Author: CFI.co Blogger

Technology

Ideagen Reaches For The Stars With Agreement with Top US Space Discovery Company

Author ByCFI.co Blogger

Jet Propulsion Laboratory Becomes The Latest Customer of Pentana Audit

Leading global provider of governance, risk and compliance software, UK company Ideagen Plc, has signed a long-term contract with California-based constructor and operator of planetary robotic spacecraft, Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL).

Founded in the 1930s, JPL is a federally funded research and development centre managed for NASA by the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). The lab’s current major projects include the Mars Science Laboratory mission (which includes the Curiosity rover), the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and the Juno spacecraft orbiting Jupiter. JPL is also responsible for operating NASA’s Deep Space Network.

Ideagen has a close relationship with the US Institute of Internal Auditors, which means companies using the Pentana software have the comfort of knowing their audits are being done to the standards expected by the Institute and comply with the guidance it issues.

JPL operates in a highly sensitive and regulated environment and the need for security and top-quality governance processes is paramount. Ideagen’s Pentana Audit solution offered the lab the benefits of leading software together with the flexibility of both cloud-based and on-premise data storage options.

Colin Smith, Head of Sales, Audit & Risk at Ideagen, commented: “Companies are placing increasing importance on compliance and good governance, driven in part by some very high-profile failures of governance by large organisations in recent years. Ideagen’s Pentana software is tried, tested and ensures internal audits are carried out to the standards expected by the US Institute of Internal Auditors. 

“JPL are dealing with incredibly complicated and potentially life changing endeavours. We are extremely proud to have been chosen by them and look forward to helping to ease their burden when it comes to the audit process.”

Lifestyle

easyJet and Travelport to target diversified traveller growth

Author ByCFI.co Blogger

UK, 29 January 2020: easyJet, Europe’s leading airline, has announced the renewal of its long-standing content partnership with Travelport, a leading technology company serving the global travel and tourism industry.

In partnering with Travelport, travel agencies around the world will continue to benefit from real-time access to easyJet’s range of fares through the company’s market-leading technology platform, Travelport Smartpoint.

easyJet will also benefit from access to the full suite of Travelport’s digital media merchandising solutions in line with the airline’s strategy to refine and diversify the way it targets business and leisure travellers.

Thomas Haagensen, Group Markets Director at easyJet, said: “easyJet offers an unrivalled network flying to more primary airports on the top 100 European routes than any other carrier which means we are ideally placed to meet the expectations of where our customers want to fly for business. Having been one of the first airlines in the low-cost sector to make its inventory available through global distributor, Travelport, we continue to deliver on our strategy to increase our appeal, especially to the business travel sector and are pleased to have renewed our partnership.

easyJet will remain among the 300 airlines that utilise Travelport’s innovative merchandising tool, Travelport Rich Content and Branding. Travelport Rich Content and Branding enables airlines to more effectively display their products in line with how they are sold on their own websites, with detailed product descriptions and imagery that enhances the experience for travel agents looking to search, sell and book branded fare families.

Mike Rock, Head of Europe, Air Partners at Travelport, said: “The way that business and leisure travellers make travel choices continues to evolve and diversify as new and emerging technologies, and industry standards improve the experience of buying and managing travel. Our longstanding relationship with easyJet has enabled the airline to develop a multi-channel global sales strategy and we’re looking forward to working with the team to support its ambition for growth in Europe and beyond.”

Lifestyle

Crypto Gambling Grows In Popularity Despite Calls For More Regulation

Author ByCFI.co Blogger

A new crypto asset regulation drafted and passed by the House of Representatives in Japan is expected to have a serious effect on the way custodians and exchanges do business in the country. The Financial Instruments and Exchange Act and the Payment Services Act is set to keep a keener eye on players in the crypto industry at a time when the crypto gambling industry in Japan is fighting through already restrictive gaming regulations.

Crypto Gambling Grows In Popularity Despite Calls For More Regulation

Joseph D. Hugh is the CFO of Jukebucks, a platform that facilitates international cryptocurrency betting. Hugh says the strict regulations Japan has regarding gambling, in general, has been passed over to the crypto gambling industry. Hugh explains it is not an easy thing for the country to completely deny players access to the gambling industry, but Japan keeps tabs on players under the pretense of tax monitoring.

Despite the restrictions that exist in Japan, lawmakers in the country agreed a little more than a year ago to allow physical gambling locations in the country.

Hugh says Japan will begin allowing offline casino betting in the country following the 2020 Olympics. He says it is unclear at this time what business entities may be in line to receive casino licenses but these permits will be issued for casinos in Osaka, Tokyo, Hokkaido, and Okinawa. It is presumed by experts in the industry, Japan will lessen restrictions on online casino play in the country after the offline industry is established.

The “integrated resorts” stamp of approval was given by the Japanese government some time ago but the effects have yet to trickle down to the gambling industry.

Integrated resorts are entertainment complex that showcases a comprehensive set of entertainment venues. Casinos are often counted among the group of business establishments part of an integrated resort. Other attractions include shopping malls, movie theaters, theme parks, and hotels.

Japan and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe have appeared to be more willing to introduce legislation to benefit casinos in recent times. However, this enthusiasm does not seem to translate to crypto gambling possibilities.

Japanese Crypto Gambling

One would think that crypto gambling is much more prevalent in Japan than it is once taking a look at the abundance of regulations the country has put together on the matter. Much of the regulation is seen as a response to the 2014 collapse of the crypto-exchange Mt. Gox that was headquartered in the country.

Tron is a blockchain network that reports it is working on the infrastructure that will facilitate a completely decentralized internet. In 2019, Tron disallowed gambling apps in its app store after being pressured by the government of Japan to do so.

The Chief Technology Officer for Tron at the time of the decision to block the gambling apps, Lucien Chen, was so upset by the decision he left the company. Chen said there was a breakdown between the company’s claim to be a decentralized entity and the actions it was taken against the gambling apps.

How It Works?

There are two ways that blockchain gambling can take place. The first is off-chain gambling while the other is on-chain.

Off-chain gambling takes place whenever physical gambling locations like casinos agree to accept cryptocurrency as a form of gambling currency used to deposit into a casino account. A third-party custodian is then used by these establishments to convert cryptocurrencies into fiat money. However, casinos do exist that operate completely on Bitcoin and do not make use of fiat currency.

Smart contracts are utilized on a blockchain to facilitate on-chain gambling. A decentralized application is also needed that makes use of backend code that runs on a network for blockchain and not a traditional server.

Off-chain casinos are much easier targets for governments who wish to either regulate or eliminate crypto gambling. Websites that allow crypto gambling will often ban IP addresses that originate in certain countries. For example, users in America will find they are unable to access gaming sites that accept Bitcoin from their home location.

It is important to understand that on-chain gambling sites are not completely immune from government regulations. A good example of this is Tron’s refusal to share access to its gambling apps to users with Japanese addresses. However, the same users can access the apps if they use a VPN.

Global Crypto Gambling Regulations

The regulations most countries have in place to govern gambling that takes place online have been in place for quite a few years now. However, only a few countries have so far specifically addressed the issue of crypto gambling. Countries that have established crypto gambling regulations include the Netherlands, the United States, Poland, Greece, Belgium, and Italy.

In countries that do not consider Bitcoin a legal method of pay it is not acceptable to fund gambling efforts with the currency. However, lawmakers in these countries will need to make the regulations regarding this matter clearer for gamblers, casinos, and themselves.

Japan, a nation whose gambling revenue slightly outpaces the revenue produced by Nevada in the United States, is one of these countries in need of better clarity.

A number of online gambling platforms exist in the United Kingdom that will allow players to fund their accounts with Bitcoin. These providers of gambling services are subject to the same laws that govern the operations of other establishments in the gambling industry. Sportsbetting is popular in the United Kingdom and this is reflected by the number of sports betting websites available that allow users to place wagers using cryptocurrencies.

The U.K. Gambling Commission urges citizens to use caution when using Bitcoin to fund gambling accounts. The commission explains there are inherent risks with using Bitcoin that is not present with the use of fiat currencies.

Gamblers are quick to point out the benefits afforded to them by the use of bitcoin. The first is privacy. Users are not required to reveal personal information when they use Bitcoin to facilitate a transaction. Bitcoin does not allow for total anonymity, however. Most countries make it necessary for individuals to share their identity before converting their Bitcoin to the fiat currency of their choice.

Coins like Zcash and Monero are not as popular as Bitcoin but offer users more protection to their identity. These coins are known to thwart attempts by regulators to gain access to personal information regarding coin holders and many supporters of regulations believe tighter controls should be exercised on these coins.

It may not be obvious to some who abhor the many regulations in place but the global gambling industry is slowly becoming more accepting of cryptocurrency. The effect can even be seen in Las Vegas, a place many believe to be the gambling capital of the world, where Bitcoin is being accepted in a few major establishments. The trend of increased acceptance for cryptocurrencies is expected to increase with time.

Banking

First Head of Fintech Strategy & Commercialisation Named at Shawbrook Bank

Author ByCFI.co Blogger

UK fintech market veteran, Stuart Doignie, has been appointed as Shawbrook looks to scale-up and evolve its specialist SME lending proposition

Stuart Doignie Head of Fintech Strategy & Commercialisation

Specialist SME lender, Shawbrook Bank, has started the new decade by appointing its first Head of Fintech Strategy and Commercialisation.

Stuart Doignie, who is well known within the fintech industry, joins Shawbrook’s Business Finance Division as the Bank aims to become the UK’s SME lender of choice.

Mr. Doignie has held several senior roles within the fintech space and his appointment signals Shawbrook’s intent to adopt new technologies as it looks to evolve its specialist SME lending proposition.

As Head of Fintech Strategy & Commercialisation, his primary focus will be on the adoption of technology to advance the specialist SME lender’s own infrastructure but also to support the development of new products and to leverage wider initiatives such as Open Banking.

He said: “I’ve witnessed first-hand how technology is disrupting the SME finance landscape, particularly in the un-secured space.

“The really interesting challenge now is to see how technology can help business owners’ access more sophisticated forms of funding.

“With such a diverse range of specialist SME lending products, I believe Shawbrook is perfectly placed to become one of the first institutions to demonstrate how fintech can be deployed to transform not just distribution but funding solutions too.”

Well known across the fintech industry after holding senior roles including Head of SME at Starling Bank, Chief Risk Officer at ezbob and most recently Chief Commercial Officer at OpenPayd – a leader in the Banking-as-a-Service market – Mr. Doignie has helped pioneer the use of smart technology to provide new finance solutions for small and medium-sized enterprises throughout his career.

His first task at Shawbrook will be to source and deploy a leading cloud-based commercial lending platform. This platform will enable the Bank to develop and scale-up both established and recently launched products including Commercial Loan, Development Finance, Growth Capital and Unitranche.

Neil Rudge, Managing Director of Shawbrook’s Business Finance division, said: “As a specialist lender, focused entirely on UK SMEs, we’ve built a suite of funding products over recent years to address a breadth of needs.

“We’ll be making a number of investments in technology during 2020 to help us rapidly evolve and develop these products, reduce friction in their delivery, and reach more SMEs through slicker distribution.”

He added: “With Stuart’s experience and knowledge across the fintech sector, we’re well placed to create a truly scalable and unique tech infrastructure.”

Hedge Funds

Coronavirus: investors should avoid knee-jerk reactions

Author ByCFI.co Blogger

Coronavirus is the number one threat to financial markets currently – but most investors should avoid knee-jerk reactions, affirms the CEO of one of the world’s largest independent financial advisory organizations.

Nigel Green, deVere Group chief executive and founder, is speaking out as global stock markets are rattled on fears of the potentially deadly Sars-like virus triggering major sell-offs.

The death toll has now risen to 81 and almost 3,000 people have been confirmed as infected, with 44 cases having been detected outside China, where it originated.

On Monday, the composite European Stoxx 600 fell 1.7% at the open, London’s FTSE 100 dropped 1.6%, while Germany’s Dax was 1.7% lower.  The slump followed a similarly dramatic decline in Asia overnight. The Shanghai Composite fell 2.7%, the Hong Kong Hang Seng lost 1.1%, and Japan’s Nikkei dropped 2%.

Mr Green says: “The Coronavirus is the number one threat to financial markets currently as global investors are becoming jittery on the uncertainty.

“But whilst this health crisis will inevitably hit some sectors, such as travel and retail, most investors who have a properly diversified portfolio should avoid knee-jerk reactions.  History teaches us that most issues of this kind have a short-term impact on stock markets.”

He continues: “Most investors should monitor the situation with their financial adviser and sit tight at present. But if it is still escalating next week, with much higher casualty rates, a more defensive approach might be necessary. 

“However, the cost and effort of making such a switch means you do not do it lightly, and more evidence is needed that the virus does pose a medium to long term risk to China and the global economy.”

Mr Green goes on to say: “But that said, this should serve as a wake-up call to all investors to ensure their portfolio is well-diversified across asset classes, regions, sectors, even currencies. 

“This is the best way to mitigate risks and the best way to be well-placed to take advantage of the opportunities when they occur.”

The deVere CEO concludes: “Stock markets tend to bottom with the peak in new cases during a public health issue of this kind, before rebounding.

Coronavirus is the number one threat to financial markets currently – but most investors should avoid knee-jerk reactions, affirms the CEO of one of the world’s largest independent financial advisory organizations.

Nigel Green, deVere Group chief executive and founder, is speaking out as global stock markets are rattled on fears of the potentially deadly Sars-like virus triggering major sell-offs.

The death toll has now risen to 81 and almost 3,000 people have been confirmed as infected, with 44 cases having been detected outside China, where it originated.

On Monday, the composite European Stoxx 600 fell 1.7% at the open, London’s FTSE 100 dropped 1.6%, while Germany’s Dax was 1.7% lower.  The slump followed a similarly dramatic decline in Asia overnight. The Shanghai Composite fell 2.7%, the Hong Kong Hang Seng lost 1.1%, and Japan’s Nikkei dropped 2%.

Mr Green says: “The Coronavirus is the number one threat to financial markets currently as global investors are becoming jittery on the uncertainty.

“But whilst this health crisis will inevitably hit some sectors, such as travel and retail, most investors who have a properly diversified portfolio should avoid knee-jerk reactions.  History teaches us that most issues of this kind have a short-term impact on stock markets.”

He continues: “Most investors should monitor the situation with their financial adviser and sit tight at present. But if it is still escalating next week, with much higher casualty rates, a more defensive approach might be necessary. 

“However, the cost and effort of making such a switch means you do not do it lightly, and more evidence is needed that the virus does pose a medium to long term risk to China and the global economy.”

Mr Green goes on to say: “But that said, this should serve as a wake-up call to all investors to ensure their portfolio is well-diversified across asset classes, regions, sectors, even currencies. 

“This is the best way to mitigate risks and the best way to be well-placed to take advantage of the opportunities when they occur.”

The deVere CEO concludes: “Stock markets tend to bottom with the peak in new cases during a public health issue of this kind, before rebounding.

“This is a worrying and serious situation and investors must be vigilant. They should remain properly diversified and remain in the market.”

“This is a worrying and serious situation and investors must be vigilant. They should remain properly diversified and remain in the market.”

Economics

Markets DISMISS Trump impeachment – but monitor China trade relations and Coronavirus

Author ByCFI.co Blogger

The bullish financial markets are indifferent to the Trump impeachment trial – more concerning is the U.S.-China trade deal and the Coronavirus, says the CEO of one of the world’s largest independent financial services and advisory organisations.

The comments from deVere Group chief executive, Nigel Green, come as U.S. President Donald Trump’s historic impeachment trial got underway on Tuesday in the Senate, with Democrats calling for his removal from office and Republicans determined to have him acquitted.

Mr Green says: “A major geopolitical event such as the impeachment trial of a U.S. President would, typically, send shock waves through financial markets.

“This has not been the case here. The seemingly relentlessly bullish markets have largely shown indifference to the impeachment process. 

“This is because investors see the likelihood of Trump being removed from the White House following a Senate trial as almost zero.”

He continues: “However, what is far more likely to cause market jitters in the coming weeks are vulnerable trade relations between the U.S. and China, the world’s two largest economies.

“U.S.-China phase one deal has stopped additional tariffs being imposed on each other’s goods.  However, it does not address serious structural issues of trade between two vastly different economies, one which has enormous state capacity. In addition, the sheer number of goods – amounting to $200bn –that China will need to buy from the U.S. could, ultimately, make the deal unworkable.

“The hard part is negotiations yet to come.”

Mr Green goes on to add: “Markets will also be weighing concerns regarding the spread of the Coronavirus that has afflicted hundreds in China so far – as hundreds of millions prepare to travel during the Lunar New Year period. It’s the largest annual human migration on Earth.

“The World Health Organisation is meeting on Wednesday to discuss the situation.  An upscaling of the threat could depress markets and hit consumer sentiment and spending.”

The deVere CEO concludes: “This bull market isn’t bothered about Trump’s impeachment trial. It will be closely monitoring other major issues, including the U.S.-China trade dispute – the far-reaching impact of which is likely to outlive Trump’s presidency.”

Economics

UNCTAD’s Global Investment Trends Monitor

Author ByCFI.co Blogger

It is my pleasure to share with you the latest issue of UNCTAD’s Global Investment Trends Monitor with the first full-year estimates for 2019.

Global foreign direct investment (FDI) remained flat in 2019, at $1.39 trillion, a 1% decline from a revised $1.41 trillion in 2018. This is against the backdrop of weaker macroeconomic performance and policy uncertainty for investors, including trade tensions.

FDI flows to developed countries remained at a historically low level, decreasing by a further 6% to an estimated $643 billion. Flows to developing economies were unchanged at $695 billion. Flows to transition economies rose by two thirds to $57 billion.

Trends in selected economies:

– FDI in the United Kingdom down 6% as Brexit unfolds.

– Hong Kong, China divestments cause a 48% FDI decline in turbulent times.

– Singapore up 42% in a buoyant ASEAN region.

– Zero-growth of flows to both the United States and China.

– Brazil up 26% at the start of a privatization programme.

– German inflows triple as MNEs extend loans to foreign affiliates in a year of slow growth.

Looking ahead, UNCTAD expects FDI flows to rise marginally in 2020 on the back of further modest growth of the world economy.

For the latest issue of the Global Investment Trends Monitor and the UNCTAD Investment Policy Monitor, please click here. An in-depth analysis of FDI trends will feature in the forthcoming World Investment Report 2020, to be published in June 2020.

By James X Zhan

Director, Investment and Enterprise
Lead, World Investment Report
United Nations Conference on Trade & Development
Palais des Nations, Geneva
http://www.unctad.org/wir
http://www.worldinvestmentforum.org
http://investmentpolicyhub.unctad.org

Finance

Combating Insurance Fraud With Machine Learning

Author ByCFI.co Blogger

By Georgios Kapetanvasileiou, Analytical Consultant at SAS

Most insurance companies depend on human expertise and business rules-based software to protect themselves from fraud. However, people move on. And the drive for digital transformation and process automation means data and scenarios change faster than you can update the rules.

Machine learning has the potential to allow insurers to move from the current state of “detect and react” to “predict and prevent.” It excels at automating the process of taking large volumes of data, analysing multiple fraud indicators in parallel – which taken individually may often be quite normal – and finding potential fraud. Generally, there are two ways to teach or train a machine learning algorithm, which depend on the available data: supervised and unsupervised learning.

Predictive modelling

In predictive modelling or supervised learning, algorithms make predictions based on a set of examples from historical data. You can present an algorithm with historical claims information and associated outcomes often called labelled data. It will attempt to identify the underlying patterns in fraudulent cases. Once the algorithm has been trained on past examples, you can use it to infer the probability of a new claim being fraudulent. AKSigorta Insurance is using advanced predictive modelling as part of its investigation process. The company has managed to increase its fraud detection rate by 66% and prevent fraud in real time.

There is a wide variety of predictive modelling algorithms to choose from, so users should take into account issues such as accuracy, interpretability, training time and ease of use. There is no single approach that works universally. Even experienced data scientists have to try different methods to find the right algorithm for a specific problem. It is, therefore, best to start simple and explore more advanced machine learning methodologies later. Decision trees, for example, are an excellent way to start exploring complex relationships within data. They are relatively easy to implement and fast to train on large volumes of data. More importantly, they are very easy to understand or interpret, and can be a good starting point for new business rules.

Other options for more accuracy

Decision trees can, however, become unstable over time. When accuracy becomes a priority, practitioners should look at other options. Support vector machines (SVMs) and neural networks are capable of learning complex class boundaries and generalise well to unseen cases. They have been extensively used for fraud detection. Tree-based algorithms, such as gradient boosting and random forests, have also become more popular in recent years. Ideally, analysts should try multiple approaches in parallel before deciding what works best.

Supervised learning is effective in identifying familiar cases of fraudulent activity but cannot uncover new patterns. Another challenge is the limited numbers of fraud examples with which to train the algorithm. Fraud is a relatively rare event, after all. The ratio between fraud and nonfraud cases can sometimes be as much as 1 to 10,000. This means that predictive algorithms tend to be overwhelmed by the sheer volume of nonfraud cases, and may miss the fraudulent ones. Labelling new data for training a model can also be time consuming and expensive.

Unsupervised learning

Unsupervised learning algorithms are trained against data with no historical labels. In other words, the algorithm is not given the answer or outcome beforehand. It is merely asked to explore the data and uncover any “interesting” structures within them. For example, given certain behavioural information, unsupervised learning algorithms can identify groups (or clusters) of customer transactions that appear similar. Anything that appears different or rare could be flagged as an anomaly (or an outlier) for further investigation.

Unsupervised learning methods can, therefore, identify both existing and new types of fraud. They are not restricted to predefined labels, so can quickly adapt to new and emerging patterns of dishonest behaviour. For example, a New Zealand health insurer used unsupervised learning methods to identify cases where practitioners were deliberately overcharging patients for a particular procedure or providing unnecessary treatment for certain diagnoses.

Unsupervised anomaly detection methods include univariate outlier analysis or clustering-based methods such as k-means. However, the recent move towards digitalisation means more data, at higher volumes, from a wider range of data sources. New algorithms, such as Support Vector Data Description, Isolation Forest or Autoencoders, have been introduced to address this. These may be a more efficient way of detecting anomalies and allow for faster reaction to new fraud.

Social network analysis

These methods are useful for identifying opportunistic fraud. However, many fraudsters today operate as part of professional, organised rings. Activity may include staged motor accidents to collect on premiums, ghost brokering, or collusion between patients and health practitioners to inflate claim amounts. These career fraudsters can repeatedly disguise their identities and evolve their way of operating over time.

Social network analysis is a tool for analysing and visually representing relationships between known entities. Examples of shared entities could be different applicants using the same telephone number or IP address, or a motor accident involving multiple people. Social network methods can automate the process of drawing connections from disparate data sources and visually representing them as a network. This significantly reduces the investigation time – in one case, from 10 days to just two hours. In the UK, a large P&C insurer made £7 million savings per annum by uncovering groups of collaborating fraudsters using network analytics.

A hybrid approach

No single technique, however, is capable of systematically identifying all complex fraud schemes. Instead, insurers need to combine sophisticated business rules and advanced machine learning approaches. This will allow them to cast the net wide, but improve accuracy and reduce false positives, making fraud detection more efficient.

Banking

Reed Smith appoints former Deutsche Bank Managing Director in London

Author ByCFI.co Blogger

LONDON, 7 January UK – Reed Smith today announced that Joe Kohler has joined the firm’s Financial Industry Group, marking another significant addition to its banking advisory and derivatives practice.  Kohler joins Reed Smith from Deutsche Bank, where he served as Managing Director, Legal, Corporate & Investment Banking.  In that role, he co-led the bank’s sales and trading legal function globally, with deep transactional experience across the entirety of the fixed income, currencies and commodities businesses.

Reed Smith appoints former Deutsche Bank Managing Director in London

Over the course of his 18-year career at Deutsche Bank, Kohler led the legal work on many of the largest and most important transactions the bank conducted. He managed Deutsche Bank’s legal department’s response to counterparty defaults, downgrades and worked on enforcement and asset recovery efforts during the credit crisis of 2008. He also worked on the building of the first OTC derivative clearing offerings, on the development of the related market infrastructure and contributed to trade association efforts to standardise the related documents. He then helped shape the bank’s response to new regulatory developments such as EMIR, MiFID II, the collateralisation of uncleared derivatives, Brexit and IBOR reform.  Furthermore, he also has extensive experience of merger and acquisition activity in the financial sector, having led on the acquisition and disposal of many businesses and portfolios.

Kohler has led large teams on strategically critical projects within Deutsche Bank and brings to Reed Smith a deep understanding of the inner workings of the legal department within a global investment bank.  Given his sophisticated knowledge of structured finance and products, expertise across industry asset classes, and litigation and regulatory enforcement experience, and in-house familiarity, Kohler is well placed to add to Reed Smith’s bench strength providing strategic advice to banking clients on these transactions.

“Joe’s arrival adds to the bench strength of the firm’s highly regarded banking advisory and derivatives practice,” said Ed Estrada, global chair of Reed Smith’s Financial Industry Group.  “Joe is immensely respected and regarded within Deutsche Bank and throughout the investment bank community, and his reputation for providing steady and sound leadership on complex transaction and litigation matters as in-house counsel is an invaluable asset that our clients will certainly benefit from.  We are excited to have him join our team.” 

Kohler said, “As an in-house counsel, I wanted the law firms my team instructed to add something to secure a better solution than we could deliver on our own – perhaps insight, experience or capability. I was always reassured when we selected Reed Smith, because they always delivered what we had been looking for, and did so efficiently and with a profound understanding of the commercial context.  I am really excited to be joining Reed Smith’s highly impressive team.”

About Reed Smith

Reed Smith is a dynamic international law firm dedicated to helping clients move their businesses forward. Our belief is that by delivering smarter and more creative legal services, we will not only enrich our clients’ experiences with us, but also support them in achieving their business goals.

Our long-standing relationships, international outlook, and collaborative structure make us the go-to partner for the speedy resolution of complex disputes, transactions, and regulatory matters.

For further information, please visit reedsmith.com.

Banking

UnionBank’s ‘Tech Up, Pilipinas’ drive resonates at Singapore Fintech Festival

Author ByCFI.co Blogger

Only Phl banking exhibitor since 2018 draws VIPs

Visitors are drawn to the two-story UnionBank booth that highlighted revolutionary and socially relevant digital innovations.
Visitors are drawn to the two-story UnionBank booth that highlighted revolutionary and socially relevant digital innovations.

Still the lone Philippine banking institution participating at the annual Singapore Fintech Festival (SFF) held at the Singapore Expo last week, Union Bank of the Philippines (UnionBank) again established a powerful presence on the world stage worthy of the visit of well-known dignitaries, the prime minister of Singapore included.   

Replicating its success on its global debut at the SFF last year, UnionBank – thrice honored by Asiamoney as the Philippines’ Best Digital Bank since 2017 – bannered its suite of emerging technologies, along with those of its fintech and thrift subsidiaries UBX and CitySavings, consistent with its relentless drive to extend more affordable and accessible financial services to all Filipinos here and abroad.

Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong chats with UnionBank chairman Justo Ortiz as he made a stop at the UnionBank exhibition – the first booth he visited at the SFF. With them are UnionBank president and CEO Edwin Bautista, UBX president and CEO John Januszczak, Platform Development head Ramon Duarte, Human Resource head Michelle Rubio, Transaction Banking head John Cary Ong and Fintech Business Group head Arvie de Vera.
Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong chats with UnionBank chairman Justo Ortiz as he made a stop at the UnionBank exhibition – the first booth he visited at the SFF. With them are UnionBank president and CEO Edwin Bautista, UBX president and CEO John Januszczak, Platform Development head Ramon Duarte, Human Resource head Michelle Rubio, Transaction Banking head John Cary Ong and Fintech Business Group head Arvie de Vera.

No less than the Prime Minister of Singapore, Lee Hsien Loong, together with Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) managing director Ravi Menon, graced the booth frequented by curious visitors intently asking about the bank’s cutting-edge digital products and platforms and how it benefits the common man. UnionBank has partnerships with OCBC Bank Singapore to pioneer remittance services from the city-state to the Philippines through blockchain-based platforms, and with the MAS for its SME marketplace Business Sans Borders (BSB) that is seen to empower local SMEs to explore and expand internationally.

UnionBank president and CEO Edwin Bautista and chairman Justo Ortiz explained how, through the bank’s comprehensive strategy called “Tech Up, Pilipinas,” it is utilizing technology to promote financial inclusion for sustainable prosperity, particularly of the unbanked and the underserved, who compose around half of the Philippines’ 108 million population. Financial inclusion is a vital component for the realization of the Philippines’ vision to become a G20 country by 2050.

Other dignitaries who visited the UnionBank booth were Philippine Ambassador to Singapore Joseph Del Mar Yap and Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Govenor Benjamin Diokno, who looked visibly proud of the Filipino ingenuity as he was toured inside the booth by Bautista. The central bank chief thanked UnionBank for raising the Philippine flag at what is dubbed as the biggest fintech summit gathering global innovation and business leaders. Bautista, in turn, said UnionBank’s remarkable showing at the SFF is a testament to its commitment to remain agile and a frontrunner in this digital revolution.