News

Digital Banking
Open Banking Is Changing the Payments Game, and Enterprises Must Keep Up
April 17, 2023

Until fairly recently, consumers’ financial data has primarily been something to be hoarded and siloed. Rather than closing off this data, a new generation of solutions powered by connectivity may define the future of banking worldwide. After years and years of closed banking, open banking technology...

Regulation
FTC to Advertisers: Back Up Your Claims or Pay Up
April 16, 2023

The Federal Trade Commission is warning advertisers to back up claims about their products. The FTC last week issued notices to 670 companies warning that they could face civil penalties if they make claims in their ads that cannot be substantiated. “The requirement for advertisers...

Banking
Small Banks Hike Interest Rates as Depositors Flee
April 16, 2023

This week will be a momentous one for the country’s small and midsized banks. A number of these financial institutions are set to report earnings in the days ahead, thus showing the fuller impact of the outflow of deposits during the recent banking crisis, a...

Banking
Yellen Warns Banks Could Pull Back on Lending
April 16, 2023

America’s treasury secretary is warning of a tougher lending environment following two recent bank failures. In a Sunday (April 16) CNN interview, Janet Yellen said that such a pull back could affect the Federal Reserve campaign to raise interest rates. “Banks are likely to become...

Retail
Nordstrom Walks Back on Luxury and Leans Into Deep Discounts
April 15, 2023

Following its recent earnings report in early March, fashion retailer Nordstrom has announced the upcoming launch of nine additional stores for its Nordstrom Rack off-price retail concept. Most of the stores are planned to debut in the spring of 2024, while one store is scheduled...

Retail
Best Buy Eliminates Hundreds of In-Store Consultant Roles
April 14, 2023

Best Buy has reportedly eliminated hundreds of roles in its brick-and-mortar stores. The cuts are centered on the electronics and appliance retailer’s “consultants” who focus on selling computers, smartphones and other complex products, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported Friday (April 14), citing unnamed sources. With these consultant...

Artificial Intelligence
Elon Musk Is Creating an OpenAI Competitor
April 14, 2023

ChatGPT and GPT-4 developer OpenAI has a new competitor. It’s Elon Musk. News broke Friday (April 14) that the firebrand owner of Tesla, Twitter and SpaceX, among other companies, has been quietly amassing the processors and engineers to create artificial intelligence (AI) tech to rival...

Digital Banking
SBA Lifting Moratorium on Licensing New Small Business Lending Companies
April 14, 2023

Non-federally chartered banks will soon be able to make Small Business Administration (SBA) loans. Effective May 12, the agency is lifting the moratorium on licensing new Small Business Lending Companies (SBLCs), adding a new type of lending entity called a Community Advantage SBLC and removing...

Retail
Retail Sales Data: Consumers Reconsider Their ‘Essential’ Purchases
April 14, 2023

In retail, get ready for the “big reconsideration.” The latest retail sales data released Friday (April 14) show that in March — and for the second straight month — consumers pulled back their spending. Overall, the data from the U.S. Census Bureau shows that spending...