Aurelia Butler

Some of the world’s biggest companies are turning to artificial intelligence to navigate increasingly complex supply chains as they face the impact of geopolitical tensions and pressure to eliminate links to environmental and human rights abuses.Unilever, Siemens and Maersk are among those using AI to negotiate contracts, find new suppliers, or help identify those connected to issues including the alleged repression of Uyghur Muslims in China’s Xinjiang region.Although AI support in supply chain management has been used for years, the development of so-called generative AI technology has been offering more opportunities to further automate the process. More multinationals have faced the need to keep abreast of their suppliers and customers amid disruptions during the Covid-19 pandemic as well as rising geopolitical tensions. New supply chain laws in countries such as Germany, which require companies to monitor environmental and human rights issues in their supply chains, have driven interest and investment in the area. Navneet Kapoor, chief technology officer at Maersk, said “things have changed dramatically over the past year with the advent of generative AI”, which can be used to build chatbots and other software that generates responses to human prompts. In December, the world’s second-largest container shipping group helped provide $20mn in funding for Pactum, a San Francisco business that says its ChatGPT-like bot has been negotiating contracts with suppliers for Maersk, Walmart and distribution group Wesco.“When there is war or Covid or supply chain disruption, you need to reach out to suppliers,” said Kaspar Korjus, Pactum’s co-founder, who said the start-up’s chatbot was negotiating deals worth up to $1mn on behalf of “tens” of Fortune 500 companies. “[With] one disruption after another these days, it takes humans too much time . . . Walmart don’t have time to reach out to tens of thousands of suppliers.”Like other multinationals, Siemens, the German industrial conglomerate, has accelerated efforts to reduce its dependence on Chinese suppliers.Since 2019, Siemens has employed the services of Scoutbee, a Berlin start-up that this year launched a chatbot that it says can respond to requests to locate alternative suppliers or vulnerabilities in a user’s supply chain. “The geopolitical aspect is a key topic for Siemens,” said Michael Klinger, a supply chain executive at the company.Scoutbee chief executive Gregor Stühler said Unilever, another customer and the maker of Marmite and Magnums, was also able to identify new suppliers when China went into lockdown during the pandemic.

Evan Smith, chief executive of New York start-up Altana, said the company, whose customers include Danish shipping group Maersk as well as the US border authorities, has scoured customs declarations, shipping documents and other data to build a map connecting 500mn companies globally. Customers can use its AI-enabled platform to trace products back to suppliers in Xinjiang, Smith added, or track if their own products are being used in Russian weapons systems.“Just to build the map, you’re talking about billions of data points in different languages. The only way you can work through all that raw data is with AI.”Up to 96 per cent of supply chain professionals are planning to use AI technology, according to a survey this month of 55 executives by logistics group Freightos, although only 14 per cent were already using it. Almost a third believed that using AI would lead to significant job cuts in their business, however, underlining concerns over the technology’s impact on job security. More

Demand for pawnbroking has hit “record levels” in Britain because of high inflation and a shortage of alternatives, according to the boss of the UK’s biggest operator.H&T Group said pre-tax profit rose 31 per cent to £8.8mn in the first half of the year compared with 2022, while its “pledge book” — loans against customer assets such as jewellery and watches — was worth £114.6mn in June, up from £85.1mn in the same month last year.Chief executive Chris Gillespie said demand had reached “record levels” partly because of a lack of alternatives. “Supply of small-sum credit is constrained now in a way it hasn’t been for many years,” he said. “If you only want and need to borrow £200, your options are very limited.”He added that “to a degree” the rise in demand for pawnbroking was also because of the high cost of living.The high-cost credit market, which grew out of the financial crisis to serve customers who were not eligible for bank loans, has shrunk dramatically in recent years because of regulatory action.According to data from the Financial Conduct Authority, the number of high-cost credit providers fell from 106 in the third quarter of 2016 to 39 in the same period last year. Payday lender Wonga collapsed in 2018, while guarantor loan provider Amigo announced it was winding down in March. Provident Financial shuttered its 141-year-old doorstep lending business in 2021, and was renamed Vanquis Banking Group in January.Pawnbroker Ramsdens has also benefited from the loss of competition. The UK-listed company said pre-tax profit in the six months to March rose 68 per cent to £3.7mn on a 33 per cent rise in revenue. Its loan book rose 29 per cent to £9.7mn over the same period, while net assets increased by £5.4mn to £43mn.“There is a lack of small-sum, short-term credit,” said chief executive Peter Kenyon. “Home collected credit has been decimated, payday lending has been decimated — so the customer has fewer options.”However, he also said the business saw the effects of rising prices.“It’s clear that bills are higher, because we see that with our median loan increasing from £150 to £170.” Pawnbrokers, which are licensed by the Financial Conduct Authority, offer interest rates that are generally lower than payday lenders but higher than bank loans. Ramsdens’ representative annual percentage rate is 154.08 per cent for a primary six-month loan, while H&T’s maximum APR is 155.8 per cent for a six-month contract. Prior to its collapse, payday lender Wonga generated controversy for offering loans at more than 5,000 per cent APR.The Money and Pensions Service, the government-sponsored money and pensions adviser, warns that borrowing money from a pawnbroker is relatively expensive and might involve losing a valued possession.Kenyon said interest rates across the sector had not increased, “despite our own backdrop of increased costs [and] increased wages”.Gillespie said that despite rising demand, pawnbroking was often seen as a slightly antiquated practice. “People in the UK aren’t used to using pawnbrokers, because they haven’t needed to for two generations.“If you go to eastern Europe and the Pacific Rim [pawnbroking is] what people do,” he added. “In the UK it has a slightly old-fashioned image, which is a shame.” More

In a ministry statement laying out economic policies to be formally rolled out next week, Massa also pledged to propose a “zero deficit” government budget for next year that would not overspend. Lawmakers, however, are not scheduled to take up the 2024 budget until September.Voters head to the polls on Sunday for the obligatory nationwide vote in which Massa’s center-left Peronist coalition hopes to hang on to power despite widespread anger over a prolonged economic crisis marked by triple-digit inflation and the steady erosion of the local peso currency.The $500 million in loans will be signed with the Inter-American Development Bank and the World Bank, according to the statement, which will boost the central bank’s critically-low foreign reserves.The ministry also said it will announce tax benefits allowing businesses to use non-declared funds for imports, and a call for bids for a major natural gas pipeline project.Argentine traders are keeping a close eye on Sunday’s election, which could point to the likely outcome of the general election in October. More