The Zelle network launched a new multi-city financial education training roadshow in partnership with Consumer Action, a national non-profit dedicated to consumer protection and financial empowerment for more than 50 years. The multi-city effort kicked off with an inaugural “train-the-trainer” event in New York City on July 22, aimed at increasing awareness and understanding of how fraud and scams are evolving. The New York event featured: An interactive workshop on how to prevent fraud and scams and financial education; A presentation from the Federal Trade Commission; and Opportunities for participants to ask questions and share experiences. Additional workshops will take place in Los Angeles on September 25 and Phoenix on November 6. Zelle and Consumer Action will work closely with local organizations to tailor each event to the unique needs of its community.
Jack Henry launches “MyFinancialHealth” on its digital banking platform designed using a configurable free-to-premium model, allowing financial institutions to offer key features at no cost to users, with optional paid upgrades
Jack Henry has launched MyFinancialHealth, allowing over 1,000 banks and credit unions to embed a suite of financial health tools powered by Array. The platform offers a broader suite of embeddable tools, including credit monitoring, identity protection, online subscription management, and federal student loans. The platform is designed using a configurable free-to-premium model, allowing financial institutions to offer key features at no cost to users, with optional paid upgrades for enhanced control and protection. The platform is easily activated through a single configuration, eliminating APIs, onboarding burden, and custom development. The launch aligns with Jack Henry’s mission to deepen the connection between accountholders and their primary financial institutions, reducing financial fragmentation and improving digital engagement. Array reports that users visit its components an average of 2.2 times a month, with many opting for premium services.
REGO white-label family financial lifecycle solution delivers COPPA compliant, generational banking solutions—youth accounts, elder care, and fractional investing—with family controls to support financial inclusion in tribal communities
Rego Payment Architectures, the white-label family financial lifecycle solution platform, announced a strategic partnership with Aambé Financial to bring REGO’s generational banking tools to tribal nations across the United States. Aambé Financial, a Native-led organization rooted in economic empowerment, will work with REGO to introduce its youth banking, elder financial care, and fractional investment offerings to tribal governments, enterprises, and families. The partnership will begin with REGO’s youth banking product, which enables children to earn, save, spend, and give with parental oversight in a secure, compliant environment. Designed to support financial literacy and family engagement, the platform is certified to be COPPA-compliant, making it uniquely suited to serve minors safely and responsibly. Future phases of the rollout will introduce REGO’s senior financial management and fractional investing modules, which are designed to support caregivers, elders, and first-time investors with appropriate controls and flexible access. Together, REGO and Aambé Financial offer a community-focused and scalable platform. This partnership empowers tribal communities to safeguard family finances, build wealth across generations, and take control of their financial futures.
Gen Z prefers trustworthy online retailers that are using transparent tech—online queues over crashes, bot defenses, and fair access systems—to earn loyalty, recommendations, and program signups
Unlike their older counterparts, Gen Z consumers are significantly more likely to stay loyal, spend more, recommend and join the loyalty programs among online businesses they trust most, according to “The Age of Online Trust,” a new survey from virtual waiting room provider Queue-it. Trust also trumps cost for a majority of Gen Z shoppers. Specifically, 90% reported they would buy a product from a trustworthy business even if it costs 10% more (88% of their older counterparts agree). A majority of these younger shoppers (68%) not only expect more from retailers than they did last year, they place more value on trust in online businesses. For example, 70% are likely to spend more at trustworthy retailers compared to 60% of millennials and Gen X. Meanwhile, 69% are likely to be more loyal vs. 63% of their older counterparts. More than three-quarters (76%) of these digitally-native shoppers are more likely to recommend trustworthy retailers, and 68% are more likely to join their loyalty program, the report said. To gain Gen Z’s trust, retailers need to emphasize reliability and transparency. For example, 88% of Gen Z shoppers prefer an online queue to an error page or crashed website. This drops to 84% among millennials and Gen X. Almost three-quarters of Gen Z shoppers (73%) are more likely to trust businesses that block bots and 65% are more likely to trust businesses that ensure fair access during limited-inventory sales or registrations. This is important to 54% of older counterparts.
MoneyFor launches clear, impartial financial platform empowering Americans to improve credit, manage debt, and make informed loan decisions
MoneyFor, a newly launched financial information platform, is addressing the growing demand for accessible and impartial financial guidance as American households face increased debt and borrowing costs. Founded in 2023, the platform is designed to help individuals improve credit health, understand loan terms, and manage debt through clear, practical resources. The platform offers a range of content, including articles, explainers, and decision-support tools, to support informed and sustainable financial decision-making. Rather than offering overly technical advice, the platform is structured around clear, actionable information designed for everyday use. The content is organized to assist individuals in various financial situations, from those beginning to understand how credit works, to those actively working to pay off high-interest debt or evaluate loan offers. MoneyFor does not promote specific financial products or services, instead focusing on education that can help individuals make better choices based on their own unique financial circumstances. The core objective of the platform is to reduce confusion and stress around financial decisions. The platform also reflects the changing nature of how financial information is consumed. With increasing digital access, more individuals are turning to online platforms for answers to financial questions. MoneyFor is built with this reality in mind, offering content that is easy to navigate, mobile-friendly, and continually updated based on current economic conditions and user feedback. What sets the platform apart is its focus on empowerment through knowledge. By breaking down the fundamentals of personal finance into understandable parts, it becomes easier for users to identify problems, develop a plan, and take the steps needed to build long-term financial health. While the platform does not provide financial advice in the form of personalized consultation, it offers a strong foundation of information that can support informed, confident choices.
Bilt expands its loyalty program that enables members to earn rewards on rent payments for apartments to include condo homeowners association (HOA) fees, student housing payments and mortgage payments
Bilt raised $250 million and expanded its loyalty program to include all housing categories. Launched in June 2021 to enable members to earn rewards on rent payments for apartments, the Bilt program now also includes condo homeowners association (HOA) fees, student housing payments and mortgage payments, Bilt founder and CEO Ankur Jain said. Beyond the Bilt Card, the platform allows members to use any payment method of their choice, such as ACH, debit cards, credit cards and other options. Bilt’s program allows members to pay with points when they visit local merchants, and its artificial intelligence-powered “neighborhood concierge” introduces members to those merchants and offers personalized recommendations. “What makes Bilt special isn’t just our scale — it’s our flywheel effect,” Jain said. “More properties in our network attract more merchants, which creates more value for residents, which attracts more properties. This virtuous cycle, powered by our AI-driven commerce platform and comprehensive merchant integrations, creates an ecosystem that becomes stronger with each new participant.”
Frontier to back Arbor Energy’s commercial-scale power plant that will use a unique gasifier and run on waste biomass to produce electricity for a data center while also sequestering 99% of CO2 released by combustion for underground storage
Frontier, supported by Stripe, Google, and Meta, has partnered with startup Arbor Energy to remove 116,000 tons of carbon dioxide by the end of the decade. This agreement provides Arbor with $41 million to construct its first commercial-scale power plant in southern Louisiana, which will run on waste biomass to produce electricity for a data center while also sequestering CO2 for underground storage. The facility aims to generate 5 to 10 megawatts of electricity. Arbor has developed a unique gasifier, as off-the-shelf options were inadequate. This gasifier uses supercritical CO2 from the plant itself to process biomass, producing syngas, which is then burned to generate electricity. Most of the produced CO2 will be sent to a pipeline for permanent storage, with some redirected back to the gasifier. Arbor co-founder and CEO Brad Hartwig has previously, aptly described the power plant as a “vegetarian rocket engine.” The entire system captures 99% of the CO2 released by the combustion, far higher than competing methods. And because it’s burning biomass, the process removes carbon from the atmosphere. Frontier estimates there is between 1 to 5 gigatons of waste biomass available every year. Even if only 1 gigaton meets those standards, there’s still a lot of potential for BiCRS and its close cousin, bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS), to make a significant dent in future energy needs. For Frontier, Arbor will only burn biomass, ensuring the power plant will remove carbon as required by the deal.
Nymbus core system integrates Bud Financial’s transaction data enrichment and AI-driven insights tech supporting real-time affordability checks and dynamic risk profiling by analyzing actual income and spending behavior
Nymbus, a full-stack banking platform for U.S. banks and credit unions, has announced an agreement with Bud Financial, a leading provider of transaction data enrichment and AI-driven insights for the financial services industry. Nymbus will integrate Bud’s market-leading suite of personal financial management (PFM) widgets into the Nymbus Banking Platform, enhancing the digital banking experience and enabling smarter, more contextual customer engagement. The integration will provide customers with a clear and intuitive view of their finances, deliver proactive content and financial tools through Bud’s widgets, and tailor experiences across digital channels with categorized, contextual data. Nymbus Engage, a new customer engagement solution, will help community banks and credit unions activate data in smarter ways and drive more meaningful, long-term relationships. Bud has been a pioneer in applying AI to financial data since 2015, helping institutions turn raw transaction streams into structured, actionable insights. Engage – Personalized PFM: Banking clients embed Bud’s enriched data into their apps via widgets to deliver real-time, hyper-personalized financial experiences. Use cases include “left-to-spend” balances that account for upcoming bills, visualizations of spending habits such as weekend spikes or predicted future spending, and personalized nudges or actions like suggesting savings transfers or setting budgets around overspending categories. These insights are powered by Bud APIs combined with large language models (LLMs) to provide contextual, automated intelligence tailored to each customer journey. Drive – Portfolio Analytics & Marketing: Drive aggregates individual-level insights across the entire customer base, enabling banks to perform behavioral segmentation, detect deposit activity triggers, and identify churn risks. These insights integrate seamlessly with CRM systems such as Salesforce or Braze to enable data-driven marketing and relationship management. Assess – Credit & Cashflow Underwriting: Bud’s technology supports real-time affordability checks and dynamic risk profiling by analyzing actual income and spending behavior. This enables more accurate credit decisions and reduces default rates by grounding assessments in real cashflow data rather than static credit scores.
Survey finds 67% of push payment investment fraud cases stem from social media platforms, which account for 71% of all investment fraud losses at an average loss of £3,706 per case
TSB found that 42% of 16–24-year-olds reported having used social media to access financial advice in the past 12 months, followed by 37% of 25-34-year-olds – and this declines to 11% for over 55s. Of those that had seen financial advice on social media platforms, 53% trusted the content – with 25-34-year-olds the most trusting (70%), followed by 62% of 16-24s, and 27% of over 55s. In addition, 83% have seen financial advice content on social media that they weren’t searching for. 51% said they had either acted on advice or planned to do so – with 25-34s the most likely to act or have acted (73%), compared to 27% of over 55s. Alarmingly, 55% of those who acted on advice said they had lost money as a result. TSB found that 90% had seen an investment opportunity on social media, and 43% would consider investing as a result. 25-34-year olds were the most likely to invest (69%), followed by 16-24s (68%) – and just 18% of over 55s. However, 42% said they did not know how to check the credibility or credentials of online content and offers. TSB’s internal customer data shows that 67% of push payment investment fraud cases stem from social media platforms, which account for 71% of all investment fraud losses – at an average loss of £3,706 per case. 36% of these social media cases started on Facebook, followed by TikTok (17%), Telegram (17%), Instagram (14%) and WhatsApp (14%). However, Facebook and WhatsApp accounted for by far the biggest losses at 36%, and 35% respectively. Polling also revealed that 43% felt worse about their finances after seeing posts about wealth on social media. 16-24-year-olds felt the worst (67%), followed by 25-34s (61%) – and this reduced to 22% of over 55s. 53% of 25-34-year-olds felt compelled to take out a product, or invest as a result; followed by 49% of 16-24s. Just 13% of over 55s felt the need to change behaviours and act.
Survey shows 45% respondents use a budgeting app or digital tool; 98% agree that budgeting helps them achieve their financial goals
Academy Bank, a family-owned community bank in Arizona, Colorado, Kansas, Arkansas, and Missouri, has released a white paper titled “Budgeting in the Digital Age: The Role of Apps in Financial Wellness.” The report, based on a survey of over 300 U.S. adults, found that 83% follow a budget to some extent, 45% use a budgeting app or digital tool, 98% agree that budgeting helps them achieve their financial goals, and 86% cite overspending or income fluctuations as the most common obstacles to successfully managing finances. The study highlights the greatest potential value of budgeting apps in helping people manage spending and navigate income fluctuations. Over half of the respondents listed “overspending” as their biggest financial challenge, while 30% said “irregular income” disrupted their budgeting. Lack of financial knowledge (28%) also poses a challenge. By addressing these obstacles, budgeting apps can become powerful tools for long-term financial growth. In response to the survey insights and a growing demand for user-friendly, comprehensive digital money management solutions, Academy Bank launched My Finance360, a personal finance tool designed to help clients better understand their spending, build healthy money-management habits, and reach financial goals. The app offers real-time tracking of income, expenses, and debt, smart budgeting and automated savings, the ability to link external accounts for a full view of finances, personalized transaction categorization, goal setting and bill payment reminders, net worth tracking, an easy-to-use interface, bank-level security, and fully integrated with Academy Bank’s mobile and online banking.