Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella’s endorsement of Google DeepMind‘s Agent2Agent (A2A) open protocol and Anthropic’s Model Context Protocol (MCP) will immediately accelerate agentic AI-based collaboration and interdependence, leading to rapid gains in agentic-based apps and platforms. Nadella’s endorsement delivers the catalyst the agentic AI development community needed to fast-track their collaborations, leading to entirely new apps, platforms and networks. Having historically been open about the potential for agentic AI to integrate across platforms, yesterday’s announcement, which also unveiled upcoming support for CoPilot Studio and Foundry, set a new precedent in how committed Microsoft is to open agentic standards. “Open protocols like A2A and MCP are key to enabling the agentic web,” he said before announcing upcoming support in Copilot Studio and Foundry. While often agreeing with the concept of open standards for agentic AI integration, this is the first time he’s endorsed a standard publicly. Nadella’s influence on the industry will lead to a shift from proprietary ecosystems toward cross-platform, agentic AI collaboration. Nadella’s endorsement of A2A and MCP protocols shows how far the Microsoft senior management team has agreed that an open protocol approach is the best direction for the company. Endorsing both on the same day shows how far Microsoft is in its strategies related to agentic AI collaboration, integration and how diverse agentic AI architectures can be combined. Interested in enabling agentic AI providers to collaborate in creating new agentic apps, systems and platforms, Microsoft’s enforcement of A2A and MCP will prove to be a noteworthy catalyst for agentic AI’s growth. Backing A2A and MCP open protocols ensures the core components of any agentic AI tech stack provided by Anthropic, Google or Microsoft will be compatible and capable of interoperability from the first product releases. That removes significant roadblocks for the hundreds of agentic AI startups and partners that rely on these companies for future growth.
U.S. Bank creates AI center of excellence reporting to Dominic Venturo, Chief Digital Officer, graduating the tech from innovation to a practice and business
Senior executive vice president and chief digital officer at U.S. Bank Dominic Venturo says that you have to think about what hasn’t happened yet, otherwise you’ll spend a mountain of money implementing new systems that won’t connect to technology to come. Now, there’s so much talk about artificial intelligence, especially GenAI, that it might seem bank innovation will hang entirely on AI going forward. GenAI holds center stage right now because it’s new, says Venturo. Also, the excitement level stays high because large language models and related tech made it possible to utilize forms of AI that have been available to banks for years, but that could only be accessed with the talents of data engineers and other specialists beforehand. “The sea change was the human interface, and the simplicity of use and not needing to know all those specialized things because you could use a finely tuned large language model and find use cases for it,” says Venturo. “So, it has the capability to scale pretty rapidly.” But GenAI won’t be the whole game. Venturo says banking will tap many other enabling technologies. Application programming interfaces (APIs), migration of more and more into the cloud, and modern processing architecture will all have a part. “There’s a ton of capabilities that don’t require AI within those spaces to be able to do it,” says Venturo. Not to take away from AI’s importance. Venturo recently decided to spin AI out of his bank’s Innovation Group. AI had been one of multiple leading-edge technologies based there, but Venturo saw that things had changed. The CoE is supported by the establishment of an enterprise data product office. The AI center is one of several areas in the bank that the data office will serve. It will also dovetail with digital experience development and digital marketing.
Affirm Card’s GMV rises 115% YoY to $807 million in third quarter with 2 million active cardholders; estimates a 10 percentage points hit to GMV growth in a recession scenario
Affirm saw significant growth in its fiscal third quarter, with gross merchandise value (GMV) and revenues both increasing 36% year over year to $8.6 billion and $783 million, respectively, though guidance suggests a slight deceleration in growth rates ahead. As for the Affirm Card, the $807 million in GMV was up 115% year over year, with 2 million active cardholders. All told, the company counts 21.9 million active consumers, up 23% from a year ago. Merchant tallies gathered 20% to 358,000. Charge-offs are trending toward 3.5%, which tracks to expectations, and loss rates of Pay in 4 loans are below 1%. CFO Rob O’Hare said, “We are seeing really healthy repayment rates come through. We do about a $100 million of GMV a day. We’re not seeing any signs of stress with the consumer in the repayment rates. We actually saw a slight uptick in prepayments. And so we take that as a positive credit signal.” Levchin said that 0% offers have a positive ripple effect. Guidance for the current quarter looks for $815 million to $845 million in top line, which implies $830 million at the midpoint, and which missed the Street’s consensus at about $840 million (revenue growth year over year as measured in the fiscal fourth quarter last year was 48%). Affirm expressed confidence in its ability to manage various macroeconomic environments, noting that in a stress scenario, they expect increased demand from shoppers seeking payment flexibility while being able to adjust approvals to maintain target credit results. “Strategically, we believe we have all the tools necessary to manage our business effectively in any macroeconomic environment. In a mild stress scenario [relatively few jobs lost], we would expect to see a gradual uptick in delinquencies; in a more severe one, perhaps a more rapid increase. But in any event, there would be an increase in demand for Affirm as “shoppers seek the optionality of more time to pay for their purchases, and merchants look for ways to make price increases more palatable to buyers.” The company’s models estimate that in a “recession scenario of a ~50% increase in credit stress, a reduction in approvals required to maintain our target credit results would ‘cost’ us about 10 percentage points of GMV growth.”
Rocket 1Q2025: Served 21% more origination clients; AI models reduced turn times by 14%, accurately identify the transfer tax payee reducing remediation costs by ~50%
Lower rates helped Detroit-based Rocket Companies, the parent of Rocket Mortgage, improve its originations in the first quarter of the year — a period also marked by the announcement of two major acquisitions in Redfin and Mr. Cooper. But the second quarter is expected to look different. While the macroeconomic landscape made mortgage production more challenging in April, the company will now shift its focus from closing deals to integration. Housing inventory improved, reaching four months of supply, and the 30-year fixed mortgage rate declined from 7% in January to 6.6% in March. That briefly improved affordability and sparked some refinance activity Varun Krishna, CEO and director of Rocket Companies, mentioned Redfin data showing that one in four Americans are cancelling plans for major purchases, including homes. In this context, Rocket originated $21.5 billion in mortgages in the first quarter, up from $20.2 billion in the same period last year but down from $27.8 billion in the fourth quarter of 2024. Net rate lock volume reached $26 billion, an increase of 17% year over year and 11% quarter over quarter. Chief financial officer Brian Brown told analysts the increase was “driven by growth in refinancing and continued momentum in home equity loan offering, which posted yet another record quarter.” Rocket’s direct-to-consumer channel remained the primary driver, generating $11.3 billion in volume during the period, compared to $9.2 billion from its third-party originator (TPO) channel. Adjusted earnings, which excludes non-cash expenses and one-time charges, totaled $80 million in Q1 2025, down slightly from $84 million in Q1 2024. Brown told analysts that Rocket remained focused on driving growth and profitability while balancing deliberate investments with disciplined expense management — particularly important in what is typically a seasonally low quarter. Krishna highlighted the company’s $1.3 billion in adjusted revenue. That was “at the high end of our guidance” for the quarter, compared to $1.1 billion a year earlier. Expenses rose to $1.2 billion in Q1 2025, up from $1 billion in the same period last year. Looking ahead, Rocket expects adjusted revenue of $1.175 billion to $1.325 billion in the second quarter, reflecting a difficult April in terms of margins and volume. But there is the potential for a rebound in May and June. The company is leveraging technology to better navigate mortgage market cycles. Brown noted that Rocket can support $150 billion in origination volume without adding a single dollar in fixed costs. Additionally, Krishna said the company served 21% more origination clients in March 2025 compared to March 2024. It reduced turn times by 14%, which he described as “AI in action.” Krishna said the company will now prioritize the integration of Redfin and Mr. Cooper, despite having $8.1 billion in liquidity, including $1.4 billion in cash, on the balance sheet. “These acquisitions are fundamentally about three things: strengthening our business model, fueling our platform with data and ecosystem.
Fifth Third’s Currency Processing Solutions (CPS) is a holistic approach to improving cash management processes for grocers, from point of sale to account reconciliation and reporting
The Federal Reserve Cash Office survey shows that 16% of U.S. payments are made with cash, the third most-used form after credit and debit cards. Cash continues to be a reliable payment method—especially among older generations. Still, a recent USA Today article said nearly 70% of Gen Zers use cash more than they did 12 months ago. In 2023, 18.4% of U.S. households—representing nearly 49 million people—were either unbanked or underbanked.3 There’s a growing push toward cashless payment systems, but this approach encountered backlash. For many of these households, eliminating cash as a payment option could mean losing a crucial means of feeding their families. Fifth Third is part of a group of industry leaders and experts called the Cash Payment Choice Coalition, focused on raising awareness of the importance of cash as a means of transacting business and informing and activating influencers to ensure the legal and regulatory environment remains “Cash” favorable. About 28% of consumers in the U.S. feel “safer” with cash as an option,4 and Fifth Third wants to be part of the solution in retaining this option for consumers. Robert Norman, SVP of Cash Logistics Strategy at Fifth Third Bank offers insight into why cash continues to play a crucial role at the supermarket checkout and describes how automation can improve the cash management process for grocers. “More than 90% of consumers intend to use cash either as a means of payment or store of value in the future. Cash transactions eliminate the risk of incurring fees associated with credit card usage, such as interest charges and late payment fees. Additionally, financial uncertainty, such as geopolitical instability and changes in trade policies, can lead consumers to prefer cash as a more secure and immediate form of payment. Fifth Third’s Currency Processing Solutions® (CPS) is a holistic approach to improving cash management processes for grocers, from point of sale to account reconciliation and reporting. CPS automates the cash-handling process from the time you take a cash payment through the time the money is deposited and credited into your account. Our expert cash-handling team partners with grocers to tailor solutions that streamline store processes, reduce costs, and enhance safety. We help optimize labor, minimize shrinkage and improve working capital management. We deployed our solution at a top 10 U.S. retailer that offers groceries and general merchandise. Store managers were spending 6-8 hours daily on cash handling. Fifth Third’s solution eliminated that burden, allowing managers to focus on operations. With our cash experts, the client optimized their cash process and achieved real ROI. Key benefits include:
- Save Managers’ Time: Automate cash counting and reconciliation.
- Enhance Safety: Secure funds and reduce shrinkage.
- Minimize Errors: Eliminate manual cash errors requiring recounts.
- Eliminate Bank Trips: Get cash credited directly to your account.
- Reduce Dependency on Armored Events: Manage courier relationships and reduce reliance on armored services.
- Consolidate Banking: Fewer financial institution relationships are needed across store locations.
Santander plans to grow Openbank, the digital deposit-gathering platform into a fully transactional online bank in the U.S.; Verizon deal provides the bank with a new pipeline of deposits
While other European banks have largely retreated from the ultra-competitive U.S. retail market, Santander appears to be firmly staying put. Twenty years after entering the U.S., the company is doubling down on its commitment to invest in and expand its stateside operations. Much of its growth plan is pinned on Openbank, the digital deposit-gathering platform it rolled out in the U.S. in conjunction with a company-wide focus on being a “digital bank with branches.” Openbank, which has been available in parts of Europe for years, offers Santander a way to attract low-cost deposits nationwide to help fund the bank’s sizable auto loan book. Overseeing the evolution of Openbank into a fully transactional online bank is the top priority for Christiana Riley, who took over as CEO of Santander’s U.S. operations. Riley is also charged with unifying Santander’s previously disconnected U.S. business units to increase the company’s revenue and profitability. The years that her predecessors spent laying the groundwork mean that Santander can now grow quickly, Riley told. Early results are promising. Openbank, whose high-yield savings account attracts customers with a premium interest rate, has reeled in nearly $4 billion of deposits since its launch in late October, Riley said. That’s “well in excess” of what management had expected, she noted. The pace at which Santander grows may depend on how the U.S. economy fares in the coming months. If the Trump administration imposes global tariffs as planned, and a trade war ensues, the economy could fall into a recession, some economists have warned. Any headwinds the Spanish company faces “will be related to the U.S. economy,” said Arnaud Journois, an analyst at Morningstar DBRS who covers European banks. In addition, it will take time to see if Santander’s deposit-gathering strategy leads to cheaper funding for its auto loans, he said. “I think they need a track record to see how it will unfold,” Journois said. The company has taken a different pathway from its overseas peers, Journois said. At the company’s 2023 investor day, executives laid out plans for higher growth and profitability, largely by leveraging the firm’s global scale and business diversification. The U.S. market factored heavily into the overall strategy, with a focus on reducing funding.
Navy Federal offers Bloom+ credit builder as a checking account feature to report rent and utility payments, as tradelines to TransUnion
Members of Navy Federal Credit Union can now build their credit scores through rent and utility bills, thanks to the credit union’s work on consumer-permissioned data sharing. Navy Federal is offering its members the ability to report recurring payments to credit bureaus. This can enable consumers to qualify for credit from lenders that accept the information. The credit union partnered with Bloom Credit, a credit data infrastructure platform, to offer its consumer-permissioned data product Bloom+ to its 14 million members as a checking account feature in late March. Bloom+ gives financial institutions the ability to offer their customers an option for reporting existing payments from their checking accounts, such as rent and utility payments, as tradelines to TransUnion. Bloom Credit also works with Equifax and Experian for other products, but TransUnion is currently the only receiver of consumer-permissioned data shared through Bloom+. As consumers build their credit score using this cash flow data, they can qualify for better loans even if their traditional credit history isn’t strong. “Credit bureau data can often work to the detriment of consumers that have never held a loan of any kind before,” Justin Zeidman, vice president of strategy at Navy Federal, told “One of the great things [about] consumer-permissioned data sharing is it allows the credit bureaus to treat a rent payment very similarly to the way it would treat a mortgage payment from the perspective of credit history. 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 believes that consumer-permissioned data sharing and cash flow-based underwriting carry several benefits specifically for individuals serving in the military, Navy Federal’s primary member base. “Enlisted members often join the military quite young,” he said. “These are members that are sometimes 18 years old and receiving consistent paychecks with no credit history. “These members are often looking for housing as they move from location to location, and access to credit can become incredibly important to ensure costs and driving up fee income in corporate and investment banking as well as wealth management. “For San.tander, the U.S. has been better performing than [it has been for] competitors,” Journois said. As part of its initiative to expand its scale and attract more deposits, Santander recently announced a multiyear partnership with Verizon that allows eligible Verizon customers to open a high-yield savings account through Openbank. The deal provides the bank with a new pipeline of deposits and rewards Verizon customers with credits toward Verizon mobile and 5G home internet bills. Securing similar partnerships is something that Santander is “absolutely looking to do,” Riley said. The development of Openbank is a chief focus for Riley. As part of Openbank’s evolution, the digital platform is expected to offer checking accounts and certificates of deposits to customers by the end of the year, Riley said. The first Openbank-branded branch is scheduled to open later this month at Miami Worldcenter, a new retail and entertainment hub. Other sites may eventually follow in certain high-growth, high-density areas such as Southeast Florida, across the Sun Belt and into California, she said. Openbank, which requires a minimum deposit of $500 to open a savings account, is currently paying an interest rate of 4.4%. That’s down from the 5.25% rate paid in October. Riley said the company is set on maintaining a “top quartile rate position” in order to draw deposits. “That’s been a key feature … since launch and it’s one we stand fully behind,” she said, noting that Openbank deposits are “replacing vastly more expensive sources of funding” in the bank’s consumer lending business. “We’ve got, probably relative to many others who are operating in this high-yield savings space, a significantly better opportunity to manage that spread margin.”
Dianomic’s solution supports live digital twins and OT/IT convergence by abstracting enterprise-wide machines, sensors, and processes into a unified streaming analytics system and real-time operational data at scale
Dianomic, a leader in intelligent industrial data pipelines and edge AI/ML solutions, has launched FogLAMP Suite 3.0. The solutuion’s ‘Intelligent Industrial Data Pipelines’ abstracts machines, sensors, and processes into a unified real-time data and streaming analytics system for brownfield and greenfield alike. By seamlessly connecting and integrating the plant floor to the cloud and back with high quality normalized streaming data, FogLAMP 3.0 enables innovations like AI-driven applications, digital twins, lakehouse data management, unified namespace and OT/IT convergence. FogLAMP Suite 3.0 creates an intelligent data fabric, unifying and securing real-time operational data at scale with enterprise-grade management. This comprehensive data flow empowers both plant-level optimization and cloud-based insights. Its role-based access control, intuitive graphical interface, and flexible development tools—ranging from no-code to source code—empower both IT and OT teams to collaborate effectively or work independently with confidence. FogLAMP Suite 3.0 Key Features: Real-time Full Fidelity Streaming Analytics and Data Management – Where the physical world meets the digital; Enterprise Wide – Manage, integrate and monitor streaming data from diverse sources to clouds and back; Enable Live Digital Twins – Manage tags and namespaces, use semantic models, detect, predict and prescribe with machine AI/ML; Compatible with brownfield, greenfield, IIoT – Processes, equipment and sensors.
OpenAI’s enterprise adoption appears to be accelerating, at the expense of rivals – 32% of U.S. businesses are paying for subscriptions to OpenAI vs 8% and 0.1% subscribing to Anthropic’s products and Google AI respectively
OpenAI appears to be pulling well ahead of rivals in the race to capture enterprises’ AI spend, according to transaction data from fintech firm Ramp. According to Ramp’s AI Index, which estimates the business adoption rate of AI products by drawing on Ramp’s card and bill pay data, 32.4% of U.S. businesses were paying for subscriptions to OpenAI AI models, platforms, and tools as of April. That’s up from 18.9% in January and 28% in March. Competitors have struggled to make similar progress, Ramp’s data shows. Just 8% of businesses had subscriptions to Anthropic’s products as of last month compared to 4.6% in January. Google AI subscriptions saw a decline from 2.3% in February to 0.1% in April, meanwhile. “OpenAI continues to add customers faster than any other business on Ramp’s platform,” wrote Ramp Economist Ara Kharzian. “Our Ramp AI Index shows business adoption of OpenAI growing faster than competitor model companies.” To be clear, Ramp’s AI Index isn’t a perfect measure. It only looks at a sample of corporate spend data from around 30,000 companies. Moreover, because the index identifies AI products and services using merchant name and line-item details, it likely misses spend lumped into other cost centers. Still, the figures suggest that OpenAI is strengthening its grip on the large and growing enterprise market for AI. OpenAI is projecting $12.7 billion in revenue this year and $29.4 billion in 2026.
Talent development, right data infrastructure, industry-specific strategic bets, responsible AI governance and agentic architecture are key for scaling enterprise AI initiatives
A new study from Accenture provides a data-driven analysis of how leading companies are successfully implementing AI across their enterprises and reveals a significant gap between AI aspirations and execution. Here are five key takeaways for enterprise IT leaders from Accenture’s research.
Talent maturity outweighs investment as the key scaling factor. Accenture’s research reveals that talent development is actually the most critical differentiator for successful AI implementation. “We found the top achievement factor wasn’t investment but rather talent maturity,” Senthil Ramani, data and AI lead at Accenture, told. The report shows front-runners differentiate themselves through people-centered strategies. They focus four times more on cultural adaptation than other companies, emphasize talent alignment three times more and implement structured training programs at twice the rate of competitors. IT leader action item: Develop a comprehensive talent strategy that addresses both technical skills and cultural adaptation. Establish a centralized AI center of excellence – the report shows 57% of front-runners use this model compared to just 16% of fast-followers.
Data infrastructure makes or breaks AI scaling efforts. “The biggest challenge for most companies trying to scale AI is the development of the right data infrastructure,” Ramani said. “97% of front-runners have developed three or more new data and AI capabilities for gen AI, compared to just 5% of companies that are experimenting with AI.” These essential capabilities include advanced data management techniques like retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) (used by 17% of front-runners vs. 1% of fast-followers) and knowledge graphs (26% vs. 3%), as well as diverse data utilization across zero-party, second-party, third-party and synthetic sources. IT leader action item: Conduct a comprehensive data readiness assessment explicitly focused on AI implementation requirements. Prioritize building capabilities to handle unstructured data alongside structured data and develop a strategy for integrating tacit organizational knowledge.
Strategic bets deliver superior returns to broad implementation. While many organizations attempt to implement AI across multiple functions simultaneously, Accenture’s research shows that focused strategic bets yield significantly better results. “In the report, we referred to ‘strategic bets,’ or significant, long-term investments in gen AI focusing on the core of a company’s value chain and offering a very large payoff. This strategic focus is essential for maximizing the potential of AI and ensuring that investments deliver sustained business value.” This focused approach pays dividends. Companies that have scaled at least one strategic bet are nearly three times more likely to have their ROI from gen AI surpass forecasts compared to those that haven’t. IT leader action item: Identify 3-4 industry-specific strategic AI investments that directly impact your core value chain rather than pursuing broad implementation.
Responsible AI creates value beyond risk mitigation. Most organizations view responsible AI primarily as a compliance exercise, but Accenture’s research reveals that mature responsible AI practices directly contribute to business performance. “ROI can be measured in terms of short-term efficiencies, such as improvements in workflows, but it really should be measured against longer-term business transformation.” The report emphasizes that responsible AI includes not just risk mitigation but also strengthens customer trust, improves product quality and bolsters talent acquisition – directly contributing to financial performance. IT leader action item: Develop comprehensive responsible AI governance that goes beyond compliance checkboxes. Implement proactive monitoring systems that continually assess AI risks and impacts. Consider building responsible AI principles directly into your development processes rather than applying them retroactively.
Read Article