London tenants continue to suffer as rent reaches £597 per week August 14, 2023 The amount Londoners fork out on rent grew 12 per cent year-on-year in July, new figures show, topping £597 per week. According to data from London estate agent Foxtons, July saw an average of 21 rental applicants per new home arriving on the market, an 18 per cent increase month-on-month, however a 12 per cent [...]
Bank of England outage hits key payments systems processing billions August 14, 2023 The Bank of England says it has resolved a technical issue which shut down a vital system that processes around £1 trillion in transactions every day. The central bank said the “issue has been resolved and settlement will resume shortly”. The issue hit its real-time gross settlement (RTGS) service, used to settle transactions between banks [...]
Mastercard snaps up stake in $5.2bn fintech arm of South African telecoms giant August 14, 2023 Mastercard has snapped up a minority stake in the fintech arm of South African telecommunications giant MTN in a deal that values the division at more than $5bn, the telecoms firm announced today. MTN, Africa’s biggest mobile company which has operations across the continent, said in its half year results that the deal would be [...]
RAF scrambles jets to intercept two Russian bombers near Scottish islands August 14, 2023 The Royal Air Force (RAF) scrambled jets on Monday to intercept two Russian bombers that were travelling north of the Shetland Islands in Scotland. The incident saw the Russian Tu-142 Bear-F and Tu-142 Bear-J maritime patrol aircraft, used for reconnaissance and anti-submarine warfare, monitored by RAF Typhoons in international airspace as they passed north of [...]
Most European financial services bosses wary of ‘unintended consequences’ of AI August 14, 2023 A new survey has revealed the extent to which chief executives of European financial services companies are concerned about the potential dangers of AI. The latest EY CEO Outlook Pulse Survey has revealed that 63 per cent of financial services bosses are concerned not enough is being done to manage the “unintended consequences” of artificial [...]
‘Quit smoking’ message could be put inside cigarette packs August 14, 2023 ‘Quit smoking’ messages could be added to the inside of cigarette packs under draft proposals being considered by the government. The inserts would set out the health and financial benefits of giving up and signpost advice and support available to those trying to quit smoking, the Department of Health (DHSC) said. A consultation launched on [...]
Apple supplier Foxconn cautious despite beating earnings forecasts August 14, 2023 Apple supplier Foxconn beat estimates for second-quarter earnings on Monday thanks to a booming artificial intelligence sector – but the firm retained a cautious outlook for this year due to global economic uncertainties. The world’s largest contract electronics maker downgraded its outlook for full-year revenue to a slight decline from a previous guidance of flat as it [...]
Explainer: An overhaul of cancer targets causes split between doctors August 14, 2023 Today NHS England announced proposals for new cancer targets following a consultation that began last year. The proposals include significant changes, like abolishing around two-thirds of the targets and changing others in a major overhaul of the cancer diagnostics and treatment system. The NHS says the new system, with fewer targets, will be easier for [...]
Santander becomes latest bank to cut mortgage rates amid falling inflation August 14, 2023 Santander has become the latest high street lender to reduce the rates of its mortgage deals, following a stream of other cuts by fellow banks last week, in a signal of hope for prospective buyers. On Monday, the bank cut its selected residential purchase and remortgage fixed rates by between 0.05 per cent and 0.29 [...]
Anthropic secures $100m boost from SK Telecom for new AI venture August 14, 2023 Anthropic, the US artificial intelligence startup founded by ex-OpenAI luminaries, is set to receive $100m (£78.7m) in backing from South Korean telecoms company SK Telecom (SKT). The cash injection will fund the creation of a multilingual large language model (LLM), jointly developed by Anthropic and SKT, according to an announcement made by the telecoms giant [...]
