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
Superform - User-Owned Neobank for Onchain Yield
Superform introduced its user‑owned neobank platform with the February 2026 token generation event (TGE) of the $UP token, a 1 billion‑supply asset that powers governance, validator rewards, and vault upkeep. The protocol’s two‑layer design separates Superform Core—leveraging ERC‑7579 smart accounts, hooks, and Merkle‑validated signatures—to bundle bridging, swapping and lending into a single on‑chain signature, from Superform Periphery, which offers permissionless, validator‑secured SuperVaults with dual Merkle validation and institutional‑grade controls. Vault v2 launched flagship strategies on Ethereum (SuperWBTC, SuperWETH, SuperUSDC) integrating Aave, Euler, Morpho and Pendle fixed‑rate exposure. Despite a volatile launch environment, the team emphasized transparency and a roadmap toward progressive decentralization.
Newmark Arranges $172.5M Acquisition Financing for The Ben, Autograph Collection
Newmark arranged a $172.5 million acquisition loan for The Ben, Autograph Collection, a 208‑key luxury hotel in West Palm Beach, on behalf of Related Ross. The financing was supplied by Nomura and led by Newmark’s senior debt team. The Ben, delivered...
The Evolution of Payment and the Flavour of the Decade
The article traces payment evolution and argues that account‑based payments have become Nigeria’s “flavour of the decade.” It shows how each historic method—from barter to paper money—addressed frictions, but cards introduced new complexities that were overcome by direct bank‑to‑bank transfers....
Payment by ACH: A Secure, Cost-Effective Solution for Modern Electronic Transfers
Payment by ACH has solidified its role as a secure, low‑cost electronic transfer method in the United States. By moving funds in batch‑processed streams, ACH reduces fees and manual effort compared with checks, wires, or credit cards. The network supports...
AI Agents Are Increasingly Being Leveraged by Crypto Crime Networks, Report Reveals
TRM Labs reports that autonomous AI agents are now handling cryptocurrency fund transfers without human oversight, dramatically accelerating money‑laundering operations. Illegal crypto flows reached $158 billion in 2025, while AI‑powered scams grew roughly 500 % year‑over‑year. These agents can split funds, select...
Pix Set to Dominate Brazil E‑commerce, Eclipsing Credit Cards
🇧🇷Brazil’s Pix payment system now processes >224 million transactions daily: Long a stronghold of credit cards, #Brazil's e-commerce market saw #Pix account for 42% of online purchases in 2025, edging past #creditcards cards at 41%. Pix is poised to capture half...
DTCC to Launch Equities Data Portals
DTCC announced the upcoming launch of next‑generation equities data portals that will give clients a unified view of clearing, settlement and post‑trade processing information from its NSCC and DTC subsidiaries. The portals, built on Snowflake’s AI Data Cloud, feature intuitive...
Dwight Capital Expands Servicing Platform With Midland State Bank Deal
Dwight Capital has purchased Midland States Bank’s HUD mortgage‑servicing rights portfolio, encompassing more than $500 million in unpaid principal balance tied to skilled nursing facilities, assisted living centers, and hospitals. The acquisition pushes Dwight’s total loan‑servicing assets above $15 billion, reinforcing its...
The Majority of Businesses Manage Payments Through Disconnected Systems, Corefy’s 2025 Study Finds
Corefy’s State of Payment Maturity 2025 study, based on 672 global assessments, reveals that 58.5% of businesses still operate fragmented payment systems, limiting visibility and control. While manual handling has fallen to just 1%, only 11.7% of firms have reached...
Platinum Credit Uganda Secures $4m to Boost MSME Lending
Platinum Credit Uganda, a Platcorp subsidiary, secured a $4 million, 24‑month investment from Swiss asset manager Symbiotics to broaden financing for low‑income households and micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) across Uganda. The capital, disbursed on 22 December 2025, enabled a phased rollout...
Standard Chartered Earns Over $1 Billion in Sustainable Finance Income
Standard Chartered reported $1.07 billion in sustainable finance income for 2025, a 9% increase year‑over‑year and surpassing its $1 billion target. The Banking division contributed $610 million, growing 11%, while Transaction Services and Markets added $340 million and $117 million respectively. The bank also achieved...
Why Financial Reports Matter When Choosing a Swiss Bank
Financial reports are the most reliable indicator of a Swiss bank’s strength, offering transparent evidence beyond brand reputation. Regular, audited statements that detail capital, liquidity, and risk disclosures allow prospective clients—especially non‑residents—to assess stability and resilience. Easy access to these...
A Brief History of Bank Notes in the United States and some Lessons for Stablecoins
Mark Carlson’s Federal Reserve note examines the era before the Fed when U.S. commercial banks issued their own paper money, backed by a mix of bank assets and government bonds. The piece highlights how those privately‑issued notes depended on a...
Exclusive: Mintoak Plans to Acquire Dubai-Based ICC Loyalty
Mintoak, the Mumbai‑based merchant SaaS platform, will raise Rs 80 crore in debt through non‑convertible debentures issued by BlackSoil to fund the acquisition of Dubai‑based loyalty‑tech firm ICC Loyalty. This marks the company’s second acquisition in twelve months, after buying Digiledge in...
Philippine Bank Deposits Hit ₱21 Trillion as Account Numbers Surge
Total deposit liabilities in the Philippine banking system climbed to ₱20.9 trillion at the end of Q3 2025, a 7.3% year‑on‑year rise driven by a 20.4% surge in deposit accounts to 166.6 million. The increase followed a March 2025 decision to double...
Circle Launches USDCx on Cardano via xReserve Integration
Circle has integrated its xReserve platform with Cardano, launching USDCx—a dollar‑pegged stablecoin fully backed by USDC—directly on the Cardano network. The token uses Circle’s Gateway and Cross‑Chain Transfer Protocol to move USDC across chains without third‑party bridges, allowing deposits from...
Bridging the Payment Gap: Why Suppliers Are Taking Control
Supply‑chain cash flow is tightening as buyers cling to cash, pushing late‑payment rates to 55% and on‑time payments down to 37%. SAP Taulia’s survey of 10,854 suppliers shows a five‑year high 66% interest in early‑payment programs. Suppliers are counter‑acting by adopting...
AI Adoption in Financial Services Has Hit a Point of No Return
AI adoption in financial services is now near‑universal, with only 2% of institutions reporting no AI use. The Finastra State of the Nation 2026 survey of 1,509 senior executives shows 60% improved AI capabilities and 43% rank AI as their...
‘The People Vs VBS’: Watch Trailer For Wild Story Of South African Bank That Collapsed Under The Weight Of Financial...
South Africa’s VBS Mutual Bank, once a flagship black‑owned lender, was declared insolvent in 2018 after billions of rand were siphoned through a massive fraud orchestrated by senior executives. The scandal, which implicated politicians, auditors and even a former president,...
Europe and UK Chart New Course for Digital Asset Regulation
Luxembourg's CSSF released Version 7 of its digital‑asset FAQ, aligning fund rules with the EU MiCAR framework. UCITS can now gain indirect exposure to crypto assets up to 10% of NAV, while direct exposure remains barred; AIFs may invest directly, with...
Middle East Tensions Likely Push Rand Lower, Fuel Costs Up
Prolonged tension in the Middle East. Rising oil prices, if sustained, and a weaker Rand. Add the increased fuel levies announced in the budget speech on top of macro concerns, and taking the governor’s conservative nature and the new 3% inflation...
Embedding Security: Designing Fraud Risk Out of Business Transactions
Embedded finance is set to exceed $7 trillion in transaction volume by 2026, cementing its role as core infrastructure for business platforms. However, fraud attempts are rising two to three times faster than in traditional banking, outpacing legacy detection tools. The...
52% of Small Businesses Don’t Revolve Their Credit Card Balances
A PYMNTS Intelligence study of 583 U.S. small and medium‑sized businesses reveals that credit cards are now a primary operating tool rather than a backup. Over half of SMBs (54%) mix business and personal cards, 82% rely on cards for...
The EBA Publishes Its Final Guidelines on Instruments for the Capital Endowment Requirement for Third-Country Branches
The European Banking Authority (EBA) has issued its final Guidelines on the capital endowment requirement for third‑country branches under the Capital Requirements Directive. The Guidelines enumerate eligible instruments—government, central‑bank, public‑sector or multilateral guarantees that receive a 0 % risk weight—and set...
Balancing Human and AI Work Is Banking’s Next Challenge
AI remakes the org chart | Banking Brief | Evident Insights https://t.co/ukJBBM4aRA “The future of AI-first enterprises is ultimately an organization problem,” JPMC’s Waldron wrote on LinkedIn this week. “Work and intelligence needs to be optimally split across humans and AI.”...
Polygon Stablecoins Now Spendable at 150M+ Visa Merchants
Stablecoins on Polygon are now spendable at 150M+ merchants worldwide via @Visa courtesy : @oobit
10 Payments Effectiveness Metrics Every Corporate Treasurer Should Track in Uncertain Times
Corporate treasurers are urged to expand beyond traditional efficiency measures and adopt ten payments effectiveness metrics that reveal how well transactions complete, where failures occur, and what risks persist. The metrics cover exceptions, processing time, authorization and success rates, chargebacks,...
Admin Bundles Crypto Charters with Tailored Regulation
A reminder that this admin is a package deal. Regulatory "tailoring," but also a bunch of new crypto, stablecoin, and ILC charters
Legacy Infrastructure Slows Decisions, Innovation, and Integration
Legacy infrastructure isn’t just a technology problem. It’s a speed problem. It slows decisioning, innovation, and the ability to connect modern solutions across the enterprise. https://t.co/f6tGEUmM7Q
Safra Group Closes Saxo Bank Takeover, Daniel Belfer Named CEO
J. Safra Sarasin Group has completed the purchase of a 71% stake in Copenhagen‑based Saxo Bank for €1.609 billion, after securing approvals from FINMA and the Danish regulator. The deal, initially announced in March 2025, was adjusted downward following a $50 million AML fine....
Scale Agentic AI Fast or Lose Banking Edge
McKinsey says agentic AI could fundamentally reshape global banking. But it warns banks not to get trapped in endless pilots and proofs of concept. The competitive edge won’t go to those experimenting the longest, but to those scaling fastest. https://t.co/rrt7ROCCBl @DigWatchWorld @mckinsey
Citizens Should Lead New Community Bank Formation
I don’t think this is what community banks had in mind when we advocated for new bank formations. Hope to see more groups of normal citizens, pooling capital to serve their community’s needs.
What Will Money Look Like in 2050 and Beyond?
The article traces money’s evolution from medieval tally sticks to paper cash and predicts that by 2050 physical currency will be a relic. It highlights the rapid rise of digital currencies, tokenisation, and AI‑driven financial agents. The author envisions a...
Sacks and Garlinghouse Urge Banks to Match Stablecoin Yield
LATEST: David Sacks praised Patrick Witt for a stablecoin yield compromise in crypto market structure talks and urged banks to reciprocate, while Brad Garlinghouse said the deal is open if banks act in good faith. https://t.co/BJqVPjBY1H
Intermediaries See Shift to Fixed Income Ahead of Rate Cuts, Eye New Markets for Growth: BOS Survey
A Bank of Singapore survey of 90 senior intermediaries across Singapore, Greater China and Dubai shows a clear shift toward fixed‑income products as investors brace for anticipated rate cuts. One‑third of respondents expect rising demand for bonds, while alternative investments...
UnionBank Profit Dropped to P10B in 2025
UnionBank of the Philippines reported a 17% drop in net income for 2025, posting P10 billion versus P12 billion the prior year. Despite the profit dip, net revenues climbed to P83.2 billion, driven by robust loan growth and higher transaction volumes. The bank’s...
The Fintech Showdown Before PhonePe’s IPO
PhonePe is positioning an IPO for FY27, with an April filing window being discussed, while investors scrutinize its path to sustainable profitability. The fintech’s latest filing shows a shift from consumer‑centric payments to a higher share of merchant transactions and...
OFS Capital Corp (OFS) Q4 2025 Earnings Call Transcript
OFG Bancorp reported a 17% year‑over‑year increase in diluted EPS, supported by a modest 2% rise in core revenues and a favorable tax benefit. Commercial loans expanded to $3.5 billion, now representing 43% of the loan book, while retail deposits grew...
Ticker Launches Latest Show BROKER BUSINESS for Mortgage Professionals
Ticker News has launched Broker Business, a new finance‑focused series aimed at Australia’s more than 20,000 mortgage and finance brokers. Hosted by Rex Afrasiabi, founder of New Chapter Legal, the weekly program delivers practical, broker‑to‑broker conversations on client acquisition, scaling...
NAB Celebrates Power of Partnership in Building a Life Through Home in New Campaign via TBWA
NAB unveiled its latest Home Lending campaign under the "Your Partner at Every Stage" platform, reinforcing the bank’s "More than Money" promise that banking is a partnership, not just a transaction. The campaign uses a stage metaphor to illustrate support...
Asia-Pacific Fintech Funding Hits Decade-Low in 2025 as Investors Stay Cautious: KPMG
Fintech investment in Asia‑Pacific fell to a decade low in 2025, totaling $9.3 billion across 763 transactions, down from $11.7 billion in 2024. Venture capital supplied $7.5 billion of that amount, while mergers and acquisitions contributed $1.7 billion and private equity under $0.1 billion. Funding...
Human‑less Companies Inevitable; Regulation Will Always Lag Behind
Zero human companies aren't science fiction They're inevitable We already have: • Autonomous trading bots making millions • AI writing and deploying smart contracts • Agents managing DeFi protocols The infrastructure exists The capability exists The capital exists What's missing is the regulatory framework But regulation always lags innovation By the...
Judge Rules Against Binance in Arbitration Bid for Crypto Token Lawsuits
U.S. District Judge Andrew Carter denied Binance’s bid to compel arbitration for class‑action lawsuits alleging unregistered token sales. The ruling holds that Binance failed to adequately notify users of the 2019 arbitration clause and that the class‑action waiver is ambiguous,...
SOFI's Explosive Growth Undermined by Inflation Fears
$SOFI - Lending Revenue $267M ➡️ $1.85B - Tech Platform $0 ➡️ $450M - Financial Services $1M ➡️ $1.54B - Members 652K ➡️ 13.65M - Lending Originations $11.7B ➡️ $36.4B But sure, sell the stock because inflation is a bit higher, or you don't like the...
Capital One Venture X Business Card Review: Powerful Earnings, Tons of Perks
The Capital One Venture X Business card is a premium charge card targeting small‑business owners, offering a 150,000‑mile welcome bonus after $30,000 spend and a $395 annual fee. It delivers flat‑rate earnings—10 X miles on Business Travel hotels and rentals, 5 X on flights...
Banks Fund Real Estate, Not Stocks—Choose Property
If stocks were the best path to wealth, banks would loan you 80% to buy them. They don’t. But they will for real estate. That should tell you something.
Philippines Eyes $800-Million ADB Backstop for North-South Commuter Railway Operator
The Philippines is seeking up to $800 million from the Asian Development Bank as a partial credit guarantee to backstop availability payments for the North‑South Commuter Railway (NSCR) operator. The guarantee, equivalent to 24 months of payments, aims to mitigate government...
Goldman Slide Signals Hidden Atlantic Credit Crisis
Goldman Sachs down 7.5% in a single day. From $985 to $860 in three months. Meanwhile, a UK mortgage lender just collapsed. Private credit contagion is spreading across the Atlantic. This isn’t a correction. It’s a credit event hiding in plain sight.
Banking Revolution Explored: New Episode with Jason Henrichs
Folks who enjoyed today’s newsletter on the rapidly changing banking ecosystem should listen to this ep of @Breakingbanks1 (as seen on HBO, IYKYK) with @jasonhenrichs — https://t.co/MuzhnOMJtq
CBA Flags AI‑generated Loan Fraud, Alerts Authorities
Leaving this here “It comes as CBA..grapples w/the onset of AI technologies. The bank in the midst of rolling out AI systems across its business banking, communications & fraud-detection operations. In March 2025, CBA invested in AI firm Anthropicto drive...