Financial Technology Weekly | Issue 21

DeepMind founders create AI startup Inflection AI with plans to raise $675 million

Inflection AI, an AI startup founded by DeepMind co-founder Mustafa Suleyman and LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman, plans to raise up to $675 million, the Financial Times reported, citing people familiar with the matter. Inflection plans to develop artificially intelligent personal assistants and has already hired AI experts from several competitors, including OpenAI, DeepMind and Google, people familiar with the matter said.

 

Information link:

https://www.163.com/dy/article/HUTMQQ8R0534A4SC.html

Comment: Inflection AI has yet to release a product and is currently in discussions to raise two to three times the size of last year's first round of funding of $225 million.

 

UK startup Flock raises $38m Series B funding round using real-time data to provide fleet insurance

Flock, a UK-based insurance company, recently announced a $38 million Series B round of funding. The funding was co-led by Octopus Ventures (via Octopus partner Malcolm Ferguson) and CommerzVentures, with Social Capital led by Chamath Palihapitiya, MuleSoft founder Ross Mason's family Dig Ventures, Anthemis and Foresight Ventures.

 

Information link:

https://36kr.com/p/2150103829481986

Comment: Founded in 2018, Flock helps fleet managers identify high-risk drivers and routes through telematics, using real-time data to provide more cost-effective insurance for car fleets.

 

Integrating payment data to generate business insights, Chilean startup Pagos secures $34 million in funding

Pagos, a smart payment technology startup, recently announced a $34 million Series A funding round. According to Statista, total global digital payments transactions are expected to reach $14.79 trillion by 2027. Payment infrastructure has become a key component of the economy, but the costs and complexities associated with it are also increasing. A recent survey shows that merchant satisfaction with their payment processors is plummeting, especially in the event of major technical failures.

 

Information link:

https://www.weiyangx.com/420288.html

Comment: Founded by a group of experts in payments from Braintree, PayPal and Stripe, Pagos transforms disparate digital payment data into instructive business insights without customers having to replace their existing payment processors.

 

London-based startup Ramp secures $5 million in funding to provide users with an automated revenue forecasting tool

UK software startup Ramp recently announced a $5 million seed funding round led by Albion VC and Eurazeo.Founded in 2018 and based in London, Ramp serves corporate CFOs and finance departments, using machine learning to help users predict revenue and user growth.

 

Information link:

https://finance.stockstar.com/IG2023030800003802.shtml

Comment: Ramp co-founder and chief strategy Angus Lovitt founded the company after suffering poor financial forecasts during his time as VP of marketing at King Digital Entertainment, the makers of the previously hit gaming app Candy King Digital Entertainment is the maker of the previously popular game app Candy Crush.

Insurtech unicorn Acrisure expands in Europe

Acrisure, the financial services and insurance brokerage company, has announced the creation of Acrisure Deutschland GmbH, a new subsidiary covering the German, Austrian and Swiss markets. Pahl is based in Munich and reports to Jason Howard, President of Acrisure International and Chairman of Acrisure Re.

 

Information link:

https://www.acrisure.com/news-and-insights/acrisure-continues-european-expansion

Comment: Acrisure is a global insurance brokerage company that aims to transform the insurance value chain and provide high quality insurance and risk management solutions through agency partners.

 

Israeli liability technology company PredicDO has joined Hannover Re's insurtech online trading platform

Israeli liability technology company PredicDO says it has gone live on Hannover Re's InsurTech online trading platform, claiming to be the first technology company to focus on liability insurance management. Through data science, they are able to provide accurate risk insights on directors' liability insurance, identify high-risk companies, propose risk mitigation measures and have effectively reduced the risk level of US listed companies by 50%.

 

Information link:

https://www.insurancenews.com.au/insurtech/do-risk-insurtech-joins-hannover-re-pool

Comment: This proprietary database generates risk reports on US listed companies, provides unique insights into companies and their executives, and performs automated risk reviews of companies' portfolios, allowing for the identification of high-risk companies in the portfolio so that action can be taken to reduce risk.

 

Tencent Weixin leverages insurance technology to improve service effectiveness

Relying on the WeChat ecosystem and leveraging the advantages of financial technology, Tencent WeBao insights into the pain points of different customer segments, designs and develops a large number of practical insurance planning tools, intelligently matches insurance types and insurance combinations at different levels of protection for users, helping them to obtain the best protection planning solutions and improving their efficiency in planning personal and family protection.

 

Information link:

https://new.qq.com/rain/a/20230224A05TQ700

Comment: Since 2022, Tencent MicroEnsure has upgraded its platform service system to promote service innovation with technological innovation, creating three major "insurance helpers" throughout the user's life cycle from before, during and after insurance.

 

InsurTech can be a digital enabler, driving the adoption of digital technology along the value chain

According to McKinsey research, more than $10 billion has been invested in insurtech since 2012. While investment has declined in recent years, three key trends have emerged that highlight how the insurtech space has evolved and matured over time: diversification, specialisation and collaboration.

 

Information link:

https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/financial-services/our-insights/insurance-blog/a-new-industry-model-for-insurtech

Comment: Insurtech companies are often start-ups with simple business models and narrow areas of focus, be it artificial intelligence or machine learning. In addition, many insurtech companies have data analytics capabilities.

Irish central bank bans staff from using AI chatbot ChatGPT

The Central Bank of Ireland today announced that it will ban the use of ChatGPT, an AI chatbot, by its employees for cybersecurity reasons, according to local media outlet The Business Post. it has also been reported that similar measures are being considered by major Irish banking institutions such as Allied Irish Banks, Permanent TSB and Bank of Ireland. chatGPT generates text and images based on user prompts, and has attracted the attention of the financial services industry since its launch in November 2022. ChatGPT generates text and images based on user prompts and has attracted the attention of the financial services industry since its launch in November 2022.

 

Information link:

https://www.weiyangx.com/420247.html

 

Woori Bank Korea launches ESG advisory services for SMEs

On 5 March 2023, Woori Bank Korea announced the launch of its ESG management consulting services for SMEs. The bank's corporate clients can avail of the service, which includes a diagnosis of a company's non-financial performance and on-site consultation on how to develop an ESG management strategy, through free access to Woori's online banking website. This non-face-to-face service is part of Woori's efforts to raise ESG awareness and help more companies keep up with the market transformation trend. Through a partnership with local credit certification service operator E credential, Woori offers a variety of other benefits to companies using the service.

 

Information link:

https://finance.stockstar.com/IG2023030600001683.shtml

 

BIS completes cross-border retail CBDC pilot project with central banks in Israel, Norway and other countries

On 6 March 2023, the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) announced that its Nordic Innovation Centre has joined forces with the central banks of Israel, Norway and Sweden to complete Project Icebreaker. The project examined the potential benefits and challenges of using retail central bank digital currencies (CBDC) in international payments. In most existing cross-border payment systems, the payer has no choice in the exchange rate as it has no control over who is the provider of the foreign exchange. In the model developed by Project Icebreaker, many foreign exchange providers can submit offers to the system hub, which automatically selects the cheaper offer for the end user. This competitive setup reduces the risk of illiquidity in the required currency pair, a risk that could drive up fees and even delay transactions.

 

Information link:

https://new.qq.com/rain/a/20230306A07PP600

 

Iran completes pre-test phase of central bank digital currency

20 February 2023, Mohammad Reza Mani Yekta, head of payments system supervision at the Central Bank of Iran (CBI), said that the pre-experimental phase of the Central Bank of Iran's digital currency (CBDC) has been completed and a pilot is planned for the national payments system, in which 10 Iranian banks have already applied to participate. According to the Central Bank of Iran, the digital rial is powered by a platform called Borna, which was created using IBM's open source enterprise blockchain platform Hyperledger Fabric.

 

Information link:

https://finance.stockstar.com/IG2023030900002585.shtml#:~:text

SAMA launches new joint research programme focusing on areas such as the carbon cycle economy

On 7 March 2023, the Saudi Central Bank (SAMA) announced the launch of the third edition of its Joint Research Programme to support the development of the Saudi economy. The research programme will focus on four areas: 1) macroeconomics (GDP, private sector, external trade, labour market, investment, consumption, sustainability of public finances); 2) finance (fintech, banking, insurance, finance, risk management, payment systems); 3) financial stability (macroprudential policy, virtual money, cyber risk, mortgage lending, bank credit, financial sector interconnections, non-bank financial intermediation); 4) other areas (digitalisation, circular carbon economy, climate change, energy economics, knowledge economy, SMEs).

 

Information link:

https://www.weiyangx.com/category/express

 

Successful roadshow for the Shanghai Environmental Exchange's "Double Carbon" green investment and financing project

The first "Double Carbon" Green Investment and Financing Project Roadshow, jointly organised by the Carbon Neutral Action Alliance and the National Carbon Market Capacity Building (Shanghai) Centre, was successfully held on the trading floor of the Shanghai Environmental Exchange. The roadshow took the form of a "live roadshow + online broadcast + financing exchange", gathering representatives from major financial institutions, investment institutions and well-known enterprises to contribute to the construction and development of the national climate investment and financing pilot. This roadshow gives full play to the advantages of the "Golden Triangle" resource endowment of the North Bund, which will further promote the docking of "double carbon" related industries and capital, enlarge and strengthen the "circle of friends" of green finance The roadshow will further promote the docking of "double carbon" related industries and capital, enlarge and strengthen the "circle of friends" of green finance, promote the incubation and landing of green industries, and build a green low carbon headquarters base.

 

Information links:

https://finance.sina.com.cn/esg/2023-03-10/doc-imykkkfw9716207.shtml

 

European energy companies call on EU to introduce green subsidies at CERAWeek

Massive green subsidies in the US will attract large amounts of money and talent, putting the EU's energy transition at risk of falling behind, European energy company executives said at this week's CERAWeek international energy conference. The landmark Inflation Reduction Act, introduced in the US last August, will invest US$369 billion in new energy and climate change projects, providing subsidies and tax incentives for a range of green industrial products produced in the US and in the North American Free Trade Area. The Inflation Reduction Act ignited a trade ban between the US and the EU, with both sides competing for capital and skilled labour to advance the energy transition. The EU fears that massive US green subsidies could drive companies away from Europe and shift investment to North America, dealing a blow to the EU's economy and clean energy development. European energy companies at the CERAWeek conference called on the EU to come up with new incentives of its own.

 

Information link:

https://www.cls.cn/detail/1289550

 

Bank of China assists CSSC Leasing to successfully issue its first sustainability-linked panda bond

Bank of China assisted China Shipbuilding (Hong Kong) Shipping Leasing Limited to successfully issue RMB 1 billion of panda bonds in the China Interbank Bond Market. （It follows the certification standards of the International Capital Markets Association (ICMA) "Principles for Sustainable Development-Linked Bonds", the Institute of Dealers "Ten Questions and Ten Answers on Sustainable Development-Linked Bonds (SLB)", the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and the International Finance Corporation "Environmental and Social Sustainability Performance Criteria (2012)", etc., and is highly sought after by market investors with a peak order size of nearly RMB 3 billion.

 

Information link:

https://finance.sina.com.cn/jryx/bank/2023-03-07/doc-imyizafa9360407.shtml

SEC Increases Staff to Focus on Investigating DeFi, NFT and Other Securities Law Violations

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is increasing its staff, including positions for regulators, investigator attorneys, fraud analysts and trial attorneys, with the goal of enhancing its ability to review, investigate, audit, examine and potentially prosecute securities law violations related to novel crypto products and trading activity in areas such as crypto asset issuance, trading, and lending and pledging products; DeFi platforms; NFT and stable coins, among other areas.

 

Information link:

https://www.weiyangx.com/category/express

 

US bank regulator urges greater global coordination on cryptocurrency regulation

Global regulators need to increase coordination in the regulation of the digital asset industry, the US regulator has said. Michael Hsu, acting director of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, said the collapse of cryptocurrency exchange FTX last November highlighted the need for a global regulatory framework and that regulators in different jurisdictions needed to do more to prevent firms from taking advantage of overlapping rules.

 

Information link:

https://finance.sina.cn/2023-03-07/detail-imyiyvxa3562217.d.html

 

The State Administration of Financial Supervision and Administration is formed, the CBRC is abolished and the SFC is restructured as an agency directly under the State Council

The State Administration of Financial Supervision and Administration (SAFE) was formed according to the State Council's motion on the proposal for consideration of the State Council's institutional reform programme. It will be responsible for the supervision of the financial industry, except for the securities industry, strengthening institutional supervision, conduct supervision, functional supervision, penetrating supervision and continuous supervision, coordinating the protection of the rights and interests of financial consumers, strengthening risk management and prevention and disposal, and investigating and dealing with violations of the law, as an agency directly under the State Council. The State Administration of Financial Supervision and Administration (SAFE) was established on the basis of the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission (CBIRC) and transferred the day-to-day supervisory responsibilities of the People's Bank of China (PBOC) for financial holding companies and other financial groups, as well as the investor protection responsibilities of the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC), to SAFE. The China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission will no longer be retained.

 

Information link:

https://finance.sina.com.cn/jjxw/2023-03-07/doc-imyiztax3869464.shtml

 

Corporate bond issuance and review under the responsibility of the Securities Regulatory Commission, a further step towards unification of bond market supervision

The Second Plenary Session of the Twentieth Central Committee considered and adopted the "Party and State Institutional Reform Program", which proposed to "rationalize the bond management system, transfer the corporate bond issuance review responsibilities of the National Development and Reform Commission to the China Securities Regulatory Commission, and make the China Securities Regulatory Commission responsible for corporate (enterprise) bond issuance review work in a unified manner ". To the will be the responsibility of corporate bond issuance audit to the Securities Regulatory Commission unified responsibility, the follow-up corporate bonds or may be under the supervision of the Securities Regulatory Commission to corporate bond varieties close, corporate bond regulatory standards system, or may refer to the implementation of corporate bonds. The reform has triggered a lot of debate in the bond market, and many bond market practitioners have said that the bond market's "unified supervision" has once again taken an important step forward, which also means that corporate bond issuance is more market-oriented.

 

Information link:

https://www.cls.cn/detail/1286832

Ping An New Bancassurance launches the first white paper on wealth management for middle-class women based on "happiness

Ping An New Yin Insurance, in collaboration with The Economic Observer, has officially released the "2023 China Middle Class Women's Wealth Management and Happiness Index Report", the first white paper in China to provide insights into middle-class women's wealth management based on "happiness". The report is based on extensive research in six cities, including Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Chongqing and Nanjing, to analyse the new trends in wealth management for middle-class women and to explore their happiness index in terms of accessibility, security and satisfaction.

 

Information link:

https://biz.ifeng.com/c/8NzEnDaYB3m

 

Bank of Beijing and Penghua Fund sign strategic cooperation agreement to build investment education base

A signing ceremony for the strategic cooperation agreement between Bank of Beijing and Penghua Fund Management Co. Relying on this strategic cooperation, both parties will continue to deepen their investor education work along a consensual and innovative path. The two parties will focus on six main features to promote the construction of the investment education base: building a distinctive organisation, popularising distinctive content, integrating distinctive methods, developing distinctive projects, focusing on distinctive themes and innovating regional features. The strategic signing between Bank of Beijing and Penghua Fund is a pragmatic initiative for both parties to deepen the cooperation between banks and funds, innovate wealth management, build investment education bases and achieve high-quality development. The two sides will strengthen resource sharing and complement each other's advantages, and carry out comprehensive strategic cooperation in areas such as fund distribution, institutional investment, investment research and exchange, pension finance, asset custody, fund deposit, Internet platform cooperation and investor education.

 

Information link:

https://finance.sina.com.cn/stock/roll/2023-03-10/doc-imykkuvv2261669.shtml

 

Biden unveils $6.9 trillion budget for new fiscal year, proposes tax hikes for the wealthy

The Biden administration's fiscal year 2024 budget proposes a total budget of nearly $6.88 trillion and proposes higher taxes on wealthy Americans to help cover priorities such as the federal Medicare program and Social Security insurance in its fiscal year 2024 budget. The proposal calls for raising the top personal income tax rate from 37 per cent to 39.6 per cent, returning to the rate before Trump's tax cuts. On corporate taxes, Biden proposes to raise the corporate tax rate, which was cut in 2017 by Trump's tax reform, back to 28% from 21%, raise the tax rate on multinational corporations' overseas profits to 21% from 10.5%, and raise the tax rate on stock repurchases to 4% from 1%.

 

Information link:

https://www.chinanews.com/cj/2023/03-10/9969032.shtml

 

US bank stocks plunged en masse, with the market value of the four largest banks shrinking by US$52 billion and Silicon Valley Bank falling by over 60%

The three major U.S. stock indices collectively closed lower, with the Nasdaq down 2.05%, the S&P 500 down 1.85% and the Dow down 1.66%. The S&P 500 bank index plunged nearly 6%, the biggest one-day drop in more than two years. Among them, shares of SVB Financial Group, the parent company of Silicon Valley Bank, plunged more than 60 per cent on Thursday, the biggest drop on record, and fell further by nearly 20 per cent after the bell. Silicon Valley Bank, which mainly lends to technology companies, had to sell some of the securities in its portfolio worth $1.75 billion at a loss to make up for rapidly declining customer deposits and sought to raise $2.25 billion through the sale of common and preferred shares, a move seen by Wall Street as a panic asset sell-off and a sharp dilution of equity. Panic gripped Wall Street, which triggered a general shakeout across bank stocks and raised concerns that the Federal Reserve's interest rate hike was preventing banks from raising capital.

 

Information link:

https://www.chinanews.com/cj/2023/03-10/9968854.shtml

CFPB Announces New Findings on the Financial Status of Buy Now Pay Later Borrowers

On March 2, 2023, the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) released a report analyzing the financial situation of Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) borrowers. While many BNPL borrowers show no visible signs of financial stress when using the product, the report found that BNPL borrowers are more likely to be active users of other types of credit products such as credit cards, personal loans and student loans. They were also more likely to exhibit financial distress than non-users.

 

Information link:

https://news.iresearch.cn/content/202209/446912.shtml

 

Meta to cut thousands more jobs, to be implemented as soon as this week

Meta Platforms Inc, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, is planning a new round of layoffs that will involve thousands of employees as soon as this week, according to people familiar with the matter. The sources, who asked not to be named because the discussions are internal, said the upcoming round of layoffs is separate from the "flattening" reforms and is largely driven by financial goals.

 

Information link:

https://36kr.com/p/2161418076631300

 

Mercedes-Benz launches in-car fingerprint payment in Germany

On March 6, 2023, Mercedes-Benz announced the launch of in-car payment based on fingerprint authentication for the German market. Previously, Mercedes-Benz customers in Germany and elsewhere could pay for fuel directly in the car via the Mercedes me app and smartphone, or by entering a PIN code via the in-car MBUX infotainment system. This new digital payment function, called Mercedes pay+, uses Visa's delegated authentication and Visa Cloud Token Framework technology to turn the vehicle itself into a payment terminal, allowing users to pay for digital services and on-demand hardware upgrades in the Mercedes me shop simply by using a fingerprint sensor in the car.

 

Information link:

https://www.mpaypass.com.cn/news/202303/08103545.html#:~:text

 

ISO 20022 strengthens harmonisation requirements for cross-border payments

ISO 20022 is a global open standard for the exchange of financial information. It provides a common language that can be used for a wide range of financial transactions, including cross-border payments. In addition, ISO 20022 allows for richer and more structured data to be shared through standardised information. By 2025, most of the world's payment systems will have adopted the ISO 20022 messaging standard. The next few years will be crucial for harmonising the use of the standard, as this will help it reach its full potential to make cross-border payments faster, cheaper and more transparent.

 

Information link:

https://www.cfstc.org/jinbiaowei/2929484/2982077/2986454/index.html#:~:text

 

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