Former Cyberport Chairman George Lam and former Under Secretary for Innovation and Technology David Chung crowned prestigious Iconic Stars

HONG KONG SAR – Media OutReach – 29 September 2022 – Organized by the Institute of Financial Technologists of Asia (IFTA), the IFTA FinTech Achievement Awards 2021/2022 Presentation Ceremony was held today (29 September 2022) at Hyatt Regency Tsim Sha Tsui. Under Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury Mr Joseph Chan, JP attended as the Guest of Honour of the Ceremony. Chair, United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific Sustainable Business Network & Former Chairman, Hong Kong Cyberport Dr George Lam and Under Secretary for Innovation and Technology Dr David Chung received the prestigious Iconic Star awards.

In its fourth edition, the IFTA FinTech Achievement Awards (the Awards) of this year was themed “Two Worlds, One Goal: The Virtualisation of Reality” to recognise the important nuances of parallel worlds both physical and virtual, as well as, the role that corporations and individuals play in their development within the economy. This year, the Awards were restructured with 2 additional sub-categories. Metaverse, NFT and Decentralised Finance (DeFi), is added as sub-categories to Corporate Achievements awards.

A new Team of the Year sub-category is added to the award category Outstanding Financial Technologists of the Year to recognise the outstanding financial technologist team(s) who delivered extraordinary FinTech solutions.

Last but not least, a brand-new award category, the Honorary FinTech Education & Talent Development Awards is also added to recognise organisations that have made remarkable contributions in schooling FinTech talents.

This year, 37 nominees/nominated teams were shortlisted into 13 award categories, of which, the newly added “Metaverse, NFT, And DeFi (Decentralised Finance)” category received the most entries.

Specially introduced in this edition, the prestigious “Iconic Star” award honours invaluable contribution of long serving fintech industry leaders. The winners are Dr George Lam, BBS, JP, Chair, United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific Sustainable Business Network & Former Chairman, Hong Kong Cyberport, and Dr David Chung Wai-keung, Former Under Secretary for Innovation and Technology.

During his time as the former Chairman of the Cyberport, Dr George Lam had brought his rich industry experience to lead the Cyberport’s vision to train technology talents, encourage entrepreneurships, nurture start-ups. Whilest Dr David Chung has spared no effort in strengthening the industry-academia-research collaboration during his tenure as the Under Secretary for Innovation and Technology, HKSAR, proming the development of innovative technology as well as high-end manufacturing industries. Both of them contributed to create a vibrant innovation and technolgy ecosystem in Hong Kong for the benefit of the local community.

Chair, United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific Sustainable Business Network & Former Chairman of Hong Kong Cyberport, Dr George Lam, BBS, JP mentioned in his speech, “With government policy, incentives and keen efforts of everybody. We have seen the arrival of eight virtual banks, four virtual insurance companies, and a number of e-wallet companies and more coming. Going forward, I see fintech is becoming even more important as we make early improvements in regulator tech, wealth tech, in ESG, Green finance, digital asset, carbon trading, all of which are necessary for Hong Kong to transform ourselves from international financial center to a global capital center.”

Former Under Secretary for Innovation and Technology Dr David Chung Wai-keung says, “It’s really been a wonderful journey in the past 20 years of public administration. I would say thank you to all of you for giving me such a great opportunity to work in Hong Kong, such a wonderful place. Today we have laid down the foundation and all of you contributed to the success of the Fintech industry in Hong Kong. Whatever my role would be in the near future, I will continue to dedicate myself to the fintech development of Hong Kong and the region, create more impactful projects for talent development, and also create more opportunities for Hong Kong.”

Officiating guest of the Ceremony, Under Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury, Hong Kong SAR Government Mr Joseph Chan, JP mentions, “As you may be aware and as I introduced this last year in the IFTA’s FinTech Achievement Awards presentation ceremony, the Government launched a Proof-of-Concept Subsidy Scheme in 2021 to support fintech development in Hong Kong. We provided financial incentives to financial institutions to partner with fintech companies to put forth and test innovative and practical products and services. The response was very positive, and we had received 160 applications, with over 90 projects approved last year, benefitting over 70 fintech companies and financial institutions. Many of the subsidized projects were related to WealthTech, RegTech and InsurTech; some emerging aspects such as payment systems, ESG; as well as cross-boundary data analysis and overseas remittances, etc, were also covered. As a result, we will be launching another round of the scheme in October this year, which would be even more attractive as the coverage is expanded to provide funding not just to fintech companies partnering with financial institutions, but also research institutions. The subsidy for each approved project has also been increased to $150,000 to as high as $400,000.”

“As IFTA, we have continued to adapt and keep up with professional talent training programmes and activities, to promote the importance and uphold the standard of Fintech, also providing Fintech professionals and building up our own Fintech community.” IFTA Founder and Chairman Mr Paul Pong said. “This year, IFTA is delighted to announce our collaboration with The London Institute of Banking & Finance (LIBF) to roll out the Certified FinTech Practitioner Programme. It is a ground-breaking new programme developed jointly by The London Institute of Banking & Finance and LendIt Fintech. Also, it is an interactive course which will provide expert knowledge of the evolution and impact of fintech, keep up professional training for the future FinTech practitioners and solve the problem of talent shortage.”

At the FinTech Achievement Awards 2021/2022 Presentation Ceremony today, 22 corporate achievement awards and 15 individual and team awards were presented.

As an organization representing fintech professionals in Hong Kong, IFTA is committed to following the government policy of promoting the collaboration among the government, industry, academic and research sectors in the innovation and technology industry.

Winners of Corporate Achievements in FinTech (for corporates, NGOs, and start-ups)

Award Categories	Awardees Companies	Award Level
Regulatory Tech	Aereve Company Limited	Diamond
	Eureka FinTech Limited	Platinum
Insurance Tech	AIA International Limited – 3D Protection Index	Gold
	AIA International Limited – SMP iSay	Gold
Blockchain, Cryptocurrency and CEP (Cryptoasset Exchange Providers)	Ricacorp Properties Limited	Platinum
	IX Fintech Group Limited – DAEM Technology Limited	Gold
Banking Tech	Hang Seng Bank Limited	Gold
	TransUnion Limited	Gold
	Innocorn Technology Limited	Silver
WealthTech	AutoML Capital Limited	Gold
	Linnovate Partners	Gold
Metaverse, NFT, And DeFi (Decentralised Finance)	Custonomy Company Limited	Platinum
	Evident	Platinum
	FORMS Syntron Information (HK) Limited	Platinum
	Tam Jai International Company Limited	Platinum
	IX Fintech Group Limited – DAEM Technology Limited	Gold
	Global Pets World Limited	Silver
Talent Development	AIA International Limited	Diamond

Outstanding Financial Technologists of the Year (for individuals and teams)

Award Categories	Awarding Individuals or Teams	Award Level
Leader of the Year	Miss Marie Claire Lim Moore TransUnion Limited	Excellence
	Mr. Jerry Ying TransUnion Limited	Merit
Team of the Year	Merkle Tree Innovation Foundation	Excellence
	Digital Experience Practice FORMS Syntron Information (HK) Limited	Excellence
	Tam Jai International Charitable NFTs Collections, Souper Hero Tam Jai International Company Limited	Excellence
	TransUnion Limited	Merit
	Architecture and Development Practice FORMS Syntron Information (HK) Limited	Merit
Rising Star of the Year	Mr. Lester Wong FORMS Syntron Information (HK) Limited	Excellence
	Mr. Relax Chan TransUnion Limited	Merit
	Miss Camilla Wong Nominated by FORMS Syntron Information (HK) Limited	Merit
Star in the Making	Miss YEUNG KAR YAN, Karen COLLAB HONG KONG Limited	Excellence
	Mr. Mathias Awuni Coucou Connect	Merit
	Mr. MA Hejian Quant Break	Merit

The Prestige Award (recommended by the organiser and/or jury panel)

Honorary FinTech Education & Talent Development Awards

Awardees Companies or Organisations	Award Level
Blockchain Solutions Limited	Diamond
CUHK Engineering FinTech Applied Research Academy (CEFAR Academy)	Diamond
Hong Kong Metropolitan University	Diamond
Master of Science in Finance (FinTech and Financial Analytics), Hong Kong Baptist University	Diamond

Iconic Star

Dr David Chung Wai-keung Former Under Secretary for Innovation and Technology.

Dr George Lam, BBS, JP Chair, United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific Sustainable Business Network & Former Chairman, Hong Kong Cyberport

Click here to download high-res pictures of the event:

1. Speech by Under Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury, Hong Kong SAR Government Mr Joseph Chan, JP
2. The two IFTA founders and officiating guests congratulated the two winners of the “Iconic Star” award. (From left to right: IFTA Co-founder and Vice-Chairman Mr Wilson Kwok, Under Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury, Hong Kong SAR Government Mr Joseph Chan, JP, Chair of United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific Sustainable Business Network & Former Chairman of Hong Kong Cyberport, Dr George Lam, JP, BBS, Former Under Secretary for Innovation and Technology Dr David Chung Wai-keung, Head Juror of IFTA FinTech Achievement Awards, Dr Charleston Sin, IFTA Founder and Chairman Mr Paul Pong).

Hashtag: #IFTA

About IFTA

The Institute of Financial Technologists of Asia Limited (IFTA) is an NPO established in Hong Kong in September 2017; to uphold the professional standard of Financial Technologists in Asia and create an ecosystem for global fintech talents to be connected.

IFTA entered a collaboration agreement with The London Institute of Banking & Finance (LIBF), to roll out the Certified Fintech Parctitioner, CFP program in Asia. Besides delivering certification, IFTA also organises events including boot camps, seminars, and an annual award to accelerate Fintech education and industry engagement among government, regulators, universities, enterprises, and start-ups.

SINGAPORE – Media OutReach – 29 September 2022 – BingX, the leading crypto social trading exchange, introduced a new bug bounty program on Hackenproof.

HackenProof is a Web3.0 bug bounty platform trusted by the crypto market that connects its customers with the global hacker community to uncover security issues in their products.

This program pays both users and security researchers to find and report bugs in its ecosystem. BingX offers payouts of up to $4,000 USDT per critical vulnerability discovered, with smaller rewards for less critical bugs. It opens a door to the community and aims to shape a security-first platform with four top priorities – BingX’s website, its API, Android, and iOS apps. This program will be valid for a long time with open-ended bounty rewards.

“This bug bounty program aims to improve the overall security and risk control of the platform. In the context of the recent bear market, it is more important than ever that crypto exchanges continue to hone the technologies and practices that contribute to a strong security posture. User safety is always our top priority,” said Elvisco Carrington, PR and Communications Director at BingX. “Fully delivering on this mission takes time and constant improvement. It is great to see our achievements as we continue to enhance our technological capability and services for our users.”

BingX is committed to build a safe, simple, and reliable platform that constantly provides users incentives and ways to get the most out of trading. From popular pairs like BTC/USDT, ETH/USDT to lesser known coins, BingX is always seeking new and improved ways to create a user-centric experience. Users can expect frequent upgrades in all facets of their trading experience on BingX.

Hashtag: #BingX

About BingX

Founded in 2018, BingX is a Crypto Social Trading Exchange that offers BTC USDT, XRP USDT, ETH USDT and Luna USDT to more than 100 countries worldwide with over 5 million users. BingX connects users with expert traders and the platform in a safe, simple, and transparent way.

Official Crypto Exchange App: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=pro.bingbon.app

GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Media OutReach – 29 September 2022 – On September 29, TRON founder Justin Sun attended the 2022 Milken Institute Asia Summit, where he had an in-depth conversation with Curtis S. Chin, Chair of the Asia Center, about issues including crypto technologies and the digital economy. This dialogue was also live-streamed globally on the official platform.

During the conversation, Sun suggested that there is huge space for the growth of cryptocurrencies. Over 100 million wallets have been created on the TRON blockchain over the past 5 years, but with its ambition to cover 7 billion users worldwide, TRON needs to expand further financial inclusion so that every user feels secure on the chain. He believes that blockchain inherently has financial attributes and, if used properly, will be more efficient and secure than traditional financial tools. With the help of blockchain, the public may easily access financial services and enjoy quick transfers at low cost, while regulators can trace every transaction.

Meanwhile, Sun also suggested that there are currently far more technologies focusing on the virtual world rather than the real one. But the construction of virtual and real worlds are equally important. He promised to put more effort into space exploration in the future, using the profits made from the virtual world to help discover the real one.

Hosted by the Milken Institute, a U.S.-based non-profit, non-partisan think tank, the Milken Institute Asia Summit is now in its ninth year. Themed “The World Transformed”, the Summit aimed to thrust reforms and build a safer, more inclusive, and sustainable future. Institutions, including SoftBank, Bank of America, Ernst & Young, and TRON, were invited to the Summit. Apart from Justin Sun and other leading figures in the crypto industry, Nicholas Burns, US Ambassador to China, Abdulla Al-Kuwari, Head of Qatar Investment Authority Advisory (Asia Pacific), and Andrew Cross, CFO at Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, presented at the Summit, too.

Justin Sun also participated in the 2021 Summit, where he joined a panel discussion themed on “Crypto’s Continuing Chronicles” with industry veterans, including Sopnendu Mohanty, Chief Fintech Officer at Monetary Authority of Singapore, and Gerald Goh, co-founder and CEO at Sygnum. Sun commented in the forum, “Blockchain is able to knock down the barriers between countries and is friendlier and more efficient than SWIFT.”

Justin Sun, a torchbearer in the digital economy sphere, founded TRON in 2017. Boasting over 113 million users, TRON is now among the world’s top three public chains and leading the way on tracks including NFT, DeFi, and distributed storage protocols. The network is showing remarkable resilience in the current market downturn. DefiLlama, the world’s largest TVL aggregator for DeFi, reported that as of mid-September, with a TVL hitting $5.4 billion, TRON ranked the second in public chains by TVL. Moreover, TRON has been recognized as “one of the most environmentally friendly blockchains” by Crypto Carbon Ratings Institute (CCRI), showcasing how its high energy efficiency and low energy consumption are keeping it in the leading position in the industry.

In late 2021, Sun was appointed as Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Grenada to the WTO. He said that during his tenure, he would proactively promote the integration of cryptocurrencies and sovereign states to build a new financial system that is secure, efficient, and inclusive. Moreover, he would also leverage his experience in the field of digital industry for a joint response to the new challenges regarding digital transformation in the post-pandemic era.

Hashtag: #TRONDAO

MANILA, PHILIPPINES – Media OutReach – 29 September 2022 – Recently, Hebe Beauty Cosmetics Inc., an Indonesian beauty group, launched a brand new high-end makeup brand Dazzle Me for the Southeast Asian market. Dazzle Me offers the boldest and trendiest cosmetic products—and they are especially affordable to teens, students and/or women looking for their first step into the glamorous make-up industry. With an international presence and customer satisfaction as the main priority, Dazzle Me Cosmetics has been rated over 4.9 on Shopee.

Dazzle Me makeup brand is young, funky, and beginner-friendly with a focus on instilling confidence in women, who dare to be unique. Dazzle Me believes that every woman out there has the power to be comfortable in her own skin and walk confidently into the world around her. To encourage women to bravely discover every different side of them through makeup. By focusing on the beauty of women, this new brand was created to empower them to try new looks, accessorize with confidence and have pride in their individuality.

One of the best sellers, the Dazzle Me Ink-Licious Lip Tint comes with a special water-based formula that is light and highly pigmented. Lip tint has been a popular makeup item for three reasons. It’s possible to wear it to almost any occasion, and it doesn’t require a lot of skill to use. And since everyone wants a little dazzle, not everyone knows how to get it. And while there are definitely products that make lips look better, some of them can be pretty expensive, but Dazzle Me created a lip tint that’s easy to use and doesn’t break the bank. Comes in 4 color variants, namely Oran-gee (fresh orange vibe), Swipe Up (sweet in pink), Touch Down (gorgeous in red), Smiley (rosy pink shade) that are naturally bright and pigmented. It is also formulated with Hyaluronic Acid to continuously hydrate and nourish lips, giving it a smooth and soft texture with a sweet pomegranate scent. They’re easy to apply and last up to 12 hours which means even if customers don’t have any time to reapply it during their activities, the color and smooth lips will stay with customers throughout the day. The perfect companion for students and teens with extra-curricular activities for back to school.

Dazzle Me Ink-Licious Lip Tint in the shade Touch Down is perfect for those who are looking for something bold but fun. This rosy tint will make customers’ lips look natural and beautiful, with a hint of color on them. No need to worry about the application of this product, just put it on it and blend it perfectly with the easy-apply applicator to get the desired result. Customers can use this as their daily tint or go for a night out on the town with just this shade in tow.

Dazzle Me is definitely a brand to watch, as it stands for all the good things about the cosmetics industry. They seek to provide young women with a wide range of cosmetics products that will suit their needs, whether they are looking for an everyday lip tint or bold colors that they can only wear during special occasions.

Check out more of the Dazzle Me products on Shopee (https://shopee.ph/dazzlemeofficial.ph) , Lazada (https://www.lazada.com.ph/shop/dazzle-me) and Tiktok Shop (https://www.tiktok.com/@dazzleme.beauty.ph).

For updates on everything Dazzle Me, please follow it on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/dazzleme.ph/), Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/dazzleme_ph/) and Tiktok (https://www.tiktok.com/@dazzleme.beauty.ph).

Hashtag: #HebeBeauty

DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES – EQS Newswire – 29 September 2022 – It has been reported that Dubai is the most profitable city in the world for Airbnb hosts[i], but with this comes a myriad of challenges for property owners such as managing housekeeping, guests’ noise levels, pricing properties correctly and ensuring personalisation. To minimise these challenges and help more people take advantage of this lucrative opportunity, short term rental management company Propr (https://www.Propr.ae), has launched an all-encompassing tech-based solution to streamline operations and give hosts peace of mind.

Levelling up short-term rental management with tech

With the company’s co-founders, Chregan O’Flynn and Max Urban having backgrounds in tech, they saw that most short-term rental operators utilised off-the-shelf software applications to cobble together a working property management system. The problem with this is that hosts need to find workarounds to stitch these disjointed pieces together which then impacts the guest experience.

It is for this reason that the Propr team developed their own property management system. “The goal,” says O’Flynn, “has always been to automate those elements that can be automated and give our team tools to make them superhumanly more effective, resulting in a better guest experience. This is vital as a happy guest leaves a good review, which leads to more bookings, meaning happier property owners who trust us with their properties.”

Digital solutions transform market challenges

To tackle the issue of housekeeping management, Propr developed an app to remotely monitor and manage cleaning in real time using input and images from the housekeepers to ensure that the standards pre-set for each rental unit are met. “In the past, housekeepers would have to cross off cleaning checklists manually, but now the process has been simplified and made customisable for each property,” shares Urban.

Regarding noise control, he explains that guests are typically on holiday or in town on business and can be loud. “This can cause issues as neighbours sometimes complain. We make use of technology integrated with noise monitoring sensors to send automated and instant notifications to the guests as well as to the owner to alert them to any breaches in noise levels.”

As there are fluctuating variables when it comes to pricing a property, Propr has developed an automated real-time pricing algorithm. Urban points out that this creates a set price point for each property every month that is adjusted daily according to the market.

When it comes to personalisation, one of the ways that Propr has managed to get the balance right is by automating highly structured communication to give their team more opportunity to spend quality time with guests such as when planning a custom itinerary. “We also use tech to flag certain key words like ‘anniversary’ or ‘birthday’ and then notify our guest experience team to do something special for that guest,” notes O’Flynn.

The future of hospitality is tech enabled

Going forward, the entrepreneurs will be developing even more top-line tech tools to meet the needs of tomorrow’s travellers and short-term rental owners. “The key is to use tech in a way that adds to the guests’ experience, rather than making them feel that they are dealing with robots. At every step of the journey, tech can help make the experience better,” concludes Urban.

ⁱhttps://bit.ly/3BSiaeX

Hashtag: #Propr

About Propr

Propr is a short-term rental management company operating 500+ properties (including two aparthotels) across Cape Town, Johannesburg and Dubai. The company is Marriott-approved and has partnered with them on their Homes & Villas division. Propr is also the only management company in MEA with a direct API partnership with Airbnb. For more information, go to https://www.Propr.co.za and https://www.SuperSight.io