Bloomberg Uber Technologies Inc. will open its first research and development centre outside of the US, and has chosen Paris as its home. The ride-hailing company will invest $23.5 million over the next five years in the lab, which will focus on technologies to support the development of Uber’s flying-car initiative, dubbed Uber Elevate, it said. “With world-class engineers and ...
Read More »Apple to use VW self-driving vans for employees
Bloomberg Apple Inc. and Volkswagen AG struck a deal late last year that let the technology giant equip VW vans with self-driving technology to transport Apple employees between offices within the next year, according to a person familiar with the matter. The agreement is part of an internal Apple programme called Project Titan that started in 2015 as an ambitious ...
Read More »Amazon’s AI facial recognition for police draws ire of ACLU
Bloomberg Amazon.com Inc. drew the ire of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) over a facial-recognition system offered to law-enforcement agencies that the advocacy group says can be used to violate civil rights. In marketing materials obtained by the group, Amazon Web Services said its Rekognition system uses artificial intelligence to quickly identify people in photos and videos, enabling law ...
Read More »EU’s bank-rule overhaul sets stage for tighter financial ties
Bloomberg European Union finance ministers gave the green light to an overhaul of the bloc’s banking laws, paving the way for long-planned steps towards closer integration of the euro area’s financial system. The update, first proposed in late 2016, incorporates capital and liquidity standards set by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision. It also sets new requirements for loss-absorbing liabilities ...
Read More »HSBC hires from Deutsche Bank, Citi for Asia equities
Bloomberg HSBC Holdings Plc is continuing a hiring spree for its equities business in the Asia-Pacific region, recruiting executives from firms including Deutsche Bank AG and Citigroup Inc., according to people familiar with the matter. HSBC has hired Deutsche Bank’s Isabella Kwok as a managing director for Asian equity sales with a China focus, the people said, asking not to ...
Read More »Global central banks seek ‘independence’
Bloomberg Global central bankers made a concerted call for their independence from politics to be safeguarded, arguing government interference in mone-tary policy risked propelling inflation. With Turkey engulfed by a currency crisis partly driven by political efforts to influence interest rates, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell told a conference in Stockholm that he and counterparts shouldn’t take their independence for ...
Read More »Philippine Central Bank cuts reserve ratio again
Bloomberg The Philippine central bank cut the ratio of funds that lenders must hold as reserves, in line with a strategy outlined by Governor Nestor Espenilla to reform financial markets. The reserve requirement ratio was lowered by 1 percentage point to 18 percent, effective from June 1, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas said in a statement. The move, the second reduction ...
Read More »Deutsche Bank to cut more than 7,000 jobs in revamp
Bloomberg Deutsche Bank AG will cut a quarter of equities jobs and reduce overall positions by at least 7,000 as Chief Executive Officer Christian Sewing seeks to slash costs and boost profitability. The reductions will take the number of jobs at the Frankfurt-based lender to well below 90,000 and lead to a restructuring charge of as much as 800 million ...
Read More »Boeing exec to help Rolls-Royce fix engine woes
Bloomberg Boeing Co. has dispatched a prominent executive to help Rolls-Royce Holdings Plc work through escalating engine problems that have grounded dozens of 787 Dreamliners. Keith Leverkuhn is serving as Boeing’s eyes and ears at Rolls factories in Singapore and Derby, England, where the Trent 1000 engine is manufactured and being repaired. Leverkuhn, an engineer with expertise in propulsion, is ...
Read More »Next-gen supersonic jets get FAA boost
Bloomberg US regulators say they will ease the glide path for next-generation supersonic jets. The Federal Aviation Administration is crafting a regulation “to accommodate noise certification of new supersonic aircraft,†the agency said in a post on a White House website. Lockheed Martin Corp. last month won a $247.5 million contract from NASA to develop a quieter supersonic aircraft. Aerion ...
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