Tag Archives: FIN

MoneyGram Expands Digital Network and Mobile Wallet Capability by Integrating with Global Payment Network, Thunes

August 26, 2020 TechENT Syndication Leave a comment

JOHANNESBURG and SINGAPORE, Aug. 26, 2020 — MoneyGram International, Inc. (NASDAQ: MGI), a global leader in cross-border P2P payments and money transfers, today announced a partnership with leading fintech payment network, Thunes, which will enable MoneyGram’s customers to seamlessly send money directly to mobile wallets and bank accounts globally through the MoneyGram platform.

MoneyGram Expands Digital Network and Mobile Wallet Capability by Integrating with Global Payment Network, Thunes

The global partnership will see additional payment services progressively rolled out in two phases. The first will be in Africa where countries such as Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda lead the continent in mobile wallet usage, while the second will focus on the Asia Pacific region and Latin America.

"This partnership marks an important milestone for us. Through this tie-up, Thunes can connect MoneyGram to over 30 markets in Africa, enabling us to significantly expand our reach into the region," said John Gely, Head of MoneyGram Africa. "We are continuously investing in key markets and accelerating digital growth through the integration of mobile wallets and banks, and we believe our partnership with Thunes will further support our strong expansion."

MoneyGram recently reported that account deposit and mobile wallet transactions increased 165% in July, which is an acceleration from the second quarter where the company reported 148% year-over-year transaction growth. This partnership is expected to further support this strong growth globally and further strengthen MoneyGram’s leading position in Africa.

"Thunes aspires to bridge the last mile in terms of access to financial services, particularly in emerging markets, and as such, this partnership is a strong fit," said Peter De Caluwe, CEO of Thunes. "Our robust technological capabilities will enable MoneyGram to achieve greater efficiencies which will bring about significant benefits for MoneyGram customers. In working together with MoneyGram, we strive to help them extend their reach worldwide. Beyond Africa, our next step is to facilitate MoneyGram’s expansion into Asia and Latin America."

According to the GSMA’s 2019 State of the Industry Report on Mobile Money, the mobile money industry is recording astonishing growth with roughly $730 billion global transactions in 2019. The organization reports Africa as one of the fastest growing mobile money transaction continents in the world with an estimated 190 million active wallets.

The COVID-19 outbreak had served to accelerate the trend towards digital payments as people shift away from cash and towards card and contactless payments for health and safety reasons.

"Like MoneyGram, it is important to us that we continue to make essential financial services more inclusive worldwide," said Serigne Dioum, Head of Mobile Money at MTN Group. "MoneyGram’s partnership with Thunes is already enabling our customers located across the African continent to receive payments quickly from MoneyGram straight to their mobile phones. This is significant, especially in times where the use of cash has been adversely impacted."

About MoneyGram International, Inc.

MoneyGram is a global leader in cross-border P2P payments and money transfers. Its consumer-centric capabilities enable family and friends to quickly and affordably send money in more than 200 countries and territories, with over 70 countries now digitally enabled.

MoneyGram leverages its modern, mobile, and API-driven platform and collaborates with the world’s leading brands to serve millions of people each year through both its walk-in business and its direct-to-consumer digital business.

With a strong culture of innovation and a relentless focus on utilizing technology to deliver the world’s best customer experience, MoneyGram is leading the evolution of digital P2P payments.

For more information, please visit MoneyGram.com and follow @MoneyGram

About Thunes

Thunes is a B2B cross-border payments network that enables corporates and financial institutions to move funds and provide financial services in emerging markets. Our global platform connects mobile wallet providers, banks, technology companies and money transfer operators in more than 100 countries and 60 currencies. Thunes is headquartered in Singapore with regional offices in London, Shanghai and New York.

For more information, visit www.thunes.com

About MTN Group

Launched in 1994, the MTN Group is a leading emerging markets operator with a clear vision to lead the delivery of a bold new digital world to our 240 million customers in 21 countries in Africa and the Middle East. We are inspired by our belief that everyone deserves the benefits of a modern connected life. The MTN Group is listed on the JSE Securities Exchange in South Africa under the share code "MTN". We are pursuing our BRIGHT strategy with a major focus on growth in data, fintech and digital businesses.

For more information, visit www.mtn.com or www.mtn.co.za

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http://www.thunes.com

PR Newswire

FICO Survey: 73% of Philippine Banks Believe AI Will Stop More Money Laundering

August 26, 2020 TechENT Syndication Leave a comment

36 percent currently experience significant struggles modifying their existing rules-based anti-money laundering (AML) compliance system

MANILA, Philippines, Aug. 26, 2020 —

Highlights:

73 percent of Philippine banks believe AI will stop more money laundering.
95 percent of Philippine banks still believe in older rules-based technology for AML compliance, despite 36 percent saying that they experience significant struggles modifying these systems.
In the Philippines, 100 percent of banks said they will invest in financial crime compliance in the year ahead and 41 percent plan to significantly increase this investment in 2021.

More information: https://www.fico.com/en/latest-thinking/executive-brief/adopting-integrated-approach-aml-compliance

A recent survey by global analytics software firm FICO has revealed that while 73 percent of Philippine banks believe AI will strengthen anti-money laundering efforts, many remain unsure how to operationalize the advanced technology.

Conversely, when asked about the efficacy of much older rules-based technology, 95 percent of Philippine banks say they still believe in the ability of these AML systems, despite 36 percent saying they experience significant struggles modifying them.

"Rules-based compliance systems continue to the be the workhorse for banks in Asia Pacific when fighting financial crime," said Timothy Choon, FICO’s Financial Crimes Leader in Asia Pacific. "However, some early adopters are starting to embrace the new world of AI and realize that the decade-old rules-based systems can’t keep up with sophisticated threats on their own.

"The secret sauce is operationalizing advanced AI technology and making it work side-by-side with the rules-based systems. In fact, 20 percent of respondents picked this as their principal obstacle in meeting financial crime risk mitigation targets."

The survey showed that the key challenges for existing AML compliance solutions regionally were: the ability to meet new types of compliance risks in channels and products; the capacity to provide an end-to-end integrated compliance solution; and the facility to update quickly to changes in regulation.

Across Asia Pacific, larger multinational banks were more likely to use a vendor solution for AML, while the use of an in-house system was more common with domestic banks.

Key drivers of financial crime strategy

One of the leading indicators driving change in financial crime strategy is customer experience. Over two-in-five respondents ranked this in their top considerations with 17 percent of Asia Pacific banks citing it as the primary factor behind their current and future approach.

"We can see that addressing the competing needs of regulatory compliance and customer experience remains a balancing act for most institutions," said Choon. "Banks are challenged by the need for more information to deal with high rates of alerts from ineffective systems, while not vexing customers with incessant due diligence questions."

Additional considerations ranked second and third by banks included, reputation damage and direct financial losses. When it came to financial crime challenges almost half of respondents cited the speed of responding to new threats, while a third believe achieving accurate detection remains a significant test.

FICO’s comprehensive compliance solution incorporates advanced machine learning techniques designed to address these challenges by significantly improving detection accuracy through patented advanced analytics models such as Soft Clustering Misalignment and Threat Score which can help financial institutions operationalize AI within their existing compliance strategies.

Investment in compliance technology

A significant majority of banks (93%) across Asia Pacific are likely to continue their technology spend on either upgrading or enhancing their compliance systems. However, in the key regional financial centres of Singapore and Hong Kong only two-thirds of respondents indicated that their banks are likely to start new investments in compliance technology, likely due to their more significant spend in this area in recent years.

In the Philippines, 100 percent of banks said they will continue to invest in compliance in the year ahead and 41 percent plan to significantly increase this investment in 2021.

Overall levels of investment in compliance technology by banks in Asia Pacific are expected to rise in 2021. 49 percent of respondents said budgets will increase, with an additional 34 percent expecting a significant increase. Interestingly, foreign banks are more inclined towards new spend compared with domestic counterparts. Indonesia, Australia, Thailand and the Philippines were the markets that said they would invest the most in 2021.

"This survey, conducted in May, shows that even in the recent economic downturn triggered by the pandemic, banks remain committed to targeted spending that boosts their AML compliance defenses," said Choon. "There is an increased willingness to perceive compliance and fraud as a common financial crime risk – a fraudster is more likely to launder money, and vice versa.

"This convergence is a global trend. Banks in the US and UK are well on their way to fully integrating their compliance and fraud functions, bringing together teams, leaders and technologies. We believe banks in Asia Pacific are looking to these markets to see what will work, with plans to follow quickly in the next 24-36 months."

FICO’s Integrated AML Compliance Survey was produced in May 2020 using an online, quantitative poll of 256 senior executives from banks across eleven countries carried out on behalf of FICO by an independent research company. The countries and regions surveyed were Australia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam.

About FICO
FICO (NYSE: FICO) powers decisions that help people and businesses around the world prosper. Founded in 1956 and based in Silicon Valley, the company is a pioneer in the use of predictive analytics and data science to improve operational decisions. FICO holds more than 195 US and foreign patents on technologies that increase profitability, customer satisfaction and growth for businesses in financial services, manufacturing, telecommunications, health care, retail and many other industries. Using FICO solutions, businesses in more than 100 countries do everything from protecting 2.6 billion payment cards from fraud, to helping people get credit, to ensuring that millions of airplanes and rental cars are in the right place at the right time.

Learn more at www.fico.com.

Join the conversation on Twitter at @FICOnews_APAC.

FICO is a registered trademark of Fair Isaac Corporation in the US and other countries

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https://www.fico.com

PR Newswire

Private Trade Finance Firm, USEC, Issues Limited Private Placement Offering to Expand Trade Operations

August 25, 2020 TechENT Syndication Leave a comment

GENEVA, Switzerland, Aug. 25, 2020 — Geneva based international investment firm, United Securities Equity Corp (USEC) has recently issued a new limited private placement offering in order to further strengthen its investment portfolio and stimulate trade activity in light of the widespread slowdown due to the corona virus pandemic. USEC provides a specialized range of trade finance solutions to businesses across the globe. This offering moves USEC closer to its goal of expanding their trade finance operations, potentially valued at $850M USD.

With the support and guidance of the ICC (International Chamber of Commerce), USEC positions itself as a unique conduit to trade finance and investment opportunities for companies during this period of economic uncertainty. The ICC wishes to effectively alleviate some of the key disruptions caused by the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

In its April 6th 2020 memo the ICC is "calling on governments and central banks to immediately void the legal requirement for paper-based documentation, and to adopt the UNCITRAL Model Law on Electronic Transferable Records." ICC’s Secretary-General John W.H. Denton AO further clarified that, "The trade finance market is systemically important to the functioning of the global economy."

To this end, USEC is working diligently to fulfill the ICC’s objective, by offering its services to businesses in search of non-traditional funding in the goal of helping with a speedy global economic recovery. "As the global economy gradually recovers and opens for business again, trade companies may meet with funding constraints and require assistance to transact effectively," said Edgar Burke, USEC Chief Investment Officer.

USEC has enlisted the services of international advisory firm Mainsail Capmarkets who will operate in the capacity of Exclusive Distributor for the Private Placement.

United Securities Equity Corp (USEC) is a Geneva based international investment firm, providing businesses across the globe with a specialized range of trade and finance solutions.

If you would like more information about this topic, please contact Media Relations, Nelson Abraham, at +41 22 531 0013 or email media@usecinvest.com.

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http://www.usecinvest.com/

PR Newswire

AirPay FinTech integrate with AsiaPay, facilitate eCommerce merchant to accept and drive sales via Alipay, WeChat Pay & UnionPay digital marketing

August 25, 2020 TechENT Syndication Leave a comment

eCommerce merchant can now accept and drive sales via Alipay, WeChat Pay & UnionPay through AirPay – AsiaPay payment gateway integration.
AirPay FinTech provides digital marketing support to drive 1M+ Chinese consumers to merchants’ website.
Support popular shopping cart like Shopify, Magento, Opencart & WooCommerce, etc.

MELBOURNE, Australia, Aug. 25, 2020 — Australia fintech company AirPay Financial Technologies "AirPay FinTech" announced its collaboration with AsiaPay, a leading payment gateway in Asia Pacific region, to enable Australia and New Zealand merchants to accept Alipay, WeChat Pay & UnionPay via its extensive network of payment plugins such as Magento, Opencart & WooCommerce, etc.

Merchants can enjoy various value-added gateway features like MCP, Pay Booth, Payment Link, Recurring Payment & built in Anti-Fraud solutions, etc.

According to report by Statista, global eCommerce sales reached USD 4 Trillion in 2019 and expected to reach USD 6.54 Trillion in 2022. Growth also includes mCommerce, more consumers are turning their habit to pay via Smartphone. Alipay & WeChat Pay are two most popular Smartphone payment.

AsiaPay Senior Manager, AirPay FinTech Co-Founder Simon Tse said, "We are thrilled to offer omni-channel payment & marketing to Sneakerboy, Primus Hotel, Canvas Beauty, Urban Pharmacy, HarkHark, Daojia via AsiaPay’s integration. We aim to drive one million Chinese consumers to merchants via everyday usage of our new features "ToPay" which is embedded within Chinese media platform ‘Today Australia‘ app."

"Along with our technology and partnership development, AirPay FinTech also integrated with Shopify, client reference: Koko Black, Thermomix, Pixie’s Bows and Alice McCall."

Alipay, WeChat Pay & UnionPay is now available within AsiaPay payment gateway. Digital marketing support to merchant is provided by AirPay FinTech to drive massive traffic to merchants’ website.

About AirPay FinTech

AirPay FinTech helps merchants to better communicate with Chinese consumers via Alipay, WeChat Pay & UnionPay. AirPay is invested by SwiftPass Technologies, a wholly owned subsidiary of a China listed company.

www.airpayfintech.com

Retail clients include Gucci, MaxMara, Valentino, Moncler, Sneakerboy, Victoria’s Secret, Champion, Glue Store, etc., has adopted its payment and marketing services for better customer experience.

About AsiaPay

AsiaPay enables merchants to accept Visa/MasterCard, Amex, PayPal, ZipPay, POLi, Alipay, WeChat Pay, UnionPay & other alternative payment methods via extensive payment plugins & advanced API.

www.asiapay.com.au

Contact: Simon Tse, +61-413-888-280, info@airpayfintech.com

Related Links :

http://www.airpayfintech.com/

PR Newswire

Bitauto Announces Second Quarter 2020 Results

August 24, 2020 TechENT Syndication Leave a comment

BEIJING, Aug. 24, 2020 — Bitauto Holdings Limited ("Bitauto" or the "Company") (NYSE: BITA), a leading provider of internet content & marketing services, and transaction services for China’s automotive industry, today announced its unaudited financial results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2020^[1].

Bitauto Second Quarter 2020 Highlights

Revenue in the second quarter of 2020 was RMB1.96 billion (US$276.9 million), compared to RMB2.79 billion (US$395.1 million) in the corresponding period in 2019.
Gross profit in the second quarter of 2020 was RMB1.30 billion (US$184.4 million), compared to RMB1.67 billion (US$236.9 million) in the corresponding period in 2019.
Net loss in the second quarter of 2020 was RMB536.4 million (US$75.9 million), compared to net loss of RMB136.2 million (US$19.3 million) in the corresponding period in 2019.
Non-GAAP net loss in the second quarter of 2020 was RMB447.3 million (US$63.3 million), compared to Non-GAAP net income of RMB216.0 million (US$30.6 million) in the corresponding period in 2019.
Net loss attributable to Bitauto in the second quarter of 2020 was RMB368.8 million (US$52.2 million), compared to net loss attributable to Bitauto of RMB145.5 million (US$20.6 million) in the corresponding period in 2019.
Non-GAAP net loss attributable to Bitauto in the second quarter of 2020 was RMB333.6 million (US$47.2 million), compared to Non-GAAP net income attributable to Bitauto of RMB155.3 million (US$22.0 million) in the corresponding period in 2019.

Mr. Andy Zhang, chief executive officer of Bitauto, said, "Despite China’s gradual economic recovery following the COVID-19 outbreak, the domestic automobile industry remained challenged during the second quarter of 2020 with sluggish retail passenger vehicle sales and rising dealer inventory levels. The macro situation presents both challenges and opportunities for our business."

"While weak vehicle sales and increasingly fierce competition in China’s online automobile advertising sector put pressure on our advertising business, Bitauto’s paying subscriber base increased slightly during the quarter, helping to drive mild revenue growth in our subscription business. In our transaction services business, due to its conservative risk control approach, Yixin recorded about 69,000 total transactions in the second quarter, representing a year-over-year decrease of approximately 49.9%."

"In the months ahead, in response to the uncertainties in China’s overall economic environment and particularly the automobile sector, we will stay focused on our core strategic initiatives. First, our continued efforts to upgrade our content and product offerings will provide better value to automobile customers, car owners, automakers and dealer customers. Second, we will further raise Bitauto’s brand recognition through our on-going strategic brand building campaign, which we expect will help further expand our user base and enhance user engagement. Third, Yixin will continue to optimize its conservative risk assessment methodology and strengthen its dealer and financial institution partnerships to explore opportunities as China’s automobile market recovers. We believe our efforts will help strengthen Bitauto’s position as the leading provider of Internet content and marketing services and transaction services for China’s automobile industry."

Mr. Ming Xu, chief financial officer of Bitauto, said, "The weakness in China’s automobile sector in the second quarter of 2020 continued to impact our top line results. We also continued to experience margin pressure this quarter due to our branding and marketing initiatives as well as our on-going investments in user acquisition. In the long run, we expect these efforts will form a solid foundation to attract users and enhance our value proposition for our business partners."

Bitauto Second Quarter 2020 Results

Bitauto reported revenue of RMB1.96 billion (US$276.9 million) in the second quarter of 2020, compared to RMB2.79 billion (US$395.1 million) in the corresponding period in 2019.

Revenue from the advertising and subscription business in the second quarter of 2020 was RMB1.03 billion (US$145.5 million), representing a 2.2% increase from RMB1.01 billion (US$142.4 million) in the corresponding period in 2019.
Revenue from the transaction services business in the second quarter of 2020 was RMB737.6 million (US$104.4 million), compared to RMB1.49 billion (US$211.0 million) in the corresponding period in 2019, mainly due to weak passenger vehicle sales following the COVID-19 outbreak and more cautious underwriting standards imposed by Yixin.
Revenue from the digital marketing solutions business in the second quarter of 2020 was RMB190.3 million (US$26.9 million), compared to RMB294.7 million (US$41.7 million) in the corresponding period in 2019.

Cost of revenue in the second quarter of 2020 was RMB653.5 million (US$92.5 million), compared to RMB1.12 billion (US$158.2 million) in the corresponding period in 2019. Cost of revenue as a percentage of revenue in the second quarter of 2020 was 33.4%, compared to 40.0% in the corresponding period in 2019.

Gross profit in the second quarter of 2020 was RMB1.30 billion (US$184.4 million), compared to RMB1.67 billion (US$236.9 million) in the corresponding period in 2019.

Selling and administrative expenses in the second quarter of 2020 were RMB1.80 billion (US$255.1 million), representing a 10.1% increase from the corresponding period in 2019. This increase was primarily due to the increase in provision for credit losses of receivables related to Yixin and the increase in marketing expenses associated with the Company’s branding and marketing efforts, partially offset by the decrease in amortization of intangible assets related to the strategic cooperation with JD.com, and decrease in expenses related to personnel.

Product development expenses in the second quarter of 2020 were RMB147.2 million (US$20.8 million), representing a 3.7% increase from the corresponding period in 2019.

Share-based compensation, which was allocated to related operating expense line items, was RMB55.0 million (US$7.8 million) in the second quarter of 2020, compared to RMB99.9 million (US$14.1 million) in the corresponding period in 2019.

Loss from operations in the second quarter of 2020 was RMB670.0 million (US$94.8 million), compared to loss from operations of RMB48.9 million (US$6.9 million) in the corresponding period in 2019.

Non-GAAP loss from operations in the second quarter of 2020 was RMB594.3 million (US$84.1 million), compared to Non-GAAP income from operations of RMB215.4 million (US$30.5 million) in the corresponding period in 2019.

Income tax benefit in the second quarter of 2020 was RMB148.0 million (US$20.9 million), compared to income tax expense of RMB6.7 million (US$1.0 million) in the corresponding period in 2019.

Net loss in the second quarter of 2020 was RMB536.4 million (US$75.9 million), compared to net loss of RMB136.2 million (US$19.3 million) in the corresponding period in 2019.

Non-GAAP net loss in the second quarter of 2020 was RMB447.3 million (US$63.3 million), compared to Non-GAAP net income of RMB216.0 million (US$30.6 million) in the corresponding period in 2019.

Net loss attributable to Bitauto in the second quarter of 2020 was RMB368.8 million (US$52.2 million), compared to net loss attributable to Bitauto of RMB145.5 million (US$20.6 million) in the corresponding period in 2019.

Non-GAAP net loss attributable to Bitauto in the second quarter of 2020 was RMB333.6 million (US$47.2 million), compared to Non-GAAP net income attributable to Bitauto of RMB155.3 million (US$22.0 million) in the corresponding period in 2019.

Basic and diluted net loss per ADS, each representing one ordinary share, in the second quarter of 2020 amounted to RMB5.15 (US$0.73) and RMB5.15 (US$0.73), respectively.

Non-GAAP basic and diluted net loss per ADS in the second quarter of 2020 amounted to RMB4.65 (US$0.66) and RMB4.65 (US$0.66), respectively.

As of June 30, 2020, the Company had cash and cash equivalents and restricted cash of RMB8.61 billion (US$1.22 billion). Cash used in operating activities, cash provided by investing activities, and cash used in financing activities in the second quarter of 2020 were RMB830.5 million (US$117.5 million), RMB3.33 billion (US$471.4 million), and RMB2.19 billion (US$309.9 million), respectively.

The number of employees totaled 6,837 as of June 30, 2020, including employees of entities in which Bitauto has acquired and holds controlling interests as of such date. This represented an 18.6% year-over-year decrease, as Yixin optimized its team to improve operational efficiency.

As of June 30, 2020, the Company had a total of 73,761,089 ordinary shares. Non-GAAP basic and diluted per ADS figures for the second quarter of 2020 were calculated using a weighted average of 71,796,549 and 71,796,549 ADSs, respectively. Each ADS represents one ordinary share of the Company.

Yixin Second Quarter 2020 Highlights

Bitauto’s controlled subsidiary Yixin, the primary operator of the Company’s transaction services business, facilitated approximately 69,000 financed transactions for the three months ended June 30, 2020, representing a year-over-year decrease of approximately 49.9%. The decrease was primarily driven by Yixin’s more conservative risk control methodology. The total aggregate financing amount facilitated through Yixin’s loan facilitation services and self-operated financing business was approximately RMB5.38 billion (US$761.3 million).

Amid the challenging macroeconomic environment, Yixin continued to adopt conservative risk control methodology and to focus on its loan facilitation services. For the three months ended June 30, 2020, Yixin facilitated approximately 53,000 financed transactions, representing a year-over-year decrease of 20.8% and approximately 76.9% of Yixin’s total financed transactions.

In the second quarter of 2020, under U.S. GAAP, Yixin’s total revenues were RMB745.2 million (US$105.5 million), representing a year-over-year decrease of 50.3%; new core services revenues, which include revenues from loan facilitation transactions and new self-operated financing lease transactions facilitated by Yixin during the period, were RMB254.7 million (US$36.0 million), representing a year-over-year decrease of 56.8%.

As of June 30, 2020, 90+ days (including 180+ days) past due ratio and 180+ days past due ratio for all financed transactions (including third-party loan facilitations) were 2.46% and 1.40%, respectively.

Under U.S. GAAP, Yixin’s provision for credit losses of finance receivables in the second quarter of 2020 was RMB321.4 million (US$45.5 million).

As Bitauto’s controlled subsidiary listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, Yixin announced its consolidated financial statements under IFRS for the first half of 2020. In order to help investors to understand the difference between IFRS and U.S. GAAP for Yixin’s operation results, a reconciliation of the IFRS data to U.S. GAAP is presented at the end of this earnings release.

Changes to Board of Directors

Bitauto today also announced the appointment of Mr. Chenkai Ling, Vice President of JD.com Inc. ("JD.com") as a director to its board of directors ("the board"). Mr. Ling replaces Mr. Sidney Huang as JD.com’s designated director on Bitauto’s board due to Mr. Huang’s upcoming retirement from JD.com in September 2020. The appointment and the resignation became effective as of August 21, 2020.

"We are delighted to welcome Mr. Chenkai Ling to Bitauto’s board and we look forward to drawing on his experience and knowledge as we execute on our long-term growth strategy," Mr. Andy Zhang said. "We would also like to sincerely thank Mr. Sidney Huang for his service and dedication to Bitauto’s board of directors. Over the past 10 years, Sidney has consistently drawn upon his deep knowledge of China’s e-commerce and internet industries as well as his experience as a corporate leader to make invaluable contributions to Bitauto. We wish him all the best in his upcoming retirement."

Mr. Chenkai Ling is vice president of JD.com, head of strategy and the chief of staff to the CEO of JD Retail. He joined JD.com in July 2016. He is responsible for JD Retail’s strategic planning, M&A and post-merger integration, as well as public affairs. Mr. Ling has almost two decades of experience in strategic planning, consultancy and operations, having worked for multinational companies in various roles. Prior to joining JD.com, he worked at Bain & Company as a principal. Mr. Ling earned his master’s degree in Business Administration from the Amos Tuck School of Business Administration at Dartmouth College and his MIS from Tongji University.

Conference Call Information

Bitauto’s management will hold an earnings conference call at 8:15 AM on August 24, 2020 U.S. Eastern Time (8:15 PM on August 24, 2020 Beijing/Hong Kong Time).

Conference Call Pre-registration:

Please register in advance of the conference using the link provided below and dial in 10 minutes prior to the call. Once pre-registration has been completed, participants will receive dial-in numbers, direct event passcode, and registrant ID.

To join the conference, simply dial the number you receive, enter the event passcode followed by your unique registrant ID, and you will join the conference instantly.

PRE-REGISTER LINK: http://apac.directeventreg.com/registration/event/9674115

A replay of the conference call may be accessed by phone at the following number until September 1, 2020:

US:	+1-855-452-5696 or +1-646-254-3697
International:	+61-2-8199-0299

Conference ID:	9674115

Additionally, a live and archived webcast of this conference call will be available at http://ir.bitauto.com.

[1] This announcement contains translations of certain amounts in Renminbi into U.S. dollars at specified rates solely for the convenience of the readers. Unless otherwise noted, all translations from Renminbi to U.S. dollars are made at a rate of RMB7.0651 to US$1.00, the effective noon buying rate as of June 30, 2020 in The City of New York for cable transfers of Renminbi as certified for customs purposes by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

About Bitauto Holdings Limited

Bitauto Holdings Limited (NYSE: BITA) is a leading provider of internet content & marketing services, and transaction services for China’s automotive industry. Bitauto’s business consists of three segments: advertising and subscription business, transaction services business and digital marketing solutions business.

Bitauto’s advertising and subscription business provides a variety of advertising services to automakers through the bitauto.com website and corresponding mobile apps which provide consumers with up-to-date automobile pricing and promotional information, specifications, reviews and consumer feedback. Bitauto also provides transaction-focused online advertisements and services for promotional activities to its business partners, including automakers, automobile dealers, auto finance partners and insurance companies. Bitauto offers subscription services via its SaaS platform, which provides web-based and mobile-based integrated digital marketing solutions to new car automobile dealers in China. The SaaS platform enables automobile dealer subscribers to create their own online showrooms, list pricing and promotional information, provide automobile dealer contact information, place advertisements and manage customer relationships to help them reach a broad set of purchase-minded customers and effectively market their automobiles to consumers online.

Bitauto’s transaction services business is primarily conducted by its controlled subsidiary, Yixin Group Limited (SEHK: 2858), a leading online automobile finance transaction platform in China, which provides transaction platform services as well as self-operated financing services.

Bitauto’s digital marketing solutions business provides automakers with one-stop digital marketing solutions, including website creation and maintenance, online public relations, online marketing campaigns, advertising agent services, big data applications and digital image creation.

For more information, please visit ir.bitauto.com.

Safe Harbor Statement

This announcement contains forward-looking statements. These statements are made under the "safe harbor" provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements can be identified by terminology such as "will," "expects," "anticipates," "future," "intends," "plans," "believes," "estimates," "confident" and similar statements. Among other things, the business outlook of the Company and the quotations from management in this announcement, as well as Bitauto’s strategic and operational plans, contain forward-looking statements. Bitauto may also make written or oral forward-looking statements in its periodic reports to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, in its annual report to shareholders, in press releases and other written materials and in oral statements made by its officers, directors or employees to third parties. Statements that are not historical facts, including statements about Bitauto’s beliefs and expectations, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties. A number of factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statement, including but not limited to the following: our goals and strategies; our future business development, financial condition and results of operations; the expected growth of the automobile industry and the internet marketing industry in China; our expectations regarding demand for and market acceptance of our services and service delivery model; our expectations regarding enhancing our brand recognition; our expectations regarding keeping and strengthening our relationships with major customers, partner websites and media vendors; relevant government policies and regulations relating to our businesses, automobile purchases and ownership in China; our ability to attract and retain quality employees; our ability to stay abreast of market trends and technological advances; competition in our industry in China and internationally; general economic and business conditions in China; and our ability to effectively protect our intellectual property rights and not infringe on the intellectual property rights of others. Further information regarding these and other risks is included in Bitauto’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its annual report on Form 20-F. Bitauto does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statement as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required under applicable law. All information provided in this press release and in the attachments is as of the date of this press release, and Bitauto undertakes no duty to update such information, except as required under applicable law.

Use of Non-GAAP Financial Measures

To supplement Bitauto’s consolidated financial results presented in accordance with U.S. GAAP, Bitauto uses Non-GAAP income/(loss) from operations, Non-GAAP net income/(loss), Non-GAAP net income/(loss) attributable to Bitauto and Non-GAAP basic and diluted net income/(loss) per ADS as Non-GAAP financial measures , and uses Yixin’s Non-GAAP income/(loss) from operations and Yixin’s Non-GAAP net income/(loss) as Non-GAAP financial measures to supplement the disclosure of financial performance of Yixin. Non-GAAP income/(loss) from operations is defined as income/(loss) from operations excluding (i) share-based compensation; and (ii) amortization of intangible assets resulting from asset and business acquisitions. Non-GAAP net income/(loss) and Non-GAAP net income/(loss) attributable to Bitauto, respectively, are defined as net income/(loss) and net income/(loss) attributable to Bitauto excluding (i) share-based compensation; (ii) amortization of intangible assets resulting from asset and business acquisitions; (iii) investment loss/(income) associated with the share of equity method investments; (iv) investment loss/(income) associated with non-cash investment matters; (v) amortization of the BCF discount on the convertible notes; and (vi) tax effect of Non-GAAP line items. Non-GAAP basic and diluted net income/(loss) per ADS is defined as Non-GAAP net income/(loss) attributable to ordinary shareholders of the parent company divided by basic and diluted weighted average number of ADS. Yixin’s Non-GAAP income/(loss) from operations is defined as income/(loss) from operations excluding (i) share-based compensation; and (ii) amortization of intangible assets resulting from asset and business acquisitions. Yixin’s Non-GAAP net income/(loss) is defined as net income/(loss) excluding (i) share-based compensation; (ii) amortization of intangible assets resulting from asset and business acquisitions; and (iii) tax effect of Non-GAAP line items. These Non-GAAP financial measures provide Bitauto’s management with the ability to assess its operating results by excluding certain items that may not be indicative of the performance of its business such as non-cash and non-recurring items. Bitauto believes these Non-GAAP financial measures are useful to investors by understanding supplemental information used by management in its assessment of operating results.

The use of Non-GAAP financial measures has certain limitations. These Non-GAAP measures exclude certain items that have been and will continue to be incurred in the future and are not reflected in the presentation of the Non-GAAP financial measures. These Non-GAAP financial measures should be considered in addition to results prepared in accordance with U.S. GAAP, and should not be considered a substitute for or superior to U.S. GAAP results. In addition, these Non-GAAP financial measures may not be comparable to similarly titled measures utilized by other companies since such other companies may not calculate such measures in the same manner as Bitauto or Yixin does.

Reconciliation of these Non-GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable U.S. GAAP financial measure is set forth at the end of this release.

For investor and media inquiries, please contact:
China

Suki Li
Bitauto Holdings Limited
Phone: +86-10-6849-2145
ir@bitauto.com

Philip Lisio
Foote Group
Phone: +86-10-8429-9544
bitauto@thefootegroup.com


SELECTED CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL DATA
Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Statements of Operations

	For the Three Months Ended		For the Six Months Ended
	June 30, 2019	June 30, 2020	June 30, 2020
	RMB	RMB	RMB

	(in thousands, except for per share data)		(in thousands, except for per share data)


Revenue	2,791,586	1,956,260	3,694,477
Cost of revenue	(1,117,951)	(653,468)	(1,282,566)
Gross profit	1,673,635	1,302,792	2,411,911

Selling and administrative expenses	(1,637,159)	(1,802,355)	(4,255,383)
Product development expenses	(142,052)	(147,245)	(294,219)
Other gains/(losses), net	56,703	(23,237)	(70,959)
Loss from operations	(48,873)	(670,045)	(2,208,650)

Interest income	38,627	23,565	49,777
Interest expense	(90,487)	(9,955)	(15,703)
Share of results of equity investees	(21,328)	(18,938)	(32,812)
Investment loss	(7,384)	(9,000)	(7,604)
Loss before tax	(129,445)	(684,373)	(2,214,992)

Income tax (expense)/benefit	(6,740)	147,969	399,948
Net loss	(136,185)	(536,404)	(1,815,044)


Net income/(loss) attributable to noncontrolling interests	1,710	(175,784)	(630,526)
Accretion to redeemable noncontrolling interests	7,586	8,204	16,408
Net loss attributable to Bitauto Holdings Limited	(145,481)	(368,824)	(1,200,926)


Non-GAAP financial data
Non-GAAP net income/(loss)	216,044	(447,329)	(1,485,260)
Non-GAAP net income/(loss) attributable to noncontrolling interests	53,110	(121,966)	(524,603)
Accretion to redeemable noncontrolling interests	7,586	8,204	16,408
Non-GAAP net income/(loss) attributable to Bitauto Holdings Limited	155,348	(333,567)	(977,065)



*Reconciliation of GAAP to Non-GAAP results*

	For the Three Months Ended		For the Six Months Ended
	June 30, 2019	June 30, 2020	June 30, 2020
	RMB	RMB	RMB
	(in thousands, except for per share data)		(in thousands, except for per share data)

Loss from operations	(48,873)	(670,045)	(2,208,650)
Share-based compensation	99,881	54,957	133,108
Amortization of intangible assets resulting from asset and business acquisitions	164,390	20,783	185,039
Non-GAAP income/(loss) from operations	215,398	(594,305)	(1,890,503)


Net loss	(136,185)	(536,404)	(1,815,044)
Share-based compensation	99,881	54,957	133,108
Amortization of intangible assets resulting from asset and business acquisitions	164,390	20,783	185,039
Investment loss associated with the share of equity method investments	1,541	5,969	5,905
Investment loss associated with non-cash investment matters	7,384	9,000	9,000
Amortization of the BCF discount on the convertible notes	80,701	–	–
Tax effect of Non-GAAP line items	(1,668)	(1,634)	(3,268)
Non-GAAP net income/(loss)	216,044	(447,329)	(1,485,260)

Non-GAAP net income/(loss) per ADS
Basic	2.17	(4.65)	(13.62)
Diluted	2.12	(4.65)	(13.62)

SELECTED CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL DATA
Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets

	December 31, 2019	June 30, 2020
	RMB	RMB

	(in thousands)

Assets
Current assets
Cash and cash equivalents	4,260,533	4,963,823
Restricted cash	3,136,926	3,467,575
Accounts receivable, net	3,792,641	3,881,598
Uncollateralized finance receivables – current portion, net	4,451,575	2,932,424
Collateralized finance receivables – current portion, net	12,301,329	8,950,691
Other current assets	2,720,558	2,936,796
	30,663,562	27,132,907
Non-current assets
Restricted cash	114,318	181,858
Investments in equity investees	1,912,803	1,881,535
Investment in convertible notes	2,153,790	2,185,682
Property, plant and equipment, net	205,394	618,559
Intangible assets, net	381,749	189,679
Goodwill	861,583	861,609
Uncollateralized finance receivables – non-current portion, net	2,906,280	1,838,716
Collateralized finance receivables – non-current portion, net	7,330,610	3,941,436
Other non-current assets	1,846,955	1,901,850
	17,713,482	13,600,924

Total assets	48,377,044	40,733,831

Liabilities
Current liabilities
Short term borrowings	10,860,862	9,256,192
Asset-backed securitization debt	6,201,021	3,884,712
Accounts payable	3,081,405	3,247,919
Other current liabilities	3,499,449	3,438,106
	23,642,737	19,826,929
Non-current liabilities
Long term borrowings	2,263,614	1,088,815
Asset-backed securitization debt	1,167,910	466,487
Other non-current liabilities	1,546,562	1,492,226
	4,978,086	3,047,528

Total liabilities	28,620,823	22,874,457

Redeemable noncontrolling interests	390,437	406,845

Total equity *	19,365,784	17,452,529

Total liabilities, redeemable noncontrolling interests and equity	48,377,044	40,733,831


* The Company has adopted ASU No. 2016-13 Financial Instruments – Credit Losses ("ASC 326") beginning January 1, 2020 by applying the modified retrospective method with the cumulative effect of initially applying the guidance recognized at the date of initial application. The new guidance would mainly have impact on credit losses in connection with finance receivables, accounts receivables, and guarantee liabilities. The cumulative effect on the opening balance of accumulated deficit upon adoption of ASC 326 is RMB267.4 million.


Yixin
Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Statements of Operations
(in thousands)

	For the Six Months Ended
	June 30, 2020	June 30, 2020	June 30, 2020
	RMB	RMB	RMB
	IFRS	Reconcilation	U.S. GAAP

Revenue	1,623,834	(16,640)	1,607,194
Cost of revenue	(888,734)	–	(888,734)
Gross profit	735,100	(16,640)	718,460

Selling and administrative expenses	(2,114,153)	53,259	(2,060,894)
Product development expenses	(82,023)	(85)	(82,108)
Other gains/(losses), net	88,772	(122,486)	(33,714)
Loss from operations	(1,372,304)	(85,952)	(1,458,256)

Interest income	15,004	–	15,004
Interest expense	(17,902)	624	(17,278)
Share of results of equity investees	(833)	–	(833)
Loss before tax	(1,376,035)	(85,328)	(1,461,363)

Income tax benefit	323,123	21,707	344,830
Net loss	(1,052,912)	(63,621)	(1,116,533)



*Reconciliation of GAAP to Non-GAAP results*

	For the Six Months Ended
	June 30, 2020	June 30, 2020	June 30, 2020
	RMB	RMB	RMB
	IFRS	Reconcilation	U.S. GAAP

Loss from operations	(1,372,304)	(85,952)	(1,458,256)
Share-based compensation	63,409	–	63,409
Amortization of intangible assets resulting from asset and business acquisitions	119,041	(1,755)	117,286
Non-GAAP loss from operations	(1,189,854)	(87,707)	(1,277,561)


Net loss	(1,052,912)	(63,621)	(1,116,533)
Share-based compensation	63,409	–	63,409
Amortization of intangible assets resulting from asset and business acquisitions	119,041	(1,755)	117,286
Tax effect of Non-GAAP line items	(83)	–	(83)
Non-GAAP net loss	(870,545)	(65,376)	(935,921)

Related Links :

http://ir.bitauto.com/

PR Newswire

Hong Kong SFC Issues Approval-in-Principle to OSL for Virtual Asset Automated Trading and Brokerage Licenses

August 22, 2020 TechENT Syndication Leave a comment

OSL receives approval-in-principle for Types 1 and 7 license applications
Licenses will allow STOs and automated digital asset trading
Company on track to become world’s only listed, licensed, insured and audited digital asset platform

HONG KONG, August 22, 2020 — OSL, Asia’s leading digital asset platform and member of BC Technology Group (stock code: 863 HK), today received an approval-in-principle for its application to operate a virtual asset trading platform under a license for Type 1 (dealing in securities) and Type 7 (automated trading service (ATS)) regulated activities under the Securities and Futures Commission ("SFC") virtual asset licensing framework in Hong Kong.

Once the conditions for final approval are satisfied, the license will permit OSL to operate a brokerage and automated trading service for digital assets, including security tokens ("STOs"). The company is on track to become the world’s only publicly listed, licensed, insured and Big-4 audited digital asset platform.

This follows the November 2019 announcement by the SFC of its ground-breaking regulatory framework for digital asset trading platforms that included requirements on hot and cold digital wallet insurance, client asset segregation, know-your-customer, anti-money laundering, maintenance of orderly markets and other digital asset-specific controls.

"Securing approval-in-principle for a virtual asset trading platform license in Hong Kong, inclusive of security tokens, underscores our commitment to comprehensively addressing the demands of institutional investors," said BC Group CEO Hugh Madden.

"Until now, traditional finance has been observing this asset class with interest, but lack of regulatory clarity has so far discouraged participation," said Madden. "Licensing is a game-changer, because it provides certainty and confidence to investors, unlocking massive participation as it drives the increasing use of our platform by the global institutional investor community."

The SFC framework continues to be the only licensing framework within the top international financial centers that fully integrates the specific requirements for digital asset platforms alongside traditional rigorous securities regulations. Because of this unique integrated framework, clients of a Hong Kong licensed digital asset trading platform can enjoy all the protections and safeguards they have become accustomed to in traditional finance, and can also take comfort in additional protections under the new regime that have been tailor-made for the new asset class.

OSL CEO Wayne Trench added: "The SFC displayed impressive foresight in 2017 when it embarked on developing an ecosystem for professional and institutional traders to invest in digital assets. Recent global regulatory developments, emerging sovereign digital currency trials and increasingly cashless societies, exemplify that digital assets are today’s reality and not some distant dream. Both Hong Kong and OSL are well-positioned as institutional participation continues to accelerate in the coming months and years."

The OSL digital asset platform business experienced exceptional growth and performance in 2019, and in the first half of 2020. In its interim results announcement on 12 August 2020, BC Group stated it had experienced a year-on-year revenue increase of 47%, driven mainly by record annualized trading volumes of USD28 billion achieved during the first six months of the year.

About the OSL Platform and BC Technology Group

Backed by BC Technology Group (stock code: 863 HK), Asia’s only listed, licensed and ‘Big-four’-audited digital asset and fintech company, OSL is Asia’s largest digital asset platform, providing prime brokerage, custody, exchange and SaaS services for institutional clients and professional investors.

The company offers OTC, iRFQ and electronic trading services giving traders access to the world’s deepest liquidity pools, digital asset borrowing and lending, as well as secure, insured wallets to ensure the safekeeping of digital assets with timely transaction settlement. OSL is the trusted gateway to the digital asset economy.

For more information: bc.group and osl.com.

Logo – https://photos.prnasia.com/prnh/20200302/2735144-1LOGO?lang=0

Related Links :

http://bc.group/en

PR Newswire

Color Star Technology Co., Ltd. Announces Press Conference for Color World APP to be Held in Beijing, China on September 2

August 21, 2020 TechENT Syndication Leave a comment

NEW YORK, Aug. 21, 2020 — Color Star Technology Co., Ltd. (Nasdaq CM: HHT) (the "Company", "we" or "HHT"), a company engaged in the business of providing knowledge-paid services, today announced that the upcoming press conference of the Color World APP will be held as scheduled on September 2, 2020.

Independently developed by the world’s top software development team, the Color World APP is a proprietary and comprehensive online entertainment knowledge learning platform. At the same time, the platform has begun to establish a collection of celebrity tutors and materials. These celebrity tutors are teaching entertainment courses in multiple fields and the courses will be gradually launched on the Color World APP.

The Color World APP also departs from the traditional entertainment teaching style in a single field, but covers a variety of entertainment fields. Our courses encompass music production, song creation, film performance, script creation, professional sound engineers, lighting engineers, etc. This APP invites world-renowned stars and directors to interact with users. In addition to their professional knowledge and skills, industry leading professors will also share with you their insights based on years of performing experience. This APP is more than a learning platform but also a means of dialogue with the masters to gain their wisdom and receive unique feedback.

Mr. Biao Lu, CEO of Color Star Technology Co., Ltd. comments "The Color World APP not only delivers cultural and entertainment education quickly and effectively through the Internet, but also provides various commercial platforms to offer investors a wide range of business opportunities and communication channels. More detailed on-site introduction of the APP will be available at the press conference on September 2. We hope you would tune in."

About Color Star Technology Co., Ltd.

Color Star Technology Co, Ltd. (Nasdaq: HHT) offers online and offline innovative knowledge-paid services for music and entertainment industries globally. Its official website is www.colorstarinternational.com. Its business operations are conducted through its wholly-owned subsidiaries Color China Entertainment Ltd. and CACM Group NY, Inc. The Company’s online education is provided through its Color World music and entertainment education platform. The Company also offers after-school entertainment tutoring in New York via its joint venture entity Baytao LLC.

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements made herein are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the "safe harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements may be identified by the use of words such as "anticipate", "believe", "expect", "estimate", "plan", "outlook", and "project" and other similar expressions that predict or indicate future events or trends or that are not statements of historical matters. Such forward-looking statements include the business plans, objectives, expectations and intentions of the parties following the completion of the acquisition, and HHT’s estimated and future results of operations, business strategies, competitive position, industry environment and potential growth opportunities. These forward-looking statements reflect the current analysis of existing information and are subject to various risks and uncertainties. As a result, caution must be exercised in relying on forward-looking statements. Due to known and unknown risks, our actual results may differ materially from our expectations or projections. All forward-looking statements attributable to the Company or persons acting on its behalf are expressly qualified in their entirety by these factors. Other than as required under the securities laws, the Company does not assume a duty to update these forward-looking statements. The following factors, among others, could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in these forward-looking statements: there is uncertainty due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the impact it will have on HHT’s operations, the demand for the HHT’s products and services, global supply chains and economic activity in general. These and other risks and uncertainties are detailed in the other public filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") by HHT. Additional information concerning these and other factors that may impact our expectations and projections will be found in our periodic filings with the SEC, including our Annual Report on Form 20-F for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2019. HHT’s SEC filings are available publicly on the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov. HHT disclaims any obligation to update the forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Color Star Technology Co., Ltd.
Contact: Investor Relations
FinancialBuzzIR™
info@FinancialBuzzIR.com
Tele: +1-877-601-1879

Related Links :

http://www.colorstarinternational.com/

PR Newswire

Meituan Dianping Announces Financial Results for the Three and Six Months Ended June 30, 2020

August 21, 2020 TechENT Syndication Leave a comment

HONG KONG, Aug. 21, 2020 — Meituan Dianping (HKG: 3690) (the "Company" or "Meituan"), China’s leading e-commerce platform for services, today announced the unaudited consolidated results of the Company for the three and six months ended June 30, 2020.

Company Financial Highlights

Although the COVID-19 pandemic continued to impact the daily operations of our merchants, including restaurants, hotels and other local services merchants, our businesses demonstrated resilience and recovered at a gradual pace. Total revenues for the second quarter of 2020 increased by 8.9% year-over-year to RMB 24.7 billion from RMB 22.7 billion for the same period of 2019. Operating profit improved to RMB 2.2 billion in the second quarter of 2020, increasing by 95.5% year-over-year, while operating margin increased from 4.9% to 8.8%. Both adjusted EBITDA and adjusted net profit experienced positive year-over-year growth and improved to RMB 2.6 billion and RMB 2.7 billion, respectively. Our operating cash flow also turned to positive RMB 5.6 billion for the second quarter of 2020 from negative RMB5 .0 billion for the first quarter of 2020. We had cash and cash equivalents of RMB 13.9 billion and short-term investments of RMB44.5 billion as of June 30, 2020, compared to the balances of RMB 14.1 billion and RMB 42.4 billion, respectively, as of March 31, 2020.

"Although we continued to see impacts from the outbreak of COVID-19 in the second quarter, our business demonstrated resilience and recovered at a good pace," said Xing Wang, Chairman and CEO of Meituan. "During the quarter, we helped our merchants to weather the storm, which created value for our vast community of consumers and merchants, and, as a result, stimulated the progressive recovery of the local services industry from the pandemic. We further boosted the competitive advantages of our core businesses while enhancing our ecosystem during our business recovery process. In the second quarter, we utilized advanced digital operations tools to enable more merchants, enhanced our on-demand delivery infrastructure to better facilitate the digital lifestyle of consumers, and accelerated the online penetration and digitization of essential local services on both the demand and supply side."

"As the leading e-commerce platform for services, Meituan will continue to fulfill our social responsibilities," Wang said. "We will help to further boost consumption growth and to recover local economies to the best of our abilities despite the uncertainties and challenges in the next few quarters. We believe that our philosophy of focusing on the long-term growth and rewards will continue to yield positive results for all participants in the Meituan ecosystem."

Company Business Highlights

Food delivery

For the second quarter of 2020, GTV of our food delivery business increased by 16.9% year-over-year to RMB108.8 billion. The daily average number of food delivery transactions increased by 6.9% year-over-year to 24.5 million. The average value per order of our food delivery business increased by 9.4% year-over-year. Monetization Rate^[i] of our food delivery business decreased to 13.4% for the second quarter of 2020 from 13.8% for the same period of 2019. As a result, revenues of food delivery business increased by 13.2% year-over-year to RMB 14.5 billion for the second quarter of 2020. Operating profit from our food delivery business turned to positive RMB 1.3 billion for the second quarter of 2020, compared to operating loss of RMB70.9 million for the first quarter of 2020, while operating margin turned to positive 8.6% from negative 0.7%. Moreover, operating profit from the food delivery business increased by 65.7% year-over-year, while operating margin improved by 2.7 percentage points year-over-year.

Despite the pandemic’s continuous impact, we further demonstrated the unique competitiveness of our business model and validated the essential needs for food delivery services from both consumers and merchants. Especially, our immediate response to the COVID-19 new cases that occurred in Beijing showcased our increasing experience in managing the recurring outbreaks of COVID-19. To ensure the safety of our delivery riders and consumers, among other measures, we immediately organized nucleic acid testing for all of our delivery riders in Beijing, expanded the use of "intelligent lockers" in the city, and further upgraded our contactless delivery process. For merchants, we rolled out targeted support and commission rebate programs to help them better survive the COVID-19 new cases that occurred in Beijing. We also created a portal for merchants to upload their green COVID-19 testing results so as to provide consumers with extra food safety assurance.

In the second quarter of 2020, we continued to launch various promotional campaigns to stimulate the recovery of our food delivery business. For example, we rolled out the "June 18 Food Delivery Festival" and engaged around 4,000 reputable restaurants and brands to provide consumers with a wide variety of attractive promotions in the period. We were also spot-on in identifying consumers’ behavioral changes and used targeted promotions to actively increase the consumption of afternoon tea and late-night snacks. Moreover, we have further stepped up the portion of subsidies allocated to targeted repeat consumers through our effective food delivery membership program. As a result, the order volume of our food delivery business experienced positive year-over-year growth in the second quarter of 2020, with the daily average number of food delivery transactions increasing by 6.9% year-over-year to 24.5 million.

On the merchant side, a further recovery in merchant operation and consumer consumption led to the strong marketing demand from merchants in the second quarter of 2020. Meanwhile, the pandemic has accelerated the restaurants’ online migration, increasing the mix of high-quality merchants on our platform during the period. Notably, the number of newly-onboard branded merchants increased by more than 110% in the second quarter as compared to the prior year period. Their increased demand for online traffic has accelerated their adoption of our online marketing services. As a result, online marketing services revenues experienced rapid growth in the second quarter of 2020, increased by 62.2% year-over-year.

On the delivery front, we further improved our delivery efficiency in the second quarter of 2020, attributable to the refinement of our proprietary dispatching system algorithms and the continuous improvement of the operation of our delivery network. In addition, the sufficient delivery capacity and the favorable weather condition across the country enabled us to reduce the amount of seasonal incentives paid to delivery riders on a quarter-over-quarter basis. These factors together have allowed us to better control delivery cost per order on both a quarter-over-quarter and a year-over-year basis. Meantime, the importance of our on-demand delivery network as a critical component of society’s broader logistical infrastructure has been substantially elevated post the outbreak of COVID-19. Our delivery network helped to ensure continuity in people’s daily lives during the pandemic and served as a stabilizing force for society by creating abundant employment opportunities. We will continue to explore diversified delivery models and invest in the cutting-edge technology for autonomous delivery to further improve our operating efficiency and enlarge our capacity while striving to serve the needs of our merchants and consumers in more service categories.

In-store, hotel & travel

Revenues from our in-store, hotel & travel businesses decreased by 13.4% year-over-year to RMB4.5 billion in the second quarter of 2020. Operating profit of our in-store, hotel & travel businesses decreased by 11.9% year-over-year, but increased by 178.1% quarter-over-quarter to RMB 1.9 billion in the second quarter of 2020, while operating margin increased by 0.7 percentage points year-over-year and by 19.6 percentage points quarter-over-quarter to 41.6%.

During the second quarter of 2020, the in-store segment continued to recover at a slower pace than the food delivery business as consumers needed more time to rebuild confidence in certain discretionary in-store consumptions. In order to stimulate local services consumption and restore local economies, we cooperated with local governments to launch the "Safe Consumption Festival" in more than 60 cities and issued e-Vouchers during this quarter. These e-Vouchers were mainly for in-store dining initially, but we have since expanded them to cover hotels, shopping, and other local services. We also launched a series of promotional campaigns in the second quarter of 2020, including Labour Day promotions, Dragon Boat Festival promotions, and June 18 Marketing Festival promotions. These events covered all the aspects of our in-store services and helped to accelerate our collaborations with popular merchant brands to further improve our merchant base and offer consumers a wider variety of choices in turn. As a result, the recovery of transaction volume and merchants’ marketing demand of our in-store segment was on the right track. The year-over-year decline in commission revenues and online marketing services revenues were significantly narrowed from the first quarter of 2020. Moreover, we published a new 2020 version of our reputable "Must List Series." This series has evolved into a comprehensive and professional local services guide over the years. During the COVID-19 pandemic, we noticed that consumers became more price-sensitive and conscious of hygiene factors, which further compounded the ability of our trusted Must List Series to attract user traffic and guide consumers to quality merchants. It also created a positive feedback loop for merchants to upgrade their services and better meet the emerging needs of consumers.

Our hotel business continued to be significantly affected by the pandemic, with the number of domestic room nights consumed on our platform in the second quarter of 2020 decreasing by 17% year-over-year. Nevertheless, we kept increasing our partnership with more hotels via our "Safe Stay" program to provide travelers with accommodation options that are more conducive to their desires and the quarantine environment. Meantime, in light of the increasing demand for intra-city and short-distance local travel, we also launched the "Safe Travel" program to help expedite the recovery of the industry. More notably, the pace of development for our high-star hotel partnerships also picked up, and we established a significant increase in relationships with these types of hotels in the second quarter of 2020 by increasing their non-lodging revenues through our "hotel + x" program. As a result, the contribution from high-end hotels further increased year-over-year.

New initiatives and others

Revenues from the new initiatives and others segment increased by 22.1% year-over-year to RMB5.6 billion in the second quarter of 2020. On a sequential basis, operating loss from the new initiatives and others segment expanded by 7.0% to RMB1.5 billion for the second quarter of 2020 from RMB 1.4 billion for the first quarter of 2020, while operating margin improved by 6.8 percentage points to negative 25.9% for the second quarter of 2020 from negative 32.7% for the first quarter of 2020. Operating loss from the new initiatives and others segment narrowed by 11.3% on a year-over-year basis, while operating margin improved by 9.8 percentage points year-over-year.

The COVID-19 pandemic was a catalyst for several of our new initiatives, and we saw a noticeable shift in the online shopping behavior on the consumer side and accelerated online penetration of traditional offline service businesses during the pandemic. During the second quarter of 2020, we maintained the rapid expansion of our key businesses, especially grocery retail business. Our marketplace model "Meituan Instashopping" achieved stellar revenue growth during the second quarter of 2020 on a year-over-year basis as we expanded our product variety and SKU categories to significantly grow our merchant base. "Caidaquan," our relatively nascent fresh produce-focused brand under "Meituan Instashopping," enabled more than 300 traditional wet markets to sell online and operate digitally. Our self-operated model, "Meituan Grocery," not only significantly expanded its coverage in key cities, such as Beijing and Shenzhen, but also began operations in new cities, such as Guangzhou, in July 2020. During the second quarter of 2020, we also established a new business division for community group purchase services, rolling out the "Meituan Selected" service brand accordingly in Jinan, Shandong in July 2020, which offers carefully selected fresh produce and daily necessities at attractive prices for local consumers living in different communities. Group leaders are appointed by us in each community to promote our discounted grocery products via WeChat groups. Group members can place orders through our WeChat Mini Program and pick up their products the next day at self-pickup points located in nearby convenience stores.

For bike-sharing services, we replaced around 1.5 million old bikes with new "Meituan Bikes" during the second quarter of 2020. The average turnover rate per bike improved incrementally and the unit economics also improved. Additionally, we launched more than 290,000 electric bikes. During this period, the average turnover rate per electric bike achieved better unit economics as compared to traditional bikes and demonstrated a clear path to independent profitability.

For the full announcement of Meituan 2020 interim results, please visit:
http://meituan.todayir.com/attachment/202008211704561761848748_en.pdf

About Meituan Dianping

Meituan Dianping (HKG: 3690) (the "Company" or "Meituan") is China’s leading e-commerce platform for services. With the mission of "We help people eat better, live better," the Company’s platform uses technology to connect consumers and merchants. Service offerings on the platform address people’s daily needs for food, and extend further to broad lifestyle and travel services. Meituan is the world’s leading on-demand food delivery service provider and China’s leading e-commerce platform for in-store dining services. Meituan helps consumers discover merchant information, make informed decisions, complete online and offline transactions and enjoy on-demand delivery. The Company currently owns several household brands in China, including Meituan, China’s leading online marketplace for services, Dianping, China’s leading online destination for discovering local services, Meituan Waimai for on-demand delivery services, and Meituan Bikes for bike-sharing services. Meituan has 457.3 million Annual Transacting Users and 6.3 million Annual Active Merchants as of June 30, 2020. The Company operates in over 2,800 cities and counties in China.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements relating to the business outlook, forecast business plans and growth strategies of the Company. These forward-looking statements are based on information currently available to the Company and are stated herein on the basis of the outlook at the time of this press release. They are based on certain expectations, assumptions and premises, some of which are subjective or beyond our control. These forward-looking statements may prove to be incorrect and may not be realized in future. Underlying the forward-looking statements is a large number of risks and uncertainties. Further information regarding these risks and uncertainties is included in our other public disclosure documents on our corporate website.

For media inquiries, please contact:
Meituan Dianping
pr.global@meituan.com
ir@meituan.com

Edmond Lococo
ICR Inc.
Email: Edmond.Lococo@icrinc.com
Tel: +86 138-1079-1408

[i] Monetization rate equals the revenues for the period divided by the Gross Transaction Volume for the period.

Related Links :

https://www.meituan.com/

PR Newswire

EMAS Fintech’s First Regional Support Centre in Malaysia

August 21, 2020 TechENT Syndication Leave a comment

Confident in Malaysia’s favourable economic conditions, infrastructure, capitalises on abundance of multi-lingual and diverse talent

MANILA, Philippines, Aug. 21, 2020 — EMAS Fintech Inc CS201953873 (EFI) today announced the opening of its first Regional Support Centre in Malaysia to support its expansion and capitalise on the full potential of investment trading in the region.

Jason Kellady, Chief Executive Officer of Emas Fintech Inc.

Located in Malaysia, the EFI South East Asia (SEA) Regional Support Centre will support and offer the benefits of EFI’s cross-industry digital investment trading platform to regional investors. The centre will assist to integrate and aggregate investments, right size portfolios, provide access to wider industry data, apply predictive analytics to generate insights which can improve investment performance and productivity.

Logo, Emas Fintech Inc.

EFI chief executive officer Jason Kellady said, "This regional support centre is the first of six planned regional support centres. It represents the first phase of our business plan. In the next 24 months, we will gradually expand and increase our presence from Southeast Asia to East Asia, South Asia, Europe, Oceania and North America with an aim of 20 countries and regions," he said. These countries and regions include Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam in Southeast Asia; Mainland China, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, in East Asia; India in South Asia; Austria, Denmark, France, Greece and Switzerland in Europe; Australia in Oceania; and Canada in North America.

He said Malaysia is a suitable host to support its expansion plans. "We have evaluated different countries and decided to house our first regional support centre in Malaysia. We have started our talent acquisition programme," said Kellady.

"We plan to recruit a core team of 15 to 30 specialists and account managers, then gradually expand to cope with demand from our subscribers," he explained. "Malaysia has an abundance of qualified talent that is used to dealing with a multi-lingual, multi-cultural environment. We are capitalising on this advantage, which owes to this nation’s history of being the crossroad of global trade," he said during the unveiling of EFI’s first Regional Support Centre on August 21, 2020 to EFI supporters and community.

He added EFI has started implementing plans to apply for regulatory approval at every market that it intends to pursue. "Despite the Covid-19 pandemic, we think the opportunities in the digital currency or eFiat market is growing. It was valued at USD1.03 billion last year and we agree with projections that it will exceed USD1.40 billion in five years, growing at a CAGR of 5 per cent to 8 per cent during this period," he said. "The shifts in global markets must be carefully scrutinised, monitored and we have assigned this task to our regional support centre."

With regulatory approval in hand, EFI intends to aggregate like-minded investors to benefit from its unique trading methodology, optimised to generate small but consistent interests. "Our proprietary Intelligent Calculation System or ICS will guide investors venturing to tap the global Fiat Currency. Our aggregation model will hopefully enable EFI to deliver responsible and sustainable returns for every investor."

"We are expediting our plans to seek approval from regulators in three countries: Malaysia, Japan and Vietnam, and expect to be operational by the end of this year. In the meantime, we need to recruit and train adequate talent to support our ambitions," said Kellady, a 10-year banking and capitals markets veteran, who himself is multi-lingual and fluent in Mandarin and English.

EFI is ready to comply and meet regulatory criteria and has enacted its Disaster Recovery Plan due to the Covid-19 pandemic. "The safety of our employees is paramount. We have proactively been monitoring the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic and applaud tough measures adopted by the Malaysian Government. We are confident Malaysia will have a shorter recovery period. In the meantime, we have curtailed our employees from travelling and taking necessary precautionary measures to protect our clients, employees and stakeholders involved in our operations."

"We have been working remotely to implement our plans. This is the best time to explore and invest in infrastructure and talent, especially in Malaysia, as costs are lower than average, and the job market is on our side. We are continuing our operations while taking necessary steps to minimise the contagion risks of this outbreak. As such, we wish to assure everyone that we will continue to abide by established procedures like social distancing and implement additional measures as deemed necessary. EFI is contributing to keep our communities safe and help break the chain of infection for Covid-19."

ABOUT EMAS FINTECH INC.

Emas Fintech Inc _CS201953873 EFI is a Philippines-registered investment fund operator targeting private investors and communities of investors. It offers investors with better market access, higher responsiveness and investment returns. EFI has established its first of six regional support centres starting with South East Asia in Malaysia on August 15, 2020 and seeking regulatory approval where needed in countries that it intends to operate. EFI plans to be active in Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam in South East Asia; Mainland China, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, in East Asia; India in South Asia; Austria, Denmark, France, Greece and Switzerland in Europe; Australia in Oceania; and Canada in North America. www.emasfintech.com

TO EDITORS

PHOTO (Photo kit by default in RGB and Grayscale, 15cm X 15 cm, JPG, 72dpi. Other formats available on request.)

Photo – https://photos.prnasia.com/prnh/20200821/2893095-1-a?lang=0
Photo – https://photos.prnasia.com/prnh/20200821/2893095-1-b?lang=0

Related Links :

http://www.emasfintech.com

PR Newswire

Bithumb Global Launches Learning Platform to Allow Users to Earn While They Learn

August 21, 2020 TechENT Syndication Leave a comment

SYDNEY and SINGAPORE, Aug. 21, 2020 — Starting out in finance is often not easy and inexperienced investors are bound to make mistakes. As a result, they either make sure to attend a business school to learn these skills before delving into the sector or hire experts to do it on their behalf through mutual funds or directly.

Crypto Markets Suffer from Lack of Proper Educational Resources

It is difficult to learn these skills for crypto assets as there are very few institutions developed around them. The metrics for judging crypto projects are also very different from other projects, making this skill even more complex.

The courses which are available to teach interested learners about cryptocurrencies are mostly theoretical and focused on particular aspects of investment. Inevitably, investors often are not able to integrate these theories with the practice of investing in real ongoing projects. All this makes the courses boring that, to begin with, had no incentives for these learners to focus diligently on the process of investments.

It is for these reasons that investors are hardly motivated to continue learning and there is attrition in terms of learning over the period of the courses. This has created a lot of amateur investors who are willing to dive into the crypto investment sphere without an adequate understanding of the process of decision making and investing in crypto projects. This has, in turn, led to a rise in the number of fraudulent and incompetent projects which have been leveraged by these amateur investors, leading to the degradation of the whole crypto community.

Bithumb Global is Again Leading the Change

It is to deal with this lack of expertise among prospective investors, Bithumb Global has come up with a platform called "BG Learning" to leverage the capacity of new investors in the crypto community to make more informed and properly thought out decisions while making investments. This is meant to provide better outcomes in the long run for the whole crypto market, as more informed investors will be able to promote better projects and will add more value and stability. In other words, Bithumb Global is trying to give back to the community in the form of knowledge.

The platform works on a simple model. Anyone who signs up for the BG Learning program will get access to several handpicked projects. And based on the understanding of these projects the users will get rewarded in the form of tokens of these projects.

However, this is more than a simple publicity campaign for the said projects. It is a full-fledged interactive learning platform that allows the users to learn about projects, associated risks, and the opportunities of investing in these particular projects. There will be scope for discussions among peers as well as communication and clarification from experts from the field of crypto and tech investment in general.

The platform operates on the basis of a voting system and a mechanism for rewarding the more competent dedicated learners. It has voting events hosted periodically for its users. The number of votes for each user is determined on the basis of the number of assets held and the quantum of transactions carried out by the user.

However, all votes are not accounted for. The votes of users for specific projects will be accounted for only when the user is able to answer questions about the project correctly, demonstrating an understanding of the various aspects of the project. If the user answers the questions about the projects correctly, then he/she is rewarded in the form of tokens of the crypto projects that he/she had voted for. This is a way of incentivizing continued dedication towards learning for the users. The number of reward tokens airdropped to the users is calculated by taking into account the total number of votes in the event, the individual number of votes allocated to the user, and the total amount of project tokens airdropped.

This system, therefore, allows learners to get a practical hands-on investing experience without a certain degree of buffer against inaccurate understanding about the projects. Continued learning is ensured through constant incentivization. This gives them a great deal of knowledge about the crypto sector and the important aspects of projects that need to be understood before investing.

All this knowledge will help the new investors not only make investments on the already handpicked projects within the Bithumb Global platform but it will enable them to invest on other exchange platforms more effectively without falling for any hoax claims or any other such traps. They will also learn how to effectively diversify their portfolio to maximize their returns on their investments.

Bithumb Global Learning’s first season had featured a very stable investment opportunity for the learners on the platform. The platform had launched, Mantra DAO- an organization that tends to create a staking based financial institution where the users and stakeholders are able to collectively govern and drive the outcomes of the organization. As a gem of a DeFi project, Mantra DAO (OM) has a very eye-catching performance – rocketing 4x after listing on BG. Meanwhile, 100,000 OM rewards have been distributed to participants of BG Learning.

Therefore, being part of the Bithumb Global Learning platform not only helps the users build knowledge but opens up their opportunity to participate in voting events featuring such attractive projects.

techENT

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