How defence can lead growth through private investment June 9, 2025 The UK’s Strategic Defence Review outlines ambitious long-term reforms, but by leveraging its strengths in finance, AI, and commercial shipping, Britain can achieve rapid defence innovation and capability gains without immediate major spending increases, says Julien de Saint-Quentin The Strategic Defence Review (SDR), published last week, was presented as a ‘transformative’, ‘once-in a generation’ exercise. [...]
Has Klarna’s buy now, pay later bubble burst? June 6, 2025 Buy now, pay later services have exploded in the last decade and industry titan Klarna has spearheaded growth. The global BNPL market is expected to top $560.1bn (£412.8bn) in 2025 with 13.7 per cent annual growth. Swedish fintech Klarna has historically dominated the space, notching a net operating income of $1.087bn in 2020. The firm [...]
David Lammy: ‘Technology is the frontline of geopolitics’ as Foreign Office teams up with Big Four giants June 5, 2025 “It is essential" that firms such as the Big Four and UK government "work together", Foreign Secretary tells City AM as his focus shifts to AI.
UK finance salaries drop as workers ‘actively develop’ tech skills June 4, 2025 UK finance salaries dropped by three per cent in 2025, new data has found, prompting more workers to look for new jobs and develop more tech skills to prop up their pay. Average pay in one of the UK’s richest sectors is now around £102,300, lower than the USA but still higher than Germany and [...]
UK firms turn to AI and automation as they struggle to find skilled workers June 4, 2025 Nearly three-quarters of British firms are struggling to find talented workers in fears that productivity levels are unlikely to rebound after a bumpy recovery from the pandemic, fresh research has found. Prime Minister Keir Starmer has called on firms to prioritise hiring British workers over sponsoring foreign nationals as part of his plans to boost [...]
A New Era of Saudi-U.S. Strategic Partnership June 3, 2025 Shahad Alsubaie – Inside Saudi How Vision 2030 and the 2025 Saudi-US Investment Forum Are Redefining Bilateral Cooperation, Innovation, and Global Economic Leadership The Saudi-U.S. Investment Forum 2025 represents a transformative milestone in bilateral relations, with the execution of 145 deals totaling over $300 billion in bilateral investments. It reflects a shift from transactional ties to [...]
Mastercard: Fraud attempts jump as retailers feel cyber attack sting June 3, 2025 The head of artificial intelligence at Mastercard said the payment giant had seen a surge in fraud attempts, which follows a string of cyber attacks on major retailers. Greg Ulrich, chief data and AI officer at Mastercard, told City AM the payments network is “attacked perpetually” by fraudsters. The payments network recorded a 40 per [...]
Big Four giants eye AI assurance tools to tap in on client concerns June 3, 2025 The majority of the Big Four giants are developing a new audit system for AI tools as they hope to tap into a new revenue stream
AI regulation needs to be smarter in the UK, urges Deepmind boss June 3, 2025 Demis Hassabis, chief executive of Google Deepmind, has called on UK policymakers and business heavyweights to embrace the “smart regulation” of AI, warning that a failure to do so could prompt unintended harm, or the loss of public trust. He announced at London’s inaugural SXSW event on Monday: “AI is the most important technology humanity [...]
Don’t forget the arts when it comes to R&D spending June 3, 2025 The UK’s creative economy is worth more than our life sciences, aerospace and automotive industries combined, says Hetan Shah UK productivity growth has been woeful since the financial crash and the economy is about a fifth smaller than it would have been had the trend in productivity growth continued after 2007. The Chancellor has a [...]