With tariffs increasing the costs for imported components and more, companies are turning to digital procurement and payment platforms, many of which are capable of streamlining vendor onboarding, automating payments in multiple currencies, and allowing finance teams to negotiate early payment discounts. Amazon, for example, is surveying its third-party sellers to determine the effect of tariffs on their businesses. CEO Andy Jassy has acknowledged that shoppers could bear the brunt of these costs, as merchants recalibrate to safeguard their margins. Digital procurement isn’t just about buying things cheaper but is increasingly about creating a data-rich environment where finance and operations can collaborate in real time, making the business more agile in the face of geopolitical and economic shocks. Embedded financial services — offering banking, lending and insurance within non-financial platforms — are another piece of the puzzle. By integrating financing options directly into procurement workflows, companies can smooth out cash flow gaps caused by fluctuating tariffs and shifting supplier terms. Platforms like Flex and Lenkie, which raised $62 million also last month, illustrate a trend where financial services are integrated into business workflows. While some companies are struggling under the weight of rising costs and disrupted supply chains, others are seizing the opportunity to innovate their payment processes, with virtual cards emerging as a solution for B2B payments across digital platforms. Separately, firms are realizing that future-proofing their procurement operations when times are tough could pay off down the line as the macro environment finds its footing, and as the ongoing generational shift among procurement and executive leadership continues unabated with its preference for seamless, digital-first procure-to-pay experiences.
Anthropic just analyzed 700,000 Claude conversations — and found its AI has a moral code of its own- largely upholding the company’s “helpful, honest, harmless” framework while adapting its values to different contexts
Anthropic research reveals both reassuring alignment with the company’s goals and concerning edge cases that could help identify vulnerabilities in AI safety measures. The study found that Claude largely upholds the company’s “helpful, honest, harmless” framework while adapting its values to different contexts — from relationship advice to historical analysis. This represents one of the most ambitious attempts to empirically evaluate whether an AI system’s behavior in the wild matches its intended design. “Our hope is that this research encourages other AI labs to conduct similar research into their models’ values,” said Saffron Huang, a member of Anthropic’s Societal Impacts team who worked on the study. The research team developed a novel evaluation method to systematically categorize values expressed in actual Claude conversations. After filtering for subjective content, they analyzed over 308,000 interactions, creating what they describe as “the first large-scale empirical taxonomy of AI values.” The taxonomy organized values into five major categories: Practical, Epistemic, Social, Protective, and Personal. At the most granular level, the system identified 3,307 unique values — from everyday virtues like professionalism to complex ethical concepts like moral pluralism. “I was surprised at just what a huge and diverse range of values we ended up with, more than 3,000, from ‘self-reliance’ to ‘strategic thinking’ to ‘filial piety,’” Huang told. The study found that Claude generally adheres to Anthropic’s prosocial aspirations, emphasizing values like “user enablement,” “epistemic humility,” and “patient wellbeing” across diverse interactions.
Morgan Stanley targets active traders with Power ETrade Pro, directly competing with Charles Schwab’s Thinkorswim and Robinhood Markets’ Legend; can customize as many as 120 tools across six screens
ETrade, the brokerage firm owned by Morgan Stanley, is launching a new platform aimed at the most active traders. Dubbed “Power ETrade Pro”, the platform is currently in its pilot phase and is set for a full launch in June. With this new platform, the brokerage will directly compete with Charles Schwab’s Thinkorswim and Robinhood Markets’ Legend. The new E*Trade platform will allow traders to customise as many as 120 tools across six screens. It will also include a separate desktop client, in addition to the existing web and mobile products. “Our sophisticated trader population is a hugely important group of folks for us,” said Jed Finn, Morgan Stanley’s Head of Wealth Management. The launch of “Power E*Trade Pro” also coincided with US President Donald Trump’s decision to impose tariffs globally, which made financial markets highly volatile and boosted trading volumes on brokerage platforms. Polish brokerage platform XTB recently revealed that trading volumes surged to three times the levels seen during the pandemic.
Charles Schwab said assets in its ETFs rose 16% since 1Q; net purchases of ETFs at Schwab dropped 17% from the fourth quarter
Charles Schwab said assets in its exchange-traded funds rose 16% since last year’s first quarter as flows into its biggest funds jumped. Schwab, which manages 33 ETFs, said in an April 17 statement that assets in its proprietary ETFs jumped to $398.2 billion from $342.9 billion at the end of last year’s first quarter. Since the previous quarter ended, assets inched up 1% from $395 billion, the company said. Assets gained year over year as broad equity indexes jumped, with the S&P 500 notching a 25% total return last year. Inflows slowed as markets dropped this year, however, as fears of recession and inflation sparked by President Donald Trump’s trade war have pushed the S&P 500 10% lower so far in 2025. Investors were met with “an increasingly uncertain environment” in the first quarter, Schwab Chief Executive Officer Rick Wurster said. As markets tumbled in the first quarter and investors moved money into safer investments, Schwab’s largest ETF, the $64.9 billion Schwab US Dividend Equity ETF (SCHD), pulled in $3.8 billion. That fund pulled in $12.1 billion since last year’s first quarter. It includes companies with 10-year histories of paying dividends, which are widely considered safer investments.
J.P. Morgan Asset Management’s new MD for Multi-Asset Solutions had served as Deputy Chief of Staff to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen
J.P. Morgan Asset Management announced that Geng Ngarmboonanant will join the firm’s Multi-Asset Solutions business as a managing director specializing in global business and investment strategy. Based in New York, Geng reports to Zachary Page, Head of Multi-Asset Solutions for the Americas. In this new role, Geng helps shape investment strategy through macroeconomic and policy research, and partners with clients to design tailored investment solutions. He will also drive business strategy and product innovation as part of the business leadership team. Geng joins J.P. Morgan from the U.S. Department of the Treasury, where he served as Deputy Chief of Staff to Secretary Janet L. Yellen. In this capacity, Geng served as a key advisor to Secretary Yellen on domestic and international economic policy issues, and played an important role in many of the Treasury Department’s top economic initiatives from 2021 to 2025. This includes the response to the pandemic and market events, U.S.-China economic relations, housing and insurance markets, and artificial intelligence. Multi-Asset Solutions is a $440 billion business, integrating a team of asset allocation specialists with the breadth and depth of J.P. Morgan’s global investment platform, with over 500 investment strategies across asset classes, geographies and investment styles. The group seeks to create portfolios that access opportunities and solve challenges across the ever-changing investing landscape – including customized solutions and well-known strategies such as J.P. Morgan Income Builder, J.P. Morgan Global Allocation and the J.P. Morgan SmartRetirement series of target date funds.
U.S. Bank has united its Global Fund Services and Global Corporate Trust teams into a single Investment Services division, to build on leading market share in the Corporate Trust markets
U.S. Bank announced that it has united its Global Fund Services and Global Corporate Trust teams into a single Investment Services division led by Jay Martin. As president of Investment Services, Martin leads a global team that offers customized services to middle market, large corporate, government and institutional clients, including fund administration, custody, investor servicing, trustee services and corporate escrow. Martin has led Global Fund Services since joining the bank in 2023. Stephen Philipson, vice chair of Wealth, Corporate, Commercial and Institutional Banking, said, “We have the No. 1 market share in the Corporate Trust markets we serve, and our Fund Services business is thriving, with a steady drumbeat of new and enhanced capabilities to meet the evolving needs of clients. Bringing these two businesses together under a single leader will allow our clients to benefit from our combined scale, investments and more interconnected approach to serving them.”
Ally and other auto-lenders saw an uptick in auto originations and leasing volume in first-quarter, while credit performance largely improved
First-quarter bank earnings highlighted mixed results as some banks saw an uptick in auto originations and leasing volume, while credit performance largely improved. Ally Financial’s auto originations increased 4.1% year over year as lease originations were up 28.6% YoY. The bank’s retail auto delinquencies declined 9 basis points (bps) YoY to 3.79%. Across the regional banks, Huntington Bank’s auto originations rose 25% YoY, while U.S. Bank’s indirect loan and lease originations were down 27.3% YoY. Fifth Third Bank, PNC Financial and Truist joined several auto lenders in reporting declines in delinquencies and credit losses in Q1. Meanwhile, new-vehicle affordability hit the best level in 45 months in March but auto tariffs are expected to lead to price increases and contribute to lower sales in the coming months. Prolonged tariffs are also projected to contribute to a decline in auto asset-backed securitization volume and increased delinquencies across securitized auto loans.
Amex 1Q25: Total Card Member spending was up 6 percent, intends to stay invested in card refreshes and technology projects including integrating acquisition Center’s expense management tech with its corporate and small-business cards
With the economy bracing for a potential recession due to the trade war, American Express is plowing ahead with card refreshes and technology projects, saying it has room to adjust expenses if conditions warrant. “We’re not going to stop the refresh strategy,” CEO Stephen Squeri said. “From an ROI perspective I don’t think there would be a reason to do that.” Product refreshes take months to execute, Squeri said, and are based on a long-term view of demand and customer health. “It’s hard to stop them and we have confidence to put them out in the marketplace,” Squeri said. Amex also does not plan to change or downsize its technology. The company has boosted investment in B2B technology, and this week closed on an acquisition of Center, an expense management company. Amex plans to integrate Center’s expense management technology with its corporate and small-business cards, building upon a small-business strategy that grew out of Amex’s earlier acquisition of small-business payment company Kabbage. “We’re not going to veer off of our technology plan. It doesn’t make sense to start and stop our tech strategy,” Squeri said. Amex has flexibility to adjust its marketing and operational expenses depending on economic conditions, Squeri said, adding it does not currently plan to lower those investments. “What we won’t do is just cut expenses to make an EPS number,” he said. Boosted by spending from its high-end customer base, American Express reported strong results.
For the quarter ending March 31, Amex reported earnings per share of $3.63 on revenue of $16.97 billion. That beat Visible Alpha analysts’ estimates of $3.47 and $16.93 billion. Net income was $4.17 billion, better than the $4.10 billion estimate. In a release, Squeri said spending was consistent and in many cases better than what the company reported in 2024. Amex affirmed its full-year outlook of 8% to 10% revenue growth and EPS of $15.00 to $15.50 “subject to the macroeconomic environment.” Investors are looking for signs that the tariffs and subsequent trade war are weakening the economy, and thus depressing payments. That impact is not expected to show up in the near-term but could cloud longer-term projections for the full-year 2025 or 2026. “Investors are focused on the uncertain macro environment,” said analysts at William Blair in a research note, adding it reiterates its “Outperform” rating for Amex. “We believe American Express’s focus on the premium consumer, tight underwriting standards and fee-based revenue model should enable it to navigate a potentially more difficult macro environment, and we believe the company has multiple levers to sustain strong double-digit EPS growth under a variety of revenue environments. ROE has averaged over 26% over the last 20 years,” William Blair analysts said. Amex’s other recent moves include a partnership with Alipay that will let consumers link their cards to Alipay’s digital wallet to make payments at tens of millions of merchants on the Chinese mainland. The collaboration makes it easier for Chinese merchants to accept payments from foreign travelers. Amex was one of the first U.S. payment companies to gain approval to process payments inside China, where regulatory hurdles have held back most American firms, even before the recent tariff spat. Amex additionally is attempting to acquire Apple Card’s payment processing from Mastercard. Amex is offering to be both the issuing bank and network processor for Apple.