Close to half of Manufacturing & Supply Chain Professionals in Southeast Asia Perceive their Companies to be Lagging the Industry in Digital Transformation

Singapore, Jul 21, 2021 – (ACN Newswire) – Almost half of the respondents, around 46.6%, believed that their own companies fell behind the industry average when it comes to utilising digital tools as part of business processes, according to a survey conducted by AIBP and Oracle from March to April. The survey counted 193 professionals*, mainly from IT, innovation & business backgrounds in manufacturing and supply chain companies across the largest economies in Southeast Asia: Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Philippines & Vietnam.

The manufacturing industry plays a significant role in local economies of Southeast Asian countries, contributing more than 20% of Gross Domestic Products in markets like Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand. Recent US-China trade tensions have also increased expectations of how manufacturing can contribute to markets like Indonesia and Vietnam. Concurrently, local governments are focused on uplifting local manufacturing capabilities by implementing policies to encourage and support initiatives towards Industry 4.0

The survey also found that 46.6% of respondents believed that the top priority of implementing digital solutions should be to drive operational efficiency in a bid to reduce costs, while 16.6% feel that it should be used to increase or create revenue opportunities.

The COVID-19 pandemic has seen supply chain disruptions across industries – while some companies struggled to come to terms with unusual fluctuations in supply and demand, other companies were better prepared. Thossaporn Petporee, SVP and part of Charoen Pokphand Foods digital committee outlined how Charoen Pokphand Foods have been ahead of the curve when it comes to digital transformation because of their experiences navigating past disruptions like the African swine fever and Avian Influenza. "Each time a pandemic hit, we prepared ourselves better. In our farms, we have the highest level of biosecurity and AI to identify animals across the farm and sales areas. We do well because we keep up to date, keep challenging ourselves." The recent pandemic has led them to develop innovative online solutions like Vet Online and chatbots which are made available to the farms across their network to allow for diagnosis of animal diseases remotely. Charoen Pokphand Foods saw a net profit increase of 41% in 2020.

Companies from the Manufacturing and Supply Chain industries continue to innovate. In 2020, 3 out of 10 winners of the annual ASEAN Enterprise Innovation Awards were from the Manufacturing and Supply Chain industries, including Kalbe Farma and Astra International. Both companies embarked on digital transformation projects which involved integration of their ERP across business units to allow for a more connected supply chains; enabling real time feedback from across the entire value chain.

"There is an urgent need to reorganize one's supply chains in the wake of 2020 and the recent Suez Canal blockage, and manufacturers in the region are rightly realising that what they have in-house is not enough when creating robust and resilient logistics processes that keep the business moving efficiently," said Michael Lim, GTM Leader, ERP & Digital Supply Chain, Oracle. "With new capabilities upgraded onto Oracle Fusion Cloud Supply Chain Management each quarter, we are helping our customers streamline logistics to fulfil orders faster, cheaper and more sustainably to deliver the operational excellence they desire."

*The survey was sent to professionals working in 1,600 publicly listed companies and/or subsidiaries of MNCs in Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Philippines, Vietnam & Singapore. These companies represent the following sectors: Consumer Durables, Non-Durables, Electronic Technology, Process Industries & Producer Manufacturing.

About AIBP

AIBP serves as an avenue for public and private organisations in Southeast Asia to access and exchange information about growth and innovation within the B2B space. With a current network of over 30,000 stakeholders in Southeast Asia, AIBP continues to develop ecosystems by engaging in activities which create value-adding information for our stakeholders seeking to make transformative impacts within their organisations. AIBP is a business unit of Industry Platform, a growth consulting firm based in Singapore.

About Industry Platform Pte Ltd

We work with public and private organisations to develop value-adding partnerships within the industries and markets which we serve. Our consulting framework advocates pursuing an integrated approach in assisting our clients in their growth and development initiatives. This includes market research, and access through business development strategy formulation and execution.

Copyright 2021 ACN Newswire. All rights reserved. http://www.acnnewswire.com

ZALL Makes Headway in Global Digital Trade with New Strategic Rebrand

SINGAPORE, Jul 16, 2021 – (ACN Newswire) – 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 effort, ZALL and its Singapore-based international trading platform, Commodities Intelligence Centre (CIC), were recently conferred the prestigious Gold and Silver Awards at the 2021 Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards during the virtual awards ceremony held on 14 July 2021. It is a major achievement for the teams as it highlights ZALL's dedication towards transforming global trade and supply chains since its strategic rebrand.

Peter Yu, Executive Vice President of ZALL Smart Commerce, Singapore, shared, "As the world continues to adapt and rise up to the challenges posed by the pandemic, we wanted to focus our efforts on digital innovation, creating an even more resilient and sustainable global trade and supply chain ecosystem. This can be done by incorporating data and digital technologies into every part of the industrial value chain, from both the demand to the supply side. With our expertise in Artificial Intelligence, Big Data and Blockchain, we believe we are well-positioned to help businesses worldwide adopt innovative technologies to succeed in the new digital world order."

On the back of its strong technology research and development capabilities, ZALL was also ranked 58th in the '2020 Global Blockchain Invention Patent Ranking' published by the incoPat Innovation Index Research Center. ZALL's research institute was granted more than 200 intellectual property rights last year, namely in the fields of blockchain, artificial intelligence and big data. Recognising the complexity and difficulty of adopting blockchain for many enterprises, ZALL recently launched 'Z-Block Gateway', a blockchain Backend-as-a-Service (BaaS) solution that is both low-code and easy to operate and deploy across various industries and mainstream cloud servers.

Alongside ZALL, CIC has also launched "CORP INFO" that offers "Know-Your-Counterparty" and "Credit Info" services to help SMEs manage their business risks by being able to verify and conduct due diligence on prospective business partners and counterparties before engaging in official dealings. Companies will have access to a range of essential business information such as business registration, historical background, holding companies, shareholders, legal and financial activities, lawsuits and related risks of more than 200 million companies and 2.1 billion trade records in Singapore, China and other parts of the world to help businesses better identify their counterparties.

About Commodities Intelligence Centre (CIC)

The Commodities Intelligence Centre (CIC) is a global trading platform for physical commodities including Ferrous & Non-Ferrous Metals, Chemicals & Plastics, Oil & Petroleum, and Agri Commodities. Officially launched in Singapore on 12 Oct 2018, CIC is a Joint Venture between China-based ZALL Smart Commerce Group, Global eTrade Services (GeTS) and Singapore Exchange (SGX) to build trade connectivity through digital marketplaces and to grow a vibrant trading ecosystem in Singapore.

CIC aims to revolutionise commodity trading and facilitate cross-border trade through deal matching, trade finance, supply chain logistics, track and trace and global trade compliance. Since its establishment in October 2018, CIC has achieved a GMV (Gross Merchandise Volume) of more than US$13.4 billion (S$17.6 billion), with over 5,800 registered users covering markets including Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, India, China, among other countries in Asia. For more information, please visit https://www.cic-tp.com/.

About ZALL Smart Commerce Group

ZALL Smart Commerce Group is a leading Chinese B2B e-commerce group (Fortune" China Top 500 list in 2020) with a global footprint across the world and its entities are listed on three exchanges on HKSE, NYSE and SSE. ZALL Group develops and operates Asia's largest B2B offline-to-online trade ecosystem in China and Southeast Asia, including Singapore, with more than 30 B2B platforms in China, US and Singapore, and a GFA of more than 10 million sqm of wholesale trade centres in China. In 2018, ZALL Group achieved a GMV of more than RMB 600 billion (US$85.2 bn), serving over 1 mil SME customers worldwide. ZALL has also obtained a virtual banking licence and currently operates Z-Bank in China since 2017, one of China's Top 5 digital banks that has supported more than 5.5 million SME and individual customers.

Since 2018, ZALL has invested in five projects in Singapore, including the Commodities Intelligence Centre (CIC), Singapore's first physical commodity eTrading platform (B2B) powered by blockchain technology; ezbuy.sg, Singapore's leading global online shopping platform; ZMA Smart Capital, an online trade finance company; ZALL Chain Technology, a blockchain solutions company. For more information, please visit http://en.zallcn.com/

Copyright 2021 ACN Newswire. All rights reserved. http://www.acnnewswire.com

Shrinath Bolloju, Managing Director, CitiBank, India Joins KGiSL

India/Singapore, July 14, 2021: KG Information Systems Private Limited (KGiSL), a global IT Products, Solutions, and Services provider, today announced the appointment of three banking leaders with impeccable leadership and track record, to support its growth and strategic vision. These senior finance professionals, with considerable expertise and a wealth of global banking experience, will significantly help in driving this critical phase of KGiSL’s growth strategy of reaching INR 1000 crore turnover in the next three years.

Shrinath Bolloju joins KGiSL as Chief Strategy Officer, Ramesh Nagesh as Chief Operating Officer, and Noor Hayati Ahmad as Senior Vice President & Country Head, KGiSL Singapore.

Welcoming the three banking stalwarts, Dr. Ashok Bakthavathsalam, Managing Director, KGiSL said, “The addition of these three well-established, seasoned leaders to the existing vibrant leadership of KGiSL supports our vision and strategy to become a strong player in the BFSI segment, especially in the banking domain. Their experience will help the accelerated growth plan we have, for the next 3 years.”

Commenting on the new additions to the leadership team, Prassadh Shanmugam, Director & Chief Executive Officer, KGiSL, said, “We are really fortunate to have all three of them join the leadership team at KGiSL: Shrinath with a proven track record in the banking industry is probably at his peak of his career; Ramesh, known for his technology & Operation skillsets in the banking Industry, probably has not even reached his peak yet and Hayati, a seasoned banking veteran has deep connections in the industry in Singapore and globally. The three of them could have continued what they were doing, or could have chosen any number of BFSI opportunities. Instead, they chose to join us, believing in the vision, strategy, and execution strength of KGiSL. This really adds momentum to our goals.”

An accomplished business leader with close to three decades of experience in financial services, Shrinath Bolloju joins KGiSL as Chief Strategy Officer (CSO). Shrinath’s experience straddles sales, product management, technology, operations and governance in different geographies, and banking and financial products. He most recently served as Managing Director and South Asia Operations & Technology Head at Citi Bank. Previously, he has been part of the leadership team with Deutsche Bank and RBL Bank, driving transformation and digitization. As CSO at KGiSL, Shrinath will be based out of Mumbai, India. In this role, Shrinath will work closely with the senior leadership at KGiSL to drive sustained and accelerated growth across key markets and sectors.

Ramesh Nagesh joins KGiSL as Chief Operating Officer (COO) and will be based in Bangalore, India. He comes with over three decades of experience in managing regional and global operating units. He joins KGiSL after serving as COO of the Anglo Gulf Trade Bank, Abu Dhabi where he was involved in setting up the world’s first digitally-enabled, data-driven Trade Bank from the ground up. Ramesh has been part of the leadership team with top multi-national banks like Deutsche Bank, ABN-AMRO Bank, ANZ, Standard Chartered and RBS.

Noor Hayati Ahmad  joins KGiSL as  Senior Vice President & Country Head, KGiSL Singapore. She brings in over 35 years of experience, including 25 years of international banking, particularly in Global Transaction Banking, Money Markets, FX, Finance, and Retail. Having worked with global banks and leading technology organizations in Singapore, she understands the local market, technology trends and functional needs of the financial services sector. She has previously been part of the senior leadership teams at Deutsche Bank, Hatstand, Sonic, and Kashtec Technology Pte Ltd.

On his appointment, Shrinath Bolloju, Chief Strategy Officer, KGiSL, said “KGiSL has a proven track record of building robust products and solutions that have ensured long-lasting engagements with clients. I am delighted to join this seasoned and committed team, and look forward to work with them to scale up our offering, while continuing to operate as a trusted solutions provider to our clients, worldwide.”

Further to his new engagement, Ramesh Nagesh, Chief Operating Officer, KGiSL, said, “KGiSL is truly a unique and talented organization with deep-rooted capabilities in building top class products and solutions. I am honoured to work with such a culturally diverse, committed, and seasoned talent pool, and I look forward to collaborate with the team to unlock their full potential and enhance delivery capabilities.”

Noor Hayati Ahmad, Senior Vice President & Country Head, KGiSL Singapore, said, “I am truly excited to be a part of KGiSL, Singapore and I look forward to working with this highly professional team to further accelerate our ambitious growth strategy. Today, Singapore is among the top three financial hubs in the world, behind London and New York, and it is imperative that we showcase our products and services in the banking and financial sector and grow our presence in this area.”

About KGiSL: www.KGISL.com/gss

KG Information Systems Private Limited (KGiSL) is a global IT Services, Consulting and Business Solutions provider in the BFSI space. KGiSL offers Software Products, Solutions and Services in Intelligent Automation, ERP (SAP), CRM, Business Intelligence and Analytics, Quality Engineering, IT Infrastructure Management and Application Development. KGiSL has offices in India, US, Malaysia, Singapore, Australia and Thailand.

KGiSL is part of the $750 million business conglomerate KG Group with interest in Textiles, Engineering, Healthcare, Education, Real Estate, Entertainment, Software and Business Support Services. The Group employs over 25000 people and is known for its philanthropic services to the community for over 8 decades.

For further information, please contact:

KGiSL: Sampathkumar S | sampathkumar.s@KGISL.com | +91 9940069884

Adfactors PR (India):
Bhargav TS | bhargav.ts@adfactorspr.com | 9884883350
Shamitha Hegde | shamitha.hegde@adfactorspr.com | 9003107361

Adfactors PR (Singapore):
Namrata Sharma | namrata.sharma@adfactorspr.com | +65 8138 3034

ASEAN’s data and analytics leaders alongside key players to digitally converge and discuss strategies for the future

Singapore, Jul 12, 2021 – (ACN Newswire) – The back-breaking year of the Covid-19 pandemic had just left economies to endure, markets crashed and some of the burgeoning industries wiped out entirely. But for the IT and digital transformation industry, Covid-19 was a blessing in disguise, a banner year. Particularly because Big Data & Data Analytics had an upward pre-Covid growth already.

Factors that made this a reality included the growing size of early adopters, prioritising digital transformation, rise in investments in big data and data analytics, increasing focus on remote working, increasing adoption of online payments, and some of the top factors to drive the adoption of this future-tech.

To dive deep into these and to help ASEAN countries digitize at speed and scale, experts and key players are gathering virtually at World Big Data & Analytics Show taking place virtually on 13 July 2021.

The show will feature eye-opening keynotes, government and enterprise use-case presentations, exciting product showcase, panel discussions and tech talks to discuss the latest challenges and explore the latest applications in data-powered solutions.
As per industry reports, in the post-Covid-19 scenario, the global big data security market size is projected to grow from USD 17.5 billion in 2020 to USD 35.3 billion by 2026, recording a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 12.4 per cent from 2020 to 2026.

"Democratizing data is now more challenging than ever as information architectures are getting more complex, both through the diversity of the data sources and the data distribution. Data Virtualization is a modern approach to data integration with real-time access to the required data, enabling users to gain faster decision-making and business agility while providing a consistent enterprise-wide governance and security framework," states Chris Day, Director, APAC Sales Engineering at Denodo.

Rahul Saxena, Group IT Director – Commercial, Digital Commerce & Analytics, at Coca-Cola stated, "Organisations which build their future business models around data will be more successful than organisations that only use data to optimise existing business models."

Dr Meri Rosich, Chief Data Officer at Standard Chartered Bank said, "Data is a strategic asset and organizations that succeed in leveraging it will lead the way in the new competitive environments of the future."

The event will focus on topics such as Future of Data Automation; Data at the centre of 'everything'; Data Security, Privacy and Ethics; Predictive and Prescriptive Analytics; Power of Visualization in Analyzing Data; How is Big Data Analytics shaping up the Internet of Things; and much more.

The show will feature a groundbreaking collaboration of experts such as:
– Dr Meri Rosich – CDO, Standard Chartered Bank
– Juan Intan Kanggrawan – Head of Data Analytics, Jakarta Smart City
– Geoff Soon – MD, Snowflake
– Varun Verma – APAC Head of Data & Analytics, The Heineken Company
– Dietmar Bohmer – CAO, Tyme
– John Funtanilla – AVP, Advanced Analytics Lead, Nestle
– Carol Hargreaves – Director of Data Analytics Consulting Centre, National University of Singapore
– Alex a Ustaris – Group CIO and CTO & Head of Shared Services Center, Hijo Resources Corporation
– Philipp Gschopf – Director of Data Science, Prudential plc
– Sonny Supriyadi – Head, Pricing and Data Analytics, Maybank; to name a few.

"The pandemic's disruptions have driven firms to explore Big Data and Analytics solutions as a means of identifying major technology trends and prioritizing those that have the greatest influence on their competitive advantage. The World Big Data & Analytics Show is a great place to discuss and learn about the newest strategies, challenges, and trends that are driving ASEAN's data-driven devices and services," stated Mithun Shetty — CEO, Trescon.

The show will be hosted on the virtual events platform Vmeets to help participants network and conduct business in an interactive and immersive virtual environment. Participants can also engage with the speakers during Q&A sessions and network with solution providers/sponsors at their virtual exhibition booths, private consultation rooms and meeting tables.

World Big Data & Analytics Show is officially sponsored by Platinum Sponsor — Dataiku; Premium Gold Sponsors — Snowflake; Gold Sponsors — Denodo and Talend; Silver Sponsors — Qubole.

About World Big Data & Analytics Show

World Big Data & Analytics Show is a thought-leadership-driven, business-focused, global series of events that takes place in strategic locations across the world.
The show features exciting keynotes, government and enterprise use-case presentations, product showcase, panel discussions and tech talks to discuss the latest challenges and explore the latest applications in data-powered solutions.

For further details, please contact:
Monith M Shetty
Corporate Communication Executive
marketing@tresconglobal.com

Copyright 2021 ACN Newswire. All rights reserved. http://www.acnnewswire.com

Accounting & Finance Show Hong Kong 2021 (28-29 July 2021)

Singapore, Jul 9, 2021 – (ACN Newswire) – Returning for the 3rd edition, the Accounting & Finance Show Hong Kong 2021 will see 80 local and international accounting and finance leaders and technology experts taking the virtual stage on 28-29 July 2021. The 4 key channels, Digital Innovation, Accounting Tech: Adopt, Accounting Tech: Connect & Grow and Digital Practice will focus on stories and real-world examples, enabling attendees to gain invaluable insights and practical information on how to set out or continue in their own digitalisation journey.

Over the two days, the live online agenda will cover all the latest innovations in accounting and tech from cloud accounting software to AI and robotics. Session highlights include
– "Adoption & Innovation: How the pandemic has transformed the way accountants and finance professionals leverage technology"
– "CFO: 4.0: The changing role of the CFO in business strategy"
– "Using technology to build confidence in finance teams during turbulent times"
– "How actionable and real-time analytics will drive your business forward"
– "Going Digital: Why keeping up is so important"

These sessions will assist accounting and finance professionals in accounting firms and businesses in any industry to progress their digital transformation journeys, elevate their digital skills and futureproof their organisations.

Expert speakers sharing their insights include:

– Helen Ahlstedt, Chief Financial Officer, Allegis Group
– Thomas Au Yeung, Global Finance Director, Tron Foundation
– Christophe Batallie, CFO Asia Operation, Lacoste
– Collin Jin, National Audit & Assurance Innovation Leader, Deloitte
– Kyelie Baxter, Managing Partner, IQ Accountants
– Emil Chan, Chairman, The Association of Cloud and Mobile Computing Professionals
– Jasmine Chung, Head of Finance, FoodPanda Hong Kong
– Kevin Fitzgerald, Managing Director, Asia, Xero
– Travis Huggins, Regional Leader – Finance, Woods Bagot
– James Liu, Finance Director IKEA, Diary Farm Group
– Michelle Lombard, CFO, Tatler
– Emma Martin, Commercial & Finance Director, Ogilvy & Mather Asia Pacific
– Aaron Pang, Associate Director Business Transformation, EY
– Stephen Lo, CFO, Prenetics
– Amy Ip, Managing Director, Caas

As the event's Title Sponsor, Xero will be joined by a range of its app partners, who will present fully integrated solutions in the Xero Connected App Partners Pavilion. CardUp, Fathom, Cynopsis Solutions, HReasily, Spotlight Reporting and other industry leaders will also be showcasing the latest solutions for Hong Kong's accounting and finance professionals.

"Over the last five years, the accounting industry has become more tech-savvy than we ever anticipated, and at the centre of this is The Cloud. The Cloud has enabled greater efficiencies, accuracy, transparency, time and cost savings than businesses have ever known, giving you more time to focus on strategic planning, business growth and creating greater value for your clients. The Accounting & Finance Show Hong Kong is a great place to hear from industry experts about their learnings and insights. We are delighted to be a part of this event. Join us and discover the latest digital trends, and understand how we can help practices across Asia achieve greater success with our expertise," said Kevin Fitzgerald, Managing Director – Asia at Xero.

The Accounting & Finance Show Hong Kong 2021 isn't just a chance to hear from leaders who are working towards streamlining finance workflows and businesses, it is also a golden networking opportunity with real-time conversations taking place throughout the 2 days.

Details of the 2-days virtual event are as follows:
Accounting & Finance Show Hong Kong 2021
28-29 July 2021 | Virtual Free-to-Attend
Website: https://bit.ly/3hG8xGg
Register: https://bit.ly/2Uxslna
Agenda: https://bit.ly/3dVSH9o

About Terrapinn

Terrapinn is an international events media business with 30 years' experience developing best in class conferences and exhibitions across a wide range of key industry verticals. With our global footprint and offices in London, New York, Singapore, Sydney, Dubai and Johannesburg, we've been sparking ideas, innovations and relationships that transform businesses. In Asia we run 17 pan Asian events; Telecoms, Enterprise Technology, Life Sciences, Transportation, Accounting, Logistics, Education and Renewable Energy sectors. In 2020, we ran over 80 virtual events and total attendance across all shows was in excess of 70,000.

For more information, please contact:
Lim Jia Le
Marketing Executive
Terrapinn Pte Ltd

Tel: (65) 8133 1705
Email: jiale.lim@terrapinn.com

Copyright 2021 ACN Newswire. All rights reserved. http://www.acnnewswire.com

Study: More than half of the world’s population will use mobile wallets by 2025

SINGAPORE, Jul 8, 2021 – (ACN Newswire) – The biggest report ever on the growth of mobile wallets projects that one in two people will use a mobile wallet by 2025. At the end of 2020, there were over 2.8 billion mobile wallets in use. That number is projected to increase by nearly 74% to reach 4.8 billion mobile wallets in use by the end of 2025 – nearly 60% of the world's population. The fastest growing markets are Southeast Asia, Latin America, and Africa & Middle East where mobile wallets are displacing cash and cards for more convenient digital payments.

Boku, a fintech pioneering the world's first global mobile payments network, has released its 2021 Mobile Wallets Report in partnership with digital technology analyst house Juniper Research, which provides insight into mobile wallet adoption and use in leading markets across the globe. In 2019, mobile wallets overtook credit cards to become the most widely used payment type globally and the shift to online driven by the pandemic has accelerated adoption. Mobile wallets use is growing rapidly across the world with emerging markets leading the way.

Key findings

– Southeast Asia is the fastest growing mobile wallet region
Mobile wallet use will grow by 311% between 2020-2025, reaching up 439.7 million wallets in use across Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam from 141.1 million in 2020. The rise in e-Commerce and dominance of super-apps like Grab and Gojek, particularly in markets like the Philippines and Indonesia, is driving accelerated mobile wallet adoption.

– China reaches maturity but Japan, Korea and Taiwan set for hyper-growth
The Far East and China continues to be the largest mobile wallet region in the world with 1.34bn users in 2020. Market saturation is resulting in slowing growth in China with a CAGR of just 2.2% per year. Meanwhile, markets including Japan, Korea and Taiwan will continue to see accelerated adoption of mobile wallets with 98.4% market penetration by 2025.

– Africa & Middle East is the second biggest mobile wallet market
The second biggest mobile wallet market is set to grow by 147% between 2020-2025. This is driven by expanded usage of mobile money services such as M-Pesa which are increasingly offering additional services such as access to eCommerce.

– Latin American growth is being supercharged by eCommerce
This region is set to increase mobile wallet use by 166% between 2020-2025. Long held back by consumers' preference for cash-based payments and comparatively lower smartphone penetration, this is fast changing, and the region's eCommerce growth is supercharging mobile wallet use.

– Slow growth in Western Europe and North America
With 65% growth in Western Europe and 50% in North America by 2025, these regions will see the least amount of mobile wallet growth in the next five years. However, markets such as the UK are seeing a rise in card-based mobile wallets due to the adoption of contactless spurred on by the pandemic and shift towards cashlessness.

"While mobile wallets are being used on a global basis, we see two distinct types being used today. One is card-based mobile wallets, like Apple Pay and Google Pay, which provide an easier way to pay with cards people already have. The other is stored value mobile wallets, like AliPay and GrabPay, that enable consumers to transact with digital cash and are popular in emerging markets with fast-growing e-Commerce sectors," said Adam Lee, Chief Product Officer at Boku. "The markets that are set to grow the fastest are those with the lowest levels of card penetration, stored value wallets are thriving. In North America and Western Europe, which are dominated by card-based mobile wallets, we are seeing the slowest growth in mobile wallet adoption, as the technology provides merely incremental benefit."

"We are seeing clear bifurcation in the market between card-based mobile wallets in developed markets and stored value mobile wallets that are ubiquitous in Asia and rapidly growing in all emerging markets," concluded Lee.

"Southeast Asia is one of the most rapidly digitalising regions in the world. In 2020, the region added 400 million new internet users, with 70% of the region now online. Together with consumption trends brought about due to lockdowns during the pandemic, that has led to a familiarity with e-Commerce and an exponential rise in mobile wallet use," said Loke Hwee Wong, Vice President and General Manager, APAC at Boku. "This is also because the region was heavily dependent on cash and bank transfer before mobile wallet use, and the convenience and accessibility, especially with stored value mobile wallets, will see Southeast Asia leapfrog the rest of the world in mobile payment adoption."

The growth and bifurcation of mobile wallet use presents both an opportunity and challenge for merchants. The number of mobile wallets transacting over $1 billion per year is set to grow by 27% from 54 wallets in 2020 to 69 wallets by 2025. This provides a lucrative opportunity for merchants looking to acquire valuable customers, many of whom only use mobile wallets. However, not only are consumers using mobile wallets more, they are using more mobile wallets. Consumers in high growth markets such as India and Indonesia use an average of 2.74 wallets. This means that not only do merchants need to accept wallets but they need to ensure broad coverage across each target market.

"We are witnessing a paradigm shift in payments driven by mobile wallets. Mobile wallets have lowered the barrier to making digital payments and in parallel ushered billions of new consumers into eCommerce. These consumers are not in North America or Western Europe, they are in emerging markets, and while they don't have credit cards, they overwhelmingly have mobile wallets," said Jon Prideaux, CEO at Boku. "For global merchants, mobile payment acceptance is not about accepting one type of mobile wallet or another, but ensuring that consumers in every market will have the required selection on payment types in order to monetize transactions."

To download the 2021 Mobile Wallets Report please visit: http://boku.mobilewallet.report/

About Boku

Boku Inc. (AIM: BOKU) is a fintech pioneering the world's first global, mobile payments network. With 45% of global consumers using mobile payment methods to buy goods online, compared to 18% using credit cards, the future of commerce is mobile-first. Boku's technology platform helps the world's most demanding merchants attract, convert, and retain customers using mobile payments. By turning payments infrastructure into a source of sustainable competitive advantage, Boku safely activates a range of new merchant business models – from bundling to subscriptions.

Boku's platform is used in over 70 countries with more than a billion verified transactions in 2020, contributing $8.5 billion to the digital economy. Customers that trust Boku to simplify sign-up, acquire new paying users and prevent fraud include global leaders such as Apple, DAZN, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Netflix, PayPal, Sony, Spotify and Tencent.

Boku Inc. was incorporated in 2008 and is headquartered in London, UK, with offices in Brazil, China, Estonia, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Japan, Singapore, Spain, Taiwan, Vietnam, and the US. To learn more about Boku please visit: https://www.boku.com/

About Juniper Research

Juniper Research provides research and analytical services to the global hi-tech communications sector, providing consultancy, analyst reports and industry commentary.

Enquiries:
PRecious Communications for Boku, Inc.
Singapore/Asia Pacific: Clarence Lim, boku@preciouscomms.com

Boku in Asia

In Asia, Boku's payment partners for Mobile Wallets include: AliPay, Dana, GCash, GoPay, GrabPay, KakaoPay, LINE Pay, Ovo, PayMaya, PayPay, Toss, Touch 'n Go, Truemoney.

Boku also partners with payment partners to offer Direct Carrier Billing: AIS, BSNL, Celcom, Digi, dtac, Globe, Indosat Ooredoo, Jio, Korea Telecom, KDDI, LG U+, Maxis, M1, NTT Docomo, StarHub, Singtel, Softbank, SK Telecom, Smart, Smartfren, Tata Docomo, Telkomsel, Three, TrueMove, Vodafone, XL (amongst others).

Additional insights from the Mobile Payments Report 2021

Other insights from the Southeast Asian region include:
1. Indonesia represents one of the greatest opportunities for merchants accepting mobile payments: its mobile wallet penetration is at 25.6% in 2020, and set to triple to 76.5% by 2025. The report also expects that mobile wallet transactions will increase by volume to 16 billion transactions in 2025 (from 1.7 billion in 2020), and $107 billion in 2025 (from $28 billion in 2020) – the highest in the region.
2. Malaysia mobile payment adoption is behind other Southeast Asian countries currently, at a 31.7% penetration rate, but is poised for hyper growth over the next five years to 93.9%.
3. Philippines has one of the lowest levels of mobile wallet penetration at 22.4% of the population, but expected to grow to 63.4% by 2025 with a mobile wallet transaction value of $63.4 billion by 2025 (from $15 billion in 2020).
4. Singapore is set to reach mobile wallet penetration of nearly 95% by 2025 from 30.4% in 2020 – the highest in the Southeast Asian region, and with mobile wallet transactions projected to increase by 11x (from 101 million transaction volume in 2020, to 1.1 billion in 2025).
5. Mobile wallet penetration in Thailand is at 21.4% in 2020 and set to grow to 63.4% in 2025. The country is also set to hit $36.7 billion in transaction value in 2020 (from $10.6 billion in 2020).
6. Vietnam is primed for massive mobile payments growth – with mobile wallet transaction growth of 7x expected to 5 billion by 2025 from 674 million in 2020, and a mobile wallet penetration rate of 55.5% in 2025 (from 19.7% in 2020).

As part of the Mobile Payments Report 2021, Boku also conducted an in-depth consumer survey of 1035 respondents in Indonesia, during May 2021, which showed that:
1. Consumers use an average of 3.2 wallets in use per respondent, one of the highest in the world after India. The top reason for using more than one type of mobile wallet included different wallets giving different benefits (63%).
2. Cash was the payment type that is most in use prior to mobile wallets (at 66%), followed by bank transfers (63%) and debit cards (44%), which can likely be attributed to the extremely low credit card penetration rate in Indonesia.

Copyright 2021 ACN Newswire. All rights reserved. http://www.acnnewswire.com

MothersonSumi INfotech and Designs Ltd. (MIND) Announces the Opening of a New Office in Singapore, Expanding Global Operations

Singapore, Jul 1, 2021 – (ACN Newswire) – Mothersonsumi INfotech and Designs Ltd. (MIND) a technology and Industrial solutions division of Motherson Group, today announced the official opening of its new office in Singapore.

MIND's Singapore office will serve as the headquarters for the entire Southeast Asia region and will be an essential pillar in its geographic expansion strategy. MIND's Singapore business unit will offer a holistic gamut of IT service offerings, including digital transformation, Cloud Hosting and Migration, Next Gen IT Infrastructure, Smart Factory Automation and digital engineering services. With its Singapore base, MIND is looking to expand its best-in-class services to customers across Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, and Malaysia and to other countries in Far East.

"The launching of the MIND Singapore office is aligned with our commitment to drive clients' success in the region and worldwide. Given Singapore's position as the hub for economic activities in the Southeast Asia, it's a market we constantly evaluated and wanted to open an office to expand our presence in the market," said Rajesh Thakur, Chief Executive Officer, MIND.

He further added, "Today MIND is well-positioned to deliver technology-led transformations to fuel digital growth across the Southeast Asia region. MIND offers a customer-centric and consulting-led approach with an integrated portfolio of industry-leading solutions that encompass the entire enterprise value chain. Our technology-driven products and services are built on two decades of innovation, a strong culture of invention and co-innovation, and a relentless focus on the value chain."

About MothersonSumi INfotech & Designs Limited (MIND)

Founded in 2000, MothersonSumi INfotech & Designs Limited (MIND) is a joint venture between Motherson Group, India and Sumitomo Wiring Systems Ltd, Japan (SWS). We are a trusted technology partner to over 200+ clients globally across 41+ Global locations and have more than 20 years of experience in the areas of cloud, IoT, analytics, data science, smart ERP, infra managed services, and application development & maintenance services. We continue to deliver innovative and meaningful technology solutions to businesses enabling them to outpace the competition. Visit us at www.mind-infotech.com, or connect with us on LinkedIn, Twitter, or Facebook.

This announcement may contain forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are made on the basis of the current beliefs, expectations and assumptions of the management of MIND and are subject to significant risks and uncertainty. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on any such forward-looking statements. All such forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made, and MIND undertakes no obligation to update or revise these statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Although MIND believes that the expectations reflected in these forward-looking statements are reasonable, these statements involve a variety of risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from what may be expressed or implied in these forward-looking statements.

Media Contact
Sachin Saini
Sachin.Saini@mind-infotech.com

Copyright 2021 ACN Newswire. All rights reserved. http://www.acnnewswire.com

MothersonSumi INfotech and Designs Ltd. (MIND) Announces the Opening of a New Office in Singapore, Expanding Global Operations

Global IT Consultancy Firm Xebia Acquires coMakeIT To Support Clients’ Continuous Innovation

Hilversum, the Netherlands, Jun 22, 2021 – (ACN Newswire) – Xebia, global IT consultancy firm, acquires software product engineering company coMakeIT to support clients' continuous innovation and business growth.

coMakeIT, founded in the Netherlands in 2006, helps product and software companies thrive by providing software product expertise, people and tools needed to meet ambitious objectives. Today, the company's primary focus is on product software companies creating the right mix of technology and teams support with the right talents so that its clients can achieve sustainable growth. CoMakeIT has profound knowledge of software development, product engineering, application modernization, digital transformation, and recruitment and operates from offices in the Netherlands, the UK, India, and Australia.

Xebia is a fast-growing digital leader known for helping companies worldwide digitally transform by offering high-quality IT consultancy from its offices in the Netherlands, India, the UK, US, and Dubai. The company has successfully launched several brands and continues to expand in line with its 'buy and build' strategy: partnering with thought leaders to gain additional footing in the digital space together. With coMakeIT, Xebia looks forward to expanding its managed services capability and having the resources to accelerate its clients' software development.

Steven ten Napel, CEO and founder coMakeIT: "We are extremely value-driven. Just like Xebia, at coMakeIT, it's all about 'people first.' Our company culture and field of work are very similar, which makes us a perfect match. Together, we will soon be able to better assist clients in overcoming scalability issues, implementing modern technology, and realizing growth."

Anand Sahay, CEO Xebia Global Services: "Xebia is an established leader in the Digital transformation, Software Engineering, Cloud, DevOps and Architecture space. Acquiring coMakeIT will help Xebia address the cloud native and platform development needs of ISV market and grow in that space globally. Together with coMakeIT, we clearly see complementary ability to create future ready products for our ISV customers and also develop innovative software for these platforms to help ISV's customers' needs. This creates a very strong proposition for ISVs and our ability to partner with them."

The right technology and the right talents are crucial for growth in a digital world. Acquiring coMakeIT will strengthen Xebia's long-term relationships with clients through comprehensive managed services, and coMakeIT will gain access to Xebia's in-depth knowledge of all digital transformation domains. Besides sharing the same values, both, originally Dutch companies, have experience expanding their presence to, for example, India, and will jointly continue to help businesses grow worldwide.

About Xebia

Xebia is a leading IT Consulting and Digital Technology company committed to deliver innovation and business excellence across the globe. It delivers digital solutions to global leaders for transforming their IT and Business Operations.

With nearly two decades of experience, it enables its clients through their digital journey by enabling them with informed decision-making through process level enhancements, intelligent data solutions, enhance their customer experience & journeys with new-age solutions and help strengthen their core with modern technologies such as AI/ML/Robotics, Microservices, Cloud-native apps and agile at scale to deliver unprecedented levels of performance. For more information, please visit us at www.xebia.com

About coMakeIT

Headquartered in Baarn, Netherlands, and with offices in Australia, UK, and India, coMakeIT helps software businesses and enterprises to accelerate their product innovation, modernize aging applications, and productize best practices into new software IP. For more information, please visit us at https://www.comakeit.com

For media queries
Email: infoindia@xebia.com

Copyright 2021 ACN Newswire. All rights reserved. http://www.acnnewswire.com

Global IT Consultancy Firm Xebia Acquires coMakeIT To Support Clients’ Continuous Innovation

Hilversum, the Netherlands, Jun 22, 2021 – (ACN Newswire) – Xebia, global IT consultancy firm, acquires software product engineering company coMakeIT to support clients' continuous innovation and business growth.

coMakeIT, founded in the Netherlands in 2006, helps product and software companies thrive by providing software product expertise, people and tools needed to meet ambitious objectives. Today, the company's primary focus is on product software companies creating the right mix of technology and teams support with the right talents so that its clients can achieve sustainable growth. CoMakeIT has profound knowledge of software development, product engineering, application modernization, digital transformation, and recruitment and operates from offices in the Netherlands, the UK, India, and Australia.

Xebia is a fast-growing digital leader known for helping companies worldwide digitally transform by offering high-quality IT consultancy from its offices in the Netherlands, India, the UK, US, and Dubai. The company has successfully launched several brands and continues to expand in line with its 'buy and build' strategy: partnering with thought leaders to gain additional footing in the digital space together. With coMakeIT, Xebia looks forward to expanding its managed services capability and having the resources to accelerate its clients' software development.

Steven ten Napel, CEO and founder coMakeIT: "We are extremely value-driven. Just like Xebia, at coMakeIT, it's all about 'people first.' Our company culture and field of work are very similar, which makes us a perfect match. Together, we will soon be able to better assist clients in overcoming scalability issues, implementing modern technology, and realizing growth."

Anand Sahay, CEO Xebia Global Services: "Xebia is an established leader in the Digital transformation, Software Engineering, Cloud, DevOps and Architecture space. Acquiring coMakeIT will help Xebia address the cloud native and platform development needs of ISV market and grow in that space globally. Together with coMakeIT, we clearly see complementary ability to create future ready products for our ISV customers and also develop innovative software for these platforms to help ISV's customers' needs. This creates a very strong proposition for ISVs and our ability to partner with them."

Vipul Baijal, Country Head – Xebia USA: "As the ISV market is moving towards the next phase of transformation and looking to solve scalability issues and platform challenges Xebia's acquisition of coMakeIT creates a unique value proposition to our ISV customers in North America and globally to create future-ready and innovative products and solutions."

The right technology and the right talents are crucial for growth in a digital world. Acquiring coMakeIT will strengthen Xebia's long-term relationships with clients through comprehensive managed services, and coMakeIT will gain access to Xebia's in-depth knowledge of all digital transformation domains. Besides sharing the same values, both, originally Dutch companies, have experience expanding their presence to, for example, India, and will jointly continue to help businesses grow worldwide.

About Xebia

Xebia is a leading IT Consulting and Digital Technology company committed to deliver innovation and business excellence across the globe. It delivers digital solutions to global leaders for transforming their IT and Business Operations.

With nearly two decades of experience, it enables its clients through their digital journey by enabling them with informed decision-making through process level enhancements, intelligent data solutions, enhance their customer experience & journeys with new-age solutions and help strengthen their core with modern technologies such as AI/ML/Robotics, Microservices, Cloud-native apps and agile at scale to deliver unprecedented levels of performance. For more information, please visit us at http://www.xebiaus.com

About coMakeIT

Headquartered in Baarn, Netherlands, and with offices in Australia, UK, and India, coMakeIT helps software businesses and enterprises to accelerate their product innovation, modernize aging applications, and productize best practices into new software IP. For more information, please visit us at https://www.comakeit.com

For media queries
Email: usa@xebia.com

Copyright 2021 ACN Newswire. All rights reserved. http://www.acnnewswire.com