Briefs

Briefs

NDC, Temenos host fintech session

News Desk

KARACHI: The National Data Consultant (NDC) and Temenos Group AG jointly hosted NDC and Temenos Fintech Forum 2016 for the banking community in Pakistan, a statement said on Friday.

The event was an open forum for customers, users, partners and industry peers to share and discuss best practices in the use of NDC and Temenos’ products and services. The main theme of this user group was: Digitization and BLOCKCHAIN - The Next Disruptive Innovation, it added.

Banking industry participants had the opportunity to hear Temenos’ vision of Blockchain for the future, exchange product ideas and experiences, debate industry trends and developments, while also hearing the latest on NDC’s service offerings., it added.

ICAP organises awareness seminar

By our correspondent

KARACHI: The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Pakistan (ICAP), in collaboration with the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP), organised an informative seminar for ICAP members, to create awareness about the new concepts and major changes introduced vide the Companies Ordinance 2016, a statement said on Friday.

The Companies Ordinance 2016 was promulgated on November 11 to strengthen the supervisory and adjudicatory ambit of the SECP and in turn work towards a better corporate culture, for promoting the business environment of Pakistan, it added.

A large number of speakers and experts participated in the forum and highlighted the importance of this new regulatory framework for businesses. The key stakeholders observed that the new ordinance will attract fresh ventures by eliminating the unnecessary and cumbersome requirements, the statement added.

Twitter changes product head

NEW YORK: Twitter Inc appointed Keith Coleman, founder of startup Yes Inc, as head of its product team, the third executive to lead the division in less than a year.

The micro-blogging service said it has acquired Yes, the maker of apps such as Frenzy and WYD-What you doing, which allows users to connect with their friends.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. "Yes! Keith and team are joining Twitter to help lead and strengthen our service!," Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey tweeted on Thursday.

Jeff Seibert, who was recently head of product, stepped down from in June after being in the role for about five months. Kevin Weil, who now heads Facebook Inc´s Instagram product division, was with Twitter for more than five years and was vice-president of product development before Seibert.

Twitter, which faces stagnating user growth amid stiff competition from rivals, has for months been rumored to be up for sale and hired bankers last month to field acquisition offers. Companies including Walt Disney Co and Alphabet Inc were reported to be interested in the company.

Taiwan exports seen rising

TAIPEI: Taiwan´s exports likely rose for a second month in a row in November as demand for the island´s hi-tech gadgets continued ahead of the year-end shopping season.

According to the median forecasts of 12 analysts polled by Reuters, exports rose 7.3 percent year-on-year, slowing from a 9.4 percent pace in October, which was the fastest growth in more than two years.

Taiwan is one of Asia´s major exporters, especially of technology goods, and its export trend is a key gauge of global demand for technology gadgets worldwide. Inflation, which is measured by the consumer price index, is likely to ease to 1.5 percent in November on-year from 1.7 percent in the prior month.

American Airlines to trim Cuba flights

NEW YORK: American Airlines Group Inc will cut nearly 25 percent of its flights to Cuba in 2017, a company spokesman said on Thursday, attributing the move to travel demand rather than the election of Republican Donald Trump as U.S. president.

Starting in mid-February, American, the world´s largest airline, will offer one trip a day instead of two from Miami to Holguin, Santa Clara and Varadero, reducing its daily service to 10 round-trip flights from the current 13, spokesman Matt Miller said in a telephone interview.

The airline also hopes to lower capacity on three of the seven routes it operates to Cuba. It plans to use a 128-seat aircraft between Miami and Holguin instead of a 160-seater, and hopes to contract out flights to Camaguey and Cienfuegos to a regional carrier that would use 76-seat aircraft, pending U.S. regulatory approval.

The regional partner is Republic Airways Holdings Inc. "This was done purely to remain competitive in the market," Miller said. "We can´t speculate on what the next administration may do." Airlines are generally expected to perform poorly when entering a previously restricted market, but American´s decision to prune its Cuban itinerary two months after starting service may come as a surprise in light of the industry´s enthusiasm to fly to the Communist-run island.

India’s NSE CEO quits  

MUMBAI: India´s National Stock Exchange said on Friday its chief executive Chitra Ramkrishna has quit for "personal reasons", only weeks before the country´s biggest bourse is due to kick off its own initial public offering.

A source familiar with NSE´s operations told Reuters that Ramkrishna had clashed with some board members over the timing of the listing, saying she had favoured a slower timeline.

The NSE had said it would submit an application for an initial public offering by January after a bitter tussle with foreign shareholders who had felt it was taking too long to list.

The board had accepted Ramkrishna´s resignation and J.

Ravichandran, who is NSE President, has been appointed interim CEO with immediate effect, while the board starts the process of finding a new CEO, the exchange added in a statement.

"The Board, while accepting her request, appreciated her sterling contribution to the growth of the organisation over the long years that she had been associated with it.

"Earlier media reports said Ramkrishna had tendered her resignation because of differences with the board.

An NSE spokesman declined to comment on the reports, while Ramkrishna, who was one of the founders of the NSE and had spent decades there, was not immediately available for comment.