Finance
S&P Global improves outlook on city of Houston’s finances | Houston Public Media
Dominic Anthony Walsh / Houston Public Media
One of the “Big Three” credit ratings agencies improved its outlook on the city of Houston’s financial position on Thursday, two weeks after city officials approved major reforms to the city’s revenue flow.
In a news release announcing the “stable” outlook, the agency said the city “made substantial progress in materially reducing its budget gap … through various structural changes.”
S&P Global lowered the city’s outlook in 2024 amid rising public safety costs tied to the more than $1 billion blockbuster settlement with the firefighters’ union, which included immediate backpay and hiked salaries by more than 30% over the five-year agreement. The “negative” outlook signaled the possibility of a credit downgrade, which would raise the city’s borrowing costs.
This year, Houston Mayor John Whitmire’s administration redirected about $100 million in revenue from the city’s water and wastewater utility to the $3 billion general fund, which supports most departments including police and fire. At the same time, the administration moved the more than $100 million solid waste department out of the general fund and into the utility while adopting a $5 monthly fee for garbage customers.
Altogether, the changes essentially erased the projected deficit for this fiscal year, which runs through June 2027.
Steven David, Whitmire’s chief operations officer, said the improved outlook is “just a validation of the work that Mayor Whitmire has been doing for the past two-and-a-half years.”
“If fiscal stability is a house, we’ve laid the foundation with this fiscal year, and it’s good to see that S&P is recognizing that,” he said.
S&P’s statement included a note of caution. The city’s budget deficit has routinely ballooned beyond what was planned.
In 2026, the administration expected a gap between revenue and spending of about $70 million. The actual deficit exceeded $170 million, although the city’s critical fund balance remained on target.
“If these deviations from the city’s budget continue, it could weaken our view of the city’s budgetary practices and overall reserves, aligning them more closely with those of lower-rated peers,” the agency said.
City Controller Chris Hollins — Houston’s elected financial official and a vocal critic of Whitmire’s financial policies — said the warnings “show we’re not out of the woods.”
The other “Big Three” credit ratings agencies have not yet announced changes. Fitch maintained a negative outlook, first assigned in 2024, while Moody’s outlook remained stable.
Digital payments are becoming an increasingly common part of everyday life in Uzbekistan, helping bring more consumers into the formal financial system and increasing demand for services beyond basic transactions.
According to a financial inclusion survey conducted by the Central Bank of Uzbekistan with support from the Asian Development Bank, 71.17% of respondents reported making or receiving at least one digital payment in 2025, compared with 39% in 2021.
The increase follows several years of policies aimed at expanding financial inclusion, encouraging electronic payments and introducing digital tools such as remote identification systems for banking customers.
Interviews conducted by Euronews on the sidelines of the Tashkent International Investment Forum (TIIF) suggest that the rapid adoption of digital payments is now beginning to influence wider parts of the financial sector, from lending and insurance to investment products and banking services for businesses.
Digital payments enter the mainstream
Industry executives point to a combination of demographic, technological and regulatory factors behind the growth of digital financial services.
Nikolay Seleznyov, co-founder of Uzum, a company active in e-commerce, digital payments and financial services, said the expansion is bringing more people into the banking system.
“More and more people are becoming bank customers. And this trend is irreversible.”
Oliver Hughes, chairman of TBC Uzbekistan, a digital bank operating through the TBC UZ and Payme applications, pointed to the country’s young population and widespread use of mobile technology as factors supporting the shift towards digital services.
The trend is also affecting established lenders. Dmitry Sapronov, deputy chairman of Ipoteka Bank, which became part of Hungary’s OTP Group in 2023, said customer demand for digital services has increased significantly in recent years, requiring banks to rethink how they deliver products and interact with clients.
Regulation and infrastructure
Executives said the growth of digital finance has been supported by both regulatory changes and investment in digital infrastructure.
The Central Bank and other institutions have introduced measures aimed at expanding financial inclusion and encouraging electronic payments, while digital identification systems have made it easier for consumers to access banking products remotely.
“The digital ID product was one of the biggest enablers here for all the players in the financial services industry,” Seleznyov said.
Anne Arundel County is preparing to launch a new finance and e-procurement system to modernize county operations and improve how businesses interact with local government.
The new platform, called Harbor, is scheduled to go live in July and will replace the County’s legacy procurement system with a centralized cloud-based platform built on Oracle Fusion Cloud.
County officials say the new system is designed to streamline procurement and financial processes while making it easier for both existing and prospective vendors to do business with the County.
From the press release:
“Harbor is a much-needed upgrade that will streamline services for our county agencies and those who do business with the county,” said Anne Arundel County Chief Administrative Officer Christine Anderson.
The platform will serve as a single portal for supplier registration, bid opportunities, invoicing, payment tracking, and contract management, consolidating what had previously been spread across multiple systems. County leaders say the transition is part of a broader effort to modernize operations, improve efficiency, and lower barriers for businesses seeking to compete for county contracts.
For counties, procurement modernization remains an important operational priority as local governments look to improve transparency, strengthen vendor engagement, and simplify access for businesses of all sizes. Anne Arundel County has encouraged interested suppliers to review training materials and registration information ahead of the July launch.
Finance
Quadient Recognized as a Leader in the 2026 SPARK Matrix for Accounts Receivable Applications
Quadient demonstrates continued innovation in AI-driven invoice-to-cash automation and unified finance operations
Paris
Quadient (Euronext Paris: QDT), a global automation platform powering secure and sustainable business connections, announced today it has been recognized for the fifth consecutive year as a Leader in the 2026 SPARK Matrix™ for Accounts Receivable Applications by technology analyst and advisory firm QKS Group. Quadient strengthened its position in the report year-over-year, with a notable improvement in Technology Excellence, reflecting continued innovation in its AI-driven invoice-to-cash solution.
According to QKS Group, Quadient’s leadership position highlights its evolution into a comprehensive, AI-powered platform that delivers strong predictive accuracy and straight-through processing. The analyst firm also emphasized the capability of Quadient’s solutions to unify accounts receivable (AR) and accounts payable (AP), offering finance leaders greater visibility and insights into their business finances to make faster, better decisions on working capital management.
Earlier this month, Quadient announced the release of its new cash dashboard capability for AR and AP that allows finance teams to bring together traditionally siloed data in a single view. An AI assistant summarizes key metrics and provides analysis that helps finance leaders accelerate cash on hand, improve forecasting, reduce risk and uncover opportunities to optimize working capital.
“Quadient has established a strong position in the 2026 Accounts Receivable Automation market through its focus on intelligent automation, cash flow optimization and integrated financial operations,” said Sanjeevi C R, associate vice president, Enterprise Research at QKS Group. “The platform’s evolution from predictive analytics to AI-driven autonomous collections execution represents a meaningful step forward in reducing manual effort across the invoice-to-cash cycle. What differentiates Quadient is its ability to combine collections management, cash application, and payment processing with a unified accounts receivable and accounts payable ecosystem, providing finance leaders with a more holistic view of working capital performance. By enabling greater automation, enhanced cash flow visibility, and more efficient receivables operations, Quadient continues to deliver measurable value for organizations seeking to modernize their financial processes and improve liquidity management.”
QKS Group highlighted the following key strengths for Quadient AR:
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