PACIFIC PRIME CXA'S FLEX PORTAL WINS BRONZE FOR BEST HR MANAGEMENT SYSTEM (SMB)

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 23 (Bernama) -- Global employee benefits specialist, Pacific Prime CXA’s Flex Portal was honoured with the Bronze Award for Best HR Management System (SMB) at the HR Vendors of the Year Awards, presented by Human Resources Online in Singapore.

A resounding echo of last year, where the company won the Bronze Award for Best HR Management System (Enterprise), Pacific Prime CXA has gone to outstanding lengths to remain a top insurance broker in terms of human resources (HR) management systems and international health insurance, retaining their unique position as the only broker to win awards in this category.

“This recognition is a testament to the hard work and innovation of our talented team. The Flex Portal was designed with a strong commitment to helping small and medium-sized businesses attract and retain top talent.

“We remain focused on ongoing innovation, and with continued collaboration, we are confident that the Flex Portal will continue to shape the future of HR management and employee benefits, enabling businesses and their employees to thrive in a rapidly changing world,” said Pacific Prime CXA chief executive officer, Heena Bose in a statement.

The HR Vendors of the Year Awards, held on Nov 8, is a prestigious annual event that honours leading HR solutions providers in Asia. This year’s ceremony took place at the Sofitel Singapore City Centre, gathering innovative HR solution providers from across Singapore.

The Flex Portal, voted among the top three HR management systems, is a state-of-the-art benefits management platform tailored to address the needs of small to medium-sized businesses (SMBs).

Designed to streamline employee benefits administration and boost staff engagement, the Flex Portal is equipped with features such as real-time eWallet updates, seamless integration with third-party providers, and a customisable interface. These features help simplify complex insurance mechanisms, ensuring efficiency and cost-effectiveness.

For HR teams, the portal automates administrative processes, reduces manual workloads, and provides a centralised platform for managing flex and insurance claims. Employees, on the other hand, benefit from a user-friendly interface that offers a personalised experience, from adjusting life and medical insurance coverage to accessing wellness resources and tailored health assessments.

Additional features such as optical character recognition (OCR) receipt scanning, a clinic locator, and in-app purchases further enhance convenience.

By addressing the unique challenges of SMBs, the Flex Portal maximises return on investment through flexibility and strategic cost management. Committed to continuous improvement and user-centric design, Pacific Prime CXA positions the Flex Portal as a vital tool for businesses seeking to thrive in a dynamic global environment.

-- BERNAMA

SIMA.AI TEAMS UP WITH SYNOPSYS TO ACCELERATE AI-DRIVEN AUTOMOTIVE SOLUTIONS

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 18 (Bernama) -- SiMa.ai has collaborated with Synopsys to jointly deliver a new solution for automotive companies to accelerate the development of workload-specific silicon and software needed to power artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled features in next-generation automobiles.

“Collaborating closely with Synopsys allows us to provide automotive manufacturers with complete, optimised solutions that accelerate their development cycles.

“When combined with Synopsys' industry-leading IP and software, we will deliver a powerful foundation for innovation across auto OEMs in autonomous driving and in-vehicle experiences,” said SiMa.ai Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Krishna Rangasayee in a statement.

Meanwhile, Head of the Synopsys Product Management and Markets Group, Ravi Subramanian said: “Our leadership in architecture exploration, IP, and hardware-assisted verification, combined with SiMa.ai’s innovative performance and power-optimised ML capabilities, will enable customers to differentiate while continuing to meet stringent cost considerations and industry standards.”

The solution will combine Synopsys' best-in-class Electronic Design Automation (EDA), automotive-grade IP, and hardware-assisted verification solutions with SiMa.ai’s leading machine learning accelerator (MLA) IP and a complete ML software stack application development environment for maximum customisation of IP, subsystems, chiplets, and System-on-Chips (SoCs).

The integrated Synopsys and SiMa.ai solution will be designed to enable early architecture exploration, shift-left software development, cost-effective and differentiated in-vehicle experiences, and continuous upgradeability of automotive edge AI solutions.

SiMa.ai is the software-centric company that specialises in developing high-performance, power-efficient MLSoC solutions for the embedded edge, while Synopsys is a trusted partner to the worldwide automotive ecosystem.

The SiMa.ai tech stack emphasises flexibility, offering support for the widest number of models, sensors, and applications possible, and automatically optimises them for peak performance.

-- BERNAMA

Nikkei Online Edition Hits One Million Paid Subscribers, Achieving Landmark Milestone

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 16 (Bernama) -- Nikkei Inc has announced its Nikkei Online Edition has surpassed one million paid subscribers, becoming the first domestic digital news media to achieve this significant milestone, according to a report by Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism.

The recent rapid growth has been driven by increased subscriptions in the corporate and education sectors. Nikkei continues to expand beyond its role, evolving from a key news source to an essential service for a broader audience.

Launched in 2010, the Nikkei Online Edition early success was driven by a strong uptake from individual subscribers, but in recent years, it has seen a rapid increase in adoption by corporations and the education sector.

Companies use the service as a source of essential information as well as for corporate training, while educational institutions are increasingly turning to it as a resource for inquiry-based learning.

This year, the number of paid subscriptions to Nikkei Online grew by 13 per cent, reaching 1.01 million, a 100,000 increase over December 2023, according to Nikkei in a statement.

Meanwhile, paid subscriptions to Nikkei's digital media subscriptions overall, including services such as the "NIKKEI Prime" series, exceeded one million in December 2023 and reached 1.17 million as of December this year.

With a total of 3.7 million paid digital subscriptions across its global platforms, including English-language media "Nikkei Asia" and the Financial Times (FT), Nikkei is now the third-largest paid digital news media provider globally, following the New York Times and Dow Jones, which publishes the Wall Street Journal.

Founded as a market news provider in Japan in 1876, Nikkei has grown into one of the world’s largest media corporations, with 37 foreign editorial bureaus and approximately 1,500 journalists worldwide.

-- BERNAMA

AM BEST AFFIRMS CREDIT RATINGS OF NEWGT REINSURANCE COMPANY, LTD.

HONG KONG, Dec 12 (Bernama-BUSINESS WIRE) -- AM Best has affirmed the Financial Strength Rating of A- (Excellent) and the Long-Term Issuer Credit Rating of “a-” (Excellent) of NEWGT Reinsurance Company, Ltd. (NEWGT) (Bermuda). The outlook of these Credit Ratings (ratings) is stable.

The ratings reflect NEWGT’s balance sheet strength, which AM Best assesses as strong, as well as its adequate operating performance, neutral business profile and appropriate enterprise risk management.

NEWGT’s balance sheet strength is well-supported by its risk-adjusted capitalisation, which is assessed at the strongest level, as measured by Best’s Capital Adequacy Ratio (BCAR). As of the fiscal year ended on 31 March 2024, NEWGT’s capital and surplus increased by 21% mainly from increased retained earnings, with no dividend upstream made during the period. The company has a moderate level of reinsurance dependency; however, its exposure to potential credit risk is mitigated partially by a high-quality and well-diversified reinsurance panel.

NEWGT’s operating performance has been consistently positive during the most recent five-year period. For the fiscal year ended 31 March 2024, the gross premium and net premium earned from ITOCHU Corporation (ITOCHU)-related business, remained relatively flat as its premium income became normalized from the strong growth in the previous year while its underwriting profit showed improvement with favourable loss experience during the period. Notwithstanding the moderate volatility in the major lines of marine cargo business due to the impact of commodity price fluctuations, AM Best expects that NEWGT’s operating performance will remain profitable over the intermediate term given the company’s prudent underwriting practices and reinsurance programmes.

As a wholly owned subsidiary and captive insurer of ITOCHU, one of Japan’s largest general trading companies, NEWGT provides reinsurance protection against group-related risks across various regions. A majority of NEWGT’s business comes from ITOCHU-related marine business, and the remaining portfolio consists of a diverse mix of non-life business lines, including theft insurance, renters’ insurance, and group personal accident. NEWGT is well-integrated within the group with respect to risk management, corporate governance and internal control systems. 

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FORTUDE CONTINUES TO STRENGTHEN ITS FOOTPRINT IN ASIA-PACIFIC THROUGH DIGITAL SOLUTION OFFERING

Singapore, Dec 9 (Bernama-GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Fortude, a leading global enterprise and digital solutions company, strengthens its commitment to serve businesses in Asia-Pacific by driving digital transformation across the region. After setting up its Singapore entity in April earlier this year, the company has been actively working with new prospects and partners to further its goal of ‘delivering digital solutions that matter’.

The company will continue to offer the full spectrum of services, from digital advisory, Infor CloudSuite consulting and managed services, to Data & AI, automation, and solutions engineering under this umbrella.

Having successfully worked with several leading businesses in Asia-Pacific over the last decade, both existing and new customers will be able to leverage Fortude’s strategic partnerships with Infor, Microsoft, UiPath and many more to accelerate their digital transformation initiatives.

The growth strategy for the region will be led by Fortude’s Chief Revenue Officer – APAC, Cameron Greening. Commenting on the initiative, Cameron said, “We are very excited to be strategically placed in Singapore to serve the wider Asian region. Its proximity to some of our key customers makes it the perfect launchpad for Fortude to continue to build inroads into key markets in the region.”

Hemantha Rodrigo, Chief Operating Officer – AMEA, who is focused on amplifying Fortude’s local presence and partnerships in the region added, “We are working on several exciting projects in the region, including Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam and Thailand. By moving forward on this journey in Singapore, our customers can now better harness our region-specific expertise, and holistic suite of solutions to drive the digital transformation of their businesses.”

Leading the digital transformation drive for Southeast Asian companies, Fortude’s Aravinda Gunathilaka, Associate Vice President – Enterprise Sales AMEA added, “A company’s digital journey can begin with a simple RPA automation and span into AI, Data Analytics and move onto implementing strong foundations for growth with Cloud implementations. Fortude has expertise in all these areas and can support companies with the right digital tools.”

In recent years, Fortude has seen significant growth in the APAC region and the team is committed to continue helping businesses in the region make the digital leap.
  
About Fortude

Fortude is a leading global enterprise and digital technology solutions company, delivering solutions that matter to customers around the world. Our teams are based out of offices in the US, Canada, UK, Netherlands, Sweden, Sri Lanka, Singapore and Australia, and have experience in implementing projects across multiple locations and continents. We are also a partner to some of the world’s largest technology, cloud, and automation software solution providers including Infor, Microsoft and UiPath. For more information, visit fortude.co

Attachment

·        Fortude continues to strengthen its footprint in Asia-Pacific through digital solution offering
 
Anishka Ranabahu
Fortude
+94775195993
AnishkaRa@fortude.co

SOURCE: Fortude

--BERNAMA

2024 CHINA-ASEAN MARATHON BLENDS SPORT WITH BREATHTAKING SCENERY

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 6 (Bernama) -- The 2024 China-ASEAN Marathon kicked off on Nov 24 at the Beibu Gulf Ocean Culture Park in Fangchenggang City, attracting over 20,000 participants from over a dozen countries and regions.

The event, held in the scenic coastal bay city, featured four categories, namely a full marathon, a half marathon, a 10-kilometre (km) fitness run, and a five-km fun run, according to a statement.

Both the full and half marathons started and ended at the Beibu Gulf Ocean Culture Park, passing iconic landmarks such as Egret Park, Fubo Cultural Park, Xiwan Scenic Area, Xianren Mountain Park, and the Zhenyuling Bridge.

The race course is designed to showcase the urban landscape and coastal scenery, highlighting the unique "sea, beach, and mountain" characteristics of Fangchenggang City.

The event successfully broadened its network of international connections, receiving strong support from several international friendship cities and the consulates general of ASEAN countries in Nanning, including Cambodia and Myanmar.

Meanwhile, international partners such as Yeongdong County in South Korea, Rzeszów in Poland, and Quang Ninh Province in Vietnam actively sent delegations to participate in and observe the race.

Additionally, international friendship cities such as Zhukovsky in Russia, Loei in Thailand, and Hai Phong in Vietnam have also sent congratulatory messages.

In the race itself, Kenyan runners dominated the competition, claiming victory in both the men’s and women’s marathon titles.

-- BERNAMA