They did not need banking licences. Instead, they built on top of banks, quietly plugging into the system while presenting a very different face to customers. But now that model is changing.

After years of back-and-forth with regulators, Revolut finally getting its UK banking licence feels like more than just a company milestone. It’s a sign of where the industry is heading. Fintechs are no longer happy sitting in the middle. They want to run the whole show, as banks themselves.

But this is not a simple story of disruption. Nor is it a clean, linear shift. It is, as some experts suggest, something more uneven, more conditional and, perhaps, more fragile than it first appears.

Inside the numbers

To really get a sense of how big this shift is, you just have to look at what companies like Revolut are doing today.

It is no longer just a payments app. Over time, it has quietly expanded into savings, currency exchange, stock and crypto trading, and now even lending. It operates across Europe, the UK, the US, and parts of Asia-Pacific, less like a regional player and more like a global financial platform in the making.

The scale is hard to ignore. Revolut says it has around 70 million customers worldwide, with about 13 million in the UK alone. That’s massive for a company that, not too long ago, wasn’t even a bank.

Traditional banks have noticed. Over the years, many have either partnered with fintechs or invested in them, not just to compete, but to stay relevant as the industry evolves.

At the same time, more fintechs are going all in. Players like Monzo and Starling Bank in the UK, N26 in Europe, SoFi in the US, and Nubank in Latin America have already secured banking licences. This isn’t happening in one market; it is happening everywhere.

Even traditional banks are not just sitting back. Big names like JPMorgan Chase and DBS Bank are putting serious effort into digital and AI. They are starting to feel a lot more like fintechs than old-school banks.

When you step back and look at it, the gap really isn’t what it used to be. Fintechs and banks are slowly meeting somewhere in the middle.

Not a shift, but a wave

For Ron Shevlin, Chief Research Officer at Cornerstone Advisors, one of the United States’ leading independent investment consulting firms, the narrative of a sweeping transformation may be overstated.

“It’s more a wave than a shift,” he told International Finance, pointing to the influence of regulatory cycles. In his view, the current momentum is tied in part to a more accommodating political and regulatory environment, one that could easily change.

“The ‘wave’ will subside with the next change in the White House,” he said.

This framing matters. It suggests that the move toward banking licences is not inevitable, but contingent, shaped by external conditions as much as by internal strategy. Still, even a wave has direction. The direction, at least for now, is clear.

Limits of the partner-bank model

In order to understand why fintechs are moving toward licences, it helps to look at how they started.

In the early days, most fintechs did not bother becoming banks. They simply teamed up with licenced institutions, more or less ‘borrowing’ their infrastructure to get going. It helped them move fast, skip the heavy regulatory burden, and focus on building a smooth user experience.

“The partner bank model was always a workaround. A way to access banking infrastructure without the regulatory overhead. It was fine for early-stage fintechs that needed to move fast,” Shevlin explains.

But as these companies scaled, the limitations became harder to ignore.

Relying on sponsor banks, often smaller institutions, introduced friction. Product development could be constrained. Strategic flexibility could be limited. Most importantly, control was never fully in the fintech’s hands.

“If a sponsor bank changes its risk appetite, or gets acquired, or gets regulatory heat, the fintech suffers,” Shevlin notes.

In other words, the very structure that enabled rapid growth can become a bottleneck at scale.

The economics of becoming a bank

Beyond control, there is a more fundamental driver, which is ‘money’.

“Why now?” Shevlin explains: “Two reasons: the regulatory environment and profitability.”

At the heart of this is lending.

“The profits in banking come from lending. Without a licence, you cannot lend,” Shevlin noted.

This is a critical point. Many fintechs built their businesses around payments, earning revenue from interchange fees or subscriptions. But these revenue streams have limits. Margins are thin. Competition is intense.

A banking licence changes the equation. It basically changes the game for fintechs.

They can raise cheaper funds by holding deposits, move into lending products like loans and credit cards, keep more of the revenue instead of sharing it, and plug directly into payment systems. This isn’t a small upgrade; it fundamentally reshapes how their business works.

From fintech to bank

If the economics explain the ‘why’, the evolution of the industry explains the ‘how’.

According to Chris Skinner, CEO of The Finanser, the shift toward licences is particularly evident among neobanks.

“You cannot put all fintechs in the same bracket. But those who are neobanks, light banking services, have all started moving into getting banking licences in the past few years,” he told International Finance.

This distinction is important. Not all fintechs want to be banks. Payment specialists, infrastructure providers, and enterprise platforms may continue to operate through partnerships.

But for neobanks, companies that already resemble banks in everything but regulation, the move toward licences feels like a natural progression. As they make that transition, the line between fintech and traditional banking begins to blur.

“Totally,” Skinner says when asked whether the distinction is disappearing.

“There are many fintechs that are no longer fintechs. They are banks,” he added.

He cites Monzo and Starling Bank.

A changing competitive landscape

This blurring of boundaries has significant implications for competition. For years, traditional banks dismissed fintechs as niche players, useful for innovation, perhaps, but not a serious threat to core business lines. That view is becoming harder to sustain.

“It has been a slow burn,” Skinner observes, citing data suggesting that a growing share of traditional banking services is shifting toward fintech providers.

The trend is expected to accelerate in the coming years. The scale is already substantial.

For example, Revolut has millions of customers in the UK alone, and tens of millions globally. If even a fraction of those users transition to full banking relationships, the impact could be significant.

For traditional institutions like HSBC or Barclays, this is not just a competitive challenge; it is a structural one.

Technology as a differentiator

One reason fintech banks may be well-positioned to compete is technology. Traditional banks, in many cases, still operate on legacy systems built decades ago, long before the internet, let alone mobile or cloud computing. Fintechs, by contrast, started from scratch.

“The critical thing about neobanks is that they began with no legacy infrastructure. The new banks built theirs specifically to leverage today’s technologies,” Skinner explains.

This gives them an edge in areas such as user experience, product development speed, data analytics, and integration with emerging technologies like AI.
As the industry enters what Skinner describes as ‘another big change with AI’, this technological foundation could become even more important.

“The new banks have far more ability to use intelligence,” he said.

Regulation: Supportive or cautious?

If tech and money are pushing fintechs toward licences, regulation is the one thing that can still slow things down, or change the direction.

On one hand, there are signs of support. Regulators in markets like the UK have actively encouraged innovation, creating frameworks that allow fintechs to experiment and grow.

“Regulators are now pretty comfortable with fintechs. In fact, they want to encourage more innovation in finance,” Skinner said.

On the other hand, the relationship is not without tension. Things like KYC checks have actually become a sticking point, especially for fintechs trying to move from simple payments or prepaid models into full-fledged banking. Customers who signed up with minimal documentation may suddenly be required to provide detailed identification, leading, in some cases, to account closures and dissatisfaction.

At a broader level, regulatory attitudes can shift with political cycles.

“It’s a back-and-forth thing,” Shevlin notes, particularly in the US context. This creates uncertainty. What looks like a supportive environment today may not remain so tomorrow.

Do Customers Even Care?

Amid all this discussion of licences, regulation, and strategy, there is a simpler question: does it matter to customers?

Shevlin offers a blunt perspective: “Americans do not really care if a fintech has a charter or not, until that fintech fails.”

It is a reminder that, for most users, the appeal of fintech lies in experience, ease of use, transparency, and convenience. Regulatory status is largely invisible, at least until something goes wrong.

This creates an interesting dynamic. Fintechs may pursue licences for economic and strategic reasons, but the customer-facing narrative may not change much. At least, not immediately.

Not all fintechs will follow

Despite the momentum, not every fintech will or should become a bank.

“There are different paths,” Skinner says.

For example, companies like Stripe, Adyen, and Airwallex focus on payments and financial infrastructure, often in partnership with banks. For these firms, a banking licence may offer limited additional value relative to the complexity it introduces.

Even among neobanks, timing matters.

“Fintechs need to scale to a certain point before the economics make sense,” Shevlin argues, suggesting that pursuing a licence too early can be risky.

Historically, obtaining a licence has been a lengthy and expensive process, one that requires significant resources and regulatory engagement. The current environment, with faster approval cycles, may not last.

Toward a new banking landscape

Both Shevlin and Skinner see a landscape in flux, but not necessarily one that follows a single trajectory. For Skinner, the long-term vision is expansive.

“The landscape of 2035 is one where many fintechs have worked together to build a new world of global banking. It’s a brave new world,” he said.

In this vision, the dominance of traditional banks could give way to a more diverse ecosystem, one that includes global digital banks, regional challengers, and specialised fintech platforms.

For Shevlin, it is a bit more measured. This wave of fintechs chasing licences may continue for now, but it won’t be steady or last forever.

What really comes through is that this isn’t a simple disruption story. Fintechs aren’t just trying to replace banks anymore. In many cases, they are becoming them. But it is not a straight path. It is shaped by regulation, economics, timing, and all of it. Getting a licence opens doors, but it also brings new pressures.

More than anything, it shows a mindset shift. Fintechs are no longer operating outside the system; they are stepping right into it. Whether that truly reshapes banking is still an open question.

For now, what is clear is that the boundaries are changing. And in finance, as in many industries, when boundaries shift, everything else tends to follow.

The post When fintechs stop playing nice, and start becoming banks appeared first on International Finance.

The deal with Anchorage marks another regulatory breakthrough for Justin Sun, who in March 2026 reached a USD 10 million settlement to resolve US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) charges.

The regulatory body, in March 2023, sued Justin Sun and his companies Tron Foundation, BitTorrent Foundation and Rainberry, accusing them of illegally distributing the crypto assets tronix and bittorrent, apart from artificially inflating trading volume, and concealing payments to celebrity endorsers. However, in a letter to US District Judge ⁠Edgardo Ramos in Manhattan, the same agency now says, “Justin Sun and his companies did not admit or deny wrongdoing.”

“By supporting Tron on Anchorage Digital’s regulated platform, we’re helping bring one of crypto’s largest ecosystems into an institutional framework,” said Anchorage co-founder and CEO Nathan McCauley.

Anchorage clients will now be able to custody Tron’s tronix (the cryptocurrency native to the blockchain), paving the way for greater adoption of the token ‌in ⁠the United States.

American investors wishing to invest and trade in Tron’s token currently carry out the activity mostly through decentralised exchanges, which ⁠aim to cut out the middleman and allow users to transact directly on a blockchain network.

The tie-up between Anchorage Digital and the Tron blockchain also comes in the backdrop of President Donald Trump’s aggressive efforts to make the world’s largest economy also a global hub for virtual currencies. Justin Sun, a major backer of the Trump family crypto ⁠venture World Liberty Financial, told that Tron’s partnership with Anchorage will help “expand secure institutional access to the blockchain network.”

TRON was in the news in March 2026, as it reached a settlement to resolve SEC charges. The blockchain also joined the “Mastercard Crypto Partner Programme” to support cross-border remittances, B2B transfers, and other on-chain payments by leveraging Mastercard’s global network and settlement infrastructure.

TRON, that handles USD 22 billion daily and USD 85 billion in USDT (Tether), offering high throughput, low costs, and liquidity for global payments and AI-driven transactions, will now engage with Mastercard on product design, interoperability, and responsible scaling. The initiative will demonstrate the value of combining blockchain programmability with established financial systems to enable practical, widely adopted digital payments.

The post Anchorage Digital ties up with Justin Sun’s Tron blockchain appeared first on International Finance.

And yet, up to three-quarters of companies are still using paper checks, for example, despite inefficiencies and increasing costs. While traditional document handling and processing might seem familiar and reliable, they are fast becoming outdated and potentially hazardous for companies and customers.

Digitalisation, of course, can be complex, and there is considerable planning and execution involved that can take months to complete. However, one key step finance companies (and those processing paper transactions en masse) should take immediately is to switch to digital signatures across all their documents.

Why digital signatures matter

Digital signatures have emerged as a natural successor to the well-worn paper-based standard. Through digital contract signing and payment authorisation, key transactions are easier to attach to certain parties, and it’s a quick route towards ensuring complete compliance with data retention and processing.

Learning how to sign documents online is, in the mid-2020s, a simple process that’s easy to train on and roll out across payment handling teams. We now have the systems and software to embed digital signatures into legacy tools and documents, too, meaning it can easily become part of existing processes at minimal cost.

Shockingly, reports show that 63% of companies surveyed by the AFP experienced some form of physical check fraud in 2024. If we’re to face transaction fraud head-on, we need to move more efficiently away from paper documents and legacy signage.

Key benefits

Beyond the obvious benefits of digitalisation in general, there are key benefits of digital signatures in financial transactions worth considering.

Digital signatures allow for faster processing and decision-making. The time it takes for physical checks and financial documents to get signed, authorised, and marked off can be cut down dramatically with automation and streamlined workflows. There are fewer checking steps, and reviews take seconds, not days.

They are more securely stored. Using a leading e-signature platform and data backup system means you can always be sure client signatures are encrypted and kept away from bad actors. Physical documents are always at the mercy of being lost and stolen, which can cause fraud and administrative headaches for all parties involved.

Another security benefit to digital signatures is that, with the right platform, they are easy to create and store so that they can’t be tampered with by third parties. Again, a digital paper trail can effectively verify signing intent and payment processing without confusion. Digital signatures also benefit compliance. In an age where companies face millions of dollars in potential fines for not complying with data protection laws, digital signatures can effectively prove that a company is doing enough to meet certain standards.

Ultimately, digital signatures remove the costs of physical document processing and the checks required along the way. Therefore, this form of digital streamlining frees up administrative hours that can be used more cost-effectively elsewhere.

The future of digital signatures

There are many ways that digital signatures will continue to evolve in finance in the years to come. For one, artificial intelligence can learn to recognise signatures from data to automatically approve payments, calculate money received and sent, and search for anomalies.

What’s more, companies may also use blockchain technology to create records and contracts with even more irrefutability. Digitally signed documents, established on the blockchain, will be even harder to counterfeit or dispute.

Up to 80% of US businesses are already using digital signatures in some shape or form, with that number likely to grow exponentially by the start of the next decade. However, now is the time to start taking steps towards making signage digital, regardless of what trends suggest.

The post Finance moves to digital signatures appeared first on International Finance.

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.

The post Fintech’s next revolution appeared first on International Finance.

The pilot, launched in October 2025, was conducted in partnership with players like blockchain fintech firm Waybridge, overseas digital wallet operator Aron Group and international remittance specialist GME Remittance. The initiative aimed to test the usability of foreign currency-based stablecoins within Korea’s domestic payment ecosystem, focusing sharply on payment convenience and system stability.

“Under the pilot, stablecoins stored in overseas digital wallets affiliated with BC Card were converted into BC’s digital prepaid cards. Users were then able to make payments at domestic merchants, including convenience stores, cafes and supermarkets, using QR codes, without the need for physical cards or currency exchange,” reported The Korea Herald.

As per the BC Card, the trial addressed key limitations that have so far hindered stablecoin adoption in South Korea’s card payment environment, such as the need for real-time processing for payment approvals, cancellations and corrections.

Using the combination of the cross-border efficiency of stablecoins with the proven operational stability of the card network, BC Card’s pilot project allowed both merchants and consumers to transact in the same way as with conventional card payments.

BC Card now views the pilot project as groundwork for a future payment infrastructure rather than limiting the experiment as a short-term technical test, as it prepares for potential regulatory changes related to digital assets.

The company plans to expand cooperation with partners and gradually develop a stablecoin payment model aligned with Korea’s existing financial systems.

“Stablecoins, due to their technical characteristics, are particularly useful for cross-border payments, and have great potential to improve the domestic payment experience for foreign consumers. We will gradually prepare a stablecoin payment model that complies with the legal and institutional environment based on our card payment infrastructure,” said CEO Choi Won-seok.

The post South Korea-based BC Card experiments with foreign-currency stablecoin payments appeared first on International Finance.

According to Lean CEO Hisham Al-Falih, the company wants to increase its product offerings in financial domains such as money transfers, alternative credit, insurance, and pensions. In 2024, the Riyadh-based company secured USD 67.5 million in Series B funding led by Silicon Valley-based venture capital group General Catalyst.

Established in 2019, Lean is building an integration layer on top of the Middle East’s banking infrastructure, helping financial industry players in the region execute their digital transformation goals by leveraging the start-up’s cutting-edge applications.

Supporting The Financial Industry’s Transformation

Taking a digital-heavy route is not an easy task for any financial venture. It comes with its own set of complex challenges, such as infrastructure management. Lean handles this task on behalf of its client banks (and fintech peers) by localising and transforming data on a regional basis. When transforming data from multiple sources across various jurisdictions, Lean provides a single universal plug-and-play API.

In the fintech industry, APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) act as the connective tissue, enabling seamless and secure communication between different software systems such as banks, third-party apps, and payment processors. They serve as the backbone of modern financial services, allowing for innovation, efficiency, and a connected ecosystem where new products can be built without starting from scratch.

However, as appealing as APIs may sound, developing them is full of challenges and frustrations. Lean was built specifically to handle these complexities so that fintech players can dedicate their efforts entirely to innovation.

Lean, integrated with a variety of advanced financial apps across the MENA (Middle East and North Africa) region, enables apps on customers’ smartphones to create services that help them build budgets, secure better loan rates, transfer money to friends, and more. These apps then provide powerful experiences for consumers when connected with payments and data from their bank accounts.

The Key Products

The start-up standardises different data formats from various banks into one easily readable format. This structured data helps Lean’s clients build prediction models, risk-scoring algorithms, and much more while reducing the risk of fraud or human error by automatically verifying customers through their account/IBAN (International Bank Account Number) information.

On the customer identity verification front, Lean uses APIs to help banks and fintech ventures capture all customer information with a single API call (the practice of making a solitary request to an API to perform a specific action or retrieve particular data). Financial institutions also get to capture information for all individuals linked to a single bank account.

Lean’s financial insights services categorise transactions using APIs that automatically assign categories based on 16 pre-assigned sections to standardise outputs. A set of API endpoints provides unique insights to help financial institutions simplify and improve their risk-scoring models.

The ultimate goal is to enable financial ventures to go beyond financial data and build more meaningful, business-critical tools, such as in-depth risk-scoring models, recommendation engines, and more.

Solutions Using Data

On KYC, AML (Anti-Money Laundering), and customer onboarding fronts, Lean is helping financial institutions maximise conversions by simplifying and speeding up first-time user experiences on their platforms. The start-up’s clients no longer need to maintain large, budget-heavy onboarding teams.

Functions such as validating customer identities and verifying their financial track records are achieved through a simple integration of Lean’s digital solutions into bank systems. In addition to automatically capturing and extracting all relevant information (such as name, phone number, and address) from customers’ bank accounts, Lean’s matching engine ensures the name provided by a customer matches the account holder to protect against fraud and money laundering.

Credit and risk scoring is another crucial area where Lean’s API-based expertise is proving invaluable, as the start-up helps financial institutions speed up the process of collecting, verifying, and scoring customers’ financial data. The company has focused on two areas: accurate risk profiling and automated income verification.

The “Financial Data API” cleans and standardises crucial customer data for Lean’s clients, while the data insights algorithm identifies and assigns each transaction into one of 16 pre-defined categories. This workflow reduces onboarding time and enables a real-time picture of creditworthiness, thereby boosting customer conversions.

Building meaningful insights from financial data that’s collected, collated, and standardised in a cleaner, simpler way is another area where the financial industry often struggles. Raw banking data is unstructured, and cleaning and standardising it is complex. Managing connections to multiple banks is also time-consuming and costly.

Financial Data API is proving useful here as well, turning streams of transactions from multiple accounts into structured financial data. This not only helps banks and fintech players generate meaningful insights but also helps them act on them and build new value-added services.

Making B2B And C2B Transfers Easy

Bank transfers to digital wallets often require customers to use third-party apps. Additionally, card payments result in high fees for both parties, leading to slow onboarding and lower conversions. To address this, Lean has introduced its fully native in-app payment experience, covering everything from bank connection to payment execution and reconciliation. This friction-free onboarding directly boosts customer conversions, and direct bank transfers eliminate high fees and chargebacks.

The start-up’s “Connect SDK” allows Lean’s clients to build a simple bank connection on their platform that not only captures customer data but also adds themselves as a beneficiary in the customer’s account for payments. The mechanism is fully configurable for all client platforms. From connecting the customer’s bank account to initiating payments, everything happens within a single platform.

E-commerce companies, which often face payment challenges such as cash collection costs, card-processing fees, and settlement delays, are also being supported by Lean to conduct real-time payment settlements through direct bank transfers. This reduces costs for both customers and businesses while lowering delays in order processing.

These businesses can also process customer withdrawal and refund requests with confidence and speed using Lean’s end-to-end bulk payments system, which consolidates all incoming withdrawal and refund requests in one place.

Lean is also helping financial institutions quickly and easily disburse loans to verified customers by digitising the disbursement process, which saves time and money and reduces human error.

While the start-up’s clients can seamlessly disburse multiple loans from a single interface, they can expedite the process further by setting up custom automations for payouts to be processed as they are requested, instead of manually authorising each one.

The post Start-up of the Week: With a proven expertise in API domain, Lean now eyes IPO route appeared first on International Finance.

In absolute terms, global debt exceeded $324 trillion in early 2025, up from around $255 trillion in 2019. This massive debt overhang threatens to undercut every economy’s ability to withstand the latest headwinds, including a return to protectionism in the form of higher trade tariffs. Without urgent course correction, the world could be headed toward a widespread debt crisis with lasting economic and social repercussions.

Global debt overhang and its risks

World Bank Chief Economist Indermit Gill notes that debt is a powerful tool for growth and stability, yet it is also “a form of deferred taxation.”

By borrowing instead of immediately raising taxes, governments can finance long-term investments that benefit future generations or support incomes during a downturn when austerity would be counterproductive.

This strategy makes sense as long as economic growth outpaces the cost of borrowing. Eventually, however, the piper must be paid. If a country’s income does not grow faster than its interest payments, taxes, or inflation, it will inevitably have to increase to service the debt.

In other words, today’s debt is simply tomorrow’s taxes by another name. Persistently high debt, without commensurate growth, thus becomes a drag on development, a barrier to economic progress that grows taller with each passing year of heavy borrowing.

That barrier has seldom been higher than it is now. Over the past 15 years, developing countries have become hooked on debt, accumulating liabilities at a record pace of roughly six percentage points of GDP per year. This debt binge was fuelled by years of ultra-low global interest rates and often justified by optimistic growth projections.

History shows that such rapid debt build-ups often end in tears. Indeed, research indicates that about half of large debt booms in emerging and developing economies have been followed by financial crises. In effect, the odds that the recent developing-country debt surge will trigger a crisis somewhere are roughly 50-50.

With global debt levels at all-time highs, the world is precariously balanced on what Gill calls a “debt time bomb.” Each additional shock, whether economic, geopolitical, or climatic, increases the chances of a detonation.

In May 2025, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) stated that the global public debt could increase to 100% of global GDP by the end of the decade if current trends continue.

According to the IMF report, “The rising ratio of public debt to GDP reflects renewed economic pressures as well as the consequences of pandemic-related fiscal support.”

“This trend raises fresh concerns about long-term fiscal sustainability as many countries face rising budget challenges,” the global monetary body remarked.

The report indicated that approximately one-third of countries, representing 80% of global GDP, now have public debt levels exceeding those recorded prior to the COVID-19 pandemic and are increasing at a faster rate. More than two-thirds of the 175 economies examined in the IMF’s study are carrying heavier public debt burdens compared to the period before the pandemic began in 2020.

In March 2025, the United Nations Trade and Development (UNCTAD) noted soaring interest payments were squeezing budgets, forcing governments to choose between repaying creditors and funding essential services.

“Developing countries are sinking deeper into a debt-driven development crisis. Their external debt, money owed to foreign creditors, has quadrupled in two decades to a record $11.4 trillion in 2023, equivalent to 99% of their export earnings. A mix of factors has fuelled this surge, including increased borrowing for development projects, volatile commodity prices, and widening public deficits. The COVID-19 pandemic worsened the situation, as countries borrowed heavily to offset the economic fallout and fund public health measures,” UNCTAD added.

While debt can be a vital tool for economic growth and development, it becomes a problem when repayment costs outpace a country’s capacity to pay. That is now the case for two-thirds of developing countries. Debt distress now looms over more than half of the 68 low-income countries eligible for the IMF’s Poverty Reduction and Growth Trust, more than double the number in 2015.

Rising interest rates

Exacerbating the danger, the latest debt surge has been accompanied by the fastest increase in global interest rates in four decades. After a long era of cheap money, central banks worldwide applied the monetary brakes in 2022 and 2023 to combat inflation.

The result has been a sharp spike in borrowing costs, as interest rates Monjumped multiple percentage points within months, the steepest rise since the early 1980s. For about half of all developing economies, debt servicing costs have essentially doubled in a short span. On average, the interest payments on government debt in developing countries rose from under 9% of government revenues in 2007 to about 20% of revenues by 2024.

Such a surge in debt service burdens would be daunting even in good times. Amid today’s challenges, it verges on the catastrophic. By 2024, many governments were spending one-fifth of their budgets just to pay interest, resources no longer available for public investments or essential services.

Although the world has so far averted a systemic financial meltdown of the kind seen in 2008 and 2009, too many developing countries are now caught in a “doom loop” of debt and underinvestment. To service their loans, governments are cutting back on the very spending that would boost future growth, slashing funding for education, healthcare, and infrastructure.

This self-defeating cycle undermines human development and erodes the productive capacity needed to escape from debt. Alarmingly, this is not a problem confined to a few outliers; it has become a widespread phenomenon.

Almost half of humanity, about 3.3 billion people, now live in countries that spend more on interest payments than on health or education. In low-income countries, especially, scarce fiscal resources that should be used to build schools, clinics, or roads are instead absorbed by creditors. It is a vicious circle: high debt forces spending cuts, which strangulate growth, which in turn makes the debt even harder to bear.

Debt threat to future workforce

Nowhere is this doom loop more troubling than in the world’s poorest nations. Some 78 low-income countries eligible to borrow from the World Bank’s International Development Association (IDA) are teetering on the brink of a debt disaster. These countries are home to roughly one-quarter of the world’s population, and include a large share of the 1.2 billion young people poised to enter the global workforce in the next 10 to 15 years.

The future of the global labour market, and of these nations’ development, depends on whether this youth bulge can be educated, healthy, and productively employed. Yet high debt threatens to derail that potential. Saddled with onerous debt service, many of these countries cannot invest adequately in their burgeoning young populations.

The result could be a lost generation, where millions of youths are deprived of quality schooling, healthcare, and jobs, sowing the seeds for frustration and instability down the line.

Policymakers, unfortunately, have so far responded with complacency or denial. In what Gill describes as “another triumph of hope over experience,” many governments are effectively gambling that a favourable global environment will somehow rescue them from the debt trap. They bank on global growth suddenly accelerating and interest rates falling just enough to defuse the debt bomb. But counting on a lucky break is a perilous strategy.

In reality, most of these countries are already in deep trouble by any objective measure. According to the IMF, about 60% of low-income countries are now either in debt distress or at high risk of debt distress.

Several have already defaulted or are seeking restructuring of their debts in the wake of the pandemic and other shocks. The world cannot afford another decade of drift and denial on this issue, as the costs in foregone development and human suffering would be staggering.

Low growth, high borrowing costs

If anything, the broader global outlook is making debt burdens harder to manage. Escalating geopolitical tensions and current trade wars, marked by increased tariffs and protectionist measures, have further darkened the economic outlook. Business confidence has been undermined by record levels of policy uncertainty in international trade.

At the start of 2025, private economists expected about 2.6% global GDP growth for the year, but as new data and conflicts emerged, the consensus forecast was downgraded to roughly 2.2%. That is nearly one-third below the average growth rate of the 2010s.

The World Bank likewise projects a significant growth slowdown in 2025 compared to prior estimates. Slower growth directly translates into lower revenues for governments and fewer job opportunities, making it even harder for heavily indebted countries to grow their way out of debt.

At the same time, borrowing costs are expected to remain far higher than they were in the last decade. In advanced economies, central banks have indicated that policy interest rates will average around 3.4% in 2025 and 2026, a level more than five times the ultra-low average that prevailed from 2010 to 2019.

In the United States, for example, the Federal Reserve raised its benchmark rate by over five percentage points in 14 months, the most aggressive tightening in over 40 years. Such moves, echoed by other major central banks, have ended the era of near-zero rates.

For developing economies, the consequences are painful, as higher global rates push up the cost of new financing and often strengthen the US dollar, making dollar-denominated debts harder to repay. In an era of scarce public resources, boosting growth and development will require mobilising private investment, yet foreign capital is unlikely to flow into countries perceived as debt-crippled and low-growth.

Prioritising debt reduction

Given these realities, reducing debt levels is an urgent priority, especially for developing economies with chronically high debt-to-GDP ratios. This must start with responsible national policies, as governments should rein in excessive borrowing and improve their fiscal balances where possible to stabilise debt dynamics.

Some may need to make painful but necessary adjustments to curb non-essential spending and boost domestic revenue. However, the challenge is too large for individual countries to solve alone, especially when many are already insolvent or nearly so.

What is needed is a systemic solution. The global financial community must come together to upgrade the apparatus for assessing debt sustainability and handling debt distress. The current international system for sovereign debt restructuring is widely seen as inadequate, being too slow, too fragmented, and too biased toward kicking the can down the road.

All too often, official lenders and institutions opt to extend new “bridge” loans to tide countries over, when in fact many low-income countries require outright debt write-offs to restore solvency. Procrastination through serial lending ultimately serves neither debtor nor creditor if a country’s debt is unsustainable.

Recent trends underscore the scale of the problem. The number of countries facing high debt levels has jumped dramatically, from 22 countries in 2011 to 59 countries in 2022. As of last count, 52 developing countries, nearly 40% of the developing world, are in serious debt trouble, meaning they either are already in default or face severe financial stress.

Yet progress on mechanisms such as the G20 Common Framework for debt treatment has been disappointingly slow, hampered by coordination problems among traditional creditors, newer lenders, and private bondholders.

To prevent a lost decade for development, the world needs a more streamlined and swifter process for restructuring unsustainable debts. This could involve tougher assessments to distinguish liquidity problems from true insolvency, and bolder action to write down debts that cannot reasonably be repaid without strangling a country’s future.

Returning to prudent debt levels

As the saying goes, when you find yourself in a hole, the first step is to stop digging. The world’s borrowing binge must come to an end. The era of extraordinarily low interest rates that once tempted many countries to live beyond their means is over.

Over the last five years, a series of unprecedented crises, both natural and man-made, made heavy borrowing unavoidable in some cases, as governments acted to cushion their people from harm. Now, however, a return to prudence is essential. Policymakers should re-embrace clear fiscal limits and revert to earlier norms of what constitutes excessive sovereign debt.

One sensible guideline is what Gill calls the “40-60 maximum,” roughly 40% of GDP as an upper debt limit for low-income countries, and 60% of GDP for high-income countries. Middle-income economies would fall somewhere in between those benchmarks.

While these ratios are not necessarily strict thresholds, they hark back to long-standing debt targets, for example, the 60% debt-to-GDP limit in the European Union’s fiscal rules, which were associated with greater stability. Adhering to such limits would give countries more fiscal space to handle shocks and invest in development, instead of constantly teetering on the edge of default.

The looming global debt disaster is not inevitable. It is a man-made crisis, and it can be solved with decisive action. Reining in debt and reigniting growth are difficult tasks, but the alternative is far worse. Without corrective measures, persistently high debt will continue to stall economic progress and heighten the risk of financial crises.

By contrast, a combination of debt relief, sound fiscal management, and growth-enhancing reforms can gradually defuse the debt bomb. The world has arrived at a critical juncture. Having deferred the costs of debt for years, governments and international institutions must now confront them.

The next generation’s prosperity depends on choices made today, on the willingness to restore fiscal discipline, revamp the global debt architecture, and unleash the productive potential of open markets and private enterprise.

The window to act is narrowing, but with clarity of purpose and collective resolve, a global debt disaster can be averted. The lesson of recent years is clear. We can no longer afford another decade of denial and delay on sovereign debt. The time to pay the piper, and to chart a sustainable path forward, is now.

The post Averting the global debt crisis appeared first on International Finance.

Founded to address Iraq’s fragmented and cash-dependent financial system, Qi has become the country’s largest issuer and acquirer of electronic payments. As of 2025, the company serves over 10 million customers and processes transactions valued at over 100 billion USD annually. With over 13 million active accounts and cards, Qi has contributed significantly to increasing Iraq’s banked population from around 5% in 2007 to over 40% today.

Qi’s efforts in advancing Iraq’s fintech sector have earned it recognition both nationally and internationally. In 2023, the company received two significant awards at the International Finance Awards: “Best Credit Solutions Provider – Iraq” and “Fastest Growing E-Payment App – Iraq.” These awards reflect Qi’s ongoing investment in product development, user experience, and technological innovation.

Mission And Vision

Qi’s mission centres on creating secure, simple, and accessible financial tools for every Iraqi citizen. The company envisions a future in which digital payments replace cash transactions, promoting transparency, efficiency, and convenience across all sectors of the economy. By providing inclusive financial solutions, Qi aims to empower individuals, support small businesses, and strengthen Iraq’s digital economy.

As it continues to expand, Qi remains committed to innovation and collaboration. Its focus on technological advancement, customer accessibility, and regulatory compliance has positioned it as one of the key players in Iraq’s journey toward a cashless society. Through partnerships, digital platforms, and financial literacy initiatives, Qi seeks to ensure that every Iraqi participates in the evolving digital landscape.

Services And Technology

Qi’s services are designed to provide secure and accessible digital financial solutions. The company utilises biometric authentication technologies to ensure the safe distribution of government salaries, pensions, and social security payments. Its infrastructure includes a nationwide network of over 43,000 point-of-sale (POS) terminals and approximately 500 enrolment centres, covering all provinces of Iraq.

The company’s “Super Qi” mobile application offers a digital-first platform for financial transactions. Through the app, users can send and receive money, pay bills, make e-commerce purchases, scan to pay merchants, and support charitable donations. The platform connects individuals, businesses, and government entities, enabling a unified digital ecosystem for financial activity.

Financial Inclusion And Consumer Services

Qi has launched various credit and microfinance solutions to enhance financial access and support economic development.

Its programmes, such as “Salfni,” “Aqsati,” and “Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL)” enable users to obtain short-term credit, pay in instalments, or finance purchases for education, small businesses, and household goods. These services are intended to help Iraqi citizens manage expenses, pursue personal goals, and participate more actively in the formal economy.

Partnerships And Collaborations

Qi collaborates closely with Iraqi government institutions, private sector organisations, and international partners to develop and deliver digital payment systems. The company’s partnerships include projects with the Ministry of Housing to facilitate loan repayments, the Ministry of Interior to digitise administrative processes, and pension funds to ensure secure and timely payments to over four million retirees. Qi also supports social welfare programmes that benefit more than 750,000 vulnerable citizens.

On the international level, Qi has partnered with global technology and financial companies such as MasterCard, Visa, Oracle, and Ernst & Young (EY). These tie-ups have enhanced Qi’s operational capabilities, enabling it to integrate global security standards, compliance, and innovation. Working under the regulatory framework of the Central Bank of Iraq, the company contributes to the country’s broader goals for digital transformation and financial inclusion.

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Under the GENIUS Act’s framework, stablecoin issuers must play by strict rules designed to safeguard users and the broader financial system.

Only regulated institutions can issue US dollar stablecoins. This means insured depository institutions (banks, credit unions, and their subsidiaries) or other non-bank firms that secure Federal Reserve approval and demonstrate compliance capabilities. In other words, no fly-by-night startups, because issuers must have serious oversight.

Every stablecoin must be backed 1:1 by high-quality liquid assets. Issuers are required to hold an equivalent dollar in reserve (cash, US Treasury bills, repurchase agreements, or other low-risk assets) for each token in circulation. They must also report their reserve holdings and undergo regular audits by accredited accounting firms, ensuring the promised peg isn’t a mere mirage.

All stablecoin issuers fall under “Bank Secrecy Act” obligations, meaning robust anti-money laundering (AML) and know-your-customer (KYC) programmes are mandatory. This brings stablecoins in line with traditional financial norms, aiming to prevent illicit use and bolster consumer protection.

Opening Door To A Digital Dollar Economy

The GENIUS Act’s passage marks a new era for stablecoins and the broader crypto sector. For the first time, there are clear federal guidelines acknowledging these digital dollars as legitimate financial instruments.

Stablecoins, which maintain a constant value (typically 1:1 with the dollar), have already exploded in use in recent years, primarily as grease in the wheels of crypto trading. Traders use them to hop in and out of volatile cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ether. Now, with official rules in place, stablecoins are poised to move from trading desks to everyday wallets.

Experts say this law “could pave the way for [stablecoins] to become an everyday way to make payments and move money” in the real economy. The allure is clear because transactions in stablecoins settle in seconds, 24/7, instead of days.

Sending money via traditional bank networks can take several business days, and even longer for international wires, but a stablecoin payment can zip across the world almost instantly, at any hour.

Fees can be pennies, not the hefty charges typical of cross-border bank transfers. For consumers and businesses, that means faster e-commerce checkouts, cheaper remittances to family overseas, and the ability to transfer funds without banking delays.

No wonder a slate of companies is now exploring how stablecoins might fit into their strategies. Imagine checking out online and opting to pay with a Walmart or Amazon stablecoin, an idea those retail giants have reportedly considered in recent months. Such a token could give customers a seamless digital payment method and potentially power loyalty rewards or other perks.

Walmart and Amazon, among others, see the promise of instant, low-cost payments to improve user experience, though neither has publicly detailed plans yet. On the corporate side, stablecoins could also revolutionise business treasury operations. A multinational could use stablecoins internally to shuffle funds between international subsidiaries in real time, avoiding slow correspondent banking networks. In sum, stablecoins offer the internet’s speed in finance, and the GENIUS Act provides the green light for companies to harness that.

A banner for Bullish, a crypto exchange operator, was displayed on the New York Stock Exchange floor during its IPO in August 2025. Bullish’s public debut amid new US crypto regulations highlights growing mainstream confidence in the sector.

The optimism extends to the broader crypto market as well. Bullish, a cryptocurrency exchange backed by investor Peter Thiel, made headlines by doubling in value in its NYSE debut this August, reaching a staggering USD 13.2 billion valuation. Its stock launch, one of the first major US listings of a crypto exchange, underscored rising investor confidence in the sector’s future under clearer regulations.

In fact, Bullish announced its plans to convert a significant chunk of its IPO proceeds into stablecoins, signalling just how bullish (no pun intended) it is on this segment of crypto. The company noted that stablecoin usage has boomed since the GENIUS Act was signed, thanks to the new regulatory regime for these dollar-pegged tokens.

To market watchers, moves like this suggest that Washington’s crypto-friendly shift, described by Reuters as “a string of regulatory wins under a pro-crypto White House,” is encouraging mainstream adoption and investment.

Even beyond Bullish, several US financial institutions (from exchange Gemini to asset manager Grayscale) are eyeing public listings, emboldened by the sense that the crypto industry is stepping out of legal limbo and into the regulated mainstream.

Perhaps the strongest sign of stablecoins’ coming of age is the lineup of heavyweight companies now preparing to launch their own dollar-backed coins. Reuters reported that “financial companies from Bank of America to Fiserv are preparing to launch their own dollar-backed crypto tokens” in the wake of the GENIUS Act.

This range spans traditional Wall Street titans (like Bank of America, the second-largest U.S. bank) to fintech service providers (Fiserv, a Fortune 500 payments and tech company), which shows that interest in stablecoins is broad-based across financial services.

Tricky Considerations

The GENIUS Act may open new doors for stablecoins, but experts warn that implementation involves “numerous tricky considerations” spanning strategy, compliance, and technology. Firms must first clarify purpose, which means deciding whether to issue customer-facing coins for loyalty and payments or internal tokens for cross-border settlements, since intended use shapes every decision.

Then comes the build-versus-partner dilemma, because launching an in-house stablecoin offers control and branding but requires massive technical, regulatory, and governance investment, while partnering with issuers like Circle provides speed and credibility. Compliance is another major hurdle, with non-bank firms needing to adopt bank-level KYC, AML, and reporting systems, while banks face capital treatment questions that could affect profitability.

Technology choices add complexity, as public blockchains like Ethereum offer scale and accessibility but less control, while private ledgers ensure governance but may lack resilience and interoperability.

In addition, regulatory uncertainty remains, as agencies like the OCC and Treasury must still draft detailed rules, meaning stablecoin adoption will phase in gradually. Companies face a long list of strategic, technical, and financial hurdles before the GENIUS Act’s promise can be fully realised.

The post The GENIUS Act: All you need to know about America’s first ‘Stablecoin Law’ appeared first on International Finance.

Growing accounting needs

The short-term rental industry has expanded rapidly over the past decade, fuelled by platforms like Airbnb, Vrbo, and Booking.com. What was once a niche market for vacation properties has become a mainstream investment strategy for individuals and institutional players. With this growth, financial technology (fintech) has become an integral part of how operators manage their businesses.

Historically, short-term rental owners relied on traditional banking services, manual spreadsheets, and delayed payouts from booking platforms. These processes often created inefficiencies and left operators vulnerable to liquidity challenges. Today, fintech companies are reshaping the landscape by providing tools that allow operators to manage cash flow with greater precision, transparency, and speed.

New technology and services have enabled short-term rental operators to professionalise their financial operations, from embedded payment systems to revenue management platforms and real-time data analytics. For finance professionals, this shift represents more than just operational convenience. It demonstrates how fintech can transform fragmented, consumer-driven markets into scalable business models with sophisticated financial infrastructure.

Common cash flow challenges

While short-term rentals can generate attractive returns, they are inherently volatile businesses. Operators face several recurring cash flow challenges that make financial management more complex than in traditional real estate.

Short-term rental operators face cash flow challenges due to seasonal demand shifts, delayed payouts from booking platforms, and high fixed costs like mortgages and maintenance. Irregular income paired with scheduled expenses creates liquidity issues. Regulatory requirements such as taxes and insurance add unpredictability, while reliance on a single platform heightens risk—any disruption can severely impact revenue. These factors combined make accurate forecasting and financial stability difficult to maintain.

Addressing cash flow issues

Modern fintech solutions are helping short-term rental operators manage unpredictable revenue and recurring expenses more effectively. Faster payout tools offer near-instant access to guest payments, reducing reliance on credit and improving cash flow for payroll and vendor payments. Revenue management platforms use machine learning to optimise pricing and forecast income, enabling better planning for debt and capital expenditures. Expense tracking software integrates with bank and property systems to automate bookkeeping and flag budget deviations, minimising financial blind spots as operators scale.

Additional innovations include embedded lending products that offer flexible repayment tied to projected bookings—ideal for seasonal markets. Automated tax and compliance platforms handle occupancy taxes and reporting, reducing the risk of unexpected liabilities. Holistic dashboards unify financial data across properties, giving operators and finance teams real-time visibility into performance. These tools empower operators to make smarter, faster decisions and maintain financial stability in a volatile industry.

To illustrate, consider a short-term rental operator managing 25 properties across three cities. Without utilising third-party resources, this operator must manually reconcile booking payouts, vendor invoices, and tax obligations—a process prone to delays and errors. With fintech, payments are deposited immediately, revenue projections update in real time, and credit facilities are automatically extended during off-peak months. This transforms financial management from reactive to strategic.

The short-term rental sector demonstrates how third-party financial solutions such as SaaS platforms and outsourced accounting services are becoming essential infrastructure for growth. By helping operators manage the industry’s inherent cash flow volatility, these tools provide the visibility, control, and agility needed to make smarter, faster decisions.

What was once a fragmented and unpredictable asset class is now becoming more financially disciplined and operationally scalable. As the sector matures, those who adopt purpose-built financial tools will be better positioned to mitigate risk, unlock efficiencies, and build sustainable, competitive businesses.

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