FI Issues Klarna with Administrative Fine of Around $46M: The Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority has fined Klarna approximately $46 million for regulatory breaches, marking one of the largest penalties in Sweden’s fintech sector. The fine highlights deficiencies in Klarna’s anti-money laundering (AML) controls and its handling of customer data. Klarna has acknowledged the issues and pledged to enhance its compliance frameworks.

Sweden’s Mynt Plots UK Expansion with €22M Series B: Mynt, a Swedish fintech company specializing in corporate expense management, has raised €22 million in a Series B funding round to fuel its expansion into the UK market. The funding, led by prominent investors, will support product development and market penetration strategies. Mynt aims to challenge established competitors with its innovative digital solutions tailored for businesses.

Investment Platform Kameo Partners Neonomics for Open Banking Payments: Kameo, a Swedish investment platform focusing on crowdfunding, has partnered with Neonomics to integrate open banking payment solutions. The collaboration will streamline payment processes, enabling faster and more secure transactions for users. This move reflects Kameo’s commitment to leveraging cutting-edge technology to enhance its services.

Sanctions Against Housing Company for Unauthorized Surveillance: The Swedish Authority for Privacy Protection (IMY) has issued a fine against a housing company for unlawful camera surveillance. The company failed to comply with GDPR rules, including inadequate justification for the monitoring and insufficient transparency with residents. IMY emphasized the importance of respecting privacy rights when implementing surveillance systems.

EDPB Approves Certification Scheme for GDPR Compliance: The European Data Protection Board (EDPB) has approved a new certification scheme aimed at helping organizations demonstrate GDPR compliance. The scheme provides a standardized framework for data protection practices, enhancing transparency and trust among stakeholders. This marks a significant step in facilitating GDPR adherence across industries.

EDPB Clarifies Data Sharing Rules with Third-Country Authorities: The EDPB has issued guidance clarifying rules for sharing data with third-country authorities under GDPR. The opinion aims to ensure legal certainty and safeguard personal data transferred outside the EU. Additionally, the EDPB approved a new EU data protection certification, further strengthening data security standards.

Support EU Data Centres or ‘Turn Off the Digital Lights’: The European data centre industry warns that without increased policy support and investment, the region risks losing its digital sovereignty and competitiveness. Rising energy costs and regulatory challenges threaten the sustainability of these critical infrastructures. The industry is calling for strategic EU-level interventions to ensure reliable digital services.

European Telecom Companies Poised for Growth Amid Deregulation: Deregulation efforts across Europe are creating new growth opportunities for telecom companies, enabling them to expand services and reduce costs. As competition intensifies, operators are also focusing on 5G networks and digital transformation initiatives. Analysts expect significant revenue and profit growth in the sector over the coming years.

Swedish Firm Ventures into Nigeria’s Telecom Sector: A Swedish telecommunications company has announced its entry into Nigeria’s telecom market, aiming to leverage its expertise in mobile network solutions. The venture highlights Nigeria’s rapidly growing digital landscape and increasing demand for reliable connectivity. This strategic move is expected to foster technology transfer and create local economic opportunities.

Nobel prize laureate Geoffrey Hinton views on AI: Professor Geoffrey Hinton, a Nobel Prize laureate known for his work on neural networks, spoke at an AI Sweden event and expressed amazement at the rapid advancements in AI. Hinton believes that human-level AI is achievable and AI systems can overcome limitations in training data by reasoning and generating their own data. Hinton highlighted the need for businesses to be agile and adapt to the fast-paced nature of AI development. He also discussed concerns about AI safety and believes regulatory pressure should be applied to major AI labs to ensure greater investment in safety measures. A panel discussion following the talk emphasized the importance of supporting AI research and researchers, the need for collaboration between industry and the public sector to ensure research relevance, and the focus on addressing real-world problems using AI.

AI investments and procurement in healthcare industry: The paper emphasizes that although many AI tools are ready to be used and can improve operations and medical decision-making, there are barriers to adoption, such as lengthy procurement processes, fragmented working methods, and the lack of standardized methods for evaluating results. The whitepaper offers practical examples of AI’s use in healthcare, such as breast cancer detection and fall prevention, a framework for analyzing return on investment, and recommendations for overcoming challenges, such as piloting AI tools on a smaller scale and promoting collaboration between regions.

Sweden: Authorities must discontinue discriminatory AI systems used by welfare agency: Amnesty International urges Sweden to halt its Social Insurance Agency (Försäkringskassan) AI system, citing discrimination against marginalized groups in fraud investigations based on gender, background, and income, risking violations of equality and privacy. They warn of parallels to the Netherlands’ AI scandal and demand immediate transparency and discontinuation.

The Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority: Important information about DORA incident and cyber threat reporting: Financial entities will be required to report through the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority’s reporting platform Fidac, initially using Excel format and using specific reporting forms developed by European Supervisory Authorities (EBA, ESMA, and EIOPA). This new reporting system will replace the current incident reporting linked to PSD2, and a special authorization will be required for reporting, with more details to be provided by the Financial Supervisory Authority in January 2025.

ENISA: Report on the State of the Cybersecurity in the Union 2024: In accordance with the NIS 2 Directive, ENISA prepared a comprehensive biennial report on the state of cybersecurity in the EU, providing an evidence-based overview of cybersecurity maturity and capabilities across Member States. The report reveals substantial cyber threats, highlights varying cybersecurity capabilities among Member States, and identifies four priority areas for policy recommendations: policy implementation, cyber crisis management, supply chain, and skills. The key recommendations include developing a coordinated EU approach to cybersecurity skills, addressing supply chain security and promoting unified cybersecurity awareness, with a focus on AI and post-quantum cryptography.

NEW NotebookLM Plus: Enhanced Features and Enterprise-Grade Protection: NotebookLM Plus is a new subscription plan that offers enhanced features such as increased Audio Overviews, customizable notebook responses, shared team notebooks with analytics, and additional privacy and security. Starting today, it is available for businesses, schools, and organizations through Google Workspace or Google Cloud, and will be included in Google One AI Premium in early 2025. For more details on benefits and pricing, users can visit the website.

• Artificial Intelligence (AI) for Leaders and Managers 2024

Dates: 30 December 2024 to 3 January 2025

Time : 09:00 AM – 06:00 PM (expected)

Location : UK, London

Registration : https://glomacs.com/training-course/artificial-intelligence-ai-for-leaders-and-managers

• Exploring DORA – the Digital Operational Resilience Act in Practice

Dates  : 30 – 31 January 2025

Time : 9:00 am – 4:00 pm

Location : Germany

Registration : https://euagenda.eu/events/2025/01/30/exploring-dora-the-digital-operational-resilience-act-in-practice#:~:text=Online%2C%2030%20%2D%2031%20January%202025&text=This%20online%20seminar%20will%20provide,the%20Digital%20Resilience%20Act%20(DORA)

• 17^th European Space Conference

Dates : January 28, 2025

Time :  9:00 AM – 9:45 AM

Location : Brussels

Registration : https://spaceconference.eu/programme/