Amazon Pay has selected Affirm as its first buy now, pay later provider in the United States, with the goal to give customers a more flexible payment option and give merchants on the platform a way to reach new customers, according to Omar Soudodi, director of Amazon Pay.

A central Affirm feature is “adaptive checkout,” which gives shoppers the ability to choose between bi-weekly and monthly payment plans with interest starting at 0% and no additional fees, according to Affirm President Libor Michalek. 

“By integrating Affirm’s adaptive checkout, thousands of merchants can offer their customers personalized payment options and increased spending power through Amazon Pay’s convenient and secure checkout experience,” Michalek told Bank Automation News. 

The company’s payment option can deliver cart sizes that are 60% larger, while ensuring customers’ ability to pay by confirming every transaction individually using a customer’s credit history, Michalek said.

While Amazon first partnered with Affirm in 2021, the new agreement marks the BNPL’s introduction onto the Amazon Pay platform. 

HSBC experiments with Quantinuum’s quantum computing

HSBC and quantum computing provider Quantinuum have teamed up for quantum computing projects within the bank.  

HSBC has “started to do actual experiments, to see how quantum computing and quantum technologies will impact their day-to-day operations,” Ilyas Khan, founder, vice chair and chief product officer of Quantinuum, told BAN.  

The pair started working together in late 2021, and now the $3.0 trillion bank has several projects in the works with Quantinuum, Khan said.  

The first project is a proof of concept, he said, noting that his company is implementing its Quantum Origin product to enhance HSBC’s cybersecurity. Quantum Origin strengthens cryptographic keys to protect transactions and confirm identity.  

The bank is also looking to quantum machine learning for fraud detection using natural language processing and a combined effort between tech provider Nvidia and Quantinuum, Khan said. 

HSBC joins JPMorgan with efforts to leverage quantum computing. JPMorgan in April invested in the technology to discover its potential uses for deep hedging within financial services.  

Axis Bank chooses Signzy’s onboarding tech

AI-based banking infrastructure provider Signzy provided its no-code platform and APIs for Axis Bank’s new Sarathi onboarding platform.

“With Sarathi, Axis Bank has created a truly world-class digital onboarding journey for its merchants that is highly secure, scalable and regulatory compliant,” Signzy Chief Executive and co-founder Ankit Ratan said in a release. This was “made possible by integrating AI-based identity and fraud checks, real-time database APIs and well-trained resources from Signzy.”

The Sarathi platform will help streamline the onboarding process for merchants using the $164 billion bank’s electronic data capture and point-of-sale devices, cutting a process that took up to 12 days down to about 45 minutes, according to the release. 

Signzy employs AI-based methods in its know your customer (KYC) and fraud-reduction technology, allowing it to verify IDs and check for fake identification videos in real time, according to the release. 

Citi deepens partnership with Treasury Intelligence Solutions

Citi Treasury and Trade Solutions will grow its relationship with cloud-based payments platform Treasury Intelligence Solutions, the bank announced in a news release last month. 

“Our objective was and is to deliver an expanded suite of solutions for finance practitioners to become more digital, more efficient, and more automated in managing cash and working capital,” Citi TTS Principal for Client Advisory Duncan Cole told BAN.

TIS’ platform helps clients administer various treasury-related workflows, including cross-border payments, managing liquidity and compliance. 

The $2.5 trillion Citi, which has worked with TIS since 2021 on a referral basis, will now be able to resell TIS services to its own clients, giving them a more automated platform for viewing their cash positions, according to Cole. 

“Having seen firsthand how our integrated solutions are driving automation and efficiency across the office of the CFO, we are confident this relationship is an effective channel to further bolster our clients’ cash forecasting and working capital capabilities,” TIS Americas Chief Executive Chris Calhoun said in the release. 

United State Bank looks to Bankjoy to ramp up digital platform

United State Bank selected digital banking provider Bankjoy to provide modern online and mobile banking channels Monday.  

The Lewistown, Mo.-based bank will use Bankjoy’s digital platform, including mobile and online banking and integrated loan applications, according to a Bankjoy release. Through this digitization process, the $252 million United State Bank will be able to provide online account opening, which will help onboard customers seamlessly while driving deposit growth. 

Consumers are willing to switch their banking partners “for a better online and mobile banking experience, and many are willing to make this switch via digital channels,” Michael Duncan, CEO of Bankjoy, said. 

Partnering with Bankjoy will help United States Bank in providing a modern digital banking platform for its customers and providing banking services beyond usual banking hours, bank President Chuck Gnuse said.