This Week in Finance News: 11 Stories You Need to See

With thousands of press releases published each week, it can be difficult to keep up with everything on PR Newswire. To help finance journalists and consumers stay on top of the week’s most newsworthy and popular releases, here’s a recap of some major stories from the week that shouldn’t be missed.

The list below includes the headline (with a link to the full text) and an excerpt from each story. Click on the press release headlines to access accompanying multimedia assets that are available for download.

1. PayPal and Global Payments Join Forces to Simplify Checkout with Fastlane
   This partnership will see Global Payments offer their U.S. merchants enhanced PayPal and Venmo branded checkout solutions and accelerated guest checkout through Fastlane by PayPal.
2. The Conference Board Leading Economic Index® (LEI) for the US Declined in September
   “Weakness in factory new orders continued to be a major drag on the US LEI in September as the global manufacturing slump persists,” said Justyna Zabinska-La Monica, Senior Manager, Business Cycle Indicators, at The Conference Board. “Additionally, the yield curve remained inverted, building permits declined, and consumers’ outlook for future business conditions was tepid.”
3. OneAmerica Financial® Launches Asset Care® 2024 The enhanced product can help enable clients to cover long-term care (LTC) expenses if they need it — or leave a financial legacy to their loved ones if they don’t. Solutions delivered with flexibility and care, Asset Care provides several benefits that consumers value in today’s market with competitive pricing, inflation protection and support for informal caregivers.
4. Thomson Reuters Acquires Materia – a specialist in agentic AI for the tax, audit and accounting profession
   Founded in 2022, Materia is purpose built for tax, audit and accounting use cases. Its agentic AI assistant automates and augments research and workflows helping accountants to improve efficiency, effectiveness and the value they add to their clients.
5. Optimizing Remittance Flows: Central Bank of Nigeria to Participate in High-Level Forum in Houston, Texas
   This high-level event brings together critical stakeholders in the remittance ecosystem to engage with the Nigerian diaspora community on opportunities to enhance remittance flows and strengthen Nigeria’s financial sector. In an era of bold reforms, the CBN is prioritizing strategies to leverage diaspora remittances as a catalyst for inclusive economic growth, financial inclusion, and overall national development.
6. Rice launches RBL LLC to rapidly create biotech startups focused on delivering breakthrough therapies to patients
   Rice University has launched RBL LLC, a pioneering biotech venture creation studio designed to rapidly build companies based on life-saving medical technologies developed out of the Rice Biotech Launch Pad, the university’s biotech innovation accelerator.
7. AI Patents at BofA Increase 94% Since 2022
   In addition to artificial intelligence and machine learning, other technology categories in which new patents have been granted to Bank of America this year include information security, online and mobile banking, payments, data analytics, and augmented and virtual reality.
8. ECI Group Receives $350 Million Equity Infusion from Almanac Realty Investors
   This new round of equity capital from Almanac will be utilized to fund acquisitions, developments, and credit investments within the multifamily sector.  ECI will target the acquisition of existing 1990s vintage or newer multifamily communities, as well as the development of new multifamily communities in the Southeast and Texas.
9. The Global Digital Asset & Cryptocurrency Association Announces Proposed Information Guidelines for Certain Tokens Made Available in the United States
   The proposed Guidelines focus on native distributed ledger technology (DLT) tokens and are informed by U.S. securities, commodities, and consumer protection regulations as well as industry best practice. The framework seeks to align with global standards, including the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA), ensuring flexibility for the adoption within different regulatory regimes.
10. Chainlink Announces CCIP Private Transactions, Enabling Financial Institutions To Compliantly Connect Private Chains to the Multi-Chain Economy
    Chainlink’s novel CCIP Private Transactions capability, enabled by the new Chainlink Blockchain Privacy Manager, addresses long-standing compliance and confidentiality challenges around blockchain interoperability, paving the way for broader institutional blockchain adoption.
11. New Insurance Codes for Scalp Cooling Will Transform Access for Cancer Patients: A Milestone for Cooler Heads and Partner Hospitals
    The American Medical Association (AMA), which creates Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) codes used for medical billing, has introduced new Category I CPT codes for scalp cooling services, effective January 2026. This change will enhance insurance reimbursement, making scalp cooling more accessible to cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy.

For more news like this, check out all of the latest finance-related releases from PR Newswire.

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