Labour and the City of London: What the party would offer the financial services industry April 19, 2018 From the meetings and conversations I’ve had in the last two-and-a-half years with people from across the finance sector, from different organisations and with different responsibilities, there has been a consistent message. People want to know where they stand. They want to know where we as a Labour Party are coming from, what we in [...]
DEBATE: Is it possible to create ethical AI? April 17, 2018 Is it possible to create ethical AI? Emma Kendrew, artificial intelligence lead at Accenture Technology UKI, says YES. Yes, we can create ethical artificial intelligence (AI). But you must acknowledge that you can’t create AI one day, and have a fully matured ethical framework the next. AI needs to be nurtured in the same way [...]
Hedge funds’ “star traders” are being booted out of the limelight in favour of data-driven strategies and artificial intelligence April 16, 2018 The hedge fund industry is at an “inflection point”, according to titans in the sector, which could see the idea of “star managers” take a back seat to artificial intelligence (AI) and data-driven strategies. Efficiency in markets and the wider availability of financial data has helped make it harder for hedge funds to produce returns [...]
Blockchain energy trading: London startup Verv has performed the UK’s first energy trade on the blockchain April 13, 2018 A London-based machine learning startup has completed the UK’s first physical trade of energy on the blockchain. Verv uses artificial intelligence (AI) to allow customers with renewable energy supplies and battery storage to sell surplus power directly to their neighbours. The firm is currently conducting a trial at Hackney’s Banister House Estate with hopes of [...]
Cyber security firm Avast set for London’s largest tech listing at £2.8bn April 12, 2018 Cyber security software company Avast has announced it is planning to float on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) next month. The company’s initial public offering (IPO) could see the firm valued at $4bn (£2.8 bn), making it London’s largest ever listing for a technology company. The company, which boasts some 435m users worldwide, is headquartered [...]
How to bring the UK’s 1.5m unbanked into the digital economy before cash is displaced | City A.M. April 12, 2018 Last month’s inaugural Spring Statement had everything one might expect from a chancellor more renowned for fiscal prudence than visionary reform. Philip Hammond did, however, acknowledge the rapid pace of change in financial technology, launching a consultation to ensure “our economy is fit for the future and keeps pace with changes in the ways that [...]
Shutterstock CEO Jon Oringer on putting profit first and selling his billionth image | City A.M. April 9, 2018 Many moons ago, there was a game called GoogleWhack. The objective was to return only one hit from a Google search query consisting of just two words. Naturally, with billions of pages indexed, it’s quite tough, and today, probably impossible. I propose a new, but similar, game using Shutterstock. Type in any two words, and [...]
Back to school: We must teach AI to have a moral compass April 6, 2018 In the UK, it’s mandated that 13 of the first 18 years of a young person’s life are spent in some sort of education. We invest very heavily in teaching children what they need to know to be functioning and productive members of society: our doctors, our teachers, our data scientists of the future. Artificial [...]
Artificial intelligence fintech investment firm Arkera grabs £4m from investors including Brevan Howard’s Alan Howard April 5, 2018 Arkera, a new fintech app which uses artificial intelligence (AI) to aid personal investing, has raised £4m from investors including the co-founder of hedge fund Brevan Howard. Alan Howard led the funding round along with electronic trading firm XTX Markets, with additional input from payment services firm Docomo Digital, ex-Deutsche Bank chief operating officer Henry [...]
Why I’m sick of bad press releases from lazy PRs who have never read me or this newspaper April 3, 2018 On 1 April, I published a column on the City A.M. website. Check it out: it’s a spoof of a press release. You may think it’s hyperbole. It isn’t. It’s the kind of effortful rubbish that I receive every day. In the past, when some grotesquely bad press release hit my inbox, I would mock [...]