Finance, Banking & Insurance

New York – October 14, 2026 -- Harbour Island Acquisition Corp. I priced its initial public offering of 10,000,000 units at $10.00 per unit, raising $100 million for a blank check vehicle that targets the supply chain behind semiconductors, AI and defense technology.

Units begin trading on Nasdaq Global Market on October 14 under HRIAU

The units are expected to be listed on the Global Market tier of The Nasdaq Stock Market and to start trading on October 14, 2026. The offering is expected to close on October 14, 2026, subject to customary closing conditions.

Each unit consists of one Class A ordinary share and one redeemable warrant. Each warrant entitles its holder to buy one Class A ordinary share at an exercise price of $11.50, subject to certain adjustments. Once the components begin separate trading, the shares and warrants are expected to trade under the symbols HRIA and HRIAW, respectively.

Dallas – October 14, 2026 -- Integrity, LLC has partnered with Insurance Pro, a Kissimmee, Florida-based independent marketing organization whose Spanish-language radio show reaches more than 800,000 annual listeners, giving the agency access to Integrity's AI-powered technology platform and national partner network. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Insurance Pro gains IntegrityCONNECT, Ask Integrity and carrier access

Insurance Pro agents will use IntegrityCONNECT, which combines a leads system segmented by demographic with an integrated CRM. The platform gives agents a single view across all carriers, clients and plans. It is integrated with Ask Integrity, a voice-activated AI assistant that delivers in-the-moment prompts, coverage recommendations and policy lifecycle reminders.

Insurance Pro, led by Juan Carlos "JC" Doitteau and Adlyn Milena Lugo, also gains unified contracting and expanded carrier access through Integrity.

Queens, N.Y. – October 14, 2026 -- AlumniFi has become the Official Credit Union of St. John's Athletics and the first corporate partner in program history to put its logo on Red Storm uniforms, in a deal the department describes as among the most significant financial commitments it has received.

AlumniFi logo appears on eight programs starting with Drexel exhibition

The logo debuts at the exhibition opener against Drexel. It will appear on the uniforms of the men's and women's basketball, men's and women's soccer, volleyball, baseball, softball and lacrosse programs.

St. John's Sports Properties, the locally based team of Learfield, facilitated the deal. The source does not disclose the financial terms or the length of the agreement.

Beijing – October 14, 2026 -- Yiren Digital Ltd. (NYSE: YRD) has appointed Na Mei, its former Chief Financial Officer, as Acting Chief Executive Officer, effective October 14, 2026, one day after the company announced a development concerning its chief executive.

Board installs Mei to maintain management continuity

The board of directors made the appointment to support continuity in management and operations. Mei will oversee day-to-day operations and work with the existing management team under board oversight.

The company has not stated in this announcement how long the acting arrangement will last. It has also not named a permanent successor.

Mei served as Yiren CFO for almost four years until August 2024

Mei held the CFO role from September 2020 to August 2024. Before joining Yiren Digital, she spent more than a decade at PricewaterhouseCoopers.

New York – October 13, 2026 -- KNOWIDEA, the decision intelligence company, has published a research paper co-authored with Georgia Tech and developed with one of the world's largest asset managers, aimed at making AI-generated financial database queries verifiable before they inform decisions.

The paper, titled "VeriPIE: Checkable Query Plans and Evidence-Guided Selection for Text-to-SQL," describes a method that improves the accuracy of AI-written database queries. Each answer comes with evidence that a risk team can validate before acting on it.

Silent query errors return plausible but wrong numbers

Banks, asset managers and corporate finance teams are adopting AI tools that convert plain-English questions into database queries, a task known as text-to-SQL. According to the paper, the main danger is not the query that fails but the one that runs, returns a reasonable number and is wrong.

Oyo State, Nigeria – October 13, 2026 -- KuCoin Nigeria Limited has received conditional Approval-in-Principle (AIP) from the Securities and Exchange Commission, Nigeria (SEC Nigeria) for admission into its Accelerated Regulatory Incubation Programme (ARIP), but the approval does not allow it to operate in the country.

AIP is not a licence and does not permit client onboarding

SEC Nigeria's conditional AIP is not a final registration, licence, endorsement or recommendation. It does not authorise KuCoin Nigeria to commence operations, onboard clients or offer services to the Nigerian public. The company states that admission into ARIP does not assure or predetermine the grant of formal registration.

West Des Moines – October 13, 2026 -- Criterion, the new name for Sammons Financial Group's wealth advisory holding company, launched with more than $27 billion in assets under management or advisement (AUM/AUA) across three national advisory firms.

The company groups Beacon Capital Management, NorthRock Partners and Wealthcare. Sammons Financial Group established the holding company as its expansion beyond core insurance and annuity business lines.

Criterion plans acquisitions and technology spending to compete in U.S. wealth management

Criterion describes the launch as the next step in a long-term plan built on strategic acquisitions, technology investments and expanded capabilities for financial advisors and their clients. It will also invest in talent across its advisory firms.

Amsterdam – October 13, 2026 -- YeePay has been granted an Electronic Money Institution (EMI) license by De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB), the Dutch central bank, giving the cross-border payments provider a second European EMI authorization after its existing UK license.

Dutch license adds to a multi-jurisdiction regulatory portfolio

The Netherlands is a major financial hub within the European Union. YeePay said the approval strengthens its regulatory footprint and supports compliant, localized payment services for businesses operating across international markets, subject to applicable regulatory requirements.

The company's existing licenses and registrations include:

Johannesburg – October 13, 2026 -- Kholo Capital Mezzanine Debt Fund I has provided R275 million (US$17 million) in mezzanine debt to DCC Holdings Proprietary Limited, a South African information and communications technology (ICT) distributor. The funding will refinance DCC's existing debt and support its long-term growth strategy.

Kholo Capital enters DCC's capital structure alongside Kleoss Capital

DCC's shareholders are senior management and private equity investor Kleoss Capital. DCC CEO Carlos Ferreira said the shareholders are introducing Kholo Capital into the group's capital structure. He said DCC has grown steadily by adding key brands and expanding its footprint within established vendor relationships.

Kleoss Managing Partner Hale Matsipa described the deal as a collaboration with a fellow private markets investor and evidence of positive momentum in South Africa's private markets.

CHICAGO – October 13, 2026 -- CME Group has completed initial performance testing for CME Globex in the cloud and reports faster round-trip times for trading, along with an accelerated build of its Aurora Cloud Region and co-location facility.

Aurora facility is ahead of schedule, with client testing targeted for mid-2027

The Aurora facility will host Google Cloud's new specialized platform for trading CME Group markets, which the exchange operator describes as industry-first. CME Group targets mid-2027 for client testing. Its Dallas disaster recovery facility has been open for testing since June 2026.

Livestock markets will migrate from Aurora in late 2027, skipping Dallas

CME Group will move its livestock markets to the cloud out of the Aurora Cloud Region in late 2027. The previously planned interim relocation to Dallas is no longer necessary.