Visa debuts AI-based financial advice

The card network’s AI Financial Assistant uses information from 257 billion yearly transactions to inform “conversational” advice embedded in banking apps.

Bank M&A slowed to a crawl after start of the Iran war

A detailed look at bank merger-and-acquisition activity between January and June reveals a significant slowdown in announcements and a decline in deal value and pricing. The deceleration coincided with the start of U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iran.