Snippings

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The BRICS group of emerging nations has been agitating for a move away from US dollar dominance.

Last year, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva called for a BRICS common currency. The economist who first gave the bloc its name said that idea was almost “embarrassing.”

While the setup of a common currency is practically challenging, the bloc — which comprises Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, which make up its acronym, along with Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia, and the United Arab Emirates, its new members — has called for more trade and lending in local currencies as a way to break up with the dollar.

Christopher Granville, the managing director of global political research at GlobalData TS Lombard, wrote in a Friday report that there might be more traction in ditching the dollar this year when the BRICS bloc meets in the Russian city of Kazan from October 22 to October 24.

From: De-Dollarization: BRICS Could Start Knocking Down USD Payments Pillar – Business Insider.

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Still, not everyone is so optimistic. “You can certainly understand why Starling needs another story, but I’m not sure how credible it is really,” one fintech executive said, noting the difficulty and risks of propping up small banks in so many different markets.
In any case, Engine faces a competitive scene. Cloud banking fintech Thought Machine, valued at $2.7bn (£2.1bn) in 2022, has landed deals with big players like Lloyds, Standard Chartered, JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley.
Other rivals include Mambu and 10x Banking. The latter’s head, Antony Jenkins, who was CEO of Barclays from 2012 to 2015, said the next decade of banking was “all about how you can harness technology to meet your customers’ needs, particularly in areas like artificial intelligence”.

From: Inside UK banks’ arms race against fintech start-ups.

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Testing is a critical aspect of software engineering, often consuming significant resources. AI enhances this phase by automating test case generation, execution, and identifying potential bugs through predictive analytics. Machine learning models can analyze codebases to predict areas prone to errors, allowing developers to focus their testing efforts more effectively.
For example, AI-powered tools like DeepCode and TestGrid use machine learning to detect potential bugs and vulnerabilities in code by learning from vast repositories of open-source projects. These tools can identify patterns that might lead to errors, such as common pitfalls in specific programming languages or frameworks. By automating the identification of these issues, AI reduces the manual effort required in the testing phase and increases the overall reliability of the software.
Moreover, AI can optimize regression testing by selecting the most relevant test cases to run when code changes are made. This selective testing ensures that modifications do not introduce new bugs, maintaining software stability without the need for exhaustive testing of the entire codebase.

From: Digital Economy Dispatch #188 — AI in Software Engineering: The Battle for the Soul of Software.

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However, she also fears that less affluent consumers stand to be priced out of traditional face-to-face advice in the wake of the regulatory focus on St James’s Place and other wealth managers. “As scrutiny of the advice sector increases, risk appetite will diminish, and I think we’ll see the minimum levels for many advice firms rise to over £100,000 of assets per client, which will push the advice gap even higher.”

As things stand, an estimated 12.4mn UK adults have money to invest but cannot afford or do not want traditional financial advice. Could AI-powered insights help them bridge this gap in an affordable and more accessible way?

For starters, AI could nudge us into starting investing at an earlier stage; there are already plenty of Open Banking apps that can use our financial data to prompt better decision making and goal setting.

From: Could AI make you a better investor?.

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And in a 2023 survey of 2,000 American travelers, 38% of Gen Z and millennial respondents said they preferred a traditional travel agent over online booking.

From: Travel Agents Are Back. and Gen Z, Millennials Love Them. – Business Insider.

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Wallets on the rise: With the increasing adoption of user-held digital identity data such as Mobile Drivers’ License (mDL), and active progress on citizen-scale digital identity projects in Europe, Australia, and several others, it’s no surprise that we’re seeing more interest in supporting technologies such as verifiable credentials and digital wallets. The majority of proposals received, however, are still relatively theoretical in nature: large-scale deployments are still some way off, and for every proposal exploring the potential benefits of wallet approaches, there is another one discussing challenges to navigate and risks to mitigate. The impact both on existing systems and processes will be significant; but with the levels of interest and investment across the industry is high and the tangible progress at national scale in several regions around the world, it’s clear that practitioners need to start considering how to adapt to these new constructs.

From: 2024 Identiverse trends report: Key findings | SC Media.

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Between 5 December 2023 and 13 May 2024, Santander prevented 1,899 customers from proceeding with their Facebook Marketplace purchase, after customers admitted to not having seen the item in person that they were attempting to buy.

However, 7,950 customers were initially prevented from making a payment, but then subsequently confirmed that they had seen the item in person, meaning the payment was made. Of this group, 240 customers then went on to report that they had fallen victim to a purchase scam.

Changing your answer

During this period, 439 people in total fell victim to a scam on Facebook Marketplace, losing a total of £284,000, an average of £647 per person. Of the 439 customers who fell victim to a scam, 263 were customers who changed their answer.

From: Clamping down on Facebook Marketplace scams.

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Elon Musk diverted $500 million worth of AI processors meant for the carmaker, according to correspondence from Nvidia employees obtained by CNBC.

Instead, he sent them to his social media platform X, the report, which was published Tuesday, said.

From: Elon Musk Sent $500 Million of Nvidia Chips Intended for Tesla to X – Business Insider.

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humanoid robots were ideal for roles that require interacting with the public, such as in museums, tourist attractions, school settings and ‘companion scenarios’.

From: Inside China’s terrifying humanoid robot factory with piles of eerie silicone masks and body parts as scientists develop life-like machines ‘with emotions’ to replace workers | Daily Mail Online.

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I am not sure exactly what “companion scenarios” might be given another more recent story about 

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ROBOT ROMANCE REVEALED: Women will be having more sex with ROBOTS than men by 2025
That’s according to a professional, who also thinks robot sex will be more common than human intercourse by 2050

From: REVEALED: Women will be having more sex with ROBOTS than men by 2025 – The Sun | The Sun.

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Apple has unveiled a Tap to Cash feature that lets people send each other money simply by tapping their iPhones.

From: Apple launches Tap to Cash.

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2010

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There are more than a few apps that leverage the iPhone’s accelerometer this way, including the appropriately-named “Bump,” the billionth app downloaded from the iTunes store.

From: PayPal Fist Bumps Square | WIRED.

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2012

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Bump, the popular contact sharing app developer, today releases a new standalone iOS app called Bump Pay that lets you transfer money via PayPal to anyone in arm’s reach.

From: Bump Pay Lets You PayPal Someone With A Tap, But Only In-Person | TechCrunch.

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