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technology5 Oct 2026

EU Digital Omnibus Gives Banks and Insurers 16 Extra Months to Comply With High Risk AI Rules

The EU's Digital Omnibus on AI (Regulation EU 2026/1744), which entered into force on July 27, 2026, pushed the full compliance deadline for standalone high risk AI systems in financial services, including credit scoring, insurance underwriting and fraud detection, from August 2026 to December 2027. Embedded systems received an even later deadline of August 2028. Crucially, Article 50 transparency obligations still took effect on August 2, 2026 as planned, meaning banks cannot treat the extension as a reason to pause compliance work entirely. The classification list is unchanged: systems that were designated high risk before the Omnibus remain high risk.

Source: representai.co.uk (citing EU Regulation EU 2026/1744)

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technology4 Oct 2026

Sibos 2026 Spotlights Agentic AI and Tokenisation as the Next Big Bets for Banking

At Sibos 2026 in early October the dominant themes across the four days were agentic payments, AI driven economies, quantum computing and tokenisation. Day three coverage centred on agentic payments taking the main stage, with the transition to AI powered commerce described as more than a technology shift and as a new phase in how consumers interact with financial services. Day four unpacked quantum computing and tokenisation as emerging infrastructure challenges for the industry. Separately, Nubank rolled out the AI powered compliance platform of Y Combinator backed RegTech firm Cardamon across every jurisdiction where it operates on 2 October 2026.

Source: FinTech Futures

liquidity4 Oct 2026

Discount Window and LCR Reform Debate Intensifies Ahead of Formal Rule Making

Active debate is continuing in Washington over whether banks' capacity to borrow from the Federal Reserve's discount window against prepositioned collateral should count toward their liquidity coverage ratio requirements. The Bank Policy Institute published new research on 3 October 2026 arguing that discount window capacity should count and that collateral eligibility should be extended beyond Treasuries to include loans to businesses and households. The debate links directly to Fed Chair Warsh's stated goal of shrinking the Fed's balance sheet significantly, which would reduce reserve balances and require an alternative same day liquidity source for banks. Treasury Secretary Bessent has publicly backed recognising discount window borrowing in the LCR.

Source: Bank Policy Institute

liquidity4 Oct 2026

Fed Easing of Leverage Ratio Has Already Improved Treasury Market Liquidity, Bowman Says

Speaking on 1 October 2026, Federal Reserve Vice Chair for Supervision Michelle Bowman said that the relaxation of the enhanced supplementary leverage ratio for the eight largest US banks, which took effect in the first quarter of 2026, has already produced improvements in the functioning of the US Treasury market. The eSLR is designed to act as a backstop to risk based capital requirements for global systemically important banks including Bank of America and Citigroup. Bowman's remarks signal that regulators see tangible early evidence that targeted capital relief can feed through quickly to market liquidity.

Source: MLex

markets4 Oct 2026

Global Bond Selloff Pushes US 30 Year Yield to 24 Year High

In late September and into early October 2026 a broad global bond selloff sent the US 30 year Treasury yield as high as 5.68 percent, a 24 year high, while the 10 year touched 5.34 percent. The French to German 10 year spread widened to 132 basis points, a 14 year extreme, as France prepared its 2027 budget. Japan's 10 year government bond yield broke above 3 percent for the first time since 1996, and UK long dated gilt yields surged past 6 percent. The IMF described markets as functioning in an orderly manner but the move was still the sharpest weekly repricing seen in years.

Source: Bloomberg

rates4 Oct 2026

Fed Hikes Rates for First Time Since 2023, Signals More to Come

On 16 September 2026 the FOMC voted 12 to 0 to raise the federal funds rate by 25 basis points to a target range of 3.75 to 4 percent, its first increase since July 2023. Fed Chair Kevin Warsh cited inflation that remains elevated and above the 2 percent goal, driven in part by higher energy prices. Updated projections from Fed officials point to a year end rate of between 4.1 and 4.4 percent, with the next decision due at the 27 to 28 October FOMC meeting. Markets are now pricing meaningful odds of a further 25 basis point hike before year end.

Source: CNBC