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The most important payment is no longer the one microbusinesses expect

A new PYMNTS Intelligence report — in collaboration with Ingo Payments — lays out the shift clearly:

• 73% of microbusinesses (under $100K/year) adopt instant payments primarily to improve cash flow — up 18% in just seven months
• 32% of SMBs now receive ad hoc payments via instant methods, up from 20% in 2023
• Yet 1 in 3 still decline instant payment options due to fees — and nearly half rely on manual systems that slow everything down

Ad hoc payments now represent over half of SMB accounts receivable and nearly 70 cents of every dollar received. Speed of settlement is no longer a nice-to-have — it determines whether a business makes payroll or takes on new work.

Instant payments are becoming infrastructure. The challenge for providers: cut the friction, lower the cost, meet businesses where they are.

Has faster payment settlement changed the way you run your business — or your clients’ businesses? Drop your experience below ↓

Source: https://www.pymnts.com/news/faster-payments/2026/73percent-of-microbusinesses-say-real-time-payments-improve-cash-flow/

Agentic AI is no longer a horizon topic — it is arriving on the CEO agenda now

Boston Consulting Group’s latest data reveals that executives are rapidly shifting their focus from AI experimentation to AI that acts: systems capable of autonomous decision-making, multi-step reasoning, and real-world execution with minimal human intervention.

For financial services, the implications are significant. Agentic AI has the potential to reshape how institutions handle compliance workflows, customer onboarding, credit decisioning, and fraud detection — not by augmenting existing processes, but by fundamentally rethinking them.

At Loquat, we believe the institutions that will lead the next decade are those investing today in the infrastructure to make AI-driven operations both powerful and trustworthy.

The question is not whether agentic AI will transform financial services — it is how prepared your organisation is to lead that transformation.

How is your team thinking about the move from AI assistance to AI agency?

📌 Source: BCG CEO Data Point — Agentic AI
https://www.bcg.com/executives/ceo-agenda/ceo-data-point#featured-topic-agentic-ai

Feel good Sunday: Beyond win or lose

We are taught early that life is a competition. If someone wins, someone else must lose.

In this thought-provoking TED Talk, John Mackey challenges that assumption and introduces a different mindset: win-win thinking.

What if business was not about defeating competitors, but about creating value for customers, employees, suppliers, investors, and communities at the same time?

When we shift from zero-sum thinking to value creation, the pie gets bigger. Opportunity expands. Relationships strengthen.

A powerful reminder this Sunday that success does not have to come at someone else’s expense.

Source: https://www.ted.com/talks/john_mackey_the_trap_of_win_lose_thinking_and_how_to_escape_it

What if you could see music — not just hear it?

In his TED Talk, designer Jared Ficklin does exactly that. Using color, fire, and data visualization, he transforms sound waves into vivid visual experiences. One standout moment: mapping all eight hours of Stephen Hawking’s Cambridge lectures into a single star-filled image, where each star represents the end of a sentence. Stunning, and oddly moving.

But beyond the spectacle, there’s a deeper insight: when we change how we present information, we unlock entirely new ways to understand it. Eyes can hear. Patterns become meaning. Data becomes intuition.

Worth the 10 minutes 👇
https://www.ted.com/talks/jared_ficklin_new_ways_to_see_music_with_color_and_fire

Discipline compounds

Progress rarely comes from dramatic moves. It is built in the quiet repetition of doing the right things consistently. In business and in life, small disciplined actions outperform occasional bursts of intensity.

Finish the week strong. The work you do today compounds tomorrow.

🌟 Loquat to demo at FinovateSpring 2026

We are pleased to announce that Loquat will be presenting a live demonstration at FinovateSpring 2026, one of the financial technology sector’s most prominent annual events.

FinovateSpring convenes leading figures across banking, payments, and financial services. We are honored to participate alongside a select group of companies advancing the next generation of financial infrastructure.

This demonstration reflects the progress our team has made — and the direction we believe the industry is moving.

If you are attending, we welcome the opportunity to connect and discuss the evolving landscape of financial services.

Our sincere thanks to the Loquat team, whose commitment and rigour continue to drive this work forward.

👉 Read the announcement on our website: https://loquatinc.io/news/loquat-to-demo-at-finovatespring-2026/

The K-shaped economy: compelling story, shaky data.

The popular claim — that the top 10% drives ~50% of U.S. consumer spending, making America recession-proof only thanks to the super-rich — turns out to rest on shaky methodology.

More direct data from the BLS tells a different story: the top 20% of earners account for just over a third of spending, a share that has barely moved in decades — through the 2008 financial crisis and COVID-19 alike. Card-spending data and Fed retail figures show no unusual divergence between income groups either.

The takeaway? Narratives can outrun the data. Interrogating the numbers behind the headlines is more important than ever — especially when they shape financial decisions, policy, and access.

At Loquat Inc., building tools that serve a broad base of Americans — not just the top tier — remains our focus. A resilient economy needs broad participation, not just concentrated wealth at the top.

Source: https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/2026/03/08/would-america-be-in-recession-without-the-super-rich

Is AI about to redesign the entire banking stack?

A new Oliver Wyman insight highlights a shift many in financial services are starting to feel: AI isn’t just another efficiency tool — it could reshape how banks operate, compete, and interact with customers.

A few big questions emerging:

• Will AI agents become the primary interface between customers and banks?
• Could large parts of bank operations run autonomously?
• Will trust and regulation become banks’ biggest competitive moat?
• And could AI-native players enter financial services faster than we expect?

Banking has always been a data-driven industry — which means AI may impact it earlier and deeper than most sectors.

The real debate is no longer “Will AI change banking?” It’s: Which institutions will redesign themselves fast enough to stay relevant.

Source: https://www.oliverwyman.com/our-expertise/insights/2026/jan/future-of-banking-and-financial-services-ai-age.html

The surface is quiet. The shift is not

Markets appear calm. The underlying shift is anything but.

While major indices sit near record levels, investors are aggressively distinguishing between potential AI winners and losers. Software valuations have pulled back. Credit spreads for tech issuers have widened. Private credit funds are facing redemptions.

Meanwhile, firms tied to heavy assets and AI infrastructure are attracting capital.

This level of dispersion suggests investors are pricing in structural change, not short term noise. When expectations about technology shift, capital moves quickly.

For leaders in financial services, the takeaway is clear: resilience now depends on understanding where disruption hits first and where it compounds over time.

Broad exposure may smooth returns for a while. But beneath the surface, the repricing of risk has already begun.

Source: https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/2026/02/22/markets-are-churning-furiously-beneath-a-calm-surface

International Women’s Day: Women who dare, lead & inspire change 🌟

This International Women’s Day, we at Loquat pause to recognize something we see every day — the extraordinary talent, leadership, and vision of the women on our team and across our partner network.

In financial services, an industry built on trust and transformation, these women are not just participants — they are architects of change. Their resilience, strategic thinking, and commitment to meaningful impact set the standard for what innovation truly looks like.

We are proud to work alongside them, learn from them, and champion their continued growth.

To every woman driving progress in our industry: your contributions matter, your leadership inspires, and your work is building a stronger, more inclusive future for financial services.

Happy International Women’s Day. 💙

Curious Saturday: What if infrastructure could heal itself?

Bridges crack. Roads wear down. Concrete fractures under pressure.

For more than a century, we have accepted deterioration as inevitable and maintenance as reactive.

In this fascinating TED Talk, materials scientist Mark Miodownik explores a powerful idea: what if the materials that hold our world together could repair themselves?

From self-healing concrete to bio-inspired design, the future of infrastructure may not be about fixing faster. It may be about building smarter from the start.

The lesson extends beyond engineering. The strongest systems are not those that avoid stress. They are the ones designed to respond to it.

Curiosity drives progress. And sometimes the most transformative innovations are hidden in plain sight.

Source: https://www.ted.com/talks/mark_miodownik_the_brilliance_of_bridges_and_roads_that_repair_themselves

When climate risk hits the bottom line

Climate volatility is no longer theoretical. It is operational.

From coffee farms in Brazil to corn fields in Argentina, drought and land degradation are reshaping global supply chains. Companies now face a difficult trade off: absorb rising input costs, compress margins, or pass higher prices to customers.

None of those options are sustainable.

Forward looking boards are shifting from reactive mitigation to proactive resilience. Regenerative agriculture, forest protection, and nature based investments are emerging as practical risk management tools.

The companies that treat ecosystem health as infrastructure, not philanthropy, will be better positioned to protect supply security and shareholder value.

Source: https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/boards-policy-regulation/how-deforestation-is-risk-boards-not-just-environment–ecmii-2026-01-20/

Loquat + Onsetto: Powering business banking growth

Loquat gives community financial institutions a modern, seamless digital account opening experience that removes the friction holding back business acquisition.

Faster onboarding, better conversion, more accounts.

But at Loquat we know that growth doesn’t stop at account opening. That’s why we have partnered with Onsetto to migrate payroll, receivables, and payables — turning every new account into a primary operating relationship.

The result: a complete business banking growth engine, no core replacement needed, with measurable results from day one.

Read the full press release: https://loquatinc.io/news/loquat-and-onsetto-partner-to-deliver-end-to-end-business-banking-growth-for-community-financial-institutions/

Banking’s banner year

US banks delivered a record year in 2025.

Here is what stands out:

• $296B in total profits across 4,300+ banks
• 2.99% net interest margin, up from 2.92%
• $750B added to loan portfolios
• 1.56% delinquency rate, slightly down from 1.6%

Lower funding costs helped. Deposit costs declined to 2.04%, improving spreads even as rates remained elevated.

For FIs, the message is clear: margins improved, credit remained resilient, and performance was strong. Sustaining that momentum in a more uncertain environment will require disciplined risk management and strategic growth.

Source: https://www.ft.com/content/8fc14314-7300-41f1-acb6-bc525bf2157a