Banks have enjoyed a formidable moat built on customer relationships, regulatory privilege, and distribution networks for decades. – but that moat was breached in 2025. Embedded finance, the integration of payment, lending, insurance, and investing directly into non-financial platforms, became mainstream this year – shifting the locus of value creation away from banks and toward
The Strategy stock price continued its freefall this month and is now hovering at its lowest level since September last year. MSTR stock has plunged by over 70% from its highest level in 2024, even as the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq 100 indices jumped to a record high. Strategy enterprise NAV is about to
Britain’s government has announced a significant change to its inheritance tax plans for farmers, scaling back a policy that triggered months of protests across the country. As per a Reuters report, the decision follows sustained opposition from agricultural groups after an inheritance tax charge on farms was announced in 2024, ending a long-standing exemption for
Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison has agreed to personally backstop a crucial portion of the financing behind Paramount Skydance’s hostile bid for Warner Bros Discovery (WBD), intensifying a high-stakes takeover battle that could reshape Hollywood’s streaming landscape. Paramount said on Monday that Ellison has provided an “irrevocable personal guarantee” covering $40.4 billion of equity financing for
Gold prices eased and remained flat on Friday due to a stronger dollar against a basket of major currencies. Meanwhile, silver climbed more than 1% on robust industrial demand, with prices outperforming gold comfortably. Oil prices ticked up on Friday on concerns over lower supply from Venezuela. But prices are set for a second consecutive
The US Federal Reserve could be on course for several interest rate cuts in 2026, even if a pause is more likely in January, Commerzbank AG said. The US labour market’s momentum has significantly stalled, with minimal job creation observed in recent months. The US labour market showed surprisingly weak growth in November, with the
Italy’s competition authority has formally closed investigations into four major electric vehicle makers after securing commitments to improve how consumer information is presented. The probes targeted BYD, Tesla, Stellantis, and Volkswagen over concerns that buyers may not have been given sufficiently clear details about electric vehicle performance and battery-related conditions. Rather than imposing penalties, the
US initial jobless claims fell by 13,000 to a seasonally adjusted 224,000 for the week ending December 13. The development comes as a reversal to the previous week’s sharp spike and points to continued restraint in corporate layoffs. The reading is slightly better than consensus expectations of 225,000 and provided reassurance that labor market conditions
India’s parliament has approved raising the foreign ownership cap in Indian insurance companies from 74% to 100%. The move marks a historic financial-sector liberalisation. The Lok Sabha passed the bill on Tuesday, followed by Rajya Sabha approval on Wednesday, clearing the way for global insurers to establish fully owned operations in India without needing domestic
The IREN stock price made a strong bearish breakout on Monday as it plunged to its lowest level since September this year. It has now erased some of the gains it made a few months ago when it jumped from $5 to $76. This article explores why the IREN share price has crashed and the