PETRONAS Dagangan Berhad (PDB) introduced Setel, the first e-payment solution for fuel purchases directly from mobile devices on 28 November 2018. Setel is a customised solution designed to integrate directly to the fuel pumps – the first in Southeast Asia – enabling customers to purchase fuel within a few clicks directly in the comfort of their vehicles.

“Pumping fuel shouldn’t be a chore. Currently, the payment process involves walking to cashier, waiting in line, a RM200-hold on your cards, and having to use a separate card to earn loyalty points. Setel eradicates these pain points and integrates payment and loyalty benefits in a seamless, frictionless experience. At Setel, we settle for you!” said Iskandar Ezzahuddin, Head of Setel.

Microsoft has pledged to provide 15,000 university students with internship opportunities, deliver digital skills training to 2.2 million SME employees, and to hire 8,500 digital workers by 2020 across ASEAN. The pledge was announced following the launch of the ASEAN Digital Skills Vision 2020 – an initiative that pledges to equip 20 million ASEAN workers with digital skills and opportunities in the next two years.

The ASEAN Digital Skills Vision 2020 was launched during the World Economic Forum (WEF) 2018 meeting in Vietnam. It aims to address the employment and skilling challenges brought about by the Fourth Industrial Revolution. The initiative will offer ASEAN citizens internship opportunities, training in digital skills and employment. It also enables students and the public to visit offices of technology companies to learn about the jobs of the future. The initiative hopes to increase the number of people trained and hired in digital skills, and to help business leaders understand and learn how other companies in the region prepare their workforce to be digital-ready.

Japan-based Daiwa House Industry Co., Ltd will start work on its first multi-tenant logistics facility in Malaysia -- ‘D Project Malaysia I’ -- in Shah Alam, Selangor on Jan 7, 2019 to support cold chain logistics as demand has been growing in recent years.

The rental management of the project will be undertaken by Daiwa House Malaysia Logistic Sdn. Bhd -- the company's Malaysian subsidiary established in May 2018, a statement said.

CIMB Group Holdings Berhad (“CIMB Group” or the “Group”) reported a net profit of RM4.47 billion for the first 9 months of 2018 (“9M18”) bolstered by a gain from the sale of 20% of CIMB-Principal Asset Management (“CPAM”) and 10% of CIMB-Principal Islamic Asset Management (“CPIAM”) amounting to RM928 million. This raised the Group’s 9M18 Return On average Equity (“ROE”) to 11.6%, and reduced its Cost-to-Income Ratio (“CIR”) to 48.0%.

On a Business-As-Usual (“BAU”) basis, Profit Before Tax (“PBT”) was RM4.76 billion for 9M18 representing a 4.0% year-on-year (“Y-o-Y”) growth. Lower Y-o-Y operating expenses of 6.4% and loan loss provisions of 30.7% contributed to the Group’s increase in 9M18 BAU net profit by 3.6% Y-o-Y to RM3.54 billion.

BIMB Holdings Bhd, Malaysia’s premier Islamic financial services Group, announced today, a 10.2% increase in PBZT to RM807.3 million for the nine months ended 30 September 2018, from RM732.3 million in the same period last year.

Earnings per share was 30.84 sen, compared with 28.81 sen in the same nine months the previous year. Net asset per share rose to RM3.03 at end September 2018 from RM2.77 at end December 2017. Its Group annualised ROE of 15.1%, places it ahead of its peers in the banking industry.

After successfully launching SportsFix Sponsorship Model two months ago, SportsFix is integrating the ProximaX Sirius platform utilizing blockchain technology to tokenize their Digital StadiumTM starting with the HSBC BWF World Tour Finals in December.

SportsFix is owned by SF Media Holdings Sdn Bhd, a subsidiary of TSA (Total Sports Asia), Asia’s global leader in sports content. SportsFix is Asean’s first and only LIVE and VOD sports content OTT platform. It is the OTT broadcaster for BWF content in Indonesia and the Philippines.

The diversity and complexity of the post‐modern era places new and important challenges for the Takaful industry. Without having fulfilled the requirements pertaining to the education, it is difficult for the industry to achieve the prerequisites of professionalism.

Azli Munani, Chief Executive Officer / Executive Secretary of Malaysian Takaful Association (MTA), said, “Excellence is not static. To remain professional and to lead, there is a need to not only exceed expectations but also to develop ways of assessing and measuring these expectations”. He added “The element of professionalism demands that we safeguard and sustain the integrity of our profession and the industry”.

The regulations for digital asset or cryptocurrency exchanges and initial coin offerings (ICOs) will come into force by first quarter of 2019, says Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng.

“While some parties might still be sceptical of this space, there can be no doubt that we need appropriate regulations to be put in place and enforced to safeguard the interest of investors,” he said, when delivering the keynote address at the SCxSC Fintech Conference 2018organised by the SC yesterday.

The Malaysian Investment Development Authority (MIDA) recorded 111 potential business projects worth RM4.1 billion in the areas of green technology for the manufacturing and services sector at the 9th International Greentech & Eco Products Exhibition and Conference Malaysia (IGEM 2018) that was held at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre, last month.

According to the Chief Executive Officer of MIDA, Dato' Azman Mahmud, "Of the total, RM3.7 billion will be in the services sector while the rest are investments in manufacturing projects. We are excited to share that from the total, MIDA has secured 18 projects with investments of RM557 million mainly in the areas of renewable energy from solar and biogas, energy efficiency (EE), green building and green services.”

PETRONAS Dagangan Bhd (PDB) registered a revenue of RM 7,819.3 million for the quarter ended 30 September 2018, an increase of 14% as compared to the corresponding quarter last year due to higher market price. Profit Before Tax (PBT) decreased by 11% to RM391.5 million mainly due to lower sales volume and higher operating expenses.

Overall for the nine-month period ended 30 September 2018, PDB recorded 4% growth in PBT as compared to the corresponding period last year.