Theme news

Pune, India – – September 18, 2026 -- QKS Group has named FIS a Leader in its SPARK MatrixTM: Digital Banking Platform, 2026, citing the breadth of the company's Digital One ecosystem and its ability to unify digital, mobile, self-service, and banker-assisted banking channels.

QKS Group cites FIS' unified banking ecosystem as a key differentiator

Analysts Akhilesh Vundavalli and Divya Baranawal of QKS Group said the Digital One platform spans retail and business banking, digital onboarding, payments, customer engagement, branch and teller servicing, and commercial banking. The platform offers API-led connectivity through FIS' Code Connect ecosystem, allowing banks to integrate with existing core systems, fintech partners, and third-party applications without full infrastructure replacement.

Pinellas Park, Fla. – September 18, 2026 -- Brundage Group has appointed Des Varady as president, tapping a 30-year health care and technology executive to oversee operations as the clinical compliance and revenue integrity firm scales nationally.

Varady brings three decades of leadership in physician-centric health care businesses

Varady previously served as chief executive officer of Corridor, where he built the company into a leader in revenue cycle and education solutions for post-acute care providers. He also held CEO roles at Radsource, a provider of physician radiology services, and HWT, a health care data services firm.

Miami – September 18, 2026 -- SMARTLINEN® has upgraded Ask Debbie, described as the hospitality industry's first AI linen expert, to respond to spoken questions in real time in both English and Spanish. The update lets hotel and laundry staff query operational data by voice instead of navigating reports or software screens.

Ask Debbie now answers spoken questions about inventory in real time

Staff can ask direct questions such as how many bath towels have not returned from the laundry or whether pool towel supply meets daily demand. Ask Debbie processes the query, analyzes the hotel's SMARTLINEN® data, and delivers a verbal answer in either language.

Dubai – September 17, 2026 -- Emaar Properties has signed on as title partner of Dubai Premier Padel P1, with the 2026 edition set for 8–15 November at Hamdan Sports Complex.

Emaar takes title sponsorship of eight-day international padel event

The tournament, rebranded Emaar Dubai Premier Padel P1, will host men's and women's competition on the Premier Padel circuit, combining ranking points and prize money with hospitality and fan experiences across the week-long schedule.

"The partnership reflects our commitment to creating distinctive experiences for residents and visitors and adds to Dubai's diverse lifestyle and leisure offering," said Ahmad Al Matrooshi, Executive Director of Emaar Properties.

Whittier, Calif. – September 17, 2026 -- Southern California University of Health Sciences (SCU) has appointed Russell Greenfield, MD, as Founding Executive Director of its newly created Institute for the Advancement of Whole Health, a national initiative targeting systemic reform of a healthcare model the university says suffers from rising costs, fragmented care and poor outcomes.

SCU launches institute to scale a person-centered healthcare model nationally

The Institute will focus on education, research, clinical care development, and policy advocacy to expand a healthcare approach addressing physical, emotional and social well-being beyond symptom treatment. SCU President and CEO John Scaringe, DC, EdD, said the initiative is designed to align research, training, clinical care and advocacy around a unified Whole Health framework at national scale.

Boston – September 17, 2026 -- Xylo Bio has dosed the first participants in a Phase 1 clinical trial of XYL-1001, a selective 5-HT2A receptor agonist targeting major depressive disorder (MDD), marking the company's transition to a clinical-stage biotechnology organization.

Phase 1 trial spans single and multiple ascending dose cohorts in Australia

The randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study is evaluating safety, tolerability, pharmacokinetics, and pharmacodynamic activity of XYL-1001 in healthy volunteers. The trial design incorporates translational biomarkers intended to characterize pharmacodynamic engagement and inform future clinical development decisions.

Milwaukee – September 17, 2026 -- The Doula Alliance of Arkansas (DA-AR) has secured $860,500 through Arkansas' Rural Health Transformation Program (RHTP) to place ten certified community-based doulas inside rural clinic care teams, using a coordination platform built by MySwaddle, a maternal health technology company developed by Holista.

Stockholm – September 17, 2026 -- SciBase Holding AB has pushed back the first day of trading in subscription rights and paid subscribed shares (BTA) tied to its ongoing rights issue by one day, moving the start date from September 15, 2026 to September 16, 2026 on Nasdaq First North Growth Market.

The subscription period itself remains unchanged, running from September 15 through September 29, 2026.

Timetable shift leaves subscription window intact

The Swedish medtech company confirmed the updated timetable applies only to the trading commencement of subscription rights and BTAs, not to the underlying subscription mechanics of the capital raise.

Michael Colérus, Chief Financial Officer of SciBase, is the designated contact for investor inquiries related to the adjustment.

Stockholm – September 17, 2026 -- Only 43% of shoppers believe AI will make their holiday shopping easier this year, down from 48% in 2025, according to new research from Sinch AB (publ) covering 2,501 consumers across eight markets ahead of Black Friday and the holiday season.

Confidence hinges on specific tasks, not AI broadly

While overall optimism about AI declined, confidence surges when AI is assigned a concrete function. 81% of shoppers trust an AI assistant to handle order tracking and shipping updates, and 74% trust it for pre-purchase questions. That confidence drops to 66% for account changes and 62% for payment or billing changes.

Gothenburg – September 17, 2026 -- Eight industry leaders, including Volvo Group, Daimler Truck and Toyota Motor Corporation, unveiled a coordinated plan at IAA Transportation to scale hydrogen-powered trucking across Europe, with Germany positioned as the first market offering a fully scalable deployment model by 2030.

Daimler Truck commits mid-three-digit million euro investment to hydrogen fleet

Daimler Truck customers have already driven nearly 600,000 kilometers with fuel cell trucks. The company will deploy 100 next-generation fuel cell trucks into customer operations from late 2026, alongside hydrogen combustion engine trucks set for market launch in 2027. Daimler Truck is investing a mid-three-digit million euro amount in hydrogen trucks through 2030. Volvo Group is separately committing significant capital to both fuel-cell and hydrogen-combustion truck lines for rollout toward 2030.

MANILA – September 17, 2026 -- Nearly 320,000 Chinese tourists had entered the Philippines as of September 9, making China the country's fourth-largest source market, Philippine Department of Tourism Assistant Secretary Maria Christina G. Aquino said at a two-day Chongqing-Manila festival that drew roughly 400 business, political and cultural delegates to SM Mall of Asia on September 12.

Chongqing brands sign travel and cooperation deals in Manila

The event, hosted by the Chinese Embassy in the Philippines and the Information Office of the Chongqing Municipal People's Government and organized by the Western China International Communication Organization, staged seven themed exhibitions covering Bayu culture, Chongqing cuisine and 'Made in Chongqing' industrial output. Happyyou International Travel signed a cooperation agreement with Philippine tourism organizations during the accompanying 'China, An Opportunity: Chongqing Brands' conference.

Miami Beach – September 17, 2026 -- Jewelers International Showcase (JIS) will open its Fall 2026 edition at the Miami Beach Convention Center on October 16-19, giving jewelry retailers a four-day window to finalize holiday inventory with more than 600 exhibitors offering immediate at-show delivery and future-order buying.

Retailers face a compressed timeline to lock in Q4 inventory

The show is timed deliberately ahead of the year's busiest retail period, allowing independent retailers, multi-store operators and buying groups to restock fast-moving merchandise and refresh holiday assortments across fine jewelry, fashion jewelry, bridal, gemstones, silver, gold, accessories, technology and business services. Sara McDonough, Event Director of JIS, said the ability to source from over 600 exhibitors while combining immediate delivery with future orders makes the event especially valuable this close to peak selling season.

Monterrey – September 17, 2026 -- Nemak, S.A.B. de C.V. has commenced a tender offer and consent solicitation to purchase any and all of its outstanding 2.250% Senior Notes due 2028, offering holders full par value of €1,000 per €1,000 principal amount plus accrued interest.

Tender offer targets full redemption of 2028 notes

The offer covers Notes issued under Regulation S (ISIN XS2362994068) and Rule 144A (ISIN XS2362996519). The Tender Offer expires at 11:00 a.m. New York time (5:00 p.m. CET) on September 22, 2026, with settlement expected September 24, 2026.

Zurich, Switzerland – September 17, 2026 -- Ontinue, a managed detection and response (MXDR) provider, has published its 2025 greenhouse gas emissions inventory, reporting a 2.5% year-over-year reduction in Scope 2 emissions to 12.59 tCO2e on a location-based basis, driven by consolidation of its global office footprint.

Total company-wide emissions rose approximately 3% versus 2024

Ontinue attributes the overall increase to two factors: higher employee business travel tied to company growth, and a planned methodology shift from spend-based to activity-based accounting for fuel and energy-related activities. The company frames the accounting change as an improvement in data precision rather than an operational setback.

Singapore – September 17, 2026 -- The National University Health System (NUHS) has treated more than 300,000 patients under its value-based care framework over the past decade, cutting hospital bed days by 18,225 and generating over SG$13 million in annual cost avoidance.

NUHS marked the milestone at its Appropriate and Value-Based Care (AVBC) Symposium 2026, officiated by Mdm Rahayu Mahzam, Minister of State for Digital Development and Information and for Health. The event tracked the evolution of Singapore's Value-Driven Outcomes (VDO) framework, which NUHS first adopted in 2015 as the country's first healthcare cluster to do so.

London – – September 17, 2026 -- Naviq, the travel-focused AI company spun out of IBS Group in July 2026 with a $500 million investment and 2,000 employees, has been named a Horizon 2: Enterprise Innovator by HFS Research.

HFS Research cites Naviq's software heritage and sector-specific AI as key differentiators

The analyst firm credited Naviq's specialist focus on aviation, hospitality, cruise and airport operations for its ability to deliver measurable transformation outcomes rather than experimental AI pilots. Melissa Fersht, Executive Research Leader at HFS Research, said IBS Group is shifting the travel industry from AI experimentation to AI execution, and that Naviq's combination of domain expertise and technical delivery forms a differentiator few providers can match.

Southampton, England – September 17, 2026 -- Nearly 40% of data centre professionals in Europe and the US plan to change jobs within the next 12 months, despite most having received a pay rise in the past year, according to DataX Connect's 2026 Data Centre Salary Survey of more than 1,700 professionals across the UK, Europe and the United States.

Pay rises fail to stop nearly 40% of staff from job hunting

38.8% of permanent professionals in Europe and 37.8% in the US intend to switch companies within a year, even though 65% of European and 71% of US respondents saw a salary increase over the past 12 months. In Europe, career development is now the top reason for leaving, cited by 36.0% of respondents. In the US, salary remains the leading factor at 31.4%, with career development close behind at 29.5%.

Singapore – September 17, 2026 -- UROVO has introduced UPad, a commercial tablet designed to consolidate payment processing, barcode scanning, RFID tracking, and enterprise mobility into a single device for frontline business operations.

UPad replaces multiple disconnected hardware units with one integrated platform

The device targets retail, restaurant, hospitality, and warehousing operators seeking to cut hardware investment while gaining real-time operational visibility. UROVO CTO Zhang Bo said frontline operations now require more than standalone devices, positioning UPad as a unified answer to payment, data capture, mobility, and business applications.

London – September 17, 2026 -- Undiluted, a new specialist media and intelligence platform, has launched to track the global venture debt and growth credit market, aiming to bring transparency to a sector its founder describes as fragmented and inconsistently labelled.

Platform targets a debt market growing faster than the data covering it

Undiluted covers debt financing for technology and growth companies worldwide, spanning venture debt, growth credit and other structured lending formats. The London-headquartered platform has launched with global news and deal coverage, alongside resources for founders and finance leaders navigating lender selection.

Orlando – September 17, 2026 -- The newly completed Pod Zeleným Dvorom residential development in Budimír, near Košice, Slovakia, has integrated PENETRON ADMIX crystalline waterproofing directly into its concrete foundations, eliminating the need for a separate membrane waterproofing system.

Crystalline admixture replaces membrane systems at foundation stage

PENETRON ADMIX was added to the concrete mix during batching rather than applied as a surface treatment. Once mixed, its active ingredients react with water and concrete minerals to form an insoluble crystalline network through the pores, capillaries, and microcracks, reducing permeability and blocking groundwater intrusion.