Laos has recorded 1049 new cases of Covid-19 across the country today, with three new deaths.
Laos has recorded 1049 new cases of Covid-19 across the country today, with three new deaths.
HONG KONG SAR – Media OutReach – 9 November 2021 – The Manulife group of companies operating in Hong Kong (“Manulife Hong Kong”) today announced strong financial results for the third quarter and first nine months of 2021, reporting robust growth in core earnings, annualized premium equivalent (APE) sales and new business value (NBV).
Results overview:
Core earnings
APE sales
NBV
Mandatory Provident Funds (MPF) market share
Agency force
“We’re pleased to report another quarter of strong results with core earnings growth year-on-year in every quarter of the last four years,” said Damien Green, Chief Executive Officer of Manulife Hong Kong and Macau. “Both NBV and NBV margins have increased compared with the prior year quarter, reflecting the quality of our insurance business. All distribution channels contributed to the outstanding performance. Our agency force reached a record high in numbers and delivered strong performance in insurance and pension sales. Our other distribution channels also reported significant growth in APE sales as we see continuous demand for our wide range of product offerings across different customer segments.”
Year-to-date core earnings grew by 16% to HK$5.3 billion from HK$4.5 billion in the same period last year. Third quarter 2021 core earnings hit a record high at HK$1.9 billion, up 16% from HK$1.6 billion in the previous year quarter. Drivers for the growth included strong in-force growth, higher new business volumes and favourable product mix.
Year-to-date APE sales were HK$4.9 billion, up 10% from HK$4.5 billion in the same period of 2020. Third-quarter 2021 APE sales rose 12% to HK$1.7 billion from HK$1.5 billion in the previous year quarter, reflecting strong growth in Manulife Hong Kong’s bank channel, demand from mainland Chinese visitors through its Macau branch, and an expanded agency force.
In the first nine months of 2021, NBV rose 34% to HK$3.5 billion from HK$2.6 billion in the prior year period. Third-quarter 2021 NBV was HK$1.2 billion, an increase of 42% compared with HK$0.9 billion in the prior year quarter, due to higher sales volumes, favourable interest rates and product management actions. Hong Kong’s NBV margin was 70.6% in the third quarter, an increase of 14.6 percentage points compared with the prior year quarter.
Manulife Hong Kong has enhanced its health solution offerings by joining hands with Hong Kong Baptist Hospital to provide customers with access to a new and advanced day medical centre starting July 2021. Last month, it also announced the launch of Holistic Professional Medical Support Service and a strategic partnership with CUHK Medical Centre to give customers priority access to specialists in oncology.
In 3Q 2021, the company expanded its footprint in Hong Kong with the opening of the Manulife Prestige Centre in Tsim Sha Tsui to better serve its high-net-worth customers. It has also strengthened its brand presence by becoming a major sponsor of the recently opened Water World Ocean Park.
“Manulife is committed to continued growth and investment in Hong Kong. We recently launched a prominent harbourfront signage at the Great Eagle Centre, and some of our agents will soon move into the Manulife Place in Kowloon East. Next year, we’ll celebrate our 125th anniversary in Hong Kong. We’re excited to see our investment[s] in Hong Kong help our professional advisors grow their business and make our customers’ lives every day better,” added Mr. Green.
Notes:
I. Manulife Hong Kong includes all our Hong Kong businesses including insurance, insurance-based wealth accumulation products, and our wealth and asset management businesses.
ii. All percentage changes are stated on a year-over-year basis, except for MPF market share.
iii. Core earnings for Manulife Hong Kong include insurance and insurance-based wealth accumulation products, and exclude our wealth and asset management businesses. Core earnings is a non-GAAP profitability measure. For full definition of core earnings, see “Performance and Non-GAAP Measures” in Manulife Financial Corporation’s 3Q21 Management’s Discussion and Analysis.
iv. Annualized premium equivalent (“APE”) sales are presented to provide consistency of scope for NBV disclosures and industry practice. APE sales consist of insurance and insurance-based wealth accumulation products, and exclude our wealth and asset management businesses. They comprise 100% of regular premiums/deposits sales and 10% of single premiums/deposits sales.
v. New business value (“NBV”) is the change in embedded value as a result of sales in the reporting period. NBV is calculated as the present value of shareholders’ interests in expected future distributable earnings, after the cost of capital, on actual new business sold in the period using assumptions that are consistent with the assumptions used in the calculation of embedded value. NBV excludes businesses with immaterial insurance risks, such as Hong Kong’s wealth and asset management businesses. NBV is a useful metric to evaluate the value created by Manulife Hong Kong’s new business franchise.
vi. MPF market share is measured by share of assets under management and estimated net cash flows by scheme sponsor. Source: Mercer MPF Market Shares Report as at September 30, 2021.
Manulife Hong Kong, through Manulife International Holdings Limited, owns Manulife (International) Limited, Manulife Investment Management (Hong Kong) Limited and Manulife Provident Funds Trust Company Limited. As a member of the Manulife group of companies, Manulife Hong Kong offers a diverse range of protection and wealth products and services to individual and corporate customers in Hong Kong and Macau.
About Manulife
Manulife Financial Corporation is a leading international financial services provider that helps people make their decisions easier and lives better. With our global headquarters in Toronto, Canada, we provide financial advice and insurance, operating as Manulife across Canada, Asia, and Europe, and primarily as John Hancock in the United States. Through Manulife Investment Management, the global brand for our global wealth and asset management segment, we serve individuals, institutions and retirement plan members worldwide. At the end of 2020, we had more than 37,000 employees, over 118,000 agents, and thousands of distribution partners, serving over 30 million customers. As of September 30, 2021, we had CAD$1.4 trillion (HK$8.6 trillion) in assets under management and administration, and in the previous 12 months we made CAD$31.6 billion in payments to our customers.
Our principal operations are in Asia and Canada, and the United States, where we have served customers for more than 155 years. We trade as ‘MFC’ on the Toronto, New York, and the Philippine stock exchanges and under ‘945’ in Hong Kong. Not all offerings are available in all jurisdictions. For additional information, please visit manulife.com.
#ManulifeHongKong
HONG KONG SAR – Media OutReach – 9 November 2021 – The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) is a comprehensive research university, which helps students stand out and equip them to deliver top-notch studies. The Hong Kong PhD Fellowship Scheme (HKPFS) at CUHK is now open for top academia worldwide to pursue their PhD studies in Hong Kong.
The generous scholarship for graduate students makes their lives comfortable and helps them focus on their studies and not to be worried about their financial wellbeing. The HKPFS at CUHK offers financial support up to US$210,000, covering tuition fee, monthly stipend, conference and research-related travel expenses, lodging allowance, and also guarantee on-campus accommodation to support student’s research studies.
“I chose CUHK because of the overall environment and the remarkable quality of professors. I am fulfilled as I have had the chance to establish a friendly and academically profitable relationship with my supervisor and other scholars and peers.”
(Ph.D. Student in Religious Studies from Italy)
“I would like to thank CUHK and HKPFS for giving me the chance to pursue my dream of becoming an academic professor. The extremely supportive and motivating research team and faculty members constantly encourage my research on atmospheric modelling. CUHK feels like a second home to me.”
(Ph.D. Student in Earth and Atmospheric Sciences from Nepal)
If students are determined to embark on a career in research and develop full potentials, joining HKPFS at CUHK is the best chance for students to accelerate their academic research and conduct breakthrough research that will make a difference to the world. The application deadline is on 1 December 2021. To learn more details, please visit https://www.gs.cuhk.edu.hk/hkpfs?utm_source=CM&utm_medium=CM&utm_campaign=HKPFS
For most companies and organizations, attaining a paperless work environment is a desirable thing to do and it means that a company is willing to reduce paper consumption and ultimately reduce the carbon footprint. Even clients and customers are now demanding companies to go paperless. If going 100% paperless is not possible then companies can try to make huge impacts by at least initiating this movement. Here are some reasons why being a paperless company is important in today’s age:
Time is money in today’s age and there are advantages to going paperless, especially that you can save your time and also your employees’ time. By going paperless, filing documents no longer means printing out documents and filling them out, only to search them manually later. While, by going paperless and using digital documents, all of this can be done in just a few moments, especially finding a document. Finding a document is as easy as it gets and you just need to perform a computer search.
Even if you need to find a specific line from very long and lengthy documents, you can find everything with just a quick search. Now, make a rough estimate of how much easier it would be for you and your colleagues to find documents and how much work hours would be saved by this.
Now that it is mentioned that you can save time by going paperless, let’s talk about space that you can save by going paperless. Boxes full of papers and files that have accumulated over time demand special rooms and cabinets and for this, you need a separate room where you can store all those files and boxes.
With digital documents, that is not the case. You can store a couple of thousands of documents on your computers and it won’t take much storage space. With document formats such as PDF, Word, Excel, etc, it is much easier to save a lot of files without consuming much storage space.
Plus, the best thing about digital documents is that you can easily convert one format into another and send or store the files that you feel is the best for your company. Converting PDF to Word or PDF to JPG is very simple & easy and also is the conversion back into PDF, i.e JPG to PDF or Word to PDF. This flexibility that you get with digital documents is not available with pieces of paper.
Another advantage of going paperless is that there are no digital borders involved. You can store tons of documents in the cloud and these documents can be accessed instantly without any border restrictions or geographical restrictions. For multinational companies, this is very helpful as documents of one branch can be accessed easily from another branch, located in another country.
For instance, if an employee created a document in Laos and a co-worker from the US wanted to access it then it can be possible in just a few moments, unlike paper documents.
Some might argue that digital documents are less secure as compared to physical, paper documents but that may be actually more secure if you take precautionary measures. Companies have to make sure that the cloud where they are storing their data is encrypted and private where it is not possible for anyone other than the company’s employee to access documents.
Another plus point for digital documents is that they are not vulnerable or at the risk of being destroyed in a fire or natural calamity or stolen in a burglary. Security is a complex subject and there are arguments on both sides, whether digital documents are safe or not but at last, it all comes down to personal preferences.
There are also environmental benefits involved too. An average company handles and processes more than 10,000 pieces of paper every year and this can add up to a lot of carbon footprint. There are some companies available that have strict recycling policies but still, going paperless and eliminating papers from offices can help reduce carbon emission and ultimately, put less strain on the environment.
These are some of the reasons why being a paperless company is important in today’s age. Of course, there are many other advantages and benefits of going paperless. In a nutshell, going paperless in today’s age is beneficial for both business and environment and any business who want to succeed should consider going paperless.
Sports are important for people as they are not a way to get yourself involved in an activity that entertains you and keeps you happy but also a way to meet other people and socialize with your friends. All across the globe, sports have become an integral part of different countries’ culture and the same is the case in Laos, where sports have strong relations with the country’s culture but which games and sports are popular in Laos? Let’s have a look at some of the most popular games in the country of Laos:
Sepak Takraw is the national sport of Laos and also the most popular one. The sport is called Sepak Takraw but in the general public, it is also known as kataw. The game is simple and easy to play; Just like volleyball, you need a net, a rattan ball or plastic ball, and a total of six players, having three players on each side.
The objective of the game is to perform a maximum of three passes to yourself or your teammates and send the ball in the opponent’s half. If your opponents cannot send the ball back towards you and fail to continue the game, you score a point. If your opponents send the ball out of bounds then you also score a point. Each round or innings is finished when either team scores 21 points. The first team to win 2 innings wins the match.
The game is inspired by volleyball and very much similar to it except for the fact that you can use all the parts and surfaces of your body except for your hands and arms. This is the main twist in this game and similar to football, you have to play the game using your feet and legs.
Muay Lao or Traditional Lao Boxing is a very popular sport of mixed martial arts in the country. All over the world, this sport has the reputation of being one of the most violent disciplines. Unlike boxing that is played all over the world, Muay Lao is a bit different. Muay Lao is very much similar to Muay Thai from Thailand and Tomoi from Malaysia. It is basically a mixed martial arts sport that involves knee strikes, punches, elbows, and kicks.
The fights between the fighters take place according to a ritual and the fighters before the start of any fight kneel down and pay homage to their Master(s) and pray. Once that is done, the fight starts which is played with musical background by a group of traditional musicians.
As it is evident from the discussion, the people of Laos are usually involved in physical sports rather than playing board games such as Scrabble which require several players to use Scrabble Word Finder and Jumble which at extremely difficult level cannot be solved by regular players and they have to use Jumble Solver to finish the game.
The game of Petanque, which is the Laos National Game, is originally a French game. The game involves the players throwing or rolling a hollow metal ball close to a small wooden ball which is usually referred to as ‘jack’. The player who pitches his metal ball close to the jack wins but while pitching, the players must stay inside a circle and stand on both their feet.
The game of Petanque is very popular since it can be played almost everywhere, from streets to parks, from hard ground to gravel, it doesn’t matter what the conditions of the place are. For locals, the game has become an indispensable tradition and they play it everywhere.
Whether it is adults or children, you will find people of all ages playing this game because the game involves no thinking and is a matter of skill and luck that how you pitch to jack. It is a way for many locals to stay happy and relaxed after hours of hard work.
In addition to these three games that are popular and played all over the country, certain other games such as billiards and cock-fighting are also popular. Cock-fighting is officially banned in the country and is usually played in a hidden manner, however, for billiards, the locals are getting passionate and you will find a pool table in almost every bar of the county.
Starting a new job is challenging everywhere because every workplace has its own rules and a workplace culture that is different from others but what’s it like to start a new job in an entirely new country? The country under discussion today is Laos PDR (People’s Democratic Republic) which is a country in Southeast Asia that is West of Vietnam and East of Thailand, with China lying at its upper border. So, how is the workplace culture in Laos, and how does it differ from other countries of the world, let’s find out:
In most countries around the world, if an employee made a mistake then his boss or his senior would point it out and the person who makes the mistake has to apologize for it. This is something that isn’t fun but it isn’t unusual, it is a way to let the employees know about their mistakes so they can avoid them in the upcoming future.
In Laos, that is hardly the case because nobody directly addresses any mistakes or apologies for them. The concept in Laos is that it is considered as a loss of face and self-respect if you address your own mistakes or your coworkers. It is considered to be humiliating in Laos to address someone’s mistake and you should either cover-up for your coworkers or expect them to cover up your mistake.
You wouldn’t find people there asking someone to visit them in their office and then addressing their mistakes, it is just not the norm there. So, in case something goes wrong around the workplace in Laos, just accept your mistake but without apologizing and if you see any of your coworkers making an error then be generous enough to cover it up.
Unlike the fast-paced environment that most people know about in the west, the environment in Laos is relatively slow-paced and you should expect things to happen fast. For instance, if you ask about your next week’s work schedule in the west then you are informed about it right away whereas, in Laos, things are different.
People in Laos take everything slowly and patiently. Instead of rushing into everything and trying to make things happen instantly, Lao people are patient and think that sooner or later, things will eventually happen. So, in the workplace, if you ask for a favor from someone or want anything to be done urgently then it wouldn’t be so urgent. In Laos, even urgent things are rarely done right away.
To adapt to the Laotian workplace environment, you should learn to be patient and understand that people there are accustomed to doing things at a slower pace.
In the west, lunchtime isn’t an event, it is just trying to make some time between work and meetings to get done with your lunch. However, if you are working in Laos then you will be more than happy to know that lunchtime is a proper event of the day.
The lunchtime there is about 90 minutes long where everyone stops working and sits together. It is the break during which most people get to chit chat, gossip, build friendships, and relax by playing stress-busting games such as Solitaire which can help bust off stress, and Freecell which can help increase your productivity.
In Laotian Workplace, lunchtime is the best time of the day during which you can interact with your coworkers and build friendships with them. Being friends with your coworkers not only makes your workplace more fun and enjoyable because you get someone to share jokes with but also you can get your work done and ask favors from them.
In the west, there is the idea of going paperless all around and instead of doing everyday tasks on paper documents, all of the things are done digitally through emails and other resources, leaving very little paperwork.
However, in Laos that is not the case. The amount of paperwork in Laos is huge and almost everything needs to be hand-signed. Emails and other online resources are virtually non-existent. Almost everything is done in the form of physical documents including memos, receipts, forms, documents, invitations, and contacts.
Along with this, there is also the requirement of delivering important documents and invitations by hand. If you want to get approval or need a day off then you should start dealing with your paperwork early. Instead of getting annoyed by this and letting it drive you crazy, you should learn to deal with it.
Laos is usually overlooked, be it by the visitors from the nearby countries or from around the world but Laos actually has a lot to offer.
Laos may not have world-famous landmarks but it still has landmarks available that you should visit. The northern part of Laos has mesmerizing scenery while southern Laos, with its laid-back river islands, provides an exotic and adventurous place to visit.
Since it is not easy to take anyone’s word, here are Five Adventurous And Fun Things To Do In Laos As A Visitor:
Ock Pop Tok is a social enterprise that is located beside the Mekong River, just outside of Luang Prabang. The main objective of this enterprise is to introduce people and visitors to the Laotian Culture by letting them know about the Laotian Textile. It is all a beautiful setting beside the Mekong River which not only provides a good view but also a place where people from different parts of the country and world can learn how traditional fabrics are made which includes all the processes, from preparing natural dyes to weaving fabrics on a loom.
For people who are interested in arts and crafts, a visit to Ock Pop Tok would make a perfect outing where they would learn how to weave a certain fabric on a loom and the nearby Silk Road Café make it all a perfect setting.
Luang Prabang is one of the most beautiful cities in the region and even in the whole world, this city is mentioned in the list of nicest cities. Luang Prabang is very different from the larger metropolises in Cambodia or Vietnam that have large skyscrapers and dirty streets. Luang Prabang is
Luang Prabang is an overgrown town of city that is located in a tropical atmosphere, with palm-fringed surroundings. The city is full of beautiful sights and the most convenient way to travel around the city and see all those sights is on an e-bike. When you are on holiday then sightseeing on an e-bike is the best way to travel around the city because no one wants to pedal during vacations. On an e-bike, you can see all the beautiful sceneries and sights with different World Heritage sites.
Northern Laos is just absolutely beautiful especially if you visit the area during the rainy season or after a rainfall, where everything looks green, verdant, evident, and vibrant. A popular activity in the north is to go Kayaking.
The mighty river, the Mekong, is the best option for kayaking as it moves through woods, mountains, villages, and towns offering endless opportunities to explore. One of the towns from where you can start your kayaking adventure is the Nong Kiaw village.
Visitors will definitely enjoy the kayaking experience, especially those who are interested in it. People living there are not interested in visiting social websites such as Omegle or other social platforms where you can meet random people from all over the world such as Chatroulette.
Another great thing to do in Laos is to visit the Kuang Si Falls which is nearby the city of Luang Prabang, a mere 30-40 minutes drive away from the city. It is a stunning and beautiful multi-tiered waterfall hidden in the woods outside the city. Kuang Si Falls is about a 40-minute drive away from the city and you can easily hop on a tuk-tuk to get there.
Once you are there, you would find the whole scene to be just stunning, with sounds of water falling echoing by. It is a beautiful spot to be especially in summers to swim in the cool, turquoise waters. Since this is located deep in the woods, it is also interesting to explore the surrounding forest and have a nice day, full of adventure.
The Sayaboury Elephant Sanctuary is a place that you can visit alone and also with your family. It is a wonderful place for both children and adults. At the Sayaboury Elephant Sanctuary, you are guaranteed to meet the elephants and learn about their day-to-day lives. Laos was known as the Land of a Million Elephants but owing to one reason or another, there are only a few hundred elephants left in the country, a few north of 1500 and at the Sayaboury Sanctuary, you will be able to meet some of the very few left in the country.
These are some adventurous and fun things that you can do while you are visiting Laos. Of course, there are many other things to do in the country and you can always take help from a local to help you out with your trip.
The Internet has become an important part of people’s lives all over the world and the same is the case here in Laos, where it has become an integral part of people’s everyday life. There are many ways by which you can connect to the internet. Since there are different internet services available, here are some points that will help you make a better choice:
For people living in Laos, a popular choice for internet service is the ADSL connection. ADSL stands for Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line and through this technology, many ISPs in the country are using ADSL to offer internet to users. The quality of the ADSL connection depends on the quality of the phone network and the distance between the subscriber and the nearest network point.
Users should keep one thing in mind before they choose ADSL: it is not a symmetrical technology which means that the download speed will always be higher than the upload speed. For an average internet user, it wouldn’t be a problem since the majority of the services on the internet such as browsing or video streaming require little upload speed and more download speed.
For an ordinary internet user, it is won’t affect the service much except for those services that require high upload speed or require symmetrical bandwidth such as video conferencing or uploading files.
In Laos, the coverage of ADSL is wider than Fiber and it has the advantage that unlimited bandwidth can be offered but it is now considered a technology of the past.
The easiest way to get access to the internet is through mobile broadband. Mobile broadband uses your phone network as a way to connect to the Internet. If you are living in Laos then one of the quickest and easiest ways to access the internet is through your mobile network.
To enjoy high-speed broadband internet, you need a SIM that has an active data package and if you want then you can buy a portable hotspot device that will allow you to connect up to 10 devices simultaneously. After you buy a portable hotspot device, just visit the default gateway, which for most devices is 10.0.0.1 or it can be 192.168.254.254 or any other similar address. Once there, configure the device according to your needs and you’re good to go.
Before investing in mobile broadband, make sure that the signals at your home are optimal for high-speed internet. If it is good then there is no reason why you wouldn’t be happy with mobile broadband internet.
The downside of mobile broadband internet is that it is expensive in Laos and the packages are limited in volume. If you are looking to Binge-watch Netflix then mobile broadband is not recommended. For instance, Lao Telecom users have to pay 50,000 Kip for 7 GB of the Internet for a validity period of 30 days. Planet 4G mobile broadband packages range from 200,000 Kip for 10GB to 800,000 Kip for 100GB with a validity period of 30 days.
Currently, the most popular choice of internet service in Laos and all over the world is Fiber to Home. It is the latest technology for broadband and internet services that uses light pulse to transmit data from one location to another which means that the transit latency is almost the speed of light, making it a very fast and reliable choice for internet service. Fiber is a symmetrical internet service, unlike ADSL making it better than ADSL.
Fiber to Home is the internet service of choice for heavy users who are mostly internet games, streamers, and enterprise customers. The only downside of Fiber to Home as compared to other technologies is that it is expensive and the service is not widely available, only a handful of areas in the country have Fiber to Home support. The reason is that it depends on a new medium and isn’t based on phone lines or wireless technology requiring new infrastructure to be developed and new lines to be laid down.
In Laos, finer installation can range anywhere between 500,000 Kip to 1,500,000 Kip in urban areas but it all comes down to your location. If the location is far away then get ready to pay the ISPs more than this.
These are the three main options that people have available in Laos. Of course the best choice is Fiber to Home but it is expensive and not available everywhere. ADSL is a cheaper alternative and is fine for an average user. If you want internet on the go then mobile broadband is the choice.