February 13, 2026 | NCFA Fintech Whisperer Weekly Intelligence | Regulation And Policy, Digital Assets Blockchain And Tokenization, Risk Compliance And Regtech, Payments And Money Movement, Digital Banking And BaaS

Image: Freepik

This live weekly NCFA intelligence page tracks financial technology developments that significantly affect how fintechs build, sell, raise capital, and operate under scrutiny. Coverage prioritizes Canada and includes global events that directly influence competitive conditions, market access, and execution realities across fintech sectors.  This page will be updated throughout the week with market movers in a live format and then each week we'll close the prior week's contents in prep for the upcoming week, and continue on a rolling basis.  (Missed prior week's Fintech Whisperer?  (December 6-12, 2025, December 13-19, 2025, January 1-9, 2026, January 10-16, 2026, January 17-23, 2026, January 24-30, 2026, January 31-February 6, 2026).

Weekly Fintech Market Intelligence Feb 7-13, 2026

Regulation And Policy

Bessent Urges Congress To Pass A Crypto Regulation Bill This Spring

• Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent calls on Congress to pass a crypto regulation bill this spring.
• The report links stablecoin rules and broader crypto market structure to current policy debate, with banks and crypto firms pushing competing views on how far stablecoins can go inside everyday payments.
• The report describes bank lobbying tension around stablecoins, including concerns about deposit flight and how reward features could accelerate it.

If Congress moves in the spring, US partners will start asking harder questions now on stablecoin rewards, reserve treatment, and how customer funds and disclosures work across the full stack. Canadian fintechs that sell into US banks, issuers, brokers, or payment programs should treat this as a near term diligence trigger and tighten their positioning on governance, controls, and commercial terms before counterparties freeze decisions waiting for clarity.

US Treasury Opens A Whistleblower Intake For Fraud And Sanctions Evasion

• The release says FinCEN launches a dedicated intake page for confidential tips tied to fraud, money laundering, and sanctions violations.
• It points tipsters to the confidential whistleblower tips page on the FinCEN site.
• Complex fraud rings and sanctions evasion patterns surface faster through insiders, vendors, or counterparties, not only through bank monitoring.

This can tighten the enforcement loop for fintech ecosystems that touch payments, onboarding, compliance tooling, crypto rails, and cross border flows. Expect more partner questions on how you detect red flags, how you document decisions, and how quickly you can freeze, unwind, and report activity when a credible tip lands. Teams that treat case management and audit trails as part of the product will move faster in enterprise sales and face fewer surprises when an investigation starts.

CIRO Publishes InnovateSafe Application Guidance For Firms

• Sets out eligibility, intake materials, review stages, and expectations for time limited testing under CIRO oversight with clear non-endorsement guardrails.
• Practical path for firms that need room to test novel investor facing models while staying inside dealer rules.
• Gives founders a clearer way to plan timelines, evidence controls, and shorten the loop with regulators when a model does not fit standard categories.

This matters because sandbox access only helps when it reduces time and uncertainty. Teams that show strong governance, clear client protections, and clean reporting will move faster than teams that treat testing as a demo day.  Learn about eligibility of the application process.

Hong Kong Sets Out A Digital Asset Policy With Tokenization In Focus

• The statement links current digital asset policy work to market structure outcomes, with a clear focus on tokenization moving closer to real world deployment.
• Tokenization momentum as institutional adoption increases, which puts pressure on regulators to make rules usable for live products, not just pilots.
• Regulation as a competitive lever, where clarity can attract issuers, platforms, and service providers that need stable operating conditions.

When a major hub ties tokenization to competitiveness, it raises the stakes for everyone else. Canadian fintechs that sell tokenized rails, custody, compliance, or payments infrastructure should watch how Hong Kong turns policy into approvals, because global buyers will compare jurisdictions and pick the one that reduces execution risk. The winners will package governance, controls, and reporting into the product so expansion doesn't turn into a compliance rebuild.

Crowdcube Says FCA Removes Fundraising Caps Pathway

• Crowdcube presents this as a material change for companies raising on its platform.  See FCA new rules for public offers and admissions to trading regime.
• The post connects the change to UK fundraising rules and the practical ability to raise larger rounds through platform led offers.
• The update matters for founders and investors because it can change round sizing, syndication strategy, and platform selection in the UK market.

If the UK market truly removes practical caps for platform led raises, UK equity crowdfunding starts to compete more directly with later stage private rounds, not just seed. Canadian issuers and Canadian investors who already treat the UK as a secondary capital lane should watch how this affects round structure, disclosure burden, investor protections, and the cost of running a raise at scale.

Canada Launches 2026 Canada Luxembourg Financial Policy Dialogue

• The Prime Minister and Luxembourg Prime Minister announce the launch of the 2026 Canada Luxembourg Financial Sector Policy Dialogue that brings together finance officials to advance collaboration on financial stability, sustainable finance, fintech innovation, and capital markets development.
• The release also welcomes the establishment of the McGill Luxembourg Centre for Finance and a Master of Management in Finance program, with a focus on research collaboration and student and talent exchanges.
• The leaders also point to ongoing discussions on the Defence, Security and Resilience Bank, framed as multi-year low-cost financing for defence, security, and resilience initiatives.

This opens a practical channel for policy and market alignment with a top tier global finance hub. Fintechs that sell into banks, asset managers, or capital markets should track what this dialogue prioritizes, because it can influence what partners will fund, which standards they adopt, and where they source talent. Teams that can show real solutions in sustainable finance workflows, regulated innovation, and cross border market plumbing can use this moment to get in front of the right officials and decision makers early.

SEC Remarks Put Tokenized Securities Back Inside Market Rules

• Links tokenized securities to the same core outcomes buyers already demand, clear custody responsibility, reliable recordkeeping, and workable settlement.
• Sets expectations that product teams need to map on chain design to existing obligations, not treat tokenization as a separate lane.
• Raises the bar for any firm pitching tokenized market access, because partners will ask how controls, supervision, and investor protections work end to end.

This matters because institutional adoption follows clarity. If your product cannot explain who holds control, who reconciles records, and how disputes get resolved, distribution will slow down no matter how good the tech looks.

EU Competition Case Targets WhatsApp Access For Third Party AI Assistants

• The Commission sends a Statement of Objections that sets out a preliminary view that Meta breaches EU antitrust rules by excluding third party general purpose AI assistants from accessing and interacting with users on WhatsApp.
• The Commission says Meta announces updated WhatsApp Business Solution Terms on Oct 15, 2025 that effectively ban third party general purpose AI assistants, and since Jan 15, 2026 only Meta AI remains available on WhatsApp while competitors are excluded.
• The Commission says it intends to impose interim measures to prevent serious and irreparable harm to competition, subject to Meta’s reply and rights of defence, and it references the ongoing case file AT.41034 in the public case register ('Exclusion of AI competitors from WhatsApp").

Competition under the microscope, and it matters far beyond chatbots. If regulators treat access to high reach consumer channels as a competition issue, fintechs and financial institutions that rely on dominant platforms for onboarding, support, commerce, and embedded services should expect tighter questions about platform dependency, partner lock in, and contingency plans when a gatekeeper changes the rules.

Digital Banking And BaaS

Raqami Secures Pakistan Digital Retail Bank Licence

• The State Bank of Pakistan granted Raqami Islamic Digital Bank a Digital Retail Bank licence and declared it a scheduled bank effective February 6, 2026.
• The approval moves Raqami beyond restricted pilot operations into commercial digital retail banking.
• Raqami is launching a fully digital, Shariah-compliant banking model designed to serve individuals, freelancers, women, agricultural customers, youth and underserved communities.

Pakistan has moved a fully digital Islamic bank from pilot to commercial operations. The market test is now whether API-first banking and Shariah-compliant products can expand formal financial access at scale while meeting the control, resilience and trust expectations attached to a newly licensed bank.

Digital Assets, Blockchain And Tokenization

UK Treasury Appoints HSBC For Digital Gilt Instrument (DIGIT) Pilot

• Confirms a platform provider for the Digital Gilt Instrument pilot tied to the UK wholesale digital markets work.
• Puts tokenized sovereign issuance into an execution phase that forces choices around onboarding, settlement operations, and legal certainty.
• Creates a clear reference point for vendors that sell issuance tooling, custody, post trade workflows, and compliance automation.

The DIGIT pilot forces a few hard questions that every tokenized issuance vendor will face next. Who carries legal finality at each step. How participants reconcile token records with existing books without creating mismatches in stress. How the platform handles failed settlement, partial fills, and corporate actions without manual fire drills. HSBC’s selection also sets a benchmark for what UK buyers treat as table stakes, clean integration into current dealer and custodian workflows, clear control over keys and permissions, and audit ready evidence for every movement. If you sell issuance tooling, custody, post trade automation, or compliance workflows, you should map your roadmap to those practical asks now, because this pilot will shape the next wave of due diligence questions across wholesale markets.

Standard Chartered And B2C2 Partner To Expand Institutional Access To Digital Assets

• The announcement sets out a strategic partnership that combines a global bank’s banking rails and settlement capabilities with institutional crypto liquidity across spot and options markets.
• The plan gives B2C2 clients a path to direct connectivity and liquidity provision into a regulated banking network, which targets faster and more reliable fiat to crypto settlement.
• The release positions the partnership as a way to reduce friction in fiat to crypto flows for asset managers, hedge funds, corporates, and family offices.

This puts distribution and settlement on the same track as liquidity. Fintechs selling custody, treasury, payments, or compliance tooling should expect tougher buyer questions on how funds move end to end, how controls stay intact through banking rails, and how settlement risk gets boxed in when volume spikes.

Bank Negara Malaysia Onboards Ringgit Stablecoin And Tokenized Deposit Pilots

• Bank Negara Malaysia onboards three initiatives under its Digital Asset Innovation Hub to test real world applications involving ringgit stablecoins and tokenized deposits during 2026.
• The initiatives focus on wholesale payment use cases across domestic and cross border transactions, including settlement of tokenized assets.
• One participating institution says it received approval to participate in the hub and plans to explore tokenization of sukuk issuance and tokenized deposit representations to support end to end payment and settlement workflows.

If Malaysia standardizes supervised testing around wholesale payments and asset settlement, builders should track what the regulator expects around issuance controls, settlement finality, and operational risk. For banks and fintech partners, the fastest path to scale usually comes from proving how the money behaves under stress, not from polishing the user interface.

FCA Starts Legal Action Against HTX Over Crypto Promotions

• The regulator begins legal proceedings against HTX (formerly Huobi) for promoting cryptoasset services to UK consumers without complying with the UK crypto financial promotions regime.
• The FCA asked social media platforms to block HTX accounts for UK users and asked for removal of HTX apps from UK app stores.
• They said HTX took steps to restrict new UK customer registrations after proceedings began, but it says existing UK users can still log in and access unlawful promotions, and it points readers to the warning list for unauthorised firms.

Fintech teams that rely on paid social, affiliates, influencers, or embedded widgets should treat marketing controls as part of the product. Buyers and partners will ask who approves copy, how teams prove UK targeting rules, and how fast they can pull campaigns across every channel. The teams that answer those questions cleanly keep momentum. The teams that cannot will watch growth stall at the trust layer.  On a similar vein in Canada, the CSA and CIRO Set Clear Rules for Finfluencers.

Bithumb Mistakenly Sends Bitcoin Worth $44B To Users

• Bithumb confirms it mistakenly sends bitcoin to users after a glitch in its reward distribution system.
• The mistaken distribution totals about $44B worth of bitcoin and the exchange asks users to return the funds.
• Police also urge recipients to return the mistakenly sent bitcoin.
• Lee Chan-jin, governor of the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) says tougher crypto rules needed, "It is a case that shows the structural problems of electronic systems for virtual assets. There are many areas we are seriously looking into, and we are particularly worried about the issue of electronic systems."

This kind of operational failure rarely stays a one day headline in regulated markets. It turns into tougher questions from banks, insurers, and regulators about change controls, payout logic, segregation, and how quickly a platform can prove what happened. Fintech teams should treat payment engines and automated transfers like critical infrastructure, with tight permissions, clear audit trails, and hard stops that prevent a bad config from turning into a balance sheet event.

Market Infrastructure

LSEG Plans An On Chain Settlement Capability With A Digital Securities Depository

• The release describes plans for an on chain settlement capability through an LSEG Digital Securities Depository, subject to regulatory approval.
• It positions interoperability between traditional and digital market infrastructure as a core requirement for tokenized settlement at scale.
• It raises expectations for integration, resiliency, and operational control across token records and existing post trade systems.

LSEG putting its name behind on chain settlement changes the competitive map, where regulators, CCPs, CSDs, custodians, and major brokers set the rules of the road. Interoperability becomes the make or break issue, not chain choice, because participants will demand one operating model that works across traditional settlement, collateral, corporate actions, and reporting. Fintechs that want to matter here should lean into the hard parts, how they reconcile token and legacy records without gaps, how they manage permissions and key control at institutional scale, and how they keep settlement predictable during spikes, outages, and exceptions. The winners will look like the safest pair of hands in the room, with proof that their tooling reduces manual breaks and shrinks settlement risk for real participants, not just pilot users.

South Africa Plans To Use ECB Repo Liquidity Lines For Euro Backstop

• The South African Reserve Bank governor says South Africa wants to use new European Central Bank repo liquidity lines if they are available.
• The ECB plans to make its repo liquidity lines cheaper and easier to access, and that the lines let foreign central banks borrow euros against euro denominated collateral during stress periods.
• The governor links the value of a repo line to trade and investment ties with Europe and says it would help underpin that trade.

This matters because cross border money movement often breaks first when liquidity gets tight. A stronger euro backstop can reduce settlement fear for banks that route Europe linked flows, and it can change how counterparties price risk in FX, trade finance, and payouts. Fintechs that sell treasury, FX, and cross border payment tooling can stand out when they show how their rails behave under stress and how they keep funds moving when funding markets turn ugly.

Conclusion

Stablecoin reward design sits on the desk of banks and lawmakers. CIRO custody expectations raise the standard for how platforms document segregation and access. The UK payments plan turns into real requirements that land inside onboarding, fraud controls, and settlement resilience. Tokenized assets, including tokenized gold, now face the same demand from buyers, show custody, show redemption, and show who owns the problem when something goes wrong. NCFA offers various curated resources to help founders and investors stay current on developments that impact fintech markets, subscribe to NCFA weekly newsletter updates, view a rundown of current fintech news and insights, or dive into the latest fintech industry research.

The National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association (NCFA Canada) is a financial innovation ecosystem that provides education, market intelligence, industry stewardship, networking and funding opportunities and services to thousands of community members and works closely with industry, government, partners and affiliates to create a vibrant and innovative fintech and funding industry in Canada. Decentralized and distributed, NCFA is engaged with global stakeholders and helps incubate projects and investment in fintech, alternative finance, crowdfunding, peer-to-peer finance, payments, digital assets and tokens, artificial intelligence, blockchain, cryptocurrency, regtech, and insurtech sectors. Join Canada's Fintech & Funding Community today FREE! Or become a contributing member and get perks. For more information, please visit: www.ncfacanada.org

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February 6, 2026 | NCFA Fintech Whisperer Weekly Intelligence | Capital Markets And Market Infrastructure, Digital Assets Blockchain And Tokenization, Risk Compliance And Regtech

Image: Freepik

This live weekly NCFA intelligence page tracks financial technology developments that significantly affect how fintechs build, sell, raise capital, and operate under scrutiny. Coverage prioritizes Canada and includes global events that directly influence competitive conditions, market access, and execution realities across fintech sectors.  This page will be updated throughout the week with market movers in a live format and then each week we'll close the prior week's contents in prep for the upcoming week, and continue on a rolling basis.  (Missed prior week's Fintech Whisperer?  (December 6-12, 2025, December 13-19, 2025, January 1-9, 2026, January 10-16, 2026, January 17-23, 2026, January 24-30, 2026).

Weekly Fintech Market Intelligence Jan 31 - Feb 6, 2026

Capital And Deals

Advance Raises $8.55M To Modernize Insurance Premium Money Movement

• Advance says it raised $8.55M in seed funding led by NVP Capital, with participation from Crystal Ventures, Vesey Ventures, and Mensch Capital.
• The company positions the product around premium money workflows for intermediaries such as MGAs, wholesalers, and agencies, covering collection, reconciliation, and remittance.
• The platform supports bank supported payments and account infrastructure designed for insurance trust accounts and carrier remittance.

The hard part isn't moving money, it's proving every step. Teams that package premium flows with clean records and clear controls can earn carrier trust faster and grow without drowning in back office work.

Digital Assets, Blockchain And Tokenization

CSRC Sets Filing Rules For Offshore ABS Token Issuance

• The CSRC publishes a supervision guideline for tokens issued overseas that reference onshore asset backed securities cash flows and puts it into force on publication.
• The guideline defines the activity as issuing tokenized entitlement certificates overseas using crypto and distributed ledger or similar technology, backed by cash flows from onshore assets or related rights.
• Requires the onshore controlling entity to file before issuance and bars the activity in specific cases, including national security concerns and certain unresolved asset or entity issues.

This rule draws a hard line around who owns the onshore asset, who carries the filing burden, and what gets blocked before a token ever reaches the market. For founders building real world asset tokenization rails, this pushes compliance into the product spec, not the legal appendix. For investors and institutions, it also hints at where future supply can actually clear, which issuers can survive the documentation load, and which token structures will get rejected early.

Tether Invests $150M In Gold.com To Expand Tokenized Gold

• Tether announces a $150M strategic investment in Gold.com and takes a minority ownership position.
• Tether says the partnership targets wider access to gold through digital and traditional channels, including support for tokenized gold products.
• Gold.com says it signs a definitive agreement for Tether to purchase $150M of common shares in a company press release describing the transaction.

This deal pushes tokenized gold closer to mainstream rails. Wallets and platforms now face tougher buyer questions on custody, redemption, and who controls the customer relationship at conversion.

CIRO Issues Guidance On Digital Asset Custody For Crypto Asset Trading Platforms

• CIRO publishes a new Digital Asset Custody Framework and says the guidance note is effective immediately.
• Alexandra Williams, Senior Vice President, Strategy, Innovation and Stakeholder Protection, says: “Custody is one of the most critical points of risk in the crypto ecosystem,”.
• CIRO sets out the detailed requirements in the Notice on CIRO’s Digital Asset Custody Framework.

Platforms that want to scale under Canadian dealer oversight now need custody choices, contracts, and segregation controls that hold up under faster and more explicit supervision.

White House Hosts Bank And Crypto Summit On Stablecoin Rewards

• The White House crypto council convenes banking and crypto executives to break a deadlock on crypto market structure legislation that has stalled in the Senate.
• The meeting targets one friction point, whether crypto firms or third parties can offer interest or other rewards on dollar pegged stablecoins, which banks frame as a deposit flight risk and crypto firms frame as a customer acquisition lever.
• A referenced Standard Chartered analysis estimates stablecoins could pull around $500B in deposits out of US banks by the end of 2028, which turns stablecoin reward design into a systemic policy question, not a marketing tactic.

Stablecoin rewards now sit on the critical path for US rules. Fintech teams that sell payments, custody, compliance, or market infrastructure into US regulated buyers should expect procurement questions to lock onto rewards design, reserve treatment, and where yield can legally sit in the stack.

HKMA Targets March 2026 For First Stablecoin Issuer Licences

• The report says the Hong Kong Monetary Authority expects to issue its first batch of stablecoin issuer licences in March 2026, with only a small number granted initially.
• The review process focuses on use cases, risk management, anti money laundering measures, and the backing assets of stablecoins.
• Licensed issuers must comply with local rules for cross border activities and could explore mutual recognition arrangements with other jurisdictions.

A limited first cohort can steer who wins distribution and which stablecoin infrastructure stacks become the default for partners and platforms.

Payments And Money Movement

FCA And PSR Map Delivery Priorities For The National Payments Vision

• The speech ties the UK payments roadmap to scale, with an estimate that the UK made 1,500 payments per second last year.
• It links inclusion and access to cash infrastructure, citing the opening of the 200th banking hub and noting nearly 150 other cash solutions across the UK.
• It envisions a mixed money future that includes cards, digital wallets, open banking, and “stablecoin and tokenised deposits,” which puts regulated digital money products inside mainstream payments planning.

UK buyers will treat payments as national infrastructure, not a feature set. Fintechs that win distribution will show they can plug into policy goals on resilience, competition, and security while still shipping product fast.

Bank Of England Sets Out Next Generation Retail Payments Build

• The Bank of England describes a new institutional model where UK authorities set strategy through a Payments Vision Delivery Committee and the Bank leads design work with industry.
• It names the Retail Payments Infrastructure Board structure and says an industry led Delivery Company will procure and fund the build, while Pay.UK runs current interbank systems and executes near term enhancements.
• It argues tokenisation and distributed ledger technology can add customisability, conditionality, and automation to retail payments, and it sets an account to account in store and online option as a core user outcome.

This changes the bar for anyone selling account to account payments, open banking rails, fraud controls, or programmable payments. Founders should align roadmaps to the coming scheme design work and the Spring consultations the Bank flags, because UK infrastructure choices will shape product requirements for years.

Regulation And Policy

CFTC Updates Payment Stablecoin Definition For Margin Collateral No Action Relief

• The Market Participants Division reissues Staff Letter 25 40 with a limited revision that lets a national trust bank qualify as a permitted issuer of a payment stablecoin for the no action position.
• The letter covers futures commission merchants that accept non securities digital assets, including payment stablecoins, as customer margin collateral and that hold certain proprietary payment stablecoins in segregated customer accounts.
• The press release says staff makes the change after staff identifies that payment stablecoins that meet the definition may be issued by a national trust bank, and staff did not intend to exclude those issuers.

This matters for any stablecoin issuer and infrastructure provider that wants institutional distribution. When regulators expand who can issue an eligible payment stablecoin for margin collateral use, counterparties get a clearer path to treat certain stablecoins as real plumbing inside regulated derivatives workflows. Fintechs that sell custody, collateral management, settlement, and stablecoin compliance can use this to anchor partner conversations around issuer structure, segregation controls, and how tokenized collateral actually clears inside regulated accounts.

Swiss Crypto And Stablecoin Law Consultation Hits Deadline

• Switzerland says the consultation runs until Feb 6, 2026 as it advances proposed changes covering stablecoins and broader crypto regulation.
• The update says the proposal targets a stronger base for technology driven financial models while aligning with international standards.
• Additional policy context appears in the Federal Department of Finance release.

This deadline forces teams that rely on Switzerland for issuance or operations to lock in licensing and controls early. Partners will push for clear governance, clean reserve treatment, and cross border compliance that holds up under scrutiny.

Bank Of Canada Links Structural Change To Monetary Policy Limits

• The Bank of Canada says Canada is in a period of structural change driven by US trade restrictions, artificial intelligence, and slower population growth.
• Says monetary policy alone cannot offset the structural damage caused by tariffs and cannot target the hardest hit sectors, but it can support demand overall while keeping inflation low and stable.
• Its too early to see a big impact from artificial intelligence on productivity or employment, and it says it will watch the labour market as more Canadian businesses adopt artificial intelligence.

Fintech teams feel this through tighter budgets, higher buyer scrutiny, and more demand for products that raise productivity inside core financial workflows, especially in trade, credit, risk, and compliance.

Federal Reserve Finalizes 2026 Bank Stress Test Scenarios

• The Federal Reserve says 32 banks will face a severe global recession scenario with heightened stress in commercial and residential real estate markets and corporate debt markets.
• The release says the scenario includes the US unemployment rate rising nearly 5.5 percentage points to a peak of 10%.
• The release says the scenario includes about a 30% drop in house prices and a 39% drop in commercial real estate prices.

Stress scenarios push banks to revisit credit appetite, model controls, and operational risk tolerance.

FCA Consultation Closes On Client Categorisation And Conflicts

• The consultation closes on Feb 2, 2026 and targets how firms distinguish between retail and professional clients, including removal of the current quantitative test and a stronger qualitative assessment approach.
• It proposes an alternative wealth assessment and tighter safeguards when clients opt out of retail protections, which can affect onboarding flows, suitability logic, and recordkeeping expectations.
• It proposes to rationalise conflicts of interest rules in SYSC 10 and SYSC 3 to reduce length and complexity while keeping rules clear for firms to interpret and implement.

This deadline matters to fintechs that serve high net worth users, wealth platforms, brokers, and crypto firms that want UK market access. Teams that treat categorisation and conflicts as product logic, not legal text, will cut future remediation cost and speed up institutional partnerships.

OSFI Sets 2026 Consultation Agenda And Confirms LTI Limits

• OSFI launches a six month consultation to consolidate mortgage lending, commercial real estate, and corporate lending guidance into a single credit risk management guideline.
• Starts a nine month consultation on governance and senior leader accountability and flags board level expectations as a resilience issue.
• Says loan to income limits stay in place after its pilot and it says existing Guideline B-20 debt service expectations continue to complement those limits.
• Refines the Liquidity Adequacy Requirements Guideline for 2026 and it announces work on a new guide to administrative monetary penalties.

OSFI sets an execution timetable that forces bank and fintech partners to treat prudential policy as a product requirement. Teams that sell underwriting, credit risk, treasury, or compliance tooling into federally regulated institutions will face tighter questions on governance ownership, model controls, and liquidity evidence.

Market Infrastructure

Corp Fin Updates Filing Processing During Government Shutdown

• A limited staff footprint remains for fee calculation questions and emergency filing relief through a dedicated email address, while staff stops responding to other questions.
• EDGAR continues to accept filings, but staff will not declare registration statements effective and will not qualify Form 1-A offering statements during the shutdown.
• Deals that depend on staff action now carry added timing risk even when teams keep filings moving.

This creates a real bottleneck for financings and time sensitive filings. Operators win time when they build buffer into launch plans, keep disclosure ready ahead of pricing, and avoid dependencies on last minute staff action.

Conclusion

Stablecoin rewards now sit in the middle of a real fight between banks and crypto firms, and that fight can decide how fast regulated buyers adopt stablecoin rails. In Canada, CIRO puts sharper expectations on digital asset custody, which raises the bar on contracts, segregation, and proof of control for any platform that wants to scale. In the UK, the payments roadmap starts to look like a build plan, not a wish list, and conduct rules keep moving into onboarding logic and product decisions. This week rewards teams that treat controls and governance as part of the product, because that is what buyers need before they expand distribution, and tokenized assets like tokenized gold now face the same test, prove custody, prove redemption, and prove who carries responsibility when real value moves across platforms.

NCFA offers various curated resources to help founders and investors stay current on developments that impact fintech markets, subscribe to NCFA’s weekly newsletter, view a rundown of current fintech news and insights, or dive into the latest fintech industry research.

The National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association (NCFA Canada) is a financial innovation ecosystem that provides education, market intelligence, industry stewardship, networking and funding opportunities and services to thousands of community members and works closely with industry, government, partners and affiliates to create a vibrant and innovative fintech and funding industry in Canada. Decentralized and distributed, NCFA is engaged with global stakeholders and helps incubate projects and investment in fintech, alternative finance, crowdfunding, peer-to-peer finance, payments, digital assets and tokens, artificial intelligence, blockchain, cryptocurrency, regtech, and insurtech sectors. Join Canada's Fintech & Funding Community today FREE! Or become a contributing member and get perks. For more information, please visit: www.ncfacanada.org

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January 30, 2026 | NCFA Fintech Whisperer Weekly Intelligence | Payments And Money Movement, Artificial Intelligence And Data, Capital Markets And Market Infrastructure, Digital Assets Blockchain And Tokenization, Open Banking Open Finance And Data Sharing

Image: Freepik

This live weekly NCFA intelligence page tracks financial technology developments that significantly affect how fintechs build, sell, raise capital, and operate under scrutiny. Coverage prioritizes Canada and includes global events that directly influence competitive conditions, market access, and execution realities across fintech sectors.  This page will be updated throughout the week with market movers in a live format and then each week we'll close the prior week's contents in prep for the upcoming week, and continue on a rolling basis.  (Missed prior week's Fintech Whisperer?  (December 6-12, 2025, December 13-19, 2025, January 1-9, 2026, January 10-16, 2026, January 17-23, 2026)

Weekly Fintech Market Intelligence Jan 24-30, 2026

Open Banking Open Finance And Data Sharing

UK Open Banking Reaches 351 Million Annual Payments

• Open Banking Limited reported 351 million open banking payments during 2025, an increase of 57% from the previous year.
• Sweeping Variable Recurring Payment volumes increased 98%, while single domestic payments grew 52%.
• The ecosystem processed 24 billion successful API calls, up 27%. Account information services represented approximately four out of five calls, while payment initiation activity increased 53%.
• Monthly user connections reached 16.5 million in December, up 36%, although connections are counted by bank brand and are not deduplicated individuals.
• Weighted availability remained above 99.50% throughout the year, while average response time improved to 324 milliseconds.

Payment activity, API demand and recurring use increased while system performance remained stable. The figures establish an operating benchmark for countries building open banking around data access, payment initiation and commercial services. The later one billion payment milestone shows how quickly that base continued to expand.

Payments And Money Movement

Payments Canada Welcomes Five New PSP Members

• Payments Canada adds five payment service provider members: Brim Financial, Float Financial, KOHO, Paramount Commerce, and Wise Payments Canada.
• The announcement ties PSP membership to payments modernization work, including the Real Time Rail public policy framework.
• The update expands which non bank platforms can participate directly in national payments infrastructure instead of relying only on partner sponsorship and indirect access.

Once a PSP can join the payments club directly, it can cut onboarding friction, tighten settlement and reconciliation, and show stronger operational maturity to banks, enterprise buyers, and regulators. Founders that treat membership readiness as an operating system will move faster when big partners demand proof. Investors should watch which PSPs turn access into volume and repeatable unit economics, not just press.

AI In Finance

FCA Opens Mills Review Call For Input On AI In Retail Finance

• The call for input sets out a review of AI's long-term impact on retail financial services for consumers, firms, markets, and regulators by 2030 and beyond, and seeks views across 4 interrelated and future-orientated themes: (1) Evolution of AI tech, (2) Impact of AI on markets and firms, (3) Consumer trends, and  (4) Regulatory approach.
• The statement says FCA does not plan to introduce extra regulations and intends to rely on existing principles based frameworks focused on outcomes.
• Asks for input from a wide set of stakeholders, including financial firms, consumer groups, trade associations, technology providers, politicians, and academics, and requests responses by Tuesday Feb 24, 2026.

This is a planning signal for how the UK approaches AI in retail finance. Firms that sell into regulated buyers win time if they can show who owns outcomes, how models get tested, and how controls work across vendors and data flows. Teams that cannot evidence that quickly will find AI work slows down at the point of trust, not the point of build.

Market Infrastructure

SEC And CFTC Kick Off Project Crypto Coordination

• The remarks describe a joint effort between the SEC and CFTC that aims to prepare both agencies to implement crypto market structure legislation as Congress advances a federal framework.
• They tie the need for coordination to real operating reality, since trading, clearing, custody, and risk management run across asset classes, technologies, and platforms.
• Frame harmonized standards and definitions as a way to reduce uncertainty and compliance cost for market participants.

This matters to fintechs that sell into regulated buyers because coordination changes the buyer checklist. The winners standardize controls and reporting across spot, derivatives, custody, and settlement workflows so they do not rebuild the stack every time definitions and boundaries tighten.

Tokenized Securities Get A Clear Compliance Map

• The statement defines a tokenized security as a security represented as a crypto asset where the record of ownership sits in whole or in part on or through one or more crypto networks.
• The SEC groups tokenized securities into issuer sponsored tokenization and third party tokenization, and it describes third party models that include custodial tokenized securities and synthetic tokenized securities.
• The statement says the format does not change how federal securities laws apply and it points teams toward existing market roles for issuance, trading, custody, and recordkeeping, including The Depository Trust Company no action letter dated Dec 11, 2025 as context on indirect ownership and security entitlements.

This takes tokenization out of the hype lane and into build discipline. If you sell tokenized security rails to real institutions, you win deals when you answer the hard questions fast, who controls the record, how transfers stay legally effective, and where the product plugs into broker dealer, transfer agent, and clearing and settlement expectations.

Checkout.com Acquires Euro Stablecoin Issuer Blue EMI

• Checkout.com acquires Blue EMI, a regulated European electronic money institution authorized to issue euro-backed stablecoins.
• The acquisition brings licensed stablecoin issuance, payments services, and open banking capabilities inside Checkout.com’s platform.
• Checkout.com also establishes a technology centre in Lithuania to support product development and regulatory execution across Europe.

This move embeds regulated stablecoin issuance directly into a global payments platform instead of leaving it at the edge. When stablecoins sit inside licensed EMI rails, settlement, liquidity management, and compliance become part of the core payments stack. Founders building wallets, FX, treasury, or cross border infrastructure should expect buyers to favor platforms that combine regulated issuance with distribution at scale.

Nomura Backed Laser Digital Applies For US National Trust Bank Charter

• Laser Digital, backed by Nomura, applies for a US national trust bank charter with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.
• A national trust charter would allow federally supervised crypto custody and related services without state by state licensing.
• The application reflects a broader push by digital asset firms toward federal charters as a path to durable US market access.

A federal trust structure offers nationwide reach, clearer supervision, and stronger institutional credibility. Fintechs selling custody, settlement, compliance, or risk tooling should prepare for customers that operate under bank grade expectations. Investors should watch which applicants can survive the supervision burden that comes with federal status.

FCA Consults On Crypto Rules Handbook Part 2

• The consultation opens Jan 23, 2026 and closes Mar 12, 2026, and it sets proposed rules and guidance for firms that conduct regulated cryptoasset activities.
• The package lists requirements that cover Consumer Duty, conduct standards, training and competence, senior manager accountability, reporting, safeguarding, and location policy guidance, with the full details in CP26/4 consultation paper PDF.
• The consultation states that the regulator plans to open its gateway for firms to apply for cryptoasset permissions in September 2026.

This pulls crypto compliance into product planning. Teams that want UK market access move faster when they convert these rule areas into workflows early, especially safeguarding, reporting, and accountable ownership across senior roles.

Conclusion

Payments access expands in Canada while regulators in the UK and US push firms toward clearer accountability in AI, crypto, and tokenized securities. The common thread is execution readiness. Buyers now ask who owns the record, who controls outcomes, and how a platform proves it can operate under supervision without slowing down. Fintechs that build for audit, governance, and market access early earn trust faster and avoid costly rebuilds when rules tighten around custody, settlement, and consumer outcomes. NCFA offers various curated resources to help founders and investors stay current on developments that impact fintech markets, subscribe to NCFA’s weekly newsletter, view a rundown of current fintech news and insights, or dive into the latest fintech industry research.

The National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association (NCFA Canada) is a financial innovation ecosystem that provides education, market intelligence, industry stewardship, networking and funding opportunities and services to thousands of community members and works closely with industry, government, partners and affiliates to create a vibrant and innovative fintech and funding industry in Canada. Decentralized and distributed, NCFA is engaged with global stakeholders and helps incubate projects and investment in fintech, alternative finance, crowdfunding, peer-to-peer finance, payments, digital assets and tokens, artificial intelligence, blockchain, cryptocurrency, regtech, and insurtech sectors. Join Canada's Fintech & Funding Community today FREE! Or become a contributing member and get perks. For more information, please visit: www.ncfacanada.org

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