Global Financial Market Review (GFM) is a dedicated online news aggregation portal specializing in financial market news and industry updates. It combines original editorials with curated content from global news providers, reaching over 14 million readers annually. With a focus on reliability and depth, GFM has positioned itself as a trusted source in the financial sector, boasting a strong social media presence with over 180,000 Twitter followers.
As part of its coverage of this huge and multi-disciplined industry, GFM has developed a series of Awards. Using a wide range of criteria such as Transparency, Corporate Governance, Sustainability, Volume of Transactions, Innovation, Fintech and Customer Service, the Awards have been developed to recognise companies and institutions who have achieved notable success in their respective fields. This, in turn, has become a standard for reliability, performance and security within the financial community.
For the 3rd Week of September 2025, GFM Review's judging panel is proud to award the following institutions:
X8 Investimentos
X8 Investimentos is a São Paulo–based growth capital firm that specializes in middle-market investments alongside exceptional entrepreneurs. Founded by Carlos Miranda, Taiza Roso, and Daniel Kang, the firm leverages over 30 years of combined market expertise to support high-growth companies with annual revenues between 5 and 50 million dollars. Since its inception in 2010, X8 Investimentos has built a diversified portfolio spanning technology, education, food, circular economy and blue economy ventures, including notable stakes in Vida Veg, Tera and Home Agent. In 2025, X8 Investimentos received the Best Investment Strategy Brazil award, recognizing its rigorous approach to value creation and sustainable impact. The firm’s flagship 8th Wave Fund—a two-hundred million dollar initiative focused on blue economy solutions—exemplifies X8’s commitment to innovative investing. By integrating financial performance with measurable social and environmental outcomes and providing active operational support and internationalization guidance, X8 Investimentos has cemented its reputation for strategic leadership and investment excellence in Brazil’s private equity and venture capital landscape.
Crassula
Founded in Latvia in 2015 by Daria Dubinina, Aleksandrs Novozenovs, and Vlad Nikolaevs, Crassula is a white-label banking software platform that empowers neobanks, fintechs, and established institutions to launch full-service digital banking and payment solutions rapidly. Its modular architecture supports core banking functions such as IBAN issuance, card management, KYC/AML compliance, SWIFT and SEPA transfers, and currency exchange while offering dedicated cryptocurrency banking capabilities with enterprise-grade custody via market-leading partners. Crassula’s Payment Service Provider module delivers global payment gateway services, alternative payment methods, smart routing, and advanced fraud protection. The platform’s cloud-native design ensures high availability, scalability, and continuous updates. Strategic alliances with Fireblocks, Sumsub, Telesign, and others strengthen security, compliance, and user-authentication workflows. Crassula earned recognition as one of the “20 Best Companies to Watch of 2021” and was named a finalist for “Best Digital Solution Provider for Banking Tech” at the 2024 Banking Tech Awards, underscoring its influence and innovation in modern financial services.
Community Investment Corporation
Community Investment Corporation (CIC) is a Tucson-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit Community Development Financial Institution founded in 1996 to champion economic inclusion across Southern Arizona. Through its small business lending program, CIC delivers loans ranging from $500 microloans at 3% interest to term loans up to $100,000, supporting entrepreneurs who face barriers to traditional financing. Its homeownership assistance initiatives provide up to 20% down payment support paired with HUD-certified counseling, enabling families to build stable wealth. During the COVID-19 crisis, CIC administered $64 million in emergency rental assistance to over 30,000 households. The organization’s MySchoolsTucson platform and Family School Engagement workshops empower parents with resources to navigate school choice and advocate for their children. Although CIC’s operations focus on Arizona, its model of integrated lending, housing support, and educational access embodies the same values recognized by awards such as Best Bank for Financial Inclusion Asia 2025 and Best Non-Bank Lender Asia 2025.
TrueLayer
TrueLayer represents the pinnacle of European open banking implementation, serving as the continent’s leading open banking payments network with infrastructure spanning 21 countries. Founded in 2016 and headquartered in London, the company has architected one of Europe’s most sophisticated open banking platforms, connecting businesses to over 3,000 banks through a single, standardized API that processes more than $100 billion in annual transaction volume. TrueLayer’s implementation excellence is evidenced by its dominant market position, processing approximately 40 percent of UK Pay by Bank transactions and maintaining significant market share across major European economies including Ireland, Spain, France, Germany and the Netherlands. The platform serves over 15 million active users and enables leading European merchants such as Ryanair, Just Eat and Revolut to deliver seamless bank-to-bank payment experiences. As a dual-licensed Electronic Money Institution and Payment Institution regulated by both the UK Financial Conduct Authority and the Central Bank of Ireland, TrueLayer’s open banking infrastructure sets the European standard for secure, compliant services while pioneering innovations in variable recurring payments and real-time financial data access.
About GFM Review
Global Financial Market Review (GFM) is an online news portal that is focused on the financial industry. It has been developed to deliver informative and independent news from around the world. The articles on GFM are both sourced from a number of independent news sources as well as written in-house. This is reflected in the quality and insight that the portal delivers to readers. GFM readership is comprised of decision makers from global businesses including FT100 and Fortune 500 companies as well as high net worth individuals.