Finance, Banking & Insurance

Dubai – September 20, 2026 -- Crypto derivatives trading is undergoing a structural shift toward options, with notional open interest in options rising from roughly 25% to nearly 50% of the crypto-native Bitcoin derivatives market, according to a new report from digital assets data provider Glassnode, produced in partnership with Bybit.

Options gain share across four of five market regimes since 2019

The State of Crypto Derivatives report found options growth was fastest during the prolonged bear market, indicating the trend is not simply a function of rising prices or speculative activity. Dated futures volume has fallen roughly 97% below 2021 levels, while options volume now runs more than three times higher than it did in 2021, as leverage moved into perpetual contracts and risk pricing moved into options.

Danville, Calif. – September 20, 2026 -- RateSecure Financial is closing complex mortgage loans in under 10 days for Silicon Valley founders, entrepreneurs and high-net-worth borrowers who fall outside traditional agency underwriting standards.

RateSecure splits Non-QM lending into two distinct market segments

The California-licensed lender, holding NMLS #2815879 and CA DFPI License #60DBO-217750, identifies a divide in the expanding Non-QM sector: traditional alternative-credit lending for borrowers with weaker credit, and a private-bank-style model for financially strong borrowers with complex income structures. Gurp Bhandal, Founder and CPO of RateSecure, said the company was built specifically around the second segment.

San Francisco – September 20, 2026 -- 2factor.finance has launched on Base to offer leverage for Coinbase's tokenized stocks at roughly 75 percent lower cost than comparable leveraged ETFs, targeting the $112 trillion pool of buy-and-hold capital that has historically been shut out of leveraged positions.

Leveraged ETFs cost investors an estimated $10 billion a year in financing charges

Across roughly $250 billion held in leveraged ETFs, investors pay an estimated $10 billion annually in financing costs above the risk-free rate, according to the company. Only about a third of single-stock leveraged ETFs have outperformed simply holding the underlying stock, and no crypto leveraged ETF has ever beaten spot over its own lifetime.

New York – September 20, 2026 -- Blue Owl Capital Inc. (NYSE: OWL) has completed the acquisition of 34 bank branch properties from Trustmark Corporation, expanding its Real Assets net lease portfolio across five U.S. states.

Blue Owl adds 34 net lease properties spanning Mississippi, Florida, Tennessee, Alabama and Texas

The deal, executed through funds managed by Blue Owl's Real Assets platform, gives the alternative asset manager contractual rental income from an investment-grade counterparty. Trustmark carries a BBB+ credit rating from S&P and simultaneously entered into long-term, triple net leases for all 34 properties.

Leases run 15 years with three five-year renewal options

Each lease has an initial term of 15 years, with three consecutive five-year renewal options attached. The structure locks in rental income for Blue Owl while allowing Trustmark to retain uninterrupted operational use of the branches.

Berwyn – September 20, 2026 -- Envestnet has recorded an 82% year-over-year increase in Wealth Data Platform (WDP) users and a 31% rise in firms using the platform as of September 20, 2026, alongside a 102% jump in WDP page views over the same period. The company unveiled its third technology release of 2026 (R3 2026), replacing static peer-average benchmarking with dynamic, contextual performance comparisons across its Adaptive WealthTech ecosystem.

Dynamic benchmarking replaces one-size-fits-all industry averages

The updated Wealth Data Platform now allows firms to compare performance by business segment, geography, and advisor behavior rather than against a single static benchmark. New dimensions include quartile, median, and risk-bucket performance views, plus benchmarking support extended across both U.S. and Canadian advisor populations. Home office leaders gain dedicated views into top- and bottom-performing advisor segments.

Nashville, Tenn. – September 20, 2026 -- Finch Claims Inc. has launched what it calls the property insurance industry's first full-claim intelligence platform, designed to connect scattered claim records and surface costs insurers may have omitted from estimates.

Finch found nearly $6 million in repair costs missing from carrier estimates

Analyzing 315,000 documents across more than 15,000 property claims, Finch identified an average difference of nearly 50% between carrier estimates and those prepared by public adjusters, representing over $6 million in repair costs left out of insurer calculations. Among claims where insurers made no payment in the first six months, final settlements came in 43% higher on average than the insurer's initial estimate.

Highland Hills, Ohio – September 20, 2026 -- AML RightSource has been named a winner of the 2026 Crypto & Digital Assets Growth Partner Award in the Licensing & Compliance category by industry research firm CobraSight, following an evaluation of more than 350 vendors.

CobraSight screened over 350 vendors before selecting AML RightSource for its digital asset compliance expertise

The award recognizes firms demonstrating specialized experience helping organizations operate within the digital asset ecosystem. CobraSight based its selection on specialization, industry expertise, client experience, and support for entities operating in regulated markets.

Oklahoma City – September 20, 2026 -- Bank7 Corp. (NASDAQ: BSVN) has signed a definitive merger agreement to acquire 100% of Century Financial Services Corporation, the Santa Fe, New Mexico-based parent of Century Bank, in a deal valued at approximately $137.3 million.

Deal creates a $3.3 billion Southwest banking franchise

The combined organization would hold roughly $3.3 billion in total assets, merging Bank7's Oklahoma-based lending platform with Century's century-old New Mexico deposit base. Century Bank, founded in 1887, is the second-largest bank headquartered in New Mexico and one of the last independent institutions in the state, operating eight branches plus loan production offices in Dallas and Houston.

Stockholm – September 20, 2026 -- Findity has launched Findity AI, an intelligence layer designed to automate business expense management, with rollout beginning this autumn across its partner network.

Findity AI Automates Receipt Capture and Policy Checks

The platform deploys proactive agents that capture receipts, match them with card transactions, check for policy violations, and post approved expenses directly to accounting systems. High-confidence expenses are processed automatically, while flagged items are routed for manual review.

Finance Teams Retain Control Through Configurable Guardrails

Organisations set the rules determining which expenses auto-post and which require review. Smart notifications keep employees and managers informed, while employees skip manual expense entry and managers intervene only when a decision is genuinely required.

Beijing – September 20, 2026 -- Investors in China's A-share market turned more cautious in the third quarter of 2026 even as corporate earnings began to recover, according to the latest CKGSB Investor Sentiment Survey covering the May-to-September 2026 period.

Investors cut return expectations and stock allocation plans

Only 58.6% of respondents expected A-share prices to rise, down 5.2 percentage points from April 2026. The expected rate of return fell 1.8 percentage points to negative 0.7%. Appetite for direct stock investment weakened sharply, with the net proportion of investors planning to increase stock holdings falling 7.3 percentage points to 10.7%; the equivalent figure for equity funds dropped 1.2 percentage points to 13.4%.