covid-19

Feb 25 2021

Chrome OS Now Second-Most Popular Desktop Operating System

For the first time in the annual desktop operating system market share reports, Chrome OS has passed macOS. According to 2020 numbers from market data firm IDC and a report on IDC’s data by publication GeekWire, Microsoft Windows still holds a commanding lead with more than 80 percent market share followed – for the first time – by Chrome OS with 10.8 percent and macOS with 7.5 percent.

As students in many communities have had to attend class virtually from home and their parents have had to do work remotely, too, PC sales jumped during the year. Chrome OS was a big part of that. The reality is, the COVID-19 pandemic has brought about exceptional shipment numbers for the notebook computer industry, with Chromebooks showing the most remarkable growth.

Increase Usage Means Increase Risk

Unfortunately, the door is open for attackers to potentially breach Chromebooks.

Chromebooks aren’t protected by traditional anti-virus solutions, unlike traditional desktops. The methods the “bad guys” use are the exact same methods they use to breach an Android or iOS device.

Meaning – for the school districts providing Chromebooks for remote education – students, teachers and administrators are facing the same privacy and security threats associated with laptops and mobile devices, without the same security measures.

And while mandated content filtering prevents students from accessing inappropriate websites from their Chromebooks – an outgoing risk – incoming risks perpetrated by predators or even fellow students are not being addressed.

These risks and threats include:

Bad WiFi: Loss of personal information, including grades and health data.
Phishing: Stolen credentials could be used to steal money or even compromise social media accounts.
Malicious App: Spyware and other malicious apps could expose data or deliver a device exploit.
OS Exploit: Cameras and microphones can be turned on, anytime day or night.
Risky App: Private information can be shared without any user knowledge or consent.

zIPS for Chromebooks

zIPS for Chromebooks is the first and only comprehensive, on-device, machine learning-based security solution for Chromebooks. Through the same machine learning-based technology that has been detecting and preventing attacks on millions of iOS and Android endpoints for years, zIPS for Chromebooks:

Identifies and blocks users from accessing phishing sites;
Detects malicious Wi-Fi networks and alerts users to disconnect from the network; and
Assesses all Android apps for undesired violations of privacy, or unsecure development practice.

zIPS for Chromebook’s on-device design also protects user privacy and provides local, continuous assessments of the endpoint. Additionally, administrators finally have centralized visibility into any attacks. Quick action and events can be correlated and viewed in external SIEM and data collection services.

For more information

To learn more about zIPS for Chromebooks, please contact us.

Chrome OS Now Second-Most Popular Desktop Operating System

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Feb 24 2021

MC Payment Ltd becomes First Digital Payments Company to be Listed on Singapore Exchange’s (SGX) Catalist

MC Payment Limited has revealed that it’s now listed on the Singapore Exchange’s (SGX) Catalist. The company claims that it’s the first digital payments platform to be listed on Catalist.

With a market cap of around S$139 million (appr. $105.4 million), the listing of MC Payment Limited brings the total number of firms listed on Catalist to 218, with a total market cap of about S$11 billion ($8.34 billion).

Based in Singapore, MC Payment Ltd is a Fintech firm that offers merchant payment services and e-commerce enabling solutions, with a special focus on servicing clients who are merchants in the retail, transportation and food and beverage sectors.

MC Payment Ltd maintains a business presence in several different Southeast Asian countries including Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand.

Anthony Koh, CEO at MC Payment Limited, stated:

“As the first digital payments company to be listed on SGX, today marks an exciting start to MC Payment’s new growth chapter. Our listing comes at an opportune time, with digital payments in the region surging amidst the rise in online transactions, following safe-distancing measures imposed by the Covid-19 outbreak.”

Mohamed Nasser Ismail, Global Head of Equity Capital Markets, SGX, noted that they are pleased to welcome the listing of MC Payment Limited on SGX Catalist and will be supporting the “growth ambitions” of Singapore’s homegrown tech firm.

Ismail added that as a payment processing platform with properly developed infrastructure and the appropriate licenses across Southeast Asia, MC Payment is “well-positioned to tap on SGX’s fundraising platforms and Singapore’s technology hub status as a launchpad into the region.”

Founded in 2005, MC Payment Pte Ltd is an e-payment solution provider with headquarters in Singapore.

The company mainly works with acquiring banks and solution providers to provide merchants a “secure” and “compliant” processing platform.

MC Payment says it aims to solve all our payment problems. The company processes payments locally and globally with its wide range of payment methods, cross-border processing services and international payment network.

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Feb 21 2021

Real Estate Investment Platform Fundrise Explains how Long-Term Net Return Is Most Appropriate Way to Measure their Performance for Investors

Fundrise, a real estate investment platform using Reg A+ to provide access to “eREITs and eFunds,” notes that it’s hard to imagine a single person or industry who may have been left untouched by the unprecedented events of 2020 (following the COVD-19 outbreak).

Fundrise is “no different,” the company acknowledged. While it has always been one of their “deepest-held” convictions that they need to make preparations for the unpredictable as though it were “inevitable,” the events of the past year were “beyond anything we could have imagined,” Fundrise admitted.

Because of these events, 2020 proved to be the “truest test to date” of the Fundrise platform, the “durability” of the business model they’ve developed, and the overall quality of our preparation, the company noted.

They also mentioned that at the end of the day, net return (over the long term) is “arguably the most appropriate way to measure our performance for investors, and given that last year saw the worst real estate downturn in over a decade, we are once again encouraged by the resilience of the portfolio.”

The company confirmed that the net Fundrise platform return was around +7.42% for the year, in comparison with about +20.95% for the stock market (as measured by the Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF) and -4.72% for publicly-traded REITs (as measured by the Vanguard Real Estate ETF).

The Fundrise team added that although they view these results as “further validation” of their direct-to-investor, “technology-enabled,” long-term approach, a single number “feels lacking in its ability to paint a full picture of all that transpired.” They also noted that as they take this time to reflect and evaluate their work, they’re hoping that by providing transparency into their decisions and actions, their investors stay well-informed and “clear-eyed” regarding what to expect from Fundrise moving forward.

The Fundrise 2019 year-end letter to investors (Jan 16, 2020) had noted that “some may call this approach too conservative, but our belief is that the investors who have achieved consistent success spanning multiple decades tend to spend more time protecting against the downside than they do regretting the upside they may have missed.”

Fundrise confirmed that they began the year in “awe” of a stock market that “seemed further and further disconnected from reality and concerned about what we felt was a general bubble forming across many different asset classes.” That’s why they’ve focused their attention on reminding investors of “what they could expect in the event of a sudden market downturn, as well as building out investment strategies” that they think are sustainable through “substantial near-term headwinds as a result of having strong long-term fundamentals.”

The Fundrise market report, published on February 12, 2021, noted:

“Similar to the stock market, the real estate industry was experiencing a K-shaped recovery where some asset classes, such as suburban apartments and industrial logistics facilities, were actually seeing increased demand due to the impact of the virus, as well as improved financing due to lower overall interest rates. Meanwhile, urban apartments, retail centers, office buildings, and hotels were all struggling to survive dramatic decreases in demand.”

The report continued:

“Unlike the stock market, distressed real estate assets were not ‘repricing’ — in other words they were not available for purchase at 30% less than their previous price. In fact, given that such assets would likely be priced lower by the market, most were not being offered for sale at all. Instead, as is logical, they were being held onto by their owners in a state of limbo as lenders and banks offered temporary forbearance.”

The report added that when faced with “fewer overall opportunities,” and in many instances assets that “arguably had yet to price in the impact of the pandemic on their operations, we chose to remain patient.” Fundrise also mentioned that they “generally held onto cash instead of deploying into overpriced assets,” and when they did actually engage in transactions, they mainly focused their acquisition efforts on those “same strategies” that they felt were well-positioned to “succeed over the long-term, regardless of near-term pricing inefficiency.”

While the 7.42% return recorded last year represents the weighted average performance of around 150,000 unique Fundrise investor accounts (as one figure), it “fails to capture the nuance of both what drove those returns, and how those returns were distributed across our increasingly large and diverse investor base,” the company explained.

They clarified:

“Our managed funds, which together make up the Fundrise portfolio, ended the year with approximately $265 million of cash on hand, which represents approximately 20% of the roughly $1.3 billion of collective equity. And while much of that is to be invested over the coming months (we ended the year with more than $350 million of deals under contract and expected to close during the first half of 2021), holding that amount of cash does serve to lower returns in the short run.”

The Fundrise report added:

“Although not representative or indicative of any actual or potential net performance for our investors, if one were to calculate the same income and appreciation earned from our real estate investments last year against a denominator which approximates historical cash levels, it would yield a hypothetical return much closer to our historical average platform performance.”

Fundrise notes that much of this success may be due to them consistently maintaining a “disciplined value” investment approach, led by their “most active strategy” of investing in affordably priced apartment communities in “growing cities throughout the Sunbelt.”

The Fundrise team concluded:

“In this coming decade, we believe that the application of technology will be transformative to real estate, one of the last old-line sectors still largely undisrupted. As a company built on the synthesis of real estate and technology, we believe we are uniquely positioned to help bring about that change, transforming operating costs, leveraging data more effectively, and challenging status quo practices — all for the benefit of our investors.”

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Feb 20 2021

SME Lender October Confirms that French Government has Extended State-Guaranteed Loans Program to June 2021

European online lender October notes that in March 2020, the French State had announced a package of €300 billion in State-guaranteed loans (PGE) in order to support small and medium-sized enterprises during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Following the amendment voted on in April 2020, lending marketplaces like October had been eligible or qualified to take part in these French state-guaranteed loans schemes and were offering state-guaranteed loans to qualified borrowers.

Since the introduction of the first state-guaranteed loan on October’s platform in June of last year, 68 French state-guaranteed loans were reportedly funded by institutional and retail lenders for “a total amount of €13,167,000 and new loans will be granted in the coming months, following the government announcement to extend the guarantee program until June 2021,” October confirmed in a blog post.

In December of last year, the French government had also announced a modification or change to the repayment scheme for these initiatives. Companies or businesses that would like to delay the capital repayment of their state-guaranteed loan are now able to request a 1-year “additional deferral to their creditor, who will choose to grant it or not,” the October team noted.

While commenting on the initial repayment scheme, the October team explained that the state-guaranteed loans are different from the standard loans available on their platform. The characteristics of these loans (for instance, the duration, interest rate) have been “set by the French government,” October confirmed.

They also noted:

“French state-guaranteed loans are initially 12-month deferred loans with payment of interest (2%) and principal at the end of the loan. However, what makes the state-guaranteed loan unique is that the borrower can decide to extend their loan after the first 12 months, with a higher interest rate.”

At the conclusion of this period, the borrower has the following options: loan fully repaid after 12 months; duration extended after 12 months with no capital repayment; duration extended after 12 months with partial capital repayment (Note: for more details on these options, check here.)

While discussing the new repayment scheme, the October team noted that following an announcement from the French Ministry of the Economy and Finance (on December 14, 2020), all firms that had been issued a state-guaranteed loan (regardless of their activity and size) may apply for “an additional one-year deferral to start repaying the capital of their state-guaranteed loan.”

October’s management further noted:

“If a borrower wishes to extend their loan, they can now ask October for the extension of the deferral period for another 12 months, during which the company would repay only interest every month, followed by an amortization period of up to 4 years, during which the borrower would repay both capital and interest (i.e. the maximum duration to fully amortize the loan remains 5 years).”

They also confirmed that the interest rate “applicable during the additional 12-month deferral period is between 3.71% and 4.91% depending of the project rating.”

They also mentioned that when applying for the extension of the deferral period, the borrower will have to “indicate whether they will repay their loan immediately at the end of the deferral or whether they will spread the repayments over several years (in that case, they will also need to state the duration of the amortization).” If the company “decides to spread the capital repayment after the extra deferral period, the loan will be repaid through annuities, with an interest rate comprised between 3.71% and 4.91%.”

The October team clarified:

“Contrary to the extension of the amortization period for a period of 1 to 5 years, this extra deferral period is not granted automatically. October will study the applications on a case-by-case basis and will verify the company’s need to request the extra deferral period by requesting additional documents, studying the impact of Covid-19 on the company’s sector…If the October Committee accepts the application, we will ask the October lenders to vote.”

While commenting on what these changes mean for retail lenders, October noted that if a firm you’ve financed requests the extension of the deferral period for their state-guaranteed loan, then you will be “notified by email and request to vote on the additional deferral period.”

And if the majority of institutional and retail lenders (in volume lent) “votes in favor of the additional deferral period, the extra 12-month deferral will be granted and the company will only repay interest during that time.” The interest rate you’ll get “will be increased.” The new repayments will be “displayed in [the client’s] portfolio, on the Future Transactions tab.” From June 2021 onwards, October confirmed that they would begin receiving “some extension requests from borrowers who were granted a state-guaranteed loan.”

Not all firms may request the “additional” deferral period, but still you should be “prepared in case that happens,” the lender noted. It also mentioned that the platform’s management is available for questions you might regarding this change or update.

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Feb 19 2021

Southeast Asia’s Funding Societies, an Online Capital Formation Platform, Reports S$2 Billion in Business Financing Disbursals

Southeast Asia-based Funding Societies, a digital financing platform, has revealed that it has made S$2 billion (appr. $1.5 billion) in disbursals of business financing to SMEs across the region as the company enters its sixth year of offering loans.

Funding Societies’ management noted that the amount is partly crowdfunded by more than 200,000 retail investors on its platform and has been disbursed through 3.7 million+ different loans.

Funding Societies reported S$ 850 million (appr. $640 million) in disbursals last year, meanwhile, its platform default rate managed to stay below 2% during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In an effort to reduce its portfolio risk during 2020, Funding Societies had tightened up its credit underwriting criteria so that only quality notes would get crowdfunded. The platform also focused on companies that were likely to do well during the pandemic.

These high-performing industries include healthcare, medical supplies, transportation, among several others. Funding Societies reported an 18% growth in platform investors since January 2020.

Big Four auditing firm Ernst & Young’s 2020 ASEAN SME Transformation Survey has revealed that 68% of the surveyed 1,200 SMEs across the six major ASEAN nations (Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, and Vietnam) are open to doing business with non-traditional lending platforms.

Non-traditional lenders may be appealing because of their greater speed and convenience. Small and medium-sized enterprises may prefer the faster and more flexible loan approval process and the digital know-your-customer (KYC) processes, which usually don’t require asset security or visiting physical bank locations.

At present, there’s an annual trade financing gap of approximately $150 billion in Asia, according to estimates provided by the Asian Development Bank. Around 60% of firms have had their applications rejected when applying for trade financing, the bank noted, while pointing out that these businesses did not proceed with the trade due to the lack of funding.

Kelvin Teo, Co-founder and Group CEO of Funding Societies, stated:

“We’re thrilled to reach this major milestone before we even realised it. It is a momentous occasion and encouragement for us. There is much more to do, as we continue to serve the needs of SMEs and Investors in the region. We’re grateful to raise Series C funding last year, enabling us to further help SMEs even amidst uncertain times.”

As reported earlier this month, Singapore based Funding Societies had announced the expansion of operations into Thailand. The online capital formation platform will operate under a crowdfunding license authorized by the Thai Securities and Exchange Commission.

According to a note from Funding Societies, the company worked for more than a year with regulators to set up operations in the country.

Funding Societies currently operates in Singapore, Indonesia, and Malaysia. Thailand will be the fourth country where the marketplace will operate in its six years of activity. Funding Societies notes that it is the only SME digital financing platform in Southeast Asia to be licensed in four countries.

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