Top Five Stories of the Week on Finance Chief

Q&A: Patrick Sunday, CAO at Bottomline, on Evolving Finance

Chief Accounting Officer at Bottomline Patrick Sunday explains global scaling, how finance has evolved, taking into account risk, transparency and new tech. 

Finance is constantly evolving; it has to, in order to keep up with new methods and mindsets which focus on a more productive and efficient workflow.

What’s the secret to success? 

In an exclusive Q&A, Patrick Sunday, Chief Accounting Officer at Bottomline, speaks to Finance Chief about how his accounting experience has informed his leadership ability to control a global business which processes up to US$16tn annually. 

Handling the global company at scale is no easy task, however, Patrick’s career, which started in internal auditing, has provided him with the necessary tools to climb up to the top accounting spot of CAO. 

He notes: “Having first seen things from the internal audit side really accelerated my career on the accounting side. That transition was a real turning point for me”.

HSBC's US$19.5bn Half-Year Vindicates Elhedery's Sell-Off

HSBC's first-half pre-tax profit jumped 23% to $19.5bn and it restarted buybacks, as Georges Elhedery's strategy of selling and simplifying drove the beat.

Most banks grow by piling things on. HSBC is trying the opposite, and this morning it worked.

Europe's largest lender posted a first-half pre-tax profit of US$19.5bn, up 23%, and turned the taps back on for shareholders with a buyback of up to US$1bn, its first since it took Hang Seng Bank private last October.

The second quarter alone threw off US$10.1bn, a 60% jump. Two years of selling, shrinking and simplifying, and the verdict is in: subtraction pays.

Survey: US and UK CFOs Report US$1m Lost in Compliance Costs

High confidence in international recruitment clashes with costly compliance failures and geopolitical delays, according to a report from Safeguard Global. 

Finance chiefs across the UK and US are hitting pause on international expansion after widespread compliance blunders caused substantial financial damage.

A study by workforce management firm Safeguard Global reveals a stark split between ambition and execution among senior finance leaders. 

The findings draw on a survey of 400 US and UK finance directors conducted by Censuswide on behalf of Safeguard Global.

While 97% of surveyed CFOs express interest in global hiring and 96% believe their firms are prepared, every single respondent admitted their organisation had suffered financial losses due to noncompliance when expanding internationally.

Venture Capital in Europe Reaches US$23bn in H1 for AI

Crunchbase, a popular predictive platform that successfully predicted that Mastercard would acquire BVNK, has released research with AI events conference host HumanX which focuses on the share of venture capital distributed among Europe. 

The report, titled ‘2026 European AI Economy Report: Funding, Innovation and Growth’, reveals that AI start-ups in Europe have successfully raised US$23bn for the first half of 2026.

The funding is a 130% year-over-year increase thanks to a renewed increase in AI. Out of all funding in the region, AI start-ups captured over half (55%) of all venture capital available. 

The previous year, US$10bn in funding was raised, however the increase marks a milestone in the funding history of the region that signifies the positioning for a primary hub of AI innovation in Europe.

Palantir Wins More Government AI Deals as its Stock Slides

How does a company grow its revenue 85% and still watch a third of its market value disappear? That is the contradiction Palantir has lived inside all year.

The numbers are not the problem. First-quarter revenue rose 85% to US$1.63bn, its 11th straight quarter of accelerating growth.

The stock tells the opposite story. It has fallen about 40% from its November peak, cutting the company's market value from roughly US$500bn to around US$300bn.

CEO Alex Karp is not short on conviction. Palantir's results, he told shareholders in May, "demonstrate a level of strength that dwarfs the performance of essentially every software company in history at this scale." The market has spent 2026 disagreeing.

Tonight, both sides get their answer, as the data-analytics group reports second-quarter results after the US market closes.