Author: Akin Naphtal

Filipino regulators deserve praise for the pace at which they are regulating the digital asset and blockchain industry, fostering innovation while still protecting investors. This is according to Mark Vernon, the co-founder and vice chairman of the Fintech Philippines Association, who says the Southeast Asian country can be a world leader in blockchain. “We’re probably more ahead than anywhere else. I’ve been to other countries where regulations stifle the growth, especially where it intersects with banking and fiat money,” Vernon told CoinGeek Backstage host Claire Celdran on the sidelines of the Philippine Fintech Festival. Vernon commended the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas…

Paris-headquartered venture capital firm Partech, has secured €120m (£103.1m) for its fourth seed fund. The oversubscribed Partech Entrepreneur IV fund received backing from 100 entrepreneur angels, family offices, multinational corporations and financial institutions. Romain Lavault, general partner, Partech, said that, UK is “definitely part of our European strategy”. “We are convinced that spotting the future leaders of new emerging categories often requires a broad scope and a genuine open-mindedness towards what the most talented Founders come up with.” Across Europe, Partech plans to support approximately 50 companies from pre-seed to seed, investing anywhere from €300,000 to €3m (£258,000 – £2.6m).…

The tech giant, Google has launched a UK research and development centre to develop tech to support people with disabilities.The tech giant,has joined forces with the Royal National Institute of Blind People, the Royal National Institute for Deaf People, and the charity Everyone Can, to develop the centre in London. The centre marks the first research centre for disabled support tech from Google outside of the US. Commenting on the launch, Rachael Bleakley, program manager at Google, said that, “Removing barriers to accessibility can have an enormous impact on everyday life”. Bleakley further said that the centre will be a…

China’s commerce ministry criticized the U.S. government’s decision to ban new sales of telecommunications equipment made by five Chinese firms due to national security risks. It demanded they be allowed to sell their products to Ame,rican consumers. Recall, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) banned five Chinese telecom firms from selling new products in the U.S. under the provisions of the Secure Equipment Act of 2021. READ ALSO: Barclays Slapped with £8.4 million Interchange Fee Fine Amazon and The Learning Foundation launch ‘Learning Foundation” scheme to provide digital devices for the Rural and disadvantaged schools AfDB Launches Digital Data Initiative to…

The Payment Systems Regulator has fined Barclays Bank £10 million for failing to supply retailers with full information about the fees attached to different card services. The watchdog found that Barclays, the UK’s biggest card acquirer, did not provide retailers with transaction information required under the Interchange Fee Regulation (IFR). Barclays’ lack of transparency meant retailers weren’t fully aware of the fees they were paying so could not effectively compare prices of card services, shop around to find cheaper deals, or negotiate the best deal with Barclays. READ ALSO: Amazon and The Learning Foundation launch ‘Learning Foundation” scheme to provide…

Amazon and digital education charity, the Learning Foundation have launched Tech4Schools, a new scheme that provides low-income schools serving disadvantaged communities with new devices, digital skills training and tech support. The scheme is funded by Amazon, and will be rolled out in collaboration with charity In Kind Direct, who will connect schools with their devices, and education charity Teach First, who will identify schools to participate in the scheme, all of whom will be part of Teach First programmes. Tech4Schools is an initiative designed to tackle the issue of digital poverty and digital access – an issue which excludes many…

Exeter-based Intelligent AI has raised £2m in seed funding for its AI-based property insurance underwriting software.Intelligent AI has created a risk underwriting platform for property insurance providers to write the terms and conditions of their policies. The platform creates a digital twin of a physical property to map out potential risks. It uses AI to analyse more than 300 data points, such as satellite imagery.“It’s imperative the industry moves away from a system based on incomplete, historical data, exacerbated by the fact that due to high costs only 10% of properties are assessed by risk engineer,” said Anthony Peake, founder…

The African Development Bank (AfDB) has rolled out the Remote Appraisal, Supervision, Monitoring and Evaluation (RASME) project in Angola, following a three-day training session in the capital, Luanda. RASME is a set of real-time digital data-gathering tools and processes that the financial institution said enables its clients and development partners to better prepare projects, report on progress and evaluate impact openly and transparently. The initiative was launched in November by Dra Rossana Silva, head of the International Economic Cooperation Department at Angola’s Ministry of Finance, and African Development Bank Group Country Manager for Angola, Pietro Toigo. Silva said: “Ensuring open…

Manchester-based Biorelate has secured £6.5m in Series A investment for its AI drug discovery platform for medical companies. Its “Galactic AI” platform uses natural language processing and machine learning, both branches of AI, to collect “billions of biomedical data points” that can be used by medical companies to develop drugs. Dan Jamieson, founder and CEO of Biorelate, said: “We are at a time where there is a stupendous amount of untapped evidence, like cause-and-effect, sat dark and subsequently unused by these same companies.” “Our mission at Biorelate is to capture this untapped data and help them make sense of it.”…

The US-based technology company Google is reportedly working on a dedicated Gmail and Calendar app for Wear OS and Pixel Watch. The Pixel Watch is currently being tested with dedicated Gmail and Calendar apps for Wear OS. “However, it’s unclear when these apps will be available on many of the best Wear OS smartwatches. Currently, the Agenda app is the only resource for users who want to see their upcoming events. Even this app is limited in terms of functionality, as it only displays appointments for the next three days,” according to IANS report. READ ALSO: Govt to Award sum…