AI chips away at the mundane stuff

Who loves writing performance reviews? A university professor says he doesn't need AI to identify student essays that are largely written by AI. Universities are apparently thinking to officially allow AI-assisted essays from next year: currently the general position is to allow AI for research but not for writing. ("Let us now delve..." says one professor, mimicking a typical AI-produced phrase.) Is the performance review the banking equivalent? JPMorgan Chase says it will allow employees to use its internal LLM to write performance reviews, inputting prompts which will then create the reviews. "The rollout highlights some of the potential efficiency gains from using AI, which are often based on synthesising information and generating ideas," says the FT. "But it also shows how lines are becoming increasingly blurred between text that has been written by a human and by a machine. Boston Consulting Group recently said that employees had used AI tools to help draft performance reviews, which helped cut the writing time by 40 per cent." Others AI-review users speaking to Lafferty Daily Briefing say the tools can work very well, save time and be accurate, especially if internal systems have readily available metrics. These reviews, says JPMorgan, won't be used in pay, bonus or promotion decisions. How long before managers look to use AI to summarise performance reviews?

Criminal Collections Policies

Machine learning can be very useful in collections and recovery, pinpointing the time of day that customers are most likely to click on a message to prompt repayment. Seems like fraudsters have hit on a similar process to trick customers of Switzerland's ubiquitous Twint app, by sending messages to drowsy customers who've not yet had their coffee. "The method is simple but effective: early in the morning, you receive a payment request with an innocuous-sounding text such as «Thanks back» or «Debt from yesterday»," says Security.ch. "Many people think at this moment that someone wants to settle an outstanding debt and automatically tap on «Confirm». In reality, they are authorising a payment – the money does not go to them, but to the fraudsters. Depending on the app, the note «Claim» may not be prominently displayed in the message. The amounts involved are often smaller – 20, 50 or 80 francs. As a result, the transactions hardly arouse any suspicion and many of those affected only realise hours later that they have been scammed."

Barlcays acquires US consumer lender

A 'good egg' is a particularly British way of describing a good person, just as a bad egg described a rotter. Barclays will acquire a business called Best Egg, created by a team of ex-Barclays bankers, to drive business in the US consumer loan market. The UK bank says it has agreed to buy the US lending business for $800 million, which will be an 'origination engine' for loans it can package and sell as asset-backed securities. "Best Egg is among a crop of self-described fintechs that emerged after the financial crisis, promising to disrupt banking by bringing together retail lenders and borrowers using technology," write the FT. "As debt demand quickly outstripped supply, these businesses turned to Wall Street and set up credit lines to originate loans. The group makes loans through its platform and sells them on to investors such as pension funds and insurance companies after they have been bundled together and converted to securities. It earns servicing fees for managing the transactions, including collecting payments and distributing cash flow to investors. Best Egg has approximately $11bn in personal loans, which Barclays expects to continue while keeping a small portion of the lending on its own balance sheet. The US group expects to make more than $7bn in personal loans through its platform by the end of the year."

Irish banks will return to private hands after 17 years

Irish bank PTSB (Permanent TSB) is putting itself up for sale, 17 years after it and the other major banks were rescued through a state bailout. The bank has become profitable again in recent years. "The Government sold its last shares in Bank of Ireland in 2022, and in AIB during the summer, making PTSB the last major state-owned bank," notes The Journal. "Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe, who is the majority shareholder of Permanent TSB holding over 57% of shares, has welcomed the decision. In a statement today he said the government believes that it is in the long-term interests of PTSB and citizens in general that the Bank be returned to full private ownership. The Minister for Finance said: 'PTSB has made great progress in building a strong competitive franchise in the Irish retail banking market as evidenced by its Q3 2025 trading update released today. With increased investor interest in European banks, this presents the State with the opportunity to exit its last remaining shareholding in an Irish bank after 17 years. He said the State's investment in PTSB was made during the financial crisis to safeguard the stability of the banking system and protect depositors. 'A sale of the State's investment would be consistent with the objective of recovering taxpayer funds that were used to rescue the Irish banks and deploying these to more productive purposes,' he added." The bank has 78 branches, after acquiring the 25 branches of Ulster Bank when it exited the Irish market in 2023. Since then, Bank Inter has entered the Irish market, where Revolut has gained a major foothold with an estimated 3 million customers.

Standard Chartered exits more retail markets

In other acquisition news, Standard Chartered is parting with yet another retail franchise following its recent sale of its Uganda retail operation to Absa. And it's another South African bank increasing its reach. "FirstRand has acquired Standard Chartered Zambia PLC's (SCBZ) Wealth and Retail Banking business portfolio in Zambia via its subsidiary, FNB Zambia," reports Business Tech. "FirstRand said that the acquisition aligns with its strategy to scale up its operations in the group's broader Africa portfolio. FNB Zambia started 16 years ago and has built a strong brand and physical presence in the country." Per its strategy, Standard Chartered will maintain its corporate and institutional presence in Zambia.

Airtel Africa on track for 2026 IPO

Airtel Africa appears on track for an IPO is 2026 as it reports a growing customer base, more of whom are using smartphones. "According to Airtel Africa's latest half-year results to September 2025, Airtel Money's customer base climbed by 20% year-on-year to reach 49.8 million users across 14 countries. The growth was driven by an expanding agent network, improved smartphone penetration, and an increasingly digital customer experience," writes Techcabal. "The company added more than 308,000 agents and 56,000 activating outlets, while non-exclusive agents grew by 27%, improving reach in urban and rural areas. The physical expansion has been complemented by a growing demand for the MyAirtel app, Airtel Lite, and a growing presence on platforms like WhatsApp." The company said 48.5 percent of customers now use smartphones, and tend to produce higher revenues. Results have been helped by Airtel eating into M-Pesa's dominance in Kenya, where it now has almost 10 percent of the market. With transaction volume this year at $193 billion, Airtel Money is catching up on MTN's $200 billion and M-Pesa's market-leading $450 billion.

Over-acquisition: Digestion pain for Fiserve

Shares in financial services giant Fiserv dropped more than 40 per cent yesterday, in a sign that acquisitions such as the massive $22 billion First Data deal are not panning out. The 2019 acquisition of First Data was among a slew of consolidations in recent years, with FIS acquiring WorldPay before selling it off this year to Global Payments. Fiserv's share plummet was a record single-day drop and followed reported results that came far below estimates, with analysts calling the earnings "shockingly bad". "The disappointing earnings highlight growing pressure on the fintech's core payments and merchant business, which has struggled to maintain momentum amid fierce competition and a slowdown in consumer spending," reported Reuters. "'To be frank, we are struggling to recall a miss and guide down to this degree in any of the sub-sectors we have covered during our time on the street," said Truist analyst Matthew Coad. Fiserv also announced an overhaul of its senior leadership, appointing a new finance chief and two co-presidents.Management changes of this scale often point to internal challenges or a shift in strategy, deepening investor concerns about the company's near-term outlook."