April, 2018

• 7 April

  Our robot overlords might be delayed

  

  Are you stressed out about the singularity? Living in fear of the day when computers decide that humans are no longer necessary? Not to worry, say some leading experts in artificial intelligence: Research in the field might have actually hit a wall. No doubt, AI is everywhere. Computers assess financial news, identify viruses and even act as physics theorists, analyzing ...

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• 7 April

  Facebook’s present is as scary as its checkered past

  

  The fresh disclosures about the Cambridge Analytica affair are dismaying for Facebook Inc., and they were getting a lot of deserved attention last week. But what happened at the shadowy political consulting firm is largely about Facebook’s past. The company made other changes that highlighted how lax it is currently being in allowing access to information from the social network’s ...

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• 7 April

  Apple to use own chips in Macs from 2020

  

  Bloomberg Apple Inc. is planning to use its own chips in Mac computers beginning as early as 2020, replacing processors from Intel Corp., according to people familiar with the plans. The initiative, code named Kalamata, is still in the early developmental stages, but comes as part of a larger strategy to make all of Apple’s devices—including Macs, iPhones, and iPads—work ...

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• 7 April

  Lyft expands its subscription ride-hailing test to beat Uber

  

  Bloomberg Lyft Inc. is testing a subscription service in more than two dozen cites, hoping to lock in customers as competition with Uber Technologies Inc. heats up in the US. In recent weeks, the San Francisco-based company began experimenting with a variety of subscription packages, now available in 30 markets. Lyft President John Zimmer said he sees subscriptions as the ...

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• 7 April

  Google changes metric of its digital ads business

  Bloomberg Alphabet Inc. is changing a closely watched measure of Google’s digital advertising business and adjusting how it accounts for some private stock holdings, a move that will make reported income more volatile. The main difference is in how Google discloses the performance of its Network business, which runs ads on thousands of third-party websites. This will no longer be ...

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• 7 April

  ECB’s Coeure warns trade wars raise burden on central banks

  

  Bloomberg European Central Bank (ECB) Executive Board member Benoit Coeure said the trade spat picked by the US risks increasing the burden on central banks — as well as hurting the poor — by dimming global growth prospects. Protectionist sentiment has already “contributed to tighter financial conditions,” Coeure said at the Ambrosetti Forum in Cernobbio, Italy. “A ‘trade war’ scenario ...

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• 7 April

  India keeps rates unchanged as RBI cuts inflation forecast

  

  Bloomberg India’s central bank kept interest rates unchanged for the fourth straight meeting and cut its inflation forecast citing lower food prices. Reserve Bank of India Governor Urjit Patel and his monetary policy committee retained the benchmark repurchase rate at 6 percent. The move was predicted by all 42 economists in a Bloomberg survey. Five of the six-member MPC voted ...

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• 7 April

  Banks rush to turn Japan cashless ahead of fintech rivals

  

  Bloomberg Japanese banks, long content to foster the nation’s love for cash, are now diving into digital payments thanks to a regulatory change that threatens to usher in new rivals. In recent months, lenders around the country have announced a flurry of initiatives designed to grab a slice of the $50 billion market for electronic settlements. Projects are under way ...

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• 7 April

  Danske Bank unveils sweeping changes to management team

  Bloomberg Danske Bank A/S unveiled a set of broad changes to its management team, replacing its head of wealth management and appointing a new finance chief as part of a plan it says will make its business more efficient. The reorganisation was announced just one day after Denmark’s biggest bank, which is based in Copenhagen, said an executive who had ...

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• 7 April

  Scotiabank, TD post widest UK pay gaps of Canada banks

  

  Bloomberg Bank of Nova Scotia and Toronto-Dominion (TD) Bank have some of the widest gender pay disparities among Canadian lenders in their UK operations, according to regulatory disclosures. Scotiabank, Canada’s third-biggest len-der, pays women 44 percent less than men on average in the UK, with the gap widening to 72 percent for bonuses, according to regulatory disclosures. Scotiabank’s London operations ...

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