Reform visas to make Britain the tech leader of the twenty-first century December 20, 2016 In my career, I have been privileged to work in some of the world’s greatest universities – Imperial, UCL, Harvard – on some of the world’s most interesting problems. Most recently, we used quantum systems to sense individual electrons, a billion times smaller than had been possible before, helping to transform what humans can understand and effect [...]
Apple and Ireland challenge European Commission over €13bn tax ruling December 19, 2016 The battle between the European Commission and Apple and Ireland reignited today. Apple and Ireland both filed appeals against a ruling by the EU regulator saying the tech firm should pay the country €13bn (£11bn) in back taxes. The iPhone maker, which has its European headquarters in Ireland, where the standard rate of corporation tax is [...]
Airbnb’s UK tax bill comes under scrutiny December 19, 2016 Airbnb's tax bill has come under scrutiny after it paid £317,000 in UK tax, despite London being the third biggest city from which the company offers rental accommodation. The tech business' international HQ is based in Ireland, but its payments division – Airbnb Payments UK – is based in London. This part of Airbnb handles the rental payments between [...]
Uber eyes even more expansion as it announces partnership with Indonesia’s second biggest taxi firm December 19, 2016 Uber's showing no sign of slowing up in its expansion. The ride-hailing app company has announced a partnership with Indonesia's Express Transindo Utama, the country's second biggest taxi operator. The deal will give Uber access to some of Express's 11,000-strong fleet of taxis and 17,000 drivers. It should also help the firm meet regulations on [...]
Yahoo would be liable to pay a $198m fine were GDPR already enforced December 19, 2016 At the dawn of the internet, Google and Yahoo were in stiff competition for search dominance. Many think the former’s success was due in part to its name becoming a ubiquitous verb for searching online. But decades on, semantic development has finally caught up with Yahoo. Its name is now synonymous with bad data practice. [...]
Tyrie calls for national cyber centre to ensure finance is “high priority “ December 19, 2016 An influential MP has called on the government's intelligence agencies to ensure cyber security within the financial services industry is a top priority in the wake of several high profile banking data breaches and failing legacy IT systems. Andrew Tyrie, the chair of the Treasury Select Committee, has written to the chief executive of the National Cyber Security [...]
Record levels of IT investment in 2017? You can bank on it, says report December 19, 2016 The banking sector will up its IT spend to an all-time high in 2017 as the gap between tech-savvy and Luddite lenders widens, according to a report released today. Embracing data and open banking are top priorities for banks the report by consultants Temenos and Capgemini revealed. The focus on technology comes a week after it was [...]
Protein’s Will Rowe talks early adopters, audience insights and brands “doing good” December 19, 2016 "I was a really bad web designer… that’s how it all started,” chuckles Will Rowe, founder and chief executive of Protein. We’re in his Shoreditch office, a space resembling the bedroom of my teenage dreams; a well trodden cow hide is stretched over the corrugated steel floor below shelves laden with volumes of glossy magazines. [...]
Habito founder Daniel Hegarty talks fintech mortgages, bigamy and working above a kebab shop December 19, 2016 Many people have a career change. Before venturing into fintech, Daniel Hegarty, founder of digital mortgage broker Habito, was a professional musician, composing for TV and film and touring internationally. In 2007, he joined a few people trying to work out how to do loans on the internet in real time, in a pre-launch company [...]
Facebook has explained some of the ways it is trying to tackle fake news December 16, 2016 Facebook has set out some of the ways it is trying to address fake news and hoax stories. Both Facebook and Google have faced strong criticism in recent weeks over a proliferation of false news stories during the US presidential race. The digital giants both promised to crack down on advertising against fake news last [...]