Finance, Banking & Insurance

ACE Cash Express Parent Populus Funds Vogel's Homeless Family Program

Dallas – – September 15, 2026 -- Populus Financial Group, parent company of ACE Cash Express, has donated to Vogel's Bridge to Hope program, a two-year initiative in North Texas that helps homeless parents secure housing and build stability plans while providing early childhood education for their children.

National campaign raised more than $160,000 for four charities

The funding came through the 2026 Give A Little Campaign, which generated over $160,000 nationwide for organizations including AdoptAClassroom.org, Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation, Autism Speaks, and Vogel. The campaign operates under the ACE Community Fund, Populus's charitable-giving arm established in 2004.

Aqua Raises $18.8M, Launches First Turnkey Alternatives Platform

New York – September 15, 2026 -- Aqua has raised $18.8 million in total funding and launched what it calls the industry's first turnkey alternative investments platform (TAIP), targeting wealth managers, RIAs, banks, trust companies and fund sponsors.

Aqua secures $3.8 million seed round backed by Google's AI Fund and Y Combinator

The seed round preceded a $15 million Series A led by Arthur Ventures, with participation from Alumni Ventures. Aqua plans to direct the capital toward accelerating platform development, expanding engineering and partnership teams, and deepening integrations with custodians and fund sponsors.

Nonco Adds USDM1 Sovereign Bond as Institutional Trading Collateral

New York – September 15, 2026 -- Nonco, an institutional digital asset firm with over $100 billion in bilateral OTC trading volume, will accept USDM1, described as the world's first natively issued secured sovereign bond, as collateral across its derivatives, financing and institutional trading operations.

Nonco expands collateral toolkit beyond tokenized money market funds to sovereign debt

The firm, which counts more than 900 institutional counterparties, previously used Superstate's USTB tokenized money market fund shares as collateral in a bilateral BTC/USD options trade. USDM1 marks its move into natively issued sovereign debt as collateral, distinct from payment stablecoins structured as corporate obligations or tokenized fund interests.

MVB Financial Joins Visa Direct Pilot to Settle Payouts in Stablecoins

London – – September 15, 2026 -- MVB Financial Corp. will settle eligible Visa Direct push-to-card payouts using stablecoins under a new pilot program announced with enterprise payments platform Velocity.

MVB gains stablecoin settlement rails inside its existing Visa Direct payment flows

The arrangement lets MVB use stablecoins for funding and settlement obligations tied to certain push-to-card payouts processed through Visa Direct. Availability depends on eligibility and geography, and digital-asset conversion, wallet connectivity and on-chain controls are handled by licensed partners rather than MVB directly.

CME Group Names Jack Tobin CFO Ahead of March 2027 Leadership Transition

Chicago – September 15, 2026 -- CME Group has appointed Jack Tobin as its next Chief Financial Officer, effective March 2027, when current President & CFO Lynne Fitzpatrick becomes Chief Executive Officer.

Tobin moves to Deputy CFO in November 2026 ahead of formal handover

Tobin, CME Group's Chief Accounting Officer since 2015, will step into the Deputy Chief Financial Officer role in November 2026 to manage the transition before assuming the CFO title. He will continue reporting to Fitzpatrick and brings more than 35 years of financial experience, including accounting, corporate development and finance oversight at CME Group since joining in 2002. He previously worked as a principal consultant at PricewaterhouseCoopers and holds bachelor's and master's degrees from DePaul University.

Bybit Launches AI Copilot to Unify Trading and Support in One Chat

Dubai – September 15, 2026 -- Bybit, the world's second-largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume, has officially launched Bybit AI, a conversational assistant that consolidates trading, account management and customer support into a single chat interface within its app.

Bybit AI lets users execute trades and manage accounts through natural-language commands

The assistant interprets user requests and carries out the corresponding action directly, covering Spot, Futures and Options trading, Bybit Earn, Copy Trading, Trading Bot, Loan, P2P, Bybit Card, Spot X, the Rewards Hub, and notification and subscription management.

DoubleZero Edge Adds Kalshi Election Data as Midterm Betting Tops $133M

New York – September 15, 2026 -- DoubleZero Foundation has added Kalshi's Elections and Politics markets to its DoubleZero Edge platform, extending low-latency order book delivery beyond the sports and crypto contracts it already carries for institutional and automated traders.

Midterm prediction market volume already exceeds the full 2024 cycle

More than $133 million had traded on U.S. House and Senate race contracts across major platforms as of mid-August, surpassing total volume for the 2024 congressional cycle, according to DoubleZero. The 2026 midterms are set for November 3, and the company says volume tied to the election has continued to climb since that August tally.

Algorand Names William Herkelrath CEO, Refocuses on Quantum Security

Dover, Del. – September 15, 2026 -- Algorand Foundation U.S. Inc. has appointed William Herkelrath as Chief Executive Officer, replacing Staci Warden after nearly five years at the helm of the public blockchain network.

Herkelrath takes over as Algorand pushes institutional and post-quantum strategy

Herkelrath officially assumed the CEO role on August 31, bringing two decades of experience across AI, enterprise software, institutional finance, and blockchain infrastructure. He previously co-founded K3 Labs, an AI-first automation platform for agent-managed workflows, and held leadership positions at Chainlink and Curv.

Bandwidth, Google, ServiceNow Named AFP 2026 Pinnacle Finalists

Rockville, Md. – September 15, 2026 -- The Association for Financial Professionals (AFP) named Bandwidth, Google and ServiceNow as finalists for the AFP 2026 Pinnacle Awards, sponsored by Truist for a third consecutive year, with all three finalists having built AI-enabled treasury systems.

Voting closes September 18 ahead of Las Vegas announcement

Community voting to select the Grand Prize winner runs until Sept. 18, 2026. The winner will be revealed during AFP 2026, held November 8-11 in Las Vegas, and Truist will donate $10,000 to The Just One Project on the winner's behalf.

ABOC Relocates Chicago HQ, Opens Full-Service Branch at 101 N. Wacker

Chicago – September 15, 2026 -- ABOC, also known as Amalgamated Bank of Chicago, has relocated its corporate headquarters and opened a new full-service branch at 101 N. Wacker Drive in the city's Loop neighborhood, occupying roughly 40,000 square feet of office and retail space.

Bank consolidates operations into two executive floors plus ground-floor branch

The new footprint includes two floors dedicated to executive offices and operational teams, alongside a full-service branch on the ground floor at the corner of Wacker Drive and Washington Street. Founded in 1922, ABOC serves unions, public entities, businesses and individuals nationwide, and describes the move as a milestone in its relationship-driven banking model.