Finance, Banking & Insurance

Abu Dhabi – September 16, 2026 -- Assets under management at Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) climbed 54% year-on-year in the first half of 2026, while active business licenses reached 13,974, cementing the emirate's position as the largest international financial centre by license count in the MEASA region.

Fund manager base expands 23% as capital inflows accelerate

The number of fund and asset managers based at ADGM rose to 190, up from 154 in H1 2025, with 11 new managers added in the second quarter alone -- the sharpest quarterly increase on record for the centre. Funds domiciled at ADGM grew to 276, a 32% increase from 209 a year earlier. Collectively, asset managers that set up at ADGM during the period oversee more than $2.1 trillion in assets globally.

New York – September 16, 2026 -- Federal securities class actions are on pace to reach roughly 236 filings in 2026, surpassing the prior peak set in 2023, after 118 new suits were lodged in the first half of the year, according to NERA Economic Consulting data cited by litigation attorney Thomas Przybylowski. The 2025 dip in filings and a 25 percent drop in plaintiffs' bar attorneys' fees masked a shift in legal targeting rather than a retreat, Przybylowski said.

NEW YORK – September 16, 2026 -- Lynn Chen-Zhang, CEO of Zhang Financial, served as Co-Chair of the China Institute of America Centennial Grand Fashion Gala, held September 16, 2026, at The Pierre in New York City to mark the institute's 100th anniversary.

Gala draws top fashion designers and cultural leaders to mark 100-year milestone

The event was chaired by television personality and cultural ambassador Yue-Sai Kan, with designers Guo Pei and Vera Wang serving as Gala Ambassadors. Featured designers included Jason Wu, Vivienne Tam, Grace Chen and Laurence Xu. The gala also honored Fern Mallis, credited as the creator of New York Fashion Week.

Dubai – September 16, 2026 -- The Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) has confirmed the inaugural Dubai Future Finance Week will run November 2-6, 2026, gathering more than 850 speakers across over 85 events at 14 venues throughout the city.

DIFC consolidates 12 flagship forums under one financial policy platform

The week is structured around 12 major forums spanning six thematic pillars: FinTech, tokenization, Islamic finance, family wealth management, sustainable finance and private capital. The organizing theme, "Finance Reinvented: Where Innovation Meets Policy and Purpose," is designed to link global financial decision-makers with regulators and market leaders across a single coordinated platform.

San Francisco – September 15, 2026 -- Fast Company has named Corgi Insurance to its Best Workplaces for Innovators in North America 2026 list, citing the AI-native insurance carrier's embedded culture of technology and rapid experimentation.

Corgi operates as a full-stack, AI-native insurance carrier across the underwriting lifecycle

The company uses automation throughout claims, underwriting, trucking and other emerging lines of business, while expanding into new product categories built for modern commercial clients.

Corgi built custom AI tooling and hundreds of internal automation skills for employees

The company has developed proprietary agent clusters and custom tools that let staff automate workflows across departments, reducing manual steps in core insurance operations.

New York – September 15, 2026 -- AXA XL has appointed Rana Gillmon to a newly created role, Head of Private Equity Client Relations, Americas, tasked with deepening the insurer's ties to private equity firms and their portfolio companies.

AXA XL creates dedicated role to serve private equity sector

The position is designed to align AXA XL's risk management offerings with the operational and portfolio-level needs of private equity clients across the Americas. Gillmon will act as the primary point of contact for these clients, working alongside regional and global underwriting teams to structure tailored insurance solutions.

New York – September 15, 2026 -- FlexFactor has become the only organization shortlisted in six categories at The Card & Payments Awards US 2026, according to the company's review of the published finalist list.

FlexFactor recovers 15% to 20% of eligible declines across live merchant deployments

The payments technology firm is live with more than 100 merchants using AcceptIQ, its AI-native platform for real-time payment decline decisioning. AcceptIQ evaluates transaction, issuer, merchant, data-quality, acquiring, and routing signals to determine whether a declined payment is recoverable and identify the appropriate recovery path.

Berwyn, Pa. – September 15, 2026 -- Envestnet has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Vestmark, merging a wealthtech platform serving more than a third of U.S. advisors with $8 trillion in assets with a trading and portfolio management provider supporting $2 trillion in assets and over five million investor accounts.

Envestnet gains institutional-grade trading and tax transition technology from Vestmark

The acquisition adds Vestmark's portfolio management technology, institutional-grade trading infrastructure, and outsourced investment management services to Envestnet's ecosystem. Vestmark, headquartered in Wakefield, Massachusetts and founded in 2001, has built its client base over 25 years working with wirehouses and firms running institutional-scale trading operations.

Palo Alto, Calif. – September 15, 2026 -- CogniCor, an intelligence and orchestration platform for registered investment advisors, has expanded its Advisory Board with six new industry figures to accelerate its push into firm-wide AI adoption across wealth management.

Beacon Pointe co-founder joins board overseeing $62 billion RIA

Shannon Eusey, Chairman and Co-Founder of Beacon Pointe Advisors, one of the largest RIAs in the country with more than $62 billion in assets under advisement, joined the board as both a CogniCor customer and RIA operator.

San Diego – September 15, 2026 -- FMG Suite has launched FMG Connect, an integration and orchestration layer designed to unify the fragmented technology stacks that financial advisors and insurance professionals rely on for prospecting, planning, and client communication.

FMG Connect automates handoffs between previously disconnected advisor tools

Advisors typically juggle separate systems for meeting notes, lead scoring, and financial planning that do not communicate with one another, forcing advisors to manually transfer data between platforms. FMG Connect closes that gap by triggering automated follow-up the moment a meeting ends, launching personalized outreach as soon as a new prospect enters the system, and syncing client context across planning tools and contact records without manual entry.