ATLANTA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sep 24, 2025--
Pathward®, N.A. (“bank” or “Pathward”), a national bank focused on financial access, and the Georgia Tech Financial Services Innovation Lab, housed in the Scheller College of Business, announced a three-year partnership today. Starting this fall semester, Pathward and the university will collaborate to acquire data and analysis of the financial services landscape with an aim of creating greater financial access for consumers and businesses.
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“Georgia Tech is a highly respected university, and we are thrilled to team up with its Financial Services Innovation Lab to advance financial inclusion and access,” said Pathward President Anthony Sharett. “Pathward’s trusted platform, that includes its technology capabilities, is at the center of money movement and embedded finance through co-creation. I’m optimistic that the partnership will inform our innovation and am excited about the insights we’ll gain from this partnership.”
Georgia Tech’s Financial Services Innovation Lab is a hub for finance education, research and industry in the Southeast U.S. The lab acts as a platform to connect and bring together faculty and students across Georgia Tech with the financial services industry and fintech entrepreneurs.
“We are grateful for this commitment from Pathward and are thrilled to collaborate with a sponsor bank that brings real-world experience and expertise to our Lab,” said Dr. Sudheer Chava, Alton M. Costley Chair and Professor of Finance at the Scheller College of Business, who leads the Financial Services Innovation Lab. “We have a bright group of B.S., M.S. in Quantitative and Computational Finance, MBA, and Ph.D. students who are ready to get started.”
As a bank with many solutions and scalable infrastructure, Pathward offers decades of experience and deep expertise across a range of solutions including issuing, merchant acquiring and digital payments sponsorship, as well as financial institution, credit and professional tax solutions. The bank also offers flexible working capital, equipment and structured finance solutions to businesses.
About Pathward ®
Pathward ®, N.A., a national bank, is a subsidiary of Pathward Financial, Inc. (Nasdaq: CASH). Pathward is focused on financial access and strives to increase financial availability, choice and opportunity across our Partner Solutions and Commercial Finance business lines. The strategic business lines provide support to individuals and businesses. Learn more at Pathward.com.
About Georgia Tech
The Georgia Institute of Technology, or Georgia Tech, is one of the top public research universities in the U.S., developing leaders who advance technology and improve the human condition.
The Institute offers business, computing, design, engineering, liberal arts, and sciences degrees, as well as professional development and K-12 programs for fostering success at every stage of life. Its more than 53,000 undergraduate and graduate students represent 54 U.S. states and territories and more than 146 countries. They study at the main campus in Atlanta, at instructional sites around the world, and through distance and online learning.
As a leading technological university, Georgia Tech is an engine of economic development for Georgia, the Southeast, and the nation, conducting more than $1 billion in research annually for government, industry, and society.
Pathward®, N.A. and the Georgia Tech Financial Services Innovation Lab, housed in the Scheller College of Business, announced a three-year partnership today.
NAKHON RATCHASIMA, Thailand (AP) — A new construction accident on a road near Thailand's capital, Bangkok, was reported on Thursday, just 24 hours after a construction crane fell on a moving passenger train in the country's northeast, killing at least 32 people.
There was no immediate official confirmation of deaths in Thursday’s accident, but the Facebook page of Fire & Rescue Thailand, which covers the activities of volunteer firefighters and rescue workers, said at least one person was killed.
The accident occurred at the site of an elevated road construction project.
Meanwhile, the search for survivors from Wednesday’s train accident in Nakhon Ratchasima province has ended, said provincial governor Anuphong Suksomnit. Officials said three passengers listed as missing were presumed to have gotten off the train earlier, but that was still being investigated.
Officials believed there had been 171 people aboard the train’s three carriages, which were being removed from the scene on Thursday.
The latest accident on the outskirts of Bangkok saw a construction crane collapse on the Rama 2 Road elevated expressway in Samut Sakhon province at around 9 a.m., according to the government's Public Relations Department, which added that two vehicles were trapped in the wreckage, which included massive metal girders.
Rescue operations were underway, the statement added.
The construction project, an extension of the Rama 2 Road expressway — a major artery leading from Bangkok — has become notorious in recent years for construction accidents, some of them fatal.
At the train accident scene in Nakhon Ratchasima, work to remove the wreckage continued Thursday, after search and rescue operations concluded Wednesday night. The accident saw a falling crane derail and crush parts of the train under it.
The authorities said the crane that fell was a launching gantry crane, a mobile piece of equipment often used in building elevated roadways.
Narongsak Promta, the provincial police chief of Nakhon Ratchasima, told reporters at the site that police are working to verify the status of all passengers to determine the status of the three people listed as missing.
He said police are still collecting evidence and interviewing relevant parties and have not yet pressed charges against any party.
South Korea's Foreign Ministry reported that one South Korean national, a man in his late 30s, was among the dead. The ministry is providing consular services to the bereaved family.
The two-stage high-speed rail project on which the accident occurred has a total investment cost of more than 520 billion baht ($16.8 billion) and is associated with an ambitious plan to connect China with Southeast Asia under Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative.
In August 2024, a railway tunnel on the planned route, also in Nakhon Ratchasima, collapsed, killing three workers.
Anan Phonimdaeng, acting governor of the State Railway of Thailand, said the project’s contractor is Italian-Thai Development, with a Chinese company responsible for design and construction supervision.
A statement posted on the website of the company, also known as Italthai, expressed condolences to the victims and said the company would take responsibility for paying compensation to the families of the dead and hospitalization expenses for the injured.
The rail accident sparked outrage because Italthai was also the co-lead contractor for the State Audit Building in Bangkok that collapsed during construction in March last year during a major earthquake.
About 100 people were killed in the collapse, which was the only major structure in Thailand to suffer such serious damage. Dozens of executives were indicted in connection with the disaster but none have yet been tried.
The involvement of Chinese companies in both projects has also drawn attention, as has Italthai and Chinese companies’ involvement in the construction of several expressway extensions in and around Bangkok where several accidents, some fatal, have occurred.
In Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said Wednesday the government was aware of the reports about the rail accident and had expressed condolences.
It was not immediately clear which companies were involved in Thursday's road construction accident.
Associated Press writers Wasamon Audjarint in Bangkok and Hyung-jin Kim in Seoul contributed to this report.
Forensic workers inspect the site of a train accident, a day after a construction crane fell into a passenger train in Nakhon Ratchasima province, Thailand, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)
A cuddly toy lies on the ground at the site of a train accident, a day after a construction crane fell into a passenger train in Nakhon Ratchasima province, Thailand, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)
A construction crane that collapsed on the Rama 2 Road elevated expressway in Samut Sakhon province, Thailand on Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Arnun Chonmahatrakool)
A construction crane that collapsed on the Rama 2 Road elevated expressway in Samut Sakhon province, Thailand on Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Arnun Chonmahatrakool)
A construction crane that collapsed on the Rama 2 Road elevated expressway in Samut Sakhon province, Thailand on Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Arnun Chonmahatrakool)
