Payment Expert’s Fintech Unwrapped delivers the latest developing news that has shaped the sector over the course of the last week.
This week, Nubank has agreed a deal to acquire a Brazilian bank with 31 million customers, meaning it will now become one of the largest financial institutions in the country.
Also this week, Amazon extended its buy-now-pay-later partnership with Affirm, Santander makes an announcement on recent UK branch closures, LemFi and BVNK to help diasporas with stablecoins, and Juspay is enabling smoother subscription payments.
Nubank’s Brazilian business just got bigger
Nubank has expanded its presence in Brazil following the acquisition of Brazilian bank Banco Porto Real de Investimentos.
Announced 20 July, Nubank’s acquisition of Banco Porto Real is subject to approval from the Central Bank of Brazil. The Latin America digital bank will acquire the Banco Porto Real’s banking licences, enabling Nubank to offer its payments, credit financing and investment services.
The takeover will also see Nubank add Banco Porto Real’s 31 million customers to its existing 115 million Brazilian customer base, making it one of the largest financial institutions in the country.
David Vélez, Founder and Global CEO of Nubank, said: “Brazil is where Nubank was born, grew, and proved that fairer, simpler financial services are possible at scale. Thirteen years later, it remains our main focus, a market where we can still significantly expand our share and continue driving the transformation of the sector.”
The acquisition follows Nubank’s recent boardroom consolidation strategy it announced last week. The digital bank announced Livia Chanes will become Nubank’s new Latin America CEO to focus on streamlining all of its operations in the region.
Amazon extends Affirm deal to offer pay-over-time to businesses
Affirm will provide its buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) pay-over-time payment methods for companies using Amazon Business.
Amazon Business customers can split the total cost of eligible purchases and pay over time with Affirm, which comes with no late or hidden fees.
Affirm will be available at the checkout which can be selected by entering the registered business name and business address. Small business owners will also receive an instant credit decision and if approved, they can select from pay-over-time options of three-to-48 months.
Todd Heimes, Director of Amazon Business Worldwide, said: “We’re constantly striving to make Amazon Business the best place for small businesses to fulfill their buying needs. Integrating Affirm as a payment option helps us do just that, while providing more flexibility and convenience to our customers.”
Amazon Business started to roll out Affirm’s pay-over-time earlier this week to eligible sole proprietor businesses. The new payment option will be available at checkout to all eligible Amazon Business sole proprietor customers by Black Friday in November 2026.
Santander to halt UK branch closures
Santander UK has committed to not closing any more UK branches until 2028 as it looks to integrate TSB’s branches and services following its acquisition in July 2025.
The bank has agreed to keep 305 Santander branches open, as well as 175 TSB sites over the next two years. This comes following Santander UK closing 44 branches in January 2026.
Mahesh Aditya, CEO of Santander UK, said: “As we integrate TSB with Santander UK, our ambition for customers is to combine leading digital services with the personal support they value, helping us to create the best bank for customers in the UK.
“I see branches as an important part of our strategy and do not intend to close any additional Santander or TSB branches before 2028 at the earliest, alongside our continued commitment to invest in modernising our network and to introduce new work cafes.”
BVNK and LemFi to modernise cross-border rails with stablecoins
BVNK and LemFi struck a new partnership on 21 July that aims to bring cross-border stablecoin payment capabilities to diaspora’s across the world.
LemFi will bring its cross-border payments services onto BVNK’s stablecoin infrastructure rails, enabling local currency conversions upon settlement and providing a cost-effective solution for diaspora customers.
At the heart of the partnership is to rebuild cross-border payment rails that have relied on decades-old infrastructure. Both companies aim to deliver instantaneous settlement at a fraction of the cost it would be on traditional systems, such as Swift.
Ridwan Olalere, Co-Founder and CEO of LemFi, said: “The money that crosses borders still moves on rails built decades ago— slow, expensive, and quietly taxing the people who can least afford it.
“We’re rebuilding those rails. Stablecoins let us settle near instantly and take out costs; BVNK gives us the infrastructure to do it safely and at scale. It’s the start of something bigger that the financial system and the diaspora economy should have had all along.”
Juspay and Recurly to create seamless subscription payments
Juspay is embedding its orchestration platform to reduce subscription and recurring payment failures for Recurly merchants in its latest partnership.
Both companies are aiming to address the friction of churn and the payment process of subscription payments by protecting merchant revenues with the use of Juspay’s solution Hyperswitch.
The open-source orchestration service supports integration with over 300 payment service providers and acquirers globally, allowing Recurly to activate new payment methods for merchants.
For the end user, this helps create a frictionless checkout experience and the ability to transact using their preferred payment methods.
Matt Healey, Director of Product Partnerships at Juspay, said: “Subscription businesses need a payment infrastructure that is reliable and built to scale. Through Hyperswitch, we enable merchants to reduce payment friction, and expand into new markets without rebuilding their payment stack from scratch.
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