Every day, thousands of CFOs and treasurers use QR code technology to sign-in to CashPro, Bank of America’s digital banking platform accessed by more than 40,000 corporate and commercial clients around the world to manage their treasury, trade and credit operations and perform self-service requests. The identity and authentication technology, introduced in 2022, recently surpassed two million uses and saw 60% growth in adoption over the last year[1]. “Nearly every business client uses CashPro as the front door through which they view and take action on their Bank of America accounts,” explained Jennifer Sanctis, head of CashPro App and Personalized Technologies in Global Payments Solutions at Bank of America. “QR Sign-In makes that entry point even more secure and further enhances the client experience.” The QR sign-in experience improves two key pain points associated with traditional login processes: There’s no need to remember the CashPro password. Instead, clients use their mobile phone to scan the QR code that appears on the computer screen and sign in using biometrics. There’s no need to carry a physical token. Instead, users can use the CashPro App to access the mobile token, which is integrated into the sign in flow for clients with multi-factor authentication. The popularity of this technology is highest among clients in Europe who access it more than twice as frequently as clients in other regions. Karen Davis, head of treasury and trade finance for oil & gas at Glencore, is a member of the bank’s UK CashPro Board, a group of clients who provide direct input on the platform’s functionality and future build out. Davis is a proponent and frequent user of QR sign-in. “QR sign-in makes it simple to get into CashPro. I use the mobile token security that’s built into the process too, so I don’t need to worry about carrying around a physical token. It’s so quick and convenient. I don’t know why people wouldn’t use it,” Davis said. Bank of America regularly enhances the CashPro platform through innovative new features and functionality that improve business outcomes for clients. Most recently, the bank launched Push Authentication that further simplifies the mobile token experience.
JPMorgan Chase to start offering clients access to Bitcoin ETFs to deepen its involvement in crypto markets under the current pro-crypto regulatory landscape
JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon said clients of the bank can now buy bitcoin, but he reiterated his long-held skepticism about cryptocurrencies. The decision marks a notable step for the largest U.S. bank, particularly due to Dimon’s history of criticizing the digital currency and the crypto market broadly, and is the latest sign of bitcoin’s entry into mainstream investing. Dimon made it clear that his personal view of bitcoin remains unchanged, highlighting issues such as money laundering and the lack of clarity surrounding ownership. The bank is looking at offering clients access to bitcoin ETFs, according to a person briefed on its plans. Until now, the company has limited its crypto exposure primarily to futures-based products, not direct ownership of bitcoin. Earlier, he had said that the investment bank is exploring ways to deepen its involvement in cryptocurrency markets, navigating the regulatory landscape under the pro-crypto administration of President Donald Trump.
FS-ISAC report asks financial firms to begin migrating most vulnerable assets to crypto agile encryption algorithms to be able to adapt quickly to the quantum age
The annual threat report from the Financial Services Information Sharing and Analysis Center, or FS-ISAC, identifies key risks driven by geopolitical shifts, emerging technologies and changing criminal tactics. “The report’s findings underscore the complexity and unpredictability of today’s threat landscape,” said Steve Silberstein, CEO of the FS-ISAC said. The report found that stability and continuity of the global financial system remain under constant threat from lone hackers, organized criminal gangs and nation-state actors. However, the overall threat level globally, including for the Americas specifically, is at the lowest of the four levels FS-ISAC has in its Cyber Threat Level, or CTL. The CTL for each region is an industry barometer of cyber risk set by regional Threat Intelligence Committees, or TICs, made up of experts from FS-ISAC member firms. “The relative stability of the CTLs reflects the sector’s ability to manage the changing threat landscape,” the FS-ISAC report reads. “The overall ratings in each region were more stable than they have been in years past,” the report notes. Regardless, TICs have raised concerns about specific elements of the threat environment, which the consortium highlighted in the annual report.For a period of roughly two weeks in May 2024, the cyber threat level in the Americas region increased one level due to ongoing activity by Scattered Spider, the threat actor that compromised MGM Resorts and Caesars Entertainment in 2023. The report called the threat actor “credible” and “sophisticated,” adding it is believed to be based in the U.S., U.K. and Canada. FS-ISAC members voted to return the threat level from “elevated” back to “guarded” later in the month. Supply chain risk continues to be a primary worry for the financial sector worldwide, according to FS-ISAC. The industry’s significant reliance on third-party vendors increases exposure to disruptions that can have widespread impact. Recent incidents involving software vulnerabilities in common tools like XZ Utils — an open-source data compression software package widely used in almost all Linux distributions — and Managed File Transfer, or MFT, products such as Cleo and MoveIt highlight this risk. Fraud is surging across multiple sectors, targeting firms, customers and employees, according to the FS-ISAC report. “Real-time payments infrastructure, cryptocurrencies, and decentralized finance mechanisms make it virtually impossible to retrieve stolen funds,”
Fed’s study confirms widespread use and acceptance of ACH; 60% of businesses used standard ACH in 2024, up from 48% a year earlier vs 56% using Same Day ACH, an increase from 45% in 2023
The number of businesses using both standard and Same Day ACH grew significantly from 2023 to 2024, a new Federal Reserve report found. 60% said they use standard ACH, up from 48% a year earlier. And 56% reported using Same Day ACH, an increase from 45% in 2023. Additionally, 47% of businesses said they encourage using ACH. One study respondent, identified as a “very large diversified service business,” told researchers, “We are using Same Day ACH more—it’s a good value for the price.” Still, even as both forms of ACH continue to gain usage, checks use in fact rose from 68% to 73%. It was highest among small (83%) and very small (78%) firms. “One key takeaway is that checks are unlikely to be disappear completely in the near future—a trend to monitor,” researchers noted. “Nacha’s own figures show that ACH volume is rising,” said Michael Herd, Nacha Executive Vice President, ACH Network Administration. “Given this widespread use and acceptance of ACH, plus the increasing amount of check fraud, the industry needs to focus on why businesses of any size are still writing and receiving checks.” When it comes to pain points for business payments, high costs/fees was the top issue cited at 48%. Speed was tied for a distant second with security issues, cited by 32%.
Loans to nonbank entities like buyout firms and private credit outfits topped $1 Trillion, up 20% from last year raising systemic risk
Lending to nonbank entities like buyout firms and private credit outfits has topped $1 trillion. This trend is happening amid concern by regulators that the connections between banks and their nonbank counterparts could present a systemic risk. The report, citing data from Fitch Ratings, said loans from banks to nonbank financial institutions (NBFIs) totaled roughly $1.2 trillion at the end of March, up 20% from last year and driven by lending to private credit firms. That data shows that, since the pandemic’s start, bank loans to NBFIs have gone from approximately $600 million at the end of 2019 to over $1 trillion when this year began, as businesses increasingly seek private credit funding. However, borrowers who look to private credit and direct lenders for funding tend to be riskier and more levered. As some of these loans are made with funds borrowed from banks, there are concerns that bad credit could infect the wider financial system. Another report from Fitch saying that a downturn in the private credit sector is “unlikely to have widescale financial stability implications for the largest banks,” at least in the short term. Still, Fitch said it’s hard to fully assess the risks and that “second-order effects are more difficult to quantify.”
Capital One is among Top 10 for GenAI patent filings alongside Google, Microsoft, IBM and Nvidia
Google has overtaken IBM to become the leader in generative AI-related patents and also leads in the emerging area of agentic AI, according to data from IFI Claims shared first with Axios. Patent filings, though they’re not a direct proxy for innovation, indicate areas of keen research interest — and generative AI patent applications in the U.S. have risen by more than 50% in recent months. “The surge in applications for AI related patents is a sign companies are actively seeking protection for their AI technologies, leading to an increase in grants as well,” IFI Claims spokesperson Lily Iacurci said. In the patents-for-agents U.S. rankings, Google and Nvidia top the list, followed by IBM, Intel and Microsoft. Globally, Google and Nvidia also led the agentic patents list, but three Chinese universities also make the top 10, highlighting China’s place as the chief U.S. rival in the field. In global rankings for generative AI, Google was also the leader — but six of the top 10 global spots were held by Chinese companies or universities. Microsoft was No. 3, with Nvidia and IBM also in the top 10. IFI Claims identified only a single patent tied to China’s DeepSeek, one for a method of constructing training data. In U.S. rankings for generative AI, Google and Microsoft topped the list of U.S. patent applications, surpassing previous leader IBM. Also in the top 10 were Nvidia, Capital One, Samsung, Adobe, Intel and Qualcomm. Many of the same names cropped up in the list of overall AI-related U.S. patent applications, with Google in the top spot, followed by Microsoft, IBM, Samsung and Capital One. Globally, Google topped the list, followed by Huawei and Samsung. Neither Meta nor OpenAI ranked in the top 10, though OpenAI has stepped up its patent efforts over the past year, IFI’s analysis found. Overall, the number of U.S. patent applications related to generative AI surged 56% last year, to 51,487. Granted patents in the U.S. also rose 32%.
Agentic AI could change customer acquisition channels and prompt retailers to shift ad dollars from pay-per-click campaigns, consolidating search, selection and checkout into the same dialogue
“What consumers really want is for commerce to happen immediately,” Scott Hendrickson, chief revenue officer of the agentic AI merchant network firmly, said. Hendrickson and his co-founder Kumar Senthil argue that the evolution from search to suggestion to settlement is the next logical step in eCommerce. It’s agentic AI at its most promising. That subtle shift in search behavior is forcing merchants to rethink where, and how, they meet shoppers. If an AI agent can compress browsing, selection and checkout into the same dialogue, retailers that sit outside the conversation risk ceding both visibility and sales. For Hendrickson, the technical plumbing enables a strategic shift in how merchants think about customer acquisition. “Right now, the search experience is you search for a product and then you immediately leave,” he told. “With the new LLMs you might start your research, refine what you’re looking for, and make the purchase in the same place. You don’t have to leave the site to complete that full funnel anymore, and that’s what’s ultimately going to drive better performance.” Consolidating the funnel could also upend traditional advertising economics. If the agent closes a sale within the first interaction, retailers may decide to shift dollars from pay-per-click campaigns toward deeper catalog and logistics integrations. Conversely, platforms that mediate the sale, such as chatbots, voice assistants or augmented-reality overlays, gain new leverage to capture a slice of the transaction rather than bill for impressions. That model works only if the agent can reliably see a broad, up-to-date range of products. Lifestyle labels in particular worry that ceding the front-end experience to an agentic AI could erode brand storytelling. Hendrickson counters that many customers now encounter products through a third-party channel anyway from an influencer’s livestream, a buy button inside Instagram, or a same-day-delivery marketplace. “We’re not eliminating brand,” he said. “We’re shortening the distance between intent and conversion.”
Nvidia’s blueprint for AI factory digital twins allows developers to design, simulate and optimize entire AI factories in physically accurate virtual environments by aggregating detailed 3D and simulation data representing all aspects of the data center
Nvidia announced a significant expansion of the Nvidia Omniverse Blueprint for AI factory digital twins, now available as a preview. The expanded blueprint will equip engineering teams to design, simulate and optimize entire AI factories in physically accurate virtual environments, enabling early issue detection and the development of smarter, more reliable facilities. Built on reference architectures for Nvidia GB200 NVL72-powered AI factories, the blueprint taps into Universal Scene Description (OpenUSD) asset libraries. This allows developers to aggregate detailed 3D and simulation data representing all aspects of the data center into a single, unified model, enabling them to design and simulate advanced AI infrastructure optimized for efficiency, throughput and resiliency. Siemens is building 3D models according to the blueprint and engaging with the simulation-ready, or SimReady, standardization effort, while Delta Electronics is adding models of its equipment. Because these are built with OpenUSD, users get accurate simulations of their facility equipment. Jacobs is helping test and optimize the end-to-end blueprint workflow. Connections to the Cadence Reality Digital Twin Platform and ETAP provide thermal and power simulation, enabling engineering teams to test and optimize power, cooling and networking long before construction begins. These contributions help Nvidia and its partners reshape how AI infrastructure is built to achieve smarter designs, avoid downtime and get the most out of AI factories. The OpenUSD-based models within the blueprint are inherently SimReady, designed from the ground up to be physics-based. This is especially valuable for developing and testing physical AI and agentic AI within these AI factories, enabling rapid and large-scale industrial AI simulations of power and cooling systems, building automation and overall IT operations. A key enhancement to this blueprint is the SimReady standardization workflow.
Google is transforming the Gemini app into a universal AI assistant that can make plans and imagine new experiences by understanding and simulating aspects of the world, and take action on your behalf across any device
Google has been working on building the foundations for the modern AI era, from pioneering the Transformer architecture to developing agent systems that can learn and plan. They are now working to extend their best multimodal foundation model, Gemini 2.5 Pro, to become a “world model” that can make plans and imagine new experiences by understanding and simulating aspects of the world, just as the brain does. This is a critical step in developing a universal AI assistant that is intelligent, understands the context you are in, and can plan and take action on your behalf across any device. The ultimate vision is to transform the Gemini app into a universal AI assistant that will perform everyday tasks, take care of mundane admin, and surface delightful new recommendations, making us more productive and enriching our lives. This includes capabilities like video understanding, screen sharing, and memory. Over the past year, they have integrated these capabilities into Gemini Live, and are gathering feedback from trusted testers to bring them to Gemini Live, new experiences in Search, the Live API for developers, and new form factors like glasses. Safety and responsibility are central to their work, and they recently conducted a large research project exploring the ethical issues surrounding advanced AI assistants. Project Mariner, a research prototype that explores the future of human-agent interaction, includes a system of agents that can complete up to ten different tasks at a time. It is available to Google AI Ultra subscribers in the U.S. and will be brought into the Gemini API and Google products throughout the year.
Catena Labs aims to be the first fully regulated AI-native financial institution enabling AI agents to transact with regulated stablecoins offering near-instant settlement, minimal transaction costs, and easy integration with AI workflows
Catena Labs announced its plan to establish the first fully regulated AI-native financial institution (FI) designed to serve the unique needs of the emerging AI economy. The company released a new open-source project defining protocols and patterns for agentic commerce. The company also confirmed an $18 million financing round led by a16z crypto, with participation from Breyer Capital, Circle Ventures, Coinbase Ventures and others. The company aims to address the shortcomings in legacy financial systems that make them poorly suited to the needs of AI agents and agentic commerce. “AI agents will soon conduct most economic transactions, but today’s financial systems are unprepared and resistant to interactions with automated intelligence,” said Sean Neville, CEO and co-founder of Catena Labs. “That’s why we’re building an AI-native financial institution that will give AI agents, and the businesses and consumers they serve, the ability to transact safely and efficiently.” The company is building upon protocols, patterns, emerging standards, and open source components to address new requirements AI agents create for identity and payments. Today, the company released the open source Agent Commerce Kit (ACK), which defines several of these open source building blocks. The company is building on ACK and other emerging standards to offer a broad suite of licensed financial services addressing new risk, security, and compliance challenges that arise from AI systems working as independent economic actors.