PayPal stops personal payments in Japan
Following Japan's implementation of new payment regulations on April 1, PayPal has halted payments from Japanese users to those outside the country indefinitely. Under the new requirements, the company must apply for a licence to offer personal money transfer services in Japan. Inbound and domestic payments were not affected by the changes.
Kosuke Seto, head of marketing at PayPal Japan, apologised for the service suspension on the company's blog.
In February, the payment provider suspended local bank transfers and personal payments in India. Services were resumed last month.
SG and BTMU finance first Nexi shipping deal
Societe Generale corporate and investment banking (SG) announced that it had signed a finance deal worth ¥15.53 billion ($165.4 million) with the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ (BTMU) for the export of one capesize and five handysize bulk carriers to be constructed by Japanese shipyards. The financing is covered by Nippon Export and Investment Insurance (Nexi). This is the first shipping asset based transaction that Nexi has been involved in without the support of Japan Bank for International Cooperation.
Crescent Steel implements Oracle solutions
Pakistan-based Steel pipe coater and manufacturer Crescent Steel announced that it implemented the Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12 and claimed the application reduced its end-of-month report production from 12 to five days.
"The Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12 has provided our senior management with real-time access to critical business information rather than reports compiled laboriously from two or more systems based on often outdated information," said Muhammad Saad Thaniana, chief financial officer of Crescent Steel and Allied Products, in a statement. "Now, not only can we make the right decision at the right time, but also closely monitor our business processes across various departments to identify inefficiencies and bottlenecks and adjust key performance indicators accordingly."
Another user of the Oracle enterprise resource planning solution is Thomson Reuters which integrated it with its existing Sabrix Application Suite last month.
JBIC seals long-term deal with CIMB
The Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) sealed a $300 million facility to finance Japanese small and medium-size enterprises across Asean (ex-Singapore) with Malaysia's CIMB Group. The facility aims to provide financial support and funding stability to Japanese corporates and other companies that have business dealings with Japanese firms in the region.
"We believe the JBIC Asean facility comes at an opportune time as Asean businesses are looking to expand and as governments gradually phase out pump priming measures in order for economic growth to be driven by the private sector," said Nazir Razak, chief executive of CIMB Group.
CIMB is currently involved in an ambitious expansion plan to become Southeast Asia's largest regional bank.
Sacombank adopts banking solution from Temenos
All banking operations at Vietnam's Sacombank have gone live on Temenos's T24 core banking solution to support growth. The platform replaces a 10-year-old solution from Smartbank. Sacombank first adopted T24 to support its credit and product, customer information system, deposit and general ledger services in 2004 and extended its alliance with the vendor to its entire operations in 2008.
"Rolling out T24 to all branches allows us to begin our expansion beyond Vietnam and enter new markets including the US, the EU and Australia," said Van Thanh Dang, chairman of Sacombank, in a statement. "It also allows us to address key issues such as delivering country-specific offerings and ensuring we're compliant with changing regulations."
Sacombank recently began accepting MoneyGram payments at its branches across Vietnam.
