Truist announced a series of key hires and appointments in its Commercial and Corporate Banking business to help fuel its nationwide, industry-focused strategy. With a focus on attracting and retaining the highest-quality talent within major industry verticals, these leaders will advance the team’s delivery of best-in-class thought leadership and solutions to new and existing clients across the U.S. Truist Commercial and Corporate Banking executes a regional delivery strategy for commercial and middle market companies across Truist’s geographic footprint and an industry-centric model to serve large corporate clients nationwide in key sectors. “Building our bench of leaders and seasoned bankers allows us to extend our capabilities and industry-specific experience to clients across the U.S.,” said Jim Pirouz, head of Corporate Banking at Truist. “We’re focused on delivering Truist’s broad suite of solutions to clients and scaling our team to achieve our growth ambition.” Truist’s Corporate Banking build-out includes the following senior leader appointments and hires: Rob Chesley and Evelyn Kudelski as Co-Heads of the Financial Institutions Group. Chesley and Kudelski have been senior leaders at Truist Securities with consistent track records of success and more than 50 years of combined experience. Benjamin Wright as Head of Industrials and Services. Wright will join Truist in July having most recently served as Head of Industrials at Wells Fargo and brings more than 20 years of direct industry and team development experience to the role. Laura Chittick as Head of Healthcare. Chittick will join Truist in August from J.P. Morgan and brings more than 25 years of experience in capital markets advisory and execution to the role with her last five years focused on pharma, biotech, medtech and healthcare services clients. “We’re committed to delivering the industry expertise that large institutions need to make confident, informed financial decisions that propel their business forward,” said Kerry Jessani, head of commercial and corporate banking at Truist. “The investments in our team will help us serve more clients, capture greater market share, and fuel our success.”
CitiDirect Commercial Banking platform launches digitally-native lending process for mid-sized corporates incorporating client feedback, user-centric development approach and leveraging insights from other Citi businesses
Citi Commercial Bank (‘CCB’) has taken steps to enhance its lending capabilities for mid-sized corporates by offering a streamlined digital experience. This transformation of CCB’s existing credit processes will improve ease of use for global clients while accelerating turnaround times and enhancing the overall client experience. The changes are part of CCB’s ongoing strategic focus to increase its pace of digitalization. CCB clients will now experience a digitally-native lending process through the CitiDirect® Commercial Banking platform. The updated platform incorporates client feedback, provides a user-centric development approach and leverages insights from other Citi businesses. “These enhancements support our commercial banking clients by offering quicker, more efficient and tech-led financing options to meet their capital needs,” said Tasnim Ghiawadwala, Head of Citi Commercial Bank. “Many CCB clients are fast-growing companies, and this improved lending experience is consistent with how they operate their own businesses.” Key enhancements include: Digital Credit Application, streamlining the intake and processing of new money requests for both Clients and Bankers. Clients benefit from easy provision of financials based on a clear and codified list of requirements, end-to-end status updates, and electronic contract signatures wherever legally approved. The Digital Credit Application is available for a wide array of credit products, including revolving credit, term loans, commercial cards and letters of credit, and can be used for products of an amount up to $10M. If a client is approved based on business-as-usual credit requirements, they receive approval in an average of 15 business days and funds are disbursed in an average of 30 business days. An Automated Self-Service Credit Management Process for existing borrowing relationships will enhance Citi Commercial Bank’s ongoing credit management processes, including covenant monitoring and annual reviews. Clients benefit from an automated schedule for the provision of ongoing financial reporting requirements as listed in their credit agreement, which they can provide with a one-click upload or by directly and securely connecting their ERP or accounting platform for a seamless push of data, powered by Validis. Information is then automatically shared with the bankers and underwriters and trackable in a new 360˚ internal deal management tool for efficient automated monitoring of turnaround times. These capabilities are live in the U.S., Canada, India, Singapore, Hong Kong and Brazil. Approximately 20% of CCB clients across those markets are using these digital lending capabilities. “The continued roll out of these new digital lending capabilities to new geographies remains a key priority for Citi Commercial Bank,” said Colm Donnelly, Head of Digital Lending Transformation and Partnerships for Citi Commercial Bank. “Digitally enhancing our client experience ensures we offer rapid support for common needs. We consistently explore ways to leverage innovative technology including artificial intelligence powered tools to increase automation and provide credit products in a quicker and simpler manner.”
Rocket Mortgage launches bridge loans to help home buyers buy now, sell later giving immediate access to the equity in their current property and to be able to compete with cash buyers
Rocket Mortgage, the nation’s largest mortgage lender and a part of Rocket Companies, announced the launch of bridge loans – a strategic solution designed to help buyers wrestle back control in today’s competitive housing market. This new product allows current homeowners to use equity to compete shoulder-to-shoulder with cash buyers – allowing them to purchase their next primary residence before selling their current one. This provides both financial flexibility and eliminates the uncertainty and reluctance of home sellers that often comes with so-called ‘contingent’ offers. With high home prices and tight housing inventory, many buyers struggle to compete without first selling – leading to delays and missed opportunities. Yet the average homeowner has $181,000 in untapped equity, a powerful resource to make a strong offer.¹ Rocket Mortgage’s bridge loan unlocks that equity upfront, providing funds for a down payment or closing costs in the interim. Bill Banfield, Chief Business Officer and Economist at Rocket says “Rocket Mortgage’s new bridge loan alleviates this by helping people purchase on their terms – not the market’s. It removes one of the biggest barriers to moving: immediate access to the equity in their current property. With this new flexibility, buyers can quickly and confidently secure their next home.” Rocket Mortgage’s bridge loan gives clients up to six months to sell their home, with interest-only payments throughout that period. To qualify, clients must have their home listed, be under contract with a listing agent or have a guaranteed buyout agreement in place. The client must also have an associated Rocket Mortgage purchase loan to be eligible.
Citi’s key priorities from a payments perspective, are about enabling corporate cash management, enabling financial institutions and banks and helping clients transition their business models to digital commerce
At Citigroup , a globally minded payments business necessitates a leader with experience that spans the globe. Enter Debopama Sen, head of payments for Citi’s Services business, who for nearly two years has been solely responsible for all business strategy, execution, growth and risk management of payments solutions for the global bank’s corporate, e-commerce, public sector, financial institution and commercial banking clients. Sen has spent nearly three decades with the bank in roles across its Services business, including trade finance, investor services, issuer services, liquidity management and payments. Her experience reaches the far corners of the payments world, too, including Singapore, where she worked with many of the bank’s treasury and trade solutions clients in Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam. She also ran Treasury and Trade Solutions in India, and represented Citigroup for five years on the board of the National Payments Corporation of India, of which Citigroup was a founding member. NPCI is the parent corporation that runs the country’s instant payment scheme, Unified Payments Network, also known as UPI. (The Treasury and Trade Solutions group, along with what was formerly known as Securities Services, was rebranded Services in 2023. Services is now comprised of five core businesses: Payments, Liquidity, Trade, Issuer Services, and Investor Services.) “Even though I worked in many different businesses, I was always very close to payments,” Sen told American Banker. “When you think about payments at Citi, obviously it is very, very closely integrated with all of our services capabilities.” That means marrying cash, payment and liquidity management with investment and financing services to give the bank’s global clients a full suite of money movement services. A task easier said than done in a world where clients’ needs range by size and geography, just to name a few. Citi has been on a quest for the last year to modernize its payments stack, which includes domestic payments and payments acceptance, clearing services, cross-border payments and commercial card issuance. Citi’s payments business processes $5 trillion in payments across more than 90 countries and jurisdictions on a daily basis, including 11 million daily instant payment transactions. And revenue from its Services business — where its payments business sits — increased 9% year over year as of December 31, 2024. “Our key priorities as we had laid out in investor day [last year] from a payments perspective, are really about enabling corporate cash management, enabling financial institutions and banks and helping our clients transition their business models to digital commerce, which is a third pillar of our strategy,” Sen said. Bringing 24/7/365 clearing capabilities to Citi’s financial institution clients is at the center of that strategy, she said.
“If there’s a [corporation] in the Middle East paying a supplier in Vietnam today, if it’s the fourth of July or it’s a U.S. holiday or the U.S. is closed, it doesn’t matter. Commerce can continue unchecked,” Sen said. More than 230 banks were using Citi’s 24/7 clearing solution as of May 2025, and volume was up 7% year over year at the end of 2024. “Enabling [24/7 clearing], and seeing the uptake and seeing the adoption reinforces our strategy, which has always been from day one to really make it very easy for our clients to connect to us, to use the new technology and not have to go through a very detailed sort of implementation at their end,” Sen said. Cross-border payment volume also saw an uptick in 2024, rising 6% year over year to nearly $380 billion.
Analyst Forrester’s Total Experience Score CX study ranks Navy Federal as ‘gold standard’ and commends Capital One, Chase, and TD Bank as ‘leading’
Forrester’s new Total Experience Score rankings for 25 US banks reveal that banks’ brand promises aren’t resonating and that CX has declined. Forrester’s Total Experience Score measures how well a brand’s promise resonates with both customers and noncustomers and how customers feel about their actual interactions with the brand. Together, these rankings paint a full picture of how well banks are winning over new customers and serving existing ones. Forrester’s new Brand Experience Index measures how well brand perception, across trust, salience, and fit, drives acquisition and retention for both noncustomers and customers. Only six brands earned the “leading” distinction in Forrester’s Total Experience Score growth grid, a map of how a brand wins prospects and serves customers. That’s not exactly a ringing endorsement. But here’s the kicker: Most banks were tightly clustered in a narrow range, making it hard for any one brand to truly stand out.
- Multichannel vs. direct banks: Who’s winning with prospects and customers? Spoiler alert: It’s not multichannel banks. With an average Total Experience Score of only 56.6 out of 100, US multichannel banks are falling short of expectations. Direct banks fared a little better, scoring 61.8 on average, largely due to prospects’ more positive perception of those brands.
- Navy Federal Credit Union was the gold standard among multichannel banks. Across the board, Navy Federal led the multichannel bank pack on Total Experience Score, along with BX Index and CX Index rankings. Navy Federal’s combined performance with customers and noncustomers propelled it deep into the coveted upper-right “leading” quadrant of our growth grid. Capital One, Chase, and TD Bank also placed in that quadrant.
- American Express National Bank and Charles Schwab Bank led the direct bank brands. On Total Experience Score, American Express National Bank (AMEX) and Charles Schwab Bank led the direct bank pack, but USAA took the lead in the BX Index rankings and Chime was the strongest in the CX Index. Only AMEX and Charles Schwab demonstrated strength at both winning and serving customers.
- Customers think that most banks are middling on trust. Fewer than three out of five customers say that they trust their bank brand; that still lags the industry’s high in 2021. Navy Federal stood out, leading the pack and scoring the highest ratings from customers across all seven levers of trust. For direct banks, USAA came out on top.
- Noncustomers trust banks even less. Around one in five noncustomers say that they trust the multichannel bank brands we studied, and just over one in three said that they trust the direct banks. Those are big gaps compared to how actual customers of those same brands feel. For direct banks, AMEX earned the most trust from noncustomers and Capital One led the way among multichannel banks.
BCG’s Global Wealth Report 2025 reports deployment of GenAI for prospecting, with some early movers reporting fivefold increases in lead generation and a doubling of conversion rates
Global financial wealth surged to a record $305 trillion in 2024, propelled by an 8.1% rise in financial assets amid strong equity market performance. Yet beneath this headline growth, the industry’s underlying engine, namely organic expansion, needs renewed strategic focus.
- New proprietary analysis by Boston Consulting Group (BCG) reveals that just 28% of wealth manager asset growth over the past decade came from existing advisors, falling to 22% in mature markets. Instead, firms leaned heavily on external levers such as M&A, market performance, and advisor recruitment—all of which can no longer be relied on to increase revenue. These are among the key findings of BCG’s Global Wealth Report 2025: Rethinking the Rules for Growth:
- Asia-Pacific is poised to lead wealth creation, with projected financial wealth growth of 9% compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) through 2029—outpacing North America (4%) and Western Europe (5%).
- Cross-border wealth surged by 8.7%, reaching $14.4 trillion in 2024. This is an acceleration over the prior four-year average annual growth of 6.3%, given increasing demand for geographic diversification and safe havens. Singapore (11.9% growth) and the UAE (11.1%) emerged as standout booking centers, with Switzerland, Hong Kong, and Singapore expected to absorb two-thirds of all new cross-border wealth by 2029.
- Wealth management assets under management (AuM) expanded by 13% in 2024, significantly faster than overall financial wealth (8.1%), yet revenue growth lagged at 7.1%, as many firms saw falling margins on the back of a changing rate environment.
- Universal banks outpaced pure-plays in organic growth, generating 32% of their AuM growth from existing advisors—double that of pure-play firms (15%) benefitting from structural advantages in lead generation.
- Firms are starting to deploy GenAI for prospecting, with some early movers reporting fivefold increases in lead generation and a doubling of conversion rates. Meanwhile, those integrating data-driven client retention systems saw up to 15% increases in product revenue and 20–30% boosts in productivity.
The report identifies four high-impact levers for firms looking to elevate their organic growth engines:
- Brand Differentiation: Building trust and relevance through clear identity and messaging while strengthening digital marketing
- GenAI-Driven Client Acquisition: Using agentic AI to identify high-potential prospects, build comprehensive profiles, and enable highly personal outreaches
- Data-Driven Recommendation Systems: By integrating data across all business lines, wealth managers can build a comprehensive view full of signals about what a client might need next.
- Next-Gen Client Engagement: Personalizing the client journey for younger investors with digital-native expectations
Microsoft’s new small language model can run locally on Windows 11 PCs using encoder-decoder approach that reduces AI compute cycle, breaking down large queries into more compact representation
Microsoft has announced a small language model called Mu, which will enable the running of generative AI (genAI) agents on Windows without internet connectivity. Mu uses the neural processing units (NPUs) of Copilot PCs, which are provided by three chip makers — Intel, AMD, and Qualcomm. The model provides a better understanding and context of queries and is designed to operate efficiently, delivering high performance while running locally. Microsoft is pushing genAI features into the core of Windows 11 and Microsoft 365, introducing a new developer stack called Windows ML 2.0 last month for developers to make AI features accessible in software applications. The 330-million parameter Mu model is designed to reduce AI computing cycles so it can run locally on Windows 11 PCs, as laptops have limited hardware and battery life and need a cloud service for AI. The model also generates high-quality responses with a better understanding of queries. The encoder-decoder model breaks down large queries into a more compact representation of information, which is then used to generate responses. The encoder-decoder approach is significantly faster than large language models (LLMs), such as Microsoft’s Phi-3.5, which is a decoder-only model.
Google Pay’s integration with Klarna allows users to easily set up a “Pay Later” schedule for purchases over $35 through pop-ups on Android and other platforms
If you’ve used Google Pay at all in recent weeks, you’re probably more than familiar with the “Pay Later” functionality that has recently rolled out. Now, Klarna and Google Pay have officially announced the functionality. “Buy Now, Pay Later” programs have become extremely common over the past few years, with many retailers allowing customers to split up their payments over the course of a few weeks or months to make the purchase a bit more flexible. There are a bunch of different companies powering this, with Klarna being one of the biggest names (and one of the only ones soon to be a mobile carrier too). In a press release this week, Klarna has officially announced its new integration with Google Pay. Through Google Pay pop-ups on Android and other platforms, users can now easily set up a “Pay Later” schedule with virtually any purchase as long as it’s over $35. Klarna explains: Klarna, the global digital bank and flexible payments provider, is now available as a payment option on Google Pay. Shoppers can use Klarna’s flexible payment options online on select Android apps and websites that offer Google Pay at checkout. By joining forces with one of the most widely used digital wallets in the country, Klarna continues to accelerate its growth in the U.S. market. This integration builds on Klarna’s commitment to responsible spending and empowers consumers with more choices in how they shop. Klarna’s Pay in 4 payment offering gives consumers four fixed repayments for purchases over $35, all interest-free. Financing is available for higher ticket items with monthly repayments made over a longer period of time starting at 0% APR. As mentioned, you’ve probably seen this already. Google Pay has been showing this new “Pay Later” functionality prominently, almost to an annoying degree every time an Android user is going through a purchase as of late. “Pay Later” functionality has been available in Pay for a while now, with Affirm and Zip both having been added in 2023. Afterpay was also added in 2024. Ironically, though, we didn’t see Klarna while testing out the “Pay Later” functionality, so it does still seem to be rolling out.
Plaid offers easy connect to its apps via Ozone API enabling American FIs to launch secure, scalable, and standards-compliant API services faster than ever
Ozone API, announced a new partnership with Plaid. As part of the collaboration, Ozone API will join Plaid’s FDX-enabled Gateway Partner Program, bringing Ozone API’s powerful open banking platform to Plaid’s network of over 12,000 financial institutions and 8,000 fintechs across North America and beyond. Through the partnership, the Ozone API platform provides this API as a seamless, out-of-the-box integration with Plaid’s infrastructure, enabling customers of banks and financial institutions to seamlessly connect to thousands of apps on the Plaid network. The collaboration reflects a shared commitment to innovation, regulatory compliance, and enhanced customer value within the rapidly evolving financial landscape. Through this partnership, financial institutions will be able to harness the full potential of open banking, driving new avenues for growth, enriching customer experiences, and exploring innovative embedded financial services. Huw Davies, Co-Founder & CEO of Ozone API said “By joining Plaid’s Gateway Partner Program, we can significantly accelerate open banking adoption across North America. This partnership empowers financial institutions to launch secure, scalable, and standards-compliant API services faster than ever, marking a major step forward in delivering true open finance and tangible commercial impact.”
Study shows 43% of retailers find handling online order returns in-store is a top challenge as store design is not adapted for it and increases in the volume of returns has created new costs
Forty-three percent of retailers say handling online order returns in-store is a top challenge, and that increases in the volume of returns has created new costs, according to a new study from Retail Systems Research (RSR), sponsored by retail technology provider Jumpmind. More than one-in-five retailers told RSR their stores were not designed for today’s more advanced customer service functions, such as order pickup, online returns, etc. Forty-one percent said that omnichannel fulfillment and returns require new in-store sales rep roles and workflows. RSR noted that the average return rate for online transactions is three-times higher than the return rate for in-store purchases. Despite challenges, 72% of retailers surveyed believe in-store returns can create opportunities to drive new sales. However, only 17% of shoppers end up spending more money following a return in-store. The vast majority of consumers surveyed (43%) simply return the item and walk out, revealing that retailers have a long way to go in improving the process.