SQY

Affirm Holdings (AFRM.US) kicked off the sector’s momentum with its fiscal Q4 report showing $1.17 billion in revenue, a 12% sequential jump that reversed three quarters of decline. The California-based fintech’s cross-border payment partnerships expanded to 12 new markets in 2026, including Brazil and Thailand, where local regulations now permit embedded lending. Block (SQ.US) followed suit, with Cash App’s ‘Buy Now, Pay Later’ volume surging 25% quarter-on-quarter as it integrated with Shopify’s Asia-Pacific merchants. Meanwhile, SoFi Technologies (SOFI.US) doubled down on international student loans, leveraging AI underwriting tools to cut default rates by 18% in European markets. Notably, Upstart (UPST.US) secured a landmark partnership with Japan’s Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, deploying its algorithmic credit models across 200+ branches. While PayPal (PYPL.US) scaled back its European BNPL ambitions due to regulatory hurdles, the sector collectively outperformed the S&P 500 by 9 percentage points year-to-date.