Financials

A 50/50 joint venture between OKX and ICE, the parent company of the New York Stock Exchange, has filed to launch 24/7 tokenized US stock trading under the SEC's proposed five-year innovation exemption, the first major attempt by anyone to use that exemption. The initial list will have 63 stocks, including Strategy, Apple, Nvidia, Coinbase, Robinhood, Circle and major banks. Trading would run continuously, 24/7 365, through Uniswap liquidity pools on OKX's X layer and in USDC, USDG and USDT pairs, with users holding assets in self-custodial wallets subject to identity verification, AML and KYC. Unlike Robinhood-style representations, the tokens must be backed one for one by an actual share held through a registered broker dealer, and investors would receive dividends and voting rights just like on any stock. Companies have 30 days to object to having their stock tokenized.

Visa is expanding its stablecoin infrastructure across nine blockchains and now supports more than 160 stablecoin-linked card programs, with payment volume up nearly 200% year over year. In fiscal 2026 year to date, about 17% of Visa's stablecoin-linked card volume came from business and commercial card programs, and its stablecoin settlement volume has crossed a $20 billion annualized run rate, up more than 15-fold from a year ago. The company launched the Visa Stablecoin Platform, introduced an onchain credit model in September 2026 that uses VisaNet settlement data, and expects its partnership with Bridge to take stablecoin-linked cards to more than 100 countries. Visa's Value-Added Services revenues rose to $3.8 billion in the third quarter of fiscal 2026 from $2.8 billion a year earlier, while processed transactions rose 10% year over year to 71.7 billion. Net cash provided by operating activities totaled $16.3 billion in the first nine months of fiscal 2026, free cash flow reached $15.2 billion, and Visa returned $6.2 billion in the third quarter through dividends and share repurchases, including $4.9 billion of buybacks, with $28.4 billion still available under its repurchase authorization as of June 30, 2026.

Citigroup Inc. is taking Citi Token Services to Japan and the United Arab Emirates, broadening its digital payments network across key financial hubs. Built on a private and permissioned blockchain, the platform enables near-instantaneous movement of funds within Citigroup's network, helping clients overcome traditional banking cut-off times, holidays and time-zone constraints. With the addition of Japan and the UAE, Citi Token Services is now available across seven markets, including the United States, Ireland, Hong Kong, Singapore and the United Kingdom; Japan will support USD transactions, while the UAE will support USD and euro transactions. The platform, launched commercially in 2024 following an initial Singapore-New York pilot, was integrated with Citigroup's 24/7 U.S. dollar Clearing capabilities in 2025 and later expanded to support euro transactions through its Dublin operations. The initiative aligns with Citigroup's 2026 Investor Day strategy, which identified tokenization and next-generation platforms as longer-term Services growth drivers, with Services revenues expected to grow at a low to mid-single-digit rate in 2027-2028.

Morgan Stanley is making a mark in the Bitcoin ETF market as it has maintained a long streak of steady Bitcoin purchases regardless of the unstable market conditions. The bank's Bitcoin stash is piling up, with a $1 Billion milestone now in view. The buying has continued through unstable market conditions, underscoring the firm's persistent accumulation of Bitcoin ETF exposure.

Venmo announced an industry-first split-to-earn feature for its Venmo Credit Card that raises cash back on dining and entertainment to as much as 4%. Beginning October 15th, customers who open a new Venmo Credit Card earn 3% cash back automatically on eligible dining and entertainment purchases, plus an additional 1% when they split those purchases with friends on Venmo in the app and are paid back within 30 days. The card, issued by Synchrony on the Visa network, carries no annual fee, no foreign transaction fees, and no limits on daily cash back, which is deposited daily into the cardholder's Venmo account. The rewards structure also pays 3% cash back for paying with Venmo at checkout, at small businesses with a Venmo business profile, and on person-to-person payments for goods and services, and 1% on all other purchases. Alexis Sowa, General Manager of Venmo, said the company built split-to-earn around how customers actually live and spend with friends, adding that the more you do with Venmo, the more you should get back.

Chubb Limited is expanding its employee-benefits business in the UK with the launch of Flexible Benefits Direct, an online platform that lets employers offer Chubb's Personal Accident and Leisure Travel insurance directly to employees. The move strengthens Chubb's distribution capabilities and aligns with its broader push into digital distribution. Chubb Benefits grew 17% in 2025 and generated $1.2 billion in premiums, providing a base the new platform could build on by improving access to employers and increasing policy adoption. The initiative could also reach smaller and mid-sized employers that are less accessible through traditional channels, and if successful the digital model could be extended to other markets and products. Chubb has not disclosed a specific premium or revenue target for Flexible Benefits Direct, so its near-term financial contribution remains uncertain.

Cboe Global Markets has extended its exclusive licensing agreement with S&P Dow Jones Indices for another 25 years, through 2051, securing continued trading in S&P 500 Index (SPX) options. SPX options recorded a record 970.6 million contracts in 2025, with average daily volume of 3.9 million contracts, up 25% year over year. Cboe has expanded the SPX product suite with new expirations, structures and products, and the company and S&P DJI may explore products such as tokenized options contracts. Cboe also expects revised royalty terms to begin in 2027, which could increase costs. The stock trades at a forward price-to-earnings multiple of 18.72X, below the industry average of 19.35X, and carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

LPL Financial LLC announced that Praxis Financial Partners advisors Scott Christian, Cecil Loyd, Jay Gentry and Matt Dion have joined its broker-dealer and Registered Investment Advisor platform, bringing approximately $1.1 billion in advisory, brokerage and retirement plan assets from Wells Fargo Advisors Financial Network. Based in Alpharetta, Georgia, Praxis is a planning-focused wealth management practice serving business owners, corporate retirees, executives and multigenerational families across 24 states, tracing its roots to 2013 when Christian and Loyd launched the firm. The team said it chose LPL after evaluating more than a dozen firms, citing greater flexibility, advanced planning capabilities, access to emerging technology and support for its long-term independence and succession strategy. LPL Chief Growth Officer Marc Cohen said the four advisors had built Praxis with a clear sense of purpose and a disciplined, planning-first approach. LPL Financial Holdings Inc. supports more than 32,000 financial advisors and approximately 1,100 financial institutions, custodying roughly $2.6 trillion in brokerage and advisory assets.

Prismic Life Holding Company announced an agreement with Prudential Financial under which Prismic will reinsure about $5 billion of reserves backing USD-denominated Japanese whole life insurance policies originated by Prudential's Japanese affiliates. Prudential's obligations to these policyholders will remain unchanged following the reinsurance arrangement, and Prudential will continue to administer the contracts. The transaction expands Prismic's growing reinsurance platform and builds on the existing relationship between Prismic and Prudential, including in-force and new business flow transactions now covering more than $22 billion of USD-denominated liabilities.

Ares Secondaries funds have expanded their investment in Sabey Data Center Properties, LLC, bringing their total commitment to more than $500 million. The additional investment builds on Ares' minority equity investment in SDCP announced in July 2026. SDCP owns and operates hyperscale and enterprise data center campuses in top-tier United States markets totaling 275 megawatts, with an expansion pipeline expected to reach approximately 737 megawatts by 2033. Kevin Verdi, Executive Vice President and Chief Investment Officer at National Real Estate Advisors, said the follow-on investment reflects continued conviction in SDCP's long-term value proposition and growth trajectory. Tim Mirick, President of Sabey Data Center Properties, said the additional commitment reflects confidence in the platform's strength and its ability to develop and operate mission-critical infrastructure. Jamie Sunday, Co-Head of Real Estate Secondaries at Ares, said the firm continues to see significant runway for growth.

TeraWulf said Monday it executed an amended and restated electric service agreement with Kentucky Power, an American Electric Power company, raising contracted power capacity at its Muskie Data Campus in eastern Kentucky from 500 megawatts to 1 gigawatt. The amendment moves planned delivery of Muskie's second 500 MW phase forward from 2030 to 2029, while the first 500 MW phase remains targeted to begin ramping in 2028. TeraWulf acquired Muskie in May 2026 for phased development as an AI and high-performance computing campus, and Kentucky Power is developing a 765-kV / 345-kV substation connected to the regional transmission network to serve the site. Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Paul Prager said securing the next 500 MW and moving its planned delivery into 2029 gives the company greater flexibility to meet prospective customers' deployment needs. The company added that it continues to evaluate the campus's potential to support up to 2 GW over time, subject to additional utility planning, infrastructure, and agreements.

Fiserv's Small Business Index rose to 146 in September 2026, with small business sales up 2.2% year over year and 0.7% month over month, the strongest annual gain since June, as back-to-school demand lifted retail spending. Average tickets climbed 4.2% year over year while total foot traffic fell for the eleventh straight month, down 2.0% year over year and 0.2% month over month. Total Retail sales rose 3.0% year over year and 1.3% month over month, matching June's high, with transactions up 2.4% and average tickets up 0.5%; Sporting Goods, Hobby and Miscellaneous Retailers gained 5.5% on 6.6% transaction growth, led by a 10.4% increase among Sporting Goods Retailers, and clothing foot traffic rose 6.1% even as average tickets fell 4.7%. Food Services and Drinking Places sales fell 1.0% year over year and 0.2% month over month as transactions declined 3.9%, while Gas Station sales surged 21.1% year over year and 6.0% month over month on a 20.9% rise in average tickets, though inflation-adjusted sales fell 5.0%. Prasanna Dhore, Chief Data Officer at Fiserv, said the results reflect the resilience of consumers and small businesses but also the trade-offs households are making as they manage higher costs.

Prismic Life Holding Company announced an agreement with Prudential Financial to reinsure approximately $5 billion of reserves backing USD-denominated Japanese whole life insurance policies originated by Prudential's Japanese affiliates. Prudential's obligations to policyholders remain unchanged and the company will continue to administer the contracts. The deal expands the existing relationship between the two firms, whose in-force and new business flow transactions now cover more than $22 billion of USD-denominated liabilities. Prismic chief executive Nandini Mongia called the transaction another important milestone in the company's growth journey, while Prudential chairman and chief executive Andy Sullivan said it reflects continued focus on disciplined capital allocation. The agreement follows Prismic's recently announced transaction with Daiichi Life, and with the closing of this deal Prismic manages approximately $25 billion of assets to support assumed liabilities. PGIM, Agam Capital Management, Willkie Farr & Gallagher and Appleby advised Prismic, while Debevoise & Plimpton served as legal counsel to Prudential.

Kentucky Power has finalized an amended agreement that would double its contracted electric demand with TeraWulf Inc. to 1 gigawatt at the Muskie Data campus in Grayson, Kentucky, up from 500 megawatts. If approved by the Kentucky Public Service Commission, the deal is expected to provide $100 million in winter bill credits funded by TeraWulf for Kentucky Power's residential customers over the first 10 years of the contract, amounting to roughly $25 per month during the winter heating season for a typical residential customer, with credits beginning in 2029. The agreement also advances planned delivery of the second 500-megawatt phase from 2030 to 2029, subject to Commission approval and Kentucky Power's construction schedule. TeraWulf has agreed to pay all applicable service charges plus the estimated financing costs of Kentucky Power's planned 760-megawatt combined-cycle generation facility at Big Sandy, so that costs of serving the added demand are not shifted to existing customers. Kentucky Power, an operating company in the American Electric Power system serving about 163,000 customers in 20 eastern Kentucky counties, plans to file the amended contract and seek related regulatory approvals later this year.

PTC agreed to be acquired by Schneider Electric for $205 per share, valuing the software company's equity at more than $22 billion, with the transaction expected to close by the third quarter of 2027. PTC shares surged 36% premarket on the news. Brazilian stocks rallied after right-wing presidential candidate Flavio Bolsonaro edged out incumbent Luiz Inacio Lula Da Silva by around 2 percentage points in Sunday's election, sending the iShares MSCI Brazil ETF up 12% and U.S.-listed shares of Itau Unibanco and Banco Bradesco up more than 13% each. Wells Fargo gained 1% after a Morgan Stanley upgrade to overweight from equal weight, while DraftKings popped over 5% on a Bank of America upgrade to buy from neutral, with analyst Julie Hoover expecting prediction markets to generate $400 million in fees for 2027 and between $200 to $400 million in market making. Estee Lauder rose 2.8% after Barclays upgraded the stock to overweight from equal weight, citing its growth and earnings profile over the next several years.

Intercontinental Exchange has launched the first tanker freight futures on the TD34 Gulf of Oman to China and TD15 West Africa to China Very Large Crude Carrier routes, alongside two new cash-settled container freight average price options. The tanker contracts are cash-settled futures based on Baltic Exchange price assessments, designed to let customers hedge those routes as they navigate restricted access through the Strait of Hormuz. The container options, FAN Asia to North Europe and FAW Asia to U.S. West Coast, are indexed to NYSHEX's Freight Indices and build on the equivalent freight futures ICE launched in April 2026. The new contracts extend ICE's freight complex to more than 90 contracts across over 30 global routes spanning wet and container freight, as average daily volume across ICE's freight markets is up 33% year-to-date. Jeff Barbuto, SVP and Global Head of Oil Markets at ICE, said the market can now manage the full chain of risk, the commodity and the cost of moving it, in one place, as events like the disruption at the Strait of Hormuz continue to affect both.

Bangkok Life Assurance Public Company Limited, or BLA, has launched two new annuity products, BLA Pension 888 and BLA Pension & Care 888. Mr. Chone Sophonpanich, President and Chief Executive Officer, said this is the first time an annuity offers a first lump sum of 30% of the sum assured at age 60, the highest rate allowed under the Revenue Department's new criteria. After that, policyholders will receive annuity payments of 8% of the sum assured each year from age 61 to 88, and can use premiums for tax deductions of up to 300,000 baht per year. For BLA Pension & Care 888, coverage is extended to 8 critical illnesses; if diagnosed with one of these 8 critical illnesses, policyholders will receive an additional annual payment of 8% of the sum assured every year until age 88. The launch cites data from the National Statistical Office together with the Thai Health Promotion Foundation, indicating that Thais have an average life expectancy of about 78 years, and reflects the concept of Active Aging as defined by the World Health Organization. The company aims to deliver a good quality of life in four areas: physical fitness, financial readiness, mental balance, and good relationships.

The research arm of CGS International Securities (Thailand), or CGSI, estimates that the eight banks it covers will report combined net profit of 57.4 billion baht in the third quarter of 2026, down 9.2% from the same period a year earlier but up 1.8% from the previous quarter. It expects pre-provision profit to fall 6.8% year on year and rise 1.7% quarter on quarter. Total loans in the third quarter of 2026 are likely to show slower expansion after large corporate customers of BBL and KKP repaid substantial loans in August, pulling the combined loans of the banks under coverage down 0.1% from the previous month, though they remain up 3.0% from a year earlier and up 2.4% from the end of 2025. The banks with positive loan growth are led by CREDIT, KTB and TISCO. On individual results, KKP is expected to post the strongest net profit growth in the group at 32.2% year on year and 4.0% quarter on quarter, followed by TTB with growth of 4.6% year on year and 0.7% quarter on quarter. BBL is expected to be the weakest, with net profit down 24.5% year on year, followed by KTB with a 16% decline year on year. CGSI maintains a Neutral investment weighting on the banking sector and picks KBANK as its top pick, citing its high fee income share from wealth business, at 18% of non-interest income in 2025, and a high dividend yield of 6.2% in 2026 versus the sector average of 5.6%.

Ratings giant S&P Global Ratings announced on October 4 that it has launched a risk assessment service for DeFi, or decentralized finance, lending operations. The new service, called Vault Risk Assessment, or VRA, provides independent assessments of "vaults" that pool investor funds and lend them out. It offers a forward-looking, relative assessment of the risk that investors' holdings will suffer losses, and unlike ordinary credit ratings, it does not assess yield levels. According to the company, assets under custody in lending vaults reached about 10 billion dollars as of September 2026, expanding roughly 6.7 times over two years from about 1.5 billion dollars in September 2024. VRA examines the credit quality of the assets being managed, mismatches between withdrawal demand and fund recovery, and the risks of the managers who set investment policy, and further evaluates them from six perspectives, including the blockchain, the lending mechanism, and the vault's security and governance. The company already assesses the ability of stablecoins to maintain their price pegs, and with VRA it will address the risk of losses associated with lending operations, aiming to support institutional investors in selecting investments and managing risk.

Mastercard announced a probability score for AI-initiated transactions on September 30, positioning the capability inside its Agentic Commerce Trust Framework alongside Cloudflare for web and payment signal feeds and Skyfire for Know Your Agent verification. The probability score adds a second layer to the trust stack that agent commerce requires, evaluating each AI-initiated transaction dynamically to produce a trust score at the moment of execution rather than asking whether a transaction is legitimate. It builds on Skyfire's Know Your Agent framework, which Mastercard integrated earlier this year and which issues credentials and verifies agent identity at the point of transaction, a foundation also pursued by Baselayer, which raised $35 million to build Know Your Agent infrastructure. With the probability score in place, the trust infrastructure for agent commerce now has four visible layers: Know Your Agent identity verification, transaction-level probability scoring, payment execution with guardrails such as Stripe's Agentic Commerce Suite and Visa's Intelligent Commerce, and consumer protection signals that remain nascent and fragmented.

Italy's largest bank, Intesa Sanpaolo, has moved closer to acquiring its rival Monte dei Paschi di Siena after MPS's largest shareholder accepted its improved takeover offer. Delfin, the financial holding company that owns 17.6 percent of MPS, has committed to selling its stake on the basis of Intesa's 35 billion euro stock-and-cash offer, equivalent to 39 billion dollars, Intesa announced on the evening of the 4th. Facing a challenge from MPS chief executive Luigi Lovaglio, who unveiled a complex defence plan in August, Intesa said on the 3rd that it would pay an additional 800 million euros in cash if MPS shareholders rejected that defence plan. The improved terms raise the 3 billion euro cash portion by 25 percent, but based on the closing price on the 2nd, the overall improvement amounts to just 2.3 percent. Intesa said on the evening of the 3rd that it would withdraw its takeover proposal if MPS shareholders approved the defence plan on the 29th, meaning shareholders must vote down the plan if they want the improved offer. According to Intesa, Delfin, the financial holding company of the Del Vecchio family that controls EssilorLuxottica, the world's largest eyewear maker, has committed to opposing Lovaglio's plan on the 29th.

Alm. Brand raised its 2026 outlook on Monday after a favorable third quarter, helped by a low level of major and weather-related claims and gains from run-offs. The Danish insurer now expects a pre-tax profit before other income and expenses of 1.65 billion to 1.75 billion Danish crowns for the year. Full-year guidance for the insurance service result, excluding run-offs in the fourth quarter, was lifted by 250 million crowns to 1.5 billion-1.6 billion crowns, from a previous range of 1.2 billion-1.4 billion crowns. The combined ratio is now expected at 86.5-87.5, improved from the earlier 88-90 range, while the expense ratio guidance is unchanged at around 17%. Alm. Brand cut its investment result forecast to 150 million crowns from 250 million crowns, citing the rise in interest rates, and said other income and expenses, including amortization of intangible assets, are still expected to total an expense of roughly 500 million crowns. The company will publish its full third-quarter results on October 28.

Coinbase Global CEO Brian Armstrong said Citigroup has partnered with Coinbase to enable stablecoin payments for large institutional clients, calling the tie-up proof the crypto giant "has come a long way" since 2012. Under the partnership, Citi's institutional clients, including multinational corporations, will be able to accept stablecoin payments from customers at checkout through the bank's merchant-processing services, while Coinbase customers can use Citi's banking capabilities and automatically convert incoming cash into stablecoins. Armstrong recalled that getting a bank to work with Coinbase at its founding was "nearly impossible," and thanked Citi for the arrangement. Stablecoins are a key and rapidly growing revenue component for Coinbase, which shares interest income on reserve assets backing USDC with Circle Internet Group and monetizes customer balances on its platform; USDC held in Coinbase products hit an all-time high of $20 billion in the second quarter, more than 30% of all USDC in circulation. Coinbase shares finished Friday down 3.32% at $183.

CGS International (Thailand), or CGSI, estimates that the eight Thai commercial banks it covers will report combined net profit of 57.4 billion baht in the third quarter of 2026, down 9.2% from the third quarter of 2025 but up 1.8% from the second quarter of 2026. Within this group, KKP is expected to post the strongest net profit growth at 32.2% year on year, driven by robust fee income across its securities brokerage, investment banking, and KKP Dime platform businesses. TTB is expected to grow the second fastest at 4.6%, while BBL is seen weakening the most, down 24.5%, and KTB is expected to fall 16%. Overall group loans are forecast to grow 4.4% year on year and 0.2% quarter on quarter, with net interest margin at 2.89%, down 29 basis points from a year earlier, and the non-performing loan ratio expected at 3.66%. CGSI maintains a Neutral weighting on the banking sector and selects KBANK as its top pick, citing fee income from its wealth business at as much as 18% of non-interest income in 2025 and an expected dividend yield of 6.2% in 2026, above the sector average of 5.6%.

Alm. Brand A/S upgraded its full-year 2026 outlook following a favourable Q3 2026 performance, driven by a low level of major claims and weather claims as well as run-off gains. The full-year guidance for the insurance service result is increased by DKK 250 million to DKK 1.5-1.6 billion, excluding run-offs in Q4 2026, from the previously guided range of DKK 1.2-1.4 billion. The expense ratio guidance remains unchanged at around 17%, while the combined ratio is now expected to be 86.5-87.5, compared with the previously guided range of 88-90. The investment result is expected to be DKK 150 million, down from the previous expectation of DKK 250 million, driven by the increase in interest rates. Consequently, Alm. Brand A/S now expects to report a pre-tax profit before other income and expenses of DKK 1.65-1.75 billion for 2026, with other income and expenses, including amortisation of intangible assets, unchanged at a total expense of approximately DKK 0.5 billion. The company will report its full Q3 2026 results on 28 October 2026.

Land and Houses Securities Public Company Limited has issued an analysis focusing on investment trends in CK and KKP shares, expecting CK's third-quarter 2026 earnings to recover from the previous quarter. Although the construction contracting business may slow seasonally and gross margins return to normal levels, support is expected from its share of profit at CKP, which is entering the high season for hydropower plants, as well as from BEM, which is trending better on passenger numbers. In the medium term, support comes from the government infrastructure investment cycle, which is becoming clearer, especially Phase 2 of the double-track railway project, where three routes worth a combined 106 billion baht have already been approved. Meanwhile, high-speed rail, expressways, motorways, and airports are still awaiting progress. CK currently has a backlog of about 146 billion baht, supporting revenue for several years. The analyst team gives a buy recommendation on CK with a target price of 23.1 baht, support at 17.8 and 18.1 baht, and resistance at 19.6 and 20.1 baht. For KKP, third-quarter 2026 profit is expected at 2.0 billion baht, still growing a strong 21% year on year despite a slight 4.8% decline quarter on quarter. The main drivers are a return to loan growth, especially business loans and Lombard loans, a NIM that holds steady at a good level, and fee income from wealth management, the capital markets business, and Dime!, which is growing strongly. Meanwhile, lower losses from repossessed vehicles help ease cost pressure. Asset quality remains manageable, with the NPL ratio expected to hold steady at around 3.5% and the coverage ratio near 150%. Full-year 2026 profit is likely to grow more than 30% year on year, with ROE returning to around 12%, while a dividend yield of about 6% helps limit the downside for the share price. The analyst team gives a buy recommendation on KKP with a target price of 128 baht, support at 108.5 and 113 baht, and resistance at 118.5 and 120 baht.

NB Private Equity Partners Limited announced it purchased 25,223 of its own Class A Shares on the London Stock Exchange on 2 October 2026, at prices between £14.96 and £14.79, under the general authority granted by shareholders on 11 June 2026 and its share buy-back agreement with Jefferies International Limited. All Class A Shares bought back will be cancelled, leaving 37,502,593 Class A Shares outstanding, with a further 3,150,408 Class A shares held in treasury. The company said the market should use the figure of 37,502,593 voting rights when determining whether it is required to notify its interest in, or a change to its interest in, the company under the FCA's Disclosure Guidance and Transparency Rules. NBPE is a closed-end investment company domiciled in Guernsey that invests in direct private equity investments alongside private equity firms globally, with NB Alternatives Advisers LLC, an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of Neuberger Berman Group LLC, as its investment manager.

S&P Global Ratings, a division of S&P Global, has launched its vault risk assessment, a new analytical approach delivering independent, forward-looking insights into the risks associated with digital asset lending vaults, according to a statement on Sunday. The framework provides independent risk transparency for on-chain investment vehicles, extending S&P Global's offerings across the DeFi space. Digital asset lending vaults are investment vehicles that operate on a blockchain, pooling investor deposits and deploying them according to defined strategies much like managed fixed-income funds. Total deposits in vaults reached $10 billion as of September 2026, up sharply from $1.5 billion two years earlier.

Shares of Kiatnakin Phatra Bank, or KKP, rose 2.00 baht, or 1.79%, to 114.00 baht on trading value of 158.96 million baht, after Pi Securities estimated that third-quarter 2026 net profit will come in at about 2 billion baht, up 19% from the same period a year earlier but down 6% from the previous quarter. The gain is driven by higher net interest income on the back of a strong net interest margin of around 4%, along with expanding fee income, particularly in wealth management and the Dime business, while losses from repossessed cars continued to decline. Total loans are expected to expand 0.5% from the previous quarter, bringing loan growth for the first nine months of 2026 to 3.7% from the end of last year. On asset quality, the non-performing loan ratio is expected to hold steady at 3.5% and the coverage ratio at 149.5%. Pi Securities maintained its buy recommendation and raised its target price to 130 baht, based on 2027 fundamental value, and expects net profit to grow 35% in 2026 from a year earlier before slowing to 4.5% in 2027. Return on equity is expected to rise to 12.1% in 2026 and 12.3% in 2027, from 9.3% in 2025, while dividend yield is forecast at 6.3% in 2026 and 6.6% in 2027, after an interim dividend of 3.25 baht per share was already paid for the first half of 2026, with another 3.82 baht per share expected in the second half of the year.

Kasikorn Securities assesses that the commercial banking sector's core operations are on a gradual recovery path. It expects the combined profit of the seven banks under its coverage in the third quarter of 2026 to reach 49.4 billion baht, down 2% from the second quarter of 2026 and down 15% from the third quarter of 2025, pressured by non-operating items. The main supporting factor comes from lower interest costs, with the net interest margin expected to rise 0.2% from the previous quarter, while loan-loss provisioning expenses are expected to fall 0.7% as management's additional reserves decline. For the fourth quarter of 2026 and continuing into 2027, loan growth is expected to accelerate, driven mainly by corporate and government lending, while retail and SME loans remain weak. On investment strategy, Kasikorn Securities maintains a positive view on the banking sector, selecting KKP and KTB as its top picks with buy recommendations and target prices of 153 baht and 48 baht respectively. It has also shifted the valuation base year for the entire banking sector from mid-2027 to the end of 2027 and raised individual target prices by 1-3%, without changing its earnings forecasts.

K WEALTH, Kasikornbank, has launched the K-ALLROADS Series of funds, designed as a core portfolio for high-net-worth individual clients, diversifying investments across a wide range of global assets to cope with volatility and build long-term wealth growth. Dr. Triphon Phumiwasana, Chief Investment Officer of K WEALTH, said the concept of Prepare, Don't Predict shifts the focus from forecasting short-term market direction to building a disciplined and flexible portfolio, combining the expertise of KBank Private Banking with the knowledge of Lombard Odier, a private banking partner from Switzerland. The K-ALLROADS Series offers three fund options: K-ALLRD-UI-A(A) for those seeking a balance between returns and risk, K-ALLGR-UI-A(A) for those seeking to enhance the portfolio's growth potential, and K-ALLEN-UI-A(A) for those looking for additional return opportunities within a clear risk management framework. Mr. Marc Giesbrecht, Deputy Global CIO and Head of Investment Management at Lombard Odier, said that diversifying investments by asset class alone may no longer be sufficient, and that investment strategies anchored in risk management are becoming more important, through investment in multiple asset types such as commodities, inflation-linked instruments, and money markets.

Phillip Securities (Thailand) Public Company Limited estimates that Muangthai Capital Public Company Limited, or MTC, will post net profit of about 2 billion baht in the third quarter of 2026, up 18.4% from the same period a year earlier and 7.2% from the previous quarter, marking a record high for a 13th consecutive quarter, driven by interest income growing in line with loan expansion while interest expenses trend lower, even as the company may face higher expenses and provisioning. The research team expects loans in the third quarter of 2026 to expand 3.1% from the previous quarter, accelerating from 2.6% in the second quarter of 2026, bringing loan growth from the end of 2025 to about 5.8% year-to-date. However, that acceleration may come with pressure on asset quality, with non-performing loans expected to continue rising. Phillip Securities maintains its net profit forecast for MTC in 2026 at 7.6 billion baht, up 13.4% from a year earlier, and keeps its 2027 target price at 42 baht per share with a buy recommendation.

Chayo Group Public Company Limited, or CHAYO, is pressing ahead with expanding its personal loan base, focusing on Advance or emergency loans through the Chayo Capital application, targeting an increase of around 5,000 to 10,000 app-based customers this year, up from the current base of around 2,000 to 3,000 such customers. Chief Executive Officer Suksan Yosain opened up that hitting that target will help support revenue from the lending business to expand, from its current share of around 2% of revenue. The main revenue structure still comes from the debt management and debt purchase business at around 90%, followed by debt collection services at around 4-5% and the business of supplying workers to factories at around 3%. As for the earnings outlook for 2026, the company is maintaining its profit target at the parent company level of approximately 300 million baht, after turning a profit of around 201.73 million baht in the first half of 2026. Meanwhile, on the partial repayment of principal on all five series of debentures, namely CHAYO25NA, CHAYO263A, CHAYO26OA, CHAYO273A and CHAYO279A, with a combined value of approximately 3.9329 billion baht, the company plans to repay around 10% of the principal across all five series within 2026. It has already repaid four series, leaving the fifth, which falls due in November 2026, and it has prepared liquidity to cover it. The company has an interest-bearing debt-to-equity ratio of 0.97 times, and stands ready to acquire additional new non-performing debt portfolios at appropriate price levels, while continuing to develop its competitiveness by bringing in technology and artificial intelligence systems to help manage costs more efficiently.

Redemption requests fell from the prior quarter in the flagship private credit funds of U.S. asset manager Blue Owl Capital. According to an investor letter the firm published on the 2nd, redemption requests for the July-September quarter across two of its funds totaled 4.2 billion dollars, down from 4.7 billion dollars in the previous quarter. At its flagship Blue Owl Credit Income fund, known as OCIC, redemption requests in the July-September quarter amounted to 16.8 percent of outstanding shares, down from 18.8 percent in the prior quarter. OCIC manages 35.1 billion dollars in assets, making it the second-largest non-traded business development company in the industry. At Blue Owl Technology Income, known as OTIC, which focuses on the technology sector, redemption requests in the July-September quarter came to 1.1 billion dollars, equivalent to 39 percent of outstanding shares, roughly flat from 1.1 billion dollars and 38.1 percent in the previous quarter. The decline in redemption requests is a fresh sign that the private credit industry may be emerging from the worst of the redemption pressure.

Analysts at Krungsri Securities Public Company Limited maintain a BULLISH recommendation on the banking sector, expecting ROE in 2027 to rise from 2026 because the interest rate downcycle has ended, the cycle is returning, a new investment round is underway, and wealth management is growing. After share prices fell 2-8% between 25 and 30 September 2026, the market should have already priced in some of the negative factors from asset quality risk tied to the Bangkok flood situation and the risk from northern runoff. KBANK and KTB are chosen as Top Picks because they benefit most from this investment theme. For the third quarter of 2026, net profit for the banking sector under coverage is expected at 56 billion baht, down 10% from the same period a year earlier but up 1% from the previous quarter. Banks are expected to keep paying high dividends for 2026, with a dividend yield of 5-6%, because they have high capital funds, are maintaining medium- to long-term plans to raise ROE, and have no large new investments. For the second half of 2026, dividends are expected to offer a dividend yield of 3-5%. KTB and KKP are expected to pay higher-than-expected dividends for 2026 because they announced larger-than-expected dividends for the first half of 2026.