Google plans to launch a checking account service next year in collaboration with Citigroup Inc and a credit union in Silicon Valley, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday.
In a project codenamed Cache, Google is working on a system that would host checking accounts clearly bearing the brands of the financial institutions, which would handle security and regulatory compliance issues, the Journal reported.
The Journal quoted a Google executive as saying that the company’s approach “is going to be to partner deeply with banks and the financial system” in what might be seen as a longer but safer route.
The move would come as Internet titans become increasingly involved in online financial transactions and e-commerce.
Apple Inc and Google both offer digital wallets that can be used on smartphones to pay for purchases online or in real-world shops. Apple has also released a credit card.
Amazon.com Inc is reportedly in talks with banks about creating a checking account service.
Facebook Inc has been steadily building up e-commerce tools as well as the ability to send money using its messaging apps such as WhatsApp. The company went a major step further by releasing controversial plans for a cryptocurrency called Libra.
Google’s plans to roll out the checking account service with Citigroup would likely meet with “stiff political opposition” amid consumer privacy concerns and rancor toward tech firms, Cowen & Co said.
“There is a real debate about whether big tech or big banks are more politically toxic in Washington,” Cowen & Co analyst Jaret Seiberg said. “We don’t see how combining the two will make either less contentious.”
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”
TRANSFORMATION: Taiwan is now home to the largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, thanks to the nation’s economic policies President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday attended an event marking the opening of Google’s second hardware research and development (R&D) office in Taiwan, which was held at New Taipei City’s Banciao District (板橋). This signals Taiwan’s transformation into the world’s largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, validating the nation’s economic policy in the past eight years, she said. The “five plus two” innovative industries policy, “six core strategic industries” initiative and infrastructure projects have grown the national industry and established resilient supply chains that withstood the COVID-19 pandemic, Tsai said. Taiwan has improved investment conditions of the domestic economy
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day