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Hong Kong Trade Development Council Chairman Dr Peter KN Lam confident in Hong Kong’s business environment

indie
2 minutes

HONG KONG, Jul 20, 2021 - (ACN Newswire via SEAPRWire.com) - The Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC) noticed recent discussions on Hong Kong's business environment. Dr Peter KN Lam, Chairman of the HKTDC, said that most companies operating in Hong Kong remain confident in the city's business landscape.Dr. Lam said, "Based on my interaction with Hong Kong's international business community, they are excited about the vast opportunities arising from the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area development, and see Hong Kong as the ideal entry point.""As a global business hub, Hong Kong's fundamental strengths remain robust. The city continues to be a place which is easy to do business, has a rich pool of international talent, and enjoys economic freedom, a low level of corruption and free flow of capital, goods, people and information. I believe global investors and the business community are confident in Hong Kong's continued role as a two-way investment and business platform," Dr. Lam added.Given Asia's strong growth potential as well as opportunities arising from the Mainland's 14th Five-Year Plan, dual circulation policy and development of the Greater Bay Area, the HKTD...

ACN Newswire
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ZALL Makes Headway in Global Digital Trade with New Strategic Rebrand

indie
5 minutes

SINGAPORE, Jul 16, 2021 - (ACN Newswire via SEAPRWire.com) - ZALL Smart Commerce Group (ZALL), Asia's largest B2B e-commerce group, looks to become the world's leading global digital trade platform with its new strategic rebrand. It aims to create an open and interconnected B2B trading ecosystem between China and ASEAN, and to drive the rapid growth and development of industries and businesses through the use of new trading methods and advanced technologies.With the strategic rebrand, ZALL aims to create value through its global intelligent services across B2B transactions, supply chain services and digital cloud services, transforming industrial value chains across the region and enabling businesses to improve overall efficiency. ZALL currently serves around 30 B2B platforms in China, the United States and Singapore, to millions of SMEs worldwide. It has also been investing heavily in the development of next-generation intelligent trading platforms to help empower seamless data exchange across platforms integrating information, logistics and capital flows across wholesale and commodities, retail trade and logistics industries in China and Singapore.Testament to their hard work and...

SeaPRwire
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New data-sharing platform for shipping industry aims to reduce inefficiency: Heng Swee Keat

aseanpr
5 minutes

SINGAPORE - A new digital infrastructure for the shipping industry aims to smooth out the kinks in cargo handling processes, anchoring ways for logistics players to optimise operations. This could unlock more than US$150 million (S$202 million) of value for the supply chain ecosystem in Singapore each year, said Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat on Tuesday (July 13). He hailed the service, called Singapore Trade Data Exchange, as a breakthrough for the industry, which is at present marked by "significant inefficiencies". "Logistics players face frequent congestion at depots and warehouses," Mr Heng observed. "They are not able to fully plan due to limited visibility of where the cargo is in the supply chain." In addition, shippers often have to complete multiple forms requiring similar pieces of information, while buyers are unable to accurately track their orders. Having a common data infrastructure will allow firms to exchange information, giving them access to previously unavailable or hard-to-obtain data such as real-time cargo location. This will help industry players optimise cargo handling and operations. The new service, announced by Mr Heng at the Asia Tech x Singapore ...

SeaPRwire

US trade deficit widens in May on rising exports

elean
2 minutes

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The US trade gap widened again in May after narrowing in the prior month, according to government data released on Friday (July 2), as imports increased amid surging consumer demand. The trade deficit in goods and services rose US$2.2 billion to US$71.2 billion, as the US$3.5 billion jump in imports was nearly triple the rise in exports in the month, the Commerce Department reported. As the world's largest economy has reopened and recovered faster than other regions, Americans have come out to spend on homes, travel and other goods, and the data showed the trade gap in the first five months of the year far outpaced the same period of 2020 or 2019. "The trade deficit is poised to remain wide as the fiscally powered, consumer driven recovery in the US runs ahead of the global economic rebound," Kathy Bostjancic of Oxford Economics said in an analysis of the report. The report showed big gains in imports of oil, lumber, computers and telecommunications equipment. The trade deficit with China in goods alone narrowed for the second month in a row, dropping more than US$5 billion to US$27.2 billion. But the gap with the European Union jumped on a US$2.3 billion increas...

ACN Newswire
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Online Brokerage Tiger Brokers strengthens Singapore operations with approvals-in-principle for SGX trading membership in securities and derivatives, and CDP clearing rights in Singapore

indie
6 minutes

SINGAPORE, Jun 28, 2021 - (ACN Newswire via SEAPRWire.com) - Xiaomi-backed online brokerage Tiger Brokers (Singapore) Pte. Ltd. ("Tiger Brokers Singapore") today announced that it has received approval-in-principle to be admitted as a Clearing Member of The Central Depository (Pte) Limited ("CDP"). Tiger Brokers has also received approval-in-principle from Singapore Exchange Securities Trading Limited ("SGX-ST") as well as Singapore Exchange Derivatives Trading Limited (SGX-DT") for admission as a Trading Member.Tiger Brokers expects to use these approvals-in-principle to improve the user experience and services it offers to clients. Tiger Brokers looks forward to developing its partnerships with CDP, SGX-ST and SGX-DT and strengthening its presence in the Singapore market.Eng Thiam Choon, CEO of Tiger Brokers Singapore commented, "Tiger Brokers Singapore has always been focused on bringing a superior user experience to investors. These approvals-in-principle, together with our previous partnerships spanning financial data, cloud and financial technology, are part of our focus on providing a superior user experience to investors."Officially launched in Singapore in February 2020, T...

ACN Newswire
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Singapore’s Commodities Intelligence Centre Signs Investment Agreement to Establish Its Overseas Digital Trade Platform in Chongqing’s Guoyuan Port

indie
4 minutes

SINGAPORE, Jun 17, 2021 - (ACN Newswire via SEAPRWire.com) - Singapore-based Commodities Intelligence Centre (CIC) has signed an investment agreement with Chongqing Liangjiang New District Management Committee. The agreement will see an investment commitment of RMB 10 million (S$2.07 million) by CIC to establish its overseas digital trade platform in China's Guoyuan Port in Chongqing Municipality. The agreement was formally inked by Mr Luo Lin, Deputy Secretary of the Party Working Committee and Director of the Management Committee of Chongqing Liangjiang New Area and Mr Peter Yu, Chief Executive Officer of CIC, at the "Chongqing Liangjiang New Area Key Technology Innovation Projects Virtual Signing Ceremony". CIC's parent company, ZALL Smart Commerce Group (2098.HK), also announced its plans to invest in Guoyuan Port for their projects in West China.The project is expected to contribute towards the China-Singapore (Chongqing) Connectivity Initiative, and will be able to tap on CIC platform capabilities in Singapore to enable data interconnection and interoperability and grow a vibrant commodity trading ecosystem in Guoyuan Port. The move comes as CIC is stepping up efforts to expa...

SeaPRwire

US stocks end near flat as trade deficit declines

elean
2 minutes

NEW YORK (AFP) - Wall Street stocks finished a choppy session little changed on Tuesday (June 8) as markets digested data showing a lower US trade deficit while upstart retail investors found a new favourite vehicle. The US trade deficit dipped by US$6.1 billion (S$8 billion) to US$68.9 billion in April, slightly larger than expected, as exports rose and imports fell, according to Commerce Department data. Retail investors on WallStreetBets, part of the Reddit platform, coalesced on Tuesday around Clover Health Investments, lifting the insurer by more than 85 per cent in the latest surprise wave of stock-buying. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished down 0.1 per cent at 34,599.82. The broad-based S&P 500 was flat at 4,227.26, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index advanced 0.3 per cent to 13,924.91. Equities have been choppy in recent weeks as investors have assessed the upside of the reopening economy against worries over inflation and supply chain troubles. This week's calendar includes crucial consumer price data on Thursday that could either exacerbate or mitigate inflation worries. Among individual companies, Southwest Airlines jumped one percent after disclosing in a ...

SeaPRwire

Singapore stocks’ stellar run stalls as Covid-19 cases rise

elean
4 minutes

SINGAPORE (BLOOMBERG) - A rally in one of Asia's best-performing stock markets is stalling amid rising Covid-19 cases at home and a rethink of the global reflation trade. Second only to Taiwan among Asia's major benchmarks this year, Singapore's Straits Times Index (STI) has slipped almost 1 per cent so far in May, paring 2021's gains to around 13 per cent. The reintroduction of social distancing rules following a near doubling of new local infections has weighed on investor sentiment, despite the country having one of the highest vaccine coverage in Asia. But this isn't only a Singapore story. The Asian financial hub is a microcosm of the worldwide economic rebound, with exports standing at more than 150 per cent of gross domestic product. And with an Asia-leading 86 per cent weighting in so-called cyclicals, the STI has stuttered alongside a pause in the global rotation to such economically-sensitive shares. "We believe the STI is poised for a pullback given the near-term reintroduction of Covid-19 measures and a seasonally weak month of May," said Kee Yan Yeo, a strategist at DBS Bank. "We see the STI turning sideways" in coming months, he added. The benchmark has fallen on aver...

ACN Newswire
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DiMuto and OPAL Announce Agrifood Fintech Partnership to Tackle Trillion Dollar Global Trade Finance Gap

indie
5 minutes

SINGAPORE, Apr 30, 2021 - (ACN Newswire via SEAPRWire.com) - DiMuto, a global agri-fintech trade solutions company that provides end-to-end supply chain visibility for global agrifood trade, has partnered with OPAL, a Major Payment Institution (MPI) licensed by Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), to provide payment services on the blockchain-powered DiMuto Platform. Lim Ming Wang, Co-Founder and COO of OPAL, with Gary Loh, Founder and CEO of DiMuto at the MoU Signing CeremonyThe two companies are collaborating to bring together the strengths of both companies to innovate and transform the future of payments and financing in the agrifood trade space. Working together provides an exciting opportunity to leverage OPAL's expertise in international payment, multi-currency wallets, FX management and financing solutions alongside DiMuto's strong network of agrifood clientele, robust trade digitalization technology and capability to collect asset-based data.DiMuto and OPAL will develop a new first-of-its-kind payment module that will allow DiMuto's agrifood customers to make payments directly tagged to the movement of goods on the DiMuto Platform, creating visibility of both the movemen...

SeaPRwire

Singapore and region stand to benefit from RCEP free trade agreement: MAS

aseanpr
4 minutes

SINGAPORE - The world's largest trade pact will reduce tariffs and harmonise trade rules, and Singapore and the region stand to gain from it by being more deeply plugged into global supply chains. This is the conclusion drawn by the Monetary Authority of Singapore's biannual macroeconomic review released on Wednesday (April 28), which said that the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) is expected to increase regional trade flows and deepen cross-border production linkages among its 15 member economies. The review noted that analysis based on past trade pacts such as Singapore's free trade agreements with China and South Korea shows that Singapore became more integrated into the supply chains centred on these countries. In the same vein, the RCEP will boost the region's competitiveness as a location for supply chains, it said. "It should therefore help to draw in investments, offering companies a broad array of production locations with differing comparative advantages, and the opportunity to export at preferential tariff rates to a wide economic area comprising both high-income consumers and a large and growing middle-income segment." The RCEP brings together the 10 A...

SeaPRwire
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S.A.M. Trade (Asia) Pte Ltd (OTC: SMFX) begins US OTC trading

pandora
3 minutes

St Vincent & the Grenadines, Apr 14, 2021 - (ACN Newswire) - Global trading broker Samtrade FX Ltd. (Samtrade FX, the "Company"), together with its subsidiaries (the "Group"), announces that its affiliate, S.A.M. Trade (Asia) Pte Ltd, commenced trading March 31 on the US OTC markets under the symbol SMFX.Sam Goh, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Samtrade FX, commented: "This strategic milestone brings us one step closer to realising our vision of becoming a front runner in the global financial services industry by 2025. Being publicly traded on the OTC markets helps to advance Samtrade FX's visibility and brand equity, as well as allowing investors to be a part of our growth journey."The Group has made great strides in the past few years, with Samtrade FX securing several awards including "Best Trading Platform, Asia", "Best Forex Introducing Broker, Asia" and "Best FOREX ECN/STP Broker" at The London Trader Show 2020. This serves as a testament to its strong reputation, credibility, and recognition by the industry's top experts, as well as retail traders from around the world.As part of elevating its brand awareness globally, Samtrade FX had also inked sponsorship agreem...

ACN Newswire
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HKTDC welcomes economic recovery measures in 2021/22 Budget

indie
3 minutes

HONG KONG, Feb 24, 2021 - (ACN Newswire) - The Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC) welcomes the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) 2021/22 Budget, including the additional funding to the Council, to help revive the economy and support small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to tackle the challenges brought by the COVID-19 pandemic and economic downturn. The Budget was announced by the HKSAR Financial Secretary Paul Chan earlier today.HKTDC Chairman Dr Peter K N Lam said: "We welcome the economic recovery measures announced in the Budget, including fee waivers, tax reduction and optimising the 'SME Financing Guarantee Scheme' which would help relief the pressure on cash flow for SMEs. The Government's injection of new capital into the 'Dedicated Fund on Branding, Upgrading and Domestic Sales (BUD Fund)' and expansion of geographical coverage will also help Hong Kong companies tap into more promising markets."Dr Lam said: "With the world still fighting the COVID-19 pandemic, we expect many international trade fairs and conferences may continue to be held virtually. Even when the pandemic subsides, a physical cum virtual hybrid model will likely be the new norm....

SeaPRwire
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China returns as top India trade partner even as relations sour

elean
2 minutes

MUMBAI (BLOOMBERG) - China regained its position as India's top trade partner in 2020, as New Delhi's reliance on imported machines outweighed its efforts to curb commerce with Beijing after a bloody border conflict. Two-way trade between the longstanding economic and strategic rivals stood at US$77.7 billion (S$102.65 billion) last year, according to provisional data from India's commerce ministry. Although that was lower than the previous year's US$85.5 billion total, it was enough to make China the largest commercial partner displacing the US - bilateral trade with whom came in at US$75.9 billion amid muted demand for goods in the middle of a pandemic. While Prime Minister Narendra Modi banned hundreds of Chinese apps, slowed approvals for investments from the neighbor and called for self-reliance after a deadly clash along their disputed Himalayan border, India continues to rely heavily on Chinese-made heavy machinery, telecom equipment and home appliances. As a result, the bilateral trade gap with China was at almost US$40 billion in 2020, making it India's largest. Total imports from China at US$58.7 billion were more than India's combined purchases from the US and the UAE, w...

SeaPRwire
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China overtakes US as EU’s biggest trading partner

elean
2 minutes

BRUSSELS (AFP) - China last year overtook the United States as the EU's biggest trading partner, the EU statistics agency Eurostat said on Monday (Feb 15). Britain meanwhile, which is no longer part of the European Union, was the third-largest trading partner for the bloc, behind China and the United States, the agency said. The supremacy of China came after it suffered from the coronavirus pandemic during the first quarter but recovered vigorously with consumption even exceeding its level of a year ago at the end of 2020. This helped drive sales of European products, particularly in the automobile and luxury goods sectors, while China's exports to Europe benefited from strong demand for medical equipment and electronics. The dethroning of the US comes as the EU and China are seeking to ratify a long-negotiated investment deal that would give European companies better access to the Chinese market. Eurostat said the trade volume with China reached 586 billion euros ($711 billion) in 2020, compared to 555 billion euros (S$890 billion) for the US. The agency said EU exports rose by 2.2 per cent to 202.5 billion euros while at the same time, imports from the People's Republic of China ...

SeaPRwire
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Singapore upgrades merchandise trade forecast for 2021; non-oil exports grew 4.3% in 2020

elean
3 minutes

SINGAPORE - Overall merchandise trade for Singapore is expected to grow between 2 per cent and 4 per cent for the whole of 2021, up from an earlier forecast of 1 to 3 per cent growth made in November, with higher expected oil prices tipped to support oil and total trade. However, the forecast for non-oil domestic exports (Nodx) was kept at between 0 per cent to 2 per cent expansion, with continued risks and uncertainties in the global economy, said government agency Enterprise Singapore (ESG) in its trade performance review on Monday (Feb 15). Nodx grew 4.3 per cent in 2020, reversing the 9.2 per cent year-on-year decline seen in the previous year, due to higher shipments of both electronic and non-electronic products. This was despite a decline of 5.2 per cent in total merchandise trade year-on-year in 2020, after a 3.2 per cent dip the previous year. Total trade reached $969 billion in 2020, with both exports and imports seeing a decrease. This weakening in overall trade was mainly due to the contraction in oil trade by 31 per cent in 2020 amid lower oil prices than a year ago, continuing the 13.9 per cent slide seen in 2019. On a year-on-year basis, Singapore's overall trade shr...

ACN Newswire
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Tiger Brokers To Be The One-Stop Online Trading Solution For Investors; Adds Two New Trading Services

indie
7 minutes

SINGAPORE, Feb 4, 2021 - (ACN Newswire) - Xiaomi-backed online trading platform Tiger Brokers Singapore today announced the launch of two new services on their platform - Daily Leveraged Certificates (DLCs), and US-listed over the counter (OTC) stocks, designed to help seasoned investors looking for a full suite of investment options to diversify their portfolios. These services allow Singapore-based users of the Tiger Trade platform look for short-term trades and selected US-listed over the counter (OTC) stocks where securities are traded for companies not listed on the main exchanges in the US, such as LVMH-MOET Hennessy Louis Vuitton (LVMHF), Softbank Group (SFTBY) and Bitcoin investment trust (GBTC).The US OTC stocks service is now available on Tiger Brokers' platform, and DLC by the end of February.Eng Thiam Choon, CEO of Tiger Brokers shared, "We want to be a one-stop solution for our investors as we embrace more and more investment alternatives on our Tiger Trade platform. We have been seeing an increase of requests from our users to add DLCs and OTC services, especially in Q4 last year due to investors' growing demands for differential investment instruments. It is importan...

ACN Newswire
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Singapore online brokerage Tiger Brokers sees strong retail investor growth in Q4 2020 with 108% increase in new user sign ups

indie
7 minutes

SINGAPORE, Jan 20, 2021 - (ACN Newswire) - Xiaomi-backed online brokerage Tiger Brokers Singapore (Tiger Brokers https://www.tigerbrokers.com.sg/) today announced that they saw 108 per cent growth in the number of new investors in Q4 2020 as compared to Q3 2020, with trading volume increased by 215 per cent also on a quarter on quarter basis. Since February 2020, Tiger Brokers also saw the increase in Gen Z investors on the platform, which made up 30 per cent of Singapore's customer base.Tiger Brokers also announced four new strategic partnerships with financial technology provider, Iress, one of the largest and most active online trading communities, TradingView, Global financial market data and infrastructure provider, Refinitiv, and Asia's leading Financial Group, DBS. These partnerships are aimed at strengthening their online platform, by allowing investors to gain access to best-in-class and up-to-date financial information so that they will be well-informed before making their investing decisions in real time, as well as allowing investors instant fund transfer into the Tiger Trade platform respectively.In addition, Tiger Brokers also announced the launch of their new product...

SeaPRwire
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UK-Singapore free trade deal kicks in

elean
3 minutes

A free trade agreement (FTA) between the United Kingdom and Singapore takes effect from 7am today, ensuring that companies from both countries continue to enjoy the same trading benefits, even as the transition period for the UK's exit from the European Union ends. The EU-Singapore Free Trade Agreement will no longer apply to trade between UK and Singapore when the new deal kicks in, the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) said yesterday. Both countries have completed their respective domestic procedures for the FTA's provisional application, which enables them to apply treaty commitments on a provisional basis until the FTA is ratified by both sides and enters into force. The UK is Singapore's third and second largest trading partner for goods and services, respectively, as well as its top investment destination in Europe. In turn, Singapore is the UK's largest trade and investment partner in South-east Asia. The UK-Singapore FTA was inked on Dec 10 by Minister for Trade and Industry Chan Chun Sing and UK Secretary of State for International Trade Elizabeth Truss. MTI said the UK-Singapore FTA provides certainty and clarity in trading arrangements between both countries. "Compani...

JCN Newswire
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Vietnam Pilot Project Utilizing TradeWaltz Platform Adopted Under Government’s Supply-Chain Diversification Scheme

ruth
3 minutes

TOKYO, Dec 24, 2020 - (JCN Newswire) - Five Japanese companies are pleased to announce that they will be collaborating on a digitalization pilot project for Vietnam-bound trade. Slated to begin in March 2021 with operations conducted by Mitsubishi Corporation Plastics Ltd. (MCP) and Mitsubishi Corporation (MC), the project will revolve around the TradeWaltz information-sharing platform, which is managed by its namesake company TradeWaltz, Inc. (TradeWaltz). Participating in the project alongside TradeWaltz will be the platform's four initial users1, namely MCP, MC, MUFG Bank, Ltd. (MUFG), and Tokio Marine & Nichido Fire Insurance Co., Ltd. (Tokio Marine Nichido).This project has also been adopted as part of a larger scheme to help diversify overseas supply chains that was introduced in the fiscal year 2021 supplementary budget of Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI). The Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) is serving as secretariat for the diversification scheme.Trading operations still require physical documents to be processed at both corporate and government offices, and even during the pandemic, some employees have had to report to their offices once...

ACN Newswire
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ZALL Smart Commerce and CIC Launch Digital Silk Road Initiative

indie
4 minutes

SINGAPORE, Dec 15, 2020 - (ACN Newswire) - Commodities Intelligence Centre ("CIC") announces a momentous 2020 as it has jointly launched a "Digital Silk Road" initiative led by ZALL Smart Commerce Group ("ZALL"), Asia's leading B2B e-commerce Group, and joined Singapore's Blockchain for Trade & Connectivity (BTC) Network. As Singapore's first global physical commodities B2B e-trade platform powered by blockchain, together with ZALL's latest global digital trading platform, and China's largest online and offline integrated wholesale trading platform "Zallgo", CIC will help Singapore businesses uncover new opportunities and reap the benefits of the global digital trade economy through enhanced digital connectivity, in turn boosting trade across the Asia-Pacific region on the back of the world's largest trade pact, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).Zallgo was officially launched during the "2020 Global Digital Trade Conference" that was held in Wuhan last month. A total of 300 merchants sign 252 agreements on-site through ZALL's digital platform, amounting to a total of S$56.3 billion (US$42.2 billion) of cooperation agreements. The newly formed partnerships u...