Today's Banking Pulse
Mortgage refinance demand plunges 18% as rates climb to 6.65%
Refinance applications fell 18% week‑over‑week, dropping to 38% of total mortgage filings—the lowest share since June 2025. The average 30‑year fixed rate rose to 6.65%, while purchase‑loan volume edged down 0.4% and the average loan size hit $473,600.
Also developing:
By the numbers: OakNorth acquires Monite to boost business banking
BioCatch’s DeviceIQ Brings Pre-Login Mobile Device Intelligence to Digital Banking
BioCatch introduced DeviceIQ, a pre‑login device identification platform for digital banking that evaluates device trustworthiness before users reach authentication screens. The solution tackles sophisticated fraud tactics such as emulators, spoofed devices, cloaked browsers, and jailbroken handsets, while maintaining a persistent device identity across web and mobile channels. DeviceIQ leverages BioCatch’s broader behavioral signals and adds an AI layer that categorises sessions into human, hybrid, genuine AI, or fraudulent AI activity, even flagging deep‑fake attacks. A pilot with a major U.S. bank reported 60% accurate detection of legitimate device upgrades and a 13‑fold higher fraud likelihood for flagged devices.
How Can Financial Institutions Leverage eIDAS 2.0 for Strong Growth?
The EU’s eIDAS 2.0 revision introduces a mandatory European Digital Identity (EUDI) Wallet that will let financial institutions exchange verified, portable credentials instantly. Key regulatory milestones are the July 2027 AMLR harmonisation and the December 2027 wallet‑mandate, which together replace 27 national KYC...
SEC Issues Guidelines for New Online Lending Platforms
The Philippine SEC released draft guidelines to end the 2021 moratorium on registering new online lending platforms (OLPs). The proposal outlines prudential, disclosure and market‑conduct standards, a single entity‑level certificate of authority, and a graduated asset‑based licensing fee effective 2027....
Vietnam’s New Wealth: How Techcombank Is Shaping Private Banking
Vietnam’s upgrade to a secondary emerging market is spurring a surge of high‑net‑worth individuals, intensifying demand for sophisticated wealth services. Techcombank Private, crowned Global Finance’s Best Private Bank in Vietnam for 2026, leverages this trend with VND 428 trillion in assets under...
South Indian Bank Enables EPF Payments on Net Banking Platform
South Indian Bank launched EPF payment services on its SIBerNet internet‑banking platform on March 12, 2026, in partnership with the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation. The integration creates a direct payment channel, letting employers remit statutory contributions without leaving the EPFO portal. The...
Bank Regulators Warn of Increased Cyber Risk From Iran War
Regulators in California and New York have issued urgent cyber‑risk bulletins as the Iran‑Israel war heightens threats to the financial sector. The DFPI and NYDFS urge banks to strengthen defenses, review incident‑response plans, and monitor supply‑chain traffic. Major institutions such as...
FCA Regulatory Priorities Report – Retail Banking
On 12 March 2026 the FCA released its annual Retail Banking Regulatory Priorities report, replacing traditional portfolio letters. The guidance stresses filling cash‑access gaps, ensuring digital‑first transformations do not harm vulnerable customers, and meeting basic‑bank‑account rules. It also requires firms to sharpen...
Truist Picks Plaid to Expand Open Banking Offering
Truist Financial announced a partnership with Plaid to broaden its open‑banking capabilities, adding Plaid’s API network to the bank’s digital platform. The collaboration follows Truist’s recent integration with Mastercard’s open‑finance technology and aims to improve data quality, fraud detection, and...
Eye on Acquiring: CardFlight Debuts SwipeSimple Marketplace; Aurora Payments To Use Jaris Onboarding Service
CardFlight announced the SwipeSimple App Marketplace, debuting March 16 with three curated applications—QuickBooks Online Sync, Appointments scheduling, and Text Loyalty & Reviews—available to its more than 125,000 merchants. The marketplace aims to embed accounting, booking, and loyalty tools directly into...
Visa, Mastercard Face U.K. Challenge
The United Kingdom’s banking sector is actively seeking to curb its dependence on Visa and Mastercard, citing strategic and economic vulnerabilities. European initiatives such as the Wero digital wallet aim to provide an alternative, but they currently lack full EU...
Oil Surge Drives Canadian Mortgage Rates Above 4%
Mortgage Rates Go Up: As The Price Of Oil Goes Up So Do Mortgage Rates Unless the War In The Middle East ends quickly we will soon see most Mortgage Rates in Canada start with a 4 And ZERO chance of Bank...
Top Banks In Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia’s banking sector, overseen by SAMA, has evolved into a $1.5 trillion‑plus powerhouse anchored by a mix of legacy institutions and fast‑growing digital challengers. Al Rajhi Bank remains the world’s largest Shariah‑compliant bank with nearly $300 billion in assets, while the Saudi...
IDB Invest, Banco Familiar Expand Credit for Microentrepreneurs in Paraguay
IDB Invest will provide a 540 billion‑guaraní loan to Banco Familiar to finance Paraguayan microentrepreneurs through the EKO digital wallet. The funding comes from IDB Invest’s local‑currency bond issuance program, marking a first for multilateral participation in Paraguay’s bond market. Banco...
Fraud Battle Calls for Cross-Sector Effort
Financial institutions are urging federal rule changes and cross‑sector data sharing to combat AI‑enabled fraud. Panelists highlighted the need for banks, telecoms and social‑media platforms to exchange real‑time signals, creating a unified view of fraud networks. Current safe‑harbor protections under...
Wizz Financial and BitGo Team on X-Border Stablecoin Payments
Wizz Financial announced the completion of its first stablecoin‑powered cross‑border remittance, sending funds from the United States to 80 countries using BitGo’s wallet and eTrade services. The transaction showcases the launch of Wizz’s proprietary stablecoin and blockchain strategy via the...
Santander and Visa Launch LatAm Agentic Payments Project
Santander and Visa have launched Latin America’s first end‑to‑end agentic commerce pilot, completing real‑world transactions in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mexico and Uruguay using Visa Intelligent Commerce. AI agents bought chocolates in Brazil and books in the other markets, proving that...
Policy Paper: Joint Statement: EU-UK Financial Regulatory Forum, March 2026
HM Treasury and the European Commission released a joint statement documenting the fifth EU‑UK Financial Regulatory Forum held on 11 March 2026. The forum, created under the 2023 UK‑EU Memorandum of Understanding on Financial Services Cooperation, focused on deepening regulatory alignment across...
AI Job Shock Could Threaten 10% of Australian Mortgages
When AI Hits Jobs: Macquarie Warns Mortgage Stress Could Ripple Through Australia's Banks AI-driven employment shocks could put 10% of mortgage payments at risk. Banks currently priced for "near-perfect outcomes" with minimal buffer. Australia's steady growth masks historical unemployment spikes: 11%...
Akurateco Payment Hub Partners with Kushki to Expand PSP Access Across Latin America
Payment infrastructure provider Akurateco announced a strategic partnership with Latin American payments firm Kushki to broaden PSP connectivity across the region. The deal integrates Kushki’s suite of local payment rails into Akurateco’s Payment Hub, giving merchants, PSPs and fintechs a...
Second Charge Mortgage Firms Told to Raise Standards for Consumers
The FCA has warned second‑charge mortgage lenders and brokers to raise standards after a review uncovered weak affordability checks, inappropriate debt‑consolidation advice, poor record‑keeping and opaque fees. The sector, which serves borrowers with high debt and low resilience, accounts for...
Zelle Ventures Into Charitable Disbursements with Bank of America
Zelle has partnered with Bank of America to launch a charitable‑disbursement service for donor‑advised funds, replacing slow ACH and check processes with instant transfers. The proof‑of‑concept uses BofA’s Charitable Gift Fund, which last year distributed over $1.3 billion through more than...
Zelle and BofA Team up and Other Digital Transactions News Briefs From 3/12/26
Zelle has partnered with Bank of America to route charitable disbursements from donor‑advised funds through its network, delivering near‑real‑time grant payments to nonprofits. ACI Worldwide reports only 26% of bill‑pay platforms consider themselves future‑ready, though 80% view the technology as...
Risks & Reckonings (with Lloyd Blankfein)
Former Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein appeared on Preet Bharara’s Stay Tuned podcast to discuss geopolitical risk, macro‑economic fundamentals, and his new memoir. He cautioned investors to rely on contingency planning rather than forecasts amid the Iran‑related uncertainty and stressed the...
Bangladesh Bank Governor Assures Garment Exporters of Timely Cash Incentive Payments
Bangladesh Bank Governor Md Mostaqur Rahman told BGMEA leaders that pending export cash‑incentive payments will be processed within the same month, aiming to ease manufacturers’ liquidity crunch. The guarantee comes as garment factories face cash shortages from frozen deposits at...
Countrywide II: UWMC + TWO = ? Loan Depot Flops, Again
United Wholesale Mortgage (UWMC) announced a stock‑only acquisition of Two Harbors, sending UWMC shares below $10 and sparking a shareholder vote amid a steep discount to Two Harbors' book value. The deal highlights UWMC’s reliance on mortgage‑servicing rights (MSRs), which...
ECB Embraces Tokenized Securities with 2026 DLT Rollout
🔥 Product-Market Fit so strong, even the stablecoin-skeptical European Central Bank is planning tokenized securities. Pontes (Short-term Solution): A technical distributed ledger technology solution scheduled to launch in Q3 2026. It will allow market participants to settle transactions in central bank money using...
Trust Alone Won’t Win; Blend Speed, Experience
Big tech wins on experience. Fintech wins on speed. Banks win on trust. But trust alone is no longer enough to secure primacy. Learn how to compete. Download The Power of Primacy free: https://t.co/k3GpJ9wvLy https://t.co/tNHJpeGRm4
Equity Bank's Mwangi on Turning Banking Exclusion Into Opportunity
Equity Group Holdings, led by James Mwangi, has turned Africa’s banking exclusion into a growth engine, scaling from a modest building society to a $16.5 bn balance‑sheet institution. By targeting low‑income earners, small farmers and micro‑entrepreneurs, the bank now holds up...
Mastercard Partners with Crypto Firms to Scale On-Chain Payments
Mastercard Launches Global Crypto Partner Program with Binance, Ripple and More 85+ partners including Binance, Circle, Ripple, Gemini, PayPal, Paxos. Focus: cross-border remittances, B2B transfers, settlement. Blockchain networks: Solana, Avalanche, Aptos, Polygon. Core belief: on-chain payments scale via integration with existing...
Prometeo’s Ximeale Man Joins Camp Hustle, Expands North
I'm excited to annouce that @ximealeman is joining us at Camp Hustle this year. Her company, Prometeo, built open banking infrastructure across Latin America. Now they're scaling north. 🧵 https://t.co/FuTF4Xr1CS
Deutsche Bank Discloses $30bn Private Credit Exposure While Planning Expansion
Deutsche Bank disclosed a private‑credit exposure of roughly €25.9 billion (about $30 billion) in its latest annual report, as the $1.8 trillion market grapples with heightened investor caution. The bank’s loan book to technology firms surged to €15.8 billion, up from €11.7 billion, reflecting a...
BorrowerJustice Urges CFPB Oversight of Bilt's Risky Transition
Consumer advocacy group @BorrowerJustice has asked the CFPB to bring Bilt under its supervision, owing to the risk posed to consumers from the company's problematic transition to new bank partner Column and processor Cardless. https://t.co/l6UDTQyZjI
Only Use Unsecured Loans when Cash Flow Covers Payments
“Although I caution anyone from doing unsecured loans, I have done some... To minimize risk [I make] sure that the money will be invested in a manner that will increase sales and profits at the business and also that the...
New PixRevolution Malware Steals Brazil’s PIX Transfers in Real Time
Brazil’s instant payment platform PIX, handling billions of transactions monthly, is being targeted by a new Android malware called PixRevolution. The threat uses an agent‑in‑the‑loop model, displaying a fake loading screen while a human or AI operator swaps the recipient’s...
Banks May Tighten Borrowing Bases Amid BDC Outflows
"It is possible that in response to non-traded BDC outflows, banks like JPM could become more diligently managing (down) borrowing bases to avoid being the funding source of those retail outflows." -- Via Wells Fargo analysts https://t.co/0vm2LXopvD
Nevermined AI: The Original Slim Shady of Payments
Watch this space. @Nevermined_ai is the OG Slim Shady of AI agent payments All the other Slim Shadies will need to sit down.
The Signal: Embedded Finance - From Fragmented To Unified with Jaris Executives, Chris Aristides and Matt Thomas | Episode 474
In this episode, Greg Myers talks with Jaris co‑founder Chris Aristides and VP Matt Thomas about how payment processors and ISOs can move from a fragmented vendor stack to a unified embedded‑finance ecosystem. They explain Jaris’s “foundation‑first” approach—building a bank‑backed,...
Banking Apps Leaked Other Customers' Transaction Details
Lloyds, Bank of Scotland and Halifax apps showed customers other users' transactions https://t.co/eOyyiGggxP Can an informed person explain what actually went wrong here? I am so curious https://t.co/RE7RR6W41z
Mambu Powers Nyla’s Islamic Neobank Launch in Ghana
Mambu has partnered with Nyla, Africa’s first Islamic neobank, to supply an API‑first, AWS‑hosted core banking platform for its Ghana launch slated for June 2026. The collaboration enables Nyla to roll out digital wallets, peer‑to‑peer transfers and bill payments without...
77% of Banks Prioritise Compliance over Payment UX
European banks are increasingly putting regulatory compliance ahead of payment user experience, according to Aqua Global’s survey of 150 IT leaders. Seventy‑seven percent say compliance demands outweigh customer needs, and 67% devote more time to meeting new rules than enhancing...
TD Bank Expands Embedded Banking with Workday Integration for U.S. Business Clients
TD Bank announced a new embedded banking solution that integrates directly with Workday’s cloud‑based ERP for U.S. business clients. The service lets companies access credit, payments and cash‑management tools within Workday’s workflow, reducing manual hand‑offs. Early adopters will receive a...
Fintech Firms Accelerate Account Wins as Digital Momentum Reshapes Banking Competition
Fintech challengers are adding new banking and investment accounts faster than traditional banks, driven by streamlined digital onboarding and mobile‑first experiences. The J.D. Power report shows mass‑market customers gravitating toward neobanks, with Chime leading checking‑account acquisition and SoFi posting the...
Michelle W Bowman: Liquidity Resiliency, Financial Stability, and the Role of the Federal Reserve
Michelle Bowman opened a roundtable on the U.S. bank liquidity framework, reviewing the Liquidity Coverage Ratio, Net Stable Funding Ratio, internal stress testing and resolution planning. She argued that fifteen years after the financial crisis, these tools often create excess...
Standard Bank IT Bill Tops R14-Billion as Software Spending Shifts
Standard Bank Group reported a R14.1 billion spend on cloud, software and technology in 2025, an 8.7% year‑on‑year rise that lifted tech costs to roughly 14% of total operating expenses. At the same time, capitalised software outlays fell 28%, signalling a...
European Fintechs Remain Reliant on US Investors, but Sovereignty Gap Is Closing
Finch Capital’s latest report reveals that Europe’s fintechs remain heavily dependent on US investors for later‑stage financing, with all rounds above €1 bn in the past five years led by US capital. Without that support, a €9 bn funding gap would emerge,...
Former CFPB Counsel: Agency Is Doing More than You Think
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, under Acting Director Russell Vought, continues to issue regulatory guidance and defend select legacy rules despite a near‑absence of formal examinations or investigations. Former CFPB senior counsel Richard Horn notes that the agency’s Regulation Office...
Swaminathan J: Digitalisation for Inclusive Finance and Sustainability - Priorities for the Next Phase
Professor Partha Ray closed the International Conference on Digitalisation for Inclusive Finance and Sustainability by emphasizing that digital tools are means, not ends. He identified three strategic shifts: moving from mere access to capability and confidence, from fast to fair...
MAS Unveils Climate Transition Planning Rules for FIs
Singapore's Monetary Authority (MAS) has issued new Environmental Risk Management guidelines that focus on climate transition planning for banks, insurers and asset managers. The rules require firms to embed forward‑looking climate risk assessments, governance structures and client engagement into their...
Tiff Macklem: New Players, Old Risks - Financial Stability in a Changing Landscape
Tiff Macklem warned that the financial system’s growing reliance on non‑bank players is creating new systemic vulnerabilities, especially through hedge‑fund leveraged trading in sovereign bonds and the rapid expansion of private credit. He highlighted that hedge funds now purchase up...
Lloyds Banking App ‘Glitch’ Shows Transactions of Strangers
Lloyds Banking Group’s mobile apps briefly displayed other customers’ transaction histories on the morning of 12 March 2026. The glitch affected users of Lloyds, Halifax and Bank of Scotland apps before being resolved within minutes. The incident has reignited parliamentary...