BEST'S COMMENTARY: NEW GROUP CAPITAL RULE TO BOOST HONG KONG INSURANCE MARKET

 HONG KONG, Sept 7 (Bernama-BUSINESS WIRE) -- AM Best believes Hong Kong’s proposed Group Capital Rule (GCR) will be beneficial to the group-wide risk and capital management culture of insurance entities.

A new Best’s Commentary, titled, “New Group Capital Rule to Boost Hong Kong Insurance Market,” states that the proposed regulation, which would augment the current regulatory framework to allow Hong Kong’s Insurance Authority (IA) to monitor multinational insurance groups on a group basis, will enhance the regulator’s supervision of insurance holding companies. The IA acts as the group supervisor to several multinational insurance organisations, and currently takes an indirect approach that mainly involves the continual fit and proper assessments of the insurance holding companies’ ability to manage their subsidiaries, as well as liaison and cooperation with other regulators of a group’s member operations.

http://mrem.bernama.com/viewsm.php?idm=38071

Rebrand: Mitsubishi Power renews commitment to transform global energy systems

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 4 -- Mitsubishi Power, a major subsidiary of the Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) Group, officially changed its corporate name from Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems.

The rebrand marks the start of an exciting new chapter in the company’s mission to solve the foremost energy challenges of its time, including decarbonising energy and bringing reliable power to people worldwide.

With its new brand identity, which was developed after consultation with key customers, employees and partners, Mitsubishi Power moves forward in its ambition to become a leading energy solutions company with a broad spectrum of businesses in grid-level power generation, renewables, energy storage and digital technologies.

Following the rebrand, Mitsubishi Power becomes a wholly owned subsidiary of MHI Group. Its enhanced position within the Group will enable it to establish greater synergies with its sister companies and expand its business by tapping new customer categories.

According to a statement, Mitsubishi Power will capitalise on existing investments in emerging energy solutions, such as hydrogen, ammonia and solar power, to address the diverse and increasingly complex energy needs of customers globally.

In addition to the new name and logo, Mitsubishi Power also unveiled a new mission statement and announced it would adopt the MHI Group tagline ‘Move the World Forward’.

As it enters this new phase, the company will apply its world-leading engineering prowess, drive for innovation and renowned customer service to deliver reliable energy, ultimately galvanising the progress of nations, communities and individuals everywhere.

More details at https://power.mhi.com.

-- BERNAMA

AGAINST SILENT KILLER IN WORKPLACE

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 2 (Bernama) -- The air we breathe around us may appear to be clean, but it carries many types of microscopic particles, such as mineral particles, water droplets, pollen, various kinds of biological material and man-made pollutants, that can’t be seen by the human eye. These particles a.k.a silent killer can affect the health, wellbeing and productivity of people working in your workplace with weaker health conditions such as allergies, asthma, bronchitis, pneumonia and lung cancer and exacerbate the conditions of people who already suffer from them. Studies have found that poor air quality reduces most measures of office performance by 6-9%.  

Factors affecting infection risk

Airborne particles can be composed of both solids and liquid droplets, each of which can have a wide range of chemical components derived from natural minerals, man-made materials or industrial pollutants. These particles can also be of biological origin, such as viruses, bacteria, fungal spores (including mould), pollen, particles of skin, hair and dried droppings of animals and humans. 

There are several scenarios that cause airborne transmission: 

i. Talking, coughing and sneezing are sources of airborne particles that contain microbes from human lungs, nose, throat and mouth. These common human activities create airborne particles in a wide range of sizes that can be measured in millimetres down to nanometres and either particles land on surfaces or enter ventilation system to be spread around the building

ii. Damp surfaces provide a suitable environment for bacteria and fungi to grow. These can occur in office building ventilation systems, fridges and surfaces made wet by condensation or water leaks.

iii. Airborne particles can enter office buildings from outside through open windows and doors, ventilation systems, joints and cracks in walls and ceilings, and on clothes, shoes and food. 

iv. Organic gases, usually termed VOCs (volatile organic compounds), are produced by human, animal and plant metabolic processes. These gases are also present in a large number of manufactured products including many building materials and furnishings and consumer products, including carpets, furniture, paints and varnishes, cleaning products, deodorants, perfumers, etc.

http://mrem.bernama.com/viewsm.php?idm=38046

China International Equipment Manufacturing Expo takes place in Shenyang

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 3 -- China International Equipment Manufacturing Expo 2020 is happening in Shenyang held by combining offline and online, ending Sept 5 and Sept 30, respectively.

Themed ‘win-win cooperation in transformation and upgrading’, the exhibition participants comprise 512 enterprises and 2,016 booths. The online cloud show has included 1,500 well-known enterprises domestic and abroad, including Trumpf and Japan Okuma.

The exhibition is the only national large-scale economic and trade exhibition in the field of equipment manufacturing industry in China. It has been held in Shenyang every year for nine years, and successfully held for 18 times since 2002, according to a statement.

A total of 79 enterprises from 13 countries and regions, including the United States, Germany, France, Switzerland, Japan and South Korea, participated in the exhibition.

With the opening of China Manufacturing Expo, activities including the fifth manufacturing Power Summit Forum, central enterprise procurement docking meeting, new product and technology conference have also been held successively.

The Expo received 36,000 visitors on the opening day, including 32,000 professional visitors and 4,000 ordinary visitors.

-- BERNAMA

Equity interests acquisition completed, MD Logistics is Nippon Express subsidiary

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 3 -- Nippon Express Co Ltd (the Company) has completed the acquisition of entire equity interests in MD Logistics LLC and MD Express LLC (together MD Logistics) via the Company's US subsidiary, Nippon Express USA Inc.

According to a statement, MD Logistics’ trade names were MD Logistics Inc and MD Express Inc.

However, as previously announced, the two entities have been reorganised to LLC (Limited Liability Company) as part of the transfer procedure of equity interests.

MD Logistics, established in 1996, is a domestic logistics provider for the pharmaceutical and retail industries in the US, whose revenue for the fiscal year ending December 2019 was US$51 million (US$1 = RM4.141)

Under the internal management system that complies with licensing and guidelines with regards to the handling of pharmaceuticals, MD Logistics provides distribution processing operations.

Furthermore, MD Logistics also provides speedy collection and delivery services that cover the entire US.

By including MD Logistics into the Group as a subsidiary, Nippon Express acquired domestic logistics functions in the US, which accounts for about 40 per cent of global pharmaceutical demand and represents the largest consumer goods market in the world.

Going forward, the Company looks to provide integrated logistics services by combining the Group's international transportation network to support the globalisation of its customers' supply chains.

-- BERNAMA

Druva, fuelled by rapid cloud adoption, notches 100 per cent growth in APJ

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 3 -- Cloud Data Protection and Management leader, Druva Inc has announced it is continuing to experience accelerated growth for its SaaS-based data protection solutions in Asia-Pacific and Japan (APJ).

As businesses of all sizes increasingly utilise the region’s rapidly expanding cloud resources to re-imagine business operations, Druva has grown its data centre workload revenue to more than 100 per cent in the last 12 months.

It has also helped over 135 leading enterprises, including Adani Wilmar (India), NTT DATA (Japan), McConnell Dowell (Australia), Gold Peak (Hong Kong) and UNIADEX Ltd (Japan) successfully navigate their digital transformation initiatives with the industry’s leading cloud data protection platform.

According to a statement, Druva is currently focused on further accelerating growth through 2020 as the region demands alternatives to aging hardware and software-based legacy solutions.

“As businesses in APJ adopt remote operating models, there is an urgency to adopt new technologies, maintain business continuity and secure organisational and dispersed workforce data,” said Druva Regional Vice-President (APJ), Pete Yamasaki.

“Regardless of the industry, sector or legacy, companies are turning to the cloud for the scale and technology it has to offer. Druva has successfully proven to businesses in APAC the value cloud data protection can offer, compared to traditional hardware-based architectures.

Druva, trusted worldwide by over 4,000 companies at the forefront of embracing the cloud, is a privately-held company headquartered in Sunnyvale, California.

-- BERNAMA

Malaysia, Kyrgyzstan share National Day with long history of friendship, cooperation

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 1 -- Aug 31 marked the common national holiday of Malaysia and Kyrgyzstan, two countries with a long history of friendship and cooperation.

Separated by thousands of kilometres, Malaysia and Kyrgyzstan are united by a single national holiday with many other similarities between the two nations, according to the Kyrgyz Republic Ambassador to Malaysia, Azimbek Beknazarov.

“Malaysia’s official religion is Islam and the majority of Kyrgyz are Muslim, as well. Malaysians are mainly bilingual, Malay and English, while the Kyrgyz also speak Kyrgyz and Russian,” said Beknazarov in a statement.

If most of Malaysia's population in rural areas are engaged in agriculture, the Kyrgyz are farmers in the high mountains. Both peoples are tolerant, hospitable and trusting. It is no coincidence that Malaysians and Kyrgyz have good mutual understanding.

On behalf of the Embassy of the Kyrgyz Republic here, Beknazarov congratulated Malaysia and Kyrgyzstan on the occasion of their Independence Day.

-- BERNAMA