Know What's Happening in Finance
Know What's Happening in Finance
Klarna secures $1.7B risk transfer and $2B funding facility to boost lending
Klarna unveiled a $2 billion forward‑flow facility with Elliott Investment Management that will back up to $17 billion of U.S. loan originations over the next three years. It also completed a €1.7 billion Significant Risk Transfer led by Värde Partners, freeing capital for broader lending.
Also developing:
ICON Plc announced that a preliminary accounting probe suggests its 2023 and 2024 revenues may have been overstated by less than 2%, prompting the company to withdraw its annual guidance and delay its fourth‑quarter earnings release. The disclosure triggered a pre‑market sell‑off, with shares plunging up to 37 percent. ICON also warned that material weaknesses in internal controls over financial reporting are expected. The investigation now extends through fiscal 2025, heightening uncertainty for the healthcare‑services contractor.
Retail investors are increasingly gravitating toward separately managed accounts (SMAs) and exchange‑traded funds (ETFs) as flexible, tax‑efficient ways to access municipal bonds. Muni SMAs now manage roughly $1.3 trillion across about 180 managers, while ETF holdings in the sector jumped 22.4%...
After a three‑decade finance career that included auditing at Arthur Andersen and senior roles at Altra Industrial Motion, Todd Patriacca joined ophthalmic‑equipment maker BVI Medical as CFO in early 2023. He helped grow Altra from $300 million to roughly $2 billion in...
Britain’s Thames Water announced that its creditors are reviewing an additional £823 million of funding, adding to the £1.43 billion already drawn from its super‑senior liquidity facility. In Nigeria, Dangote Petroleum’s refinery completed 72‑hour performance tests, confirming full‑capacity operation at 650,000 barrels...
The State Pension Fund of Finland (VER) generated an 11.3% return on its €1 billion hedge‑fund allocation in 2025, up from 10.9% in 2024. The outperformance was driven primarily by Asia‑focused and event‑driven managers, while CTA strategies lagged but still posted...
The article warns that relying on outdated tax and legal structures for inherited commercial real‑estate can trap heirs in inflexible, costly situations. While a step‑up in basis lowers capital‑gains tax, it does not address liquidity, governance, debt maturity, or asset...
Secondaries funds that closed in 2025 posted the highest average fund size across all private‑equity vehicle types. Even after removing Ardian’s $30 billion raise—the single largest fund in the dataset—the average remained the top figure. The data underscores a shift toward...
Recent Nacha rule updates now require repeatable, provable verification of supplier bank accounts, shifting the focus from intent to defensibility. Controllers relying on email confirmations, phone callbacks, and ad‑hoc checks face heightened exposure as fraudsters employ AI‑generated communications. The webinar...
Community bank OMB Bank struggled with a slow, manual process to locate fintech partners, relying on static PDFs and endless email threads. The bank’s breakthrough came when it discovered Backpack, a university‑payments fintech listed on Treasury Prime’s AI Marketplace, which...
On November 9 2026 the Bank of Canada published its quarterly Market Participants Survey, a systematic outreach to a broad cross‑section of financial‑market actors. The survey solicits expectations on key macro‑economic indicators such as inflation, growth, and exchange rates, as well as...
Deloitte and USC’s Peter Arkley Institute released its fifth‑year analysis of S&P 500 risk‑factor disclosures, finding that average page counts rose to 14.3 and risk‑factor totals to 32. Despite SEC reforms aimed at trimming disclosures, 56% of firms added pages and 37%...
Post-Trump assault on Greenland, the EU parliament delivers a big win for the digital euro as it wins 420-158 backing in EU Parliament straw poll The digital euro couldn't have better timing as the EU looks to the digital euro...
Digital stablecoins are being positioned as an operating system for global real‑estate finance. Projects like TransactionCOIN aim to replace wire transfers with instant, blockchain‑settled payments for deposits, closings, and rent. By compressing settlement cycles from weeks to minutes, stablecoins could...
A wave of U.S. ETF launches between February 5‑12 2026 adds a diverse mix of credit‑linked, leveraged, commodity, dividend, small‑cap, and AI‑managed products. Providers such as Fidelity, Direxion, State Street, and FINQ introduced CLO‑focused funds, 2x leveraged tech and semiconductor ETFs, and...
Adyen’s shares tumbled up to 20% after the payments firm issued a 2026 net‑revenue growth outlook of 20%‑22%, falling short of analysts’ 22.8% expectation. In the second half of 2025 the company posted 17% year‑on‑year net‑revenue growth to €1.27 billion, while...
Nicolai Tangen, chief executive of Norges Bank Investment Management, steers the world’s largest sovereign wealth fund with $2.1 trillion under management—about 1.7% of every listed company. In a Knowledge Project podcast released Feb 17, he discusses how massive capital, rapid decision‑making, and...
Liseberg reported a rebound in 2025, welcoming 3 million guests – 100 000 more than the prior year – and delivering an 8 percent rise in net revenue to SEK 1.696 billion. Profit after financial items recovered to SEK 16 million, signaling a return toward pre‑pandemic profitability....
Amundi has launched the Amundi Core GBP Corporate Bond UCITS ETF Dist on the London Stock Exchange, beginning trading on 12 February 2026. The fund tracks the Bloomberg Sterling Aggregate Corporate TR Value Unhedged GBP index, providing exposure to investment‑grade UK corporate...
The UK government has opened a consultation to amend the Appointed Representatives (AR) regime, which lets non‑financial firms provide financial services without full authorisation. The move follows an August 2025 policy statement that flagged weak oversight of certain ARs and the...
The episode warns mid‑tier UK firms that the 2026/27 tax year marks a "Compliance Cliff" with four major changes: MTD for ITSA becomes mandatory for sole traders and landlords earning over £50,000 gross, requiring quarterly digital filings from August 2026;...
The UK Treasury announced an update on the Digital Gilt Instrument (DIGIT) pilot, selecting HSBC’s Orion platform as the technology provider and Ashurst LLP for legal services. The competitive tender, launched in October 2025, aims to test distributed‑ledger technology for...
Australian equities rose 0.3% to 9,043.5 as a surge in bank stocks lifted the S&P/ASX 200. ANZ Bank reported a $1.9 bn profit for the December quarter, sending its shares up 8.5% and sparking gains across Commonwealth, Westpac and NAB. In contrast,...
The National Audit Office refused to endorse the College of Policing’s 2024‑25 accounts for a second consecutive year, citing lingering fallout from a botched migration to the Home Office’s Oracle‑based Metis system. The IT switch triggered inaccurate financial reporting and...
Tim Koller, co‑author of the seminal textbook *Valuation*, joins Andy West and Dago Diedrich to trace the book’s 30‑year journey from a simple three‑ring binder to a global standard for measuring corporate worth. He highlights enduring valuation principles—cash‑flow focus, risk‑adjusted...
The episode examines Grab’s turnaround from losses to a US$268 million profit, its US$500 million share buyback, and investor concerns about growth and the US$425 million Stash Financial acquisition. It also breaks down Singapore’s 2026 budget, highlighting AI initiatives, tighter CDC payouts, and...
LG Electronic - IPO Stock : Bad News Profit Slumps 61% 🚨 Net Profit slumps 61.6% to Rs 89.6 crore Vs Rs 233 crore Revenue down 6.4% to Rs 4,114 crore Vs Rs 4,396 crore EBITDA slumps 42.4% to Rs 196 crore Vs...
From yesterday's post: insider buying in Philippine fast-food restaurant chain Jollibee, right after it announced that it would spin off its international operations on a US exchange in late 2027. https://t.co/qaFLrM4ucT
XFLH Capital Corporation priced a $100 million initial public offering, with its units set to begin trading on the NYSE under the ticker XFLH.U on February 12, 2026. The SPAC is led by CEO Yanzhe Yang and CFO Tianshi Yang, and its board...
Swedavia, Sweden’s state‑owned airport operator, unveiled a green‑bond framework to fund airport infrastructure through public‑private partnerships. The model ties financing to ESG criteria, requiring projects such as terminals, car parks and people movers to meet strict environmental standards, often incorporating...
Cloud storage compliance has become a top priority for IT leaders in 2026 as organizations increasingly rely on remote data repositories. Rising regulatory scrutiny—spanning GDPR, HIPAA, PCI DSS, CCPA and others—means non‑compliance can trigger hefty fines, reputational harm, and operational...
Well, if this is true, you shouldn't regulate them. But if you don't regulate them then people without inside information shouldn't trade on them. So it should end up a tiny market of well-informed people all wanting to...
Frazier & Deeter, an Atlanta‑based Top 50 accounting firm, is finalizing the integration of three firms it acquired in 2023 while positioning for further selective deals. Under new CEO Jeremy Jones, the firm has grown revenue from $29 million to over $200 million...
The CBO’s 2026‑2036 outlook shows U.S. federal deficits as a percent of GDP climbing to levels not seen since the 2007‑09 recession. While the primary deficit is modestly declining, net interest costs are soaring, already surpassing defense spending and projected...
The AI Native Accounting Foundation, a new nonprofit, was launched to help accounting and finance professionals cut through AI hype and adopt practical, responsible solutions. Founded by Kacee Johnson and Bebe Kim, the group will operate vendor‑neutrally while offering education,...
Municipal bond prices were mixed on Wednesday as U.S. Treasury yields climbed following a stronger‑than‑expected jobs report, prompting market participants to reassess the timing of the Federal Reserve’s next rate cut. The two‑year muni‑UST spread slipped to 59% while longer‑dated...
Shopify reported fourth‑quarter revenue of $3.67 billion, topping forecasts, but earnings per share fell short at 48 cents versus the 51‑cent consensus. The company projected first‑quarter revenue growth in the low‑30% range and a free‑cash‑flow margin in the low‑to‑mid teens, slightly below...
The 10‑year Treasury yield slipped 8 basis points after a trio of surprisingly strong labor‑market releases, settling just below the 4.20% technical barrier. January’s payrolls added 130,000 jobs, far exceeding the 70,000 forecast, while the unemployment rate fell to 4.3%...
Credit managers are accelerating mergers and acquisitions, sparking a wave of private‑debt GP consolidation. Fund allocators such as Goldman Sachs’ external investing group and Allianz Global Investors are sharpening their focus on this trend. The surge in deals expands assets...
Hg has completed the acquisition of OneStream for $6.4 billion, paying $24 per share—a 31% premium to the prior market price. The deal positions Hg as a major player in corporate performance management (CPM) and business intelligence, leveraging its software expertise...
Your financial model has vulnerabilities. You just don't know where yet. Get the financial model template from this video https://t.co/k8GYiP9Ubg After building hundreds of financial models and training hundreds of people across the globe, I keep seeing the same three tabs missing. Without them,...
The episode breaks down the modern repo market by illustrating how overnight rates and dealer spreads vary across different repo segments—triparty, GCF, DVP, and NCCBR. It explains that dealers profit by maintaining a positive spread between the cost of borrowing...
The Third Circuit affirmed the dismissal of Sports Enterprises’ fiduciary‑duty claim against Marvin Goldklang, holding that Florida nonprofit statutes impose duties only to the organization, not to individual minor‑league clubs. The court emphasized that the league’s bylaws require directors to...
Most private investment funds fail before the second raise, not because of the market, but because they were never built as real businesses. In this solo episode of Raise the Bar, Seth Bradley breaks down why a fund is more than...
In the wake of this morning's NFPs beat and downtick in the unemployment, Fed Funds futures have shaved off ~8bps worth of expected cuts through 2026 - was as much as 12bps. Someone is going to be surprised if this continues:...
In this episode, Sarah Esler, Managing Director of Mortgage Investments at AIMCo, walks listeners through the dynamics of an $8 billion institutional mortgage portfolio spanning Canada, the U.S., and Western Europe. She explains how pension‑backed capital is coping with historic spread...
🆓 Wednesday links: focusing on forecasting, how NAV squeezing works, and the rise of the active ETF. https://t.co/bgzuhBy1Uq image: https://t.co/JRCEGjVQN2 https://t.co/PSs8BSV9vG
probably a good time to announce that there’s a better way: @clovefi a new uk wealth manager that combines ai with the best of human advice. https://t.co/Nz9FBbJgnQ
LRN’s 2026 Ethics & Compliance Program Effectiveness Report, based on more than 2,500 respondents across 26 industries, reveals a widening gap between high‑impact and average programs. While AI and data‑analytics adoption is expanding, many firms lack the governance and measurement...
UK launcher startup @orbexspace starts bankruptcy procedure after merger/acquisition/funding talks fail. @spacegovuk launch policy looks to be a puzzle. Remaining @nyxcapsule interest uncertain. @esa @defis_eu @SaxaVord_Space. https://t.co/h0Gu8UB0cx https://t.co/RsfCNjTv3u
BNY was named the Best Trade Finance Bank in North America, reflecting its robust portfolio and eight global trade centers. The bank leverages high credit ratings, competitive pricing, and a suite of digital tools to streamline trade processing, risk mitigation,...
