Varo Bank Welcomes Rathi Murthy as Chief Technology Officer, Strengthening Commitment to Customer Financial Empowerment
SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Varo Bank, the first all-digital nationally chartered bank in the U.S., today announced the appointment of Rathi Murthy as its new Chief Technology Officer. Murthy's arrival reinforces Varo's dedication to empowering customers through innovative technology, aligning with the bank's mission to help everyday Americans make progress in their financial lives.
'Rathi's deep knowledge and impressive track record of digital transformation and implementing industry-leading AI make her the ideal technology leader to move Varo forward.'
Rathi Murthy has been at the tech forefront for more than 25 years as a transformative Chief Technology Officer in a career that includes leadership roles at global companies including Expedia, Verizon, Gap, American Express, eBay and Yahoo. Rathi's appointment highlights Varo's commitment to empowering more customers through the development and adoption of technologies such as AI to improve access to financial services, transform how the bank assesses credit risk, and combat fraud.
'It's important to lean on innovation to address the financial needs of everyday Americans,' said CEO Gavin Michael. 'Rathi's deep knowledge and impressive track record of digital transformation and implementing industry-leading AI make her the ideal technology leader to move Varo forward.'
Murthy's appointment comes as Varo approaches the fifth anniversary of being awarded its bank charter. With a focus on new digital tools and products, Varo continues to grow the Varo Bank app and evolve its technology infrastructure while giving its customers the security of a fully regulated bank.
Along with specializing in AI and large-scale platform integration, Murthy, also an advocate for women in technology, mentors aspiring leaders. A board member of PagerDuty, a digital operations SaaS company and advisor for the University of San Francisco, Murthy's arrival at Varo dovetails with her enduring commitment to help companies get faster and smarter with technology solutions.
'The mission of Varo – to provide everyday Americans with the most advanced financial tools – perfectly aligns with my personal and professional ethos,' Murthy said. 'Varo is using technological innovation to ensure everyone is able to build financial resilience. I am very excited about joining Varo to see this even more fully realized.'
About Varo Bank
Varo Bank is a new kind of bank - the first nationally chartered consumer tech bank in the U.S., built from the ground up with a focus on the needs of Americans striving to get ahead. From credit building to savings to faster payments, Varo has a complete solution to help everyday Americans make progress in their financial lives. Varo combines the capabilities and nimbleness of a technology company with the security and oversight of a regulated financial institution, enabling agile product design that provides technology-first solutions such as Varo Believe, a secured card to help build credit; Varo Advance, to help stretch hard-earned dollars between paychecks; and a high-yield savings account, offering one of the nation's highest APYs. Varo has been named as one of the Inc. 5000 2024 fastest growth companies in the U.S., CNBC's 2024 list of the World's Top Fintech Companies, one of Forbes' World's Best Banks, and Fast Company's Most Innovative Companies. For more information on Varo Advance, Varo Believe, and other offerings such as Perks, visit www.varomoney.com, like Varo Bank on Facebook, and follow us on Instagram and Twitter @varobank. ©2025 Varo Bank, N.A. Member FDIC.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
30 minutes ago
- Yahoo
According to Experts, Here's the Trouble With Social Security Privatization
Social Security privatization would transform the Social Security system as it exists today into one in which individuals are responsible for saving for retirement. Wealthier Americans would likely have greater access to the resources necessary to make the most of self-investing. If the Social Security system is privatized, it could be difficult for less affluent workers to save and invest the funds they'll require in retirement. The $23,760 Social Security bonus most retirees completely overlook › Social Security privatization refers to a proposal that would switch the current U.S. Social Security system to one that allows individuals to invest a portion of their payroll taxes in private investment accounts. While the subject produces a lot of excitement, here's what experts say could go wrong. The stock market can produce dizzying fluctuations. While the ups and downs are as natural as the sun rising in the East, they may make less experienced investors quite nervous. For example, when a bear market arrives (another regular, natural part of the economic cycle), individual investors may get spooked and pull their money from the market, a move that can ultimately lead to financial loss. While there are flaws in the current "pay into FICA" system, the upside is knowing how much you can expect to receive each month in Social Security benefits. Privatizing Social Security means some people will invest poorly or not know what to do when market fluctuations hit, potentially leaving them without a stable income in retirement. Some people grow up learning about money management while others do not. Privatization may disadvantage those who have limited financial literacy and limited access to advisors who can help them understand the basics. Those who can afford to hire a financial advisor are likely to do so, giving them a significant advantage over those who cannot afford to work with a professional. The wealthier a person is, the more they can afford to take risks and diversify their portfolios. Those with limited income are likely to have fewer options, a reality experts fear will lead to wider gaps in retirement security. In addition, the wealthier a person is, the easier it is to weather market losses and stick with an investment plan. For the parent or caregiver who must take time off work to meet caregiving responsibilities, it will be more challenging to work the hours needed to accumulate the money required to build a sufficient retirement nest egg. It's natural that some of these people will reach retirement age with little savings to fall back on. Solo investing requires a time commitment. For someone without a financial background, there's a huge learning curve as they navigate a complex array of investment options -- and not everyone has that time. For example, a person focused on building a business, advancing in their career, or spending all their free time caring for others may not have the time necessary to immerse themselves in investment knowledge. From its inception in 1935, Social Security was meant to provide economic security for Americans, particularly retirees. The idea was to ensure all Americans have some source of retirement income. Privatization could undermine that social safety net and leave the most vulnerable populations without the support they need in retirement. Experts fear that those who aren't skilled at investing may fall into poverty in retirement without guaranteed benefits to help lift them out of it. The same is true of those who cannot afford to invest adequately or who experience unexpected financial hardship. As attractive as some people find Social Security privatization, it's difficult to ignore the number of Americans who might fall through the cracks, ultimately entering retirement with little to no money. If you're like most Americans, you're a few years (or more) behind on your retirement savings. But a handful of little-known could help ensure a boost in your retirement income. One easy trick could pay you as much as $23,760 more... each year! Once you learn how to maximize your Social Security benefits, we think you could retire confidently with the peace of mind we're all after. Join Stock Advisor to learn more about these Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. According to Experts, Here's the Trouble With Social Security Privatization was originally published by The Motley Fool Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
36 minutes ago
- Yahoo
So, has anything actually gotten more expensive because of Trump's tariffs?
Predictions from mainstream economists were dire after President Donald Trump launched his tariff campaign just a couple weeks after he began his second term in office: Prices would rise — sharply — they said, reigniting an inflation crisis that tens of millions of Americans had elected him to solve. But that massive, tariff-induced inflation spike hasn't materialized. Not even close. Not yet, anyway. Consumer prices rose just 2.4%, annually, last month, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That was less than economists had expected, and only slightly higher than the 2.3% rate in April, which was the US economy's lowest inflation since February 2021. According to the Personal Consumption Expenditures price index most closely followed by the Federal Reserve, core inflation — which strips out volatile items like food and gas prices — fell to 2.5% in April. That was the lowest reading since March 2021. That's a far cry from what economists and consumers have predicted. Month after month, inflation has fallen short of Wall Street's expectations, as American businesses said they would be forced to hike prices as a result of historically high tariffs. America's effective tariff rate is now 14.1%, according to Fitch Ratings, up from 2.3% last year. That means Trump raised taxes on imported goods by nearly 12 percentage points in 2025. Economists expected substantial inflation increases as a result. Goldman Sachs analysts last month said core goods inflation could hit 6.3% this year and consumer prices would surge 3.7% by early 2026. JPMorgan economists said core inflation would nearly double by the end of this year. And American consumers in May expected prices to rise an alarming 6.6% this year, according to sentiment surveys from the University of Michigan. That prediction fell in June, but consumers still expect inflation to hit 5.1% in 2025. So what happened? Are economists just really bad at their jobs? Not quite. Their predictions may yet come true — and economists are largely cleaving to their bets. America's economy is enormous and complex, and predicting when prices will rise and fall can be an extremely tricky business — particularly when factoring in the on-again, off-again nature of Trump's tariff regime. Still, tariffs through mid-June haven't caused inflation to spike. Love tariffs or hate them, there's no denying inflation is lower now than when Trump took office. Fed Chair Jerome Powell on Wednesday said just a few items are growing in price as a result of tariffs, including electronics that come from China. He said PCs and A/V equipment have become more expensive because of Trump's trade war. But the price increases aren't widespread yet, Powell noted, because stores are still working through the inventory that came in to their warehouses before Trump put tariffs in place. 'Goods being sold at retailers today may have been imported several months ago, before tariffs were imposed,' Powell said. Research firm Telsey Advisory Group, which has been tracking the prices of 80 select consumer items across a wide variety of retail categories, reported this week that just 19 products it has tracked have gained in price since mid-April — and 16 items' prices fell. Similarly, the New York Times' Wirecutter, which recommends consumer products, tracked the prices for 40 of its top picks over the course of two months and found this week that the vast majority didn't change price at all: 10 gained in price and only half of those gained more than 7%. 'There haven't been many significant upticks in prices as of yet given that many retailers are still selling through their lower-cost inventory,' Dana Telsey, CEO and chief research officer of Telsey Advisory Group told CNN. Even autos, many of which are subject to a 25% tariff, plus a tariff of up to 25% on some imported auto parts, haven't gained in price — they've fallen. New car prices fell 0.2% in May, according to car-buying research site Edmunds, and they rose only 2.5% compared to the pre-tariff period in March. Both new and used car prices fell in May, according to the BLS' Consumer Price Index. That's because dealers are still working through their supply of pre-tariff cars, according to Ivan Drury, director of insights at Edmunds. With prices remaining in check so far, the Trump administration has declared victory. 'They've all been discredited,' said the White House's top trade adviser, Peter Navarro, in an interview last month with CNN, referring to tariffs' detractors. 'What we got in the first term [of Trump's presidency] was not recession or inflation, we got price stability, robust economic growth and rising wages, just as we thought we would.' Navarro has frequently pointed to the low overall inflation during Trump's first term, despite his tariffs. And he's right: CPI peaked at 2.9% in mid-2018 before falling below 2% throughout most of 2019. But Navarro's assertion about the impact of tariffs on the US economy comes with a couple of significant caveats: First, Trump during his current term has already placed tariffs of at least 10% on $2.3 trillion of imported goods, comprising 71% of all US goods imports, according to the nonpartisan Tax Foundation. In his first term, Trump placed tariffs on just $380 billion worth of foreign goods. And second, the pandemic severely disrupted the global economy soon after Trump's tariffs took effect, preventing economists from getting a decent picture of how significantly prices rose. But some data shows prices gained in the specific sectors Trump targeted with his first-term tariffs. For example, after imposing some steel tariffs in 2018, US production expanded modestly, but it sent costs rising for cars, tools and machines; and shrank those industries' output by more than $3 billion in 2021, the International Trade Commission found in a 2023 analysis. Nevertheless, Joseph Lavorgna, a former Wall Street economist turned Treasury Department official, took a victory lap because inflation hasn't risen since Trump imposed tariffs during his second term. 'Tariffs have just not shown up at all in any of the data,' Lavorgna, counselor to the Treasury secretary, told CNN this week. 'The forecasting community has been completely wrong.' Lavorgna, a former SMBC Nikko Securities chief economist who also served in the White House during Trump's first term, said a broad range of inflation metrics suggests foreign producers are absorbing tariffs and that the trade war won't be inflationary. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt echoed that message Thursday during a briefing, saying: 'America is quickly returning to the successful formula of the first Trump administration: low inflation and rising wages.' Many mainstream economists argue that the low inflation of the spring represents a calm before the summer storm, when they expect prices to rise. 'It's a question of when, not if,' Stephanie Roth, chief economist at Wolfe Research, told CNN. Walmart, Target, Lululemon, Home Depot and Costco among others have said in recent weeks that they will raise some prices because of tariff pressures. Although some of the big box retailers said they would work to keep most prices low, they acknowledged that they operate low-margin businesses, and in the cases when American-made alternatives are unavailable or more expensive, they expect that they'll have to pass some of that additional cost to their customers. Consumers won't be alone in their struggles with tariffs in the coming months, said said Sid Malladi, CEO of Nuvo, a company that manages businesses' trade partnerships. Price hikes will weigh on businesses, too, many of whom will take on some of the hit to keep prices as low as possible for as long as possible. But that could mean difficult conversations in the boardroom later this year about potential layoffs and other cost cutting. 'This is early innings. No one wants to be first out of the gate,' said Malladi. 'You don't want to risk reputational damage to your brand, because raising prices in this environment might cause customers to turn away from you. Many may eat their margin for a few months.' 'It's hard to overstate the level of anxiety businesses have,' Malladi added. Small businesses, without the supply chain mastery of larger companies, have struggled in particular to afford higher tariff costs and have said they are reducing supply or raising prices. Many have complained that American alternatives for some foreign imports may be unavailable or are too expensive. 'While larger retailers may have the scale, capital and pricing power to absorb or strategically offset these pressures, small and mid-sized players remain significantly more vulnerable, with limited flexibility to manage rising input costs or supply disruptions,' Telsey said in TAG's latest Product Pricing Analysis report. Telsey noted that prices, when they eventually start to rise, won't all gain equally or across the board. Only select goods will start to gain in price to start, likely beginning in late August or September. 'Inventory is ordered typically anywhere from six months to one year in advance, and it is expected that the select pricing pieces will begin to show up in late summer,' she said. Fed Chair Powell on Wednesday agreed that the tipping point for broad consumer price increases could come this summer as inventories of pre-tariff warehoused goods dry up. 'We do expect to see more of that over the course of the summer,' Powell said. 'It takes some time for tariffs to work their way through the chain of distribution to the end consumer.' Normally, retailers hold about 1 to 2 months' worth of inventory on items, noted Kristy Akullian, head of iShares Investment Strategy, Americas, so prices could begin to rise in the coming weeks. Another indication that prices could start to spike: In April's Institute for Supply Management services report, prices paid by businesses increased the most since November 2022, and business inventories contracted. 'Low inventories make it harder for companies to keep prices steady, so going forward, we expect the inflation impacts from tariffs to become more apparent,' Akullian said. Powell agreed with that timeline, noting companies that report on their business sentiment to the Fed have said they expect to pass those tariff costs on down the supply chain. 'Many, many companies do expect to put all or — some of the effect of tariffs through to the next person in the chain, and ultimately, to the consumer,' Powell said. 'So we're beginning to see some effects. We expect to see more.' Despite initial success at maintaining low prices, Treasury's Lavorgna conceded inflation could begin to rise down the road because of tariffs. 'I'm not saying there can't be a tariff effect on the numbers at some point,' he said. CNN's Phil Mattingly, Matt Egan and Chris Isidore contributed to this report. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
36 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Trump says "maybe" he'll try to fire Fed chief Jerome Powell
President Trump suggested Friday he may try to fire Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, calling the central bank leader a "Total and Complete Moron" for leaving interest rates steady. The president has been lashing out against Powell for months, criticizing the central banker — whom Mr. Trump appointed in his first term — for not lowering interest rates at a faster pace. It's unclear whether the president is legally allowed to fire Powell before his term ends in May 2026, and Mr. Trump said in April he has "no intention" of doing so. But in a post criticizing Powell on Friday, Mr. Trump floated the idea, writing: "Maybe, just maybe, I'll have to change my mind about firing him?" "But regardless, his Term ends shortly!" the president added. Any attempt to fire Powell would be legally contentious. Federal law and prior court precedent says members of the Federal Reserve's Board of Governors, including the chair, can only be fired "for cause." The Supreme Court ruled last month that the Trump administration can fire members of other independent federal agencies — but specifically exempted the Fed, calling the central bank a "uniquely structured, quasi-private entity." Powell said last year he will not resign if Mr. Trump asks him to step down. The two met at the White House last month. Mr. Trump also called Powell a "dumb guy" in his Friday evening post. "I fully understand that my strong criticism of him makes it more difficult for him to do what he should be doing, lowering Rates, but I've tried it all different ways," Mr. Trump wrote on Truth Social. "I've been nice, I've been neutral, and I've been nasty, and nice and neutral didn't work! He's a dumb guy, and an obvious Trump Hater, who should have never been there." The Fed declined to comment to CBS News. Why has Trump criticized Powell? Mr. Trump's issues with Powell hinge on the Federal Reserve's interest rate policies. The central bank's interest rate-setting committee, which is chaired by Powell, has kept its benchmark rate steady so far this year, after lowering it slightly from a two-decade high last year — following a series of rate hikes in 2022 and 2023 to quell inflation. Most recently, the committee opted against lowering rates earlier this week, drawing backlash from Mr. Trump. The decision comes with tradeoffs. High interest rates can slow down economic growth and make it more expensive for Americans to borrow money, which is why Mr. Trump wants cuts. But lowering interest rates too quickly could overheat the economy and cause inflation to spike yet again. While inflation has cooled off in recent years, it's still higher than the Fed's 2% annual target, and the Fed warns Mr. Trump's tariffs could push prices up. "Because the economy is still solid, we can take the time to actually see what's going to happen," Powell said earlier this week. Mr. Trump disagrees, nicknaming Powell "Mr. Too Late" and arguing that inflation is already low. On Friday, the president amped up his criticism, calling Powell a "numbskull" and suggesting the other members of the rate-setting Federal Open Monetary Committee "override" him. Mr. Trump also said Powell should lower interest rates immediately and just hike them again if inflation spikes — an idea that's at odds with the Fed's cautious strategy. "Don't say that you think there will be Inflation sometime in the future, because there isn't now but, if there is, raise the Rates!" wrote Mr. Trump. The attacks are a redux of Mr. Trump's first-term criticism. The president pushed back against Powell after the Fed hiked interest rates in 2018, but called Powell his "most improved player" for slashing rates during the 2020 pandemic. SpaceX Starship upper stage blows up Hurricane Erick approaches Mexico with destructive winds, major storm surge "Jaws" premiered 50 years ago, but it's a wonder it got made at all
