Morningstar DBRS Posts Securitisation Insights Podcast Episode 40 on Synthetic SRTs: From Capital Relief to Key Risks
Morningstar DBRS released episode 40 of its Securitisation Insights podcast, featuring Mudasar Chaudhry, Andre Soutinho and Nicola De Caro discussing synthetic Significant Risk Transfer (SRT) transactions in Europe. The hosts explained how synthetic SRTs let banks shift credit risk to investors without selling underlying assets, freeing capital and enhancing balance‑sheet efficiency. They highlighted the rapid expansion of synthetic securitisations, identified emerging risk vectors such as liquidity and model risk, and examined forthcoming regulatory changes affecting future issuances.
Hong Kong Regulators Widen GenA.I. Sandbox Across Financial Services
Hong Kong’s financial regulators have broadened the GenA.I. Sandbox into a cross‑sector programme called GenA.I. Sandbox++, covering securities, asset management, insurance, pensions and stored‑value facilities. Launched on March 5 by the HKMA, SFC, Insurance Authority and MPFA in partnership with Cyberport,...
The Broker Is the Backbone of American Homeownership
Independent mortgage brokers are a critical access point for American homebuyers, especially first‑time, self‑employed, and credit‑challenged borrowers. Unlike retail loan officers, brokers can shop dozens of lenders to secure the best rates and programs. The National Association of Mortgage Brokers...
The Payment Revolution: How Asia Buys, Pays and Lives in 2026
Asia’s payment landscape is evolving toward AI‑driven agentic commerce, where conversational prompts replace traditional searches and agents act on behalf of shoppers. Embedded payment methods—QR codes, contactless taps, and account‑to‑account rails—now span digital, physical and hybrid environments, turning every interaction...
Irish Banks Launch P2P Payments Service
Ireland’s three largest retail banks—AIB, Bank of Ireland and PTSB—are rolling out Zippay, a peer‑to‑peer mobile payment service developed by Nexi, starting 10 March. The app, embedded directly within each bank’s existing mobile platform, will initially reach a potential user base...
Heritage Commerce Corp (HTBK) Q4 2025 Earnings Call Transcript
Heritage Commerce Corp reported a strong deposit surge of $160.7 million in Q4 2025, with 95% of the growth coming from non‑maturity accounts, while loan balances slipped $37 million due to higher payoffs. Net interest margin rose to 3.44% as funding costs...
How To Use Citi AAdvantage Globe Card Admirals Club Globe Passes
American Airlines’ Citi AAdvantage Globe Mastercard offers a $350 annual fee paired with four annual Admirals Club Globe Passes. The passes load automatically into the airline’s mobile app, grant 24‑hour lounge access for the primary cardholder and a guest, and require a...
As Middle East Conflict Rages, DBS Urges SMEs to Hedge at Least Half Their FX Exposure – Not Time the...
DBS is urging Singapore‑based SMEs to hedge at least half of their foreign‑exchange exposure amid heightened volatility from the Middle‑East conflict. The bank’s SecureFX facility, which lets companies lock in rates up to US$1 million without credit lines, is already used...
DORA Raises the Bar on Operational Resilience
The EU Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA) has been in force since January 2025, obligating financial services firms to retain operational control during severe IT incidents, not merely avoid failures. While many institutions have bolstered continuity and cyber‑response capabilities, a Veeam‑commissioned...
EU Court Adviser Says Banks Must Immediately Refund Phishing Victims
Advocate General Athanasios Rantos of the EU Court of Justice issued an opinion that banks must instantly refund victims of unauthorized phishing transactions under the EU Payment Services Directive (PSD2), unless they have reasonable grounds to suspect fraud. The opinion...
Spreedly Activates Agentic Commerce Channel
Spreedly announced the launch of an agentic commerce channel that lets AI‑driven agents initiate transactions through merchants’ existing payment service provider relationships while the merchant remains the record of sale. The new channel runs on Spreedly’s open payments platform, preserving...
SumUp Expands Form3 Partnership to Bring Real-Time SEPA Payments to Millions of European SMEs
SumUp announced an expanded partnership with cloud‑native payments platform Form3 to power real‑time SEPA Instant, Credit Transfer and Direct Debit across Europe. The move extends the existing UK‑focused integration, giving SumUp’s 4 million merchants in 37 countries access to instant European...
Fideo Intelligence Expands Dark Web Monitoring
Fideo Intelligence has broadened its dark‑web monitoring to deliver early‑stage fraud signals for banks, fintechs, PSPs and merchants. The upgraded service surfaces synthetic identity creation, account takeovers and credential‑replay attacks before they reach a transaction. Integrated into its Verify and...
DLocal and Open English Introduce Bre-B Instant Payments to Eliminate Checkout Friction in Colombia
dLocal and Open English have launched Bre‑B, Colombia’s government‑backed real‑time payment rail, as an instant checkout option for the e‑learning platform. The integration lets students pay via bank‑linked llaves or QR codes, confirming transactions in seconds and eliminating the need...
Best Crypto Presale March 2026: SoFi Bank Launches a US Dollar Stablecoin With BitGo as LINK Powers a Visa Cross-Border...
SOFI Technologies and BitGo launched SoFiUSD, a U.S. dollar‑pegged stablecoin issued directly by the federally insured SoFi Bank. In parallel, Visa completed a cross‑border settlement pilot with ANZ, ChinaAMC and Fidelity, using Chainlink’s oracle to settle tokenized assets on multiple...
System Audit Reports in the Banking Sector: Key Expectations
System audit reports have become essential for banks to validate IT integrity, security, and regulatory compliance. Unlike financial audits, they focus on technology controls, uncover hidden risks, and provide actionable remediation guidance. Regulators such as the RBI demand evidence‑based documentation...
Florida Senate Passes State-Level Stablecoin Bill, Awaits DeSantis’ Signature
Florida’s Senate unanimously passed Senate Bill 314, creating the nation’s first state‑level regulatory framework for payment stablecoins. The bill amends the state’s anti‑money‑laundering statute to explicitly cover stablecoins and requires issuers to register with the Office of Financial Regulation, with...
Have We Underestimated the Benefits of Mastercard Priceless?
Mastercard’s Priceless program provides cardholders with exclusive discounts, elite status upgrades, and hard‑to‑get tickets to events across the UK and globally. Recent experiences show access to sold‑out theatre shows, backstage ballet rehearsals, and charity‑linked UEFA Champions League tickets. Many offers,...
$1 Vs. $400: Do This 30-Second Math Check to Up Your Savings Right Now
Online banks are outpacing traditional institutions by offering high‑yield savings accounts (HYSAs) with APYs of 4% or more, compared to legacy banks’ sub‑0.1% rates. The article illustrates the stark difference: $10,000 earns $1 at 0.01% versus $400 at 4% annually....
Cross-Border Restrictions in the Age of Geopolitical Tensions: What Seven Decades of Data Tell Us
A new study uses large‑language‑model techniques to convert the IMF’s 70‑year AREAER narrative archive into a daily, country‑level dataset of cross‑border financial restrictions (iBoP‑C and iBoP‑S). The high‑frequency indices reveal a stop‑go pattern of financial liberalisation, with advanced economies easing...
Planet Financial Grows 58% in Originations, 21% Servicing
Planet Financial Group reported a 58% jump in originations to $28.6 billion and a 21% increase in its servicing portfolio to $144.8 billion for 2025, achieved organically despite recent acquisitions. The growth was driven by strong retail retention (52% rise to $2.5 billion)...
Alchemy Pay Hits 15 Money Transmitter Licenses With Delaware Win
Alchemy Pay announced it secured a Money Transmitter License in Delaware, bringing its total U.S. state coverage to 15. The company added four licenses this year, including Nebraska, South Dakota and West Virginia, expanding its regulated fiat‑crypto payment network. Alchemy...
First Fidelity Bank Taps Bud Financial for Insight-Driven Digital Banking Upgrade
First Fidelity Bank (FFB), a regional community bank with $2.9 billion in assets, has gone live with Bud Financial’s Enrich and Engage platforms to upgrade its digital banking experience. The partnership embeds Bud’s transaction‑data enrichment and personal financial management (PFM) widgets—such...
Banking Associations Push Back on Kraken Fed Account as Stablecoin Issuers Wait
The Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City granted Kraken Financial a limited‑purpose account, marking the first pilot of a Fed‑backed banking solution for a crypto exchange. The American Bankers Association and the Bank Policy Institute quickly criticized the move, arguing...
Mexico's Grupo Financiero Banorte Partners with Hitachi Vantara of Data Center Migration
Grupo Financiero Banorte teamed with Hitachi Vantara to relocate its primary data center from Mexico City to Querétaro, moving 450 TB of information in under an hour. The migration introduced two mainframes, three Hitachi storage arrays, and the Virtual Storage Platform...
Swift Moves Ahead with Retail Cross-Border Payments Network
Swift has introduced a new framework for retail cross‑border payments, with over 25 banks slated to process transactions under the rules by June. The initiative expands Swift’s traditional focus on interbank and commercial transfers to consumer‑level payments, targeting faster settlement,...
MISMO Releases VA, FHA Form Standards for Industry Use
The Mortgage Industry Standards Maintenance Organization (MISMO) has elevated the data mapping for VA Form 26‑1820 and the HUD FHA Addendum to candidate recommendation status, making standardized XML datasets available for industry use. The VA mapping translates the loan disbursement report...
Boston Fed Touts FedNow
The Boston Federal Reserve is championing FedNow, its real‑time payments platform, to draw more banks into instant‑payment services. A forthcoming Fed survey shows nine in ten consumers would increase bank usage if instant payments were offered, while 55% reported overdraft...
Affirm Pursues Affluent Consumers
Affirm is pivoting its buy‑now‑pay‑later offering toward affluent, high‑credit consumers by expanding 0% interest promotions. The company says interest‑free loans drive an 80% probability of repeat usage and currently account for about 16% of its transaction volume, with 80% of...
Why EWA Services Matter
Earned‑wage access (EWA) is gaining traction as hourly workers demand daily pay to bridge cash‑flow gaps between biweekly checks. Executives often view the concept as risky, yet the reality of paycheck‑to‑paycheck living drives demand for instant wage disbursement. Recent growth...
Fintech Regulation Explained: Licenses, Banks & Compliance
Fintech firms navigate a fragmented regulatory maze, with the United States hosting multiple agencies—from the OCC to FinCEN—each overseeing a slice of the financial pie. The United Kingdom relies on a twin‑peaks system where the PRA ensures solvency and the...
Alchemy Pay Gets License and Other Digital Transactions News Briefs From 3/6/26
Alchemy Pay announced it secured a money‑transmitter license in Delaware, marking its 15th U.S. state approval. Strike also received both a BitLicense and a money‑transmitter license from New York, expanding its regulated crypto services. Meanwhile, Cinnaholic returned to Square’s point‑of‑sale...
How Visa Uses AI in the Fight Against Fraud with AI…
Visa has invested €10 billion in payment security and now blocks over 150 million fraudulent transactions each year. While e‑commerce fraud rates in Europe are falling, fraudsters have turned to AI‑generated social engineering, making scams five times more likely to succeed. Retailers...
Digital Rupee vs Digital Euro: Which CBDC Is More Business-Friendly?
The article pits India’s Digital Rupee against the EU’s Digital Euro, evaluating which central bank digital currency (CBDC) best serves commercial users. It notes the Digital Rupee’s near‑real‑time settlement, open‑source APIs, and early integration with Indian e‑commerce giants, while the...
India’s Digital Rupee (E₹) and E-Commerce Giants: Facts and Myths Around Retail CBDC Launch
India’s central bank has continued its digital rupee (E₹) pilot, but a retail rollout on e‑commerce platforms such as Amazon and Flipkart remains unrealised. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has onboarded a handful of banks, fintechs and select merchants...
Piero Cipollone: Digital Euro
The European Central Bank entered the current preparation phase for a digital euro in November 2025, concentrating on technical readiness, market engagement, and legislative support. A controlled pilot with real‑world transactions is slated for mid‑2027, with a potential first issuance targeted...
Dacadoo’s Role in the Health and Finance Revolution
FinTech Global interviewed Thomas Dijohn, senior vice‑president Asia‑Pacific at dacadoo, about linking health metrics to financial services. He argued that physically and mentally healthy individuals represent higher‑earning, lower‑risk customers, making health data a valuable segmentation tool for banks. dacadoo provides...
Finastra Launches OperatorAssist AI Payments Tool
Finastra has launched OperatorAssist, an AI‑driven add‑on for its Global PAYplus and Payments To Go platforms that automates payment exception handling. The tool analyses payment errors, suggests fixes and guides users through resolution steps, aiming to cut manual investigation time...
Lloyds Bank to Sell More Customer Data and Cut Costs by 35%
Lloyds Banking Group announced its Technology Strategy 3.0, targeting hundreds of millions of pounds in technology cost reductions by 2028. The plan calls for retiring legacy applications, automating compliance checks, expanding in‑house data capabilities and selling more anonymised customer data to...
Deutsche Bank Names Gerald Podobnik Co-Head of Its Corporate Bank
Deutsche Bank has appointed Gerald Podobnik as Co‑Head of its Corporate Bank, effective immediately, replacing Ole Matthiessen. Podobnik will share global leadership with Michael Diederich and join the Group Management Committee, reporting to Fabrizio Campelli. He brings 23 years at the bank, most recently serving...
SpareBank 1 and Tieto Banktech Transform Digital Mortgages
SpareBank 1, Norway’s leading mobile‑banking provider, has teamed up with Tieto Banktech to build a data‑driven digital mortgage platform. The multi‑year partnership will embed a dynamic, self‑service loan application into SpareBank 1’s mobile app, leveraging AI and real‑time data to...
Paysafe Unveils Strategic Partnership with Spreedly to Boost Global Open Payments
Paysafe announced a strategic partnership with payment‑orchestration provider Spreedly, integrating its gateway as an acquirer on Spreedly’s Open Payment Platform. The collaboration instantly enables card‑present and card‑not‑present transactions for merchants in Europe, North America and other regions, leveraging Spreedly’s connections...
3S Money Expands European Footprint with French IBANs and New Paris Office
3S Money announced the launch of French‑issued IBAN accounts, allowing European customers to hold and transact in euros locally. The fintech also opened a new office in Paris, staffed with a team focused on regulatory compliance and business development. These...
FedNow Pushes FEMA Disaster Aid From Days to Seconds
The Federal Reserve’s FedNow service now powers FEMA’s disaster‑relief payouts, moving funds from days or weeks to seconds. Transaction limits have been raised to $10 million, enabling large‑scale disbursements directly to states, municipalities and households. This capability is part of a...
Mobile Payments Transforming the Retail Checkout Experience
Mobile payments are rapidly reshaping retail checkout, driven by consumer demand for speed and the pandemic‑induced shift to contactless transactions. Retailers report higher customer satisfaction, shorter transaction times, and lower processing costs as they adopt smartphone‑based wallets and biometric authentication....
Beyond the PIN: How Biometric Authentication Is Redefining UPI Payments
PhonePe has launched biometric authentication for UPI payments, allowing users to approve transactions up to Rs 5,000 with a fingerprint or facial scan. The feature leverages the smartphone’s Secure Enclave, keeping biometric data on‑device and adding a hardware‑grade security layer. A...
Network International Seals Deals to Streamline Digital Payments in Egypt, Libya
Network International announced two strategic deals to deepen its footprint in North Africa. In Libya, it partnered with Al Seraj Islamic Bank to deliver an end‑to‑end digital payments platform, Visa sponsorship and prepaid issuing capabilities. In Egypt, the firm enabled...
Sensex Slides over 600 Points to 79,412, Nifty Falls 168 Points to 24,597 as Banks Drag; Energy Stocks Buck the...
India's benchmark indices deepened losses on Friday, with the BSE Sensex slipping 603 points to 79,412 and the Nifty 50 dropping 168 points to 24,597. Banking and financial‑services stocks led the decline, as the Nifty Bank fell 763 points, testing...
Why Somalia's Banks Must Consolidate
Somalia’s banking sector has rebounded over the past decade, quadrupling assets to $1.8 billion and expanding deposits to $1.43 billion, yet it remains highly fragmented with 13 small, under‑capitalised banks. Most institutions are privately owned, Sharia‑compliant and concentrated in urban centres, leaving...
The Intelligence Revolution
Chris Skinner’s webinar frames finance’s evolution as three technology revolutions: mainframe‑driven automation (Finance 1.0), digital transformation driven by cloud, APIs and platforms (Finance 2.0), and today’s shift to intelligent ecosystems powered by AI, generative models, and emerging quantum and blockchain capabilities. He...