Financial Services

Phoenix – September 11, 2026 -- NEXA Lending has named Geri Farr as Chief Executive Officer, transitioning founder Mike Kortas into the company's newly formalized Executive Partner role, its highest internal leadership designation.

Farr takes operational control after joining NEXA in 2025

Farr joined NEXA in 2025 following a career spanning wholesale and distributed retail mortgage operations. She previously managed Kortas nearly two decades ago at NOVA Home Loans, a relationship that now places her at the top of the leadership structure he built.

Kortas shifts focus to growth and the Executive Partner network

Kortas will step back from day-to-day operations to concentrate on new business development, acquisitions and partnerships alongside fellow Executive Partner Anthony Casa. "The best thing I can do for our loan officers is put the right person in the CEO seat and go spend my time creating what comes next," Kortas said.

Munich – September 11, 2026 -- Only 52% of consumers in Germany and France are aware of the EU Digital Identity (EUDI) Wallet, according to a new consumer study by IDnow, just months before the technology's mandated December 2026 rollout. The digital identity and fraud prevention platform surveyed 1,000 adults in each country and found that trust, not speed, will determine adoption.

Nearly half of consumers abandon transactions over complex verification

48% of respondents said they frequently abandon transactions when identity verification is too complicated or takes too long, exposing a commercial cost that financial institutions already absorb today. IDnow argues this friction creates both the market opportunity and the credibility hurdle the EUDI Wallet must clear.

Munich – September 11, 2026 -- Nearly half of European consumers, 46%, say they frequently abandon a transaction when identity verification is too complex or slow, according to a new IDnow survey released ahead of the EUDI Wallet's mandated December 2026 rollout.

The survey of 2,000 respondents across France and Germany, conducted by Sapio Research in June 2026, found that awareness of the EU Digital Identity Wallet remains low even as EU member states are required to make it available to every citizen by December 2026, with banks obligated to accept it starting December 2027.

Security concerns outweigh speed as the top adoption driver

Forty percent of respondents cited better fraud protection as the decisive factor for accepting the EUDI Wallet, ahead of data control (31%) and transparency over data usage (29%). Faster, simpler processes ranked lower, decisive for only 28% of respondents.

Munich – September 11, 2026 -- Nearly half of consumers in France and Germany, 46%, abandon a transaction when identity verification is too complex or slow, according to a new survey from IDnow published ahead of the EU Digital Identity Wallet's scheduled December 2026 rollout.

The EUDI Wallet Consumer Survey, conducted by Sapio Research in June 2026 among 2,000 adults aged 18-80 (1,000 in France, 1,000 in Germany), found that awareness of the incoming digital identity system remains low while friction in current onboarding processes is already costing financial services providers customers.

Lugano – – September 11, 2026 -- Fuze Finance has secured approval from the Supervisory Organisation for Financial Intermediaries and Trustees (SO-FIT) to operate as a supervised financial intermediary in Switzerland, marking the regulated crypto-assets infrastructure provider's first move into Western Europe. The approval, granted under the Anti-Money Laundering Act, allows Fuze to offer institutional clients crypto-asset infrastructure and stablecoin settlement alongside SWIFT, SEPA and SIC payment rails.

Four in five Swiss banks still lack a regulated crypto offering

Citing IMF data referencing FINMA, Fuze notes that roughly 80% of Swiss banks have yet to establish a regulated crypto-assets service, pointing to a supply gap in one of the world's largest private banking markets. The Swiss entry adds to Fuze's existing regulatory licenses in the Middle East, Turkey and Canada.

Beijing – September 10, 2026 -- Waterdrop Inc. (NYSE: WDH) reported second-quarter 2026 net operating revenue of RMB1,448.2 million (US$213.4 million), up 72.8% year-over-year and 16.6% quarter-over-quarter, as the Beijing-based insurance and healthcare technology platform scaled its AI-driven underwriting tools. Operating profit rose 14.3% year-over-year and 39.2% sequentially to RMB111.3 million (US$16.4 million).

Redmond, Wash. – September 10, 2026 -- Halfpricesoft.com has updated its ezAccounting payroll and business software, offering small businesses a desktop-based alternative to cloud subscription platforms with a flat annual fee of $199.00 per installation.

Small businesses face rising costs from forced monthly cloud subscriptions

Accounting platforms have increasingly shifted toward mandatory monthly fees and remote server storage, squeezing small business owners, contractors, and bookkeepers with escalating overhead and data privacy concerns. Halfpricesoft.com positions ezAccounting as a response, storing financial data on local hard drives without mandatory cloud sync.

Singapore – September 10, 2026 -- Lion Group Holding Ltd. (NASDAQ: LGHL) will change the ratio of its American Depositary Shares to Class A ordinary shares, effectively executing a one-for-twenty reverse ADS split on or about September 10, 2026.

Lion resets ADS ratio from 292,500 to 5.85 million shares per ADS

The trading platform operator will move its ADS Ratio from the current one ADS representing 292,500 Class A ordinary shares to one ADS representing 5,850,000 Class A ordinary shares. Par value on the underlying shares remains US$0.0000001. The change affects only the ADS-to-share ratio; no Class A ordinary shares will be issued or cancelled as a result.

Frankfurt – September 09, 2026 -- Cyberattack frequency against European mid-sized companies fell to a five-year low in 2025, yet the average claim value tripled between 2020 and 2025, according to Chubb's Cyber Claims Report 2026.

Claim frequency drops while financial severity climbs sharply

Chubb's data shows that while the number of cyber incidents affecting mid-market firms stabilized and declined to its lowest point in five years during 2025, the cost per claim has risen threefold over the preceding five-year period. The insurer attributes the gap partly to artificial intelligence, which is simultaneously helping companies detect vulnerabilities and enabling more sophisticated malicious use of technology that accelerates the scale of exposure.

Chicago – September 09, 2026 -- CME Group's FX futures and options open interest climbed to a record 4,410,167 contracts on September 4, 2026, eclipsing the prior high of 4,269,622 contracts set on June 11, 2026.

Large open interest holders reach all-time high of 1,446

The number of large open interest holders in FX futures hit an all-time high of 1,446, according to the CFTC's Commitment of Traders report dated August 25, 2026.

Asset managers surpass $200 billion in FX futures notional exposure

Asset managers exceeded $200 billion in FX futures notional open interest for the first time, marking a new threshold for buy-side participation in the market.