The forestry authorities in Khammouane have launched a new project to protect biodiversity and reduce poverty across the province. The initiative will engage 600 farmers from three districts to help improve livelihoods and restore local forests.
Khammouane Province Fights Deforestation with New Farmer-Led Conservation Initiative

WRISE Prestige Reaffirms Commitment to Hong Kong
Newly appointed CEO Henry Shin strengthens leadership team and expands wealth management offerings tailored to the region’s fast-growing mass affluent population
HONG KONG SAR – Media OutReach Newswire – 19 September 2024 – WRISE Prestige, an affiliated company of WRISE Group, today announced its renewed commitment to meeting the evolving needs of the growing mass affluent base through the strengthening of its leadership team in Hong Kong. The company has appointed Henry Shin as WRISE Prestige’s new CEO, who will lead the day-to-day operations of this business, while spearheading innovative wealth management products and services tailored to the needs of the mass affluent segment.
The mass affluent market in Asia continues to undergo a transformative shift, driven by the rise of the Asian middle class and significant inter-generational wealth transfers.
China’s mass affluent households alone are forecasted to rise to 162 million by 2030, according to Statista.
This region’s rising affluence has vastly deepened WRISE’s commitment to serving this group by enhancing the leadership team, and providing exclusive opportunities for direct investments, mirroring advantages enjoyed by WRISE Group’s existing ultra-high-net-worth clients.
CEO Henry Shin, a wealth management industry veteran who brings over 26 years of experience, will lead the growth of WRISE Prestige. He takes over the CEO responsibilities and day-to-day operations from Jowin Fung, who will now focus on his current role as Vice Chairman. Both will report to Stephen Yan, Chairman, WRISE Prestige.
Together, they will lead a growing team of 180 independent wealth consultants supported by 40 investment and support function colleagues in a new 17,000 sq. ft Hong Kong office, centrally located at Lee Garden for optimal client access.
“Joining WRISE Prestige at this transformative time is truly exciting,” said Henry Shin, CEO, WRISE Prestige. “The expanding mass affluent segment presents a tremendous opportunity, and I look forward to leading our growing team in delivering exceptional wealth management solutions tailored to this segment’s evolving needs. Our strategic expansion across Asia Pacific also underscores our dedication to providing personalised, high-quality service to our clients.”
“Our strategic focus on expanding our team to better serve the growing mass affluent segment is a cornerstone of our broader mission to build a 360 wealth management ecosystem that caters to the diverse financial aspirations of clients at every stage of their wealth journey,” said Stephen Yan Chairman of WRISE Prestige. “I am confident of Henry’s proven track record to lead WRISE Prestige in meeting the sophisticated needs of a dynamic client base and enabling us to become the leading wealth management partner for the mass affluent segment in the region.”
As WRISE Prestige continues to build momentum, clients can expect more innovative offerings, complemented by the WRISE Academy, which is designed to enhance the capabilities of independent wealth consultants and industry partners through comprehensive training programmes. It also aims to educate and guide clients, empowering them to actively participate in their wealth management journey, while gaining valuable insights into actionable wealth management strategies.
Hashtag: #WRISE #WRISEPrestige #wealthmanagement
The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
About WRISE Prestige
WRISE Prestige is one of the affiliated companies under WRISE Group and operates three specialised subsidiaries, authorised by the Securities and Futures Commission of Hong Kong and/or the Insurance Authority: WRISE Prestige Securities Limited, WRISE Prestige Asset Management Limited and WRISE Financial Services Limited.
Its tailored solutions ensure autonomy, unparalleled price transparency, and exclusive direct investment opportunities, allowing clients to enjoy investment opportunities that are typically only extended to ultra-high-net-worth individuals.
Leveraging its wide network of partners, WRISE Prestige delivers comprehensive wealth management solutions such as family office services, corporate financing, external asset management, multi-asset allocation, alternative fund investment, trust services, global fund setup services, local and overseas property investments, and investment immigration consultations.
CPA Australia proposes policy ideas to reinforce Hong Kong’s international position

HONG KONG SAR – Media OutReach Newswire – 19 September 2024 – Despite recent data indicating the Hong Kong economy is improving; many businesses remain cautious. To encourage more investment to boost the economy, it remains important the Hong Kong Government announces further reforms in the upcoming Policy Address to sustain the city’s international position.

CPA Australia, one of the world’s largest professional accounting bodies with a large and long-term presence in the SAR, has today made a submission to the upcoming Policy Address.
In the submission, CPA Australia proposes several policy measures that focus on five major themes, reinforcing Hong Kong’s role as an international financial hub, developing the city into an international innovation and technology (I&T) centre, promoting environmental, social and governance (ESG) measures, developing, attracting and retaining talent, and boosting the domestic economy.
Mr Cliff Ip, Divisional President of CPA Australia in Greater China 2024, said, “As an international financial hub, Hong Kong should capitalise on its strengths to continue attracting foreign investment, ensuring its sustained vitality and global competitiveness.”
Earlier this year, the government launched the new Capital Investment Entrant Scheme (CIES) to support the local economy. Mr Ip said “To further encourage inbound investment, we recommend the range of permissible assets under the CIES be expanded to include private credit within Hong Kong, and investments in single-family offices and art and collectables. This should boost the city’s position as one of the world’s top art trading centres.”
The Hong Kong Government should continue its efforts to boost economic ties with overseas countries to attract enterprises and investment, CPA Australia says.
To encourage more inbound investment, Mr Ip added “We would like to see the government expedite the implementation of its re-domiciliation regime and offer more financial incentives to further entice non-Hong Kong companies to transfer their domicile to Hong Kong.”
The recent temporary modifications to 18C listings and Special Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC) requirements demonstrate that a proactive approach to market developments is possible, however, it should be formalised. We would like to see the establishment of a listing rules flexibility mechanism on the GEM Board that allows for dynamic adjustments to listing requirements.
We urge the government to implement an IPO Connect scheme to enable Mainland investors to participate in Hong Kong IPOs and Hong Kong investors to subscribe to mainland IPOs.
The trading volume of the Hong Kong exchange traded fund (ETF) market is lagging behind other major exchanges in the Asia-Pacific region.
Mr Ip added: “To enhance ETF trading activities, we recommend expanding the diversity of ETF products. Additionally, the government should also consider providing more information to help the public better understand complex concepts such as digital assets ETFs.”
To position Hong Kong as a leading hub for Web 3 and virtual assets, CPA Australia is encouraging the government to consider integrating the development and regulatory oversight of such technologies under the Task Force on Promoting Web 3 Development, rather than the current dispersed regulatory approach.
CPA Australia’s recent annual Business Technology Report 2024 reveals a substantial increase in the number of companies utilising artificial intelligence (AI). To further develop Hong Kong into an international I&T centre, the government should consider whether Hong Kong requires its own regulations governing the safe use of AI, and if so, whether they should be risk-based or rules-based.
We recommend that the Policy Address include measures to support small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to adopt AI solutions, scale-up their technology faster, improve their cyber resilience and upskill the digital skills of workers.
In addition, CPA Australia recommends the government:
- consider establishing a Vulnerability Disclosure Programme (VDP) to encourage responsible reporting of suspected vulnerabilities or weaknesses in critical government IT services or systems
- encourage businesses to develop their own VDP to manage and incentivise vulnerability reports
- encourage more businesses to implement two-step verification (2SV) as an extra layer of protection for online transactions.
We acknowledge that many SMEs are struggling due to weak private consumption and low visitor numbers. The government should consider initiatives that attract tourists and encourage locals to spend in Hong Kong. Options include attracting more world-class entertainment, cultural and sporting events to the city, especially when the Kai Tak Sports Park opens. Such events provide a boost to economic activity and enhance the city’s overall appeal.
Hashtag: #CPAAustralia
https://www.cpaaustralia.com.au/
https://www.linkedin.com/school/cpaaustralia/
The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
About CPA Australia
CPA Australia is one of the largest professional accounting bodies in the world, with more than 173,000 members in over 100 countries and regions, including more than 22,500 members in Greater China. CPA Australia has been operating in Hong Kong since 1955 and opened our Hong Kong office in 1989. Our core services include education, training, technical support and advocacy. CPA Australia provides thought leadership on issues affecting the accounting profession and the public interest. We engage with governments, regulators and industries to advocate policies that stimulate sustainable economic growth and have positive business and public outcomes. Find out more at cpaaustralia.com.au
Forvis Mazars earns Best Place to Work status in CEE and Central Asia for 2024-2025

LONDON, UK – Media OutReach Newswire – 19 September 2024 – Forvis Mazars, a leading global tax, audit, and advisory network, has been recognized as one of the Best Places to Work in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) and Central Asia.
Best Places to Work is an international certification program focused on workplace culture and employee engagement. It recognizes employers who deliver exceptional working conditions. Over 1,500 employees from 16 Forvis Mazars offices across CEE and Central Asia participated, with the firm achieving a certification score of 81%.
”Achieving this recognition across CEE and Central Asia reflects our shared values and respect for people. It’s a testament to our commitment to creating a positive impact,” said Peter Wundsam, CEE Board Member.
Key workplace factors rated highly included Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) at 86%, Leadership at 85%, and Teamwork at 84%. Notably, 88% of employees would recommend Forvis Mazars to others. A significant strength was gender equality in growth opportunities, rated at 96%.
“Our people are at the core of our success,” noted Loïc Wallaert, Co-Chair of the CEE Board. “Creating an environment that fosters talent is crucial for delivering the best results for our clients.”
From an HR perspective, Recognition Programs and Succession Planning were top-rated practices, with CSR and diversity also standing out.
“This certification reaffirms our commitment to people-centric practices,” said Yulia Zaprudska, CEE HR Coordinator. “For years, we’ve empowered our professionals to lead with bold spirit, shaping a great workplace for both employees and clients.”
Forvis Mazars’ certification is valid until September 2025.
Hashtag: #BestPlacesToWork
The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
About Forvis Mazars
Forvis Mazars is a leading global professional services network, offering audit, tax, and advisory services across 100+ countries.
For more information, visit forvismazars.com.
About Best Places to Work
Best Places to Work is a global HR certification program recognizing top workplaces worldwide. For more information, visit bestplacestoworkfor.org.
Communities in Laos Come Together for Flood Recovery
Between July and September, Laos was hit by heavy rains, storms, and two tropical typhoons, impacting fifteen provinces, 100 districts, and 1,144 villages.
Increasing credit limit to $100 million, HDBank and Proparco promote climate finance and 2X Challenge initiative

HO CHI MINH CITY, VIETNAM – Media OutReach Newswire – 19 September 2024 – The Ho Chi Minh City Development Joint Stock Commercial Bank (HDBank – HOSE: HDB) and Proparco, the private sector financing arm of Agence Française de Développement Group (AFD Group), have signed a credit facility worth US$50 million.

The new agreement brings the total credit facility for HDBank to $100 million, showcasing Proparco’s trust and commitment to HDBank.
The proceeds will be used to finance/refinance climate projects and support women owned/ women-led enterprises that meet the criteria of the 2X Challenge programme, a global initiative to promote gender equality and sustainable development.
HDBank and Proparco have made significant strides in cooperation in the past few years.
In August 2021, for the first time, Proparco granted a five-year credit facility worth $50 million to HDBank to help it finance renewable energy projects in Vietnam.
HDBank now serves as a bridge between Vietnamese enterprises and Proparco to explore potential collaborations for the purpose of boosting sustainable development globally.
Along with other international financial institutions, Proparco has had a great contribution to help HDBank establish and perfect its environmental and social risk management policy and system.
Strengthening support from Proparco for renewable energy projects, climate finance and promoting gender equality is crucial and essential for HDBank to further expand its partnerships with major financial institutions globally.
This credit agreement not only provides funding to HDBank but also affirms HDBank’s strong commitment to effectively implementing ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) standards according to international norms.
HDBank became the first commercial bank to publish a Sustainability Report in 2024 in Vietnam and also pioneered the establishment of the ESG Committee under its board of directors to directly lead and supervise implementation of sustainable development goals and initiatives.
HDBank has been recognised and honoured by many international organisations in recent years for its positive contributions to green credit and sustainable development.
It was the first partner bank of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to receive the Green Deal Award.
Most recently ADB recognised HDBank for a second consecutive time as the “Leading Partner Bank in Vietnam” in its Trade and Supply Chain Finance Program.
Hashtag: #HDBank
The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
Global broker Octa offers some tips to spot and avoid scams and fraud as a trader

KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA – Media OutReach Newswire – 19 September 2024 – In the last few years, financial scams and fraud have been rampant across various sectors in Southeast Asia. Traders and investors, in particular, are being exposed to financial malpractices like never before. Kar Yong Ang, a financial analyst from Octa, a global broker with extensive experience in the financial markets, offers some actionable tips that can help traders avoid scams and fraud.

This August, about 400 Malaysian investors lost roughly 100 million RM collectively to a supposed investment scam scheme. Victims started putting their funds in the scheme as early as 2016 through a site posing as a legitimate investment platform and even received due payments until 2022. However, following 2022, they received no more revenue on their investments, with the alleged operators giving various excuses.
Victims were promised profits on their investments, and some even signed contracts specifying monthly returns. However, they lost control over or access to their funds after transferring their capital. It is worth noting that scammers used fake e-brokerage licenses to gain the victims’ trust.
This case reflects a broad trend: cybercrime in general and financial scams and fraud in particular are on the rise both worldwide and in Southeast Asia. Given that, both seasoned and aspiring investors and traders should look out for potential signs of scams and fraud and do everything they can to protect themselves from malefactors.
Below are some of the most popular schemes targeting traders.
3. Fake trading platforms
While the variety of tactics used by fraudsters in the financial sector constantly grows, there are solid and time-proven methods that will help you significantly reduce the risk, if not render yourself immune to it. By applying the approaches listed in this article, you will be able to become more aware of the malefactors’ arsenal and avoid many of their tricks altogether.
Hashtag: #Octa
The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
Octa
Octa is an international broker that has been providing online trading services worldwide since 2011. It offers commission-free access to financial markets and various services used by clients from 180 countries who have opened more than 52 million trading accounts. To help its clients reach their investment goals, Octa offers free educational webinars, articles, and analytical tools.
The company is involved in a comprehensive network of charitable and humanitarian initiatives, including the improvement of educational infrastructure and short-notice relief projects supporting local communities.
In the APAC region, Octa received the ‘Best Trading Platform Malaysia 2024’ and the ‘Most Reliable Broker Asia 2023’ awards from Brands and Business Magazine and International Global Forex Awards, respectively.
Alibaba Cloud Unveils New AI Models and Revamped Infrastructure for AI Computing

- Cloud Leader Unveils 100 Open-sourced Qwen 2.5 Multimodal Models and New Text-to-Video AI Model to Bring Visual Creations to a Higher Level
- Revamped Cloud Infrastructure is Introduced to Maximize Values for Customers
HANGZHOU, CHINA – Media OutReach Newswire – 19 September 2024 – Alibaba Cloud, the digital technology and intelligence backbone of Alibaba Group, today announced it has released over 100 of its newly-launched large language models, Qwen 2.5, to the global open-source community. This significant contribution was revealed at the Apsara Conference, its annual flagship event.
In addition, Alibaba Cloud has unveiled a revamped full-stack infrastructure designed to meet the growing demands for robust AI computing. This new infrastructure includes innovative cloud products and services that enhance computing, networking, and data center architecture, all aimed at supporting the thriving development and wide-range applications of AI models.
“Alibaba Cloud is investing, with unprecedented intensity, in the research and development of AI technology and the building of its global infrastructure. We aim to establish an AI infrastructure of the future to serve our global customers and unlock their business potential,” said Eddie Wu, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Alibaba Cloud Intelligence.
100 Open-sourced Models Unveiled
The newly released open-source Qwen 2.5 models, ranging from 0.5 to 72 billion parameters in size, feature enhanced knowledge and stronger capabilities in math and coding and are able to support over 29 languages, catering to a wide array of AI applications both at the edge or in the cloud across various sectors from automobile, gaming to science research.
The Qwen model series, Alibaba Cloud’s portfolio of proprietary large language models, has achieved remarkable traction since its debut in April 2023. To date, the Qwen models have surpassed 40 million downloads across platforms such as Hugging Face and ModelScope, an open-source community initiative by Alibaba. Furthermore, these models have inspired the creation of over 50,000 models on Hugging Face.
The Qwen 2.5 release will see over 100 models being made open-source. This extensive range includes base models, instruct models, and quantized models of various precision levels and methods, spanning different modalities such as language, audio, and vision, along with specialized code and mathematical models.
“Today marks a significant milestone as we launch our most expansive open-source initiative to date,” said Jingren Zhou, Chief Technology Officer of Alibaba Cloud Intelligence. “This initiative is set to empower developers and corporations of all sizes, enhancing their ability to leverage AI technologies and further stimulating the growth of the open-source community. We remain committed to investing in advanced AI infrastructure to foster the widespread adoption of generative AI technologies across different industries.”
Alibaba Cloud also announced an upgrade to its proprietary flagship model Qwen-Max. The enhanced Qwen-Max model demonstrates performance on par with other state-of-the-art models in areas such as language comprehension and reasoning, math, and coding.
Expanding the Frontier in Multimodal
In addition to its extensive suite of large language models, Alibaba Cloud also unveiled a new text-to-video model as part of its image generator, Tongyi Wanxiang large model family. The new model is capable of generating high-quality videos in a wide variety of visual styles from realistic scenes to 3D animation. The model can generate videos based on Chinese and English text instruction and transform static images into dynamic videos. The model features advanced diffusion transformer (DiT) architecture to enhance video reconstruction quality.
The cloud leader is also deploying a significant update to its vision language model with the introduction of Qwen2-VL, capable of comprehending videos lasting over 20 minutes and support video-based question-answering. Equipped with sophisticated reasoning and decision-making capabilities, Qwen2-VL is designed for integration into mobile phones, automobiles and robots, facilitating the automation of specific operations.
For computer programming, Alibaba Cloud has also launched an AI Developer, a Qwen-powered AI assistant designed to support programmers automate tasks such as requirement analysis, code programming and identifying and fixing software bugs. This enables developers to concentrate more on essential duties and further their skills.
A Full-Stack AI Infrastructure Upgrade
The cloud pioneer has also announced a slew of innovative updates to its full-stack AI infrastructure covering green datacenter architecture, data management, model training and inferencing:
- Next-Gen Data Center Architecture for Surging AI Development: To meet the increasing and diverse demand for high-performance computing power driven by the global AI boom, Alibaba Cloud has revealed its next-generation data center architecture, CUBE DC 5.0. The new CUBE architecture increases energy and operational efficiency with a set of advanced and proprietary technologies such as wind-liquid hybrid cooling system, all-direct current power distribution architecture and smart management system and reduces deployment times by up to 50% compared to traditional data center builds through prefabricated modular designs.
- Open Lake Solution to Maximize Data Utility: As organizations face challenges in managing vast amounts of data amidst the growing demand for generative AI, Alibaba Cloud introduces Alibaba Cloud Open Lake which can seamlessly integrate big data engines into a unified solution, maximizing data utility especially for generative AI applications. By integrating workflows, performance optimization, and robust governance in a single platform, it achieves efficient resource usage through compute-storage separation, clear data governance, and significant cost and time savings.
- AI Scheduler with Integrated Model Training and Inference: Alibaba Cloud has launched PAI AI Scheduler with integrated model training and inference, a proprietary cloud-native scheduling engine designed to enhance computing resource management. Through utilizing intelligent integration of diverse computing resources, flexible resource scheduling, real-time tasks adjustments, and automatic fault recovery, it can achieve over 90% of effective compute utilization rate.
- DMS for Unified Management of Metadata: To help organizations efficiently manage their data and unleash values, Alibaba Cloud introduced DMS: OneMeta+OneOps, a platform that enables a unified management of over 40 types of data sources in database, data warehouse, and data lake across multiple cloud environments. The platform will boost data utilization rate by 10 times, significantly enhancing the efficiency of transforming data into valuable intelligence.
- More Powerful Elastic Compute Service: Alibaba Cloud also introduced the 9th Generation Enterprise Elastic Compute Service (ECS) instance during the conference. The latest generation of ECS instances has notable performance enhancements, including a 30% increase in search recommendation speed and a 17% improvement in the effectiveness of reading and writing Queries Per Second (QPS) when applying to database products compared to the previous generation.
These updates are designed to provide more comprehensive support for customers and partners to maximize the benefits of the latest technology has to offer for building even more efficient, sustainable and inclusive AI applications.
Hashtag: #AlibabaCloud
The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
About Alibaba Cloud
Established in 2009, Alibaba Cloud (www.alibabacloud.com) is the digital technology and intelligence backbone of Alibaba Group. It offers a complete suite of cloud services to customers worldwide, including elastic computing, database, storage, network virtualization services, large-scale computing, security, big data analytics, machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) services. Alibaba has been named the leading IaaS provider in Asia Pacific by revenue in U.S. dollars since 2018, according to Gartner. It has also maintained its position as one of the world’s leading public cloud IaaS service providers since 2018, according to IDC.