Category: ARTICLE

How AI Is Shaping the Future of Banking in Three Leading Southeast Asian Countries

          Southeast Asian markets have seen a vast uptake in AI-led financial technology solutions. See how OneConnect Financial Technology contributes to this digital revolution in financial services.           Artificial Intelligence (AI) has made steady, visible changes to a broad variety of industry types, among which includes the global financial services sector. Increasingly, the industry has grown dependent on technology in only a few short decades. Among the various ways that AI is applied within financial services include data aggregation, security, authentication, goods, and services. To provide a sense of how rapidly its applications have scaled, the market for AI in banking was assessed at $3.88 billion in 2020. By the end of the decade, it is anticipated to rise by 32.6% CAGR to $64.03 billion.          Southeast Asian nations have not been left out amid this rapid growth in AI applications within financial services. In fact, Southeast Asia with some of the most rapidly developing economies in the world has even spearheaded this rapid deployment of AI in finance,

The new semi-high-speed train makes Laos more accessible than ever

          Long regarded as a backwater in Southeast Asia, Laos is famous for its soporific vibe. So much so that the acronym in the country’s official title — Lao PDR — is often mangled from People’s Democratic Republic to Please Don’t Rush. But the new railway is encouraging a faster pace.        The train links Vientiane with top visitor destinations like Vang Vieng — a karst-studded playground famous for its adventure options — as well as Luang Prabang, the country’s charming former royal capital, and Luang Namtha, with its patchwork of hill tribe minorities and jungle-clad mountains — perfect for trekking and eco-tourism. And it is a potential godsend for a tourism industry that desperately needs visitors in the wake of the pandemic.         Indeed, the semi-high-speed route now opens between Vientiane, just across the Mekong River from Thailand, and Boten, on the border with Yunnan Province in China, is not just revolutionary for Laos: it’s as advanced as any railway infrastructure seen in Southeast Asia until now.      

Is this the end of crypto?

The collapse of FTX has dealt a catastrophic blow to crypto’s reputation and aspirations.           The fall from grace was hard and fast.  Sam Bankman-Fried was in the stratosphere only a fortnight ago. FTX, his cryptocurrency exchange, then the third-largest, was valued at $32bn; his own wealth was estimated at $16bn. To the gushing venture capitalists (vcs) of Silicon Valley, he was the financial genius who could wow investors while playing video games, destined, perhaps, to become the world’s first trillionaire. In Washington he was the acceptable face of crypto, communing with lawmakers and bankrolling efforts to influence its regulation.           Today there is nothing left but 1m furious creditors, dozens of shaky crypto firms, and a proliferation of regulatory and criminal probes. The high-speed implosion of FTX has dealt a catastrophic blow to an industry with a history of failure and scandals. Never before has crypto looked so criminal, wasteful, and useless.           The more that comes out about the demise of ftx, the more shocking the tale becomes.

Investors are becoming too optimistic about the world economy

American inflation, Europe’s energy crisis, and China’s zero-covid policy are still enormous problems           A surge of optimism is running through financial markets. For most of the year, America’s high inflation has proved troublingly persistent, Europe’s energy crisis has threatened covid-19 lockdowns and a property bust has plagued a deep recession and China’s economy. Investors are now cheering developments on all three fronts. America’s annual inflation fell from 8.2% to 7.7% in October. Europe’s natural-gas prices are down by two-thirds from their peak in August. China has loosened some restrictions associated with its “zero-covid” policy and on November 11th unveiled measures to ease the financial pressure on embattled property developers. This flurry of news has sent global stocks up by 13% since mid-October, as traders priced in fewer interest-rate rises by central banks and caused the dollar to fall.            Alas, investors are getting ahead of themselves. America’s inflation is coming down because pandemic-related disruptions to supply chains are dissipating. A year ago dozens of ships were anchored outside Los Angeles waiting to be unloaded, and semiconductors

The importance of the Creative Economy

          The creative economy is evolving concept that interplays between human creativity and ideas and intellectual property, knowledge, and technology. Including, the creative economy covers the knowledge-based economic activities upon which the creative industries are based. These industries comprise advertising, architecture, arts and crafts, design, fashion, film, video, photography, music, performing arts, publishing, research and development, software, computer games, electronic publishing, and TV/radio. Furthermore, the creative industries are the most dynamic sector in the world economy, because this sector provided new opportunities for developing countries to cross into emerging high-growth areas of the world economy.           The data show that the creative industries are not a rapidly growing sector of the world economy only, but also generate revenues, jobs, and exports. This sector contributes over 6.1% to global GDP, an average between 2% and 7% of the national GDP around the world. From the data of the UN estimate, these industries generate annual revenues of over 2 trillion dollars and provide jobs for people worldwide of almost 50 million. Global trade in

Why Indonesia matters

Indonesia is back on the map. In the next decade, it will only become more important           This week G20 took place in Indonesia, the most important country that people routinely overlook. The last time its economy and politics were in the global spotlight was during the mayhem of the 1990s when a crony-capitalist system collapsed amid the Asian financial crisis, causing the fall of the 32-year-long dictatorship of Suharto.         Over the next quarter-century, the country’s clout could increase spectacularly. The economy is one reason. Indonesia is the sixth-biggest emerging market by GDP, and in the past decade has grown faster than any other $1trn-plus economy bar China and India. A source of dynamism is digital services, which are helping create a more integrated consumer market, with over 100m people collectively spending $80bn a year on everything from e-payments to apps for on-demand trucking.           Another economic catalyst is Indonesia-specific. With a fifth of global reserves of nickel, used in batteries, the country is a vital link in

Lottery, winning or dreaming?

          A lottery is a game of chance or a process in which winners are selected at random. Lotteries can be used in sports team drafts, the allocation of scarce medical treatment, and other decision-making situations. Some of the more popular lotteries are financial, with participants betting a small sum of money for the chance of winning a big jackpot. While financial lotteries have been criticized as an addictive form of gambling, sometimes the money raised is used for good causes in the public sector.           A lottery refers to a random draw, which results in a winner or small group of winners. When there is a high demand for something limited, a lottery may be run to make a process fair for everyone.           Since 1948, the Lottery was studied by the impoverished to buy them described in Marginal Utility Theory by Milton Friedman and Leonard J. Savage.  The microeconomic theory states that consumer choice is made on margins, meaning consumers constantly compare marginal utility from consuming

Hunt Outlines £55 Billion Squeeze on UK as Recession Starts

            Jeremy Hunt outlined a £55 billion ($65 billion) package of tax rises and spending cuts for the UK to plug a hole in the nation’s finances and restore confidence among investors.          The Chancellor of the Exchequer hit the wealthy with higher taxes on wages and dividends and extended a windfall tax on oil and gas companies, telling the House of Commons on Thursday that he was prioritizing “stability, growth, and public services.”                “We take difficult decisions to tackle inflation and keep mortgage rates down,” Hunt told lawmakers as he unveiled his Autumn Statement — a budget in all but name. “But our plan also leads to a shallower downturn; lower energy bills; higher long-term growth; and a stronger NHS and education system.”              Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s government is pushing through the measures to restore confidence among investors in Britain’s ability to pay its way after a disastrous experiment with deep tax cuts by his predecessor, Liz Truss.

2023 ASEAN’s Growth Forecast

          The COVID-19 pandemic has affected the world economy, especially the export-import sector affected by the COVID-19 curb and lockdown. After that, some countries have eased with the COVID-19 curb and the economy is recovering, but unfortunately, at the beginning of this year Russia attacked Ukraine, hence western nations sanctioned financial of Russia, then Russia responded by stopping the supply of gas and oil to western nations. Moreover, this year every country has faced a hike inflation rate which is the main factor of economic growth. All of these actions have affected the world economy.           The economic outlook for 2022 in Southeast Asia, The Asian Development Bank (ADB) reported that the 2022 growth projection for Southeast Asia is 5.1% from 4.9%, as consumer spending in Indonesia, Myanmar, and the Philippines enlarged after the government has eased with the COVID-19 curb and opened borders. However, growth projections in Laos, Singapore, Thailand, and Timor-Leste have transitioned downward the causes of weaker external demand from major economies, for Brunei, Cambodia, Malaysia, and Vietnam the

Bank App. crashing not exceed 8.7 hours/year

          The Financial Consumer Protection Center (FCC) reported statistics of  Bank system failure in the 3rd quarter of 2022, it has shown that TTBThanachart (TTB) was failure 6 times, spending 46 hours Siam Commercial Bank (SCB) was failure 6 times, spending 6 hours UOB Bank (UOB) was failure 1 time, spending 2 hours Krungthai (KTB), Krungsri (BAY), CITI Bank (CITI), CIMB, and TISCO were failure 1 time, spending 1 hour           From these issues, the BOT arranged criteria to control mobile bank applications not crashing more than 8.7 hours/year to increase comfort and confidence, and reduce system stumble because people tend to pay via bank applications or Prompt pay more than before, as well as a cashless society. However, the BOT is preparing and considering punishment and guidelines while bank applications crash. After the BOT was announced, all banks must accept BOT’s condition.           For Service Level Agreement (SLA) stated the condition that the crashing time of bank application should not exceed 8.7 hours/year which is the time