The Weekly Wrap: all you need to know by Friday COB | Nov 14th

By Puja Sharma

The Weekly Wrap is published every Friday and recaps the week’s main stories and deals, as well as upcoming events and announcements for Prime subscribers only.

The Big Story

BENEFIT has partnered with NPCI International Payments Limited (NIPL) of India to enable real-time, cross-border payment connectivity between the two nations. Under this strategic linkage agreement, Bahrain’s Electronic Fund Transfer System (EFTS), specifically its Fawri+ service, will be integrated with India’s Unified Payments Interface (UPI), a global leader in instant payments.

The collaboration, carried out under the supervision of the Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB) and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), represents a significant advancement in regional financial innovation and cross-border digital infrastructure. UPI currently facilitates nearly 20 billion monthly transactions valued at more than USD 280 billion, serving over 500 million users and commanding approximately 84% of India’s retail digital payment market.

This milestone partnership underscores Bahrain’s vision to cement its position as a digital-first financial hub and a pioneer in real-time payments across the GCC. The initiative also marks a pivotal step in BENEFIT’s ongoing efforts to extend the Fawri+ network globally, expanding interoperability and delivering fast, secure, and frictionless payment experiences to customers across borders. Through this linkage, users in both Bahrain and India will be able to perform instant, low-cost money transfers with the assurance of robust security and compliance standards.

Deals of the week

• MBG adopts One Inc’s ClaimsPay for instant claims payouts
• Zilch raises $175m to power AI-led expansion in digital payments
• Boku opens innovation hub to streamline global payments
• Cassava, Google unite to accelerate AI adoption in Africa
• Franklin Templeton joins Canton Network to drive tokenised finance
• IO, Argentine FinTech Chamber partner to boost blockchain
• Federal Card Services commits $250m to India expansion
• Visa brings seamless QR payments to merchants in Asia Pacific

Be on the lookout for

The IBSi Global FinTech Innovation Awards 2025, set to take place on 21st November in Mumbai, will once again spotlight the most disruptive and transformative achievements in banking and financial technology. Now in its seventh year, the awards honour innovation across high-impact categories such as Core Banking, Digital Lending, AI/ML, and GenAI.

After a record-breaking 2024 edition—which drew 400+ submissions from 155 banks and 90 tech vendors—the upcoming awards are poised to set an even higher benchmark. Expect broader global participation, richer insights into bank–tech collaboration, and a data-driven judging process powered by IBS Intelligence’s proprietary research and analytics.

Beyond trophies, winners benefit from year-long visibility through editorial features, thought leadership opportunities, and industry event integrations—making this a platform not just for recognition, but for continued growth and influence.

The stage is set, nominations are in—now the countdown begins to GFIA 2025. Stay tuned as we celebrate the innovators reshaping the future of global FinTech.