Google is releasing Stitch, a new experiment from Google Labs, to compete with Microsoft, AWS, and other existing end-to-end coding tools. Now in beta, the platform designs user interfaces (UIs) with one prompt. With Google Stitch, users can designate whether they want to build a dashboard or web or mobile app and describe what it should look like (such as color palettes or the user experience they’re going for). The platform instantly generates HTML, CSS+ and templates with editable components that devs and non-devs can customize and edit (such as instructing Stitch to add a search function to the home screen). They can then add directly to apps or export to Figma. Users can choose a ‘standard mode’ that runs on Gemini 2.5 Flash or switch to an ‘experimental mode’ that uses Gemini Pro and allows users to upload visual elements such as screenshots, wireframes and sketches to guide what the platform generates. Google also plans to release a feature allowing users to annotate screenshots to make changes. Stitch is “meant for quick first drafts, wireframes and MVP-ready frontends.”
Following the removal of some consent orders Wells Fargo is preparing to grow its retail deposits business focused on primary checking account growth
Wells Fargo CEO Charlie Scharf expressed confidence that the bank is inching closer to the point it will be freed from the $1.95 trillion asset cap it’s operated under for seven years. There’s been plenty of speculation that 2025 will be the year Wells is freed from the growth restriction. Analyst Ken Usdin noted the bank is “closer and closer to emerging from what’s been a very inward-focused period of time for the company,” as it’s overhauled risk management and internal controls to satisfy its various regulatory orders. Wells is spending about $2 billion annually on its risk and control agenda, and has simplified its business, exiting some areas with lower returns or lackluster growth rates. The bank has also brought in a number of fresh faces – 150 of the bank’s top 220 people are new – establishing the “proper risk mindset” at the company, Scharf said. Lifting the asset cap and the ultimate consent order are two different decision points for the Fed, and Scharf said he couldn’t speak for the central bank’s timing. He noted, though, that most of the work completed for other now-closed consent orders is “foundational” to those that remain. With the removal of that limitation on the horizon, the bank is preparing to pounce on growth in its retail deposits business. Given the fake-accounts scandal, sales practices were “front and center” among the bank’s issues, Scharf said, so the bank had to “literally scale back almost everything that we were doing to drive growth in the retail system, and then rebuild it from the bottom up.” During a multiyear period, the bank “didn’t have branch [profits and losses], we didn’t have sales reporting, we weren’t focused on expanding the product set, improving the digital capabilities, because we were so focused on creating the right infrastructure to satisfy the regulators – appropriately so – so that they and we could be comfortable, when we turn these things back on, that we could grow properly,” he said. The closure of the sales practices consent order “was a hugely important point,” revealing regulators’ comfort level, allowing Wells to re-create an environment where the bank can focus on doing more for customers, he said. Wells is particularly focused on primary checking account growth, Scharf said. To do that, the bank has changed compensation plans and introduced reporting; simplified its product set and segmented it to serve more and less affluent customers; is spending “significantly more” on marketing; and is focused on improving its branch experience while bolstering digital capabilities, he said. Each of the bank’s segments – consumer and small-business banking, consumer lending, wealth management, commercial banking and corporate and investment banking – “should be growing faster than they’re growing today and have higher returns,” Scharf said. When the asset cap is eventually lifted, “there’s no light switch” related to the bank’s growth trajectory, he said. But “it does lift a cloud that exists around Wells,” as the cap has limited the bank, both tangibly and in mindset. The bank has been constrained in its ability to take commercial deposits, for example, and its corporate and investment bank growth has been limited.
J.P. Morgan’s Trends in Healthcare Payments report highlights a 243% increase in the use of eStatements as the primary method for patient collections demonstrating the growing momentum of digital solutions
J.P. Morgan Payments published its fifteenth annual “Trends in Healthcare Payments” report, which highlights the evolving landscape of healthcare payments. While providers and executives are optimistic about the growth potential within the healthcare sector at the start of 2025, persistent challenges such as consumer dissatisfaction, economic hardship and cybersecurity continue to shape trends and innovation in healthcare payments. Below are some of the key takeaways from our report.
- The transition to electronic workflows offers substantial cost savings, consumer experience enhancements and time efficiencies, yet the continued reliance on paper processes impedes progress. Patient collections are the primary revenue concerns for providers, increasing 133% from 2011 to 2024. 71% of providers report that it takes over 30 days to collect payments after a patient encounter.68% of payers still reimburse providers with paper checks, compared to 60% in 2023, underscoring strong reliance on legacy processes. 91% of providers issue refunds to patients for overpayment of medical bills, while more than half issue refunds via paper check.
- Payment innovation, particularly around AI, is emerging as a key driver of industry transformation, with digital solutions gaining momentum among consumers, creating a need for more efficient and consumer-centric experiences. 72% of consumers under the age of 35 have switched providers, or are willing to do so, for a better healthcare payment experience. There has been a 243% increase in the use of eStatements as the primary method for patient collections from 2016 to 2024, demonstrating the growing momentum of digital solutions among consumers. 62% of consumers prefer to pay their medical bills online, indicating a strong consumer demand for digital payment solutions. Only 22% of consumers always know how much they owe for a provider visit beforehand, highlighting the need for improved transparency and information sharing.
- The healthcare industry has experienced large-scale cyberattacks, leaving many organizations financially impacted. This underscores the urgent need for innovative solutions to protect sensitive data and maintain trust among consumers and providers. 92% of providers have identified cybersecurity as a high priority within their organizations, reflecting a growing awareness of the risks posed by cyber threats and the need for robust security measures.
UWM will offer 5/1 ARMs for FHA and VA loans, letting borrowers to shave at least 50 basis points off their rate compared to a conventional fixed mortgage
United Wholesale Mortgage (UWM) will begin offering fixed interest rates for the first five years on Federal Housing Administration (FHA) and U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs). The 5/1 option provides a fixed interest rate for the first five years, after which the rate adjusts annually based on market conditions. ARMs typically gain market share when rates are elevated, as borrowers can access lower initial rates compared to traditional fixed-rate mortgages. According to industry experts, most borrowers can shave at least 50 basis points off their rate compared to a conventional fixed mortgage by choosing an ARM. ARMs can be attractive to borrowers who anticipate interest rates will decline as they have the option to refinance or move before the adjustment period begins. “With this product, mortgage brokers can typically offer lower initial interest rates and monthly payments compared to a fixed mortgage, giving borrowers the opportunity to save more money,” UWM explained. “As rates go up, ARMs become more exciting, especially with the yield curve becoming more normalized,” Mat Ishbia, UWM president and CEO, said. “But with that being said, people still think ARMs are a four-letter word, and people are scared of ARMs.” Ishbia added: “ARMs are interesting, but I don’t think they’re as viable or present as big of an opportunity as they did five, seven or eight years ago, from my perspective. We are prepared, we do a little bit of it, and we will probably do a little bit more, but it won’t be meaningful enough that it will hit your radar.” The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) reported Wednesday that ARMs accounted for 7.5% of all mortgage applications for the week ending May 23. The typical baseline share is between 3% and 5%. Borrowers are increasingly turning to 7/1 ARM products, according to Mike Fratantoni, the MBA’s chief economist, during the trade group’s Secondary & Capital Markets Conference in New York City this month.
Latest Fed survey says 24% of BNPL users were behind on payments in 2024, up from 18% in 2023
In its latest Survey of Household Economics and Decision making, or SHED, report, the Fed found that 24% of BNPL users were behind on payments in 2024, up from 18% in 2023. More than half of those late payers, 13% of the total user base, were charged extra because of their delinquency. Overall use of installment payment services ticked up from 14% to 15%, according to the survey. Low-income borrowers were the most likely to miss payments, according to the survey, with 40% of users earning less than $25,000 a year reporting a delinquency. Among consumers earning between $25,000 and $49,999 — the income group with the highest reported BNPL usage rate at 19% — 26% said they paid late last year. Delinquencies were also more common among younger demographics, with 32% of 18- to 29-year-olds reporting at least one late payment last year. Black and Hispanic consumers — who had the highest usage rates of BNPL products at 25% and 21%, respectively — also had higher than average late payment rates, at 29% and 32%. Most BNPL users turned to the product because of personal preferences, with 87% saying they did so to spread out payments over time and 82% reporting that it was a matter of convenience. But more than half of users said they would not otherwise be able to afford their purchases if it weren’t for BNPL programs. This was particularly true for lower-income respondents, with 72% of BNPL users earning less than $50,000 saying they used it to pay for something otherwise out of reach, up from 69% last year. Meanwhile, credit card ownership declined slightly, with 81% of respondents saying they owned at least one, down from 82% last year and a peak of 84% in 2021 but up from 77% in 2015. The share of consumers carrying a balance on their credit cards fell to 46%, down more than 10 percentage points from a decade prior. Middle-income earners — those making between more than $25,000 but less than $100,000 — were the most likely to carry a balance from one cycle to another. A higher share of low-income respondents carried balances, but a smaller share of those adults owned credit cards. Black consumers had the lowest credit card ownership rate at 69% as well as the highest prevalence of carrying a balance at 72%. Likewise, 72% of Hispanic respondents said they own a credit card and 60% carried a balance.
PNC extends financial education to families of pre-K children partnering a nonprofit focused on helping people move toward economic self-sufficiency
For about two years now, the PNC Center for Financial Education (CFE), an effort led by Community Development Banking, has been collaborating with community-based nonprofits to offer financial education to individuals, first-time homebuyers and small businesses. Now, in a new collaboration with PNC Grow Up Great, the CFE is teaming up with PNC Grow Up Great partner early education centers to deliver financial education to families of pre-K children. Fred Landis of Organizational Financial Wellness and Gus Torres of Corporate & Institutional Banking, both relationship managers in Central Pennsylvania, have volunteered their time to facilitate financial education seminars for the past year. They present the CFE “banking basics” curriculum to individuals who sign up through Community Progress Council, a York County nonprofit focused on helping people move toward economic self-sufficiency. The nonprofit is a Head Start provider and PNC Grow Up Great partner; Ellen Kyzer, PNC client and community relations director for the Central PA market, also serves as board chair. The seminar explains how to create a spending plan, build a savings account and more to participants, most of whom are working toward becoming first-time homebuyers. The organization says its partnership with PNC has been an asset. “Learning how to create a spending plan, building a savings account and manage existing resources are all stepping stones to economic mobility,” said Ruth Robbins, Community Progress Council chief program officer. “With a strong foundation, York County families can better weather any unexpected challenges as they work with us toward their goals in education, employment and income.” The PNC Grow Up Great and CFE collaboration is being offered in a number of PNC markets beginning in April and continuing throughout the year. Volunteers can help teach a financial education workshop to families of pre-K children enrolled at PNC early education partner centers in their market, either in-person or virtually, following a CFE Facilitator Guide.
Report says open banking has not lived up to its potential in UK; it has not reached profitability despite success in some areas, such as faster lending decisions
Open banking has not lived up to its potential in Great Britain, according to a report by the Financial Times. While it has seen success in some areas, such as faster lending decisions, it has not reached profitability, with higher interest rates cooling investor enthusiasm. Open banking technology allows customers to share their financial information with other banks, apps, and online retailers, and allows lenders to permit pay-by-bank remittances without card intermediaries. The excitement around open banking accompanied the past decade’s U.K. FinTech boom, making London a leader in the sector. However, many users are unaware of the technology’s availability and do not see the benefits of digital wallets like Apple Pay. The awareness gap for open banking is not just confined to the U.K., with 56% of American consumers not familiar with pay by bank. However, incentives can help bridge this gap, with Generation Z and high-income individuals being particularly receptive to pay by bank, especially when coupled with incentives.
Meta’s study shows shorter reasoning processes in AI systems lead to results that are 34.5% more accurate while reducing computational costs by up to 40%
Researchers from Meta’s FAIR team and The Hebrew University of Jerusalem have discovered that forcing large language models to “think” less actually improves their performance on complex reasoning tasks. The study found that shorter reasoning processes in AI systems lead to more accurate results while significantly reducing computational costs. The researchers discovered that within the same reasoning task, “shorter reasoning chains are significantly more likely to yield correct answers — up to 34.5% more accurate than the longest chain sampled for the same question.” This finding held true across multiple leading AI models and benchmarks. Based on these findings, the team developed a novel approach called “short-m@k,” which executes multiple reasoning attempts in parallel but halts computation once the first few processes complete. The final answer is then selected through majority voting among these shorter chains. The researchers found their method could reduce computational resources by up to 40% while maintaining the same level of performance as standard approaches. “Our findings suggest rethinking current methods of test-time compute in reasoning LLMs, emphasizing that longer ‘thinking’ does not necessarily translate to improved performance and can, counter-intuitively, lead to degraded results,” the researchers conclude. The study points toward potential cost savings and performance improvements by optimizing for efficiency rather than raw computing power.
Integration challenges requiring asynchronous transaction processing flow with multiple steps for additional layer of authentication is a key factor behind low adoption of EMV 3DS
While EMV 3DS has many benefits, adoption may be slow in the regions where EMV 3DS is not mandatory. Reasons may include the following: Data inconsistency. The quality of merchant data provided in EMV 3DS plays a critical role in issuer fraud detection. Merchants may be reluctant to share more data and may decide to provide a minimum set of data elements excluding optional data elements. There are cases when the data provided is not accurate, causing issues in fraud engines. Approval rates and cardholder friction. Shopping cart abandonment has been one of the major reasons that EMV 3DS adoption is low. Many enhancements have been added to the protocol from EMV 3DS 1.0 to EMV 3DS 2.x to challenge the cardholder only when needed. Complexity of integration. EMV 3DS integration is complex and adds an additional layer of authentication flow before authorization, resulting in higher implementation costs. Most systems are built with synchronous authorization request and response; EMV 3DS is a major change since it requires an asynchronous transaction processing flow with multiple steps. Liability shift. EMV 3DS is designed to help with fraud. However, determining if, how and when a liability shift occurs for merchants is not a simple answer and depends on several factors. Payment network and local regulatory requirements should be checked for specific use cases to assess any applicable liability shifts. Some factors are: Region and payment network. It is important to be familiar with payment network rules for EMV 3DS usage. Merchant category code (MCC). Not all MCCs are allowed for a liability shift.
AI chatbots prioritize relevance and authority over traditional SEO metrics such as traffic or backlinks, requiring brands to offer “citable evidence” of expertise, such as real data, FAQs, testimonials and contextual content
Local Falcon’s research showed that AI chatbots often bypass traditional SEO metrics such as link volume or page ranking, relying instead on relevance, prominence and authority. That means brands that surface in AI responses are those that offer “citable evidence” of expertise, such as real data, FAQs, testimonials and contextual content that AI can easily access, the study said. AI chatbots don’t prioritize traffic or backlinks when they choose which brands to list in their responses to consumers. Instead, they look for provable expertise. The good news is that smaller brands that are expert in what they do can leapfrog over well-trafficked retail sites in search listings. For example, stores shouldn’t just say they are the leading retailer in a niche product but actually prove it by explaining why they’re the best. It also helps for the brand to be mentioned in places like social media. For smaller businesses, it’s an opportunity to compete with larger players — if they provide genuine value and clear proof of expertise. “It gives smaller stores a shot at being found if they play it right and they’re really good at what they do,” David Hunter, CEO of Local Falcon said. Hunter thinks that Google transitioning from traditional search to AI-powered search is the cause of this surprise finding. Ultimately, location will continue to play an important part in search even for an AI chatbot. Location-based marketing and messaging is a powerful tool that drives higher engagement, foot traffic and revenue, according to Radar CEO Nick Patrick. Location is important not just for retailers but also for financial services — to do things such as find bank branches, real-time fraud detection and geo-triggered cash back promotions through retail partners. But instead of location, the AI appears to favor authoritative results from sources including social media, Reddit, and other community forums, which were previously not prioritized by traditional algorithms.