Plaid now enables instant pay-ins as well as instant payouts via its flexible multi-rail payment platform, Plaid Transfer. The financial data network has added support for real-time pay-ins via Request for Payment (RfP) on the RTP® Network to Instant Payments on Plaid Transfer. RfP enables businesses to request a payment from a customer in real time, according to the release. Powered in collaboration with Cross River, Plaid’s RfP offers instant confirmation and final settlement; seamless bank authorization via Plaid Link; built-in account verification, balance checks and bank eligibility; and a single integration to intelligently route payments across available rails, according to the release. “For merchants, instant bank payments mean getting paid faster, reducing payment failures and eliminating the operational drag of reconciling delayed or returned ACH transactions, while also delivering a better customer experience,” the release said. “It’s a win-win for both sides of the transaction.” One of the first adopters of Plaid’s RfP capabilities is online car retailer Carvana, which is using it to streamline vehicle purchases, according to the release. “With real-time payments through Plaid and Cross River, we’re removing one more layer of friction, helping customers move through the process even faster and, in some cases, even schedule same-day delivery,” Matt Dundas, vice president of finance at Carvana, said in the release. RfP enables faster, more secure and cost-effective bill payments, according to the PYMNTS Intelligence and The Clearing House collaboration, “The Real-Time Payments World Map.” The report found that RfP offers consumers added transparency and convenience, while providing billers with accelerated cash flow and payment validation without exposing sensitive bank data. When Plaid added instant payouts to Plaid Transfer in April 2023, the company said it was doing so to meet consumers’ demands for faster payments. “At Plaid, we believe that you should be able to access your money when and where you need it,” the company said at the time in a press release. “More importantly, the experience should not come at a steep cost. That is why we built Instant Payouts — a real-time, multi-rail payout solution to send funds instantly, 24/7.”
Walmart to launch credit cards embedded inside the OnePay app, powered by Mastercard and issued by Synchrony
The credit card programme is expected to launch this fall, with the experience embedded inside the OnePay app and powered by Mastercard’s global payments network. The card, issued by Synchrony, will be made available to millions of Walmart customers and to consumers across the US. OnePay currently serves millions of customers nationwide and offers a suite of banking, credit, and payments products — including cashback debit, high-yield savings, installment loans, a digital wallet, and domestic and international peer-to-peer payments. In partnering with Synchrony and Mastercard, OnePay will add credit cards to its growing portfolio, offering both a general-purpose card and a private label card, which will be exclusively for Walmart purchases. John David Rainey, EVP and chief financial officer, Walmart, says: “Today’s announcement represents one more way we’re serving our customers the way they want to be served, providing an upgraded digital financial services experience with even greater choice and value.” As part of the program, OnePay and Synchrony will introduce both a general-purpose card, which will serve as the program’s signature card and be available to use anywhere Mastercard is accepted, and a private label card, which will be exclusively for Walmart purchases. The credit card functionality will be embedded inside the OnePay app, offering millions of Walmart’s U.S. customers a sleek, intuitive digital experience and the ability to access OnePay’s suite of financial services products. “Our goal with this credit card program is to deliver an experience for consumers that’s transparent, rewarding, and easy to use,” said Omer Ismail, Chief Executive Officer, OnePay. “We’re excited to be partnering with Synchrony to launch a program at Walmart that checks each of those boxes and will help serve millions of people.” Synchrony will leverage its deep lending expertise and innovative digital capabilities to deliver financial flexibility through a seamless experience. Following the initial launch and reserve costs, the program is expected to drive loyalty and sales at attractive risk-adjusted returns and be accretive to the company’s long-term financial performance.
Walmart to launch credit cards embedded inside the OnePay app, powered by Mastercard and issued by Synchrony
The credit card programme is expected to launch this fall, with the experience embedded inside the OnePay app and powered by Mastercard’s global payments network. The card, issued by Synchrony, will be made available to millions of Walmart customers and to consumers across the US. OnePay currently serves millions of customers nationwide and offers a suite of banking, credit, and payments products — including cashback debit, high-yield savings, installment loans, a digital wallet, and domestic and international peer-to-peer payments. In partnering with Synchrony and Mastercard, OnePay will add credit cards to its growing portfolio, offering both a general-purpose card and a private label card, which will be exclusively for Walmart purchases. John David Rainey, EVP and chief financial officer, Walmart, says: “Today’s announcement represents one more way we’re serving our customers the way they want to be served, providing an upgraded digital financial services experience with even greater choice and value.” As part of the program, OnePay and Synchrony will introduce both a general-purpose card, which will serve as the program’s signature card and be available to use anywhere Mastercard is accepted, and a private label card, which will be exclusively for Walmart purchases. The credit card functionality will be embedded inside the OnePay app, offering millions of Walmart’s U.S. customers a sleek, intuitive digital experience and the ability to access OnePay’s suite of financial services products. “Our goal with this credit card program is to deliver an experience for consumers that’s transparent, rewarding, and easy to use,” said Omer Ismail, Chief Executive Officer, OnePay. “We’re excited to be partnering with Synchrony to launch a program at Walmart that checks each of those boxes and will help serve millions of people.” Synchrony will leverage its deep lending expertise and innovative digital capabilities to deliver financial flexibility through a seamless experience. Following the initial launch and reserve costs, the program is expected to drive loyalty and sales at attractive risk-adjusted returns and be accretive to the company’s long-term financial performance.
Fifth Third expects substantial improvements in next six months for its customers’ Zelle experience and in SmartShield in-app security tool that “gamifies” digital safety
Fifth Third’s chief strategy officer and head of consumer products, Ben Hoffman has no doubt Fifth Third Bank’s peers and competitors are mulling some of the same mobile app features and enhancements as the lender. “There is more convergence in bank strategy than there is in bank execution,” said Hoffman. “It’s really about your ability to execute” at a sustained pace, he said. For Fifth Third, that means leaning on dedicated staff, operating rhythms and experience, and systems set up to support success, he said. The bank’s app offers services like direct deposit switching and card controls, and features tools like SmartShield, its in-app security tool that “gamifies” digital safety. The lender continues to work on enhancements to the app, which about 2.4 million bank customers use to handle everyday banking tasks. In Hoffman’s eyes, the bank’s approach stands out in part because of its focus on quality over quantity. “We focus on quality where it matters, with the core theory being that, for the most part, our customers want banking to fade into the background,” he said. Rather than stuffing apps with features or equipping chatbots with an ever-growing roster of skills, “it needs to just work to support real lives.” When Fifth Third releases a new feature in the mobile app, automated monitoring is set up to ensure the process works well; if there are defects, point people are contacted and troubleshooting begins. Product managers join release calls, no matter the hour, he noted. It’s an “intentionally unsexy” approach, he said. The bank’s technology and communications spending has ticked up in recent years, from $416 million in 2022, to $474 million in 2024, with increased investments in technology modernization being one of the drivers.
Goldman Sachs’s co-head of private wealth wealth boss says private wealth clients are “very interested” in private credit and in the pre-IPO market
Goldman Sachs’s co-head of private wealth Robert Mullane who co-leads the unit with Chris French said Goldman has been upping its wealthy clients’ exposure to private markets. In January, it set up a capital solutions group to grow its private credit business, while expanding the alternatives investment team in its asset and wealth management division. Mullane says Goldman’s private wealth clients are “very interested” in private credit. They can access this through evergreen, semi-liquid funds Goldman has available via its asset management business and partnering with external managers. Clients are also interested in the pre-IPO market, Mullane adds, even though this has been a “very tough place to be” over the past few years. Goldman has given its ultra rich clients exclusive access to buzzy startups, such as $90bn payments and billing firm Stripe and British banking unicorn Revolut. “It’s still early in determining whether the IPO market will come back to the levels that it has done historically. But certainly we think there are great businesses to own both on the private side and on the public side,” he says.
PayPal app enables search for and booking of hotels partnering with hotel payment provider Selfbook offering BNPL and linkages to Perplexity’s AI chat
PayPal is partnering with hotel payment provider Selfbook to let users search for and book hotels within the PayPal app. The company said that it will let users pay through PayPal at checkout and offer exclusive discounts to users within the app. Users can also use PayPal Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) for select hotels that have enabled the feature. People using the PayPal app will be able to go to the Offers section and search for hotels with filters like travel dates and number of guests. Users will see hotels that use Selfbook’s payment suite on these apps, but it is not clear if Selfbook is making its entire catalog available to PayPal users.
For PayPal, this is a move to upsell another offering to users within the app. The company said that with its payment products, it has observed an 84% uptick among people who pay online for travel.
PayPal also said that Selfbook will also soon integrate the payment checkout products within its workflow outside the app. What’s more, Selfbook will use PayPal’s enterprise payment suite to power credit card payments for its hotels. Selfbook is also using PayPal as a payments partner within Perplexity, which unveiled a feature that lets users discover and book hotels within the chat in March.
“Paying for a hotel has traditionally been the most fragmented part of travel—search one place, book another, pay somewhere else,” Khalid Meniri, Selfbook’s co-founder and CEO, told TechCrunch over email. “With PayPal, we’re collapsing all of that into a single flow embedded directly into AI-powered experiences like Perplexity. It’s not just more convenient for travelers, it gives hotels a direct line to their guests, better margins through no commission, and more control over their brand,” Meniri said.
Democrat bill pushes back on Corporate Transparency Act beneficial ownership rollback; would require the Treasury and the SBA to outreach, education and fraud prevention tools in multiple languages to assist reporting companies
Democrats on the House and Senate banking committees introduced legislation that would more forcefully implement the Corporate Transparency Act after the Treasury said in March that it would not enforce the law’s ownership disclosure requirement. “The Corporate Transparency Act is still the law, and the Trump administration is wrong to stop enforcing it,” said Rep. Nydia Velázquez, D-N.Y., the bill’s author. “Turning a blind eye to anonymous shell companies leaves us vulnerable to fraud, corruption, and abuse. These shell companies don’t just enable white-collar crime — they hurt honest small businesses by rigging the system and exploiting programs meant for real entrepreneurs. This bill is about holding bad actors accountable while making sure small business owners have the information and support they need to follow the law.” The proposal, which is also cosponsored by the House financial services committee’s ranking member Maxine Waters, D-Calif., would reinforce the CTA’s reporting requirements in a number of procedural moves. Within 90 days of the act’s enactment, the heads of the Treasury and the Small Business Administration would be required to enter into a memorandum of understanding to create a plan to provide outreach, education and fraud prevention tools in multiple languages to assist reporting companies. The agencies would also be required to submit status reports to the lawmakers’ respective committees. The Treasury said that it plans to narrow the scope of the regulations to apply only to foreign entities operating in the U.S.
Starbucks is leveraging location-based marketing technology from Radar to send promotions of specific drink discounts or other deals via push-based text notifications to customers when they are near one of its stores.
Starbucks Coffee Company is personalizing mobile promotions to customers as they approach stores. The coffee giant is leveraging location-based marketing technology from Radar to send promotions of specific drink discounts or other deals via push-based text notifications to customers when they are near one of its stores. Typically, the discount is personalized to match the customer’s favorite drink based on their purchase history. Location-based marketing is core to the Starbucks mobile marketing strategy, and has helped the company maintain one of the most engaged customer bases in the quick-service restaurant vertical and second place in the 2025 Brand Finance annual report of the world’s 25 most valuable restaurant brands. The Starbucks app is the industry leader in active usage, with 48% of US restaurant app users surveyed by The Manifest saying the Starbucks’ app is the one they most regularly use. In addition, 34.3 million of the retailer’s U.S. reward members made up nearly 60% of their U.S. sales as of the first quarter of 2024. Other app features include the ability to place orders for DoorDash delivery from local Starbucks stores within the Starbucks app in the U.S. and most of Canada.
Atudy finds gen AI tools can enhance employees’ creativity but only if they are active thinkers who analyze their tasks, monitor their thought processes, and adjust their approaches
A study by Tulane University researchers has found that generative AI tools like ChatGPT can enhance employees’ creativity if they can think critically about their work and use the tools effectively. The study, published in the Journal of Applied Psychology, is one of the first field experiments to investigate the impact of large language models (LLMs) on creativity in real-world work settings. The researchers randomly assigned 250 employees to use ChatGPT or not during a regular workweek. The study found that employees who benefited most from AI use were active thinkers who actively analyzed their tasks, monitored their thought processes, and adjusted their approaches. The researchers suggest that companies investing in AI to drive innovation need to help employees develop better thinking habits, including how to assess problems, adjust strategies, and utilize new resources. The study also suggests that short training programs can help workers become more intentional in planning, monitoring, and adapting their work, making them more effective at using AI tools creatively. The study’s implications extend beyond the workplace, urging educators and policymakers to treat metacognitive skill development as a core priority in preparing students and workers for the age of AI.
Deobanks combine decentralization and blockchain to enable users to manage money without a bank account through a non-custodial service that offers full user control and access to private cryptographic keys using digital wallet app
Deobanks are a special and perhaps superior new type of financial service that has been built for flexibility, access, and user control. They aim to harness the power of decentralization and blockchain technology while overcoming the issues of other crypto apps, making financial independence more user-friendly and accessible. One deobank that stands out, and which is building this new direction for non-custodial solutions, is WeFi, which will hand over your private cryptographic keys, if you want them. You’ll be given the choice of full control and the ability to manage money without a bank account, or you can opt for the standard custodial service. With WeFi, your funds will always be accessible (no freezes), and you will control everything through a clean and intuitive digital wallet app. In the background, smart contracts will automate financial processes to reduce human error. WeFi has found that deobanks provide tangible benefits, such as: Access for the unbanked; Enhanced global financial management for digital nomads; Increased transparency and control for everyday users. WeFi will offer significant benefits for your financial future: Blockchain security, Reduced environmental impact, Simplified onboarding, Wealth-generation tools, WFI token rewards.