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Washington moves to boost crackdown on China Telecom’s US unit, source says

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Commerce Department is moving to further crack down on China Telecom’s U.S. unit over concerns it could exploit access to American data through their U.S. cloud and internet businesses by providing it to Beijing, a source told Reuters.

The source confirmed a New York Times report that the department last week sent China Telecom Americas a preliminary determination that its presence in U.S. networks and cloud services poses U.S. national security risks and gave the company 30 days to respond.

In 2021, the Federal Communications Commission revoked China Telecom Americas’ authorization to operate in the United States, citing national security concerns.

China Telecom Americas did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

There is growing alarm in Washington about China’s alleged efforts known as Salt Typhoon to infiltrate American telecommunications companies and steal data about U.S. calls. Senators have said the attack likely represents the largest telecommunications hack in U.S. history.

Reuters first reported in June that the Biden administration was investigating China Telecom, China Mobile and China Unicom over their U.S. cloud and internet businesses.

In June, the FCC advanced a proposal to boost internet routing security on networks in the face of concerns raised by U.S. officials about China’s ability to divert internet traffic.

The Chinese companies still have a small presence in the United States, for example, providing cloud services and routing wholesale U.S. internet traffic. That gives them access to Americans’ data even after the FCC barred them from providing telephone and retail internet services in the United States.

The Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) is central to the internet’s global information routing system. The FCC said China Telecom had used BGP vulnerabilities “to misroute United States internet traffic on at least six occasions.

The FCC in 2022 revoked China Unicom America’s authorization to operate in the United States. In 2019, the FCC rejected China Mobile bid to provide U.S. telecommunications services.

FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks in 2022 raised alarm, saying Chinese telecom firms could “continue to offer data center services to American consumers” despite the revocation and urged further action to address security concerns posed by the centers. – Reuters

At least 100,000 bodies in Syrian mass grave, US advocacy group head says

STOCK PHOTO | Image by Koen One Stop Map from Pixabay

WASHINGTON – The head of a U.S.-based Syrian advocacy organization on Monday said that a mass grave outside of Damascus contained the bodies of at least 100,000 people killed by the former government of ousted President Bashar al-Assad.

Mouaz Moustafa, speaking to Reuters in a telephone interview from Damascus, said the site at al Qutayfah, 25 miles (40 km) north of the Syrian capital, was one of five mass graves that he had identified over the years.

“One hundred thousand is the most conservative estimate” of the number of bodies buried at the site, said Mr. Moustafa, head of the Syrian Emergency Task Force. “It’s a very, very extremely almost unfairly conservative estimate.”

Mr. Moustafa said that he is sure there are more mass graves than the five sites, and that along with Syrians victims included U.S. and British citizens and other foreigners.

Reuters was unable to confirm Mr. Moustafa’s allegations.

Hundreds of thousands of Syrians are estimated to have been killed since 2011, when Assad’s crackdown on protests against his rule grew into a full-scale civil war.

Assad and his father Hafez, who preceded him as president and died in 2000, are accused by Syrians, rights groups and other governments of widespread extrajudicial killings, including mass executions within the country’s notorious prison system.

Assad repeatedly denied that his government committed human rights violations and painted his detractors as extremists.

Syria’s U.N. Ambassador Koussay Aldahhak did not immediately respond to a request for comment. He assumed the role in January – while Assad was still in power – but told reporters last week that he was awaiting instructions from the new authorities and would “keep defending and working for the Syrian people.”

Mr. Moustafa arrived in Syria after Assad flew to Russia and his government collapsed in the face of a lightning offensive by rebels that ended his family’s more than 50 years of iron-fisted rule.

He spoke to Reuters after he was interviewed at the site in al Qutayfah by Britain’s Channel 4 News for a report on the alleged mass grave there.

He said the intelligence branch of the Syrian air force was “in charge of bodies going from military hospitals, where bodies were collected after they’d been tortured to death, to different intelligence branches, and then they would be sent to a mass grave location.”

Corpses also were transported to sites by the Damascus municipal funeral office whose personnel helped unload them from refrigerated tractor-trailers, he said.

“We were able to talk to the people who worked on these mass graves that had on their own escaped Syria or that we helped to escape,” said Mr. Moustafa.

His group has spoken to bulldozer drivers compelled to dig graves and “many times on orders, squished the bodies down to fit them in and then cover them with dirt,” he said.

Mr. Moustafa expressed concern that graves sites were unsecured and said they needed to be preserved to safeguard evidence for investigations. – Reuters

Trump says US military should talk about nature of drone sightings

RAWPIXEL.COM

WASHINGTON – President-elect Donald Trump said on Monday that the U.S. military should tell the American public about the nature of the drone sightings that have plagued the East Coast over the last several weeks.

“The government knows what is happening,” Mr. Trump said. “For some reason, they don’t want to comment. And I think they’d be better off saying what it is our military knows and our president knows.”

Mr. Trump, speaking at a press conference in Palm Beach, Florida, said, “I can’t imagine it’s the enemy,” without going into specifics. He declined to answer whether he had received an intelligence briefing on the matter.

A Pentagon spokesperson, speaking with reporters earlier on Monday before Trump spoke, reiterated that the drones in question were not U.S. military ones. The spokesperson added that the military was limited by law in what it could do to detect and track drones within the United States, unless there was a threat.

“Flying drones is not illegal. There are thousands of drones flown around the U.S. on a daily basis. So, as a result, it’s not that unusual to see drones in the sky, nor is it an indication of malicious activity or any public safety threat,” Pentagon spokesman Major General Pat Ryder told reporters.

“The same applies to drones flown near U.S. military installations. Some fly near or over our bases from time to time. That, in of itself, is not unusual, and the vast majority pose no physical threat to our forces or impact our operations,” Mr. Ryder added.

A spate of reported drone sightings that began in New Jersey in mid-November spread in recent days to include Maryland, Massachusetts and other states. U.S. officials said on Saturday that most of the sightings involved manned aircraft and that there was no evidence of a national security threat.

An FBI official told reporters that less than 100 of the over 5,000 reported sightings had turned out to merit further investigation, and all of the large fixed-wing reported sightings so far involved manned aircraft.

Mr. Trump’s pick for national security adviser, Mike Waltz, said on Sunday that the drone sightings underscored gaps in U.S. airspace security that need to be closed.

A U.S. official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said the military was bringing in drone detecting and tracking systems to Picatinny Arsenal and Naval Weapons Station Earle in New Jersey, though it was not clear when they would be operational. The official emphasized that to date none of the drone sightings pose a threat.

The drone sightings to date do not include any unlawful activity or any national security or safety risk to the United States, White House national security spokesperson John Kirby told reporters on Monday. Mr. Kirby said the assessment came from U.S. law enforcement. – Reuters

Alleged Chinese spy linked to UK’s Prince Andrew denies any wrongdoing

PIXABAY

LONDON – A Chinese national with close links to Prince Andrew said he had done nothing wrong and was not a spy, after the businessman was named in court as being a suspected Chinese agent by the British authorities.

Yang Tengbo, described in a ruling last week by the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC) as a “close confidant” of Andrew, waived his right to anonymity on Monday so he could respond to the accusation.

“I have done nothing wrong or unlawful, and the concerns raised by the Home Office against me are ill-founded,” he said in a statement released by his lawyer, referring to Britain’s interior ministry. “The widespread description of me as a ‘spy’ is entirely untrue.”

The 50-year-old, who had previously been granted anonymity in the SIAC proceedings, was removed from a flight from Beijing to London in February 2023 and told that Britain intended to ban him from the country. This happened the following month on national security grounds.

Yang appealed against the ban at the Special Immigration Appeals Commission, which rejected his case in a written ruling last Thursday – the first time the reported relationship had come to light.

Britain’s Home Office told Yang they had reason to believe he was “engaging, or had previously engaged, in covert and deceptive activity on behalf of the United Front Work Department (UFWD) which is an arm of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) state apparatus”, in a July 2023 letter quoted in SIAC’s ruling.

The Home Office said it believed Yang was “likely to pose a threat to UK national security”.

Yang’s lawyer, Guy Vassall-Adams, told the High Court on Monday that his client had waived his right to anonymity to make a statement, and the judge, Martin Chamberlain, agreed.

On Friday, Andrew, the younger brother of King Charles, issued a statement to the BBC and other media in which he said he had “ceased all contact” with the individual once concerns were raised.

The ruling said evidence obtained from Yang’s phone showed Andrew had authorized him to set up an international financial initiative to engage with potential partners and investors in China. The ruling did not say what the fund was intended for.

Reuters contacted Andrew’s office for further comment but did not receive an immediate response.

A spokesperson at the Chinese Foreign Ministry said on Monday that China had always been open and above board and has never engaged in deception or interference. The spokesperson added that the groundless speculation was “not worth refuting”.

In a statement on its website, the Chinese embassy in London early on Tuesday urged “the UK side to immediately stop creating trouble, stop anti-China political manipulation, and stop undermining normal personnel exchanges between China and the UK.” – Reuters

Weight-loss drugs draw Americans back to the doctor

STOCK PHOTO | Image by ennrick from Pixabay

Powerful weight-loss drugs are expanding use of U.S. health care as patients starting prescriptions are diagnosed with obesity-related conditions or take the drugs to become eligible for other services, health records and discussions with doctors show.

An exclusive analysis of hundreds of thousands of electronic patient records by health data firm Truveta found slight, but measurable, increases in first-time diagnoses of sleep apnea, cardiovascular disease, and type 2 diabetes within 15 days of an initial prescription for a GLP-1 weight-loss drug between 2020 and 2024.

In addition to obesity-related conditions, some patients are being prescribed the drugs to lose weight and become eligible for services, including organ transplants, fertility treatments or knee replacements, according to interviews with seven doctors and five other health experts.

“This is a population that previously felt stigmatized by health care providers and often didn’t return. But now that they’re actually seeing themselves get healthier, asking clinicians questions and engaging more, I do think we’re seeing new patients,” said Dr. Rekha Kumar, a New York endocrinologist and obesity medicine specialist.

Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy and Ozempic and Eli Lilly’s Zepbound and Mounjaro have been shown to lead to average weight loss of at least 15%.

Andrew Friedson, director of health economics at the Milken Institute and three other experts said the impact of the drugs on overall healthcare use is not yet clear. The new diagnoses could mean higher initial spending, but early detection could save costs down the line, he said.

Dr. Courtney Younglove, an obesity medicine specialist and founder of Heartland Weight Loss clinic in Overland Park, Kansas, said she has referred obesity patients for long-delayed pap smears and other routine care, including colonoscopies. Many overweight patients avoid doctors and routine tests for years due to the stigma and bias they often encounter, she said. “A lot of people with obesity don’t do a lot of preventive health maintenance.”

 

‘THE COURAGE TO ASK’

Phil, a 43-year-old Chicago technology executive who asked for his full name to be withheld for privacy reasons, generally avoided doctors before receiving a GLP-1 prescription from a telehealth provider in early 2023.

He said he told his regular physician about the medication months later, after he had lost more than 30 lbs, and was taken aback by her supportive response. He decided then to advocate more for himself and ask for help with other conditions, including addiction and mental health.

“It gave me the courage to ask,” he said.

The Truveta analysis found that for every 1,000 patients with a first-time GLP-1 prescription, 42 were diagnosed with type 2 diabetes within 15 days in 2024, up from 32 in 2020. Over the same period, the number of sleep apnea diagnoses per 1,000 patients rose to 11 from 8 and the number of cardiovascular disease diagnoses increased to 15 from 13.

The most obese patients were twice as likely as people who were less overweight to receive a type 2 diabetes diagnosis, and three times as likely to be diagnosed with sleep apnea, the Truveta data showed.

The analysis was based on 33,630 first-time GLP-1 prescriptions for overweight or obese patients in 2020 and 224,496 in the first 10 months of 2024.

Lilly declined to directly comment on the data, saying in an emailed statement “it is important that adults living with obesity receive appropriate diagnosis and access to evidence-based care.”

Novo Nordisk also declined to comment directly, noting its aim “to address unmet needs for a wider range of patients.”

 

QUALIFYING FOR SURGERIES

ResMed, which sells sleep apnea devices, had revenue growth of 11% for its fiscal year ending in June – a trend the company attributed in part to the GLP-1 drugs.

The medications are “bringing people into primary care like never before,” ResMed CEO Michael Farrell said at the company’s recent shareholder meeting.

In addition to things like sleep apnea, the weight-loss drugs could lead to more joint replacements, said Sara Mallatt, director of healthcare research at market analysis firm AlphaSense.

“As people’s BMIs come down, they’ll be eligible for surgeries they wouldn’t otherwise,” she said. “No one is saying this is happening in a meaningful way right now, but we think it will.”

University of Chicago Medicine last year launched a weight-loss clinic aimed at helping prospective organ transplant patients lose weight to qualify for surgery, with the GLP-1 drugs playing a key role.

“Before they had a place to send these patients, which is our clinic, the scheduler would just say, ‘hey, what’s your weight, what’s your height, what’s your BMI,’ and if they didn’t fit their criteria, they would just tell them to lose weight on their own,” said Anesia Reticker, the center’s clinical pharmacist specialist.

Retired Indiana steelworker Bensabio Guajardo, 68, was prescribed Ozempic at the clinic in 2023 when he was deemed too obese for a double lung transplant needed to keep him alive after pulmonary fibrosis made breathing increasingly difficult.

“It helped me a lot. It took my cravings away,” Guajardo said. After losing around 90 pounds and stopping the drug ahead of a successful surgery in May, his doctor put him back on it to control high blood sugar.

Reticker said the program has received about 100 referrals over the past year from transplant centers in the Chicago area. – Reuters

VW talks drag into the night as union says outcome is ‘far from clear’

Volkswagen AG's headquarters / Credit: Volkswagen AG

HANOVER, Germany – Volkswagen management and labor representatives negotiated late into the night on Monday in a last-ditch round of talks on cost cuts before Christmas, with unions saying it remained far from clear whether compromise would be reached.

Talks ended after around 13 hours of negotiation in the early hours on Tuesday without a deal but would resume mid-morning, a spokesperson for IG Metall union said.

The sides were far apart on key points, with unions adamant that any solution must exclude plant closures and the carmaker insisting it cannot rule them out.

“It was far from clear late on Monday evening whether rapprochement or a stalemate were a realistic outcome of the talks on Tuesday,” the IG Metall union said in a statement published to its website.

Unions have threatened unprecedented strike action in the new year if a compromise is not found in this week’s talks, which both sides have said could last several days.

“Workers don’t want to go into Christmas in fear,” she told union members outside the hotel before talks began early on Monday, the fifth round since early September.

Europe’s biggest carmakers are being squeezed by high costs and the arrival of cheaper Chinese competitors which are taking the battle for market share to their home turf.

Unions blame poor decisions by management for Volkswagen’s malaise, from the diesel emissions scandal to not investing earlier in affordable EV technology.

Volkswagen, Europe’s biggest carmaker, has seen its share price fall by more than a third over the past 12 months, reflecting the sprawling German group’s difficulties in tackling rising rivals and a slowdown in EV demand.

The carmaker, like others across Europe, is struggling with overcapacity in high-cost markets squeezing margins and persistently lower sales. VW has said it does not expect car sales, down by around 2 million in Europe since the pandemic, to fully recover, and it must adapt.

More than 100,000 staff at nine plants across Germany downed tools last week in the largest strikes at the carmaker, protesting against management’s stance that wages must be cut and capacity downsized for the VW brand to stay competitive.

In a sign of the depth of Volkswagen’s problems, its top shareholder Porsche SE on Friday said it may have to write down the value of its 31.9% stake by as much as 20 billion euros ($21 billion).

This is mainly due to the delay in Volkswagen’s annual planning round as a direct consequence of the prolonged talks with unions, Stifel analysts said in a note.

Such a write down would still assume a book value for Volkswagen shares that is more than twice as high as its current market price, they added.

Shares in Porsche SE, which serves as the investment vehicle of the Porsche and Piech families and also holds a 12.5% stake in the namesake carmaker, were down 2.9%. – Reuters

SM brings Christmas joy to 6,000 underprivileged kids

Kids in Cebu received brand new learning toys through SM Store JMall’s Shop&Share a Toy program, in partnership with World Vision Cebu.

SM, through the SM Store’s “Shop and Share a Toy” recently provided Christmas toys to 6,000 underprivileged kids in Metro Manila, Cagayan, Isabela, Batangas, Bicol Region, Cebu, and Zamboanga City to herald the season of giving.

This year’s initiative was a 20% increase from last year’s 5,000 donated toys. The distribution of toys was conducted in partnership with SM Foundation, World Vision, Good Neighbors Philippines, and Rotary International.

From Dec. 1 to 10, 2024, SM Store offered customers the chance to bring joy to a child by donating a toy with a small contribution. For every single-receipt purchase of P3,000, customers were eligible to donate a brand-new toy for only P100.

Through the donations from the campaign, select SPED (Special Education) schools in Zamboanga City were also able to recreate their play area inside the classrooms.

A 2021 study highlighted the vital role of games and toys in children’s lives, contributing significantly to their cognitive, motor, psychosocial, emotional, and linguistic development.

For more information about SM Store’s Shop&Share programs, visit smstore.com/csr.

 

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Almost 800, including 40 Filipinos, arrested over Nigerian crypto-romance scam

REUTERS

LAGOS – Nigeria’s anti-graft agency said it had arrested 792 suspects in a raid on a building believed to be a hub for fraudsters who lured victims with offers of romance, then pressed them to hand over cash for phoney cryptocurrency investments.

The suspects, including 148 Chinese and 40 Filipino nationals, were detained on Dec. 10 at the seven-storey Big Leaf Building in Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial capital, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission spokesperson Wilson Uwujaren said.

The luxury building housed a call centre mostly targeting victims from the Americas and Europe, he added.

Staff there would make contact with people through social media and messaging platforms, including WhatsApp and Instagram, them seduce them online or offer them apparently lucrative investment opportunities, Uwujaren told reporters.

Once victims were hooked, they were pressured to transfer money for fake cryptocurrency schemes and other non-existent projects.

“Nigerian accomplices were recruited by the foreign kingpins to prospect for victims online through phishing, targeting mostly Americans, Canadians, Mexicans and several others from European countries,” Uwujaren said.

“Once the Nigerians are able to win the confidence of would-be victims, the foreigners would take over the actual task of defrauding the victims,” he said.

Uwujaren said the Commission was collaborating with international partners and would look into potential links to organized crime. Its agents seized computers, phones and vehicles in the raid, he added. — Reuters

T-bill yields inch up before Fed, BSP meetings

BW FILE PHOTO

THE GOVERNMENT made a full award of the Treasury bills (T-bills) it offered on Monday even as yields rose slightly as investors’ rate-cut expectations have been fully priced in.

The Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) raised P15 billion as planned from the T-bills it auctioned off on Monday as total bids reached P46.74 billion, more than three times as much as the amount on offer. However, this was lower than P56.463 billion in tenders seen the previous week.

Broken down, the Treasury borrowed the programmed P5 billion from the 91-day T-bills as tenders for the tenor reached P15.999 billion. The three-month paper was quoted at an average rate of 5.818%, up by 4.4 basis points (bps) from the 5.774% seen last week, with accepted bids yields ranging from 5.7% to 5.84%.

The government likewise made a full P5-billion award of the 182-day securities, with bids reaching P15.041 billion. The average rate of the six-month T-bill stood at 5.975%, up by 5.3 bps from the 5.922% fetched last week, with accepted rates at 5.9% to 5.99%.

Lastly, the Treasury raised P5 billion as planned via the 364-day debt papers as demand for the tenor totaled P15.7 billion. The average rate of the one-year debt inched up by 0.9 bp to 5.977% from the 5.968% quoted last week, with the tenders accepted having rates ranging from 5.95% to 5.98%.

At the secondary market before the auction, the 91-, 182-, and 364-day T-bills were quoted at 5.8404%, 6.0571%, and 6.0739%, respectively, based on PHP Bloomberg Valuation Service (BVAL) Reference Rates data provided by the Treasury.

The government fully awarded its T-bill offer as the yields fetched were “all lower than the prevailing secondary market rates,” the Treasury said in a statement.

T-bill yields were “relatively higher” than those fetched at the previous auction as the market has already priced in a rate cut by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) at this week’s policy meeting, a trader said by phone.

The market also expects the BSP to be hawkish in the first quarter of 2025 amid uncertainties, the trader added, although its easing cycle is still likely to continue next year.

“Treasury bill average auction yields were again mostly slightly higher for the 11th straight week, similar to the slight weekly increase in the comparable short-term PHP BVAL yields, despite the widely expected Federal Reserve rate cut and BSP rate cut, amid some premium on crossing-the-year funds as the accounting yearend draws closer due to some balance sheet management,” Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. Chief Economist Michael L. Ricafort said in a Viber message.

Still, T-bill rates have “somewhat normalized” and are now close to comparable BVAL levels, he added.

The Fed will hold its last policy review for the year on Dec. 17-18. Markets widely expect another 25-bp cut at this week’s meeting.

The US central bank started its easing cycle in September with a 50-bp cut and followed it up with a 25-bp reduction at its November review, bringing the fed funds rate to the 4.5%-4.75% range.

Meanwhile, the BSP will meet to discuss policy on Dec. 19 (Thursday). A BusinessWorld poll conducted last week showed that 13 out of 16 analysts expect the Monetary Board to reduce benchmark borrowing costs by 25 bps for a third straight meeting, which would bring the policy rate to 5.75%.

The BSP kicked off its rate-cut cycle in August with a 25-bp reduction. It cut borrowing costs by another 25 bps in October to bring the target reverse repurchase rate to 6%.

Monday’s T-bill auction was the last offering of domestic debt for the year. The government raised P1.97 trillion from the local market this year, below its P2.11-trillion domestic borrowing program.

The government borrows to help fund its budget deficit, which is capped at P1.52 trillion or 5.7% of gross domestic product this year. — A.M.C. Sy

BSP amends guidelines for participants of Peso Real-Time Gross Settlement system

BW FILE PHOTO

THE BANGKO SENTRAL ng Pilipinas (BSP) has amended its guidelines for the Peso Real-Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) system to revise the penalties for erring participants.

In a memorandum, the central bank said it is adding supplementary policies on penalties and sanctions under the Peso RTGS rules.

“Depending on the gravity of the offense committed by a participant, the Bangko Sentral may impose penalties and sanctions,” it said.

These may include fines, suspension of the participant’s privilege to avail of the Intraday Settlement Facility, and suspension or termination of the participant’s access to the Peso RTGS payment system.

It added that repeat offenders “shall be meted with stiffer penalties and sanctions.”

The amended rules will be part of the Manual of Regulations for Payment Systems.

The monetary penalties go as high as P100,000 to as low as P200, depending on the type of bank and violation.

For example, one of the violations with the largest penalty is the failure to properly manage liquidity position as manifested by any of the following circumstances: queueing of a transaction for over 15 minutes, rejection of more than three transactions per day due to insufficient balance of settlement account, and cancellation of more than three transactions per day.

This type of violation will merit a penalty of P75,000 per incident for universal banks and Islamic banks.

The monetary penalties for other types of banks for the same violation are P65,000 for commercial banks, P30,000 for digital banks and thrift banks, and P20,000 for rural banks, and nonbanks with quasi-banking functions or nonbank electronic money issuers or other participants maintaining settlement accounts with the BSP.

Failure to establish a resilient, documented and tested business continuity plan and noncompliance with system enhancement requirements will also see universal banks, Islamic banks, and commercial banks getting slapped with the same penalties. Meanwhile, digital banks and thrift banks must pay 20,000, while rural banks will be charged P10,000 for the said violations.

Other violations include noncompliance with settlement timelines set by the BSP and failure to repurchase securities sold to the BSP under an extended Intraday Settlement Facility availment in excess of the allowable limit.

The amended rules also detail the monetary penalties on noncompliance with reporting standards, including delayed, erroneous and unsubmitted reports. Banks can be fined as high as P30,000 for an unsubmitted report, according to the rules.

The BSP could also impose fines ranging from P5,000 to P100,000 for other violations not included in the amended rules, non-compliance with applicable laws, as well as the “combination of violations, or multiple cases of the same violation.”

“Once the Bangko Sentral, through its appropriate department, ascertains that a participant has committed a punishable violation, it shall send a notice of violation with corresponding penalty to the participant,” it said.

“The participant shall justify within 15 calendar days from receipt of notice why it should not be penalized or sanctioned as indicated in the notice. The justification shall be signed by the President (or equivalent) of the concerned participant and sent to the Head of the appropriate Bangko Sentral department.” — Luisa Maria Jacinta C. Jocson

EastWest Bank partners with GCash

PHILSTAR FILE PHOTO

EASTWEST Bank Corp. has partnered with GCash to integrate the bank’s financial products on the e-wallet platform.

“EastWest is proud to partner with GCash to bring accessible and user-friendly financial solutions to a broader segment of the Filipino population. This collaboration aligns with our commitment to providing an ‘EasyWay to Bank,’ ensuring that our customers have seamless, reliable access to essential resources backed by our expertise and service dedication, whether through innovation or face-to-face support,” EastWest Bank Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Jerry G. Ngo said in a statement on Monday.

The partnership aims to make financial resources more accessible to underserved communities.

EastWest Bank will be integrated into the GCash Loans Marketplace, where it will offer financial products, exclusive rates, and a streamlined application process.

“Through this collaboration, more Filipinos can now access EastWest’s tailored products directly on the GCash app. This is in line with our shared mission to further promote financial inclusion in the Philippines,” Fuse Lending, Inc. President and CEO Antonio Santos “Tony” Isidro said.

Fuse Lending is the lending arm of GCash.

EastWest Bank’s attributable net income jumped by 49.1% year on year to P2.32 billion in the third quarter. This brought its nine-month net income to P5.81 billion, up by 19.57% from the previous year.

Its shares went up by 20 centavos or 2.02% to close at P10.10 apiece on Monday. — A.M.C. Sy

Nubank-led $250-M investment round in Tyme Group to boost GoTyme Bank

TYME GROUP has received a $250-million investment from a group of compnies led by Brazil-based digital bank Nubank (Nu), which will help fund its expansion in Asia, including GoTyme Bank.

“Nubank will become a 10% shareholder in Tyme Group. The total amount raised is $250 million, which is actually the largest fintech raise in Southeast Asia this year,” GoTyme Bank President and Chief Executive Officer Nathaniel D. Clarke told BusinessWorld in an interview last week.

“A lot of that funding will help hypercharge our growth here and get us to profitability…  We now have the ammo to fulfill that vision of becoming the largest everyday retail bank here,” Mr. Clarke said.

GoTyme Bank is a partnership between the Gokongwei Group and Singapore-based Tyme Group,  which also operates TymeX in Vietnam and digital bank TymeBank in South Africa.

“Nu’s investment in Tyme Group will benefit GoTyme Bank Philippines and TymeBank South Africa, bringing not only capital to support growth but also expertise in lending solutions and impact product creation,” GoTyme Bank said in a statement.

“We are excited with the partnership with Nubank, a global digital banking leader, as we believe this collaboration will further propel GoTyme Bank in the Philippines as well as accelerate Tyme Group’s growth and expansion across multiple markets,” JG Summit Holdings, Inc. President and Chief Executive Officer Lance Y. Gokongwei said.

The latest investment round brings Tyme Group to unicorn status as it now has a total valuation of $1.5 billion.

“Tyme’s oversubscribed Series D capital raise was led by Nu, which invested $150 million, with M&G’s Catalyst Fund subscribing for $50 million. Existing shareholders, including the Gokongwei Group, Tencent, British international Investment, Norrsken 22, Blue Earth, Lavender Hill, Ethos Fund, and Africa Fig Tree (Founders and Employees), are investing a further $50 million,” GoTyme Bank added.

“Nubank revolutionized financial services, and having them as a shareholder will help accelerate the development of our strategic capabilities, execution, and expansion plans in Southeast Asia, through their investment of financial resources and counsel. This is a moment of great significance for Tyme Group,” Coen Jonker, Tyme Group founder and CEO, said.

David Vélez, Nu founder and CEO, said their investment in Tyme Group is in line with their belief that the future of financial services globally is in digitally native companies.

“We have met dozens of teams across different geographies, and we think that Tyme Group is extremely well-positioned to be one of the digital bank leaders in Africa and Southeast Asia. We are excited to work with Tyme to share many of our learnings of scaling this model to hundreds of millions of customers,” he added,

CREDIT EXPERTISE
The partnership between Tyme and Nu will bring additional resources and expertise to GoTyme Bank that would propel its growth, the digital bank said.

Mr. Clarke said that in particular, Nubank will bring expertise in credit cards.

“That’s actually how they’re different than us. We started on the transactional, deposit, and savings side. They started with credit card and then only got a bank’s license later. So, they were born very credit-led,” he said. “So, they’ll be helping us, advising us, potentially helping on capability on credit.”

“They’re quite excited about our model. They believe that digital banks around the world are going to be the winners in everyday banking. But they have made the decision that they don’t have the operational capability to stretch across the other side of the world. So, they’re going to focus on the Americas organically. But they feel like there’s good investment and synergy to invest in Asia,” Mr. Clarke said.

Nu also brings in focus on long-term and sustainable growth, he added, prioritizing customer acquisition and getting scale.

GoTyme Bank is one of the six digital banks licensed by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas. The others are Tonik Digital Bank, Inc.; Maya Bank; Overseas Filipino Bank; UNObank; and UnionDigital Bank. — Aaron Michael C. Sy

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