FDIC Advances Plans for Independent Standards Body to Certify Banking Service Providers
An independent standards organization will be created to develop uniform benchmarks for third-party vendors supplying services to banks. The FDIC is collaborating with banking and financial technology industry groups to establish this certification body for banking service providers.
UK’s Digital Bank Monzo Reports 1M+ Business Accounts
Monzo Business has surpassed one million accounts more than six years after launching the service. The digital bank announced this milestone in late July 2026, serving over a million UK business customers.
Philippines’ Underserved Credit Market Offers Major Fintech Opportunity, BillEase Says
The Philippines has limited formal credit access, creating expansion opportunities for digital financial services providers. BillEase co-founder Georg Steiger identifies the country as the most attractive fintech market in the region.
Harvey Targets $15.5 Billion Valuation as Revenue Surges Past $350 Million
Harvey, a legal AI startup, is raising $500 million at a $15.5 billion valuation, up from its $11 billion valuation in March. The company's annualized revenue has surpassed $350 million.
Consumers Cut Extras as Credit Card Debt Nears a Record
Consumer credit expanded at a 3.3% seasonally adjusted annual rate in June after contracting 0.3% in May, driven primarily by revolving credit including credit cards. This growth occurred as consumers reduced spending on discretionary items while their financial cushions thinned.
AI Is Bringing Retailers Their Best Customers but Not Closing the Sale
AI agent platforms generated less than 1% of Etsy's traffic in the second quarter, but those visits converted at higher rates than regular traffic. The company reported this finding during its earnings call, indicating AI agents drive quality visits without yet representing significant volume.
Wall Street’s New Cybersecurity Threat Starts With a Phone Call
Attackers from the threat group UNC6671 are conducting a cyber infiltration campaign against Wall Street firms by logging into cloud-based platforms rather than breaching networks. The campaign was documented in a threat update shared August 6 by Google's Threat Intelligence Group.
Airbnb Says AI Is Driving Faster Growth, Higher Bookings and Better Margins
Airbnb reported stronger-than-expected Q2 revenue, bookings, and profitability while raising its full-year outlook. The company attributes the financial improvements to its AI-first travel platform strategy.
EU, California Converge on AI Transparency Rules, Shifting Focus to Enterprise Governance
The EU's AI Act and California's AI Transparency Act both now require organizations to implement enterprise governance practices beyond basic user disclosure. Both regulatory regimes independently converge on mandating internal controls and documentation systems for AI system management.
FIS Expands Commercial Banking Platform to APAC Region
FIS has completed a global rollout of its Digital One Commercial platform by launching it in the Asia-Pacific region, following earlier launches in the United States and Europe, Middle East and Africa. The platform is now available across all three major geographic regions.
Stripe Integrates CareCredit to Expand Online Health and Wellness Financing
CareCredit financing can now be embedded directly into Stripe's online checkout for U.S. health and wellness providers. Synchrony, which operates CareCredit, enabled this integration to allow providers to offer the financing option through platforms they already use.
The RealReal’s AI Overhaul Helps Drive 22% GMV Growth
The RealReal's AI system Athena automates authentication and cataloging while a pricing algorithm analyzes over 100 data points per item. These AI upgrades helped drive 22% GMV growth over the past year.
DeepSeek Resumes Funding Round to Raise $8 Billion
DeepSeek resumed its second funding round seeking approximately $8 billion at a valuation of about $74 billion. The Chinese AI startup's funding discussions are ongoing and details remain subject to change.
SEC Boosts Enforcement Division With New Financial Reporting Unit
The SEC established a new Financial Reporting and Accounting Unit within its Enforcement Division to ensure alignment across all agency divisions in enforcing securities laws. The unit works across the agency to coordinate enforcement of SEC goals related to financial reporting and accounting matters.
Nayax and Zaria file for bank charters
Nayax and Zaria Systems have filed applications to charter banks in the US. Nayax operates as an Israeli payments and loyalty platform, while Zaria Systems provides infrastructure for mark-to-market credit and structured finance.
How banks have stopped thinking in products and started thinking in customer journeys
Synchrony, a financial services company with over $120 billion in assets, shifted its strategy from organizing around individual credit card products to structuring operations around complete customer journeys. The company had accumulated extensive customer data through private-label credit cards but needed to fundamentally reorganize how it used that information.
Before chasing AI, Bank of America wants banks to fix their data first
Banks need to prioritize fixing their data quality before implementing AI systems, since AI reliability depends entirely on underlying data integrity. Bank of America contends that model capability matters less than ensuring trustworthy data foundations for AI applications.
Chime Converts More Paychecks Into More Products
Chime's Instant Loan originations rose nearly 70% to $300 million in the second quarter, driven by automatic prequalification for qualifying Chime Prime members. The company uses direct deposit data as underwriting infrastructure to expand its lending business beyond its core banking products.
Block’s AI Overhaul Starts Showing Up in Results
Block cut approximately 40% of its workforce and repositioned artificial intelligence as central to operations under CEO Jack Dorsey's restructuring plan. The company's AI integration is beginning to produce measurable results across its business operations.
EBay Rides Luxury, Collectibles and AI to 15% Growth in Q2
eBay achieved 15% growth in Q2 by focusing on luxury goods, collectibles, and artificial intelligence technologies. The company, historically viewed as a mature marketplace, is now competing through these specialized categories rather than relying solely on general merchandise.
DoorDash Says Agentic Traffic Is Low, but AI Gains Are Not
DoorDash CEO Tony Xu reported that agentic order volume from AI partners remains low because most AI platforms are prioritizing enterprise customers. The company says AI is still delivering gains despite the limited agentic traffic currently flowing through its platform.
Sapiom Secures $35 Million to Help Companies Control AI Agent Costs
Sapiom raised $35 million in Series A funding to expand its platform for shipping, running, and scaling AI agents. The round closed 11 months after the company's founding and 6 months after its $15 million seed round.
10x Banking Raises £40 Million from AshGrove Capital
10x Banking secured £40 million in funding from AshGrove Capital to expand sales and go-to-market efforts. The company achieved EBITDA-positive status and surpassed 10 million live accounts while onboarding 10+ new financial institutions in the last 12 months.
Jamie Dimon recruits bank and IT leaders to tackle AI risks
Jamie Dimon is recruiting banking and IT leaders to form an industry group addressing AI risks from rapid corporate adoption. The group aims to tackle challenges posed by widespread AI implementation across the business sector.
Mastercard’s Marc Pettican on the road to a $17.4 trillion virtual card market
Virtual cards address accounts payable and receivable friction by reducing invoice chasing and late payments that occur more than 30% of the time. The virtual card market is projected to reach $17.4 trillion, with potential to reduce credit control teams that currently span 20 to 50 people at mid-sized corporations.
LoanDepot Q2 Revenue Jumps 18% on Home Equity Expansion
Home equity lending drove unit volume growth of 25% and revenue growth of 18% in the second quarter. LoanDepot expanded its home equity lending business as a central strategy during this period.
Appeals Court Overturns Ban on Perplexity AI Shopping Agents on Amazon
A U.S. appeals court reversed a March ban preventing Perplexity's AI shopping agents from accessing Amazon's platform. Amazon had claimed the agents violated federal hacking law, while Perplexity argued it did not breach the statute prohibiting unauthorized computer access.
Bahrain based Fintech Infinios Activates Live Stablecoin Settlement with Mastercard
Infinios activated live stablecoin settlement services using regulated stable digital currencies through a Mastercard partnership. The Bahrain-based fintech became the first issuer in the Kingdom to offer this settlement capability.
Google Pay Introduces Gemini enabled AI Tool for Users in India
Google Pay added a Gemini-powered conversational AI tool to its digital payments platform in India. The feature enables users to interact with artificial intelligence directly within the Google Pay application for transaction assistance.
Pinterest’s AI Push Pays Off in Record Users and Revenue
Pinterest achieved over $1 billion in quarterly revenue and set a record for monthly active users through its AI-driven shopping strategy. The platform maintained double-digit user growth for eleven consecutive quarters while deploying an AI conversational assistant.