Plaid Buys Fintech Newsletter This Week in Fintech to Build a Bloomberg for the Fintech Industry 🇺🇸
We're also covering Experian's new ChatGPT tool 🇬🇧, Airwallex's Europe invasion 🇸🇬, Plaid serving coffees in NYC 🇺🇸 , OKX's AI growth engine 🇺🇸 & an AI agent to end financial stress 🇺🇸
🇺🇸 Plaid Buys Fintech Newsletter This Week in Fintech to Build a Bloomberg for the Fintech Industry
Plaid, the 8 billion fintech that became synonymous with bank account connections, has acquired This Week in Fintech, a fintech newsletter with 200,000 subscribers. The acquisition price was not disclosed, but founder Nik Milanović (pictured above) will continue running the publication with expanded resources.
In an interview with Cambrian managing partner Rex Salisbury following the sale, Milanović compared his ambitions for TWIF to the Bloomberg media division, wanting to move from summarizing fintech news to breaking them: “The amount of breaking fintech news coverage has really dropped. [… Meanwhile, fintech] doesn’t get the same coverage that it used to.”
Milanović founded TWIF in 2019 as a side hustle while working as VP at credit card fintech Petal and later as head of business development at Google Play. He then turned it into his almost full-time gig in 2022, when he launched his own venture firm, The Fintech Fund.
This acquisition mirrors a broader trend of companies investing in newsletters to reach new audiences. Robinhood famously acquired the MarketSnacks newsletter (now Snacks) in 2019 to engage its retail investing audience, while HubSpot bought The Hustle newsletter for $27M in 2021. For Plaid, whose customers are decision-makers working in fintech, owning the industry’s most-read newsletter is a direct line to its core audience.
Growth metric: 200,000 subscribers
Founded in 2019, This Week in Fintech send its newsletters to more than 200,000 free subscribers.
Source: Fintech Growth Insider
🌐 Fintech CEOs Who Post Video Are Winning the Attention Game
Video is where attention has moved and most fintech CEOs are leaving it on the table.
Running a company is a full-time job, and producing video consistently never makes the priority list.
Fintech Growth Circle fixes that.
You join a 15-minute weekly call with Julien Brault, come empty-handed, and we handle everything: the ideas, the editing, the production. You get three short vertical videos, captioned and optimized for mobile, ready for your team to post.
Every clip also gets distributed to both Julien Brault’s and Fintech Growth Insider’s social channels.
Consistent video presence without adding headcount or clearing your calendar.
Spots are limited and applications are reviewed manually.
🇬🇧 One of UK’s Credit Bureau Is Building a Financial Services Suite Inside ChatGPT, One Tool at a Time
Credit bureau Experian has launched a tool inside ChatGPT allowing UK users to see average credit scores broken down by postcode area and age group, giving people a benchmark to understand how their score compare to others. Users who want a personalised score are routed directly to Experian’s own platform to complete the process.
Experian, led by CEO Brian Cassin (pictured above), notes that 18 to 34 year olds make up more than half of ChatGPT’s user base but are among the least likely to have checked their credit score. Rather than waiting for that audience to search for financial products, Experian is meeting them inside a platform they already use daily.
The launch follows Experian’s February rollout of an insurance marketplace app inside ChatGPT for US users, which allows consumers to compare estimated rates from more than 37 auto insurance carriers through a conversational interface.
ChatGPT has reached 900 million weekly active users and 50 million paying subscribers , OpenAI announced back in February 2026.
Growth metric: 50%+ of ChatGPT users aged 18 to 34
Experian identified ChatGPT’s young adult user base as a key untapped segment, with 18 to 34 year olds making up more than half of the platform’s users globally.
Sources: Fintech Growth Insider & Finextra
🇺🇸 OKX Turned a Six-Person Team Into a 200-Article-a-Month Content Machine, Thanks to AI
US based crypto exchange OKX scaled its editorial output twentyfold in under a year and its CMO says writing skills are no longer the most important qualification for content roles.
In a Forbes interview, OKX’s global managing partner and CMO Haider Rafique (pictured above), said the platform’’s editorial and communications team of six people produced around 10 high-quality articles per month before migrating to an AI-assisted content pipeline six to seven months ago. That number is now close to 200, with Haider describing the output as “long tail, high quality.”
The efficiency gains extend beyond content as OKX’s paid advertising team now uses AI-generated static and animated creative, compressing the breakeven timeline on ad spend from 12 months to three. Rafique’s observation about what actually converts was direct as “The ugly thing converts better than the pretty.”
The shift is also showing up in how OKX hires. “It’s not so much about writing skills,” Rafique said, “because ChatGPT can reformat the text and write it in seconds.” What matters now is judgment, knowing what to delegate to AI and what to keep human.
Growth metric: 10 to 200 articles per month
OKX’s editorial team of six scaled content output from 10 to approximately 200 articles per month after adopting an AI-assisted content pipeline
Source: Forbes
🇺🇸 PayPal’s Stablecoin Has Quintupled in a Year
US-based payments giant PayPal, led by CEO Enrique Lores, is expanding access to its dollar-pegged stablecoin PYUSD to 70 countries.
Over the past year, PYUSD’s total market capitalisation has grown from under $1 billion to $4.1 billion, according to CoinGecko. The growth is driven by layering the stablecoin onto PayPal’s existing customer network rather than building a new distribution channel from scratch.
Customers across 70 nations including Uganda, Colombia, and Peru can now hold, send, and receive PYUSD directly in their PayPal wallets, up from just the US and UK previously. Users abroad can also earn rewards on their holdings, mirroring the 4% annual rate available to US customers.
In markets like Peru, PYUSD removes the need to convert funds into local currency on withdrawal. In Malawi, it gives users the option to hold funds inside their PayPal wallet rather than routing transfers automatically to a bank account. Clients using PayPal’s payouts product, including YouTube, can now also choose to receive payments in PYUSD.
Growth metric: $4.1 billion market cap
PYUSD’s total market capitalisation has more than quintupled over the past year, according to CoinGecko.
Source: Fortune
🇺🇸 Plaid Bought 100 New Yorkers a Coffee to Remind Them It Powers Their Banking Apps
US-based open finance platform Plaid took over the West Village location of Fellini Coffee on March 18 as part of its Powered by Plaid campaign.
The activation, dubbed Cafe Plaid, covered drinks for the first 100 guests and handed out branded merchandise. The venue choice was deliberate. Fellini Coffee, which operates five locations across New York City, anchors one of its outlets in the West Village, one of Manhattan’s most iconic neighbourhoods.
Plaid says more than half of Americans with a bank account have used Plaid, with its platform supporting nearly one million new connections each day, yet almost none of those users know the company exists. The Powered by Plaid campaign is a push to change that.
Growth metric: 1 million new Plaid connections daily
Plaid’s platform supports nearly one million new account connections each day, across a network used by more than half of Americans with a bank account.
Source: Fintech Growth Insider
🇺🇸 Rain Launches AI Agent to Fix the Financial Stress Problem That Is Costing US Employers $1.9 Trillion
US-based earned wage access (EWA) platform Rain has launched what it describes as the world’s first AI Financial Health Agent.
Unlike direct-to-consumer EWA apps such as EarnIn or Dave, Rain is embedded directly by employers, giving it access to real-time earnings data that the company says no other financial application or benefits platform can replicate. The agent works around the clock across payroll and timekeeping systems, serving 3.5 million employees across 1,200 companies including McDonald’s, T-Mobile, and Marriott.
Rain COO Frederic Choquette (pictured above) described the agent’s model which is to “Stabilize cash flow. Control spending. Grow wealth over time. Three layers, each powered by purpose-built agents,’’ in a Linkedin post.
Rain estimates that financial stress costs US employers $1.9 trillion annually in lost productivity, absenteeism, and turnover. Employers who have adopted Rain reported a 200% spike in job applications, 20 more worked hours per month, and employees 46% less likely to leave after six months, according to data from the platform.
According to data from Rain , more than half of employees say they would stay longer with an employer offering faster access to earned pay, while 71.6% of employers say flexible pay could reduce turnover.
Growth metric: $1.9 trillion
The estimated annual cost of employee financial stress to US employers, spanning lost productivity, absenteeism, and turnover.
Source: Fintech Growth Insider
🇸🇬 Airwallex Commits $1.1 Billion to UK, Europe Expansion
Singapore based global payments platform Airwallex is investing $1.135 billion across the UK and Europe over the next five years, its biggest regional expansion since launching in Asia-Pacific a decade ago.
The capital will fund new market entries including Spain and Sweden, new product launches, and the creation of around 100 senior engineering roles in London The investment includes $590 million earmarked for the UK and €200 million ($232 million) committed to the Netherlands.
Airwallex, led by Jack Zhang (pictured above), recorded 116% year-on-year revenue growth and a 226% increase in transaction volume across EMEA ( Europe, the Middle East, and Africa) in Q4 2025, driven by high-growth customers in travel, software, and e-commerce. The company has also surpassed $1.2 billion in annual recurring revenue globally, with 85% year-on-year growth.
Growth metric: $590 million committed to the UK alone
Airwallex’s UK investment represents more than half of its total $1.135 billion EMEA commitment, making Britain the single largest market in its five-year European expansion plan.
Sources: Fintech Growth Insider, Wall Street Journal & FFnews
🇫🇷 Fintech Ad of The Week: UFC-Que Choisir Showed French Homeowners One Comparison Could Save Them Hundreds
French consumer group UFC-Que Choisir built an ad around a problem most homeowners didn’t know they probably had. Many are overpaying for mortgage insurance and have no idea they can do anything about it. The Lemoine Law, introduced in 2022, gave them the right to switch providers anytime, penalty-free, and the ad makes sure they know it.
Using the street interview format, the ad puts real people in front of the camera discovering they could drop their monthly premium from €60 (USD 69) to €14 (USD 16.20) for the exact same coverage, before pointing them to a free comparison tool that makes switching take just minutes.
Source: Fintech Growth Insider
Upcoming Fintech Events
🇺🇸 InsurTech NY Spring will take place from March 30 to 31, 2026, in New York City, with tickets priced between $657 and $1,017, with speakers such as Raj Kalahasthi (Chief Information Officer, The Baldwin Group), Patrick Gallic (Head of International AI Hub, Tokio Marine), and Greg Hendrick (Chief Executive Officer, Vantage Risk).
🇺🇸 CBA LIVE will take place from March 30 to April 1, 2026, in San Diego, United States, with tickets priced between $1,595 and $4,195, with speakers such as Lindsey Johnson (President & CEO, Consumer Bankers Association), Maria Tedesco (President & COO, Atlantic Union Bank), and Arijit Roy (Senior Executive Vice President, Consumer and Business Banking Products, U.S. Bank).
🇺🇸 Fintech Meetup will take place from March 30 to April 1, 2026, in Las Vegas, United States, with tickets priced between $1,800 and $3,800, with speakers such as Angela Strange (General Partner, Andreessen Horowitz), Baishi Wu (Director of Product Management, Chime), and Aaron Slettehaugh (Senior Vice President Product, Ripple).
🇺🇸 Financial Brand Forum will take place from April 13 to 15, 2026, in Las Vegas, United States, with tickets priced between $1,990 and $2,895, with speakers such as Will Guidara (World-Renowned Entrepreneur, Eleven Madison Park), Chris Voss (Former Lead Hostage Negotiator, FBI), and Mike Cessario (Founder & CEO, Liquid Death).
🇫🇷 Paris Blockchain Week will take place from April 14 to 16, 2026, in Paris, France, with tickets priced between €1,699 and €4,999, with speakers such as Yoni Assia (CEO, eToro), Raja Chakravorti (Chief Business Officer, Stellar Development Foundation), and Ben Zhou (Co-founder and CEO, Bybit).
Who Am I?
Hi, my name is Julien Brault.
From 2017 to 2024, I was the CEO of Hardbacon, a fintech I co-founded, which reached 400,000 unique visitors at its peak.
A Google update ultimately sealed the company’s fate, and I started this newsletter to keep myself busy in the aftermath.
I then launched an another fintech affiliate site called MooseMoney, but I still find the time to publish this newsletter.
Why share this?
Because my goal is to use my experience as an economic journalist, fintech entrepreneur and product manager to present the most essential fintech news from around the world through the eyes of an insider.
If you like what I do, feel free to share this newsletter and follow me on LinkedIn, X, Reddit, YouTube & TikTok.
If you would like me to accompany you on your fintech entrepreneurship journey and provide you with ongoing feedback, feel free to hire me as coach on MentorCruise.
If all you need is to pick my brain on specific topic in the field of fintech marketing, product or strategy, feel free to book a one hour consulting call with me instead.
P.S : Once you refer a new subscriber to the newsletter using your unique share link, you'll receive a personalized social media shout-out from me to promote your work or professional profile. Just write to me at jrbrault@icloud.com once your referral is confirmed on our leaderboard and include your social media account(s) URL(s) and who you are.