FinTech Weekly | Issue 84

German chip technology startup Black Semiconductor receives 250 million euros in financing

On June 12, 2024, European chip technology startup Black Semiconductor announced a financing of 254.4 million euros (approximately 274 million US dollars). Among them, the German Ministry of Economy and the state of North Rhine Westphalia invested 228.7 million euros (approximately 248 million US dollars) in public funds, while Porsche Ventures and venture capital firm Project A led the remaining 25.7 million euros (approximately 28 million US dollars) in equity.

 

Information link:

https://tracxn.com/d/companies/black-semiconductor/...

Comment: Black Semiconductor hopes to use graphene to connect chips together for communication, and its system will use light instead of electricity to transmit data, which can improve the efficiency and speed of the chips. Black Semiconductor stated that it will use this financing to establish a pilot production facility in Aachen, Germany, with the goal of achieving mass production by 2031.

 

Italian artificial intelligence startup iGenius plans to raise 650 million euros

Italian artificial intelligence startup iGenius mainly provides open-source artificial intelligence model services to financial service companies and other institutions. On June 10, 2024, Bloomberg cited the company's CEO Uljan Sharka as saying that iGenius plans to raise 650 million euros, and the platform's valuation is expected to reach 1.7 billion euros as a result.

 

Information link:

https://www.usnews.com/news/technology/articles/...

Comment: Just recently, iGenius launched an open-source Basic Large Language Model (LLM) called Italia. This model is specifically trained in Italian and can understand subtle differences in language and culture, with decades of knowledge of domestic and international history.

 

Generative AI Insurance Technology Sixfold Achieves $15 million Series A Financing

Generative AI insurance technology company Sixfold has successfully secured a Series A financing of $15 million, led by Salesforce. Sixfold claims to be the first generative AI insurance technology solution specifically developed for insurance underwriting. Last year, the company received a seed round investment of $6.5 million.

 

Information link:

https://www.insurtechinsights.com/generative-ai...

Comment: Sixfold collaborates with insurance companies to help train customer based AI underwriting models. Sixfold recently won the innovation championship of Zurich Insurance, and is currently working with its North American companies to improve underwriting efficiency.

 

Understory, a climate risk solution service provider, raised $15 million in funding

Understory, a climate risk solution service provider, has successfully raised $15 million in Series A financing to develop new products for the renewable energy industry. Understory was founded in 2014 and initially focused on deploying a ground-level meteorological station network to improve real-time weather tracking and forecasting capabilities.

 

Information link:

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/climate...

Comment: These innovative sites are called Dots, which can measure wind, rain, hail, temperature, pressure, and humidity 125000 times per second, providing detailed ground level weather data. In the past year, they achieved a year-on-year growth rate of 500%. The financing funds will be used to launch a new product targeting renewable energy.

Insurance technology platform CoverGo launches AI insurance platform

CoverGo, a codeless SaaS insurance technology platform, announced the launch of an omnichannel AI insurance sales platform. CoverGo will assist insurance companies, managed general agents, brokerage firms, and other companies in selling life and property insurance products through various channels, such as direct sales, agents, brokers, and bank insurance channels, embedded insurance, and team distribution channels.

 

Information link:

https://covergo.com/news/news-covergo-unveils-ai...

Comment: CoverGo uses AI and automation technology to help businesses accelerate product time to market, improve customer acquisition capabilities, reduce turnaround time and costs, simplify insurance lifecycle and customer experience.

 

Quantee Insurance Technology collaborates with Zurich Insurance Group to enhance insurance pricing capabilities

Quantee, an insurance technology company specializing in dynamic pricing software for insurance, announced a partnership with Zurich Insurance Group to enhance its pricing strategy through Quantee's innovative solutions. Quantee's platform combines traditional technology with artificial intelligence technology to enhance product pricing capabilities. This collaboration aligns with Zurich's strategic goal of improving its technological capabilities and optimizing customer experience through specialized pricing models.

 

Information link:

https://www.quantee.ai/resources/quantee-partners...

Comment: Quantee will focus on improving the personalization and refinement level of Zurich's pricing system, creating more value for Zurich customers.

 

Car insurance technology company Clearcover collaborates with Ada to launch GenAI customer service solution

Clearcover, a car insurance technology company, has partnered with Ada, an AI customer service automation company, to launch a new customer service solution based on generative artificial intelligence. Ada's AI agents assist Clearcover's Customer Advocates service in providing timely and accurate support to customers by automatically responding and simplifying workflows. Their AI agents have not obtained an insurance agent license and do not engage in any insurance related business that requires a license.

 

Information link:

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/...

Comment: This new solution can be used on Clearcover applications and websites, reducing the waiting time required by users in complex queries through a conversational user interaction interface and accurate response.

 

Hong Kong Fuwei Group and Amazon AWS Extend Five Year Cooperation Agreement

Hong Kong insurance company Fuwei Group announced a five-year extension of its partnership with Amazon's AWS cloud technology services. According to their collaboration, AWS will continue to host core business applications, including customer, finance, and insurance agent interfaces.

 

Information link:

https://www.fwd.com/zh/newsroom/press-releases/FWD...

Comment: FWD stated that they have seen a significant shift towards cloud technology, and by the end of 2023, Fuwei Group had migrated 97% of its reference programs to the cloud, an increase of 27% compared to 2020. Since 2019, Fuwei Group has developed 200 active artificial intelligence models and over 600 usage examples.

The Bank of Thailand will test programmable payments in an enhanced sandbox

Recently, Daranee Saeju, the head of payment system regulation and financial service user protection at Bank of Thailand (BoT), announced that in response to the rapid development of innovative technologies in the financial industry, such as distributed ledgers and smart contracts, the institution will launch a new initiative to test programmable payment systems under an enhanced regulatory sandbox framework to meet user needs while reducing service costs.

 

Information link:

https://www.jiemian.com/article/882965.html

 

BIS collaborates with the Monetary Authority of Singapore to assess climate risk in the banking industry

Due to the complexity and variability of climate change, coupled with significant data gaps and limited market understanding of risk measurement, incorporating climate risk analysis into financial stability supervision can be quite challenging. To this end, the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) Singapore Innovation Center and the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) jointly launched Project Viridis on June 12, 2024, to develop a blueprint for a platform that integrates regulatory and climate data. It lists the key features and indicators required for a climate risk platform, including data and information on funding emissions, physical risk exposure, and forward-looking assessments under different climate scenarios, to help financial authorities identify, monitor, and manage climate risks in the financial system.

 

Information link:

https://0xzx.com/2024061220304524830.html

 

Russia plans to use digital rubles for international transactions starting from the second half of 2025

Recently, Anatoly Aksakov, Chairman of the Russian State Duma Financial Market Committee, stated at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) that Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) will become popular and the norm for international payments within five years. He revealed that Russia may start using the digital ruble for international transactions in the second half of 2025, but first it needs to be tested and widely implemented domestically, including the use of legal entities. The Central Bank of Russia has been actively developing the digital ruble with the aim of modernizing the country's financial system and reducing reliance on traditional banking infrastructure. Since 2020, Russia has been testing various aspects of CBDC in pilot projects.

 

Information link:

https://www.chwang.com/news/180118285465

 

NGFS releases the Central Bank's Sustainable and Responsible Investment Report

On May 16, 2024, the Central Bank and regulatory agency Green Finance Network (NGFS) released a cover report and two technical documents on Sustainable and Responsible Investment (SRI) in Central Bank's portfolio management. Climate related risks may bring significant economic and financial risks that investors need to consider. Through these reports, NGFS encourages global central banks and regulatory agencies to set an example by further incorporating sustainability considerations into their investment portfolio management without compromising their main tasks. It is worth noting that the report released this time focuses on non monetary policy investment portfolios (foreign exchange investments, self owned funds, and pension fund investment portfolios), excluding investment portfolios held for monetary policy purposes.

 

Information link:

http://greenfinance.pbcsf.tsinghua.edu.cn/i

The Dutch Financial Market Authority AFM issues a document on improving SFDR

Recently, the Dutch Financial Markets Authority (AFM) released a position paper on revising the EU's Sustainable Financial Disclosure Regulation (SFDR). In the position document, AFM suggests deleting the SFDR Article 8 and Article 9 classifications. AFM advocates the introduction of new sustainable investment labels, dividing all sustainable investment products into three categories: transformation products, sustainable products, and sustainable impact products.

 

Information link:

https://www.afm.nl/en/sector/themas/duurzaamheid/sfdr

 

CDP aligns its reporting platform with European sustainability reporting standards

Recently, climate research providers and environmental disclosure platform CDP and the European Financial Reporting Advisory Group (EFRAG) announced the launch of a new agreement that will align CDP's disclosure system with the European Sustainable Development Reporting Standards (ESRS) recently adopted by the European Union to the greatest extent possible. According to CDP and EFRAG, the new collaboration aims to accelerate the market acceptance of ESRS, help companies prepare for new reporting requirements, and support the market in preparing for a new environmental reporting system.

 

Information link:

https://cdn.cdp.net/cdp-production/cms/reports/...

 

The UK will impose a carbon tax on imported products

Recently, the UK government announced that it will introduce a Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) by 2027, which will impose carbon taxes on imported goods in a series of key emission intensive industries. The aim is to equalize the carbon prices paid by UK and foreign producers, avoid carbon leakage, and transfer the production of carbon intensive products to jurisdictions with less stringent emission reduction policies. The carbon border regulation mechanism will initially adopt carbon prices for imported goods in industries such as aluminum, cement, ceramics, fertilizers, glass, hydrogen, and steel. The new carbon tax was introduced earlier this year after the government reviewed potential measures aimed at reducing carbon leakage, and producers in multiple emission intensive industries in the UK must comply with the country's Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS).

 

Information link:

news.smm.cn/news/102535210

 

The Voluntary Carbon Market Integrity Committee (ICVCM) has launched the first batch of carbon credit methods that comply with the Core Carbon Principles (CCP)

On June 6th, the Voluntary Carbon Market Integrity Committee (ICVCM) launched the first batch of carbon credit methods that comply with the Core Carbon Principles (CCP). ICVCM has adopted 7 carbon credit methods. According to ICVCM's "double hook" mechanism, only when the carbon credit amount is approved as "compliant with CCP requirements" and the methodology used for projects that generate carbon credit is also "compliant with CCP requirements", can the corresponding carbon credit amount be labeled as CCP.

 

Information link:

https://www.financialnews.com.cn/ll/sx/202302/t20230206_264143.html

The Japanese Senate passed a bill to restrict monopoly behavior of Internet giants

On June 12, 2024, the plenary session of the Japanese Senate passed the Smartphone Specific Software Competition Promotion Law, which will restrict the giant Internet enterprises that occupy a dominant position in the mobile phone software market. According to previous reports, this law requires Internet giants that already have a dominant position to open up to relevant competitors in the mobile phone software market and payment system operation. If there is any violation, the company will pay a fine of 20% of its domestic revenue in Japan. This fine standard is more than three times the standard for punishing improper exclusion of other practitioners in Japan's antitrust law. Meanwhile, if there are repeated violations, the penalty standard will be increased to 30%.

 

Information link:

https://www.yicai.com/news/102146270.html

 

India may follow the example of the European Union to introduce anti-monopoly laws

In February 2024, a review team submitted a report to the Indian government proposing the introduction of the Digital Competition Act to address the shortcomings of current anti-monopoly laws in India. Currently, the Indian government is reviewing this report, which has also raised concerns among tech giants such as Apple, Google, Meta, and Amazon. The regulatory goal of this bill is to target "systemically important digital companies", namely enterprises with local market revenue exceeding $480 million or global revenue exceeding $30 billion, and at least 10 million users of digital services in this case. The Indian government believes that the digital market is gradually being controlled by several tech giants, which is putting pressure on small and medium-sized digital enterprises and startups in terms of market bargaining power.

 

Information link:

https://www.cliffordchance.com/content/dam/...

 

Australia plans to launch new regulations on "buy first, pay later" regulation

According to data from the research firm Finder, in recent years, Australian users have seen a surge in the use of buy before pay (BNPL) products from companies such as Afterpay, Klarna, and Zip, with approximately 40% of respondents using such products in the first half of this year. The Australian government stated that BNPL has brought competition to the credit market, but most of these products are currently not covered by the Australian National Consumer Credit Act. To address this issue, the Australian government is planning to revise the bill, requiring providers to hold credit licenses and comply with existing legal requirements.

 

Information link:

https://www.sbs.com.au/language/chinese/zh-hans/...

 

South Korea to invest $1.8 billion to build next-generation nuclear reactors

According to Business Korea, South Korea will invest 2.5 trillion Korean won (approximately 1.8 billion US dollars) to develop next-generation nuclear reactor technology. It is reported that this investment aims to cultivate private companies that can build next-generation nuclear reactors and commercialize this technology. South Korea plans to master the key technology for developing small modular nuclear reactors (SMRs), with the goal of entering the global SMR market by the 2030's.

 

Information link:

https://finance.eastmoney.com/a/202406063097393889.html

2023 Asia Family Office: Driving Influence and Innovation Report Released

Recently, the 2023 Asian Family Office: Driving Influence and Innovation Report was released, which showed that charity has become increasingly important for high net worth families in Asia during periods of economic and geopolitical instability. The most important driving consideration is nothing more than a sense of responsibility for inheriting and instilling family values, creating a better world, and a commitment to the well-being of future generations. Meanwhile, as young family members have greater influence in charitable decision-making, the family office is adopting a more strategic, systematic, and hands-on approach.

 

Information link:

runwise.co/244944.html

 

The White Paper on China Family Service Trust (2023-2024) was released

In mid May 2024, China Construction Investment Trust officially released the White Paper on China Family Service Trust (2023-2024). This is the first White Paper on Chinese Family Service Trusts, focusing on seven dimensions including family classification standards, analysis of family wealth management demand characteristics, customer profile of family service trusts, comparison of wealth management tools, application scenarios and business models of family service trusts, operation system and system construction, industry development status and prospects, etc. Family service trusts are still expected to become the "standard" wealth management tool for future middle-class families in China.

 

Information link:

http://www.xtxh.net/xtxh/responsibilitynews/48964.htm

 

Extra long term special treasury bond have been issued in many places and actively deployed project declaration

The issuance of ultra long term special treasury bond, which has attracted much attention from the market, has "kicked off". As of June 3, two issues of ultra long term special treasury bond have been completed, totaling 80 billion yuan. The Notice on Matters Related to the First Renewal of 2024 Super Long Term Special treasury bond (Phase I) issued by the Ministry of Finance on May 31 shows that the Ministry of Finance plans to issue 2024 Super Long Term Special treasury bond (Phase I) (30-year term) for the first time, with a total face value of 45 billion yuan in competitive bidding, which will be held on June 7. According to the issuance arrangement previously announced by the Ministry of Finance, this year's 1 trillion yuan super long term special treasury bond will be issued in 22 times from May to November, relatively evenly in succession.

 

Information link:

https://www.yicai.com/news/102136526.html

 

Saudi Arabia joins the "Digital Currency Bridge of Multilateral Central Banks", taking another step towards reducing US dollar settlements in oil trade

Recently, Saudi Arabia has joined the Cross border Pilot Project for Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) led by the Bank for International Settlements and China: the Multi Central Bank Digital Currency Bridge Project (mBridge). The Saudi Central Bank also announced this news in a statement on the 5th, stating that it will become a member fully participating in the mBridge MVP (Minimally Feasible Product) platform. Reuters reported that this may be another step towards reducing US dollar settlements in global oil trade.

 

Information link:

www.mpaypass.com.cn/news/202406/11101623.html

The EU is about to impose tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, and many European countries are fiercely competing for Chinese car companies to build factories

The European Union is expected to announce temporary punitive tariffs on electric vehicles imported from China this week, but at the same time, European countries are still competing for China's electric vehicle factories and employment opportunities. According to Reuters, Deloreto, a partner at consulting firm Bain, said that Chinese electric vehicle manufacturers such as BYD, Chery, and SAIC have much lower manufacturing costs in China, but they are still setting up factories in Europe to build their own brands, save on shipping costs and potential tariffs. European governments may be cautious about the entry of cheap Chinese electric vehicles into their markets, but they hope to attract Chinese car manufacturers building factories in Europe.

 

Information link:

news.sina.com.cn/w/2024-06-12/doc-inaymmvn3379092.shtml

 

Samsung hires senior Apple Siri personnel to lead its North American AI department

According to market reports, Samsung Electronics is merging two North American research centers focused on artificial intelligence technology and has hired a former Apple executive, Murat Akbacak, to manage this new department. Akbacak was previously responsible for developing and executing strategies for personal assistant Siri at Apple, focusing on personalization, contextualization, dialogue, and multimodal artificial intelligence. Samsung's move is the latest sign that the world's largest technology company has become more aggressive in the field of artificial intelligence.

 

Information link:

https://www.yicai.com/brief/102145695.html

 

International Monetary Fund: Appropriate Interest Rate Reduction by the European Central Bank

"We believe that the European Central Bank's policy is appropriate," a spokesperson for the International Monetary Fund said on June 6th. "Therefore, as we have said in the past, we do believe that it is appropriate for the European Central Bank to start cutting interest rates in June." "However, for the European Central Bank, maintaining its reliance on data and meeting by meeting approach is also important, and, as in the case of the United States, we have seen inflation decline."

 

Information link:

finance.sina.com.cn/stock/usstock/c/2024-06-07/doc-inaxwxkc5252388.shtml

 

The Bank of Canada announced a 25 basis point interest rate cut, marking the first cut by G7 countries

The Bank of Canada announced a 25 basis point rate cut to 4.75%, becoming the first central bank in the Group of Seven (G7) to initiate an easing cycle. Bank of Canada Governor McLehm stated that there is ongoing evidence that core inflation is easing and monetary policy no longer needs to be overly tight. If inflation continues to slow down, it is reasonable to expect more interest rate cuts.

 

Information link:

https://finance.sina.cn/2024-06-06/detail-inaxtsxm1659794.d.html

 

 

 

 

Disclaimer: The content is from the Internet, WeChat official account and other public channels. We are neutral about the points in the article. This article is only for reference and exchange.