Financial Services

SYDNEY – October 04, 2026 -- Payward, the financial infrastructure platform behind Kraken, has partnered with Singapore Gulf Bank (SGB) to enable round-the-clock settlement for institutional digital asset clients in Asia and the Gulf region.

Payward integrates SGB Net to eliminate banking cut-off times

Payward has connected to SGB Net, the bank's real-time multi-currency clearing network, allowing institutional clients of both firms to settle transactions instantly, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The offering initially covers US dollar transactions for a select number of clients, with plans to add more clients and currencies over time. Through SGB Net, an SGB client can deposit funds with Payward and deploy them immediately, at any hour, rather than waiting on traditional banking cycles that have historically taken days.

Tokyo – October 04, 2026 -- Bloomberg has completed the first fully automated Japanese Government Bond (JGB) Market-on-Close trade, executed through a new workflow aligned to BB3P (Hikene Trading), the reference rate for JGB closing prices.

New workflow combines Bid/Offer List Trading with Rule Builder automation

The automated workflow is available through Bloomberg Electronic Markets and merges Bid/Offer List Trading functionality with Rule Builder, Bloomberg's trade automation tool. Clients can define execution criteria and automate order routing based on predefined conditions, within an integrated order and execution management workflow delivered through TSOX.

Singapore – – October 04, 2026 -- S&P Global Ratings has launched a new risk-assessment framework for digital asset lending vaults, a market that has grown to $10 billion in deposits as of September 2026 from $1.5 billion two years earlier. The Vault Risk Assessment (VRA) delivers independent, forward-looking analysis of impairment risk for investors in blockchain-based lending vehicles that pool deposits and deploy them according to defined strategies, functioning much like traditional fixed income funds.

Vancouver, BC – October 03, 2026 -- Two independent research firms diverge on the size of the global online trading platform market, with Mordor Intelligence valuing it at $11.65 billion in 2025 and projecting $18.18 billion by 2031 (7.66% CAGR), while Fortune Business Insights puts 2025 value at $10.82 billion, rising to $18.50 billion by 2034 (6.00% CAGR). Mordor Intelligence attributes 69.59% of 2025 platform volume to retail investors and 63.42% of deployment to cloud-based infrastructure, underscoring smartphones as the primary entry point for individual traders.

Seattle – October 02, 2026 -- ORSNN, an electronic trading platform for institutional whole loan markets, has named Aaron Khoo as Chief Product Officer and Werner Koepf as Chief Technology Officer, while adding Ken Plank as Senior Advisor, Credit Unions, as the company nears completion of a new capital raise.

The platform has supported $3 billion in loan offering volume to date and completed its SOC 2 Type I examination in the second quarter of 2026. The capital raise will fund continued product development, engineering execution and expansion into new markets, the company said.

Scottsdale, Ariz. – October 02, 2026 -- equipifi has grown BNPL transaction volume on its platform by 128% year over year while nearly doubling its headcount following a Series B raise earlier this year.

equipifi earns fourth consecutive Best Places to Work finalist nod

equipifi, a bank-led Buy Now, Pay Later provider, has been named a finalist for the Phoenix Business Journal's Best Places to Work in the Valley for the fourth consecutive year. The company placed second in the Extra Small category last year and will compete in a larger size category next year due to its rapid growth.

San Francisco – – October 02, 2026 -- GoodLeap, LLC has closed a $434 million securitization backed solely by home improvement loans it originated, marking the sixth such issuance for the fintech lender.

GoodLeap Home Improvement Solutions Trust 2026-2 secures $434 million in principal balance

The transaction, GoodLeap Home Improvement Solutions Trust 2026-2, was sponsored by Bank of America, N.A., with BofA Securities, Inc. acting as sole structuring agent. Kroll Bond Rating Agency and Fitch Ratings both rated the securitization. Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC, CIBC World Markets Corp., and Citigroup Global Markets Inc. served as joint bookrunners.

New York – – September 30, 2026 -- S&P Global (NYSE: SPGI) will release its third quarter 2026 financial results on Tuesday, October 27, 2026, via news release at approximately 7:15 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time.

Executives to host investor call at 8:30 a.m. EDT on October 27

President and CEO Martina Cheung, Chief Financial Officer Eric Aboaf, and Senior Vice President of Investor Relations and Treasurer Mark Grant will lead a conference call and webcast to discuss the quarterly results. The presentation is open to all interested parties and may include forward-looking statements. Presenters' slides and a supplemental deck will be posted to the company's investor relations website.

Chicago – October 02, 2026 -- Setara Financial Corp. has advanced development of its Reference Layer, a benchmark and reference-data infrastructure designed to bring standardized measurement to the fragmented global compute market.

Compute market data remains scattered across hardware, providers and geographies

As artificial intelligence drives investment in GPUs, data centers, power and connectivity, compute has become a critical economic input, yet pricing and performance information remains fragmented across disconnected proprietary data sets. Setara's architecture starts with a governed data model built to standardize heterogeneous compute-market information before it enters benchmark calculation.

Stamford, Connecticut – October 02, 2026 -- Steward Partners placed three senior executives as finalists in the 2026 Wealth Management Industry Awards, drawing national attention across leadership, compliance and M&A categories in a single cycle.

Three executives earn simultaneous finalist status across distinct disciplines

CEO Jim Gold was named a finalist for CEO of the Year among firms managing more than $25 billion in assets. Chief Compliance Officer Rob Guldner was recognized as a finalist for CCO of the Year, while Scott Danner earned a finalist nod for M&A Leader of the Year.