FinTech Weekly | Issue 82

AI platform xAI financing $6 billion, launching supercomputer project next year

On May 27, 2024, xAI, an artificial intelligence startup founded by Elon Musk, announced a $6 billion financing, Valor Equity Partners、Vy Capital、Andreessen Horowitz、 Sequoia Capital, Fuda Management Research Company and other institutions participated in the investment, and the platform's valuation reached 18 billion US dollars. XAI was founded in July 2023 and has currently launched artificial intelligence chatbot Grok-1, Grok-1.5 model with long context function, Grok-1.5V model with image understanding function, and open-source version of Grok-1.

 

Information link:

https://www.36kr.com/p/2750127077735176

Comment: In the future, xAI will use this financing to increase product research and development, and plans to launch a supercomputer project next year.

 

SoftBank plans to invest nearly $9 billion in the field of artificial intelligence

According to the Financial Times on May 26th, SoftBank Group of Japan plans to increase its investment in the field of artificial intelligence to $8.9 billion in the next 12 months. In 2023, SoftBank CEO Sun Zhengyi predicted that by 2020, General Artificial Intelligence (AGI) will be 10 times more powerful than all humans. SoftBank will face some fierce competition in the field of artificial intelligence, as technology giants such as Microsoft, Amazon, and Google have invested billions of dollars in partnering with startups to build artificial intelligence models.

 

Information link:

https://www.ithome.com/0/771/010.htm

Comment: In addition, top venture capital firms hope to engage in business with companies developing artificial intelligence products and applications.

 

B2B healthcare technology company DoorSpace has reached a $2 million seed round

DoorSpace, a B2B healthcare technology company, received $2 million in its latest round of seed financing. The financing funds will be used to implement a series of measures aimed at consolidating and expanding the company's market position, as well as expanding the customer base, including helping rural medical institutions improve their income and retention rates. DoorSpace will also develop and enhance its platform, with a focus on integrating artificial intelligence and machine learning capabilities.

 

Information link:

https://www.finsmes.com/2024/05/doorspace-raises-2m-in-seed-funding.html

Comment: DoorSpace will expand its platform's functionality through more comprehensive solutions in the future, helping healthcare organizations improve their care services through the platform and bring better treatment and care outcomes to patients and their communities.

 

Medical insurance technology company FlashAid financing $2.5 million

Flashaid, a medical insurance technology company, raised $2.5 million in the Pre-A round of financing, led by Piper Serica Angel Fund and global venture capital firm SOSV. Early investors Z21 Ventures Fund and ZnL Growth Fund also participated in this round of financing. The financing funds will be used for its development and expansion in six new cities. Flashaid provides a full stack health solution, including proprietary pre underwriting products, open APIs, and embedded solutions.

 

Information link:

www.xiniudata.com/news/662b1fdadeb4714488666b61

Comment: Flashaid, formerly known as EasyAspataal, is working to create API priority health insurance that can be affordable for the general public. They are developing a unique retail health insurance distribution channel through B2B2C platforms.

Insurance technology solution service provider Arta and Chubb have reached a cooperation agreement

Arta, an insurance technology solution service provider, has partnered with Chubb to provide embedded valuable item insurance. This new product is a digital insurance product embedded at the point of sale, helping businesses provide consumers with insurance product services for valuable items such as art, antiques, transaction cards, sports memorabilia, luxury goods, and jewelry.

 

Information link:

https://coverager.com/arta-partners-with-chubb

Comment: Arta has provided protection for collectibles worth over $500 million during transportation, and now buyers can choose to purchase insurance to prevent damage, theft, and loss after delivery. In 2022, Arta raised $11 million in a round of financing led by AXA Venture Partners.

 

BMS establishes a global medical liability insurance department

BMS, an insurance and reinsurance brokerage firm headquartered in the UK, announced the establishment of a new global healthcare responsibility department. This department will focus on providing comprehensive solutions and guidance for healthcare service providers and their insurance companies. It will provide BMS services and product suites, with a focus on developing new markets and solutions. The new department has been equipped with six experts, and it is expected that more experts will join.

 

Information link:

https://asia.bmsgroup.com/ch/news/bms

Comment: The team will collaborate with the BMS Re Treaty Medical Responsibility Team led by Clare Stenson to ensure long-term continuous service for the company, hospitals, integrated systems, and self insurance companies.

 

Insurance technology Qover collaborates with emerging European bank Bunq on tourism insurance

Bunq, the second largest emerging bank in Europe, has teamed up with leading insurance technology company Qover to optimize user experience and improve service capabilities. This collaboration will provide travel insurance to Bunq's clients in seven markets, marking an important milestone in the fintech field. Qover is renowned for its innovative insurance solutions and is committed to building a global security network through its products.

 

Information link:

https://www.qover.com/press/bunq-travel-insurance

Comment: Qover's expertise in embedded insurance solutions has facilitated a seamless insurance embedding process, allowing Bunq users to directly use the Bunq application and experience the latest benefits features, including simplified claims processes and convenient travel vouchers.

 

TravelInsurance.com, an insurance comparison platform, will launch travel insurance

The insurance comparison platform TravelInsurance. com will provide IMG's travel insurance products through its online platform. This collaboration will involve several insurance products from IMG, including iTravelInsurance Travel Lite, SE, and LX.

 

Information link:

https://www.travelinsurance.com

Comment: TravelInsurance. com stated that they will provide an IMG travel insurance program to expand the product line of travel insurance, especially before the summer travel season, to protect the health, property, and financial investments of policyholders. Earlier this year, IMG also announced the launch of new mobile applications to all customers.

The Bank of Spain launches the third central bank digital currency pilot program

In January 2024, the Bank of Spain announced two central bank wholesale digital currency (wholesale CBDC) pilot projects. These measures are independent of the Eurosystem and the wholesale DLT settlement pilot of the European Central Bank. Recently, the Bank of Spain confirmed that it will collaborate with a subsidiary of consulting firm Indra and payment processing agency Minsait to conduct the third CBDC test. Similar to Cecabank's experiment, Minsait's experiment will explore the use of wholesale CBDC to settle local digital bond issuances and secondary market transactions

 

Information link:

https://m.mpaypass.com.cn/news/202405/29190231.html

 

Stanbic Bank Kenya will upgrade its core banking business through Orion Innovation

Stanbic Bank Kenya is a full-service bank under the South African Standard Bank Group. With the help of Orion Innovation, a regional implementation partner of Swiss suppliers, it is upgrading its Temenos core. As part of its core modernization efforts, this transaction will enable Orion to upgrade the bank's Temenos Transact application from R17 to an updated R23 cloud based digital banking platform. It also plans to migrate from the older proprietary application framework TAFC to its newer Java based application framework TAFJ, which is renowned for its portability, scalability, and powerful performance.

 

Information link:

https://www.orioninc.com/news/stanbic-bank-kenya...

 

BIS: Building a more diverse regulatory technology ecosystem

Recently, the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) released a special report on building a more diversified regulatory technology ecosystem. The report points out that almost all financial authorities have launched regulatory technology programs, focusing on data visualization, regulatory reporting, financial risk assessment, and regulatory automation.

 

Information link:

https://www.bis.gov

 

Exploring the potential of consumer data, payment giant PayPal launches an advertising platform

On May 28, 2024, payment giant PayPal announced that it was establishing an advertising platform and appointed Mark Grether, former Vice President and Head of Advertising at Uber, to oversee related matters. It is reported that the goal of this plan is to use customer data insights to establish a dynamic and truly personalized platform, bringing better advertising expenditure performance to businesses while pleasing consumers with convincing discounts. Before joining Uber, Grether had 20 years of experience in the advertising industry. Prior to that, he also served as the head of Amazon's advertising business and the CEO of Sizmek, one of the world's largest independent advertising platforms.

 

Information link:

www.mpaypass.com.cn/news/202405/29190101.html

Guinness Brewery conducts decarbonization renovation for $110 million

According to Diageo, this announcement is part of its ten-year sustainable development plan "2030 Society: The Spirit of Progress". This plan was launched in 2020 and includes a series of 25 goals aimed at having a positive impact on the world by 2030, including utilizing 100% renewable energy, achieving net zero carbon emissions in direct operations, collaborating with suppliers to reduce indirect carbon emissions by 50%, ensuring a 30% reduction in water use for its products, and achieving net positive water impacts in critical water scarce watersheds and communities. According to the new plan, the St. James Gate factory will implement a renewable energy strategy by 2030 by combining electricity from the grid, heat pumps, and biogas generated within new water recovery facilities. In addition, the factory will improve water efficiency and is expected to reduce water usage by 30%.

 

Information link:

https://esgnews.com/zh-CN

 

Honda plans to invest $64 billion in electrification strategy by 2030

Honda announced a significant increase in investment to advance its electrification strategy, with plans to invest 10 trillion yen (64 billion US dollars) in the 10 years leading up to 2030, with a focus on launching new electric vehicle models and establishing a comprehensive electric vehicle value chain centered around batteries in its main markets. Honda CEO Minato Mibu announced this new investment plan at a press conference. Although he acknowledged that he felt a slowdown in the growth of the electric vehicle market in certain regions, Mitsubishi stated that "Honda is confident that the electric vehicle transformation will continue to steadily advance", and the company "must focus on the period of electric vehicle popularization", which is expected to begin in the second half of this decade.

 

Information link:

www.yicai.com/news/101378630.html

 

The European Union has passed new rules requiring a 90% reduction in truck and bus emissions by 2040

On May 13th, EU member states of the European Council announced the adoption of new legislation to strengthen the EU's emission standards for heavy-duty vehicles, including a requirement to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from heavy-duty trucks and buses by 90% by 2040. This legislation was passed after the initial proposal by the European Commission in February 23 to revise the carbon dioxide emission standards for heavy-duty vehicles (HDVs). According to surveys, trucks and buses account for over 6% of the total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the European Union, and over 25% of the greenhouse gas emissions from road transportation.

 

Information link:

https://ricn.sjtu.edu.cn/Web/Show/774

 

The World Bank releases a report on the current status and trends of carbon pricing in 2024

On May 21st, the World Bank released a report titled "State and Trends of Carbon Pricing 2024", which showed that global carbon pricing revenue reached $104 billion in 2023, breaking the 100 billion mark for the first time.

 

Information link:

www.shihang.org/zh/news/press-release/2024/05/21/global-carbon-pricing-revenues-top-a-r

The EU passes the Net Zero Industry Act

This week, the European Union passed the Net Zero Industry Act. The bill aims to accelerate the EU's transition to climate neutrality and enhance its industrial competitiveness. The Net Zero Industry Act, the Key Raw Materials Act, and the electricity market design reform related bills have become the three key legislations of the EU's green agreement industrial plan.

 

Information link:

eu.mofcom.gov.cn/article/jmxw/202405/20240503513229.shtml

 

Italian government plans to levy consumption tax on electric vehicles

During the theme day event for car dealerships held in Verona, Italian Minister of Economy and Finance Giorgitti stated that as cars transition towards electrification, the government is considering levying a consumption tax on electric vehicles to compensate for the losses caused by the reduction in taxes and fees related to fuel vehicles. According to research firm Quintegia, the Italian government's tax revenue from automobiles in 2022 was 71 billion euros, of which 31.9 billion euros came from fuel consumption tax, 55 billion euros from vehicle usage fees, and 12.3 billion euros from value-added tax on maintenance, spare parts, and tires.

 

Information link:

it.mofcom.gov.cn/article/jmxw/202405/20240503511996.shtml

 

CFPB: BNPL service providers should provide consumer protection measures at the same level as credit cards

Recently, the US Consumer Financial Protection Agency (CFPB) announced that "buy before pay" (BNPL) service providers must provide consumers with some key legal protection and rights, just like traditional credit card institutions. For example, the right to dispute fees, as well as the right to demand a refund from the lender after returning a product purchased with a "buy before pay" loan. More than two years ago, CFPB conducted an investigation into the rapidly expanding BNPL market and continuously received complaints from consumers about refunds and controversial transactions. In a market report, CFPB found that over 13% of BNPL transactions involve returns or disputes.

 

Information link:

https://www.consumerfinance.gov/about-us/newsroom/...

 

UK announces new AI research funding plan

On May 22, 2024, UK Secretary of State for Science, Innovation, and Technology Michelle Downland announced at the Seoul Summit on Artificial Intelligence, co hosted by the UK and South Korea, that the UK government will launch a total artificial intelligence research funding program of £ 8.5 million (approximately $10.81 million) to study how to protect society from the risks posed by the development of artificial intelligence, while also better utilizing artificial intelligence technology to enhance productivity.

 

Information link:

http://www.xinhuanet.com/20240523/43f9b6bc17c2453187a227debc6f5d5e/c.html

UBS releases the 2024 Global Family Office Report

On May 22, UBS released the 2024 Global Family Office Report, which surveyed 320 single family offices in seven regions worldwide. In this survey, the number of respondents in the Asia Pacific region was the highest among all regions. As the Asia Pacific region becomes the world's largest investment hotspot, nearly half of the family offices in the Asia Pacific region plan to increase their asset allocation in the next five years. In terms of creating positive impact, healthcare is the most acclaimed sustainable development theme among family offices in the Asia Pacific region.

 

Information link:

www.msn.cn/zh-cn/news/other/%E7%91%9E%E9%93%B6-2024%E5%B9%B4%E5%85%A8%E

 

The South Korean stock short selling trading monitoring system may be ready in the first quarter of next year

Lee Bokhyun, President of the Financial Supervisory Authority of South Korea, said on Monday that South Korea may be able to complete a system to monitor illegal short selling behavior in the first quarter of next year. The South Korean presidential office recently stated that it will continue to implement short selling restrictions until an electronic surveillance system is developed. The person in charge's remarks dispelled hopes that the short selling ban would soon be lifted, and the restriction was originally planned to be implemented until the end of June.

 

Information link:

https://cj.sina.com.cn/articles/view/1261340881/4b...

 

Chief Economist of the European Central Bank: May cut interest rates next month, but will continue to maintain restrictive policies this year

The Chief Economist of the European Central Bank, Philip Lane, said that the ECB is expected to start cutting interest rates next month, but it needs to maintain policy within a restrictive range by 2024. "The best way to outline the topic of this year's debate is that we still need to maintain restrictions throughout the year," Lane said in an interview with the Financial Times on Monday. "But within the restricted zone, we can slightly lower interest rates." When asked about the prospects of taking action at the June 6th meeting, he said, "Unless there is a major accident, we currently believe there is enough reason to lift the highest level of restrictions.".

 

Information link:

finance.sina.cn/hkstock/ggyw/2024-05-27/detail-inawsceq6889639.d.html

 

Release of China Fertility Report 2024

Recently, the China Fertility Report 2024 was released. Data shows that at the end of 2023, the national population was 1409.67 million, a decrease of 2.08 million compared to the end of the previous year, and has been experiencing negative growth for two consecutive years; The birth population is 9.02 million, a decrease of 540000 compared to the end of last year, and a continuous decline for seven years; The total fertility rate is around 1.0, ranking second to last among major global economies. In the long run, due to the gradual disappearance of the fertility accumulation effect, low fertility rates, and the continuous decline in the number of women of childbearing age, it is difficult to reverse the downward trend of the birth rate without the implementation of substantive and effective policies to encourage childbirth.

 

Information link:

www.legalweekly.cn/qyyf/2024-02/21/content_8962668.html

OpenAI、 Microsoft and 16 other global companies jointly sign a commitment to cutting-edge artificial intelligence security

Recently, 16 companies from different countries and regions, including OpenAI, Google, Microsoft, and Zhipu AI, jointly signed the Frontier AI Safety Commitments at the AI Seoul Summit. This commitment marks a significant advancement in the field of AI development, aimed at enhancing the security and transparency of AI technology.

 

Information link:

www.msn.com/zh-cn/news/other/openai-%E5%BE%AE%E8%BD%AF-%E6%99%BA%E8%B0%

 

Apple is reported to have reached an agreement with OpenAI to introduce ChatGPT to iOS 18

Technology journalist Mark Gurman stated in the latest communication on May 26th local time that Apple has reached an agreement with OpenAI to integrate their chatbot ChatGPT into iOS 18. The partnership between the two is expected to be announced on WWDC 2024. Due to concerns about making OpenAI a single supplier of a major new feature for iOS, Apple is still working hard to reach an agreement with Google to offer Gemini as an option.

 

Information link:

www.36kr.com/newsflashes/2793473157285001

 

Zopa collaborates with Octopus Energy to provide financial services for renewable energy users in the UK

Recently, Zopa, a UK digital bank, announced that it will collaborate with Octopus Energy, a UK sustainable energy service provider, to provide "buy before pay" and other related financial product services to its users. It is reported that this cooperation will cover multiple directions, including installment payments for Octopus Energy users to purchase and install solar panels, as well as payment for electric vehicle charging fees through the app. According to statistics, there were over 53600 public charging points in the UK in January 2024, an increase of 45% since the beginning of 2023. The UK government's goal is to provide 300000 charging points by 2030 to meet the growing market demand.

 

Information link:

https://www.zopa.com/blog/article/zopa-partners-with-octopus-energy

 

Q1 loss of 2.1 billion! Indian mobile payment giant Paytm lays off 6300 employees

One97 Communications, the parent company of Paytm, the largest mobile payment and business platform in India, is rumored to be planning significant layoffs, with the goal of laying off 5000 to 6300 employees, accounting for 15 to 20% of the total workforce. It is reported that this is because the company is facing severe financial and regulatory challenges, and is expected to save 4 to 5 billion rupees in personnel costs. The sluggish operational performance of the company was due to regulatory actions by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), which imposed restrictions on Paytm's Payment Bank, restricting its loan and credit card issuance.

 

Information link:

www.weiyangx.com/436057.html

 

 

 

 

 

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