Latest posts
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Credit Card Delinquencies Edge Up to 2.5% Across Top Banks
The average credit card delinquency rate ticked up from 2.48% in June to 2.50% in July, Seeking Alpha reported Tuesday (Aug. 18), based on the results of seven banks. The figure remains below the pre-pandemic average of 2.68%, according to the report. During the same period, the banks’ average net charge-off rate declined from 3.42%…
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SEC Proposes Rules to Streamline Capital Formation for Digital Asset Entrepreneurs
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) proposed new rules that it said in a Tuesday (Aug. 18) press release would create a clear framework for certain investment contracts involving crypto assets. Dubbed “Regulation Crypto Assets,” the proposed rule will be open for a 60-day public comment period following its publication in the Federal Register, according…
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Corporate America’s Top 1% Spend $7,400 Per Employee on AI
The top 1% of U.S. businesses spent a median of $7,400 per employee on artificial intelligence in July, while the top 10% spent roughly $650, according to the Ramp AI Index released Aug. 12. The median company spent just $11.95 per employee. That gap leaves the heaviest spenders with AI budgets more than 600 times…
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Groq Raises $350 Million to Fund AI Inference Goals
Artificial intelligence (AI) inference company Groq has raised $350 million in new funding. The Series A round will help Groq support customers “seeking usage of medium and larger sized clusters of Nvidia accelerated computing for training and inference,” the company said in a news release Monday (Aug. 17). The round was led by tech investment…
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Freightos Shows the AI Freight Payoff Starts With Transactions
Global freight is becoming more digital, and it’s happening just in time for artificial intelligence. That, at least, was the backdrop for Freightos’ second-quarter 2026 results, released Monday (Aug. 17). Transactions on the company’s digital freight marketplace reached 458,000, up 15%, while gross booking value, or the value of freight services transacted through the platform,…
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Italy’s Cheese Bank Finds Climate Risk Has a Rind
On Wall Street, “cheese” is slang for money. In Italy, they decided the metaphor needed collateral. Deep inside climate-controlled warehouses in Emilia-Romagna, hundreds of thousands of wheels of Parmigiano-Reggiano sit on shelves while securing loans from Credito Emiliano, Fortune reported Monday (Aug. 10). It’s banking with notes of hazelnut, salt and a surprisingly complicated risk…
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Mastercard Offers Brazilian Acquirers 50% Payout and Services in Will Bank Dispute
Mastercard is proposing to pay half the amount demanded by Brazilian merchant acquirers that were impacted by the collapse of Will Financeira, also known as Will Bank, a FinTech tied to the failed Banco Master, Bloomberg reported Friday (Aug. 14), citing unnamed sources. In addition, Mastercard is proposing to provide the firms with services such…
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Retail Spending Pause Shows Consumers Picking Their Spots
July’s retail sales decline landed in the middle of a much more deliberate reset in household spending. Consumers are still buying, in select categories. But PYMNTS Intelligence data show how aggressively they are working the budget first, from switching brands and merchants to hunting discounts and comparing prices before deciding where the next dollar go…
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Western Union’s Intermex Deal Wins New York Approval but Stalls in California
Western Union’s pending acquisition of International Money Express (Intermex) has received regulatory approval from New York but faces further review by California, Western Union said in a Friday (Aug. 14) press release. The New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) gave its regulatory approval to the pending acquisition after Western Union made commitments regarding…