Top Innovations
Vonage’s Agentforce Identity Insights for contact centers flags recent or multiple SIM swaps, validates number type, carrier, caller ID and auto‑verifies leads to prioritize valid accounts and secure interactions
Vonage announced the launch of…
Mastercard’s Merchant Cloud will provide merchants with the capability to conduct agentic payments securely, integrating into Mastercard Agent Pay and implementing the latest agentic payments protocols
Mastercard today announced Merchant Cloud,…
Key News
ExaGrid’s multi-layer Retention Time-Lock for ransomware recovery protects backup data from deletion or encryption by combining a non-network-facing Repository Tier, tiered air gap, delayed delete policy and immutable data objects
ExaGrid announced the release of…
KNEX’s pre-configured low-code Visa Virtual Card Adapter embeds instant supplier payments, automated reconciliation and frictionless onboarding directly into Oracle ERP, eliminating separate accounts payable and banking applications
KNEX, a trusted Oracle partner,…
OpenAI has formed a council to help it define and monitor “what healthy interactions with AI [artificial intelligence] should look like.” The Expert Council on Well-Being and AI is composed of eight researchers and experts focused on how technology affects mental health. OpenAI has consulted with many of these experts in the past, as when the company was developing parental controls and notification language for parents whose teen may be in distress. Moving forward, the council will monitor the company’s approach and will explore topics like how AI should behave in sensitive situations, what kinds of guardrails can support people using ChatGPT, and how ChatGPT can have a positive impact on people’s lives. “Alongside the Expert Council on Well-Being and AI advising on our broader approach to well-being, we’re also working with a multidisciplinary subset of mental health clinicians and researchers within the Global Physician Network to shape our model behavior and policies, and to test how ChatGPT responds in real-world situations. This work spans psychiatry, psychology, pediatrics, and crisis intervention, helping ensure our systems are grounded in clinical understanding and best practices,” the company said.
Ascendo AI announced the launch of the Ascendo AI Knowledge Agent, a Product Intelligence capability that automates enterprise technical documentation and knowledge creation. The Knowledge Agent converts fragmented case notes, knowledge bases, chat transcripts and files into structured, persona-driven documentation, complete with schematic diagrams, flow charts, images, video embeds, rich text and tables, using simple templates and customizable personas. Key features: Template-driven document generation (diagrams, flow charts, media, tables); Persona-driven outputs: Yoda the Teacher (Instructional), Martian the Technical Mark (Technical), Carraway the Summarizer (Key Points), Bourne the Brief (Concise), Spock the Analyst (Analytical); Ingests enterprise sources including case notes, knowledge bases, Slack/Teams transcripts, manuals, files and databases to create searchable knowledge assets; New UI to add Knowledge functionality across enterprise workflows with minimal configuration. Early customer impact – Large telecom customer: ~50% reduction in field service bulletin creation time. Leading AI company: ~80% reduction in knowledge creation time for onboarding and customer documentation. Large healthcare organization: ~70% reduction in training and onboarding time with automatically generated training modules. Day Knowledge Challenge – Ascendo AI is running a 7-Day Knowledge Challenge. Participants who create and publish knowledge using the Knowledge Agent will be spotlighted and eligible for prizes.
Infinitus Systems, Announced that the company has partnered with Outshift by Cisco to streamline healthcare operations, leveraging the orchestration layer of discoverable, secure, and distributed AI agents in healthcare. Healthcare clinicians and staff face a flood of time-consuming tasks, from patient communication and follow-ups to prior authorization and insurance verifications. Infinitus AI agents streamline these vital but labor-intensive processes – which can include many thousands of faxes, phone calls, and voicemail exchanges managed by overburdened staff – to improve patient access and outcomes. Once streamlined using Infinitus AI agents, tasks that typically take 24-48 hours can instead be completed in seconds to a couple of hours. As part of this collaboration, Infinitus has contributed to AGNTCY – an open-source framework under the Linux Foundation dedicated to advancing interoperability for the Internet of Agents. AGNTCY’s mission is to establish shared standards, promote agent discoverability, and build trust among AI agents, enabling secure and coordinated multi-agent workflows in mission-critical environments like healthcare. By publishing its MCP implementation to the Agent Directory, Infinitus ensures its healthcare-focused agents can seamlessly integrate with agents from other organizations.
C-level executives want their companies to use AI agents to move faster, therefore driving vendors to deliver AI agent-driven software, and every software delivery team is looking for ways to add agentic capabilities and automation to their development platforms. By parallel coding with co-pilots, some pundits are speculating that developers could increase their code output by 10 times. “The only purpose of adopting agents is productivity, and the unlock for that is verifiability,” said David Colwell, vice president of artificial intelligence, Tricentis, an agentic AI-driven testing platform. “The best AI agent is not the one that can do the work the fastest. The best AI agent is the one that can prove that the work was done correctly the fastest.” “When you prompt AI to write a test, one agent will understand the user’s natural language commands, and another will start to execute against that plan and write actions into the test, while another agent understands what changed in the application and how the test should be healed,” said Andrew Doughty, founder and chief executivce of SpotQA, creator of Virtuoso QA. “And then if there is a failure, an agent can look into the history of that test object, and then triage it automatically and send it over to developers to investigate.” “We’ve found that customers don’t need large model-based AIs to do very specific testing tasks. You really want smaller models that have been tuned and trained to do specific tasks, with fine-grained context about the system under test to deliver consistent, meaningful results,” said Matt Young, president, Functionize Inc.
DeepTempo announced a strategic partnership with Cribl, the Data Engine for IT and Security. Together, the companies are delivering an integrated solution that streamlines telemetry collection and unleashes deep learning-powered detection to stop polymorphic and agentic AI-driven threats. At the core of the offering is Tempo, DeepTempo’s flagship platform. By combining Tempo’s advanced analytics with Cribl’s data collection and management capabilities, customers gain high-fidelity detections, faster investigations, and significant cost savings without the complexity of managing multiple collectors or preprocessing pipelines. Key Benefits for Security Teams: Unified telemetry management: Cribl Stream, Lake, and Search unite the telemetry lifecycle—collecting, routing, tiering, and instantly searching logs, metrics, and events from any source in any format. The product suite enables centralized control, flexible access, and lower costs through seamless object store integration and federated search. Schema-aware enrichment: Cribl’s Copilot Editor automatically maps raw telemetry to industry schemas (OCSF, ECS, UDM, ASIM), while Tempo layers in behavioral enrichment to accelerate time-to-insight. Behavior-first detection: Tempo’s LogLM, built and trained by DeepTempo, identifies subtle deviations from normal activity, from reconnaissance to lateral movement, with false positives under 1% after domain adaptation. The platform is agent-free and optimized for modern data lake and cloud-native environments. Accelerated performance: NVIDIA GPU acceleration and RAPIDS integration enable high-throughput, real-time analysis of massive data volumes without sacrificing accuracy. Faster SOC workflows: Tempo automatically tags sequences with MITRE ATT&CK techniques, builds forensic timelines, and uses vector-based correlation for rapid triage and root-cause analysis. Replay capabilities allow data retrieval from low-cost storage for investigation and model fine-tuning. Cost optimization: Intelligent data routing and reduced false positives can lower SIEM licensing costs by up to 45%.
Proof has launched a new solution aimed at solving the problem of falsified content, deepfakes and digital impersonation that artificial intelligence has dramatically exacerbated. Called Certify, the new solution seeks to address the proliferation of fake documents, images, videos and data driven by generative AI to the point where it’s indistinguishable from reality. Proof argues that although fake media and misinformation have garnered the most attention, the real danger in AI lies in its ability to forge signatures, falsify records, impersonate one’s voice on the phone, or fake a person’s likeness on video. Certify enables instant, legally accepted digital signing of any content, whether financial, legal or personal, using a verified legal identity. The service cryptographically signs all media and data to generate irrefutable digital evidence that cannot be counterfeited by generative AI. With Certify, identities are embedded in everything done online to create verifiable records that anyone can instantly trust, the company says. Proof claims Certify verifiable records will supplant any digital asset that is accepted by existing legal frameworks — documents, images, video, audio and structured data, making it possible to authenticate all forms of media to ensure provenance and accountability in an era where digital forgeries are proliferating. Organizations can immediately verify the authenticity of any evidence they receive, without requiring users to present their identification every time. Along with the launch of Certify, Proof also announced the availability of the Identity Authorization Network, where consumers can save their verified biometric identity once and instantly true-sign any media and data across the Proof platform. The digital identity eliminates the need for repeated onboarding and establishes a chain of trust with every authorization, since there’s an inextricable link between an identity and the record it produces.
New guidance obtained by American Banker would reduce the number of suspicious activity reports, or SARs, banks are required to file, a move aimed at easing banks’ compliance burden and making data more useful for law enforcement. The Treasury Department, Federal Reserve, Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency are releasing a new Frequently Asked Questions guidance document that is meant to cut the compliance burden for banks and other financial firms by reducing the number of SARs that they need to file. Treasury said that the changes would refocus the system on reports that provide the greatest value to law enforcement. “SARs should deliver better outcomes by providing law enforcement the most useful information — not by overwhelming the system with noise,” said Treasury Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence John Hurley in a statement. “Compliance requires real resources, and that’s why prioritization is crucial. At Treasury, we will continue to reform our Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism framework to de-prioritize low-value activity and direct compliance resources towards the most significant threats to our country.” Banks are required to file SARs to the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, or Fincen, under certain circumstances, such as upon observing a known or suspected federal crime or when a customer deposits more than $10,000 in cash. Banks can also voluntarily file SARs on suspicious transactions that might be relevant to a possible violation. Banks tend to over-file SARs relative to what is required out of concern that they could face supervisory or enforcement penalties if they are found to have inadequate anti-money laundering controls. But the reporting rules have also become central to the administration’s crusade against political debanking because SARs filed against a consumer can lead to that person or group losing access to banking services. The OCC even recently warned financial institutions against using voluntary SARs as “a pretext to improperly disclose customers’ financial information.” The new guidance from the banking regulators should ease some of those worries.
Cybersecurity Awareness Month arrives this week against a sobering backdrop: Consumer losses from fraud have surged to $12.5 billion, a 25% increase in just one year. In response, the financial industry, consumer advocates and the federal government have rolled out a coordinated effort to fight back. Throughout October, organizations from the American Bankers Association to the federal government’s lead cybersecurity agency will be pushing new campaigns and security frameworks aimed at protecting both consumers and the nation’s critical financial infrastructure. Here are the most important developments to watch, from new anti-scam strategies to useful updated resources. The biggest announcement to kick off Cybersecurity Awareness Month on Wednesday came from the Aspen Institute, which released a national strategy on preventing scams developed jointly by multiple banks, payment networks, financial services companies, consumer advocates, government agencies, major retailers and others. Members of the steering committee that developed the report represented JPMorganChase, Zelle, Block, Plaid, Amazon, Target and others. Other members of the task force that developed the report included Bank of America, Citizens, Wells Fargo, Visa, Paypal, Transunion, the American Bankers Association and the Bank Policy Institute. The 70-page strategy document functions as a blueprint for how companies, the U.S. government, and others can combat a problem that the report calls a “global conflict” and “whole-of-society threat to America.” The strategy document emphasizes that artificial intelligence and faster payment options are making scams more destructive and widespread. Financial services — including banking, payments, fintech and crypto — are among the sectors scammers exploit. The report urged government and corporate leaders to modernize legal frameworks and enhance incentives for action. A critical component of the framework organized by the Aspen Institute is addressing the current ambiguity regarding the duty of care to suppress scam activity across sectors. Because the report serves to document the consensus between various consumer advocates, banks and other stakeholders, it does not reach a conclusion on the core, nuanced subject of the duty of care (who should be liable) when a consumer is tricked into authorizing a payment to a fraudster. However, the report does note that there is currently no clear or consistent duty of care to suppress scam activity across sectors targeted by scammers, such as telecommunications, digital platforms and financial services. This ambiguity creates tension, as companies fear undue liability if clear mandates are established. So, the strategy calls for Congress to normalize duties across sectors and enact good Samaritan liability protections for companies that act reasonably and in good faith against scams. These protections would help de-risk corporate participation in scam suppression efforts. The report also cited the Australia Scams Prevention Framework as an international model, noting it provides a safe harbor protecting firms from liability when they take reasonable, proportionate and good-faith action to block suspected scams. The strategy advocates that companies maintain robust anti-scam policies covering the entire scam lifecycle and ensure C-suite leaders own and review these policies regularly.
Seniiors, the comprehensive cloud platform for managing senior-care facilities, announced the global rollout of its AI-powered suite—an innovation that integrates predictive analytics, intelligent automation, and real-time alerts directly into daily caregiving operations. This launch positions Seniiors at the forefront of an accelerating transformation in the global AgeTech market, which is currently valued at $2 trillion. At the heart of Seniiors’ mission is a simple but powerful goal: give time back to caregivers and improve every resident’s quality of life. The platform unites all aspects of care—planning, communication, and oversight—into a single intelligent dashboard. Its new AI suite analyzes resident patterns, predicting risks such as falls or sudden changes in well-being before they happen. Routine tasks, scheduling, and documentation are automated, freeing staff from paperwork to focus on personal interaction and empathy. Dynamic visual dashboards provide instant clarity across an organization—highlighting resident wellness trends, staffing balance, and emerging needs. Integrated sentiment tracking captures both resident mood and caregiver morale, while machine-learning models offer personalized housing or care recommendations. Together, these tools transform care homes from reactive to predictive environments. The upcoming Family Experience App will allow relatives to communicate with staff in real time, review updates, sign documents digitally, and participate in their loved ones’ daily moments from anywhere. Integrations with Apple Watch and Alexa will soon provide continuous wellness insights—heart rate, sleep, mobility—creating a seamless ecosystem of data and compassion.
HENRYs are a large class of Americans who earn over $100,000 annually but still feel financially strapped due to lack of substantial wealth, assets, or investment knowledge. While 14% of all US households earn over $200,000 a year, 62% of people with salaries of over $300,000 struggle with credit card debt. A 2024 survey revealed that individuals would need to earn $520,000 a year to feel rich. Wisdom is a more accurate measure of overall financial health and economic security, and a high income does not guarantee wealth, especially if spent lavishly or offset by high debt. Wealth is a source of retirement income, providing security for future generations. In the US, upper-income families had 7.4 times as much wealth at the median as middle-income families and 75 times as much wealth as lower-income families. To become a HENRY, individuals should track their annual household income, savings and investments, living in high-cost urban areas, biggest monthly expense, feeling financially secure, having student loans or significant debt, actively investing or planning for retirement, and often feeling like their lifestyle doesn’t match their income. By integrating these technologies into their financial lives, HENRYs can shift from high earners to high net worth individuals with greater confidence and control. HENRYs are a transitional phase in their financial journey, and it is crucial for them to take control of their financial future. By leveraging technology and embracing digital tools, they can become high net worth individuals with greater confidence and control.
What follows is a look at the Gen Z-focused offerings from Navy Federal and four other banks and fintechs. 1) Navy Federal Credit Union recently adopted a consumer-permissioned data reporting product through a partnership with fintech Bloom Credit. The credit union said it has integrated Bloom’s product as a checking account feature as part of a handful of updates to its offerings. The partnership gives Navy Federal’s customers the option to report up to five existing payments, including rent and utility payments, from their checking accounts to TransUnion, one of the three main credit reporting bureaus. Justin Zeidman, vice president of strategy at Navy Federal, told that through this product, rent payments can be treated as credit history in a way similar to mortgage payments. “It allows the credit bureaus to see and track the responsible behavior of consumers who would have otherwise been completely invisible to the bureaus,” Zeidman said. He added that this product is especially relevant for Navy Federal’s users — people who are serving or have served in the armed forces — because many enlisted military members join at a young age, before they have developed a credit history. 2) Jack Dorsey’s payments and commerce company Block is hoping to expand its peer-to-peer payments platform Cash App to more Gen Z consumers, while at the same time increasing the penetration of its small-dollar lending product, Cash App Borrow. Gen Z consumers are an important segment of Block’s customer base and one that it has also targeted with its buy now/pay later product, Afterpay. The FDIC’s decision to allow Block to originate and service its own loans, which are made through its Square Financial Services unit, doubled the total addressable market of customers on its network it can offer its loans to and improved unit economics, according to the company.
When Brazilian digital bank Inter decided it was time to take on the US market, it didn’t look to New York or San Francisco. It planted its flag in Miami. “Miami is our home and Inter’s home,” said COO Ray Chalub, who moved here with his family two years ago to lead the expansion. “Miami is a global city, and for us, it’s the ultimate destination,” he said. “It’s business-friendly, multicultural, and perfectly positioned geographically: connected to Latin America, the West Coast, and Europe. And beyond that, we call it home.” Inter has nearly 60 employees in Miami, part of a global workforce of 4,000, 40% of whom are technologists. The company’s US offering centers around a super app that combines traditional banking services with features designed to stretch across a customer’s daily life. The Inter app allows users to open a free checking account, make transfers, use debit and credit cards, and invest in stocks and ETFs with zero brokerage fees. But Chalub emphasized that the goal is much broader: “We want to be at the center of people’s financial lives. That means everything from mortgages to gift cards, from paying abroad to discounts at major retailers.” One of the company’s most distinctive US offerings is its credit card. Inter’s version includes a buy now, pay later feature that Chalub believes could catch on widely. “We’re offering pay-in-four, but instead of four weeks, it’s four months,” he explained. “Imagine buying a new phone or booking a trip and spreading that cost over months without interest. That’s powerful.” The card also comes with a twist: customers can “chat” with it in the app, using a GPT-style interface to manage payments and set up installments. The company’s public goal is to reach 60 million customers globally in the coming years, with the US playing a central role.
Oportun, a fintech company, has successfully navigated the transition from a “growth-at-all-costs” model to a capital-efficient lender. The $538 million asset-backed securitization deal in August 2025 is a significant milestone for the industry, as it demonstrates the importance of strategic capital structuring and disciplined debt management. The company’s recent ABS transaction, rated AAA for its Class A notes by Fitch, reflects a significant improvement in securitization pricing and the company’s ability to optimize its capital structure. Oportun’s focus on operational discipline has allowed it to secure AAA-rated ABS at favorable rates, demonstrating its ability to balance growth with prudence. The fintech sector is now navigating a normalization of credit cycles, with delinquency rates for credit cards and auto loans remaining below post-2008 levels. Capital efficiency has become a litmus test for fintech resilience, and the Basel III Endgame re-proposal may further incentivize fintechs to partner with regional banks to optimize risk-weighted assets. Oportun’s story offers a blueprint for identifying fintechs poised for long-term success, as its proactive debt management, improved securitization terms, and consistent credit performance demonstrate a commitment to capital efficiency. However, historical data suggests that Oportun’s gains may reverse over longer horizons, suggesting investors may need to consider timing or hedging strategies. The broader fintech sector is also seeing a realignment of priorities, with B2B fintechs in embedded finance and SME services proving more resilient than B2C counterparts.
Unit announced that its banking technology powers Wix Checking1, the new integrated business banking solution launched by Wix.com Ltd. (NASDAQ: WIX), the leading SaaS website builder platform globally2. The partnership provides Wix Payments users in the U.S. access to a fully integrated business checking account directly within the Wix platform, including immediate access to their Wix sales. Powered by Unit’s technology, Wix Checking automatically syncs with Wix Payments, removing the need for external banking tools and manual reconciliations while ultimately saving time and reducing errors. Key features supported by Unit’s technology include: Instant earnings access: Wix merchants receive funds immediately upon sale completion, eliminating payment delays; Unified cash flow management: Real-time visibility into incoming revenue and outgoing expenses; Automated reconciliation: Direct integration with Wix Payments eliminates manual banking reconciliations and reduces errors; Flexible fund deployment: Wix Visa® business debit card for purchases or external bank transfers for added flexibility; No monthly fees or hidden costs
Since acquiring Galileo Financial Technologies in 2020, SoFi Technologies has deepened its fintech infrastructure by integrating Galileo’s payment processing and tech capabilities across its growing suite of offerings. Galileo plays a pivotal role in enabling core functionalities such as buy now, pay later (BNPL) services and advanced customer engagement tools powered by conversational AI. This backend support is critical to SoFi’s strategy of delivering a seamless, tech-forward financial experience to users. Operating under the same corporate umbrella has dramatically expanded integration opportunities. SoFi can now move more nimbly, embedding Galileo’s infrastructure directly into its product roadmap without the friction typical of third-party partnerships. This combination enhances speed to market, operational efficiency and the ability to innovate across digital banking, lending and personal finance tools. Furthermore, the relationship creates a feedback loop. Galileo not only powers SoFi’s products but also benefits from SoFi’s scale and user data, helping refine and expand Galileo’s platform for other clients. In essence, SoFi’s acquisition of Galileo has evolved from a strategic purchase into a foundational pillar, enabling SoFi to operate more like a vertically integrated fintech company, with tighter control over both user experience and the underlying tech stack driving its offerings.
Remitly has launched Remitly One, a new membership-based financial product designed for customers in the US, with expansion plans venturing beyond borders and customer segments. Fintechs like Remitly are not only transforming the remittance payment landscape, but are redefining access to financial services for globally connected communities. The new Remitly One membership costs $9.99 per month and includes Flex, Wallet, and Card offerings—each crafted to address the daily financial needs of customers. Flex allows users to “send now, pay later” with up to $250 in interest-free advances. The Wallet solution enables users to store and manage funds with favourable exchange rates, while the digital Card offering facilitates global spending with no foreign transaction fees. Members benefit from a 4% annual boost on US dollar balances and earn monthly cashback rewards. In Spring 2026, Remitly will launch a line of credit to help users build recognised credit profiles—an operable path toward financial freedom. By reporting activity to US credit bureaus, members can establish credibility to rent, finance, or apply for jobs—aligning with broader United Nations sustainable development goals (SDG) and offering a verifiable foundation to meet long-term financial planning. By expanding into loans, insurance, and savings tools, fintechs like Remitly help users not just send money but build financial stability. This empowers underserved groups and supports SDG Gender Equality while tackling SDG No Poverty and SDG Reduced Inequalities.
Socialsuite, a provider of sustainability risk management software, today announced an integrated solution with ServiceNow, the AI platform for business transformation. This collaboration combines ServiceNow® enterprise ESG and risk management capabilities with Socialsuite’s AI-powered double materiality (financial and impact) and stakeholder engagement platform to help organizations accelerate compliance and further automate sustainability workflows. The integrated offering supports full-spectrum ESG risk management—from stakeholder engagement and materiality assessment to reporting and controls—aligning with global standards including the EU’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) and IFRS Sustainability Standards. Partnership Highlights: ServiceNow customers gain access to Socialsuite’s powerful materiality software, offering rapid, AI-enhanced assessments compliant with IFRS (financial materiality) and CSRD (double materiality) requirements. Socialsuite customers can now deploy ServiceNow ESG Management and Integrated Risk Management (IRM) solutions, helping unify governance, risk, compliance (GRC), and sustainability workflows. AI integration will connect Socialsuite’s benchmarking engine with ServiceNow Now Assist for ESG, enabling automated insights and smarter reporting across ESG and risk domains. Joint go-to-market and co-marketing efforts will raise awareness of the unified solution through webinars, events, and cross-sell initiatives. Seth Forman, CEO of Socialsuite. “In partnership with ServiceNow, we’re delivering a scalable, intelligent solution designed for this critical moment – empowering companies to confidently manage their sustainability risks and obligations with a reliable, streamlined process and platform.”
In today’s dynamic banking environment, sustainability has emerged as a critical focus area for banks looking to meet evolving regulations and requirements across the globe. Once a quiet corner of corporate policy, environmental, social and governance, or ESG, initiatives have gained prominence, leading to discussions about their relevance and implementation. As banks navigate changing market conditions and look for ways to drive efficiency improvements, they face a more immediate and unyielding truth: Sustainability is no longer about optics. It’s about survival. Climate risk, digital disruption, and shifting customer expectations are converging, forcing the industry to confront a sobering reality: Evolve or be eclipsed. For banks, sustainability is a blueprint for staying relevant in a rapidly transforming world. It’s essential to recognize that ESG considerations are often perceived differently across the spectrum of stakeholders. The practical challenges facing banks, from rising climate risk to resource volatility and digital disruption, demand a strategic response that transcends partisan lines. This has been made evident by the fact that companies are not dramatically changing their ESG policies despite the heightened rhetoric around the topic. A recent report from the Conference Board found that only 6% of companies are making significant changes to their ESG policies. The reality is that banks are being pulled in multiple directions. Investors demand long-term stability, regulators push for transparency and customers expect purpose-driven brands. Ignoring ESG imperatives may appease one audience but alienate others critical to future growth. For banks, ESG is not just a branding exercise or political statement, but rather a strategic imperative. Sustainability is not a belief system but a set of tools and practices that will help banks survive the next decade. The financial sector is undergoing a profound transformation as climate risk, regulatory pressure and shifting customer expectations redefine the operating environment. Physical threats from climate change now pose tangible risks to banking infrastructure and loan portfolios, forcing institutions to reconsider how they assess and manage exposure. At the same time, regulators around the world are demanding greater transparency and accountability in how firms address sustainability and long-term risk. Adding to the pressure, fintechs and neobanks, unburdened by legacy systems and built on agile, cloud-native architectures, are setting new benchmarks for ESG alignment and digital-first customer experiences. As these challengers gain traction, traditional institutions face a critical inflection point. Without meaningful integration of sustainability into their core strategy, they risk not only falling behind but becoming irrelevant in a market that increasingly rewards purpose-driven, forward-looking players. Banks today must treat sustainability as an adaptive, strategic journey, not just a compliance checkbox. Investors, regulators and customers now expect measurable progress, not just promises. In practice, this means embedding resilience into core operations. For example, banks that invest in climate-resilient infrastructure (from robust IT platforms to green buildings) can shield assets against severe weather and capture long-term value. The World Bank even estimates that every $1 trillion invested in resilient infrastructure yields roughly $4.2 trillion in benefits. In short, forward-looking banks are turning climate risk into an opportunity by setting clear adaptation metrics and funding sustainable projects, building robustness while unlocking new revenue streams. In today’s dynamic banking environment, sustainability has emerged as a critical focus area for banks looking to meet evolving regulations and requirements across the globe. Once a quiet corner of corporate policy, environmental, social and governance, or ESG, initiatives have gained prominence, leading to discussions about their relevance and implementation. As banks navigate changing market conditions and look for ways to drive efficiency improvements, they face a more immediate and unyielding truth: Sustainability is no longer about optics. It’s about survival. Climate risk, digital disruption, and shifting customer expectations are converging, forcing the industry to confront a sobering reality: Evolve or be eclipsed. For banks, sustainability is a blueprint for staying relevant in a rapidly transforming world. It’s essential to recognize that ESG considerations are often perceived differently across the spectrum of stakeholders. The practical challenges facing banks, from rising climate risk to resource volatility and digital disruption, demand a strategic response that transcends partisan lines. This has been made evident by the fact that companies are not dramatically changing their ESG policies despite the heightened rhetoric around the topic. A recent report from the Conference Board found that only 6% of companies are making significant changes to their ESG policies. The reality is that banks are being pulled in multiple directions. Investors demand long-term stability, regulators push for transparency and customers expect purpose-driven brands. Ignoring ESG imperatives may appease one audience but alienate others critical to future growth. For banks, ESG is not just a branding exercise or political statement, but rather a strategic imperative. Sustainability is not a belief system but a set of tools and practices that will help banks survive the next decade. The financial sector is undergoing a profound transformation as climate risk, regulatory pressure and shifting customer expectations redefine the operating environment. Physical threats from climate change now pose tangible risks to banking infrastructure and loan portfolios, forcing institutions to reconsider how they assess and manage exposure. At the same time, regulators around the world are demanding greater transparency and accountability in how firms address sustainability and long-term risk. Adding to the pressure, fintechs and neobanks, unburdened by legacy systems and built on agile, cloud-native architectures, are setting new benchmarks for ESG alignment and digital-first customer experiences. As these challengers gain traction, traditional institutions face a critical inflection point. Without meaningful integration of sustainability into their core strategy, they risk not only falling behind but becoming irrelevant in a market that increasingly rewards purpose-driven, forward-looking players. Banks today must treat sustainability as an adaptive, strategic journey, not just a compliance checkbox. Investors, regulators and customers now expect measurable progress, not just promises. In practice, this means embedding resilience into core operations. For example, banks that invest in climate-resilient infrastructure (from robust IT platforms to green buildings) can shield assets against severe weather and capture long-term value. The World Bank even estimates that every $1 trillion invested in resilient infrastructure yields roughly $4.2 trillion in benefits. In short, forward-looking banks are turning climate risk into an opportunity by setting clear adaptation metrics and funding sustainable projects, building robustness while unlocking new revenue streams.
Clarity AI has acquired ecolytiq to expand the capabilities of its AI-powered platform that helps individuals and organizations make more sustainable choices in their consumption and investments. ecolytiq’s platform, now part of Clarity AI’s suite, specializes in analyzing real-time transaction data to quantify environmental footprints and deliver high-impact sustainability content, powered by behavioural science and designed for measurable impact. Its white-label solutions have enabled banks and financial institutions across Europe and beyond to engage millions of consumers and business clients, fostering climate-positive behavior change through timely and compelling insights. By integrating ecolytiq’s consumer-centric platform, Clarity AI not only strengthens its consumer engagement capabilities, but also expands its reach as a comprehensive, tech-first sustainability provider. As part of the acquisition, Visa, which has a long-term partnership with ecolytiq, has become an investor and strategic partner of Clarity AI. David Lais, co-founder and managing director at ecolytiq, said that the acquisition supports the firm’s mission of helping individuals “drive positive climate impact at scale through their everyday purchasing decisions.”
Redis announced the acquisition of Featureform, a powerful framework for managing, defining, and orchestrating structured data signals. The acquisition helps Redis solve one of the most critical challenges developers face with production AI: getting structured data into models quickly, reliably, and with full observability. Featureform will become a part of Redis’ feature store solution, complementing the fastest benchmarked vector database powered by Redis Query Engine, and the most advanced semantic caching service, Redis LangCache. Featureform will allow developers to: Define features as reusable, versioned pipelines; Unify training and inference workflows across batch and streaming; Maintain point-in-time correctness for offline model training; Serve low-latency features using Redis in production; Detect data drift and monitor changes to feature distributions. Rowan Trollope, CEO of Redis. “By integrating Featureform’s powerful framework into our platform, we’re better enabling developers to deliver context to agents at exactly the right moment, so they reason, act, and interact accurately and intuitively.”
Starburst announced at AI & Datanova, a new set of capabilities designed to operationalize the Agentic Workforce—a paradigm where humans and AI agents collaborate seamlessly across workflows to reason, decide, and act faster and with confidence. With new, built-in support for model-to-data architectures, multi-agent interoperability, and an open vector store on Iceberg, Starburst delivers the first lakehouse platform that empowers AI agents, with unified enterprise data, governed data products, and metadata, empowering humans and AI to reason, act, and decide faster while ensuring trust and control. To further strengthen enterprise confidence in AI, Starburst is introducing advanced observability and visualization features for its agent framework. Organizations can now monitor usage of LLM interactions, set guardrails with usage limits, and view activity through intuitive dashboards. In addition, Starburst’s agent can visualize responses into charts and graphs giving teams not only accurate answers but also clear, actionable insights. These capabilities provide a new level of transparency, governance, and usability as enterprises scale AI adoption. Starburst’s new AI capabilities are built upon the core principle of flexibility, giving organizations the freedom to choose between model-to-data and data-to-model architectures. This approach enables enterprises to scale AI securely, while preserving sovereignty, reducing infrastructure costs, and ensuring compliance. These enhancements include: Multi-Agent Ready Infrastructure: A new MCP server and agent API allows enterprises to create, manage, and orchestrate multiple AI agents along-side the Starburst agent. This enables customers to develop multi-agent and AI application solutions that are geared to complete tasks of growing complexity. Open & Interoperable Vector Access: Starburst unifies access to vector stores, enabling retrieval augmented generation (RAG) and search tasks across Iceberg, PostgreSQL + PGVector, Elasticsearch and more. Enterprises gain flexibility to choose the right vector solution for each workload without lock-in or fragmentation. Model Usage Monitoring & Control: Starburst offers enterprise-grade AI model monitoring and governance. Teams can track, audit, and control AI usage across agents and workloads with dashboards, preventing cost overruns and ensuring compliance for confident, scalable AI adoption. Deeper Insights & Visualization: An extension of Starburst’s conversational analytics agent enables users to ask questions across different data product domains and provide back a natural language response in natural language, a visualization, or combination of the two. The agent is able to understand the user intent and question to do data discovery to find the right data before query processing to answer the question.
CData Software announced Connect AI, the first managed Model Context Protocol (MCP) platform that integrates AI assistants, agent orchestration platforms, AI workflow automation, and embedded AI applications with more than 300 enterprise data sources. With governed, in-place access to enterprise data, Connect AI preserves data semantics and relationships, giving AI complete understanding of the context. The solution also inherits user permissions and authentication directly from the source and can be deployed in the cloud or embedded within software products in minutes with point-and-click configuration. Connect AI takes the same enterprise-grade connectivity technology already embedded by top technology companies including Palantir, SAP, Salesforce Data Cloud, and Google Cloud into their offerings, and reimagines it specifically for AI workloads with real-time semantic integration capabilities. Connect AI solves two core challenges: First, through data-in-place access, Connect AI preserves the rich contextual relationships that AI agents need for intelligent decision-making, delivering both immediate data access and meaningful data understanding. Second, Connect AI inherits existing security and authentication protocols set in the source system ensuring AI access remains aligned with organizational controls. Data access is logged under the identity of the authenticated user or agent for comprehensive governance. Additional AI controls can be layered and managed within Connect AI. Enterprises use Connect AI with AI apps to get contextually-aware answers from business data in seconds; work that previously required days or weeks of report building. Its ability to handle complex queries across diverse systems with semantic understanding enables sales teams to use Claude for pipeline insights, marketing teams to prompt ChatGPT for campaign analysis, and finance teams to rely on Copilot for real-time budget updates and financial reports. ISVs embed Connect AI directly within their products to provide their end-users with self-service integration between their data sources and the ISV’s agentic capabilities.
Precisely, announced new enhancements to the Precisely Data Integrity Suite, designed to further streamline and advance data quality across the enterprise. The latest release introduces powerful AI-driven features that enable organizations to operationalize high-quality, AI-ready data even more quickly and intelligently. With intuitive no-code interfaces, both technical practitioners and business users can now more easily contribute to data quality efforts. Meanwhile, expanded support for external LLMs allows enterprises to align Precisely’s trusted framework with their preferred AI models, ensuring freedom of choice, operational control, and faster time-to-value. The new capabilities include: Natural language interfaces: Data quality tasks described in plain language are automatically converted by AI into custom code, making advanced data quality accessible to both technical and business users. AI-powered rule and description generation: Data quality rules and descriptions created from natural language prompts reduce manual complexity and save time. AI-generated sample data: Data produced by AI for testing purposes helps to validate logic, accelerate deployment, and increase confidence in results. LLM integration in pipelines: Large language models (LLMs) integrated directly into transformation pipelines, with support for “bring your own LLMs,” enables more intelligent automation while maximizing flexibility.
MVSI, the global leader in automated merchant and business client onboarding for regulated markets, has launched OnBoard AIQ, a groundbreaking advancement that redefines what is possible in automated onboarding. It is built to sit directly on top of the extensive data collection and powerful decision engines within MVSI’s flagship platform, OnBoard, enabling it to deliver predictable, reliable decisions and real actions across the entire onboarding journey—not just surface-level interactions. OnBoard AIQ represents a step-change for the industry, embedding advanced intelligence throughout the onboarding lifecycle—from prospecting and application forms to credit, risk, KYC/KYB, and beyond. By connecting deeply with OnBoard’s core infrastructure, AIQ doesn’t just recommend or analyze; it takes action, executing real tasks automatically across the platform. The system decides, in real time, whether a human needs to be involved or whether the entire process can proceed autonomously. Beyond its revolutionary capabilities, OnBoard AIQ delivers measurable, bottom-line impact: • Frictionless Applicant Experience: Streamlines document submission, verification, and approvals, dramatically lowering attrition during the boarding process, and increasing customer satisfaction. • Massive Efficiency Gains: Onboards merchants and business clients in minutes instead of days or weeks, accelerating time-to-revenue. • Lower Costs at Scale: By automating decisions and reducing manual intervention, AIQ enables significant reductions in operational costs. • Smarter Risk and Compliance: AIQ leverages OnBoard’s robust data and decision layers to deliver consistent, explainable, and regulatory-compliant decisions, not black-box guesses.
Socure has launched Socure Signals, giving enterprises direct access to the feature store powering Socure’s market-leading ML models and the industry’s most accurate identity and risk decisions. By opening access to the same data attributes, probabilistic features, and graph consortium intelligence that fuel Socure’s fraud and identity models, enterprises gain the transparency and flexibility to fine-tune strategies, tailor machine-learning models to their own problem set, and outpace complex AI-powered fraud schemes. Socure Signals introduces three categories of intelligence, each capturing a different layer of risk: Input-Derived Signals: Data attributes from PII, documents, biometrics, and behavioral interactions, including phone carrier type, email domain age, ID barcode fields, selfie liveness, and click-path behavior. Model-Derived Signals: Advanced, probabilistic features from Socure’s proprietary AI models, such as perplexity scores for randomized identifiers, as well as computer vision variables that detect subtle document tampering, injection attempts, or presentation attacks. Graph-Derived Signals: Insights from Socure’s proprietary Identity Graph, linking billions of entities, devices, and behaviors across industries to expose cross-institution fraud rings, velocity anomalies, and consortium-level first-party fraud patterns. Delivered via API alongside Socure’s model risk scores and reason codes, these signals give organizations the precision and transparency to understand both why a score was returned and the attributes driving it. Within Socure’s RiskOS™ platform, organizations can integrate Signals into custom rules, adaptive workflows, and decisioning paths — enabling fraud teams to respond to emerging threats in real time. In pre-launch testing, a top-tier fintech used phone-specific signals to uncover systemic fraud concentrated within a handful of phone carriers, each showing fraud rates above 90%. By creating custom rules to step up verification for applicants tied to these carriers, the organization was able to disrupt coordinated fraud ring activity and prevent additional losses before they scaled.
Alongside the technological side in securing trust, there’s a human side. That misalignment inspired Anthropic Identity LLC and the company’s human-centric focus to identity management and security, according to James Bonifield, chief executive officer of Anthropic Identity. Agentic AI is forcing enterprises to confront identity issues that were long overlooked. Overprivileged accounts, once a manageable risk, become dangerous when paired with AI agents that can instantly exploit digital trust gaps, according to Bonifield. “As these application teams and as these companies are looking to make their applications available for agentic AI and building some of these capabilities, there’s a lot of modernization that needs to happen, both in terms of the identity side and the application side,” he said. “We’re doing a lot of work around tools like Okta’s Fine-Grained Authorization in terms of being able to bridge that gap between legacy technologies and legacy authorization models and leveraging a tool like that.” Authentication tools are maturing, but authorization remains a “wild west” as enterprises prepare apps for AI integration, Bonifield added. Okta and its partners — including Anthropic Identity — are working to define best practices for managing non-human identities and fine-grained authorization.
Identity access management company Okta Inc. announced new capabilities across the Okta Platform and Auth0 Platform designed to help enterprises securely adopt artificial intelligence agents. Up first is the introduction of Okta for AI Agents, a new platform that integrates AI agents into an identity security fabric, enabling organizations to discover, provision, authorize and govern nonhuman identities at large scale. Okta for AI Agents includes Identity Security Posture Management for identifying risky agents and exposed credentials, Universal Directory for agent registration and ownership attribution and Okta Privileged Access for enforcing least-privilege access. The platform is complemented by Okta Identity Governance and the company’s AI-driven Identity Threat Protection to provide continuous monitoring, audit trails and automated remediation. The second announcement sees the introduction of Cross App Access or XAA, an open standard that extends OAuth to secure agent-driven and app-to-app interactions. XAA shifts access control from individual apps to the identity layer, giving enterprises real-time visibility and policy-based enforcement. Okta says the protocol also reduces user friction by pre-approving integrations, minimizing repeated consent prompts. It will be embedded in Auth0 for business-to-business developers to simplify secure integration of AI agents into applications. The final announcement, planned for the company’s 2027 fiscal year, is Verifiable Digital Credentials, an open standard offering that will allow organizations to issue and verify tamper-proof, reusable identity data such as government IDs or certifications. VDCs, when launched, will allow individuals to digitally prove their identity or eligibility across applications while limiting exposure to AI-driven fraud and deepfake threats. An initial digital ID verification capability supporting mobile driver’s licenses is slated for early availability in fiscal 2026.
ASAPP Financial Technology has announced the availability of the bank.io OXP® | Omnichannel Experience Platform Version 1 for the U.S. market. Version 1 of bank.io OXP® combines retail account and member origination, unsecured retail lending origination, CRM, ECM, and data warehouse / opportunity analysis feature sets and capabilities into a single, platform-based experience designed to streamline operations, enhance member engagement, and enable data-driven growth. Version 1 of bank.io OXP® provides: • End-to-end origination flows for deposit accounts and unsecured lending products, including loans and lines of credit. • The Platform supports multi-product applications, as well as new member onboarding, KYC, and AML requirements within a single, integrated process.
• The Platform supports both new and existing member applications, ensuring frictionless onboarding and faster decisioning. • bank.io OXP contains multilingual content management support allowing credit unions to deliver origination journeys for new and existing members in their language of preference. • Custom promotional pages allow external digital / mobile ads, social media campaigns, emails, and credit union website links to land on separate branded pages for each product or product combination, driving visual and U/X consistency and higher application completion rates. • Integrated Docusign e-signature capabilities enable any editable pdf to be labeled within the Platform and documents to be completed and signed digitally. • Deep core-banking integration minimizes data re-entry and allows direct account provisioning. A centralized member-dashboard lets members track application status and open additional accounts quickly and easily. • The bank.io OXP Opportunity Engine aggregates data from core banking data extracts, platform application history (account and lending origination), and member engagement interactions to drive proactive, data-informed outreach. • Financial institutions can identify and target member segments using over 150 member and product-level attributes. •The Opportunity Engine supports growth strategies such as renewals, next-best-product recommendations, and product up-selling opportunities. • It also enables early concern management by identifying late payments or delinquencies and prompting timely member engagement. •The Platform’s experience tracking features help institutions schedule proactive outreach and maintain consistent member touchpoints.
The Browser Company’s Dia app is now open to anyone on Mac. It’s the first time the AI-powered browser has been widely available since its beta launch in June. Dia is another AI-first browsing experience that’s centered around tab-based chat functionality. The browser includes Skills, which are a mix of user-created and built-in shortcuts for everyday tasks like planning, learning, writing, and coding. Current Skills include summarization, fact-checking, browsing history analysis, outlining, and productivity planning. Users can mention tabs in any chat query, add attachments to conversations, and personalize Dia with Memory, which helps the browser understand preferences over time. Meanwhile, students get dedicated tools that turn notes, lectures, and readings into flashcards, quizzes, and custom study guides. Dia requires macOS 14 or later running on Apple silicon. The Browser Company offers both free and Pro ($20/month) tiers. Free users get access to all core features including chat, custom Skills creation, tab mentions, attachments, and Memory personalization, while Pro subscribers receive unlimited chat usage within the terms of service, plus a 14-day trial period.
To help reduce notification overload, Chrome for Android and desktop will automatically disable notifications from websites you don’t frequently visit. Specifically, Google is revoking the notification permission from sites that see “very low user engagement” but send a “high volume” of alerts. This feature is part of Safety Check, which already works to remove camera and location permissions from pages you haven’t visited recently. Google will tell you when “Chrome unsubscribed you from notifications” with an alert, while you can also go to Settings > Safety Check to “View sites” and restore. Alternatively, visit the site again and confirm you want notifications. This feature will not apply to notifications from web apps (PWAs) you have installed (added to your homescreen/launcher), while you can disable auto-revocations entirely. In testing this capability, Google found a “significant reduction in notification overload with only a minimal change in total notification clicks.” Overall, Google finds websites that send a lower volume of alerts see more clicks, while “less than 1% of all notification.
Keyboard manufacturer Akko has just launched an iPhone keyboard case called MetaKey, proving that BlackBerry nostalgia is alive, well, and willing to add inches to your smartphone’s length. Like Clicks’ cases, the MetaKey case connects via USB-C and adds a QWERTY keyboard to the bottom of the iPhone. The case features backlit keys and includes shortcuts for common tasks like accessing Siri, triggering voice-to-text, and entering numbers. There’s also a unique scrolling mode that converts the top two rows of keys into large scroll buttons for browsing social media. One of the practical challenges of these sort of keyboard cases is that they can be top-heavy. To address this, the MetaKey includes a removable 9-gram weight that attaches to the back of the keyboard to improve balance while typing. MagSafe-compatible and with a USB-C passthrough port for charging. The physical keyboard case category is undoubtedly niche, but the MetaKey’s lower price might appeal if you want to try out the concept without committing to Clicks’ premium pricing.
Walmart announced a new partnership with OpenAI that will start with allowing customers and members to soon shop Walmart through ChatGPT using Instant Checkout. Whether planning meals, restocking household essentials, or finding something new, customers can simply chat and buy, and Walmart will handle the rest. Walmart described the collaboration as an example of “agentic commerce,” where AI shifts from a reactive tool to a proactive system that learns, plans and predicts, helping customers anticipate their needs before they do. The concept aligns with OpenAI’s goal of enabling agents to assist users across everyday tasks from organizing information to completing purchases all within one interface. This partnership builds on the multiple ways Walmart and Sam’s Club are already using AI, like enhancing product catalogs, improving customer care resolution times and promoting AI literacy among associates. From enhancing the product catalog to reduce fashion production timelines by up to 18 weeks, to ensuring a more seamless shopping journey and cutting customer care resolution times by up to 40%, the company is applying AI so every shopping experience is more convenient and more rewarding. As Walmart defines what’s next for retail, its approach remains the same: people-led and tech-powered, helping people save money and live better.
Vonage announced the launch of Vonage Agentforce Identity Insights and Fraud Detection, which provides insights for contact center agents, leveraging AI to help detect fraud risks, verify customers and validate effective communications channels in real time. With Identity Insights, including SIM Swap check powered by Vonage’s Network APIs, Vonage Agentforce Identity Insights and Fraud Detection helps users mitigate fraud across a number of use cases, such as identifying and flagging numbers that have had their SIM recently swapped as potentially fraudulent; validating mobile numbers before sending outbound SMS or making voice calls; and auto verifying phone numbers during lead creation to ensure lead quality. With this solution, organizations can simplify customer engagement and outreach by ensuring number validity so they can prioritize valid accounts, as well as verify number type to target customers with the most effective channel for communications. This rich phone intelligence – including number type, carrier, validity, caller ID name, and SIM swap status – enables contact centers to: Flag potential fraud risks by detecting numbers with recent or multiple SIM swaps and escalating suspicious transactions; Verify customer identities seamlessly by matching caller ID against CRM records, and securing interactions without added friction; Optimize outbound engagement by automating SMS/WhatsApp for mobile devices, while specialist sales teams call landline-only customers; Enhance lead quality by verifying numbers at lead creation to eliminate invalid or outdated details; Deliver proactive notifications by triggering reminders and alerts only on verified numbers, improving engagement rates
Obligo has launched its end-to-end deposit management solution. Obligo’s API-first platform integrates seamlessly with property management and financial systems, earning recognition for its scalability, security, and flexibility. Cash deposit handling has long been a costly and cumbersome process for property managers. Traditional manual steps – from certified checks to ledger updates and refund compliance – drive up operational costs, increase compliance risk, and provide an antiquated renter experience. Obligo renters enjoy a seamless move-in with digital payments and refunds – no checks, no snail mail. Alongside the full deposit option, renters can choose from Obligo’s existing products to best fit their financial needs, including No Deposit, Reduced Deposit™ or Deposits-in-Installments. “Deposit management solutions are not a new concept, but they’ve always come with a clear compromise,” said Roey Dor, CEO of Obligo. “It’s understandably difficult for property managers to trust new entrants in the deposit space – especially when those solutions aren’t embedded into their property management systems. Our approach delivers what the industry has been waiting for: a fully embedded, flexible, and trusted solution that truly rids both properties and renters of the burden of security deposits.”
Zilch has launched two product innovations, Zilch Intelligent Commerce and Zilch Pay, marking the next phase of its rapid, data-driven growth, to gain full visibility across the customer journey, both online and offline. Leveraging one of the most comprehensive sets of first-party spend data in the market, the platform transforms customer engagement into actionable, real-time insights. Customers interact with the Zilch app more than 25 times a month and make payments almost 60 times a year, providing retailers with a rich and continuous flow of data. By harnessing this insight, Zilch Intelligent Commerce allows brands to target the right customers at the right time with personalised offers, dramatically improving Return on Ad Spend (ROAS) while reducing wasted media spend. Early results from the platform’s beta launch have demonstrated its transformative potential, with one major grocer reporting a 55% increase in average customer spend, another retailer growing market share by more than 15% in just 30 days, and a global travel brand achieving nearly 52% of new-customer conversions powered by Zilch, almost meeting its annual acquisition targets in six months. Across participating brands, the platform has driven 20 to 50% improvements in ROAS, all automatically optimised by Zilch’s AI agents. Alongside this intelligence platform, Zilch is preparing to launch Zilch Pay in the first half of 2026, offering a seamless one-click checkout that integrates the app, digital wallet, and card. The innovation is designed to enhance the consumer experience, reduce friction at payment, and improve conversion rates while lowering cart abandonment for retailers, ensuring a smoother and more efficient path from engagement to transaction.
Major UK brands with an annual average revenue of over £100M are seeing a positive business impact from deploying embedded finance, according to a new study from NatWest Boxed. The report, finds that 80% of brands have reported improved business outcomes following their rollout of embedded finance. The most common outcome is increased customer conversion rates, followed by improved loyalty, positive customer feedback, and repeat purchases. Brands were found to offer a diverse range of embedded finance products. While point-of-sale credit was the most popular product, offered by 62% of those surveyed, surprisingly, savings accounts, insurance, and merchant wallets were almost as popular, despite not being products commonly associated with embedded finance. When asked to rank their needs from a provider, brands rank customer excellence as the priority over operational and technical excellence. However, only 53% of brands say that ‘customer excellence’ applies to their current provider. While 90% of brands that launched an embedded finance product saw a rise in customer support enquiries, only 38% of brands say that their provider offered customer support that was as good as their own. In addition, only 46% of brands believe that their current provider will be able to handle increased customer intake without delays or downtime. 99% of brands said that they were satisfied with their provider’s current approach to risk, and almost all brands had confidence that their provider met new Consumer Duty regulations (84%). However, 75% said that they had concerns about future compliance and regulatory requirement support. With new regulation for Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) expected to come into effect in 2026, this may require brands to seek reassurance regarding future compliance.
Cryptocurrency conversion APIs are increasingly being used by developers and enthusiasts to access real-time and historical exchange rate data for applications like portfolio trackers, trading bots, and financial dashboards. These APIs are essential for streamlining operations in the fast-paced crypto market. Popular free APIs include CoinGecko, CoinMarketCap, CryptoCompare, CoinCap, and CCXT. When choosing a free API, developers should evaluate factors such as data coverage, frequency of updates, sourcing mechanisms, documentation quality, uptime reliability, and compliance with terms of service. Integration of these APIs is typically straightforward, involving HTTP requests to specified endpoints to fetch structured data in JSON or XML format. They can be used in various advanced applications, including real-time portfolio tracking, cross-border payment conversions, market trend analysis, and AI-driven analytics tools. The ecosystem for free crypto APIs is evolving with growing demand for multi-chain coverage, faster data refresh rates, and predictive analytics. Token Metrics offers an API that combines real-time price data with on-chain insights and trading signals, supporting the development of more intelligent crypto applications. However, users should always review the terms of service of any API before deployment, particularly if intending to use the data for commercial purposes.
AstroPay Platform is now open to all businesses, offering the same embedded finance infrastructure that powers its consumer wallet. For the first time, any company—fintech or not—can build and launch their own global financial products using the same infrastructure. With a single integration, businesses gain access to multicurrency infrastructure with native support for major currencies and real-time foreign exchange, local accounts and payment rails like PIX (Brazil), CVU (Argentina), IBANs (Europe), and UK sort codes, and card issuing and management for virtual and physical cards powered by Visa or Mastercard. Businesses can also accept AstroPay via its proprietary checkout, enabling one-click payments and in-app promotion. The platform includes a regulatory compliance framework with KYC, AML, sanctions screening, fraud detection, and licensing across jurisdictions. Real-time processing and APIs allow seamless deployment and customization, with modular APIs enabling fast go-live. Key use cases include retailers and consumer apps embedding wallets and prepaid cards; regional fintechs expanding globally with international accounts and cross-border payments; e-commerce platforms localizing buyer and seller experiences; content platforms offering instant earnings access; and payroll platforms automating payouts in local currency. AstroPay Platform helps businesses scale financial products globally with speed, trust, and flexibility.
Xero announced a strategic partnership with Plaid, a financial data network, to eventually triple the number of high-quality bank feeds available to customers in the United States. This partnership will significantly improve these business owners’ access to reliable bank connections, giving them a clearer, real-time view of their finances which, in turn, will empower them to make more informed decisions, supporting their growth, their employees, and the communities they serve. This partnership gives Xero’s customers access to more than a thousand secure, direct connections through Plaid’s expansive network of US financial institutions, delivering better reliability, data quality, and peace of mind for small businesses. Starting this year, Plaid will power an increasing portion of Xero’s US bank feed sources, offering customers more dependable connections to their financial data. “This partnership with Plaid is expected to supercharge bank connections. It will provide more robust integrations and higher-quality information from a wide range of financial institutions including smaller banks and credit unions. This will in turn make managing the finances a lot smoother, more precise and successful, as well as save valuable time for small business owners, accountants and bookkeepers,” said Vikram Grover, SVP Global Partnerships for Xero.
A new federal regulatory framework for payment stablecoins marks a pivotal moment for digital assets in the United States by establishing a legal definition and oversight by banking regulators that may enable commercial scaling. The new GENIUS framework provides several pathways for institutions to become issuers, with regulatory oversight based on the issuer’s legal entity structure. It will create opportunities for a wider range of issuers in the U.S., including non-banks. The requirements generally take effect in late 2026 or early 2027, depending in part on when regulators issue implementation guidance. The GENIUS Act’s requirements will affect not only banks, but also non-bank issuers, payment processors, digital asset service providers, corporates, and customers. Each group faces unique operational, compliance, and business model decisions as they navigate the new framework and position themselves in the evolving stablecoin market. Each group also needs to consider risks in areas such as operations, cybersecurity, fraud, tax, regulation, and reputation. Subsidiaries of federally and state-chartered banks, non-bank entities, and uninsured national banks are among the entities eligible to become payment stablecoin issuers under the new regulatory framework. Issuers will be required to comply with prudential standards similar to those for traditional banks and to maintain one-to-one reserves of high-quality liquid assets, publish monthly attestation reports, and adhere to rigorous risk management and compliance measures. The act prohibits payment stablecoins from paying interest, although rewards may be offered by other parties. The requirements of the GENIUS Act will likely drive strategic decisions, significant operational changes, and new compliance processes regarding whether and how to participate in the stablecoin market. Companies that facilitate the transfer, settlement, or processing of payments also face strategic decisions about whether, when, and how to begin or scale payment stablecoin transactions. After evaluating the risks and opportunities, companies can take proactive measures to comply with the new regulatory framework now that payment stablecoins have been legitimized for use by financial institutions. Exchanges, custodians, and wallet providers will need to adjust their operations to meet the new regulatory standards, particularly related to risk management, reporting, and customer protection. They should prepare for the transition period by updating their compliance and risk management frameworks so that they only support or list stablecoins issued by entities that meet the new law’s standards. These providers should also monitor regulatory developments and adapt their offerings to remain compliant and competitive.
Wedmont Private Capital increased its holding in the fund by acquiring 80,721 additional shares during Q3 2025. The estimated trade value, based on the quarterly average price, was $6.25 million. This brought the fund’s total position to 1,083,517 shares, worth $84.80 million. This buy increased the VTC stake to 3.2% of Wedmont’s reportable portfolio. Top holdings after this filing:
- VEA (Vanguard FTSE Developed Markets ETF): $238,887,044 (8.9% of AUM)
- VWO (Vanguard FTSE Emerging Markets ETF): $154,227,148 (5.7% of AUM)
- VTI (Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF): $130,832,882 (4.9% of AUM)
- VOO (Vanguard S&P 500): $105.17 million (3.9% of AUM) as of 2025-09-30
- IEFA (iShares Core MSCI EAFE ETF): $99.44 million (3.7% of AUM) as of 2025-09-30
As of October 7, 2025, shares were priced at $78.26, up 0.23% over the past year, underperforming the S&P 500 by 12.04 percentage points. The fund reported an annualized dividend yield of 4.68% as of October 8, 2025, and closed 0.94% below its 52-week high. Vanguard Total Corporate Bond ETF (VTC) is gaining attention as yields stay high and investors look to add balance after a volatile year for equities. The ETF tracks investment-grade corporate bonds, while offering exposure to major U.S issuers across industrial, utility and financial sectors. With a dividend yield of near 4.7%, VTC provides meaningful income at a time when bonds are finally paying investors to wait. The Fed’s policy remains tight which created an environment where quality bonds can deliver solid returns without taking on excessive credit risk. For investors, the combination of steady income and potential price recovery makes VTC a valuable portfolio anchor in a diversified portfolio. If rates start to decline in 2026, today’s yields could look even more attractive in hindsight. In that scenario, high quality bond funds may once again play a leading role in portfolio performance.
Serial fintech entrepreneur Bill Harris announced the launch of Evergreen Wealth, a digital Registered Investment Advisor (RIA) that provides tax-aware investment management and AI-powered financial advice to affluent and high-net-worth clients seeking to build long-term wealth. While many financial advisors and investment firms still focus on pre-tax returns, Evergreen Wealth seeks to maximize its clients’ net returns after paying the tax bill. Unlike ETFs and mutual funds, where every fundholder receives the same cookie-cutter product, Dynamic Portfolios contain hundreds of individual securities, which can then be hyper-personalized to match the goals of each client and tax-optimized across their entire portfolio. Evergreen Wealth employs multiple tax strategies, including direct indexing, to offset, reduce, defer, or, in some cases, even eliminate the taxes on their investments. For high-income taxpayers, particularly those in high-tax states, this “tax alpha” can be more consequential than the expected gains, if any, from trying to beat the market. Evergreen Wealth clients receive: Dedicated Advisor: Each client is assigned a licensed advisor, who is available via email, chat, phone or video conference. Evergreen Intelligence: A proprietary AI advice engine that draws upon a vetted investment, tax and financial knowledge base, as well as the secure, personal data of each client. Risk Management: Evergreen Wealth adheres to investment principles developed by Nobel laureates to achieve diversification designed to enhance each client’s risk-adjusted return. Dynamic Portfolio: A household portfolio that is hyper-personalized for the needs and preferences of each client and tax-optimized, which can deliver long-term tax savings. 24/7 Access: Evergreen Wealth’s desktop and mobile apps provide a comprehensive view of each client’s Evergreen Wealth portfolio and external assets, offering proactive insights and delivering immediate answers to their financial questions. Privacy and Security: Evergreen Wealth utilizes biometric security on all client accounts, complemented by state-of-the-art security procedures that are continuously monitored and regularly audited to safeguard the personal data of its clients.
Affluent Americans are giving more and giving with purpose, even as fewer are giving. The newly released 2025 Bank of America Study of Philanthropy, conducted in partnership with the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy, found that total charitable contributions from affluent donors have surged more than 30% since 2015. In 2024, their giving was 10 times higher than the latest available levels for the general population. Yet participation in giving is narrowing: 81% of affluent households made charitable donations in 2024, down from 91% in 2015. “This year’s study highlights a desire among affluent Americans to make a real difference — often in their own backyards — by combining financial contributions and active engagement,” said Katy Knox, President of Bank of America Private Bank. “It’s inspiring to see so many individuals committed to positive change.” The biennial study offers an in-depth look at the evolving philanthropic landscape among affluent households. This year’s report found volunteering is making a comeback, rising from 30% in 2020 to 43% in 2024. Volunteers aren’t just giving their time. They give more, with average donations more than double those of non-volunteers. Notable themes from the study include:
- Donors prioritize causes close to home. On average, affluent donors gave to five organizations in 2024, with 79% supporting their local communities. The causes to which the largest percentages of donors gave were basic needs (43%) and religious services/development (38%).
- A household-centered approach to giving. 46% of affluent households reported making charitable decisions jointly with their spouse or partner, while an additional 11% said they collaborate on some giving decisions. However, only 13% of donors report involving children, grandchildren or younger relatives.
- Religious organizations attract the highest share of dollars. 39% of affluent dollars donated were given to religious organizations, followed by causes focused on basic needs (16%) and higher education (14%).
- Strategic giving vehicles are on the rise. In 2024, 18% of charitable gifts were made through giving vehicles, up from 11% nine years earlier. 24% of affluent households have a giving vehicle, and 48% of affluent households with a net worth between $5 million and $20 million have or plan to establish a giving vehicle within the next three years.
- Giving with intention. Over 40% of affluent donors have a giving strategy, 45% have a giving budget and 20% actively monitor the impact of their gifts. 62% of those who consider themselves “philanthropic experts” evaluate the impact of their gifts.
- Expert givers give more. On average, those who identify as expert givers give more than six times more than those who identify as novices.
- Affluent donors have a variety of philanthropic identities. The study highlights five unique donor profiles: steadfast supporters, devout donors, entrepreneurs, changemakers and philanthropic experts.
Samsung is planning to unveil the TriFold at the APEC summit at the end of this month, set to take place in Gyeongju on October 31st and November 1st. It’s unclear if this would be a proper launch from Samsung, or if the device could be unveiled at a separate event before being showed off at APEC. We also still don’t know if Samsung plans to launch its tri-folding device outside of its home region of South Korea and the hotly-contested market of China, where Huawei has already launched two rival tri-fold smartphones. The Galaxy Z Fold SE gives precedent here, having arrived as a more premium iteration on the Galaxy Z Fold 6 this time last year. That device only went up for sale in South Korea and China, though much of its marquee features — its slimmer chassis, larger display, and removed S Pen support — made their way to a global audience on this year’s Galaxy Z Fold 7. Considering how well the Fold 7 is selling in the US, though, it might be worth Samsung giving its TriFold a shot in North America. According to a new report from the company, the Galaxy Z Fold 7 is performing beyond expectations following its overhaul in July. Nearly 30% of Fold 7 purchases are coming from Galaxy S Ultra models — perhaps suggesting that the S Pen isn’t nearly as essential a tool as some Samsung fans would have you believe. Samsung’s success didn’t end with its impressive pre-order period, either, as the company reports sales of the Fold 7 continue to exceed that of the Fold 6 by 50%.
Bitcoin financial services company Fold has selected Stripe, the programmable financial services company, to power the upcoming launch of the Fold Bitcoin Credit Card™, a bitcoin-only rewards product designed to turn everyday spending into a direct path to bitcoin ownership. The card enables users to accumulate bitcoin with every purchase, offering a simple and consistent way to build long-term wealth. Issued on the Visa network and powered by Stripe Issuing, the Fold Bitcoin Rewards Credit Card delivers up to 3.5% back on every purchase, with no categories and no deposit requirements. Cardholders earn an unlimited 2% back instantly, plus up to 1.5% back when they pay off purchases using their Fold Checking Account with qualified activity. In addition, cardholders can earn up to 10% back with top brands in the Fold rewards network, including Amazon, Target, Home Depot, Lowe’s, Uber/Uber Eats, Starbucks, DoorDash, Best Buy, and hundreds more. Fold’s reward system is designed to be simple and transparent, offering bitcoin-only rewards without the complexity of tokens, staking tiers, or exchange lock-ins. Fold’s integration with Stripe Issuing marks a key milestone in Fold’s product development and reflects growing demand for digital asset integration in consumer financial tools. With Stripe’s infrastructure in place, Fold is positioned to bring the Fold Bitcoin Credit Card™ to market with the reach and reliability users expect.
PayPal and Venmo users in the U.S. and some global markets will receive early access to Perplexity’s new AI-powered Comet browser through a 12-month trial of the startup’s Pro subscription. The startup provides AI search tools that deliver information summaries to users, looking to take on OpenAI and Google in the AI-powered search industry. The Perplexity Pro subscription is worth $200 a year or $20 a month. It is one of the first offers now available to customers in PayPal’s new subscriptions hub, which helps users view and manage recurring subscription payments. The offer also provides Perplexity access to Paypal’s more than 430 million users, as of the second quarter, enabling easy onboarding into a 12‑month Pro trial. The browser integrates Perplexity’s AI tools directly into web browsing, allowing users to ask questions about personal data like emails, calendars, or browsing history, and perform tasks such as scheduling meetings or summarizing webpages. Users in the U.S. can sign up for Perplexity Pro directly in the PayPal app starting Wednesday, while global customers in select markets can activate the offer by selecting PayPal at checkout when signing up for Perplexity online. Perplexity is also working on a mobile version of Comet and the company was in talks with smartphone makers to distribute the browser on mobile devices.
Visa’s stablecoin strategies could include the launch of its own coin someday. “This is just another mechanism for value exchange,” Cuy Sheffield, Visa’s head of cryptocurrency, said. “I see it massively expanding our addressable market.” Many analysts see stablecoins as a potential opportunity for Visa, and not a threat. Stablecoin payments are in theory cheaper than card fees, they still require services such as fraud prevention, dispute resolution and compliance checks, along with connections to bank payment rails and fiat currency conversion. Visa wants to serve as a bridge as the flow of money shifts, using its infrastructure to help make stablecoins more mainstream for merchants and consumers. “They are going after the land grab of empowering every possible stablecoin platform with a payment capability,” said Richard Crone, chief executive officer of payments consultant Crone Consulting. “This is a really big opportunity.” Visa says, “Our focus is on what we can do today: scale stablecoin-linked cards, enable stablecoin settlement, and work closely with our bank partners to help them leverage stablecoins across a range of use cases. That’s our near-term priority and what’s active in the market right now.” “We are piloting and partnering with stablecoin companies … as we build out our stablecoin settlement stack … we are working to streamline treasury operations, improve liquidity management and enable quick and more cost effective cross-border transactions,” Visa CEO Ryan McInerney said.
Mastercard is transitioning from a traditional payment processor to a data-driven technology platform, focusing on interoperability, digital identity and agentic AI. Mastercard’s value-added services and solutions segment is emerging as a critical differentiator. That line saw 23% revenue growth (22% currency-neutral) for the most recent quarter, reflecting growing demand for cybersecurity, authentication, digital identity and fraud prevention tools. One highlight: Mastercard Agent Pay, a service that leverages conversational AI to facilitate secure payments via contact centers or messaging platforms. This innovation marks Mastercard’s first direct play into agentic AI — a field defined by autonomous agents acting on behalf of users across digital ecosystems. This launch, alongside the expanded Mastercard Collection suite, reinforces its ambition to deliver “intelligence at the edge” of payment flows. The company reported net revenue of $8.1 billion, a 17% increase year over year on a GAAP basis and 16% growth on a currency-neutral basis. Adjusted net income came in at $3.8 billion, up 13%, with adjusted earnings per share of $4.15, an increase of 16% compared to the same period last year. Mastercard’s total gross dollar volume (GDV) grew 9% year over year on a local currency basis, reaching $2.6 trillion. U.S. GDV increased 6%, while outside of the U.S., GDV rose 10%, reflecting continued momentum in international markets.
The stablecoin ecosystem is expanding, and Visa is at the forefront of its development. As global interest in stablecoins takes center stage, Visa is building on its leadership in the space and enabling support for more stablecoins and more blockchains to facilitate settlement transactions for issuers and acquirers. Visa’s settlement platform is adding support for two additional USD-backed stablecoins, two blockchains and the euro-backed EURC. What’s new: More stablecoins: Through a new partnership with Paxos, Visa will be able to support two additional dollar-backed stablecoins, Global Dollar (USDG) and PayPal USD (PYUSD), bringing the transformative power of two more trusted stablecoins to our partners. More chains: Visa has added support for two blockchains, Stellar and Avalanche, in addition to already supported chains, Ethereum and Solana. More currencies: Visa has integrated Circle’s euro-backed stablecoin, EURC. With EURC integrated into the Visa Network, select pilot participating Visa partners can now access settlement in both USD- and EUR-backed stablecoins. This extends Visa’s crypto and treasury infrastructure capabilities which already facilitates settlement in more than 25 fiat currencies worldwide.
Mastercard launched the Mastercard AI Card Design Studio, an innovative platform that transforms how issuers create and deploy card designs. By combining speed, affordability and advanced customization, it gives card issuers a powerful, intuitive solution to bring their unique brand to life. The AI Card Design Studio draws on Mastercard’s brand and card production expertise to bring high-end design capabilities directly to its partners. Users can upload logos and product details, use AI-assisted design features, customize as needed and instantly download brand-compliant designs. What once took weeks can now be completed in minutes—accelerating go-to-market timelines while enabling more creative flexibility and emotional impact. With the AI Card Design Studio, Mastercard is applying that same approach to the creative process, giving partners more control and clarity from the start. The platform empowers creative teams by providing compelling design tools, while freeing up time to focus on higher-level creative strategy. From pioneering multisensory branding and launching the inclusively designed Touch Card, to introducing our sustainable card program aimed at removing first-use PVC plastics from our network by 2028, Mastercard has consistently pushed the boundaries of what design can do. This new tool is a natural extension of that legacy, allowing issuers to quickly produce stand-out designs.
Mastercard has introduced a new suite of benefits aimed at experience-seeking consumers. The Mastercard Collection is available across the company’s World, World Elite and newly created World Legend Mastercard cards, offering rewards on things like dining, entertainment and travel. The World Legend card is available to banks worldwide now, and will debut to cardholders in the third quarter of this year in the U.S., followed by a larger international launch. Driving this launch, is its in-house research showing a growing demand among consumers for a “more intentional way of living, where spending on meaningful experiences is prioritized over material things.” The vast majority of the company’s cardholders, “feel their best when spending their time on their passions, including culinary exploration, artistic endeavors, and cultural immersion,” while two-thirds “are becoming more intentional with how they spend their time, focusing on the relationships that matter most.”
Fortnite maker Epic Games said that Apple’s new installation workflow, implemented in iOS 18.6, has had a positive impact on its user growth, with a 60% decrease in drop-offs. The new process includes only one screen showing users that they might miss some features, such as subscription management offered by the App Store. The screen also informs users that the alternative app store’s developer will handle their data directly. Epic Games said that prior to the iOS 18.6 update, 65% of users attempting to install its game store abandoned the process. However, after the update, that figure dropped to 25%. The company noted that this drop rate is closer to the rate it observes with Windows and macOS users installing its game store. Despite this improvement, the company remains critical of Apple’s policies, including charging a core technology fee, imposing notarization and approval policies, and implementing rules that make it difficult for developers to distribute their apps through alternative app stores.
Proving Apple Intelligence’s worth, third-party developers are now using it to make apps more personal to users, and users more productive. By using the Foundation Models Framework, developers get an API that means they can pass prompts to Apple Intelligence. It’s done privately, and with specific limitations — but also specific freedoms: No limit on user requests; No tokens or API keys for the user to install; Access to the same Apple Intelligence on device. That last part is significant, because it is both a limitation and a guarantee of privacy. Developers can’t use the full Apple Intelligence LLM in the cloud, nor can they use extensions such as directly making requests of ChatGPT. Nonetheless, developers have been implement Apple Intelligence across a wide range of apps. Apple has now picked out more than 20 to champion, ranging from To Do apps to mental health ones. CellWalk takes users through a 3D journey around molecules. Now it can automatically tailor its explanations to the user’s level of knowledge. More heavyweight To Do apps such as OmniFocus are adopting Apple Intelligence too. It can generate whole projects and suggested tasks to help a user get started. Starting with iOS 26, iPadOS 26, and macOS 26, Apple provides app developers with access to a new Foundation Models framework that allows their apps to tap into the on-device LLM at the core of Apple Intelligence. Apple today highlighted some of the iPhone, iPad, and Mac apps utilizing the Foundation Models framework to power new features and capabilities. For example, in the fitness app SmartGym, users can now describe a workout and turn it into a structured routine with sets, reps, rest times, and equipment adaptation. SmartGym also generates insightful summaries of workout data, and more. In the journaling app Stoic, users can now receive contextual journaling prompts that are generated from their recent entries, and there are other new features. SwingVision, an app that helps users with their tennis or pickleball skills, uses the framework to generate advice for players to improve their game. Foundation Models powers new Listen Mode and Scan Mode options in the to-do app Stuff. The task management app OmniFocus 4 can now generate projects and next steps on a user’s behalf, such as helping them know what to pack for an upcoming trip.
Google TV is adding support for TVs with presence sensing hardware, but the first TV set with support is not cheap, as the TCL QM9K is now available starting at $3,000. The TCL QM9K series is now on sale at Best Buy in the US. The new flagship TV from TCL is a 4K QD-Mini LED TV, and Google TV is taking advantage of its new hardware. Firstly, this is the first place that Gemini is debuting, at least according to TCL. More importantly, though, the TCL QM9K is the first Google TV set with presence sensing hardware built in. Using mmWave radios, the TV can detect when someone is in the room and turn on the TV to show an ambient screensaver or select information. TCL previously explained that this can be adjusted to your preferences, including the distance from the TV in which the presence sensor is used. The TCL QM9K series starts at $3,000 at Best Buy. That’s for the 65-inch model, with larger sizes of course being more expensive. Pricing breaks down as follows: 65-inch: $2,999; 75-inch: $3,499; 85-inch: $3,999; and 98-inch: $5,999. Sales will likely follow in time, though. TCL’s QM8K series started at $2,499 when it launched earlier, but you can now get a 65-inch model for $1,500.
Google is making it possible to now share your Gemini Gems — custom AI assistants and experts designed for specific tasks — the company announced on Thursday. The feature launched last year, initially as part of the Gemini Advanced paid subscription, allowing users to write instructions to create an AI chatbot for different scenarios. For instance, Google launched with premade Gems like a learning coach, a brainstorming assistant, a career guide, a writing editor, and a coding partner. Now Google says you’ll be able to share your Gems with friends, family, or co-workers as easily as you can share a file from Google Drive. This would make Gems more accessible to more people, as not everyone uses the advanced customization feature. It could also help prevent people from building the same Gems as others. For instance, if multiple co-workers were using a similar type of custom Gemini assistant, they could just share the same resource instead of each making their own version that could have slight inconsistencies between them. Google suggests Gem sharing could also be useful for people working on family vacation plans and guides, meal planners, or collaborative writing projects. Also similar to Google Drive, you can control who can view and use your Gems and who’s allowed to edit them.
Google is rolling out Gemini in Chrome to all Mac and Windows desktop users in the U.S. after previously limiting the capability to Google AI Pro and Google AI Ultra subscribers. The tech giant also announced that it’s bringing agentic capabilities to Chrome in the future, adding its AI Mode search feature to the address bar, launching new Gemini features, using AI to combat AI-generated scams, rolling out automatic password resets, and more. U.S. users who have their language set to English can now ask Gemini to clarify complex information on any web page they’re reading using the Gemini icon in the top-right corner of their Chrome window. Gemini can now work across multiple tabs, allowing users to quickly compare and summarize information across multiple websites. Gemini will soon be able to retrieve web pages you’ve previously visited, making it easier to return to past browsing sessions without sifting through your browser history. Additionally, Google is launching a deeper integration between Gemini in Chrome and other Google apps, like Calendar, YouTube, and Maps. Google says this will allow users to do things like schedule meetings, see location details, and more without having to leave the page they’re on. Google notes that the AI assistant will be able to complete tedious tasks, like booking a haircut or ordering weekly groceries. Gemini will navigate to the site, add things to your cart, and let you take the final action by checking out with your payment option. Google is also bringing AI Mode, its advanced search feature, directly into the Chrome address bar. With AI Mode, users can ask complex questions with follow-ups to dig deeper into topics. Chrome can now suggest relevant questions based on the context of the page to kickstart your search in the address bar. Google says users will get a helpful AI Overview and the option to ask follow-up questions with AI Mode. The company says Chrome will also soon be able to use its Gemini Nano model to detect and protect against scams, such as fake virus alerts and fraudulent giveaways. These scams often impersonate trusted brands and use generative AI to create convincing phishing attempts. Google also announced that it’s using AI to help users fix compromised passwords with a single click on supported sites, like Coursera, Spotify, Duolingo, H&M, and more.
Apple’s latest iPhone software, iOS 26, is now on general release. iOS 18.7, also just released. Apple usually runs the two versions in parallel for maximum two months, to give the cautious time to get used to what’s new. Staying off iOS 26 for now may also be appealing if you don’t care for the signature update: Liquid Glass. This has been warmly received but not universally liked. Still, be warned, you will have to update sooner or later if you want full security protections. iOS 18.7 is for all iPhones from 2018 onwards. That means the iPhone Xs, iPhone Xs Max and iPhone XR and all iPhones since, including the iPhone SE in both its second- and third-generation models. And all members of the iPhone 16 series are included, right up to the iPhone 16e. Note that iOS 26 is available to all of these phones except the first three. It’s compatible with iOS 11 and onwards. Apple is tight-lipped about what’s in iOS 18.7, merely saying “This update provides important bug fixes and security updates and is recommended for all users.” It hasn’t yet updated with full details of exactly what bugs have been squished and usually releases details of security concerns later, when users have had a chance to update to protect themselves.
Consumers can now access Affirm’s payment options when making in-store purchases with Apple Pay on iPhone in the United States. The move marks an expansion of a capability that was already available when checking out with Apple Pay online and in-apps, Affirm said. “This gives Apple Pay users in the U.S. added flexibility and transparency at even more checkouts,” Vishal Kapoor, senior vice president of product at Affirm, said. Affirm enables approved customers to split eligible purchases into biweekly or monthly payments, at rates ranging from 0% to 36% APR. The company said the ability to access loan offers from eligible credit or debit cards, including from pay-over-time providers like Affirm, when making an Apple Pay purchase in person with an iPhone would give users greater flexibility and choice.
Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman believes that Apple will enter the market in the next 12 to 16 months, which would be in line or after the fall release schedule for 2026. Gurman adds that the smart glasses that will show up first will be a display-less version to take on Meta’s Ray-Bans. That would mean smart glasses with cameras for video recording, some form of audio system for playback and recording, and a connection to an iPhone for processing. The full smart glasses experience, which will involve seeing data through the lenses of the glasses, is expected to be a few years away from becoming a reality. A lot of this is miniaturization and reducing weight, as expectations are for Apple to get as close to a lightweight pair of spectacles as possible, not a heavy device like the Apple Vision Pro. Apple has a natural advantage in this area. Its brand means that existing iPhone users will gravitate toward its smart glasses automatically. While Meta and others have a more difficult time making their glasses work with the iPhone, Apple can do a much deeper integration, as it has done with its other products.
Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman believes that Apple will enter the market in the next 12 to 16 months, which would be in line or after the fall release schedule for 2026. Gurman adds that the smart glasses that will show up first will be a display-less version to take on Meta’s Ray-Bans. That would mean smart glasses with cameras for video recording, some form of audio system for playback and recording, and a connection to an iPhone for processing. The full smart glasses experience, which will involve seeing data through the lenses of the glasses, is expected to be a few years away from becoming a reality. A lot of this is miniaturization and reducing weight, as expectations are for Apple to get as close to a lightweight pair of spectacles as possible, not a heavy device like the Apple Vision Pro. Apple has a natural advantage in this area. Its brand means that existing iPhone users will gravitate toward its smart glasses automatically. While Meta and others have a more difficult time making their glasses work with the iPhone, Apple can do a much deeper integration, as it has done with its other products.
Following an update to the August 1 Google Play services update, users are reporting that the Galaxy Watch 8 can now connect to the Pixel 10. It’s unknown if this is the case for other Pixel devices, as the issue appeared to include other models. In our own testing, a previously barred Galaxy Watch 8 Classic paired flawlessly to our Pixel 10 Pro XL on the first go following the update. It’s worth noting we skipped signing into Samsung Health at the start, though that should have no bearing on a successful connection. The connection appears stable after rebooting both devices. One user had submitted a ticket indicating that their Pixel 10 Pro would not connect with the Galaxy Watch 8, and over 260 users have indicated that they’re experiencing the same issue. According to them, after confirming pairing codes on both watch and phone, the setup fails or glitches out. No pending updates seem to be the issue. Some devices on the 9to5Google team had the same issue. After getting the Watch 8 Classic to work on the Pixel 9 Pro Fold with no problems, upgrading to the Pixel 10 Pro XL resulted in multiple failed setup attempts. Sometimes the Pixel 10 Pro would refuse to give a pairing code, and the Watch 8 Classic would have to be reset because of the error. Other times, the Galaxy Watch 8 Classic and Pixel 10 Pro XL could agree on codes and begin the pairing process, though it never exceeded 84% completion without faulting. This issue takes a tremendous amount of time and has no success.
New physical designs have typically helped iPhone sales in the past. But the appeal of the iPhone Air might be constrained by a shorter battery life, a single-lens camera and Apple’s limited AI offerings. But time might be on Apple’s side. Rising smartphone prices have compelled users to hold on to their devices for longer periods in general, and Apple’s well-heeled customers are no exception. About 38% of the current iPhone users in the U.S. have devices that are at least three years old, according to a June survey by Consumer Intelligence Research Partners. That compares with 33% using such devices in the same period two years earlier. Older phones will make it harder for some users to wait another year, when Apple is expected to launch its first foldable phones with a more robust AI offering. And the company appears to be betting on the same. The new iPhone Air and the higher-memory configurations of other models are lifting the average selling price of this year’s new crop of iPhones by 12% over the iPhone 16 family launched a year ago. The iPhone Air is priced at a notable premium to the iPhone Plus models it replaced in the lineup, and Apple added a new 2-terabyte model to the iPhone Pro priced at $1,999—25% higher than the most expensive iPhone that Apple has sold in years past. Higher prices mean that even a small uptick in unit sales could have a magnified impact on revenue. And expectations there are currently modest; Wall Street expects iPhone revenue to rise just 4% in Apple’s fiscal year that ends next September, to be driven primarily by the new devices announced Tuesday. Separately, Apple’s wearables business—its second-largest product segment—should get a boost from the new AirPods Pro 3. The popular wireless earbuds hadn’t seen a major upgrade in three years.
Apple’s new proprietary wireless standard, SPR AVS, is designed to optimize audio, video, and sensor data transmission across devices. SPR AVS is designed to replace or augment legacy protocols like Bluetooth and AirPlay in specific contexts. It is tightly integrated with Apple’s C1X modem and A19 Pro chip, enabling ultra-low latency and high-bandwidth communication between iPhones, AirPods, Vision Pro, and other Apple devices. Key advantages of SPR AVS include ultra-low latency, lossless audio support, multi-device sync, dynamic bandwidth allocation, secure peer-to-peer relay, and sensor fusion integration. It is a foundational protocol for Apple’s spatial computing ecosystem, particularly as Vision Pro and AirPods Pro 3 become more integrated with iPhone. It is designed for context-aware, multi-sensory experiences that require tight coordination between devices.
Now through September 30, get 5% Daily Cash when you use the Apple Card via Apple Pay for purchases across the Uber and Uber Eats apps and websites. 5% Daily Cash is limited to $500 in combined Uber and Uber Eats purchases, meaning that the maximum cash back that you can receive from this offer is $25. Ordinarily, the Apple Card offers 3% Daily Cash for Uber and Uber Eats purchases. In addition, Apple Card users can continue to receive a six-month free trial of Uber One, by signing up with this link using the Apple Card via Apple Pay. Uber One provides savings and other benefits for both Uber rides and Uber Eats deliveries.
Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman has summarized his expectations for what Apple will reveal next week. Aside from a couple of new details and the inclusion of some more recent leaks from other sources, much of the following is a recap of Gurman’s reports over the last several months: iPhone 17: Larger 6.3-inch display with ProMotion; A19 chip. iPhone 17 Air: 5.5mm thick; A19 chip; Single camera; Reduced battery life; 6.6-inch display with ProMotion; eSIM replacing physical SIM; Apple C1 modem; Sky blue color. iPhone 17 Pro Models: New rear runway-style camera bump; 48MP telephoto lens (up from 12MP); New variable aperture system; Simultaneous front-and-back video capture; New two-thirds rear cutout for wireless charging; A19 Pro chip; Increased battery life; Aluminum frame; New orange color. Apple Watch Ultra 3: Slightly larger display (matching Series 10); S11 chip; 5G Redcap cellular; Satellite connectivity; Apple Watch Series 11: New screen with increased brightness; New color and band offerings. Apple Watch SE: New display; Faster chip; AirPods Pro 3: Heart-rate monitor; Smaller charging case matching AirPods 4; Live translation. Apple is also launching new accessories for the iPhone 17 lineup, including a revamped non-leather case replacing the company’s ill-received FineWoven cases, an iPhone 4 bumper-like case for the iPhone 17 Air, and a “pricey, high-end” cross-body strap that has apparently been a priority of the company’s design team.
Google is beefing up its features for Gemini, its primary suite of generative AI models and the chatbot that serves as its main interface. For creative folks, the Gemini app now offers image editing using text prompts through its viral Gemini 2.5 Flash Image model, codenamed Nano Banana. Also, Google has added Veo 3, the newest version of its video generation model. The tool can animate still photos, drawings or digital art into moving video clips, complete with AI-generated audio. For productivity, Google is also adding scheduled actions, a feature that lets users queue tasks and recurring requests directly within the Gemini app. The Productivity Planner Gem integrates email, Calendar and Drive into a single view, designed to help users prioritize daily tasks more easily. Meanwhile, Temporary Chat allows people to hold private conversations with Gemini that won’t be saved or affect future responses, an answer to growing demand for more user control over AI memory. Gemini can now draw on past chat history if users opt in to provide more relevant answers. Users can manage or delete stored conversations. Real-time captions to Gemini Live, its voice chatbot, can connect with Google services such as Maps. For education, one new feature is Guided Learning, which helps users break down complex topics into digestible steps. The tool is designed to make explanations more interactive, with the AI walking learners through a process rather than delivering a static answer. Students and business professionals can also now generate study guides and flash cards directly from their own notes, readings or problem sets, automating one of the more time-consuming aspects of learning. Google has also introduced Storybook, a feature that allows users to turn personal memories or even dense concepts into illustrated stories that can be read, shared or printed. The tool can add text and audio, blending creative writing with multimodal AI generation.
The lines between iPad and Mac have never been blurrier – with iPadOS 26. The update brings a suite of powerful new features that elevate the iPad’s utility, bridging the gap between touch-first tablet and full-fledged desktop machine: Menu Bar: Within any active app, swipe down from the top of the screen and you will see a new, fully functioning macOS-style menu bar. With the foremost dropdown menu being the app’s name (where app settings are typically accessed), other standard menus can include File, Edit, Format, View, Window, and Help. The menu bar is dynamic, and will display menus specific to the app. Windowed Apps: A new Windowed Apps mode allows users to arrange and resize multiple app windows in a single space, similar to how it works on a Mac. This mode can also be activated from the Control Center using a new button, which supports long press to switch between Windowed Apps and Stage Manager. Users can move and stack multiple windows by dragging them from the top, resize them by dragging the bottom-right corner, and quickly snap them to half the screen by dragging to a corner. Tapping a space on the Home Screen scatters all open windows to the sides, creating room to open other apps. Traffic Lights: Tapping the three familiar traffic lights symbol, straight out of macOS expands it into red, amber, and green buttons for closing, minimizing, and expanding the window to fullscreen. Long-pressing the buttons also reveals the Mac-style Move & Resize and Fill & Arrange options, as well as an option to park the app off-screen to Add a New Window App Exposé: In the new Windowed Apps mode, iPadOS 26 also includes an App Exposé-style view that’s similar to the App Switcher. Swipe up from the bottom of the screen to invoke the view, which shows all the open apps in the current space. You can also scroll the new interface to see your other open apps, whether they’re sharing spaces or open in full-screen mode. Preview: The iPad finally includes the Mac’s long-standing Preview app, only now with Apple Pencil support, enabling you to easily open, edit, and mark up a range of images, documents, and file types. The Preview app’s browsing menu is a lot like the Files interface, where you can browse your files and check out recent and shared items. You can also scan documents from right within the app. Trackpad Pointer: If you have a Magic Keyboard trackpad or a Bluetooth mouse connected to your iPad, the cursor is now a Mac-like pointer rather than a circle. And if you shake it, the pointer will get bigger so that you can easily locate it on the screen. Advanced File Management: The iPad’s Files app is enhanced with a new List view that features resizable columns and collapsible folders, and new filters, allowing users to see more document details at a glance and organize their files. To help you identify folders more easily, the app now supports folder customization with custom colors, icons, and emoji, all of which sync across devices. Folders in Dock: In the Files app, long press on a folder and you’ll see a new Add to Dock option in the contextual dropdown menu. So you can now park any folder in your Dock, and if you long press on its icon, you’ll see Mac-style display options to view the content as a Grid or a Fan, as well as the typical sorting preferences. In iPadOS 26, you can now fit up to 23 icons in the Dock, so there’s nothing stopping you from adding multiple folders. In Settings ➝ Multitasking & Gestures, there’s also a new option to Automatically Show and Hide the Dock, just like in macOS.
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Amazon Web Services Inc. unveiled a new AI tool Amazon Quick Suite, which collaborates with users to get work done by connecting with enterprise information sources to provide answers, take action and automate work through an intuitive web-based interface and integrations with Microsoft Corp.’s Office 365, Slack and other digital work spaces. Quick Suite includes more than 50 built-in connectors to provide a complete view of company data and productivity tools, including Adobe Analytics, SharePoint, Snowflake and Google Drive. With integrations such as OpenAPI and Model Context Protocol customers can link in custom resources from even more services including Atlassian, Asana, Box and Canva among more than 1,000 apps. Users can organize these data sources into Spaces, a sandbox that integrates information and applications so the platform can index and understand company and personal context. Using this broad connectivity, users and teams can build custom AI agents capable of focusing on specific aspects of their work, conducting research and taking action. The platform offers powerful capabilities that leverage this unified view across apps and data. With Quick Suite, business users can request analytical insights using AI agents to pull in data from multiple business apps and build dashboards that combine business intelligence and research. Going beyond analytics and visualization, Quick Research provides an agent that can dive deep into data, web resources and company knowledge to deliver comprehensive reports on any topic. Routine and complex tasks can also be managed through Quick Flows and Quick Automate. Flows allow users to create digital workflows using simple prompts to handle repetitive work, reducing human error and freeing teams from busywork. Automate can coordinate complex business processes, even those spanning hundreds of steps and multiple departments. Marketing automation company Propulse Lab used Quick to streamline its customer service operations, reducing average ticket-handling time by 80%. With this performance scaled across its business, the company estimates it will save 24,000 hours annually.
The European Central Bank (ECB) envisions using DLT in the future for a wholesale CBDC and many of today’s core central bank functions, such as collateral management and monetary policy. That’s provided tokenization takes off, according to Holger Neuhaus who leads the ECB’s Project Appia. Although he’s pretty optimistic given the strong participation in ECB DLT settlement trials. He was talking on a panel at Swift’s Sibos event yesterday. Appia is the longer term track of two DLT central bank money payment iterations, with Project Pontes (bridge) as the interim solution that is expected to launch pilots in Q3 of 2026. Pontes builds on the 2024 ECB wholesale DLT settlement trials that involved 61 private institutions. It uses elements of the three trial solutions from the central banks of France, Germany and Italy. Germany’s Trigger solution and France’s wholesale CBDC both link to the TARGET2 payment system and are the two Pontes central bank money options. Italy is providing the Hashlink interoperability solution that will be used by the German and French offerings to link to other DLT networks. Neuhaus described Pontes as a bring-your-own-market-DLT approach, highlighting the potential for fragmentation.
A Sibos panel explored the interoperability of digital asset and DLT systems. John Whelan from Santander started the discussion by noting that nobody designed the global financial system. It emerged organically, evolving into what he describes as “hundreds, thousands, millions of record keeping systems, ledgers, databases” that fundamentally don’t interoperate with each other. The result is a massive infrastructure of messaging layers, reconciliation processes, and auditing mechanisms built simply to verify that one institution’s ledger matches another’s. “The macro opportunity is really to re-architect the entire financial system from the ground up,” Whelan told the panel. By upgrading to ledgers with cryptographically verifiable state, these systems could finally synchronize and interoperate directly. Abeetha Pitigala from Goldman Sachs sees the transformation centered on post-trade operations, an area that hasn’t fundamentally changed in decades. “DLTs have come along over the last 15 years and have now shifted that whole balance sheet reconciliation aspect of things,” he explained. Jack Pouderoyen from Swift noted the challenge: market participants must decide which initiatives to invest in, which to participate in, and which to ignore. “If you participate in every single thing that comes across, you have a full time job of just trying to connect to all these different things,” he said. “And then you have this world of fragmented liquidity.” The original vision risks being undermined by the very proliferation it enabled.
Mastercard introduced its Global Reach Partner Program, a new global expansion framework that makes it easier for customers to expand into new markets around the world. Mastercard Global Reach offers customers a tailored and scalable go to market approach that streamlines processes, accelerate launches, and delivers against their goals to serve cardholders across multiple markets. Program partners will also be able to leverage Mastercard’s consulting, advisory, and implementation expertise to support with their go-to-market definition, target operating model design, and operational roll out. Mastercard’s Global Reach Partner Program features include: Speed to Market: Accelerating international market entry; Simplified processes: Removing barriers and providing greater flexibility; Customized approach: Tailored to each customer’s unique needs; Efficiencies: Streamlining and helping to manage operational cost; Dedicated global enablement team: Providing consistency and in-market expertise across multiple markets.
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