Japan’s Line is raising £1bn to fund its fintech and AI expansion September 4, 2018 Japanese messaging giant Line is raising ¥148.1bn (£1bn) through a convertible bonds issue to fund its expansion into financial services and artificial intelligence (AI), primarily through its own payments technology. The firm said in a statement this morning that the majority of the raise will go towards promoting Line Pay, which is an in-app function [...]
Take a look at this Monopoly board that’s been re-designed for 2018 London house prices September 3, 2018 A London tech startup has re-designed the classic Monopoly board to reflect property price growth in the capital over the last five years, with some staggering switch-ups for key hotspots. The board was first designed in the 1930s, so it's a given that the London property landscape might have changed a bit since then. Proportunity, [...]
There’s nothing artificial about AI’s influence on the financial world August 31, 2018 Research by PwC estimates that global GDP will be 14 per cent higher in 2030 as a result of artificial intelligence (AI). That’s the equivalent of an additional $15.7 trillion, or more than the current output of China and India combined. If this is the case, how exactly will the City’s financial services sector change [...]
Three major growth themes August 29, 2018 Scientific advances bring both threats and opportunities for investors. Technological progress can render some business models obsolete, but at the same time open up new avenues of growth and wealth creation. Taking a thematic approach is one way to try and profit from a changing world. This involves investing in a collection of companies in [...]
Brains, Chains and Autobots August 28, 2018 They’re usually talked of as completely disparate fields; but ‘Brains and Chains’, or Artificial Intelligence and Blockchain technologies, have already started to converge – despite claims they’re philosophically incompatible. So where’s the join? Google, Amazon, Microsoft and the like have invested billions in AI over the years. Billions more are being poured into Blockchain ventures [...]
Chinese behemoth Alibaba hails significant revenue hike, despite profit blip August 23, 2018 Alibaba today bolstered its position as China’s largest online retailer, revealing revenue growth of 61 per cent for its first quarter. The group published an income of 80.9bn yuan (£9.2bn) in the three months ending June, marginally ahead of forecasts, and an increase in customers on the Taobao shopping platform as 576m people flocked to the website and app, up four [...]
The next generation of tech innovators need to be good citizens, not just good inventors August 23, 2018 The future is what the next generation makes it. No surprise, then, that today’s visionary leaders including Elon Musk, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and Stanford University are exploring how best to arm students with an education fit for innovation. Elon Musk’s Ad Astra super-school is the most recent headline-grabbing initiative of this kind, [...]
Ctrl Alt Delete: Technology could replace more than half of banking jobs, warns ex-Barclays boss August 23, 2018 Technology could replace more than 50 per cent of banking jobs, according to former Barclays chief executive Antony Jenkins. The boss of 10x Banking said that computers could replace customer service, middle and back office roles, and that the workforce will have to become more entrepreneurial. Read more: Aberdeen Standard Investments launches AI fund "We've [...]
Aberdeen Standard Investments is the latest to launch AI fund August 22, 2018 Aberdeen Standard Investment is the latest company to introduce Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology to help run funds. The Aberdeen Global Artificial Intelligence Global Equity SICSV will use machine learning to identify sources of potential returns. Global Head of Quantitative Solutions David Wickham said: "Recent innovations in AI, combined with rapid advances in computational power, have enabled [...]
Flying cars, AI and blockchain: These are the top tech trends in Gartner’s 2018 Hype Cycle August 20, 2018 Artificial intelligence (AI), self-driving cars and distributed ledger technology – otherwise known as blockchain – are among this year’s emerging technology trends, though some have moved closer to the so-called trough of disillusionment. Research firm Gartner’s annual hype cycle, which tracks where tech trends are on their journey from an idea to mainstream usage, today determined driverless [...]