Blackstone credit arm nears deal for HSBC’s Australian loan book

Affirm Holdings is launching a new transformer-based machine learning model for real-time credit underwriting at U.S. checkouts, drawing on 14 years of its own transaction and repayment data to analyze the order and timing of events across a consumer's credit history. In initial testing, the model approved applications the previous system would have declined, including consumers with limited credit histories and no FICO scores, and those incremental approvals produced 3.4% more completed purchases than the control group, with the loans performing better than a comparable expansion under the previous model. Affirm says the model is built to deliver fast and explainable decisions, and the release does not provide a dollar estimate of the financial impact. The company frames the launch as expanding approvals without simply lowering credit standards, with the financial benefit depending on how the early results scale. Affirm shares have risen 58.2% over the past six months compared with the industry's 20.2% growth, and the stock trades at a forward price-to-sales ratio of 4.1X versus the industry average of 4.2X.

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Digital Finance & Tokenization ▲Artificial Intelligence

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BNCCORP Stockholders Approve Merger with OppFi

BNCCORP stockholders have approved the company's previously announced sale to OppFi, a tech-enabled digital finance platform, in a cash and stock transaction. Under the terms of the agreement, BNCC stockholders will receive $19.375 per share in cash and 1.9 shares of OppFi Class A common stock for each BNCC share. The vote took place on September 17, 2026, though completion remains subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory approvals. The transaction combines OppFi's online lending platform with BNC's national bank charter and diversified banking infrastructure. BNCC Chairman Michael Vekich called the stockholder vote a significant development in completing the transformative agreement. The final vote total will be reported in BNCC's quarterly report for the fiscal quarter ended September 30, 2026.

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Digital Finance & Tokenization

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Ramp Partners with Ingram Micro, Launches on Microsoft Marketplace

Ramp announced a strategic North America agreement with Ingram Micro to help channel partners and the businesses they serve modernize how they manage spend, procurement, accounts payable, expense reporting, and accounting workflows. Ramp is also now available on Microsoft Marketplace, giving partners and customers another way to purchase Ramp through their existing Microsoft relationships and apply Microsoft Azure Consumption Commitments toward eligible Ramp purchases. The agreement gives Ingram Micro's reseller and managed service provider network access to Ramp, along with support for partner training, sales, and customer deployment across North America. Guy Cartwright, GM of Channel and Global Partnerships at Ramp, said the deal makes it easier for partners to bring Ramp to customers through the channels they already use. Cyril Belikoff, Vice President of Microsoft Azure Product Marketing, said Marketplace connects trusted solutions from global partners with customers worldwide. Cheryl Rang, Vice President of Technology Solutions for Ingram Micro, said adding Ramp to its solutions portfolio expands existing and introduces new engagement opportunities for joint channel partners.

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Digital Finance & Tokenization

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