This partnership marks the first-of-its-kind finTech collaboration in Thailand, allowing travellers to pay overseas with the best exchange rates.

YouTrip offers travellers the “Truly No Fees” payment experience without 2.5 per cent exchange fee, issuance fee and annual fee for payments in over 150 currencies. It offers better exchange rates than kiosks and other banks.

YouTrip offers a mobile application specially crafted for travellers, that comes with a contactless prepaid Mastercard. Users can exchange 10 selected currencies conveniently in app anytime before making a purchase, or simply rely on the SmartExchange automated currency exchange technology, to pay in over 150 currencies with YouTrip Mastercard.

It also provides instant notification for all transactions, and real-time card blocking in case of card loss. YouTrip also allows cash withdrawal from overseas ATMs at the same competitive exchange rates, with 24-hour customer service support.

The partnership between YouTrip and KBank is the first-of-its-kind innovation between a leading finTech startup in the region and and a major bank in Thailand.

YouTrip and KBank aim to sign up 400,000 users within the first year.

President of KBank Patchara Samalapa stated that “KBank sees strong potentials in YouTrip, which enjoys great success as the leading multi-currency travel wallet in Singapore. We also believe in the foreign exchange market as it benefits from strong outbound tourism growth in Thailand due to the strong Baht, travel promotions, new flight routes openings, among other postive factors.

The successful partnership with YouTrip to co-develop YouTrip mobile application and contactless Mastercard, is further supported by KBank’s strong operational platform. As a “Powered by KBank” project, the seamless integration between YouTrip and K PLUS delivers the best experience for Thai travellers. With real time card blocking and security features built in YouTrip, travellers can enjoy peace of mind when travelling”.

Juthasree Kuvinichkul, Founding Partner of YouTrip Thailand, said “Kasikornbank is a leading Thai bank, well trusted by the locals. It possesses expertise in digital banking and currency exchange. With the seamless integration with K Plus, YouTrip delivers not only a “Truly No Fees” travel wallet with competitive exchange rates, but also a secured experience with fully digital sign-up and top-up processes. With the launch of YouTrip, Thai travellers will now have the most affordable options to pay with the best exchange when overseas”.

“Mastercard and YouTrip share the same desire which is to deliver a seamless and convenient payment solution for travellers, no matter where and how often they travel. Through this partnership, Mastercard wants to expand user access to YouTrip’s mulit-currency travel wallet in markets beyond Singapore and are excited to partner with YouTrip to elevate the experience of Thai travellers.” said Aileen Chew, country manager of Thailand and Myanmar, Mastercard.

YouTrip is now available for download. Users can sign up for a YouTrip account online in less than three minutes by linking to an existing K PLUS account, without the need to visit bank branches for document submission.

The group has over 40 years of experience in the hotel industry.

At an investment of more than Bt1.75 billion, not including the cost of the land, Pamookkoo Resort is a theme hotel, designed as an adventure land into the past, with a Mesopotamian concept and a decor of golden earth tones. Set around a large pool with a huge four-storey water slider, the hotel will appeal to guests who enjoy water slide thrills and who love to soak their feet.

The resort covers an area of more than 16 rai at Kata, Phuket.

The new hotel is led by Pariyawit “Benz” Achariyachai, son and heir to Kata Group founder and president Pramookpisitt Achariyachai, who will promote the project as a new leisure destination, focusing on fun-and-sun loving family groups.

Kata Group plans to expand its business along the Andaman coast, adding one or two units in the next three to five years and bringing the total accommodation to around 2,000 rooms.

Pariyawit expressed confidence in Kata Group’s hotels, saying they meet tourist demand in every segment, while each hotel has a distinct character.

Pariyawit

The Hong Kong-based hospitality company, which recently celebrated its 32nd anniversary, currently has a collection of 145 hotels and resorts in 22 countries, either operating or in the pipeline. This includes properties in five of the ten Asean member states, namely Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam.

The group’s Southeast Asian development will now accelerate with the launch of its first hotels in Thailand – the region’s most popular tourism destination. Swiss-Belhotel International is currently in advanced negotiations with its partners for four new hotels in three key cities: Bangkok, Chiang Mai and Pattaya.

Other established and emerging locations will also be considered in future, including cities and beach resorts, as Swiss-Belhotel International strives to build a nationwide portfolio.

“Thailand is a truly amazing country, with so many breath-taking sights and iconic landmarks to discover. This makes it the next logical step in our growth strategy. We already have strong brand recognition in Southeast Asia, largely thanks to our extensive presence in Indonesia, which gives us the perfect platform from which to expand across the region. We look forward to introducing Thai and international guests to our warm, world-class hospitality in the Land of Smiles,” said the group’s chairman and president, Gavin M Faull.

Thailand welcomed a record 38.3 million international travellers in 2018, making it one of world’s top ten most-visited countries. In the same year, Bangkok was named as the world’s most popular city. In 2019, Thailand is expected to exceed 40 million overseas visitors.

This upsurge in arrivals is creating opportunities for hoteliers in all sectors of the market. Swiss-Belhotel International will be able to tap into many of these areas with its collection of 14 distinctive brands, which range from budget to luxury and include serviced residences, boutique brands, villas and more.

By end of 2020, the group expects to boost its global portfolio to 250 properties comprising approximately 25,000 rooms.

The collaboration would lead to the construction of a LNG-driven power plant with 3,000-megawatt in capacity and a LNG import and distribution project in Vietnam.

BGRIM Chairman Dr Harald Link, BGRIM President/CEO  Preeyanart Soontornwata, Petrovietnam Power Corporation Chairman Ho Cong Ky, Petrovietnam Power Corporation President/CEO Le Nhu Linh, together with senior executives from the two companies also attended the signing ceremony on November 2 at the Athenee Hotel.

It was competing against 676 other listed companies.

The Thai Institute of Directors Association (IOD), backed by the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), recently announced corporate governance assessment results for this year. The CGR ranking aims to improve corporate governance level of Thai listed companies.

This year, BTS Group Holdings achieved a total score of “Excellent” and received five National Corporate Governance Committee’s logos for the eighth consecutive year. This showcases the company’s focus on and responsibility for the environment, society and governance to create sustainable development.

In the latest CGR covering 677 listed companies, the overall average score was 82 per cent, which is considered very good and is the highest average score since 2001. An improvement signified by the fact that Thai listed companies are placing more emphasis on business sustainability and proactive board leadership corresponding to the corporate governance code and investors’ expectations.

The deal puts Alphabet in a race against Apple when it comes to tracking fitness and health data. Fitbit’s stock had surged as much as 30% earlier this week on reports that Alphabet had put in an offer. The deal is expected to close in 2020.

Google will pay $7.35 a share for the fitness tracker, helping it advance its ambitions for wearable technology. The company does not make its own smartwatch.

Fitbit stock surged 16% after the announcement. Like comparable products manufactured by Garmin, Apple and Samsung, the Fitbit gives consumers immediate access to ever-more-specific slices of fitness data – from their daily step count to their heart rate to how well they sleep. Yet the data has also become a treasure trove for employers and insurance companies, complicating the relationships between workers and their bosses.

“Fitbit has been a true pioneer in the industry and has created terrific products, experiences and a vibrant community of users,” said Rick Osterloh, senior vice president of devices and services at Google. “We’re looking forward to working with the incredible talent at Fitbit, and bringing together the best hardware, software and AI, to build wearables to help even more people around the world.”

Even though the deal could grant Google a big boost in a market where it has long lagged, it could also raise new regulatory headaches for the tech giant. The companies indicated in their securities filings they would probably need to obtain approval from antitrust watchdogs to consummate the merger – a process that arrives precisely as all of Silicon Valley is under the political microscope in Washington for being too big and powerful.

Google in particular is the subject of competition investigations by both federal and state officials, which are focused in large part on its advertising business. As part of its merger terms, Google has agreed to pay $250 million to Fitbit if it can’t secure regulators’ blessings, a move that some analysts saw as a critical warning sign.

“This deal is going to get a bright spotlight from regulators in the Beltway, which speaks to such a high termination fee,” said Daniel Ives, managing director for equity research at Wedbush Securities. “Google knows politicians and regulators have the company in their sights with another battle now on the horizon in this Big Tech vs. Beltway theme.”

Regulators could be particularly interested in privacy: Google collects a trove of data about the users of its services, including search and email online, and smartphones and smart-home devices. In doing so, the company often has found itself in the crosshairs of Congress and a slew of government agencies around the world for failing to protect that personal information.

Fitbit, however, stressed that health and wellness data will not be used for Google ads.

“Strong privacy and security guidelines have been part of Fitbit’s DNA since day one, and this will not change,” the company said in its Friday release. “Fitbit will continue to put users in control of their data and will remain transparent about the data it collects and why.”

Antitrust regulators have been “slow to the game” when it comes to looking at how data plays into fortifying monopoly power, said Sally Hubbard, the director of enforcement strategy at Open Markets Institute, which has advocated for tougher competition enforcement against tech giants.

“That’s a source of their dominance,” Hubbard said. “The reason no one else can really challenge Google in targeted advertising is because no one has the surveillance network Google has. . . . So I think antitrust enforcers need to take a really hard look at whether they should allow Google to acquire another unique data set.”

Apple has posed serious competition for Fitbit. At the end of last year, Apple owned roughly half the world’s smartwatch market in terms of units shipped.

When reporting company earnings in July, Fitbit lowered its guidance for the year, citing lagging sales of the new lightweight model, Versa Lite. Fitbit has more than 28 million active users worldwide.

The company filed requests for exclusions from 15% duties on 11 products or components Thursday, the first day U.S. firms could seek relief from the tariffs on about $110 billion in Chinese imports. The iPhone maker had mixed results on its requests for exclusions from the previous round of duties.

Apple also is seeking to avoid tariffs on the HomePod, the Beats Pill+ wireless speaker, AirPods and Beats wireless earbuds, iPhone smart battery case, the charging case for AirPods and the PowerBeats, storage components for the Mac Pro, and batteries for the iPhone and MacBook, according to the request posted online.

Apple Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook said earlier this week that Apple is already paying tariffs on some products.

Exclusion decisions are based on whether a product is available only from China, is strategically important or related to Chinese industrial programs, and whether duties will “cause severe economic harm” to the company or U.S. interests.

In its requests for tariff waivers, the Cupertino, California-based company said it hasn’t identified a source outside of China that is able to meet U.S. demand for the products or components in the coming year. An Apple spokesman declined to comment Friday.

Apple made similar requests for relief from 25% duties on $200 billion in goods imposed last year. While the U.S. Trade Representative’s office denied exclusions on five Chinese-made components for the upcoming Mac Pro computer, it approved tariff waivers on 10 parts for the product.

The company announced in September it would make new Mac Pro computers at a plant in Austin, Texas — which it has operated since 2013 — after originally considering shifting production to China like its other products.

The company is set to give the next generation of talent great opportunities to leverage their IT engineering expertise and motivation in making innovative changes and growing along with the company in an innovation-friendly workplace.

Seiichiro Akita, Krungsri president and chief executive, said that the establishment of Krungsri Nimble reflects Krungsri’s commitment in financial technology and innovation excellence for the best interests of customers.

“In responding to the current IT disruptive trends, Krungsri Nimble would become a main driving force to advance Krungsri Group’s financial technologies and innovations at an unprecedented speed, while comprehensively reinforcing our IT capabilities,” he said.

AIS currently serves around 41.6 million mobile phone subscribers, according to its statement today (October 31).

Somchai Lertsutiwong, chief executive officer said: “Companies faced intense competition in the first three quarters, but AIS was well prepared, given our staff capabilities as well as innovations in providing the best services”.

“We have continued to uplift Thailand’s digital infrastructure and have gained the trust of customers and stakeholders.

In the first nine months of 2019, the company recorded total revenue of Bt133.969 billion, increasing 6.9 per cent year on year.

It noted that all financial figures in the statement did not include the effect from TFRS 15 adoption.

In August 2013, the MMO notified John West that it had begun an investigation into IUU fishing out of Ghana, in particular into a quantity of fish products which had been imported between January 2010 and February 2014. In December 2017, the MMO charged John West with eight counts of doing business directly connected with IUU fishing, targeting criminal claims which were expected to total a significant amount of money. Throughout the process, John West has strongly disputed these allegations and denied any wrongdoing.

On October 30, as the CPS offered no evidence against John West, the Court entered verdicts of Not Guilty on all counts, bringing this matter to a positive conclusion.

“Throughout the process we have cooperated completely with the MMO and its investigators and have been fully transparent with them. We welcome the not guilty verdicts that have been recorded on all counts. Thai Union Group and all our subsidiary companies are fully committed to complying with legal codes in all of the areas in which we source our products. Legal and responsible sourcing has always been, and will continue to be, the top priority for our business,” said David Sankowicz, Group Legal Affairs & Insurance director.

Paul Reenan, Regional President, Thai Union Europe, added, “Thai Union and our subsidiaries take the issue of IUU fishing extremely seriously. We have extensive measures in place to ensure that our suppliers operate legally, with the appropriate and necessary documentation. We do not buy fish from vessels which are on the IUU lists published by Regional Fisheries Management Organisations. We are very pleased that this policy has been validated by this decision and that our customers and consumers can be even more reassured that we provide them with good quality, tasty and fully traceable fish.”

John West was assisted by Daniel Astaire of Grosvenor Law together with Chris Daw QC, Tom de la Mare QC, Patrick Hill and Frazer Campbell.