Financial technology group FIS has been selected by the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, the country’s largest bank, to consolidate and automate reconciliation across the institution using its Data Integrity Manager platform. The platform will process in excess of 150 million transactions per day. The solution, delivered as a software-as-a-service product via Microsoft Azure, is expected to replace fragmented reconciliation processes with a single, unified platform. The company noted that it offers real-time visibility, automated discrepancy alerts and a consolidated view across business lines. FIS explained that the platform’s high-performance architecture can process large volumes of data in minutes rather than hours, improving operational efficiency. Andrés Choussy, President of Capital Markets at FIS, stated: “By bringing reconciliation onto a single, intelligent platform, we are enabling CommBank to unlock seamless integration and operational efficiency while ensuring the stability, security, and compliance essential to supporting Australia’s largest bank.” The engagement also incorporates FIS’s enterprise-grade risk and compliance capabilities, including SOC1 and SOC2 certifications, and is designed to support CommBank’s federated software architecture. David Pont, General Manager of Financial Control and Transformation at Commonwealth Bank, believes the implementation reflected the bank’s focus on investing in technology to strengthen operations and ultimately benefit customers. “With FIS Data Integrity Manager, as a strategic partner we gain a platform that can scale with our business and support our continued growth,” he added. FIS will manage ongoing upgrades to the solution, enabling faster delivery of new capabilities without placing the operational burden on CommBank’s internal teams. The post Commonwealth Bank of Australia Selects FIS Platform to Streamline Reconciliations first appeared on LeapRate | Online Trading Industry News, Broker Intelligence & Fintech Analysis.

On Friday, financial technology group FIS has reported a robust start to 2026, with first-quarter revenue rising 30% year-on-year to $3.3 billion and free cash flow more than doubling to $474 million, as the company reiterated its full-year outlook. Adjusted earnings per share increased 12% to $1.36, whilst adjusted EBITDA grew 36% to approximately $1.3 billion, with margins expanding 176 basis points to 39.6%.  On a GAAP basis, diluted EPS reached $4.58, reflecting an estimated post-tax gain of $2.2 billion from the sale of Worldpay. Banking Solutions was the standout segment, with revenue rising 45% to $2.4 billion and adjusted EBITDA margins expanding by 299 basis points to 43.7%, buoyed by the acquisition of the high-margin Total Issuing Solutions business.  Capital Markets Solutions posted more modest growth, with revenue up 5% to $823 million and EBITDA margins improving 162 basis points to 51.6%. Chief Executive Stephanie Ferris said the results reflected disciplined execution, driving margin expansion and robust cash generation, adding that banks were investing and that innovation redefining financial services “runs through FIS.” The company has temporarily paused share buybacks and bolt-on acquisitions to focus on reducing leverage to its target ratio of 2.8 times.  For the full year, FIS projects adjusted revenue growth of 30-31%, adjusted EBITDA growth of 34-35%, and free cash flow of between $2.05 billion and $2.15 billion.The post FIS Q1 Results Strong as Revenue Rises 30% and Free Cash Flow Doubles first appeared on LeapRate | Online Trading Industry News, Broker Intelligence & Fintech Analysis.

LeapRate has relaunched its long-running broker directory and refreshed its 2026 industry awards programme, rebuilding both products around how AI-driven search engines now surface broker information to retail traders. The relaunch, announced this week, represents the most significant overhaul of the LeapRate directory in several years. A flat alphabetical broker listing has been replaced with verified, structured profiles built to be readable by both human visitors and the AI systems including ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google’s AI Overviews, that increasingly mediate “which broker should I use” queries before a trader ever reaches a comparison site. The 2026 awards programme runs alongside the directory and spans 30 categories across retail trading, B2B technology, and regional excellence. Categories include best broker, platform innovation, customer support, copy trading, prop trading, and CFD trading, alongside dedicated awards for brokers operating across the UK, EU, MENA, APAC, and LATAM regions. A response to changing search behaviour The framing “for the AI search era” is deliberate. LeapRate Managing Director David Hobart said the rebuild was driven by a shift in trader behaviour the broader industry has been slow to acknowledge. “Earlier this year we started seeing broker-related queries flow through ChatGPT and Perplexity rather than Google in volumes that were impossible to ignore,” Hobart said. “When you actually run those queries, you find that many large regulated brokers including some well-known names simply don’t appear in the AI’s answer set. The data the engines are pulling from either doesn’t include them, or doesn’t include them with the structure required to surface them. That’s a real visibility problem, and one that paid search budgets cannot solve.” The new directory aims to address the structural side of that problem, presenting broker information regulation, asset classes, account types, jurisdictions, fee structures, and verified user data in a citation-friendly format suitable for AI ingestion. Awards and directory inclusion The 2026 awards programme is integrated with the directory rather than running as a standalone marketing exercise. Eligibility for award categories is linked to a verified broker’s directory presence, ensuring the legitimacy of all entries, while shortlisting is handled through a combination of LeapRate editorial review, and verified industry peer feedback. The structure is designed to address a long-running criticism of industry awards: that nominations and outcomes are determined by sponsorship rather than merit. Hobart said LeapRate had drawn a clear line between the commercial directory tiers which determine eligibility and visibility and the editorial judging process, giving a revenue model to support the awards while ensuring full transparency on the nominations and judging process What is new in the directory Alongside the AI-readability work, the relaunched directory introduces several substantive changes: Verified profile data refreshed quarterly rather than annually Direct integration with broker comparison tools elsewhere on LeapRate.com No Affiliate links, just real B2B referral traffic for companies. Dedicated categories allowing AI to really drill down into the detail for its queries. Structured FAQ data on each broker entry, formatted for direct AI citation Existing LeapRate directory listings have been migrated automatically, but companies should check that the current listed information is up to date and accurate. Brokers wishing to upgrade their listing tier or enter the 2026 awards programme can do so through the LeapRate awards page or contact the team directly at listings@leaprate.com Programme timeline and broader platform rebuild LeapRate has covered the institutional and retail forex industry since 2009 and has run industry awards intermittently across that period. The 2026 awards programme opens nominations now and will run through to mid-year, with shortlists published in Q3 and winners announced before year-end. The relaunch forms part of a broader rebuild of the LeapRate platform that has included a redesigned editorial section, an integrated economic calendar, and a strengthened German-language presence through sister sites BrokerDeal.de and ForexBroker.de. Disclosure: This article reports on a LeapRate product launch. LeapRate is owned by FinAffiliates Limited.The post LeapRate relaunches broker directory and 2026 awards programme with AI search focus first appeared on LeapRate | Online Trading Industry News, Broker Intelligence & Fintech Analysis.

US broker-dealer IFP Securities has been censured and fined $100,000 by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority after the regulator found the Florida-based firm failed to adequately supervise thousands of mutual fund and unit investment trust transactions over a three-year period. According to a Letter of Acceptance, Waiver and Consent published by FINRA, the firm’s automated surveillance system stopped generating alerts following a vendor change in November 2022. This reportedly left IFP without any mechanism to flag potentially unsuitable mutual fund switching or short-term trading in unit investment trusts.  The system is said to have remained non-functional until 2025, during which time the firm had no alternative supervisory process in place. FINRA found that IFP violated Regulation Best Interest, which requires broker-dealers to act in the best interest of retail customers when making investment recommendations, as well as FINRA Rules 3110 and 2010, which govern supervision and standards of commercial conduct, respectively. The regulator’s concern reportedly centred on the risks posed by short-term trading of Class A mutual fund shares and early redemption of unit investment trusts, both of which carry upfront charges that customers may not recoup if positions are sold too quickly.  Mutual fund switching, which is selling one fund and reinvesting the proceeds in another, can similarly result in unnecessary costs for clients. IFP Securities, which has approximately 290 registered representatives across around 140 branches, neither admitted nor denied the findings as part of the settlement. The post FINRA Fines IFP Securities $100,000 Over Supervision Failure first appeared on LeapRate | Online Trading Industry News, Broker Intelligence & Fintech Analysis.

Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan, TD Securities, Morgan Stanley and Bank of America have joined LTX as fully integrated liquidity providers on the AI-powered corporate bond trading platform, in a move that significantly expands the depth of liquidity available to buy-side investors in fixed income markets. The five institutions join more than 40 existing liquidity providers and over 100 buy-side investors already active on the platform, which is backed by financial technology group Broadridge. J.P. Morgan and TD Securities will each appoint a representative to LTX’s Board of Directors as part of the arrangement. Jim Kwiatkowski, Chief Executive of LTX, said the combination of the platform’s AI-powered trading tools with the market expertise and liquidity of the five incoming dealers positioned LTX to help transform corporate bond trading, reducing costs and improving execution quality for the market. Chris Perry, President of Broadridge, welcomed the additions as a further demonstration of the company’s commitment to helping clients innovate through cost-effective technology, whilst Patrick Whelan, Global Head of FICC Digital Markets at J.P. Morgan, said the partnership would broaden investor access and enhance competition in the US credit multi-dealer platform landscape. LTX uses patented artificial intelligence and execution protocols to facilitate direct, fully disclosed trading between dealers and buy-side clients. Its BondGPT Intelligence tool brings generative AI capabilities into trading workflows, helping users identify opportunities and execute more efficiently. The platform was designed to address structural barriers that have slowed the electronification of corporate bond markets relative to other asset classes.The post 5 Major Banks Join LTX Corporate Bond Platform; Goldman and JP Morgan Lead Liquidity Push first appeared on LeapRate | Online Trading Industry News, Broker Intelligence & Fintech Analysis.

Bloomberg has introduced a new dataset giving quantitative researchers and systematic investors access to time-stamped historical economic data, enabling them to reconstruct past market conditions and backtest trading strategies with greater precision. The Economic Releases and Surveys Point-in-Time dataset, available through Bloomberg Data License, covers more than 3,000 market-moving economic indicators and government auction events across over 100 economies, with historical observations extending back to 1997.  By presenting data as it appeared to market participants at the time of release, the dataset allows analysts to avoid the distortions introduced by subsequent data revisions — a longstanding challenge in macroeconomic research. Angana Jacob, Global Head of Investment Research Data at Bloomberg, said the dataset enabled clients to model expectation formation in a point-in-time framework, capturing forecast updates, consensus evolution and full revision histories to build macro signals and cross-asset models that remain consistent from backtesting through to live trading. The dataset comprises three components: a forward-looking calendar of scheduled economic events, an actuals and surveys module capturing published values and consensus forecasts with timestamps, and a changes module recording intraday updates to economist surveys ahead of releases. Bloomberg said the new offering was sourced from the same underlying infrastructure as the Economic Calendars solution on the Bloomberg Terminal, ensuring consistency between desktop research and enterprise-scale production environments.  The launch extends Bloomberg’s existing Investment Research Data suite, which spans company financials, estimates, pricing, transaction analytics and sector-specific metrics.The post Bloomberg Launches Point-in-Time Economic Dataset for Quant Strategy Development first appeared on LeapRate | Online Trading Industry News, Broker Intelligence & Fintech Analysis.

Unified financial infrastructure platform, Payward, which also operates the Kraken crypto exchange, has agreed to acquire Reap Technologies, the company announced Thursday.  Reap is a stablecoin-native card issuance and payments infrastructure company. Payward will pay up to $600 million in a mix of cash and stock, in a transaction that values Payward’s equity at $20 billion. The deal extends Payward Services, the company’s business-to-business infrastructure platform, into the global cards and payments space, allowing partners to embed card issuance, cross-border payments and stablecoin treasury services alongside Payward’s existing crypto trading, custody and derivatives capabilities through a single integration point. Reap, which nearly tripled revenue and volumes in 2025, has built a payments stack that connects card networks, traditional banking rails and stablecoin-native settlement within a single API-driven platform.  Its existing licences will accelerate Payward’s expansion across Asia Pacific and the Americas, whilst Payward’s EU and US licences open new corridors for Reap in those markets.  Together, the companies said they were positioned to extend stablecoin-powered payments infrastructure into high-growth markets across the Middle East, Africa and Latin America. Arjun Sethi, Co-Chief Executive of Payward, said Reap represented “the payments layer for what comes next,” combining card networks, banking rails and blockchains on a single API settling in stablecoins.  Reap will continue to operate as a standalone platform under its existing leadership. The transaction is expected to close in the second half of 2026.The post Payward Agrees $600 Million Acquisition of Stablecoin Payments Firm Reap first appeared on LeapRate | Online Trading Industry News, Broker Intelligence & Fintech Analysis.

Prediction market platform Kalshi has closed a $1 billion Series F funding round at a $22 billion valuation, roughly doubling its worth from the $11 billion valuation it achieved just five months ago in its Series E raise. The round was led by Coatue, with participation from a who’s who of institutional names, including Sequoia Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, IVP, Paradigm, Morgan Stanley, and ARK Invest, a lineup that underscores the growing appetite on Wall Street for exposure to the prediction markets space. The announcement comes on the back of accelerating institutional demand. Kalshi said institutional trading volume on its platform has surged 800% over the past six months, while annualised trading volume has more than tripled, rising from $52 billion to $178 billion over the same period. The New York-based company said it now accounts for over 90% of U.S. prediction market activity and holds the majority of global volume, positioning it as the dominant player in a category that is rapidly moving beyond its retail origins. Proceeds from the raise will be used to deepen Kalshi’s institutional footprint, targeting hedge funds, asset managers, proprietary trading firms, and insurance companies. The company plans to expand its product suite, building on its recently launched block trading capabilities and developing upcoming risk products alongside deeper broker integrations. Philippe Laffont, Founder of Coatue, said he expects institutions to follow the retail adoption curve. “Kalshi is building the leading platform for trading in real-world events. Consumers have already embraced it, and we believe institutions will follow.” Tarek Mansour, co-founder and CEO of Kalshi, drew comparisons to the AI boom. “There are few categories in recent history that have scaled this quickly outside of AI,” he said. “Event contracts could become a trillion-dollar market, and we’re still in the early stages of that transition.”The post Kalshi Raises $1 Billion at $22 Billion Valuation as Institutional Trading Surges first appeared on LeapRate | Online Trading Industry News, Broker Intelligence & Fintech Analysis.

Stripe has partnered with Amazon Web Services to provide wallet infrastructure and payment rails for AgentCore payments, the company announced on Thursday.  The move will see a new set of features within Amazon Bedrock AgentCore that enable artificial intelligence agents to autonomously access and pay for digital resources. It allows AI agents to instantly pay for web content, APIs, MCP servers and other agents. Privy, a wallet infrastructure company owned by Stripe, is providing the underlying technology alongside Coinbase for the first set of capabilities available to AgentCore developers. Henri Stern, Chief Executive of Privy, said Stripe was “building the economic infrastructure for AI,” arguing that agents could only become meaningful economic actors if they had a reliable means to hold and spend money.  The partnership makes stablecoin wallets for agents readily accessible to developers building on AWS’s AgentCore platform. There has been growing momentum around agentic commerce, in which AI systems act autonomously on behalf of users or businesses, executing transactions without direct human involvement at each step. The post Stripe and AWS Team Up to Give AI Agents Stablecoin Payment Capabilities first appeared on LeapRate | Online Trading Industry News, Broker Intelligence & Fintech Analysis.

Positive sentiment on US-Iranian peace talks has been negative for the dollar and crude oil. Optimism among participants about progress in indirect negotiations between the USA and Iran has meant challenges for the dollar in recent days, with various risk on instruments like Asian and European shares making gains while American light oil also declined briefly below $90. Attention not shifts to the American job report on Friday 8 May. This article summarizes recent major news and the context of the upcoming NFP then looks briefly at the charts of EURUSD and BTCUSD. Donald Trump said early GMT on 7 May that a deal with Iran is ‘very possible’, which drove positive sentiment across markets. However, senior members of the Iranian government were quoted playing down the likelihood of an imminent deal. The dollar has functioned as a geopolitical haven throughout the conflict so far, generally gaining around escalation and losing strength when it appears that a resolution is more likely. Although news of the Gulf conflict continues to dominate financial media, May’s NFP is a particularly important release given the lack of any clear trend in the last several months of data:   Most of the last six months’ NFPs have been revised downward at least slightly, in some cases significantly. February’s final figure was more than 40,000 lower than initially reported. The very strong figure for March released last month, 178,000, was around triple the consensus, so there’s a clear possibility that this might also be revised down. It’s clear that the job market in the USA is overall significantly weaker compared to 2024 or early 2025, but the continuing direction is less obvious. Unemployment at 4.3% is only marginally higher than 2025’s average. That the job market isn’t strongly weaker or stronger than around this time last year gives the Fed more leeway with rates. Current probabilities from CME FedWatch suggest around a 70% likelihood that the funds rate will stay at the current 3.5-3.75% until early 2027 with participants expecting hikes around the middle of next year. However, upcoming inflation data are also very important for determining the Fed’s next moves since the spike in inflation from the Gulf conflict hasn’t so far been as high as some had feared. 12 May is the date of the next annual headline inflation from the USA with the rate currently expected to increase to around 3.6% from 3.3%. Euro-dollar testing $1.18 Euro-dollar gained as hopes for an imminent peace between Iran and the USA increased around 7 May. Monetary policy is also in focus with the Fed likely to hold at 3.5-3.75% to the end of the year and probably beyond. The ECB might hike twice with a probability of around 75% that the main refinancing rate will go up to 2.4% next month. $1.18, which was a familiar area in February before the Gulf conflict, still seems to be an important reference which the price is currently testing. Relatively low volume compared to March might make the probability of a breakout lower, but the slow stochastic is favourable being close to neutral. For the moment, a deep retracement lower seems to be unlikely given several moving averages bunching together around $1.17. Losses around a positive NFP might be limited although the job report is unlikely to be as strong as last month’s. Bitcoin’s gains continue but possible resistance ahead The dollar’s recent losses and a general recovery in sentiment have helped bitcoin to continue up in May so far with the price holding around $81,000 on 7 May. Spot ETFs on bitcoin have been strongly positive since late March with last month seeing around $2.4bn net inflows. The significantly lower probability of looser monetary policy later in 2026 is a negative factor for bitcoin but this seems to be discounted for now. $82,000 is a possible strong resistance being a round number and the area of the 38.2% monthly Fibonacci retracement. The 200 SMA is also only slightly above this zone. If there’s a break above $82,000, around $87,000 could be a further resistance as a familiar area from December 2025. Although the slow stochastic is not normally much use for cryptocurrencies, the current very low and declining ATR might suggest in isolation a change of the trend. That’s a bit difficult to reconcile with recent fundamentals, but if the price does retrace lower there might be a pause in the value area between the 20 and 50 SMAs around $75,000. A weaker NFP might push the price higher but since this seems fairly likely the reaction might not be very strong depending on the degree of surprise from the release. For the latest analysis, ideas for trading and more, follow Michael on X: @MStarkExness. The opinions in this article are personal to the writer; they do not represent those of Exness. This is not a recommendation to trade.The post Dollar mostly down ahead of the NFP first appeared on LeapRate | Online Trading Industry News, Broker Intelligence & Fintech Analysis.

Swiss financial infrastructure group SIX has elected three new members to its Board of Directors at its Annual General Meeting, replacing four longstanding directors who stepped down upon completion of their respective terms of office. Thomas Wellauer, Belén Romana García, Roger Reist and Sven Holstenson all departed as planned, with Chairman André Helfenstein paying tribute to their contributions to the company’s strategic development.  “With their extensive expertise and strong commitment, they have played a key role in shaping the strategic direction of our company,” Helfenstein said. The three incoming directors, each elected for a three-year term, bring backgrounds spanning banking, technology, trading and compliance.  Pascal Baumgartner, Chief Executive of Entris Holding AG and Entris Banking AG since 2022, is a qualified attorney-at-law with prior experience at Valiant Bank, the Swiss Bankers Association and UBS.  Pieter Brouwer, currently Chief Operating Officer of UBS Personal and Corporate Banking, has held senior roles at Citigroup, Deutsche Bank and KPMG.  Gaspare La Sala, an equity partner at Banque Pictet & Cie, serves as Chief Executive of Pictet Trading and Sales and holds a mathematics degree from the University of Zurich alongside an MBA and CFA qualification. His appointment remains subject to regulatory approval. Helfenstein said the new appointments would bring “additional breadth, expertise and perspective” to the board, strengthening its capacity to guide the group’s long-term development.The post SIX Appoints 3 New Board Directors at Annual General Meeting first appeared on LeapRate | Online Trading Industry News, Broker Intelligence & Fintech Analysis.

Swiss financial infrastructure group SIX has received approval from the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) to merge its digital central securities depository (CSD), SIX Digital Exchange, into its established CSD, SIX SIS AG, bringing digital and traditional asset services together within a single regulated legal entity. FINMA has also approved SIX to offer crypto custody services through the consolidated CSD, a development the group described as a milestone in the creation of regulated institutional market infrastructure for digital assets. The combined entity will operate under what SIX calls a “one plug to two worlds” model, offering financial institutions a single access point for both traditional securities and digital assets.  The company noted that the approach is designed to reduce operational complexity whilst providing the legal certainty and resilience associated with established financial market infrastructure. Rafael Moral Santiago, Head of Securities Services and a member of the SIX Executive Board, said the group’s objective was to provide financial institutions with a unified, secure and regulated gateway to digital assets.  He added that integrating crypto custody into the core CSD offering combined innovation with the regulatory robustness that institutional clients require. The consolidation forms part of SIX’s broader ambition to become a pan-European provider of integrated, digital post-trade solutions by 2030. The post SIX Wins Swiss Regulatory Approval to Merge Digital and Traditional Securities Infrastructure first appeared on LeapRate | Online Trading Industry News, Broker Intelligence & Fintech Analysis.

Multi-asset trading platform Kudotrade has opened a Dubai office, received initial regulatory approval from the UAE’s Capital Market Authority, and acquired the domain Kudo.com, marking a series of milestones in the company’s expansion into the Middle East. The Dubai office will serve as Kudotrade’s regional headquarters, supporting its growing client base across the Gulf Cooperation Council and the broader Middle East and North Africa region.  The company said the move reflected its focus on proximity to key markets and deeper engagement with institutional and professional trading communities in one of the world’s fastest-growing financial hubs. Alongside the office opening, Kudotrade has rebranded its digital presence to Kudo.com, a change the company explained was designed to establish a more streamlined and globally recognisable identity.  Furthermore, the company believes it fits its evolution into a broader trading ecosystem serving both retail and institutional participants. The receipt of initial approval from the Capital Market Authority, formerly known as the Securities and Commodities Authority, is a step towards full regulatory licensing in the UAE. Finley Wilkinson, Chief Operating Officer at Kudotrade, said the Dubai expansion represented “a strategic commitment to one of the most dynamic financial markets in the world,” adding that securing initial regulatory approval reinforced the company’s intention to grow within trusted compliance environments.The post Kudotrade Opens Dubai Office and Secures Initial UAE Regulatory Approval first appeared on LeapRate | Online Trading Industry News, Broker Intelligence & Fintech Analysis.

CME Group’s new Avalanche (AVAX) and Sui (SUI) futures contracts began trading this week, with the first transactions executed as block trades between institutional firms FalconX and G-20 Group. The derivatives marketplace said the launch extends its cryptocurrency futures offering, reflecting growing institutional demand for regulated instruments across a broader range of digital assets. The contracts are available in both micro- and standard-sized formats, providing traders with varying levels of capital exposure. Giovanni Vicioso, Global Head of Cryptocurrency Products at CME Group, said the early uptake signals that clients are seeking regulated tools to manage price risk across a wider range of crypto instruments. The dual contract sizes, he noted, are intended to give market participants greater flexibility in executing investment and hedging strategies. Joshua Lim, Global Co-head of Markets at FalconX, pointed to two broader market trends underpinning demand for the new contracts. First, the growth of altcoin indices for crypto exposure and then the accumulation of assets such as AVAX and SUI by Digital Asset Treasuries on behalf of shareholders. Jonathan Mathai, Head of Trading at G-20 Group, believes large allocators increasingly favor onshore U.S. derivatives where regulatory compliance is a priority, describing CME Group as its venue of choice given its status as a CFTC-regulated entity.The post CME Group’s New Avalanche and Sui Cryptocurrency Futures Begin Trading first appeared on LeapRate | Online Trading Industry News, Broker Intelligence & Fintech Analysis.

CME Group has launched the U.S. Dollar RepoFunds Rate (RFR USD), a new benchmark designed to provide a measure of overnight funding costs in U.S. repo markets. The benchmark draws on data from centrally cleared overnight U.S. repo trades executed on BrokerTec’s dealer-to-dealer central limit order book (CLOB) platform, which recorded average daily trading volumes of $412 billion in March. The end-of-day rate is published at 3:00 p.m. ET, offering same-day price transparency and serving as an early indicator of market activity ahead of the T+1 daily publication of SOFR rates. Matt Gierke, Global Head of BrokerTec, said the new benchmark enhances market transparency. “BrokerTec’s U.S. repo market is a definitive source of price discovery for U.S. Treasury repo. This new RFR USD benchmark provides enhanced transparency, enabling precise mark-to-market insights for dealers and improved access to valuation data for the broader marketplace,” he said. Administered by CME Group Benchmark Administration, RFR USD uses a volume-weighted median methodology — the same standard employed by the New York Federal Reserve in the calculation of SOFR. It is available via CME Datamine and accessible to BrokerTec CLOB clients, with rates also licensed for use in derived products including OTC derivatives, structured products and floating rate notes. Max Ruscher, Head of Benchmark Services at CME Group, noted that the RFR USD is the latest addition to an existing suite of RepoFunds Rate products already covering euro, sterling and yen sovereign bond markets, which are increasingly adopted as reference rates in OTC swap markets.The post CME Group Launches U.S. Dollar RepoFunds Rate to Track Overnight Funding Costs first appeared on LeapRate | Online Trading Industry News, Broker Intelligence & Fintech Analysis.

CME Group announced this week that it plans to launch Bitcoin Volatility futures contracts on June 1, pending regulatory review. The move signals a significant expansion of its digital asset product suite. The world’s leading derivatives marketplace stated in a press release that the contracts will be the first of their kind in regulated form, enabling investors to isolate and trade bitcoin’s volatility independently of price direction, allowing for more precise risk management. The new futures will settle to the CME CF Bitcoin Volatility Index (BVX), a 30-day forward-looking measure of implied volatility derived from real-time CME Bitcoin options order books. Published every second between 7 a.m. and 4 p.m. CT, the index tracks market expectations rather than spot price, offering a transparent underlying for precision volatility trading. Giovanni Vicioso, Global Head of Cryptocurrency Products at CME Group, noted that demand from crypto market participants for regulated exposure tools was a key driver. “With our new Bitcoin volatility futures, traders will be able to invest or hedge against the future volatility of bitcoin, allowing them to access a critical new layer of risk management,” he noted. David Schlageter, Managing Director and Head of Derivatives Sales at Morgan Stanley, commented that the launch would help market participants better manage portfolio risk by directly trading volatility. Sui Chung, CEO of CF Benchmarks, described the move as a major step in bitcoin’s maturation as an investable asset, adding that he anticipates a broader ecosystem of regulated financial products will follow the CFTC-regulated contracts.The post CME Group to Launch Bitcoin Volatility Futures on June 1 first appeared on LeapRate | Online Trading Industry News, Broker Intelligence & Fintech Analysis.

Crypto prime brokerage FalconX has partnered with Kalshi, the world’s largest prediction market by monthly trading volume, to give institutional clients structured access to event-driven contracts spanning politics, macroeconomic indicators and market price movements. The partnership combines FalconX’s prime brokerage and derivatives infrastructure with Kalshi’s regulated exchange, enabling institutional clients to gain exposure to and hedge event-driven risks across crypto, macro and global elections through block trade execution and structured derivatives. Joshua Barkhordar, Head of Sales at FalconX, described the development as a natural evolution of financial markets, where institutional capital, derivatives infrastructure and emerging asset classes converge.  He noted that FalconX’s role was to bring “the scale, liquidity, and risk management frameworks institutions expect” to the prediction markets category. Max Crowley, Vice President of Business Development at Kalshi, said demand for prediction markets was reaching a tipping point, with institutional appetite for event-based contracts growing sharply in recent months.  Furthermore, he argued that access through prime brokerages would be central to broadening institutional participation as the asset class matures. For Kalshi, the agreement represents the latest step in an accelerating push towards institutional adoption.  For FalconX, it extends a broader strategy of bridging traditional and digital financial markets by applying established institutional infrastructure to newer and less conventional asset classes. The firms did not disclose financial terms of the arrangement.The post FalconX and Kalshi Join Forces to Bring Institutional Capital to Prediction Markets first appeared on LeapRate | Online Trading Industry News, Broker Intelligence & Fintech Analysis.

Corporate payments group Corpay has agreed partnerships with JP Morgan and blockchain payments firm BVNK to add blockchain-based settlement to its cross-border payments platform, enabling round-the-clock stablecoin and tokenised fiat disbursements for its clients. The agreements introduce both private and public blockchain capabilities to Corpay’s existing multi-rail network, which already spans SWIFT, its proprietary iACH system and real-time local payment schemes.  JP Morgan’s contribution comes through its Kinexys private blockchain, whilst BVNK provides stablecoin interoperability across select corridors. Ron Clarke, Chairman and Chief Executive of Corpay, said adding blockchain capabilities allowed the company to “optimise how payments move,” improving speed, flexibility and efficiency for clients worldwide. Mark Frey, Group President of Corpay Cross-Border Solutions, said the platform was built to route each transaction across whichever rail delivers the best outcome for the client, connecting traditional and digital payment infrastructure within a single integrated system. The move reflects growing corporate appetite for blockchain-based settlement as an alternative or complement to conventional correspondent banking networks, particularly for cross-border transactions where delays and fragmentation can add cost and friction. Corpay said it would provide further details on the new capabilities and its cross-border payments business at a dedicated teach-in event scheduled for 13 May 2026.The post Corpay Adds JP Morgan and BVNK Blockchain Rails to Cross-Border Payments Platform first appeared on LeapRate | Online Trading Industry News, Broker Intelligence & Fintech Analysis.

Cryptocurrency exchange Kraken has struck a global partnership with payments network MoneyGram, enabling Kraken customers to withdraw digital assets as cash across more than 100 countries through MoneyGram’s retail network. The integration allows customers to convert cryptocurrency into hundreds of fiat currencies, with funds available for collection at nearly 500,000 MoneyGram locations across 200 countries and territories.  The companies said payouts would be available instantly or near-instantly, addressing what they described as a persistent barrier to everyday crypto use: the lack of reliable cash off-ramps. Kraken Co-Chief Executive Arjun Sethi said the partnership aimed to build “a scalable bridge between digital asset markets and local cash economies,” arguing that digital assets only achieve meaningful scale when they interoperate with existing financial systems.  MoneyGram Chief Executive Anthony Soohoo said the deal would give Kraken customers access to “the world’s largest crypto-to-cash off-ramp.” Under the arrangement, Kraken retains responsibility for customer onboarding and identity verification, whilst MoneyGram provides licensed money transmission through its regulated global infrastructure. The service will roll out in phases across the United States, Europe, Latin America, Africa and parts of Asia Pacific. The companies indicated the initial launch represented the first stage of a broader partnership, with plans to expand into local bank deposits and cross-border remittance flows through Kraken’s global money app over time.The post Kraken Partners with MoneyGram to Offer Crypto-to-Cash Withdrawals first appeared on LeapRate | Online Trading Industry News, Broker Intelligence & Fintech Analysis.

Visa has expanded its Agentic Ready programme to Canada, enlisting five of the country’s largest banks as it prepares the domestic payments ecosystem for a new era in which artificial intelligence agents initiate and complete transactions on behalf of consumers. BMO, CIBC, RBC, Scotiabank and TD are among the early issuing partners joining the Canadian rollout, which forms part of Visa’s broader Intelligent Commerce initiative already active in Europe, Latin America, Asia Pacific and the United States. The programme gives Canadian issuers access to a controlled testing environment where agent-initiated payments can be validated using live cards and real merchants.  Participants are able to assess card enrolment, tokenisation, authentication and transaction authorisation, as well as identify operational gaps before AI-driven commerce scales more widely. Michiel Wielhouwer, President and Country Manager of Visa Canada, said the programme offered Canadian issuers “a meaningful head start” in preparing for agent-initiated commerce, providing a structured path to move these experiences “from concept to reality.” Visa said the initiative is backed by its core trust infrastructure, encompassing tokenisation, identity verification, authentication and risk management.  As AI agents move beyond responding to queries towards actively searching, deciding and paying on behalf of users, Visa declared that maintaining transparency, consent and consumer control at every stage of a transaction is essential. The company noted that additional Canadian issuers were expected to join as the programme continued to develop throughout the year.The post Visa brings AI Agent Payments Programme to Canada first appeared on LeapRate | Online Trading Industry News, Broker Intelligence & Fintech Analysis.