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APAC Insider Magazine / September 2016
MYPINPAD Continues Global Expansion with New Asia Pacific Base MYPINPAD, an enabler of multi-factor authentication for touchscreen devices such as mobile phones and tablets, is committed to continued growth internationally, expanding in Europe, MENA, Africa and Asia Pacific.
China Leads Global Fintech Investments
Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal to Invest $8.1bn in Smart Grid Infrastructure
Southeast Asia’s E-Commerce Market to Surpass US$25 Billion by 2020
APAC Insider Magazine / September 2016
Editor’sNote Welcome to the September edition of APAC Insider Magazine. In this issue, we provide you with the latest news and updates from across the Asia Pacific region.
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Firstly, we round up all the news from the APAC region including Tracey Adam’s appointment to the regional head of APAC COLLINE, the planned expansion to the property industry in Saudi Arabia and the development of Mellanox Technologies in the Asia Pacific area. Technology is a big area of growth in the Asia Pacific region. We look at the e-commerce market in South Asia, which looks to surpass $25 billion by 2020. MYPINPAD continues its global expansion whilst ransomware has made its way through the region, threatening cyber security. In addition, there are features on financial technology including growth in fintech financing driven by China and a story regarding eight leading financial technology companies began a 12-week mentorship program in the FinTech Innovation Lab Asia-Pacific. Finally, we give you the up to date APAC deals. We hope you enjoy this issue.
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Contents 4. News
investment
12. China Leads Global Fintech Investments, Accenture Finds 14. Sharjah FDI Forum 2016 to Explore Investment Opportunities with UK and Mainland Europe 18. South Asian Countries of Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal to Invest $8.1bn in Smart Grid Infrastructure to Modernize Power Sectors
property
20. APAC’s Leading Property Summit, MIPIM Asia, to Examine Burgeoning Industry Trends of Technology Disruption and Innovation 24. Key Objectives Driving Strategic Real Estate in Saudi Arabia
technology
26. Cloud Technology Enables Australian Businesses to Capitalise On Globalisation Opportunities 28. Eight Fintech Start-Ups Enter the FinTech Innovation Lab Asia-Pacific 32. MYPINPAD Continues Global Expansion with New Asia Pacific Base 34. Sedafiat Sdn Bhd Goes Live on Ramco ERP 36. Southeast Asia’s E-Commerce Market to Surpass US$25 Billion by 2020 38. Top Ransomware Families Making Their Way Through APAC Region
42. Deals
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APAC Insider Magazine / September 2016
news
Asia’s Best-Performing Market in 2016
By Carolyn Chan Thailand’s stock market is the best performing within our universe year-to-date, posting a 23% return in local currency terms and a 28% return in US dollar terms. Due to our significant overweight position in the country, it has also been one of the key contributors to this year’s strong performance from the Liontrust Asia Income Fund. But should investors now be perturbed by August’s constitutional referendum, which appears to have handed more power to the military junta?
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We would argue not. While the junta maintains that the new constitution is designed to alleviate the protracted civil unrest brought about by over a decade of divisive politics, critics instead believe the charter will strengthen the military’s political role for many years to come. What we can say with certainty is that the market has so far reacted positively to the referendum’s result. This is because there is now a clearer timeline for general elections and it appears likely that the current government will remain in power and provide the stability required, with a lower risk of key government infrastructure projects being delayed. The junta, which is led by Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-ocha, seized power back in 2014 and this referendum was its first major test at the ballot box. Voters handed the junta a convincing win, with 61% approving the new constitution following a 59% turnout. A second proposal for the next Prime Minister to be jointly elected by Senators and Ministers of Parliament was also approved. The new constitution clears the path for ongoing military influence. The National Council for Peace and Order – the title assumed by the junta – will now have the right to appoint the 250 members of the Senate chamber, as opposed to the previous system which saw 50% of 150 members directly elected. The Senate will have veto power over the House of Representatives on amending the constitution and a Prime Minister will be allowed to be appointed from outside either house. Perhaps most significantly, general elections are now expected to be held in the fourth quarter of 2017. The Liontrust Asia Income Fund’s near 12% weighting in the country remains concentrated in domestically focused companies which offer an attractive combination of earnings growth and healthy dividend yields. A lacklustre external environment has resulted in anaemic export growth, but private consumption has surprisingly accelerated to 3.8% year-on-year in the second quarter of 2016, up from the first quarter’s 2.3%. This helped boost Thailand’s second quarter GDP growth to 3.5% year-on-year, faster than expected and better than the 2.3% in the first quarter. While we are comfortable maintaining our overweight position in the country following recent events, we note that overall market valuations are no longer cheap at a PE ratio of 16.4x in 2016, falling to 14.5x for 2017. The outlook for earnings growth still looks robust, with an average 20% and 12% earnings per share growth expected from the market in 2016 and 2017 respectively, and we would view any market pullback as an opportunity to pick up attractively valued stocks. Web address: www.liontrust.co.uk
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news
Lombard Risk Appoints COLLINE® Product Head in Asia Pacific
Lombard Risk Management plc, a leading provider of integrated collateral management, regulatory compliance and reporting solutions for the financial services industry, has appointed Tracey Adams to Regional Head of APAC COLLINE®.
In the newly created role, Tracey Adams will oversee the development and implementation of Lombard Risk’s award-winning collateral management, clearing, inventory management and optimisation solution, COLLINE®, in Asia Pacific. COLLINE® enables firms to move away from managing collateral in business line silos by supporting multiple asset types on a single, web-based platform. A single platform results in more efficient collateral management, enables collateral optimisation, and provides users with the capability to manage liquidity and trading book capital. Tracey joins from FIS (formerly SunGard Financial Systems) where she worked as a Senior Sales and Account Executive for collateral and securities finance. In this role she was a key stakeholder in the creation and implementation of the FIS Collateral Management sales strategy in the EMEA region. Prior to this Tracey spent nine years on the investment banking side of the industry, her last position being Vice President of the Transactional Client Service Team in Europe for the Barclays’ Clearing Broker business. Alastair Brown, Lombard Risk’s Chief Executive Officer comments, “Lombard Risk sees great potential in the APAC region, where financial services firms are continuing to grow and open up to new markets, meaning they need agile and efficient solutions to manage collateral margins across multiple jurisdictions and in complex organisations. “Having a dedicated regional head for our COLLINE® solution will help us drive forward our product development and sales strategy in the region. As we expand there, we are dedicated to acquiring the best talent and Tracey has an excellent track record
in collateral management services and business development across broad geographies; we’re delighted to welcome her to this new role.” Tracey Adams, Regional Head of APAC COLLINE says, “Lombard Risk is always looking ahead to the next challenge its clients will face and develops solutions to prepare them accordingly. As such, I’m thrilled to be joining such an innovative team and look forward to working with clients on pre-empting their collateral management needs and developing market leading solutions for them. This is particularly pertinent for the Asia Pacific region as we see momentum gain in the midst of regulatory complexity.” Web address: www.lombardrisk.com
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APAC Insider Magazine / September 2016
news
APAC is the Fastest-Growing EDA Market
Due to the presence of semiconductor companies like Samsung, SK Hynix, and Toshiba, APAC is the fastest-growing EDA market, reports Technavio.
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Technavio analysts forecast the global electronic design automation (EDA) market to grow at a CAGR of 8.52% during the forecast period, according to their latest report. The research study covers the present scenario and growth prospects of the global electronic design automation market for 2016-2020. The report also presents the major vendors that develop EDA software tools in regions such as the Americas; EMEA, and APAC. The presence of numerous semiconductor companies such as Samsung, SK Hynix, and Toshiba along with electronic device OEMs such as Sony, LG, Haier, Lenovo, Xiaomi, Nikon, Pioneer, Voltas, Panasonic, ASUS, and Havells has made APAC the fastest growing region in the global EDA market. Furthermore, the outsourcing of software development to APAC is also a major factor for this growth.
high processing capability of these chips has made it possible to adhere to the demand for embedded graphics and multicore technologies. This development is in line with the growing complexity of chip designs in the semiconductor industry. According to Sunil Kumar Singh, a lead analyst at Technavio for research on embedded systems, “Manufacturers of smart electronics such as wireless communication equipment, ECG, smartphones, telemetry devices, and automotive body electronics have started integrating SoC technology into their products. In addition, with the emergence of system-in-package technology, mixed-signal SoC manufacturers are now able to integrate more functionality onto a single chip at a moderate price.”
Technavio hardware and semiconductor analysts highlight the following four factors that are contributing to the growth of the global electronic design automation market: • Increasing requirement for SoC technology • Demand for miniaturized electronic devices of high precision across sectors • Adoption of FinFET architecture • High R&D investments • Increasing requirement for SoC technology
Demand for miniaturized electronic devices of high precision across sectors The demand for compact electronic devices has grown in almost every sector, including communication, automotive, industrial manufacturing, and healthcare equipment. This trend has forced semiconductor IC manufacturers to increase R&D expenditure in order to reduce the size while optimizing the performance of ICs. This has led to the emergence of microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) and 3D semiconductor devices. MEMS and 3D ICs have an increasing number of interconnects and transistors in the limited space, which requires finer deposition and patterning.
The growth in the smart appliance and digital home markets during the last decade has resulted in high demand for high-powered, efficient, and smart electronic devices from the end-user segment. These changes have been brought about by advances in device technology and the integration of billions of transistors on a particular chip called SoC. The
“Therefore, the miniaturization of electronic devices will have a moderately high impact on the development of advanced production system for MEMS, 3D ICs, and fin-shaped field effect transistors or FinFETs, creating the need for electronic design automation to carry out the designing for the semiconductor devices,” says Sunil.
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Adoption of FinFET architecture The surging demand for smart devices such as digital cameras, smartphones, notebooks, PDAs, PCs, and tablets along with the advent of new technology platforms such as the IoT has necessitated chip manufacturers to migrate from planar FET designs to FinFET architecture design. Dielectric etching is one of the major etching steps in the designing process. The need for improving performance and reducing power consumption has resulted in a wider adoption of FinFET architecture. FinFETs are estimated to be 37% faster than planar FET, consuming less than 50% of the dynamic power, or reducing static leakage current usage by almost as much as 90%. The increasing adoption of FinFET in 3D semiconductor devices is expected to fuel the demand for designing tools such as EDA tools because of the complex nature of FinFET designs. High R&D investments R&D forms an integral part of the semiconductor industry. The semiconductor industry recorded its highest R&D spending of USD 56.4 billion in 2015. This, however, is not in lieu of the industry standard for R&D spending since 2010, which grew at an average of 13% on a yearly basis. The industry spending toward R&D was up by only 0.5% from 2014, which is the lowest the industry has witnessed since the downturn of 2009. The spending was also below the CAGR of 4% between 2005 and 2015. Intel, one of the leading chip vendors in the market, accounted for 22% of total semiconductor spending in 2015. This was the highest among leading players such as Qualcomm, Samsung Electronics, and Avago Technologies and foundries such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation (TSMC).
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APAC Insider Magazine / September 2016
news
KKR Expands Asia Pacific Leadership Team with New Appointments in China, Korea, and Singapore
Expansion readies Pan-Asia platform for next decade of investing
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KKR announced that the firm is making important additions to its private equity investment team in Asia, specifically a change in leadership in China and the addition of new senior investment talent in China, Singapore and Korea. Ming Lu, a Member of KKR and Co-Head of Asia Private Equity, has been named sole Head of Asia Private Equity. KKR Members David Liu, Co-Head of Asia Private Equity and Head of China, and Julian Wolhardt, are leaving KKR at the end of this year to form a new China-focused investment firm. They will transition to KKR Advisors beginning in 2017. Ming Lu will serve as Interim Head of China until the Firm appoints a successor. Ming Lu will continue to report to Joseph Bae, who also will continue in his role as Managing Partner of KKR Asia with offices in both New York and Hong Kong. “David and Julian have helped build the strong franchise we have in China today, and we are proud of the foundation we have established. We wish them well in the next stage of their careers,” Henry Kravis and George Roberts, Co-Founders and Co-CEOs of KKR, stated. “At the same time, as we start our second decade of investing in Asia, we are thrilled to be expanding our team and capabilities across the region with new world class talent.” “We are extremely proud to have been part of KKR over the last 10 years and to have contributed to building a leading Asian private equity platform. As we go on to pursue our own entrepreneurial venture, we look forward to finding opportunities to work in partnership with KKR in the future,” David Liu and Julian Wolhardt, said. KKR’s new appointments include the following: Ashish Shastry, Head of Southeast Asia and Member of KKR, Singapore. Mr. Shastry has more than 18 years of private equity experience and joins from Northstar Group where he has served as a Managing Partner since 2011. Prior to that he was a Partner and Head of Southeast Asia at TPG Capital where he held various investment roles since 1998.
Zhen Ji, Managing Director of KKR, China. Mr. Ji joins KKR from CITIC Capital where he has served as a Managing Director since 2009. Prior to that he held various investment and management roles at EQT Partners (Hong Kong), Monitor Group (Beijing), Metainternet Inc. and Microsoft Corporation. Hyoung Seok Lim, Managing Director of KKR, Korea. Mr. Lim has over 23 years of management consulting and operational experience, including 15 years at McKinsey and Company where he was a Partner in its Seoul office. Subsequently, he served in various senior management roles at LG Electronics, including Chief Operating Officer of its European operations. More recently, Mr. Lim founded Compass LKL in London, an advisory firm focused on providing cross border investment solutions for Korean investors and companies. Rob Yang, Managing Director of KKR Real Estate, China. Mr. Yang joined KKR earlier in the summer as a Managing Director leading KKR’s Real Estate business in Greater China. Mr. Yang was previously with The Blackstone Group, where he was a leader of Blackstone’s China team for the last nine years, helping to establish the firm’s China real estate investment platform and leading a number of key transactions in Greater China. Joseph Bae, Managing Partner of KKR Asia, said, “I am extremely excited to welcome this incredible group of senior executives to KKR as we continue to invest aggressively in the build- out of our regional platform. Given the rapidly changing market conditions across the region, it is imperative that KKR continues to deepen the investment and operational capabilities in each of our core markets to maintain our leadership position in Asia.” Today, KKR has seven offices in Asia with over 120 professionals and the support of 15 operational executives at KKR Capstone. Since establishing its Asia platform in 2005, KKR has announced and completed over 60 transactions across the region representing over $10 billion of private equity investments. KKR’s current flagship $6 billion Asian Fund II is the largest private equity fund raised in Asia, is generating strong returns for investors.
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Mellanox Expands Asia-Pacific Presence
The company has announced a new Singapore headquarters and State-of-the-Art Solutions Centre to strengthen its footprint in Asia.
Mellanox® Technologies, Ltd., a leading supplier of high-performance, end-to-end interconnect solutions for data centre servers, cloud and storage networking solutions, has announced the opening of its new APAC headquarters and solutions centre in Singapore. The Company’s new APAC headquarters will feature a technology solution centre for showcasing the latest technologies from Mellanox, in addition to an executive briefing facility. The solution centre will feature the innovative solutions enabled by latest Mellanox technologies including HPC, Cloud, Big Data, and storage. “Mellanox Technologies’ headquarters in Singapore will be our first physical presence in Asia outside of China and Japan, hosting groups of business professionals and engineering teams,” said Charlie Foo, vice president and general manager, Asia Pacific, Mellanox Technologies. “The new office will help us to strengthen and accelerate our business across Asia Pacific, and foster further collaborations with our partners and customers.” The first of its kind in the region for Mellanox, the joint office and hi-tech solutions centre is located in Suntec City Tower 3, and is expected to be fully operational by November this year. The new APAC headquarters will house business and R&D teams to accelerate the region’s revenues and solutions development around Mellanox’s interconnect technology. Citing the centrality of Singapore, maturity of tech adoption in the market and strong talent pool as some of the primary reasons behind the investment, Mr. Foo went on to say key markets for the company include Singapore, Japan, India, Korea, Australia and New Zealand, as well as emerging markets across Southeast Asia.
“With this operational expansion, we intend to focus on and better serve our key market sectors, including the government of Singapore, higher education facilities in Australia, and cloud service providers across the region. In doing so, we intend to strengthen our footprint in Asia,” he added. Mellanox is already currently working with major brands in the region such as Monash University and the National Computational Infrastructure in Australia, Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) in India, Fujitsu and SAKURA Internet in Japan, Samsung in Korea as well as the Singapore Exchange and the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*Star) in Singapore. Web address: www.mellanox.com
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Wedding gowns, Bridesmaids dresses, Flower girl dresses and Mother of the Bride/Groom, Formal Dresses All supplied by Sposabella Bridal to Sydney, the Illawarra and the South Coast of NSW Australia. Here is your personal invitation to all (Brides-to-be) to Join the 8,000+ Happy Brides who were helped by Sposabella Bridal to choose that one special wedding gown for that very special moment when you say “I do�.
Awarded Best Bridalwear Boutique New South Wales in the recent APAC Business Awards
Sposabella Bridal has the largest showroom in Wollongong and the Illawarra. Sposabella Bridal has partnered with famous and well known Australian and International designer labels. Choose from famous labels including AF Couture, Alfred Angelo, Allure Couture, Atelier, Cosmobella, Demetrios, Julietta, La Sposa, Madison James, Marys Bridal, Mori Lee, Orea Sposa, Peter Trends, Pronovias, Ronald Joyce, White One. New labels are arriving all the time
The Journey begins when you walk through the door of Sposabella Bridal. Choose from our vast range of unique designs to enhance your strengths and individual style whatever your size and shape. Picture yourself on your wedding day, then allow us to share your dream to make it perfect.
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news
Cresa Expands Its Asia-Pacific Footprint
Cresa has made strides in the Asia-Pacific region with Indus global, India’s leading tenant focused commercial real estate company.
Cresa, the world’s largest commercial real estate firm specializing in tenant/occupier representation, has announced that it has expanded its service delivery platform in Asia with the addition of Indus Global in India. This expansion in India solidifies Cresa’s position as the largest firm in the world that exclusively provides service to occupiers of office and industrial real estate. Cresa India will now be led by three industry veterans - S.C. Jaisimha, Madhur Malhotra, and Arjuun Kuumar. S.C. Jaisimha is the former head of API Global in India, and has more than 20 years of experience, having held key positions at Insignia Brooke and Can Fin Homes. He will be based in the Bangalore office. Madhur Malhotra brings more than 18 years of experience and was previously the head of Johnson Controls GWS real estate business for West Asia. He will be based out of the Delhi office. Arjuun Kuumar has been in the real estate industry for 20 years and has worked in key positions at Insignia Brooke, API Global and Group Usha. He will be based out of the Mumbai office. In addition to Bangalore, Delhi and Mumbai, Cresa India has offices in Pune, Chennai and Hyderabad and provides tenant advisory services including leasing and sub-leasing, rent review and re-negotiation of existing commitments for both office and industrial properties, corporate acquisitions and dispositions, strategic consulting, lease audit, and project management. Clients include MetLife, Coca Cola, IMS Health, Baxter, Cadbury, General Electric, Honeywell, ARRIS, Guardian Life, Motorola, NTT Data, Agilent Technologies and Johnson Controls. “We are excited to join a company whose values align so closely with our own,” said Jaisimha. “Our clients enjoy the highest level of transparency, objectivity and value-added services and satisfaction,
and we feel confident that with the strength of the Cresa platform behind us we can only improve on the high level of service our clients already experience.” “While we have been working in India for over 15 years, the addition of Indus Global is a huge step forward in the level of service we will be able to provide our clients in markets throughout the country,” said Cresa CEO Jim Underhill. Cresa aims to open additional international offices before the end of 2016. Last year, the most successful in the firm’s history, Cresa completed over 300 assignments in more than 30 countries outside of North America. Projects included transactions, project management, portfolio management, lease administration, consulting and strategic planning. Web address: www.cresa.com
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APAC Insider Magazine / September 2016
investment
China Leads Global Fintech Investments, Accenture Finds
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Asia-Pacific nearly doubles 2015 fintech financing in first half of 2016 reaching almost $10 billion; growth driven by China.
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Investments in Asia-Pacific financial technology ventures, primarily in China, reached $9.62 billion as of July 31, more than twice the $4.26 billion invested in the region in all of 2015, according to Accenture analysis of CB Insights data. Investments in Asia-Pacific have eclipsed North America, which as of July 31 garnered $4.58 billion in fintech investments; and also tops Europe, which attracted $1.85 billion in the same period. However, deal volume remains higher in North America and Europe, as the Asia-Pacific increase is due to big investments in a few select fintech companies in China. There have been 192 deals in Asia-Pacific so far this year, as compared with 509 in North America and 230 in Europe. In fact, the top ten investments in Asia-Pacific fintech ventures occurred in China and Hong Kong, accounting for 90 percent of overall Asia-Pacific investments and valued at $8.75 billion. In total, China and Hong Kong fintech ventures have attracted $9 billion in investments so far in 2016. “China’s established companies, rather than nascent start-ups, are at the forefront of the fintech trend in the region,” said Beat Monnerat, Accenture senior managing director, Financial Services Asia-Pacific. “Fintech companies with major backers such as Alibaba and JD.com are focussed on providing positive end-to-end customer experiences, which includes payments and lending. This is transforming China’s financial services industry and is consistent with the global ‘Fourth Industrial Revolution’, which is bringing innovation from non-traditional competitors to the financial services industry.”
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investment
Ant Financial Services Group, the financial-services affiliate of e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding that operates China’s online-payments platform Alipay, closed a $4.5 billion fundraising round in April. Ping An-backed Lufax, which has started using the name Lu.com, completed a $1.2 billion round of fundraising in January. In that same month, China’s second largest e-commerce company, JD.com, raised $1 billion in new funding for its consumer finance subsidiary, JD Finance. In recent years, major Alibaba affiliates and China’s biggest social network company, Tencent, have also invested in other smaller start-ups, such as Fenqile, a micro-loan site which literally means “happy instalments,” Qufenqi, an electronics retailer that lets buyers pay in monthly instalments, and India’s One97 Communications, a mobile internet company whose Paytm is its flagship brand. “The fintech trend in China continues to skew toward online payments and lending, including peer-to-peer (P2P), which is creating market-share dilution for banks,” said Albert Chan, managing director financial services China, Accenture. “China’s banks, whether building their own competitive platforms or not, should consider investing in collaborative fintech ventures in order to remain competitive.” Web address: www.accenture.com
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APAC Insider Magazine / September 2016
investment
Sharjah FDI Forum 2016 to Explore Investment Opportunities with UK and Mainland Europe
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Event to host a panel discussion titled ‘Strengthening Trade Ties between the UK, Europe and the UAE’
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The Sharjah Foreign Direct Investment, (Sharjah FDI Forum 2016), held under the generous patronage of His Highness Sheikh Dr. Sultan bin Mohammad Al Qasimi, Member of the Supreme Council and Ruler of Sharjah, and organised by the Sharjah Investment and Development Authority (Shurooq), in collaboration with Financial Times and fDi magazine, will highlight the strategic trade relations between the UAE, the UK and mainland Europe. Taking place on September 28-29, 2016 at Al Jawaher Reception & Convention Centre, the two-day Sharjah FDI Forum 2016 forms part of Shurooq’s efforts to introduce international investors and industry leaders to Sharjah and to promote the emirate at both local and global forums. The first day of the forum will host a panel discussion to address the trade ties between the UAE, the UK and Europe in view of economic fluctuations and the challenges of globalisation. Titled ‘Strengthening Trade Ties between the UK, Europe and the UAE,’ the discussion will feature David J Burns, Chairman and CEO, The British Business Group with Courtney Fingar, Editor in Chief, fDi Magazine, Financial Times as the moderator of the first panel discussion. Throwing light on the region’s opportunities in various sectors that attract European investors and encourage them to first establish and then later expand their businesses, the discussion will touch on the economic impact of the UK’s ‘Brexit’ decision to leave the European Union. It will also explore the factors that have played a significant role in boosting the UAE’s and Sharjah’s stature, making the two entities major destinations for investment, business and industry.
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investment
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APAC Insider Magazine / September 2016
investment
“The UAE has long been recognised as a main financial and trading hub and a gateway to the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia. Despite a global foreign direct investment lull in 2014, investment in the UAE rose by 25% to reach US$13 billion (AED47.5 billion), reinforcing its position as one of the most stable and business friendly-destinations in the region,” said HE Marwan bin Jassim Al Sarkal, CEO of Shurooq. “The UAE’s story of economic success is the fruit of efforts from its seven emirates, with the emirate of Sharjah having a strong presence on the country’s economic map. In recent years, Sharjah has succeeded in diversifying its economy, becoming a significant economic power in the process. It has strived to achieve further growth in its key economic sectors, notably tourism and leisure, healthcare, eco-development, and transport and logistics,” he added. “Despite the global financial crisis, Sharjah has managed to maintain high growth rates and has positioned itself as an environment ripe with opportunities for international investors. Businesspersons and entrepreneurs are keen to make the most of its strategic location, its connections with its neighbouring emirates and its economic free zones that are designed to facilitate and integrate business growth,” Al Sarkal emphasised.
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“The Sharjah FDI Forum 2016 is an ideal platform that allows us to highlight Sharjah and its unique investment assets and attractions. Sharjah enjoys historical links with the UK and mainland Europe that date back to the 18th century – these serve as an incentive to take our distinguished relations to new and greater heights by enhancing bilateral trade and drawing in more investments,” said Mohammed Al Musharrakh, Director of Sharjah FDI at Shurooq. Al Musharrakh underlined the need to highlight the importance of Sharjah as an open gateway to world markets that enables European companies to target markets that include South Asia, Australia and India. “The emirate’s sophisticated infrastructure and legislative structure enrich its investment climate with unique advantages that give a further boost to long-term investment,” he added. “The hosting of major economic forums is important to attract investors and decision makers, as they function as platforms where stakeholders can get to know each other and share their views directly. This enables them to establish business networks, discover mutual interests and explore potential opportunities. The Sharjah FDI Forum 2016 will emphasise that the emirate has become a leading global communication event for industry leaders,” he continued. Bilateral trade between the UAE and the UK hit a record in 2015 after reaching AED73 billion, with the UAE Ministry of Economy saying that the two countries aspire to double this figure to AED152.7 by 2020. According to the World Investment Report 2015 issued by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the accumulated foreign investments in the UAE rose to $126 billion (AED462.4 billion) by the end of 2015. The Sharjah FDI Forum has been established to provide an unrivalled opportunity to examine investment outlook in the UAE in general and Sharjah in particular, as well highlight the array of opportunities available across the emirate’s economic sectors. The forum will bring together high level, multi-stakeholder audience comprised of policy-makers, officials, economists and academics.
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investment
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APAC Insider Magazine / September 2016
investment
South Asian Countries of Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal to Invest $8.1bn in Smart Grid Infrastructure to Modernize Power Sectors
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Multilateral funding will spur deployments in an otherwise challenging region. South Asian countries’ power sectors are struggling due to increasing pressure from rising electricity demand, failure to collect revenue and poor reliability. With the aid of multilateral and bilateral lending organizations, these countries will make significant investments in smart grid infrastructure over the next decade to modernize their grids, particularly in the metering segment. Smart grid investment is projected to total $8.1 billion over the period 2016-2026 with additional investment in prepaid metering, according to a new study published by Northeast Group, LLC. “The South Asian region is facing a number of challenges, including the highest transmission and distribution (T&D) loss rates and highest projected GDP growth rates of any region in the world,” according to Ben Gardner, president of Northeast Group. “There are already large-scale plans to address these challenges, including a $177 million AMI investment plan in Pakistan and a target to deploy prepaid meters to all residential customers in Bangladesh.” The four South Asian countries covered in the study–Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and Nepal–all have low per-capita consumption and a history of stalled power sector projects. But many of these hurdles will be overcome through large-scale funding from the Asian Development Bank (ADB), World Bank, and bi-lateral aid organizations such as USAID and the German KfW. The ADB in particular has pledged nearly $1bn in aid for overall power sector development in Pakistan. Additionally, large-scale smart grid plans in India will have positive spillovers in the region. Both local and international vendors are active in projects throughout the region. Major global vendors such as EDMI/Osaki, GE, Itron, Landis+Gyr, Secure Meters, and others are all involved in the region’s activity. There is also an increasing presence of Chinese vendors pursuing projects. Local vendors are led by the Pakistani vendor MicroTech, as well as several Bangladeshi vendors active in the country’s prepaid rollout. Web address: www.northeast-group.com
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investment
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APAC Insider Magazine / September 2016
property
APAC’s Leading Property Summit, MIPIM Asia, to Examine Burgeoning Industry Trends of Technology Disruption and Innovation
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Renowned global real estate event to host 90 international speakers and keynote presentations in Hong Kong.
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MIPIM Asia Summit, the annual property leaders’ meeting in Asia Pacific organised by Reed MIDEM, has launched its preliminary programme for its 2016 edition in Hong Kong next November. MIPIM Asia 2016 will feature the world’s leading real estate execution and experts operating in the Asia Pacific region for a two-day summit. The 2016 edition will examine emerging industry trends of real estate disruption and property technology innovation, under the theme “Real Estate Disruption: Take a Step Ahead”. The event will be held 29-30 November 2016 at the Grand Hyatt, Hong Kong. MIPIM Asia has been established as the premier industry event for professionals and companies operating within Asia’s property industry. It draws over 900 attendees from 30 countries, including international real estate executives, corporate business leaders, public and government sector representatives and academics. The headlining session, “Disruption! Take a Step Ahead” will feature keynotes from leading global corporate directors and CEOs, including Dr Jonathan Woetzel, Director of McKinsey & Company, China; George Hongchoy, Executive Director and CEO, Link Asset Management Limited; and Grant Kelley, Chief Executive Officer, City Developments Limited. The opening session will include debates on disruption and its impact on the property industry.
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property
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APAC Insider Magazine / September 2016
property
“Asian real estate faces a perfect storm of rising demand from urbanisation even as the working population ages and technology changes the nature of both demand and supply for construction,” Dr Woetzel said. “MIPIM Asia will examine how Asian companies respond, what will be the breakthroughs that reshape the industry, and who will be the sustainable winners?” George Hongchoy, Executive Director and CEO, Link Asset Management Limited, said “This year’s MIPIM Asia Summit will explore worldwide developments that are triggering economic and technological disruption in the property industry. At Link, we view disruption as an opportunity to pioneer new strategies, from Big Data and e-commerce to O2O, as a way to enhance shoppers’ experience. The Summit will provide the perfect stage for us to collaborate with our peers on these topics.” The MIPIM Asia Summit is derived from the global Reed Midem feature real estate showcase, MIPIM Cannes. The four-day Cannes event is the world’s leading property market summit, bringing together over 23,500 the most influential players from all international property sectors, offering access to the greatest number of development projects and sources of capital, worldwide.
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“Since its inception, our MIPIM Asia Summit has evolved into the leading event for Asian and international investors seeking strategic guidance and insights for inbound and outbound investment flows, regional development opportunities and projects, and market trends in the real estate sector.” Filippo Rean, Reed Midem’s Real Estate Division Director said. “MIPIM Asia draws upon the global success of our signature Cannes event, which is known to see thousands of attendees exchange an estimated one million business cards daily, making it the world’s most prolific real estate networking event.” The full MIPIM Asia Summit 2016 programme and speaker line-up will be released in October. Many of the world’s most prolific commercial and residential real estate corporations will be represented, with keynote speakers leading expert panels and presentations. The summit includes more than 30 strategic sessions for investors, developers and occupiers, 90 guest speakers, numerous networking events and the prestigious MIPIM Asia Awards Gala dinner, celebrating the best new real estate projects across the Asia Pacific region. Additional MIPIM Asia Summit 2016 Conference Highlights: • A critical breakout session focusing on the vast political implications of Brexit and the US election will analyse the long-term political and economic impact on the global real estate industry, and will include vital panel deliberations regarding the consequences for Asian investors. • Reed MIDEM will also present its MIPIM Start-up Competition 2017, an international real estate start-up contest for the most promising and innovative new companies seeking to solve urban challenges around the world. The MIPIM Start-up Competition 2017 is organised with global real estate tech partner MetaProp NYC. In addition to Hong Kong, it is being hosted in major international hubs for property tech: New York and London. • Meet the Chairman Round Table: Facing the challenge of real estate disruption • Co-working Spaces: A future hotbed for China real estate investment
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property
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APAC Insider Magazine / September 2016
property
Key Objectives Driving Strategic Real Estate in Saudi Arabia
The National Transformation Plan identifies the property sector as a key player in diversifying the Kingdom’s economy and reducing its dependence on oil.
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Earlier this year, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia released a set of strategic objectives and key performance indicators aimed at expanding the non-oil economy. The National Transformation Plan identifies the property sector as a key player in diversifying the Kingdom’s economy and reducing its dependence on oil. Under the new plan, both the public and private sector are encouraged to take a role in ensuring the growth of the property sector through a number of initiatives: • Introducing a real estate investment trust. This is likely to institutionalize the real estate market and attract foreign investments into commercial property such as office buildings, retail centres and hotels. In turn, this will provide diversity, long term growth and stability. • Levying a white land tax on undeveloped land. An annual 2.5% tax on the land value of undeveloped plots of 10,000 sq. metres aims at encouraging land owners to develop more homes to the market to tackle the current shortage of housing. • Developing a home-building programme. The Ministry of Housing announced plans to create its own property company and offer a mortgage guarantee fund to boost the rate of lending. Stefan Burch, Head of Knight Frank KSA commented, “Over the medium-to-long term these development strategies are expected to transform cities for the better, improving the quality of life while maintaining affordability and safety of the local communities. In the short run, the approval of a white land tax on undeveloped land is expected to see land owners review their holdings and portfolios in order to be well positioned in light of the proposed tax. Meanwhile, others might seek to sell their sites which should help reduce land values and consequently make development more feasible. This in turn is likely to increase development activity across the Kingdom.”
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property
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APAC Insider Magazine / September 2016
technology
Cloud Technology Enables Australian Businesses to Capitalise On Globalisation Opportunities
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Moving to Cloud ERP is a critical factor for successful internationalisation of local businesses.
Frost & Sullivan research commissioned by NetSuite Inc., the industry’s leading provider of cloud financials / ERP and omnichannel commerce software suites, has revealed that companies in Australia are not yet capitalising on international expansion opportunities that have been made possible through cloud technology. The Frost & Sullivan study of more than 800 senior executives (CEOs, CFOs and Finance Managers, CIOs and other senior managers) from across Australia, Hong Kong, New Zealand, the Philippines and Singapore was carried out to understand how business confidence in exploring international opportunities is changing to keep pace with industry demand and how cloud technology plays a role in global expansion. The study found that companies using cloud computing are far more likely to have capitalised on international business opportunities than those that are still primarily using on premise systems. According to the research, 61 percent of Australian businesses currently operate domestically only. This contrasts sharply with businesses in Hong Kong and Singapore, where only 30 percent and 42 percent of businesses respectively are domestic only. Additionally, just 28 percent of Australian businesses are planning to enter additional overseas markets in the next five years, according to the research. The findings also showed that overseas expansion is viewed as a primary growth engine for businesses in Singapore and Hong Kong (average of 70 percent), yet not for Australian companies (55 percent). Conversely, almost one fifth of Australian companies (19 percent) perceive globalisation to be a threat to their business. “The last few years have seen a concerted effort by the Australian government to encourage international expansion, including the creation of several Free Trade Agreements, so it’s surprising to see that Australian businesses are not responding to this opportunity more enthusiastically. With other markets in Asia pursuing globalisation aggressively, Australia is in danger of falling be-
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technology
hind,” said Mark Dougan, Managing Director for Australia and New Zealand at Frost & Sullivan. “Australian businesses need to look beyond the obvious barriers of distance and complexity, and find enabling technologies like cloud which will enable them to start taking advantage of the possibilities that internationalisation offers.” Cloud Adoption Plays Key Role in Internationalisation Frost & Sullivan believes that there is a strong relationship between the use of the cloud to access IT resources and the degree to which a business is internationalised. According to the research, 70 percent of organisations that currently use the cloud1 are internationalised, compared to only 22 percent of non-cloud users. Furthermore, 71 percent of cloud users have entered new geographic markets in the past five years, compared to only 31 percent of non-cloud users. Lower operating costs are seen as a major benefit of deploying cloud solutions in internationalisation. Mark Dougan added, “The research shows a clear linkage, by a factor of three, between companies using cloud–based software, and becoming international. Leveraging a cloud based business platform is a good place for all businesses to start when considering how to tackle overseas expansion.” Lee Thompson, SVP, APJ at NetSuite commented: “Many of our Australian customers have used NetSuite OneWorld as their ERP platform for international growth. NetSuite OneWorld can allow you to navigate the complexity of doing business globally without the usual barriers to entry. Numerous customers have built global success on the back of our platform, and have been surprised by how seamless the process can be.” Enabling the ‘Born Global Business’ The survey also shows how the rapidly evolving business environment has paved the way for ‘born global’ businesses to emerge. These businesses have successfully internationalised, leapfrogging the traditional expansion stages and entering overseas markets at an extremely early stage of development. “One distinctive feature of these businesses is their ability to leverage IT solutions and platforms to quickly scale their business into overseas markets. They typically undertake critical business functions such as accounting, order processing, taxation and statutory reporting using cloud-based software that is already adapted for international markets, instead of the earlier generation of on-premises software, which requires substantial and costly enhancements to support overseas operations,” concluded Mark Dougan, Managing Director for Australia and New Zealand at Frost & Sullivan.
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APAC Insider Magazine / September 2016
technology
Eight Fintech Start-Ups Enter the FinTech Innovation Lab Asia-Pacific
Accenture and leading financial services firms to mentor financial technology entrepreneurs in 12-week program.
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Eight leading financial technology companies began a 12-week mentorship program in the third annual FinTech Innovation Lab Asia-Pacific. The startups participating in this year’s Lab have developed a range of innovations – from wealth management solutions that are precisely oriented to customers’ investment intents, know your customer (KYC) services that leverage blockchain technology and a fraud prevention program using algorithms based in Chinese-characters to help financial institutions flag risk. Launched by Accenture in Hong Kong in June 2014, the FinTech Innovation Lab Asia-Pacific is a collaboration between Accenture and leading financial institutions. The twelve principle financial institutions are: Bank of America Merrill Lynch, BNP Paribas, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Credit Suisse, Generali, Goldman Sachs, HSBC, J.P. Morgan, Maybank, Morgan Stanley, Sun Life Financial and UBS. In addition, supporting banks include: China CITIC Bank International, China Construction Bank (Asia), Macquarie, Nomura, Standard Chartered, Siam Commercial Bank, Societe Generale, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group (SMFG). The selected start-ups will receive senior-level mentoring to help them develop and commercialize their innovations and connect with potential customers at top institutions. “Most financial institutions are grappling with how to become more efficient, cut costs, comply with regulators and simultaneously increase their interaction with customers,” said Jon Allaway, senior managing director, Financial Services at Accenture. “The start-ups in this year’s Lab offer innovative answers to these problems. With solutions like analytics that make wealth management advice available to more clients, we are seeing how fintech can help institutions deliver better services to their customers.” The eight companies chosen for the Lab will be mentored by leading financial services executives over 12 weeks through a series of workshops at Cyberport,
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technology
panel discussions and coaching sessions on product and business-development. At the end of this year’s program, five of the eight participants will be selected to present their concepts to potential investors and financial industry executives. The 2016 FinTech Innovation Lab Asia-Pacific participants are: ChartIQ – provides securities-specific financial chart and data visualisation products in HTML5. The Charlottesville, Virginia-based start-up, which has offices in New York, London, and Cyprus, has more than 125 customers around the world. Its time-series based charting solutions provide charting and data visualization that can help investment banks, brokerages, trading platforms, and financial portals move from legacy technologies to the future of HTML5. HedgeSPA – is a predictive investment analytics platform that enables investment professionals to tap the internet to improve their performance. With offices in Singapore and California, HedgeSPA applies big data techniques to asset selection. It combines forward-looking market scenarios to reduce portfolio drawdown by as much as 75% and automates day-to-day portfolio management tasks. Users can gain competitive access to cloud-based investment analytics that were previously exclusive and cost prohibitive. KYC-Chain – uses biometrics, emerging technologies and distributed ledger (blockchain) tech to streamline onboarding processes and provide consensus on identity. This enables front line sales and compliance officers to cost-effectively on-board and continuously interact with retail clients and other financial institutions in a secure, consumer-centric encrypted environment. The Singapore-based company’s platform is live and in production at several banks.
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APAC Insider Magazine / September 2016
technology
Lattice – has developed portfolio support software for investors, portfolio managers, risk managers and traders. This Hong Kong-based start-up’s platform contains a view-driven portfolio optimiser and flexible portfolio analytics to help clarify investors’ rationale for precise and quick decisions and implementation. It helps to discover and precisely manipulate intentional or unintentional exposures, to commodities, currencies, sectors or even countries. Once a genuine investment objective is established, Lattice EPD delivers “one-click” balanced portfolio. Privé Managers – is a completely integrated and comprehensive wealth and asset management platform powered by a proprietary bionic advisory engine. The Hong Kong-based start-up’s platform is already being used by several global financial institutions in Asia and Europe. Its modular-based approach meets the diverse needs of financial intermediaries and advisors to more efficiently grow their assets, while reducing costs through technology solutions.
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Seerene – provides insights, actionable analytics and transparency to improve efficiency and streamline costs. Berlin-based, with offices in Hong Kong and New York, Seerene connects to existing data sources within an enterprise, aggregates the information and offers what it calls “an x-ray vision,” viewable on a dashboard. Seerene monitors various dollar-effects of technical debt, digital transformation as well as change across all software stacks, teams and technologies. The aim is to help chief information officers and IT executives improve efficiency and streamline costs. SIORK – helps financial institutions evaluate customer data and detect criminal activities such as fraud and money laundering in both developed and emerging markets. This Tokyo-based start-up, with offices in Taiwan and the U.S. has a product that automatically learns customer behaviours, identifies suspicious events and provides a real-time transaction blocking mechanism to the customer for crime prevention. What makes the product unique is its comprehensive Chinese-character fuzzy matching algorithm with artificial intelligence learning ability that enables global financial institutions to analyse Chinese-character based raw data, such as customer names, and unstructured message information. TNG Wallet – offers an e-wallet for payment to merchants, person-to-person fund transfer, bank transfers and year-round cash withdrawal. It has more than 300,000 active registered users (about four percent of Hong Kong’s population) with extensive top-up points via convenience stores, ATM terminals, credit card and a variety of online banking platforms. This Hong Kong start-up’s e-wallet gives merchants access to an affordable non-cash payment option with low handling fees, improvement in their cash flow through TNG’s fast settlement of transactions with merchants, and a customer relationship management tool that allows merchants to further engage with customers. The FinTech Innovation Lab Asia-Pacific is modelled on a similar program that Accenture co-founded in 2010 with the Partnership Fund for New York City, the US$115 million investment arm of the Partnership for New York City (www. pfnyc.org). In 2012, Accenture and a dozen major banks in London launched the FinTech Innovation Lab London, with support from the city’s mayor and other government bodies. In 2014, Accenture launched FinTech Innovation Labs in Asia-Pacific and Dublin, Ireland. Globally, the Labs’ alumni companies have raised more than US$370 million in financing after participating in the programme. Four companies from the New York FinTech Innovation Lab have been acquired, two in 2015 alone, including Standard Treasury and BillGuard. Web address: www.accenture.com
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technology
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APAC Insider Magazine / September 2016
technology
MYPINPAD Continues Global Expansion with New Asia Pacific Base
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MYPINPAD, an enabler of multi-factor authentication for touchscreen devices such as mobile phones and tablets, is committed to continued growth internationally, expanding in Europe, MENA, Africa and Asia Pacific.
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As part of their expansion, MYPINPAD have recently appointed Morten Hofstad as Head of the Company’s Asia Pacific business. Asia Pacific represents a great opportunity for MYPINPAD and is a key region for its future growth. MYPINPAD Asia, based in Hong Kong, also has a representative office in Jakarta, Indonesia. Initial target markets include Australia, New Zealand, India, Singapore, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, and Thailand. Mobile banking and e-commerce are rapidly expanding channels, and this growth has been even faster in key markets within the Asia Pacific region. The global mobile payment transaction market is expected to reach US$ 768bn in 2016 with Africa and Asia Pacific predicted to remain at the forefront of global demand for years to come. Morten Hofstad, Head of Asia Pacific for MYPINPAD says: “What differentiates the Asian market from Europe, for example, is the low penetration of banked population and even lower penetration of mobile banking applications. This is cause for concern but also an opportunity, as the under-banked population are often deprived of access to certain key services. Our global expansion will enable consumers to use something they know alongside other factors such as something they are and something they have, to provide strong authentication of transactions with a simple, familiar and easy to use PIN.” Currently there are certain services that are intended to cater for the unbanked population, such as wallet solutions that enable users to do local money transfers, pay utilities and other top up services. MYPINPAD’s proprietary technology is perfectly suited to markets where mobile has superseded other online services, and security problems are rife.
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technology
A key impediment to mobile banking or wallet penetration in Asia is the clunky registration process. This is due to either the OTP (one-time password) not being received by the consumers on their handset due to poor network conditions, or the phone number the consumers registered has changed and the consumers have not updated their bank or financial institution. With MYPINPAD, consumers in Asia Pacific will be able to use their cardholder (ATM) PIN to activate their application or to authenticate a transaction, rather relying on the outdated and unreliable OTP service. The issue of OTP reliability and the challenges it poses for financial institutions has been on the agenda of Asia’s central banks for some time. MYPINPAD will implement a solution that provides an enhanced user experience for consumers and more revenue for the bank, payment gateway, or wallet service provider. Web address: www.mypinpad.com
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APAC Insider Magazine / September 2016
technology
Sedafiat Sdn Bhd Goes Live on Ramco ERP
Implements the solution to better manage its support services and automate business operations, across the region.
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Malaysian government-backed Hospital Support Services provider, Sedafiat Sdn. Bhd. has announced that it has successfully gone live with Ramco Systems’ full-suite ERP solution, to manage non-clinical services across 27 hospitals, in the Sabah region. Ramco’s integrated ERP suite digitizes the Accounting, HR & Payroll and Supply Chain Management functions, including Book Keeping, Inventory, Procurement, Employee Information, Leave and Time Management, among the others. With an automated system in place, Sedafiat is well placed to manage operations spanning across Facility Management, Maintenance (Engineering & Bio-medical), Cleansing, Linen & Laundry Services and Healthcare Waste Management Services among others. Commenting on the successful go-live, Datuk Awang Buhtamam Awang Mahmun, CEO, Sedafiat Sdn. Bhd., said “Ramco’s integrated ERP software has created a unified platform from which we can offer comprehensive support for Malaysia’s leading public healthcare institutions. This suite has significantly streamlined our financial reporting functions and enabled us to better channel our resources.” Virender Aggarwal, CEO, Ramco Systems, added, “Ramco ERP has been gaining strong foothold in the APAC region. The comprehensiveness of the solution coupled with new-age features around Mobility, HUB and Bots has been helping us deliver customer delight. We are pleased to aid Sedafiat in its support of public healthcare by giving the business a powerful technology backbone, which gives the management the visibility and helps in streamlining operations across people, processes and projects.” Ramco ERP as a post-modern and single integrated ERP platform has been delivering significant innovation, cost savings, and superior business processes to organizations, globally. Ramco’s focus on innovations in usability, context-awareness, mobility, overall flexibility, apart from comprehensive set of functionality has enabled smooth transitions possible for customers.
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technology
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APAC Insider Magazine / September 2016
technology
Southeast Asia’s E-Commerce Market to Surpass US$25 Billion by 2020
Despite market challenges, Southeast Asia’s E-Commerce Market is predicted to surpass US$25 billion by 2020, finds Frost & Sullivan.
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Southeast Asia is poised to become one of the world’s fastest-growing regions for e-commerce revenues, exceeding US$25 billion by 2020. In 2015, the market earned US$11 billion despite several acquisitions, market exits, and many online retailers struggling to achieve profitability. While significant challenges persist, Frost & Sullivan remains optimistic about the growth potential of e-commerce in Southeast Asia. Analysis of the Southeast Asian E-commerce Market is new research from Frost & Sullivan’s Telecommunications and Digital Services (Digital Transformation) Growth Partnership Service program. The report examines market trends and opportunities in 6 key Southeast Asian markets such as Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam with forecasts to 2020. Key findings highlighted in the analysis are as follows: Rapid growth to continue as industry evolves Total revenues from business-to-consumer (B2C) e-commerce in the 6 largest Southeast Asian countries will increase at a CAGR of 17.7%. Malaysia and Thailand were the largest e-commerce markets in Southeast Asia in 2015, generating revenues of US$2.3 billion and US$2.1 billion respectively. Nevertheless, by 2020, both of these markets are expected to be eclipsed by emerging economies in Southeast Asia including Vietnam and Indonesia. “Despite being relatively young, the e-commerce market in Southeast Asia is developing quickly, thanks to the astounding rate of digital adoption in the region,” stated Cris Duy Tran, Lead Consultant in e-Commerce, Digital Transformation, at Frost & Sullivan Asia-Pacific. “However, companies pursuing an Amazon-style B2C mass market business model are struggling to turn a profit and there have been several mergers and acquisitions and market exits in 2015,” he added.
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technology
“With fewer players in the market, e-commerce players are beginning to compete beyond price points and logistics and moving into new areas such as Online-to-Offline (O2O) e-commerce and loyalty programs,” said Tran. Although the mass marketing approach has not worked so far in Southeast Asia, there are many exciting opportunities in specialized e-commerce and P2P e-commerce. Services such as Carousell, Tokopedia and Shopee are aggressively pursuing a ‘mobile first’ strategy, and Frost & Sullivan expects to see more sector-specific services in areas such as travel, food delivery, and luxury goods. Market challenges to remain While the opportunities for growth are immense, the e-commerce market in Southeast Asia is not without its challenges. Frost & Sullivan has identified several key factors inhibiting growth. These include low credit card ownership that stands at less than 7% in all Southeast Asia markets except for Singapore and Malaysia. In some countries, more than 50% of the population does not have bank accounts, making payment the biggest challenge for e-commerce companies in the region. Logistics is another issue hampering the growth of e-commerce in Southeast Asia, especially in areas with complex geographies such as Indonesia and the Philippines. However, recent investments by regional logistics players such as aCommerce and SingPost to strengthen the e-commerce logistics infrastructure in these markets could accelerate the growth of online retail in the region. The rapid expansion of the Chinese e-commerce market is providing further impetus for online retail growth in Southeast Asia. “In 2015, the e-commerce revenue in China represented 12.1% of all retail sales, surpassing the US, Europe, and Japan. Given the massive adoption of e-commerce in China, Southeast Asia is set to follow a similar upward trajectory; even though at present, e-commerce only represents less than 2.5% of all retail sales. The region is well-positioned for more M&A activities during the forecast period, and we expect to see more exciting market developments in the near future,” noted Tran. Web address: www.frost.com
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APAC Insider Magazine / September 2016
technology
Top Ransomware Families Making Their Way Through APAC Region
Computer users in Japan are experiencing a spread of ransomware, affecting their cybersecurity.
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SecureWorks® Counter Threat Unit (CTU)® researchers have tracked the spread of several notorious ransomware families to the Asia-Pacific region, underscoring efforts by some attackers to localise their tools to target multiple geographies. According to the CTU, the current top four ransomware families - Locky, Cerber, CryptXXX and TorrentLocker – are targeting computer users in Japan with localized versions of their threats. In addition, the threat actors behind CryptXXX have developed a localized version for South Korea as well. “Unlike other types of malware that are mostly designed to compromise the system covertly, ransomware requires end-user interaction to achieve its goal – collecting ransom,” explained SecureWorks researcher You Nakatsuru. “This makes localizing the threat particularly useful to attackers.” Localisation can take one or all of the following forms: attackers can write ransomware messages in the local language; strategically compromise local websites; deliver the ransomware via spam campaigns in the local language; or provide payment instruments using local bitcoin wallet and exchange market lists. In Japan in particular, SecureWorks has noted a spike in ransomware infections starting in 2015. Before that, ransomware infections were not that common in the region because ransomware was primarily delivered via spam emails written in English. As a result, Japan-based computer users tended not to fall prey to the malicious emails. However, since 2015 there has been an uptick in ransomware in the area being distributed using exploit kits, and ransomware authors have started developing multi-language ransomware such as Locky. The effort by cyber attackers to localise their weapons highlights the importance of information sharing and situational awareness, as a threat in one geographical region can soon become a threat in another. Below is a chart of when several ransomware families were initially spotted in the region by members of the security community. The dates noted in the table below are the first reported dates from each Asia-Pacific country’s national Computer Security Incident Response Team.
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APAC Insider Magazine / September 2016
technology
Table 1. Initial ransomware incident reported in each geographical area
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HK – Hong Kong, China MY – Malaysia JP – Japan KR – Republic of Korea (S. Korea) TW – Chinese Taipei (Taiwan) MO – Macao *pink cells with (localized) included are the dates on which a localised version variant were discovered. The exact Japan discovery date for Cerber is unknown, aside from it being discovered in March. CTU researchers discovered that the Locky ransomware was being used by threat actors to target computer users in Asia-Pacific during Q12016, the very same time the ransomware was being used to infect victims in North America and EMEA, indicating that the threat actors were targeting multiple countries during the same timeframe. Localisation can happen at different paces. For example, despite the English version of CryptXXX being reported in the region in April 2016, a localized version of the ransomware was not reported in Japan and South Korea until May 2016. In contrast, the CTU team noted that it took nearly a year and a half for a localized version of CryptoLocker to be identified in South Korea after the English version was reported in Hong Kong. This localised version is believed to be the work of a different group. However, in the case of CryptXXX, CTU suspects that the localised variant that appeared in May is the work of the same threat actors using CryptXXX elsewhere in the region. Any time gap between the discovery of threats in different regions offers an opportunity for other areas to proactively protect themselves against attacks. While “local” malware variants may use different infrastructures and network indicators, such as IPs and domains, countermeasures designed to detect/ filter ransomware command and control (C2) packets will be still effective unless significant change in C2 protocol occurs.
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technology
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APAC Insider Magazine / September 2016
deals
PMsquare and Cornerstone Performance Management Announce Merger
Equiteq advises on merger of PMsquare’s Australian and Asian consulting businesses with Cornerstone performance management.
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Equiteq is pleased to announce that its client, PMsquare has merged its Australian and Asian businesses with Cornerstone Performance Management. Equiteq, a consulting sector M&A specialist, acted as exclusive financial advisor to PMsquare, in relation to the merger.
so it was a logical step to merge our organizations and take Cornerstone’s solutions to the Asia Pacific market. This dramatically increases Cornerstone’s footprint in the Asia Pacific region and allows us to bring innovative solutions to a broader range of organizations in the region.”
Both organizations are IBM Premier Business Partners with a focus on the Business Analytics solution set. However, the primary geographical focus of PMsquare is in Singapore and the Philippines, whereas Cornerstone has traditionally been focused on the Australian market. PMSquare’s Australian operations will be absorbed directly into Cornerstone Australia in the coming months, whilst the Asian region will retain PMsquare’s branding as part of the Cornerstone Group.
Carsten Brandt added, “Jason and I are very excited to join Cornerstone and continue developing with them an Asian operation with large business opportunities to be delivered from Singapore and the Philippines. I am grateful to Equiteq for the valuable support their APAC team have provided throughout the process, from the preparation phase to the closing of the deal.”
The merged Cornerstone and PMsquare business creates a strong regional player in the Asia-Pacific market, delivering budgeting & forecasting, business intelligence and information management solutions. Piers Wilson and Hamish Dwight from Cornerstone will head up the combined operations, while Carsten Brandt and Jason Rankin from PMsquare will implement Cornerstone’s ambitious growth strategy in Asia. In doing so, they will be leveraging PMsquare’s established footprint and reputation in the region, as exemplified by the SBR International Business Award for Consulting that PMsquare Singapore have received for the third consecutive year. Piers Wilson, Director, Cornerstone Group said, “We are extremely pleased to be joining forces with PMsquare. They have a talented team and combining with them allows us to continue our growth in Australia as well as embark on a more aggressive growth strategy in Asia. Traditionally PMsquare and Cornerstone have concentrated on delivering solutions to different industry segments and regions,
Pierre Briand, Equiteq’s Managing Partner for Australia and New-Zealand commented, “I am delighted to see that since we opened an office in Australia last January, our first deal is a great example of an Australian business having successfully delivered on a growth strategy in Asia. Equiteq APAC is proud to have contributed to this success story for the owners, with more to come through the joining of forces with Cornerstone.” Web address: www.equiteq.com
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deals
Sany Wins Massive Mobile Port Machinery Deal in Saudi Arabia
The order of 31 units of mobile port machinery is the largest mobile port machinery order for Sany. Sany Port Machinery, a subsidiary of Sany Group, has won the order for 31 units of mobile port machinery to King Abdul Aziz Port in Dammam, Saudi Arabia. This marks Sany’s largest ever mobile port machinery order. The deal with Saudi Arabia’s second-largest port (the largest port in the Persian Gulf) is valued at almost US $7.5 million. Sany will provide 10T - 46T forklifts, reach stackers and container handlers, as well as special attachments for handling bulk cargo such as steel pipes and steel coils.
manufacturing plants in Changsha and Zhuhai, China. At these locations Sany engineers more than 150 models of mobile port machinery, large port machinery, and marine equipment. Since 2011, the number of Sany machines used at ports and in container yards in Saudi Arabia has risen from 8 to nearly 100. The company has used a strong network of dealers to distribute machinery and promote its brand throughout Saudi Arabia. As a result, Sany now holds a 35% market share for mobile port machinery in the country.
“Sany Port Machinery is extremely reliable and engineered to meet local customer needs,” said Sany Port Machinery’s Middle East regional manager. “Sany and its local dealers work together to deliver timely and reliable service to our customers. Our efforts to ensure that we provide efficient part delivery has earned us recognition from our customers and led to the success of our business.”
Two Sany post-Panamax container cranes and a rubber-tired gantry crane are used at the Yanbu Commercial Port on the East Coast of the Red Sea.
Sany Port Machinery was established in 2010 and has since become a global leader in the development and manufacture of high-performance logistics equipment. It has established two world-class
Winning the large order from King Abdul Aziz Port will bolster Sany Port Machinery’s market presence in Saudi Arabia. Sany will continue to make more inroads in the Middle Eastern market.
Sany’s STS6101, a ship-to-shore container crane, has been stationed at one of the most significant seaports in Saudi Arabia, the Port of Jeddah, since 2015. This port links the East-West trade routes.
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Fund Management Experts in Asia and Africa WINNER Asian Fund of Hedge Funds 2014
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