The owners are in the early stages of exploring a potential sale of Moneris
International News via Reuters:
Royal Bank of Canada and Bank of Montreal have placed their Canadian payments joint venture up for sale, in a deal that may value the business as highly as $2 billion, four people familiar with the matter said.
Moneris is one of the largest payment processors in Canada, handling one in every three business transactions in the country. It was founded in 2000 by the two banks, and offers digital, mobile, and in-store payment systems for about 325,000 merchant locations, according to its website.
The owners are in the early stages of exploring a potential sale of Moneris, according to the people, who asked not to be named because the talks are private. Boutique investment bank PJT Partners, as well as investment bankers from RBC Capital Markets and BMO Capital Markets, are advising on the sale effort.
Moneris generates nearly $700 million in annual revenue, so the sources estimated this could equate to a $2-billion valuation, or slightly below that amount.
A sale is not guaranteed, and the owners could ultimately retain some or all of the business, the people added.
BMO, Moneris, and PJT declined to comment. RBC did not respond to a request for comment.
As the pace of digitization has increased in the North American payments industry in recent years, with the need to regularly spend capital to remain competitive, many banks have shed their payments businesses.
They have found willing buyers in payments companies, which have been growing through mergers and acquisitions to boost geographic scale and product offerings, as well as private equity firms, which value the recurring fee revenue that payments businesses generate.
Last month, Canada’s TD Bank said it was forming a strategic partnership with Fiserv in relation to its Canadian merchant payments business.
Reporting by Milana Vinn and David French in New York; Additional Reporting by Nivedita Balu in TorontoEditing by Rod Nickel
The company said tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump would cost it about $160 million for its fiscal 2026
International News via Reuters:
Coach parent Tapestry forecast annual profit below expectations due to rising tariffs, sending its shares plunging 14%, and said it planned to cut the number of handbag styles offered as retailers try to offset the impact of import duties.
The company said tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump would cost it about $160 million for its fiscal 2026, following warnings from other upmarket retailers such as Gucci-owner Kering and French luxury group LVMH on the hit from the levies.
The retail industry relies heavily on production from Southeast Asian countries, and now must bear the cost of roughly 20% tariffs on goods brought in from those nations. Tapestry makes its Coach and Kate Spade handbags primarily in countries such as Vietnam, Cambodia, the Philippines, and India.
The tariffs will disproportionately affect Kate Spade as the vast majority of its business is in the United States, chief financial officer Scott Roe said.
Tapestry said it would cut the number of Kate Spade handbags it offers by 30% across all regions. Several retailers have reduced the range of inventory they are importing as weaker-selling brands become less attractive to ship with added tariffs.
“Tariffs are now forcing brands across the consumer spectrum to take a closer look at their assortments and focus on their most profitable SKUs, which can also help preserve margins by reducing the need to markdown,” eMarketer’s Sky Canaves said.
The company’s quarterly sales came in at $1.72 billion, ahead of the LSEG analyst consensus for $1.68 billion. Tapestry also said it expects annual revenue of $7.2 billion, ahead of expectations.
Adjusted profit for the quarter ended June 28 was $1.04 per share, topping estimates of $1.02 per share.
Tapestry expects fiscal 2026 earnings-per-share in the range of $5.30 to $5.45, compared with estimates of $5.49 per share, according to LSEG data. The company expects a 60-cent tariff hit to its annual profit, with the end of the “de minimis” exemption on small shipments accounting for about a third of the impact.
“Even within Tapestry, the sought-after Coach brand should be able to pass down more of the tariff costs to customers via higher prices than Kate Spade, which is less in demand,” Canaves added.
Companies this year aggressively increased imports ahead of Trump’s imposition of tariffs. So far, U.S. businesses have mostly absorbed the rising import costs, but Goldman Sachs economists believe that will change in the coming months. While consumer-level inflation has remained relatively steady, inflation at the producer level spiked in July.
Tapestry sales declined 11% in Japan and revenue decreased 1% in other Asian countries.
Shares of the company have risen about 74% this year, largely due to the appeal of Coach bags that have won over younger consumers.
Reporting by Anuja Bharat Mistry in Bengaluru; Samantha Marshak in New York, Editing by Leroy Leo
Bermuda’s youth shine on the international stage and more drama in Hamilton Harbour
Bermuda’s swimmers were back in the pool for day 4 of the Junior Pan Am Games in Paraguay and another challenging outing for the young gombey warriors on the cricket pitch. These stories and more in today’s sports round up.
As part of its “global security strategy”, the bank plans a four-fold increase in the number of cameras at its new building in the City of London
International News via Reuters:
HSBC plans to step up surveillance of staff and buildings by adding more cameras and biometric access to its premises globally, internal documents seen by Reuters show, a move that comes amid growing concerns about companies’ extensive monitoring of workers.
As part of its “global security strategy”, the bank plans a four-fold increase in the number of cameras at its new building in the City of London, a site about half the size of its existing office in Canary Wharf, an internal presentation by the bank’s protective security team dated May 2025, seen by Reuters, shows. According to the presentation, the new London building is expected to have an estimated 1,754 cameras, up from about 444 devices installed in its current global headquarters in Canary Wharf in London.
It also plans to double its biometric readers to access the new building to 779 from 350.
Under the plan, reported here for the first time, access to HSBC’s top-tier buildings, including in Britain and the U.S., should be based on biometric verification, including full-hand recognition.
Access can also be “digital”, with employees expected to use their own mobile phones to badge in, the presentation document shows.
HSBC, Europe’s biggest bank by assets, employs more than 210,000 people globally, including more than 31,000 across the UK.
Most employees are expected to use personal mobile phones with a firm-installed software on them to gain access. This has met with some resistance from staff, a person with knowledge of the policies said.
As of the end of last year, most of the UK staff had yet to adhere to the biometric and digital access policy which the bank started to implement in 2022, in part because of opposition, according to the person.
“The safety and security of our people is at the forefront of everything HSBC does,” an HSBC representative told Reuters.
“We regularly risk assess every building and dependant on the identified risk and vulnerabilities, we continue to invest in the latest cutting-edge technology to safeguard our colleagues, customers and visitors in line with industry standards,” the bank added.
Companies have increased surveillance of staff amid a shift to hybrid working, while advances in technology allow for more sophisticated controls.
Banks in particular have stepped up monitoring to ensure the parts of their businesses that are heavily regulated comply with conduct rules. National privacy laws determine what companies can monitor.
The extensive surveillance enabled by new technologies is raising concerns about risks to workers’ rights and wellbeing, according to a May report by the Institute for Public Policy Research, a London-based think tank.
In July, HSBC requested that senior staff globally report to the office at least four days a week, starting from October, a bank spokesperson said. Previously, the bank had no global policy on the matter, with approaches varying depending on the country, they said.
As demands for office space grow again, the bank has decided to add to its planned City of London HQ, with a new smaller presence in Canary Wharf, Reuters reported.
The documents seen by Reuters do not include references to the new Canary Wharf office space.
The bank’s security project is overseen by Diane Marchena, global head of protective security, who reports to Chief Operating Officer Suzy White, the person with knowledge of the matter said.
Marchena and White declined to comment for this article.
ISRAELI SURVEILLANCE TOOLS
HSBC has been working with Israeli firm Octopus since at least 2024, adopting some of its tools for surveillance in the UK and Hong Kong and is planning more rollouts for monitoring, other documents outlining HSBC’s global strategy seen by Reuters show.
HSBC plans the deployment of Octopus tools in other countries such as India and Mexico this year, the documents, which are undated, show.
Israel is one of the world’s leading exporters of surveillance. Octopus says it sells its tools to buyers in 28 countries. Its technology has been reportedly used by entities, including the Israeli government to monitor some Israeli cities and a European Union-funded refugee camp on the Greek island of Samos.
A representative for Octopus did not take Reuters calls seeking comment and the company did not respond to a Reuters email seeking comment.
An HSBC spokesperson said the bank does not comment on vendors or suppliers.
TRADING FLOORS
In HSBC’s new London building, the increased video surveillance will include cameras at entry and exit points of trading floors, the May 2025 presentation shows, and the use of artificial intelligence analytics.
HSBC’s budget for the initial rollout of the new London building surveillance was recently tripled to about $15 million, the person familiar with the matter said.
According to the presentation, “theft incidents” in its Canary Wharf building “point to the need for increased CCTV capabilities on working floors,” and that recent “crime data” showed an increase of incidents, including burglary, within a one-mile radius of the new office.
The person familiar with the matter said that theft events on HSBC premises were mostly minor.
Reporting by Stefania Spezzati and Iain Withers; editing by Elisa Martinuzzi and Jane Merriman
Government and MCCM sign MOU for the development of a “world class medical facility”
A “world-class medical facility” is planned for Morgan’s Point in Southampton.
Premier David Burt announcing today that Government has formalised a partnership with Medical Concepts Consulting and Management Limited.
It has been billed as the first major step forward in medical tourism for Bermuda.
The two parties signed a Memorandum of Understanding at the Cabinet Office today.
The Premier says the project will move forward without government funding or loans – with the potential to create hundreds of jobs and bring significant economic benefits.
MCCM founder and chairman Lou Maroun says the planned Bermuda International Healthcare Centre will, “meet growing global demand with best-in-class doctors and surgical facilities.”
And locally, he said it could help ease capacity issues at the hospital.
The first phase represents up to a $400 million investment, with the potential for an additional $150 million if a senior care facility is added.
No definitive timeline has been given for planning or construction, but once complete, the facility is expected to employ more than 275 staff.
Application period for lobster diving licences starts tomorrow
The Ministry of Public Works and Environment advises the public of the process for obtaining a recreational lobster diver licence for the 2025–26 season.
A total of 175 licences will be available, with 150 reserved for returning licence holders and 25 available to new applicants.
To ensure fairness, applications will be accepted online for a nine-day period and the available licences will then be assigned via a random lottery draw.
Applying does not guarantee a licence. The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) will verify the eligibility of all applicants before the lottery is conducted on Monday, 25 August.
Successful applicants will be notified via email by 9:00 a.m. on Tuesday, 26 August. They must then visit the DENR offices in the Botanical Gardens to complete the paperwork and pay for their licence before 4:30 p.m. on Friday, 5 September.
Applicants who are overseas during this period may nominate someone to pay on their behalf, provided that person brings the applicant’s licence card to receive the current season’s sticker.
If a new licence card is required, the applicant must attend the DENR offices in person to have a new photo taken before fishing may begin.
Any licences not paid for by 4:30 p.m. on Friday, 5 September, will be placed in a secondary lottery draw for remaining eligible applicants on Monday, 8 September.
Anyone intending to fish from the 1st Sept must have their Photo ID card issued by DENR with them ready for inspection.
As in previous years, anyone who held a lobster diver licence for the 2024–25 season but did not submit their catch reports by the 30 April deadline will not be eligible for a licence in the upcoming season. Applicants may also apply for a spearfishing licence through the same online form.
While there is no limit or defined application period for spearfishing licences, licence holders from the 2024–25 season must have submitted all required fishing activity and catch records to be eligible for renewal.
Bermuda Electric Light Company Limited (“BELCO”) today announced the dedication of the Administration Building as the Garry A. Madeiros Building, honoring the transformational leader who served as President and CEO from 1994 to 2007. The dedication ceremony was attended by all current staff, former employees, and his family.
Garry Madeiros didn’t just manage a utility company during his tenure—he revolutionized it. His leadership philosophy was elegantly simple yet profound: “It has always been about the people throughout the organizations. No matter how technologically advanced we were, our success was still dependent on people and their attitudes and skills.”
Having joined BELCO in 1985, Garry’s 22-year career culminated in 13 years of visionary leadership that transformed the company’s culture and operations. His commitment to employee development was evident in the remodeling of the old office building to create a purpose-built Training Centre.
Garry’s environmental stewardship was demonstrated through the 1997 commissioning of a $2.2 million Oily Waste Treatment Facility. The early 2000s saw completion of phases three and four of the East Power Station, marking the end of a 20-year development programme, and the opening of the C. Eugene Cox Operations Centre in 2003.
Perhaps most remarkably, Garry led through crisis with unwavering determination. When Hurricane Fabian devastated Bermuda in 2003, his team restored full power to all customers within three weeks. When a catastrophic switch room fire on July 14, 2005, caused an island-wide blackout, the engineering excellence and employee dedication he had cultivated enabled swift recovery, with a state-of-the-art Phoenix Switchboard commissioned within a year.
Beyond operational excellence, Garry understood that a great company must be a great community partner. Under his leadership, BELCO became deeply woven into Bermuda’s social fabric through initiatives from the Rubber Duck Regatta for Agape House to the BELCO Cup cricket competition.
Garry Maderios said “I am honoured by BELCO’s decision to name the Administration Building after me, and thank President, Wayne Caines, and his committee for bestowing this accolade. It was tremendous for me to receive this honour while I am alive, which allowed me to enjoy the recognition with family, friends, and my BELCO family. Having the participation of so many of my fellow retirees and former colleagues who still work at BELCO, was not only extremely special, but also very fitting, as they contributed as much as I did to any legacy that is attached to me.”
“Garry’s vision in 1994 was ambitious: to make BELCO the best organization in Bermuda,” said BELCO President Wayne Caines. “When he retired in 2007, that vision had become reality. This building stands as a testament to leadership that put people first, embraced innovation, and never forgot that true success is measured not just in kilowatts delivered, but in lives improved and communities strengthened.”
The second round of Bermuda’s prestigious Eastern County Cup is set to ignite this Saturday, August 16th, as cup holders Bailey’s Bay take on challengers Cleveland County at Lord’s in St. David’s.
Play is scheduled to get underway at 10 am for what promises to be a thrilling contest.
Bailey’s Bay, led by captain Terryn Fray, have made one change to their team from the first round, with Tre Manders coming in for young bowler Michael Agard. The cup holders will also rely on the impact of notable additions Zeko Burgess and Derrick Brangman, who are both poised to play a crucial role.
Captain Fray, now back in his opening position, has been in fine form with the bat in recent weeks, and his performance will be key to his side’s hopes of retaining the historic cup. The stage is set for an enthralling day of cricket.
DTS says its robotics and lasers enable it to produce pre-assembled sections builders can put together quickly on site
International News via Reuters:
Gigantic robot arms controlled by artificial intelligence glide around a vast factory in Oxfordshire, England, making building frames from timber, one of the world’s oldest construction materials.
With the British government committed to building 300,000 new homes a year, some housebuilders say that the combination of technology and green materials could help them to overcome challenges from skills shortages to environmental targets.
England lags many similar economies in terms of the share of housing accounted for by timber-framed homes. Britain as a whole, meanwhile, is among the slowest adopters of robotics, especially in construction, according to the National Robotarium research institute at Heriot-Watt University.
“We’re seeing more major housebuilders and small and medium-sized builders embracing timber as a way to … overcome the skills and carbon challenge,” said Alex Goodfellow, CEO of Donaldson Timber Systems (DTS).
His business makes timber-frame structures for homes and commercial buildings, including walls, floors and roofs, then sends them to housebuilders for assembly.
Its automated production makes for less labour-intensive housebuilding and provides a faster, cheaper and more sustainable alternative to bricks, stone or concrete blocks, the company says.
A study by construction surveyors and consultancy Rider Levett Bucknall showed that building with timber is 2.8% cheaper than with masonry.
FASTER CONSTRUCTION
The DTS factory in Witney, near Oxford in southeast England, makes timber panelling for about 100 homes a week with designs entered digitally using artificial intelligence, reducing the need for paper drawings.
DTS says its robotics and lasers enable it to produce pre-assembled sections builders can put together quickly on site. The technology reduces the time needed to build a home by about 10 weeks compared with traditional materials, Goodfellow says.
Yet barriers remain to any significant increase in timber homes in England.
Amit Patel at the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors said the material is not commonly used in England because of difficulties in securing warranties for timber buildings owing to durability concerns.
Barratt Homes tried to revive timber usage in the 1980s, but sales were undermined by potential rot and fire vulnerabilities.
Andrew Orriss of the Structural Timber Association says that such concerns have been addressed by current building regulation and the STA’s fire safety guide.
He says that the off-site timber construction sector could help to deliver about a third of the government’s target of 300,000 new homes per year – a level not achieved in England since the 1970s.
Official government figures show that almost 200,000 new homes were built in England in 2023/24 and the Structural Timber Association said that approximately 40,500 of those were timber-frame homes.
Builders including Vistry and Taylor Wimpey have opened or plan to open their own timber-frame manufacturing factory while Bellway plans to use timber in a third of its housing projects by 2030.
Reduced environmental impact is another benefit touted by companies.
GREENER AND LEANER?
Simon Park, head of sustainability at Bellway, said timber absorbs and stores more carbon than it emits and that Bellway’s analysis shows breeze blocks – made from concrete and known as cinder blocks in the U.S. – are the biggest carbon emitters among common building materials.
Countering that, however, is the origin of the raw materials. About 80% of timber used in the UK is imported, mainly from European countries, while roughly 20% of its brick supply is imported.
Concerns also remain over mortgage availability for timber homes, which is likely to improve if the government signals a move towards timber construction, said Riz Malik, mortgage broker at independent financial adviser R3 Wealth.
An ageing workforce, meanwhile, highlights the need for more robotics. About a fifth of construction workers in the UK are over 50, according to the Home Builders Federation, with 25% of those set to retire in the coming decade.
The government pledged 40 million pounds ($54 million) in June for robotics adoption hubs across various sectors, but Maurice van Sante, senior economist for construction at bank ING, says Britain’s construction industry is far behind other countries in robotics use.
ING estimates that there were 1.5 robots for every 10,000 construction workers in Europe in 2023, against 0.6 in the U.S. and 0.5 in the UK.
As well as filling labour shortages directly, robotics opens up other employment opportunities, says DTS manufacturing director Frank O’Reilly, adding that the company has attracted more interest from tech-savvy younger workers since the factory’s introduction of automation and robotics.
“It (the technology) encourages young people to consider this as a career,” he said.
($1 = 0.7433 pounds)
Reporting by Suban AbdullaEditing by David Goodman
Bermudian swimmers were the sole competitors for the island on Day Four of the Junior Pan American Games, with two athletes earning spots in the ‘B’ Finals and putting in strong performances.
Jack Harvey, fresh from winning Bermuda’s first medal of the Games, was back in the pool for the Men’s 50m Freestyle. After winning his preliminary heat with a time of 23.25 seconds, which was good for 12th overall, he advanced to the ‘B’ Final. In the consolation race, he finished seventh, touching the wall with a time of 23.22 seconds.
Sam Williamson also earned a spot in a ‘B’ Final. Competing in the Men’s 400m Individual Medley, he delivered an excellent swim to finish third in his final, clocking an impressive time of 4:45.39. His performance saw him finish 11th overall in the event.
Earlier in the day, Marleigh Howes delivered a strong showing in the Women’s 50m Freestyle. She finished second in her heat with a time of 27.62 seconds, placing her 22nd overall in the event.
Russia said on Wednesday that it had started restricting some WhatsApp, owned by Meta Platforms, and Telegram calls
International News via Reuters:
WhatsApp accused Moscow of trying to block millions of Russians from accessing secure communication after calls on the messaging app were restricted, as Russia promotes home-grown social media platforms and seeks greater control over the country’s internet space.
Russia said on Wednesday that it had started restricting some WhatsApp, owned by Meta Platforms, and Telegram calls, accusing the foreign-owned platforms of failing to share information with law enforcement in fraud and terrorism cases.
Text messaging services and voice notes are currently unaffected.
A simmering dispute with foreign tech providers intensified after Moscow’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, with Russia blocking Meta’s Facebook and Instagram, slowing the speed of Alphabet’s YouTube and issuing hundreds of fines to platforms that failed to comply with Russian rules on online content and data storage.
“WhatsApp is private, end-to-end encrypted, and defies government attempts to violate people’s right to secure communication, which is why Russia is trying to block it from over 100 million Russian people,” WhatsApp said late on Wednesday, vowing to continue trying to keep encrypted services available in Russia.
Telegram said it actively combats the harmful use of its platform, including calls for sabotage or violence and fraud, and that moderators use AI tools to remove millions of malicious messages every day.
In July 2025, WhatsApp’s monthly reach in Russia was 97.3 million people, compared to 90.8 million for Telegram, according to Mediascope data. Third-placed VK Messenger, an offering from state-controlled tech company VK, reached 17.9 million people.
Russia has a population of more than 140 million people.
Online monitoring services Downdetector and Sboy reported surges in internet users complaining about poor WhatsApp functionality. In Krasnodar, a region in southern Russia, local media also reported a drop off in mobile connectivity.
A public Telegram group of Krasnodar taxi drivers was inundated on Thursday with complaints about poor mobile connectivity, with many drivers unable to use online maps to navigate around.
“What should I do, there’s no map,” a driver named Sergei asked the 3,700 others in the forum.
“Download offline maps,” Alexei, another driver, suggested. “For the future.”
STEADY DEGRADATION
Russia banning WhatsApp and Telegram users from making calls comes as the government is actively promoting a new state-controlled messaging app, MAX, that will be integrated with government services and which critics fear could track its users’ activities.
Senior politicians are migrating to MAX, urging their followers to come with them.
Anton Gorelkin, a leading regulator of Russia’s IT sector in parliament, said he would post to his MAX followers first and said many other lawmakers would soon follow suit.
“Ultimately, they want to control users and the information they receive,” said Mikhail Klimarev, director of the Internet Protection Society, a Russian digital rights group.
But MAX may not cope with a huge influx, Klimarev told Reuters, so a gradual adoption is preferable. And there is also a social consideration.
“Changes are never welcome,” Klimarev told Reuters. “People don’t like being forced to register somewhere (new).”
WhatsApp’s other services remain available for now, but the steady degradation of a service is a tactic Russia has employed before, notably with YouTube, where slower download speeds have made it harder for people to access content.
Human Rights Watch said in a report last month that Russia has been “meticulously expanding [its] legal and technological tools to carve out Russia’s section of the internet into a tightly controlled and isolated forum”.
Lawmakers have approved a new law that tightens censorship and could have sweeping ramifications for digital privacy, with Russians facing fines if they search online for content Moscow considers “extremist”, including via virtual private networks that millions use to bypass internet blocks.
Reporting by Alexander Marrow, Gleb Stolyarov and Lucy Papachristou; Writing by Alexander Marrow; editing by Guy Faulconbridge and Toby Chopra
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