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FinTech & AI on 5 October: 4 stories

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Regions

01All stories in this issue

  1. 01Mal Raises $230m Seed to Build AI-Native Islamic Bank from Abu DhabiAbu Dhabi fintech Mal, founded in 2025 by Abdallah Abu-Sheikh, disclosed a $230m seed round, which it calls the largest publicly announced fintech seed investment in the Middle East and Africa, and received in-principle approval from the Central Bank of the UAE to establish a licensed bank. It plans an AI-native Islamic digital bank; investors and valuation were not disclosed.Why it matters: A seed round of this size, paired with a central-bank approval, shows the UAE is willing to license new digital banks rather than steer fintechs only towards partnerships with incumbents. Each new licensed bank is also a potential account and issuing partner for fintechs operating in the country.Takeaway: Teams operating in the UAE should track whether the in-principle approval turns into a full licence, since a new bank means a new partner option for accounts and issuing. Check early whether Shariah-compliant products would need separate policy and limit rules.fundingThe Fintech Times
  2. 02Mastercard partners with Mojaloop and AfricaNenda on trusted Payments to Bolster the Instant Economy Across AfricaMastercard announced partnerships with the Mojaloop Foundation and the AfricaNenda Foundation to support interoperable, secure instant-payment systems in Africa, which has 36 live instant payment systems in 31 countries. With Mojaloop, it will explore how its AI-powered account-to-account (A2A) Protect service, combining real-time risk scoring, mule-account intelligence and dispute resolution, can complement Mojaloop's open-source infrastructure.Why it matters: Card networks are trying to give account-to-account payments card-like protection, and selling fraud and dispute services into public instant-payment rails keeps them relevant as A2A grows. For schemes built on Mojaloop, a network-level fraud layer may now come from a commercial vendor.Takeaway: If network-level mule-account intelligence and dispute services reach instant A2A rails, risk rules will need to consume external fraud scores in real time and act on them; check whether yours can. Teams without African flows can treat this as a signal of where A2A fraud tooling may be heading.paymentsIndependent Nigeria
  3. 03China Shutters Nearly 25% of Its Banks Amid Oversight PushChina closed a record of more than 670 banks in 2025, mostly rural, leaving 3,139 banking entities after a 23% decline over the four years to 2025, the Financial Times reported, citing National Financial Regulatory Administration figures. Fitch said small city and rural banks remain the weakest part of the system, with poor asset quality, low capitalisation and governance shortcomings.Why it matters: Beijing is resolving weak small lenders through closures and mergers instead of waiting for them to fail one by one, which concentrates deposits and payment activity in fewer, larger institutions. For anyone paying into China, the map of receiving banks is changing fast.Takeaway: The practical impact is limited for teams without China corridors. If you route payouts to China, make sure beneficiary bank codes and institution lists are refreshed as merged banks disappear.bankingPYMNTS
  4. 04CBUAE and Bank Al-Maghrib sign two MoUs to strengthen supervisory cooperation and Islamic finance and interlink payment systemsThe Central Bank of the UAE and Morocco's Bank Al-Maghrib signed two memoranda of understanding in Abu Dhabi on 3 October, covering supervisory cooperation and Islamic finance. The second explores interlinking the two countries' instant payment platforms, national card switches and financial messaging systems, mutual acceptance of domestic cards, and cooperation on central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) and virtual-asset frameworks.Why it matters: Linking instant-payment platforms and domestic card switches would give UAE–Morocco transfers and card payments a route outside international schemes and correspondent chains. The agreement commits only to exploring the link, so it is a direction of travel rather than a product.Takeaway: Teams routing UAE–Morocco flows should add the corridor to their watchlist and keep routing logic ready for a direct domestic-to-domestic option. Nothing needs to change yet.paymentsCentral Bank of the UAE

02Past issues

  1. Tue6 October 2026ANZ completes cross-border tokenised deposit payment with Swift ledger7 storiesOpen
  2. Mon5 October 2026Mal Raises $230m Seed to Build AI-Native Islamic Bank from Abu Dhabi4 storiesShowing
  3. Sun4 October 2026Exclusive: ICBA sues OCC over trust charters5 storiesOpen
  4. Sat3 October 2026EMVCo Framework Targets Consumer Intent in Agentic Payments7 storiesOpen
  5. Fri2 October 2026Fiserv’s stablecoin system starts10 storiesOpen
  6. Wed30 September 2026Circle and Volante partner to help banks integrate stablecoins into payment operations10 storiesOpen
  7. Tue29 September 2026Fed proposes stablecoin rules10 storiesOpen
  8. Sat26 September 2026Fed proposes stablecoin rules9 storiesOpen
  9. Tue15 September 2026ECB calls on merchants to join digital euro pilot scheme12 storiesOpen