Water levels in some sections of the Mekong River have increased slightly over the last seven days, the Mekong River Commission (MRC) Secretariat said today.
Citibank Officially Launches Citi Plus®
Co-creating With Target Clients to Suit Their Banking and Investment Needs
Fostering Financial Education to Level-Up Digital Natives Through Mobile Banking
HONG KONG SAR – Media OutReach – 22 February 2021 – Citigroup Inc. (NYSE symbol: C) – Citibank announced today the official launch of Citi Plus®, a digital value proposition offering financial education and a novel banking experience to level-up digital natives through mobile banking. Citi Plus® clients can obtain personalized wealth management information and knowledge kits to accumulate their wealth and earn more through accomplishing fun tasks.
Having its pilot launch in early December 2020, Citi Plus® accumulated nearly 5,000 registrants, who are interested in the new service, in the first three weeks. “Citibank Hong Kong has shown strong determination in the development of digital banking in recent years. Citi Plus® is our latest initiative to bring digital natives a banking experience they admire,” said Mr Lawrence Lam, Consumer Business Manager of Citibank Hong Kong. “Millennials were invited to participate in research and the co-creation process, through which we could better address target clients’ pain points, and help them grow their wealth via the new service.”
Citi Plus® offers a range of investment products to clients including stocks, money market funds as well as an array of mutual funds primarily from Aberdeen Standard Investments, Allianz Global Investors and Franklin Templeton.
One of the key features of Citi Plus® is a series of financial wellness modules specially designed to educate clients and guide their thinking when it comes to making decisions about managing money, building wealth and achieving financial goals. These engaging modules enhance wealth inclusion, allow clients to build healthy financial habits and achieve targets responsibly.
- Wealth Smart: A financial literacy guide covering a series of easy-to-follow courses and quizzes, with bite-sized content that helps clients level-up and approach investments with greater confidence. Clients can learn at their own pace, whilst keeping themselves abreast of the times and acquiring financial knowledge.
- Wealth Digest[1]: A personalized series of news, articles and insights on wealth which are updated continually to help clients make informed investment decisions.
- Money Goal[2]: A personal goal tracking tool that helps clients define financial objectives and track their progress towards these targets.
Alongside this step-by-step guidance providing clients with financial knowledge and resources, Citi Plus® also offers innovative features that engage clients and help them level-up along their financial journey.
- Deposit: “Citi Interest Booster” enables clients to earn additional bonus interest (up to 1.8% p.a.[3]) on savings by completing simple missions. Beginning with a base interest rate of 0.3% p.a., clients can complete “missions” – such as maintaining balance, funding-in, spending with Citi Plus® cards, investment and currency exchange — to boost interest rates up to 1.8% p.a. [3]
- Investment[4]: Citi Plus® offers a reliable investment platform that allows clients not only to trade stocks, but also to invest in mutual funds. With progressive self-learning resources and low investment thresholds, clients have the flexibility to choose their investment options.
o “Flexi Wealth” allows clients to start investing in money market funds with as little as HK$1, and to conduct transactions at their convenience, without any transaction charges or monthly service fees.
o Our suggested mutual fund portfolios based on clients’ financial goals and risk profiles will also be offered, featuring mutual funds primarily from Aberdeen Standard Investments, Allianz Global Investors and Franklin Templeton at a minimum of HK$100, thus giving clients a hassle-free investment experience.
- Spending: Citi Plus® Debit Mastercard® and Citi Plus® Credit Card bring clients a world of privileged shopping rewards while spending with these cards also boosts their saving interest rate by 0.3% p.a [3].
o Spending with Citi Plus® Debit Mastercard® offers up to 1% cashback[5], and with Citibank Global Wallet, clients can exchange foreign currencies at preferred rates[6], and then spend with the debit card for online/ in-store shopping and withdraw cash overseas directly with foreign currency accounts. Citi does not charge any handling fees[7] for cash withdrawals made with the card at any overseas ATMs (including Citi and Mastercard® ATMs).
o Citi Plus® Credit Card is tailor-made for Citi Plus® clients and has no annual fee. Payments for online shopping and fitness memberships can earn up to 3X reward points, while clients can also instantly offset spending anytime with Citi Pay with Points and get free purchase protection insurance.
- One App to do it all: Citi Mobile® App enables clients to transfer funds, invest, spend, and more at their fingertips. In-app messaging is also available 24/7 to offer customer support promptly.
From now until April 30, clients can team up with their families and friends to join Citi Plus® to unlock an additional bonus savings rate of up to 6% p.a. [8] via ‘Citi Interest Booster’. For more information, please visit https://www.citibank.com.hk/english/banking/citi-plus/.
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Investment in derivatives involves risks. Investors should understand the nature of the products before they make investment decisions.
To borrow or not to borrow? Borrow only if you can repay.
[1] “Wealth Digest” will be available soon, please visit citibank.hk/citiplus for updates.
[2] “Money Goal” will be available soon, please visit citibank.hk/citiplus for updates.
[3] Terms and Conditions for Citi Interest Booster: https://www.citibank.com.hk/english/banking/pdf/interest-booster-tnc.pdf
[4] Customer can enjoy the investment services by opening the investment accounts via the app separately.
[5] Enjoy up to 1% cash rebate for every point-of-sale purchase or online purchase for the first 6 months of card issuance, and up to 0.5% thereafter.
[6] Citibank Global Wallet supports 12 currencies: AUD, CAD, CHF, CNY, EUR, GBP, HKD, JPY, NZD, SGD, THB and USD. Before shopping at overseas shops or online, prepare sufficient foreign currencies in the account and this service will select the corresponding currency and directly debit from the account when the client spends. Citibank will not charge the foreign currency handling fee.
[7] For overseas withdrawals made with Global Wallet, the withdrawal amount, together with any surcharge levied by the overseas ATM operator, will be directly deducted from the relevant foreign currency account. For overseas withdrawals not made with Global Wallet, Citi does not charge any flat handling fee and charges a conversion spread up to 2.4% of the Hong Kong Dollar equivalent amount which includes the withdrawal amount and any surcharge levied by the overseas ATM operator. Please refer to the fees and charges for details.
[8] Terms and Conditions apply.
About Citi
Citi, the leading global Bank, has approximately 200 million customer accounts and does business in more than 160 countries and jurisdictions. Citi provides consumers, corporations, governments and institutions with a broad range of financial products and services, including consumer banking and credit, corporate and investment banking, securities brokerage, transaction services and wealth management.
Additional information may be found at www.citigroup.com | Twitter: @Citi | YouTube:
www.youtube.com/citi | Blog: http://blog.citigroup.com | Facebook: www.facebook.com/citi |
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/citi.
Hong Kong Productivity Council and Hong Kong Computer Society Sign Pact to Enhance the Adoption of Emerging Technologies in Hong Kong
HONG KONG SAR – Media OutReach – 22 February 2021 – The Hong Kong Productivity Council (HKPC) and the Hong Kong Computer Society (HKCS) today signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to form a strategic partnership in driving the adoption of emerging technologies in Hong Kong.
Mr Mohamed Butt, Executive Director of HKPC (left), and Ir Dr Ted Suen, MH, President of HKCS, sign a Memorandum of Understanding in which HKPC and HKCS will form a strategic partnership in driving the adoption of emerging technologies in Hong Kong.
Under the two-year arrangement, HKPC and HKCS will collaborate on talent development, education and promotion for emerging technologies to support the industry demand with focus in the areas of 5G, artificial intelligence (AI), cloud computing, cyber security, data analytics, Internet of Things (IoT) and robotics. This collaboration also signals HKPC’s relentless drive to invest in and build technologies that matter for Hong Kong in areas including reindustrialisation, SME and start-up support, intelligent manufacturing, digitalisation and cyber security, FutureSkills and smart and green living. HKCS members and local IT professionals will definitely benefit from this collaboration.
Mr Mohamed Butt, Executive Director of HKPC, said, “Being the expert of Industry 4.0 and Enterprise 4.0, HKPC has a team of technical professionals with a good grasp of technology research and development and advanced technologies such as IoT, big data analytics, AI and robotics, smart manufacturing. Our professional knowledge and acute technology sense will certainly help achieve more effective use of this collaboration.”
Dr Ted Suen, MH, President of HKCS, said, “With the continuous expansion of emerging technologies such as 5G and AI, coupled with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, many enterprises need to accelerate digital transformation to meet actual situation needs. The signing of the MoU will further strengthen collaboration between both parties, especially in the promotion of the application of emerging technologies.”
HKPC will set out a framework with HKCS to promote technology training courses organised by HKPC to its members and offer its government funding advisory support through SME ReachOut. HKCS, in turn, will recognise the relevant technology training courses offered by HKPC as continuing professional development activities and share the insights of the skills demand from the industries for HKPC to design training courses. Both sides also pledge to jointly promote and co-organise events related to emerging technologies such as seminars, webinars and workshops.
To mark the launch of the new collaboration, a webinar was held today with HKPC and HKCS experts sharing their insights of the Agile approach, intelligent automations and how they could enable enterprises to accelerate digital transformation.
About Hong Kong Productivity Council
The Hong Kong Productivity Council (HKPC) is a multi-disciplinary organisation established by statute in 1967, to promote productivity excellence through integrated advanced technologies and innovative service offerings to support Hong Kong enterprises. HKPC is the champion and expert in facilitating Hong Kong’s reindustrialisation empowered by i4.0 and e4.0 — focusing on R&D, IoT, big data analytics, AI and Robotic technology development, digital manufacturing, etc., to help enterprises and industries upgrade their business performance, lower operating costs, increase productivity and enhance competitiveness.
The Council is a trusted partner with comprehensive innovative solutions for Hong Kong industries and enterprises, enabling them to achieve resources and productivity utilisation, effectiveness and cost reduction, and enhanced competitiveness in both local and international marketplace. It offers SMEs and startups immediate and timely assistance in coping with the ever-changing business environment, accompanying them on their innovation and transformation journey.
In addition, HKPC partners and collaborates with local industries and enterprises to develop applied technology solutions for value creation. It also benefits a variety of sectors through product innovation and technology transfer, with commercialisation of multiple market-driven patents and technologies, bringing enormous opportunities abound for licensing and technology transfer, both locally and internationally.
For more information, please visit HKPC’s website: www.hkpc.org.
About Hong Kong Computer Society
Founded in 1970, the Hong Kong Computer Society (HKCS) is a recognised non-profit professional organisation focused on developing Hong Kong’s Information Technology (IT) profession and industry. Their members come from a broad spectrum of Hong Kong’s IT community, from corporations to like-minded individuals, all coming together to raise the profile and standards of the IT profession and industry. As a well-established IT professional body, the Society is committed to professional and industry development as well as community services to ensure the IT sector continues to make a positive impact on peoples’ lives with three main goals, namely, 1) talent cultivation and professional development, 2) industry development and collaboration, and 3) the effective use of IT in our community.
For more details, please visit HKCS’s website http://www.hkcs.org.hk
Nexstgo comprehensively enhances its range of NEXSTMALL BIZ business solutions
Giving impetus to the development of SMEs with digital strategies to maintain their competitiveness under the ‘new normal’
HONG KONG SAR – Media OutReach – 22 February 2021 – As a developer and service provider of innovative digital and technology products, Nexstgo provides PCs, loT innovations, Artificial Intelligence application solutions, Information Technology solutions and more. Stepping into the new year, the “new normal” commercial environment continues to affect business IT purchasing decisions. In order to help SMEs be successful in their digital transformation and adapt to the new reality of remote working, Nexstgo has enhanced its business solutions available through the NEXSTMALL BIZ platform to provide a more comprehensive technology application strategy focusing on the business and commercial field. These include one-stop professional IT services, remote conferencing and VPN security systems, together with a wide range of branded NEXSTGO, VAIO and AVITA mobile computing products. Nexstgo ensures enterprises of any size and industry can find the most suitable software and hardware solutions on NEXSTMALL BIZ, helping businesses maintain the strongest performance under the continuously transforming business environment during the new year.
For more information on NEXSTMALL BIZ business solutions and exclusive offers for corporate clients, please visit:
https://www.nexstmall.com/collections/nexstmall-business-solution
Comprehensively monitoring the network security of customers, providing the most robust backing of IT consulting services at any time
With the routinization of “new normal” working practices, remote-work, WFH, online and cloud-based processes have become ubiquitous. Nexstgo has launched technological solutions specifically for network security management, including the installation of bank-level encryption software by Norton VPN for customers in business areas that require remote-work with a high level of integrated protection. When customers access the Internet on public Wi-Fi hotspots, these systems provide safe and effective online privacy. With the Veeam data encryption backup system, customers can work in any environment confidently. To enhance provision of security technology strategies, the company is also launching further products on NEXSTMALL BIZ, including the latest Targus Docking Station, which supports multiple USB interfaces and screen configurations; Targus Privacy Screen Filter, designed to protect high-value information; and Targus Security Cable Lock that locks the connection end of the transmission line to protect valuable resources on the device. Corporate clients who purchase designated VAIO notebooks on NEXSTMALL BIZ will also get the above-mentioned products and other valuable accessories designed to protect their business privacy. This enables customers to experience the most secure workflows, ensuring business privacy of the whole organization in the era of digital commerce.
As a strategic partner to SMEs, Nexstgo’s elite team also provides customers with professional IT support and technology operation consulting services, helping companies confidently achieve digital transformation and adapt to the “new normal”. These supporting services undertaken by the professional specialist team handle inquiries regarding computer products and software systems, and provide product management and technical support. Customers who purchase any NEXSTGO or VAIO laptop on NEXSTMALL BIZ with a subscription to a one-month IT support service will receive one-time free Data Migration support, allowing corporate clients worry-free activation of new computer equipment without affecting daily operations. Customers benefit from the strongest backing brought by the Nexstgo team whenever they need it, for peace-of-mind and smooth business operations ensuring productivity and performance.
Up-to-date video conferencing and mobile communication solutions: easily connect with customers online, anytime and anywhere
Understanding that many companies and employees have adapted to working at home or working without a fixed workplace, Nexstgo provides online and video conference software and hardware; such as NEXSTGO laptop products with dedicated functionality for online meetings equipped with a high-quality Dolby voice system, and Artificial Intelligence camera lens Huddly-IQ designed for remote video conferencing, etc. This offering provides the most accurate facial recognition and the clearest sound and picture performance, helping customers complete meetings more productively. NEXSTMALL BIZ also offers combination packages of software/hardware available at discounted rates. For example, customers can redeem a Huddly-IQ lens at a discounted price when purchasing a designated VAIO laptop; get 3-year on-site warranty and Jabra headset for free when purchasing a NEXSTGO SU03 laptop, a conference-specific model with FHD IR webcam and Dolby ATMOS. The choice of different combinations of software and hardware help managers select the most effective process strategies according to their business needs.
Nexstgo recognizes that companies must be able to achieve instant interaction and clarity of communication with customers as a key to being competitive. Therefore, Nexstgo has collaborated with outstanding customer service cloud platforms to launch cooperative business solutions. For example, corporate clients who buy any NEXSTGO or VAIO laptop on NEXSTMALL BIZ can enjoy a free service trial of customer interaction at Maaiiconnect platform, including free conversations with end customers on its platform for up to 5000 minutes and real-time web conversations. The package helps companies of all sizes to deliver excellent customer service, and to keep pace with fast-changing business environments. By taking advantage of these solutions and transforming into an e-commerce business – with the realities of the ‘new normal’ replacing traditional face-to-face service – companies can greatly increase their revenues, productivity and cost management performance.
About Nexstgo Company Limited
Established in 2016, Nexstgo Company Limited was co-founded by Mr. Wilson Leung, Chairman & CEO, Alco Holdings Limited (SEHK: 0328), and Mr. Alex Chung, out of a shared passion and pursuit of quality tech-innovation. Nexstgo is committed to bringing new revolutionary experiences in technology through introducing a wide product range, which includes PC, Smart home, IoT, artificial intelligence and corporate solutions. Nexstgo is growing steadily in the Asia Pacific region. In August 2016, its Hong Kong headquarters and Taiwan Design Centre were set up. In just four years, the company has expanded its business to 22 areas, and is fully committed to the development of the Tech Market. In June 2018, Nexstgo was authorized by VAIO Corporation to participate in the production, sales, marketing and after-sales services of VAIO notebook products in Asia, covering markets such as Hong Kong, Taiwan, Macau, Malaysia and Singapore.
No New Wheels for Attapeu Officials
Authorities in Attapeu Province cancelled a purchase order for new vehicles under the state budget on Wednesday last week following a stern warning from the PM.
Unique French-English bilingual programme at the Canadian International School (CIS) expanding from August 2021
SINGAPORE – Media OutReach – 22 February 2021 – The Canadian International School (CIS) in Singapore is delighted to announce the expansion of its unique French-English bilingual programme at the Lakeside campus with the opening of a class in grade 1, 2 and 5 starting in August 2021. Going forward, the programme will now be available to students at its Lakeside campus from grade 1 through to grade 5.
“We are extremely excited about the programme’s expansion as we are the only international school in Singapore to offer a French-English bilingual program fully aligned to the International Baccalaureate PYP framework, ” says CIS Head of School Pete Corcoron. “We are delighted students can now take advantage and enjoy the programme’s unique benefits for a longer period.”
The decision to open up an additional class underscores CIS’ reputation as one of the most experienced and trusted international schools in Singapore to offer bilingual programmes. In addition to CIS’s French-English bilingual programme they also offer a Chinese-English bilingual programme for students in junior kindergarten to grade 6.
The French-English bilingual programme objective
To educate students to become bilingual, biliterate and bicultural in both French and English.
Key features of the French-English bilingual programme
Each class has two qualified teachers — one English speaker and one French speaker. Instruction is inquiry-based and fully aligned to the International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme (IB PYP). Students have equal exposure to both languages — classes are in English one day and French the next.
CIS’ teaching approach
All learning is done through inquiry. Wherever possible, CIS uses authentic materials (such as songs, stories, TV and websites) instead of textbooks, and engage students in active, hands-on activities like acting out plays, cooking and participating in quizzes. The school places a strong emphasis on creating authentic experiences where learning mirrors real-life activities. CIS don’t do any translating. All learning is done through immersion.
Who can enrol?
While language requirements do apply, CIS welcomes students from all backgrounds. Some students are French native-speakers while others have been educated in a French-speaking school or have a strong connection and passion for the French language.
Appier’s Viewpoints on Machine Learning as a Service: Challenges and Opportunities
TAIPEI, TAIWAN – Media OutReach – 22 February 2021 – Appier, a leading artificial intelligence (AI) company, today announces its viewpoints of challenges and opportunities when adopting Machine Learning as a Service in the real world. Machine learning (ML) is a vital technology for companies seeking a competitive advantage, as it can process large volumes of data fast that can help businesses overcome challenges such as more effectively make recommendations to customers, hone manufacturing processes or anticipate changes to a market. Machine Learning as a Service (MLaaS) is defined in a business context as companies designing and implementing ML models to provide a continuous and consistent service to customers.
Businesses today are dealing with huge amounts of data and the volume is growing faster than ever. At the same time, the competitive landscape is changing rapidly and it’s critical for commercial organizations to make decisions fast. Business success comes from making quick, accurate decisions using the best possible information. This is critical in areas where customer needs and behaviours change rapidly. For example, in 2020, people had to change how they shop, work and socialize as a direct result of the COVID-19 pandemic, and businesses have had to shift how they service customers to meet their needs. This means that the technology they are using to gather and process data also needs to be flexible and adaptable to new data inputs, allowing businesses to move fast and make the best decisions.
Appier observes that one current challenge of taking ML models to MLaaS has to do with how we currently build ML models and how we teach future ML talent to do it. Most research and development of ML models focuses on building individual models that use a set of training data (with pre-assigned features and labels) to deliver the best performance in predicting the labels of another set of data (normally we call it testing data). However, if we’re looking at real-world businesses trying to meet the ever-evolving needs of real-life customers, the boundary between training and testing data becomes less clear. The testing or prediction data for today can be exploited as the training data to create a better model in the future.
Based on Appier’s years of practical experience, the data used for training a model will no doubt be imperfect for several reasons. Besides the fact that real-world data sources can be incomplete or unstructured (such as open answer customer questionnaires), they can come from a biased collection process. For instance, the data to be used for training a recommendation model are normally collected from the feedback of another recommender system currently serving online. Thus, the data collected are biased by the online serving model.
Additionally, sometimes the outcome we care about most is the hardest to evaluate. Let’s take digital marketing for ecommerce as an example. The most straightforward customer journey would be ‘click item, view item, add item to cart, purchase item’. However, the process is rarely this simple- people might look at an item several times on different devices, and they may remove it from the cart before putting it back in or abandon the purchase altogether.
Usually, the actions in the deeper funnel (i.e. purchase) are much harder to obtain than the ones on the upper funnel. For example, If the consumer does not complete the purchase on your platform, you will never know if he has lost interest in the product, or if there’s another reason he didn’t buy the item. If an MLaSS model relies only on the simplest metrics (i.e. clicks and view), its suggestion (e.g. when to send out marketing messages) will not align with the ultimate business goal.
Finally, for a B2B AI company that provides machine learning services, they normally need to serve thousands or even more customers from different domains. This means there will always be at least multi-thousand models serving online. Furthermore, for those models to consistently perform to meet ongoing and constantly shifting business goals, they need to be retrained or updated every day to keep up with evolving real-world scenarios. To achieve those goals, one needs to design not only an automated training pipeline but also to guarantee that models will have close to zero probability to converge to a bad local optimal.
In many cases when an unexpected outcome is delivered by Machine Learning model, it’s not the machine learning that has broken down but some other part of the chain. For example, a recommendation engine may have offered a product to a customer, but the connection between the sales system and the recommendation could be broken, and it takes time to find the bug. In this case, it would be hard to tell the model if the recommendation was successful. Troubleshooting issues like this can be quite labor intensive and is a capability that companies adopting MLaaS need to have in place.
Ensuring the overall stability and robustness of MLaaS models is critical. It requires significant ongoing investment, research and experimentation, but the rewards for businesses can be huge, allowing them to quickly adapt and pivot to changing business environments and allowing them to stay ahead of the game. For more artificial intelligence and machine learning information, please refer to the Appier blog.
About Appier
Appier helps businesses solve their most challenging problems with artificial intelligence. It is a partner to some of the world’s leading brands, providing a suite of enterprise-grade products to support data-driven decisions and accelerate business growth. Established in 2012 by a passionate team of computer scientists and engineers, Appier now has more than 450 employees across 15 offices in APAC and Europe, and is recognized as a Top 50 AI company by Fortune Magazine. Appier has raised US$162 million in funding from investors including Sequoia, Softbank, and Line. Learn more at www.appier.com.
Laos to Receive 564,000 Doses of Covid-19 Vaccine Under COVAX AMC
Laos has been allocated an initial tranche of the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine through the COVAX initiative.