Big-Bank Earnings Boom: JPMorgan, Bank of America and peers posted strong Q2 results, with IPO and deal fees boosting revenues; JPMorgan hit a record $21.2B profit as trading and investment banking surged. AI Safety in Banking: JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon warned that Anthropic’s Mythos AI model poses a “real issue,” arguing advanced access could be misused, as Washington tightens oversight. Hong Kong Market Links: Hong Kong moved to deepen yuan and gold market connections, with regulators and the PBOC pushing new fixed-income, currency and offshore yuan measures. Tokenization Moves to Production: DTCC ran live production trades using tokenized US stocks/ETFs as collateral, with JPMorgan posting tokenized QQQ at CME and Chainlink handling cross-chain settlement. PayPal Takeover Bid: Stripe and Advent offered about $53B to buy PayPal at a ~28% premium, aiming to expand into consumer wallets as PayPal’s growth slows. RBI Data Governance: India’s RBI issued data governance guidance for banks and third parties, pushing clearer ownership and controls. Cybersecurity & Fraud Focus: Visa held Sri Lanka’s cybersecurity conclave, highlighting AI-driven fraud and the need for public-private coordination. India LPG Quick-Commerce Pilot: Swiggy and HPCL will pilot doorstep cooking gas cylinder delivery via Instamart in Bengaluru before expanding. Regional Bank Consolidation Debate (Korea): An activist fund urged a potential merger of BNK Financial and JB Financial, arguing demographic pressure threatens regional banks’ long-term sustainability.