U.S. Market Close 6/16/2025

DOW 30  +.75%  +317.30  42,515.09

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NASDAQ 100  +1.42%  +306.53  21,937.57

Walmart and Amazon make a surprising move no one saw coming

U.S. retail giants Amazon (Nasdaq: AMZN) and Walmart (NYSE: WMT) are reportedly exploring issuing their own stablecoins, The Wall Street Journal reported on June 13.

A stablecoin is a type of cryptocurrency that, unlike traditionally volatile cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, aims to maintain a stable value. It is generally pegged to a fiat currency such as the U.S. dollar or a commodity such as gold.

As per the report, Amazon and Walmart are mulling the introduction of stablecoins pegged to the U.S. dollar. Streamlined global payments, lower processing fees, and less dependence on traditional fund transfer infrastructure are among the most prominent factors behind the pivot.

Travel tech firm Expedia Group Inc. and some U.S. airlines are also among the companies that are considering the integration of stablecoin payments into their systems, the report mentions.

Read more at The Street

What are stablecoins, and how are they regulated? BROOKINGS

What are stablecoins?

Stablecoins are digital, cryptographic tokens whose values are pegged to those of other assets, like the U.S. dollar. This feature differentiates stablecoins from bitcoin and other crypto assets whose values fluctuate with supply and demand and makes them a more popular alternative as a medium of exchange and a store of value.

Stablecoins currently in circulation have a collective market capitalization of over $250 billion. Almost all of these—approximately 99%—are pegged to the U.S. dollar, while the rest are pegged to other fiat currencies or commodities like gold. Issuers of most tokens hold assets in reserve and allow holders to redeem their tokens for the reference asset at any time. Some stablecoins, such as Dai, are pegged to real-world assets but backed by crypto assets held in reserves of varying degrees of overcapitalization to account for their relative volatilities. A few others have a peg maintained by algorithmic manipulations of the token supply in response to demand and are not backed by redeemable reserves. Fiat-backed stablecoins currently comprise about 87% of the total circulating supply and algorithmic stablecoins less than 0.2%.

Read more at BROOKINGS.EDU

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Our #IRS Interactive Tax Assistant has answers.

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Jose L. Santiago

Public Affairs Specialist

Tax Outreach, Partnership and Education

Email: jose.l.santiago@irs.gov

Finance Forward Locations

As consumer needs evolve, financial services firms benefit by operating in locations with strong support mechanisms.

The embedded finance market is expected to reach $7 trillion globally over the next decade, impacting industries like healthcare and real estate. The financial and fintech sectors have experienced significant advancements so far in 2025. These advancements have been driven by technological innovation, regulatory evolution, and changing consumer expectations. 

Embedded finance integrates financial services, such as payments, lending, and insurance — directly into non-financial platforms. This approach enhances user experiences by offering financial solutions within familiar environments, such as retail and travel apps. 

Financial firms are enhancing various aspects of fintech, including fraud detection, customer service, and personalized financial advice. These technologies improve efficiency, accuracy, and customer experiences across the industry.

Read more at BUSINESSFACILITIES.COM

Fed to release 2025 bank stress test results on June 27

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The Federal Reserve announced on Friday that it would publish the 2025 results of its annual big bank stress tests on June 27.

The U.S. central bank conducts the test each year, in which it examines how large banks would perform against a hypothetical economic downturn and market strains.

Read more at REUTERS

We advise financial technology companies at the

start-up, product development, and product evolution stages.

Resilience in Uncertainty: Smarter Personal Finance Strategies in Times of Crisis

Introduction:

In the current economic landscape, individuals and families across the globe are facing mounting pressure from inflation, interest rate hikes, and job market instability. For many, this results in an urgent need for fast access to funds—often leading to rash financial decisions that create longer-term debt cycles. Understanding how to maintain liquidity while protecting your future financial health is becoming not just a choice, but a necessity.

The Pressure of Fast Money: A Growing Dilemma

When an unexpected expense strikes—car repairs, medical emergencies, or a delayed paycheck—many people instinctively turn to payday loans for fast relief. These services are easy to access, but they come with high fees, short repayment windows, and the risk of falling into a cycle of debt. While payday loans may seem like a quick fix, they should be considered a last resort rather than a go-to solution. Fortunately, growing awareness around better short-term borrowing options is helping consumers make more informed choices that prioritize financial health over immediate convenience.

Read more at WORLDBUSINESSOUTLOOK.COM

Your People and Reputation Are Key to Winning New Business Customers

Only one-third of businesses say they have a relationship with a banker that handles their account. Yet research shows that business bankers are critical to client satisfaction and retention – even more so than industry expertise.

As businesses across the U.S. are looking to grow under rapidly evolving regulations and a new administration, banks and credit unions have an opportunity to draw in more clients to help them achieve their goals.

Based on a recent Rivel Banking Research analysis of commercial and small business clients’ needs, banks should focus on two key areas where banks can enhance services and rethink the ways they interact with clients.

Personalization: The Key to Building Relationships

Read more at The Financial Brand

Whether as a standalone store or a kiosk inside your current location/s,

El Vecino provides a turnkey solution with a strong brand, built-in provider network, and all the support you need.

Investing: How Middle-Income Investors Can Win in 2025’s FinTech Boom

Millennials and Gen Z are fueling a FinTech revolution — automated investing, low fees, and goal-based tools redefine wealth.

Millennials and Gen Z are rewriting the rules of money management, with 80% of millennials now preferring digital banking over traditional institutions. The FinTech boom isn’t slowing down. It’s scaling up fast, and it’s leveling the playing field.

FinTech’s Growth Is Real

• Micro-investing apps are projected to grow from $665M in 2024 to $4.47B by 2034, a whopping 21% CAGR.
• Robo-advisors already command $6.6B in assets, set to grow over 30% per year through 2030.
• Investing apps overall could hit $255B globally by 2033.

Read more at The Street

Schwab Is Now No.1 in Both Checking and Savings Satisfaction. Here’s How They Did It

In JD Power's latest ranking, Charles Schwab Bank surged past the competition to claim top spot for consumer satisfaction. How? Not by flogging sky-high rates. Instead, they lean into support services for customers facing challenging economic times.

Direct banks continue to drive higher customer satisfaction ratings compared to other banks, according to new research from J.D. Power. A key reason? The perception that these institutions are doing a better job taking care of their customers through challenging times.

The firm’s 2025 U.S. Direct Banking Satisfaction Study ranks satisfaction among direct banks that provide checking accounts and savings accounts. The company began evaluating retail financial institutions and other providers in terms of helpfulness in challenging times in the wake of Covid, according to Paul McAdam, senior director of banking and payments intelligence.

Read more at The Financial Brand

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Education Department rolls out heightened screening for financial aid applications

The measures come amid widespread reports of scammers using financial aid applications to steal both federal and state money.

Dive Brief: 

• The U.S. Department of Education announced Friday that it will require colleges to verify the identities of roughly 125,000 first-time applicants for federal financial aid who are enrolled in the summer term. 
• The requirement is temporary while the Education Department develops a new permanent screening process to detect fraudulent applications for federal student aid. The agency expects to roll out that process for the fall 2025 term. 
• Students selected for verification will have to present government-issued IDs to their colleges either in person or during a video call. Colleges will have to keep a copy of the IDs, the Education Department said. 

Read more at HIGHER ED DIVE

Women Are About To Inherit $30 Trillion in ‘Great Wealth Transfer’ — How To Prepare for Your Windfall

American women are poised to inherit $30 trillion in wealth in the next 10 years in what experts are calling the Great Wealth Transfer, already in progress. Much of this money will be passed generationally, and a significant amount will move from men to their wives, according to The Rising Wealth of Women, a Bank of America Institute report published last year. Although this transfer is narrowing wealth disparities between women and men, the study found that women are still less confident in their ability to manage a financial windfall. 

A recent survey from Citizens Bank found 66% of Gen Z women and 50% of millennial women said they’d delayed actively managing their wealth because they lacked confidence or didn’t know how to do it, and just 16% felt completely confident in their ability to manage an inheritance. 

Keep reading to learn how to take control of your money and prepare for your eventual windfall.

Talk To Your Family About Estate Planning

The vast majority of women who’ve already inherited money from their parents or their husbands felt unprepared. Global wealth manager UBS noted in its May Own Your Worth report that 40% of women who inherited from their parents had done so with no wealth-transfer or estate plan in place. Widowed women faced similar predicaments, with 25% not even knowing where their husbands’ wealth was.

Read more at NASDAQ.COM

Why Personalization, Mobile and Trust Are Driving Consumer Banking’s Ad Strategies in 2025

Banks are shifting their ad spend in 2025 to reflect changing consumer trends, with a strong focus on mobile platforms, personalized messaging, and trust-building content. Digital now dominates budgets as financial institutions prioritize performance-driven strategies over broad campaigns.

Bank marketers are under pressure to do more with less in 2025. Economic uncertainty, tighter margins and shifting consumer expectations are forcing a reevaluation of what banks should say to attract consumers and where and how they say it.

Data from Vericast and BAI shows digital advertising now accounts for most of bank marketing spend. Digital channels represent nearly 62% of budgets, compared to just 38% for offline channels, with mobile-first platforms taking the lead.

It reflects a broader industry trend: moving from more generic, awareness-driven campaigns towards personalized strategies prioritizing measurable, performance-based outcomes.

Read more at The Financial Brand

Survey Data Reveals Family Financial Wellness as a Growth Opportunity for Financial Institutions

ATLANTA-Greenlight®, the fintech company that helps families navigate money and life together, today released new survey data revealing a significant opportunity for financial institutions to drive long-term growth and loyalty by prioritizing family financial wellness. In partnership with Researchscape, Greenlight surveyed parents and financial institutions to uncover the financial stress families currently face and how credit unions and banks can provide a meaningful solution.

The data confirms what many families are feeling: Money is the #1 stressor for working parents, with 70% reporting financial anxiety weekly, and financial literacy ranking #1 as the hardest life skill to teach their children.

“Family financial stress is a quiet epidemic,” said Matt Wolf, Chief Commercial Officer at Greenlight. “Parents want trusted support, and they’re turning to their banks and credit unions for guidance. Institutions across the country like United Community Bank (UCB), Digital Federal Credit Union (DCU), and PSECU are partnering with Greenlight to meet this crucial need by positioning themselves as the trusted financial partners for the next generation, just as the great transfer of wealth begins to unfold.”

Read more at BUSINESSWIRE

The Auto-Finance Industry’s New Era Under Trump Unveiled

Moving the Metal: The Auto Finance Podcast

In this special crossover episode between Moving the Metal and The Consumer Finance Podcast, Brooke Conkle, Chris Capurso, and Chris Willis analyze the first 100 days of the second Trump administration, focusing on its impact on the auto-finance industry. They discuss the anticipated enforcement slowdown by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), unexpected halts in supervisory activities, and leadership changes at the Federal Trade Commission and CFPB. The conversation highlights the administration’s focus on consumer fees, the evolving role of state regulators, and shifts in discrimination theories impacting compliance practices. This episode provides insights into strategic regulatory changes and offers guidance for navigating the complexities of the auto-finance sector in 2025.

Read more at Troutman Pepper Locke LLP

How Banks Can Combat Customer Fraud Flying Under the Radar

Fraud committed by customers exploiting glitches and inefficiencies in the banking system has become a significant driver of first-party losses. A layered approach combining technological capabilities with industry-sharing efforts is the most effective way to fight it, analysts say.

Last summer, a series of fraudulent transactions at JPMorgan Chase were linked to a scheme where customers deposited bad checks and immediately withdrew the provisional credit before the checks inevitably bounced.

Called the "infinite money glitch," the scam was amplified on TikTok as users exploited a vulnerability where provisional funds credited to customers were much higher than the typical $225 available upon deposit — sometimes tens of thousands of dollars or more. Thousands of customers reportedly participated. The bank quickly closed the loophole and sued some customers to recover improperly withdrawn funds.

Read more at The Financial Brand

Bank Productivity Is Stuck In Reverse. It's Time to Shift Gears

Financial Institutions Need to Get Serious About Their Productivity

Despite massive investments in digital technology, productivity at U.S. banks has actually declined over the past 15 years, while most other industries improved. As financial institutions retool for a challenging environment, that record needs to be reversed, fast. A new report from McKinsey has a suggestion: Simplify.

Executive Summary

Banking productivity has stagnated over the past decade while costs continue to rise, creating an urgent need for sustainable efficiency improvements.

McKinsey’s latest report reveals that traditional cost-cutting measures deliver only short-term gains, with progress typically eroding as priorities shift. McKinsey argues that the solution lies in "simplification at scale" – a comprehensive approach that fundamentally reshapes operating models to reduce unit costs and unnecessary complexity. The consultancy says that banks that successfully implement this strategy can achieve lasting productivity gains of up to 15% over two years, resulting in ROE increases of 1.0-1.5 percentage points.

Read more at The Financial Brand

Billy Long Confirmed as IRS Commissioner

The Senate on Thursday voted 53-44 to confirm Billy Long, former congressman from Missouri, as head of the Internal Revenue Service.

Politico reported that Long’s confirmation comes amid massive layoffs at the IRS and the Department of the Treasury’s push to enhance IRS technology and leverage artificial intelligence to improve tax compliance.

Melanie Krause was named acting IRS commissioner and deputy commissioner in February. She previously served as the agency’s chief operating officer.

Billy Long’s Career Background

Long served in the House of Representatives from 2011 to 2023.

He was a radio talk show host on the KWTO station and worked as a part-time realtor.

Read more at EXECUTIVEGOV.COM

Fight Sophisticated Fraud Schemes Without Stifling Growth

TransUnion executives Josh Turnbull and Craig LaChapelle explain how financial institutions can combat today's evolving fraud landscape with better data integration, AI-powered solutions and organizational alignment to balance protection with continued growth.

Since 2020, financial institutions have faced a perfect storm: rising funding costs, increased delinquencies and a dramatic surge in sophisticated fraud attacks. On a recent episode of the Banking Transformed podcast, host Jim Marous spoke with Josh Turnbull, SVP of card and banking strategy and Craig LaChapelle, VP of market development at TransUnion, about how these threats are evolving and what institutions can do to build resilience while maintaining growth.

The Evolving Fraud Landscape

Q: TransUnion approaches fraud categorization differently than most organizations. Can you describe the main types of fraud financial institutions face today?

Read more at The Financial Brand

Walmart is using its own fintech firm to provide credit cards after dumping Capital One

Key Points

Walmart’s majority-owned fintech startup OnePay said Monday that it was launching a pair of new credit cards for customers of the world’s biggest retailer.

To do so, OnePay is partnering with Synchrony, a major behind-the-scenes player in retail cards, which will issue the cards and handle underwriting decisions starting in the fall, the companies said.

OnePay, which was created by Walmart in 2021 with venture firm Ribbit Capital, will handle the customer experience for the card program through its mobile app.

Walmart’s majority-owned fintech startup OnePay said Monday it was launching a pair of credit cards with a bank partner for customers of the world’s biggest retailer.

Read more at CNBC

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10 Industries College Grads Find Most Promising: 2025

Eighty-one percent of college graduates today are confident in their career prospects, and 76% rate their career prospect confidence as at least 7 on a 10-point scale, CFA Institute reported this week. These confidence levels are higher than those recorded in 2024 and 2023.

The findings are based on an online survey that Dynata fielded between March 28 and April 22 among 9,023 respondents in 11 key global markets, ages 18 to 25, who were studying for a bachelor’s degree or higher or had received one within the past three years.

The survey found that 67% of graduates think that artificial intelligence and automation will make it harder to secure their desired job, up from 61% last year, but 88% expressed confidence in their AI literacy. A third said they are actively seeking roles that provide AI training, and half said they would be interest in a job that provides it, but only if it directly applies to their role and they can learn at their own pace.

Read more at THINKADVISOR.COM

Nevada Enacts Law Allowing Remote Licensing for Internet Consumer Lenders

On May 28, Nevada Governor Joe Lombardo approved SB 437, creating a new framework for internet-based consumer lenders that lend to Nevada residents. The law defines an “Internet consumer lender” as any entity that exclusively offers or facilitates consumer loans online and becomes effective on October 1, 2025.

The law aims to modernize Nevada’s licensing regime by recognizing online-only lending models and reducing barriers for out-of-state companies. It also imposes safeguards to ensure Nevada residents receive legal protections grounded in state law. The new requirements will apply only to loans entered into on or after October 1.

The legislation introduces several key provisions, including:

Remote license eligibility. Lenders may apply for a Nevada license tied to an office located outside the state. Unlike traditional lenders, internet consumer lenders are not required to maintain a separate Nevada location to obtain licensure.

In-state law and venue requirements. Loan agreements with Nevada residents must state that Nevada law governs the agreement and that any legal or arbitration proceedings will take place in Nevada.

Read more at LEXOLOGY

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