HiddenLayer released AISec Platform 2.0, the platform with the most context, intelligence, and data for securing AI systems across the entire development and deployment lifecycle. Tnew release includes Model Genealogy and AI Bill of Materials (AIBOM), expanding the platform’s observability and policy-driven threat management capabilities. With AISec Platform 2.0, HiddenLayer is establishing a new benchmark in AI security where rich context, actionable telemetry, and automation converge to enable continuous protection of AI assets from development to production. With AISec Platform 2.0, HiddenLayer empowers security teams to Accelerate model development, Gain full visibility, Automate model governance and enforcement and Deploy AI with confidence. AISec Platform 2.0 introduces: 1) Model Genealogy: Unveils the lineage and pedigree of AI models to track how they were trained, fine-tuned, and modified over time, enhancing explainability, compliance, and threat identification. 2) AI Bill of Materials (AIBOM): Automatically generated for every scanned model, AIBOM provides an auditable inventory of model components, datasets, and dependencies. Exported in an industry-standard format, it enables organizations to trace supply chain risk, enforce licensing policies, and meet regulatory compliance requirements. 3) Enhanced Threat Intelligence & Community Insights: Aggregates data from public sources like Hugging Face, enriched with expert analysis and community insights, to deliver actionable intelligence on emerging machine learning security risks. 4) Red Teaming & Telemetry Dashboards: Updated dashboards enable deeper runtime analysis and incident response across model environments, offering better visibility into prompt injection attempts, misuse patterns, and agentic behaviors.
TD Bank creates Consumer Index to track financial preparedness of Americans; 70% consider illness or an unwelcome visit to the Emergency Room as the most critical time to be financially prepared
Forty-four percent of Americans report they think about their financial preparedness every single day, yet 36% of Americans say they are not confident they have enough savings to cover unexpected bills. These significant findings are broken down in TD Bank’s inaugural Financial Preparedness Report, Consumer Index where more than 5,000 U.S. adults were surveyed to examine their financial challenges, saving habits, and the actions they are taking to improve their financial health. “With ongoing economic concerns top-of-mind for consumers, preparation is key to better ensure that you’re well-positioned in any climate,” said Allison Robinson, Head of Retail Distribution at TD Bank. “We aim to provide our customers with the guidance they need to help them achieve their financial goals, and the TD Consumer Index highlights some of the most pressing topics concerning consumers today.” Americans see illness or an unwelcome visit to the Emergency Room as the most critical time to be financially prepared, with seven in ten (70%) ranking it among their top three priorities for financial readiness. A majority (72%) of Americans have been impacted by unexpected bills, with 59% of these respondents having gone into debt as a result. Additionally, 33% had to reallocate part of their savings to cover costs. Despite acknowledging the significance of healthcare expenses, only half said they are prepared to cover those costs. Saving for retirement is important for an overwhelming majority of consumers (88% of respondents), yet almost half don’t feel ready for it (47%). That unease likely stems from respondents not setting aside monthly income for retirement (31%) or not using retirement accounts like a 401K or Roth IRA (56%), and shockingly, 15% do not have retirement savings at all. One-third of respondents who do not currently own a home have a negative outlook on their ability to purchase. Across all respondents, the top factors influencing homebuying decisions are affordability (55%), the cost of borrowing (32%), and concerns about economic uncertainty or job stability (29%).Eighty-one percent of Americans have taken steps to improve overall financial health, with the majority of respondents (55%) already reducing spending or creating a budget. Most (78%) indicated they use at least one resource to keep up with their budget, with banking and budgeting apps topping the list. Additionally, 41% of respondents either use or would consider using a financial planner or advisor to help with their financial preparedness. Those who currently work with an advisor are much more likely to feel prepared for unexpected car (72%) or home (69%) maintenance costs, as well as unforeseen medical expenses (66%). The Consumer Index covers a range of consumer behaviors including three standout categories: healthcare, retirement, and homeownership. In the coming weeks, the Financial Preparedness Report will release its Small Business Index.
No-code IAM platform offers developers a secure, scalable way to connect AI agents to external tools without having to manually manage and store tokens, scopes, and permissions
Descope, the drag & drop external IAM platform, launched the Agentic Identity Hub, an industry-first platform that helps organizations solve authentication and authorization challenges for AI agents, systems, and workflows. The Descope no / low code external IAM platform helps organizations easily create, modify, and manage journeys for their consumers, business customers, partners, and APIs / AI agents using visual workflows. Capabilities announced include: 1) Inbound Apps, which provide every application an easy way to become its own identity provider using the OAuth standard. This allows AI agents to securely authenticate, access authorized user data, and take scoped actions on behalf of users with their explicit consent. 2) Outbound Apps, which provide every AI agent builder a secure, scalable way to connect AI agents to external tools without having to manually manage and store tokens, scopes, and permissions. Developers can choose from over 50 out-of-the-box tool integration templates including Gmail, HubSpot, GitHub, Snowflake, Slack, Notion, and Shopify. 3) MCP Auth SDKs and APIs that help developers building and managing remote MCP servers secure their systems with robust authorization controls as well as extend the MCP servers’ functionality by connecting them with multiple OAuth-based services.
CX platform for banks WaveCX, adapts to each bank’s policies, user roles and app structure, and transforms natural language requests into direct in-app action, instantly linking user intent to right screen, step or solution
WaveCX, provider of personalized, digital product engagement solutions for financial institutions, launched Curator Command, a major advancement in digital banking user experience (UX) that transforms natural language requests into direct in-app action. Built as an extension of the Curator platform, Curator Command expands on its AI-driven, semantic search capabilities, moving beyond simply understanding user intent to acting on it. Digital banking users often face friction when trying to complete basic tasks, including navigating complex menus, disconnected flows and overloaded support teams. Curator Command eliminates this friction by instantly connecting user intent to the right screen, step or solution, streamlining task completion and reducing reliance on manual navigation. The system enables customers and employees to type requests in plain language, understands the intent, reads app structure and real-time context, and activates the appropriate response. Curator Command adapts to each financial institution’s policies, user roles and app structure, rather than relying on prebuilt workflows or manually tagged flows. The platform reads the interface, understands user context and delivers accurate results from day one. Key benefits for financial institutions include: Reduced support volume and faster resolution; Increased adoption of digital tools and services; Faster onboarding and lower training costs; and A more responsive and intuitive user experience
PayPal to offer users a 3.7% annual rewards rate on holdings of the PayPal USD (PYUSD) stablecoin in their PayPal or Venmo wallets
PayPal Holdings will launch a rewards program this summer that will allow users to earn rewards on holdings of the PayPal USD (PYUSD) stablecoin in their PayPal or Venmo wallets. The company expects to offer a 3.7% annual rewards rate upon the launch of the program, although it can change the rate at any time. Users will be able to immediately use the rewards to send to other PayPal or Venmo users, fund international transfers, exchange for fiat, convert to other cryptocurrencies or make purchases at merchants with PayPal Checkout. “Consumers and businesses use PYUSD today for commerce, crypto, peer-to-peer transfers and B2B payments,” PayPal President and CEO Alex Chriss said. Michelle Gill, general manager of small business and financial services at PayPal, said the company expects to use the stablecoin to power a new B2B bill pay offering. “B2B bill pay is tapping into a $2 trillion market,” Gill said. “This is exciting not just for our merchants, but also for PayPal in that it opens up a brand-new network. … They now get to invite their vendors and their suppliers to join the PayPal ecosystem. … By the end of 2025, we hope to power all of this through PYUSD.”
Amazon Bedrock serverless endpoint system dynamically predicts the response quality of each model and efficiently routes it to the most appropriate model based on cost and response quality
Amazon Bedrock has announced the general availability of its Intelligent Prompt Routing, a serverless endpoint that efficiently routes requests between different foundation models within the same model family. The system dynamically predicts the response quality of each model for a request and routes the request to the model it determines is most appropriate based on cost and response quality. The system incorporates state-of-the-art methods for training routers for different sets of models, tasks, and prompts. Users can use the default prompt routers provided by Amazon Bedrock or configure their own prompt routers to adjust for performance linearly between the performance of two candidate LLMs. The system has reduced the overhead of added components by over 20% to approximately 85 ms (P90), resulting in an overall latency and cost benefit compared to always hitting the larger/more expensive model. Amazon Bedrock has conducted internal tests with proprietary and public data to evaluate the system’s performance metrics.
MoneyThumb’s AI enables the authentication of third-party PDF documents to analyze structural, metadata, and content-based patterns
MoneyThumb, a leader in automated document evaluation and fraud detection solutions, was awarded a U.S. patent for its Thumbprint product, an AI-driven technology that enables the authentication of third-party PDF documents. MoneyThumb’s Thumbprint patented technology leverages AI and advanced algorithms to analyze structural, metadata, and content-based patterns within PDF files. By identifying subtle discrepancies and inconsistencies, Thumbprint® helps detect fraud with its AI file tampering detection scoring model that identifies fraudulent activity in seconds, giving funders a powerful defense against risk and loan losses. Ryan Campbell, chief executive officer of MoneyThumb said “By formally protecting our IP, we’re not only strengthening our unique approach but also advancing the fight against digital document fraud across industries like lending, finance, law, and real estate.” MoneyThumb is transforming the lending industry by leading the shift from manual document processes to full automation. Its advanced technology streamlines data extraction and analysis, enabling funders to make faster, more accurate decisions.
Albertsons adds video functionality to its retail media network to enable advertisers to place shoppable video ads into e-commerce site
Albertsons Companies is deploying the Criteo Onsite Video solution to place shoppable video ads from CPG companies participating in its Albertsons Media Collective retail media network. As a result, Albertsons can now offer CPG advertisers a full-funnel onsite advertising suite combining video, display and sponsored product ad formats in one unified platform. Albertsons Media Collective is a beta partner for Criteo Onsite Video, and in a test campaign found that shoppers exposed to both onsite video and sponsored product ads delivered a 280% increase in click-through rates. When paired with sponsored product ads, onsite video ads also drove a 460% lift in sales. Other initiatives Albertsons intends to launch to enhance its retail media network in 2025 include bringing together the insights that Albertsons Media Collective has in order to create automation around its main media planning process, as well as bringing more transparency to measurement. “Video has always been a powerful storytelling tool but rarely a direct driver of commerce – until now,” said Stephen Howard-Sarin, managing director, retail media, Americas at Criteo. “It’s an incredibly exciting time for retail media. With the launch of onsite video into general availability, we’re giving brands, agencies and retailers the tools to captivate, convert and create meaningful shopping experiences.”
The U.S. Faster Payments Council is advocating for the use of email address and phone number identifiers via a shared, open digital directory to increase adoption of real-time payments and ensure interoperability
The U.S. Faster Payments Council advocated for the use of email address and phone number identifiers via a shared, open digital directory in a report this month as a way to increase adoption of real-time payments in the U.S. The council used a consumer bill payment example to show how an open directory could streamline and speed up the adoption of real-time payments in the U.S., explaining that existing closed loop directories aren’t inoperable and therefore hinder broader instant payment use. “As instant payments adoption continues to grow, financial institutions, fintechs, and payment service providers face challenges in managing account information, ensuring interoperability, and mitigating fraud risks,” the council said in an April 7 press release regarding the report. “Directory services play a key role in addressing these challenges by enabling seamless routing of payments and protecting sensitive payment credentials.” The Federal Reserve launched a real-time payments system called FedNow in 2023 and it competes with a private system called RTP that was started in 2017 by The Clearing House, which is owned by major banks. Both systems operate through banks. The U.S. has lagged other countries, such as India and Brazil, in cultivating use of such faster payment systems.
Bilt Rewards platform enables students to earn rewards on their student housing payments and redeem their rewards toward student loan repayments
Bilt Rewards now enables students to earn rewards on their student housing payments and redeem their rewards toward student loan payments. The first of these new capabilities results from the expansion of the Bilt Rewards network of homes to include student housing properties, beginning with those of its launch partner American Campus Communities (ACC). This partnership with ACC, which is a student housing company and a Blackstone portfolio company, will begin in late May at two properties at Baylor University and then expand in the coming months to the broader ACC portfolio that serves nearly 140,000 students. The collaboration extends to student housing properties the Bilt Rewards payments and commerce network that transforms housing and neighborhood spending into rewards and benefits. The other new feature announced — the ability for Bilt members to redeem their Bilt Points toward eligible student loan payments — is the first of its kind for Bilt Rewards. Starting Wednesday, Bilt members can redeem Bilt Points on student loans with five servicers: Nelnet, MOHELA, Sallie Mae, Aidvantage and Navient.