Citi has expanded its digital client platform, CitiDirect Commercial Banking, with new AI capabilities to improve customer service and security.
The platform now supports over half of Citi’s global commercial banking client base and handles around 2.3 million sessions.
AI features assist in fraud detection, automate customer queries, and provide real-time onboarding updates and guidance.
KYC renewals have been simplified through automated alerts and pre-filled forms, cutting effort and processing time for clients.
Live in markets including the UK, US, India, and others, the platform has received positive feedback from over 10,000 users. Citi says the enhancements are part of a broader effort to make mid-sized corporate banking faster, more innovative, and more efficient.
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Japan has pledged $5.5 billion in loans and announced an ambitious AI training programme to deepen economic ties with Africa.
At TICAD 9, Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba proposed creating an Indian Ocean–Africa economic zone to link African nations with Asia and the Middle East.
Japan will also support training 30,000 AI experts over three years to drive digital transformation and job growth across the continent.
The initiative comes amid growing calls from leaders like António Guterres and João Lourenço to overhaul global finance systems and empower African representation.
Japan’s move signals renewed interest in African engagement, as the US scales back and China’s influence expands across the region.
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Honda has entered a multiyear partnership with US-based startup Helm.ai to enhance self-driving systems in its vehicles.
The collaboration focuses on developing advanced driver assistance for Honda’s mass market range, with a target launch set for 2027.
Helm.ai, backed by over $100 million in funding, specialises in AI camera-based perception software and simulation technologies.
Honda has held an equity stake in the firm since 2021, having invested at least $30 million to support early-stage development.
The move places Honda among major global carmakers aiming to deliver partial automation on highways and regular roads. Existing systems like GM’s SuperCruise and Tesla’s Autopilot have already pushed ahead in the driver assistance space.
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Brazil’s Chamber of Deputies Economic Development Commission will hold its first hearing on 20 August to examine a proposal to establish a Bitcoin Strategic Reserve. The legislation aims to diversify Treasury assets and protect reserves from currency and geopolitical risks.
Deputy Luiz Philippe de Orleans e Bragança requested the hearing to gather expert input from government agencies and financial institutions. Lawmaker Eros Biondini highlighted global examples such as El Salvador, the US, China, Dubai, and the EU to support the initiative.
The bill assigns custody responsibilities to Brazil’s Central Bank and Finance Ministry and requires biannual reports on RESBit performance and risk assessments.
Brazil leads Latin America in crypto adoption, ranking 10th globally, with nearly $76 billion in crypto traded last year. The proposal positions the country among nations exploring digital asset reserves as hedges against traditional currency.
Following the hearing, the proposal will undergo review by four Chamber committees before full consideration and Senate approval. Expert and monetary authority input will guide committee reviews and amendments, supporting a strong legislative framework for Brazil’s proposed Bitcoin reserve.
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Coinbase positions stablecoins at the heart of AI-powered apps, bots, and machines. Over a sweltering August weekend in Brooklyn, around 100 developers from across the globe built tools enabling software to send and receive payments using these digital dollars.
Projects included instant-pay publishing platforms, chatbots charging small fees, and group marketplaces operating independently of traditional banks.
The company is promoting x402, an open-source protocol named after the ‘402 Payment Required’ internet error, designed to let apps and software settle payments instantly using stablecoins.
Developers were encouraged to integrate x402 into their projects, offering real-time microtransactions without relying on PayPal, Visa, or banks. Coinbase hopes the protocol becomes the go-to toolkit for app builders, similar to how Amazon Web Services underpins the internet.
Competition intensifies as Stripe, PayPal, Visa, and Mastercard explore stablecoin infrastructure. Recent US legislation regulating stablecoins provides legal clarity, encouraging developers to innovate confidently.
Despite traditional payment systems and slow-changing consumer habits, Coinbase’s hackathon showcased growing ambitions to develop AI financial infrastructure. Stablecoins are being positioned not just as digital assets, but as functional tools for the next generation of software payments.
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Federal Reserve Vice Chair for Supervision Michelle Bowman has warned that banks must embrace blockchain technology or risk fading into irrelevance. At the Wyoming Blockchain Symposium on 19 August, she urged banks and regulators to drop caution and embrace innovation.
Bowman highlighted tokenisation as one of the most immediate applications, enabling assets to be transferred digitally without intermediaries or physical movement.
She explained that tokenised systems could cut operational delays, reduce risks, and expand access across large and smaller banks. Regulatory alignment, she added, could accelerate tokenisation from pilots to mainstream adoption.
Fraud prevention was also a key point of her remarks. Bowman said financial institutions face growing threats from scams and identity theft, but argued blockchain could help reduce fraud.
She called for regulators to ensure frameworks support adoption rather than hinder it, framing the technology as a chance for collaboration between the industry and the Fed.
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OpenAI’s rollout of GPT-5 has faced criticism from users attached to older models, who say the new version lacks the character of its predecessors.
GPT-5 was designed as an all-in-one model, featuring a lightweight version for rapid responses and a reasoning version for complex tasks. A routing system determines which option to use, although users can manually select from several alternatives.
Modes include Auto, Fast, Thinking, Thinking mini, and Pro, with the last available to Pro subscribers for $200 monthly. Standard paid users can still access GPT-4o, GPT-4.1, 4o-mini, and even 3o through additional settings.
Chief executive Sam Altman has said the long-term goal is to give users more control over ChatGPT’s personality, making customisation a solution to concerns about style. He promised ample notice before permanently retiring older models.
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Indian firms are accelerating the adoption of AI, with many using AI agents to enhance workforce capabilities rather than relying solely on traditional methods.
According to Microsoft’s 2025 Work Trend Index, 93% of leaders in India plan to extend AI integration across their organisations within the next 12 to 18 months.
Frontier firms in India are leading the charge, redesigning operations around collaboration between humans and AI agents instead of following conventional hierarchies.
Over half of leaders already deploy AI to automate workflows and business processes across entire teams, enabling faster and more agile decision-making.
Microsoft notes that AI is becoming a true thought partner, fuelling creativity, accelerating decisions, and redefining teamwork instead of merely supporting routine tasks. Leaders report that embedding AI into daily operations drives measurable improvements in productivity, innovation, and business outcomes.
The findings are part of a global survey of 31,000 participants across 31 countries, highlighting India’s role at the forefront of AI-driven organisational transformation rather than merely following international trends.
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A new MIT study has found that 95% of corporate AI projects fail to deliver returns, mainly due to difficulties integrating them with existing workflows.
The report, ‘The GenAI Divide: State of AI in Business 2025’, examined 300 deployments and interviewed 350 employees. Only 5% of projects generated value, typically when focused on solving a single, clearly defined problem.
Executives often blamed model performance, but researchers pointed to a workforce ‘learning gap’ as the bigger barrier. Many projects faltered because staff were unprepared to adapt processes effectively.
More than half of GenAI budgets were allocated to sales and marketing, yet the most substantial returns came from automating back-office tasks, such as reducing agency costs and streamlining roles.
The study also found that tools purchased from specialised vendors were nearly twice as successful as in-house systems, with success rates of 67% compared to 33%.
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Google Cloud has unveiled a suite of security enhancements at its Security Summit 2025, focusing on protecting AI innovations and empowering cybersecurity teams with AI-driven defence tools.
VP and GM Jon Ramsey highlighted the growing need for specialised safeguards as enterprises deploy AI agents across complex environments.
Central to the announcements is the concept of an ‘agentic security operations centre,’ where AI agents coordinate actions to achieve shared security objectives. It represents a shift from reactive security approaches to proactive, agent-supported strategies.
Google’s platform integrates automated discovery, threat detection, and response mechanisms to streamline security operations and cover gaps in existing infrastructures.
Key innovations include extended protections for AI agents through Model Armour, covering Agentspace prompts and responses to mitigate prompt injection attacks, jailbreaking, and data leakage.
The Alert Investigation agent, available in preview, automates enrichment and analysis of security events while offering actionable recommendations, reducing manual effort and accelerating response times.
Integrating Mandiant threat intelligence feeds and Gemini AI strengthens detection and incident response across agent environments.
Additional tools, such as SecOps Labs and native SOAR dashboards, provide organisations with early access to AI-powered threat detection experiments and comprehensive security visualisation capabilities.
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