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The banking landscape post-COVID-19 pandemic looks different, with some surveys showing upwards of 90% of consumers prefer managing their money in one place, online. The tech-forward banks are some clear winners in this race, particularly following the financial crises over the last two years.

Benzinga chatted with JPMorgan Chase & Co JPM Chief Product Officer Rohan Amin to learn more. Heres a lightly edited version of the conversation that transpired.

Q: Hello, Rohan! It is nice to meet you. Can you share with me your background?

Amin: I worked in the defense and intelligence community near the [Washington] D.C. metro area for over a decade. It was a fantastic experience that had nothing to do with financial services; instead, I was doing government work in information technology, cybersecurity, and electronic warfare.

In 2014, I received a call from JPMorgan Chase. This opportunity also allowed me to be closer to my family, and I took it. Since joining, Ive had three jobs. I was the Chief Information Security Officer responsible for the banks cybersecurity globally. I was the Chief Information Officer. And now, I am the Chief Product Officer accountable for product development, design, data, and analytics, including our AI and machine learning agendas.

Q: What does your day-to-day look like?

Amin: The best way to describe that is to talk about one of my peers, Gill Haus, the chief Information officer. He took the job I had in terms of running our technology.

Today, Gill and I copilot our customer-facing product development organization. Thats 17,000 product developers, engineers, designersand data and analytics people. We refer to them as the quad. They make up the roughly 100 teams that build all the experiences, such as the process by which customers open an account and our credit monitoring tools free to customers and non-customers. My day-to-day is strategy and working with the teams to birth new customer experiences.

Q: How do you balance innovation with security?

Amin: Job number one is the security and privacy of our customers' data. For example, we were the first bank to move away from screen scraping, not allowing third parties to scrape customer data, and to ensure people are using secure APIs and exposing that to the customer.

In other words, customers can turn things on and off regarding where their data gets shared. All our work on fraud and protecting customers against scams ensuring we have a well-run, well-controlled environment is job one.

Job two is to bring new value to customers, taking inspiration from all forms of competitors, including fintechs.

Most of our inspiration comes from our customers, though. We prefer that we have the best offering or one that best addresses customer needs. Sometimes, we are first, and sometimes we are not. That is fine.

An excellent example is our Chase Pay in 4? offerings, launched as our answer to buy now, pay later. Essentially, debit card customers can split purchases between $50and $400into four installments and pay no fees or interest.

Q: What trends have you observed?

Amin: We did our digital banking survey in 2023, and over 90% of survey respondents said they use the mobile app more than once monthly. We see more customers using mobile versus desktop web browsers. So, mobile adoption continues to rise.

Second, installment lending and digital payments continue to increase, and we have been bringing to market our offerings in those spaces as well.

We have 26 million active users of Zelle, and that number is growing.

Lastly, our personalization and credit monitoring tools, which allow customers and non-customers to get their credit scores and personalized plans for improving their scores, are seeing a lot of interest, particularly from the millennial generation.

Q: How are those trends, among other factors, influencing your product roadmap?

Amin: There are several factors that we respond to in real time. For instance, we had the pandemic, during which we had to pivot all of our plans to help small businesses pay their bills, employeesand other things they had to do.

Sometimes, macro situations may drive our roadmap. In other cases, its those trends we just talked about, including installment and point-of-sale lending. When we observe customers who want to use those payment solutions, we'll build in response to that.

We obsess over feedback, listening to calls, or reading input verbatim in our app. All those wants and needs get added to our product backlog. Our managers will synthesize all the feedback and set objectives that we will work into our apps, which are updated every two weeks.

Q: Say you have a customer thats experiencing an issue. How does their feedback flow to you or your teams? How quickly are those issues then resolved?

Amin: We have dashboards that retrieve customer feedback from places like the Apple App Store within minutes. Well mine that data to understand what the issues are.

Weve gotten so good at recognizing and addressing issues that if youre having a problem and you call, our automated interactive voice response (IVR) system will change the menu options to surface the thing you want. So, if we think you're having trouble with a payment, the first thing you'll hear when you call is making a payment.

Q: What excites you most as we head toward year-end and 2024?

Amin: Machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) are hot topics. Were careful to explore, integrateand use these technologies to enhance our customer-facing products and services and some of our back-office operations. Fundamentally, AI and machine learning help us personalize the content surfacing to you so that your online and physical interactions at our branches, which 60% of customers use, are holistic and pleasant.

Photo: Tim Samuel via Pexels

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Jury shown CCTV and bodycam footage of brothers allegedly assaulting police at Manchester Airport

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Jury shown CCTV and bodycam footage of brothers allegedly assaulting police at Manchester Airport

CCTV and police bodycam footage allegedly showing three police officers being assaulted at Manchester Airport has been played to jurors.

Mohammed Fahir Amaaz, 20, and his brother, Muhammad Amaad, 26, are said to have struck out after police were called to the airport on 23 July last year, following Amaaz allegedly headbutting a customer at a Starbucks in Terminal 2.

Minutes later, three police officers approached the defendants at the paystation in the terminal’s car park.

A jury at Liverpool Crown Court today watched CCTV footage from opposite angles, which captured what the prosecution says was a “high level of violence” being used by the siblings.

The prosecution says Amaaz resisted as officers tried to move him to arrest him, and Amaad then intervened.

Junior counsel Adam Birkby suggested Amaaz threw 10 punches, including one to the face of PC Lydia Ward, which knocked her to the floor.

His brother Amaad is then said to have aimed six punches at firearms officer PC Zachary Marsden.

Amaaz also allegedly kicked PC Marsden and struck firearms officer PC Ellie Cook twice with his elbow.

He is said to have punched PC Marsden from behind and had a hold of him, before PC Cook discharged her Taser.

Human Rights lawyer Aamer Anwar (centre) arrives with Mohammed Fahir Amaaz (left) and Muhammed Amaad (right) at Liverpool Crown Court, where
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Mohammed Fahir Amaaz (left) and Muhammed Amaad (right) arrive at the court with their lawyer. Pic: PA

The bodycam and CCTV footage, submitted as evidence by the prosecution, allegedly shows the officers’ arrival in the Terminal 2 car park and their attempts to arrest the siblings, as well as their exchanges with them.

PC Ward can be heard saying “Oi, you b*****d” in footage from her bodycam, the prosecution evidence appears to show.

She then appears to fall to the floor and screams.

PC Cook, who is pointing her Taser at one of the defendants, then allegedly says: “Stay on the floor, stay on the floor whatever you do.”

“Get back, get back,” PC Ward appears to say.

The bodycam footage, shown to the jury by the prosecution, shows PC Marsden, who is also pointing his Taser, appear to approach the defendant who is lying on the ground and kick out at him.

Mr Birkby said: “Mr Amaaz, while prone, lifts his head towards the officers. PC Marsden kicks Mr Amaaz around the head area.

“PC Marsden stamps his foot towards the crown of Mr Amaaz’s head area but doesn’t appear to connect with Mr Amaaz.”

Amaaz denies three counts of assault occasioning actual bodily harm to the three police officers and one count of assault to Abdulkareem Ismaeil, the customer at Starbucks.

Amaad denies one count of assault occasioning actual bodily harm to PC Marsden.

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Stephen Doohan: Paramedic who secretly gave pregnant woman abortion drug jailed for more than 10 years

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Stephen Doohan: Paramedic who secretly gave pregnant woman abortion drug jailed for more than 10 years

A paramedic who secretly gave a pregnant woman an abortion drug during sex has been jailed for more than 10 years. 

Stephen Doohan, 33, was married when he met the woman on holiday in Spain in 2021 and began a long-distance relationship.

The High Court in Glasgow heard how the victim travelled to Edinburgh in March 2023 to visit Doohan after learning she was pregnant.

During consensual sex, Doohan twice secretly administered the tablets which led to the woman suffering a miscarriage.

In May, Doohan pleaded guilty to sexual assault and causing the woman to have an abortion. He returned to the dock on Monday where he was jailed for 10 years and six months.

Lord Colbeck said Doohan caused “long-term psychological injury” to his victim.

The judge said: “You put her through considerable pain over a number of days and left her facing a lifetime of pain and loss.”

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The court heard how the woman found tablets hidden under the mattress after she became suspicious over Doohan’s behaviour in bed.

Lord Colbeck said: “The complainer then carried out an internet search for abortion tablets and confronted you over your actions.”

After the woman fell ill, Doohan convinced her to lie to medics at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh amid fears he would be arrested if she told the truth.

The victim later attended another hospital with her sister and was told she was having a miscarriage.

The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) said Doohan sent the woman gifts including perfume, socks, facial cleansing oil, money to get her hair done and bought tickets for them to attend a football match.

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The woman complained to the Scottish Ambulance Service in May 2023, sparking an investigation.

The court heard that on 14 March 2023, the day the woman told Doohan she was pregnant, the paramedic used a work intranet to search for abortion drugs.

Lord Colbeck said: “You planned out what you did to your victim using resources available to you as a paramedic.”

In addition to his prison sentence, Doohan was also added to the sex offenders’ register and banned from contacting his victim.

Fiona Kirkby, procurator fiscal for high court sexual offences, said: “Stephen Doohan’s calculated and heinous actions caused the loss of the victim’s pregnancy, robbing her of plans she had for the future.

“He has now been held accountable for this fundamental breach of trust.

“While offences like this are thankfully rare, I hope this prosecution sends a clear message to all those who seek to inflict sexual harm towards women.

“Our thoughts remain with the victim, who must be commended for reporting her experience and seeking justice.

“We recognise that reporting sexual offending can be difficult but would urge anyone affected to come forward and seek support when they feel ready to do so.”

The Scottish Ambulance Service branded it an “appalling case”.

A spokesperson added: “We recognise the courage it must have taken for the victim to come forward and speak out.

“As soon as we learned of these very serious allegations and charges, we immediately took action, providing ongoing support to her whilst liaising with Police Scotland throughout the investigation.

“We know nothing will change what has happened to the victim and all we can hope is this sentence provides some comfort to them.”

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UK farmers have ‘nothing more to give’ as they fear govt will compromise welfare in US-UK trade deal

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UK farmers have 'nothing more to give' as they fear govt will compromise welfare in US-UK trade deal

UK farmers have “nothing more to give” as they fear the government will use agriculture to further reduce US tariffs in a trade deal with the White House.

The UK is trying to reduce steel tariffs to zero, from a current reduced rate of 25%, but Downing Street refused to confirm if it was confident ahead of Donald Trump’s deadline of 9 July.

Tom Bradshaw, president of the National Farmers’ Union (NFU), said UK agriculture had already been used to reduce Trump-imposed tariffs on cars but any other concessions would have serious repercussions for farmers, food security and the UK’s high animal welfare standards.

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He told Sky News: “It just feels like we, as the agricultural sector, had to shoulder the responsibility to reduce the tariffs on cars from 25%.

“We can’t do it anymore, we have nothing more to give.

“It’s clear the steel quotas and tariffs aren’t sorted yet, so we just want to be very clear with the government: if they’re sitting around the negotiating table – which we understand they are – they can’t expect agriculture to give any more.”

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Tom Bradshaw, the head of the NFU, speaking to Sky News
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Tom Bradshaw, the head of the NFU, said farmers cannot give any more

‘Massively undermine our standards’

Since 30 June, the US has been able to import 13,000 tonnes of hormone-free British beef without tariffs under a deal made earlier this year, which farmers feel was to reduce the car import levy Mr Trump imposed.

The UK was also given tariff-free access to 1.4bn litres of US ethanol, which farmers say will put the UK’s bioethanol and associated sectors under pressure.

Allowing lower US food standards would “massively undermine our standards” and would mean fewer sales to the European Union where food standards are also high, Mr Bradshaw said.

It would leave British farmers competing on a playing field that is “anything but fair”, he said, because US food can be produced – and sold – much cheaper due to low welfare which could see a big reduction in investment in UK farms, food security and the environment.

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‘The US will push hard for more access’

He said the US narrative has always suggested they want access to British agriculture products “as a start and they’ll negotiate for more”.

“The narrative from the White House on 8 May, when a US-UK trade deal was announced, was all about further access to our agriculture products – it was very different to what our government was saying,” he added.

“So far, the UK has stood firm and upheld our higher welfare standards, but the US will push very hard to have further access.

“No country in the world has proved they can reduce the 10% tariffs further.”

US poultry welfare is lower than the UK, with much more intensive farming that means the meat has to be washed with antimicrobials. Pic: AP
Image:
US poultry welfare is lower than the UK, with much more intensive farming that means the meat has to be washed with antimicrobials. Pic: AP

US ‘will target poultry and pork’

The Essex farmer said he expects the US to push “very hard” to get the UK to lower its standards on poultry and pork, specifically.

US poultry is often washed with antimicrobials, including chlorine, in an attempt to wash off high levels of bacteria caused by poor hygiene, antibiotic use and low animal welfare conditions not allowed in UK farming.

US pig rearing methods are also quite different, with intensive farming and the use of feed additive ractopamine legal, with both banned in the UK.

A government spokesperson told Sky News: “We regularly speak to businesses across the UK to understand the impact of tariffs and will only ever act in the national interest.

“Our Plan for Change has delivered a deal which will open up exclusive access for UK beef farmers to the US market for the first time ever and all agricultural imports coming to the UK will have to meet our high SPS (sanitary and phytosanitary) standards.”

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