GLOBAL LEADERS URGED TO USE FINANCIAL REGULATION AS BLUEPRINT FOR AI

World leaders have been urged ahead of this week’s summit in Davos to use financial regulation as a blueprint for tackling issues such as AI and climate change (Financial Times).  

Pablo Hernández de Cos, governor of the Bank of Spain and chair of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, said global leaders need a coordinated response to the challenges posed by AI, otherwise the technology “could change the course of history, not necessarily for the good.” He said that the cooperation on financial regulation that kept the world’s financial system stable through the pandemic should be applied to AI. 

Separately, AI is set to affect nearly 40 per cent of all jobs, according to analysis by the International Monetary Fund (BBC News). 

CITY FINANCE JOBS DROPPED AT FASTEST RATE SINCE 2008 

The number of jobs posted by City financial services firms fell by 42 per cent in the final quarter of 2023 compared with a year earlier (City AM). This is the largest drop since the 2008 global financial crisis. 

The survey, conducted by recruitment firm Morgan McKinley, also found that the number of job seekers fell by 15 per cent over the same period (Reuters). The survey did however note that the number of jobs available last year was broadly on a par with 2019, prior to a significant post-pandemic hiring boom. 

NEWS IN BRIEF

Six people have been arrested on suspicion of a plot to disrupt the London Stock Exchange (Sky News). 

£250 billion will need to be invested in Britain’s housing industry in the next seven years to alleviate the rental crisis, according to a report from Savills (The Times). 

Nearly a third of European financial services firms are yet to meet the EU’s gender diversity target in their boardrooms, according to data from EY (Bloomberg). 

Fraudsters are using lost pet forums to get cash from owners who have lost their pets, according to a BBC North West investigation.