Uber adds another ex-government adviser to its team April 6, 2016 Ride-hailing app Uber has added another former government adviser to its staff, with a new addition to its policy team. Guy Levin, who was a government adviser between 2010 and 2014, has joined the company's policy research team, based in Amsterdam. Levin, who is moving from his role as executive director at startup policy group [...]
Cyber shock: Compliance staff perhaps the most likely to steal insider data April 6, 2016 It's always the quiet ones, isn't it? Research seen exclusively by Morning Wire suggests that you might want to be keeping a closer eye on your compliance staff when it comes to safeguarding sensitive information. The report by FTI Consulting discovered that 60 per cent of compliance staff would consider taking data belonging to their [...]
Panama Papers scandal: Law firm admits it thinks it was the target of hackers as experts warn companies are misguided in their cyber security efforts April 6, 2016 Businesses are failing to identify weak spots in their cyber security systems, as the law firm embroiled in the Panama Papers breach admits that it believes it was targeted by hackers. A report seen exclusively by Morning Wire by FTI Consulting has discovered that just less than half (43 per cent) of global institutional investors [...]
Blockchain just had two major firsts with new social payment app Circle, Barclays and Britain’s financial regulator April 6, 2016 London may be the centre of fintech innovation, but there’s one huge trend we’ve failed to jump on board with yet – social payment apps. Messaging your mate with that fiver you owe for last night’s round at the pub and a big smiley face emoji is pretty common in the US and China, especially [...]
Huawei has thrown itself full tilt into the global consumer phone market with its P9 and P9 Plus, featuring Leica lenses April 6, 2016 Chinese telecoms group Huawei has unveiled its latest handset, meant be its flagship device in a push into the European market currently dominated by Samsung and Apple. Huawei has has teamed up with German camera maker Leica for its new P9 model that uses duel lenses, a feature though to be included in Apple's upcoming iPhone 7. [...]
Rovio hopes the Angry Birds Movie can help turnaround losses April 6, 2016 The games company behind addictive app Angry Birds is hoping a Hollywood outing on the big screen can turn around its fortunes. The Finnish firm has reported an operating loss of €13m for the year, on revenues of €142m “As expected, 2015 was a challenging year for Rovio partly due to heavy investments in our future success," said [...]
Digital challenger bank Atom is open for business and the Neil Woodford-backed bank uses innovative face and voice recognition technology April 6, 2016 A digital challenger bank which uses face and voice recognition instead of passwords and is trying to give the big four banks a run for their money is now open for business. Atom Bank, which is backed by top investors including Neil Woodford, has launched today on Apple iOS for pre-registered users. It believes being digital first and innovative [...]
Goldman Sachs just invested millions in an artificial intelligence startup April 5, 2016 The banking world, and now Goldman Sachs in particular, is getting on board with artificial intelligence. The investment bank has put millions into a US startup which uses machine learning for marketing. The $30m round for New York-based Persado also came from previous investors American Express Ventures and Citi Ventures, as well as Bain Capital Ventures and StarVest Partners. “We are [...]
Touchdown: Twitter share price bounces as it unveils plans to stream Thursday night NFL games April 5, 2016 Shares in Twitter jumped more than three per cent in pre-market trading after the company said it had won the bidding for digital rights to stream American football league games on Thursday nights. Shares were up 3.4 per cent, at $17.10, after the news was announced by National Football League commissioner Roger Goodell (on Twitter, natch). This [...]
Sharing economy data just came a step closer to being officially counted in ONS statistics April 5, 2016 How much is the ever-growing so-called sharing economy really contributing to Britain's growth? That's the question the country's top statisticians are grappling with as the likes of upstart businesses such as Uber, Airbnb, Task Rabbit and many more redefine the way we work. Now, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has revealed the details of its first assessment of [...]