[DigitalToday reporter Jinju Hong] In the global fintech mergers and acquisitions market in April, securing artificial intelligence capabilities, bringing operations into regulatory infrastructure and expanding payments and loyalty businesses emerged as key trends.

Cryptocurrency companies acquired exchanges to secure regulatory licences, while big tech and financial firms focused on absorbing AI-based personal finance and corporate spending management technology. Major companies including Kraken parent Payward, OpenAI, American Express, Mimir Group and Adyen pursued major deals over the month in digital assets, AI finance and payments infrastructure.

In connection with this, fintech trade media outlet FinTech Futures on April 28 (local time) introduced major M&A cases involving fintech companies this month.

One of the biggest deals was Kraken parent Payward's acquisition of crypto derivatives exchange Bitnomial. The deal is worth up to $550 million and will use a mix of cash and stock. Once the transaction is completed, Payward will also secure three key licences from the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).

Payward explained that the acquisition would allow it to secure a regulatory foundation that could take years in a short period. It is interpreted as reflecting a trend in which crypto companies rapidly absorb regulated infrastructure by acquiring existing operators rather than obtaining licences directly.

Competition in AI-based financial services also gathered pace. OpenAI acquired personal finance fintech startup Hiro, expanding its influence into the financial sector. The deal amount was not disclosed.

Hiro provides customised financial recommendations and a question-and-answer service by integrating credit card and deposit account data. Hiro co-founder Ethan Bloch (에단 블로흐) said the company's goal was to "build an AI personal CFO". The industry sees it as a move by OpenAI to expand its business touchpoints beyond generative AI into personalised services based on real financial data.

American Express (Amex) also moved to strengthen its AI-based expense management capabilities. The company signed an agreement to acquire Hyper, an agentic AI expense management platform. Deal terms were not disclosed, and the closing timeframe was presented as the second quarter of 2026. Hyper is known for a service that uses a text-based AI assistant to automate real-time expense review and submission.

In the payments market, competition to secure customer loyalty and personalisation functions also continued. European payments company Adyen agreed to acquire German loyalty platform Talon.One for 750 million euros. Talon.One provides AI-based promotion optimisation and real-time personalisation capabilities, and Adyen plans to combine its payments data with Talon.One's customer analytics functions to offer tailored discounts and price adjustments by consumer. It is seen as a strategy to integrate customer data and marketing functions beyond simple payment processing.

In Northern Europe, investment firm Mimir Group said it would acquire the PayEx payments platform and launch a new fintech company, Everspring Solutions. The company plans to expand its business centred on digital gift cards, loyalty solutions and payment services by industry.

The industry views fintech M&A this year as being reshaped toward directly absorbing core functions and infrastructure rather than simply expanding scale. Regulatory licence acquisition in crypto, automation and data combination in AI finance, and strengthening loyalty and personalisation capabilities in payments emerged as key pillars, the analysis said.