According to Visual Capitalist, the latest appearance of four of the Big Five in front of the US lawmakers regarding their anti-competitive business practices has not affected their profits. When looking at the S&P 500 Index, the results show a positive year-to-date return, although most of the companies have their stocks in the red. The analysis highlighted the inequality that comes when creating stocks, due to the fact that on the S&P 500 Index, companies are ranked according to their market capitalization and the Big Five companies are occupying 25% of the index. Read more

The “Buyer’s guide to modern web-scale backup & recovery” by Cohesity emphasizes the need for certain IT technologies to innovate and upgrade. The report presents advice and best practices for IT professionals, such as modern data protection solutions, what to look for in a self-assessment, evaluation criteria and what questions need to be asked when considering alternative approaches. Read more

In an academic paper by Eugenia Macchiavello and Michele Siri, an examination into “Green Fintech” is taking place. According to the study, fintech might be the solution for some of the issues present in the current financial framework - such as access to retail financing, ESG disclosure, verification and ratings. The findings also emphasize the need for fintech to address relevant legal issues to deliver on its promises. Read more

The Dutch Central Bank (DNB) has issued a working paper, “The interplay of financial education, financial literacy, financial inclusion and financial stability: Any lessons for the current Big Tech era?”, which explores the impact that Big Techs can have on the financial ecosystem. The paper findings show that financial education is a first step to be taken in improving financial literacy and inclusion. The conclusion of the study also emphasizes new risks that could appear in the financial sector, caused by the introduction of new opportunities created by Big Tech. Read more

The “Insider’s guide to secure & cost-effective storage solutions for financial services” by Cloudian explores new challenges that come with rich data sets. The main obstacle that IT decision-makers are facing is the cost of data storage and protection. Businesses are looking for a cost-effective, scalable storage solution that can provide security and also quick access. The paper explores a potential solution for these issues: object storage. Read more

PitchBook’s “Q3 2020 Analyst Note - Index of Venture-Backed IPOs” offers a view on how the startups are performing in the public sector. The research shows key results in outperformance by venture-backed IPOs relative to the broader stock market in the Q2 2020 period, risk metrics and interesting findings in terms of correlations between the Index of Venture-backed IPOs and broad stock market indices. Read more

Impact Brief’s latest report, “Disruption in Global Payments – Opportunities & Challenges in 2020”, presents findings from the payments sector. Due to the fact that the current digital disruptors are gaining more territory, both incumbents and innovators are in need to raise up their offerings in order to meet their clients’ demands. This comes with many benefits, but also challenges for the corporate finance and treasury departments. Read more

In the latest draft of the “Four Principles of Explainable Artificial Intelligence” by the National Institute of Standards and Technology, the multidisciplinary purpose of AI is explained in four frameworks (namely: explanation, meaningful, explanation accuracy and knowledge limits), suitable for different fields of the industry - computer science, engineering and psychology. These principles support the foundation of policy considerations, safety, acceptance by society, and other aspects of AI technology. Read more

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Read here our other sections of this week:

• Weekly funding highlights 21 August 2020
• Weekly news highlights 21 August 2020
• Weekly analysis & opinion highlights 21 August 2020

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