Sustainability targets validated by global, gold-standard Science Based Targets initiative reflect Blue Shield’s commitment to healthcare affordability and the health of Californians

OAKLAND, Calif., April 28, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Ascendiun and its Family of Companies — Blue Shield of California, Stellarus, and Altais — today announced a commitment to reduce direct greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from their operations by 42% by 2030.

In parallel, the Family of Companies will engage their supplier network with the goal that by that same year, 52% of their suppliers will have also established science-based targets to address emissions.

“Pollution and escalating environmental events such as wildfires and flooding are harmful to the health of our communities and add an estimated $820 billion to U.S. healthcare costs each year,” said Paul Markovich, president and CEO at Ascendiun. “Today’s announcement is another example of how we are building a healthcare system that’s worthy of our family and friends and sustainably affordable for everyone.”

These near-term sustainability targets have been formally validated by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), the globally recognized, gold standard for science-backed environmental targets. The commitment will span all entities across the Ascendiun Family of Companies.

Turning science into action

Blue Shield is among a small number of health plans worldwide to commit to the SBTi effort and to have obtained SBTi validation for its near-term greenhouse gas emissions reduction goals. The commitment reflects Blue Shield’s efforts to protect health, lower costs, and improve health outcomes for its 6 million members across California.

Using 2024 as a baseline, the Ascendiun Family of Companies has committed to the following near-term science-based emissions reduction targets by 2030:

A 42% reduction in Scope 1 & 2 greenhouse gas emissions. The emissions include those generated directly by operations, as well as energy use.52% of suppliers — measured by emissions impact — will have science‑based targets in place. This includes areas such as purchased goods, services, and upstream transportation and distribution (scope 3 emissions).

Validated targets can be found on the SBTi database.

“As a healthcare organization, we see firsthand how pollution and environmental disasters affect people’s health and drive up healthcare costs, especially for communities that are already most at risk,” said Mike Stuart, president and CEO at Blue Shield of California. “Healthier environments lead to healthier people. That’s why we’ve taken responsibility for our own footprint, and routinely look for opportunities to work with organizations that are equally committed to a healthier future for our members and communities.”

The SBTi validation builds on Blue Shield of California’s long‑standing, broader strategy to advance health by addressing environmental factors that shape affordability, outcomes, and community resilience.

To learn more about Blue Shield of California’s action to build healthier communities, see our recent Mission Report.

To learn more about Blue Shield’s parent company Ascendiun, visit ascendiun.com

About Blue Shield of California
Blue Shield of California strives to create a healthcare system worthy of its family and friends that is sustainably affordable. The health plan is a taxpaying, nonprofit, independent member of the Blue Shield Association with 6 million members, over 6,500 employees and more than $27 billion in annual revenue. Founded in 1939 in San Francisco and now headquartered in Oakland, Blue Shield of California and its affiliates provide health, dental, vision, Medicaid and Medicare healthcare service plans in California. The company has contributed more than $60 million to the Blue Shield of California Foundation in the last three years to have an impact on California communities. For more news about Blue Shield of California, please visit news.blueshieldca.com. Or follow us on LinkedIn or Facebook.

About Ascendiun
Ascendiun is a nonprofit and ultimate parent company of Blue Shield of California, Blue Shield Promise Health Plan, Altais and Stellarus. The Ascendiun family of companies are dedicated to advancing better health outcomes, making care more affordable, and addressing the unique needs of diverse communities. For more news about Ascendiun, please visit www.ascendiun.com. Or follow us on LinkedIn.

Contact: Mark Seelig
Blue Shield of California
415-607-2359
media@blueshieldca.com

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SOURCE Blue Shield of California

AI-Driven Neobank Selects Equals Money As Strategic Partner To Power Multi-Currency Capabilities And Cross-Border Payment Solutions Infrastructure

WILMINGTON, Del., April 28, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Bloxley, the AI-driven hybrid neobank transforming financial services for Gen Z and Millennials, today announced a strategic partnership with Equals Money | Railsr, an FCA-regulated Electronic Money Institution (EMI) and Payments Institution (PI).

Equals Money | Railsr will power Bloxley’s European financial infrastructure, enabling seamless cross-border banking capabilities through its embedded finance and payments solutions.

The partnership leverages Equals Money’s 18+ years of regulated payments expertise serving over 50,000 businesses, with a robust infrastructure spanning payments in 38+ currencies.

Bloxley combines streamlined account setup and real-time spending visibility with innovative @BloxID handles that replace traditional account numbers, enabling instant peer-to-peer transfers and simplified payment requests. The platform is expanding throughout 2026 with low-cost international transfers and transparent cross-border payments designed for globally connected digital natives.

Through the partnership, Bloxley will integrate Equals Money’s multi-currency account capabilities, international payment rails, and enterprise-grade security features into its platform, creating reliable, compliant, modern payment experiences for its customers.

“We built Bloxley on the belief that everyone deserves wings for their money. Financial empowerment shouldn’t be complicated or reserved for the few,” said Leon Fischer-Brocks, Bloxley Co-Founder & CEO. “Partnering with Equals Money gives us access to infrastructure that’s powered major global brands while maintaining the agility we need as an AI-first platform. Their multi-currency expertise complements our vision perfectly as we prepare to launch in the US and expand internationally.”

The integration supports Bloxley’s core mission to simplify everyday finances through thoughtful technology. Following its recent €2.5M seed funding round at a $25M valuation, Bloxley is positioning itself as a new category of financial services—one that combines premium functionality with elegant simplicity. The Equals Money partnership directly enables several of Bloxley’s differentiated features, including support for multiple currencies within a single account and seamless international money movement.

“We’re excited to support Bloxley’s vision for the next generation of money movement,” said Ian Strafford-Taylor, CEO of Equals Money. “Their commitment to putting people first and making financial services genuinely empowering aligns with our own mission to deliver embedded payments capabilities with premium customer support. Bloxley is the perfect example of our specialist support for businesses that operate internationally and manage payments at scale.”

“Traditional banking infrastructure was built for a different era,” added Imanuel, Co-Founder and President of Bloxley. “By partnering with forward-thinking infrastructure providers like Equals Money, we’re able to cut through decades of legacy systems and deliver experiences our members actually want, whether that’s managing multiple currencies effortlessly or moving money internationally without friction. This partnership is fundamental to our ability to serve the borderless, digital-first generation we’re building for.”

This partnership represents a crucial infrastructure milestone for Bloxley as it scales toward its public launch. The addition of Equals Money’s European payment capabilities positions Bloxley to support its members’ increasingly global financial lives from day one.

Equals Money brings proven enterprise-grade capabilities including safeguarded and segregated accounts, dual-authorization payment approvals, 365-day customer support, and long-standing relationships across tier-one global banking and payment networks. The company has earned trust from major global brands including Dr Martens, Burger King, and Caffè Nero, demonstrating the institutional-quality infrastructure now powering Bloxley’s consumer-focused platform.

With initial support for four countries at launch, and plans for continued international expansion, Bloxley is architecting a truly borderless banking experience. The Equals Money partnership provides the technical foundation to make that vision real while maintaining the security, compliance, and reliability of modern money demands.

Disclaimer: Bloxley is currently in pre-launch. Certain features, including AI-enabled functionality, multi-currency capabilities, and international payment services, are under development and are not yet available to users. References to future products or services reflect Bloxley’s current plans and intentions and are subject to change, regulatory requirements, and partner availability.

About Bloxley

Bloxley is an AI-driven hybrid neobank transforming financial services for Gen Z and Millennials. Founded in 2022 by Leon Fischer-Brocks and Imanuel Kaiser, Bloxley combines premium functionality with thoughtful simplicity through innovative features including @BloxID money usernames, multi-currency support, stablecoin integration, and planned AI-powered capabilities like voice-to-action banking and real-time budget coaching. Following a €2.5M seed round at a $25M valuation, Bloxley is preparing for a 2026 launch in the US market with initial support for four countries. Learn more at www.bloxley.com.

About Equals Money

Equals Money | Railsr is an FCA-regulated Electronic Money Institution (EMI) and Payment Institution (PI) in the UK and leading provider of multi-currency accounts, international payments, and business spending solutions. Our mission is to provide a comprehensive money movement solution that empowers businesses and brands to embed financial services into their customer journeys, enhance operational efficiency and make spend management seamless and straightforward. These services are backed by cutting-edge technology, expert support and rigorous compliance solutions.

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SOURCE Bloxley US Inc.

SAS helps marketers act faster without sacrificing trust with multiple, specialized agents

DALLAS, April 28, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — SAS INNOVATE —  As AI usage in marketing organizations accelerates exponentially, marketing leaders are increasingly asking how much autonomy AI should have, where human control matters most, and how to move beyond isolated AI features toward systems that measurably improve outcomes. SAS’ approach is clear: AI should amplify human expertise, not replace it. To aid with this, SAS today announced the expansion of agentic AI capabilities within SAS Customer Intelligence 360 with specialized AI agents designed to work alongside marketers.

This new generation of purpose-built AI agents will collaborate with users, operate within defined guardrails and deliver value across audiences, journeys, decisioning and execution while transparency, governance and human oversight are maintained.

Why human oversight matters
We are seeing AI systems accelerating rapidly. This means responsible deployment is essential. SAS is focused on agentic AI that:

Operates within the principles of trustworthy AI.Maintains human-in-the-loop control.Is embedded directly into real marketing workflows, rather than added as standalone features.

A multi‑agent future for SAS Customer Intelligence 360
Rather than a single, monolithic AI, SAS has developed a multiagent system within SAS Customer Intelligence 360 with each agent specialized, context aware and designed to act on behalf of the marketer while remaining transparent and controllable.

These agents do not replace existing SAS Customer Intelligence 360 capabilities such as audiences, journeys, destinations or marketing decisioning. Instead, they operate across them to retrieve the right objects, make recommendations and accelerate execution under human supervision.

This approach transforms SAS Customer Intelligence 360 from a powerful marketing platform into an intelligent operating system for customer engagement, removing traditional constraints on scale, speed and precision. By shifting from a resource constrained, linear model to one that supports decisions, journeys and campaigns at unprecedented granularity, marketers no longer must choose between relevance and efficiency – they can achieve both.

The SAS 360 Agent: Coordinating intelligence
As additional agents are introduced, coordination becomes critical. The SAS 360 Agent serves as a supervisory layer, managing interactions between specialized agents such as Audience, Journey, Email, Search and Recipes agents. Rather than requiring marketers to navigate multiple tools and interfaces, the SAS 360 Agent orchestrates actions across customer data, marketing AI and journey execution, working alongside users as a collaborative partner.

The Journeys Agent: From idea to execution
The Journeys Agent within SAS Customer Intelligence 360 helps marketers create customer journeys using multi‑modal inputs, including text briefs, images and conversational prompts. The agent retrieves relevant audiences, events and touchpoints, then assembles a journey structure aligned to both best practices and the marketer’s intent.

Human-in-the-loop checkpoints are embedded throughout the planning and creation process, ensuring marketers remain in control while significantly reducing build time and complexity. Behind the scenes, the agent generates consistent, production-ready SAS code, helping ensure journeys are accurate and deployable from day one.

“The Journey Agent has strong potential to streamline campaign creation and improve efficiency at scale, particularly when managing complex, multi-market campaigns,” said Eleonora Parlatore, Head of Creative Services and Operations at Global Blue. “We see clear opportunities for it to enhance automation and simplify workflows as it continues to evolve.”

The Search Agent: Faster answers, less friction
Search Agent enables marketers to ask operational and performance-related questions across the SAS Customer Intelligence 360 environment, starting with tasks and audiences and expanding to additional areas of the solution over time.

Instead of navigating dashboards and menus, users can ask questions and receive contextual answers grounded in their own data, improving usability and efficiency. It’s a small shift in interaction, but a big leap in usability.

Agentic AI, delivered the SAS way
SAS enables marketers to act faster without sacrificing trust by delivering AI agents that are:

Embedded across the full SAS Customer Intelligence 360 experience.Designed with human oversight as a first principle.Governed, explainable and enterprise ready.

“Agentic AI isn’t about handing control to machines,” said Mike Blanchard, Vice President, Customer Intelligence at SAS. “It’s about creating systems that amplify human expertise, one specialized agent at a time.”

Today’s announcement was made at SAS Innovate, the company’s global data and AI conference, as SAS celebrates 50 years of innovation. This year’s event is proudly supported by our partner sponsors, including Microsoft, Intel and AWS.

About SAS
SAS is a global leader in data and AI, helping organizations make confident decisions with AI they can trust. For decades, SAS has set the standard for delivering software that drives meaningful impact, incorporating deep industry expertise, transparency and governance. SAS gives you THE POWER TO KNOW®.

SAS and all other SAS Institute Inc. product or service names are registered trademarks or trademarks of SAS Institute Inc. in the USA and other countries. ® indicates USA registration. Other brand and product names are trademarks of their respective companies. Copyright © 2026 SAS Institute Inc. All rights reserved.

Editorial Contacts:
Angela Lipscomb
angela.lipscomb@sas.com
919-531-2525
sas.com/news

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SOURCE SAS