【导读】AGI，究竟如何评判？刚刚，谷歌DeepMind发出重磅论文，直接从认知科学「借」了一套度量衡——把通用智能拆成10大认知能力，配一套三阶段评估协议，还联合Kaggle砸了20万美金，向全球研究者悬赏：谁能测出真正的AGI？ 如今的AGI，究竟到达哪一站了？ 就在刚刚，谷歌DeepMind给出了AGI的终极度量衡！ 这篇名为《Measuring Progress Toward AGI: A Cognitive Framework》的论文，核心主张只有一句话：别再争AGI是什么了，先把 怎么测 这件事搞清楚。 论文地址：https://storage.googleapis.com/deepmind-media/DeepMind.com/Blog/measuring-progress-toward-agi/measuring-progress-toward-agi-a-cognitive-framework.pdf 具体来说，AGI的评估被细化为10个关键的认知领域，包括感知、生成、注意力、学习、记忆、推理、元认知、执行功能、问题解决以及社会认知。 同时，谷歌DeepMind还想全球开发者，发起一场20万美元的Kaggle黑客松。 黑客松则是把出题权直接交给全球研究者——框架我搭好了，你们来帮忙造考卷。 从「AGI分级」到「AGI体检」 这不是DeepMind第一次尝试给AGI画路线图。 2023年，同一个团队发表了著名的「Levels of AGI」框架，把通往AGI的路拆成了5个性能等级。 从「新手」（Emerging）到「超人」（Superhuman），同时定义了6个自主性等级，从「纯工具」到「完全自主」。 那篇论文的影响力很大，它给了整个行业一套共同语言，就像自动驾驶领域的L1到L5一样，让大家至少能在同一个坐标系里对话。 但它留下了一个巨大的空白：台阶画好了，怎么测每一级？ 新论文就是来补这个缺口的。 10大认知能力：给通用智能画一张地图 它的核心，是一套把通用智能拆解为10种关键认知能力的「认知分类法」（Cognitive Taxonomy）。 具体来说，要想评估AI和人类认知能力之间到底差多少，第一步就是要搞清楚：人类的认知都包括哪些关键过程。 过去很多年里，心理学、神经科学和认知科学通过做实验、脑成像、研究病例、以及建立模型等方式，已经积累了大量...

Apexium Financial LP lessened its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 2.2% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 239,070 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after selling 5,428 shares during the period. Apple makes up 3.0% of Apexium Financial LP's holdings, making the stock its 5th largest position. Apexium Financial LP's holdings in Apple were worth $60,874,000 at the end of the most recent quarter. Get Apple alerts: Sign Up Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Apple by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,415,932,804 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $290,506,933,000 after acquiring an additional 15,141,995 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Apple by 0.9% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 601,249,995 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $123,358,461,000 after purchasing an additional 5,224,229 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Apple by 1.4% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 354,749,794 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $72,506,336,000 after purchasing an additional 4,942,638 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Apple in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $38,942,255,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in shares of Apple by 13.3% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 171,385,531 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $42,918,365,000 after purchasing an additional 20,079,472 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company's stock. Apple News Summary Here are the key news stories impacting Apple this week: Apple Trading Up 0.6% Shares of NASDAQ AAPL opened at $254.23 on Wednesday. The company h...

今天的大型视觉语言模型（VLM）做离线视频分析很强，但一到实时场景就尴尬： 视频在往前走，模型还在“补作业”。 监控告警、机器人交互、自动驾驶——这些任务要的是 边看边想 ，不是 看完再想 。 为此，越来越多的方法采用“帧文交错”的方式实现流式感知视频，即：“看一会，说一会”。 这样的方式看起来够用，是因为模型“想得短”。 一旦引入Chain-of-Thought，推理变得更加复杂：模型一思考就占着生成通道不放，新的帧进不来；打断会丢思路，不打断就会过时。 宁波东方理工大学/宁波数字孪生（东方理工）研究院沈晓宇团队的研究提出TaYS，并给出一个明确结论： 要让VLM真正具备实时视频推理能力，必须从“帧文交错”切换到“并行”。 研究论文： 《Think-as-You-See: Streaming Chain-of-Thought Reasoning for Large Vision-Language Models》 目前，该论文已被 CVPR 2026 接收。 为什么现在的推理系统不适合实时视频？ 主流VLM视频推理系统基本沿用同一套逻辑： 完整视频→统一编码→开始推理→输出答案 。 这在离线任务没问题，但在流式视频里会出现两个硬伤： 1. 延迟不可控 ：视频越长，首字输出（TTFT）越慢，交互直接崩。 2. 证据错配 ：推理发生在“很久以后”，早期线索被长序列淹没，容易漂移甚至幻觉。 为了解决这一问题，一些工作实现“帧文交错”的推理范式，在和原有图文交错的预训练范式对齐的基础上提高视频感知的实时性，但多数仍是串行流水——处理完一帧才轮到推理一步，算力利用率低。 问题还不止于此：复杂视频理解往往需要Chain-of-Thought 在面对很多如选择题等只需要输出单个或几个token的任务，可能“帧文交错”的流式推理形式可以有效解决——毕竟decode只占据极少的时间，但很多视频理解任务并不是简单的目标识别，而是需要 多步推理 ： 因果事件推断 （为什么发生） 行为意图理解 长时序事件归纳 复杂交互分析 这些任务往往需要模型生成一段 连续的推理过程 ，而不是直接输出答案，因此，CoT也早已在文本推理、图片理解、离线视频理解中占据重要地位。 看起来，把它应用到流式视频理解非常自然，但问题在于： CoT会显著拉长推理时间。 在现有架构下，一旦模型进入长时间的CoT推理： 新...

百度智能云今日发布AI算力、存储等产品调价公告。受全球人工智能应用快速发展影响，算力需求持续攀升。核心硬件及相关基础设施成本出现显著上涨。为保障平台长期稳定运行与服务质量，对部分产品价格进行结构性优化。其中，AI算力相关产品服务：上调约5%-30%；并行文件存储等：上调约30%。上述价格自2026年4月18日 00:00（北京时间） 起执行。

【导读】十亿参数单细胞基础模型scLong不再只看少数高表达基因，而是把一个细胞里接近 2.8 万个基因 都纳入建模，并结合 Gene Ontology（GO） 的生物学知识，去理解更完整的基因上下文。 在单细胞转录组学领域，研究者希望从每个细胞的基因表达中读出细胞状态、调控关系，甚至预测当某个基因被敲除、某种药物被加入后，细胞会发生什么变化。 过去几年，foundation model（基础模型）开始进入这一领域，显示出强大的迁移能力；但长期以来，现有方法往往为了节省计算，只关注少量高表达基因，忽略了大量低表达甚至零表达基因，同时也缺少对外部基因功能知识的系统整合。这不仅会丢失重要调控信号，也容易让模型对复杂生物过程「只见树木，不见森林」。 近日，MBZUAI、加州大学圣地亚哥分校（UC San Diego）等机构联合团队在 Nature Communications 发表研究成果scLong。 论文链接：https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-026-69102-y 这是一种拥有10亿参数的单细胞基础模型，基于约4800万个细胞进行预训练，能够在整个人类转录组范围内对约27874个基因建模，并将GO（Gene Ontology） 提供的结构化生物学知识融入模型中。 论文报告显示，scLong在遗传扰动预测、化学扰动预测、癌症药物反应预测、基因调控网络推断等多项任务上，均优于现有单细胞基础模型和多种任务专用模型。 研究背景 为什么单细胞领域需要一个「更长」的模型？ 因为一个细胞并不是只由少数几个「明星基因」决定的。很多现有模型只在约 1500 到 2000 个高表达基因上做 self-attention，这样确实更省算力，但代价是：大量低表达基因被排除在外。 而这些低表达基因虽然「声音不大」，却常常扮演调控开关、信号微调器，甚至在稀有细胞类型、应激反应、疾病进展中发挥关键作用。 换句话说，过去很多模型更像是在读「摘要」，而不是在读「全文」。 另一个问题是，单靠表达矩阵本身，模型未必能真正理解「这个基因是干什么的」。 而Gene Ontology恰恰提供了基因在生物过程（Biological Process）、分子功能（Molecular Function）、细胞组分（Cellular Component）上的结构化知识。过去很...

近日，有消息称，碧桂园正在“大规模召回离职员工”。3月18日，碧桂园方面回应时代财经称，公司的人才任用始终围绕业务实际需求，从内部三好人才、优秀员工返聘、外部人才社招等多渠道综合选拔。“公司建立了常态化内部管理制度检视机制，每年会结合经营实际与管理需求，对现有制度进行检视优化。本次《离职人员返聘管理办法》的调整，即是已有制度的常规修订更新，并非新出台政策。” 在3月举行的月度管理会上，董事会主席杨惠妍明确将2026年定位为“公司从保交房向正常经营转段的最关键一年”，未来3-5年则是厚积薄发的重要时期，要求各区域项目扎实完成各阶段任务，为二次成长筑牢底盘。 本文来自微信公众号 “时代财经APP” ，作者：梁争誉，36氪经授权发布。

Seeking Alpha (Seeking Alpha) More on Hello Group Hello Group beats top-line and bottom-line estimates; gives Q1 revenue outlook Seeking Alpha’s Quant Rating on Hello Group Historical earnings data for Hello Group Dividend scorecard for Hello Group Financial information for Hello Group

The mother of a young woman who was admitted to hospital told the BBC she was "absolutely shocked" when she discovered her daughter had meningitis. Khali Goodwin's daughter Keeleigh, a 21-year-old restaurant worker, collapsed in her Canterbury flat on Saturday night and was taken to hospital by her flatmate. Keeleigh was told she had meningitis. She was given antibiotics and is now starting to feel better. Her mother said she had known Keeleigh was feeling unwell, but said meningitis "hadn't even been on my radar". She paid tribute to Keeleigh's flatmate for "saving her life".

Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial news Good morning, and welcome to our rolling coverage of business, the financial markets and the world economy. The conflict in the Middle East continues to grip the markets, as ship traffic through the strait of Hormuz continues to be slowed by the crisis. This morning, oil is sharply down on news that Iraq signed a deal to resume oil exports via Turkey, bypassing the Strait of Hormuz, while Saudi Arabia is also rerouting exports toward the Red Sea. The region is reorganizing, preparing for the possibility of a prolonged conflict. Restoring oil exports fully will take time, and we may soon see physical-market shortages — likely keeping oil prices under upward pressure. Yet, as flows adapt to alternative routes, the initial surge in oil prices seen at the start of the war could ease. There is also a bit more calm in markets at the moment and a small hint that there is a decoupling from the price of oil as the last 24 hours have seen more positive risk markets and lower [bond] yields. 10am GMT: Eurozone inflation report for February 12.30pm GMT: US producer prices inflation (PPI) report for February 1.45pm GMT: Bank of Canada interest rate decision 6pm GMT: US Federal Reserve interest rate decision 6.30pm GMT: Federal Reserve press conference Continue reading...

Achmea Investment Management B.V. raised its stake in Qualcomm Incorporated (NASDAQ:QCOM - Free Report) by 23.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 317,559 shares of the wireless technology company's stock after purchasing an additional 60,566 shares during the quarter. Qualcomm accounts for 0.7% of Achmea Investment Management B.V.'s portfolio, making the stock its 29th biggest position. Achmea Investment Management B.V.'s holdings in Qualcomm were worth $52,829,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC. Get Qualcomm alerts: Sign Up Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Brighton Jones LLC raised its stake in shares of Qualcomm by 116.6% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 17,356 shares of the wireless technology company's stock valued at $2,666,000 after acquiring an additional 9,343 shares during the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC raised its position in Qualcomm by 15.4% during the 4th quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 2,542 shares of the wireless technology company's stock valued at $391,000 after purchasing an additional 340 shares during the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC raised its position in Qualcomm by 44.3% during the 2nd quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 3,325 shares of the wireless technology company's stock valued at $530,000 after purchasing an additional 1,020 shares during the last quarter. Symphony Financial Ltd. Co. purchased a new stake in Qualcomm in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $19,587,000. Finally, Raiffeisen Bank International AG grew its position in shares of Qualcomm by 8.0% in the 2nd quarter. Raiffeisen Bank International AG now owns 21,657 shares of the wireless technology company's stock worth $3,392,000 after buying an additional 1,603 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.35% of the company's stock. Inside...

Sundry Photography Coupang ( CPNG ) partnered with Nvidia to build an “AI factory” aimed at transforming e-commerce logistics through advanced artificial intelligence. The collaboration combines Coupang’s ( CPNG ) in-house Coupang Intelligent Cloud with Nvidia’s ( NVDA ) DGX SuperPOD systems to create a self-service AI ecosystem for developers. The Seattle-based company ( CPNG ) is also supporting Nvidia ( NVDA ) as a launch partner for Dynamo, the open source software for agentic inference. “Coupang's business is centered on fulfilling our 'Rocket Delivery’ promise to customers — providing them with an unprecedented combination of speed, selection and price,” said Ashish Suryavanshi, Coupang’s VP of Engineering. More on Coupang Coupang, Inc. (CPNG) Q4 2025 Earnings Call Transcript Coupang, Inc. 2025 Q4 - Results - Earnings Call Presentation Coupang: Data Breach Costs Two Years Insider trades: Bank of America, Visa among notable names this week Coupang outlines 2026 EBITDA margin disruption and targets 5–10% Q1 revenue growth amid data breach recovery

记者从峰岹科技（688279）方面求证获悉，公司将于2026年4月1日起对在售产品进行价格调整，实际涨幅以具体产品为准，“暂不存在统一涨价5%或10%的做法”。对于涨价原因，其相关人士表示，“近期行业产能供应依旧紧张，原价格已无法支撑后续产能保障和产品交付。接下来是否会继续涨价，还要看具体的市场情况。”注：公司主要产品为电机驱动控制专用芯片。(科创板日报)

Key Points Social Security's maximum benefit this year is $5,251, and it could rise in future years. You need a lengthy work history and a delayed claim to score the highest possible payday. Even if you meet those criteria, you might fall short on getting the max benefit for another reason. The $23,760 Social Security bonus most retirees completely overlook › You'll often hear that it's very difficult to live on Social Security benefits alone in retirement. And if your monthly payday is similar to the average retirement benefit today, that may be the case. The average Social Security retirement benefit as of February 2026 is about $2,076. On the other hand, Social Security's maximum monthly benefit in 2026 is $5,251. Will AI create the world's first trillionaire? Our team just released a report on the one little-known company, called an "Indispensable Monopoly" providing the critical technology Nvidia and Intel both need. Continue » When we multiply $2,076 by 12 months, we get an annual income of about $25,000. But when multiply the program's max monthly benefit by 12, we get about $63,000. By the time some people reach retirement, their homes are paid off, they don't have debt, and their needs are fairly minimal. So it would be pretty fair to say that it's possible to live on Social Security alone if the program is paying you $63,000 a year. But claiming Social Security's maximum monthly benefit is not an easy thing to do. There are three steps you need to take to score that benefit, and one of them in particular may be out of your hands. The three steps to scoring the highest possible Social Security benefit If you want Social Security's highest monthly benefit, you need to do these three things: Work for at least 35 years Delay your claim until age 70 Earn the equivalent of the annual Social Security wage cap or more for 35 years Working 35 years is pretty doable if you get your first job in your 20s. That even allows for a few years off by the time you reach age...

Insiders are selling CoreWeave and two other big-name stocks. However, the changing pace of CRWV's insider sales is more interesting than the trades themselves.

格隆汇3月18日｜开源证券研报指出，天味食品2025年营收/归母净利润34.5/5.7亿元（同比-0.8%/-8.8%），2025Q4营收/归母净利润10.4/1.8亿元（同比-6.7%/-7.7%），收入利润略低预期，主要系春节错期影响。2025年线上渠道快速增长，积极布局新渠道。2026年是天味食品落实五年战略总目标的开局之年，认为低基数叠加春节备货，2026Q1有望迎来开门红。长期展望，我们认为公司在C端渠道地位逐步稳固，且重点突破小B渠道，食萃及加点滋味收购完成有望补齐公司短板渠道，渠道完善有望打开公司长期增长天花板。考虑到公司外延并购战略驱动，维持“增持”评级。

黄仁勋透露，目前已有中国客户的订单在推进中，对华供应链也在恢复；英伟达“到2027年1万亿美元收入”预估，仅来自现有量产的AI芯片，并不包含存储、网络及其他业务 当地时间2026年3月17日，美国，英伟达首席执行官黄仁勋在公司年度GTC开发者大会上参与问答环节。图：视觉中国 【财新网】 美国时间3月17日，英伟达创始人、CEO黄仁勋在接受财新等媒体采访时，在中国市场问题上，释放出较此前更为积极的信号。 黄仁勋表示，公司已经获得向中国客户销售H200芯片的许可，并已根据客户需求重启生产。他称，目前已有订单在推进中，供应链也在恢复，这一进展与此前情况已经不同。 英伟达的AI芯片已“断供”中国市场超过10个月。作为身处中美科技博弈之中的关键公司，其对中国市场虽然重视、但相关表态比较谨慎。英伟达CFO科莱特·克雷斯（Colette Kress）在2月25日的财报后电话会上坦言，尽管部分产品获得出口许可，但尚未形成实际收入，且政策仍存在不确定性。

格隆汇3月18日｜百度集团-SW(9888.HK)盘中拉升涨超3%，报122.9港元。消息面上，据百度一位发言人透露，百度云业务相关产品计划加价最多达30%，预计于4月18日正式生效。

JasonDoiy/iStock Unreleased via Getty Images Spend five minutes with a Palantir Technologies Inc. ( PLTR ) bull, and you'll hear words like "transformational," and "the only platform that can do this at scale." Repeat with the valuation math, and you'll see something else entirely. The stock fell from $207 down to around $150. Bulls are calling it a buying opportunity. The contrarian read is that the correction has more room to run, and not just because of one rough quarter. This isn't a verdict on whether Palantir is a good company. It is. The real question is whether it's a good stock at this price. Those aren't the same question. 50x FCF and Nobody Wants to Talk About It At $150, Palantir trades at roughly 50 times its projected 2027 free cash flow . Read that again. RBC Capital has a price target implying 74% downside from here. That's an aggressive call. The math behind it isn't crazy, though. When a stock prices in perfection three years out, there's almost no room left for error. A strong quarter barely moves it. One miss can cut it in half. That's the asymmetry. The upside is already in the price. The downside has no floor. UBS is bullish , projecting 70% revenue growth in 2026. They also acknowledge the stock trades at 50x 2027 FCF to justify it. If Palantir grows at 45% instead of 70%, a number most software companies would kill for, it doesn't get credit. It gets repriced. That's the trap. AIP Works: What Happens After the Demo Is Another Story Palantir's AI platform has real traction. The bootcamp model gets enterprise teams moving fast. Revenue grew 56% over the trailing twelve months . But there's a difference between running AI bootcamps and actually converting those pilots into multi-year contracts at scale. Enterprise buyers are slow to decide. Pilots run 12 to 18 months. Procurement committees want proof, not decks. A lot of commercial clients are still in proof-of-concept right now. Nobody's signing five-year deals yet. The stock is priced as if t...

JasonDoiy/iStock Unreleased via Getty Images Spend five minutes with a Palantir Technologies Inc. ( PLTR ) bull, and you'll hear words like "transformational," and "the only platform that can do this at scale." Repeat with the valuation math, and you'll see something else entirely. The stock fell from $207 down to around $150. Bulls are calling it a buying opportunity. The contrarian read is that the correction has more room to run, and not just because of one rough quarter. This isn't a verdict on whether Palantir is a good company. It is. The real question is whether it's a good stock at this price. Those aren't the same question. 50x FCF and Nobody Wants to Talk About It At $150, Palantir trades at roughly 50 times its projected 2027 free cash flow . Read that again. RBC Capital has a price target implying 74% downside from here. That's an aggressive call. The math behind it isn't crazy, though. When a stock prices in perfection three years out, there's almost no room left for error. A strong quarter barely moves it. One miss can cut it in half. That's the asymmetry. The upside is already in the price. The downside has no floor. UBS is bullish , projecting 70% revenue growth in 2026. They also acknowledge the stock trades at 50x 2027 FCF to justify it. If Palantir grows at 45% instead of 70%, a number most software companies would kill for, it doesn't get credit. It gets repriced. That's the trap. AIP Works: What Happens After the Demo Is Another Story Palantir's AI platform has real traction. The bootcamp model gets enterprise teams moving fast. Revenue grew 56% over the trailing twelve months . But there's a difference between running AI bootcamps and actually converting those pilots into multi-year contracts at scale. Enterprise buyers are slow to decide. Pilots run 12 to 18 months. Procurement committees want proof, not decks. A lot of commercial clients are still in proof-of-concept right now. Nobody's signing five-year deals yet. The stock is priced as if t...

格隆汇3月18日｜瑞穗将埃克森美孚的目标价从140美元上调至162美元，维持“中性”评级。(格隆汇)

ismagilov/iStock via Getty Images The following data is derived from trading activity on the Tradeweb Markets institutional European- and U.S.-listed ETF platforms. European-Listed ETFs Total traded volume Trading activity on the Tradeweb European-listed ETF marketplace reached EUR 81.3 billion in February, while the proportion of transactions and notional volume completed via Tradeweb’s Automated Intelligent Execution (AiEX) tool amounted to 95% and 31%, respectively. Volume breakdown All ETF asset classes saw net buying in February, particularly commodities, where ‘buys’ surpassed ‘sells’ by 24 percentage points. Equity-based ETFs accounted for 71% of the overall platform flow, three percentage points above the previous 12-month rolling average. North American equities remained the most heavily traded category, with monthly notional volume exceeding EUR 19.5 billion. Adam Gould, Global Head of Equities at Tradeweb, said, “This was our busiest February yet, amid renewed market volatility and uncertainty over upcoming central bank interest rate decisions. All ETF categories saw net buying during the month apart from corporate, high yield, and inflation linked bonds.” Top ten by traded notional volume Stocks-based ETFs dominated February’s top ten by traded notional volume, with the iShares Core MSCI World UCITS ETF moving up five places from January to rank first. The iShares Core Corporate Bond UCITS ETF was the only fixed income fund to feature in the list. U.S.-Listed ETFs Total traded volume Total consolidated U.S. ETF notional value traded in February reached USD 90.7 billion. AiEX transactions represented 53% of all U.S. ETF tickets on the platform. Adam Gould, Global Head of Equities at Tradeweb, said, “Similar to Europe, our U.S.-listed ETF marketplace saw its strongest February on record volume-wise. Our clients continued to use our RFQ protocol and rules-based automation tool to achieve cost- and time-efficiencies in their ETF execution workflows throughou...

美以袭击伊朗西部省份一居民区 致7死56伤 2026-03-18 15:34:50 来源： 同花顺7x24快讯 分享 当地时间18日从伊朗西部洛雷斯坦省卫生部门获悉，美以当天早些时候对当地一处居民区发动袭击，已造成至少7人死亡，另有56人受伤。(央视新闻)

Pepkor Holdings Ltd. is weighing plans to abandon a possible partnership with Investec Bank Ltd. and instead launch a lender on its own, according to a person familiar with the matter. The retailer, Africa’s largest seller of clothing and mobile phones, had considered teaming up with Investec to expand into financial services. It’s now mulling a plan to roll out the venture independently, the person said, asking not to be identified because the process is ongoing. A final decision hasn’t been made and Pepkor is expected to update the market at an investor presentation in Cape Town as early as this month, the person said. Pepkor declined to comment, while Investec said it was unable to discuss any talks that “may or may not have taken place.” Cape Town-based Pepkor has already begun laying the groundwork. In a job posting dated March 11, it advertised for a banking chief to lead a “fully integrated transactional-banking model” across more than 2,500 PEP stores in South Africa. The executive will spearhead what the company described as a large-scale strategic initiative requiring an entrepreneurial approach and deep retail-banking expertise. Pepkor received regulatory approval last year to establish a banking unit and has acquired a financial-technology platform to support the expansion. In December, it appointed former Investec Bank Chief Executive Officer Richard Wainwright as an independent non-executive director. Pepkor’s fintech revenue rose 31% to 16.6 billion rand ($992 million) in the year through September, accounting for 17% of total sales. The move positions Pepkor alongside retailers such as Shoprite Holdings Ltd. , which are leveraging loyalty-program data to expand into banking. About a sixth of South Africans remain unbanked or underserved. Sign up here for the daily Next Africa newsletter, and subscribe to the Next Africa podcast on Apple , Spotify or anywhere you listen .

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