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Apollo Global Management eyes L&T Finance realty loan book with $1 billion deal

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Apollo Global Management eyes L&T Finance realty loan book with  billion deal
Apollo International Administration is in superior talks with L&T Finance Holdings Ltd to amass actual property loans price ₹8,000-9,000 crore, mentioned folks with information of the matter. The L&T Group firm is trying to pivot towards the retail phase by pruning its infrastructure and actual property publicity, they mentioned.

The deal, pegged at $1 billion, may even will assist L&T get money upfront as a substitute of by way of staggered funds, permitting it to deleverage its stability sheet, whereas the non-public fairness group will get a portfolio of actual property property with some first-loss safety in addition to constructing a relationship with the engineering large.

The transaction is anticipated to get finalised in a number of weeks and can be carried out through a newly floated various funding fund (AIF) construction and can be much like Apollo’s take care of Piramal Capital & Housing Finance, a part of

, mentioned the folks cited above.

The actual property e-book of listed L&T Finance shrank to ₹11,210 crore in FY22 from 12,945 crore within the earlier fiscal 12 months. Father or mother L&T owns 66.26% of the monetary providers arm.

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Below the plan, the debt excellent on the L&T Finance actual property e-book can be refinanced both by way of bonds or non-convertible debentures (NCDs) and transfer to the AIF that can be owned by each Apollo International and L&T Group. These loans have a 15-16% rupee return on common. Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas and Trilegal are the authorized advisors.

“As we’ve got disclosed to the investor neighborhood, press and on our web site, L&T Finance has already launched into the chosen technique of turning into a retail finance firm and in that path, we might be limiting our publicity to the wholesale finance enterprise basically and to the true property finance enterprise particularly,” an L&T Finance spokesperson advised ET. “We’d be focusing on retailisation of our mortgage e-book to the extent of round 80% by FY 25-26 with anticipated retail mortgage progress of virtually 25% CAGR with an support of fintech at scale whereby we’ve got invested vastly over the previous few years.”

Nonetheless, the spokesperson declined to touch upon particulars concerning Apollo negotiating with the corporate for its actual property mortgage e-book.

“As regards particular strategies of pruning the true property e-book, we might not prefer to remark upon market hypothesis,” the particular person mentioned.

Apollo International did not reply to emails despatched on Saturday.

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Pivot to Retail

L&T Finance managing director and chief government Dinanath Dubhashi advised reporters lately that the corporate is exploring “inorganic constructions” to exit the true property tasks lending enterprise or at the very least scale back its publicity to the phase by partnering with different financiers because the risk-return profile is “not beneficial” regardless of some enhancements, corresponding to larger residence gross sales. The corporate can be trying to be a part of devoted funds to create a platform that can commit funds to infrastructure tasks, he mentioned. This can assist the corporate scale back debt within the phase.

“The dependence of the true property sector now on so many issues together with numerous permissions, progress of tasks, it’s turning into increasingly troublesome to be predictable and with that we’ve got determined to… full our present tasks,” Dubhashi had mentioned. “We’ve got really lowered and picked up a portfolio of shut to three,200 crore and are exploring numerous inorganic choices, inorganic constructions of accelerating this discount.”

L&T chairperson AM Naik has been quoted as saying that L&T Finance is the one listed firm within the group that “has not carried out.” L&T’s MD and CEO SN Subrahmanyan was put in because the non-executive chairman of L&T Finance in February to “transition itself right into a tech-enabled NBFC with retailisation at its core.” This was according to the group’s Imaginative and prescient 2026 blueprint.

“Administration has put ahead its Lakshya 2026 targets, together with rising retail to greater than 80% of the stability sheet, plans to generate >25% CAGR retail progress, higher asset high quality,” Sharekhan’s analysts mentioned in a notice. “Administration additionally intends to scale back its general wholesale portfolio by way of sale/switch of property with tie-ups with different financiers.”

For the reason that Covid-19 pandemic, L&T’s actual property finance enterprise has taken a extra calibrated strategy towards disbursements, primarily aimed toward completion of ongoing tasks and resolutions, the corporate mentioned in its newest annual report. Continued assist to builders in development finance facilitated larger traction in venture completion, which has resulted in 6% progress in escrow assortment and 62% progress in repayments and prepayments from the 12 months earlier, it mentioned. Continued concentrate on completion of present actual property tasks resulted in repayments and prepayments of over ₹3,000 crore in FY22, it added.

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Canadian foreign, finance ministers meet Trump's team on tariffs

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Canadian foreign, finance ministers meet Trump's team on tariffs

Senior members of Canada’s cabinet held talks Friday with US President-elect Donald Trump’s nominees to lead the departments of commerce and the interior, as Ottawa works to hold off the threat of punishing tariffs.

Canada’s newly-appointed Finance Minister Dominic Leblanc and Foreign Minister Melanie Joly met with Howard Lutnick, Trump’s commerce secretary nominee, who will also lead the country’s tariff and trade agenda.

Interior secretary nominee Doug Burgum was also at the meeting held at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.

Leblanc’s spokesman Jean-Sebastien Comeau, who confirmed the participants, described the talks as “positive and productive.”

Trump has vowed to impose crippling 25-percent tariffs on all Canadian imports when he takes office next month.

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He has said they will remain in place until Canada addresses the flow of undocumented migrants and the drug fentanyl into the United States.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has promised retaliatory measures should Trump follow through on his pledge, raising fears of a trade war.

Leblanc and Joly “outlined the measures in Canada’s Border Plan and reiterated the shared commitment to strengthen border security as well as combat the harm caused by fentanyl to save Canadian and American lives,” Comeau said in a statement.

Canada’s Border Plan — estimated to cost CAN$1 billion ($694 million) — was crafted as part of Ottawa’s response to Trump’s concerns.

Lutnick and Burgum “agreed to relay information to President Trump,” the statement said.

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Trudeau is facing his worst political crisis since sweeping into office in 2015.

Leblanc was named finance minister earlier this month after the surprise resignation of Chrystia Freeland.

In a scathing resignation letter, Freeland accused Trudeau of prioritizing handouts to voters instead of preparing Canada’s finances for a possible trade war.

More than 75 percent of Canadian exports go to the United States and nearly two million Canadian jobs depend on trade.

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The Future of Decentralized and Traditional Finance Integration

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The Future of Decentralized and Traditional Finance Integration


The future of finance, especially global finance, is not on the horizon — it’s happening now. Countries and Institutions that embrace interoperability, real-time compliance, and quantum-resilient security are positioning themselves as leaders of this transformation.

The financial system is in the midst of a monumental shift. Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) are gaining momentum as governments and regulators aim to modernize monetary systems, while Decentralized Finance (DeFi) continues to challenge conventional financial services with speed, transparency, and decentralization. However, despite their potential, these two forces — along with traditional financial systems — remain disjointed. This fragmentation results in inefficiencies, rising costs, and settlement delays, hindering global financial connectivity. Bridging these worlds is no longer optional — it’s essential to create a faster, more secure, and more inclusive financial future.

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The Problems Holding Finance Back

For decades, the global financial system has relied on legacy infrastructure and fragmented regulatory and banking industry frameworks. While it has supported cross-border payments and international trade, it has done so at an exorbitant cost in terms of both time and money. The involvement of global politics has added an additional level as well to an already complex system. The emergence of blockchain-based DeFi platforms introduced new possibilities but failed to solve the underlying issues of scalability and compliance. Meanwhile, CBDCs add a new layer of complexity as central banks look to maintain control while modernizing payments.

The key obstacles are clear:

These challenges are not theoretical. They’re real-world problems faced by financial institutions, payment providers, and central banks trying to create more efficient, resilient systems.

See also: Transforming the Financial Sector: The Impact of Automation in Banking

Interoperability: The Bedrock of the Next Financial System

True interoperability is not a feature — it’s a requirement. For traditional finance, DeFi, and CBDCs to coexist, they must be able to communicate and transfer value across one another. Without this capability, cross-border payments will remain slow, and multi-system operations will continue to require expensive manual reconciliation. Interoperability enables payments to flow seamlessly between bank networks, DeFi protocols, and CBDC platforms, cutting out intermediaries and automating settlement.

What true interoperability requires:

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  • Multi-Ledger Transaction Support: Payments must move across different financial ledgers — from commercial banks to DeFi protocols to central bank digital currency networks — without reconciliation bottlenecks.
  • Real-Time, Multi-Currency Settlement: Payments involving fiat, cryptocurrencies, and CBDCs must be processed and settled in real time, enabling frictionless commerce at scale.
  • The governance, regulatory, privacy, and Nation-State requirements need to be automated in the new Platform.
  • Universal Payment Flows: Payment solutions must enable a single payment to cross multiple networks — legacy, private, blockchain, and government-issued systems — without requiring separate processing channels.

The results are undeniable: greater efficiency, lower settlement costs, and a path to instant cross-border payments. This shift eliminates the need for batch processing and multi-step settlement chains, replacing them with real-time payment routing and automated multi-ledger transfers.

Compliance Can’t Be Bolted On – It Must Be Embedded

Cross-border payments are subject to varying regulatory requirements, which are enforced by regional authorities. Ensuring compliance with KYC, AML, and sanctions screening has traditionally been a manual, labor-intensive process, leading to costly delays. But the future of compliance is no longer manual — it’s embedded. By embedding compliance checks directly into payment flows, financial institutions can meet regulatory requirements in real time, reducing risk, eliminating delays, and supporting faster payments.

Key elements of embedded compliance:

  • On-Demand KYC/AML Screening: Compliance screening occurs automatically, with KYC/AML checks happening as the payment is processed, not after.
  • Dynamic Rule Adjustment: When payments cross borders, the system recognizes which jurisdictions are involved and applies the proper compliance rules in real time.
  • Automated Risk Scoring: Transactions are evaluated for risk on the fly, with high-risk payments flagged for review while low-risk payments flow uninterrupted.
  • Immutable Audit Trails: Every payment is accompanied by an immutable, tamper-proof record that supports regulatory audits and provides transparency.

By automating and embedding compliance into the payment process itself, financial institutions lower operational costs, reduce exposure to regulatory risk, and accelerate payment settlement. This approach moves compliance from being a roadblock to being an enabler.

Securing Payments for the Quantum Era

As quantum computing advances, the cryptographic protections that underpin today’s financial system are at risk. Many existing encryption methods, like RSA and ECC, could be cracked by a quantum computer. While quantum computing may seem distant, its implications for financial security are real. The financial sector must act now to prepare for a post-quantum world.

Key security measures to counter quantum threats:

The transition to quantum-resistant encryption isn’t speculative. Financial leaders know that, when quantum computing matures, it will disrupt financial security as we know it. Early adoption of quantum-safe protocols future-proofs payment infrastructure, ensuring financial stability in a rapidly evolving threat landscape.

Distributed Edge Processing: Faster Payments with Local Control

For decades, payment processing has relied on centralized data centers that route transactions through a central hub. While effective, this model introduces latency, network congestion, and single points of failure. The future of payment processing is at the edge.

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Edge processing pushes payment activity to the “edge” of the network — closer to where the payment originates — reducing travel time and allowing payments to be processed locally. Instead of relying on a central server, mini-processing nodes handle payments on-site, enabling near-instant settlements.

How edge processing changes the game:

This shift in processing models enables faster cross-border payments and lays the groundwork for true real-time settlement. Localized processing nodes create resilience, reduce downtime, and remove bottlenecks in global payment flows.

Sustainability and Financial Inclusion as Critical Imperatives

ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) factors are playing a larger role in financial infrastructure design. From environmental sustainability to financial inclusion, future-ready payment infrastructure must meet new societal expectations. This shift is not just ethical; it’s strategic. Institutions are under pressure from regulators, investors, and customers to create more equitable, transparent, and sustainable financial systems.

ESG-driven imperatives shaping financial infrastructure:

  • Environmental Impact: Centralized data centers consume enormous amounts of energy. By adopting distributed processing, institutions reduce energy use and carbon emissions.
  • Financial Inclusion: Millions of people remain unbanked. Financial inclusion solutions enable low-cost cross-border payments, giving underserved communities access to global finance.
  • Transparency and Accountability: Blockchain-based payment records create immutable, tamper-proof audit trails, ensuring visibility into every transaction.

The Call to Lead the Financial Future

The future of finance, especially global finance, is not on the horizon — it’s happening now. Countries and Institutions that embrace interoperability, real-time compliance, and quantum-resilient security are positioning themselves as leaders of this transformation. Delays are no longer an option. The financial world will reward those who act with speed, precision, and foresight. The question is not if change will come — it’s whether you’ll be ready to lead it.

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Your money habits trace back to childhood, financial psychotherapist says. Here's how to fix them

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Your money habits trace back to childhood, financial psychotherapist says. Here's how to fix them

Child saving money in a glass jar at home

Pinstock | E+ | Getty Images

Your relationship with money might seem random, but one expert says it offers clues about your childhood — and understanding this could help overcome toxic spending habits.

Vicky Reynal, a financial psychotherapist and author of “Money on Your Mind,” told CNBC Make It that there are psychological reasons behind our spending habits, and many of these attitudes stem from childhood experiences.

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“Our emotional experiences growing up will shape who we become,” she said.

For example, someone who felt secure during childhood might feel that they deserve good things, and later in life may be more likely to negotiate a higher salary or enjoy the money they have, Reynal said. Whereas someone who experienced childhood neglect may grow up with low self-esteem and act this out through money behaviors.

This could include feeling guilty when spending money because they don’t feel they deserve good things, or splashing the cash to impress because they feel unworthy of attention.

“The little toddler that goes up to their parents to show them their scribble — how they get responded to will give them a message about how the world will respond to them,” Reynal added.

Scarcity or wealth

Reynal said “the money lessons we learn growing up” are largely shaped by whether we grew up in an environment of scarcity or wealth.

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“To give you an example, growing up in scarcity, people that manage to move themselves out of that economic reality, and maybe in their own adult life manage to accumulate quite a bit of wealth, it’s quite common for them to struggle with what they call the scarcity mindset,” Reynal said.

This is a pattern of thinking that fixates on the idea that you don’t have enough of something, like money. A scarcity mindset means someone might struggle to enjoy the money they’ve earned and be anxious about spending it, Reynal added.

Alternatively, there are people who grew up with little but became wealthy, and are now very careless with money.

“They’re giving themselves everything that they longed for when they were little so they might go on the other extreme and start spending it quite carelessly, because now they want to give their children everything that their parents couldn’t give them,” Reynal added.

Stop self-sabotaging

The key to overcoming toxic spending habits is to stop self-sabotaging — a common behavior — according to Reynal.

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“Often behind a pattern of financial self-sabotage, there are deep-seated emotional reasons, and it could range from feelings of anger, feelings of un-deservedness, to maybe a fear of independence and autonomy,” she said.

To identify these, you first have to determine what your financial habits and inconsistencies are, Reynal said, giving an example of someone who might overspend in the evenings.

“Is it boredom? Is it loneliness? What is the feeling that you might be trying to address with the overspending?” she said.

“That’s already giving you a clue as to what you could be doing different. So, if it’s boredom, what can you replace this terrible financial habit with?”

Reynal said she had a young client who would always run out of money within the first two weeks of the month. She asked them: “What would happen if you were financially responsible?”

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The client revealed that they feared risking their relationship with their mother because every time they ran out of money, they called their mother to ask for more.

“Their parents had divorced a long time ago, and the only time they ever spoke to their mother was to ask for money,” Reynal said. “They had a vested interest in being bad with money, because if they were to become good with money, then they had the problem of: ‘I might not have an excuse to call mother anymore and I don’t know how to build that relationship again’.”

The financial psychotherapist recommended being “curious and nonjudgmental” when considering the root of bad spending behavior.

“So sometimes asking ourselves: “What feelings would I be left with if I actually didn’t self-sabotage financially, or if I weren’t so generous with my friends?’ That can start to reveal the reason why you might be doing it,” she added.

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