Finance, Banking & Insurance

Merrill, Wis. – September 12, 2026 -- Church Mutual Insurance Company, S.I. has appointed Ben Parisi to a newly created role as vice president, head of finance operations and financial planning and analysis, the insurer announced.

Parisi will oversee core finance functions across the organization

Parisi's mandate covers finance operations, expense management, procurement, payroll, financial planning and analysis, and management reporting. He will report directly to Daniel Kim, senior vice president and chief financial officer of Church Mutual.

Hong Kong – September 12, 2026 -- The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust approved an average of US$774 million in donations annually between 2020 and 2024, ranking it as Asia's largest corporate donor and eighth largest globally, according to a Bridgespan Group study released at the close of the Club's PBC forum on September 12, 2026.

Bridgespan data confirms Jockey Club's position as Asia's top corporate donor

The corporate giving research, unveiled during PBC 2026, benchmarked the Trust's donation volume against global peers and placed it at the top of the regional ranking. A separate Bridgespan report, backed by the Institute of Philanthropy (IoP), the Rockefeller Foundation and the Gates Foundation, examined how Asia's wealthiest families structure philanthropic giving alongside business interests.

Dublin – – September 12, 2026 -- eCurrency Mint has completed a successful demonstration of its eOffline Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) solution in Africa, enabling digital currency transactions without internet or mobile network access.

eCurrency extends CBDC infrastructure to offline environments

The eOffline solution allows consumers, merchants, and government agencies to send and receive CBDC through mobile phones, smart cards, and other dedicated hardware from third-party device partners, even when connectivity is unavailable. The system has been tested across multiple use cases and user segments in the demonstration.

Berlin – September 12, 2026 -- Germany's federal government has proposed a 2027 budget with total expenditures of €555 billion, including a record €118 billion in investment spending, as parliamentary budget deliberations began this week with the bill's first reading in the Bundestag.

Customs enforcement funding rises to €238.8 million to fight tax fraud

Investment spending for German customs authorities is set to increase by approximately €36 million to €238.8 million. The funds will finance digital forensic systems capable of extracting data from seized smartphones and hard drives in a court-admissible, serialized manner.

Special fund allocates €235 million for AI-driven investigations

An additional roughly €235 million from Germany's special fund will support the expansion of AI-assisted investigative work and automated, secure data exchange between customs authorities.

Tampa, Fla. – September 12, 2026 -- Orange Insurance Exchange has gone live on EquinoxTM, the AI-native policy administration platform from Solstice Innovations, launching HO-3, HO-6, and DP-3 homeowners, condo, and dwelling fire products simultaneously for new business across its Florida portfolio effective September 12, 2026.

Orange launches three products at once instead of staggering releases

Rating, issuance, endorsements, renewals, claims, billing, and forms for all three lines now run on a single system, with AI embedded directly into underwriting, servicing, and claims workflows rather than added afterward. Orange CEO Don Matz said the platform's configurability lets the underwriting team respond to book performance rather than wait on a development calendar, and gives agents a faster submission process and members quicker decisions.

Abu Dhabi – September 12, 2026 -- Assets Under Management within ADGM rose 54% year-on-year in the first half of 2026, while active licences climbed to 13,974, cementing Abu Dhabi's status as the largest international financial centre in the MEASA region by that metric.

Fund managers and AUM expand at double-digit pace

The number of fund and asset managers based in ADGM reached 190, up 23% from 154 a year earlier, with 11 added in the second quarter alone -- the centre's strongest quarterly increase to date. Funds managed from ADGM rose 32% to 276. Managers that established operations in ADGM during H1 2026 collectively oversee more than USD 2.1 trillion in global assets under management.

Johannesburg – September 12, 2026 -- Tongxin Microelectronics (TMC TONGXIN MICRO) has shipped over 27 billion chips globally and secured the digital identities of more than 1 billion citizens worldwide, the company disclosed at Seamless Africa 2026, held September 8-9.

China-developed chip achieves CC EAL6+ certification for global payment networks

TMC TONGXIN MICRO presented its THD89 Family, which it says is the first China-developed security chip to receive CC EAL6+ certification. The series secures payment cards for UnionPay, Visa, Mastercard and JCB, covering hundreds of millions of cardholders.

RISC-V based chip enters mass production at Chinese banks

The company also showcased the E450R, described as the world's first open architecture security chip, built on RISC-V hardware and its OpenPlatform software. State-owned and joint-stock banks in China have already deployed tens of millions of units.

Hong Kong – – September 12, 2026 -- RedotPay, a global stablecoin payments company, has received an independent review from a Big Four firm confirming that its AML/CFT controls can identify, assess, and manage financial crime risk.

Big Four review scrutinized two licensed Hong Kong subsidiaries

The review evaluated Red Dot Trust Limited and Red F. Technology Limited against AML/CFT guidelines issued by the Hong Kong Companies Registry. Its scope covered governance, quality assurance, customer due diligence, transaction monitoring, and internal staff training and resourcing.

Company projects $50 billion in stablecoin card spend by 2028

RedotPay expects stablecoin-powered cards to reach $50 billion in annualized spend by 2028 as stablecoin payments integrate further with card and financial-services infrastructure. The company frames the independent audit as a step to reinforce controls ahead of that projected scale.

New York – September 12, 2026 -- Ankura Consulting Group, LLC has appointed Joanne Taylor as Chief Operating Officer, tasking her with running the firm's global day-to-day operations and building the infrastructure needed to scale efficiently.

Taylor brings 25 years of transformation experience to the role

Taylor has more than 25 years advising boards, private equity sponsors, and executive teams, with expertise in business transformation, operating-model design, and operational excellence. Before joining Ankura, she held senior leadership and general management roles across global consulting, technology, and services organizations, leading enterprise-wide transformations and large-scale operational turnarounds.

New York – September 12, 2026 -- Monteverde & Associates PC has opened an investigation into WaFd, Inc. (NASDAQ: WAFD) over the fairness of its proposed merger with EverBank Financial Corp., under which WaFd shareholders would retain approximately 40.825% ownership of the combined company.

Law firm questions shareholder ownership split in combined entity

Attorney Juan Monteverde of Monteverde & Associates PC, headquartered at the Empire State Building in New York City, is examining whether the deal terms adequately compensate WaFd shareholders relative to the value being contributed to the merged institution.