TEMPO SOFTWARE CPO HIGHLIGHTS AI SPENDING ACCOUNTABILITY AT REUTERS CONFERENCE

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 25 (Bernama) -- Tempo Software Chief Product Officer (CPO), Kevin Nanney highlighted the growing need for enterprises to connect artificial intelligence (AI) spending with measurable business outcomes at the Reuters Momentum AI Conference in Austin, Texas.

Nanney discussed how enterprises can manage AI adoption while tracking its costs, outcomes and alignment with strategic priorities. He also shared examples from his experience at Tempo, including how competing initiatives can reveal underlying efficiency issues and how changes in measurement can help guide resource-allocation decisions.

In his keynote, titled “Spend Is Tracked. Outcomes Are Not. The AI Accountability Distance Nobody Has Closed”, Nanney outlined three areas for enterprise leaders: tracking the cost and contribution of AI agents, establishing a governed operating model for human and AI work, and adopting more adaptive planning to identify and address strategic drift.

Tempo’s 2026 State of AI in Portfolio Management report found that 91 per cent of surveyed organisations are piloting or actively using AI in project delivery, while 26 per cent use AI to prioritise or reprioritise work.

In a statement, Tempo said the findings highlight a gap between AI adoption and AI-informed decision-making, reinforcing the need to align strategy, investment and execution across human and AI workforces.

Nanney’s presentation followed Tempo’s launch of Loop, an AI-native Intelligent Portfolio Orchestration platform designed to provide enterprises with a continuously updated view of time, capacity, cost and execution across existing work systems.

The company also recently launched Workforce Intelligence, which attributes AI activity to Jira work items, epics and initiatives.

Tempo said these capabilities are designed to help enterprises coordinate human and AI work while improving visibility into portfolio execution and resource allocation.

The 2026 Reuters Momentum AI Conference, held in Austin from Sept 24 to 26, brought together enterprise leaders focused on AI implementation, business value and investment returns. More than 500 senior executives were expected to attend.

-- BERNAMA

Quantexa Earns Top Honors from Chartis Research in AML Transaction Monitoring and the RiskTech100

Decision Intelligence pioneer named a Category Leader in Chartis' 2026 AML Transaction Monitoring Quadrant Update

Quantexa secures 18th place and wins the Industry Categories Trade Finance and Compliance awards in the RiskTech100® 2027 ranking

LONDON and NEW YORK, Sept 25 (Bernama-GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Quantexa, a global data, analytics, and AI software company pioneering Decision Intelligence, today announced it has been named a Category Leader in Chartis Research's RiskTech Quadrant® for AML Transaction Monitoring Solutions. The recognition marks an improved position from Chartis' 2025 report, with Quantexa now positioned in the upper reaches of the Category Leaders quadrant, reflecting a strong combination of market potential and completeness of offering. It also adds to a broader upward trend across Chartis' research that includes Quantexa's continued climb in the RiskTech100, Chartis' annual ranking of the world's leading risk technology providers.

A Top-Tier Position in AML Transaction Monitoring
In its 2026 update, Quantexa secured a leading spot the upper reaches of the quadrant, combining strong market potential with a comprehensive completeness of offering. Quantexa scored particularly high in the areas of 'data and system integrations and risk typology modeling.

Chartis' 2026 report points to a market continuing to evolve from traditional transaction focused rules-based detection, towards behavioral analytics, graph analytics, data and ecosystem interoperability, convergence of fraud, AML, sanctions and other FinCrime functions and the targeted usage of artificial intelligence. The report identifies the vendors best positioned for the next phase of the market being those that, "combine effective detection with contextual intelligence, strong interoperability, flexible deployment and demonstrated improvements in investigation efficiency."

"Quantexa was named a Category Leader in Chartis Research's AML Transaction Monitoring Solutions, 2026: Quadrant Update, due in part to its data integration and contextualization, which are the foundation for the analytical capabilities of its composite AI approach supporting supervised machine learning (ML), unsupervised ML and natural language processing. The company's risk modeling capabilities include pre-built models for multiple AML typologies, offering exploratory analysis, outlier detection, behavioral analysis, and a white-box architecture for model quality and validation. The framework is designed around continuous improvement, clean profile data, an open-scoring framework, large language model (LLM)-powered scenario simulation, and full-volume testing to confirm real-world capabilities." — Sean O'Malley, Research Director for Financial Crime and Control, Chartis Research

"Financial crime networks don't organize themselves around individual transactions and neither should we. They organize around relationships, facilitators and shared infrastructure. The industry's growing recognition of this reality reflects the continuous shift towards Contextual Monitoring that we've pioneered with our customers and partners, connecting internal and external data to reveal the networks behind the activity, rather than just the transactions or trades those networks generate.”— Matthew Long, Global Head of Financial Crime Risk, Financial Services and Government, Quantexa

Quantexa Breaks into Top 20 in RiskTech100

In the RiskTech100 2027 report, Quantexa's position rose to 18th, breaking into the ranking's top 20. Quantexa also achieved the RiskTech100 Industry Category award for Trade Finance and the Compliance and Controls award for Trade Finance Compliance.

"The success of Quantexa's focused, data-oriented approach to risk intelligence in fraud, AML, compliance and related areas is reflected in its break into the top 20 of the RiskTech100® 2027," said Sid Dash, Chief Researcher at Chartis. "Moreover, with risk intelligence increasingly crossing vertical silos (credit, supply chain, business intelligence, etc.), Quantexa's ability to handle complex, interconnected data has made it a leader in trade finance, earning it the category award for that sector."- Sid Dash, Chief Researcher, Chartis Research

“In today’s volatile world, trusted risk leaders are business partners with strong client centricity, using technology to manage credit risk and resilience, optimize capital resources, and drive strategic growth. Quantexa's ability to resolve, connect and contextualize information - customers, vendors, exposures, market events - into one view of risk ecosystems, gives financial institutions an explainable, deterministic foundation for enterprise-wide AI adoption. This recognition validates that approach." - Manuel Vicente, Global Head of Risk Solutions, Quantexa

Quantexa's Decision Intelligence (DI) Platform is built around a contextual layer that connects entity resolution, knowledge graph and analytics capabilities to contextualize internal and external data at scale, helping organizations strengthen risk identification, actions and business outcomes, and meet rising regulatory expectations for transparency and model governance. This approach underpins Quantexa's DI platform, which connects a firm's internal and external data to reveal the networks, relationships, and hidden risks.

To learn more about Quantexa's banking industry solutions, visit https://www.quantexa.com/industries/banking/

About Quantexa
Quantexa is a global data, analytics, and AI software company pioneering Decision Intelligence to help organizations make confident decisions with contextual data. Using the latest advancements in AI, our Decision Intelligence Platform transforms siloed data into connected, contextual insights to empower the shift from a data-driven to a decision-centric organization. Our customers use Quantexa technology to protect, optimize, and grow by solving complex challenges across the entire organization through modern data management, customer intelligence, KYC, financial and economic crime, risk, fraud, and security. The company has been named as a Decision Intelligence category and innovation leader by all of the major industry analyst firms. Founded in 2016, Quantexa has over 850 employees and tens of thousands of users globally, working with billions of data points across the world. For more information, visit www.quantexa.com or follow us on LinkedIn.

Source notes: Chartis Research, "AML Transaction Monitoring Solutions, 2026: Quadrant Update," Sean O'Malley and Jason Wright, Sept. 9, 2026. Chartis Research, "RiskTech100® 2027." References to Quantexa in Chartis reports do not constitute an endorsement of its products or services by Chartis.

Media Inquiries
Michael Lane Quantexa michaellane@quantexa.com
Ben Davies SourceCode Communications Ben.davies@sourcecodecoms.com

SOURCE: Quantexa Limited

--BERNAMA

KAPLAN PROFESSIONAL TAPS MELISSA CHAN TO LEAD ASIA BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT

Melissa Chan_Headshot.

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 24 (Bernama) -- Kaplan Professional has appointed experienced education and digital learning executive, Melissa Chan as Head of Business Development, Asia, strengthening its presence in Singapore and across Asia.

Kaplan Professional Chief Executive Officer, Brian Knight said Chan’s appointment reflected the organisation’s long-term commitment to building its presence and partnerships across Asia while responding to changing industry and workforce needs.

“Melissa brings an exceptional combination of education sector knowledge, commercial experience and deep regional expertise, with extensive experience building markets and strategic partnerships across different cultures,” said Knight in a statement.

Based in Singapore, Chan will focus on developing corporate relationships, strategic accounts and partnerships, strengthening Kaplan Professional’s commercial capability as it expands its professional education, continuing professional development (CPD) and tailored learning solutions across Asia.

Chan said her immediate priority would be building relationships with financial services organisations and industry partners, and understanding the capability challenges they are seeking to address.

The appointment comes as new research commissioned by Kaplan Professional highlights evolving workforce capability needs across Singapore’s financial services sector.

In a study of 200 professionals across banking, insurance and wealth management, 47 per cent ranked Advisory and Client Needs Assessment among the top three skill areas required to meet business objectives over the next 24 months, while 49 per cent identified difficulty applying learning to real-work situations as a barrier to professional development.

The findings point to demand for practical, role-relevant and flexible professional development that can be applied in the workplace, an area Kaplan Professional is targeting as it grows its regional corporate learning capability.

Chan brings over 20 years of commercial experience across education, digital learning and publishing in Asia, including more than 17 years with Cengage Asia in senior regional sales, marketing and management roles.

-- BERNAMA

YEAHKA EXECUTIVE HIGHLIGHTS AI’S ROLE IN RESHAPING PAYMENTS

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 24 (Bernama) -- Yeahka Ltd, through its international payment brand YeahPay, highlighted the growing role of artificial intelligence (AI) in reshaping payment platforms as consumer discovery, decision-making and transactions increasingly converge.

Speaking at the Platform Leaders Forum of Stripe Tour in Shanghai, YeahPay Global Vice President, David Tay said payment platforms could increasingly extend their role beyond transaction processing to areas such as merchant discoverability, customer engagement and payment acceptance.

“Value is migrating from processing the transaction to being present at the point of discovery and decision,” he said in a statement.

Yeahka has begun exploring this shift through agentic payments and commerce initiatives with industry partners, leveraging its merchant network and payments expertise to help businesses operate in an environment where transactions may increasingly be initiated by consumers and AI agents.

The initiatives aim to help merchants participate in AI-driven commerce, including making products discoverable through large language models and supporting emerging forms of payment interaction.

Yeahka is also applying AI to merchant operations through digital employees that support customer enquiries, product and service recommendations, bookings, payments, customer relationship management (CRM) and repeat purchases.

These initiatives reflect a broader effort to connect customer discovery and engagement with transactions and ongoing merchant management, creating a more integrated commerce model.

Looking ahead, Tay expects payment and technology platforms to differentiate themselves either through deeper investment in regulated capabilities that require time and regulatory approvals to build, or through specialised workflows that general-purpose platforms may not easily serve.

“As the interfaces through which consumers discover, buy and pay continue to evolve, the ability to maintain the underlying customer relationship could become an increasingly important measure of platform strength,” Tay said.

-- BERNAMA

ITRON LAUNCHES GRID EDGE METERS FOR APAC UTILITIES

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 23 (Bernama) -- Itron Inc, an intelligent infrastructure provider for modern energy and water management, has announced the availability of its grid edge portfolio, including Itron Riva S and Itron Riva T IEC electricity meters, for utilities in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region.

As the first Itron Gen6 network platform devices available in APAC, the launch marks a significant milestone in its expansion of Grid Edge Intelligence in the region, according to the company in a statement.

Itron senior vice president of Networked Solutions, John Marcolini said the launch was an important step in helping utilities translate awareness into action, with an interoperable and modular architecture designed to preserve technology choice and expand value over time.

The Itron Riva meters provide utilities with a practical starting point to improve visibility across the low-voltage network and respond to the growing impact of distributed energy resources (DERs) with advanced intelligence over time.

Serving as both grid sensors and DER control points, the meters provide utilities with real-time visibility into grid conditions, enabling earlier identification of emerging network faults and constraints, proactive management of growing DERs across the low-voltage network, and optimisation of operational and capital budget allocation.

By extending sensing and intelligence to the grid edge, the Itron Riva meters allow utilities to begin with advanced metering and localised grid awareness and seamlessly expand to distributed intelligence (DI) applications as operational needs evolve, improving grid reliability, resilience and efficiency.

The meters also extend visibility beyond energy consumption data, helping utilities detect voltage fluctuations, transformer loading issues, emerging faults and other network conditions through high-frequency sensing and edge computing capabilities.

Built on open DLMS/COSEM standards and designed to meet International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) requirements, the meters help utilities modernise their infrastructure while maintaining flexibility to integrate with existing and future technologies.

The Itron Riva IEC electricity meter is initially available in Australia, New Zealand and Singapore and is expected to expand to additional APAC countries, helping utilities modernise grid operations and respond to growing network complexity across the region.

-- BERNAMA

World Off-Track on Nearly Every Food System Goal – Latest Assessment Reveals

Geneva, Washington DC, Sep. 23, 2026 /AgilityPR-AsiaNet/--

The 2026 Food Systems Countdown analysis reveals that progress is too slow and insufficient to meet 2030 goals, but 2050 could still be achievable, provided actions are consistent and accelerated.

The latest study from the Food Systems Countdown Initiative (FSCI) reveals the stark reality of where global food systems transformation stands – for most indicators on health, environment, livelihoods, governance and resilience, a vast majority of countries will not meet the internationally agreed 2030 goals. And for some indicators such as greenhouse gas emissions from food systems, no country in the world is projected to meet the target.

The study, published in Nature Food , represents the most comprehensive performance assessment of food systems to date, covering 197 countries and 44 indicators across five themes: diets, nutrition and health; environment, natural resources and production; livelihoods, poverty and equity; governance; and resilience. And for the first time, the study goes beyond tracking trends to assess progress and measure how food systems are actually performing, and how much more needs to improve to meet globally set targets.

“What makes this Countdown paper different is that it doesn't just tell countries whether they're moving in the right direction — it tells them how far they still have to go, and against a benchmark that's actually within reach. That distinction between tracking trends and measuring performance is what turns a monitoring exercise into a tool for accountability,” said Dr. Bianca Carducci, lead author.

Key Findings:

• The study finds that, of 30 indicators, only one — mobile phone subscriptions, a proxy for connectedness and resilience — has been met by most countries. For 22 indicators, fewer than one third of countries will meet their global target or benchmark by 2030.
• The indicator ‘greenhouse gas emissions from food systems’ has one of the largest gaps, with the global average 75% away from the target. No country in the world will meet the target at its current pace.

Most regions of the world would need dramatic annual changes to achieve 2030 targets. For example, Africa will require at least a 15-20% improvement across 23 indicators every single year, and Asia will have to cut food insecurity by over 63% every year. High-income regions are not exempt. In Europe, 19 indicators remain unattainable by 2030. The analysis also shows that some indicators are moving in the wrong direction, notably civil society participation, governmental accountability, ultra-processed food sales, agricultural water withdrawal, pesticide use and changes in emissions from food systems.

“Accountability for food systems transformation requires accelerated progress — without it, efforts risk becoming performative rather than transformative. We can no longer afford to continue at the present pace,” said Dr. Mario Herrero, Professor, Ashley School of Global Development and the Environment, Cornell University.

Bright Spots Offer Hope

Despite the sobering picture for 2030, the study is not entirely bleak. For 7 of 33 indicators, at least a third of countries are already on track to meet the 2030 target. And half the indicators have been moving in a desirable direction at the global level. The study also offers the pace at which changes are required to achieve the targets by 2050, making progress feel achievable rather than impossible.

In some cases, regional and income benchmarks provide more realistic milestones that can motivate countries. For example, on average African countries are 58.7% away from the global benchmark for affordability of a healthy diet, but that gap narrows to 32.2% when measured against a regional benchmark set by the average of the top fifth of African countries.

“Bold global targets are vital for inspiring ambition. But they can become a source of inertia if they seem permanently out of reach. Therefore, regional and income-group benchmarks keep progress within sight and help identify the exemplar countries that can show others how it is achievable,” said Dr. Jessica Fanzo, James Anderson Professor of Food Policy and Climate at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies Europe.

Urgent Call to Accelerate Action

The study highlights the urgent need for accelerated action across all indicators. Priority actions should focus on indicators where progress is most off track, like food affordability, food insecurity, government effectiveness and food systems emissions. Food systems emissions change will require annual reductions exceeding 60%, which is challenging even for 2050.

“Food systems transformation is a shared responsibility. The governance indicators including government effectiveness, accountability and civil society participation are not just one category among five. They are the enablers. Improving them unlocks progress across the entire system,” said Dr. Lawrence Haddad, Executive Director, Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition.

Improving government effectiveness and accountability are the critical leverage points that interact with the largest number of indicators. However, the urgent need for transformation involves more concerted, creative and accelerated action from the global community that must recommit to achieving these targets by 2050, especially for those most vulnerable.

“The kind of comprehensive assessment that this Countdown study provides is critical for governments and all other partners to set priorities, direct investments and resources, and draft and redraft policies. Our global food systems demand urgent, decisive action — starting now,” said Dr. José Rosero Moncayo, Chief Statistician and Director of the Statistics Division, Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

The 2026 Food Systems Countdown analysis gives every country a mirror, as well as a signpost for what needs to be done, in which direction and at what pace. The world owes it to the billions whose livelihoods depend on food systems, and the billions more who cannot afford a healthy diet, to act now, and to act fast.

WEBINAR:

The findings of the report will be presented at a Webinar, including a Q&A with the FSCI researchers.

Register Free -
https://gainhealth.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_VzrB_-YjREGaXAzXNN5xPw#/registration

Date: September 25 th , 2026, Time: 9:30-10:30 Eastern Time.


MEDIA CONTACTS:

For interview requests and/or enquiries regarding the 2026 Countdown study and report, please contact:

T Sam Kaiser, Media & Communications Manager

Email: tkaiser@gainhealth.org

Phone: +91 96771 33877


Christopher Emsden, FAO News and Media (Rome)

Email: christopher.emsden@fao.org

Phone: (+39) 06 570 53291


More on this topic

Full report: https://openknowledge.fao.org/handle/20.500.14283/ce0778en

Summary: https://openknowledge.fao.org/handle/20.500.14283/ce0482en

Nature Food article: https://www.nature.com/articles/s43016-026-01379-0


About the study:

The study, “Food Systems Performance Evaluated Against Targets and Benchmarks Reveals Urgent Gaps and a Path to 2050,” and accompanying report, “The Food Systems Countdown Report 2026: Assessing Performance, Driving Change,” is available at www.foodcountdown.org. Country-level data and profiles are accessible through the Food Systems Dashboard. Code is available on GitHub (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0).

About the Countdown:

The Food Systems Countdown Initiative (FSCI) is a global interdisciplinary research collaboration co-led by Johns Hopkins University, Cornell University, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization and the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition. It produces annual monitoring reports and a country-level data platform to support evidence-based policymaking and accountability for food systems transformation.

Source: The Food Systems Countdown Initiative

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BEACON ACCELERATES AI DEPLOYMENT WITH HAIZE LABS ACQUISITION

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 18 (Bernama) -- Beacon Software (Beacon), the first centralised artificial intelligence (AI) holding company, has acquired Haize Labs, an AI reliability company testing and safeguarding AI agents for real-world deployment.

The Haize Labs team will join Beacon to form its Applied AI Research Group, with its co-founder and chief executive officer (CEO), Leonard Tang, joining as vice president of AI Research to lead the AI operating system deployed across Beacon’s companies.

“Haize Labs brings exceptional engineers to Beacon who know how to find where AI fails and make it better. Together, we will build AI our customers can count on, in the software they already use and trust,” said Beacon founder and CEO, Nilam Ganenthiran in a statement.

Meanwhile, Tang said: “Haize Labs was founded with the mission of building AI that any business can depend on. Now, our work will be put directly to use for Beacon’s broad and growing portfolio of essential businesses.”

Beacon said it believes that the fastest way to bring AI to the traditional economy is through the software businesses that essential industries already use and trust, equipping them with AI infrastructure.

The company acquires these businesses for long-term growth and connects them to a centralised AI operating system that compounds with each additional acquisition and industry.

The addition of the Haize Labs team will strengthen this centralised technology platform, which provides shared engineering, AI, product and go-to-market capabilities to Beacon’s portfolio of 45 software companies with customers across recreation, utilities, education, government, manufacturing and other essential industries.

Key focuses for Beacon’s new Applied AI Research Group include creating reusable AI infrastructure that compounds across its portfolio without erasing the local context of each company and translating domain expertise into evaluation and feedback systems that define what good looks like in each business.

In addition, the group will build continuous testing, red teaming and observability for AI agents before and after deployment, as well as develop AI products that reduce administrative burden, improve customer service and help portfolio businesses grow.

-- BERNAMA