Visa Introduces Suite of Security Capabilities to Help Prevent and Disrupt Payment Fraud

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Visa Introduces Suite of Security Capabilities to Help Prevent and Disrupt Payment Fraud

Visa launched a suite of innovative security capabilities to help prevent and disrupt payment fraud, breaking new ground in Cybersecurity and fraud prevention across Central & Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa (CEMEA) at the Visa CEMEA Security Summit 2019 in Barcelona, Spain. The forum brings together payment industry experts from risk, business and operational departments of financial institutions, merchants, processors and other payment service providers.

The new payment security services and capabilities help protect the integrity of the payments ecosystem by detecting and disrupting fraud threats targeting financial institutions and merchants. The new capabilities are available to Visa clients at no additional cost or sign-up but through Visa’s continued investments in intelligence and technology. These add to the long list of benefits financial institution and merchant clients enjoy as participants in the Visa global payment network.

“Cybercriminals attempt to bypass traditional defences by stealing credentials, harvesting data, obtaining privileged access, and attacking trusted third-party supply chains,” said Hector Rodriguez, Regional Risk Officer, CEMEA, Visa. “Visa’ new payment security capabilities combine payment and cyber intelligence, insights and learnings from breach investigations, and law enforcement engagement to help financial institutions and merchants solve the most critical security challenges.”

According to a global report by Forrester Consulting commissioned by Visa, ATM cashout attacks that exploit vulnerabilities among financial institutions and processors to remove fraud controls to withdraw money from cash machines fraudulently, and automated testing of values and credentials to gain unauthorized access to information and functionality called “enumeration attacks” were among the most prevalent account-related fraud types identified by respondents. At the same time, card-not-present fraud that includes e-commerce, phone and mail orders was found to be less frequent but caused more damage to businesses—representing nearly 40% of fraud losses and operational costs. Managing payment fraud holistically is imperative to meet these challenges.

Protecting the Ecosystem from Threats

At the centre of every Visa transaction is trust. As threats evolve, Visa’s payment security capabilities help to holistically protect the core components of the ecosystem—people, data and infrastructure—to maintain trust and connect the world through the most innovative, reliable and secure digital payment network. The new security capabilities add to existing protections and include:

  • Visa Vital Signs – Actively monitors transactions and alerts financial institutions of potentially fraudulent activity at ATMs and merchants that may indicate an ATM cashout attack. To limit financial losses for financial institutions, Visa can automatically or in coordination with clients, step in to suspend malicious activity.
  • Visa Account Attack Intelligence – Applies deep learning to Visa’s vast number of processed card-not-present transactions to identify financial institution and merchants that hackers may be used to guess account numbers, expiration dates and security codes through automated testing. The machine learning technology detects sophisticated enumeration patterns, eliminates false positives, and alerts affected financial institutions and merchants before fraudulent transactions begin.
  • Visa Payment Threats Lab–Creates an environment to test a client’s processing, business logic and configuration settings to identify errors leading to potential vulnerabilities. For example, Visa can verify if a financial institution is effectively validating cryptograms—dynamically generated codes unique to each transaction—for EMV® chip transactions.
  • Visa eCommerce Threat Disruption – A proprietary solution that uses sophisticated technology and investigative techniques to proactively scan the front-end of eCommerce websites for payment data skimming malware. Identifying potential website compromises limits the amount of time malware might be present on a merchant website and significantly reduces exposure of customer and payment data.

These capabilities complement Visa Payment Threat Intelligence, which provides actionable and informational cyber intelligence to clients and merchants worldwide. It offers timely intelligence reporting, technical delivery and educational materials. This includes alerts, analysis, technical indicators, and mitigations for potential cybercrime threats, account compromises and fraud.

P+ Measurement Services Hosts 2019 AMEC Measurement Month In Nigeria

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P+ Measurement Services Hosts 2019 AMEC Measurement Month In Nigeria

The International Association for the Measurement and Evaluation of Communication, AMEC, in conjunction with P+ Measurement Services, is set to host the annual educational programme, AMEC Measurement Month (#AMECMM), 2019 in Nigeria.

P+ Measurement, a media independent and Nigeria’s first specialized agency championing new innovative models for Communications Measurement and Evaluation, will join 86 other participating countries to host the annual event, with the theme: “Why Measurement and Evaluation are Necessary for the Growth of the PR Industry”. The event, now in its fourth year in Nigeria, is slated for November 22, 2019.

The event will be facilitated by industry experts, Gilbert Alasa, Lead Analyst, Osmosis Africa and supported by Philip Odiakose, Lead Consultant, P+ Measurement Services.

Odiakose, who’s agency also lead a quarterly capacity building training exercise for communications and PR experts in Nigeria, said this year’s edition of the annual event will help marketing communications professionals discover data-driven models for measuring the impact of their communication campaigns.

“We are happy to be the sole Independent PR measurement agency in Nigeria selected by AMEC to lead this conversation. We are not only open to working with organizations who want to make sense of their communication programs, but we are also looking to expand our mileage while mainstreaming these critical skills from the academia to the public and private sectors,” Odiakose said. 

For the first time, the event will be broadcast live to reach more professionals and increase participation. The hashtags:  #EvaluatePR #AMECMM will be used to join in on the online platform for the event.

Fitch Ratings has affirmed Union Bank Of Nigeria PLC’s (Union) Long-Term Issuer Default Rating

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Fitch Ratings has affirmed Union Bank Of Nigeria PLC’s (Union) Long-Term Issuer Default Rating

The IDRs of Union is driven by its standalone creditworthiness, as expressed by its Viability Rating (VR). Union’s VR is conditioned by Nigeria’s operating environment, with weak macroeconomic conditions, policy uncertainty and regulatory intervention influencing the bank’s standalone creditworthiness. Union’s VR further reflects a nominal franchise concentrated in Nigeria, weak profitability, a large stock of Stage 2 and 3 loans (under IFRS 9), low capital buffers and only adequate funding and liquidity.

Union’s impaired loans (Stage 3 loans under IFRS 9) ratio (22.1% at end-1H19) is very high, driven primarily by four large exposures in the power sector and oil and gas sector. Union’s reported non-performing loans ratio (7.1% at end-1H19) reflects management’s view of cash flow and collateral characteristics on Stage 3 loans. However, according to our global bank rating criteria, we consider all Stage 3 loans to be impaired, and this explains our higher ratio. Stage 2 loans measured at a further 16% of gross loans at end-1H19. Reserve coverage of Stage 3 loans is low (29.7% at end-1H19).

Union Bank is exposed to high concentrations by sector and single obligor. The 20-largest loans represented 68% of gross loans and 2.8x Fitch Core Capital (FCC) at end-1H19. The union is also highly exposed to the volatile oil and gas sector, which represented 34% of gross loans at end-1H19.

Union Bank’s net interest margins, at 6%, are in line with the average reported by the bank’s direct peers. However, the Union’s ability to generate sufficient revenues from operations to cover the bank’s operating expenses is challenged, as demonstrated by a high cost-to-income ratio of 84.1%.

The bank’s capital levels were materially reduced on the adoption of IFRS 9 in 2018. Union’s FCC/risk-weighted assets (RWA) ratio declined to 15.9% at end-1H19 from 31.1% at end-2017, following significant write-offs. Capital is highly vulnerable to unreserved Stage 2 and 3 loans. Unreserved Stage 3 loans were equivalent to 63.8% of FCC at end-1H19.

Union benefits from a strong retail deposit base, which accounted for 47% of customer deposits at end-1H19, providing a low-cost source of stable funding. Single depositor concentration is in line with peers’, with Union’s 20-largest deposits accounting for 19% of total customer deposits at end-1H19. Union complied with the regulatory loans-to-deposits ratio at end-September 2019.

The Stable Outlook reflects Fitch’s base case expectation that upside and downside risks to Union’s credit profile are equally balanced in the near-term.

Union’s National Ratings reflect the bank’s creditworthiness relative to other Nigerian issuers.

Key Assumptions

Support Rating And Support Rating Floor

Fitch believes that sovereign support to Nigerian banks cannot be relied upon given Nigeria’s weak ability to provide support, particularly in foreign currency. Therefore, the Support Rating (SR) and Support Rating Floor (SRF) are ‘5’ and ‘No Floor’, respectively. This reflects our view that senior creditors cannot rely on receiving full and timely extraordinary support from the Nigerian sovereign if any of the banks becomes non-viable.

Rating Sensitivities

IDRs, Viability Rating And National Ratings

Union’s Long-Term IDR is sensitive to a change in the bank’s VR. Downside pressure is most likely to result from a significant increase in loan impairment charges or write-offs, which could erode capital. A positive rating action is unlikely in the short-term given the bank’s asset-quality risks.

Union’s National Ratings are sensitive to a change in the bank’s creditworthiness relative to other Nigerian issuers.

Support Rating And Support Rating Floor

The Support Rating and Support Rating Floor are sensitive to a change in assumptions around the propensity or ability of the sovereign to provide timely support to the bank. Given Nigeria’s weak sovereign ratings, this is not our base case.

ESG Considerations

The highest level of environmental, social and governance (ESG) credit relevance for Union is a score of 3. This means ESG issues are credit-neutral or have only a minimal impact on the entity, either due to their nature or to the way in which they are being managed by the entity.

Dr Sid Talks On Early Music Days, Mohits And Mavin And A Lot More On The Whole Truth

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Dr Sid Talks On Early Music Days, Mohits And Mavin And A Lot More On The Whole Truth

This week, we go into The Whole Truth with Dr Sid, a living legend in his own right who has given us some of the biggest hits from Surulere, WinchieWinchie, Pop Something and a whole range of chat toppers.

Sidney Esiri, popularly known as Dr Sid sat with the boys to share a ton of stories from how he started out in the music industry, struggling with school, losing father, his relationship with Don Jazzy and life after Mohits and transitioning into Mavins.  Sid also goes deep into his struggles with mental health and how his near-death experience gave him a whole new perspective on life.

The Bulls Are Back As Oil Heads Towards $60 – Report

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The Bulls Are Back As Oil Heads Towards $60 – Report

OilPrice Intelligence Report

Oil prices moved higher at the start of the week as signs of a trade breakthrough between the U.S. and China continue to gain steam and OPEC hints at making deeper production cuts. While bearish sentiment remains prevalent in oil markets, with OPEC revising down its oil demand projections once again, it seems that oil bulls are slowly returning and oil prices are creeping higher.

OPEC cuts oil demand forecast. OPEC said that demand for its oil will be lower than expected over the next five years, due to rising U.S. shale production. The group said that demand for its oil would average 32.8 mb/d by 2024, a sharp cut from the 35 mb/d in last year’s forecast.

U.S.-China trade deal inches forward. The U.S. and China are expected to sign a partial trade deal later this month, and China is pressing the U.S. to remove more tariffs. The U.S. is already expected to delay the planned tariff hike in December, but markets are trading upon rising expectations that existing tariffs could be rolled back.

Aramco IPO goes forward. After years of delay, Saudi Arabia finally gave the go-ahead for the Aramco IPO. The prospectus for the company will be released on November 9, with the public offering launching in December. Saudi officials have long demanded a $2-trillion-dollar valuation, but most analysts believe that is overly-optimistic. Wall Street banks have given a wide range for the valuation. Goldman Sachs said Aramco could be worth somewhere between $1.6 and $2.3 trillion.

A wave of unprofitable oil about to hit the market. A wave of investment in offshore oil drilling in the early part of this decade is coming online now, and many of the projects may not turn a profit because they were given the green light when oil prices traded at around $100 per barrel.

Keystone pipeline remains offline. The source of the leak in the Keystone pipeline has still not been identified, according to U.S. regulators. There is no estimated timeline for a restart of the damaged pipeline. More than 9,000 barrels of oil spilt last week. Prices for Western Canada Select (WCS), a heavy blend of oil in Canada, fell sharply, dropping to a $22-per-barrel discount relative to WTI, the highest in nearly a year.

Germany to hike EV incentives. Germany agreed to increase cash incentives for electric cars by 50 percent, rising to as much as 6,000 euros ($6,680). The Germany auto industry will cover half of the subsidy. The changes will be enacted this month and run through 2025, according to Bloomberg.

U.S. associated gas production is soaring. A growing portion of U.S. natural gas production is coming from associated gas in the Permian.

Chesapeake warned that it might be forced out of business. Shale gas giant Chesapeake Energy (NYSE: CHK) warned that it might not stay in the business of oil and natural gas prices remain depressed. On Tuesday, Chesapeake said there is “substantial doubt” about its ability to continue as a going concern if prices don’t rise.

Global auto industry slump weighs down the economy. The slump in the global auto industry is impacting the broader global economy, as lengthy and interconnected supply chains feel the effects of reduced sales. Last year, the auto sector contracted for the first time since the financial crisis a decade ago.

Norway’s central bank warns on climate. The Norwegian central bank warned about the risk to the country’s finances from climate change and said that the risk should be incorporated into the assessment of banks’ systemic risks.

Fracking halted in the UK. The British government will impose an immediate moratorium on fracking due to the uptick in seismic activity. “We cannot be certain that shale gas can be extracted safely, and therefore we must impose this moratorium until the science changes,” UK Business Secretary Andrea Leadsom said.

ANWR lease sale unlikely this year. The Trump administration had promised to hold a lease sale in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) before the end of the year, but that goal looks increasingly out of reach. Still, some analysts say that if done well, the changes to ANWR could be more permanent. “A couple of extra months is probably a prudent move so that you get it right,” Andy Mack, a former Alaska commissioner of natural resources, told Alaska Public Radio.

Oxy to cut spending to pay down debt. Occidental Petroleum (NYSE: OXY) announced plans to cut spending by half in the Permian to help reduce its debt load. The company is trying to fix its balance sheet after its massive acquisition of Anadarko Petroleum. Oxy’s CAPEX for 2020 will be limited to $5.5 billion, down from $9 billion last year. The company’s share price was down by more than 4 per cent during midday trading.

Shell under fire for potential buyback delay. Royal Dutch Shell (NYSE: RDS.A) said that it might delay its share buyback program because of deteriorating macro factors, leading to a 4 percent drop in the company’s shares last Friday, even as it has regained some of that lost ground. Some analysts saw the warning as damaging to the company’s reputation. “Management credibility has now been strained,” Jefferies analyst Jason Gammel said, according to Reuters. He maintained his “buy” recommendation on Shell, “with somewhat less enthusiasm.”

Naija Stand-Up Comedy Pop-Up Channel Back On Dstv And Gotv This November

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Naija Stand-Up Comedy Pop-Up Channel Back On Dstv And Gotv This November

Following its massive success in April, the Naija Stand Up Comedy Pop-Up channel will return to television screens across Africa on DStv channel 197 and GOtv channel 29 for one whole month starting Thursday, 7 November at 11 am.

The channel will be a 12-hour block dedicated to 100% Nigerian comedy shows and exclusive performances from the country’s top comedians such as Ali Baba, Basketmouth, Bovi and AY. Viewers are in for a treat as the channel will also showcase a variety of rib-cracking skits and other comedy events in and out of Nigeria.

“We received a lot of great reviews when the channel made its debut in April,” said Martin Mabutho, Chief Customer Officer, MultiChoice Nigeria.

“For the second season, we’ve curated some of the biggest comedy shows out of Naija and packaged them into a 12-hour binge-fest for the viewing pleasure of our customers, at no extra cost,” he said. He added that the pop-up channel will get customers ready for more exciting content lined up for the upcoming festive season.

A roll call of the shows on offer include:  Ali Baba’s Spontaneity show (1-9), Lord of the Ribs (2018), AY Live Shows (2016, 2017, 2018), Funny Bone Untamed (2017 and 2018), Elvis Poko 2019, MC Shaggy, Acapella and a host of others. For the full schedules, please check your DStv or GOtv electronic programme guide or log on to www.africamagic.tv.

The Naija Stand-Up Comedy Pop-Up channel will open on Thursday, 7 November at 11 am and run till Saturday, 7 December 2019 on DStv channel 197 and GOtv channel 29. It will be available on all packages on DStv and select packages on GOtv.

Reconnect or upgrade your package to enjoy the comedy fiesta by logging on to DStv or GOtv websites. You can also download the MyDStv and MyGOtv apps, which are available for download for iOS and Android users at no cost.

Ernest Ndukwe resigns from Access Bank Plc board

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Ernest Ndukwe resigns from Access Bank Plc board

The Board of Directors (the “Board”) of Access Bank Plc (the “Bank”) hereby announces that Dr. Ernest Ndukwe has indicated his intention not to seek re-election during the Bank’s 2020 Annual General Meeting.

Accordingly, he has resigned from the Board effective March 31, 2020, to enable him to focus on his current and additional responsibilities.

Dr. Ndukwe has confirmed that he has no disagreement with the Board and there are no issues relating to his resignation that needs to be brought to the attention of the Bank’s shareholders or the regulatory authorities.

The Board is identifying the right candidate to fill the resultant vacancy as soon as possible and a further announcement will be made in this regard in due course.

The Board would like to express its appreciation to Dr. Ndukwe for his immense contributions to the Bank these past years.

Grammer AG signs Joint Venture Agreement with FAWSN Group, an affiliated company of one of the largest automotive manufacturers in China

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Grammer AG signs Joint Venture Agreement with FAWSN Group, an affiliated company of one of the largest automotive manufacturers in China
  • Further milestone of Grammer’s expansion plans in China achieved
  • Grammer to hold 50 percent of the Joint Venture with CHANGCHUN FAWSN GROUP CO., LTD.
  • CHANGCHUN FAWSN Group is an affiliated company of FAW Group, a leading passenger car and truck manufacturer in China

CHANGCHUN, CHINA – EQS Newswire – November 5, 2019 – Grammer AG has signed today an agreement with CHANGCHUN FAWSN GROUP CO., LTD., Changchun, China, an affiliated company of FAW Group Co., Ltd., one of the largest automotive manufacturers in China, to establish a Joint Venture for automotive interior components. Grammer AG will be holding 50 percent of the new Joint Venture GRAMMER FAWSN Vehicle Parts Co., Ltd. The other 50 percent will be held by CHANGCHUN FAWSN GROUP CO., LTD.

The Joint Venture will be developing and producing a wide range of automotive interior components for vehicles produced by the FAW Group and its foreign partners. Grammer will be contributing its development and manufacturing know-how for all products such as consoles, interior components and functional plastics.

As one of the largest automobile manufacturers in China, the FAW Group produced last year more than 3.2 million passenger cars for the local market and exports to other Asian countries, Africa and Latin America.

“Through the Joint Venture with the CHANGCHUN FAWSN GROUP, we reach another important milestone in our growth strategy in China. By working closely with a leading local OEM, we will be able to reinforce our position in the largest automotive market and substantially spur our planned growth in Asia,” explains Thorsten Seehars, Chief Executive Officer of Grammer. “This Joint Venture combines the strengths of a leading Chinese manufacturer with the expertise of one of the leading suppliers for interieur components”.

More than twenty-six million passenger cars are produced each year in China making it the world’s largest market for automobiles. With its new partner FAWSN Group, Grammer possesses an outstanding platform to widen its customer base in China and achieve a greater penetration of other Asian markets at the same time.

Grammer generates today around 15 percent of its Group revenues in China with a total of six production and two research and development sites addressing both the passenger and commercial vehicle segments. Looking ahead the new Joint Venture in Changchun will further support Grammer’s growth plans in China.

About the CHANGCHUN FAWSN GROUP

With its headquarters in Changchun in the Province of Jilin, CHANGCHUN FAWSN GROUP CO., LTD. is an affiliated company of one of the largest automotive manufacturers in China. The Group has 9,500 employees and produces a wide range of automotive components and systems mainly for the FAW Group for the Chinese and export markets.

About Grammer AG

Located in Amberg, Germany, Grammer AG specializes in the development and production of components and systems for automotive interiors as well as suspended driver and passenger seats for onroad and offroad vehicles. In the Automotive Division, Grammer supplies headrests, armrests, center console systems, high-quality interior components, operating systems and innovative thermo-plastic solutions to premium automakers and automotive system suppliers. The Commercial Vehicles Division comprises seats for the truck and offroad seat segments (tractors, construction machinery, forklifts) as well as train and bus seats. With approximately 15,000 employees, Grammer operates in 20 countries around the world. Grammer shares are listed in the Prime Standard and traded on the Frankfurt and Munich stock exchanges via the electronic trading system Xetra.

Cyberport Venture Capital Forum 2019 Fuels the Rise in Corporate Venture Funding

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Cyberport Venture Capital Forum 2019 Fuels the Rise in Corporate Venture Funding

Cyberport Investors Network raises over HK$360million for start-ups

 

HONG
KONG, CHINA – Media OutReach – 5 Nov 2019 – Cyberport’s landmark tech investment
event, the Cyberport Venture Capital Forum (CVCF), officially kicked off today.
Its two-day programme featured over 40 leading industry leaders, investors,
tech start-ups as well as rising stars from the Cyberport community. The first
day of the event was packed with a plethora of illuminating keynotes and panel
discussions which addressed the overarching theme of “New Frontier of Tech
Venturing” and uncovered the latest trends in the tech venture capital
market. The forum also officially announced the outstanding achievements of the
Cyberport Investors Network (CIN) over the past two years which raised
up to HK$360 million of funds for its start-ups.

 

Nicholas Yang, Secretary for Innovation and
Technology of the Hong Kong SAR, Dr George Lam, Chairman of Cyberport, Mr Peter
Yan, CEO of Cyberport, Mr Duncan Chiu, Chairman of Steering Group of the CIN,
and the new Chairperson, Mrs Cindy Chow officiated the forum’s
opening ceremony together.

Dr George Lam: Hong
Kong’s technological development to grow and thrive despite obstacles 

In his welcome remarks, Dr
George Lam, Chairman of Cyberport, expressed his confidence in the venture
capital market in Hong Kong. “Despite the impact brought on by the macro
environment, the rapid development of technology and digital transformation in
Asia has not slowed down.
The Cyberport Macro Fund
has invested HK$106 million in 14 start-ups, and has brought in close to HK$500
million in co-investments since its launch. This brings the total amount of
investments in start-ups to more than HK$600 million, which exemplifies the
strength and potential of Hong Kong’s start-ups. Facing the challenges ahead, I
believe Hong Kong’s development in innovation and technology will continue to
march forward while seizing new opportunities arising from the Greater Bay
Area.”

 

Bridging
Investors and Start-ups

CVCF
also marked the second anniversary of CIN which has built a network of over 100
investors, including venture capital funds, private equity, angel investments
and family investment offices. The forum celebrated CIN’s success in raising an
aggregated amount of HK$360 million for the Cyberport community and
successfully matching 26 partnerships throughout the past two years. Mrs
Cindy Chow, Executive Director of Alibaba Hong Kong Entrepreneurs Fund,
officially succeeded Mr Duncan Chiu, Co-Founder and Managing Director
of Radiant Venture Capital, as the new steering group chairperson of the
CIN at the forum.

Mr Duncan Chiu,
Chairman of Steering Group of the CIN said, “Beyond the heartening progress we’ve
made in investments, this year we were successful in bringing in more investors
from the Greater Bay Area, increasing the total number to over 20. We believe
this will stimulate deal flow and help our local start-ups tapping into the
Greater Bay Area market, all while promoting synergy and development within the
region’s technology ecosystem.” 

 

Mrs Cindy Chow, the
new Chairperson of the CIN, expects the Network to experience continued growth
and promote synergy between more start-ups and member investors, further
stimulating the start-up investment landscape, all while driving new impetus in
the local venture capital market.   

Exploring corporate
venture capital and technology investment

One of the forum’s
focuses is on corporate venture and an impressive line-up including
representatives from C capital, CLP Holdings, PM Equity Partner and China
Resources Capital was assembled to impart insight on their partnerships with
private and institutional investors to create value for their own businesses. Mr
Josemaria Siota, Director of Research of IESE Business School, was present
to dispel the seven myths of corporate venturing backed by results from his
recent report findings.

With the overarching theme “New Frontier of Tech Venturing”, the
event uncovered the multi-faceted dimensions of tech funding, including the
rise of corporate venturing, an outlook on the tech investment scene in the US,
China and the Belt & Road region, strategy formulation for family and early
stage investments, the latest funding tech platforms and more.

Heavyweight speaker,
Mr Michael Zhu, Managing Partner of Gobi Partners China, delivered an
in-depth overview of current market development as well as future trend
predictions of high-tech venture investments in China and along Belt and Road
countries. Mr Dan Brody, Managing Director of Tencent Investment,
imparted his insight on international investment opportunities.

The ideal platform to
showcase start-up potential

To showcase
Cyberport companies’ cutting edge technologies and facilitate investment matching, over 30 local start-ups, including many from the Cyberport Community, showcased their products and solutions at the Innovator Showcase,
while the Founder Stage featured start-ups in the
fields of FinTech, InsurTech, digital entertainment, esports, and smart living
to pitch their innovative projects to investors.  One-on-one onsite meetings were also
pre-scheduled and carried out at the event based on mutual investment appetites
and funding demands via the forum’s exclusive online Investor Matching platform
to facilitate investment and fundraising opportunities.

About Cyberport

Cyberport is an innovative digital community with around
1,400 start-ups and technology companies. It is managed by Hong Kong Cyberport
Management Company Limited, which is wholly owned by the Hong Kong SAR
Government. With a vision to be the hub for digital technology thereby creating
a new economic driver for Hong Kong, Cyberport is committed to nurturing a
vibrant tech ecosystem by cultivating talent, promoting entrepreneurship among
youth, supporting start-ups on their growth journey, fostering industry
development by promoting strategic collaboration with local and international
partners, and integrating new and traditional economies by accelerating digital
transformation in the public and private sectors. For more information, please
visit www.cyberport.hk

Taipei City Government Department of Information and Tourism at WTM London

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Taipei City Government Department of Information and Tourism at WTM London

Europeans Traveling to Tokyo Olympics Invited to Visit Taipei

 

TAIPEI, TAIWAN – Media OutReach – 5 November 2019 – Following up on its participation in Russia’s
major annual travel fair in September, the Department of Information and
Tourism, Taipei City Government (TPE-DOIT) is now at the second destination in
its Taipei City promotion tour through Europe, participating in the world’s
second-largest travel show – WTM
London. In addition to joining with the Taiwan Tourism Bureau, Ministry of
Transportation and Communications in its Taiwan Pavilion to jointly promote
Taiwan tourism with the global tourism industry, TPE-DOIT has also specially
set up a separate “Undiscovered Taipei” booth in the large exhibition space,
using themed cultural-creative experience activities as the booth focus, making
it an extremely popular visitor destination.    
 

Taipei City Government Department of Information and Tourism Senior Specialist Chuen-Huey Jiang introduces Taipei tourism to industry professionals and invites Europeans visiting Asia for the Tokyo Olympics to visit Taipei.

 

At a special exchange
meeting today (Nov. 5) with London travel professionals and media at the Taiwan
Pavilion, TPE-DOIT Senior Specialist Chuen-Huey
Jiang provided a detailed introduction on Taipei tourism, with her information
on Taipei MICE incentive-travel sponsorship eliciting especially enthusiastic
industry from the industry pros. Specially designed experience activities are
also being held on-site, such as DIY festive-lantern painting and typography,
and are drawing intense interest, continuing the use of the powerful
Undiscovered Taipei theme with international travelers to sculpt the Taipei
city-tourism brand image. 

 

Tokyo and Taipei are just a 3hr flight away
from each other, and at WTM London TPE-DOIT is specially promoting side trips
to Taipei for those visiting Asia next year (2020) for the Tokyo Olympics. Tokyo
will be hosting the Summer Olympics, and there will be tremendous demand placed
on the city by travelers there for the Games and for sightseeing. Chuen-Huey
Jiang reported that a special program of activities has been created targeting
Olympic athletes, family members, and spectators, enticing them to visit Taipei
during the Olympics season, seizing the business opportunities presented by the
Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games to promote side-trip travel to Taipei.   

 

A backdrop image featuring the
covered arcade at the famed Shi Lian Dong (“Ten Interconnected Buildings”) in
Taipei’s old-time Dadaocheng neighborhood is being used at the Taipei stand,
serving as an eye-catching spot for check-in photos . Even more visitors are
lining up in the cultural-creative area for the painted lantern-making
experience — with the guidance of staff, visitors write the traditional
characters for “Happiness” and “Peace” on their lantern, and paint an image of
Taipei 101, the famed Taipei landmark. Also proving extremely popular is the
on-site lead-type red envelope DIY printing experience and the samplings of
iconic Taipei gift-purchase treats: pineapple cakes, nougat candy, and Taiwan
teas. Through the propagation of these types of cultural experiences,
TPE-DOIT’s goal is to create discussion topics and stimulate more intense
interest in Taipei sightseeing among members of the public in foreign lands
visiting the exhibitions.   

 

The number of European travelers
visiting Taiwan is steadily rising with each passing year, and TPE-DOIT has
thus invited European bloggers to Taipei on sample trips. DOIT Commissioner Liu
Yi-Ting states that most European visitors are independent travelers, and that
the city’s rich and diverse tourism resources and its convenient and
comprehensive transportation system, along with its internationalized
facilities and services, are perfectly suited for European travelers’ planning
of in-depth exploration tours or theme tours. British bloggers Alyshia Ford and
Janet Newenham were recently invited to Taipei for sample tours, and have
shared their city travel experiences on their IG accounts, filling their
European fans with great expectations regarding the unique Taipei look and
style. It is hoped that the promotional campaigning conducted at this year’s
WTM London will result in a surge in travel-package recommendations by local
tourism enterprises, enticing more European tourists to visit Taipei. 

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