Modern Treasury, the payment operations platform for businesses, introduced Modern Treasury AI to deliver the first AI Platform purpose-built for the unique demands of enterprise payments. Built on the company’s Payment Ops infrastructure, Modern Treasury AI blends a context-aware agent with a powerful, real-time workspace. Together, they set a new standard in how businesses manage payment operations, transitioning from manual, reactive processes to proactive, intelligent workflows. The AI Agent is the first enterprise-grade Agent that understands payments, is auditable by design and delivers verifiable, rapid results built on existing connectivity and a deep understanding of how enterprise payment systems and workflows work. When combined with the Workspace, a canvas for payment teams and the AI Agent to operate in, they create a new model for how companies manage payment workflows, streamlining operations from insight to execution to issue resolution. Key features include: AI That Respects Rules and Roles: The AI Agent only takes action when it’s approved to do so and will never let third-party model providers train on your data. Purpose-Built Intelligence; and Seamless Execution.
Fintech factiiv’s platform for SMBs provides them tools to report positive and negative trade experiences, share credibility reports with vendors, partners, and customers; access risk assessment reports when extending credit and connect with a community of data providers
Fintech factiiv, has officially launched the first B2B credibility-building platform designed exclusively for small businesses. This transformative solution puts the power of credit and trade reporting directly into the hands of entrepreneurs, giving them tools to: Report positive and negative trade experiences; Share credibility reports with vendors, partners, and customers; Access factiiv reports to better evaluate risk when extending credit; Participate in a community of data providers to create a transparent trade ecosystem. In the coming months, factiiv will roll out a revolutionary service enabling small businesses to become data providers. This will allow members to access real-time reports on customers and vendors—reporting both positive and delinquent accounts to help create a more honest, transparent trade economy. Furthermore, the company plans to integrate AI-powered sales and customer support tools to enhance user experience and data integrity. These smart features will help businesses make faster, smarter decisions about who they choose to work with—and how they choose to grow. By combining AI with its existing infrastructure, factiiv is not only helping users mitigate risk but also assisting them in building a stronger foundation for long-term success.
Google is testing access to AI Mode directly within Search and adding new functionalities such as visual place and product cards that can be tapped on to get more details on a topic
Google is expanding access to AI Mode, its experimental feature that allows users to ask complex, multipart questions and follow-ups to dig deeper on a topic directly within Search. The tech giant is also adding more functionality to the feature, including the ability to pick up where you left off on a search. Now anyone in the U.S. who is at least 18 years old can access the feature if they’re enrolled in Labs, Google’s experimental arm. Google is also going to make AI Mode accessible outside of Labs, as it’s testing an AI Mode tab in Google Search that will be visible to a small percentage of people in the U.S. As for the new functionality, Google is making it possible to go a step beyond asking detailed questions about places and products. Now you can use AI mode to do things like find a new restaurant or things you need for your next trip. You will now start to see visual place and product cards in AI Mode that you can tap on to get more details. Google is also making it possible to pick up where you left off when using AI Mode, which should be helpful in cases where you’re working on longer-running projects and tasks. On desktop, you can now click the new left-side panel in AI Mode to get to your past searches to see the information you were already given, and to ask follow-up questions.
Google to expand Gemini’s feature to reference past conversations to free users; Gemini to become proactive assistant that anticipates user needs, offers insights and actions before they ask and turns ideas into action
Google announced the ability for Gemini to reference your past conversations in February for Gemini Advanced. Today’s “launching soon” tease does suggest it will come to free users as well, just like Saved info. Looking ahead, the future is “personalized context” from the Google services you use: “Gmail, Photos, Calendar, Search, YouTube, etc.” Google started testing this in March with the “Personalization (experimental)” model. Right now Gemini looks at your past Search history when considering a prompt to see if it can “make the answer better.” Beyond Search, Google at the time teased YouTube and Photos, with the company uniquely positioned to already have this information. On the proactive front, Google wants an assistant that anticipates your needs. Gemini will “offer insights and actions before you ask, freeing your mind and time for what truly matters,” or “Less prompting, more flow.” In terms of powerful, Google says the “best assistant turns your ideas into action.” This is talking about Gemini 2.5 Pro. Notably, Woodward says this “new era of models” will lead to a “new era of user experiences.” A recent example of that is something like Canvas. Meanwhile, the Gemini app lead credits Google’s infrastructure, especially TPUs, as making all this possible. It’s the kind of infra people dream about, but it actually exists here — and it’s going to let us make all this FREE for everyone to try, especially students.
Green Dot provides embedded banking services to Crypto.com, easily funding accounts with USD digitally or with cash across the Green Dot Network
Crypto.com will leverage Green Dot’s embedded finance platform, Arc, as an on-ramp and off-ramp for customers’ Cash Accounts and enable them to earn interest and easily fund accounts using U.S. dollars digitally or with cash at thousands of Green Dot Network cash access locations nationwide. Additionally, Crypto.com will launch a new interest-earning savings vault powered by Arc, with additional features and functionality planned for the future. “Increasing everyday utility of cryptocurrencies and providing customers more ways to enhance their financial lives are both central to our vision and roadmap at Crypto.com,” said Joe Anzures, General Manager, Americas and EVP of Payments, Crypto.com. “We are thrilled to partner with Green Dot, a true leader that shares our vision for digital payment utility and financial empowerment, in offering banking services to Crypto.com’s U.S. customers.” With more than 350 cryptocurrencies on its platform*, Crypto.com has one of the largest selections in the industry. By providing an on-ramp and off-ramp to fund Crypto.com Cash Accounts, either digitally or with cash, at thousands of convenient cash-in and cash-out locations at retailers nationwide via the Green Dot Network, Green Dot is enabling Crypto.com customers to utilize cryptocurrencies more easily and affordably. The Cash Account’s new savings vault will also allow Crypto.com customers to earn interest on the funds they are already using to purchase cryptocurrency. “We are thrilled to partner with Crypto.com to enhance the customer experience for their millions of users in the U.S. with more seamless and affordable means of buying and selling cryptocurrencies,” said Renata Caine, GM/SVP of Embedded Finance, Green Dot. “Crypto.com has been a trailblazer in safely and securely advancing the adoption of cryptocurrency in the U.S., and we are looking forward to innovating on behalf of their customers for years to come.”
Google’s ad network has begun showing advertising within the flow of conversations with chatbots operated by AI startups
Google’s ad network has begun showing advertising within the flow of conversations with chatbots — part of Alphabet Inc.’s efforts to keep its edge in digital advertising as generative artificial intelligence takes off. Earlier this year, Google’s AdSense for Search network, which traditionally shows ads within the search results of other websites, expanded to include conversations with chatbots operated by AI startups. Google made the move after conducting tests last year and earlier this year with a handful of startups, including AI search apps iAsk and Liner, according to people familiar with the matter who asked not to be identified discussing private information. Showing ads alongside its own search results is the heart of Google’s business, bolstered by a business that serves up advertising across much of the web. That empire has come under threat as new entrants like OpenAI and Perplexity AI seek to siphon off the search giant’s audience with products aiming to help users find what they are looking for more quickly. Generative AI startups are increasingly exploring advertising-based business models to offset the high costs of answering users’ questions with artificial intelligence. For example, before inviting users to ask follow-up questions, iAsk shows ads below its AI-generated responses. In addition to Google, startups such as Koah Labs have begun allowing brands to serve ads to the chatbot audience. AI search startup Perplexity, one of the most prominent players using AI to reshape internet services, establishes relationships directly with brands that want to buy ads on the site, according to a person familiar with the matter. Perplexity allows brands to sponsor follow-up questions to users’ queries.
J.D. Power Direct Banking Satisfaction Study: Charles Schwab ranks highest and AMEX is second among both checking and savings providers, Ally ranks third in checking, Marcus-Goldman Sachs is third in savings
According to the J.D. Power 2025 U.S. Direct Banking Satisfaction Study, overall customer satisfaction with direct bank checking accounts is 692 (on a 1,000-point scale), which is 24 points higher than the average regional bank and 35 points higher than national banks. Savings account satisfaction is even higher (705), which is 89 points higher than regional banks and 98 points higher than national banks. Charles Schwab Bank ranks highest in overall satisfaction among checking providers with a score of 740, marking the seventh consecutive year of being top ranked in the study. American Express (711) ranks second and Ally (694) ranks third. Charles Schwab Bank ranks highest in overall satisfaction among savings providers with a score of 748. American Express (737) ranks second and Marcus by Goldman Sachs (735) ranks third. Following are some key findings of the 2025 study:
- Checking satisfaction increases while savings satisfaction declines: The overall customer satisfaction score for direct bank checking accounts is 692, up 4 points from 2024. Overall satisfaction for direct bank savings accounts is 705, down 5 points from 2024. Both scores are still far higher than the average overall satisfaction scores for midsize banks, regional banks, national banks and neobanks.
- Support during challenging times drives satisfaction scores: The key performance indicator of “bank completely supports me during challenging times,” is responsible for a 73-point rise in checking account satisfaction and an 84-point rise in savings account satisfaction when banks hit the mark. When direct banks achieve these gains, customers reward the banks with higher utilization of direct deposit, higher investment account and credit card ownership, and a lower likelihood of moving deposits to another financial institution.
- Bank support resonating with younger customers: Members of Gen Z1 and Gen Y have the highest year-over-year increase in perceived level of direct bank support. Boomers believe their overall level of direct bank support has declined year over year.
Bank of America seeks to “bring the bank” to merchant services customers, integrating lending services and payments tied to back-office functions and virtual cards
The lines between software vendors, payment processors and merchant services are blurring, leading to changing buying decisions for merchants who are asking for more from their payment providers. Merchants, particularly small and mid-sized enterprises, are looking for service providers to help them run every aspect of their business, including automated employee time tracking, data management, streamlined B2B payments and marketing tools, going beyond transaction services. The merchants themselves are expanding their own business models, which typically involve selling direct to consumers. In doing so, they are leveraging the power of their brand for digital direct-to-consumer experiences, which require the use of payment facilitation or marketplace models. While these models reduce storefront overhead, they drive a new need in helping contend regulatory changes, security concerns and meeting the demands of burgeoning populations of end customers. Value-added services enable those merchants to garner repeat business, to collect data as consumers buy goods and services online — and merchants can offer loyalty and rewards as well as individualized engagement with consumers. Bank of America, for its own part, has conducted its own surveys of small- to medium-sized businesses (SMBs), to ask what merchant services meant to those clients. The customers said they wanted offerings from service providers that help them run every aspect of their business. “They’re looking to these merchant processors and acquirers to provide more than just a transaction service,” Bank of America Merchant Solutions Head Wally Mlynarski said. These growing companies want automated employee time tracking, data management to optimize inventory and streamlined B2B payments — along with marketing tools to enhance their presence across digital and mobile channels. For Bank of America, Mlynarski said, “We don’t stop at integrating into the merchant’s business — we want to integrate into the financial lives of the merchants well. We try to bring the bank to our customers and operate in their territory,” integrating, for example, lending services so that capital is available as needed, with payments tied to back-office functions so that merchants can pay their suppliers efficiently with virtual cards. Bank of America, Mlynarski said, has used a partnership approach to deliver those value-added service to merchant clients in the retail, restaurant and healthcare verticals, among others. “Building those partnerships fill any gaps we might have,” he said, and underpin long-term sustainable growth. In some cases, he said, client firms are seeking data and analytics functions from those clients, with integrations into enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems. Healthcare is a key example here, where back-office money movement needs to break free from paper-based communications and paper checks. Bank of America, he said, has been working to digitize those operations. Looking ahead, no matter whether they are consumer-facing or emanating from the back office, payments themselves should be intuitive and experiential, said Mlynarski, adding that transactions “should be in the background and automatic,” and they soon will be with artificial intelligence (AI) and biometrics.
Morgan Stanley to add crypto trading on E*Trade, the most direct move so far by a major US bank to let retail users buy and sell digital assets
Morgan Stanley is preparing to offer cryptocurrency trading on its E*Trade platform. This would be the most direct move so far by a major US bank to let retail users buy and sell digital assets. The change means state member banks no longer need to notify the Fed in advance of planned or current crypto-asset activities. These will now be reviewed through the standard supervisory process. The bank is exploring partnerships with crypto-native firms to support the technical side of the trading system. Morgan Stanley already offers some crypto-related products, such as ETFs, options, and futures. These are aimed at wealthier clients. The new plan would expand access to a broader group of users. If Morgan Stanley proceeds, it could increase pressure on crypto-focused platforms like Coinbase and Kraken. These firms currently serve a large share of the retail market. Meanwhile, E*Trade is introducing a new platform called “Power ETrade Pro” aimed at active traders. Currently in its pilot phase, the platform is scheduled for a full launch in June. The new platform will compete with services like Charles Schwab’s Thinkorswim and Robinhood’s Legend, offering customization of up to 120 tools across six screens. It will also include a separate desktop client in addition to existing web and mobile options.
Block 1Q 2025 reports growing engagement on Cash App with gross profit per monthly transacting active of $81, up 9% year over year; wants to make its agentic AI system for internal initiatives as the single, universal interface to help automate workflows and decision-making at scale
Block revised its full-year gross profit guidance to $9.96 billion, representing 12% year-over-year growth — a more conservative forecast reflecting macro headwinds and decelerated growth in Cash App’s core metrics. And with gross profit growing just 9% year over year, the company is now doubling down on three fronts: intelligent automation, credit accessibility, and brand reinvention. Perhaps the boldest claim in Block’s Q1 update revolves around its internal AI initiative: “goose.” Described as an “agentic system,” goose aims to be the universal interface for Block’s employees — and eventually its customers. The goal: to automate workflows and decision-making at scale. “Our first goal is to make goose our single interface for all of our functions,” explained Dorsey, noting that goose is already improving engineering productivity by 30%, and adding that the system will ultimately expand to every role in the company. “By the end of this year, goose will act as a personal CFO for consumers and a COO for sellers,” CEO Jack Dorsey said. Cash App Borrow — Block’s small-dollar, short-duration loan product — is emerging as a keystone of its monetization strategy. After receiving FDIC approval to issue consumer loans nationwide via Square Financial Services, the company is accelerating rollout across its Cash App user base. More than half of all Borrow loans are used within the Cash App ecosystem, the company reported, suggesting strong network lock-in. Notably, users who deposit their paycheck into Cash App are 2.5 times more likely to accept a Borrow offer than card-only users, and 13 times more likely than users with neither a Cash App Card nor direct deposit. This integrated financial model — what Block calls its “bank our base” strategy — aims to deepen engagement by turning casual users into multiproduct customers. Borrow is central to that transformation.
- Delivered year-over-year gross profit growth of 9% as we continue to launch new products across Square and Cash App to accelerate our growth at scale
- Growing engagement on Cash App with gross profit per monthly transacting active of $81 in Q1 on an annualized basis, up 9% year over year