PNC Bank announced today a significant investment in its branch network aimed at extending access to banking services and financial expertise for customers and communities across the country. The plan includes an approximate $1 billion investment to open more than 100 new locations and renovate more than 1,200 existing locations through 2028.

Through this investment, PNC will build and open new branches in key locations, including Austin, Dallas, Denver, Houston, Miami, and San Antonio, among others, improving the convenience and reach of its coast-to-coast branch network. In addition to building new branches, the bank is renovating existing locations across the country to create a better customer experience when conducting transactions or meeting with bankers to discuss financial goals.

"Our branch network is the heartbeat of our Retail business, offering friendly and convenient service to the millions of customers who step through our doors every single month," said Alex Overstrom, head of PNC Retail Banking. "Whether to finance a home, deposit a check, or save for retirement, our customers count on our 15,000 branch team members to support their holistic financial needs. By investing in our network, we are supporting our customers, our team members, and the communities where we live and work."

PNC currently has approximately 2,300 brick-and-mortar locations across the country. In addition, the bank serves customers through more than 60,000 PNC and partner ATMs nationwide as well as through online and mobile banking platforms and its customer care center.

"As one of the largest retail banks in the United States, our vast branch network, alongside our other core banking channels, plays a key role in how we serve and provide solutions to our customers across the country," said Overstrom. "Today's announcement further underscores our commitment to continuously invest in our branch network to effectively meet the needs of our customers in an evolving financial landscape."

PNC Bank, N.A., is a member of The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc.. PNC is one of the largest diversified financial services institutions in the United States, organized around its customers and communities for strong relationships and local delivery of retail and business banking including a full range of lending products; specialized services for corporations and government entities, including corporate banking, real estate finance, and asset-based lending; wealth management and asset management. 

PatientFi, a company offering medical practices a comprehensive technology suite of payment and subscription solutions to help patients pay for elective procedures, today announces the closing of a significant growth equity financing led by new investor Questa Capital, a venture growth equity firm focused on expansion-stage healthcare companies, with participation from the company’s existing investors. PatientFi intends to use the proceeds to cement its position as a market leader in its core specialties for elective healthcare practices and their patients. The growth capital will be used primarily for accelerating sales and marketing, developing new commercial partnerships, and launching new product initiatives.

Founded in 2017, PatientFi has steadily grown into a leading point-of-care payments platform to increase patient affordability and access to elective healthcare procedures. Since 2019, the company has added over 4,000 practices to its network of medical providers and served over 180,000 patients across its financing and subscription membership platforms. Not only has PatientFi helped their practice partners grow their businesses, they have also been a key partner to the medical aesthetics industry through commercial partnerships with category leaders like Galderma & Allergan Aesthetics.

Since 2010, the medical aesthetics industry has grown 10% annually and is estimated to be a $40 billion market over the next several years with enormous untapped market opportunity. In the US, 15 million patients have had an aesthetic treatment, and the number of consumers considering treatment in the near or immediate future is six times that – roughly 80 million people. In 70% of those decisions, consumers cite cost as the primary reason to delay or defer a treatment decision.

In recent years, PatientFi expanded its platform from point-of-care financing into a comprehensive, payment and technology solution for its practice partners. PatientFi recently launched PRIVI, a first-of-its-kind subscription and practice loyalty platform. With PRIVI, patients can pay for customized aesthetic treatment plans via a convenient monthly membership while earning valuable rewards along the way.

“PatientFi has seen incredible growth over the last few years across the aesthetics market, where market demand is incredibly robust. At Questa, we are extremely impressed by PatientFi’s innovation in alleviating the cost barrier for the consumer, while also recognizing the business needs and customer retention value for the medical provider,” said Brad Sloan, Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Questa Capital. “An emerging leader in patient payments, we believe PatientFi is at the epicenter of bridging accessibility for the patient with high-quality medical providers and life-enhancing treatments.”

“It was clear to me that the Questa team had a deep understanding of the opportunity at the intersection of payments, affordability, and elective healthcare,” said Todd Watts, Co-Founder and CEO of PatientFi. “We share a very similar thesis for where our target market will be in five years, and this capital will allow us to continue investing in our people and technology to accelerate our market position. We are excited to welcome our new partners to the team and look forward to working closely with Brad Sloan as a new member of the Board of Directors, and the entire Questa team.”

With this new capital, PatientFi will be doubling down on its close partnership with medical providers by empowering their practices with a growing suite of technology tools to help with attracting and retaining life-long, loyal patients. “If we can help a practice treat more patients by improving access and keep them coming back, everyone wins,” said Watts.

Nuvei Corporation, the Canadian fintech company, announces today the launch of its latest research whitepaper, accelerating revenue growth: How incremental payment optimization can drive up to 30% revenue gains, which places a spotlight on the role that strategic payment optimization can play in significantly enhancing eCommerce business' revenue.

To compile the whitepaper data, Nuvei commissioned research to survey more than 300 global merchants and interviewed payment leaders from worldwide brands. Key takeaways from the research include:

• 30-40% of authenticated transactions for eCommerce merchants are declined
• 20-40% of those declines result in a fully lost transaction
• 70% of overall cart abandonment happens after the customer enters the checkout flow

The extensive research offers a wealth of insights, practical strategies, case studies, and convenient scorecards for businesses seeking to harness the full power of their payments to combat these issues and optimize their revenue growth.

Philip Fayer, Nuvei Chair and CEO, commented on the announcement: "Payment optimization is key to helping our customers accelerate their revenue. Our latest research highlights the reasons it should be at the core of any payment strategy. At Nuvei, we're not just enhancing payment processing; we're revolutionizing it. By understanding the nuances of payments optimization, we intelligently apply functionality and features at every stage; pre-transaction, during transaction routing, and post-transaction to achieve the highest approval rates possible."

GoCardless, the bank payment company, has renewed its commitment to be the official headline sponsorship for the annual JustGiving Awards this September. This follows a hugely successful partnership for the 2023 GoCardless JustGiving Awards which brought in nearly 20,000 votes for 12 incredible finalists.

The sponsorship builds on a two-year relationship which started when JustGiving selected GoCardless to collect recurring donations via Direct Debit. Earlier this year, GoCardless was also named the open banking payments provider for the fundraising platform, enabling the public to make instant, one-off donations through its Instant Bank Pay feature.

Pat Phelan, MD of UK & Ireland and Chief Customer Officer at GoCardless said: “We’re continuously in awe of the amazing fundraisers in the UK, from their creativity to their dedication to the extremely moving reasons why they support their causes of choice. 

“We couldn’t be more proud to shine a light on these unsung heroes by renewing our sponsorship of the GoCardless JustGiving Awards, and to play our part in ensuring that donations are easy to make and manage. We’re particularly excited to offer open banking payments to the millions of fundraisers on the platform. Their supporters now have the option to make immediate, on-the-spot donations without the high fees associated with card transactions, ultimately helping more money go to worthy causes.”

Pascale Harvie, President and General Manager of JustGiving, said: “We’re delighted to announce GoCardless as our headline sponsor for the second year running and very much look forward to working with them again.”

This year’s GoCardless JustGiving Awards ceremony will take place at London’s iconic Roundhouse on Wednesday 18th September 2024, bringing together some of the biggest fundraisers and celebrities in the country under one roof.

Last year, attendees included Bill Bailey, Jamie Laing, Angela Griffiths, Faye Winter, Josh Patterson and Matt Edmondson. 

Responsible lender, Creditspring, provided borrowers with £127m in short-term, affordable credit during 2023.

Given the ongoing financial pressures on households – including increased energy costs – the amount of financial support provided by Creditspring to its members increased by 91% over 2023 compared to the previous year. This has taken total lending to members seeking short-term, affordable credit to almost £250m since launch.

As reliance on credit grows, borrowers are increasingly seeking short-term, affordable credit options. Creditspring’s responsible approach to lending and stringent affordability measures grew the member base by 77% over 12 months – from 256,000 at the start of 2023 to over 450,000 today.

In 2023 alone, Creditspring provided 366,000 loans to members, a 67% increase on the 2022 figure of 219,000.

To provide members with enhanced financial support during the cost-of-living crisis, Creditspring recently launched its new Benefits Finder tool which identifies benefits that members may be eligible for but are yet to claim.

Over 45,000 members have already used the Benefits Finder tool, unlocking £417m in unclaimed benefits. Over eight in ten (82%) members who completed the survey discovered they were eligible for benefits they hadn’t yet claimed, with an average entitlement of £895 per month.

Throughout 2023, Creditspring announced a number of partnerships with other organisations to enhance support for its members. Via those partnerships, Creditspring provides its members great offers on essential spending, such as Daye and their innovative gynae products or even Trainline, which finds the cheapest travel fares for their customers. Recent partners include:

• Trainline - travel booking platform
• Wise – banking and money transfer provider
• Emma – money management app
• Daye - period care and gyno health start-up

Neil Kadagathur, CEO and Co-Founder at Creditspring, comments: “After being battered by the cost of living crisis for the last few years, household finances have reached – and in some cases, long passed – breaking point.

“Rather than entering a new year full of hope, millions are already plagued with debt and face another 12 months of struggling to afford rising essential costs. Low-cost, short-term credit options can provide a lifeline for struggling households – over the last 12 months Creditspring has provided millions in vital affordable and responsible financial support and we expect that demand to continue into 2024.

“For many people reliant on short-term credit options the alternative is to turn to high-cost or predatory lenders which often introduce hidden costs upon borrowers, encourage them to take on extortionate debts and unfortunately, push people into vicious debt spirals they are unable to escape from. These borrowers need a transparent and inclusive solution that improves access to affordable credit options and prevents debt spirals. At Creditspring, we’re committed to growing responsibly, whilst some predatory lenders accept all applications on the basis that they can leverage high costs on any missed payments, our model is aimed at providing a safer credit alternative which empowers members - with an average of 90,000 applications per month, clearly there is high borrower appetite for a responsible, short-term credit option.” 

In 2024, Creditspring will continue to innovate and introduce new products to the market that will enhance support for increasing numbers of customers, to meet the demand for inclusive and affordable credit.

Creditspring provides a new way to access credit safely. FCA-regulated, it is a credit subscription service that responsibly offers short-term, affordable credit to borrowers. Members pay a fixed membership fee every month to allow them to access two no-interest loans per year with clear repayment terms, capped costs and no hidden charges, late fees or confusing interest rates.

Fils, a groundbreaking ESG-focused digital infrastructure fintech, has achieved another milestone in its mission to help more businesses measure and mitigate their environmental impact with a strategic partnership with Telr, the award-winning online payment gateway.

Fils is collaborating with Telr to integrate its end-to-end sustainable infrastructure to make finance and payments more sustainable and transparent. By Integrating Fils Technology, Telr will enable merchants to track their emissions and access voluntary carbon markets to mitigate the emissions’ harm to the environment. They will also be able to demonstrate their positive impact on the environment with robust reporting functionality, reduced greenwashing, and the encouragement of businesses to invest in sustainable initiatives through Fils’ marketplace.

The new capability adds to Telr's existing suite of services, aiming to elevate e-commerce businesses seamlessly and efficiently with a one-stop-shop philosophy. This encompasses a variety of financial and business services, ranging from social commerce and QR codes to digital invoicing, Telr Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL), and Telr Finance—a dedicated program for merchant financing.

Nameer Khan, CEO and Founder of Fils, said: “Today’s exciting partnership with Telr will make a real impact in tackling the issues of climate change, providing access to carbon markets via our robust and transparent infrastructure. Our technology-first approach to sustainable action enables SMEs, large corporates and other organizations to seamlessly embed sustainability throughout their global operations.”

Telr, the UAE-based award-winning payment gateway solutions provider, facilitates transactions in over 30 currencies and supports over 120 languages. Telr, as a leading payments aggregator, enables businesses to connect to all payment schemes and manage financial and business services as a one-stop shop for e-commerce solutions. Telr’s collaboration with Fils will enable organizations to track and mitigate emissions seamlessly, increasing the sustainability of payment operations across the globe.

Khalil Alami, Founder and CEO of Telr, said: "This partnership underscores our unwavering dedication to driving sustainable finance. By leveraging Telr’s expertise and partnering with exceptional entities like Fils, we aim to reshape transactions.” Alami added: “This effort promotes a more sustainable economy, empowering our merchants with access to emissions calculators to monitor their carbon footprint and emissions-reduction tools. These initiatives align with the 'Net Zero by 2050' strategy and are synchronized with COP28, highlighting our commitment to a brighter, more sustainable future.” 

Fils’s alliance with Telr builds on an impressive year of high-profile partnerships for the fintech company,  with clients such as e& Enterprise, Magnati, Mashreq Bank, Flowcarbon, and AFS.

Based in Dubai and London, Fils is a groundbreaking fintech applying a technology-first approach to sustainable action. Fils has created a game-changing digital ecosystem connecting payment infrastructure, organizations, and impact makers to increase the scalability of their sustainability practices.

Resistant AI, the AI- and machine learning-powered financial crime prevention specialists, today announces that Verto, the cross-border payment platform for emerging economies, has selected its Document Forensics to significantly enhance its document verification process, reduce application review times, and enable further expansion into new markets.

Verto operates across an expanding global financial market, which presents many challenges with swift and accurate customer onboarding. It is necessary to authenticate an extensive range of documents across diverse formats which can include PDFs, images, or scans that originate from multiple countries with unique legal frameworks and documentation standards. Of particular challenge can be account statements or utility bills for authentications from a wide variety of sources. 

Resistant AI’s document fraud detection solution seamlessly integrates into Verto’s existing systems to provide rapid and reliable document authentication and support its growth into new markets without escalating risks. Adopting Resistant AI’s technology has meant that within weeks, Verto was able to authenticate documents from numerous countries in seconds, reducing application review time by 50% by quickly and accurately identifying document tampering and inconsistencies invisible to the human eye. 

In addition to its document forensics, working with Resistant AI has enabled Verto to reshape its entire approach to document verification by establishing a comprehensive compliance policy tailored to handle different kinds of documents. An essential component of this strategy is the deployment of Adaptive Decisioning, which aligns the system’s outcomes with the customer’s risk appetite, ensuring that Verto’s onboarding process remains robust, compliant, and efficient. 

Martin Rehak, CEO and Founder of Resistant AI says, “The complexities of operating within the global financial market are immense, especially for a fintech company like Verto that is constantly exploring new territories. It is a pleasure to work with the team to speedily verify the process of customer onboarding, whilst identifying potential fraudulent threats. All of these efficiency gains enable Verto to expand its global footprint more rapidly without compromising on risk.”

Anthony Oduu, Co-Founder, Chief Technology and Product Officer of Verto says, “Resistant AI has enhanced the speed of our decision-making by rapidly verifying documents from numerous countries, enabling us to efficiently onboard more reliable customers and expedite transaction processing. The way the platform identifies tampered documents in seconds has dramatically accelerated our ability to establish UBO in an international setting.”