BGC Group, Inc. (Nasdaq: BGC) has announced the launch of BGC Compute Infrastructure Markets (BGC CIM), a new division aimed at bringing institutional-grade market structure to the rapidly expanding secondary market for compute and memory capacity. The new division will sit within BGC Group’s Energy, Commodities and Shipping (ECS) business and will initially focus on the over-the-counter (OTC) market. BGC CIM will be co-led by Marc Kuber and Zach Espinosa, who will oversee dedicated brokerage support for clients navigating this emerging asset class. With AI adoption accelerating globally, compute and memory capacity have become increasingly critical assets. BGC Group says the new division is designed to deliver transparent price discovery, real-time risk management and more efficient execution for market participants, drawing on the firm’s established position as the world’s largest energy broker. Clients of BGC CIM will also have access to the broader BGC Group ecosystem, including Fenics Market Data and Lucera, the firm’s connectivity platform, both of which are expected to support the development of a more transparent and efficient marketplace for AI infrastructure. John Abularrage, Co-Chief Executive Officer of BGC Group, noted that compute and memory capacity share many characteristics with traditional commodity markets, including supply-demand volatility and forward price risk, areas where BGC has deep expertise. “As the world’s leading energy broker, BGC is uniquely positioned to help clients with execution and liquidity to achieve their long-term economic objectives in the age of AI,” Abularrage said.The post BGC Group Launches New Division to Target Growing AI Compute Market first appeared on LeapRate | Online Trading Industry News, Broker Intelligence & Fintech Analysis.

Sumsub has become the first identity verification and compliance platform to connect AI agents directly to its full configuration layer, enabling teams to build complete onboarding workflows from AML policy documents in minutes. The company announced the launch of its Model Context Protocol (MCP) integration alongside a new suite of AI agent skills, compatible with leading models including Claude and ChatGPT. The release represents a significant departure from traditional compliance setup processes, which have historically required manual interpretation of regulatory requirements by solution architects or technical teams. Under the new system, compliance teams can upload an AML policy document, including complex, multi-page PDFs containing country-specific risk brackets, weighted scoring tables, and conditional logic, directly to an AI agent. The agent then reads the document and automatically generates a fully configured Sumsub environment, including verification levels, risk questionnaires, and onboarding workflows, live in the customer’s dashboard. Andrew Novoselsky, Chief Product Officer at Sumsub, said the integration changes the category entirely. “A team can take their AML policy, hand it to an AI agent, and have their full environment built automatically. That is a fundamentally different category of capability from what has been available in this space.” Beyond initial setup, the integration supports day-to-day compliance tasks including applicant reviews, analytics, and verification link generation. Sensitive actions are performed in an isolated sandbox, with human approval required before any configuration changes go live. The integration is model-agnostic, with open-source agent skills published on GitHub. Sumsub has also become the first verification platform to be officially listed on the ChatGPT Apps platform.The post Sumsub Launches MCP Integration, Letting AI Agents Configure Compliance Workflows Automatically first appeared on LeapRate | Online Trading Industry News, Broker Intelligence & Fintech Analysis.

Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (HKEX) and the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) have announced a joint pilot project to explore the use of e-HKD, a wholesale central bank digital currency (CBDC), for advance margin payments during the derivatives market’s After-Hours Trading (AHT) session. The initiative, announced on Thursday, seeks to fix a longstanding operational problem. Under the current system, Clearing Participants (CPs) must submit advance margin deposit requests to HKFE Clearing Corporation Limited (HKCC) by 3:00 p.m. for funds to count toward the upcoming AHT session. Because e-HKD runs on a 24/7 basis, the pilot aims to remove that deadline, giving participants more freedom to manage margin payments outside regular banking hours. HKEX is inviting HKCC Clearing Participants to take part in Real-Value Trial Transactions on an optional basis. Any wider rollout remains subject to regulatory approval and market readiness. The announcement comes as Hong Kong’s derivatives market continues to grow, with average daily volume (ADV) rising from a record 1.66 million contracts in 2025 to over 1.78 million contracts in the first five months of 2026. HKEX Chief Operating Officer Vanessa Lau said the project “reflects the shared commitment of HKEX and the HKMA to embracing innovation, strengthening the resilience of our markets and reinforcing Hong Kong’s position as a leading international financial centre.” HKMA Deputy Chief Executive Howard Lee added that the pilot “demonstrates a wholesale application of CBDC in a live market environment,” pointing to the authority’s focus on improving financial infrastructure efficiency.The post HKEX and HKMA Launch e-HKD Pilot for Derivatives After-Hours Trading Margin Payments first appeared on LeapRate | Online Trading Industry News, Broker Intelligence & Fintech Analysis.

FV Bank, the regulated US digital bank based in San Juan, Puerto Rico, has announced an expansion of its financial infrastructure platform, bringing stablecoin settlement, digital asset custody, payments and cross-border banking together in a single environment. The first product under the expanded platform, Stablecoin Invoicing, is now live, with further capabilities due over the coming weeks. According to FV Bank, Stablecoin Invoicing lets businesses generate itemised invoices directly from their dashboard, send them by email or a shareable payment link, and accept payment in USDC or PYUSD. The company says counterparties can pay via WalletConnect, QR code, or a direct transfer from a wallet or exchange, with funds settling in USD once received. The product is aimed at B2B businesses, SaaS platforms, marketplaces, freelancers and cross-border operators. The mechanics build on capabilities FV Bank already runs. The bank has supported direct stablecoin deposits with automatic conversion to USD for some time, having integrated Circle’s USDC in 2021, Tether’s USDT in 2024 and PayPal’s PYUSD in early 2025. It has also positioned USDC invoicing as a use case since 2022, so a dedicated invoicing product is an extension of an existing workflow rather than a new line of business. FV Bank says further products will follow over the coming weeks, including unified payment collection across fiat and stablecoins, stablecoin-powered cross-border payments, network-branded virtual cards, API-managed accounts, and APIs and SDKs for developers and enterprise teams. The bank describes these as available for direct deployment or for integration by fintechs and technology platforms that want to extend banking, payments and digital asset features to their own clients without taking on the underlying compliance and operational burden. The announcement lands as stablecoins continue to move from crypto-native tools towards wider use in cross-border settlement and treasury operations, helped by greater regulatory clarity in the US following the GENIUS Act. FV Bank says it has spent years building the custody, compliance and operational framework needed to support this model. “Banking, payments, and digital assets have evolved on separate rails for too long,” said Miles Paschini, CEO of FV Bank, who said the expanded platform is intended to let clients move funds across traditional and blockchain rails within one regulated environment. Nitin Agarwal, Chief Revenue Officer, said the bank had made long-term investments in the compliance, custody and operational infrastructure required to bridge traditional banking with digital asset settlement, and pointed to growing client demand for real-time and programmable payment infrastructure. FV Bank says the platform supports real-time settlement across digital assets and fiat in more than 45 currencies through its API-driven rails. That figure is the bank’s own and is a notable step up from the 13 outbound currencies it cited in early 2025, so it is worth confirming directly before relying on it. The company says additional platform announcements will follow through 2026.The post FV Bank launches stablecoin invoicing as it expands its banking and payments platform first appeared on LeapRate | Online Trading Industry News, Broker Intelligence & Fintech Analysis.

Australia’s Scams Prevention Framework has been law since early 2025. The movement now is at its edges, among the sectors it has not yet named. The codes are out for consultation until 25 June, and the first measure consumers will actually see, ACMA’s SMS Sender ID Register, switches on on 1 July. The designation covers banking, telecommunications and digital platforms. Currently Forex and CFD brokers, payment firms and crypto venues sit outside it. Crypto Treasury has already named cryptocurrency wallets, with superannuation, among the sectors the framework can be extended to. The power to expand is in the Act, and the bank and platform codes being settled this month are the template a crypto code would inherit: governance and training duties, real-time detection and disruption, mandatory scam-intelligence reporting to the ACCC, redress through internal dispute resolution and AFCA. A designation away, in other words, and the draft already tells digital-asset businesses with Australian users what the day after looks like. Advertising The nearer reach is into financial marketing. The draft platform code requires verification, before an advertisement runs, that an advertiser whose product needs an Australian licence holds one, an AFSL in the case of financial products, with parallel checks that the advertiser is not banned and that whoever fronts it is authorised. For anyone buying Australian clients through paid social and search, the platform becomes the licence check, applied before the impression rather than after the complaint. Acquisition funnels built on light-touch ad approval are precisely the target. The rails The bank code sets the conditions the money moves through: payee confirmation before transfers settle, identity verification, transaction and account monitoring, targeted warnings on high-risk payments, recall requests, account freezes. The friction banks apply to outbound payments they read as high-risk is the environment broker deposit and withdrawal flows will operate inside. Almost every obligation in the draft is a civil penalty provision, under a regime that tops out at $50 million. Redress is “no wrong door”: a complaint to any business in the chain, cooperation to apportion liability, AFCA as the single external scheme. The protected class takes in Australians offshore using Australian-based services, so it does not stop at the coast. Commencement is proposed for 31 March 2027, so this is trajectory rather than deadline. The shape is settled: cross-sector liability, mandatory intelligence-sharing, reimbursement when firms fall short, the regime the UK and EU are reading closely. The names not yet on the designation have the most reason to read it first.The post Crypto Is Next Under Australia’s Scams Prevention Framework first appeared on LeapRate | Online Trading Industry News, Broker Intelligence & Fintech Analysis.

FINRA has censured and fined New York-based broker-dealer Outset Global Trading Limited $130,000 after finding that the firm’s anti-money laundering programme was not reasonably designed to detect and report suspicious transactions over a four-year period. According to the Letter of Acceptance, Waiver and Consent, Outset served as an outsourced trading desk for US and foreign institutional customers between January 2022 and December 2025, executing equities and options transactions, including trades in thinly traded, low-priced securities. FINRA found that the firm’s written AML compliance programme failed to identify red flags relevant to its business model, including indicators of insider trading, market manipulation, pump-and-dump schemes, and trading activity representing a significant proportion of daily volume in thinly traded securities. From 2022 through July 2024, Outset relied on a manual review of its daily trade blotter for AML surveillance, an approach FINRA found inadequate as the firm’s business grew. The manual system was not designed to detect patterns of suspicious trading across accounts or multiple days. The firm introduced an automated surveillance system in August 2024, but that system did not capture options trades until December 2025, and its market dominance parameters were set too broadly to flag meaningful activity. FINRA added that one customer also traded securities on the same day it published research reports on those issuers, a red flag the firm failed to detect. Outset revised its AML compliance programme in January 2025 and updated its surveillance system in December 2025. The firm consented to FINRA’s findings without admitting or denying them.The post FINRA Fines Outset Global Trading Over AML Programme Failures first appeared on LeapRate | Online Trading Industry News, Broker Intelligence & Fintech Analysis.

The dollar’s post-Fed surge has stuck. The US Dollar Index broke above 100 on Wednesday’s hawkish hold and, rather than fading overnight, has dug in above the level into Thursday, its firmest in over a year. A first-day jump on a hawkish surprise often gives ground back as positioning settles, this one has not. With the FOMC flipping its 2026 projection from a cut to a hike and Treasury yields higher across the curve, the market is treating higher-for-longer as the new base case rather than a knee-jerk. The majors are wearing it. The yen is pinned near two-year lows despite this week’s Bank of Japan hike, the Australian dollar is at multi-week lows, and sterling is soft ahead of the Bank of England decision at noon, where a hold at 3.75% is expected. The dollar is also holding firm even as oil keeps sliding on the US-Iran deal, the opposite of the usual reflex. The next test is the BoE, and then how the dollar trades once the initial Fed move has fully washed through.The post In Brief: Dollar stuck above 100 as the Warsh Fed’s gains hold first appeared on LeapRate | Online Trading Industry News, Broker Intelligence & Fintech Analysis.

The headlines have the big strokes right. Kevin Warsh’s first meeting was hawkish, and it was pointedly independent. The detail worth your time is sitting underneath: the Fed hardened its line on inflation at the exact moment energy prices were falling. By now the shape of Wednesday is familiar. The FOMC held at 3.50% to 3.75%, the new chair stripped the statement back to around 130 words, and the dot plot flipped the next move from a cut to a hike. Read as a story about Warsh, it is a tale of a hawkish, deliberately independent Fed reasserting that it sets policy on the data rather than the politics. All true, and all over the wires. The more revealing part is the timing. The same week the Committee marked up its inflation forecasts, oil was in freefall. The US-Iran deal has pulled crude down roughly 40% from its conflict peak, with Brent near $78 and WTI near $75. The textbook reaction to that is disinflation, and with it the room to ease. A central bank under political pressure to cut could have pointed at the oil chart and called it cover. The Fed did the opposite. It lifted its 2026 headline PCE projection to 3.6% from 2.7% in March. More tellingly, it raised core PCE to 3.3%. Core strips energy out entirely, so an upward revision there is the Committee saying in numbers what it would not spell out in words: the inflation problem is broad, and it is not going to be solved at the petrol pump. The statement itself framed energy as just one of several supply shocks in certain sectors, not the main event. Warsh made the same point without dwelling on it. Inflation, he noted, has been “running well ahead” of the 2% goal for “more than five years”, language that frames the problem as embedded rather than a passing geopolitical spike. Set against a backdrop of tumbling energy costs, that is a deliberate choice of emphasis. He paired it with the line that did the rounds, that the Committee “will deliver price stability”, but the substance sat in the projections, not the soundbite. None of which means the Fed expects the squeeze to last. The same projections have total PCE inflation, in Warsh’s words, at “3.6 percent this year, 2.3 percent next year”, so this is a 2026 stance rather than a call that prices stay hot indefinitely. The point is narrower and more immediate: cheaper oil is not going to pull inflation back to target on its own this year. This is where the hawkish and independent reads actually fuse. The genuinely independent move was not the unanimous vote. It was declining the dovish narrative that was being handed to the Fed on a plate. Fading war risk, collapsing oil and a White House that wants cuts all pointed one way. The Fed looked at its core forecast and went the other. For anyone trading the dollar, that is the takeaway the rate headline misses. The greenback firmed even as oil sank, because the message was that higher-for-longer is not conditional on energy relief. Cheaper crude is not, in this Fed’s view, going to do its job for it.The post In case you missed it: the Fed just looked straight through cheaper oil first appeared on LeapRate | Online Trading Industry News, Broker Intelligence & Fintech Analysis.

The ECB’s Advisory Group on Market Infrastructures for Securities and Collateral (AMI-SeCo) has published its formal input into the European Commission’s review of the Shareholder Rights Directive, and its central recommendation is blunt: the directive should be converted into a directly applicable Investor Rights Regulation, with its protections extended beyond shareholders to investors in all instruments issued through European CSDs. The report, “Facilitating the exercise of investor rights” (June 2026), sets out 30 measures designed to feed the Commission’s Savings and Investments Union (SIU) strategy. Behind the institutional language sits a substantial piece of evidence-gathering, a survey across 20 European markets, and the findings amount to an official documentation of how widely the current rules are ignored. From directive to regulation The structural proposal continues a clear direction of travel in EU financial regulation. The Commission’s Market Integration and Supervision Package, published in December, already signalled a preference for converting directives into regulations to achieve uniform rules across Member States. AMI-SeCo applies that logic to SRD II: a directive transposed across Member States has produced fragmented national practices and divergent scopes, France’s disclosure rules cover bonds and funds, Norway’s extend to unlisted equities, and persistent legal uncertainty for intermediaries operating cross-border. The proposed Investor Rights Regulation would also widen the perimeter. Rights currently afforded to shareholders in listed equities would extend to bondholders and investors in any instrument issued through an EEA CSD, supported by a harmonised definition of “end investor”, the natural or legal person on whose account securities are held with the last intermediary in the chain. The equity-specific language of “shareholder” would give way to “investor” throughout. Other headline measures include abolishing the optional 0.5% threshold below which issuers cannot identify shareholders, scrapping “targeted” identification requests, mandating ISO 20022 messaging for issuers and every intermediary in the custody chain, and requiring issuers to deliver corporate event data to their CSD as a single golden source for the entire market. The compliance picture the survey reveals What distinguishes this report from standard consultation fare is the fact-finding. AMI-SeCo surveyed issuers, agents, CSDs and intermediaries across 20 markets on how the shareholder identification process actually functions and the results are unflattering. A median 8.75% of identification requests are simply never forwarded down the custody chain, with one entity reporting daily occurrences across all markets. The same median proportion of requests receive no response at all. Late responses run at a median 5%, with some investment banks and prime brokers taking up to three months to reply, when they reply. Data quality is worse. In the German market, 90% of responses from intermediaries classify the shareholder type as “Unknown”, a designation the report notes should be virtually impossible, since intermediaries must always be able to distinguish client assets from their own. Shareholder names arrive incorrect or missing in up to 90% of responses from some global custodians; one issuer reported receiving the names of defunct entities, citing Credit Suisse, now legally part of UBS, as an example. Email addresses are absent from 90% or more of responses in nearly four-fifths of reported cases. Then there are the fees. One intermediary reported being invoiced €50,000 for a single identification response, charged at €0.08 per holder identified; flat fees of €200–300 per request are typical in Germany, which the report’s respondents queried given that most intermediaries charge nothing. Some intermediaries charge for responses they never validly deliver. Most pointed is the extraterritorial picture: SRD II applies to third-country intermediaries holding in-scope securities; but the report records that US and Asian banks frequently take the view that it does not extend to them, or that local privacy law takes precedence and that there are currently no consequences for ignoring it. Measure 30 draws the obvious conclusion, calling for consideration of stronger enforcement. What this means beyond the custody industry Post-trade plumbing rarely makes headlines, but the direction here is relevant to any firm in the chain between European issuers and end investors, including brokers offering cash equities and bonds, who sit squarely within the intermediary obligations this framework governs. A regulation, applied uniformly, with mandatory machine-readable messaging, no thresholds, harmonised deadlines and credible enforcement would convert what many intermediaries have evidently treated as optional into hard compliance obligations with sanctions attached. The timeline runs through the Commission’s SRD review: a Call for Evidence and public consultation opened on 11 February 2026 and closed on 6 May 2026, with a legislative proposal indicatively planned for Q4 2026. AMI-SeCo’s parallel Single Rulebook for Corporate Events is scheduled to be developed through 2026 and beyond. Nothing in this report is law yet, but as input from the Eurosystem’s own market infrastructure advisory body, it is about as strong a signal of regulatory direction as the post-trade world gets.The post ECB advisory group calls for SRD II to become an Investor Rights Regulation  first appeared on LeapRate | Online Trading Industry News, Broker Intelligence & Fintech Analysis.

OptionMetrics announced on Wednesday that it has released IvyDB Canada 5.0, an updated version of its historical Canadian options database. The company said the move will offeri institutional investors, hedge funds and quantitative researchers greater flexibility in pricing methodologies, more accurate implied volatilities and a smoother volatility surface for backtesting and risk assessment. The database covers more than 300 optionable securities from Canadian exchanges, with historical data and daily updates available for most securities since March 2007.  Key additions in the 5.0 release are said to include the option to incorporate borrow rates (the interest cost associated with holding a stock intended for short sale), into options price calculations, or to use legacy methodologies, or both simultaneously for comparison purposes. The update also integrates Woodseer Dividend Forecast data directly into the dataset, enabling more accurate assessment of dividend strategies and improving the precision of implied volatility calculations across covered securities. The release comes as Canadian options trading continues to grow. The Montreal Exchange reported an average of 950,000 Canadian derivatives contracts traded daily in the fourth quarter of 2025, a 10% increase year-on-year, with rises in both ETF and equity options volumes. “As the premier provider of historical options data, analytics, and volatility worldwide, we are committed to giving institutional investors and academics access to the highest quality data,” said Eran Steinberg, Chief Operating Officer at OptionMetrics. The methodology updates in IvyDB Canada 5.0 align with similar changes made earlier this year to OptionMetrics’ flagship IvyDB US 7.0 and IvyDB ETF 5.0 products, enabling users to more easily port strategies between the US and Canadian datasets.The post OptionMetrics Launches IvyDB Canada 5.0 Amid Options Market Growth first appeared on LeapRate | Online Trading Industry News, Broker Intelligence & Fintech Analysis.

CME Group has announced a major leadership transition, with long-serving Chairman and CEO Terry Duffy set to move into an Executive Chairman role in March 2027, handing the reins to current President and CFO Lynne Fitzpatrick. Chicago-based CME Group, the world’s leading derivatives marketplace, confirmed on June 17 that Duffy will transition to Executive Chairman of the Board on March 1, 2027, with Fitzpatrick simultaneously appointed Chief Executive Officer and joining the company’s Board of Directors. Duffy’s departure from the CEO seat caps a remarkable 25-year run at the top of one of the world’s most influential financial institutions. Since becoming Chairman in 2002, he has overseen CME Group’s transformation from a floor-based Chicago exchange into a global electronic trading powerhouse with a market capitalisation exceeding $95 billion — a rise of more than 8,000% since the company’s IPO. His tenure included landmark milestones such as the merger with the Chicago Board of Trade in 2007, the acquisition of the New York Mercantile Exchange in 2008, and more recently a high-profile partnership with Google Cloud and a retail trading venture with FanDuel. Fitzpatrick, who has been with CME Group since 2006, was appointed President and CFO in 2024, having previously served as Deputy CFO and Managing Director of Corporate Development and Treasurer. Prior to CME Group, she held investment banking roles at Credit Suisse and UBS. “Lynne is the right person at the right time,” said Duffy. “With more than 20 years of strategic and financial expertise and strong leadership abilities, she will continue moving our company forward.” Fitzpatrick expressed gratitude for the opportunity, stating she looks forward to growing CME Group’s core business and creating shareholder value.The post CME Group’s Terry Duffy to Step Down as CEO, Lynne Fitzpatrick Named Successor first appeared on LeapRate | Online Trading Industry News, Broker Intelligence & Fintech Analysis.

The London Metal Exchange (LME) has signed a landmark agreement with the Shanghai Futures Exchange (SHFE) to list a new cash-settled futures contract giving international market participants direct exposure to China’s flat steel market for the first time. The new instrument, LME Steel HRC Shanghai, will be cash-settled against the SHFE’s Steel Hot-Rolled Coil (HRC) monthly US dollar price. Currency conversions and pricing calculations will be handled by Commodity Pricing and Analysis Limited (CPAL), a sister company of the LME. Trading is expected to begin in October 2026, subject to final regulatory non-objection. The deal is a significant step in bridging East-West commodity markets. China is by far the world’s largest producer and consumer of steel, and the SHFE’s HRC contract is one of the most liquid commodity futures in existence. Until now, access for non-Chinese entities has been structurally limited. LME Chairman John Williamson said the contract would give companies outside China “easier access to one of the world’s most liquid commodity contracts alongside the simplicity of trading a cash-settled LME contract,” while also deepening the exchange’s ties with Chinese metal markets. SHFE Chairman Tian Xiangyang highlighted the move’s broader significance, noting it would “further attract global steel enterprises and financial institutions to participate in price formation” and enhance the international profile of China’s steel futures ecosystem. The new contract adds to the LME’s growing suite of cash-settled steel products and marks one of the most concrete steps yet toward integrating Chinese commodity benchmarks into global capital markets infrastructure.The post LME and SHFE Join Forces to Launch Steel HRC Shanghai Futures Contract first appeared on LeapRate | Online Trading Industry News, Broker Intelligence & Fintech Analysis.

New Jersey-based First Commerce Bank has selected FIS HORIZON as its go-forward core banking platform, as the $1.8 billion-asset community bank moves to build a modern, AI-ready technology foundation. Jacksonville-headquartered FIS (NYSE: FIS) said the agreement gives First Commerce Bank access to the full HORIZON ecosystem, an API-enabled platform built for integration flexibility, fintech connectivity, and long-term innovation across the money lifecycle. The bank said it conducted a thorough evaluation of its technology strategy before settling on FIS, prioritising modern architecture, open API connectivity, and a high-touch partnership model. HORIZON’s ability to consolidate the full money lifecycle onto a single platform was cited as a key differentiator in its selection over rival providers. The agreement also positions First Commerce Bank to pursue AI-powered capabilities over time, including standardised data feeds and agentic commerce tools, as its modernisation strategy develops. “Modernising your core banking technology is one of the most consequential decisions a bank makes,” said Gregory Garcia, Chief Operating Officer at First Commerce Bank. “We chose FIS because of the strength of the HORIZON platform and because the team demonstrated a real commitment to our success throughout the process.” Melissa Cullen, Head of Regional and Community Banking at FIS, said community banks require more than modern technology and need a partner genuinely invested in their long-term success. “First Commerce Bank is building for the future, and FIS HORIZON gives them a flexible, modern foundation,” she added. First Commerce Bank joins a FIS community and regional banking client base spanning institutions from under $1 billion to well over $100 billion in assets, all running on FIS core banking platforms.The post First Commerce Bank Chooses FIS HORIZON for Core Banking Modernisation first appeared on LeapRate | Online Trading Industry News, Broker Intelligence & Fintech Analysis.

Binance Wallet has unveiled its new Web3 API, a unified suite of API endpoints designed to give developers, institutions, and advanced on-chain traders programmatic access to on-chain trading, market data, and wallet capabilities through a single integration. The launch marks a significant step in Binance’s push to extend its Web3 infrastructure beyond retail users, targeting builders of decentralised applications (DApps), trading bots, portfolio management tools, and AI agent workflows that require on-chain execution. The Web3 API is built around three core pillars. The Market Data API delivers real-time token prices, candlestick data, and top gainers and losers across supported chains. The Trading API aggregates swap quotes from multiple vendors, executes token swaps on-chain, and incorporates built-in MEV protection. Multi-chain support covers major EVM-compatible networks including Ethereum, BNB Smart Chain, Arbitrum, Polygon, Base, Optimism, and Monad, as well as Solana, with further chains in the pipeline. A key differentiator is the non-custodial architecture: Binance Wallet never holds or accesses user private keys, returning unsigned transactions for local signing. For a limited period, Binance is also waiving service fees and positive slippage charges, returning all price improvement directly to users. The API is backed by enterprise-grade infrastructure with 24/7 technical support, and is accessible via Binance’s developer portal using an existing Binance account or connected wallet.The post Binance Wallet Launches Web3 API to Open On-Chain Infrastructure to Developers and Institutions first appeared on LeapRate | Online Trading Industry News, Broker Intelligence & Fintech Analysis.

For years, the rules that decide when a newly listed company joins a major equity benchmark were dull, shared and largely uncontested. A flurry of mega-IPOs has changed that. Within weeks of each other in 2026, the largest index providers reached opposite conclusions about whether sheer size should buy a company early entry, and the disagreement leaves passive investors tracking the “same” market through benchmarks that no longer hold the same things. What the gatekeeping rules were for Three tests have traditionally governed index entry: a seasoning period, a profitability screen, and a minimum free-float requirement. None is arbitrary. Seasoning lets a price settle before index funds are obliged to buy. The profitability and float tests are quality and investability filters — they keep benchmarks from force-feeding tracker funds into thinly traded, loss-making or founder-controlled stocks the moment they list. The rules exist to protect the passive investor who never chose the constituent, not the company seeking entry. The friction is structural. Index inclusion triggers automatic buying from every fund tracking that benchmark, so entry timing is itself a market event worth billions in flows. That is precisely why issuers and their banks have an incentive to compress the waiting period — and why the providers’ gatekeeping role matters. Three providers opened the gates Through the first half of 2026, the majority moved to accommodate large new listings. Nasdaq changed its Nasdaq-100 methodology effective 1 May 2026. A security previously needed a seasoning period of roughly three months and was typically only added at the December reconstitution. Under the new “Fast Entry” rule, a new listing whose full market capitalisation ranks within the top 40 current constituents is evaluated as early as its seventh trading day and, with five trading days’ notice, added after 15 trading days — exempt from the seasoning requirement, and able to enter mid-cycle without forcing out an existing member (the index can temporarily exceed 100 constituents). Nasdaq also removed its former 10% minimum float requirement, replacing it with a cap that limits a low-float constituent’s weight relative to its float. FTSE Russell followed for its US indices, confirming changes on 26 May 2026 with immediate effect. IPOs with an investable market capitalisation above the Russell Top 500 breakpoint can now qualify for fast entry and be added after the close of the fifth trading day, rather than waiting for the next semi-annual reconstitution. Crucially, FTSE Russell left its existing minimum free-float and voting-rights rules unchanged; it sped up the timing, but did not lower the bar on float or governance. The long-standing allowance, that a sub-5%-float IPO may enter if lock-up expirations are expected to lift it above the threshold within twelve months, remains as before. CRSP, now owned by Morningstar, and the benchmark family behind several of Vanguard’s largest funds, eased its rules with effect from 27 April 2026, adding a float-adjusted market-capitalisation test that lets a mega-IPO enter its broad-based indices after five trading days even with relatively few tradable shares, in place of the previous 10% minimum-float bar for fast entry. This matters by sheer scale: more than $3 trillion in Vanguard index funds track the CRSP US market indices, the Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF alone accounting for around $600 billion. S&P Dow Jones drew a different conclusion S&P Dow Jones ran its own consultation in spring 2026, floating a cut in the seasoning window from twelve months to six, a waiver of the four-quarter profitability test, and a relaxed float minimum for the largest companies. On 4 June 2026 it rejected its own proposal. In its words, “no changes will be made to the eligibility criteria including financial viability screens, seasoning period, or minimum IWF” for the S&P 500, S&P MidCap 400 and S&P SmallCap 600, and exceptions “should not be granted solely based on market capitalisation”. The practical consequence: a newly listed mega-cap must still trade for twelve months and post four consecutive quarters of positive GAAP earnings before it can enter the S&P 500. For a large, unprofitable debutant, that pushes eligibility out by a year or more, and only if the profits then materialise. One noteworthy nuance: S&P did not hold firm everywhere. The same announcement made changes to its broad-market indices, the S&P Total Market Index, the S&P Completion Index and the Dow Jones US Total Stock Market Index, adding a float-adjusted alternative that lets a very large company qualify for fast entry even without meeting the standard IWF minimum, effective 8 June 2026. So S&P’s stance is more precisely a split of its own: hold the line on the flagship, capital-gatekeeping benchmarks; accommodate size in the indices designed to represent the entire investable universe. That distinction is itself the logic of the whole debate in miniature: representativeness versus protection, sorted by what each index is for. Why the split matters more than the IPO Strip away the individual listing that prompted it, and the durable consequence is divergence between benchmarks that investors have long treated as interchangeable windows on the same market. The clearest effect is on passive funds. A mega-cap can now sit in the Nasdaq-100 and the Russell indices within days of listing while remaining outside the S&P 500 for a year or more. Funds tracking different benchmarks therefore hold materially different portfolios, a tracking-error and product-design problem for issuers of index products, and a composition difference most retail holders of “the index” will never notice they are exposed to. The second effect is on the inclusion trade itself. The predictable burst of forced buying that accompanies benchmark entry, long front-run by active traders, changes shape when entry windows shorten and fragment across providers. Where the flow once arrived on a known schedule, it now lands at different times in different benchmarks, and even longer in the one that still makes companies wait. The third is precedent. The providers that moved argue they are keeping benchmarks representative of a market increasingly shaped by giant, founder-controlled listings; on that view, excluding the largest companies on rules written for a different era makes an index less faithful to the market, not safer. It is worth being precise about how far each went: Nasdaq both accelerated entry and dropped its float minimum; FTSE Russell sped up the timing but explicitly kept its float and voting-rights bar; CRSP moved via a float-adjusted screen. S&P’s counter is that a flagship benchmark’s value lies precisely in disciplined, consistent gatekeeping, and that bending it for size erodes the protection passive investors rely on — even as it accommodated size in its broad-market indices. Both positions are coherent. What is no longer true is that the industry shares one answer. For those building, tracking or trading around index products, that is the development to absorb: the question of whether size should buy early entry now has different answers depending on whose benchmark you hold; and that fragmentation, not any single company’s debut, is what will shape index flows from here.The post The index-inclusion consensus has fractured and the split will outlast the IPO that caused it first appeared on LeapRate | Online Trading Industry News, Broker Intelligence & Fintech Analysis.

Swiss financial infrastructure group SIX announced Tuesday that Rafael Moral Santiago, Head of Securities Services and Member of the Executive Board, has left the company with immediate effect after just over a year in the role. Marion Leslie, Head of Financial Information and a fellow Executive Board member, will assume interim responsibility for the Securities Services business unit while a permanent successor is identified, subject to the required regulatory approvals. Moral Santiago joined SIX in May 2025 and, according to the company, made contributions to the development of the business unit and helped advance a number of strategic and operational initiatives during his tenure. “On behalf of the Executive Board and the Board of Directors, I would like to thank Rafael for his commitment and contribution over the past year,” said Bjørn Sibbern, Chief Executive of SIX. “I would also like to thank Marion for taking on the additional responsibility during this transition period, while continuing to lead SIX Financial Information successfully.” SIX said the Securities Services unit remains well positioned and focused on delivering for clients, noting growth across all core products and service segments. The company added that it will communicate the permanent succession once a decision has been reached. Leslie’s dual responsibility spans two of SIX’s core business areas. SIX operates critical financial infrastructure across securities services, financial information and banking services, serving clients across Switzerland and international markets. No reason was given for Santiago’s departure.The post SIX Securities Services Chief Rafael Moral Santiago Departs first appeared on LeapRate | Online Trading Industry News, Broker Intelligence & Fintech Analysis.

Gold holds near one-week high ahead of Fed decision Gold is trading around $4,340 an ounce on Wednesday, near a one-week high, after gaining more than 6% over the previous four sessions. Two forces are behind the move. Markets are weighing a reported US-Iran agreement to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, which would ease the energy-driven inflation fears that had supported safe-haven demand, against caution ahead of tonight’s Federal Reserve decision. Neither Washington nor Tehran has yet released the text of the agreement, leaving investors wary. The Fed is widely expected to hold rates, in the first meeting chaired by Kevin Warsh, who took over from Jerome Powell last month.The post In Brief: Gold holds near one-week high ahead of Fed decision first appeared on LeapRate | Online Trading Industry News, Broker Intelligence & Fintech Analysis.

The Bank of Japan raised its policy rate to around 1% from around 0.75% at its meeting concluding on 16 June, the highest level in 31 years and its first increase since December 2025. The decision was announced with Governor Kazuo Ueda absent, currently hospitalised for treatment of a liver cyst infection. Deputy Governor Shinichi Uchida fronted the post-meeting press conference in his place and signalled that further tightening lies ahead, saying the central bank will continue to raise its policy rate in line with economic and price conditions. The move continues the BOJ’s gradual normalisation after years of ultra-loose policy, against a backdrop of persistent inflation, a weak yen and energy-price pressure linked to the Middle East conflict.The post BOJ raises rate to 1% as deputy governor signals more to come first appeared on LeapRate | Online Trading Industry News, Broker Intelligence & Fintech Analysis.

A pattern has become impossible to miss in 2026’s broker news flow: barely a month passes without another CFD firm announcing a licence from the UAE’s Capital Market Authority. Kudo.com’s Category 5 approval this month, completing the process started in May, is only the latest entry in a queue that has included some of the industry’s biggest names. The regulator’s own numbers confirm this is a structural shift, not a coincidence of timing. A regulator rebranded, and in demand The Capital Market Authority (CMA) is the new name for the Securities and Commodities Authority (SCA), the UAE’s federal markets regulator, which was reconstituted under that name on 1 January 2026 by Federal Decree-Laws 32 and 33 of 2025. The change is worth noting for compliance teams and content owners alike as a large body of published material, broker disclosures included, still references the SCA. Whatever the name, demand for its approval has surged. The regulator reported an 18% year-on-year increase in licence applications over the first nine months of 2025, and has automated parts of its review process to bring processing times down; an unusual posture for a securities regulator, and a deliberate one. The UAE has positioned itself as the regulated gateway to the Gulf, and the licensing pipeline is the mechanism. The 2026 scoreboard The pace of approvals tells its own story. PU Prime secured a Category 5 licence in February, the same month Finalto opened a Dubai office under its own Cat 5. Empire Markets followed in March; Mitrade obtained its licence in April, taking its regulatory portfolio to six jurisdictions, and BeeMarkets secured its own Cat 5 at the end of the same month. XM had already completed its Category 5 process under the then-SCA in late 2025, with Exinity and PrimeX Capital among others holding promotion-tier licences. Most striking is XTB, which in April upgraded its Category 5 to full Category 1 and Category 2 licences — a move from marketing permissions to a substantially deeper regulatory commitment, and an indication of where the more ambitious firms see the market heading. What the categories actually permit The licence tiers matter more than the headlines usually acknowledge, and the distance between them is considerable. Category 5, the licence most brokers in this wave have obtained, covers promotion and introduction. It allows a firm to market its services within the UAE and introduce clients, typically to an affiliated entity regulated elsewhere. It does not permit executing trades, dealing, or holding client money in the country. In practical terms, a Cat 5 holder’s UAE clients are still trading with an offshore or foreign-regulated entity; what changes is that the marketing reaching them is now done under local regulatory supervision. Categories 1 and 2 sit at the other end of the regime, covering dealing activities, which is why XTB’s upgrade is a different order of commitment from the Cat 5 wave, carrying capital, staffing and operational substance requirements that a promotion licence does not. For traders in the region, the distinction is the practical takeaway: a broker advertising a UAE licence may hold anything from a marketing permission to a full dealing authorisation, and the protections attached differ accordingly. The CMA’s public register records the category. Why the rush, and why now Three forces are converging. The first is commercial gravity: the Gulf retail trading market has grown rapidly, and the UAE functions as both a market in its own right and a credential for selling across the wider GCC. Several recent licensees have framed their approval explicitly in regional expansion terms. The second is the post-offshore repositioning underway across the industry. Firms built on Mauritius, Seychelles or Saint Lucia licences increasingly need at least one more credible onshore authorisation to satisfy payment providers, banking partners and institutional counterparties, and the CMA has emerged as an attainable, respected option with faster processing than most European alternatives. The third is competitive: once a critical mass of peers holds Dubai paper, absence becomes conspicuous. The 18% application growth suggests that dynamic is now self-reinforcing. What to watch The open question is how many Category 5 holders follow XTB up the ladder. A promotion licence is a foothold; the firms that convert to dealing categories will be making a materially larger bet on the region and signalling that the UAE is becoming not just a marketing jurisdiction, but a booking centre. The CMA’s processing statistics over the next year, and the ratio of upgrades to new Cat 5 grants, will show whether Dubai’s regulatory moment matures into something more permanent.The post Dubai paper: inside the CFD industry’s rush for UAE licences first appeared on LeapRate | Online Trading Industry News, Broker Intelligence & Fintech Analysis.

Robinhood Markets announced on Monday a reduction in its workforce affecting approximately 10% of its full-time employees, alongside the closure of a small number of open roles, as the trading platform looks to accelerate product development and maintain operational discipline. The company said it is taking the action from a position of business strength, noting that average daily trading volumes in June had reached record levels across equities, options and prediction markets month-to-date. Robinhood estimates the restructuring will result in total cash charges of approximately $28 million, comprising around $20 million in employee severance and benefits costs and approximately $8 million in share-based compensation.  The company expects to recognise the accrual for these charges in the second quarter of 2026. The move is framed as part of broader efforts to sustain a high-performance culture and sharpen focus on product velocity rather than a response to deteriorating business conditions. The post Robinhood Cuts 10% of Workforce Despite Record Trading Volumes first appeared on LeapRate | Online Trading Industry News, Broker Intelligence & Fintech Analysis.