NatWest is deepening its ties with Amazon Web Services to leverage the IT solutions provider’s generative AI capabilities.  

By the end of 2027, the $886 billion bank aims to use AWS’ generative AI to help nearly 10 million people manage their finances, according to a Sept. 18 NatWest release. 

AWS will help NatWest provide personalized services, including saving, buying a home, education on money management and establishing or growing a business, the release stated.

“This is an exciting chapter in our journey to deliver sustainable growth through deep, lasting relationships with each of the 19 million customers we serve,” Scott Marcar, chief information officer at NatWest Group, said in the release. “Ultimately, it will allow us to better support and protect our customers across the bank by leveraging the reliability, security and scalability of generative AI.” 

NatWest has been using AWS’ SageMaker — a machine learning tool that can anticipate services customers want and when they will need them — to provide a personalized, data-driven banking experience since March 2022, according to the release. 

BNY teams up with Trustly to launch BankifySM

BNY Mellon has teamed up with payments company Trustly to launch BankifySM, an open banking payments platform. 

BankifySM will allow organizations to receive guaranteed consumer payments directly from bank accounts, according to a BNY Mellon release on Sept. 7. 

“Bankify allows organizations to reimagine their consumer-to-business payment flows, helping them leverage the latest technology in open banking to provide consumers with an easy way to instruct account-to-account transfers,” Carl Slabicki, co-head of global payments at the $1.8 trillion BNY Mellon, told Bank Automation News. “Unique to Bankify is the guarantee of settlement on the underlying transaction, which offers organizations protection from chargebacks.” 

BNY’s business customers have reported that the cost of processing card payments is a pain point, Slabicki said. 

“The problem is that the established players in the merchant space have little motivation to champion innovation that meets the needs of organizations,” he said. “BNY Mellon, through Bankify, targets high acceptance costs and delivers a cost-efficient alternative.” 

BankifySM has garnered interest for consumer-to-business payments like merchant payment, bill payment and account funding, Slabicki said. Airlines, grocers, big box retailers, telecom companies, gas companies, utilities, insurance and broker-dealers are some industry verticals that have shown interest in the payments solution, he said. 

Bluevine links with 17 banks to increase FDIC insurance

Small business banking platform provider Bluevine has teamed up with a $3.45 billion Coastal Community Bank and 16 other banks to expand FDIC insurance coverage to $3 million through a sweep network for small business banking customers, according to a release this month from Bluevine. 

A sweep network distributes business deposits across multiple banks so customers can get higher FDIC deposit insurance coverage, Charles Amadon, senior vice president and general manager at Bluevine, told BAN. Sweep networks allow depositors to obtain expanded coverage for their deposits, while remaining in one banking relationship, he added. 

“While the banking crisis from earlier in the year didn’t directly impact our business customers, it did shine a light on the need for transparency and trust in your bank and banking platforms that you rely on to run your company,” Amadon said. “All Bluevine customers with balances that exceed $250,000 are automatically enrolled in the sweep program — with the ability to opt out if they prefer — at no additional cost to them.” 

Swift, Wise team up on cross-border payments

Swift and Wise announced a collaboration on cross-border payments, according to an announcement on Monday at the Sibos 2023 conference in Toronto. 

Swift is a global financial messaging service provider while Wise helps facilitate cross-border payments company.

Wise will leverage Swift’s technology, including cloud and API connectivity and payment pre-validation, to enhance payment capabilities, according to a Wise release. 

The companies are “looking at how could we solve some of the key problems when it comes to moving money across border and with the messaging protocol that Swift is really trying to standardize,” Abid Mumtaz, global head of Wise Platform, said Monday at Sibos. 

Wise’s financial institution clients are now able to communicate through Swift with a standardized protocol and make cross-border payments seamlessly, Mumtaz said.  

In fact, 57% of those transactions are available to the beneficiary within 20 seconds, he said. 

“By simultaneously leveraging existing payments architecture and optimizing payouts using Wise’s global network, we are empowering banks to innovate effortlessly,” Managing Director of Wise Platform Steve Naude said in the release. “Our network, combined with Swift’s extensive reach and trackability, will make international payments more convenient, faster and lower cost for banks, without necessitating a major tech build.”

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