Top Innovations
Google Wallet notifications will be sent directly from the app instead of Play services. Version 23.46.x will add four notification channels: Transactions, Updates & alerts, Offers & rewards, Tips
An upcoming change to Google…
Ally is experimenting with Amazon’s Bedrock and also with Google’s Bard. The LLM used for the marketing experiment is OpenAI software partnering Microsoft
Using a large language model,…
Conversational AI can be elevated by showing empathy, understanding intent, logical dialogue and nuances
Showing empathy: Recreating real empathy…
Velt can add “contextual copilot,”- a human-to-AI collaborative experience to any app. Features include commenting, huddles or video or voice recording
Startup Velt launches a toolkit…
Key News
Swift connects domestic payment schemes across Europe to provide end-to-end tracking for instant cross-border transfers
Swift has connected domestic payment…
Wise targets banks in USA with cheaper and faster x-border services linked to ACH and RTP
Wise is targeting banks to…
Offering BNPL makes sense for banks and credit unions to capture a 360-degree view of the customer, to offer flexibility and enhance convenience through exceptional digital experiences
The popularity of BNPL is…
CBA’s system uses a combination of machine learning, natural language processing and large language models on public data, text analysis and graph concepts to identify abusive relationships. Graph concepts, or graph theory, refers to combining different graphs and data sources with math to develop predictive models — which, in this case, can match certain words and phrases to a pattern of behavior. Large language models are capable of producing original content, and power emerging technology such as generative artificial intelligence programs. Financial crooks are using large language models to improve phishing attacks and malware. Banks such as JPMorgan Chase are using the technology to fight email fraud and other attacks embedded in financial communication. CBA’s use is similar to Chase. The Australian bank is analyzing evidence of sustained abuse across criteria in payments, such as the value of the transaction, the frequency and velocity of transactions and the types of messages. CBA built its model in partnership with AI firm H20.ai. It is available on GitHub, a large global platform that hosts source code.
D2L, a global learning technology company, shared the launch of a new, free Introduction to AI Ethics and Governance course, built in partnership with AI specialists, INQ Consulting. With the surge of AI across industries and its potential to streamline business activities, organizations are looking to incorporate AI technologies into their operations. Through this course, individuals can learn about AI ethics, governance and the emergence of AI regulation. Moreover, learners can also expect to receive some practical advice for safely deploying AI governance systems to best maximize AI’s benefits and mitigate its possible risks. Combining INQ Consulting’s expertise surrounding AI law and D2L’s cutting-edge course-building technology, the crafting of this learning experience marks the first time that the two companies have worked together. The course can now be found on D2L Open Courses, an online course platform that offers courses to the general public.
Janover Inc., an AI-enabled platform for commercial real estate transactions, announced that its now offering its AI chatbot interface under a software-as-a-service (“SaaS”) model to a select number of commercial lenders. The first collaboration is with Gelt Financial, a leading and innovating commercial real estate lender providing debt to real estate owners across the U.S. Janover has named its AI, Burrito, as each conversation “ought to be unique and delicious”. Multifamily, commercial real estate, and Small Business Administration (“SBA”) lenders can now dramatically enhance engagement on their website, quickly qualify and disqualify borrowers, and provide a more delightful experience for website users. Janover’s AI chatbot interacts 24/7 with users in real-time to resolve issues, coordinate transactions, and answer questions, in addition to handling lead generation and qualification.
Logik.io’s Cosmo AI suite launches with its first game-changing capability, Cosmo FunctionAssist. Cosmo FunctionAssist is an intelligent rule-writing assistant built to make configuration administration simpler than ever by using generative AI to create advanced rules. Within Logik.io, admins can write the rule they want to create in plain English, and Cosmo FunctionAssist will instantly return a perfectly optimized set of rules. Cosmo FunctionAssist makes rule creation, a traditionally complicated task in other solutions, fast and simple. Logik.io’s forthcoming AI capabilities include: Smart Predictions & Auto-Suggestions, which will save end-users time quoting by auto-suggesting options based on previous selections. Rule Optimization Suggestions, which will make process improvements faster, simpler, and more automated via intelligent suggestions. Inline Admin Help & Support, which will enable CPQ and Commerce admins to be more effective and efficient by providing them with real-time, in-context answers and training on any questions they have as they work.
Experian has partnered with behavioral analytics firm NeuroID to enhance its fraud prevention solutions. The goal of the partnership is to combat identity theft, deter fraud attacks and protect against AI-powered bots, the company said. By integrating NeuroID’s behavioral analytics solution — which analyzes users’ real-time behavior, including keystrokes, mouse movements and typing speed — to determine if there are genuine or fraudulent intentions, Experian said its clients can now deploy a fraud detection tool that identifies user intentions through data-driven insights.
Ongoing Operations, a credit union information-technology firm, says it experienced a cybersecurity incident on Nov. 26. Ongoing Operations added that it has “no evidence of any misuse of information,” although it is “reviewing the impacted data to determine exactly what information was impacted and to whom that information belonged.” Neither Ongoing Operations nor its parent company, Trellance, responded to requests for comment. Before the ransomware attack, Ongoing Operations had failed to patch a vulnerability in the cloud-networking software NetScaler, according to Kevin Beaumont, a cybersecurity researcher who until October served as head of cybersecurity operations at the telecommunications company Vodafone. Cloud Software Group, the company that owns NetScaler, warned users on Oct. 10 about the NetScaler vulnerability, later dubbed Citrix Bleed, saying it could result in “unauthorized data disclosure.”
PayPal is reportedly working to add new features, with a special focus on improving the checkout experience. The effort is being led by teams across PayPal and is driven by the company’s efforts to bolster its competitive standing against rivals like Stripe and Apple Pay, according to the report. Together with enhancing its online checkout, the firm wants to add features to its digital wallet. The project, dubbed Quantum Leap, aims to streamline the checkout process, redesign PayPal’s consumer app and speed integration for merchants.
SoFi Enhanced Yield ETF (THTA), the brand-new active fund is designed to provide investors with a high level of monthly income. WisdomTree and some smaller fund families offer similar ETFs. What is unusual about THTA is the strategy deployed to generate periodic cash payouts. In addition to one- to three-month U.S. Treasury bills, the fund uses an options overlay strategy. Florida-based investment group ZEGA Financial, a leader in options-focused investing, manages this aspect of the portfolio. By combining short-term government bills with options trades, THTA is able to leverage its Treasury holdings to generate extra income. This income is captured through the sale of volatility premiums, i.e., put options that are based on the inherent risk in bond options spreads. The data-driven, opportunistic alternative to traditional short-term bond funds is taking advantage of volatility to give investors bigger monthly payout potential.
During the Black Friday through Cyber Monday period in November, buy now, pay later app downloads among U.S. consumers declined 4.5% from last year, reversing course from last year’s 4.4% year-over-year growth over 2021, according to a Bank of America analysis. Though BNPL providers saw sizable growth during the Thanksgiving Day holiday weekend compared to the same week in the prior month, those gains were lower than the previous year. In the U.S. market, Block’s Afterpay had the most downloads during the Thanksgiving holiday weekend this year, the report said. Nonetheless, Afterpay last year more than doubled its downloads for the period (104%) compared to October, but that growth rate shrank to 63% this year, according to Bank of America’s report. Similarly, rival Affirm experienced a 90% rise in its U.S. downloads month-over-month during Thanksgiving weekend in 2022, with a slowing of that rate to 77% this year, the report’s data showed.
Coca-Cola started with “Create Real Magic” using Bain and OpenAI. Digital creatives around the world can use a first-of-its-kind AI platform to generate original artwork with iconic creative assets from the Coca‑Cola archives. Built exclusively for Coca‑Cola by OpenAI and Bain & Company, “Create Real Magic” is the first platform of its kind to combine the capabilities of GPT-4, which produces human-like text from search engine queries, and DALL-E, which produces images based on text. More than 120,000 pieces of content were posted and people were interacting with the platform for more than seven minutes. “We took those learnings and we selected the 20 top creators out of that platform and in the summer we met with them [at the Real Magic Academy] to discuss how we could improve that as we move forward”.
TreviPay, the global B2B payments and invoicing network, released a series of technology features designed to help merchants build experiential loyalty with enterprise buyers, including TreviPay’s new all-in-one payments solution. With TreviPay’s all-in-one payments, B2B merchants and marketplaces can now serve the entire spectrum of business buyers with TreviPay as their single payments vendor. Through integration, merchants can customize acceptance of card types, allowing business buyers to either pay upfront with card, ACH or mobile wallet, or pay later through net terms (the ability to pay in 30-, 60-, or 90-days) and invoicing to improve cash flow and reduce bad debt. A notable use case is found in the B2B retail industry where credit cards are often the only payment option offered online. As trade credit or net terms are preferred by 85% of global business buyers, typically for higher spend or more frequent purchases, retailers can now accommodate both options more seamlessly through TreviPay’s all-in-one payments solution.
According to data presented by AltIndex.comGoogle Pay is used more for payments in India and Poland than in the United States or the United Kingdom. Eight out of Ten Consumers from India use Google Pay, 3x more than in the US Over the past five years, more than one billion people have started using mobile POS payments, pushing the total number of users to a massive 1.6 billion in 2023. India is undoubtedly Google Pay’s number one market. Far below, Poland ranked second, with around 35% of its consumers using the app. Surprisingly, some of the world’s most developed countries, like the United States, Germany and the United Kingdom, were far below these figures. Around 33% of Americans use Google Pay to manage their payments, nearly three times less than in India. On the one hand, that doesn’t come as a surprise considering the huge number of iPhone users in the country and 58% of consumers who use Apple Pay.
More Innovations & Trends
Innovations & Trends
We’re on the look out for the latest trends, strategies and innovations. Do you have something to share? We’d love to hear from you.
Share an Innovation with Us.
Digital Brief delivers the latest disruptive financial innovations.