Hi Embedded Finance Friend,

I am writing this final newsletter edition of 2025 from a coffee shop in Mumbai. We arrived a few days ago and will be spending the holidays with my wife's family. Also, I attended my first-ever Christmas Market in India last weekend: sunshine, hot weather and Christmas decoration will probably never feel normal to me ;-)

I will be taking a few days off, but I will also invest some time into planning Embedded Finance Review activities for 2026. This includes:

• Events: I am already working on a few events for 2026; most importantly, a side event during FIBE in Berlin on April 15th.
• Podcast: I missed two publishing slots in Nov & Dec. That should not happen again, and I am creating a longer list of potential guests for the first half of 2026 (Ping me if you know a good candidate!)
• Content: I plan to publish more builder-focused resources, such as an overview of infrastructure providers, detailed insights into how non-financial brands build fintech products and potentially some more explanatory YouTube videos.

If you want to collaborate on one or want to suggest something totally different, please reach out. I am keen to grow collaboration efforts in 2026 as well!

And now let’s dive in 👇

The Biggest Embedded Finance News of 2025

Based on a mix of website visits, newsletter clicks and a personal selection, these were the ten most popular Embedded Finance stories:

1. Polish marketplace Allegro's BNPL has achieved 'bank-scale' (Link), and it announced a partnership with PKO Bank Polski for merchant cash advance and open payment solution (Link).
2. French healthtech provider Doctolib is moving from appointment booking to full practice software, positioning them to embed payments and other Embedded Finance products (Link).
3. French SME neobank Qonto launches a banking-as-a-service offering (Link), and its first major partner to integrate Qonto Embedded is payment provider Mollie (Link).
4. US e-commerce infrastructure provider Shopify quietly expanded its merchant financing product, Shopify Capital, to the UK and Germany, and it partners with the Embedded Lending provider Youlend (Link).
5. German Wholesaler Metro shut down Metro Financial Service, its fintech subsidiary that offered a detached debit card with cashback targeting German restaurant and hotel owners (Link).
6. Swedish regulator revokes Intergiro's e-money license over money laundering failures. The company provided banking-as-a-service and payment services (Link).
7. Dutch digital accounting and tax provider Accountable launched Embedded Banking in partnership with Swan (Link) and gets acquired by Visma (Link).
8. Stripe announced the expansion of its financing product, Stripe Capital, to Germany. Initially available only to merchants, with plans to roll it out to platforms (Link).
9. Amazon Germany ends its partnership ING and switches to a true Embedded Lending solution (Link).
10. Dutch embedded banking frontend provider Flow has been acquired by one of its customers, digital accounting provider Snelstart (Link).

Most Popular Podcast Episodes In 2025

Based on number of plays on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and Youtube, these were the six most popular podcast episodes of 2025:

1. Peace of Mind as a Product: How ToolTime Turned Payment Friction into Their Next Revenue Stream with Marcel Mansfeld (Episode).
2. Bank Partnerships 2.0: Why Fintech Lessons Matter for Embedded Finance With Richard Würl from Redstone (Episode).
3. Jobs To Be Done - Why Embedded Finance Must Solve Real Problems with Paul Staples (Episode).
4. How can banks fight back in embedded finance? With Hessel Kuik from Bizcuit (Episode).
5. From Food Delivery to Embedded Finance - Wolt's Journey to Financial Services with Anniina Heinonen (Episode).
6. How Nivoda Built 'Buy Now, Grow Faster' for the Global Jewellery Trade with Stefan Scherpenborg (Episode).

Thank you for the support throughout the year.

When I send out a newsletter, it sometimes feels like speaking into a void. Thus, I am thankful for any feedback, response or comment I have received from many of you in the past twelve months. Please continue to do so!

And if you want to pick me up for a chat, the next two weeks would be ideal. Feel free to reach out!

I am wishing you and your families Happy Holidays!

Best Wishes from Mumbai,

Lars Markull (LinkedIn)