Tag Archives: FNT

InstaForex: international broker with 15 years of experience in global financial markets

LIMASSOL, Cyprus, April 30, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — These days, InstaForex celebrates its 15th anniversary. Shortly after its foundation in 2007, the international broker signed a cooperation agreement with MetaQuotes Software, an industry leader in online trading software.

InstaForex is chosen by millions of traders from around the world
InstaForex is chosen by millions of traders from around the world

Since then, InstaForex has grown not just into a reliable broker providing access to all global financial markets but also a progressive fintech company. The brand has chosen innovation as its top priority.

InstaForex was one of the first brokers to introduce trust management technologies and give its clients an opportunity to copy trades of successful traders. The company also developed its own services – PAMM and ForexCopy systems.

The company continues to expand its services worldwide. Nowadays, InstaForex has representative offices all across the globe and works with traders from all over the world. Its clients have already opened more than 7 million trading accounts.

Favorable trading conditions are not the only thing that makes the broker so popular. InstaForex also provides one of the best bonus programs in the market and holds various contests and giveaways on a regular basis.

Along with public recognition, InstaForex has a high-performance rating. It has won prestigious awards and has been recognized as the best broker in Asia, Eastern Europe, and the CIS multiple times.

Being selected as the Most Active Broker in Asia by AtoZ Markets Forex Awards and the Best Affiliate Program by UK-based Global Brands Magazine are among the broker’s latest achievements.

Over the years, InstaForex has cooperated with many world-famous sports stars, including  Norwegian biathlete Ole Einar Bjørndalen, tennis players Victoria Azarenka and Daria Kasatkina and many other athletes.

Nowadays, InstaForex brand ambassadors are three-time Olympic swimming champion Yuliya Efimova, grandmaster Viswanathan Anand, top racer Ales Loprais, as well as world Muay Thai champion Vladimir Moravcik.

The broker also cooperates with entire sports teams. Its partners are German football club Borussia Dortmund, Slovak hockey club Zvolen, and US racing team Dragon Racing.

In addition, InstaForex is the title sponsor of InstaForex Loprais Team, a well-known rally crew, which once again proves that the company strives to be the best at everything. The broker always makes every effort to meet the highest quality standards both in terms of trading conditions and customer services.

POINT ZERO FORUM UNVEILS AGENDA


ZURICH and SINGAPORE, April 28, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — Today, the Swiss Secretariat for International Finance (SIF) and Elevandi announced the programme and speaker line-up for the inaugural Point Zero Forum, taking place on June 21-23 in Zurich, Switzerland. Point Zero Forum will serve as the starting point for engaging investors and policymakers with innovators to advance the future of financial services (FOFS).

The Forum is an exclusive invite-only, in-person gathering of select global leaders, founders and investors with the purpose of:

  • Developing new ideas to advance the FOFS – decentralised finance and Web 3.0, embedded finance, and sustainable finance.
  • Driving investment activity by bringing together leading founders with VCs, private banking clients, family offices, and PE houses.
  • Dissecting regulatory considerations related to each FOFS development by bringing together public and private sector leaders.

The Forum will be two days of in-depth plenary sessions, deep-dive private roundtables and workshops, and exclusive sessions between founders and investors focusing on two significant new market opportunities built on Web 3.0 architecture. The Forum will be graced by Heng Swee Keat (Singapore’s Deputy Prime Minister and Coordinating Minister for Economic Policies) and Ueli Maurer (Switzerland’s Federal Councillor and Head of the Federal Department of Finance).

  1. The Crypto Market Opportunity: US$2.5 trillion market cap[1]: Sessions will explore the progress made by firms in building digital asset infrastructure, operating trusted digital exchanges, and unlocking the internet of value ; embedding financial services in customer interactions across sectors such as gaming and social networks.
    1. There will be spotlight discussions on:
      1. Cyber risk
      2. Financial crime,
      3. Regulatory compliance
  2. The Sustainable Finance Opportunity: $35 trillion invested[2]: Sessions will explore the challenges and the progress of market solutions to address the infrastructure and service needs of enabling ESG compliance and boosting green financing.
    1. There will be spotlight discussions on:
      1. Accessing credible and verified data from the real economy
      2. Building trusted infrastructure and regulatory compliance for data disclosure
      3. Impact

ESG and Crypto Sector Influencers Include : Urban Angehrn, CEO of the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority FINMA; Sam Bankman-Fried (CEO, FTX); Stephen Bird (CEO, abrdn); Agustín Carstens (General Manager, Bank for international Settlements BIS); Umar Farooq (CEO, Onyx by JP Morgan); Doug Feagin (Senior Vice President, Global Strategic Partnerships and Investments, Ant Group); Ralph Hamers (CEO, UBS); Thomas Jordan (Chairman of the Governing Board of the Swiss National Bank SNB); Eric Lim, (Chief Sustainability Officer, UOB); Kris Marszalek (CEO, Crypto.com); David Marcus (Former Head of Novi and Messenger at Meta, Co-creator of Diem); Ravi Menon (MD, Monetary Authority of Singapore  (MAS)); Hiromichi Mizuno (Special Envoy of U.N. Secretary-General on Innovative Finance and Sustainable Investments); Roman Regelman (CEO, Asset Servicing and Head of Digital, BNY Mellon); Philipp Rickenbacher (Chief Executive Officer, Julius Baer); Julian Sawyer (CEO, Bitstamp); Julian Teicke (Founder and CEO, wefox); Jason Thompson (CEO, Partior); Dmitry Tokarev (Founder, Copper); Robby Yeung (CEO, Animoca Brands); Changpeng Zhao (CEO, Binance); Ben Zhou (CEO, Bybit).

Deep-dive private roundtables include:

  1. ‘Shared Responsibility: The Future of Green Financing’
    Hosted by: Milken Institute
    Facilitated by: Hiromichi Mizuno, Special Envoy of U.N. Secretary-General on Innovative Finance and Sustainable Investments and Laura Deal Lacey, Milken Institute.
  2. ‘Multilateral CBDCs’
    Hosted by: BIS Innovation Hub (BIS)
    Facilitated by: Andrew McCormack, Centre Head, BIS Innovation Hub Singapore, Bank for International Settlements (BIS)
  3. ‘Open Finance’
    Hosted by: State Secretariat for International Finance (SIF)
    Facilitated by: Nicolas Bruegger, Senior Policy Advisor at State Secretariat for International Finance (SIF)
  4. ‘Swiss Climate Scores – Introducing Best Practice Transparency on the Paris-alignment of Investments’
    Hosted by: State Secretariat for International Finance (SIF)
    Facilitated by: Christoph Baumann, Head of Taskforce on Sustainable Finance at State Secretariat for International Finance (SIF)
  5. ‘Growth stage FinTechs’
    Hosted by: Heng Swee Keat, Singapore’s Deputy Prime Minister and Coordinating Minister for Economic Policies
    Facilitated by: Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and Economic Development Board (EDB)
  6. ‘Stablecoins’
    Hosted by: Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS)
    Facilitated by: Jo Yeo, Head, Payments Development and Data Connectivity Office, Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS)

Speakers include:

Agustín Carstens, General Manager, Bank for international Settlements (BIS);
Ben Zhou, CEO, Bybit;
Chen Leiming, Senior Vice President, Ant Group
Changpeng Zhao, CEO, Binance
David Marcus, Former Head of Novi and Messenger at Meta, Co-creator of Diem
David Rutter, Founder and CEO, R3
Marc Bukki (CEO of Swissquote, Founder of Swissquote group)
Dmitry Tokarev, Founder, Copper;
Doug Feagin, Senior Vice President, Global Strategic Partnerships and Investments, Ant Group;
Dr. Gabriela Maria Payer, Vice-Chairwoman, Sygnum;
Dr. Iwa Salami, Reader (Associate Professor), Centre of FinTech, Department of Law & Criminology, Royal Docks School of Business and Law;
Eric Lim, Chief Sustainability Officer, UOB;
Ericson Chan, Chief Information and Digital Officer, Zurich Insurance;
Heng Swee Keat, Singapore’s Deputy Prime Minister and Coordinating Minister for Economic Policies;
Hiromichi Mizuno, Special Envoy of U.N. Secretary-General on Innovative Finance and Sustainable Investments;
James Smith, Founder, Elliptic;
Jason Thompson, CEO, Partior;
Jo Ann Barefoot, CEO & Co-Founder, Barefoot Innovation;
Joanne Hannaford, Chief Technology & Operations Officer and Executive Board Member, Credit Suisse;
Jos Dijsselhof, CEO, SIX Group;
Julian Sawyer, CEO, Bitstamp;
Julian Teicke, Founder and CEO, wefox;
Kris Marszalek, CEO, Crypto.com;
Manisha Tank, TV Anchor & Correspondent, CNN International;
Mary Ellen Iskenderian, President & CEO, Women’s World Banking;
Nicolas Bruegger, Senior Policy Advisor at State Secretariat for International Finance (SIF);
Oliver Bussmann, CEO & Founder of Bussmann Advisory;
Philipp Rickenbacher, Chief Executive Officer, Julius Baer;
Pinar Özcan, Professor of Entrepreneurship and Innovation, Oxford University
Rahul Banerjee, Founder & CEO, Bondevalue;
Ralph Hamers, CEO, UBS;
Raphael Bianchi, President and Board Member, OpenWealth Association;
Ravi Menon, MD, Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS);
Robby Yeung, CEO, Animoca Brands;
Roman Regelman, CEO of Asset Servicing and Head of Digital, BNY Mellon;
Sam Bankman-Fried, CEO, FTX;
Stefan Klestil, General Partner & Head of FinTech, SpeedInvest;
Stephen Bird, CEO, abrdn;
Teana Baker-Taylor, Chief Policy Officer for the Digital Chamber of Commerce;
Thomas Jordan, Chairman of the Governing Board of the Swiss National Bank (SNB);
Ueli Maurer, Switzerland’s Federal Councillor and Head of the Federal Department of Finance;
Umar Farooq, CEO, Onyx by JP Morgan

4. The full agenda can be found here.

Fringe Activities: Brand-New Investor Day and Innovation Open Houses

On the first day of the Forum (June 21st), investors are invited to a closed-door session hosted by SIF and MAS. The session will serve as a precedent to the Forum, where investors will be able to gain a perspective on the global market trends and business opportunities that are shaping the FinTech scene, and how these topics will be addressed on the agenda during the main stage.

Also happening on the June 21st are open houses hosted by BIS Innovation Hub, Crypto Valley Labs, ETH Zurich, F10, University of Zurich and ZHAW Zurich University of Applied Sciences. Registrations for these events are now open on the website.

Point Zero Forum is an invitation-only forum for investors, influencers, thinkers and decision-makers from government and regulators, financial institutions, technology companies, crypto and blockchain networks, and academia. The Forum is organised in cooperation with the BIS Innovation Hub, MAS, and SNB, and supported by Knowledge Partners including Bussmann Advisory, Ecosystm, Finance.Swiss, Milken Institute, Open Wealth Association and Switzerland Global Enterprise. To request an invite, visit www.pointzeroforum.com

State Secretariat for International Finance

The State Secretariat for International Finance represents Switzerland’s interests in financial, monetary and tax matters not only vis-à-vis partner countries but also in the competent international bodies. It is committed to good framework conditions to ensure that Switzerland can have an innovative, interconnected and sustainable financial centre and business location that is among the world leaders. The State Secretariat is responsible for implementing the financial market policy of the Swiss Government.

Elevandi

Elevandi is set up by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) to foster an open dialogue between the public and private sectors to advance FinTech in the digital economy. We work closely with governments, founders, investors, and corporate leaders to drive collaboration, education, and new sources of value at the industry and national levels. Our initiatives have convened over 300,000 people since 2016 to drive the growth of FinTech through events, closed-door roundtables, investor programmes, educational initiatives, and research. Our flagship product is the Singapore FinTech Festival alongside fast-rising platforms, including the World FinTech Festival and Point Zero Forum.

Denali Capital Acquisition Corp. Announces Pricing of $75 Million Initial Public Offering

NEW YORK, April 7, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — Denali Capital Acquisition Corp. (NASDAQ: DECA, the “Company”) announced today that it priced its initial public offering (“IPO”) of 7,500,000 units at a price of $10.00 per unit. The units have been approved for listing on The NASDAQ Global Market (“NASDAQ”) and trade under the symbol “DECAU” beginning on April 7, 2022. Each unit issued in the IPO consists of one share of Class A ordinary share and one redeemable warrant, with each whole warrant exercisable to purchase one whole share of Class A ordinary share at a price of $11.50 per share. After the securities comprising the units begin separate trading, Class A ordinary shares and warrants are expected to be listed on NASDAQ under the symbols “DECA” and “DECAW”, respectively. The offering is expected to close on or about April 11, 2022, subject to customary closing conditions.

The Company has granted the underwriters a 45-day option to purchase up to 1,125,000 additional units at the IPO price to cover over-allotments, if any.

US Tiger Securities, Inc. and EF Hutton, division of Benchmark Investments, LLC are acting as the joint book-running managers in the offering. Craig-Hallum Capital Group LLC is acting as qualified independent underwriter.

A registration statement relating to these securities has been filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) and declared effective on April 6, 2022.  A final prospectus relating to this Offering will be filed with the SEC. The offering is being made only by means of a prospectus, copies of which may be obtained, when available, by contacting US Tiger Securities, Inc., 437 Madison Avenue, 27th Floor, New York, New York 10022; email: IB@ustigersecurities.com. Copies of the registration statement can be accessed through the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov.

This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy, nor shall there be any sale of these securities in any state or jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such state or jurisdiction.

About Denali Capital Acquisition Corp.

Denali Capital Acquisition Corp. is a blank check company incorporated as a Cayman Islands exempted company for the purpose of effecting a merger, share exchange, asset acquisition, share purchase, reorganization, or similar business combination with one or more businesses or entities. The Company has not selected any business combination target and have not, nor has anyone on its behalf, initiated any substantive discussions, directly or indirectly, with any business combination target. While the Company may pursue an initial business combination target in any business or industry, it intends to focus its research on technology, hospitality and consumer services sector.

Forward Looking Statements

This press release contains forward looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Forward looking statements are subject to numerous conditions, risks and changes in circumstances, many of which are beyond the control of the Company, including those set forth in the “Risk Factors” section of the Company’s registration statement, as amended from time to time, and prospectus for the offering filed with the SEC. Such forward-looking statements include the successful consummation of the Company’s initial public offering or exercise of the underwriters’ over-allotment option. The Company expressly disclaims any obligations or undertaking to release publicly any updates or revisions to any forward-looking statements contained herein to reflect any change in the Company’s expectations with respect thereto or any change in events, conditions or circumstances on which any statement is based.

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Source: Denali Capital Acquisition Corp.

CICC Announces 2021 Annual Results

Net Profit Increases by 49.54% to RMB10.78 Billion

Realizes Comprehensive High-quality Development in Various Businesses, While Serving the Real Economy Through Multiple Channels

BEIJING, March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — China International Capital Corporation Limited (“CICC” or “the Company”, 601995.SH, 3908.HK) today announced its annual results for the year ended December 31, 2021. As of the end of 2021, total assets of the Group reached RMB649.80 billion, up 24.57% year on year; the net assets(note) amounted to RMB84.42 billion, up 17.85% year on year. The Group recorded operating revenue of RMB30.13 billion, up 27.35% year on year; and net profit(note) of RMB10.78 billion, increasing by 49.54% year on year, with a weighted average return on net assets of 14.64%. The Company has further consolidated its market position, continued to create sound values and returns for shareholders, and steadily improved its comprehensive strength and market competitiveness.

Staying true to the original aspiration of “For the Nation”, CICC serves national strategies with high-quality and high-standard. In 2021, CICC completed direct financing totaling RMB4.2 trillion, assisted science and technology enterprises in equity financing of nearly RMB410 billion, and supported PRC-based enterprises in overseas financing of nearly US$120 billion, completed green bond issuance of nearly RMB120 billion, and participated in resolving risky debts of nearly RMB2 trillion.

The Company has clearly developed and effectively implemented its key strategies of internationalization, regionalization and digitization. By actively serving the national “dual-circulation” economic strategy, the Company has further expanded its global presence according to its own strategic needs, so as to win more voice and pricing power in the international capital markets. Revenue of the Company’s international business now accounts for approximately one quarter of the total. Throughout the year, the Company assisted many Chinese-funded enterprises in issuing overseas equity and overseas bonds, ranking first in the market. It also assisted the Ministry of Finance (MoF) of the People’s Republic of China in issuing sovereign bonds, and assisted the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) in issuing global sustainability bonds, thus playing a leading role in cross-border capital flows. The strategy of regionalization enables the Company to “remain committed to the Chinese market”, and be aligned with the central government’s major regional strategies. It also allows more regions in China to promote economic and social progress with financial assistance. Furthermore, the Company intensified efforts to provide regional services in 15 cities and provinces in key regions, such as the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region, the Yangtze River Delta, the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and the Yangtze River Economic Belt. As for digitization, the Company has invested substantial financial resources, manpower and time to implement digital transformation, build the “Digital CICC”, and embrace technology and the future. Through digitization, the Company sought to upgrade its service model and customer experience, and significantly enhance the integration of business and technology.

Coordinated Development Across All Business Lines Thanks to Enhanced Professional Capabilities

Investment banking business continued to consolidate its key strength and take the lead in various business lines. Both A-share IPO underwriting amount and A-share follow-on offerings projects underwriting amount of CICC ranked second, and Hong Kong IPO underwriting amount ranked first as a JGC. CICC ranked fifth in onshore bonds underwriting amount, second in underwriting amount of onshore convertible bonds, and first in overseas bond underwriting amount among PRC-based companies. The Company completed the issuance of milestone deals in the field of publicly-offered infrastructure REITs, “carbon-neutral” bonds and more. Its M&A business continued to focus on state-owned enterprises reform, new economy market-driven transactions, and cross-border transactions. As a result, CICC maintained its leading position and ranked first in the PRC M&A market for the eighth consecutive year. Furthermore, the Company established the Debt Restructuring Management Group (DRM) to support the government and corporate clients to defuse risks and secure employment.

Equities business maintained high-quality growth in the domestic and overseas as well as on-exchange and OTC business lines. In 2021, the equities business continued to enhance its capabilities to provide excellent customer services. The domestic and overseas business recorded significant growth, outperforming the overall market. The Equities Department promoted both on-exchange and OTC business, and continued to optimize the business structure. A multi-layered and all-round risk control and compliance system has been established, and the digitalization process for technology-driven development has been accelerated. As for institutional business, the Equities Department expanded the coverage of diversified client types, with the turnover hitting a record high. The QFII client coverage has maintained the leading position for 18 consecutive years. In terms of product business, the domestic businesses of CICC, as a core dealer of derivatives, continued to improve product and service capabilities throughout the whole life cycle and maintained its market advantage. The overseas businesses continued to diversify the product and client structure. Regarding international business, overseas teams participated in the implementation of more than 90 projects in overseas primary and secondary markets, and, therefore, kept a leading position in the market share of connectivity trading. Meanwhile, equities business continued to expand its presence in Germany, Switzerland and other international markets.

FICC business has achieved breakthroughs in multiple aspects. The business showed strong growth in bond underwriting and trading volume. More specifically, FICC ranked first in the market in underwriting amount of USD bonds of PRC-based companies and the spot transaction volume of book-entry government bonds, and ranked second among securities firms in underwriting amount of asset-backed securities products. FICC further enhanced the coverage of international clients and transaction service capabilities, and established a global sales network that covers New York, London, Singapore and Tokyo with the Chinese Mainland and Hong Kong SAR as centers, ranking second among securities firms in cross-border market making amount. In 2021, FICC improved its product innovation and customer services and continued to develop derivatives business, and expand the interest rate and foreign exchange businesses, ranking among the leading market makers in key categories of commodities.

The scale of the asset management business grew rapidly, with its industry ranking hitting a new high. As the transitional period for the new asset management regulations entered its final year, the asset management business continued to diversify its product lines, and strengthened the product mix regarding green finance and technological innovation. CICC Fund Management was actively engaged in industry innovation and participated in the first batch of C-REITs pilot projects. The asset management business continued to strengthen team building and talent training, improve the investment research management system and layout, enhance cumulative performance of products, and rapidly advance the building of an institutional service platform and an integrated investment and research platform so as to accelerate the transformation of financial technology, expand the depth and breadth of client services, and strengthen cooperation with retail and overseas channels. As a result, the AUM of the asset management business of the Company exceeded trillion-scale.

Private equity business has further consolidated its leading position. As of the end of 2021, the subscribed asset under management was RMB327.82 billion. CICC Capital completed the fundraising for a number of funds focusing on national strategies of technological innovation and carbon neutrality, and the newly-raised funds exceeded RMB55 billion. Meanwhile, CICC Capital introduced the National Social Security Fund through the CICC Genesis National FoF, and obtained the controlling interest of the management company of Beijing Science & Technology Innovation Fund. CICC Capital accelerated the deployment of USD-denominated funds, M&A funds, venture capital funds and other key businesses, and established cooperation with local governments in various fields to rapidly promote the internationalization and regionalization process of CICC Capital.

Wealth management business was fully integrated, and product allocation business has witnessed a significant growth, becoming more capable to “retain long-term money”. The size of existing products topped RMB300 billion, representing a year-on-year increase of approximately 90%. CICC Wealth Management continued to lead the industry transformation of fee generating assets business, and created the industry-leading low-threshold allocation product “Mini 50” in the brokerage industry. The buy-side fee-based assets reached RMB80 billion, up over 180% year on year. CICC Wealth Management continued to consolidate the full-spectrum customer base. Private wealth management business rose rapidly, and the business for the mass and affluent customers grew steadily. In addition, CICC Wealth Management implemented a fully agile organizational structure, and completed the integration of 20 domestic securities offices engaged in wealth management business with CICC Wealth Management, as the first synchronized integration of OTC system and legal person in the industry.

Research business continued to leverage its advantage of research and play its role of a think tank. CICC Research and CICC Global Institute (CGI) are committed to working side by side to become one research platform with comprehensive advantages. The research team employed over 300 highly experienced professionals, and covered more than 40 sectors and 1,300 companies listed on stock exchanges in Chinese mainland, Hong Kong SAR, New York, Singapore, Frankfurt, London and Paris, delivering services to its clients both at home and abroad through its offices and platforms across the world. The scope of its investment analysis and research products ranges from macro economy and market strategy to fixed income, financial engineering, asset allocation, equities, commodities, and foreign exchange. Thanks to its professional, independent and unbiased research products, CICC Research has won recognition from major domestic and overseas investors. The CGI, as a new think tank, focuses on the New Development Concept, aiming to provide support for public policy research and decision-making and build a domestic and global exchange platform through research papers, themed forums and field survey.

Fulfilling CSR Initiatives and Practicing ESG Concept

The Company is committed to fulfilling its corporate social responsibility and implementing the Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) development concept. In 2021, CICC continued to enhance its philosophy of ESG management and improve its top-level design. The Company is dedicated to incorporating the ESG management into all aspects of its operation and management, ranging from promoting low-carbon development and environmental protection, innovation-driven growth, to employee development and serving the society. Depending on its unique professional capabilities, CICC brought into full play the role of the financial industry in optimizing resource allocation. The Company worked with ChinaBond Pricing Center to jointly launch the first rural revitalization bond index in the market. Financial empowerment has been made possible through the issuance of special bonds for rural revitalization and special financial bonds for “agriculture, rural areas and farmers”, which injected new vigor and vitality into the development of local areas. As of the end of 2021, CICC issued domestic green bonds as the underwriter with a cumulative amount (on all basis) of over RMB120 billion, and issued green themed funds with a total amount of approximately RMB15 billion. In 2021, CICC actively factored ESG elements into the decision-making process of relevant businesses and investments. The Company has also established a ESG business development plan and product layout that integrates “passive index, index enhancement, and active management”, so as to implement the concept of sustainable investment with market-based approaches.

Meanwhile, CICC continued to “teach people the skills” and “provide necessary assistance” to underdeveloped areas in China using its professional capabilities, and conducted field research on “Rural Revitalization in the Digital Age”. The Company is committed to serving national development and strategies, and upholds the culture concept of “By the People and For the Nation”. Furthermore, the Company has been actively involved in social welfare programs to help implement 25 new public welfare projects, with its public welfare activities’ footprints covering 12 cities and provinces across the country. The Company took practical actions to help China achieve the carbon peaking and neutrality goals, and contributed to green development. The Company has cooperated with China Green Carbon Foundation in carrying out ecological protection and restoration projects. By promoting coworking, green travel, low-carbon travel, and the “Zero Plastic Waste” initiative, CICC hopes to help China achieve its carbon peaking and neutrality goals.

Outlook

We firmly believe that the global trend of being optimistic about China’s future growth and investing in China will remain unchanged. Going forward, CICC will maintain its strategic focus, and invest for the future. As people are always the most valuable assets, CICC will continue to regard “people and culture” as the central parts of building a century-old company, and further integrate people and culture so as to maximize the engagement and creativity of its employees, who can follow strategies and principles while remaining dynamic and innovative. The new round of deepening reform and opening up of China’s economy and capital markets will provide key opportunities for the Company. By offering higher-quality products and comprehensive supporting services for customers, the Company will concentrate all efforts to overcome difficulties, enabling the businesses of CICC to go fast and go far.

Note: Net assets refer to total equity attributable to shareholders of the parent company. Net profit refers to net profit attributable to shareholders of the parent company.

China International Capital Corporation Limited (CICC)

China International Capital Corporation Limited (CICC, 601995.SH, 3908.HK), as the first joint-venture investment bank in China, provides comprehensive one-stop investment banking services for domestic and overseas companies, institutions and individuals. Since its inception in 1995, CICC has adhered to the core values of “by the people and for the nation, professionalism and diligence, innovation and entrepreneurship, client first, and integrity”, and is committed to making itself a first-class international investment bank based in China and a critical player in the future financial system. CICC is qualified for both domestic and overseas securities business operations, having set up a broad range of international business network. Headquartered in Beijing, CICC has set up a number of branch companies and subsidiaries in the Chinese Mainland, owned more than 200 securities branches in 30 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions in China, and established offices in a series of international financial hubs including Hong Kong SAR, New York, London, Singapore, San Francisco, Frankfurt, Tokyo etc., which enables CICC to provide one-stop domestic, overseas, and cross-border financial services. CICC has a comprehensive and balanced business structure including investment banking, equities, FICC, asset management, private equity investment, wealth management and research.

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Mocasa Hits First Milestone: Partnered with 10,000 merchants in Metro Manila

MANILA, Philippines, March 24, 2022 — Mocasa ("the Company"), the new provider of Buy Now, Pay Later service for Filipinos announced on March 18 that its platform has surpassed 10,000 merchant partnerships in Metro Manila since launching its service in January 2022. This milestone is achieved with a recent surge of interest from merchants in the food, groceries, health and beauty, mobile top-up, and other services sectors. The Company has gained tremendous traction in the buy now pay later market and cashless solutions for merchants and has received an increasing number of inquiries from merchants interested in offering their customers the ability to pay over time.

MOCASA Buy Now, Pay Later, 0% Interest.
MOCASA Buy Now, Pay Later, 0% Interest.

Mocasa App really stepped into the new normal by switching to lesser face-to-face transactions. Achieving the App’s 10,000 merchants milestone just have shown beyond doubt that Mocasa effectively shows how true the App helped individual to pull through.

Over the months, Mocasa App has released new features on its App available in Google Play Store that gives its customer the flexibility to get what they want, when they want, with more control over their budget and cash flow. Mocasa Merchants are now rolling all over Metro Manila, most merchants can be found at the heart of the Philippines specifically Manila, Quezon City and Pasig.

Merchant benefits from Mocasa’s buy-now-pay-later services because the Merchant’s customers can now pay in credit upfront and repay over time without incurring interest charges. It provides the Merchant’s customers with a streamlined, intuitive, and adaptable shopping experience. It also provides maximum flexibility and keeps the Merchant’s customers returning for more. Mocasa keeps bringing new customers to the partnered Merchants via Mocasa App, website, and paid traffic, among other channels. For all sizes of businesses. Users are free to pay their purchases on Mocasa app in online stores via the embedded Mocasa payment option; for payment that happened in-store, users can just pay by scanning the QR code over the counter.

"Mocasa will be dedicated in onboarding all kinds of daily-life scenarios, and double the merchant amount in the next quarter, so that our users can shop in Mocasa partnered merchants in every corner of Metro Manila", said Julien Chien, the COO of Mocasa, "from Q3 of 2022, Mocasa service will be available in areas outside Metro Manila when we onboarded merchants there to make every Filipino can enjoy the benefits of buying now and paying later."

 For more information about Mocasa, please visit https://www.mocasa.com/.

Boost, a regional FinTech firm, becomes first fully digital financier to secure investment grade A1 rating in Southeast Asia

  • Boost looking to tap on burgeoning digital banking ecosystem within the Southeast Asian region
  • A1 rating for its Malaysian securitised receivables cements firm’s commitment towards the underserved segment securitizes financing portfolio; rating reflects the quality of portfolio underpinned by algorithmic scoring

SINGAPORE, March 22, 2022 — Boost, the leading regional financial technology (FinTech) provider, today announced that its maiden tranche of Senior Class A Medium Term Notes (MTN) has been rated A1 by Malaysia-based, RAM Rating Services Berhad (RAM Ratings) *, the leading and largest credit rating agency in Southeast Asia.

This establishes Boost as the first fully digital regional financier to receive an investment grade A1 rating for its securitised Malaysian receivables. The FinTech giant, which provides services spanning payment services, alternative lending, digital insurance, content services and merchant solutions, is the fintech arm of Bursa Malaysia-listed Axiata Group Berhad. Boost currently operates primarily in Malaysia and Indonesia.

The A1 rating was awarded on the back of a commendable non-performing financing (NPL) rate of less than 3 per cent from funds disbursed to finance Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SME) customers’ working capital, supply chain and invoice financing to help them grow their businesses.

Commenting on the A1 rating, Sheyantha Abeykoon, Chief Executive Officer of Boost, said, "We are glad to once again, set the standard for an industry which is at a very nascent stage, but has immense potential. The A1 rating of the securitised tranche is a testament of the quality of our financing portfolio and the robustness of our alternative lending platform. Our digital-first solutions are simple and conveniently available to customers, incorporating a comprehensive e-Know Your Customer (eKYC) with a 3-minute digital application journey supported by AI and machine learning tools,"

"We anticipate this rating will help diversify our capital base, enabling us to further support more SMEs. We are wholly focused on our aspiration of championing financial inclusivity, and we are excited at the prospects of serving more SMEs as we move towards becoming a full spectrum regional fintech player," added Abeykoon.

With the ongoing digital acceleration, there lies a greater opportunity to make finance more accessible. The rating exercise further underscores Boost’s capabilities and competencies in accelerating financial inclusion through Boost Credit (formerly Aspirasi) in using robust alternative data scoring frameworks to underwrite credit. Since its inception in 2017, Boost has been striving to leverage on opportunities to further widen its reach and positively impact underserved and unserved segments.

Gurpreet Khera, Chief Business Officer of Boost Credit commented, "The A1 rating is a significant milestone in our journey of building a truly Digital Bank, and a natural progression to provide comprehensive digital financial services for the region. The rating also reflects our commitment to continuously improve our product offerings as we envision a financially inclusive ecosystem in Southeast Asia."

The securitised receivables rating provides reassurance to potential investors about Boost’s operational capability to support such exercise. It also signals to stakeholders that its products have been vetted and meet the requirements for the securitisation exercise under an A1 rating.  The rating is applicable to the Senior Class A Medium Term Notes with a tenure of 30 months, and will be issued by a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV), Salvare Assets Berhad and reviewed on an annual basis. Boost intends to issue more MTN tranches as it grows its financing portfolio to meet the needs of SMEs.

According to a report by Fitch Ratings, titled "South-East Asia’s Fintech Landscape: Rising Digital Adoption, Large Underserved Market to Fuel Sector Growth", SEA has a population of over 580 million at end-2020, of which more than half were unbanked.

In three short years of operation, Boost Credit has disbursed more than SGD390 million (RM1.2 billion) to SMEs in both Malaysia and Indonesia. Applicants enjoy a 3-minute digital application journey with a quick approval process to meet their financial needs to grow their business.

In July 2021, Boost announced a formal partnership with RHB Bank, Malaysia’s fourth largest, fully integrated financial services group to form a consortium and bid for a digital bank license. The consortium was one of 29 formal applicants received by Malaysia’s central bank, Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM), under the Financial Services Act 2013 and the Islamic Financial Services Act 2013, following a 6-month application period which ended on 30 June 2021. It is anticipated that up to five successful applicants will be granted a license by the first quarter of 2022.

Last year, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) approved the country’s first digital banking licenses. Four licenses were issued with two each for digital full bank license (DFB) and digital wholesale bank license (DWB). In Indonesia, there are already seven digital banks and another seven are pending licences from the Financial Services Authority (OJK).

*Note for media: Established in 1990 by the central bank of Malaysia and now regulated by the Securities Commission Malaysia as part of the "institutional infrastructure" to support the development of Malaysia’s bond market, RAM has rated more than USD450 billion of bonds issued by over 750 entities.

About Boost

Boost is the fintech arm of Axiata that unifies financial services spanning payments, micro-financing, micro-insurance, cross border content services and merchant solutions. We combine deep fintech, in-house data and AI to meet growing and diverse needs of our customers and merchants across the region, with the aim of becoming a full spectrum fintech player in Southeast Asia. Our businesses are streamlined into four core brands:

Boost Life

The eWallet consumer platform that focuses on consumer lifestyle offerings such as online and offline retail payments, bill settlement, insurance and transportation & transit use cases with new features constantly introduced.

Boost Biz

The merchant business that offers a payment platform for enterprises of all sizes, business tools and digitalisation solutions.

Boost Credit      

Formerly Aspirasi, it houses the micro-financing & micro-insurance business and is a pioneering Digital Alternative financier in Malaysia and Indonesia.

Boost Connect

Formerly Apigate, Boost Connect is a global digital monetization and customer growth payment platform ecosystem provider with innovative products and services.

Users can download Boost from the Google Play Store, App Store or HUAWEI AppGallery.

For more information, check out the website at www.myboost.com.my, newsroom, or follow Boost on Facebook (facebook.com/myboostapp) and Instagram (instagram.com/myboostapp).

Funding Societies Announces US$16M ESOP Buyback for Former and Existing Employees

The announcement follows the Company’s recent US$294m Series C+ equity and debt funding round and will be its fourth ESOP Buyback

SINGAPORE, 16 March, 2022 — Funding Societies (also known as Modalku in Indonesia), Southeast Asia’s largest SME digital financing platform, announces its Employee Stock Option Plan (ESOP) buyback for existing and former employees worth US$16 million. The ESOP buyback marks the fourth time this activity has been conducted by the FinTech platform. Prior, employees and company alumni have cashed out US$3.5 million worth of ESOP shares.

Kelvin Teo, Co-founder & Group CEO, Funding Societies | Modalku
Kelvin Teo, Co-founder & Group CEO, Funding Societies | Modalku

Funding Societies’ ESOP policy was designed for inclusivity and equality. Under the buyback scheme, all eligible former and current employees would have a right to sell their shares at no discount to the Series C+ preference share price to incoming investors, as compared to the customary 20% discount in industry. Employees may also choose to keep their ESOP or convert their vested ESOP into shares, effectively becoming company shareholders.

Many Funding Societies employees are eligible for the ESOP policy, including new hires. The company offers 50% of total annual salary in ESOP allotment for eligible new hires, leading the market and setting industry standards. Funding Societies also places strong emphasis on long-serving employees in its ESOP scheme. Eligible loyal employees are entitled to ESOP on every 2-year anniversary of joining the company. More than 120 current and former employees since Funding Societies’s inception received cash rewards from this share buyback.

Kelvin Teo, Co-founder and Group CEO of Funding Societies | Modalku, said, "Cliche as it may be, people are the center of Funding Societies | Modalku. We’re grateful for their faith and dedication to realise the vision of empowering Southeast Asian MSMEs, including that of our current team members, and especially from many founding team members in each country who are still with us, along with talent who have left us after an amazing stint, and people who have returned to us. We decided to buyback at no discount rather than the usual 20% discount, equating to a few millions more in cash payout, as a tangible way to thank our team. And I’m heartened when some team members shared about their first home with me from their ESOP gains."

He added: "Even before our Series C+ round, I am also pleased to report that 2021 saw the lowest employee attrition rate and the highest employee happiness scores since Funding Societies was founded. Despite the impact of Covid-19, we have taken deliberate steps to appreciate our team across various initiatives including internal communications, learning & development and ESOP, among others. Next, we want to do more to create a suitable working environment for parents. Specifically, we are taking steps to accommodate mothers by offering better family benefits and have launched part-time positions with more flexible working hours."

The announcement came just a month after the company’s C+ US$144 million equity funding round led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2 and other investors, including VNG Corporation, Rapyd Ventures, Asia-based global investor EDBI, Indies Capital, K3 Ventures, and Ascend Vietnam Ventures. The round also includes US$150 million in debt lines from institutional lenders across Europe, the United States, and Asia. Most of the raised funds will be utilised to propel company services for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) across Southeast Asia. A total of US$294 million was raised.

Funding Societies was founded in 2015 by Kelvin Teo and Reynold Wijaya out of Harvard Business School to empower MSMEs in Southeast Asia. The FinTech company solves MSMEs’ key pain points for growth, starting with the region’s US$300 billion financing gap. Funding Societies offers micro loans from US$500 up to US$1.5 million, which can be disbursed in as fast as 24 hours, answering in a timely manner to MSMEs who face the pertinent challenge of accessing business funds.

About Funding Societies

Funding Societies | Modalku is the largest SME digital financing platform in Southeast Asia. It is licensed in Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, and operates in Vietnam. It is backed by SoftBank Vision Fund, SoftBank Ventures Asia, Sequoia Capital India, Alpha JWC Ventures, SMBC Bank, Samsung Ventures, BRI Ventures, Endeavor, SGInnovate, Qualgro, and Golden Gate Ventures amongst others. The FinTech company provides business financing to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which is funded by individual and institutional investors. In 7 years, it has helped finance over 5 million business loans with almost US$3 billion in funding. It was given the MAS FinTech Award in 2016, the Global SME Excellence Award at the United Nations’ ITU Telecom World in 2017, KPMG Fintech100 in 2018, Brands for Good in 2019, and ASEAN Startup of the Year by Global Startup Awards in 2020. In 2021, it was honorably mentioned as Responsible Digital Innovator of the Year by World Bank IFC SME Finance Forum and won the MAS ASEAN Fintech award for the second time.

https://fundingsocieties.com/

Gefen’s new capability to increase customers share of wallet

TEL AVIV, Israel, March 3, 2022 — Gefen (ASX: GFN) is introducing a new capability to the platform called "Managed by." The Managed by capability allows agents to retain their ownership over customers – but grant another agent or another department in the Arena access and acting rights on the customer.

Customers are agents’ most valuable asset. The agents protect and nourish them. But agents are limited in their capacity to increase the share of wallet – the customer’s coverage and variety of financial and insurance services managed by them. Each agent specializes and is sometimes licensed to sell and service a particular variety.

Agents can now collaborate on products and services, share commissions and outsource operations – while maintaining full control and visibility to what was done, when and by whom. With all calls, emails and other customer transactions kept on record in one place – the agent does not need to rely on "trust" and can maintain full ownership on their asset.

Furthermore – as the Managed by capability is tightly coupled with Gefen’s GQL AI engine (Genetically Qualitative Learners – the platform’s ability to harness expert intuition into digital decision making) – customers can go into a managed group in bulk (high potential, showed interest in a service, requires retention) based on complex business strategy and goals.

The Managed by capability is now available on all operations, on the web and mobile apps.

For further information, please contact:
Investor & Media Enquiries
Gefen International AI LTD 
Orni Daniel, Co-CEO
info@gefen.online 

More4apps Gains Momentum in the US as Preferred Oracle ERP Cloud Vendor

Only six months after launching the ERP Cloud Toolbox, More4apps locks in several US-based enterprises with an end-user, automation-led approach.

NEWPORT BEACH, Calif., Feb. 25, 2022 — More4apps, a longstanding Oracle Gold partner, is gaining popularity across the United States with its newly-released Oracle ERP Cloud offerings designed to help clients significantly improve data-related processes, particularly for their Finance and Projects departments. 


The ERP Cloud Toolbox consists of a familiar Excel spreadsheet interface that integrates directly with Oracle’s public Web Services to streamline data updating and loading. It verifies data in real -time and provides a consistent and user-friendly experience across all functions. 

"Oftentimes with Oracle ERP, data owns the company rather than the company owning the data," says Brian Grossweiler, VP, Sales & Commercial Operations at More4apps. "With our ERP Cloud Toolbox, our customers build better processes while clearing away major data bottlenecks." 

This is particularly true for several large US-based companies who are utilizing More4apps’ solutions in place of the inherited data loaders within Oracle ERP Cloud. By implementing an Excel-based solution, end-users could eliminate hassle-prone tools – like FBDI – remove IT involvement, and increase productivity levels across several departments.

Recent US Customer Wins and Use Cases:

  1. Problem: A US-based satellite and hybrid communications company was processing 2,000 purchase orders annually, with more than 250 open at any one time. Financial statement preparation was delayed due to the manual nature of updating purchase orders to account for quantities delivered and delivery dates.

    Solution: Now, the buyers can be self-sufficient and handle multiple line items at once while the sourcing team focuses on negotiating better deals for the company.

  2. Problem: A large engineering company struggled to maintain more than 30,000 projects per year – specifically with task end dates, deliverables, and key demographic information.

    Solution: The More4apps Projects Module allowed the company to make updates in mass, greatly improving operational efficiencies.

  3. Problem: A US digital banking company migrated from Oracle E-Business Suite to Oracle ERP Cloud, which called for major process improvements and end-user enablement.

    Solution: The Projects Module accelerated project data entry and ongoing maintenance, including the ability for end-users to update multiple lines and rows within Microsoft Excel and in large quantities. 

With More4apps, customers can download, edit, and upload large volumes of data in a fraction of the time it takes to use Oracle’s forms for the same tasks. Data loading and downloading are fast and uncomplicated, saving time and improving data and reporting accuracy.

"We created this suite of tools to empower procurement teams to get the most out of Oracle ERP,"  said John O’Keeffe, More4apps CEO and Founder." Functioning as an Excel spreadsheet, our tools make it easy for you to create and react to user procurement requests, as well as verify and upload data instantaneously into Oracle." 

About More4apps

Established in 2000, More4apps was formed by a group of Oracle consultants in Hamilton, New Zealand. As a specialist software provider for both end-users and developers, the core purpose of More4apps products is to allow Oracle e-Business Suite and Cloud ERP users to save time and money by using Excel as an interface for Oracle’s Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system.

More4apps, an Oracle-certified partner, currently serves more than 34,000 Oracle users in 400 companies worldwide. 

Contact details: Stephanie DiPaolo
Email address: stephanie.dipaolo@more4apps.com
Website: https://more4apps.com
Social media accounts:
 https://www.linkedin.com/company/more4apps 

 

GemForex Enhances Asset Lists, Adds Twelve New Instruments

HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam, Feb. 26, 2022 — 2022 is so far characterized by increased volatility across several markets, mainly due to geopolitical tensions and the ongoing effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. For that reason, a reliable trading service provider must equip its clients with a diverse asset list, enabling flexibility as market conditions change. Leading global online GemForex has taken that into consideration, recently announcing an immediate enhancement to its asset offering, adding a dozen new instruments, mainly but not limited to the forex sector.

"Opportunity is the name of the game here, and we want our traders to be open to as many of those as possible," explained Jieren Marrody, spokesperson for GemForex. "While many other trading brands just copy from each other, we want to bring something new to the table here, giving our customers as much exposure as we can – but doing it responsibly, for their sake. Our motto has always been that our success as a trading brand must stem from our clients’ success. We don’t see any reason to change that."

Diversity – the key to healthy progress

Among the new assets which are now on GemForex’s list, traders can find exotic forex pairs such as EURMX, MXNJPY, and SGDJPY, alongside minors with great potential such as EURSEK, USDPLN, and USDNOK. This is an addition to the already-rich list of tradable forex pairs offered by the brand, including the EURUSD, USDJPY, and many more. Moreover, users can now trade on CFDs of the popular platinum metal, alongside others such as gold and silver, with attractive spreads.

"Our loyal clients know that each and every asset added to our list is a result of careful analysis and research," added Marrody. "Our team of experts works tirelessly to bring nothing but the best assets to the palms of our traders, while minimizing risk."

About GemForex

Established in 2010, GemForex today is a leading name in the industry and an award winning broker, mainly thanks to its client-centric approach and the state of the art technology implemented. Especially popular is the brand’s ‘No Spread Account‘ for forex traders, granting high leverage alongside zero spreads and transaction fees. Both the MetaTrader 4 and the MetaTrader 5 are accessible with GemForex, granting extra diversification possibilities. Furthermore, service is granted in multiple languages by a team of skilled representatives, easily reachable through the brand’s website.