Tag Archives: FIN

PR Newswire

After the rapid growth in Egypt, OPay Group is targeting a major expansion in North Africa and the Arab region

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– Forbes Middle East praises the development of OPay’s business in the region, describing it as the fastest growing and most popular financial technology company in the Egyptian market.

CAIRO, Egypt, Feb. 25, 2022 — Recently,"OPay" wins the best new POS payment service provider in Egypt for 2021 award from "The Global Economics".

According to a press report published by Forbes Middle East magazine, OPay is one of the most prominent companies that have appeared on the electronic payments scene in Egypt as a result of support followed by the Egyptian state. It is also considered one of the fastest growing companies in the Egyptian market since its first launch in Egypt at the start of 2021, OPay Group quickly gained the confidence of thousands of merchants that utilize its points of sale (POS) to collect bills and other payments.


Due to the steps taken by Egyptian President, Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, and the support provided by Tarek Amer, Governor of the Central Bank of Egypt, has paved the way for the faster digital transformation of the Egyptian banking sector. The country embraces digital transformation and cashless transactions. The international "OPay" group for financial technology services and electronic payments grow fast.Under Amer’s leadership, the central bank has made the transition to cashless transactions easier, reduced the reliance on cash, and expanded the provision of mechanized services.

The report mentioned that "OPay" Group was founded in 2018, and risen to become a top financial services provider, operating in Nigeria, Egypt, and Pakistan, the company’s early success is credited to its dedication to making financial services accessible to everyone, and now the group is eyeing expansion across the rest of the Middle East and North Africa this year.

This remarkable development achieved by OPay is due to the integrated services it provides to its customers, in addition to the ease of access to them, as the registration on the application or the electronic portal is done in smooth and fast steps, OPay is also becoming a major driver of financial inclusion in Africa, managing to fast track the adoption of digital services through cashless and contactless payments while also improving financial and information security. In particular, OPay’s mobile payment service provides a convenient financial solution to the unbanked population in Africa, with 160 million active users currently generating around $3 billion in monthly transactions.

The international "OPay" group confirmed that it provides a suite of bespoke, customer-centric financial solutions that include offline and online payment options and a digital wallet service using the power of AI. Notably, OPay’s online gateway (OPay checkout) hosts a set of high-quality services, integrated solutions, and an excellent commission scheme, which enable small- and medium-sized businesses to achieve profit growth.

For customers, OPay delivers an easier way to pay bills and other expenses through an app available on iOS as well as Google Play.

OPay Group’s continued success follows a $400 million funding round last August, which increased the company’s valuation to $2 billion. The successful round motivated OPay to venture towards territories in North Africa – particularly Egypt, where the group has achieved monumental success in less than a year, delivering the best possible financial solutions for customers, merchants, and small and medium businesses, and OPay plans to expand to more territories by the end of the year, including the U.A.E. It also aims to enhance its current suite of financial services and adapt to new security standards to keep customer data safe and secure.

 

PR Newswire

eBaoTech Integrates its InsureMO® with Verisk’s ISO Electronic Rating Content™ for U.S., Boosting Insurers’ Efficiency and Speed to Market

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JERSEY CITY, N.J., Feb. 24, 2022 — eBaoTech Corporation (eBaoTech), a global digital solution provider for the insurance industry, has enhanced its InsureMO® platform with the integration of the latest commercial lines rating information from Verisk. InsureMO® offers the next generation of Verisk’s ISO Electronic Rating ContentTM (ERCTM) to the U.S. market via API.

InsureMO® is eBaoTech’s platform-as-a-service (PaaS) for insurers, MGA’s, brokers, distribution channels, InsurTechs and startups to power and accelerate their innovation and connectivity to the insurance ecosystem. From nimble startups to $7 billion insurers and over 300 global implementations, InsureMO® is a proven digital insurance platform.

"We are excited about the alliance with Verisk. InsureMO® PaaS subscribers can leverage the advantages of a secure, cloud-based internet architecture for high scalability and availability, a rich set of microservices and open APIs, and configuration that supports the sales and service of products based on Verisk’s insurance policy programs," said Martin Crew, general manager, eBaoTech Americas. "I am confident that the alliance will certainly provide value to organizations that use Verisk’s rating information to develop products for the U.S. commercial market."

InsureMO® now offers on-demand capabilities from Verisk that include country and state layers plus ongoing ISO Circular updates. Verisk customers who subscribe to InsureMO® have the ability to access Verisk’s ISO Commercial Lines Program library supported by ERC today, as well as related transaction APIs, enabling them to:  

  • Create their own apps and workflow experiences
  • Embed Verisk product transaction APIs into any app, channel or distribution ecosystem
  • Use InsureMO® SaaS app offerings for a full Verisk policy management capability via out-of- the-box user experience

"This alliance with eBaoTech will help insurers boost efficiency and increase speed to market. By integrating the next generation of ERC – our innovative, cloud-based solution – insurers can benefit from automated updates to our commercial lines rating programs combined with a state-of-the-art rating and policy management solution," said Mark Sheehan, vice president and head of ratings solutions for Verisk.


 About eBaoTech

eBaoTech is a global leading technology provider for the global insurance industry. Our mission from starting in the year 2000 has been and remains to be "make insurance easy". Through hard work and full commitment to customer success, eBaoTech has built a strong client base in over 30 countries/markets, covering property and casualty, life, and health insurances. Furthermore, eBaoTech’s intense and persistent focus on addressing the fundamental pain-points of insurance technologies through deep-tech innovation has yielded significant differentiation in the global marketplace. For more information, please visit the company website at www.eBaoTech.com and the PaaS enablement site at www.InsureMO.com

About Verisk

Verisk (Nasdaq:VRSK) provides predictive analytics and decision support solutions to customers in the insurance, energy and specialized markets, and financial services industries. More than 70 percent of the FORTUNE 100 relies on the company’s advanced technologies to manage risks, make better decisions and improve operating efficiency. The company’s analytic solutions address insurance underwriting and claims, fraud, regulatory compliance, natural resources, catastrophes, economic forecasting, geopolitical risks, as well as environmental, social and governance (ESG) matters. Celebrating its 50th anniversary, the company continues to make the world better, safer and stronger, and fosters an inclusive and diverse culture where all team members feel they belong. With more than 100 offices in nearly 35 countries, Verisk consistently earns certification by Great Place to Work. For more: Verisk.com, LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. 

Media Contact
Michelle Pantina
551-500-7327
michelle.pantina@verisk.com

Fiona Zhang
+1 (201) 633 6405
Fiona.zhang@ebaotech.com

 

PR Newswire

Railsbank, via subsidiary Railspay, secures AFSL to enable Australian brands to create embedded finance experiences

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SYDNEY, Feb. 24, 2022 — Railspay, the wholly owned Australian subsidiary of world-leading embedded finance experience platform Railsbank, has secured an independent Australian financial services licence (AFSL) to enable more innovative consumer brands to harness the power of embedded finance experiences.

Railsbank APAC COO & Australia GM Ben Smith
Railsbank APAC COO & Australia GM Ben Smith

Embedded finance experiences offer brands a wide range of valuable benefits including increased frequency of consumer interaction, greater loyalty and spend, and deeper, data-driven, customer relationships.

The new licence, which sits alongside existing Railsbank regulatory capabilities in UK, Europe, USA and Singapore, is part of the company’s global ambition to bring embedded finance experiences to every market in the world, and make finance an amazing experience everywhere.

It offers new capabilities alongside Railsbank’s existing relationship with Volt, and follows extensive regional growth for Railsbank in APAC, with 70 local personnel hires including key senior executives in just the last 18 months.

These hires include the appointment of Paul Koopmans, who joins Railsbank as Head of Sales for APAC. Paul was previously Regional Sales Director for global fintech payment and risk management specialist AFEX.

Nigel Verdon, Railsbank CEO and co-founder, said: "It is great for my family to be in finance again in Australia as it has been over 150 years since my great-great grandfather Sir George Verdon was Treasurer of the State of Victoria and General Manager (CEO) of what is today called ANZ Bank. He commissioned the baroque building that is the head office of ANZ Bank where his original apartments are still maintained as a museum."

Ben Smith, Railsbank APAC COO, said: "We fundamentally believe that consumer behaviour drives finance and from our research we know the future is all about consumers wanting to have seamless financial experiences with the brands they love, such as Amazon and Nike.

"This new licence, coupled with our Volt partnership, better-enables innovative Australian brands to offer incredible embedded finance experiences, as we have already delivered elsewhere for brands like McLaren Formula One, Wagestream, and hundreds of others.

"We are excited to partner with consumer brands to co-create amazing embedded finance experiences that strengthen their customer relationships and enjoyment. This is our next big step in delivering category-defining products and partnerships into this region."

Railsbank is headquartered in London and has offices in Singapore, Ireland, USA, Australia, Lithuania, Germany, the Philippines, Vietnam and Sri Lanka.

About Railsbank

Railsbank believes that the embedded finance economy is a fundamentally different way of creating relationships between companies and consumers. It is passionate about enabling brands to build relevant finance experiences to drive customer engagement and loyalty.

Railsbank recognises that consumers want fully immersive and frictionless brand experiences, and expect retailers to deliver the best, most personalised and distinctive experiences.

Railsbank was founded in London (HQ) in 2016 and operates throughout the UK and Europe, APAC and the US.

 

PR Newswire

CryptoZeroFi – a Realistic Combat Role-Playing NFT game built on the Binance Smart Chain with Metaverse Orientation

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HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam, Feb. 23, 2022 — Introducing CryptoZeroFi, one of such games aiming to make a name for itself in this maturing space. CryptoZeroFi is an upcoming Realistic Combat Role-Playing NFT game built on the Binance Smart Chain. Similar to other games in this industry, it incorporates NFTs as well as a P2E model. Keeping up with this trend, they also have plans for a metaverse-integration set in their pipeline.

CryptoZeroFi Features
CryptoZeroFi Features

The NFT Play-To-Earn (P2E) gaming industry has been gaining a lot of traction lately, especially with the increasing sentiment towards the metaverse. There have been countless new projects seeking to be a pioneer in this booming industry. What sets these new lines of games apart from conventional games is the ability to rack up rewards while playing the game, allowing gamers to make money while doing what they enjoy most. The integration of non-fungible assets (NFTs) also allows for the transferability of in-game assets, thereby enabling players to trade and gift their assets with one another.

CryptoZeroFi features two in-game tokens, ZERI and ZEUS, which can be earned by players in-game. They can then choose to sell these tokens in exchange for other cryptocurrencies or stake them in one of the various staking options to earn some additional rewards. Alternatively, players can also earn respectable rewards by winning the "Arena of Fame" tournament which will be held yearly.

Additionally, CryptoZeroFi also has an integrated NFT marketplace and NFT Transfer functionality, allowing players to trade or gift their in-game characters and weapons with one another.

Furthermore, CryptoZeroFi will feature a clan system. Players will be able to create a clan and invite their friends and family to play alongside them. They can also earn some extra rewards for inviting others using their unique invitation code.

Last but not least, as mentioned, CryptoZeroFi is planning to integrate metaverse-capabilities into their project. This means that it might not be long before players will be able to put on a set of VR goggles and dive right into the world of CryptoZeroFi.

To learn more about CryptoZeroFi, visit their website or check out their official channels listed below:

Website: cryptozerofi.io/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Crypto_ZeroFi 
Telegram Group: https://t.me/zerofi_group 
Telegram Announcements: https://t.me/zerofi_Channel

PR Newswire

ThinkZone Ventures announces ThinkZone Fund II with $60 million in fund size and the largest local resources in Vietnam

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ThinkZone Fund II, founded by ThinkZone Ventures, is the largest local venture capital fund founded by Vietnamese entrepreneurs and conglomerate owners, including IPA Investments Corporation, Phu Thai Holdings, Stavian Group and other investors.

HANOI, Vietnam, Feb. 22, 2022 — ThinkZone Ventures announces ThinkZone Fund II with $60 million in fund size, the largest local venture capital fund in Vietnam thus far, to support the growth of Vietnamese startups.

In recent years, the Vietnam startup ecosystem has been more dynamic than ever, attracting a huge amount of investments in tech startups. In 2021, Vietnam recorded a total venture capital investment of up to 2.48 billion USD (according to a report by DealstreetAsia), nearly 24 times higher than 2016’s figure ($105 million). This number is expected to keep increasing in the coming years, as Bain & Company’s 2021 report predicts that Vietnam will be the country to have the highest growth of the Internet economy in Southeast Asia by 2030 (11 times higher than the current market size). This potential opens up great opportunities that attract domestic and foreign investors in Vietnamese startups, with a total of 108 investors in 2020 (3 times higher than 2016).

However, most of these venture capital funds come from abroad, with limited local resources to support Vietnamese startups. This also results in more complicated investment processes such as setting up a legal entity in Singapore, as well as legal processes for an investment license in other countries. Moreover, besides financial capital, startups also need lots of other support such as knowledge, experience, distribution channels, customer access and legal. These are the very advantages of local investors from Vietnam.

Stemming from those facts, ThinkZone II Fund was founded by ThinkZone Ventures and other notable Vietnamese conglomerate owners specialised in various verticals such as finance, retail, manufacturing, agriculture and F&B. With resources from the ecosystem of these conglomerates, ThinkZone II Fund can provide a huge amount of support to accelerate the growth of startups, and further to create sustainable development for the economy.

About ThinkZone Fund II

With a total committed fund size of up to $60 million, ThinkZone Fund II is the largest venture capital fund in tech startups founded by Vietnamese entrepreneurs and notable conglomerate owners. ThinkZone Ventures will invest in tech startups in various verticals from Pre-Seed to Series A (up to 3 million USD per startup). With huge financial resources, ThinkZone Fund II is ready to accompany founders who have great vision, passion and ambition to create products that create positive impacts for the society.

Besides financial resources, the biggest advantage of ThinkZone Fund II compared to other VC funds is the huge support from large Vietnamese conglomerates in many fields such as IPA Investments, Phu Thai Holdings, Stavian Group. In which:

– IPA Investments is a leading corporation in investment in many verticals such as finance, securities, banking, real estates and energy. Among the companies that have received investment from IPA, the most prominent is VNDirect. IPA Invesments is a founding shareholder of VNDIRECT Securities JSC, the Vietnam’s top 2 securities companies that provides a wide range of services from securities brokerage to investment banking.

– Phu Thai Holdings Group JSC is a leading multi-industry investment group in Vietnam with the outstanding strengths in the field of distribution and retailing of various products from luxury cars, fashion, industrial machinery and engines, veterinary drugs, pharmaceuticals to FMCGs…

With the advantage of having more than 30 member companies, wide logistics & distribution network, nationwide customer base, as well as close and reliable partnerships with major corporations in the world, Phu Thai Holdings Group has huge resources to support startups in developing domestic business and expanding to the international market.

– Stavian Group is a multinational multi-industry corporation and a leading distributor of primary plastic resins in Asia – Pacific region and the world. The Group is also known as one of the leading manufacturers of eco-friendly biodegradable packaging in Vietnam. Established in 2009, Stavian Group currently has branches and business networks in more than 80 countries around the world. Among the member companies of the Group, Stavian Chemical JSC is ranked at No. 6 in the TOP 100 Largest Chemical Distributors in the Asia – Pacific region and No. 22 in the TOP 100 Largest Chemical Distributors Worldwide (according to the ICIS Ranking in 2020).

Startups that receive investment from ThinkZone Ventures will have great potential to be supported and partner with these corporations, to take advantage of the huge resources in finance, production, distribution, retail, …

"Over 10 years as a startup founder and a startup supporter, I have learned a lot from my own failures and successes. Therefore, I and ThinkZone always want to contribute and create a launching pad for founders who have the passion and vision to create positive values for society. With Fund II, ThinkZone has more resources than ever to make that happen," said Mr. Bui Thanh Do, General Partner & CEO of ThinkZone Ventures.

Talking about ThinkZone Fund II, Ms. Pham Minh Huong, Co-founder of IPA Investments and Chairwoman of VNDIRECT, said, "I share the same investment principles as ThinkZone, which is that investment should focus on creating real values instead of pure goal to profit. Fund I has proven that ThinkZone has selected and developed companies with great potential, and with Fund II’s large resources, there are sure to be many more successful companies. This is also the first amount of capital that IPA allocates for startup investment, and ThinkZone is the very place that we trust to invest."

ThinkZone Accelerator Batch 5 is designed to be the largest resourced accelerator program in Vietnam

In parallel with the announcement of ThinkZone Fund II, ThinkZone also announces the launch of ThinkZone Accelerator Batch 5 to support early-stage tech startups that are in the process of product-market validation. This is the key activity that ThinkZone focuses on to create a source of potential startups, validate new business models, from which ThinkZone Fund II will be ready to invest in these startups in their next rounds. Support resources for startups from ThinkZone Accelerator include an investment of $50,000 – $100,000 per startup, along with a large network of support packages from ThinkZone’s partner network.

When joining ThinkZone Accelerator, startups will have access to a variety of support packages in sales & marketing, recruitment, technology, etc. with a total value of more than $150,000/startup. These are all support packages from major partners in the startup ecosystem such as Amazon Web Services, Deloitte, Goldsun Media, FPT Play, Vietnambiz, MISA and HubSpot.

In addition, these startups will also be supported by experts from many fields in ThinkZone’s mentor network, as well as connected with large corporate partners such as VNDirect, Phuthai Holding, Stavian Group, Viettel, Be Group, G-Group and Unilever to accelerate their growth process.

About ThinkZone Ventures

Founded in 2019, ThinkZone Ventures is a venture capital fund focusing on tech startups in the Pre-seed to Series A stage. ThinkZone invests in various verticals such as fintech, edtech, healthcare, transportation, digital transformation,… and was ranked by TechinAsia as the most active investor in Vietnam’s startups.

After 3 years of establishment, ThinkZone has invested in 11 tech startups with a total valuation of more than 110 million USD. Some prominent ThinkZone’s portfolio startups include GIMO – A flexible salary-advanced platform that has joined Y Combinator W2022, EMDDI – Vietnam’s largest taxi dispatching platform with 30,000 vehicles in more than 50 provinces, eJOY – An edtech startup providing a multi-platform English learning solution with 1 million users globally, and Educa – An edtech startup with highest growth rate in Southeast Asia with more than 5 million users,…

PR Newswire

Fiducia’s Inaugural Fund Launched With Initial Size of 3.3 Billion Yen; Fundraising to Continue

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TOKYO, Feb. 21, 2022 — Fiducia Inc. announced that it has executed the first closing of its inaugural fund (Fiducia Growth Tech Limited Liability Investment Limited Partnership), with an initial size of 3.26 billion yen. The fund, which has started investments, will continue its fund-raising activity to grow in scale over the period of about one year.

The participating institutional investors of the fund include AI Capital Co., Ltd., Tokyo University of Science Investment Management Co., Ltd., Nanto Bank Co., Ltd., and Pavilion Capital. The investors range from a renowned gatekeeper and a venture capitalist to a large regional bank and a reputable Singapore-based private equity fund.

The Latin word "Fiducia" was chosen as the corporate name with the intent of executing fiduciary duties and social responsibilities. Fiducia intends to cultivate and invest in innovative companies in real technology (Real/Deep Tech) and health care innovations. Fiducia will invest in these companies and help them with expertise in finance and investments. Fiducia will help them build better business networks and, most importantly, help them to grow. 

The management and employees of Fiducia will aspire to contribute to the globalization of the companies in its investment portfolio.

The integration of the virtual and the real worlds is rapidly progressing, which presents great business opportunities for Real/Deep Tech companies, including ones from Japan. Healthcare innovation from Japan’s academia is advancing, but it is yet to be discovered by international investors. Fiducia focuses on investments in these two promising areas, and helps them grow to maximize investor returns.

The growth capital business bridging the gap between startups and public equity markets is now an important arena for private investments worldwide. However, this segment is underdeveloped in Japan. Fiducia aspires to help develop growth capital investments on Japanese soil to invest in and to help develop Real/Deep Tech and Health care Innovation companies.

Many large companies in Japan are rebalancing their business portfolios by spinning off non-core technologies. While some of these technologies will become more attractive if they were managed independently, they still struggle to attract financing from local venture capitalists because these companies are busy focusing on developing local IT platforms and subscription businesses. This is a perfect opportunity for Fiducia. The asset management company intends to act proactively and also work together with other counterparties to fulfill its goals.

Fiducia aims to build a balanced portfolio – not with a scattered shotgun approach but with an intentional bias toward concentration, allowing us to focus on growth investments in the Real/Deep Tech and Healthcare Innovations. This approach allows Fiducia to spend more time with the companies in which it invests, to give their management business and financial advice and to help them build business networks locally and globally. 

Domestic Real/Deep Tech companies and Healthcare innovators are not limited to the Tokyo metropolitan region; they also exist in the rural regions. Fiducia hopes that its investment activities could contribute to the transformation of the industrial structure and the revitalization of rural areas.

Comments from Founders:

Takumi Shibata, Fiducia’s Co-Founder, said: "Re-energizing Japanese businesses and revitalizing regional communities will call for urgent solutions. Our focused investments in Real/Deep Tech area and in Healthcare innovations will help to solve these issues, with attractive returns to investors.  Fiducia will be excited if its focused profit-seeking investment approach and returns can contribute to solving these national challenges on any scale possible."

Tokihiko Shimizu, Fiducia’s Co-Founder, said: "Fiducia is convinced that focused investments in Real/Deep Tech and in Healthcare Innovations offer promising investment opportunities that deliver attractive returns.  Growth stage investors like us are operating in a less crowded space in Japan and enjoy blue ocean-type access to investment opportunities.  This is one more reason why Japan needs this growth-stage investment segment to grow. I will endeavor to contribute to building a strong, disciplined and focused investment business in order to cater to our investors’ need for returns, based on my past business experience in national pension management, private equity and venture capital investments."

 

PR Newswire

Pocket Network Becomes Primary Infra Provider To Decentralize Fuse’s Open-Source Financial Blockchain

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TAMPA, Fla., Feb. 21, 2022 — Pocket Network, a Web3 RPC infrastructure middleware protocol which provides abundant blockchain bandwidth from a globally-distributed network of 30k+ full nodes to applications in Web3 across 37 blockchains, including Ethereum, Polygon, Solana, Avalanche, and Harmony, has announced its extended partnership with Fuse, blockchain infrastructure for open source payment systems. With this extension, Fuse is now routing 20% of all its RPC traffic through Pocket Network’s unstoppable network of infrastructure.

Fuse is one of the first blockchains to start utilizing Pocket’s network. Since our partnership was forged both projects have grown exponentially, with DeFi project Fuse now driving tens of millions of relays to the Pocket Network daily. As a whole, Pocket Network currently serves over 300 million relays daily, a number that will soon reach the billions as additional blockchains are onboarded.

"Pocket Network enables potentially limitless scaling for RPC read calls for Fuse – it’s exciting to see how scalable and open-source financial infrastructure is being built through this partnership," said Mark Smargon, CEO of Fuse.

While Pocket aims to support 100 blockchains by the end of the year, Pocket is also continuously strengthening existing relationships like Fuse as well. As integration deepens, Pocket projects soon will be servicing 30-50% of Fuse’s traffic, and are pushing for similar levels of integration with other supported blockchains.

About Pocket Network
Pocket Network, a blockchain data ecosystem for Web3 applications, is a platform built for applications that uses cost-efficient economics to coordinate and distribute data at scale. It enables seamless and secure interactions between blockchains and across applications. With Pocket, the use of blockchains can be simply integrated into websites, mobile apps, IoT and more, giving developers the freedom to put blockchain enabled applications into the "pocket" of every mainstream consumer. For more information visit pokt.network.

PR Newswire

Midea Issues the First Green Bond, Setting a “Record Low Issue Margin” for Domestic Chinese Industries

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FOSHAN, China, Feb. 18, 2022 — On February 16, 2022, Midea Group Co., Ltd. ("Midea", stock code: 000333.SZ)completed USD 450 million 5-year unsecured green bonds, issued at T+98 base points, setting a record of the lowest issuance margin for international U.S. dollar bonds with the same rating with similar levels of maturity across the industry.

The launch of Midea’s green bonds has drawn widespread attention from investors across the market. International high-level green investors joined Midea’s roadshow launch event, enthused by Midea’s technology-driven, multi-industry, global operations and credit quality growth. Midea had received multiple intentional orders by the end of the roadshow’s first day. After the public filing was announced on the morning of February 16, orders peaked at USD 2.4 billion, eight times the original offering size. Due to the overwhelming response from investors, Midea eventually expanded the offering and priced it at T+98 basis points. 

This is the first green bond issuance in the domestic industry in China. The issue price has achieved the lowest issue margin compared to private enterprises with similar ratings and maturity. It attracted a diverse set of investors from central banks, asset management companies, banks, and private banks from as wide as Asia, Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. It has also been warmly received by sustainable development investors with Green and ESG investors accounting for about 20% of the bonds issued.

According to Midea’s announcement, the funds raised will be used to fund various green projects, including Midea’s green design and green manufacturing, such as producing environmentally friendly and energy-efficient products, its’ low-carbon strategy, upgrading energy-saving of manufacturing equipment, green upgrading of energy infrastructure, and increasing renewable energy procurement.

Midea has actively implemented national "Carbon Peak and Carbon Neutrality" strategic goals and pursued green development. It aims to enable green and low-carbon transformation of products through technological innovations and to realize energy conservation and emission reduction of manufacturing processes by upgrading equipment and lean production. The green bond is the first green financing tool that Midea adopted to support its green strategy, demonstrating Midea’s commitment to corporate social responsibility and green development.

Midea’s green strategy was officially unveiled in October 2021. Based on the mission of "Building a Greener Global Supply Chain, providing Green Products and Services, and jointly building a Green Planet", the green strategy requires Midea to reach its target of peaking carbon emission by 2030 and achieving carbon neutrality by 2060, which will be achieved through six pillars of "green design, green procurement, green manufacturing, green logistics, green recycling, and green service". Midea intends to make significant contributions to the world’s "Carbon Peak and Carbon Neutrality" goals.

PR Newswire

The Largest Digital Bank in China featured in the latest Forbes Blockchain 50

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SHENZHEN, China, Feb. 11, 2022 — WeBank, the world’s leading digital bank, is featured in the Forbes Blockchain 50 2022. The bellwether list recognizes large corporations that lead in employing distributed ledger technology and reflects the spreading impact of the blockchain market globally. WeBank has been recognized for top-notch research and development of consortium chain technologies, as well as its continuous efforts in building an active consortium chain ecosystem. WeBank has provided open-sourced consortium chain technologies to the "The Green Bud Points" based on "Green Inclusive Cloud" developed by China Beijing Green Inclusive Network Technology Co., Ltd (”Green Inclusive”). It encourages the public to reduce carbon emissions by recording daily green behaviors on blockchain and rewarding those behaviors with credits that can redeem vouchers and gifts.

The Green Bud Points, a United Nations Sustainable Development GOALS partnership project, is built on the Green Inclusive Cloud. It intends to promote a green and low-carbon lifestyle by quantifying and calculating the carbon emissions of various environmental protection activities. The Green Bud Points stores users’ carbon emission reduction records on chain. Then, the underlying blockchain technology ensures that the issuance and distribution of records are transparent and traceable, thus securing trust among all users and involved parties. In 2021, the Green Bud Points has recorded more than 2,500 tons of carbon emissions reduced.

The Green Inclusive Cloud is one of many practical applications that surfaced in WeBank’s long-term commitment to provide open-sourced blockchain technologies. So far, WeBank has open-sourced more than 10 blockchain technologies, including leading the development of the underlying blockchain platform FISCO BCOS and the identity authentication and trusted data exchange solution WeIdentity. By implementing FISCO BCOS and WeIdentity, the Health Code Mutual Recognition System between Guangdong and Macao achieves reliable and compliant information verification across borders without direct exchange of personal data. From May 2020 to the end of 2021, more than 100 million border crossings have been through customs between the Chinese mainland and Macao using the system.

Besides providing technologies, WeBank strategically focuses on building consortium chain ecosystem. By the end of 2021, the WeBank-powered FISCO BCOS community has brought together more than 70,000 individual developers, more than 3,000 companies and institutions to participate in the construction of the blockchain industry ecosystem. There are more than 200 public administration, finance, agricultural, social welfare, entertainment, supply chain and IoT applications operating stably in the production environment.

WeBank's full-stack blockchain technologies for new digital infrastructure
WeBank’s full-stack blockchain technologies for new digital infrastructure

Henry Ma, Executive Vice President and Chief Information Officer of WeBank, said, "Innovation and technology have always been core to WeBank’s strategy to become a world-leading digital enabler. In the coming years, we expect more opportunities in utilizing advanced technologies to serve the real economy and drive financial inclusion. With our leading-edge blockchain and other fintech capabilities, WeBank will continue to collaborate with our ecosystem partners to drive digital transformations across industries, and explore the paths for equitable, sustainable and green developments."

PR Newswire

OneConnect Makes Forbes Blockchain 50 2022 List for Advanced Trade and Financing Solutions

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SHANGHAI, Feb. 10, 2022 — OneConnect Financial Technology Co., Ltd. (NYSE: OCFT) ("OneConnect" or "the Company"), a leading technology-as-a-service platform for financial institutions, has made it on to the Forbes Blockchain 50 2022 list for the second consecutive year, as OneConnect continues developing its cutting-edge solutions to facilitate trade and financing.

The latest Forbes list, released on February 8, honors industry-leading companies with top performances in blockchain applications. Those that made the list include Adobe, A16Z, Paradigm, Coinbase, Microsoft, as well as Chinese conglomerates such as Ant Group, Tencent and Baidu.

To further its blockchain development, OneConnect formed a dedicated blockchain team in 2016 and has built a mature ecosystem in terms of technical support, products and consultancy.

Technology-wise, the Company has developed its own blockchain underlying infrastructure to ensure financial security and efficiency. Product-wise, its mature model has allowed easier access and significantly lowered the bar for clients to participate in blockchain projects. Service-wise, the company’s experts have offered well-rounded support with their years of project implementation experience.

OneConnect has been recognized by Forbes for its two blockchain projects, as the Company has demonstrated its technological capabilities for building smart and one-stop solutions for businesses and banks to facilitate cross-border trade financing.

The Company has gained traction with its financing platform built with blockchain technology for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in China’s Guangdong province. With blockchain’s unique tamper-proof nature, the platform has overcome the hurdles of information asymmetry between SMEs and commercial banks.

OneConnect’s financing platform has syndicated data from 34 government agencies to analyze a borrower’s risk level, with over 480 financial institutions offering more than 1,300 financial products on the platform. It has served more than a million businesses with an accumulated financing volume of over 68 billion yuan (approximately US$10.7 billion).

In addition, the Company’s support for Hong Kong’s "eTradeConnect" project has helped it make the cut. In November 2021, OneConnect teamed up with the People’s Bank of China’s digital currency research institute for the central bank’s Trade Finance Platform (PBCTFP), a project that uses blockchain to track and simplify the financing process for imports and exports between the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong.

The successful cross-border connectivity between the PBCTFP and Hong Kong’s eTradeConnect  —  coupled with OneConnect’s solutions  —  has further expanded the project to the second phase of "mainland imports, Hong Kong exports" from the previous stage of "mainland exports, Hong Kong imports."

Hong Kong officially launched the eTradeConnect project in September 2018 under the guidance of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, the city’s de facto central bank. It is the world’s first blockchain trade financing platform led by regulators, enabling businesses and their trading partners to carry out cost-effective trade and financing activities through information sharing thanks to its advanced distributed ledger technology.

Such cross-platform connectivity has simplified and expedited the trade finance process by reducing the need for exchange of paper documents, thereby strengthening the economic development in the Guangdong – Hong Kong – Macau Greater Bay Area.

About OneConnect Financial Technology

OneConnect Financial Technology is a leading technology-as-a-service platform for financial institutions. The Company’s platform provides cloud-native technology solutions that integrate extensive financial services industry expertise with market-leading technology. The Company’s solutions provide technology applications and technology-enabled business services to financial institutions. Together they enable the Company’s customers’ digital transformations, which help them increase revenue, manage risks, improve efficiency, enhance service quality and reduce costs.

The Company’s technology solutions strategically cover multiple verticals in the financial services industry, including banking, insurance and asset management, across the full scope of their businesses  — from sales and marketing and risk management to customer services, as well as technology infrastructures such as data management, program development, and cloud services.