The Weekly Wrap: all you need to know by Friday COB | June 6th

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

NTT Docomo, the mobile arm of Japan’s Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation (NTT), is set to acquire a majority stake in SBI Sumishin Net Bank for approximately $2.9 billion (JPY 450 billion). The transaction marks a significant development in Japan’s digital banking sector and reflects broader shifts in the country’s financial services landscape.

SBI Sumishin Net Bank, founded as a joint venture between SBI Holdings and Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank, has operated as one of Japan’s leading online-only banks. It provides a range of digital banking services to individual and corporate clients, and is among the first in Japan to operate entirely without physical branches.

Under the terms of the agreement, NTT Docomo will acquire shares from both existing shareholders, SBI Holdings and Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank, thereby gaining a controlling interest in the online lender. Following the completion of the transaction, SBI Holdings and Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank are expected to retain their minority stakeholdings.

Deals of the week

• Flipkart secures NBFC license, becomes first eCommerce lender in India
• HSBC backsio to scale Pay by Bank across Europe
• Nomupay secures $40m from SoftBank to enter Japan market
• Wise gets RBI nod for cross-border payment aggregation in India
• Klarna unveils flexible Visa debit card with pay later option
• Moniepoint acquires 78% stake in Kenya’s Sumac Microfinance
• Deutsche Bank, Mastercard expand R2P with open banking in Europe
• Spense bags $1.85m to help banks scale secured credit cards in India
• QIB and Visa partner to streamline cross-border B2B transfers
• Razorpay completes reverse flip to India, pays $150m for strategic homecoming
• FinTech Stitch closes $10m seed to transform banking infra in MEA
• Banking Circle gains Swiss SIC access for real-time CHF payments

Be on the lookout for

The “Building a Future-Ready Bank” event will take place on June 13, 2025, in London and is organised by Cedar Management Consulting and IBS Intelligence. This summit is part of a global series aimed at helping financial institutions navigate the evolving landscape of digital transformation, regulatory shifts, and customer expectations. The London edition will bring together senior banking executives, technology leaders, and FinTech innovators to explore strategies for building agile, resilient, and customer-centric banks. With a focus on AI, cloud, core modernisation, and embedded finance, the event serves as a critical forum for shaping the future of banking in a rapidly digitising world.