World Bank Stories

Global Stories

World Bank stories

AI girlfriend searches top in Australia, study finds

Australia topped the ranking with 70.1 AI girlfriend searches per 100,000 internet users, despite a reported loneliness rate of just 10%.

By Mara Sugue • 4 min read • Last month

Crypto

Western Union taps Noah for stablecoin remittance service

Remittances could arrive faster and cheaper as Western Union rolls out a stablecoin option for customers in more than 200 countries and territories.

By Karen Joy Bacudo • 4 min read • Last month

Clean technologies

E3G urges IMF, World Bank & G20 to tackle climate debt

Low-income economies are facing worsening debt and climate shocks, prompting calls for emergency liquidity and cleaner investment.

By Karen Joy Bacudo • 4 min read • Last month

Artificial Intelligence

IMF-World Bank meet in Bangkok amid debt & climate strain

Flooding and higher borrowing costs are sharpening scrutiny of how the IMF and World Bank will back vulnerable economies through debt and climate shocks.

By Karen Joy Bacudo • 4 min read • Last month

Software-as-a-Service

Lucius AI cuts tender search times with Google AlloyDB

Tender-bidding businesses could see faster results as Lucius AI says its move to AlloyDB cut semantic search latency from 1.14 seconds to 24 milliseconds.

By Joseph Gabriel Lagonsin • 4 min read • Thu, 1st Oct 2026

Unified Communications

GSMA warns rising handset costs could widen AI divide

Billions already within coverage risk missing AI-era services as entry-level smartphones become less affordable in low-income markets.

By Sean Mitchell • 4 min read • Fri, 18th Sep 2026

Crypto

Nu launches in US with multi-currency Global account

A wider customer base and new cross-border fees are in Nu's sights as it begins serving US savers and international payers.

By Karen Joy Bacudo • 5 min read • Thu, 17th Sep 2026

Broadband

Eltex starts XGS-PON terminal production for operators

Rising broadband demand is pushing carriers towards 10 Gbps upgrades, as Eltex's new terminals let them reuse existing fibre instead of rebuilding networks.

By Sofiah Nichole Salivio • 4 min read • Tue, 15th Sep 2026

Software-as-a-Service

One in three small firms build software to fix gaps

Costly gaps in off-the-shelf software are pushing small firms to build their own tools, with one in three doing so, research finds.

By Sofiah Nichole Salivio • 4 min read • Tue, 4th Aug 2026

Agricultural Technology

Google Cloud expands Data Commons on Spanner Graph

The upgrade lets analysts query more than 400 billion public data points directly in a single graph, easing joins with private data.

By Sean Mitchell • 4 min read • Tue, 4th Aug 2026

Data Protection

Why Southeast Asia is becoming a global fintech growth hub

Rapid digital adoption and tighter regulatory frameworks are turning the region into a proving ground for new financial services models.

By Alexander Naumov • 4 min read • Sat, 1st Aug 2026

Data centers

AirTrunk secures USD $2.325 billion green financing

The deal underlines lender appetite for Malaysia's expanding cloud and AI infrastructure, as the campus is set to support lower-impact digital growth.

By Mark Tarre • 4 min read • Wed, 29th Jul 2026

Fintech

LemFi partners BVNK to speed remittance settlements

Two million customers could see cheaper, faster transfers as the remittance firm shifts settlement onto regulated stablecoin rails.

By Karen Joy Bacudo • 4 min read • Thu, 23rd Jul 2026

Open source

Linux Foundation to launch the Open Health Stack body

Backed by Google and WHO, the new foundation will give low-income countries and health developers a neutral home for interoperable digital care tools.

By Sofiah Nichole Salivio • 5 min read • Fri, 10th Jul 2026