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Priority Pass to accelerate travel innovation, backed by the Collinson Group’s £500 million growth programme

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The Collinson Group recently announced £350m in new financing, which will accelerate the £500 million growth strategy; reflective of both strong confidence in the Group’s performance and its commitment to driving innovation and leadership in airport experiences. A core focus will be acceleration of the digital roadmap, leveraging new data and AI capabilities, and significantly expanding the group’s lounge network.

BANGKOK, Sept. 24, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Priority Pass, the world’s original and market-leading airport experiences programme, set out how it will benefit from the Collinson Group’s £500 million, five-year investment programme, accelerated by a new £350 million financing facility. A significant proportion of the programme will be directed towards expansion of the group’s proprietary lounge network and investment in Priority Pass – continuing to strengthen the latter’s core proposition, accelerating the development of digital, AI and data capabilities, and broadening the range of travel services available to clients and travellers.

The investment builds on significant enhancements already underway across Priority Pass. These include a new enterprise-level technology platform leveraging modern data and AI architecture, alongside the global rollout of the new Priority Pass+ app. These enhancements are designed to create a more connected digital ecosystem for clients, partners and members, while enabling greater personalisation over time.

As a family-owned business, Collinson takes a long-term approach to growth, continually reinvesting in its businesses, clients and their customers, and partners. This has enabled Priority Pass to continue expanding its global network and developing new solutions and services, while growing ahead of the wider travel market.

An extensive part of Collinson Group’s investment programme will be focussed on expanding its global airport lounge footprint, through Airport Dimensions, sister company to Priority Pass. This additional lounge capacity within the group will help to protect and enhance the experience available to Priority Pass members as global air passenger traffic is expected to almost double to nearly 19 billion journeys a year by 2045. Priority Pass recently surpassed 1,900 airport lounges and travel experiences worldwide, with its global network expanding by 6.7% over the past 12 months.

Christopher Evans, CEO of Collinson International, owners of Priority Pass, said: “Travel plays an increasingly important role in people’s lives. While operating costs across the travel industry continue to rise, so too do traveller expectations, with people seeking journeys that are more seamless, connected and personalised. That makes investment in the customer experience more important than ever before.

“This investment reflects a principle that has remained core to our business for more than 35 years: that investing in better travel experiences creates genuine value for our partners, our clients and travellers alike. Recent shifts in what technology can enable means we need to increase our investment levels to realise the value new technology can bring through Priority Pass, further allowing our clients to offer differentiated and personalised experiences to their customers.

“As we surpass 1,900 lounges and travel experiences globally, the Group’s investment in lounge capacity through Airport Dimensions means our members will benefit from a network that keeps expanding for the long term. This powerful combination is unique in our sector. It allows us to work closely with financial institutions, travel brands and airport partners around the world to help them build stronger customer relationships while shaping the next generation of airport experiences and delivering long-term value.”

An enhanced digital experience for members

Investment in Priority Pass is resulting in upgraded systems, advanced technology and the new Priority Pass+ App – the latter of which introduces functionality designed to make it easier for members to plan their journeys, access their benefits and manage their membership in one place.

Future functionality will include enhanced and intuitive travel planning – leveraging AI, past behaviours and real-time geo-location (where enabled) – to proactively suggest suitable lounges and travel experiences for members’ journeys. This lays the foundation for greater personalisation over time based on individual user preferences, while further supporting Priority Pass partners by surfacing relevant and timely experiences to members. Partner integration will continue to evolve, enabling secure in-app purchases of experiences and travel benefits.

An enhanced user experience can also be enjoyed through easier activation, saved card functionality, biometric authentication, and email or mobile one-time verification. Eligible members can view and manage multiple Priority Pass memberships in one place, making it easier to switch between benefits without managing separate accounts or logins; and in the near future, eligible principal payment cardholders will be able to use the Priority Pass+ app to share their visit entitlements with supplementary cardholders (where their issuing bank allows) – even when the latter is travelling independently. 

Expanding choice and access for travellers

Alongside enhancing its core systems, Priority Pass continues to invest in new solutions and services to better support clients’ commercial objectives and meet evolving traveller expectations. This includes the launch of Priority Pass Private, a luxury, full-service airport experience designed to reward discerning travellers with a more elevated and seamless journey through the airport.

Airport fast track* is also now available at 28 airports, providing access to expedited security lanes through the Priority Pass app. Over the next 12 months, the network is expected to expand to more than 170 bookable fast track lanes across more than 150 terminals and more than 130 airports globally. With 73% of travellers identifying fast track as the top technology for improving the airport experience[¹], the service responds directly to increasing demand for greater convenience, efficiency and control. It joins a growing portfolio of end-to-end travel services that support members pre, during and post-travel, including airport parking and luggage storage.

A trusted partner for leading global brands

Over the past 35 years, Priority Pass has evolved from an airport lounge access programme into a broader travel ecosystem that supports travellers before, during and after their journey. The programme now sees more than six million guest visits per month, indicating the growing value travellers place on premium, end-to-end airport experiences.

The growth programme will further help shape the next generation of airport experiences, with a strengthened relationship with lounge partner CAVU – operators of Escape Lounges – resulting in dedicated areas for Priority Pass members and LoungeKey cardholders live across five UK lounges to help increase capacity. Escape Lounges reception teams also support Priority Pass members and LoungeKey cardholders with priority access once space becomes available, further increasing lounge visits for the partner.

Investing in the future of travel

This announcement follows the Collinson Group’s recently announced £350 million Revolving Credit Facility, which supports a £500 million investment programme across the Group over the next five years. Alongside investment in Priority Pass, the programme will fund expansion of the Group’s global lounge network, growth of its insurance portfolio, the development of new technology and products, entry into new markets and investment in its people.

The Group also recently renewed its commitment to the Collinson Foundation, pledging 5% of profits by FY29 towards programmes supporting education, employment, entrepreneurship, innovation and crisis response.

Notes to editors:

*Pricing varies by airport. Member-funded service. Lounge entitlements/visits cannot be used to pay for airport fast track. Available at 28 airports across eight countries in Europe, the Americas and Middle East; further expansion of airport fast track is planned in Asia-Pacific. Please check the departing airport listing in the Priority Pass app for details.

[¹] Priority Pass Tomorrow’s Journey: Smarter, Faster, Connected – collinsongroup.com/en-GB/lp/tomorrows-journey-report

Air passenger traffic forecast: Airports Council International, January 2026

About Priority Pass:

Priority Pass is the world’s original and market-leading airport experiences programme. We provide travellers with access to over 1,900 lounges and travel experiences in 865 airports in 143 countries. Members can access an ever-growing range of premium experiences – from spas to sleeping pods to dining – that help elevate every journey into something special. By building partnerships with other leading brands, we help to bring a better travel experience to the world.

Priority Pass is owned and operated by Collinson International, part of The Collinson Group, a family-owned business. Formed over 35 years ago, it now has five distinct operating companies that generate a combined annual revenue of £2bn, employing more than 2,500 people across 14 countries.

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SOURCE Collinson International

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SEAL Awards Marks Ten Years of Honoring Business Sustainability and Climate Reporting

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This month marks the tenth anniversary of SEAL Awards, an organization dedicated to recognizing corporate sustainability leadership, funding early-career environmental research, and honoring the journalists whose reporting has shaped public understanding of the climate crisis. From its initial idea of corporate sustainability recognition in September 2016, the organization has grown from a single set of business awards into a three-pillar effort spanning recognition, research, and direct action.

SAN DIEGO, Sept. 24, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Ten years ago, SEAL Awards Founder Matt Harney set out to build an organization that could champion positive corporate environmental practices. A decade later, that founding idea has expanded into three connected pillars: the Business Sustainability Awards, the Environmental Journalism Awards, and the Environmental Research Grants, alongside a series of independent environmental impact campaigns.

The SEAL Business Sustainability Awards have recognized global leaders including Cisco, Disneyland, General Electric, General Motors, Honeywell, IBM, Microsoft, Mastercard, Procter & Gamble, Salesforce, Samsung, Southwest Airlines, and Whirlpool among the world’s most sustainable. Past award winners like AiDash, Beewise, Enervee, FloWater, PATH (Pathwater), and Stasher reflect SEAL Business Sustainability Awards’ inclusion of start-ups and emerging sustainability leaders. SEAL’s ESG recognition efforts were furthered by its analytical process – merging CDP A-List data with CSA / S&P Global ESG Scores – for its SEAL Organizational Impact Award, representing the top 50 most sustainable companies in the world. Application fees from the business awards fund the organization’s research grants, environmental journalism awards and impact campaigns, tying corporate recognition directly to the organization’s broader mission.

The Environmental Journalism Awards have honored journalists at outlets ranging from established newsrooms – The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Guardian, Bloomberg, NPR, and ProPublica – to emerging, climate-focused publications including Mongabay, Grist, Earther, and The Narwhal. Each year, the program recognizes twelve journalists for reporting that connects environmental systems to the political and economic forces shaping them and the communities living through them.

The Environmental Research Grants fund graduate students and postdoctoral researchers early in their environmental policy careers, with past recipients based at institutions including Harvard, MIT, UCLA, Arizona State University, Princeton, the University of Colorado Boulder, the Marine Conservation Institute, and Duke.

Beyond granting recognition to corporate sustainability and environmental journalism, SEAL Awards has taken on its own impact campaigns, including developing the concept for an Eco Rewards credit card, launching the “UpTheCup” public call for Starbucks to reduce cup waste that achieved over 70,000 petition signatures on Change.org, and a push for Yelp to highlight sustainable restaurant listings – efforts that use the organization’s network to drive change directly rather than solely through recognition. Through these campaigns, over 100 interns gained training by directly owning impact campaign deliverables.

“Ten years ago, sustainability was often a small, ignored cost center within companies,” said Matt Harney, Founder of SEAL Awards. “Today, companies are being asked to show their work, and increasingly, they can. In the past decade, we’ve seen real progress in making sustainability a core pillar instead of an afterthought. The challenge we face in the coming decade is to shift from sustainability as an aspiration to a baseline, with regenerative business practices as the new goalpost.”

“It has been an honor to support SEAL Awards and serve its mission from the beginning,” said Safa Bee Wesley, Impact Lead. “I’m proud of the work we’ve accomplished over the past ten years, and especially proud of our impact internship program. Our impact campaigns set out to change the way business is done — but the biggest impact we created may have been through the experience our interns gained from planning and implementing our campaigns, and the skills they carried into their own careers in sustainability.”

SEAL Awards continues to expand its search for honorees across varied industries, journalism formats, and global locations, reflecting the scale of the environmental challenges it was founded to address.

ABOUT SEAL AWARDS
SEAL (Sustainability, Environmental Achievement & Leadership) Awards is an environmental advocacy organization that honors leadership through its corporate sustainability awards and environmental journalism awards, while funding academic research and pursuing its own environmental impact campaigns.

The SEAL Awards’ core pillars are:

Business Sustainability Awards, honoring the most sustainable companies in the worldEnvironmental Journalism Awards, recognizing journalists across established and emerging outletsEnvironmental Research Grants, funding early-career researchers at institutions including Harvard, MIT, and DukeImpact Campaigns, applying the organization’s network directly toward environmental accountability

Company Website
https://sealawards.com/

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SOURCE SEAL Awards

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DFI Enables the Future of Gaming Operations with Edge AI and Real-Time Vision Analytics at G2E 2026

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TAIPEI, Sept. 24, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — DFI, a Qisda Group company and a global leader in embedded motherboards and industrial computers, today announced that it will showcase its latest gaming computing platforms at the Global Gaming Expo (G2E) 2026. Designed for next-generation smart gaming systems, the platforms combine high-resolution graphics, responsive edge computing, and integrated system security.

Leading DFI’s showcase is the SF101-PTH embedded system, powered by the Intel® Core™ Ultra processor (Series 3) platform. Utilizing Intel® Xe3 graphics architecture and delivering up to 180 TOPS of combined AI performance across its NPU, GPU, and CPU on a single-board computer, the system addresses the demanding computational requirements of next-generation slot machines and smart bingo terminals. With its integrated edge AI capabilities, the SF101-PTH processes advanced computer vision workloads to drive player engagement analytics for tailored guest experiences, alongside on-device fraud prevention to safeguard machine integrity. These AI workloads run concurrently with low-latency multi-screen 4K 3D game rendering within a low-power envelope. DFI will demonstrate these capabilities on-site through an interactive, live Bingo Machine showcase, illustrating real-time graphical throughput and edge analytical processing.

DFI’s showcase further includes an extensive motherboard portfolio spanning Intel® Core™ Ultra processors (Series 3 and Series 2) as well as Intel® Core™ 14th/13th Gen processors to accommodate diverse cabinet form factors, offering scalable performance from mainstream socketed processing to next-generation edge AI and multi-display 4K configurations. Supporting Qisda Group’s four AI pillars – “AI Vision & Display,” “AI Infrastructure,” “AI Solutions & Smart Manufacturing,” and “AI Hospital & Wellness Ecosystem”- DFI advances high-performance graphics, edge AI processing, and scalable infrastructure to empower next-generation gaming at G2E 2026.

To simplify cabinet architecture and streamline peripheral management, DFI will feature the GM841-HPF system, powered by the AMD Ryzen™ Embedded 8000 Series processor. Built as an all-in-one platform for gaming cabinets, the GM841-HPF integrates 8-channel physical intrusion detection, 32-in/32-out isolated GPIO, 4 native ccTalk ports, and iButton interfaces directly onto the board. This unified design enables direct connectivity to bill validators, buttons, and lighting peripherals without requiring external converter boards, reducing cabling complexity and maintenance costs.

To support regulatory compliance across global gaming markets, DFI offers gaming platforms with hardware TPM 2.0 and jurisdiction-specific BIOS options pre-verified by GLI. Using cryptographic hashing and public-key verification, these capabilities help protect BIOS and storage media integrity while simplifying system validation across different gaming jurisdictions.

Exhibition Information

Location: The Venetian Expo, Las Vegas, USAHall: Exhibition HallDate: September 29 – October 1, 2026Booth No.: 1832

About DFI

Founded in 1981, DFI is a global leading provider of high-performance computing technology across multiple embedded industries. With its innovative design and premium quality management system, DFI’s industrial-grade solutions enable customers to optimize their equipment and ensure high reliability, long-term life cycle, and 24/7 durability in a breadth of markets including Industrial Automation, Medical, Gaming, Transportation, Energy, Mission-Critical, and Intelligent Retail.

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SOURCE DFI

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IBM Expands Its Digital Banking Infrastructure with Swift Integration and Digital Asset Haven On-Premises

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IBM enables financial institutions to connect to Swift’s blockchain-based shared ledger for tokenized deposit transactions with betaIBM Digital Asset Haven extends to on-premises beta deployment, giving institutions greater deployment control of their digital asset technology stack

ARMONK, N.Y., Sept. 24, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced two key capabilities designed to help financial institutions, governments, and other regulated organizations provide digital asset services while prioritizing enterprise-grade security and control. In a beta offering, IBM Digital Asset Haven clients can now connect to permissioned blockchain networks, including Swift’s blockchain-based shared ledger. IBM is also extending IBM Digital Asset Haven to an on-premises beta deployment option, enabling clients to manage digital asset operations entirely within their own data centers.

According to J.P. Morgan Payments, 93% of financial institutions are modernizing their payments infrastructure¹ as banks look to move money more efficiently across borders and manage a growing range of digital assets. This shift is increasing demand for infrastructure that can support new forms of digital transactions while meeting banks’ security, compliance, and operational requirements.

IBM advances cross-border payments with Swift’s ledger

IBM Digital Asset Haven now enables clients to connect to Swift’s blockchain-based shared ledger. Swift is the globally inclusive cooperative that connects 12,500 financial institutions across 200+ markets. With the beta release of the IBM Digital Asset Haven ISO 20022 Messaging Adapter feature, institutions can instruct tokenized deposit transactions using standard ISO 20022 messages through the shared ledger infrastructure, allowing them to build on existing payment message formats and operational processes instead of blockchain-specific workflows. Swift’s ledger supports bank-issued tokenized deposits and participating IBM clients can move digital assets 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, ahead of final settlement through existing systems, while continuing to use established Swift standards and banks’ own compliance processes.

Announced at Sibos 2025 and designed in collaboration with more than 40 financial institutions worldwide, Swift’s ledger moved from concept to activation within nine months and is being put to first use by 17 first-mover institutions piloting tokenized deposit transactions. Financial institutions already participating in the program have successfully tested tokenized deposits on the Swift shared ledger with IBM Digital Asset Haven, demonstrating how banks can use existing standards and compliance processes to explore new models for moving money digitally.

IBM Digital Asset Haven extends to on-premises beta deployment

IBM is also extending Digital Asset Haven, a platform built to help banks, governments, and other regulated organizations manage and secure digital assets, to an on-premises beta deployment for clients. This deployment allows organizations to manage digital assets such as stablecoins and tokenized deposits entirely within their own environments.

Since launching IBM Digital Asset Haven SaaS and hybrid deployment options in October 2025, banking and payment institutions across multiple continents have begun implementing digital asset use cases with IBM Digital Asset Haven.

The new on-premises deployment option is designed to run entirely inside a client’s own data center on IBM Z and IBM LinuxONE with no dependency on public cloud infrastructure. Clients can deploy it on compatible IBM infrastructure already in their environment or add new capacity based on their requirements.

IBM Digital Asset Haven on-premises differentiates from existing deployment options by being built to combine client control with increased performance, speed, and scale for digital asset operations, while prioritizing enterprise-grade security. IBM Digital Asset Haven’s on-premises key features include:

Client-Controlled Deployment keeps both the solution layer and the key management layer entirely inside the client’s own IBM LinuxONE or IBM Z environment, with configurations achieving industry-leading 99.999999% availability2.Hardware-Backed Security protects keys using IBM Crypto Express HSMs embedded in LinuxONE, with confidential computing and secured environment partitioning isolating production, test, and development environments.Structured Key Ceremonies and Cold Storage follow formal, auditable processes used to generate root certificate authority keys, producing documentation clients can present to regulators, with support for IBM Offline Signing Orchestrator cold storage operations.Consistent Experience Across Deployments carries the same architecture, APIs, and workflows as Haven’s SaaS and Hybrid SaaS options, so clients can move between deployment models without rewriting applications.

“The financial services industry is entering a new era where tokenized and traditional assets will need to move side by side,” said Tom McPherson, General Manager, IBM Z and LinuxONE. “As institutions modernize payments and prepare for a future of always-on transactions, they need infrastructure that combines innovation with the security, resiliency, and regulatory compliance requirements of regulated banking. By connecting to Swift’s shared ledger and extending IBM Digital Asset Haven to on-premises environments, IBM is helping clients participate in emerging digital asset networks while prioritizing control of their most critical financial operations.”

For more information about IBM’s integration with Swift’s shared ledger, visit here. Institutions interested in IBM Digital Asset Haven’s on-premises beta can join the waitlist at here.

Statements regarding IBM’s future direction and intent are subject to change or withdrawal without notice, and represent goals and objectives only.

About IBM
IBM is a leading provider of global hybrid cloud and AI, and consulting expertise. We help clients in more than 175 countries capitalize on insights from their data, streamline business processes, reduce costs and gain the competitive edge in their industries. Thousands of government and corporate entities in critical infrastructure areas such as financial services, telecommunications and healthcare rely on IBM’s hybrid cloud platform and Red Hat OpenShift to affect their digital transformations quickly, efficiently and securely. IBM’s breakthrough innovations in AI, quantum computing, industry-specific cloud solutions and consulting deliver open and flexible options to our clients. All of this is backed by IBM’s long-standing commitment to trust, transparency, responsibility, inclusivity and service.

Additional Sources
What’s New IBM Digital Asset Haven On-Prem and Swift Blog 

Disclaimers:
1. https://www.jpmorgan.com/insights/payments/fx-cross-border/2026-trends-for-financial-institutions 

2. IBM internal data based on measurements and projections was used in calculating the expected value. Necessary components include IBM LinuxONE Rockhopper 5; IBM z/VM V7.3 systems or above collected in a Single System Image, each running RHOCP 4.14 or above; IBM Operations Manager; GDPS 4.6 or above for management of data recovery and virtual machine recovery across metro distance systems and storage, including Metro Multi-site workload and GDPS Global; and IBM DS8000 series storage with IBM HyperSwap. A MongoDB v4.4 workload was used. Necessary resiliency technology must be enabled, including z/VM Single System Image clustering, GDPS xDR Proxy for z/VM, and Red Hat OpenShift Data Foundation (ODF) 4.14 or above for management of local storage devices. Application-induced outages are not included in the above measurements. Other configurations (hardware or software) may provide different availability characteristics.

Media Contact:
Aishwerya Paul
IBM Infrastructure Communications
Aish.Paul@ibm.com 

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