Global

March 7, 2025 @ 9:12 am By Omar Faridi  |  

UK business confidence increased 12 points to 49% in February, the highest level since August 2024, according to the latest Lloyds Business Barometer. The boost in business confidence in the UK was mainly driven “by increased economic optimism, which rose 18 points to 42%, the… Read More

March 7, 2025 @ 9:08 am By Omar Faridi  |  

The EY organization announces the launch of new artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities to its EY Blockchain Analyzer: Smart Contract and Token Review (SC&TR) tool. The SC&TR tool is designed to help enhance “vulnerability detection in smart contracts through greater code coverage and streamline the contract… Read More

March 7, 2025 @ 8:22 am By JD Alois  |  

  Multiple High Street banks recently experienced App outages impacting customer usage of their services. Making matters worse, the Parliament Treasury Committee issued a report sharing that: “Nine of the top banks and building societies operating in the UK accumulated at least 803 hours, the… Read More

March 7, 2025 @ 7:38 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Euroclear has recently announced the completion of the acquisition of 49% of Inversis from Banca March after securing regulatory approvals. Inversis, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Banca March, is a provider of global investment technology solutions and outsourced financial services for financial institutions. Euroclear states that… Read More

March 7, 2025 @ 4:16 am By Omar Faridi  |  

iCapital, the fintech platform driving the world’s alternative investment marketplace for the wealth and asset management industries, has entered into a partnership with Aviva Investors, the global asset management business, to broaden access to Aviva Investors’ climate transition strategy “focused on investments in private markets.”… Read More

March 6, 2025 @ 9:52 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Coalition, the Active Insurance provider designed to prevent digital risk before it strikes, announced a new $30 million equity investment from Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Co., Ltd. (MSI), a member of MS&AD Insurance Group (MS&AD), the non-life insurer in Japan and across the Asian-Pacific region. The… Read More

March 6, 2025 @ 6:04 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Tax refund theft is an annual concern and 2025 brings an elevated risk, according to a TransUnion (NYSE: TRU) analysis. Researchers found that in 2024 there were “970 data breaches in which fraudsters obtained the kinds of personally identifiable information (PII) required for various forms… Read More

March 6, 2025 @ 3:45 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Digital Pound Foundation (DPF) has merged with Innovate Finance. Innovate Finance is an advocacy group that supports and promotes the growth of Fintech in the UK. DPF is playing a similar role but for advocating on behalf of a digital pound or CBDC and… Read More

March 6, 2025 @ 12:00 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Following the recent updates on the surge in cryptocurrency ETFs, we recently caught up with Manthan Dave, Co-founder of Palisade, a digital assets custodian backed by enterprise blockchain firm Ripple. Manthan Dave from Palisade shared key insights on the potential for more crypto ETFs beyond… Read More

March 6, 2025 @ 11:48 am By Omar Faridi  |  

The national development bank ILTE has signed a cooperation agreement with HeavyFinance and has started investing in Green Loans for farmers. The returns from loans provided through the HeavyFinance platform will be generated by “creating and selling carbon emission certificates on farms.” ILTE invests up… Read More

March 6, 2025 @ 7:07 am By Omar Faridi  |  

PitchBook noted in a report that Germany’s venture capital (VC) and private equity (PE) markets have been fairly resilient amid global economic shifts. PitchBook revealed in its comprehensive research report that as of December 2024, Germany’s private capital ecosystem demonstrates steady growth, though tempered by… Read More

March 6, 2025 @ 7:06 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Linea will reportedly be the “first” blockchain to have its Bridged USDC Standard implementation upgraded to native USDC by Circle. Linea will also gain support for CCTP V2 “following its upcoming mainnet launch.” Linea is a zkEVM Layer-2 blockchain powered by Consensys, built to scale… Read More

March 6, 2025 @ 6:47 am By JD Alois  |  

Zopa Bank has hired a former Visa executive as its new Chief Analytics Officer (CAO) Jeremy Penzer was previously Head of Data Science for Europe with Visa. Before that, he served as Capital One Europe’s Chief Analytics Officer and an academic statistician at the London… Read More

March 5, 2025 @ 11:01 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Kaspersky Digital Footprint Intelligence estimates that 2.3 million bank cards were leaked on the dark web, based on an “analysis of data-stealing malware log files from 2023-2024.” On average, every 14th infostealer infection results in stolen credit card information, with nearly “26 million devices compromised… Read More

March 5, 2025 @ 10:58 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

The evolution of generative AI and agentic commerce is poised to transform the customer journey, streamlining the path from awareness to purchase and beyond. A research report from CBInsights outlines three key predictions for how these technologies will reshape the shopping experience across its five… Read More

March 5, 2025 @ 9:57 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Bondsmith, the UK’s cash savings fintech, is pleased to announce the launch of the country’s FSCS-insured bank deposit sweep, bringing cash management solution to British savers. Claiming to be motivated or “inspired” by the FDIC sweep programs in the United States, Bondsmith’s new offering “enhances… Read More

March 5, 2025 @ 9:15 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

400 Capital Management LLC, an alternative credit asset manager specializing in asset-based credit strategies with over $7.4 billion of assets under management, announced the closing of its latest private credit fund, Asset Based Term Fund IV (ABTF IV). The fund, which launched in December 2023,… Read More

March 5, 2025 @ 8:12 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

BlackRock Inc. (NYSE:BLK) announced the completion of its acquisition of Preqin, an independent provider of private markets data. This transaction strengthens BlackRock’s ability to serve clients’ whole portfolios — across public and private markets — by “combining investment, technology, and data solutions in one platform.”… Read More

March 5, 2025 @ 4:22 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Coin Metrics noted that the Solana blockchain has emerged as a key player in the web3 and crypto ecosystem, due to its relatively high throughput, fairly low transaction costs, and a fast-growing ecosystem (although a lot of activity centers around speculative trading and meme coins)…. Read More

March 5, 2025 @ 3:09 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

February 2025 marked a difficult month for fintech companies (even though tech stocks in general have been seeing downward price pressure as well), with Block (NASDAQ:SQ) – once a major player in the sector—leading the charge downward, plummeting 28% in its steepest decline since 2023…. Read More