Finance, Banking & Insurance

EU – October 29, 2026 -- The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has recommended limiting the mandatory operating expenditure (OpEx) KPI under the EU Taxonomy to non-capitalised research and development expenditure, according to a Final Report submitted to the European Commission.

ESMA narrows the mandatory OpEx KPI to non-capitalised R&D spending

The report contains ESMA's technical advice on simplifying key performance indicators under the Taxonomy Disclosures Delegated Act. The change would cut the scope of the OpEx metric that companies must report.

ESMA proposes removing the weighted-average KPI from group Taxonomy reporting

ESMA also proposes simpler group-level Taxonomy reporting, including removal of the weighted-average KPI. Further targeted measures aim to make disclosures more proportionate, clearer and easier to use.

Vancouver – October 29, 2026 -- Bank of America, Blackstone, Citi and Morgan Stanley announced a $63 billion financing structure to build AI compute capacity for Anthropic using Broadcom technology, with deliveries expected from calendar 2027.

A special purpose vehicle will buy Broadcom XPU AI accelerators and networking solutions and lease them to Anthropic. Broadcom will provide residual value support equal to the first lien portion of the financing. CEO Hock Tan said the deal validates that "there is capital available to finance such growth."

Meta books a $9.89 billion charge as Q3 revenue climbs 26% to $64.60 billion

Meta Platforms posted net income of $9.86 billion, up 264%, and diluted EPS of $3.83, up 265%. The quarter included a $9.89 billion charge tied to an agreement with 52 attorneys general on teen mental health and social media litigation. The agreement carries payments of up to approximately $18.59 billion.

RICHMOND – October 29, 2026 -- Markel Group Inc. (NYSE: MKL) reported third-quarter adjusted operating income of $707 million, up 14% from $621 million a year earlier, as its insurance and industrial units improved profitability.

Operating revenues rose 6% in the quarter and 2% year to date. Operating income, which includes market movements in the equity portfolio, was $383 million for the quarter and $1.7 billion for the nine months.

Nine-month adjusted operating income slips 2% to $1.6 billion

Adjusted operating income excludes equity portfolio market movements. For the first nine months it totaled $1.6 billion, down 2% from $1.7 billion in the same period of 2025, so the third-quarter gain only partly offset earlier weakness.

Richmond, Va. – October 29, 2026 -- Markel Insurance has agreed to retrocede $2.3 billion of run-off reserves to Enstar under an adverse development cover (ADC) reinsurance agreement. The deal also gives Markel $1.2 billion of protection against reserve deterioration. Markel Insurance is the insurance arm of Markel Group Inc. (NYSE: MKL).

Markel retains the first $2.6 billion of $4.8 billion in subject reserves

The agreement covers subject reserves of $4.8 billion. Markel keeps the first $2.6 billion and passes the next $2.3 billion to Enstar. Markel will pay Enstar a risk premium of $120 million for the adverse loss development cover, which sits above the $4.8 billion of subject reserves.

Frankfurt – October 29, 2026 -- Nearly 36 percent of German mid-sized companies still rated bank behavior in credit negotiations as restrictive in the third quarter of 2026, almost five percentage points fewer than in the prior quarter, according to the KfW-ifo Credit Hurdle. Lending conditions are easing, but remain tighter than the average of recent years.

Large corporates see restrictive lending fall to 27 percent

Just over 27 percent of surveyed large companies reported restrictive lending behavior by their banks. That is almost six percentage points below the previous quarter. KfW compiles the indicator each quarter from ifo Institute business survey data, broken down by company size and economic sector.

Raleigh – October 29, 2026 -- CAPTRUST Financial Advisors has added Pacific Sage Partners (PSP), an Edmonds, Washington-based wealth management firm that advises on approximately $1.1 billion in client assets.

Eight-person PSP team under founder Mark Anderson moves into CAPTRUST

PSP is led by founder and CEO Mark Anderson and has eight team members. The firm has built its business around a holistic approach to wealth management. As with previous CAPTRUST transactions, PSP will adopt the CAPTRUST brand.

Anderson said the combination relieves his team of operational burdens so they can focus more on client financial decisions.

WIESBADEN – October 29, 2026 -- Integrated municipal debt in Germany rose 9.9% over the course of 2025 to €378.9 billion, or €4,907 per capita, according to a model calculation by the Federal and State Statistical Offices published by Destatis. The increase compares with 6.3% in the previous year.

The measure includes debt of municipal core budgets, off-budget entities and other public funds, institutions and companies in which municipalities hold direct or indirect stakes. Only debt owed to the non-public sector, such as banks and private companies, is counted.

Record deficits in core and off-budget entities drive the increase

Core municipal budgets increased debt by 15.5% and off-budget entities by 14.7%. Both posted record deficits for the second year running. Debt of municipal holdings in other public funds, institutions and companies grew by a slower 4.5%.

NEW YORK – October 29, 2026 -- Broadridge has made Kalshi event contracts tradable through the front ends and APIs of its CQG unit. Access also extends to more than 1,700 buy-side clients on the NYFIX network through the CQG-NYFIX integration.

Brokers and futures commission merchants (FCMs) can offer clients direct trading access and market data for the contracts. Traders can fold event contracts into broader portfolio and hedging strategies alongside futures, options and equities on a single platform. CQG's trading, risk management and portfolio monitoring tools cover the new contracts.

Broadridge extends its multi-asset offering to prediction markets

The launch expands Broadridge's multi-asset trading offering and extends Kalshi's reach among CQG technology users. Broadridge ties the rollout to client demand in the United States and EMEA. Access is subject to applicable eligibility and jurisdictional requirements.

BENGALURU – October 29, 2026 -- Qorus and Infosys Finacle named 37 financial institutions as winners of the 13th Banking Innovation Awards, selected from 538 projects submitted by 206 institutions in 68 countries.

Winners selected across ten categories by peer vote and 81-member jury

The awards span ten categories: Business Model Innovation, Product and Service Innovation, Business Banking Innovation, Predictive, AI-led Value Creation, Operational Transformation and Customer Experience Innovation. They also cover Social, Sustainable & Responsible Banking Innovation, Modern Tech Innovation of the Year, Neobank and Fintech Innovation, and Transformative Innovator of the Year.

Selection combined voting by a community of industry peers with evaluation by a jury of 81 senior global banking executives.

Leuven – October 29, 2026 -- SettleMint has integrated its Digital Asset Lifecycle Platform (DALP) with IBM Digital Asset Haven, giving financial institutions, governments and other regulated organizations a single environment for tokenized asset issuance, custody and transaction controls. The integration is available now.

DALP and IBM Digital Asset Haven split policy, custody and approval duties

IBM Digital Asset Haven supplies wallet and key management, transaction approvals and governance. SettleMint's DALP applies asset-eligibility and transfer rules. Together they define who sets policy, who approves activity and who resolves exceptions.