CSOP: SAUDI'S INITIAL FORAY IN HONG KONG-LISTED SHARES FOCUSING ON CHINESE FIRMS

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 30 (Bernama) -- CSOP Asset Management Limited (CSOP) announced it is part of the introduction of the Albilad CSOP MSCI Hong Kong China Equity exchange-traded fund (ETF) (symbol: 9410) on the Saudi Stock Exchange (Tadawul) on Oct 30.

“CSOP has always been committed to enriching the ETF ecosystem in Hong Kong, and now we will continue our efforts to bring products with China exposure to the investors in the Middle East area,” said CSOP Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Ding Chen in a statement.

Meanwhile, Albilad Capital CEO, Zaid AlMufarih said: “By partnering with CSOP, we are opening a new avenue for investors to engage with the dynamic growth of China through Hong Kong, all while adhering to Shariah principles. This initiative is more than an investment opportunity; it is a step towards a more interconnected global financial landscape.”

The Albilad CSOP MSCI Hong Kong China Equity ETF will invest at least 95 per cent of its assets in the CSOP MSCI HK China Connect Select ETF (ticker: 3432.HK) listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKEX), marking a milestone as the first ETF in Saudi Arabia to track the Hong Kong equity market.

The Albilad CSOP MSCI Hong Kong China Equity ETF is set to be the largest ETF in the Middle East, making its debut with an initial size exceeding US$1.2 billion. (US$1=RM4.36)

As the investment manager of 3432.HK, CSOP has joined forces with Albilad Capital to offer this captivating investment opportunity, allowing investors in Saudi Arabia to tap into the dynamic and diverse Chinese economy.

The launch of the Albilad CSOP MSCI Hong Kong China Equity ETF marks another significant milestone for CSOP in its proactive engagement in the financial bilateral collaborations between China and Saudi Arabia. This, in turn, bolsters the evolution of Hong Kong's capital market as a global financial hub.

Looking forward, CSOP will persist in collaborating with business partners to carry out investor education, present top-tier Hong Kong stocks to the investing public of the Middle East, and introduce Middle Eastern investments to Hong Kong, which will cultivate a more profound mutual comprehension between China and the Middle East.

-- BERNAMA

Black & Veatch Serves As Owner's Engineer For Combined Cycle Power Plant In Sarawak

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 22 (Bernama) -- Black & Veatch, a global leader in critical infrastructure solutions, has been chosen as the owner’s engineer for PETROS Power Sdn Bhd’s (PETROS Power) Miri Combined Cycle Gas Turbine (Miri CCGT) Power Plant in Sarawak, Malaysia.

The Miri CCGT Power Plant will be a lower-emission alternative to coal-fired power plants, which is expected to have a capacity of 500 megawatts (MW) and is intended to supply power to the Sarawak State Grid.

The power plant contributes to the Sarawak Gas Roadmap, which is critical to achieving Sarawak’s goal of doubling its economy by 2030, according to a statement.

“Black & Veatch's knowledge of international and country-specific engineering codes and standards, and contract structures helps to systematically mitigate project cost and schedule risks to ensure project execution certainty.

“By bridging the gap between different engineering standards, Black & Veatch offers progressive clients, like PETROS Power, assurance that the engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contractor delivers on project commitments cost effectively,” said its president, Asia Pacific and India, Narsingh Chaudhary.

Black & Veatch will provide technical expertise, knowledge and technology transfer, and support for engineering, procurement, construction, and commissioning (EPCC) contract management and administration.

The company has extensive experience in designing and constructing combined cycle power plants for diverse settings, including new sites, expansions to existing steam electric generating stations, and conversions of existing simple cycle peaking combustion turbines to combined cycle operation.

-- BERNAMA

Singapore-based Talendy Holdings To Grow Asia Pacific Businesses

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 17 (Bernama) -- Tech Japan, a human resources (HR) tech venture specialising in recruitment platform solutions called “Talendy” for highly skilled Indian talent in the technology sector, has announced the establishment of Talendy Holdings in Singapore.

With a specific focus on Singapore, Taiwan, and South Korea, this strategic move aims to strengthen Tech Japan's presence in the East Asia region and reinforces the company's commitment to fostering growth and innovation through diverse talent networks.

Tech Japan Chief Executive Officer, Naotaka Nishiyama said the launch in Singapore marked a critical step in the company’s strategy to support digital transformation across Asia.

“Our presence in Singapore will allow us to better serve our clients in the region and facilitate the integration of highly skilled Indian talent into leading tech ecosystems in Singapore, Taiwan, and South Korea,” he said in a statement.

Talendy engages in strategic design for global engineering organisation and system development, provides recruitment support using its platform, leverages employer of record (EOR) schemes for talent acquisition without bound by the location of the country of incorporation, and manages the establishment and operations of Global Capability Centers (GCCs) in India.

In addition, this expansion offers an opportunity for technology talent in India to extend their reach beyond Japan to Taiwan, South Korea, and Singapore, thereby broadening their scope of influence and opportunities.

Operating under the mission "Accelerate digitalisation through the power of diversity, creating a richer society", Tech Japan has pioneered platforms that connect Japanese companies with prestigious Indian institutions, notably the Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT).

The formation of Talendy Holdings will build on these foundations, aiming to streamline and expand talent acquisition processes in key Asian markets, while the creation of its platform was originally from the "India-Japan Placement Working Group" maintained by Tech Japan with the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry and the Embassy of India in Japan.

Furthermore, Talendy Holdings plans to explore partnerships with local universities and engage in community-based talent development initiatives, thereby contributing to the dynamic business ecosystem of Singapore.

-- BERNAMA

H2O.AI UNVEILS COMPACT, COST EFFICIENT MULTIMODAL FOUNDATION MODELS FOR DOCUMENT AI

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 18 (Bernama) -- H2O.ai, the leader in open-source generative artificial intelligence (GenAI), announced H2OVL Mississippi 2B and 0.8B, two powerful new multimodal foundation models designed specifically for optical character recognition (OCR) and Document AI use cases.

Compact yet highly efficient, the H2OVL Mississippi foundation models represent a significant advancement in AI, delivering unmatched performance for vision and OCR tasks in enterprise environments.

“We have designed H2OVL Mississippi models to be a high-performance yet cost-effective solution, bringing AI-powered OCR, visual understanding, and Document AI to businesses.

“By blending state-of-the-art multimodal AI with extreme efficiency, H2OVL Mississippi delivers precise, scalable Document AI solutions across a range of industries,” said H2O.ai chief executive officer and founder, Sri Ambati in a statement.

Available now on Hugging Face, H2OVL Mississippi 2B and 0.8B offer enterprises an economical solution with efficiency and accuracy for real-time document analysis and image recognition, making it easier to integrate powerful, lightweight AI into workflows that require top-tier OCR and document understanding.

Key features of H2OVL Mississippi 2B and 0.8B are lightweight model, multimodal mastery, tailored training, and real-time efficiency.

H2OVL Mississippi 2B builds on the legacy of H2O Danube2 with a robust 2.1 billion parameter model optimised for lightweight deployment and specialised multimodal architecture that blends language and computer vision to meet the growing demand for more economical multimodal OCR.

Meanwhile, built on the Danube3 0.5B, H2OVL Mississippi 0.8B model, pre-trained on 11 million conversation pairs and fine-tuned with an additional eight million, surpassed all comparable SLMs in the market on OCR benchmarks, delivering unmatched performance on text recognition.

-- BERNAMA

 

DUCK CREEK TECHNOLOGIES NAMED A LEADER IN GARTNER® 2024 MAGIC QUADRANT™ FOR SAAS P&C INSURANCE CORE PLATFORMS, NORTH AMERICA

Recognized for Completeness of Vision and Ability to Execute


BOSTON, Oct 18 (Bernama-GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Duck Creek Technologies, a leading and innovative provider of solutions in the SaaS P&C insurance core platforms market, today announced Duck Creek Technologies has been positioned by Gartner as a Leader in the 2024 Gartner® “Magic Quadrant™ for SaaS P&C Core Platforms, North America”. The evaluation was based on specific criteria that analyzed the company’s overall Completeness of Vision and Ability to Execute.

Magic Quadrant reports are a culmination of rigorous, fact-based research in specific markets, providing a wide-angle view of the relative positions of providers in markets where growth is high, and provider differentiation is distinct. Providers are positioned into four quadrants: Leaders, Challengers, Visionaries and Niche Players. The research enables you to get the most from market analysis in alignment with your unique business and technology needs.

“Our low-code, configurable SaaS platform helps insurance carriers stand out in today's competitive market. We continue to enhance our platform through AI, machine learning and by bringing new solutions to carriers, including Payments Facilitator, to grow their business with speed, efficiency and an excellent customer experience,” said Michael Jackowski, CEO of Duck Creek Technologies. “We are proud to be recognized again this year by Gartner as a Leader in the P&C insurance technology space. As we look ahead, we will continue to enrich our platform by providing more for carriers to stay ahead of their competition including eliminating upgrades through Active Delivery and increasing efficiency and scalability with multi-tenancy.”

View a complimentary copy of the Magic Quadrant report to learn more about Duck Creek’s strengths and cautions, among other provider offerings, here

Source: Gartner Reports: Gartner, Magic Quadrant for SaaS P&C Insurance Core Platforms, North America, Sham Gill, James Ingham October 2024

Gartner Disclaimer:
Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in its research publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner’s research organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

GARTNER is a registered trademark and service mark of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and internationally and is used herein with permission. All rights reserved. 

Magic Quadrant is a registered trademark of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates and is used herein with permission. All rights reserved. 

About Duck Creek Technologies

Duck Creek Technologies is the intelligent solutions provider defining the future of the property and casualty (P&C) and general insurance industry. We are the platform upon which modern insurance systems are built, enabling the industry to capitalize on the power of the cloud to run agile, intelligent, and evergreen operations. Authenticity, purpose, and transparency are core to Duck Creek, and we believe insurance should be there for individuals and businesses when, where, and how they need it most. Our market-leading solutions are available on a standalone basis or as a full suite, and all are available via Duck Creek OnDemand. Visit www.duckcreek.com to learn more. Follow Duck Creek on our social channels for the latest information – LinkedIn and X.

Media Contacts:
Tara Stred/Marianne Dempsey
Duckcreek@threeringsinc.com 


SOURCE : Duck Creek Technologies

SAUDI FUND FOR DEVELOPMENT ANNOUNCES ITS FIRST PRESENCE IN SERBIA BY FINANCING 3 DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS, WORTH $205 MILLION

^{H.E. Sultan Al-Marshad, CEO of the SFD, and H.E. Siniša Mali, Serbia’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance (Photo: AETOSWire)}


BELGRADE, Serbia, Oct 17 (Bernama-BUSINESS WIRE) -- The Saudi Fund for Development (SFD) has signed three development loan agreements with the Republic of Serbia worth $205 million to fund key projects supporting the agriculture, education and energy sectors. This partnership, marking SFD’s first presence in Serbia, is aimed at fostering the country’s long-term socioeconomic growth. The agreements were signed by H.E. Sultan Al-Marshad, CEO of the SFD, and H.E. Siniša Mali, Serbia’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, in the presence of Deputy Ambassador of Saudi Arabia to Bosnia & Herzegovina, Mr. Ali Aldossary.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20241016322656/en/

 

Commenting on the agreements, Mr. Mali stated, "It is a great pleasure to sign three important agreements with the Saudi Fund for Development, which is the first concrete step after last year's signing of the Memorandum of Understanding. We are grateful for the support. The projects for which this money is intended will contribute to the creation of new jobs, strengthening of our economy, and better positioning of the Republic of Serbia in the world scientific community. The agreements will also reinforce the long-term partnership between the Republic of Serbia and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and contribute to the implementation and development of important projects in our country.”

The agreements are comprised of three projects, including $75 million funding for the Strengthen Irrigation Infrastructure in Different Areas Project, $65 million for the Construction of the Bio4 Campus in Belgrade Project, and $65 million for the Development of Transmission System Operator (Phase 1) Project.

The first project will help strengthen irrigation systems and improve water management in key farming areas, by constructing new water pumping stations, rehabilitating existing canals, and creating a modern irrigation network that spans over 230 km. Targeting regions such as Novi Slankamen and Jasenicke Kapi, the project aims to boost agricultural productivity and ensure efficient water distribution during drought periods.

The second project will fund the construction of the Bio4 Campus in Belgrade, a pioneering scientific research center focused on biotechnologies. The Bio4 Campus will house six faculties, nine scientific institutes, and state-of-the-art laboratories, including a biosafety level 3 lab, at the University of Belgrade. The center is designed to bring together researchers, scientists, and professionals to drive interdisciplinary innovation and collaboration in fields such as biology, medicine, and wastewater research.

The final project will expand Serbia’s energy infrastructure by building a new 400 kV transmission line and upgrading existing substations, which will help enhance the reliability of Serbia’s power supply and integrate the country into the European electricity market through the Trans-Balkan Electricity Corridor.

Reflecting on the agreement, SFD CEO Sultan Al-Marshad said, "Supporting sustainable development through strategic funding in infrastructure and education is central to our mission. This partnership with Serbia underscores our commitment to fostering innovation, enhancing agricultural productivity, and improving energy security in line with the Sustainable Development Goals. The projects we are funding will help create lasting benefits for the Serbian people and contribute to their socioeconomic development."

The SFD is committed to supporting sustainable development globally. As the official development arm of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the SFD has financed more than 800 projects in over 100 countries, with a total funding of $20 billion. In 2024, the SFD celebrated 50 years of advancing global development, with recent expansions into 11 new countries, including Serbia.

Source: AETOSWire

View source version on businesswire.com: 
https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20241016322656/en/


Contact

Randah Al-Hothali
Director General of Corporate Communications
media@sfd.gov.sa


Source : Saudi Fund for Development

BLUESCOPE’S ASEAN AWARD TO HONOUR REGIONAL EXCELLENCE IN STEEL ARCHITECTURE

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 15 (Bernama) -- NS BlueScope announced the 2024 BlueScope Steel Architectural Awards ASEAN is now open to projects harnessing the company’s steel in Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam.

Entrants are accepted in Residential, Commercial, Industrial and Institutional building sectors, while there is an additional category of ‘Long Lasting Beauty of COLORBOND’ which celebrates projects that have used BlueScope’s COLORBOND steel to weather all conditions to maintain their beauty and strength.

NS BlueScope Chief Executive, Connell Zhang said the company aimed to create and inspire smart solutions in steel, and its new awards programme is a great opportunity to showcase some of the very best architectural projects in this region.

“As well as setting industry benchmarks and promoting best practice, these awards are a great way to encourage knowledge sharing and support our vibrant ASEAN architect community.

“As the industry leader in premium coated and painted steel, BlueScope is in a unique position to support the architectural community in bringing their dream designs to life,” he said in a statement.

The 2024 BlueScope Steel Architectural Awards ASEAN are backed by several respected organisations, including The Association of Siamese Architects under Royal Patronage; Ikatan Arsitek Indonesia; the University of Architecture Ho Chi Minh City; the Australian Chamber of Commerce Singapore; and Malaysia’s ACG Media Group.

Award entries will be judged on their Design Excellence, Innovation and Sustainability, whereby judges will assess multiple areas of building design, from aesthetic merit to functionality and efficiency, among others.

Judging for the ASEAN Award winners takes place in October, with the winners announced in November.

-- BERNAMA