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March 21, 2022
The EU is preparing to finalize its Digital Markets Act (DMA) designed to neutralize Big Tech’s gatekeeper status by leveling the playing field with smaller competitors. The DMA, which could be completed by month’s end, has ramifications for Amazon, Google and parent Alphabet, and especially for Apple, which faces what some describe as an existential threat through provisions that would allow software to be downloaded outside the App Store and third-party payment systems inserted on apps, known as “sideloading.” Failure to comply could carry fines and penalties totaling tens of billions of dollars.
For the past two years, Apple has battled critics and lawmakers around the world to defend its privileged perch as gatekeeper to more than one billion iOS devices. Competitors accuse Apple of stifling them by demanding a commission of up to 30 percent on sales through the App Store, set up as the exclusive purveyor in the iOS world.
Apple counters that consumers have a choice of which digital platform to use, and that it has an obligation to protect the privacy and security of those who opt for Apple, and specifically the iPhone.
“Rivals and critics of Apple’s power hope the EU law will serve as a catalyst for other jurisdictions, such as in the U.S., where similar legislation is pending before Congress,” The Wall Street Journal reports.
“Apple is playing 5D chess right now,” said Cowen and Company policy analyst Paul Gallant. “It will struggle to explain why government changes will radically change the iPhone when Google already does it, and it will struggle to explain why it can’t do it in the United States when it may soon do it in Europe.”
As the DMA provisions are finalized behind closed doors most tech firms seem resigned to its passage. A draft that came up for vote in December that included sideloading was approved by a resounding 642-8 European Parliament vote. Apple said at the time that sideloading would “cripple the privacy and security protections that users have come to expect.” EU lawmakers are reportedly working on final language that would give Apple some say in controlling sideloading.
In previously circulated drafts, “failure to comply with the DMA would be punishable by fines of up to 10 percent of a company’s annual global revenue, which for Apple currently would equate to $37 billion,” WSJ writes, noting that “some legislators have pushed for a higher ceiling.”
Apple’s legal filings have suggested App Store revenue accounts for roughly 20 percent of Apple’s annual operating income. “In the Netherlands, the company has chosen to pay a $5 million weekly fine rather than complying with a decision from the competition authority that asked Apple to allow other apps to use other payment methods in the App Store,” explains PYMNTS.com.
“After the text is agreed upon by negotiators for the parliament and member states as early as this month, the bill is expected to be officially approved by both bodies in coming months. Based on that timeline, it would take effect early next year,” WSJ reports.


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ChinaTravelNews, Ritesh Gupta – The significance of China in the global travel business has swelled. Not just because of the size of the overall domestic, inbound and outbound business, but also for the way the nation is trying to come out of the crisis situation.
Assessing the current situation and where China stands by looking at every quarter, Booking Holdings’ CEO Glenn Fogel said, “China is going to be a locomotive for the travel train.”
“Over the (course of) next several decades we all know that the growth in travel will come from China,” said Fogel, during a pre-recorded online interaction with TravelDaily’s CEO Charlie Li ahead of the 2020 TravelDaily Conference. He also complimented China the way it has handled the pandemic, putting life and work back on track.
Fogel delved deep into various aspects – expectations from vaccine, recovery in this sector, travel products and the role of partners in China in the overall vision of delivering a Connected Trip experience.
Asia – an early ray of hope
Fogel, who himself got infected in the early stages of the pandemic in March, described the state of affairs as a “terrible” and admitted that he hasn’t started traveling yet. “No travel of any kind.”
Reminiscing a pleasant memory at the time when he fell ill and recovered, he shared that Jane Sun, CEO, Trip.com Group extended a helping hand via a call and was aware of the overall shaky condition of the area in and around New York City. He said Jane empathized about the same, for instance, lack of protective clothing for doctors and not enough masks at that time. “How wonderful that was of Jane to reach out like that,” thanked Fogel, who shared that he did donate plasma after his recovery. “But all of us know we need a vaccine to be effective to overcome this issue.”
Fogel also added that vaccination for everyone will take time, and “it is not like a light bulb where we just flick a switch and all of a sudden all travel comes back.” He said, “It'll come back when people feel it's safe to travel and the governments convey the same - so people can go from country to country.”
As of now Asia is providing hope.
“Many of the offices in Asia have re-opened,” mentioned Fogel. Acknowledging positive signs coming from China, he said, “The Agoda office has been open for a long time. They had good business, but it’s all domestic business.” The office in the U. S. is yet to be operational since the spring, he shared. In Europe, some offices did open but had to close down again.
Coping with crisis
COVID-19 testing before flights, plans for a contactless journey, to quarantine on arrival or not…the travel industry is trying to act fast on various counts in order to bring in some degree of normality. Even as the industry is anxiously looking at progress being made with Covid-19 vaccine and how the same can uplift travel, the industry knows that a massive number of jobs remain at risk.
As recently indicated by the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC), 174m jobs could be lost in 2020 if barriers to global travel remain in place.
Also, the financial performance of some of the biggest travel companies remains adversely impacted and is waiting for certain signs of rebound.
In case of Booking Holdings, according to its latest financial data for the third quarter, travel bookings decreased 47% and room nights booked decreased 43% over a year ago.
Acknowledging the precarious situation, Fogel said, “We definitely have suffered from it. (As the quarterly performance indicates) our company…we have absolutely been hurt.” He said, “But by taking a lot of measures from the beginning – saving money, cutting cost, raising new money…(by doing all that) ensuring that we can get through this terrible crisis…thinking of the future its going okay.”
Tilt towards alternative accommodation option?
Booking.com's alternative accommodation segment accounted for one-third of all new bookings in Q3.
Assessing the pattern around this style of accommodation vs. traditional hotels, Fogel said it was interesting when the pandemic first started and he wasn't certain about the response from the travelers.
“…would people say I'm only going to stay in a hotel because I think it may be safer because they'll do (high-level) cleaning and disinfecting…they'll do it professionally they'll make sure everything is clean and safe or will people say I don't want to be in a hotel because I'm concerned there'll be a lot of people there - there'll be people in elevators, in the lobby and I'm going to get an alternative accommodation... a home far from the city where no one else is there I'll be safe that way,” explained Fogel.
So there was suspense around how travelers would go about their accommodation-related plans.
“We now know from the data that a lot of people decided they wanted to stay in an alternative accommodation, a home to be safer and we saw that in the numbers. Now here's the interesting thing though. In the second quarter the sheer number of people who wanted a home instead of a hotel was much higher than it was a year earlier but in the third quarter that difference got smaller showing that people were feeling safer or they just weren't as concerned and were willing to spend more time in hotels so it'll be interesting in the future when things are all back to normal is the share between alternative accommodations and hotels go back to the way it was before the pandemic or now that people have tried out a home and said I like staying in a home now. Will they consider a home when they're thinking about where to stay in their next holiday and I think they will. So I think what has happened is the pandemic brought forward a trend that was happening anyway which is more and more people were interested in alternative accommodations and I think that's a sign that it's becoming a much more mature business –the alternative accommodation business,” mentioned Fogel.
Many governments around the world are poised to tighten and clarify regulations for short-term rental of residential property. As to what to expect, Fogel stated that there are a lot of issues regarding short-term rentals. The group does consider the role of various stakeholders in the business and the overall scenario how the same is going to impact the society at large.
“…so it's not just us and the people who own the short-term rental property and it's not just the traveler who may want to avail the option (for staying). We always have to think about the other people too people who live in the community… the governments and we also have to think about things like sustainability (for instance, making optimal use of resources or infrastructure so that there is a balance),” he said. Fogel added that the governments have a big role to play in making sure that there's balance between the needs of travelers and of those who own the properties and want to make money from it and have bought it with the understanding they would be able to rent it out. “Of course you have to think though to people who live in the community and all those things and I really look forward to always working with government so we are partners and not in conflict with anyone,” he said.
Impact on business travel
Talking about the impact on business travel, travel executives forecast a permanent reduction in business travel due to Covid-19 - of around 15%. Fogel said with everyone learning to interact online and adjusting to the work-from-home environment over the past few months, it would mean that certain meetings/ one-to-one interactions possibly are going to be avoided. Referring to a conference like one being hosted by TravelDaily China in Shanghai, he said it makes sense to fly and attend the same considering various factors. He said the spend associated with business travel, be it for staying in a five-star hotel or first class airline tickets – is going to come down, and affect the “economics for a lot of the high-end parts of travel”.
“…I don't think we're going to go back to the way we used to do things flying all over the world for short-term meetings one-on-one…I think that's going to be a much smaller part of the travel business,” said Fogel, who also mentioned that the way airlines used to invest or incur expenditure a certain segment of travelers, for instance at the airport, is expected to come under scrutiny.
There have been plans to use technology and data to work out a complete itinerary in one booking. Fogel mentioned that concepts like packaging aren’t new, but people are still “very frustrated when they try and set up their travel (the entire itinerary). It remains a time consuming exercise. “…and then when you're doing it if anything goes wrong you end up talking to lots of different people to try and get things fixed. Wouldn't it be wonderful if there's one place that knows you so well that it offers you up all the things you wanted to do and it gives it to you based on what you've done in the past?” mentioned Fogel. The entire planning, buying and the real consumption would be based on preferences already known, be it for an individual or the entire family. Suppliers, too, would benefit in a big way.
And if something goes wrong, this can be pre-empted and a consumer can be contacted via a call, email or even WeChat, he said, referring to the significance of making the journey frictionless in a real sense, counting on artificial intelligence, personal details such as payment-related ones etc. He mentioned that various established players including Trip.com, Expedia etc. have been focusing on the same. So via the Connected Trip offering, the vision is to it streamline every aspect of a trip.
For the same, he also said that the plan is count on synergy or competency of a particular business within the group to ensure there is optimal use of resources. “…the lead brand for us is booking.com” and that is the leading this concept. “But of course we always want all of our brands to work together,” he said. Referring to the expertise of priceline.com in flights, he said, “Booking.com has just started to do flights but we're doing it in a way to make sure we're using all the knowledge and the back end infrastructure of priceline.com and therefore we're not rebuilding stuff that we already have.”
And all of this is vital for a group that serves customers from all over the world. Referring to the significance of investments made in China and ongoing association with Trip.com, Didi and Meituan, he said all of this is critical for a Connected Trip-related experience. He said when a traveler visits China from Europe, in case they are looking for a ground transportation, the Uber experience that they are used to needs to be replicated even though the same brand won’t be there to serve them the way it does outside China. “We want to make sure that the person right away has the same experience of being able to just with one click get ground transportation,” said Fogel. “We believe that by doing these partnerships (in China) we can help accelerate things that we couldn't do on our own or we can have access to a customer base that we wouldn't be able to get easily on our own.”
Biggest say in travel
Evaluating the prowess of Google, Amazon, Facebook, Trip.com and Airbnb, these companies are entrenched in the travel sector in different ways, but what stands out among these entities is they all have “great people, have lots of capital, have scientific knowledge and have a big customer base now some (have) bigger than others so everyone is big.” He also pointed out that competition helps drive innovation and makes the service/ offering better. He also added that possibly the biggest competitor of all – someone with new ideas and technology avails loads of capital available – might crop up soon.
More travel than 2019
Fogel has witnessed many crisis during his more than two-decade long association with this industry. He remains positive and acknowledged that there have been instances in the past where reactions have been extremely negative only to witness the opposite in no time. “It's an interesting difference between different cultures and different things in the world. Sometimes in the US people have a very short-term view of the world and that can be very unfortunate,” said Fogel, referring to the “9/11” tragedy when people said they won’t fly again and in six months were they were back taking flights! Similar things had happened with the dot-com bubble in 2000 and the financial crisis in 2008. “I have learned that the world doesn't end, you have to think about the long-term.”
“This pandemic will end and we will come out of it. We will have more travel in the future than there was in 2019. No certainty when this will happen, but it will happen,” concluded Fogel.

domain: news


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Children and shoppers were greeted by Power Rangers at their local toy store and given the opportunity to have signed posters from the Power Rangers, photos with the characters and to learn some Power Ranger moves.
Power Rangers visited Entertainer stores in Kingston, Westfield, Milton Keynes, Birmingham Bullring, Liverpool and Manchester throughout August and September.
In store activity for children was also supported by Bandai who provided new Power Rangers Samurai toys as competition prizes.
The activity was promoted with regional PR and supported with in-store and online marketing from The Entertainer.
A spokesperson from The Entertainer said: "We were delighted with the character costume activity, the Power Rangers greeting everyone who came into the store proved a real boost in the summer holidays with our Liverpool store even selling out of some Power Rangers lines."
Amber Sheppo, director of international marketing and licensing at Saban added: "We are really excited about bringing Power Rangers Samurai to the UK and it is great to see people interacting with the brand.
"The response from children to the Power Rangers was fantastic with so many kids and adults alike clamouring to get a glimpse of their TV heroes."


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JENNIFER SHAFER-STOCKER, co-owner of Shafer’s Market & Deli in Middlebury, works the counter at the College Street business earlier this week. She and family members are having to work longer hours while cutting store hours because they — like many other businesses in the county and statewide — can’t find enough employees.
Independent photo/William Haig
MIDDLEBURY — Only 14 months ago, Shafer’s Market & Deli at 54 College St. in Middlebury was a no-fail stop pretty much any time of the morning or evening if you needed a sandwich, gallon of milk, soda, pizza and other indulgences.
Shafer’s still has the tasty products and household staples, but you have to time your visits more carefully these days. The business has had to temporarily abandon its customary 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. days for a tighter schedule that ends at 7 p.m., at the latest.
Why? Try as they might, storeowners Adam Shafer and Jennifer Shafer-Stocker can’t find enough workers...
VERMONT — Over the past year, as nearly 30,000 people have left the Vermont workforce, Mat Barewicz has found the want ads fascinating.
“Large, franchise-type chain restaurants are offering incredible starting pay, plus tuition reimbursement, plus sign-on bonuses of $3,000 or $4,000,” said Barewicz, who is the Economic & Labor Market Information Chief for the Vermont Department of Labor (DOL).
Even as they advertise $17 or $18 per hour jobs, the leisure, hospitality and food service industries are struggling to find employees, he said.
Vermont’s construction industry is struggling, too.
State Auditor Doug Hoffer, shown in his Montpelier office, reports that a job-creating program can’t show that it is creating any jobs.
Photo by Anne Wallace Allen/VTDigger
Doug Hoffer, the state auditor, has been criticizing the Vermont Employment Growth Incentive Program, or VEGI, for more than 20 years.
Hoffer wrote about the program in 1999, back when it was called Economic Advancement Tax Incentive, or EATI. Back then, he was working for his predecessor in the auditor’s job, the late Ed Flanagan. Hoffer campaigned on the issue in 2010.
Now that he’s the state auditor, Hoffer’s still working to modify VEGI, saying it’s impossible for the state to prove the job-creation program actually has any value. In his latest report, issued Aug. 24, Hoffer uses an award...


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Capcom today confirmed that Resident Evil 7 will receive free DLC outside its planned “Season Pass”.
Stevivor was first made aware of free DLC via CVXFreak, who retweeted a Japanese account:
— Alex Aniel (@cvxfreak) January 17, 2017
This tweet was quickly followed up by Capcom’s Mikeeb13, who confirmed details (this time in English):
— Lunni ✘˵╹◡╹˶✘ (@mikeeb13) January 17, 2017
“Not a Hero” is said to launch in May. We’ll have more on RE 7‘s DLC — free or otherwise — as it is made available.
Resident Evil 7 heads to Windows PC, Xbox One and PS4 on 24 January.


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(Reuters) - Wall Street jumped on Thursday, and Apple inched closer to a $1 trillion stock market value, as tepid inflation data eased worries of faster U.S. interest rate hikes this year.
Fueled by a $100 billion buyback plan unveiled last week, Apple rose 1.43 percent to a record high close of $190.04, lifting the S&P 500 more than any other stock. The iPhone maker is about 7 percent away from becoming the first company ever to have a market capitalization of $1 trillion.
The U.S. Labor Department’s consumer price index increased 0.2 percent in April, less than economists’ expectations, as rising costs for gasoline and rental accommodation were tempered by a moderation in healthcare prices.
Core CPI, which excludes food and energy components, edged up 0.1 percent in April, slower than the previous two months, and did little to alter traders’ expectations of a June rate hike. [MMT/]
A higher inflation number could have increased fears of more aggressive interest rate hikes by the U.S. Federal Reserve.
“The CPI came in at a level where it’s not so alarming as far as what the Fed is thinking,” said Mark Kepner, an equity trader at Themis Trading in Chatham, New Jersey. “There’s comfort that the Fed won’t have to move too quickly.”
The U.S. stock market rallied broadly, with all 11 major S&P sectors posting gains.
With investors setting aside concerns about a trade war with China, the S&P 500 has risen 3.55 percent in the past week, its strongest five-session showing since February. The S&P 500 reclaimed its 100-day moving average for the first time since April 19, suggesting to some traders that the market may move higher.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rallied 0.8 percent to end at 24,739.53 points,


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AirPods fans have been waiting for release of next-generation AirPods and the wireless charging case Apple announced a year ago. With its latest Bluetooth SIG certification, earplugs are one step closer to release.
My smart price listed an Apple AirPod list under model numbers A2031 and A2032 on the Bluetooth SIG certification website, confirming that the device has passed this mandatory certification.
The filing reveals that AirPods 2 supports Bluetooth 5.0, the latest Bluetooth standard, which is just one of many new expectations.
After one year at work – in March 2017, Apple received a patent for AirPods with biometrics and noise tuning capabilities, and in June 2017, reports suggested that the second genetic model could integrate biometric sensors into the device – an official new brand application for ear plugs in Europe and Hong Kong proposes to AirPod's capabilities expand in the health and fitness direction.
The new Class 10 category, "General Health Care," refers to a wide range of health-related elements, including "health, fitness, fitness and health sensors, monitors, numbers and displays for measurement, display, tracking, reporting, monitoring, storage , and transmission of biometric data, heath rate, body movement and calories burned, "which is much more than the existing AirPods can do.
Sources also suggest that AirPods 2 could support Siri and be water resistant, except to release with the promised, but avoiding, wireless charging case, but none of these reports have been confirmed. – AFP Relaxnews


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News – The Ski Club received a $13 000 grant from the Ontario Trillium Foundation.
News – The guys have been busy building a garage to store the grooming equipment. Here some of them are, enjoying a much needed break!
Want to take a look at the progress of the build?
Go to: http://www.proulxguitars.com/fun/ski/shed_1.htm


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Magtanim ay 'di biro
“Magtanim ay ’di biro
’Di man lang makatayo
'Di man lang makaupo."
Indeed, planting rice in the Philippines has never been fun to most Filipino rice farmers, as the popular folk song goes.
And that's because we failed to modernize rice farming in the Philippines. The problems now being traced to the Rice Tariffication Law have been there for years, so it would be wrong to blame this new law for the decades-old problems in the rice sector.
Rice production hasn't been able to keep up with our relatively high population growth, resulting in the Philippines becoming the world's largest rice importer in recent years.
The Rice Tariffication Law comes with a P10-billion Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF), but this may have come a little too late.
With the entry of cheaper imported rice (even with 35 percent tariff), local palay prices have dropped in several areas, causing hardship to Filipino rice farmers and their families.
While the Rice Tariffication Law may turn out to be a loss to over 2 million Filipino rice farmers, it is turning out to be a boon to the over 100 million Filipino rice consumers. Inflation dropped to 1.7 percent in August, the slowest in 3 years partly because of low food prices.
Some economists suggest that the Rice Tariffication Law should be given more time. They say it may just be what the country needs to finally modernize its rice sector.
Unless we build the physical and social infrastructure needed to make our rice farms competitive--irrigation, mechanization, farm-to-market roads, farmers' training, strong cooperatives, drying facilities, marketing support, efficient bureaucracy, we will always be singing the same old, poor farmer song.


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LONDON (MarketWatch) -- Hyundai Motor Co. is expected to announce Wednesday it plans to offer XM Satellite Radio xmsr as standard equipment in U.S. cars, a blow to rival Sirius Satellite Radio SIRI, -0.95% the Wall Street Journal said. XM is the market leader with 3.2 million subscribers, roughly three times as many as Sirius, in large part because of its partnership with General Motors Corp. GM, -1.27% the report said.
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Black Friday gaming deals are arriving, but not all of the offers are on hardware. We're also seeing a number of great discounts on EA games, including Star Wars Squadrons, Apex Legends, FIFA 2021, and The Sims 4 – making it cheaper than ever to delve into these iconic titles.
The discounts are only on current-gen
"After years of being a virtual reality sceptic, playing Star Wars: Squadron has almost single handily changed my mind."
Popular News Stories
As The 2020 Election Ends, The Errors From 2016 - WikiLeaks, Afghanistan, Assange, And Hillary - Went Unlearned
Michael Flynn calls for Trump to suspend the constitution and declare martial law to re-run election
Yahoo Daily News


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Emirates and airBaltic have launched a codeshare deal that may open new, seamless journey alternatives.
Prospects of the Latvian provider will profit from handy entry to Emirates’ worldwide community through its hub in Dubai.
On the identical time, Emirates’ passengers may have extra potentialities to journey to the Baltic sea area.
Martin Gauss, chief government of airBaltic, stated: “Emirates is a very international connectivity supplier, and we’re excited to begin a brand new partnership alongside direct flights between Riga and Dubai which we commenced in September.
“The brand new partnership will allow our passengers to succeed in new thrilling locations in Asia, Australia and past.”
airBaltic performs all of its flights with Airbus A220-300 jets, providing inexpensive and versatile economic system class tickets in addition to a full enterprise class service
Adnan Kazim, Emirates’ chief industrial officer, added: “We’re very happy to announce a brand new partnership with airBaltic, the main airline within the Baltics, which allows us to supply prospects much more journey selections and connectivity within the Baltic area.
“It is going to additionally open up Emirates’ thrilling community of worldwide locations to extra travellers from the Baltics.”


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Last Frontier guzzles up craft beer
Alaska’s craft brewery and brewpub scene is booming. In 2017, craft breweries and brewpubs totaled 31 in the Last Frontier – the most ever at one time in the state – and were a $340 million industry, according to the Brewers Guild of Alaska.
Since 2005, 23 new breweries or brewpubs have formed and there are no signs of the industry slowing down. Seven more were in various stages of development entering the year. And possibly more remarkable, the industry hasn’t lost a brewery or brewpub for good since 2003.
Local freelance beer writer and historian Bill Howell believes the key turning point for Alaska craft brew’s growth came in 2006.
“… The [Alaska] Legislature altered the law to allow breweries to have tasting rooms and to retail beer [with restrictions],” Howell said.
The change allowed for tap rooms to develop. Before, breweries had to work specifically through a distributor. This limitation created narrow margins and many breweries took several years to turn a profit – and some failed –Howell said.
The groundbreaking and award-winning success of Alaskan Brewing Company in 1986 demonstrated that the state could support a brewery. It also proved that breweries could overcome the cost of doing business hundreds or thousands of miles away. On the other hand, the proximity of the state to brewing hotspots like Seattle and Portland also helped familiarize Alaskans with well-crafted brews.
Clarke Pelz, an owner of Cynosure Brewing of Anchorage, describes why Alaskans are receptive to craft taste and points to the water as an advantage that makes Alaska beer unique.
“I think that the community palate is sophisticated and appreciative of flavorful, locally produced beers,” Pelz said. “I think that we have great water for producing beers, so that helps us brewers to produce good beer.”
Pelz also credits a growing appreciation for locally made products. Knowing that most of the money stays in state is enough for consumers to pay a little bit more for Alaska beers.
The place where something is crafted also has a tremendous impact on the flavor of the beer. Water affects the chemistry of the final product as well as the type of ingredients that grow nearby. Location also affects whether a brewery will decide to be a distributor (Alaskan), a local brewery or taproom (Cynosure), or brewpub (Glacier BrewHouse).
Howell coins a phrase Ben Millstein, manager of Kodiak Island Brewing Company, first used to describe local brewing operations: “The brewery as bakery model.” This means breweries in smaller communities like Kodiak, Homer, Haines and others can remain profitable by remaining local. These breweries are not interested in distributing outside of the town limits. This model can include brewpubs because they focus their attention on a certain part of a larger community.
Some of the challenges Alaska breweries and brewpubs face include taxes, dry communities and licensing. To top it off, Alaska has the second highest excise tax in the nation for beer and spirits. Still, this does not dampen consumption. The state pulls in $40 million annually from this tax, Howell said. The state is also home to several dry communities, mostly in rural areas.
Ryan Makinster, executive director of the Brewers Guild of Alaska, explains why this isn’t a problem for the industry.
“Most of [our member breweries] would not sell even if they were allowed to in dry communities,” Makinster said. “It’s just not cost effective and the market is not big enough.”
A significant change could be coming to the industry. Senate Bill 76 was drafted and awaits ruling in Juneau as to whether licensing will be improved for craft breweries. As the law stands now, breweries or brewpubs can only hold one license at a time.
The aim of SB76 in part is to create a layering where these establishments can hold multiple licenses, sell food if they aren’t now, provide various forms of entertainment, among other changes. The bill is six years in the making, but there are no guarantees it will be voted on during this legislative session.
Much like the challenges Alaska’s brewery industry is overcoming, breweries and brewpubs appear recession resistant. Not recession proof, mind you.
“The only business I know that’s recession proof is the undertaking business,” Howell said. “People haven’t figured out how to not die.”
Makinster says beer sales usually stay flat during a recession in the Lower 48, but this is not the case in Alaska. Beer is an affordable luxury. Again, people will support local and might instead decide to avoid expensive luxuries like vacations in tough times.
But what makes someone want to take the leap and start a brewery in the first place? Pelz, like many other brewers, turned his hobby into a career.
“It’s fun to brew precisely the beers I want to brew.” Pelz said. “It’s fun being responsible for them. It’s been very rewarding developing a community of customers and providing a space for people to enjoy each other’s company, while enjoying our beer.”
The regulatory environment of Alaska’s breweries poses its challenges, but the brewing industry is thriving and local breweries are satisfied they are fulfilling a growing thirst for craft beer in the Last Frontier.
Brewers Guild of Alaska Data
- $340 million industry (2017)
- $84 million in-state spent (2017)
- 31 operating breweries (end of 2017)
- 7 Breweries-In-Planning (entering 2018)
- 2,281 jobs contributed to Alaska’s economy by the brewing industry (2015)
- $169 million generated “through direct spending and the multiplier effect” of spending remaining in the state (2015)
(Prepared by Southeast Strategies)
- Levi, Cohen, Fuller & Co. Brewery became the first commercial brewery in Alaska (Sitka) in 1874, lasting until 1875
- Anchorage’s first brewery was Prinz Brau Alaska Inc., operating from 1976 to 1979
Years current Anchorage breweries and brewpubs began brewing:
- 1995 – Midnight Sun Brewing Company
- 1996 – Glacier BrewHouse
- 2011 – King Street Brewing Company
- 2013 – Broken Tooth Brewing
- 2014 – Anchorage Brewing Company
- 2015 – Resolution Brewing Company
- 2016 – 49th State Brewing Company (Anchorage location)
- 2016 – Cynosure Brewing
- 2018 – Turnagain Brewing (expected)
Chris Lawrence is a lifelong Alaskan who enjoys music, sports and culture. While not helping write or design for True North, Chris can be seen running, biking or on a pair of skis. Chris currently works for the UAA Athletic Department and spent a summer writing for the Alaska Dispatch News. A Rebel at heart, he will look to attend Ole Miss for graduate school in hopes of becoming a sports marketer or sports info director.


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Jersey Mike’s Subs to open in Orange City
Published: Monday, December 23, 2013 at 5:30 a.m.
Last Modified: Friday, December 20, 2013 at 5:33 p.m.
By CLAYTON PARK
ORANGE CITY — A Jersey Mike’s Subs submarine sandwich shop is set to open Jan. 8 at 2572 Enterprise Road in Orange City.
The franchise location is owned by Lyle Padgett and his son Jeff.
A grand opening celebration that will include a free sub fundraising event to benefit the Florida Hospital Fish Memorial Foundation will be held Jan. 8-19.
The restaurant is distributing 10,000 coupons throughout the community offering a free regular sub for a minimum $1 contribution to the hospital foundation. Customers must have a coupon to be eligible.
Started in 1956, the Point Pleasant, N.J.-based Jersey Mike’s restaurant chain has 1,000 locations open or under development nationwide. In Volusia County, the chain also has locations in DeLand, Daytona Beach, Ormond Beach and Port Orange.


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Oil prices hovered near $53 per barrel for most of June, then quickly increased toward $60 during the last 10 days of the month. Prices closed the month at over $58 after increasing $5 during late June, or 9%. Overall, prices are up almost 30% since the start of the year. The following graph shows the daily price movements over the past three months:
The start of June followed a significant decline in oil prices during the last week of May. Prices fell sharply in May because of a pessimistic outlook for future oil demand resulting from ongoing trade tensions between the US and China along with a new US trade rift with Mexico. In addition, oil inventories unexpectedly began increasing despite ongoing production limits implemented by OPEC and other countries attempting to balance global oil supply and demand.
As June began, a trade agreement was quickly reached between the US and Mexico but that development was not enough to support an increase in oil prices. This positive event was offset by the lack of progress related to the US-China trade conflict along with inventory levels that continued to rise. Even attacks on oil tankers in the Persian Gulf during early June had little upward impact on prices.
Near the end of the 3rd week of June, two primary factors caused prices to rise rapidly; the first was an announcement that the US and Chinese leaders would meet during the G20 summit at the end of June to discuss trade. The second factor quickly followed when news broke that Iran had shot down a US drone under questionable circumstances. The combination of the positive development in the US-China trade conflict, which could increase demand for oil, followed by the possibility of an escalating military conflict in the Middle East, which could decrease supply, caused prices to rapidly increase.
Further support for rising prices came from news that oil inventories started declining in late June. Additionally, an explosion and fire at a Philadelphia refinery, one of the largest on the East Coast, resulted in a decision to shut down the facility indefinitely. The refinery was a large producer of gasoline for the Philadelphia and neighboring eastern markets and the disruption in supply elevated prices for gas in those areas.
Although prices rose quickly near the end of June, averages for the entire month were much lower than May. The significant decline at the end of May resulted in lower prices for most of June which impacted the averages. However, retail prices did not fall as quickly as wholesale which is typical when prices are declining quickly. The graphs below show the movement of crude oil (converted to gallons) along with wholesale and retail fuel prices over the trailing 15 months:
Due to the way average wholesale prices declined in June while retail prices lagged, retail margins increased significantly. In fact, margins reach their second highest level in many years. The following graph shows retail margins for diesel and gas over the trailing 15 months:
As we look toward July and the second half of the year, Sokolis Group expects oil prices will reach $60 per barrel and potentially climb beyond the mid-$60’s. Gasoline prices will continue to feel upward pressure during the remainder of the summer driving season, particularly on the East Coast, as a result of the refinery closure until alternate supply sources are normalized.
The primary near-term driver for rising prices is news from the meeting between the leaders of the US and China at the end of June that they are taking positive steps to reengage negotiations to end their trade dispute. In addition, OPEC and Russia have recently indicated they are considering an extension to their production cuts in order to keep supplies tight for the remainder of the year.
As we’ve previously noted, prices are also likely to begin climbing again during the second half of the year based on several contributing factors besides any potential resolution of the US-China trade conflict. The production cuts by OPEC and Russia may start to have an impact on balancing global supply, tensions in the Middle East could worsen, and compliance with IMO 2020 requiring ships to burn cleaner fuel will increase demand for diesel fuel.
If you’re concerned about the impact of future fuel price changes for your fleet and want to know if you’re receiving the best fuel prices possible, contact Conor Proud at Sokolis Group, email@example.com or 267-482-6159. We are the nation’s leading independent fuel management consulting team and can help you make sure that your fuel management program is running at peak efficiency.


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The Australian version of the oldest lads' mags on the market is to be taken off the shelves permanently.
In a statement by their CEO, Zoo's parent company Bauer Media announced today that the Australian version of the magazine is to close due to "tough retail conditions".
The publisher has confirmed that the October issue of the magazine will be the last.
"It is not an easy decision to close a magazine and we have certainly considered all options before coming to this conclusion", said the magazine's associate publisher Ewen Page.
The closure includes the website and social media accounts.
The magazine sold just 24,122 copies in the last quarter of 2014, a drop of 36 per cent. Bauer media removed the magazine from the ABC circulation auditing figures in May 2015, citing that the magazine "could not benchmark itself against any other comparative title" due to being the only publication of its type in the audit.
The magazine was removed from Cole's in August following a successful online campaign supported by one of their employees. The company released a statement saying they made a "commercial decision to delete Zoo magazine following a regular range review".
A spokeswoman for anti-porn campaign outfit Collective Shout called the magazine "porn on training wheels" and encouraged Coles to "own" their "great decision".
In September 2013, Front, Nuts and Zoo were pulled from shelves of the Co-operative Group after their alleged refusal provide the magazines in sealed "modesty" bags.
Lads' mag 'Nuts', a former competitor of Zoo, ceased production in April 2014.
Zoo was launched on 29 January 2004 and is the only remaining British 'men's weekly'. The Australian edition was launched in 2006 and the South African edition in 2006, although it was discontinued in 2008.
Bauer Media will continue to publish Zoo Magazine in the UK.


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BCA has ramped up its commercial vehicle sales programme with new regular sales commencing in Blackbushe, Glasgow and Wolverhampton.
Held alongside the existing auction events, the new sales programme follows the addition of sales at Manchester last and means the auction giant now stages at least one LCV sale across the network every day, offering more than 2,000 vans a week.
The new programme has already delivered record results, with Blackbushe setting a new volume benchmark by offering 663 vans on one day and selling 560. BCA Glasgow sold a record 300 LCVs in one week in January. Digital buyers have been particularly active with 47% of all vans being purchased via BCA Live Online in January.
Stuart Pearson, managing director, UK Remarketing, said: “With BCA retaining and winning more LCV business nationwide, we are now able to offer a significantly increased volume of stock through our enhanced sales programme. The combination of physical and digital sales means that buyers can source the stock they need in the most time- and cost-effective manner, whatever their location.”


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KARACHI: Criticising the lopsided distribution of subsidised loans under the Temporary Economic Refinance Facility (TERF), Finance Minister Miftah Ismail said on Friday only one individual received as much as Rs90 billion through the concessionary refinance scheme.
He was referring to the facility provided by the State Bank of Pakistan, which allowed industrialists to seek long-term funding at minimal interest rates during the pandemic for setting up new units, introduced by the Imran Khan government.
“One Pakistani got Rs90bn out of Rs570bn disbursed under TERF. One Pakistani,” he said while addressing the student body at the Institute of Business Administration (IBA) where the Wharton-educated economist has taught as adjunct faculty in the past.
Mr Ismail railed against the perils of pursuing the import substitution model, which seeks to replace foreign imports with domestic production. “It doesn’t do any good,” he said while emphasising that the focus should be on the export promotion model, which allocates greater resources to the export-oriented sectors without creating price distortions in the economy.
Hints at quitting before 13-party govt completes its term
Giving a hypothetical example, Mr Ismail said the government is wont to fork out Rs2bn to an industrialist for setting up a factory against a promise that he’ll hire workers for Rs20,000 a month each. But setting up the factory increases imports, which widens the current account deficit. By the time the factory is up and running, the economy starts heating up. The government then decides to slow down economic growth to control the twin deficits. As a result, the industrialist sacks the same Rs20,000-a-month worker in whose name he’d received subsidised finance of Rs2bn in the first place.
Mr Ismail said Pakistani industrialists lacked imagination and produced goods for local consumption instead of foreign markets. Giving the example of a business group that sought help from his government in setting up a 500,000-tonne factory of polypropylene, a commonly used thermoplastic, the finance minister said it demanded a 20 per cent duty protection for 20 years as it knew it couldn’t compete against Chinese counterparts.
“Our industrialists, including my own family, never set up a factory to export,” he said, noting that manufacturers should focus on making basic goods like sewing machines that can help increase overall exports.
He said the floods have completely destroyed cotton and date palm crops in Sindh. The damage to crops have caused financial losses of Rs297.3bn, Rs3.6bn and 21.8bn in Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, respectively.
Ismail, the politician
When IBA Executive Director Dr S Akbar Zaidi asked the finance minister why his economic planning sounded long term in nature even though the current government is supposed to go home in a year, Mr Ismail responded with a hint of resignation in his tone.
“The government has 13 months, but I may not even have that much,” he said.
At least three times during the talk, Mr Ismail referred to his imprisonment under the PTI government for alleged corruption in setting up an LNG import terminal.
“You should ask your leaders (from the PTI) why they incarcerated an innocent man,” he said after sensing — rather correctly — that a sizeable number of students in the auditorium were pro-Imran Khan. When the students laughed at his remark, he said dryly that spending five months in solitary confinement was no joke.
Published in Dawn, September 3rd, 2022


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While Eurokey told letsrecycle.com the exact recycling process was “commercially sensitive”, the company says the 75,000 square foot facility is to be developed specifically to recover films and flexible plastics from the grocery and retail sectors.
Eurokey expects the facility to be operational next summer. Once open, the plant will be capable of processing more than 70,000 tonnes a year of supermarket films and flexible plastics returned by customers, the company said, and will create between 40 and 50 jobs in the area.
John Dhillon, managing director at Eurokey, said in a statement: “This ground-breaking UK solution has been in development for the past three years, which has been expedited now that we are part of the Reconomy Group.
“It will undoubtedly have a hugely influential role in enabling the UK to better manage its plastic waste, realising both its commercial and environmental value and reducing our reliance on export.
“We see this as only the start though and have a number of other exciting projects in the pipeline to further bolster UK recycling infrastructure.”
Eurokey said the Environment Agency was “in the process of confirming” permits for the facility.
Using an automated process, the facility will recycle ‘back-of-store’ film and rigid plastics made from polymers such as PET, HDPE, LDPE, Eurokey said.
The company said the material, which will include packaging from bakery and confectionery products, bags from prepared salad and food trays, would come from supermarkets including Sainsbury’s and Tesco.
In June, Sainsbury’s rolled out a flexible plastic recycling scheme to 520 stores nationwide (see letsrecycle.com story). Tesco followed suit in August, announcing the roll-out of soft plastic collection points at every one of its “large” stores in the UK (see letsrecycle.com story).
Sainsbury’s and Tesco launched their schemes after resources charity WRAP called on more supermarkets to collect all types of plastic bags and wrapping for sorting and recycling in May (see letsrecycle.com story).
Based in Leicester and founded in 1995, Eurokey provides commodity trading and reprocessing services to commercial customers in the UK and internationally.
This investment forms a vital part of the Reconomy Group’s exciting growth strategy
– Paul Cox, CEO of Reconomy
The company was acquired by the Reconomy Group for an undisclosed sum in March (see letsrecycle.com story).
Paul Cox, Reconomy’s CEO, said: “This investment forms a vital part of the Reconomy Group’s exciting growth strategy and demonstrates our commitment to being a leading enabler in the development of the circular economy.
“Building infrastructure to recover more of these under-recycled resources is another example of us working to meet the challenges faced by our customers.
“In doing so, we are helping them to build more commercially and environmentally sustainable businesses for the future.”
Eurokey also said it had recently invested more than £5 million in a new facility in Goleniow, Poland, enabling the company to continue to service the material reprocessing requirements of its European client base.
The company said it had conducted “several trials” of soft plastics recycling in Poland, though the volume of this material is “not significant at the moment”.


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Nordstrom saying adios to the Westside Pavilion
Modern Art, Orange Crush, Check Mate, Full Bloom, Key Lime, Stripes & Thermals, Silver & Gold.
Asa Soltan Rahmati not only wants to bring back the turban, she wants more women to wear caftans. The star of Shahs of Sunset show talks about her recently introduced line Asa Kaftans, and what brings mystery to a woman.
Keya, a Bangladesh-based producer of 100-percent cotton T-shirts and other knit apparel,is finding success in the U.S. market by using a North Carolina beachhead as its distribution point.
Regina Miracle International Ltd., a Hong Kong–based lingerie and shapewear maker, is adding Centric 8 product lifecycle management software to help coordinate collaboration between the lingerie company’s sample-development team and its customers and its internal sample-development team.
Lord Daniel Sportswear selected NGC’s fashion enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution to help the Florida company manage its growing specialty apparel business.
Italian luxury brand Roberto Cavalli added the Optitex 2-D Pattern Making and Optitex 3-D Virtual Prototyping CAD Suites.
Saban Brands announced this month that its Macbeth property, which is headquartered in Carlsbad, Calif., has struck two new licensing deals.
West Coast Ports
Hammering out a tentative contract with longshore workers took nine months of negotiations. Now importers are hoping it doesn’t take as long to clear thebacklog of merchandising floating on the water outside the country’s largest ports in Los Angeles and Long Beach.
Women’s contemporary show Axis wrapped up in New York City on Feb. 24, and RVCA, the Orange County, Calif. headquartered label, celebrated by opening a pop-up shop in Manhattan.
Ortiz Industries' Empowered event with Ducati
Ortiz Industries' Empowered event with Ducati at New York Fashion Week
Original Paperbacks has program to offer retailers unique colors and quick-turn deliveries.
Lisa Kline is back. On Feb. 23, she introduced an 11-piece line which bears her name Lisa Kline. The line is loungewear, and it is exclusive to HSN, the Home Shopping Network.
Nearly two months after Paula Schneider took over as the new head of American Apparel, she has fired the company’s long-time creativedirector, Iris Alonzo.
New York sneakerhead boutique Kith took its high-end shoes and streetwear looks out west on Feb. 20. It opened a pop-up shop at Venice Beach’s stylish Abbot Kinney Boulevard with a party, which was attended by the chiefs of the Liberty Fashion & Lifestyle Fairs trade show, which wrapped up its big Las Vegas show only a few days before.
Fashion & Entertainment
The party is over as crews start to dismantle the arrival area outside the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood.
It was Oscar night at the Moods of Norway boutique at 7964 Melrose Ave. in Los Angeles. Norwegian expats gathered to cheer for Norwegian director Morten Tyldum, who helmed The Imitation Game, and Me and My Moulton, a Canadian-Norwegian production nominated for best short animated film.
After nine months of talks, longshore workers reach a tentative agreement with their employers.
Henry T. Segerstrom, developer of South Coast Plaza, the retail center which brought Rodeo Drive luxury to Orange County, Calif., died Feb. 20 at his home in Newport Beach, Calif. after a brief illness.
Nicholas Duong makes all his Leather Cottage bags and accessories by hand in his studio in Alhambra, Calif.


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2018 is looking great for PlayStation and the players. As time is passing by people are waiting to hear about the Insomniac Games’ upcoming Spider-Man. Until now the details have been scarce but that seems to be ending soon because recently GameInformer announced that their story for the May 2018 issue of the magazine is all about Spider-Man.
Along with great news, the company released a trailer for an exclusive story in it giving us a glimpse of in-game footage with Spidey in action.
In the video, above we got a fresh look on the Peter Parker/Spiderman in combat, traveling across the city by swinging from building to building (including trees) with cool camera angles to give Spidey that fast momentum meanwhile taking enemies down and running across the side of the buildings. It’s a quick look at the game but enough to excite gamers about the new Spider-Man.
According to Game Informer their cover story about the game will feature a lot of details about the new game, missions, side activities, collectibles and mainly will include the release date which they have teased. So this is going to be an exciting month full of news about the Spider-Man.
The footage shows the developers talking briefly about the game, They talk about how you will take control of a more experienced Spider-Man who’ll be swinging around the Manhattan fast and with confident dealing with everything on its way. They told how easily The Spider-Man will be using webs, swinging around and perform in close combat by switching fast. The developers have used speed, style, and fluidity to describe their aims for the Spider-Man.
Insomniac announced the game back in 2016 at E3 and confirmed that this game is a standalone experience not linked to any of the movies. According to Insomniac, the open world of the game will be much bigger than ever it was in the previous games.
As for the release date, it will be announced soon today on the Game Informers’ Magazine cover of the month. So grab one as soon as possible, the digital version will be available around 5-6pm today.
Stay tuned we will be covering the details soon as they get revealed.


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Richard Branson: I Cried When I Sold Virgin Records
Most entrepreneurs know launching a business requires blood, sweat and tears. Perhaps none more so than Richard Branson.
At the 40th celebration of Virgin Records, the 63-year-old who has helped shape the music, space and airline industries, recalled crying when he sold the record label more than 20 years ago for $1 billion.
"Of course, it was very hard - it's like selling your children," Branson said in an interview with Reuters. "I mean, you build something from scratch, we had just signed Janet Jackson, we had just signed the Rolling Stones when we sold it, and I remember running down Ladbroke Grove, tears streaming down my face with the check for a billion dollars.”
The record label was sold to Thorn EMI in 1992 and was the catalyst for many other business ventures. In the years since selling the label he founded, Branson, who is currently attempting to make commercial space travel a reality, would go on to launch some of the world’s most innovative companies.
"We wouldn't be building spaceships today if it hadn't been for that (sale) so it was the right decision," Branson told Reuters.
Is a freelance writer in New York. She's written about personal finance and small business for such publications as The Wall Street Journal, MainStreet.com, Walletpop.com, People magazine. She also works as a freelance producer covering money at ABCNews.com. Little attended Howard University where she studied journalism. She loves drinking wine and tweeting, preferably at the same time. Follow Little on Twitter @Lyneka.


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The billionaire chief of Japanese technology giant SoftBank visited Donald Trump today, announcing that his companies would invest $50 billion in the United States and create 50,000 new jobs in the coming four years.
"I just came here to celebrate his new job," Son told reporters camped out at Trump Tower. "He will do a lot of deregulation, I said, 'This is great, the U.S. will become great again.'"
"This is Masa of SoftBank from Japan," Trump told reporters, with the Japanese executive cradled under his arm. "He's one of the great men of industry, so I just want to thank you very much."
Son told the Wall Street Journal the US investments would come from a $100 billion technology fund he has created in partnership with Saudi Arabia.
SoftBank already has a major presence in the US. It owns Sprint and recently acquired the UK-based chip designer ARM, whose chips are used throughout the mobile industry, including in the iPhone. The company is also an active venture capital investor in Silicon Valley, where it invested $1 billion in online lender SoFi last year (SoftBank is an investor in BuzzFeed).
There's one particular US deal that is likely to be on Son's mind. Since buying Sprint, he has pushed to merge the company with T-Mobile, in a takeover that would create a serious third competitor to AT&T and Verizon. A 2014 attempt to merge Sprint and T-Mobile was called off after federal regulators made it clear they would oppose the deal.
But Donald Trump will soon be appointing a new set of regulators, and Wall Street interpreted the friendly words with Son as a hint that a takeover attempt could be in the cards again. After Trump's tweets, the T-Mobile's stock price shot up by about 3%, bringing its valuation to just under $50 billion.


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The United States lawmakers has voted to stop TikTok from being downloaded onto US government employees’ telephones, intensifying US scrutiny of the popular Chinese-owned video app.
The bill passed by the Republican-controlled Senate now goes to the House of Representatives, led by Democrats.
“TikTok is a major security risk and has no place on government devices,” said Republican Senator Josh Hawley, the sponsor of the bill.
President Donald Trump, who has locked horns with China on a range of issues including trade and the pandemic, has set a deadline of mid-September for TikTok to be acquired by a US firm or be banned in the US.
however, TikTok is launching its first TV app, called “More on TikTok,” on Amazon Fire TV devices today (via Business Insider). The app will have curated video playlists and compilations from the mobile TikTok app
Source: Naija News


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A Sharing Table
Table One Brasserie (2800 Magazine St., 872-9035; www.table1restaurant.com) continues its monthly Dine Out for Charity fundraising campaign on Wednesday, Dec. 20, pledging to donate 20 percent of the dayÕs profits to the ChildrenÕs Hospital. Table One created the program this fall and past beneficiaries have included the New Orleans Police DepartmentÕs Police and Justice Foundation and the New Orleans Fire Department. In addition, every customer who brings an unwrapped childrenÕs gift to the restaurant on Wednesday will receive a free glass of wine. Visit the restaurantÕs Web site for gift guidelines.
Dining by the Oaks
Visitors to Celebration in the Oaks (www.celebrationintheoaks.com) can sup on offerings from City Park Catering, like hamburgers and jambalaya. Just outside the gates of the annual holiday event, the restaurant RalphÕs on the Park (900 City Park Ave., 488-1000; www.ralphsonthepark.com) has noshing of a different sort available. Taking a nod from a similar special run this summer at Bacco (310 Chartres St., 522-2426; www.bacco.com), its sister restaurant, RalphÕs is serving a choice of any three appetizers and a glass of wine for $25. The special can be had at the bar or in the main dining room Tuesday to Sunday during dinner hours, and the restaurantÕs full menu is available as well.
Andrea's, Do-It-Yourself Style
Andrea Apuzzo, chef and owner of AndreaÕs Restaurant (3100 19th St., Metairie, 834-8583; www.andreasrestaurant.com), has published a new cookbook, My Home is Your Home. The book features 125 Italian recipes, both farmhouse rustic and restaurant refined. His latest book was co-written by John DeMers, a local writer whose earlier cookbooks focus on New Orleans food and cocktails and Caribbean recipes, and features photography by Kerri McCaffety, whose own books have covered New Orleans dining traditions. ApuzzoÕs earlier cookbooks are La Cucina di AndreaÕs, published in 1989, and AndreaÕs Light, published in 1994.
Doubling Down on the Gulf
Celebrity chef Todd English (www.toddenglish.com) opened the sixth edition of his Olives chain of Mediterranean restaurants on the Gulf Coast at the Beau Rivage Resort & Casino (www.beaurivage.com). Other new restaurants to open at the renovated Gulfport, Miss., casino are a steakhouse called BR Prime and an Asian restaurant called Jia. English, a prominent television personality and cookbook author, owns 18 restaurants around the country, plus one aboard the Queen Mary II ocean liner. In September, English opened another new restaurant, called Riche (228 Poydras St., 522-0787; www.harrahs.com), in the new HarrahÕs Hotel. Fellow celebrity chef Emeril Lagasse (www.emerils.com) announced his own plans to open a new casino-based restaurant in Gulfport called EmerilÕs New Orleans Fish House. It is expected to open this summer in the Island View Casino (www.islandviewcasino.com). Ñ McNulty


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Maruti Suzuki India to launch four SUVs in two years
The country's largest passenger vehicles manufacturer Maruti SuzukiBSE -1.48 % India is planning to launch four Sports Utility Vehicles (SUVs) over the next two years.
According to ET Now, the company is expected to launch a crossover version of the SX4 sometime next year. Along with that Maruti is also aiming for an XA Alpha launch by 2015. The concept car XA Alpha was first unveiled at the Auto Expo 2012.
The other two models that the auto major is believed to be working on are a sub-4 metre Vitara and an SUV version of the Swift Dzire. These launches will aim to capture the fast growing SUV segment in the country.
Meanwhile Renault SA has found the Goldilocks spot for India's rising middle classes with its Duster compact SUV: just big enough, safe enough and cheap enough to send sales in the South Asian country surging.
In the seven months since it began selling the sport- utility vehicle in July, Renault shipped 27,285 units to India, compared with 3,964 for all its other models for the year ended March.
Indian car buyers bought 57 per cent more SUVs in the first 10 months of the fiscal year, Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers data show, spurring carmakers to rush new models to showrooms.
It was reported in January that Mahindra & Mahindra, which has launched its premium sports utility vehicle Rexton in India, is still studying the market to find an appropriate time to launch SUV Korando from the SsangYong stable.
M&M has also hiked the capacities of some its best selling brands - Quanto, XUV500 and Rexton. With the increase in capacity for these three products, Mahindra hopes to bring down the waiting period for these popular products and thereby facilitate its customers in getting early deliveries of their products. In addition, the bookings for these brands have been opened across more centres in India.
Mahindra's Quanto has garnered bookings of more than 12000 units within the first two months of its launch while deliveries for the XUV500 are as per schedule. Maruti Suzuki India to launch four SUVs in two years - The Economic Times


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ANELLO Photonics Announces World's First Silicon Photonics Optical Gyroscope - SIPHOGJanuary 3, 2023 | PRNewswire
Estimated reading time: 1 minute
ANELLO Photonics, the creator of the SIPHOG, announced that it will be showcasing at CES 2023 the world's first Silicon Photonics Optical Gyroscope - SIPHOG. The ANELLO SIPHOG is a low-noise and low-drift optical gyroscope smart sensor leveraging ANELLO's patented photonic integrated circuit technology. The result is the smallest optical gyroscope in the world, which enables reliable and accurate navigation and positioning across many autonomous applications.
"We are very excited and proud of this technological breakthrough at ANELLO," said Dr. Mario Paniccia, CEO of ANELLO Photonics. "With the ANELLO SIPHOG integrated into a range of Inertial Navigation Systems (INS) and solutions, customers now get access to a more stable, accurate and robust sensor for their autonomous applications. Customers in the autonomy space can rely on ANELLO to deliver cutting-edge, high-performance solutions using integrated photonics that previously was only available in very complex and expensive fiber gyroscopes."
At CES 2023, ANELLO is not only showcasing the SIPHOG but will also be showcasing full INS solutions that include ANELLO's own Sensor Fusion Engine delivering a full end-to-end offering to customers in various fields of autonomy where position, navigation and timing are essential.
"Silicon photonics is of strategic importance for Tower," said Russell Ellwanger, Tower Semiconductor CEO. "We have been engaged with ANELLO since their inception, have benefitted much through this partnership and are most excited to see them showcasing the SIPHOG to the world. This is a prodigious technology with a substantial value proposition and having vast applications for the industry. We look forward to continuing our great partnership with Dr. Paniccia and the ANELLO team."
"As the first investors in ANELLO, we are excited to see the SIPHOG at CES as an enabling ingredient for ANELLO's product portfolio," said Darren Liccardo, Managing Director at Catapult Ventures. "We are thrilled with their progress in building robust, high-performance, sensing solutions and we believe ANELLO will be a market leader in the autonomy space."
ANELLO Photonics is currently engaged in commercial trials with various market-leading customers in the Construction, Farming, Trucking, Robotics, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, Autonomous Vehicles, and National Security space.
Peter Brandt gives Pete Starkey a tour of atg’s latest addition to the a9 line of equipment, the a9a tester for routed boards up to 25 x 21 inches in size. Small and medium size customers requiring small quantity flexibility, or advance technology testing, are atg’s target customers for the a9a.
Precision Technology, Inc. (PTI) and Epec Engineered Technologies shared that they have joined together to give customers a greater range of high-quality printed circuit boards and other electronic products.
Hi Sharp, a leading maker of video surveillance systems, is globally announcing its expansion into AI and cloud-based technologies for video capture.
TT Electronics, a global provider of custom power solutions and engineered technologies, has announced that its Power and Control business has officially opened its new state-of-the-art research, development and manufacturing facility.
Inovaxe, a world leader and provider of innovative material handling and inventory control systems, proudly announces its role as a distributor for VisiConsult’s innovative X-ray Counter solutions in the United States.


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Nothing could have prepared us for 2020 – a year that demanded a swift and dramatic restructure of corporate operations in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. Remote workforces were created…
Category: Cyber security
One-in-five of us has been targeted by a financial scam via our phones every week for the past two years.
That’s the figure revealed in a recent study from Equifax, the credit reference agency. Here are more staggering scam statistics revealed by the study…
If you use online banking, whether in a personal or professional capacity, you need to be aware of the threat posed by hackers.
Although security measures within the financial sector have evolved dramatically in recent years, hackers are responding to the challenge with ever more devious ways to separate you from your hard-earned cash. As we reported last week, hackers currently have a sophisticated banking scam on the go whereby taking an initial amount from your account is just the pretext to an even greater attack.
With this in mind, here are the top five biggest cyber security threats of 2020.
Here at ConferenceCall.co.uk, we like to keep you updated with the latest cyber security tips and let you know if there are any scams you should be aware of. Although we’re a free conference call provider, we want our customers to stay safe online at all times.
We’ve just been made aware of a very sophisticated and pretty worrying bank scam that works in two stages to effectively do you out of money twice. Here’s all you need to know.
Financial experts are suggesting that the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) recent decision to ban the sale of derivatives and exchange traded notes (ETNs) linked to cryptoassets to retail customers is a huge setback for the UK in maintaining its dominant position as a global fintech hub.


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CUs, League Note Opposition to Interchange Bill in Meeting Sen. Tim Kaine
Representatives from Apple FCU, BayPort CU and Loudon CU joined the League for a meeting with Sen. Tim Kaine on Capitol Hill today. A key topic of conversation was the credit union-opposed Credit Card Competition Act, which will be the subject of a hearing next month by the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Our "Hike The Hill" efforts are off to a fast start today! Credit union and League representatives met with Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) to discuss our legislative priorities, including our opposition to the Credit Card Competition Act, a measure that would alter the current interchange system and negatively impact credit unions' ability to fight fraud.
A hearing on the Credit Card Competition Act is scheduled for April 9 in the Senate Judiciary Committee, and your League has been actively engaged with the offices of Sens. Warner and Kaine, touting our opposition to the measure.
The Credit Card Competition Act (S.1838) would require cards from financial institutions with $100 billion or more of assets to offer merchants the choice of two unaffiliated card networks that aren't both Visa and Mastercard. We maintain that passage of the measure will negatively impact consumers and the financial services industry as whole.
“Legislative and regulatory measures, like the Credit Card Competition Act, represent a significant threat to the credit union business model by stripping us of needed resources to address the ever-rising costs of fraud and provide members with the consumer-friendly products and services they expect from their credit union,” said League Chief Advocacy Officer JT Blau. “Any change to the current credit card interchange system will only benefit the nation’s big-box retailers at the expense of consumers. What’s more, any regulation that targets the industry’s major players will, in time, impact every financial institution. We need only look to the decade-old regulation governing debit card interchange for proof of that fact.”
Support Our Advocacy Efforts: Email Lawmakers in Opposition to the Credit Card Competition Act
You can support this week's advocacy efforts in Washington by emailing lawmakers in opposition to the Credit Card Competition Act! You can easily do so here. Please encourage your co-workers, volunteer officials and members to do the same. Derailing the Credit Card Competition Act is a legislative priority for the League, and we again communicated our opposition to the measure during our meetings this week.
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Guy Fieri has some thoughts on inflation and price gouging. In a recent appearance on Fox News’ “One Nation with Brian Kilmeade,” Fieri spoke about his career at large and the current inflation causing skyrocketing grocery prices. “I’m hearing about it and I’m seeing it,” he said. “More so in the industry, you know, looking at the pressure put on these mom and pop restaurants when I do ‘Diners, Drive-ins and Dives,’ the dollar isn’t going as far as it once was.” This is so tough. They don’t have the buying power of the big corporations and the big franchise groups.”
In order to “navigate these waters,” Fieri says that restaurants will need resourcefulness and creativity, especially if they don’t want to pass the extra costs onto the customer. “Where does it stop?” he asked. “Who’s going to pay the price?”
Kilmeade also played a clip for Fieri that showed podcast host Joe Rogan saying that California — where Fieri has lived for years — has gone “full communist.” When asked if he concurred, Fieri demurred and pointed to the state’s beautiful wine country and cultural opportunities for chefs.


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IRVINE, Calif. - A proposal by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to allow Mexican avocados to be imported to all 50 states is being seen as the pits by California growers, who fear the imported product will flood the market and introduce several pests, including fruit flies, seed moths, and weevils, into the United States.
The USDA has proposed allowing growers from the Mexican state of Michoacan to export avocados to all 50 states year-round. Currently they are allowed to export avocados to 31 northeastern and north-central states six months every year. Both regions grow the Hass variety of avocado.
"The USDA has the proposal out, but it is uncertain what they will decide and when they will decide it, but it is fairly likely that some sort of expansion of the program will occur," Tom Bellamore, s.v.p. of the California Avocado Commission here, told Progressive Grocer. "What is difficult to predict is whether states like California and Florida [which grow avocados] or their bordering states will be included. In the past the department has used kind of a buffer zone approach in pest issues like this."
If an expansion does occur, Bellamore said it's safe to assume there will be an increase in the aggregate supply of fresh Hass avocados available in the United States. Last year Mexico shipped a little over 90 million pounds of avocados to market. "It's entirely possible that Mexico, with an increased shipping period and additional states, could ship 150 million or maybe as much as 200 million pounds," Bellamore said.
"But our primary concern is the pests that are present there in the growing region and continue to be detected each year by the USDA," he continued. "There are a variety of pests, some that are avocado-specific, and other insects, like fruit flies."
The USDA claims the imports will cut the price of American avocados and save consumers $111 million, but growers question the USDA's motives. "The Mexican government, and to some degree the Mexican avocado industry, has been quite aggressive in seeking expanded access and expanded market opportunities here in the U.S.," Bellamore said. "It's clear that over the years we've seen this issue become politicized, and most of that is derived from interests on the part of the Mexican government to open up bilateral trade. So sometimes decisions are made that have very little to do with avocados actually, but they may provide some relief in a quid pro quo when trade moves in an opposite direction in some other commodity. Our growers feel that the USDA should be working for U.S. growers, and yet they seem to be interested in facilitating trade deals."


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Clowns announce new album and free show!
Christmas has come early for Clowns fans, with the Melbourne hardcore punk outfit announcing a brand spanking new album AND a free show. That’s right, Clowns will be playing their new record live, in it’s entirety this Saturday at The Tote Hotel front bar and it’s FREE ENTRY! Joined by the talented legends of Face Face, they will be bringing some cheer to you ears from 5pm so get down there early to avoid disappointment. There will be more news on the new Clowns record soon, but until then, you can RSVP here: Clowns at The Tote Front Bar, with special guests Face Face


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NetEase is strengthening its team with a new addition to the Montréal office. Jonathan Morin is set to take up the position of creative director at the studio bringing in over 24 years of games industry experience. Morin is previously known for working at Ubisoft on titles such as the critically acclaimed Watch Dogs franchise Far Cry and other triple-A titles.
NetEase Montréal previously hired another ex-Ubisoft employee, Emile Liang to take up the position of Lead Producer. With these experienced additions, NetEase will be aiming at the development of triple-A titles. Morin will also help to lead the team in creating new IP and furthering the goals of NetEase to become one of the biggest video game publishers in the world. The Montréal office was originally established back in 2019 and is now taking full advantage of this thriving video games development location.
Morin commented on the new position saying “I am excited to announce my new adventure as Creative Director at NetEase Games Montréal. I am privileged to join a passionate and talented new team to create our own IP. This is the beginning of something special for me and I cannot wait to say more”.
This latest addition is among a series of industry activities from NetEase. Furthering its expansion from China, the company recently opened a studio based in Austin which is their first in the United States. Another first came with the acquisition of French game developer Quantic Dream which marks the company's first Europe based studio. Yakuza creator Toshihiro Nagoshi also joined the company founding the fully owned subsidiary studio Nagoshi, and in Japan CapCom's Hiroyukia Kobayashi left the studio to join NetEase.
NetEase features in our current top 50 game makers list and recent rumours after a series of patent releases also hint that as majority owners of Bungie, NetEase could be looking to collaborate on bringing Destiny to mobile.


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Sources recently confirmed to ESPN that EA Sports is bringing back the popular Midway nineties classic NBA Jam video game. EA, who produced the NBA Streets series, will initially be releasing the game as a Nintendo Wii exclusive.
“Four-player action is set to return big-time as sources claim that EA has not only hired [game creator Mark] Turmell to work on upcoming sports games, he’s already been brought to EA’s Vancouver studio to help consult on the new ‘Jam,” wrote ESPN’s Jon Robinson. He continued, “sources also claim that Turmell isn’t the only old-school Jam vet being brought back to the mix, which makes me wonder if EA will also hire the voice of the original game, Tim Kitzrow, to once again unleash phrases like “Boomshackalacka!” and “He’s on Fire!”
There is also speculation that the new NBA Jam will buy into EA Trax system, which will produce a Hip Hop soundtrack to accompany the game. The in-game soundtrack would feature up and coming artists as well as mainstream artists. EA Trax system has music participation with labels including Capitol, Atlantic, Interscope, and Island/Def Jam that allow their artist’s music to play on EA video games.
There is no word as to when the new game will be relelased.
HipHopDX will keep you posted with the latest informationn.


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Nintendo entering the mobile marketplace should probably have been one of the major signs that 2016 would be a weird year for games, or that the apocalypse was starting. Five years ago then Nintendo CEO, Satoru Iwata, stated that Nintendo would not be entering the mobile market despite the cries of investors. Nintendo’s strongest point is their branding. It’s part of what keeps them afloat and lets them play with experimental console concepts like the Wii and Wii U. There does seem to be a method to Nintendo’s madness when it comes to games on phones though, so let’s dig in and dissect Nintendo’s first year in mobile gaming.
Nintendo’s jump into mobile started back in 2015 when they announced they were working with the mobile game developer DeNA to develop 4 titles: Miitomo, a Mario game, an Animal Crossing game, and a Fire Emblem game. All of these were set to release throughout 2016 and gave Nintendo a pretty powerful lineup of games, at least in Japan. So far, it seemed, that Nintendo was playing it pretty safe. Miitomo is a pretty low-effort social app that Nintendo really didn’t have much to lose on. Miitomo did really well at release, but lost many of its users within the first two months, although that might be because of how limited the application is and how infrequently it updates. Nintendo really only bothered with Miitomo when it could be used to advertise other games through in-game content. It received a Zelda update around the time of E3 and more recently has been updated with plenty of Mario goodies to promote Super Mario Run. Overall, Miitomo is almost certainly doing exactly what Nintendo wants it to do, but it doesn’t feel like there was anything big Nintendo could pull from it, at least not in the way another certain title did over the summer.
Pokemon GO was one of the biggest mobile releases not only for the month it came out but also for the entire year. Despite being unfinished and a buggy mess, the pseudo-map app peaked download and sales charts for weeks. It was a phenomenon so big that it was featured on major news outlets, for both good and bad reasons, and brought Nintendo back into the mainstream limelight. Nintendo had almost nothing to do with GO’s development but still benefited from it when their stock started to rise following the games huge influx of sales (a stock that dropped once investors realized Nintendo had little to do with GO). The most important thing Nintendo pulled from this was thankfully not to release bug-ridden messes to get quick sales, but that their brands and characters have plenty of pull outside their own handheld and console market. This realization is what probably led to them delaying the Animal Crossing and Fire Emblem apps in favor of Mario, which has a much larger worldwide pull.
Super Mario Run is Nintendo’s first actual game and is another really good example of what we can probably expect from the company’s other upcoming mobile releases. Run is another safe bet, sticking with a genre that’s already familiar to mobile users. With this in mind, there’s a good chance that whatever Nintendo is doing with Fire Emblem and Animal Crossing is probably going to also follow some already established trend. There’s a good chance Fire Emblem could end up similar to Granblue Fantasy, a popular game in Japan about collecting various fantasy characters and leveling them up to fight monsters and challenging enemies. Fire Emblem is a storied franchise that has well over +500 different characters to choose from, and Nintendo has already dabbled in crossover universe stuff in Awakening and Fates via DLC.
I would love to see a classic-styled game come from Nintendo though. There still seems to be a pretty big stigma surrounding mobile gaming and the simplistic limitations companies throw on the games they develop for phones. Fire Emblem and Animal Crossing’s simplistic gameplay styles already would be easy to carry over into touchscreen functions, but I doubt Nintendo would be willing to make exclusive games in either of those franchises on a device that wasn’t solely theirs.


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The Truelayer integration will streamline account funding for Chip’s customers, who will be able to quickly and securely deposit money without the need for slow, cumbersome bank transfers. The Developer Portal enables companies to provide everything that internal and third-party developers need to build solutions effectively and efficiently, accelerating API adoption, and creating business value. We connect what FIs need when they need it, ramping up their functionality, customer experience, and time to market. The present consultation will inform the Commission on the application and impact of PSD2 and on the views on Open Finance, taking into consideration, among others, developments in the payment market, payment user needs and the need for possible amendments. The views from stakeholders will support the assessment and enable the Commission to decide whether EU coordinated action and/or policy measures are warranted.
Having set the operating parameters, the industry got to work delivering the technological solutions to achieve them. It means that users can share their financial data –no matter where it comes from– with third parties through APIs to access new added-value products and services that are tailored to their specific needs. Secure Data Access is the Key to an Open Finance Ecosystem July 20, 2022 | 1 min read The key to building an open ecosystem is secure data access. A new Aite-Novarica report outlines what to consider.Enabling Financial Success During Crisis with Open Finance July 6, 2022 | 1 min read Open Finance can enable greater financial success and strengthen consumer loyalty in the face of a recession.
Easiest Way To Collect & Track Payments
In this instance, open banking is great for verifying checking account balance, balance history, account tenure and deposits. Where open banking falls short is with things like auto loans, mortgages, CD/IRA and other finance-related products. With open finance, all the personal financial data that you permission would be securely delivered to the mortgage lender with your consent via an API.
OCC released new risk management guidance on third-party relationships, specifically called out screen scraping. The guidance calls on supervised banks to conduct governance over aggregators who employ credential-based scraping to collect customer data regardless of whether or not the aggregator has a contractual relationship with the bank. Thinking ahead and moving quickly towards exploring Open Banking as a new paradigm for doing business your bank can differentiate itself, create new experiences for customers and be ahead in the ecosystem. Launched in 2019, the Paytrail-Aiia collaboration is accelerating open banking payments in the eCommerce checkout flow, helping merchants to get paid faster and bringing one-click solutions to customers. The phrase open finance refers to a broadening of the original remit of open banking to include a greater range of services. In the context of accessing account data, broadening the scope of access means redefining what type of organization is allowed to make access requests.
By bolstering its in-house open banking connectivity, the new deal will allow the company to introduce variable recurring payments and extend its existing instant-pay products to yet underserved European businesses. Digital payment solution GoCardless is set to acquire the open banking data specialist Nordigen. The deal will allow GoCardless to plug the 2,300+ banks connected to Nordigen into its account-to-account payment network, PYMNTS reported. Open Finance is also where the potential for building truly innovative financial services becomes a reality, as it offers the chance to create completely new business models that leverage previously unexplored sources of data. Consumers have numerous choices for which financial services provider they use.
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An American Banker/Monigle survey of consumers on what drives customer satisfaction ranks the top 50 performers. As EU legislators prepare to revise the open banking framework known as PSD2 , many in the industry expect that the coming legislation will redefine the rules to allow a greater range of service providers to request access to bank account information. Open Finance Platform is the result of FinConecta’s collaboration with AWS based on our joint expertise in financial services, open banking, and cloud technology. Ben Weiss is the Banking Specialist on the Worldwide Financial Services team at AWS. Prior to AWS, Ben led financial products at Carta, where he led their efforts in banking and lending to startups and venture capital firms.
This can be spearheaded by the CFPB, which has a mandate under the Dodd-Frank Act to ensure that customers can access their financial data. First, the creation of a consumer data right that assigns clear ownership of financial data to the consumer. Second, minimum data standards defining data that companies must share upon permissioning, based on the Financial Data Exchange standard, with clear guidelines on exceptions. And finally, regulatory oversight of data aggregators and intermediaries such as MX, to ensure consistency across the ecosystem. Joel Lieginger is the founder and CEO of Paceline, the first-ever fitness rewards platform that adds financial benefit to your physical activity. Prior to Paceline, Joel held numerous positions at AIA, one of the world’s leading insurance companies based in Hong Kong, where he led Group Partnerships, Corporate Development, Investor Relations and Marketing over nearly a decade with the company.
- Working to educate consumers is critical as we grow and improve financial resources for everyone.
- In the context of accessing account data, broadening the scope of access means redefining what type of organization is allowed to make access requests.
- While there he led the company’s corporate strategy post-IPO and then ran the company’s multi-billion-dollar bancassurance relationship with Citibank.
- The interbank connectivity provided by Truelayer will also enhance Chip’s data analytics capacity.
- Paramount amongst these challenges is ensuring that consumers give informed consent to the collection, transfer, and use of their personal information.
- Service companies, applications , financial institutions, products, and services where End Users manage or act on their finances, whether actively managing their finances or passively doing so .
Their mission is to bring the worlds of physical and financial rewards together by rewarding users for doing the types of physical activities they love most. In addition, Paceline offers curated incentives from health and wellness brands that yield healthier and more valuable customers to partners of all kinds. A large group of diverse voices will foster an open, collaborative and consensus-driven ecosystem than can support customer choice, innovation, security, privacy and the production of technology solutions and standards as rapidly as the consumer demands. While 38.4 percent of fintech professionals consider that regulation remains the biggest challenge, 90.2 percent think that companies should get ahead of it and start making moves for its implementation, according to our survey.
Open finance is a leg in the journey towards open data, where everyone gets to choose who gains access to their data – financial and other. Open finance will lead to increased competition, better-tailored financial services, and improved overall financial health. Paceline is a health and wellness platform that incentivizes consumers to live a healthy lifestyle.
It’s important to understand that the consumer is the center of any open banking or https://xcritical.com/ system. Consumer demand for products and innovations fueled by their own financial data is what drives open finance. One needs to simply look at what the consumer is accessing today via current credential-based access to guide what could—and/or should—be offered via open finance application programming interfaces, or APIs.
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. issued the letters ordering the companies to stop making false or misleading representations of deposit insurance. When your consumers skew digital and your major vendors go direct to consumer , the store and mall formats that have worked… Although in general eCommerce payments have increased by leaps and bounds in recent years, meeting the needs of sellers and buyers at the same time remains a challenge. By submitting this form, I confirm that I have read and understood Plaid’s Privacy Statement, and I authorize Plaid to send me sales and marketing communications at the email address provided. The biggest difference between open banking and open finance is that open banking is partly regulated by a legal framework while open finance isn’t . If you want to learn more about Open Finance and its evolution in the Latin American ecosystem, download our report.
UK pre-launch payments startup attracts funding and attention, plus more news and insights from around the open finance world… https://t.co/9HwJMHHVil #openbanking #A2A #A2Apayments #superapp #SMEfinance #instantpayments #gigeconomy #embeddedinsurance #BaaS #digitalidentity pic.twitter.com/sHffFkbxsX
— Open Future World (@OpenFutureWorld) August 18, 2022
For example, consumers may be unaware that when authorizing a one-time transaction, third parties may store their information indefinitely and collect information unrelated to that transaction on an ongoing basis. We’re in the 101 stage of educating consumers that they can obtain their data in the first place, let alone share it with a third party indefinitely when getting a mortgage or setting up a budgeting app. Working to educate consumers is critical as we grow and improve financial resources for everyone. The interbank connectivity provided by Truelayer will also enhance Chip’s data analytics capacity.
Find out how open banking products and solutions can enable you to achieve your Open Finance goals. Learn how to deliver and secure extraordinary financing and digital experiences. Rising costs and other factors are leading more consumers to borrow money, pitting banks against credit unions and fintechs for this business. A 2021 survey by Deloitte found that nearly 70% of consumers said financial institutions need to place a greater emphasis on data protection. What’s more, a recent survey we commissioned at MX showed 60% of people want to see advanced identity protection from their financial institutions. GoCardless helps businesses collect payments with as little friction as possible.
Global Trade And Settlement Network
Several factors are driving this growth, according to experts, such as a more favorable regulatory environment and more visibility about its benefits among end-users and companies. That’s why as Open Banking regulation evolved, a new concept emerged in some countries like Mexico, where authorities decided to extend the scope of this model to other financial information beyond banking. Acquires and aggregates daily more than $2 trillion in assets into a set of consolidated client-defined formats that are easily used to provide highly-demanded reporting services. Provides state of the art security and privacy, meeting the needs of clients requiring the highest degree of confidentiality.
This directive, which took effect in 2018, made it possible to open up the financial services industry – and the hope is that future open finance regulations will continue this development. Open finance goes beyond the scope of data and services available at your bank, covering your entire financial footprint. With your consent, financial data related to pensions, tax, and insurance could all be accessed by a trusted third party. This opens up for better-tailored consumer services, for payments as well as other financial products. Financial institutions are acknowledging that customer interaction needs are evolving.
Once this consent has been obtained, it is also imperative that consumers are adequately protected against the risk of data breaches, identity theft, and cyber-fraud. Without question, successfully addressing these—already well understood—challenges will be key to building trust in this new financial ecosystem. Whitelisted IPs allow the financial institution to sanction data sharing with specific IP addresses and see who is accessing their consumers’ data. Whitelisted IPs ensure a higher connectivity rate for consumers linking their accounts to valuable third-party apps, creating a more consistent experience. Choice for the customer to make informed decisions based on data they are choosing to share between their financial institutions and preferred fintechs.
Open finance allows the entire ecosystem to deliver intelligent, automated and personalized experiences that drive positive outcomes for their customers. Financial institutions that partner with fintechs and other third parties can access data and services across different verticals, which adds more value to customers. Fintechs and other nonbanks gain more secure and reliable access to consumer financial data. Thanks to this evolution toward Open Finance, data from multiple sources beyond banking can help build innovative and more inclusive financial services.
This high level of industry fragmentation is the source of massive coordination problems that make it difficult for financial institutions to develop the standardized application programming interfaces necessary to unleash the promise of Open Finance. In the absence of both a common industry standard or government intervention, responsibility for developing these APIs has instead fallen to a small cadre of technology firms known as data aggregators. Open finance is helping consumers live healthier financial lives by empowering them to seamlessly access and manage all of their financial data using authorized apps and services.