Dodgers owner Mark Walter's $16 billion in private-credit deals draws SEC and DOJ probes after whistleblower complaint

FedEx Dataworks and Stripe announced a collaboration that combines FedEx's network with Stripe's financial infrastructure to make financing more accessible to small- and medium-sized businesses. Under the arrangement, FedEx Dataworks will supply Stripe with information that better reflects how SMBs operate, including shipment activity, inventory movement, and fulfillment performance. The company said these real-time operational signals will let Stripe evaluate, approve, and deploy tailored funding more quickly than traditional lending processes, eliminating friction for SMBs. The first joint solution between the two companies is planned for early 2027. Separately, FedEx will begin using Stripe to expand payment options for FedEx customers globally, with the company saying a wider variety of local payment methods will help remove friction so customers can pay how they prefer.

Klarna has deepened its partnership with home furnishing retailer Wayfair to offer eligible customers more flexible payment options. Shoppers will be able to pay in full, split purchases into interest-free installments, or finance larger orders over time. Beginning today, eligible U.S. customers can access always-on 0% APR financing up to 6 months across Wayfair's brands, which include Wayfair, Joss & Main, AllModern, and Birch Lane. Canadian shoppers can avail Klarna's full suite of flexible payment options at Wayfair. Curtis Crawford, a director at Wayfair, said Klarna has been a trusted partner in helping customers shop with confidence and that renewing the relationship was an easy decision.

Pagaya Technologies Ltd. has closed its inaugural Variable Funding Note facility with ATLAS SP Partners, a revolving committed capital structure providing nearly US$700 million of funding capacity for its personal loan platform. The facility allows Pagaya to season loans before securitization, which could improve execution for its AAA-rated PAID platform and broaden institutional investors' access to consumer credit. The new capacity follows the recently upsized US$900 million PAID 2026-5 ABS deal, and together the two reinforce funding depth as a key catalyst for the company's capital-light growth story. Pagaya's narrative projects $2.0 billion in revenue and $394.6 million in earnings by 2029, requiring 13.7% yearly revenue growth and a $272.1 million earnings increase from $122.5 million today. Risks remain around regulatory scrutiny of AI underwriting, customer concentration, and dependence on a concentrated group of funding partners.

Commonwealth Credit Union announced on 23 September 2026 that it has expanded its partnership with Upstart Holdings to include home equity lines of credit and indirect auto lending, building on a personal lending collaboration that began in 2022. The move broadens the credit union's digital lending reach and adds another credit union to Upstart's AI-driven platform across multiple consumer lending products. The expansion modestly reinforces partner confidence and origination volume, though it does not directly address the risk of high default sensitivity to macro conditions. Upstart's narrative projects $2.6 billion in revenue and $408.8 million in earnings by 2029, requiring 30.5% yearly revenue growth and roughly a $359.4 million earnings increase from $49.4 million today, with a $40.13 fair value implying 65% upside to the current price. The OCC's conditional approval for Upstart Bank, N.A. in July 2026 remains relevant, as a bank charter could simplify funding and complement deepening credit union relationships.

SoFi Technologies reported second-quarter adjusted net revenue of $1.2 billion, up 40%, with GAAP net income climbing 61% to $156.6 million. Total deposits ended the period at $45.5 billion, and average deposits made up over 90% of average liabilities, with the rate paid on deposits running 156 basis points below warehouse facilities, which the company says equals about $712.6 million of annualized interest expense savings. Cross-buy reached 51% of new products, up from 43% the prior quarter and 35% a year earlier, while fee-based revenue of $472.3 million made up 39% of total revenue. The lending segment brought in $724.8 million of net revenue, up 63%, on record originations of $14.8 billion, though the Technology Platform segment saw revenue fall 23% from a year earlier partly because a large client left. SoFi and Mastercard also announced that stablecoin settlement is live across SoFi Bank's card program, moving its entire $25 billion card program onto SoFiUSD, a stablecoin the bank itself issues. Wells Fargo analyst Cassie Chan rates the stock a Hold, citing valuation and earnings exposure to loan sales, and short interest stands at 14.63% of the float.

Grab Holdings has agreed to acquire a controlling 60% equity interest in Atome Financial, the digital financial services platform of Advance Intelligence Group Limited, for $1.49 billion in cash, of which $0.26 billion is primary growth capital in Phase 1. The Phase 1 deal is funded entirely from Grab's existing cash and is expected to close by the third quarter of 2027, subject to regulatory approvals, at which point Atome Financial will merge into Grab's Financial Services segment. Grab has also agreed with AIGL and other sellers to purchase the remaining 40% equity interest in a Phase 2 deal, to be priced on Atome Financial's actual financial performance with an equity valuation floor of $2 billion and a cap of $4.5 billion. Atome Financial operates in Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, Indonesia and Thailand, serves 25 million cumulative transacted users and holds a gross loan portfolio of roughly $1 billion; the combined business is expected to have a gross loan portfolio of more than $6 billion and generate $500 million in adjusted EBITDA by 2028. Grab shares fell 20% over the past three months and nearly 39% year to date, hitting a three-year low after the deal news, though two top executives disclosed fresh share purchases.