Know What's Happening in Banking
Know What's Happening in Banking
Klarna secures $2B facility and $1.7B risk transfer to boost lending
Klarna announced a $2 billion forward‑flow facility with Elliott Investment Management that will back up to $17 billion of U.S. loan originations over three years. On April 1 it completed a €1.7 billion Significant Risk Transfer led by Värde Partners, freeing capital for further growth.
Also developing:
Square announced the UK launch of SquareAI, a free conversational AI tool that helps merchants interpret sales data and make faster decisions. Blue Payment Agency expanded its services to high‑risk e‑commerce merchants selling restricted items, while Duck Creek Technologies will power Anchor Group’s payments modernization through its Payments Facilitator. MoonPay introduced stablecoin payroll on the Deel platform, and American Express extended its NBA partnership to include the WNBA and USA Basketball. Additional updates include Corpay’s Rugby Australia FX partnership, X9’s new ATM standards working group, and Nacha’s 2026 board appointments.
Stripe is in talks to launch a tender offer that could value the payments company at more than $140 billion, Axios Pro has learned from multiple sources. https://t.co/ZdKZhv7qn6 https://t.co/uSM0o6lKUo
Fosun Wealth’s Asian Yield-Bearing RWA Stablecoin Finds Its Home on Avalanche https://t.co/na0QP4gUl5 FinChain and ChinaAMC just launched Hong Kong's first yield-bearing RWA stablecoin (FUSD) on Avalanche enabling institutional liquidity on-chain today. https://t.co/5HDATqXC0e
Wise’s Commercial Director for the Americas, Lauren Langbridge, drove two domestic payment network expansions—Direct Pix in Brazil and Zengin in Japan—while laying groundwork for additional connections. She secured new partnerships with Wealthsimple and Interactive Brokers (IBKR), extending the Wise Platform’s reach into retail...
Indonesia, home to one of the world’s largest unbanked populations, is accelerating digital finance to boost inclusion. The Financial Services Authority outlined three policy priorities—sector resilience, a contributive ecosystem, and sustainable finance—to guide the effort. PT Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI)...
Mortgage rates have fallen back under six percent, with Zillow reporting a 5.91% average for a 30‑year fixed‑rate purchase and 6.02% for refinances on February 10, 2026. The 15‑year fixed sits at 5.44% and VA loans are slightly lower, while ARM products...
U.S. commercial real‑estate lending jumped 30% in Q4 2025, driven largely by banks as interest‑rate volatility eased. Originations rose 25% sequentially, with office loans nearly doubling year‑over‑year and overall 2025 originations up 40% from 2024. Depository institutions led the surge,...
InCred Wealth, the Mumbai‑based private wealth manager, announced that its assets under management have crossed $10 billion (over Rs 1 lakh crore) within just six years of launch. The firm now operates a network of more than 700 relationship managers serving family offices,...
The article argues that regulator‑regulatee agreements are not merely a peripheral tool but the dominant paradigm shaping modern regulation. Across sectors—from automobile safety to artificial intelligence and data‑privacy settlements—agreements precede, accompany, or replace traditional command‑and‑control rules. This perspective blurs the...
On January 23, 2026 the SEC’s Division of Corporation Finance released a suite of updated Compliance and Disclosure Interpretations covering proxy filings, executive compensation in spin‑offs, tender‑offer mechanics, lock‑up agreements, and securities‑offering integration. The revisions eliminate voluntary PX14A6G filings for...
U.S. Treasury yields slipped across the board for the week ending February 6, 2026. The benchmark 30‑year rate fell 0.02 percentage points, while the 10‑year yield dropped 0.04 points to 4.22 %. The 3‑year Treasury rate settled at 3.57 %, reflecting a modest broad‑based decline. These...
Private credit has trailed public credit since 2022, offering lower liquidity, weaker credit quality, higher industry concentration and higher borrower costs. By avoiding daily mark‑to‑market, private credit managers can "volatility launder" returns, presenting artificially low volatility and inflated Sharpe ratios....
Figure Technology’s CFO Macrina KgIl is urging the Financial Accounting Standards Board to reclassify stablecoins as cash or cash equivalents, rather than intangible assets. The current GAAP treatment creates ambiguity and extra compliance work for firms holding tokens like Tether....
🚨 WOAH: Uber just launched kiosks at LaGuardia Airport. The disruption of taxis is nearly compete. No app. No phone. Walk up, pick a destination, tap to pay, get a paper receipt with your ride details. Powered by Adyen terminals. --- This is the bit...
This was an auspiciously-timed quote. @stripe is in talks for a tender offer valuing the company at $140B. That's up from $107B in the fall. https://t.co/3EHL07KS8p
Mastercard’s Decision Intelligence Pro (DI Pro) uses a sub‑300 ms recurrent neural network to assign risk scores to each payment transaction in real time. The platform treats fraud detection as an "inverse recommender" problem, comparing current merchant behavior to historical patterns. By...
February FinTech funding off to flying start with over $1bn raised https://t.co/2EDie8Yh7q $1.02bn raised across 29 rounds. Past two-weeks Fintech funding topped $2.3bn.
The Treasury announced a new enrollment pathway for Trump accounts following a Super Bowl 60 commercial. Parents can now submit IRS Form 4547 online via TrumpAccounts.gov or attach it to their 2025 tax return to claim a $1,000 seed deposit for...
North introduced a Merchant Management API that gives Wholesale ISOs, Full Service Providers, and Payment Facilitators CRM‑level control over merchant portfolios. The write‑capable interface lets partners view, update, and synchronize merchant data—including pricing, risk limits, compliance, and terminal settings—in real...
In a February 9, 2026 speech to the European Parliament, ECB President Christine Lagarde reaffirmed the central bank’s independence while emphasizing its accountability to elected officials. She reported that headline inflation has fallen to 1.7% in January and is expected...
The Consumer Reports press release warns the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is on “life support” after an acting director ordered a work stoppage and halted new funding. The agency has also abandoned more than 22 enforcement actions and reversed 20...
iDEAL to phase into Wero starting in 2026 Strategic implications: Account-to-account payments (A2A) eliminating card network intermediaries. iDEAL processes 1.5B transactions annually with 100% Dutch consumer reach—now gets pan-European scale. Payment sovereignty meets network effects https://t.co/Qmf2G62B8k
Interest rate risk in the banking book (IRRBB) is emerging as a top priority for banks and regulators across emerging market and developing economies (EMDEs). Monetary tightening and persistent macro‑volatility are making balance‑sheet exposures more fragile, exposing the limits of...
GCC banks are shifting from ESG ambition to execution as regional regulations tighten and net‑zero targets loom. Mashreq Bank leads the field by securing end‑to‑end AA1000AS assurance for its integrated ESG report and embedding sustainability KPIs into senior management objectives....
BNY Mellon disclosed a $3.8 billion technology spend in 2025, representing about 19 % of its revenue – the highest share among large U.S. banks. The bank introduced 134 "digital employees" that automate repetitive tasks around the clock, while its human workforce...
Uber announced it will broaden its partnership with payment processor Adyen, extending the use of Adyen’s Checkout API to additional geographies and more payment options. Honor Capital is collaborating with ePayPolicy to provide financing for insured customers making premium payments...
Will the vertical integration (Ripple closed loop model - stablecoin + settlement layers) or horizontal distribution (Paxos/Circle model) dominate institutional adoption? Institutions might prefer the seamless Ripple stack, but developers and DeFi protocols favor the flexibility of multi-chain stablecoins.
Excited to be speaking at the NextGen Payments & RegTech Forum in March. I'll explore why many financial institutions are missing the mark in my keynote 'Your Bank’s AI Strategy Is Wrong.' To register and access the full agenda: https://t.co/XIQySs0LfD @qubevents https://t.co/kTlwtWVXVs
India’s household financial portfolio is shifting away from traditional safe assets toward equities and managed funds. Between March 2021 and March 2025, bank deposits fell from roughly 47.5% to 43.5% of total financial assets, while mutual‑fund and pension holdings rose...
Nigeria’s credit penetration has topped 40%, driven by a broader data ecosystem and advanced scoring models. CRC Credit Bureau, the nation’s largest licensed bureau, now aggregates information from banks, fintechs, utilities, telcos and digital payments, creating a unified credit view....
🇭🇰🇸🇬Hong Kong & Singapore to be biggest winners as global capital flows shift to #Asia: HK & SG are best choices for global investors seeking to diversify their portfolios amid geopolitical risks. DBS CEO Tan Su Shan via @SCMPNews. #WealthManagement https://t.co/j34B1J9Kz1
The Promise of Digital Identities (IDs) https://t.co/ZELeCaUzpS "A digital ID combines the three pillars of secure transactions—identification, authentication, and authorization". Not my words, the Feds. Well, to be fair, my words too. Albeit some time ago. https://t.co/aTC5u5N9wx
The U.S. Treasury, through OFAC, reclassified key Iranian banks and instituted secondary sanctions that block dollar‑clearing for Iran’s oil trade. By cutting off access to the SWIFT network and threatening non‑U.S. firms that facilitate dollar transactions, the Treasury forced a...
The episode investigates a widespread HMRC error that suspended Child Benefit for over 60% of eligible parents after mistakenly interpreting travel data as a move abroad, affecting payments worth at least £100 a month. It reveals that 63% of suspensions...
In this episode of the Digital Banking Podcast, Josh DeTar talks with Derrick Aguilar, Chief Experience Officer at PenAir Credit Union, about embedding empathy into every member interaction. Aguilar explains that while digital tools and reliable services are essential, the...
Clip introduced the Clip Total 3 point‑of‑sale terminal, a $899 device that adds order management, inventory catalog, a customer‑facing screen, high‑speed printer and dual cameras for Mexican merchants, especially restaurants. At the same time, Mexico‑based SeoSamba launched a Stripe‑powered POS app...
The episode reviews the U.S. Bank Freight Payment Index, showing that the U.S. truck freight market is in a late‑cycle contraction where capacity constraints, not demand, are driving higher rates. While Q4 2025 shipments rose modestly, they remain down year‑over‑year,...
Affirm announced financing for Virgin Media O2 customers, extending its buy‑now‑pay‑later (BNPL) reach into the UK mobile‑device market. The company also broadened its partnership with Wayfair, adding installment‑payment options for shoppers in Canada and the United Kingdom alongside its existing...
The episode examines how U.S. Congressman Wright Patman reshaped banking regulation, turning banks from passive cash conduits into active gatekeepers tasked with monitoring and reporting suspicious activity. It contrasts the pre‑Patman view of banks as mere plumbing with the post‑Patman...
The UK‑China Financial Working Group held its inaugural meeting on 31 January 2026 in Beijing, bringing together senior officials from HM Treasury, the Bank of England, the PRA, the FCA and their Chinese counterparts from the People’s Bank of China, the Ministry...
Former PayPal president David Marcus posted a candid post‑mortem outlining why the company’s silent turnaround lost steam. He argues that a shift from product‑led conviction to pure financial optimization eroded PayPal’s core checkout moat. The analysis distills seven actionable takeaways,...
In this episode, Paul Benda explains the SCAM Act introduced by Senators Ruben Gallego and Bernie Moreno, which would impose new know‑your‑customer and ad‑takedown obligations on major tech platforms that profit from fraudulent advertising. He outlines why current market incentives...
Disney and Chase launched the Disney Inspire Visa Card on Feb 3, 2026, adding a premium offering to the existing Disney Visa lineup. The card carries a $149 annual fee and bundles a $300 statement credit after $1,000 spend in the first...
Scotiabank’s Global Head of FICC, Stephanie Larivière, said heightened U.S. dollar strength and tariff‑driven trade uncertainty have spurred a surge in demand for structured foreign‑exchange hedges. Clients are increasingly looking beyond the dollar, favoring non‑dollar crosses such as the Mexican peso,...
HSBC has finalized the buyout of Hang Seng Bank, marking Hong Kong's largest privatization and the biggest financial services acquisition in the market. The transaction delists Hang Seng, aiming to merge digital banking capabilities while preserving distinct brand identities. HSBC...
Saudi Arabia has removed the Qualified Foreign Investor (QFI) framework, permitting any international investor to trade directly on the Tadawul exchange as of February 1. The reform ends the $500 million asset threshold that previously limited foreign participation to large institutions. Foreign...
The episode announces Tom Ilube CBE as the new Chair of LINK, the UK’s cash access and ATM network, highlighting his extensive background in technology, finance, education, and philanthropy. Ilube emphasizes the importance of maintaining cash access for millions as...
In his keynote at the Payments Regulation and Innovation Summit, David Geale, MD of the Payment Systems Regulator, outlined how the FCA and PSR are steering the National Payments Vision by focusing on system trust, resilience through choice, and upcoming...
Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Warsh is pushing to restart quantitative tightening, signaling a shift toward shrinking the central bank’s balance sheet. This move comes even as the Fed recently expanded its holdings to ease strains in the funding market. Warsh’s...
Spain’s aging population, projected to hit 30% by the mid‑2050s, coincides with a surge in digital banking adoption—75% of Spaniards used online services in 2024. CaixaBank responded by creating a life‑stage ecosystem: the fully digital neobank imagin for youth and...
