Finance, Banking & Insurance

New York – October 16, 2026 -- Neuberger Municipal Fund Inc. (NYSE American: NBH) declared a distribution of $0.05417 per share of common stock, payable on October 16, 2026.

Fund sets October 30 record and ex-dates for the payout

The record date and the ex-date both fall on October 16, 2026. Stockholders of record on that date qualify for the payment, which is scheduled for distribution about two weeks later.

The Fund seeks to provide income that is exempt from regular federal income tax. Distributions may be subject to the federal alternative minimum tax for some stockholders.

Distribution may include capital gains and return of capital

The announced distribution and future payouts may consist of net investment income, realized capital gains and return of capital. If the Fund distributes more than its net investment income in any yearly period, the excess may include realized gains or a return of capital.

Abilene – October 16, 2026 -- First Financial Bankshares (NASDAQ: FFIN) reported third-quarter 2026 earnings of $74.31 million, up from $52.27 million a year earlier and $71.89 million in the second quarter. Diluted earnings per share rose to $0.52 from $0.36 in the third quarter of 2025 and $0.50 in the linked quarter.

CEO David Bailey called it "another record quarter of net income," driven largely by continued net interest margin expansion.

Net interest margin climbs to 3.91% as net interest income reaches $138.51 million

Net interest income totaled $138.51 million, compared with $127.00 million a year ago and $136.91 million in the second quarter. The tax-equivalent net interest margin was 3.91%, against 3.80% in the third quarter of 2025 and 3.90% in the linked quarter. Average interest-earning assets were $14.43 billion, up from $13.60 billion a year earlier but slightly below $14.46 billion in the second quarter.

Washington – October 16, 2026 -- The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) will offer eleven defaulted Section 232 healthcare mortgage loans with a combined unpaid principal balance of about $56 million in a sealed-bid auction on October 16, 2026.

HUD bundles 11 first-lien loans in Healthcare Loan Sale 2027-1

The sale, designated HLS 2027-1, covers loans that are due and payable and held by the HUD Secretary. Each loan is secured by a first-lien mortgage on one healthcare property, giving the sale eleven properties in total.

Collateral spans nine states from California to Pennsylvania

The properties are located in California, Connecticut, Florida, Michigan, Missouri, New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma and Pennsylvania. HUD has reserved the right to add or remove loans at its discretion, so the final pool may differ from the eleven loans announced.

Tacoma – October 16, 2026 -- Columbia Banking System, Inc. (Nasdaq: COLB) ranked No. 1 among banks with at least $50 billion in assets in Bank Director's 2026 RankingBanking study, moving up from No. 2 in each of the previous two years.

Columbia ranks first for asset quality and top three for profitability among large banks

In the latest study, Columbia placed No. 1 among large banks for asset quality. It also finished among the top three for profitability, measured by return on average assets (ROAA).

The study evaluates the 300 largest publicly traded U.S. banks on four measures: return on average tangible common equity, return on average total assets, tangible common equity to tangible assets, and nonperforming assets to loans and other real estate owned.

Global – October 16, 2026 -- Stablecoins, tokenized deposits and central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) can look identical in a banking interface, but they differ in issuer, holder claim, backing, redemption and behavior under stress, according to an analysis from CGI aimed at bank executives.

Stablecoins carry five stress-related risks for banks

The analysis credits stablecoins with proving demand for 24/7 value transfer, cross-border reach and programmable payment workflows. Under stress, however, a fiat-referenced stablecoin becomes a claim that depends on the issuer, reserve quality and liquidity, the custodian and the network. CGI lists five risks:

Global – October 16, 2026 -- Collections systems built on batch updates can leave account and contact data stale for nearly 24 hours, according to CGI, which is urging lenders to move to real-time platforms as portfolios grow more complex and delinquencies rise.

Overnight batch cycles refresh collections data only once per day

Many collections operations rely on batch processing because their systems support nothing else. Updates post to accounts and contacts overnight and can require system downtime. A change made just after processing, such as a payment, a new phone number or updated consent, goes unseen until the next cycle.

Stale data means wasted outreach, inconsistent treatment and avoidable compliance exposure, CGI says.

Global – October 16, 2026 -- Tokenized deposits cannot settle between banks on their own, because Bank A's tokenized deposit is not automatically Bank B's money, according to a new analysis of digital money infrastructure. The receiving institution needs settlement before it can safely credit its customer.

Tokenized deposits digitize one bank's ledger but leave interbank settlement unsolved

Tokenized deposits make commercial bank money programmable while preserving the deposit model. Beyond the issuing bank, however, they need a neutral settlement asset. Across banks, that asset is central bank money, which in a tokenized system could mean tokenized reserves or wholesale CBDCs.

The proposed layered model pairs a tokenized deposit for the customer-money leg with central bank money for the settlement leg. Debit, settlement and credit must complete together.

Miami – October 15, 2026 -- Fewer than half of corporate and transaction banking leaders (47%) say their digitization strategy is delivering expected results, even though 88% report that technology and digital acceleration are having a high impact on their organizations, according to CGI's 2026 Voice of Our Clients research.

CGI argues the gap stems from a lack of trusted, interoperable data rather than a lack of technology. Scanned PDFs remain digital copies of physical documents, so their contents still have to be extracted, re-entered into multiple systems and verified manually.

Repeated verification slows each hand-off in the trade chain

Banks, customs authorities and buyers each re-verify the same trade data when a shipment changes hands or a new party joins a transaction. CGI says this duplication slows processing, raises costs and creates friction across the ecosystem.

Global – October 15, 2026 -- Some 64% of organizations surveyed in CGI's 2026 Voice of Our Clients insights intend to use AI in core business processes, versus 17% in administrative functions and 15% in IT-only applications. CGI cites the figures as it argues that insurers should treat rating as a connected pricing life cycle rather than an automation task.

Pricing cycles are shrinking from months to days or hours

CGI says traditional rate changes can take days, weeks or even months because sophisticated models require extensive analysis, validation and implementation. Insurers now need to model, test and implement changes in days or, in some cases, hours. Legacy systems force teams to move data among separate tools to test rates, which lengthens cycles.

Global – October 15, 2026 -- Only 19% of insurance executives believe their operating model is agile enough to support digital transformation, even though 71% say digitalization is already affecting it, according to CGI's 2026 Voice of Our Clients research.

Agentic AI moves insurers from managing interactions to orchestrating outcomes

Conversational AI can explain what a policyholder should do after storm damage. An agentic system could go further: authenticate the customer, check coverage, open the claim, collect information, arrange services, initiate permitted payments and send proactive updates. A human claims professional steps in when judgment or extra support is required.