Category: 3. Business

  • Advancing in tandem – results of the 2024 BIS survey on central bank digital currencies and crypto

    Advancing in tandem – results of the 2024 BIS survey on central bank digital currencies and crypto

    Central banks’ involvement in central bank digital currency (CBDC) work remained strong in 2024. Of the 93 central banks surveyed, 91% (85) were exploring either a retail CBDC, a wholesale CBDC or both. At an aggregate level, the exploration of wholesale CBDCs is at more advanced stages than exploration of retail CBDCs. The focus and stage of the work and envisioned use cases and design features of CBDCs vary across jurisdictions. Yet, preserving the role of central bank money amid the decline of cash and the rise of tokenisation of traditional assets is a key driver for many central banks. More than one in three jurisdictions had also accelerated work on CBDCs in light of developments in stablecoins and other cryptoassets.

    JEL classification: E42, E58, O33

    Keywords: Central bank digital currencies, CBDC, digital innovation, cryptoassets, stablecoins, cross-border payments, tokenisation, tokenised bonds, interoperability, financial stability, regulation

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  • Oil prices set to end losing streak as Ukraine peace process stalls – Reuters

    1. Oil prices set to end losing streak as Ukraine peace process stalls  Reuters
    2. Oil prices fall on talks to end Russian invasion of Ukraine  Dawn
    3. WTI extends the rally to near $63.50 amid signs of stronger energy demand  FXStreet
    4. Oil extends gains amid signs of strong demand By Reuters  Investing.com
    5. Crude oil settled at $63.52  TradingView

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  • FI Micro Moments – Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023

    FI Micro Moments – Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023

    In this episode of our FI Micro Moments series, Joseph Hill, Product Executive at Marsh UK’s Financial Institutions team, is joined by Claire Garrett, Head of Financial Institutions at Marsh UK, to discuss a significant regulatory change set to impact financial institutions from 1 September 2025. As the sector faces evolving risks, understanding how to navigate new compliance requirements is crucial.

    Joseph and Claire explore what this change entails, who it affects most, and what steps institutions should take to stay ahead. Whether you’re responsible for risk management, compliance, or governance, this short video will provide clarity on the implications and practical considerations for your organisation.

    Watch our short video to hear more and learn how your broker can support you.

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  • Risk factors for further recurrences of Clostridioides difficile infection at the first and second recurrence: a retrospective cohort | BMC Infectious Diseases

    Risk factors for further recurrences of Clostridioides difficile infection at the first and second recurrence: a retrospective cohort | BMC Infectious Diseases

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  • Ericsson and partners launch Sweden-focused Sferical AI – Ericsson

    1. Ericsson and partners launch Sweden-focused Sferical AI  Ericsson
    2. Sweden’s Wallenberg groups launch joint AI company  CNA
    3. AstraZeneca, Ericsson, Saab, SEB, and Wallenberg Investments launch the company Sferical AI  MarketScreener
    4. Sweden’s Wallenberg companies to launch joint AI company  TradingView

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  • Nvidia pulls plug on China-only H20 GPU

    Nvidia pulls plug on China-only H20 GPU

    Nvidia backs away as Chinese market turns sour

    Nvidia appears to be winding down its H20 GPU line for China, as the economic and political winds continue to blow straight in its face.

    The chipmaker has reportedly told component suppliers to stop work on the region-specific GPU, suggesting even Jensen Huang sees little point in flogging a dead silicon horse.

    The H20 was supposed to be a workaround for US export restrictions, offering cut-down AI performance that kept Washington happy while still letting Nvidia tap into China’s monster market.

    That plan went sideways after the Trump administration tightened licensing rules earlier this year, forcing Nvidia to write off $4.5 billion in inventory and chuck an $8 billion revenue opportunity in the bin.

    After a temporary truce allowed shipments to resume in exchange for a 15 per cent sales haircut, it now looks like Nvidia has had enough. According to The Information, the company has asked suppliers to halt production work on the H20.

    Nvidia pulled in 13 per cent of its total sales from China last fiscal year, worth about $17 billion. It once boasted that its annual revenue opportunity in China was north of $50 billion, but that figure now looks like a fever dream.

    Part of the reason is that Beijing isn’t playing nice either. The Chinese politburo, increasingly spooked by talk of tech dependency and backdoor spyware, has started leaning on domestic firms to ditch Nvidia. There’s even talk of outright bans on H20 purchases, with officials pushing for home-grown alternatives no matter how wobbly they are.

    In the meantime, Nvidia is prepping a B30 chip to replace the doomed H20. But whether it can win back the world’s second-largest economy after this mess is anyone’s guess.


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  • Guzman y Gomez keeps expansion on the menu despite increased US losses rattling investors | Business

    Guzman y Gomez keeps expansion on the menu despite increased US losses rattling investors | Business

    Mexican-themed chain Guzman y Gomez plans to open at least 15 restaurants in the US despite doubling its losses on its “relentless” bid to expand into the competitive American market.

    Despite its struggles in the US, the company recorded more than $1bn in sales across its network for the first time and more than doubled its net profit to $14.5m in the 12 months to July – its first year on the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX).

    Australian investors were rattled even though Guzman y Gomez lifted its overall revenue by 23% to $1.181bn, with the company’s share price plummeting by nearly 20% by close of trade on Friday after it published its yearly financial results.

    The company’s co-chief executive officers, Steven Marks and Hilton Brett, told investors their ambition was to “become the best and biggest restaurant company in the world”.

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    Marks and Brett said they were committed to their North American expansion and were “relentlessly focused on demonstrating proof of concept” in the US.

    The duo said each American restaurant would need to make at least US$3m a year in order to be sustainable and “while it will take time, we are seeing momentum”.

    Guzman y Gomez lost A$13.2m on its US stores in the 12 months to 30 June, up from a $6.5m loss in the 2023-2024 financial year.

    There have been considerable doubts over whether the Sydney-headquartered company can crack the US market, which is notoriously difficult for Australian food retailers due to different tastes, supply chains and portion sizes.

    During the year, Guzman y Gomez added two urban strip restaurants to its network in Chicago, taking the total number of restaurants in the Illinois capital – where the company is beginning its foray into the American market – to seven.

    The company’s strategy focuses on building density in the Chicago market by “expanding inwards from the suburbs” in a bid to “to deepen penetration and strengthen brand presence”.

    In February, Marks conceded to investors the company’s US sales weren’t “growing as fast as we’d like”.

    Nevertheless, Guzman y Gomez plans to open two new US stores in the 2025-26 financial year and expects its losses in the American market to increase slightly during the 12-month period.

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    Guzman y Gomez co-CEO and co-founder Steven Marks rings the ASX bell as co-CEO Hilton Brett (left) said they remained confident the chain could reach 1,000 stores. Photograph: Supplied Morrow Sodali Pr/PR IMAGE

    Marks and Brett told investors they were optimistic given it took them 12 years for their Australian restaurants to average $40k per week in sales and another seven years to reach $100k.

    The company fared much better at home over the past year, reporting network sales of nearly $1.1bn in Australia, partially driven by an increase in night-time and breakfast trading with the increased rollout of 24/7 stores.

    When it debuted on the ASX in June last year, the company won over investors by announcing plans to increase the number of its Australian stores from fewer than 200 to more than 1,000 – a figure chosen to rival McDonald’s – and build its international network.

    Marks and Brett said Guzman y Gomez was “on track” to open 40 new restaurants in Australia a year within four years and remained confident they could reach 1,000 stores.

    The company had 256 restaurants around the world as of 30 June after opening 39 new restaurants in the 12 months prior, including 32 in Australia, four in Singapore, one in Japan and the two new US stores.

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  • OnlyFans owner paid $701m in dividends as platform readies for potential sale | Technology sector

    OnlyFans owner paid $701m in dividends as platform readies for potential sale | Technology sector

    The owner of OnlyFans was paid $701m (£523m) in dividends last year as the streaming platform best known for offering adult content readies for a potential multibillion-dollar sale.

    The UK-based company, which offers a range of subscription-based content from sex workers and celebrities, reported revenue of $1.4bn in its 2024 financial year, up 9% compared with the year prior, accounts filed at Companies House on Friday show. Pre-tax profit rose 4% to $683.6m.

    More people than ever are using the platform, with the total number of creator accounts – which split their proceeds 80:20 with the business – up by 13% to 4.6m. The total number of fan accounts grew by 24% to 377.5m.

    Overall, OnlyFans took in $7.2bn from its subscribers in 2024, up from $6.6bn the previous year.

    The company said “significant growth and profitability” had been driven by an increase in platform users and higher earnings for existing creators.

    It brings a major payout for its owner, Leonid Radvinsky, the Ukrainian-American entrepreneur behind the site, adding to the more than $1bn in dividends he had already received from the business as he profits from connecting porn stars more directly with their audiences.

    OnlyFans accounts show it paid $497m in dividends to its owner, Fenix International, which is owned by Radvinsky, in 2024, up from $472m in its 2023 financial year. The business paid a further $204m to its owner in five tranches over the course of December to April.

    The platform’s chief executive, Keily Blair, a former privacy lawyer who joined the business three years ago, said OnlyFans had “expanded in new verticals, demonstrating the strength and potential of the platform across a wide range of genres” in the year.

    It comes after reports that Fenix held talks to sell the business for $8bn to a consortium of investors led by the Forest Road Company, a US investment firm.

    The platform was founded in 2016 by the British entrepreneur Tim Stokely, then 33 years old. It was then sold to Radvinsky, a previous owner of adult websites, for an undisclosed sum in 2018.

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    While its largest market is in the US, OnlyFans remains headquartered in London. The business has millions of creators on its platform, but employs just 46 people directly.

    Radvinsky has a low public profile, although his personal website states that he holds a degree in economics from Northwestern University in the US and lives in Florida. He describes himself as a venture capital investor. Before acquiring OnlyFans he owned an adult webcam business.

    OnlyFans also noted in its accounts that it continued to invest in its trust and safety measures, amid tighter online safety rules in the UK. While the platform offers a variety of different content genres outside pornography, including sports and lifestyle, it has a strict 18+ age limit.

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  • Nvidia’s CEO says it’s in talks with Trump administration on a new chip for China

    Nvidia’s CEO says it’s in talks with Trump administration on a new chip for China

    BANGKOK — Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said Friday that the company is discussing a potential new computer chip designed for China with the Trump administration.

    Huang was asked about a possible “B30A” semiconductor for artificial intelligence data centers for China while on a visit to Taiwan, where he was meeting Nvidia’s key manufacturing partner, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp., the world’s largest chip maker.

    “I’m offering a new product to China for … AI data centers, the follow-on to H20,” Huang said. But he added that “That’s not our decision to make. It’s up to, of course, the United States government. And we’re in dialogue with them, but it’s too soon to know.”

    Such chips are graphics processing units, or GPUs, a type of device used to build and update a range of AI systems. But they are less powerful than Nvidia’s top semiconductors today, which cannot be sold to China due to U.S. national security restrictions.

    The B30A, based on California-based Nvidia’s specialized Blackwell technology, is reported to operate at about half the speed of Nvidia’s main B300 chips.

    Huang praised the the Trump administration for recently approving sales of Nvidia’s H20 chips to China after such business was suspended in April, with the proviso that the company must pay a 15% tax to the U.S. government on those sales. Chip maker Advanced Micro Devices, or AMD, was told to pay the same tax on its sales of its MI380 chips to China.

    As part of broader trade talks, Beijing and Washington recently agreed to pull back some non-tariff restrictions. China approved more permits for rare earth magnets to be exported to the U.S., while Washington lifted curbs on chip design software and jet engines. After lobbying by Huang, it also allowed sales of the H20 chips to go through.

    Huang did not comment directly on the tax when asked but said Nvidia appreciated being able to sell H20s to China.

    He said such sales pose no security risk for the United States. Nvidia is also speaking with Beijing to reassure Chinese authorities that those chips do not pose a “backdoor” security risk, Huang said.

    “We have made very clear and put to rest that H20 has no security backdoors. There are no such things. There never has. And so hopefully the response that we’ve given to the Chinese government will be sufficient,” he said.

    The Cyberspace Administration of China, the country’s internet watchdog, recently posted a notice on its website referring to alleged “serious security issues” with Nvidia’s computer chips.

    It said U.S. experts on AI had said such chips have “mature tracking and location and remote shutdown technologies” and Nvidia had been asked to explain any such risks and provide documentation about the issue.

    Huang said Nvidia was surprised by the accusation and was discussing the issue with Beijing.

    “As you know, they requested and urged us to secure licenses for the H20s for some time. And I’ve worked quite hard to help them secure the licenses. And so hopefully this will be resolved,” Huang said.

    Unconfirmed reports said Chinese authorities were also unhappy over comments by U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick suggesting the U.S. was only selling outdated chips to China.

    Speaking on CNBC, Lutnick said the U.S. strategy was to keep China reliant on American chip technology.

    “We don’t sell them our best stuff,” he said. “Not our second best stuff. Not even our third best, but I think fourth best is where we’ve come out that we’re cool,” he said.

    China’s ruling Communist Party has made self-reliance in advanced technology a strategic priority, though it still relies on foreign semiconductor knowhow for much of what it produces.

    ___

    AP Videojournalist Taijing Wu in Taipei contributed to this report.

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  • SECP Opens Doors for Startups with Angel Fund Initiative

    SECP Opens Doors for Startups with Angel Fund Initiative

    The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) has introduced the Angel Fund, a new category of Venture Capital Fund designed to invest primarily in unlisted securities and financial assets of early-stage startup companies.

    The announcement came through a notification issued on Monday, amending the Private Fund Regulations, 2015. The Angel Fund will operate as a sub-category of Venture Capital Fund under a closed-end structure, excluding hedge funds from its scope.

    According to SECP, an “Eligible Investor” for the Angel Fund includes individuals who earned at least Rs5 million in the previous financial year or hold net assets of at least Rs15 million, excluding personal residences. Such investors must also provide a declaration confirming their understanding of private fund investment risks. Qualified institutional buyers are also eligible.

    The revised regulations further define categories such as “Financial Close,” which marks the stage when financing and investment arrangements are finalized, and funds are ready for deployment. Additionally, other fund types outlined include the “Fund of Funds,” which invests in units of other private funds, the “Hedge Fund,” which uses diverse trading strategies, the “Impact Fund,” which focuses on socially responsible investments, and the “Infrastructure Fund,” which supports projects in transportation, utilities, and energy.

    By introducing the Angel Fund, SECP aims to open new avenues for financing early-stage companies, strengthen the startup ecosystem, and attract investors to Pakistan’s growing entrepreneurial landscape.

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