Private Markets Sector

Marsh has launched Stratus, a $10 billion property insurance exchange built to cover the operational risks of digital infrastructure assets such as data centers. The facility provides single-placement capacity for US-domiciled companies through a structured network of 30 traditional and alternative capital providers who evaluate risks individually. This mechanism directly addresses the aggregation and capacity bottlenecks that emerge as multi-billion-dollar campuses transition from construction into live operation. Stratus extends Marsh's existing construction-phase facility, Nimbus, which offers up to $2.7 billion in limits. Global premiums for the sector are projected to expand from roughly $11 billion currently to more than $24 billion by 2030, driven largely by artificial intelligence workloads.

SoftBank Group is in talks with investment banks to issue between $10 billion and $20 billion in offshore bonds to refinance debt tied to its OpenAI stake. The proposed offering could launch as early as September in dollars and euros, marking the conglomerate's second international bond sale of 2026. Proceeds will partially repay a $40 billion bridge loan secured earlier this year to finance its multi-billion-dollar commitments to OpenAI. The Japanese investor is also preparing a record ¥1 trillion domestic retail bond sale carrying an indicative coupon of 4.3% to 4.9% to price on September 4. Alongside these debt sales, SoftBank recently secured a $10 billion margin loan backed by its OpenAI-related assets. If the offshore bond sale hits the top of its range, it will rank as the largest deal from any Asian company this year.

Deutsche Bank deployed Google Cloud’s Gemini Enterprise for Financial Services on August 25 as the platform's primary design partner, automating credit risk assessment and portfolio monitoring. The system relies on a Google-managed Financial Research agent loaded with more than 50 specialized skills and 13 data connectors tied to institutional sources including FactSet, Moody’s, S&P Global, and SEC Edgar. The platform compresses bond portfolio risk exposure analysis into under five minutes while generating automated hedging suggestions, confidence scores, and source citations. Initial deployment targets the Corporate Bank division, with planned expansion into Private Bank and Investment Bank workflows. This rollout scales an infrastructure partnership that began in late 2020 to reduce IT costs and follows the September 2024 launch of DB Lumina, an internal AI research assistant.

SoftBank Group is in talks to acquire a majority stake in humanoid robot developer 1X Technologies at a valuation of roughly $6 billion. The potential transaction follows previous acquisition discussions between 1X and OpenAI, which invested in the robotics startup in 2023 through its OpenAI Startup Fund alongside Tiger Global. SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son has designated physical AI as a strategic frontier, building on prior robotics investments including the acquisition of ABB's robotics division. If completed, the deal would provide 1X with sustained capital to advance development on its Neo soft-body humanoid robot designed for home use. Negotiations remain ongoing and terms could still change.

Mirae Asset Financial Group plans to build a 150 trillion won ($109 billion) digital asset business around its newly acquired exchange Digital X. Founder and chairman Park Hyeon-joo outlined the expansion strategy at a recent employee event in Seoul, targeting profitability for the platform by 2027. The roadmap centers on cryptocurrency, stablecoins, real-world assets, and security token offerings, including plans to tokenize physical commodities like gold, silver, and electricity. Mirae acquired a 97.15% stake in the exchange, formerly known as Korbit, for 141.4 billion won in July, marking the first time a South Korean financial affiliate has taken control of a domestic crypto platform. Digital X accounted for 0.5% of South Korea's crypto trading market in 2025 according to the Fair Trade Commission, and recently initiated a zero-fee trading policy running through August 2027.

Bluefin partnered with Visa to launch a unified card-present payment acceptance offering that merges point-to-point encryption with Visa Acceptance Solutions [1]. The integration combines Bluefin's PCI-validated P2PE technology, decryption services, and terminal integration with Visa's global payment processing and tokenisation capabilities into a single deployment [1]. The offering goes live on selected Ingenico Lane series devices to target sectors including retail, hospitality, petroleum, healthcare, and higher education [1, 2]. By bundling these capabilities, merchants and software providers avoid managing independent payment security and device infrastructure vendors [2]. The service distributes through Visa Acceptance Solutions and its global sales and partner channels [1].

scmp.com reports that Tiger Brokers posted a 31.4 per cent year on year rise in revenue to a record US$182.3 million for the second quarter. Net income attributable to shareholders slipped to US$39.4 million from US$41.4 million a year earlier. The brokerage added 32,600 new funded accounts during the period, driven largely by expansion in Singapore and Hong Kong as Beijing clamped down on mainland cross-border trading. Total funded accounts rose 10.3 per cent year on year to 1.32 million, while client assets climbed 16.7 per cent to US$60.7 billion. Hong Kong client assets grew almost 30 per cent quarter on quarter, US assets jumped nearly 50 per cent, and Australian and New Zealand assets rose more than 30 per cent. Futu also reported strong growth, posting revenue of HK$7.2 billion and net income of HK$3.64 billion.

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