Finance, Banking & Insurance

EU – October 27, 2026 -- The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has defined the conditions that providers and users of post-trade risk reduction (PTRR) services must meet for certain OTC derivative transactions to be exempt from the clearing obligation under EMIR 3.

ESMA's final report sets requirements for PTRR providers and the exemption

The final report specifies the elements and requirements of PTRR services. It covers the information provided to participants, how exercises are carried out, the controls providers must have in place, record-keeping, and how use of the exemption will be monitored.

ESMA says the rules are meant to facilitate use of PTRR services. They also aim to prevent the exemption from being used to circumvent the clearing obligation, keeping its use within the conditions laid down in EMIR 3.

European Union – October 27, 2026 -- The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has withdrawn or amended several Questions and Answers (Q&As) covering market structure under MiFID II, the Market Abuse Regulation (MAR) and the Short Selling Regulation (SSR), removing guidance it considers outdated, duplicative or no longer relevant.

ESMA targets Q&As overtaken by legislative amendments and established practice

The review is part of ESMA's Simplification and Burden Reduction (SBR) initiative. It focused on Q&As made redundant by legislative amendments already reflected in market practice, and on those covered by other ESMA guidance.

Global – October 27, 2026 -- Eagleview, which has supplied aerial imagery and property intelligence to insurers for more than two decades, argues that carriers should measure operational efficiency by how much they know before sending anyone into the field, not by expense reduction alone. Patrick Gill, the company's Senior Vice President and General Manager for Insurance & Commercial Solutions, outlines the case in a new commentary.

AI queries compress weeks of data science work into minutes

Gill says AI lets carriers merge large volumes of disparate data and query it in natural language within minutes. Claims leaders can ask which older roofs sit inside a hail path, which insured properties were already deteriorating before a storm, and where experienced adjusters should deploy first. He says these decisions directly affect claim severity, customer satisfaction and operating expense.

ROCHESTER, N.Y. – October 27, 2026 -- Eagleview's AI-powered Horizon platform completed portfolio-wide wildfire damage assessments in minutes that previously took weeks, the company said at its Property Claims Leadership Forum in Half Moon Bay, where it also released a white paper on AI-driven underwriting and claims.

Catastrophe frequency has more than doubled the long-term average

The U.S. averaged 23 weather and climate disasters per year over the past five years, each costing more than $1 billion in claims, according to NOAA. The long-term average is about nine. Global insured catastrophe losses reached $107 billion in 2025, per Swiss Re, and have risen 5-7% a year in real terms over the long run. Wildfires, storms and floods accounted for a record 92% of the 2025 total, and wildfire is the fastest-growing risk, with insured losses climbing an estimated 12% a year.

Europe – October 27, 2026 -- The European Banking Authority (EBA) has opened a call for papers for its 13th Annual Research Workshop, "Boundaries of Banking Regulation", with a submission deadline of Friday 5 July 2024.

EBA targets policy-oriented, preferably empirical, research

The 2024 EBA Policy Research Workshop will examine policies that can ensure innovation and sustainability amid competition and risk arbitrage, while preserving financial stability. The EBA says the boundaries of banking regulation raise questions about whether the present regulatory regime is adequate.

Researchers from supervisory authorities and central banks are especially encouraged to submit papers for presentation.

Five topics focus on non-bank finance and digital technology

The EBA lists five priority areas for submissions:

Global – October 27, 2026 -- Routing deterministic reconciliation work to an Alteryx One workflow cut token consumption by up to 95%, a 20x reduction, in a benchmark run by financial services consultancy NextWave, an Alteryx partner.

NextWave tested a 120-trade Product Control reconciliation two ways

The workload was a daily front-office-to-back-office reconciliation. It validated open trades, valuations, risk and cash balances across 120 trades, then explained differences and proposed next steps.

In the first run, an LLM received the front-office and back-office files directly and compared them unaided. In the second, the LLM called the Front Office Back Office Data Reconciliation workflow on Alteryx One through the Model Context Protocol (MCP). Alteryx executed the comparison logic, and the LLM interpreted the output and recommended next steps.

Toronto – October 25, 2026 -- The Ombudsman for Banking Services and Investments (OBSI) has appointed CRKhoury (CRK) to conduct its 2026 independent external review of banking and investment complaint operations, with the final report due on OBSI's website later this year.

The review will test whether OBSI has met its regulatory obligations and operates effectively under recognized best practices for financial services ombudsmen. CRK has set up a dedicated review website and is running a public consultation as the process advances.

Loss-calculation consultation traces back to the 2021 evaluation

On October 25, 2026, OBSI opened a public consultation on how it calculates investor losses in complaints over unsuitably sold illiquid exempt market securities. The consultation examines the current process and whether better alternatives exist. OBSI said the 2021 independent expert external review recommended it.

Canada – October 22, 2026 -- OBSI has completed two public consultations since 2022, on board governance and on investor loss calculations, and both trace back to its 2021 independent review.

Loss-calculation consultation closed Nov. 21, 2024 after a Sept. 26 launch

The consultation examined how OBSI calculates investor losses in complaints involving unsuitably sold illiquid exempt market securities. It described how the approach was developed, the feedback OBSI had received and the considerations for an appropriate methodology.

OBSI is using the exercise to test whether better alternatives exist to its current process. The 2021 independent expert external review recommended the consultation.

HOLLYWOOD, Fla. – October 22, 2026 -- CXC Investments, LLC, the manager of long/short equity vehicle CXC Horizon Fund, LP, has engaged Silver Fern Financial LLC as its outsourced Chief Financial Officer partner, less than two years after the fund launched in July 2025.

Silver Fern Financial will work alongside CXC management and existing service providers

Silver Fern will provide senior financial leadership and alternative investment management expertise to support the fund's ongoing operations. It will not replace existing service providers. CXC describes the move as an investment in the fund's financial and operational infrastructure as the firm grows.

Benjamin Cohen, Founder and Managing Partner of CXC Investments, said the aim is to strengthen "the financial and operational foundation supporting the Fund."

Miami – October 22, 2026 -- Miami International Holdings (NYSE: MIAX) has launched four physically-settled fertilizer futures contracts on MIAX Futures, giving the agricultural supply chain an exchange-traded tool to manage price risk in imported crop nutrients.

MIAX Futures lists four NOLA-based fertilizer contracts

The contracts cover NOLA Urea (ticker: MGU), NOLA Mono-ammonium Phosphate (MAP), NOLA Di-ammonium Phosphate (DAP) and NOLA Potassium Chloride (MOP). All four trade on the MIAX Futures Onyx electronic trading platform and are cleared through MIAX Futures Clearing.