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
Democratic Senators Press Bowman on Fed Changes
Democratic senators sent two letters to Fed Vice Chair Michelle Bowman questioning recent supervisory changes, including a 30% staff cut in the Fed's supervision arm and the removal of bank examiners at banks' request. They also demanded answers on her decision to commission an external review of Silicon Valley Bank’s 2023 collapse, after criticizing her predecessor’s internal post‑mortem as inadequate. The lawmakers argue these actions could weaken bank oversight, increase bailout risk, and reflect political interference in the central bank. The Fed has not responded, and the senators seek replies by Feb. 25.
World Bank Chief's Role on Trump-Led Board of Peace Prompts Questions
World Bank President Ajay Banga joined President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace for Gaza reconstruction, igniting debate over the lender’s political neutrality. Critics warn his involvement could blur the Bank’s traditionally apolitical stance, while supporters argue his presence may temper...
TNS Launches Smart Routing Technology
Transaction Network Services (TNS) introduced TNSPay SmartRoute, a cloud‑based solution that lets merchants, processors and acquirers set real‑time routing rules for each transaction. The platform can route payments by geography, cost efficiency, processor performance or scheduled maintenance, and it automatically...
Earnings Season Made It Clear: Digitize Supply Chains or Fall Behind
Earnings season revealed that digitizing supply chains has shifted from a cost‑saving exercise to a strategic imperative. Executives at FedEx, Caterpillar, Dollar General and others highlighted upstream capex on supplier integration, AI‑enabled orchestration and real‑time visibility as growth enablers. The...
Square’s Quest for More Partners Looks to Add Merchant Appeal
Square, the POS arm of Block Inc., is set to expand its partner ecosystem beyond the roughly 1,000 collaborators it already supports. The move aims to bring more technology add‑ons, discounts and specialized services to merchants, accelerating Square’s merchant acquisition....
Banks Fund Old‑school Businesses, Not Modern Ventures—Pitch Right
Banks won’t lend you money for: – A nightclub – A Shopify store – A crypto token But they’ll trip over themselves to fund: – A plumbing company with 30 years history – A logistics business with 5 contracts – A clinic throwing $500K/year The capital exists. You’re just...
On‑chain Small Business Loans Boost Transparency and Capital Efficiency
Most “real-world asset” tokenization is still theoretical. This one is not. Fintech lender Newity just raised $11M to bring small business loans onchain. Not art. Not T-bills. Actual SBA-style lending to Main Street. Here is why that matters. Traditional small business lending is fragmented...
Jordan’s Banking Sector Now Accepts Sanad App as Valid Customer Identification
Jordan’s Central Bank issued a directive on Feb 16, 2026 that the Sanad mobile app’s digital identity credential is now legally equivalent to physical ID documents for banking transactions. The mandate applies to every bank in the kingdom, obligating them to accept...
AI Makes Money Invisible, Predictive, and Automated
AI is quietly reshaping our relationship with money. From smarter budgeting and personalized financial advice to embedded finance and real-time credit decisions, AI is changing how we spend, save and invest. As open banking and fintech accelerate, money is becoming more invisible,...
Worldline Scales One Commerce Across Europe to Support Cross-Border Sales
Worldline is rolling out its One Commerce omnichannel retail platform beyond the United Kingdom, showcasing it at the EuroShop trade fair in Germany from Feb. 22‑26. The solution lets merchants manage in‑store and online payments, integrate new payment methods, and...
Upcoming Changes to the Euribor Panel
The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) announced that Barclays Bank PLC will withdraw from the Euribor panel, with its final contribution date set for 27 February 2026. ESMA and the Euribor College of Supervisors assessed the impact and concluded...
Embedded Card Programmes Gain Momentum as European Firms Move Beyond Banks for Issuing
European firms are rapidly adopting embedded card programmes, bypassing traditional banks thanks to API‑driven platforms. Wallester’s recent webinar with Visa and GF Money shows launch times shrinking from a year to as little as 28 days. Regulatory clarity under PSD2 is...
Klarna Hits $1B, Doubles Users, yet Stock Plunges
Klarna just posted its first $1B revenue quarter, successfully doubling its banking users to 15.8 million. The pivot from a pure BNPL provider to a global digital bank is underway. But Wall Street just handed them a massive 27% stock drop....
GoDaddy’s Integration and Other Digital Transactions News Briefs From 2/20/26
GoDaddy announced an integration with Salesforce’s MuleSoft Agent Fabric to authenticate AI agents before they access sensitive corporate data. Advent International agreed to sell its Argentine payments firms Newpay and Group Prisma to Visa, expanding Visa’s footprint in Latin America....
Lunar Teams Up with Wolt on Subscription Benefit Expansion
Lunar, the Nordic challenger bank, has signed a strategic partnership with delivery platform Wolt across Sweden, Denmark and Norway. The deal embeds Wolt+ unlimited delivery into Lunar’s top‑tier Unlimited (personal) and Limitless (business) subscription plans, while lower‑tier customers can redeem...
Policy-as-Code Guardrails Preempt AI Compliance Violations
Agentic AI Gating Layer: Policy-as-Code = gating layer for agentic AI Controls AI actions by: Separating free-form reasoning (AI decides) from allowed execution (policy permits) Improving auditability (clear what AI can/can't do) Preventing compliance violations before they happen Guardrails, not post-incident cleanup. 📰 Intelligent compliance for...
European Central Bank Analysis Highlights Stabilizing Euro Area Property Investment Amid Mixed Drivers
The European Central Bank’s latest focus piece finds euro‑area property investment has likely bottomed out in late 2024, with a brief, modest rebound in early 2025 that quickly faded. After a sharp decline that began in 2022, housing investment remains about 7 %...
Nexi Unveils ‘Nexi Ready’ as Europe Embrace ‘Buy’ Model
Nexi Group has launched Nexi Ready, a fully managed digital‑issuing platform that lets banks, corporates and fintechs outsource technology, scheme compliance and day‑to‑day operations while keeping their brand and customer data. The service is positioned as a new “plug‑and‑play” issuing...
White House Talks Make Progress on Stablecoin Yields but No Deal Yet
Negotiations between banks and crypto leaders advanced during the White House’s third closed‑door meeting, but the core dispute over stablecoin yields remains unresolved. Industry representatives described the dialogue as constructive, emphasizing a need for consumer protection and U.S. competitiveness. The...
The Banking Revolution: Balancing Convenience and Security in the Digital Era
Digital banking has become the cornerstone of modern finance, delivering round‑the‑clock services through mobile apps. Consumers now deposit checks, transfer funds, and invest without stepping into a branch, enjoying lower fees and personalized experiences. At the same time, providers are...
Optimising Cross-Border Payments for Seamless APAC Expansion
APAC’s rapid digital growth is hampered by fragmented cross‑border payment ecosystems. Companies expanding from hubs like Singapore face higher merchant discount rates, FX volatility, and regulatory bottlenecks when transactions are processed through non‑local acquirers. Payment orchestration emerges as a unifying...
TD Aims to Retain Its Branch ‘Essence’ Amid Brand Refresh
TD Bank U.S. is launching a "More Human" brand refresh while pledging to keep its traditional branch‑centric ethos. New head of consumer deposit and payment products Marc Womack says the focus is on retaining customers amid fierce deposit competition and...
The Six Tech Trends Banks Need on Their Radar for 2026
Banks face mounting regulatory, economic and consumer pressures as digital expectations rise, and their technology choices will dictate future competitiveness. nCino outlines six 2026 tech trends, from AI‑driven mobile banking that acts as a personal financial command centre to AI‑powered...
Discover Network Shows How Sharing Data Can Turn the Tide on Fraud
Fraud is evolving into a fast‑moving, AI‑driven threat across e‑commerce, payments and identity, outpacing traditional, institution‑by‑institution defenses. Discover Network argues that sharing data through a consortium enables real‑time signal aggregation, tokenization and enhanced decisioning to spot patterns no single bank...
Middle-Market Confidence Splits in 2026 as Tariffs and Supply Chains Weigh on High-Uncertainty Firms
The 2026 Certainty Project surveyed CFOs of U.S. middle‑market firms (revenues $100 M‑$1 B) and found overall uncertainty stable, but a sharp split between goods and services sectors. Tariff policy shifts and supply‑chain exposure pushed high‑uncertainty among goods producers up 27% year‑over‑year,...
Everyone Has a Side Hustle Now. Not Everyone Has the Same Reason.
The Wage to Wallet Index reveals that roughly 60 million hourly workers earning $50,000 or less are turning to side work, with one in five performing regular gigs. While overall job‑security sentiment is rising, financial confidence is splitting: higher‑income salaried professionals...
Central Bank of Ireland Calls for Stronger Economic Initiatives and Strategic Investments in 2026
Ireland’s central bank warned that the country must deepen economic resilience as it enters 2026, despite current strength. Governor Gabriel Makhlouf and Deputy Governor Vasileios Madouros outlined five domestic priorities, including targeted infrastructure, stronger indigenous businesses, fiscal buffers, household market...
Why Punish the Mule, when You Want the Rider?
UK regulators recorded a surge in money‑muling, with 207,889 cases in 2024, up from 170,338 in 2023. Predominantly young adults are lured by promises of quick cash, only to become unwitting conduits for criminal proceeds. Banks, fearing fines, are now...
Google Threat Intelligence Report Highlights Growing Adversarial Exploitation of AI
Google’s Threat Intelligence Group released a new report detailing how adversarial AI is increasingly weaponized against enterprises. The study highlights a surge in model‑extraction attacks, where threat actors query commercial LLMs like Gemini to create compact replicas, and documents AI‑enhanced...
Digital Euros and Liquidity Backstops Won’t Dent Dollar Dominance, Says Fed’s Miran
European policymakers are increasingly exploring euro‑denominated stablecoins as a tool to counterbalance the U.S. dollar’s global reach. Federal Reserve official Stephen Miran, however, argues that the dollar’s dominance will persist despite these digital euro initiatives. He points to the depth...
KPMG UK Shares Insights on Cooling Wages and Stabilizing Jobs Market Potentially Leading to March Rate Cut
KPMG UK analysts say the latest labour market data show wage growth slowing to 4.2% and unemployment edging up to 5.2%, signalling a cooling jobs market. The firm forecasts pay growth will dip to around 3% by year‑end and expects...
Banking’s Crisis of Meaning: When Purpose Disappears
Dharmesh Mistry warns that AI‑driven automation is stripping banking jobs of their intrinsic purpose, turning roles into mere button‑pressing tasks. He argues that a superficial brand slogan like “better banking” won’t survive when machines already deliver superior products. Instead, banks...
Bank of America’s $25 Billion Private Credit Push: Wall Street’s Balance-Sheet Arms Race Moves Into Overdrive
Bank of America announced a $25 billion commitment of its own balance sheet to private credit, marking a decisive shift from traditional bank lending to direct private‑credit exposure. The move underscores the blurring line between banks and alternative asset managers as...
US Market | Credit Concerns Mount: Blue Owl Shake-Up Weighs on US Financial Stocks
Blue Owl Capital announced the sale of $1.4 billion of assets across three credit funds and permanently halted redemptions in one fund to return capital and reduce leverage. The announcement triggered a broad sell‑off in listed alternative‑asset managers such as Apollo,...
Coin Center Highlights Decisive Shift in Congressional Debates Over Digital Assets Market Structure
Coin Center’s executive director Peter Van Valkenburgh says the Senate is now confronting the core issue of the Digital Asset Market CLARITY Act – whether developers of non‑custodial blockchain infrastructure will receive legal protection under the Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act....
Things Worth Reading: 20th February 2026
Chris Skinner’s roundup highlights a wave of fintech activity on February 20, 2026. Forbes lists the 50 hottest fintech startups, while Santander signals a push to scale its global investment bank. Regulatory pressure mounts as the ECB sanctions JPMorgan for capital‑misreporting, and...
BoA Hikes Cash‑back Boost Threshold to $1 Million
Bank of America is changing its cash back rewards program. Previously, you could get 5.25% cash back on a selected category (e.g. online) or 2.62% unlimited CB if you held $100k+ with Merrill Edge brokerage. Starting in May, you will need $1M...
Trump 2.0 Boosts Banks, Revives Citi’s Fortunes
We don’t talk about banks much any more, but Trump 2.0 has been good to them, notably Citi the principal casualty of 2008. More on this and other fascinating topics in the Chartbook Top links today. https://t.co/saPWxJgDju
Can MAS Financial Sustain Its Outperformance on Strong Growth Momentum?
MAS Financial Services (MFSL) posted double‑digit year‑on‑year growth in assets under management, revenue and net profit for the December 2025 quarter and the first nine months of FY 26, driving its stock up 9% versus the BSE Financial Services index. The...
Turn Cybersecurity Into Competitive Advantage with Proactive Leadership
Cybersecurity leadership today goes beyond defense. We need to turn security from a barrier into a business advantage. We do this by building teams and systems that anticipate threats before they disrupt operations.
Local Deposits Multiply Small Business Lending, Not Government Debt
Local deposit ➡️ Local loan ➡️ Local growth A $1,000 local bank deposit can support up to $30,000 in #smallbiz lending over 5 yrs. The same $1,000 in stablecoin backs government debt. Local deposits build communities. Stablecoin reserves fund Washington. #banklocal
M&T Says Tricolor-Related Lawsuit Could Lead to Losses
M&T Bank’s Wilmington Trust subsidiary is defending a New York lawsuit alleging it failed to fulfill custodial duties for several Tricolor‑related trusts. Plaintiffs claim the bank breached contracts and fiduciary obligations, seeking unspecified damages, interest and fees. M&T reports that...
Consumers Misunderstand Credit Scores; Banks Must Rethink Risk
Most consumers don’t understand how their credit score is calculated, and stigma keeps them from getting help. Financial institutions must rethink risk. We explore this with Steve Min, Chief Credit Officer at @CreditOneBank. Watch the full episode now: https://t.co/wUIHckaAy4 https://t.co/dX96wDMpfj
APAC Fintechs Turn to Expansion and Banks Amid Funding Slowdown
🌏How can Asia-Pacific fintechs survive this year’s funding slowdown? APAC #fintech firms are heading into 2026 facing a cautious funding environment, with overseas expansion and bank partnerships emerging as key survival strategies. @AsianBanking. https://t.co/N1S2RZYpaH
FBI Says ATM ‘Jackpotting’ Attacks Are on the Rise, and Netting Hackers Millions in Stolen Cash
ATM jackpotting has shifted from a security demo to a lucrative crime, with hackers now pulling millions from cash dispensers. The FBI reports over 700 attacks in 2025 alone, netting at least $20 million in stolen cash. The primary tool, Ploutus...
Block Turns Cash App Score Into Fintech Data Service
Block’s Credit Score Play: Can Cash App Score Replace FICO? Block announced it’s selling its Cash App Score to third-party lenders. It could be one of the more interesting data-as-a-service businesses in fintech right now. New Fintech Snark Tank post: https://t.co/tItfZdy7IT
Stablecoin Payments Question Need for Traditional Rewards
If stablecoin is the future of payments, why do you need rewards? Are there FedNow rewards? ACH rewards? Check writing rewards? Wire rewards?
Medallion Stresses Home Improvement to Drive 2026 Growth
Medallion Financial, the former taxi‑medallion lender, is pivoting to accelerate home‑improvement loan growth, aiming for mid‑teens percentage expansion in 2026. The strategy is anchored by hiring veteran consumer lender Joel Cannon from Regions Financial to lead a dedicated home‑improvement team....
Retail Banking Strategies Lag Behind Execution in 2026
The 2026 Retail Banking Trends research reveals a clear gap between strategy and execution across digital, payments, AI, and partnerships. Watch the full video: https://t.co/qrsFZDRVT6 https://t.co/pesk3Lrhfe
Open Banking, 1033, and the Agentic AI Catalyst - Steve Boms, Executive Director of FDATA
In this episode, Steve Boms, Executive Director of FDATA North America, outlines the current landscape of U.S. open banking, focusing on the pending amendments to the CFPB's Section 1033 rule and FDATA’s position that banks should not charge fees for...