Latest news with #Bain&Company
Yahoo
19 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Weekly Recap: 14 Finance Press Releases You Need to See
A roundup of the most newsworthy financial press releases from PR Newswire this week, including May consumer confidence scores and strategic AI-focused partnerships from Bain & Company and Fannie Mae. NEW YORK, May 30, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- With thousands of press releases published each week, it can be difficult to keep up with everything on PR Newswire. To help finance journalists and consumers stay on top of the week's most newsworthy and popular releases, here's a recap of some major stories from the week that shouldn't be missed. The list below includes the headline (with a link to the full text) and an excerpt from each story. Click on the press release headlines to access accompanying multimedia assets that are available for download. US Consumer Confidence Partially Rebounds in MayConsumers' pessimism about the future moderates after surging in April. According to the Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index®, May's rebound in confidence is broad-based across all age, income and political affiliation groups. Bain & Company forms global partnership with Palantir to deliver high impact, end-to-end AI transformations for clientsThe partnership enables clients worldwide to accelerate AI-driven productivity gains with enhanced speed and efficiency through Palantir's cutting-edge enterprise AI platforms, yielding tangible impact in weeks. Gen Z Grapples with Debt, Some Spend Freely Despite Low Confidence in Retirement ReadinessA new Advisor Authority study, powered by the Nationwide Retirement Institute, reveals only one in five Gen Z investors say they understand how compounding interest works; four in ten believe the standard retirement age of 65 is not relevant to them. Spirit Aviation Holdings, Inc. Announces Receipt of NYSE American Delinquency Notification"While there's lots to do, I'm pleased with our progress in driving change to our fleet, our product and our market positioning. The Spirit team has faced down tough challenges before, and I'm gratified to see such a strong focus and commitment," said Dave Davis, President and Chief Executive Officer. Fannie Mae Launches AI Fraud Detection Technology Partnership with PalantirThe partnership will expand Fannie Mae's fraud detection capabilities to power the Crime Detection Unit, a new platform that the company believes will help detect and prevent mortgage fraud with speed and precision never before seen in the U.S. housing market. Rental-hunting season hits fever pitch as June begins, Zillow data showsRental activity on Zillow is already outpacing the past two years, a sign that this year's peak could be even higher. A record-high 46 million households rent, and renters are nearly four times more likely to move than homeowners, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. DeFi Technologies Reaffirms US$201.07 Million 2025 Revenue Guidance; Maintains Position as Largest Institutional Asset Manager of Solana in North America and Third Largest in Europe"Solana remains a cornerstone of our strategy—not just as an asset, but as an ecosystem we're deeply integrated into," said Olivier Roussy Newton, CEO of DeFi Technologies. "What sets us apart is our fully integrated monetization model…No other digital asset manager or leveraged public Solana-focused company globally matches this level of vertical integration and operational exposure." QNB Becomes First Bank in the Middle East to Deploy Diebold Nixdorf's ATMs with Bulk Cash Deposit CapabilityDiebold Nixdorf's DN Series® 500 cash recycler provides expanded functionality, enabling QNB Group customers to deposit up to a 300-note cash bundle and up to 30 checks in a bundle with counterfeit detection capability. BofA Report: 60% of Homeowners and Prospective Buyers Uncertain About the Housing Market - A Three-Year HighUncertainty among current homeowners and prospective buyers is at a three-year high, with 60% saying they can't tell whether now is a good time to buy a home or not, compared to 48% two years ago, according to the latest Bank of America Homebuyer Insights Report. Synchrony and Jewelers Mutual® Collaborate on Innovative New Sponsorship Agreement, Combining Finance and Insurance Marketing EffortsAs part of the agreement, Jewelers Mutual will showcase Synchrony financing solutions in its marketing materials as well as Zing® Marketplace, a comprehensive online platform created for its member retailers. National Financial Literacy Remains Stagnant at 49% as Generational Gaps Widen, TIAA Institute-GFLEC Study Finds The report also highlights the important role financial literacy plays in financial well-being as adults with very low financial literacy are twice as likely to be debt-constrained and three times more likely to be financially fragile compared to those with very high financial literacy. Markel launches solutions for Financial Institutions in AustraliaThis announcement follows the launch of localised Commercial Professional Indemnity solutions in 2024, under Markel's plan to progressively launch targeted and tailored specialty insurance products in the Australian market. M&T Bank and Buffalo Bills Extend 'Official Bank' PartnershipBuilding on one of pro football's longest-running brand partnerships, M&T signed a deal to become a founding partner for the Bills' new Highmark Stadium, set to open in 2026. Deloitte launches Global Agentic Network to power digital workforce solutionsExpanding on its global delivery centers in locations across major markets in Asia Pacific, EMEA and North America, this rollout highlights a series of investments Deloitte is making to help ensure businesses can implement AI-enhanced strategies while maintaining consistency across the geographies they serve. For more news like this, check out all of the latest finance-related releases from PR Newswire. Do you have a finance press release to distribute? Sign up with PR Newswire to share your story with the audiences who matter most. Helping Journalists Stay Up to Date on Industry News These are just a few of the recent press releases that consumers and the media should know about. To be notified of releases relevant to their coverage area, journalists can set up a custom newsfeed with PR Newswire for Journalists. Once they're signed up, reporters, bloggers, and freelancers have access to the following free features: Customization: Users can create customized newsfeeds that will deliver relevant news right to their inbox. Newsfeed results can be targeted by keywords, industry, subject, geography, and more. Photos and Videos: Thousands of multimedia assets are available to download and include in a journalist or blogger's next story. Subject Matter Experts: Journalists will have access to ProfNet, a database of industry experts to connect with as sources or for quotes in their articles. Related Resources: Our journalist- and blogger-focused blog, Beyond Bylines, features regular media news roundups, writing tips, upcoming events, and more. About PR Newswire PR Newswire is the industry's leading press release distribution partner with an unparalleled global reach of more than 440,000 newsrooms, websites, direct feeds, journalists and influencers and is available in more than 170 countries and 40 languages. From our award-winning Content Services offerings, integrated media newsroom and microsite products, Investor Relations suite of services, paid placement and social sharing tools, PR Newswire has a comprehensive catalog of solutions to solve the modern-day challenges PR and communications teams face. For 70 years, PR Newswire has been the preferred destination for brands to share their most important news stories across the world. For questions, contact the team at View original content to download multimedia: SOURCE PR Newswire Sign in to access your portfolio
Campaign ME
3 days ago
- Business
- Campaign ME
How can retailers unlock savings unavailable on current cost structures?
After five extraordinarily demanding years, costs are still increasing for retailers, driven by rising wages, further input-cost increases, supply-chain imbalances, and other complications. As costs climb, heightened pressure on consumer spending leaves little room to increase prices to preserve margins. However, advances in technology are now offering retailers the opportunity to unlock savings that weren't available in prior cost programmes, even relatively recent ones, according to Bain & Company's latest retail briefing, Retail Efficiency Rewritten: New AI Tools Demand a Second Look at Your Costs. This is a major breakthrough for many executive teams feel they have already done what they can with productivity initiatives, leaving no additional savings available in the current cost structure. Yet to exploit these digital advances fully, retailers must also succeed in the very human task of overhauling the way they work, fixing the underlying inefficiencies, ingrown processes and data-management failings that have been holding them back for years, or even decades. The Bain & Company brief outlines five principles for tech-enabled cost transformation: Plan with a bold ambition. Embrace zero-based redesign. Get more from data. Collaborate across functions. Master change management. AI is starting to unlock big savings. The cross-sector survey of generative-AI adoption, companies reported average productivity gains of 15 per cent across eight key functions, leading to a 9 per cent bottom-line impact from decreased cost or increased revenue. As AI accelerates tasks further, the prize will only get bigger, especially if retailers convert more of their time savings into either cost savings – through leaner structures – or top-line gains – through redeploying freed-up staff to higher-value activities. Contact centres and administrative work are among the highest-potential areas for generative AI in retail. One retailer that created an AI copilot to advise on procedural queries found that store associates no longer had to scour user manuals, freeing time for customer interaction and reducing calls to HR and maintenance teams. Elsewhere, AI has cut the time it takes buyers to value a supplier's offer from forty-five to fifteen minutes. With its keen operational focus, retail has a strong record of productivity gains, but most cost programmes have still left money on the table. Now, retailers have a chance to be more efficient than ever, by embracing new technology and honing their overall approach to cost control. That opportunity couldn't have come at a better time.
Forbes
3 days ago
- Business
- Forbes
HR: The Hidden Accelerator Of AI Adoption
Scaling AI starts with people. Yet only half of companies involve HR in their strategy. Employee experimentation with generative AI is moving almost as fast as the evolution of the technology itself. But organizations? They're trailing behind. Most are stuck in pilot mode, hesitant to move beyond isolated tests. In Bain & Company's global survey of nearly 800 IT executives, 97% said they're testing generative AI, but fewer than 40% have scaled its use. Legacy technology systems, cultural inertia, and regulatory friction are real hurdles. Even as models like DeepSeek's R1 continue to push down costs and reshape strategies, widespread enterprise adoption is slow. The reason is simple: Generative AI isn't just a tech upgrade. It's a workforce transformation. Winning organizations aren't just updating their tech infrastructure. They're preparing their people with training and clear guidelines. According to the World Economic Forum's Future of Jobs Report 2025, 77% of employers plan to reskill and upskill their talent to work alongside AI by 2030. In addition, 69% plan to hire new employees who are skilled in AI tool design. Yet only half of companies are currently involving HR in their AI strategy. That's a critical miss. When HR is engaged, companies move faster: 62% of high-adoption organizations are investing in employee training. They are scaling the benefits of the technology and quickly pulling ahead. Luckily, it's not too late to catch up. According to Bain's survey, 77% of companies have seen meaningful time savings in day-to-day tasks through AI-powered processes, with 30% saving more than a fifth of their time in the first year alone. And 69% saw improved collaboration with generative AI. Just 10% said the technology replaced entire roles. One thing is clear: AI is about unleashing the power of people. That puts HR front and center. Forward-thinking organizations are involving HR in three ways: Working with HR, the most successful AI adopters are crafting a two-speed strategy that balances ambitious transformation with quick, practical wins. Big bets are large, strategic investments, such as fully automated supply chains or AI-powered customer service. Intuit, for example, has reduced contact with TurboTax product support by 20% through AI self-help and increased coders' productivity by up to 40% through AI assistance. Efforts that revolutionize how people work require cross-functional alignment, strong leadership commitment, and an emphasis on return on investment. Small wins, on the other hand, are often grassroots initiatives. Not waiting for top-down mandates, employees use AI to automate daily tasks, generate content, and make informed decisions. These efficiency gains build internal momentum and cultural buy-in. In September, Intuit shared that its generative AI trials boosted productivity by 15% on average, with certain tasks, such as marketing content creation, reporting even higher gains. Even companies that are all-in on AI integration will face challenges such as modernizing their platforms and balancing innovation with regulatory compliance. Cost of implementation is an issue, too. From upskilling employees to acquiring cutting-edge tools, leaders worry about spending money when return on investment remains unclear. To overcome these barriers, leaders will take three steps: Companies that hesitate now risk being left behind—not just by their competitors, but by their own employees. Scaling AI requires learning as an entire organization, through a balance of bold investments and daily improvements. And by elevating HR to a leading role, organizations establish the foundation required to evolve and win.
IOL News
3 days ago
- Business
- IOL News
Understanding private assets: a guide for new investors
Explore the growing trend of private assets in investment portfolios, understand the benefits and risks, and learn how to navigate this evolving market as an individual investor. Image: File Over the next few years, individual investors are expected to increase their allocation to private markets, in some cases potentially approaching levels seen by various types of institutional investors. The compelling return history for private market investment is clearly a key motivator for these allocations. Schroders Capital research shows this is the main reason institutional investors enter private markets, and we have no reason to believe individual investors think any differently. Over the past five years, smaller clients have also been offered more options to invest in private markets thanks to product development, changing regulations, and technological advancements. New regulated fund structures such as the long-term asset fund (LTAF) in the UK, the European long-term investment fund (ELTIF) in Europe, and UCI Part II have been a game changer for accessing private markets, as well as for the increased use and further development of evergreen open-ended funds. While promoting access to private markets with these new structures, regulators around the world have also been tightening rules to protect smaller investors. For example, in the UK, clients must confirm they meet certain investment criteria, undergo a suitability review by their financial advisor, and have a 24-hour cooling-off period to reconsider their decisions. The South African regulator requires investors to meet the criteria of a qualified investor as per the definition in section 96(1)(a) of the South African Companies Act, No. 71 or 2008 as amended, and/or to have a minimum of R1 million to invest in terms of section 96(1)(b) of the South African Companies Act. Bain & Company estimates that by 2032, 30% of global assets under management could be allocated to alternatives, with a large chunk in private assets. While private investors currently allocate only up to 5% of their portfolios to private markets, we anticipate that the gap with institutional investors will narrow significantly over time, and private markets will become commonplace. The growing appeal of private markets Of course, returns aren't the only reason to use private assets, even if it's high on the client's agenda. Characteristics like stable income and genuine diversification, which have the potential to significantly enhance overall portfolio resilience, add to the appeal. It is also about the opportunity set. In public markets, there is an increasing concentration of stocks, with more than 30% of the S&P 500 dominated by just a handful of companies, leading to a narrower range of options. In contrast, the number of private companies, and those staying private for longer, continues to grow. Private companies in the US with revenues of $250 million or more now account for 86% of the total. Additionally, the number of public listings in the US has more than halved over the past 20 years compared to the period from 1980 to 1999, highlighting the shift towards private market opportunities (see chart). In South Africa, the last five years have seen an average of 24 companies delist from local stock exchanges on an annual basis, although 2024 showed a significant slowdown in this rate as only 11 companies exited the public market. The Johannesburg Stock Exchange is also highly concentrated, with a few large companies dominating the index. And it's not just a matter of numbers. Private companies tend to be more agile and innovative in their operations compared to public companies, and they can access opportunities in sectors where public companies have limited or no reach. For example, the new US tariff policies are likely to affect both public and private companies, particularly those vulnerable to supply chain disruptions. However, private companies tend to be more flexible in restructuring their supply chains to adapt to these changes, potentially avoiding cost increases. Nevertheless, companies heavily impacted may still face higher costs, affecting profitability, and therefore valuations and deals. Public markets continue to shrink, and companies are staying private for longer Number of public listings per annum in the US vs PE-backed. Image: Supplied. Once the decision to allocate to the asset class has been made, what is next? How do investors actually start their private assets journey, and what can they expect the journey to look like? Pacing is different One of the key differences with private asset investment is in the pacing of capital deployment. With no immediate secondary market to provide liquidity, allocations can and should be structured to, in a sense, create their own liquidity. Structured correctly, private asset allocations can become 'self-sustaining' over time, with distributions and income funding new investments to maintain a target allocation. What does that mean in practice? Many fund managers, or general partners (GPs), raise capital every year in what is known as 'vintages'. Each vintage represents a discrete fund that has an investment phase and a harvesting phase. The investment phase is when the capital is put to work, typically for about 3-5 years, depending on which part of the private assets market it's in, and what the market backdrop is like. The harvesting phase is when the invested assets are exited, generating capital that can be distributed back to investors. This is typically around 5-7 years after the investment is first made in what is known as an 'exit'. Private equity managers will use the term 'exits' because, while selling an asset is an option, it's only one of many options available. The routes to exit are varied but most commonly the company is either floated in an IPO (initial public offering), sold to another corporate buyer or private equity investor, or sold into a continuation vehicle. In private debt, the fund managers (there is often a cohort of lenders) will structure lending in such a way that the capital is returned at the end of a defined timeframe, having received the cashflows. These cashflows can then be used to refinance ('re-up' is a term often used) subsequent vintages. Private assets portfolio becomes self-financing after 5-7 years Private assets portfolio becomes self-financing after 5-7 years. Image: Supplied. In recent years, new exit routes have emerged, especially in the secondary market, with the continuation vehicles mentioned above. That's because these deals allow the GPs to provide a liquidity mechanism to their existing investors, the limited partners (LPs), while at the same time holding onto key assets for longer to maximise value. Continuation funds have evolved to become a common strategy for GPs to hold onto high-performing assets, or pools of assets, beyond the life of the original fund. Vintage years, consistent deployment, and the impact on returns A vintage year allocation approach has the benefit of mitigating the risk associated with market timing. Despite our optimism for the mid-to-long-term outlook for private assets, the near term is undoubtedly going to be challenging for many investors, and keeping up a steady investment pace may be difficult. While exit and fundraising activity seemed to have bottomed out in 2024 following a prolonged slowdown since 2022, risks and uncertainty in markets have increased sharply since the start of the year. As we pointed out above, this is mainly due to the uncertainties caused by the US government policy changes and the impacts these may have on economies and markets. In addition to broader concerns over performance, when markets fall, some investors face the 'denominator effect'. Private assets tend to correct less than other more liquid asset classes due to the way they are valued, so their relative weight in an investor's portfolio tends to increase when markets fall sharply. This can limit investors' ability to make new investments into the asset class and maintain a determined percentage allocation. Nevertheless, research suggests investors don't have to shy away from new investments in periods of crisis or recession. A recent analysis from Schroders Capital shows that private equity consistently outperformed listed markets during the largest market crises of the past 25 years. Despite challenges such as high interest rates, inflation, and economic volatility, private equity outperformed public markets and experienced smaller drawdowns, with distributions becoming less volatile over time. Meanwhile, recession years tend to yield vintages that perform exceptionally well. Structurally, funds can benefit from 'time diversification', where capital is deployed over several years, rather than all in one go. This allows funds raised in recession years to pick up assets at depressed values as the recession plays out. The assets can then pursue an exit later on, in the recovery phase, when valuations are rising. For example, our analysis shows that the average internal rate of return ('IRR') of private equity funds raised in a recession year has been higher than for funds raised in the years in the run-up to a recession, which, at the time, probably felt like much happier times. For private debt and real estate, there are similar effects. For infrastructure, the effects should also show a similar pattern; however, longer-term data is limited in this part of the asset class. Private equity vintage performance (average of median net IRRs) Private equity vintage performance (average of median net IRRs). Image: Supplied. Past performance is not a guide to future performance and may not be repeated. Source: Preqin, Schroders Capital, 2022. There are 9,834 funds in the Preqin database. Only funds with vintage years after 1980 and 2017 are analysed. 220 funds that were out of distribution were excluded, reducing the number of funds in our universe to 3,400. Private equity-only investments, venture debt, and funds of fund strategies have been excluded. Pacing illustration for an investor Appropriate allocations to private assets will, of course, vary by client and will always be led by overall suitability. Important factors such as a client's overall income and expenditure, time horizon, investment understanding/experience, appetite for borrowing, and ability to tolerate illiquidity are all factors we consider when deciding on exposure to private assets. For the sake of illustration, though, let us assume all individual clients fall within one of four risk brackets: cautious, balanced, growth, and aggressive. What would the investment pacing look like for the private asset allocation? For a client on a growth risk mandate (this would mean a typical exposure to equities of between 50-80%) who has a good understanding of investments, a target allocation of 20% might be appropriate across private debt, private equity, and real estate. How private assets could fit within a portfolio How private assets could fit within a portfolio. Image: Supplied. It's important to note that the nature of investing in private assets means that allocations should be built up over time to ensure vintage diversification and that we explicitly recommend diversification by investment and vintage. While we want to diversify by asset class, we also suggest spreading investments across a range of structures. This usually depends on the investable assets and the investor's ability to accept illiquidity, noting that private investors could benefit from different structure types. For example, clients with large investable asset bases that have the ability to lock up their money for 10 years plus, can use the traditional routes, such as closed-ended structures. Otherwise, clients with lower minimum entry points and with an uncertain time horizon are able to use 'evergreen' open-ended funds: these funds do not have a pre-determined lifespan and can run in perpetuity, recycling investment proceeds and raising new capital as required. While clients investing in evergreen funds are able to access their money periodically, they need to understand these are still long-term commitments and that there are established limits and rules on when and how much they can withdraw. It's important that investors be educated and prepared for their allocation to be left untouched for an extended period. Private equity funds typically run for at least seven years, during which time the allocation will not be liquid. The realisation of the assets will also take several years, tapering down in the same way the allocation is gradually ramped up. This is why a complete, ongoing understanding of a client's overall financial position is crucial when considering building a private assets allocation. Private Assets - Investment risk: Past performance is not a guide to future performance. The value of an investment and the income from it may go down as well as up and investors may not get back the amount originally invested. Investors should only invest in private assets (and other illiquid and high-risk assets) if they are prepared and have the ability to sustain a total loss of their investment. No representation has been or can be made as to the future performance of these investments. Whilst investment in private assets can offer the potential of higher than average returns, it also involves a corresponding higher degree of risk and is only considered appropriate for sophisticated investors who can understand, evaluate, and afford to take that risk. Private Assets are more illiquid than other types of investments. Any secondary market tends to be very limited. Investors may well not be able to realise their investment before the relevant exit dates. * Krekis is a portfolio director at Cazenove Capital, part of the Schroders Group. PERSONAL FINANCE
Web Release
4 days ago
- Business
- Web Release
Retail Efficiency Rewritten: New AI Tools Demand a Second Look at Your Costs, Bain & Company Brief Says
Retail Efficiency Rewritten: New AI Tools Demand a Second Look at Your Costs, Bain & Company Brief Says Bain & Company's latest retail briefing, Retail Efficiency Rewritten: New AI Tools Demand a Second Look at Your Costs, showing that advances in technology offer retailers the opportunity to unlock savings that weren't available in prior cost programs, even relatively recent ones. After five extraordinarily demanding years, costs are still increasing for retailers, driven by rising wages, further input-cost increases, supply-chain imbalances, and other complications. As costs climb, heightened pressure on consumer spending leaves little room to increase prices to preserve margins. Many executive teams feel they have already done what they can with productivity initiatives, leaving no additional savings available in the current cost structure. AI is starting to unlock big savings. In Bain & Company's cross-sector survey of generative-AI adoption, companies reported average productivity gains of 15% across eight key functions, leading to a 9% bottom-line impact from decreased cost or increased revenue. As AI accelerates tasks further, the prize will only get bigger, especially if retailers convert more of their time savings into either cost savings (through leaner structures) or top-line gains (through redeploying freed-up staff to higher-value activities). Contact centers and administrative work are among the highest-potential areas for generative AI in retail. One retailer that created an AI copilot to advise on procedural queries found that store associates no longer had to scour user manuals, freeing time for customer interaction and reducing calls to HR and maintenance teams. Elsewhere, AI has cut the time it takes buyers to value a supplier's offer from forty-five to fifteen minutes. Yet to exploit these digital advances fully, retailers must also succeed in the very human task of overhauling the way they work, fixing the underlying inefficiencies, ingrown processes, and data-management failings that have been holding them back for years, or even decades. The brief outlines five principles for tech-enabled cost transformation: Plan with a bold ambition. Embrace zero-based redesign. Get more from data. Collaborate across functions. Master change management. With its keen operational focus, retail has a strong record of productivity gains, but most cost programs have still left money on the table. Now, retailers have a chance to be more efficient than ever, by embracing new technology and honing their overall approach to cost control. That opportunity couldn't have come at a better time. The full brief is available at
