Revolut Plans to Launch Banking Operations in Mexico in H2 2025
Weekly news up to Monday, 12th of May 2025
👀 NEWS HIGHLIGHT
Safaricom plans to launch savings and credit products in Ethiopia, hoping to boost earnings from M-PESA, its mobile money platform, which has struggled to gain traction nearly two years after launch.
Since its rollout in August 2023, M-PESA has yet to make a meaningful financial contribution to its Ethiopian operations, according to numbers shared by the telco during its earnings call on Friday. The service faces stiff competition from Ethio Telecom’s Telebirr, which had nearly 51.5 million subscribers as of February 2025.
📊 INFOGRAPHIC
NOW, ON TO THE SUMMARY OF LAST WEEK'S NEWS
🔦 DIGITAL BANKING HIGHLIGHTS
⭐️ DenizBank partners with Konsentus to enhance open banking operations.
⭐️ Swissquote Seeks to Shake Crypto Link Despite 1,500% Stock Rally.
⭐️ Major change to customers of 30 UK banks after new Post Office deal.
⭐️ Revolut expects to start operations as a bank in Mexico in the second half of 2025.
🌎 REGIONAL HIGHLIGHTS
UK 🇬🇧
Plum launches Lifetime ISA to help people save for their first home. This offers an interest rate of 4.61% AER (variable), including a 1-year bonus of 1% AER (variable), and the Government bonus of 25%. This allows savers to build up their funds more quickly to give them the best chance of reaching their goals.
Ant International partners with Barclays on treasury management with an AI-powered FX model. By integrating the time series forecasting algorithms, the TST Model predicts patterns over time. Ant also created new pre-training and Supervised Fine-Tuning (SFT) frameworks to train the model and improve its predictions over time.
Revolut will roll out Bitcoin Lightning Payments for users in the U.K. and select European countries through Lightspark. The integration aims to reduce transaction fees and payment processing time by using Lightspark's infrastructure for global payments.
Allica Bank completes £5.85 million bridging facility and celebrates record month for bridging finance. The facility, introduced by Arc & Co, was secured against an office building in Marylebone. Together, they have proven how a strong broker-bank relationship can support smooth execution.
EUROPE 🇪🇺
Finom, a challenger bank aimed at SMBs, lands $105M in growth funding from General Catalyst. The capital infusion “will be used exclusively and only for growth” and not for operational expenses or product development, Kos Stiskin, Finom’s Chairman and Co-Founder, said.
Kard partners with Snowdrop for improved transaction clarity. By integrating Snowdrop’s technology, Kard now transforms raw transaction data into clear, secure, easy-to-understand insights. This collaboration focuses on clarifying merchant names and removing confusing or incomplete details to enhance the user experience.
XData Group to go public on Nasdaq via blank check merger. XData Group CEO described the deal with Alpha Star as the next step in the company’s journey, adding that going public will provide the necessary resources to accelerate the development of new products and foster new industry partnerships.
Digital bank N26 launches mobile plans in Germany. Called N26 SIM, the digitally-activated mobile plans will be run off the back of Vodafone Germany’s 5G network, and will operate via eSIM as opposed to a physical SIM card. Plans can be activated directly in the N26 app quickly, without paperwork, and without the need to visit a local telco store.
USA 🇺🇸
BankThink: The future of finance is inclusion, or it's no future at all. Strong economic growth and future prosperity hinge on the ability of everyone in society to access financial services, writes Thomas Warsop, of ACI Worldwide. Keep reading
Santander to shut 18 U.S. branches as it boosts digital bank. It plans to close about 4.5% of its U.S. branch network this summer, with all of the shutdowns slated to affect locations in the Northeast. The U.S. closures come as Santander pursues a nationwide digital banking strategy in the U.S.
US banks can handle customer crypto assets held in custody. The US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) has confirmed banks under its jurisdiction can trade crypto on behalf of customers and outsource some crypto activities to third parties.
Green Dot attracts private equity interest despite sluggish deal climate. However, the prospective sale has been complicated because Green Dot owns a bank, while federal law prohibits PE firms from owning more than 24.9% of a bank. As a result, Green Dot could be sold in parts.
FinTech Firm Chime signs 84K-SF lease at 122 Fifth Avenue. San Francisco-based Chime signed an 84,000-square-foot lease for space in the property five blocks south of the Flatiron Building, where it will move its New York City offices from 101 Greenwich Street.
LATAM
Nubank launches NFC Pix for Android mobile phones. Users must link their Pix key to the Google Pay wallet and perform an initial transaction by inserting the card and entering the PIN; subsequent payments can be made by proximity. This enhancement aims to streamline in-person transactions, offering a faster and more convenient payment experience.
Nubank expands benefits for Nubank+ customers. New options have been incorporated into the benefits package, including a new way to boost returns, exclusive rates on credit lines, and the elimination of the monthly fee for the toll and parking tag. These new features will be gradually made available to customers.
Panama's Mercantil Banco taps Galileo for digital banking platform, to revamp its digital banking infrastructure with the Cyberbank Digital platform. These features will enable Mercantil to offer personalised, mobile-ready services that improve customer satisfaction and streamline operations.
ASIA
Pakistan’s Bank Alfalah acquires nearly 10 percent stake in UAE FinTech Jingle Pay. The partnership draws on Bank Alfalah’s extensive infrastructure to boost Jingle Pay’s role in cross-border payments and digital banking, supporting its bold vision for the MENAP region, including the Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan, and Pakistan.
KakaoBank’s operating profit up 23% to $131.09m in Q1 2025. This is also 59% higher than the $82.42m (KRW115b) operating profit that the South Korean digital bank reported for Q4 2024. Keep reading
Yondr Money partners with Mastercard to supercharge its embedded finance solution, Kobble. This strategic collaboration enables Yondr to create Mastercard prepaid and debit products through its platform, providing businesses with the ability to launch embedded financial solutions in weeks rather than years.
Sea injects additional S$78 million into MariBank. The new funds will support the expansion of MariBank digital banking services, enhance operational capabilities, and help the company better serve customers in a competitive market. Read more