Author: Digital Trade Outlook

Rezolve AI has signed a Revolut agreement through Reward, creating a new channel for merchant-funded rewards. Campaign markets, merchants and launch dates will be agreed separately.

PhotonPay has secured UK FCA EMI authorization, strengthening its local foundation for international payments, accounts and treasury services.

Jack Henry plans to integrate Google Cloud Universal Ledger, giving banks and credit unions access to tokenized deposits and programmable settlement.

Spain processed over 17,000 international instant transfers in H1 2026 as Swift and Iberpay connect domestic and cross-border payment networks.

Fuze Finance has selected Modern Treasury for named US dollar accounts, domestic payment rails and stablecoin orchestration across more than 100 countries.

Image: Mastercard, from its original announcement.Mastercard has announced Stablecoin Security, an API-based risk intelligence service combining payment data with blockchain analytics. Unveiled at Money20/20 USA on October 19, it launches first in North America, with worldwide commercial availability expected in 2027.The service assesses transaction context, funding origins, restricted-party exposure and scam indicators, including before funds move on-chain. It provides a pre-completion risk score and integrates with existing fraud, compliance and case-management systems.Initial partners are Borderless.xyz and Keyrails. Borderless connects institutions to licensed providers across more than 113 countries and 72 currencies; Keyrails supports high-value cross-border trade payments, particularly in emerging…

Visa, BILL and Billtrust have launched a live pilot allowing authorized AI agents to complete approved invoice payments through supplier portals. Announced on October 20, the pilot is already processing transactions between participating BILL buyers and Billtrust suppliers.The BILL Payment Agent registers through Visa’s Trusted Agent Protocol and Agentic Directory. It uses tokenized payment credentials and controls linked to the buyer’s approved instructions to automate card payments. Billtrust authenticates the agent and grants access without an additional agent login, while preserving suppliers’ payment acceptance policies.The agent executes eligible payments already approved by the buyer; it does not make payment decisions…

Finastra has launched Repair Recommendations, a new AI powered capability within its AI OperatorAssist, aimed at helping banks fix payment exceptions faster as volumes grow. The company announced the feature at Sibos 2026 in Miami.The cloud native feature identifies payment discrepancies, analyses the underlying causes and offers recommended corrections that are checked against the rules of payment schemes and networks, including Swift, Fedwire, SEPA, UPI and Nexus. It is meant for the teams that handle payment exceptions day to day, including wire room operators, exception and repair specialists and technical support staff, and Finastra says it will cut the time…

The International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, and SMBC have announced a $500 million supply chain finance facility to widen access to affordable working capital for small and medium sized businesses in emerging markets. Under the facility, credit is based on the financial strength of large buyers and not on the suppliers themselves, so smaller businesses can receive early payment on invoices at rates they could not reach alone. The first anchor buyer is a large food manufacturer in Latin America, and the model is built to take on more buyers across sectors and markets.…

Absa Group has selected cross border payments network Thunes as a strategic Multicurrency Clearing partner for the Group, building on the two companies’ recent launch of Absa Global Pay in South Africa. The announcement was made from Johannesburg and Singapore last week. Under the arrangement, Absa’s pan African banking footprint will be linked directly to Thunes’ Direct Global Network, which spans more than 140 countries, 90 currencies and 220 payment methods. The two companies said this will allow payouts beyond bank accounts to mobile wallets and card rails, backed by 24/7 liquidity and enterprise grade compliance. Executives from both organisations…