Global InsurTech funding surged 27% year-over-year in Q1 2026, AI is automating more than half of all claims at leading carriers, and regulators are finally building the tools to keep pace. Welcome to insurance's most consequential quarter in years. According to Beinsure, global InsurTech investments rose 27% year-over-year in Q1 2026, recording $943.4 million across 42 deals. The global InsurTech market is projected to reach $23.5 billion this year, and roughly two-thirds of

FINMA has cleared SIX to fold its digital-asset venue SIX Digital Exchange into its traditional central securities depository SIX SIS, and to offer crypto custody directly through that consolidated CSD. The decision makes Switzerland one of the first jurisdictions where regulated institutional investors can settle tokenised securities and hold native crypto assets inside the same licensed post-trade entity. For banks, asset managers, and custodians, it removes a structural ba

Long Lake Management has agreed to acquire American Express Global Business Travel (NYSE: GBTG) for approximately $6.3 billion in an all-cash transaction, marking one of the largest take-private deals in the corporate travel sector and a significant test case for applied AI in legacy services industries. Shareholders of Amex GBT will receive $9.50 per share, a 60.2% premium to the company's closing price on May 1, 2026, and roughly 65.1% above its 30-day volume-weighted avera

US WealthTech deal activity surged 95% in Q1 2026, and the second quarter is already making the first look modest. From a landmark Citi partnership to AI agents that execute trades mid-conversation, wealth management is being rebuilt from the ground up. The WealthTech sector has officially hit escape velocity. According to FinTech Global, US WealthTech companies completed 82 deals in Q1 2026, up a staggering 95% from 42 deals in Q1 2025, raising $948.9 million, an 83% year-ov

MoonPay has unveiled MoonAgents Card, a virtual Mastercard debit card that allows AI agents to spend stablecoins directly from self-custodial onchain wallets at any merchant accepting Mastercard globally. The product marks the first agent-native card infrastructure to bypass the custodial pre-funding model that has defined existing crypto debit cards. It launches today in the UK and Latin America through an expanded partnership between MoonPay, Exodus (NYSE American: EXOD), a

Professional forecasters polled by the European Central Bank have raised near-term eurozone inflation expectations and cut growth projections for 2026 and 2027, citing higher energy prices linked to the war in the Middle East. The Q2 2026 Survey of Professional Forecasters, released on 4 May, now puts headline HICP inflation at 2.7% for 2026, a sharp 0.9 percentage point upward revision from the previous round. The shift complicates the disinflation narrative that had taken h

Broadridge Financial Solutions (NYSE: BR) has completed its acquisition of CQG, folding the Denver-based futures and options technology provider into its global trading infrastructure and reshaping the competitive map in derivatives execution. The deal gives Broadridge a fully integrated futures and options trading stack spanning order management, execution, algorithmic trading, analytics, and market connectivity, positioning the firm to challenge incumbents in a sell-side te

Britain's wealth management industry has delivered a stinging verdict on the Government's flagship ISA reforms, with just 7% of firms believing the cut to the Cash ISA allowance will convert savers into investors, according to new survey data from PIMFA. The findings, drawn from the second iteration of the trade body's Regulatory Insights Tracker, point to a widening gap between Treasury ambitions and industry confidence less than six months after Chancellor Rachel Reeves use

The European Central Bank kept its three key interest rates unchanged on Thursday, holding the deposit facility at 2.00%, the main refinancing rate at 2.15%, and the marginal lending facility at 2.40%, as the Governing Council signalled that escalating energy prices tied to the Middle East conflict have intensified upside risks to inflation and downside risks to growth across the euro area. The decision marks a deliberate pause in the ECB's easing cycle. President Christine L