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Amtrak needed a way to better forecast the company’s cash flow.4 Most cash flow forecasts in the industry rely on a generally accepted accounting principles view of accounting and transactions. However, Amtrak’s treasury team knew that a liquidity-based view would be more effective for its unique situation. “We needed to become a data-driven treasury department,” says Ashmore. “And we recognized that the best source of data was the bank.” While meeting with J.P. Morgan Payments in October 2022, Ashmore requested a forecasting tool and learned that the bank already had such a solution in beta mode.4 Amtrak then implemented the beta solution and provided feedback as J.P. Morgan Payments finished enhancing and building out the tool. Amtrak went live using the Cash Flow Intelligence* tool, which is built into the J.P. Morgan Access® platform, in May 2023. After increasing visibility into its cash flow position, the Amtrak treasury team wanted to further strengthen their financial controls by sharing insights with their colleagues in finance. The company began using the J.P. Morgan Payments SAP plug-in for real-time treasury (SAP RTT) to manage station cash reconciliation as part of an ongoing effort to centralize its treasury management system through SAP implementation.4 Leveraging SAP RTT’s real-time cash position, reporting, reconciliation and real-time payment tracking, Amtrak could track payments end-to-end across the company and enable real-time processing for accounts payable and receivable. Ashmore shared that after working closely with J.P. Morgan Payments, Amtrak implemented the solution with only a few clicks. Doing so meant Amtrak had access to cutting-edge artificial intelligence and machine learning technology without having had to invest significant internal resources. Right away, Amtrak put the Cash Flow Intelligence tool to use to find previously invisible patterns in the company’s cash flow and used the tool to segregate cash flows into categories.4 For example, it separated daily credit card receipts, monthly receipts from state and agency partners, and more infrequent federal receipts throughout the year. Ashmore shared that this significantly increased projection accuracy because the large payments no longer interfered with daily and monthly forecasting. This accuracy helped Amtrak free up balances that they had set aside to cover cash flow issues. By investing these idle balances, Amtrak generated better returns for the company. It also provided an opportunity to receive more grant-based funding for large infrastructure projects. Through its relationship with J.P. Morgan Payments, Amtrak discovered a cash forecasting solution that supported the company’s overall business goals of increasing ridership and maintaining excellence in customer service. With J.P. Morgan’s digital dashboard within SAP, Amtrak can view balances and transactions received from the bank during the day and more precisely manage its overall cash position.4 The company plans to continue pursuing digital evolution and system enhancement as the company expands its routes and improves its services.

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As a key player in correspondent lending, Chase maintains a complex relationship with independent mortgage banks, and Sean Grzebin CEO of Chase Home Lending Grzebin highlighted how the bank balances those connections. ” We’ll continue to invest in our digital capability so that we can take advantage of our advantage, which is the data. We have relationships with almost half of the customers in the United States, and that relationship gives us a tremendous amount of access into the things that they’re looking to accomplish in their financial lives. Through that, we get a lot of clues about ways that we can help customers on the mortgage side. We’re one of the few that has both amazing digital capabilities, as well as a physical presence, with about 1,300 folks out in branches sitting knee-to-knee with customers every day. We’re always paying attention to macro indicators and how they impact the market, how they impact customer behavior, and how they impact competitor behavior. It’s something that’s unique to 2024, 2025 that the interest rate environment has been really volatile. Sometimes it looks like it’s going to improve and go our way, and then some news comes out and it goes a different way. It is really about positioning for those episodes. I think that the big shift in our strategy is not so much a shift, but more of a focus on when rates drop for some period of time. Whether it’s a day, a week or two weeks, you need to be able to be very quick and responsive to the fact that that happened.  The notional market size isn’t what it used to be. You have a lot of competitors going for even a smaller amount of units. Even though the notional market size looks like it’s kind of getting healthier. It’s still very competitive and very tight. More often than not, we’re getting a shot at the next purchase when the customers in our servicing book. I think that’s healthy and a good trend for us in our business. But again, we continue to look at all of the customers. The reality is anywhere from 700,000 to 1 million Chase customers buy homes every year. The opportunity for us is just very unique because of their otherwise relationship with the bank. I think retention will continue to improve as our capabilities keep evolving. We’re getting more ‘at bats’ than we have historically on the retention customer, is how I would put it. AI is going to be a pretty dramatic change for the industry, and not just at Chase. When you look at it and boil it down, obviously it’s relationships first, but after relationships, the manufacturing process is voice, documents and data. If you want to know what’s ripe for disruption from AI, it’s docs, voice and data. There is going to be a lot of evolution. The jobs are going to change. The relationships are going to matter over time, which plays nicely into our strategy with our customer base and how we’re trying to serve them. When you think about the process in general, it is just very ripe for that, because it’s very rules-based, which AI does better than human beings most times. Ultimately, if the documents can become digitized and it all becomes data, I think it can become very fast for customers, a great customer experience, and very efficient for mortgage companies through time. I think the loan officer’s value is the relationships they have and their ability to talk and manage anxiety through the process as well as present the best deal and the best terms for a customer. The winners in today’s business are the ones that do that more often than they do docs, data and chasing things.  The successful loan officers today have a process whereby they rely on their back office to deliver the actual experience to the customer, and they manage the anxiety, they manage the relationship with a customer, and at the end of that, there’s a winner there.  What you’re going to see with loan officers is not elimination, but the ability to scale way bigger than they’ve ever been able to go. You’re going to see that productivity ramp pretty dramatically. I see a lot of efficiency through the servicing process as well, through AI. In the secondary markets, it’s going to make a difference in terms of speed and execution. Every basis point matters. I think there’s going to be an evolution here that is going to be pretty seismic for the industry, is my prediction. When it comes to just nuts and bolts, we’re using it already in all of our processing. We’ve rolled out a large language model to all 14,000 of the employees that are in the home lending business today, and we’ve been using AI for all of our modeling for years. When it comes to core AI, that’s been in our DNA for several years. The use cases around voice are pretty robust. Particularly if they’re update calls or status calls, those are pretty easy for the machines to handle today. So there are going to be a lot of use cases around voice again, to make everyone more productive, to make the customer service process better.  The machines don’t get fatigued, they can handle most of the actual use cases. It’s going to create scale for anybody that buys into it. We’re not going to be ignorant to anything. We’re going to look at every single thing that can make our process efficient. It’s very difficult to make money in an environment like we’re in right now, markets the way they are.

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Boomi LP and Amazon Web Services Inc. are not only harnessing current artificial intelligence technology, but preparing for a future of multi-agent model systems. Boomi Agentstudio, which just received a general release, supports designing and, crucially, governing a team of agents. “We [AWS] innovate massively,” Nicole Bradley, ISV principle account executive at AWS said. “But we can’t keep up with all the features and functions and the ease of the UI capability,  and that’s what Boomi brings to table. It was really the perfect synergy of [Boomi CEO Steve Lucas’] vision, his ability to move fast, his commitment to move fast and our recognition of … we need to make sure that this agent sprawl doesn’t go crazy.” The potential of losing control over AI agents has many businesses concerned, so Boomi and AWS are focused on creating a robust management system. Ann Maya, EMEA chief technology officer of Boomi foresees rapid growth for agentic AI tools with a corresponding need for the governing tools Boomi offers.

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As a founder of an AI-powered digital transformation and product development company helping businesses innovate, automate and scale, here’s a short guide. 1) Empower your workforce with AI fluency: Maintaining a nimble and knowledgeable workforce is critical, fostering a culture that embraces technological change. Team collaboration in this sense could take the form of regular training about agentic AI, highlighting its strengths and weaknesses and focusing on successful human-AI collaborations. For more established companies, role-based training courses could successfully show employees in different capacities and roles to use generative AI appropriately. Executives should make sure a feedback mechanism is in place to optimize this human-AI collaboration. By having employees actively participate in error identification and mitigation, they can develop an attitude of appreciation toward evolving technologies while also seeing the importance of continuous learning. AI fluency also comes from collaboration across departments and specialists; for example, between engineers, AI specialists and developers. They must share knowledge and concerns to effectively integrate agentic AI into workflows. For your workforce to feel empowered, there must be a mindset change: We don’t need to compete with AI, we (and our cognitive abilities) are evolving with it.  2) Redesign your workflows around: According to a recent McKinsey survey, redesigning workflows when implementing generative AI has had the most significant impact on earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) in organizations of all sizes. In other words: AI’s true value comes when companies rewire how they run. The strategy involves a dedication to upskilling, as well as a complete overhaul of core business processes and aggressive scaling, keeping a keen eye on financial and operational performance. Although machines can’t be left entirely unattended and humans can’t stay on top of processing data in real-time, constant human-AI collaboration may not be the answer to everything when redesigning workflows. 3) Develop new ‘supervising’ AI roles: When recruiting, business leaders should seek candidates who are: 1) Adept at testing for model bias to ensure accuracy and identification of problems early in AI development; and 2) Experienced in cross-departmental collaboration, to ensure that AI solutions are meeting all the team’s needs. If you are an SVP or CTO — and unsure where to start — you may need a strategic partner to gain access to quality talent. This is table stakes to build enterprise-grade, AI-powered technology products to de-risk AI adoption.

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Microsoft announced a significant expansion of its Copilot Studio platform, introducing multi-agent systems that allow different AI agents to collaborate on complex business tasks, along with new developer tools, security enhancements, and integration with WhatsApp. At the heart of the announcements is Microsoft’s new multi-agent system, which enables agents built with Copilot Studio, Microsoft 365, Azure AI Agents Service, and Azure Fabric to work together, delegating tasks to one another to complete complex business processes.  The system enables scenarios such as a Copilot Studio agent pulling sales data from a CRM, handing it to a Microsoft 365 agent to draft a proposal in Word, and then triggering another agent to schedule follow-ups in Outlook. Microsoft is also emphasizing interoperability through support for the agent-to-agent protocol recently announced by Google, potentially enabling cross-platform agent communication. Another key announcement is “computer use” for Copilot Studio agents, which allows agents to interact with desktop applications and websites by controlling interfaces directly — clicking buttons, navigating menus, and typing in fields — even when APIs aren’t available. Microsoft is giving organizations more flexibility with their AI models by enabling them to bring custom models from Azure AI Foundry into Copilot Studio. This includes access to over 1,900 models, including the latest from OpenAI GPT-4.1, Llama, and DeepSeek. The company is also adding a code interpreter feature that brings Python capabilities to Copilot Studio agents, enabling data analysis, visualization, and complex calculations without leaving the Copilot Studio environment. Deep reasoning models, powered by reinforcement learning, can effectively self-verify any process that produces quantifiable outputs. Starting in early July, organizations will be able to publish Copilot Studio agents to WhatsApp, enabling them to reach customers through one of the world’s most popular messaging platforms. For professional developers, Microsoft is launching a Visual Studio Code extension for Copilot Studio, bringing familiar tooling and workflows to agent development. The extension provides features like IntelliSense, color formatting, and “find all references” functionality, enabling developers to edit agents directly from within Visual Studio Code. By addressing key enterprise requirements like security, governance, and interoperability, while simultaneously expanding the platform’s capabilities through features like computer use and code interpretation, Microsoft is creating a more complete offering for organizations looking to deploy AI agents at scale.

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https://digibanker.org/238612-2/

 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.  

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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.  

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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,”  

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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%.  

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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.” 

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