🌱 Binance has invested $100 million in Circle, buying Class A shares at a 5% discount with a lock-up of up to two years, and renewed its USDC partnership for another five years. Binance will promote USDC across its platform, especially in emerging markets, while Circle provides the infrastructure behind it.
🌱 Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds, NatWest, Nationwide and Santander have completed the first live interbank transactions using tokenised sterling deposits under the Great British Tokenised Deposit (GBTD) project, and Monzo has now joined too. The pilots covered remortgage completions and marketplace payments on Quant's infrastructure. They show that regulated bank money can move on programmable rails with the same protections as a regular account.
🌱 Amazon has blocked Meta's new personal AI agent Muse from shopping on Amazon.com, less than two weeks after launch, saying the agent accessed its store without authorisation. It's one of the first open clashes in agentic commerce, and a clear sign that platforms want a say in which agents can act on their customers' behalf.

Read the full stories:
Binance x Circle $100M investment https://www.cnbc.com/2026/09/22/circl...
UK banks' first tokenised deposit transactions https://fintech.garden/news/2026-09-2...
Amazon blocks Meta's Muse AI agent https://www.geekwire.com/2026/amazon-...

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Live from Money20/20 Middle East in Saudi Arabia, Dumitru Condrea and Igor Tomych bring you three stories shaping fintech in the region:

🌱 Barq, a Saudi digital bank, raises $330 million, pushing its valuation toward $1.85 billion — a striking number for a company founded just three years ago.
🌱 Tabby secures new funding at a $6.5 billion valuation, led by Blue Pool Capital, cementing its place as one of the biggest fintech players in Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
🌱 Saudi Arabia's fintech sector grows to 371 registered companies, with cashless transactions reportedly climbing from 75% in 2024 to 85% in 2025 — a sign of how fast digital payments are scaling in the region.
🌱 Plus: Vision Bank partners with Publicis Sapient on an AI-focused Innovation Hub covering design and payments innovation.

Read the full stories

Barq's $330M raise: https://www.wamda.com/index.php/en/2026/09/saudi-fintech-barq-closes-329-5-million-series-a
Tabby's $6.5B valuation: https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/gulf-fintech-tabby-clinches-65-billion-valuation-after-latest-funding-round-2026-09-14/
Saudi fintech sector hits 371 companies: https://www.arabnews.com/business/saudi-fintech-sector-grows-to-371-companies-as-digital-payments-expand-3001781
Vision Bank x Publicis Sapient partnership: https://www.publicissapient.com/company/news/vision-bank-innovation-hub-partnership

Book your discovery call with Fintech Core team today: https://dashdevs.com/fintech-core/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=qr&utm_campaign=fg_podcast

Want to become a guest? Need a consultation from DashDevs or Novafin? Please fill in the form here: https://fintech.garden/about-us/

Timestamps:

01:07 – Barq raises $330M, valuation nears $1.85B

03:21 – Tabby hits $6.5B valuation, BNPL regulation catching up

04:00 – Saudi fintech sector grows to 371 companies; cashless adoption climbs

05:54 – Vision Bank x Publicis Sapient AI Innovation Hub partnership

Follow us: https://fintech.garden
Check out DashDevs: https://dashdevs.com
Check out Novafin: https://www.novafin.co/

Connect with our hosts
Igor Tomych https://www.linkedin.com/in/igortomych/
Dumitru Condrea https://www.linkedin.com/in/dcondrea/

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This week on Weekly Harvest, Dumitru Condrea and Igor Tomych delve into three major shifts across fintech infrastructure and payments:

🌱 Nationwide has completed a three-year migration, moving 15 million customers off legacy systems and onto Microsoft Azure and Databricks, consolidating 19 separate data stores into one. Virgin Money's 5 million accounts are next in line for integration, and Microsoft has quietly rolled out over 1,000 Copilot licences across Nationwide's engineering teams as part of the build.
🌱 OpenPayd and MSB USA are merging ahead of a planned Nasdaq listing, in a deal reportedly valued above $1.5 billion. The move brings the two companies' operations under one roof as they prepare for a future public offering.
🌱 Visa and Revolut have carried out one of the first agentic payment transactions, using passkey-based authentication to let an AI agent complete a checkout in France. It's an early test, but a strong signal of how payments infrastructure may need to evolve as more transactions get handled by agents rather than people.

Read the full stories:
Nationwide's Azure migration https://fintech.garden/news/2026-09-10-nationwide-retires-45-year-old-core-system-and-moves-15-million-accounts-to-clou/
OpenPayd x MSB USA Nasdaq merger https://www.openpayd.com/announcements/openpayd-strengthens-position-in-the-us-market-through-the-acquisition-of-43-state-licences/
Visa x Revolut agentic payments https://fintech.garden/news/2026-09-09-revolut-and-visa-execute-frances-first-ai-agent-initiated-card-payment-using-pas/

Book your discovery call with Fintech Core team today: https://dashdevs.com/fintech-core/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=qr&utm_campaign=fg_podcast

Want to become a guest? Need a consultation from DashDevs or Novafin? Please fill in the form here: https://fintech.garden/about-us/

Timestamps:
00:33 – Nationwide's Azure/Databricks migration overview
02:50 – OpenPayd and MSB USA merge ahead of Nasdaq listing (estimated — falls mid-paragraph)
05:41 – Visa & Revolut complete first agentic payment transaction in France

Follow us: https://fintech.garden
Check out DashDevs: https://dashdevs.com
Check out Novafin: https://www.novafin.co/

Connect with our hosts
Igor Tomych https://www.linkedin.com/in/igortomych/
Dumitru Condrea https://www.linkedin.com/in/dcondrea/

Subscribe to our newsletter: https://fintech.garden

This week on Weekly Harvest, Dumitru Condrea and Igor Tomych delve into three significant fintech developments:

🌱 Mollie and GoCardless have merged in a deal reportedly valued at €1 billion. This merger brings together approximately 350,000 users across 30 markets. Koen Köppen will lead the combined entity, while Hiroki Takeuchi will continue to manage GoCardless under its own brand.

🌱 Allica Bank has applied for a Swedish banking licence, supported by a $155 million Series D round. This move follows the UK SME-focused challenger bank’s plans to expand into Scandinavia, the Netherlands and Ireland.

🌱 Advent and Stripe have withdrawn their $53 billion bid for PayPal, resulting in a significant drop in PayPal shares. This withdrawal raises questions about PayPal’s market position and the future of the payments landscape in the coming year.

📷And we’ll be at the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for Money20/20 Middle East 2026 in a couple of weeks. Stop by the Media Lounge and say hello.

📰 Read the full stories:
Mollie x GoCardless: https://www.mollie.com/news/mollie-and-gocardless
Allica Bank Swedish licence: https://fintech.garden/news/2026-08-31-allica-bank-files-for-swedish-licence-in-debut-european-push-with-netherlands-an/
Advent/Stripe drop PayPal bid: https://fintech.garden/news/2026-08-28-advent-and-stripe-abandon-53-billion-paypal-bid-shares-fall-16/

Want to become a guest? Need a consultation from DashDevs or Novafin? Please fill in the form here: https://fintech.garden/about-us/

00:11 Mollie and GoCardless announce a merger.
03:59 Allica Bank applies for a Swedish banking licence.
06:10 Advent and Stripe abandon their $53 billion PayPal acquisition bid.
08:38 Come say hi at Money20/20 Middle East

Follow us: https://fintech.garden
Check out DashDevs: https://dashdevs.com
Check out Novafin: https://www.novafin.co/

Connect with our hosts
Igor Tomych https://www.linkedin.com/in/igortomych/
Dumitru Condrea https://www.linkedin.com/in/dcondrea/

Subscribe to our newsletter: https://fintech.garden