Open Banking Presents £43bn Opportunity for UK Economy if Warnings Are Heeded
Open banking is projected to generate £43 bn a year for the UK economy when fully mature. Research commissioned by Open Banking Limited and conducted by EY shows the sector has already delivered £8.2 bn in benefits, with an expected £7.4 bn annual uplift within five years. The analysis highlights £2.3 bn and £2.5 bn annual GDP gains from SME productivity and improved consumer finance management, respectively, and notes 17.5 million live user connections across 145 third‑party providers. Industry leaders, including Ron Kalifa, warn that complacency could let rivals such as Brazil and India overtake the UK’s open‑banking leadership.
IWD 2026: How the Middle East Is Building a New Generation of Women Leaders in Technology
Across the Middle East, especially the UAE, women’s participation in technology is evolving from basic STEM entry to senior leadership in AI, cyber security, and digital infrastructure. Government policies, education reforms, and industry initiatives have created a knowledge‑based ecosystem that...
NS&I’s Modernisation Programme: A £3bn Lesson in How to Lose Public Trust
The Public Accounts Committee has labeled the National Savings and Investments (NS&I) digital modernisation a “full‑spectrum disaster” after four years of a £3 bn programme that lacks an integrated plan, has seen costs triple and deadlines disappear. Parliament found the project...
Interview: CyrusOne on the Sustainable Innovation that Drives Datacentre Business Outcomes
CyrusOne’s vice‑president of environmental, health, safety and sustainability, Kyle Myers, says the company treats sustainability as a profit centre rather than a cost centre. By centralising ESG functions into a cross‑functional working group, CyrusOne has integrated green‑building standards across its...
Qatar Advances Sovereign Cloud Strategy to Strengthen Digital Trust and National Autonomy
Qatar is accelerating a sovereign cloud strategy to keep sensitive data under domestic law, leveraging its Personal Data Privacy Protection Law as a regulatory backbone. Deloitte’s Cloud Centre of Excellence in Lusail is driving the effort, having migrated over 3,000...
G42 Expands Global AI Ambitions with Sovereign Cloud Partnership in Vietnam
Abu Dhabi‑based G42 has inked a Framework Cooperation Agreement with Vietnam’s FPT Corporation and Viet Thai Group to build sovereign AI and hyperscale cloud infrastructure. The deal, backed by up to $1 bn in consumption commitments, will see three new datacenters...
Fractile Expansion Demonstrates UK Growth Opportunity
UK chip startup Fractile announced a £100 million expansion across its Bristol and London sites, creating a national industrial hardware engineering hub and adding 40 new roles to its 70‑person team. The company claims its in‑memory compute architecture can run AI...
NTT Data Deepens Middle East Cloud Push with Acquisition of UAE-Based Zero&One
NTT Data has acquired Dubai‑based cloud consultancy Zero&One, strengthening its cloud and artificial‑intelligence services in the United Arab Emirates. The deal, undisclosed financially, adds AWS expertise, regional regulatory know‑how, and delivery capacity to NTT Data’s portfolio. It underscores the UAE’s...
UAE’s TII Challenges Big Tech Dominance with Open Source Falcon AI Models
The United Arab Emirates’ Technology Innovation Institute (TII) has released its Falcon family of large language models as open‑source, positioning the nation as a challenger to big‑tech AI dominance. Falcon models emphasize efficiency, with the 7‑billion‑parameter H1R delivering high‑performance reasoning...
DWP Rejigs Operating Model for Data Transformation by 2030
The UK Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) unveiled a seven‑year data strategy (2023‑2030) that pivots to a federated hub‑and‑spoke operating model for data management and governance. The plan targets a 20% cost reduction over five years, modernises legacy systems,...
Gartner: AI and Datacentre Spending Ramps Up
Gartner projects global IT spending to rise 10.8% to $6.2 trillion by 2026, with datacentre equipment spending surging 32% and software up nearly 15%. AI investment will total $2.52 trillion, a 44% year‑over‑year jump, driven largely by hyperscale cloud providers expanding AI‑optimized...
