Experian and fintech platform Stryd have joined forces to launch an open banking-powered loan matching solution that gives brokers a new way to re-engage clients across the full loan life cycle. The collaboration lets brokers access real-time financial data via BankStatements.com.au – an Experian-acquired platform – and product information from Stryd, which catalogues more than 2,000 mortgage products from 85 bank brands. Joining Experian’s affordability and behavioural data with Stryd’s PRD-enabled product pricing and risk engine will enable brokers to better match clients to suitable loans and maintain engagement throughout the loan life cycle, including post-settlement. Rather than relying on periodic static updates, such as an annual loan review, the combined solution intends to enable dynamic event-based triggers, such as changes in cash flow, repayment behaviour, loan-to-value ratio, or product competitiveness, to prompt timely broker intervention. Eventually, the collaboration aims to reduce brokers’ reliance on periodic status updates, such as an annual loan review, and move towards event-driven alerts and real-time customer insights. Simone Jemmett, Experian’s managing director, open data solutions, A/NZ, said the collaboration will ultimately enhance brokers’ ability to re-engage clients at the right moments, particularly as brokers often lose visibility of customer data once a loan settles, limiting their ability to re-engage strategically.
Shopify is adding tighter control over agentic AI through a warning in the storefront code telling bots what they can and can’t do, discouraging unauthorized AI scraping and checkout automation
Shopify is drawing a line in the sand on agentic AI — a type of bot that autonomously completes tasks on its own, without human inputs — with new language across merchant websites that appears aimed at blocking agentic AI systems. Shopify now includes a warning in the code that powers merchant storefronts, telling bots what they can and can’t do. The message appears in each site’s robots.txt file — a standard tool websites use to give instructions to automated crawlers like search engines. The new line states: “Automated scraping, ‘buy-for-me’ agents, or any end-to-end flow that completes payment without a final review step is not permitted.” The updated language suggests it wants tighter control over how automated agents operate within its ecosystem. The move is likely not an outright rejection of agentic AI. The added language directs “legitimate integrators” to use its official Checkout Kit. In other words, the change shows Shopify is thinking ahead, drawing early boundaries between controlled integration and unregulated automation. Shopify merchants could theoretically override the robots.txt file, as Shopify is a content management system. But the default setting suggests the platform is trying to protect its ecosystem by discouraging unauthorized AI scraping and checkout automation.
PNC Bank’s new campaign features an animated Ben Franklin – the original financial influencer – delivering witty, practical money advice for the modern age
PNC Bank is putting a modern twist on timeless financial wisdom in their latest social campaign – with a little help from Benjamin Franklin himself. ‘Brilliant Ben Franklinisms’ is the latest creative concept to debut across PNC’s paid and organic social channels. It’s part of the bank’s ongoing ‘Brilliantly Boring’ brand platform that highlights how the bank’s reliable, responsible approach leads to fulfilling outcomes for customers in a world obsessed with shortcuts, hype, and high-risk money moves. Created by AOR Arnold, the campaign features an animated Ben Franklin – the original financial influencer – delivering witty, practical money advice for the modern age. The campaign will run across paid and organic social, supported by a full digital media buy. The first wave of content in a two-part social campaign rolling out in 2025, ‘Brilliant Ben Franklinisms’ marks the next chapter in the success of PNC’s ‘Brilliantly Boring’ brand platform, which launched in 2024 and helped establish the bank’s new, distinct tone of voice in the category.
IDEMIA Secure Transactions launches modular library of post-quantum cryptographic algorithms and expert support for easy integration and deployment of quantum-resistant cryptography
IDEMIA Secure Transactions (IST) has launched the IDEMIA Sphere Cryptographic Library, a modular library designed for easy integration and quantum-resistant cryptography adoption. The library is certified by NIST CAVP1 and supports both classical and post-quantum cryptographic algorithms, enabling organizations to enhance their cyber security while preparing for the post-quantum era. The library is designed to meet the needs of a rapidly evolving cybersecurity landscape and offers classical and post-quantum algorithms for hybrid protocols. It is certified by the NIST Cryptographic Algorithm Validation Program (CAVP) and offers algorithms for embedded and WhiteBox solutions. The library’s modular architecture enables seamless integration into both off-the-shelf and customized solutions, while clients benefit from IST’s expert support and consulting services for smooth deployment and long-term maintenance. For business: Acceleration of development cycles through ready-to-use certified modules; Reduced migration risks thanks to expert support during integration and maintenance phases; Ability to market quantum-resilient solutions rapidly, capitalizing on growing demand for trusted digital services. For consumers and citizens: Stronger protection of financial, healthcare, and identity data. Continuous, seamless digital experiences, with no perceptible change but a guarantee of higher security against quantum threats.
Anthropic’s Claude for Financial Services enables financial professionals to conduct research, generate investment reports, perform modelling and run complex analyses including Monte Carlo simulations and risk modeling with audit trails and verified source
Anthropic introduced Claude for Financial Services, an out-of-the-box generative artificial intelligence solution tailored to analysts, portfolio managers and underwriters at large financial institutions. The service, which is only available in enterprise plans, is powered by Claude 4, Anthropic’s most advanced AI model family. It is integrated with Box, Snowflake, Morningstar, FactSet, S&P Global and other data sources so users can access internal and external data in one dashboard. This is the first industry-specific service that Anthropic has formally introduced, according to Jonathan “JP” Pelosi, head of FSI at Anthropic. The platform enables financial professionals to conduct research, generate investment reports, and perform financial modeling with audit trails and verified source data. It can be used to modernize trading, automate compliance and run complex analyses including Monte Carlo simulations and risk modeling using Claude Code. The product expands Claude’s context window as well as usage limits to support large document analysis, a necessity for hedge funds, banks and insurers conducting due diligence or modeling transactions. Users can “look at hundreds of pages of financial documents,” without running into rate limits or losing continuity, Pelosi said.
Mastercard debuts experience-focused World Legend Card to support a growing demand among consumers for a “more intentional way of living, where spending on meaningful experiences is prioritized over material things”
Mastercard has introduced a new suite of benefits aimed at experience-seeking consumers. The Mastercard Collection is available across the company’s World, World Elite and newly created World Legend Mastercard cards, offering rewards on things like dining, entertainment and travel. The World Legend card is available to banks worldwide now, and will debut to cardholders in the third quarter of this year in the U.S., followed by a larger international launch. Driving this launch, is its in-house research showing a growing demand among consumers for a “more intentional way of living, where spending on meaningful experiences is prioritized over material things.” The vast majority of the company’s cardholders, “feel their best when spending their time on their passions, including culinary exploration, artistic endeavors, and cultural immersion,” while two-thirds “are becoming more intentional with how they spend their time, focusing on the relationships that matter most.”
Starting this year, Plaid will power an increasing portion of Xero’s US bank feed sources to eventually triple the number of high-quality bank feeds available to customers in the United States
Xero announced a strategic partnership with Plaid, a financial data network, to eventually triple the number of high-quality bank feeds available to customers in the United States. This partnership will significantly improve these business owners’ access to reliable bank connections, giving them a clearer, real-time view of their finances which, in turn, will empower them to make more informed decisions, supporting their growth, their employees, and the communities they serve. This partnership gives Xero’s customers access to more than a thousand secure, direct connections through Plaid’s expansive network of US financial institutions, delivering better reliability, data quality, and peace of mind for small businesses. Starting this year, Plaid will power an increasing portion of Xero’s US bank feed sources, offering customers more dependable connections to their financial data. “This partnership with Plaid is expected to supercharge bank connections. It will provide more robust integrations and higher-quality information from a wide range of financial institutions including smaller banks and credit unions. This will in turn make managing the finances a lot smoother, more precise and successful, as well as save valuable time for small business owners, accountants and bookkeepers,” said Vikram Grover, SVP Global Partnerships for Xero.
Regula’s embedded document reader offers dual-side scanning in a single step and automatic ejection after scanning for driver’s licenses and national ID cards to streamline checks at self-service kiosks and e-gates
Regula has introduced the Regula 7223E, an embedded document reader designed to streamline ID card checks at self-service kiosks and e-gates. This compact scanner is specifically built for ID-1 format documents, such as driver’s licenses and national ID cards, reducing user errors and improving customer experience. Self-service solutions are becoming more common in airports, hotels, and secure facilities. The Regula 7223E solves this problem with: Dual-side scanning in a single step; No-wrong-way card insertion; Automatic ejection after scanning. The result: faster lines, fewer errors, and a smoother process for customers and operators alike. The Regula 7223E is a standalone document reader based on the desktop ID card reader Regula 72X3. It can be used at kiosks, e-gates, or self-service points and is compatible with Regula’s embedded full-page document reader Regula 70X8M. The built-in indicator guides users through the process, improving usability and speeding up verification workflows. The 7223E is backed by Regula Document Reader SDK, a comprehensive document verification software solution that enables multiple automated checks to prove IDs’ authenticity. It draws on Regula’s proprietary identity document template database, which includes over 15,000 templates from 252 countries and territories.
Walmart provides business customers with pay by invoice; eligible customers can apply for a business line of credit with 30-day net terms that is fully integrated into the omnichannel Walmart Business environment
Walmart is letting SMBs and non-profits apply for credit to make payments. Walmart Business offers a broad assortment of more than 100,000 items with categorization and navigation tailored to organizational shoppers, is rolling out the TreviPay Pay by Invoice solution. This represents the retailer’s first business-to-business omnichannel payment capability and offers corporate and non-profit customers a business line of credit that provides flexible net terms and enables them to defer payment and receive detailed invoices to help monitor spending. Eligible customers can apply for a business line of credit with 30-day net terms that is fully integrated into the omnichannel Walmart Business environment. Walmart also recently rolled out Walmart Business Print, which enables organizational customers to design and place an order and then choose items with no-to-low minimum quantities to be shipped directly to them or picked up in-store. In addition, the discounter offers Walmart Business customers access to Clover business management solutions.
SearchStax’s generative AI feature delivers instant, natural language summaries at the top of onsite search results pages with each response grounded in the website’s indexed content and including source citations
SearchStax announced the release of Smart Answers for Site Search, a generative AI feature that delivers instant, natural language summaries at the top of onsite search results pages. Pulled from the customer’s own content index, Smart Answers gives website visitors faster access to accurate information, modernizing how people search, engage, and discover content on websites. With Smart Answers, visitors can type natural language questions into the search bar and receive a direct, AI-generated answer that appears instantly above website search results, similar to Google AI Overviews. Each response is grounded in the website’s indexed content and includes source citations. Users can also provide feedback to fine-tune the experience. For marketing teams and website experience owners, Smart Answers levels up their onsite search without the burden of heavy code changes or development projects. Smart Answers provides a developer-ready widget for easy implementation, with customizable UI to match your brand. Smart Answers determines if the search request requires a generative response and then synthesizes information from your content that has been indexed in SearchStax Site Search, delivering easy-to-digest answers to web visitors’ questions. Key Benefits of Smart Answers: Faster access to information with AI-summarized responses; Trusted answers based on your own website content; Natural language support, encouraging questions over keywords; Higher engagement and satisfaction by matching modern user expectations; Effortless modernization of your search experience without needing to re-architect your site