AC Ventures’ ESG Head Lauren Blasco Recruited by ASEAN Business Advisory Council for Carbon Center of Excellence

Will serve a five-year term advising public and private stakeholders on voluntary carbon markets.
ASEAN Alliance on Scaling Carbon Markets to be launched, aims to scale up voluntary carbon markets across ASEAN

The ASEAN Business Advisory Council (ASEAN-BAC) Green & Sustainable Working Group has inducted AC Ventures’ Principal and Head of ESG Lauren…Continue Reading

Cross-border data flows improving in ASEAN as countries embrace open data transfer policies: Salesforce

Indonesia moves up two spots to 13th since 2021
Singapore retains the third spot behind Japan and the UK

Salesforce released Data Beyond Borders 3.0, its third report analysing the state of G20 economies and Singapore’s openness to cross-border data flows. “Cross-border data transfers drive economic success. In ASEAN, economies like Singapore are reaping the…Continue Reading

Boost becomes first digital financier in Malaysia to get investment-grade rating upgrade to AAA by RAM

First fintech in Malaysia to receive highest possible issue rating
Upgraded rating cements already established market confidence in M’sia, SEA

Boost, the fintech arm of Axiata, recently achieved a milestone by becoming the first digital financier in Malaysia to be upgraded to the highest investment-grade issue rating of AAA by RAM Ratings. The…Continue Reading

Indonesia’s eFishery nets US0m funding, claims to be first aquaculture startup to cross USbil valuation

Led by 42XFund from Abu Dhabi, with Malaysia’s KWAP, 500 Global & others
eFishery contributed 1.55% of Indonesian aquaculture sector GDP in 2022

eFishery, an aquaculture company from Indonesia, announced it had raised US$200 million (RM931.6 million) in Series D funding last week to accelerate its target of developing the cultivator community in Indonesia and increasing…Continue Reading

Malaysian Productivity Corp and UiTM introduce productivity module for final semester students

65 students from the elective final year took the course
Is one of the modules for students in the faculty of Mechanical Engineering

The Malaysian Productivity Corporation (MPC) developed a new productivity-related module to strengthen students’ knowledge in achieving the government’s agenda to increase the nation’s productivity.
The new module is a collaboration between…Continue Reading

BNM announced winners of the AML/CFT Hackathon 2023

Participants from regulatory bodies, law enforcement, financial institutions, undergrads​
Calls for relevant stakeholders to explore digital tools prototyped & combat financial crimes

Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) has announced the winners of the Anti-Money Laundering/Counter Financing of Terrorism Hackathon 2023. The Hackathon was launched in April and attracted over 660 participants from 140 teams, representing more than 20 countries from the…Continue Reading

Kroll: Lack of communication weakens cyber resilience, say 52% of Singapore’s senior security decision makers

95% of security decision-makers lack senior leadership trust in protecting firms
Only 20% of security professionals with cyber-mature security ops have cyber insurance

Kroll, the leading independent provider of global risk and financial advisory solutions, announced the release of its report State of Cyber Defense 2023: The False-Positive of Trust. 
In a statement the…Continue Reading

Income of e-commerce transactions in Malaysia rose 10.4% YoY in Q1 of 2023

The first quarter of 2023 recorded a US$62.511 billion growth
Annual e-commerce income for 2022 was US$235.646 billion

Malaysia’s e-commerce income by establishment recorded a notable growth of 10.4% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2023, to reach US$62.511 billion (RM291.7 billion). This growth was primarily driven by Manufacturing and Services sectors. In…Continue Reading

Paywatch, Visa sign MoU to promote financial inclusion among Asia’s workforce

Aims to bridge gap between traditional banking & Asia’s unbanked
Plans to expand across Asia via Visa’s cross-border capabilities, network

Paywatch, an Earned Wage Access (EWA) startup based in Malaysia, announced last week an MoU with Visa to promote financial inclusion among Asia’s workforce. In a statement, the firm said it aims to…Continue Reading

Is there an opportunity for Malaysia in carbon capture?

46 trillion cubic feet of potential carbon storage capacity identified
Tax incentives were announced in Budget 2023 to spur activity

Malaysia has pledged to cut carbon intensity against GDP by 45% by 2030 compared to 2005 levels, in line with its commitment to achieving carbon neutrality by 2050. As previously reported by…Continue Reading