A video ad campaign on Instagram used convincing deepfakes of Goldman Sachs executives Abby Joseph Cohen and David Kostin, in addition to Michael Hewson (formerly of CMC Markets), to tempt amateurs who want to get rich quick into a stock-buying WhatsApp group. The videos were fake, and Meta says it has removed the campaign from its platform. “This is a fraudulent message and not representative of Goldman Sachs,” the bank told. “There should always be caution exercised around any unverified communication purporting to come from a Goldman Sachs employee.” In fact, there is a whole raft of fake AI video chief investment officers making the rounds on social media right now. Goldman’s chief U.S. equity strategist, David Kostin, who has been at the bank for 30 years, has one. Former CMC Markets chief analyst Michael Hewson (16 years at the company) has another. The videos don’t just look like the three execs, they sound like them too. One of the few giveaways is that their lips don’t quite match the words they are saying—a common flaw with AI deepfakes. CMC and Meta, Instagram’s owner, also confirmed the videos were fake.
Square’s new app offers intuitive modifier workflows and smart pre-authorization features to give sellers a personalized POS experience
Square announced the new Square Point of Sale app – its next-generation software that brings Square’s deep vertical-specific commerce and payments functionality into a single, unified app that sellers can personalize to meet the complex needs of their business, while supporting their business growth and evolution into the future. With the new Square Point of Sale, all of Square’s power and innovation is now available in one single app – making it easier for sellers to discover the tools that are right for their business and expand their features as they grow. From our testing, we found that feature discovery and usage among new sellers grew nearly 80% from the rate on the previous Square POS experience. The new Square Point of Sale makes it easy to manage it all, flow between operations, and deliver a great experience. The power and ease of Square Point of Sale resides in its modes – easy-to-understand feature sets, purpose-built for each industry, to give sellers a personalized POS experience that instantly sets them up with the right tools for their business. Sellers can easily add modes to expand their sales capabilities with no limitations on growth, while Square can now ship new features to more sellers at a faster rate. There are currently seven modes available on Square’s platform, offering unique technology and feature needs even within verticals:
Three Food & Beverage modes let sellers choose highly tailored solutions for their needs: Quick Service mode; Full Service mode; and Bar mode. Others include: Retail mode, Bookings mode, Services mode, and Standard mode
Ameriprise 1Q25: the wealth unit netted pretax adjusted operating earnings of $792 million on revenue of $2.78 billion, for a margin of 28.5%; The profit increased 4% from the same time a year ago
In the competitive recruiting fight for financial advisor talent, Ameriprise has followed the lead of rivals that have restricted their publicly reported headcounts to a vague number. Advice & Wealth Management segment generated 65% of its adjusted operating net revenue for the period and set a record level of advisor productivity. Business growth, rising client activity and asset appreciation fueled a new high in 12-month adjusted operating net revenue per advisor at $1.06 million. That figure jumped 12% year-over-year. Asset values plus “client and advisor engagement, and a focus on positioning portfolios to meet financial planning goals across market cycles,” drove higher customer holdings, according to the firm. Total client assets climbed 7% from the year-ago period to $1.02 trillion, while net flows rose 21% to $10.3 billion and incoming advisory holdings soared 34% to $8.7 billion. The higher advisor productivity led to more compensation costs and other expenses tied to increased business, according to the firm. Adjusted operating expenses escalated 11% year over year to $1.99 billion in the first quarter. The general and administrative portion enlarged just 1% to $424 million due to “strong expense discipline, as well as continued investments in growth initiatives and volume-related expenses due to business growth,” the firm said. For the quarter, the wealth unit netted pretax adjusted operating earnings of $792 million on revenue of $2.78 billion, for a margin of 28.5%. The profit increased 4% from the same time a year ago, while revenue was up 9% and the margin slipped by 130 basis points.
Revolut expands ‘Karma’ system adding six new risk and compliance behaviors that help determine bonus payments for employees
Revolut has expanded a system that tracks employees’ risky behavior and ultimately determines how much they’re paid every year. The company added six new sources to its Karma system last year, which allows employees to gain or lose points based on their behavior throughout the year. Those points are then tallied up and help determine bonus payments, the report shows. “We have seen companywide Karma performance related to key risk and compliance processes increase by 25% since its inception, showing the success of linking these actions to remuneration,” the company said. The Karma system includes more than 30 risk processes, the report shows. In one example, it might be used to track employees’ actions after a risk incident: the system would ensure that staffers complete any investigation and partake in remediation in a timely manner. The expanded system shows Revolut is still laser-focused on shaking off its reputation around weak financial controls that have dogged the company in previous years. “Karma is essential for measuring and incentivizing good risk and compliance outcomes, and its coverage was expanded in 2024 to address our organization’s growing complexity,” Pierre Decote, group chief risk and compliance officer, said
Coinbase’s customers to gain direct access to PayPal’s PYUSD and institutions already using crypto to have increased utility with PYUSD
PayPal and Coinbase announced an expansion of their partnership to increase the adoption, distribution, and utilization of the PayPal USD (PYUSD) stablecoin. This collaboration will provide value for consumers, enterprises, and institutions as they continue to utilize digital currencies across platforms and borders with the stability of regulated USD-denominated crypto-native assets. This partnership will give Coinbase’s millions of customers direct access to PYUSD while also enabling the thousands of institutions already using crypto increased utility with PYUSD. Additional details include:
1:1 PYUSD to USD conversions– Coinbase users will now be able to buy, sell, trade PYUSD with no platform fees, while also being able to redeem PYUSD 1:1 for US dollars directly on Coinbase platforms.
Payments related activities – The two companies are committed to collaborating on a variety of innovations that will help accelerate the adoption and utility of stablecoin based solutions for the purposes of moving or managing money around the world, particularly in commerce.
DeFi exploration – Coinbase and PayPal agree to explore new use cases for PYUSD in DeFi and onchain platforms.
Citigroup predicts stablecoin supply could hit $3.7 trillion by 2030; spawning opportunity for banks in- on and off ramps, cash management, custody and helping the issuer to buy and sell Treasuries and participate in repo
A new paper from Citi Institute forecasts the issuance of stablecoins reaching up to $3.7 trillion by 2030 in a bullish scenario that assumes minimal hurdles along the way. It also provided a base prediction of $1.6 trillion, which is less than the $2.4 trillion forecast from the Boston Consulting Group. The Citi numbers are based on several factors such as the proportion of cash that switches to stablecoins both domestically and globally, as well as bank balances and term deposits. Further adoption of blockchain and cryptocurrency will make up the largest proportion of stablecoin balances in all scenarios. While there are potential tailwinds from US and EU stablecoin legislation, the document highlights that more positive factors are required in order to achieve the optimistic case, including favorable legislation in other jurisdictions. The research also explores several potential headwinds. For example, some jurisdictions that fear dollarization could restrict the use of stablecoins. The IMF has regularly written about the challenges of crypto and stablecoin for monetary sovereignty, especially in countries that have exchange controls. On the one hand, if there’s a dramatic shift towards stablecoins, this could negatively impact deposits and the ability of banks to provide affordable lending. However, there are also opportunities for banks. These include obvious ones such as providing on and off ramps, stablecoin cash management services, custody of the reserves, and helping the issuer to buy and sell Treasuries and participate in repo. Banks could even use stablecoin infrastructure themselves. For example, MUFG startup Progmat is exploring using stablecoins instead of Swift for cross border payments, with business users giving them instructions in the normal way. Other banks are already leaning heavily into providing stablecoin services to issuers. BNY Mellon is Circle’s primary bank. Standard Chartered is the bank that has leaned in the most. It has relationships with issuers Paxos and StraitsX in Singapore and is part of a joint venture in Hong Kong to issue a stablecoin. Plus, one of its indirect subsidiaries, Zodia Markets, uses stablecoins for cross border foreign exchange.
Read Article
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.