How Bad Can Inflation Be? Turkey Offers a Warning

As the Federal Reserve and other central banks around the world deal with rising inflation amid the economic recovery from the pandemic, Turkey – where the rate is currently over 20% – offers a warning. Soaring inflation has led to economic turmoil after years of broad growth. 

 

Rise in successful state-sponsored cyber attacks seen in the first six months of 2015

From Continuity Central.com –

“Gemalto has released the findings of its Breach Level Index for the first six months of 2015, revealing that 888 data breaches occurred, compromising 246 million records worldwide.

Compared to the first half of 2014, data breaches increased by 10 percent while the number of compromised data records declined by 41 percent during the first six months of this year. This decline in compromised records can most likely be attributed to that fact that fewer large scale mega breaches have occurred in the retail industry compared to the same period last year.

Despite the decrease in the number of compromised records, large data breaches continued to expose massive amounts of personal information and identities. The largest breach in the first half of 2015 – which scored a 10 in terms of severity on the Breach Level Index – was an identity theft attack on Anthem Insurance that exposed 78.8 million records, representing almost a third (32 percent) of the total data records stolen in the first six months of 2015. Other notable breaches during this analysis period included a 21-million-record breach at the US Office of Personnel Management (BLI: 9.7); a 50-million-record breach at Turkey’s General Directorate of Population and Citizenship Affairs (BLI: 9.3); and a 20-million-record breach at Russia’s Topface (BLI: 9.2). In fact, the top 10 breaches accounted for 81.4 percent of all compromised records.”

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HSBC to Cut About 50,000 Jobs in Major Overhaul of Global Business

From The New York Times -

“The British bank HSBC, in a major revamping of its global strategy, said on Tuesday that it would shed as many as 50,000 jobs as it sells several underperforming businesses, reduces the size of its global investment banking business and aims to cut billions of dollars in costs.

The bank said it would eliminate 22,000 to 25,000 full-time jobs, or about 10 percent of its work force, through restructuring by the end of 2017. It also plans to reduce its head count by an additional 25,000 positions through the sale of its underperforming businesses in Turkey and Brazil.

HSBC said that it would increase its investment in Asia, where it generates more than half of its earnings, while it seeks to cut costs by up to $5 billion annually within two years. The bank said it would complete a review of whether to move its headquarters from Britain by the end of the year.”

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TEB expands mobile banking to include live chats

From Banking Technology –
“Türk Ekonomi Bankası, one of the private sector commercial banks in Turkey, and a strategic partner of BNP Paribas, has launched an enhanced digital banking service featuring the ability to hold live chat sessions with bank staff.”

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