Anthropic has unveiled a new blueprint for AI-powered commerce in collaboration with Visa and Mastercard, outlining how AI agents could eventually handle shopping and payments on behalf of consumers. The initiative moves beyond AI simply recommending products toward agents actively participating in transactions. For fintech and payments, this could represent a major shift in how consumers interact with financial services, with the AI agent potentially becoming the interface between the customer, merchant and payment network. Visa and Mastercard’s involvement is particularly significant because agentic commerce will require payment infrastructure capable of securely authenticating and authorizing transactions initiated by software. The development also highlights the growing competition to establish standards for how AI agents interact with financial systems. If agentic commerce scales, the companies building the payment rails today could play a crucial role in defining how autonomous purchasing works.

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When financial institutions should build their own transaction foundation models

Banks and payment companies are changing how they use artificial intelligence. For years, they used separate tools and manual coding to handle tasks like spotting fraud, checking credit scores, and sorting purchases. Building and updating these old systems required a lot of extra work and repeated effort.

Now, companies are switching to larger, unified AI models. Instead of looking at transactions one by one, these new models look at the entire stream of a customer’s activity to understand patterns over time. Financial companies now have to decide if they should build these modern AI tools themselves, buy them from other software providers, or keep tweaking their older, specialized systems.

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Curated News

💳 Payments

Brazil, ECB Studying Instant Payments Link in Potential First Cross-Border Move for Pix
Brazil and the European Central Bank are reportedly studying a potential connection between their instant-payment systems, which could enable faster cross-border payments between the two markets. Such a link would represent a significant international expansion of Brazil’s Pix infrastructure.
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Ant International Secures Payment Institution License to Expand Capabilities in Brazil
Ant International has secured a payment institution licence in Brazil, allowing it to expand its regulated payment capabilities in the market. The licence strengthens Ant’s position as it develops its international payments business.
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Paymentology Powers Maxim’s UK Launch, Expanding Access to Credit for the African Diaspora
Paymentology is powering Maxim’s UK launch as the company works to expand access to credit for members of the African diaspora. The partnership demonstrates how payment infrastructure can help fintechs target underserved and internationally connected customer segments.
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JCB Partners with Nexi to Simplify Public Transport in Campania
JCB and Nexi are partnering to simplify payments for public transportation in Italy’s Campania region. The initiative aims to make transit payments more seamless through modern digital payment infrastructure.
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🏦 Banking

Revolut Wins Conditional US Banking License
Revolut has secured a conditional U.S. banking licence, marking a major milestone in its expansion into the American banking market. The approval could eventually allow the fintech to operate with a broader range of banking capabilities directly in the U.S.
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A16z-Backed OpenReserve Gets Approval for Full-Service National Bank
OpenReserve has received approval to establish a full-service national bank, backed by venture firm Andreessen Horowitz. The development highlights continued interest in building new technology-driven banks within the traditional U.S. banking framework.
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Ping An Digital Bank Launches $5M Ecommerce Financing
Ping An Digital Bank has launched a $5 million financing programme for e-commerce businesses. The initiative expands digital lending for merchants and businesses operating through online commerce channels.
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BNP Paribas and HSBC Complete First Corporate Treasury Payment on Swift’s New Ledger for Siemens
BNP Paribas and HSBC have completed a corporate treasury payment for Siemens using Swift’s new ledger infrastructure. The transaction demonstrates how banks are testing distributed-ledger infrastructure for institutional payments.
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💼 Fintech

Altruist Launches AI-Powered Financial Planning Agent to Automate Wealth Management Workflows
Altruist has launched an AI-powered financial planning agent designed to automate parts of advisers’ wealth-management workflows. The product reflects the growing use of AI to streamline financial planning while keeping advisers at the centre of client relationships.
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WealthAi Launches AI Platform for Independent Financial Advisers
WealthAi has launched an AI platform aimed at independent financial advisers. The technology adds to the rapidly expanding market for AI tools designed to automate and enhance wealth-management processes.
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Incore Bank Trials Agentic AI to Speed Up Customer Onboarding
Incore Bank is trialling agentic AI to accelerate customer onboarding processes. The initiative shows how financial institutions are beginning to move from traditional AI tools toward systems capable of carrying out multi-step workflows.
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Simpaisa Collaborates with Tencent Cloud to Accelerate Fintech Cloud Transformation
Simpaisa is collaborating with Tencent Cloud to accelerate its technology and cloud infrastructure capabilities. The partnership reflects growing fintech investment in scalable cloud infrastructure across emerging markets.
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Plenti Raises $3M in Seed Funding
Fintech startup Plenti has raised $3 million in seed funding to support its development and growth. The new capital will provide additional resources as the company scales its financial technology offering.
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🪙 Crypto

Polymarket Launches Crypto Perpetual Futures With Up to 20x Leverage
Polymarket has expanded into crypto derivatives by launching perpetual futures with leverage of up to 20x. The move broadens the prediction-market platform’s offering into more conventional crypto trading products.
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Bitget in Talks with BlackRock on Asia Crypto Push
Bitget is reportedly in talks with BlackRock as it looks to expand its crypto presence in Asia. The potential collaboration highlights the increasingly close relationship between traditional asset managers and crypto platforms.
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South Korea Plans February 2027 Tokenized Securities Rollout
South Korea is planning a February 2027 rollout for tokenized securities, advancing the country’s plans for blockchain-based capital-market infrastructure. The initiative could help accelerate institutional adoption of tokenized financial assets.
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Crypto Traders Are Pairing Meme Coins With Stocks on Robinhood—And It’s Working (Sort Of)
Crypto traders are increasingly pairing meme coins with stocks on Robinhood, creating unusual combinations of traditional and digital assets. The trend highlights how retail platforms are blurring the boundaries between conventional markets and crypto trading.
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⚖️ Regulation

RBA Consultation and Retail CBDC Update
The Reserve Bank of Australia has released an update covering its RITS consultation and approach to retail CBDC development. The update provides further insight into Australia’s evolving position on central-bank digital currency and payment infrastructure.
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Skillcast Report Highlights AI Governance Gap and Accuracy Risks in UK Banking
A Skillcast report highlights gaps in AI governance and concerns around accuracy in UK banking. The findings underscore the importance of stronger oversight as financial institutions increasingly deploy AI across customer-facing and operational processes.
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🌍 Other

GCash Parent Mynt Cleared for $1.47B IPO
Mynt, the parent company of Philippine fintech giant GCash, has been cleared for a potential $1.47 billion IPO. The listing could become one of the region’s most significant fintech public-market events.
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Freedom Credit Union Taps Salus to Help Attract Gen Z and Millennial Members
Freedom Credit Union is working with Salus to develop strategies for attracting younger customers, particularly Gen Z and millennials. The initiative reflects financial institutions’ growing focus on adapting products and experiences for younger generations.
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Payments Wrap Up

Anthropic Debuts Commerce Agent Blueprint…