KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 23 (Bernama) -- A new Japanese innovation using blockchain technology has made lab-grown diamonds chemically, physically and optically identical to natural diamonds.
Pure Diamond Lab, a Tokyo-based company is able to cultivate diamonds which have identical qualities of natural-occurring ones and qualify to be certified by the Gemological Institution of America. These diamonds are grown in a controlled environment of the company’s laboratories using pure carbon material -- giving birth to a breed of ‘flawless’ lab-grown diamonds which exhibit optical properties superior to natural ones. Pure Diamond Co Ltd sets apart from their competitors with the development of a blockchain technology for the diamond market. Information on cultivation, refinement and appraisal of lab-grown diamond is collected and digitalised, creating a profile that is available to the end consumer, thus increasing transparency and enhancing the retail experience. Chief Technology Officer of the Pure Diamond Blockchain project, Junma Kawasaki said the project is the correct way to use blockchains and Pure Diamond Lab’s producer, Hideyuki Abe said the technology gives every diamond a story. The blockchain technology also helps to prevent the distribution of ‘blood diamonds’ -- diamonds mined in war zones and sold to finance further conflicts, a statement said. To expand the lab-grown diamond project, the company plans to use the ICO of Pure Diamond Coin, a cryptocurrency secured by Pure Diamond Farm Singapore to fund equipment and R&D, reportedly investing two thirds of the hard cap valued at US$200 million (RM820 million). (1US$ = RM4.10) The company is also in the final stages of intellectual property registration, which is expected to further strengthen their foothold in the lab-grown diamond industry. More details on https://purediamond-ico.com/ -- BERNAMA
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KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 23 (Bernama) -- A.M. Best has affirmed the financial strength rating of B++ (good) and the long-term Issuer credit rating of ‘bbb+’ of EQ Insurance Company Ltd (EQI) Singapore. The outlook of these ratings is stable.
The ratings reflect EQI’s balance sheet strength which A.M. Best categorised as strong, as well as its adequate operating performance, limited business profile and appropriate enterprise risk management, a statement said. The company’s risk-adjusted capitalisation, as measured by Best’s Capital Adequacy Ratio (BCAR) is supported by low underwriting leverage and capital injections received from its parent company -- Citystate Capital Asia Pte Ltd. Offsetting rating factors include EQI’s limited business profile and elevated combined ratio, which remains above industry peers. As a small player in the highly competitive Singapore market, the company is undertaking various initiatives to establish a profitable niche. Positive rating actions are unlikely in the near term while negative rating actions may occur from a deterioration in operating performance or business profile. A.M. Best is a global rating agency and information provider with a unique focus on the insurance industry. More details at www.ambest.com. -- BERNAMA KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 21 (Bernama) -- The Hub SS2, a commercial development in Petaling Jaya by Selangor Dredging Bhd (SDB), was recently completed and handed over to purchasers.
In a statement, SDB said: “The Hub SS2 has been designed for people who pride themselves on being different from the rest.” It is a mixed commercial development comprising 13 low-rise, two-and-a-half storey shop offices and 276 signature suites set in a central 44-storey tower. Facilities include a gym, swimming pool, lush landscaping with artwork and sculptures, advanced security features and fibre optic connectivity. It is on the newly-opened Jalan Harapan which links SS2 to the SPRINT Expressway near 3 Damansara (formerly Tropicana Mall). SDB bills this new development as next-generation versatile signature suites and offices that inspire a quality work-life balance, offering an atmosphere conducive for thinking, working and connection. Very limited units are still available for purchase -- BERNAMA KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 17 (Bernama) – The recent MIA-Sunway TES Accounting Quiz 2018 (AQ) attracted more than 5,400 students from 500 schools throughout Malaysia.
At the grand finals on Aug 11, Team KOK from Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan USJ 13, Selangor emerged as the champion in the group category, while Chin Joe Yee from Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Malim Nawar, Perak was crowned champion in the individual category, a statement from the Malaysian Institute of Accountants (MIA) read. The AQ holds the distinction of being the first online accounting competition in Malaysia gradually incorporating more elements of technology. This is the sixth consecutive year MIA is organising the quiz with Sunway TES. The AQ is recognised by the Ministry of Education (MOE) as one of its co-curricular activities and is open to Form 4 and Form 5 students from secondary schools under MOE, secondary schools under the purview of other government agencies and private secondary schools. AQ guest of honour, MOE co-curricular & arts division principal assistant director, Mohd Rashid Mean, said, “This is a good initiative inline with Industry 4.0 where technology is changing the way the world works and lives.” MIA chief executive officer, Dr Nurmazilah Mahzan, said in her speech before the potential accountants, that although the basic accountancy principles and concepts they are learning today will continue to be valid in the future, the way accountants work will begin to be extremely different. “Tools like artificial intelligence and machine learning, blockchain, cloud and data analytics, will remove the boring parts of work. You will be doing work that requires judgement, thinking skills and integrity, as well as communications skills,” she said. MIA is hopeful that the AQ will be a starting point that inspires many young talents to pursue a career in accountancy because the nation will require 60,000 accountants by 2030. -- BERNAMA HONG KONG, Aug 17 (Bernama-BUSINESS WIRE) -- A.M. Best has affirmed the Financial Strength Rating of A- (Excellent) and the Long-Term Issuer Credit Rating of “a-” of China BOCOM Insurance Company Limited (CBIC) (Hong Kong). The outlook of these Credit Ratings (ratings) is stable.
The ratings reflect CBIC’s balance sheet strength, which A.M. Best categorizes as very strong, as well as its adequate operating performance, limited business profile and appropriate enterprise risk management. CBIC’s risk-adjusted capitalization, as measured by Best’s Capital Adequacy Ratio (BCAR), remains at the strongest level and is attributed in part to the company’s low underwriting leverage. Capital and surplus grew steadily and organically in the past five years, underpinned by strong investment results and full retention of operating profits. As a wholly owned subsidiary and the sole Hong Kong general insurance arm of Bank of Communications Co., Ltd. (BOCOM), a large state-owned banking group in China, CBIC receives extensive business development and distribution support from the group’s banking network in Hong Kong, mainland China, and overseas. It also receives a wide range of support from its parent in terms of brand recognition, investment, risk management, operations and capital support. An offsetting rating factor is CBIC’s high operating expense ratio, historically and prospectively, in light of growing management expense pressure versus a small and flat net premium base. The company is exposed to credit risk and liquidity risk, as well as country concentration risk in its investment portfolio, which consists primarily of fixed income investment in China state-owned enterprises and contains a material portion of non-rated bonds. In addition, the competitive conditions in Hong Kong’s general insurance market remain a continuing challenge to CBIC’s underwriting profitability and business development. Positive rating actions could occur if CBIC demonstrates significant improvement in its market position while maintaining a stable and profitable operating performance. Negative rating actions could occur if there is material deterioration in its operating performance or if the support from BOCOM weakens notably. http://mrem.bernama.com/viewsm.php?idm=32492 KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 9 (Bernama) -- Malaysian companies registered with the Human Resources Development Fund (HRDF) are invited to participate in call centre and customer experience management training by the best in the business.
COPC Inc., a US-based consulting firm, is collaborating with Malaysian training provider, Quest Learning Sdn Bhd, to conduct the COPC® Customer Journey Mapping Certification, from Sept 25 to 27, and COPC® Best Practices for Customer Experience (CX) Operations from Oct 29 to Nov 2. COPC Inc. said in a statement that under HRDF guidelines, registered companies will receive a subsidy on class fees. It also said that more training dates will be available in 2019. Training will be conducted by COPC Inc. South East Asia operations director, Andy Cranshaw, who is based in Kuala Lumpur and registered with HRDF. Cranshaw is a call centre industry specialist with over 25 years of experience working with some of the largest call centres in the region to drive performance improvement and increase customer satisfaction. COPC Inc. Asia Pacific region chief executive officer (CEO), Ian Aitchison, said they have been working with clients in Malaysia for the past few years and this is the next step in helping them improve both operational performance and customer experience. Headquartered in Winter Park, Florida, COPC Inc. also has operations in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia Pacific, Latin America, India and Japan. Since 1984, Quest Group has enjoyed a leading position in the marketplace for consulting, training and event management. The company helps organisations improve performance, productivity and profit through result-based training, coaching and consulting. Quest Group of Companies, founder and CEO, K.C. See said, “COPC Inc. is a global thought leader and has worked with many well-known companies to improve their customer experience operations. Their call centre management training is the best in the business.” For more information on COPC Inc. training, visit https://www.copc.com/. -- BERNAMA KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 7 (Bernama) -- Toshiba Memory Corporation, a world leader in flash memory, has developed new technology that enables fan-out scalability for high performance storage systems.
The new technology is a native NVMe™ over Fabrics (NVMe-oF™) SSD for direct Ethernet access to data for highly scalable storage architectures, conforming to the NVMe-oF Specification Version 1.0. Toshiba Memory said the new SSD utilizes the Marvell® 88SN2400 NVMe-oF SSD converter controller, enabling dual-port 25Gbps Ethernet connectivity of high-performance U.2 NVMe™ SSDs. The new develop system will also simplify the hardware architecture of the JBOF (Just a Bunch of Flash) over an NVMe-oF network, resulting in higher performance, lower cost and lower power consumption compared to a conventional CPU-based hardware configuration. Toshiba Memory will demonstrate its new prototype system at the Flash Memory Summit in Santa Clara, California from Aug 7 to 9 in Hall A, booth #307. More details at https://business.toshiba-memory.com -- BERNAMA KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 9 (Bernama) -- Unisys Corporation just launched Unisys TrustCheck at the Black Hat USA 2018 conference in Las Vegas, which is a new service that draws on the strength of an analytics model used in the cyber insurance industry to quickly and easily assess the potential financial impact of cyber hazards.
"With TrustCheck, Unisys is fundamentally transforming the cyber risk conversation, enabling organisations to align security initiatives with business strategies," said Unisys security solutions vice president, Jonathan Goldberger. "TrustCheck translates cybersecurity data into financial metrics such as expected loss or return on investment, and empowers security professionals to make better risk management decisions based on business priorities,” said Goldberger. TrustCheck is delivered as a managed service on an annual subscription basis, giving security professionals constantly updated information on their organisations' cybersecurity posture and recommended steps for remediation, a statement said. It is powered by X-Analytics, a patented cyber risk analytics model which has been used by cyber insurance companies to underwrite billions of dollars' worth of cyber risk insurance, translating cybersecurity metrics into business metrics. TrustCheck enables organisations to assess cybersecurity and cyber risk posture in economic terms, determine the likelihood of a cyber-related financial loss, analyse the return on investment of cybersecurity investments and identify risk transfer zones for all cyber perils. The service also allows clients to have ongoing access to risk dashboards to review their cybersecurity stance. Unisys will review the dashboards with clients on a monthly basis to discuss how to adapt to new threats and shifting priorities. Unisys is a global information technology company that builds high-performance, security-centric solutions for businesses and governments. For details, visit www.unisys.com. KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 9 (Bernama) -- Belmond Ltd – which has a unique portfolio of 46 luxury hotel, restaurant, rail and river cruise properties in 24 countries – announced that it has initiated a comprehensive review of strategic alternatives to enhance shareholder value.
The board of directors is conducting a robust review of the full range of strategic, operational and financial alternatives available to the company, including a possible sale, said chairman, Roland Hernandez. “We have made meaningful progress towards our long-term strategic goals, including growing earnings, increasing brand awareness and expanding our global footprint,” he said. The board has engaged Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC and J.P. Morgan Securities LLC as financial advisors, and Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP as legal advisor to assist in the review. No assurances can be given regarding the outcome or timing of the review process, the company said in a statement, adding that it does not intend to make any further public comment regarding the review until it has been completed or the company determines that disclosure is required or beneficial. For more information, visit http://investor.belmond.com/ KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 7 (Bernama) -- Cushman & Wakefield plc (Cushman & Wakefield) announced the closing of its initial public offering (IPO) of 45 million of its ordinary shares at US$17 (RM69.53) per share. (1US$ = RM4.09).
In connection with the IPO, the underwriters exercised in full their option to purchase an additional 6.75 million ordinary shares from Cushman & Wakefield. As a result, the total IPO size was 51.75 million shares. The shares are listed on the New York Stock Exchange and trade under the symbol “CWK”, a statement said. Cushman & Wakefield expects to use the net proceeds from the ordinary shares to reduce outstanding indebtedness, in particular to repay its second lien loan, to pay the outstanding amount of the deferred payment obligation related to its acquisition of Cassidy Turley and any remaining net proceeds for general corporate purposes. Morgan Stanley, J.P. Morgan, Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC and UBS Investment Bank served as joint book-running managers and representatives of the underwriters for the offering. Cushman & Wakefield is a leading global real estate services firm that delivers exceptional value by putting ideas into action for real estate occupiers and owners. It is among the largest real estate services firms with 48,000 employees in approximately 400 offices and 70 countries. --BERNAMA |
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