Q. What does the payments sector look for in a conference? A. The number of banks registered to attend and the number of bank speakers on the agenda, ready to openly communicate to the audience how they are currently leveraging technology.

Lloyds Bank is to launch a new multi-purpose AI financial assistant to help customers manage their finances via the UK bank’s mobile app.

Barzillian digital banking giant Nubank has applied for a US national bank charter, furthering its international expansion ambitions.

London-based climate risk analytics provider Climate X has appointed former Monzo, Amazon and Facebook staffer Andrew Ellam vice president of technology.

JPMorgan is to give AI training to all new employees, as the bank seeks to cement its reputation as an AI powerhouse.

Buy now, pay later giant Klarna has confirmed a $1 billion funding round, valuing the Swedish firm at $31 billion.

Financial services innovation and how industry participants can keep up with ecosystem culture were two of the key themes on day 1 of the Swift Operations Forum Europe (SOFE) 2019.

Nordic payments operator Nets and Softpay equipped all 7-Eleven stores across Denmark with emergency tap-to-pay SoftPOS kit the day after the chain’s payments and checkout terminals were knocked out by a cyberattack.

After less than a year as head of Google Cloud’s FS business, Derek White is joining SoFi-owned API and payments platform Galileo as CEO.

Goalsetter a US financial education platform focused on helping families learn how to spend, save and invest, has raised $9.6 million in a Series A extension round.

JPMorgan Chase has kicked off Devup, its first software enegineering conference that will bring together 500 tech boffins from nearly 30 major cities globally to share experiences and ideas for boosting the bank’s technology programme.

A Spanish startup has launched what it claims is the world’s first tokenised investment fund focused footballer’s image rights.

Alinea Invest has raised $10.4 million in Series A funding to build the investing app for the Gen Z youth market.

NatWest has selected Icon Payments Framework to steer the bank’s payments modernisation strategy in alignment with ISO 20022 payment data message standards and the development of the UK’s New Payments Architecture project.

Westpac has appointed Damien MacRae as its first BaaS chief executive, overseeing the Australian lender’s efforts to deepen its relationship with non-bank partners looking to embed banking services.