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The payment fintech is marketing technology that lets merchants sell through AI agents; Google adds a credit card for India's national real-time payment rail. That and more in American Banker's global payments and fintech roundup.

The megabank cleared a regulatory hurdle when the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency freed it from a July 2024 amendment to a consent order. Two other orders, one from the OCC and the other from the Federal Reserve, remain in place.

Moving cannabis from a Schedule I to a Schedule III drug would not legalize cannabis or remove all barriers to cannabis banking, but it would allow operators to write off expenses, increase cannabis customer cash flow and eligibility for favorable loans.

The Federal Reserve said in a statement that its "understanding of innovation products and services have evolved" since the initial guidance was published in 2023.

Sachin Kulkarni is executive vice president, head of commercial & specialty insurance and MGA, Americas at Xceedance, a global leader of technology-driven business solutions for the insurance industry. He has more than 20 years of experience in technology and operations across insurance, distribution/supply chain, and other service industries. Prior to Xceedance, Sachin has held roles as global head of IT architecture at Westcon and head of IT strategy for the U.S. and Canada at Marsh.

Brad Vopni is head of institutional at Gemini, a cryptocurrency platform. Prior to joining Gemini, he was head of digital assets at global electronic trading firm Hudson River Trading. Previously, he led Capital Markets at NextShares. He has also held senior leadership roles at NASDAQ, ultimately overseeing its U.S. Equities business.

The merger with Heritage Financial joins two commercially focused banks, creating a $21.7 billion-asset institution with a presence in all of the Golden State's major markets.

Diane Kennedy, CPA, is head of tax education for Lettuce Financial, strategic tax consultant, founder of USTaxAid.com and best-selling author.

Ran Harpaz is founder and CEO of Lettuce Financial, an AI-powered operating system built for solopreneurs.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics Thursday indicated that the Core Consumer Price Index indicated that inflation rose by only 2.7% in November versus a year ago, a pace that is the slowest rate of price increases since 2021.