35 Million Users Later, Bre-B Sets Its Sights on B2B Payments
Hey Payments Fanatic!
Bre-B, the Colombia's real-time network, has already crossed 35.5 million users and 1.32 billion transactions in a country of 52 million people. That's serious market penetration!
But that's not today's highlight. Bre-B is preparing for the next phase.
Bre-B is moving into business payments and collections, which will give companies the ability to receive money from any bank or digital wallet, with immediate availability, automatic reconciliation, and 24/7 settlement.
Colombian banks are already racing to win enterprise clients. AV Villas is targeting 17,000 businesses, BBVA is expanding acceptance across 30,000 merchants with Credibanco, and Bancolombia and Davivienda are building out B2B solutions with interoperable QR codes.
This is the same playbook Pix and UPI ran: Consumer adoption first, then commercial flows where the real volumes live. Bre-B is right on schedule.
And there's a cherry on top: the next phase could connect Bre-B to international systems for immediate cross-border transfers. Worth watching closely.
Scroll down for more π See you tomorrow!
Cheers,
INSIGHTS
π 74% of finance leaders prioritise AI, yet ambition is outpacing adoption. New research from Airwallex, based on a Forrester Consulting survey of 1,279 senior finance leaders across 11 markets, finds 90% plan to increase AI investment over the next year, yet 35% don't intend to extend it into more workflows. Read the full report here
π₯ dLocal unpacks what global merchants get wrong about Asia-Pacific in a special edition of its Investor Relations podcast, dLocal Insights. New APAC CEO Yang Yang Zhang joined VP of Corporate Affairs Ed Aitken to discuss how customers actually pay across the region's fragmented ecosystem. Watch the full session here
NEWS
πΊπΈ zerohash adds support for Robinhood Chain and USDG (Global Dollar) deployed on the network. Partners can now access the AI-native Layer 2 blockchain without building underlying technical or regulatory infrastructure themselves.
π¨π΄ Bre-B shifts focus to enterprise payments as Colombian banks compete for corporate and merchant clients. The platform now exceeds 35.5 million users and 1.32 billion transactions, with banks deploying interoperable QR codes and instant settlement tools for businesses.
π¨π΄ Qatar's Rasmal Ventures backs Yuno's $45 million Series B, as the payments infrastructure firm establishes Qatar as its GCC hub. The round was led by Global PayTech Ventures with participation from Andreessen Horowitz and Tiger Global among others.
πΊπΈ Rain acquires Ansa for stored value solution, adding branded wallet and closed-loop payment capabilities. The deal lets Rain partners offer prefunded wallets with rewards and multi-location card access through a single platform.
πΊπΈ Square Credit Card levels up with rewards built for small businesses and a new way to pay vendors. Block's Square card now offers tailored cashback rewards and vendor payment capabilities designed for its seller base.
π΅π± PPRO partners with BLIK to enable agentic commerce for local payments in Poland. The collaboration builds one of the first local payment method frameworks for agent-initiated transactions, as AI agents are projected to drive up to 15% of European e-commerce by 2030.
π³π± Mews secures the first emoney license held by a hospitality operating system. De Nederlandsche Bank granted the EMI license, enabling Mews to unify payment services and financial workflows within its hotel platform across the EEA, building on $19.7B in transaction value.
πΊπΈ Sionic launches Instant Bank Pay in the U.S. through Microsoft Marketplace. The product enables businesses to accept real-time account-to-account payments via the Azure ecosystem without traditional card rails.
πΈπ¦ Spare partners Tabadulat to enable Pay-by-Bank funding for investment accounts. The integration allows investors in Saudi Arabia to fund accounts directly from bank rails without manual transfers or card payments.
π Visa's Q3 FY26 showed resilient spending and strong cross-border growth, lifting net revenue 14% to $11.6 billion. The company posted double-digit gains in transactions and earnings while advancing its push into AI commerce, travel, and commercial payments.

π Modupay and Yabx forge strategic alliance to build digital lending rails across the Middle East and Africa. The partnership integrates Yabx's AI-powered credit decisioning platform with Modupay's issuing and processing capabilities. It will enable banks and fintechs to offer unsecured nano-credit and installment loans through digital wallets, banking apps, and agent channels.
π°πΎ Morph launches Morph Payments to help businesses thrive in the stablecoin economy. The non-custodial platform lets businesses accept and send stablecoin payments with direct on-chain settlement to self-custodial wallets, keeping full control of funds.
π¬π§ Bank of England expands digital pound pilot with stablecoins for cross-border finance. Phase 2 tests whether public stablecoin infrastructure and central bank money can coexist in a single trade finance payment flow, working with Polygon Labs and NOBO Finance.
πΊπΈ Flywire expands open banking payments support in the U.S. and Canada with Trustly. The partnership enables payers to securely authorize large payments directly from bank accounts without entering bank details manually.
π³π¬ Verto selects Flagright for real-time transaction monitoring across its global payments infrastructure. Verto processes 25B+ payments annually and will use Flagright to monitor risk and run auditable investigations at scale.
π¬π§ Equals appoints Edward Chandler as COO, strengthening its executive leadership team. Chandler joins the international payments company to oversee operations as it scales its cross-border and FX services.
πΊπΈ KAST names Stripe veteran Connor Fitzgerald to lead its U.S. business. Fitzgerald brings deep payments experience from Stripe to the crypto card company's American expansion as it scales stateside.
πΊπΈ Jennifer Bailey to retire after leading Apple Pay since its 2014 launch. Bailey oversaw Apple Pay, Apple Wallet, and Apple Card development across more than a decade at the company, shaping mobile payments for millions of users globally.
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