Hey Fintech'ers 👋

📰 Fintecher Stories – July 6th, 2025 has landed — your late Sunday fintech fix, right on time for the end-of-weekend scroll. 🌇📱

Whether you're clearing the inbox, side-eyeing Monday, or just unwinding with one last espresso — we've got you covered. This edition dives into Orion & iCapital’s advisor-first alt-investing integration, UK–Singapore’s AI-in-finance pact, Middesk’s smarter KYB push, Qonto’s banking ambitions, and Stripe’s Pay-by-Bank expansion into Europe.

It’s been a quietly significant week — and we’ve distilled it down to what actually matters. So take five, catch up, and start your week sharper than most. 🚀

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Delving into the leading 5 fintech stories of the week:

🗞️ Story 1: "Orion & iCapital integrate to streamline advisor access to alternative investments" 💼🔗

🗞️ Story 2: "UK & Singapore form cross-border alliance on AI in financial services" 🤝🤖

🗞️ Story 3: "Middesk modernises KYB to turn compliance into an edge." 🕵️💡

🗞️ Story 4: "Qonto hits 600K SMBs and files for full banking licence in France" 🇫🇷🏦

🗞️ Story 5: "Stripe rolls out Pay-by-Bank in France and Germany to boost A2A payments" 💳📲

🗞 Story #1

Orion Advisor Technology and iCapital have deepened their integration to provide independent financial advisors with seamless access to alternative investments. The unified platform now includes single sign-on, streamlined workflows, education tools, and a broader investment catalog across private equity, hedge funds, real estate, and more. This partnership meets growing client demand for portfolio diversification beyond public markets. Advisors benefit from a front-to-back solution that reduces friction, enabling more time for strategic portfolio construction. It also levels the playing field by offering access to institutional-grade investment vehicles without the traditionally high minimums or operational complexity.

💡 Why It Matters: This integration isn't just operational plumbing—it's a front door to the next chapter of wealth management. Alternatives have long been the preserve of institutions and ultra-high-net-worth clients. Now, we’re watching those walls come down. For independent advisors, that means more tools to compete and serve clients holistically. For the industry, it’s a signal that tech is finally catching up with product innovation. As access gets embedded into advisor platforms, expect more demand from retail and more pressure on incumbents to deliver seamless, intelligent alternatives infrastructure.

📰 Read full story here

🗞 Story #2

The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority and Singapore’s MAS have formalised a bilateral alliance, dubbed Project Guardian, to promote AI and tokenisation in financial services. Hosted as part of the 10th UK‑SG Financial Dialogue in London, the agreement includes joint pilots in AI‑driven fraud detection, risk analytics, and regulatory technology, alongside initiatives for scalable tokenised assets. The collaboration aims to create cross‑border interoperability, regulatory alignment, and shared innovation frameworks in the world’s two most AI‑forward finance markets.

💡 Why It Matters: AI in finance is inevitable—but responsible innovation isn’t. This alliance shows how regulators can shape future markets without stifling them. By piloting real-world use cases, like fraud analytics and tokenised asset rails, both countries are building infrastructure that’s scalable and compliant. This also sends a strong message globally: AI regulation doesn’t have to lag behind AI deployment. It can lead. Expect others to follow suit with tech-driven regulatory frameworks, especially as tokenisation and embedded AI move from hype to live market infrastructure.

📰 Read full story here

🗞 Story #3

Middesk has rolled out an upgraded Know-Your-Business (KYB) platform aimed at simplifying business verification for banks, fintechs, and enterprise clients. The solution automates entity onboarding, UBO (ultimate beneficial ownership) checks, document validation, and ongoing monitoring through API integrations and verified data sources. Designed for embedded finance and B2B use cases, Middesk eliminates friction in compliance-heavy workflows, helping firms onboard new partners faster while reducing regulatory risk.

💡 Why It Matters: KYB is no longer just a checkbox for compliance—it’s a key driver of onboarding speed, customer experience, and business scalability. As embedded finance and B2B platforms multiply, the institutions that can verify businesses faster—and more accurately—will win. Middesk’s approach shows that compliance tech doesn’t have to be a drag on growth. It can become a value-add layer that enables more intelligent, real-time decision-making. For fintechs operating in multi-regulated environments, modular KYB tools like this are quickly becoming essential infrastructure.

📰 Read full story here

Story #4

French fintech Qonto has surpassed 600,000 small business customers and submitted its application for a full banking licence from French regulator ACPR. Currently a licensed payment institution, Qonto aims to transition into a full-stack digital bank, unlocking services such as lending, savings, and investment products. The licence would reduce reliance on third-party partners and improve margins. Already operating in multiple EU markets, this move strengthens its growth trajectory. By expanding its regulatory scope, Qonto is not just scaling—it’s reshaping the profile of Europe’s fintech challengers to resemble full-service banks purpose-built for SMBs.

💡 Why It Matters: This marks the next wave of European fintech: scale-up challengers turning into full-stack digital banks. Gaining a banking licence isn’t just symbolic—it means deeper product control, better economics, and stronger regulatory footing. For SMB clients underserved by traditional players, Qonto’s shift is especially important. It shows how verticalised fintechs (in this case, business banking) can evolve into ecosystem players. Expect more payment institutions to pursue this route, particularly as EU open banking infrastructure matures and embedded financial services move in-house.

📰 Read full story here

🗞 Story #5

Stripe, leveraging TrueLayer’s infrastructure, has expanded its Pay-by-Bank solution to France and Germany after early success in the UK. The product allows consumers to make direct account-to-account payments using open banking authentication, removing the need for cards and reducing transaction costs. Merchants benefit from faster settlement times and improved conversion rates, while banks gain increased visibility into transactional flows. With open banking adoption accelerating in the EU, Stripe’s move strengthens its European payments offering and positions it to lead the embedded finance evolution. It's a nod to where digital payments and bank connectivity are converging next.

💡 Why It Matters: Open banking is no longer just a regulation—it’s a revenue stream. Stripe’s expansion reinforces the strategic shift toward bank-native payment rails across Europe. For merchants, Pay-by-Bank delivers speed and savings. For banks, it offers relevance in a world where card networks and wallets dominate. As the user experience gets smoother, we could see a tipping point: mainstream adoption of direct-from-bank payments. Stripe’s play here isn’t just product rollout—it’s positioning for the next-gen payments infrastructure battle.

📰 Read full story here

And that's a wrap fintech'ers, till next week. 🎬👋

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Disclaimers: (1) Please be aware that the opinions I express in this newsletter are my own and do not represent the viewpoints of any organisation I am associated with. (2) This newsletter is intended solely for educational purposes, and none of its content should be interpreted as any form of investment or financial guidance.

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