Category: 3. Business

  • BIS, South African Reserve Bank announce winners of G20 TechSprint

    BIS, South African Reserve Bank announce winners of G20 TechSprint

    • Fifteen shortlisted teams from around the world competed to develop innovative technological solutions to address trust and integrity in finance.
    • Solutions aim to establish trust among financial institutions through digital identity solutions, improve the ability of small and medium-sized enterprises to finance through credit data portability, and drive wider adoption of fast payment systems globally by mitigating fraud and cyber risks.
    • The winning teams are Team Ownapay SA (Proprietary) Ltd, Team Silence Laboratories Pte Ltd and Team FNA and Proto.

    The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) and the South African Reserve Bank (SARB), under the South African G20 Presidency, today announced the winners of the G20 TechSprint 2025 challenge on trust and integrity in finance.

    The G20 TechSprint is a joint initiative between the G20 Presidency and the BIS Innovation Hub to seek out best-in-class technological innovations aimed at solving challenges facing the global central banking and regulatory community.

    This year’s TechSprint, the sixth edition of the G20 global hackathon open to developers from around the world, was launched in May.

    Fifteen shortlisted teams presented their solutions to an independent panel of judges convened by the SARB in South Africa. Following are the winners for each of the three problem statements:

    • Ownapay SA (Proprietary) Ltd, from South Africa, won the category for problem statement 1, which invited submissions on developing digital identity solutions: establishing trust among financial institutions through innovative, verifiable and privacy-preserving digital identity technologies.
    • Silence Laboratories Pte Ltd, from Singapore, won the category for problem statement 2, which focused on credit data portability: improving the ability of small and medium-sized enterprises to finance through secure, consumer-consented data exchange solutions that facilitate seamless cross-border sharing of credit information.
    • FNA and Proto, from the United Kingdom, won the category for problem statement 3, which called for solutions to mitigate fraud and cyber risks: driving wider adoption of fast payment systems globally – and promoting financial inclusion and economic growth – through technology designed to reduce fraud and cyber risks.

    The 2025 edition of TechSprint has addressed trust and integrity, while advancing scalability and promoting financial inclusion.

    Thank you to all who contributed for your curiosity, discipline and commitment to a more open and trusted financial future.

    Pablo Hernández de Cos, General Manager of the BIS

    As policymakers, our unwavering commitment to fostering innovation is crucial. The G20 TechSprint has once again shown that some of the most scalable and forward-thinking solutions to global financial challenges can emerge from fintech start-ups in small towns as well as seasoned developers in global hubs.

    Hosting the TechSprint on African soil for the first time revealed the depth of talent and ingenuity across our continent and beyond. The solutions put forward underscore the urgent need to build open, trusted and inclusive financial systems that transcend borders and serve everyone.

    Lesetja Kganyago, Governor, SARB

    Shortlisted teams

    Problem statement 1

    • Currency Network Ltd
    • Meeco
    • Ownapay SA (Proprietary) Ltd 
    • Settlefirst Assetsworks Private Ltd 
    • walt.id

    Problem statement 2

    • Akiba Digital (Pty) Ltd 
    • A team of eight individuals led by Amit Bapat1 
    • eSusFarm Africa 
    • Silence Laboratories Pte Ltd
    • Smile Technology Pte Ltd

    Problem statement 3

    • Banfico VOP 
    • ContexQ 
    • FNA and Proto 
    • Kasikorn Soft Company Ltd 
    • Mastercard 

    List of judges

    • Dr Joseph Atick, Executive Chairman, ID4Africa
    • Mr Raymond Chan, Executive Director (Enforcement and AML), Hong Kong Monetary Authority
    • Ms Mary Beth Christie, Independent non-Executive Director, Open Banking UK
    • Ms Violaine Clerc, Executive Secretary, Financial Action Task Force
    • Mr Jeremy Gray, Technical Director, Cenfri
    • Ms Gail Hodges, Executive Director, OpenID Foundation
    • Mr Guilherme Themes Miguel Jose, Head of Division at the Financial System Regulation Department, Central Bank of Brazil
    • Mr Stephen Linnell, Chief Executive Officer, PayInc
    • Mr Mark Munne, Head of Technology, Nexus Global Payments
    • Mr Kwame Oppong, Former Head FinTech and Innovation, Bank of Ghana
    • Mr P Vasudevan, Executive Director, Reserve Bank of India

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  • At 3 Years, Eque-Cel Displays Deep and Durable Responses in Relapsed Multiple Myeloma

    At 3 Years, Eque-Cel Displays Deep and Durable Responses in Relapsed Multiple Myeloma

    The therapeutic landscape of relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma has evolved rapidly with the advent of BCMA-directed cellular therapies, offering the possibility of deep and durable responses in a setting historically characterized by diminishing treatment returns with each subsequent line of therapy. However, questions have remained regarding long-term durability, late relapse, and safety with extended follow-up. Updated 3-year results from the phase 1b/2 FUMANBA-1 trial (NCT05066646; CTR20192510) presented by investigators from the China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences at the 22nd Annual International Myeloma Society (IMS) Meeting and Exposition begin to address these gaps.1

    In the study, equecabtagene autoleucel (eque-cel; Fucaso), a fully human anti-BCMA CAR T-cell therapy, continued to demonstrate sustained clinical activity at a median follow-up of 36 months. Among 107 efficacy-evaluable patients, the objective response rate (ORR) reached 96.3%, including an 83.2% complete response (CR) or better rate. In CAR T-cell therapy–naive patients (n = 95), outcomes were even more pronounced, with ORR and CR rates of 98.9% and 88.4%, respectively. The median progression-free survival (PFS) was 30.46 months (95% CI, 24.11-42.15) in the overall population, extending to 39.82 months (95% CI, 30.26-not reached) among patients achieving at least a CR and 35.91 months (95% CI, 25.95-47.67) among those without prior CAR T-cell therapy. The median overall survival (OS) had not yet been reached, with 66.3% of patients alive at 3 years.

    “Eque-cel is an excellent product, and I hope it [will] benefit patients around the world,” lead study author Lugui Qiu, MD, shared in an interview with OncLive®, where he expanded on the clinical significance of these results, the durability of responses observed with eque-cel, and how these data inform the positioning of BCMA-directed CAR T-cell therapy in contemporary myeloma treatment sequencing.

    Qiu is part of the National Clinical Research Center for Blood Diseases, the State Key Laboratory of Experimental Hematology, and the Blood Diseases Hospital & Institute of Hematology at the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College.

    OncLive: How was the phase 1b/2 FUMANBA-1 trial designed?

    Qiu: The study was designed as a registrational trial that evaluated eque-cel, a fully human anti-BCMA CAR-T cell therapy originally from a biotech [company] in China. This study started in 2019, and the enrollment finished in 1 year, so it went well.

    On June 30, 2023, eque-cel was approved by China’s National Medical Products Administration for relapsed and refractory multiple myeloma patients who had received at least 3 lines of prior therapy, including at least 1 proteasome inhibitor and an immunomodulatory drug [IMiD].2

    What long-term findings were presented at IMS?

    There were a total of 109 patients enrolled in this clinical trial, and 107 patients were efficacy evaluable. The total response rate was [96.3]%, and the CR [or better] rate was [83.2]%. We enrolled 12 patients who had received prior BCMA-directed CAR-T therapy. For those patients, the total response rate was 75%, with a median PFS of [approximately] 1 year. For patients without prior BCMA-directed CAR T-cell therapy, the total response was [98.9]%, and the CR rate was [88.4]%.

    After a median follow-up of 3 years, in the whole group, the median PFS was [30.46] months. For the 95 patients without prior CAR-T therapy, the median PFS was [35.91] months, and the median OS was not yet reached. [In total], 66.3% of patients were still alive at the 3-year follow-up.

    What was observed with regard to the safety profile?

    The safety profile is [good]. During the trial, [93.6]% of patients [experienced CRS], but mostly grade 1 or grade 2. Only 1 patient experienced grade 3 CRS, and there were only 2 patients who [developed] ICANS. There were no toxicity-related deaths in this trial.

    Several commercial BCMA-directed CAR-T therapies are [available globally]. In my impression, eque-cel has efficacy comparable with ciltacabtagene ciloleucel, and the safety profile is better than idecabtagene vicleucel. Eque-cel is a good product balancing [both] the efficacy and safety profiles.

    What are the next steps for analyzing eque-cel in patients with relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma?

    We have also launched a real-world study of eque-cel in relapsed and refractory multiple myeloma following market approval. [At IMS, we had] a poster reporting 150 cases from this real-world study. The results show that the efficacy and safety profile in the real-world setting were similar to [those in] our clinical trial.

    This product has benefited many heavily pretreated patients, including those previously treated with proteasome inhibitors, IMiDs, anti-CD38 antibodies, and even some patients who had prior BCMA-directed CAR T-cell therapy. [These patients] can still benefit from eque-cel.

    References

    1. Li C, Zou D, Zhou K, et al. Three-year follow-up of FUMANBA-1: a phase 1b/2 study of fully human anti-BCMA CAR-T equecabtagene autoleucel in patients with relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma. Presented at the 22nd Annual International Myeloma Society Meeting and Exposition; September 17-20, 2025; Toronto, Canada. Abstract OA-08.
    2. Innovent and IASO Bio announce the NMPA approval of Fucaso, the first fully-human BCMA CAR-T therapy for the treatment of relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma. News release. Innovent Biologics, Inc. July 3, 2023. Accessed November 11, 2025. https://www.iasobio.com/info.php?id=224

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  • S&P Global to Present at J.P. Morgan 2025 Ultimate Services Investor Conference on November 18, 2025

    S&P Global to Present at J.P. Morgan 2025 Ultimate Services Investor Conference on November 18, 2025

    Session will be Webcast

    NEW YORK, Nov. 11, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — Martina Cheung, President and Chief Executive Officer of S&P Global (NYSE: SPGI), will participate in J.P. Morgan’s 2025 Ultimate Services Investor Conference on November 18, 2025 in New York, New York. Ms. Cheung is scheduled to speak from 9:00 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. (Eastern Standard Time). The “fireside chat” will be webcast and may include forward-looking information.

    Webcast Instructions: Live and Replay
    The webcast (audio-only) will be available live and in replay through the Company’s Investor Relations website http://investor.spglobal.com/Investor-Presentations (please copy and paste URL into web browser). The webcast replay will be available within 24 hours after the end of the presentation and will remain accessible for 30 days, ending on December 18, 2025. Any additional information presented during the session will be made available on the Company’s Investor Presentations web page.

    About S&P Global 
    S&P Global (NYSE: SPGI) provides essential intelligence. We enable governments, businesses and individuals with the right data, expertise and connected technology so that they can make decisions with conviction. From helping our customers assess new investments to guiding them through sustainability and energy transition across supply chains, we unlock new opportunities, solve challenges and accelerate progress for the world.

    We are widely sought after by many of the world’s leading organizations to provide credit ratings, benchmarks, analytics and workflow solutions in the global capital, commodity and automotive markets. With every one of our offerings, we help the world’s leading organizations plan for tomorrow, today. For more information, visit www.spglobal.com.

    Investor Relations: http://investor.spglobal.com

    Contacts:

    Investor Relations
    Mark Grant
    Senior Vice President, Investor Relations and Treasurer
    Tel: + 1 (347) 640-1521
    mark.grant@spglobal.com

    Media
    Orla O’Brien
    Global Head of Public Relations
    Tel: +1 (857) 407-8559
    orla.obrien@spglobal.com

    SOURCE S&P Global

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  • Crypto trading protocol Lighter raises $68 million at $1.5 billion valuation

    Crypto trading protocol Lighter raises $68 million at $1.5 billion valuation

    “Pivot from crypto to AI” became a refrain in Silicon Valley after ChatGPT launched in 2022. Opportunistic founders looked to jump from one flagging hype cycle to the newer, shinier thing in tech. Vladimir Novakovski, though, pivoted from AI to crypto—and he’s attracted a who’s who of investors to back his startup Lighter, one of the fastest growing projects in digital assets.

    Lighter is both a decentralized exchange designed to not be controlled by a single entity as well as a blockchain. It allows users to trade perpetual futures, a type of derivative that lets traders speculate on future prices for cryptocurrencies. It will also soon roll out spot trading for tokens like Bitcoin, Novakovski said.

    On Tuesday, Lighter announced that it has raised $68 million in a new funding round. According to the 40-year-old Novakovski, who founded Lighter in 2022 and serves as CEO, the fundraise was led by Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund and the fintech investor Ribbit Capital. Other participants included Haun Ventures and the online brokerage Robinhood, which rarely makes venture investments.

    The round valued Lighter at around $1.5 billion, according to two sources familiar with the deal, who asked for anonymity to discuss private business dealings. Novakovski declined to comment on Lighter’s valuation but said the deal was for equity and token warrants, or allocations of a yet-to-be-released cryptocurrency.

    “What we want to do is to be the infrastructure layer that verifies that everything that happens in finance happens fairly, happens correctly, happens transparently,” Novakovski said in an interview.

    Trading to AI to trading

    The fundraise for Lighter comes amid a wave of buzz for crypto “perps,” or perpetuals. These are derivatives popular in the crypto industry and let traders hold futures contracts that don’t expire, provided they maintain the necessary margin requirement. 

    While so-called perps have been around for years, the recent rise of Hyperliquid, another decentralized exchange, has shaken up the market. With only 11 employees, Hyperliquid cofounder Jeff Yan managed to challenge centralized behemoths like Binance, which has responded by closely aligning itself with its own Hyperliquid competitor: Aster.

    Lighter is entering an intensely competitive market, but Novakovski has the intellectual chops to compete. “Vlad and the team that he’s built is like 85% to 90% of why we made the investment,” Joey Krug, a partner at Founders Fund, told Fortune.

    After Novakovski immigrated from Russia to the U.S. as a child, he won a place on the U.S. national teams for the International Olympiad in informatics and physics. At the age of 16, he went to Harvard, graduated early, and, at only 18 years old, began working at the hedge fund Citadel Investment Group. (Ken Griffin, CEO of Citadel, personally recruited him, Novakovski said.)

    Novakovski then had an almost 15-year career at various companies as an engineer and trader before he became a founder himself. In 2017, he and Scott Wu, whom Novakovski previously worked with at the investment firm Addepar, founded their own startup together: Lunchclub, an AI-powered platform for social networking. 

    They raised around $30 million, and, in the beginning of the pandemic, saw their product attract a swathe of isolated users looking to meet new people. But, in 2022, growth plateaued. “We had three paths, which is: try to make it into something profitable but small, try to figure out a way for it to go from what it was to like a TikTok or Snapchat, which didn’t seem particularly viable,” said Novakovski. “The third path: to pivot to something else we were really excited about.”

    Wu left Lunchclub to found the AI coding startup Cognition, which has since notched a valuation of $10.2 billion, and Novakovski decided to return to his roots as a trader.

    He pivoted Lunchclub to Lighter, retained 80% of the team, and raised a new stash of capital: $21 million in a previously unreported round in 2024 led by Haun Ventures and Craft Ventures. Other participants included Dragonfly and Robot Ventures. That, combined with Lighter’s most recent round, puts the amount that Lighter has raised so far at almost $90 million.

    After two years of development and testing, he launched Lighter in January. As opposed to Hyperliquid, which runs on its own layer 1 blockchain, Lighter runs on its own layer 2 on Ethereum, which Novakovski mentioned as a key distinguisher between the two competing products.

    Lighter’s blockchain has quickly become one of the top layer 2 blockchains on Ethereum by total volume locked, or the total amount of funds on a blockchain, according to data from the crypto analytics site L2BEAT. And his business is already profitable, Novakovski said. “We’re pretty happy about our position right now,”  he added, when asked about how his product compares to Hyperliquid, “but we’re working hard.”

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  • FTSE 100 hits record high as job market data weakens pound; AstraZeneca shines – Reuters

    1. FTSE 100 hits record high as job market data weakens pound; AstraZeneca shines  Reuters
    2. FTSE 100 Live: Blue-chip record run continues, Vodafone dividend cheer  London Evening Standard
    3. Will the Bank of England now play Santa with a December rate cut?  The Times
    4. FTSE 100 LIVE: Markets rally as UK jobs data suggests interest rate cut in December  Yahoo Finance UK
    5. FTSE 100 Set For Gains As Market Optimism Grows  Finimize

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  • Rocket Lab delays first Neutron launch to 2026

    Rocket Lab delays first Neutron launch to 2026

    WASHINGTON — Rocket Lab has delayed the first launch of its reusable Neutron rocket to 2026, saying it wants to maximize the chances that the flight will be a success.

    The company disclosed in its third-quarter financial results Nov. 10 that it now expects the first Neutron to be on the pad at Launch Complex 3 in Virginia in the first quarter of 2026, “with the first launch thereafter,” it stated.

    Rocket Lab had been working toward a first launch before the end of this year. In February, after a report by a financial firm suggested Neutron’s debut could slip to as late as mid-2027, the company defended its 2025 target. By August, Chief Executive Peter Beck said the company was working “extremely hard” to fly Neutron this year but would need a “green-light schedule,” or one with no setbacks, to achieve that.

    Beck, speaking on a Nov. 10 earnings call, did not cite any specific issues that caused the latest delay. Instead, he said the company was taking a meticulous approach to testing Neutron before its first flight.

    “With all of the hardware in front of us now and significant testing programs underway across all parts of the vehicle, we can say we need a little bit more time to retire the risks,” he said. That approach, he added, reflects the “Rocket Lab process,” in which “our hardware is always looking beautiful and, more importantly, always working beautifully.”

    That involves extensive ground testing of integrated systems down to individual subcomponents, he explained, from the Archimedes engines that will power Neutron to the vehicle’s distinctive “hungry hippo” payload fairing, which remains attached for reuse.

    “We’ve seen what happens when others rush to the pad with an unproven product, and we just refuse to do that,” Beck said. He reiterated that the company’s goal is to reach orbit on the first Neutron launch. “You won’t see us minimizing some qualifier about just clearing the pad and claiming success.”

    While Rocket Lab is now projecting Neutron will be on the pad in the first quarter of 2026, Beck said he could not be more specific about when it will actually launch. “It really depends on what you find” during testing, he said, including a hot-fire test of the first-stage engines. If those tests uncover no major issues, “then it’s a fairly straightforward path.”

    “I’m suspicious if everything just flies through,” he added. “Generally, you expect to see something.”

    Beck said the latest schedule shift will have “insignificant” long-term financial impacts. However, the cost of developing Neutron has grown from earlier estimates of $250 million to $300 million. Adam Spice, Rocket Lab’s chief financial officer, said the company will have spent $360 million on Neutron development through the end of 2025, including about $15 million per quarter for workforce costs.

    Overall spending on Neutron will “hopefully” peak in the fourth quarter of this year, Spice said. “It all depends on the timing of that first launch.”

    Billion-dollar war chest

    Despite the delay, Rocket Lab shares rose more than 8% in after-hours trading Nov. 10. Investors appeared to respond to strong quarterly results, including record revenue of $155 million for the third quarter. The company projects $592.1 million to $602.1 million in revenue for the full year.

    Rocket Lab shares have surged more than 150% in the last six months. The company took advantage of the rise with an “at-the-market” sale of shares in the third quarter, raising $468.8 million. It now holds a little more than $1 billion in cash and equivalents.

    Part of those funds will be used to complete Rocket Lab’s planned acquisition of Mynaric, a German optical communications terminal manufacturer, announced in March. The deal has not yet closed amid questions over whether the German government will approve the sale to a U.S. company.

    On the call, Beck expressed confidence the Mynaric acquisition will move forward. Mynaric completed a financial restructuring in August, “which was a pivotal moment in the acquisition process,” he said. “Rocket Lab has been a force multiplier for the U.S. space industry, and we’re ready to bring that same energy to the European space sector with our first foothold and expansion into Germany.”

    Beck said the company also has an active pipeline of potential acquisitions that could be financed with its new capital. He declined to name specific targets but said they range from “tuck-ins,” or companies offering specialized capabilities, to larger, more strategic deals.

    “We’re always looking for big, needle-moving stuff,” he said. “We always look for things that we think have a step change in the scale or other elements of the company.”

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  • Sub-Saharan Africa’s sovereign debt outlook 2026

    Sub-Saharan Africa’s sovereign debt outlook 2026

    As global interest rates stabilise and capital flows begin to re-orient towards emerging and frontier markets, Sub-Saharan African issuers are navigating an evolving landscape shaped by fiscal consolidation, higher borrowing costs and unclear sovereign credit ratings. Against this backdrop, 2026 is expected to be a defining year for Sub-Saharan African debt issuance and investor engagement.

    This virtual session brings together sovereign issuers from across Sub-Saharan Africa, alongside investors and financial intermediaries, to discuss the outlook debt capital markets in 2026

    The discussion examines key macroeconomic drivers, funding strategies and investor sentiment shaping the market in the year ahead. Participants also explore policy initiatives and market innovations that can enhance resilience, deepen liquidity, and strengthen Africa’s position within the global fixed-income ecosystem.

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  • IKEA becoming more affordable, accessible and sustainable – serving more customers and delivering EUR 41.5 billion in revenue

    IKEA becoming more affordable, accessible and sustainable – serving more customers and delivering EUR 41.5 billion in revenue

    Today, Ingka Group* released its FY25** financial performance. In a year marked by economic uncertainty, supply chain challenges, and cost-of-living pressures that impacted consumer confidence across many markets, Ingka Group and its three business areas – IKEA Retail, Ingka Investments and Ingka Centres, reached EUR 41.5 billion in revenue.

    Throughout the year, Ingka Group continued to meet more customers where they are, expanding beyond its traditional IKEA stores into new formats, pick-up points and digital channels. With total capital expenditure of EUR 3.4 billion, the company continued to invest in building a more sustainable and resilient business. This included investing in responsible forestry and accelerating investments in recycling companies to bring back materials to the IKEA value chain. In addition, the company continued to invest in renewable energy with new solar parks in the Netherlands and Poland. The year also saw the full acquisition of Ikano Bank offering integrated financial services and supporting IKEA affordability.

    IKEA Retail is serving more customers and increasing visits to stores with 1.3% and online visitors by 4.6%. While IKEA Retail delivered sales of EUR 39 billion, a decrease of –1.6% compared with last year (EUR 39.6 billion in FY24), it sold more quantities, up 1.6%, due to a continued focus on keeping prices low. The year brought new customer meeting points in key cities such as Delhi, London and Paris, and fresh ways to blend online and in-store shopping, from the IKEA Pre-owned marketplace to a digitally integrated mixed-use store at IKEA Shanghai Linkong.

    “As we look ahead, our commitment to the many people remains stronger than ever by offering a wide range of well-designed, functional home furnishing products at prices so low that as many people as possible will be able to afford them. Our resilience depends on how well we adapt to the fast-changing world and retail environment, so speed, low cost and simplicity will be important to keep prices low”, added Maeztu.

    Ingka Group delivered an operating income of EUR 1.5 billion (FY24: EUR 1.3 billion) with FY25 net profit increasing to EUR 1.4 billion (FY24: EUR 0.8 billion), reflecting balanced performance across the business. Enabled by the company’s unique ownership model, 85% of net profit is reinvested back into the business, while the remaining 15% is paid as a dividend to its sole owner, the Stichting INGKA Foundation, which funds the IKEA Foundation, an independent philanthropy that fights global warming with and for the many people.

    In FY25, Ingka Group corporate income tax was EUR 0.7 billion (FY24 EUR 0.8 billion), giving an effective tax rate of 32.8%, globally. The total tax bill, including other taxes and duties such as property, environmental and customs taxes, amounted to approximately EUR 1.2 billion (FY24: EUR 1.2 billion), as outlined in the Ingka Group Tax Report.

    Ingka Centres delivered a strong performance, particularly in Europe and China, supported by strategic moves such as the opening of Livat Shanghai, the acquisition of Pasing Arcaden, a major shopping centre in Munich, the launch of Livli as a new European consumer brand, and the announced development of Lykli Noida in India. Visitation across meeting places reached 320 million in FY25, an 18% increase year-on-year.

    Ingka Investments, which plays an important role in supporting Ingka Group’s long-term growth and sustainability ambitions, has invested and committed EUR 4.3 billion in off-site renewable energy to date, as part of a EUR 7.5 billion programme to 2030. In FY25 it advanced its circularity agenda, such as mattress and plastics recovery through RetourMatras in France and Re-mall in China.

    Reflecting its long-term approach, Ingka Group published its first Net Zero Transition Plan in February 2025, marking an important milestone in its sustainability journey. The plan outlines the company’s roadmap to reduce absolute greenhouse gas emissions from its value chain by at least 50% by 2030 and 90% by 2050, reinforcing its long-term commitment to climate action while continuing to grow the business.

    The Ingka Group FY25 Annual Summary & Sustainability Report will be published at the end of January 2026 and will include the company’s progress on sustainability targets, evaluated through the four areas of Value Creation: Better homes, Better lives, Better planet and Better company, reflecting its long-term, integrated approach to creating value for people, society and the planet – building a better everyday life for today and future generations.                                                                                                           

    *Ingka Group business areas:

    IKEA Retail: Ingka Group is the largest IKEA retailer with IKEA retail operations in 31 markets. It is a strategic partner to develop and innovate the IKEA business and help define common IKEA strategies.

    Ingka Centres has 52 years of experience in shopping centres and today works with over 2,600 brands across its portfolio of 37 meeting places in 14 markets.

    Ingka Investments is the investment arm of Ingka Group managing six different portfolios: Real Estate Investments, Renewable Energy Investments, Forestland Investments, Business Acquisition and Venture Investments, Circular Investments, and Financial Markets Investments.

    **Fiscal year 25: 1 September 2024 – 31 August 2025.

     

    About Ingka Group

    With IKEA retail operations in 31 markets, Ingka Group is the largest IKEA retailer and represents 88% of IKEA retail sales. It is a strategic partner to develop and innovate the IKEA business and help define common IKEA strategies. Ingka Group owns and operates IKEA sales channels under franchise agreements with Inter IKEA Systems B.V. It has three business areas: IKEA Retail, Ingka Investments and Ingka Centres. Read more on Ingka.com.

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  • MFS Investment Management and Crayola Collaborate to Champion Creativity and Financial Literacy

    MFS Investment Management and Crayola Collaborate to Champion Creativity and Financial Literacy

    Investing in Creativity Sweepstakes and free financial literacy resources
    support educators and parents as part of Crayola Creativity Week 2026

    EASTON, Pa., Nov. 11, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — Crayola and MFS® Investment Management announced today a partnership that will leverage the power of creativity to support teaching and learning financial literacy in schools and homes as part of Crayola Creativity Week 2026. Together, the brands will provide free financial literacy resources for educators and families to help children learn creative ways to save, avoid money mishaps, and plan for the future.

    More than 13 million students from over 120 countries and 90,000 learning sites participated in Crayola Creativity Week last year. The collaboration with MFS Investment Management, an official sponsor of Crayola Creativity Week 2026, features the Investing in Creativity Sweepstakes, which runs through Dec. 8 and includes opportunities for educators and parents. In total, 10 educators will receive $2,500, along with $1,000 in Crayola arts supplies, for their schools to host a family engagement event that focuses on creativity and financial literacy. MFS Investment Management is supporting family engagement in schools because student outcomes improve when schools host events for their entire learning community.

    As part of the sweepstakes, one family also will win $4,500 to establish or contribute to a 529 Savings Plan, along with $500 in Crayola art supplies. A 529 Savings Plan is a tax-advantaged investment account that helps families with qualified K-12 and college education expenses.

    “At MFS, we believe financial literacy and creativity are powerful tools for helping young people reach their full potential,” said Maureen Bryan, VP, Director of Corporate Citizenship. “Through our partnership with Crayola Creativity Week, we’re inspiring students to think boldly, build confidence, and make meaningful connections between imagination and their financial futures.”

    In addition to the sweepstakes, educators and parents have access to free financial literacy resources including activity sheets, a family engagement event guide, and a learning video featuring actor Michael Rainey, Jr. As part of the 2026 Creativity Week line-up, Rainey will share creative ways to build financial literacy skills and vocabulary and read aloud a selection of pages from the book A Quick History of Money (published by Quarto). The book’s illustrator, Rob Flowers, will help kids make their thinking visible by showing them how to illustrate the money smart words they’ve learned and imagine themselves as savvy-shopper detectives.

    “Creativity is a critical life skill that helps children reach their full potential. Using creativity to help kids become money smart brightens their future,” said Cheri Sterman, Senior Director of Education, Crayola. “Our partnership with MFS underscores a shared commitment to empowering students with both creative confidence and financial literacy skills.”

    The partnership comes as Crayola approaches the fifth year of Crayola Creativity Week, taking place Jan. 26 through Feb. 1, 2026. The free, week-long educational event provides schools, families, and libraries with inspiring and interactive content delivered by world-renowned creative talent to support creative learning across subject areas. The annual virtual event gives educators and parents resources to help nurture children’s creativity and supplies children with the tools to bring their ideas to life, encouraging imaginative expression and innovative thinking.

    Through engaging, standards-aligned activities and resources, Crayola Creativity Week integrates hands-on experiences with literacy, STEAM, and social-emotional learning. The brand partners with companies, education associations, artists, actors, authors, and entrepreneurs to bring this program to life through hands-on videos from celebrity talent, downloadable handouts to follow and create along, daily prizes, and a livestream virtual school assembly. The daily themes address embracing ideas, reaching goals, empowering communities, and more to make creativity an essential part of the classroom, which extends beyond the week.

    Crayola Creativity Week is a signature activation of Crayola’s Campaign for Creativity, the brand’s advocacy initiative that reframes, champions and celebrates creativity as a mindset essential to lifelong growth and wellbeing, and provides resources and inspiration to encourage more creative moments at home and in school.

    Entries for the Investing in Creativity Sweepstakes are being accepted now. For more information about Crayola Creativity Week, visit Crayola.com/CreativityWeek.

    About Crayola
    Crayola LLC, based in Easton, Pa., and a subsidiary of Hallmark Cards, Incorporated, is a global leader in creative experiences. Through its innovative and vibrant portfolio of products, content and experiences, the iconic brand has unleashed imaginations and enabled colorful self-expression for more than 120 years. Crayola is committed to nurturing creativity as a lifelong journey. From sparking a child’s first artistic adventure and helping parents and educators raise creatively alive children, to inspiring adults to embrace their creative spirit, the brand empowers individuals of all ages to explore, discover, celebrate and connect through the joy of making. Learn more at www.crayola.com or join the conversation at www.Facebook.com/Crayola.

    About MFS® Investment Management
    In 1924, MFS launched the first US open-end mutual fund, opening the door to the markets for millions of everyday investors. Today, as a full-service global investment manager serving financial advisors, intermediaries and institutional clients, MFS still serves a single purpose: to create long-term value for clients by allocating capital responsibly. That takes our powerful investment approach combining collective expertise, thoughtful risk management and long-term discipline. Supported by our culture of shared values and collaboration, our teams of diverse thinkers actively debate ideas and assess material risks to uncover what we believe are the best investment opportunities in the market. As of September 30, 2025, MFS manages US$658.7 billion in assets on behalf of individual and institutional investors worldwide. Please visit mfs.com for more information.

    SOURCE Crayola

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