The news: Business banking fintech Slash Financial recently raised $100 million. It also unveiled an AI tool for tasks such as executing payments, sending invoices, and creating corporate cards. Slash’s products include corporate cards, stablecoin payments, working capital loans, business banking, invoicing, and treasury.

How it works: The AI tool, called Twin, answers user queries about balances, transactions, trends, and other financial information and analysis. Its second value proposition is to implement tasks requested through a virtual assistant interface or Slack. In addition to card creation, it can assign cards to groups, apply entitlements, and make payments and transfers. Twin is both a feature and a developer tool that makes other chat-based software compatible with the Slash platform.

Zoom out: Slash—last valued at $1.4 billion—is taking an AI-interface approach to an interface with a familiar type of business banking tool (although one that enables stablecoin payments). In many ways, it follows in the footsteps of Brex and Mercury:

• Brex started in expense management and has since expanded to banking products. It was recently acquired by Capital One for $5.15 billion.
• Mercury is a digital business bank, growing from deposits for startups to a broader range of products, services, and customers. It applied for an Office of the Comptroller of Currency charter in December and was last valued at $3.5 billion.

Implications for banks: There are two broad implications for banks. The first is that fintechs are crowding business banking: Brex and Mercury are huge contenders, while Slash is a growing competitor with the unique addition of stablecoin payments. The second is that point-and-click portals are no longer the only business banking interface. The days of business banking as a tool only for financial institutions have passed. And AI interfaces are dramatically changing business expectations and experiences.