ACAMS ASSEMBLY APAC TO HIGHLIGHT THE EVOLUTION OF ANTI-FINANCIAL CRIME MEASURES IN THE ASIA-PACIFIC REGION

The two-day gathering will address efforts to meet FATF’s standards, emerging technologies, fraud challenges, cryptoasset complexities and sanctions conflict 

HONG KONG, April 17 (Bernama-GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- ACAMS, a leading international membership organization dedicated to the fight against illicit finance, will hold a two-day anti-financial crime (AFC) training and networking event beginning on April 22 at the Kerry Hotel, Hong Kong. The Assembly APAC 2024 will offer attendees expert guidance and practical insights, addressing how the region’s AFC professionals can prepare for the latest regulations and meet compliance expectations. 

The event will cover timely topics, from complex sanctions that can leave financial institutions grappling with conflicts of law, to technological developments including AI that yield new opportunities and challenges.

There will be a deep dive into APAC's evolving compliance landscape, addressing ways to prepare for the Financial Action Task Force's (FATF) fifth round of mutual evaluations, mitigate export control evasion risks, understand recent regulatory developments pertaining to virtual asset service providers (VASPs), and learn about domestic and global efforts to investigate and deter fraud.

The Assembly APAC 2024 will feature a session wherein regulators will share their views on current developments in the region. More than 50 speakers will also address timely topics such as ‘pig butchering’ and other scams, conflicts linked to sanctions and emerging geopolitical risk, and a thorough examination of Korea's Travel Rule implementation.

Keynote speakers will include Carmen Chu, JP, Executive Director (Enforcement and AML), Hong Kong Monetary Authority, and Jesse Baker, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Asia and the Middle East, Office of Terrorist Financing and Financial Crimes, U.S. Department of the Treasury. 

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Excellent Service Delivers Top Grand Stevie Award Trophy For DP DHL

KUALA LUMPUR, April 16 (Bernama) -- Winners in the 18th annual Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service were revealed recently at a gala ceremony in Las Vegas, Nevada, United States (US), attended by over 400 executives globally.

According to a statement, DP DHL Worldwide, with 13 Gold, 18 Silver, and 14 Bronze Stevie Award wins, was the most honoured organisation this year, earning the top Grand Stevie Award trophy.

The 10 most-honoured organisations in the 2024 Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service received Grand (“best in show”) Stevie Award trophies, in which winners were determined by a points system based on the total number of awards won, and having the highest average score in selected categories.

Other Grand Stevie Award winners, include Allianz Services Pvt Ltd; Sales Partnerships Inc; UPMC Health Plan; as well as Toco Warranty and Purpol Marketing Limited, which were tied at ninth-place.

Among notable winners with three Gold Stevie Awards were Alight Solutions, Optum and WNS (Holdings) Limited, while organisations winning a combination of five or more Gold, Silver, or Bronze Stevie Awards include TransPerfect Translations, VMWare (Broadcom), Intuit and Avetta.

Over 2,300 nominations from organisations of all sizes and in virtually every industry were evaluated in this year’s competition with winners determined by the average scores of more than 200 professionals worldwide in seven specialised judging committees.

Winners in one special category, the Sales Partnerships Ethics in Sales Award and 2024 People's Choice Stevie Awards for Favorite Customer Service, were also honoured at the April 12 awards gala.

Nominations for the 2025 edition of the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service will be accepted starting this July.

-- BERNAMA

MoneyHero Wraps Up Annual Festival With Impressive Attendance, App Launch

KUALA LUMPUR, April 15 (Bernama) -- MoneyHero Limited (MoneyHero), a market leading personal finance and digital insurance aggregation and comparison platform in Greater Southeast Asia, has completed its seventh annual Seedly Personal Finance Festival (PFF).

According to MoneyHero in a statement, the 2024 PFF was once again a rousing success, demonstrating the continued growth and influence of the largest event of its kind in Singapore.

MoneyHero Chief Executive Officer, Rohith Murthy said the festival was a cornerstone of the company’s commitment to educating and empowering individuals in Greater Southeast Asia through financial literacy.

The annual festival, which held its first event in 2018, is produced by Seedly, MoneyHero’s market-leading platform that builds the largest personal finance community in Singapore.

Impressively, the 2024 PFF gathered more than 5,000 attendees, with 70 business, financial, and government leaders speaking, and 35-plus prestigious finance and insurance organisations serving as sponsors.

During the event, Seedly also launched a new app, ShopHero by Seedly, the Ultimate Shopping Companion, where users can get instant alerts for discounts, personalise deals and maximise rewards with best-fit credit cards.

Key topics covered during this year’s festival included investment themes and trends to watch; the latest insights in financial planning, wealth management, and insurance decision-making; and how to approach to property investing.

Singapore’s Minister for Manpower and Second Minister for Trade and Industry, Dr Tan See Leng was the keynote speaker with notable speakers from CIMB Bank, Citibank Singapore, and Manulife Singapore, among others.

-- BERNAMA

FPT Software's Automation Solution Recognised Again In Gartner Report

 

KUALA LUMPUR,  April 15 (Bernama) -- Global technology and information technology (IT) services provider, FPT Software has been named in the 2024 Gartner Peer Insights Voice of the Customer report for Robotic Process Automation (RPA).

This is the second consecutive time the company’s automation solution, akaBot, has received recognition with 100 per cent of “willingness to recommend”, based on 28 reviews as of November last year.

According to the report, 79 per cent of FPT Software's reviews are from the Finance sector and 14 per cent from the Healthcare sector, with 93 per cent of its customers operating in Asia Pacific (APAC).

“We believe our two-time recognition in the Gartner Voice of Customer report is a testament to our established position as a reputable and reliable partner. RPA Migration has become increasingly popular as more businesses’ choices to deal with the upcoming economic downturn.

“As a one-stop shop automation solution, we will continue to collaborate with more global partners, particularly in the APAC, to deliver the most comprehensive automation packages and assist global clients in staying competitive in this digitalisation era,” said akaBot Chief Executive Officer, Bui Dinh Giap in a statement.

In 2023, with the growth of a clientele exceeding 3,900 global enterprises across diverse industries, the Vietnamese RPA solution provider also boosted its global presence via strategic partnerships with a network of more than 40 partners worldwide.

To deepen its local insights and strengthen its position as a competitive hyperautomation solution provider in Asia, akaBot has actively forged partnerships with leading companies across diverse sectors.

Most recently, it collaborated with top-tier IT distributors like Zero One in Taiwan and Daiwabo in Japan to extend automation solutions to these markets.

-- BERNAMA

AMOGY PARTNERS MPA, COLLABORATORS TO DEVELOP FUTURE FUELS TRAINING HUB FOR MARITIME WORKFORCE

KUALA LUMPUR, April 15 (Bernama) -- Amogy has signed a Letter of Intent (LOI) with the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) and other collaborators to develop a Maritime Energy Training Facility (METF) to train maritime professionals in operating ships powered by alternative fuel systems.

Amogy Chief Executive Officer, Seonghoon Woo in a statement said: “We are thrilled to embark on this exciting and important project in partnership with the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore and other esteemed collaborators.

“This initiative showcases Singapore's leadership in driving sustainable maritime solutions and underscores our commitment to advancing ammonia as a clean energy source for maritime shipping and equipping the global maritime workforce with the necessary skills to navigate the future of shipping.”

The LOI was signed on the Opening Day of Singapore Maritime Week 2024 by the MPA and 22 partners, including international organisations, engine makers, classification societies, trade associations, unions, and institutes of higher learning.

The establishment of a training facility follows a recommendation put forth by the Tripartite Advisory Panel, formed in early 2023, which aims to identify emerging and future skills and competencies needed to build the maritime workforce of the future.

The METF will be a decentralised facility based in Singapore, utilising the various partners’ assets and training technologies to train global seafarers in the use, manning, and operation of vessels powered by zero or near-zero emission technologies.

With hundreds of crew changes conducted daily in Singapore, the METF's establishment is strategically positioned to support vessel operators and ship management companies with their crew training needs as part of their crew change arrangements.

When fully operational, the METF is anticipated to benefit around 10,000 maritime personnel, including seafarers, from now to the 2030s.

-- BERNAMA

H2O-Danube2-1.8B Tops Hugging Face Open LLM Leaderboard

KUALA LUMPUR, April 12 (Bernama) -- H2O.ai announced its latest open-weights (Apache v2.0) small language model, H2O-Danube2-1.8B, has secured the top position on the Hugging Face Open large language model (LLM) Leaderboard for below two billion (2B) range, even surpassing the much larger Gemma-2B model from Google in the 2.5B parameter category.

This achievement underscores H2O.ai's commitment to advancing artificial intelligence (AI) accessibility and performance through innovative open-source solutions, according to a statement.

Its Chief Executive Officer and Founder, Sri Ambati said this model not only outperformed leading competitors like Microsoft Phi-2 and Google Gemma 2, but also provides economic efficiency and ease of deployment for enterprise and edge computing applications.

“We love this category – a great size to fine tune or post-train on domain specific datasets for our enterprise customers, economically efficient on inference and training, and very easily embedded on edge devices like mobile phones, drones and in offline applications.

“The applications of this model are far reaching, from detecting and preventing PII data leakage to improving prompt generation and enhancing guardrails and the robustness of RAG systems,” Ambati said.

H2O-Danube2-1.8B is built upon the success of its predecessor, H2O-Danube 1.8B, with notable upgrades and optimisations that have propelled it to the forefront of the 2B SLM category.

Leveraging a vast dataset of two trillion high-quality tokens, this model builds upon the Mistral architecture and optimizations, such as dropping windowing attention, to deliver unparalleled performance in natural language processing tasks.

The open source leader in Generative AI (GenAI) and machine learning continues to drive innovation in AI research and development, empowering organisations to leverage cutting-edge technology without the constraints of traditional resource-intensive approaches.

Founded in 2012, H2O.ai aims to bring together the world’s top data scientists with customers to co-create GenAI applications that are usable and valuable by everyone.

-- BERNAMA

ThreatLocker Unleashes MDR Services To extend Platform Utility Beyond Default Deny

KUALA LUMPUR, April 9 (Bernama) -- ThreatLocker, a pioneer in least privileged endpoint protection technologies, has launched its managed detection and response (MDR) service with the Cyber Hero Team at Zero Trust World 2024.

Its Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder, Danny Jenkins in a statement said: "I am elated about the ThreatLocker Cyber Hero managed detection and response service.

"Not only will this provide customers with a faster response when they do not have 24-hour operation centres, but it also means that we are improving our product in a way that allows us to be responsible for so many customers and the management of their environments."

ThreatLocker understands the importance of preemptively blocking cybersecurity threats with a default deny baseline. Adding detection and response capabilities allows customers to stay secure while alerting them of suspicious or potentially malicious activity happening in their environment.

Products including Allowlisting, Ringfencing, and Network Control in the ThreatLocker Endpoint Protection Platform block attempted bad actions on a device, and ThreatLockerDetect (formerly known as ThreatLocker Ops) will alert organisations of said attempts.

The MDR service is made possible by the near-instant response of the ThreatLocker Cyber Hero Team when they directly notify a customer of a malicious attempt and ensure the security of their infrastructure.

In addition to providing a prompt notification via the Cyber Hero Support Team, ThreatLocker Detect policies can be curated to completely isolate a machine from the rest of the environment or go as far as implementing an advanced lockdown to stop all software and network traffic from running.

In a live demonstration at Zero Trust World 2024, ThreatLocker showcased the response speed of the Cyber Hero Team in locking down a machine after an attacker connected to a remote server, tried to run IP Scanning tools, and attempted to disable security tools. The Cyber Heroes responded within a minute during the live presentation.

The new additions by ThreatLocker satisfy cyber insurance regulations on implementing Zero Trust MDR strategies to prevent modern-day attacks, while rolling out its new products to new and existing partners. It currently protects over one million endpoints globally.

-- BERNAMA

Matmerize, CJ Biomaterials Team Up To Harness AI Technology Driving Sustainable Polymer Solutions

KUALA LUMPUR, April 5 (Bernama) -- Matmerize Inc, a pioneering artificial intelligence (AI)-based polymer informatics company, and CJ Biomaterials, a division of South Korea-based CJ CheilJedang, have joined forces to drive innovation in sustainable polymer solutions aimed at combatting plastic pollution.

Matmerize Chief Technology Officer, Dr. Chiho Kim said the collaboration with CJ Biomaterials goes beyond research and development efforts, significantly impacting work efficiency and cost reduction by prioritising experiments through expertise and machine learning capabilities.

“This commitment to innovation not only promotes sustainable practices but also secures a competitive advantage for CJ Biomaterials in the polymer and plastic industry,” he said in a statement.

In a recent collaboration with Matmerize, CJ Biomaterials, a primary producer of polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) biopolymers successfully tested Matmerize's cloud-based AI platform, PolymRize, to optimise bio-based polymers, ensuring they meet specific performance criteria across a wide range of applications.

By leveraging Matmerize's custom model training and predictive analytics platform PolymRize, CJ Biomaterials was able to rapidly estimate the performance of newly designed materials, enabling quicker decision-making and reducing time and costs compared to traditional methods.

Human life and plastic have become inseparable, but the environmental toll of plastic waste is undeniable. With more than nine million tonnes of man-made plastic waste entering the ocean each year, the urgency to find sustainable alternatives has never been greater.

In response to this challenge, CJ Biomaterials created PHACT, a groundbreaking 100 per cent bio-based PHA using an innovative fermentation process that degrades naturally in soil and ocean environments, mitigating the harmful impact of plastic pollution on marine ecosystems.

As both companies continue to push the boundaries of innovation in polymer development, they remain dedicated to driving positive environmental change and shaping a greener, sustainable future for generations to come.

Matmerize, a spin-out from the Georgia Institute of Technology, integrates polymer domain knowledge with advanced data science methods to transform and accelerate industrial materials development at scale.

-- BERNAMA

SOMPO ANNOUNCES LEADERSHIP CHANGES FOR ASIA PACIFIC REGION

Kenneth Reilly appointed as Chief Executive Officer, Insurance, Asia Pacific

Daniel Neo to retire

PEMBROKE, Bermuda, April 2 (Bernama-GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Sompo, a leading global provider of commercial and consumer property and casualty (re)insurance, today announced leadership changes to support the further growth of its insurance business in the Asia Pacific region.

Kenneth Reilly is appointed as Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Insurance, for the Asia Pacific region, subject to appropriate regulatory and immigration approvals. He will also retain his current role as Head of our Tokyo office.

Mr. Reilly will continue to report to James Shea, Chief Executive Officer and Executive Chairman for Sompo. The appointment is effective April 1, 2024.

Mr. Reilly succeeds Daniel Neo who has announced his desire to retire. Mr. Neo will remain with Sompo until the end of the year as Senior Strategic Advisor to assist with the transition.

In his new role, Mr. Reilly will be responsible for all of Sompo’s insurance business across Asia Pacific.

James Shea said, “As we invest and further develop our business across the Asia Pacific region it is fundamental to build our team to support our plans for continued growth. With more than 25 years of international experience, covering both commercial and consumer insurance, including time spent in the region, Ken is perfectly placed to oversee and execute our strategic plans in this important region for our insurance business. Having been a pivotal leader in our Tokyo office for almost two years, Ken has demonstrated a commitment to promoting best practices and reinforcing strategic alignment between Sompo and the other Sompo Group insurance companies.”

Sompo would also like to thank Daniel for his contribution to Sompo and the Asia Pacific region where he has held several leadership roles. He has made a significant impact on the development of both our brand and insurance business in the region and we wish him well in his future endeavours.

About Sompo

We are Sompo, a global provider of commercial and consumer property, casualty, and specialty insurance and reinsurance. Building on the 130 years of innovation of our parent company, Sompo Holdings, Inc., Sompo employs approximately 9,000 people around the world who use their in-depth knowledge and expertise to help simplify and resolve your complex challenges. Because when you choose Sompo, you choose the ease of expertise.

“Sompo” refers to the brand under which Sompo International Holdings Ltd., a Bermuda-based holding company, together with its consolidated subsidiaries, operates its global property and casualty (re)insurance businesses. Sompo International Holdings Ltd. is an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of Sompo Holdings, Inc., one of the leading property and casualty groups in the world with excellent financial strength as evidenced by ratings of A+ (Superior) from A.M. Best (XV size category) and A+ (Strong) from Standard & Poor’s. Sompo Holdings shares are listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

To learn more please follow us on LinkedIn or visit www.sompo-intl.com. 

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EIG'S MIDOCEAN ENERGY SECURES STRATEGIC INVESTMENT FROM MITSUBISHI CORP

KUALA LUMPUR, April 2 (Bernama) -- MidOcean Energy (MidOcean), a global liquefied natural gas (LNG) company formed and managed by EIG, announced a strategic investment by Mitsubishi Corporation (Mitsubishi Corp).

According to EIG in a statement, Mitsubishi Corp’s investment will accelerate MidOcean’s strategy to create a high quality, diversified, global ‘pure play’ integrated LNG company.

EIG Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (CEO), R. Blair Thomas said welcoming an industry heavyweight such as Mitsubishi Corp as an anchor investor and strategic partner accelerates MidOcean’s progress in creating a large-scale, pure play global LNG company.

“The world’s energy transition needs are contributing to rapid growth in global LNG demand, and we look forward to continuing to execute on this attractive and important opportunity alongside our investors and partner,” Thomas said.

Meanwhile, MidOcean Energy CEO, De la Rey Venter said: “We are thrilled to have Mitsubishi Corp join as an anchor investor in MidOcean Energy. Their investment is a testament to the strong fundamentals of the LNG market and MidOcean’s strategy to create a competitive long-term growth platform in LNG for its investors.”

Mitsubishi Corp has been an active player in the LNG sector for over 50 years, with investments spanning 12 projects across eight countries.

This partnership underscores both companies’ commitments to LNG and its role as a critical enabler of the energy transition. Mitsubishi Corp aims to develop its business toward achieving a carbon-neutral society, while fulfilling its responsibility as a stable energy supplier and meeting the evolving needs of its customers.

This investment deepens MidOcean’s blue-chip investor base and builds on its significant momentum since launching in late 2022 as the corporation recently announced the close of its acquisition of a portfolio of Australian LNG projects from Tokyo Gas.

Headquartered in Washington D.C., the United States, EIG is a leading institutional investor in the global energy and infrastructure sectors, specialising in private investments in energy and energy-related infrastructure on a global basis.

-- BERNAMA 

CLAIM YOUR GLORY: APPLY NOW FOR THE REGION SMART CITY AWARDS*

SINGAPORE, March 29 (Bernama-GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The World Smart City Awards, organized by the Smart City Expo World Congress, have been successfully held for 13 years and are acclaimed as the “Oscars” in the field of global smart city development.

From 2010 to 2025, 440 emerging-market cities are poised to propel nearly half of global GDP growth. Among them, the prominence of emerging cities in Asia is significant, harboring 57% of the world's populace, with the majority living in urban areas. The development of these cities not only demonstrates tremendous potential but also reflects the unique diversity shaped by ethnicity, geography, history, and economic development.

The Region Smart City Awards* (*special focus on emerging cities in Asia) aims to recognize outstanding projects, enterprises, and leaders in smart city development, foster a culture of learning and cooperation among cities in Asia, and drive diversified development. The Awards advocate the sharing of successful experiences and strategic solutions, catalyzing joint efforts towards digitalization, environmental stewardship, and sustainable growth across the Asian urban landscape.

The evaluation principles of the Awards revolve around inclusiveness, equality, technology for good, and collaboration among multiple stakeholders. Key facets of evaluation include diversity, innovation, relevance, impact, top-level design, citizen participation, co-creation, inclusivity, viability, and replicability of solutions (for specific details, please refer to the Awards terms and cases). 

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HOTEL VILLA FONTAINE PREMIER/GRAND HANEDA AIRPORT OFFERS ROOMS FEATURING POPULAR CHARACTERS

KUALA LUMPUR, March 29 (Bernama) -- Sumitomo Fudosan Villa Fontaine Co Ltd, a Sumitomo Realty Group, has begun offering guestrooms featuring a major Japanese carrier and popular characters known worldwide such as Hatsune Miku and LINE FRIENDS at Hotel Villa Fontaine Premier/Grand Haneda Airport.

According to a statement, it is Japan's largest airport hotel with 1,717 guestrooms and directly connected to Haneda Airport (Tokyo International Airport) Terminal 3.

The establishment has set aside specially designed about 100 guestrooms featuring popular characters along with other well-known entities from Japan and worldwide to enhance the value of staying at the hotel.

The company aims to provide guests with a unique and memorable experience near Haneda Airport, which is striving to become a tourism-oriented country.

Sumitomo Fudosan Villa Fontaine has partnered with Japan Airlines (JAL); Hatsune Miku; Kanosei Art Project by TOPPAN Group; KOKUYO; LINE FRIENDS; Love Live! Nijigasaki High School Idol Club; and Sirotan, to offer unique themed guestrooms.

As part of the collaboration, Hatsune Miku, a virtual singer that is popular worldwide, along with five other Piapro characters, namely  Kagamine Rin, Kagamine Len, Megurine Luka, MEIKO and KAITO, will be in the project which marks the first collaboration of all the six characters with a hotel.

Meanwhile, JAL will showcase a record of 24 guestrooms dedicated to their collaboration, in line with the number of the carrier's international flights from Haneda.

Additionally, partnership with Japanese stationery company KOKUYO who operated KOKUYODOORS, will oversee the design and layout of the rooms, while alliance with LINE FRIENDS will feature soft colours and Japanese flavours in the guestrooms' unique design that can be seen only at this hotel.

Connected with Haneda Airport Terminal 3, the hotel is convenient for guests who stay there pre & post arrival/departure, and covers a wide range of needs which is not only for business but also for leisure.

-- BERNAMA

Ambiq’s Apollo510 Offers 30x Power Efficiency Improvement

KUALA LUMPUR, March 27 (Bernama) -- Technology leader Ambiq, has introduced the new Apollo510, the first member of the Apollo5 SoC family, which is uniquely positioned to kickstart the age of truly ubiquitous, practical, and meaningful artificial intelligence (AI).

Ambiq in a statement said the Apollo510 MCU was a complete overhaul of hardware and software that fully leverages the Arm Cortex-M55 CPU with Arm Helium to reach processing speeds up to 250 megahertz (MHz).

The Apollo510 achieves up to 10 times better latency while reducing energy consumption by around two times, compared to Ambiq's previous power efficiency leader, the Apollo4.

This desirable combination of performance and efficiency allows the company’s customers to deploy sophisticated speech, vision, health, and industrial AI models on battery-powered devices everywhere, making it the most efficient semiconductor on the market to operate with the Arm Cortex-M55.

“We at Ambiq have pushed our proprietary SPOT platform to optimise power consumption in support of our customers, who are aggressively increasing the intelligence and sophistication of their battery-powered devices year after year.

“The new Apollo510 MCU is simultaneously the most energy-efficient and highest-performance product we have ever created,” said Ambiq Chief Technology Officer and Founder, Scott Hanson.

With more than 30 times energy improvement, the Apollo510 is capable of running a vast majority of today's endpoint AI calculations, including low-power sensor monitoring, always-on voice commands, and telco-quality audio enhancement.

Apollo510 contains everything needed for driving intelligent systems namely ultra-efficient compute, expansive on-chip memories, high-bandwidth interfaces to off-chip memories, and security.

The Apollo510 MCU is currently sampling with customers, with general availability in the fourth quarter this year.

-- BERNAMA