Small businesses are the engine of the American economy. They are often the first to innovate, the fastest to adapt, and the most determined to persevere through change. In moments of uncertainty, they continue to move forward not because conditions are perfect, but because resilience is embedded in their DNA. According to BoeFly’s April 2025 Franchise Growth Confidence Index,72.7 percent of franchisors remain confident in achieving their 2025 growth goals. That level of confidence in nearly three out of four leaders is significant considering the broader economic narrative around inflation, tariffs and ongoing interest rate uncertainty. Additionally, 65.2 percent expect…

Hong Kong billionaire Richard Li’s insurer FWD Group announced Monday it has refiled an application to list on the Hong Kong stock exchange, as investors clamor for a piece of the city’s red-hot IPO market. FWD did not disclose the target size or timing of its upcoming offering. A representative for the company declined to comment. FWD’s latest application marks the Hong Kong-headquartered insurance company’s fourth attempt to list on its hometown bourse, and its fifth in total. It last filed an application in Hong Kong in March 2023, following applications in September 2022 and in February 2022. These applications…

In my last column, I talked about how innovation from the fintech sector has helped companies in financial services and other industries, and how companies can apply lessons from fintech to accelerate their own technology development efforts. Since then, markets have been upended by the announcement of a set of historic new tariffs that is creating an unprecedented modern world saga. Although most of those tariffs are now “on pause,” and may even be successfully negotiated, it appears that the world is moving away from the globalization model that has dominated international relations for the past 20+ years. I have…

Spain’s largest bank, Banco Santander, has provided $1.3 billion in backing to a firm that has carried out extensive deforestation in South America, a report by environmental NGO Global Witness has alleged. According to the report, Santander began co-arranging financing for agricultural services company Cresud in 2011, despite the firm being known to have destroyed 170,000 hectares of rainforest since 2000. The financing continued even after Santander adopted anti-deforestation policies in 2018 and net-zero targets in 2021, raising questions about major banks’ commitments to sustainability in agricultural financing. “Cresud would not be able to turn a profit without being able…

Banks and insurance companies were quick to recognize the potential of generative AI. By the middle of last year more than three out of four had implemented AI projects and the vast majority plan to increase their investments. And yet, despite FS firms already notable accomplishments, agentic AI is about to create a wave of innovation that will transform the industry. As I mentioned previously, AI agents operate within an ecosystem—the agentic AI architecture—comprising of an orchestrator, super agent(s) and multiple utility agents. Each has a specific role in the digital team with the ability to reason logically, plan, decide,…

In an era where AI is increasingly providing more interaction with people, new risks are emerging that demand a new approach to insurance. In some of the insurance industry’s first moves, insurance companies are announcing new insurance policies that cover risks like AI hallucinations and model drift, marking a significant step in AI risk management​. In a move to address the evolving risks associated with artificial intelligence (AI), Chaucer Group, a global specialty reinsurance company, has partnered with Armilla AI to launch a new third-party liability (TPL) insurance product. This policy is designed to cover liabilities arising from the mechanical…

Could now be a moment of opportunity for investors looking to make money and a positive impact? That idea may sound nutty amidst unprecedented uncertainty and a dramatic rise in anti-environment rhetoric and actions in the macro environment. If you’re spooked by the headlines, you’re not alone. But once you cut through the noise, opportunities reveal themselves and the reality starts to look a bit different. While the language around climate commitments may be shifting, many of the most influential players, from institutional investors to global corporates, are continuing undeterred. The commitments remain. The capital is still flowing. And for…

We’re living through what many are calling “unprecedented times.” Again. From tariffs and inflation to interest rate uncertainty and political whiplash — the headlines paint a picture of chaos. And for business owners, it’s tempting to pause, pull back, and wait it all out. But this moment isn’t an outlier. Much of our environment is the byproduct of everything we’ve already endured and adapted to over the past few years. If you made it through the supply chain breakdowns, rising labor costs, shifting customer behavior, and the COVID-era rollercoaster, you’re not walking into a new storm — you’ve been training…

Some insurance payments are treated as tax-free by the IRS. For example, if you pay for car insurance and your insurance carrier later repairs your car after an accident, the amount of the repair bill is not attributed to you as income. There are special tax rules for some insurance in disasters too. For example, the tax code allows you to exclude from income amounts from insurance for temporary additional living expenses created by the loss of the your principal residence. Insurance and Disaster Losses But the expenses must be reasonable and necessary, such as rental payments for temporary replacement…

Pope Francis’ sweeping reforms cleaned up some of the mess at the scandal-plagued Vatican Bank, but his management also left its coffers severely depleted. Inside the Holy See’s murky financial future. Choosing a successor to Pope Francis comes at a critical time for the Catholic Church. There are the obvious hot-button theological divisions —including whether priests should be allowed to marry as well as the church’s views on gay rights and divorce—but Vatican insiders report that religious issues will not be the only ones debated by the 135 cardinals gathering for the upcoming Papal Conclave. Some are also concerned with…