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Singapore and Japan launch mutual recognition of IoT cybersecurity labels

Singapore and Japan have launched mutual recognition of their cybersecurity labelling schemes for Internet of Things (IoT) under a Memorandum of Cooperation that entered into force on 1 June 2026. The arrangement covers Singapore’s Cybersecurity Labelling Scheme and Japan’s JC-STAR scheme.

The Memorandum of Cooperation was signed by Rahayu Mahzam, Singapore’s Minister of State for Digital Development and Information, and Ino Toshiro, Japan’s State Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry. The Cyber Security Agency of Singapore (CSA) and Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry agreed to recognise cybersecurity labels issued under either scheme.

IoT devices certified under either Japan’s JC-STAR scheme or Singapore’s Cybersecurity Labelling Scheme will be eligible for streamlined recognition in the other market. Covered products include smart home assistants, home automation and alarm systems, and IoT gateways and hubs that connect multiple devices.

Japan is the fifth country to establish such an arrangement with Singapore, following Finland, Germany, South Korea, and the United Kingdom. According to Singapore authorities, the arrangement is expected to support stronger cybersecurity practices for connected devices, reduce certification burdens for manufacturers, and increase consumer confidence in smart technologies.

The CSA launched the Cybersecurity Labelling Scheme in 2020. Since then, it has received applications for more than 1,000 products, including routers, smart lighting, and smart cameras.

Why does it matter?

Connected devices are increasingly used in homes, businesses, and critical services, making cybersecurity a growing concern for governments and consumers. Cybersecurity labelling schemes are designed to help buyers identify products that meet recognised security requirements while encouraging manufacturers to improve security practices.

By recognising each other’s certification schemes, Singapore and Japan are reducing regulatory barriers and promoting greater interoperability in cybersecurity standards. The agreement also reflects broader international efforts to strengthen trust and security in the rapidly expanding IoT ecosystem.

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China showcases AI innovation and global cooperation at World Intelligence Expo 2026

The 2026 World Intelligence Expo has opened in Tianjin, bringing together more than 700 exhibitors to present AI technologies, products, and application scenarios.

The four-day event is co-hosted by the municipal governments of Tianjin and Chongqing under the theme ‘Intelligence: Extensive Development Space, Sustainable Growth Driver’. It features seven exhibition zones covering embodied AI, core AI technologies, the low-altitude economy, commercial space exploration, and other emerging technology areas.

Chinese officials used the event to emphasise the integration of AI into manufacturing, industrial operations, and the broader digital economy. Ke Jixin, Vice Minister of Industry and Information Technology, said the ministry would advance the ‘AI+ manufacturing’ initiative, strengthen innovation capabilities, and improve the industrial environment for AI development.

A major focus of the expo is developing high-quality datasets to support intelligent manufacturing. Liu Liehong, head of the National Data Administration, said China would support industry leaders and pilot entities in building sector-specific datasets in areas including automobile manufacturing, shipbuilding, rail transit, non-ferrous metals, and petrochemicals.

The event also highlighted China’s interest in expanding international AI cooperation. Chen Jiachang, Vice Minister of Science and Technology, said China is making AI a priority in bilateral and multilateral technology cooperation, including capacity development.

Representatives from countries including the United Arab Emirates and Kazakhstan discussed potential cooperation with China across AI, advanced technologies, the digital economy, the internet of things, fintech, medical technology, and software.

More than 200 new products, technologies, achievements, and research reports are expected to be released during the expo, covering embodied AI, intelligent connected vehicles, the low-altitude economy, smart manufacturing, and smart living.

Why does it matter?

The expo reflects China’s effort to position AI as a driver of industrial upgrading, manufacturing competitiveness, and digital economic growth. The focus on sector-specific datasets is particularly important because data infrastructure is becoming a core part of AI industrial policy. The international cooperation messaging also shows how China is using AI events to strengthen technology partnerships and capacity-building ties, especially with countries interested in smart cities, fintech, healthcare technology, and digital infrastructure.

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ECB cautions that stablecoins could affect monetary sovereignty

Stablecoins could enable faster payments, lower transaction costs, and more efficient settlement, but may also create risks for financial stability, monetary policy, and monetary sovereignty, according to European Central Bank Executive Board member Isabel Schnabel.

Speaking at the Bank of Korea International Conference on Central Banks and the Future of Money, Schnabel compared the rise of stablecoins with the earlier emergence of money market funds. Both offer alternatives to traditional bank deposits and operate outside the banking system, but stablecoins also function as payment and settlement tools.

Schnabel said stablecoins could contribute to a new wave of bank disintermediation if households and firms replace bank deposits with stablecoin holdings. That could make banks more reliant on wholesale funding and leave their liabilities more concentrated, rate-sensitive, and volatile.

Financial stability risks remain a key concern. Stablecoins can be vulnerable to runs if confidence in their reserve assets weakens, while large-scale redemptions could trigger fire sales or spillovers into sovereign debt and broader fixed-income markets. Schnabel noted that the largest US dollar-pegged stablecoins are now approaching the size of the largest US money market funds.

Stablecoins may also affect monetary policy transmission. Their wider adoption could change bank funding conditions, influence demand for short-term government securities, and create uncertainty over how policy rate changes pass through to financial conditions and the real economy.

Schnabel also warned that stablecoins could further strengthen the US dollar’s international role. Most stablecoins in circulation are dollar-denominated, and wider use could deepen dollar-based payment and settlement networks, particularly in jurisdictions with weaker monetary credibility.

The ECB sees regulation, digital payment infrastructure, and central bank digital currency as part of the response. Schnabel said the Eurosystem’s strategy includes a digital euro for retail payments and tokenised central bank money for wholesale settlement, preserving central bank money as the anchor of trust while supporting private innovation.

Why does it matter?

The speech frames stablecoins as a question of monetary architecture, not only crypto-market innovation. If stablecoins become widely used for payments and settlement, they could shift deposits away from banks, affect monetary policy transmission, create new run risks, and reinforce dollar-based financial networks. For central banks, the policy challenge is to support innovation while ensuring that public money remains the trusted settlement anchor of the financial system.

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OECD examines local conditions for trustworthy AI transition

The OECD is advancing work on AI and the local conditions needed for a trustworthy, ethical, and sustainable transition, focusing on how countries, regions, and cities can develop AI solutions adapted to local needs.

The project, ‘Seizing the full potential of AI: the local factor’, examines how AI is affecting business functions, public governance, jobs, labour markets, and regional economies. The OECD says generative AI has lowered some barriers to adoption by enabling the use of pre-trained models, but uptake remains uneven across places, people, and firms.

The organisation links stronger AI adoption to innovation-leading regions, especially global technology hubs connected to specialised knowledge networks and global value chains. Regions with weaker innovation performance appear to use AI less and adopt it more slowly, while workforce skills act as both an enabler and a barrier to adoption.

The OECD warns that uneven diffusion could affect competitiveness and territorial cohesion, particularly because technology gaps can be difficult to close once they widen. Businesses, regional governments, and cities also face challenges in integrating AI into legacy systems, adapting labour markets, revising skills and employment policies, financing the transition, and managing risks linked to employment, the environment, land use, and natural resources.

The project focuses on place-based AI strategies, local employment and skills needs, regional development policy, and smart and inclusive cities. Its work aims to help national and subnational policymakers assess AI readiness, strengthen stakeholder engagement, and build the policy capacity needed to support broader AI diffusion.

Why does it matter?

The OECD’s work highlights a key risk in AI adoption: technological divides may become territorial divides. If leading innovation hubs move faster while weaker regions lack skills, infrastructure, financing, or institutional capacity, AI could widen gaps in competitiveness, public service quality, and labour market outcomes. Place-based AI strategies can help policymakers tailor adoption, skills, and investment policies to local conditions rather than relying on one-size-fits-all national approaches.

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European Commission fines Temu €200 million under DSA

The European Commission has imposed a €200 million fine on Temu after finding that the online marketplace breached obligations under the Digital Services Act by failing to properly assess and mitigate systemic risks linked to illegal products sold to consumers in the EU.

According to the Commission, Temu’s 2024 risk assessment did not meet DSA requirements because it relied on general information about the wider e-commerce sector rather than evidence specific to its own platform. Regulators also found that the company significantly underestimated the likelihood that the EU consumers would encounter illegal or unsafe products.

The investigation drew on mystery shopping exercises and information from customs and market surveillance authorities. Findings included chargers that failed basic safety requirements and baby toys that contained chemicals above legal limits or presented choking hazards.

Regulators also criticised Temu for failing to sufficiently assess how recommender systems and influencer promotion programmes could contribute to the spread of illegal products on the platform.

Temu must now submit a detailed action plan explaining how it will address the shortcomings identified by the Commission. The plan will be reviewed with the European Board for Digital Services before implementation requirements are set. Failure to comply could lead to additional penalties under the DSA.

The decision is part of a wider Commission investigation into Temu, including issues related to potentially addictive design, recommender systems, and data access for researchers.

Why does it matter?

The fine marks one of the most significant enforcement actions under the Digital Services Act against a major online marketplace. It shows that the DSA is being used not only to address illegal content, but also to require platforms to assess and reduce consumer safety risks linked to illegal and unsafe goods. The case reinforces the EU’s focus on proactive risk management by very large online platforms, including how marketplace design, recommendations, and influencer promotion can amplify the reach of harmful products.

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ChatGPT down as users report login and conversation issues

OpenAI reported two resolved incidents affecting ChatGPT on 29 May, following user reports of issues with conversations, logins, and account creation.

The first incident affected users trying to log in or create an account. OpenAI classified the issue as degraded performance affecting ChatGPT and APIs. The company began investigating at 03:12 a.m., applied a mitigation at 03:28 a.m., and marked the incident resolved at 04:57 a.m.

A second incident affected ChatGPT conversations. OpenAI began investigating the issue at 03:18 a.m., applied a mitigation at 03:29 a.m., and marked the incident resolved at 04:58 a.m. The company said all impacted services had fully recovered.

OpenAI’s official status page listed both incidents as degraded performance rather than a full outage. The company did not provide further details on the cause of either disruption in the incident updates.

The brief disruption highlights the growing reliance on AI services for daily work, communication, and software development, as even short periods of degraded performance can affect users and organisations that depend on cloud-based AI tools.

Why does it matter?

The incidents show how widely used AI services are becoming part of everyday digital infrastructure. Even brief login or conversation failures can disrupt work for individuals, developers, businesses, and teams that rely on ChatGPT and related API services.

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European Commission prepares Chips Act 2.0 to boost semiconductor resilience

The European Commission is preparing a Chips Act 2.0 aimed at strengthening Europe’s semiconductor resilience, reducing strategic dependencies, and supporting technological sovereignty.

The initiative builds on earlier legislation introduced after pandemic-related supply chain disruptions, but seeks to address persistent gaps in advanced chip manufacturing and fragmented governance across Member States.

A key focus of the revised framework is expanding Europe’s capacity in advanced semiconductors, particularly chips below 10 nanometres that are used in AI, high-performance computing, defence and advanced automotive systems.

The proposal also aims to improve monitoring of supply chains and market actors, while simplifying regulatory processes and enhancing investment conditions for strategic semiconductor projects.

Alongside production capacity, the initiative is expected to strengthen oversight of supply chain risks and improve crisis preparedness within the EU semiconductor ecosystem. Policymakers have identified limited visibility into supply-chain risks, including technology leakage and dependence on suppliers outside the EU, as a structural weakness.

The initiative is also expected to form part of the EU’s broader digital sovereignty agenda, including support for semiconductor research, chip design capabilities and cross-border industrial coordination.

Why does it matter?

Semiconductors are essential components in technologies ranging from AI systems and telecommunications networks to defence equipment, energy infrastructure and vehicles. The concentration of advanced chip production in a small number of global locations has heightened concerns about supply-chain resilience and strategic dependencies.

By expanding manufacturing capacity and improving oversight of supply chain risks, the EU aims to strengthen its ability to withstand disruptions while supporting long-term competitiveness in a critical technology sector.

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ECB warns digital money must evolve to preserve financial stability

The European Central Bank has said central bank money must evolve to remain relevant in an increasingly digital financial system.

Speaking in Frankfurt, Piero Cipollone, Member of the ECB’s Executive Board, said digitalisation is reshaping retail payments, wholesale financial markets, and cross-border payment infrastructure across the euro area. He warned that if central bank money does not adapt to technological change, it risks losing relevance in key parts of the economy, weakening public money’s role as an anchor of stability and increasing fragmentation in the financial system.

Retail payments are becoming more digital and platform-based, while wholesale financial markets are being shaped by tokenisation and distributed ledger technology. Cipollone said digitalisation could help reduce costs and speed up cross-border payments if it is used in a way that avoids further fragmentation.

The ECB’s policy response is built around three areas: preparing for a possible digital euro for retail payments, enabling DLT-based transactions to settle in central bank money, and interlinking fast payment systems to improve global cross-border transactions.

Cipollone said the digital euro would be designed as a digital form of cash for day-to-day retail payments, not as an investment product. He said it would complement physical cash and private payment solutions while ensuring that people retain access to a public digital payment option across the euro area.

For wholesale markets, the ECB said tokenisation could make capital markets more efficient, but only if tokenised settlement assets are available. The Eurosystem plans to allow DLT-based transactions to settle in central bank money from September 2026 through its Pontes project, while its Appia work will develop a longer-term vision for Europe’s tokenised financial ecosystem.

Cross-border payments remain a concern because they are still too slow, costly, and opaque. The ECB said interlinking fast payment systems could help reduce these frictions while protecting the monetary sovereignty of participating jurisdictions.

Why does it matter?

The speech frames digital money as a financial stability and sovereignty issue, not only a payments innovation story. As payments, markets, and cross-border settlement become more digital and tokenised, the ECB wants central bank money to remain the risk-free settlement asset, anchoring trust in the financial system. The message is also a response to the risk that private platforms, stablecoins, and fragmented infrastructures could weaken the uniformity of public money if central banks fail to adapt.

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ECB explores AI tools for monitoring financial stability risks

The European Central Bank (ECB) has examined how AI could support financial stability monitoring and communication, comparing traditional dictionary-based sentiment analysis with transformer models and GPT-based systems. The study was published as part of the ECB’s May 2026 Financial Stability Review.

Researchers analysed all ECB Financial Stability Review publications between 2004 and 2025 to evaluate how AI systems interpret financial stability risks and vulnerabilities. The study found that GPT-based models were better able to isolate explicit risk assessments and identify stronger signals during periods of financial stress, including the global financial crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic.

The ECB also introduced its SPOT indicator, an AI-powered system that uses large language models and financial news coverage to assess the severity and probability of potential financial stability triggers. According to the study, the system detected elevated risk levels ahead of several major geopolitical and economic disruptions.

Despite the growing capabilities of AI-based analysis, the ECB stressed that such tools should remain complementary to human expertise, vulnerability analysis and stress testing. The ECB stressed that financial stability assessments cannot rely solely on automated systems because forecasting shocks and systemic crises remains inherently uncertain.

Why does it matter?

Central banks are increasingly exploring AI tools to analyse large volumes of financial reports, market data, and news coverage. The ECB’s findings suggest that advanced AI models could help identify emerging vulnerabilities and support risk monitoring, while also highlighting the continued need for human judgement in assessing complex financial and geopolitical developments.

As financial systems become more interconnected, AI may become an increasingly important component of central bank analytical toolkits.

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Financial institutions adopt stricter monitoring than crypto exchanges

A Chainalysis analysis of crypto compliance monitoring shows that transaction surveillance standards across financial institutions and crypto firms have tightened significantly since 2020.

The report says nearly half of organisations onboarded in 2026 now operate at alerting standards that would have placed them among the top 10% for alerting strictness in 2020. Chainalysis said newer entrants are launching with more aggressive Know Your Transaction monitoring configurations, reflecting the maturation of digital asset compliance frameworks.

According to the analysis, traditional financial institutions generally apply stricter detection thresholds than crypto exchanges. Financial institutions set lower dollar-detection floors for both illicit and non-illicit categories, meaning they are alerted for smaller sums and apply a more conservative monitoring approach.

The gap is particularly visible in indirect exposure to non-illicit flows. Chainalysis said crypto exchanges set average alerting minimums of USD 950, compared with USD 150 for traditional financial institutions. For illicit funds, both groups apply tighter thresholds, with exchanges setting alerts from USD 100 and financial institutions from USD 55.

The report also highlights a persistent gap between direct and indirect exposure monitoring. Direct exposure refers to funds arriving immediately from a known illicit source, while indirect exposure covers funds that pass through intermediary addresses before arriving at the final destination. Chainalysis said direct monitoring has become more standardised, but indirect exposure thresholds often remain 10 to 20 times higher than direct thresholds in categories such as ransomware, fraud shops, scams, darknet markets, and sanctioned jurisdictions.

Regional differences also remain. Chainalysis said direct exposure monitoring is broadly uniform across regions, while indirect exposure thresholds vary more significantly. EMEA organisations generally apply the strictest and most concentrated thresholds, while APAC organisations show more lenient and varied configurations.

Chainalysis said the findings show a compliance sector in transition, with stronger direct exposure monitoring but continuing inconsistency in how organisations treat indirect risk.

Why does it matter?

The findings point to a maturing crypto compliance environment, especially as traditional financial institutions expand into digital assets. However, the persistent gap in indirect exposure shows that illicit actors may still find room to exploit inconsistent monitoring practices. As funds move through intermediary wallets and cross-regional networks, calibration of indirect risk controls is becoming a key issue for regulatory defensibility, counterparty due diligence, and institutional trust in digital asset markets.

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