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  • UBS Invests in Incubator Fund

    UBS Invests in Incubator Fund

    Switzerland’s fintech and insurtech ecosystem is getting a boost by partnering with the country’s largest bank.

    Startup incubator and accelerator Tenity (formerly known as F10) and UBS are entering a strategic partnership, according to an emailed statement on behalf of the two parties Thursday.

    Tenity is a startup incubator with an investment arm that invests in technology companies in the financial and insurance industries. It focuses on early-stage companies in several countries.

    UBS’s strategic venture and innovation unit, UBS Next, which already invests in fintechs directly, will also invest in the Tenity Incubation Fund, the statement adds.

    The partnership with Tenity allows us to expand our fintech network and align innovative ideas and solutions at an early stage, specifically tailored to the needs of our clients in Switzerland, President UBS Switzerland Sabine Keller-Busse, said.

    Having UBS as a strategic partner will help our current and future portfolio companies bring even more innovation to this important industry, Andreas Iten, CEO and co-founder Tenity said.

    More than 250 companies have participated in Tenity programs so far. The new fund will seek to invest in up to 400 new companies.

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  • Gold prices gain

    Gold prices gain

    SJC gold price gained 0.07% to VND66.6 million ($2,808.64) per tael Thursday morning. Gold ring price went up 0.09% to VND54 million per tael. A tael equals 37.5 grams or 1.2 ounces.

    Globally gold prices traded in a tight range on Thursday as some investors stayed on the sidelines ahead of U.S. jobs data that could influence the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy path.

    Spot gold was little changed at $1,813.39 per ounce, trading in a $5 range, after hitting its lowest since Feb. 28 on Wednesday.

    Gold is considered a hedge against inflation, and interest rate hikes to control rising prices make it less attractive. Rate hikes also dim the non-yielding bullion’s appeal.

    “The gold market has been muted… the market is still trying to digest where the Fed will go after Powell mentioned the final interest rates might be higher than initially expected,” said Brian Lan, managing director at Singapore-based dealer GoldSilver Central.

    Fed Chair Powell on Wednesday reaffirmed his message of higher and potentially faster interest rate hikes, but emphasized that debate was still underway with a decision hinging on data to be issued before the U.S. central bank’s policy meeting in two weeks.

  • UBS Invests in Incubator Fund

    UBS Invests in Incubator Fund

    Switzerland’s fintech and insurtech ecosystem is getting a boost by partnering with the country’s largest bank.

    Startup incubator and accelerator Tenity (formerly known as F10) and UBS are entering a strategic partnership, according to an emailed statement on behalf the two parties, Thursday.

    Tenity is a startup incubator with an investment arm that invests in technology companies in the financial and insurance industries. It focuses on early-stage companies in several countries.

    UBS’s strategic venture and innovation unit, UBS Next, which already invests in fintechs directly, will also invest in the Tenity Incubation Fund, the statement adds.

    The partnership with Tenity allows us to expand our fintech network and align innovative ideas and solutions at an early stage, specifically tailored to the needs of our clients in Switzerland, President UBS Switzerland Sabine Keller-Busse, said.

    Having UBS as a strategic partner will help our current and future portfolio companies bring even more innovation to this critical industry, Andreas Iten, CEO, and co-founder Tenity said.

    More than 250 companies have participated in Tenity programs so far. The new fund will seek to invest in up to 400 new companies.

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  • How to Make Money with NFTs

    How to Make Money with NFTs

    With the explosion of cryptocurrency and the blockchain over the past few years, NFTs have grown too. While they may not be as popular as most cryptos, many experts believe NFTs will play a huge role in our future online world.

    While NFTs don’t have the best reputation, they are certainly something that is only going to get better with age. If you don’t know what they are or you are looking for ways to make money with them, this post is for you.

    What is an NFT?

    If you had to Google “NFTs explained,” you may be hit with a wall of content you don’t quite understand. However, in simple terms, an NFT is a unique digital asset that can be bought and traded, much like a painting or a baseball card.

    Owning a digital asset means you can make money from it, and it can grow in value. It is also not possible for someone to own it unless you sell it to them. There is also the common misconception that having a picture of an NFT is the same as owning it.

    Think about this example; there is a big difference between owning an original Banksy artwork and simply downloading a photo of it onto your phone; that is also how NFTs differ, except the original is online too.

    What can you sell as an NFT?

    When it comes to what can be an NFT, the sky’s the limit. Almost anything can be an NFT, a photo you took on holiday, or the characters of a video game you made. The most popular NFTs nowadays are pieces of art, art collections, and video game assets.

    NFT flipping

    The first way to make money with NFTs is to flip them. Flipping and trading are slightly different, with flipping being the process of minting NFTs at a very low price and then selling them for a large profit.

    Flipping can be risky, though, as minting costs money, and there is no guarantee if or when the NFT will sell. While this type of risk is true for all kinds of investments, minting requires more of your money, which makes it a slightly bigger risk.

    NFT collections

    Instead of selling individual NFTs, one of the more attractive investment opportunities for investors is to offer collections. If you have a great NFT, you are more likely to make a greater profit selling a collection than an individual asset.

    Take Pokemon cards, for example; selling a random card from a collection is far less appealing than selling the complete collection.

    NFT investments

    You can also play the long game when trying to make money with NFTs and choose the investment route. NFT value goes up and down just like any other crypto, and there are several out there that are still very sought-after.

    You can also choose to invest early in a new project, and while this takes a bit more knowledge and research, it is a great way to get in at a very low price and maximize your profits.

    Make game assets

    This is one area that is seeing a lot of growth within the world of NFTs. Crypto and blockchain-based video games are exploding in popularity, and designers are using NFTs to fill their games and create value by making unlockables, like skins and characters, NFTs that can be bought and sold.

    Creating a game character, for instance, can net you a very healthy profit if the character was to grow in popularity. Once again, this requires skill and knowledge, but nothing that can’t be learned online.

    NFT rentals

    While this one may sound a bit bizarre, you can rent out your NFTs. Depending on what type of NFT you have, there is the chance to rent it out for others to use for a particular purpose. This can range from videos to video games or content in general.

    NFT staking

    If you have been in the world of crypto for a while, you probably already know what staking is. In simple terms, staking is locking your NFT asset into a smart contract or DeFi protocol, which then yields you rewards and financial gains.

    You essentially use your NFTs as collateral, but in exchange, you retain ownership of your assets, and you are able to make money from them.

    NFT trading

    Finally, you can go the much more simple route and trade NFTs. Unlike flipping, you aren’t part of the minting process at all; instead, you are using our crypto to buy NFTs, wait for them to increase in value, sell them for a profit, and buy more.

    As mentioned, the NFT market works in the same way as the stock, forex, and crypto market; prices are constantly fluctuating, allowing you to get in low and sell high almost whenever you want.

     

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  • Raiffeisen Pushes Foward with Asset Management Business

    Raiffeisen Pushes Foward with Asset Management Business

    Switzerland’s banking group Raiffeisen, saw mortgage loan volumes reach record levels last year.

    Raiffeisen Group posted a group profit of 1.18 billion Swiss francs ($1.3 billion) in 2022, it said in a statement Thursday. The cooperative bank, which consists of 220 banks, said that operational revenue increases drove its 10.6 percent profit increase over the previous year.

    The market leader for Swiss mortgages saw mortgage loans rise 3.7 percent to 203.7 billion Swiss francs, bringing its mortgage volume over the 200 billion mark for the first time.

    Despite a difficult market environment, Raiffeisen recorded a net new money inflow of 3.9 billion francs in its pension and investment portfolios. A total of more than 40,000 retirement and investment custody accounts were opened last year, 158 custody accounts per working day.

    The number of pension custody accounts increased by 17.6 percent, the number of asset management mandates by 34.4 percent, and the number of fund savings plan custody accounts by 11.8 percent.

    However, due to negative market developments, custody account volumes decreased by 4 billion Swiss francs to a portfolio of 41.1 billion Swiss francs, it added.

    Raiffeisen expects business to be solid in the coming months. However, the market environment remains challenging, it said.

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  • Gold prices up

    Gold prices up

    SJC gold gained 0.07% to VND66.9 million ($2,819.45) per tael Friday morning.

    Gold ring price rose 0.09% to VND54.1 million per tael. A tael equals 37.5 grams or 1.2 ounces.

    Globally gold prices rose on Friday, on track for their first weekly gain in five, as the dollar eased, even though fears persisted that the U.S. Federal Reserve would keep raising interest rates to curb inflationary pressures.

    Spot gold was up 0.3% at $1,840.89 per ounce.

    The dollar index eased 0.1%, making bullion more affordable for buyers holding other currencies.

    The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits fell again last week, pointing to sustained labour market strength and adding to fears that the Fed would keep hiking interest rates for longer.

    Another report from the U.S. Labor Department on Thursday showed labor costs grew much faster than previously estimated in the fourth quarter.

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  • Dollar slips on black market

    Dollar slips on black market

    The U.S. dollar dropped against the Vietnamese dong Friday morning on the black market.

    Unofficial exchange points sold the greenback at VND23,850, down 0.29% from Thursday.

    Vietcombank sold the dollar 0.15% higher at VND23,910.

    Eximbank maintained the dollar at VND23,860, while at Techcombank the rate stayed unchanged at VND23,890.

    The State Bank of Vietnam kept its reference rate stable at VND23,637.

    The dollar as appreciated over the dong by 0.76% since the beginning of the year.

    The U.S. dollar eased back from a 2-1/2-month high versus the yen on Friday and weakened toward its first weekly loss since January against major peers as traders tried to gauge the path for Federal Reserve policy.

    The yen, which is particularly sensitive to U.S.-Japanese long-term interest rate differentials, threatened to extend a weekly losing streak to seven weeks, even as it gained strength on Friday with 10-year U.S. yields retreating from a nearly four-month high close to 4.1%.

    Taking some steam out of the dollar and the breathless advance in U.S. yields were comments from Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic overnight that “slow and steady is going to be the appropriate course of action,” despite new labour figures adding to the run of strong data of late.

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  • UBS Loses Appeal to Halt London Lawsuit

    UBS Loses Appeal to Halt London Lawsuit

    UBS has lost an appeal to throw out a lawsuit by an exiled Chinese businessman over an allegedly forced share sale by the Swiss bank’s London branch.

    A London court of appeal has dismissed UBS’s latest attempt to throw out a $500 million lawsuit by exiled Chinese businessman Guo Wengui and his firm Ace Decade.

    According to Guo, he and Ace Decade allegedly lost $500 million after UBS forced a sale of an indirect equity investment in Chinese brokerage Haitong Securities during a market downturn in July 2015.

    Last month, UBS argued in the appeal court that the lawsuit would only be valid in Switzerland despite involvement by the London branch. This argument was previously rejected by a lower court in 2022.

    The claims undoubtedly arose out of UBS London’s operations. UBS London significantly participated in the events that have given rise both to the claim and the los ns claimed.

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  • Gold prices rise

    Gold prices rise

    SJC gold price gained 0.15% to VND66.9 million ($2,818.62) per tael Wednesday.

    Gold ring price went up 0.28% to VND54.1 million. A tael equals 37.5 grams or 1.2 ounces.

    Reuters reported that gold prices edged lower on Wednesday while investors braced for more U.S. interest rate hikes amid stubbornly high inflation.

    Spot gold was down 0.2% at $1,824.06 per ounce as the dollar index rose 0.1%, making bullion more expensive for buyers holding other currencies.

    U.S. consumer confidence unexpectedly fell in February, with the decrease concentrated among lower-middle-income households, though Americans grew more upbeat about the labor market, a survey showed on Tuesday.

    High-interest rates dampen gold’s appeal as an inflation hedge while raising the opportunity cost of holding the non-yielding asset.

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  • UBS is Applying For a Fund License in China

    UBS is Applying For a Fund License in China

    As China gradually opens its financial markets to Western institutions, UBS wants to expand its stake in a joint venture there.

    Swiss bank UBS is in informal talks with China’s securities regulator. The firm wants to apply for a license to sell mutual funds as soon as possible. UBS became the first foreign bank in China to seek a majority stake in its local investment banking unit after regulators lifted limits in 2018, relaxing the rules further in 2019.

    That opened the door for other institutions to follow suit, including  Blackrock, Goldman Sachs, and JP Morgan Chase, which have since obtained various licenses from Chinese regulators to expand their businesses in the Middle Kingdom.

    UBS has a 49 percent stake in a joint venture with state-owned SDIC Taikang Trust and has been in talks with its Chinese partner to take control of the company. However, the two parties failed to reach an agreement according to people familiar with the matter.

    In the past, UBS has held talks with insurer China Life Insurance and the Industrial & Commercial Bank of China, about setting up joint ventures in wealth management. The negotiations failed to reach an agreement and ICBC eventually set up an asset management joint venture with Goldman Sachs.

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  • Neobank N26 Blows off a Major Acquisition

    Neobank N26 Blows off a Major Acquisition

    N26 also active in Switzerland, was looking for an acquisition that would allow its customers to trade stocks and index funds. That has reportedly fallen through.

    Decision makers at smartphone bank N26 are looking for ways to cover the traditional stock and ETF business. The goal, announced by co-founder and co-CEO Valentin Stalf in October was to gain a strong foothold in the space within two years.

    Now it seems the attempt to develop this service through acquisition has failed, with N26 ending negotiations with Dutch securities trader Bux before a deal could be struck, citing anonymous sources.

    Reasons cited for the pullout included disagreement over management structure, the price, and the deal’s complexity. During the talks, a valuation of 100 million euros for Bux was reportedly on the table.

    Bux, which cooperates with Dutch bank ABN Amro on trading systems, says it serves over 1 million customers and operates in a total of eight markets, including the Netherlands, France, and Germany.Bux declined to comment to the newspaper, saying only that it looks for interesting companies that fit its strategic goals, but generally does not comment on rumors or speculation, according to the N26 announcement.

    N26 entered into a cooperation with Viennese crypto startup Bitpanda last fall to allow customers to trade cryptocurrencies.

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  • Banks Are Increasingly Victims of Data Theft

    Banks Are Increasingly Victims of Data Theft

    Cybercriminals who want to obtain a large amount of valuable data quickly are increasingly attacking financial institutions. Data breaches can be very expensive for banks.

    Credit Suisse seemingly cannot escape the negative headlines. After numerous scandals and annual results deeply in the red last year, a former employee is now making new negative headlines for the bank. An IT employee is alleged to have stolen personal data from Credit Suisse employees over the years.

    While the data was taken, there is so far no evidence of it being used maliciously.

    We have taken and are continuing to take steps, including legal remedies, to contain the incident adequately. To date, there is no evidence of any onward transmission or intent to use the data in any way,» according to a statement from Credit Suisse.

    Still, the security incident is seen as further damaging the image of the crisis-hit financial institution.

    Data security must be a top priority in a bank’s security concept since financial data contains some of the most sensitive information on individuals. Should cybercriminals get hold of such data, it can have devastating consequences for customers who have placed their trust in a financial institution that lacks adequate security measures.

    Financial institutions have been a popular target for data breaches and theft for years. The vast amount of data residing in banks on accounts, credit cards, and securities holdings is a juicy target for those with ill intent.

    According to a study by the security company Proxyrack that evaluated data breaches since 2004, the financial sector is the third most frequent target of hackers, with Citigroup a popular target. It was victimized by three hacker attacks since 2004, resulting in 4.4 million records being stolen or compromised.

    According to Proxyrack, only companies in the Web and healthcare industries have been affected more frequently than financial institutions. The top three causes of security incidents are hacker attacks, inadequate security measures, and lost or stolen data.

    Cybersecurity firm Flashpoint comes to a similar conclusion. According to its data, the financial sector recorded the second-highest number of data breaches globally after government agencies in 2022. US banks were the most affected, followed by institutions in Argentina, Brazil, and China. At least 79 US financial institutions reported data breaches affecting 1,000 or more customers last year.

    Data leaks and data theft can be very expensive. According to an IBM report on the cost of data breaches in 2022, the US financial sector recorded the second-highest average cost per security incident after healthcare. While the average cost of data breaches in healthcare reached a record high of $10.1 million, up over 40 percent since 2020, it was just under $6 million for financial firms.

    The largest known data breach to date involving a financial institution was at First American Financial Corp. In 2019, security specialist Brian Krebs discovered 885 million First American documents posted online that contained information such as account numbers, bank statements, tax records, and wire transfer receipts. The data of millions of customers was freely accessible.

    The US financial services provider Equifax also experienced a similar breach. In September 2017, the company informed its customers that cyber criminals had accessed 147 million accounts. Equifax had learned about the security breach a month earlier but failed to inform its customers immediately, resulting in a $700 million fine from US authorities.

    The third largest data breach also involved a US company when in 2009, Heartland Payment Systems announced it was the victim of a security breach in its processing system in 2008. A web form on the company’s website gave access to the corporate network allowing Russian hackers to gain to over 100 million credit and debit card numbers.

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  • Gold prices gain

    Gold prices gain

    SJC gold price rose 0.22% to VND67.4 million ($2,854.72) per tael Tuesday afternoon.

    Gold ring price dropped 0.18% to VND54.65 million per tael. A tael equals 37.5 grams or 1.2 ounces.

    Globally gold prices went up on Tuesday as the dollar retreated, with investors bracing for U.S. inflation data that could determine the Federal Reserve’s next monetary policy moves.

    Spot gold was up 0.5% at $1,861.93 per ounce after falling to its lowest since early January in the previous session.

    Gold is susceptible to rising interest rates, which lift the opportunity cost of holding the non-yielding asset.

    “If the disinflation trend in the U.S. shows signs of slowing (even if it’s temporary), then caution over a hawkish Fed could undermine risk sentiment and gold, while USD may find further support,” said OCBC FX strategist Christopher Wong.

  • Samsung wants to make its Vietnam R&D center global hub

    Samsung wants to make its Vietnam R&D center global hub

    It is his mission to turn the Samsung R&D Centerin Hanoi into the Korean company’s top global research and development center, its Vietnam chief, Choi Joo Ho, has said.

    “The first mission is to expand its research activities and enhance expertise,” the head of Samsung Vietnam Complex said at a conference on Sunday.

    The conglomerate opened the US$220-million research center in Hanoi last December.

    It would take Vietnam from being a global production hub for Samsung to a strategic base for major research and development, the company had said at the opening ceremony.

    Choi said the second mission is to help develop technology talent and industry in Vietnam.

    For this, Samsung plans to step up training through scholarships and internships for promising tech students and cooperation with universities, he said.

    “We wish to strengthen our partnership with Vietnamese businesses to help them develop and become part of Samsung’s global value chain.”

    By the end of last year the number of Vietnamese tier 1 and tier 2 suppliers in Samsung’s global supply chain had increased to 257, 10 times the number in 2014.

    Since 2015 experts from Samsung Korea have worked with some 400 Vietnamese companies to improve their product quality.

    Samsung established its first smartphone factory in Vietnam in 2008 and has invested $18.2 billion so far. The figure could rise to $20 billion by the end of this year.

    The company makes around half of all its smartphones in the country.

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  • Dollar drops at banks

    Dollar drops at banks

    On Monday morning, the U.S. dollar dropped at banks but remained unchanged at unofficial exchange points.

    Vietcombank sold the dollar at VND23,740 Monday, down 0.02% from Sunday. Eximbank and Techcombank sold the greenback 0.04% lower at VND23,720, and VND23,745, respectively.

    The USD/VND exchange rate has increased by 0.04% since the beginning of the year. The State Bank of Vietnam (SBV)’s reference rate is at VND23,628, up 0.01%. The dollar remained stable at VND23,680 on the black market.

    On Monday, the dollar hovered near a five-week high against major peers on rising bets for prolonged Federal Reserve policy tightening ahead of a crucial consumer price report the following day.

    The dollar index – which measures the greenback against six counterparts including the yen, euro and sterling – added 0.068% to 103.65, keeping close to last Tuesday’s high of 103.96, the strongest level since January 6.

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