Friday, 3 April 2026

AM BEST AFFIRMS CMB WING LUNG INSURANCE RATINGS WITH STABLE OUTLOOK

KUALA LUMPUR, April 3 (Bernama) -- Global credit rating agency, AM Best has affirmed the financial strength rating of A (Excellent) and the long-term issuer credit rating of “a” (Excellent) of Hong Kong’s CMB Wing Lung Insurance Company Limited (CMBWLI), with a stable outlook.

In a statement, AM Best said the credit ratings (ratings) reflect CMBWLI’s very strong balance sheet strength, strong operating performance, neutral business profile, and appropriate enterprise risk management.

The company’s balance sheet strength is underpinned by its robust risk-adjusted capitalisation, as measured by Best’s Capital Adequacy Ratio. Capital and surplus recorded mid- to high-single-digit growth in 2024 and 2025, benefiting from partial retention of its sustained and stable operating profits.

CMBWLI maintains a prudent investment strategy, enhancing bond portfolio quality while keeping cash and cash equivalents as its largest asset class. Additional supporting factors include its strong regulatory solvency position, positive liquidity, and comprehensive reinsurance programme with moderate dependency.

Its operating performance remains strong, with high-single-digit average returns on equity over the past five years (2021 to 2025). Despite a slight decline of topline in 2025 due to competitive market conditions, the company maintained a net/net combined ratio consistently below 90 per cent, outperforming the broader market.

CMBWLI’s investment performance also improved, supported by stable interest and dividend income, fair value gains on listed securities, and recovery of impairment loss.

As a medium-sized non-life insurer in Hong Kong, CMBWLI is one of the major market players in the employees’ compensation segment, with a diversified portfolio spanning motor and property damage lines.

Backed by China Merchants Group Limited, the company expects further growth in marine insurance and is exploring opportunities in inward property damage business beyond Hong Kong.

-- BERNAMA

Thursday, 2 April 2026

VISUAL BANK EXPANDS AI TRAINING DATA SOLUTION FOR JAPANESE SPEECH MODELS

KUALA LUMPUR, April 2 (Bernama) -- Visual Bank Inc, via its subsidiary amanaimages Inc, has announced the expansion of its Qlean Dataset, a premium artificial intelligence (AI) training data solution for developers building high-performance Japanese speech foundation models.

The expansion strengthens its position in providing rights-cleared datasets for research and development and large-scale AI applications.

“As demand for culturally contextualised foundation models grows, high-quality, legally compliant Japanese training data is becoming increasingly critical.

“Visual Bank is committed to bridging the gap between raw content and production-ready AI systems through rigorous data preparation and engineering,” said its chief executive officer, Saneyuki Nagai, in a statement.

The datasets are fully rights-cleared for commercial use and aligned with global compliance standards such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA).

They include high-fidelity audio assets recorded at 48 kilohertz (kHz)/16-bit or higher, enabling capture of both studio-quality speech and diverse acoustic environments.

In addition, the datasets support detection of harmful language, including hate speech and abusive prompts, and include evaluation datasets aligned with international benchmarks such as MMSU to assess reasoning and linguistic nuance in Japanese.

The solution also incorporates Japan-specific audio, including traditional and urban sound environments, to support multimodal and spatial AI applications.

The datasets are available through AI Data Recipe, which offers both ready-to-use datasets and customised data production, including speaker casting, recording and annotation tailored to specific development needs.

-- BERNAMA

GIESECKE+DEVRIENT REPORTS RECORD 2025 GROWTH, EXPANDS SECURITYTECH

KUALA LUMPUR, April 2 (Bernama) -- Giesecke+Devrient (G+D) reaffirmed its position as a global leader in SecurityTech for mission-critical infrastructure in fiscal year 2025, achieving revenue of 3.2 billion euros despite exchange rate effects. (1 Euro = RM4.65)

The company achieved a record order intake of 3.6 billion euros, while adjusted earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) reached 211 million euros. The substantial free cash flow of 119 million euros provides additional leeway for future investments.

“SecurityTech forms the indispensable foundation of modern societies. Record-breaking order intake and profitability and pioneering customer projects in critical security areas highlight the company’s current performance and future relevance.

“G+D is investing decisively, transforming with a clear vision and bringing innovations into real-world applications quickly, reliably, and securely,” said G+D Group chief executive officer, Ralf Wintergerst.

In a statement, G+D said its diverse portfolio across digital security, financial platforms, and currency technology continues to deliver resilience against market volatility.

The company is investing in next-generation security technologies, including artificial intelligence (AI)-powered security architectures, cybersecurity solutions, and secure identity technologies. A new AI hub in Canada is accelerating the transfer of innovative AI solutions into market-ready products.

Strategic acquisitions, such as Xtec Inc, a United States specialist in digital identity and access management, are expanding G+D’s capabilities in high-growth sectors and supporting its long-term transformation strategy.

G+D is also demonstrating technological leadership in major projects, including being the first-ranked contractor in the ECB framework for offline digital euro payments, actively contributing to the future of digital currencies in Europe.

-- BERNAMA

Wednesday, 1 April 2026

Cloudera Brings “AI Anywhere” Innovation to Global AWS Summit Series



Cloudera will showcase its hybrid data and AI capabilities across eight global summits, emphasizing how organizations can unlock the full value of enterprise data while maintaining sovereignty, governance, and control

SANTA CLARA, Calif., April 1 (Bernama-GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Cloudera, the only company bringing AI to data anywhere, today announced its participation as a sponsor across the 2026 Amazon Web Services (AWS) Summit series, including events in Paris, Sydney, Hamburg, Madrid, Washington, D.C., Jakarta, Zurich, and Tokyo. At each event, Cloudera will demonstrate how organizations can operationalize “AI Anywhere” by running AI workloads seamlessly across hybrid and multi-cloud environments without compromising governance, security, data portability, or sovereign cloud requirements, including residency, control, and compliance in specific countries or regions.

Cloudera’s presence at AWS Summits builds on its longstanding collaboration with AWS, helping enterprises modernize their data architectures and accelerate AI adoption in increasingly complex hybrid environments. As organizations continue to balance cloud innovation with existing on-premises investments, hybrid cloud strategies are becoming the norm, enabling greater agility, scalability, and cost efficiency.

AWS is also a key member of Cloudera’s growing AI ecosystem, supporting customers as they deploy scalable, open, and secure AI solutions across diverse environments.

Engaging the Global Cloud Community

Across AWS Summit events, Cloudera will host interactive booth experiences featuring live demonstrations, expert consultations, and giveaways, offering attendees hands-on insights into real-world AI and data use cases.

Event Highlights Include:
 
  • Paris, April 1: Cloudera will be holding live demos at Booth P4. Additionally, as a platinum sponsor, Cloudera will be hosting the session Accelerating Life-Saving Aid with Private AI, sharing how Mercy Corps uses Cloudera AI powered by NVIDIA to equip humanitarian teams with secure, AI-driven tools that accelerate life-saving aid delivery.
    • Time: 11:15 a.m., Location: Salle Passy L1
  • Sydney, May 13–14: As a gold sponsor, Cloudera is hosting the lightning talk Cloud Anywhere: Architectural Freedom for Unified Data and AI, exploring how organizations can avoid vendor lock-in and unify data and AI across AWS and on-prem environments.
    • There will also be a networking reception at the Cloudera booth on May 13, 5:15–6:00 p.m., featuring games and prize drawings.
  • Hamburg, May 20: As a platinum sponsor, Cloudera will be hosting a breakout session, as well as scheduled demos and giveaways at its booth.
  • Madrid, June 4: In its session Psychology for Robots: Cognitive Biases and Bacon in Your Ice Cream, Cloudera will do a deep dive into cognitive bias in AI systems and how Cloudera ensures production-ready AI anywhere.
  • Additional Event Presence at:
    • Washington, D.C., June 30
    • Jakarta, August 6
    • Zurich, September 2
    • Tokyo, June 25

“Our collaboration with AWS is central to delivering on the promise of AI Anywhere,” said Michelle Hoover, SVP of Global Alliances and Channels at Cloudera. “Customers shouldn’t have to choose between innovation and control. By combining Cloudera’s hybrid data platform with AWS’s cloud capabilities, we’re empowering organizations to run AI workloads wherever they need—while maintaining governance, security, and portability.”

Learn More
To learn more about Cloudera’s presence at upcoming AWS Summits, including AWS re:Invent in November, visit: https://www.cloudera.com/events.html

About Cloudera
Cloudera is the only hybrid data and AI platform company that large organizations trust to bring AI to their data anywhere it lives. Unlike other providers, Cloudera delivers a consistent cloud experience that converges public clouds, on-prem data centers, and the edge, leveraging a proven open-source foundation. As the pioneer in big data, Cloudera empowers businesses to apply AI and assert control over 100% of their data, in all forms, improving security, governance, and real-time and predictive insights. The world’s largest brands across all industries rely on Cloudera to transform decision-making and ultimately boost bottom lines, safeguard against threats, and save lives.

To learn more, visit Cloudera.com and follow us on LinkedIn and X. Cloudera and associated marks are trademarks or registered trademarks of Cloudera, Inc. All other company and product names may be trademarks of their respective owners.

Contact
Jess Hohn-Cabana
cloudera@v2comms.com

SOURCE: Cloudera, Inc.

Bitget Leads BTC and ETH Futures Liquidity in TokenInsight March Report


VICTORIA, Seychelles, April 1 (Bernama-GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Bitget, the world's largest Universal Exchange (UEX), ranked first in BTC and ETH futures liquidity in TokenInsight’s March 2026 Crypto Exchange Liquidity Report, leading all surveyed exchanges in both market depth and execution quality.

The ranking comes at a time when market volatility is driving larger and more frequent trades across digital assets. In this environment, liquidity is no longer just a benchmark, it directly impacts trading outcomes. According to the report, Bitget led cumulative BTC and ETH futures depth at both the 0.05% and 0.1% market depth bands. In futures execution quality, Bitget recorded the lowest slippage for $1 million BTC futures sell orders at 0.014% and for $1 million ETH futures sell orders at 0.025%, reinforcing the platform’s strength in handling larger trade sizes under live market conditions. Bitget also posted the tightest BTC futures bid-ask spread among all exchanges surveyed.

“Liquidity quality matters most when markets are moving quickly and execution becomes part of the trading outcome,” said Gracy Chen, CEO of Bitget. “What stands out in this report is not only depth, but consistency across major futures pairs where institutional and active traders are most sensitive to execution efficiency.”

Beyond futures, Bitget ranked second globally in BTC and ETH spot liquidity in both order book depth and spot slippage performance across the $500k and $1M order sizes. TokenInsight identified Bitget among the leading venues for tokenized gold (XAU) and silver (XAG) futures, where it ranked within the top tier for market depth and execution quality, reflecting broader user participation across crypto and macro-linked assets.

The findings point to a broader shift in trading behaviour, as trading activity increasingly spans digital assets and commodity-linked instruments. As macro volatility continues to influence capital allocation, deeper liquidity across both digital assets and commodity-linked instruments has become a defining factor in how users and institutions access global markets through unified trading infrastructure.

Bitget's UEX model is designed to support this shift by bringing crypto and tokenized assets into a single trading environment. As users seek more efficient ways to navigate markets, liquidity and execution consistency remain key to delivering a reliable trading experience.

About Bitget

Bitget is the world's largest Universal Exchange (UEX), serving over 125 million users and offering access to over 2M crypto tokens, 100+ tokenized stocks, ETFs, commodities, FX, and precious metals such as gold. The ecosystem is committed to helping users trade smarter with its AI agent, which co-pilots trade execution. Bitget is driving crypto adoption through strategic partnerships with LALIGA and MotoGP™. Aligned with its global impact strategy, Bitget has joined hands with UNICEF to support blockchain education for 1.1 million people by 2027. Bitget currently leads in the tokenized TradFi market, providing the industry's lowest fees and highest liquidity across 150 regions worldwide.

For more information, visit: Website | Twitter | Telegram | LinkedIn | Discord

For media inquiries, please contact: media@bitget.com

Risk Warning: Digital asset prices are subject to fluctuation and may experience significant volatility. Investors are advised to only allocate funds they can afford to lose. The value of any investment may be impacted, and there is a possibility that financial objectives may not be met, nor the principal investment recovered. Independent financial advice should always be sought, and personal financial experience and standing carefully considered. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future results. Bitget accepts no liability for any potential losses incurred. Nothing contained herein should be construed as financial advice. For further information, please refer to our Terms of Use.

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/23d6da77-30c5-43e8-ad7c-85b95a71b2c0 

SOURCE: Bitget Limited

DISCLAIMER: BERNAMA MREM are not accountable for any causes of website defacement, misuse, or illegal activities connected to cryptocurrency, blockchain, tokenisation, or bitcoin. This material should not be considered as guidance or an opinion, as it does not constitute financial or investment advice. Use this information at your own risk; we are not liable for any losses or damages caused by the republication of this article.

Monday, 30 March 2026

HOLAFLY REPORT HIGHLIGHTS SUSTAINABILITY GAP IN TRAVEL DECISIONS

KUALA LUMPUR, March 30 (Bernama) -- The Holafly eSIM & Travel Report revealed that 42 per cent of travellers actively take steps to travel more responsibly, highlighting a growing awareness of environmental impact among global explorers.

However, only 22.5 per cent rank sustainability among their top priorities when planning a trip, indicating that price, convenience, and other practical factors often outweigh environmental considerations.

“The message from travellers is clear: people want to make responsible choices, but those choices need to be simple and accessible. Sustainability will only scale when responsible options are seamlessly integrated into the travel experience,” said Holafly Brand Director, Daniela Prado.

In the report, Holafly, an eSIM provider, revealed new insights into how sustainability is shaping travel decisions worldwide with a clear hierarchy between intention and decision-making.

This gap between values and practical choices reflects a broader trend across the travel industry as travellers widely support sustainable tourism in principle, but translating those intentions into booking decisions remains complex.

In addition, Holafly stated in a statement that many travellers express the desire to reduce their environmental footprint, yet affordability, accessibility and overall travel experience still tend to shape final choices.

Holafly’s eSIM products contribute to more responsible travel by replacing traditional SIM cards, reducing emissions linked to production, packaging, and global distribution.

The company estimates that each eSIM prevents approximately 114.7 grammes of carbon dioxide (CO₂), with over 15 million eSIMs sold worldwide avoiding more than 1,700 tonnes of CO₂.

As the travel sector faces growing climate awareness, the challenge remains turning environmental values into practical, seamless choices that travellers can adopt without friction.

-- BERNAMA

UNIPART POSTS GBP991.6 MLN TURNOVER, STRONG 2025 RESULTS

KUALA LUMPUR, March 30 (Bernama) -- Unipart, the supply chain performance improvement partner, has reported a group turnover of GBP991.6 million and an underlying profit before interest and tax of GBP27.9 million in its full-year financial results for 2025. (GBP1 = RM5.31)

The company in a statement said it ended the year with a net cash surplus of GBP9.4 million, demonstrating robust operational efficiency and disciplined capital management.

Its Chief Executive Officer, Darren Leigh highlighted that the company strengthened its order book, achieved solid earnings and cash performance, and made significant progress executing The Unipart Way Forward strategy.

“In 2026, our focus on organic expansion, strategic partnerships, and ongoing investment in our people and technology, combined with our continued diversification, gives me confidence that we can navigate ongoing global supply chain instability and challenges.

“We are fully committed to delivering more efficient, resilient and sustainable supply chains for our customers, and long-term sustainable value for our shareholders,” he added.

The 2025 financial year marked a period of strategic transition and expansion under The Unipart Way Forward strategy, supported by customer growth, digital transformation investments, and a commitment to colleagues and sustainability.

Amid global supply chain challenges, Unipart leveraged its breadth of expertise to increase visibility, predictability, and mitigate disruption for its customers. The company expanded its services with existing clients, welcomed new customers, launched new solutions, and formed key industry partnerships.

Unipart reaffirmed its commitment to people, health, safety, and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) goals, receiving five stars in the British Safety Council audit for the 15th consecutive year, achieving upper quartile employee engagement, and hosting the Big Charity Challenge, which raised over GBP62,000 for more than 30 charities.

-- BERNAMA