Barclays fined $361 million in US for ‘figurative’ blunder

Sept 30 (Reuters) – British lender Barclays ( BARC.L ) agreed on Thursday to a $361 million fine with U.S. regulators over “staggering” failures to sell $17.7 billion worth of structured products. CEO CS Venkatakrishna’s first year in charge.

After the London market closed on Friday, the bank said its own investigation into the wrongdoing, led by foreign lawyers, had also concluded, and that it would consider individual liability and disciplinary action or post pay packages based on the findings.

Barclays shares fell 0.2% on the day.

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The relevant behavior dates back to March of this year, when Barclays disclosed that it had accidentally oversold complex structured and exchange-traded notes, exceeding the $20.8 billion limit on such sales it agreed with the Securities and Exchange Commission by about 75%.

The SEC found that the bank had no internal controls in place to monitor such transactions in real time.

“While we acknowledge Barclays’ efforts to identify, disclose and correct this conduct, the oversight deficiencies and the scale of the conduct at issue here were simply staggering,” said Gurbir Grewal, director of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement, in a statement.

Barclays will pay the penalty without admitting or denying the SEC’s findings.

Barclays said its investigation found that the over-issuance was primarily due to the failure to identify and communicate the consequences of a change in its issuer status to senior executives and a decentralized structure for issuing securities.

The error was not due to “a general lack of attention to supervision by Barclays”, the bank’s investigation concluded.

Buyers of the notes, which are considered “unregistered securities”, were entitled to demand that Barclays buy back the products at the original price plus interest. The bank took on £1.3bn of debt in the second quarter to cover the cost of buying back securities, reducing profits. read more

On Thursday, the SEC said Barclays agreed to pay a $200 million civil penalty for regulatory violations. In addition, it agreed to pay more than $161 million in interest, even though the regulator said the additional payment was satisfied with the buyback offer.

While the SEC settlement helped put an end to the embarrassing incident for Venkatakrishnan, known as ‘Venkat’ at the bank, he still faces personal litigation over the incident. read more

Barclays must still disclose the final costs of its so-called liquidation bid to buy back the securities it mis-sold. The bank said on Friday that the full financial implications would be “materially consistent” with those disclosed in its half-year financial results, with further details in the third-quarter results on October 26.

Barclays said this month that investors filed claims for $7 billion of the $17.7 billion in securities it oversold. read more

WELL EXPERIENCED ISSUER

Under a previous enforcement settlement Barclays agreed to with the SEC in 2017, the bank was stripped of its “popular experienced issuer” status, which allowed it to sell notes in the U.S. with flexible filing requirements.

As a result, Barclays has had to calculate the total number of securities it expects to offer and sell and to pay registration fees for those offers in advance. In August 2019, the bank and the SEC agreed that Barclays could offer or sell approximately $20.8 billion in securities over a three-year period.

Given that requirement, employees knew they had to closely monitor actual bids and sales of securities against the amount of bids and sales recorded in real time, but the bank failed to establish a mechanism to do so, the SEC said.

Around March 9, the employees realized they had oversold the agreed amount of securities and alerted regulators a few days later, the SEC said.

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Reporting by John McCrank in New York, Kanishka Singh in Washington and Iain Withers in London; Editing by Deepa Babington, Jason Neely, and Nick Zieminski

Our standards: Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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How the Next Generation of the Internet Will Improve Open Banking Solutions from Fintechs

Although many of us focus on the vast social media applications of the metaverse, this new technological landscape extends far beyond socialization and entertainment to include more traditional sectors. The development of virtual and augmented reality has made it possible to buy and sell goods in virtual environments and revolutionized the way consumers conduct online transactions. This, along with many innovations in spending and fintech services, is already starting to bring new optimism for the emergence of open banking.

As an expanding virtual space, fintech firms and more traditional institutions have quickly embraced the metaverse and the technology that drives it. JP Morgan (NYSE: JPM ), for example, has rushed to create its own digital lobby within the Decentraland metaverse, and HSBC recently chose to establish its own space within The Sandbox, stating that “the deal opens the door for other global institutions to follow. Innovating on Web3 as consumer adoption demands a more robust experience in the metaverse through decentralized and gamified offerings.

(Image: Gray color)

Asset management firm Grayscale highlights the potential the metaverse can bring to businesses across a number of industries. In the general addressable market for Metaverse, we can see great potential for more comprehensive payment solutions and financial frameworks. With the metaverse highlighted as a $1.4 trillion market opportunity, it’s certainly worth turning fintechs’ attention to the age of Web 3.0 sooner rather than later.

Although Metaverse is still many years away from reaching its full potential, we can already see it starting to build on the potential offered by open banking solutions. In the coming years, we may not be able to virtually navigate our investment performance charts or digitally transport ourselves to a trading floor to view our cryptocurrency investments, but the emergence of Web 3.0 will fundamentally change the way we relate to our money. Let’s take a deeper look at how the next generation of the web will make this possible:

The future of data visualization

In an age of big data and unprecedented insights, the ability to explore the rich levels of information users generate about their spending habits, investment choices and various assets is key to open banking.

The financial industry is becoming increasingly complex as it adopts new technologies such as blockchain and cryptocurrency, and user wealth can be spread more diversely than ever before.

As Metaverse grows, AR and VR solutions will be able to create experiences that can help users decipher complex information about their accounts. With this in mind, Vivek Dubey, author of the 2020 fintech book of the year, suggests looking at the model Salesforce has implemented using the Oculus Rift as a means of creating a 3D space into which data can be dissected.

“Constancy Labs, part of Fidelity Investments, also leveraged the innovation behind the Oculus Rift,” Dubey said. “They created a virtual world called Stock City, where stock portfolios become a virtual 3D city where financial professionals can fill themselves with information.”

Such a move could lead to higher levels of financial literacy among users and more comprehensive control over financial management.

In the age of Web 3.0, we will likely generate larger volumes of big data than ever before. The challenge for fintech firms will be to develop more comprehensive ways to transform the data we produce into manageable visualizations that can offer actionable insights.

Today, it’s still possible to gain insight into users’ spending patterns through platforms like Revolut, which have become innovators in the age of open banking.

The road to accessibility

Metaverse will be the single greatest tool in the development of open banking. This is because it can lay the foundation for the true democratization of finance.

Spanning this new digital frontier, fintechs can help us move from a one-dimensional market to a more voluminous virtual landscape with different dimensions and a creative economy.

By leveraging a global interconnected landscape, the metaverse could eventually pave the way for digital financial access for billions of users – who in turn would contribute to a thriving online economy.

Fintechs such as Revolut, Starling and Nubank (NYSE: NU ) have increased the number of channels already available to users by some margin with their commitment to open banking – making financial services, capital and assets more accessible to users around the world. .

We are already seeing democratizing effects in accelerating the growth of an industry that was initially slow to modernize. This is especially true with Nubank’s success in providing banking solutions for the unbanked in Latin America.

As Metaverse continues to grow, we will see more users doing their banking virtually. In a borderless digital ecosystem, fintechs have been presented with an unprecedented opportunity to grow globally. Harnessing big data insights and promoting financial literacy is likely to be the start of an open banking revolution.

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Why is Bitcoin mining worse than gold mining?

Researchers suggest potential regulation of Bitcoin mining as it does not meet any sustainability criteria

By Kiran N. Kumar

Researchers believe that mining the digital cryptocurrency Bitcoin is more similar to the environmental impact of extracting and refining crude oil than gold mining.

Bitcoin mining is done by solving complex cryptographic hash puzzles to verify transaction blocks that are updated on a decentralized blockchain ledger. New bitcoins are created or mined when computers on the network verify and process transactions.

Since it is not possible to mine only 1 bitcoin, they mine a block, the reward is 6.25 bitcoins per block. Each Bitcoin block theoretically takes 10 minutes to mine. If a miner is able to add a block to the blockchain, he receives 6.25 Bitcoins as a reward.

Read: Bitcoin Could Fall Below $10,000; Will it affect web3? (August 30, 2022)

There are currently 19,164,612.5 bitcoins or 756,338 bitcoin blocks available, which is 91,260% of the minable supply of 21 million bitcoins.

At the current rate of 900 new bitcoins or 144 blocks being mined per day, there is room for an additional supply of 1,835,387.5 Bitcoins until the 21 million mark is reached and further mining ceases. At the same time, the award amount is halved every four years.

As of December 2021, Bitcoin had a market cap of about $960 billion, with a global market share of about 41% among cryptocurrencies.

The average cost to mine a Bitcoin is estimated at $35,404.03, which is about $19,441 more than Bitcoin’s current value, so getting 6.25 Bitcoins is $12,150, or a third of the value.

Moreover, mining requires a large amount of electricity, according to Digiconomist’s Bitcoin Energy Consumption Index, which requires 1,449 kWh to complete one bitcoin transaction, which is equivalent to the energy consumption of about 50 days of a US household.

Also, operating at 80-90 C (176-194F) produces excess heat. In the United States alone, the pollution from bitcoin mining accounts for 24.7 million tons of emissions, comparable to the emissions produced by six million internal combustion engines per year, according to one study.

Read: Blockchain moves to next generation as Bitcoin loses steam (September 10, 2021)

Digital gold or climate damage?
In an article published in Scientific Reports, scientists from the University of New Mexico suggest comparing Bitcoin to energy-intensive products such as natural gas and crude oil, rather than calling it “digital gold.”

“Bitcoin mining is getting dirtier and more damaging to the climate over time,” says Benjamin A. Jones, associate professor at UNM. In short, bitcoin’s environmental footprint is moving in the wrong direction.”

For the first time, the extent of Bitcoin’s climate damage was taken up for analysis by Jones and his colleagues Robert Berrens and Andrew Goodkind, who presented their estimates of climate damage from Bitcoin mining between January 2016 and December 2021.

In 2020, Bitcoin mining used 75.4 terawatt hours of electricity (TWh) – more than Austria (69.9 TWh) or Portugal (48.4 TWh).

“Globally, the mining or production of Bitcoin uses large amounts of electricity, mainly from fossil fuels such as coal and natural gas,” Jones said. “This causes massive amounts of air pollution and carbon emissions, which negatively impact our global climate and health.”

Read: The allure of Bitcoins: Greed blinds even the wise to risks (February 24, 2021)

The researchers used three indicators to highlight whether climate damage is more than a single bitcoin – whether estimated climate damage is increasing over time; Whether Bitcoin’s climate damage outweighs its market price; and how climate is harmed as a share of market price compared to other sectors and commodities.

They found that CO2 equivalent emissions during the production of electricity for bitcoin mining increased 126 times from 0.9 tons in 2016 to 113 tons in 2021.

Estimates show that each bitcoin mined in 2021 generated $11,314 in climate damage, and the total global damage between 2016 and 2021 exceeded $12 billion.

Damages peaked at 156% of the coin’s price in May 2020, which translates to $1.56 of global climate damage for every $1 of Bitcoin’s market value.

Finally, the authors compared Bitcoin mining in terms of climate damage by other sectors, such as electricity generation, crude oil refining, or precious metals extraction.

Read: Gold Mining vs Bitcoin Mining: Which is More Harmful? (June 24, 2022)

Climate losses for Bitcoin between 2016 and 2021 averaged 35% of its market value. For Bitcoin, this share was slightly less than climate damage as a share of the market value of electricity produced by natural gas (46%) and gasoline produced from crude oil. 41% said, but more so than beef production (33%) and gold mining (4%).

Since Bitcoin does not meet any of the three sustainability criteria, researchers are proposing a potential regulation of Bitcoin mining.

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Lael Brainard shares the Fed’s concerns about emerging market vulnerabilities

The Federal Reserve’s second-in-command said the U.S. central bank was focused on the turmoil in global markets caused by monetary policy tightening, but interest rates still needed to keep rising to fight inflation.

Fed Vice Chairman Lael Brainard acknowledged that rate hikes around the world — a move largely led by the Fed — would affect highly indebted emerging markets, with rapidly rising rates potentially destabilizing.

“As monetary policy tightens globally to combat high inflation, it is important to consider how cross-border spillovers and leakages may interact with financial vulnerability,” Brainard said Friday. He added that the Fed is “watchful” of such weaknesses, which “could be exacerbated by the arrival of additional negative shocks.”

At the same conference, co-hosted by the Fed and its New York branch, Agustín Carstens, general manager of the Bank for International Settlements, the umbrella body for central banks, urged policymakers to stick to their campaign to tighten monetary policy.

“When you fly the plane, yes, there can be some turbulence [but] “You don’t stop your flight unless you encounter something really unexpected,” he said.

The Fed is considering a fourth consecutive 0.75 percentage point hike at its next policy meeting in November. Overall, interest rate hikes and bond sales by central banks around the world have resulted in higher borrowing costs and a retreat from riskier assets such as stocks.

Emerging market stocks have lost 29 percent in dollar terms this year, putting them on track for their biggest decline since the 2008 global financial crisis, according to a broad gauge by index provider MSCI. The company’s index of emerging-economy currencies is down 8.4 percent so far this year.

Global financial markets were also weighed down this week by confusion over the government’s plan for tax cuts and borrowing in the UK, as well as broader concerns about how aggressively the Fed will have to tackle the worst inflation problem in four decades.

Asked about the results from the UK this week, Carstens said fiscal and monetary policy needed to be coordinated and that there was some “coherence”.

At the same panel, German Bundesbank Vice President Claudia Buch said the situation also underscored the need for “oversight of the entire financial sector” to identify potential risks.

“We need to develop the discipline to act more strongly when we are in peacetime,” Cartstens said.

A major concern for policymakers is the impact of rapidly rising interest rates on highly indebted countries and companies.

The IMF and other multilateral organizations have repeatedly warned of the acute risks facing developing and emerging economies, many of which face large debt stocks, as servicing costs rise as global interest rates rise.

Brainard said in his speech that fears about debt sustainability could fuel “discounting dynamics” such as asset sales in countries with high sovereign or corporate debt levels.

But he stressed the Fed’s commitment to “avoid a premature retreat” from higher interest rates.

The Fed’s preferred inflation gauge — the core personal consumption expenditure price index — rose 0.6 percent in August and is now running at an annual pace of 4.9 percent. This compares with its inflation target of 2 percent.

Brainard warned that the risk of additional inflationary shocks “cannot be denied” and stressed that the Fed “regularly meets with its counterparts around the world to consider cross-border contagion and financial vulnerabilities in our respective forecasts, risk scenarios and policy discussions.” “.

The Fed vice chairman reiterated that “at some point” he will have to consider that monetary tightening has gone too far. He argued that the effects of the policy will take time to filter through the economy, and uncertainty is high about how much rates should rise.

Brainard highlighted the impact of tight US monetary policy on demand for foreign products, which means that these countries’ economies are being held back not only by rising interest rates at home, but also by reduced US appetite for their goods.

“The same is true in reverse: tightening in major overseas jurisdictions reinforces U.S. tightening by reducing foreign demand for U.S. products,” he said.

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‘Darkest of worlds’: How Molly Russell fell into a spiral of despair on social media | Internet security

On the evening of November 20, 2017, Molly Russell and her family had dinner together and then I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here!

A family meal followed by a popular TV show: a scene common to millions of families in the UK. Molly’s mother, Janet, told police that “everyone was behaving normally” at lunchtime.

The next morning around 7 a.m., Janet went to Molly’s bedroom and found her daughter’s body.

Molly, 14, from Harrow, north-west London, killed herself without her family’s knowledge after falling into a spiral of despair on social media. Some of the content watched in the last year of his life was unrecognizable from prime time family television.

It was, as Molly’s father Ian said at the inquest into his daughter’s death, “the darkest of worlds”.

“This is a world I don’t know. It’s the ghetto of the online world that once you’re in, the algorithm says you can’t escape it, and keeps recommending more content. You can’t avoid it.”

The chief coroner at North London coroner’s court on Friday ruled that Molly died of self-harm while suffering from depression and the “adverse effects of online content” at the end of a two-week inquest.

In many ways, Molly had the interests and hobbies of a typical teenager: the musical Hamilton, the rock band 5 Seconds of Summer, the lead role in the school play. Ian Russell highlighted this part of Molly’s life as he spoke at the inquest at North London coroner’s court about a “positive, happy, bright young lady who really intended to do good”.

Ian Russell arrives at North London coroner’s court in Barnet on the first day of the inquest into his daughter’s death. Photo: Kirsty O’Connor/PA

She said: “It’s so easy to forget the person he really was: someone full of love, hope and happiness, a young man full of promise, opportunity and potential.”

But Russell said the family noticed a change in Molly’s behavior in the last 12 months of her life. He became “more withdrawn” and spent more time in his room, his father said, but still contributed “happily” to family life. The Russells attributed his behavior to “normal teenage moods.”

In September 2017, Russell told his daughter the family was worried about him, but she described his behavior as “just a phase I’m going through”. Indeed, Russell said Molly appeared to be in “good spirits” during the last two months of her life.

Some of Molly’s social media activities—music, fashion, jewelry, Harry Potter—reflected the positive, bright person’s interests portrayed by her father.

But the dark side of Molly’s online life caught her off guard. Of the 16,300 content Molly saved, liked or shared on Instagram in the six months before her death, 2,100 related to suicide, self-harm and depression. He last used his iPhone to log into Instagram at 12.45am on the day he died. Two minutes ago, he held a picture on the platform with a slogan about depression.

It was on Instagram – the photo, image and video sharing app – that Molly saw some of the most disturbing content, including a montage of graphic videos containing clips of suicide, depression and self-harm set to music. Some of the videos featured scenes from film and television, including the US drama 13 Reasons Why, about a teenage suicide, which had episodes rated 15 or 18 in the UK. In total, Molly watched 138 videos of suicidal and self-harm content, sometimes bingeing in groups, including one session on November 11.

A consultant child psychiatrist said Molly had been unable to sleep well for weeks after viewing the Instagram content she saw before her death.

As the trial went through six months of Instagram content, it was shown a series of images and clips with slogans about suicide and depression, or graphic images of self-harm and suicide. Some of the content, such as the video clips, was replayed multiple times in court, giving an insight into how Ian Russell felt when he said the “brutal” nature of the content “had a serious negative impact on my mental health”.

The court was told that Molly had put the depressing Instagram post she was looking at “behind the quote note” and started a separate note on her phone that quoted one of the video montages. Oliver Sanders KC, representing the Russell family, said: “This is Instagram giving Molly an idea.”

Meta’s head of health and wellness policy, Instagram and Facebook owner Elizabeth Lagone, was ordered to fly out of the US to testify by the coroner and was interviewed by Sanders via multiple texts and videos. He defended the appropriateness of some of the posts, saying they were “safe” for children to see because they represented an attempt to raise awareness of the user’s mental state and share their feelings. Sanders questioned whether a 14-year-old could be expected to tell the difference between a post raising awareness of self-harm and a post promoting it.

Elizabeth Lagone, Meta's head of health and wellbeing, arrives at North London coroner's court — Meta’s head of health and wellbeing, Elizabeth Lagone, arrives at North London coroner’s court. Photo: Beresford Hodge/PA

Some of the content was even clearly indefensible under Instagram’s 2017 guidelines, and Lagone apologized that Molly had viewed content that should have been removed from the platform because it glorified or encouraged suicide and self-harm.

But the content Lago tried to defend — such as “an expression of someone’s feelings” — drew outrage from Sanders. He questioned how posts containing slogans such as “I don’t want to do this anymore” could be suitable for a 14-year-old to view.

At one point, she raised her voice, saying Instagram chose to post content “in the bedrooms of depressed kids,” adding: “You have no right to do that. You’re not their parents. You’re just a business in America.” Instagram has a minimum age of 13, though , Molly was 12 years old when she created her account.

Pinterest images were also disturbing. The inquest was told Molly used a platform where users collect images on digital pinboards and search for posts under terms such as “harrowing quotes”. [sic] profound” and “suicial [sic] goutes”.

Molly had 469 pictures, some of which were of self-harm and suicide, on a board titled “nothing to worry about…”. While others were related to anxiety and depression, it turned out that Pinterest sent Molly content recommendation emails with titles like “10 depression pins you’ll like.”

Jud Hoffman, head of community operations at Pinterest, told the inquiry that he “deeply regrets” what Molly saw and that the platform was not safe at the time.

Hoffman also said the platform is still “not perfect” and content that violates its policies “still exists.” Internet safety campaigners like the Russell family argue that this applies to other platforms as well.

Jud Hoffman, global head of community operations at Pinterest. Photo: James Manning/PA

The court also heard that Molly had a Twitter account where she contacted influencer Salice Rose who discussed her experience of depression online to get help. Ian Russell described it as “calling into the void” and said it was “dangerous” for people like Molly to seek support from well-meaning influencers who can’t offer specialist support.

He also looked at Molly’s YouTube account after her death and found “a lot of disturbing posts” about anxiety, depression, self-harm and suicide.

During the hearing, Chief Coroner Andrew Walker raised potential changes to how social media platforms deal with child users. The change already comes with an age-appropriate design code that prevents websites and apps from misusing children’s data, while an upcoming online safety bill will take care of tech firms to protect children from harmful content.

Ian Russell told the inquest that his daughter’s pencil portrait, which he read to the inquest, wanted to convey a message of hope alongside the loss: the tragedy of poorly regulated social media platforms must not be repeated.

“As Molly would have wanted, it’s important that we try to find out what we can and then take whatever action is necessary to prevent such a young life from being wasted again.”

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Rebus Announces Public Coin Distribution by Osmosis – Press Release Bitcoin News

press release

PRESS RELEASE. RebusChain, a platform built to build on DeFi, is going public by announcing a public coin distribution (PCD) later this summer. PCD means that those who support its mission can now acquire coins via the liquidity loading pool (LBP) on the Osmosis network, marking a significant milestone in the Rebus project following the successful announcements of various funding and platform partnerships.

Rebus’ founding team has unique backgrounds in entrepreneurship, cybersecurity, traditional finance and the emerging DeFi space. CTO and COO Pier Stabilini and Nicola Onassis, respectively, have experience working together and starting new businesses. When they met Paolo Baroni, Head of Financial Products, the three immediately saw an opportunity to do something big, and Rebus was born.

As is typical of emerging technology markets, the DeFi space is highly nuanced and still evolving. However, all people should have access to blockchain-based transaction tools – it’s the most secure transaction method humans have developed. Demand for access to DeFi was more important than participation, and the challenge was complexity. Rebus was born to better answer two tough questions: “How can I get into DeFi and what can I do with it?” Rebus opens up a significant development path for the entire DeFi space by removing complexity and paving the way for greater utility.

Rebus ($REBUS) is a utility currency within the RebusChain platform that complies with regulations and enables fast, secure and cheap transactions. $REBUS (in conjunction with the Rebus Investment Platform) is the regulatory tool that makes all of this possible. The team continues to grow and build a strong community around the goal of improving the world of business operations.

RebusChain is a platform that will provide DeFi (Decentralized Finance) investment opportunities to traditional investors in a clear and convenient way. Asset Managers, Financial Planners, etc. By creating a platform that allows TradFi houses like Adoption of crypto investment to carry DeFi products will open up to all markets of both institutional and individual investors. Demand for existing cryptocurrencies will increase when offerings are made to traditional clients of Rebus Financial Partnerships (with over $5 billion in assets and growing), giving existing cryptocurrency investors new opportunities to launch their assets for income through the Rebus Platform. Partners.

The Public Coin Distribution will begin public trading of $REBUS, which will be available on several centralized and decentralized platforms. September 12, 2022The $REBUS airdrop has taken place, this event officially kicks off the launch of the RebusChain platform.

The coin will also be available via LBP on the Osmosis platform, a type of automated market maker (AMM) designed to publicly issue and sell tokens. Tokens are distributed to achieve initial price discovery of $REBUS with LBP.

The role of $REBUS in the RebusChain platform is to regulate transactions. The value of the token will be derived from the number of transactions on RebusChain, making $REBUS an attractive prospect as the cryptocurrency moves into a hyper-adoption phase with increasing utilities and decreasing complexity. Basically, it supports and hedges any investments made in the Space ecosystem.

Additionally, $REBUS will use blockchain technology to meet regulatory requirements without sacrificing liquidity. In general, the $REBUS token will have three main functions on the RebusChain platform:

Payment for all transactions, payments and services that occur in the RebusChain ecosystem
Securing the network through proof-of-stake
RebusChain Provide chain management for Ethical fund pool and Community fund pool

For more information about the project, its founders, partners and financial products to be released (Q1’23), visit the website.

RebusChain believes in bringing decentralized investment opportunities to traditional investors in a convenient and easy-to-understand manner. The aim of the project is to implement a range of financial products that suit the needs of its users and customers. RebusChain is active on several social media platforms including Telegram, Controversyand Twitter. Or visit the project official website.

This is a press release. Readers should do their due diligence before taking any action regarding the promoted company or any of its affiliates or services. Bitcoin.com shall not be liable, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use or use of any content, goods or services mentioned in the press release.

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The UK economy: What will happen after the crisis hits?

London
CNN Business
—

There was good news and bad news in Friday’s revised data on the UK economy. In the second quarter of the year, instead of shrinking as previously estimated, it grew marginally.

But the latest update from the Office for National Statistics also showed that the UK is the only G7 economy not fully recovering from the pandemic, with GDP still 0.2% lower than at the start of 2020. And according to the Bank of England, the economy is likely to shrink again, with inflation reaching 11%.

“The main one [in Friday’s data] The UK has struggled to grow and faces a deeper recession on the way, and today’s revision does not change that,” said Craig Erlam, chief market analyst at Oanda. .

Given the crisis sparked by Prime Minister Liz Truss’s decision last week to unveil huge unfunded tax cuts alongside a massive package of energy subsidies, recovery may take a long time. This gamble spooked financial markets and raised borrowing costs for governments, businesses and households.

“You have all these things coming together that are against the government’s goals of higher growth and lower inflation,” Mohamed El-Erian, a bond market expert and adviser to Allianz, told CNN earlier this week. “I say again, the situation was not good at all. Now the problems have increased.”

Emergency intervention by the Bank of England on Wednesday calmed markets and prevented some pension funds from collapsing. But Truss’ plan to boost growth has backfired, with investors now expecting the central bank to raise interest rates by 1.25% or even 1.5% by November 2 to offset the inflationary impact.

It is not clear what will happen next. Truss and his finance minister, Kwasi Kwarteng, insisted on Thursday that they would stick to their plans, but they have a very narrow window – perhaps as little as two weeks – to convince investors that the country’s finances can be trusted. The Bank of England’s emergency bond purchase is due to end on October 14.

Truss and Kwarteng, who spent the summer insulting economic orthodoxy and, in the words of former central bank chief Mark Carney, “teasing” some of the UK’s most important institutions, met on Friday with one of those key players, the Office for Budget Responsibility.

The OBR provides an independent assessment of the impact of government budgets on borrowing and growth. Truss and Kwarteng declined last Friday’s offer to present a draft analysis of the financial bombshell.

Mel Stride, a senior Conservative MP for Truss, said the OBR would deliver a very worrying message on Friday.

“I strongly suspect that this circle will not be squared,” Stride told the BBC.

With high inflation and a tight labor market, promising unfunded big tax cuts and expecting reforms to generate growth to pay for them won’t work.

“So it’s going to have to be rethought, and it’s going to be a very difficult conversation,” Stride said.

The OBR said after the meeting that it would deliver its preliminary forecasts to Kvarteng on 7 October. The Treasury said it would publish the forecast alongside its medium-term fiscal plan on November 23, resisting calls from lawmakers to release it as soon as possible. .

The big problem for the UK government is that it is stuck with an electorate increasingly angry about the rising cost of mortgages as it has to calm the markets.

Mojtaba Rahman and Jens Larson at political risk consultancy Eurasia Group previously wrote that “Increasing, delaying or abandoning the tax cuts will be avoided at all costs by Truss, as such a change would be humiliating and would make him look like a lame-duck prime minister.” can”. this week.

The only alternative left to balance the books would be to cut government spending, and that will be just as politically difficult as a recession looms, with public services under huge strain and a restive workforce showing a willingness to strike in large numbers over pay.

The opinion polls for the conservative party have fallen. The British polling agency Survation this week recorded the largest lead of the opposition Labor Party over the ruling Conservatives – 21 points.

The September 28-29 poll found 49% of respondents said they would vote Labor if an election were held tomorrow, up six points from September 5, the day before Truss took office. The Conservative Party dropped 5 points to 28%.

A separate poll by IpsosUK, also released on September 29, showed Labor has a clear lead over the Conservatives on economic policies, the management of taxes and public spending and the cost of living crisis.

—Jorge Engels, Chris Liakos, Livvy Doherty, Dan Wright, Jorge Engels and Morgan Povey contributed to this article.

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What is Internet Security? | US news

Internet security is any cyber security measure taken to protect online transactions, data and activities. The goal is to protect internet users from hackers and limit or eliminate data breaches.

What is internet security and why is it important?

Internet security includes steps taken to protect online activities, transactions, and data. Internet security can be a strategy such as using only complex passwords for online services. It may also include steps such as installing security software. For example, setting up a firewall for Windows or Mac OS can block malicious connections, while installing antivirus software can help keep your computer free of malware.

Internet security is important to protect people and their personal information online. According to the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), one in three US homes with computers is infected with malware, and nearly half of all US adults have been hacked online. In addition, many companies have suffered data breaches that have exposed their customers’ personal information. That’s why good cybersecurity practices are so important.

Internet Security Threats

What threats should you be most concerned about? We spoke to several cybersecurity experts to find out what they think are the most significant threats.

Malware

Malware, short for “malware,” is a broad term for any software designed to hijack, damage, or destroy a computer or device. Viruses, worms, and ransomware are all examples of malware.

Ransomware

Most of the experts we spoke to cited ransomware as one of the fastest growing types of malware. With ransomware, the victim’s data is either locked or deleted until the ransom is paid, which doesn’t always guarantee you’ll get your data back.

Botnets

Botnets use a type of malware called a Remote Access Trojan, which allows cybercriminals to remotely control infected computers to carry out other attacks.

The dangers of Wi-Fi

Linksys Director of Product Management John Minasian says the router’s role in Internet security is often overlooked. He points to several exploits that directly target external security flaws. “As the first line of defense, the router acts as a bridge between people, devices and the Internet,” he says. Open networks are easy targets for attackers to monitor the activity of devices on the same network as well.

Phishing

Phishing is a technique used by cybercriminals to trick victims into revealing sensitive information. In a phishing attack, someone sends an electronic communication, such as an email or text, from a financial institution or other entity. Instead, a link in the message directs the victim to a spoof website operated by the attacker. Any information the victim enters into the website is compromised. “Phishing is extremely low-skill and low-burden for threat actors,” says Josh Smith, cybersecurity analyst at Nuspire. “They only need one victim to interact with to attack.”

Hacking

Hacking involves the compromise of an otherwise secure account. Generally, someone who has been “hacked” has had their login information stolen or leaked. While this is often done with malicious intent, some hackers do it simply for fame, to prove their worth, or out of boredom.

Data loss

Data can be stolen online through data breaches. “When someone signs up for a website and adds their credentials to it, they’re at the mercy of that platform’s security,” says Smith. If that website fails to keep your information secure and suffers a data breach, your information may be stolen, corrupted, or lost entirely.

Malicious Websites

All modern web browsers include some sort of basic protection against malicious websites. ReliaQuest enterprise architect AJ Ledwin says that Chrome, for example, monitors every website someone visits with an antivirus tool that will alert you before you do anything unusual. To be safe, only visit websites with an SSL or TLS certificate.

How to Stay Safe Online

Set up multifactor authentication

Multi-factor authentication (MFA) uses a one-time password as an extra layer of security for your accounts. DNSFilter Senior Researcher Alex Applegate says setting up an MFA is one of the easiest ways to protect your online accounts. “It’s easy to add and incredibly effective,” he said. “Stay away from services that don’t offer some sort of MFA. In addition to not offering a major feature, it also speaks to their overall approach to security.”

Consider using a firewall

Firewalls are software or hardware-based tools that act as a barrier between your computer and the open Internet, allowing legitimate traffic while blocking unknown or suspicious traffic.

Use strong passwords

University of Chicago computer science professor Ben Y. Zhao suggests using a good password manager to set strong, unique passwords for each of your accounts. “Data breaches are now the norm, and it’s important to mitigate the damage from lost passwords,” he says.

Use antivirus software

Antivirus software can protect you from many internet security threats, including new and emerging threats – often the most dangerous. Just installing antivirus software is not good enough. You must also update it to remain effective.

Use a VPN

Installing and using a virtual private network (VPN) is another way to protect yourself when you’re online, because all your internet traffic goes through an encrypted tunnel that’s hard for hackers to penetrate.

Remember, you get what you pay for. Sean O’Brien, founder of the Yale Privacy Lab, says that free or cheap VPNs are not a good choice. “The app may be malicious, may not work at all, or worse, it may actively spy on you,” it warns.

Use an identity theft protection service

Taking all the steps recommended here will greatly reduce your risk of being successfully hacked, but it won’t eliminate it. Using a personal data theft protection service will alert you.

Update the software

It is important to regularly update your device’s operating system and its security software to ensure that the software is as secure as possible.

“It’s been a perennial joke that people are quick to reject, delay, or ignore software updates when the messages appear,” says cyber security consultant Peter Robichau. “But when these notifications are ignored long enough, the devices become shiny, shiny targets.” Vulnerabilities are often exploited quickly, so the sooner you update, the better.

Block access to the webcam

It may also be a good idea to review whether you have granted access to the webcam. In Chrome, you can find this by clicking privacy and security, then site settings, then “camera or microphone”. Safari users can find similar settings by clicking preferences.

Use an ad blocker

O’Brien also recommends installing an ad blocker. “Not only does this create a quieter and less confusing user experience, it also makes it harder for malware to be delivered to you via dangerous ads,” he said.

Use parental controls

If you are concerned that your children may be accessing unsafe or inappropriate websites, you can prevent this by using parental controls. Parents can manage their children’s Google accounts and restrict access to open sites or other sites within Chrome with a similar feature available from Apple for the Safari web browser and other iOS devices.

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Media

What is internet security and why is it important?

Internet Security Threats

Malware

Ransomware

Botnets

The dangers of Wi-Fi

Phishing

Hacking

Data loss

Malicious Websites

How to Stay Safe Online

Set up multifactor authentication

Consider using a firewall

Use strong passwords

Use antivirus software

Use a VPN

Use an identity theft protection service

Update the software

Block access to the webcam

Use an ad blocker

Use parental controls

More details

Guides from 360 Reviews

Why You Can Trust Us