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The HKMA has officially launched the 2025 Green FinTech Competition, a global initiative aimed at catalysing innovation at the intersection of finance and sustainability.Organised in collaboration with the Hong Kong Institute of Bankers and supported by several prominent institutions including the Institute of Sustainability and Technology, Hong Kong Cyberport, Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks, and Invest Hong Kong, the competition is a central pillar of the HKMA’s broader strategy to bolster Hong Kong’s position as a hub for green FinTech.This year’s competition will focus on five key themes that underscore pressing challenges and emerging opportunities within the financial sector:…

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s administration is cutting another $450 million in grants to Harvard University a day after the Ivy League school pushed back against government allegations that it’s a hotbed of liberalism and antisemitism.In a letter to Harvard on Tuesday, a federal antisemitism task force said Harvard will lose grants from eight federal agencies in addition to $2.2 billion that was previously frozen by the Trump administration.The letter said Harvard has become a “breeding ground for virtue signaling and discrimination” and faces a “steep, uphill battle” to reclaim its legacy as a place of academic excellence.“There is…

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s administration is cutting another $450 million in grants to Harvard University a day after the Ivy League school pushed back against government allegations that it’s a hotbed of liberalism and antisemitism.In a letter to Harvard on Tuesday, a federal antisemitism task force said Harvard will lose grants from eight federal agencies in addition to $2.2 billion that was previously frozen by the Trump administration.The letter said Harvard has become a “breeding ground for virtue signaling and discrimination” and faces a “steep, uphill battle” to reclaim its legacy as a place of academic excellence.“There is…

Willis, a WTW business, a leading global advisory, broking and solutions company, has announced the launch of FinTech Plus, an innovative insurance solution designed to meet the evolving needs of FinTech firms across the world.The release of FinTech Plus addresses the growing regulatory complexity and cyber threats faced by scaling FinTech firms. Designed to simplify the insurance process, it unifies financial and cyber protections under a single proposal form and wording. Built with flexibility in mind, the solution supports FinTechs at all growth stages and is backed by Lloyd’s syndicates and agile London-based insurers. Developed collaboratively by Willis teams in…

The European Central Bank (ECB) has issued a sharp warning over the European Commission’s proposed amendments to sustainability reporting laws, raising concerns that removing 80% of companies from the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) could undermine financial stability and hamper progress toward the EU’s climate goals.According to ESG Today, in a newly released opinion, the ECB acknowledged the Commission’s goal of reducing regulatory burdens through its Omnibus I package but said the planned changes would significantly limit the availability of critical environmental, social and governance (ESG) data.Among the most controversial proposals is the revision of the CSRD’s coverage threshold, lifting…

UK retailer Marks & Spencer (M&S) on Tuesday revealed that customer information was stolen in a disruptive cyberattack that occurred over the Easter holiday. The incident forced the retail giant to suspend online purchases, which remain unavailable. The attack was claimed by the DragonForce ransomware group, which also targeted Co-op and Harrods. “Today, we are writing to customers informing them that due to the sophisticated nature of the incident, some of their personal customer data has been taken,” M&S says in a fresh filing with the London Stock Exchange. The compromised information includes names, addresses, email addresses, phone numbers, dates…

Pakistani all-rounder Shoaib Malik announced his resignation from the role of Domestic Cricket Mentor today through a social media post on X. He submitted his formal resignation to the Pakistan Cricket Board two weeks ago, saying he believed it was “time to move on” to ensure fairness and pay attention to multiple personal and professional responsibilities in his life. “This was not an easy choice, but after reflecting on my commitments, I realised that juggling multiple responsibilities would prevent me from giving my best — both to Pakistan cricket and to my other professional and personal priorities,” he wrote in…

NEW YORK (AP) — You can’t keep Stanley Tucci from his beloved Italy just like you can’t keep cheese from lasagna.The Golden Globe- and Emmy-winning actor is once again elegantly roaming through the land of his heritage in National Geographic’s new food-travel series “Tucci in Italy,” less than three years after a similar show was axed.“I think that visually it’s more interesting this time around, and I think that we try to go more in depth into the stories as much as you can, given the format,” he says.Tucci goes from a three-Michelin-star restaurant in Milan where the staff grow…

A Turkey-affiliated threat actor has been observed exploiting a zero-day vulnerability in Output Messenger against entities associated with the Kurdish military in Iraq, Microsoft reports. The hacking group, tracked as Marbled Dust, Sea Turtle, and UNC1326, and known to focus on espionage, typically targets entities in Europe and the Middle East, including government, information technology, and telecommunications organizations, as well as other entities of interest to the Turkish government. Marbled Dust was previously seen scanning internet-facing assets for known vulnerabilities it could exploit for initial access, as well as compromising DNS registries and/or registrars to snoop on government organizations and…

Giesecke+Devrient has launched a new product aimed at transforming fraud prevention in digital payments. The company has unveiled Convego SecureCode, an innovative payment card designed to help banks and financial institutions combat card-not-present (CNP) fraud while preserving a smooth user experience.The launch of Convego SecureCode comes as the financial sector faces growing pressure to reduce the risk of CNP fraud, which accounts for roughly 70% of all credit card fraud cases. As global fraud losses are projected to reach nearly $50bn by 2030, financial institutions are in urgent need of secure and user-friendly solutions to safeguard customer transactions and prevent…