A library of snippets
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As a group, banks all agree that AI is important, but their strategies for using it vary wildly. One European bank that took part in the survey told the FT it had 500-800 people working on AI; Nordea, of Sweden, generally believed to be one of the world’s most technologically advanced banks, says it has just 25.
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“It’s the tokenization of the asset that’s the revolution,” said Dave Birch, director of innovation, Consult Hyperion, a London-area consultancy that specializes in secure transactions. Birch interviewed corporate venture-capital manager Jonathan Larsen at Money20/20 Asia.
“Tokenization is a really massive trend,” Larsen said. “That’s a much bigger story that cryptocurrencies, initial coin offerings (ICOs), and even blockchain.”
Larsen is chief innovation officer of Ping An Group and head of the Ping An Global Voyager Fund. Ping An is a Chinese financial-services holding group based in Shenzhen.
“I have no doubt about the opportunities (of tokenization) to reduce friction across every asset class and to create fractionalization of assets where it does not exist today,” he said. Fractionalization refers to the ability to, for instance, partition the equity you own in a home and use the resulting token to sell that equity as a tradable asset.
“That means if you own a home and if you could use tokens to express the equity in your home, you could sell that equity or use it as collateral in a much easier way than our current paper-based processes,” Larsen explained. As another example, aggregate insurance risks could also be traded more easily and broadly than through the traditional reinsurance companies that cover those risks for insurers.
“We can create transparency and universal access and the ability to reduce frictional costs,” Larsen said. “Tokenization is at the core.”
“It leads to more efficient and liquid markets,” Birch said.
Asset-backed crypto-tokens The difference to understand between tokens and ICOs is that tokens are based on verifiable assets. ICOs are the sale of tokens representing an ownership stake in a firm or application—investment offerings for all practical purposes and likely to be regulated as such by U.S. securities regulators.
“ICOs are tokens minus the assets,” quipped Larsen. “Where we are going is tokens with assets and solving the problems of friction (in markets). . . . ICOs are the training wheels for the token economy.”
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Mr Silvester also warned owners to be careful when handing their fob over to valet parking services or car washes, as keys can be cloned “in seconds”, allowing thieves to take the car at a later date without any external signs of damage.
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“According to Swiss National Bank (SNB) governing board member Andréa Maechler, private-sector digital currencies are better and less risky than nationally-issued versions.”
From “Gov’t-Issued Digital Currencies Threaten Financial Stability, Says Swiss Central Banker”.
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“Virtual ID gives the users the option of not sharing their Aadhaar number at the time of authentication.
– The Virtual ID, which would be a random 16-digit number, together with biometrics of the user would give any authorised agency like a mobile company, limited details like name, address and photograph, which are enough for any verification.
– A user can generate as many Virtual IDs as he or she wants.
– The older ID gets automatically cancelled once a fresh one is generated.”
From “UIDAI unveils Virtual ID in beta form – Here’s how VID for Aadhaar works | Personal Finance News”.
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“Three months ago Muniya Devi travelled some 35km to the nearest town to submit the forms and papers necessary to get her family’s ration cards linked to Aadhaar. People at the office demanded a bribe to get the job done, so she paid them 400 rupees, nearly four days of family earnings. ‘They say the network is down, the computer is not working. And I keep borrowing food to feed my family,’ she told me.”
From “Aadhaar: Is India’s biometric ID scheme hurting the poor? – BBC News”.
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“The Sun on Sunday tested it on a busy high street and were able to clone a test ‘victim’s’ credit card in seconds”
From “How crooks are using a legal app to steal your bank card details in under one SECOND”.
This is, of course, fake news. You can’t clone an EMV card using the card number and expiry date (both of which are printed on the from of the card anyway) and if merchants allow a crook to order something using only the card number and expiry date (ie, without asking for the security code or address) then they are liable for the fraud. Cardholders are completely protected.
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We just discovered that we may have lost the signing key allowing us to update the app
Note: key isn’t compromised, just was accidentally deleted and isn’t recoverable
— ACINQ (@acinq_co)
https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
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In what it calls an attempt to promote “trustworthiness” in its economy and society, China is experimenting with a social credit system that mixes familiar Western-style credit scores with more expansive — and intrusive — measures. It includes everything from rankings calculated by online payment providers to scores doled out by neighborhoods or companies. High-flyers receive perks such as discounts on heating bills and favorable bank loans, while bad debtors cannot buy high-speed train or plane tickets.
From Life Inside China’s Social Credit Laboratory – Foreign Policy.
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“The Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs elected the contractor and had to transfer money to the company’s account. Then the scammers appeared in the game, who impersonated the company and sent the Belgians the account number of the company they controlled. Oblivious to fraud, employees of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs have shed over 400,000 criminals. euro.”
From “Kolumbijskie kartele prały setki milionów zł przez spółki z Pruszkowa i okolic – tvp.info”.
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