Fintech

Pinterest CEO Says Consumers Benefit From AI-Powered Tools | PYMNTS.com

Published

3 weeks ago

August 9, 2025

Pinterest CEO Bill Ready said Friday (Aug. 8) that it will be some time before consumers are ready to let artificial intelligence (AI) agents do their shopping for them, but that Pinterest is providing AI-powered tools that will “meet the user where they are” in the meantime.

Speaking during the company’s quarterly earnings call, and responding to an analyst’s question about how agentic AI may impact the search funnel, Ready said that in terms of AI agents buying things without the customer being involved, it’s going to be “a very, very long cycle for that to play out” because customers will have to get used to that idea.

“But if we look at what’s happening on our platform already, we’re able to take the user much further down that shopping journey assisting them,” Ready said, according to the company’s transcript of the call.

Ready said Pinterest has “really made AI central to everything that we’re doing.” He pointed to the platform’s ability to make recommendations that align with each user’s taste and style, to effectively curate products for users based on very small signals, and to save users some of the time and work that goes into the shopping journey.

“We see really great early signs of that,” Ready said. “And we think there’s a lot more that we’re going to be able to do there that we will focus on in a very user-centric way that meets the user where they are, but with AI and LLMs (large language models) and agentic capabilities deeply embedded in the way that we’re doing that.”

The company aims to use generative AI to keep discovery joyful and make shopping frictionless, Pinterest Vice President of Design Dana Cho told PYMNTS CEO Karen Webster in an interview posted in May.

“Technology has nailed the buying part,” Cho said. “Now, we’re bringing the joy back to shopping.”

The PYMNTS Intelligence and Fiserv collaboration “GenAI Applications in Retail Transaction Analysis: Industry Trends and Insights” found that retailers are rapidly adopting Gen AI to enhance customer personalization.

Fifty-four percent of retailers used the technology to analyze transaction and payments data for customer segmentation in the last year, according to the report.

Fintech

Chinese Money Laundering Networks Flagged as ‘Severe Threat’ by FinCEN | PYMNTS.com

Published

18 hours ago

August 29, 2025

Hrishi

The Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) has issued a warning that Chinese money laundering networks are now among the most significant threats to the U.S. financial system, fueling operations of Mexico’s most powerful drug cartels.

In a new advisory released Thursday (August 28), FinCEN said groups including the Sinaloa Cartel and the Jalisco New Generation Cartel are increasingly using Chinese money laundering networks to clean billions in drug proceeds. The networks have become effective partners because they can move cash quickly, absorb losses and leverage demand from Chinese nationals seeking to bypass Beijing’s strict currency controls. By pairing cartel dollars with Chinese demand for U.S. currency, these networks have created what FinCEN called a “mutualistic relationship” that strengthens both sides.

The 15-page report outlines how these networks operate. They rely on informal value transfer systems, “mirror” transactions and trade-based money laundering schemes to shift funds across borders without physically moving cash. Some recruit Chinese students in the U.S. to act as money mules, depositing cartel cash into U.S. bank accounts and disguising the flows as tuition or living expenses. Others purchase electronics, luxury goods, and real estate with illicit funds, later reselling or exporting those assets to create the appearance of legitimate commerce.

“Chinese money laundering networks are professional money launderers that play a vital role in laundering the cartels’ drug proceeds in the United States,” the advisory said. “This is due to the speed and effectiveness of their operations, as well as their willingness to absorb financial losses and assume risks for the cartels and other clients.”

The advisory also lists “red flag” indicators for financial institutions, ranging from students depositing unusually large sums of cash to small businesses with outsized luxury goods transactions. FinCEN urged banks to reference the identifier “CMLN-2025-A003” when filing suspicious activity reports, and to pay special attention to transactions tied to unlicensed money service businesses, informal transfer systems and trade-based schemes.

FinCEN’s move follows a January executive order that designated several cartels as foreign terrorist organizations, underscoring the administration’s concern that cartel financing now poses not only a criminal but also a national security threat. The advisory ends with a reminder that financial institutions are on the front line of detecting suspicious flows and that voluntary information sharing under existing safe harbors can help expose networks that otherwise thrive in the shadows.

Fintech

Revolut Considers Hiring Advisers on US Banking Acquisition | PYMNTS.com

Published

2 days ago

August 28, 2025

Hrishi

U.K. FinTech Revolut is reportedly getting closer to entering the U.S. banking space.

The company is mulling hiring investment bankers to advise it on a possible acquisition of an American lender to bolster its growth in the U.S., Bloomberg News reported Thursday (Aug. 28), citing sources familiar with the matter.

One source told the news outlet that Revolut is still deciding between an acquisition or applying for its own banking license, and that these deliberations are happening as the company readies the launch of savings products for U.S. consumers in the weeks ahead.

The report follows a similar story from the Financial Times late last month, which said Revolut was considering the acquisition of a U.S.-chartered bank. A spokesperson for Revolut declined to comment when reached by PYMNTS.

As the Bloomberg report notes, Revolut has operated for years in the U.S. by collaborating with other banks. But now, the company and its competitors are seeking a greater share of the banking space amid a more relaxed attitude toward financial regulation in Washington.

Revolut is still in the process of establishing its banking presence in its home country. It took the FinTech more than three years to land a U.K. banking license, and while it eventually secured that permission, it must operate under certain restrictions. Per Bloomberg, Revolut has said it’s in the closing stages of this process.

“Given Revolut’s global scale, this is the largest and most complex mobilization ever undertaken in the UK,” the firm said in a statement last month. “A thorough review is an expected part of the process and getting this right is more important than rushing to meet a specific date.”

Revolut CEO Nik Storonsky has said that the company’s “grow fast” ethos had been ill-advised because a smaller firm would have been able to obtain licenses more easily than one the size of Revolut.

Meanwhile, last month saw a report that the British government and the U.K. central bank had suffered a “falling out” due to delays in allowing a full banking license for Revolut.

Bank of England Gov. Andrew Bailey denied that report, saying the central bank and British treasury have a good relationship.

Fintech

Ant and Standard Chartered Test Bank-to-Wallet Payments Offering | PYMNTS.com

Published

3 days ago

August 27, 2025

Hrishi

Live productions of this solution using the ISO 20022 financial messaging standards are underway, Standard Chartered announced Wednesday (Aug. 27).

Using Ant’s Alipay+ global wallet gateway services, the first transactions were completed between a Standard Chartered Bank customer account and a partner e-wallet. The solution employs Swift’s network of more than 11,500 financial institutions in 200-plus countries and territories to connect to 1.7 billion user accounts on the 36 global digital wallets in the Alipay+ ecosystem, particularly across fast-growing Asian markets.

“In a world of fast-moving innovation with a growing number of ways to move value, consumers and businesses expect more choice and optionality in their international payments experience,” said Kevin Wong, chief executive for Swift’s Asia Pacific operations.

“Swift is at the forefront of providing a best-in class experience with greater flexibility and choice. This collaboration with Ant International and Standard Chartered reflects that strategic commitment to faster, frictionless payments across multiple networks.”

The partnership comes in the midst of a shift in digital wallet usage among consumers and small businesses, as research by PYMNTS Intelligence has found.

The research found a growing preference for digital wallets when sending and receiving money across borders, particularly among consumers. The study found that 42% of consumers pointed to digital wallets as their top choice, outpacing traditional methods like bank account transfers and money transfer services. The figure was slightly higher among Americans, at 44%.

In addition, close to half of the consumers who don’t use digital wallets for international payments anticipate adopting them for peer-to-peer (P2P) transactions in the near future, “pointing toward further expansion of digital wallet usage in this domain,” PYMNTS wrote.

The chief drivers of this adoption included the perceived speed and growing trust associated with digital wallets.

“However, the burgeoning popularity of digital wallets in cross-border payments presents opportunities and challenges for banks,” PYMNTS wrote in April. “While consumers and businesses embrace the convenience offered by digital wallets, the report found interoperability issues that hinder seamless transactions across different platforms and countries.”

According to the study, 62% of banks in the U.S. and U.K. that are innovating or looking to innovate in cross-border payments plan to do so by teaming up with FinTech companies. The key factor behind these partnerships is the need for faster payment processing.