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Category: Banking

  • MIL-OSI China: Announcement on Open Market Operations No.22 [2025]

    Source: Peoples Bank of China

    Announcement on Open Market Operations No.22 [2025]

    (Open Market Operations Office, February 6, 2025)

    In order to keep liquidity adequate in the banking system, the People’s Bank of China conducted reverse repo operations in the amount of RMB275.5 billion through quantity bidding at a fixed interest rate on February 6, 2025.

    Details of the Reverse Repo Operations

    Maturity

    Volume

    Rate

    7 days

    RMB275.5 billion

    1.50%

    Date of last update Nov. 29 2018

    2025年02月06日

    MIL OSI China News –

  • MIL-OSI China: Action plan 8.0 to inject more vitality into Shanghai

    Source: China State Council Information Office 3

    This aerial photo taken on Sept. 10, 2023 shows a view of Zhangjiang area of the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone in east China’s Shanghai. [Photo/Xinhua]

    The latest business environment improvement action plan released in Shanghai on Wednesday will help the city better address market entities’ needs and inject more vitality into the city’s economic growth, said officials and market experts.

    Their comments were made on Wednesday when the Shanghai municipal government held the business environment improvement work conference for the eighth consecutive year. The latest action plan, which is now in its eighth edition, was released during the conference.

    The plan aims to enhance the sense of gain among enterprises by coming up with 58 detailed measures which are more substantial and down-to-earth, according to Lu Aiguo, head of the business environment construction division at the Shanghai Municipal Development and Reform Commission.

    One focus of the new plan is deepening the reform by aligning with the standards specified in World Bank’s Business Ready evaluation system, said Lu. Ten related reform measures have been rolled out, covering market entry, operational venues, infrastructure, utilities, international trade and market competition, among others.

    As to international trade, Shanghai will expand the benefit scope for controlled and inspected high-tech goods. The import pilot program for research and development as well as testing items should be further optimized. Customs clearance facilitation services will be improved by better implementing reform measures such as multi-modal transport and the application of electronic certificates, according to the new action plan.

    Another 24 measures have been included in action plan 8.0 to optimize the all-round services rendered to companies. On the one hand, more innovative financing products should be introduced, providing continued financing support to small and medium-sized enterprises.

    On the other, more efforts should be made to facilitate the outbound reaches of domestic companies while further opening up the local market. Professional service providers will be supported to set up branches in the markets involved in the Belt and Road Initiative.

    Meanwhile, visas as well as entry and exit services for foreign talent will be more convenient. More foreign-invested projects should be introduced in the city and major foreign-invested projects should be settled at a faster pace, according to the new action plan.

    Japanese carmaker Toyota announced on Wednesday that it has entered into an agreement with the Shanghai government to establish a new wholly-owned company in Jinshan district of Shanghai for the development and production of Lexus electric vehicles and batteries.

    The advanced and mature industrial chains, logistics networks, talent supply and market size in Shanghai and the neighboring cities are the major reasons to land this new project, according to Toyota.

    To improve services provided to companies, efforts will be made to promulgate a negative list for cross-border data flow within the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone, according to the new action plan.

    Companies will be better guided to conduct data export activities in accordance with laws and regulations. This is conducive to companies’ international competitiveness, said Huang Lina, an official from the internet security division at Shanghai Cyberspace Administration.

    The new action plan also includes 14 measures to optimize supervision over companies.

    According to Wu Beibei, deputy director of the laws and regulations division at Shanghai Administration for Market Regulation, the targets, frequency and content of on-site inspections will be reduced to lower the impact on companies. The goal is to lower the number of planned administrative on-site inspections in the next two to three years, she said.

    MIL OSI China News –

  • MIL-OSI Economics: Money Market Operations as on February 05, 2025

    Source: Reserve Bank of India
    (Amount in ₹ crore, Rate in Per cent)
      Volume
    (One Leg)    		 Weighted
    Average Rate    		 Range
    A. Overnight Segment (I+II+III+IV) 5,53,069.97 6.28 3.35-6.75
         I. Call Money 11,104.02 6.46 5.15-6.60
         II. Triparty Repo 3,71,578.05 6.25 6.10-6.40
         III. Market Repo 1,68,446.60 6.34 3.35-6.75
         IV. Repo in Corporate Bond 1,941.30 6.59 6.54-6.70
    B. Term Segment      
         I. Notice Money** 23.00 6.35 6.20-6.40
         II. Term Money@@ 153.30 – 6.45-7.25
         III. Triparty Repo 2,605.50 6.38 6.35-6.40
         IV. Market Repo 709.42 6.63 6.60-6.65
         V. Repo in Corporate Bond 0.00 – –
      Auction Date Tenor (Days) Maturity Date Amount Current Rate /
    Cut off Rate
    C. Liquidity Adjustment Facility (LAF), Marginal Standing Facility (MSF) & Standing Deposit Facility (SDF)
    I. Today’s Operations
    1. Fixed Rate          
    2. Variable Rate&          
      (I) Main Operation          
         (a) Repo          
         (b) Reverse Repo          
      (II) Fine Tuning Operations          
         (a) Repo Wed, 05/02/2025 1 Thu, 06/02/2025 21,180.00 6.51
         (b) Reverse Repo          
    3. MSF# Wed, 05/02/2025 1 Thu, 06/02/2025 408.00 6.75
    4. SDFΔ# Wed, 05/02/2025 1 Thu, 06/02/2025 1,47,577.00 6.25
    5. Net liquidity injected from today’s operations [injection (+)/absorption (-)]*       -1,25,989.00  
    II. Outstanding Operations
    1. Fixed Rate          
    2. Variable Rate&          
      (I) Main Operation          
         (a) Repo Fri, 24/01/2025 14 Fri, 07/02/2025 1,62,096.00 6.51
         (b) Reverse Repo          
      (II) Fine Tuning Operations          
         (a) Repo          
         (b) Reverse Repo          
    3. MSF#          
    4. SDFΔ#          
    D. Standing Liquidity Facility (SLF) Availed from RBI$       8,898.65  
    E. Net liquidity injected from outstanding operations [injection (+)/absorption (-)]*     1,70,994.65  
    F. Net liquidity injected (outstanding including today’s operations) [injection (+)/absorption (-)]*     45,005.65  
    G. Cash Reserves Position of Scheduled Commercial Banks
         (i) Cash balances with RBI as on February 05, 2025 8,73,788.42  
         (ii) Average daily cash reserve requirement for the fortnight ending February 07, 2025 9,12,544.00  
    H. Government of India Surplus Cash Balance Reckoned for Auction as on¥ February 05, 2025 21,180.00  
    I. Net durable liquidity [surplus (+)/deficit (-)] as on January 10, 2025 -40,102.00  
    @ Based on Reserve Bank of India (RBI) / Clearing Corporation of India Limited (CCIL).
    – Not Applicable / No Transaction.
    ** Relates to uncollateralized transactions of 2 to 14 days tenor.
    @@ Relates to uncollateralized transactions of 15 days to one year tenor.
    $ Includes refinance facilities extended by RBI.
    & As per the Press Release No. 2019-2020/1900 dated February 06, 2020.
    Δ As per the Press Release No. 2022-2023/41 dated April 08, 2022.
    * Net liquidity is calculated as Repo+MSF+SLF-Reverse Repo-SDF.
    ¥ As per the Press Release No. 2014-2015/1971 dated March 19, 2015.
    # As per the Press Release No. 2023-2024/1548 dated December 27, 2023.
    Ajit Prasad          
    Deputy General Manager
    (Communications)    
    Press Release: 2024-2025/2083

    MIL OSI Economics –

  • MIL-OSI China: China likely to achieve 5% growth this year

    Source: China State Council Information Office

    China is expected to maintain its annual economic growth target at around 5 percent for 2025, the same as last year’s goal, in a bid to shore up market expectations in the face of tepid domestic demand and rising trade protectionism, analysts and executives said.

    The world’s second-largest economy has vowed to enhance countercyclical adjustments, including a more proactive fiscal policy and a moderately loose monetary policy, and provide a strong underpinning for achieving its annual goals, they added.

    Though China’s GDP target will only be officially disclosed during the National People’s Congress session in March, the anticipation for the unchanged growth target comes as China’s major economic hubs — like Beijing and Shanghai as well as the provinces of Guangdong and Zhejiang — have announced GDP growth goals in the vicinity of 5 percent for the year.

    Aside from Qinghai’s relatively lower target of around 4.5 percent, most other provincial-level regions have also set their growth goals at around 5 percent or slightly above 5 percent.

    Notably, the Xizang autonomous region has set the most ambitious growth objective, targeting over 7 percent with an aim to reach 8 percent. Chongqing, along with the provinces of Hainan and Hubei as well as the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region and the Inner Mongolia autonomous region, have set their growth goals at around 6 percent for this year.

    “The country is expected to aim for a GDP expansion of around 5 percent, as China is committed to achieving the goal of doubling per capita GDP by 2035, which requires an implied growth rate of no less than 4.6 percent,” said Zhang Ming, deputy director of the Institute of Finance and Banking, which is part of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

    The growth target will also help boost confidence and expectations in the current context of relatively subdued sentiment and provides a framework for policymakers to coordinate resources, Zhang said.

    Moreover, based on data from 2020 to 2024, every 1 percentage point increase in GDP has the potential to create around 2.61 million new urban jobs. A growth rate of around 5 percent could generate over 13 million new jobs, which would significantly alleviate employment pressure, said China Minsheng Bank.

    Through ramping up the intensity of countercyclical adjustments, China can harness its underlying growth potential to meet its 5 percent GDP growth target for 2025, even in the face of potential economic headwinds, said Wen Bin, chief economist at China Minsheng Bank.

    “With external demand likely to face trade barriers tipped by certain economies, China will need to direct its efforts toward unlocking the potential of domestic consumption as the main engine of economic growth,” Wen said.

    China’s consumer goods trade-in programs, which have driven a more than 1 percentage point increase in the annual growth of the country’s total retail sales last year, are set to cover a broader range of consumer goods and offer even more attractive incentives in 2025.

    “China is likely to double the funding for its consumer goods trade-in initiatives this year to 300 billion yuan ($41 billion),” said Wang Qing, chief macroeconomic analyst at Golden Credit Rating International.

    This significant increase in funding is expected to drive a substantial boost in consumption, with Wang forecasting an additional 750 billion yuan in spending in 2025, equivalent to a 1.5 percentage point acceleration in the growth rate of the total retail sales of consumer goods.

    China’s economic growth is poised to outshine the global average this year, underpinned by the dynamism of its innovation-driven private sector and the rapid expansion of future-oriented industries, said Ernesto Torres Cantu, head of international at Citi.

    This dynamism in the private sphere is a key factor behind China’s robust economic performance and the positive sentiment surrounding Chinese companies, he said.

    Meanwhile, such future-oriented industries as artificial intelligence, electric vehicles, green energy and humanoid robots will keep driving the country’s growth forward for years to come, with their impact also being felt worldwide, he added.

    MIL OSI China News –

  • MIL-OSI China: UN chief rejects ‘any form of ethnic cleansing’ in Gaza

    Source: China State Council Information Office

    Palestinian children are seen next to a tent that serves as a temporary shelter at the Al-Yarmouk stadium in Gaza City, on Feb. 5, 2025. [Photo/Xinhua]

    It is vital to stay true to the bedrock of international law and “avoid any form of ethnic cleansing” in Gaza, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned on Wednesday.

    At its essence, the exercise of the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people is about the right of Palestinians to simply live as human beings in their own land, Guterres told a UN committee meeting.

    “We have seen the realization of those rights steadily slip farther out of reach. We have seen a chilling, systematic dehumanization and demonization of an entire people,” he said in remarks at the 2025 session of the committee on the exercise of the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people.

    “In the search for solutions, we must not make the problem worse,” Guterres warned. “It is vital to stay true to the bedrock of international law. It is essential to avoid any form of ethnic cleansing.”

    Guterres’ speech came one day after U.S. President Donald Trump proposed that Palestinians will resettle elsewhere and the United States will take over and gain “long-term ownership position” in the war-torn enclave. But the UN chief didn’t mention Trump or his proposal during his address.

    During the meeting, Guterres also called for a full ceasefire in Gaza following the first phase of a truce deal between Israel and Hamas.

    “First, we must keep pushing for a permanent ceasefire and the release of all hostages without delay,” he said. “We cannot go back to more death and destruction.”

    Highlighting the importance of the two-state solution, the UN chief said, “A viable, sovereign Palestinian State living side-by-side in peace and security with Israel is the only sustainable solution for Middle East stability.”

    Guterres also voiced his concern over the escalating situation in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. “I am gravely concerned by rising violence by Israeli settlers and other violations,” he said.

    The UN chief stressed the violence must stop, and international law must be respected, and accountability ensured.

    Reiterating the UN’s full commitment to the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people, Guterres called on the international community to work toward preserving the unity, contiguity, and integrity of the occupied Palestinian territory and the recovery and reconstruction of Gaza.

    Trump floated his plan during a joint press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday, suggesting that the United States could take control of Gaza and relocate Palestinians, which has sparked widespread defiance and condemnation.

    At Wednesday’s noon briefing, when asked if Guterres believes Trump’s plan amounted to ethnic cleansing, Stephane Dujarric, spokesperson for the UN secretary-general, responded, “Any forced displacement of people is tantamount to ethnic cleansing.”

    MIL OSI China News –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Palestinians have long resisted resettlement – Trump’s plan to ‘clean out’ Gaza won’t change that

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Maha Nassar, Associate Professor in the School of Middle Eastern and North African Studies, University of Arizona

    U.S. President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hold a news conference in the White House on Feb. 4, 2025. Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images

    President Donald Trump’s suggestion that the U.S. should “take over” Gaza, displace its current population and turn the enclave into “the Riviera of the Middle East” is unsettling – in both a literal and, to Palestinians, a very personal sense.

    The remarks, which followed earlier comments in which the president expressed a desire to “clean out” Gaza, have been taken by some Middle East experts as a call to “ethnically cleanse” the strip of its 2.2 million Palestinian inhabitants. They worry that such talk will bolster the hopes of Israel’s far-right settlers and their supporters in government, who want to remove Palestinians from Gaza and build Jewish-only settlements on the enclave’s beachfront property.

    Following Trump’s remarks, Riyad Mansour, Palestinian envoy to the United Nations, stated: “Our homeland is our homeland.” He added, “I think that leaders and people should respect the wishes of the Palestinian people.”

    As a scholar of modern Palestinian history, I know that calls to remove the Palestinians from Gaza are not new – but neither is Palestinians’ determination to remain in their homeland. For almost 80 years, Palestinians in Gaza have resisted various proposals to displace them from the enclave. In fact, those plans have often spurred resistance to occupation and removal.

    A people already uprooted

    Most people in Gaza are the product of displacement in the first place.

    In 1948, over 700,000 Palestinians fled or were expelled from their homes when the state of Israel was established and a war between the new country and its Arab neighbors erupted.

    These Palestinians became nationless refugees, placed under the care of the U.N. Relief and Works Agency. In the Gaza Strip, the agency set up eight refugee camps to care for over 200,000 Palestinians who had been forced out of over 190 towns and villages.

    Palestinian refugees are seen fleeing violence in 1948.
    Bettman/Getty Images

    In December 1948, the U.N. General Assembly adopted Resolution 194 stipulating that “the refugees wishing to return to their homes and live at peace with their neighbors should be permitted to do so at the earliest practicable date.”

    While Israeli leaders initially expressed a willingness to allow some refugees back, they rejected the refugees’ wholesale return. They argued that doing so would undermine Israel’s security and dilute its character as a “Jewish state.”

    As such, Israel’s first prime minister, David Ben-Gurion, looked for ways to “motivate the refugees to move eastward” toward Jordan. He hoped that by moving refugees further away from Israel, they would be less likely to return.

    At first, the United States called upon Israel to repatriate a substantial number of refugees. But with Israel consistently refusing to do so, leaders in Washington started turning to the idea of resettlement. They hoped that the promise of economic prosperity could induce large numbers of refugees to move to other Arab countries – and give up on the idea of returning home. For example, in 1953, Secretary of State John Foster Dulles drew up plans to resettle Palestinian refugees in Syria as part of a large water management project there.

    Likewise in 1961, the recently formed U.S. Agency for International Development began funding an irrigation project in Jordan, bringing in Palestinian refugees to work as farmers. U.S. officials hoped that the refugees would start to identify as Jordanians, rather than as Palestinians, and agree to permanently resettle in Jordan.

    But it did not work. A survey taken five years later found that the refugees still identified as Palestinians and wished to return to their homeland.

    Rejecting resettlement

    A further war between Israel and neighboring countries in 1967 resulted in Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem, which had been under Jordanian rule, as well as the Gaza Strip, which had been previously administered by Egypt.

    It also sparked a renewed sense of Palestinian national identity, especially among younger generations who increasingly took up guerrilla-style tactics in a bid to force Israel, and the international community, to recognize their right to return.

    In response, Israel looked to resettlement as a way to reduce the Palestinian population in territories it now occupied. In 1969, the Israeli government drew up secret plans to permanently transfer up to 60,000 Palestinians from Gaza to Paraguay. The scheme came to an abrupt halt when two Palestinians confronted the Israeli ambassador in Asunción about being brought to Paraguay under false pretenses.

    Meanwhile, between 1967 and 1979, far-right Israeli Jewish settlers established seven settlements in Gaza. They hoped to see Palestinians removed from the strip so the land could be incorporated into their vision of a “greater Israel.”

    Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, Israeli officials proposed various plans to remove refugees from the camps and resettle them elsewhere. This included a 1983 plan to dismantle refugee camps in the occupied Palestinian territories and resettle their inhabitants in better housing in towns and cities.

    But Palestinian refugees firmly rejected the offer because it would have required them to give up their refugee status and relinquish their right of return.

    The Oslo negotiations of the 1990s rejected the notion of removing Palestinians from Gaza. In fact, keeping the refugees in Gaza was central to the premise of a two-state solution. At the same time, questions over the right of refugees to return to their original homelands in what is now Israel were shelved.

    No money can ‘replace your homeland’

    But with hopes of a two-state solution long since faded, resettlement plans have reemerged.

    Shortly after the Oct. 7, 2023, attack by Hamas gunmen in Israel that sparked the widespread bombing and siege of Gaza, the Biden administration asked Congress to fund “the potential needs of Gazans fleeing to neighboring countries.” The news outraged many Palestinians, who saw it as giving Israel a green light to carry out what many viewed as an attempt to ethnically cleanse Gaza.

    In October 2024, far-right Jewish settlers gathered on the border of Gaza and called for the reestablishment of Jewish settlements in Gaza that had been dismantled in 2005. National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir called upon Israel to “encourage emigration” of Palestinians from Gaza. He proposed telling the Palestinians there: “We’re giving you the option, leave to other countries, the Land of Israel is ours.”

    Palestinians have responded with their feet. As soon the ceasefire went into effect on Jan. 19, 2025, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who had been displaced to southern Gaza walked for hours to reach their homes in northern Gaza. Hundreds posted videos of cleaning out their damaged homes so they can live there once again.

    The road to recovery in Gaza will be long. The U.N. estimates that rebuilding Gaza will cost US$50 billion and take at least 10 years.

    I believe Palestinians want help rebuilding, not resettlement. Many of them have already vehemently rejected Trump’s call to move out. As one Palestinian told The Guardian newspaper: “We would rather die here than leave this land.” He insisted, “No amount of money in the world can replace your homeland.”

    Resettlement schemes have a long history, yet Palestinians have thwarted them at every turn. There is no reason to think that this time will be any different.

    Maha Nassar is affiliated with the Foundation for Middle East Peace.

    – ref. Palestinians have long resisted resettlement – Trump’s plan to ‘clean out’ Gaza won’t change that – https://theconversation.com/palestinians-have-long-resisted-resettlement-trumps-plan-to-clean-out-gaza-wont-change-that-249193

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Cantwell Calls For Immediate Hearings on DOGE Treasury Access

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator for Washington Maria Cantwell

    02.05.25

    Cantwell Calls For Immediate Hearings on DOGE Treasury Access

    Joins letter from 19 Senators to Republican leaders of Senate Finance, Senate Banking committees

    WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA), a senior member of the Senate Committee on Finance and ranking member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, joined fellow members of the Senate Committee on Finance and of the Senate Banking Committee in sending a letter to Finance Chair Sen. Mike Crapo (R-ID) and Banking Chair Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC), requesting immediate hearings about reports that officials associated with Elon Musk gained access to sensitive U.S. Treasury payment systems.

    “The Treasury Department’s Bureau of the Fiscal Service’s payment systems control the flow of more than $6 trillion in annual payments to households, businesses and other entities nationwide,” the lawmakers write. “Putting this system in the hands of unaccountable political actors raises significant economic and national security risks.”

    “We ask that the Finance Committee and Banking Committee swiftly schedule hearings to allow Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to answer critical questions about the risks posed by Musk and DOGE’s access to the Bureau of Fiscal Service’s payment systems,” the lawmakers conclude.

    On Sunday, Sen. Cantwell released a statement regarding reports that Musk and his DOGE team had accessed these systems: “This threatens the privacy and funds owed to every American taxpayer and Social Security recipient. Congressional Republicans cannot continue to turn a blind eye as to how their own constituents’ private financial records are handled,” she said.

    The full text of the letter is HERE and below:

    Dear Chairman Crapo and Chairman Scott:

    We write requesting that the Committee on Finance and the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs immediately hold hearings to examine reports that officials associated with Elon Musk and the so-called U.S. Department of Government Efficiency (“DOGE”) have gained access to systems that control payments to millions of American citizens, including Social Security, Medicare, tax refunds, and payments to small businesses.1 It is critical that the Senate understands this threat to the stability of a payment system that millions of Americans rely upon and that is critical to America’s global financial standing.

    The Treasury Department’s Bureau of the Fiscal Service’s payment systems control the flow of more than $6 trillion in annual payments to households, businesses and other entities nationwide. These payment systems cover 87% of all federal payments and process more than a billion payments annually and are responsible for the distribution of Social Security and Medicare benefits, tax refunds, payments to federal employees and contractors, including competitors of Musk-owned companies, and thousands of other functions.

    Putting this system in the hands of unaccountable political actors raises significant economic and national security risks. Information in these systems is critical to the Department’s management of the national debt. The takeover by Mr. Musk and his associates was achieved by engineering the ouster of a key official responsible for managing the extraordinary measures the Department has been taking to avoid a default. A misstep with these payment systems could lead to a technical default with a wide range of devastating consequences, from seniors missing Social Security payments to a global financial meltdown that costs trillions of dollars and millions of jobs.

    Furthermore, granting access to Mr. Musk and his team – who may not have appropriate security clearances – access to this system risks exposing the sensitive tax and financial information of nearly every American. The Treasury payment system “includes sensitive personal information about the millions of Americans who receive Social Security checks, tax refunds and other payments from the federal government.” It is not clear why these individuals were granted unfettered access to such data, what they could do with it once inside the system, and what protections are in place to ensure the Department has been complying with its legal obligations under the Privacy Act, 26 U.S.C. 6103, as well as other statutes and Treasury regulations and policies that protect such sensitive information about millions of Americans.

    Finally, we are deeply concerned that following the federal grant and loan freeze earlier this week, as well as Musk’s own comments on social media, officials associated with Musk may have intended to access these payment systems to illegally withhold payments authorized by law, and to circumvent the court orders prohibiting that freeze from going into effect. We ask that the Finance Committee and Banking Committee swiftly schedule hearings to allow Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to answer critical questions about the risks posed by Musk and DOGE’s access to the Bureau of Fiscal Service’s payment systems.

    Sincerely,

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Economics: Safe Access for Urban Mobility: Community-Led Approaches

    Source: Asia Development Bank

    The brief identifies challenges in urban mobility, including universal access, road safety, personal safety, and quality of service. Using community-led approaches, such as journey mapping, establishment of a community council, and dedicated focus groups, it shows that early and effective engagement throughout implementation helps identify potential issues and solutions, minimizing the need for major changes, complaints, or delays.

    MIL OSI Economics –

  • MIL-OSI Economics: Dynamic Impact of Foreign Exchange Trading Volume on Foreign Exchange Volatility

    Source: Asia Development Bank

    FX trading volume is a key factor in volatility. Estimation results from econometric models reveal a significant impact of third-party trade volumes on the volatilities of original currency pairs. Though the United States dollar (USD) exerts sizeable effect through third-party channels, currency pairs without USD linkages also have impact, calling renewed attention to using regional cooperation in mitigating volatility as compared with major FX trading partners.

    MIL OSI Economics –

  • MIL-OSI Australia: Allens’ trusted expertise recognised in 2024 banking and finance rankings

    Source: Allens Insights

    Allens secured top rankings in the 2024 syndicated loans and project finance league tables, reflecting a strong year of activity driven by complex cross-border financings, infrastructure investment, and evolving lender dynamics.

    The firm maintained its market-leading position in syndicated loans, with standout rankings across multiple league tables:

    Bloomberg

    • First in APAC (ex Japan) – borrower lead counsel by deal count
    • First in APAC (ex Japan) – lender lead legal adviser by value
    • Second in APAC (ex Japan) – borrower legal adviser by value

    Debtwire

    • First in APAC (ex Japan) – lead bank legal counsel
    • First in Australia – lead bank legal counsel
    • Second in APAC (ex Japan) – borrower legal counsel
    • Second in Australia – borrower legal counsel

    Infralogic

    • First in APAC – project finance legal adviser by value and deal count
    • First in Australia and New Zealand – project finance legal adviser by value and deal count

    LSEG (formally Refinitiv)

    • Second in APAC (inc Japan) – borrower legal adviser by value and deal count
    • Second in Australia – borrower legal adviser by value and deal count

    ‘These results reflect the trust our clients place in us to advise on their most strategic and high-value financings. We are fortunate to work with market-leading lenders, sponsors, and borrowers across the region, supporting them on complex transactions that drive investment and growth,’ said Partner and Head of Banking & Finance Tim Stewart.

    ‘The market remains highly active, particularly in project finance and structured lending, and we expect this momentum to continue into 2025 as borrowers and lenders adapt to evolving regulatory and economic conditions.’

    Highlights in 2024 included advising:

    MIL OSI News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Senate Confirms Scott Turner as Secretary of HUD

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND)

    WASHINGTON, D.C. – The United States Senate confirmed Scott Turner to serve as the 19th Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) by a vote of 54 to 44 today. U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND), a member of the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee, issued the following statement after voting in favor of Turner’s nomination.

    “Scott Turner is first and foremost a leader, and he will be an excellent Secretary of Housing and Urban Development,” said Cramer. “He has a fundamental understanding of supply-side policies, and he knows what landlords need to provide affordable housing options where they’re needed most. Local and tribal communities across North Dakota will benefit from his expertise as a builder and developer.”

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Senate Banking Committee Hearing Examines Impacts of Debanking

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND)

    WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs (Banking) Committee held a hearing today to ensure banks and financial institutions make lending and services decisions based on impartial, risk-based analysis, not political or reputational favoritism. In recent years, prominent American banks have engaged in a discriminatory practice, referred to as debanking. Banks and financial institutions have used their economic standing to categorically exclude law-abiding industries by refusing to lend or provide services to them. This includes industries such as firearms, ammunition, crypto, federal prison contractors, and energy producers. 

    Prior to the hearing, U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND), a member of the Senate Banking Committee, reintroduced his Fair Access to Banking Act, which protects fair access to financial services and ensures banks operate in a safe and sound manner. The legislation requires lending and services decisions to be based on impartial, risk-based analysis, not political or reputational favoritism.

    Cramer explained his legislation does not require banks to take specific actions, but rather prohibits them from categorically discriminating against legal industries. Cramer noted that the reason “some of the bank presidents, who have never dared say it out loud, tell me they support [the Fair Access to Banking Act] is because they want this burden removed from them. They want this political pressure from their 30-year-old staff or the regulator they fear, or the political movement of the day, or the activist investors trying to impose their values, they want that removed from them.”

    [embedded content]

    “What’s your sense of a bill like a Fair Access to Banking Act that again, it’s not saying you have to bank this industry,” asked Cramer. “It says you’re prohibited from discriminating against. Does this seem like a radical idea?”

    “I think the regulators have pushed debanking of industries, which is what you talking about,” replied Mike Ring, President, CEO and Co-Founder of Old Glory Bank. “I think mid-level executives push debanking of individuals for political causes.”

    “What needs to be done, consistent with the Act that you have introduced, is simply that there’s more transparency and there’s more notice when these kinds of [regulatory] decisions are made,” responded Stephen Gannon, a partner at Davis Wright Tremaine, LLP, a financial services expert.“There’s been a long sort of volume of executive orders coming out of the [Trump] White House, but one of them revived an executive order from 2019 called 13892. That executive order gives more due process to folks who wish to contest the actions of regulators than the due process clause itself allows.”

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI China: US withdraws from UN Human Rights Council

    Source: China State Council Information Office

    U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday signed an executive order withdrawing the United States from the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC).

    The executive order also stops funding for the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), and requires the U.S. State Department to reevaluate the UN Educational, Science and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

    Trump made his announcement on the same day he met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose country has consistently criticized both the human rights body and UNRWA for alleged bias against Israel.

    During Trump’s first term, the United States withdrew from the UNHRC in June 2018. In February 2021, then Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement that the Joe Biden administration would reengage with the council as an observer.

    Since 1950, UNRWA has been assisting Palestinian refugees in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.

    MIL OSI China News –

  • MIL-OSI Banking: Samsung Electronics Highlights Galaxy S25 Ultra’s Mobile Gaming Capabilities at #PlayGalaxy Cup

    Source: Samsung

     
    On January 25, Samsung Electronics hosted the third #PlayGalaxy Cup in San Francisco. Collaborating with “Call of Duty®: Mobile” from game developer and publisher Activision, the #PlayGalaxy Cup showcased the Galaxy series’ innovative gaming performance in a tournament broadcasted live to gaming fans around the world via YouTube and Twitch.
     

     
    Participating players used the Galaxy S25 Ultra and fully demonstrated the mobile device’s unmatched gaming capabilities. Powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy, the Galaxy S25 Ultra supports seamless gameplay even for high-performance games such as “Call of Duty®: Mobile.” Vulkan optimization sets a new standard for mobile gaming with a true-to-life graphic experience, and the enlarged Vapor Chamber optimizes the Galaxy S25 Ultra’s cooling system for more stable gameplay.
     
    Named #PlayGalaxy Cup: The Greatest Rivalry With “Call of Duty®: Mobile,” the tournament was centered around an exciting battle between two of North America’s premiere “Call of Duty®: Mobile” eSports teams. World-renowned professional players participated — including Aerith and Vague from Tribe Gaming and AyeoRaph and Cartels from Luminosity Gaming. The presence of popular game streamers Bobby Plays and TeeP further intensified the rivalry between Team Tribe and Team Luminosity.
     

     
    Livestreamed globally on famous “Call of Duty®: Mobile” content creator iFerg’s YouTube channel, the tournament captivated mobile gaming fans around the world and attracted an impressive three million views. Popular streamers jasontheween, stableronaldo and Arky hosted a #PlayGalaxy Cup watch party and engaged with fans through livestreams at the venue. Meanwhile, “Call of Duty®: Mobile” streamer NoahSunday and other content creators held their own #PlayGalaxy Cup watch parties remotely.
     
    On the day of the event, the venue was packed with more than 250 enthusiastic fans cheering for their favorite teams. A large screen at the center of the arena vividly displayed the Galaxy S25 Ultra’s immersive graphics, quick response time and smooth, seamless gameplay — revealing new possibilities in mobile gaming.
     
    “I am thrilled to see my favorite Tribe players and watch their gameplay in person,” said one Tribe Gaming fan who visited on-site. “I am on the edge of my seat throughout every round, wondering which team will win.”
     
    The Galaxy S25 Ultra hands-on zone was prepared on-site, allowing audience members to experience the Galaxy S25 Ultra’s gaming performance themselves.
     

     
    “Thanks to the Galaxy S25 Ultra’s excellent gaming performance, each team member could perform at their best and lead us to victory,” said Aerith from Tribe Gaming, captain of the winning team.
     
    “The Galaxy S25 Ultra’s outstanding gaming performance provided a console-level gaming experience on mobile,” said TeeP, professional “Call of Duty®: Mobile” player and content creator.
     
    During the tournament rehearsals, the Galaxy Buds3 Pro and JBL Quantum ONE headphones delivered exceptional audio quality that captivated players. Participants praised the wireless earbuds and headphones for their delay-free, realistic sound effects and professional-grade gaming performance.
     
    “Thanks to the sound and noise-cancelling capabilities of the JBL Quantum One headphones, we were able to focus on the game and enjoy a more lifelike gameplay experience,” said Cartels from Team Luminosity.
     
    “The #PlayGalaxy Cup was an excellent opportunity to demonstrate the Galaxy S25 Ultra’s powerful gaming capabilities to the world,” said Kiwook Moon, Head of Influencer Marketing Group, Mobile eXperience Business at Samsung Electronics. “We will continue to provide more innovative and immersive mobile gaming experiences through Galaxy devices.”
     
    For further details, please visit Samsung Newsroom.
     
    Activision, Call of Duty and the stylized letter M are trademarks of Activision Publishing, Inc. All other trademarks and trade names are the property of their respective owners.

    MIL OSI Global Banks –

  • MIL-OSI Banking: Samsung Electronics Unveils 6G White Paper and Outlines Direction for AI-Native and Sustainable Communication

    Source: Samsung

    Samsung Electronics has published a 6G white paper titled “AI-Native & Sustainable Communication,” detailing the latest trends in next-generation mobile communication technologies.
     
    Following the first 6G white paper “The Next Hyper-Connected Experience for All.” in July 2020, this white paper covers the latest trends driving 6G standardization and next-generation mobile communications — including evolving market and technology needs, emerging services, key attributes of 6G and enabling technologies.
     
    Samsung aims to integrate the latest AI technology throughout the telecommunication system and improve network quality for a future-oriented and sustainable user experience.
     
    “We are intensifying our 6G research efforts, focusing on AI-enabled communication technologies and sustainable networks,” said Charlie Zhang, Senior Vice President of Advanced Communications Research Center (ACRC), Samsung Research. “As the telecommunication industry accelerates 6G standardization this year, Samsung will develop technologies to align with market demands.”
     

     
     
    Market and Technology Trends Toward 6G
    Mobile data traffic has surged, driven by the proliferation of AI technologies and the rise of streaming services. Now more than ever, there is a pressing need for technological advancements to manage increased data traffic and enhance user experiences in next-generation mobile communications.
     
    Since the introduction of 5G, the telecommunications industry has been particularly focused on optimizing system operations, sustainability and user experiences. Beyond communication performance improvements such as data rates and latency, there is an urgency to reduce operating costs, enhance energy efficiency, expand service coverage and introduce innovative technologies such as AI.
     
     
    Emerging Services
    5G-Advanced will provide further enhanced 5G performance and incorporate AI to support new services and use cases — ultimately becoming the foundation for 6G technology.
     
    In this white paper, some key emerging services such as immersive extended reality (XR), digital twin, massive communication, ubiquitous connectivity and fixed wireless access (FWA) are highlighted.
     

     

    Immersive Extended Reality (XR): Offers truly immersive user experiences by integrating and interacting with the virtual and real worlds, attracting attention across industries such as entertainment, healthcare and science.
     
    Digital Twin: Creates virtual replicas of physical entities — including objects, people, devices and places — using 6G technology to allow remote monitoring, problem detection and control.
     
    Massive Communication: Simultaneously connects numerous sensors, machines, terminals and other devices to networks and supports automation and management of smart cities, homes and factories.
     
    Ubiquitous Connectivity: Expands service areas by extending terrestrial network coverage and interworking between terrestrial and non-terrestrial network components — including satellites and high-altitude platform stations (HAPS).
     
    Fixed Wireless Access (FWA): Allows wireless delivery of broadband services that traditionally required wired connections to become recognized as a key driver of expanding telecommunications businesses.

     
     
    6G Key Attributes
    In the white paper, Samsung highlighted four key attributes crucial to adapting to evolving market demands — AI-native, sustainable network, ubiquitous coverage and secure and resilient network.
     

     

    AI-Native: Incorporates the latest AI technologies into communication functionalities from system design to the development, management and operation of systems for performance improvements.
     
    Sustainable Network: Reduces operational costs and increases user satisfaction by improving the energy efficiency of both networks and terminals.
     
    Ubiquitous Coverage: Decreases capital expenditures (CAPEX) of networks and enhances service quality by expanding communication service areas and strengthening connectivity via interconnecting terrestrial and non-terrestrial networks.
     
    Secure and Resilient Network: Ensures network security, user privacy and resilience for significant advancements in computing capabilities and AI technology for the 2030s.

     
     
    6G Timeline
    With the release of this white paper, Samsung solidifies its leadership in shaping the direction of 6G research and key technologies.
     
    The telecommunications industry and standardization organizations have been researching 6G since 2020. In 2030, the 6G technology standards are expected to be finalized — following candidate technology development, evaluation and consensus-building processes. With the recent timelines from the International Telecommunication Union Radiocommunication Sector (ITU-R)1 and 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP),2 momentum for 6G research and development is expected to intensify.
     
    Samsung will continue to lead global standardization efforts and prepare for the 6G era while incorporating lessons learned from 5G commercialization and adapting to new market requirements.
     
    Last November, Samsung held the Silicon Valley Future Wireless Summit and hosted an in-depth discussion with industry experts on the convergence of telecommunications and AI technologies. The company demonstrated AI-RAN technologies and Proof of Concept (PoC) results, showcasing the possibilities of AI-native technologies and garnering significant interest from major telecommunications operators.
     
     
    1 ITU is the United Nations specialized agency for information and communication technologies with memberships of 193 Member States and more than 1,000 companies, universities, research institutes and international and regional organizations. The ITU’s Radiocommunication Sector (ITU-R) is responsible for regulating and standardizing global radio communication.2 3GPP is dedicated to developing the global unified technical specifications for mobile communications.

    MIL OSI Global Banks –

  • MIL-OSI Submissions: Africa – Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector Signs the Country Work Program 2025 for Egypt, Unveiling $100 Million Financing Plan

    SOURCE: Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector (ICD)

    Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector Signs the Country Work Program 2025 for Egypt, Unveiling $100 Million Financing Plan. The agreement was officially signed by Engineer Hani Salem Sonbol, Acting CEO of ICD, who highlighted the corporation’s ongoing commitment to Egypt’s economic development

    CAIRO, Egypt, February 5, 2025/ — The Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector (ICD) (www.ICD-ps.org), the private sector arm of the Islamic Development Bank Group (IsDB), has signed it’s the Country Work Program 2025 for Egypt, marking a significant milestone in its strategic partnership with the country.

    The signing ceremony took place in Cairo, in the presence of key government officials, including HE Dr. Rania Al-Mashat, Minister of Planning, Economic Development, and International Cooperation, and Governor of Egypt at the Islamic Development Bank; HE Lieutenant General Engineer Kamel Al-Wazir, Deputy Prime Minister for Industrial Development, Minister of Industry and Transport; and HE Dr. Sherif Farouk, Minister of Supply and Internal Trade.

    The agreement was officially signed by Engineer Hani Salem Sonbol, Acting CEO of ICD, who highlighted the corporation’s ongoing commitment to Egypt’s economic development.

    The 2025 country work program focuses on strengthening the private sector and driving economic growth in Egypt. Key initiatives include direct financing, investments, and financing tools aimed at boosting key sectors such as industry, infrastructure, energy, and agriculture.

    Additionally, the program seeks to enhance financial inclusion by providing lines of finance to Egyptian banks, particularly to support small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). ICD also plans to raise market awareness about the importance of Islamic finance as a tool for development and to facilitate access to capital markets by forming strategic alliances with international investors.

    One of the key components of the program is ICD’s intention to provide up to $100 million in new financing to support private sector projects in Egypt.

    Engineer Kamel El-Wazir, the Deputy Prime Minister for Industrial Development and Minister of Industry and Transport, said: “The Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector has proven, over the past years, its vital role in supporting the member countries of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) by providing innovative financial solutions and supporting developmental projects that contribute to stimulating economic growth, creating job opportunities, and enhancing the role of the private sector, particularly small and medium-sized enterprises.”

    He added: “We recognize that the private sector plays a pivotal role in the economic development process, and therefore, a large part of this cooperation will focus on empowering entrepreneurs and supporting small and medium-sized industries, which are the cornerstone of any strong economy. Through this program, efforts will be made to provide the necessary financing for these industries, as well as encourage innovation and entrepreneurship. This support will contribute to creating new job opportunities, enhancing sustainable economic growth, and improving competitiveness in regional and international markets.”

    Dr. Rania Al-Mashat, Minister of Planning, Economic Development, and International Cooperation, and Egypt’s Governor at the Islamic Development Bank, praised the successful partnership with the Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector (ICD). She highlighted the continuation of this fruitful partnership through the ICD’s Country Work Program in the Arab Republic of Egypt for 2025, which includes supporting the private sector in various diverse aspects. The program will allocate $100 million to financial institutions to finance small and medium-sized enterprises, as well as providing funding for large private sector companies operating in strategic sectors that are crucial to economic development. This includes particularly the industrial and agricultural sectors, which are key components of the country’s structural reform plan aimed at enhancing their contribution to GDP.

    Eng. Hani Salem Sonbol, Acting CEO of ICD, commented: “We are proud of our long-standing strategic partnership with the Arab Republic of Egypt. In 2025, we aim to deepen this relationship further by supporting the Egyptian government’s development plans. Our focus will be on enhancing the capacity of Egypt’s private sector and financial institutions, especially in supporting SMEs. Additionally, we will leverage our expertise to provide advisory services in the sukuk sector, particularly in assisting Egypt with issuing foreign currency sukuk and attracting new international investments to bolster financial flexibility.”

    He further added, “Our efforts will also include supporting the Arab-African Trade Bridges (AATB) Program, which aims to increase investments in member states, including Egypt.”

    Since its inception, ICD has provided Egypt with a total of $315 million in financing, including support for private sector companies, financial lines for banks, and direct investments in key sectors such as energy, food, and industry. This financing has played a crucial role in boosting economic growth, creating jobs, and fostering the development of Egypt’s private sector.

    About the Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector:
    ICD, a member of the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) Group, is a multilateral financial institution established in 1999. ICD promotes economic development in member countries by financing private sector projects, fostering competition and entrepreneurship, offering advisory services, and encouraging cross-border investments. It holds strong credit ratings, including A2 by Moody’s, A+ by Fitch, and A- by S&P. ICD focuses on Shari’ah-compliant financing for projects like infrastructure and private equity funds, aiming to create jobs and boost exports.

    For more information, visit: www.ICD-ps.org.

    MIL OSI – Submitted News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Scott Applauds Scott Turner’s Confirmation as Secretary of Housing and Urban Development

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator for South Carolina Tim Scott

    Senator Scott: “As HUD Secretary, Scott will make himself known. He will create access to quality, affordability housing…he will work to reverse decades of failed housing policies and make targeted reforms across all segments of the U.S. housing market.” 

    WASHINGTON — Today, the Senate voted to confirm Scott Turner as President Trump’s Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) by a vote of 55-44. Following the vote, U.S. Senator Tim Scott (R-S.C.), Chairman of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, spoke on the Senate floor to highlight Secretary Turner’s life story, qualifications to lead HUD, and their share goal of addressing the housing crisis and increasing access to quality, affordable housing opportunities for Americans across the country. 

    During Secretary Turner’s hearing before the Senate Banking Committee, Senator Scott highlighted Mr. Turner’s record and leadership directing investments in Opportunity Zones, Senator Scott’s initiative under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act to increase development in economically distressed communities. Senator Scott noted he looks forward to working with Secretary Turner to cut bureaucratic red tape, advance commonsense housing solutions, and put more Americans on the path to homeownership.

    Click here to watch Senator Scott’s remarks.

    Senator Scott’s full remarks as delivered: 

    Thank you, Mr. President.

    The Department of Housing and Urban Development’s mission is to create strong, sustainable communities and support affordable homes.

    Yet, under President Biden and his administration, the department failed to serve our nation’s most vulnerable.

    Here is the truth: we are facing a homelessness crisis in America.

    The latest homelessness survey found an 18 percent increase in homelessness year-over-year, increasing the number of homelessness in our country to nearly 772,000 Americans not able to find a place to lay their head.

    This is unacceptable!

    On top of that, we are facing an affordability crisis in our country as well.

    During President Biden’s tenure, mortgage rates ballooned 150 percent, and rents 20 percent.

    Over the last four years, far-left housing policies and burdensome regulations have put the American Dream out of reach for millions and millions of hardworking, dedicated patriots throughout our nation.

    It’s no secret that HUD is in serious need of new leadership.

    Fortunately, there is good news: help is right over there. And it’s on its way.

    My good friend Scott Turner has a remarkable life story – tremendous life story.

    Scott is a native Texan who has had an exceptional journey from professional athlete to public servant.

    Scott came from humble beginnings, but he never let those circumstances define who he is. Actually, Scott in high school – I believe it was – worked at a barbecue shop. What I love about Scott is he has an affection for the truth – he told me himself – he conceded that South Carolina barbecue is better than Texas. I’m glad he has no microphone to say anything right now I’m just you that is a man I can appreciate.

    He went on and had a successful career in the NFL, nine seasons as a cornerback, playing for the Denver Broncos, the San Diego Chargers, and yes, the Washington Redskins. And I note that he did not play for America’s team, the Dallas Cowboys.

    Everybody, nobody, can be perfect.

    After hanging up his cleats, Scott served two terms in the Texas State Legislature and then went to work in the Trump administration.

    As the Executive Director of the White House Opportunity and Revitalization Council, Scott helped implement the Opportunity Zones initiative I that created, directing over $50 billion in private sector capital into hard-hit, typically majority minority communities – breathing hope and opportunity not only into the neighborhoods of the people desperately, passionately praying for hope. And with less than a 5 percent gentrification rate. That’s what I call success.

    His story and his perspective are essential tools that he will bring to the table to fight the increase of homelessness, to fight the 150 percent ballooning of our mortgages, and to fight back against a 20 percent increase in rents.

    As HUD Secretary, Scott will make himself known. He will create access to quality, affordability housing…he will work to reverse decades of failed housing policies and make targeted reforms across all segments of the U.S. housing market.

    It’s time to make America’s economy work working class Americans.

    It is time for a blue-collar comeback. And I’m so thankful that we have a man prepared to put in 24 hours a day, seven days a week, if necessary, so more people – not 772,000 Americans but more Americans will have a place to lay their head because they’re no longer homeless. More Americans will be able to afford a home because interest rates will come down, the housing supply will increase, and we will thank God Almighty that we live in a land where opportunity is more available because the right person, at the right time, in the right place, says yes.

    Mr. President, I’m very thankful that Scott Turner is the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. But I’m more thankful that we have a president making good decisions to put America back on the right track.

    I yield back the balance of my time.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Sen. Scott Shines Light on Debanking of Americans, Pledges Solutions

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator for South Carolina Tim Scott

    WASHINGTON — At today’s Senate Banking Committee hearing focused on debanking, Senator Tim Scott (R-S.C.) highlighted the importance of access to financial services, citing his own story of obtaining a loan to start his small business. Senator Scott called out the Biden administration’s financial regulators who exploited their power and pressured financial institutions to cut off services to individuals and businesses. Senator Scott pledged that the committee will work to find solutions to address this issue, and he reiterated that no regulator, and no bank, is above the principles of fairness and market access.

    Senator Scott’s opening remarks as delivered:  

    Good morning and thank you all for being with us today.

    We’re here to address an issue that strikes at the core of what it means to live in a free and fair society: access to financial services. 

    Every federally legal business and law-abiding citizen deserves to be treated equally, regardless of political views or ideological leanings.  

    This is an issue that is deeply personal to me.

    When my grandfather was growing up in the Jim Crow South, banks did business with people they felt looked the right way – based on the color of their skin. 

    One’s ability to get a loan to finance their home or state a business was based primarily on the color of their skin. And in the 1940s, my mother experienced the same redlining that has been persistent, pervasive, and unfortunate for decades.

    Thankfully, our nation continues to evolve in the right direction.

    And in the 1990s, when I was starting my small business, I went to a bank and looked for an opportunity to get a loan. I’ll say, without any question, at that time as a kid growing up in poverty in a single parent household my best asset – Mr. Ricketts – was a 1990, ten-year old car with 253,000 miles. One would not consider that an asset, perhaps a liability, but it was my only means of transportation. And I will tell you, without a doubt, for me, it was an asset.

    The bank, however, helped me completely understand it was not. However, in those days someone could get a character loan, because of your time in a community, because of your relationships with local and community banks. Because of that, not only was my financial life changed, not only did my American Dream become a reality, but more importantly, my mother’s American Dream became a reality.

    We saw the strengthening confidence in our banking system, because things had changed in the right direction.

    With that loan everything seemed to get better.

    Had I not gotten that line of credit, I may not be here chairing this committee today.

    You see my story is so consistent with so many other Americans story that really reflects positively on the American Dream.

    In this country, access to credit is one of the cornerstones of building your American Dream.

    Owning a home and starting a business are challenging journeys filled with complexities, and achieving success is never a guarantee, nor should it be. 

    That’s why access to financial services is so important.

    The United States is home to a vast competitive network of banks and payment providers, creating one of the most robust and diverse financial services ecosystems on the planet. 

    It is this incredible landscape that offers countless opportunities for homeowners and entrepreneurs to build a healthy foundation and make strides toward achieving their version of the American Dream. 

    However, it is incredibly alarming and disheartening to hear stories about financial institutions cutting off services to digital asset firms, political figures, and conservative-aligned businesses and individuals.

    Under the Biden administration, we’ve seen the rise of what many are calling Operation Chokepoint 2.0, where federal regulators exploited their power, pressuring banks to cut off services to individuals and businesses with conservative disposition, or folks aligned with industries they just didn’t like – like the color of one’s skin in my family’s history.

    I wholeheartedly believe that debanking someone over their political ideology is un-American and goes against the core values that our nation was founded on. 

    Today, we’ll have an opportunity to hear from Anchorage Digital’s CEO, whose OCC-chartered bank was debanked, Old Glory Bank’s CEO, who started a bank to serve those who had been debanked, and from a legal expert with extensive experience navigating these regulatory abuses, and from a policy expert at the Brookings Institution. 

    This hearing will also examine how practices similar to the original Operation Chokepoint have persisted, despite assurances that they would end. 

    We’ll investigate the role both regulators and financial institutions have played in these harmful practices, which hurt not just businesses but also consumers and our entire economy.

    This issue should concern every American, regardless of political affiliation and that’s why I am committed a bipartisan solution to stop this form of discrimination. 

    This hearing is just the beginning.

    We are here to shine a bright light on these unacceptable practices and to hold those responsible accountable. The message is crystal clear: no regulator, and no bank, is above the principles of fairness and market access. 

    Speaking of shining a light, I was so glad to see that just a couple of hours ago, the FDIC under President Trump’s leadership released a fresh set of never-before-seen supervisory documents, which further prove that Chokepoint 2.0 was real.

    I will be going through the documents in greater detail, but rest assured for those in this room, and those watching at home, they paint a disgusting and disheartening picture of abuse. 

    As Acting Chair Hill characterized them, “these and other actions sent the message to banks that it would be extraordinarily difficult—if not impossible—to move forward [with crypto related activities].” 

    I commend the new FDIC leadership for its commitment to transparency, but it is a shame that it took an election – an election – for the agency to begin following the laws of our country.

    Thank you. I look forward to hearing from our witnesses and working with colleagues on both sides of the aisle to stop debanking and protect every American’s right to participate fully in the economy.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI United Nations: Guterres calls for full Gaza ceasefire, rejecting ‘ethnic cleansing’

    Source: United Nations 4

    Peace and Security

    UN Secretary-General António Guterres urged the international community to continue pushing for a full ceasefire and the release of all hostages in Gaza, and “to avoid any form of ethnic cleansing” in the enclave, in a speech in New York on Wednesday. 

    He was addressing the opening of the latest session of the UN Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, which met to elect a new bureau and adopt a programme of work for the year.

    The UN chief spoke in the wake of comments made by United States President Donald Trump on Tuesday night in the Oval Office, who suggested the US could “take over” the Gaza Strip, calling on Palestinians living there to leave.

    Prior to the Committee meeting, journalists asked UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric at the noon briefing in New York if the Secretary-General believed the President’s plan amounted to ethnic cleansing: “Any forced displacement of people is tantamount to ethnic cleansing,” he responded.

    Rights at risk

    Addressing Committee members, the Secretary-General stated that “at its essence, the exercise of the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people is about the right of Palestinians to simply live as human beings in their own land.”

    He noted, however, that “we have seen the realization of those rights steadily slip farther out of reach” as well as “a chilling, systematic dehumanization and demonization of an entire people.”

    Death, destruction and displacement

    He stressed that “of course, nothing justifies the horrific Hamas attacks of October 7” or “what we have seen unfold in Gaza over these last many months.” 

    He pointed to “the catalogue of destruction and unspeakable horrors”, with nearly 50,000 people reportedly killed, mainly women and children, and most of the civilian infrastructure in Gaza destroyed.

    Furthermore, the overwhelming majority of the population has faced repeated displacement, hunger and disease, while children have been out of school for over a year – “a generation, left homeless and traumatized.”

    Permanent ceasefire now

    The Secretary-General welcomed the ceasefire and hostage release deal between Israel and Hamas, announced last month.  He thanked mediators Egypt, Qatar and the United States for their continued efforts to ensure implementation. 

    “Now it is time to be crystal clear about objectives going forward,” he said.  

    “First, we must keep pushing for a permanent ceasefire and the release of all hostages without delay. We cannot go back to more death and destruction.”

    The UN is working around the clock to reach Palestinians in need and scale up support, he said, which requires humanitarian access that is rapid, safe, unimpeded, expanded, and sustained. 

    He appealed to Member States, donors, and the international community to fully fund humanitarian operations and meet urgent needs, and again urged countries to support the essential work of UNRWA, the UN agency that assists Palestine refugees.

    Avoid ‘ethnic cleansing’

    “In the search for solutions, we must not make the problem worse,” he continued. 

    “It is vital to stay true to the bedrock of international law.  It is essential to avoid any form of ethnic cleansing.” 

    His third and final point called for reaffirming the two-State solution between Israelis and Palestinians. “Any durable peace will require tangible, irreversible and permanent progress toward the two-State solution, an end to the occupation, and the establishment of an independent Palestinian State, with Gaza as an integral part,” he said. 

    He insisted that “a viable, sovereign Palestinian State living side-by-side in peace and security with Israel is the only sustainable solution for Middle East stability.” 

    End West Bank violence

    The Secretary-General turned to the situation in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, voicing grave concern over rising violence by Israeli settlers and other violations.

    “The violence must stop,” he said.  “As affirmed by the International Court of Justice, Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian Territory must end.” 

    He said the international community must work toward preserving the unity, contiguity, and integrity of the Occupied Palestinian Territory and the recovery and reconstruction of Gaza. 

    He said a strong and unified Palestinian governance is crucial and urged countries to support the Palestinian Authority in this regard.

    Halt ‘enemies of peace’: Committee chair

    The Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People was established some 50 years ago by the UN General Assembly. It comprises 25 Member States, with 24 others serving as observers. 

    Ambassador Coly Seck of Senegal, the newly elected chair of the 2025 session, said the ceasefire was a decisive step forward in terms of providing aid and safety, including for people in Gaza to return home, but the past days have seen “worrisome statements” seeking to undermine this.

    “We need to reinvent strategies to block the way for those enemies of peace on Palestinian ground that is so dear to us,” he said, noting that “these postures indeed exacerbate the already difficult situation on the ground.”

    He added that civilians continue to be affected following attacks by the Israeli army, while the provision of aid is suffering due to the recent entry into force of two Israeli laws banning UNRWA operations in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

    “Whilst firmly condemning these unilateral legal measures against the Palestinian people, I would call upon the international community to rise up against these measures, to defend this people long oppressed, which has the right, as do all peoples of the world to live in peace on the land of their ancestors,” he said.

    More to follow… 

    MIL OSI United Nations News –

  • MIL-OSI: Orange County Bancorp, Inc. Announces Fourth Quarter and Full-Year Earnings for Fiscal 2024

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    • Net Interest Income increased $3.4 million, or 3.8%, to $91.8 million for the year ended December 31, 2024, from $88.4 million for the year ended December 31, 2023
    • Net Interest Margin grew 5 basis points to 3.83% for the year ended December 31, 2024, from 3.78% for the year ended December 31, 2023
    • Total Loans grew $68.7 million, or 3.9%, to $1.8 billion at December 31, 2024 as compared to $1.7 billion at December 31, 2023.
    • Total Deposits rose $114.6 million, or 5.6%, to $2.2 billion at December 31, 2024, from $2.0 billion at year-end 2023
    • Book value per share increased $1.72, or 11.8%, to $16.35 at December 31, 2024, from $14.63 at December 31, 2023
    • Trust and investment advisory income rose $470 thousand, or 16.7%, to $3.3 million for Q4 2024, as compared to $2.8 million for Q4 2023

    MIDDLETOWN, N.Y., Feb. 05, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Orange County Bancorp, Inc. (the “Company” – Nasdaq: OBT), parent company of Orange Bank & Trust Co. (the “Bank”) and Hudson Valley Investment Advisors, Inc. (“HVIA”), today announced net income of $7.2 million, or $0.63 per basic and diluted share, for the three months ended December 31, 2024. This compares with net income of $8.1 million, or $0.72 per basic and diluted share, for the three months ended December 31, 2023.   The decrease in earnings per share, basic and diluted, was due primarily to an increase in non-interest expense offset by increases in net interest income and non-interest income during the current period. For the twelve months ended December 31, 2024, net income was $27.9 million, or $2.47 per basic and diluted share, as compared to $29.5 million, or $2.62 per basic and diluted share, for the twelve months ended December 31, 2023.

    Book value per share rose $1.72, or 11.8%, from $14.63 at December 31, 2023 to $16.35 at December 31, 2024. Tangible book value per share increased $1.74, or 12.4%, from $14.06 at December 31, 2023 to $15.80 at December 31, 2024 (see “Non-GAAP Financial Measure Reconciliation” below for additional detail). These increases were driven primarily by earnings during the twelve months ended December 31, 2024, offset by an increase in accumulated other comprehensive income (loss) associated with unrealized losses within the investment securities portfolio.  

    “Orange Bank closed out 2024 with another solid quarter,” said Company President and CEO Michael Gilfeather.   “Earnings of $7.2 million for the three months ended December 31, 2024 increased our full year total to $27.9 million. Though below our record $29.5 million in earnings the prior year, I am pleased by the results given challenges in the current interest rate environment and significant charges related to a non-performing participation loan. Additionally, given our historically conservative approach to credit quality, we have taken provisions to adequately reserve for charges associated with the previously disclosed participation loan.

    The economic environment in our region remains strong, enabling us to expand and improve the quality of our loan portfolio. For the year just ended, total loans grew nearly $70 million, or 4%, to $1.8 billion.

    Deposit growth was also robust during 2024, with deposits increasing $114.6 million, or 5.6%, to $2.2 billion at December 31, 2024. Even more impressive is the fact the majority of these new deposits were sourced internally as the result of a very targeted and strategic initiative.

    Low cost deposits and strong, high quality loan growth enabled us to expand net interest margin to 3.83% for the year ended December 31, 2024 from 3.78% during the year ended December 31, 2023. This is no small achievement given the uncertainty regarding interest rate and economic policy that characterized much of the year.

    Our Wealth Management business also maintained its consistent performance, contributing $3.3 million of trust and investment advisory income for the quarter, a $470 thousand, or 16.7%, increase over the same period last year. We have always viewed this division as an essential component of our business bank model, offering financial, advisory, estate and planning services for business customers and their families. Since inception, these services have allowed us to expand and retain our customer relationships, new and current, and increase overall customer satisfaction. As successful as this initiative has been, we saw an opportunity to leverage its success further through the promotion of David Dineen. David has been tasked with further aligning and expanding the capabilities of the Bank with the needs of our customers and we are very excited by its prospects.

    We have worked hard to deliver strong, consistent results, despite occasional challenges, and it is exciting to see the market recognize our efforts. This resulted in favorable stock price performance during the year that supported a 2-for-1 stock split in Q4, improving liquidity for shareholders. We always seek opportunities that benefit stakeholders, whether customers, shareholders or employees, and it is rewarding to achieve and implement them.

    As we end the year with another solid quarter, I want to again thank our employees for their hard work and dedication, our customers for their trust and business, and our investors for their continued confidence and support.” 

    Fourth Quarter and Fiscal Year 2024 Financial Review

    Net Income

    Net income for the fourth quarter of 2024 was $7.2 million, a decrease of $960 thousand, or 11.8%, from net income of $8.1 million for the fourth quarter of 2023. The decrease was primarily the result of increased non-interest expense over the same quarter last year. Net income for the twelve months ended December 31, 2024 was $27.9 million, as compared to $29.5 million for the same period in 2023. The decrease similarly reflected increased non-interest expense during the twelve months of 2024 over the same period in 2023.

    Net Interest Income

    For the three months ended December 31, 2024, net interest income rose $929 thousand, or 4.2%, to $23.1 million, versus $22.2 million during the same period last year. The increase was driven primarily by a $1.4 million increase in interest and fees on loans during the current period. For the twelve months ended December 31, 2024, net interest income reached $91.8 million, representing an increase of $3.4 million, or 3.8%, over the twelve months ended December 31, 2023.

    Total interest income rose $639 thousand, or 2.0%, to $32.2 million for the three months ended December 31, 2024, compared to $31.6 million for the three months ended December 31, 2023. The increase reflected a 5.4% growth in interest and fees associated with loans and a 3.2% increase in interest income from tax-exempt investment securities. For the twelve months ended December 31, 2024, total interest income rose $9.5 million, or 8.0%, to $127.2 million as compared to $117.8 million for the twelve months ended December 31, 2023.

    Total interest expense decreased $290 thousand during the fourth quarter of 2024, to $9.1 million, as compared to $9.4 million during the fourth quarter of 2023. The decrease represented the combined effect of management focus on low-cost deposits and a decrease in costs associated with brokered deposits and borrowed funds utilized as alternate sources of funding. Interest expense associated with Time Deposits, mainly brokered, decreased to $1.7 million during the fourth quarter of 2024 as compared to $2.5 million during the fourth quarter of 2023. Interest expense associated with FHLB advances drawn and other borrowings during the quarter totaled $1.9 million, as compared to $2.6 million during the fourth quarter of 2023. During the twelve months ended December 31, 2024, total interest expense rose $6.1 million, to $35.5 million, as compared to $29.4 million for the same period last year.

    Provision for Credit Losses

    As of January 1, 2023, the Company adopted the current expected credit losses methodology (“CECL”) accounting standard, which includes loans individually evaluated, as well as loans evaluated on a pooled basis to assess the adequacy of the allowance for credit losses. The Bank seeks to estimate lifetime losses in its loan and investment portfolio using discounted cash flows and supplemental qualitative considerations, including relevant economic considerations, portfolio concentrations, and other external factors, as well as evaluation of investment securities held by the Bank.

    The Company recognized net recovery within its provision for credit losses of $51 thousand for the three months ended December 31, 2024, as compared to a $462 thousand charge for the three months ended December 31, 2023. This recovery was due primarily to slower loan growth during the 2024 fourth quarter combined with the composition of loans closed during the quarter. The allowance for credit losses to total loans was 1.44% as of December 31, 2024 and 2023. For the twelve months ended December 31, 2024, the provision for credit losses totaled $7.7 million as compared to $7.9 million for the twelve months ended December 31, 2023. No reserves for investment securities were recorded during 2024.

    Non-Interest Income

    Non-interest income rose $562 thousand, or 15.0%, to $4.3 million for the three months ended December 31, 2024, compared to $3.7 million for the three months ended December 31, 2023. This growth was due to increased fee income within several of the Company’s fee income categories, including investment advisory income, trust income, and service charges on deposit accounts. For the twelve months ended December 31, 2024, non-interest income increased $2.6 million, to $16.0 million, as compared to $13.4 million for the twelve months ended December 31, 2023.

    Non-Interest Expense

    Non-interest expense was $18.5 million for the fourth quarter of 2024, reflecting an increase of $3.7 million, or 25.4%, as compared to $14.7 million for the same period in 2023. The increase in non-interest expense consisted primarily of increases in compensation costs, technology charges, and professional fees as well as the recognition of increased costs associated with the nonperforming loan participation and certain costs related to a fraudulent incident within one of our branches. As a result, our efficiency ratio increased to 67.4% for the three months ended December 31, 2024, from 56.9% for the same period in 2023. For the twelve months ended December 31, 2024, our efficiency ratio increased to 60.5% from 55.8% for the same period in 2023. Non-interest expense for the twelve months ended December 31, 2024 reached $65.2 million, reflecting an $8.4 million increase over non-interest expense of $56.8 million for the twelve months ended December 31, 2023.

    Income Tax Expense

    Provision for income taxes for the three months ended December 31, 2024 was $1.8 million, as compared to $2.6 million for the same period in 2023. For the twelve months ended December 31, 2024, the provision for income taxes was $6.9 million, as compared to $7.7 million for the twelve months ended December 31, 2023. The decrease for both 2024 periods was due to lower income before income taxes.   Our effective tax rate for the three-month period ended December 31, 2024 was 20.1%, as compared to 24.1% for the same period in 2023. Our effective tax rate for the twelve-month period ended December 31, 2024 was 19.9%, as compared to 20.6% for the same period in 2023.

    Financial Condition

    Total consolidated assets increased $24.5 million, or approximately 1.0%, to $2.5 billion at December 31, 2024. The stability of the balance sheet reflects loan growth and continued increases in deposits and cash, as well as paydowns of borrowings during the current twelve-month period.

    Total cash and due from banks increased from $147.4 million at December 31, 2023, to $150.3 million at December 31, 2024, an increase of approximately $3.0 million, or 2.0%. This slight increase resulted primarily from increases in deposit balances and managed loan growth which elevated cash levels while reducing short-term borrowings.

    Total investment securities decreased $51.0 million, or 10.1%, from $504.5 million at December 31, 2023 to $453.5 million at December 31, 2024. The decrease continues to be driven primarily by investment maturities and paydowns during the twelve months of 2024.

    Total loans increased $68.7 million, or 3.9%, from $1.7 billion at December 31, 2023 to $1.8 billion at December 31, 2024. The increase was primarily driven by an increase of $102.7 million related to commercial real estate loans as well as a $3.8 million increase in home equity loans offset by decreases in all other loan categories during 2024.

    Total deposits increased $114.6 million, reaching $2.2 billion at December 31, 2024, from $2.0 billion at December 31, 2023. This increase was due primarily to $94.1 million of growth in money market accounts, $26.2 million increase in interest bearing demand accounts, and $42.9 million increase in savings accounts. The increases in deposit accounts were offset by a $48.1 million decrease in noninterest-bearing demand accounts and relatively stable balances in certificates of deposit, mainly associated with brokered deposits utilized by the Bank for short term funding purposes. Deposit composition at December 31, 2024 included 45.6% in demand deposit accounts (including NOW accounts) as a percentage of total deposits. Uninsured deposits, net of fully collateralized municipal relationships, remained stable and represented approximately 39% of total deposits at December 31 2024, as compared to 37% of total deposits at December 31, 2023.

    FHLBNY short-term borrowings decreased by $111.0 million, or 49.4%, to $113.5 million as of December 31, 2024, as compared to $224.5 million at December 31, 2023. The decrease in borrowings was driven by increased deposits which outpaced loan growth in 2024 and allowed for paydowns of borrowings while maintaining adequate levels of cash at December 31, 2024. The decrease in borrowings reflects a strategic focus on actively managing liquidity sources and pursuing opportunities to reduce funding costs.

    Stockholders’ equity increased approximately $20.2 million during the year ended 2024, reaching $185.5 million at December 31, 2024 from $165.4 million at December 31, 2023. The increase was due primarily to $27.9 million of net income during the twelve months of 2024, partially reduced by dividends and an increase in unrealized losses of approximately $3.6 million, net of taxes, mainly related to the market value of investment securities within the Company’s equity as accumulated other comprehensive income (loss).

    At December 31, 2024, the Bank maintained capital ratios in excess of regulatory standards for well capitalized institutions. The Bank’s Tier 1 capital to average assets ratio was 10.23%, both common equity and Tier 1 capital to risk weighted assets were 14.12%, and total capital to risk weighted assets was 15.37%.  

    Wealth Management

    At December 31, 2024, our Wealth Management Division, which includes trust and investment advisory, held $1.8 billion in assets under management or advisory, as compared to $1.6 billion at December 31, 2023, a 12.9% increase. Trust and investment advisory income for the year ended December 31, 2024 reached $12.2 million, representing an increase of 18.5%, or $1.9 million, as compared to $10.3 million for the year ended December 31, 2023.

    The breakdown of trust and investment advisory assets as of December 31, 2024 and December 31, 2023, respectively, is as follows:

    ORANGE COUNTY BANCORP, INC.
    SUMMARY OF AUM/AUA
    (UNAUDITED)
    (Dollar Amounts in thousands)
      At December 31, 2024   At December 31, 2023
      Amount   Percent   Amount   Percent
    Investment Assets Under Management & Advisory $    1,105,143   61.99 %   $       909,384   57.56 %
    Trust Asset Under Administration & Management 677,723   38.01 %   670,515   42.44 %
    Total $    1,782,866   100.00 %   $    1,579,899   100.00 %
                       


    Loan Quality

    At December 31, 2024, the Bank had total non-performing loans of $6.3 million, or 0.35% of total loans. Total non-accrual loans represented approximately $6.3 million of loans as of December 31, 2024, compared to $4.4 million at December 31, 2023. The increase was primarily the result of one commercial real estate participation loan which remains non-performing and in non-accrual status at year end.

    Liquidity

    Management believes the Bank has the necessary liquidity to meet normal business needs. The Bank uses a variety of resources to manage its liquidity position. These include short term investments, cash from lending and investing activities, core-deposit growth, and non-core funding sources, such as time deposits exceeding $250,000, brokered deposits, FHLBNY advances, and other borrowings. As of December 31, 2024, the Bank’s cash and due from banks totaled $150.3 million. The Bank maintains an investment portfolio of securities available for sale, comprised mainly of US Government agency and treasury securities, Small Business Administration loan pools, mortgage-backed securities, and municipal bonds. Although the portfolio generates interest income for the Bank, it also serves as an available source of liquidity and funding. As of December 31, 2024, the Bank’s investment in securities available for sale was $453.5 million, of which $104.7 million was not pledged as collateral or specifically designated to any borrowings. Additionally, as of December 31, 2024, the Bank’s overnight advance line capacity at the FHLBNY was $512.2 million, of which $101.0 million was used to collateralize municipal deposits and $10.0 million was utilized for long term advances. As of December 31, 2024, the Bank’s unused borrowing capacity at the FHLBNY was $398.7 million. The Bank also maintains additional borrowing capacity of $20 million with other correspondent banks. Additional funding is available to the Bank through the discount window lending by the Federal Reserve. At December 31, 2024, the Bank was not utilizing any available funding from the Federal Reserve.

    The Bank also considers brokered deposits an element of its deposit strategy. As of December 31, 2024, the Bank had brokered deposit arrangements with various terms totaling approximately $180.0 million.

    Non-GAAP Financial Measure Reconciliations
    The following table reconciles, as of the dates set forth below, stockholders’ equity (on a GAAP basis) to tangible equity and total assets (on a GAAP basis) to tangible assets and calculates our tangible book value per share.
     
      December 31, 2024   December 31, 2023
      (Dollars in thousands except for share data)
    Tangible Common Equity:          
    Total stockholders’ equity $                    185,531     $                  165,376  
    Adjustments:          
    Goodwill (5,359 )   (5,359 )
    Other intangible assets (821 )   (1,107 )
    Tangible common equity  $                    179,351     $                  158,910  
    Common shares outstanding 11,350,158     11,302,622  
    Book value per common share $                        16.35     $                      14.63  
    Tangible book value per common share $                        15.80     $                      14.06  
               
    Tangible Assets          
    Total assets $                 2,509,927     $               2,485,468  
    Adjustments:          
    Goodwill (5,359 )   (5,359 )
    Other intangible assets (821 )   (1,107 )
    Tangible assets $                 2,503,747     $               2,479,002  
    Tangible common equity to tangible assets 7.16 %   6.41 %


    About Orange County Bancorp, Inc

    Orange County Bancorp, Inc. is the parent company of Orange Bank & Trust Company and Hudson Valley Investment Advisors, Inc. Orange Bank & Trust Company is an independent bank that began with the vision of 14 founders over 125 years ago. It has grown through innovation and an unwavering commitment to its community and business clientele to approximately $2.5 billion in total assets. Hudson Valley Investment Advisors, Inc. is a Registered Investment Advisor in Goshen, NY. It was founded in 1996 and acquired by the Company in 2012.

    Forward Looking Statements

    Certain statements contained herein are “forward looking statements” within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Such forward looking statements may be identified by reference to a future period or periods, or by the use of forward looking terminology, such as “may,” “will,” “believe,” “expect,” “estimate,” “anticipate,” “continue,” or similar terms or variations on those terms, or the negative of those terms. Forward looking statements are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, including, but not limited to, those related to the real estate and economic environment, particularly in the market areas in which the Company operates, competitive products and pricing, fiscal and monetary policies of the U.S. Government, inflation, changes in government regulations affecting financial institutions, including regulatory fees and capital requirements, changes in prevailing interest rates, increased levels of loan delinquencies, problem assets and foreclosures, credit risk management, asset-liability management, cybersecurity risks, geopolitical conflicts, public health issues, the financial and securities markets and the availability of and costs associated with sources of liquidity.

    The Company wishes to caution readers not to place undue reliance on any such forward looking statements, which speak only as of the date made. The Company wishes to advise readers that the factors listed above could affect the Company’s financial performance and could cause the Company’s actual results for future periods to differ materially from any opinions or statements expressed with respect to future periods in any current statements. The Company does not undertake and specifically declines any obligation to publicly release the results of any revisions that may be made to any forward looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date of such statements or to reflect the occurrence of anticipated or unanticipated events.

    For further information:
    Michael Lesler
    EVP & Chief Financial Officer
    mlesler@orangebanktrust.com
    Phone: (845) 341-5111

     
    ORANGE COUNTY BANCORP, INC.
    CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CONDITION
    (UNAUDITED)
      (Dollar Amounts in thousands except per share data)
                   
          December 31, 2024     December 31, 2023  
                   
        ASSETS          
                   
    Cash and due from banks $                    150,334     $                    147,383  
    Investment securities – available-for-sale 443,775     489,948  
    (Amortized cost $519,567 at December 31, 2024 and $560,994 at December 31, 2023)          
    Restricted investment in bank stocks 9,716     14,525  
    Loans 1,815,751     1,747,062  
    Allowance for credit losses (26,077 )   (25,182 )
      Loans, net 1,789,674     1,721,880  
                   
    Premises and equipment, net 15,808     16,160  
    Accrued interest receivable 6,680     5,934  
    Bank owned life insurance 42,257     41,447  
    Goodwill 5,359     5,359  
    Intangible assets 821     1,107  
    Other assets 45,503     41,725  
                   
        TOTAL ASSETS $                 2,509,927     $                 2,485,468  
                   
        LIABILITIES AND STOCKHOLDERS’ EQUITY          
                   
    Deposits:          
      Noninterest bearing $                    651,135     $                    699,203  
      Interest bearing 1,502,224     1,339,546  
        Total deposits 2,153,359     2,038,749  
                   
    FHLB advances, short term 113,500     224,500  
    FHLB advances, long term 10,000     10,000  
    Subordinated notes, net of issuance costs 19,591     19,520  
    Accrued expenses and other liabilities 27,946     27,323  
                   
        TOTAL LIABILITIES 2,324,396     2,320,092  
                   
        STOCKHOLDERS’ EQUITY          
                   
    Common stock, $0.25 par value; 30,000,000 shares authorized;          
      11,366,608 issued; 11,350,158 and 11,302,622 outstanding,          
      at December 31, 2024 and December 31, 2023, respectively 2,842     2,842  
    Surplus 120,896     120,392  
    Retained Earnings 129,919     107,361  
    Accumulated other comprehensive income (loss), net of taxes (67,751 )   (64,108 )
    Treasury stock, at cost; 16,450 and 63,986 shares at December 31,          
      2024 and December 31, 2023, respectively (375 )   (1,111 )
        TOTAL STOCKHOLDERS’ EQUITY 185,531     165,376  
                   
        TOTAL LIABILITIES AND STOCKHOLDERS’ EQUITY $                 2,509,927     $                 2,485,468  
                   
    ORANGE COUNTY BANCORP, INC.
    CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF INCOME
    (UNAUDITED)
    (Dollar Amounts in thousands except per share data)
          For Three Months Ended December 31,   Twelve Months Ended December 31,
          2024     2023   2024   2023
    INTEREST INCOME                
      Interest and fees on loans $ 27,263     $ 25,866   106,030   $ 96,264
      Interest on investment securities:                
        Taxable 2,696     3,153   11,672   12,723
        Tax exempt 582     564   2,304   2,285
      Interest on Federal funds sold and other 1,665     1,984   7,221   6,498
                         
        TOTAL INTEREST INCOME 32,206     31,567   127,227   117,770
                         
    INTEREST EXPENSE                
      Savings and NOW accounts 5,308     4,045   20,475   13,126
      Time deposits 1,658     2,500   7,399   6,393
      FHLB advances and borrowings 1,932     2,643   6,666   8,938
      Subordinated notes 230     230   921   922
        TOTAL INTEREST EXPENSE 9,128     9,418   35,461   29,379
                         
        NET INTEREST INCOME 23,078     22,149   91,766   88,391
                         
    Provision for credit losses (51 )   462   7,710   7,868
        NET INTEREST INCOME AFTER                
        PROVISION FOR CREDIT LOSSES 23,129     21,687   84,056   80,523
                         
    NONINTEREST INCOME                
      Service charges on deposit accounts 278     221   1,015   809
      Trust income 1,511     1,391   5,511   5,098
      Investment advisory income 1,772     1,422   6,738   5,241
      Investment securities gains(losses) –     –   –   107
      Earnings on bank owned life insurance 264     259   815   984
      Other 480     450   1,893   1,180
        TOTAL NONINTEREST INCOME 4,305     3,743   15,972   13,419
                         
    NONINTEREST EXPENSE                
      Salaries 7,177     6,141   27,475   24,747
      Employee benefits 2,243     2,080   8,938   7,439
      Occupancy expense 1,243     1,147   4,790   4,761
      Professional fees 1,601     1,241   5,931   4,753
      Directors’ fees and expenses 272     769   1,053   1,451
      Computer software expense 1,761     1,336   5,952   5,050
      FDIC assessment 330     380   1,308   1,403
      Advertising expenses 409     583   1,575   1,657
      Advisor expenses related to trust income 18     31   113   120
      Telephone expenses 181     178   746   712
      Intangible amortization 72     72   286   285
      Other 3,159     770   7,043   4,415
        TOTAL NONINTEREST EXPENSE 18,466     14,728   65,210   56,793
                         
      Income before income taxes 8,968     10,702   34,818   37,149
                         
    Provision for income taxes 1,804     2,578   6,935   7,671
        NET INCOME $ 7,164     $ 8,124   27,883   $ 29,478
                         
    Basic and diluted earnings per share $                          0.63     $                            0.72   $                          2.47   $                          2.62
                         
    Weighted average shares outstanding 11,322,045     11,264,908   11,303,118   11,258,300
    ORANGE COUNTY BANCORP, INC.
    NET INTEREST MARGIN ANALYSIS
    (UNAUDITED)
    (Dollar Amounts in thousands)
                           
      Three Months Ended December 31,
      2024   2023
      Average
    Balance    		   Interest   Average
    Rate    		   Average
    Balance    		   Interest   Average
    Rate
    Assets:                      
    Loans Receivable (net of PPP) $       1,813,263   $    27,261   5.96%   $    1,725,560   $    25,863   5.95%
    PPP Loans 174   2   4.56%   222   3   5.36%
    Investment securities 456,552   3,207   2.79%   471,955   3,480   2.93%
    Due from banks 143,908   1,665   4.59%   149,312   1,984   5.27%
    Other 9,033   71   3.12%   12,432   237   7.56%
    Total interest earning assets 2,422,930   32,206   5.27%   2,359,481   31,567   5.31%
    Non-interest earning assets 94,263           98,224        
    Total assets $       2,517,193           $    2,457,705        
                           
    Liabilities and equity:                      
    Interest-bearing demand accounts $          339,233   $         402   0.47%   $       314,008   $         409   0.52%
    Money market accounts 698,335   3,967   2.25%   600,451   2,958   1.95%
    Savings accounts 269,244   939   1.38%   228,078   678   1.18%
    Certificates of deposit 162,610   1,658   4.05%   217,137   2,500   4.57%
    Total interest-bearing deposits 1,469,422   6,966   1.88%   1,359,674   6,545   1.91%
    FHLB Advances and other borrowings 132,908   1,932   5.77%   187,989   2,643   5.58%
    Subordinated notes 19,579   230   4.66%   19,508   230   4.68%
    Total interest bearing liabilities 1,621,909   9,128   2.23%   1,567,171   9,418   2.38%
    Non-interest bearing demand accounts 679,727           719,535        
    Other non-interest bearing liabilities 25,664           24,376        
    Total liabilities 2,327,300           2,311,082        
    Total shareholders’ equity 189,893           146,623        
    Total liabilities and shareholders’ equity $       2,517,193           $    2,457,705        
                           
    Net interest income     $    23,078           $    22,149    
    Interest rate spread 1         3.04%           2.92%
    Net interest margin 2         3.78%           3.72%
    Average interest earning assets to interest-bearing liabilities 149.4%           150.6%        
                           
    Notes:                      
    1 The Interest rate spread is the difference between the yield on average interest-earning assets and the cost of average interest-bearing liabilities
    2 Net interest margin is the annualized net interest income divided by average interest-earning assets
    ORANGE COUNTY BANCORP, INC.
    NET INTEREST MARGIN ANALYSIS
    (UNAUDITED)
    (Dollar Amounts in thousands)
                           
      Twelve Months Ended December 31,
      2024   2023
      Average
    Balance    		   Interest   Average
    Rate    		   Average
    Balance    		   Interest   Average
    Rate
    Assets:                      
    Loans Receivable (net of PPP) $       1,760,057   $   106,022   6.01%   $    1,683,232   $    96,236   5.72%
    PPP Loans 192   8   4.16%   1,133   28   2.47%
    Investment securities 467,145   13,255   2.83%   503,410   14,055   2.79%
    Due from banks 153,634   7,221   4.69%   142,003   6,498   4.58%
    Other 8,218   721   8.75%   11,561   953   8.24%
    Total interest earning assets 2,389,246   127,227   5.31%   2,341,339   117,770   5.03%
    Non-interest earning assets 95,597           96,259        
    Total assets $       2,484,843           $    2,437,598        
                           
    Liabilities and equity:                      
    Interest-bearing demand accounts $          366,103   $       1,751   0.48%   $       331,056   $      1,284   0.39%
    Money market accounts 670,231   15,199   2.26%   617,345   9,429   1.53%
    Savings accounts 254,098   3,525   1.38%   245,663   2,413   0.98%
    Certificates of deposit 168,202   7,399   4.39%   165,239   6,393   3.87%
    Total interest-bearing deposits 1,458,634   27,874   1.91%   1,359,303   19,519   1.44%
    FHLB Advances and other borrowings 126,149   6,666   5.27%   170,371   8,938   5.25%
    Subordinated notes 19,553   921   4.70%   19,481   922   4.73%
    Total interest bearing liabilities 1,604,336   35,461   2.20%   1,549,155   29,379   1.90%
    Non-interest bearing demand accounts 675,983           717,689        
    Other non-interest bearing liabilities 26,440           23,338        
    Total liabilities 2,306,759           2,290,182        
    Total shareholders’ equity 178,084           147,416        
    Total liabilities and shareholders’ equity $       2,484,843           $    2,437,598        
                           
    Net interest income     $     91,766           $    88,391    
    Interest rate spread 1         3.11%           3.13%
    Net interest margin 2         3.83%           3.78%
    Average interest earning assets to interest-bearing liabilities 148.9%           151.1%        
                           
    Notes:                      
    1 The Interest rate spread is the difference between the yield on average interest-earning assets and the cost of average interest-bearing liabilities
    2 Net interest margin is the annualized net interest income divided by average interest-earning assets
    ORANGE COUNTY BANCORP, INC.
    SELECTED RATIOS AND OTHER DATA
    (UNAUDITED)
     
      Three Months Ended   December  31,   Twelve Months Ended December 31,
      2024   2023   2024   2023
    Performance Ratios:               
    Return on average assets (1) 1.14%   1.32%   1.12%   1.21%
    Return on average equity (1) 15.09%   22.16%   15.66%   20.00%
    Interest rate spread (2) 3.04%   2.92%   3.11%   3.13%
    Net interest margin (3) 3.78%   3.72%   3.83%   3.78%
    Dividend payout ratio (4) 19.76%   15.95%   19.05%   17.56%
    Non-interest income to average total assets 0.68%   0.61%   0.64%   0.55%
    Non-interest expenses to average total assets 2.93%   2.40%   2.62%   2.33%
    Average interest-earning assets to average interest-bearing liabilities 149.39%   150.56%   148.92%   151.14%
                   
      At   At        
      December 31, 2024   December 31, 2023        
    Asset Quality Ratios:              
    Non-performing assets to total assets 0.25%   0.18%        
    Non-performing loans to total loans 0.35%   0.25%        
    Allowance for credit losses to non-performing loans 413.99%   568.83%        
    Allowance for credit losses to total loans 1.44%   1.44%        
                   
    Capital Ratios (5):              
    Total capital (to risk-weighted assets) 15.37%   14.16%        
    Tier 1 capital (to risk-weighted assets) 14.12%   12.91%        
    Common equity tier 1 capital (to risk-weighted assets) 14.12%   12.91%        
    Tier 1 capital (to average assets) 10.23%   9.42%        
                   
    Notes:              
    (1) Annualized for the three and twelve month periods ended December 31, 2024 and 2023, respectively.
    (2) Represents the difference between the weighted-average yield on interest-earning assets and the weighted-average cost of interest-bearing liabilities for the periods.
    (3) The net interest margin represents net interest income as a percent of average interest-earning assets for the periods.
    (4) The dividend payout ratio represents dividends paid per share divided by net income per share.
    (5) Ratios are for the Bank only.
    ORANGE COUNTY BANCORP, INC.
    SELECTED OPERATING DATA
    (UNAUDITED)
    (Dollar Amounts in thousands except per share data)
      Three Months Ended December 31,   Twelve Months Ended December 31,
      2024     2023   2024   2023
    Interest income $                      32,206     $                      31,567   $                 127,227   $                    117,770
    Interest expense 9,128     9,418   35,461   29,379
    Net interest income 23,078     22,149   91,766   88,391
    Provision for credit losses (51 )   462   7,710   7,868
    Net interest income after provision for credit losses 23,129     21,687   84,056   80,523
    Noninterest income 4,305     3,743   15,972   13,419
    Noninterest expenses 18,466     14,728   65,210   56,793
    Income before income taxes 8,968     10,702   34,818   37,149
    Provision for income taxes 1,804     2,578   6,935   7,671
    Net income $                        7,164     $                        8,124   $                   27,883   $                      29,478
                     
    Basic and diluted earnings per share $                          0.63     $                          0.72   $                       2.47   $                          2.62
    Weighted average common shares outstanding 11,322,045     11,264,908   11,303,118   11,258,300
                     
      At     At        
      December 31, 2024     December 31, 2023        
    Book value per share $                        16.35     $                        14.63        
    Net tangible book value per share (1) $                        15.80     $                        14.06        
    Outstanding common shares 11,350,158     11,302,622        
                     
    Notes:                
    (1)  Net tangible book value represents the amount of total tangible assets reduced by our total liabilities. Tangible assets are calculated by reducing total assets, as defined by GAAP, by $5,359 in goodwill and $821, and $1,107 in other intangible assets for December 31, 2024 and December 31, 2023, respectively.
    ORANGE COUNTY BANCORP, INC.
    LOAN COMPOSITION
    (UNAUDITED)
    (Dollar Amounts in thousands)
      At December 31, 2024   At December 31, 2023
      Amount   Percent   Amount   Percent
    Commercial and industrial (a) $                    251,313   13.84 %   $                    273,562   15.66 %
    Commercial real estate 1,362,054   75.01 %   1,259,356   72.08 %
    Commercial real estate construction 80,993   4.46 %   85,725   4.91 %
    Residential real estate 74,973   4.13 %   78,321   4.48 %
    Home equity 17,365   0.96 %   13,546   0.78 %
    Consumer 29,053   1.60 %   36,552   2.09 %
    Total loans 1,815,751   100.00 %   1,747,062   100.00 %
    Allowance for loan losses 26,077         25,182      
    Total loans, net $                 1,789,674         $                 1,721,880      
                       
    (a) – Includes PPP loans of: $                           170         $                           215      
    ORANGE COUNTY BANCORP, INC.
    DEPOSITS BY ACCOUNT TYPE
    (UNAUDITED)
    (Dollar Amounts in thousands)
      At December 31, 2024   At December 31, 2023
      Amount   Percent   Average Rate   Amount   Percent   Average Rate
    Noninterest-bearing demand accounts $               651,135   30.24 %   0.00 %   $      699,203   34.30 %   0.00 %
    Interest bearing demand accounts 331,115   15.38 %   0.42 %   304,892   14.95 %   0.49 %
    Money market accounts 679,082   31.54 %   2.15 %   584,976   28.69 %   2.04 %
    Savings accounts 271,014   12.59 %   1.25 %   228,161   11.19 %   1.19 %
    Certificates of Deposit 221,013   10.26 %   3.97 %   221,517   10.87 %   4.57 %
    Total $            2,153,359   100.00 %   1.31 %   $   2,038,749   100.00 %   1.29 %
                                   
    ORANGE COUNTY BANCORP, INC.
    NON-PERFORMING ASSETS
    (UNAUDITED)
     (Dollar Amounts in thousands)
               
      December 31, 2024     December 31, 2023  
               
    Non-accrual loans:          
    Commercial and industrial $                           293     $                           556  
    Commercial real estate 6,000     2,692  
    Commercial real estate construction –     –  
    Residential real estate 6     1,179  
    Home equity –     –  
    Consumer –     –  
    Total non-accrual loans 6,299     4,427  
    Accruing loans 90 days or more past due:          
    Commercial and industrial –     –  
    Commercial real estate –     –  
    Commercial real estate construction –     –  
    Residential real estate –     –  
    Home equity –     –  
    Consumer –     –  
    Total loans 90 days or more past due –     –  
    Total non-performing loans 6,299     4,427  
    Other real estate owned –     –  
    Other non-performing assets –     –  
    Total non-performing assets $                        6,299     $                        4,427  
               
    Ratios:          
    Total non-performing loans to total loans 0.35 %   0.25 %
    Total non-performing loans to total assets 0.25 %   0.18 %
    Total non-performing assets to total assets 0.25 %   0.18 %

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Tuberville Takes Action to Protect Conservatives, Taxpayers from Political Discrimination by Banks

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator Tommy Tuberville (Alabama)

    WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) joined U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND) to reintroduce the Fair Access to Banking Act, which protects fair access to financial services and ensures banks operate in a safe and sound manner. The legislation requires that lending and services decisions must be based on impartial, risk-based analysis, not political or reputational favoritism. 

    In recent years, prominent American banks have engaged in a discriminatory practice, referred to as debanking. Banks and financial institutions use their economic standing to categorically exclude law-abiding, legal industries by refusing to lend or provide services to them. This includes industries such as firearms, ammunition, crypto, federal prison contractors, as well as energy producers. 

    “Banks should make lending decisions based solely on economic factors – not woke political concerns,” said Sen. Tuberville. “Big banks are bowing to pressure from woke activists who oppose loans being given to businesses that don’t fall in line with the left’s agenda. No financial institution should be pressured to cut off lending to a legitimate business. Financial discrimination is un-American and unacceptable. I’m proud to support the Fair Access to Banking Act to push back against attempts to weaponize the banking sector for political reasons.”

    “When progressives failed at banning these entire industries, what they did instead is they turned to weaponizing banks as sort of a backdoor to carry out their activist goals,” said Sen. Cramer. “Financial institutions are backed by taxpayers, for crying out loud! They should be obligated to provide services in an unbiased, risk-based manner. The Fair Access to Banking Act ensures that banks provide fair access to services and enacts strict penalties for categorically discriminating against legal industries and individuals.”

    The Fair Access to Banking Act is endorsed by several organizations, including the National Shooting Sports Foundation, National Rifle Association, North Dakota Petroleum Council, National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, The Digital Chamber, Blockchain Association, Independent Petroleum Association of America, Online Lenders Alliance, Day 1 Alliance, GEO Group, the Lignite Energy Council, and National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors.

    Joining U.S. Senators Tuberville and Cramer in cosponsoring this bill are U.S. Senators Jim Banks (R-IN), John Barrasso (R-WY), Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), John Boozman (R-AR), Katie Britt (R-AL), Ted Budd (R-NC), Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), Bill Cassidy (R-LA), John Cornyn (R-TX), Tom Cotton (R-AR), Mike Crapo (R-ID), Ted Cruz (R-TX), John Curtis (R-UT), Steve Daines (R-MT), Joni Ernst (R-IA), Deb Fischer (R-NE), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Bill Hagerty (R-TN), John Hoeven (R-ND), Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS), Ron Johnson (R-WI), Jim Justice (R-WV), John Kennedy (R-LA), James Lankford (R-OK), Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), Roger Marshall (R-KS), Dave McCormick (R-PA), Jerry Moran (R-KS), Bernie Moreno (R-OH), Markwayne Mullin (R-OK), Pete Ricketts (R-NE), Jim Risch (R-ID), Eric Schmitt (R-MO), Rick Scott (R-FL), Tim Scott (R-SC), Tim Sheehy (R-MT), Dan Sullivan (R-AK), Thom Tillis (R-NC), and Roger Wicker (R-MS).

    U.S. Representative Andy Barr (R-KY) introduced similar legislation in the House of Representatives. 

    Click here for bill text. 

    BACKGROUND:

    Specifically, this legislation penalizes banks and credit unions with over $10 billion in total consolidated assets, or their subsidiaries, if they refuse to do business with any legally compliant, credit-worthy person. It also prevents payment card networks from discriminating against any qualified person because of political or reputational considerations. The bill requires qualified banks to provide written justification for why they are denying a person financial services. Further, the Fair Access to Banking Act would penalize providers who fail to comply with the law by disqualifying institutions from using discount window lending programs, terminating status as an insured depository institution or credit union, or imposing a civil penalty of up to $10,000 per violation. 

    The bill is based on President Trump’s Fair Access Rule, which was introduced during his first administration and required financial institutions to make individual risk assessments rather than broad decisions regarding entire industries or categories of customers. The Biden administration paused the rule’s implementation in early 2021.

    The Senators’ legislation is a response to United States banks and financial institutions increasingly using their economic standing to categorically discriminate against legal industries and conservatives. For example, Citigroup instituted a policy in 2018 to withhold project-related financing for coal plants, and in 2020, five of the country’s largest banks announced they would not provide loans or credit to support oil and gas drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, despite explicit congressional authorization. Such exclusionary practices also extend to industries protected by the Second Amendment, with Capital One, among other banks, previously including “ammunitions, firearms, or firearm parts” in the prohibited payments section of its corporate policy manual, and payment services like Apple Pay and PayPal denying their services for transactions involving firearms or ammunition. First Lady Melania Trump and technology companies alike allege banks have debanked them or refused to do business. During his address to the World Economic Forum in January, President Trump highlighted big banks and their discriminatory practices of targeting conservatives.  

    Senator Tommy Tuberville represents Alabama in the United States Senate and is a member of the Senate Armed Services, Agriculture, Veterans’ Affairs, HELP, and Aging Committees.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI United Nations: United Nations ‘Fully Committed to Peace, Stability, Inalienable Rights of Palestinian People’, Secretary-General Tells Committee

    Source: United Nations General Assembly and Security Council

    Following are UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ remarks to the opening of the 2025 session of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, in New York today:

    Ambassador Coly Seck, Bureau members, let me begin by congratulating you on your election.

    I want to salute this Committee for its work.  At its essence, the exercise of the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people is about the right of Palestinians to simply live as human beings in their own land.

    We have seen the realization of those rights steadily slip farther out of reach.  We have seen a chilling, systematic dehumanization and demonization of an entire people.  Of course, nothing justifies the horrific Hamas attacks of 7 October 2023. And nothing justifies what we have seen unfold in Gaza over the last many months.

    We all know too well the catalogue of destruction and unspeakable horrors.  The nearly 50,000 people — 70 per cent of them women and children — who have been reported killed.

    The majority of Gaza’s civilian infrastructure — hospitals, schools and water facilities — that has been destroyed.  The overwhelming majority of the entire population who have faced displacement after displacement, hunger and disease.  Children, out of school for over a year.  A generation, left homeless and traumatized.

    I welcome the ceasefire and hostage release deal.  I thank the mediators — Egypt, Qatar and the United States — for the continued efforts to ensure implementation.  Now, it is time to be crystal clear about objectives going forward.

    First, we must keep pushing for a permanent ceasefire and the release of all hostages without delay.  We cannot go back to more death and destruction.  For our part, the UN is working around the clock to reach Palestinians in need and scale up support.  That requires humanitarian access that is rapid, safe, unimpeded, expanded and sustained.

    I call on Member States, donors, and the international community to fully fund humanitarian operations and meet urgent needs.  And I once again urge Member States to support the essential work of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).

    Second, in the search for solutions, we must not make the problem worse.  It is vital to stay true to the bedrock of international law.  It is essential to avoid any form of ethnic cleansing.

    Third, we must reaffirm the two-State solution.  Any durable peace will require tangible, irreversible and permanent progress towards the two-State solution, an end to the occupation and the establishment of an independent Palestinian State, with Gaza as an integral part.  A viable, sovereign Palestinian State living side by side in peace and security with Israel is the only sustainable solution for Middle East stability.

    Beyond Gaza, the situation continues to unravel in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem.  I am gravely concerned by rising violence by Israeli settlers and other violations.  The violence must stop.

    As affirmed by the International Court of Justice, Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territory must end.  International law must be respected and accountability ensured.

    We must work towards preserving the unity, contiguity and integrity of the Occupied Palestinian Territory and the recovery and reconstruction of Gaza.  A strong and unified Palestinian governance is crucial.  The international community must support the Palestinian Authority to this end.

    The UN is fully committed to peace, stability and the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people.  I commend this Committee for its steadfast dedication to these goals and call on the international community to fully support these efforts.

    MIL OSI United Nations News –

  • MIL-OSI Europe: France opposes any forced displacement of Gaza’s Palestinians

    Source: France-Diplomatie – Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Development

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    Published on February 5, 2025

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    Statement by the Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs Spokesperson (Paris, February 5, 2025)

    France reiterates its opposition to any forced displacement of Gaza’s Palestinian population, which would constitute a serious violation of international law, an attack on the legitimate aspirations of Palestinians and also a major obstacle to the two-state solution and a factor of major destabilization for our close partners, Egypt and Jordan, and the whole region.

    France will continue actively promoting the implementation of the two-state solution, which alone can guarantee long-term peace and security to Israelis and Palestinians. Gaza’s future must lie not in the prospect of control by a third State but in the framework of a future Palestinian State, under the aegis of the Palestinian Authority. Hamas must be disarmed and have no part in the territory’s governance. France will continue to express its opposition to settlement activity – which is contrary to international law – and to any hint of the unilateral annexation of the West Bank./.

    MIL OSI Europe News –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Stamford Man Sentenced to More Than 6 Years in Federal Prison for Robbing 3 Banks in 2020

    Source: Office of United States Attorneys

    Marc H. Silverman, Acting United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that FRANCESCO PENSIERO, also known as Frank Pensiero, 52, of Stamford, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Victor A. Bolden in New Haven to 78 months of imprisonment, followed by three years of supervised release, for robbing three Connecticut banks in 2020.

    According to court documents and statements made in court, on October 13, 2020, Pensiero and an associate robbed the Chase Bank located at 2855 Main Street in Stratford.  During the robbery, Pensiero’s associate displayed a handgun on the teller counter and presented the teller with a note that read “this is a robbery give me all your money.”  The teller provided Pensiero’s associate with approximately $1,000 and Pensiero and his associate exited the bank.

    Later on October 13, 2020, Pensiero robbed the People’s United Bank located at 1160 Kings Highway Cutoff in Fairfield.  During the robbery, he pulled out a handgun and presented the teller a note that stated “This is a robbery.”  The teller provided Pensiero with $5,458 and Pensiero exited the bank.

    On October 28, 2020, Pensiero and his associate robbed the People’s United Bank located at 95 Main Street in New Canaan.  Pensiero displayed a handgun, provided the teller with a note demanding money, verbally threatened to kill the teller and other employees, and ordered the bank employees to lie on the floor.  Pensiero and his associate stole $9,130 during the robbery, and fled from the bank in a red Chevrolet Monte Carlo SS.  The following day, the car was set on fire on Green Avenue in New Canaan.

    Pensiero was arrested on a federal criminal complaint on January 27, 2023.  On June 3, 2024, he pleaded guilty to bank robbery.

    Pensiero’s criminal history includes convictions for bank robbery and other offenses.

    Pensiero’s associate was convicted of related state offenses stemming from these robberies.

    This investigation was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Stratford, Fairfield, and New Canaan Police Departments.  The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel P. Gordon.

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Barrasso Votes to Confirm Scott Turner as Secretary of Housing and Urban Development

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator for Wyoming John Barrasso

    WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), Senate Majority Whip, today spoke on the Senate Floor prior to voting to confirm Scott Turner, President Donald J. Trump’s nominee for Secretary of Housing and Urban Development.

    Click HERE to watch Senator Barrasso’s remarks.

    Sen. Barrasso’s remarks as prepared:

    “The Senate will soon vote on the confirmation of Scott Turner to be the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development.

    “Scott grew up in Texas. He dreamed of a career in the National Football League. He achieved that dream and so much more.

    “He used his platform as a player to help others achieve their own dreams.

    “These leadership qualities are fundamental to who Scott is. They will serve him well as Secretary of Housing and Urban Development.

    “Scott also has extensive experience in state and federal governments.

    “After playing in the NFL, he served his community in the Texas legislature.

    “In 2019, Scott oversaw investments in Opportunity Zones under President Trump.

    “In that role, Scott secured more than $50 billion in private investments for over 8,700 economically-distressed communities.

    “These investments helped to revitalize forgotten communities.

    “Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina – the now-Chairman of the Banking Committee – created these Opportunity Zones in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017.

    “Scott Turner was instrumental in their success. He is the right man to help restore opportunity now.

    “He will put his experience and his leadership skills to work for the American people.

    “I strongly support his nomination.”

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: IMF Executive Board Completes the First Review Under the Extended Credit Facility (ECF) Arrangement for Liberia

    Source: IMF – News in Russian

    February 5, 2025

    • The IMF Executive Board completed the first review of the 40-month arrangement under the Extended Credit Facility (ECF), enabling a disbursement of SDR 34.3 million (about US$46 million).
    • The ECF arrangement will support the economic reform agenda recently adopted by the authorities. To achieve this reform objective, the authorities have committed to creating fiscal space through domestic revenue mobilization and expenditure rationalization, addressing financial sector weaknesses, and tackling governance shortcomings.
    • Program performance has been broadly satisfactory, meeting most of the quantitative targets and implementing all structural reforms, although some with delays.

    Washington, DC: The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) completed the first review of the arrangement under the Extended Credit Facility (ECF)[1] for Liberia, allowing Liberia to draw SDR 34.3 million (equivalent to about 13.3 percent of quota or US$46 million), which will be used to strengthen Liberia’s international reserve position.

    Liberia’s economic growth has remained strong, with the real GDP growth expected to accelerate to 5.6 percent in 2025 from 4.8 percent in 2024. Inflation and exchange rate has remained stable, and the current account deficit has continued to narrow. The authorities have successfully restored fiscal discipline, which is key for maintaining macro-financial stability. The public debt-to-GDP ratio has started to fall, reflecting a sizable consolidation of the fiscal primary balance.

    Recent progress in mobilizing tax revenues, reining in recurrent spending, and anchoring financial stability is promising. The authorities’ commitment to modernize the taxation regime, including the adoption of the VAT, will play a crucial role in creating fiscal space for higher investments, while preserving debt sustainability.

    The authorities’ renewed commitments to urgently tackle issues in weak banks and improve governance in public institutions are encouraging. Addressing the large and persistent non-performing loans (NPLs) stock remains a priority to enhance financial stability.

    The Executive Board approved the authorities’ request for a waiver of nonobservance of the continuous performance criterion on the non-accumulation of external arrears based on its minor nature and adopted corrective actions.

    Following the Executive Board discussion, Mr. Bo Li, Deputy Managing Director, and Acting Chair, made the following statement:

    “The Liberian authorities are making good progress in implementing sound macroeconomic policies and structural reforms. The program is broadly on track, and the authorities’ efforts to enhance fiscal sustainability, rebuild international reserves, and address governance weaknesses within public institutions are gradually taking effect.

    “Efforts to strengthen fiscal sustainability and mitigate debt vulnerabilities should continue over the medium term. In line with these efforts, the approved budget for 2025 aims to improve revenue mobilization, while continuing to rationalize unproductive spending and safeguard priority spending. Medium-term fiscal reforms designed to enhance domestic revenue mobilization and improve public finance management will help create fiscal space to bolster public investment.

    “The authorities should press ahead with addressing weaknesses in the Central Bank of Liberia’s (CBL) governance. Swift implementation of the recommendations of the compliance and forensic audit reports, an update IMF safeguards assessment, and an independent legal review of its unconventional financial support to two small banks is critical. This will help restore the CBL’s credibility and strengthen its governance and independence.

    “Broader governance reforms are key to the success of the program and the country’s long-term development prospects. Strengthening the capacity of integrity institutions, enacting necessary amendments to anti-corruption legislation, and rigorously enforcing public laws and regulations are critical. The upcoming governance diagnostic study will be crucial in guiding broader governance reforms.

    “Strengthening banking sector supervision and the regulatory framework is important to address banking sector vulnerabilities. To this end, the adoption of the new Bank-Financial Institutions and Bank Financial Holding Companies Act should be expedited. Restructuring of a state-owned bank, along with measures to address weaknesses in two small, troubled banks, should be accelerated. 

    “The authorities are firmly committed to revitalizing the reform agenda to address the country’s development challenges and support sustainable and inclusive economic development. The successful implementation of the recently adopted National Development Strategy is critical in achieving these goals.”

    [1] Liberia: Request for a 40-Month Arrangement Under the Extended Credit Facility-Press Release; Staff Report; Staff Supplement; and Statement by the Executive Director for Liberia

    IMF Communications Department
    MEDIA RELATIONS

    PRESS OFFICER: Tatiana Mossot

    Phone: +1 202 623-7100Email: MEDIA@IMF.org

    https://www.imf.org/en/News/Articles/2025/02/05/pr-2529-liberia-imf-completes-the-1st-review-under-the-ecf-arrangement

    MIL OSI

    MIL OSI Russia News –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Oklahoma City Man Pleads Guilty to Committing Bank Fraud

    Source: Office of United States Attorneys

    OKLAHOMA CITY – AARON D. JOHNSON, 42, of Oklahoma City, has pleaded guilty to defrauding Farmers Bank, announced U.S. Attorney Robert J. Troester.

    On January 3, 2025, Johnson was charged by Information with bank fraud. Between September 2017 and November 6, 2018, Johnson was the President and Chief Executive Officer of Farmers Bank (the Bank), with branches in Carnegie and Oklahoma City, and had access to the Bank’s operating account credit card. According to the Information, between September 2017 and July 30, 2018, Johnson used the Bank’s card to pay his personal expenses, causing an overdraft in the Bank’s operating account of approximately $200,000. On July 30, 2018, Johnson approved a modification to a loan, without approval from the Bank’s board of directors, that renewed the loan in an increased amount. The Information further alleges that Johnson caused a $200,000 advance on the loan, wired the money into an account he controlled, and used the $200,000 to repay the overdraft that he caused.

    On February 4, 2024, Johnson pleaded guilty, and admitted he knowingly executed a scheme to obtain money from the Bank by means of false or fraudulent pretenses. At sentencing, Johnson faces up to 30 years in federal prison and a fine of up to $1,000,000.

    This case is the result of an investigation by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Office of Inspector General. Assistant U.S. Attorney Julia E. Barry is prosecuting the case. 

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI: LPL Financial to present at the Bank of America Securities Financial Services Conference

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    SAN DIEGO, Feb. 05, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — LPL Financial LLC today announced that Rich Steinmeier, Chief Executive Officer, will present at the Bank of America Securities Financial Services Conference on February 12.

    The presentation takes place at 11:20 a.m. ET. A live audio webcast of the presentation will be accessible at investor.lpl.com, with a replay available on the website after the presentation.

    Contacts

    Investor Relations
    investor.relations@lplfinancial.com

    Media Relations
    media.relations@lplfinancial.com

    About LPL Financial

    LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (Nasdaq: LPLA) is among the fastest growing wealth management firms in the U.S. As a leader in the financial advisor-mediated marketplace, LPL supports nearly 29,000 financial advisors and the wealth management practices of approximately 1,200 financial institutions, servicing and custodying approximately $1.7 trillion in brokerage and advisory assets on behalf of approximately 6 million Americans. The firm provides a wide range of advisor affiliation models, investment solutions, fintech tools and practice management services, ensuring that advisors and institutions have the flexibility to choose the business model, services, and technology resources they need to run thriving businesses. For further information about LPL, please visit www.lpl.com.

    Securities and Advisory services offered through LPL Financial LLC (“LPL Financial”) or its affiliate LPL Enterprise, LLC (“LPL Enterprise”), both registered investment advisors and broker-dealers. Member FINRA/SIPC. LPL Financial serves as the clearing and carrying firm for accounts LPL Enterprise introduces to it.

    LPL Financial and LPL Enterprise provide financial services only from the United States.

    Throughout this communication, the terms “financial advisors” and “advisors” are used to refer to registered representatives and/or investment advisor representatives affiliated with LPL Financial.

    We routinely disclose information that may be important to shareholders in the “Investor Relations” or “Press Releases” section of our website.

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI Economics: How real-world businesses are transforming with AI – with 50 new stories

    Source: Microsoft

    Headline: How real-world businesses are transforming with AI – with 50 new stories

    Updated February 5, 2025: The post contains 50 new customer stories, which appear at the beginning of each section of customer lists. The post will be updated regularly with new stories.

    One of the highlights of my career has always been connecting with customers and partners across industries to learn how they are using technology to drive their businesses forward. In the past 30 years, we’ve seen four major platform shifts, from client server to internet and the web to mobile and cloud to now — the next major platform shift to AI.  

    As today’s platform shift to AI continues to gain momentum, Microsoft is working to understand just how organizations can drive lasting business value. We recently commissioned a study with IDC, The Business Opportunity of AI, to uncover new insights around business value and help guide organizations on their journey of AI transformation. The study found that for every $1 organizations invest in generative AI, they’re realizing an average of $3.70 in return — and uncovered insights about the future potential of AI to reshape business processes and drive change across industries.

    Check out the top 5 AI trends to watch from IDC and Microsoft

    Today, more than 85% of the Fortune 500 are using Microsoft AI solutions to shape their future. In working with organizations large and small, across every industry and geography, we’ve seen that most transformation initiatives are designed to achieve one of four business outcomes:  

    1. Enriching employee experiences: Using AI to streamline or automate repetitive, mundane tasks can allow your employees to dive into more complex, creative and ultimately more valuable work.
    2. Reinventing customer engagement: AI can create more personalized, tailored customer experiences, delighting your target audiences while lightening the load for employees.
    3. Reshaping business processes: Virtually any business process can be reimagined with AI, from marketing to supply chain operations to finance, and AI is even allowing organizations to go beyond process optimization and discover exciting new growth opportunities.
    4. Bending the curve on innovation: AI is revolutionizing innovation by speeding up creative processes and product development, reducing the time to market and allowing companies to differentiate in an often crowded field.

    In this blog, we’ve collected more than 300 of our favorite real-life examples of how organizations are embracing Microsoft’s proven AI capabilities to drive impact and shape today’s platform shift to AI. Today, we’ve added new stories of customers using our AI capabilities at the beginning of each section. We’ll regularly update this story with more. We hope you find an example or two that can inspire your own transformation journey.

    Enriching employee experiences

    Generative AI is truly transforming employee productivity and wellbeing. Our customers tell us that by automating repetitive, mundane tasks, employees are freed up to dive into more complex and creative work. This shift not only makes the work environment more stimulating but also boosts job satisfaction. It sparks innovation, provides actionable insights for better decision-making and supports personalized training and development opportunities, all contributing to a better work-life balance. Customers around the world have reported significant improvements in employee productivity with these AI solutions:

    New Stories:

    1. Acentra Health created MedScribe using Azure OpenAI Service. The solution has saved 11,000 nursing hours and nearly $800,000. It also helped each nurse process 20 to 30 letters daily, while achieving a 99% approval rate for MedScribe-generated letters.
    2. Brisbane Catholic Education provides Microsoft 365 Copilot to 12,500 educators, and uses Microsoft Copilot Studio to create a generative AI tool to help educators integrate Catholic traditions and values into the classroom.
    3. Crediclub saves 96% per month in auditing expenses and analyzes 150 meetings per hour with Azure AI, freeing up time for 800 sales advisors and 150 branch managers to interact directly with customers.
    4. eClinicalWorks developed a tool using Azure AI services and Azure AI Document Intelligence to help healthcare workers scan, sort and match thousands of faxes each year to match the faxed data with current patient files.
    5. Education Authority of Northern Ireland (EANI) introduced Microsoft 365 Copilot to reduce admin work, allowing teachers to focus on students. The Microsoft partnership ensures secure and ethical AI use, while teacher training focuses on prompt writing and effective tool adoption.
    6. Ma’aden uses Microsoft 365 Copilot to enhance productivity, saving up to 2,200 hours monthly. Tasks like drafting emails, creating documents and data analysis have become more efficient, helping Ma’aden achieve its growth goals.
    7. Marketing org mci group uses Microsoft 365 Copilot to enhance the use of AI and other technological advances to boost employee efficiency.
    8. Michelin deployed Microsoft 365 Copilot and a generative AI in-house chatbot based on Azure OpenAI Service called “Aurora” designed to help employees optimize work and team performance, boosting productivity tenfold.
    9. Raiffeisen Bank International built its own ChatGPT using Azure OpenAI Service to automate repetitive tasks like documenting intelligence and more rapidly summarize legal, regulation and banking documents.
    10. Sanabil Investments deployed Microsoft 365 Copilot to help employees reduce the time spent on manual everyday tasks that diverted focus from more strategic and valuable work. Within two months, approximately 70% of employees regularly used Copilot.
    11. Sensei rolled out Microsoft 365 to reduce the number of internal apps and better connect systems for easier collaboration, and is using Microsoft 365 Copilot to increase efficiency.
    12. Sikshana Foundation is working with Microsoft Research India to introduce an AI copilot for teachers that shortens preparation time for lessons from an hour or more to just minutes.
    13. The University of Hong Kong adopted Microsoft 365 Copilot to enhance productivity by automating administrative tasks and providing intelligent assistance, allowing faculty to focus more on teaching.
    1. Accenture and Avanade launched a Copilot business transformation practice, supported by Microsoft, and co-invested in new capabilities, solutions and training to help organizations securely and responsibly reinvent their business functions with generative and agentic AI and Copilot technologies.
    2. Access Holdings Plc adopted Microsoft 365 Copilot, integrating generative AI into daily tools and, as a result, writing code now takes two hours instead of eight, chatbots launch in 10 days instead of three months and presentations are prepared in 45 minutes instead of six hours.
    3. Adobe is connecting Adobe Experience Cloud workflows and insights with Microsoft 365 Copilot to deliver generative-AI powered capabilities that enable marketers to increase collaboration, efficiency and creativity.
    4. Amadeus empowers its teams to focus their time and skills on value-added tasks with Microsoft 365 Copilot, by summarizing email threads, chat or transcripts and summing up information from diverse sources.
    5. ANZ has invested in Microsoft 365 Copilot, GitHub Copilot and Copilot in Microsoft Edge to boost productivity and innovation across its workforce.
    6. Asahi Europe & International (AEI) has adopted Microsoft 365 Copilot, saving employees potentially 15% of time previously spent on administrative tasks.
    7. AXA developed AXA Secure GPT, a platform powered by Azure OpenAI Service that empowers employees to leverage the power of generative AI while targeting the highest level of data safety and responsible use of the tool.
    8. Axon Enterprise developed a new AI tool with Azure OpenAI Service called Draft One, resulting in an 82% decrease in time spent on reports, which freed up officers to engage more with their community.
    9. Aztec Group enhanced productivity and client experience by trialing Microsoft 365 Copilot with 300 staff, uncovering “unlimited” use cases and plans for a wider rollout.
    10. Bader Sultan & Bros. Co. W.L.L. implemented Microsoft 365 Copilot to enhance employee productivity and speed up customer response times.
    11. Bancolombia is using GitHub Copilot to empower its technical team, achieving a 30% increase in code generation, boosting automated application changes to an average of 18,000 per year, with a rate of 42 productive daily deployments.
    12. Bank of Queensland Group is using Microsoft 365 Copilot, with 70% of users saving two-and-a-half to five hours per week.
    13. BaptistCare Community Services is using Microsoft 365 Copilot to save employees time as they navigate workforce shortage challenges allowing them to focus more on the people they care for.
    14. Barnsley Council was recognized as “Double Council of the Year in 2023” for its implementation of Microsoft 365 Copilot, which modernized operations and reduced administrative tasks, leading to improved job satisfaction and increased creativity.
    15. BlackRock purchased more than 24,000 Microsoft 365 Copilot licenses spanning all employees, functions and locations, helping improve the Copilot experience, including codeveloping new features and functions.
    16. British Heart Foundation is testing Microsoft 365 Copilot and in its initial test, users estimate that Microsoft 365 Copilot could save them up to 30 minutes per day.
    17. Buckinghamshire Council deployed Microsoft 365 Copilot with staff reporting productivity improvements, quality enhancements and time savings which are enabling the different teams to do more with less.
    18. Campari Group adopted Microsoft 365 Copilot to help employees integrate it into their workflow, resulting in time savings of about two hours a week from the support of routine activities such as email management, meeting preparation, content creation and skill acquisition.
    19. Canadian Tire Corporation moved its data from on-premises systems to Microsoft Azure and built digital assistants using Azure OpenAI Service, and now more than 3,000 corporate employees save 30 to 60 minutes a day using its ChatCTC digital assistant.
    20. Capita is using GitHub Copilot for productivity improvements as well as improvements in developer satisfaction, recruitment and retention.
    21. Cathay leverages Microsoft 365 Copilot to streamline meetings and manage information more effectively, reducing time-consuming tasks and fostering creativity.
    22. CDW used Microsoft 365 Copilot to improve work quality for 88% of users, enabling 77% to complete tasks faster, and increasing productivity for 85% of users.
    23. Chi Mei Medical Center is lightening workloads for doctors, nurses and pharmacists with a generative AI assistant built on Azure OpenAI Service.
    24. Clifford Chance adopted Microsoft 365 Copilot to streamline tasks, automate processes and enhance collaboration. Lawyers use it to draft and manage emails and ensure compliance, allowing them to focus on complex legal work and improve productivity.
    25. DLA Piper chose Microsoft 365 Copilot to boost productivity for operational and administrative teams, saving up to 36 hours weekly on content generation and data analysis.
    26. Eaton adopted Microsoft 365 Copilot to automate the creation of 1,000 standard operating procedures to streamline customer service operations and improve data access across teams, cutting creation time from one hour to 10 minutes.
    27. E.ON is focused on Germany’s energy transition, leveraging Microsoft 365 Copilot to manage the complex grid in real-time, increasing productivity and efficiency for its workforce.
    28. Enerijisa Uretim has adopted Microsoft 365 Copilot to streamline meeting summaries, reformat documents and compile reports, enabling employees to concentrate on more strategic and fulfilling activities instead of spending six hours in meetings.
    29. EPAM is deploying Microsoft 365 Copilot to consolidate information and generate content and documents.
    30. Farm Credit Canada implemented Microsoft 365 Copilot which resulted in time savings on routine tasks for 78% of users, with 30% saving 30 to 60 minutes per week and 35% saving over an hour per week, allowing employees to focus on more value-added tasks.
    31. Finastra used Microsoft 365 Copilot to automate tasks, enhance content creation, improve analytics and personalize customer interactions, with employees citing a 20%-50% time savings.
    32. Four Agency Worldwide increased employee productivity using Microsoft 365 Copilot to generate ideas for creative work and support administrative-heavy processes, data analysis and report generation, allowing staff to focus on outreach and less time doing paperwork.
    33. Goodwill of Orange County developed an AI-powered app using Azure AI capabilities to help more people, including those with developmental, intellectual and physical disabilities, work in unfilled e-commerce positions.
    34. Harvey uses Azure OpenAI to simplify routine tasks across hundreds of law firms and legal teams, with one corporate lawyer saying he saved 10 hours of work per week.
    35. Honeywell employees are saving 92 minutes per week — that’s 74 hours a year! Disclaimer: Statistics are from an internal Honeywell survey of 5,000 employees where 611 employees responded.
    36. Insight employees using Copilot are seeing four hours of productivity gained per week from data summarization and content creation.
    37. Joos uses Microsoft 365 Copilot to grow its brand with worldwide collaboration by streamlining meetings, optimizing presentations and improving communications.
    38. Kantar is harnessing the power of Microsoft 365 Copilot by reducing costly, time-consuming IT processes and boosting productivity for employees.
    39. KMS Lighthouse enhanced its knowledge management platform with Microsoft Teams and Dynamics 365 integration, enabling users to leverage KMS Lighthouse without having to switch applications. And with Azure OpenAI Service, companies can create relevant content more quickly within the KMS Lighthouse application.
    40. KPMG Australia is using Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service, Azure AI Search and Microsoft Copilot 365 to perform advanced text analysis of dozens of client source documents to identify full or partial compliance, or noncompliance, in a fraction of the time required for manual assessments.
    41. LGT is launching Microsoft Copilot LGT to improve efficiency, showing users save an average of an hour a week even in the pilot phase.
    42. Localiza&Co, a leader in the mobility industry in Latin America, implemented Microsoft 365 Copilot to automate processes and improve efficiency, and reduced 8.3 working hours per employee per month.
    43. Lotte Hotels & Resorts has been creating a new work culture that allows employees to work more efficiently and focus on the nature of the work by adopting Microsoft Power Platform for automation.
    44. MAIRE is leveraging Microsoft 365 Copilot to automate routine tasks, saving over 800 working hours per month, freeing up engineers and professionals for strategic activities while supporting MAIRE’s green energy transition by reducing their carbon footprint.
    45. McDonald’s China chose Microsoft Azure AI, GitHub Copilot and Azure AI Search to transform its operations, resulting in a significant increase in AI adoption, consumption and retention from 2,000 to 30,000 employee transactions monthly.
    46. McKnight Foundation adopted Microsoft 365 Copilot for all staff, saving time, increasing productivity and freeing space to focus on strategic priorities.
    47. Medigold Health uses Azure OpenAI Service to significantly reduce the time that clinicians spend writing reports during their consultation and administrative time.
    48. Morula Health is using Microsoft 365 Copilot to enhance productivity, streamline medical writing tasks and ensure data security, ultimately improving efficiency and client satisfaction.
    49. Motor Oil Group is achieving remarkable efficiency gains by integrating Microsoft 365 Copilot into its workflows, with staff spending minutes on tasks that used to take weeks.
    50. Nagel-Group uses Azure OpenAI Service to help employees quickly access information which saves time, creates efficiency and transparency and leads to higher-quality answers overall.
    51. National Australia Bank is leveraging Microsoft 365 Copilot for daily productivity and data analysis and insights and Microsoft Copilot for Security to quickly analyze millions of security event logs and allow engineers to focus on more important areas.
    52. NFL Players Association integrated Azure AI Services and Azure App Service into their video review process, reducing review time by up to 73%, significantly increasing efficiency and enhancing player safety through consistent rule enforcement.
    53. O2 Czech Republic boosts productivity and streamlines meetings with Microsoft 365 Copilot, revolutionizing how information is shared and making automation a part of daily work.
    54. Onepoint developed a secure conversational agent based on Azure OpenAI which delivers productivity gains of between 10% and 15% across all business lines.
    55. Orange Group has over 40 use cases with Azure OpenAI Service and GitHub Copilot across business functions to support employees in their day-to-day tasks, enabling them to concentrate on higher value-added activities.
    56. Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust implemented Microsoft 365 Copilot to improve staff report productivity by saving one to two hours a week, or simple formatting tasks down to a matter of seconds, enabling more resources to deliver frontline services.
    57. PA Consulting transformed its sales operations with Microsoft 365 Copilot, so its people can invest more time on the activities that have the biggest impact for clients and maximize the strategic value they provide.
    58. Petrobras used Azure OpenAI Service to create ChatPetrobras, which is streamlining workflows, reducing manual tasks and summarizing reports for its 110,000 employees.
    59. Petrochemical Industries Company automates work processes to save time with Microsoft 365 Copilot from weeks to days, hours to seconds.
    60. PIMCO built ChatGWM with Azure AI Studio, a comprehensive platform that provides the ability to ask questions, receive responses and verify answers all in one place, so teams can spend more time engaging clients and having deeper conversations.
    61. PKSHA Technology is optimizing their time on critical work by increasing efficiency in meeting preparations, data analytics and ideation with the help of Microsoft 365 Copilot.
    62. Providence has collaborated with Nuance and Microsoft to accelerate development and adoption of generative AI-powered applications, helping improve care quality and access, and reduce physician’s administrative workloads.
    63. RTI International adopted Microsoft 365 Copilot to gain productivity wherever possible, allowing staff to focus on their areas of expertise, delivering even better science-backed solutions for clients.
    64. SACE, an Italian finance and insurance firm, is using Microsoft 365 Copilot and Viva to boost productivity and unlock employee potential while enhancing overall well-being — and productivity improvement data from the first nine months of implementation shows a 23% increase.
    65. Sandvik Coromant is using Microsoft Copilot for Sales to drive efficiency and accuracy, shaving at least one minute off each transaction, allowing sellers and account managers to focus their expertise on responding to customers’ needs with analysis, creativity and adaptability.
    66. Sasfin Bank built a solution on Microsoft Azure that centralized 20,000 documents to analyze contract clauses and provide real-time snapshots, moving guesswork into data-driven decision-making.
    67. Scottish Water implemented Microsoft 365 Copilot reducing mundane tasks to a minimum, and thus freeing up time for employees to work on the more meaningful tasks.
    68. Shriners Children’s developed an AI platform allowing clinicians to easily and securely navigate patient data in a singular location, enhancing patient care, and improving the efficiency of their healthcare services.
    69. Siemens is leveraging Azure OpenAI Service to improve efficiency, cut downtime and address labor shortages.
    70. Softchoice employees are experiencing firsthand how Microsoft 365 Copilot can transform daily workflows, realizing productivity gains of 97% reduction in time spent summarizing technical meetings and up to 70% less time spent on content creation.
    71. Syensqo utilized Microsoft’s Azure OpenAI Service to develop a custom AI chatbot in three months, which improved their internal data management, decision-making and overall efficiency.
    72. Teladoc Health uses Microsoft 365 Copilot to revolutionize its telehealth operations, automating routine tasks, boosting efficiency and increasing productivity.
    73. Telstra developed two cutting-edge generative AI tools based on Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service: 90% of employees are using the One Sentence Summary tool which resulted in 20% less follow-up customer contact and 84% of customer service agents using the Ask Telstra solution.
    74. Topsoe achieved 85% AI adoption among office employees in seven months, significantly enhancing productivity and business processes.
    75. Torfaen County Borough Council utilized Microsoft 365 Copilot to streamline back-office processes, resulting in significant time savings and enhanced productivity for both business and children’s services teams, with further rollouts planned.
    76. Trace3 leveraged Microsoft 365 Copilot to streamline and enhance processes across the business and with clients, such as reducing the time it takes HR recruiting managers to respond to applicants within a couple of days instead of several weeks.
    77. Unilever is reinventing their marketing process with Copilot, saving time on briefing tasks, automatically pulling in relevant market data, content and insights to accelerate campaign launches.
    78. Uniper SE implemented Microsoft 365 Copilot to reduce time spent on manual and repetitive tasks, and help workers focus on more pressing work, such as developing enhanced solutions to speed up the energy transition.
    79. Unum Group built a custom AI application to search 1.3 terabytes of data with 95% accuracy using Azure OpenAI Service.
    80. Virgin Atlantic adopted Microsoft 365 Copilot and GitHub Copilot and is seeing real business benefits, including productivity improvements, enabling new ways of working.
    81. Visier built a generative AI assistant that leverages Azure AI and Azure OpenAI Services to deliver workforce analytics and actionable insights for more than 50,000 customers.
    82. Virtual Dental Care developed an AI application Smart Scan that leverages Microsoft Azure to reduce paperwork for mobile dental clinics in schools by 75% and frees dentists to devote more time to patient care.
    83. Zakladni Skola As Hlavkova adopted Microsoft 365 Copilot and saw a 60% improvement in handling administrative documents, decreased lesson preparation from hours to few minutes, increased inclusivity and enhanced communication with students and parents.

    Reinventing customer engagement

    We’ve seen great examples of how generative AI can automate content creation, ensuring there’s fresh and engaging materials ready to go. It personalizes customer experiences by crunching the numbers, boosting conversion rates. It makes operations smoother, helping teams launch campaigns faster. Plus, it drives innovation, crafting experiences that delight customers while lightening the load for staff. Embracing generative AI is key for organizations wanting to reinvent customer engagements, stay ahead of the game and drive both innovation and efficiency.

    New Stories:

    1. Aditya Birla Capital built the SimpliFi chatbot on Microsoft Azure to simplify financial services information and offers through intelligent search and proactive nudging with minimum latency and high scalability.
    2. AIA is using Copilot in Dynamics 365 Customer Service to allow customer service representatives to handle more cases in less time by automating time-consuming tasks like drafting customer emails and summarizing lengthy chats and case histories.
    3. Aydem Energy and Microsoft partner Softtech used Azure OpenAI Service to create an AI assistant for WhatsApp, providing customers with real-time updates and handling meter readings, bill checks and claims.
    4. The City of Buenos Aires developed Boti with ChatGPT using Azure OpenAI Service to manage multiple service channels and personalize key services for residents and tourists. The chatbot centralizes data, enables natural language interactions and scales to handle high demands, managing 2 million queries per month without human intervention, alleviating the operational burden by 50%, improving the citizen experience and increasing efficiency.
    5. de Alliantie built a generative AI chatbot using Azure OpenAI to digest information in their online knowledge base so staff can get accurate answers in seconds. Another Azure AI-based solution transcribes and summarizes calls, then categorizes them by theme.
    6. Haceb created a virtual technical support assistant with generative AI, helping on-the-ground technicians troubleshoot, diagnose and resolve product issues faster and more efficiently.
    7. Lloyds Banking Group developed the Branch Translation App using Microsoft Power Apps and Azure AI services with a goal to improve communication with non-English speaking customers and the innovation enhanced service delivery, receiving positive feedback from employees and customers alike.
    8. Staffbase provides its clients with Staffbase Companion, which helps it enhance internal communication with quick content generation, summarization, translation and future capabilities — and remain confident in data protection.
    9. Tekion built Automative Retail Cloud, a unified, cloud-native platform that uses generative AI to analyze communications, extract insights and provide customer-specific recommendations for sales agents.
    10. Welcome Account created a banking application with a conversational agent based on Azure OpenAI Service, in order to help people manage their finances and administrative procedures. This multilingual agent already assists no less than a thousand refugees on a daily basis.
    11. UBS is using Azure AI solutions, including Azure AI Search and Azure OpenAI Service, to power “Smart Assistants” that streamline content access and provide real-time information to Client Advisors, boosting efficiency and client engagement.
    12. Virbe enables businesses to interact with customers through AI-powered avatars, and with Azure AI services like Azure OpenAI Service and Azure AI Search, Virbe enhanced its AI avatars and simplified engagement with enterprise customers — and customers are seeing up to a 10x increase in leads.

    ————————————————————————————————————————–

    1. Absa has adopted Microsoft Copilot to streamline various business processes, saving several hours on administrative tasks each day.
    2. Adobe leverages Microsoft Azure to streamline the customer experience, harnessing the power of the connected cloud services and creating a synergy that drives AI transformation across industries.
    3. Acentra Health developed Medscribe, a web application that uses Azure OpenAI Service to generate draft letters in a secure, HIPPA-compliant enclave that responds to customer appeals for healthcare services within 24 hours, reducing the time spent on each appeal letter by 50%.
    4. Air India leveraged Azure OpenAI Service to develop a virtual assistant that has handled nearly 4 million customer queries with full automation, significantly enhancing customer experience and avoiding millions of dollars in customer support costs.
    5. Alaska Airlines is using Microsoft Azure, Microsoft Defender, and GitHub to ensure its passengers have a seamless journey from ticket purchase to baggage pickup and started leveraging Azure OpenAI Service to unlock more business value for its customer care and contact centers.
    6. Ally Financial is using Azure OpenAI Service to reduce manual tasks for its customer service associates, freeing up time for them to engage with customers.
    7. BMW Group optimizes the customer experience connecting 13 million active users to their vehicles with the MyBMW app on Azure, which supports 450 million daily requests and 3.2TB data processing.
    8. Boyner has tripled its e-commerce performance using Microsoft Azure, seeing a rise in customer satisfaction, engagement, conversion rate and revenue.
    9. Bradesco Bank integrated Microsoft Azure to its virtual assistant, BIA, resulting in reduced response time from days to hours, improving operational efficiency and client satisfaction.
    10. Capgemini Mexico integrated GitHub Copilot to support scalable AI implementations which has led to improved customer experiences and increased efficiency.
    11. Capitec Bank uses Azure OpenAI Service and Microsoft 365 Copilot, enabling their AI-powered chatbot to assist customer service consultants in accessing product information more efficiently, saving significant time for employees each week.
    12. Cdiscount is leveraging GitHub Copilot and Azure OpenAI Service to enhance developer efficiency, optimize product sheet categorization and improve customer satisfaction.
    13. Cemex used Azure OpenAI Service to launch Technical Xpert, an AI tool used by sales agents to provide instant access to comprehensive product and customer solution information, significantly reducing search time by 80%.
    14. Chanel elevated their client experience and improved employee efficiency by leveraging Microsoft Fabric and Azure OpenAI Service for real-time translations and quality monitoring.
    15. City of Burlington created two AI-powered solutions: MyFiles system using Microsoft Power Platform for building permits, and CoBy, a 24/7 customer support assistant using Microsoft Copilot Studio.
    16. City of Madrid created an AI virtual assistant with Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service offering tourists accurate, real-time information and personalized responses in 95-plus languages.
    17. Cognizant is making performance management more effective and meaningful with Microsoft Azure Machine Learning to help clients across industries envision, build, and run innovative digital enterprises.
    18. Coles Group has leveraged Microsoft Azure to enhance its digital presence and improve customer engagement, rolling out new applications to its stores six times faster without disrupting workloads.
    19. Commercial Bank of Dubai used Microsoft Azure to upgrade its application infrastructure, improving transaction security and speed so individual customers can now open an account and start banking in about two minutes.
    20. Cradle Fund, dedicated to nurturing startups in Malaysia, introduced an AI-driven chatbot to boost user interaction and increase public engagement. User engagement quadrupled while resolution time was reduced from two days to a few clicks. Cradle also decreased customer service costs by 35%, increased international interactions by 40% and increased daily average visits 10-fold.
    21. Doctolib, a leading eHealth company in France, leverages Microsoft technology to develop an AI-powered medical assistant, integrating both Azure OpenAI Service and Mistral Large on Azure.
    22. Docusign used Azure AI to develop its Intelligent Agreement Management (IAM) platform, which supports millions of workflows, reducing contract processing times and enhancing customer satisfaction with advanced AI-powered analytics.
    23. Dubai Electricity and Water Authority has significantly improved productivity and customer satisfaction by integrating multiple Microsoft AI solutions, reducing task completion time from days to hours and achieving a 98% customer happiness rate.
    24. Elcome uses Microsoft 365 Copilot to improve the customer experience, reducing response times from 24 hours to eight hours.
    25. elunic developed shopfloor.GPT based on Azure OpenAI leading to increased productivity for customers saving 15 minutes per request.
    26. Estée Lauder Companies is leveraging Azure OpenAI Service to create closer consumer connections and increase speed to market with local relevancy.
    27. First National Bank (FNB) is using Microsoft Copilot for Sales to help bankers create professional, thoughtful emails in 13 native South African languages, to enhance customer interactions, streamline communications and reinforce its commitment to innovation and customer service.
    28. Flora Food Group migrated to Microsoft Fabric to offer more detailed and timely insights to its customers, enhancing service delivery and customer satisfaction.
    29. Groupama deployed a virtual assistant using Azure OpenAI Service that delivers reliable, verified and verifiable information, and boasts an 80% success rate.
    30. Holland America Line developed a virtual agent using Microsoft Copilot Studio that acts as a digital concierge on their website to support new and existing customers and travel advisors, which has achieved a strong resolution rate and is currently handling thousands of conversations per week.
    31. International University of Applied Sciences (IU) adopted Azure OpenAI Service to revolutionize learning with a personalized study assistant that can interact with each student just like a human would.
    32. Investec is using Microsoft 365 Copilot for Sales to enhance the bank’s client relationships, estimating saving approximately 200 hours annually ultimately boosting sales productivity and delivering personalized, seamless customer experience.
    33. Jato Dynamics used Azure OpenAI Service to automate content generation, helping dealerships save approximately 32 hours each month.
    34. Kenya Red Cross worked with Pathways Technologies to develop a mental health chatbot in Azure AI.
    35. LALIGA is delivering a seamless fan experience and AI insights with Azure Arc, using AI in Azure for optimizing match scheduling and other key operations.
    36. Legrand used Azure OpenAI Service to reduce the time to generate product data by 60% and improve customer support interactions with fast, accurate information.
    37. Linum is using Microsoft Azure to train their text-to-video models faster and more efficiently without losing performance or wasting resources.
    38. Lumen Technologies is redefining customer success and sales processes through the strategic use of Microsoft 365 Copilot, enhancing productivity, sales and customer service in the global communications sector.
    39. Mars Science & Diagnostics used the Azure AI catalog to build generative AI apps to enhance accuracy and extract data insights quickly, helping pets with critical, undiagnosed conditions receive the care they require faster.
    40. McKinsey & Company is creating an agent to reduce client onboarding process by reducing lead time by 90% and administrative work by 30%.
    41. Meesho leveraged Microsoft’s Azure OpenAI Service and GitHub Copilot to enhance customer service and software development, resulting in a 25% increase in customer satisfaction scores and 40% more traffic on customer service queries.
    42. Milpark Education integrated Microsoft Copilot and Copilot Studio and in just four months, improved efficiency and accuracy of student support, decreasing the average resolution time by 50% and escalation time by more than 30%.
    43. National Basketball Association is using Azure OpenAI Service to speed up the time to market, helping fans connect with the league with personalized, localized insights to enhance the fan experience.
    44. NC Fusion chose a comprehensive Microsoft solution to make marketing engagement activities easier and accurately target the best audience segments.
    45. Medgate, a telehealth subsidiary of Otto Group developed a medical Copilot powered by Azure OpenAI which summarizes consultations, supports triage and provides real-time translations.
    46. Orbital Witness embraced the use of large language models (LLMs) in Azure OpenAI to build its innovative AI Agent application, Orbital Copilot, which can save legal teams 70 percent of the time it takes to conduct property diligence work.
    47. Pacific Gas & Electric built a chatbot using Microsoft Copilot Studio that saves $1.1 million annually on helpdesk support.
    48. Parloa took a “voice-first” approach and created an enterprise-grade AI Agent Management platform to automate customer interactions across phone, chat and messaging apps.
    49. Pockyt is using GitHub Copilot and anticipates a 500% increase in productivity in the medium to long term as they continue adapting AI and fine-tuning their software development life cycle.
    50. South Australia Department for Education launched an AI-powered educational chatbot to help safeguard students from harmful content while introducing responsible AI to the classrooms.
    51. Sync Labs is using Microsoft Azure to create AI-driven solutions that have led to a remarkable 30x increase in revenue and a 100x expansion of their customer base.
    52. Syndigo is using Azure to accelerate digital commerce for its customers by more than 40% and expand its customer base.
    53. Telkomsel created a virtual assistant with Azure OpenAI Service, resulting in a leap in customer self-service interactions from 19% to 45%, and call volume dropped from 8,000 calls to 1,000 calls a day.
    54. Torrens University chose to use Azure OpenAI to uplift its online learning experience, saving 20,000 hours and $2.4 million in time and resources.
    55. Trusting Social integrated Microsoft Azure services to launch AI-driven agents that are changing how banks function and transforming their customer’s banking experience.
    56. University of California, Berkeley used Azure OpenAI Service to deploy a custom AI chatbot that supports student learning and helps students with complex coursework.
    57. University of Sydney created a self-serve AI platform powered by Azure OpenAI Service, to enable faculty to build custom chatbots for enhancing student onboarding, feedback, career simulation and more.
    58. Van Lanschot Kempen is using Microsoft 365 Copilot to reduce the time needed for daily tasks, freeing up time to invest in that crucial personal connection.
    59. Virgin Money built an award-winning virtual assistant using Copilot Studio to help build customers’ confidence in their digital products and services.
    60. VOCALLS automates over 50 million interactions per year, resulting in a 78% reduction in average handling time aside from a 120% increase in answered calls.
    61. Vodafone Group is leveraging Microsoft’s AI solutions, including Azure AI Studio, OpenAI Service, Copilot and AI Search, to achieve a 70% resolution rate for customer inquiries through digital channels and reduce call times by at least one minute.
    62. Walmart is using Azure OpenAI Service to deliver a helpful and intuitive browsing experience for customers designed to serve up a curated list of the personalized items a shopper is looking for.
    63. Weights & Biases created a platform which runs on Microsoft Azure that allows developers to keep records, log successes and failures and automate manual tasks.
    64. World2Meet is providing better customer service and operations with a new virtual assistant powered by Microsoft Azure.
    65. Xavier College is modernizing its student information systems on Microsoft Dynamics 365 and Microsoft Azure to unlock powerful insights, fostering innovation and data-driven decision making.
    66. Zavarovalnica Triglav implemented Microsoft Dynamics 365 and Azure OpenAI Service to streamline its operations with automated responses and smart rerouting of customer enquiries.
    67. Zurich Insurance Group used Azure OpenAI Service to develop advanced AI applications that led to more accurate and efficient risk assessment evaluations, accelerating the underwriting process, reducing turnaround times and increasing customer satisfaction.

    Reshaping business process

    Transforming operations is another way generative AI is encouraging innovation and improving efficiency across various business functions. In marketing, it can create personalized content to truly engage different audiences. For supply chain management, it can predict market trends so companies can optimize their inventory levels. Human resources departments can speed up the hiring process, while financial services can use it for fraud detection and risk assessments. With generative AI, companies are not just refining their current processes, they’re also discovering exciting new growth opportunities.

    New Stories:

    1. Bank of Queensland is modernizing its operations with Azure, Microsoft 365 and Microsoft 365 Copilot, using AI to optimize business processes such as creating marketing content, building reports and plans and drafting HR content.
    2. Document360 created an AI-powered knowledge base and service platform for companies to create, manage and publish online documentation, including product manuals, SOPs and wikis.
    3. Eduvos is simplifying the student enrollment experience with Microsoft Azure and Dynamics 365, reducing the time from 90 days to nearly instantaneous and associated costs by 90%.
    4. Emirates Global Aluminum (EGA) uses Azure Local to support its digital manufacturing platform, including support for safety-critical applications that use AI. Through its hybrid Azure environment, EGA has achieved 10 to 13 times faster AI response time and 86% cost savings for AI image and video use cases.
    5. Hellenic Cadastre built a system that reads and categorizes property contracts, applies legal rules and provides assessments for approval using Azure OpenAI Service. Today, property transaction assessments take less than 10 minutes instead of hours, reducing costs from 15 euros to 0.11 euros per assessment. The system also enhanced property owners’ legal security and boosted the Greek economy by enabling transactions to be completed sooner.
    6. Startup legal-i is using AI to analyze unstructured data and help expensive insurance specialists make better decisions faster — speeding up healthcare and insurance processes and improving the accuracy of outcomes.
    7. Publishing company SHUEISHA Inc. is using Microsoft Security Copilot to enable faster incident response, boosting the confidence and effectiveness of cybersecurity personnel.
    8. thyssencrupp is using the Siemens Industrial Copilot, built on Azure OpenAI Service, to address a skilled labor gap while revolutionizing how it programs and operates machinery.
    9. U.S. AutoForce implemented Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management to centralize warehouse data, connect processes and improve operational efficiency while using Microsoft Copilot for Finance to automate monthly reconciliations.

    ————————————————————————————————————————–

    1. ABB Group integrated Azure OpenAI Service into their Genix Copilot platform enabling customers to achieve up to 30% savings in operations and maintenance, 20% improvement in energy and emission optimization and an 80% reduction in service calls.
    2. Accelleron used Microsoft Power Platform to support numerous business applications and simplify processes for service agents and employees, resulting in the onboard of new agents in 30 minutes, compared to two days for other solutions.
    3. Accenture developed an AI-powered financial advisor that leverages RISE with SAP on Microsoft Azure to enhance their infrastructure and integrate financial data.
    4. Atomicwork leverages Azure OpenAI to bring together three power capabilities: a conversational assistant, a modern service management system and a workflow automation platform.
    5. Blink Ops fully embraced generative AI to build the world’s first Security Automation Copilot with more than 8,000 automated workflows to help any Security/IT task through prompts.
    6. Chalhoub Group is using Microsoft Fabric to modernize its data analytics and streamline its data sources into one platform, increasing agility, enhancing analytics and accelerating processes.
    7. Cineplex is developing innovative automation solutions for finance, guest services and other departments, saving the company over 30,000 hours a year in manual processing time.
    8. ClearBank moved its services to Microsoft Azure to gain scalability and efficiency, pushing out 183% more monthly system releases, gaining both scalability and efficiency.
    9. Danske Statsbaner increases productivity up to 30% with help from Microsoft AI solutions.
    10. Dentsu implemented Microsoft Azure AI Foundry and Azure OpenAI Service to build a predictive analytics copilot that supports media insights, cutting analysis time by 80% and overall time to insight by 90%, reducing analysis costs.
    11. Dow implemented Microsoft 365 Copilot to empower teams with AI-driven insights and streamline essential workflows by automating tasks across departments, saving millions of dollars on shipping operations in the first year.
    12. Eastman implemented Microsoft Copilot for Security realizing the benefits of accelerated upskilling, step-by-step guidance for response and faster threat remediation.
    13. Fast Shop migrated to Microsoft Azure creating a self-service culture of access to data, eliminating delays, reducing costs and increasing leadership satisfaction with data while providing more agility in reporting.
    14. Florida Crystals adopted a value-added solution across Microsoft products including Microsoft 365 Copilot to reduce telecom expenses and automate industrial process controls.
    15. GHD is reinventing the RFP process in construction and engineering with Microsoft 365 Copilot.
    16. GovDash is a SaaS platform that leverages artificial intelligence to streamline the entire business development life cycle for government contracting companies using Azure OpenAI.
    17. Grupo Bimbo is deploying Microsoft’s industrial AI technologies to modernize its manufacturing processes, optimizing production and reducing downtime, driving significant cost savings, and empowering global innovation.
    18. Insight Canada implemented Microsoft 365 Copilot to streamline business operations, with 93% of users realizing productivity gains in functions including sales, finance and human resources.
    19. Intesa Sanpaolo Group enhanced its cybersecurity with AI-enabled Microsoft Sentinel and Microsoft Copilot for Security, resulting in faster threat detection, increased productivity and reduced storage costs.
    20. Kaya deployed a custom implementation of Microsoft Dynamics 365 and Power BI to modernize its supply chain, leading to enhanced visibility, improved planning and streamlined inter-department operations.
    21. Lenovo leveraged Dynamics 365 Customer Service to rapidly manage customer inquiries by streamlining repetitive tasks, boosted agent productivity by 15%, reduced handling time by 20% and reached record-high customer satisfaction.
    22. Lionbridge Technologies, LLC is using Microsoft Azure and Azure OpenAI Service to accelerate its delivery times and improve quality, reducing project turnaround times by up to 30%.
    23. LTIMindtree integrated Microsoft Copilot for Security, offering automated incident response, integrated threat intelligence and advanced threat analysis.
    24. Mania de Churrasco used Microsoft Azure, Power Platform and Microsoft 365 to achieve high efficiency, security and scalability in its operations, in addition to improving its data intelligence, which indirectly participated in a 20% increase in sales year on year.
    25. National Bank of Greece built an Azure-powered Document AI solution to transform its document processing, improving the bank’s accuracy to 90%.
    26. Nest Bank has revolutionized its operations by integrating Microsoft 365 Copilot and Azure OpenAI Service, resulting in doubled sales and increased daily transactions from 60,000 to 80,000, showcasing the transformative impact of generative AI in the financial sector.
    27. Network Rail modernized their data analytics solution with Microsoft Azure, helping engineers understand data 50% faster than before and improve efficiency, passenger experiences and safety — all while saving costs.
    28. Nsure developed an AI-powered agent that uses Copilot Studio and Power Automate to reduce manual processing time by 60% while also reducing associated costs by 50%.
    29. Oncoclínicas implemented Microsoft Azure to transform its entire data ecosystem with a web portal and mobile application that performs all image processing and storage.
    30. Operation Smile used Azure OpenAI Service, Fabric and Power Apps to eliminate manual data entry, resulting in reduced translation errors by about 90% and the time required for completing reports from four to five hours to just 15 to 20 minutes.
    31. Pacifico Seguros has adopted Microsoft Copilot for Security to optimize its security operations and anticipate and neutralize threats more efficiently and effectively.
    32. Parexel adopted Azure Databricks and Microsoft Power BI, achieving an 85% reduction in data engineering tooling costs, a 30% increase in staff efficiency and a 70% reduction in time to market for data product delivery.
    33. Paysafe used Microsoft 365 Copilot to streamline meetings, information management and document creation, addressing language barriers, eliminating time-consuming tasks and boosting creativity along the way.
    34. Planted is integrating Azure OpenAI to manage everyday tasks more efficiently and facilitate the search for information for innovative process development.
    35. Presidio realized dramatic productivity gains saving 1,200 hours per month on average for the employees using Microsoft 365 Copilot and created 70 new business opportunities.
    36. Qatar Charity used Copilot Studio to increase its call center efficiency, reducing average handle time by 30%, increased customer satisfaction by 25%, and achieved a 40% reduction in IT maintenance costs.
    37. Saphyre uses Microsoft Azure and AI to provide an intelligent cloud-based solution that automates and streamlines financial trading workflows around client and counterparty life cycle management, reducing manual efforts by 75%.
    38. StarKist Foods used Azure to effectively unite production and demand processes with finance, reducing the planning cycle from 16 hours to less than one.
    39. Swiss International Air Lines migrated and modernized with Microsoft Azure, achieving up to 30% cost savings, a remarkable boost in platform stability along with enhanced security visibility.
    40. ZEISS Group uses Microsoft Fabric to create a secure and trusted data supply chain that can be shared effortlessly across a range of business units.
    41. ZF Group builds manufacturing efficiency with over 25,000 apps and 37,000 unique active users on Power Platform.

    Bending the curve on innovation

    Generative AI is revolutionizing innovation by speeding up creative processes and product development. It’s helping companies come up with new ideas, design prototypes, and iterate quickly, cutting down the time it takes to get to market. In the automotive industry, it’s designing more efficient vehicles, while in pharmaceuticals, it’s crafting new drug molecules, slashing years off R&D times. In education, it transforms how students learn and achieve their goals. Here are more examples of how companies are embracing generative AI to shape the future of innovation.

    New Stories:

    1. Agricultural Development Trust (ADT) of Baramati is analyzing water, weather, nutrient, pH data and more with AI to increase crop yields in India.
    2. DrumBeat.AI is using Microsoft AI services to predict, identify and treat ear diseases in communities that are both rural and remote, helping to prevent hearing loss among Indigenous communities in Australia.
    3. Dynamic Health Systems created its VitruCare365® platform on the Microsoft Cloud for healthcare technologies to enable motivational care planning. Built on Microsoft Azure, FHIR (Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources) and Dynamics 365, it provides personalized apps powered by Azure OpenAI Service to each patient and is deployed as an extension to the Microsoft 365 tools clinicians use every day.
    4. Cities can use Esri’s ArcGIS geospatial platform to create environmental digital twins that simulate heavy rainfall and apply hot spot analysis to highlight flooding. Adding Azure AI to the geospatial digital twin will reveal insights in impossible amounts of data.
    5. Digital employment agency Gojob developed Aglae, a virtual assistant based on Azure OpenAI Service, to pre-qualify candidates within 15 minutes, enabling recruiters to achieve record employment placement rates.
    6. Institut Curie and Microsoft partner Witivio developed Copilot for Researcher, an agent that can help researchers with some of the administrative tasks in their jobs so they have more time to spend on actual new ideas in the fight against cancer.
    7. NASA created Earth Copilot to transform how people interact with Earth’s data.
    8. Parity is helping women athletes use data and AI to help improve their well-being, performance and careers.
    9. Petbarn created “PetAI” using Azure OpenAI Service, Azure AI Search and Azure App Service to provide Australian pet owners highly personalized advice and product recommendations.
    10. Project Guacamaya is using daily satellite images and various AI models tailored to the Amazon ecosystem to help prevent its deforestation, allowing for quicker action to be taken in at-risk areas.
    11. Properstar developed a solution to simplify the analysis of unstructured real estate data and create a dynamic, AI-powered filtering system that provides more nuanced search results.
    12. RadarFit is using generative AI and a unique gamification strategy to encourage healthy habits in Brazil, with a comprehensive health and wellness program aimed at helping companies reduce chronic disease rates.
    13. SEDUC is using Microsoft 365 Copilot for administrative tasks — such as generating legal documents and handling administrative inquiries — and has expanded to include AI usage with students and teachers, including personalized learning to cater to individual student needs and help them recover from learning losses during the pandemic.
    14. Indonesia’s Universitas Terbuka used Microsoft Azure OpenAI services and Azure AI Foundry to build an AI tutor that delivers accurate, curriculum-aligned responses and streamlines student assessment. The tutor currently supports 500 classes and some 100,000 students.
    15. World Traveler is using AI including Microsoft Reading Progress and Microsoft Immersive Reader to help teachers reach its globally and educationally diverse students with personalized learning experiences.
    16. South Korean startup Wrtn Technologies brings ATI close to people, with a “superapp” that compiles an array of AI use cases and services, but localized for Korean users to integrate AI into their everyday lives.

    ————————————————————————————————————————–

    1. Air India has incorporated Microsoft 365 Copilot into multiple departments, unlocking a new realm of operational insights that not only provides critical data on flight punctuality and operational hurdles, but also empowers proactive, collaborative decision making.
    2. Agnostic Intelligencedeployed Azure OpenAI Service to eliminate time-consuming tasks, saving users up to 80% of their time, and enabling IT managers to focus on innovation and quality assurance.
    3. Albert Heijn is using Azure OpenAI for everything from customer personalization to demand forecast and food waste projects, making it easier for its customers to change their lifestyle.
    4. Amgen is using Microsoft 365 Copilot to boost productivity and has the potential to speed up drug development and support advancements in their business processes.
    5. APEC leverages Microsoft Azure and deep neural network algorithms to develop an app that enables healthcare providers to capture retinal images, increasing the accuracy to identify Retinopathy of Prematurity (RoP) to 90%.
    6. ASOS is using Azure AI Studio to help customers discover new looks with genuine shopping insights, personalized conversations, naturalism and even humor to enliven the shopping journey.
    7. Auburn University is incorporating Microsoft Copilot to promote AI literacy, accessibility and collaboration, with the aim to expand educational and economic opportunities for its entire academic community with AI-centric tools.
    8. B3 launched an AI assistant using Azure OpenAI Service that aids 10,000 users a day to answer Brazilians’ questions about how to start investing.
    9. Basecamp Research aims to build the world’s largest database of national biodiversity and apply AI and machine learning to advance bioscience.
    10. Bayer is using Microsoft Copilot to contribute to feeding a growing global population and helping people lead healthier, disease-free lives.
    11. BMW AG implemented Azure AI to develop a mobile data recorder copilot for faster data management helping engineers reduce the lead time for insights from days to hours or sometimes minutes.
    12. Brembo leveraged Azure OpenAI to develop ALCHEMIX, a solution to generate innovative compounds for its brake pads, drastically reducing the development time of new compounds from days to mere minutes.
    13. Canary Speech can now train new vocal models in as little as two months and handle millions of transactions per month with Microsoft Azure.
    14. CapitaLand simplified internal processes increasing efficiency to more than 10,000 man-days saved per year and deployed Azure OpenAI Service to build the first AI hospitality chatbot for its lodging business.
    15. Cassidy is using Azure OpenAI Service to enhance efficiency across various industries, supporting over 10,000 companies.
    16. Coca-Cola is implementing Azure OpenAI Service to develop innovative generative AI use cases across various business functions, including testing how Microsoft 365 Copilot could help improve workplace productivity.
    17. Denso is developing “human-like” robots using Azure OpenAI Service as the brain to help robots and humans work together through dialogue.
    18. eFishery is using Azure OpenAI for farmers to get the data and insights on fish and shrimp farming, including more precise feeding and water quality monitoring.
    19. EY developed an application that automatically matches and clears incoming payments in SAP, resulting in an increase from 30% to 80% in automatically cleared payments and 95% matched payments, with estimated annual time savings of 230,000 hours globally.
    20. EY worked with Microsoft to make Azure AI Foundry more inclusive for all, serving the 20% of the global workforce identifying as neurodivergent.
    21. FIDO is using Azure OpenAI Service to develop an AI tool that uses sound to pinpoint leaky pipes, saving precious drinking water.
    22. Georgia Tech is using Azure OpenAI Service to enhance the electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure, achieving rapid data classification and predictive modeling, highlighting the reliability of networked chargers over non-networked ones.
    23. GigXR developed a solution to create the intelligence for specific AI patients using Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service and other Azure services.
    24. GoTo Group is significantly enhancing productivity and code quality across its engineering teams by adopting GitHub Copilot, saving over seven hours per week and achieved a 30% code acceptance rate.
    25. GovTech used Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service to create LaunchPad, sparking more than 400 ideas and 20 prototypes, laying the foundation for the government to harness the power of generative AI.
    26. H&R Block is using Azure AI Studio and Azure OpenAI Service to build a new solution that provides real-time, reliable tax filing assistance.
    27. Haut.AI provides skin care companies and retailers with customizable, AI-based skin diagnostic tools developed with the help of Microsoft AI.
    28. Helfie is building a solution that caters to healthcare providers who can arm their patients with an application to more quickly and accurately access the care they need.
    29. Hitachi will implement Azure Open AI Service, Microsoft 365 Copilot and GitHub Copilot to create innovative solutions for the energy, mobility and other industries.
    30. Icertis is providing AI-based tools that will recognize contract language and then build algorithms to automatically choose the right approach based on the content of the contract.
    31. Iconem leveraged AI-generated imagery to process and analyze a vast amount of photogrammetry data used to create the 3D digital twin of St. Peter’s Basilica, allowing visitors to explore every intricate detail from anywhere in the world.
    32. ITOCHU is using Azure OpenAI Service and Azure AI Studio to evolve its data analytics dashboard into a service that provides immediate recommendations by automatically creating evidence-based product proposals.
    33. IU International University of Applied Sciences (IU) is using the power of Azure OpenAI Service to develop Syntea, an AI avatar integrated into Microsoft Teams and Microsoft 365 Copilot, making learning more personalized, autonomous and flexible.
    34. Khan Academy has partnered with Microsoft to bring time-saving and lesson-enhancing AI tools to millions of educators.
    35. Lufthansa Group developed an animated 3D avatar called Digital Hangar to help guide passengers from initial travel inspiration to flight booking through an exchange with an Avatar in natural language.
    36. Mia Labs implemented Azure OpenAI to produce and protect its conversational AI virtual assistant Mia that provides fast support from investors, along with the sophisticated security posture and threat protection capabilities for AI workloads.
    37. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries is using Azure OpenAI Service to help accelerate digital innovation in power plants.
    38. Molslinjen has created an AI analytics toolbox that has reduced fuel emissions, improved customer satisfaction and brought in millions of additional revenue.
    39. New Sun Road implemented AI into a local controller for energy systems to balance the supply, storage and use requirements. This optimized loads to accelerate the deployment of renewable energy for local clean power for communities.
    40. Novo Nordisk recently published initial results with predictive AI models for advanced risk detection in cardiovascular diseases, including an algorithm that can predict patients’ cardiovascular risk better than the best clinical standards.
    41. Ontada implemented Azure AI and Azure OpenAI Service to target nearly 100 critical oncology data elements across 39 cancer types and now accesses an estimated 70% of previously unanalyzed or unused information, accelerating its life science product development, speeding up time to market from months to just one week.
    42. Paige.AI​ is using AI and Microsoft Azure to accelerate cancer diagnoses with data from millions of images.
    43. Pets at Home created an agent to help its retail fraud detection team investigate suspicious transactions.
    44. Plan Heal is using Microsoft AI to create solutions that enable patients to monitor and report health metrics so care providers can better serve them.
    45. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) is testing a new battery material that was found in a matter of weeks, not years, as part of a collaboration with Microsoft.
    46. Rijksmuseum is harnessing the power of Copilot to make art accessible at scale by joining forces with Microsoft to improve and expand the art experience for blind and low-vision community members.
    47. Royal National Institute of Blind People is using Azure AI services to develop an AI-based solution that quickly and accurately converts letters to braille, audio, and large print formats.
    48. Schneider Electric provides productivity-enhancing and energy efficiency solutions and is using a whole suite of AI tools to hasten its own innovation and that of its customers.
    49. SPAR ICS created an award-winning, AI-enabled demand forecasting system achieving 90% inventory prediction accuracy.
    50. SustainCERT deployed GenAI and machine learning for automated data verification, extraction from documents and to accelerate auditing processes to enable verifying the impacts and credibility of carbon credits.
    51. Suzuki Motor Corporation is adopting Azure OpenAI Service for data security, driving company-wide use with five multipurpose apps.
    52. Tecnológico de Monterrey created a generative AI-powered ecosystem built on Azure OpenAI Service with the goal to personalize education based on the students’ needs, improve the learning process, boost teachers’ creativity and save time on tedious tasks.
    53. TomTom is using Azure OpenAI Service, Azure Cosmos DB and Azure Kubernetes Service to revolutionize the driver experience.
    54. Toyota is deploying AI agents to harness the collective wisdom of engineers and innovate faster in a system named “O-Beya,” or “big room” in Japanese. The “O-Beya” system currently has nine AI agents — from a Vibration Agent to a Fuel Consumption Agent.
    55. Unilever is partnering with Microsoft to identify new digital capabilities to drive product innovation forward, from unlocking the secrets of our skin’s microbiome to reducing the carbon footprint of a multibillion-dollar business.
    56. Unity used Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service to build Muse Chat, an AI assistant that can guide creators through common questions and help troubleshoot issues to make game development easier.
    57. University of South Florida is using Microsoft 365 Copilot to alleviate the burden of repetitive, time-consuming tasks so faculty and staff can spend this time creatively solving problems, conducting critical research, establishing stronger relationships with peers and students and using their expertise to forge new, innovative paths.
    58. Utilidata built the first distributive AI and accelerated computing platform for the electric grid allowing flexible transformation and dynamic infrastructure to increase electrification and decarbonization.
    59. Visma has developed new code with GitHub Copilot, Microsoft Azure DevOps and Microsoft Visual Studio as much as 50 percent faster, contributing to increased customer retention, faster time to market and increased revenue.
    60. Wallenius Wilhelmsen is implementing Microsoft 365 Copilot and using Microsoft Viva to drive sustainable adoption, streamlining processes, empowering better decision making and cultivating a culture of innovation and inclusion.
    61. Wipro is committed to delivering value to customers faster and improving the outcomes across the business by investing $1 billion in AI and training 200,000 employees on generative AI principles with Microsoft Copilot.

    Read more:

    IDC InfoBrief: sponsored by Microsoft, 2024 Business Opportunity of AI, IDC# US52699124, November 2024

    Tags: AI, AI Azure, Azure OpenAI Service, Copilot, Copilot Studio, Microsoft 365 Copilot

    MIL OSI Economics –

  • MIL-OSI Economics: AI Data Drop: Handling risky business in half the time

    Source: Microsoft

    Headline: AI Data Drop: Handling risky business in half the time

    This story is featured in the WorkLab newsletter. Sign up for it here. 

    Every company needs to be able to assess where and how mistakes get made. Let’s say a banking customer experiences delays when they’re applying for a new loan. That dissatisfaction means that customer service employees, in turn, spend valuable time dealing with complaints and inquiries. Figuring out why those delays happen—and fixing the issue—can directly affect the bottom line. 
     
    For an institution like Australia’s Bank of Queensland, with a few thousand employees serving 1.4 million customers, identifying overlooked risks is critical to reducing costly errors in the future. To do this, it uses a common problem-solving method: root cause analysis. “The process is essential for maintaining high standards of customer satisfaction and operational excellence,” says Bank of Queensland’s Head of Partner Programs for Group Tech, Bernadette Demasi. But it’s also resource-intensive. Our researchers at Microsoft teamed up with the bank to explore how AI could improve speed and efficiency. 
     
    Their findings: AI access—along with custom, targeted prompt development—can help diagnose those bottom line–busting issues more quickly and accurately. 

    What we did: Our researchers gave 14 people access to Copilot, while a control group of 21 did not have it. Participants were asked to analyze a simulated “risk event”—loan approval delays—and tasked with identifying and cataloging the potential reasons for the delay. 

    Because we know there’s a learning curve with AI, we also wanted to see whether giving targeted guidance could help Copilot users hit the ground running. The treatment group received tips on task-specific optimization, including sample prompts that encouraged asking for narrative responses (“imagine telling the story…”) and “think-aloud” prompts (“imagine you’re thinking it through with a colleague…”). 

    After both groups were finished, the research team compared the quality of the analyses and how long each group took to write them.  

    What we found: Analysts using Copilot were able to determine the root cause 51.8% faster, a remarkable result. In fact, more than half of the analysts with AI access completed the task more quickly than the fastest analyst without access to AI. Despite the relatively small sample size, the performance differences between the treatment and control groups were so pronounced and uniform that the results are statistically significant. 

    Bankers Work Twice as Fast with Copilot

    In a Microsoft study at Bank of Queensland, analysts using Copilot were able to finish a difficult analysis 51.8% faster than those without Copilot.

    We also saw that analysts with access to Copilot had consistently high-quality outcomes compared to the more variable quality from the non-Copilot users. And using AI significantly improved the effectiveness and clarity of the analyses.  

    Survey results also suggest that AI users had a much better experience. More than a third of analysts with Copilot found the task less draining than did those without, which suggests that Copilot significantly reduced their cognitive load. Other positive results were even more uniform: 93% of the treatment group agreed that Copilot improved the quality of their root cause analysis and reduced the effort involved in completing it. Every participant with access to Copilot agreed that it helped them answer questions about contributing factors for the risk event, and that going forward they wouldn’t want to do this type of analysis without it. 
     
    What it means: Completing root cause analyses improved Bank of Queensland’s ability to identify and manage risks, and using Copilot has reduced the company’s analyst time significantly. They estimate that equipping 1,000 employees with Copilot could enhance productivity so much that it is equivalent to adding 120 new employees. “We have more work to do than people to do it,” Demasi says. “Adding capacity through AI allows us to work through resource constraints and supports our teams to gain the capacity to focus on higher-value work.” 

    Just as important: The results indicate that it’s not sufficient to simply give your people access to AI with no guidance. To get great results, you need to work together with your teams to give targeted direction on how to adopt the technology, supporting them to push the boundaries on how to use it to their best advantage. 

    MIL OSI Economics –