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PR Newswire

New Blis report pinpoints geography, mobility and psychology as the key factors impacting behaviour change leading up to the holiday season

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SYDNEY, Oct. 22, 2020 — Blis, the trusted leader in location-powered advertising and analytics has today launched a new global report, ‘Behaviour change is real: how brands can harness it’, in advance of the upcoming holiday season. The report looks at three key indicators for behaviour change that are impacting consumers and being impacted the most: geographical location, modifications to mobility and the psychological need for interaction.

 

 

The analysis highlights how these three factors interact and impact consumer behaviour, as seen both in our foot traffic data and sentiment surveys. This research pairs real-world behaviour with survey data from consumers and media industry professionals across Australia, Italy, New Zealand, Singapore, UAE, UK and US.

The report outlines how there is no one approach that fits all, given vastly different consumer need states and risk appetites. Consumers are out of their comfort zones. They are cocooning, and thus spending less, but in fact, appear to be splashing out more. As a result, brands also need to keep a close eye on the early embracers in any one vertical, as they are likely to be the harbingers of the next vertical to recover as well. Key findings include:

  • Geography: Patterns of behaviour vary at a localised level and confidence vs. caution varies geographically, so brands need to take a micro approach and develop more granular strategies.
  • Mobility: Public transit users are the early embracers and offer the best cues for brands about potential new targeting opportunities.
  • Psychology: The rate of return to ‘normal’ varies, not just region to region, but also person to person, where our intrinsic need for personal interaction drives more confident consumers out into daily life. Brands need to segment audiences into risk appetite.

Alex Wright, Head of Insights at Blis said, "With regions around the world exiting and entering lockdowns at different stages there is an abundance of uncertainty. This mix of confidence and concern, as well as adoption of new habits is creating bigger challenges for brands who are looking to deepen their understanding of their changing customers. This report sheds light on some of these key behaviour changes and the difference between perception and reality for consumers. Understanding  the impact of geography, mobility and psychology is key for brands to reach and engage consumers in this unusual time."

With the holiday season already beginning for some and many yearning for a level of ‘normal’, it’s imperative for brands to pay close attention to how their audience has, or hasn’t, adapted their behaviour. In such a disrupted environment, understanding the different anchor points of a consumer’s day and how they have changed will provide key insights into their mindset.

The report also highlights the cyclical path that consumer behaviour is taking as markets experience different stages of impact from COVID-19. With full recovery not yet on the horizon, a return to stability is key for bedding in new behaviours and even reverting back to old habits not long forgotten. Learn more and read the full report here.

About Blis

Blis is the trusted leader in location-powered advertising and analytics, helping brands understand, reach and engage consumers globally to deliver measurable results. Because location data is the most accurate indicator of ‘real’ behaviour and intent at scale vs any other type of data, Blis uses this data to map real-world consumer behaviours based on where people are and where they’ve been, uncovering the truth about what people actually do.

Blis’ Smart Platform provides unmatched transparency, accuracy and scale. Its four tried and tested proprietary technologies – Smart Pin, Smart Scale, Smart Places and Smart Households  – allow for more effective planning, activation and measurement for marketers and business decision makers alike.

Established in the UK in 2004, Blis now operates in more than 40 offices across five continents. Working with the world’s largest and most customer-driven companies across all verticals including Unilever, Samsung, McDonald’s, HSBC, Mercedes Benz and Peugeot, as well as every major media agency, Blis reaches over a billion mobile devices a year.

To learn more, visit blis.com.

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PR Newswire

G20 Saudi Secretariat Announces Digital Summit to Discuss Inclusive Growth in Aftermath of Covid-19

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RIYADH, Saudi Arabia, Oct. 21, 2020 — The Ministry of Investment of Saudi Arabia and the Saudi Secretariat as part of the international Conference program announces a four-day digital event series to explore how businesses, governments and citizens can drive opportunities for inclusive growth through regulation, new technologies and long-term strategic approaches in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Titled ‘A New Framework For Inclusive Growth’ and hosted by FT Live, the series will feature influential speakers from the worlds of business, politics and policy, interviewed by FT writers.

The series, taking place on 21, 22, 28 and 29 October 2020, will examine:

  • How the financial sector can be used for inclusive growth in both developed and emerging markets;
  • The role of policy, regulation and taxation in promoting national and international growth and stability;
  • The role of the digital economy in promoting inclusive growth – how smart cities and digital health and education can provide opportunities for all;
  • How changing global trade relationships are impacting the business environment for micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs), and what can be done to support them.

Speakers include:

  • Baroness Catherine Ashton, Former EU Commissioner for Trade and Former High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy
  • Ann Cairns, Executive Vice Chair, Mastercard
  • Angel Gurria, Secretary General, OECD
  • Sir Chris Hohn, Founder and Managing Director,  TCI
  • Shameel Joosub, CEO, Vodacom Group
  • Mukhisa Kituyi, Secretary General, UNCTAD

The series will be live streamed and delegates can participate on an interactive event platform. A full recording of the event will be available afterwards at globalsummitseries.live.ft.com

 

PR Newswire

Dubber Unveils Unified Call Recording and Voice AI Solution for Microsoft Teams

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  • Automatically record and transform every conversation on Microsoft Teams into rich voice data for compliance, CX, evidence and performance improvement
  • Eliminate the cost, complexity and risks of legacy call recording and unlock the benefits of voice data at scale
  • Dubber unveils global channel program for Microsoft Channel Partners & Resellers

MELBOURNE, Australia, Oct. 21, 2020 — Dubber Corporation Limited (ASX: DUB) (Dubber), today announced the global launch of Dubber Unified Recording on Microsoft Teams, supported by a new and tailored global channel partner and reseller program.

Unified Call Recording is a first of a kind capability for Microsoft Teams enabled by Dubber’s unique ability to capture any conversation – voice or video – on Microsoft Teams in the cloud – and to aggregate recordings, data, insights and alerts from service provider and unified communications platforms, compliantly, in one place.

Microsoft Teams is one of the world’s fastest growing team collaboration suites and has over 75 million daily active users. Dubber allows Teams customers to automate voice recording at scale from any device with no need for hardware. Unified call recording and voice AI are a key enabler of compliance, customer satisfaction and sales performance – delivering real-time insights, sentiment analysis, alerts, beautiful transcriptions and more.

Dubber announced an extensive global channel partner program for Microsoft partners including partner incentives with support, deployment, and training resources.

"COVID has dramatically accelerated the demand globally for unified communications solutions," said Steve McGovern, CEO Dubber. "As workforces have dispersed and network end-points multiplied the demand for automated call recording at scale has become essential to addressing regulatory requirements and enterprise-wide visibility. With Dubber supporting Microsoft Teams via our global platform, users can activate recording immediately in the cloud – eliminating the need to build solutions or buy hardware."

McGovern added, "Microsoft Teams customers and resellers now have access to the industry leading platform used by over 140 service providers worldwide. It’s now possible to unify call recording on these networks and Microsoft Teams into the centralised Dubber Voice Intelligence Cloud. Our integration with Microsoft Teams advances Dubber as the preeminent and de facto cloud-based unified call recording solution for communications providers – and as a source of differentiation and value for resellers globally."

Background, Dubber on Microsoft Teams:

  • Available for order now from Dubber and registered Dubber resellers & partners
  • Dubber is live and can be easily activated on Microsoft Teams
  • Flexible plans start as low as AU$9.95 per month
  • Dubber for MS Teams currently supports Voice Unified Call Recording (UCR) with Video and Screen Share UCR to be available in December 2020
  • Access more information on Dubber on Microsoft Teams
  • Interested resellers can register to join introductory Dubber on Microsoft Teams webinars

About Dubber:

Dubber is globally recognised as the Cloud Call Recording and Data Capture platform for Communications Service & Solution Providers and as integral to their Unified Communications offering. Dubber’s unique technology enables call recording to be delivered as a service and turns voice calls into data enabling broad-reaching AI services to be deployed at scale directly from a Carrier network – or from inside a Solution Providers infrastructure. Dubber services are presented either in the brand of the Carrier or as Dubber products. Founded in 2011, Dubber is headquartered in Melbourne, Australia, with operations in the USA and Europe.

Trademark reference: "Microsoft" and "Microsoft Teams" are registered names and trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft, Inc. or its affiliates in the United States and/or other countries. All other trademarks referenced herein are the property of their respective owners.

This ASX release has been approved for release to ASX by Steve McGovern, CEO & Managing Director.

For more information, please contact:

Investors
Simon Hinsley
simon.hinsley@dubber.net
+61 (0) 401 809 653

Media
Terry Alberstein
terry@navigatecommunication.com.au
+61 (0) 458 484 921

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PR Newswire

‘AIZEN’ AI banking-as-a-Service, Empowering data platform to launch lending services

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SINGAPORE, Oct. 20, 2020 — The financial services industry has seen drastic technology-led changes over the past few years. While some of the big tech giants have launched their own Fintech verticals, there are many brands that are also increasingly looking to offer financial services to their customers. These companies tend to partner with existing financial institutions and resell their financial products, but many fails to offer a seamless onboarding experience mainly due to partner banks’ legacy processes. 

Embedded Finance, as opposed to reselling financial products, is becoming more attractive to brands. It enables any non-financial companies to integrate innovative financial services into their offerings. This creates new revenue opportunities at low marginal costs for the brands that already have a large customer base and enables new customer experiences that drive loyalty and purchases.

Embedded finance- AIZEN's AI banking-as-a-Service
Embedded finance- AIZEN’s AI banking-as-a-Service

AIZEN, a leading provider of banking-as-a-service platform, has partnered with companies in Southeast Asia including leading e-commerce in Indonesia and e-wallet platform in Vietnam to provide an Automated Banking Operating System (ABOS) focusing on lending. The company is working with Balance Sheet providers (both banks and non-banking entities) and will act as an intermediary for all other processes related to the end-to-end credit lifecycle. ABOS is built on a robust risk management framework that automates the core operations from product design, credit acquisition, portfolio management and collection, and allows banks and brands to take proactive measures on the economic downside risks amid COVID-19.

According to the latest report by Google, Temasek and Bain & Company, digital financial services in Southeast Asia is expected to generate revenues of about USD 38 billion by 2025. Digital lending has also gained momentum as we enter the "contactless economy" after COVID crisis, and it will offer the majority of revenue opportunities. 

AIZEN has recently raised from a government-led fintech innovation fund (KGIC, also known as K-Growth) led by major banks including KB, Shinhan, Woori and NH, which brings the company’s total funding to USD 10 million including USD 3.5 million in R&D grants. The company plans to roll out Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS) primarily targeting the underserved markets in Vietnam, Indonesia, Singapore, and Taiwan.

For traditional lenders, the absence of credit history has meant a limited risk appetite for lending to this segment. Using proprietary AI technologies, AIZEN is able to better underwrite customers by converting non-traditional sources of data into credit-related data in Finance. This is powered by ABACUS, an AutoML platform in finance that is specifically designed to accommodate the fast-changing customer dynamics in real-time. 

Founded in 2016, AIZEN has been working on digital transformation projects with financial institutions including loan underwriting, transaction fraud detection, and insurance claim analysis. The company has joined Plug and Play APAC Fintech Batch in Singapore and has been named by Gartner as a Cool Vendor in AI for Fintech for high scalability and easiness of adoption. AIZEN is also a member of Intel’s AI Builders Program and is optimizing the solution with access to Intel’s latest technology and engineering expertise. "We will strategically expand our banking service with our AI operating model and will service our new AI-powered banking model in Vietnam, Indonesia, Singapore, and Taiwan," said Jung Seok Kang, CEO at AIZEN.

PR Newswire

Artprice by Artmarket.com: Condition of the Street Art market worldwide

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PARIS, Oct. 20, 2020 — At its online sale on 28 May 2020, Phillips sold Banksy’s lot Happy Choppers (2003) for $39,000. That may not seem surprising until you take into account that the work was a screenprint numbered 621 from a series of 750, purchased four years earlier for $4,500… which means its value climbed 70% per year.

 

Festival Peinture Fraîche (Wet Paint Festival) at the Halle Debourg in Lyon, from 2 to 25 October, 2020 - extended until 1 November 2020
Festival Peinture Fraîche (Wet Paint Festival) at the Halle Debourg in Lyon, from 2 to 25 October, 2020 – extended until 1 November 2020

 

Festival Peinture Fraîche (Wet Paint Festival) at the Halle Debourg in Lyon, from 2 to 25 October, 2020 – extended until 1 November 2020
www.peinturefraichefestival.fr

"Street Art is a truly universal art that can be found everywhere – from Rio to Berlin – and whose place is changing very rapidly on the Art Market," observes thierry Ehrmann, President and Founder of Artmarket.com and its Artprice department. "It’s a market that took 15 years to consolidate and is at last reaching maturity. It now constitutes a segment in its own right, with its stars and its masterpieces… but also numerous editions, some more important than others… some more affordable than others."

Works ‘in circulation’

Street Art is by nature a work created in an urban environment. As soon as it leaves the street to be exhibited in a gallery or exchanged in an auction room, it necessarily loses a great deal of its essence. That said, there is quite clearly a fully fledged and dynamic Street Art market.

The development of the market for Street Art seems to have learnt a lot from a number of other relatively recent art movements (Land Art for example). Street artists can record their interventions in public spaces with photography; they can also make small works or drawings or screenprints based on original street creations, or they can create a second body of paintings and original sculptures alongside their outdoor work. All of these ‘derivatives’ are now changing hands and lots end up in auction rooms… now forming a genuinely ‘deep’ market.

The 4 pillars of the market

Jean-Michel Basquiat left his mark on the streets of New York at the start of the 1980s, but did he remain a street artist all of his (short) life? Are his paintings and his drawings – worth millions of dollars – still part of Urban Art? In 2019, works by Jean-Michel Basquiat generated $130 million on the secondary market and those by Keith Haring totalled $42 million. These two major Contemporary artists remain generally associated with Street Art… but they are not in fact catalogued as such.

A similar ambiguity seems to apply to the more recent mega-phenomenon Kaws ($108 million in 2019) who has gradually moved away from his initial practice of Street Art over the course of his career. His paintings and sculptures, offered for sale by the most powerful Contemporary art galleries, have seduced a broad international market, particularly in Asia.

Flowing somewhat ironically against this trend there is of course the anonymous artist Banksy ($28 million in 2019) who voluntarily maintains his presence in urban spaces around the world.

15 years to create a structured market…

Nobody epitomises the rapid evolution of the Street Art market more than Banksy with his auction track record:

  • His first paintings were sold at auction in 2005
  • His auction turnover peaked just before the subprime crisis
  • 10 years of more or less regular turnover growth between 2010 and 2019
  • Exceptional resilience to the coronavirus crisis

With Banksy, the Street Art movement has undoubtedly found its figurehead and in the wake of the ‘Banksy phenomenon’, a whole market has emerged with three names that have become unavoidable: the French artist Invader ($4 million in 2019), the English artist Stik ($1 million) and the American artist Obey ($1 million), the latter who, alone, sold more than 700 lots at auction in 2019.

A dozen other street artists generate several tens of thousand of dollars a year each: Jonone, Mr Brainwash, Futura 2000, Vhils, JR, etc. But the markets of the bulk of street artists are still fragile. This is true even of relatively established artists like Ernest Pignon-Ernest, whose turnover usually averages around $50,000 per year.

Specialized sessions

In February 2008, Bonhams organized the first auction sale dedicated to Street Art in London. Soon afterwards, Phillips also offered a Contemporary & Urban Art session. But the subprime crisis and its repercussions halted the development of these sessions, and they were dropped by Phillips in 2009 and by Bonhams in 2013.

Artcurial also started its Urban Art sales in 2008 … and never abandoned them. The leading French auction house, which organized four Street Art sessions in 2019, now clearly dominates this niche market. In 2009, dedicated Street Art sales generated $10 million from 3,000 lots in auctions scattered between Europe and the USA: Digard and Cornette de Saint-Cyr in Paris, Tate Ward in London, Heritage in Dallas and Julien in Los Angeles.

An exciting market

Christie’s and Sotheby’s prefer to offer Street Art works in their catalogues, especially those of their most prestigious sales. In July 2020, Sotheby’s sold Banksy’s triptych Mediterranean Sea View (2017) for $2.9 million in an extraordinary sale entitled Rembrandt to Richter. Surrounded by such respected signatures, Banksy’s work was bound to elicit strong bidding.

Indeed, the sale of any Banksy work at a physical auction will always arouse interest since his Girl with Balloon (2006) self-destructed in 2018. In February 2020 at Artcurial, Raising the steaks (2001) – a photograph taken by Steve Lazarides but framed by Banksy himself –  reached $84,500. It was not impossible that Banksy had hidden another surprise in the work, which was duly accompanied by his PEST Control (certificate of authentication issued by the artist himself). 

Contact Artprice’s Econometrics Department for your questions relating to our indices and statistics, as well as for our Personalized Study Services: econometrics@artprice.com

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Copyright 1987-2020 thierry Ehrmann www.artprice.com – www.artmarket.com

Try our services (free demo): https://www.artprice.com/artist/15079/wassily-kandinsky

Subscribe to our services: https://www.artprice.com/subscription

About Artmarket:

Artmarket.com is listed on Eurolist by Euronext Paris, SRD long only and Euroclear: 7478 – Bloomberg: PRC – Reuters: ARTF.

Discover Artmarket and its Artprice department on video: https://en.artprice.com/video

Artmarket and its Artprice department was founded in 1997 by its CEO, thierry Ehrmann. Artmarket and its Artprice department is controlled by Groupe Serveur, created in 1987.

See certified biography in Who’s who ©:

https://imgpublic.artprice.com/img/wp/sites/11/2019/10/biographie_oct2019_WhosWho_thierryEhrmann.pdf

Artmarket is a global player in the Art Market with, among other structures, its Artprice department, world leader in the accumulation, management and exploitation of historical and current art market information in databanks containing over 30 million indices and auction results, covering more than 740,000 artists.

Artprice Images® allows unlimited access to the largest Art Market image bank in the world: no less than 180 million digital images of photographs or engraved reproductions of artworks from 1700 to the present day, commented by our art historians.

Artmarket with its Artprice department accumulates data on a permanent basis from 6300 Auction Houses and produces key Art Market information for the main press and media agencies (7,200 publications). Its 4.5 million ‘members log in’ users have access to ads posted by other members, a network that today represents the leading Global Standardized Marketplace® to buy and sell artworks at a fixed or bid price (auctions regulated by paragraphs 2 and 3 of Article L 321.3 of France’s Commercial Code).

Artmarket with its Artprice department, has been awarded the State label "Innovative Company" by the Public Investment Bank (BPI) (for the second time in November 2018 for a new period of 3 years) which is supporting the company in its project to consolidate its position as a global player in the market art.

Artprice by Artmarket’s 2019 Global Art Market Report published in February 2020 :

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Index of press releases posted by Artmarket with its Artprice department:

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Follow all the Art Market news in real time with Artmarket and its Artprice department on Facebook and Twitter:

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Discover the alchemy and universe of Artmarket and its artprice department http://web.artprice.com/video headquartered at the famous Organe Contemporary Art Museum "The Abode of Chaos" (dixit The New York Times): https://issuu.com/demeureduchaos/docs/demeureduchaos-abodeofchaos-opus-ix-1999-2013

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PR Newswire

OneConnect Shares Fintech Insights with Chinese Banks and Fintech Companies

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HONG KONG, Oct. 20, 2020 — OneConnect Financial Technology Co., Ltd. (OneConnect, NYSE: OCFT), a leading technology-as-a-service platform for financial institutions, shared its vision of innovation with the Fintech Association of Hong Kong of the Chinese Banking Association of Hong Kong at a recent video conference.

Carol Chen, CEO of OneConnect (Hong Kong), and Daniel Ling, General Manager, discussed the company’s technical solutions for popular banking fields, such as remote customer service solutions and customer due diligence with more than 100 executives and industry experts.

As of June 30, 2020, OneConnect, an associate company of the Ping An Group, had served all state-owned banks and joint-stock banks in China, 99% of commercial banks, and 53% of insurance companies.

Ms. Chen and Mr. Ling presented end-to-end fintech solutions for banks, securities, asset management companies and other fintech institutions in mainland China and Hong Kong. These include localized fintech technology services such as smart marketing, smart risk controls, smart operations and fintech centers.

They also covered solutions implemented at Ping An OneConnect Bank, OneConnect’s virtual banking subsidiary: the process for opening a bank account online, opening an online small and medium enterprises (SME) account and loan solutions, and cloud-based core banking, which improves sales, risk management and customer service quality.

Jessica Tan, Co-CEO of Ping An Group has said that Ping An will continue to increase its investments in technology to bolster its main businesses. "Particularly in terms of fintech, OneConnect will continue to develop and invest in innovative products," she said.

Ping An uses technology to empower its main financial businesses. In the first half of 2020, Ping An achieved artificial intelligence (AI)-driven product sales of RMB176.3 billion. Its online and technology-powered offline services across the Ping An Group supported 560 million online users.

OneConnect has branches in Hong Kong, Singapore, and Indonesia and provides services to major banks in Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines. As of June 30, 2020, OneConnect had provided services to or signed cooperation agreements with more than 50 overseas institutions in more than 15 countries and regions.

PR Newswire

Hong Kong Blockchain Week 2020: Setting DeFi and Blockchain Trends for 2021

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November 17th to 19th 2020, speakers and participants will assess the economic and technological rollercoaster of the year 2020,and will discuss whether DeFi will change the game for fintech.

HONG KONG, Oct. 20, 2020 — During a week-long virtual event, speakers from institutions, businesses, regulatory bodies, innovative companies will evaluate the outcomes of 2020 for blockchain, technology and economy, and deliver valuable predictions about what will be trending in the nearest future. 

Hong Kong Blockchain Week 2020/Block O2O Global Virtual Summit 18 Nov
Hong Kong Blockchain Week 2020/Block O2O Global Virtual Summit 18 Nov

Hosted by The NexChange Group, Hong Kong Blockchain Week is co-organised by Hong Kong Cyberport, the main regional technology hub driving the innovation force and nurturing a growing digital community in Hong Kong.

"Blockchain technology has become more widely adopted and increasingly pivotal in various areas of application, such as the financial services industry. The recent Digital Currency Electronic Payment (DCEP) initiative by the People’s Bank of China has put Blockchain and Crypto back on the radar screen. Home to the largest FinTech community in Hong Kong with well over 300 FinTech start-ups and companies in the community, Cyberport is pleased to be powering Hong Kong Blockchain Week to examine the latest developments of blockchain and showcase Hong Kong’s capabilities in this area. Our goal is to draw blockchain talents together to exchange ideas, to co-create business opportunities as well as to lead the city in embracing blockchain," said Peter Yan, Chief Executive Officer of Cyberport.

Attendees will follow the experts’ discussions on such hot topics shaping the global agenda such as fintech, investment, and digital assets. Here, Dan Morehead, CEO of Pantera Capital, notes: "Digital assets have out-performed nearly all other asset classes year-to-date as unprecedented monetary and fiscal stimulus drive up the prices of things whose quantity cannot be eased. We strongly believe we are in the early stages of a large bull market fueled by both a powerful global macro tide and growing fundamentals in the underlying technology."

Quickly gaining traction, DeFi has become the center of attention throughout most of 2020. Decentralised Finance has undoubtedly disrupted the whole ecosystem of DLT-based financial services. From Yield Farming in trading, to DAOs and stablecoins, to NFTs (non fungible tokens) in asset tokenization and gamification, DeFi has shown interesting endless possibilities and applications which made it one of the hottest trends of the year. 

"With decentralization at its core the blockchain space was built for unprecedented times like these," said Justin Sun, Founder of TRON and CEO of BitTorrent. "The Crypto community has succeeded in rapidly pivoting to a virtual approach to conferences making it accessible to an even wider audience. I was looking forward to attending this year’s Hong Kong Blockchain Week, and hope to see you all there."

After the core event which is the Block O2O Global Virtual Summit set for November 18th, organizers prepared a DeFi special: a whole DeFi Day will be held on November 19th, featuring virtual discussions, workshops and livestreams. 

Yat Siu, Co-founder and Chairman, Animoca Brands, Founder and CEO, Outblaze: "As the COVID-19 pandemic continues worldwide, Hong Kong Blockchain Week 2020 will allow global blockchain leaders and investors to safely discuss the latest developments, opportunities and solutions in today’s most exciting field of technology. We are especially looking forward to the evolving discussions about the many benefits of non-fungible tokens for the general public."

As one of the most anticipated events for blockchain and fintech, Hong Kong Blockchain Week 2020 enjoys a rich agenda of associated events, including an online ceremony of the world’s first international TADS Awards 2020 on November 18th, celebrating the Tokenized Assets and Digital Securities industries by recognizing and honouring significant contributions worldwide.

About NexChange: NexChange Group is a venture innovation and media platform specializing in Blockchain, FinTech, HealthTech, AI, and Smart Cities. By creating a global O2O community, NexChange creates, markets, accelerates and provides access to innovative products.

For more information on the speakers, agenda, side events and partnerships, please visit https://www.hkblockchainweek.net/ or contact: info@nexchange.com 

"PR Newswire is the ‘Official Press Release Distribution Partner" of Block O2O Virtual Global Summit 2020 and Official Hong Kong Blockchain Week 2020"

PR Newswire

Consumers in APAC continue to struggle with bill payments amid COVID-19

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The second wave of Experian’s 2020 Global Insights Report highlights the impact of the global pandemic on consumer spending habits and potential implications for financial institutions

SINGAPORE, Oct. 19, 2020 — Consumers in Asia Pacific (APAC) have reported difficulties in paying their bills and almost a quarter (23 per cent) are reducing their discretionary spending since the start of the pandemic, according to latest data from Experian. One in five are doing so due to job loss or an anticipated shift in their financial circumstances, and 29 per cent are spending less due to lifestyle changes imposed by social distancing measures such as dining out, entertainment or travel. The survey also found that there has been a 50 per cent increase in the number of APAC consumers who face challenges in paying personal loans and mortgages since COVID-19 started.

Experian – a leading global information services company – surveyed 3,000 consumers and 900 executives working in retail banks, e-commerce, consumer technology and telecommunications. Respondents spanned Australia, Brazil, France, Germany, India, Japan, Singapore, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States. This report is the second of three in a longitudinal study exploring the major shifts in consumer behaviour and business strategy pre- and post-COVID-19, with economic perception at the epicentre.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, governments across the region have instituted loan moratoriums for businesses and consumers, observed in several markets including Singapore, Malaysia, Australia, Japan, China and India.

Ben Elliott, CEO Asia Pacific, at Experian, says: "This crisis has created huge challenges for everyone. Consumers are doing the right thing to protect their financial health by re-prioritising their spending. For those facing challenges in paying their bills, the loan deferrals available in some markets enables them to discuss a short-term payment suspension, or to defer or reduce payments, and this should not impact their credit history if they agree on the terms with their lender."

The impact of the pandemic on the relationship between consumers and brands that can support them is already visible. Majority (89 per cent) of consumers who have opted for financial assistance or payment deferment support stated that they would recommend these services to others. Moreover, 41 per cent of APAC customers would give an organisation more business if they felt they were treated fairly during the pandemic.

Mr Elliott adds: "As customer profiles change rapidly, lenders face the prospect of steep provisioning. We have been helping banks and lenders to understand that during a downturn, it is important for them to utilise a decisioning system to identify financially stressed customers with early-warning indicators, respond quickly to change, predict future customer behaviour, and deliver the right treatment at the right time. We’ve found that this helps with building greater trust and ensuring loyalty in the long run, and also improves their customer retention."

The report found that businesses in APAC are increasingly prioritising investments in analytics to better determine customer affordability and hardship. Sixty-two per cent of businesses are increasing their budget for analytics and customer creditworthiness in the next six months and nearly half (48 per cent) of APAC businesses are looking to recalibrate and improve their existing analytics models.

MoneyPlace, one of Australia’s fastest growing personal loan providers, is an example of a fintech company successfully leveraging Experian’s data, cloud-native decisioning platform, and analytics to manage existing and new customers. The technology enables them to identify suitable customers instantaneously, with risk-based pricing to offer low-interest personal loans with fixed rates and no ongoing fees, enabling customers to tide through tighter economic situations. Speed and agility are key to MoneyPlace’s success, as potential customers can obtain a personalised interest rate online in two minutes, with the whole loan application process completed in 10 minutes.

Stuart Stoyan, founder and CEO at MoneyPlace, says: "Experian provides us with an enterprise grade, cloud-based platform to combine customer data at the point of application with credit, fraud, and internal data, enabling us to obtain a comprehensive view to make informed decisions quickly. This is especially important during the current environment, where a broad range of data sources are needed to appropriately assess a loan application, whilst fulfilling customer expectations of a seamless online experience."

Read more about findings from the Global Insights Report – Wave 2 here.

About Experian

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PR Newswire

BGK agrees with IMF report: “Infrastructure investment is a key priority for the CESEE region to accelerate convergence toward the EU15”

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WARSAW, Poland, Oct. 17, 2020 — Infrastructure investment is a key priority for Countries in Central, Eastern, and Southern Europe (CESEE) to accelerate the convergence of the living standards toward the level of the more advance European countries, the EU15 – says the IMF report published on 28th Sep 2020. IMF highlights the Three Seas Initiative Investment Fund (3SIIF) as an initiative with the "aim to address infrastructure needs in CESEE."

The report estimates that closing 50% of the infrastructure gap until 2030 would require an annual investment of 3-8% of GDP. Attracting private investors should be an important step towards achieving this ambitious challenge.

To engage investors, the state development bank of Poland, Bank Gospodarstwa Krajowego (BGK), took the initiative to establish the Three Seas Initiative Investment Fund (3SIIF). In the report, the IMF mentions the Three Seas Fund as one of "the several initiatives aim to address infrastructure needs in CESEE".

"The Three Seas Fund is the economic dimension of the Three Seas Initiative. The Fund is the most important financial undertaking in Central and Eastern Europe. We set a clear goal for the Fund – financial support for infrastructure investments in the region. Such support is especially important these days as economies struggle with the effects of the COVID pandemic. The initiator and co-founder of the Fund is the Polish development bank BGK. We established the Fund together with our partners from the Romanian development bank EximBank" – says Beata Daszyńska-Muzyczka, the 3SIIF Supervisory Board Chairperson and BGK President.

The Three Seas Fund’s main objective is to invest in transport, energy and digital infrastructure on the north-south axis in the Three Seas countries and to offset the regional development differences in the European Union. The Fund is a commercial and market-driven initiative that will grant a diversified investment and an attractive return.

The IMF team also state that, if done right, infrastructure investment could yield significant dividends in the region. More and better public investment can help repair the economic damage of the pandemic, raise potential output, and speed income convergence with the EU15.

"At this time of economic slowdown, its benefits could be even larger. We estimate that for each percent of GDP spent on infrastructure, the output could rise by 0,5-0,75% in the short run and by 2-2,5% in the long run" – the report reads.

See full IMF report here: https://www.imf.org/en/News/Articles/2020/09/24/na092820-central-eastern-southeastern-europe-after-covid-19-securing-recovery-wise-public-investment

Visit the 3SIIF website here: https://3siif.eu/

Contact with BGK press office:
Bank Gospodarstwa Krajowego
Anna Czyż, tel. +48609220208, media@bgk.pl

PR Newswire

Beijing’s digital economy accounts for over half of GDP in 2019

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BEIJING, Oct. 16, 2020 — A report from China SCIO:

The digital economy of Beijing accounted for over half of the city’s GDP in 2019, the highest ratio in China, municipal officials announced on Thursday.

The total added value of the Chinese capital’s new economy last year, including new industries, new types of business, and new business models, reached 1.28 trillion yuan (US$190.4 billion), up by 57% compared to 2016, according to figures released at the National Mass Innovation and Entrepreneurship Week yesterday.

With the goal of becoming a national scientific innovation center, Beijing is accelerating its plan of building national labs, major facilities, and other national-level innovation platforms, said Tan Xuxiang, head of the Beijing Municipal Commission of Development and Reform.

He said Beijing is conducting the largest number of major science projects and is also dedicating the largest expenditures on those projects throughout the country.

In 2019, Beijing’s R&D spending accounted for 6.3% of its GDP, with over 15% channeled to basic research. The city has 132 patents for every 10,000 citizens, maintaining the highest ratio in China for years. Six COVID-19 vaccines developed by companies based in Beijing have been approved for clinical trials with three entering phase-3 trials. Seven COVID-19 test kits developed by companies in Beijing have been granted approval to market.

According to official data, 27,000 new tech companies, over 200 maker spaces, and more than 150 incubators and science parks in universities were set up in Beijing in 2019.

The city is home to 200,000 startup service providers, 20,000 angel investors, 670 venture capital firms, nearly 500 innovation platforms, 25,000 national-level high-tech companies, and 93 unicorn companies (startups valued at US$1 billion or more).

Beijing’s digital economy accounts for over half of GDP in 2019
http://english.scio.gov.cn/chinavoices/2020-10/16/content_76813525.htm

 

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