SET Training - Banking and Fintech

Economy Booms, Gaming Gets Trimmed, and WWE Founder Faces Serious Allegations: Your Daily Dose of Headlines Boom Boom Boom! The US economy just blew Wall Street's predictions out of the water, growing 3.3% in the last quarter – way better than the expected 2%. This marks a steady climb from 2022 and fuels talk of the Fed giving interest rates a haircut later this year. Strong consumer spending, thanks to rising wages and a rock-solid job market, powered this economic surge, even with inflation showing signs of cooling down (from 5.9% to a more manageable 2.7%). Meanwhile, in the video game realm... Microsoft's gaming division is having a leaner year. They just made some cuts, axing 1,900 employees (mostly from Xbox and Activision Blizzard). This amounts to 8% of their entire gaming workforce. The news comes after their big Activision Blizzard acquisition and some significant leadership changes, including CEO Bobby Kotick's departure in December and now Blizzard President Mi...

The Big Brain is being dissected. The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has launched a major inquiry into whether the AI arms race among tech giants like Microsoft, Google, and OpenAI is morphing into a dangerous game of monopoly, stifling competition and innovation. Here's what's got the regulators hot under the collar: The FTC wants the inside scoop:  These dominant AI companies have been ordered to dish on their investments and partnerships, both within the AI space and with key cloud service providers. Think of it as the FTC pulling up a chair and demanding a full disclosure of their playbooks. Partnerships under scrutiny:  While the FTC insists "no wrongdoing is alleged," they're not pulling punches. They want to understand the logic behind these strategic alliances and how they're actually playing out in the competitive landscape. Are these partnerships fostering a vibrant ecosystem or building walled gardens that lock out smaller players? Radio sile...

Stat: 13.1 million. That’s how many subscribers Netflix added in the last quarter. That far exceeds the 8 million–9 million new subscribers that Wall Street predicted for the streamer. Netflix now has 260.8 million subscribers ( CNBC ) Quote: “Return-to-office is just a knee-jerk reaction trying to make the world go back to where it was instead of recognizing this as a point for fundamental transformation. I call them return-to-the-past mandates.”—Prithwiraj Choudhury, Harvard Business School professor, on return-to-office mandates. A new study found that RTO policies don’t improve the bottom line. ( the Washington Post ) Read: Do execs like Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk have too much power? ( Yahoo Finance ) Close fast, not last: Finance teams that leverage automation are skipping manual processes to close their books faster, gaining timely insights and time back. Regain 24 days with Sage’s report

Learning cash flow management is crucial to ensure the financial stability of your business. Effectively managing cash flow offers various advantages such as facilitating investments and growth, fostering strong relationships with vendors, preparing for emergencies, and maintaining a favorable business credit rating. Conversely, inadequate cash management can lead to difficulties in meeting obligations to vendors, creditors, and employees. In essence, cash flow management is the practice of overseeing the movement of cash in and out of a business and implementing strategies to optimize it. To successfully manage cash flow, it is imperative to diligently monitor the timing, reasons, and amounts of cash transactions within the business. Many businesses routinely prepare cash flow statements, which document the inflows and outflows of cash during a specific accounting period. While public companies are obligated to include cash flow statements in their annual financial reports, small busi...

Hertz, a prominent global car rental company, made a significant commitment to electric vehicles (EVs) by placing a substantial order of 100,000 EVs from Tesla in 2021. At that time, the company anticipated that approximately 25% of its extensive fleet, comprising about 500,000 vehicles, would be electric by the year 2024. Hertz promoted its shift to EVs with advertisements featuring Tom Brady and launched a campaign outlining its intentions to "electrify major cities" such as New York, Atlanta, and Houston. owever, it came as a surprise to many when Hertz announced its decision to sell 20,000 of its EVs, equivalent to approximately one-third of its total electric fleet. One cited reason for this move was the high costs associated with repairing EVs. CEO Stephen Scherr acknowledged that another contributing factor was the lower demand for EVs compared to Hertz's initial expectations. In a CNBC interview, Scherr mentioned, "We may have been ahead of ourselves." E...

The banking sector survived two big shocks in 2023: the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and the disaster-driven sale of Credit Suisse. Swift action prevented a global economic crisis but threats remain

Check out my latest post "Implementing NFC payment systems in developing countries. Part 5 - Why NFC payment systems are beneficial for developing countries" Free access HERE