MineHub Technologies Inc. is pleased to announce that the Company’s shares will commence trading today on Canada’s TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol “MHUB”.

MineHub becomes the first publicly-traded pure play on an end-to-end digital supply chain solution for the mining and metals industry. MineHub is a non-crypto, blockchain-based, open, enterprise-grade platform for digital trade, bringing transparency, resilience and responsibility to mining and metals supply chains. The platform connects the many parties involved in physical commodity transactions in a digitally integrated workflow, operating on the basis of shared information secured by a global enterprise blockchain network. This is much more efficient, secure and transparent than the current paper-based and manual processes that are causing major cost and compliance drags in these supply chains.

- First Mover Advantage: MineHub is the first company to commercialize an end-to-end digital supply chain solution for the mining and metals industry. The Company has completed a number of successful projects, including the first ever blockchain-based iron ore trade (see press release dated June 29, 2020 at https://minehub.com/investors/#press-releases).
- Industry Partners: MineHub has been working with some of the largest sector participants in the world, including Wheaton Precious Metals, ING Bank, BHP, Vale, Kimura Capital, China Baowu and IBM to develop the commercial version of its platform, which was launched earlier this year and is onboarding both large corporate and SME users across the globe.
- Development Growth Streams: New applications will be available over the coming months to assist the industry with carbon emissions tracking, trade finance and product quality reconciliation (concentrate assay exchanges).
- Expertise: MineHub management, board and advisory board possess decades of resource market and technology industry experience, including founding roles for multiple commodity-based blockchain companies
- Globally Established: MineHub is already present in key locations, with established teams in strategic markets such as Japan, Singapore and China, where more than 50% of metal commodity flows end up or are processed.

Arnoud Star Busmann, CEO at MineHub said:

“We are very pleased to have completed our over-subscribed $10 million financing and listing on the TSX-V, especially at a time when industries are really starting to understand the transformational power of shared digital infrastructure and transparency in high value supply chains. Transparent governance is a fundamental requirement for adoption of decentralised platforms like MineHub.”

Vince Sorace, Co-Founder and Chairman at MineHub said:

“Our TSX-V listing represents an important milestone for MineHub. With a strong balance sheet, industry experts, and ample opportunities for growth, we have a solid foundation to execute our strategy to further build and grow MineHub into the preeminent enterprise platform for commodity supply chains. This industry is ripe for technological advancements and we have proven change is possible with a powerful suite of tools to aid in this digital transformation, from real time data to trade finance and ESG attributes such as carbon emissions tracking.”

Over $1.8 Trillion in metals and minerals move across the planet every year. It is estimated that 5% to 10% of the value of goods (over $150 billion annually) is lost on multi party and paper-based processes¹. Digital transformation is estimated to generate more than $320 billion of value in the mining & metals industry over the next decade, including $77 billion through an integrated ecosystem (linking operations, IT layers and systems) exchanging data throughout the World².

In addition to digitally transforming their businesses, mining companies are under enormous pressure to better their environmental, social governance (ESG) performance.

- Accurate carbon reporting is critical to meeting the greenhouse gas reduction targets that firms have set themselves for the next decade, and in securing investment, financing, and offtake agreements.
- Information is becoming ever more important to consumer companies, however, scope 1 (direct) and scope 2 (indirect) emissions is rarely included as a standard data point in transactions.
- It’s important to get to the point where the specifications of the mineral produced are no longer just the chemical and the physical specifications, but also the ESG specifications.

From a consumer perspective, it’s likely that for instance vehicle manufacturers will be required to comply with specified emissions content limits for new vehicles sold into certain markets. In which case, a solution that provides complete visibility of the ESG attributes for each mineral or metal package is no longer a ‘nice-to-have', it’s imperative to both the consumer and producer’s access to the market. MineHub will be releasing functionality that enables users to attach, certify and verify evidence related to the ESG specifications and emissions footprint of their materials and shipments in upstream and downstream supply chains.

Ultimately, digitizing mineral supply chains ensures compliance with current and incoming regulations, it makes them resilient and adaptable enough to manage other and new challenges and opportunities that arise, both now and in the future. In addition, MineHub’s core technology is easily adaptable and scalable into other commodity markets such as agriculture, chemicals, energy – and ultimately, all global supply chains. 

Funds Europe, the business strategy magazine for Europe’s asset management professionals, has launched FundsTech - a new online magazine and events business focused on technology solutions for the fast evolving European funds technology industry, reflecting the growing interest in this sector.

FundsTech gives readers a complete 360-degree end to end view of the market, covering everything from strategy, digital innovation, research, news, trends, thought leadership, to commentary and regulatory issues.

Aimed at asset managers, pension funds, insurance companies, wealth managers, fund managers, and providers of asset services, including custodians of funds, lawyers, and brokers, FundsTech was created in response to growing demand for detailed analysis and thought leadership on the technologies now transforming the world of asset management.

FundsTech will be first with new technology research. For example, to mark its launch, it has published a new research report, ‘Future of Distribution’ from Funds Europe and technology provider Calastone, which highlights how cryptocurrencies are increasingly impacting asset management. 

90% of the 96 fund management professionals surveyed indicated cryptocurrencies would form a larger part of their product ranges in the future – up from 9% now. The survey also highlighted that ‘digital’ will be the main factor affecting distribution in the coming years and 85% said ‘technology platforms’ will be a distribution channel they will target.

Nick Fitzpatrick, Group Editor of Funds Europe and FundsTech says, “The adoption of technology in the fund management industry was almost ‘glacial’ in the past. However, in the past two years there’s been an explosion of technology solutions that are reshaping the fund management industry. It’s an evolving and dynamic growth area, which is why we launched FundsTech.”

David Wright, Co-Publisher and Business Development Director, Funds Europe and FundsTech said, “FundsTech is dedicated to this exciting space, bringing all the latest insights, trends and overviews of the industry together in one place. We aim to help our readers understand which technologies can improve how they work, lower their costs, so they can make the best decisions for their business and improve their investment outcomes.”

Along with interviews and profiles, roundtable, and panel discussions – FundsTech includes 20 different channels covering key subjects such as Digital Assets, Cryptocurrency, Tokenisation, Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain/DLT, Robo-Advisors and Open Finance.

FundsTech also runs sponsored events and roundtables and offers profile opportunities. Its current sponsors are Oracle, Calastone, Metrosoft, Amundi Technology and Milestone but they are keen to hear from other companies interested in sponsorship.

With the objective of establishing a strong footprint in the cryptocurrency space, leading global fintech firm, Nukkleus Inc. has executed its option to purchase the remaining 30% stake in Match Financial Ltd. (Match). While making the announcement, NUKK’s CEO, Jamie Khurshid, emphasised that the completion of the acquisition would be a key means to accelerate NUKK’s expansion plans.

“The growth exhibited by the assets within Match is a key ingredient to NUKK’s future as a pioneer in digital finance. These include UK FCA registered digital RFQ and Vanta-Tech, recently rebranded as DRFQ Payments, which together provide NUKK with the full complement of frictionless high-speed crypto payment rails and significant volume execution ability to service our growing list of one hundred and thirty plus institutional and professional clients and prospects," Mr. Khurshid elaborated.

Unmatched Benefits

The strategic acquisition offers multiple advantages for NUKK. Apart from Match Financial’s digital RFQ, which offers the perfect solution for NUKK’s institutional clients and partners, Match operates 6 crypto product lines that will be hugely beneficial.

1. NFT: This offers unique partnerships with leading UK auction houses for 24-hour auction price-fixing and uniquely bridges the two worlds of high-end digital art with real world physical assets.
2. OTC: Ability to offer crypto, DeFi and securities token investments with deep liquidity through partnerships with global exchanges and brokers.
3. Fiat Settlement: Ability to offer UK FCA regulated fiat gateways and a full suite of global institutional crypto banking with capacity that exceeds fifty million dollars a day.
4. Card Payments: Facility to provide multi-currency and multi-token wallet management for a truly convertible crypto debit card that can be used at any point of sale, using MasterCard and Visa.
5. Remittance: Facilitating cross-border fiat-to-fiat payments, completed within 30-60 minutes from Nigeria with the use of our unique crypto rails that deliver an incredibly efficient, superior and cost-effective alternative.
6. NGO Services: Fulfilling social responsibility by providing humanitarian aid and disaster relief to Afghanistan, Kenya and India.

NUKK’s tier 1 European OTC desk already offers unmatched pricing and settlement times for institutional volumes of the most popular fiat and crypto currencies, processed via the company’s US, European and UK FCA registered businesses. In addition, with the NFT services, NUKK will be able to offer 24-hour price fixing services, which will help eliminate volatility risk. In fact, this NFT product range is the first of its kind to bridge the gap between clients’ physical and digital assets by providing multiple channels and professional investor networks for a truly diversified private wealth portfolio management.

"The greatest innovation and demand for blockchain and crypto assets are coming from outside of the west. It’s coming from impoverished communities on the other side of the digital divide. The top countries for crypto adoption over the past year are Vietnam and Ghana, with Nigeria the leading country per capita for bitcoin adoption. Afghanistan is now ranking 20 on this list.

A new global economy is emerging. This is what we dreamed of in the crypto industry years ago, and it’s finally happening. The market opportunities are growing exponentially and the need to support the redistribution of wealth and access to resources is very real,” NUKK’s head of emerging markets and crypto payments at digital RFQ, Erin Grover, stated.

With the acquisition of Match Financial, NUKK will be able to support ESG models, including partnering with non-government agencies in sub-Saharan Africa and the Asian subcontinent, where rapid funds transfer can mean the difference between life and death. Cryptocurrencies can play a key role in aiding these regions, offering more accessible and democratic financial solutions for transparent humanitarian aid.

"We have great hopes for Nukk in its endeavors to lead by example and drive adoption of the SDG pillars amongst our crypto peers. We are very much looking forward to rewarding our shareholders with more positive updates like this in the near future," added NUKK’s CEO, Emil Assentato.

• State Street Will Become the World’s #1 Provider of Asset Servicing¹
• Brings Together Two Premier Businesses with Significant Scale to Drive Benefits for Clients and Shareholders
• Earnings Accretion Expected in Year 1³
• State Street Increases Pre-Tax Margin Medium-Term Financial Target

State Street Corporation (NYSE: STT) and Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. (BBH) today announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement for State Street to acquire BBH’s Investor Services business, including its custody, accounting, fund administration, global markets and technology services, for $3.5 billion in cash. Following the transaction, BBH will continue to independently own and operate its separate Private Banking and Investment Management businesses. The parties are targeting year-end 2021 to complete the acquisition, subject to regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions.

BBH Investor Services is a global asset servicer with a track record of exceptional client service and deep expertise in cross-border, alternatives, ETFs, and other high-growth asset classes. As of June 30, 2021, BBH Investor Services had $5.4 trillion in Assets Under Custody (AUC), adding to State Street’s $31.9 trillion in AUC.³

The acquisition is expected to advance State Street’s strategy as an enterprise outsource solutions provider by creating the number one asset servicer globally, ¹ strengthening competitive positioning, expanding geographic coverage and enhancing client experience.

“The Investment Servicing industry enjoys strong fundamentals as worldwide growth in financial assets drives industry revenues. This combination with BBH Investor Services helps us consolidate our position as the industry innovator and leader,” said Ron O'Hanley, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of State Street Corporation. “We are enhancing our leadership position across a range of services, augmenting our position in a number of key markets, growing relationships with many of the leading global asset managers and owners, and increasing our capabilities and scale. Additionally, BBH Investor Services brings us strong talent, including industry leading service excellence and quality execution.”

“We made this decision after careful consideration of the current and future landscape of the global securities servicing industry, including how best to support and innovate for the growing breadth and complexity of our clients’ servicing requirements,” said Bill Tyree, managing partner of BBH. “State Street is the ideal partner – a firm that shares our core values of unmatched client service, integrity, trust, and a long-term commitment to sustainability.”

Upon closing of the transaction, BBH Investor Services employees will move to State Street. The senior management team will transition to State Street in executive leadership roles, and Seán Páircéir, currently partner and Global Head of Investor Services at BBH, will join State Street’s Management Committee.

Transaction Details

The acquisition creates meaningful shareholder value by increasing State Street’s earnings growth potential and its pre-tax margin medium-term target. As a result of the anticipated earnings growth from this transaction, State Street is now targeting an increased pre-tax margin of 31%.⁴

Post close, the transaction provides the potential for significant benefits for State Street shareholders from estimated fully-phased in expense synergies5 of $260 million in year 3 as a result of efficiencies in operational systems and infrastructure, as well as overhead consolidation. Additionally, State Street has identified an estimated $35 million of EBIT from known balance sheet actions and $40 million of EBIT from estimated net revenue synergies5 in Investment Servicing and Global Markets in year³.

State Street expects the transaction will be primarily financed through the issuance of common equity, the suspension of common share repurchases before resuming during 2Q22, and cash on hand. The acquisition is expected to be accretive to earnings per share in year 1. ²

Propels State Street’s Core Strategy

Leveraging the best technology and capabilities from each company will enhance State Street’s current set of product solutions for new and existing clients. BBH Investor Services brings innovative data connectivity tools to the broad marketplace that will be additive to State Street’s product suite and provides a toolset that represents an important enhancement to its service offering. BBH Investor Services’ Infomediary® platform, which facilitates data transmission and integration among buy-side and sell-side systems, will also support the State Street AlphaSM platform and facilitate integration of clients onto the platform while mitigating future development cost. Adding BBH Investor Services’ list of premier clients to State Street will also expand the base of potential users of State Street Alpha.

The addition of BBH Investor Services will further State Street's strategic goal of expanding and deepening its presence in key non-US markets, including developed markets such as Japan, Luxembourg, and Ireland, as well as Latin America, which State Street has targeted for growth.

Client Focused Organization with Deep Expertise

The transaction will also add additional depth to State Street’s expertise in relationship management, client service, operations and technology that can be integrated across all of State Street’s global client segments.

“One of the most attractive elements for us is BBH Investor Services’ first-rate talent and team of professionals with client service excellence, which strengthens our value proposition and is completely aligned with our focus and vision of being our clients’ enterprise outsourcer and essential partner,” added O’Hanley.

“We found in State Street a partner who shares our singular focus on delivering exceptional client outcomes, without exception,” said Páircéir, head of BBH Investor Services. “We are committed to adopting best practices from both organizations to create an unmatched offering for the world’s most sophisticated asset managers and financial institutions.”

Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC served as financial advisor and Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP served as legal advisor to State Street in connection with the transaction. Lazard served as financial advisor and Sullivan & Cromwell LLP served as legal advisor to BBH in connection with the transaction.

• Pre-seed investment round led by early-stage VC’s Tomahawk and Ascension
• Personalised credit risk solution, powered by Open Banking, to be more reflective of the way people live, work and travel in this day and age
•  Impact driven platform that encourages investors to become ‘Lending Heroes’

Plend, the UK’s first social lending marketplace, has secured £700,000 of investment from early-stage VC’s Tomahawk, Ascension, and Haatch, as well as backing from NBS Ventures, a part of Nationwide Building Society’s Incubator. The investment will be used to disrupt the £24 billion consumer lending market and bring affordable loans to 13 million people in the UK with unreliable, inaccurate or non-existent credit files who are virtually invisible to traditional financial credit scoring systems and therefore vulnerable to financial hardship and exclusion.  

Plend’s ground-breaking use of Open Banking technology to securely access a person’s bank transaction history gives it a unique understanding of a person's finances. This means more insightful, informed and personalised lending decisions. Plend’s innovative approach will enable retail investors to become ‘Lending Heroes’ by funding loans to those of us that are part of the 13 million who are locked-out from affordable credit. Plend is the only platform in the UK that allows everyday investors to back people directly, making faceless portfolios a thing of the past.

Rob Pasco, CEO and co-founder of Plend, said: “We're on a mission to personalise credit scoring and create a fairer way to assess creditworthiness. By making smarter lending decisions based on a person’s actual behaviour and current financial position, we will be giving financial independence to millions of people currently excluded from life-changing loans. I’m one of the ‘13 million’ and I have a deeply personal experience with the blunt instrument that is our current outdated and odious credit scoring system. This investment is a big step towards creating a world where everyone is treated fairly and can access affordable finance.” 

The consequences of financial exclusion are widespread and can severely affect people's health, housing, education and career. According to the Financial Inclusion Commission, over 13 million people in the UK are held back by a lack of affordable credit with 5.8 million people having ‘thin’ or non-existent credit files that makes them virtually invisible to the financial system and vulnerable to a spiral of dangerous debt. Plend is a fairer way to assess an individual’s creditworthiness; removing bias, fighting exclusion and building a more equal world based on people’s actual financial behavior. 

 Smart Cover launched its ground-breaking app, allowing users to gain direct access to their Smart Cover policies from their Smartphones. The soft launch of the app will be on an invitation-only basis for selected Smart Cover customers. As a reward, the participating customers will receive up to 6 months of free cover on selected packages. Smart Cover is now offering emergency assistance insurance for home, motor and as an add on, customers can include a private GP care service at a nominal fee. This will allow the customers to bring all the home and motor emergencies with the added benefit of including the private GP services under one policy.  

The MD of Smart-Cover, Niraz Buhari, was quoted as, “As a forward-thinking insurance group, we were inspired by the online banking approach. Our new app solution enables users to access their policies securely from their phones, giving them direct access in the most convenient manner. The app will also ensure our customers can start their claims application at their convenience and on their terms. It is important that we offer insurance products that a modern lifestyle needs and that we also provide the easiest, fastest and most convenient access to deliver what our products promise to the customer. We spent almost two years planning, researching, building and re-building the tech required to run the app.”

The services included in the app include:

• Home Emergency
• Motor breakdown
• Private GP care

Rather than porting the entirety of the website onto the app, Smart Cover created an app that prioritises emergency and/or more urgent situations. If you want to pour over the minutiae of the small print, then use the website, but if you need to know if you are covered for an emergency that just happened, or if you need to make a claim quickly, then this is the app for you.

Although enabling access to all services, the primary focus of the Smart Cover App is giving customers superfast access in an emergency. If they need roadside assistance, they can simply tap the app. If there is a need to see a doctor in a hurry, an urgent online appointment with a GP can be made. However, it must be noted that in an emergency the GP service is not an alternative to dialling 999.

By their very nature home emergencies can be distressing, inconvenient or just annoying, but being able to contact a service that provides a solution within minutes of the issue arising is exactly the way consumers want insurance to behave. Whether it’s a flood, a boiler breakdown or a change of locks required after a burglary, the relevant Smart Cover Insurance response is minutes away. 

Having the app provides even greater peace of mind than just knowing the insurance cover is in place, with the advantage that all services are available in one place, accessible with just a few clicks. 

Dr Neil Dixon heads the R&D department of the group. He said the company has committed an incredible amount of resources and money to researching and developing this solution. The app sits on the customer’s phone permitting them the ability to access not only home emergency services but also motor breakdown and private GP healthcare. As this is a novel solution, which will provide an instant response, we are confident that it will revolutionise the way the add-on value proposition requirements are met when most home and motor insurance policies are distributed.  It is intended that further services will be included in the app in due course, thereby further enhancing the offering.

Senior Solutions Architect - Salam K - for Smart Cover stated, “Each app is connected securely to a series of encrypted Cloud servers, ensuring 99.98% up-time, a speedy service, and a secure, safe and private user experience. We’re enabling users to find, view, alter, cancel, activate and claim through their insurance policies all within a single app.”

Chetan Mankar the Group Sales Director has stated, “I am very much looking forward to working with other business partners within the Home and Motor insurance Industry. We have already received a lot of interest from the industry on this product. This is a game-changer and will revolutionise the ancillary insurance industry”. With the capital Injection from Yarab Capital we are projecting further expansion. 

Chris Beasley, Head of Operations said “We are so excited to launch new technology which further enhances our customer experience and proposition. Our customers already rate us 4.8 stars on Trustpilot proving they love our approach to service. My colleagues have managed to deliver first-class service levels to our customers during the pandemic despite significant challenges felt across our industry affecting our major competitors”. The Smart-Cover claims experience has piqued the interest of other A-rated insurers who are availing our services as a standalone service and we are seeing more business enquiries from insurers; the app solution will further speed up the claims experience and provide automation and fraud-detection tools.

Smart Cover provides a wide range of insurance products and does so with customer service of the highest quality. They offer a variety of products from appliance and home emergency insurance to gadget insurance, landlord insurance, car insurance, TV insurance and GP health service. Smart Cover has 5 different packages for Home Emergency Insurance with added Appliance Insurance and GP Care to suit customer needs. 

 previously been awarded a Broker Innovation Award and short-listed for several top-ranked insurance awards for its service and innovation. 

•  Ranked #4 by CryptoCompare based upon asset and market quality, data, security, KYC, regulations, and the team.
• CrossTower brings its global expertise, technology, regulatory knowledge, and security standards to India.
• Users can trade more than 40 cryptocurrencies (tokens).
   

CrossTower, one of the world’s fastest and leading trading platforms and digital asset investment firms, today announced the launch of its crypto trading platform in India. The platform was methodically built on a robust, scalable, and resilient infrastructure with best-in-class safeguards, services, and capabilities. CrossTower offer the most competitive fees to the Indian crypto community.

CrossTower is ranked fourth out of 152 global exchanges by CryptoCompare - a central and leading authority for global cryptocurrency data. The ranking was based upon asset and market quality, data, security, KYC, regulations, and the team. Besides offering competitive pricing for its users, the company also uses sophisticated compliance infrastructure and top security measures to protect customers. As a part of its launch, CrossTower is offering its first 1,000 Indian customers an opportunity to earn extra Bitcoin upto INR 500 on their first trade on the exchange.

The company’s launch in India is at a pivotal time for the rapidly growing Indian market. The Indian cryptocurrency market grew from USD 923 million in April 2020 to a staggering USD 6.6 billion in May 2021, which is an average of over 50 per cent monthly growth. With over 1.5 crore Indians invested in crypto already, the Indian market is positioned to significantly grow. Among 154 nations, India ranks 11th in cryptocurrency adoption, according to a report by Chainalysis, a well-respected blockchain data platform.

For India, CrossTower has built a business that permits everyone, from young adults to business tycoons, making investing in cryptocurrency easiest and safest. Any individual in any village, town or city in the country can start cryptocurrency trading with the trusted CrossTower platform using Indian rupees and access over 40 cryptocurrencies (tokens).

CrossTower was co-founded in 2019 by Kapil Rathi, Chief Executive Officer and Kristin Boggiano, President, to bring digital asset trading mainstream. Both bring over 20 years of experience in managing traditional exchanges and financial services businesses in the US. CrossTower operates fully regulated crypto exchanges in the US and Bermuda, servicing 81 countries. Rathi has built exchanges over the past 20 years, including at the New York Stock Exchange, BATS, International Securities Exchange (ISE) and Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE).

Kapil Rathi, co-founder and Chief Executive Officer said, “In the last couple of years, India has seen a revolution in crypto-investing. The new generation of investors in India has welcomed cryptocurrencies as a tool for financial freedom. With advancements in technology, crypto markets have proven a key driver in the democratisation of wealth. Our team’s unique combination of expertise will allow us to make investments in cryptocurrencies simple and accessible for any individual. CrossTower is also thrilled to participate in policy-making that will drive India to be a premier leader in the cryptocurrency industry on a global level.”

Vikas Ahuja, Chief Executive Officer of CrossTower India said, “With CrossTower, India will be one of the leading nations in the digitisation of global capital markets. The Cryptocurrency and Regulation of Official Digital Currency Bill, 2021, is currently being reviewed and is slated for the next session of the Indian parliament. With India being the world’s largest democracy, this bill will play an important role in shaping the future of cryptocurrencies for the Indian community. CrossTower is excited to bring global education, a futuristic understanding of money, as well as the thrill of trading cryptocurrencies to India.”

CrossTower is a global thought-leader and a participant of the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI), Blockchain and Crypto Assets Council (BACC), Global Digital Asset and Currency Association (Global-DCA) and the Digital Asset Regulatory Legal Alliance (DARLA). Through these organisations, CrossTower facilitates policy that will enhance the development and innovation of finance while emphasising the protection and safety of customers’ assets.

The service is a cornerstone to drive out structural oversupply in the Energy industry as it shifts the focus to the cargo instead of the assets that deliver it

 FlexDELIVERY™ launches for first time in Africa, bringing a disruptive technology-led innovation that focuses on its customer’s needs, being cargo delivery, by

1. Reducing Delivery times
2. Enhancing Visibility and
3. Driving supply chain predictability

• The service is a cornerstone to drive out structural oversupply in the Energy industry as it shifts the focus to the cargo instead of the assets that deliver it.
• P&O Maritime Logistics (www.POMaritime.com) partners with Nigerian-owned IO Materials Services (IOMS) to provide offshore delivery services from Gate-In to offshore delivery by engaging with the local eco-system.
• With the reduction of delivery time, increased supply chain visibility and predictability the energy industry also benefits from lower fuel consumption and carbon emissions making the oil and gas industry more environmentally friendly.

Today, P&O Maritime Logistics and Nigerian firm IO Materials Services (IOMS) jointly announce the launch of the new ‘FlexDELIVERY™’ model to provide integrated last-mile delivery services to the offshore energy industry in Nigeria.

FlexDELIVERY™ disrupts the traditional model of high shore base startup costs, rentals and vessel time-chartered contracts by focusing on the service that is required by the energy industry – cargo delivery. FlexDELIVERY™ has marked new grounds with a freight rate model targeted at the Offshore Energy Industry which traditionally worked on an asset and facility model.

This service proves to reduce delivery times, enhance visibility and predictability which will re-invent procurement strategies, inventory management tactics and the energy supply chain as a whole. This industry first model, be it exploration, drilling, production or maintenance will drive down operating costs and capital expenditures for the energy producers by driving out structural oversupply in the energy industry which will be a welcoming shift.

By injecting a tech-led solution, FlexDELIVERY™ enhances visibility throughout the last mile delivery which has been a bottleneck for some time. Harnessing BigData and AI technology, it provides predictability with a real time view on cargo movement and delivery dates all controlled through an online booking platform. The platform reinforces the integrity of the energy supply chain, providing energy producers with peace of mind to focus on their core business being extraction of energy.

The new offering, which began service on the 4^th of September 2021, is an expansion of P&O Maritime Logistics’ disruptive innovation ‘Supply on Demand’ to integrate shore base and quayside operations to deliver a comprehensive logistics solution, strategically named FlexDELIVERY™ for the Nigerian market.

Nigeria being a microcosm of the energy sector, P&O Maritime Logistics and IO Materials Services saw a huge potential in the country to offer a disruptive and tech-driven offshore supply solution like FlexDELIVERY™️ due to the current expensive energy logistics supply chain.

Currently, most platforms offshore Nigeria rely on antiquated manual paper-based operations, that duplicate manpower, facilities and equipment, and cost approximately 2-4 times more than the global average for running an offshore supply operation.

On average, FlexDELIVERY™ reduces costs by 20-30% per good transported, has 20-30% lower fuel consumption and 40 -50% less distance travelled compared to traditional time-charter supply contracts.

Martin Helweg, CEO at P&O Maritime Logistics said: “Following the success of our Supply on Demand service, we saw a gap in the Nigerian market, spotting that the country’s offshore supply market was ripe for the revolutionary FlexDELIVERY™ system that brings efficiency and value to our customers.”

“With the continued expansion of our innovative service in partnership with IOMS, we’re bringing a step change to the offshore supply industry and aligning our service to be in sync with our customers’ needs: reduced delivery times, visibility and predictability.”

Through its state-of-the-art system, powered by P&O Maritime Logistics innovative technology, FlexDELIVERY™ gives customers clear visibility of cargo movement and sailing schedules in a boon to forward planning.

Christian Arndt, VP Logistics at P&O Maritime Logistics said: “By launching in Nigeria, P&O Maritime Logistics is showing the industry that smart solutions can generate efficiency gain and lower production costs. Customers will see reduced equipment, inventory carrying, and supply chain costs, while boosting productivity. With ‘FlexDELIVERY™’ offshore operators will gain back time to focus on core business activities. We are looking forward to presenting our FlexDELIVERY™ innovation to existing and future clients.”

Shore bases will be operated by IOMS from its locations, providing wide coverage for oilfields across the Nigerian offshore energy industry.

Matteo Volpi, CEO at IOMS said: “We are thrilled to be P&O Maritime Logistics’ partner in launching FlexDELIVERY™ into the Nigerian market. FlexDELIVERY™ will further reduce supply chain costs in combination with IOMS’ Digital FlexBASE™ offering.

With our deep local industry knowledge, and our network of locations and logistics partners across Nigeria, IOMS is working to further reduce supply chain costs for industrial clients, powered by P&O Maritime and our innovative supply chain solutions.”

Popular payment methods join other Indonesian market-leaders on PPRO’s platform including DOKU and OVO

PPRO, the leading global provider of local payments infrastructure for payment service providers, banks, and enterprises with payment platforms, has today announced their integration of two of the most popular payment methods in Indonesia, Jenius Pay and LinkAja.

These latest additions to PPRO’s platform will enable international payment companies and their merchants to cater to Indonesia's preferred payment methods, a proven way to increase sales in any local market. This integration was released in cooperation with PPRO’s partner DOKU, a leading payment technology company that enables more Indonesians to pay with their trusted payment methods when shopping online and onsite.

LinkAja is Indonesia's national payment system platform used by more than 75 million consumers to assist cashless financial transactions. Jenius from Bank BTPN provides ease of transaction with Jenius Pay as an online transaction option using $Cashtag (a unique identity to replace account numbers for Jenius users). Jenius, a life finance solutions for digital savvy, continues to grow and gets positive feedback which currently has more than 3.3 million users.

Jenius Pay and LinkAja join Indonesia’s other preferred payment methods, DOKU and OVO, on PPRO’s platform in a move that deepens PPRO’s commitment and expands their footprint in a market increasingly recognised as a hotspot for digital payments in APAC. The digital financial services market in Indonesia is expected to be worth US$ 8.6 billion by 2025.

Kelvin Phua, Global Head of Payment Networks at PPRO comments:

“PPRO has only been active in Indonesia since 2020. Since then, we’ve added the region’s biggest payment players to our platform and been able to increase reach for companies who want to cater to the preferences of one of the world’s fastest growing markets – without the added financial and operational burdens of entering new territories.”

“As strategic partners to many of the world’s biggest and up-and-coming payment companies, we’re constantly adding payment methods and services to our infrastructure. Doing so vastly reduces the cost and complexity that merchants face when helping consumers shop with their preferred payment methods.”

Irwan S. Tisnabudi, Digital Banking Head Bank BTPN comments:

“Jenius believes that collaboration from various parties is needed to create a digital economy ecosystem. In line with the spirit of co-creation and collaboration that Jenius has carried from the start, we are excited to collaborate with PPRO in providing more complete and relevant financial services. This integration with PPRO widens our reach into the global merchant ecosystem and strengthens our endeavours to deliver life finance built around the consumer.”

Haryati Lawidjaja as CEO LinkAja said, “Our integration with PPRO allows us to continue our mission to accelerate financial inclusion in Indonesia, focusing on the essential needs of the lower middle class as well as Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises.”

Jenius Pay and LinkAja are the latest local payment methods to join PPRO’s platform including Alipay, WeChat Pay, GrabPay, Bancontact, iDEAL, BLIK, and Boleto Bancário. PPRO announced earlier this year that it had raised US$180 million, taking the firm’s total value to over US$1 billion.

According to the data presented by the team of Atlas VPN, 50% of businesses worldwide have experienced recurring attacks from the same hackers, with companies in the United Kingdom suffering the most.

What is more, out of the businesses that experienced repeated attacks, a whopping 61% of them did not remediate the breaches, leaving the companies vulnerable to any further attacks. 

Companies in the UK have had the most cybersecurity incidents — 55%, followed by organizations in North America (50%), Europe (49%), and Latin America (48%).

The top five security threats affecting organizations are cloud vulnerabilities (65%), denial of service attacks (60%), phishing and social engineering attacks (52%), malicious insider threats (45%), as well as DNS-based attacks (44%).

Low-value security alerts and shortage of staff are the main security  challenges for organizations

As cyber attacks are growing more sophisticated, breaches are becoming everyday events rather than worst-case scenarios. But what are the challenges that organizations face when dealing with cyber incidents?

The number one challenge of survey respondents is that their systems generate too many low-value security alerts. When security analytics systems cannot effectively prioritize alerts, it wastes the team's time by asking it to clear low-value alerts while highly important alerts linger at the bottom of the queue. Therefore, 69% of companies see it as a significant challenge.

Shortage of staff is another prevalent issue. In total, 60% of companies have a shortage of in-house expertise that could utilize security technologies, 56% say they lack the staff to pick up the workload, while 53% lack employees or skills to deliver lasting data-driven outcomes.

Ruth Cizynski, the cybersecurity researcher and writer at Atlas VPN, shares her thoughts on the situation:

“As long as organizations do not address existing vulnerabilities and security issues, they risk being hit by cybercriminals again. Organizations should prioritize internal processes that they can control over external security risks that they cannot. ”