Payment Expert’s Fintech Unwrapped delivers the latest and developing news that has shaped the sector over the course of the week.
This week, Visa rolled out a new payment authorisation solution designed for merchants looking to modernise their infrastructure to prepare for new innovations.
Also this week, Stripe’s Tempo blockchain for stablecoin payments adds an agentic layer, Zopa recorded a profit again, Mollie launched its new payment terminal in the UK, and Apex is the latest to find value in tokenisation.
Visa intends to accelerate payment process for acquirers
Visa is aiming to modernise the payment process for acquirers after announcing the launch of Visa Intelligent Authorisation on 19 March.
Processing merchant transactions through a single API, the new solution for acquirers, and other financial institutions that process merchant payments, which can deliver 99.99% uptime and an average approval rate of over 96% for global payments.
The product’s machine learning engine analyses transaction data in real-time to help routing decisions based on network rules, industry programmes and regional regulations. It also provides instant risk alerts and a centralised portal with an analytics dashboard.
Axel Boye‑Moller, Head of Value‑Added Services for Asia Pacific at Visa, said: “We’re entering a new era of commerce, where AI agents can act on behalf of consumers, stablecoins are reshaping settlement, and digital wallets are becoming the primary interface for payments. The opportunity is significant. But much of today’s infrastructure was built for a different generation of transactions.
“Visa Intelligent Authorisation is designed for this shift, delivering smarter decisioning across networks through a single integration. It is built for what’s happening now, and what’s coming next.”
Stripe’ Tempo blockchain adds agentic payments
Stripe’s Layer-1 blockchain payment rail, Tempo, integrated a new AI service on 18 March to perform agent-to-agent transactions, removing the need for manual processing.
The Machine Payments Protocol enables Tempo to process agentic transactions as the emergence of agentic commerce has consumers shifting to agents to assist them throughout the commerce experience.
Beyond the AI agent integration, Tempo has now been brought out of testing and into live usage. Testing began in December which included the participation of several major companies, such as Nubank, Revolut, Deutsche Bank, Standard Chartered, Kalshi, Mastercard, Visa and Klarna.
Now fully operational, Tempo seeks to facilitate on-chain payments for financial services and institutions, as well as tokenised deposits and micro-payments offering lower remittances and near-instant settlement.
“Stablecoins make it possible to move value across borders with instant settlement and continuous availability. But most existing blockchains were not designed for large-scale payment workloads. Fees fluctuate, throughput is limited, and transaction structures are poorly suited to common payment flows,” said a Tempo blog post.
Zopa posts third consecutive profitable year
UK digital bank Zopa has posted a £65m pre-tax profit for the 2025 financial year, its third consecutive year of profitability.
Over the period, the bank’s deposit base grew 17% to £6.4bn, while gross loans increased by 23% to £3.8bn. Due to an ongoing focus on cost efficiency, Zopa reported a cost-to-income ratio of 34.8% through this period of growth.
As a result, Zopa’s revenue increased 24% to £377m in 2025 and total operating income climbed 21% to £359m. The bank’s customer base grew to 1.7 million after onboarding more than half a million new customers last year.
“Unlike much of the industry, we continue to place significant emphasis on rewarding loyalty, and the deepening of customer relationships has been the strongest indicator of our progress towards establishing the Home of Money, a place that makes customers feel at home with their finances,” said Jaidev Janardana, CEO at Zopa Bank.
Mollie’s ‘Tap’ to streamline UK SMB payments
Mollie launched Tap to Pay in the UK on 18 March and a contactless payment terminal that connects to a standalone app, titled ‘Tap’.
Mollie’s Tap service is designed for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), with the physical terminal using NFC to enable contactless payments from smartphones. It is also Android compatible, supporting additional business tools such as digital receipts via email or SMS, tipping, automated end-of-day reports, and transaction history.
Dave Smallwood, UK and Ireland Managing Director of Mollie, said: “With Tap, we’re giving UK businesses the flexibility to accept payments wherever they are, whether that’s on their phone or with a dedicated terminal.
“This is a key step in strengthening Mollie’s presence in the UK and supporting the growth of local businesses with simple, reliable payment solutions. We are excited to see how this expansion will empower British businesses of all sizes.”
The launch also marks Mollie’s first proprietary payment terminal, shifting into hardware while building on its broader software ecosystem.
Apex leverages tokenisation for compliance excellence
Apex Group will adopt the multi-chain orchestration platform, T-REX Ledger, to push its strategy into tokenised assets.
With more than $3.5 trillion in assets, Apex revealed in its release on 19 March it intends to bring its tokenised assets total value to $100bn by June 2027 by leveraging the T-REX ledger.
Apex will adopt a cross-chain orchestration layer to help the company streamline its compliance records by performing real-time queries when tokenised assets are distributed.
Peter Hughes, Founder and CEO of Apex Group, said: “Tokenisation opens the door to a new generation of distribution channels for asset managers across an increasingly diverse blockchain ecosystem.
“What has been missing is a neutral orchestration layer that whitelists investor identity and brings clarity to KYC and AML across these networks, so transfer agents can maintain the governance and regulatory integrity that regulated markets require.
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