• Bank of America, Citigroup, Morgan Stanley, and Blackstone have committed $63 billion to finance Broadcom AI computing equipment that will be leased to Anthropic.
• The arrangement highlights the growing role of banks and private credit investors in financing AI infrastructure, as demand for computing capacity continues to accelerate.
• The deal presents new opportunities for financial institutions while raising concerns about equipment depreciation, uncertain future demand, and broader financial stability risks.

Four major financial institutions have agreed to a $63 billion financing arrangement that will fund the purchase of AI computing infrastructure for Anthropic. Under the agreement Bank of America, Citigroup, Morgan Stanley, and Blackstone will contribute to a newly formed a special-purpose vehicle (SPV) that will purchase Broadcom AI accelerators and networking equipment and lease them to Anthropic. The transaction is part of an existing Broadcom–Anthropic compute agreement.

The three banks will arrange the primary financing, while Blackstone will provide additional financing and Broadcom will help protect lenders against potential losses in the value of the underlying assets. The $63 billion represents committed financing and does not represent the value of equipment deliveries, which are expected to be completed in 2027.

The scale of the SPV is impressive. At $63 billion, the financing commitment is larger than many major corporate acquisitions. While equipment leasing and asset-backed financing are nothing new, the size of this arrangement demonstrates how AI infrastructure investment is creating demand for financing on a scale that few individual lenders could accommodate. The deal also illustrates how banks and private credit investors are eager to participate in building out AI infrastructure.

Historically, Anthropic has mostly relied on equity funding and strategic investments from technology companies to finance its AI development and infrastructure expansion. Amazon has invested billions in the company, while Anthropic raised $30 billion in a Series G round in February 2026 and another $65 billion in Series H funding in May.

Just as with today’s financing arrangement, both of the previous venture capital rounds were intended to support the company’s growing computing infrastructure needs. Today’s arrangement represents a different financing approach, bringing banks and private credit investors into the picture to finance the physical equipment supporting Anthropic’s AI operations.

For financial institutions, the deal highlights the growing opportunity to finance AI infrastructure. “The rapidly growing demand for AI is creating an enormous opportunity to finance compute capacity at scale,” said Blackstone President and COO Jon Gray.

Broadcom President and CEO Hock Tan echoed that optimism, pointing to the growing demand for AI computing power. “Fundamentally, the need for AI compute continues to grow at an extraordinary pace. This validates that there is capital available to finance such growth and that Broadcom is uniquely positioned to enable it.”

The financing arrangement follows Bank of Japan’s October financial stability report, which examined how AI infrastructure investment and nonbank financing could transmit risks through the financial system. While the growing demand for computing power presents new lending opportunities for banks, it also introduces risks tied to rapidly depreciating technology, uncertain future demand, and the potential for a slowdown in AI investment. Financial institutions are right to be wary of committing more capital to AI infrastructure, as they will need to balance the opportunity for growth against the possibility that the underlying assets may lose value faster than anticipated.

Photo by Jan van der Wolf

The post Banks Structure $63 Billion Anthropic AI Financing, Deepening Exposure to AI Infrastructure appeared first on Finovate.

      

AI-native software engineering company Ideas2IT has forged a strategic partnership with enterprise AI platform Lyzr to jointly build, sell, and deploy enterprise agentic systems for companies throughout North America. Lyzr will provide the enterprise platform for developing, orchestrating, and governing agents, with governance and guardrails built in and informed by implementations with Fortune 500 companies. Ideas2IT will provide experience in bringing agentic systems to production and scale in regulated industries, as well as forward-deployed engineers who work inside client environments to build and operate these systems.

“Enterprise adoption depends on how well agents work within existing systems, processes and controls,” Ideas2IT President Murali Vivekanandan said. “This partnership brings our engineering and implementation experience together with Lyzr’s platform to address those requirements from development through production.”

The partnership comes at a time of growing enterprise interest in AI agents and a transition from experimentation to systems that can actually run inside of core business operations. This transition is not without its challenges, however. While many enterprises have launched agentic AI pilots, few of them have deployed agents that operate consistently and reliably in production. In order to close this gap, companies are faced with a wide, and potentially confusing, range of options—from hyperscaler toolkits to dedicated agent platforms and service firms. And each of these options comes with its own pros and cons in terms of speed, controls, costs, and accountability when an issue develops with an agent’s actions in a live workflow.

In response, Ideas2IT and Lyzr are recognizing the importance of governance in making this transition, ensuring seamless connections to legacy systems, respect for access controls, auditable decisions, and performance that is consistent even as data and processes change and evolve. Typically, these issues fall between the responsibilities of platform vendors and service providers. The partnership between Ideas2IT and Lyzr directly addresses this by assigning these responsibilities to each firm: Ideas2IT will focus on solution architecture, agent development, enterprise integration, testing, deployment, and ongoing optimization. Lyzr will deliver the platform capabilities for orchestration, evaluation, governance, and lifecycle management.

“Ideas2IT brings enterprise delivery experience and a strong healthcare practice. Together, we can develop industry-specific applications and help customers deploy and operate them at scale,” Lyzr Chief Business Officer Siddharth Asokan said.

Founded in 2009 and headquartered in Plano, Texas, Ideas2IT develops and operates agentic systems and proprietary engineering platforms for enterprise clients, including those in regulated industries such as financial services and healthcare. With clients such as Medtronic, Facebook/Meta, Netsmart, and Siemens, Ideas2IT boasts more than 700 forward-deployed engineers that are domain-matched before deployment begins.

New Jersey-based Lyzr made its Finovate debut at FinovateFall 2025 and most recently demoed its technology at FinovateSpring 2026 in San Diego. The company’s enterprise AI platform spans agent development, orchestration, evaluation, observability, and lifecycle management.

Earlier this year, Lyzr made headlines with news that its most recent $100 million Series B fundraising effort was run by the company’s own AI agents. Lyzr leveraged its AI agent system SivaClaw to serve as the primary coordinator between the company and potential investors. This included managing investor communications, document creation, and analytics tracking. The pitches to more than 130 investors generated $400 million in investor interest from Silicon Valley backers. The Series B investment, announced in July, gave the firm a valuation of $500 million.

As eye-catching as this move was, it was not the first time that Lyzr had put its AI agents to work helping raise capital. During the company’s Series A, it used an agent to facilitate outreach, reducing the month-long fundraising cycle to two weeks.

Photo by Markus Winkler

The post Lyzr and Ideas2IT Team Up to Boost Enterprise Agentic AI Adoption appeared first on Finovate.

      

• Zocks, an AI platform for financial services, announced a partnership with independent broker-dealer and RIA firm Founders Financial Securities, LLC.
• The partnership will make Zocks’ platform, which captures advisor-client conversations and turns them into structured data, part of the TRU Enterprise OS technology stack available to all Founders’ Member Partners.
• Headquartered in San Francisco, California, Zocks made its Finovate debut at FinovateSpring 2026 in San Diego.

Privacy-first AI platform for financial services, Zocks, has partnered with Founders Financial Securities, LLC (“Founders”). The partnership with the privately-held independent broker-dealer and RIA firm makes Zocks part of the TRU Enterprise OS technology stack, which is available to all Founders’ Member Partners throughout the US. Zocks’ technology automates administrative processes such as meeting note-taking and manual data entry during onboarding, giving Founders’ advisors the freedom to focus on serving clients and enhancing relationships.

Zocks’ platform automatically captures details and context from client conversations and turns them into structured data. The platform then syncs that data across supported CRM, portfolio management, and planning tools, including Salesforce, Orion, and Wealthbox, as well as 370+ fields in eMoney. This enables Founders’ Member Partners to access up-to-date, comprehensive client summaries ahead of every client meeting. After the meeting, the advisors’ meeting notes, follow-up emails, and other forms are already populated with the key details from both the client meeting and connected systems, all ready to review and send.

“Founders recognized early that AI was going to change what clients expect from their advisors, and it chose to equip its entire network now instead of taking a wait-and-see approach,” Zocks Chief Revenue Officer Drew DiMarino said. “We’re proud to work with a firm that is setting the standard for how wealth management firms adopt and scale AI.”

In a statement, Founders indicated that the depth of Zocks’ integrations and its ability to work with the firm’s existing technology stack helped Zocks stand out from its competitors. The company also noted that the partnership not only helps advisors have more informed and intentional client conversations and deliver financial plans more effectively, but also will provide the firm’s leadership with aggregate insights into operational trends. This will help Founders better support its Member Partners and scale best practices across the partner community.

“We selected Zocks because it gives our Member Partners more time to do what they’re called to do: care for and serve their relationships,” Founders CEO Brad Shepherd said. “Zocks has lived up to its promises from the beginning, with a deep understanding of our needs, a robust platform, and a collaborative training and communication strategy that empowers our Member Partners to capture important data seamlessly so that they can stay focused on the care and impact they deliver. The partnership reflects our commitment to use AI to enhance our Member Partners’ ability to increase their ability to care and grow.”

Founded in 1994, Founders Financial Securities, LLC is a privately held, full-service registered investment adviser (RIA) and independent broker-dealer firm. Based in Towson, Maryland, the company provides its Member Partners with a suite of solutions and services that enable advisors to operate modern wealth management practices at scale.

Zocks made its Finovate debut at FinovateSpring 2026 in San Diego. At the conference, the San Francisco-based company showed how its AI assistant for financial advisors automates administrative tasks such as meeting prep, intake and account opening, document processing, and more. Zocks’ assistant turns client conversations, emails, and documents into structured data that is integrated with a firm’s technology stack and AI ecosystem. More than 5,000 firms, including two of the top three life insurance carriers, rely on Zocks’ solutions. Mark Gilbert is Co-Founder and CEO.

Photo by Max Harlynking on Unsplash

The post Zocks Partners with Founders Financial Securities appeared first on Finovate.

      

For years, banks have competed for customers by offering attractive interest rates, cash back rewards, and convenient digital experiences. But as consumers gain access to an expanding range of financial services providers, attracting new customers is only part of the challenge. Increasingly, banks must find ways to encourage lasting engagement, build loyalty, and help customers make meaningful progress toward their financial goals.

One approach is to connect everyday banking products with incentives that reward positive financial behaviors. Rather than treating lending, checking, and savings as separate relationships, financial institutions have an opportunity to bring these services together to help customers manage debt, build savings, and strengthen their financial health. The result can be a more valuable banking relationship for both the institution and the customer.

To learn more about this approach, we spoke with Mark Elliot, Chief Customer Officer at Happen Bank, formerly LendingClub Bank. The company, which serves more than five million members, offers a suite of interconnected lending, checking, savings, and financial wellness products designed to help consumers make progress toward their financial goals. Happen Bank won the Best Customer Experience Solution category at the 2026 Finovate Awards.

Congratulations on winning the Best Customer Experience Solution category at the 2026 Finovate Awards. What does this recognition mean for Happen Bank, and what do you think ultimately set your application apart?

Mark Elliot: Thank you! We’re proud of this recognition because it reflects how we build our customer experiences—clearing the way for people going places. That only works when the experience holds up in the moments that matter, like taking steps to manage debt, taking out a personal loan for a purchase that can’t wait, or building savings.

What I think set our application apart was the connection between our products and the needs they address for our members. Someone may come to us for a personal loan to consolidate credit card debt. LevelUp Checking rewards their eligible on-time Happen Bank personal loan payments with an opportunity to earn 2% cash back and offers 1% cash back on everyday essentials. DebtIQ, our free financial wellness tool, gives them a way to understand, monitor, and manage their debt in one place. And LevelUp Savings offers a competitive LevelUp Rate (10 times the national average) for members who deposit $250 or more each month, encouraging them to build a consistent savings habit and a cushion for future large expenses.

Taken together, our products give members reasons to develop strong positive financial habits and stay with us as their financial needs evolve.

Tell us about the problem you set out to solve. What was missing from the market, and how did that shape your approach?

Elliot: We focus on consumers we call the Motivated Middle: high-FICO, high-income, digitally savvy consumers actively managing their financial lives. They’re looking for smart, simple, easy-to-use, and easy-to-understand products that deliver real value—and they’re not finding those products in traditional banking.

We designed our product set from the ground up specifically for them. We brought lending, checking, savings, and a powerful debt management tool into a unified, engaging mobile experience. We designed a set of products that are great in their own right but work even better when used together—for instance, offering cash back for on-time Happen Bank loan payments made through a LevelUp Checking account.

And throughout, we built in rewards tied to smart financial behaviors—for example, offering a higher APY to those contributing at least $250 to their LevelUp Savings account each month. The goal was to make it easier for members to manage today’s obligations while building toward what comes next.

What have you learned from bringing Happen Bank to market? Are there particular results, customer outcomes, or milestones that demonstrate its impact?

Elliot: The biggest lesson is that clear, achievable rewards can give members a reason to build a habit and keep using a product.

LevelUp Savings has more than 80,000 accounts and more than $4 billion in deposits. About 70% of account holders meet the $250 monthly deposit requirement to earn the LevelUp Rate, and those members visit our platform about 30% more often than customers using our previous savings product.

LevelUp Checking has generated six times the account openings of the product it replaced, with 60% of new accounts coming from existing members. Of the members we surveyed, 84% said the cash back incentive makes them more likely to consider us for their next personal loan.

One of the results highlighted in our award entry is particularly meaningful. Borrowers with a LevelUp Savings account build an average savings balance of approximately $19,000 after they have paid off their loan—an amount roughly equal to the amount of credit card debt they came to us to consolidate.

That’s the kind of progress we want to support: helping members gain control over their high-cost credit card debt and then building a financial cushion to meet future goals.

Looking at the broader banking landscape, what is changing most significantly right now, and how is that influencing your strategy?

Elliot: Customers have more banking options than ever, and they expect a clear reason to choose one over another. A competitive rate or cash back offer can attract attention, but the ongoing experience has to make the relationship worth keeping.

Can members understand what they’re earning and paying? Can they manage debt and savings without piecing everything together themselves? Those are practical questions that shape loyalty.

For us, that means designing products around connected needs and making the value easy to understand. It also means using technology to improve the service behind those products.

What’s next for Happen Bank? What should we expect to see from you over the next 12 to 18 months?

Elliot: We’ll continue building on our LevelUp ecosystem, and we’ll release more features through DebtIQ, using member feedback to improve how those products work together.

Home improvement lending is another area of focus, where we’re working with partners to make financing projects simpler for homeowners. We’re also exploring home equity lending, which is a natural fit because top use cases for home equity loans are home improvement and debt consolidation, two businesses we’re already in today.

Across those efforts, the question is the same: where can we make a financial decision easier or help a member take the next step?

As we mark our 20th year, the Happen Bank name reflects how much our relationship with our more than five million members has evolved. Many people first know us through a personal loan. We’re earning a broader role in their financial lives by continuing to deliver value as they pay down debt, build savings, and plan for what comes next.

Photo by Polina

The post Happen Bank’s Mark Elliot on How Better Financial Habits Improve Banking Experiences appeared first on Finovate.

      

• Tech Mahindra has acquired Finastra’s Cash Management product suite, including its cash management, virtual accounts, and liquidity management solutions.
• Tech Mahindra plans to continue supporting existing customers while investing in the products to expand its banking technology portfolio.
• The deal strengthens Tech Mahindra’s position as a banking software provider while allowing Finastra to streamline its portfolio and focus on its core businesses.

India-based consulting services company Tech Mahindra announced it has acquired the Cash Management product suite of financial services software company Finastra.

Under the agreement, Finastra is offloading Fusion Cash Management (FCM), Fusion Virtual Accounts (FVA), and Fusion Liquidity Management (FLM). Specifically, Tech Mahindra has acquired the intellectual property associated with the FCM, FVA and FLM products along with IP and capabilities across CashPlus, Global CashPlus, APIs, payables, receivables, balance and transaction reporting, liquidity management, cash-flow forecasting, and virtual accounts. Tech Mahindra anticipates that adding these capabilities will help grow its Banking, Financial Services and Insurance (BFSI) solutions portfolio.

Additionally, Tech Mahindra made it clear that the products aren’t going anywhere. The company will provide continued investment, innovation, and support for the cash management tools, and will continue providing Finastra’s existing customers with access to and support for the products.

Overall, Tech Mahindra anticipates that the acquisition will put it in a better position to help banks meet evolving demands for cash, liquidity, and transaction banking capabilities. “The acquisition of Finastra’s Cash Management product suite strengthens our banking products portfolio and expands our ability to support financial institutions across critical cash and liquidity management needs,” said Tech Mahindra SVP, Banking Group and Chief Product Officer, Financial Services Anil Venuturupalli. “Through this acquisition, we are creating a strong foundation for continued innovation. Our focus is on evolving these capabilities to help banks address the growing demand for intelligent, connected and efficient cash management solutions.”

Founded in 2017 through the merger of Misys and D+H, Finastra serves 7,000 customers, including 80% of the top 50 global banks, with software spanning lending, payments, and retail banking. The company, which appointed Chris Walters as CEO last year, has been streamlining its portfolio. Today’s deal follows its sale of its Treasury and Capital Markets division to an affiliate of private equity firm Apax Partners approximately 18 months ago.

“This is a good next step for these products, and, most importantly, for the customers who rely on them,” said Finastra Head of Partnerships and Cross Selling Sales Ruchir Purwar. “Tech Mahindra brings deep banking and technology expertise and already knows our business well. We’re confident they are well positioned to take these solutions forward and continue supporting customers as their needs evolve.”

Tech Mahindra is a subsidiary of the Mahindra Group, a multinational conglomerate founded in 1945. With more than 150,000 employees across 90 countries, Tech Mahindra provides IT consulting and digital transformation services spanning AI, cloud infrastructure, analytics, engineering, and business process solutions.

For Tech Mahindra, today’s acquisition will allow it to move beyond consulting and implementation services to own more of the technology banks rely on for their day-to-day operations. Meanwhile, the deal will allow Finastra to streamline its portfolio, allowing it to focus on its remaining core banking, lending, and payments businesses.

Photo by Tima Miroshnichenko

The post Tech Mahindra Acquires Finastra’s Cash Management Product Suite appeared first on Finovate.

      

Welcome to the working week! As October draws to a close, fintechs are raising capital, launching new offerings in agentic commerce and digital assets, and partnering with credit unions to help them modernize their operations. Be sure to check back here at Finovate’s Fintech Rundown all week long for the latest updates and announcements.

Payments

Tech Mahindra and Mastercard forge strategic partnership to help companies embed secure virtual payment capabilities into their platforms.

Paymentology expands its partnership with South African fintech Mukuru.

Argentina-based payment infrastructure company Rebill raises $5.4 million in pre-Series A funding.

US-based fintech Coast raises $35 million for its payment platform.

Credit unions

Nashville-based TEN Credit Union (18,400 members; $394 million in total assets) chooses Bankjoy as its digital banking platform.

Canadian credit union Vancity (588,000 members; CAD $42.4 billion in total assets) turns to Temenos to modernize its banking.

Agentic commerce

Dispute resolution and chargeback management specialist Chargebacks911 launches AI agent purchase indemnification solution.

Stablecoins

HSBC launches its first stablecoin, a Hong Kong Dollar denominated token called RedCoin, on its PayMe payments app.

Lending

Saudi Arabia’s Raya Financing partners with Temenos for its core banking and Islamic finance functionality.

Credit, data, and analytics

Corporate credit data, analytics, and AI technology provider Cognitive Credit secures $40 million in strategic growth funding.

Photo by Toa Heftiba on Unsplash

The post Fintech Rundown: A Rapid Review of Weekly News appeared first on Finovate.

      

• Business financial management platform Coast raised $35 million in growth equity funding, bringing its total funding to nearly $226 million.
• Coast will use the funding to expand its financial platform for trade and service businesses, invest in AI-powered expense automation and accounts payable tools, and grow its customer base.
• Coast’s expansion reflects a broader trend among business fintechs, including Gusto and Ramp, to offer more comprehensive financial services and deepen customer relationships.

Business financial management platform Coast raised $35 million in new growth equity funding this week. The investment brings the company’s total funding to just under $226 million. The round was led by Thomvest Ventures, with participation from new investors Intuit Ventures, Small World Capital, and Alpha Square Group, as well as existing investors including ICONIQ Growth, Accel, and Insight Partners.

“The physical economy has been underserved by financial software for decades, and Coast is changing that with a platform that brings payments and credit controls into the workflows that businesses already use,” said Thomvest Ventures Managing Director Don Butler. “We believe that software that acts as a control plane for payments and credit, embedded in the workflows of vertical industries, is one of the most important shifts happening in financial services. Coast is a clear leader on both fronts.”

The New York-based company will use the funding to expand its financial operating platform built for trade and service businesses working in construction, HVAC, plumbing, landscaping, electrical, pest control, solar, transportation, energy, and others. The fintech will also build out its customer base, invest in AI-powered expense automation, new bill pay and accounts payable products, and to form partnerships with the fleet and field service platforms.

“The millions of field businesses that keep the physical economy running still lack a financial platform built around the way they work,” said Coast Founder and CEO Daniel Simon. “Coast is that platform. We’re excited to deepen our partnership with Thomvest, who first backed Coast in 2024, and to welcome Intuit Ventures, a deep integration partner that’s a critical part of so many of our customers’ businesses as they grow.”

Coast was founded in 2020 with its flagship fuel card for fleet vehicles. The company then expanded into corporate cards, expense management, and bill pay. In addition to offering corporate spending visibility, Coast also provides businesses vehicle- and driver-level visibility, telematics-enabled controls, fuel grade and gallon-level detail, job costing, and payments for trade-specific workflows and fuel, field, supplies, and office needs. All of this data flows to accounting and integrates with reconciliation software for finance teams. Among Coast’s clients are BuildOps, Sheetz, and 7-Eleven.

Coast’s expansion comes amid a broader push by business-focused fintechs to become one-stop shops for financial management. Just this week, payroll and HR platform Gusto announced it is adding business formation and business banking capabilities, while spend management platform Ramp applied for a national trust bank charter to offer fiduciary investment management and digital asset custody services. Though each company is approaching the market from a different starting point, all three are expanding beyond their original offerings to serve more of their customers’ financial needs.

Fintechs are capitalizing on a growing opportunity to consolidate the fragmented tools businesses use to manage their operations. Bringing more financial services under one roof allows these platforms to simplify workflows, gain greater visibility into customers’ financial activities, and potentially deepen customer relationships. For banks and traditional financial services providers, the trend raises an important question: As fintech platforms become the primary interface for managing business finances, who will ultimately own the business banking relationship?

Photo by Simon Reza

The post Coast Raises $35 Million to Serve Trade and Service Businesses appeared first on Finovate.

      

As financial institutions race to adopt artificial intelligence, many are discovering that implementing AI is easier than generating meaningful results from it. In 2026, AI is no longer just a playground; organizations are facing growing pressure to demonstrate ROI, maintain regulatory compliance, and manage rising technology costs. How can firms separate successful AI deployments from those that fall short?

At FinovateFall 2026 in New York, Finovate Research Analyst David Penn sat down with Melissa Solis, CEO of Inbenta, and Merlin Bise, the company’s CTO, to discuss the challenges financial institutions face when implementing AI. In their conversation, Solis and Bise explain why some organizations are abandoning their AI initiatives, how companies can avoid common deployment mistakes, and why involving employees across IT, compliance, and other departments is essential to success. They also discuss the importance of balancing automation with human expertise and introduce Inbenta’s Encore platform.

“It’s amazing how the pressure from AI caused so many people to basically get away of all the disciplines that they normally use, right, to buy products and services or look at vendors, and they threw it out the window because of that pressure,” said Solis. “We all thought that AI was a magic wand. You just waved, and we’re finding out it’s not,” she added.

Melissa Solis is CEO of Inbenta, bringing more than 30 years of leadership experience in insurance and technology. She previously co-founded GIACT Systems, a provider of fraud prevention and risk management technology, and served as its CEO until the company’s acquisition by Refinitiv, part of the London Stock Exchange Group, in 2020. Under her leadership, GIACT grew to serve more than 1,000 companies, including Fortune 500 firms.

Merlin Bise is CTO of Inbenta, where he oversees IT infrastructure and new product development, including the expansion of the company’s conversational AI capabilities. Bise brings more than 20 years of technology leadership experience, with expertise in fraud prevention, artificial intelligence, and optical character recognition. He also co-founded GIACT Systems, where he led technology development and implementations for major enterprise customers.

Founded in 2005, Inbenta is an enterprise AI company that helps organizations automate customer interactions, improve customer experiences, and streamline business operations. Its Encore platform combines AI orchestration, customer experience tools, and live agent assistance to help businesses deploy and manage AI solutions with an emphasis on governance, accuracy, and measurable results. Headquartered in Allen, Texas, Inbenta serves more than 1,000 companies worldwide, supporting interactions in more than 90 languages.

Photo by Nataliya Vaitkevich

The post Inbenta’s Melissa Solis and Merlin Bise on Why AI Deployments Fail and How to Get Them Right appeared first on Finovate.

      

• SoFi has launched SoFi Earn (SOFIE), a bank-issued tokenized deposit that offers consumers 4.40% APY and FDIC insurance eligibility.
• Customers can convert SOFIE deposits into SoFiUSD stablecoins at a one-to-one ratio to purchase cryptocurrency or transfer funds over blockchain networks.
• The launch comes a day after the OCC finalized rules implementing the GENIUS Act, which restricts stablecoin issuers from paying yield, positioning tokenized deposits as an interest-bearing alternative that could help banks retain deposits.

SoFi has launched SoFi Earn (SOFIE), a bank-issued tokenized deposit for consumers. The new tokenized deposit will allow members to earn interest on their digital dollars while making them ready to use.

SoFi Earn allows customers to hold digital dollars in an interest-bearing, tokenized bank deposit that earns 4.40% APY and is eligible for FDIC insurance. When customers want to use those funds to purchase cryptocurrency or transfer money over a blockchain, they can convert their SOFIE deposits into SoFiUSD, SoFi’s stablecoin, at a one-to-one ratio. This allows customers to earn interest on their digital dollars until they’re ready to use them, combining the benefits of traditional fiat deposits with the flexibility of blockchain-based payments.

“Too much money in the digital asset ecosystem is sitting idle, leaving massive potential earnings on the table for millions of people,” said SoFi CEO Anthony Noto. “We believe your money should keep working for you until the moment you need it. SoFi Earn combines the earning power and protections of a bank deposit with the speed and utility of digital assets, giving people more value, flexibility and control over their money.”

SoFi Earn will be rolled out to SoFi Crypto members now through November. 

The launch comes just hours after the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) finalized rules implementing the GENIUS Act’s prohibition on stablecoin issuers paying yield to holders. SoFi’s new tokenized deposit offers an alternative by positioning interest-bearing bank deposits as a complement to stablecoins without being subject to the same restrictions.

The GENIUS Act takes effect January 18, 2027 and has been criticized for leaving out details regarding interest payments from third-party reward programs. The law prohibits stablecoin issuers from paying interest or yield to holders solely for holding a payment stablecoin, while leaving room for debate over rewards offered by exchanges and other intermediaries. Tokenized bank deposits, meanwhile, fall outside the GENIUS Act’s definition of payment stablecoins, allowing banks such as SoFi to offer interest-bearing digital dollars under existing banking regulations.

Today’s launch of SOFIE is SoFi’s fifth new crypto offering in less than a year. The company has been building out its digital money ecosystem by launching crypto trading for consumers, SoFiUSD, and Big Business Banking, a platform that gives companies a single regulated platform to manage both fiat and digital assets.

The launch raises an interesting question about the future of digital dollars: If consumers can earn interest on tokenized deposits and easily convert them into stablecoins when needed, there is limited incentive for them to hold non-interest-bearing stablecoins. SoFi’s move motivates consumers to use its bank to store their tokenized deposits.

Traditional banks, especially those concerned about losing deposits to digital assets, can take a lesson from SoFi’s launch. The move suggests that banks don’t have to choose between traditional deposits and blockchain-based payments. Connecting interest-bearing deposits with stablecoin functionality allows banks to offer consumers the best of both worlds; they get to earn interest on their money while maintaining the flexibility to transact using blockchain-based payments.

The post Hours After the GENIUS Act is Finalized, SoFi Launches Interest-Bearing Tokenized Deposit appeared first on Finovate.

      

• Checkout.com is expanding into in-person payments after 14 years of focusing exclusively on online payments, responding to growing merchant demand.
• The company is partnering with European payments platform Mollie to combine Mollie’s payment terminals and point-of-sale technology with Checkout.com’s acquiring infrastructure.
• Checkout.com’s new hardware-agnostic offering will initially launch in the UK and EEA, followed by the US, with additional markets and capabilities planned for 2027.

Digital payments provider Checkout.com unveiled plans to expand into in-person payments after spending 14 years solely focused on online payments.

The move comes in response to merchant demand and is made possible by a partnership with Mollie, a European payments platform with 350,000 business clients. The partnership combines Mollie’s proprietary payment terminals, point-of-sale software, and merchant relationships with Checkout.com’s acquiring infrastructure. Under the agreement, Mollie will retain control of its hardware strategy and customer experience while leveraging Checkout.com’s processing capabilities to support in-person transactions.

Founded in 2004 and headquartered in Amsterdam, Mollie is a European payments platform that helps businesses accept and manage payments both online and in person. The company offers payment processing, point-of-sale solutions, recurring payments, and financial management tools. Mollie aims to simplify payments and financial operations for businesses of all sizes, with a particular focus on small and medium-sized enterprises.

For its new in-person payments offering, Checkout.com offers a device-agnostic approach that does not tie the payments software to a single terminal or hardware provider. Because it is modular, Checkout.com’s in-person payments platform enables merchants to connect to terminals they already use or choose hardware that best suits their operations.

Checkout.com is a global payments platform that empowers businesses to accept, process, and manage payments seamlessly. The company uses its payments network to enable organizations to accept payments locally and internationally with global acquiring capabilities. The company also offers a suite of services that allows businesses to create and manage their own payment cards, advanced risk management tools to optimize performance and reduce fraud, and treasury management services to streamline cash flow and reconciliation.

“This expansion follows our earlier announcement of sustained profitability and growing margins, giving us the capacity to invest in new technologies and segments,” said Checkout.com Chief Revenue Officer Antoine Nougué. “Our merchants know Checkout.com for our speed, reliability and pace of innovation, and they asked us to bring that to in-person payments. Our job is to go where they need us most.”

UK-based Checkout.com is on track to process $480 billion in global ecommerce payments in 2026. Checkout.com has spent years building its global payments infrastructure, connecting directly to card networks to process transactions across multiple regions in less than half a second. Over the past year, the company has launched more than 150 merchant-facing features.

Checkout.com will initially launch in-person payments in the UK and EEA, followed by the US. The company plans to launch more schemes, markets, and capabilities next year.

Photo by Andrea Piacquadio

The post Checkout.com Expands into In-Person Payments appeared first on Finovate.

      

FinovateSpring 2027 takes place in San Diego on May 3 through May 5. Register to attend by November 6 and save up to $600.

FinovateSpring is where the industry comes to see what’s next, and often sees it first. For demo companies, it’s an opportunity to put their technology in front of the people who matter and demonstrate what it can do, who it’s for, and why it matters. In just seven minutes on fintech’s biggest stage, companies can make a lasting impression and open the door to new opportunities.

Demo applications are now open for FinovateSpring 2027!

You’ve built something innovative. Now it’s time to show the industry what it can do.

What could your seven minutes unlock?

• Your technology—front and center.
  Seven minutes on the main stage to show your product live. No slides. No videos. No pitch deck. Just your technology in action.
• A room full of potential customers and partners.
  Put your product in front of hundreds of banks, credit unions, fintechs, investors, and other business leaders. Make the right connections and open new doors.
• A demo stand with more ways to connect.
  After your demo, keep the conversation going at your demo stand, through the event networking app, and in meaningful meetings throughout the event.
• A wider audience to expand recognition.
  Reach beyond the room with Finovate analyst coverage, marketing and recognition across the Finovate community, plus promotion of your demo video after the event.
• A shot at Best of Show.
  Every demo is eligible for Best of Show, putting the spotlight on the technologies that are the future, as voted on by the audience. Could your technology be a crowd favorite?

Why Finovate? Merit matters.

Selection is about the innovation, not company size, type, or event spend. Our rigorous, competitive process looks for technology that stands out for its innovation, relevance, and real-world potential. If you’re building something that could change what’s possible in financial services, it belongs at Finovate.

Ready to show us what’s next?

Finovate 2026 broke records for demo applications, and our lineup filled up faster than ever. Don’t wait—apply early for Finovate 2027 to improve your chances of securing a spot on stage.

Please reach out to us at demo@finovate.com if you have any questions.

The post Spotlight Your Technology at FinovateSpring: Apply to Demo Now appeared first on Finovate.

      

• CRB Group, the parent company of Cross River Bank, has agreed to acquire customer loyalty platform Accrue for an undisclosed amount.
• The acquisition will integrate Accrue’s branded wallet technology into Cross River’s banking infrastructure, enabling merchants to offer payments, rewards, stored value, and loyalty capabilities in a single experience.
• The deal reflects the growing convergence of payments and loyalty, helping brands deepen customer relationships and keep more financial activity within their own ecosystems.

The parent company of Cross River Bank, CRB Group, has agreed to acquire customer loyalty provider Accrue. While Cross River did not disclose the acquisition amount, the bank did express that the purchase will help it continue to expand its embedded finance offerings.

The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions.

Founded in 2021, Accrue powers modern customer loyalty at the payment layer. Its branded wallet platform enables merchants to connect stored value, payments, rewards, and customer engagement in one experience. The New York-based company aims to turn one-time transactions into repeat business using branded debit cards, payments-led loyalty, and store credit refunds.

“I started Accrue with the belief that financial products would increasingly live inside the brands and experiences customers use every day,” said Accrue Founder and CEO Michael Hershfield. “Accrue brings that to life by embedding wallets, payments, stored value, and rewards directly into the merchant experience. Cross River shares that vision, and with its technology, scale, and global reach, we can take it much further.”

Cross River was founded in 2008 to bring scalable, embedded payments, cards, lending, and crypto solutions to businesses and consumers. The bank is known for its API-driven banking core and regulatory expertise. Because it owns its infrastructure, Cross River reduces the risk and compliance gaps that come with bringing on third-party systems. The bank anticipates that Accrue will strengthen its technology stack and enable partners to offer branded wallets and financial products to their customers. Accrue’s team, including Hershfield, will join Cross River.

“Payments and loyalty are becoming one,” said Cross River Founder and CEO Gilles Gade. “Every brand wants its own wallet, and with Accrue, all of our clients can now build one on our platform. We never stop innovating, and we are excited to work with Michael Hershfield and his team to help our clients build the financial super apps of the future.”

The next era of embedded finance will increasingly bring together payments, loyalty, and customer engagement. Integrating Accrue’s wallet technology into Cross River’s banking infrastructure will put the bank into a position to help brands move beyond simply accepting payments to building deeper, ongoing relationships with their customers. Downstream, the deal will help merchants keep more transactions, rewards, and stored value within their own ecosystems, rather than relying on third-party platforms to manage those interactions.

Photo by Ann H

The post Cross River Acquires Accrue to Bring Loyalty to Payments appeared first on Finovate.