Deutsche Bank Partners With FinaXai on Token Fund Servicing
Weekly news up to Tuesday, 27th of May 2025
👀 NEWS HIGHLIGHT
Spain-based cryptocurrency platform Bit2Me and Cecabank, a custodian bank, have announced the launch of a digital asset solution for traditional financial institutions.
Through this new offering, Bit2Me and Cecabank aim to allow banks to provide crypto services more securely and efficiently, while falling in line with the legal clarity and oversight offered by Europe’s Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) regulation.
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NOW, ON TO THE SUMMARY OF LAST WEEK'S NEWS
🌎 FINTECH HIGHLIGHTS
⭐️ Altery becomes Visa principal member.
⭐️ bunq launches stock trading in Germany – over 400 ETFs and stocks available.
⭐️ Deutsche Bank partners with finaXai on token fund servicing.
⭐️ BBVA Launches New FinTech App in Spain with Savings Incentives.
FINTECH
Samsung partners with digital bank N26. Samsung users can easily pay with their Galaxy smartphone without having to pull a card out of their wallet. To kick off the partnership, customers who open a new N26 account will receive the opportunity to use the premium N26 Metal account free of charge for six months.
Visa and Mastercard fees hit by new round of EU antitrust scrutiny. The fresh scrutiny comes on the heels of comments from European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde that the 27-member bloc needs to reduce its dependence on foreign payment providers.
Revolut joins new European payment wallet “Wero”. The British FinTech is not yet joining the "European Payments Initiative" (EPI), which is behind Wero, as a shareholder, but will very much become a "scheme member," meaning it plans to offer Wero as a payment solution to its customers soon.
PAYMENTS
Digital Wallet Curve announced the launch of Curve Pay on iOS. Curve's staged architecture means it actively sits in the payment flow, which allows it to offer far more than a tap-to-pay experience. Customers can retroactively change the card they used, split payments, earn cashback, track spending in real time, and even pay from accounts, all through a single app.
European Commission welcomes inclusion of Serbia in the Single Euro Payments Area. This is a practical example of the impact of the Growth Plan for the Western Balkans, including progressive access to certain areas of the EU single market based on alignment with the EU acquis Communautaire.
DIGITAL BANKING
BBVA overhauls mobile app with AI and virtual financial coach. AI allows each customer to organize the app based on their financial preferences. Blue, which is now able to answer customer questions with natural language, the app is also incorporating a new financial coach.
Quant makes money smarter with the rollout of industry-wide programmable money. Quant Flow, an industry programmable money and banking infrastructure now available via a white-label solution to banks, institutions, and corporates across Europe, the Middle East, and APAC.
UniCredit escalates Banco BPM fight by taking Italy to court. The claim aims to address the legitimacy of the "golden power" under Italian and EU law, and UniCredit will support the EU's review of the situation. Read more
Revolut Business Chief James Gibson: We want to double our Swiss client base. Gibson outlined the neobank’s growth strategy, which includes new investments, enhanced foreign exchange tools, seamless onboarding processes, and the upcoming introduction of payment terminals for merchants, directly challenging the market dominance of Worldline.
FinTech Fiinu massively narrows annual losses and monthly burn rate. The company completed a £1.25 million equity raise in February and secured a £511,000 R&D tax credit in May 2025, extending its financial runway through at least mid-2026.
CRYPTO
Kraken takes Wall Street onchain with tokenized equities. xStocks, a new tokenized equities brand developed by Backed, will be offered to clients in select non-U.S. markets worldwide. These clients will gain exposure to a range of popular U.S.-listed stocks and ETFs, issued as SPL tokens on the Solana blockchain.
XRP Ledger Community gets its first MiCA-regulated euro stablecoin, issued by Schuman Financial. This milestone positions EURØP as a pioneer among euro-denominated digital assets operating on a widely adopted blockchain infrastructure. The introduction of EURØP is expected to expand the utility of blockchain technology across euro-denominated markets.
PARTNERSHIPS
Qonto and ACD join forces to ease the weight of admin work for French SMEs and accountants. This solution simplifies the daily banking, financing, accounting, and expense management of SMEs and the self-employed. It gives customers the boost that allows them to develop further.
Sling Money launches US and European virtual accounts in partnership with Bridge to expand global earning power. This partnership marks an expansion beyond peer-to-peer transactions to enable users to receive payments for freelance, project-based, or salaried work with ease.
UK FinTech MuchBetter partners with NatWest to launch business accounts through its new business banking offering, MuchBetter Business (MBB). NatWest will provide essential fund safeguarding, access to payment schemes, foreign exchange capabilities, and comprehensive banking support for its new B2B solution.
DONEDEAL
Digital pensions FinTech Penfold raises £3.9 million. The company says the fresh funds will boost its drive to reach profitability by growing its presence across the UK SME and accountancy markets and accelerating the development of its pension app with new features for savers and businesses.
Estonia’s FinTech company Income targets EUR 1.5 million to expand private debt investment platform. The current funding will be used to expand the investor base, onboard new non-bank lenders, enhance the platform’s usability, and hire for key roles in engineering and analytics.
M&As
Orange is winding down its European retail banking operations and is in exclusive talks with Crédit Coopératif to sell its FinTech subsidiary, Anytime, which supports associations. This move aligns with Orange’s strategic exit and Crédit Coopératif’s 2030 growth plan.
MOVERS & SHAKERS
Goldman Sachs hires Tommaso Ponselé for the new capital solutions team. He is joining the company as a managing director within its capital solutions unit. Goldman launched the unit in January as part of a new push to do more work with financial sponsors and do more work in the private credit space.
Revolut’s CFD Trading launch led to Sergei Riabov's departure as head of Wealth & Trading after 3 years. His role included setting product strategy and overseeing operations across the UK, EU, and other international markets such as Singapore, Australia, and the US.