US Set to Start Refunding $127 Billion in Tariffs
The U.S. Treasury will begin processing refunds on April 20 for $127 billion in tariffs that the Supreme Court struck down earlier this year. The Court of International Trade ordered the government to file a progress report by April 28. A new Consolidated Administration and Processing of Entries (CAPE) system will deliver a single electronic payment to each of the 56,497 importers who have completed the claim process, out of more than 330,000 affected firms. The refunds cover most of the $166 billion collected under the invalidated IEEPA authority.
OpenAI Expands Cybersecurity Program Before Deploying New Models
OpenAI announced on April 14 that it is expanding its Trusted Access for Cyber (TAC) program, scaling it to thousands of verified security professionals and hundreds of enterprise teams. The rollout adds new identity‑verification tiers and introduces GPT‑5.4‑Cyber, a cyber‑permissive...
UBS Analysts Say AI Models May Replace Some Software Incumbents
UBS analysts Karl Keirstead and Dean Marriott warned that the latest AI models from Anthropic and OpenAI could erode the market share of traditional enterprise‑software vendors. Their view, shared after attending the HumanX conference in San Francisco, frames the two...
TD and BMO Back New Montréal Exchange Credit Derivatives Product
TD Securities and BMO Capital Markets have been appointed liquidity providers for the Montréal Exchange’s newly launched FTSE Canada Bank Credit Index Futures (BCS). The contract, introduced on April 8, tracks a basket of Canadian bank bond spreads and offers a...
Latin America’s Informal Economy Becomes FinTech’s Biggest Opening
Latin America’s informal sector, which accounts for over 99.5% of merchants, is becoming the continent’s biggest fintech opportunity. Consumer mobile‑payment adoption is strong—61% in Brazil and 47% in Mexico—but many sellers still rely on cash and fragmented tools. Brazil’s Pix...
How CFOs Are Turning B2B Payments Into a Strategic Weapon
Corporate payment infrastructures are maturing worldwide, with real‑time networks, open‑banking APIs, and account‑to‑account transfers becoming commonplace. CFOs are now viewing B2B payments as a strategic capability that can optimize liquidity and working capital rather than a back‑office cost. Orchestration platforms...
Wells Fargo Scales AI to Meet Surging Customer Demand
Wells Fargo reported that its mobile platform now serves 33.5 million active users, up from 31.8 million a year earlier, while Zelle payments rose 14% year‑over‑year. The bank’s AI‑driven virtual assistant, Fargo, crossed the 1 billion interaction mark in under three years, underscoring rapid...
IMF Warns Governments to Keep Close Watch on AI Threats
The International Monetary Fund’s financial counsellor Tobias Adrian warned governments to stay vigilant about artificial‑intelligence threats, citing the rapid emergence of Anthropic’s Mythos models. He urged proactive policy frameworks for cyber security and operational readiness as banks begin testing the...
Citi Arms Wealth Advisors With 4 AI Tools to Cut Busywork
Citi has introduced four AI-powered tools across its wealth division to streamline data handling and advisory workflow. Portfolio Intelligence, a client‑facing platform, aggregates positions, performance metrics and market insights and is live for North American private‑bank clients, with a global...
PayPal Lets Small Businesses Tap Into Brazil’s Pix System
PayPal announced that its Complete Payments platform now supports Brazil’s Pix instant‑payment system for small and medium‑sized merchants. Pix, used by more than 170 million Brazilians, processed about 196 billion transactions and moved roughly $16 trillion, representing over 90 % of the country’s payment...
AI Arrives at Augusta and Fans Are Winning
IBM equipped the 90th Masters Tournament with AI‑driven digital tools, letting fans search the Masters Vault, receive real‑time shot probability insights, and follow a live predictive model of player performance. The Vault Search uses OCR, speech‑to‑text and scene detection to...
Cybersecurity’s Hottest New Job Is Negotiating With Hackers
Enterprises are increasingly hiring ransomware negotiators as cyber‑crime evolves into a structured extortion economy. These specialists step in after a breach, using psychological insight, financial strategy, and threat‑group intelligence to manage ransom demands. Reports from the Financial Times and PYMNTS...
White House Tells Banks to Use Anthropic to Spot Vulnerabilities
The White House is urging the nation’s largest banks to deploy Anthropic’s Mythos AI model for cybersecurity vulnerability detection. JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, Bank of America and Morgan Stanley have begun internal trials after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and...
CFTC Names Task Force to Set AI and Prediction Market Rules
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission announced the members of its Innovation Task Force, a new body charged with crafting clear rules for emerging technologies in U.S. derivatives markets. The five senior advisors—drawn from top law firms and fintech consultancies—join CFTC...
Walmart Marketplace Powers General Merchandise Surge
Walmart CFO John David Rainey told the JPMorgan Retail Roundup that the company’s marketplace is the engine driving its general‑merchandise push. The marketplace is expanding at a 20% annual rate, with home, hardlines and fashion categories outpacing 30% growth. Seller...
Bank of France Pushes EU to Rein in Non-Euro-Backed Stablecoins
The Bank of France is urging the EU to tighten the Markets in Crypto‑Assets Regulation (MiCA) to curb the use of stablecoins that are not backed by the euro. It wants restrictions on everyday payments, stricter rules on multi‑issuance, and...
Perplexity Uses Plaid to Personalize Money Insights
Perplexity has expanded its partnership with Plaid to let U.S. and Canadian users link bank accounts, credit cards and loans directly within its AI platform, providing read‑only, real‑time access to data from over 12,000 financial institutions. The integration enables users...
Energy Fueled the CPI Spike but Essentials Are the Real Story
The U.S. Consumer Price Index rose 3.3% year‑over‑year in March, with a 0.9% monthly gain—the fastest since mid‑2022. A 21% jump in gasoline prices supplied nearly three‑quarters of that increase, putting energy at the headline. Core CPI, which strips out...
Swedish Court Delays Verdict in Klarna-Google Antitrust Clash
Klarna announced that a Swedish Patent and Market Court has postponed the publication of its judgment in the antitrust lawsuit brought by its PriceRunner unit against Google from April 15 to June 10. The case stems from PriceRunner’s claim that...
Consumers Spend Through the Squeeze as Income Slips
Household spending continued to rise in February while personal income slipped 0.1%, creating a widening gap between earnings and outlays. Real disposable income fell 0.5% and the personal saving rate dropped to 4%, eroding financial buffers. Consumers are compensating with...
Meta’s AI Future Is Personal, Starting With You
Meta unveiled Muse Spark, its first AI model from the newly created Superintelligence Labs, and positioned it as a direct competitor to OpenAI, Google and Anthropic. The multimodal system can reason across text, images and video, and is already powering the...
Amazon CEO Andy Jassy Rejects AI Bubble Fears
Amazon CEO Andy Jassy affirmed in his 2025 Letter to Shareholders that the company will continue massive AI investments, dismissing concerns of an AI bubble. Amazon plans roughly $200 billion in capital expenditures this year to expand AI and cloud capacity,...
OnePay Expands Into HR With Workday Financial Wellness Deal
Walmart‑backed OnePay has partnered with Workday to embed its banking, investing and credit‑building tools within the Workday Wellness suite. The collaboration introduces Enhanced Direct Deposit Switching (EDDS), allowing employees to set up or move direct deposits to OnePay accounts directly...
Treasury Teams Shift to Mobile Platforms to Manage Real-Time Cash
Treasury departments are abandoning desktop‑only tools in favor of mobile platforms that enable real‑time cash management. Bank of America reported its CashPro app now approves an average of $38,000 in payments every second, with usage up 20% year‑over‑year. The shift...
Meta Expands CoreWeave Deal to $21 Billion as AI Cloud Demand Grows
Meta has expanded its agreement with AI‑focused cloud provider CoreWeave to a $21 billion, ten‑year contract running through 2032, securing large‑scale GPU clusters for training and inference. The deal comes as Meta ramps up its AI infrastructure spending, targeting more than...
Revolut Rolls Out AI Assistant for Daily Financial Tasks
Revolut introduced AIR, an AI‑powered personal assistant, to its UK app on April 9, enabling users to query spending, budgeting, investments and manage card controls through conversational chat. The feature can pause recurring payments, provide live exchange rates, and freeze...
Velera FinTech Partners Deliver Exclusive Benefits to Credit Unions
Velera, a credit union service organization, has broadened its FinTech Engagement Program to feature six new fintech partners that will provide credit unions with discounted pricing, waived fees, and other exclusive benefits. The inaugural partners—Coverbase, InvestiFi, Larky, Spiral, Swaystack, and...
PayPal Embeds Payment Links Into Canva Designs
PayPal has integrated its Payment Links service directly into Canva’s design platform, allowing creators to embed checkout buttons or QR codes within digital and printed assets. The feature lets users generate PayPal‑hosted payment pages, customize product details, and accept funds...
PODCAST: Stablecoins Are Moving Real Money, Just Not That Much of It Yet
Despite headlines touting massive market caps, stablecoins account for only single‑digit percent of real‑world payment volume. CFOs view them as risk‑reducing, point‑solution tools for slow, costly corridors rather than a wholesale banking replacement. Citi’s Token Services and startups like Stable...
68% of Banks Increase Fraud Defense Spending as Account Takeovers Spike
Banks are rapidly reclassifying fraud defense from a reactive cost center to core infrastructure, driven by a surge in account‑takeover attacks. The PYMNTS 2025 State of Fraud report shows unauthorized‑party fraud now represents 71% of incidents and losses, pushing average...
Crypto Embraces Regulator-in-the-Loop Strategy as Federal Rules Roll Out
U.S. regulators are moving from a fragmented, adversarial approach to a coordinated, iterative framework for crypto, anchored by the GENIUS Act’s stablecoin-specific rules and the SEC’s upcoming CLARITY Act. The White House’s stablecoin report and FDIC‑OCC prudential framework further cement...
When Everything Looks Like AI, Being Real Becomes the Advantage
Brands are confronting a flood of AI‑generated content, which now accounts for roughly 57% of online material. A Gartner survey shows 68% of U.S. consumers frequently question whether digital ads are real, and half prefer brands that avoid generative AI....
IMF Warns Crypto Risks Could Trigger Financial Instability
The International Monetary Fund warned that integrating crypto assets into mainstream finance represents a structural shift that could erode the friction‑based safeguards preventing crises from spiraling. Recent research from the New York Fed and other central banks shows stablecoins can...
Fed Data Signals Consumers Pulling Back on Credit Card Spending
Federal Reserve data released on April 7 shows total consumer credit grew 2.2% year‑over‑year in February, up from 1.8% in January. Non‑revolving credit—auto, student and personal loans—accelerated to a 2.8% annualized pace, while revolving credit card balances slowed to a 0.6%...
Regulators Rework AML Rules to Prioritize Risk-Based Evaluations
The Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network and three banking regulators unveiled a joint proposal to overhaul anti‑money‑laundering (AML) and counter‑terrorist financing rules under the Bank Secrecy Act. The new framework shifts focus from volume‑based paperwork to risk‑based assessments, directing resources...
AI Startups Raised $221 Billion in Q1 as Venture Funding Shows No Slowdown
North American AI startups attracted a record $221 billion in Q1 2026, roughly six times the previous quarter’s total. A handful of mega‑rounds drove most of the growth, with OpenAI raising $122 billion, Anthropic $30 billion, xAI $20 billion and Waymo $16 billion. Early‑stage activity...
Walmart Website Now Accepts CareCredit for Health and Wellness Products
Synchrony announced that its CareCredit health‑finance card is now accepted on Walmart.com for both home delivery and in‑store pickup. The rollout adds new eligible categories, including medical supplies, fitness equipment, and sleep essentials. CareCredit, already used in Walmart and Sam’s...
Delta Hikes Baggage Fees As Jet Fuel Costs Jump 132%
Delta Air Lines announced a $10 increase for the first and second checked bags and a $50 surcharge for a third bag, raising fees to $45, $55 and $200 respectively. The hike follows a 132% jump in jet fuel prices,...
Experian Streamlines Credit Report Access for Small Lenders
Experian has launched Experian Express, a self‑service digital onboarding platform that lets small‑volume U.S. lenders such as community banks and credit unions instantly credential, onboard, and retrieve consumer credit reports online. The solution streamlines a traditionally manual process, delivering faster,...
Amazon’s Pricing Tactics Lead Brands to Yank Items
Amazon has been refusing wholesale suppliers' requests to raise the prices it pays for their products, prompting brands such as Colgate and Adidas to trim or remove low‑margin items from the marketplace. Affected brands face added costs from tariffs and...
Binance Bets on Prediction Markets to Launch US Reentry
Binance.US is re‑entering the U.S. market under new CEO Stephen Gregory, a compliance veteran from firms like Currency.com, Gemini and CEX.io. After the SEC dismissed its case and the DOJ settled criminal charges—including a $4.3 billion penalty—the exchange is rebuilding with...
FBI Flags $893 Million in AI-Driven Scams
The FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center reported 22,364 AI‑related internet crime complaints in 2025, resulting in $893 million in losses. This marks the first time the agency isolated AI‑driven scams as a distinct category in its 25‑year‑old Internet Crime Report. AI...
Third-Party Agents Lose Access as Anthropic Tightens Claude Usage Rules
Anthropic announced that, effective April 4, Claude Pro and Max subscribers can no longer use their subscription limits to power third‑party agent frameworks such as OpenClaw. Affected users must move to pay‑as‑you‑go bundles or direct API keys, receiving a one‑time...
Digital Health Funding Sees $1 Billion Boost Since Q1 2025
Funding for digital health startups surged to $4 billion in Q1 2026 across 110 deals, a $1 billion increase from the same period a year earlier. The average deal size climbed to $36.7 million, the highest since Q4 2021. Twelve mega‑deals accounted for 59% of...
Solana Rolls Out Tools to Fend Off Blockchain Security Threats
The Solana Foundation announced two new security initiatives—STRIDE and the Solana Incident Response Network (SIRN)—to protect its rapidly expanding DeFi ecosystem. Led by Asymmetric Research and funded by Solana, STRIDE will independently audit projects and publish results, while SIRN creates...
Gig Workers Want Real-Time Pay for Real-Time Work
The gig economy is forcing platforms to provide real‑time payouts as workers need immediate cash to cover on‑the‑spot costs such as fuel and vehicle maintenance. Galileo’s product leader Ankush Singhal explains that delayed payments can halt a worker’s ability to...
AWS and UnitedHealthcare Take Back-Office to Front-End Approach to Healthcare AI
Amazon Web Services introduced Amazon Connect Health, embedding agentic AI directly into electronic health record workflows to deliver pre‑visit insights, real‑time documentation, and automated medical coding. UnitedHealthcare launched Avery, an AI‑driven companion that answers benefits questions, helps locate providers, and...
42% of CFOs Express Interest in Stablecoins as Payments Use Cases Grow
A new PYMNTS Intelligence study shows 42% of middle‑market CFOs have discussed, tested or used stablecoins, compared with 30% for cryptocurrencies, while only 13% report actual stablecoin usage. The data highlights that stablecoins are being viewed primarily as a payments...
Royal Bank of Canada Makes Travel the New Test for Card Loyalty
Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) is redefining card loyalty by moving beyond point‑based rewards toward a travel‑centric, data‑driven experience. Executive Vice President Vinita Savani says rewards are now table stakes, and banks must embed loyalty into everyday customer journeys. RBC’s...
Bolt Cuts Third of Staff Amid New AI Focus
Bolt, the one‑click checkout startup founded by Ryan Breslow, announced it is letting go about one‑third of its employees. The decision, communicated through a Slack message, was framed as a move toward a “leaner, AI‑centric” organization after months of cash...