Technology

In a move that has led to interest rates reaching their highest level in 13 years, in late June the Bank of England (BoE) opted to hike interest rates by 25 basis points to counteract soaring inflation – itself, the highest in 40 years. Such inflationary pressures are unforgiving for consumers, with prices skyrocketing in every essential category.

The big tech companies have grown to control the digital-advertising space in a relatively short time, but if legislators have their way, not for much longer. The US Congress’s new Competition and Transparency in Digital Advertising Act is one of many pieces of legislation seeking to release the tech titans’ anti-competitive stranglehold.

Continued population growth is guaranteed and will put more pressure on limited farmland. The evolving, productivity-boosting AgTech (smart farming) will play a critical role in meeting humanity’s fundamental food needs. Technological solutions such as robotics, AI and IoT are proving crucial to farms stretched thin by accelerating demand.

Banks and other financial firms top a list they wish they weren’t even on: recipients of the most cyber-attacks. Banks are the targets of an ingenious group of cyber-criminals with sophisticated cyber-weaponry, but they are not defenceless. What should banks be looking out for? And how can they defend themselves against the onslaught?

Many issues compete for our attention today, with the problems besetting global supply chains chief among them, as they affect all of us. Fortunately, technology is coming to the rescue once again. By automating processes, supply chains are increasingly freed from the restrictions imposed by issues such as labour and equipment deficits.

Technology has made the futuristic phrase “where no one has gone before” relevant to banking. Banks are increasingly exploring the new realms that extended reality opens up to them, with staff and customers alike entering simulated virtual-reality environments and the metaverse to push out the boundaries of traditional financial services.

The volume and diversity of data available to banks and other financial services firms has grown enormously and continues to do so. One of the drivers for this is that firms need to disclose more detail on transactions, investments and portfolios to comply with the ongoing push towards more transparency, including in the emerging environmental, social and governance (ESG) arena. 

The Titans of Tech seem untouchable, but the EU’s new Digital Markets Act seeks to take them down a notch by curbing their anti-competitive gatekeeping monopolies. The DMA sets forth stringent principles for how the platforms do business in the European market, benefiting small tech providers and consumers. Other countries may follow suit.

We are living in the age of the scammer. From fraudulent Covid Bounce Bank Loans costing the UK Government some £4.9 billion, to online romance scammer “The Tinder Swindler” and real-life con artist Anna Delvey in Inventing Anna, we can’t go a day without a new story on financial crime. The temptation of easy money has never been so mainstream, so why is fraud becoming an ever-increasing struggle for businesses and proving so hard to crack down on?

Cloud adoption in large, regulated financial institutions is a complex change management process. It requires developers at large companies to learn new technologies and become proficient at using them to maximize business value. Three approaches – process guardrail, discrete development practices, and cloud abstraction – that are commonly observed in financial institutions