Global venture funding to fintech startups totalled USD 12 billion across 751 deals in 2026 as of April 6, registering a 5% increase, compared to the USD 11.4 billion raised across 1,097 (or 31.5% fewer) deals during the same time period in 2025. Deal sizes, on the other hand, have been bigger this time around, with late-stage or growth funding in the Q1 totalling USD 6.9 billion, up 8% compared to USD 6.4 billion raised at those stages in the same period in 2025.

“However, sequentially, the USD 12 billion raised is down 33% compared to the fourth quarter of 2025, when fintech startups raised USD 17.8 billion globally. The USD 6.9 billion raised in late-stage or growth funding is also down markedly — by 43% — compared to the USD 12.1 billion raised by fintech startups in Q4 2025. The trend in the first quarter also mirrors what we saw in 2025 as a whole, with global venture funding to fintech startups climbing to its highest level in several quarters, boosted by later-stage deals,” Crunchbase reported.

Total global funding to VC-backed financial technology startups totalled USD 53.8 billion in 2025, a 29.3% increase from 2024’s total of USD 41.6 billion raised. American startups, when it comes to beating their peers in the other parts of the world, in terms of raising more funding, continued the trend in the Q1 2026 as well, as out of the USD 12 billion raised globally, just over half (or USD 6.3 billion) flowed to the fintech sector based in the world’s largest economy.

It was a spectacular 47% increase compared to the USD 4.3 billion raised by US fintech startups in Q1 2025. However, it was down 50% from the USD 12.6 billion that the sector raised in Q4 2025.

The United Kingdom was the second-largest recipient of venture capital, with startups in the European country raising a total of USD 1.2 billion. With USD 900 million, India took the third position.

“Several fintech startups raised nine-figure rounds in the first quarter, with some doubling their valuations since their last venture financings. Predictions marketplace Kalshi was the largest recipient of capital in the first quarter. In March, the company doubled its valuation to USD 22 billion in just three months with a $1 billion raise led by Coatue. The New York-based startup had just raised USD 1 billion in Series E funding at an USD 11 billion valuation in December,” the Crunchbase report remarked.

In February, digital savings platform Vestwell raised USD 385 million in a Series E funding round co-led by Blue Owl Capital and Sixth Street Growth. This took the New York-based startup’s valuation to USD 2 billion, double the USD 1 billion valuation it achieved in December 2023. Rain, which is building infrastructure for payments with stablecoins, raised USD 250 million in a Series C funding round led by Iconiq Capital. Its post-money valuation was USD 1.95 billion, up by 17 times from March 2025.

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Saudi Arabia’s total bank credit jumped to SR3.30 trillion by year-end, fuelled by strong demand for corporate financing tied to infrastructure and development projects aligned with the Vision 2030 economic diversification agenda.

Deposits, meanwhile, recorded an annual increase of about 8.8% in February, the slowest pace in two months, while rising 2.3% compared to January.

Saudi Central Bank (SAMA) data revealed that government growth in this area was around SR127.6 billion, or 14.8%, while deposits from individuals and companies increased by approximately SR114.3 billion, up 6.1%.

“Government deposits account for about 32.5% of total holdings compared with 65.6% for deposits from individuals and companies, reflecting the continued key role of the private sector in supporting banking liquidity,” the Saudi Central Bank remarked.

According to Al-Rajhi Bank, deposit levels and banking liquidity remained within safe thresholds, while capital reserves continued to exceed regulatory requirements by a comfortable margin. Another important metric, credit growth, outpaced deposit growth, with the Saudi banks actively financing a wide range of economic activities, including real estate development, trade, manufacturing, and utilities.

The report also highlighted SAMA’s continued pivotal role in safeguarding financial stability, alongside the “Financial Sector Development Programme,” which has strengthened the competitiveness, resilience, and sustainability of Saudi Arabia’s banking system.

Al-Rajhi Bank also confirmed that the Kingdom’s fintech sector is experiencing rapid advancement in 2025, marked by deepening collaboration between banks and fintech companies within a supportive regulatory framework.

“The number of fintech firms surpassed 280 by the end of the year, operating under the guidance and support of the Saudi Central Bank and the Capital Market Authority,” Saudi Gazette reported while quoting the report.

“Banks, in partnership with startups, have successfully developed innovative services across digital payments, integrated finance, buy-now-pay-later solutions, peer-to-peer lending, and API-based platforms—driving innovation that enhances financial inclusion and economic diversification,” Saudi Gazette concluded.

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The company, which operates as a compliance-first, local-first model with regulated coverage across Europe, Latin America, Nigeria, and the United States, provides fintech platforms (including payroll, cross-border payments, digital banking, and spend management solutions) with the ability to issue globally accepted payment cards, funded directly from stablecoins, bridging the gap between on-chain settlement and real-world payments.

With this latest round, Kulipa’s total funding reaches USD 9.2 million. The company wants to use the capital to create solutions that will make stablecoin spending seamless and widely accepted, just like traditional card payments, helping the fintech industry to operate as a fully integrated model, where industry players will act like on-chain-enabled financial institutions.

Kulipa’s successful fundraising also comes amid stablecoins becoming the new normal in the virtual payment space, settling more than USD 300 billion daily. However, the cryptocurrency still has a drawback: a lack of efficient infrastructure connecting on-chain settlement systems with regulated card networks.

“Existing solutions are often fragmented, capital-intensive, and dependent on prefunded structures and region-specific licenses. As regulatory clarity improves worldwide, fintech companies increasingly require compliant, scalable issuing infrastructure to convert stablecoin balances into usable financial products,” reported Africa Business.

To resolve this problem, Kulipa’s stablecoin-native issuing platform has been tailored to address challenges such as capital efficiency, regulatory compliance and global scalability. Fintech partners using the company’s solution are now launching payment programmes funded directly from stablecoin balances, supporting rapid prefunded deployments and deep wallet-native integrations.

“Stablecoins have proven their value as a settlement layer, but using them in everyday financial products is still early. Card issuance is the bridge between on-chain balances and real-world payments. We built Kulipa to give regulated fintech platforms the compliant, capital-efficient infrastructure they need to operate at a global scale,” said Axel Cateland, Founder and CEO of Kulipa, while interacting with Africa Business.

By verifying balances and settling transactions on-chain, Kulipa has reduced the fintech industry’s reliance on collateral-heavy prefunding models and enabled more sustainable scaling. Stablecoin cards issued via Kulipa can be used everywhere, including retail payments and ATM withdrawals. Kulipa also assumes the role of performing fraud liability, removing a massive operational burden for fintech partners.

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Through the sandbox, the Egyptian government wants to promote the widespread adoption of fintech, expanding digital services in non-banking financial activities. Lumin Soft specialises in digital identity solutions, electronic verification and digital contracting technologies. It recently submitted a project that would verify the identity of non-Egyptians using electronic passports (e-passports) through Near Field Communication (NFC) technology, enabling the creation of an integrated digital pathway for identity verification via smartphone devices.

Islam Azzam, Chairperson of the FRA, told the Daily News Egypt that such digital mechanisms represent an important step toward facilitating the entry of foreign investors into the North African country’s market, enabling them to access non-banking financial services.

“Simplifying procedures for identifying and verifying investors’ identities through secure digital channels would help strengthen foreign investment flows into Egypt,” the senior official stated further.

Lumin Soft’s project relies on reading and verifying e-passport data in accordance with the International Civil Aviation Organisation Public Key Directory (PKD) standards, ensuring both data security and reliability throughout the verification process.

Azzam further added that adopting advanced technological solutions in financial services aligns with the government’s broader strategy to position Egypt as a regional fintech hub.

“Supporting digital innovation and strengthening the technological infrastructure of the financial sector will enhance the competitiveness of the Egyptian market and attract more fintech companies,” he noted.

The regulatory sandbox launched by the FRA serves as a key regulatory tool, not only in terms of supporting innovation in the financial sector and providing a supervised testing environment that allows companies to trial innovative business models and technological solutions before bringing them to the market.

“Through its participation in the sandbox, Lumin Soft will be able to conduct live testing of its business model within the regulatory framework. This includes creating digital identities using e-passports and integrating with the Azimut Investments Egypt platform, enabling investors to access financial products within a regulated supervisory environment,” Daily News Egypt reported.

Ahmed Khalifa, Executive Director of the FRA’s regulatory sandbox, said the project will help non-Egyptians access investment services across various asset classes in the Egyptian market while enhancing the efficiency and competitiveness of the non-banking financial sector (NBFC).

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Revolut, which was recently cleared by the United Kingdom’s regulators to launch its bank in the European country, said its revenue was 4.5 billion pounds, up from 3.1 billion the previous year, driven by income from fees charged to its 68.3 million customers.

The company more than doubled its loans to customers, with its lending portfolio (mostly consumer loans) growing ‌120% to 2.2 billion pounds. Since its formation in 2015, Revolut has emerged as the most successful of the handful of European fintech companies founded in the ⁠2010s, with no physical branches. In November 2025, the venture hit a USD 75 billion valuation in a private secondary share sale.

The approval from the Bank of England’s Prudential Regulation Authority now allows the company to end its “mobilisation” phase, which lasted for longer than the usual 12-month limit.

“This allows Revolut to offer protected deposit accounts and paves the way for a wider range of services in future, including lending and other products,” the fintech venture remarked.

Predicting that the process of moving customers to the new bank will take “a few months in total,” Nik Storonsky, Revolut’s co-founder and CEO, remarked, “Launching our UK bank has been a long-term strategic priority for Revolut, and marks a significant moment in our journey. The UK is our home market and ‌central to our growth.”

“The full licence will open the door to balance sheet-driven products and sharpen pressure on both traditional banks and the cohort of challenger banks,” said Elliot Reader, Director in Houlihan Lokey’s FinTech Group, while interacting with Reuters.

The company ⁠is also seeking a banking licence in France, although it already offers banking services in the European Union by “passporting” a ⁠licence from Lithuania, and has applied for a bank charter in the United States.

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This comprehensive research report provides an exhaustive analysis of the current state of Financial Crime Compliance. It synthesises the seismic operational impacts of the European Union’s implementation of the 6th Anti-Money Laundering Directive and the activation of the Anti-Money Laundering Authority in Frankfurt. It scrutinises the United Kingdom’s controversial centralisation of professional services supervision under the Financial Conduct Authority. Across the Atlantic, it dissects the aggressive extraterritorial reach of the US Department of Justice, exemplified by the historic asset cap and multi-billion-dollar penalties levied against TD Bank and the criminal convictions of cryptocurrency giants like KuCoin.

Furthermore, this report analyses emerging laundering typologies that exploit the very digitalisation intended to modernise finance, including the misuse of white-label banking infrastructure, the layering capabilities of virtual IBANs, and the terrifying efficacy of AI-enabled deepfake fraud. These vectors have necessitated a complete architectural overhaul of transaction monitoring systems, forcing institutions to abandon static rule-based systems for dynamic, AI-driven behavioural analytics. The “compliance-as-an-afterthought” model, which fuelled the fintech unicorn boom of the 2010s and early 2020s, has effectively collapsed. The forced exit of founders from major neobanks like N26 and the bankruptcy of embedded finance providers like Railsr demonstrate that regulatory resilience is now the primary determinant of commercial survival.

EU’s regulatory revolution

The operationalisation of the EU’s AML Package in 2024 and 2025 represents the most significant restructuring of the bloc’s financial defence architecture since the introduction of the Euro. Now comes the new way of handling rules, with fewer top-down orders and one clear book for everyone. It means firms across Europe face different demands than before, shaped by deeper political goals. The aim? To avoid gaps so large that they let trouble sneak through, just like what happened at Danske Bank.

Nowhere else does history shift so clearly. The AMLA era replaces the old ways of isolated national bodies working apart. Based in Frankfurt, this authority is moving fast, staffing up through 2027 while gaining real oversight tools by 2028, especially for higher-risk cases. Unlike the EBA before it, which shares advice but lacks enforcement teeth, here power flows directly, bypassing local authorities entirely. Straight oversight goes to selected risky overseas finance units, setting strict rules and major monetary penalties that target them specifically, blocking any attempt to dodge through loopholes.

Across the wider market still within national oversight, AMLA takes on a firm monitoring role, working closely with state agencies to maintain uniform enforcement of the Single Rulebook. Its funding structure reflects self-sufficiency in operations, shielded from fluctuations in political funding allocations.

From 2028 onwards, approximately 70% of its €92 million annual budget will be funded by fees levied directly on the obliged entities it supervises. The fee structure ensures that institutions creating the highest systemic risk bear the financial burden of their supervision.

The legislative twin pillars, the 6th Directive and the AML Regulation, have harmonised definitions and drastically expanded the perimeter of regulated activities. The 6th Directive codifies a unified list of twenty-two predicate offences across all member states, now explicitly including cybercrime, environmental crime covering illegal logging and waste trafficking, and tax crimes. For multinational corporations, this harmonisation removes the dangerous ambiguity where an act considered a predicate offence in one jurisdiction might not have triggered money laundering reporting in another.

The AML Regulation significantly broadens the definition of “obliged entities,” those required to perform Customer Due Diligence and file Suspicious Activity Reports. The regulatory perimeter now captures crypto-asset service providers, high-value goods traders in precious metals and cultural artefacts, professional football clubs and agents, and crowdfunding platforms facilitating peer-to-peer financing. Transparency of beneficial ownership remains a cornerstone of the EU strategy, with the new framework mandating a unified ownership threshold of 25%. A critical “risk-based” provision empowers the European Commission to lower this threshold to 15% for high-risk sectors. The directive mandates the interconnection of national beneficial ownership registers via a central European platform, closing the loophole whereby cross-border corporate structures could obscure the Ultimate Beneficial Owner. To curb the anonymity provided by physical currency, the AML Regulation introduces a Europe-wide cap of €10,000 on cash payments in business transactions.

The 6th Directive introduces stringent corporate liability provisions that directly impact the C-suite. Legal persons can be held criminally liable if a “lack of supervision or control” by a person in a leading position made the money laundering possible. For Chief Financial Officers and Corporate Treasurers, the expansion of definitions regarding aiding and abetting means executives can be prosecuted for facilitating laundering through negligence or wilful blindness. The requirement to verify beneficial ownership for all suppliers and partners necessitates a massive overhaul of vendor management systems.

UK’s supervisory consolidation

While the European Union centralises authority in a new supranational body, the United Kingdom is dismantling the fragmented supervisory regime criticised for its inefficiency. The government’s decision to appoint the Financial Conduct Authority as the Single Professional Services Supervisor marks a watershed moment for lawyers, accountants, and trust and company service providers. The move represents a fundamental shift away from professional self-regulation toward a statutory, state-controlled model of AML oversight.

The catalyst for this radical reform was the consistent underperformance of the Professional Body Supervisors, the twenty-two self-regulatory bodies responsible for overseeing AML compliance in the legal and accountancy sectors. The Office for Professional Body Anti-Money Laundering Supervision issued a damning report in September 2024 that effectively sealed the fate of the self-regulatory model. The report found that none of the assessed supervisors were fully effective in all areas of supervision; the majority showed no material improvement, with some even regressing; and there was systemic reluctance to issue fines or take enforcement action. This highlighted the inherent conflict of interest between the bodies’ representative roles and their supervisory duties.

Under the new SPSS model, the FCA will assume sole responsibility for AML supervision of professional services firms, with full operational transfer projected by 2028. The legal profession has vehemently opposed this move, viewing it as an erosion of professional independence. Concerns centre on whether a statutory regulator rooted in financial markets culture will respect the nuances of Legal Professional Privilege, the significant fees the FCA is expected to levy, and the clash between the FCA’s “rules-based” approach and the “principles-based” regulation to which the legal sector is accustomed. However, the government’s stance remains firm. The risk of professional enablers facilitating high-end money laundering outweighs the preference for self-regulation.
US’ enforcement doctrine

The United States is enforcing the existing rulebook with unprecedented aggression. Enforcement actions of 2024 and 2025 have shattered the notion that global banks are “too big to jail.” The focus has shifted from monetary penalties to structural constraints that threaten the very growth of non-compliant institutions. The guilty plea by TD Bank in October 2024 serves as a definitive case study for the modern AML failure. The bank agreed to pay over $3 billion in penalties to resolve investigations by the DOJ, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.

The TD Bank case was a systemic collapse of defences, facilitated by a corporate culture that prioritised speed and cost-cutting over compliance. Court documents revealed laundering networks that operated with impunity, including one that physically dumped piles of cash on bank counters in Queens and a sophisticated network that utilised the bank to withdraw funds via ATMs in Colombia through complicit bank employees. The DOJ explicitly cited the bank’s prioritisation of growth over compliance controls, noting that for nearly a decade, the bank failed to update its transaction monitoring scenarios.

While the $3 billion fine was historic, the arguably more damaging penalty was the asset cap imposed by the OCC, preventing TD Bank’s US retail subsidiaries from growing their assets beyond the October 2024 level of $434 billion. The penalty structure represents a profound shift in regulatory strategy, as fines can be absorbed, but asset caps stagnate the business, depress stock value, and invite shareholder litigation. For a bank, the inability to grow its balance sheet is a slow-motion death sentence for its strategic ambitions. The US approach has set the tone for global enforcement, with the DOJ and FinCEN targeting not just institutions but individuals and infrastructure, with reach extending far beyond US borders.

The crisis of architecture

The years 2025 and 2026 have been a reckoning for the fintech sector. The “move fast and break things” ethos has collided violently with AML regulations, exposing vulnerabilities inherent in Banking-as-a-Service and white-label models. The result has been bankruptcies, license revocations, and forced leadership changes. White labelling allows non-bank entities to offer financial products using the license and infrastructure of a regulated provider. An EBA report published in October 2025 identified this model as a critical money laundering vulnerability, with risk stemming from the structural disconnect between the customer-facing brand and the regulated entity holding the license.

The bankruptcy of Railsr remains the cautionary tale of the sector. Railsr’s subsidiary, PayRNet, had its license revoked by the Bank of Lithuania in mid-2023 for serious AML violations, including the failure to safeguard client funds and inadequate due diligence. The revocation revealed that PayRNet had effectively lost control of its resellers and could not identify the end users of its virtual IBANs, allowing illicit flows to move unchecked through its rails.

German neobank N26 provides a vivid case study in the friction between hyper-growth and regulatory containment. Following repeated AML failures, the German regulator BaFin imposed a draconian cap on new customer acquisitions in 2021. The cap was lifted in mid-2024, but by late 2025, BaFin had reimposed restrictions, specifically banning N26 from issuing mortgages in the Netherlands due to continued compliance deficiencies. The sustained regulatory pressure culminated in a governance crisis, with investors pushing for the exit of the bank’s founders by early 2026, marking the end of the founder-led era.

The digital frontier

By 2026, the cryptocurrency landscape had transformed significantly compared to the chaotic environment of 2020. The introduction of the Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation in Europe, along with the global implementation of the Travel Rule, tightened privacy measures. In the United States, there was a strong crackdown on cryptocurrency exchanges through criminal cases based on financial laws. One notable exchange, KuCoin, took responsibility in early 2025 for managing unreported funds and faced charges related to the Bank Secrecy Act. The total penalties amounted to nearly $300,000,000. A federal court case revealed that KuCoin operated without the necessary permissions, marketing itself to American users while completely bypassing identity verification checks. Labelled as a “No-KYC” exchange, it allowed anonymous traders to participate from across the country. As a result of circumventing regulations, more than five billion dollars flowed in from unclear, potentially criminal sources.

A penalty of $100 million handed to BitMEX in 2025 marks another shift toward personal responsibility, with its founders ordered to serve time in a criminal capacity. It was determined that the platform deliberately ignored anti-money laundering requirements to increase earnings, handling vast sums, trillions, without any customer verification. Even as traditional exchanges grow stricter, new paths for illicit finance begin to take shape. Funds tied to Tornado Cash face US restrictions, which weakened their purpose, since major trading platforms now reject deposits linked to named mixing routes. Instead of vanishing, privacy altcoins such as Monero lose access to major platforms, shrinking the trader activity needed for broad-scale illicit flows. Lurking beneath old tactics, launderers now lean on “chain hopping,” shifting value across network borders using the latest bridge technology. These moves blur transaction links simply because paths between blocks go unnoticed for longer.

By 2026, the Financial Action Task Force’s “Travel Rule” will have become a global operational standard. In the EU, regulations mandate that all transfers of crypto-assets must be accompanied by identifying information of the originator and beneficiary, effectively applying SWIFT-style wire transfer transparency to the blockchain. This has forced Virtual Asset Service Providers to implement complex messaging protocols, creating a closed loop of regulated entities.

The new typologies of financial crime

The 2026 threat landscape is defined by the abuse of complex payment infrastructure and the weaponisation of Generative AI. Virtual IBANs are routing numbers that redirect payments to a master physical account. While legitimate for treasury management, they are a potent tool for money laundering. A criminal opens a master account with a fintech company, then generates hundreds of virtual IBANs, assigning them to shell companies. Funds flow into these virtual accounts and are instantly commingled in the master account, obscuring the origin from transaction monitoring logic. The AML Regulation now requires issuers to link every virtual IBAN to the underlying master account in centralised registries.

The “Deepfake CFO” scam in Hong Kong, which resulted in a $25 million loss, stands as the grim milestone of AI-enabled fraud. Fraudsters used deepfake technology to recreate the company’s CFO and other colleagues in a “live video conference.” By 2026, over 42% of fraud attempts are AI-driven, with deepfake “injection attacks” increasing by over 2000%. This has rendered simple video KYC obsolete, with financial institutions rushing to implement passive liveness detection and biometric analysis capable of spotting microscopic artefacts left by generative AI.

Strategic outlook

The EU Single Rulebook and the UK’s SPSS model mean that regulatory arbitrage within Europe is effectively dead, with firms needing to adopt a “highest common denominator” approach to compliance. The extension of criminal liability to executives and the aggressive prosecution of founders means that AML compliance is a direct responsibility of the Board and C-suite. Legacy systems that cannot handle virtual IBAN transparency or detect AI deepfakes are now existential vulnerabilities, with investment in RegTech no longer an IT upgrade but a license to operate. The era of “growth at all costs” has been superseded by the era of “compliant growth or no growth.” The regulatory perimeter has expanded to encircle the entire digital economy, and the penalties for stepping outside it have become existential. For financial institutions and their leaders, the message from regulators in Frankfurt, London, and Washington is unified. Compliance is the new currency of trust.

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Not only Amodei and Brockman, but Duco van Lanschot and David Schreiber also came into the limelight by creating the business identity verification startup Duna. The start-up recently raised a 30-million-euro Series A to become the best-funded European member of the so-called “Stripe Mafia.”

Based in Germany and the Netherlands, Duna has a rich portfolio of customers, including American financial services company Plaid. Duna helps fintech companies onboard business customers more efficiently, reducing the typical churn associated with corporate ID checks and other fraud prevention measures.

Creating Digital Passports For Companies

According to Duco van Lanschot, Stripe is not a typical customer of Duna, with the fintech giant’s executives understanding the opportunity that the start-up was about to seize in terms of making the process of onboarding business customers simpler and more efficient. What followed was big shots like former Stripe executives David Singleton, Claire Hughes Johnson, and Michael Cocoman getting involved in the funding round as angel investors. Even Stripe rival Adyen participated in the round.

Now, what exactly is the start-up trying to achieve? Apart from going after the long tail of enterprise clients that don’t have huge resources to dedicate to business onboarding, Duna sees its existential future in a world where there will be a network that allows companies to reuse their verified identity information across multiple platforms through a digital passport mechanism.

This goal resonated with Alex Nichols, the general partner who led CapitalG’s investment into the Series A. For Nichols, what sets Duna apart is its decision to generate its own data, rather than trying to aggregate existing data sources that are often lacking.

While Duna has reportedly found a strong business case in helping customers onboard corporate users faster and cheaper, existing investors are further doubling down. Index Ventures, which led Duna’s 10.7-million-euro seed round in May 2025, participated in the Series A, as did Puzzle Ventures and Frank Slootman, chairman of Snowflake.

However, to fulfil the immediate goal of reaching scale, Duna is taking shortcuts by identifying small clusters of companies that already overlap with each other. The start-up calls them “patches of networks.” These include manufacturing companies with shared customers, investment firms with overlapping LPs, or companies in the same small country. In Duco van Lanschot’s opinion, in these tight-knit groups, the ability to reuse verification becomes valuable immediately, even before Duna achieves full network effects.

Instead of replacing these jobs, Duna, through its AI automation, wants to help human professionals save costs and generate revenue even before the network effects kick in. If Duna eventually provides the rails for an identity network, Duco van Lanschot sees a bigger opportunity opening for the start-up, where the venture will enable one-click business onboarding.

The Products

Duna’s “Onboard,” built with the standards of regulated enterprises top of mind, provides compliant onboarding journeys optimised for conversion. The product helps its users access 20-plus ready-made KYB (Know Your Business) modules (including business details, legal representatives, ownership and UBO, AML screening, bank account, and address proof), apart from fine-tuning every data field to fit their enterprise needs.

Through the solution, Duna’s team of engineers and designers takes over their clients’ headache of converting potential leads into sales by dynamically shaping onboarding based on risk scoring, assessing data points in real time, and adapting journeys automatically. Businesses also get to avoid losing customers by asking for basic information at account creation and collecting additional KYC data based on product usage.

Companies can facilitate private interactions with legal representatives and Ultimate Beneficial Owners (UBOs) to collect essential information such as identity verification, source of funds, contract signatures, and more. Most importantly, instead of using separate onboarding platforms for different products, companies can save money by consolidating all solutions and their varying compliance policies under one digital umbrella.

Next is “Decide,” Duna’s automated case management mechanism, which increases compliance quality and reduces costs by cutting out lengthy reviews, manual checks, and endless email back-and-forth. The solution standardises these tedious functions by automatically adapting workflows based on risk signals, customer type, and compliance policies, leveraging AI and various other KYC technologies that verify and extract customer documents.

If a financial company has its pre-set compliance criteria, all it needs to do is feed the details into the automated case management system, after which it will take over the task of approving customer applications as per the established rules.

The solution also scores high on the AML (Anti-Money Laundering) front by fully automating hits on PEP (Politically Exposed Person), sanctions, and adverse media, with outsourced OSINT (Open-Source Intelligence) investigations. Duna’s automated case management mechanism has already proven its worth through its ongoing stint with some of the trusted names in the global financial industry, including Moody’s, Fourthline, LexisNexis, SurePay, Creditsafe, and IDnow.

Innovation Simplifying Things

Another excellent piece of Duna’s innovation is “Lifecycle,” which manages compliance throughout the customer lifecycle. Regulation meets retention with perpetual KYC, daily screening, re-KYC, policy versioning, and management of legal agreements.

Lifecycle is special because it automatically monitors Politically Exposed Persons (PEPs), sanctions, and adverse media related to business customers, individuals, and affiliated organisations. In addition, it tracks changes in registry data, such as legal names, addresses, and representatives. Lifecycle initiates re-Know Your Customer (KYC) processes based on real-time insights from registries, media, and open-source data. It also establishes re-verification frequencies tailored to the risk levels and timeframes of client companies.

The solution addresses evolving compliance requirements through a single interface that allows for the rollout of updated policies across various products, embedded finance partners, and jurisdictions. It implements ongoing changes based on regulations, product developments, and risk appetite, while also applying different policies according to regulatory jurisdictions. Additionally, it streamlines policy requirements across the financial partners of the client’s business.

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Blockchain is opening up new money flows, cross-border transactions are speeding up, and artificial intelligence (AI) is revolutionising financial processes. At the same time, businesses are being forced by regulatory changes to incorporate compliance technology, which will ensure their resilience at a time of increased scrutiny.

B2B finance is at a turning point. In addition to changing the financial infrastructure, the convergence of these advances is radically changing how businesses control risk, streamline processes, and spur expansion.

Businesses that successfully use fintech solutions will have a competitive advantage, while those that don’t adjust quickly run the risk of becoming obsolete in the rapidly digitalised financial sector.

The quickening of business payments

As businesses seek quicker, more affordable solutions, the global payment infrastructure is changing. By the end of 2025, it is anticipated that the total number of cross-border blockchain transactions will have increased by 48% year over year to $5 trillion. The demand for smooth, real-time settlement solutions is expected to propel the worldwide payment processing industry, valued at $79.6 billion in 2024, to more than double, reaching $161.9 billion by 2030.

In addition to speeding up transactions, this development is forcing companies to reconsider their financial arrangements and hastening the use of financial products based on blockchain technology to improve liquidity management and maximise cash flow. This growing reliance on digital assets is ushering in a more automated and decentralised corporate finance ecosystem.

Digital asset usage in corporate finance is becoming a strategic imperative rather than just conjecture. Blockchain technology is used by financial institutions and global firms to improve security, liquidity management, and transaction efficiency.

Early blockchain projects were mostly limited to experimental pilots, but due to institutional demand, regulatory changes, and cost-saving advantages, corporate adoption has now moved to full-scale implementation.

Due to growing corporate adoption, the financial blockchain market is expected to reach $49.2 billion by 2030. Tokenisation is driving this change, as companies digitise financial instruments, commodities, and real estate to enhance liquidity and tradability.

Experts predict that the demand for tokenised assets will surpass $600 billion. Tokenised assets are already being incorporated by businesses into trade settlement, supply chain finance, and cross-border transactions, which lowers counterparty risks and shortens settlement times from days to seconds.

At the forefront of this change are institutions. Leading exchanges are modifying their models to include institutional-grade digital assets, while international banks and asset managers are introducing tokenisation platforms to enable blockchain-based financial instruments. The distinction between decentralised finance (DeFi) and traditional finance is starting to become less clear, opening up new avenues for investment vehicles and capital markets.

But there are still obstacles in the way of widespread acceptance. As different jurisdictions adopt varying approaches to digital asset monitoring and compliance regimes, regulatory uncertainty remains a major concern.

While some regions, like Singapore and the European Union, have taken proactive measures to set clear regulatory norms, others are still figuring out where they stand. Businesses’ approaches to risk reduction, security procedures, and compliance will be influenced by these changing policies.

Businesses that successfully integrate tokenisation into their financial strategy will be positioned for long-term success in an increasingly digitised and decentralised global economy, even though adoption will move at varying rates across industries.

The institutional shift and CBDCs

Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) are still developing, but more slowly than first thought. Citing the need for legislative clarity, interoperability testing, and risk assessment, about one-third of central banks have postponed their intentions to introduce digital versions of their currencies.

Most, however, are still driven to keep control over monetary policy and currency issuance and are dedicated to eventual adoption. The increase in cross-border wholesale CBDC initiatives over the past few years is indicative of an institutional focus on improving interbank settlements and simplifying international financial flows.

The People’s Bank of China (PBOC), the European Central Bank (ECB), and the United States Federal Reserve are among the central banks that have started pilot programmes to test the infrastructure for digital currency transactions at the wholesale level. Project mBridge, which links banks in China, Thailand, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Hong Kong, and Saudi Arabia, is one of them.

Wholesale CBDCs are emerging as a more attractive option for large-scale corporate transactions, liquidity management, and cross-border trade financing as central banks concentrate on improving interbank settlements and simplifying international financial flows.

Adoption of CBDCs has important and encouraging ramifications for businesses. Reduced transaction costs, quicker settlement times, and less dependence on middlemen are all advantages for businesses involved in international trade.

By facilitating quicker settlement times and lowering reliance on intermediary currencies, wholesale CBDCs have the potential to lower foreign exchange risks, especially in emerging markets where operational difficulties are caused by currency volatility. CBDCs could reduce the risks related to foreign exchange swings in cross-border payments by facilitating direct currency exchanges and improving transparency in cross-currency transactions.

Despite these benefits, privacy laws, their influence on monetary policy, and cybersecurity issues remain major barriers to widespread adoption. The digital currency frameworks of some jurisdictions, like China and the UAE, are developing quickly, but others are still cautious and are waiting for more precise guidelines regarding the governance of CBDCs and their integration with current financial systems.

Businesses must keep up with changing technology and regulatory environments as CBDCs continue to grow. Navigating the next stage of financial digitisation will require an understanding of how digital currencies fit into global payment infrastructure, liquidity management, and corporate finance. This emphasis on ongoing learning and adaptation highlights the significance of remaining informed and proactive in the rapidly changing fintech world.

Future of enterprise finance and AI

Artificial intelligence is evolving from a tool for efficiency to a fundamental component of enterprise finance, changing everything from sophisticated financial modelling to real-time risk management. As businesses scramble to incorporate automation and machine learning into financial operations, investments in AI-driven compliance, fraud detection, and predictive analytics are increasing.

The B2B banking industry has proven AI’s usefulness for automated risk assessment. It enables businesses to examine large financial data sets to identify irregularities and make previously unheard-of credit risk predictions.

Real-time transactional behaviour analysis by AI-driven fraud detection systems, which are already integrated into international payment networks, can reduce financial crime losses by up to 50% by flagging questionable activity.

Corporate finance is also changing as a result of the emergence of generative AI. Complex legal documents, contract analysis, and regulatory compliance reporting are now processed by AI-powered automation, which can reduce processing times by up to 90%.

Businesses now face additional security and regulatory problems as AI develops. Although AI improves financial decision-making, authorities are examining AI-driven financial services more closely, so companies must use understandable AI models to ensure compliance and transparency.

For financial organisations, investing in AI is now a strategic need rather than an option. In an increasingly automated and data-driven economy, businesses that do not incorporate AI-powered financial solutions run the danger of falling behind.

Fintech adoption for compliance

Regulatory compliance is still a major concern as financial technology changes business interactions. Businesses are being forced to reconsider how they handle compliance as a result of the growing complexity of international financial regulations, as well as the emergence of digital assets, AI-driven financial services, and CBDCs.

Regulatory technology (RegTech), which offers automated solutions for risk assessment, fraud prevention, and real-time monitoring, is becoming an increasingly important part of enterprise fintech plans.

Several important causes are driving the need for RegTech. Businesses that conduct cross-border operations must adhere to several regulatory frameworks, which raises the cost and difficulty of reporting. Businesses may automate compliance procedures with AI-powered RegTech solutions, guaranteeing adherence to changing jurisdictional standards while lowering operational risks.

As businesses enhance automation to manage regulatory complexity, the RegTech industry is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 21.6% from its 2023 valuation of $11.7 billion to $83.8 billion by 2033, according to Allied Industry Research.

AI is already being used to expedite manufacturing, healthcare, and financial regulatory procedures. By automating risk assessments, fraud detection, and legal reporting, RegTech platforms powered by AI have been demonstrated to dramatically lower compliance costs. AI-based solutions have reduced document filing times in legal departments by 90%, improving operational effectiveness and reducing compliance expenses.

Initiatives for digital compliance are also being accelerated by governments and financial institutions, especially in light of the growth of digital currencies and decentralised finance (DeFi). Regulatory frameworks must change as blockchain-based transactions and CBDCs become more popular in order to adequately supervise these financial innovations.

Businesses that don’t incorporate automated compliance solutions run the danger of facing fines from the government, being investigated, and experiencing operational inefficiencies.

Businesses can lower compliance expenses, improve fraud detection capabilities, and increase the effectiveness of regulatory reporting by utilising RegTech. Integrating AI-powered compliance technologies enables businesses to manage changing regulations and reduce the dangers of financial crime.

Businesses that proactively deploy RegTech solutions will be better equipped to handle the increasingly complicated global regulatory environment as financial technology continues to evolve at a rapid pace.

In order to negotiate an increasingly complex legal environment, businesses must make sure that their infrastructure is ready for the integration of digital assets, engage in staff development to maximise AI applications, and have strict compliance procedures in place. Cybersecurity is still a major worry, and to protect digital transactions, firms must implement advanced risk mitigation techniques.

Despite the traditional lag in B2B financial technology adoption compared to consumer finance, 2025 represents a significant shift. Failure to integrate financial technology puts businesses at risk of operational inefficiencies and decreased competitiveness, especially as the sector transitions to full-scale digitisation. Moving from trial adoption to strategic deployment is now essential, making sure that technology investments solve particular operational issues and provide quantifiable corporate value.

Opportunities are being created by the quickening adoption of financial technology, but businesses that don’t make strategic plans may find it difficult to remain resilient in a setting that is changing quickly. Enterprise transactions in the future will be shaped by companies that adopt digital finance innovations now; those that do not run the risk of becoming permanently behind in a financial ecosystem that is changing quickly.

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Emirates Gold will deploy between 35 and 40 Gold ATM units across the country in 2026, forming the region’s largest network of its kind. Each ATM will hold over 70 designs of gold and silver bars, offering users convenient access to purchase bullion at any time.

“The smart Gold ATM also integrates digital payments, bullion dispensing, and advanced security features into one seamless platform. Users can currently purchase gold or silver using e-wallets or credit cards, and withdraw physical bullion from their digital accounts, with additional features such as online order collection, cryptocurrency conversion, and redeeming tokenized gold from secure vaults planned for future integration as this initiative continues to evolve,” reported Mubasher, MENA (Middle East and North Africa) region’s prominent financial information and trading platform.

The CEO of Emirates Gold DMCC, Abhijit Shah, said, “Our partnership with Public Gold brings together Emirates Gold’s trusted refinery expertise and operational strength with modern fintech innovation, setting a new global benchmark for secure and transparent bullion accessibility.”

On his part, Jerry Ng, Chief Marketing Officer of Public Gold DMCC, said, “This landmark moment places Malaysia and the UAE at the forefront of global gold innovation. Our fintech-powered Gold ATM breaks traditional barriers and makes physical gold ownership simpler, safer, and more accessible. We are proud to build this vision alongside Emirates Gold within the trusted DMCC ecosystem.”

As the network expands, Emirates Gold aims to make bullion access faster, smarter, and more secure for users across the UAE, in the pursuit of decisively shaping the future of accessible precious metals.

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Speaking to Jordan News Agency, also known as Petra, Adel Sharkas, governor of the Central Bank of Jordan, said that the meetings will reinforce cooperation between both countries in areas including banking supervision, financial technology, and financial inclusion. Sharkas will meet his Syrian counterpart, Abdul Qader Hasriya, in Jordan on December 3.

In November 2025, a Central Bank of Syria delegation concluded a visit to the Banking Studies Institute and the Jordanian FinTech Academy to review Jordan’s experience in developing institutional structures and strengthening regulatory and technical frameworks in the financial sector.

Petra, while citing Sharkas, reported that the “meetings will showcase Jordan’s banking and financial expertise to the Syrian delegation and explore opportunities for Jordanian-Syrian partnerships that support Syria’s economic reconstruction.”

In recent months, Jordan’s Central Bank has provided specialised technical assistance to its Syrian counterpart. This includes hosting 16 Syrian employees in November and sending technical delegations to Damascus for fieldwork approximately six months ago.

Sharkas further hailed Jordanian fintech companies for evolving as a regional model, as the Gulf country’s central bank continues to partner with the private sector to build an advanced financial infrastructure, enhancing electronic payment systems. Jordan’s banking sector right now enjoys a strong regional and international reputation, thereby making it a preferred destination for investment and expansion in neighbouring Middle Eastern markets.

The Central Bank of Jordan governor further added that several banks in the country are currently planning to enter the Syrian market. Sharkas also opined that Jordan’s fintech experience, including the Central Bank’s regulatory sandbox and entrepreneurial support funds, could help young entrepreneurs from both Jordan and Syria to launch joint ventures in the coming days.

In November, Syrian Minister of Agriculture Amjad Badr held a meeting with Jordan’s Ambassador to Damascus, Sufyan Al-Qudah, to discuss ways to enhance cooperation in the agricultural sector.

In the same month, Jordan expressed its willingness to provide Syria and Lebanon with energy, as officials from the three countries met in Amman to revive electricity and gas supply schemes.

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