General News

November 30, 2023 @ 8:51 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Business confidence in the United Kingdom reportedly rose “to 42% in November, a three-point increase, to reach the highest level since February 2022, before the energy crisis which followed the outbreak of the war in Ukraine.” The rise in business confidence in the UK is… Read More

November 30, 2023 @ 4:33 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (HKEX) is pleased to welcome the listing of Asia Pacific’s first ETF to “track Saudi Arabian equities – the CSOP Saudi Arabia ETF (Stock code: 2830 / 82830).” This ETF, which tracks the FTSE Saudi Arabia Index, “provides investors… Read More

November 29, 2023 @ 1:12 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

LendingClub Corporation (NYSE: LC), the parent company of LendingClub Bank, America’s digital marketplace bank, released key findings from the Reality Check: Paycheck-To-Paycheck research series. The Holiday Shopping Deep Dive Edition examines “the financial lifestyles and spending choices of U.S. consumers going into the 2023 holiday… Read More

November 29, 2023 @ 8:07 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Lower inflation levels around the globe should allow central banks to slash rates, according to a recent repot which also noted that US equities could potentially reach a record level of 5000 on the S&P by year-end. Few have experienced today’s macro uncertainty in their… Read More

November 29, 2023 @ 4:12 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Deloitte’s Financing the Green Energy Transition report found that new cost-reducing finance instruments can “help de-risk green projects in developing economies while making investing in these projects more attractive, helping to fuel a global just energy transition.” Achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 will… Read More

November 28, 2023 @ 11:44 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Finastra’s annual survey reveals that, despite global economic uncertainty, US financial institutions are primed to invest in artificial intelligence (AI), Banking as a Service (BaaS) and embedded finance, “striking an optimistic tone for innovation.” The ‘Financial Services: State of the Nation Survey 2023’ finds that… Read More

November 28, 2023 @ 1:08 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Crastorehill, a company majority owned by Finch Capital, Europe‘s growth investor, has successfully acquired open banking players “as part of their buy-and-build strategy.” This move positions Crastorehill as “the 100% shareholder of Qwist (formerly finleap connect) and ndgit, harnessing their complementary strengths to lead the… Read More

November 27, 2023 @ 9:09 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Xero, the global small business platform, has released a new report revealing Singapore’s accounting and bookkeeping sector is undergoing significant transformation, “driven by technology innovation and shifting client expectations.” Xero’s State of the industry report “surveyed 300 accountants and bookkeepers working in Singaporean practices to… Read More

November 27, 2023 @ 8:28 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) adopts digital-first HR with its partnership with Darwinbox, Asia’s Human Resource Management System (HRMS) provider. With a legacy spanning over 170 years, BPI has “enhanced its employee experience and streamlined HR processes for its 18,000-strong workforce, covering a diverse… Read More

November 27, 2023 @ 2:03 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

A total of 2,675 venture capital (VC) funding deals were announced in China during January-October 2023 while the disclosed funding value of these deals stood at $34.6 billion. China witnessed considerable decline “in terms of both deal volume and value compared to January-October 2022,” according… Read More

November 27, 2023 @ 1:54 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

hyperexponential and Akur8 announce a new partnership that will integrate their complementary pricing decision intelligence capabilities to offer insurers an automated, data-driven system for accurately pricing commercial and specialty insurance products. The partnership enables insurers to “integrate rating factors calibrated in Akur8 into pricing models… Read More

November 27, 2023 @ 1:38 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Hyperscience, a firm focused on hyper-automation and a provider of enterprise AI software,  announced the appointment of Brian Weiss as the company’s Field Chief Technology Officer. Weiss joins the company at “a pivotal juncture when the demand for its turnkey enterprise AI software is on… Read More

November 27, 2023 @ 9:33 am By Omar Faridi  |  

The British Business Bank is launching its new £130 million Investment Fund for Wales, unlocking additional funding “to help smaller businesses to prosper and thrive.” The fund will drive sustainable economic growth by “supporting new and growing businesses across the whole of Wales through investment… Read More

November 27, 2023 @ 9:16 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Moonfare has appointed Marc Lamik as its Chief Product and Technology Officer, which is a newly-created executive committee position “reporting to Co-CEO Lorenz Jüngling.” Lamik, who is based in Lisbon, “joined Moonfare in July 2022 as VP of Product and Data.” In his new role… Read More

November 26, 2023 @ 11:56 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

A total of 1,098 venture capital (VC) funding deals worth $12 billion were announced in the UK during January-October 2023. Both deal volume and value recorded year-on-year (YoY) decline “compared to the VC funding activity registered during January-October 2022,” reveals GlobalData, a data and analytics… Read More

November 26, 2023 @ 11:48 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Kingston University is collaborating with UK neobank Science Card in order “to drive major breakthrough in cervical cancer treatment.” Science Card claims that it is creating “a unique science funding infrastructure by collaborating with UK universities to enable users of its socially-conscious e-money current account… Read More

November 26, 2023 @ 7:37 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Lloyds Banking Group, a UK based financial services group, has released the first Housing Stocktake 2023 report sharing insights on “the stalling efforts to decarbonize the UK’s housing stock.” In the UK, homes are one of the highest emitting sectors, “with the 28 million residential… Read More

November 26, 2023 @ 5:08 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

The non-profit sector performs a vital role in our society, providing relief and support to groups of the population in need, “at times of urgent crisis and often in challenging circumstances and regions.” Unfortunately, charitable fundraising has also “been used to provide cover for the… Read More

November 26, 2023 @ 10:18 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Stefan Rust, CEO of independent economic data aggregator Truflation, says that the resignation of Binance founder Changpeng Zhao or “CZ” as part of the exchange’s settlement with US authorities marks a “sad” day that should “serve as a clarion call for the build-out of decentralized… Read More

November 26, 2023 @ 10:13 am By Omar Faridi  |  

European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde is known for her anti-crypto stance, referring to virtual currencies as being highly speculative, completely worthless, and often used as a tool by bad actors/criminals for engaging in illicit activities. Recently, the ECB President Christine Lagarde claimed that her… Read More