Fintech’s international expansion plans are being thwarted by a fragmented regulatory landscape, according to recently published research designed to promote the role of international finance centres (IFCs).

Equity derivatives clearing organisation OCC has selected Axoni to help it replace its securities lending infrastructure with distributed ledger technology.

Wealth management platform FNZ has acquired German credit institution Fondsdepot Bank.

Day two of Singapore Fintech Festival kicked off with Ravi Menon, managing director of the Monetary Authority of Singapore on the global plenary stage highlighting that innovation and digitalisation of financial services has marched on, gathered pace, and has become more pervasive.

The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority is to set up a ‘Supercharged Sandbox’ to help firms experiment with innovative AI applications.

New challenger SilverRock Bank has been granted banking authorisation with restrictions by the Prudential Regulation Authority following the completion of a £50m funding round.

Manchester fintech Frost has raised £1.87 million from a crowdfunding campaign on Seedrs.

Stablecoin-based cross-border payments platform Conduit has raised $36 million in a Series A funding round co-led by Dragonfly and Altos Ventures.

Diem, a London startup that combines traditional banking functionality with a service that lets customers sell their unwanted items to the firm, has raised $5.5 million in a seed funding round led by Fasanara Capital.

A wholesale CBDC could successfully work with private stablecoins, shows research from the Hong Kong Monetary Authority and BIS Innovation Hub.

Work on the digital euro is gaining momentum, with a launch possible by the middle of 2029, according to European Central Bank Executive Board member Piero Cipollone.

UK bank Barlcays is set to expand its presence in the US consumker banking market after agreeing a deaL to purchase US-based personal lending fintech BestEgg for $800m.

Octopus Ventures is reportedly preparing to take over the Fintech Growth Fund, a new funding vehicle for providing growth-stage capital to UK fintechs.

Google Cloud has launched a service, built on top of technology developed by Banco Santander, to help companies migrate from legacy mainframe systems to the cloud.

Westpac has teamed up with venture technology accelerator BlueChilli to challenge Australia’s startups to develop ways to help the bank’s business customers.