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☆ US, Britain announce partnership on AI safety, testing
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-02 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Artificial Intelligence (AI) Safety Summit at Bletchley Park, in central England, on Nov. 2, 2023. - The United States and Britain on Monday announced a new partnership on the science of artificial intelligence safety, amid growing concerns about upcoming next-generation versions. Britain and the United States are among countries establishing government-led AI safety institutes. Both are working to develop similar partnerships with other countries to promote AI safety. Both countries plan to share key information on capabilities and risks associated with AI models and systems and technical research on AI safety and security.

Persons: Rishi Sunak, Kamala Harris, Gina Raimondo, Michelle Donelan, Raimondo, Donelan, Biden Organizations: British, Artificial Intelligence, Monday, British Technology, Safety, Reuters, EU Trade, Technology Council, ., Commerce Department Locations: Bletchley, England, United States, Britain, Washington, Bletchley Park, U.S, Belgium

☆ British tech company Oxford Nanopore outlines medium-term growth plans
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-19 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

LONDON, Oct 19 (Reuters) - British technology company Oxford Nanopore (ONT.L) said it hoped to reach break-even by the end of 2026, as it outlined plans to drive further growth in the life science research tools market and expand into new areas of healthcare. Oxford Nanopore, a spinout from the University of Oxford which floated two years ago, wants to further commercialise its sensing technology which is able to produce immediate analysis of DNA and RNA for use across scientific research, healthcare and other industries. "Today also marks an important transition for Oxford Nanopore as we introduce our medium-to-long term strategy to meet unmet needs in the clinical and applied markets," Chief Executive Gordon Sanghera said in a statement. For the first half-year of the year, Oxford Nanopore posted a 46% rise in revenues from its Life Science Research Tools unit. Shares in Oxford Nanopore, which has a market capitalisation of 1.6 billion pounds, have fallen 15% in the last six months, prior to Thursday's announcement.

Persons: Oxford Nanopore, Gordon Sanghera, Sarah Young, Kate Holton Organizations: Oxford, University of Oxford, Mayo Clinic, Thomson Locations: British, Oxford

☆ Inside Asia's arms race: China near 'breakthroughs' with nuclear-armed submarines, report says
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-09 | by ( Greg Torode | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +7 min

But the Type 094s, which carry China's most advanced submarine-launched JL-3 missile, are considered relatively noisy - a major handicap for military submarines. The paper notes that the Type 096 submarine will compare to state-of-the-art Russian submarines in terms of stealth, sensors and weapons. That puts construction on schedule to have the boats operational by 2030, the timeline stated in the Pentagon's annual reports on China's military. Even if China's submarine force reaches technological parity, it will need to train aggressively and intensively over the next decade to match AUKUS capabilities, he added. Vasily Kashin, a Moscow-based Chinese military scholar at HSE University, said it was possible Chinese engineers had made the breakthroughs described in the report.

Persons: Jason Lee, Christopher Carlson, Carlson, Collin Koh, Koh, Alexander Neill, Neill, Vasily Kashin, Kashin, Greg Torode, Guy Faulconbridge, Gerry Doyle Organizations: Liberation Army Navy, REUTERS, Research, U.S . Naval War College, China Maritime Studies, U.S . Navy, Pentagon, U.S, People's Liberation Army, PLA, Reuters, Rajaratnam, of International Studies, New Zealand, Hawaii's, HSE University, Thomson Locations: Qingdao, China, HONG KONG, Russian, Asia, Hainan, South China, United States, Britain, Russia, France, Singapore, Soviet, Australia, Southeast Asia, Japan, India, South Korea, New, U.S, British, Western Australia, Moscow, Soviet Union, Beijing

☆ UK defends plan to demand access to encrypted messages to protect children
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

LONDON, Aug 10 (Reuters) - British technology minister Michelle Donelan defended plans to require messaging apps to provide access to encrypted private messages when needed to protect children from abuse, which major platforms say would undermine the privacy of their users. "I, like you, want my privacy because I don't want people reading my private messages. They'd be very bored but I don't want them to do it," said Donelan, minister for science, innovation and technology. Donelan said the responsibility lay with tech companies to invest in technology to protect children. "The safety mechanism that we have is very explicit that this (access) can only be used for child exploitation and abuse."

Persons: Michelle Donelan, Donelan, Muvija, Paul Sandle, Peter Graff Organizations: BBC, Britain's, Thomson

☆ European shares slip after ECB rate hike
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-15 | by ( Shreyashi Sanyal | Bansari Mayur Kamdar | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

(Reuters) -European shares slipped on Thursday after the European Central Bank (ECB) raised borrowing costs as expected and signalled more policy tightening in its fight against sticky inflation. FILE PHOTO: The German share price index DAX graph is pictured at the stock exchange in Frankfurt, Germany, June 13, 2023. REUTERS/Staff/ FILE PHOTOThe continent-wide STOXX 600 index closed 0.1% lower after falling as much as 0.8% earlier in the day. The ECB increased the deposit rate by 25 basis points to 3.5%, the highest level in 22 years. This was the central bank’s eighth successive raise.

Persons: Christine, Lagarde, ”, Stuart Cole, Halma, SoftwareOne Organizations: Reuters, European Central Bank, REUTERS, Staff, ECB, Equiti, U.S . Federal Reserve, ASOS, Bain Capital Private Equity, Informa Locations: Frankfurt, Germany, Swedish, British, Swiss

Banking giants Citi (C.N), Wells Fargo (WFC.N) and JP Morgan (JPM.N) were also 1%-3% higher in the pre-market. Japanese financial institutions have sufficient capital buffers to absorb losses caused by external factors, including risks caused by SVB's collapse, the Bank of Japan said. Traders currently see a 50% chance of no rate hike at that meeting, with rate cuts priced in for the second half of the year. The prospect of higher rates had been "the reason investors have been really excited about Japan bank stocks", Ikeda added. We just ask for a little bit of time because of the volume," FDIC employee Luis Mayorga told waiting customers.

☆ Factbox: Global firms with exposure to collapsed SVB
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-13 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +7 min

March 13 (Reuters) - Startup-focused lender SVB Financial Group (SIVB.O) became the largest bank to fail since the 2008 financial crisis last week, sending shockwaves across global markets as billions of dollars belonging to companies and investors were left stranded. The collapse raised concerns that the end of decades-long era of cheap money would reveal cracks in the global financial system as climbing interest rates expose vulnerabilities in the economy. HSBC (HSBA.L) said on Monday it is acquiring the UK subsidiary of SVB for 1 pound, rescuing a key lender for technology start-ups in Britain. Below is a list of companies across the globe that have revealed their exposure to SVB:EUROPEAround 16 tech and life sciences companies in Europe have disclosed about $190 million in exposure to SVB in the UK and the United States. Moonpig adds that SVB UK is one of ten lenders that provide senior debt facilities to the group as part of a strong banking syndicateASIA-PACIFICNITRO SOFTWARE (NTO.AX)Australia's productivity software maker Nitro Software Ltd (NTO.AX) said it had about $12.18 million of its global cash reserves held on deposit at SVB.

"HSBC is Europe's largest bank, and SVB UK customers should feel reassured by the strength, safety and security that brings them," Britain's finance minister Jeremy Hunt said. The Bank of England said it had organised the sale to underpin confidence in the financial system and minimise any fallout for British technology firms. "This acquisition makes excellent strategic sense for our business in the UK," HSBC CEO Noel Quinn said in a statement. The Bank of England said SVB UK had a total balance sheet size of around 8.8 billion pounds. Other potential buyers for SVB UK had included Bank of London, which said on Sunday it had submitted a formal proposal.

☆ UK, Bank of England facilitate sale of SVB UK to HSBC
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-13 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

LONDON, March 13 (Reuters) - Britain's finance minister Jeremy Hunt said the government and the Bank of England had facilitated a private sale of the UK arm of Silicon Valley Bank to HSBC (HSBA.L), in a move which would protect deposits without taxpayer support. The Bank of England said the wider UK banking system remained safe, sound, and well capitalised. "This ensures customer deposits are protected and can bank as normal, with no taxpayer support," Hunt said in a statement on Monday. "HSBC is Europe's largest bank, and SVB UK customers should feel reassured by the strength, safety and security that brings them." Friday's dramatic failure of SVB Financial Group (SIVB.O), which focuses on tech startups, was the biggest bank collapse in the U.S. since the 2008 financial crisis.

☆ Factbox: Which companies are affected by SVB collapse?
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-13 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

ROKU (ROKU.O)Streaming devices maker says it has about $487 million, or 26% of its cash and cash equivalents, held in deposits with SVB. CIRCLEUS cryptocurrency firm Circle says $3.3 billion of its $40 billion of USD Coin reserves are at SVB. BLOCKFIBankrupt crypto lender BlockFi Inc has roughly $227 million in unprotected funds at SVB, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday. VIR BIOTECHNOLOGY (VIR.O)Biotech firm says it maintains operating accounts at SVB with about $220 million as of Friday. EUROPEAround 16 tech and life sciences companies in Europe have disclosed about $190 million in exposure to SVB in the UK and the United States.

[1/2] A notice hangs on the door of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) located in San Francisco, California, U.S. March 10, 2023. "Silicon Valley Bank cannot be allowed to fail given the vital community it serves," Bank of London co-founder and CEO Anthony Watson said. But an executive at a major UK bank said it was unlikely a high street lender would buy SVB UK because its credit products would not be a good fit for a mainstream bank. EXISTENTIAL THREATMore than 250 UK tech firm executives signed a letter addressed to Hunt on Saturday calling for government intervention and warned of an "existential threat" to the UK tech sector, a copy seen by Reuters shows. Sunak has said he wants to turn Britain into the "next Silicon Valley".

☆ UK races to minimise SVB fallout amid reports of potential buyers
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-12 | by ( Andrew Macaskill | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

[1/2] A notice hangs on the door of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) located in San Francisco, California, U.S. March 10, 2023. SoftBank-owned lender OakNorth Bank is weighing a bid to buy Silicon Valley Bank UK Ltd, a person with knowledge of the talks told Reuters, confirming a Sky News report. EXISTENTIAL THREATMore than 250 UK tech firm executives signed a letter addressed to Hunt on Saturday calling for government intervention and warned of an "existential threat" to the UK tech sector, a copy seen by Reuters shows. Hunt reiterated comments by the BoE that overall, Silicon Valley Bank had a limited presence in Britain and did not perform functions critical to the financial system. Sunak has said he wants to turn Britain into the "next Silicon Valley".

☆ U.S. Watchdog Sanctions KPMG Firms, Audit Professionals
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-06 | by ( Jennifer Williams-Alvarez | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +7 min

PREVIEWThe U.K. firm was additionally sanctioned for allegedly failing to reasonably supervise an unregistered audit firm, Romanian audit firm KPMG Audit SRL, in four consecutive audits of Endava PLC, a British technology services company. KPMG U.K. was found to have also made several inaccurate PCAOB filings about the involvement of unregistered firms in certain audit work. The PCAOB imposed a $600,000 penalty for the alleged failings around unregistered audit firms, which KPMG U.K. didn’t admit or deny. KPMG U.K. has reviewed the way it works with other firms, enhancing controls and providing additional training, Cath Burnet, U.K. head of audit at KPMG, said. The U.K.’s audit and accounting regulator in a July letter to seven audit firms, including KPMG, said that it is “deeply concerned” about audit professionals cheating on external professional exams and internal assessments.

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