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India's First Instant EMI Finance App by Bajaj Finserv

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Business Wire IndiaBajaj Finserv, the reigning leader of consumer durable finance in India, has unveiled Bajaj Finserv Experia App, India’s first ever EMI finance mobile application. Through this revolutionary App, Bajaj Finserv aims to ease the process of instant EMI finance for consumers by providing them approvals anywhere, anytime!
 
This industry-first Bajaj Finserv Experia App is the perfect avenue to buy Furniture, Smartphones, LED TVs, Washing Machines and a lot more on easy EMI schemes, with a simple tap on the screen. Once downloaded, all you have to do is click on the “QUICK APPLY” button and get instant approval.
 
Apart from the extremely convenient application process, the App also lets customers log in using:
 
  • Facebook
  • Twitter 
  • Google+ 
  • Aadhar Card 

 
 This simple process waives off the time-consumed in filling basic information on application forms.
 
With this one-of-its-kind App, customers can get instant approvals with a unique ID to get EMI offers across 12,000+ outlets like Home Town, Croma, Urban Ladder, Home Centre, Vijay Sales, Helios, Damro, Royal Oak and many more.
 
Using the Bajaj Finserv Experia App, customers can:
 

  • Get Instant Approval for loans up to Rs.3 Lakh with a simple tap on their smartphone
  • Share only the first 6 digits of their Credit Card and get an extra advantage. This improves their chances of getting an approval, and also makes them eligible for higher loan amounts. No money will be deducted from their card and Bajaj Finserv does not use the customers’ Credit Card details for any banking purpose 
  • Update or edit their personal details with ease 
  • Shop across Bajaj Finserv’s 12,000+ partner outlets in over 150 cities upon approval 
  • Keep track of their loan application 

 
 The ranges of products one can buy with the Instant EMI Approval feature include:
 

A.      Digital Finance - Tablets, Smartphones, Laptops, Cameras, Desktops, and Camcorders among other electronic items
 
B.      Lifestyle Finance - Fitness equipment, Modular kitchen, Furniture, and Luxury Watches
 
C.      Consumer Durable Finance - Microwave ovens, Washing machines, LED/LCD TV, Refrigerator, Generator, Dryer, Air Conditioner, Dishwasher, and Cooking Range among others.
 

Trudge new territories with the Instant EMI finance approval service on your smartphone:
 

  • The Bajaj Finserv Experia App is an interactive application that provides you easy access to all your transactions including loan history, payment schedules and more
  • The App also allows you to keep track of exclusive products offered by Bajaj Finserv and apply for them 
  • Download the App on your smartphone and all the information required by you is available at your fingertips  
  • The App is extremely simple. It’s easy to use and offers a level of convenience that generally evades financial transactions 
     

This is what Rajeev Jain, Managing Director, Bajaj Finserv Ltd, had to say about the next-gen application, “We’ve seen a strong start of the Festival Season. Our new mobile application has made it possible for customers to get an instant EMI Finance approval even before stepping into the stores for purchase. We have a robust process in place and if the festive season goes as planned, we expect our assets to grow 30-35 percent”.
 
Devang Mody, President Consumer Finance, Bajaj Finance Ltd, said “Finding new methods to acquire customers and expanding into new geographies are keys in the present times. We continue to simplify EMI financing for customers through digitization initiatives going forward as well”.
 
Here are the links for you to download the App:
 

 
Bajaj Finance Limited is the lending and wealth management arm of Bajaj Finserv. To know more, visit https://www.bajajfinserv.in/finance


Russell Reynolds Associates Appoints Anthony Goodman to Its Board Effectiveness Practice

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Business Wire India

Russell Reynolds Associates today announced that Anthony Goodman has joined the firm’s Board Effectiveness Practice. This Practice provides consulting services world-wide to Boards on improving areas such as board culture, director effectiveness and engagement, board and committee processes and structure, and aligning board composition to the corporate strategy.

 

This Smart News Release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20151109006150/en/

 
Anthony Goodman joins Russell Reynolds Associates' Board Effectiveness Practice (Photo: Business Wir ...

Anthony Goodman joins Russell Reynolds Associates' Board Effectiveness Practice (Photo: Business Wire)

“Our Board Effectiveness practice is expanding to help clients build stronger and more vigorous boards,” said Mark Adams, leader of Russell Reynolds Associates operations in the United States. “Anthony’s experience will add to the strength of the team and help us provide world-class services to meet our clients’ increased demand for C-Suite advisory work and board director search assignments," added Adams.

 

Prior to joining the firm, Anthony was a partner at Tapestry Networks for more than twelve years. While at Tapestry, Anthony created and led many corporate governance networks, including those for Fortune 500 lead directors and audit committee chairs. Anthony was also co-chair of the Shareholder-Director Exchange (SDX) and is a board director at a nonprofit called America SCORES New England which provides after-school programs in public schools in Boston. Before that, Anthony was the CEO of Smythe Dorward Lambert, Inc., a consultancy specializing in leadership development, change management and employee communication. He began his career in marketing and public relations in the UK.

 

Anthony received his Master of Arts in politics, philosophy and economics from Oxford University, where he was also elected president of the Oxford Union.

 

For more information or to arrange an interview, please contact: Vijaya.Singh@russellreynolds.com or sohwon.cha@russellreynolds.com.

 

About Russell Reynolds Associates

 

Russell Reynolds Associates is a global leader in assessment, recruitment and succession planning for boards of directors, chief executive officers and key roles within the C-suite. With more than 370 consultants in 46 offices around the world, we work closely with public, private and nonprofit organizations across all industries and regions. We help our clients build teams of transformational leaders who can meet today’s challenges and anticipate the digital, economic, environmental and political trends that are reshaping the global business environment.

 

 

 

 
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Allianz Worldwide Care Named 'Best International Private Health Insurance Provider' at Industry Awards

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Business Wire India

Global health and life insurer, Allianz Worldwide Care took home the award for Best International Health Insurance Provider at the prestigious Professional Adviser International Fund & Product Awards 2015, which took place in London recently. Now in their 16th year, the Awards were established to honour financial services firms offering products and services across international borders.

 

Best International Private Health Insurance Provider – Winner

 

In assessing entries, judges looked at the quality of the submission, which provided details on the benefits of products and services, commitment to target markets, innovation, service levels and the use of technology. Third party providers assessed submissions for financial strength and performance, plus an element of online voting was also included.

 

The judges were impressed with the way that, “Allianz Worldwide Care had taken on-board client feedback to introduce an impressive array of new initiatives that display a sense of where international private health insurance provision is heading.” In particular, the judges felt that “the introduction of the medical claims mobile app MyHealth is bang on trend for today's market needs. There is a genuine sense that Allianz Worldwide Care's products and services are introduced or adapted to make life easier overall for clients.”

 

Alexis Obligi, Director of Sales & Marketing at Allianz Worldwide Care said, “As a client-centric company that listens to the needs of our clients and acts upon that information, we are thrilled to have won this award. It’s an honour to have this kind of independent recognition. We continually look at ways in which we can make our clients’ lives easier, across all interactions.”

 

ENDS

 

About Allianz Worldwide Care

 

Allianz Worldwide Care is the international health and life insurance division of Allianz Worldwide Partners which serves more than 250 million beneficiaries in 34 countries and is part of the Allianz Group. Allianz Worldwide Care provides insurance solutions for health, life and disability to clients and insurance partners on a global scale. Our focus is on earning and maintaining client loyalty by providing a market leading product range, level of service and support. With a client base that includes many of the Fortune Global 500 companies, Allianz Worldwide Care continues to build a reputation for service excellence in international healthcare. www.allianzworldwidecare.com

 

www.allianzworldwidecare.com

 

 

 

 

This Diwali, it's a Double Celebration for Numerify

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Business Wire India

Numerify India, a thriving R&D center for Cupertino headquartered IT analytics provider Numerify Inc., has more than one reason to ring in the festivities this season. Numerify recently closed a $37.5 million Series C funding round led byTenaya Capital, with support from existing investors Sequoia Capital and Lightspeed Venture Partners and new financing from Silicon Valley Bank and Four Rivers Group.


Having launched barely three years ago with a staff of three, Numerify India has now rapidly expanded to a staff of almost 100 employees based in Bangalore. “From the company’s inception, the India center has been an important part of Numerify’s journey and not an afterthought, as is the case with many other startups. The work done there is world class and core to our success. I wish them all a very happy, festive season,” says Co-Founder and Chief Product Officer Srikant Gokulnatha.
 
In addition to the traditional custom of lighting of lamps and decorating the office, Numerify India employees celebrated this Diwali by indulging in the joy of giving. Each employee was given an opportunity to individually pick an age-appropriate gift for an underprivileged child. Kamala Parvathanathan, country head for Numerify India says “It was heartening to see the thought and care that went behind the gesture, and really speaks to the strong culture we’ve fostered.”
 
With the newest round of funding, Numerify India is planning to expand its Engineering and Services teams responsible for the company’s cloud-based analytic SaaS applications.
 
About Numerify

Numerify is a provider of IT business analytics applications to leading organizations that have embraced cloud based IT services, assets, projects and finance systems. The company’s prebuilt analytic solutions integrate data across IT sources as well as call center, HR, and finance systems. Numerify’s cloud applications rapidly deliver precise insights that help IT organizations lower costs, increase delivery speed and dramatically improve service levels. Headquartered in Cupertino, Calif., Numerify’s investors include Lightspeed Venture Partners and Sequoia Capital. For more information, visit our website or follow @numerify.

Photo Caption: “Numerify 2015 Diwali”

Tech Mahindra takes Grameen Koota Live with Temenos T24, Boosting Delivery of Financial Services to Low-income Households

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Business Wire IndiaTemenos (SIX: TEMN), market-leading provider of mission-critical solutions to the financial services industry and Tech Mahindra, a specialist in digital transformation, consulting and business re-engineering announced that they have implemented Temenos T24 for Microfinance and Community Banking for Grameen Koota Financial Services Private Limited (Grameen Koota). With a modern core banking structure that affords higher levels of automation and flexibility, Grameen Koota can now achieve its mission to reach a larger client base.

Over a period of nine months, Tech Mahindra and Temenos implemented T24 across 270 branches in five states to migrating a 1.1 million-strong customer base, consisting of 2.3 million loans and equipping Grameen Koota with the capability to achieve a daily loan disbursement for 10,000 customers. T24’s scalable architecture improves operational efficiency, streamlines Grameen Koota’s Management Information System, and enables access from remote locations, empowering growth across a wider geographical range and to more diverse rural communities.

T24 for Microfinance and Community Banking is specially configured for the specific requirements of microfinance institutions (MFIs) and is a robust platform for Grameen Koota’s multiple solutions and offerings such as credit, insurance, pension and non-financial services such as healthcare.

“Revamping our infrastructure with T24 is an important step towards accelerating operational efficiency and achieving growth targets. We can now become more customer-centric with the help of a versatile back-end system,” said Mr Udaya Kumar, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Grameen Koota. “The credit for achieving the successful transition to Temenos T24 in such a short period goes to the dedication and hard work put in by Mr Arun Kumar B, Head of IT and his team members," he noted.

“Our deep expertise in implementing T24 and business understanding of Micro-community business served in providing a scalable solution to customers’ growing demand,” said Ravi Vasantraj, Global Head BFSI Competency, Tech Mahindra. “Customers are at the heart of all that we do and we are honoured to be a part of Grameen Koota’s vision to enhance financial inclusion in India.” 

“MFIs who want to thrive in a fast evolving landscape need mission-critical solutions to succeed,” said Martin Frick, Managing Director, Asia Pacific, Temenos. “Our award-winning T24 will fuel Grameen Koota’s ambitions in propelling India’s rural communities to a more progressive future. We want to continue expanding our proven track record and support MFIs in growing their market share and business scope.”

Temenos is the world’s largest provider of MFI core banking solutions, with over 220 clients. T24 offers a complete front-to-back office, CRM and product lifecycle management software platform that powers core banking operations for financial institutions from new starters, to established intermediaries entering a new market, to very large mass market retail banks. T24 has been consistently ranked as the first or second best-selling core banking software platform worldwide for the past 14 years (International Banking Systems Sales League Table).
 
About Temenos

Temenos Group AG (SIX: TEMN), headquartered in Geneva, is a market leading software provider, partnering with banks and other financial institutions to transform their businesses and stay ahead of a changing marketplace. Over 2,000 firms across the globe, including 38 of the top 50 banks, rely on Temenos to process the daily transactions of more than 500 million banking customers as well as over USD 5 trillion in assets. Temenos customers are proven to be more profitable than their peers: in the period 2008-2012, they enjoyed on average a 32% higher return on assets, a 42% higher return on equity and an 8.1 percentage point lower cost/income ratio than banks running legacy applications.

For more information, please visit www.temenos.com.
                     
About Grameen Koota

Grameen Koota Financial Services Private Limited provides micro finance services to women from rural poor and low income households in Karnataka, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Tamil Nadu. The company offers income generation, home improvement, emergency, family welfare, and home construction loans; life insurance and healthcare products; and pension schemes, and non-financial services. Grameen Koota was founded in 1999 and is headquartered in Bengaluru, India.

For more information, visit: www.grameenkoota.org

About Tech Mahindra

Tech Mahindra represents the connected world, offering innovative and customer-centric information technology services and solutions, enabling Enterprises, Associates and the Society to Rise™. We are a USD 3.9 billion company with 105,200+ professionals across 90 countries, helping over 780+ global customers including Fortune 500 companies. Our innovation platforms and reusable assets connect across a number of technologies to deliver tangible business value to our stakeholders. Tech Mahindra is also amongst the Fab 50 companies in Asia as per the Forbes 2014 List.

We are part of the USD 16.9 billion Mahindra Group that employs more than 200,000 people in over 100 countries. The Group operates in the key industries that drive economic growth, enjoying a leadership position in tractors, utility vehicles, after-marketinformation technology and vacation ownership.

Monetago Aims to Launch Low Fee Remittances to India Following PM Modi's Vision

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Business Wire IndiaIndia receives over $70 billion in remittances every year from Indians working abroad and pays nearly $5 billion a year or about 7.5% in fees as a cost of receiving remittances.
 
PM Modi at G20 summit a few days ago sought a definite timeline before year 2030 for reduction in cost of transferring money, a move that will help India save nearly $4 billion a year in cost of remittances.
 
Monetago, a blockchain technology enabled transaction company uses proprietary architecture that can bring down the cost of money transfer to nearly 2%.
 
"The reason for high cost of remittances is because of the traditional correspondent banking system in which the funds have to be moved through a series of banks before reaching the beneficiary. Every bank has its charges and the communication happens via SWIFT messages.
 
We at Monetago have presence in over 40 countries and 28 currencies. Our proprietary money transfer infrastructure uses blockchain technology enabled digital currency that reduces the time, cost and pipeline of entities involved in the remittances. We have done our pilot tests successfully and will soon make an application to regulatory authorities for commencement of services. Our target is to bring down cost of remittances to nearly 2%." Said Atul Khekade, regional Director - India at Monetago Inc.
 
Monetago Inc. is a New York headquartered company with its wholly owned corporate presence in India. Monetago has successfully completed several pilot remittance projects. Monetago is also one of the first company to apply for Bitlicense with New York Department of Financial Services.
 
"We aim to work with leading banks, financial institutions and regulatory authorities in India to enable our services". Mr. Atul Khekade added.
 
Blockchain enabled digital currency architecture of Monetago claims to keep cross border payments and remittances relatively unaffected by volatility of currency valuation.
 
For More Information: http://www.monetago.com

S. Somasegar Joins Madrona Venture Group as Venture Partner

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Business Wire India

Madrona Venture Group, an early-stage venture capital firm, announced that S. “Soma” Somasegar is joining as a Venture Partner. Soma joins Madrona after nearly twenty-seven years at Microsoft Corporation, where he most recently was Corporate Vice President of the Developer Division. Under Soma’s leadership, the Developer Division, which supports over six million .NET developers worldwide, expanded its mission to deliver developer tools and services for mobile development and cloud development across a variety of platforms and programming technologies through the Visual Studio family of products.

 

As Venture Partner, Soma will help identify new investments and provide strategic and operational advice to Madrona portfolio companies.

 

“The world of software development has seen radical changes since I started at Microsoft building Windows nearly twenty-seven years ago. Being at the helm of the Developer Division, I had the opportunity to see the incredible shifts brought on by the web, mobile and cloud waves first hand – forces which have enabled startups and enterprises to quickly reach millions of users literally overnight and bring incredible innovation to market,” said Soma. “I’m excited to work with Madrona, which has had such an impact on the greater Seattle technology ecosystem, and their portfolio companies to build companies that will shape the future of our region and the tech industry.”

 

As Corporate Vice President of the Developer Division, Soma oversaw Microsoft’s developer tools and technologies, including the Visual Studio line of products and services and the .NET Framework. Additionally, he fostered a community of developers through MSDN and other evangelism programs focused on core developers. Soma was also the executive sponsor for global development at Microsoft and oversaw Microsoft’s Global Development Centers in China, India, and Israel.

 

“Over the last five years we have witnessed a massive shift in how much power developers have over which products and technologies are adopted into enterprise IT. This shift to DevOps and the migration of IT spend from central IT into business groups has now been further accelerated by the move to microservices that make it easier to build, deploy and scale enterprise applications. Together these trends are driving massive change. Soma’s deep understanding of the needs of developers and, more broadly, of enterprise software development and adoption, will be especially relevant to Madrona’s investment strategy and portfolio companies,” said Tim Porter, Managing Director, Madrona Venture Group. “We are excited to have Soma on board to share his extensive management and industry expertise with our entrepreneurs and our team.”

 

Soma has been an active angel investor both in the region and globally. With investments spanning across both enterprise and consumer segments, Soma has focused on early stage investments across a wide range of technology areas.

 

Soma holds a master's degree in computer engineering from Louisiana State University and a bachelor's degree in electronics and communication engineering from Guindy Engineering College, Anna University in Chennai, India.

 

About Madrona Venture Group

 

Madrona (www.madrona.com) has been investing in early-stage technology companies in the Pacific Northwest since 1995 and has been privileged to play a role in some of the region's most successful technology ventures. The firm invests predominately in seed and Series A rounds across the information technology spectrum including consumer Internet, commercial software and services, digital media and advertising, networking and cloud computing, and mobile. Madrona manages nearly $1.3 billion and was an early investor in companies such as Amazon.com, Apptio, buuteeq, Isilon Systems, and World Wide Packets.

 

 

THE SESAMES Awards 2015 : Announcement of the Winners

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Business Wire India

Organized in the heart of CARTES SECURE CONNEXIONS, the 20th ceremony of the SESAMES Awards rewards every year the best innovations in the fields of secure payment solutions, identification and mobility.During this event, 11 winners have been awarded.

 

This Smart News Release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20151119005508/en/
 

 
Miguel Mateus winner of the 2015 Startup Challenge with the members of the jury. (Photo: Business Wi ...

Miguel Mateus winner of the 2015 Startup Challenge with the members of the jury. (Photo: Business Wire)

In 2015, the awards ceremony took place the first day of CARTES SECURE CONNEXIONS, on 17th November at 6.00 p.m in the Jean Thèves Amphitheatre. In front of prestigious guests and the 33 finalists, 11 winners were rewarded for their innovations in favor of the digital security industry, payment and identification.

 

The SESAMES Awards rewarding innovation

 

As an undisputed hallmark of excellence, the SESAMES Awards are recognized globally, from all industry players. It is offering to its winners a unique exposure and an unequalled credibility.

 

Exceptionally this year, a GOLDEN SESAMES award has been given for the 20th anniversary of the competition. This prize rewards the innovation that most impressed the judges this year.

 

The winners of each category will have the opportunity to present their innovation during the “Innovation Breaks” and on “Innovation TV” on Wednesday 18 and Thursday 19 November on the INNOVATION TV (hall 3).

 

The 11 winners of the SESAMES Awards 2015 by category:

 
BEST IDENTIFICATION APPLICATION
NISS Group   Nano-ID   Our solution is a combination of intrinsic authentication, digital identification and a traceability network that provides a genuine solution to document security and authentication. NANO-ID™ enables to create an unforgeable & unique encrypted digital-ID code which is optically authenticated by our readers.
 
  Booth 4J105
BEST IT SECURITY SOLUTION + GOLDEN SESAMES
Infineon Technologies   OPTIGA (TM) Trust E - enabling the IoT   As embedded systems are increasingly gaining attention of attackers, the OPTIGA™ Trust E is a turnkey security solution for industrial automation systems, smart homes, and consumer devices. The high-end security controller comes with full system integration support for easy and cost effective deployment of high end security for your assets.
 
  Booth 3E004
BEST TRANSPORTATION APPLICATION
Oberthur Technologies   cityGo Ticket CIPURSE L   cityGo Ticket CIPURSE™ L is the first contactless ticket based on CIPURSE L available on the market which is certified by the OSPT Alliance. cityGo Ticket CIPURSE™ L is the perfect product for Urban Transport Operator or Urban Transport Authority willing to offer a smart ticket for a single journey or a 10-journey ticket with some transactions records based on a high level of security product.
 
  Booth 4J110
BEST BANKING AND PAYMENT APPLICATION
Spire Payments   Spire Payments/Wirecard/Bijlipay and Indian Overseas bank mPOS initiative   Spire Payments’ a market leader in mPOS has played a key role in providing chip and PIN mPOS devices for the first ever deployment of its type in the Chennai area of India. Aimed at the micro merchant sector which had previously never accepted card payments, merchants are seeing revenue increases of 15% while benefiting from lower operating costs.
 
  Booth 4H019
BEST MOBILE SECURITY SOLUTION
Oberthur Technologies   OT Flying mPOS powered by Mobeewave   Solution to convert a mobile handset into a powerful, secure, open and contactless mobile POS for merchants. The offer leverages on PEARL by OT embedded Secure Element and Mobeewave’s contactless payment acceptance technology in order to turn smart devices into secure payment terminals.
 
  Booth 4J110
BEST RETAIL SOLUTION
Verifone   Verifone Cloud POS   Verifone Cloud POS is an Android-based cloud point of sale system for tablets and smartphones. Ideal for small/medium sized merchants, it supports all payment methods. It's processor-agnostic and scalable to grow with merchants’ businesses, while enabling them to identify, engage and reward customers through custom digital loyalty/coupon programs.
 
  Booth 4L004
BEST MANUFACTURING & TESTS PRODUCT
Emperor Technology   3D Multi-color Card   A 3D Multi-color Card printed by resinae liquid inkjet printing technology, on which the photo, text, number and signature are created with 3D embossing effect. It is a cost-effective solution to print vivid color pattern on cards with high resolution. It brings diversity to the traditional smart card manufacturing industry.
 
  Booth 3E088
BEST CONNECTED OBJECTS APPLICATIONS
Oberthur Technologies   EMV Cybersecurity by OT   By making EMV payment cards capable of detecting & reporting anomalies in an EMV transaction flow, OT go beyond traditional security approach of protecting issuers & cardholders assets against security attacks. OT apply principles of cybersecurity turning EMV cards into smart sensors contributing to financial institutions security continuum.
 
  Booth 4J110
BEST JOINT INITIATIVE
QiCard & International Smart Card   QiCard Biometric-payment card for distribution of aid to refugees   A joint initiative between International Smart Card and the Ministry of Migrant for the distribution of aid to internally displaced refugees in Iraq, using biometric identity-based smart cards.
 
   
Discovery
Famoco   OtherCoin   FAMOCO and and Cayenne Graphics developed a breakthrough offline payment solution inspired from the Bitcoin technology. The solution is based on the generation, storing and transmission of Bitcoin private keys. Among other applications, this solution will prevail as the most convenient and secure payment system for communities acting in a unity of time and place such as clubs, festivals, resorts, etc.
 
  Booth 4J048

CARTES SECURE CONNEXIONS:
Izicap, winner of the 2015 Startup Challenge

 

At CARTES SECURE CONNEXIONS 2015, on 18th November from 11.00 a.m.to 12:30 pm, 4 startups finalists of the 2015 Startup Challenge presented their project in front of a panel of experts and the public. The French startup Izicap is the winner of this contest aims to reward the most innovative solutions for the payment.

 

The Startup Challenge created in 2014 by CARTES SECURE CONNEXIONS in partnership with Fabernovel represents a springboard that enables young entrepreneurs to gain visibility, secure funding and gain privileged access to their target market.

 

The French startup Izicap, created in 2013 by Miguel Mateus, won the Startup Challenge thanks to his project: a bank card loyalty scheme without the need for additional infrastructure. This innovation, an all-in-one tool, joins a loyalty and a payment card and helps small business owners to define a loyalty program to make them more competitive.

 

Miguel Matus, CEO of Izicap: “It was a great honor and encouragement for us to win this competition. It means that Izicap has been recognized by experts as an innovative company in the payment industry. This award allows us to view the future with confidence and move forward in developing this concept in which we strongly believe”.

 

Izicap has received €10,000 (including 5,000 Euros’ worth of consulting from GALITT). This startup will also be allocated a 6m2 Stand at CARTES SECURE CONNEXIONS 2016 trade event in Paris, and will be interviewed on INNOVATION TV.

 

 

 

 
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Moody’s Welcomes Appointment of Richard Cantor to APEC Business Advisory Council

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Business Wire India

Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) is pleased to announce that Dr. Richard Cantor, Chief Risk Officer of Moody’s Corporation and Chief Credit Officer for Moody’s Investors Service, has been named to the APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) Business Advisory Council. Dr. Cantor will be one of the three US business community members on the Council and will begin his term in 2016.

 

“I am honored to have been appointed to APEC’s Business Advisory Council, and I look forward to working alongside distinguished colleagues to help promote healthy and vibrant growth across the APEC economies,” said Dr. Cantor. “As a leading financial services company with a deep understanding of capital markets, Moody’s will engage through the Council on the wide spectrum of issues relevant to the further development of capital markets in the region.”

 

Dr. Cantor will serve with counterparts from twenty other economies to advise APEC leaders on issues affecting the Asia-Pacific region. The APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC), created by APEC Leaders in 1995, consists of three business representatives from each APEC economy chosen by their respective heads of state. ABAC meets quarterly to discuss policy recommendations, undertake activities to promote trade and investment, and reports directly to the APEC Leaders at an annual dialogue each fall.

 

As Chief Risk Officer, Dr. Cantor leads Moody’s Corporation’s global risk management function. He also leads the Credit Policy Group of Moody’s Investors Service, which provides oversight for credit ratings methodologies worldwide.

 

Prior to joining Moody’s in 1997, Dr. Cantor held a variety of positions at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, including in the Capital Markets Group and the Discount Window, and was an adjunct professor at New York University’s and Columbia University’s business schools. He has also taught Economics at UCLA and Ohio State Universities. He holds BA degrees in English and Economics from Tufts University and a PhD in Economics from Johns Hopkins University.

 

About Moody’s

 

Moody's is an essential component of the global capital markets, providing credit ratings, research, tools and analysis that contribute to transparent and integrated financial markets. Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) is the parent company of Moody's Investors Service, which provides credit ratings and research covering debt instruments and securities, and Moody's Analytics, which offers leading-edge software, advisory services and research for credit and economic analysis and financial risk management. The corporation, which reported revenue of $3.3 billion in 2014, employs approximately 10,200 people worldwide and maintains a presence in 35 countries. Further information is available at www.moodys.com.

 

 

Del Taco Selects BOARD International Analytics Platform To Track and Improve Business Success

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Business Wire India

BOARD International, the leading global provider of software for unified BI, Analytics and CPM, announced that the US restaurant chain Del Taco has selected BOARD to improve decision management through the calculation and reporting of Key Performance Indicators.

 

Del Taco is a major US operator and franchisor of restaurants serving both Mexican and American classic dishes. The company and its franchisees operate close to 550 restaurants in 16 states, serving more than three million guests each week.

 

“We chose the BOARD platform to provide Del Taco with a single source of data for calculating and reporting Key Performance Indicators,” said David A. Snyder, Vice President, Information Technology for Del Taco. “We also judged the BOARD platform as the best-in-class solution available to enable financial consolidation and filings with minimal IT staffing. Our legacy methods of reporting business progress, which included a SQL server reporting system and Excel, required the consolidation of data across multiple data sources, which limited what we could accomplish.”

 

In particular, Del Taco sought functionality within the BOARD platform, which included multi-dimensional database architecture, robust integration with Microsoft Excel, analytical applications, workflow, process modeling, mobile capabilities and predictive analytics, said Mr. Snyder.

 

About Del Taco Restaurants, Inc.

 

At Del Taco (NASDAQ: TACO) all menu items taste better because they are made to order with fresh ingredients including cheddar cheese grated from 40-pound blocks, handmade pico de gallo salsa, lard-free beans slow-cooked from scratch, fresh sliced avocado and marinated chicken grilled in the restaurant. The menu, which includes a full line of breakfast, includes classic Mexican dishes such as tacos, burritos, quesadillas and nachos as well as American favorites including hamburgers, crinkle-cut fries and shakes. Del Taco’s UnFreshing Believable campaign communicates the lengths the company goes to in order to deliver quality, made-to-order menu items created with freshly-prepared ingredients at unbelievable prices. With nearly 550 restaurants in 16 states, Del Taco serves more than three million guests each week. For more information, please visit www.deltaco.com.

 

About BOARD International

 

BOARD International has enabled more than 3,000 companies worldwide to rapidly deploy BI and CPM applications on a single integrated and programming-free platform, in a fraction of the time or cost required by traditional solutions. BOARD provides a single, accurate and complete view of an organization’s information, integrated with enterprise processes, while uniquely planning and monitoring performance from strategic down to operational detail.

 

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Citi Named Best Digital Bank in Asia By Global Finance Magazine

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Business Wire India

Citi has been recognized as Asia’s Best Digital Bank for 2015 by Global Finance magazine, picking up Best Corporate/Institutional Digital Bank and Best Consumer Digital Bank in the region.

 

The annual competition evaluates online and mobile banking applications. Winners were selected based on the strength of strategy for attracting and servicing online customers, success in getting clients to use web offerings, growth of the online customer base, breadth of products offered, evidence of tangible benefits gained from Internet initiatives and web site design and functionality.

 

“Technology and digitization are transforming how we serve clients. From credit cards to ATMs, Citi has a history of embracing new technologies to transform how it serves clients. In Asia, we have had good success with innovation including new hi tech branches that have since been rolled out globally and our priority is to be the world’s leading digital bank. I would also like to thank our clients whose trust in Citi makes these awards possible,” said Anand Selva, Head of Consumer Banking Asia Pacific at Citi.

 

Commenting on the Best Corporate/Institutional Digital Bank win, Amol Gupte, Head of Treasury and Trade Solutions Asia Pacific at Citi said, “We are committed to continuously harness innovation and digitization to help clients better adapt their operating models to shifting market and business demands. Our dedication to digital banking has helped deliver impactful results – making our products simpler, more convenient and flexible, and allowing companies to have improved visibility over their treasury flows in ways that were not previously possible. This award is a testimony to our drive to enhance client experience through digitization, as well as our strong partnership with clients.”

 

Citi has been investing in digitising its business in Asia to support the changing preferences of its clients. This has included launching mobile banking in all the 12 markets in which the bank operates consumer businesses in the region.

 

The bank is also actively searching out new solutions. This includes via the Citi Mobile Challenge to help develop the next generation of Fin Tech solutions from this region.

 

The most recent challenge in Asia drew 1,900 registrations and close to 80 Fin Tech teams showcased their Fin Tech solutions at demo days in Bengaluru on November 3, Singapore on November 6, Sydney on November 10 and Hong Kong on November 12. The winners will be announced on December 15. Citi is confident that the competition along with its own Consumer Innovation labs will help accelerate and uncover new and exciting opportunities for the bank to develop transformational approaches to banking.

 

Speed, simplicity and ubiquity are guiding Citi’s use of technology. New Citi branches around the world are taking on the Smart Banking model, with interactive touch panels, video-conferencing capabilities and full-service banking from iPhones and iPads. First launched in Asia in 2009, they have since been rolled out globally. These branches bring in two to three times more new clients than traditional branches. They are also going paperless and wireless. Nearly 98% of all Citi’s retail transactions in Asia are now via non-branch channels and around 20% of credit cards are now acquired via digital channels.

 

On the institutional side, Citi Treasury and Trade Solutions (TTS) enables our clients' success by providing an integrated suite of innovative and tailored cash management and trade finance services to multinational corporations, financial institutions and public sector organizations across the globe. Based on the foundation of the industry's largest proprietary network with banking licenses in over 100 countries and globally integrated technology platforms, TTS continues to lead the way in offering the industry's most comprehensive range of digitally enabled treasury, trade and liquidity management solutions.

 

CitiDirect BESM, Citi’s institutional e-banking platform serves as the foundation of its online banking strategy, providing a single, centralized point-of-access to a full range of global cash, trade, liquidity and investment services. It is available across 95 countries in 24 languages and transacts in 140 currencies. CitiDirect BESM has been ranked number #1 globally for nine consecutive years in the prestigious Online Services Benchmarking Study by Greenwich Associates, an independent research and consulting firm.

 

In 2014, TTS processed more than 100 million e-payment transactions on its CitiDirect BESM platform in Asia, of which US$120 billion in transaction value was done on CitiDirect BESM Mobile and US$1.47 billion in transaction value on the new CitiDirect BESM Tablet.

 

In Asia, Citi is also the only bank to launch Virtual Accounts for corporate clients across 16 markets, as well as Virtual Card Accounts across seven markets. Virtual Accounts is a payment mechanism in which a corporate issues a special purpose virtual account number to customers for payments, whilst Virtual Card Accounts is a market-leading solution which generates a single-use account number for each card transaction, ensuring secure domestic and cross-border B2B payments.

 

In the awards announced in late October, Citi was also named Best Overall Global Digital Bank.

 

About Citi

 

Citi, the leading global bank, has approximately 200 million customer accounts and does business in more than 160 countries and jurisdictions. Citi provides consumers, corporations, governments and institutions with a broad range of financial products and services, including consumer banking and credit, corporate and investment banking, securities brokerage, transaction services, and wealth management.

 

Additional information may be found at www.citigroup.com | Twitter: @Citi | YouTube: www.youtube.com/citi | Blog: http://blog.citigroup.com | Facebook: www.facebook.com/citi | LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/citi

 

 

Axis Bank Opens its Representative Office in Dhaka to Strengthen its International Presence

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Business Wire IndiaAxis Bank, India’s third largest private bank, today announced the opening of its Representative Office in Dhaka, Bangladesh by H.E. Pankaj Saran, High Commissioner of India to Bangladesh in the presence of Mr. P Mukherjee, Group Executive, Corporate Relationship Group & International Business, Axis Bank. The Representative Office, located at Laila Tower, 5th Floor, 8, Gulshan Avenue, would primarily promote the Bank’s Trade Finance business arising from Indo-Bangladesh and also tap opportunities arising from trade flows between Bangladesh and major financial markets, where the Bank has a presence.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr. P Mukherjee, Group Executive, Corporate Relationship Group & International Business, Axis Bank said: “The Bank aims to leverage the growing economic integration between the two countries by actively facilitating trade transactions, both in bound as well as out bound. The Bank will also contribute towards employment generation, both directly and indirectly in the country. Dhaka operations will further strengthen our presence in Asia.” 

The Representative Office will also enable the Bank to move up the value chain and enhance its risk return, through secondary market risk participations with banks in Bangladesh.

Axis Bank has already established its presence through branches in Singapore, Hong Kong DIFC – Dubai, Colombo and Shanghai, Representative Offices at Dubai & Abu Dhabi and Axis Bank UK Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Bank. The Business offerings include Corporate Loans, Trade Finance Products, Debt Syndication and Liability Business. Total Overseas Assets of the Bank stood at USD 7.51 billion, as on September 30, 2015. 

Mr. Sumit Goswami, Chief Executive Officer (Designate) will be in-charge of the Bank’s Representative Office in Dhaka.

About Axis Bank: 

Axis Bank is the third largest private sector bank in India. Axis Bank offers the entire spectrum of services to customer segments covering Large and Mid-Corporates, SME, Agriculture and Retail Businesses.

With its 2,743 domestic branches (including extension counters) and 12,352 ATMs across the country, as on 30th September 2015, the network of Axis Bank spreads across 1,796 cities and towns, enabling the Bank to reach out to a large cross-section of customers with an array of products and services. The Bank also has overseas offices in UK, Singapore, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Colombo, Dubai and Abu Dhabi. The Bank’s website www.axisbank.com offers comprehensive details about its products and services.

New GSMA Study Emphasises Importance of Digital Commerce, Access and Payments for Growth in Pakistan

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Business Wire India

A new research report produced by the GSMA, ‘Building digital societies in Asia: Making commerce smarter’, indicates that for Pakistan to harness the full potential of digital commerce, strong collaboration is required among mobile operators, financial and payments companies and governmental agencies. Each of these stakeholders have a crucial role to play in enabling digital commerce, digital access and digital payments.

 

“Mobile operators have been investing heavily to ensure access to the internet in Pakistan and will continue to do so. By 2020, 3G coverage is expected to reach 90 per cent of the country’s population, and mobile broadband is expected to reach 40 per cent,” said Alasdair Grant, the GSMA’s Head of Asia. “With connectivity becoming less of an issue, the challenge now lies in increasing the number of digital commerce accounts and promoting digital payments in order to realise the full potential of digital commerce in Pakistan.”

 

With half of the adult population in Pakistan (approximately 60 million people) having access to a mobile phone but not having a bank account, mobile money, or branchless banking as it is known in Pakistan, plays an important role. Mobile operators have already started to invest to increase branchless banking account adoption and usage, fostering the development of a digital ecosystem.

 

Areas of Opportunity for Pakistan’s Digital Growth

 

Government payments is one area where the potential for digitisation of payments is substantial. In Pakistan, providers and stakeholders are evaluating the feasibility of digitising this use case both to reduce costs of delivery and drive use of branchless banking accounts. There is also an opportunity to increase the value of account ownership by providing support for remote and proximity merchant payments. For this to happen, technology-based solution providers in the financial and payment industries (fintech companies) should partner with branchless banking operators to create payment products for different market segments.

 

Branchless banking in Pakistan has grown at a faster rate than the traditional banking system and has extended the reach of financial services to the unbanked and those on low incomes. Recent market dynamics along with an increasing number of branchless banking accounts indicate that the foundations for digital commerce are in place in Pakistan and it is set to grow even more rapidly in the coming years. Growth of digital commerce will lead to further uptake of digital accounts as people start to see the value of using digital accounts to pay for goods and services in their daily lives.

 

According to the GSMA Intelligence report, Pakistan’s development as a digital economy still faces many challenges. These include socio-political barriers such as weak legal and regulatory frameworks, digital illiteracy, and a lack of awareness of what digital commerce is and how to access it. Success going forward requires collaboration between all stakeholders involved including government and regulators, mobile operators, financial institutions and fintech companies.

 

Click here to access the GSMA Intelligence report: ‘Building digital societies in Asia: Making commerce smarter’

 

-ENDS-

 

About the GSMA

 

The GSMA represents the interests of mobile operators worldwide, uniting nearly 800 operators with more than 250 companies in the broader mobile ecosystem, including handset and device makers, software companies, equipment providers and internet companies, as well as organisations in adjacent industry sectors. The GSMA also produces industry-leading events such as Mobile World Congress, Mobile World Congress Shanghai and the Mobile 360 Series conferences.

 

For more information, please visit the GSMA corporate website at www.gsma.com. Follow the GSMA on Twitter: @GSMA.

 

 

 

 

#DoYourHomework, is Axis Mutual Fund's Message to Parents

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Business Wire IndiaAxis Mutual Fund, one of the leading asset management companies, has launched a unique initiative – #DoYourHomework, to create awareness amongst the parent fraternity about planning for one of the most important goals in their lives - children’s education & their future.

Children today are more aware about different careers, which at times go beyond the conventional choices. Children also have a strong point of view on what they want to do in life, unlike in the past when they were more likely to follow their parent’s footsteps, says Mr. Chandresh Kumar Nigam, MD & CEO, Axis Asset Management Company Ltd..

Children’s education and education-related expenses are considered the biggest apprehensions amongst parents, in fact even surpassing other aspects such as their own retirement planning, EMI towards loans, etc. Parents acknowledge that education related expenses are going to increase significantly, however they do not have an exact view on how much it is going to cost.

It is here that #DoYourHomework initiative, a rallying cry is a larger call-to-action for parents. ‘We believe that today parents have to not just do their homework in terms of finding out what their children want to do in future and provide the support, but also find out the overall expenses and plan towards the same, Mr. Nigam said adding: ‘It is imperative for parents to bridge the gap between their children’s career aspirations and financial requirement to help achieve their children’s desired career goals.’

With this in mind, we set about creating an investor education campaign to create awareness amongst parents on the need to plan for their children’s future.

Mining the Insight

We met parents and their children to explore this space. We wanted to understand parents’ perspectives about their children’s future and how they plan to fulfil their children’s aspirations. Children were also interviewed to understand their views on dreams and aspirations.

The qualitative research was followed by a large-scale research to validate our hypothesis. This study was conducted with the help of Nielsen across 10 cities covering 1000 parents who have children between the age group of 4 & 12 years.

The studies threw interesting insights.
  • Children are aware about different career options today which go beyond the conventional choices and they have a strong point of view on what they want to do in life, unlike in the past when they were likely to follow their parents’ footsteps.
  • Children’s education and education related expenses are the biggest apprehensions amongst parents. So while 83% parents voiced this view, their apprehension about ‘retirement planning’ and ‘EMI towards loans’ was relatively low at 39% & 22% respectively.
  • Parents clearly acknowledge that children today want to follow their passion & areas of interest and their role is to support their children’s choice.
  • More than 3/4th parents are of the view that education costs are going to rise significantly over the next few years. And not surprisingly, most of them do not have an exact view of how much it would cost.
  • It was also observed that many parents are not fully prepared to handle the high fees. And in case of foreign education, it becomes all the more difficult since one has to take into account living expenses in addition to tuition fees.

The Big Idea

Through the studies, we reached a common ground: Today children have innumerable career options. While the choice is theirs, parents need to support their children –be emotionally & financially prepared to fulfil their children’s aspirations.

We articulated this thought through a rallying cry – Do Your Homework

The Campaign Elements
An interesting experiment was initiated with a group of parents and their children. Children were asked to draw a picture of what they would like to become in future while parents were asked to paint what they would like their children to become in future. They were told not to interact with each other during the course of the activity.

A lot of interesting stories emerged from the experiment. At the end of the experiment, parents and children were asked to reveal their ideas. And to everyone’s surprise the pictures were contrasting. Children expressed their eagerness to pursue conventional as well as unconventional careers and their parents saw their children pursuing professions different than what their children articulated. The entire activity was captured on video which was released on YouTube with the message – Children today have innumerable career options. Whatever they choose to become, you (parents) need to be prepared. The video has been watched more than 350,000 times on YouTube and more than 200,000 times on Facebook & Twitter.
 
  • The #DoYourHomework Platform
The platform homework.axismf.com enlists the Why, the How & the What for parents’ reference. Basis the research findings, we have created a module which enables parents to find out education costs for various careers across various countries both in the current and in the future, and also suggests the ideal amount one should invest in order to meet the future requirements. The platform also hosts interesting content around planning and investments. An online parenting test is underway.
 
  • Children’s Books
As they say, learning should be fun, we curated books to inspire the children to explore the various careers by way of reading short stories on various professions, trying their hand with coloring or solving crossword puzzles on various professions.
 
  • #DoYourHomework at Crossword Bookstores & Kidzania
We thought it would be fun if we make parents do their homework while their children would be celebrating Children’s Day and all the festivities.

With this in mind. We have tied-up with Crossword Bookstores & Kidzania. We would be asking parents if they are on the same page as their children when it comes to their careers. Parents and their children will be initiated into the painting experiment and they will also be shown the education calculator and informed about planning.

The Crossword activity would be taking place in 17 stores across 7 cities, and activity at Kidzania would be in Mumbai, starting from 14th Nov (Children’s Day) till the month end.
 
  • It’s a DRAW – an activity game for parents & kids
 
In order to aid parents to discover the unknown hidden treasures about their children, we created an interesting activity-based board game, titled ‘It’s a DRAW’.
 
  • #DoYourHomework on Social Media
Opening the digital avenue for the parents, we have planned an activity encouraging the parents to do this fun experiment with their kids at home. The parents can share their experience (images) through our social channels using #DoYourHomework. These experiences will then be crafted together in a video.
 
  • #DoYourHomework on Digital Media
The media outreach for the #DoYourHomework campaign is an impressive one which reaches parents across the three major social networks Facebook, Twitter and Youtube in addition to precise targeting on Google Display Network across parenting websites.
 
  • All-in-all, #DoYourHomework is a great conversation starter to talk to parents about one of the most important life goals – Children’s education & their future
  • After all, children are our country’s biggest asset and they are the ones who will shape the future
  • We want parents to estimate the future cost of education at an early stage and start planning towards the same by investing in mutual funds

 
About Axis Mutual Fund

Axis AMC has completed five years of operations and within a short span has over 11.5 lakh active investor accounts. It currently has a portfolio of 50 schemes across asset classes and a presence in over 75 cities. Axis AMC is a joint venture between Axis Bank, India’s third largest private sector bank and Schroders ‐ one of the largest asset managers in UK.

For more information, please visit www.axismf.com

Goals shown are for illustration purpose only and there is no assurance that the goals represented may be achieved.

Statutory Details: Axis Mutual Fund has been established as a Trust under the Indian Trusts Act, 1882, sponsored by Axis Bank Ltd. (liability restricted to Rs. 1 Lakh). Trustee: Axis Mutual Fund Trustee Ltd. Investment Manager: Axis Asset Management Co. Ltd. (the AMC). Risk Factors: Axis Bank Ltd. is not liable or responsible for any loss or shortfall resulting from the operation of the scheme. Mutual Fund Investments are subject to market risks, read all scheme related documents carefully.
 
Photo Caption:
Children participating in Axis Mutual Fund – Do Your Homework Initiative 
Children participating in Axis Mutual Fund – Do Your Homework Initiative 

Hilton Worldwide Has Identified and Taken Action to Eradicate Malware

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Business Wire India

Hilton Worldwide (NYSE: HLT) has identified and taken action to eradicate unauthorized malware that targeted payment card information in some point-of-sale systems. Hilton immediately launched an investigation and has further strengthened its systems.

 

Hilton Worldwide worked closely with third-party forensics experts, law enforcement and payment card companies on this investigation, and determined that specific payment card information was targeted by this malware. This information includes cardholder names, payment card numbers, security codes and expiration dates, but no addresses or personal identification numbers (PINs).

 

As a precautionary measure, customers may wish to review and monitor their payment card statements if they used a payment card at a Hilton Worldwide hotel over a seventeen-week period, from November 18 to December 5, 2014 or April 21 to July 27, 2015.

 

Customers generally are not responsible for fraudulent activity on their payment cards, and should contact their financial institution directly if they notice any irregularities. They can also visit hiltonworldwide.com/guestupdate for more details, including how to receive one year of complimentary credit monitoring.

 

Hilton Worldwide is strongly committed to protecting customers’ payment card information, and we sincerely regret any inconvenience this may have caused customers.

 

About Hilton Worldwide

 

Hilton Worldwide (NYSE: HLT) is a leading global hospitality company, spanning the lodging sector from luxury and full-service hotels and resorts to extended-stay suites and focused-service hotels. For 96 years, Hilton Worldwide has been dedicated to continuing its tradition of providing exceptional guest experiences. The company's portfolio of twelve world-class global brands is comprised of more than 4,500 managed, franchised, owned and leased hotels and timeshare properties, with more than 745,000 rooms in 97 countries and territories, including Hilton Hotels & Resorts, Waldorf Astoria Hotels & Resorts, Conrad Hotels & Resorts, Canopy by Hilton, Curio – A Collection by Hilton, DoubleTree by Hilton, Embassy Suites by Hilton, Hilton Garden Inn, Hampton by Hilton, Homewood Suites by Hilton, Home2 Suites by Hilton and Hilton Grand Vacations. The company also manages an award-winning customer loyalty program, Hilton HHonors®. Visit news.hiltonworldwide.com for more information and connect with Hilton Worldwide at www.facebook.com/hiltonworldwide, www.twitter.com/hiltonworldwide, www.youtube.com/hiltonworldwide, www.flickr.com/hiltonworldwide, and www.linkedin.com/company/hilton-worldwide.

 

 

 

 

MetLife Asia Won the Gold Award – Excellence in Social Media with “My Dad’s Story” – A Social Media Film among the Most Shared Ads of 2015

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Business Wire India

MetLife, Inc. (NYSE: MET) was honored as the Gold winner - Excellence in Social Media in the recent Marketing Magazine’s Marketing Excellence Award 2015 presentation ceremony.

 

The wide-reaching, emotionally engaging social video triggered a tidal wave of consumer and media interest which reached over 300 million people. The video was shared nearly 1.5 million times on social media, finishing 11th place in the global ranking and making it the top-performing social media campaign in the history of life insurance industry. It is also one of the most shared ads of 2015.

 

Titled “My Dad’s Story”, the video follows a struggling father working hard to provide the best for his daughter. The story highlights the worries and sacrifices of parents as they seek to create a better life for their children and a future of opportunities.

 

The mini-film was shared across YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, blogs as well as MetLife’s microsites from January 28, 2015. The positive comments received underline the way the story strikes a sympathetic chord with a wide range of consumers.

 

Mr. Ralph Brunner, Chief Marketing Officer for MetLife in Asia, said: “’My Dad’s Story’ demonstrates MetLife’s deep empathy for parents who make tremendous sacrifices to ensure a bright future for their children. To support these parents, we created the innovative EduCare product and value-added services to help them develop their children every step of the way from birth to university graduation. The consumer response has been outstanding.”

 

Created in partnership with Soho Square, a creative agency affiliated with Ogilvy Thailand, and Phenomena production house, “My Dad’s Story” was produced in six local-language versions in Hong Kong, Malaysia and Vietnam.

 

The Marketing Excellence Awards celebrate the best of the best across the marketing communications services spectrum, and recognize companies that have pushed their brands towards measurable success, through sound and innovative marketing strategies. The winners were decided by a distinguished panel of judges comprising of senior-professionals from agencies and academics and experts from the industry. They assessed the entries in the lens of challenge, strategy, execution and results.

 

For “My Dad’s Story” video, please click this link: https://ogilvy.egnyte.com/dl/ijcZNMUUtm

 

About MetLife

 

MetLife, Inc. (NYSE: MET), through its subsidiaries and affiliates (“MetLife”), is one of the largest life insurance companies in the world. Founded in 1868, MetLife is a global provider of life insurance, annuities, employee benefits and asset management. Serving approximately 100 million customers, MetLife has operations in nearly 50 countries and holds leading market positions in the United States, Japan, Latin America, Asia, Europe and the Middle East. For more information, visit www.metlife.com.

 

 

FinTech Start-Up EarlySalary.com Raises USD 1.5 Million Seed Capital

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Business Wire India
  • FinTech start-up EarlySalary.com, led by Akshay Mehrotra, Ashish Goyal, & Jay Jain, has raised USD 1.5 Million as seed capital investment
  • Seed funds invested by a group of investors led by Ashok Agarwal of Transcorp Group
  • Aims to introduce mobile app-based lending platform in 3 months
  • EarlySalary is small bridge loan given till the next salary credit

EarlySalary.com, a FinTech startup, has successfully raised USD 1.5 million seed capital from Ashok Agarwal of Transcorp Group. The seed raised will be used towards building a mobile app-based lending platform that is set to revolutionize the lending space in the country. The venture is co-founded by a 3-member team comprising of Akshay Mehrotra, Ashish Goyal, & Jay Jain.


Seed capital investor Ashok Agarwal of Transcorp Group commented “FinTech and e-lending platforms will lead the next batch of innovation in the e-Commerce space. EarlySalary.com is just the disruption that we were looking for, and we strongly believe it has all it takes to give the retail lending industry a new direction. The team bring together an amazing mix of both experience & energy to give the company a healthy shape. In the upcoming months, look forward to experience new age lending products by EarlySalary.com for the young Indian customer.”

Speaking on the occasion, Akshay Mehrotra, Co-Founder & CEO of the venture said, “We as a population are dominated by a strong middle class & young individuals. There have always been times of the month where we are left with empty pockets. Being broke at the end of the month is a common problem, and EarlySalary.com plans to help provide a small bridge loan to tide over that short difficult period till your salary reaches your account.”

Akshay further explained, “EarlySalary.com moves away from conventional underwriting formulae of lending and looks more towards the e-Information of an individual to truly deliver an e-Commerce experience, instant approval followed by disbursement. We are confident EarlySalary.com will usher in a new way for the financial services business in the country powered by Social Media & strong Data Analytics.”
 
The mobile first app aims to reach out to ever connected individuals. With EarlySalary.com’s technology driven approach, it hopes to solve the issues of transparency and mitigating information asymmetry. EarlySalary.com App aims to make the process simple, quick, and trustworthy.
 
 
Founding Team behind EarlySalary.com
 
Akshay Mehrotra, Co-Founder & CEO
 
  • 12 years experience, MBA – Symbiosis Institute of Management Studies
  • Chief Marketing Officer – Future Retail Ltd (Big Bazaar), 2013-15
  • Chief Marketing Officer – PolicyBazaar.com | etechaces pvt ltd, 2011-13
  • Head Marketing & Corporate Communication – Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance, 2004-11
 
 
Ashish Goyal, Co-Founder & CFO
 
  • 14 years experience, Chartered Accountant
  • Chief Investment Officer – Bajaj Allianz General Insurance
 
 Jay Jain, Co-Founder & COO
 
  • 12 years experience - Serial Mobile entrepreneur
  • Director & Co-founder – m-AdCall Digital Media Pvt Ltd  & Astute Systems Technology Pvt Ltd

 

Ashok Agarwal
 
  • Director at Transcorp International Limited and Founder of Indian Institute of Health Management Research
  • Ashok Agarwal started the first BOT (Build Operate Transfer) road bridge project in Northern India on a unique PPP (Public Private Partnership). He serves on the board of several companies in India and Malaysia. He is also involved in the money transfer industry as a principal agent of Western Union and deals is into other businesses including foreign exchange services, insurance, travel and real estate development. He is a Trustee at Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, USA. He set up the Indian Institute of Health Management Research (now IIHMR University) - the first such institution in Asia. He serves as the Managing Trustee of Bhoruka Charitable Trust, an independent NGO that operates self-empowerment projects in the fields of education, water, sanitation, health and micro finance in over 1500 villages in Rajasthan and South India

About EarlySalary.com

EarlySalary.com is an innovative lending platform that will change the way loans in India are taken. Being a new age online brand, it brings together new credit scoring systems for superior customer profiling; its mobile first strategy will help customers get loans within minutes. The online platform is backed by a strong leadership team that aims to build a new credit scoring platform that combines traditional credit scoring with new social and online scoring technology-linked risk assessment concepts, to deliver a revolutionary new business model set to change the lending market in India.

Photo Caption: ‘From Left to Right: Ashish Goyal – CFO, Akshay Mehrotra – CEO, Jay Jain – COO’

Tanla's A2P Messaging Hub Touches Record Monthly High; Processes 5 Billion Messages

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Business Wire IndiaTanla Solutions today announced that its A2P (application to Person) messaging hub, Fastrack, processed more than 5 billion messages in the month of October and also set a record of processing more than 200 million messages in a single day, making it the largest A2P messaging platform in the world by volume of messages processed.

“We have achieved this through our constant endeavour to improve Quality of Service and set new benchmarks in the industry for platform reliability and delivery speeds” commented Uday Reddy, CEO Tanla Solutions. He further added, “The A2P messaging market continues to grow, driven by its unparalleled reach, low cost of delivery and high read rate alongwith the constantly growing use cases.”

This milestone has been achieved by Fastrack’s continued ability to demonstrate the fastest processing times and reliability for mission critical messages like One Time Passwords, 2 factor authentication, Transaction, security and delivery alerts which are important to several industries like Banks, Ecommerce and Logistics. In addition, it is the only platform that processes concatenated (multi-part) messages, which represents approximately 30% of all A2P messaging in India, in a reliable manner by using an intelligent algorithm that ensures that all parts of the message arrive on the phone in quick succession to be displayed accurately thereby eliminating charges for parts of the message delivered to the phone but are not readable. 

The market for A2P messaging is continuing to grow worldwide and is estimated to be worth $60 billion by 2018, according to Juniper Research. A2P messaging is used for everything from providing reminders and time-critical alerts to banking services and payments; from mobile marketing and customer service updates to authentication and transaction oriented services. Ecommerce sites, Social Networks and enterprises are driving the use of A2P messaging by providing more personalized and real-time customer services such as account updates, reminders or SMS-based two-factor authentication.

Tanla’s Fastrack platform is tailored to help operators to fully address this market opportunity. The requirements for enterprise messaging are different from P2P messaging and the features of Fastrack enable operators to tailor services to individual enterprise accounts based on their specific needs and end-user expectations. 

Tanla Solutions [BSE: 532790|NSE: TANLA] founded in the year 1999, is the largest provider of A2P messaging services worldwide measured by volume of messages processed. Tanla’s Fastrack platform is used by enterprises of all sizes including social media, banks, ecommerce and logistics service providers to deliver mission critical messages and communicate with their customers. Tanla employs more than 300 telecom professionals and is listed in BSE and NSE in India.

Quality Critical to Successful Innovation, according to ASQ Report

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Business Wire India

Quality is a key component to successful innovation and, when paired together, can have a positive impact on an organization’s bottom line, according to a new report released by ASQ.

 

The report, released during World Quality Month, is the first of several reports published as part of ASQ’s Global State of Quality 2 Research, which examines the state of quality and continuous improvement worldwide, providing organizations with insights into gaps and opportunities. The latest research expands upon the inaugural 2013 research, which provided the first-ever view of quality and continuous improvement on a global scale.

 

ASQ and its research partner, APQC, interviewed Scott Alexander, vice president of innovation at ROi, about how organizations can foster a culture of innovation, and he addresses the role of the customer in innovation and innovation’s impact on an organization’s bottom line.

 

To create a culture of innovation, organizations have to better understand and appreciate customer demands, develop an interest and willingness to do things differently, and implement new and proven ideas that align with the organization, according to Alexander.

 

World Quality Month promotes the use of quality systems, methods and tools in businesses and communities, and, as a result, showcases enhanced business performance and improved product and service quality. World Quality Month seeks to heighten the awareness of quality among businesses, consumers and communities around the world by calling on quality and continuous improvement professionals to share their stories.

 

As the convener of World Quality Month, ASQ hosts worldqualitymonth.org, the hub of the annual celebration. The site, sponsored by Booz Allen Hamilton and Minitab, includes case studies, videos, quality success stories and more.

 

Full results of the Global State of Quality 2 Research will be released in May 2016 at ASQ’s World Conference on Quality and Improvement in Milwaukee, Wis.

 

About ASQ

 

ASQ is a global community of people dedicated to quality who share the ideas and tools that make our world work better. With millions of individual and organizational members of the community in 150 countries, ASQ has the reputation and reach to bring together the diverse quality champions who are transforming the world’s corporations, organizations and communities to meet tomorrow’s critical challenges. Learn more about ASQ’s members, mission, technologies and training at asq.org.

 

 

HSBC India Launches 'HSBC Skills for Life' Progamme

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Business Wire India
  • HSBC Skills for Life programme will skill over 75,000 young people and women
  • Partners with Swades Foundation for rolling out the first vertical of the programme
HSBC launched HSBC Skills for Life, a skill development programme that aims to provide young people and women with requisite skillsets to enable them to earn a sustainable livelihood. HSBC has committed a sum of INR100 crore towards this programme and aims to cover 75,000 young people and women spread over the next five years.

The HSBC Skills for Life programme was announced on 12 November 2015 in London in a joint statement by the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and UK Prime Minister David Cameron.

Through this flagship skill programme HBSC will support non-profit organisations in the following three focus areas.
 
  • Employment linked skills development of disadvantaged young people – HSBC will work with non-profit organisations on enterprise and employment linked training wherein young people will be taught skills that can help them earn a sustainable livelihood. The programme will map demand with industry requirements and link skill building with relevant jobs. It will also develop an entrepreneurial ecosystem through collaborations with organisations working in this space
  • Upskilling of educators and teachers – The programme will focus on enhancing the skills of educators and teachers and will support different scalable models that include Train the Trainers (TOT) approach, digitisation of content, curriculum translation into different languages etc. to scale learning and multiply impact
  • Women’s empowerment through livelihood enhancement – The key focus on this vertical will be to enhance the capacities and improving the livelihood potential of rural and urban disadvantaged women through financial literacy and building entrepreneurial capabilities
HSBC also announced an INR 50 Crore partnership with the Swades Foundation to roll out the first vertical of the HSBC Skills for Life programme. This partnership will provide employment linked skills training to 30,000 disadvantaged young people over the next five years.

The key pillars of the partnership with Swades Foundation are:
 
  • Strong emphasis on screening, partner selection and evaluation: Partnerships are being forged with reputed academic institutions to create a transparent and effective screening and evaluation process that takes into account regional differences. Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) will be the Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) partner for this Programme
  • Senior Advisory Group for project review and selection: An Advisory Group has been set up to review and select short-listed skill development projects. It will also provide key industry and sector insight and inputs to the programme. This will further the cause of employment and entrepreneurship for disadvantaged young people. The Advisory Group comprises of eminent industry and sector leaders. They are Anu Aga, Former Executive Chairperson, Thermax Group; Manish Sabharwal, Co-Founder & Chairman, TeamLease Services; Rati Forbes, Director, Forbes Marshall Ltd.; Richard Rekhy, CEO, KPMG India; Ronnie Screwvala, Founder Trustee, Swades Foundation; Sanjiv Mehta, CEO & MD, Hindustan Unilever Limited; K Satish Reddy, Chairman, Dr. Reddy's Laboratories; Stuart P Milne, Group General Manager & CEO, HSBC India; S Ramadorai, Chairman, National Skills Development Agency &  Chairman, National Skills Development Corporation (NSDC); Sunil Sood, MD & CEO, Vodafone India Ltd
  • Focus on priority sectors: The programme will support skill development in eight priority high growth sectors: Retail; BFSI (banking, financial services and insurance); Beauty and Wellness; Tourism, Travel and Hospitality; Healthcare; Transportation & Logistics; IT & ITES; and Electronic and IT Hardware
The second and third verticals will be initiated from 2016 onwards in partnership with other NGOs.

Stuart P Milne, Group General Manager and Chief Executive Officer, HSBC India, said: “I am delighted to launch this Programme today. Skills development is strategic need for India which fits very well with HSBC’s global focus on education for young people from disadvantaged communities. Our measure of success will be quality outcomes, in particular the number of young people we train who find long term employment, helping them to achieve their hopes and dreams. This flagship Programmed is made possible by the support of our customers across India and I, on behalf of those who will benefit from HSBC Skills for Life, thank you for your support.”
 
Ronnie Screwvala, Founder Trustee, and Swades Foundation, said: “We are delighted to partner with the HSBC Skills for Life programme to further economic opportunity for disadvantaged young people. It is a reinforcement of our commitment of enabling the young people of India to build a better and brighter future for themselves, and a step forward towards creating One India - an India that is not marred by the rural and urban divide."
 
HSBC and Sustainability
 
HSBC's corporate sustainability strategy includes the development of sustainable business opportunities, management of its own environmental footprint, and its community investments. The bank has a long term commitment to the communities in which it operates. Our financial inclusion initiatives support education of children from underprivileged communities, life skills training for disadvantaged young people and financial literacy and entrepreneurship capacity building for rural women in marginalised communities. HSBC’s environmental initiatives support water harvesting, habitat and biodiversity conservation, sustainable livelihoods, water and climate change awareness.
 
At HSBC, employee volunteering is a core component of our commitment to supporting the communities and also provides our employees with the opportunity to experience and learn about the issues that matter in their community and to apply this new knowledge and experience at work. 
 
For more information on HSBC’s sustainability initiatives in India, please visit www.hsbc.co.in.
 
About HSBC India
 
The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited in India offers a full range of banking and financial services through 50 branches and 140 ATMs across 29 cities.
 
HSBC is one of India's leading financial services groups, with over 32,000 employees in its banking, investment banking and capital markets, asset management, insurance, software development and global resourcing operations in the country. It is a leading custodian in India. Nearly 6% of India's trade passes through HSBC. The Bank is at the forefront in arranging deals for Indian companies investing overseas and foreign investments into the country. 
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