PYMNTS

Your payments got faster. Did your fraud detection? Instant bank payments have become a core part of how businesses pay out claims, collect loan payments and fund customer accounts. That speed is great for customers, but it leaves fraud teams very little time to act. The check has to happen before the money moves, not after. Join PYMNTS’ John Gaffney with Brian Dammeir of @Plaid, Stephen Sikes of Public and John Lynch of Avant on November 18 at 12 PM ET. They’ll cover how leading companies keep bank payments fast and simple while keeping return risk in check. Save your spot. hubs.ly/Q04Dt4l00

About 146 million Americans already use AI for personal tasks. They ask it where to shop, how to manage their money and whether to see a doctor. So dropping “AI will change everything” won’t get you far in your next leadership meeting. But knowing what’s changing, who’s moving ahead and where the next opportunity lies will. On November 19, PYMNTS CEO Karen Webster kicks off The State of AI and The Prompt Economy™, an eight-part executive briefing series with original PYMNTS Intelligence research. You'll come away with... - Hard data to back up your perspective and challenge conventional wisdom. - Provocative predictions that give your team something worth debating. - Business implications that connect AI developments to the decisions on your desk. Don't miss it. Secure your seat now. hubs.ly/Q04DBDS30

⚡ @billcom cut underwriting case time from three hours to about 12 minutes using a trio of AI agents, CEO and Founder René Lacerte said on Thursday’s earnings call. Full story on PYMNTS. hubs.ly/Q04DBkSj0

They ask it to compare cards. They ask it how to dig out of debt. They ask it to build a budget. For 4 in 10 consumers who use AI to manage their money, it has fully or mostly replaced the way they used to get that help. But ask them to let AI handle the money itself, and the room goes quiet. Only 16% of consumers want that, down from 20% in late 2025. Even AI power users cooled, from 50% to 41%. They’ll take the advice, but they're keeping their hands on the money. 💸 Find out why banks are now competing with chatbots for their customers’ attention in The Money Prompt from PYMNTS Intelligence. hubs.ly/Q04DBhrJ0

How do you hand customer calls to an AI agent without putting client trust on the line? At @i2cinc, one call type at a time. Each one is programmed, tested, audited and validated before it reaches production. Some go to the AI agent. Others stay with live agents whose judgment and empathy add more value. “Each validated call type becomes a trusted building block that reduces risk and accelerates the next deployment,” i2c VP of Operations Pam Guinn writes in a new PYMNTS eBook. Find out how i2c is scaling agentic AI without compromising quality. hubs.ly/Q04DzVhd0

🛒 Visa tested 22 AI models from 12 labs on realistic shopping tasks and 42.8% of runs failed, with the worst performer passing just 28.9%. Full story on PYMNTS. hubs.ly/Q04Dwz100

🍔 Wendy’s rejected Nelson Peltz’s $1.4 billion takeover bid and adopted a poison pill that triggers if any investor crosses 15% ownership. Peltz’s group already holds about 16.3%. Full story on PYMNTS. hubs.ly/Q04DtX_40

Your newest compliance hire might be an AI agent. “We treat each AI agent like a new hire,” @FlagrightHQ Co-Founder and Co-CEO Madhu Nadig writes in a new PYMNTS eBook. “It follows the institution’s own procedures, it logs every step it takes, and a person controls the outcome of every investigation.” Find out where Nadig says human judgment matters most in financial crime compliance. hubs.ly/Q04DrcmQ0

📉 The broader digital asset market shed roughly $300 billion in the past month, landing near $2.67 trillion, as rising borrowing costs pushed traders toward bonds and gold. 👀 Read the full story on PYMNTS. hubs.ly/Q04DtXsy0

🚗 Mercedes-Benz is partnering with MIT spinout Liquid AI to put conversational AI in its cars, running on the device instead of the cloud. Full story on PYMNTS. hubs.ly/Q04DtJ0s0

Two years of PYMNTS Intelligence data with @jpmorgan turned up what may be a quieter threat to working capital. Customers are negotiating terms that let them pay much later without ever falling behind. Just 38% of CFOs saw improvement in customer payment-term behavior, down from 73% a year earlier. Find out the four other forces rewriting the CFO’s cash playbook in the latest Time to Cash™ report. hubs.ly/Q04Dr97S0

For some college athletes, a first big NIL payday comes with a tax bill they didn’t save for. @PriorityCommrce's Brendan Kirsch pointed to congressional testimony about an 18-year-old whose NIL earnings went mostly to family support and bills. Priority’s GameTime accounts include a tax reserve that can set money aside automatically. Watch the full interview to hear why young earners need support managing their income. hubs.ly/Q04Dr7Rl0

Circle’s USDC moves $13.9 trillion as profit per dollar slips. Digital dollars are increasingly useful for moving money, but the companies issuing them still make much of their money when those dollars stay put. 👀 Read more about how Circle's latest quarter is symbolic of a problem facing the stablecoin industry on PYMNTS: hubs.ly/Q04Dr_vT0

Large companies expect to keep growing over the next three years without adding staff at the same pace. That’s the outlook for 84% of executives in the new PYMNTS Intelligence Agentic Edge Index. AI leaders spent an average of $14.5 million on new forms of AI last year, compared with $9.1 million for the bottom third. Find out how AI leaders are planning their next round of spending. hubs.ly/Q04Dr6jz0

A supplier may pay to join a buyer’s payment network and still have little idea when its money will arrive. Tungsten Automation CEO Peter Hantman told PYMNTS CEO Karen Webster the supplier has to become the network’s customer, too. Tungsten’s new Pay+ is built to show suppliers where their money is and give them a choice about when it arrives. Watch the full interview to find out how Pay+ connects invoice approval to the moment money moves. hubs.ly/Q04DqBvt0

Your bank knows your voice, your face and the way you type. AI can now fake all three. That puts issuers in a tough spot, because the checks they trusted most are the ones failing first. Read When Fraud Becomes the Customer, from PYMNTS Intelligence and @Paymentology, to see how issuers can build trust that keeps verifying, so real customers move freely and impostors stand out. hubs.ly/Q04D7zLC0

📊 The Number is 60%. That’s the share of paycheck-to-paycheck consumers struggling to pay bills who say they’d cut subscriptions first if money got tighter. What surprised Yvonni Markaki, Head of PYMNTS Intelligence, is how 57% of paycheck-to-paycheck consumers who pay their bills comfortably said the same.  💡 One number. The story behind it. Tune in to find out What’s Next.

Nearly every firm already has the connection that could flag fraud in real time. Only half use it. Just 49% of firms use secure bank connectivity to generate real-time fraud signals, and 47% still can’t spot suspected fraud within minutes. See what firms gain when they put those tools to work in Payment Protection from PYMNTS Intelligence and @Plaid. hubs.ly/Q04Dhcm50

“I started the year believing user adoption was the main challenge,” @ThalesDigiSec VP of Digital Wallet Romain Soulard writes in a new PYMNTS eBook. “I now believe the next frontier is merchant acceptance.” Find out why Soulard sees domestic rails working alongside international card networks at checkout. hubs.ly/Q04DgxmZ0

When money moves in seconds, how much time do you have to stop a fraudulent payment? ⏰ @bottomlinepay Senior Risk and Fraud Officer Katie Elliott says it comes down to the moments before it leaves. “The prevention window is the most important window that you have,” she told PYMNTS. Fraudsters often move funds out as soon as they land. Watch the full interview to hear how businesses can scrutinize risky payments without slowing down the rest. hubs.ly/Q04DgtLp0