First things first: in last week’s Free Lunch I unforgivably got my European royal houses mixed up; my apologies. It was of course the Bourbons and not the Habsburgs of whom Talleyrand supposedly said they had learnt nothing and forgotten nothing. It may still be that our financial regulators are worse than the Bourbons, as
admin
The recent banking failures involving the fall of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), Signature Bank, and Silvergate Bank, have high-profile government individuals trying to find a culprit. U.S. President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump have publicly blamed each other’s policies for the outcome, but according to some analysts, the problem might be ignorance in
Back in 2018, two economists made a £1,000 bet about future child poverty figures for the UK and I had the job of deciding who would win. Jonathan Portes of King’s College London wagered that harsh social security policies would raise the headline poverty rate from 30 per cent of children in 2016-17 to more
Crypto-friendly fintech Revolut is reportedly having some issues related to its recently released annual report for the year ending December 2021. Revolut, a British-Lithuanian neobank that allows customers to buy and sell crypto, reported its first-ever full year of profit on March 1, 2023. The firm said it generated a revenue of 636 million British
“The signal goes on, and he shows up. That’s the way it’s been. That’s the way it will be.” Whenever Gotham faces an existential threat, the Bat-Signal lights up the night sky. In the DC Comics universe, Batman always shows up to save the day when he’s called upon. Bitcoiners in Germany employed a similar tactic
Brussels must develop “new defensive tools” for sectors such as quantum computing and artificial intelligence as it updates its security policies in the face of an increasingly assertive China, the European Commission president has said. Ursula von der Leyen said the EU needed to establish a clear line for trade in highly sensitive technologies where
Unlike AI applications such as Chatgpt, cryptocurrencies do not bring “anything useful,” a top executive of U.S. chip maker Nvidia is convinced. The comment comes despite his company making significant sales in the space where its powerful processors are widely used to mint digital coins. Developing Chatbots More Worthwhile Than Crypto Mining, Nvidia Exec Claims
The British government has watered down its new mandate for electric vehicles by allowing carmakers to defer a proportion of their production targets for several years, according to a government consultation announced on Thursday. The consultation on electric cars is one of a flurry of announcements published on Thursday morning updating the government’s approach to
European stocks advanced on Thursday while US futures ticked higher following an overnight rally on Wall Street as traders’ concerns about a prolonged banking crisis receded. The region-wide Stoxx 600 added 0.8 per cent to reach its highest level in two weeks in early trading ahead of the latest figures for eurozone consumer, industrial and
Spain’s inflation almost halved in a month to 3.1 per cent in March as energy costs dropped, in a possible early sign of a sharp fall in European headline inflation this year. The year-on-year rise in Spanish consumer prices compared with the previous month’s rate of 6 per cent and was lower than the 4
Crypto exchange Binance has announced the opening of a blockchain hub in Georgia which will promote cryptocurrency adoption in the region. The move comes on the backdrop of a number of partnerships, initiatives, and events the company is involved in in the country. Digital Asset Exchange Binance Establishes ‘Web3 Outpost’ in Georgia Binance, the world’s
Seychelles-based crypto exchange OKX has signaled its intention to expand its crypto services to Australia, a country it believes is primed to take on the next wave of crypto adoption. The trading platform explained in a March 29 statement that Australia would be a key growth market for the firm moving forward. The firm states
Fox News was meant to be a TV channel for the man on the street. Sure, its primetime anchors might be able to live lives of luxury on their multimillion-dollar salaries, but that didn’t matter: this was a channel that told it straight and reported the real facts that “they” — the metropolitan liberal “ruling
Shares in European real estate groups are on track for their worst month since the start of the pandemic, as investors bet that weeks of banking turmoil will tighten access to credit and send property valuations plummeting. The MSCI Europe Real Estate index of large and mid-cap property companies has tumbled close to its lowest
Centerview Partners has edged out Wall Street giants including Morgan Stanley and Bank of America in deal activity rankings this quarter, taking the highest spot for a boutique advisory firm in decades. Centerview has rocketed up the closely scrutinised league tables to third place, based on the value of mergers and acquisitions so far this
The U.K. government has confirmed that it is not proceeding with a plan to launch a non-fungible token (NFT). British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak asked the Royal Mint to create an “NFT for Britain” while he was serving as the Chancellor of the Exchequer last year as part of his efforts to make the U.K.
Central banks are turning their attention to companies using high inflation as an excuse to boost their profit margins, warning that businesses’ price gouging risks triggering persistent cost pressures. Profit margins of US companies hit their highest level since the aftermath of the second world war in 2022, research by economists at the University of
Varya Galkina, a smart and studious 10-year-old, began getting into trouble with her schoolteachers in Moscow last September, a few weeks into the new academic year. First, they noticed she was regularly skipping the new Russian patriotism classes that had just been added to the national curriculum. Then they spotted that she had set a
The end of historically low interest rates was billed as good news for banks, which make more money as the difference widens between what they charge borrowers and what they pay for funding. But recent crises on both sides of the Atlantic show that the reality is more complex, upending the conventional wisdom. Some banks,
Meta executives are discussing a company-wide ban on political advertising in Europe, following concerns that its social networking platforms such as Facebook and Instagram will be unable to comply with forthcoming EU regulations that target online campaigning. Brussels regulators are drawing up new laws to come info force next year designed to force large internet
The price of Bitcoin (BTC) briefly tipped over $29,000 on March 30, recording a new high for the 2023 year, despite recent United States regulatory crackdowns on crypto firms and related uncertainty. According to Cointelegraph Markets Pro, the price of Bitcoin reached $29,132.82 on March 30, reaching levels seen just before the collapse of cryptocurrency