Hello Fintech Friends,

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We're working with the Financial Technology Association and Revolut on their Money20/20 fintech happy hour. Join policy and industry leaders for this event on Monday, October 27, from 5-7 pm at Canaletto in The Venetian:

FTA-Revolut Happy Hour @ Money20/20 · Luma

Are you heading to Money20/20 in Las Vegas next month? Join FTA, Revolut, and This Week in Fintech for a happy hour celebrating the fintech industry and…

Financial Technology Association

Interestingly, Citi released a report this week predicting that bank tokens ($100–140T flows) will be a larger market than stablecoins (~$100T flows) by 2030. Do you agree?

#futureofmoney #citigps #tokenization #citigps | Ronit Ghose

🧐 Bank tokens > Stablecoins? 🏦⚡ Citi GPS: https://lnkd.in/dwG8DP4a Trusted. Regulated. Always-on. #FutureOfMoney #CitiGPS Bank tokens (tokenized deposits, deposit tokens, hybrids) may win the trust of corporates and regulators. • Bank-issued ✅ • Regulated ✅ • Programmable ✅ Future money = multi-rail, multi-token. By 2030: 💵 Stablecoins = ~$100T flows 🏦 Bank tokens = $100–140T flows 💶 Europe, China etc want CBDCs 👉 The future isn’t winner-takes-all. #Tokenization #CitiGPS Ryan Rugg David Cunningham Biser Dimitrov Artem Korenyuk Biswarup Chatterjee Ron Chakravarti Sophia Bantanidis Kaiwan Master Ronak Shah Alex Miller Anuj Gangahar Esther Spaarwater Mike Steele Liz Oliveri Rakhee Mehta Natalia Balbaev Jennifer Sariano Angela Culver-Gleason Susannah Gullette

LinkedInRonit Ghose

Please find another week of fintech exits and deep reads below.

Have feedback for us? Let us know. Find me at @nikmilanovic, @twifintech, and @ndm

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Reads of the Week

Africa can lead with its own local-currency stablecoins

Rapid advances in the digital tokens present an opportunity for the continent.

Semafor LogoGwera Kiwana

Exits

IPOs & SPACs

• Commercial Bancgroup, a U.S. regional bank, is seeking to raise up to $104 million in a rare U.S. bank IPO to fuel its growth and expand capital base.
• PhonePe, a digital payments and financial services platform in India, filed confidential IPO papers with SEBI, aiming for a listing by mid-2026 with valuation hopes of $15 billion.
• Navan, a corporate travel, payments, and expense management platform, filed a registration statement for an IPO, revealing a ~30% revenue surge in the process.
• Ebury, a fintech providing cross-border payments and financial services, resurrected plans for an IPO in London, targeting a $2 billion valuation.
• Andersen Group, a tax, legal and consulting services firm descended from Arthur Andersen, filed for an IPO after reporting a 12.4% revenue increase in the first half of 2025.
• BitGo, a crypto custody and digital asset services firm, plans to go public via a listing to expand its institutional crypto services.

M&A - Fintech

• International Personal Finance, a UK consumer lender, accepted a $693 million enhanced takeover bid from Basepoint, a U.S. specialty finance firm.
• Morningstar, a global financial services and investment research provider, agreed to acquire CRSP (Center for Research in Security Prices), a market index and historical data provider, for $375 million to strengthen its global index business.
• SkySparc, a provider of treasury and finance solutions, secured a majority growth investment from Bregal Milestone to accelerate its AI-powered finance transformation.
• Naver, a South Korean tech conglomerate, acquired Dunamu, operator of the Upbit crypto exchange, via a stock swap to integrate payments, digital assets, and pursue a won-pegged stablecoin initiative.
• FIS, a global fintech and payments provider, bought Amount, a digital account origination and decisioning technology firm, to strengthen its end-to-end banking platform.
• Pivotal Growth, a mortgage and protection brokerage consolidator, acquired Believe Money Group, a UK tech-driven mortgage broker, to expand its scale in UK mortgage markets.
• Solifi, a secured finance software provider, acquired DataScan, a wholesale finance and inventory risk management specialist, to enhance its technology platform.

M&A - Banks and Financial Institutions

• Citigroup, a global banking and financial services company, sold a 25% stake in Grupo Financiero Banamex for $2.3 billion to a company owned by Mexican billionaire Fernando Chico Pardo.
• BBVA, a Spanish banking group, sweetened its hostile all-share takeover bid for Banco Sabadell, valuing the deal at $20 billion, to try to become Europe’s third-largest bank.
• Bank of Montreal (BMO), a Canadian bank offering retail and commercial banking, explored the sale of a cluster of U.S. branches holding about $6 billion in deposits.
• NatWest, a UK bank offering retail, commercial and wealth services, is looking to sell its 85% stake in Cushon, a workplace pensions and savings fintech.