International Finance - July 2025

EDITOR’S NOTE

RER: Engine of growth for Saudi Arabia

Once viewed largely as an industrial base or a developing consumer market, the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region is now emerging as the driving force behind global economic growth over the next 15 years. Home to approximately 4.3 billion people and contributing over 60% of global output, APAC is undergoing a profound transformation powered by four major forces: rapid urbanisation, accelerating digital transformation, growing investments in green infrastructure, and shifting demographics.

This dynamic mix gives the region a unique advantage. With a combination of young, fast-growing labour markets, thriving technology centres, hyperconnected megacities, and cutting-edge innovation in digital finance, APAC is uniquely positioned to shape the next era of global economic development.

In 2025, the financial world witnessed a defining moment. Warren Buffett, the legendary "Oracle of Omaha," officially stepped down from his role at Berkshire Hathaway. Under his leadership, the conglomerate grew into a $1.18 trillion enterprise. It became famed for its disciplined long-term investment philosophy and consistent decision to reinvest earnings rather than distribute dividends. His retirement marks the end of an era and leaves a legacy that will continue to influence generations of investors.

Meanwhile, digital-only financial institutions such as neobanks and challenger banks are revolutionising the financial services sector. They are rebuilding the banking system from the ground up. By harnessing emerging technologies and placing user experience at the forefront, they are transforming the way individuals and businesses interact with money.

The cover story of the July 2025 edition of International Finance features the National Real Estate Registration Services Company (RER), a Saudi enterprise wholly owned by the Kingdom’s Public Investment Fund. Aligned with Vision 2030, RER helps drive economic diversification and sustainable growth in Saudi Arabia.

JULY 2025

VOLUME 25

ISSUE 50

editor@ifinancemag.com www.internationalfinance.com

INSIDE

RER LEADS SAUDI REAL ESTATE’S DIGITAL REVOLUTION

RER aims to build and update a database of all property units within the Kingdom

CHESKY’S 'FOUNDER MODE' IGNITES REVIVAL OF AIRBNB

Airbnb encourages users to plan their trips and discover memorable activities, all within the app

WARREN BUFFETT: THE GENIUS BEHIND MARKET MASTERY

Warren Buffett’s guidance helped Berkshire navigate many economic booms and recessions

CAN OPENAI’S IDEALISM SURVIVE CORPORATE CHANGE?

OpenAI’s leadership argues that staying ahead in AI requires access to far greater funding

'MONEX USA PRIORITISES SEAMLESS, FASTER PAYMENTS'

Monex USA's existing technology stack, built on years of investment, was wellprepared for RTP implementation

SAUDI VISION 2030 GOES TO SEA

Saudi Arabia’s maritime investments are poised to reshape global trade logistics, offering new trade routes and boosting economic growth

BUSINESS DOSSIER

Masah drives Riyadh's eco-friendly construction boom 68 SHWE Bank: Leading Myanmar's financial growth

Rakeez Capital powers Saudi business growth 100 The Clock Towers Complex facilitates pilgrim journey

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Alice Parker, Indra Kala, Stallone Edward, Jessica Smith, Harry Wilson, Susan Lee, Mark Pinto, Richard Samuel, Merl John

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# TRENDING

Wizz Air halts Abu Dhabi operations

As operational and geopolitical developments put its margins to the test, low-cost airline Wizz Air will suspend all locally based flight operations out of Abu Dhabi. The Hungarian company will close its Abu Dhabi hub in September 2025 in order to concentrate on its core markets in Central and Eastern Europe. Wizz CEO Jozsef Varadi wants to compete with Europe's biggest airline, Ryanair, while pursuing better profits. The CEO said that the company had been underinvesting in the market over the past few years, but could now return to the full spirit of continuously exploiting it. Wizz has ordered 280 aircraft from Airbus, most of which will be deployed in Europe, which accounts for about two-thirds of the airline’s business.

Intel is reportedly preparing to launch its enthusiast-class Nova Lake-AX processor in 2026. Designed for highperformance laptops and desktops, this new SoC will feature up to 52 cores, advanced Foveros packaging, and a powerful Xe3 "Celestial" integrated GPU. Nova Lake-AX is anticipated to be a direct competitor to AMD's Strix Halo APUs. While AMD's offerings set a high bar, Intel aims to challenge that lead with its next-generation platform.

Top six leading startups and their market share (In Billion US Dollars)

Meta acquires PlayAI, voice AI startup

PlayAI, a US-based voice AI startup started and run by Egyptian engineer Mahmoud Felfel, has been purchased by Meta. Mahmoud and Hammad Syed co-founded PlayAI in 2020 after Mahmoud graduated with a Bachelor of Engineering from Mansoura University in Egypt in 2012. Before launching the voice AI startup in the United States, the two had previously collaborated as software engineers at the classified website Dubizzle. PlayAI has created what it calls "the voice of intelligence," and its flagship product, Play Dialog, is a conversational AI first.

Goldman Sachs profit beats estimates

A surge in dealmaking boosted investment banking, and tumultuous markets drove record revenue in Goldman Sachs’ equities division, resulting in a record Q2 profit. The findings reflect a growing trend of Wall Street trading desks being boosted by market turbulence as investors realign holdings to mitigate tariff-related risks. LSEG estimates the investment bank’s equity revenue increased 36% to $4.3 billion, exceeding analysts’ expectations of $3.6 billion. Revenue from fixed income, currencies, and commodities came to $3.47 billion, 9% more than the previous year.

Source: StartupBlink

mordorintelligence.com

Ones to Watch

UK construction hits new low

Activity in the United Kingdom's construction sector fell in July 2025 at the sharpest rate since the height of the COVID pandemic amid a collapse in housebuilding, underscoring the challenge facing the Labour government to meet its 1.5 million new homes target. The data provider said a sharp drop in residential

building pulled down its monthly PMI for the British construction sector, alongside a plunge in civil engineering and a downturn in commercial property. The survey will be carefully monitored by the Treasury and the BoE to determine the next step, as the pressure mounts on Chancellor Rachel Reeves.

ANDREW FORREST FORMER CEO OF FMG Andrew Forrest lashed out at the Australian Tax Office, accusing it of being aggressive, unreasonable in its tax guidance, and not legally robust in administering the law

FRANCIS DUFAY CEO OF JUMIA Francis Dufay's company, Jumia, is back in the spotlight as Pan-African telecommunications provider Axian Telecom announces its acquisition of an 8% stake in the company

SCOTT FARQUHAR

FORMER CEO OF ATLASSIAN According to a recent SEC Form 4 filing, businessman Scott Farquhar sold 7,665 shares of Class A Common Stock on July 14, 2025, under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan

Bahrain is expected to engage with Oracle and Cisco, with plans to replace Chinese servers with Cisco products

Turkey is a significant market due to its sizable and technologically savvy populace

Bahrain signs $17 billion deals with United States

The Crown Prince of Bahrain met with President Donald Trump to discuss trade, Iran, and regional security issues, while announcing plans to invest over $17 billion in the United States. The plan also called for the Gulf nation to enter into an agreement valued at about $7 billion for its national airline, Gulf Air, to purchase 40 General Electric engines and 12 Boeing aircraft with an additional six-aircraft option.

Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa said, "We're very happy to be announcing $17 billion worth of deals that are coming to the United States. And this is real. These aren't fake deals."

Prince Salman announced this during a visit to the Oval Office, following Trump's foreign investment agreements from a May 2025 trip to the Middle East. Trump agreed to sell the Saudis an arms package valued at almost $142 billion while in Riyadh, and he also got Saudi Arabia to commit $600 billion to invest in the world's largest economy.

Bahrain, home to the US Navy's Fifth Fleet, has emerged as a significant security ally. It forged relations with Israel in 2020

through the Abraham Accords, which were mediated by Washington and partly motivated by common concerns about Iran. Trump's trade policies impose a baseline 10% tariff on Bahrain's exports, but they are exempt from the higher levies applied to exports from other nations.

The new Bahrain deal will support 30,000 American jobs and was secured with help from Trump and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick. The Gulf country is expected to engage with Oracle and Cisco, with plans to replace Chinese servers with Cisco products.

Bahrain also seeks to increase its investments in American energy, tech, and manufacturing sectors. The Crown Prince intends to deploy capital to increase US domestic aluminium production, invest in LNG production to secure energy supplies, purchase cutting-edge AI chips, and partner with US hyperscalers.

The King of Bahrain will visit Washington to finalise these agreements and solidify the progress made in building the two nations' economic prosperity.

Fintech deal targets Turkey's digital future

The Trendyol Group of Turkey, Baykar CEO Haluk Bayraktar, Abu Dhabi's sovereign fund ADQ, and Ant International announced that they have reached an agreement to investigate the possibility of a joint fintech venture that would provide digital financial services in Turkey.

An MoU was signed by the four parties to create a platform that would offer digital payments, loans, deposits, investments, and insurance, among other services. According to the companies, the platform will target small businesses and individuals, with a special emphasis on Trendyol's seller network.

As per Bayraktar, who is best known for leading Turkey’s top drone manufacturer, the project will rely on domestic infrastructure and strive for high security standards.

While Mansour AlMulla, the deputy CEO of ADQ, highlighted Turkey's growth potential in the digital economy, Alibaba Group President Michael Evans, speaking on behalf of Trendyol's primary investor, said the partnership demonstrated interest in the country's digital economy.

According to Ant International, Turkey is a significant market due to its sizable and technologically savvy populace, though the companies did not disclose a projected investment size. The development comes when the country's fintech sector is showing signs of rapid growth.

One major fintech success story has been Dgpays, a Turkish financial technology firm, that doubled its valuation following significant investment from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and Truffle Capital. This marked one of the largest international investments in Turkey’s fintech sector.

In February, Mundi, another fintech making capital market products and investment opportunities accessible to Turkish SMEs, raised a $2.5 million seed round led by Speedinvest and DeBa Ventures.

By collaborating with intermediary partners, Mundi is helping Turkish small and medium enterprises automatically manage their savings through overnight savings accounts, mutual funds, and repo products.

Volvo is among the automakers most vulnerable to rising tariffs

Citigroup has hinted that it might launch its own stablecoin

Volvo pauses US car sales amid tariff fallout

Volvo Cars has reduced its range of US models this year, becoming one of the first large automakers to stop its American shipments as President Donald Trump's auto tariffs have started taking their toll on the industry. Geely Holding, a Chinese company which owns the Swedish automaker, is now removing sedans and station wagons from its US lineup amid declining demand. Volvo is among the automakers most vulnerable to rising tariffs because the majority of its vehicles are made in China or Europe. Tariffs of 27.5% on European cars and over 100% on Chinese imports have forced automakers to rethink strategies, with Aston Martin limiting American exports and Nissan suspending US production of Canadian-bound cars.

Kuwait tightens hold on foreign property access

To organise Kuwait's real estate market and improve the investment environment, a draft decree has been submitted by the Ministry of Justice to the Fatwa and Legislation Department regarding controls on property ownership by foreigners through companies listed on the Boursa Kuwait and real estate funds. The Council of Ministers has yet to approve 7/2025, which governs real estate ownership. Striking a careful balance between luring organised real estate investment, preserving the demographic composition, and prohibiting the exploitation of residential properties for investment or commercial purposes alone is the goal. The decree maintains the real estate privileges accorded to their citizens.

Citigroup mulls issuing stablecoin: CEO

Microsoft, US lab to use AI for nuclear permits

Jane Fraser, the CEO of Citigroup, has hinted that the company might launch its own stablecoin to help with digital payments. She stated that they were considering issuing a Citi stablecoin, but of course, the tokenised deposit space was where they were most active. She added that this was a favourable chance for them. Fraser noted that the thirdlargest US lender is looking into stablecoin reserve management and crypto asset custody options. After Citigroup announced that it would repurchase at least $4 billion worth of stock and reported second-quarter results that exceeded Wall Street projections, the bank's shares monetarily reached their highest level since the 2008 financial crisis.

Microsoft has teamed up with the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) to investigate the application of AI in the US nuclear power plant permitting process. The project uses Microsoft's AI to create engineering and safety reports based on previous license applications. Users will be able to edit and improve the content produced by AI. INL's deputy division director for nuclear safety and regulatory research, Scott Ferrara, stated that the technology could also increase the amount of energy produced by current nuclear plants. The AI could help facilities prepare requests for license amendments to increase power generation. This effort is part of a broader push to speed up nuclear permitting using advanced technologies.

Wages in the hospitality sector rose sharply, with hotels and restaurants increasing staff pay by 8.5% in the year to April

UK wage hikes: Who dictates terms?

IF CORRESPONDENT

The Bank of England (BoE) faces a challenge: managing inflation and guiding the economy, particularly after recent data indicated that starting salaries in the UK have increased at their fastest rate in nearly three years.

According to the latest figures from job search platform Adzuna, the average advertised salary hit £42,278 in April 2025, a rise of 8.9% year-onyear, marking the steepest annual increase since June 2022. Every month, salaries rose by 0.75%, further complicating the central bank’s efforts to justify additional interest rate cuts.

The BoE had been hoping for a clearer signal that inflationary pressures were easing before committing to a series of rate cuts in the second half of 2025

The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Bank of England is now witnessing its key members, including the Bank’s chief economist Huw Pill, expressing concern about elevated wage growth, warning that loosening monetary policy too quickly could reignite inflationary pressures.

According to Adzuna, vacancies rose slightly by 1% year-on-year to 862,876, but were down 0.95% compared to March, suggesting a mixed picture for hiring momentum.

What's going on?

Sectors seeing the strongest demand for workers included healthcare, which hit its highest vacancy

level since January 2023, as well as hospitality, logistics, teaching, and retail. The construction and trade sectors recorded a sharp 15.2% decline in vacancies, reflecting cooling activity in those industries.

The BoE had been hoping for a clearer signal that inflationary pressures were easing before committing to a series of rate cuts in the second half of 2025. However, April’s inflation surprise, which saw the consumer price index jump to 3.5%, up from 2.6% in March, has prompted fresh caution.

Although the ONS reported a slight slowdown in overall wage growth, down to 5.6% in Q1 from 5.9% in Q4, starting salary trends suggest that employer competition for skilled staff remains high, particularly in regions with labour shortages. The MPC has a dilemma: to stay with rate reductions to stimulate growth, or pause to prevent an inflationary rebound.

A Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) study paints a different yet painful picture.

The report, titled "Labour Market Outlook – Spring 2025," found employer confidence declining again this quarter, with the net employment balance falling to +8 — the lowest level recorded outside of the pandemic. Hiring intentions have softened, and one in four employers now plan redundancies, rising to 27% in the private sector.

Rising employment costs, including increases

in National Insurance and the National Living Wage, are forcing many organisations to scale back recruitment, limit training investment, and consider price increases. Uncertainty around the Employment Rights Bill and global events adds to employers’ caution.

"The further softening in employment in April suggests businesses continued to respond to the rise in business taxes and the minimum wage by reducing headcount," said Ruth Gregory, deputy chief UK economist at Capital Economics.

She also stated that despite a deceleration in wage growth, it remained relatively strong, meaning the Bank of England will remain cautious over future interest rate cuts.

For BoE, the key concern is that if earnings grow quickly, firms will seek to push up prices, thereby putting up the inflation rate.

As per Gregory, sticky wage growth (a situation where wages do not immediately adjust up or down in response to changes in labour market conditions) may mean the bank remains uneasy about inflationary pressures in the near term.

Wage hike: A new battlefield?

The Bank of England has noted that wages have

quietly continued to rise, raising concerns that this could indicate a seismic and more long-lasting shift in the relationship between workers and employers. In May, the European country announced its public sector pay awards, which were higher than ministers had previously said they could afford and outstripped higher-than-expected inflation.

Still, it failed to please the disgruntled doctors. In fact, the latter threatened to protest against the new pay structure. After teachers were awarded a 4% increase, teaching unions also responded angrily to the Keir Starmer government’s refusal to fully fund the deal and warned that it would damage the quality of education that pupils received. The largest union plans to take the first step towards possible industrial action.

The decision to award 1.4 million NHS staff, including nurses, midwives and ambulance workers, a smaller rise (3.6%) also met with anger. The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) said it was “grotesque” to hand doctors a bigger increase than nurses who earned less than them.

Wes Streeting, the health secretary, and Bridget Phillipson, the education secretary, sought to defend the rises by highlighting that they represented the second time public sector personnel had received

above inflation pay rises since Labour took power in 2024.

Are we seeing a 2022 scenario being played out all over again? Back then, inflation not only rocketed, it led to a situation where, in a desperate scramble to keep pace with rising prices to protect their incomes, British private and public sector workers took widescale industrial action in a way that brought back memories of the 1970s. What followed was a series of pay deals thrashed out between bosses and employees, with unions often arguing they had been due pay increases for years.

When considering the British private sector, relations between bosses and the rank and file have already been redefined by a shift towards remote working caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, and then companies’ increasing insistence on more regular attendance at work. Despite the volatile background, Threadneedle Street policymakers now ask whether the wage increases indicate that the power balance has moved back in the direction of workers, allowing them to protect their finances.

Data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has gone some way to justifying the BoE view.

According to payroll data from the ONS, wages in the hospitality sector rose sharply, with hotels and restaurants increasing staff pay by 8.5% in the year to April, well above the 3.5% inflation rate.

Retail workers also saw gains, with median pay rising by 6.9% over the same period. Across the economy, average wage growth reached 6.4%.

Recently, BoE chief economist

Huw Pill said the UK’s labour market was becoming less flexible, suggesting employers were no longer able to freely hire and fire as they once could. Businesses, charities and public sector organisations have been laying off staff and freezing job adverts, but those staff who stay behind are well rewarded.

Ben Caswell, an economist at the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR), said, "Wages adjusted for inflation have returned to where they were before the cost of living crisis began in 2021. And the share of overall national income that is secured by workers rather than firms has also recovered to 2021 levels. While the average pay figures disguise many

winners and losers, the aggregate figure showed most workers had benefited from inflation-busting pay rises to recover lost ground."

He also focused on a slightly less up-to-date measure of pay based on employees’ average regular earnings over a rolling three-month period. This showed a rise in Great Britain that was still well above inflation at 5.6% in January to March 2025, though not as much as the PAYE data shows.

Caswell sees a series of minimum wage increases, closing the gap with the average wage, which is likely to fuel further pay rises as companies attempt to maintain a significant difference between the salaries of those on the bottom rung and the semi-skilled workers and middle managers above them.

Photo Credits: Bank of England

Average growth of weekly earnings in the United Kingdom compared with the CPI inflation rate from January 2025 to May 2025 (In Percentage)

What to expect next?

James Smith, research director at the Resolution Foundation, said that the weakening economic outlook worked against a prolonged recovery in pay.

He noted, “If we believe that wages consistent with the Bank of England’s 2% target would be about 3.5%, then we are well above that level at the moment. And that would give the Bank good reason to be cautious about cutting interest rates. However, other pay surveys are showing earnings rising at a much slower rate, so the official figures might be a bit like Wile E Coyote and about to be brought down to earth.”

Emphasising the likely shortterm nature of the current bumper pay rises, the bank’s regional agents say employers are limiting pay rises to between 3% and 4% by the end of 2025. The Starmer government is not planning to pay more than 4% to public sector workers on average, and more departmental budget squeezes may be coming up.

Talking about other industries, take the hospitality sector, for example, which is known to

employ a high proportion of minimum wage workers, and the same applies to the retail industry, boosting pay in 2025.

Senior journalist Phillip Inman claimed that most likely not next year or the year after, the legal minimum salaries will start rising more slowly.

Seemanti Ghosh, principal economist at the Institute for Employment Studies, sees the significant return to office-related demands from the companies as direct evidence of worker power reaching its limits. There has also been a gold rush for digital skills, which will result in another paradigm shift in the labour market.

Employers had to pay higher wages this time around, as they needed to retain skilled staff and pay them more while they embarked on a search for workers who were more adaptable in an ever-changing work environment.

“If wage increases are not driven by negotiations with unions, then they are due to employers wanting to hang on to skilled staff. This matters for all companies that increasingly rely on soft skills for

things like project management and tech skills in other areas. We also see it in the green sector, where there is a shortage of people with the skills the industry needs,” Seemanti remarked.

How much of this dislocation is systemic and will keep wages higher for longer will be a subject of debate for the rest of the year. Pill advocated for keeping interest rates elevated while the trends become clearer, believing there is less damage from higher rates than letting inflation run away again.

Other MPC members disagree, arguing that businesses cannot invest in skills training while borrowing costs are prohibitively high.

It reflects a starkly different view of the labour market, one that emphasises the lasting damage caused by rising job losses and prolonged economic stagnation.

Swati Dhingra and Alan Taylor want rates to come down quickly. Who wins the argument inside the central bank could dictate whether workers or bosses have the whip hand in the great tussle over pay.

Source: Statista

Chips have become the new oil, with control over them reshaping the global balance of power in the 21st century

Silicon supremacy: Economic impact of AI chip wars

IF CORRESPONDENT

The fight for dominance in semiconductors, the “chips” powering everything from smartphones and cloud servers to military systems, has become the centrepiece of global economic and geopolitical competition. In what’s now called the chip war, the United States and China face off in a high-stakes rivalry, with Taiwan’s unlikely dominance making it the third pillar of this new era. Semiconductors, a half-trillion-dollar industry expected to double by 2030, are the linchpin of AI innovation, military power, and global economic clout.

International Finance unpacks how Taiwan emerged as a chipmaking powerhouse, the US bid to reclaim manufacturing, and how Washington’s export bans and China’s countermoves are reshaping the global economy. Along the way, we bring insights from industry leaders and policy experts on the economic fallout and the future of the silicon struggle.

Global semiconductor supply

Just 100 miles from China’s coast, Taiwan’s TSMC (Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.) produces roughly 90% of the world’s most advanced semiconductors. These chips power everything from Apple iPhones and Nvidia AI accelerators to critical infrastructure and defence systems.

Taiwan’s dominance, especially at the smallest transistor sizes, makes it the linchpin of the global tech supply chain: a phenomenon sometimes called the “silicon shield.” The logic is simple. Taiwan’s role in chip supply makes military conflict an economic catastrophe for everyone involved, acting as a deterrent to aggression.

TSMC’s ascent was decades in the making. Founded in 1987 with state support, TSMC pioneered the “pure-play” foundry model, producing chips designed by others and steadily outpacing global rivals.

Today, its technical know-how lets it pack billions of transistors onto fingernailsized chips, years ahead of competitors. Until recently, nearly all these leading-edge chips were made in Taiwan, a concentration that inspires both awe and anxiety.

INDUSTRY

FEATURE

CHIPS SEMICONDUCTORS

On one hand, TSMC is an economic and strategic bulwark for Taiwan, seen as a “sacred mountain protecting the country.” On the other hand, it creates a single point of failure: a natural disaster or geopolitical event could disrupt the world’s chip supply, with devastating consequences.

Policymakers worry about what will happen to TSMC’s “fabs” if China ever attacks or blocks Taiwan. The stakes are enormous: advanced chips are critical for civilian technology and national defence.

Even within Taiwan, there’s anxiety over how much chip technology should be shared abroad. Morris Chang, TSMC’s 91-year-old founder, has called out the dilemma, “The US Commerce Secretary said repeatedly that Taiwan is a very dangerous place [and] America cannot rely on Taiwan for chips… that, of

course, is Taiwan’s dilemma.”

While TSMC is expanding overseas, Chang notes that “in the chip sector, globalisation is dead. Free trade is not quite that dead, but it’s in danger.” His warning is that higher costs and less ubiquity for advanced chips will result if the world splits into competing tech blocs.

Taiwan’s role as a global chip linchpin brings leverage and vulnerability, a reality now pushing others to develop their own advanced chipmaking muscle.

'Make it in America' chip push

The United States once led the world in chip design and manufacturing. As production shifted to Asia, America’s share of global chip fabrication capacity fell from 37% in 1990 to just 12% by 2020.

Former Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo summed up the American

predicament by saying that America had “dropped the ball,” allowing Asian rivals to surge ahead. Now, after pandemicdriven supply chain shocks, Washington is determined to “onshore” and “reshore” semiconductor production. But is it working?

A flurry of policies followed, from tariffs and trade pressure to hefty investment incentives. President Donald Trump threatened tariffs to push TSMC and others into building US plants. As a result, TSMC agreed to a $12 billion fab in Arizona, later expanding to a $40 billion project, which marked their first advanced facilities outside Taiwan. These fabs, when fully operational, will produce 4nm and 3nm chips, still trailing Taiwan’s 2nm technology but among the world’s most advanced.

President Joe Biden followed with the CHIPS and Science Act, a $52 billion

package of subsidies, grants, and tax credits designed to “supercharge” US semiconductor manufacturing. This resulted in big investments from both American and foreign firms.

TSMC secured $6.6 billion in US grants for its Arizona plants, Samsung got $6 billion for a new Texas plant, and Micron announced a $100 billion New York megafab. The irony? Onshoring incentives are also benefiting foreign giants, whose rise was built on decades of government support in Asia.

Building a robust domestic chip industry is proving complex. Chip fabs are among the world’s most sophisticated factories, requiring immense precision and years to build. TSMC and Samsung have faced delays, cost overruns, and skilled labour shortages in the US.

Arizona’s TSMC site even had to “import” technicians from Taiwan, causing friction with US labour unions. Making advanced chips takes armies of PhD-level engineers, yet US immigration policies restrict high-skilled talent.

Analyst Marc Einstein notes, “You can’t just magic PhDs out of nowhere.”

Many experts argue that expanding high-skilled visa programmes is essential for the US chip renaissance.

Chip manufacturing is a global ecosystem. An advanced chip may be designed in California and fabricated in Taiwan using equipment from the Netherlands and materials from Japan and Germany.

“No single country can do everything,” says TSMC Arizona president Rosemary Castanares.

Even US fabs rely on $150 million ASML lithography machines from Europe. For now, US-based fabs remain smaller and a technological step behind Asia’s mega-fabs.

Historian Chris Miller calls TSMC’s Arizona plants “a generation behind the

cutting edge in Taiwan,” and much lower in output.

TSMC itself is clear: its most advanced chips, and bleeding-edge R&D, will stay in Taiwan. Arizona’s fabs get slightly older, though still advanced tech.

The US officials might tout reshoring wins, but the centre of gravity remains in Asia. Restoring US chip leadership is a long-term effort, needing not just money and factories but also investment in education, workforce training, and immigration reform.

US-China crossfire in semiconductors

As Washington tried to onshore chipmaking, it also wielded trade weapons to slow China’s technological rise. The US-China trade war, which started with tariffs in 2018, has increasingly focused on semiconductors as a strategic chokepoint. The Trump and Biden administrations have sought to deny China advanced chips and manufacturing equipment to “protect national security.”

A pivotal moment occurred in October 2022 when Washington enacted stringent export controls. These regulations prevent global companies from selling high-performance chips or chip equipment that utilises US

technology to China without obtaining a difficult-to-secure license.

If a chip was made with US software or machinery, as almost all advanced chips are, exporting it to China is restricted. The rules even bar US citizens from working for certain Chinese firms, choking off a “key pipeline of American talent.”

American officials argue this is essential to prevent “sensitive technologies” from fuelling China’s military modernisation, since advanced chips are dual-use, meaning they power both civilian and military AI.

Beijing calls this “technology terrorism” and has filed complaints at the World Trade Organisation, accusing Washington of abusing export controls. Chinese officials warn that these moves destabilise global supply chains. The impact is very much real. Huawei’s handset business collapsed after US sanctions cut it off from advanced chips.

Other Chinese firms, like memory giant YMTC, have been blacklisted. Even the United Kingdom-based ARM won’t license its latest designs to Chinese customers. Washington’s allies in the Netherlands and Japan have joined in, restricting exports of crucial lithography and chip equipment to China.

SEMICONDUCTORS

China’s initial response was cautious, but it has since weaponised its own dominance in key minerals. In 2023, Beijing restricted exports of gallium and germanium, both vital for chipmaking, and later banned exports of more minerals to the US.

These tit-for-tat moves signal China’s willingness to hit back with strategic materials. China also imposed its own limited bans, such as restricting US firm Micron’s chips from critical Chinese infrastructure.

At home, China has doubled down on self-reliance, pouring tens of billions into its chip sector through national funds and the “Made in China 2025” campaign.

President Xi Jinping calls on China to excel in key core technologies to ensure domestic innovation, thus preventing the country from being hindered by foreign sanctions.

The trade war has forced Chinese firms to seek new markets and supply chain arrangements, but often with slimmer profits.

Meanwhile, allied equipment makers like ASML now face the loss of lucrative Chinese customers, which raises concerns about lost innovation and revenue.

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang recently blasted US export controls as “backfiring.”

He notes that Nvidia’s share of China’s AI chip market fell from 95% to 50%, with Chinese firms ramping up in-house alternatives. The bans, he says, “have pushed Chinese companies toward home-grown alternatives, spurring Chinese investment.”

Bill Gates similarly says US pressure has forced China to “go full speed ahead” on its own chips.

While some US officials argue these bans buy the West a crucial lead time in military AI, critics warn the strategy may accelerate China’s self-sufficiency and ultimately weaken the American industry.

The Chinese playbook

China has responded to the chip war with a multipronged strategy. At the core: building a self-sufficient semiconductor ecosystem. State-backed funds and national strategies aim to reduce dependence on foreign tech, especially in critical areas like manufacturing equipment and chip design.

Chinese firms have aggressively recruited global talent, including Taiwanese and American engineers, and have sometimes resorted to industrial espionage. The urgency to innovate has only intensified after US sanctions nearly crippled companies like ZTE and Huawei.

One breakthrough occurred in 2023 when Chinese chipmaker SMIC produced a 7nm chip, used in Huawei’s Mate 60 Pro, despite lacking access to the world’s most advanced lithography equipment.

US experts suspect SMIC adapted older machines with multiple patterning to achieve the feat. The phone’s teardown revealed memory chips from South Korea’s SK Hynix, showing that China can still source key components through unofficial channels or stockpiles.

While 7nm lags behind Apple’s 3nm chips, the achievement signals that China can adapt around sanctions, even though it comes at a high cost. Chinese companies are also developing workarounds, like using opensource chip architectures (RISC-V) and clustering less advanced chips to achieve AI tasks. Diplomatic efforts target partnerships with countries like Russia and some in Southeast Asia.

In parallel, China is building its own software and tooling ecosystem to reduce reliance on US and allied IP.

Still, China faces several pitfalls, including corruption in its state funds, persistent dependence on imported materials, and the technological gap in ultra-advanced manufacturing.

Globally, the chip war is creating a bifurcated tech order. There is a US-led bloc with strict controls and the most advanced chips, while a China-centric sphere relies on indigenous innovation and sometimes older technology.

Countries such as those in Europe, India, and Japan are now pursuing domestic manufacturing as a strategic objective. The aim is to avoid dependency on a single foreign supplier.

The global economy

The US-China semiconductor standoff has global ramifications. Allies, from Europe to Japan and India, are launching their own chip initiatives to bolster supply chain resilience. The European Union’s Chips Act aims to double Europe’s production share by 2030.

Japan is subsidising TSMC’s new Kumamoto plant; India, pitching its lowcost labour and market scale, is working to attract chipmakers despite obstacles like land acquisition and water supply. All these moves indicate a shift since countries want to reduce overreliance on any one supplier.

The balancing act is delicate for Asia’s chip powerhouses such as Taiwan, South Korea, and Japan. While they are US security partners, they rely heavily on China for a significant portion of their chip exports. With extensive operations in China, Korean giants Samsung and SK Hynix have even required waivers from US regulations.

TSMC, while benefiting from the US “friendshoring,” is careful not to sever links with Chinese customers. Diversification, by building plants in the United States and Japan, hedges bets against both geopolitics and American pressure.

A major unintended consequence is tech ecosystem fragmentation. If the world splits into separate tech stacks, innovation could slow (due to

duplication and lost scale), but could also spark alternative breakthroughs. If denied access to leading-edge chips, the Chinese firms might focus on alternative architectures or software innovations.

The US and its allies, wary of supply chain risk, are building redundancy at a higher cost. A Boston Consulting Group study estimates that a full USChina semiconductor split could cost US companies $80 billion in lost revenues and $20 billion less R&D annually. Despite these costs, there is hope that competition will spur next-generation innovation, including quantum chips, new materials, and more resilient supply chains.

Governments everywhere are pouring money into chip R&D, education, and mature-node production for critical industries like autos and defence. Recent chip shortages made clear that even older chips are vital.

AI is front and centre in this fight. US restrictions aim to hold back China’s AI progress by limiting access to the

most powerful GPUs. In the short term, it’s working, as Chinese companies are scrambling to adapt.

But software-side innovation and hardware workarounds are likely. If anything, scarcity may force efficiency and new approaches to AI development. In the long run, stifling hardware access may backfire by spurring domestic breakthroughs in China and elsewhere.

The chip war also raises fundamental questions about economic sovereignty. Governments now ask whether they can count on secure chip supplies in a crisis.

For many, the answer is “not yet,” driving a rush to build national capacity and regional redundancy, even if it means higher costs. Taiwan’s “silicon shield” still matters, but if TSMC globalises, no one country will wield absolute leverage for long.

Looking ahead, an “armed détente” is possible: both superpowers invest in reducing their vulnerabilities, and a new equilibrium emerges. North America might reach 20% of global chip output

by 2030; China could attain partial self-sufficiency in 7nm or 5nm nodes. The world could then operate dual tech systems, trade some chips while restricting others for security reasons.

A total rupture, such as war over Taiwan, remains a nightmare. Disruption to Taiwan’s fabs would cripple the global electronics industry.

So far, fear of mutual destruction has preserved the status quo. As the US and others reduce reliance on Taiwan, that deterrence may weaken over time.

The world is realising, sometimes painfully, how critical and fragile the semiconductor supply chain is. Chips have become the new oil, with control over them reshaping the global balance of power in the 21st century.

Silicon geopolitics is here to stay, and every country will feel its impact.

RER leads Saudi real estate’s digital revolution

IF CORRESPONDENT

The National Real Estate Registration Services Company (RER), a Saudi enterprise wholly owned by the Kingdom’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), serves as a reliable entity granted by the government exclusivity for the implementation of real estate registration works. Aligned with PIF’s vision for economic advancement within the Kingdom, RER strategically pursues its mission in lockstep with the ambitious "Vision 2030" agenda, aimed at broadening economic horizons and promoting sustainable growth.

RER aims to build and update a database of all property units within the Kingdom

During his interaction with International Finance , Dr. Mohammad Al-Suliman, RER CEO, said, "RER has distinguished itself as an innovative leader in the real estate registration industry. With a strategic focus on digital transformation, customer service centricity, and sustainable development, RER has redefined the standards of property registration to be a trusted partner in the real estate ecosystem by creating sustainable value and transforming ecosystems through customercentric real estate services and digital solutions.”

“The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is undergoing a significant transition in all sectors to support a diversified and progressive economy, driven by the objectives of a smart and sustainable future defined in Saudi Vision 2030. The real estate sector is making significant progress to align with this ambitious aim,” the CEO added.

Intending to make Saudi's real estate ownership information trustworthy, transparent, and easily accessible, RER aims to build and update a database of all property units within the Kingdom.

“As we construct the register, we will employ PropTech to handle the data in order to provide a range of services that aim to improve the investment and real estate market,” Dr. Mohammad Al-Suliman continued.

RER's operations are centred around a strategy called "EASE." Although the word has a different meaning than what is found in English dictionaries, it can be broken down into four operational pillars: E (Enhancing the Foundation), A (Accelerating Core Mandate), S (Sustainable Growth), and E (Ecosystem Partner).

RER sees “EASE” as a form of strategy, which will help it to meet its objectives of ensuring a

smart and sustainable future-defined real estate sector under the “Vision 2030.” Under the “EASE Strategy,” RER will align its organisational values and capabilities, along with building trust with the property sector stakeholders, from 2023 to 2025. It will be followed up by “Accelerating Core Mandate,” whether the venture will look to excel in the registry operations, apart from focusing on technology advancement and contributing towards environmental sustainability.

Services & products

RER services in real estate transactions are based on three fundamental principles: efficiency, transparency, and legality. Transparent ownership is required for all units, including public, commercial, residential, and agricultural. The First Registration Service is responsible for establishing

this foundation. Presently, the Real Estate Registry diligently documents the present condition of each property on a dedicated page.

The Subsequent Transactions Service simplifies and clarifies the process of recording any modifications that occur following the initial registration, including ownership transfer, merging, subdivision and split, rights, restrictions, and responsibilities management (adding, removing, transferring, modifying).

Furthermore, there are several value-added services, including the Transaction API and Verification API, which offer convenient access to precise and comprehensive information regarding property transactions and ownership. Given the lack of dependable data, the real estate ecosystem will need to depend on RER's registry operations for real estate information.

COVER STORY RER

Due to the automation of processes like property assessment and land registration made possible by GIS, administrative overhead is reduced and human error is minimised, leading to increased efficiency

- Dr. Mohammad Al-Suliman, RER CEO

RER’s operational principle is crystal clear: increase trust in the Saudi real estate market, apart from improving transparency and ownership data accessibility, thereby supporting the goals of “Vision 2030” by enhancing the property sector’s efficiency and increasing its investment attractiveness across the markets.

The Real Estate Indicators Service offers an alternative solution where RER use generative AI to produce advanced insights tailored to different customers.

Talking about RER's value-added services and its emphasis on sustainability, the venture is working on building a roadmap to diversify sources of income by investing in the capabilities of the real estate registry.

Among the "Value-Added Services," we have "Real Estate Transaction," which is RER's management of all transactions that occur for the property after completing the first registration and reflecting them in the real estate registry. Followed by "Real Estate Transaction," we have "Data Monetisation," which is the optimal investment of real estate data to provide products and services based on accurate data to support decision-making, contributing to raising the transparency and reliability of the real estate sector, designed for all beneficiary groups.

Finally, RER invests in operational, technical and geospatial capabilities to develop innovative solutions and services that provide added value for sustainable growth.

Dedicated technologies

“Incorporating Geographic Information System (GIS) technology is revolutionising the real estate industry in Saudi Arabia. GIS provides a spatial

component to the data, improving our capacity to establish and expand a comprehensive national real estate database that will ultimately support the development and structure of the real estate industry in the Kingdom,” Dr. Mohammad AlSuliman noted.

Since May 2023, RER has implemented GIS to improve the quality of its real estate services by assessing and tracking real estate assets through the registry process using geospatial survey technology and aerial images.

RER's geospatial approach has become a milestone in the accuracy and availability of real estate information for the organisation. Through the deployment of advanced aerial imaging technologies by RER, critical land ownership details and property boundaries have been captured, thereby improving the transparency and reliability of real estate data for all stakeholders.

RER's geospatial approach is special in many ways: it has been the first such national project, in terms of covering a vast stretch of land (both urban and non-urban areas). Also, through its "Geospatial Data Management," RER has established, stored and currently maintains a national cadastral map with an anticipated 8.2 million properties and 3-5 petabytes of data storage. The company has also set up a "National Real Estate Data Map Governance" to execute its "geospatial approach."

What makes the GIS route special is its ability to add clarity to managing and understanding the spatial aspects of Saudi Arabia’s real estate sector.

“It is a digital map-based platform that enables RER to overlay information such as property boundaries, land usage rights, and infrastructure. This allows individuals and investors to make more informed decisions and streamlines the process of buying even further. Ensure that all stakeholders have access to information about properties and their environs by making propertyrelated data available through interactive maps. Due to the automation of processes like property assessment and land registration made possible by GIS, administrative overhead is reduced and human error is minimised, leading to increased efficiency,” Dr. Mohammad Al-Suliman remarked.

Digital excellence in registration

To its credit, RER has embraced a transformative approach to disrupt the Kingdom's traditional real estate registration processes, achieved by implementing a user-centric digital model, which emphasises ease of use, efficiency, and accessibility.

By integrating advanced technological solutions, RER has streamlined operations, apart from significantly reducing turnaround times and enhancing overall user satisfaction. These efforts have improved the functionality of real estate registries and established new benchmarks for the real estate sector's excellence.

“The inception of RER marked the beginning of a new era in property registration, characterised by an unwavering commitment to technological innovation and user experience. By integrating sophisticated

digital tools, RER has successfully transformed outdated procedures into a streamlined, transparent, and efficient process. This digital prowess has not only optimised registry operations but also established RER as the new standard-bearer for the industry,” the CEO stated.

Urban development & land management leadership

“RER's operations have fostered secure property rights, enhanced transparency, and enabled effective urban planning, thereby laying a foundation for economic growth and investment attractiveness. RER's active contribution to sustainable development is a testament to its dedication to societal advancement and industry innovation,” Dr. Mohammad AlSuliman commented.

In the upcoming decade, there will be a prominent shift from the traditional and time-consuming process of real estate registration to a modern and efficient digital system, which offers improved convenience and speed

- Dr. Mohammad Al-Suliman, RER CEO

RER has bridged the gap between technological innovation and personalised customer service by establishing a dedicated customer service centre, which offers stakeholders a direct line of communication and assistance, underscoring RER's holistic approach to customer satisfaction and engagement.

The future of real estate sector

“In the upcoming decade, there will be a prominent shift from the traditional and time-consuming process of real estate registration to a modern and efficient digital system, which offers improved convenience and speed,” Dr. Mohammad AlSuliman predicted.

This change is crucial for determining the future of the Kingdom's real estate sector. The RER

portal, launched in 2023, plays a significant role in the digitalisation of the Gulf major’s property industry by simplifying the registration process, providing a wide range of property-related services that enhance access to real estate data.

“The primary objective of RER is to guarantee the safeguarding of property rights, streamline interactions, and empower property owners. The RER platform will streamline the process of researching properties and conducting transactions of any magnitude, requiring only a few clicks. This is just a superficial overview of RER's ambitions to transform the real estate registration process by enhancing user-friendliness, transparency, and efficiency. The objective of Saudi Vision 2030 is to position the real estate sector as a catalyst for economic diversification in Saudi Arabia. This goal is achievable due to the country's advanced technology capabilities, robust digital infrastructure, and favourable market regulations,” Dr. Mohammad Al-Suliman said.

Objectives for 2025

In order to advance its mission, RER will focus on advancing geospatial mapping initiatives and expanding coverage across the Kingdom to improve the precision of property boundaries and identification.

“Our goal is to register approximately 80% of the properties in the Kingdom by 2025. A massive undertaking like this will strengthen safeguards for property rights, increase transparency, and create a solid foundation for future economic development and planning. And for this year, we will cover Riyadh and announce more than 4.2 million parcels across the kingdom,” Dr. Mohammad Al-Suliman informed International Finance

The "Vision 2030" initiative focuses on economic diversification and highlights the importance of digital transformation throughout the economy. In the real estate sector, some of the key objectives include increasing home ownership rates, enhancing service quality, and making investments more attractive. These goals are central to the roadmap's vision for the future.

“These pillars are undoubtedly consistent with

the RER's goals and efforts to digitise and automate all real estate activities. The ‘EASE Strategy’ is RER's five-year roadmap for digital transformation. The primary goal of this approach is to streamline operations and improve the real estate experience in the Kingdom through digitisation, automation, dependability, and transparency. In this regard, the RER aims to automate all real estate transactions using its e-platform,” Dr. Mohammad Al-Suliman remarked.

“RER's ongoing commitment to excellence has shaped the landscape of real estate registration services and demonstrated a profound understanding of its work's economic and social implications. By securing property rights and enhancing transparency, RER has laid a solid foundation for property ownership that supports economic expansion and boosts investment opportunities. This, in turn, has reinforced RER's role as a trusted and indispensable partner in the regional development narrative,” he continued.

The organisation's holistic approach to real estate registration has been pivotal in driving change and delivering value to all stakeholders involved. Through the facilitation of secure property rights, RER has not only empowered landowners but has also provided a stable environment for real estate investments, which is crucial for the region's socio-economic development.

“Moreover, RER's proactive stance in adopting the latest technologies and methodologies showcases its leadership in setting industry trends. The successful mapping of an extensive area through aerial surveys is a testament to RER's innovative spirit and its dedication to precision and quality. The customer service centre initiative stands as an example of RER's commitment to excellence, ensuring that every stakeholder receives personalised attention and support. This blend of technology and personal service underscores RER's understanding that while digital transformation is vital, human connections remain integral to its success,” Dr. Mohammad AlSuliman concluded.

Chesky’s 'Founder Mode' ignites revival of Airbnb

Airbnb encourages users to plan their trips and discover memorable activities, all within the app

IF CORRESPONDENT

In late 2023, following a dramatic tech-world episode involving OpenAI’s leadership, Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky found himself at a personal and professional crossroads.

The energy he had poured into helping his friend Sam Altman reclaim the CEO seat at OpenAI left him energised but restless. Alone in his San Francisco home over Thanksgiving weekend, he began typing furiously, not about OpenAI but about Airbnb.

For years, Airbnb had been synonymous with short-term vacation rentals. It disrupted hotels, built a global community of hosts and guests, and weathered crises from regulatory hurdles to the COVID-19 pandemic. It was profitable, dominant, and for the first time in Chesky’s entrepreneurial life, dangerously close to stagnation.

Chesky's breakthrough was a realisation. Airbnb didn’t have to be just a travel company. Its strengths in trust-building between strangers, design thinking, and crisis response were transferable. Why couldn’t it become the infrastructure for booking all real-world services, just as it once did for homes?

In a burst of creative output, Chesky wrote a 10,000-word document reimagining Airbnb as a comprehensive service platform. He envisioned users opening the app not just to book a place to stay, but to hire a dog walker, book a massage, find a personal chef, or connect with a local photographer.

Like Amazon’s evolution from bookstore to everything store, Chesky believed Airbnb could evolve into a life concierge, where anything physical, experiential, or service-based could be booked with trust and ease. This wasn’t a pivot. It was a platform expansion. The goal was to transform Airbnb into the first app people think of, not just for travel, but for everyday services.

From one-off experiences to recurring needs, Chesky wants Airbnb to be the destination where your digital reputation meets your real-world needs. The company would leverage its massive user base and robust vetting infrastructure to match people with not only homes but also hairstylists, personal trainers, tutors, and more.

The 200 million dollar reinvention now underway is Airbnb’s largest strategic bet since its founding. For Chesky, it’s more than just growth. It’s a reclamation of creativity, a doubling down on mission, and a fight against the dreaded word that

haunts mature companies: stagnation.

In this reimagining, Airbnb isn’t settling into middle age. It’s breaking out of its pigeonhole and trying to redefine what it means to belong anywhere, not just for a night but in every facet of modern life.

Channelling Apple to build a super-app

Brian Chesky has always believed that great companies are built on great design, not just in aesthetics, but in philosophy as well. Airbnb’s reinvention isn’t simply a business move; it’s a design-led revolution. At the heart of this evolution is Chesky’s

lifelong admiration for Apple and its late founder, Steve Jobs.

Design has always been central to Airbnb’s DNA. Chesky and co-founder Joe Gebbia are alumni of the Rhode Island School of Design. But what Airbnb is attempting now is a fullscale transformation into a super-app for services and experiences, which requires a design discipline on par with the world’s most revered product companies. This is where Jony Ive comes in.

The legendary Apple designer and Chesky have been collaborating closely, bringing Ive’s team at LoveFrom into the fold. While the specifics of their contributions remain mostly under

wraps, their fingerprints are everywhere in Airbnb’s new visual language. It is minimalist, emotionally warm, and obsessively refined.

The app’s new interface revolves around three core icons: a house for traditional stays, a bell for services, and a hot-air balloon for experiences. Each icon was crafted with symbolic intent. The hot-air balloon, for example, was chosen after extensive internal debate. It needed to evoke exploration, joy, and a touch of nostalgia. Even the flame size beneath the balloon basket was scrutinised. That level of microdetail isn’t an indulgence; it is the strategy.

INDUSTRY FEATURE AIRBNB BRIAN CHESKY

Chesky is deeply involved in these choices. In daily product reviews, he doesn’t just give broad direction; he adjusts shadows, rewords labels, and debates icon proportions. He refers to himself not only as a CEO, but also as a product designer who never lets go of the pencil. This hands-on approach mirrors Jobs' intense focus on the tiniest elements of Apple’s devices and interfaces.

This design-first philosophy extends beyond visuals. Airbnb is rethinking flow, friction, and feel. Services need to be instantly discoverable yet not overwhelming. Profiles must inspire trust without feeling transactional. Experiences should feel curated, not commodified. Every interaction is designed to express care.

For Chesky, this isn't just about making something functional. It’s about making something memorable, something that stirs emotion. Like Apple, Airbnb is chasing the kind of design that becomes invisible in its elegance and essential in its utility.

The result is a platform that feels less like an app and more like a beautifully organised world, where belonging doesn’t just mean staying the night but navigating life with beauty, ease, and trust. Airbnb isn’t simply copying Apple. It’s aiming to join the same cultural and emotional tier.

Reinventing identity in the digital age

In a world increasingly dominated by anonymous online interactions, trust has become the ultimate currency, and Airbnb knows it. From its earliest days, the platform’s success hinged on strangers trusting strangers. That leap of faith involved sleeping in a stranger’s home, which only worked because of reviews, identity checks, and

Source: Statista

responsive support. Now that Airbnb aims to become a hub for booking realworld services, trust must be redefined and fortified.

At the centre of this transformation is identity. Brian Chesky doesn’t just want users to create profiles. He wants those profiles to become the gold standard of online authenticity. In his vision, an Airbnb profile could one day function as a digital credential, almost like a passport, that users could carry across platforms, services, and borders.

That may sound like a fantasy in today’s fragmented digital landscape, but Chesky is serious. He’s betting that a meticulously verified Airbnb identity will be more trustworthy than anything online.

This ambition requires going far beyond a photo and a phone number. Airbnb is now vetting service providers with rigorous background checks, license verification, resume screenings, and professional photography. The company is investing in biometric security features, holographic overlays, and reactive inks, similar to those used

to prevent counterfeiting on the government-issued IDs. It’s identity proofing on a whole new level, because it’s flashy and necessary.

Why the overkill? Because the stakes are higher. Booking a vacation rental is one thing. Inviting someone into your home for a haircut, massage, or tutoring session requires deeper psychological assurance. Airbnb is building a framework where trust isn’t implied; it is engineered.

There’s a broader ambition at play. If Airbnb succeeds, it could pioneer a new form of decentralised, userowned identity. In a future where people distrust large tech companies and governments are slow to adapt, a neutral, globally recognised digital credential could transform the landscape. Chesky knows this is a stretch goal and one worth reaching for.

The challenge? Airbnb is not alone. Facebook tried and failed to become a universal identity layer. Apple, Google, and Microsoft all have their own ambitions in this space. But Airbnb has one key advantage. It already has a strong track record of managing high-stakes interactions between strangers. It knows how to handle disputes, mediate claims, and prevent fraud.

Ultimately, trust is not just a feature for Airbnb. It is the product. And as the company expands its scope, this product will need to be rebuilt step by step, brick by digital brick, to meet a new and even more demanding standard. In Chesky’s mind, belonging isn’t possible without trust. And now, trust must be designed as deliberately as any interface or business model Airbnb has ever built.

Lessons from a flop turned flagship

Airbnb’s new wave of ambition includes something old with a fresh

BRIAN CHESKY

coat of strategy, namely, Experiences. Launched in 2016 with high hopes, Airbnb Experiences promised to let travellers do more than just stay in a location because it invited them to live like locals, guided by hosts offering activities ranging from dumplingmaking to architectural tours. But the programme flopped. Interest waned, inventory stagnated, and the excitement faded. Fast forward to 2025, Brian Chesky is betting big on the reinvention of that same concept.

Why bring back something that failed? According to Chesky, the original Experiences launch wasn’t flawed in vision but in timing and execution. The infrastructure wasn’t ready. The user base wasn’t large or engaged enough. Airbnb, still focused on scaling its core rental business, didn’t have the bandwidth to support it. The product quietly lingered in the background, underdeveloped and under-promoted.

This time, things are different. Airbnb has matured, and the ecosystem is ready. With a massive, engaged global user base and a richer tech backbone, Experiences is returning not as a side project, but as a core pillar of Airbnb’s identity. The numbers speak volumes, with more than 22,000 Experiences available across 650 cities, and a growing roster of high-end, curated offerings labelled “originals.” These are hosted by top-tier professionals such as star chefs, elite athletes, and even celebrities like Conan O’Brien.

Chesky has learnt from his past mistakes. Rather than a big bang rollout followed by silence, the relaunch features a steady cadence of promotional drops and exclusive events. The goal is to create a rhythm that keeps users curious and engaged, more like a content platform than a travel add-on. Airbnb encourages users to plan their

trips and discover memorable activities for the upcoming weekend, all within the app.

Experiences now benefit from deeper integration into the Airbnb app itself. The design team has made them easier to find, more visually compelling to browse, and quicker to book. The hot-air balloon icon representing Experiences on the app's home screen is not just decorative but serves as a gateway to a new kind of engagement that is spontaneous, local, and personal. Of course, the risks remain. Experiences must scale without losing their artisanal, one-of-a-kind charm.

Airbnb has to ensure safety, quality, and consistency across vastly different geographies and cultures. There is also the issue of regulation, since offering services like culinary classes or wellness treatments can bring local licensing complications.

If Airbnb can overcome those hurdles, Experiences could be more than a profitable side business. They could become the emotional core of the platform, the feature that connects users to real people, real stories, and real memories.

As Chesky put it, the original Experiences was Airbnb’s “Newton,” meaning it was a too-early precursor to something that could eventually be game-changing.

Now, rebooted and reimagined, Experiences has the potential to become Airbnb’s iPhone moment, the product that changes everything.

Chesky’s return to the product trenches

There is a moment in every successful founder’s journey where they must choose between staying involved in the weeds or stepping back to let professional managers take over. For

Brian Chesky, that moment came during the COVID-19 pandemic. When Airbnb lost 80% of its business in a matter of weeks, survival required more than delegation. It required leadership grounded in obsession. And Chesky stepped in. That decision marked the beginning of what he now calls “Founder Mode,” a state of hands-on, deeply detailed, and often intense leadership that goes far beyond executive oversight. This is not micromanaging for the sake of control. It is about product-level immersion. For Chesky, this meant showing up to every design review, obsessing over

copywriting, layout, button shadows, iconography, and more. Every corner of the Airbnb experience had to be re-evaluated. If Airbnb was going to reinvent itself, the founder had to be back in the trenches.

Not everyone welcomed the shift at first. Some employees saw the reengagement as overbearing. The culture had drifted toward consensus and process, away from urgency and instinct.

As Chesky became unapologetically meticulous, something changed. Clarity returned. Momentum returned. The company stopped trying to please

committees and started building again.

Brian Chesky’s approach echoed the founder-driven ethos popularised by Paul Graham of Y Combinator, who later wrote an essay inspired by Airbnb titled “Founder Mode.” Graham argued that only founders truly know what a company should become. Listening too much to external managers, he warned, can dilute the vision. Chesky became the poster child for a new wave of founderled craftsmanship.

His team now expects and respects the intensity. Product reviews with Chesky can swing from philosophical

to painstakingly granular. Chesky might rewrite a headline mid-meeting, question the spacing on a profile card, or pull up screenshots of rival apps on the spot. While that can make team presentations nerve-wracking, the result is cohesion. The app, the brand, the company—it all begins to feel like it came from a single mind.

This kind of leadership is not scalable forever. Eventually, Airbnb will need other leaders who can operate with a similar vision and intensity. But for now, Founder Mode is fuelling a renaissance at the company. Chesky

BRIAN CHESKY

is not just overseeing a transformation. He is architecting it one pixel at a time and one principle at a time.

It is a vivid reminder that great products often come not from efficient processes, but from unrelenting obsession. In Chesky’s case, his return to the product trenches may be the thing that turns Airbnb’s next chapter from just another evolution into something iconic.

Can Airbnb compete on so many fronts?

Brian Chesky’s vision for Airbnb is sweeping. He wants to turn a travel company into a services super-app, a trust platform, a credentialing authority, and a cultural hub. It is a bold move worthy of admiration. But it also raises a difficult question. Can Airbnb compete on all these fronts without losing its focus?

The market Airbnb is entering is not just enormous. It is fragmented, entrenched, and fiercely competitive. For every category Chesky wants to touch, there is already a dominant player. Instacart and DoorDash dominate local services. Yelp handles discovery. OpenTable manages dining. Eventbrite curates experiences. Craigslist covers almost everything else. Then there are the tech giants such as Apple, Google, Meta, and Microsoft, each with greater reach, deeper pockets, and in many cases, a head start.

Airbnb’s traditional moat has been its trust infrastructure in short-term rentals: user reviews, verified identities, and effective dispute resolution. But applying that same model to high-touch services such as massages, personal training, or hairstyling pre-

sents new challenges. There is no room for error. One bad experience, such as a bad haircut, a missed chef appointment, or an uncomfortable massage, can damage more than one night. It can erode trust across the entire platform.

Each new vertical brings different regulations, user expectations, and logistical issues. Booking a rental is transactional, while booking a service is relational and full of unpredictable variables.

Is Airbnb prepared to resolve disputes between a nail artist and a dissatisfied customer? What happens if a service provider forgets an appointment or performs poorly? These scenarios are not theoretical. They are inevitable at scale.

Internally, the challenge is equally steep. Expanding across many categories could stretch Airbnb’s culture, product roadmap, and engineering bandwidth too thin. The company is no longer refining one product. It is trying to build a platform that serves hundreds of micro-industries, each with unique behaviours and expectations. Few companies manage such complexity while maintaining a coherent user experience.

Chesky’s bet on identity is similarly bold. The idea of Airbnb becoming a universal digital credential is almost a moonshot. Governments are slow to recognise private-sector IDs. Facebook tried and failed. Apple, Google, and others have more institutional reach. While Airbnb has trust credibility, convincing the world to treat a vacation rental profile as a legitimate form of ID is a steep climb.

There is also the risk of user confusion. Including more features, icons,

and flows could bloat the platform. Airbnb’s simplicity has always been its secret weapon. Since it is an app you open a few times a year, it still feels intuitive. Turning it into a daily-use super-app may overwhelm casual users who want to book a place to stay.

Chesky is not naive about these risks. He knows that reinvention is a gamble. But he believes the greater risk is standing still. A profitable yet stagnant product is still vulnerable to disruption. In that sense, expansion is not just ambition but also self-preservation. Success will hinge on execution. If Airbnb can integrate new services while maintaining its design clarity, scale without losing trust, and build a cohesive experience that feels useful rather than crowded, it could redefine how people interact with the real world through technology. If it cannot, it may become a cautionary tale about a company that tried to do everything and ended up excelling at nothing.

Brian Chesky’s gamble is now in motion. The Airbnb CEO is betting that the future belongs to platforms that do not just fulfil one need but anticipate all of them. In his mind, to truly belong anywhere, you should be able to do anything.

Saudi maritime push strengthens global trade links

IF CORRESPONDENT

Saudi Arabia's investment in its maritime sector may lead to a shift in global trade logistics, reducing reliance on conventional routes. The Kingdom is positioning itself as a global logistics hub, enhancing its maritime infrastructure and prioritising sustainability, all thanks to its strategic location at the crossroads of international trade.

This initiative is a major component of Saudi Arabia's "Vision 2030" economic diversification programme, which aims to reduce the Kingdom's dependency on oil revenues.

Omar Hariri, the president of the Saudi Ports Authority, announced in August 2024 that, thanks to fruitful partnerships between his organisation and the private sector, investments in the Kingdom's maritime industry have surpassed SR25 billion ($6.66 billion).

Hariri stated that partnerships with both domestic and foreign businesses have led to large investments over the last four years.

Pierroberto Folgiero, CEO of Fincantieri, one of the world's largest shipbuilding companies, discussed how Saudi Arabia's investment in maritime infrastructure is influencing the course of international trade routes.

“By expanding its shipbuilding capacity and enhancing its logistics infrastructure, the Kingdom can address global supply chain bottlenecks, strengthen its maritime influence, and foster resilience in international trade flows,” he said.

Saudi Arabia’s maritime investments are poised to reshape global trade logistics

Folgiero stated that his company views this as an opportunity to leverage its shipbuilding and maritime technology experience, adding that Saudi investments in cutting-edge maritime infrastructure could open up alternate trade routes and reduce dependency on chokepoints like the Suez Canal.

“Investments in shipbuilding, ports, logistics, and shipping services have allowed the Kingdom to capitalise on its geographic advantages. Notable projects include the development of the King Salman International Maritime Industries Complex in Ras Al-Khair, set to become one of the world’s largest shipyards, and the modernisation of key ports such as the Jeddah Islamic Port and King Abdulaziz Port,” he said.

According to the CEO, Saudi Arabia is advancing its shipbuilding and maritime technology by forming strategic alliances with leading companies across the globe.

“These collaborations focus on transferring expertise and technology, accelerating the Kingdom’s evolution into an influential player in the international maritime and shipping sectors,” Folgiero continued.

He highlighted that a key component of Saudi

INSIGHT SAUDI ARABIA

Cargo quantities of Saudi Arabia's ports from 2014 to 2023

marine budget in Saudi Arabia from 2015 to 2019

Total number of passenger arrivals at ports in Saudi Arabia from 2018 to 2022

Arabia's maritime strategy is its focus on smart ports, which use automation, IoT, and AI. By streamlining trade, increasing transparency, cutting costs, and speeding up turnaround times, these technologies will make the Kingdom a desirable location for international shipping and logistics firms.

Fincantieri Arabia, a subsidiary specialised in shipbuilding, maritime systems and equipment, and naval logistics support services such as training and simulation, was established in May 2024.

According to Folgiero, this expansion will strengthen Saudi Arabia's maritime presence internationally, localise technology, and create jobs.

National developments

The expanding maritime industry in Saudi Arabia will benefit more than just well-known foreign corporations.

Launched in 2024, Folk Maritime, supported by the Public Investment Fund, initially ran two routes but now operates twice as many. Poul Hestbaek,

the company.

He emphasised the Saudi government's proactive measures to modify its regulatory structure and attract international investors to the sector, adding that his business is fully aligned with these initiatives to promote innovation in maritime commerce.

“As Saudi Arabia modernises its regulatory framework, we are leveraging the adoption of digitisation, automation, and AI-driven solutions to optimise port operations and streamline the logistics chain. This transformation is enhancing Saudi Arabia’s position as an attractive destination for international investors,” Hestbaek noted.

According to Hestbaek, his organisation contributes significantly to this change, particularly with its growing fleet and direct liner services along key routes, such as those connecting India with the Gulf and the Red Sea.

He also emphasises Folk Maritime's contribution to increasing cargo efficiency

on key trade routes, such as the Red Sea and the Gulf.

“As we increase regional shipping capabilities and expand our fleet, key economic indicators to watch include the growth in port throughput, the development of new shipping routes, and the rise in non-oil exports,” the CEO said.

Sustainable maritime operations

Hestbaek stressed that Saudi Arabia aims not only to grow the industry but also to ensure that its expansion is sustainable.

“We are aligned with Saudi Arabia’s net-zero carbon by 2060 goals, incorporating advanced green technologies into our fleet, using energy-efficient technologies to reduce emissions, and optimising fuel consumption,” he said, explaining how sustainability is at the core of his company’s operations.

Hestbaek highlighted Folk Maritime's commitment to decarbonisation through adherence to global standards, prioritising International Maritime Organisation regulations, implementing alternative

the former CEO of Hamburg Sud, heads

Total number of passenger departures at ports in Saudi Arabia from 2018 to 2022

Volume of goods unloaded at commercial ports in Saudi Arabia from 2015 to 2021

fuels, and substituting environmentally friendly vessels, such as the M/V Folk Jeddah, for older ones. The company has recently acquired 5,600 recyclable containers.

The maritime industry is constantly concerned about security, as evidenced by the Houthi-led attacks in the Red Sea. Hestbaek stressed Saudi Arabia's multifaceted strategy for protecting shipping lanes from cyber and physical threats.

“The Kingdom works closely with international and regional partners to counter piracy and maintain secure sea routes in the Arabian Gulf, Red Sea, and beyond. Saudi Arabia has invested in state-of-the-art naval and coast guard assets, as well as enhancing port security to safeguard ships and cargo,” he continued.

According to the CEO, cybersecurity is a major concern for Saudi Arabia and Folk Maritime, and the company plans to protect its operations by working with domestic and foreign authorities.

“We are committed to safeguarding our fleet and digital infrastructure from emerging cyber threats, implementing cybersecurity measures such as secure communication channels, real-time monitoring systems, and advanced protocols for data protection and cargo tracking,” Hestbaek remarked.

Maritime tourism

There is also more to the maritime sector than simply moving cargo from one port to another. In line with Vision 2030's objective of establishing Saudi Arabia as a global centre for tourism, Saudi gigaprojects like NEOM and the Red Sea are revolutionising the Kingdom's cruise ship sector, according to Folgiero of Fincantieri.

“Futuristic cities like The Line and Sindalah Island, alongside the ecotourism focus of the Red Sea Project, offer bespoke and sustainable experiences that cater to the high-end travel market, sharpening Saudi Arabia’s competitive edge in the global tourism landscape,” he said.

To ensure the Kingdom takes full advantage of this, the sovereign wealth fund PIF-backed Cruise Saudi was established in 2021 to bring in one million passengers annually by 2035.

Additionally, by 2035, it aims to create 50,000 direct and indirect jobs in the cruise industry. In December 2024, Cruise Saudi launched its first ship, the Aroya, at Jeddah Islamic Port. The ship has 19 decks, 1,678 cabins and suites, and space for up to 3,362 passengers.

Saudi Arabia’s maritime investments are poised to reshape global trade logistics, offering new trade routes and boosting economic growth. By focusing on sustainability, technological innovation, and strategic partnerships, the Kingdom is diversifying its economy and enhancing its position as a leading global player in the maritime and tourism sectors.

Masah drives Riyadh's eco-friendly construction boom

Innovative structural design engineering solutions were proposed by the Masah in-house engineering department to reduce sub-structure costs and secure projects

Riyadh is experiencing an unprecedented construction boom, driven by Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030 initiative aimed to diversify the economy and transform the capital into a global metropolis. This surge encompasses a multitude of projects spanning entertainment, culture, sports, and urban development.

One of the companies driving these efforts is Masah Construction Company, which was recently awarded several projects with leading private developers in New Riyadh.

Masah is on a mission to deliver challenging projects on schedule, within budget and according to the required quality and specialisation. The company's team of experts has helped it achieve an unparalleled success rate with its valuable clients while mastering the capability to execute projects exceeding expectations, thereby making Masah one of the trailblazers in Saudi's construction sector.

"We are proud to play our part and have successfully been awarded several projects with the leading private developers in New Riyadh," Masah told International Finance, while giving a sneak peek of some of its key projects fuelling Riyadh's transformation.

Prominent among them is "Oud Reserve," which Masah stated, "From the creators of Oud Square in the Diplomatic Quarter, Oud Real Estate signed Masah to deliver their latest offering Oud Reserve in the Al Malqa District. The destination offers an exclusive collection of first-of-its-kind office mansions, a boutique hotel, Oud Club for private memberships, and a selection of restaurants and luxury brands."

Together with JADWA, the largest manager of listed REITs in Saudi Arabia and one of the largest managers of private real estate funds in the region, Oud Real Estate and Masah are on course to open this unique development in 2026.

Masah was instrumental in getting the project to go live providing design and value engineering services during the tender stage to meet the developer’s budget. Innovative structural design engineering solutions were proposed by the Masah in-house engineering department to reduce sub-structure costs and secure the project.

Another crucial project for Masah has been "Palm View." Masah was selected by Albasateen, a prestigious real estate developer, renowned for delivering exceptional luxury properties, combining innovative design with high-quality craftsmanship, to build the Palm View exclusive office spaces in the Al Diryah District.

Initially, Masah was appointed as the structural contractor after providing a structural solution which added a third basement to the property, thereby

increasing the parking infrastructure to enable added value to the leasing plan. Subsequently after delivering the works ahead of schedule the MEP and Finishes packages have been awarded to Masah to complete the asset.

"Overlooking a breathtaking view of a million palm trees the development is currently being fought over by multiple high-profile public and private sector clients to secure the space for their head offices. We look forward to opening the building in 2025," Masah remarked.

Masah and Investors Vision Company have combined their residential real estate experience with an ambitious plan, in line with the Kingdom’s "Vision 2030" economic diversification agenda, and a strategy that focuses on constructing several residential towers on King Fahd Road in the Al Nakheel District. The height of each tower will be about 130 metres, with thirty floors above ground.

"The development that the entire city of Riyadh is experiencing has created a need for investment in vertical residential complexes. The development is international in style and desirable to those looking for high-end residences and stunning highrise views across the Capital. With the structure of the first North Tower completed, we have been awarded the MEP and Finishing packages in a race to open the building in line with strong off-plan sales and are working with the developer to accelerate the construction of the balance towers for 2026 openings," Masah concluded.

BANKING AND FINANCE

Apart from their natural characteristics, neobanks have adopted the platform model: partnership with specialised fintech companies via open APIs

Shaping the future: Rise of digital-only banks

IF CORRESPONDENT

The banking sector is changing fundamentally. Digital-only financial institutions (neobanks and challenger banks) are completely redesigning the existing banking paradigm from the ground up rather than merely changing it. These organisations are reinventing how we view and engage with financial services in the current day by using innovative technologies and centring user experience in their design.

Unlike conventional banks, hampered by antiquated IT systems, neobanks are designed around cloud-native, API-first technology

In plain words, a digital-only bank provides banking facilities exclusively through digital platforms such as mobile, tablets, and the internet. It offers basic services in the most simplified manner with the help of electronic documentation, real-time data, and automated processes.

In the West, where consumers demand flawless digital experiences and smartphone usage is almost ubiquitous, neobanks are gathering at an unheard-of speed. Deloitte claims that over 25% of banking consumers in the United Kingdom and over 15% in the United States now primarily or secondarily source their financial needs from digital-only institutions. Reflecting rapidly evolving consumer behaviour and paving the way for a redefined financial ecosystem, these figures are projected to quadruple by 2030. Neobanks are ready to satisfy a generation used to on-demand services and real-time

responsiveness, while traditional banks struggle to remove decades of bureaucratic baggage and antiquated technology.

Fintech integration: The neobank engine Fundamentally, neobanks are fintech: the combination of finance and technology that lets them provide flawless, quick, highly customised banking services. Unlike conventional banks, hampered by antiquated IT systems, neobanks are designed around cloud-native, API-first technology.

Their quick response to customer feedback, fast rollout of new features without long downtime or integration lags, and rapid innovation (enabled by this technological edge) allow them to stay ahead of customer expectations. Standard options now are real-time transaction alerts, predictive budgeting tools driven by artificial intelligence, dynamic savings objectives, and frictionless account registration.

Consider Monzo as a case study, its gamified savings pots and segmented cost tracking simplify and even make budgeting fun. Conversely, fintech giant Revolut has become a worldwide financial super-app, combining crypto trading, stock investing, travel insurance, budgeting tools, and even foreign money transfers into one simplified platform. These features enter financial lifestyle management beyond banks.

Also, Revolut will now be investing over €1 billion in France over the next three years, marking a significant milestone in its expansion strategy across the European Economic Area (EEA).

Apart from their natural characteristics, neobanks have adopted the platform model: partnership with specialised fintech companies via open APIs. The marketplace of Starling Bank lets users combine outside solutions for chores ranging from tax filing to asset management, therefore depicting how neobanks may provide breadth without compromising central competency. Through partnerships and data monetisation, this ecosystem strategy not only improves user experience but also generates fresh income sources.

Regulatory difficulties: Managing the compliance maze

Neobanks are not immune to regulatory difficulties, notwithstanding their promise and polish. Their lack of physical infrastructure sharpens the scrutiny. Working just online calls for rigorous adherence to Know Your Customer (KYC), Anti-Money Laundering (AML), fraud prevention, and data privacy policies, often across several countries.

Recent controversy highlights these difficulties. The UK's Financial Conduct Authority fined Starling Bank £29 million in 2024 for AML compliance breakdowns. Concurrent with this, Revolut paid the Bank of Lithuania €3.5 million in penalties for similar failings. These incidents expose a trend: fastgrowing digital banks can surpass their internal systems for control.

Many neobanks scale before confirming controls, unlike traditional institutions that have spent decades creating compliance infrastructure and

auditing procedures. The outcome is rising pressure from central banks to improve due diligence and openness, as well as regulatory backlash. For example, the European Banking Authority has started closely monitoring digital-only banks and imposing capital adequacy rules and improved reporting requirements.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency has cautioned fintech-backed banks in the United States about poor risk management policies, which have resulted in probes and increased regulatory friction.

Developing confidence in digital domain

Any banking relationship is built mostly on trust. Neobanks have to provide a feeling of permanence and dependability even while they offer speed, convenience, and creativity. Lack of physical presence can lead to psychological distance; outages, however brief, can inspire mistrust.

Synapse's demise in 2024 exposed this frailty. Providing backend technology for hundreds of neobanks, their unexpected bankruptcy left thousands of clients unable to access their money. This crisis made clear the systematic reliance many digital banks have on outside vendors.

Neobanks are creating strategic alliances with chartered institutions more and more in order to guarantee deposit insurance and regulatory protection, therefore boosting confidence. While their counterparts in the UK depend on FSCS coverage, many Americans work with FDIC-insured banks. These guarantees provide consumers concerned about losing access to funds some peace of mind.

Another battlefield is security. Advanced cybersecurity tools such as biometric authentication, behavioural analytics, fraud detection engines, and encrypted communication channels are being included by several of the top digital banks. Given the frequency of phishing and social engineering attempts, customer education also becomes important.

McKinsey reports that more than 70% of consumers base their bank choice on digital security. Neobanks that mix strong security with open communication are gaining user trust more and more.

Driving the frontier of digital banking

Many digital-only banks not only survived but also changed industry expectations. Each has a different strategic approach catered to their consumer groups and markets.

Based in London, Revolut is the best worldwide financial super-app available. Having over 55 million customers and a presence in more than 35 countries, it provides retail banking, crypto, travel, and small business support, among other things. Its €1 billion investment in France helps Paris to be its European anchor following Brexit.

Targeting underprivileged consumers, Chime, American-based, aims to offer features like fee-free overdraft, early paycheck deposits, and automatic savings to help low-and middle-income consumers solve actual pain issues. It is now a major participant in mobile banking downloads and has over 20 million customers.

Lovable in the UK for its openness and clever in-app communications,

Source: Statista

Monzo crossed into profitability in 2024 and has since started its US operations. The bank's open policy has helped them build a very devoted clientele; their vibrant debit cards have become a cultural phenomenon.

Berlin-based N26 appeals to European Union (EU) citizens with a simple UI and understated feature set. Following Brexit-related licensing problems out of the UK, it turned even more focused on continental Europe and lately revealed intentions to re-enter the American market via alliances.

Notable also is Varo, the first US neobank granted a national banking charter. Varo controls more than Chime, which runs through partner banks, since it manages deposits alone. This increases its regulatory risk but also its control.

How countries approach neobanks

Every area presents different consumer habits and legal systems that influence neobank approaches. Early Open Banking rules and the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) creative approach have helped the United Kingdom lead in digital banking. From this rich environment, Monzo, Starling, and Revolut all emerged.

By contrast, the United States offers a more fractured scene.

Although the market is vast, statelevel licenses and federal monitoring hamper national implementation. Usually, using organisations like The Bancorp Bank or Stride Bank, most neobanks follow a partner bank model. But as Synapse shows, this dependence model can turn into a serious weakness.

With its harmonious Single Market, the European Union offers a middle ground. Uniform restrictions enforced by the European Central Bank and European Banking Authority include consumer protection rules and capital buffers. Still, compliance is not simple, especially given rigorous General Data Protection Regulation enforcement.

Cultural variations are important as well. Though they value privacy more highly than bells and whistles, European consumers often demand fewer of them. Gamified tools and prizes appeal to American customers. These subtleties influence marketing approaches, product development, and app design.

Market forecasts and growth pathways

Consensus among market experts is that digital-only banking is not a fleeting trend. With Europe and North America leading the way, Statista projects global neobank transaction volumes to reach $1.5

trillion by 2027. Adoption rates in the 18–34 age range are currently over 40% in metropolitan areas and rising yearly.

Money moves are still strong. Neobanks drew about $15 billion in venture finance worldwide in 2023 alone. Interest is still strong even if investor attention is moving from growth-at-any-cost to sustainable unit economics, especially in embedded finance bets in developing countries.

Still, for most, profitability is elusive. Apart from Monzo and Starling, many neobanks burn money in consumer acquisition.

Long-term sustainability depends on monetising consumers through lending, wealth services, or subscription tiers.

What the analysts say

Author of Bank 4.0, futurist Brett King argues, "We're seeing a change from banks as places to banks as platforms. Neobanks are only a starting point."

The next stage, according to CB Insights, will be "contextual finance,"

in which services, from ride-sharing to online shopping, are immediately included in user paths.

Bain & Company stresses client retention, meanwhile: "Users may be fickle with digital banks, but the right UX and emotional branding can inspire loyalty."

According to Accenture’s 2025 research, if given equal services, 60% of Generation Z would rather bank with a tech business than a conventional institution. This should be a warning as well as a chance, since neobanks have to keep changing to stay ahead of major tech invasions.

For neobanks, the road ahead is one of complexity and potential. They have to develop from transactional tools into complete financial systems if they are to flourish. Improving compliance systems will not be negotiable, not only to prevent fines but also to draw institutional collaborations. Radical openness, constant uptime, and proactive client assistance all help to develop trust. One must be quite diversified.

Offering mortgages, buy-nowpay-later choices, or robo-advice services will generate fresh income sources. Smart pricing, crossselling, and automation all help to engineer profitability. At last, reach and relevance will depend on ecosystem integration—that is, including services in various digital settings.

Neobanks and challenger banks are changing finance, not only how it is done but also what it entails. They have questioned the idea that banking had to be intimidating, physical, or sophisticated. Though obstacles in trust, profitability, and regulation still exist, their path is upward.

These institutions will not only upset but also change the financial system as we enter a mobile-first, data-driven age. They represent the present of banking, fast approaching a world in which every financial contact is intuitive, ingrained, and empowering rather than its future.

The FCPA prohibits companies from providing cash payments or valuable gifts to foreign officials for business advantages

FCPA suspension: A threat to global anticorruption?

IF CORRESPONDENT

While the first few months of "Trump 2.0" have been riddled with the Republican's obsession with tariffs (along with his urge to redefine US' trade ties all around the world) and unleashed chaos in the market, we will analyse a less-discussed topic: the new administration reportedly putting an end to decades of anti-bribery enforcement by repealing the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA).

In the words of American businessman Anthony Noto, "Businesses and their leaders, both domestically and internationally, must now negotiate a confusing new environment where political motivation might have an equal impact as established legal precedent."

Consider the instance of Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation. In April, a federal judge formally dismissed the Department of Justice's long-running bribery case against the company's two former bosses, Gordon Coburn and Steven Schwartz, who allegedly approved a $2 million bribe to expand in India, at the request of Alina Habba, US attorney for New Jersey and a former Trump defence attorney. The DOJ had abandoned a foreign bribery case for the first time since Trump was elected to a second term in office.

However, Noto observed a troubling trend where government prosecutors were increasing their efforts in specific high-profile cases while backing down from others. For example, they moved forward with a bribery case against Smartmatic, a London-based voting machine company that far-right conspiracy theorists falsely claimed helped steal the 2020 election from Trump in favour of former President Joe Biden, just weeks after Coburn and Schwartz were given a go-ahead. Ironically, two Smartmatic executives were the target of a lawsuit filed by the Biden administration in 2024.

Co-founder Jorge Miguel Vasquez and Roger Pinate, both of whom were born in Venezuela, were accused of bribing the Philippines with $1 million. Trump's DOJ is still pursuing the lawsuit in Miami. Confused lawyers were left wondering: Are some businesses no longer covered by the FCPA?

What's going on?

The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act makes it illegal for American firms and foreign companies with a US connection to bribe foreign officials.

While transparency advocates have credited enforcement of the law behind Uncle Sam's vigorous fight against foreign corruption, critics, including business leaders, have been vocal against the law putting American companies at a disadvantage in international markets where certain business practices are common.

Trump, a longtime critic of the FCPA, expressed similar concerns while signing the executive order that ended its enforcement.

The Republican summed up the situation, stating that "it sounds good on paper, but in practicality, it's a disaster. It means that if an American

goes to a foreign country and starts doing business there legally, legitimately or otherwise, it's almost a guaranteed investigation, indictment, and nobody wants to do business with the Americans because of it."

The FCPA prohibits companies from providing cash payments or valuable gifts to foreign officials for business advantages. While the law exempts certain "facilitation payments," it prohibits third parties from making bribes. This was enacted in 1977 following post-Watergate investigations that revealed widespread foreign bribery by US-based multinational corporations.

Concerned about the impact on US foreign policy and international standing, Congress responded by criminalising such practices, imposing prison terms and substantial penalties on violators.

Though initially focused on American companies, the law's jurisdiction has expanded substantially. It now extends to any foreign business or individual with connections to the US. This broad reach enables prosecutors to pursue cases against foreign firms. A good example was the case involving a Dutch company with a subsidiary based in Ohio that was accused of paying off Chinese officials through another subsidiary in Thailand.

The law had a significant impact on the development of anti-corruption laws around the world. In fact, in 1997, the Paris-based Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development used the FCPA as a model for its Anti-Bribery Convention, which now has 46 member countries.

While enforcement of FCPA was negligible in the decades following its enactment, the early 2000s marked a significant shift. The United States Justice Department and the Securities

and Exchange Commission (SEC), the two agencies responsible for enforcing FCPA’s provisions, ramped up enforcement, driven by emerging business scandals and new congressional requirements for corporate governance and financial reporting.

In recent years, US foreign bribery law enforcement has been robust, with the Justice Department and the SEC opening nearly 174 investigations between 2018 and 2021. Last year, the Justice Department alone filed 17 enforcement actions under the law. Latin America has emerged as a hot spot for investigators in recent years.

In 2016, two Brazilian companies agreed to pay a combined $3.5 billion after pleading guilty in a sprawling international foreign bribery case. US authorities investigated the case because the illicit payments were made through American bank accounts. In

2020, European aviation giant Airbus agreed to pay nearly $4 billion to resolve foreign bribery charges brought in by the United States, Britain and France. Airbus admitted using intermediaries to bribe government officials and airline executives to win lucrative contracts in China and other countries.

In January 2024, SAP SE, a German software company with offices in the US, agreed to pay $220 million to resolve investigations into bribery payments to South African and Indonesian officials. In December, Illinois-based aviation services company AAR Corporation agreed to pay more than $55 million to resolve investigations into bribery payments to government officials in Nepal and South Africa.

However, under "Trump 2.0," the ambiguity surrounding the FCPA has created a "Wild West" kind of scenario for businesses.

Frank Rubino, a lawyer for one of the charged Smartmatic executives, said, “I don’t understand why the government is taking an inconsistent position. They’re cherry-picking. You’re either going to prosecute all these cases or none of them."

He further argued that the Cognizant

Source: Food and Agriculture Organisation Number

scenario isn’t dissimilar to what’s being alleged against Smartmatic, with the only difference being the "one-eighty on the part of prosecutors."

During his thirty years in practice, Rubino has focused exclusively on federal white-collar crime, including cases involving alleged FCPA violations, in Coral Gables, Florida. To some extent, he concurs that the FCPA's enforcement can be overly stringent.

He claims that "the smallest thing," such as bringing a potential customer to dinner, may be interpreted as a transgression. However, the Trump administration appears to be favouring one company over another, which motivates him to prepare for a trial date in October 2025.

The executive order now imposes a six-month freeze on foreign bribery investigations by the Justice Department. Almost all FCPA cases will be suspended while Attorney General Pam Bondi conducts a review and revises enforcement guidelines. The executive order gives Bondi discretion to extend the pause for an additional six months. She has now directed federal prosecutors to prioritise FCPA cases involving cartels and transnational criminal organisations.

Trump: Vocal critic of the law

According to the law firm Greenberg Traurig, 2024 was one of the highestearning years since the FCPA's inception in 1977, with the DOJ and SEC collecting over $1.328 billion in total penalties. Over the last ten years, several well-known companies have been hit with bribery fines.

For example, Airbus settled for more than $3 billion in 2020; Goldman Sachs settled for $2 billion in relation to the 1MDB scandal; and Glencore, a mining company based in Switzerland, admitted guilt and paid more than $1 billion to resolve an investigation.

During his first term, Trump described the FCPA as a "dreadful law," claiming that it "actively harms American economic competitiveness."

As the Republican puts the law into abeyance for 180 days, Paris-based OECD has argued that a protracted FCPA pause "will not serve its intended purpose to restore American competitiveness and security."

By seriously endangering American businesses operating overseas and denying the US a deterrent tool it has

used to protect its ventures from unfair competition, it might achieve the exact opposite.

According to former OECD director Nicola Bonucci, Washington was temporarily at a disadvantage because other nations were ignoring bribery. He claimed that between 1977 and 1999, "the paradox is that the uneven playing field was a valid argument. Now, it's considerably less so."

"The standard was altered in 1999 when 46 signatory states, including the US, decided to band together and combat bribery globally as part of the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention," which Bonucci assisted in implementing.

According to Bonucci, US businesses doing business overseas are in a difficult situation, and if some businesses are treated differently from others, there may be a rise in bribery requests and more confusion.

“Bonucci claims that there is more uncertainty because it is unclear why some ongoing cases are being dropped while others are being pursued," the Voice of America reported.

The majority of defendants in FCPA

enforcement cases over the previous ten years were currently located in other nations and areas. Based on data from 2015 to 2024, a recent report from the law firm Gibson Dunn reveals that 62% of individual defendants and 50% of corporate defendants were based outside the United States.

Furthermore, foreign corporations contributed $6.11 billion of the $8.3 billion total, accounting for eight of the ten largest monetary settlements. If the US withdraws from the AntiBribery Convention or if the 180-day pause is extended, OECD chair Drago Kos anticipates that some countries may think that the Wild West of unpunished corruption is back.

Even before his first term, Trump had been a vocal critic of the law. In 2012, he called it a "horrible" and "ridiculous" statute that impeded American companies’ ability to do business abroad. Despite his criticism, FCPA enforcement surged during his first term in office, with 2020 marking a record-breaking year, according to the Morrison Foerster law firm.

The executive order framed the pause in enforcement as part of the president's broader agenda to "advance American economic and national security by eliminating excessive barriers to American commerce abroad," apart from mentioning that FCPA's scope has been "stretched beyond proper bounds and abused in a manner that harms the interests of the United States."

A White House fact sheet on the order further stated that the "overenforcement" of the law harms American companies and "infringes on the President's Article II authority to conduct foreign affairs."

"This concern about aggressive enforcement isn't new. There has been a focus on the quantity of enforcement actions compared to the quality of those enforcement actions. Enforcement has, in many cases, gone so far off the rails

that this law is being enforced in ways that do put companies at a competitive disadvantage," said Mike Koehler, a law professor and leading authority on the FCPA, who noted that both Republicans and Democrats have raised similar issues over the past two decades.

Transparency advocates, however, warn that suspending enforcement could deal a significant blow to global anti-bribery efforts.

"This pause will work to the advantage of unscrupulous business actors around the world who until now feared US criminal pursuits," Transparency International said in a statement calling on other OECD Anti-Bribery Convention members to increase their enforcement following Washington's policy shift.

Proximity to politics matters

As per the Associated Press, Smartmatic's voting machines were only utilised in Los Angeles County, a Democratic stronghold in a state that is not competitive, and that Republican candidate Donald Trump chose not to run for office after the 2020 election.

The Department of Justice continues to pursue this case. Observers note that the Trump administration has a pattern

of targeting perceived adversaries while favouring close relationships with its inner political circle. In line with this approach, Trump granted a pardon to Nikola founder Trevor Milton, who was convicted of defrauding investors in late March.

Throughout his campaign and the period leading up to his inauguration, the cryptocurrency industry contributed millions of dollars, and he did the same.

In March 2025, the SEC halted its investigations into Ripple, Coinbase, and Gemini, and he pardoned three BitMEX founders who had been found guilty of money laundering. This year, the SEC also dropped a lawsuit against Justin Sun, a cryptocurrency entrepreneur who, just after Election Day, invested millions in the Trump family's World Liberty Financial company.

It remains to be seen if businesses will now feel more confident when making cross-border transactions because of the moral guidelines the Trump administration seems to be establishing. In any case, analysts say that the current state of affairs is not favourable for the United States.

DealRoom CEO Kison Patel said, "I think there’s some sentiment that is

starting to shift. It’s not as glamorous to go into business or get acquired by an American company, just given all the current sentiments towards our administration right now."

As of mid-April, data tracker Dealogic reports that while volume is up in the Middle East/Africa (80%), Asia (99%), Japan (142%), Canada (53%), and Europe (9%), US M&A (merger and acquisition) activity is down 3% in 2025 compared to this time in 2024.

"The global anti-bribery movement has grown stronger and more interconnected, and the United States is swimming against the tide," Kos says, adding that most nations are unlikely to follow Washington's example if it repeals the FCPA or cuts ties with the OECD.

He argues that "the anti-corruption world is now strongly connected." While the withdrawal of one nation can be very challenging, it won't prevent the rest of the world from continuing the fight against corruption. In simple terms, other countries that maintain their commitment to leading by example for emerging economies can fill the leadership void left by the United States.

The Trump administration’s recent moves to suspend the enforcement of the FCPA signal a significant shift in US foreign policy. While proponents argue that it could level the playing field for American businesses, critics warn of the damage to global anti-corruption efforts and the growing uncertainty in the business environment.

As countries increasingly cooperate on anti-bribery initiatives, the US's withdrawal from these efforts could weaken its international standing. Despite this, the global commitment to fighting corruption remains strong, with other nations poised to step up in the absence of US leadership.

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'Monex USA prioritises seamless, faster payments'

CL RAMAKRISHNAN

Monex USA, a leading provider of international payments, corporate FX, and currency risk hedging services, recently participated in one of the first OBO payments under the revised rules in collaboration with Comerica Bank. This milestone reinforces Monex USA's commitment to delivering instant, cutting-edge payment solutions that emphasise speed, efficiency, and flexibility for the clients.

Mike Valadakis, Vice President of Partnerships and Digital Markets at Monex USA, leads strategic initiatives to drive growth and build impactful collaborations. With over two decades of experience across multiple industries, Mike has a proven track record of facilitating innovation and delivering results. He specialises in strategic planning, operational excellence, and leveraging emerging technologies to create groundbreaking solutions. Known for his dynamic leadership style and passion for teamwork, Mike is dedicated to driving success within his organisation while making a positive impact on the broader business community.

In an exclusive interview with International Finance, Monex USA's Mike Valadakis discusses the company’s integration of Real-Time Payments (RTP), its partnership with Comerica Bank, and the role of RTP OBO capabilities in enhancing payment speed and efficiency. He also highlights how this collaboration drives Monex’s digital transformation in payments and FX, reinforcing their commitment to seamless, 24/7 payment solutions.

What strategic goals does the integration of RTP OBO payments support for Monex USA in the near and long term?

Monex USA is committed to delivering exceptional value to its clients. The integration of RTP OBO payments aligns with this mission by offering clients seamless access to real-time payments 24/7. This improves the speed and efficiency of transactions and ensures greater flexibility and convenience, enabling businesses to operate more effectively in today’s fast-paced financial landscape. In the long term, this integration supports Monex USA’s strategic

OBO payments will integrate domestic operations by enabling quicker, more streamlined client transactions through RTP

goal of staying at the forefront of innovation, empowering clients with cutting-edge payment solutions that drive growth and success.

How does this collaboration with Comerica Bank reflect Monex USA’s broader vision for digital transformation in payments and FX?

This partnership marks a major advancement in Monex USA's vision for digital transformation in payments and foreign exchange. By bridging the gap between B2B and P2P payment experiences, we’re addressing the growing demand from business clients who expect the same ease, functionality, and efficiency they enjoy in their personal transactions. Partnering with Comerica Bank accelerates our efforts to modernise, enabling us to deliver seamless, secure, and scalable solutions. This alignment enhances our clients' experience and positions Monex USA as a leader in technology-driven payment solutions.

How does the RTP OBO capability enhance Monex USA’s existing offerings in international payments and corporate FX?

The RTP OBO capability significantly elevates Monex USA’s international payment and corporate FX offerings

by delivering faster, more efficient payment execution. Beyond speed, it boosts client cash flow and liquidity by enabling payments to be originated precisely when needed, minimising delays, and unlocking cash tied up in processing cycles. This feature also supports Monex's commitment to transparency, as clients gain real-time payment tracking, ensuring greater visibility into their transactions. Additionally, it streamlines workflows by allowing clients to automatically reconcile payments, reducing manual efforts and improving overall operational efficiency. This capability not only optimises payment processes but also strengthens Monex’s value proposition for corporate clients.

In what ways will OBO payments simplify your domestic operations and scale your ability to serve clients more efficiently?

OBO payments will integrate domestic operations by enabling quicker, more streamlined client transactions through real-time processing. While not required by regulation, this functionality is driven by market demand, ensuring businesses stay competitive. Monex USA not only offers these capabilities to its clients but also uses them internally, demonstrating its commitment to delivering practical, tested solutions that work.

Monex USA's existing technology stack, built on years of investment, was well-prepared for RTP implementation

How does RTP OBO improve your clients’ experience compared to traditional payment channels?

RTP OBO elevates our clients’ experience by offering swifter, more optimised payment solutions. While Monex is a leader in FX and cross-border payments, this same cutting-edge technology is used for domestic payments as well. As we evolve into a digital payments company, not just an FX provider, the ability to move funds quickly and securely across domestic and international markets strengthens our value proposition and ensures we meet our clients’ growing needs.

Can you walk us through how Monex USA implemented RTP OBO into your technology stack? Were there any key challenges or innovations involved?

Our existing technology stack, built on years of investment, was well-prepared for RTP implementation. Real-time communication between Monex and Comerica’s systems made the process smooth, showcasing how fintech partnerships can accelerate time-to-market for financial solutions.

How important is real-time data and transparency in your platform’s value proposition, and how does RTP contribute to that?

Real-time data and transparency are core to our platform. RTP strengthens these values by enabling instant payment tracking, simplifying account reconciliation, and streamlining workflows. It reinforces our dedication to providing quicker, transparent, and cost-effective solutions for our clients.

What kind of feedback have you received from clients regarding RTP-enabled OBO payments so far?

Clients value the seamlessness of RTP-enabled payments, as they require no extra effort on their part and deliver real-time benefits, quickly becoming an expected offering in their payment processes.

Which customer segments or industries do you see benefiting most from these new capabilities?

We serve a broad range of B2B and B2C clients, and these capabilities benefit businesses of all sizes. Industries focused on AP and AR solutions are particularly interested in leveraging RTP for real-time, integrated payment workflows.

How has Comerica Bank supported Monex USA throughout the integration and launch of RTP OBO capabilities?

Comerica Bank’s expertise in technology and regulatory compliance, combined with its strong market position, made the integration frictionless. Their support has ensured a smooth adoption process.

What makes Comerica Bank a strong partner in the context of innovation in payments?

Comerica Bank’s collaborative approach and expertise in secure, scalable payment solutions complement Monex’s goals. Together, we’ve demonstrated a shared commitment to modernising and innovating payment systems.

What’s next for Monex USA in the real-time payments space, and how do you plan to leverage RTP and OBO in future product innovations?

Monex USA is dedicated to expanding the possibilities of real-time payments (RTP) for existing clients, as well as future ones. In the short term, we are focused on unlocking new use cases to deliver faster, more efficient payment solutions. We will also focus on enhancing seamless, frictionless payment execution across domestic and international markets. By leveraging advancements in RTP technology, we aim to integrate real-time payment networks globally, allowing our customers to conduct transactions effortlessly. These innovations will position Monex as a leader in providing agile, future-ready payment solutions tailored to the evolving needs of our clients.

RICKSON D'SOUZA HNWI LIFE INSURANCE SPECIALIST, CONTINENTAL GROUP

How a financial advisor bridges generational gaps

Financial planning is rarely just about numbers. Behind every decision about investments, insurance, or legacy lies a deeper conversation shaped by personal history, generational beliefs, and family dynamics. Advisors are often brought in to offer clarity. But increasingly, the real work lies in bridging perspectives. When it comes to cross-generation wealth planning, trust is built quietly in the spaces between generations, where priorities shift, values diverge, and conversations can easily stall. A trusted advisor is an important figure in the room to help a family navigate those moments with empathy, clarity, and steadiness without taking sides.

Every

generation thinks differently about money

One of the first steps in bridging generational gaps is recognising that each generation views money through a different lens. These differences are neither good nor bad, but they are real. Baby Boomers, particularly those shaped by scarcity or economic volatility, tend to value stability, preservation, and long-term guarantees. Financial security is often rooted in predictability. For many of them, insurance, real estate, and steady cash flows represent peace of mind.

By contrast, Gen X and Gen Z are coming of age in an entirely different environment, where flexibility, access, and value alignment matter just as much as returns. They’re more comfortable with volatility, more sceptical of traditional institutions, and often more focused on purpose-driven investing. Understanding this divide doesn’t mean simplifying people into stereotypes. An advisor recognises these distinctions, not to box people

Advisors help families decide what their wealth means and what it is for

in, but to understand what questions and motivations are driving them and how each generation defines financial success.

Financial advice is a translation exercise

Advisors offer more than technical expertise. They bring the ability to translate across not just financial products, but across generational languages. When a parent talks about “protecting the family’s future,” they may be thinking of estate planning and long-term wealth preservation. Their adult children may hear something entirely different, perhaps a lack of trust, or a reluctance to let go. Similarly, when younger clients speak of “freedom” or “access,” older family members may interpret that as impatience or risk-taking.

That’s where a trusted advisor makes the difference. Their job is to make sure everyone at the table understands what’s really being said and why it matters. Often, it’s not the financial plan that needs adjusting. It’s the conversation around it.

Wealth without dialogue is risky

Despite best intentions, many families struggle to talk openly about money. Cultural norms, discomfort, and fear of conflict often keep legacy conversations on hold. But silence around wealth rarely preserves peace. More often, it leads to assumptions, misunderstandings, and planning gaps.

That’s why so many families now lean on trusted advisors to create space for these discussions, especially in regions like the Middle East and Indian subcontinent, where family dynamics and expectations play a central role. The most enduring legacies aren’t built through

assets alone. They take shape in the quality of dialogue that precedes the transition when everyone has a seat at the table and a chance to be heard.

Continuity means engaging future generations now

Too often, financial plans are built around the needs of the current decision-maker. That makes sense in the short term, but it creates vulnerabilities over time. A plan that works well for one generation may not translate to the next, especially if the logic behind it was never shared.

Advisors take a wider view. That means anticipating how needs will shift, how roles within the family will evolve, and how to future-proof decisions without overcomplicating them. They also involve future beneficiaries in the process, not necessarily in the decision-making, but in the understanding. Without that engagement, there’s a risk that inherited plans feel imposed rather than inherited. Even the beststructured solutions can fail if they’re met with confusion or resistance.

The advisor’s role evolves with the family

As wealth moves from one generation to the next, so does the advisor’s role. It shifts from being the architect of wealth to the custodian of legacy, then to a mentor guiding new stakeholders. It also involves practical

work like facilitating succession planning, adapting portfolios, revisiting insurance strategies, and adjusting to new career aspirations or life goals. That transition is rarely linear. Younger family members may not yet be ready to lead; older members may find it hard to let go. An advisor who can support both with empathy, respect, and flexibility helps ensure that the transition is both smooth and meaningful.

At the heart of an advisor’s work is a shift in mindset. Advisors help families decide what their wealth means and what it is for. When done right, financial planning becomes a conversation that connects generations. The best outcomes are seen not just in return on investment, but in the confidence of the next generation to carry the vision forward.

Rickson D'Souza, with nearly 25 years of experience accrued with reputable companies in the UAE, is not merely a seasoned insurance advisor but someone with a deep and nuanced understanding of the viability of various products in the Emirates. His unique advantage is also owed to the pedigree of his family’s six decades of experience in the insurance and financial services industry. Carrying the baton forward, Rickson has branched out into multiple insurance verticals while specialising in high-value solutions for leading entrepreneurs and HNWIs

Photo Credits: Warren Buffet’s Official Instagram

Warren Buffett’s guidance helped Berkshire navigate many economic booms and recessions

Warren Buffett: The genius behind market mastery

IF CORRESPONDENT

On May 5, 2025, news emerged about American multinational conglomerate holding company Berkshire Hathaway's board voting unanimously to name Greg Abel president and CEO starting in 2026, while legendary American investor and philanthropist Warren Buffett will stay chairman. The move started the transition process that will see Buffett step aside after six decades at the helm of the conglomerate.

Investors and analysts expect Abel, a Berkshire vice chairman, to uphold the $1.18 trillion conglomerate's track record of investing in companies for the long haul and eschewing dividend payments to shareholders.

Berkshire, which owns railroads, insurance companies, and an ice cream maker, has been preparing for this transition for decades. It came as a surprise, considering that the "Oracle of Omaha," while mentioning the possibility of retiring as Berkshire CEO, never provided a clear timeline for when that might happen.

FEATURE WARREN BUFFETT

Greg Abel, born in Alberta to a working-class family, graduated from the University of Alberta in 1984. Following his graduation, Abel worked at PricewaterhouseCoopers and energy firm CalEnergy. He then joined Berkshire Hathaway Energy (then known as MidAmerican Energy) in 1992, which Berkshire later took over, and became MidAmerican's chief in 2008.

By the time he was appointed Berkshire's new boss, Abel was already overseeing the conglomerate's non-insurance operations, such as BNSF, Berkshire Hathaway Energy, and dozens of chemicals, industrial, and retail operations. In 2024, he also assumed some of the capital allocation responsibilities previously managed by Buffett. In fact, the "Oracle of Omaha" stated in 2024 that he would want Abel to have the final say on decisions regarding Berkshire's portfolio of public stocks, a job previously thought to be left to others.

Many executives who work with Greg Abel call him a perceptive questioner who closely scrutinises financial metrics and wants to understand the businesses and how they're run.

A humble beginning

Born in 1930 in Omaha, Nebraska, Buffett was the second of three children and the only son of Leila and Congressman Howard Buffett. From a young age, the "Oracle of Omaha" found interest in markets and entrepreneurship. His real interest in the stock market and investing can be traced back to his spending time in the customers' lounge of a stock brokerage near his father's own brokerage office.

Total shareholder equity of Berkshire Hathaway from 2015 to 2024 (In Billion US Dollars)

Source: macrotrends.net

Howard cultivated and nurtured his young son's curiosity about business and investing further by taking him to the New York Stock Exchange. At 11, Warren bought three shares of Cities Service Preferred for himself and three for his sister, Doris Buffett. At 15, he made more than $175 monthly delivering Washington Post newspapers. In high school, he invested in a business owned by his father and bought a 40-acre farm worked by a tenant farmer. He purchased the land when he was 14 years old with $1,200 of his savings. By the time he finished college, Buffett had amassed $9,800 in savings (about $130,000 today).

Warren Buffett enrolled at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in 1947. He then transferred to the University of Nebraska, where he earned a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration in 1950. After being rejected by Harvard Business School, Buffett enrolled at Columbia Business School of Columbia University upon learning that legendary

American economist Benjamin Graham taught there. He earned a Master of Science in economics from Columbia in 1951, after which he attended the New York Institute of Finance.

Despite being born into an influential family, Buffett had to work his way up. He worked at his father’s firm, BuffettFalk & Co., as an investment salesman from 1951 to 1954.

From 1954 to 1956, he served as a securities analyst at Graham-Newman Corporation. Between 1956 and 1969, Buffett held several investment partnerships as the general partner. Since 1970, he has been the chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway.

In 1951, after discovering his mentor Graham on the board of GEICO insurance, Buffett knocked on the door of GEICO's headquarters, where he met Lorimer Davidson, GEICO's vice president, discussed the insurance business for hours, and made his first purchase of GEICO stock. It was the same Davidson, who later became Buffett's friend and a lasting influence.

Upon returning to Omaha, Warren Buffett worked as a stockbroker while taking a Dale Carnegie public speaking course, before going on to teach an "Investment Principles" night class at the University of Nebraska-Omaha.

In 1954, Warren Buffett accepted a job at Benjamin Graham's partnership. There, he worked closely with Walter Schloss (another investing behemoth). Graham's principle was all about picking stocks that would provide a wide margin of safety after weighing the trade-off between their price and intrinsic value.

In 1956, he retired and closed his partnership. At this time, Buffett, who had amassed personal savings of over $174,000 (about $2.01 million today), returned to Omaha and started a series of investment partnerships.

Beginning of the journey called Berkshire

By 1962, Warren Buffett became a millionaire, and his partnerships grew to 11 entities, holding over $7,178,500, of which over $1,025,000 belonged to Buffett. He also merged the various partnerships into the single entity Buffett Partnership, which would be his primary investment vehicle for the remainder of the decade. Buffett invested in and then took control of a textile manufacturing company, Berkshire Hathaway. His partnerships began purchasing shares at $7.60 per share.

In 1965, when Buffett's partnerships began purchasing Berkshire aggressively, they paid $14.86 per share, while the company had working capital of $19 per share. Buffett took control of

to run the company.

In 1966, Buffett closed the partnership to new money. However, he considered the textile business his worst trade. He subsequently transitioned his business to the insurance sector, and in 1985, the last of the mills that had been the core business of Berkshire Hathaway was sold.

A private business — Hochschild, Kohn and Co, a privately owned Baltimore department store — became Buffett and Berkshire's first investment. In 1967, Berkshire paid out its first and only dividend of 10 cents. In 1969, Buffett liquidated the partnership and transferred their assets to his partners, including shares of Berkshire Hathaway. He lived solely on his salary

FEATURE WARREN BUFFETT

Berkshire Hathaway at a board meeting and named a new president, Ken Chace,

of $50,000 per year and his outside investment income.

In 1973, Berkshire began acquiring stock in the Washington Post Company. Buffett became friends with Katharine Graham, who controlled the company and its flagship newspaper, and joined its board. Four years later, in 1977, Berkshire indirectly purchased the Buffalo Evening News for $32.5 million. Antitrust charges were instigated by its rival, the Buffalo Courier-Express. However, both papers lost money until the Courier-Express folded in 1982. In 1979, Berkshire expanded its media portfolio by acquiring stock in ABC (American Broadcasting Company).

In fact, Capital Cities Communications' announcement of purchasing a $3.5 billion stake in ABC in 1985 surprised the media industry, as ABC was four times bigger than Capital Cities at the time. Buffett helped finance the deal in return for a 25% stake in the combined company.

In 1987, Berkshire Hathaway purchased a 12% stake in investment bank Salomon, making it the largest shareholder and Buffett a director. However, the "Oracle of Omaha" had to don the role of crisis-solver. In 1990, a scandal involving John Gutfreund (former CEO of Salomon Brothers) surfaced. A rogue trader, Paul Mozer, submitted bids in excess of what was allowed by Treasury rules. When this came to Gutfreund's attention, he did not immediately suspend the rogue trader.

After Gutfreund left the company in August 1991, Buffett became Salomon's chairman until the crisis passed. However, this crisis didn’t stop Buffett from working his wonders in the market, as in 1988, Buffett began buying Coca-Cola Company stock, eventually purchasing up to 7% of the company

for $1.02 billion. It became one of Berkshire's most lucrative investments, which it still holds.

In 2002, Warren Buffett entered into $11 billion worth of forward contracts to deliver US dollars against other currencies. By April 2006, his total gain on these contracts was over $2 billion. Buffett also announced he would gradually give away 85% of his Berkshire holdings to five foundations in annual gifts of stock, with the largest contribution going to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

In 2008, Buffett became the richest person in the world, garnering a total net worth estimated at $62 billion by Forbes and $58 billion by Yahoo, dethroning Bill Gates, who had been number one on the Forbes list for 13 consecutive years. The next year, Gates regained the top

position on the Forbes list, with Buffett shifting to second place. Still, the 20082009 crisis took a toll on the duo's values, which dropped to $40 billion and $37 billion, respectively. According to Forbes, Buffett lost $25 billion over 12 months during 2008-2009.

Still, Buffett didn’t slow down, as he agreed to buy General Electric (GE) as "preferred stock," which included special incentives like an option to buy three billion shares of the aerospace giant, and Buffett also received a 10% dividend.

Berkshire’s quick elevation as market giant

In 2009, Warren Buffett invested $2.6 billion as part of insurance giant Swiss Re's campaign to raise equity capital. Berkshire already owned a 3% stake,

with rights to own more than 20%. Around the same time, the "Oracle of Omaha" acquired Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp (the largest freight railroad in the United States) for $34 billion.

According to American journalist and author Alice Schroeder, a key reason behind the move was to diversify Berkshire from the financial industry. And as the Financial Times Global 500 came out in 2009, Berkshire Hathaway became the eighteenthlargest corporation in the world by market capitalisation.

Berkshire's merger with Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway was valued at approximately $44 billion in 2010 (with $10 billion of outstanding BNSF debt) and represented an increase of the previously existing stake of 22%.

The "Oracle of Omaha" surprised investors and market observers in November 2011, as over the course of the previous eight months, Buffett ended up buying 64 million shares of IBM stock, worth around $11 billion. This unanticipated investment raised his stake in the company to around 5.5%, the largest stake in the tech giant alongside that of State Street Global Advisors.

The move came as a surprise due to Buffett's previously stated reluctance to invest in technology, as he "did not fully understand it." However, Buffett was impressed by IBM's ability to retain corporate clients.

Three years later, Buffett managed to bring his company back to its prerecession standards, and in Q2 2014, Berkshire made $6.4 billion in net profit, the most it had ever made in a three-month period. On August 14, 2014, the price of Berkshire Hathaway's shares hit $200,000 a share for the first time, capitalising the company

at $328 billion. While Buffett had given away much of his stock to charities by this time, he still held 321,000 shares worth $64.2 billion.

Decoding the investment game plan

The rule is simple: buying undervalued companies with strong fundamentals while having the uncanny ability to predict market trends and proactively identify winning investments. The "Oracle of Omaha" prefers investing in businesses with lasting advantages and a clear value proposition, while avoiding speculative bubbles and practicing long-term patience.

Warren Buffett’s guidance helped Berkshire navigate many economic booms and recessions. Over his six decades at the helm, the company delivered impressive compounded annual returns of almost 20% –virtually double those of the S&P 500 index.

As of May 2025, Berkshire has gained more than 55,000,000% returns over 60 years (1964-2024), with a net value of $1.2 trillion in the process, and last but not least, expanding its Class A shares to be worth $167 billion, according to a report by Bloomberg.

The figure is 39,054% on the S&P 500 stock index (with dividends included) or an annualised return of nearly 20%, close to double that of the S&P over the same period (1964-2024). Berkshire is now the most valued company in the world, despite not being a tech giant or oil producer. The company's market capitalisation is valued at $1.2 trillion, making it the eighth-largest in global public markets.

While 2025 has seen stock markets bleeding and wiping off billions from net worths, Buffett has added $13 billion to his wealth. In the words of

Chakrivardhan Kuppala, Cofounder & Executive Director of Prime Wealth Finserv, despite 2024 bringing the "bull market" cheer globally, Berkshire Hathaway quietly sold a staggering $134 billion worth of equities.

Instead of chasing phenomena like the AI wave, cryptocurrency, or IPOs, the "Oracle of Omaha" parked a massive amount of money into boring but safe US Treasury Bills, earning about 5% annually. That’s more than $14 billion in interest income in one year for just sitting on the sidelines.

Berkshire holds $330 billion in cash, with a majority in short-term Treasuries. That’s more than the combined market value of Starbucks, Ford, and Zoom.

Warren Buffett is obsessed with buying quality at a fair price. In 2024, he saw the market soaring beyond reason. In the words of Kuppala, "His favourite warning signal—the Buffett Indicator (Total Market Cap to GDP)— had breached 200%, a level he once called playing with fire. Historically, such levels preceded major market crashes. The last time this ratio peaked so high was just before the dot-com bubble burst in 2000 and the Great Financial Crisis in 2008. Another red flag? The S&P 500’s price-to-book ratio, which hit levels not seen since the late 90s—another period of overvaluation."

As Donald Trump returned to the White House in January 2025, so did the Republican obsession with tariffs (as a weapon to reset Washington's trade ties with its allies and other nations). Buffett has previously likened tariffs to economic warfare. And Berkshire is known for playing cautiously when there is a significant economic disruption like a trade war. Buffett’s rule is simple: Don’t lose money.

Also, he felt that "everything was just too expensive," valuation-wise. So, he stayed patient.

At the conglomerate’s recently concluded annual meeting, the billionaire said the recent market downturn was “really nothing,” pointing to times in Berkshire’s history when his company’s stock lost half of its value in short spans. His firm had been “pretty close” to spending $10 billion on a deal recently, but eventually decided against it. However, even in the ongoing market headwind, Berkshire shares have gained more than 11% in 2025, whereas the S&P 500 Index rose less than 1% during the same period.

Warren Buffett's approach was the same as his reaction to the 1999 dot-com mania, where he waited for the bubble to burst, and then bought. In 2008, he quickly bailed out Goldman Sachs and GE through strategic investments. In 2020, during the COVID-19 crash, he again acted cautiously. Buffett has been known for always going against the herd: Be fearful when others are buying and get greedy when there is a market panic.

"While markets panicked in 2025, Buffett wasn’t scrambling to sell. If prices fell further, he’d buy. If not, he’d collect interest. Win-win. Also, Berkshire’s massive cash pile may be part of a succession strategy. At 94, Buffett has already handed the reins to Greg Abel. That war chest? It’s not just a defensive shield. It’s a loaded gun for the next leader—ready to strike when the time is right," Kuppala noted.

The road ahead for Berkshire

Greg Abel inherits a company with about $348 billion in cash. While the capital base looks solid enough to deal with the ongoing global economic uncertainty, the new Berkshire boss faces challenges like maintaining the “Buffett Premium.”

Abel lacks Buffett’s cult-like following among investors, which may gradually erode the additional value the market assigns to Berkshire due to Buffett’s leadership. Without Buffett’s reputation, Abel may face increased pressure to effectively deploy Berkshire’s massive cash pile in a still-expensive stock market,

where valuations are high and finding bargains is harder than ever.

While Berkshire has increased its technology investments over the years (including positions in Apple and Amazon), balancing its legacy holdings (such as Coca-Cola and railroads) with growth sectors (AI, renewables) remains challenging.

Also, the conglomerate’s heavy reliance on coal and gas-fired utilities has drawn growing criticism as investors and regulators demand cleaner energy solutions. Buffett’s genius wasn’t just in picking stocks. It was also in capital allocation, dealmaking, and crisis management. For example, buying into Goldman Sachs during the global financial crisis. Will Greg Abel be able to replicate that? Only time will tell.

Photo Credits: University of Alberta

SHWE Bank: Leading Myanmar's financial growth

SHWE Bank's digital initiatives are integral to its strategy, helping customers perform transactions securely and efficiently

SHWE Bank stands as one of Myanmar's leading financial institutions, offering a wide range of products and services designed to meet the evolving needs of individuals and businesses. The bank prides itself on providing personalised, efficient, and secure banking experiences.

Founded with a strong vision to drive financial inclusion in Myanmar, SHWE Bank aims to provide reliable and innovative banking solutions. Its focus on customer-centricity, combined with cutting-edge technology, ensures that customers have access to services that meet both modern and traditional financial needs.

The bank's mission is to support the growth of Myanmar’s economy by offering comprehensive financial products tailored to diverse segments, from individual clients to large enterprises.

With a network of branches and ATMs spread across the country, SHWE Bank has made banking services more accessible, while its online banking platform allows customers to manage their finances from anywhere, anytime.

The bank’s digital initiatives are integral to its strategy, helping customers perform transactions securely and efficiently.

Personal banking products

SHWE Bank offers a wide range of services for individual customers, tailored to meet various financial needs. The bank’s savings accounts offer

flexible options for individuals looking to grow their wealth securely. Whether it's a regular savings account or a highinterest option, SHWE Bank ensures that every customer can find a suitable plan to help them achieve their financial goals. The bank offers a diverse portfolio of loan products, designed to help individuals make significant purchases or manage unexpected expenses with favourable terms.

For individuals looking to plan for the future, SHWE Bank also offers fixed deposit accounts, allowing them to invest their savings for a fixed term with a guaranteed return. The Myanmarbased bank has remained committed to supporting the local business community, offering tailored financial products for enterprises of all sizes. These business accounts provide companies with convenient banking services, allowing them to manage cash flows, make payments, and invest in growth opportunities.

Also, SHWE Bank's corporate loans are designed to help businesses expand, purchase equipment, or finance new projects. These loans come with competitive interest rates and offer flexible repayment options. Additionally, SHWE Bank provides trade financing services, which facilitate international trade by offering solutions such as letters of credit and trade guarantees, ensuring that businesses can

operate smoothly and safely in a global marketplace.

Digital and mobile banking services

As part of its commitment to digital transformation, SHWE Bank offers a comprehensive suite of mobile banking services, allowing customers to complete their banking activities directly from their smartphones.

This includes features such as bill payments, mobile top-ups, fund transfers, and more. The bank's internet banking service enhances customer convenience, allowing clients to manage their finances and make transactions securely online.

As per SHWE Bank's core banking journey, it initiated a bold modernisation journey to expedite new product launches, enhancing operational efficiency, and reducing costs. Faced with challenges posed by outdated core and digital banking systems, the bank responded by launching the Banking Transformation Project, aiming to migrate to new core banking solutions and a digital platform. After evaluating proposals from various solution providers, SHWE Bank selected the solution offered by Just-InTime Solutions Pte Ltd.

Despite its substantial scale,

the bank set an ambitious target of completing the project within nine months. With strong leadership, effective project management, and unwavering team dedication, the project successfully went live on September 9, 2023.

With SHWE Bank’s ATM network and banking agents, customers have convenient access to ba nking services across Myanmar, making it easier to deposit or withdraw cash or access other essential banking functions.

SHWE Bank’s Premier Banking Service exemplifies its commitment to excellence in priority banking. It demonstrates the bank's commitment to providing the best for its premier clients. Through new ideas, great service, and ensuring client satisfaction, SHWE Bank has made significant strides and gained industry recognition. It is worth noting that SHWE Bank recently received two prestigious awards from International Finance: 'Best Priority Banking – Myanmar 2024' and 'Most Innovative Digital Transformation – Banking –Myanmar 2024.'

SHWE Bank believes its Premier Banking Service is one of the best and is eager to share it with others.

US President Donald Trump’s tariff approach remains fluid, and his recent remarks suggest unpredictability more than strategic clarity

Consumers race to beat tariff costs

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The return of tariffs under President Donald Trump has rekindled this age-old shoppers’ conundrum with fresh stakes. Many people are looking at their shopping carts not just as a convenience but also as a tactic, as prices start to change, some gently and others more dramatically.

For now, many consumers are still holding back, betting on the chance that tariffs could be rolled back or offset through future trade negotiations

Legislators and economists aren’t the only ones noticing the ripples from these trade decisions. Conasumers with predictable future needs, such as baby gear or seasonal equipment, are also feeling the impact, prompting many who might otherwise wait to make purchases sooner. In today’s climate, that choice is less about immediate necessity and more about hedging against volatility. Take, for example, a new parent. A car seat may not be required until early next year, but early signs of price increases, especially in the baby products category, are giving consumers reason to act now. These aren’t just anecdotal fears.

According to price-tracking data from Keepa, categories such as baby gear and tools have seen noticeable price upticks, between 2.5% and 5% in recent weeks. For many, that’s enough to make an early investment feel not just smart but essential.

Amazon CEO Andy Jassy hinted at this trend on a recent earnings call, noting signs of heightened buying in certain categories, which could reflect

consumers stocking up ahead of anticipated price hikes.

Similarly, eBay has observed what could be prebuying activity, though it hasn’t pinpointed the exact sectors. There’s a growing sense that waiting could come at a cost, and some shoppers are opting to act now rather than face steeper prices or worse, product shortages, later.

Yet, for every proactive buyer, others are taking a wait-and-see approach. For now, many consumers are still holding back, betting on the chance that tariffs could be rolled back or offset through future trade negotiations.

This split in behaviour reflects the deeper uncertainty underlying today’s consumer landscape. With conflicting signals from tech giants, price trackers, and retailers, shoppers are left in a bind. Do you risk overpaying later by waiting? Or do you risk buyer’s remorse and potential financial strain by acting now?

International Finance will explore the chaos of economic policy, shifting prices, and personal financial constraints, which require a clearer understanding of macro forces and individual risk tolerance. Because in today’s market, the price tag doesn’t just reflect what something costs; it reflects what you believe will happen next.

The anatomy of a price hike

While macroeconomic uncertainty sets the tone for consumer hesitation, what’s happening behind the scenes on e-commerce platforms like Amazon is

equally telling. At the core of this unfolding drama is not just the impact of tariffs, but how online marketplaces, sellers, and consumers respond or exploit the system.

Andy Jassy has been keen to project confidence, stating that the platform has not seen prices surge “appreciably” so far. He points to Amazon’s massive supplier network and internal pricing controls as buffers against cost shocks.

The CEO emphasised Amazon’s “maniacal focus” on keeping prices low and competition high, noting that sellers are incentivised to hold prices steady to gain market share. But under the surface, pressure is building.

According to Jason Boyce, CEO of e-commerce strategy firm Avenue7Media, Amazon has quietly lifted its internal limits on price increases. Previously capped at modest weekly increments, the company allows certain sellers to raise prices by up to 10% per week. That’s five times the old threshold, an alarming signal that price surges may be coming fast and hard, especially in sensitive categories like industrial tools, electronics, and baby gear.

Compounding this is a surge in tariff evasion tactics. Dave Bryant, co-founder of EcomCrew, reports that some Asian factories are under-

declaring shipment values to reduce import taxes. While technically illegal, these moves are growing more common, driven by competitive pressures and razor-thin margins.

It’s a cat-and-mouse game with regulators, one that skews the playing field and keeps some prices artificially low. Amazon’s official position is firm: sellers must comply with all applicable laws. But in practice, the scale of enforcement is murky at best.

What does this mean for shoppers? It suggests that categories with intense competition, such as home goods, cables, or generic electronics, might remain relatively stable due to cutthroat pricing wars. However, niche and boutique products, especially those dependent on single-source suppliers or smaller production runs, are already seeing steep climbs.

Keepa, a price-tracking firm, shows the real-time ripple effects. Between mid-April and early May, average prices rose across 24 of 27 Amazon product categories. Items like tools and baby products saw jumps of 2.5% to 5%, with more increases expected. That $200 Graco car seat might soon cost $220, or even $300 if tariffs double as projected.

And yet, the messaging from major platforms remains cautiously optimistic. Executives at Reddit,

Amazon, Meta, Google, and Microsoft report that advertising spending is holding steady or even growing, a sign that companies don’t believe doomsday pricing will kill consumer appetite.

Reddit COO Jen Wong called it “mostly business as usual,” an attitude echoed across quarterly earnings reports.

Wall Street seems to agree. The markets are up, suggesting investors aren’t panicking over consumer pullback. But that optimism rests on shaky ground. Trump’s tariff approach remains fluid, and his recent remarks suggest unpredictability more than strategic clarity. Everything from baby monitors to industrial parts is in the crosshairs, including imports from countries that have never been traditional tariff targets.

Some companies are lobbying hard for exemptions. Baby monitor company Nanit, for instance, left

China years ago and manufactures in Malaysia. It still faces a 10% tariff that could rise to 24% by July.

CEO Anushka Salinas, like many others, is weighing early purchases herself, opting to buy her child’s bed earlier than planned. She represents a growing segment of CEOs preparing to weather the storm not just through funding and margins, but through personal choice.

These individual stories reflect a broader consumer sentiment. It’s not just about saving money anymore. It’s about staying ahead of uncertainty. In this strange new retail environment, even everyday purchases feel like market moves. For consumers, the question isn’t merely “Can I afford this now?” but “Can I afford not to buy this now?”

What emerges from this confluence of price dynamics, policy volatility, and behavioural shifts is a chaotic new normal. Platforms like Amazon are no longer just digital

storefronts; they’re battlefields where policy, profit, and panic intersect.

The real cost of an item is now tied to global trade policy, seller behaviour, enforcement loopholes, and your own appetite for risk.

Buying today is not just about convenience or savings; it serves as a hedge. This may be the most rational choice available in an economy filled with macroeconomic uncertainty.

Overlooked

alternatives in the tariff equation

As headlines swirl with stories of tech CEOs and trade policy negotiations, one crucial voice is consistently left out of the conversation: the lowincome consumer. For millions of Americans living paycheck to paycheck, the luxury of “buy now to save later” doesn’t exist.

When every dollar is stretched, the idea of pre-buying a car seat or stocking up on baby formula in

anticipation of tariff-induced price hikes is not a viable option. These consumers, already vulnerable to inflation, will be the hardest hit when prices inevitably rise.

This silent demographic is disproportionately affected by even minor price shifts. A 2.5% price increase on a $200 item may be inconvenient to the middle class, but for someone relying on EBT or struggling to cover rent, it could mean the difference between securing a needed product and going without. The pressure isn’t just economic; it’s moral. Families will be forced to choose between safety, nutrition, and financial survival.

Compounding the problem is the lack of visibility into more affordable alternatives. The mainstream narrative is focused almost entirely on new, brand-name products, yet secondhand markets, rental options, and community-sharing models remain underutilised and underpromoted.

Platforms like Facebook Marketplace, GoodBuy Gear, and even local parenting groups offer viable options for many consumer needs, from strollers to baby monitors. Despite being lifelines for millions, these alternatives are rarely part of the media conversation or policy discourse.

There’s also a digital divide in how this information is accessed. Many lower-income families lack the time, bandwidth, or online literacy to hunt for and navigate these options effectively. Tech platforms and policymakers are missing a

Average tariff rate on all imports in the United States from 2015 to 2024 (In Percentage)

Source: Statista

critical opportunity to democratise access to cost-saving resources by not integrating them more visibly into search results, e-commerce ecosystems, and public service campaigns.

Then there’s the matter of small and independent retailers, another overlooked casualty in the tariff debate.

While Amazon and Walmart can negotiate lower costs through massive volume and diversified supply chains, local shops and niche e-commerce businesses don’t have the same leverage. As tariffs push up import costs, these smaller sellers are more likely to fold or raise prices dramatically, further shrinking consumer choice and market diversity.

Ultimately, the current economic conversation is too narrow. It’s dominated by brand CEOs, Wall Street trends, and macro-level data while ignoring the realtime struggles of consumers and businesses on the margins. If we’re going to truly understand and respond to the evolving landscape of

consumer pricing, we must widen our lens.

This means treating affordability as an equity issue, not just an economic one. It means lifting second-hand economies and local solutions with the same seriousness we apply to Amazon’s pricing algorithm. And it means recognising that the most vulnerable consumers can’t afford to play the waiting game. For them, the system isn’t just uncertain; it’s already broken.

Buy now or wait later isn’t just a question of price, but also values, access, and strategy. The consumer economy has entered a phase where basic purchases, whether a car seat or a kitchen appliance, carry the weight of geopolitical shifts and economic hedging. Shoppers must now ask: What can I control, and what can’t? How much volatility am I willing to absorb? And most critically, what matters more to me, short-term affordability or long-term risk?

In this emerging trend, to be a savvy consumer is to be a thoughtful one, not paranoid, not reactionary, but informed. While the future of tariffs may be uncertain, one thing is clear: Shopping has never required more foresight than it does right now.

Ghana’s economic stabilisation: A new dawn?

IF CORRESPONDENT

Despite growing interest, Ghana's annual FDI has fluctuated due to macroeconomic uncertainty

Over the last four years, Ghana's foreign direct investment inflows have varied, slowed by worries about the country's debt load and macroeconomic stability. However, it is anticipated that investor confidence and FDI inflows will increase as the new administration proceeds with reforms.

Ghana's growing reputation as a West African investment powerhouse, combined with its track record of political stability and business-friendly regulations, helps draw in foreign capital. The industries that demand attention include financial services, tourism, infrastructure, mining, oil and gas, agriculture and agro-processing, particularly cocoa, and information and communications technology.

China, the United States, Germany, Japan, Italy, and Ireland are among the larger economies with businesses operating in Ghana. Procter & Gamble, Volkswagen, Toyota, and Sinotruk are among the more well-known brands. International telecom providers include Vodafone, AirtelTigo, Huawei Technologies, and MTN of South Africa.

Incoming mining operators include Newmont Ghana Gold Ltd, Gold Fields Ghana Ltd, and Anglogold Ashanti Ghana Ltd., while foreign companies seeking to increase production are also entering Ghana's relatively new oil industry. These companies include Tullow Oil, Kosmos Energy, and Italy's ENI.

Despite growing interest, Ghana's annual FDI has fluctuated due to macroeconomic uncertainty, culminating in a debt crisis in 2022.

According to Macrotrends, an investor research platform, FDI inflows into Ghana increased by 35% to $2.5 billion in 2021. However, inflows fell to $1.3 billion in 2023, a 7.6% decrease from 2022.

Stabilisation successful

When Ghana and the International Monetary Fund finalised a loan support agreement in May 2023, it might have marked the start of a new era. The stabilisation was further reinforced by the presidential election in December 2024.

In a December 2024 report, the IMF stated, "The capital and financial account is expected to gradually improve over the coming five years, with FDI projected to increase to 3% of GDP by 2028 following the completion of the debt restructuring and gradual reform implementation."

Recently, fund representatives visited Accra to evaluate Ghana’s economic performance and structural changes under the stabilisation plan.

In his March 2025 budget speech, Minister of Finance Cassiel Ato Forson said, "The commitment to continue implementing the ongoing IMFsupported programme and reforms to forge macroeconomic stability and debt sustainability will restore investor confidence, resulting in further improvement in FDI flows."

According to Ghana's Exemption Act of 2022, manufacturing, minerals and mineral processing, mining by Ghanaian indigenous people, oil and gas (value addition), real estate (property development and road infrastructure), pharmaceuticals, agro-processing, and tourism are among the priority investment sectors that will benefit from investor tax incentives.

Politically speaking, Marcel Okeke, a former Senior Economist at Zenith Bank, Nigeria's top lender, argues that Ghana's peaceful election in December means that democracy has come to stay."

John Dramani Mahama, a former president, was chosen by Ghanaians to succeed President Nana AkufoAddo. There was no demand for court intervention during the changes in government and political party, which suggests that a time of stability may be on the horizon.

There have been some benefits from the financing arrangement with the IMF. A bigger trade surplus and more IMF borrowing were the main drivers of Ghana's modest gains in external

ECONOMY FEATURE GHANA FDI DEBT

reserves, which grew to $8.8 billion in 2024 from about $6 billion the year before.

Notwithstanding these encouraging indications, difficulties still exist. Although the increase in reserves is a good thing, Ghana still owes $28.3 billion in external debt, which includes a portion of eurobonds whose payments have had to be postponed. In 2027, more than half of the $8.7 billion in foreign debt service is due.

"We will fix it," Forson said, adding that "these humps are cancerous and pose a significant risk to the economy."

With only $8.8 billion in total reserves, Ghana's central bank might run out of money in roughly three and a half months because it owes the IMF about $2.5 billion, or nearly 30% of its reserves.

Emeka Ucheaga, head of Research and Business Intelligence at Credit Direct, a financial company based in Lagos, said, "The reserves are too low to offer tangible protection to investors in the event of external shocks."

Ucheaga cautions that despite the economy's improved GDP growth in the second and third quarters of last year, macroeconomic fundamentals are still precarious. Rising inflation is eroding investor profits and purchasing power. According to official data, the rate barely decreased to 23.1% in February 2025 from 23.8% in December 2024. After a brief upswing toward the close of 2024, the Ghanaian cedi has since reverted, falling 5.3% in the first quarter.

Cautious optimism post-crisis

Foreign investors and analysts have reacted to Ghana’s post-crisis landscape with a mix of caution and guarded optimism. In mid-2023, as Ghana grappled with debt restructuring, Fitch Solutions warned that uncertainty and a sharply devalued cedi would “keep

foreign investors cautious,” noting that sentiment remained weak and FDI inflows were unlikely to return to prepandemic levels immediately.

Memories of the 2022 default still loom large, and investors have been awaiting clear signs of stabilisation.

Emeka Ucheaga, head of research at a Lagos-based finance firm, argues that Ghana must “demonstrate a sustained commitment to economic stability,” from taming inflation to building reserves from non-debt sources, before confidence truly returns.

That said, there are growing rays of optimism. The International Monetary Fund’s support programme, secured in 2023, and the successful presidential election in 2024 have improved the outlook.

“Over the coming five years, the capital and financial account is expected to gradually improve,” the IMF observed in late 2024, projecting FDI to rise to 3% of GDP by 2028 once debt restructuring and reforms are complete.

Ghana’s officials echo this optimism: “Commitment to...reforms to forge macroeconomic stability and debt sustainability will restore investor confidence, resulting in further improvement in FDI flows,” Finance Minister Cassiel Ato Forson affirmed in the 2025 budget speech.

Some regional analysts are bullish on Ghana’s prospects given its stability. Marcel Okeke, a former chief economist at Zenith Bank, points out that, unlike some neighbours plagued by insecurity, “We do not hear about [terrorism] in Ghana… Investors look for a place to put their money and go to sleep. That is why investors will want to put their money into Ghana.”

In short, while scepticism remains until reforms bear fruit, many see Ghana turning the corner, provided it stays the course on prudent policies.

Stacking up against regional peers

Ghana’s bid to attract FDI cannot be viewed in isolation. It competes with regional peers like Kenya, Cote d’Ivoire, and Nigeria, which each offer a different mix of opportunities and risks.

In 2023, Ghana drew about $1.35 billion in FDI inflows, a respectable sum, but slightly behind Cote d’Ivoire (around $1.75 billion) and Kenya (about $1.5 billion).

Notably, Ghana far outpaced Nigeria, which saw FDI plummet to just $377 million amid its own economic challenges. These numbers tell a story. While Ghana remains one of West Africa’s top FDI destinations, accounting for roughly 20% of the region’s FDI stock, it has lost some momentum to rivals.

Cote d’Ivoire has emerged as a standout, steadily growing its FDI even through global turbulence. The Ivorian economy, buoyed by annual growth above 5%, attracted more investment in 2022 and 2023 than it did pre-pandemic. Abidjan’s government has implemented pro-business reforms, such as digitising administrative procedures and a major development plan. These changes, combined with political stability, make it a favourable destination for foreign investors.

The result is diversified inflows spanning industry (over 50% of FDI), services, and agriculture, with investors from Europe, Asia, and the region. Even neighbouring Burkina Faso was a top source.

Kenya, for its part, leverages its status as East Africa’s commercial hub. Nairobi hosts numerous regional headquarters for multinationals and has nurtured a dynamic tech sector. These factors helped Kenya remain among Africa’s largest FDI recipients.

Even though FDI to Kenya dipped

5.8% in 2023, totalling $1.5 billion, the country’s appeal lies in its relatively diversified economy and investorfriendly climate. Over nearly two decades, Kenya climbed global rankings for ease of doing business thanks to regulatory improvements. These changes have made it attractive for manufacturing and service offshoring projects.

Nigeria presents a more cautionary tale. Africa’s biggest economy has an unquestionable market size and oil wealth, yet chronic issues have driven foreign investors away.

In 2023, Nigeria’s FDI inflow was not only a fraction of Ghana’s, but it fell by 19% to $377 million, an extraordinarily low figure relative to Nigeria’s GDP.

Capital flight from Nigeria stemmed from political uncertainty, high operating costs, and an unfavourable business climate that saw major multinationals in oil and telecoms curtailing or divesting investments. However, late-2023 policy shifts under a new administration, including removing fuel subsidies and liberalising the exchange rate, have started to restore some confidence. This was evidenced by a modest uptick in capital inflows in Q4 2023. If Nigeria follows through on reforms, such as tackling forex shortages and security issues, it could regain ground. For now, Ghana holds an edge in stability and predictability.

The comparison reveals Ghana’s relative strengths and areas for improvement. Unlike Nigeria, Ghana has maintained peace and a smoother regulatory environment, and unlike smaller peers, it boasts a sizeable consumer base and abundant natural resources.

Yet, Kenya and Cote d’Ivoire have been more aggressive in reforms and

Source: Statista

infrastructure investment, which enhances their FDI appeal. Ghana still ranks behind Kenya on some competitiveness measures and has recently been leapfrogged by the Ivory Coast in annual FDI.

Ghana’s FDI numbers

Digging into the data reveals where Ghana’s FDI is coming from, and where it is not. According to the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC), FDI project commitments in 2023 totalled $649.6 million, spread across 122 projects.

The figure based on GIPC-registered projects was barely half of the previous year’s, mirroring the sharp drop in actual inflows recorded in the balance of payments.

The investments Ghana did secure in 2023 were concentrated in a few key sectors. Manufacturing led the pack, accounting for about $280 million, which was the single largest FDI value by sector. Close behind were services, which drew roughly $226 million, reflecting investor interest in Ghana’s

financial services, telecom, and hospitality segments.

Retail and trading activities also saw some investment ($75 million), while sectors like agriculture and construction made up smaller portions of the pie. This sectoral breakdown aligns with Ghana’s traditional strengths: processing of resources (cocoa, gold, etc.), consumer goods manufacturing, and a growing services economy. Oil and mining, often major FDI magnets, were not explicitly broken out in the GIPC figures, likely because much of the recent activity there involves reinvestment by established players rather than new inflows.

Another way to analyse the FDI is by source and structure. Ghana has long welcomed investors from around the globe. By 2023, the stock of FDI in the country had swelled to $47.3 billion, with multinationals from South Africa, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands, France, Mauritius, and China among the top contributors over time.

Recent project data, however, show a shifting mix of countries driving new investments. In 2023, China was the standout, responsible for the largest portion of new FDI, about $212 million across 31 projects. This likely reflects Chinese firms increasing their footprint in Ghana’s resource and industrial sectors.

Surprisingly, Turkey contributed a substantial $173 million through only four projects, suggesting that a few large Turkish ventures, possibly in construction or manufacturing, made a significant impact. Other notable sources included India ($78 million), traditional partners like the United States ($26 million) and the Netherlands ($22 million).

The dominance of China, which provided one-third of 2023’s FDI value,

underscores Ghana’s pivot toward Asian capital. Meanwhile, relatively smaller contributions from Western investors indicate that there is room to rebuild confidence among US and European firms in the post-crisis period.

In terms of investment type, Ghana's FDI inflows are primarily equity-based. This includes mainly greenfield projects and business expansions, rather than debt-financed deals. For instance, in 2022, Ghana recorded 39 new greenfield projects valued at approximately $1.33 billion, which aligns with the total FDI inflow for that year. This indicates that foreign companies are focused on establishing or expanding their businesses locally, rather than acquiring stakes in or lending to local firms.

By contrast, portfolio investment and loans experienced major volatility during the debt saga. The joint venture model is also significant. In 2023, around 32 out of 122 FDI projects were joint ventures between foreign and local partners, with the remainder wholly

foreign-owned. These joint ventures not only bring in capital but also involve Ghanaian stakeholders, which can promote local employment and facilitate knowledge transfer.

Overall, the data depict an FDI profile in transition. While overall volumes have declined, the manufacturing and service sectors have remained resilient. Meanwhile, newer investors like China and Turkey play a more prominent role. Encouragingly, early 2024 showed signs of a rebound. Ghana’s central bank reported net FDI of $1.74 billion for the year, up 32.7% from 2023.

In late 2023, the macroeconomic stability improved, and investor funds began returning. However, reaching the pre-crisis high of over $2.5 billion in 2021 will require sustained investor confidence, underpinned by structural reforms and perhaps a few landmark investments.

The government’s targeted sectors for incentives, including manufacturing, mining value-addition, agriculture

and agribusiness, infrastructure, and tourism, highlight where it hopes the next wave of FDI will land. The challenge will ensure that future FDI flows align with these priorities and that policy consistency sustains momentum.

A positive view

Ucheaga said, “When combined, these indicators show a country still in the early stages of stabilisation rather than in a phase of renewed investor confidence. This ongoing uncertainty is reflected in the fluctuations in FDI inflows."

He argues that investor sentiment continues to be influenced by memories of Ghana’s December 2022 debt default, as well as a broader global economic environment marked by rising protectionism and the looming threat of a global trade war, even in the face of improved trade data and IMF backing.

Ucheaga emphasises that Ghana must show a consistent commitment to economic stability to reverse this trend. That involves steadily increasing foreign reserves through reliable, nondebt-driven sources, maintaining a trade surplus, and continually expanding the real economy.

He also stresses that to preserve the value of investments, inflation must be under control and the exchange rate must be stabilised. The government has outlined targets for economic growth, including a non-oil GDP expansion of 4.8%, an overall real GDP growth of at least 4%, and an inflation rate aimed at reaching 11.9% by the end of the year.

By 2030, APAC will account for nearly half of global renewable energy investment

APAC

The world’s next economic powerhouse

The Asia-Pacific area (APAC) is leading a tremendous worldwide change. Once thought of as only an industrial base or a developing consumer market, the region is likely to lead global economic growth over the next 15 years.

Comprising 4.3 billion people and accounting for more than 60% of world output, APAC is changing under the influence of four key forces: urbanisation, digital transformation, green infrastructure, and demographic changes.

APAC has a unique opportunity to shape the direction of economic growth thanks to the mix of young labour markets, advanced tech centres, hyperconnected megacities, and digital finance innovation. This promise, however, has restrictions. If structural disparities, climate vulnerabilities, and geopolitical pressures are not handled quickly and foresightedly, those factors could limit or distort such growth.

Urbanisation and geographic rebalancing

Unprecedented in scope and speed, APAC's urban growth is expanding. Megacities such as Jakarta, Bangkok, Manila, and Ho Chi Minh City are generating a boom in infrastructure investment, estimated at over $1.7 trillion yearly across the region.

Attracting foreign direct investment (FDI) has resulted in new economic zones, satellite cities, and logistics corridors that strengthen regional supply chains.

The World Bank predicts that the region's urban population will rise from 2.3 billion in 2020 to over 2.8 billion by 2040. Another pillar of change is the emergence of a middle-class, tech-enabled customer base. APAC is currently the main driver of global consumption growth. Millions are rising into the middle class annually in nations such as Indonesia, Vietnam, and the Philippines. Domestic demand, not only exports, is driving GDP.

Southeast Asia's digital economy is projected to grow from $300 billion in 2024 to $1 trillion by 2030. From healthcare and education to tourism and fintech, local consumption, on which dependency on export markets wanes, is generating strong new businesses.

A rebalancing is undoubtedly needed here. Countries like Vietnam and Malaysia historically depended on outside demand, especially from China and the United States.

APAC is already heading toward a self-sustaining ecosystem of demand, investment, and innovation as regional trade agreements like RCEP and the development of intra-Asian value chains take hold.

Tokenised finance and the digital economy

APAC's forward momentum is most evident in its digital transformation. Comprising some of the highest mobile

penetration rates and more than 2.6 billion internet users, the region is a powerhouse of digital adoption.

Since 2016, digital payment volumes in India have increased twentyfold, largely due to the growth of fintech. Currently, over 70% of people in Southeast Asia engage in digital commerce or mobile banking.

One of the most transformative developments is the rise of tokenised finance. Singapore, Hong Kong, and Japan are leading the way in developing regulated systems for digital asset trading.

With tokenised green bonds issued in many currencies totalling HK$6 billion, the Hong Kong government set a global first in sovereign tokenisation. Meanwhile, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has tested initiatives to tokenise mortgages, private credit money, and other real-world assets (RWAs).

Institutional investors are embracing this change. A 2024 SBI Digital Asset Holdings research report indicates that approximately 70% of Asian institutional investors now possess digital assets, compared to only 40% in the United States. Family offices, sovereign wealth funds, and corporate treasuries looking for adaptable, real-time asset management drive this trend.

By launching tokenised bond offerings in Singapore, OCBC enables customers to trade bond tokens with daily liquidity, replicating the behaviour of conventional securities but with faster settlements and lower costs.

Technical and regulatory obstacles still exist, particularly in guaranteeing legal clarity and interoperability between countries, especially regarding decentralised finance and tokenised capital markets. But the momentum toward these markets is unstoppable. This positions APAC at the forefront of the next stage of global financial innovation.

Sustainable funding

The economic future of the Pacific depends largely on its climate resilience. Megacities like Jakarta, Manila, and Bangkok are facing existential risks from rising sea levels and extreme weather. The region has 15 of the 20 most climatevulnerable nations.

However, APAC is also becoming a centre for green finance and climate innovation.

Investment in green infrastructure is sharply rising. Vietnam's solar explosion has positioned it as a regional leader in sustainable energy. Indonesia's energy transformation roadmap calls for the closure of 118 coal-fired reactors by 2040.

BloombergNEF claims that by 2030, the Asia-Pacific region will account for nearly half of global renewable energy investment. As part of their decarbonisation plans, nations including Australia, Japan, and South Korea are also investigating hydrogen and carbon capture technologies.

Speaking financially, APAC's green bond market has grown exponentially. In 2023, ASEAN countries issued a record high of nearly $40 billion in green and sustainable bonds.

Regulatory changes can help drive the shift to climate-aligned portfolios. For all listed firms, Japan's Financial Services Agency now requires TCFD-aligned climate disclosures, setting the standard for market-wide transparency.

Still, challenges persist. China and India still rely largely on coal, and many Southeast Asian nations have limited financial capacity to support greener changes.

Furthermore, lagging far behind mitigation efforts are climate adaptation, investments in water management, coastal defences, and disaster readiness. The climate issue could undo APAC's development successes without faster finance and regional cooperation.

FEATURE APAC

Asia-Pacific area GDP growth from 2019 to 2024 (In Percentage)

Human capital, labour, and demographics

The demographic landscape of APAC is both a fault line and a benefit. Young countries like the Philippines, India, and Indonesia have a sizable and growing workforce on the one hand. Conversely, ageing nations, including Japan, South Korea, China, and Singapore, deal with declining fertility rates, smaller workforces, and growing pension liabilities.

According to UN projections, India and Southeast Asia will account for more than half of the global new labour force by 2040. This offers a historic opportunity, if productivity and skills improve in line. Often touted as a model is Vietnam's success in upskilling manufacturing workers to meet the needs of the electronics and renewable industries.

Offering adult workers government credits for upskilling in artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, and fintech, Singapore's SkillsFuture programme has also become a global benchmark in ongoing education.

Still, digital and educational gaps remain sharp. Teacher shortages continue, and internet connectivity is still erratic in rural Indonesia and Cambodia. According to a World Bank analysis, more than 60% of students in emerging APAC nations lack basic digital skills, which is a major obstacle as automation and artificial intelligence transform sectors.

In South Asia, a growing gender disparity exists in labour force participation. Programmes aimed at including women in the formal sectors are becoming popular through microfinance, digital literacy, and parental leave incentives, but development is not uniform.

Coordinated policy action, such as investing in early childhood education, extending vocational training, and

Source: Asian Development Outlook

developing flexible labour regulations supporting both gig and formal employment, will determine the workforce of APAC going forward. Not only inexpensive labour but also human capital will dictate the direction of future growth.

Risk, control, and fragmented regions

The path for the Asia-Pacific region is filled with challenges, even though it is full of hope. Three main hazards loom large: geopolitical conflict, overly concentrated markets, and inconsistent government policies. Geopolitics remains a risky wildcard.

Strategic rivalry between the United States and China continues to change trade paths, tech alliances, and financial flows. Ongoing flashpoints include North Korea, Taiwan, and the South China Sea. The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF), and trade treaties by ASEAN all mirror overlapping domains of influence that can split regional unity.

Moreover, domestic government challenges persist. Although nations

like Singapore and Japan are known for their policy consistency and openness, others (like Myanmar or Cambodia) have ongoing problems with corruption, poor institutions, and inconsistent policies. Investors increasingly distinguish between "safe harbour" economies and those with opaque legal systems or political instability.

Market concentration also poses concerns. While some countries like Mongolia, Laos, and Brunei remain dependent on a limited range of exports or single international markets, making them sensitive to demand shocks and price volatility, economies like Vietnam and India are diversifying.

Pandemic-era nationalism and supply chain concerns have led certain APAC nations to re-impose tariffs and tighten capital restrictions, resulting in increased protectionism. This threatens the region's historical advantage of unrestricted trade, free international financial movement, and deep integration.

Still, organisations like ASEAN and venues like the RCEP continue to provide frameworks for communication, standardisation, and conflict resolution. If used well, these can shield the region from global turbulence.

Different perspectives, but same goal

To ground the region-wide analysis, it's instructive to look at key member states (Vietnam and Singapore), each illustrating different facets of ASEAN’s opportunity and risk profile. These country spotlights highlight how the common themes play out in specific national contexts, from growth strategies to unique vulnerabilities.

Vietnam has been one of Southeast Asia’s standout success stories. Often dubbed the “next Asian tiger,” it has transformed from a largely agrarian, post-war economy in the 1980s into

a manufacturing dynamo and rising middle-income nation today.

Vietnam’s formula has centred on political stability, export-led growth, and a willingness to embrace globalisation. By offering investors a stable environment (under its one-party system), relatively low wages, and an industrious workforce, Vietnam became a magnet for foreign direct investment, attracting factories in electronics, textiles, and more. Global brands like Samsung, Intel, Nike, and Apple suppliers have set up large operations there.

This boosted manufacturing to account for about a quarter of Vietnam’s GDP and drove exports to surpass 100% of GDP, indicating that Vietnam exports more goods than the size of its economy, a clear sign of its deep integration into global supply chains.

As mentioned, Vietnam’s GDP growth has been vigorous, topping 7% in 2022, and is projected to remain in the mid-6% range for the coming years, among the fastest in Asia. Even during the COVID19 pandemic in 2020, Vietnam managed positive growth thanks to effective virus containment and strong exports.

The country leveraged trade deals to its advantage, joining agreements like RCEP, the CPTPP, and a bilateral FTA with the EU, giving its exporters preferential access to major markets. This has buttressed industries from furniture to smartphones.

Notably, Vietnam has carved a niche as an alternative manufacturing hub to China; companies looking to diversify production (due to tariffs or to mitigate concentration risk) found Vietnam’s scale and improving infrastructure attractive. Vietnam’s rise has also challenged China’s dominance in certain sectors and is drawing comparisons to “the next China” for factory relocation.

Now, Vietnam is eyeing the next stage, which is moving up the value chain. It doesn’t want to remain just a workshop for low-cost goods. The government is pushing for the development of high-tech parks, encouraging sectors like software services, renewable energy technology, and higher-end electronics.

There’s also an ambition to emulate India’s success in IT services, turning Vietnam’s growing cadre of IT graduates into a force in software outsourcing and

digital innovation. Cities like Danang and Hanoi have budding tech scenes, and Vietnamese startups in fintech and games have gained global recognition.

However, Vietnam faces a confluence of risks as it develops. Infrastructure, while improved, is still playing catch-up: ports are congested, the energy supply is stretched as power blackouts hit manufacturing in 2023 due to heatwaves and hydroelectric shortages, and roads and logistics need upgrading to sustain growth.

Vietnam’s youthful population is also ageing gradually. It needs productivity gains to compensate. Environmental issues are pressing: the Mekong Delta, Vietnam’s rice bowl, is under threat from climate-induced saltwater intrusion and upstream damming, which could hit agriculture and fishing livelihoods.

Industrialisation has also brought pollution. Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City suffer severe air pollution at times, and industrial waste management is a growing issue.

The country’s rapid growth has also led to inequality between booming coastal cities and rural hinterlands, as well as

FEATURE APAC

corruption challenges in its bureaucracy.

Singapore presents a very different, but equally instructive, case—a highincome oasis in the region, known for its exceptional governance and innovationdriven approach. As a small city-state with 5.6 million people, Singapore leapfrogged into developed economy status (with per capita income on par with Western Europe), and established itself as a global financial and trading hub. For investors, Singapore often serves as the gateway to ASEAN. Its rule of law, stable politics, and ease of business provide a secure base.

Singapore’s economic model emphasises continual upgrading and diversification. Lacking natural resources or hinterland, it has invested heavily in

human capital and infrastructure to stay competitive. The government’s foresight in policy planning is a hallmark. Through its national plans, it identified electronics, petrochemicals, and finance as pillars in the late 20th century, later moving into biotech, precision engineering, and now digital tech and green finance.

Today, Singapore is pushing frontiers in fintech, biomedical sciences, and smart city technologies. It has positioned itself as a leader in fintech regulation, enabling innovations such as digital banks and a vibrant startup scene in blockchain and payments.

It’s also a regional leader in AI and robotics research; universities and government labs are working on AI applications ranging from port logistics

to healthcare. As noted, Singapore’s aggressive automation, such as building the world’s largest automated port, demonstrates its drive to mitigate labour constraints through technology.

That said, Singapore faces its own challenges as a mature economy. Growth has slowed to typically 2%-3% in recent years (aside from the volatile pandemic swing). An ageing population is a pressing issue, fertility rates are extremely low, and the workforce is ageing, requiring the country to rely on productivity gains and selective immigration to sustain growth. This is partly why automation and productivity are emphasised; Singapore sees technology as the key to doing more with a lean workforce. The city-state also must continue innovating to justify

its high-cost base. It can’t compete on cost with neighbours, so it must provide higher value.

This includes positioning itself as a hub for high-tech manufacturing, such as semiconductor fabrication. Singapore is a global player in chipmaking, hosting companies like GlobalFoundries and Micron. Additionally, it aims to be a centre for services like wealth management and medical tourism.

Inequality and the cost of living are the talking points in Singapore. It has some of the world’s richest people, highly paid professionals, and a sizeable lowincome immigrant worker population in construction and domestic work.

The government mitigates inequality through heavy subsidies in housing, healthcare, and education, with over

80% of Singaporeans living in subsidised public housing, and a progressive fiscal system. Still, wealth gaps have drawn more attention in recent years domestically, prompting policies like higher taxes on luxury properties and cars, and more social support for the elderly poor.

Considering the environmental and climate matters, Singapore is unique: a tiny island nation extremely vulnerable to sea-level rise. It has committed to netzero emissions by 2050 and is investing in climate defences.

It’s also driving green initiatives like becoming a carbon trading hub, mandating sustainability reporting for companies, and electrifying its vehicle fleet (to phase out petrol vehicles by 2040). Given its limited land, it’s

exploring importing renewable energy from neighbours. Plans are underway to import solar or hydro power from Malaysia, Indonesia, and Australia via subsea cables.

Singapore plays a crucial role in ASEAN as both an innovator and intermediary. It channels global capital into the region through its banks, funds, and investors such as Temasek and GIC, which are sovereign funds that invest across Asia. Additionally, Singapore shares its technical expertise with neighbouring countries by providing advice on urban planning and governance.

However, Singapore’s high level of development also means it sometimes has different interests. For example, it champions high-standard trade agreements and IP protection, which some developing ASEAN members are slower to adopt.

Singapore continues to be an appealing destination for investors seeking stable, although relatively lower, returns. This includes sectors such as real estate and high-end manufacturing, and serves as a hub for regional operations.

The Singapore government also provides incentives for emerging industries, particularly in areas like green technology, digital technology, and high-value manufacturing, which currently receive substantial support.

The country also has a stable currency, which eliminates the foreign exchange risks often seen in emerging markets. Essentially, this makes Singapore a low-risk option for investors looking to benefit from the high-growth potential of the ASEAN region.

Rakeez Capital powers Saudi business growth

Strengthening the SME segment and the private sector in general has emerged as one of the priority areas of Saudi Arabia’s economic diversification strategy "Vision 2030." However, access to funding remains one of the biggest challenges for private companies.

In the Kingdom too, the demand for alternative and inclusive financing is rising fast. Rakeez Capital, a crowdfunding platform authorised by the CMA, is spearheading innovative and regulated financial solutions for both businesses and investors.

Whether a company is launching a new product, expanding operations, or looking to scale across the Kingdom, Rakeez Capital provides the financial bridge needed to take the next step, while giving investors a transparent, risk-aware way to participate in real business growth.

Instead of depending on traditional banks or venture capital, companies can connect directly with a community of individual investors. The Rakeez Capital platform ensures that each opportunity is carefully evaluated and monitored, giving investors complete visibility into the project, structure, and potential returns.

Rakeez Capital CEO Saeed Alahmari said, "We’ve created a model that’s inclusive, secure, and aligned with national goals. This platform empowers businesses while offering everyday investors a seat at the table."

Rakeez Capital’s work has earned global recognition. At the recently concluded International Finance

With a focus on compliance, transparency, and user trust, Rakeez Capital is unlocking new opportunities for both entrepreneurs and investors in Saudi Arabia

Awards 2024, the company received the "Best Strategic Partnership for SME Development Financing in Saudi Arabia – 2024", a reflection of its commitment to fuelling real, measurable economic impact.

Upon receiving the award, CEO Saeed Alahmari said, "Our mission is to support business growth across the Kingdom. We see ourselves as enablers, bridging the gap between capital needs and investor appetite. This award is a proud milestone for us and reflects the hard work of our team in building a reliable and scalable

crowdfunding model."

The platform’s structure is not just about capital; it is about community. Investors benefit from clear documentation, easyto-understand risk disclosures, and a user experience that keeps them informed at every stage. For businesses, Rakeez Capital has transcended its role from a mere financial partner to that of a longterm ally for growth and success.

From SMEs to mid-sized enterprises, companies across industries—ranging from technology and logistics to consumer services and industrials—are turning to Rakeez Capital as a reliable source of funding.

With a focus on compliance, transparency, and user trust, Rakeez Capital is unlocking new opportunities for both entrepreneurs and investors in Saudi Arabia.

Rakeez Capital is also the lone platform that provides financing through the issuance of debt instruments. This meets the needs of small and medium enterprises, especially when it comes to obtaining financing within a short period. The company also complies with the rules and provisions of Islamic Sharia by having the Sharia Committee that monitors all operations, agreements, opinions, and policies.

To secure immediate business

financing, SME owners just need to register on Rakeez Capital's online platform, followed by processes like attaching documents such as the commercial register, articles of association, and financial statements, and submitting the financing offer (containing information about the financing amount, cost, fees, and disbursement and repayment schedule).

Rakeez Capital's specialised and experienced team will then study these financing applications in detail, using a precise credit system, before disbursing the financing capital after the offering amount is completed and the opportunity is closed.

Remaining committed to the principles of Islamic Finance, Rakeez Capital also issues sukuk to be offered on the platform for investment.

As the company grows, its mission remains firm: to be the leading crowdfunding platform in the Kingdom, helping more businesses access the capital they need while building a healthier, more dynamic financial future for all.

Becoming a part of the Rakeez Capital fraternity has made things "win-win" for investors, who enjoy advantages such as regular returns, payment of nominal value upon maturity dates, flexible and diversified sukuk, and the distribution of periodic dividends.

According to a recent report, nearly 60% of CEOs say they observe strong investor demand for increased sustainability transparency

Sustainable technology: A win for business & earth

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Sustainable technology seeks to address environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues by utilising sustainable materials and processes to develop new technologies.

Physical technologies like solar panels and software for ESG performance management and reporting are examples of sustainable technologies.

Leasing, recycling, renovating, repairing, reusing, and sharing existing materials and products for as long as feasible are all prioritised by the circular economy

Organisations may consider the resources used to develop the technology, the supplier of those materials, and possible adverse outputs throughout the technology's life cycle, such as emissions or e-waste, when developing technology sustainably.

In this context, sustainable technology refers to an approach or philosophy that guides the development and application of technologies.

Businesses frequently aim to advance ESG-related goals when implementing sustainable products or technologies. For instance, organisations might develop technologies that use less fossil fuel, such as electric cars, or decarbonise waste. Additionally, businesses can lower their carbon footprint by implementing sustainable technologies. They can use artificial intelligence (AI) to perform diagnostics and identify the parts of their company that generate the most waste, for example. Businesses

can then use carbon accounting to find ways to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions or promote the use of renewable energy sources after gaining these insights.

What is sustainability?

The long-term goal of enabling people to live together on Earth without consuming excessive natural resources is known as sustainability. The ultimate objective is to improve the planet's and people's futures. The three pillars or dimensions of sustainability, which are economic, social, and environmental, are widely acknowledged by experts.

Since the triple bottom line, a sustainability framework centred on the three Ps (people, planet, and profit), aligns with these dimensions, many business leaders are aware of them. Businesses are more likely to succeed in the long run if they maximise all three bottom lines.

Businesses are beginning to see that becoming sustainable and reducing their environmental impact doesn't have to mean sacrificing their bottom line. In fact, by creating and implementing sustainable technologies, some businesses are seeing higher margins. As a result, they are evaluating risks in new ways and enhancing resilience while taking external factors into account.

The way we engage with the world around us is impacted by the pervasiveness of technology in our society and daily lives. At the same time, people and businesses are facing several significant, previously

unheard-of challenges, such as the aftereffects of the COVID-19 pandemic, the increasing impacts of climate change, the depletion of natural resources, and the growing demands on the world's food and energy supplies.

The operations and supply chains that are essential to both large and small businesses, as well as the daily lives of people worldwide, have been increasingly disrupted by these challenges.

Rethinking how we interact with current innovations to address environmental and societal issues is made possible by sustainable technology.

For example, businesses can optimise routes and improve fleet management sustainability by utilising technological solutions such as the Internet of Things (IoT). Likewise, an organisation's procurement department may function more efficiently.

The role of software

Software is another category of sustainable technology. Software can be sustainable in several ways, such as during the design stage, which is thought to account for more than 80% of all product-related environmental effects. Designers

can incorporate sustainability into their software development strategies by ensuring that the software's positive impact on users, communities, and society outweighs any negative effects on the environment or society. Software can also be used to leverage data insights to make better decisions. Analytics dashboards, data harmonisation, and automated data collection are some of the tools that can assist businesses in finding ways to lower their carbon footprints and run more sustainably.

Industry leaders can certainly incorporate sustainable technology into their business plans since it enhances the triple bottom line and appeals to stakeholders. To build a more sustainable future, sustainable technology is employed in various impactful ways, as outlined below.

Scoring high on the environment front

Businesses can empower the circular economy and move away from conventional linear economic models that emphasise the use of raw materials by implementing sustainable technologies. Leasing, recycling, renovating, repairing, reusing, and sharing existing materials and products for as long as feasible are all prioritised by the circular economy.

By adopting this perspective, businesses can create and implement technology that enhances human and environmental health while lowering their carbon footprint.

Organisations can also use sustainable technologies to monitor ESG metrics related to water use, emissions, energy use, and other areas. Through ESG scores, companies assess how their ESG initiatives align with broader sustainability trends and identify potential areas for improvement. Making decisions based on this information can enhance sustainability performance and ensure compliance with legal requirements.

The reputation of a business and, consequently, its financial performance are now inextricably linked to sustainability. Employers

that prioritise ESG initiatives and are sustainable and socially conscious are more likely to attract employees seeking purpose-driven work. Employing sustainable technologies helps businesses attract and retain this expanding talent pool of socially and environmentally conscious individuals.

Investors are also more drawn to businesses that are driven by sustainability. According to a recent report, nearly 60% of CEOs say they observe strong investor demand for increased sustainability transparency. Businesses can measure, improve, and communicate to stakeholders how well they are doing in reaching sustainability goals with the use of sustainable technologies. For example, data on energy consumption can be collected

on a factory floor using IoT devices, establishing a baseline that can guide the company's energy strategy.

Meeting global standards

The regulatory environment today is constantly changing. Governments are likely to continue adding to laws such as the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), a European Union law requiring businesses to disclose the sustainable and environmental effects of their operations.

Although not required, businesses are encouraged to incorporate the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) into their operations.

In the context of a green economy, SDG 17 specifically calls for "the research, development,

deployment, and widespread diffusion of environmentally sound technologies."

By implementing sustainable technology solutions that continuously record, evaluate, benchmark, and report on ESG performance, organisations can stay ahead of the current regulatory landscape.

End-to-end transparency offered by sustainable technologies has the potential to revolutionise supply chains for businesses. For example, companies can track carbon emissions upstream using AI to identify ESG risks and opportunities. They can use machine learning to predict demand downstream and deploy their fleet more effectively and efficiently.

By applying the knowledge gained from sustainable technologies, businesses can improve and cover the full life cycle of goods and equipment by integrating circular design principles like recycling and refurbishment into their supply chain.

Additionally, businesses can use sustainable technology to examine their supplier and partner ecosystem. This can be useful when assembling ESG reporting metrics.

Businesses that use the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) or Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) reporting frameworks are required to report on Scope 3 emissions, which are a type of greenhouse gas.

The future of sustainable technology

To align sustainability goals with financial performance, companies can reconsider their business models by

Source: Fortune Business Insights

leveraging sustainable technologies. For instance, financial services firms can utilise cloud solutions to reduce energy consumption in their data centres.

Robotic process automation can help consumer goods companies increase accuracy and reduce waste in their manufacturing processes. By storing encrypted patient data on a blockchain, healthcare institutions can replace paper health records with electronic ones, cutting waste and increasing security.

Leading companies in the sector are encouraged to invest more in ESG projects through examples of sustainable innovation. The companies are investing in and collaborating with startups in this direction.

The United Kingdom and Canada have collaorated on a research project to enhance the mining and supply chain of critical minerals, which are essential for national defence, renewable energy systems, and smartphones.

A new scientific collaboration

will bring together scientists from both nations to tackle some of the most urgent issues in supply chain resilience, environmental sustainability, and critical mineral extraction. The collaboration will investigate cutting-edge methods through five projects, including advanced geological exploration, sustainable mining methods, and mine water cleanup.

Each project uses creative, environmentally friendly solutions to address a distinct part of the critical minerals supply chain. One project is dedicated to mine water cleanup, employing microalgae and calcium silicate to efficiently extract harmful metals like copper, nickel, and cobalt from tainted mine water. This economical, environmentally friendly method allows for the recovery and repurposing of these precious metals while also purifying the water.

The UK and Canada aim to achieve long-term access to essential resources while minimising environmental impact by investing in sustainable mining practices and adopting circular economy strategies.

This alliance facilitates innovation, economic growth, and job creation by enhancing scientific and industrial cooperation between these leading economies. Additionally, it supports national security objectives by reducing reliance on fragile supply chains and promoting more resilient and environmentally conscious systems.

In Hong Kong, a financial worker was tricked into paying out $25 million when fraudsters used deepfake technology to impersonate the company’s CFO

Deepfake fallout: Welcome to the age of paranoia

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In 2025, reports emerged about cybercriminals using deepfake voice and video technology to impersonate senior US government officials and high-profile tech figures in sophisticated phishing campaigns designed to steal sensitive data.

According to the FBI, threat actors have been contacting current and former federal and state officials through fake voice and text messages claiming to be from trusted sources. These scammers then attempt to establish rapport before directing victims to malicious websites to extract passwords and other private information.

Apart from cautioning about the hackers' tendency to compromise one official’s account, the FBI believes these threat actors may use that access to impersonate the victims further and target others within their network. Verifying identities, avoiding unsolicited links, and enabling multifactor authentication to protect sensitive accounts will be even more crucial.

The FBI and cybersecurity experts are recommending examining media for visual inconsistencies, avoiding software downloads during unverified calls, and never sharing credentials or wallet access unless certain of the source’s legitimacy.

An evolving threat

Essentially, we are talking about scams where sophisticated AI is used to create highly convincing audio, images, text, or videos that look, sound, and act like real people. The easy availability of this technology practically gives fraudsters access to Hollywood-style special effects, enabling bad actors to commit deepfake fraud at scale. The World Bank reports that deepfake fraud has surged by 900% in recent years. Losses fuelled by generative AI are on track to reach $40 billion by 2027.

Deepfake fraud has become troubling because of its highly realistic nature, accessibility to fraudsters, and scalability. Generative artificial intelligence and deepfakes are making existing types of fraud, such as new account fraud, account takeover, phishing, impersonations, and social engineering, even more costly. While voice-cloning deepfakes have successfully targeted several global businesses, video-based deepfakes are empowering criminal groups like the Yahoo Boys with

compelling romance scams.

Consider this: Generative AI rapidly creates images that appear 'realistic' with almost zero imperfections, eliminating telltale signs of deepfakes such as strange-looking fingers, distorted faces, or stretched-out arms. To make matters worse, using cloud computing, criminals can launch multiple attacks simultaneously or create a large volume of synthetic content for a targeted campaign, such as spear-phishing fraud.

Generative AI and deepfakes are already being incorporated into several common frauds. This includes "New Account Opening Fraud," where criminals use deepfake technology with synthetic videos, audio, or images that appear to be a legitimate person opening a new bank account. From there, they can bypass facial recognition or liveness detection measures. By mimicking an account holder’s appearance, voice, and mannerisms, fraudsters can convince a customer service representative to grant them access to someone else’s account.

Spelling and grammar mistakes were once obvious red flags of phishing scams. However, thanks to GenAI, criminals are less likely to make these errors. Fraudsters can now craft persuasive phishing messages that are grammatically correct, contextually relevant, and have perfect spelling.

Fraudsters can also convincingly imitate individuals in professional settings, such as meetings or legal proceedings, to commit fraud. In personal settings, they can pretend to be a loved one in need of financial or medical help, as in a romance or grandparent scam. Synthetic identities (fake identities created by combining real and fictitious information) are now appearing to look like real people. These synthetic identities

are defrauding businesses and other individuals.

In Hong Kong, a financial worker was tricked into paying out $25 million when fraudsters used deepfake technology to impersonate the company’s CFO. In Italy, a group of entrepreneurs was targeted by scammers earlier in 2025, who copied the Defence Minister Guido Crosetto’s voice and requested money to help pay the ransom of journalists kidnapped overseas.

At least one victim paid €1 million to an overseas account. WPP Digital CEO Mark Read said United Kingdombased scammers unsuccessfully used a combination of a voice clone and YouTube footage to schedule a meeting with themselves and ad company executives in 2024.

Video-based deepfake frauds make impersonation-based fraud, like romance scams, even more difficult to catch. In

2024, American consumers lost an estimated $1.14 billion to romance scams. With deepfake technology, scammers can create a large library of fake online suitors. Aided by advanced large language models (LLMs) like LoveGPT, romance scammers can target multiple victims at the same time.

Manipulating publicly available images to commit romance scams has proven effective. In 2024, a scammer used simpler technology to deceive a French woman into believing she was in a relationship with Brad Pitt. Organised romance scam groups like the Yahoo Boys are creating more personalised communication for their targets in real time, making romance scams even more convincing and likely to succeed.

Even tech boss Elon Musk couldn't save himself from being deepfaked. In 2024, there were reports of AI-powered videos posing as genuine footage of the

Tesla and X (formerly Twitter) boss going viral. The New York Times dubbed deepfake “Musk, the Internet’s biggest scammer.”

Steve Beauchamp, an 82-year-old retiree, told the New York Times that he drained his retirement fund and invested $690,000 in such a scam over several weeks, convinced that a video he had seen of Musk was real. His money soon vanished without a trace.

“Now, whether it was AI making him say the things that he was saying, I really don’t know. But as far as the picture, if somebody had said, Pick him out of a lineup, that’s him. Looked just like Elon Musk, sounded just like Elon Musk, and I thought it was him,” Beauchamp told the NYT.

Deepfake-powered videos can fuel other impersonation tactics like "CEO fraud" or grandparent scams. If the target believes they are interacting with the real

person, they are more inclined to follow their instructions to help their company or a family member.

While audio and visual manipulation have emerged as critical components behind the deepfakes' success, the rest depends on trust. Here, psychological manipulation from social engineering is working wonders for cybercriminals. By scouring information like social media profiles, compromised data, or other sensitive information, fraudsters create specific scenarios that emotionally trigger their targets and quickly gain their attention and trust. The more detailed a story the scammer presents, the more believable it is.

Businesses and banks may see a rise in highly personalised “scams as a service” tactics. Criminals can purchase pre-configured deepfake materials for a specific target (a bank manager or executive), in addition to accessing information like email lists to gain intel on any financial organisation’s internal hierarchy.

Money and trust getting eroded

In a 2024 Deloitte poll, 25.9% of executives revealed that their organisations had experienced one or more deepfake incidents targeting financial and accounting data in the 12 months prior, while 50% of all respondents said they expected a rise in attacks over the following 12 months.

The United States Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) issued an alert in 2024 to help financial institutions identify fraud schemes that use deepfake media created with GenAI tools.

The network observed an increase in suspicious activity reports from financial institutions describing the suspected use of deepfake media in

fraud schemes targeting their institutions and customers, beginning in 2023 and continuing into 2024.

Deloitte’s Centre for Financial Services predicts that GenAI could enable fraud losses to reach $40 billion in the United States by 2027. To make matters worse, digital trust is “crumbling” under an avalanche of synthetic media, misinformation, and deepfake fraud, according to a new report from Jumio.

The firm’s fourth annual "Jumio Online Identity Study" surveyed 8,001 adult consumers split equally between the United States, Mexico, the United Kingdom, and Singapore. They have much in common: namely, a growing fear that AI-powered fraud now poses a greater threat to personal security than traditional forms of identity theft, and a corresponding rise in skepticism about anything and everything online.

"Fraud-as-a-service (FaaS) ecosystems have erupted like a bad rash, enabling even amateur fraudsters to leverage synthetic identities, deepfake videos, and botnet-driven account takeovers. Consumers must navigate scam emails, manipulated social media content, and digitally altered identity documents. Seven out of ten global consumers (69%) indicated they are more skeptical of the content they see online due to AIgenerated fraud than they were last year," the report noted.

When asked who they trust most to protect their personal data, 93% of respondents said they trust themselves over the government or Big Tech.

However, Jumio said, “Self-reliance does not mean consumers want to go it alone. In fact, when asked who should be most responsible for stopping AIpowered fraud, 43% pointed to Big Tech, compared to just 18% who chose themselves.”

The research further showed that

consumers are open to modernised fraud protection, even if it means additional steps. Most respondents globally said they would be willing to spend more time completing comprehensive identity verification processes, especially in sectors where the stakes are high, like banking or healthcare."

But it also recognises that technology alone is not the answer. Jumio CEO Robert Prigge said, “Building a trustworthy digital world depends on strong consumer education and transparency. With day-to-day worries about generative algorithmic technologies on the rise, the trust gap also continues to grow proportionally. As such, businesses must also earn consumer trust in these protections.”

The age of paranoia kicks in Nicole Yelland, who works in public relations for a Detroit-based nonprofit, now conducts a multi-step background check whenever she receives a meeting request from someone she doesn’t know. Yelland runs the person’s information through Spokeo, a personal data aggregator. If the contact claims to speak Spanish, Yelland says, she will casually test their ability to understand and translate trickier phrases. If something doesn’t quite seem right, she’ll ask the person to join a Microsoft Teams call— with their camera on.

If Yelland sounds paranoid, that’s because she is. In January, before she started her current nonprofit role, Yelland says, she got roped into an elaborate scam targeting job seekers. "Now, I do the whole verification rigmarole any time someone reaches out to me,” she said to WIRED.

In a time when remote work and distributed teams have become commonplace, professional communication channels are no longer safe, thanks to

the GenAI-powered scams. The same AI tools that tech companies use to boost worker productivity are also making it easier for criminals and fraudsters to construct fake personas in seconds.

Big Tech journalist Lauren Goode said, "On LinkedIn, it can be hard to distinguish a slightly touched-up headshot of a real person from a too-polished, AI-generated facsimile. Deepfake videos are getting so good that longtime email scammers are pivoting to impersonating people on live video calls. According to the US Federal Trade Commission, reports of job and employment-related scams nearly tripled from 2020 to 2024, and actual losses from those scams have increased from $90 million to $500 million."

Yelland says the scammers who approached her in January 2025 were impersonating a real company, one with a legitimate product. The “hiring manager” she corresponded with over email also seemed legit, even sharing a slide deck outlining the responsibilities of the role they were advertising.

However, during the first video interview, Yelland says, the scammers refused to turn their cameras on during

TECHNOLOGY FEATURE DEEPFAKE

a Microsoft Teams meeting and made unusual requests for detailed personal information, including her driver’s license number. Realising she’d been duped, Yelland slammed her laptop shut. These schemes have forced AI players to work on technologies to detect other AI-enabled deepfakes, including GetReal Labs and Reality Defender. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman also runs an identity-verification startup called "Tools for Humanity," which makes eye-scanning devices that capture a person’s biometric data, create a unique identifier for their identity, and store that information on the blockchain. The whole idea behind it is proving “personhood,” or that someone is a real human.

"A section of corporate professionals is also turning to old-fashioned social engineering techniques to verify every fishy-seeming interaction they have. Welcome to the age of paranoia, when someone might ask you to send them an email while you’re mid-conversation on the phone, slide into your Instagram DMs to ensure the LinkedIn message you sent was really from you, or request you text

a selfie with a time stamp, proving you are who you claim to be. Some colleagues say they even share code words with each other, so they have a way to ensure they’re not being misled if an encounter feels off," Goode stated.

Daniel Goldman, a blockchain software engineer and former startup founder, said, "What’s funny is, the lo-fi approach works."

Goldman began changing his own professional behaviour after he heard a prominent figure in the crypto world had been convincingly deepfaked on a video call.

He ended up warning his close ones that even if they hear "his voice" or "see him" on a video call asking for money or an internet password, they should hang up and email him first before doing anything.

Ken Schumacher, founder of the recruitment verification service Ropes, has worked with hiring managers who ask job candidates rapid-fire questions about the city where they claim to live on their resume, such as their favourite coffee shops and places to hang out. Another verification tactic being used

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Source: Statista

by people is what Schumacher calls the “phone camera trick.”

Here, if someone suspects the person they’re talking to over video chat is being deceitful, they can ask them to hold up their phone camera to show their laptop. The idea is to verify whether the individual may be running deepfake technology on their computer, obscuring their true identity or surroundings.

However, it’s safe to say this approach can also be off-putting: Honest job candidates may be hesitant to show off the inside of their homes or offices, or worry a hiring manager is trying to learn details about their personal lives.

“Everyone is on edge and wary of each other now,” Schumacher says, and it perfectly sums up the mood change people are undergoing in the age of GenAI-powered scams.

As deepfakes grow more advanced and accessible, AI-driven scams are reshaping cybercrime. Traditional security is no longer enough; vigilance, identity checks, and robust cybersecurity frameworks are the need of the hour to counter this rising threat.

The Clock Towers Complex facilitates pilgrim journey

The Clock Towers Complex has emerged as a unique global destination landmark in the heart of Makkah, redefining hospitality, retail, and cultural experiences. Overlooking the Grand Mosque, this architectural masterpiece welcomes more than 20 million visitors a year, offering a unique experience that blends luxury and spirituality. The Clock Towers Complex completed a SAR 6 billion syndicated financing deal with Al Rajhi Bank and Alinma Bank.

The Clock Towers Complex is a mixed-use complex that serves as a central terminal for pilgrims and tourists

International Finance caught up with The Clock Towers Complex CEO Eng. Waleed AlHarthi, who shared his insights on the high-profile deal, the company's goals, and more.

Your SAR 6 billion syndicated financing deal with Al Rajhi Bank and Alinma Bank marks a major milestone. What significance does this hold for The Clock Towers Complex? This financing is a significant milestone for The Clock Towers Complex. It allows us to refinance existing debt, enhance working capital, and fund key development projects. This strengthens our financial position, providing greater flexibility to meet the growing demands of Makkah’s hospitality and retail sectors. Most importantly, it positions us to continue offering exceptional services to pilgrims and Umrah visitors, supporting Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030, particularly through the Pilgrim Experience Programme, which aims to enhance the journey for millions of visitors.

The Clock Towers Complex is a leader in Makkah’s hospitality and retail markets. How does this financing support your role, especially with Vision 2030’s goals and the Pilgrim Experience Programme in mind?

The Clock Towers Complex is a mixed-use complex that serves as a central terminal for pilgrims and tourists. With over 10,000 luxurious hotel rooms in iconic properties like the Fairmont Hotel, Raffles Makkah Palace,

and Swissotel Makkah, alongside our renowned shopping mall, it provides a complete experience for visitors. This financing will help us expand and improve these assets to better serve the growing number of pilgrims and tourists. Vision 2030 aims to host 30 million Umrah visitors by 2030, and we are committed to playing a key role in the Pilgrim Experience Programme. This programme is focused on improving the pilgrimage journey, and our infrastructure is central to making that a reality.

How does The Clock Towers Complex align with the broader objectives of Vision 2030 and the Pilgrim Experience Programme?

Vision 2030 is centred around economic diversification, sustainability, and a strong focus on expanding tourism. The Clock Towers Complex plays an essential role in this transformation. As a mixed-use complex and a central terminal for pilgrims, we offer luxury accommodations, world-class retail experiences, and continuous investments in infrastructure, directly supporting the Kingdom’s vision. The Pilgrim Experience Programme is one of the key initiatives designed to improve the pilgrimage experience. We are proud to be part of this programme, as it enhances the services and facilities available to millions of pilgrims, ensuring Makkah remains a global hub for religious tourism while supporting Saudi Arabia’s broader economic goals.

Can you tell us more about

the assets financed under this deal?

This financing supports key assets, including the iconic Makkah Clock Royal Tower, one of the tallest buildings in the world, which serves as a central landmark in Makkah. It also includes renowned hotels such as the Fairmont Hotel, Raffles Makkah Palace, and Swissotel Makkah, which provide top-tier services to pilgrims and tourists. Our shopping mall and other operating assets play a vital role in enhancing the visitor experience. These investments ensure that we continue to meet the needs of the growing number of pilgrims and tourists, supporting the Pilgrim Experience Programme and positioning Makkah as a leading destination for travellers.

What role do you see The Clock Towers Complex playing in the future of Makkah, particularly with the Pilgrim Experience Programme?

The future is incredibly promising for The Clock Towers Complex. As Makkah continues to grow as a global tourism hub, we are committed to being a central player in that growth. With Vision 2030 aiming to host 30 million Umrah visitors, our role in the Pilgrim Experience Programme will be key. We will continue investing in hospitality, retail, and infrastructure, ensuring we meet the needs of a growing number of visitors. Our goal is to provide exceptional accommodations and services that make the pilgrimage experience as seamless and memorable as possible, supporting Makkah’s continued development as a world-class destination.

OpenAI’s leadership argues that staying ahead in AI requires access to far greater funding than a nonprofit model can provide

Can OpenAI’s idealism survive corporate change?

IF CORRESPONDENT

For Orson Aguilar, a seasoned activist for economic justice, the news that OpenAI was dismantling its nonprofit roots felt like a warning shot. In October 2024, Silicon Valley press reports revealed that OpenAI, the world-famous maker of ChatGPT, was planning to “simplify” its unusual nonprofit structure and morph into a more conventional company.

Aguilar, who leads the Los Angeles–based nonprofit LatinoProsperity, feared the move would betray OpenAI’s founding mission to “benefit all of humanity” by empowering investors to reap unlimited private profits.

That moment spurred Aguilar to action. He began speed-dialling allies in California’s philanthropic and civil rights circles, determined to scrutinise OpenAI’s restructuring plan and its implications for the public interest.

Over the ensuing months, a broad coalition of more than 50 advocacy organisations coalesced: labour unions, community foundations, tech accountability groups. All rallied around a shared concern that OpenAI’s transformation from a nonprofit lab into a profit-driven corporate behemoth could set a dangerous precedent.

By January 2025, they were urging California’s attorney general to intervene, warning that billions in charitable assets (the ones intended for the public good) were at risk of being effectively privatised.

What had begun as a little-noticed corporate restructuring proposal was quickly snowballing into a high-stakes battle over the future of OpenAI, the governance of artificial intelligence, and the integrity of the nonprofit system itself.

From idealistic lab to tech titan OpenAI’s origin story is steeped in idealism. The San Francisco research lab launched in late 2015 as a nonprofit venture backed by tech luminaries including Sam Altman and Elon Musk, who together pledged $1 billion to fund it. At the time, concerns were growing that AI development was dominated by a few big tech firms driven by profit.

OpenAI’s founders vowed a different path: build advanced AI in the service of all humanity and share the research openly. Its charter emphasised longterm social benefits over financial gain, even declaring that when conflict arises, the nonprofit mission would “take precedence” over any obligation to generate profit.

For several years, OpenAI operated like an AI think tank, publishing cutting-

Source: Statista

edge research and freely sharing its code. But as the race to develop powerful AI accelerated, the organisation faced a dilemma. Training world-class AI models required far more computing power (and money) than its initial philanthropic funding could support.

By 2019, OpenAI’s leadership made a controversial pivot. They set up a hybrid structure by creating a for-profit arm, OpenAI Global, under the umbrella of the original nonprofit, OpenAI. This allowed them to attract venture capital while ostensibly keeping the nonprofit’s oversight and mission intact.

This compromise introduced a novel “capped-profit” model. Investors could earn returns on their money, but those returns were capped at a certain multiple. After that point, the nonprofit would retain surplus value to fund its mission. The idea was to access billions in Silicon Valley capital without fully sacrificing OpenAI’s altruistic DNA.

In practice, the hybrid model allowed OpenAI to tap deep-pocketed backers. Microsoft alone poured in a reported $13 billion (across multiple funding rounds) for a share of OpenAI’s technology and profits.

By late 2023, OpenAI’s ChatGPT had become a global sensation, drawing over half a billion weekly users and solidifying OpenAI as a leading AI provider.

Yet the influx of capital came with mounting pressure to compete and monetise. OpenAI began behaving more like a Silicon Valley startup than a

pure research outfit. It charged for API access, launched paid subscriptions, and curtailed its once-open research disclosures for “security and competitive” reasons. The tension between its nonprofit ideals and market ambitions grew harder to ignore.

The breaking point came in November 2023 with an extraordinary boardroom drama. OpenAI’s nonprofit board, tasked with ensuring the company stayed true to its mission, abruptly fired CEO Sam Altman, citing a “lack of consistent candour” in his communications.

The shock ouster of Altman, the charismatic figurehead of ChatGPT’s rise, sent the tech world into a tailspin, especially after it emerged that concerns about AI safety and OpenAI’s rapid pace might have been at issue.

Within five days, Altman was reinstated following an employee and investor uproar. Most of the board members who had ousted him resigned under pressure. The episode was a stark illustration of OpenAI’s governance quandary. The nonprofit oversight that reassured the public about OpenAI’s benevolent mission had become a wildcard factor in a company now valued like a $100 billion startup.

As Vox observed, the saga “made it clear that the nonprofit’s control of the for-profit could potentially have huge implications,” particularly for Microsoft, which had billions at stake. After that turmoil, OpenAI’s leadership grew even more convinced that its existing structure was unsustainable.

Shift to a public-benefit corporation

In late 2023, OpenAI started mapping out a plan to overhaul its corporate structure. The centrepiece would be converting OpenAI’s for-profit subsidiary into a new entity incorporated as a public benefit corporation (PBC). A PBC is a company

that balances profit-making with a stated social mission.

Crucially, unlike the earlier cappedprofit model, this change would remove the hard ceiling on investor returns, allowing venture backers to profit without limit. OpenAI’s nonprofit parent would likely either become a minority shareholder in the new PBC or receive a one-time payout. In other words, OpenAI was preparing to shed the very safeguards that once made it unique: the nonprofit’s veto power and the cap on profits, all in favour of a more typical corporate arrangement.

Developing advanced AI has become a capital-intensive arms race, with rivals like Google, Meta, Anthropic, and Elon Musk’s new startup xAI all vying for talent and computing resources. OpenAI’s leadership argues that staying ahead in AI requires access to far greater funding than a nonprofit model can provide. Under American law, nonprofits face strict limits on raising investment.

Neil Elan, a partner at a tech law firm, stated that “they can’t sell stock or offer returns.”

He explains that “equity is what drives a lot of these high-valuation models in

Silicon Valley. Without the ability to issue lucrative shares, OpenAI feared it wouldn’t fully compete with Meta, Microsoft, and Google, which have access to a lot more resources… without comparable funding."

Those worries crystallised as OpenAI negotiated a blockbuster financing deal earlier this year. In April 2025, OpenAI announced it had closed a recordsetting $40 billion funding round led by Japan’s SoftBank. The deal pegged OpenAI’s valuation at an eye-popping $300 billion. The catch? Roughly 75% of that investment is contingent on OpenAI

completing its structural revamp by the end of 2025.

The investment agreement allows SoftBank and other backers to withdraw up to $30 billion of the funding if OpenAI does not transition to the new PBC structure on schedule. The message was clear: to secure the full war chest needed for its aggressive AI roadmap, OpenAI had to cast off any structural quirks that made investors nervous.

And the investors were getting nervous. The November boardroom fracas had highlighted how OpenAI’s nonprofit oversight could unpredictably intervene in business decisions. This created a risk factor almost unheard of among tech unicorns.

According to a previously unreported letter from OpenAI’s lawyers to California regulators, “many potential investors in OpenAI’s recent funding rounds declined to invest due to its unusual governance structure.”

This contradicts earlier narratives that investors were lining up in droves.

Indeed, some of Silicon Valley’s biggest players baulked at OpenAI’s hybrid model after seeing Altman briefly dethroned by a nonprofit board. To calm the investor concerns, OpenAI’s leadership initiated plans soon after the Altman episode to remove nonprofit control and restructure as a profit-centric PBC. In effect, the startup’s meteoric success was forcing it to become more like a traditional corporation in order to keep raising capital at sky-high valuations.

Sam Altman himself has acknowledged that, in hindsight, OpenAI’s founders underestimated how costly and fast-moving the AI race would become.

He noted that if he could redo 2015, he might have structured OpenAI differently from the start. Other AI startups, Anthropic (founded by ex-

OpenAI researchers) and xAI (founded by Musk), learnt from OpenAI’s example and launched as public benefit corporations from day one.

Now OpenAI is racing to catch up and give its backers the standard corporate framework and eventual stock market payday they expect. Investors are already eyeing a potential OpenAI IPO by 2027, which could turn early stakes by firms like Microsoft and SoftBank into massive profits.

The activist backlash

As OpenAI moved forward with its restructuring behind closed doors, Orson Aguilar and his allies mobilised a counteroffensive in public. Aguilar’s first call after digesting the news in October 2024 was to Fred Blackwell, CEO of the San Francisco Foundation.

Blackwell, a prominent figure in Bay Area philanthropy, immediately recognised echoes of a past fight. In the 1990s, he and other advocates had taken on a wave of nonprofit hospitals and insurers attempting to convert into for-profit companies.

As those healthcare nonprofits demutualised, some executives manoeuvred to boost payouts for themselves while hollowing out the charitable foundations that were meant to receive the nonprofits’ assets.

Consumer advocates in California, including Blackwell’s colleague Judith Bell, latched onto an obscure but powerful statute. Under state law, all the assets of a nonprofit are irrevocably dedicated to the public and belong to the people of the state forever, only to be used for charitable purposes.

The law grants California’s attorney general broad authority to approve or deny any conversion of a nonprofit’s assets and to ensure that the public is

protected when a nonprofit becomes a private entity.

Bell and others built a coalition in the 1990s that pressured the California Attorney General to enforce those rules rigorously. The result was a series of agreements that preserved enormous charitable endowments even as hospitals transitioned into for-profit status.

In California alone, that activism helped create three of the state’s largest private foundations, including the $4 billion California Endowment, which was funded by assets spun out of former nonprofit hospitals.

Advocates estimate that they saved $15 billion in charitable funds from being diverted by businesses and their investors through those deals.

“You can protect the charitable assets and allow these companies to go forth in the for-profit world,” Bell says, reflecting on that chapter. In other words, compromise is possible. Companies can convert, but the public must get its fair share.

Seeing history repeat itself, Bell, Blackwell, and Aguilar decided to

revive that old playbook. By late 2023, they had assembled a broad coalition of community and labour organisations. More than 50 groups, ranging from tech accountability nonprofits to unions like SEIU, expressed alarm at the idea of OpenAI’s charitable assets being diverted to private gain.

In January 2025, the coalition launched a public campaign and formally petitioned California Attorney General Rob Bonta to scrutinise OpenAI’s plans. Their request was direct: Do not approve this conversion without firm guarantees that OpenAI’s nonprofit assets (both tangible and intangible) will be fully valued and used for the public good going forward.

The coalition’s letter to Bonta, costeered by Aguilar, expressed doubt that OpenAI intended to comply with the spirit of the law. They accused OpenAI of skirting transparency and failing to detail how its nonprofit stake, which some estimate could be worth $20 to $30 billion given OpenAI’s valuation, would be protected.

Any scheme that values OpenAI’s

nonprofit share at even a penny less than fair market value “would be unlawful,” Aguilar argues.

He adds that anything short of full independence for the nonprofit arm risks allowing commercial imperatives to override the charity’s purpose. In short, the activists want OpenAI’s nonprofit to remain firmly in control or receive a payout that reflects its foundational role in creating ChatGPT and other breakthroughs.

Ideally, they envision that endowment fuelling what could become one of the best-resourced nonprofits in history, a massive charitable foundation to fund AI for good, free from the influence of OpenAI’s new for-profit owners.

This grassroots pressure has already scored some symbolic wins. By March, as media coverage of the “OpenAI rebellion” intensified, the company’s leadership reached out to engage with the coalition. Aguilar, Blackwell, and others sat with OpenAI representatives in San Francisco for a tense meeting.

According to participants, OpenAI staff were eager to correct what they

described as “misconceptions” about the restructuring and even asked for feedback on how the nonprofit’s mission might evolve in the future. But when Aguilar pressed for concrete answers on how much funding and independence the nonprofit would retain under the new plan, he says OpenAI’s emissaries deflected. Not long after, OpenAI announced it was creating a special advisory commission, a move widely seen as a response to the coalition’s campaign.

California’s attorney general enters the fray

California Attorney General Rob Bonta, who oversees nonprofit charities in the state, became a pivotal figure in this unfolding drama. Triggered by the January petition, Bonta’s office quietly opened an investigation into OpenAI’s plans and requested financial records from the company earlier this year.

While such probes are typically confidential, Bonta’s spokesperson publicly confirmed in the spring that the California Department of Justice was actively reviewing OpenAI’s restruc-

turing and remained in continued conversations with the company.

OpenAI must convince Bonta that its conversion plan will not improperly discard any charitable trust obligations. The attorney general has the authority to block the deal or to impose conditions if it fails to meet legal requirements.

At the centre of this scrutiny is a distinctly Californian legal safeguard.

When a nonprofit organisation, like OpenAI Inc., houses valuable assets or subsidiaries, those assets are considered charitable in perpetuity. The law allows nonprofits to convert or sell assets, but only if the public interest is fairly served and the charitable value is preserved.

Any windfall generated from, for instance, turning OpenAI’s research into a public stock offering should primarily benefit nonprofit coffers earmarked for public benefit. What activists fear is a repeat of past abuses: insiders or investors structuring deals that shortchange the nonprofit, and by extension the public, out of the true value of what was built under the nonprofit’s umbrella.

Critics say OpenAI’s original restructuring plan appeared to do exactly that. Under the version circulated in late 2023, OpenAI’s nonprofit parent would sell its majority control in exchange for a stake in the new PBC and certain licensing rights. However, it would no longer directly own

the core technology it had developed.

Observers noted that the nonprofit appeared to be transforming into just another investor, sacrificing governance for funding, which effectively diminished its public-interest role.

“Nonprofit control over how AGI is developed and governed is so important to OpenAI’s mission that removing control would violate the special fiduciary duty owed to the nonprofit’s beneficiaries,” argued a group of prominent tech experts and legal scholars in an open letter to Bonta.

According to that letter, “The nonprofit’s beneficiaries are all of us, the general public, and no amount of payout

FEATURE OPENAI

could compensate for the loss of a direct role in shaping the future of one of the world’s most powerful AI labs.”

This expert letter, published on a site pointedly titled "Not for Private Gain", was signed in April by more than 30 prominent AI voices, including pioneering researcher Dr. Geoffrey Hinton, leading AI ethicists Margaret Mitchell and Stuart Russell, and even several former OpenAI insiders.

They called on Bonta and the Delaware attorney general (since OpenAI is incorporated in Delaware) to intervene and prevent any restructuring plan that removes public oversight of OpenAI’s artificial general intelligence (AGI) research. The letter warned that eliminating the nonprofit’s control would gut essential governance mechanisms that keep OpenAI’s profit motives in check.

Legal firestorm and public reckoning

Pressure was also mounting from unexpected directions. In early 2024, Elon Musk, who had co-founded OpenAI but left in 2018, filed a lawsuit to halt the restructuring. He claimed that OpenAI was abandoning the charitable mission for which he had originally donated funds. Musk further alleged that his $100 million donation had been improperly used to help establish the for-profit arm. Surprisingly, some of OpenAI’s

competitors voiced support for Musk’s challenge. Meta, the parent company of Facebook, publicly backed the effort to stall the transformation. While critics noted that both Musk and Meta had their own competitive reasons for opposing OpenAI’s rise, their involvement added to the scrutiny surrounding the company’s motives.

Musk’s legal action did not immediately block OpenAI’s plans. A federal judge in California declined to grant a preliminary injunction in the spring of 2025. However, the lawsuit added complexity and drew public attention. OpenAI responded by countersuing Musk, accusing him of trying to undermine a rival out of self-interest.

Critics emphasised the obvious: many of OpenAI’s financial backers were traditional venture capitalists seeking substantial returns, not longterm philanthropists. When OpenAI transitions fully into a profit-maximising enterprise, skeptics fear it will become beholden to shareholder interests.

The consequences of this transition could extend far beyond OpenAI itself. If the company completes its conversion with minimal nonprofit influence, it might establish a precedent for other tech ventures. Future startups could adopt nonprofit language and structures to attract donations and goodwill, only to switch to for-profit status once they reach commercial success. This

possibility alarms nonprofit advocates, who warn that it could erode public trust in charitable innovation.

On the other hand, if regulators force significant concessions, such as creating a large, independent foundation or embedding real public-interest oversight, it could reaffirm the public’s rightful stake in high-impact technologies. That kind of intervention would send a powerful signal that phrases like “for the benefit of humanity” must be backed by accountability and tangible structures.

Ultimately, the key question concerns governance. Who will lead the development of the next generation of artificial intelligence? Will private investment prevail, or will public interest play a significant role? If OpenAI's nonprofit organisation becomes a passive shareholder, there is a risk that the values of safety, equity, and long-term benefit may be overshadowed by a focus on quarterly earnings.

However, if California’s attorney general and other regulators take action, we could maintain democratic oversight over one of the most significant technologies of our time.

FEATURE OPENAI

Apple backs US rare-earth firm to boost supply chain

Techgiant Apple has committed $500 million to a United States-based rareearth recycling firm, MP Materials, as part of its broader effort to strengthen its domestic rare-earth supply chain.

Apple will now be buying Americanmade rare-earth magnets developed at MP Materials’ flagship facility in Fort Worth, Texas. The factory will develop a series of neodymium magnet manufacturing lines specifically designed for Apple products. Once these American-made magnets are built, they will be shipped across the country and all over the world to help address increasing global demand for the material.

“American innovation drives everything we do at Apple, and we’re proud to deepen our investment in the US economy. Rare earth materials are essential for making advanced technology, and this partnership will help strengthen the supply of these vital materials here in the United States. We couldn’t be more excited about the future of American manufacturing, and we will continue to invest in the ingenuity, creativity, and innovative spirit of the American people,” Apple CEO Tim Cook said.

The two companies will also collaborate to establish a rare-earth

recycling line in Mountain Pass, California. The facility will allow MP Materials to process recycled rare-earth feedstock, including materials from used electronics and post-industrial scrap, and reuse it in Apple products

In addition, the companies will work together to develop novel magnet materials and processing technologies to enhance magnet performance. The commitment is part of Apple's pledge to spend more than $500 billion in the United States over the next four years, as President Donald Trump doubles down on bringing back manufacturing and industries into the world's largest economy.

The tech giant first used recycled rare-earth elements in the Taptic Engine of the iPhone 11 in 2019. Today, almost all magnets across its devices are made with 100% recycled rare-earth elements. MP Materials is America’s only fully integrated rare earth producer with capabilities spanning the entire supply chain, from mining and processing to advanced metallization and magnet manufacturing. The company extracts and refines materials from one of the world’s richest rare earth deposits in California and manufactures the world’s

strongest and most efficient permanent magnets.

The company recently unveiled a multibillion-dollar deal with the Trump administration to boost the output of rare earth magnets and help loosen China's grip on the materials used to build weapons, electric vehicles and many electronics. Under the deal, the US Department of Defence (DoD) will become the largest shareholder in Las Vegas-based MP, making it Washington's most high-profile investment to date in the critical minerals sector.

The DoD will guarantee a floor price of $110 per kilogram for the two mostpopular rare earths, a price nearly twice the current Chinese market level, which has languished at low levels. MP received an average of $52 per kilogram for those same rare earths in the second quarter. MP will also build a new factory for rare earth magnets, lifting the company's output to 10,000 metric tons a year.

Apple’s $500M bet on MP Materials marks a bold push to secure US rareearth supply and power the future of American tech.