July, 2016

• 9 July

  Bank strains emerge as Brexit strikes with money-fund overhaul

  

    Bloomberg For US banks, Brexit couldn’t have come at a worse time, raising funding costs just as changes to the US$2.7 trillion money-fund industry threaten to sap demand for the lenders’ short-term debt. In the derivatives market, measures of banks’ funding stress are climbing on speculation the fallout from last month’s UK referendum will weaken global economic growth and …

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• 9 July

  Brazil’s top bank returns to asset-backed revival

    BLOOMBERG Caixa Economica Federal, Brazil’s second-largest bank, is returning to the asset-backed security market after two years to take advantage of investors’ rising appetite for risk. Caixa plans to raise as much as 4 billion reais (US$1.2billion) of such securities for the FIDC fund it manages, the Brasilia-based company said in a regulatory filing last month. Proceeds will be …

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• 9 July

  PBOC drains most money in 4 months

    BLOOMBERG China’s central bank drained the most funds from the financial system in four months, mopping up liquidity added over the last three weeks, even as economists predicted monetary easing to limit the fallout from last month’s Brexit vote. The People’s Bank of China withdrew a net 645 billion yuan (US$96 billion) from the financial system in the past …

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• 9 July

  European banks focus on investor skittishness

  

    Bloomberg Europe’s banks have been a focal point of investor skittishness since Britons voted to leave the European Union, but reasons to be worried about financial firms pre-date the referendum. Whether it be the mountain of non-performing loans, the challenge from fintech firms and alternative lenders encroaching on what was once their turf, or rock bottom interest rates eroding …

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• 9 July

  A peek beyond the cosmic veil

  

    Madrid / DPA Work will begin in 2018 to build the largest radio telescope in the world. The Square Kilometre Array, or SKA, half located in Australia and the other half in southern Africa, will eventually become the world’s biggest single scientific instrument. Scientists hope to use the SKA to find answers to major astrophysical questions such as how …

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• 9 July

  Give your biz an Instagram boost

  

    Larry Kim / TNS You’ve probably heard of models, celebrities, and others winning massive endorsement deals for including product placement or mentions in their Instagram posts. Wouldn’t that be crazy — earning millions for wearing awesome clothes, or posting pictures of yourself drinking beverages you probably would have been enjoying anyway? That’s obviously not a viable business plan for …

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• 9 July

  Qatar uses 3D printers to find perfect football pitch

  

    Doha / RELAXNEWS Following concerns over poor quality pitches at Euro 2016, Qatar has employed a high-tech solution to avoid similar criticisms of its World Cup in 2022 — 3D printers and wind tunnels. Scientists at Qatar University, the country’s largest higher education establishment, have created 3D-printed models of some of the potential eight stadiums that will be used …

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• 9 July

  FB messenger to offer stronger encryption

  

    San Francisco / AFP Facebook has announced that it would roll out optional “end to end encryption” for its Messenger application, following a trend aimed at stronger security and protection against snooping. The US technology giant said this feature would be known as “secret conversations” which can be read only by the sender and recipient. “Providing more ways for …

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• 9 July

  Google smartphones on the cards

  

    Relaxnews After a first PC (Chromebook Pixel) and a tablet (Pixel C), Google reportedly has its own smartphones and smartwatches in the pipeline, optimized for use with the web-search giant’s mobile operating systems. The Telegraph reports that Google could be gearing up to release its own smartphone by the end of 2016. Until now, Google has relied on its …

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• 9 July

  Netherlands gets 1st nationwide ‘IoT’

  

    The Hague / Relaxnews Dutch telecoms group KPN said that The Netherlands had become the first country in the world to implement a nationwide long range (LoRa) network for the so-called Internet of Things (IoT). Connecting everyday objects to networks, allowing them to send and receive data, is widely seen as the next major evolution of the Internet and …

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