February 2026 marked a notable shift in how the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) communicates with regulated firms. According to Theta Lake, rather than issuing more than 40 individual portfolio letters, the regulator launched a series of annual, sector-specific Regulatory Priorities reports — beginning with insurance on 24 February and extending to wholesale markets, retail banking and consumer investments throughout...

Community banks in 2026 find themselves navigating a regulatory environment that is, somewhat paradoxically, both more accommodating and more stringent than before. According to Alessa, regulators have made efforts to ease the burden on smaller institutions, yet the bar for what constitutes a truly adequate anti-money laundering (AML) programme has never been higher. Alessa recently provided its readers with an in-depth...

spektr, a Copenhagen-based AI infrastructure company focused on financial services compliance, has closed a $20m Series A funding round led by NEA, with follow-on support from Northzone, Seedcamp, and PSV Tech. The capital will be deployed to scale spektr's AI agent platform and drive adoption among financial institutions worldwide. The round addresses a persistent challenge in the compliance sector: despite...

Sumsub has formed a partnership with Monavate to embed identity verification natively into Monavate's MonavateOne platform. The live integration allows programme managers using the MonavateOne platform to carry out full KYC checks on their end customers without leaving the Monavate environment. By building Sumsub's verification engine directly into its API-driven onboarding workflow, Monavate removes the need for programme managers to...

Digital health programmes have become an increasingly common feature of life and health insurance offerings. Many insurers have launched wellness apps designed to encourage healthier behaviour, improve customer engagement, and generate new data insights. However, adoption alone does not guarantee success. According to dacadoo, low ongoing engagement can create significant operational costs for insurers, affecting claims performance, customer retention, and...

nCino, a banking technology platform provider, has unveiled new results from its Analyst Digital Partner, a role-based AI agent designed to support credit professionals in managing relationship reviews and portfolio risk. Built on more than 14 years of banking-specific data, the AI agent works alongside human credit teams to automate analytical tasks and accelerate lending workflows. The launch reflects a wider...

Origami Risk, a risk and insurance SaaS platform provider, has been selected by Tokio Marine HCC – Specialty Group to support core operations across its global insurance portfolio. The insurer will implement Origami Risk’s cloud-native property and casualty platform, including modules for policy administration, billing and claims, to streamline complex workflows, accelerate product development and enhance service delivery across multiple...

Cytora, a digital risk processing platform, has expanded its partnership with Arch Insurance, a global specialist insurer, to include the insurer’s London Market operations. The deployment of Cytora’s AI-powered platform will support Arch’s efforts to digitise the intake and enrichment of complex commercial risks. By integrating Cytora’s technology into its London Market workflows, Arch aims to streamline risk submission processing while...

UniCredit, a pan-European banking group, has completed a strategic €4m investment in BlockInvest, a blockchain infrastructure company, acquiring approximately a 16% stake in the firm. The deal sees UniCredit take a minority position in BlockInvest as part of a broader effort to advance the adoption of on-chain financial solutions across its key markets. The two organisations have an established working...

Capsule Security, a trust layer platform designed to secure agentic AI systems at runtime, has launched from stealth mode after closing a $7m seed funding round co-led by Lama Partners and Forgepoint Capital International. The round brings together backing from prominent security industry figures who serve in an advisory capacity, including Chris Krebs, the inaugural director of the US Cybersecurity...