Today's Finance Pulse
Anthropic secures $65B round, valuation hits $965B
Anthropic announced a $65 billion Series H financing that pushes its post‑money valuation to $965 billion, overtaking OpenAI as the world’s most valuable AI startup. The capital surge reflects strong enterprise demand for its Claude chatbot and reshapes the AI sector ahead of upcoming high‑profile IPOs.
Also developing:
Digits Announces Expanded Connectivity Across 18 Payroll Providers
Digits, a San Francisco‑based Agentic General Ledger, announced expanded payroll connectivity to 18 additional providers, adding to its existing Gusto integration. The new connectors include major platforms such as ADP Run, Paychex Flex, QuickBooks Online Payroll, and UKG Pro, enabling direct, automated data sync into the Digits ledger. AI-driven automation now categorizes wages, taxes, benefits, and deductions in real time, while automatically allocating expenses by department. The update eliminates manual CSV exports, reducing reconciliation effort and improving financial reporting accuracy.
Audit Watchdog Flags 'Significant' Problems in Big Four's Work in Review that Actually Names Names
Canada’s audit regulator, the Canadian Public Accountability Board (CPAB), disclosed that each of the Big Four accounting firms—Deloitte, EY, KPMG and PwC—had at least one significant finding in its 2025 inspection. The review, which for the first time named firms...
Rising Yields Signal Dollar Surge, Growth De‑Risking Continues
Bonds fall on growth fears and rise on recession fears - as a rule of thumb. But that’s under monetary dominance, not fiscal dominance. The new rulebook will look very much like February into the April tariff terror event where dollar and bonds...
Casino Group Communication
Brazilian retailer Companhia Brasileira de Distribuição (GPA) announced on March 10 that it has entered an extrajudicial recovery plan approved by the São Paulo court. The plan suspends GPA’s obligations to its creditors for 90 days, allowing negotiations aimed at securing...
Across Protocol Proposes Shift From DAO to Private Company
Risk Labs, the team behind the Across cross‑chain bridge, has submitted a proposal to dissolve its token‑based DAO and re‑incorporate as a U.S. C‑corporation. ACX token holders may either swap tokens for equity at a 1:1 ratio or sell them...
Mercialys: Number of Outstanding Shares and Voting Rights as of February 28, 2026
Mercialys filed a regulatory notice on March 11 2026 outlining its capital structure as of February 28 2026. The French retail REIT reported 93,886,501 outstanding shares, each carrying one voting right, for a total of 93,886,501 voting rights. Of those, 93,482,942 voting rights were...
Transaction in Own Shares
Shell plc disclosed that on 11 March 2026 it repurchased 668,165 of its own shares for cancellation, executing trades on six European venues. The GBP‑denominated purchases averaged £31.97 per share, while EUR‑denominated trades averaged €36.98. The transactions form part of...
Vistry and the FRC: When a “Forecast” Becomes a Personal Career Risk
The Financial Reporting Council has opened an investigation into two former Vistry Group accountants over flawed forecasts in the South Division for 2023‑24, which inflated profit expectations by up to £165 million. The mis‑calculation stemmed from a 10 % under‑estimation of building...
Heavy Metal Equipment & Rentals: Credit Rating Report
On February 18, 2026, DBRS Limited confirmed Heavy Metal Equipment & Rentals' long‑term issuer and senior debt ratings at BB (high) with a Stable outlook. The rating reflects the company's robust cash‑flow generation from its equipment leasing portfolio and disciplined...
Morningstar DBRS Assigns Provisional Credit Ratings to Freddie Mac MSCR Trust MN13
Morningstar DBRS has issued provisional credit ratings for Freddie Mac’s Multifamily Structured Credit Risk Notes, Series 2026‑MN13. Class M‑1 receives a (P) BBB‑low rating while Class M‑2 is assigned (P) BB‑low, both with a Stable trend. The trust will fund...
Covenant Trends – 3/9/2026
Covenant Trends released a new data set on March 9, 2026 detailing the distribution of Accordion F&C Tranche EBITDA Grower Caps over the last three months. The chart illustrates how caps are spread across borrowers, highlighting a concentration near the 1.5‑times EBITDA...
Dow Slides 300 Points as Oil Prices Move Higher Again Amid Iran Conflict: Live Updates
The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped roughly 300 points as oil prices surged toward $90 a barrel amid heightened Iran‑Israel tensions. The International Energy Agency announced a record release of 400 million barrels to cushion supply disruptions, further fueling market volatility....
AI-Powered Profit Forecasting for Consistent Margin Growth
Predict profit like a prophet. With the Prophit Engine from CTC. Clarity, accountability and capacity woven into a single human operator. Forecast more accurately Grow contribution margin more consistently All while saving money. Combining the explosion of AI with the...
KBRA Direct Lending Deals: News & Analysis – 3/9/2026
KBRA released its latest Direct Lending Deals analysis on March 9, 2026, featuring updated default indices for the trailing‑twelve‑month period ending March 10, 2026. The report includes a performance chart that tracks default rates across the direct‑lending universe, highlighting modest upticks in recent quarters....
Trump Expands Ban On Foreigners Receiving Small Business Loans
The Trump administration announced that the Small Business Administration will prohibit foreign nationals from accessing any federal small‑business loan program, expanding a ban that previously covered only core loans. The new rule adds the Surety Bond program and the Microloan...
Midtown Office Landlord Charles Cohen Gets Deadline to Repay $135M Debt or Face Forced Property Sales
Charles Cohen, a Midtown office landlord, was given a 45‑day deadline by a New York state Supreme Court judge to repay $135 million in outstanding debt or face forced sales of his properties. A Fortress Investment Group executive, David Moson, was...
AI Replaced $396K CFO, Saved $216K Annually
At my company Full Focus, we were paying $33,000/month for fractional CFO and outsourced accounting. $396K annually. We restructured around AI—hired an AI architect and controller support for $15K/month. Saved $216,000 a year. And the financial analysis we’re getting now is...
Leveraged Loan Insight & Analysis – 3/9/2026
US leveraged finance issuance exceeded $160 bn in February 2026, but slipped 11 % from January. Bank loans rebounded to $50 bn after a slower month, while high‑yield bond issuance held steady at $30 bn. Institutional loans, the bulk of the market, fell sharply...
Private Credit Becomes Subprime as Fraud Spreads
Private credit is the subprime of this cycle. Fraud is accumulating across asset classes. Automated underwriting blessing whatever numbers it gets fed. Nobody cares until everyone cares at the same time.
Wisconsin Credit Union to Buy Local Bank
Milwaukee‑based Landmark Credit Union announced it will acquire American National Bank‑Fox Cities, adding $419 million in assets and two branches to its $7 billion portfolio. The transaction, the fifth credit‑union‑bank deal this year and the third full‑bank purchase, is slated to close...
Translucent Secures $27M for Healthcare Finance AI Platform
Translucent, an AI-native healthcare finance startup, closed a $27 million Series A round led by GV with participation from NEA, Virtue and FPV Ventures. The funding follows a $7 million seed round and will accelerate its agentic AI platform that unifies clinical, operational...
Unified Financial Crime Management Is Not Just For Small And Regional Banks
Financial institutions are moving beyond siloed fraud‑management and anti‑money‑laundering tools toward unified Financial Crime Management Solutions (FCMSes). The shift is driven by regulators tightening AML oversight, fraudsters blending scams with laundering, and the high cost of maintaining separate AI models...
Uniper Proposes Resumption of Dividend Payments
Uniper SE announced it will propose a €0.72 per share dividend for 2025, marking the first payout since the 2022 government bailout. The German utility reported a net profit of €544 million and adjusted EBITDA of €1.1 billion, a sharp recovery from...
New Mexico Could Backslide If It Decouples From Pro-Growth Tax Policy
New Mexico’s Senate Bill 151 would decouple the state from the federal One Big Beautiful Bill Act, ending conformity with 100% bonus depreciation and adding net CFC‑tested income to the corporate tax base. The proposal also eliminates any foreign‑tax credit, creating double taxation...
UBS Maintains a Hold Rating on Apple (AAPL) As Shipmments Drop in China
UBS analyst David Vogt kept a Hold rating on Apple (AAPL) with a $280 price target, citing a sharp 37% year‑over‑year drop in iPhone shipments in China for January 2026, down to roughly 2.2 million units. The decline follows a 14%...
Published in OJ – Commission Implementing Regulation Amending ITS on MREL Reporting by Resolution Authorities
On 11 March 2026 the EU published Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2026/519, amending the technical standards of Regulation 2021/622 that govern MREL reporting. The amendment revises the frequency and content of data that resolution authorities must transmit to the European...
Finance Leaders Evaluate only Three Vendors Before Demos
The magic number is 3. We asked 100 CFOs and VPs of Finance how many vendors they closely evaluate when buying software. 50% said exactly 3. Median: 3. Mean: 4.1. 53% evaluate 3 or fewer. This is a brutally small window. Think about what this...
BNP, Bradesco, Rabobank Named Among Raízen Top Creditors
Brazilian energy giant Raízen SA is seeking to restructure roughly $12.6 billion of debt out of court. Major European and Latin American banks—BNP Paribas, Banco Bradesco and Rabobank—have been identified as some of the company’s largest creditors. The restructuring plan is expected...
Faraday Copper Closes $100 Million Private Placement
Faraday Copper Corp. completed a $100 million private placement, issuing 23.8 million shares at $4.20 each, backed by strategic investors including the Ludin Family Trust and a BHP unit. The capital will fund the Copper Creek project in Arizona and support a...
Mondelēz Boosts Toblerone Production with $83m Investment
Mondelēz International has invested CHF 65 m ($83 m) to create a Toblerone Center of Excellence in Bern and launch a new production line. The line, inaugurated by Swiss President Guy Parmelin, expands capacity at the plant that makes roughly 90% of Toblerone output....
The Power of Connection: In Conversation with Finance Leader SRF’s Sugandha Singhal
Sugandha Singhal, Senior Vice President and Head of Treasury at SRF Limited, shared her journey and vision during the Finance Leaders Forum in Mumbai. She highlighted how digitising treasury across five countries unlocked billions in liquidity and positioned treasury as...
Montclair’s Vote to Hike Taxes for Schools Too Close to Call
Montclair, N.J., held a special election to fund its cash‑strapped public schools, proposing a one‑time $12.6 million levy and a permanent $5 million increase to cover an $18 million deficit. Voters narrowly approved the one‑time levy by 80 votes while rejecting the permanent...
Credit Crunch: Iran War, Software Rout and Credit a Safe Haven
In this episode of Credit Crunch, Mahesh Bhimalingam and guest Sarah Harrison discuss the impact of the Iran war and recent software sector volatility on global credit markets. They note that despite geopolitical tensions, credit spreads have remained relatively resilient,...
Plenty at Stake for Mega Matrix
Mega Matrix, a Singapore‑based content producer, is expanding its digital asset treasury to include a diversified basket of stablecoins and their governance tokens. The strategy aims to generate 5‑10% yield through lending, liquidity provision, and staking in DeFi protocols. Executive...
Easy Financial's Collapse: Massive Losses, CEOs Flee
What The Heck Happened At Easy Financial? This Ain't Looking Good The parent company Goeasy Ltd. revised earnings for the last 2 years downward, declared spectacular Loan Losses, suspended dividends & the stock price dropped over 50% It's fishy for sure...
Gould Investors Completes Section 1031 Transactions
Gould Investors L.P. completed the sale of its Long Island City asset for roughly $101 million, generating about $93 million in net proceeds and a $90 million accounting capital gain. Within days, the partnership redeployed the majority of those funds to acquire a...
Fear of Numbers Stops Creatives From Hiring Bookkeepers
The number one reason creative business owners give for not hiring a bookkeeper is "I'm not sure I can afford it." But the reason they don't know if they can afford it is usually because they don't know their numbers. The...
Best Bookkeeping Software for Small Business (2026): Sage Awarded for Streamlined Recordkeeping by Better Business Advice
Better Business Advice named Sage the top bookkeeping software for small businesses in its 2026 review, citing the platform’s automation, real‑time financial visibility, and compliance capabilities. Sage’s AI‑powered invoice capture, smart bank matching, and integrated invoicing streamline both payables and...
Engine Aims to Fix SMB Cards
Engine introduced the Visa‑branded Engine X charge card aimed at small and midsized businesses, a segment that often lacks corporate payment solutions. The card delivers 10% cash back on travel booked through Engine and 1.5% on other spend, while offering spend...
Emotional Intelligence Is Essential for ERM Leadership
KeyBank CRO Mo Ramani says emotional intelligence is as vital as analytical skill for modern risk leaders. He argues EQ drives transparent communication, stronger collaboration, and better decision‑making across the enterprise. Ramani also stresses that risk executives must act both...
Forvis Mazars and Klarity Partner for AI
Forvis Mazars LLP has entered a strategic partnership with Klarity, an AI‑powered process‑intelligence platform, to overhaul finance transformation engagements. By embedding Klarity’s AI Observations and AI Interviews, the firm aims to replace time‑intensive interviews and manual data intake with real‑time...
MicroStrategy’s $1.28B Bitcoin Acquisition
MicroStrategy announced a $1.28 billion purchase of 17,994 Bitcoin at an average price of $70,946 per coin, reinforcing its strategy of holding the cryptocurrency as a primary treasury reserve. The acquisition coincided with a rebound in Bitcoin’s price, which reclaimed the...
AI Giant Issues $25B Debt to Boost Stock
The AI poster child is issuing $25B in debt to buy back its own stock. Not to invest in AI. Not to acquire capabilities. To support the share price. That's the strategy. $CRM
Africa Needs 50 Million New Homes, but Building Is Bad for the Environment: How to Finance ‘Green’ Solutions
Africa must build 50 million homes by 2050, yet construction generates roughly 39% of global carbon emissions, with concrete alone accounting for 8%. Green housing—using energy‑efficient designs, recycled resources, and low‑water fixtures—offers a climate‑friendly alternative, but financing options are scarce across...
Finance Lessons From Disney+ Launch: Forecast, Retention, Board Clarity
The surprisingly true story of launching Disney+ (as told by their finance team) 👇 Here are 5 lessons that stuck with me. 1. Even a beloved brand doesn't make the forecast easier 2. A good launch number can hide a...
Free First-Year Corporate Tax Filing with Fondo
Staying on top of tax deadlines sucks. Cool new feature from Fondo making it easier for founders.
How Are Geopolitics and AI Trends Impacting Leveraged Finance?
In this episode, JP Morgan’s Amaury Guzman, Kevin Foley (global head of capital markets) and Tarek Hamid (head of North American Credit Research) debrief the themes from their Global Leveraged Finance Conference, focusing on how heightened geopolitical risk—especially the Iran‑related oil...
Leveraged Buybacks, Not AI, Drive IBM, Oracle, CRM
Levering up to buy back stock is the playbook of IBM and old Oracle... not a company pioneering a new AI age CRM is borrowing to buy time, not growth
Worst Loans Hit First as Credit Cycles Collapse
FWIW - As the worst loans are made at the very peak of the credit cycle, credit cycles invariably burst on a LIFO basis. The worst always go first, and frequently through a high-storey window leaving no skid marks.
MSTR Spends $1B Annually on Zero‑yield Assets
The capital structure of $MSTR costs just under $1BN to fund every year. The assets of the company earn zero yield. The carry is paid by issuance.