Inside Smarty™ - John Hickey

When the weather gets warmer and days grow longer, people around the world take time out of their busy lives to celebrate. In America, we celebrate our nation with the 4th of July, but other countries around the world also throw great summer parties!This 4th of July, we’re looking forward to fireworks shows, family barbecues, neighborhood block parties, and Old Navy’s star-spangled clothing line, but around the US, there are plenty more festivities to take part in!To attend the longest 4th of July parade in the nation, pack your bags for Alameda, California.

Insurance is drowning in data. Some of it’s a goldmine, but much of it’s misleading or incomplete. The sheer volume of information available today—third-party databases, public records, customer input—means that insurers are often using data they can’t fully trust. That’s a big deal. Faulty data leads to underpriced policies. It also leads to overpriced premiums, which turn away potential customers and damage NPS, as well as allows your teams to build faulty risk models. This ultimately leads to destabilized portfolios and paying out more than your fair share in claims, potentially leading to a bankrupt program rather than a profitable one.

This June, Klarna and PayPal made some big moves into the physical card space. Klarna teamed up with Visa to launch a BNPL (buy-now-pay-later) debit card, while PayPal’s partnership with Mastercard aims to help the brand make the jump from phone to wallet. Coupled with other wave-making announcements like Stripe’s all-in moves on AI and stablecoins, PayPal and Klarna’s announcements emphasize a broader industry shift as fintechs transform from niche digital players to comprehensive financial services platforms.