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Visa bets on World Cup, agentic AI, to boost earnings
Visa posted its strongest quarterly revenue growth since 2022 in its second fiscal quarter of the year, and sought to project a clear runway for continued short- and long-term growth.
Revenue for Visa’s second fiscal quarter ended March 31 hit $11.2 billion, an increase of 17% from the same period last year thanks to growth in payments volume, cross-border volume, and processed transactions.
Suh acknowledged “near-term uncertainty” for cross-border payments in the CEMEA region due to the war in the Middle East, but said that it expected improvements in inbound travel to the U.S. from Latin America thanks to the World Cup would help offset those declines.
To lead or not to lead: banks can’t take payments dominance for granted
Blockchain-based fintechs have already gained a foothold in trading and institutional investing and have their eyes on payments. While the role of digital assets in payments is less rooted, there is a persistent narrative around stablecoin payments that overstates its impact and scale. This is a narrative that banks should not allow to go unquestioned.
Goldman Sachs invests $50 million in Kashable
Goldman Sachs Alternatives led the Series C financing with a commitment of up to $50 million, which includes an initial $25 million investment and an additional $25 million to be funded in the coming months subject to conditions. Kashable received the remaining $10 million from existing investors Revolution Ventures and EJF Ventures.
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How AI is quickly overhauling one segment of SBA lending
Cascading AI, which already serves two of the nation’s top SBA 7(a) lenders, says that it’s adding a third top-10 bank to its client list. Under a deal with Celtic Bank in Salt Lake City, the $4.8 billion-asset bank will use the fintech’s AI-powered loan origination platform.
San Francisco-based Cascading AI, which does business as Casca, also serves Live Oak Bancshares in Wilmington, North Carolina, and Columbus, Ohio-based Huntington Bancshares, which are the number-one and number-two SBA 7(a) lenders, according to agency statistics.
Interest rates are the most certain thing about FOMC meeting
The Federal Reserve’s rate-setting committee is expected to leave interest rates unchanged for a third consecutive meeting April 28-29, even as the ongoing Iran war fuels uncertainty about the economic outlook.
Markets have fully priced in a hold. The CME Group FedWatch tool shows a 100% probability that the federal funds rate will remain in a target range of 3.5% to 3.75%.
The April meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee will also likely mark the last one led by Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell. His term as chair ends May 15, and President Trump’s pick to replace him, former Fed Gov. Kevin Warsh, had his only obstacle to confirmation removed last week when Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., said he would vote for Warsh after the Justice Department dropped its investigation into Powell last Friday.
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