The term fake news is true and becoming truer as technology creates more channels to deceive recipients, including deepfake. A form of artificial intelligence, deepfake can fool even the most discerning viewer, and fraudsters are seizing on it as another opportunity for illicit gain. What can financial businesses do to protect themselves against this new line of attack, and what can we all do to prevent ourselves from being hoodwinked?
Buy Now, Pay Later is regularly used to pay for big-ticket items in instalments, but thanks to digital technology, the method is becoming popular for numerous product and service transactions. BNPL digital providers help consumers, unable to pay the full price at point of sale, to stagger payments according to agreed-upon terms, often with no interest or fees. As with any payment method, there are pluses and minuses to consider.
With just a week left before the December 31, 2020, transition-period deadline, the United Kingdom and the European Union (EU) finally agreed to new post-Brexit trading arrangements and, in doing so, avoided a potentially disastrous no-deal scenario. But conspicuously absent from the trade deal are rules governing the financial-services sector.
The UK’s economy showed promising signs of recovery during the fourth quarter of 2020 but not enough to compensate for a dismal year, which, with its annual 9.9-percent contraction, broke a 300-year record and clocked in among the G7’s worst economic performances. Although 2021 is getting off to a slow start with new lockdown measures, increased vaccination and more consumer spending may fuel a vigorous rebound later in the year.
As IT (information technology) continues to evolve at a rapid pace, its role in adding value to businesses all over the world is coming more sharply into focus. And among the most hotly anticipated technologies that certain businesses and enterprises will be looking to in order to generate some of that value will be edge computing.
2020 wasn’t a good year for shareholders scheduled to receive bank dividends. Regulators swiftly put a halt to dividend payments from banks to ward off a pandemic-induced crisis, requiring lenders to conserve capital and distribute it as needed to consumers and businesses. The dividend pipeline is slowly reopening as confidence grows in the banks’ stability, but it may be a while before shareholders receive their fair shares of the profits.
Regarded as one of the world’s safest countries from the coronavirus, Taiwan is also one of the few that registered positive economic growth in 2020 with bright prospects for 2021. Its clever handling of the pandemic isn’t the only reason for its resounding success. The country is also benefitting from US-China trade tensions. But one thing is certain, Taiwan is indeed Formosa, a “beautiful island”, within a bleak world environment.
The financial services (FS) and travel industries first became interconnected in the 1970s, when the only people who could afford to travel were those with demonstrably disposable incomes. Driven by FS’ desire to approach this same audience, a beautiful partnership was formed.
On January 27, Tesla released its financial results for the fourth quarter (Q4) 2020 and the full year ended December 31, 2020, confirming that the Palo Alto-based electric-vehicle and clean-energy company’s earnings had missed estimates for the quarter.
Apple reported its earnings for the first fiscal quarter of 2021 ended December 26, 2020, with a record revenue figure of $111.44 billion—the first time it has exceeded $100 billion in quarterly revenue—and $28.76 billion in profit, making it Apple’s most profitable quarter ever.