Klarna is piloting a card that spends like debit but can flip into pay later mode, extending the buy now, pay later (BNPL) model from the checkout screen to the in-store experience. Unveiled Tuesday (June 3) at Money20/20 Europe, the Klarna Card is built on Visa’s Flexible Credential, a network capability that lets a single piece of plastic surface multiple funding sources, Klarna said in a Tuesday press release provided to PYMNTS. Issued by WebBank and housed in a Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.-insured wallet, the card lets testers in the United States pay from stored cash or activate Klarna’s Pay in 4 and pay later plans at any of the over 150 million merchants that already accept Visa. A wider launch in the U.S. and Europe is slated for later this year, the release said. More than 5 million consumers have joined the waitlist. Visa’s Flexible Credential works behind the scenes. Consumers can pay up front in debit mode or activate Klarna’s installments. Eventually, cardholders will be able to select paid tiers that layer in cash back and merchant discounts, per the release. “We consistently hear from consumers that they want the freedom to choose how and when to pay — whether that’s paying now with debit or spreading the cost over time,” Klarna Chief Marketing Officer David Sandstrom said in the release. “They want simplicity, flexibility and transparency — all in one place. That’s exactly what has made Klarna’s payment methods so popular online, and now we’re bringing that same experience to a physical card.”
Citi’s CMO sets three priorities- accelerating creation of written and visual content, AI for personalization and validation with brand guidelines
Under Chief Marketing and Content Officer Alex Craddock, the bank has restructured its marketing department to better support its broader vision, and hired for several new marketing roles, including a head of wealth marketing, a head of banking and markets marketing, a head of sponsorships and partnerships, and a head of marketing innovation, he said. Citi has doubled down on growth in its wealth segment, which had struggled in the past but has become a key piece to improving the bank’s business mix by adding more fee-based revenue. Craddock pointed to wealth as an area ripe for opportunity when it comes to reinvigorating the bank’s brand. With its marketing efforts, Citi aims to think about its brand more holistically and make sure business marketing is aligned with the broader brand strategy, Craddock told. Content also falls under Craddock’s purview, and the approach there has changed, too. “We unified a fragmented marketing team: Business marketing was embedded in the businesses, enterprise marketing was centralized. We see opportunities to reenergize the brand, and wealth is a great example. We recognized, as we were bringing all the individual parts of the wealth business together, we needed to develop a new proposition and a new brand platform to launch that proposition to market. So we reposition wealth in the minds of our clients and ensure that it meets the business that we are today, and not some perception of who we were in the past. We did a lot of work when I came in through last year, to really understand our clients’ needs, understand our landscape and identify a client audience that is the right kind for Citi to go after, and build a proposition and a platform to reach them. The world change-maker audience is focused on wealth creation, and often multigenerational wealth creation. They’re often international in the way they live their lives, but also in business. We’re focused on three key priorities. One is around content creation, and how we can start to accelerate creation of written and visual content. The other is around personalization: how can we use AI to personalize content, whether that’s for specific client segments, or how we personalize, for example, our credit card marketing real-time? That can be accelerated with [artificial intelligence]. The third is around validation. We are producing a vast amount of content across the firm. It’s hard for humans to make sure it is all on-brand. We can use AI to do that validation and make recommendations as to how we might want to augment certain aspects of our content to make sure that it is consistent with brand guidelines. The other part we’re exploring is compliance approvals: how do we accelerate the speed at which we are getting compliance approval for content, by using AI to do a lot of that heavy lifting for us? We’re building the expertise and knowledge in-house, but we’re complementing that with third-party AI solutions where it makes sense, because they bring something distinctive that we couldn’t build ourselves, or it would take too long to build.”
Wells Fargo to refocus on new branch openings and renovations in NYC, Chicago and Nashville; branches to feature a “Welcome Touchpoint” desk and a giant, interactive replica of the bank’s mobile app, for demos
Wells Fargo is back in the consumer banking game, and as it steps things up, it will be relying heavily on branches. This will include new openings and renovations, including heavily contested turf in the New York metropolitan area, the Chicago area, Nashville and other areas. Branch optimization is mostly complete. Now Wells Fargo will pivot to grow its number of branches again, to serve new markets and to increase density in areas where service needs allow. CEO Charles Schraf said, a renewed focus is primary checking account growth. Beyond being part of the vanguard of this push, the uptown Manhattan location epitomizes what Wells is going for as it leans into branches. The new Wells Fargo branch (1) in Manhattan at Broadway and 82nd Street demonstrates concepts going into new branches and renovations. First stop after the ATM lobby is the “Welcome Touchpoint” desk (2), where a staffer can handle basics and let bankers beyond that point know that a customer wants to see them. (3) The customers can wait in an area patterned more after a living room than a bank branch. Nearby is a giant, interactive replica of the bank’s mobile app, for demos. (4) Just around the corner is a small teller station. (5) Finally, beyond those areas, bankers and financial advisors await, with fully walled offices to accomodate customers’ expressed desire for privacy. A key change in approach is the branch’s “Welcome Touchpoint.” This is a station just past the ATM lobby where a Wells staffer sits at a tall freestanding podium to check people in for appointments and to answer questions. The banker at the station can help out with cash withdrawals or deposits or bring the customer to the teller station. Barstools for customers are also available. The station is also close to a tall live replica of a smartphone screen to demo Wells digital features to interested customers. This giant screen can help the banker show the customer how to handle simple or even more complicated transactions, such as setting up a wire transfer, on their own, from anywhere. The bank is also working to pull the customer into processes like account enrollment. Instead of simply having customers sit passively, answering a banker’s questions as they input data on a screen, the banker does the setup and then presents the customer with a QR code that pulls their phone or tablet into the process. They can then answer questions directly, with prompts from the banker. Some branches are designated as “Wells Fargo Premier” locations, which means that Premier bankers, trained to help wealthier customers, are based there. Other locations may have such bankers present on a rotation or by appointment. A key lesson for all banks: Customers want privacy when discussing their affairs. Wells branches are going back to enclosed offices, where bankers and customers can converse out of earshot.
KeyBank to use vendor Personetics’ Engage, a client experience that delivers timely insights and recommendations based on each client’s spending and savings habits
KeyBank is further advancing its mission to empower clients to thrive by utilizing Personetics’ Cognitive Banking platform, which fosters deep personal relationships and assists consumers in achieving their financial goals. KeyBank’s 2025 annual Financial Mobility Survey found increased stress levels among Americans trying to balance economic pressures and financial goals, with more than half (51%) of Gen Z respondents indicating they are taking proactive steps to improve their financial future. Similarly, Personetics’ Global Consumer Banking Survey released in February found that most consumers (70%) want their financial institutions to provide timely insights on spending and saving habits to improve their financial wellness. To address this growing demand, particularly among younger consumers, KeyBank will use Personetics’ Engage, a client experience that delivers timely insights and recommendations based on each client’s spending and savings habits. Emily Gessner, Head of Consumer Digital at KeyBank. “By leveraging Personetics’ platform and experience, we will address the financial burden and stress consumers face by empowering our clients with real-time insights and guidance to help them effectively manage their financial futures.”
JPMorgan is reportedly hiring Citigroup dealmaker Theodoros Giatrakos as it seeks to bolster its business advising private equity firms
JPMorgan Chase is hiring Citigroup dealmaker Theodoros Giatrakos as it seeks to bolster its business advising private equity firms. The London-based banker is leaving Citigroup after more than 14 years and is set to join JPMorgan’s financial sponsors group, the people said, asking not to be identified because the information is private. Giatrakos, who joined Citigroup in 2011, was previously head of the firm’s alternative assets group for Europe, the Middle East and Africa. He had earlier led its investment banking team in central and southeast Europe. Late last year, Citigroup hired JPMorgan banker Sidharth Punshi as the new head of its EMEA alternative assets group, with Giatrakos stepping down from the leadership position to dedicate more time to client relationships.
AI coding tools enabling SMBs to ship product code from ‘Day One’ with a lean team of just two senior developers, matching or exceeding the productivity of larger developer groups
Smaller teams equipped with AI tools can now match or exceed the productivity of larger developer groups. AI assistants reduce the need for outsourcing, lower development costs and help maintain in-house ownership of code. But it’s important for SMBs to understand the limits of today’s AI coding assistants or risk wasting their AI investment. That’s the experience of Mike Stone, co-founder of customer web and mobile development firm The Gnar Company, whose clients include the state of Massachusetts, Grubhub and AARP. With AI coding tools, Stone said the playbook has changed to this: Hire two exceptional senior developers; Equip them with AI tools; Watch them outperform entire teams; Ship product code from ‘Day One.’ Particularly salient is the latest trend called “vibe coding,” which is a new, more intuitive way for people to write computer code using natural language — like how one would talk to a friend. Instead of writing complex code in a particular syntax, users just need to describe what they want the software program to do, and an AI model helps turn that into working code. This speeds up the creative process and lets users focus more on ideas and less on technical details. Santiago Nestares, co-founder of DualEntry, told that his company was able to build an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system like NetSuite despite being told that they would need at least $100 million, which was out of reach. The company used ChatGPT daily to pressure-test its system designs, validate architectural decisions and explore edge (or one-off) cases. It used Cursor to write and refactor code with LLMs embedded into its development workflow. It also used AI to help run automated code reviews and maintain quality without adding management layers or quality assurance processes. “With a team of just 11 people and nine months of focused work, we’ve built a fully capable ERP that has feature parity with NetSuite,” Nestares said. “AI made that possible. If we had to hire for all the knowledge we now get from AI, we’d need a team two to three times the size,” Nestares added. “AI is the great equalizer.”
Nearly half of Mastercard’s online transactions in Europe are now tokenized encompassing methods like Secure Card on File (SCOF), Click to Pay and digital wallets growing one-third in the past year
Mastercard said that nearly half of all its online transactions in Europe are now tokenized. The payment giant unveiled the milestone exactly one year after outlining its plan to phase out manual card entry and achieve 100% tokenization by 2030. The process lets consumers avoid exposing their sensitive account details, preventing a fraudster from using your credit card for nefarious purposes. Mastercard said that tokenized transactions in Europe, encompassing methods like Secure Card on File (SCOF), Click to Pay and digital wallets, have seen a one-third increase in the past year. The company’s strategy of driving the adoption of safer transactions is gaining ground as growing numbers of eCommerce marketplaces, food delivery services and financial institutions across the continent embrace new standards and solutions. A major component of this growth is merchant tokenization, specifically known as Secure Card on File (SCOF). By replacing static card numbers stored by merchants with dynamic, merchant-specific tokens, SCOF helps to reduce fraud and improve approval rates. The result: Enhanced security for shoppers and fewer fraud-related losses for businesses. Another tokenization method, Click to Pay, is also playing a crucial role in simplifying the online checkout experience. This service, now used in 26 European markets, allows consumers to make purchases online without manually entering their card details each time, often using pre-saved, tokenized credentials. Mastercard said that consumer signups for Click to Pay have more than doubled over the past year.
Reciprocal deposits enable banks to support community lending, use them for lending and investments while offering simultaneous access to depositors in aggregate FDIC insurance across network banks
Deposit networks enable customers to diversify their deposits across a network of banks and to receive protection for deposits that, in the aggregate, are over the FDIC standard maximum of $250,000. Networks give depositors access to millions in aggregate FDIC insurance at network banks, all with the simplicity of doing so through just one bank relationship. And importantly, most such networks offer banks the flexibility to move deposits on and off the balance sheet as needed, thus enabling much needed optimization on the liability side of the balance sheet. A key feature of deposit networks, reciprocal deposits enable banks to maintain usage of such deposits for loans and other investments while at the same time enabling depositors to have access to millions in aggregate FDIC insurance across network banks. Importantly, these depositors are no different than any other depositor that has walked through their door and with whom they have developed a relationship. Reciprocal deposits are relationship-based deposits of the bank. An additional benefit of reciprocal deposits—appreciated by bankers and depositors alike—is that the full amount of funds placed through reciprocal deposit services can stay local to support community lending. Reciprocal deposits help keep locally sourced deposit amounts in local institutions, which in turn helps drive economic growth in communities of all sizes and types throughout the U.S., including some of the most underserved locales. Deposit networks not only help banks bring deposits on balance sheet with a reciprocal option, but also enable selling deposits to other network members—allowing banks to “store” deposits off balance sheet for a future need. By participating in a deposit network, a bank can immediately address a new or existing customer’s concerns about protecting their large cash balances. Participation in a network helps banks attract and retain large deposits (six, seven, eight, or even nine figures at a time) from loyal, local safety-conscious customers, such as businesses, nonprofits, government entities and high-net-worth individuals. Influential community members, such as CPAs, financial planners and estate lawyers, are also quick to recognize the benefit of deposit safety and may welcome outreach about deposit placement network services. As their name implies, deposit networks come with a network effect—they can help your bank strengthen connections with depositors and with knowledgeable industry participants. Joining a network can provide access to professionals with deep expertise in banking and banking technology that can smooth your bank’s onboarding process and help maximize its use of network offerings. A deposit network can be a powerful tool for banks to retain and grow key depositor relationships while ensuring their customers’ large deposits are protected. By leveraging a deposit network, banks can enhance customer loyalty, optimize their balance sheets and ultimately help drive community growth and economic stability.
Wells Fargo exits 2018 consent order that imposed limits on growth in total assets, having addressed requirements for improvements in board effectiveness, firmwide compliance, operational risk programs and a third-party independent reviews
Federal regulators moved to lift an unprecedented punishment that had handcuffed growth at Wells Fargo, a milestone in the bank’s efforts to repair its tarnished reputation after its fake-accounts scandal erupted nearly a decade ago. For the first time in seven years, the fourth-largest U.S. bank will be able to grow its balance sheet and redirect resources it had been pouring into efforts to fix itself. It will once again have the freedom to gather deposits, increase loans to companies and households and grow its Wall Street businesses or even do deals. The removal of the asset cap “marks a pivotal milestone” for Wells Fargo, said Chief Executive Charlie Scharf. The bank said it would give full-time employees a special $2,000 award. The asset-cap removal “reflects the substantial progress the bank has made in addressing its deficiencies,” the Fed said. Still, other provisions from the 2018 order “will remain in place until the bank satisfies the requirements.” The regulatory work has been all-consuming for the bank. The operating committee has for years started its meetings with sometimes hours long reviews of where the bank stood on its regulatory work. Now, executives will have the freedom to focus on broader operations and strategy. The bank can make more loans and keep them on its balance sheet. It will seek to expand its branded credit-card business and to draw wealth-management clients to other services at the bank. Wells Fargo also has more room to focus on the Wall Street businesses, such as dealmaking and trading, that Scharf has sought to grow. The bank plans to expand head count in the corporate and investment bank, where it has tapped Fernando Rivas as head and hired dozens of senior bankers. It will also likely cut costs. The bank has hired an army of 10,000 employees across its risk and control groups to address the regulatory orders. Last year, it spent roughly $2.5 billion more in those groups compared with 2018.
Citi’s GenAI solution CitiService Agent Assist wins Pega innovation award for enabling customer service agents to improve the accuracy and delivery of client queries
Citi’s Services business is enhancing the client experience with its award-winning innovation, CitiService Agent Assist, a generative AI-powered solution designed to help customer service agents deliver faster, more accurate responses to clients. The solution is a part of CitiService, a suite of capabilities aimed at delivering an exceptional client experience through advanced technologies, focusing on AI.
The CitiService Agent Assist solution has just received Pega’s Innovation award for financial institutions for its achievements in global service excellence, AI-powered automation and operational modernization. The solution enables customer service agents to improve the accuracy and delivery of client queries. Citi Services’ investments in innovative solutions are already delivering greater efficiency for their clients at the intersection of human and machine intelligence. Citi’s current AI capabilities have significantly enhanced decision accuracy, operational efficiency and scalability. With advanced tools and capabilities, Citi will continue to explore opportunities to further automate and streamline processes to better serve clients. Citi continues to innovate by investing in advanced technology, infrastructure, and automation to modernize the future of client service, while ensuring operational soundness and compliance. Citi’s Services AI capabilities are driving greater decision accuracy, operational efficiency, and scalability. CitiService Agent Assist is now live for Citi colleagues in 47 countries, transforming the customer experience. At Citi, we’re harnessing the power of AI to enhance how we serve clients and build the bank of tomorrow. “With solutions like CitiService Agent Assist, we’re eliminating manual processes, delivering faster responses, and creating a more seamless experience around the world. We’re committed to co-developing and innovating with our clients to streamline processes and support with global reach and efficiency”, said Naveed Anwar, Global Head of Platforms and Data Services, Services