Police apprehended 13 individuals in connection with the ransom, kidnapping, and murdering of two men in a forested area on the outskirts of Vientiane.
Thailand Pass System to be Cancelled 1 July
Thailand is expected to scrap its Thailand Pass pandemic-era immigration system from 1 July, according to the country’s Ministry of Tourism and Sports.
Traveloka EPIC SALE breaks records, with over SGD250,000 worth of vouchers claimed in Singapore
Over 950 partners participated in the seven-day EPIC SALE event, which saw a growth on demand of over 13 times for international destinations
SINGAPORE – Media OutReach – 9 June 2022 – Traveloka, Southeast Asia’s lifestyle superapp, concluded with a big bang, which saw growth on demand for international destinations of over 13 times, and local staycation demand of over five times, documented in the seven-day sales event. The majority of deals included discounts of up to 80 percent off hotels, flights, airport transfers, attractions, playgrounds, beauty and spa products and more, supported by Traveloka products that came with attractive offers – Hotels, Flights and Xperience, with users claiming unbelievably epic deals for as little as SGD0 for a hotel stay!

This EPIC SALE was also the first from Traveloka Singapore to offer international deals, and we saw an uptick of sales to popular destinations, such as Bali, Bangkok, Ho Chi Minh City, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur and Seoul. The revenge travel phenomenon was so strong that the most booked departure date from Singapore, purchased during the EPIC SALE, was 1 June 2022, followed by 3 June 2022 and 31 May 2022. Travelers wanted to travel immediately, and participated in the sale to grab further discounts and promotions during Super Epic Events, such as International Flash Deals and Accommodation Grand Bazaar Sales, that were available for a limited period only.
“We’re very grateful to see the overwhelming results and excitement from both our partners and users. The second EPIC SALE in Singapore has proven to break another record for Traveloka’s growth, as Singaporeans are exploring various options for staycations and overseas travel,” said Pascal Gekko, Vice President of International Accomodation at Traveloka. “Through this EPIC SALE, we are optimistic in our contribution to boost local tourism in Singapore, and to continuously support our hotel, attraction, and tour partners in various countries,” he added.
This year, Traveloka doubled down on attractive offers, due to post pandemic pent up demand as an avenue for individuals to receive exclusive deals on flights, accommodations, and holiday activities. Over SGD250,000 worth of vouchers were claimed during the sale period, with the biggest stacked voucher value in one transaction, amounting to SGD462.
Traveloka also stepped up its superapp strategy, by launching a new game Godwy Rush! where users needed to fly their Godwy Pet to collect daily rewards, of up to SGD264. The game saw a total of 5,600 vouchers worth up to SGD71,000 claimed, across bookings on Hotels, Flights, Attractions and more. Users also shared referral links in the Raise A Pet campaign to collect additional rewards of up to SGD230. This saw over 23,000 interactions between users, and over 70,000 visits to the page. The increase in referral rates is a strong indicator that shows the exponential growth of the user base for the lifestyle superapp.
Hotel Partner: “The EPIC SALE campaign allowed us to tap on Traveloka’s wider audiences that brought our partnership to greater heights during the post-pandemic era. The livestream captured the personality of our hotel in a storytelling way that maintained top-of-mind awareness in customers’ minds.” – Michelle Lee, General Manager, Hotel G Singapore
Xperience Partner: “Was very impressed with the EPIC SALE campaign. It had indeed helped to promote Wild Wild Wet as a place full of thrills and spills for the whole family, which saw an increase in bookings during the period. It is definitely a great opportunity to work with Traveloka.” – Wan Wai Yee, Revenue Management, Wild Wild Wet
About Traveloka
Traveloka, Southeast Asia’s lifestyle superapp, provides users access to discover and purchase a wide range of travel, local services, and financial services products. Traveloka’s comprehensive product portfolio includes transport booking services such as flight tickets, bus, trains, car rental, airport transfer, as well as access to the largest accommodation inventory in Southeast Asia, including hotels, apartments, guest houses, homestays, resorts, and villas, making Traveloka a booking platform with the widest selection of accommodation and packages.
Traveloka is also a key player in the local services category (currently specific to certain markets), offering reservations for a wide range of local attractions, activities, wellness and beauty clinics, culinary directories as well as food delivery. Traveloka also offers financing, payment, and insurance products to help Southeast Asian consumers fulfill their lifestyle aspirations. Traveloka provides 24/7 customer service in local languages as well as more than 40 different local payment methods. Traveloka lifestyle superapp has been downloaded more than 100 million times, making it the most popular travel and lifestyle booking application in the Southeast Asian region.
For more information, please visit: https://www.traveloka.com/en-sg/
#Traveloka
Kingkey Asset Management’s External Asset Management services gains momentum
Partnered with an innovative fintech FGA Trust to create value-added investment for customers
HONG KONG SAR – Media OutReach – 9 June 2022 – Kingkey Asset Management (KKAM), a subsidiary of Kingkey Financial International, is a leading asset management company in the Asia-Pacific region, providing diversified asset management services, including: External Asset Management (EAM), Discretionary Investment Management (DPM), the establishment of offshore funds and so as the asset allocation and structuring solutions for high-net-worth clients and family offices which headquarter in Asia-Pacific region. Its external asset management service has made great progress. Since its launch, it has partnered with many renounced financial institutions included but no limited to global investment banks and private banks. With a truly customer-first management policy, it has created great added value for customers’ investment.
KKAM is different from the traditional asset management model. The core investment team is composed of a number of investment specialists with more than 20 years of rich experience. They arrange personal investment plans for customers and help them keep abreast of global financial market information. KKAM provides discretionary investment service so as to integrate the client’s overall assets and to best fulfil their financial goals. Experienced investment specialists of KKAM will carefully elevates and seize market opportunities that could bring wealth appreciation, and also tailor-made in-depth, appropriate and detailed investment strategy. During the process, the investment team will take the time to fully understand the investment objection of client, to ensure that the investment strategy in line with client’s objectives, requirements, and risk profile. Through ongoing optimization of investment portfolio, the wealth will grow steadily, and ensure that the investment activities are always in line with your current circumstances.
Earlier, KKAM has announced to be the investment manager of the ” KK Special Opportunities Income Fund SP (KKSOI)”. The fund focuses on the development projects with great growth potential, located in mainland Greater Bay Area as well as the core areas of the world’s first-tier cities. Also, with the increasingly diverse and complex financial needs of high-net-worth families, KKAM has announced its partnership with an innovative financial technology trust company – FGA Trust, and became its first investment manager. FGA Trust combined with innovative financial technology which aim to break the traditional framework of the trust industry.
FGA Trust adopts innovative technology to redefine the trust industry. Its one-stop fintech trust online platform provides a variety custody solutions for individuals, companies, banks, financial institutions and asset managers, enabling users to conveniently control assets in a confidential, safe and compliant manner, you can execute a series of commands at anytime and anywhere just at your fingertips. Its custody assets are very diverse, including but not limit to cash, insurance, investment products, precious metals, private company shares, real estate, overseas assets, vehicles, valuables, etc., As well as including digital assets and Investment products, some emerging investment products that have become popular in recent years such as NFTs can also be hosted on the platform. On the other hand, FGA Trust also provides diverse support among both traditional and digital assets, including asset-linked credit cards, trust asset management, offshore bank custody accounts, global investment, offshore digital asset custody, etc. With the innovative fintech support, FGA Trust keep it up with the times.
About Kingkey Asset Management
Kingkey Asset Management Limited (“KKAM”), is a subsidiary of Kingkey Financial International (Holdings) Limited (HKEx: 1468.HK), KKAM is a licensed intermediary approved by the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (Central No.: BKK610), which is authorized to provides regulatory activities for asset management (category 9). KKAM is a leading asset management company in the Asia-Pacific region. KKAM provides diversified asset management services, including external asset management (EAM), discretionary investment management (DPM), the establishment of offshore funds and so as the asset allocation and structuring solutions for high-net-worth clients and family offices which headquarter in Asia-Pacific region. The professional investment team of KKAM has rich experience and comprehensive investment knowledge. Through comprehensive data analysis and research, KKAM provide customers with unique investment insights, flexible and desirable perspectives as the foundation of investment portfolios.
https://kkgroup.com.hk/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Kingkey-Financial-International-%E4%BA%AC%E5%9F%BA%E9%87%91%E8%9E%8D%E5%9C%8B%E9%9A%9B-2244448892449851
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/kkfi
#KingkeyAssetManagement # KingkeyFinancialInternational #EAM #FGATrust
The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
Razer Fintech Acquires PT E2PAY Global Utama
Razer Fintech’s acquisition of PT E2Pay Global Utama expands the organization’s digital payment solutions into Indonesia, one of the region’s fastest growing digital economies in the world
SHAH ALAM, MALAYSIA – Media OutReach – 9 June 2022 – Razer Fintech, the financial technology arm of Razer, the leading global lifestyle brand for gamers, today announced the acquisition of PT E2Pay Global Utama (“E2Pay”), one of the leading B2B2C digital payment facilitators and e-money players in Indonesia. Razer Fintech is already a leading O2O (offline to online) digital payment network in Southeast Asia, and this acquisition marks its further expansion into Indonesia.

Founded in 2012, E2Pay provides a breadth of payment solutions to merchants and financial institutions, including payment gateway, e-money, and remittance services licenses in Indonesia. These services complement Razer Merchant Services, Razer Fintech’s business-to-business arm regionally, as it facilitates cross-border payments for its 60,000 merchants to the region’s largest populated country.
E2Pay’s payment gateway supports high-growth e-Commerce verticals, including online marketplaces, professional services, travel & tourism, as well as other segments throughout Indonesia, with some of E2Pay’s most notable merchants consisting of Tokopedia, Bukalapak, Traveloka and Blibli.com.
The Indonesian fintech player also connects major payment channels and supports local and alternative payment methods, including card schemes, internet banking, mobile banking, e-money, virtual accounts, offline points, and personal financing to provide a comprehensive local payment platform for more than 500 merchants in the region.
The E2Pay e-money platform, MBayar, serves over 500,000 registered users and supports payments for credit or data plans, bill payments, QR payments, cash withdrawals and fund transfer services.
“E2Pay is one of Indonesia’s very few digital payment players that has a comprehensive set of licenses across various payment gateway services, e-money, and remittance. The acquisition of E2Pay allows us to accelerate our entry into Indonesia, one of the fastest-growing digital economies in Southeast Asia, as well as be able to better serve the digital payment needs of our regional and global merchants as the single partner of choice. I look forward to working closely with the E2Pay team to grow our presence in Indonesia considerably in the years to come.” said the CEO of Razer Fintech, Lee Li Meng.
“E2Pay are very happy to have Razer Fintech onboard. We hope that the synergy between E2Pay and Razer Fintech will enable both organizations to tap on our merchant base to grow, expand and scale our platform’s reach across Southeast Asia.” Said E2Pay Chairman, Rudy Danandjaja.
Internet usage in Indonesia has been steadily growing, with a Gross Merchandise Volume (GMV) of USD $40 Billion in 2020, mainly driven by e-Commerce, even offsetting declines in Travel, Transport and Food Delivery industries throughout lockdown periods according to the e-Conomy SEA Report by Google, Temasek and Bain & Company. Through this acquisition, Razer Fintech and E2Pay look to contribute Indonesia’s expected GMV of US $124 Billion by 2025, at a 23% Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR), making it one of the largest growing digital economies in Southeast Asia.
About Razer Fintech
Razer Fintech is the financial technology arm of Razer Inc. Established in April 2018, Razer Fintech has grown to become one of the largest O2O (offline to online) digital payment networks in emerging markets and has processed over billions of dollars in total payment value. Razer Fintech recorded a Total Payment Volume (TPV) of US$7 billion for FY 2021, representing an increase of 63.5% year-on-year.
RMS, a leading B2B (business-to-business) solution encompasses:
- RMS Online: Card processing gateway supporting global scheme cards and over 110 payment methods, powering online payments for global and regional blue-chip merchants in SEA.
- RMS Offline: SEA’s largest offline payment network of over 1 million physical acceptance points across SEA. RMS Offline also extends point-of-sale services (such as bill payments and telco reloads), cash-over-counter services including fulfilment of e-commerce purchases, distribution of third-party point-of-sale activation (POSA) cards, and merchant acquiring services for third-party e-wallets.
For more information, please visit our website at merchant.razer.com.
Merchants interested in online payment services, may email us at sales-sa@razer.com.
Merchants interested in offline reloads, may email us at bd-offline-my@razer.com
#RazerFintech #RazerMerchantServices
The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
OctaFX named ‘Best Forex Broker Malaysia 2022’ at Global Banking and Finance Awards

Global Banking and Finance Review, a publication providing the financial community with in-depth cross market coverage, recognized OctaFX’s efforts in the foreign exchange industry with the ‘Best Forex Broker Malaysia 2022’ award.
Being rated the best Forex broker in Malaysia proves OctaFX’s dedication to enhancing the trading experience of Malaysian clients.
‘OctaFX is committed to helping customers achieve their investment goals. Our awards team was impressed with the customer-centric approach OctaFX has. They are constantly innovating to enhance their products and services in order to deliver best in class trading conditions and optimal customer experience. Their unique value proposition, continued investment in technology, and dedication to clients made them stand out as clear winners this year,’ said Wanda Rich, the editor of Global Banking and Finance Review. ‘We look forward to seeing further growth and industry-leading solutions from OctaFX in the years to come.’
Global Banking and Finance Awards were established in 2011 to honour financial and banking companies worldwide that have reached an outstanding level of expertise in the industry. The magazine has since been giving awards to the most innovative and progressive companies transforming the global finance community.
Apart from giving OctaFX the same award last year, the magazine has acknowledged the accomplishments of the broker before—with the ‘Best Forex Broker Asia’ award in 2021 and ‘Best Partnership Program in South East Asia’ in 2020. This year, the broker has also received the ‘Best Forex Broker Nigeria 2022’ award for helping clients from this country achieve their financial goals.
About OctaFX
OctaFX is a global broker that provides online trading services worldwide since 2011. The company is involved in a comprehensive network of charity and humanitarian initiatives, including improvement of educational infrastructure, short-notice relief projects, supporting local communities and small to medium enterprises.
In the APAC region, it managed to capture the ‘Decade Of Excellence In Forex Asia 2021’ award, the ‘Best Islamic FX Account 2020’ award, and the ‘Best CFD Broker Asia Pacific 2020’ award by Global Banking And Finance Review, World Finance, and Cfi.Co, respectively.
#OctaFX
Grand Cru Cellar Enters NFT Space as the First Redeemable Wine NFT in Asia
Wine Distributor Partners with SOLARR to Offer Redeemable NFT for Physical Wine
HONG KONG SAR – Media OutReach – 9 June 2022 – Grand Cru Cellar (GCC), one of the largest wine importers and distributors in Hong Kong, announced plans to enter into the Non-fungible token (NFT) space, making it the first wine distributor in Asia to offer a wine NFT. The strategic move is set to revolutionize the wine industry in Asia by leveraging blockchain and NFT technologies.

GCC’s wine NFTs will be developed in a strategic partnership with SOLARR, Asia’s first decentralized NFT-Fi platform. The wine NFTs will include a collection of exclusively designed NFTs representing 360 bottles of Château Margaux fine wine spanning 30 vintages from 1978 to 2007 in the winery’s history. This unique collection is ex-Château which was stored and delivered directly from the winery, remarkably preserving its quality since 1977. Collectors are willing to pay a premium of up to 100 percent more in prices for vintages stored and sold directly from winery to collectors as there is no question of authenticity.
NFT holders can exchange the NFTs for physical bottles of wines and once redeemed, the NFTs will be destroyed to mark their redemption. Until the wine NFT has been redeemed, the physical fine wines will be safely stored in a temperature and humidity-controlled warehouse to maintain their quality. These wine NFTs can be freely traded on SOLARR’s NFT-commerce platform or even given as gifts to family and friends.
“NFTs will help to increase the liquidity and price discovery of high-end fine wines. The auction market for these fine wines has always existed but if the bidding flow is low, the wine’s value will be locked up due to a lack of bids,” says Mic Wong, the NFT project representative at Grand Cru Cellar. “Once liquidity improves, the wine’s true value can be realised. We are looking to cooperate with SOLARR to auction a rare and unique collection of Margaux wine.”
“SOLARR’s NFT-as-a-Service (NFTaaS) takes the complication out of NFT-commerce. Our one-stop, end-to-end NFT services offer a highly efficient way for GCC’s wine collections to be auctioned off, eliminating the need for buyers to attend physical auctions,” says Alex Lee, Founder and CEO of SOLARR. “SOLARR is helping GCC execute the entire NFT value chain from composing the utility, designing the NFTs, facilitating the auction, offering NFT payment gateway, all the way to managing ownership transfer of the physical wine.”
NFT using blockchain technology increases trust and transparency in the wine industry by improving wine provenance. Wines with provenance that are traceable all the way to when they left the winery, become more valuable.
About SOLARR
SOLARR is Asia’s first decentralised NFT-Fi platform, empowering users to increase utility, unlock value, and liquify NFTs within a secure multi-chain ecosystem with an integrated economic infrastructure, paving the way into the metaverse virtual economy. SOLARR’s mission is to accelerate NFT mass-adoption with utility, accessibility, and NFT-commerce. Ultimately, SOLARR’s vision is to facilitate the world’s transition into the decentralised digital economy.
For more information, visit:
● Website:
www.solarr.xyz
● Telegram:
https://t.me/solarrxyz
● Twitter:
https://twitter.com/solarrxyz
● Discord:
https://discord.gg/bx29yxDggd
● Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/solarrxyz
#SOLARR
Carousell Media Group and IAB SEA+India Reveal Asian Consumers’ Attitudes Towards Savings, Spending, Shopping and Sustainability
The IAB SEA+India surveyed more than 61,500 respondents who use CMG recommerce platforms in Singapore (carousell.sg), Hong Kong (carousell.com.hk), Vietnam (chotot.com), Malaysia (mudah.my) and the Philippines (carousell.ph).
This year’s regional research establishes the audience profile in each market, explores income, investing and spending habits, how respondents spend time online, streaming services to which they subscribe, their food and grocery shopping habits including use of meal delivery platforms, future purchasing plans, what influences their spending, and how and why they are shopping sustainably.
Miranda Dimopoulos, Regional CEO, IAB SEA+India says there has been a seismic shift to online led by the Southeast Asia and Hong Kong regions, and on a scale never before seen.
“We’re seeing everything from mundane daily tasks to health and self development being enabled from your mobile device. We also see that CMG’s hyper-engaged audiences are prioritising sustainable shopping to protect the planet,” says Ms Dimopoulos.
JJ Eastwood, Managing Director, CMG says that this year’s survey builds upon research from last year, again in partnership with the IAB SEA+India, into Millennials and Sustainable Purchasing. “This year we drilled deeper into respondents’ financial habits which reveals that the largest spending category, both current and future, is local and international travel.
“It is also gratifying to see that our Carousell Group marketplaces are now synonymous with sustainability and social ethics, and we have seen a quantum increase in usage of our recommerce marketing platforms over the past two years.”
Key regional findings include:
- 55% of respondents shop sustainably driven by concerns about climate change and environmental impact rather than financial savings
- 64% of respondents say they are saving more this year than in the previous year
- 47% of respondents plan on travelling locally and abroad over the next year
- Stocks, bonds, and property remain preferred investments; however, there is an increased interest in more high-risk investments such as crypto currencies with one-quarter (26%) of respondents currently investing in crypto, particularly in Malaysia, Philippines and Singapore
- The most time online is spent shopping for meals, food and groceries, streaming content, and in personal development such as online learning, and maintaining or improving their physical fitness and mental wellness
- Respondents said that they are mostly influenced to make a purchase by promotions and advertising campaigns
- All respondents say they shop sustainably; however, this is actioned in different ways whether making fewer new purchases; using Carousell Group’s recommerce marketplaces for buying and selling; taking their own shopping bags in-store, and seeking out brands with sustainability principles and practices.
“We see a significant swing towards shopping sustainably to mitigate climate change and protect the environment, rather than purely to save money,” says JJ Eastwood. “In fact, we see that people are prepared to pay more for sustainably sourced or produced food and products. We have an audience of tens of millions of people using our recommerce platforms. If you extrapolate their contributions to sustainable shopping, you have a significant start to environmental protection at a consumer level.”
You can also view the recording of the webinar detailing some of the top findings from the report here: https://bit.ly/3NSMzhM
To discuss retail media opportunities with Carousell Marketplaces in more detail, email mediagroup@thecarousell.com.
Any research questions or feedback can be sent to hello@iabseaindia.com.
About Carousell Media Group:
The Carousell Media Group is the media arm of the Carousell Group and offers advertising solutions for brands and agencies across all brands – Carousell, Mudah.my, Cho Tot, OneKyat, Ox Street and Refash. With tens of millions of users in 8 different markets across Greater Southeast Asia, Carousell Media Group provides scale and reach to advertisers. Visit here for more information.
About IAB SEA+India:
The IAB SEA+India is the not for profit industry association that unites the digital advertising industry across 7 countries in Southeast Asia and India. It represents its members to governments at all levels across the region. The membership, comprising brands, publishers, agencies and tech platforms, has grown twelvefold in the past eight years. With an active Regional Board and four specialist councils, it publishes industry discussions, white papers, research and guidelines for members as well as providing mentoring and education initiatives. Visit here for more information about becoming a member.
#CarousellMediaGroup