Finance, Banking & Insurance

United States – October 15, 2026 -- Excess Share Insurance Corporation (ESI) now covers 41 states and the District of Columbia and serves more than 350 credit unions after entering South Dakota, Alaska and New Mexico.

ESI adds three states to its national footprint

American Share Insurance (ASI) and its wholly owned subsidiary ESI are establishing a presence in the three states. Theresa Mason, President and CEO of both ASI and ESI, said the companies aim to build lasting relationships with credit unions in the new markets.

ESI covers balances above the $250,000 primary insurance limit

ASI is a member-owned share guaranty corporation licensed by the Ohio Department of Insurance. It provides up to $250,000 of primary share insurance per member account. ESI, which has operated since 1993, lets qualifying credit unions, both federally and privately insured, give members coverage above that level.

Washington – October 15, 2026 -- The American Land Title Association (ALTA) has inducted Craig Haskins, a title insurance executive with more than 30 years of industry experience, as president for the 2026-2027 association year.

Haskins runs Knight Barry Title across four states

Haskins is president and CEO of Milwaukee-based Knight Barry Title, where he oversees operations and growth across Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan and Florida.

Within ALTA, he has served on the Board of Governors and as vice chair of the Best Practices Work Group, as well as on numerous committees and engagement groups. He currently sits on the board of directors of the Florida Land Title Association and previously served as president of the Wisconsin Land Title Association.

Salt Lake City – October 15, 2026 -- TruGolf Links Franchising, LLC has signed an intercompany agreement with Polymath Research Inc. to move its capitalization table onto Polymesh, a regulated blockchain, as the franchise network works toward more than 221 committed locations.

TruGolf Holdings (NASDAQ: TRUG) owns both parties. The agreement came six days after TruGolf closed its acquisition of Polymath on October 15, 2026. It is the first Polymath engagement signed inside the combined company.

Washington – October 15, 2026 -- The Inter-American Development Bank Group (IDB Group) and America Business Forum (ABF) will convene more than 200 CEOs, investors and top executives in Miami on December 15 for the inaugural CEO Forum of the Americas, an invitation-only event.

The organizers say the forum is meant to link policy priorities with investment opportunities in Latin America and the Caribbean. The agenda covers practical pathways for more investment, integration and growth across the region.

Forum agenda targets supply chains, critical minerals and AI

Talks will center on three areas that the organizers describe as critical to the hemisphere's economic future.

Chicago – October 15, 2026 -- Rothschild Wealth Partners and Singularity Financial Partners have launched Rothschild Financial Partners, a newly registered investment adviser owned by its partners, with client assets across three partner firms expected to reach approximately $750 million by year end.

The firm has no private-equity capital. Its owners are Rothschild Wealth Partners, Singularity Financial Partners and the advisors who join. Three partner firms have joined since September 2026, and more are expected by year end. Each will be introduced in the coming weeks.

San Francisco – October 15, 2026 -- Mesh, a crypto payments network, has launched Link Chat, an AI-powered feature in Mesh Link that lets users start financial actions with a natural-language request such as "Deposit 50 USDC into my account." The capability is live and rolling out to partners.

Mesh plans to extend Link Chat across its product stack, including payments and additional transaction types.

Forrester data shows 31% of consumers use conversational AI for finance questions

Nearly one in three consumers (31%) across the United States, United Kingdom and Canada regularly use conversational AI to ask personal-finance questions and compare financial products, according to Forrester. Nearly a quarter (24%) of those users do so through tools outside their bank's app.

Completing a financial action still requires the right accounts, assets and payment rails to work together behind the scenes, the company said.

Tampa – October 15, 2026 -- Branch has launched a white-label Flex earned wage access (EWA) model for banks and credit unions that carries no balance-sheet risk and requires no new underwriting, because Branch funds every advance.

The configuration lets financial institutions embed EWA inside their own banking apps under their own brand. Branch oversees compliance and handles integrations, calculations, disbursement and repayment through an API-first, bank-grade compliant integration.

Branch extends its Flex model from employers to financial institutions

The launch builds on the Flex model Branch introduced earlier this year, which made embedded EWA faster and lighter to deploy for employers. The same approach now targets banks and credit unions facing the multi-year timelines typical of core banking projects.

San Francisco – October 15, 2026 -- ZestyAI's risk models have surpassed 500 regulatory approvals across 317 carrier rate and rule filings, with the company's regulatory footprint now spanning 44 U.S. states.

The approvals cover perils responsible for the vast majority of U.S. property losses: wildfire, severe storm, hail, non-weather fire, and non-weather water. They span personal and commercial property lines.

State insurance departments accepted ZestyAI models in rating and underwriting

Each approval reflects a state Department of Insurance reviewing a ZestyAI model within a carrier filing and accepting its use in rating or underwriting. The total includes new adopters as well as carriers extending ZestyAI models into additional states, perils, and programs.

San Francisco – October 14, 2026 -- Novogradac will convene affordable housing developers, lenders, investors and managers at the Four Seasons Las Vegas on Dec. 3-4 for its 2026 Housing Tax Credit Finance Conference, with three pre-conference workshops scheduled for Dec. 2.

Federal policy and mid-term election fallout top the agenda

Sessions will cover federal legislative and regulatory updates, including the implications of the recent mid-term elections and the direction of the new Congress. Panels will also address tax credit equity, lending markets, state allocation priorities and qualified allocation plan (QAP) trends.

Debt and equity panels, a review of current QAP trends and operating cost categories, and discussions on asset management strategies are also on the program. A social impact breakfast will examine how allyship can foster more inclusive and supportive environments.

London – October 14, 2026 -- SALT will convene approximately 500 institutional asset allocators, asset managers, technology executives and public officials at the second annual SALT London conference on November 3-4, 2026, at The Chancery Rosewood in Mayfair.

The two-day, invitation-only event is presented by Payward. Programming covers digital financial markets, tokenization, emerging technologies, macroeconomic trends and investment opportunities across public and private markets.

Geopolitics and regulation take a central place on the program

Sessions will examine the evolving regulatory landscape and the impact of geopolitical developments on global markets, including the U.S. midterm elections. A panel on the midterms will feature the hosts of The Rest Is Politics, including Alastair Campbell and Katty Kay.