The European Central Bank (ECB) has launched a new service that connects its payment system to blockchain-based financial markets, and announced it will invest a portion of its own funds in digital securities. The service, called Pontes, officially went live on September 21, 2026. The move is seen as part of broader efforts by central banks to adapt to the growing use of blockchain in the financial world.

How Does Pontes Work?
Pontes allows banks and investors to settle their blockchain-based transactions in ECB-backed euros, rather than in stablecoins or other private forms of money. The system connects market-operated distributed ledger technology (DLT) platforms to the Eurosystem’s existing TARGET infrastructure, meaning that securities transactions do not all need to be migrated to a single blockchain network. The platform will initially operate on business days between 08:00 and 16:00 Central European Time, with plans to expand its hours over time. The ECB stated that the technology has the potential to make transactions faster and more efficient by consolidating multiple steps in an asset’s lifecycle and enabling automation.

Deutsche Bank and Santander Among Early Users
The ECB announced that the initial group of users includes institutions such as Deutsche Bank, Santander, and clearing giant Clearstream, all of which have completed the integration process and can use Pontes from day one. The legal settlement finality on the cash side of the system remains tied to the Eurosystem’s TARGET2 infrastructure during the launch phase.

ECB to Also Invest in Tokenized Securities
The central bank also announced that it will invest a small portion of its €23 billion in own funds into blockchain-based securities. The investments are planned to focus on high-rated, euro-denominated debt instruments issued by public sector entities.

Binance has introduced bStocks for eligible users in the UAE, expanding its platform beyond digital assets to include tokenized exposure to selected US equities and ETFs.

Issued by BTech Holdings Limited, a Binance group affiliate, bStocks are tokenized securities designed to track the price of corresponding US stocks held with a regulated custodian. They do not represent direct ownership of the underlying shares.

At launch, available bStocks cover tokenized exposure to Circle Internet Group, Micron Technology, NVIDIA, Sandisk, and Tesla, with additional products expected to follow subject to regulatory approvals. Users can trade from as little as $5, with 24/7 trading available outside traditional market hours, self-custody options, transfers to compatible BNB Chain wallets, and on-chain utility across compatible blockchain applications.

Tarik Erk, Binance’s Head of MENAT, said the launch marks another step toward the company’s vision of building a financial super app that brings traditional finance and blockchain-based financial services together under one platform.

Binance noted that while bStocks are designed to track their underlying assets, they are not guaranteed to reflect real-time market prices at all times, and trading outside traditional market hours carries additional risks.

Egyptian payments company Paymob has raised $35 million in a pre-Series C funding round co-led by Abu Dhabi sovereign investor Mubadala and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). British International Investment, Global Ventures, and DPI Ventures also participated in the round.

The new funding brings Paymob’s total disclosed financing to more than $125 million and adds Mubadala to a shareholder base that already includes PayPal Ventures, Kora Capital, Clay Point, FMO, A15, and Global Ventures. The capital will be used to expand across MENA and develop new products for small businesses, including tools aimed at AI-powered commerce.

The raise comes as Paymob’s revenue mix undergoes a significant shift. Consolidated revenue has tripled over the past 18 months, while GCC revenue has grown sevenfold over the same period and now accounts for close to half of the group total — a marked change from 2024, when Egypt was still described as the company’s profitable core market.

Founded in Cairo in 2015 by Islam Shawky, Alain El Hajj, and Mostafa Menessy, Paymob has since expanded into the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Oman. Its GCC growth accelerated after entering the UAE in 2023 and obtaining a Retail Payment Services licence from the Central Bank of the UAE in January 2025. The company now serves more than 390,000 merchants across MENA, offering access to more than 60 payment methods through a single integration.

Mubadala is investing through its MENA Venture Capital Fund, citing Paymob’s UAE business and broader GCC growth as key rationale for the investment. The company also said it wants its payments infrastructure to support “agentic commerce,” where AI agents can discover products and initiate purchases on behalf of consumers.

The European Union’s personal data regulatory authority has fined Google €403 million for processing users’ location data in violation of EU rules.

Ireland’s Data Protection Commission (DPC), which serves as the authority responsible for personal data protection in the EU, has published its final decision in its investigation into Google Ireland Limited.

The fine, covering the period from May 25, 2018 to February 4, 2020, was issued following complaints from various European consumer rights organizations. Google was penalized for its failure to demonstrate the lawfulness and fairness of location data processing in “web app activity” and “location history,” its failure to comply with the principles of lawfulness, fairness, and transparency regarding the processing of personal data in “location accuracy,” and its transparency obligations across all three of these features.

The Irish DPC has ordered Google to bring its data processing activities into compliance with the law within six months.

As Google’s European headquarters is based in Ireland, the Irish DPC serves as the company’s lead supervisory authority for personal data processing activities across the EU.

Saudi Arabia has withdrawn from mBridge, the cross-border central bank digital currency (CBDC) platform led by China, according to a Financial Times report.

The project was launched in 2021 as a collaboration between the central banks of China, Hong Kong, Thailand, and the United Arab Emirates, with Saudi Arabia subsequently joining as a full participant. The platform uses blockchain technology to enable direct local currency transactions between participating central banks, reducing international payment costs and decreasing reliance on the US dollar.

The Bank for International Settlements, which had served as coordinator of the project, previously withdrew from mBridge as well.

Saudi Arabia’s exit marks a significant development for a platform that had been seen as one of the most advanced cross-border CBDC initiatives globally. Analysts have argued that the global payments ecosystem is gradually evolving from a structure heavily centered on SWIFT toward a landscape of multiple interoperable and competing payment networks — a trajectory that mBridge had been positioned to accelerate.

Bottomline has launched Global Pay Connect, a SaaS payment connectivity platform, and partnered with Chainlink on blockchain access. According to Bottomline research cited in the announcement, 40% of chief financial officers identify outdated infrastructure as the main barrier to adopting real-time payments, while only 28% describe their institution’s SaaS adoption as modern, API-enabled, and end-to-end. The company frames Global Pay Connect as a response to pressures on financial institutions to support real-time payments, ISO 20022 compliance, and cross-border transparency, alongside the emergence of new payment models.

The platform is designed to unify global and domestic payment connectivity across networks, including Swift, SEPA, SIC, Bacs, CHAPS, CHIPS, Lynx, and EBICS, as well as host-to-host connections. Bottomline describes four core areas of functionality: connectivity across these networks, modernisation through ISO 20022 transformation, payment data enrichment, and Message Vault capabilities, intelligence via real-time visibility into payment activity supported by AI-enabled insights, and control through operational resilience, compliance, and fraud prevention within a single platform.

Blockchain interoperability through Chainlink

Alongside the platform launch, Bottomline has entered into a Strategic Collaboration Agreement with Chainlink, a blockchain ecosystem infrastructure provider. The agreement is described as a milestone for Bottomline’s Blockchain and Digital Assets strategy. Global Pay Connect is set to enable interoperability through Chainlink, connecting banks to multiple blockchain networks through a single, network-agnostic integration model that uses institutions’ existing Bottomline connectivity.

Vitus Rotzer, Global Head of Banking GTM, Bottomline, said the shift in industry needs has moved from simple network connectivity towards infrastructure that can adapt to real-time payments, API-enabled services, and evolving payment models, adding that Global Pay Connect is intended to act as a bridge between current infrastructure requirements and future payment ecosystem developments, including digital assets and tokenisation.

Johann Eid, Chief Business Officer at Chainlink Labs, described Bottomline as a top-three Swift service provider serving large financial institutions, and said the collaboration is intended to let institutions use their existing infrastructure to access onchain payment rails through a single connection.

UK-based fintech Quartz has raised EUR 3.2 million in pre-seed funding, led by Daphni, and launched its AI-based personal finance platform in the UK. Quartz was founded in 2025 by André Silva, formerly head of global expansion at Revolut, and Mateus Mesquita Alves, previously an investment product lead at N26. The company is developing a platform designed to give users a consolidated perspective of their finances alongside personalised counselling, delivered through an AI assistant called Charlie.

Positioning between wealth management and standardised products

Quartz has stated that it aims to address a gap between traditional wealth management services, which offer individualised advice but at a higher cost, and mainstream financial products, which tend to be more standardised and offer limited personal guidance. The company’s approach combines account aggregation with automated, personalised insights intended to make tailored financial guidance accessible to a broader user base rather than a smaller segment able to afford conventional advisory services.

Quartz is registered with the FCA as an Account Information Service Provider. Through proprietary connectors, the platform allows users to bring together financial products, including pensions, ISAs, savings accounts, and investments within a single application, providing a consolidated view of holdings that would otherwise sit across separate providers.

The platform includes an AI-based assistant, which draws on a user’s financial data together with market developments to generate personalised insights and surface information relevant to an individual’s holdings. Individuals can query the assistant directly about their finances and investments, positioning the tool as an interactive layer on top of the aggregated account data rather than a static dashboard.

According to the company, small variations in financial decision-making can compound over time into materially different outcomes, which Quartz has cited as the rationale for making this type of guidance option more broadly available.

Ant International and the Saudi Central Bank have agreed to launch cross-border QR payments linking Alipay+ and mada during 2026.

The Saudi Central Bank (SAMA) and Ant International will connect the Kingdom’s national payment scheme, mada, with Alipay+, Ant International’s global wallet gateway, to enable cross-border QR code payments. The initiative, scheduled for 2026, is intended to support digitisation and extend payment access to local merchants, including small and medium-sized enterprises.

Cross-border acceptance for local merchants

Under the arrangement, merchants operating in Saudi Arabia will be able to accept QR code payments from international users connected to Alipay+. Alipay+ links more than 1.7 billion user accounts across 36 partners to more than 100 million merchants across 70 markets. Saudi Arabia joins a group of markets where Alipay+ is integrated with national payment schemes, alongside Singapore, Malaysia, South Korea, Cambodia, Nepal, and Sri Lanka.

Ant International president Douglas Feagin said the agreement was designed to build on SAMA’s digital infrastructure and to support Saudi Arabia’s positioning as a tourism destination. He added that the collaboration was intended to create opportunities for local businesses while offering a more consistent payment experience for international visitors.

In addition, the initiative is linked to Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 programme, introduced in 2016, which sets out plans to diversify the country’s economy and expand its tourism sector. The programme includes a target of 70% non-cash transactions by 2030, alongside a goal of attracting 150 million visitors annually. In 2024, Saudi Arabia recorded more than 100 million domestic and international tourists, reaching this milestone ahead of schedule, and ranked first globally in tourism revenue growth that year.

Feagin said the agreement reflected Ant International’s continued commitment to Saudi Arabia and its plans to support the growth of QR-based payments in the local market.

The World Bank on Thursday said it attracted $112 billion in private capital in the year ended June versus $69 billion a year earlier, and more than triple the amount ​in fiscal 2022 before former Mastercard (MA.N), opens new tab CEO Ajay Banga became president.

The bank said the record figure committed for projects it facilitates is in addition ‌to the $123 billion from its own resources for that year, for a combined $235 billion. It is working to standardize and package loans to appeal to institutional investors such as pension funds, insurance companies and asset managers like BlackRock (BLK.N), opens new tab, with the aim of more than doubling private capital to over $200 billion within two to three years, Banga said in an interview.

“That’s where the large pools of money are, and they ​don’t come for individual projects,” he said, noting that BlackRock founder Larry Fink urged him several years ago to build an asset class that could tap ​larger funds present in the private sector.

Banga has made attracting private capital a priority given the vast financial needs facing developing countries ⁠to pay for energy transition, education, healthcare and agriculture at a time when official development assistance is dropping. “There aren’t trillions in the system with governments or us, or ​even philanthropy. So what you need to do is to find a way to get private capital, of which there is plenty, which is looking for good investment opportunities and ​a good return,” Banga said.

The size of the market for managed institutional capital is more than $280 trillion, of which just 5% to 8% historically goes to developing economies, according to data from the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero, Boston Consulting Group and British International Investment.

Private firms have shied away from large investments in developing countries given regulatory uncertainty, political risk and challenges with local currencies.

Banga convened ​a Private Sector Investment Lab after becoming bank president in June 2023, tapping experts including Fink to brainstorm ways to tackle those concerns, and has taken steps across the ​bank and its subsidiaries to address them.