Hong Kong Regulators to Submit Draft Bill for Crypto Framework in 2026
Hong Kong’s Financial Services and the Treasury Bureau and the Securities and Futures Commission will submit a draft digital‑asset framework in 2026, targeting crypto‑advisory services and stable‑coin licensing. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority is already processing stable‑coin licence applications, though none are approved yet. The draft also incorporates OECD‑aligned tax‑reporting rules slated for automatic exchange from 2028. Currently, 11 crypto platforms are licensed to serve Hong Kong residents, underscoring a cautious but growing regulatory environment.
Visa and Mastercard Aren’t Buying the Stablecoin Hype for Everyday Payments
Visa and Mastercard remain skeptical about stablecoins for everyday payments, citing ample existing options for U.S. consumers. Both firms acknowledge blockchain experiments but see limited product‑market fit, especially in developed markets. Mastercard frames stablecoins as an additional currency it can...
Brian Armstrong Was Snubbed by Top Executives From the Biggest U.S. Banks in Davos
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong was rebuffed by the CEOs of JPMorgan, Bank of America, Wells Fargo and Citigroup during Davos meetings as he pushed back against the Senate’s CLARITY Act. The bill seeks to regulate stablecoin reward programs that offer up...
4CRisk.ai’s Playbook for AI Governance and Compliance
4CRisk.ai released a guide outlining how firms can build a robust AI governance program in 2026. The playbook stresses moving beyond high‑level policies to concrete technical monitoring, risk tiering, and evidence‑based compliance for both in‑house and third‑party models. It recommends...
Compliance Fundamentals: Communications Surveillance
Bloomberg Vault’s guide outlines how financial firms must move beyond simple record‑keeping to active communications surveillance, monitoring emails, chats, voice and social media for misconduct. Regulators worldwide demand comprehensive capture of business‑related communications and risk‑based supervisory review, penalising off‑channel activity....
Amex CEO: 10% Rate Cap Would Create 'Downward Spiral'
American Express reported Q4 revenue of $18.98 billion, beating estimates, while EPS of $3.53 fell just short of forecasts. CEO Steve Squeri opposed President Trump’s proposed one‑year 10% credit‑card interest‑rate cap, warning it would spark a downward spiral in card availability....
Sanctions Tighten, Operations Stall: Global Companies Linked to Iran Face an Unprecedented Reality Check
A new wave of sanctions against Iran is hitting global firms with systemic constraints, not isolated policy shocks. Restrictions on server infrastructure, data node connectivity, and technical support are forcing delays, higher compliance costs, and even suspension of cross‑border services....
Wells Fargo Launches Internal Proxy Voting Service
Wells Fargo’s wealth and investment‑management division has rolled out an internal proxy‑voting service, leveraging Broadridge’s platform to administer and process votes. The move makes Wells Fargo the second major asset manager, after JPMorgan Chase, to replace third‑party advisers with a proprietary solution. It...
How Trady Combines CEX-Grade Performance with DeFi Principles
Trady bridges the long‑standing gap between centralized‑exchange speed and DeFi’s trust‑less ethos by leveraging account abstraction, liquidity aggregation, and smart routing. The platform delivers millisecond‑level execution, deep cross‑chain liquidity, and a professional UI while keeping users in full control of...
Bridging the Engagement Gap in Online Trading
Retail brokers struggle with high acquisition costs and early trader churn. Devexperts proposes AI solutions—Devexa and Acomotrade—to turn fragmented user and trading data into real‑time engagement actions. Devexa acts as an always‑on chat assistant across popular messengers, while Acomotrade analyzes...
UK Based Sovereign AI Partners with Accenture, Palantir for AI Infrastructure Advancement in EMEA
Sovereign AI has entered a strategic partnership with Accenture and Palantir to build hyperscale AI data centers across the UK and broader EMEA region. The consortium will integrate Dell’s AI Factory platform and NVIDIA’s GPU hardware, while Palantir’s Chain Reaction...
Fincite Announces CEO Handover as Ralf Heim Steps Back
fincite, a German WealthTech firm, announced a leadership transition effective 15 February 2026. Co‑CEO Friedhelm Schmitt will become the sole CEO, taking over from co‑founder Ralf Heim, who will step back from day‑to‑day operations. Heim will stay on as a senior advisor...
Perplexity Adds Microsoft’s Azure as a Cloud Service Provider
Perplexity AI signed a three‑year, $750 million agreement with Microsoft to run its services on Azure, leveraging the Azure Foundry platform for access to frontier models from X, OpenAI and Anthropic. The partnership runs alongside Perplexity’s existing relationship with Amazon Web...
SoFi Scales Cross-Selling as Loan Originations Hit Records
SoFi reported a record‑breaking fourth quarter, delivering its first billion‑dollar revenue run and $10.5 billion in loan originations, surpassing the $10 billion threshold. The company added a record 1 million new members, reaching 13.7 million, and opened 1.6 million new products, with 40% coming from...
Proptech Firm Propy Secures $100M Credit Facility to Enhance Real Estate Closing Process
Propy, the Miami‑based proptech platform, secured a $100 million credit facility led by Metropolitan Partners Group to accelerate its expansion. The financing will fund a roll‑up of title and escrow firms handling over $10 billion in annual transactions. Leveraging AI and blockchain,...
Focal Brings Research-Backed Behavioural Coaching to Wealth Advisors
Focal, an AI‑driven productivity platform for wealth advisors, has partnered with behavioural‑science firm Shaping Wealth to embed research‑backed coaching into its meeting workflow. The integration delivers real‑time, personalized insights during client conversations, helping advisors ask better questions, improve prospecting and...
Wealth.com Unveils Integrated Tax Planning Platform for Advisors
Wealth.com has launched Wealth.com Tax Planning, an integrated solution that combines tax, estate, and execution workflows within its existing advisor platform. The tool offers multi‑state tax scenario modeling, natural‑language data capture, and client‑ready reporting, and it will be available on...
ICE’s Environmental Market Trading Reaches Record Highs in 2025
Intercontinental Exchange reported record environmental derivatives trading in 2025. The exchange processed $1 trillion in notional value for the fifth consecutive year, with 20.9 million futures and options contracts—a 4% rise from 2024. Physical delivery of carbon allowances topped $117 billion, and North...
PlannerPal Launches Pre-Meeting AI Tool for Financial Advisers
PlannerPal, an AI‑driven workflow platform for financial advisers, has introduced a Pre‑Meeting Prep Pack that automates the assembly of client‑specific data before consultations. The tool aggregates portfolio valuations, tax summaries, goal progress, and recent communications from multiple sources, cutting typical...
Walmart’s Choice for New CEO Signals Intent to Expand Digital Footprint
Walmart announced that John Furner will assume the role of CEO on February 1, 2026, succeeding Doug McMillon. Furner, the current head of Walmart U.S., is recognized for his tech‑savvy leadership, including early advocacy for drones and AI‑driven initiatives. The appointment...
AI Sharpens Pricing Strategy, Not Replaces It
Pricing is no longer just spreadsheets and gut feeling. Generative AI can simulate scenarios, test price elasticity, and surface insights that once required whole analytics teams. But the real edge doesn’t come from the model alone. It comes from asking the right...
Coinbase Seeks Bank Perks, Dodges Regulatory Duties
It's funny because the old response from Armstrong would have been, "regulators would never let us become a bank." Obviously, that's not true right now, which suggests that Coinbase wants privileges of being a bank without the obligations of being one.
Embedded Finance to ‘Explode’: Panel
Embedded finance is set to explode as apps embed payments, lending, and other services, according to a Cross River Bank panel. Executives highlighted the stickiness created when platforms, lenders, and brands acquire customers simultaneously. They also noted a surge in...
Visa Doles Out Stablecoin Advice
Visa has launched stablecoin advisory services to guide financial institutions, merchants and tech firms on integrating digital assets, debuting the offering last month. The move coincides with the expansion of stablecoin‑enabled cards to about 50 countries and a settlement run...
Tokenized Equities Poised to Transform Finance, Led by US
Yep Tokenized equities are going to make a major positive change to the financial system, and it's going to be here very soon Best of all, the U.S. is on the frontier here
BGB Lists on Kraken, Expanding Regulated Global Access to Onchain Settlement Infrastructure
Bitget Token (BGB) has been listed on Kraken, marking its first major regulated U.S. exchange debut and expanding global access. The listing enhances BGB’s liquidity and makes the token available to traders across regulated markets worldwide. BGB powers Morph’s on‑chain...
Loyalty Coalitions Are Balance-Sheet Risks Masquerading as Marketing
Loyalty coalitions, while marketed as customer‑engagement tools, function as multi‑party liability networks that can become hidden balance‑sheet risks. Without rigorous economic modeling, mismatched rules lead to over‑issuance, excessive redemption, and credit exposure. Key structural choices—settlement timing, breakage estimation, and arbitrage...
Kontigo's SUNACRIP License Expired;
One add'l q for @jecastillof: has @kontigo_app renewed its SUNACRIP license, which expired on Jan 8, 2026? Crixto, the other Venezuelan crypto platform, was granted a license on Jan 2, valid through end of 2026.
Early Private Deals Hide High Fees and Delayed Costs
Getting into hot companies before they go public sounds irresistible. But the fine print is brutal: high fees, opaque structures, long lockups, and risks most investors don’t see upfront. Access isn’t the same as advantage. Sometimes the real price of “early” is...
Paradex Boosts $DIME Airdrop Allocation Ahead of Token Launch
Paradex announced its $DIME token generation event for late February or early March and increased the airdrop allocation for XP Season 2 participants. The exchange will distribute 25% of the fully diluted supply to all XP holders, with Season 2 traders receiving...
Risk Management With Hola Prime Markets: Leverage, Margin, And Position Sizing In Practice
Hola Prime Markets advertises up to 2000× leverage for accounts under $1,000, but frames leverage as capacity, not a trading recommendation. The broker enforces a 50% margin‑call and a 20% stop‑out threshold across Standard, Raw Spread, and VIP accounts, while...
BNY Dismissed From Epstein Case, but BofA Must Face some Claims
A federal judge dismissed all Jeffrey Epstein‑related claims against BNY, while allowing two specific allegations against Bank of America to proceed. The surviving BofA claims allege the lender acted as a knowing beneficiary of Epstein’s sex‑trafficking operation and obstructed federal...
Garlinghouse: Market Structure Bill Crucial for Crypto Growth
NEW: Garlinghouse says advancing the market structure bill is a key step toward the regulatory clarity needed for crypto’s long-term growth. Source: Brad Garlinghouse https://t.co/E1Uv2nGQnJ
Planning to Attend Merchant Payments Ecosystem (MPE) 2026? We’ve Got a Little Bonus for You
The Merchant Payments Ecosystem (MPE) 2026 conference will take place in Berlin from March 17‑19, gathering Europe’s leading merchants, acquirers, fintechs and regulators. Organisers are offering a 10 % discount with the code payspace10 through March 17, lowering ticket costs for attendees....
Fico and Tech Mahindra Team on AI-Driven Decisioning and Core Banking Transformation
FICO announced a global partnership with Tech Mahindra to create a dedicated Centre of Excellence for the FICO Platform. The CoE will deliver consulting, implementation and managed services that embed AI‑driven decisioning into core banking systems. By combining FICO’s analytics...
AXA Hong Kong and Macau Introduces AI Paltform
AXA Hong Kong and Macau has launched Quest, an AI‑driven platform designed to support its financial consultants. The tool leverages generative AI to deliver clearer, more consistent, insight‑led advice on insurance and wealth products. By integrating real‑time policy data, Quest...
LexisNexis Risk Solutions Launches IDVerse for Insurance
LexisNexis Risk Solutions launched IDVerse for Insurance, an AI‑powered document authentication and identity verification platform targeting U.S. personal lines insurers. The solution uses biometric face matching, liveness checks, and proprietary neural‑network models to verify IDs and digital identities within seconds...
Euronext Expands SaaS Offering in France
Euronext has rolled out Admincontrol’s governance and secure collaboration SaaS suite across France, following its May 2025 acquisition of the platform. The offering, part of the Euronext Corporate Solutions portfolio, targets listed and private companies seeking stronger board oversight, data sovereignty,...
FinTech Futures: Top Five News Stories of the Week – 30 January 2026
FinTech Futures highlighted five major developments this week: Australian digital bank in1bank will cease operations and return deposits by 4 February 2026; Saxo Bank received a DKK 313 million (≈$50 m) fine from the Danish regulator for AML compliance gaps; digital‑asset firm BitGo completed...
Synapse Power Announces XNAP Mainnet Launch on PancakeSwap
Synapse Power has launched the XNAP utility token on the BNB Smart Chain, listing it on PancakeSwap with an initial price of 0.00437 USDT. XNAP has a fixed supply of one billion tokens and is designed to reward real GPU compute...
London Reforms Set to Spark IPO Surge After Historic Slump, Says deVere
London has introduced sweeping capital‑markets reforms that replace EU‑era prospectus rules with a new Public Offers and Admissions to Trading regime. The changes aim to simplify listings, cut disclosure costs and speed deal timelines after a historic IPO drought –...
Bitcoin, Ether ETFs See $1B Outflows as Crypto Market Tumbles 6%
Bitcoin and Ether exchange‑traded funds recorded nearly $1 billion in outflows on Thursday, the largest single‑day withdrawals this year. Spot Bitcoin ETFs shed $817.9 million, the biggest daily outflow since November 2025, while Ether ETFs lost $155.6 million. The broader crypto market slipped about...
There Is No Trust in DeFi without Proper Risk Management
DeFi is moving into an institutional phase, with crypto ETFs, digital‑asset treasuries and tokenized real‑world assets attracting billions of dollars. However, the ecosystem’s rapid growth exposes three core risks—protocol composability, reflexivity loops, and duration‑related liquidity uncertainty. Robert Schmitt argues that without...
7 Hidden Cost Multipliers in AI Fintech App Development
The article outlines seven hidden cost multipliers that shape AI‑fintech app budgets, from the AI's decision‑making authority to post‑launch operational expenses. It highlights that costs are driven more by risk and regulatory complexity than by simple feature counts. Data acquisition...
Trump Nominates Kevin Warsh as Next Fed Chair
President Donald Trump announced on Truth Social that former Federal Reserve governor Kevin Warsh will be his nominee for the next Fed chair, succeeding Jerome Powell whose term expires in May 2026. Warsh, who served on the Fed board from...
Seeking Transparency on Kontigo's Internal Review and Sanctions Compliance
To avoid any claims to the contrary, I have emailed @kontigo_app CEO @jecastillof a set of questions regarding the company's "internal review" and stated commitment to comply w/U.S. laws & sanctions: https://t.co/5NwmienN2p
Sengarmi.sn: Sport and Cosmetics Revolution in Dakar 2026
Sengarmi.sn is reshaping Dakar’s 2026 fitness surge by pairing pharmaceutical‑grade sports supplements with dermatologist‑approved tropical skincare. The platform offers creatine, whey isolate, high‑calorie gainers, BCAAs and Omega‑3s, plus local‑flavored bundles, while also stocking SPF‑50+ serums and moisturizers designed for high...
Climate Change and Canadian Real Estate: How Tech-Driven Insurance Adapts to New Risks
Canadian real‑estate insurers are confronting a surge in climate‑driven losses, with 2025 insured damages topping $8 billion—nearly three times the 2024 total. Traditional actuarial models are giving way to AI, machine‑learning and digital‑twin platforms that ingest satellite, sensor and weather data...
ZentraPro Advances Ongoing Enhancements to Trading Tools and Market Analytics Infrastructure
ZentraPro announced ongoing enhancements to its trading tools and market‑analytics framework, emphasizing reliability, data accuracy, and user‑centric design. The roadmap prioritizes incremental upgrades that improve tool responsiveness, data aggregation, and backend scalability rather than rapid feature proliferation. New validation mechanisms...
Banking Technology Magazine February 2026 Issue Out Now
Banking Technology Magazine has released its February 2026 issue, featuring the cover story “From Chrysalis to Butterfly,” which frames the fintech evolution as a metamorphosis. The issue offers a 2025 fintech trends recap, a forward‑looking feature on page 12, and Dharm Mistry’s...