The Weekly Wrap: all you need to know by Friday COB | April 24th

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

Market Harborough Building Society has extended its partnership with  Sandstone Technology for a further period of six years, marking over a decade of collaboration focused on digital transformation and customer-centric banking.

Since the partnership began in 2015, Sandstone Technology has supported the society in modernising its digital banking capabilities, streamlining customer onboarding processes, and reducing manual workloads. These initiatives have enabled customers to access banking services more conveniently while improving application turnaround times and operational efficiency.

The renewed agreement reflects a strong alignment between the two organisations and builds on a track record of innovation and service improvement. Market Harborough Building Society has also received industry recognition, including a high customer rating on Trustpilot and being named Best Building Society Savings Provider by MoneyComms in 2024.

Under the renewed agreement, both organisations will focus on enhancing next-generation digital experiences, including business account applications, further platform modernisation, and supporting the society’s growth and member retention strategies. The extension highlights the growing importance of long-term technology partnerships in enabling financial institutions to remain competitive and responsive to evolving customer expectations and regulatory requirements.

Deals of the week

• PrimeInvestor secures $2m to grow PMS, research capabilities
• BMLL adds SpiderRock options data to expand cross-asset analytics
• Hata raises $8m in Series A led by Bybit
• Deutsche Börse Group acquires 1.5% stake in Kraken for $200m
• TransUnion CIBIL and NPCI BHIM bring credit scores to BHIM app
• Eiendomskreditt taps Knowit, Mambu for core banking upgrade
• ClearBank expands APAC reach with Tazapay deal
• Ovanti taps codebase technologies for digital asset bank expansion
• Dubai South, Emirates NBD partner to simplify SME onboarding
• Axis Trustee Services Ltd launches PRISM to speed up trustee services
• spektr raises $20m in Series A to expand AI platform

Be on the lookout for

IBS Intelligence is proud to bring you the 2026 edition of the Annual IBSi Digital Banking Awards - Recognising excellence in digital banking transformation across Digital-Only Banks, Neo and Challenger Banks, Digital-First NBFCs, Payments Banks, and digital banking units of traditional financial institutions, as well as the technology providers enabling these transformations.

The era of branch-centric banking has decisively given way to digital-first engagement. In today’s on-demand economy, customers expect seamless, always-on access to financial services, delivered through intuitive digital channels, powered by robust technology, and designed around user experience rather than physical presence. Digital-only and digital-first institutions have emerged as leaders in meeting these expectations, redefining how banking products are built, delivered, and consumed.

Neo and challenger banks, alongside progressive incumbents, continue to reshape the global banking landscape by leveraging modern platforms, data-driven decisioning, and customer-centric design. Their implementations are setting new benchmarks for agility, scalability, inclusion, and operational efficiency.

DBA 2026 seeks to recognise the most innovative, impactful, and scalable digital banking implementations globally, highlighting projects that demonstrate measurable outcomes, strong execution, and meaningful customer impact.