Banking News and Headlines
Banking News and Headlines
Banking Pulse
EMAIL DIGESTS
Daily
Every morning
Weekly
Tuesday recap
EMAIL DIGESTS
Daily
Every morning
Weekly
Tuesday recap
SBI Holdings has signed an MOU with blockchain firm Startale Group to create Japan’s first fully regulated yen‑pegged stablecoin. The token will be issued as a Type 3 Electronic Payment Instrument, backed by assets held in Shinsei Trust & Banking, and distributed through SBI’s licensed digital‑asset platform. Launch is slated for the second quarter of 2026, subject to final approval from the Financial Services Agency. The initiative positions Japan to compete with dollar‑stablecoins and expand cross‑border settlement services.
Walker & Dunlop dismissed members of its banking staff after an internal investigation revealed approximately $134 million in Freddie Mac multifamily loans were affected by borrower fraud, leading to a $29 million loss expense in Q4. The review also uncovered an additional $34 million...
Tom Ahles, a mortgage broker, outlines how effective broker‑lender partnerships require consistency, transparency, and direct access to decision‑makers. He highlights the use of AI to decode lender guidelines, service‑level agreements for communication, and technology integrations that accelerate loan processing. The...
Indiana’s House Bill 1042, approved by both chambers, requires state‑managed retirement and savings plans to offer self‑directed brokerage accounts with at least one cryptocurrency option, and protects citizens’ ability to use crypto for payments and wallet custody. The measure awaits...
Barclays is assessing blockchain‑based settlement platforms to integrate stablecoins and tokenized deposits, with a vendor expected to be chosen by April 2026. The move marks a reversal from its earlier cautious stance on crypto toward active blockchain investment. Barclays also...
PayPal announced a partnership with Atlanta‑based Rainforest to embed PayPal, Venmo and buy‑now‑pay‑later services directly into Rainforest’s software platform. The integration is designed to accelerate merchant payouts, cut late‑payment incidents and shift transaction volume away from cash and checks. Rainforest,...
Lloyds Banking Group announced it will no longer open joint, premium or student accounts in its branches, and staff will not switch customers from other providers. Customers seeking new accounts will be directed to the bank’s app or website, though...
Marqeta warned that Block’s revised Cash App pricing will compress its 2026 earnings, projecting a modest $10 million net income – the first profit since 2024. Block now represents about 45% of Marqeta’s revenue after falling from 68% in 2023, and the...
Japan’s regional banks, once pillars of local growth, now face shrinking deposits and borrowers as the nation records its 16th consecutive year of population decline. Consolidation is accelerating, highlighted by the 2025 Aomori Bank‑Michinoku Bank merger that now controls about...
Barclays shares slipped 1.6% after reports it faces roughly £600 million exposure to the collapsed UK specialist mortgage lender Market Financial Solutions (MFS). The fallout also highlighted potential losses for Santander and Jefferies, underscoring broader concerns about the fast‑growing private‑credit market....
Katharine Braddick has been appointed Deputy Governor for Prudential Regulation and Chief Executive of the PRA, effective 1 July, for a five‑year term. She moves from Barclays, where she served as Group Head of Strategic Policy, bringing rare private‑sector banking experience...
Banks are confronting a financial‑crime threat that evolves faster than their compliance training cycles. The profession suffers from a thin talent pipeline, with most hires arriving mid‑career and no standardized academic path. Current training is static, annual, and siloed, while...
Stellar’s CEO warns banks that choosing between private and public blockchain infrastructures will create lasting path dependencies. With the tokenized real‑world‑asset market valued around $33 billion, banks are already piloting blockchain‑based settlement and fund tokenization. The article outlines three critical questions—who...
Fat Brands, the parent of Fazoli's and 15 other restaurant chains, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in January 2024. Lenders have pushed for a court‑appointed trustee, alleging CEO Andy Wiederhorn misused company funds for personal loans, bonuses, and an unauthorized stock...
Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Bank are piloting agentic artificial intelligence for trade surveillance, moving beyond static rule‑based alerts to systems that reason over real‑time trading patterns. Deutsche Bank is collaborating with Google Cloud to build AI agents that flag complex...
KKR’s publicly traded credit vehicle, FS KKR Capital Corp, dropped 15% after reporting a surge in troubled loans and a cut to its dividend. The $13 billion portfolio, dominated by private‑equity‑backed mid‑market loans, is seeing rising defaults and mark‑to‑market losses, especially...
Block announced a 40% workforce reduction, cutting 4,000 jobs and citing AI‑driven efficiency gains. Klarna reported US$1 bn in revenue, positioning itself for further global expansion. The UK introduced stricter buy‑now‑pay‑later regulations, aiming to curb predatory lending, while Lloyds halted new...
Egyptian fintech Souhoola has secured initial regulatory approval to launch a reloadable prepaid card in collaboration with Banque Misr, Visa, and payment‑technology firm Modupay. The card will be instantly activatable via an app, allowing real‑time balance tracking, cash withdrawals and...
The Credit Guarantee Scheme for Startups (CGSS) has been upgraded to offer up to ₹20 crore guarantee per borrower, doubling the previous limit. The 2025 amendments introduce tiered coverage—85% for loans up to ₹10 crore and 75% beyond—while adjusting annual guarantee fees...
Figure Technology Solutions reported a 131% year‑over‑year surge in its Consumer Loan Marketplace, reaching $2.7 billion in Q4 2025. More than half of that volume, $1.5 billion, flowed through its newly launched Figure Connect platform, marking a rapid shift toward a capital‑light...
The OCC’s comptroller, Jonathan Gould, indicated he will consider providing Senators Elizabeth Warren and Tim Scott with the unredacted bank charter application of World Liberty Financial, a Trump‑family‑linked DeFi firm. The application, submitted in January, seeks a national trust bank...
At the Goldman Sachs EMEA Head of Trading conference, FCA chief executive Nikhil Rathi outlined a sweeping reform agenda aimed at cementing the UK’s position as a global wholesale‑finance hub. He highlighted recent regulatory wins – from tighter market‑abuse enforcement...
BlackRock TCP Capital Corp (TCPC) reported Q2 2025 results showing nonaccruals fell to 3.7% of portfolio fair value, down from 4.4% in the prior quarter, while net asset value slipped due to markdowns on restructured assets. The $1.8 billion portfolio stayed...
Colombian fintech Addi secured $89 million in structured financing from Citi, adding to the $71 million debt facility it raised in November 2025. The funding brings Addi's total recent debt to roughly $160 million, supporting its buy‑now‑pay‑later (BNPL) platform that offers instant point‑of‑sale credit....
TransUnion projects moderate credit growth for 2026, with mortgage originations rising 4.0% and unsecured personal loans expanding 11.2%. Credit‑card originations are slated for a modest 2.0% increase, while auto‑loan originations may dip 1.5%. The outlook emphasizes disciplined underwriting supported by...
Credential‑based fraud and login friction are eroding conversion for high‑value e‑commerce shoppers, prompting merchants to seek stronger, lower‑friction authentication. Passkeys, built on FIDO public‑key cryptography and unlocked via biometrics or PIN, promise to eliminate password reuse and phishing risk. PayPal...
The national delinquency rate slipped to 3.65% in January, yet foreclosure starts surged to 42,000, matching early‑2020 levels. Late‑stage delinquencies rose 104,000 year‑over‑year, pushing the count of borrowers 90+ days delinquent to a July 2022 high. While mortgage rates fell, pre‑payment...
Block, the fintech firm behind Cash App, Square and Afterpay, announced a 40% workforce reduction, cutting roughly 4,000 jobs and shrinking headcount from 10,000 to just over 6,000. CEO Jack Dorsey said the move is driven by rapid advances in...
Prospective homebuyers need to maximize returns on down‑payment savings while preserving liquidity. High‑yield savings accounts (HYSA) currently offer 3.3‑4.5% APY, whereas six‑month certificates of deposit (CD) provide slightly higher fixed rates around 4.0‑4.1%. The choice hinges on the buyer’s timeline:...
Royal Bank of Canada’s U.S. wealth management unit posted a 12% year‑over‑year asset increase to $777.2 billion in its fiscal Q1 2026, despite net new inflows dropping more than half to $4.9 billion. The division added roughly $180 billion in assets over the...
In 2025, 22 U.S. states introduced legislation aimed at curbing gift‑card fraud, a sharp rise from eight states the previous year. While many bills increase criminal penalties, several also impose new duties on merchants, such as conspicuous fraud warnings and...
Kenanga Investment Bank has unveiled its Myrra tokenization platform, issuing two tokenized money‑market funds on the Stellar blockchain – a first for Malaysia. At the same time, CIMB, the country’s second‑largest bank, announced a partnership with Ant International to explore...
Santander launched Catalyst, a platform‑engineering solution built with AWS, to overhaul its cloud infrastructure. The initiative replaces a 90‑day manual provisioning process with an automated, Kubernetes‑based control plane that leverages Crossplane, ArgoCD, and OPA. By consolidating over 100 pipelines, Catalyst...
Liberty Co. Insurance Brokers announced the launch of Liberty Collateral Protection, a new collateral protection facility aimed at lenders and loan servicers with large, multi‑state portfolios. The offering blends lender‑placed insurance, real‑estate‑owned (REO) coverage, and collateral protection insurance with centralized...
Originations across mortgage products climbed in the fourth quarter, marking the first broad‑based increase since early 2023. The rise was driven by strong purchase demand and modest refinance activity despite higher rates. At the same time, banks reported earnings pressure...
India's Unified Payments Interface (UPI) now supports biometric authentication for transactions up to ₹5,000, allowing users to approve payments via fingerprint or facial recognition. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) approved the change, positioning biometrics as an alternative to the...
A LinkedIn post alleges that Wise has blocked payroll payments from Coinbase to UK‑based employees, disrupting their finances. Coinbase acknowledged the post but offered no further comment, while Wise has not responded. Wise’s Acceptable Use Policy prohibits direct crypto transactions...
Ziosk is deploying its Drop & Pay handheld payment tablets at Gringo’s Tex-Mex and Jimmy Changas, covering 21 Texas locations and delivering a 96% pay‑at‑table rate, a 23% lift in loyalty participation, and 45% higher guest‑survey engagement. The platform also...
Shift4 Payments reported record Q4 results and announced a strategic pivot toward international growth. The company closed a $2.5 billion acquisition of Swiss tax‑free shopping platform Global Blue and added Australia‑based Smartpay to its portfolio. To capitalize on these assets, Shift4 is...
A Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank analysis shows debit card fraud loss rates rose between 2021 and 2023, driven primarily by card‑not‑present transactions. While online fraud increased, in‑person fraud declined on dual‑message networks but grew on single‑message networks. The report...
Fiserv announced three senior hires this month: Lia Cao as chief revenue officer for enterprise and platforms, Robert Clarkson as chief revenue officer for small‑business and Clover POS, and Adit Gadgil as global head of business development. All three are...
Triple‑A has integrated Mastercard Move’s cross‑border money‑movement network into its remittance‑as‑a‑service platform, enabling near real‑time payouts for European banks, fintechs, and telecom operators. The partnership lets institutions launch branded global remittance services without building costly infrastructure, while also opening a...
Home‑improvement loan applications peaked at 1.49 million in 2022 and have moderated to 1.20 million in 2024, remaining above pre‑pandemic levels. The borrower age profile is gradually aging, with the 65‑74 and 75+ cohorts expanding modestly. Meanwhile, the 45‑54 group stays the...
ACI Worldwide reported fourth‑quarter revenue of $253.2 million, a 13% year‑over‑year increase, pushing full‑year 2025 revenue just above $1 billion. NCR Voyix posted a 6% Q4 revenue rise to $720 million but saw full‑year revenue dip 4.6%, while turning a $201 million loss into...
The Federal District government has introduced a bill to inject up to BRL 6 billion into BRB Banco de Brasília following the Master Bank fraud, allowing borrowing from the Credit Guarantee Fund or other lenders. The proposal also reduces the number of...
Leeds‑based fintech Debeo has launched what it calls the UK’s first purpose‑built online platform to help small and medium‑sized enterprises (SMEs) understand and manage their debt. The service aggregates loans, overdrafts and asset‑finance agreements into a single, real‑time view, enabling...
A consortium of five US regional banks—First Horizon, Huntington Bancshares, KeyCorp, M&T Bank and Old National Bancorp—has announced the creation of the Cari Network, a permissioned blockchain platform for tokenised deposits. The pilot will launch in the third quarter with...
Intuit has teamed with Affirm to embed a Buy‑Now‑Pay‑Later (BNPL) option directly into QuickBooks invoices, letting small‑business owners split customer payments while receiving the full amount upfront. The move turns QuickBooks from a bookkeeping tool into an actionable financial operating...
S&P Global Ratings warns that collateral values backing Hong Kong banks' commercial property loans will keep declining through 2026, reflecting a market that has yet to find a bottom. The Bank of East Asia disclosed a HK$723 million valuation loss in...
Latvia introduced a new specialised credit institution licence, lowering the initial capital requirement to €1 million and granting deposit‑taking rights and EU‑wide passporting. The amendment to the Credit Institutions Law took effect on 6 January 2026, creating a hybrid category that operates like...
