Wells Fargo CEO Charlie Scharf knows he has a reputation for sternness, but he said that when the bank was finally freed of a $1.95 trillion asset cap by regulators on Tuesday, he became emotional. “Everyone thinks that I’m this tough, tough person … but it’s been so long in the making, it’s impacted so many people so negatively,” Scharf said. “All of a sudden, it’s like it’s all been worth it and everyone’s feeling it.” Scharf took the helm at Wells Fargo in 2019, vowing to repair its deeply entrenched problems from a fake-accounts scandal that erupted in 2016. The bank faced a public outcry, was blasted by lawmakers and slapped with billions of dollars in fines. The Federal Reserve’s decision to lift one of Wells Fargo’s last major punishments this week has largely closed that chapter in its history. It also cements Scharf’s legacy after a grueling turnaround in which he overhauled management, slashed headcount and shed businesses. He is turning his focus to growth after serving almost six years as Wells Fargo’s fixer-in-chief. He plans to expand further in credit cards and investment banking, while also investing in wealth and commercial banking. It will not expand in mortgages, he said. The bank exited many of those operations after they were beset by scandal. As Wells Fargo aims to increase earnings, it plans to raise its dividend to keep payouts consistent for investors, Scharf said. Share buybacks will continue, but their pace will probably slow as the bank invests in growth, he said. Wells Fargo shares were up 0.5% on Wednesday afternoon, having climbed more than 8% so far this year as investors became more optimistic about the bank shedding its regulatory baggage.”I would expect that across all the remaining businesses that we have, with the slight exception of our mortgage business, all have opportunities to grow and produce higher returns. So it’s true of the wealth business through commercial still true of CIB (corporate and investment banking), because even though we’re seeing results and significant upside there, it’s true in our business, and super importantly, it’s true in our consumer and small business banking business, where they were most impacted by the sales practice scandal. We’re just introducing disciplines back to be able to serve customers more broadly and grow in ways that we haven’t been able to.” In some ways, it’s a totally different company. The culture is different here, it’s not a “me” culture. People want to be treated fairly, they want to be paid fairly, but they come here because they want to work together. That is incredibly important. Carried to an extreme, it hurt us because we didn’t make difficult decisions about people, we didn’t confront things. But I do think a culture like that, in a balanced way, is incredible to have. It takes a long time to build.
Imandra Universe, a new platform enhances AI assistants like ChatGPT, Claude, and Cursor with advanced logical reasoning capabilities to perform complex reasoning tasks more accurately
Imandra Inc. has launched the Imandra Universe, a new platform that enhances AI assistants like ChatGPT, Claude, and Cursor with advanced logical reasoning capabilities. This platform allows these AI systems to perform complex reasoning tasks more accurately by using Imandra’s symbolic logical reasoning engines. With a quick 10-second setup and an Imandra API key, users can enable their AI to employ this new functionality. The Imandra Universe offers a feature known as Reasoning as a Service®, which integrates into AI systems, allowing them to think more precisely and validate their outputs mathematically. This improvement aims to enhance workflows by enabling AI to delegate challenging tasks effectively to specialized reasoning engines. For example, if Claude is given the job of planning a multi-step event, it often misses important details. However, by utilizing the Imandra Universe, it can delegate the complex aspects of this task, improving its overall performance. In addition to enhancing existing AI assistants, the Imandra Universe positions itself as a tool that could revolutionize how users interact with artificial intelligence, bridging the gap between simple user commands and complex logical tasks. The technology aims to provide real-time support for neuro-symbolic AI, enabling more sophisticated and accurate outputs.
Future AirPods could get lasers to read the wearer’s lips & process requests
Apple is researching how AirPods could use sensors like the ones used in Face ID to read the user’s lips and process what the user wants, even if there isn’t a spoken request. The “Wearable skin vibration or silent skin gesture detector” patent proposes using what it calls self-mixing interferometry to recognize more nuanced gestures. Beyond full head movements like a nod or shake, much smaller ones such as a smile, or a whispered command, could be detected. Deformations in the skin, or skin and muscle vibrations, could be spotted and interpreted by the interferometry sensor. The idea is that as a user speaks, the movement of the jaw and cheeks is detectable through the use of a Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Laser (VCSEL) in the frame of the device. The idea is that the VCSEL emitter and sensor, similar to the combo used in Face ID, could be in the frame of the device. And, users could select how the AirPods react to different skin and lip movements picked up by that combination of emitter and sensor. In the case of AirPods that go inside the ear, instead of solely over the ear AirPods Max, Apple also says that “the self-mixing interferometry sensor may direct the beam of light toward a location in an ear of the user.” When that light and its reflection back to the sensor alters, it will be because of head or skin and muscle movement. The patent is then specifically about methods by which such movement could be detected, but beyond the specifics, there are two clear benefits. One is that movement detection allows for what Apple calls silent commands. Currently AirPods Pro support a silence nod or shake of the head to accept or reject phone calls, but they could be set to interpret a mouth movement as meaning “skip track.”
Hugging Face says its new robotics model is so efficient it can run on a MacBook
AI dev platform Hugging Face released an open AI model for robotics called SmolVLA. Trained on “compatibly licensed,” community-shared datasets, SmolVLA outperforms much larger models for robotics in both virtual and real-world environments, Hugging Face claims. “SmolVLA aims to democratize access to vision-language-action [VLA] models and accelerate research toward generalist robotic agents,” writes Hugging Face. “SmolVLA is not only a lightweight yet capable model, but also a method for training and evaluating generalist robotics [technologies].” Hugging Face claims that SmolVLA is small enough to run on a single consumer GPU — or even a MacBook — and can be tested and deployed on “affordable” hardware, including the company’s own robotics systems. SmolVLA also supports an “asynchronous inference stack,” which Hugging Face says allows the model to separate the processing of a robot’s actions from the processing of what it sees and hears. As the company explains, “[b]ecause of this separation, robots can respond more quickly in fast-changing environments.” SmolVLA is available for download from Hugging Face.
Voice AI funding surges 8X as businesses humanize chatbots
Voice-based AI agents are advancing to such a degree that they are now outperforming call centers and beginning to replace human labor in industries from healthcare to retail, according to venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz. Making voice programmable means AI can now interpret, respond to and act on voiced queries with more accuracy and reliability. Moore said voice AI lets businesses respond to customers 24/7 instead of having to wait until an office is staffed. For consumers, “We believe voice will be the first — and perhaps primary — way people interact with AI.” Last year, voice AI startups raised $2.1 billion, up eightfold from 2023, according to research firm CB Insights. The 2024 bumper crop included ElevenLabs’ $180 million fundraising round. Growth was driven by advances in voice AI models — such as OpenAI’s Realtime API for speech-to-speech applications — that gave a big boost to applications in various use cases. “It’s really in the last 12 to 18 months that we’ve seen AI voice agents performing as well or better than humans,” Alex Levin, co-founder and CEO of voice AI company Regal, told. A year ago, OpenAI unveiled a “voice mode” built on top of GPT-4o that offered real-time voice responsiveness, the ability to be interrupted, and a diversity in emotional tones rather than robotic responses. ElevenLabs followed with Conversational AI in November, with version 2.0 coming out last month. Meanwhile, players like Kyutai and Speechmatics brought real-time, full-duplex conversations into production, Moore said. These models also became more affordable as latency dropped. OpenAI cut GPT-4o API costs by up to 87.5% last December, according to Moore.
Stablecoins fuel $36 billion in B2B payments as issuers eye mature markets
Stablecoins are gaining traction in B2B payments, offering speed, cost-efficiency and U.S. dollar stability. They represent an emerging reality across emerging markets. Annualized at $36 billion as of February, B2B transactions are no longer just theoretical experiments but are serving as critical plumbing for modern financial flows. The total stablecoin volume over that same period was $94 billion, meaning that B2B transactions now make up the largest segment of stablecoin payment volumes, surpassing even peer-to-peer transfers and card-linked spending. where stablecoin B2B payments are thriving is where banking can often fail. Latin America and Africa, in particular, are hubs of real-world adoption. In Brazil and Colombia, platforms like Bitso and Conduit have enabled faster euro and U.S. dollar settlement, replacing clunky wire networks. In Kenya and Ghana, businesses use stablecoins to sidestep currency devaluation and cross-border delays. “Stablecoins are a great way to transfer value,” Conduit CEO Kirill Gertman told. BVNK and LianLian Global partnered to enable merchants to use major stablecoins to fund cross-border transactions illustrates, crypto continues pushing forward with innovations designed to streamline corporate spending. PayPal used its own native stablecoin to pay EY, while the President Donald Trump family’s new stablecoin was reportedly used for a $2 billion investment into Binance by Abu Dhabi’s MGX.
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New bill requires the SBA report on the performance of and risk associated with 7(a) loans generated through loan agent activity, to combat fraud and improve transparency
The House of Representatives passed legislation that its sponsor said will combat fraud and improve transparency in a Small Business Administration (SBA) loan program. The legislation, the 7(a) Loan Agent Oversight Act (H.R. 1804), requires the SBA’s Office of Credit Risk Management to provide Congress with an annual report on the performance of and risk associated with SBA 7(a) loans generated through loan agent activity. The bill passed on a vote of 405 to 3, with two Republicans and one Democrat voting against it. The legislation was received in the Senate Wednesday (June 4) and referred to the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship. The data in the report required by the legislation will enable Congress to oversee the loan program, which the SBA’s Inspector General found has seen over $335 million in documented loan agent fraud. “My bill ensures that both Congress and the SBA have the necessary data to provide proper oversight by requiring the SBA’s Office of Credit Risk Management to collect and report on fraudulent loans, default rates, and risk analysis of loan agents operating within the program,” Rep. Dan Meuser, R-Pa. said. “Strengthening transparency and accountability will protect taxpayer dollars, ensure the 7(a) Loan Program remains a successful public-private partnership, and help small businesses continue to access the capital they need to grow.”
JPMorganChase announces new Corporate Responsibility impact strategy advancing s financial health and wellness for traditionally underserved LMI communities by building stability, supporting resilience and creating & protecting wealth
JPMorganChase announced a new Corporate Responsibility impact strategy aimed at bolstering financial health and economic growth in communities across the U.S., particularly those living on low- and moderate-incomes (LMI). The firm will use this strategy to enhance its commitments to advancing financial health and wellness for traditionally underserved LMI communities through new engagements and commitments across philanthropic and impact finance capital, policy advocacy, research and community partnerships. The new strategy is focused on three key financial health components – financial stability, financial resilience, and wealth building and protection – and is informed by lessons learned through $100 million in philanthropic and impact finance commitments deployed over the past three years, as well as successes realized across the consumer bank in tailoring products and services to community needs. At EMERGE Financial Health Conference in San Diego, the firm released detailed lessons learned through its past philanthropic and impact finance investments as well as business successes, which have included increased market share, savings account growth, and improved credit scores in historically underserved LMI communities. These lessons are part of a new report, Advancing Financial Health for Americans, available here. Informed by these insights, the new strategy is designed to address unique challenges faced by historically underserved LMI communities and centered on three key phases to support individuals at every stage of their financial health journey: Building financial stability to ensure individuals can manage their day-to-day financial lives with ease, which is foundational to realizing bigger financial goals.
New Moody’s Analytics report echoes Jamie Dimon in warning that private credit could be a “locus of contagion” in a downturn
A new Moody’s Analytics report warns that private credit could be a “locus of contagion” in a downturn. The concerns echo past criticisms of the booming industry from JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon. The report raised concerns about what it called the industry’s growing “interconnections” across industries from banking to insurance. “The same institutional investors, say an insurance company or a sovereign wealth fund, might hold stakes in private credit funds, CLOs, and public corporate bonds,” the report said, adding:”If losses occur in one investment, that investor may be forced to liquidate assets elsewhere, propagating stress.” Dimon said that there “could be hell to pay” if the private credit sector falters, saying it reminds him a “little bit” of the mortgage industry. Private credit investors, like Apollo CEO Marc Rowan, have argued that the new model is actually making the financial system safer. “Jamie is an amazing representative of the banking industry,” “But every dollar that moves out of the banking industry and into the investment marketplace makes the system safer and more resilient and less levered.” The private credit industry is still much smaller than banking, and does “not yet appear to be systemically important,” the report said, adding that “it could disproportionately amplify a future crisis.” The report listed regulatory recommendations that could soften the potential impact of a private-credit crisis, such as increased stress-testing of large funds, transparency and data reporting, and limits or guidelines on leverage at certain funds. In other words: Make private credit funds a bit more like banks. “The objective is not to stifle the beneficial innovation that private credit provides but to shine a light on its risks and linkages so that a rapidly growing part of corporate finance, and potentially other sectors, does not become a blind spot,” the report said.
BMO hires Aron Levine as group head and president of U.S. businesses; Mat Mehrotra, who is currently chief digital officer will join the executive committee
BMO Financial Group is shuffling leadership roles in its North American personal and business banking group and hiring a longtime Bank of America executive to oversee three stateside businesses. Aron Levine will serve as group head and president of BMO U.S. He will lead the company’s U.S. personal and business banking, commercial banking and wealth management units, the bank said. Levine will join BMO’s executive committee and its U.S. management group. He will be based in Chicago, where BMO’s U.S. operations are headquartered, and he will report to BMO CEO Darryl White and BMO U.S. CEO Darrel Hackett. Levine’s hiring is one of several executive changes that BMO announced Thursday, most of which will become effective on July 7. They appear to be driven at least in part by the pending retirement of Erminia “Ernie” Johannson, the head of BMO’s North American personal and business banking group since 2020. Johannson plans to step down from that role in early 2026, the bank said. Johannson, a frequent American Banker Most Powerful Women in Banking honoree who was No. 9 on last year’s list, has played a key role in BMO’s U.S. expansion, most recently leading the 2023 integration of the company’s acquisition of Bank of the West. The deal catapulted BMO into the ranks of the top 20 banks in the nation based on assets. With Johannson’s expected exit, BMO is divvying up her responsibilities. Sharon Haward-Laird will be promoted to group head of Canadian commercial banking and North American shared services, as well as co-head of Canadian personal and commercial banking. Mat Mehrotra will become group head of Canadian personal and business banking, and will join Haward-Laird as co-head of Canadian personal and commercial banking, according to the company. Haward-Laird is currently BMO’s general counsel and will remain on the company’s executive committee after starting in her new role. Mehrotra, who is currently BMO’s chief digital officer and head of Canadian products, will join the executive committee. They both will report to White. Nadim Hirji will be promoted to vice chair of BMO commercial banking. Hirji has overseen BMO’s North American commercial banking business since 2023. His new role will focus on growth initiatives in commercial banking in Canada and the U.S. Mona Malone, BMO’s chief human resources officer and a member of the executive committee, will gain the additional title of chief administrative officer. Malone will lead marketing, communications, human resources, corporate estate and procurement. She will report to White and also serve on the U.S. management committee. Paul Noble, who is currently BMO’s chief legal officer, will succeed Haward-Laird as general counsel and become group head of legal and regulatory compliance. He will join BMO’s executive committee and report to White.