The Weekly Wrap: all you need to know by Friday COB | November 8th

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

Ant International, a global digital payment and financial technology provider, has integrated Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies to enhance and secure millions of daily cross-border transactions for merchants across over 200 global markets.

“Integration of AI into the processing of cross-border transactions is of critical importance to further strengthening global trade and commerce, especially for SMEs who up to now can’t afford real-time global settlement services. In deploying AI in merchant services, enhanced fraud detection and prevention against new scamming schemes like deepfakes is as important, if not more important, as increasing operational efficiency,” said Yang Peng, Chief Executive Officer of Ant International.

Leveraging AI, Ant International can predict currency exchange rates not only on a daily or weekly basis but also on an hourly scale. This advanced AI model, developed over several years, enables precise forecasts for both inbound and outbound transactions, helping merchants reduce transaction costs and allowing them to allocate more resources toward business growth.

Deals of the week

• MODIFI secures $15m in funding from Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation
• Thunes & GCash team up to launch cross-border digital wallet solution
• Sunbit secures a $355m Debt Warehouse Facility from J.P. Morgan
• Mastercard & NatWest launch virtual card for UK businesses and employees
• Auquan raises $4.5m to automate deep work in finance with AI
• Melio secures additional $150m in funding led by Fiserv
• Wolt and Revolut partner to enhance premium plan benefits in Europe
• Tencent joins Visa to facilitate palm payments in Singapore

Be on the lookout for

The Digital Finance Summit 2024, organised by FinTech Belgium, is set for December 6 at The Egg in Brussels, focusing on how human intuition intersects with AI-driven finance. With over 600 attendees, 120+ speakers, four stages, and more than 30 exhibitors, the event highlights advancements in digital finance, fintech, and financial innovation. Key sessions will include expert-led talks on emerging technologies and regulatory shifts, panels with industry leaders, and a special EU FinTech Pitch Battle, where startups showcase pioneering ideas. This summit provides an excellent networking platform for financial professionals, policymakers, and technology innovators to discuss and shape the future of digital finance in Europe.