Banking technology newsfrom public sources.

Technology and AI

Barclays creates a chief AI officer role and names Anita Tanna

Barclays named group chief of staff Anita Tanna as its first chief AI officer, a newly created post. The bank is cutting about 5,000 jobs amid wider AI use and earlier this month said it would expand its use of Anthropic's Claude for software development and legacy modernization.

• Barclays
• Anthropic

Mergers and acquisitions

Tech Mahindra buys Finastra's cash management software

Tech Mahindra acquired Finastra's cash management suite, including Fusion Cash Management, Fusion Virtual Accounts and Fusion Liquidity Management, on undisclosed terms. Finastra has also sold its Universal Banking business, its U.S. mid-market banking operations and its treasury and capital markets unit as it narrows its portfolio.

• Tech Mahindra
• Finastra

Vendor selections

Vancity picks Temenos SaaS to replace its core banking platform

Vancity, Canada's largest credit union with CAD 42.4 billion in assets and more than 588,000 members, chose Temenos core, payments and data software as a service on Microsoft Azure. It will build new digital capabilities first and migrate existing retail, lending, corporate and payments operations over time.

• Vancity
• Temenos
• Microsoft

Mergers and acquisitions

BancFirst completes its acquisition of Tulsa's SpiritBank

BancFirst closed its purchase of Spirit BankCorp and SpiritBank on October 22 and merged the bank into BancFirst, adding about $866.8 million in assets, $776.4 million in deposits and six Oklahoma locations in Tulsa, Sapulpa and Bristow.

• BancFirst
• SpiritBank

Technology and AI

Citi keeps outside AI agents out while it builds a know-your-agent process

Citi has blocked external AI agents from its systems, apart from read-only open banking access, and plans a know-your-agent process before letting them in, a Citi services executive said at Money20/20. The bank is also piloting self-service account opening for U.S. corporate clients on CitiDirect.

• Citi

Payments

U.S. Faster Payments Council issues a guide to instant payment messages that move no money

The U.S. Faster Payments Council published guidance for financial institutions on non-value messages such as requests for payment, return of funds and information, covering operations, fraud, compliance and how the RTP network and the FedNow Service differ.

Payments

HSBC launches RedCoin, its first stablecoin, in Hong Kong

HSBC launched RedCoin, a Hong Kong dollar stablecoin licensed and regulated by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, for the 3.3 million users of its PayMe app to pay friends and merchants. The bank plans to add stablecoin wallets to its Hong Kong mobile banking app, tokenized investments and later wholesale corporate uses.

• HSBC

Technology and AI

JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs tech chiefs put security first in AI plans

JPMorgan Chase global CIO Lori Beer said security and risk management lead the bank's AI work, with its LLM Suite used by 200,000 employees and one agent-building platform so controls can scale. Goldman Sachs CIO Marco Argenti said firms should assume any AI agent could misbehave.

• JPMorgan Chase
• Goldman Sachs

Conversions and go-lives

UK's Kingdom Bank goes live on Temenos core and payments as a service

Kingdom Bank, a UK specialist bank serving churches and the Christian community, went live with Temenos core, payments and financial crime software as a service on Microsoft Azure, after opening online and mobile banking to all customers in early October.

• Kingdom Bank
• Temenos
• Microsoft

Payments

Meta says shopping is the top job for its Muse AI agent, paid through Stripe

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said shopping is the most common use of the Muse personal AI agent, done by about a quarter of users with purchases averaging $200, and that Stripe's Link wallet handles Muse payments. Several of the largest U.S. banks have blocked agents such as Muse from customer accounts.

• Meta
• Stripe

Regulation

Sezzle applies to the OCC for a national trust bank charter

Minneapolis-based buy now, pay later provider Sezzle applied to the OCC for a national trust bank charter, dropping its earlier plan for a Utah industrial loan company license. Sezzle says the bank would offer checking and savings accounts, and expects a 12 to 18 month review.

• Sezzle

Vendor selections

TEN Credit Union picks Bankjoy for digital banking alongside KeyStone core move

Nashville-based TEN Credit Union, with more than $410 million in assets, chose Bankjoy for consumer and business digital banking. Bankjoy will go live the same day the credit union converts to Corelation's KeyStone core, combining both changes into one conversion.

• TEN Credit Union
• Bankjoy
• Corelation

Technology and AI

Wells Fargo moves consumer co-CEO Saul Van Beurden into a full-time AI role

Wells Fargo made Kleber Santos sole head of consumer banking and lending, while former co-CEO Saul Van Beurden now focuses full time on spreading AI across the bank, including deeper work with AI companies. The changes took effect immediately.

• Wells Fargo

Payments

Early Warning sets big merchant targets for its revamped Paze wallet

Early Warning Services, the bank-owned operator of Zelle and Paze, wants the 100 largest U.S. merchants on the Paze wallet within three years, after a rebuild meant to raise checkout conversion and approval rates.

• Early Warning Services

Technology and AI

EU and UK regulators question Google after a cloud outage hits banks

The European Banking Authority and the UK's Financial Conduct Authority contacted Google after a roughly six-hour Google Cloud disruption, caused by a power interruption at a UK data center, affected services at several banks.

• Google Cloud

Conversions and go-lives

Mahalo Banking completes 17 KeyStone credit union conversions in 2026

Mahalo Banking said it has completed 17 credit union conversions to its digital platform tied to Corelation's KeyStone core this year, with four more scheduled by year-end, among them Firelands Federal Credit Union and North Coast Credit Union.

• Firelands Federal Credit Union
• North Coast Credit Union
• Mahalo Banking
• Corelation

Payments

SoFi launches SOFIE, a bank-issued tokenized deposit for consumers

SoFi launched SoFi Earn, a tokenized deposit held at SoFi Bank that pays 4.40% APY and carries FDIC insurance up to applicable limits. Members can swap it one for one into SoFiUSD to buy crypto or send funds over blockchain rails at any hour.

• SoFi Bank
• SoFi Technologies

Vendor selections

TD Bank US taps Akoya to move data sharing to secure APIs

TD Bank U.S. is using Akoya's Open Finance Solution so more aggregators and third-party apps can connect through secure APIs rather than shared bank logins. Customers can see which apps have access and switch it off.

• TD Bank U.S.
• Akoya

Mergers and acquisitions

Cross River Bank to acquire branded-wallet fintech Accrue

The parent of Fort Lee, New Jersey-based Cross River Bank, which has $8.5 billion in assets, agreed to buy New York-based Accrue to add branded-wallet, stored-value and rewards tools to its embedded finance offering. Terms were not disclosed.

• Cross River Bank
• Accrue

Regulation

FDIC Chair Hill weighs the impact of AI agents moving deposits

FDIC Chair Travis Hill said AI agents moving customer deposits is a central issue for the agency, that current model risk guidance fits generative and agentic AI poorly, and that the FDIC may seek public input on new guidance.

Regulation

OCC finalizes its GENIUS Act stablecoin rule, effective January 18, 2027

The OCC issued its final GENIUS Act rule for payment stablecoin issuers and certain custody activities it supervises. BSA, AML and sanctions requirements will follow in a separate rulemaking with Treasury, and the rule takes effect January 18, 2027.

Mergers and acquisitions

PenAir and Fort McClellan credit unions agree to merge

Pensacola-based PenAir Credit Union, with more than $2.7 billion in assets, plans to merge with Anniston, Alabama-based Fort McClellan Credit Union, which has more than $224 million. Pending regulatory and member approval, the legal merger is expected in the first half of 2027.

• PenAir Credit Union
• Fort McClellan Credit Union

Mergers and acquisitions

Standard Chartered to acquire full ownership of Zodia Custody

Standard Chartered agreed to acquire all of Zodia Custody, the digital asset custodian it launched with Northern Trust in 2020, folding the custody business into its own digital assets unit.

• Standard Chartered
• Northern Trust
• Zodia Custody

Mergers and acquisitions

DFCU Financial to acquire Gulfside Bank in Sarasota, Florida

DFCU Financial, an $8 billion credit union in Dearborn, Michigan, agreed to buy Gulfside Bank of Sarasota, which has $344.6 million in assets and two branches. Terms were not disclosed, and integration is planned for the second half of 2027.

• DFCU Financial
• Gulfside Bank

Regulation

Ramp applies to the OCC for a national trust bank charter

Corporate spend fintech Ramp applied to the OCC for a national trust bank charter to offer fiduciary investment management and digital asset custody, without taking deposits or making commercial loans. Community bankers have sued the OCC over its trust charter approvals.

• Ramp

Technology and AI

Huntington launches 1866 Studio, an AI small business platform built on Gemini

Huntington launched 1866 Studio, an AI platform powered by Google Gemini that helps owners start and run small businesses, from registration and licensing to marketing and financing readiness. It starts with eight AI agents, with a base tier open to non-customers.

• Huntington Bank
• Google

Vendor selections

Sound Credit Union adopts Temenos Collections on its Symitar core

Sound Credit Union, a Washington State lender with more than $3.4 billion in assets and about 184,000 members, adopted Temenos Collections as a service to automate loan collections, integrated with its Jack Henry Symitar core.

• Sound Credit Union
• Temenos
• Jack Henry

Vendor selections

Proposed Florida de novo Glades Bank and Trust picks CSI core and Apiture

Glades Bank and Trust, a proposed de novo bank aimed at South Florida businesses, chose CSI's NuPoint core and CSI's Apiture Business Banking for digital and treasury services, targeting a first-quarter 2027 launch pending regulatory approval.

• Glades Bank and Trust
• CSI
• Apiture

Payments

Jack Henry to integrate Google Cloud Universal Ledger for tokenized deposits

Jack Henry will be the first core provider to integrate with Google Cloud Universal Ledger, a managed distributed ledger, under an expanded Google Cloud deal meant to let banks and credit unions offer tokenized deposits with programmable settlement around the clock.

• Jack Henry
• Google Cloud