MobiFone and Samsung intensify 5G cooperation

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Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. and MobiFone Global signed an agreement to boost engineering and commercial cooperation on 4G and 5G networks in Vietnam on March 22 in Hanoi in front of about 100 ICT businesses from Korea and Vietnam.

The event was held by the Vietnam Internet Association (VIA) in collaboration with the Korea National Information Technology Promotion Agency (NIPA). Three other agreements, including a memorandom of cooperation between Mobifone and Korean Tripath on location-based advertisment, a cooperation agreement for a consolidated wireline services between Korean Supernet Company and Newtaco Company, and an agreement on digital conversion solutions between Vietnamese FSI Company and JC1 Company from Korea, were signed.

A representative of Samsung considers 5G network the next big thing that Samsung is launching in many parts of the world with the increasing momentum of the Internet of Things (IoT). He said such a network is also a must for Vietnam as more and more hi-tech tools are applied.

Delivering keynote speeches, both Deputy Minister of Information and Telecommunications Do Minh Hong and Yoo Yong Min, Korean Minister of Science and Information, Communications and Technology, appreciated the joint efforts in building and developing a stronger relationship between the two countries through research and cooperation in the field of IT.

The leaders think Vietnam and Korea should co-operate to confront the 4.0 Industry, confirming that they will sign a memorandum of cooperation between the ministries on March 23 at the Presidential Palace in Hanoi, following Korean President Moon Jae-in’s second official working visit to Vietnam on March 22.

Deuk Jung Kim, vice president at NIPA, told the event that there is huge potential for ICT cooperation between the two sides, citing impressive numbers, like two million Korean visitors arriving to Vietnam, and a 120-time increase in trade volume since 1992 to $60 billion in 2017.

Kim said due to its outstanding human resources in the IT sector, Vietnam has a bright future in the field, adding that the Southeast Asian country was an important partner to Korea.

As a member of the Korean President’s delegation, Kim said Vietnam is the only country that his president has visited twice since he took office last year.

Source: VIR

Twitter CEO Says Bitcoin Will Become World’s ‘Single Currency’ Within A Decade

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Jack Dorsey, the CEO of both Twitter and payment service Square, has said that he sees Bitcoin (BTC) as the world’s – and Internet’s – single future currency, The Times reports today, March 21.

Dorsey believes that Bitcoin’s leading emergence will take “probably over ten years, but it could go faster”:

“The world ultimately will have a single currency, the Internet will have a single currency. I personally believe that it will be Bitcoin.”

At the end of February 2018, Dorsey had previously said that Square will focus on developing more options for interacting with Bitcoin via their Cash App, calling it a “transformation technology for our industry.”

Dorsey did note to The Times that he does not believe that at the moment BTC has the capabilities to become an effective currency, namely as a medium of exchange:

“It’s slow and it’s costly, but as more and more people have it, those things go away. There are newer technologies that build off of blockchain and make it more approachable.”

Last week, Lightning Labs, a Lightning Network (LN) developer, released the first Bitcoin ready LN implementation, making free and instantaneous BTC transactions closer to reality. Dorsey had participated in their $2.5 mln seed finance round, as did Litecoin’s (LTC) creator Charlie Lee.

 

 

Source: Cointelegraph

 

Domestic fashion brands seek foothold in $3.5 billion market

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Domestic brands are expected to have opportunities to prosper in the local market amid the massive arrivals of foreign brands.

Pessimistic forecasts have been given about the fate of Vietnamese fashion brands which have to compete with powerful brands like Uniqlo, Zara and H&M.

Vietnamese brands, such as Blue Exchange, Ninomaxx, PT 2000, Couple TX and Canifa, once dominated the domestic market.

At that time, there were foreign brands in the market, including mid-end brands from Hong Kong such as Bossini and Giordano. Miniso was also present in the market through a franchise contract with Le Bao Minh Company. However, the foreign brands did not affect market share held by Vietnamese brands.

The presence of Zara and H&M has remapped the domestic fashion market. On pre-Tet days in February, customers were seen standing in long queues at Zara and H&M shops, waiting for their turn to buy products.

The Q2 2017 report of BMI, a market analysis firm, showed that Vietnamese customers spend more money on foreign branded goods. The value of the Vietnamese fashion market (clothing & footwear) is estimated at $3.8 billion in 2018, of which expenditures on clothing are $3.5 billion.

Vietnam, which mostly does outsourcing for foreign partners, has never been considered a power in the fashion industry. However, analysts believe that Vietnamese brands will not surrender to foreign brands in the home market because they have certain advantages.

Vietnamese fashion companies have to cement their positions in the market by expanding their distribution networks and carrying out marketing campaigns.

Canifa, a fashion brand better known in the north which became famous in 2000 and began marketing products for children in 2007, recently spent big money on media campaigns. The brand is the sponsor of famous TV shows such as Project Runway and Vietnam Next Top Model.

Doan Thi Bich Ngoc, CEO of Canifa, thinks the weak point of fashion companies is that their shops are mostly located in large cities, which means a limited distribution network.

Nguyen Thi Kim Xuyen, chair of Truong Thang company which owns CoupleTX brand, said one of the priority tasks of the company in 2018 is increasing the number of shops to 60 through franchise contracts.

Chu Phuong Doan from LeFlair said the market is witnessing the appearance of many fashion brands developed by Vietnamese companies, which started business with sales via Facebook and have now decided to open shops. Each of these companies has more than five shops.

 

Source: Mai Nam

A foreign tourist comes back to Vietnam to carry out a promise

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Rita Raisimate, a 26-year-old Lithuanian biker has just come back to Vietnam and shared her goodwill on Facebook relating to volunteer activities.

The young traveler is famous for her stolen-bike story in Vietnam when someone stole her bike in front of her hotel in District 1 the next day after she reached HCMC on July 18, 2017.

After posting her story on social media with a great hope of taking her bike back, the post surprisingly received a bunch of sharings and comments and the local authority immediately started to seek for the robber. Luckily, the police found the suspect and retrieved Rasimaite’s bike. Due to her tight travel schedule, she can not receive her bike but she promised to come back Vietnam as soon as possible.

Rita Rasimaite and her bike on a coastal road.

This time, Rita came back to Vietnam to pick up her bike and posted another post to ask about volunteer organization’s information. She expresses her special love for Vietnam and also her gratitude to netizens who sent her supporting messages and shared her story.

In addition, Rita shows her kindness when sharing her intention of participating in an organization relating to environmental issue and orphans to thank such a “wonderful community”.

Snapshot of her post on “Expats in HCMC” group on March 22

 

Daisy Nguyen

Warburg Pincus sees more deals in Vietnam after pumping in $1 billion:

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Warburg Pincus is finding new investment targets in the consumer, banking and logistics sectors of Vietnam as its economy grows and capital markets develop, said the regional head of the private equity firm which has committed over $1 billion in Vietnam.

“It’s a market that we think there’s a lot of opportunity in,” Jeffrey Perlman, Southeast Asia chief for Warburg, told Reuters in an interview on Thursday. “Four, five years ago, even in Vietnam there wasn’t an understanding of what was private equity and what it will do to businesses.”

Vietnam’s emergence as a large manufacturing destination next to China helped the Southeast Asian nation’s economy grow at 6.8 percent last year, the strongest since 2010. The growth is rapidly building up a huge middle class that is boosting consumer spending in a country of about 100 million.

Its stock index VNI has risen 20 percent this year, the best performance in Southeast Asia, after surging by 50 percent last year.
Perlman said the growth in Vietnam’s capital markets to $200 billion in value from some $35 billion five years ago, was a big draw for global investors, and he expected local regulators to bring in more reforms to develop the markets.

Warburg is the largest private equity investor in Vietnam, which has also seen sizeable investments from rivals KKR & Co. (KKR.N) and TPG.

Warburg’s first Southeast Asian investment was in Vietnamese shopping mall owner Vincom Retail VRE.HM, in which its consortium invested $300 million. Vincom Retail’s shareholders raised over $700 million in November, valuing it at $3.4 billion, helping Warburg more than double its investment.

This month, Warburg announced a $370 million investment in Vietnam Technological and Commercial Joint Stock Bank, a sector Perlman said was set for huge growth. [nL3N1QU3EK]

“You have two-thirds of the population who don’t have a bank account. More than 90 percent don’t have access to credit cards. There is a huge runway in front,” he said.

Though company valuations were high across many markets globally, Vietnam’s strong growth prospects stood out. “You have an ability to potentially pay a fuller price when there’s actually growth underlying the investment,” Perlman said. He did not specify how much more Warburg plans to invest in the country or identify potential targets.

Warburg Pincus’ current seven portfolio companies in Southeast Asia, include a venture with Vietnamese property developer Becamex, Indonesian ride-hailing firm Go-Jek and Singapore-based ARA Asset Management.

 

Source: Reuters

SE Asia Stocks-Fall sharply on U.S.-China trade war worries

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  • Asian shares ex-Japan dip 2.4 pct, steepest drop in 1-1/2 mths
  • Vietnam falls from record, set for first losing session in ten
  • Philippines falls 2 pct, headed for 5th straight losing week
  • Singapore sheds as much as 2.1 pct

Southeast Asian stock markets fell sharply on Friday as U.S. President Donald Trump unveiled a plan to impose tariffs on Chinese goods, bringing the two countries closer to a trade war and unnerving investors across the globe.

China urged the United States to “pull back from the brink”, saying Beijing was not afraid to engage in a trade war should the case arise.

The escalating tensions took a toll on broader Asian shares, which weakened as much as 2.4 percent, the steepest decline in a month-and-a-half.

“Hopefully… some agreement is reached between them in the next couple of weeks,” said Manny Cruz, an analyst with Asiasec Equities Inc in Makati City.

Singapore shares shed as much as 2.1 percent on broad-based losses, with United Overseas Bank Ltd dropping 2.8 percent.

Indonesian shares dipped as much as 2.7 percent, with financials and consumer staples weighing on the benchmark the most.

The index of the country’s 45 most liquid stocks was as much as 3.4 percent lower.

Indonesia should be hardest hit in the region in the event of a trade war due to the export-reliant nature of its economy, said Asiasec Equities analyst Cruz.

The bearish sentiment carried across the Strait of Malacca to Malaysia, where shares lost as much as 1 percent, as financials and telecom services weighed. Genting Bhd fell 1.8 percent.

Vietnam shares retreated from an all-time peak set on Thursday, shedding as much as 2.5 percent. The benchmark was on track to snap a nine-session winning streak. Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Foreign Trade of Viet Nam lost as much as 4.9 percent.

Philippine shares fell below the 8,000 mark for a second time this week, with financials and industrials leading the losses. The index fell as much as 2.1 percent, wiping off most of the 2.7 percent gain in the previous session. Philippine index has lost about 3.3 percent this week, setting it on course for a fifth straight week of losses.

Heavyweight SM Investments Corp fell 3.7 percent while Ayala Land Inc was down 3.3 percent.

By Aaron Saldanha (Reuters)

Vietnam Golf Association’s Union Cup 2018 started

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VGA UNION CUP 2018 is the third golf tournament, organized by Vietnam Golf Association annually.

Throughout the year, golfers from the North and South regions of Vietnam can play in a multi-day tournament format, unlike anything else ever produced for amateur golfers, the key rules will be based on “Match Play” by Foursomes, Four-ball and Single Match.

This year, the tournament takes place at the prestigious Long Thanh’s Golf Club in Dong Nai  from March 21st to 24th. There are 18 golfers, with 8 Foursomes, 8 Four-ball and 12 Single Matches.

Matching plan on March 22th

Moring: Fourballs

1.Nguyễn Hữu Hải – Lê Văn Lân (South) vs Hoàng Quân – Lê Hùng Nam (North)

2. Nông Trung Hiếu – Vũ Phạm Nguyên An (South) vs Đoàn Văn Nam – Lưu Văn Tuấn (North)

3. Nguyễn Ngọc Khôi – Jamie Bảo Nguyễn (South) vs Hà Ngọc Hoàng Lộc – Trần Bình Quang Huy (North)

4. Hoàng Ngọc Quý – Đỗ Duy Hiền vs Thái Trung Hiếu – Trần Thế Cường

Afternoon: Foursome

1. Mai Đức Thuỷ – Trần Anh Linh (South) vs Hà Ngọc Hoàng Lộc – Trần Bình Quang Huy (North)

2. Nông Trung Hiếu – Đỗ Duy Hiền (South) vs Nguyễn Văn Tài – Lê Khả Tuyên (North)

3. Huỳnh Quang Đức – Nguyễn Văn Hưng (South vs Thái Trung Hiếu – Trần Thế Cường (North)

4. Andrew Hùng Phạm – Lê Văn Lân (South) vs Hoàng Quân – Đoàn Văn Nam (North)

Within 3 days, winning team will be the first team reach the score of 14.5, in case more than one team with the same score of 14/14, the champion of previous year would continue being the new one.

– Vietnam Insider

Disturbing footage shows the moments before the fatal Uber self-driving-car crash

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  • Police have released footage from a fatal crash involving one of Uber’s self-driving vehicles.
  • It is believed to be the first time an autonomous vehicle has killed a pedestrian.
  • The video shows the vehicle operator looking away and the pedestrian walking across the road.


Police have released footage from the moments before a fatal crash involving one of Uber’s self-driving cars and a pedestrian in Tempe, Arizona.

The video, captured by the vehicle, shows both the forward view from the front of the car when the pedestrian enters the roadway and the reaction of Uber’s vehicle operator in the driver’s seat directly before the crash, which the footage does not show.

The footage from the interior shows the Uber’s vehicle operator, who was not controlling the vehicle at the time, periodically looking down and away from the road.

The pedestrian emerges from the shadows on the left lane of the road, pushing a bicycle, as the vehicle drives along the right lane.

You can watch the footage below, but be warned that some may find its contents disturbing.

On Sunday at about 10 p.m. local time, one of Uber’s autonomous vehicles hit Elaine Herzberg, 49, in what is believed to be the first time a self-driving vehicle has killed a pedestrian.

Uber has grounded its fleet of self-driving vehicles, and authorities are investigating.

In a statement an Uber representative said: “The video is disturbing and heartbreaking to watch, and our thoughts continue to be with Elaine’s loved ones. Our cars remain grounded, and we’re assisting local, state, and federal authorities in any way we can.”

Police have said the vehicle did not meaningfully slow before the crash. It’s not yet clear whether its sensors picked up Herzberg (lidar, a key technology in self-driving cars that uses lasers to detect obstacles, does not require daylight to function).

Speaking to the San Francisco Chronicle earlier this week, Tempe’s police chief, Sylvia Moir, said: “I suspect preliminarily it appears that the Uber would likely not be at fault in this accident.”

Moir added: “It’s very clear it would have been difficult to avoid this collision in any kind of mode” — autonomous or human-driven — “based on how she came from the shadows right into the roadway.”

By: Rob Price, Source: Business Insider

Top Vietnamese firms among best to work for in the country: survey

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Foreign firms still dominated the top 20, but there were more Vietnamese firms in the top five than ever before.
Vietnamese dairy giant Vinamilk beat four-time champion Unilever to be named the best company in the country to work for last year.

It was followed by Nestle, Vietnamese telco giant Viettel and Vietcombank in the 2017 “Best Places to Work” survey, marking the very first time Vietnam has had three local firms in the top five of the annual survey conducted by solutions firm Anphabe.

Unilever did not appear in the top 100.

The survey was the largest ever conducted, collecting feedback from a pool of 62,268 respondents and data from 50 interviews with CEOs and human resources managers.

The results have been verified by market researcher Intage Vietnam.

In general, foreign firms continued to dominate the ranking, accounting for 14 of the top 20.

In January last year, Vietnam was ranked among the best destinations for a successful expat career thanks to a good work-life balance and employment benefits, according to HSBC.

The London-based bank’s Expat Explorer survey questioned 26,871 expats from more than 100 countries and territories between March and May 2016 about their careers and personal finance, as well as the economic, cultural and quality of life in their host countries.

The survey placed Vietnam 19th overall, just above Japan.

Top 100 list:

Source: Vnexpress, Anphabe

13 dead, 28 injured in Saigon apartment fire

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Thirteen tenants were killed while 28 others were injured in a blaze that slowly engulfed a luxury apartment in Ho Chi Minh City early on Friday.

The fire started at the lower part of the Carina apartment on Vo Van Kiet Street in District 8 at around 1:30 am, sending multiple pieces of concrete to collapse, trapping residents, most of whom were sleeping, inside the building.

More than 200 firefighters and 34 fire trucks were immediately dispatched to the scene, but still failed to rescue some residents. The fire was put out at around 4:30 am.

As of 8:00 am the same day, Nguyen Thanh Huong, acting director of the Ho Chi Minh City fire department, said 13 people were confirmed dead, while 28 others were injured.

The chairwoman of Nguyen Thai Binh Ward of District 1 was among the victims. It is not immediately clear if she was dead or injured.

The building’s 22,000-square-meter basement, with a parking space of 1,000 square meters, were completely destroyed, with 150 motorbikes and 13 cars burned.

Many rescued residents said they had no idea that their building was on fire as the alarm system did not work.

“There was no alarming sound and the fire sprinkler system just didn’t work,” one resident said. “We only learned of the fire when its smoke and heat reached the 14th floor.”

People climb out of the building. Photo: Tuoi Tre
People climb out of the building. Photo: Tuoi Tre

Vo Van Hoan, head of the secretariat of the Ho Chi Minh City administration, said the fire resulted in the biggest damage costs and casualties in the southern metropolis in recent years.

It is the second worst fire in Ho Chi Minh City in the last two decades, following the blaze that killed 60 and injured 70 others at the ITC trade center in October 2002.

Nguyen Phuc, director of the 577 JSC, the developer of the Carina, said the building was put into use in 2009 and no major incidents had occurred until Friday’s fire.

He turned down questions from reporters during a quick media meeting held at the scene of fire that the apartment’s fire alarm system was out of order, saying a thorough inspection is needed to give out the answer.

Phuc also said the developer will begin calculating compensation and taking other necessary steps following the tragedy.

 

 

Source: Tuoitre

 

VN Index up to new record high

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Viet Nam’s benchmark VN Index beat the all-time high of 1,170 points on Thursday morning and was kept positive by good performance of energy and real-estate stocks.

The VN Index on HCM Stock Exchange advanced 0.54 per cent to close at a record high of 1,175.62 points.

The benchmark index had gained a total of 4.1 per cent in the previous eight consecutive trading sessions.

The minor HNX Index on Ha Noi Stock Exchange fell for the second day, dropping 0.57 per cent to end at 134.19 points.

The northern bourse index had declined by 0.24 per cent on Wednesday.

Nearly 166 million shares, worth VND4.43 trillion (US$197 million), were traded on the two local exchanges.

Despite the progress of the benchmark index, the market trading condition was negative, with 182 gaining stocks against 227 decliners on the two local exchanges.

Of the 20 sectors on the stock market, energy and real-estate industries remained positive on increased oil prices and first-quarter earnings prospects.

Brent crude oil narrowed its growth to 0.03 per cent on Thursday morning and traded at $69.49 per barrel. It had jumped 5.2 per cent in the past two days.

This improvement in oil prices helped Vietnamese energy stocks to progress, including PetroVietnam Gas (GAS), PetroVietnam Mud Drilling (PVC) and PetroVietnam Drilling and Well Services (PVD).

Among the gainers in the real-estate sector were FLC Group (FLC), Vingroup (VIC), Novaland (NVL), Dream House Investment Corp (DRH) and HCM City Infrastructure Investment JSC (CII).

On the negative side, rubber producers and healthcare service providers were among those that weighed on the stock market.

The UPCOM Index on the Unlisted Public Company Market lost 0.32 per cent to 60.44 points, going down further from its previous three-day decline of 1.9 per cent.

The afternoon trading sessions start at 1pm.

 

 

Source: VNA

Foreign tourists with fat wallets have no idea where to spend in Vietnam: insiders

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Most tourists say goods and services in Vietnam are not worth the money.

While more and more Vietnamese are taking outbound tours and spending big in international destinations, foreign tourists are complaining that they have quite few reasons to open their wallets when visiting the Southeast Asian country.

Most international tourists plan only a short stay in Vietnam, and those who are willing to spend lavishly find few services or items worth their price.

Min-jun, a South Korean on a six-day-five-night visit to Ho Chi Minh City with his six-member family, visited the famed Ben Thanh Market, but left with only a few bags of dried lotus seeds and coffee.

The tourist told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper that he had wanted to buy handicrafts and souvenirs, but found the products to be either poor quality or overpriced.

Tam Bui, the Vietnamese photographer behind a number of coffee-table photobooks, shared his personal travel experiences with Tuoi Tre, citing that other countries are quite good at convincing tourists to spend money while “in Vietnam, those who want to spend don’t know what to buy.”

Tam said souvenirs in the countries he has visited are diverse and unique.

“They may not be cheap but you can’t resist traveling home with them in your luggage,” he said.

“I wonder if Vietnam has a research team to study which souvenirs are attractive and convenient for international tourists.”

A tourist bargains with a seller at Ben Thanh Market

Thao, who works for an ad agency in Ho Chi Minh City, said she consistently left scratching her head when it comes to choosing “typical Vietnamese gifts” for her foreign partners, often settling on small figurines featuring Vietnamese women in three different traditional dresses or refrigerator magnets in the shape of women donning ao dai, Vietnam’s traditional gown.

Other common gifts, including lacquerware and souvenirs made from bamboo and wood, are also available but “it isn’t easy to find those that are typically Vietnamese,” she said.

“And if you choose clothes or silk, chances are you will end up buying ‘made-in-China’ products,” she warned.

Changes needed

Ho Chi Minh City received nearly 6.4 million tourists in 2017, a strong 22.8 percent increase from a year earlier.

However, tourist spending only rose 12.6 percent in the same period, meaning more visitors are coming to Vietnam, but they are spending less.

The municipal tourism department put the blame on booming online travel services which offer would-be big spenders the opportunity to plan their trip via the Internet rather than through local tour organizers.

Holidaymakers are booking their own flights and hotel rooms through services run by international companies, leaving a meager piece of the pie for Vietnamese travel firms.

When it comes to shopping in Ho Chi Minh City, foreign tourists are also reluctant to spend large sums, instead preferring to try their hand at Vietnam’s bargaining culture.

Two foreign customers ask price of a souvenir at a shop on Dong Khoi Street

 

Source: Tuoitrenews

Vinfast announces winning hatchback designs

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Vinfast has announced the two most popular electric and petrol-fuelled hatchback automobile designs of the 36 designs offered to vote. The winners are the IDC EV A (electric) and IDG ICE A (petrol).

Notably, on March 8, VinFast announced 36 hatchback car designs, including 17 electric and 19 petrol small-d models. They were created by automobile design studios ItalDesign, One One Lab, Pininfarina, and Torino Design.
After a 10-day vote which was joined by 300,000 people, 22.8 per cent voted for the IDC EV A electric car and 21 per cent for the IDG ICE A petrol car.

Previously, in October 2017, Vinfast introduced 20 sedan and SUV automobile designs in a public contest to select the most popular models in Vietnam.

The 20 models designed specifically for Vinfast came from four well-known automobile design studios, namely Pininfarina, Zagato, Torino, and Ital Design, who created shapes for Alfa Romeo, Aston Martin, Audi, Bentley, BMW, Cadillac, Ferrari, Jaguar, Lamborghini, Mercedes-Benz, Porsche, and Rolls-Royce, among others. They have presented Vinfast with an impressive collection.

As a result, Sedan 02 and SUV 02, which were created by automobile design studio Ital Design, received the largest number of votes.

VinFast expects to launch the Sedan 02 and SUV 02 at the Paris Motorshow 2018 organised in October and the Vietnam Motorshow 2018 in December. Meanwhile, the small electric and petrol hatchback models will be launched in late 2019, one year earlier than initially planned.

At present, the firm is accelerating the construction of workshops as well as other infrastructure to catch up with the schedule, while simultaneously signing contracts with foreign partners to buy designs, machinery, as well as facilities.

Source: VIR

South-east Asia stocks: Philippines rebounds, Vietnam hits record

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SINGAPORE, March 22 — Most South-east Asian stock markets rose today, with the Philippines bouncing back from steep losses and Vietnam scaling an all-time peak, as the US Federal Reserve’s rate outlook for 2018 was seen as less hawkish than expected.

The Fed raised its interest rate on Wednesday and reiterated two more rate increases this year, signalling caution in its monetary policy tightening pace.

Philippine shares rose 1.1 per cent on broad-based gains, bouncing back from three straight sessions of sharp losses.

The country has experienced significant foreign fund outflows over the past few weeks, with the benchmark down about 6.6 per cent year-to-date.

The Philippine central bank is expected to leave its benchmark rate steady at its monetary policy meeting today, on optimism that annual inflation would ease back to its target range next year, a Reuters poll showed on Tuesday.

The Fed maintaining its outlook for a total of three rate increases for the year helps retain the allure of higher yielding assets in emerging markets.

Indonesian shares gained 0.4 per cent, helped by gains across the board. Telecom services stocks and materials contributed the most to the benchmark, which broke a six-session losing streak yesterday.

Telekomunikasi Indonesia was the top contributor, rising as much as 1.4 per cent to recoup some of its losses last week.

The index of the country’s 45 most liquid stocks added 0.4 per cent.

Malaysian shares gained 0.3 per cent as financials and consumer staples rose. Malayan Banking Bhd gained as much as 1.4 per cent.

Vietnam shares rose 1.6 per cent to a record, led by gains in consumer staples and utilities. Seafood processing firm Vinh Hoan Corp was up as much as 3.4 per cent.

Meanwhile, Singapore shares lost 0.4 per cent, weighed down by financials, with Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp Ltd shedding 1.1 per cent.

— Reuters

Mark Zuckerberg Breaks Silence on Facebook User-Data Controversy

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CEO acknowledges a ‘breach of trust between Facebook and the people who share their data with us’.

Mark Zuckerberg, in his first comments since the user-privacy crisis now engulfing the company broke last Friday, admitted Facebook has made mistakes and outlined what it plans to do to restore trust with users.

The issue: Cambridge Analytica, a U.K.-based political data-analytics firm hired by the 2016 Trump campaign, got its hands on data for 50 million Facebook users — without the users’ knowledge or consent.

“I’ve been working to understand exactly what happened and how to make sure this doesn’t happen again. The good news is that the most important actions to prevent this from happening again today we have already taken years ago,” Zuckerberg wrote in a blog post Wednesday. “But we also made mistakes, there’s more to do, and we need to step up and do it.”

Here’s what Zuckerberg said Facebook will do: First, it will investigate all apps that had access to “large amounts of information” before Facebook changed its policies to reduce data access in 2014.

Second, Facebook will restrict developers’ data access “even further to prevent other kinds of abuse,” according to Zuckerberg. For example, it will remove developers’ ability to access user data if a Facebook users hasn’t used their app in three months. Third, within the next month, Facebook will display a tool at the top of the News Feed with apps users have used and an easy way to revoke those apps’ permissions to your data.

Facebook says Aleksandr Kogan, the University of Cambridge researcher who sold the data to Cambridge Analytica after procuring it through a personality-quiz app dating back to 2013, lied to Facebook and violated its policies. In 2015, Facebook demanded that Cambridge Analytica and Kogan “formally certify that they had deleted all improperly acquired data” and they provided those certifications, according to Zuckerberg.

However, upon learning that Cambridge Analytica may not have deleted all the Facebook user data in question, Facebook on March 16 barred Cambridge Analytica and its parent company from using its platform. Facebook says it no longer allows third-party apps to capture data the way that was done in this case.

“This was a breach of trust between Kogan, Cambridge Analytica and Facebook,” Zuckerberg wrote. “But it was also a breach of trust between Facebook and the people who share their data with us and expect us to protect it. We need to fix that.”

The scandal has drawn renewed scrutiny on Facebook’s data-handling practices from lawmakers and regulators, led some users to call for a boycott (via the hashtag #DeleteFacebook) and prompted lawsuits from shareholders and users. It ignited a two-day selloff of Facebook stock, before shares recovered some ground Wednesday.

Zuckerberg’s low profile on the Cambridge Analytica story over the last several days has been conspicuous. The CEO reportedly did not participate in a Q&A Tuesday with employees, and morale at Facebook is said to be at a low point.

What’s next: Facebook is facing an inquiry from the Federal Trade Commission, which is looking into whether the social-media company violated a 2011 agreement with the agency requiring user consent over disclosures of personal data.

At this point, it’s unclear whether the uproar over Cambridge Analytica will lead to new legislation or government regulations (or any significant user exodus). Several Wall Street analysts believe Facebook will weather the storm, and they expect minimal long-term impact on the internet powerhouse’s overall ad business.

 

Source: Variety

 

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