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A Harvard Business Review study found that the average digital worker flips between applications and websites nearly 1,200 times per day. And every interruption matters. The University of California found that it takes about 23 minutes to regain focus after a single interruption fully, and sometimes worse, as nearly 30% of interrupted tasks are never resumed. Coding assistants were only limited to codebase context, which could help developers write code faster, but could not help with context switching. A new protocol is addressing this issue: Model Context Protocol (MCP). Released in November 2024 by Anthropic, it is an open standard developed to facilitate integration between AI systems, particularly LLM-based tools, and external tools and data sources.   One of the most impactful applications of MCP is its ability to connect AI coding assistants directly to the tools developers rely on every day, streamlining workflows and dramatically reducing context switching. With MCP and modern AI assistants like Anthropic’s Claude, that entire process can happen inside the editor. AI assistants and their MCP integrations are serving as the bridge to all these external tools. In effect, the IDE could become the new all-in-one command center for engineers, much like Slack has been for general knowledge workers.

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Citigroup is transforming from gatekeepers of the old order to architects of the new, as stablecoins emerge as a bridge between traditional finance and decentralized ecosystems. The market cap of stablecoins is projected to hit $750 billion by 2026, representing a $1.5 trillion opportunity for institutions that can secure, scale, and innovate. Citigroup’s entry into this space is anchored in three pillars: custody, payment infrastructure, and tokenized deposits. Citigroup is positioning itself to safeguard high-quality collateral backing stablecoins, a service currently dominated by crypto-native custodians like Coinbase. By leveraging its expertise in treasury and cash management, Citigroup can offer institutional-grade security while complying with the GENIUS Act, which mandates stablecoin reserves be held in safe assets. Citigroup’s blockchain experiments, such as tokenized USD transfers between New York, London, and Hong Kong, highlight its ambition to disrupt cross-border payments. Citigroup’s rumored stablecoin issuance is not just a gimmick; it’s a strategic play to tokenize deposits, blending the trust of traditional banking with the efficiency of blockchain. This mirrors JPMorgan’s JPM Coin and could position Citi as a leader in tokenized asset management, a sector projected to grow exponentially as institutional demand for programmable money rises. Citigroup’s stablecoin initiatives represent a strategic inflection point for investors, as it can monetize fintech’s pain points while mitigating the risks of a fragmented regulatory landscape.

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While nearly 7 in 10 employees (68%) remain optimistic about their financial future over the next three years, many are seeking advice around both long-term savings and managing their personal finances today. This, combined with higher living costs and persistent inflation, is causing more workers to look for help prioritizing all their financial needs at once. Twice as many American workers today are looking to their employers for guidance and resources around near-term financial needs, compared to two years ago. According to Bank of America’s 2025 Workplace Benefits Report (PDF), conducted in partnership with Bank of America Institute, 26% of the workforce is seeking help in areas such as emergency savings, paying down debt, and overall financial wellness, compared to 13% in 2023. “The modern employee wants help with their broader financial goals,” said Lorna Sabbia, Head of Workplace Benefits at Bank of America. “Employers should consider additional resources to support their workforce in ways that bolster their long-term goals while also helping them tackle short-term challenges.” Other areas where employees say they need financial wellness resources include retirement education and planning (36%), learning how to generate income in retirement (33%), and developing good financial skills and habits (33%). Based on nationwide surveys of nearly 1,000 employees and 800 employers, the 15th annual Workplace Benefits Report explores employee financial well-being and retirement preparedness, the state of workplace benefits, and more. Findings show that financial wellness benefits continue to matter to employees and employers, with more than 8 in 10 employers saying that financial wellness resources help drive job satisfaction, productivity, the ability to attract top talent, and be recommended as a great place to work. However, roughly half of larger employers (54%) offer financial wellness programs – and just a third (32%) of smaller companies. The survey also found that workplace benefits are increasingly a factor in retaining talent, with nearly a quarter (24%) of employees today saying they recently left or have considered leaving their company because their workplace benefits are lacking, up from 15% in 2023. Additional findings from the report include: Emergency Savings – Growing savings for unexpected expenses is employees’ second-most important financial goal — trailing only saving for retirement. Feeling overwhelmed by how to prioritize all their financial needs at once, half of employees (53%) have not hit their emergency savings goal (62% of women compared to 44% of men), often citing the fact that they’re living paycheck-to-paycheck among the primary reasons. Personal Debt – Nearly half of employees (45%) say they lack emergency savings due to a focus on repaying debt. This isn’t surprising considering 85% of employees carry some form of personal debt, with 58% carrying credit card debt, specifically. Many employees say that it causes them stress and a loss of focus and productivity at work. Despite this, fewer than 1 in 3 companies offer credit counseling or debt assistance aside from student loans – yet more are planning to do so in the future.

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With AI answer engines, there are new standards required to achieve online visibility. This creates a unique window of opportunity for companies to redefine their digital strategy, but it’s going to close fast. The key to visibility in this new era is authenticity, quality and expert value, which SearchEngineLand claims can be achieved using their CRAFT framework. Content must be authentic and showcase real expertise, not hallucinated knowledge. Generic, AI-generated fluff without won’t achieve meaningful visibility in the new search ecosystem. AI answer engines are defining new visibility standards by becoming increasingly sophisticated at detecting and rewarding genuine expertise. This is so critical to their ranking that Google recently created the SynthID to determine what content was created by their AI systems. Outside of being featured in the press, you can make your content more valuable to answer engines if you write using the CASH framework. 1) Conversational Authority: Structure content as comprehensive answers to specific questions, not keyword-focused pages. Instead of “plumbing services,” create “What should I do when my basement floods in the middle of the night. and I can’t reach the main water shutoff?” 2) Answer Completeness: Provide end-to-end information that eliminates follow-up searches. AI engines reward content that fully resolves user queries in one interaction, including next steps, costs, timelines and potential complications. 3) Source Expertise: Demonstrate current, up-to-date knowledge with specific dates, recent examples and evolving industry standards. Answer engines prioritize content that shows active expertise over static information. 4) Human Attribution: Clearly identify the human expertise behind the answers with author credentials, experience details and specific qualifications. AI engines increasingly value content that can be traced to verified experts rather than anonymous sources.

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Stablecoin transactions in the retail segment have reached record levels in 2025, with volumes already surpassing last year’s total by August, a CEX.io report noted. Retail-sized transfers, counting transactions under $250, crossed $5.84 billion in August alone, the highest ever recorded, according to data by Visa and Allium cited in the report. With nearly four months left in the year, 2025 has already become the busiest period yet for stablecoin transfer volume at the consumer level. Survey data from emerging markets, asking over 2,600 consumer in Nigeria, India, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Indonesia, reinforced this picture, CEX.io analysts. A majority of respondents said they turned to stablecoins to avoid high banking fees and slow transfers, the report said. Nearly 70% of them reported using stablecoins more frequently than last year, and more than three-quarters expect usage to keep rising, the report said. The distribution of activity among blockchains have shifted, the report noted. The Tron  blockchain, traditionally popular for retail transfers due to its low fees and wide support for Tether’s USDT (USDT), has given up market share. Monthly transaction counts fell by 1.3 million, or 6%, and its growth in volume lagged behind its closest competitors. In its place, Binance Smart Chain (BSC) emerged as the top choice for retail users, capturing nearly 40% of retail stablecoin activity, the report said. The network’s transaction count jumped 75% this year with transfer volume rising 67%. Much of the momentum came after Binance delisted USDT in March for European users and a resurgence of memecoin trading on PancakeSwap on BSC. The Ethereum complex, with the base chain and layer-2 networks combined, made up over 20% of transfer volume and 31% of transaction counts, the report noted. While small transfers largely took place on L2s, the mainnet enjoyed a significant rise in the retail segment. Sub-$250 transfers on the mainnet rose 81% in volume and 184% in count.

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Stablecoins, digital tokens pegged to traditional currencies, have evolved from niche tools for cryptocurrency traders to major pillars of the global financial ecosystem. In the United States, the sector has reached a turning point with the passage of the GENIUS Act, a law created in 2025 to establish a federal regulatory framework for stablecoin issuers. Adding momentum is Tether’s announcement of USAT, a U.S. based and regulated dollar-backed token that signals growing competition and government engagement. The global stablecoin market is almost $300 billion in capitalization, with Tether’s USDT dominating at over $169 billion. Other players, such as Circle’s USDC and PayPal’s PYUSD, have carved out niches in institutional payments and consumer-facing applications. Tether’s flagship token, USDT, has become the de facto “digital dollar” in many emerging markets, particularly in countries with weak local currencies. One example being Hyperliquid, a decentralized exchange, announced plans that they are preparing to launch USDH, a native stablecoin whose issuer will be chosen through community governance. By requiring issuers to back tokens with Treasuries, the GENIUS Act effectively turns the stablecoin market into a demand engine for U.S. government debt. For global users, this means increased access to dollar-denominated assets without traditional banking. With the GENIUS Act providing a clear regulatory framework and new offerings like Tether’s USAT entering the market, the sector is poised for deeper integration into the U.S. financial system.

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Enterprises with diverse operations often face a chaotic mix of tools and policies, which is why many security vendors position platform consolidation as the path to stronger resilience. Without a central hub, even minute changes in business initiatives can create policy drift that leaves critical systems exposed. Stephen Harrison, chief information security officer of MGM Resorts International said “As you deploy tools or you bring on products, the big win [would be] with a centralized core; everyone should have some sort of centralized core,” he said. A centralized core is important because that lets you address policy drift as you buy new companies, sell new companies, have new business initiatives, bring on new marketing firms [and] different campaigns.” Centralization also allows security teams to maintain visibility across diverse environments, such as stadiums, hotels and gaming platforms. That kind of consistency helps enforce architectural standards across the enterprise, according to Harrison. When you think about the centralized security stack for CrowdStrike, that’s one of the big advantages of it: Being able to address policy drift at its core inside the platform.” “With agentic AI, the identity issue becomes compounded,” he said.  Platform consolidation helps counter sprawl by grounding decisions in unified governance and shared principles, according to Harrison. NG SIEM ties the strategy together, according to Harrison. By combining automation, analytics and AI-driven insights, it helps teams cut through alert fatigue and focus on what matters most.

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The consumerization of cross-border payments has been driven by necessity. Migrant workers and families sending $200 remittances could not tolerate high costs or opaque delivery times. Mobile money platforms proved that payments did not have to be tethered to banks, while global players showed that exchange-rate transparency could be a selling point rather than a risk factor. As businesses globalize, the idea of payments halting for weekends or holidays looks increasingly anachronistic. Treasury platforms now integrate with wallet infrastructures that maintain balances in multiple currencies and release funds instantly, bypassing traditional cut-off windows. The result is a new operational flexibility. Treasurers can optimize for cost, speed or transparency depending on the transaction type. Supplier payments may benefit from low-cost local rails, while high-value transfers may still flow through SWIFT to ensure compliance with regulatory reporting. This portfolio approach, inspired by consumer FinTech, marks a departure from the one-size-fits-all model that defined cross-border payments for decades. Treasurers now find themselves at the frontier of FinTech adoption, piloting tools that only a few years ago were considered niche or even risky. Corporate treasurers now know that instant, transparent and low-cost international transfers are possible because they see them in the consumer space every day. The challenge is translating those possibilities into enterprise-grade solutions without losing the compliance rigor that corporations cannot compromise.

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Steve Steinour, chairman, president, and CEO said, “Our second quarter results reflect the ongoing successful execution of our organic growth strategy. We are acquiring new customers, deepening relationships, and expanding both net interest income and fee-based revenue through the strength of our product suite and capabilities. Our sustained growth reflects focused execution across both our core businesses and new growth initiatives. We are leveraging our scale as we further expand our well-diversified loan portfolio and continue to deepen client relationships. We have seen both loans and deposits growth of approximately $10 billion over the last year. Our commercial specialty banking teams are delivering solid results, as we broaden capabilities and extend our national reach. The Huntington brand is gaining traction and attracting clients in our newer markets—North and South Carolina and Texas, where the combination with Veritex further supports our long-term growth ambitions. Credit continues to perform well, demonstrated by improved net-charge offs and stable levels of criticized and non-performing assets. This is evidence of our disciplined credit risk management and client selection. We remain confident in our ability to execute our strategy and sustain strong growth, while maintaining our disciplined approach to risk management. We have never been better positioned.”

• Executing Core Strategies: Sustained new customer acquisition momentum with consumer primary bank relationship (PBR); growth of 4% and business PBR of 6% YoY; Drove 11% YoY growth in Key Strategic Fee3 areas; Continuing rollout of full franchise expansion in North and South Carolina; Added new middle market team focused on commercial opportunities in Florida; and Announced acquisition of Veritex in Texas

 

Loans and Leases I Balanced and Diversified Growth: Highlights

• Average loan growth of 1.8% QoQ, or 7.1% annualized
• 40% of 20 growth from new initiatives
• Organic expansion in Texas and North and South Carolina
• Growth in Specialty and Commercial verticals including
• Financial Institutions Group and Funds Finance
• Core growth driven by Regional Banking and Middle Market
• Auto continued to benefit from sustained new
• origination levels
• New CRE originations improving and run-off decelerating

 

Strategic Fee Revenue Focus Areas I Payments

Drivers:

• Payment revenue growth of +7% YoY led by +18% growth in commercial payments
• Merchant services revenue growth of +96% YoY and new account growth of +52% YoY benefitted from new operating model
• TM revenue +10% YoY revenue growth

Highlights:

• 2nd highest growth rate in commercial card spend in FY241
• Debit card spend growth exceeded industry median by
• 60% in FY242
• Strong customer acquisition and enhanced relationships
• supported by Best Bank- Trust award

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Banks have been cautiously exploring generative AI, using it internally for call centers, software development, and investment research, but hesitating to deploy it directly to customers due to risks like hallucinations, toxicity, and misinformation. In response, Google, Oliver Wyman, and Corridor Platforms are launching a “responsible AI sandbox” for banks to test gen AI use cases safely. “The idea is, in a three month period, they really get a good sense of exactly what needs to be done for their use case to go live and what governance is needed,” said Manish Gupta, Corridor’s CEO. The sandbox includes bias, accuracy, and stability tests and supports portability. “Tier 1 banks have been using sandboxes with good results – for example, HSBC and JPMorganChase,” said Alenka Grealish of Celent. Consultant Dov Haselkorn added, “It gets them probably three years ahead on the journey… And speed is really of the essence.” He also emphasized data risk: “Data provenance is a major topic in this field… you have to make sure that those controls are in place to make sure that none of our customer data accidentally leaks to third parties.” The sandbox, initially using Google’s Gemini model trained for customer service, lets banks test gen AI with internal or external data. “The industry needs to learn how to control” the adoption of AI, said Oliver Wyman’s Michael Zeltkevic. Oliver Wyman will assist banks in operationalizing the models. Similar efforts are underway in the U.K., where the Financial Conduct Authority’s “Supercharged Sandbox” lets firms safely test AI. “This collaboration will help those that want to test AI ideas but who lack the capabilities to do so,” said FCA’s Jessica Rusu. Karan Jain, CEO of NayaOne, which powers the FCA sandbox, explained, “They brought the data and the AI model into NayaOne, we locked it down, and we provided the GPUs.” Jain noted that sandbox use cases include fraud detection, cybersecurity, code assistance, and compliance, but warned of lagging adoption: “The speed of adoption of technology is 10 times slower than the speed of technology that’s entering the market and the employees want it.”

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