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Industry roundup: 20 October

Store automation battle hots up

Store owners are having to use all sorts of technology to compete with the home delivery services from Amazon and many others. The aim is to make store visits as easy as possible.

UK - Store technology

In the UK Tesco is fighting back against Amazon with its first “just walk out” store, where it is possible to buy groceries without having to scan items or visit a till.

Shoppers must download the Tesco.com app to use the store, where they check-in by scanning a QR code generated on their phone. Once inside, shoppers can pick up the items they want without scanning them. The bill is automatically charged to a shopper’s Tesco account when they leave.

The AI technology in the Holborn store has been developed in partnership with the specialist technology firm Trigo.

Pakistan – Digital payments

Pakistan’s mobile account provider, JazzCash, has a new service in which JazzCash users can now apply for a physical or virtual Mastercard Debit Card and make payments to merchants accepting Mastercard QR payments.

The new Mastercard Debit Card will be available to all JazzCash users via a hassle-free application process through the mobile app, call centre. 

 

Launch Of Global Green Finance Index 8 rating financial centre worldwide

The Global Green Finance Index provides evaluations of the depth and quality of the green finance offerings of 80 major financial centres around the world.

The GGFI is compiled using 140 instrumental factors. These quantitative measures are provided by third parties including the World Bank, the Economist Intelligence Unit, the OECD and the United Nations. The survey also uses a questionnaire to complete the analysis.

The latest report, GGFI 8, on the ratings of the depth and quality in the top 20 centres showed that London is still top, but New York and some of the Asia Pacific centres are catching up fast:

Source & Copyright©2021 – Z/Yen Group Ltd

The GGFI serves as a valuable reference into the development of green finance for policy and investment decision-makers as to where to find green finance.

 

Is ‘Crypto’ a Financial Stability Risk? Should corporate treasurers be worried?

Jon Cunliffe, Deputy Governor of Financial Stability at the Bank of England, gave a speech at SIBOS 2021 conference in which he looked at the impact of ‘crypto’ on the stability of the UK’s financial system. He also spoke about how unbacked crypto-assets (e.g. Bitcoin) and backed crypto-assets for payments (stablecoins) have begun to connect to the financial system, and how regulators are responding to their rapid growth.

He ended his speech by talking about Decentralised Finance – ‘DeFi’ which is where the two worlds meet. His final words show how seriously central bankers are taking this new development:

“DeFi is still in its early infancy but its rapid growth means that regulators, domestically and internationally, need to think seriously now about the risks of a broad range of financial services being effected through DeFi platforms and how to ensure risks are managed in the DeFi world to the same standards as they are managed in traditional finance. Here at the Bank of England, we have already begun work to this effect.”

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