The Future Of FinTech Looks A Lot Like Banking
Hey Digital Banking Fanatic!
The biggest trend in FinTech right now?
Everyone wants to become a bank.
Circle recently secured approval to establish a US national trust bank. Earlier this year, Revolut applied for a US national bank charter. And just over a week ago, Klarna joined the race by filing for a US banking license.
That makes this the perfect moment to compare two of Europe's biggest FinTech success stories.
Revolut and Klarna started from similar roots in payments, built their brands by challenging traditional banks, and once argued they didn't need to become banks themselves. Today, they've completely reversed course.
After I shared my comparison of their 2025 financial results on LinkedIn, Tomas Pristac left a comment that perfectly captured the irony:
"The irony writes itself. Klarna spent a decade telling merchants and regulators it was 'not a bank, just smarter checkout.' You avoid the bank label until avoiding it costs you more than owning it does."
The numbers tell a clear story: two companies taking very different paths, yet arriving at the same conclusion. At a certain scale, becoming a bank stops being a burden and becomes a strategic advantage.
See what else is shaping Digital Banking. 👇 See you Monday!
Cheers,
NEWS
🇵🇹 Trade Republic challenges banks with Portuguese IBAN and 3% interest. With this new structure, the German bank will now offer Portuguese customers a national IBAN, with the prefix PT50, something the institution claims is a direct response to requests from its own clients.
🇨🇭 AMINA becomes the first regulated bank to integrate Mesh. The integration embeds Mesh’s verified deposit technology directly into AMINA’s online banking platform. This allows clients to verify wallet ownership and deposit stablecoins and digital assets in a single, streamlined flow across more than 300 wallet providers.
🌎 Visa has introduced the Visa Stablecoin Platform, enabling banks and FinTechs to mint, move, manage, and settle stablecoins through Visa's existing payment and treasury infrastructure. The platform is designed to simplify stablecoin adoption across Visa's network, bringing digital asset capabilities into traditional payment workflows.
🌍 Fourthline and Veridas join forces to fight identity fraud with a global identity platform. The combined company will operate across 50+ countries, supporting banks, FinTechs, and other regulated businesses while targeting the growing threat of AI-driven identity fraud.
🇺🇸 AngelList acquires Ark, combining fund administration software, banking, and AI in one platform. AngelList’s acquisition of Ark will expand the AngelList financial system to all fund administrators in private markets, combining Ark’s purpose-built fund administration software with AngelList’s banking and payments infrastructure, investor services capabilities and AI-enabled product development.
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