🇺🇸 Kalshi Will Pay Up To $120,000 To Study GTA VI’s Economy And Stream It To Young Men
We’re also covering Fintel finding 72% of AI bank picks come from affiliates 🇨🇦, Paraguay’s 40% cashback bank going bust 🇵🇾, Cash App’s 9 month ad payback 🇺🇸 & Mercury vs banks on AI agents 🇺🇸
Before you dig deeper, I wanted to give you some updates about the newsletter. I just updated the fintech conferences calendar. Also, I will always add the next few ones at the end of this newsletter, along with the exclusive discounts I negotiated on your behalf!
I just launched a new fintech growth job board, so I will also make a habit of listing a few interesting remote roles at the end of the newsletter.
🇺🇸 Kalshi Will Pay Up To $120,000 To Study GTA VI’s Economy And Stream It To Young Men
Kalshi will pay someone up to $120,000 to play GTA VI. The US prediction market’s growth team posted a “GTA VI Researcher” contract on LinkedIn starting at midnight on November 19. Most duties are content: “Stream on Twitch or YouTube”, plus a “State of the Leonida Economy address” and a “weekly research report.” “Live, and breathe GTA6 on release and provide real economic data and insights IRL and in Vice City,” wrote Head of Growth Chris Tanasescu, per iGaming Expert. Unsurprisingly, recruiter Ryan Conlon‘s listing drew over 200 applicants. Kalshi, which runs multiple GTA VI markets, says about three quarters of its users are men, with a median age of 28. Is a gaming streamer its next acquisition channel?
Source: Fintech Growth Insider
Introducing Flinks Professional Services and Managed Services
SPONSORED - Flinks has launched Professional Services and Managed Services to help financial institutions and fintechs build and run new financial capabilities.
Professional Services scopes and builds capabilities like embedded finance, account opening, investment transfers, payroll switching, and third-party distribution alongside your team. Managed Services runs the infrastructure and operations behind them, from vendor onboarding and fintech ecosystem management to ongoing support.
🇨🇦 Fintel Connect Finds 72% Of AI Bank Recommendations Cite Affiliate Sites
AI chatbots lean on affiliate sites to pick which bank to recommend. Vancouver based Fintel Connect, an affiliate marketing network for financial services, ran 800 non-branded prompts through ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini, collecting 2,400 answers. It found that 72% of answers recommending a brand cited at least one affiliate page, with NerdWallet, Bankrate, Forbes Advisor, WalletHub and Experian making up 51.9% of affiliate citations. Decision stage prompts triggered live web retrieval 90.3% of the time, versus 8.8% for awareness questions, and banks whose own pages were retrieved got recommended first 24.5% of the time, against 15.3% for the rest.
Sources: The Financial Brand & PR Newswire
🇺🇸 Chime Sneaks Into Workday To Chase Paychecks At Fortune 500 Companies
Chime is plugging straight into America’s paychecks. The US neobank now lets employees of Workday customers, a group that includes more than 65% of the Fortune 500, pick Chime for direct deposit inside Workday, at no cost to employers. “A paycheck is the starting point for financial progress,” said Bill Gartland (pictured above), Vice President of Chime Enterprise. The timing fits a push upmarket. On the November 4 earnings call, CEO Chris Britt said members earning $75,000 or more “continue to be our fastest-growing segment of new enrollments,” as Chime widens its target to Americans earning up to $200,000. That’s a big shift for a bank whose members Britt once described as people who “make $40,000 or $50,000 a year”.
Sources: Business Wire & PYMNTS
🇺🇸 Cash App earns back its marketing spend in under nine months
Block’s third quarter shareholder letter says Cash App’s paid marketing and referrals paid back in under three quarters during the first nine months of 2026. Neighborhoods, a rewards network linking Square merchants with consumers, helped Cash App reach 60 million monthly transacting actives in September. Block also turned payroll into a channel, letting eligible Workday employees pick Cash App for direct deposit during onboarding (like Chime). The letter, signed by CEO Jack Dorsey and CFO Amrita Ahuja (pictured above), says Cash App grew by “developing unique ways to reach customers who want to try our product, and consistently delivering more value to them through product innovation”.
Sources: Block Q3 2026 shareholder letter, Reuters via Investing.com & Fintech Growth Insider
🇮🇳 Ujjivan Lets New Customers Open A Savings Account Inside WhatsApp
Ujjivan Small Finance Bank just turned WhatsApp into a branch. The Indian lender now lets eligible new customers open a savings account entirely inside WhatsApp, skipping the app download. Customers say “Hi,” verify their mobile number and PAN, have their CKYC or Aadhaar details checked and prefilled, pick an account, fund it and finish video KYC in the chat. More than 15 lakh, or 1.5 million, customers already use Ujjivan’s WhatsApp banking, which handles 22% of the bank’s service requests, and the bank calls it an important customer acquisition channel. “Ujjivan’s WhatsApp Banking journey gives customers the ability to access the bank on a platform that is already part of their daily lives,” said Carol Furtado (pictured above), Interim CEO and Executive Director.
Sources: The Covai Mail
🇵🇾 Neobank Ueno Collapses After Promising Paraguayans 40% Cashback
Paraguay’s cashback bank just collapsed. The Central Bank of Paraguay took over Ueno Bank on November 3 and began liquidation, freezing accounts at a three year old digital lender used by nearly three million people, about 60% of the country’s adults. A leaked central bank probe found loans without adequate guarantees to companies tied to owner Grupo Vázquez. President Santiago Peña, a former shareholder, was removed, and central bank president Carlos Carvallo (pictured above), Ueno’s former chairman, resigned. Ueno’s headline 40% cashback applied at partner stores, with refunds capped at 1.6 million guaraníes (266 USD) a month for Black cardholders with 450 million guaraníes (75,000 USD) in term deposits. The bank also bought its way into football, naming Paraguay’s top division, sitting on Olimpia and Cerro Porteño shirts and signing a 12 million USD deal with the national federation.
Sources: El País English & NPR
🇺🇸 Mercury Rolls Out The Red Carpet For AI Agents While Big Banks Slam The Door
Banks are picking sides on AI agents. Mercury launched Agent Controls, letting customers connect AI agents through its MCP server, cap what each can do and cut it off in seconds, with a human approving every payment. “Big banks are locking AI agents out. It’s bad security, and an admission they don’t understand the future,” wrote CEO Immad Akhund (pictured above), adding that new MCP users tripled from August to October. Charles Schwab is making the same bet, piloting its own MCP server with Claude. RBC, TD and BMO went the other way and now block personal AI agents, as does JPMorgan Chase. “If AI is going to move beyond the frontier and into the broader economy, trust will matter as much as capability,” RBC CEO Dave McKay wrote. One camp treats agents as a risk to shut out, the other as a new front door. If Gen Z ends up running its money through chatbots, could being agent friendly become an acquisition edge?
Sources: Fintech Growth Insider
🇨🇦 Wise Pitches Its New Chequing Account To Canadian Newcomers With Angry Geese And Hockey Jokes
Wise is welcoming newcomers to Canada with angry geese. The money transfer company launched a three ads by agency Little Big Engine for its new Canadian Chequing Account, built around the culture shocks newcomers face: an aggressive goose, an overly apologetic hockey player and a puffy winter coat stuck in a doorway. The spots, vetted by newcomers according to Campaign Canada, target immigrants and long term residents with financial ties abroad, showing how they can get paid in CAD and other currencies, send money and spend with the Wise Card. “We have extended the ‘Be Smart. Get Wise’ creative platform to speak directly to newcomers to Canada,” said Matt White (pictured above), head of strategy and planning at Wise. It runs until mid-December on connected TV, Meta, YouTube, Reddit and TikTok.
Sources: LBB Online & Campaign Canada
🇧🇷 Fintech Ad of The Week: Nubank Puts Patrick Dempsey on a Track That Builds Itself to Sell Ultravioleta
Brazil-based digital bank Nubank has cast actor and professional racing driver Patrick Dempsey in the lead ad of a new campaign for Nubank Ultravioleta, its full-service account for high-income customers. Created by the Nubank Creative Hub with production company Stink, the spot shows a driver racing along a track that is built in front of him while the Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team guides him, until the setting reveals a slot-car world. The idea is simple: a team takes care of the details behind the scenes so the driver can focus on the race, just as Ultravioleta promises 24/7 human support and personalized investment recommendations. Juliana Roschel, Nubank’s VP of Marketing and Growth, said the bank wants customers to know the account “supports their entire financial journey and anticipates their needs.”
Source: Fintech Growth Insider
Upcoming Fintech Events
🇬🇧 Solana Breakpoint will take place from November 15 to 17, 2026, in London, United Kingdom, with tickets priced between $100 and $550.
🇺🇸 American Fintech Council Policy Summit will take place on November 17, 2026, in Washington DC, United States, with tickets priced between $562 and $1,015.
🇺🇸 FinRegLab AI Symposium will take place from November 18 to 19, 2026, in Washington DC, United States, with tickets priced between $99 and $699.
🇷🇼 Africa Fintech Summit Kigali will take place from November 18 to 20, 2026, in Kigali, Rwanda, with tickets priced between $150 and $300.
🇸🇬 Singapore Fintech Festival will take place from November 18 to 20, 2026, in Singapore, with tickets priced between $295 and $4,695.
🇨🇾 NextGen Payments & RegTech Forum will take place on November 19, 2026, in Limassol, Cyprus, with tickets priced at $445. (🚨 FGI Exclusive Offer: Save 10% with the code qube10)
🇺🇸 Regtech Summit NYC will take place on November 19, 2026, in New York City, United States, with tickets priced at $996.
🇺🇸 Fintech Nerdcon will take place from November 19 to 20, 2026, in San Diego, United States, with tickets priced between $999 and $2,000. (🚨 FGI Exclusive Offer: Save 25% on tickets using the FGI26 promo code)
🇩🇪 Regtech Convention will take place from November 23 to 26, 2026, in Frankfurt, Germany.
🇬🇧 Finance Magnates Summit London will take place on November 24, 2026, in London, United Kingdom.
See all 200+ events in our Global Fintech Conferences Calendar.
Remote Growth & Product Jobs
From our sister site Fintech Growth Jobs, remote roles open in more than one country, ranked by top of the listed pay range:
🇺🇸 Head of Product, Business Banking at Mercury: $289,700 to $362,100. Remote, open in Canada and the United States.
🇺🇸 Group Creative Director, Brand Narrative at Mercury: $234,700 to $293,400. Remote, open in Canada and the United States.
🇺🇸 Product Marketing Manager at Found: $170,000 to $230,000. Remote, open in the United States and Canada.
🇨🇦 Director of Field Marketing at Quandri: $140,000 to $160,000 base. Remote, open in Canada and the United States.
🇺🇸 Growth Marketer, Nino at CoinTracker: $122,315 to $143,900. Remote, open in the United States and Canada.
Discussion about this post