For investment bankers, 2025 ended on a high note. “It is an exceptional time as 2026 launches,” Barclays declared in January. Global M&A volumes exceeded $5 trillion in 2025, and the London-based bank articulated what all its peers seemed to be thinking: “All signs point to the momentum in M&A continuing well into 2026.” Wrong….
Corporate finance rarely announces turning points explicitly; instead, it evolves in layers that become obvious only when the old reasoning feels somewhat out of sync with reality, which is roughly where things stand in 2026. What appears to be incremental improvement, with faster payments here and better visibility there, becomes more structural with closer study,…
This story appeared in The Logoff, a daily newsletter that helps you stay informed about the Trump administration without letting political news take over your life. Subscribe here. Welcome to The Logoff: US and Iranian diplomats will meet again in Pakistan this weekend to discuss an end to the Iran war. Here’s what to know:…
VITAL STATISTICSLocation: Central EuropeNeighbors: Austria, Slovakia, Serbia, Croatia, Romania, UkraineCapital City: BudapestPopulation (early 2026): 9.6 millionOfficial Language: Hungarian (Magyar)GDP per capita (2025): $25,284GDP growth rate: 0% (2025), 2.3% expected for 2026, 2.6% for 2027Inflation: 4.5% in 2025, 3.5% expected for 2026Currency: Forint (HUF)Investment Promotion Agencies: The Hungarian Investment Promotion Agency (HIPA) provides a range of…
AI is not only changing how journalistic content is produced but also how people access that content. For at least the past year, many news publishers have seen visitor numbers to their websites fall dramatically as AI-related summaries are increasingly replacing traditional search results. As users change their consumption habits to look for direct answers…
Over the past decade, I’ve seen thousands of people try to learn programming online. Some succeed quickly, while others struggle for years. The difference is rarely intelligence; it’s usually how they approach learning. Programming is not just about watching tutorials or reading theory. It’s a skill built through consistent practice, problem-solving, and real-world application. The…
Many payment processors treat identity verification like a gatekeeper. You hand over your documents, wait for approval, and hope nothing gets lost in the process. For crypto payments, this creates a bizarre contradiction: you’re using a technology built for decentralization and privacy, but still jumping through the same hoops as a bank account application. No-KYC…
The advent of autonomous treasury has ignited a competitive push, complete with aggressive industry targets. Not all companies will want to proceed at the same speed. The shift to an autonomous treasury is reshaping the world of corporate finance, driven by new strategies and technologies—from self-healing cash forecasts to AI-driven liquidity engines—that are replacing legacy…
Earlier this year, Yonatan Levi left his home country of Israel to observe the Hungarian election. Levi, a scholar at the center-left think tank Molad, had traveled with a group of parliamentarians and activists to study how opposition leader Péter Magyar was running a winning campaign against an authoritarian prime minister. This was, in their…
Revolut recently said it wants to secure banking licences in both France and the United States, just weeks after finally winning a full UK banking licence. That is what makes the latest move matter. Without the UK approval, the push into France and the US would look like another expansion story. With it, the company…