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  • Swift Strike: Vietnamese Gang Cracks Motorbike Theft in 5 Seconds Flat

    Swift Strike: Vietnamese Gang Cracks Motorbike Theft in 5 Seconds Flat

    In central Vietnam, law enforcement authorities have successfully brought down a criminal ring suspected of swiftly stealing motorbikes across the provinces of Nghe An and Ha Tinh. The official inquiry began on Friday, led by Nghe An police, focusing on Truong Hoang Hiep, 18 years old, believed to be the gang’s ringleader, along with five other suspects. The charges faced by the alleged criminals are of “property theft.”

    Method of Operation

    The police claim that the alleged thieves, under Hiep’s leadership, specifically targeted residences and motorbike shops situated in both provinces. Their modus operandi was remarkably fast, involving a technique where they would cut into the motorbike’s wiring to hot-wire it. This method enabled them to start the ignition and escape with the motorbike within an estimated five seconds.

    Their next step would be to conceal the license plates using tape, post which they would trade the stolen motorbikes for cash. As per the police, the criminals usually traveled together, wearing face masks and sun-protection clothing to hide their identities while on the lookout for potential victims.

    Investigation and Arrest

    Reports from victims ultimately led the Nghe An police to launch investigations. By mid-November, the officers had successfully tracked the suspects’ movements, which resulted in their arrest. All the suspects have reportedly confessed to their crimes.

    The police authorities have accused the gang of committing 13 motorbike thefts from May until their eventual capture. The estimated total value of the stolen motorbikes from both provinces is said to be around VND230 million (US$9,600).

    Questions & Answers

    Who are the suspects in the motorbike theft case?
    The chief suspect is Truong Hoang Hiep, an 18-year-old who is believed to be the leader of the gang. There are five other individuals involved in the case.

    How did the gang execute the thefts?
    The gang employed a quick technique to hot-wire the motorbikes by cutting into the wiring. They would then ride away with the motorbike, cover the license plates with tape, and sell the stolen vehicles for cash.

    What led to the gang’s capture?
    Reports from victims led the Nghe An police to initiate investigations. By successfully tracing the suspects’ movements, the officers were able to arrest them. All suspects have confessed to their crimes.

  • Singapore’s Aupen, Adored by Taylor Swift, Partners with LVMH for a Stellar Debut Jewelry Collection

    Singapore’s Aupen, Adored by Taylor Swift, Partners with LVMH for a Stellar Debut Jewelry Collection

    Aupen, a luxury bag brand from Singapore whose designs have been sported by renowned personalities like Taylor Swift and Selena Gomez, is eager to unveil its debut fine jewelry collection. This exciting event, scheduled for Saturday, is happening in collaboration with the French fashion powerhouse LVMH.

    The New Collection

    The upcoming collection features exquisite pieces, adorned with gold and diamonds. These intricate designs are deeply influenced by the life experiences of Aupen’s founder, Nicholas Tan. Tan, a former Southeast Asian Games swimming gold medalist and a Harvard graduate, founded Aupen with a vision to create products that resonate with his personal journey.

    The successful collaboration with LVMH has been facilitated by LVMH Metiers d’Art, a creative initiative under the umbrella of the LVMH group.

    Exclusive Website Launch

    The new jewelry line will be exclusively available on Aupen’s website, and this launch will be accompanied by the re-release of select bags from the brand’s archives. One of these iconic designs includes the Joy bag, recently made popular by American actress and singer, Selena Gomez.

    Established in November 2022, Aupen is known for its asymmetrical leather bag designs that pay homage to the beauty of life’s imperfections. The brand’s design ethos revolves around minimalistic and authentic styles, with a strong emphasis on superior craftsmanship.

    High-End Production

    The manufacturing process of Aupen’s products involves top-tier facilities. The hardware is produced at the Paris-based Jade Groupe, while the handbag leather is sourced from Tanneries Roux, a company known for its specialization in calfskin.

    Aupen has captured the attention of global celebrities. Taylor Swift, the American billionaire singer, was seen with an Aupen Nirvana bag in August 2023. Other stars like Emily Blunt, Jennifer Aniston, and Ana Taylor-Joy have also been photographed with Aupen products.

    Questions & Answers

    What is the inspiration behind Aupen’s new fine jewelry collection?
    The collection draws inspiration from the life experiences of Aupen’s founder, Nicholas Tan, a former Southeast Asian Games swimming gold medalist and a Harvard alumnus.

    Where can consumers purchase the new jewelry line from Aupen?
    The fine jewelry collection will be exclusively available on Aupen’s official website.

    Who are some of the celebrities seen with Aupen products?
    Well-known celebrities seen with Aupen products include Taylor Swift, Selena Gomez, Emily Blunt, Jennifer Aniston, and Ana Taylor-Joy.

  • Swift & Moore Partners With Otter Craft Distilling For Nationwide Spirits Distribution

    Swift & Moore Partners With Otter Craft Distilling For Nationwide Spirits Distribution

    Swift & Moore, a beverage distributor, has recently formed a collaboration with Otter Craft Distilling (OCD). As part of this new alliance, Swift & Moore will be taking over the nationwide distribution of the Sydney-based distillery’s variety of small-batch spirits.

    Collaboration Details

    In addition to taking over the distribution, Swift & Moore will also relocate some of its spirits production to Otter’s Marrickville facility. This strategic decision is designed to enhance Swift & Moore’s impact in the high-end spirits category, a segment that continues to experience growth in both retail and on-site sales channels.

    Established in 2015, Otter Craft Distilling produces a selection of Australian vodka, gin, and whiskey. The company has built a reputation for its small-scale, hands-on production methods. All their products are made in controlled quantities directly on-site. This collaboration provides the brand with access to Swift & Moore’s comprehensive national sales and logistics network.

    CEO’s Remarks

    “OCD represents the creativity and quality that consumers are growing more interested in when it comes to craft spirits,” observed Michael McShane, CEO of Swift & Moore. He further noted, “This partnership allows us to introduce their exceptional products to a larger audience and persist in driving growth and customization in the premium spirits category.”

    Swift & Moore manages a collection of numerous beverage brands, comprising both local and international producers. The company has gradually shifted its focus towards premium spirits as a key aspect of its growth strategy.

    Distribution Status

    The partnership started immediately, with OCD products being incorporated into Swift & Moore’s national distribution system well before the holiday trading season.

    Questions & Answers

    What products does Otter Craft Distilling produce?
    Otter Craft Distilling makes a selection of Australian vodka, gin, and whiskey.

    What is Swift & Moore’s growth strategy?
    Swift & Moore has gradually been focusing more on premium spirits as a significant part of its growth strategy.

    How will the partnership benefit Otter Craft Distilling?
    The partnership will give Otter Craft Distilling access to Swift & Moore’s comprehensive national sales and logistics network, helping the brand expand its reach.

  • SWIFT explores Asia Pacific cross-border real-time payments

    SWIFT explores Asia Pacific cross-border real-time payments

    SWIFT has joined forces with a group of SWIFT gpi banks from Australia, China, Singapore and Thailand to develop a unique cross-border real-time payments service in the Asia Pacific region.

    SWIFT has held exploratory talks with banks from the Asia Pacific region, including ANZ, Bangkok Bank, Bank of China, China Construction Bank, China Guangfa Bank, Commonwealth Bank, DBS, ICBC, Kasikornbank, NAB, Siam Commercial Bank, UOB and Westpac about the development of an Asia Pacific cross-border real-time payments system based on gpi. At the workshops SWIFT and the participating banks determined that such a service would have significant benefits that would extend beyond gpi banks and their customers, deep into the domestic markets, eventually affording a complete real-time cross border payments experience for all bank customers in the region.

    The group agreed the service should be rolled out in three distinct phases:

    • Phase 1 will see the introduction of a new real-time gpi sub-scheme, to facilitate real-time cross-border payments between gpi banks in the region. Building on the significant success of SWIFT gpi payments, which already significantly reduce cross-border payment times to minutes, will ensure real-time settlement of cross-border payments between signatory gpi banks in the region.
    • Phase 2 will effectively extend the SWIFT gpi rails into existing real-time payment systems within each recipient country, thus ensuring that “inwards and onwards” payments can be settled in real-time in each of the four markets, irrespective of whether the final beneficiaries hold accounts at banks that are connected to SWIFT or that are using gpi.
    • A third phase would look to link domestic real-time payment systems via SWIFT gpi to facilitate full cross-border real-time payments between their respective customers. This aims to enable both sending and receiving account holders to benefit from a full real-time payments experience – again independently of whether they hold accounts at banks that are connected to SWIFT or using gpi.

    Eddie Haddad, Managing Director of SWIFT Asia Pacific said: “With the widespread adoption of domestic real-time payments systems in the region, a cross-border real-time service is both a natural extension for SWIFT gpi in Asia Pacific and a real game-changer for bank customers. SWIFT is uniquely positioned to help our customers leverage their existing investments in infrastructure, to standardise connectivity across multiple markets and to drive efficiencies in support of cross-border trade, facilitating further integration in the ASEAN region.”

    Following the initial workshops, SWIFT and participating gpi member banks have begun work on defining a common cross-border real-time scheme that banks can review and test. The design of the new service will build on existing SWIFT gpi service rules to help resolve additional business process frictions in the payments chain. SWIFT has also commenced discussions with the New Payments Platform (NPP) in Australia to enable SWIFT gpi payments to be processed onwards through their newly launched domestic real-time payments system. SWIFT has helped to design, build and deliver the NPP, and is playing a key role in operating the infrastructure for the NPP.

    Launched in 2017, gpi already accounts for nearly 10% of SWIFT cross-border payment traffic, and is enabling more than a hundred billion dollars to be transferred across the world rapidly and securely every day. More than 160 banks, including 48 out of the 50 top banks on SWIFT, have signed up to the service, sending hundreds of thousands of payments daily across 350 country corridors – including major corridors such as USA-China, where gpi already accounts for more than 30% of payment traffic.

    “SWIFT gpi already reduces cross-border payment times to minutes, even seconds and indeed nearly 50% of gpi payments are already being completed in less than 30 minutes”, said Haddad. “This new scheme will both further speed up those payments, and extend the reach of the gpi capability far deeper into domestic markets, driving radical change in the cross-border payments market across the region. We look forward to seeing this work in practice and to more countries, and banks joining the new service.”

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  • SWIFT revolutionises Australian banking with real-time payments

    SWIFT revolutionises Australian banking with real-time payments

    SWIFT welcomes the public launch of the New Payments Platform (NPP) in Australia, which is set to revolutionise the way payments are made domestically. SWIFT has helped to design, build and deliver the NPP and will play a key role in operating the infrastructure for the NPP.

    The NPP’s paradigm-shifting financial architecture has been designed and constructed to fundamentally improve how consumers, businesses and governments transact with one another. The key features of the NPP include:

    • 24/7 instant payments and real-time line-by-line settlement via the Reserve Bank of Australia
    • PayID, new and easy way to link a financial account with an easy-to-remember identifier such as a mobile phone number, email address or ABN for businesses
    • Open access infrastructure that truly empowers innovation through competition
    • Overlay services framework that will provide new value services to Australian consumers, businesses and government

    Alain Raes, Chief Executive of EMEA & APAC, SWIFT, said the rollout of the NPP and the enablement of real time payments is the most significant development in the Australian payments industry in decades, and could have a more revolutionary impact on the economy than any previous payments system innovation.

    “SWIFT has supported the evolution of payments systems around the world for more than 40 years and is delighted to have played an important role in the creation and roll out of real-time payments in Australia. The smooth delivery of the project is a measure of the great partnership that SWIFT and the Australian industry have developed throughout the collaboration,” said Mr Raes. “The NPP has also showcased the expertise and innovative approach of SWIFT’s global payments team and the value that we can deliver to other markets, including the European Union as it moves towards the goal of a harmonised instant payments service within the Eurozone.”

    NPPA CEO, Adrian Lovney said: “SWIFT, an international leader in the provision of secure financial services, has worked tirelessly to help design, build and deliver this world class system.”

    NPP is a key component within SWIFT’s broader global instant payments strategy, which also includes the provision of an instant payments messaging service for the euro area. Launching in November 2018, to coincide with the launch of TARGET Instant Payment Settlement (TIPS), the euro real-time payments service commissioned by the Eurosystem, SWIFT’s new messaging service will allow instant payments to be made in euros across Europe through both TIPS and EBA CLEARING’s RT-1 instant payments system.

    In the context of the Eurosystem’s 2020 vision, which envisages access to TARGET2, TARGET2 for Securities and TIPS through the Eurosystem Single Market Infrastructure Gateway (ESMIG), SWIFT’s instant payments strategy is committed to the future agenda of the Eurosystem, supporting customers as they move to meet this vision.

    The same SWIFT solution will provide customers with a single gateway to connect seamlessly to other instant payment systems in Europe and elsewhere.

    SWIFT, which currently connects 85 of the 149 High Value Payments systems in the world, including CHAPS in the UK, TARGET2 in Europe and the SWIFT India Domestic Services, also offers gateways to instant payments platforms in Hong Kong and in the US.

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  • Swift unveils industry’s first ever cross-border payments tracker

    Swift unveils industry’s first ever cross-border payments tracker

    SWIFT announces today the availability of its new cross-border payments Tracker that enables international payments to be traced in real-time. The Tracker is the cornerstone of SWIFT gpi – the cooperative’s new payments innovation service – which is revolutionizing the industry by combining real-time payments tracking with the speed and certainty of same-day settlement for international payments.

    Available since January 2017, more than 20 global transaction banks are using or implementing the SWIFT gpi service, with another 50 in the implementation pipeline. Hundreds of thousands of gpi payments have already been sent across more than 85 country corridors.

    “Uptake of SWIFT’s gpi service has been encouraging and the addition of the Tracker capability can only help build momentum and accelerate adoption of the service in international payments,” says David Bannister, Principal Analyst, Ovum. “The most common complaint from corporates is the lack of visibility on their payments’ status. With the Tracker capability, SWIFT gpi tackles that issue and will be a useful tool to help corporate treasurers to execute their core responsibilities.”

    SWIFT gpi enables companies engaged in international trade to get paid for services, or delivery of goods, in a more timely fashion, enabling a faster supply chain process. The highly innovative gpi Tracker provides corporate treasurers with a real-time, end-to-end view of their payments combined with a confirmation notice when the money reaches the recipient’s account. It also enables a more accurate reconciliation of payments and invoices, optimizes liquidity with improved cash forecasts and reduces exposure to FX risks with same-day processing of funds in the beneficiary’s time zone. The Tracker is available via an open API, making it compatible with proprietary banking systems worldwide – helping to ensure maximum impact of gpi benefits at a greater adoption speed.

    SWIFT gpi has garnered considerable industry support across the globe. More than 110 leading transaction banks have committed to the service, representing over 75% of all SWIFT cross-border payments. Recent joiners to SWIFT gpi include: Agricultural Bank of China, Bank of Communications, Banque Centrale Populaire, BayernLB, China Citic Bank, China Minsheng Banking Corporation, Commercial Bank of Kuwait, Denizbank, Ebury, Industrial Bank, Guangfa Bank, Lek Securities, Ping An Bank, Piraeus Bank, Postal Savings Bank of China, Shanghai Pudong Development Bank, Turkiye Cumhuriyeti Ziraat Bankasi, Westpac Banking Corporation and Yapi Kredi, and Zhejiang Rural Credit Cooperative Union. Click here for a full list of participating banks.

    The service is also compatible with and integrated into domestic payment market infrastructures(MIs) across the globe, facilitating local clearing and settlement of gpi payments. Banks can already exchange gpi payments over the 56 SWIFT-connected MIs as well as other MIs that have established local market practices for their participants that use the gpi service. SWIFT will also continue to actively engage with additional MI communities for future gpi compatibility.

    “Today’s announcement is a significant step towards a game-changing experience for corporates the world over,” says Christian Sarafidis, Chief Marketing Officer, SWIFT. “By taking advantage of the right technology, at the right time, with the right players behind us, SWIFT has successfully helped correspondent banking reach a significant milestone in its evolution.”

    Wim Raymaekers, Programme Manager for SWIFT gpi adds, “This is only the beginning for SWIFT gpi. We will continue to explore new technologies, such as blockchain, and deliver more value added payment services further transforming the international payments landscape and, in doing so, accelerating global trade.”

     

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  • Renminbi breaks into top 5 world payments currency, says SWIFT

    Renminbi breaks into top 5 world payments currency, says SWIFT

    The Chinese yuan (renminbi) overtook the Canadian and Australian dollar as a global payments currency in November 2014, and now takes position behind the Japanese Yen, British pound, Euro and US dollar, data from SWIFT shows.

    Brussels, 28 January 2015 – After nearly one year firmly positioned at #7, the Renminbi (“RMB”) has entered the top five of world payment currencies since November 2014, overtaking both the Canadian Dollar and the Australian Dollar by value.

    Just two years ago, in January 2013, the renminbi was ranked at position #13 with a share of 0.63 percent. In December 2014, it reached a record high share of 2.17 percent in global payments by value and now trails the Japanese Yen which has a share of 2.69 percent.

    “The rise of various offshore renminbi clearing centres around the world, including eight new agreements signed with the People’s Bank of China in 2014, was an important driver fuelling this growth,” said Wim Raymaekers, Head of Banking Markets at SWIFT.

    Overall, global renminbi payments increased in value by 20.3 percent in December 2014, while the growth for payments across all currencies was 14.9 percent. It has been showing a consistent three digit growth over the past two years with an increase in value of payments by +321 percent.

    Over the last year, renminbi payments grew in value by 102 percent compared to an overall yearly growth for all currencies of 4.4 percent.

    SWIFT is a member-owned cooperative that provides the communications platform, products and services to connect more than 10,800 banking organisations, securities institutions and corporate customers in over 200 countries and territories.