Fintech and new entrants
Fintech lenders, neobanks and new entrants in cards, credit and payments.
15 items in 7 issues, Oct 31, 2026 to Nov 8, 2026, newest first. Each item links to the issue it ran in, where its sources are listed.
Related: Regulation and policyCharters and sponsor banksAI and agentic commerceUpstartSynchronySezzlePayments and networksDeals and funding
November 2026
- Sun, Nov 8 · The long read: The charter rush, as Democrats take the Senate
The rush. Fintech and digital-asset firms have filed about 31 de novo national bank applications in 2026, Morrison Foerster's Alexandra Barrage told Law.com, a pace not seen in nearly two decades. The OCC said in August that it had received 40 de novo applications over the previous 18 months, against fewer than four a year from 2011 to 2014. It also said it often decides within 120 days of a complete filing.
Read in the issue → - Sun, Nov 8 · The long read: The charter rush, as Democrats take the Senate
Faster approvals. The approvals are coming faster, too. Klaros Group found that the median time to approval fell to 166 days in early 2026 from 321 days in 2024. American Banker's tracker counts 33 fintech and crypto charter events this year through Oct. 30, among them three charters granted, 18 conditional approvals and one denial.
Read in the issue → - Sun, Nov 8 · The long read: The charter rush, as Democrats take the Senate
Buying a bank stalls. The other route, buying an existing bank, has run into resistance. Twenty state and District attorneys general asked regulators in July to deny charters and deals to fintechs with a "history of predatory lending or risky practices." Enova dropped its Grasshopper bid in September, saying the process "is susceptible to political pressure," and OppFi withdrew its BNC applications on Nov. 3 while keeping the merger agreement in effect.
Read in the issue → - Sun, Nov 8 · Company spotlight: Affirm
The reaction. The shares fell 7.8% on Thursday, in a post-election fintech sell-off that came before the results, and another 2.2% on Friday to close at $68.11. Goldman Sachs, TD Cowen, Barclays, Piper Sandler, RBC and Morgan Stanley all trimmed their price targets while keeping their ratings, and RBC cited credit and funding concerns.
Read in the issue → - Sun, Nov 8 · Worth a read
Agents aren't ready. Fortune's Jeff John Roberts reports that Visa ran 22 AI agents through test purchases and found they succeeded only about 57% of the time. It is a sober counterweight to the agentic-commerce pitch that ran through this quarter's fintech earnings calls.
Read in the issue → - Sat, Nov 7 · Opening balance
The calendar. The week packed in midterm elections on Tuesday, fintech earnings from Block, Upstart and Oportun that evening, Sezzle and Affirm on Wednesday, and the October jobs report on Friday. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg expected about 70,000 new jobs.
Read in the issue → - Sat, Nov 7 · Credits
Fintech results. Block lifted its 2026 gross profit guidance to $12.626 billion as consumer lending originations, led by Cash App Borrow and Afterpay, climbed 40% to $19.0 billion; its shares gained 12.1% for the week. Sezzle raised its 2026 revenue growth forecast to about 42.5% after third-quarter revenue grew 42.6%, and its shares rose 10.8%.
Read in the issue → - Sat, Nov 7 · Interest earned
Installments everywhere. Pay-over-time is moving from fintech apps into banks: equipifi forecasts that bank and credit union BNPL volume will rise 75% from a year earlier between Nov. 1 and Dec. 31, with users up 60%. The forecast draws on more than 100 institutions and 4 million households.
Read in the issue → - Fri, Nov 6 · Worth a read
Agents vs. inertia. A Fintech Takes podcast recap asks whether big banks that block outside AI agents will fall behind fintechs that welcome them. "Most banks profit off inertia, and personal agents are inertia-dissolving machines," Johnson writes.
Read in the issue → - Wed, Nov 4 · Banks & charters
Bank stocks. Banks held their gains by mid-morning, with KBE up 2.0%, KRE up 2.1% and JPMorgan up 3.7%, and Amex rose 2.2%. Card lenders went the other way: Capital One fell 2.6% and Synchrony 2.5%, which Reuters tied to rate-cap worries; TD Cowen expects any final cap to land closer to 36% than 10% and says it could hit fintechs harder than banks. Strategists read the result as gridlock, and American Banker expects bold financial legislation to stall.
Read in the issue → - Wed, Nov 4 · Worth a read
Wise and AML. Jason Mikula's Fintech Business Weekly argues growth-first fintechs push compliance costs onto customers, drawing on Wise restricting his and other EU businesses' accounts without notice, which he ties to anti-money laundering remediation. It also covers the Eighth Circuit ruling against the Fed's debit fee cap.
Read in the issue → - Tue, Nov 3 · Fintech & funding
Bilt. Bilt, the rent-rewards card startup, agreed to acquire sports technology firm Lava for $300 million, Bloomberg reported Monday.
Read in the issue → - Mon, Nov 2 · Worth a read
EWA tipping. Jason Mikula (Fintech Business Weekly, Oct 25) on EarnIn's suit claiming Maryland's ban on earned-wage-access tips violates free speech, a test of how far states can go in regulating tip-based pricing.
Read in the issue → - Mon, Nov 2 · Worth a read
Card disputes. Fintech Business Weekly's podcast (Oct 28) with Decisionly CEO Pallavi Kuppa-Apte covers dispute rules, agentic commerce and auditing AI decisions.
Read in the issue →
October 2026
- Sat, Oct 31 · Cards & payments
Card lenders lag. In Friday's sell-off, bank ETFs fell about 1% (KBE -1.1%, KRE -1.2%), but consumer lenders fell harder: OneMain -4.7%, Atlanticus -4.8%, Citi -3.1%, Synchrony -2.1%, Capital One -2.1%. Fintech lenders were weaker still, with SoFi -4.8% and Upstart -7.2% (Interactive Brokers late-Friday quotes).
Read in the issue →