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☆ Singapore's Whampoa Group to set up digital bank HQ in Bahrain
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-18 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

DUBAI, May 18 (Reuters) - Singapore's Whampoa Group, an investment firm with stakes in global tech firms, will set up the headquarters of its new digital bank in Bahrain, the Gulf state's Economic Development Board (EDB) said on Thursday. The bank aims to launch at the end of this year, the EDB said. The island state has been actively trying to expand its fintech and finance industry to diversify and strengthen its non-oil economy. "We were impressed by Bahrain's solid reputation in the financial services sector, transparent regulatory framework, and ongoing pledge to collaborate and innovate," Whampoa Group CEO Shawn Chan said. Writing by Lisa Barrington; editing by Jason NeelyOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

NEW YORK, May 16 (Reuters) - Ed Wehle, a senior Barclays Plc (BARC.L) technology banker, has resigned to join U.S. rival Citigroup Inc (C.N) in New York, according to an internal memo seen by Reuters, adding to an exodus of top investment bankers from the London-based bank. An investment banking veteran of nearly three decades, Wehle will join Citigroup as its global head of technology services, Mark Keene, Citigroup's global head of technology investment banking, wrote in the memo to employees on Tuesday. "Technology services complements Citi’s unparalleled global client position, and Ed will work closely with partners in Asia, EMEA and Latin America," said Philip Drury, global head of technology & communications banking, capital markets & advisory at Citi. He was previously head of global technology services banking at Barclays, which he had joined in 2018 from Deutsche Bank AG (DBKGn.DE). Reuters reported on Monday that at least seven top Barclays technology, media and telecommunications (TMT) bankers have resigned to join UBS Group AG (UBSG.S) in the U.S. in the last few days.

☆ TSMC stake sold by Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-16 | by ( Michelle Toh | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

Hong Kong CNN —Warren Buffett’s conglomerate has sold its remaining shares in the world’s largest chipmaker, TSMC, after the “Oracle of Omaha” sounded alarms about its homebase of Taiwan. In a Monday filing, Berkshire Hathaway (BRKA) disclosed that it was no longer holding a stake in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSM) as of the end of the first quarter. In February, Berkshire revealed it had sold 86% of its shares in TSMC, which were purchased for $4.1 billion just months before. As Berkshire Hathaway revealed its withdrawal Monday, other prominent investors made bets on the stock. According to a regulatory filing, Macquarie has increased its stake in TSMC, while Tiger Global has also bought in.

☆ Wikipedia cofounder slams Elon Musk for caving to Turkey's government and censoring tweets, says Wikipedia fought similar demands and won
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-15 | by ( Grace Mayer | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Twitter announced it would "restrict access to some content in Turkey" right before the country's presidential election. Wikipedia cofounder Jimmy Wales criticized Twitter CEO Elon Musk's decision to restrict content. Twitter's Global Government Affairs account had tweeted about the changes ahead of Turkey's presidential election held on Sunday. Turkey's highest court determined that blocking the website was unconstitutional, and access to Wikipedia was restored in January 2020, The New York Times reported. Before Musk, Twitter agreed to around 50% of government requests.

☆ India's opposition Congress scores big win in Karnataka state election, defeats BJP
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-13 | by ( Yp Rajesh | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/5] Supporters of India's main opposition Congress party celebrate after the initial poll results in Karnataka elections at the party headquarters, in New Delhi, India, May 13, 2023. REUTERS/Adnan AbidiNEW DELHI, May 13 (Reuters) - India’s main opposition Congress party registered an emphatic win in elections in the southern state of Karnataka on Saturday, defeating the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in a big boost to its prospects ahead of national elections due next year. Congress won 135 seats against 66 for the BJP in the 224-member legislature, the Election Commission website showed at the end of counting. In contrast, the BJP won 15 states or federal territories either on its own or in alliance with regional parties. "(The) Congress party stood with the poor in Karnataka, we fought on the issues of the poor," Gandhi told reporters.

She will warn about "the global impact of this standoff and highlight the need to avoid default," a senior Treasury official said. It will lead to a freeze in global financial markets," said Muehleisen, now a fellow with the Atlantic Council. G7 counterparts will question Yellen "about the financial stability risks in the U.S., the regional banks' exposure to commercial real estate. Real risks that are not manufactured for political posturing," said Stephanie Segal, a former U.S. Treasury official who is a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. The far more complicated "Pillar 1" plan to allow countries to tax global technology giants and other highly profitable corporations on their local sales is still under negotiation.

[1/4] A logo is on display in the office of Sberbank, Russia's state-owned dominant lender and one of the country's leading technology players, in Moscow, Russia, March 28, 2023. But it also highlights challenges as Russia's tech development becomes increasingly reliant on one state-owned player. Since 2020 it has cast itself as a technology company as well, and is now seeking a bigger slice of Russia's shrinking technology pie. "There are restrictions on some of them, it is a very complex technology," Belevtsev said. "There is already a lot of cooperation on engineers and technology," Belevtsev said.

☆ Britain launches probe into ChatGPT-style A.I. as regulators grow concerned by risks
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( Ryan Browne | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

LONDON — The U.K. competition regulator launched an investigation into the artificial intelligence industry, seeking to examine potential competition and consumer concerns as U.S. tech giants Microsoft and Google square off over the technology. The probe will focus on "foundation models" like large language models and generative AI, such as those being developed by Microsoft-backed firm OpenAI. Large language models are AI systems trained on huge amounts of data to understand human language and come up with humanlike responses to user inputs. However, they have also caused alarm for regulators who are concerned by the rapid pace at which AI systems are being developed and what this means for the labor market. The announcement by the CMA follows a request by the government to regulators to review how principles like safety, transparency and accountability are being incorporated into AI systems.

But Nvidia has created variants of its chips for the Chinese market that are slowed down to meet U.S. rules. Even the slowed Nvidia chips represent an improvement for Chinese firms. The back-and-forth between government and industry exposes the U.S. challenge of slowing China's progress in high tech without hurting U.S. companies. Chip industry sources said that was an effective action. Some in the AI industry believe that is still plenty of speed.

May 3 (Reuters) - Goldman Sachs Group Inc (GS.N) has named Kim Posnett as the head of its global technology, media and telecommunications (TMT) investment banking group, according to an internal company memo. Posnett, who is currently the co-head of the One Goldman Sachs initiative at the bank, will continue to hold her existing responsibilities. The One Goldman Sachs initiative aims to integrate the bank's dealings with clients across teams. Posnett, who has also served as the global head of investment banking services at Goldman, is one of the few executives who spoke at the bank's investor day in February alongside its chief executive and finance head. In a separate memo sent out by Goldman's heads of global banking & markets, Ashok Varadhan, Dan Dees and Jim Esposito, Goldman also named Aasem Khalil as the new global head of its Investment Banking Services division.

☆ Bank of America's top information-security exec is taking on a brand-new role at the bank focused on the developer experience
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-03 | by ( Bianca Chan | Carter Johnson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Kristopher Fador is Bank of America's new chief information security officer, succeeding Froelich. Craig Froelich is taking the helm as the chief information officer of architecture, developer experience, and policy, a newly created role at Bank of America. Froelich previously served as chief information security officer for the nation's second-largest bank, a role he held for more than eight years. He also spent time in Hong Kong for BofA, leading regional information security teams, according to his LinkedIn. At Goldman Sachs, for example, CIO Marco Argenti has made developer experience a key focus of his strategy.

☆ Israeli Startups Struggle to Raise Money Amid Political Turmoil, Global Downturn
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-01 | by ( Dov Lieber | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Israel’s technology sector has become a prominent actor in the movement against a judicial overhaul plan. Photo: Kobi Wolf/Bloomberg NewsTEL AVIV—Israeli technology companies are struggling to raise funds, recent data shows, amid a combination of global economic trends and investor concerns over how a proposal to overhaul the country’s judiciary could affect the sector, one of the world’s most vibrant hubs for startups. Israeli technology companies were hurt harder in the first quarter than other global tech hubs, data shows, suggesting the reasons behind the decline in fundraising go beyond macroeconomic conditions.

☆ After Warmth From Biden, South Korea’s Leader Faces a Different Tune at Home
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-29 | by ( Choe Sang-Hun | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

President Yoon Suk Yeol went to Washington to reset South Korean diplomacy by drawing closer to the United States and taking a larger role on the international stage. If the warmth of his reception there was the gauge of success, he did well. President Biden welcomed him as “my friend.” Mr. Yoon belted out “American Pie” while the crowd whooped along during the White House dinner. “Even if you didn’t know my name, you may know BTS and Blackpink,” Mr. Yoon said to chuckles from American lawmakers. “BTS beat me to the White House.

☆ Fire Sale: $300 Million San Francisco Office Tower, Mostly Empty. Open to Offers.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( Peter Grant | Jim Carlton | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Before the pandemic, San Francisco’s California Street was home to some of the world’s most valuable commercial real estate. The corridor runs through the heart of the city’s financial district and is lined with offices for banks and other companies that help fuel the global tech economy. One building, a 22-story glass and stone tower at 350 California Street, was worth around $300 million in 2019, according to office broker estimates.

☆ Morning Bid: Fresh spur from Meta and Europe's banks
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

Perhaps even more surprising, Europe's big banks are wowing the gallery too - showing limited, if any, fallout from the failure of ailing Credit Suisse at the end of the quarter. And so the glass appears half full again despite background tensions around regional U.S. banks and as wider markets brace for several weeks of a U.S. debt ceiling standoff. With Amazon reporting later, its stock rose another 2% ahead of the bell too. The U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday narrowly passed a bill to raise the government's $31.4 trillion debt ceiling that includes sweeping spending cuts over the next decade. The dollar was marginally weaker, with crude oil prices struggling to recover from their latest lunge lower this week.

☆ Walmart is using AI to negotiate prices with suppliers, report says — and the suppliers are loving it
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( Ben Tobin | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Walmart is using technology from Pactum AI to negotiate with suppliers, per a Bloomberg report. The retailer tells the AI chatbot its budget, and the chatbot communicates with a human vendor. The Bentonville, Arkansas-based retail giant has embraced artificial intelligence a lot recently. Walmart is using a chatbot to conduct negotiations with equipment vendors, according to a recent report from Bloomberg. Walmart's shopping app also uses AI technologyThis is not the first time Walmart has embraced artificial intelligence.

☆ UK watchdog defends Microsoft block in face of onslaught from companies
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) blocked the deal on Wednesday, saying it could hit competition in the nascent cloud gaming market. Microsoft's president Brad Smith said the decision "had shaken confidence in the UK tech industry" and was "probably the darkest day in our four decades in Britain". "There's a clear message here - the European Union is a more attractive place to start a business than the United Kingdom," he added. "That's important for UK consumers and UK business and it's those UK consumers and UK businesses that the CMA is here to protect," she told BBC radio. She said Britain had not acted alone, noting that the U.S. Federal Trade Commission was also suing to block the deal.

☆ Assa Abloy Q1 beats forecast helped by higher sales and lower costs
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

Operating profit fell to 3.96 billion crowns from a year-earlier 4.00 billion. Analysts polled by Refinitiv had on average expected a profit of 3.69 billion crowns. Excluding restructuring costs the operating profit grew to 5.18 billion crowns. Assa Abloy said in a statement lower material costs, higher prices to customers, cost cuts and strong sales growth at in particular its Global Technologies and Americas divisions boosted profits. Group organic sales growth was 8%.

☆ Morning Bid: Wowed by tech, worried by banks
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

That makes investors wary of such provisions at the likes of HSBC (HSBA.L), Lloyds (LLOY.L) and NatWest Group (NWG.L), all of which are due to report earnings in the coming weeks. Across the Atlantic, First Republic Bank's (FRC.N) plunging deposits and tumbling shares are rippling through the U.S. regional banking sector. U.S. recession fears have also resurfaced after consumer confidence hit a nine-month low, alongside some weak earnings. In a week packed with tech sector earnings, the focus moves from artificial intelligence to advertising revenues as Facebook-parent Meta Platforms (META.O) and streaming device maker Roku Inc (ROKU.O) report. Key developments that could influence markets on Wednesday:U.S. durable goods orders, Germany and France consumer confidenceEarnings: Meta Platforms, Boeing, GSK, Deutsche Boerse, Roku IncEditing by Jacqueline WongOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Many Western companies are reviewing their supply chains and reliance on China as a manufacturing base, with Washington stepping up curbs in particular aimed at hobbling Beijing's chip ambitions and slowing its technological and military advances. Asked on an earnings call about U.S. and European chip designers shifting orders away from Chinese factories, UMC (2303.TW) co-President Jason Wang said their customers were starting to "evaluate their supply chain resilience". UMC could benefit from that, given the company makes chips in Taiwan, China, Singapore and Japan, Wang added. Global tech demand has slumped in recent months as soaring inflation, rising interest rates and a gloomy world economic outlook have led consumers and businesses to tighten spending. ($1 = 30.6960 Taiwan dollars)Reporting by Sarah Wu and Ben Blanchard Editing by Bernadette BaumOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Amazon, Apple and more: EU names the Big Tech platforms set to face tougher regulatory scrutiny
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-25 | by ( Silvia Amaro | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

The European Commission, the executive arm of the EU, in late 2020 presented new legislation on how regulators should keep a closer eye on tech giants. Under this Digital Services Act (DSA), which was implemented four months ago, regulators are able to police content to reduce harmful comments and set rules for the use of artificial intelligence. European regulators have previously warned Elon Musk, CEO of Twitter, that his firm faces significant amounts of work to comply with the new rulebook. He added in a statement Tuesday: "The countdown is starting for 19 very large online platforms and search engines to fully comply with the special obligations that the Digital Services Act imposes on them." "The Digital Services Act is comprehensive and will be a challenge for online intermediaries to get their head around, with the largest players facing the biggest impact.

[1/6] Tundra trucks and Sequoia SUV's exit the assembly line as finished products at Toyota's truck plant in San Antonio, Texas, U.S. April 17, 2023. TOYOTA'S PAST SUCCESSWashington's push to accelerate the shift to battery-electric vehicles amplifies the threat posed by Tesla to Toyota's position as the world's largest automaker. Toyota San Antonio has weathered a series of challenges since it built its first truck in 2006. The future for factories like Toyota San Antonio will play out across the next several years. Reporting by Norihiko Shirouzu in San Antonio, Texas, Joseph White in Detroit and David Shepardson in Washington Written by Joseph White Editing by Ben Klayman and Matthew LewisOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ CNBC Pro Talks: Meet a fund manager who bet on A.I. before most investors knew what it was
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

The S&P 500 is up more than 8% this year led by a basket of mega-cap stocks, including chip stock Nvidia , which is up by around 90%. Both stocks are among Polar Capital Technology Trust's top 10 holdings. The fund manager also discussed the impact of a recession on FAANG stocks, which have been the primary drivers of the market rally this year. He joined Polar Capital in 2003. He's the lead manager of the Polar Capital Technology Trust, and fund manager of the Polar Capital Global Technology Fund and the Automation and Artificial Intelligence Fund.

BELFAST, April 19 (Reuters) - China is aiming for "global technological supremacy" in cyberspace and is using its cyber capabilities to conduct intelligence and surveillance campaigns, Britain's cyber chief said on Wednesday. Lindy Cameron, director of the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), part of Britain's GCHQ eavesdropping spy agency, said Britain had a "legitimate concern" about the effects Chinese technology may have on cybersecurity. "China is not only pushing for parity with Western countries, it is aiming for global technological supremacy," Cameron told an annual government cybersecurity conference in Belfast. China is also using its cyber capabilities to acquire intellectual property, achieve its strategic geopolitical goals, and conduct global spying campaigns, Cameron added. Last month, Britain banned the use of TikTok on government phones, following other Western countries in barring the Chinese-owned video app over security concerns.

☆ These are the 10 fastest-growing millionaire hotspots worldwide — and three are in the U.S.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( Sophie Kiderlin | In | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Hangzhou in China is one of the cities where wealth has grown the fastest in the past decade, a new report says. Hangzhou in China comes out on top of the list assessing the fastest-growing millionaire hotspots. Two further Chinese cities, Shenzhen and Guangzhou are also in the top 10, coming in third and seventh place respectively. Andrew Amoils, head of research at wealth intelligence firm New World Wealth, which worked on the report with Henley & Partners, links the jumps to various factors. "The US's dominance over the global tech sector has probably played a role in European cities struggling.

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