September 2026 report, FinTech as a Force for Good, to present six policy proposals to the UK government ahead of the Budget on 28 October. The proposals call for faster progress on Open Finance, broader responsibility for online fraud, a national sterling stablecoin strategy, a more competitive digital verification market, improved access to European markets and changes to several investment and share-tax measures. The proposals have attracted broad agreement around…

UK asset finance providers are facing a changing operating environment as businesses look for more flexible ways to acquire and use equipment while regulators and markets place greater emphasis on resource efficiency and longer asset lifecycles. Traditional leasing and lending models have generally been structured around an initial acquisition: a lender finances an asset, the customer uses it during the contractual period and the financing eventually reaches maturity. A growing circular-economy approach instead considers what happens to the asset after its first financing cycle, including refurbishment, redeployment, secondary leasing and recycling. VIP Apps Consulting, a management consultancy specialising in leasing…

The market for core banking technology is entering another phase of consolidation as established financial technology providers look to acquire newer platforms rather than rebuild legacy architectures from the ground up. Fidelity National Information Services (FIS) has acquired OpenCoreOS, an AI-native core banking technology company founded by former Zafin chief executive Al Karim Somji. FIS confirmed that the transaction was completed in March 2026, although the acquisition was not publicly announced at the time. Financial terms were not disclosed. The transaction gives FIS access to a newer core banking architecture designed around artificial intelligence, multi-cloud deployment and incremental modernisation. Somji…

Abu Dhabi is continuing to develop its position as an international financial centre, with regulated infrastructure providers targeting asset managers that need to establish and operate investment vehicles across multiple jurisdictions. Fund+ Ltd has launched an integrated investment infrastructure platform from Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM), offering fund structuring, documentation, investor onboarding, operational support and compliance services through a consolidated platform. The company has secured Financial Services Permission FSP No. 220138 from the Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA). The platform is designed for family offices, institutional investors and emerging fund managers. According to Fund+, its digitised operating model can reduce…

Gold remains a core reserve asset for central banks, but the question of reserve security increasingly extends beyond how much gold a country owns. Where bullion is stored, which legal system governs it, how quickly it can be mobilised and whether financial infrastructure remains available during a crisis can all affect its practical value. The issue gained renewed attention on 2 September 2026, when De Nederlandsche Bank said it had moved roughly 86 tonnes of gold from New York and Ottawa to London. The Netherlands continued to own 612.4 tonnes, meaning the transaction changed the geographical distribution of the reserves…

Introduction African cooperatives are increasingly being brought into digital financial and commercial networks as technology providers develop new infrastructure for organizational identity, payments and member services. FORUS Digital Cooperative and DotCooperation LLC have signed a Strategic Partnership Agreement aimed at expanding the use of verified .coop digital identities among cooperatives across Africa. Under the agreement, FORUS becomes a primary Strategic Promotional and Implementation Partner for the continent. The partnership combines DotCooperation’s global cooperative identity ecosystem with FORUS’s technical infrastructure and regional implementation capabilities. The stated objective is to help cooperatives establish verifiable digital identities and connect those identities with broader…

Introduction Saudi Arabia’s fintech sector is moving into a more mature phase, with regulators, banks, investors and technology companies increasingly focused on how financial technology can be deployed at commercial scale. Developments highlighted at Money20/20 Middle East in Riyadh included expanded digital-payment acceptance, progress in open banking, new financing commitments for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and increased investment in artificial intelligence and financial infrastructure. The developments come as Saudi Arabia expands its financial technology ecosystem under the country’s National Fintech Strategy. By the end of August 2026, 371 fintech companies were operating in the Kingdom, compared with a national…

First Abu Dhabi Bank has completed live U.S. dollar transactions with Citi using tokenized deposits on Swift’s blockchain-based Ledger Minimum Viable Product, putting regulated bank money into a live distributed-ledger payment workflow. The transaction, announced on September 2, 2026, is the first such milestone reached by a bank in the Middle East and Africa (MEA) region, according to FAB and Citi. It forms part of Swift’s initiative to test whether tokenized commercial-bank deposits can support always-on cross-border payment commitments while continuing to use established banking infrastructure for final settlement. The development is significant because the transaction does not rely on…

Rent payments are becoming a more visible part of the UK credit-data ecosystem as fintech platform Brickk begins reporting members’ monthly rent transactions to TransUnion, one of the country’s three main credit reference agencies. The arrangement uses open-banking consent to verify rental payments and transmit the information to a renter’s TransUnion credit file. Brickk says the service is available nationwide, giving participating renters a way for regular housing payments to become part of their documented financial history. The development comes as UK regulators and policymakers examine whether credit files provide sufficiently comprehensive information about consumers. The Financial Conduct Authority said…

Introduction Ten financial technology startups from the UAE, Africa, Asia, Europe and the United States have assembled in Cape Town, South Africa, for a 12-week accelerator program focused on cross-border payments, foreign-exchange management, trade finance and digital-dollar access. The initiative is being delivered through CV VC’s Startup Activation Service, combining the Stellar network with CV Labs’ international incubator infrastructure in Switzerland, the UAE, Germany, Liechtenstein, Portugal and South Africa. The program is aimed at established founders developing financial infrastructure for markets where traditional banking and payment systems can create significant cross-border friction. Rather than focusing on early-stage product development, the…