risk management

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Captive insurance, a method of self-insurance once thought of as a niche product, is now a strategic tool for a growing number of organizations.

It’s been a minute since CFO Brew last visited the topic, so here’s a quick refresher: A captive is a special type of insurance company that insures its parent company or companies, though it can cover other organizations beyond that.

Captives “have moved from tactical cost-management vehicles to central elements of enterprise risk strategy,” the insurance brokerage and risk management advisory firm Marsh noted in its 2026 Captive Benchmarking Report.

“From my perspective, risk management is about identifying [risk] exposures, understanding their potential financial impact, and determining the most efficient way to mitigate or finance them,” Gary Vecchiarelli, president and CFO of digital infrastructure and data center developer CleanSpark, told CFO Brew. “And a captive can be one component of that strategy, particularly for exposures that are measurable, relatively predictable, and within our financial capacity to retain.”

For more on this captivating strategy, keep reading.—AZ

      

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You’ve got revenue coming in, but that doesn’t always mean you have cash to spend.

That’s because cash is often tied up in receivables, where you can’t touch it. Quadient wants to help you get your cash flowing. Their Working Capital Series breaks down where working capital tends to get stuck and how much change your AR environment could really need.

Explore the series for insights on:

• the points in your receivables journey where cash can get tied up
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• which modern AR capabilities help turn revenue into available cash

With Quadient’s Working Capital Series, you can learn how to reduce roadblocks, spot risks earlier, and get more cash flowing.

Free up your cash.

strategy

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When it comes to AI ROI, many CFOs are in a tight spot.

“Boards are putting pressure on CFOs to say more about or demonstrate more about the impact of AI adoption across the enterprise,” Randeep Rathindran, managing VP at Gartner, whose research focuses on CFOs and FP&A, told CFO Brew. A Gartner survey released in late October, in fact, shows that 77% of board members want to see cost savings and productivity gains from AI.

But at many organizations, those gains and savings have yet to occur, Rathindran said. A Gartner analysis of earnings calls, Rathindran said, showed that out of over 1,000 S&P 1200 companies, only 4% mentioned material cost savings due to AI in the first half of 2026.

What’s going on, and what can CFOs do about it? Read on.—CV

      

markets

Morning Brew Inc, Photos: Adobe Stock

Ever pay extra to get your hands on something before it sold out? SoftBank just learned how expensive that strategy can get when the stakes are in the billions.

The Japanese tech investor reported a $7 billion quarterly loss this week, including a $3.7 billion hit tied to equipment it rushed to secure for US data centers, in its first net loss in nearly two years.

As it turns out, getting ahead of the AI gold rush can come with a hefty bill. In today’s investment blitz, companies are competing for more than chips—they’re also racing to secure the electricity and equipment needed to power AI, often years before those investments generate returns.

For more on the ripple effects of SoftBank’s exposure, keep reading on Brew Markets.—HC

      

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AI codes, opex gets the tab. As AI writes more code, fewer engineering hours are capitalizable. Deloitte and EY say AI token costs can qualify under ASC 350-40 as direct project costs. CloudZero ties each AI coding session to a project and ticket, building your audit trail as you go.

market forces

Francis Scialabba

Today’s top finance reads.

Stat: $1.5 billion. That’s how much Blackstone-backed data center developer Rowan Digital Infrastructure just raised in fresh financing, including a $355 million letter of credit led by Citibank, as midterm wins may signal tighter data center regulations on the horizon. (Bloomberg)

Quote: “These [Nvidia and others] are multinational companies that have allegiances to their shareholders, not an individual country. We can’t look at them as stewards of national security.”—Joel Thayer, senior adviser for AI at the America First Policy Institute, which was founded by Trump’s current secretary of Agriculture (Wall Street Journal)

Read: The recent hack of cryptocurrency platform Binance raises concerns about just how easily, even with little information, hackers can access confidential information. (Reuters)

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