CE mark for transvaginal gynecologic procedures expands SP’s applications

AUBONNE, Switzerland, Sept. 14, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Intuitive, a global technology leader in minimally invasive care and the pioneer of robotic-assisted surgery, today announced CE mark approval for the indication of transvaginal gynecologic procedures for the da Vinci SP (Single Port) surgical system – marking a world’s-first indication for the SP system.

This approval expands da Vinci SP’s CE-marked applications in Europe, which currently include endoscopic abdominopelvic, thoracoscopic, transoral otolaryngology, transanal colorectal, and breast surgical procedures.

“Building on the strong adoption of da Vinci SP in women’s health, this approval is a meaningful step forward, not just as a regulatory milestone, but because it expands access to less invasive options for women across Europe and opens the door to potentially better recovery experiences and outcomes,” said Dirk Barten, Intuitive commercial president for Europe.

The da Vinci SP system enables surgeons to perform procedures through a single incision or natural orifice, offering enhanced visualization and precision in narrow or deep anatomical spaces. Through a single-entry point, surgeons can control up to three multi-jointed instruments and a fully articulating 3DHD endoscope, enabling access to complex anatomy with minimal disruption to surrounding tissue.

“Transvaginal procedures expand the natural orifice surgery portfolio of the da Vinci SP System, which to this day includes successful transoral and transanal procedures,” said Tilman Schlick, vice president, medical affairs & medical officer at Intuitive in Europe. “These less invasive, scarless surgery approaches have the potential to shorten recovery times and enhance patients’ experience as they return to their daily lives. As we continue to innovate across our platforms, we remain focused on helping more patients access the benefits of minimally invasive care.”

A growing body of evidence, including more than 1,000 peer-reviewed publications, supports the safety, efficacy, and patient outcomes associated with the da Vinci SP system. Da Vinci SP is also approved for use in the US, Japan, and Korea for a range of procedures spanning multiple surgical disciplines.

Images
Images accompanying this announcement are available here.

About Intuitive
Intuitive (NASDAQ:ISRG), headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, with European headquarters in Aubonne, Switzerland, is a global leader in minimally invasive care and the pioneer of robotic-assisted surgery. Our technologies include the da Vinci surgical system and the Ion endoluminal system. By uniting advanced systems, progressive learning, and value-enhancing services, we help physicians and their teams optimize care delivery to support the best outcomes possible. At Intuitive, we envision a future of care that is less invasive and profoundly better, where disease is identified early and treated quickly, so that patients can get back to what matters most.

About da Vinci Surgical Systems
There are several models of the da Vinci surgical system. The da Vinci surgical systems are designed to help surgeons perform minimally invasive surgery and offer surgeons high-definition 3D vision, a magnified view, and robotic and computer assistance. They use specialized instrumentation, including a miniaturized surgical camera and wristed instruments (i.e., scissors, scalpels, and forceps) that are designed to help with precise dissection and reconstruction deep inside the body.

For more information, please visit the company’s website at www.intuitive.com/en-gb

This material may contain estimates and forecasts from which actual results may differ. Some products, features or technologies may not be available in all countries. Please contact your local Intuitive representative for product availability in your region. Refer to the product specific User Manual for indications, contraindications, warnings and other product information.

© 2026 Intuitive Surgical Operations, Inc. All rights reserved. Product and brand names/logos, including Intuitive, da Vinci, and Ion, are trademarks or registered trademarks of Intuitive Surgical or their respective owner. See intuitive.com/trademarks.

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/intuitive-announces-expanded-indication-for-da-vinci-sp-in-europe-302877010.html

Members of Thunes’ Direct Global Network gain faster, more transparent access to bank accounts, mobile wallets, and cash pickup locations across Bahrain, Lebanon, Oman, South Yemen, Syria and the UAE

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia, Sept. 14, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Thunes, the Smart Superhighway to move money around the world, today announced a major expansion of its Direct Global Network across the Middle East. The expansion introduces new payout services into six key markets: the Kingdom of Bahrain, Lebanon, the Sultanate of Oman, South Yemen, Syria and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

This move significantly enhances Thunes’ cross-border infrastructure in the region, delivering faster, highly transparent payment solutions for Members of Thunes’ Direct Global Network. Members can now process payouts to millions of bank accounts, mobile wallets, and cash pickup locations in local currencies throughout the region, either through direct API integration with Thunes or by leveraging existing Swift connectivity.

The regional rollout builds on Thunes’ expansion of real-time payments across the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in September 2025 and targets diverse economic needs across the Middle East:

Powering Digital Economies: In Bahrain, where the non-oil sector contributed 85% of real GDP in 2025, Thunes supports direct bank payouts aligned with the nation’s National Digital Economy Strategy. In Oman, bank account payouts support the digital transformation goals of Oman Vision 2040 alongside projected GDP growth of 4% in 2026.Fueling Enterprise and Consumer Growth: In the UAE, a primary regional payments hub driven by the National Payment Systems Strategy (NPSS), Thunes now supports bank account payouts for both consumers and enterprises.Delivering Vital Remittance Lifelines: In markets relying on remittance flows for economic resilience and recovery, Thunes provides critical access points:- Lebanon: Supporting mobile wallet payouts in a market receiving roughly $7 billion per year in remittances.
– South Yemen: Enabling bank and cash pickup payouts where remittances represent over 38% of its total GDP, ranking among the top three most remittance-dependent nations globally.
– Syria: Introducing payouts to cash pickup locations, providing reliable financial access amid broader efforts to rebuild the local banking system.

Chloé Mayenobe, Deputy CEO at Thunes, said: “Launching new payout capabilities across the Middle East unlocks significant value for our Members and their end-users. These markets are deeply committed to digital innovation and financial inclusion. Thunes is proud to provide the infrastructure that empowers businesses and individuals to participate seamlessly in international commerce and the broader global economy.”

With this expansion, Thunes reinforces its position as a leading provider of global money movement. The solutions leverage Thunes’ in-house SmartX Treasury System for AI-driven forecasting and real-time liquidity management, and its Fortress Compliance Platform, which benefits from over 50 licences worldwide, ensuring that every payment is executed with the highest levels of security, compliance and operational efficiency.

About Thunes:

For more information, visit: https://www.thunes.com.

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/thunes-launches-cross-border-payouts-across-six-new-middle-east-markets-302876413.html

POSM Recognition brings zero-shot, same-day detection of in-store marketing execution to retailers and brands across Europe

PARIS, Sept. 14, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — At NRF: Retail’s Big Show Europe, FORM, the retail execution software company behind GoSpotCheck, is showcasing new AI-powered point-of-sale materials (POSM) image recognition capabilities that automatically detect, classify and extract in-store marketing compliance, campaign, and price data during store visits. The new capabilities give retailers real-time visibility into in-store materials, displays, and promotions, so they can ensure their marketing investments are executed as planned as the industry’s most important time of the year begins. The demonstrations at Europe’s premier retail show comes as FORM expands its international footprint and image recognition capabilities following its merger with global retail technology pioneer Trax earlier this year.

For retailers and brands, particularly in luxury, beauty and fashion, the OND (October, November and December) holiday season represents the majority of annual revenue, concentrating a year’s worth of brand experience, visual merchandising and sales performance into a matter of weeks. Flagship window installations, boutique displays and seasonal activations must be executed flawlessly and on schedule across every door, yet most retailers still rely on manual store checks or self-reported photos to confirm that POSM and merchandising have been executed as planned.

“Retailers invest enormously in holiday campaigns, yet most organizations still lack a reliable way to confirm their merchandising materials are deployed correctly, on time and in the right locations,” said Alexander Zagvazdin, Chief Product Officer, FORM. “Our new POSM Recognition capability changes that, using new AI features to turn every field photo into structured, actionable intelligence without adding friction to existing workflows, right when retailers can least afford execution gaps.”

FORM’s POSM Recognition particularly benefits sectors where in-store display compliance carries the highest business stakes, including luxury fashion and accessories, fine jewelry and watches, prestige beauty and fragrance, and premium department stores, all of which run large-scale, tightly choreographed holiday activations across flagship and regional doors with contractually defined visual merchandising standards tied to brand and retailer agreements.

For leaders, the capability enables real-time campaign verification, faster identification of execution gaps, and POSM waste reduction by identifying materials that never reach the shop floor. It also connects execution data to marketing and trade spend ROI, giving organizations the proof-of-performance they need to optimize future investment decisions, and the confidence that flagship holiday moments are landing as intended across every market.

With POSM Recognition, data is delivered directly to customers’ existing GoSpotCheck workflow, in both PhotoWorks and the GoSpotCheck mobile app, ensuring that field reps, retail teams, supervisors and leaders all see the same standardized data without changing how they work. Built on next-generation AI that understands visual content in context, POSM Recognition delivers capabilities that other existing solutions cannot match:

Zero-shot, same-day recognition: No training data or image samples are required to support a new campaign. Retailers can begin verifying POSM execution from day one of a holiday activation, protecting investments during the highest-value trading window of the year

Built for multi-market retail: Multi-lingual and multi-currency support means POSM Recognition can be deployed across the UK and European markets, and internationally, without additional configuration or training, ideal for retailers coordinating consistent holiday execution across borders

Comprehensive detection across all POSM types: Even in cluttered, real-world store environments, the system automatically recognizes POSM across eight mediums including freestanding displays, window installations, shelf talkers, lightboxes, banners, digital screens and branded structures. It can also recognize partially visible or damaged materials

Intelligence beyond presence verification: Each detected POSM is assigned a POSM type, primary and associated brands, featured products, pricing information, marketing theme (such as price/incentive, urgency, seasonal, or product-focused), and additional attributes

Unified capture in a single image: Teams can capture both POSM and product recognition data in the same photo, eliminating duplicate image capture and reducing time spent in store

POSM Recognition builds on FORM’s position as the field execution platform trusted by leading retail, luxury and CPG organizations worldwide to grow market share and improve in-store compliance, including PepsiCo, Levi’s, and Edgewell. GoSpotCheck by FORM already powers image recognition for product, shelf, display, menu and back bar environments, so the addition of POSM extends that coverage, giving customers more power in their palms.

GoSpotCheck by FORM is exhibiting at NRF Europe in Paris, where the team will showcase its latest AI-powered POSM tools and image recognition capabilities live on the show floor. Attendees are invited to stop by the booth located at Hall 6 #G-066 to see how FORM is helping retailers and brands across the U.K. and Europe turn every store visit into real-time, actionable insight and put holiday POSM compliance in place ahead of this make-or-break campaign season.

About FORM
FORM powers the world’s two billion mobile workers as they change companies and industries for good, with mobile technology that improves execution from the frontline. FORM solutions include the AI-enabled GoSpotCheck, Trax’s image recognition technology, and FORM OpX, all of which activate and connect teams in the field – with leaders, missions, and each other – so they can deliver success in the enterprise.

With more than 25 years of experience, FORM supports 100,000+ global users from some of the world’s more recognizable global brands in 45 countries. To learn more, visit www.form.com.

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/at-nrf-europe-gospotcheck-by-form-showcases-new-ai-capabilities-for-holiday-merchandising-execution-302876611.html