Financial Services

Guideline Launches Signal, an Ad-Data Platform for Investors

New York – September 21, 2026 -- Guideline, a global provider of advertising intelligence and media plan management technology, has introduced Guideline Signal, a platform delivering ticker-level advertising data, KPI forecasts and market intelligence to investment professionals ahead of quarterly earnings. The platform becomes generally available on October 1, 2026.

Signal draws on a dataset already used by more than 50 of the world's largest hedge funds

The underlying dataset reflects roughly $200 billion in annual transactional advertising spend, sourced directly from every major holding group and numerous large independent media agencies. Because the data is captured at multiple points before a company reports quarterly results, investors can track shifts in advertising demand for a given ticker before earnings are announced.

FutureSports, MLB Ink Deal for CME Baseball Futures Indexes

Chicago – September 21, 2026 -- FutureSports has signed an exclusive agreement with Major League Baseball to build rules-based performance indexes on all 30 MLB clubs, clearing the path for CME Group to list cash-settled futures contracts tied to the sport for the first time.

MLB Data Feeds New CME FSPI Benchmarks Covering All 30 Clubs

Under the agreement, MLB will supply FutureSports with Official League Data, which the index administrator will convert into CME FutureSports Performance Indexes (FSPI) tracking cumulative team performance. CME Group plans to list weekly, monthly and quarterly cash-settled futures contracts on the benchmarks, subject to regulatory review.

YeahPay Expands Online Merchant Acquiring to Seven Global Markets

Hong Kong – September 21, 2026 -- Yeahka Limited (9923.HK) announced that YeahPay, its international payment arm, has expanded online merchant acquiring to seven markets through infrastructure built on Stripe. Businesses incorporated in Australia, Canada, Hong Kong SAR, Japan, Singapore, the United Kingdom and the United States can now be onboarded directly by YeahPay for online acquiring in their home market.

YeahPay unifies online and in-store payment acceptance for the first time

The company already provides in-store payment acceptance in Hong Kong SAR and Singapore. The latest expansion merges those in-store capabilities with online acquiring on a single integration, drawing on more than a decade of experience building payment acceptance for small and medium merchants across mainland China.

Bloomsbury Money Names Ex-SAP Engineer CTO for Cross-Border Bank Platform

London and St Helier, Jersey – September 21, 2026 -- Bloomsbury Money Group has appointed Thomas Holst, a former SAP health-technology engineer with more than a decade of experience, as Chief Technology Officer to lead the build-out of its multi-jurisdiction banking platform.

Holst will unify fiat, digital assets and payment rails onto one platform

Holst joins from SAP's health technology ecosystem in Germany, where he spent 13 years building data-intensive, privacy-critical software for hospitals and research institutions and the cloud infrastructure supporting it. At Bloomsbury Money, he will oversee technology strategy, engineering and platform architecture as the group consolidates its multi-currency accounts, foreign exchange, cross-border payments and regulated virtual asset services onto a single infrastructure designed to operate under one standard of control across multiple regulatory regimes.

Reap Launches Managed Fraud Service Sentry for Card Programs

Hong Kong – September 20, 2026 -- Reap has launched Sentry, a managed fraud and risk service that eliminates the need for card-issuing clients to build in-house fraud teams or license separate monitoring tools.

Global card fraud losses hit $33.41 billion in 2024, Nilson Report data shows

Payment card fraud losses worldwide totalled USD 33.41 billion in 2024, tied to global card volume of USD 51.920 trillion, according to The Nilson Report's January 2026 figures. Reap cites the millisecond nature of authorisation decisions as the reason fraud must be intercepted at the point of transaction rather than remediated afterward.

01F Group Invests in Indonesia's DANA to Expand Digital Finance Access

Singapore – September 20, 2026 -- 01F Group has made an investment in DANA, Indonesia's leading digital e-wallet and financial services platform, through its growth-stage fintech private equity arm, 01Fintech. The deal deepens 01F Group's exposure to Southeast Asia's fintech sector as Indonesia's digital payments market is projected to approach USD 1 trillion by 2030.

DANA's platform reaches millions of users across Tier 2 to Tier 4 regions

DANA operates an integrated digital financial ecosystem serving consumers, merchants and financial institutions, with particular penetration among micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) outside Indonesia's major metropolitan centers. Founded in 2018, the platform combines digital payments, QRIS transactions, money transfers and AI-powered financial tools.

Des Moines Insurer Ranks Priority Coverage Order for Small Firms

Urbandale, Iowa – September 20, 2026 -- Small businesses in the Des Moines metro should secure general liability insurance first, followed by property coverage and workers' compensation, according to insights from Ben Buenzow, an insurance expert at Buenzow Insurance Group, featured in a HelloNation article.

General liability insurance forms the first line of financial defense for small operators

The coverage protects companies against claims of bodily injury or property damage stemming from business operations, addressing risks from customers, vendors, or visitors. Legal costs and settlements tied to such claims can be significant enough to threaten a small firm's cash flow without this protection in place.

SDK.finance Targets Retailers, Marketplaces to Embed Wallets

Vilnius, Lithuania – September 20, 2026 -- SDK.finance has expanded its core platform strategy to help retailers, marketplaces, and telecom operators build native financial products, betting that established consumer brands rather than fintech startups will drive the next wave of payment innovation.

SDK.finance shifts platform focus toward non-financial consumer brands

The Vilnius-based software provider, which builds ready-made infrastructure for wallets and payments, said companies that already hold customer relationships and transaction data are better positioned to embed financial services than new fintech entrants. "None of these companies set out to be a bank, but all of them are moving money," said Pavlo Sidelov, CEO at SDK.finance.

Cerity Partners to Acquire Iowa's Gilbert & Cook, Adding $2B in AUM

Chicago and Des Moines – September 19, 2026 -- Cerity Partners will merge with Gilbert & Cook effective at the end of September 2026, adding approximately $2 billion in assets under management and marking the firm's first entry into the Iowa market.

Gilbert & Cook brings $2 billion in AUM and 30 years of client relationships to the deal

Founded in 1993 and based in West Des Moines, Iowa, Gilbert & Cook has built a national reputation advising individuals, families and business owners on integrated financial planning and investment management. Following the merger, the firm will operate under the Cerity Partners name, giving its clients access to an expanded suite of services including business owner advisory, multigenerational estate planning, private family office services, divorce financial planning and private markets investing.

Svalner Atlas Wins Three Firm of the Year Titles at ITR Europe Awards

Stockholm – September 19, 2026 -- Svalner Atlas | Advisors secured three Firm of the Year titles at the ITR Europe Tax Awards 2026, held at The Londoner in London on September 17, 2026.

Svalner Atlas sweeps three national categories across two regions

The firm was named Transfer Pricing Firm of the Year in Finland, Tax Advisory Firm of the Year in the Netherlands, and Tax Advisory Firm of the Year in Sweden. The International Tax Review awards assess firms on significant client matters, innovation, complexity, scale and impact, backed by independent market research and client feedback.