New and exclusive: Digital bank Monzo launches a new feature for investments. It marks the UK fintech's first move into the world of investing. I had a chat with CEO @TSMonzo about the product at Monzo's HQ, where I got to take an early look:
@ryan_browne_
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Standard Chartered’s Zodia Crypto Custody Launches Singapore
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New and exclusive: Standard Chartered-owned crypto custody firm Zodia launches in Singapore The company hopes to tap into what it sees as a "mature" market for crypto – e.g. the Monetary Authority of Singapore is very accommodative of crypto / Web3.
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EU designates tech giants as gatekeepers under competition rules
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EU lists Alphabet, Amazon, Meta and three other tech giants as 'gatekeepers' under strict competition rules
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X Plans Biometric Data Collection for Users Sparks Privacy Concerns
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Ironic I'm using X to disperse this news (ppl still use the app, right?), but… I digress: X says it may start collecting your biometric data “for safety, security, and identification purposes.” The platform may also collect data on employment history. https://
cnbc.com/2023/09/01/mus
ks-x-to-collect-biometric-information-and-employment-data.html
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Fintech Wise Reports Sanctions Compliance Issue with OFSI
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Fintech firm Wise allowed a Russia sanctions target to withdraw… £250 from an ATM, according to the OSFI. Wise reported the situation and says it's worked with OFSI to implement changes to its systems to prevent similar cases from happening in future.
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Microsoft unbundles Teams from Office 365 in EEA
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More mega tech news… Microsoft to unbundle Teams from Microsoft 365 / Office 365 in the EEA / Switzerland, to address EU competition concerns. This means that, if you're an EU MSFT user, Office won't include Teams out of the box. https://
blogs.microsoft.com/eupolicy/2023/
08/31/european-competition-teams-office-microsoft-365/
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Klarna achieves profitability milestone after AI-driven cost restructuring
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New: Klarna reduced its net loss by 67% in first half, after a mega cost-cutting drive that saw the fintech slash hundreds of jobs. Klarna says it recorded one month of profit, tipping it into the black – altho full profitability remains a ways off yet.
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Premium smartphone demand surges as consumers upgrade after five years
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This echoes a trend we found at MWC: more consumers are opting to buy the highest-end phones on the market, rather than budget/mid-range. Why? It makes more sense to get the latest model with all the bells and whistles after the old one you've held onto for five years packs in.
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CMA Restarts Phase 1 Probe Into Microsoft Activision Deal
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This also means that – sigh – we are basically back to square one with MSFT / Activision. CMA began a fresh "Phase 1" probe – seeing as deal is completely new, it technically *has* to do so. Don't want to jinx it – but seems hard to imagine CMA blocking at this stage…
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Microsoft Restructures Activision Deal Granting Ubisoft Cloud Rights
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Microsoft just submitted a restructured version of its deal with Activision to CMA The deal is… unusual. It grants Ubisoft cloud distribution rights to Activision games So Microsoft can stream CoD on Game Pass. But if it does, it needs to PAY Ubisoft