Finance, Banking & Insurance

Toronto – October 19, 2026 -- RBC Wealth Management has been named Outstanding Private Bank in three categories (Global, North America and Growth Strategy) at the Private Banker International Global Wealth Awards, extending its streak to three consecutive years in the Global category and six in North America.

RBC Wealth Management holds top-six U.S. and U.K. ranking with 91% U.S. earnings growth

In the U.S. and U.K., the firm ranks among the top six wealth management firms by assets under administration. U.S. earnings have grown 91 per cent over five years, and its U.S. client base stands at 320,000 households.

San Diego – October 19, 2026 -- Wildfire Systems and Badge have partnered to push personalized merchant offers from Wildfire's network of more than 50,000 merchant programs into Apple Wallet, Google Wallet and Samsung Wallet, with no new infrastructure or merchant relationships required from clients.

Wildfire clients extend rewards programs into three native wallets

Wildfire clients can now carry their existing rewards programs into the three wallets through Badge's technology. Badge clients, in turn, gain access to Wildfire's merchant offers. Consumers who add a rewards pass will see personalized cashback and savings in their wallet.

Badge keeps passes current as offers change, using dynamic updates, push notifications and location-aware reminders. Wildfire's merchant partners gain an additional channel to reach shoppers and drive sales.

New York – October 19, 2026 -- U.S. 10-year Treasury yields fell about 17 basis points last week while the Nasdaq 100 dropped 5.5%, the largest same-week declines in both since the April 2025 tariff turmoil, Bloomberg reported. The move caught investors who had bet heavily on a deeper bond slump after 10-year yields climbed over seven months to their highest levels in more than two decades.

AI stock sell-off restores Treasuries' haven role

The trigger was a sell-off in AI-linked technology shares. Treasuries showed early signs of behaving as a safe haven again, a role they have failed to play for much of the past few years, partly because oil-driven sell-offs can push stocks and bonds lower together. Commodity trading advisers, the trend-following funds that had built bearish Treasury futures positions at what Bloomberg called 'extremely short' levels, exited those bets last week and added fuel to the rally.

Italy – October 19, 2026 -- A newer wave of the NFCShare Android banking trojan, active since 14 May 2026, ships APKs with malformed ZIP paths that can break automated extraction tools, D3 Labs researchers reported.

Campaign shifts from Deutsche Bank lure to Italian and European brands

NFCShare first spread as a malicious APK through a phishing flow impersonating Deutsche Bank. The newer wave impersonates Italian and European banking brands and originates from a phishing site mimicking Intesa Sanpaolo. The malware shows a fake card-verification screen, asks victims to hold a payment card near the phone, collects the card PIN and sends NFC-derived card data to a WebSocket endpoint.

Core NFC logic unchanged, operations hardened

D3 Labs found the NFC and exfiltration logic largely unchanged. The changes are operational: more frequent APK rebuilds, brand rotation, URL shorteners, a new C2 endpoint and a 10-DEX layout.

North Little Rock, Ark. – October 19, 2026 -- Sowell Management, a registered investment advisor whose nationwide advisor network represents more than $6.8 billion in client assets, has appointed Scott Dooley, CFA, as Chief Investment Officer and converted its investment management platform into the Sowell Office of the CIO.

The Office combines investment leadership, research, portfolio construction, advisor consulting and a curated network of specialized investment partners. Sowell says the structure lets independent advisors access institutional resources without building an internal investment department.

New York – October 19, 2026 -- Melio's plans range from $0 to $80 per month, and a new Better Business Advice review names the platform the best bill pay software for small business, citing its centralized accounts payable workflow.

Melio prices four tiers by ACH payment volume

The Go tier costs $0 per month and includes five free ACH payments. Core costs $25 per month with 20 free ACH payments and additional accounting and automation tools. Boost costs $55 per month with 50 free ACH payments and more advanced user controls. Unlimited costs $80 per month and includes unlimited ACH payments and unlimited user seats.

Fees can still apply to card-funded payments, expedited delivery, wires and international transactions. Standard card-funded vendor payments carry a 2.9% fee. The reviewer notes that total cost depends on payment volume and payment method.

Hamilton – October 19, 2026 -- 24X Bermuda Limited has completed its second consecutive spot cryptocurrency client trade, a Bitcoin (BTC) transaction in which Standard Chartered acted as liquidity taker and Wintermute as liquidity provider.

The trade was executed on 24X's institutional multi-asset platform under its partnership with Standard Chartered, which the source describes as a global systemically important bank (G-SIB). 24X says it is one of a select few global venues offering both crypto spot and FX trading on a single, unified technology infrastructure.

Cumberland DRW provided liquidity on 24X's first spot crypto trade

The BTC transaction follows 24X's inaugural spot crypto trade, in which Cumberland DRW was liquidity provider. 24X says the two trades mark continued development of regulated, institutional-grade infrastructure for digital asset markets.

London – October 19, 2026 -- Transfers under $100 made up 77.4% of stablecoin transfers on BNB Chain in Q3 2026, while transfers of $10,000 or more carried 66.2% of total transfer value, according to a joint report from payments platform Mercuryo and BNB Chain.

The report, Stablecoins on BNB Chain: Fiat to Crypto and Back, combines Mercuryo's fiat-to-crypto and crypto-to-fiat transaction data with BNB Chain's on-chain data for the quarter. The median network fee for a stablecoin transfer on BNB Chain was $0.0068. Additional fees for purchasing, selling or converting into stablecoins may apply.

Non-US currencies fund 70% of dollar-stablecoin purchases through Mercuryo

Of the value used to buy dollar-denominated stablecoins on BNB Chain through Mercuryo, 70% was paid in non-US dollar currencies. The US accounted for 9.8% of purchase value. Asia was the largest regional market at 39.3%, followed by Europe at 33.4%.

London – October 19, 2026 -- Boots Group Finco L.P. and The Boots Group Luxco S.à r.l. have launched a consent solicitation covering €650 million of 5.375% and £375 million of 7.375% senior secured notes due 2032, offering holders a cash fee of 2.50 per 1,000 of principal for backing indenture changes tied to a pending change of ownership.

Wittington and Fairfax funds agree to acquire Boots Group parent on October 7

Oak UK Bidco Limited, owned directly or indirectly by funds linked to Wittington Investments, Limited, together with funds linked to Fairfax Financial Holdings Limited, signed a share purchase agreement on October 7, 2026. Under it, the buyer will acquire all issued and outstanding ordinary shares of Blazing Star Boots Superco (Jersey) Limited from The Boots Group Limited. Completion is expected in the first half of 2027, though the agreement allows that date to be extended.

London – October 19, 2026 -- Lazard, Inc. (NYSE: LAZ) has appointed David Krap, formerly Managing Director and Co-Head of Consumer & Retail EMEA at J.P. Morgan, as Managing Director and Co-Head of European Consumer, Retail & Leisure.

Krap brings more than two decades of consumer M&A advisory experience to Lazard

Krap's focus areas are food and beverage, home and personal care, and select consumer health categories. Before J.P. Morgan, he held senior roles at Credit Suisse, Centerview Partners and UBS. He holds an honors degree from the European Business School London and is fluent in German and Spanish.

Krap will join Lazard's European financial advisory practice in London

He will sit within the firm's European financial advisory practice, led by Jean-Louis Girodolle and Cyrus Kapadia, who are both Co-Heads of European Investment Banking.