ESR achieves APAC’s first WELL Gold Certification for logistics real estate and attains LEED Gold certification in South Korea

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SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA / HONG KONG, CHINA – Media OutReach – 23 January 2020 – ESR Cayman Limited (“ESR” or the “Group”; SEHK Stock Code: 1821), the leading pan-Asia logistics platform and the largest owner of logistics stock by GFA and the largest development pipeline in the Seoul Metropolitan Area, has received APAC’s first WELL Gold Certification with the Bucheon Logistics Park in South Korea from International WELL Building Institute’s (IWBI) WELL Building Standard (WELL), for its outstanding achievements in creating a work environment that promotes health and wellness.

In addition to WELL, the Bucheon facility, together with the Goyang Logistics Park, have both attained the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Gold Certification for their environmentally friendly initiatives.

Thomas Nam, CEO of ESR-Kendall Square, ESR’s South Korean platform, remarked, “Accelerating e-commerce growth has spurred a rising demand for modern, large-scale logistics facilities in the country, in particular among multinational companies and major local corporations, for which sustainability is an increasingly prime consideration. In meeting this growing need, we have taken the initiative to provide sustainable, high-performing facilities for our clients. 

“We are very proud to be the first logistics property developer in APAC to be awarded the WELL Gold certification. Together with the LEED Gold certification, these accolades are a testament to our enduring commitment to promoting sustainability and providing best-in-class logistics properties that help our people and our clients thrive.”

WELL, a globally recognised performance-based rating system, assesses building design and performance for human health and wellness in work environment. The Gold certification process has stringent focus on ten key factors: air, water, nourishment, light, movement, thermal comfort, sound, materials, mind, and community with a significant enhancement on the well-being of employees.   

Developed by the U.S. Green Building Council, LEED is an internationally recognised symbol of excellence for sustainable development which assesses green building design, construction, operations and maintenance solutions.

ESR’s state-of-the-art logistics facilities are noted for their approach to sustainability from planning to implementation. The facilities in Bucheon and Goyang introduce a range of initiatives on energy and resource savings, recycling performance enhancement and environmental-impact reductions.

Energy efficient lighting, energy recovery ventilation, water efficient landscape and utilisation of water-use reduction components, to collection and storage of recyclables are just some of the sustainability and resilience features incorporated into the assets.

Moreover, on top of non-CFC refrigerant management and the use of low-emitting materials, fuel-efficient vehicle parking zone, car pool zone and bicycle storage are, among others, included to improve air quality.

Jeffrey Shen and Stuart Gibson, co-founders and co-CEOs of ESR, said, “Sustainability and the wellness of our people have always
been at the forefront of our strategic priorities. At ESR, we are dedicated
to delivering best-in-class properties and making a significant positive impact
on the communities and environment that we are in. By championing integrated
logistics warehousing solutions, we will continue to drive and take the innovation
and development of the logistics real estate industry to the next level with
the highest quality facilities.”

Committed to its recently published Sustainability Policy, ESR’s high
quality logistics assets across the APAC region have received recognition for
their high standard of sustainability performance. This includes numerous LEED certified
buildings within the portfolio, in addition to, ABINC (The Association for
Business Innovation in harmony with Nature and Community) and
CASBEE (Comprehensive Assessment System for Built Environment Efficiency) certifications
in Japan.

In
addition to the WELL and LEED certifications, ESR also attained a 5 Star rating
in the 2019 GRESB benchmark.

DStv and GOtv Customers catch an all-new series, Mao Mao: Heroes of Pure Heart makes its debut on Cartoon Network!

On 27 January, Cartoon Network will introduce DStv and GOtv customers to a crime-fighting samurai cat named Sheriff Mao Mao with its brand-new original series Mao Mao: Heroes of Pure Heart – a show about adventure, friendship, and what it really means to be a hero.

Make way for Mao Mao, the explosive loner on a quest to become legendary, Badgerclops, the cyborg slacker, and Adorabat, the adorable sidekick as they overcome their differences and work together to protect the people of Pure Heart Valley from monsters, villains and everything in between.

 

In Pure Heart Valley, Sheriff Mao Mao may be impressive, even heroic, but he’s still got a lot to learn. On his journey, Mao Mao will learn that being a legend isn’t about flashy moves and dangerous quests; it’s about what you do that makes people remember and admire you.

Mao Mao: Heroes of Pure Heart is the brainchild of Parker Simmons and produced by Cartoon Network Studios and Titmouse.  You can follow Mao Mao’s quest to become a legend when Mao Mao: Heroes of Pure Heart premieres on Monday, 27 January at 03:20 PM, only on Cartoon Network, DStv channel 301 and GOtv channel 67 (Ghana 158, Uganda 356).

Bawumia, VP of Ghana, Osinbajo to headline Airtel Touching Lives Premiere

The Vice President of the Republic of Ghana, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, will join his Nigerian counterpart, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, as Special Guest of Honour at the premiere of Airtel Touching Lives Season 5 to be hosted on January 25th by mobile telecommunication giant, Airtel Nigeria.

The event, which will also be attended by the Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, will feature top government officials, captains of industry and top media executives and will showcase Airtel’s flagship Corporate Social Responsibility initiative, Airtel Touching Lives, aimed at providing succour to less privileged members of society.

In its fifth year, the event highlights several social investments by the telco in support of government’s pursuit of the Sustainable Development Goals, covering infrastructure, healthcare, poverty alleviation and empowerment.

Commenting on the event, the Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of Airtel Nigeria, Segun Ogunsanya, said: “Airtel is passionate about promoting Corporate Philanthropy and will continue to rally important stakeholders across different sectors and geographies to support the weak and underprivileged persons across society.”

“Airtel Nigeria is inspired to promote corporate philanthropy and sustainability and our Touching Lives platform affords us an opportunity to showcase our efforts through the years and also seek to encourage other entities as well as well-spirited individuals to join hands in improving our society,” he said.

Airtel Touching Lives is an inspiring corporate social responsibility initiative that seeks to offer practical relief, succour, hope, opportunities and credible platforms to liberate and empower the underprivileged, disadvantaged and hard-to-reach persons in the society.

The activities of the show are recorded and produced for national television with a view to promoting the spirit of giving, self-sacrifice and love among Nigerians. Since Airtel launched the Touching Lives initiative five years ago, it has achieved remarkable successes having restored hope of despaired individuals and families, saved many from the throes of death and empowered many underprivileged Nigerians.

Oxford Dictionary adds Okada, Danfo, Mama Put, 26 other Nigerian words, expressions

A total of 29 Nigerian words and expressions have been included in the Oxford English Dictionary January updates.

They include, ‘Ember Month’, ‘Danfo’, ‘Non-indigene’, ‘Guber’, ‘Tokunbo’, ‘MamaPut’, ‘Kannywood’ and ‘Next Tomorrow’.

Kannywood, which refers to the film industry in northern Nigeria, is believed to be the youngest expression on the list.

Another new entry on the list is ‘Next tomorrow’. The expression is regarded as the oldest among the over 25 uniquely Nigerian words/expressions.

According to OED, ‘Next Tomorrow’ was first used in written English as a noun in 1953, and as an adverb in 1964.

Others words like ‘Buka,’ ‘Bukateria’ and ‘Severally’ also made the cut.

On its website, the OED editors noted that they have been expanding their representation of written and spoken pronunciations from an increasing number of global varieties of English since 2016.

“This was the perfect opportunity for OED’s pronunciation team to add a West African English model to our World English coverage, bringing our current total to fifteen,” their statement read.

It also noted the key source for the West African English model, was Ulrike Gut, who has worked extensively on Nigerian English. They also acknowledged the contribution of consultant, Kingsley Ugwuanyi.

The full list of the new entries are highlighted below:

  • Agric, adj. & n.
  • Barbing salon, n.
  • Buka, n.
  • Bukateria, n.
  • Chop, v./6
  • Chop-chop, n./2
  • Danfo, n.
  • To eat money, in eat, v.
  • Ember months, n.
  • Flag-off, n.
  • To flag off in flag, v.
  • Gist, n./3
  • Gist, v./2
  • Guber, adj.
  • Kannywood, n.
  • K-leg, n.
  • Mama put, n.
  • Next tomorrow, n. & adv.
  • Non-indigene, adj. & n.
  • Okada, n.
  • To put to bed,
  • in put, v
  • Qualitative, adj.
  • To rub minds (together) in rub, v./1
  • Sef, adv.
  • Send-forth, n.
  • Severally, adv.
  • Tokunbo, adj.
  • Zone, v.
  • Zoning, n.

The full list is available on the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) website.

OED publishes four updates a year. The next update will be added to the dictionary in March 2020.

Trend Micro Creates Factory Honeypot and Traps Malicious Attackers

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Six-month investigation results can help inform protection strategy for industrial environments

 

HONG KONG, CHINA – Media OutReach – 22 January 2020 – Trend Micro Incorporated (TYO: 4704; TSE: 4704),
a global leader in cybersecurity solutions, today announced the results of a
six-month honeypot imitating an industrial factory. The highly sophisticated
Operational Technology (OT) honeypot attracted fraud and financially motivated
exploits.

 

The six-month investigation revealed that
unsecured industrial environments are primarily victims of common threats. The
honeypot was compromised for cryptocurrency mining, targeted by two separate
ransomware attacks, and used for consumer fraud.

 

“Too often, discussion of cyber
threats to industrial control systems (ICS) has been confined to highly
sophisticated, nation-state level attacks designed to sabotage key processes.
While these do present a risk to Industry 4.0, our research proves that more
commonplace threats are more likely,” said Greg Young, vice president of
cybersecurity for Trend Micro. “Owners of smaller factories and industrial
plants should therefore not assume that criminals will leave them alone. A lack
of basic protections can open the door to a relatively straightforward
ransomware or cryptojacking attack that could have serious consequences for the
bottom line.”

 

To better understand the attacks
targeting ICS environments, Trend Micro Research created a highly realistic,
industrial prototyping company. The honeypot consisted of real ICS hardware and
a mix of physical hosts and virtual machines to run the factory, which included
several programmable logic controllers (PLCs), human machine interfaces (HMIs),
separate robotic and engineering workstations and a file server.

 

Trend Micro urges smart factory owners
to minimize the number of ports they leave open and to tighten access control
policies, among other cybersecurity best practices. In addition, implementing
cybersecurity solutions designed for factories, like those offered by Trend
Micro, can help further mitigate the risk of attack.

 

To read more
about the research, including the design and deployment of the honeypot itself,
please visit: https://www.trendmicro.com/vinfo/hk/security/news/internet-of-things/fake-company-real-threats-logs-from-a-smart-factory-honeypot.

About Trend Micro

Trend Micro
Incorporated, a global leader in cybersecurity solutions, helps to make the
world safe for exchanging digital information. Our innovative solutions for
consumers, businesses, and governments provide layered security for data
centers, cloud environments, networks, and endpoints. All our products work
together to seamlessly share threat intelligence and provide a connected threat
defense with centralized visibility and control, enabling better, faster
protection. With more than 6,000 employees in over 50 countries and the world’s
most advanced global threat intelligence, Trend Micro secures your connected
world. For more information, visit
www.trendmicro.com.hk.

Etiqa joins industry lead body NATAS in leading travel excellence as Official Travel Insurer

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SINGAPORE – Media OutReach – 22 January
2020 – Etiqa Insurance has been named as the NATAS
Official Travel Insurance Partner by the National Association of Travel Agents
Singapore (NATAS) from 2020 to 2022. With a vision to be the Travel Insurer of
Choice in Singapore, Etiqa is committed to working with NATAS and its members
towards sustainable growth and profitability in the travel industry.

Amid
the development of new technologies and faster innovation cycles in the local
market, Etiqa — the insurance arm and a member of Maybank Group – recognises
the need for significant partnerships to build an effective ecosystem, and has
pledged support to NATAS and its members to strive towards service excellence,
agility and the delivery of quality customer experiences.

“Outbound
departures by Singapore residents had crossed the 10 million mark in 2018 and
will heighten in the next few years. NATAS has always been a strong advocate of
travel insurance and believes that a comprehensive travel insurance is
fundamental to smart travelling. The association is excited to partner Etiqa
Insurance to effectively drive this message across to all travellers via the
biannual NATAS Travel Fairs and various marketing outreach initiatives. Beyond
the NATAS Travel Fairs, we envisage this collaboration to unlock new
possibilities in strengthening the value propositions of the travel agency
community,” remarked Mr Steven Ler, President of NATAS.

The
upcoming NATAS Travel Fair (Travel 2020) is set to be from 21 to 23 February at
Singapore Expo Halls 4B and 5. Each fair draws over 100,000 visitors on
average, bringing together a host of outbound travel agents, national tourist
organisations, airlines, hotels and other travel-related services. 

“We
are honoured to be named the NATAS Official Travel Insurance Partner and
appreciate the opportunity to work collaboratively with the players in this key
economic service industry. From trend, technology and travel ecosystem, we want
to play a part in our partner’s strategies and together develop solutions that
could push ideas to a new level, and let our brands win the hearts and minds of
travellers. We will mobilise our best resources for the upcoming NATAS fairs
where we will showcase our services and provide seamless, reliable and smart
experiences to travel partners and consumers alike,” said Jazzreal Wong, Head
of Direct Business of Etiqa Insurance Pte. Ltd.

Known
for its fast and easy claims experience, Etiqa is the first and only insurer in
Singapore to offer automated flight delay claims upon three consecutive hours
of delay, as compared to the industry’s norm of 6 hours’ delay1.
Besides travel insurance, Etiqa offers a comprehensive suite of life and
general insurance.

In 2019, Etiqa ranked among Singapore’s top 1000
corporations and SMEs for the second year running. The online insurer has also
been recognised for being the ‘Most Innovative Insurance
Firm” and “Most Innovative Finance Firm” at Global Brands Magazine Awards 2018
and 2018 World Finance Markets Awards respectively.

1Terms
apply. Protected up to specified limits by SDIC.

Etiqa Insurance – A Singapore Insurance Company with Asian and International Expertise

Etiqa Insurance Pte. Ltd. is a licensed life and general
insurance company registered in the Republic of Singapore and regulated by the
Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS). In 2019, credit ratings agency Fitch
affirmed the company’s ‘A’ (Strong) rating for its financial strength and
stable outlook.

Etiqa has been protecting customers since 1961 with a range
of general insurance solutions that constantly evolve to meet their
ever-changing needs. In 2014, Etiqa added a comprehensive suite of life
insurance solutions, including protection, savings and retirement, and
subsequently legacy planning and universal life solutions to our portfolio to
better serve our growing customer base and the needs of the modern day
consumer.

Etiqa is owned by Maybank Ageas Holdings Berhad, a joint
venture company that combines local market knowledge with international
insurance expertise. The company is 69% owned by Maybank, one of Asia’s leading
banking groups with more than 22 million customers worldwide in 20 countries;
and 31% by Ageas, an international insurance group with 33 million customers
across 16 countries and a heritage that spans over 190 years, with a focus to
provide world class insurance solutions to consumers in Europe and Asia through
market leading joint ventures.

At Etiqa, we believe in our brand promise of humanising
insurance, by placing people over policies in everything we do. We are
passionate about helping Singaporeans protect themselves and their loved ones
today and helping them plan for a financially secure tomorrow.

 

About NATAS


The National Association of Travel Agents Singapore (NATAS)
was founded in May 1979. As an industry lead body, the association leads travel
excellence by strengthening the professionalism and capabilities of the travel
industry for sustainable growth and profitability.

As the voice of the industry, NATAS aims to act as a
negotiating body for members and to make recommendations to the relevant key
stakeholders on matters pertaining to the trade.

Each year, NATAS organises the two largest consumer travel
fairs in Singapore, namely NATAS Travel and NATAS Holidays.

Raising banks’ Loan to Deposit Ratio while minimising risk

The loan-to-deposit ratio (LDR) is used to assess a bank’s liquidity by comparing a bank’s total loans to its total deposits for the same period.

SINGAPORE, Singapore, January 22, 2020,/ — In developing economies, the key to socio-economic growth is access to finance, but the challenge is to increase loans to individuals and SMEs without suffering the fall-out of bad debt.

Tarun Kumar Kalra, Global Head of Sales at CredoLab

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) increased the minimum loan-to-deposit ratio (LDR) of commercial banks from 60 per cent to 65 per cent in the latter part of 2019.  According to a Bloomberg report, the measure was among a raft of regulations aimed at forcing banks to boost credit, mainly to farmers, small-and-medium-size businesses and consumers.

The loan-to-deposit ratio (LDR) is used to assess a bank’s liquidity by comparing a bank’s total loans to its total deposits for the same period. The LDR is expressed as a percentage. If the ratio is too high, it means that the bank may not have enough liquidity to cover any unforeseen fund requirements. Conversely, if the ratio is too low, the bank may not be earning as much as it could be earning.

According to the report, Nigeria’s banks are some of the most reluctant lenders in major emerging markets, with an average loan-to-deposit ratio below 60%. That compares with 78% across Africa, according to data compiled by Bloomberg, with 90% in South Africa and about 76% in Kenya. Compare this with developed markets such as the UK, which according to Statista.com, states that Shawbrook Bank’s loan to deposits ratio on the British market between 2012 and 2016 increased from 74 percent in 2012 to 102.7 percent as of 2016.

The Director-General, Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), Mr. Muda Yusuf, had stated that the greatest challenge business operators in the country have been facing over the years was access to credit, which he said had resulted to huge financing gaps.

In order to expedite this Loan to Deposit Ratio, new digital banks and progressive lending institutions in emerging economies are looking at using technology to expedite the process, such as digital scoring methods based on Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, where smartphone devise metadata solutions, such as offered by CredoLab and other providers, is used to assessing credit-worthiness instead of traditional methods.

Tarun Kumar Kalra, Global Head of Sales at CredoLab cited a successful example in Indonesia, which has one of the largest pool of unbanked customers in the world. One of the top 10 Indonesian banks serving over 2 million customers wanted to leverage the opportunities in this pool of unbanked customers. The bank had a comprehensive array of products and services being delivered through physical branches, mobile and web banking.

The bank’s mandate was to increase the number of loans it disbursed to the new-to-bank (NTB) customers by using an underwriting process that was fair to the applicants and yet highly predictable of their behaviour,” he said.

There were several challenges, such as increasing approval rates, 85% of the applicants being rejected and the low predictability of existing underwriting process,” he added. “The bank solved this problem by introducing digital scorecards based on smartphone device data, which led to a +107% approval rate, user adoption of 61% and an average of 5 seconds to approve the application.”

Kalra said that what’s noteworthy in the deployment of this solution was the short period of 2 weeks that it took for the bank to implement the new credit scoring system, as there were no development time or costs, while at the same time meeting local data security and privacy laws and regulations.

Asked about the uptake of digital smartphone metadata credit scoring methodology, Kalra responded that over 61 lending institutions have adopted CredoLab’s technology across emerging economies in the Asia Pacific region.

“With our launch into Africa, specifically in South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya last year, we already have 3 major traditional and digital banks leveraging the technology in South Africa. Financial institutions in Nigeria and Kenya are investigating this technology as a secure and sustainable way of expanding credit into the unbanked markets, and raising banks’ Loan to Deposit Ratio while minimising risk,” he concluded.

Netflix has 167.1 million Subscribers

Facing increased pressure from new, deep-pocketed competitors in the U.S., Netflix is looking abroad for more growth opportunities as it faces a continued slowdown of domestic subscriber increases.

In the fourth quarter, Netflix added 42,000 new subscribers in the U.S. (55,000 including Canada)—to just over 61 million in total—and acknowledged it is facing increased subscriber churn rates. In a letter to shareholders today, Netflix acknowledged that “recent price changes” and “competitive launches” domestically were affecting U.S. growth rates—referring to its price hikes last May and the rollout of new services like Disney+ and Apple TV+—but the company pointed to robust viewership of its newest originals as proof it is continuing to breakthrough.

Outside of the U.S., the picture for Netflix is far rosier. In the fourth quarter, the company netted 8.3 million new international subscribers; for the first time, the company exceeded 100 million memberships outside the U.S., with 106 million international customers and a total of 167.1 million global subscribers.

“Streaming entertainment is a global phenomenon and we’re working hard to build our early progress,” the company said in its letter to shareholders.

Last quarter, Netflix said it planned to spend $15 billion on original programming in 2019, and while U.S. originals are generally the buzziest, local originals are big drivers for international growth, too. The company said it will invest heavily in Korean originals to drive international growth and will continue determining the best business offerings in different regions, like mobile-only plans in countries like India, Malaysia and Indonesia.

In Netflix’s investor video, chief financial officer Spencer Neumann said the company was focused on growing its international footprint, even as the pricing in certain markets is lower than in the U.S. That investment extends to content: chief content officer Ted Sarandos said investment in local programming, particularly in Japan and Korea, had the potential to pay off not just in those markets but globally.

“The expansion of people finding stories from around the world is only going to take the opportunity bigger and bigger,” Sarandos said, pointing to director Bong Joon-Ho’s film Parasite as recent proof of foreign programming’s potential to attract an international fanbase.

As is typical for Netflix’s earnings releases, the streaming service shared select data about the performance of some of its originals. The fantasy series The Witcher was watched by 76 million households in the first four weeks of the show’s availability on Netflix, putting it on track to be the service’s biggest Season 1 release ever, the company said.

Netflix also dropped other impressive-sounding metrics, including a projection that 54 million households will watch the second season of the thriller You (the first season of which aired on Lifetime) within the first four weeks of the season’s availability on the service. 6 Underground, an action movie from Michael Bay that starred Ryan Reynolds, drew 83 million household views within four weeks.

However, Netflix has made a major change to the way it measures viewership in a way that will substantially inflate its future viewership numbers. The company said it is no longer counting views as to when 70% of an episode or movie is viewed, as had been its previous metric.

Instead, it will define a view as when a household watches just two minutes of a program. Netflix estimated this will inflate its viewership metrics by about 35%. That two-minute mark, for reference, represents less than 1% of Martin Scorsese’s Netflix original film The Irishman, which has a run time of 209 minutes. (Notably, Netflix did not spin out viewership numbers for The Irishman in its shareholder’s letter.)

Netflix is fighting off a new wave of deep-pocketed competitors that are also looking to capitalize on shifting consumer habits. In addition to Disney+, Apple TV+ and Amazon Prime Video, Comcast-owned NBCUniversal will debut the primarily ad-supported streaming service Peacock nationally in July, and AT&T-owned WarnerMedia is readying the May debut of its own streaming service, HBO Max.

Price of Tomato, Yam, Rice, increase in December – NBS

Prices of three food items including tomatoes, yam, rice increased in December data from the National Bureau of Statistics have shown.

The NBS in its selected food price watch for December reported that the average price of 1 dozen of Agric eggs medium size decreased year-on-year by -1.96% and month-on-month by -1.32% to N457.80 in December 2019 from N463.91 in November 2019 while the average price of piece of Agric eggs medium size (price of one) decreased year-on-year by -4.37% and month-on-month by -1.13% to N40.72 in December 2019 from N41.18 in November 2019.

According to NBS, the average price of 1kg of tomato decreased year-on-year by -2.80% and increased month-on-month by 5.05% to N263.90 in December 2019 from N251.21 in November 2019.

The average price of 1kg of rice (imported high quality sold loose) increased year-on-year by 24.10% and month-on-month by 3.24% to N459.90 in December 2019 from N445.45 in November 2019.

Similarly, the average price of 1kg of yam tuber decreased year-on-year by 2.74% and increased month-on-month by 1.78% to N206.82 in December 2019 from N203.20 in November 2019.

In addition to purchases in December, the period was also marked by three months of border closure in which goods like rice were barred from coming into the country from neighbouring Republic of Benin, Niger and other countries.

The border closure which came into effect on August 28 has seen prices of food increasing. Experts have said the border closure had made life difficult for an average Nigerian with very low purchasing power.

DOWNLOAD THE SELECTED FOOD PRICE WATCH FOR DECEMBER HERE