Category: Business

MIL-OSI: Eagle Bancorp Montana Earns $2.7 Million, or $0.34 per Diluted Share, in the Third Quarter of 2024; Declares Quarterly Cash Dividend of $0.1425 Per Share

Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

HELENA, Mont., Oct. 29, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Eagle Bancorp Montana, Inc. (NASDAQ: EBMT), (the “Company,” “Eagle”), the holding company of Opportunity Bank of Montana (the “Bank”), today reported net income of $2.7 million, or $0.34 per diluted share, in the third quarter of 2024, compared to $1.7 million, or $0.22 per diluted share, in the preceding quarter, and $2.6 million, or $0.34 per diluted share, in the third quarter of 2023. In the first nine months of 2024, net income was $6.3 million, or $0.81 per diluted share, compared to $7.9 million, or $1.01 per diluted share, in the first nine months of 2023.

Eagle’s board of directors declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.1425 per share on October 17, 2024. The dividend will be payable December 6, 2024, to shareholders of record November 15, 2024. The current dividend represents an annualized yield of 3.49% based on recent market prices.

“We produced improved top and bottom line operating results during the third quarter of 2024, with net interest income and noninterest income both increasing compared to the second quarter of 2024,” said Laura F. Clark, President and CEO. “As in previous quarters, we continued to remain selective on the loans we added during the quarter, while adhering to disciplined loan pricing. The result was tempered loan growth during the third quarter of 1.1%, and 4.0% year-over-year. Total deposits increased 2.0% during the quarter over the linked quarter, as we continue to maintain our attractive deposit mix. With our strong deposit franchise, pristine credit quality, and ample capital levels, we are well positioned for growth throughout the remainder of the year and into 2025.”

Third Quarter 2024 Highlights (at or for the three-month period ended September 30, 2024, except where noted):

Net income was $2.7 million, or $0.34 per diluted share, in the third quarter of 2024, compared to $1.7 million, or $0.22 per diluted share, in the preceding quarter, and $2.6 million, or $0.34 per diluted share, in the third quarter a year ago.
Net interest margin (“NIM”) was 3.34% in the third quarter of 2024, a seven basis point contraction compared to 3.41% in the preceding quarter and the third quarter a year ago.
Revenues (net interest income before the provision for credit losses, plus noninterest income) were $20.8 million in the third quarter of 2024, compared to $19.9 million in the preceding quarter and $21.6 million in the third quarter a year ago.
The accretion of the loan purchase discount into loan interest income from acquisitions was $167,000 in the third quarter of 2024, compared to accretion on purchased loans from acquisitions of $304,000 in the preceding quarter.
Total loans increased 4.0% to $1.53 billion, at September 30, 2024, compared to $1.48 billion a year earlier, and increased 1.1% compared to $1.52 billion at June 30, 2024.
Total deposits increased $35.0 million or 2.2% to $1.65 billion at September 30, 2024, compared to a year earlier, and increased $31.6 million or 2.0%, compared to June 30, 2024.
The allowance for credit losses represented 1.12% of portfolio loans and 356.7% of nonperforming loans at September 30, 2024, compared to 1.10% of portfolio loans and 209.3% of nonperforming loans at September 30, 2023.
The Company’s available borrowing capacity was approximately $348.1 million at September 30, 2024.

	September 30, 2024
(Dollars in thousands)	Borrowings Outstanding		Remaining Borrowing Capacity
Federal Home Loan Bank advances	$	219,167	$	219,365
Federal Reserve Bank discount window		–		28,734
Correspondent bank lines of credit		–		100,000
Total	$	219,167	$	348,099

The Company paid a quarterly cash dividend in the second quarter of $0.1425 per share on September 6, 2024, to shareholders of record August 16, 2024.

Balance Sheet Results

Eagle’s total assets increased 4.0% to $2.15 billion at September 30, 2024, compared to $2.06 billion a year ago, and increased 2.2% compared to $2.10 billion three months earlier. The investment securities portfolio totaled $307.0 million at September 30, 2024, compared to $308.8 million a year ago, and $306.9 million at June 30, 2024.

Eagle originated $58.0 million in new residential mortgages during the quarter and sold $51.0 million in residential mortgages, with an average gross margin on sale of mortgage loans of approximately 3.31%. This production compares to residential mortgage originations of $60.6 million in the preceding quarter with sales of $53.2 million and an average gross margin on sale of mortgage loans of approximately 3.01%. Mortgage volumes remain low as rates have continued to be elevated relative to rates on existing mortgages.

Total loans increased $58.9 million, or 4.0%, compared to a year ago, and $17.2 million, or 1.1%, from three months earlier. Commercial real estate loans increased 5.2% to $644.0 million at September 30, 2024, compared to $612.0 million a year earlier. Commercial real estate loans were comprised of 69.3% non-owner occupied and 30.7% owner occupied at September 30, 2024. Agricultural and farmland loans increased 5.8% to $290.0 million at September 30, 2024, compared to $274.1 million a year earlier. Residential mortgage loans increased 6.7% to $156.8 million, compared to $146.9 million a year earlier. Commercial loans increased 10.2% to $143.2 million, compared to $130.0 million a year ago. Commercial construction and development loans decreased 17.3% to $125.3 million, compared to $151.6 million a year ago. Home equity loans increased 12.5% to $93.6 million, residential construction loans increased 8.5% to $52.2 million, and consumer loans decreased 1.3% to $29.4 million, compared to a year ago.

“Our deposit mix continued to shift towards higher yielding deposits due to the higher interest rate environment. However, we anticipate deposit rates will continue to stabilize or improve following the recent Fed rate cuts,” said Miranda Spaulding, CFO.

Total deposits increased to $1.65 billion at September 30, 2024, compared to $1.62 billion at September 30, 2023, and at June 30, 2024. Noninterest-bearing checking accounts represented 25.4%, interest-bearing checking accounts represented 12.7%, savings accounts represented 12.9%, money market accounts comprised 21.3% and time certificates of deposit made up 27.7% of the total deposit portfolio at September 30, 2024. Time certificates of deposit include $22.1 million in brokered certificates at September 30, 2024, compared to $40.0 million at September 30, 2023, and $26.2 million at June 30, 2024. The average cost of total deposits was 1.76% in the third quarter of 2024, compared to 1.70% in the preceding quarter and 1.28% in the third quarter of 2023. The estimated amount of uninsured deposits was approximately $307.0 million, or 18% of total deposits, at September 30, 2024, compared to $284.0 million, or 17% of total deposits, at June 30, 2024.

Shareholders’ equity was $177.7 million at September 30, 2024, compared to $157.3 million a year earlier and $170.2 million three months earlier. Book value per share increased to $22.17 at September 30, 2024, compared to $19.69 a year earlier and $21.23 three months earlier. Tangible book value per share, a non-GAAP financial measure calculated by dividing shareholders’ equity, less goodwill and core deposit intangible, by common shares outstanding, was $17.23 at September 30, 2024, compared to $14.55 a year earlier and $16.25 three months earlier.

Operating Results

“Our core NIM declined slightly during the third quarter, compared to the preceding quarter, due to relatively flat yields on interest earning assets and cost of funds expansion,” said Clark. “We anticipate continued stabilization and eventual improvement in our cost of funds as we continue through this rate cycle.”

Eagle’s NIM was 3.34% in the third quarter of 2024, a seven basis point contraction compared to 3.41% in both the preceding quarter and the third quarter a year ago. The interest accretion on acquired loans totaled $167,000 and resulted in a three basis-point increase in the NIM during the third quarter of 2024, compared to $304,000 and a seven basis-point increase in the NIM during the preceding quarter. Funding costs for the third quarter of 2024 were 2.89%, compared to 2.78% in the second quarter of 2024 and 2.37% in the third quarter of 2023. Average yields on interest earning assets for the third quarter of 2024 increased to 5.66%, compared to 5.64% in the second quarter of 2024 and 5.27% in the third quarter a year ago. For the first nine months of 2024, the NIM was 3.36% compared to 3.57% for the first nine months of 2023.

Net interest income, before the provision for credit losses, increased to $15.8 million in the third quarter of 2024, compared to $15.6 million in both the second quarter of 2024, and in the third quarter of 2023. Year-to-date, net interest income decreased 1.3% to $46.6 million, compared to $47.3 million in the same period one year earlier.

Revenues for the third quarter of 2024 increased 4.4% to $20.8 million, compared to $19.9 million in the preceding quarter and decreased 3.9% compared to $21.6 million in the third quarter a year ago. In the first nine months of 2024, revenues were $59.9 million, compared to $64.2 million in the first nine months of 2023. The decrease compared to the first nine months a year ago was largely due to lower volumes in mortgage banking activity.

Total noninterest income increased 16.7% to $5.0 million in the third quarter of 2024, compared to $4.3 million in the preceding quarter, and decreased 17.4% compared to $6.0 million in the third quarter a year ago. The increase from the preceding quarter was largely due to income from bank owned life insurance of $724,000. Net mortgage banking income, the largest component of noninterest income, totaled $2.6 million in the third quarter of 2024, compared to $2.4 million in the preceding quarter and $4.3 million in the third quarter a year ago. This decrease compared to the third quarter a year ago was largely driven by a decline in net gain on sale of mortgage loans. This was impacted by lower mortgage loan volumes. In the first nine months of 2024, noninterest income decreased 21.9% to $13.2 million, compared to $16.9 million in the first nine months of 2023. Net mortgage banking income decreased 36.0% to $7.2 million in the first nine months of 2024, compared to $11.3 million in the first nine months of 2023. These decreases were driven by a decline in net gain on sale of mortgage loans.

Third quarter noninterest expense was $17.3 million, which was unchanged compared to the preceding quarter and a 3.4% decrease compared to $17.9 million in the third quarter a year ago. Lower salaries and employee benefits contributed to the decrease compared to the year ago quarter. In the first nine months of 2024, noninterest expense decreased 3.0% to $51.6 million, compared to $53.2 million in the first nine months of 2023.

For the third quarter of 2024, the Company recorded income tax expense of $529,000. This compared to income tax expense of $444,000 in the preceding quarter and $524,000 in the third quarter of 2023. The effective tax rate for the third quarter of 2024 was 16.3%, compared to 16.6% for the third quarter of 2023. The year-to-date effective tax rate was 17.5% for 2024 compared to 19.5% for the same period in 2023.

Credit Quality

During the third quarter of 2024, Eagle recorded a provision for credit losses of $277,000. This compared to a $412,000 provision for credit losses in the preceding quarter and $588,000 in the third quarter a year ago. The allowance for credit losses represented 356.7% of nonperforming loans at September 30, 2024, compared to 330.8% three months earlier and 209.3% a year earlier. Nonperforming loans were $4.8 million at September 30, 2024, $5.1 million at June 30, 2024, and $7.8 million a year earlier.

Net loan charge-offs totaled $17,000 in the third quarter of 2024, compared to net loan charge-offs of $2,000 in the preceding quarter and net loan charge-offs of $108,000 in the third quarter a year ago. The allowance for credit losses was $17.1 million, or 1.12% of total loans, at September 30, 2024, compared to $16.8 million, or 1.11% of total loans, at June 30, 2024, and $16.2 million, or 1.10% of total loans, a year ago.

Capital Management

The ratio of tangible common shareholders’ equity (shareholders’ equity, less goodwill and core deposit intangible) to tangible assets (total assets, less goodwill and core deposit intangible) was 6.56% at September 30, 2024, from 5.75% a year ago and 6.33% three months earlier. As of September 30, 2024, the Bank’s regulatory capital was in excess of all applicable regulatory requirements and is deemed well capitalized. The Bank’s Tier 1 capital to adjusted total average assets was 9.87% as of September 30, 2024.

About the Company

Eagle Bancorp Montana, Inc. is a bank holding company headquartered in Helena, Montana, and is the holding company of Opportunity Bank of Montana, a community bank established in 1922 that serves consumers and small businesses in Montana through 29 banking offices. Additional information is available on the Bank’s website at www.opportunitybank.com. The shares of Eagle Bancorp Montana, Inc. are traded on the NASDAQ Global Market under the symbol “EBMT.”

Forward Looking Statements

This release may contain certain “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, and may be identified by the use of such words as “believe,” “will” “expect,” “anticipate,” “should,” “planned,” “estimated,” and “potential.” These forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to statements of our goals, intentions and expectations; statements regarding our business plans, prospects, mergers, growth and operating strategies; statements regarding the asset quality of our loan and investment portfolios; and estimates of our risks and future costs and benefits. These forward-looking statements are based on current beliefs and expectations of our management and are inherently subject to significant business, economic and competitive uncertainties and contingencies, many of which are beyond our control. In addition, these forward-looking statements are subject to assumptions with respect to future business strategies and decisions that are subject to change. These factors include, but are not limited to, changes in laws or government regulations or policies affecting financial institutions, including changes in regulatory fees and capital requirements; general economic conditions and political events, either nationally or in our market areas, that are worse than expected including the ability of the U.S. Congress to increase the U.S. statutory debt limit, as needed, as well as the impact of the 2024 U.S. presidential election; the emergence or continuation of widespread health emergencies or pandemics including the magnitude and duration of the COVID-19 pandemic, including but not limited to vaccine efficacy and immunization rates, new variants, steps taken by governmental and other authorities to contain, mitigate and combat the pandemic, adverse effects on our employees, customers and third-party service providers, the increase in cyberattacks in the current work-from-home environment, the ultimate extent of the impacts on our business, financial position, results of operations, liquidity and prospects, continued deterioration in general business and economic conditions could adversely affect our revenues and the values of our assets and liabilities, lead to a tightening of credit and increase stock price volatility, and potential impairment charges; the impact of volatility in the U.S. banking industry, including the associated impact of any regulatory changes or other mitigation efforts taken by governmental agencies in response thereto; the possibility that future credit losses may be higher than currently expected due to changes in economic assumptions, customer behavior, adverse developments with respect to U.S. economic conditions and other uncertainties, including the impact of supply chain disruptions, inflationary pressures and labor shortages on economic conditions and our business; an inability to access capital markets or maintain deposits or borrowing costs; competition among banks, financial holding companies and other traditional and non-traditional financial service providers; loan demand or residential and commercial real estate values in Montana; the concentration of our business in Montana; our ability to continue to increase and manage our commercial real estate, commercial business and agricultural loans; the costs and effects of legal, compliance and regulatory actions, changes and developments, including the initiation and resolution of legal proceedings (including any securities, bank operations, consumer or employee litigation); inflation and changes in the interest rate environment that reduce our margins or reduce the fair value of financial instruments; adverse changes in the securities markets that lead to impairment in the value of our investment securities and goodwill; other economic, governmental, competitive, regulatory and technological factors that may affect our operations; our ability to implement new technologies and maintain secure and reliable technology systems including those that involve the Bank’s third-party vendors and service providers; cyber incidents, or theft or loss of Company or customer data or money; our ability to appropriately address social, environmental, and sustainability concerns that may arise from our business activities; the effect of our recent or future acquisitions, including the failure to achieve expected revenue growth and/or expense savings, the failure to effectively integrate their operations, the outcome of any legal proceedings and the diversion of management time on issues related to the integration.

Because of these and other uncertainties, our actual future results may be materially different from the results indicated by these forward-looking statements. All information set forth in this press release is current as of the date of this release and the company undertakes no duty or obligation to update this information.

Use of Non-GAAP Financial Measures

In addition to results presented in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles utilized in the United States, or GAAP, the Financial Ratios and Other Data contains non-GAAP financial measures. Non-GAAP financial measures include: 1) core efficiency ratio, 2) tangible book value per share and 3) tangible common equity to tangible assets. The Company uses these non-GAAP financial measures to provide meaningful supplemental information regarding the Company’s operational performance and performance trends, and to enhance investors’ overall understanding of such financial performance. In particular, the use of tangible book value per share and tangible common equity to tangible assets is prevalent among banking regulators, investors and analysts.

The numerator for the core efficiency ratio is calculated by subtracting acquisition costs and intangible asset amortization from noninterest expense. Tangible assets and tangible common shareholders’ equity are calculated by excluding intangible assets from assets and shareholders’ equity, respectively. For these financial measures, our intangible assets consist of goodwill and core deposit intangible. Tangible book value per share is calculated by dividing tangible common shareholders’ equity by the number of common shares outstanding. We believe that this measure is consistent with the capital treatment by our bank regulatory agencies, which exclude intangible assets from the calculation of risk-based capital ratios and present this measure to facilitate the comparison of the quality and composition of our capital over time and in comparison, to our competitors.

Non-GAAP financial measures have inherent limitations, are not required to be uniformly applied, and are not audited. Because non-GAAP financial measures are not standardized, it may not be possible to compare these financial measures with other companies’ non-GAAP financial measures having the same or similar names. Further, the non-GAAP financial measure of tangible book value per share should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for book value per share or total shareholders’ equity determined in accordance with GAAP, and may not be comparable to a similarly titled measure reported by other companies. Reconciliation of the GAAP and non-GAAP financial measures are presented below.


Balance Sheet
(Dollars in thousands, except per share data)					(Unaudited)
		September 30,			June 30,			September 30,
			2024			2024			2023

Assets:
	Cash and due from banks	$	22,954		$	22,361		$	19,743
	Interest bearing deposits in banks		19,035			1,401			1,040
	Federal funds sold		200			–			–
	Total cash and cash equivalents		42,189			23,762			20,783
	Securities available-for-sale, at fair value		306,982			306,869			308,786
	Federal Home Loan Bank (“FHLB”) stock		11,218			10,136			10,438
	Federal Reserve Bank (“FRB”) stock		4,131			4,131			4,131
	Mortgage loans held-for-sale, at fair value		13,429			10,518			17,880
	Loans:
	Real estate loans:
	Residential 1-4 family		156,811			157,053			146,938
	Residential 1-4 family construction		52,217			50,228			48,135
	Commercial real estate		644,019			627,326			611,963
	Commercial construction and development		125,323			137,427			151,614
	Farmland		145,356			142,353			143,789
	Other loans:
	Home equity		93,646			93,213			83,221
	Consumer		29,445			29,118			29,832
	Commercial		143,190			143,641			129,952
	Agricultural		144,645			137,134			130,329
	Total loans		1,534,652			1,517,493			1,475,773
	Allowance for credit losses		(17,130	)		(16,830	)		(16,230	)
	Net loans		1,517,522			1,500,663			1,459,543
	Accrued interest and dividends receivable		14,844			13,195			13,657
	Mortgage servicing rights, net		15,443			15,614			15,738
	Assets held-for-sale, at cost		257			257			–
	Premises and equipment, net		100,297			98,397			92,979
	Cash surrender value of life insurance, net		52,852			48,529			47,647
	Goodwill		34,740			34,740			34,740
	Core deposit intangible, net		4,834			5,168			6,264
	Other assets		26,375			26,976			30,478
	Total assets	$	2,145,113		$	2,098,955		$	2,063,064

Liabilities:
	Deposit accounts:
	Noninterest bearing	$	419,760		$	400,113		$	435,655
	Interest bearing		1,230,752			1,218,752			1,179,823
	Total deposits		1,650,512			1,618,865			1,615,478
	Accrued expenses and other liabilities		38,593			35,804			31,597
	FHLB advances and other borrowings		219,167			215,050			199,757
	Other long-term debt, net		59,111			59,074			58,962
	Total liabilities		1,967,383			1,928,793			1,905,794

Shareholders’ Equity:
	Preferred stock (par value $0.01 per share; 1,000,000 shares
	authorized; no shares issued or outstanding)		–			–			–
	Common stock (par value $0.01; 20,000,000 shares authorized;
	8,507,429 shares issued; 8,016,784, 8,016,784 and 7,988,132
	shares outstanding at September 30, 2024, June 30, 2024 and
	September 30, 2023, respectively		85			85			85
	Additional paid-in capital		109,040			108,962			109,422
	Unallocated common stock held by Employee Stock Ownership Plan		(4,154	)		(4,297	)		(4,727	)
	Treasury stock, at cost (490,645, 490,645 and 519,297 shares at
	September 30, 2024, June 30, 2024 and September 30, 2023, respectively)		(11,124	)		(11,124	)		(11,574	)
	Retained earnings		98,979			97,413			94,979
	Accumulated other comprehensive loss, net of tax		(15,096	)		(20,877	)		(30,915	)
	Total shareholders’ equity		177,730			170,162			157,270
	Total liabilities and shareholders’ equity	$	2,145,113		$	2,098,955		$	2,063,064

Income Statement			(Unaudited)						(Unaudited)
(Dollars in thousands, except per share data)			Three Months Ended						Nine Months Ended
			September 30,		June 30,		September 30,		September 30,
				2024		2024		2023		2024		2023
Interest and dividend income:
	Interest and fees on loans		$	23,802	$	22,782	$	21,068	$	68,526	$	57,942
	Securities available-for-sale			2,598		2,631		2,794		7,953		8,586
	FRB and FHLB dividends			266		264		212		777		480
	Other interest income			94		145		20		268		66
		Total interest and dividend income		26,760		25,822		24,094		77,524		67,074
Interest expense:
	Interest expense on deposits			7,190		6,884		5,152		20,622		11,767
	FHLB advances and other borrowings			3,084		2,625		2,672		8,206		5,993
	Other long-term debt			684		681		683		2,048		2,035
		Total interest expense		10,958		10,190		8,507		30,876		19,795
Net interest income				15,802		15,632		15,587		46,648		47,279
Provision for credit losses				277		412		588		554		1,186
		Net interest income after provision for credit losses		15,525		15,220		14,999		46,094		46,093

Noninterest income:
	Service charges on deposit accounts			430		428		447		1,258		1,313
	Mortgage banking, net			2,602		2,417		4,338		7,196		11,252
	Interchange and ATM fees			662		640		643		1,865		1,861
	Appreciation in cash surrender value of life insurance			1,038		320		382		1,646		1,165
	Net loss on sale of available-for-sale securities			–		–		–		–		(222	)
	Other noninterest income			251		464		225		1,239		1,541
		Total noninterest income		4,983		4,269		6,035		13,204		16,910

Noninterest expense:
	Salaries and employee benefits			9,894		10,273		10,837		29,885		31,614
	Occupancy and equipment expense			2,134		2,104		1,956		6,337		6,100
	Data processing			1,587		1,382		1,486		4,494		4,270
	Advertising			277		316		340		846		930
	Amortization			337		348		386		1,054		1,201
	Loan costs			385		412		517		1,195		1,426
	FDIC insurance premiums			295		284		301		878		862
	Professional and examination fees			438		423		408		1,345		1,484
	Other noninterest expense			1,923		1,765		1,644		5,576		5,311
		Total noninterest expense		17,270		17,307		17,875		51,610		53,198

Income before provision for income taxes				3,238		2,182		3,159		7,688		9,805
Provision for income taxes				529		444		524		1,343		1,913
Net income			$	2,709	$	1,738	$	2,635	$	6,345	$	7,892

Basic earnings per common share			$	0.35	$	0.22	$	0.34	$	0.81	$	1.01
Diluted earnings per common share			$	0.34	$	0.22	$	0.34	$	0.81	$	1.01

Basic weighted average shares outstanding				7,836,921		7,830,925		7,784,279		7,830,947		7,787,987

Diluted weighted average shares outstanding				7,860,138		7,845,272		7,791,966		7,848,196		7,792,593

ADDITIONAL FINANCIAL INFORMATION					(Unaudited)
(Dollars in thousands, except per share data)		Three or Nine Months Ended
		September 30,			June 30,			September 30,
			2024			2024			2023

Mortgage Banking Activity (For the quarter):
	Net gain on sale of mortgage loans	$	1,691		$	1,600		$	3,591
	Net change in fair value of loans held-for-sale and derivatives		159			12			(71	)
	Mortgage servicing income, net		752			805			818
	Mortgage banking, net	$	2,602		$	2,417		$	4,338

Mortgage Banking Activity (Year-to-date):
	Net gain on sale of mortgage loans	$	4,705					$	8,551
	Net change in fair value of loans held-for-sale and derivatives		(2	)					234
	Mortgage servicing income, net		2,493						2,467
	Mortgage banking, net	$	7,196					$	11,252

Performance Ratios (For the quarter):
	Return on average assets		0.51	%		0.33	%		0.51	%
	Return on average equity		6.56	%		4.30	%		6.63	%
	Yield on average interest earning assets		5.66	%		5.64	%		5.27	%
	Cost of funds		2.89	%		2.78	%		2.37	%
	Net interest margin		3.34	%		3.41	%		3.41	%
	Core efficiency ratio*		81.47	%		85.22	%		80.89	%

Performance Ratios (Year-to-date):
	Return on average assets		0.41	%					0.53	%
	Return on average equity		5.19	%					6.54	%
	Yield on average interest earning assets		5.59	%					5.07	%
	Cost of funds		2.78	%					1.94	%
	Net interest margin		3.36	%					3.57	%
	Core efficiency ratio*		84.47	%					81.01	%

* The core efficiency ratio is a non-GAAP ratio that is calculated by dividing non-interest expense, exclusive of acquisition
costs and intangible asset amortization, by the sum of net interest income and non-interest income.


ADDITIONAL FINANCIAL INFORMATION
(Dollars in thousands, except per share data)
					(Unaudited)
Asset Quality Ratios and Data:		As of or for the Three Months Ended
		September 30,			June 30,			September 30,
			2024			2024			2023

	Nonaccrual loans	$	3,859		$	4,012		$	7,753
	Loans 90 days past due and still accruing		944			1,076			–
	Total nonperforming loans		4,803			5,088			7,753
	Other real estate owned and other repossessed assets		4			4			–
	Total nonperforming assets	$	4,807		$	5,092		$	7,753

	Nonperforming loans / portfolio loans		0.31	%		0.34	%		0.53	%
	Nonperforming assets / assets		0.22	%		0.24	%		0.38	%
	Allowance for credit losses / portfolio loans		1.12	%		1.11	%		1.10	%
	Allowance for credit losses/ nonperforming loans		356.65	%		330.78	%		209.34	%
	Gross loan charge-offs for the quarter	$	22		$	12		$	122
	Gross loan recoveries for the quarter	$	5		$	10		$	14
	Net loan charge-offs for the quarter	$	17		$	2		$	108


		September 30,			June 30,			September 30,
			2024			2024			2023
Capital Data (At quarter end):
	Common shareholders’ equity (book value) per share	$	22.17		$	21.23		$	19.69
	Tangible book value per share**	$	17.23		$	16.25		$	14.55
	Shares outstanding		8,016,784			8,016,784			7,988,132
	Tangible common equity to tangible assets***		6.56	%		6.33	%		5.75	%

Other Information:
	Average investment securities for the quarter	$	305,730		$	306,207		$	319,308
	Average investment securities year-to-date	$	308,688		$	310,168		$	335,898
	Average loans for the quarter ****	$	1,547,246		$	1,513,313		$	1,476,584
	Average loans year-to-date ****	$	1,519,951		$	1,506,303		$	1,417,291
	Average earning assets for the quarter	$	1,874,669		$	1,837,418		$	1,812,610
	Average earning assets year-to-date	$	1,847,468		$	1,833,867		$	1,768,361
	Average total assets for the quarter	$	2,116,839		$	2,077,448		$	2,052,443
	Average total assets year-to-date	$	2,086,951		$	2,072,013		$	1,999,864
	Average deposits for the quarter	$	1,622,254		$	1,625,882		$	1,602,770
	Average deposits year-to-date	$	1,624,936		$	1,625,826		$	1,596,201
	Average equity for the quarter	$	165,162		$	161,533		$	158,933
	Average equity year-to-date	$	163,106		$	162,084		$	160,917

** The tangible book value per share is a non-GAAP ratio that is calculated by dividing shareholders’ equity,
less goodwill and core deposit intangible, by common shares outstanding.
*** The tangible common equity to tangible assets is a non-GAAP ratio that is calculated by dividing shareholders’
equity, less goodwill and core deposit intangible, by total assets, less goodwill and core deposit intangible.
**** Includes loans held for sale

Reconciliation of Non-GAAP Financial Measures

Core Efficiency Ratio						(Unaudited)						(Unaudited)
(Dollars in thousands)			Three Months Ended									Nine Months Ended
			September 30,			June 30,			September 30,			September 30,
				2024			2024			2023			2024			2023
Calculation of Core Efficiency Ratio:
	Noninterest expense		$	17,270		$	17,307		$	17,875		$	51,610		$	53,198
	Intangible asset amortization			(337	)		(348	)		(386	)		(1,054	)		(1,201	)
		Core efficiency ratio numerator		16,933			16,959			17,489			50,556			51,997

	Net interest income			15,802			15,632			15,587			46,648			47,279
	Noninterest income			4,983			4,269			6,035			13,204			16,910
		Core efficiency ratio denominator		20,785			19,901			21,622			59,852			64,189

	Core efficiency ratio (non-GAAP)			81.47	%		85.22	%		80.89	%		84.47	%		81.01	%

Tangible Book Value and Tangible Assets			(Unaudited)
(Dollars in thousands, except per share data)			September 30,			June 30,			September 30,
				2024			2024			2023
Tangible Book Value:
	Shareholders’ equity		$	177,730		$	170,162		$	157,270
	Goodwill and core deposit intangible, net			(39,574	)		(39,908	)		(41,004	)
		Tangible common shareholders’ equity (non-GAAP)	$	138,156		$	130,254		$	116,266

	Common shares outstanding at end of period			8,016,784			8,016,784			7,988,132

	Common shareholders’ equity (book value) per share (GAAP)		$	22.17		$	21.23		$	19.69

	Tangible common shareholders’ equity (tangible book value)
		per share (non-GAAP)	$	17.23		$	16.25		$	14.55

Tangible Assets:
	Total assets		$	2,145,113		$	2,098,955		$	2,063,064
	Goodwill and core deposit intangible, net			(39,574	)		(39,908	)		(41,004	)
		Tangible assets (non-GAAP)	$	2,105,539		$	2,059,047		$	2,022,060

	Tangible common shareholders’ equity to tangible assets
		(non-GAAP)		6.56	%		6.33	%		5.75	%

Contacts:	Laura F. Clark, President and CEO
	(406) 457-4007
	Miranda J. Spaulding, SVP and CFO
	(406) 441-5010

The MIL Network –

January 25, 2025

MIL-OSI: MEF Releases 2025 NaaS Industry Blueprint to Accelerate Innovation Across Automated Ecosystem
Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

DALLAS, Oct. 29, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — MEF, a global industry association of network, cloud, security, and technology providers accelerating enterprise digital transformation, today announced the availability of its 2025 NaaS Industry Blueprint, outlining the next phase in the evolution of Network-as-a-Service.

“Our 2025 NaaS Industry Blueprint unites industry stakeholders around a shared vision for NaaS and serves as a comprehensive guide for service providers to develop, deliver, and manage NaaS offerings across a standards-based automated ecosystem,” said blueprint author Stan Hubbard, Principal Analyst, MEF. “In the coming months, our focus is on deepening collaboration across the ecosystem to unlock the market’s full potential and meet the surging enterprise demand for high-performance, AI-driven, and cloud-optimized networks.”

Enterprises are increasingly turning to NaaS, which is uniquely positioned to meet top priorities for digital transformation, including enhanced cybersecurity, cloud migration, and support for AI and GenAI workloads. MEF’s 2025 NaaS Industry Blueprint highlights how the rapid rise of GenAI has unlocked new NaaS-related revenue opportunities for service providers, particularly in multi-cloud environments.

The 2025 NaaS Industry Blueprint serves as a foundational resource for service providers, cloud providers, technology suppliers, and other ecosystem participants, emphasizing the need for collaboration across multiple fronts to maximize market opportunities. The blueprint identifies key areas for alignment and collaboration, providing progress updates to guide companies in these efforts, including:
- Unified Definition of NaaS: Establishes a clear definition of NaaS integrating on-demand connectivity, application assurance, cybersecurity, and multi-cloud networking within an automated ecosystem.
- Key NaaS Features: Identifies 36 key features, including 20 essential customer-facing features highlighted in MEF’s NaaS Customer Experience white paper.
- NaaS Use Cases: Explores customer requirements and service provider solutions for four core NaaS use cases—on-demand connectivity, SD-WAN, Secure Access Service Edge (SASE), and multi-cloud connectivity.
- NaaS Automated Ecosystem: Reports progress on the NaaS automated ecosystem built on standardized services and Lifecycle Service Orchestration (LSO) APIs that automate business and operational functions between ecosystem participants.
The blueprint also highlights MEF’s ongoing efforts to extend NaaS capabilities to enterprise customers, enabling organizations to leverage standardized MEF LSO APIs for greater control, flexibility, and visibility over their network environments. MEF’s recently released NaaS Customer Experience white paper identifies what enterprises can expect from NaaS offerings, including cloud-like scalability, dynamic connectivity, real-time performance insights, and enhanced cybersecurity.

MEF’s test and certification programs play a pivotal role in accelerating NaaS adoption by building trust and ensuring interoperability across the ecosystem. Certification programs validate that service and technology providers meet the stringent requirements for delivering automation-ready NaaS services. As of October 2024, 15 technology and service providers have achieved MEF 3.0 certification for SASE and SD-WAN. Growing industry commitment to certified and standardized services provides enterprises and service providers with the confidence to invest in and deploy NaaS solutions at scale.

The NaaS Industry Blueprint is available for download at MEF.net/NaaS. For more information about MEF standards, automation APIs, and certifications, visit MEF.net.

About MEF
MEF is a global consortium of service, cloud, cybersecurity, and technology providers collaborating to accelerate enterprise digital transformation. It delivers standards-based frameworks, services, technologies, APIs, and certification programs to enable Network-as-a-Service (NaaS) across an automated ecosystem. MEF is the defining authority for certified Lifecycle Service Orchestration (LSO) business and operational APIs and Carrier Ethernet, SASE, SD-WAN, Zero Trust, and Security Service Edge (SSE) technologies and services. MEF’s Global NaaS Event (GNE) convenes industry leaders building and delivering the next generation of NaaS solutions. For more information about MEF, visit MEF.net and follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter.

Media Contact:
Melissa Power
MEF
pr@mef.net

The MIL Network –
January 25, 2025
MIL-OSI: AutoScheduler Adds Vice President of Customer Success to Reinforce Focus on Successful Customer Implementations

Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

AUSTIN, Texas, Oct. 29, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — AutoScheduler.AI, an innovative Warehouse Orchestration Platform and WMS accelerator, announces that Ian Johnston has joined the company as the Vice President of Customer Success. He will replace Stephen Zujkowski, who is retiring. Ian has over a decade of experience in supply chain operations, logistics management, and strategic leadership. He will use his expertise to help AutoScheduler’s customers gain value and success from deploying AutoScheduler solutions. He will be the face of success for all AutoScheduler’s customers, ensuring the talented implementation team continues delivering exceptional services and fostering true partnerships.

“As a leader within Amazon, Ian has demonstrated a deep understanding of operational planning and championed many technology implementations that enabled transformative changes within numerous operations,” says Keith Moore, CEO of AutoScheduler.AI. “His rich and diverse experience in leading and supporting innovation and a keen understanding of driving customer excellence make him a perfect fit for this pivotal role at AutoScheduler.AI.”

“I am looking forward to setting new benchmarks for excellence in customer success with the best project delivery experiences, clear communications, and robust customer relationships, enabling AutoScheduler.AI to be the market leader in warehouse orchestration,” says Ian Johnston, Vice President, Customer Success, AutoScheduler.AI. “I am dedicated to driving value for clients through our innovative solutions and aligning AutoScheduler’s capabilities with customer needs.”

As Vice President of Customer Success, Ian oversees the strategy, execution, and management of all aspects of customer deployment and satisfaction. He will ensure that customers derive maximum value from AutoScheduler, leading to improved fulfillment, better labor utilization, and lower costs. As the leader in the Customer Success organization, he will drive measurable positive business outcomes, customer satisfaction, retention, and expansion across the customer base.

Before joining AutoScheduler.AI, Ian served as Director of Supply Chain at Amazon, overseeing North America’s largest heavy bulky logistics network, which included managing demand forecasting, capacity management, and product development for the U.S. and Canada. Ian’s leadership contributed to significant advancements in operational efficiency, including the development of several novel planning products that enhanced forecast accuracy and capacity flexibility, reducing Amazon’s cost to serve and improving delivery speeds. Prior to Amazon, Ian served as a Marine Infantry Officer, where he led combat operations in Afghanistan and deterrence operations in Southeast Asia. He later served at the White House, supporting two administrations and several high-profile events.

Ian holds an MBA from the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business, a BA in Political Science with a minor in Spanish from The Citadel, and is actively pursuing a Master of Science in Real Estate at the University of San Diego.

About AutoScheduler.AI
AutoScheduler.AI orchestrates warehouse activities directly on top of your WMS, optimizing operations for peak performance. Developed alongside industry leaders like P&G and successfully deployed at prominent companies such as Pepsi, General Mills, and Unilever, our AI and Machine Learning platform seamlessly integrates with your existing systems. Focused on labor planning, inventory workflow, human-robotics interaction, and space utilization, we streamline operations, reducing travel and inventory handling while maximizing OTIF rates and labor efficiency. With prescriptive analytics driving insights, our clients harness the power to enhance efficiencies and generate value across their supply chains. Reach out to us at info@autoscheduler.ai for more information.

Contact:
Becky Boyd
MediaFirst PR
Becky@MediaFirst.Net
Cell: (404) 421-8497

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/199e4f06-1419-40e1-8665-b27f4eb199cd

The MIL Network –

January 25, 2025
MIL-OSI: New CINQ by Coinstar™ Digital Wallet Launches Crypto and Stablecoin Capabilities Powered by Zero Hash
Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

CHICAGO, Oct. 29, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Zero Hash, the leading crypto and stablecoin infrastructure platform, today announced its partnership with Coinstar®, LLC, a global financial services leader, to embed crypto payments capabilities within CINQ by Coinstar™, a new digital wallet designed to expand how consumers use and manage their finances. This collaboration allows up to 9,500 of Coinstar’s 17,000+ network of kiosks across the U.S. to facilitate cash-to-crypto transactions.

Through a partnership with Zero Hash, CINQ by Coinstar has launched with the initial ability to purchase cryptocurrency and stablecoins with cash at more than 9,500 Coinstar kiosks across the U.S., or through the CINQ by Coinstar mobile app. Users of the CINQ by Coinstar app, powered by Zero Hash, can seamlessly move in, out and between cash, stablecoins and crypto. A broader range of digital payment services for the CINQ by Coinstar wallet are expected to follow in 2025 as recently announced by Coinstar.

The overarching objective of the partnership is to provide a seamless mechanism of dollar digitalization to the large percentage of underbanked and underserved households within the United States. Specifically: 
- The unbanked who now have access to an electronic cash account
  - 6% of Adult Americans are unbanked; 24.6 million Americans are underbanked (Source: Fed Reserve, 2024)
- The immigrant remitting money home
  - About half of all remittances are cash-based among the most common users (Source: Visa, 2023)
“Zero Hash is delighted to partner with Coinstar, a household brand in money transformation for more than 30 years. Its vast network of self-serve kiosks and mobile apps will help further expand access to the underbanked and immigrants looking to remit funds. Upwards of 50% of remittances are cash-based and the multiple “hops” in remittance often mean these transfers incur high fees. Linking this cash infrastructure to the “network of networks” which is crypto and stablecoins, provides a key unlock for cheaper and quicker remittances for example,” said Edward Woodford, CEO and Founder at Zero Hash. “ CINQ by Coinstar has been able to seamlessly embed our regulatory compliant infrastructure to support new ways for cash-preferred customers to move safely and seamlessly between fiat and crypto use cases.”

Powered by Zero Hash’s identity verification service, every customer is validated before cash can be entered into the kiosk for crypto, stablecoin and fiat transactions. Additional controls include Documentary Verification and Liveness Verification before certain services may be enabled. Users can buy over 25 crypto and stablecoin assets with paper currency at Coinstar kiosks in major grocery stores across North America as well as through the CINQ by Coinstar mobile app. Users can also connect multiple bank accounts, with Zero Hash’s platform facilitating USD deposits via ACH, allowing users to hold balances in cash or crypto and easily manage their financial needs.

“Zero Hash has been an incredible partner in helping us extend our trusted services into the digital world,” said Kevin McColly, CEO of Coinstar. “Their secure and industry leading crypto and stablecoin infrastructure has allowed us to seamlessly bridge the gap between cash and cryptocurrency, making it easier for our customers to access and manage their finances.” 

There are two ways to get started buying cryptocurrency through Zero Hash at Coinstar kiosks:
1. Download the CINQ by Coinstar app, verify your account and visit a Coinstar kiosk with your cash. Or connect your bank account in the app and get started immediately.
2. Visit a Coinstar kiosk, select cryptocurrency from the options and choose CINQ by Coinstar to get started with your crypto purchase through Zero Hash. Enter your mobile number at the kiosk and last 4 SSN or Date of Birth, then download the CINQ by Coinstar app and complete your account setup.
To learn more about CINQ by Coinstar and follow along for additional product innovations, visit www.cinqwallet.com, or to find a CINQ by Coinstar enabled kiosk, visit our kiosk finder here.¹ 

1: The CINQ by Coinstar wallet is available in all 50 states. However, Zero Hash enabled Kiosks are not currently available in all states, including the state of New York.  Transactional limits may also apply.

About Zero Hash
Zero Hash is the leading crypto and stablecoin infrastructure provider that seamlessly connects fiat, crypto and stablecoins in one platform, enabling a better way to move and transfer money and value globally.

Through its embeddable infrastructure, start-ups, enterprises and Fortune 500 companies build a diverse range of use cases: cross-border payments, commerce, trading, remittance, payroll, tokenization, wallets and on and off-ramps.

Zero Hash Holdings is backed by investors, including Point72 Ventures, Bain Capital Ventures, and NYCA.

Zero Hash LLC is a FinCen-registered Money Service Business and a regulated Money Transmitter that can operate in 51 US jurisdictions. Zero Hash LLC and Zero Hash Liquidity Services LLC are licensed to engage in virtual currency business activity by the New York State Department of Financial Services. In Canada, Zero Hash LLC is registered as a Money Service Business with FINTRAC.

Zero Hash Australia Pty Ltd. is registered with AUSTRAC as a Digital Currency Exchange Provider, with DCE registered provider number DCE100804170-001.  This registration enables Zero Hash to offer its crypto services in Australia.  Zero Hash Australia Pty Ltd. is registered on the New Zealand register of financial service providers, with Financial Service Provider (FSP)  number FSP1004503.  A FSP in New Zealand is a registration and does not mean that Zero Hash Australia Pty Ltd. is licensed by a New Zealand regulator to provide crypto services.  Zero Hash Australia Pty Ltd.’s registration on the New Zealand register of financial service providers does not mean that Zero Hash Australia is subject to active regulation or oversight by a New Zealand regulator.  Zero Hash Europe B.V. is registered as a Virtual Asset Services Provider (VASP) registration by the Dutch Central Bank (Relation number: R193684).  Zero Hash Europe Sp. Zoo is registered as a VASP by the Tax Administration Chamber of Poland in Katowice (Registration number RDWW – 1212).

Connect with Zero Hash
Website | Twitter | LinkedIn | Medium

Zero Hash Contact

Shaun O’keeffe

(855) 744-7333

media@zerohash.com

Zero Hash Disclosures
Zero Hash services and product offerings, including the availability of kiosk services, may not be available in all jurisdictions. Zero Hash accounts are not subject to FDIC or SIPC protections, or any such equivalent protections that may exist outside of the US. Zero Hash’s technical support and enablement of any asset is not an endorsement of such asset and is not a recommendation to buy, sell, or hold any crypto asset. The value of any cryptocurrency, including digital assets pegged to fiat currency, commodities, or any other asset, may go to zero. Zero Hash is not registered with the SEC or FINRA. Zero Hash does not provide any securities services and is not a custodian of securities, including security tokens, on behalf of customers. 

About Coinstar, LLC
Coinstar® is a global leader in money transformation and the largest physical self-serve financial network with a digital wallet, CINQ by Coinstar. Through its digital wallet, mobile app and network of 24,000 kiosks in North America and Europe, Coinstar offers a wide range of financial services which enable users to transform their physical currency. Its reliable payment solutions offer one-stop shopping experiences at convenient kiosk locations including coin conversion to cash, NO FEE eGift cards and charitable donations as well as account transfer services powered by our bank partners. Users can also move money and transact more seamlessly in the digital world through CINQ by Coinstar with the ability to buy, sell and transfer cryptocurrencies in its initial rollout. For brand advertisers, Coinstar offers adPlanet™ Retail Media Group, which enables lead generation on the interactive kiosk screen and a digital out of home network that delivers advertising via high-definition screens on top of Coinstar kiosks at select retail and grocery locations. For more information on Coinstar, visit www.coinstar.com.

The MIL Network –
January 25, 2025
MIL-OSI: 15 Leading Technology and Service Providers Achieve SASE Certification in Industry’s Only Independent Certification Program

Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

DALLAS, Oct. 29, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — MEF, a global consortium of network, cloud, security, and technology providers driving enterprise digital transformation, today announced significant advancements in its MEF 3.0 Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) Certification Program. Technology providers Fortinet and Versa have achieved full SASE certification, while service providers AT&T, BT, Colt, Comcast Business, Console Connect, Liberty Latin America, Lumen, Orange Business, TPG, and Verizon have also earned full SASE certification. Additionally, technology providers Broadcom Inc. and Palo Alto Networks, and service provider Sparkle, are expected to achieve full SASE certification shortly. Organizations that achieve SASE certification through MEF’s rigorous independent program receive a rating on product effectiveness and are listed in MEF’s registry of certified companies. SASE certification is now available to all MEF members.

“As cyber threats continue to escalate in complexity and frequency, enterprises need absolute confidence in their security solutions,” said Nan Chen, Chief Executive Officer, MEF. “MEF’s independent SASE certification program provides that assurance, enabling organizations to choose validated solutions that protect their digital assets and support their transformation initiatives.”

Validated Security for the Enterprise
MEF’s comprehensive certification program addresses today’s critical cybersecurity threats through rigorous testing of SASE, which includes Software-Defined Wide Area Network (SD-WAN), Security Service Edge (SSE), and Zero Trust (ZT) capabilities. The program is delivered in partnership with CyberRatings.org (CRO), a world-class testing laboratory that ensures transparency and confidence in cybersecurity solutions.

Technology providers must successfully complete all three certification modules to achieve full SASE certification. Service providers can achieve certification by integrating MEF-certified technology solutions, ensuring enterprise customers can trust the security and performance of their provider’s ecosystem.

“Building secure, high-performing networks is critical to enterprise success,” said Pascal Menezes, Chief Technology Officer, MEF. “By achieving SASE certification, technology and service providers are proving their commitment to delivering reliable, scalable, and secure solutions.”

Setting the Standard for Network Security
The certification program validates compliance with MEF standards, including MEF SD-WAN (MEF 70.1) and industry-first standards for SASE (MEF 117) and Zero Trust (MEF 118). Certified solutions receive detailed ratings displayed in MEF’s certification registry, enabling enterprises to make informed decisions about their security investments.

As SASE becomes central to Network-as-a-Service (NaaS) offerings, certified solutions give enterprises confidence in the cybersecurity embedded within their network environments. To help organizations navigate this landscape, MEF recently released its “State of the Industry Report: SASE – Validating Cyber Defense in an Era of Unprecedented Threats.“

More information about MEF’s SASE certification program can be found here.

SASE certifications and advancements will be featured at MEF’s Global Network-as-a-Service Event (GNE) from Oct 28–30, 2024, in Dallas, Texas. Visit gne.mef.net.

About MEF
MEF is a global consortium of service, cloud, cybersecurity, and technology providers collaborating to accelerate enterprise digital transformation. It delivers standards-based frameworks, services, technologies, APIs, and certification programs to enable Network-as-a-Service (NaaS) across an automated ecosystem. MEF is the defining authority for certified Lifecycle Service Orchestration (LSO) business and operational APIs and Carrier Ethernet, SASE, SD-WAN, Zero Trust, and Security Service Edge (SSE) technologies and services. MEF’s Global NaaS Event (GNE) convenes industry leaders building, delivering and consuming the next generation of NaaS solutions. For more information about MEF, visit MEF.net and follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter and YouTube. 

Media Contact:
Melissa Power
MEF
pr@mef.net

Here’s what certified organizations have to say about the importance of certification.

“It’s a tough environment for businesses: they’re facing wider attack surfaces and increasingly sophisticated threats, so it’s no surprise that many are looking to bolster their SD-WAN services with SASE’s advanced security features. MEF’s rigorous certification program gives businesses the peace of mind that comes from knowing their service providers meet the highest industry standards. At Colt, we’re very proud of our MEF 3.0 SASE Certification—it recognizes our ongoing commitment to delivering industry-leading customer experience while supporting our customers to improve their security posture.” – Tyler Hemmen, Vice President Enterprise Products and Solutions, Colt Technology Services

“At Comcast Business, we are proud to be among the first to receive MEF 3.0 Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) Certification. This achievement highlights our dedication to providing advanced technology solutions that address the evolving needs of our customers. SASE-based services offer businesses a unified approach to security and network access, ensuring that their data is protected, and their operations remain seamless, regardless of location.” – Bob Victor, Senior Vice President of Customer Solutions, Comcast Business

“At Console Connect, we’re thrilled to announce we’ve achieved MEF 3.0 SASE Certification, placing us among the first global NaaS providers to receive this certification. This validates our commitment to delivering secure and high-performance data-movement solutions to enterprises in over 100 countries. By leveraging SD-WAN, SSE, and Zero Trust, we offer enhanced security and operational efficiency for all enterprise data-movement needs. This certification isn’t just a win for Console Connect, it’s a step forward for the entire industry in defining and delivering enterprise-grade SASE solutions.” – Paul Gampe, Chief Technology Officer, Console Connect, MEF Board of Directors

“Fortinet’s Unified SASE solution aligns perfectly with our founding principle of converging networking and security to help our customers reduce complexity, improve security, and centralize management. We’re proud to achieve the highest rating possible— a AAA rating— on the MEF 3.0 SASE Certification, which includes testing across SD-WAN, SSE, and Zero Trust. This recognition adds to our growing list of third-party validations and underscores our commitment to providing reliable, scalable, and innovative solutions for our customers.” – John Maddison, Chief Marketing Officer, Fortinet

“Lumen is excited to reinforce our leadership within the MEF community by being among the first to achieve certification under the MEF 3.0 Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) standard. For customers leveraging Lumen’s Private Connectivity Fabric as their trusted multi-cloud interconnect, the ability to integrate robust, policy-driven overlay networks is a crucial value-added service that ensures enterprise-class security for diverse customer workloads.” – Carole Gridley, Senior Vice President of Product, Lumen

“Delivering secure, scalable, and high-performance services to meet the digital infrastructure needs of enterprises is at the heart of everything we do at Orange Business. Achieving MEF 3.0 SASE Certification underscores our dedication to providing trusted and robust services that simplify network and security integration for our global customers. This certification validates our ability to deliver the total experience that is a priority for businesses today, especially given the dynamic cybersecurity landscape.” – Usman Javaid, Chief Products and Marketing Officer, Orange Business

“MEF’s SASE certification testing is a game-changer for the industry, providing a rigorous, standardized framework to validate the security and performance of converged network solutions. This certification not only strengthens customer confidence but also ensures that vendors like Palo Alto Networks are meeting the highest benchmarks for Secure Access Service Edge technologies. By participating in MEF’s testing, we are positioning Palo Alto Networks as a leader in delivering trusted, high-quality solutions that drive innovation and reliability.” – Samaresh Nair, Director of Product Management, Palo Alto Networks

“TPG Telecom is always committed to ensuring our network, design, and products meet the latest industry standards. Achieving the MEF 3.0 SD-WAN Certification enhances our operational efficiency, boosts our skills, and gives our customers added confidence in our expertise. This is a testament to our dedication to delivering high-quality, future-proof SD-WAN solutions to meet the dynamic needs of TPG Telecom’s customers.” – Marco Chan, General Manager of Technology, Enterprise, Government and Wholesale, TPG Telecom

“We are delighted to be one of the first companies to achieve an AAA rating and full MEF certification for our SD-WAN, SSE, and ZTNA solutions. With global demand for SASE accelerating, real-world testing is essential for identifying the right products and technology as opposed to relying on vendor claims or qualitative analysis. The MEF 3.0 SASE Certification program delivers the concrete results and data to help organizations make informed decisions.” – Kelly Ahuja, Chief Executive Officer, Versa

The MIL Network –

January 25, 2025
MIL-OSI Economics: A test of resolve: credible resolution following the 2023 banking turmoil

Source: Bank for International Settlements

Introduction

I would like to welcome you all to the Resolution Conference 2024, the first that has been co-organised by the BIS Financial Stability Institute (FSI), the Financial Stability Board (FSB) and the International Association of Deposit Insurers (IADI). This event is motivated by the banking turmoil in March 2023. The 18 months that have passed since those events have given time to reflect seriously on it and derive some lessons. This conference provides an opportunity to take stock, compare notes and try to identify a productive way forward.

Scene-setting

It is now commonplace to say that the March 2023 failures of several US regional banks, followed a week later by the near failure of Credit Suisse, were the first meaningful test of the international resolution framework that was put in place following the Great Financial Crisis (GFC).

The headline message is that large bank failures did not lead to a systemic crisis. Authorities managed them in an orderly manner with no ultimate loss to public funds. Creditors and shareholders bore losses. In the case of Credit Suisse, there was a significant writedown of loss-absorbing instruments. This is a noteworthy achievement, and stands in stark contrast to the GFC.

The extensive work to put in place cross-border cooperative arrangements has demonstrably strengthened the financial system. The outcomes might have been very different without the planning and coordination that took place between home and host authorities, and the understanding and trust that have been developed.

However, work remains to be done. The reports published last year by the FSB and IADI set out lessons learned for resolution and deposit insurance.¹ They include the risk of faster failures, accelerated by digital technologies; the scope of resolution planning and requirements for loss-absorbing capacity (LAC); and flexibility in resolution strategies. Other reports, including by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, elaborate on the supervisory shortcomings and the vulnerabilities arising from large quantities of uninsured deposits. Work on all these issues is ongoing.

In any case, I would like to concentrate my remarks on two elements of the bank resolution framework that I think must be tackled as we go forward. The first is the power to bail-in creditors as a key element of resolution strategies. The second is the need to put in place effective facilities for providing liquidity in resolution. The events of March 2023 highlighted the importance of both. They are also among the elements of a resolution framework that are most challenging to implement.

The credibility of bail-in

Bail-in powers are core to the resolution framework adopted after the GFC. Bail-in allows a systemically important bank to be recapitalised without the need to find a buyer for its business or to split up its operations, at least in the short term. Appropriate liabilities absorb losses without putting a failing bank into insolvency. Crucially, it is designed to ensure that a bank’s owners and investors, rather than depositors or taxpayers, bear the costs of resolution costs.

In practice, a bail-in is a highly complex transaction involving multiple parties, and a huge amount of work has been carried out on how to execute it. A typical bail-in would involve multiple valuations; a mechanism to write down and cancel instruments, which are likely to be traded; and the issuance of new shares to the bailed-in debt holders. The process has been mapped out in detail by resolution authorities. However, a full bail-in strategy remains untested.

Credit Suisse had a resolution strategy based on bail-in, and FINMA and key host authorities had prepared extensively to execute that strategy.

In the end, the Swiss authorities chose not to follow the resolution playbook because they had another option that achieved their objectives: a state-brokered commercial merger of Credit Suisse and UBS. Nevertheless, the contractual writedown of all the outstanding Additional Tier 1 (AT1) capital instruments issued by Credit Suisse was a key element of the transaction. The writedown extinguished liabilities amounting to CHF 16 billion from the bank’s balance sheet.²

Although the writedown was more limited than that planned under the full bail-in strategy for Credit Suisse, it demonstrates that bail-in is a core instrument in the crisis management framework. Contrary to what some commentators have feared, a substantial debt writedown is possible and can be executed without significant systemic disruption.

Nevertheless, there are a few lessons to draw from this to reinforce that bail-in is credible and feasible.

Flexible resolution toolkits

First, authorities need flexibility. Planning is essential, but it cannot be prescriptive. We cannot know with absolute confidence in advance how a failure will happen and what actions will best safeguard financial stability. Accordingly, authorities need options so that they can shape their response to the circumstances of a failure. This implies a toolkit approach under which authorities can combine the use of different tools.

The Credit Suisse transaction demonstrated that, even in the case of a global systemically important bank (G-SIB), bail-in may not be an exclusive strategy, but debt writedown could be a core element. Moreover, bail-in is not a tool exclusively for G-SIBs. For other banks, the writedown of liabilities in resolution can finance transfers of business and reduce the demands on industry-funded sources such as deposit insurance funds.

Flexibility of this kind brings operational complexities. A toolbox approach means that authorities and firms need to accommodate different options in resolution planning. Banks will need the systems and capabilities to support those options. Key aspects of resolvability such as structure and LAC may become even more complex. However, an effective toolbox approach will further reduce the residual risk that public funds will be needed in crisis management.

Loss-absorbing capacity

Second, for bail-in to be credible banks must have liabilities that can be written down with legal certainty and without systemic impact. The FSB’s TLAC standard ensures this for G-SIBs. Some jurisdictions have extended similar requirements for LAC to other banks that could be systemic in failure.

For example, the EU requirement for resolution-related LAC, the minimum requirement for own funds and eligible liabilities (MREL) – applies to all banks. The amount above the regulatory minimum required for individual banks is based on their resolution strategy. It aims to ensure that any bank that is expected to be resolved rather than wound up maintains LAC in sufficient quantity and quality to absorb losses and recapitalise it in resolution.

The US financial regulators have consulted on a proposal to require banks with $100 billion or more in assets to maintain a layer of long-term debt. This additional LAC would be used, in the event of a bank’s failure, to absorb losses and increase the resolution options. It should also foster depositor confidence among uninsured deposits.

The three US regional banks that failed in 2023 had little or no outstanding long-term debt. It has been observed elsewhere that if the proposed requirement had applied to Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank, they might have been resolved within the FDIC’s normal funding constraints, without a systemic risk exception being required.³

If bail-in is to help fund resolution transfers, there need to be instruments that can be written down. The amounts are lower than that needed to recapitalise the bank and finance restructuring in a “pure” bail-in. Nevertheless, calibrating those requirements may be challenging.

Moreover, meeting LAC requirements should not put banks’ legitimate business models in jeopardy. This is particularly relevant for banks that are predominantly deposit funded. A pragmatic way to alleviate the challenges for those banks is to take account of the resolution funding available from external sources, such as deposit insurance or resolution funds, when setting LAC requirements.⁴

Liquidity for crisis management

Let me turn now to liquidity for crisis management. Resolution powers can recapitalise a failing bank through bail-in. However, capital is not enough on its own. Without liquidity, the resolution will fail.

Market funding will almost certainly not be available to a bank following its resolution until counterparty confidence can be restored. Resolution frameworks therefore require a credible source of liquidity, at the necessary scale and for a sufficient period of time to allow a resolved firm to return to market-based funding.

This is recognised by the FSB, which has published two sets of guidance on funding in resolution. However, the arrangements in place vary considerably across jurisdictions and in many cases are not designed for the resolution needs of systemically important banks.

The liquidity arrangements that were needed in the case of Credit Suisse support this point. The Swiss government had been working on a public liquidity backstop, but this was not yet in place in March 2023. Accordingly, the authorities had to adopt emergency legislation to enable the Swiss National Bank (SNB) to provide a liquidity facility of up to CHF 200 billion. Part of that lending was uncollateralised and coupled with a privileged bankruptcy status for the SNB and part was backed by a guarantee from the Swiss state.

This case illustrates that ordinary central bank lending arrangements, including emergency liquidity assistance, may not be sufficient for resolution. The amount of liquidity needed by a systemically important bank will be considerable and required over an extended period. Moreover, lending may need to be secured against a wider range of assets or, in extreme circumstances, be uncollateralised. Arrangements for resolution funding must meet these needs. This implies a fiscal backstop to increase the firepower where that is needed.

A fiscal backstop might appear to introduce a risk to public funds, something that the framework for ending “too big to fail” was designed to avoid. But the risks of loss to public funds should be low. It’s worth noting that all lending in relation to Credit Suisse was repaid, and no losses were incurred by the SNB or the Swiss state under its indemnity. If resolution is effective, the bank will be viable and the borrowing should be repaid.

Concluding remarks

I will end where I began. Financial crises provide a good opportunity to identify flaws or shortcomings in the policy framework. The March 2023 banking turmoil was the most significant banking crisis since the GFC and the subsequent policy reforms. Therefore, we should grasp this opportunity to draw lessons.

Overall, authorities managed to preserve financial stability. In Switzerland, that was accomplished, despite the failure of a G-SIB, without any cost to the taxpayer. This was a remarkable achievement, and the resolution framework developed after the GFC contributed to that.

But we also need to take note of the obstacles encountered in the process. In particular, it is clear that maximising the potential of bail-in and the provision of liquidity in resolution are pending tasks that need to be addressed.

Work to do that is ongoing, and this conference is a small but significant part of that process. I am delighted that so many people have come to Basel to participate, and I expect productive discussions during the day.

MIL OSI Economics –

January 25, 2025
MIL-OSI Economics: Frank Elderson: Finance and Biodiversity Day of 16th United Nations Conference on Biological Diversity (COP16) – transcript of video recording

Source: Bank for International Settlements

The global economy and finance need nature to survive. Analysis by the ECB shows that the economy depends critically on nature: 72% of non-financial businesses in the euro area – around 4.2 million individual companies – would experience significant problems as a result of ecosystem degradation. These businesses rely on ecosystem services like fertile soils, timber and clean water. And 75% of bank loans are tied to these businesses. So, if they run into trouble, the banks that finance them will too. This interdependence underscores why the ECB made nature one of the focus areas of its climate and nature plan for 2024 and 2025. It is also why we push banks under our supervision to manage all material nature-related risks.

The ECB does not stand alone in recognising this threat. The value of nature for the economy is acknowledged by the global Network of Central Banks and Supervisors for Greening the Financial System, which has 141 members worldwide. Additionally, a recent stocktake by the Financial Stability Board showed that a growing number of policy authorities around the world are considering the potential implications of nature-related risks for financial stability.

In recognition of the vital importance of nature for the economy, international fora must ensure that nature considerations are fully integrated into regulation and supervision, alongside ongoing efforts to account for climate-related considerations. This starts with identifying exposures and vulnerabilities to nature-related risks.

While central banks and supervisors are not nature policymakers, we must take nature into account to fulfil our mandate of price stability and safe and sound banks. Otherwise, we risk failing to deliver on our mandate.

My message on this Finance and Biodiversity Day is clear: if you destroy nature, you destroy the economy. The right conditions must be established for nature – and consequently the economy – to thrive. The economy needs nature to survive. Financial stability needs nature to survive. To deliver on our mandate, we need nature to survive. And the survival of nature requires financing. Therefore, your success here in Cali is vitally important.

Thank you. Buena suerte.

MIL OSI Economics –

January 25, 2025
MIL-OSI Economics: Andrew Bailey: Michael D Gill Memorial Society Lecture

Source: Bank for International Settlements

Quite simply, I wish I was not giving this lecture today. Or, perhaps better, I wish I was giving it with Mike Gill here to participate. But, only one of those is possible due to his tragic and senseless killing. I am sure I am not alone in thinking that when these events happen to people we do not know, we find a sort of anesthetised isolation by resorting to commenting on the public policy implications in a rather dehumanised way. But when it happens to someone we knew, hugely liked and respected, who was without question a good person, then it is almost natural to be lost for words. It has taken me a long time to compose thoughts on someone to and about whom I could say so much in life.

There is an old saying that someone is a pillar of society. They are the people who support and hold society together. Well, Mike was without question a pillar of society. He was generous, kind, thoughtful and very supportive. Kristina, Sean, Brian, and Annika, as you know even better than us, he was an outstanding person.

But Mike was not a pillar of society in the sense of that term of someone who was stuck in the past, holding together a world that was lost. He was a moderniser, and that was why it was so appropriate that he served at the CFTC, which has its history but also is at one of the cutting edges of finance. Mike loved that. He talked at length about visiting farms with Chris and about the technology changing farms and agricultural markets. But he was also an enthusiast to find an appropriate treatment of cryptocurrency in derivatives markets.

The second thing about Mike and his work here at the CFTC that naturally brought us together was that he was a passionate internationalist. And he always seemed happy to visit London, and it was always good to see him there. Our international travel went further. There is a memorable, for me certainly, picture of the two of us on a boat trip in Sydney Harbour in 2019.

It wasn’t just the travel. Mike was, like Chris, an internationalist through and through. I spent time with Mike after the UK’s Brexit Referendum in 2016. I am strictly neutral on Brexit as a public official. I knew then that our job was to work out how to implement something that, let’s be honest, had not been planned. In the area of financial services, clearing was going to be probably the hardest area for us, because – and I will come back to this point – it is inherently international in many parts, and particularly the parts we do in London. I knew immediately after the Referendum that it was critical for the UK not to become isolated and certainly not isolationist. That would be the road to a very bad outcome for the City of London. We needed friends, both in deeds and words, those who would be prepared to stand by us, and put up with uncertainty while we worked out the best course. Chris, you and Mike were those people – friends when we were in some need.

Now, it is the case that, as a internationalist, Mike arrived in the world of clearing at the right time. It is a fairly esoteric activity, always important, but also often in the background. We quite like it to be humming away safely in the background. But the Global Financial crisis had emphasised that we had undervalued its importance, that the world would have been safer if we had put It more into the centre of the financial system.

But, to do that it must be done safely and soundly. Unsafe clearing would be worse than no clearing, it would amount to concentrating the risk in one unsafe house.

And so, if we are asked to list the very big financial system changes post financial crisis, we should naturally start by saying that we have put clearing at the heart of the system. Central Counterparties (CCPs) are a key to mitigating counterparty credit risk, which has become even more relevant following the crisis and, in so doing, bring significant financial stability benefits. The experience of the collapse of Lehman Brothers demonstrated that CCPs should be able to dampen the shock of a major counterparty credit failure. One of my abiding memories of the Lehman weekend was the attempt to organise an ad-hoc trade position compression exercise, to net down the positions. It wasn’t possible, and the hard lesson was that only permanent institutional structures with clearing houses at their heart can achieve the ends we desired.

But, of course, we know that CCPs, can pose significant risks to the stability of the financial system if they are not properly managed. A consequence of central clearing is that CCPs themselves become a financial network which can bring about the contagion of financial instability if they are not robustly established and operated. In line with G20 commitments following the Financial Crisis, the introduction of mandatory clearing for various classes of over-the-counter derivatives has driven an increase in the systemic importance of CCPs.

In the banking world, that tendency for banks to grow and become more globally systemic led to hostility to allowing very large banks which could be too big to fail. Clearing is different. Its not just that clearing didn’t cause the crisis, though just to be clear, it didn’t. Rather, its more than that. Up to some point, and that point can naturally be large, there are benefits of scale and scope in clearing. Yes, there is contagion risk if a CCP fails, and especially where it is large in its market, but there are real benefits of scope and scale.

And, this naturally leads to the international dimension that Mike so much emphasised. The global nature of many financial markets means that clearing is naturally a
cross-border activity. Cross-border clearing also brings significant benefits. A single CCP operating across multiple jurisdictions and currencies can provide efficiencies and reduce risk through multilateral settling of exposures across counterparties in different jurisdictions.

This puts an obligation on us as regulators of clearing houses. We have a duty to enable the safe operation of the global financial system. Public authorities have risen to this duty, supervising standards on CCPs have been strengthened and new international standards have driven the establishment of credible CCP resolution regimes. We also have a deep sense of responsibility for the impact of our actions on other countries. And, we take this very seriously, as we must. In the UK, as the regulator we are required in any exercise of our rule-making power to consider the effects of these rules on the financial stability of any country where one of our clearing houses provides services, and we must act in a way that does not favour one jurisdiction over another.

This is of course all common sense. We all recognise that the interconnectedness of global markets means that any shocks in one part of the world can quickly reverberate and cause stress elsewhere. But common sense though it is, I can tell you that it’s a lot easier to put into practice when you are working with someone like Mike Gill, who wants to get things done and is at heart an internationalist.

And, so it should be no surprise that during the period Mike was here at the CFTC, things did get done, and they continue to get done building on his legacy.

There is another feature of clearing that is distinctive. As I said earlier, by its very nature it concentrates the risks associated with the trades being cleared. That’s how and why CCPs are such crucial nodes in the financial system. But it also means that if a CCP doesn’t manage its risk well, the concentration magnifies the impact of the problem. Moreover, CCPs tend to be highly interconnected because the instruments they clear are likewise interconnected – think about the different ways to trade interest rate risk. A small number of CCPs provide most of the capacity in over the counter derivatives clearing. And, a small number of clearing members provide the majority of clearing services to clients at all of these big CCPs. These firms are also providing key services to the CCPs, such as settlement, custody and liquidity backstops.

We can take a few points from this. Clearing is quite complicated and technical as an activity. I’m going to stick my neck out and suggest that here in Washington, conversations in bars are not of the sort: “tell me how does margining in a clearing house work”. Its notoriously a dry subject, but important, hugely so. But therein lies a risk – even at international meetings there can seem to be other things to talk about, happily so, and that can lead to problems of neglect.

Except, onto the scene came Mike Gill and Chris Giancarlo. The enthusiasts had arrived. Suddenly, it seemed a pleasure to talk about clearing. The fun kids talked about clearing. The serious point is that supervising big CCPs requires deep cooperation between authorities across multiple jurisdictions. It requires cooperation not fragmentation. We knew how to do that, but it always seemed harder to put in practice than it should have done. We don’t like economic fragmentation in the world, rightly so, but somehow arguments are made that its ok to do so for clearing. No it isn’t as a matter of fact, because such a view defies the logic of how financial markets work. Supervising and regulatory cooperation is a key part of the right approach.

I want to finish by looking forwards. I think that is what Mike would want, because it was very much as I remember him. There was always something new and interesting, whether it was drones overseeing crop production or crypto assets.

The importance and role of clearing continues to grow rapidly. A few facts help to illustrate the importance of clearing. I will focus on UK-US clearing facts. The notional amount of OTC derivatives cleared by UK CCPs with US counterparties continues to be greater than that cleared with any other jurisdiction. Across the three UK CCPs, 38% of margin is derived from US clearing members, and volumes have been larger this year than last, which was also up on previous years.

Overall, one thing that lies behind this growth is a rise in non-bank financial intermediation versus bank intermediation. We should not be surprised at this. But let me go back to 2008 and the Lehman weekend for a moment. The attempt to put in place an ad-hoc trade compression process – to net down exposures – reflected in the main banks having – sloppily – built up very large derivative books, and not managed them effectively. I remember several CEOs told me at the time that it just had not occurred to them that they needed to manage these books efficiently.

Indeed, it was very clear that for quite a few, there was very little awareness of the problem that was building up. It was too easy to pile trade upon trade with little regard for the need to risk manage these books throughly.

And then the music stopped, and suddenly what had been out of sight and out of mind in the good times became a problem. Outsized books had to be managed down by banks. Today that legacy is behind us. But the scale of derivative activity has nonetheless grown much further. That growth has provided important hedging benefits, and it has enabled much larger position limits to exist, concentrated more in the non-bank sector, but inevitably with links into the banking system. The so-called basis trade is a good example of this.

These developments leave us with major puzzles. Is there a scale of activity beyond which stress sets in when it has to be unwound quite suddenly? What would be the effects of that stress? And how do we model such a fluid landscape, where stress could emerge in several places at once? Better tools of diagnosis are important here.

At the Bank of England we have designed and run something we call the System Wide Exploratory Scenario, which seeks to synthesise the effects of some severe but plausible shocks passing through the financial system. Over 50 firms have participated, as have the clearing houses that support the activity. This is not a stress test in the now quite traditional individual bank by bank sense. It is a market-wide test designed to simulate shocks – it’s a flow test, designed to find obstructions and concentrations of risks and correlated positions that might otherwise be opaque. It is I think an important step forward in testing behavioural reactions to stress including how risks might cascade across markets. And, it will give us a better answer in terms of the effectiveness of CCPs in managing market-wide risks. The results should be published by the end of the year. It’s the sort of new thing that I think Mike would have appreciated, and been enthusiastic about.

The Bank of England and the CFTC have a longstanding relationship of cooperation on CCPs. Mike added his special qualities to that relationship. Its our duty to carry his work forward, but even more so to do it in his spirit, the one we enjoyed and miss so much.

Thank you.

I would like to thank Sarah Breeden, Karen Jude, Harsh Mehta, Ruth Smith, Sam Woods, Shane Scott, Sasha Mills, Deborah Potts, Thomas Ferry, Konstantina Drakouli, Marc Ledroux, Barry King and Priya Mistry for their help in the preparation of these remarks.

MIL OSI Economics –

January 25, 2025

MIL-OSI Economics: Risk reduction redefined: How compromise assessment helps strengthen cyberdefenses

Source: Securelist – Kaspersky

Headline: Risk reduction redefined: How compromise assessment helps strengthen cyberdefenses

Introduction

Organizations often rely on a layered defense strategy, yet breaches still occur, slipping past multiple levels of protection unnoticed. This is where compromise assessment enters the game. The primary objective of these services is risk reduction. They help discover active cyberattacks as well as unnoticed sophisticated attacks that occurred in the past by doing the following:

Tool-assisted scanning of all endpoints;
Host and network equipment log analysis;
Threat intelligence analysis, including darknet search;
Initial incident response to contain discovered threats.

In this article, we delve into the root causes of real-world cases from our practice, where despite having numerous security controls in place, the organizations still found themselves compromised. In all the cases in question, compromise assessment was the last line of defense that successfully detected incidents.

Patch management issues

The vulnerability patching process typically takes time for a variety of reasons: from actual patch release all the way to identifying vulnerable assets and “properly” patching them, considering any pre-existing asset inventory and whether the accountable personnel will learn about the vulnerability in time. There are multiple factors that may delay this process, including formality in business continuity requirements, e.g. inability to reboot the server without a downtime window.

That’s why insufficient patch management processes on the customer side are one of the most common root causes of incidents we observe in compromise assessment projects. Moreover, exploitation of a public-facing application was the root cause in 42.37% of cases investigated by the Kaspersky Global Emergency Response Team (GERT) in 2023.

During the investigation of one case, we identified that the web server was patched a month after the attacker infiltrated the network: this delay was a treasure trove for the threat actor, since the organization was left unprotected and the attack went unnoticed.

Immediately after compromising the server, the attacker deployed a SILENTTRINITY C2 stager.
They attempted to dump credentials via a custom packed version of Mimikatz on the first day, and by dumping the LSASS process memory to disk on the fourth day.
During that month, they conducted internal reconnaissance of SMB shares until they obtained the credentials of the domain administrator.

Policy violations by employees

Most organizations focus on external threats; however, policy violations pose a major risk, with 51% of SMB incidents and 43% of enterprise incidents involving IT security policy violations caused by employees. An “employee” here is any person who has a regular employee’s level of access to the organization’s systems.

In one of our compromise assessments, we identified an incident whose root cause was traced to a contracted cybersecurity consultant. During an interim report meeting, we presented a list of compromised accounts (a result of darknet search playbook execution) to the customer’s board of directors along with statistics on the accounts on the list. Of all the compromised accounts, 71% belonged to the customer’s employees, with 63% of these being employees’ accounts in the services accessible from outside the company.

Statistics on the organization’s compromised accounts. Source: Kaspersky Digital Footprint Intelligence

The list contained a C-level officer’s account, among others. Since this was a critical situation, with everyone suspecting that officer’s laptop had been compromised, we ran a quick investigation during the meeting and figured out that credentials had been leaked from a third-party consultant’s machine. The chairman created an account in an external system with his own corporate email and shared the credentials with the consultant. Since it was clear that consultant’s laptop might contain other confidential data, we developed the following tactical response plan.

Collect a forensic triage package from the consultant’s laptop.
- Analyze the package to identify all leaked credentials.
- Check the consultant’s laptop for malware.
- Run a keyword-based search to identify potential leaked documents.
Review email/VPN/other logs of likely affected services available from outside the organization to detect any abnormal activity by compromised accounts.
Double-check if multi-factor authentication was enabled for the compromised accounts at the time of compromise.
Update the incident response plan based on the findings. Reset the password and install a new OS image on the laptop at a minimum.

This incident could have been prevented by ensuring that employees and any third party with access to the network followed the policies. This is easy to say but it sometimes gets tricky and requires time, effort and deep technical knowledge in practice.

MSP/MSSP issues

Usually, MSSPs are more focused on continuous monitoring and alerting, ignoring detection gaps identification and visibility enhancements: a periodic review of the customer’s event audit policy, enabling a disabled log source or highlighting a poorly configured log source. For example, the X-Forwarded-For HTTP header is often not enabled on web servers. As a result, the SOC can’t see the original IP of the connection and determine the attack source, which complicates incident investigation.

In our compromise assessment practice, we frequently identify incidents that external SOCs have missed. During one project, we reviewed third-party antivirus logs and identified multiple webshell detections on the same server for several days.

Day from first exploit attempt	File path	Verdict	Message
Day 1	C:Windows[redacte d for privacy].aspx	Backdoor.ASP.WEBS HELL.SM	Malicious software deleted successfully
Day 2	C:Windows[redacte d for privacy].aspx	Backdoor.ASP.WEBS HELL.SM	Malicious software deleted successfully
Day 3	C:Windows[redacte d for privacy].aspx	Backdoor.ASP.WEBS HELL.SM	Malicious software deleted successfully
Day 4	C:Windows[redacte d for privacy].aspx	Backdoor.ASP.WEBS HELL.SM	Malicious software deleted successfully
Day 7	C:Program FilesCommon Filesmicrosoft sharedWeb Server Extensions16TEMPLATELA YOUTS[redacted for privacy].aspx	Backdoor.ASP.WEBS HELL.SM	Malicious software deleted successfully
Day 9	C:Windows[redacte d for privacy].aspx	Backdoor.ASP.WEBS HELL.SM	Malicious software deleted successfully

The MSSP SOC analysts had failed to raise an alert, because the malware was deleted by the antivirus each time. This is a textbook example of a junior’s mistake. If a motivated adversary has access to the server via a vulnerability, they would try a range of techniques and tactics to try to bypass security. This is where the human analyst’s attention is needed to add an additional layer of protection and prevent this from happening.

This was exactly our case: the Kaspersky experts initiated deep forensic analysis and found out that the attacker tried different webshells over a few weeks. They finally found one that was not detectable by the AV vendor at the time, so they were able to get into the network. Further investigation revealed that the entire domain remained compromised for several months.

Monitoring and verifying the quality of service from your MSP or MSSP is often challenging. Contractual agreements typically prevent clients from accessing the provider’s internal systems for a thorough review. Additionally, customers may lack the technical expertise or time required to oversee every action taken by their subcontractors.

MSPs and subcontractors might not have enough cybersecurity awareness, which poses a challenge, where they might inadvertently expose the network to a cybersecurity risk by misconfiguring some security control or not following the best practice.

Incomplete incident response

Post-breach eradication of a threat actor requires planning of multiple actions to ensure complete removal of the attacker from the network or systems:

Removal of malware, scripts, tools, and backdoors installed by the attacker.
Changing the passwords for the compromised accounts and deleting any unauthorized service accounts that attackers might have created
Rolling back system configurations that might increase the attack surface or introduce new vulnerabilities

Even after the malware is deleted, certain forensic artifacts remain in the system. Therefore, it is common to identify past attacks during compromise assessment. Intentional misconfiguration introduced by an attacker is a rarer case, but we occasionally find that enterprise incident response teams fail to eradicate these procedures.

As part of the Active Directory configuration review playbook, Kaspersky analysts identified a Group Policy with several suspicious properties.

A modification to the AllowReversiblePasswordEncryption property of each AD account, which made domain controllers store passwords in decryptable form (without using the one-way hash function). This configuration would enable the attacker to dump credentials in plaintext via attacks like DCSync.
Disabling the audit of operations related to Kerberos Tickets. This configuration would hide attacker logons on all endpoints managed via Active Directory.

False sense of security

It’s crucial to remember that the effectiveness of even top-tier products is at its highest when these are properly installed, configured, and integrated. Without proper configuration, organizations cannot fully harness the potential of their cybersecurity solutions, which hinders their ability to create a robust defense.

In our compromise assessment practice, we have witnessed several cases, listed below, which were detected because specialized scanners were deployed alongside an existing AV/EDR solution, providing a second layer of detection capabilities.

Absence of detection rules. The customer’s antivirus was unable to detect a pivotnacci webshell because the vendor did not have a defined detection rule.
Outdated malware signatures. The client antivirus was unable to detect malware because the network port listening to the central update server was blocked by a firewall, preventing the antivirus from receiving the latest updates.
Shadow IT. The customer’s antivirus was not deployed on certain servers because those servers were not part of Active Directory, which left them unprotected.

Conclusion

Compromise assessment has proven to be an indispensable component in the broader cybersecurity strategy of these organizations. The cases discussed above underscore that no security measure, no matter how advanced, is entirely foolproof. From internal policy violations to patch management failures and overlooked misconfigurations by third-party service providers, the risks are manifold and often hidden in plain sight. These examples highlight that a false sense of security can be more dangerous than no security at all, as it leaves organizations vulnerable to threats that might have otherwise been detected with thorough, periodic assessments.

By integrating compromise assessment into the security framework, organizations can uncover these hidden threats, address vulnerabilities that slip through the cracks, and ultimately strengthen their overall security posture. In a world where cyberthreats are constantly evolving, the proactive identification and mitigation of potential compromises is not just advisable but also necessary. This approach ensures that organizations are not only reacting to breaches but are continuously verifying the effectiveness of their defenses, thereby reducing the risk of undetected compromises and safeguarding their assets more effectively.

MIL OSI Economics –

January 25, 2025

MIL-OSI Global: Four reasons weight-loss jabs alone won’t help get people back to work

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Lucie Nield, Senior Lecturer in Nutrition and Dietetics, Sheffield Hallam University

Weight-loss injectables don’t address the many core reasons for why weight gain and unemployment occur in the first place. oleschwander/ Shutterstock

Prime Minister Keir Starmer and health secretary Wes Streeting have recently discussed plans to trial weight-loss injections for around 250,000 people with obesity who are unemployed in a bid to get them back into work, ease pressure on the NHS and boost the economy.

Obesity is estimated to cost UK society around £35 billion annually. This is due to lower productivity and higher NHS treatment costs.

Around 26% of the English adult population (approximately 15 million) are considered obese. However, it’s not known what proportion of unemployed people are obese.

While weight-loss injections have proven to be very effective in helping people who are obese to lose weight and lower their risk of certain chronic diseases, there are many reasons why these drugs alone won’t help tackle obesity and unemployment rates in the UK.

1. Lack of capacity

The majority of UK people who are obese are likely to meet the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s eligibility criteria for weight-loss injections.

But prescribing these drugs is just one part of the equation. Eligible patients will require support from specialist services who provide guidance in making the appropriate lifestyle changes (such as to their diet) to successfully lose weight while on these drugs. This is crucial, as all of the weight-loss injection trials to date have involved a behaviour change component. This may potentially be key to the successful weight losses observed in these studies.

However, current demand for weight-loss services is already outstripping capacity. Nearly half of eligible patients in England are unable to get an appointment with a specialist team. Weight-loss injections can only be prescribed through such services currently. If the government is to roll out the proposed programme, they will need to rethink the way weight-loss services are delivered so all eligible patients can access support.

2. Won’t work for everyone

Weight-loss jabs don’t necessarily work for everyone. One study found that 9-15% of participants who took the drug tirzepatide (Mounjaro) did not lose clinically significant amounts of weight.

Weight-loss jabs may also cause intolerable side-effects for some. Trials have shown between 4-8% of participants couldn’t tolerate the side-effects, causing them to drop out of the study. Constipation, diarrhoea and nausea are some of the most commonly reported.

People with certain health conditions may be unable to use weight-loss injections – such as those with inflammatory bowel disease and pancreatitis. In such cases, weight-loss jabs may worsen symptoms or interact with the prescription drugs used to manage these conditions, increasing risk of harm.

There are many reasons why weight-loss jabs may not work for a person.
Douglas Cliff/ Shutterstock

Additionally, some people may not want to take an injection – whether that’s simply due to personal preference or even fear of needles.

3. Obesity is a complex issue

There are many complex factors that contribute to weight gain – such as opportunities for physical activity, access to healthy foods and levels of deprivation in a community. Prescribing weight-loss jabs to help people lose weight may not be effective long-term if the rest of these factors are not also addressed.

A more effective way of seeing significant, sustainable reductions in obesity levels across a population is by using a “whole systems approach”. This would address to the multiple environmental, social and economic factors that contribute to obesity.

Where whole systems approaches have been embedded in healthcare design and delivery, they have led to improvements in services and patient outcomes – including obesity-related metrics (such as patients making healthier food choices and being more active).

However, one limitation to whole systems approaches is challenges in measuring impact. This can reduce political will to implement these approaches.

4. Obesity stigma

Obesity stigma in the workplace is a huge barrier to satisfactory employment and leads to poor wellbeing and burnout.

Obesity stigma in the workplace perpetuates harmful weight-based stereotypes that overweight and obese people are lazy, unsuccessful, unintelligent and lack willpower. As a result, people with obesity are more likely to be in insecure and lower-paid jobs than those who may be considered of a healthy weight.

It’s also well-evidenced that regular exposure to stigmatising, isolating and degrading prejudices has long-term consequences on physical and mental health – and may lead to problems such as binge eating and depression.This can lead to a loss of productivity, absenteeism and loneliness.

Prescribing weight-loss jabs to help a person lose weight doesn’t address the core reasons for why they may have been absent from work or unemployed in the first place. Nor does it help to address the mental health struggles they may still harbour as a result of discrimination they might have experienced.

5. Barriers to employment

Weight loss alone does not begin to address the complex physical and mental health reasons for why a person might be unemployed. A person may also be unemployed due to factors such as caring responsibilities or disability.

Current prescribing restrictions also limit some injections to a maximum of 24 months (although further trials are ongoing). This means that even if a person has successfully lost weight, they may regain that weight again when they stop using the drug. This could mean any health problems they experienced prior to losing weight (and which may have prevented them from being in employment) could reemerge.

There are better ways of getting people back into work than prescribing weight-loss jabs. Flexible working approaches, for instance, may make it easier for someone who is unemployed due to caring responsibilities or health problems to transition back into employment. Supportive policies and workplace wellbeing programmes may be a more cost-effective way of helping people to overcome barriers, improve their health and transition back into work.

Lucie Nield has received funding from The National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) for evaluation of children’s weight management services.

Lucie Nield sits on the Board of Trustees for Darnall Wellbeing (a local community service organisation).

– ref. Four reasons weight-loss jabs alone won’t help get people back to work – https://theconversation.com/four-reasons-weight-loss-jabs-alone-wont-help-get-people-back-to-work-241835

MIL OSI – Global Reports –

January 25, 2025
MIL-OSI Global: Humans evolved to share beds – how your sleeping companions may affect you now

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Goffredina Spanò, Lecturer in Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, Kingston University

Jacob Lund/Shutterstock

Recent research on animal sleep behaviour has revealed that sleep is influenced by the animals around them. Olive baboons, for instance, sleep less as group sizes increase, while mice can synchronise their rapid eye movement (REM) cycles.

In western society, many people expect to sleep alone, if not with a romantic partner. But as with other group-living animals, human co-sleeping is common, despite some cultural and age-related variation. And in many cultures, bedsharing with a relative is considered typical.

Apart from western countries, caregiver-infant co-sleeping is common, with rates as high as 60-100% in parts of South America, Asia and Africa.

Despite its prevalence, infant co-sleeping is controversial. Some western perspectives, that value self-reliance, argue that sleeping alone promotes self-soothing when the baby wakes in the night. But evolutionary scientists argue that co-sleeping has been important to help keep infants warm and safe throughout human existence.

Many cultures do not expect babies to self-soothe when they wake in the night and see night wakings as a normal part of breastfeeding and development.

Concerns about Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (Sids) have often led paediatricians to discourage bed-sharing. However, when studies control for other Sids risk factors including unsafe sleeping surfaces, Sids risk does not seem to differ statistically between co-sleeping and solitary sleeping infants.

This may be one reason why agencies such as the American Academy of Pediatrics, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence and the NHS either recommend that infants “sleep in the parents’ room, close to the parents’ bed, but on a separate surface,” or, if bedsharing, to make sure that the infant “sleeps on a firm, flat mattress” without pillows and duvets, rather than discouraging co-sleeping altogether.

Researchers don’t yet know whether co-sleeping causes differences in sleep or, whether co-sleeping happens because of these differences. However, experiments in the 1990s suggested that co-sleeping can encourage more sustained and frequent bouts of breastfeeding. Using sensors to measure brain activity, this research also suggested that infants’ and caregivers’ sleep may be lighter during co-sleeping. But researchers speculated that this lighter sleep may actually help protect against Sids by providing infants more opportunities to rouse from sleep and develop better control over their respiratory system.

Other advocates believe that co-sleeping benefits infants’ emotional and mental health by promoting parent-child bonding and aiding infants’ stress hormone regulation. However, current data is inconclusive, with most studies showing mixed findings or no differences between co-sleepers and solitary sleepers with respect to short and long-term mental health.

Co-sleeping in childhood

Childhood co-sleeping past infancy is also fairly common according to worldwide surveys. A 2010 survey of over 7,000 UK families found 6% of children were constant bedsharers up to at least four years old.

Some families adopt co-sleeping in response to their child having trouble sleeping. But child-parent bedsharing in many countries, including some western countries like Sweden where children often co-sleep with parents until school age, is viewed culturally as part of a nurturing environment.

It’s normal for children to bedshare in many parts of the world.
Yuri A/ Shutterstock

It is also common for siblings to share a room or even a bed. A 2021 US study found that over 36% of young children aged three to five years bedshared in some form overnight, whether with caregivers, siblings, pets or some combination. Co-sleeping decreases but is still present among older children, with up to 13.8% of co-sleeping parents in Australia, the UK and other countries reporting that their child was between five and 12 years old when they engaged in co-sleeping.

Two recent US studies using wrist-worn actigraphs (motion sensors) to track sleep indicated that kids who bedshare may have shorter sleep durations than children who sleep alone. But this shorter sleep duration is not explained by greater disruption during sleep. Instead, bedsharing children may lose sleep by going to bed later than solitary sleepers.

The benefits and downsides of co-sleeping may also differ in children with conditions such as autism spectrum disorder, mental health disorders and chronic illnesses. These children may experience heightened anxiety, sensory sensitivities and physical discomfort that make falling and staying asleep difficult. For them, co-sleeping can provide reassurance.

Adults sharing beds

According to a 2018 survey from the US National Sleep Foundation, 80-89% of adults who live with their significant other share a bed with them. Adult bedsharing has shifted over time from pre-industrial communal arrangements, including whole families and other household guests, to solo sleeping in response to hygiene concerns as germ theory became accepted.

Many couples find that bedsharing boosts their sense of closeness. Research shows that bedsharing with your partner can lead to longer sleep times and a feeling of better sleep overall.

Bedsharing couples also often get into sync with each other’s sleep stages, which can enhance that feeling of intimacy. However, it’s not all rosy. Some studies indicate that females in heterosexual relationships may struggle more with sleep quality when bedsharing, as they can be more easily disturbed by their male partner’s movements. Also, bedsharers can have less deep sleep than when sleeping alone, even though they feel like their sleep is better together.

Many questions about co-sleeping remain unanswered. For instance, we don’t fully understand the developmental effects of co-sleeping on children, or the benefits of co-sleeping for adults beyond female-male romantic partners. But, some work suggests that co-sleeping can comfort us, similar to other forms of social contact, and help to enhance physical synchrony between parents and children.

Co-sleeping doesn’t have a one-size-fits-all answer. But remember that western norms aren’t necessarily the ones we have evolved with. So consider factors such as sleep disorders, health and age in your decision to co-sleep, rather than what everyone else is doing.

Gina Mason receives funding from the American Academy of Sleep Medicine Foundation (grant #334-BS-24). The views expressed herein are her own, and do not represent the official views of the Academy or any other professional organization with which she is affiliated.

Goffredina Spanò does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. Humans evolved to share beds – how your sleeping companions may affect you now – https://theconversation.com/humans-evolved-to-share-beds-how-your-sleeping-companions-may-affect-you-now-241803

MIL OSI – Global Reports –

January 25, 2025
MIL-OSI United Nations: Deputy Secretary-General’s remarks at the 110th Meeting of the Development Committee

Source: United Nations secretary general

Chair,

Excellencies,

Let me begin by acknowledging the inspired leadership of Ajay and Kristalina, and thanking them for their support at the UN High-Level Week.

This week, our global economy has been diagnosed as suffering from low growth, and high debt.

This toxic combination further exacerbates a sustainable development crisis for millions of people across the world.

With only 17 per cent of SDG targets on track, hunger is rising, global temperatures are soaring, conflicts are spreading, and the fight for gender equality is floundering.

Financing challenges are at the heart of this crisis.

Financing gaps are growing.

Debt service is crowding out investments.

And economies are repeatedly rocked by external shocks that our financial system cannot contain.

Last month, against geopolitical tensions, Heads of States from the Global North and South agreed a Pact for the Future.

The Pact lays the foundations for a future-ready world.

It commits to deepen multilateralism to rescue the SDGs;

To guide us through a new era of technology;

to renew our approach to restoring and keeping peace;

and to accelerate reform of the international financial architecture to reflect today’s world and meet today’s challenges.

Here, the Pact urges specific actions:

To raise the voice and representation of developing countries…

To scale up development finance…

To promote sustainable borrowing, and resolve debt crises as and before they occur…

And to strengthen the global safety net.

Agreements reached at the United Nations cannot deliver change overnight. But they provide a powerful political signal for action in other fora – including this one.

Over the last two weeks, we have seen important steps forward.

The World Bank’s reduction of its equity to loan ratio frees up an additional $30 billion in lending.

And the IMF’s overhaul of its surcharge policy will lessen the penalty borne by countries most dependent on support.

We must now build on these steps, with urgency, to meet the needs and expectations of Member States and their people.

This brings me to one commitment that we must deliver this year.

IDA is the largest and most powerful instrument of financial assistance to the world’s poorest and most vulnerable countries.

That’s why the Pact for the Future urges Member States to deliver a robust 21st replenishment, to enable IDA to continue its vital work.

The Secretary-General and I wholeheartedly endorse this.

Another commitment is to seize the opportunity approved by the Fund to rechannel SDRs to acquire hybrid capital in our multilateral development banks. Champions of this initiative believe we can get this done by next month’s G20 summit.

I look forward to working with the Bank and Fund to deliver other commitments in the Pact: from reviewing the sovereign debt architecture, to improving access to concessional finance.

With next year’s Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development, we have a once-in-a-decade opportunity to transform financing for sustainable development to deliver the SDGs.

To do this for a future ready World Bank, we must work better together at the country level surging combined expertise and resources in support of our commitments to countries and their people.

Let’s work together to deliver this.

Thank you.

MIL OSI United Nations News –

January 25, 2025
MIL-OSI: MEF’s Enterprise Leadership Council Triples in Size, Driving Key Initiatives in Service Automation, Cybersecurity, and AI-Ops
Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

DALLAS, Oct. 29, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — MEF, a global industry association of network, cloud, security, and technology providers accelerating enterprise digital transformation, today announced the expansion of its Enterprise Leadership Council (ELC) from four founding members to 14 leaders representing a diverse range of industries. Formed one year ago, the ELC now includes executives from sectors such as entertainment, financial services, banking, retail, technology, healthcare, and consulting.

This expansion highlights MEF’s commitment to providing real value to enterprises exploring Network-as-a-Service (NaaS) opportunities, reinforcing its role as an independent platform where enterprises, service providers, cloud, technology companies, and other key stakeholders, collaborate on initiatives shaping the future of the digital ecosystem. With expanded enterprise participation, the organization is poised to drive impactful projects that address cloud, network, and security challenges head-on, propelling innovation across industries.

The ELC’s growth also reflects the increasing importance of enterprise perspectives in shaping MEF’s NaaS-related work. By tripling its membership in just one year, the council now offers a broader and more comprehensive view of enterprise needs across various sectors and has begun shaping strategic initiatives in areas such as service automation, cybersecurity services, compliance, and AI-Ops.

The ELC includes:
- Francisco Artes, Vice President, Product & Enterprise Security, Roku
- Nabil Bitar, Chief Technology Officer & Head of Network Architecture, Bloomberg LP
- Maxime Bruynbroeck, Head of Network, Decathlon
- Chris Carmody, Chief Technology Officer & Senior Vice President, Information Technology Division, UPMC
- Daniel Foo, Head of Grabber Technology Solutions (GTS), Grab
- Michael Jenkins, Strategic Negotiator, Google Enterprise Network
- Amin Jerraya, Senior Vice President, Head of IT Digital Engagement and Infrastructure, Siemens Healthineers
- Mark Looker, Managing Director and Head of Voice & Data Network Service, Morgan Stanley
- Raleigh Mann, Senior Vice President of Technology, Williams-Sonoma, Inc.
- Amo Mann, Chief Architect for Cloud and Network, Accenture
- Chema San José, Head of Data & AI Architecture – CTO Global, Santander Digital Services
- Neal Secher, Vice President, Head of Network Services, TD Bank
- Jonathan Sheldrake, Vice President of IT – Infrastructure & Services, Burberry
- Alejandro Tozer, Independent
“The expansion of the Enterprise Leadership Council marks a pivotal moment in MEF’s evolution,” said Sunil Khandekar, Chief Enterprise Development Officer, MEF. “By amplifying the enterprise voice, we’re not only responding to current industry needs, but anticipating future ones. The ELC’s diverse expertise is already shaping MEF’s NaaS initiatives, which will drive real solutions for today’s challenges and lay the foundation for tomorrow’s innovations. This level of collaboration sets a new standard for how industry associations can lead meaningful progress.”

A first initiative for the ELC is MEF’s recently launched Lifecycle Service Orchestration (LSO) Circuit Impairment & Maintenance (CIM) Service API, designed to enable service providers to automate and standardize how network circuit impairments and scheduled maintenance are communicated to enterprises. The CIM Service API will be showcased during a live demonstration at MEF’s Global NaaS Event (GNE) this week in Dallas, highlighting how enterprises can collaborate with service providers to proactively identify and address impairments and streamline network maintenance.

As ELC-led initiatives continue to advance, MEF is attracting more enterprises eager to collaborate with technology, cloud, and service providers on MEF’s independent platform. Together, they contribute to and benefit from solutions that address critical needs in cloud, network, and cybersecurity infrastructure, accelerating digital transformation across sectors.

Learn More
Enterprises interested in joining MEF and contributing to projects that directly address their needs are encouraged to visit www.mef.net for more information on membership and engagement opportunities.

About MEF
MEF is a global consortium of service, cloud, cybersecurity, and technology providers collaborating to accelerate enterprise digital transformation. It delivers standards-based frameworks, services, technologies, APIs, and certification programs to enable Network-as-a-Service (NaaS) across an automated ecosystem. MEF is the defining authority for certified Lifecycle Service Orchestration (LSO) business and operational APIs and Carrier Ethernet, SASE, SD-WAN, Zero Trust, and Security Service Edge (SSE) technologies and services. MEF’s Global NaaS Event (GNE) convenes industry leaders building and delivering the next generation of NaaS solutions. For more information about MEF, visit MEF.net and follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter.

Media Contact:
Melissa Power
MEF
pr@mef.net

The MIL Network –
January 25, 2025
MIL-OSI: MEF Reports Significant Momentum in LSO API Adoption and Innovation

Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

DALLAS, Oct. 29, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — MEF, a global industry association of network, cloud, security, and technology providers accelerating enterprise digital transformation, today announced unprecedented momentum in its Lifecycle Service Orchestration (LSO) API adoption and innovation, with more than 160 global service providers from 65 countries involved in the adoption lifecycle. This momentum is underscored by MEF’s transformative initiatives, including an enhanced enterprise API portfolio, the innovative LSO Payload Factory program and new smart contracts work. These initiatives, coupled with new certification programs and LSO partner-finding tools, mark major progress in MEF’s mission to accelerate NaaS automation and digital transformation across the global NaaS ecosystem.

“The rapid adoption of MEF’s LSO APIs across our global ecosystem reflects an ongoing shift towards automated, standardized service delivery,” said Daniel Bar Lev, Chief Product Officer, MEF. “With expanded capabilities for enterprises, the LSO Payload Factory program, and blockchain-driven smart contracts, we’re enabling a new standard of efficiency and flexibility in Network-as-a-Service. MEF’s commitment to collaboration and innovation ensures that every stakeholder in our ecosystem—from service providers to enterprises—can leverage open standards to deliver seamless, automated experiences.”

Key Progress / LSO Developments

Enterprise API Innovation
Over the past year, MEF has expanded its APIs for business to also serve enterprises, enhancing the LSO offering and driving broader industry adoption. A key example is MEF’s Circuit Impairment & Maintenance (CIM) Service API, which bridges the gap between networks and applications, supporting the growing focus on network APIs. Demonstrated at GNE 2024 by AT&T, Bloomberg, Prodapt, UMPC, Verizon, and Williams-Sonoma, the CIM Service API exemplifies how real-time notifications can improve network management for enterprises. Through these open-standard APIs, enterprises gain access to NaaS capabilities, such as automated ecosystems, multi-domain connectivity, and enhanced management and visibility.

Industry Standardization & Collaboration
Its commitment to industry-wide API standardization has yielded significant results through MEF’s strategic industry collaborations with TM Forum and others. The coordinated approach enables each standards organization to focus on their core strengths while ensuring seamless integration across the ecosystem. For example, MEF LSO APIs provide business and operational automation between parties in an ecosystem while TM Forum Open API standards provide automation within each ecosystem partner’s systems.

LSO Payload Factory Program
The new LSO Payload Factory program accelerates the standardization of machine-readable product descriptions for use in NaaS offerings. This innovative approach enables rapid development of pre-standard product payloads through member collaboration, which can be standardized in a later phase, addressing the market’s need for faster introduction of connectivity, cybersecurity, clouds, and resource products.

Blockchain Integration
MEF is pioneering the integration of blockchain technology and smart contracts in automated NaaS ecosystems to eliminate business friction between buyers and sellers. Through its adoption of a groundbreaking ‘mutual endorsement in real-time’ approach, MEF has become the first telecom industry consortium to standardize blockchain usage for business between ecosystem partners. This innovation was demonstrated in a NaaS Accelerator project, where members successfully developed and piloted automated SLA reporting—creating the industry’s first smart contract-based solution that ensures immediate agreement between parties and dramatically reduces service delivery disputes.

Future Roadmap and Initiatives

Product Payload Evolution
MEF’s LSO product payload roadmap continues to expand with significant additions planned for Q4 2024, including standardized descriptions for wavelength services, cloud connectivity, cross-connects, Internet access, edge compute, and CAMARA Quality on Demand. This growing portfolio of standardized payloads, developed through the LSO Payload Factory program, will enable service providers to rapidly integrate new services into their NaaS offerings throughout 2025, accelerating time-to-market for innovative network services.

LSO API Certification Program
A new phase of MEF’s LSO API Certification Program will launch in Q4 2024, combining development-stage IT testing with market-ready certification validation. The updated certification framework provides definitive proof of LSO API interoperability readiness for service providers and enterprises. As API-driven automation becomes increasingly critical for business operations, MEF’s certification program ensures participants can confidently engage in standardized, interoperable API implementations across the NaaS ecosystem.

LSO Partner Identification Tools
A comprehensive interoperable partner identification platform will launch in Q4 2024 that will dramatically speed up the connection of LSO API implementers with potential partners. This dynamic platform will provide real-time visibility into the LSO API capabilities of participants, enabling companies to quickly identify and engage with compatible partners.

More information
More information on the MEF’s LSO API portfolio and all available assets can be found on the MEF’s LSO Marketplace. MEF’s LSO API onboarding and interoperability test (OIT) service can be found on MEF.net.

Many of the companies in production or committed to production with LSO APIs can be found in the LSO Partners Directory.

About MEF
MEF is a global consortium of service, cloud, cybersecurity, and technology providers collaborating to accelerate enterprise digital transformation. It delivers standards-based frameworks, services, technologies, APIs, and certification programs to enable Network-as-a-Service (NaaS) across an automated ecosystem. MEF is the defining authority for certified Lifecycle Service Orchestration (LSO) business and operational APIs and Carrier Ethernet, SASE, SD-WAN, Zero Trust, and Security Service Edge (SSE) technologies and services. MEF’s Global NaaS Event (GNE) convenes industry leaders building and delivering the next generation of NaaS solutions. For more information about MEF, visit MEF.net and follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter.

Media Contact:
Melissa Power
MEF
pr@mef.net

The MIL Network –

January 25, 2025
MIL-OSI USA: SBA Stands Ready to Assist Havasupai Tribe Businesses and Residents Affected by the Flooding

Source: United States Small Business Administration

“As communities across the Southeast continue to recover and rebuild after Hurricanes Helene and Milton, the SBA remains focused on its mission to provide support to small businesses to help stabilize local economies, even in the face of diminished disaster funding,” said Administrator Isabel Casillas Guzman. “If your business has sustained physical damage, or you’ve lost inventory, equipment or revenues, the SBA will help you navigate the resources available and work with you at our recovery centers or with our customer service specialists in person and online so you can fully submit your disaster loan application and be ready to receive financial relief as soon as funds are replenished.”

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Low-interest federal disaster loans are now available to Havasupai Tribe businesses and residents as a result of President Biden’s major disaster declaration, U.S. Small Business Administration’s Administrator Isabel Casillas Guzman announced.

The declaration covers the Havasupai Tribe as a result of the flooding that occurred Aug. 22-23.

Businesses of all sizes and private nonprofit organizations may borrow up to $2 million to repair or replace damaged or destroyed real estate, machinery and equipment, inventory and other business assets.

For small businesses, small agricultural cooperatives, small businesses engaged in aquaculture and most private nonprofit organizations of any size, SBA offers Economic Injury Disaster Loans to help meet working capital needs caused by the disaster. Economic injury assistance is available to businesses regardless of any property damage.

“SBA’s disaster loan program offers an important advantage–the chance to incorporate measures that can reduce the risk of future damage,” said Francisco Sánchez, Jr., associate administrator for the Office of Disaster Recovery and Resilience at the Small Business Administration. “Work with contractors and mitigation professionals to strengthen your property and take advantage of the opportunity to request additional SBA disaster loan funds for these proactive improvements.”

Disaster loans up to $500,000 are available to homeowners to repair or replace damaged or destroyed real estate. Homeowners and renters are eligible for up to $100,000 to repair or replace damaged or destroyed personal property, including personal vehicles.

Interest rates can be as low as 4 percent for businesses, 3.25 percent for private nonprofit organizations and 2.813 percent for homeowners and renters with terms up to 30 years. Loan amounts and terms are set by SBA and are based on each applicant’s financial condition.

Interest does not begin to accrue until 12 months from the date of the first disaster loan disbursement. SBA disaster loan repayment begins 12 months from the date of the first disbursement.

On October 15, 2024, it was announced that funds for the Disaster Loan Program have been fully expended. While no new loans can be issued until Congress appropriates additional funding, we remain committed to supporting disaster survivors. Applications will continue to be accepted and processed to ensure individuals and businesses are prepared to receive assistance once funding becomes available.

Applicants are encouraged to submit their loan applications promptly for review in anticipation of future funding.

As soon as Federal-State Disaster Recovery Centers open throughout the affected area, SBA will provide one-on-one assistance to disaster loan applicants. Additional information and details on the location of disaster recovery centers is available by calling the SBA Customer Service Center at (800) 659-2955.

###

About the U.S. Small Business Administration

The U.S. Small Business Administration helps power the American dream of business ownership. As the only go-to resource and voice for small businesses backed by the strength of the federal government, the SBA empowers entrepreneurs and small business owners with the resources and support they need to start, grow, expand their businesses, or recover from a declared disaster. It delivers services through an extensive network of SBA field offices and partnerships with public and private organizations. To learn more, visit www.sba.gov.

MIL OSI USA News –

January 25, 2025
MIL-OSI USA: Time Is Running Out!

Source: US Federal Emergency Management Agency 2

strong>Harrisburg, Penn — If you haven’t applied for federal disaster assistance from FEMA, time is running out.
The deadline for applications is November 12. If you live in Lycoming, Potter, Tioga or Union County and suffered loss of personal property or damage to your home due to Tropical Storm Debby on Aug. 9 -10, 2024, you should apply as soon as possible.
There are four ways to apply. You can:

Call the FEMA Helpline at 800-621-3362
Go online to DisasterAssistance.gov
Download the FEMA App
Visit the remaining Disaster Recovery Center at

Tioga County: Valley Christian Church, 146 Maple Street, Westfield, PA 16950

Normal Hours of Operation: 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday thru Saturday
Election Day, Nov. 5: Temporarily Closed for the Day
Veteran’s Day, Nov. 11: Hours of Operation: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

November 12 will be here before you know it. Don’t delay! Register today
For more information about the disaster recovery operation in Pennsylvania, visit fema.gov/disaster/4815
###
FEMA’s mission is helping people before, during, and after disasters. FEMA Region 3’s jurisdiction includes Delaware, the District of Columbia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia. Follow us on X at x.com/FEMAregion3 and on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/company/femaregion3.
Disaster recovery assistance is available without regard to race, color, religion, nationality, sex, age, disability, English proficiency, or economic status. If you or someone you know has been discriminated against, call FEMA toll-free at 833-285-7448. If you use a relay service, such as video relay service (VRS), captioned telephone service or others, give FEMA the number for that service. Multilingual operators are available (press 2 for Spanish and 3 for other languages).

MIL OSI USA News –

January 25, 2025
MIL-OSI Europe: President Meloni attends Italy-Libya Business Forum in Tripoli

Source: Government of Italy (English)

The President of the Council of Ministers, Giorgia Meloni, travelled to Tripoli today to participate in the first Italy-Libya Business Forum to be held in Libya for over ten years.

The Business Forum gathered together high-level representatives from the Italian and Libyan business communities, and was structured across four sector-specific working groups dedicated to: energy; fishing and agro-industry; healthcare and pharmaceuticals; and, infrastructure and design. There was also a session focusing on the forms of public support available to Italian companies intending to do business in Libya provided by ICE [Italian Trade and Investment Agency], SACE [Italian Export Credit Agency] and SIMEST.

During her opening address, the President of the Council of Ministers, who was accompanied by Minister of Enterprises and Made in Italy Adolfo Urso, announced that ITA Airways would be resuming direct flights to Libya in January next year, testifying to the gradual and steady strengthening of cooperation between the two nations.

In the margins of the Business Forum, President Meloni had a bilateral meeting with the Prime Minister of the Libyan Government of National Unity, Abdul Hamid Dabaiba.
Their discussion focused on the various areas of the continuously growing bilateral cooperation. Among the sectors in which Italy and Libya collaborate, the two leaders addressed the issue of migration management, in relation to which President Meloni stressed the need to intensify efforts to combat human trafficking at the same time as boosting cooperation with nations of origin and of transit, in the context of the Rome Process and the Trans-Mediterranean Migration Forum which was held in Tripoli in July.

In closing, there was also unanimous agreement to work together with the goal of creating equal partnerships with African nations within the framework of the concrete projects launched as part of the Mattei Plan for Africa.

[This video is available in Italian only]

MIL OSI Europe News –

January 25, 2025

MIL-OSI: Form 8.3 – Good Energy Group Plc

Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

8.3

PUBLIC OPENING POSITION DISCLOSURE/DEALING DISCLOSURE BY
A PERSON WITH INTERESTS IN RELEVANT SECURITIES REPRESENTING 1% OR MORE
Rule 8.3 of the Takeover Code (the “Code”)

1. KEY INFORMATION

(a) Full name of discloser:	Rathbones Group Plc
(b) Owner or controller of interests and short positions disclosed, if different from 1(a): The naming of nominee or vehicle companies is insufficient. For a trust, the trustee(s), settlor and beneficiaries must be named.
(c) Name of offeror/offeree in relation to whose relevant securities this form relates: Use a separate form for each offeror/offeree	Good Energy Group plc
(d) If an exempt fund manager connected with an offeror/offeree, state this and specify identity of offeror/offeree:
(e) Date position held/dealing undertaken: For an opening position disclosure, state the latest practicable date prior to the disclosure	28/10/2024
(f) In addition to the company in 1(c) above, is the discloser making disclosures in respect of any other party to the offer? If it is a cash offer or possible cash offer, state “N/A”	No

2. POSITIONS OF THE PERSON MAKING THE DISCLOSURE

If there are positions or rights to subscribe to disclose in more than one class of relevant securities of the offeror or offeree named in 1(c), copy table 2(a) or (b) (as appropriate) for each additional class of relevant security.

(a) Interests and short positions in the relevant securities of the offeror or offeree to which the disclosure relates following the dealing (if any)

Class of relevant security:	5p Ord
	Interests		Short positions
	Number	%	Number	%
(1) Relevant securities owned and/or controlled:	338,643	1.85%
(2) Cash-settled derivatives:
(3) Stock-settled derivatives (including options) and agreements to purchase/sell:
TOTAL:	338,643	1.85%

All interests and all short positions should be disclosed.

Details of any open stock-settled derivative positions (including traded options), or agreements to purchase or sell relevant securities, should be given on a Supplemental Form 8 (Open Positions).

(b) Rights to subscribe for new securities (including directors’ and other employee options)

Class of relevant security in relation to which subscription right exists:
Details, including nature of the rights concerned and relevant percentages:

3. DEALINGS (IF ANY) BY THE PERSON MAKING THE DISCLOSURE

Where there have been dealings in more than one class of relevant securities of the offeror or offeree named in 1(c), copy table 3(a), (b), (c) or (d) (as appropriate) for each additional class of relevant security dealt in.

The currency of all prices and other monetary amounts should be stated.

(a) Purchases and sales

Class of relevant security	Purchase/sale	Number of securities	Price per unit

(b) Cash-settled derivative transactions

Class of relevant security	Product description e.g. CFD	Nature of dealing e.g. opening/closing a long/short position, increasing/reducing a long/short position	Number of reference securities	Price per unit

(c) Stock-settled derivative transactions (including options)

(i) Writing, selling, purchasing or varying

Class of relevant security	Product description e.g. call option	Writing, purchasing, selling, varying etc.	Number of securities to which option relates	Exercise price per unit	Type e.g. American, European etc.	Expiry date	Option money paid/ received per unit

(ii) Exercise

Class of relevant security	Product description e.g. call option	Exercising/ exercised against	Number of securities	Exercise price per unit

(d) Other dealings (including subscribing for new securities)

Class of relevant security	Nature of dealing e.g. subscription, conversion	Details	Price per unit (if applicable)

4. OTHER INFORMATION

(a) Indemnity and other dealing arrangements

Details of any indemnity or option arrangement, or any agreement or understanding, formal or informal, relating to relevant securities which may be an inducement to deal or refrain from dealing entered into by the person making the disclosure and any party to the offer or any person acting in concert with a party to the offer:
Irrevocable commitments and letters of intent should not be included. If there are no such agreements, arrangements or understandings, state “none”

None

(b) Agreements, arrangements or understandings relating to options or derivatives

Details of any agreement, arrangement or understanding, formal or informal, between the person making the disclosure and any other person relating to:
(i) the voting rights of any relevant securities under any option; or
(ii) the voting rights or future acquisition or disposal of any relevant securities to which any derivative is referenced:
If there are no such agreements, arrangements or understandings, state “none”

None

(c) Attachments

Is a Supplemental Form 8 (Open Positions) attached?

Date of disclosure:	29/10/2024
Contact name:	Chinwe Enyi – Compliance Department
Telephone number:	0151 243 7053

Public disclosures under Rule 8 of the Code must be made to a Regulatory Information Service.

The Panel’s Market Surveillance Unit is available for consultation in relation to the Code’s disclosure requirements on +44 (0)20 7638 0129.

The Code can be viewed on the Panel’s website at.

The MIL Network –

January 25, 2025

MIL-OSI: Azincourt Energy Options Advanced Uranium Project in Labrador

Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Oct. 29, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — AZINCOURT ENERGY CORP. (“Azincourt” or the “Company”) (TSX.V: AAZ, OTC: AZURF), is pleased to announce that it has entered into a definitive property option agreement with BR Corporation Pty Ltd. (the “Optionor”), an arms-length party, pursuant to which it has been granted the option (the “Option”) to acquire up to a one-hundred percent interest in and to a mineral claim block located in the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador, commonly known as the “Snegamook Project” (the “Project”).

The Project is strategically located to the southeast of Snegamook Lake within Labrador’s Central Mineral Belt and less than 1 km south of the Two Time Zone Project (Indicated and Inferred resource of 5.55 Mlb U3O8, June 2008)*, formerly held by Silver Spruce Resources Inc., and consists of a mineral claim block comprised of 17 contiguous claims covering 423 hectares. The Central Mineral Belt in Labrador also hosts Paladin Energy Limited’s recently acquired Michelin deposit (Measured and Indicated resource of 82.2Mlb U3O8).* Readers are cautioned that past results or discoveries on properties in proximity to the Project are not necessarily indicative of the presence of similar mineralization on the Project.

Exploration work on the Project between 2006 and 2008 consisted of airborne geophysics, prospecting, lake sediment and soil sampling, radon gas surveys and diamond drilling. The exact number of holes completed on the current Project has not yet been verified. Drilling to follow up a radon gas anomaly identified the “Snegamook Zone” uranium occurrence located 1.3 km along strike to the southeast of the Two Time Zone Project. 17 drill holes intersected a 20 to 50 m wide section of uranium bearing brecciated and altered monzodiorite with moderate to strong chlorite, hematite and carbonate alteration, the same geological setting as the Two Time Zone Project.

Four mineralized lenses were traced over a strike length of 300 meters and to a vertical depth of 200 meters. The lenses are shallow dipping (15 to 20 degrees west) and vary in width from five to 53 meters with values ranging from 225 to 771 ppm U3O8. Individual one meter sample values range from 50 to 1,110 ppm U3O8, with the widest section in drill hole SN-08-8 averaging 206 ppm U3O8 over 73 meters. The zones appear to be disrupted to the south and down dip by steeply dipping fault structures that displace the basement gneiss but remain open to the north.

Two drill holes (SN-08-18 and SN-08-20) tested a radon gas anomaly 500 meters to the south of the Snegamook Zone. They intersected nine meters (210 to 219 m) of 552 ppm U3O8 and five meters (191 to 196 m) of 224 ppm U3O8. Higher grade zones, 0.11% U3O8 over 3 m and 0.11% U3O8 over 2 m, were located within the highlighted zone in SN-08-18.

No work has been conducted on the Project since 2008. The Company’s initial focus will be on the compilation of all historic exploration data on the Project followed by the design and implementation of an initial drill campaign to verify and expand the historical mineralization.

“We are excited to add the Snegamook Project to our portfolio,” said Vice President, Exploration Trevor Perkins. “The Central Mineral Belt in Labrador has seen a resurgence in activity recently and is relatively underexplored. It is exciting to get involved in an area that will potentially see the next wave of uranium discoveries in Canada,” continued Mr. Perkins.

“We have been seeking a second uranium project for some time and Snegamook meets some important criteria for us,” said CEO, Alex Klenman. “The Project offers proven shallow mineralization proximal to a known deposit. It provides exploration upside for both expansion and for new discoveries. In the mid-2000s the region was quite active with uranium exploration activity and now once again there are some large companies leading exploration efforts in the area. This initial land position allows Azincourt to establish a foothold in this emerging Canadian uranium camp,” continued Mr. Klenman.

Pursuant to terms of the Option, the Company can acquire a one-hundred percent interest in the Project by completing a series of share issuances and incurring certain expenditures on the Project, as follows:

	Common Shares	Exploration Expenditures
On the grant of the Option	15,000,000	Nil
Within nine months	15,000,000	Nil
Within twenty-one months	15,000,000	$250,000
Within thirty-three months	15,000,000	$750,000

Following exercise of the Option, the Project will be subject to a two percent net smelter returns royalty, half of which may be purchased back at any time for a one-time cash payment of $1,000,000 to the underlying optionors.

All securities issued in connection with the Option will be subject to a four-month-and-one-day statutory hold period. A finder’s fee totaling 5,100,000 common shares is payable by the Company to an arms-length third party in connection with the Option, of which 1,633,333 shares are payable upon closing of the Option with the remaining common shares issuable upon completion of the share issuances owing on the nine, twenty-one and thirty-three month anniversaries in order to maintain the Option in good standing. The Option remains subject to the approval of the TSX Venture Exchange (the “Exchange”).

Figure 1: Snegamook Project Location Map – Central Mineral Belt, Labrador, Canada.

Figure 2: Snegamook and Two Time Zone mineralization map. (Silver Spruce Resources news release dated August 12, 2008)

Non-Brokered Private Placement

The Company also announces that it will offer up to 66,666,667 units of the Company by way of non-brokered private placement at a price of $0.015 per unit for gross proceeds of up to $1,000,000 (the “Private Placement”). Each Unit will be comprised of one common share (a “Share”) and one common share purchase warrant (a “Warrant”). Each Warrant will be exercisable at a price of $0.05 into one common share for a period of 36 months from the date of issue.

The gross proceeds of the Private Placement will be used for general working capital and exploration work on the Project. The gross proceeds will not be used for any payments to non-arm’s length parties of the Company nor for any payment relating to persons conducting investor relations activities.

In connection with the Private Placement, the Company may pay finders’ fees to eligible third parties that have assisted in introducing subscribers to the Company. All Common Shares to be issued in connection with the Private Placement will be subject to a four-month-and-one-day statutory hold period in accordance with applicable securities laws. Completion of the Private Placement remains subject to the approval of the Exchange. It is expected that the Private Placement will not result in the creation of a new control person of the Company.

Grant of Restricted Share Units

The Company also announces the grant of 15,000,000 restricted share units (“RSUs”) to directors, management and consultants under the Company’s shareholder-approved incentive plans. The RSUs will vest and convert into Common Shares on the date that is twelve months from the date of issuance. The grant of such RSUs is intended to align compensation of directors, management and consultants with the interests of shareholders.

Qualified Person

The technical information in this news release has been prepared in accordance with the Canadian regulatory requirements set out in National Instrument 43-101 and reviewed on behalf of the company by C. Trevor Perkins, P.Geo., Vice President, Exploration of Azincourt Energy, and a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101.

About Azincourt Energy Corp.

Azincourt is a Canadian-based resource company specializing in the strategic acquisition, exploration, and development of alternative energy/fuel projects. The Company has been a uranium explorer for over a decade and is currently active at its majority-owned joint venture East Preston uranium project located in the Athabasca Basin, Saskatchewan.

*The historical interpretation and drill intersections described here in have not been verified and are extracted from news releases issued by Silver Spruce Resources Inc on April 24, 2008, and August 12, 2008, as well as annual Management Discussion and Analysis documents filed on www.sedarplus.ca, and disclosure published on the website for Paladin Energy Limited (www.paladinenergy.com.au). The Company has not completed sufficient work to confirm and validate any of the historical data from the Snegamook occurrence. The Company considers the historical work a reliable indication of the potential of the Project and the information may be of assistance to readers.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF AZINCOURT ENERGY CORP.

“Alex Klenman”
Alex Klenman, President & CEO

For further information please contact:

Alex Klenman, President & CEO
Tel: 604-638-8063
info@azincourtenergy.com

Azincourt Energy Corp.
1430 – 800 West Pender Street
Vancouver, BC V6C 2V6
www.azincourtenergy.com

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This news release may contain certain “Forward-Looking Statements” within the meaning of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and applicable Canadian securities laws. When or if used in this news release, the words “anticipate”, “believe”, “estimate”, “expect”, “target, “plan”, “forecast”, “may”, “schedule” and similar words or expressions identify forward-looking statements or information. Such statements represent the Company’s current views with respect to future events and are necessarily based upon a number of assumptions and estimates that, while considered reasonable by the Company, are inherently subject to significant business, economic, competitive, political, and social risks, contingencies and uncertainties. Many factors, both known and unknown, could cause results, performance, or achievements to be materially different from the results, performance or achievements that are or may be expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. The Company does not intend, and does not assume any obligation, to update these forward-looking statements or information to reflect changes in assumptions or changes in circumstances or any other events affecting such statements and information other than as required by applicable laws, rules, and regulations.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its regulation services provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Photos accompanying this announcement are available at:

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/61a29d68-48bd-4716-a71a-30b0c384078a

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/06b89c9f-54d3-414e-a915-1a46e8e0ebb7

The MIL Network –

January 25, 2025

MIL-OSI: MEF Introduces New Membership Framework to Expand Participation in the Network-as-a-Service Ecosystem

Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

DALLAS, Oct. 29, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — MEF, a global industry association of network, cloud, security, and technology providers accelerating enterprise digital transformation, today announced the launch of a new subscription-based membership framework. The updated structure reflects MEF’s commitment to fostering growth in the evolving Network-as-a-Service (NaaS) landscape by increasing industry-wide participation and aligning more closely with the needs of today’s diverse ecosystem.

MEF’s new membership subscriptions provide members with comprehensive access to MEF’s essential Lifecycle Service Orchestration (LSO) resources, including SDKs, developer community support, and industry-leading test and certification services. These tools enable organizations to accelerate product development, achieve greater interoperability, and strengthen their market position in the rapidly growing NaaS ecosystem.

“The potential for the NaaS market is immense and will require participation from organizations of all types and sizes—from service providers and data centers, to enterprises, who, for the first time, have access to MEF’s full suite of services, tools, and APIs,” said Kevin Vachon, Chief Operating Officer, MEF. “These new membership subscriptions represent a major shift in how MEF engages with the broader network services ecosystem, expanding our offerings so that all industry players have the tools, resources, and opportunities they need to succeed in this market.”

New Membership Options
MEF’s new membership structure offers a range of options for the wide array of organizations shaping the NaaS ecosystem, from end-user enterprises and communications service providers (CSPs) to hyperscalers, SaaS providers, and network and security solutions providers. Through participating in MEF, these organizations can engage with global system integrators, data centers, test and certification specialists, and more, to shape the future of automated NaaS services.

Membership provides professionals across various roles—whether C-level executives, product managers, architects, engineers, or marketing professionals—the ability to engage in meaningful ways. By participating in MEF’s work, they can influence the direction of the industry, enhance their company’s market positioning, and access resources that support service development and automation. MEF members also benefit from invaluable networking opportunities, leveraging MEF’s global community to collaborate with partners, suppliers, and customers, while driving digital transformation and uncovering new business opportunities.

More information about MEF’s new membership model can be found at www.MEF.net/join. To learn more about MEF standards, LSO APIs and certification programs visit www.MEF.net.

About MEF
MEF is a global consortium of service, cloud, cybersecurity, and technology providers collaborating to accelerate enterprise digital transformation. It delivers standards-based frameworks, services, technologies, APIs, and certification programs to enable Network-as-a-Service (NaaS) across an automated ecosystem. MEF is the defining authority for certified Lifecycle Service Orchestration (LSO) business and operational APIs and Carrier Ethernet, SASE, SD-WAN, Zero Trust, and Security Service Edge (SSE) technologies and services. MEF’s Global NaaS Event (GNE) convenes industry leaders building, delivering and consuming the next generation of NaaS solutions. For more information about MEF, visit MEF.net and follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter and YouTube.

Media Contact:
Melissa Power
MEF
pr@mef.net

The MIL Network –

January 25, 2025
MIL-OSI: IC Mobile Partners with Openmind Networks to Launch Advanced Messaging Platform

Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

DUBLIN, Oct. 29, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Openmind Networks, a global leader in messaging platform solutions, is excited to announce a new partnership with IC Mobile, one of Canada’s top aggregator telecommunications companies. Openmind Networks has supplied its state-of-the-art messaging systems software and Short Message Service Center with Application Router ensuring all IC Mobile customers will have the benefit of advanced messaging systems.

IC Mobile has been at the forefront of telecommunications innovation for over 15 years, leading the business messaging market in Canada. As the telecommunications industry rapidly evolves, IC Mobile remains dedicated to providing cutting-edge and reliable messaging services to their business clients. By selecting Openmind Networks as a key supplier, IC Mobile reinforces its commitment to the highest standards of security, reliability, and user experience in messaging.

“The partnership with Openmind Networks will help bolster our market share in business messaging and enhance our offerings as the landscape evolves,” said Duncan McCready, President of IC Group. “Openmind Networks is a leading innovator in messaging systems, and we are delighted with their delivery within our time-to-market requirements.”

Openmind Networks’ advanced messaging systems software is tailored to meet the needs of telecom providers worldwide. Focusing on security, reliability, and scalability, Openmind Networks enables operators to deliver seamless messaging experiences while protecting customer data and privacy.

“We are excited to be chosen as the messaging system software provider for IC Mobile,” said Alex Duncan, CEO of Openmind Networks. “This partnership provides a fantastic opportunity to deliver high-quality messaging products to the North American market and explore new ways to enhance the end-user messaging experience.”

For more information about Openmind Networks and its communication platform solutions, please visit www.openmindnetworks.com.

About IC Mobile

IC Mobile is a trusted carrier partner with direct connections to every Canadian mobile operator. They offer brands, marketing platforms, CPaaS providers, and more a single-point API that provides access to 100% of mobile users in Canada. IC Mobile is also the only business messaging platform that ensures full data localization in Canada, with all operations based within the country to keep all data local.

About Openmind Networks

Openmind Networks is an independent technology company focused on providing mobile messaging software solutions for the world’s largest telecom companies. Boasting a highly experienced team of messaging experts, Openmind Networks has consistently led the way in bringing new innovations to the mobile messaging industry for more than two decades.

Openmind Networks is responsible for delivering more than 1.5 billion messages daily with a global customer base including the world’s largest mobile operators, wholesalers, aggregators, social media providers and software firms.

Media Contact

Brendan Tobin
Director of Marketing
Openmind Networks
+353 1 633 0070
brendan.tobin@openmindnetworks.com

The MIL Network –

January 25, 2025

MIL-OSI Economics: New Azure OpenAI Service updates enable companies to deploy and optimize AI models at scale

Source: Microsoft

Headline: New Azure OpenAI Service updates enable companies to deploy and optimize AI models at scale

With the new enhancements to Azure OpenAI Service Provisioned offering, we are taking a big step forward in making AI accessible and enterprise-ready.

In today’s fast-evolving digital landscape, enterprises need more than just powerful AI models—they need AI solutions that are adaptable, reliable, and scalable. With upcoming availability of Data Zones and new enhancements to Provisioned offering in Azure OpenAI Service, we are taking a big step forward in making AI broadly available and also enterprise-ready. These features represent a fundamental shift in how organizations can deploy, manage, and optimize generative AI models.

With the launch of Azure OpenAI Service Data Zones in the European Union and the United States, enterprises can now scale their AI workloads with even greater ease while maintaining compliance with regional data residency requirements. Historically, variances in model-region availability forced customers to manage multiple resources, often slowing down development and complicating operations. Azure OpenAI Service Data Zones can remove that friction by offering flexible, multi-regional data processing while ensuring data is processed and stored within the selected data boundary.

This is a compliance win which also allows businesses to seamlessly scale their AI operations across regions, optimizing for both performance and reliability without having to navigate the complexities of managing traffic across disparate systems.

Leya, a tech startup building genAI platform for legal professionals, has been exploring Data Zones deployment option.

“Azure OpenAI Service Data Zones deployment option offers Leya a cost-efficient way to securely scale AI applications to thousands of lawyers, ensuring compliance and top performance. It helps us achieve better customer quality and control, with rapid access to the latest Azure OpenAI innovations.“—Sigge Labor, CTO, Leya

Data Zones will be available for both Standard (PayGo) and Provisioned offerings, starting this week on November 1, 2024.

Industry leading performance

Enterprises depend on predictability, especially when deploying mission-critical applications. That’s why we’re introducing a 99% latency service level agreement for token generation. This latency SLA ensures that tokens are generated at a faster and more consistent speeds, especially at high volumes

The Provisioned offer provides predictable performance for your application. Whether you’re in e-commerce, healthcare, or financial services, the ability to depend on low-latency and high-reliability AI infrastructure translates directly to better customer experiences and more efficient operations.

Lowering the cost of getting started

To make it easier to test, scale, and manage, we are reducing hourly pricing for Provisioned Global and Provisioned Data Zone deployments starting November 1, 2024. This reduction in cost ensures that our customers can benefit from these new features without the burden of high expenses. Provisioned offering continues to offer discounts for monthly and annual commitments.

Deployment option	Hourly PTU	One month reservation per PTU	One year reservation per PTU
Provisioned Global	Current: $2.00 per hour November 1, 2024: $1.00 per hour	$260 per month	$221 per month
Provisioned Data Zone^New	November 1, 2024: $1.10 per hour	$260 per month	$221 per month

We are also reducing deployment minimum entry points for Provisioned Global deployment by 70% and scaling increments by up to 90%, lowering the barrier for businesses to get started with Provisioned offering earlier in their development lifecycle.

Deployment quantity minimums and increments for Provisioned offering

Model	Global	Data Zone ^New	Regional
GPT-4o	Min: 50 15 Increment 50 5	Min: 15 Increment 5	Min: 50 Increment 50
GPT-4o-mini	Min: 25 15 Increment: 25 5	Min: 15 Increment 5	Min: 25 Increment: 25

For developers and IT teams, this means faster time-to-deployment and less friction when transitioning from Standard to Provisioned offering. As businesses grow, these simple transitions become vital to maintaining agility while scaling AI applications globally.

Efficiency through caching: A game-changer for high-volume applications

Another new feature is Prompt Caching, which offers cheaper and faster inference for repetitive API requests. Cached tokens are 50% off for Standard. For applications that frequently send the same system prompts and instructions, this improvement provides a significant cost and performance advantage.

By caching prompts, organizations can maximize their throughput without needing to reprocess identical requests repeatedly, all while reducing costs. This is particularly beneficial for high-traffic environments, where even slight performance boosts can translate into tangible business gains.

A new era of model flexibility and performance

One of the key benefits of the Provisioned offering is that it is flexible, with one simple hourly, monthly, and yearly price that applies to all available models. We’ve also heard your feedback that it is difficult to understand how many tokens per minute (TPM) you get for each model on Provisioned deployments. We now provide a simplified view of the number of input and output tokens per minute for each Provisioned deployment. Customers no longer need to rely on detailed conversion tables or calculators.

We are maintaining the flexibility that customers love with the Provisioned offering. With monthly and annual commitments you can still change the model and version—like GPT-4o and GPT-4o-mini—within the reservation period without losing any discount. This agility allows businesses to experiment, iterate, and evolve their AI deployments without incurring unnecessary costs or having to restructure their infrastructure.

Enterprise readiness in action

Azure OpenAI’s continuous innovations aren’t just theoretical; they’re already delivering results in various industries. For instance, companies like AT&T, H&R Block, Mercedes, and more are using Azure OpenAI Service not just as a tool, but as a transformational asset that reshapes how they operate and engage with customers.

Beyond models: The enterprise-grade promise

It’s clear that the future of AI is about much more than just offering the latest models. While powerful models like GPT-4o and GPT-4o-mini provide the foundation, it’s the supporting infrastructure—such as Provisioned offering, Data Zones deployment option, SLAs, caching, and simplified deployment flows—that truly make Azure OpenAI Service enterprise-ready.

Microsoft’s vision is to provide not only cutting-edge AI models but also the enterprise-grade tools and support that allow businesses to scale these models confidently, securely, and cost-effectively. From enabling low-latency, high-reliability deployments to offering flexible and simplified infrastructure, Azure OpenAI Service empowers enterprises to fully embrace the future of AI-driven innovation.

Get started today

As the AI landscape continues to evolve, the need for scalable, flexible, and reliable AI solutions becomes even more critical for enterprise success. With the latest enhancements to Azure OpenAI Service, Microsoft is delivering on that promise—giving customers not just access to world-class AI models, but the tools and infrastructure to operationalize them at scale.

Now is the time for businesses to unlock the full potential of generative AI with Azure, moving beyond experimentation into real-world, enterprise-grade applications that drive measurable outcomes. Whether you’re scaling a virtual assistant, developing real-time voice applications, or transforming customer service with AI, Azure OpenAI Service provides the enterprise-ready platform you need to innovate and grow.

Start today with Azure OpenAI Service

MIL OSI Economics –

January 25, 2025

MIL-OSI USA: Shaheen Leads Roundtable on Youth Substance Misuse Prevention in Claremont, Visits Hypertherm to Discuss Workforce Development, Continues “Invest in NH Tour” With Visit to Schaefer Center for Health Sciences at Colby-Sawyer College Nursing School

US Senate News:

Source: United States Senator for New Hampshire Jeanne Shaheen

(Claremont, NH) – U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) led a roundtable in Claremont on substance misuse prevention with Youth CAN leadership and community members. She then visited Hypertherm in Lebanon to discuss workforce challenges, housing and child care. Later, Shaheen continued her “Invest in NH Tour” with a visit to the Schaefer Center for Health Sciences at the Colby-Sawyer College Nursing School, which she secured funding to build. Photos from today’s events can be found here.

In Claremont, Shaheen led a roundtable with the Youth CAN coalition leadership team and community partners to discuss the organization’s work to prevent youth substance misuse in the Claremont and Newport area. Youth CAN is part of the Drug-Free Communities (DFC) Program which provides grants to local community coalitions to address the youth substance use disorder crisis.

“It is crucial that we reach children as early as possible to educate them about the dangers of substance misuse, and one of our most effective tools to do that is the Drug-Free Communities Program, said Senator Shaheen. “I’ve strongly advocated for the program and was happy to meet with Claremont and Newport’s coalition and discuss their critical work to prevent substance misuse.”

Shaheen has spearheaded crucial legislation and funding to stem the opioid epidemic, including to support the DFC Program. Shaheen recently introduced the Keeping Drugs Out of Schools Act to establish a new grant program that allows DFC coalitions to partner with schools to provide resources educating students about the dangers of drug use.

Shaheen then visited Hypertherm, an employee-owned manufacturer of cutting products and software, to tour its facility and discuss the company’s in-house technical training program for workforce development, as well as engagement with Vital Communities’ Corporate Council to address regional housing and child care challenges. Vital Communities’ Corporate Council collaborates with Upper Valley employers to help solve the challenges they’re facing.

“Many Granite State businesses, like Hypertherm in Lebanon, face complex barriers to recruiting and retaining a workforce,” said Senator Shaheen. “I was pleased to visit Hypertherm to learn more about the manufacturer’s innovative approach to workforce development and their collaboration with Vital Communities as well as discuss how Congress can continue help New Hampshire businesses address housing and child care challenges.”

Senator Shaheen has long supported programs that support workforce development and increase opportunities and growth for New Hampshire businesses, including by tackling New Hampshire’s housing affordability crisis and the child care crisis. Recently, Shaheen joined Acting Secretary of Labor Julie Su at A Place to Grow to host a roundtable discussion at the facility to discuss the first U.S. Department of Labor approved apprenticeship program for early childhood education operations managers and a new report emphasizing the importance of care workers.

Later, as part of her “Invest in NH Tour”, Shaheen visited the Schaefer Center for Health Sciences at Colby-Sawyer College to discuss its new nursing and health sciences facility, which is funded in part by Congressionally Directed Spending. Shaheen secured $1.5 million in the Fiscal Year 2022 government funding legislation to construct the new building and to help address critical health care workforce needs by training the next generation of nurses.

“As health care workforce shortages continue to impact our state, I was glad to visit and tour the Schaefer Center for Health Sciences at Colby-Sawyer College where they’re training the next generation of nurses,” said Senator Shaheen. “I secured funding to help construct the building and was glad to learn more about how the program is working to fill desperately needed nursing positions in the Granite State.”

Senator Shaheen has spearheaded numerous efforts in the Senate in support of New Hampshire’s health care workforce. During negotiations surrounding the American Rescue Plan Act, Shaheen helped steer efforts to increase funding for the Provider Relief Fund (PRF) to ensure hospitals, nursing homes and other health care providers on the frontlines had the support they needed to keep their doors open and continue to care for patients. As a senior member of the U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee, Shaheen secured $17,419,000 in Congressionally Directed Spending in the FY 2024 government funding legislation to support health care and education needs in the Granite State.

MIL OSI USA News –

January 25, 2025
MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Welsh Secretary sees plans for a new clean energy hub
Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments
English

Cymraeg

The Secretary of State for Wales has visited Associated British Ports and Dow in Barry as part of the UK Government’s mission to deliver economic growth.
Welsh Secretary Jo Stevens at ABP Barry.

The Secretary of State for Wales has visited two major employers in Barry in the Vale of Glamorgan as part of the UK Government’s mission to deliver economic growth.

Welsh Secretary Jo Stevens was given a tour of the Port of Barry and heard about Associated British Ports (ABP) and px Group’s plan for a Clean Growth Hub which aims to establish a cutting-edge facility where businesses can attract direct investment and create jobs.

The plan aims to transform a large area of the operational port into an area of green, high-growth infrastructure investment. It is designed to attract companies involved in innovative industries such as battery materials, rare earth metal processing and green energy manufacturing.

Earlier the same day the Welsh Secretary also visited Dow, a material sciences company, based on Cardiff Road, Barry. The site manufactures silicones for use in automotive, aerospace, energy infrastructure, construction and other industries across the UK and Europe. It employs more than 600 people with the majority living in the Vale of Glamorgan, as well as partnering with hundreds of suppliers – many based in and around Barry and South Wales.

The Welsh Secretary heard about how Dow contributes to the growth of the regional economy and about the company’s plans for the future.

Welsh Secretary Jo Stevens said:

My number one mission is to deliver investment and jobs to Wales so it was fantastic to hear about the Port of Barry’s exciting plans for the Clean Energy Hub which will attract business and investors while helping achieve our mission of making Britain a clean energy superpower.

We want to work in partnership with business to drive growth, opportunity and prosperity, so it was also great to spend time at Dow and see the work that they do to realise these ambitions in South Wales.

Ralph Windeatt, ABP Group Head of Business Development, said:

I was delighted to welcome the Secretary of State for Wales to our Port of Barry to discuss our plans for a Clean Growth Hub.

Associated British Ports’ five ports in South Wales are already becoming hubs at the heart of the green energy transition. With our partners px Group, we want to transform the Port of Barry to expand low-carbon, high-growth infrastructure investment. These plans will build on the low-carbon infrastructure we already have in place, including solar and wind power and green hydrogen production with our partners at EDF Hynamics and ESB International.

Our plans for a Clean Growth Hub will create jobs, mobilise inward investment and boost local prosperity and opportunity.

Andrew Laney, Senior Site Manufacturing Director at Dow, Barry said:

Dow is a business that plays a key role in South Wales, both socially and economically. The silicones we manufacture for so many industrial sectors across Wales, UK and Europe are proudly ‘Made in Barry’.

We were pleased to show the Secretary of State the operations on site and discuss how South Wales manufacturing can be well-recognised in the UK Government’s Industrial Strategy consultation.

ENDS

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Published 29 October 2024
MIL OSI United Kingdom –
January 25, 2025
MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Museum of Oxford to mark 90th anniversary of historical Oxford events with a trilogy of plays
Source: City of Oxford

The Museum of Oxford is commemorating the 90th anniversary of three pivotal events in the city’s history with a trilogy of plays.
Written by local playwright Peter Cann and directed by Tim Eyres, these performances bring to life Oxford’s working-class struggles during a turbulent year in 1934.

Cutteslowe Walls

The first play in the trilogy, The Cutteslowe Walls, recounts how a working-class community in North Oxford was separated from a nearby private estate by 9ft-high walls – which became known as “snob walls”. Built in December 1934, the walls stood for 25 years despite a long campaign to have them removed. The initial campaign to remove the walls was led by Abe Lazarus, a prominent trade unionist and communist organiser. Reginald Gibbs, a local councillor, also played a key role in these early efforts. After Reginald’s passing, his son Edmund and daughter-in-law Olive Gibbs continued the fight and the walls were finally demolished in 1959.

The Lord Mayor of Oxford, Cllr Mike Rowley, will attend the premiere of The Cutteslowe Walls on 2 November.

“I am honoured to be part of this commemoration. The Cutteslowe Walls symbolised a time of division in our city’s history, but the efforts of campaigners like Abe Lazarus and the Gibbs family remind us of the power of community and perseverance in fighting for fairness. This trilogy of plays allows us to reflect on these important struggles, while celebrating the spirit of unity that ultimately brought the walls down.”

The Lord Mayor of Oxford, Councillor Mike Rowley

Oxford’s Inferno

The second play, Oxford’s Inferno, recounts the 1934 strike at the Pressed Steel factory in Cowley, which produced car bodies for the Morris car works. Workers walked out in protest against poor pay and harsh working conditions. The strike, initially involving 100 workers, soon grew to 1,000, led to the formation of a strong union that left a lasting impact on Oxford and beyond.

Little Edens

The final part of the trilogy, Little Edens, will be performed on December 7. Returning after a successful staging at the museum last year, the play focuses on the Florence Park Rent Strike. In September 1934, tenants of the newly built Florence Park estate began withholding rent in protest at poor living conditions. The homes, built by unskilled labourers, quickly deteriorated, prompting residents— many of whom had relocated from areas hit hard by the Great Depression, such as South Wales and Tyneside — to take action. After months of complaints, the residents embarked on a bitter rent strike, facing the threat of eviction. The strike highlighted the difficult conditions faced by many working-class families in Oxford.

The trilogy performances are as follows:

Oxford’s Inferno and The Cutteslowe Walls: Saturday, 2 November at 2.30pm and 5.30pm (all sold out)

Little Edens: Saturday 7 December at 2.30pm and 5.30pm

Tickets for the December performances are available from the Museum of Oxford shop or through Eventbrite.

Comment

“These stories show how working-class communities in Oxford shaped the city’s identity and contributed to wider social change. From fighting unfair working conditions to standing up against poor housing, the events portrayed in these plays demonstrate the resilience and solidarity of Oxford’s people. It’s great that these powerful stories can be shared with audiences at the Museum of Oxford.”

Councillor Alex Hollingsworth, Cabinet Member for Business, Culture and an Inclusive Economy
MIL OSI United Kingdom –
January 25, 2025
MIL-OSI USA: NASA Relaunches Mentor-Protégé Program to Fill Supply Chain Gaps

Source: NASA

In an effort to grow new commercial markets that support the future of space exploration, scientific discovery, and aeronautics research, NASA is preparing to relaunch its Mentor-Protégé Program for contractors on Friday, Nov. 1.
The program originally was launched to encourage NASA prime contractors, or mentors, to enter into agreements with eligible small businesses, or protégés. These agreements were created to enhance the protégés’ performance on NASA contracts and subcontracts, foster the establishment of long-term business relationships between small businesses and NASA prime contractors, and increase the overall number of small businesses that receive NASA contracts and subcontract awards.
“The NASA Mentor-Protégé Program is a critical enabling tool that allows experienced companies to provide business developmental assistance to emerging firms,” said Dwight Deneal, assistant administrator for NASA’s Office of Small Business Programs (OSBP). “The program enables NASA to expand its industrial base of suppliers, as prime and subcontractors, to assist in executing the mission and programs throughout the agency.”
The program’s relaunch follows an assessment of its policies and procedures by OSBP to ensure it continues to support NASA’s missions and addresses any supply chain gaps at an optimal level.
To provide more information about the program and its relaunch, OSBP will host an online lunch and learn event on Thursday, Nov. 7, at 1:00 p.m. EST. The event is open to all current and potential mentors and protégés who want to learn more about changes in the program, qualifications to participate, and how to apply.
“We are excited about rolling out the enhanced NASA Mentor-Protégé Program,” said David Brock, lead small business specialist for OSBP. “The program’s new focus will allow large businesses to mentor smaller firms in key areas that align with NASA’s mission and opportunities within the agency’s supply chain.”
One key change expands eligibility to all small businesses, in addition to minority-serving institutions, including Historically Black Colleges and Universities, and Ability One entities. This expansion enables the program to support an inclusive environment for more small businesses and underserved communities to interact with NASA and its contractors.
The program also will focus on engaging businesses within a select number of North American Industry Classifications System (NAICS) codes and specific industry sectors, such as research and development and aerospace manufacturing. These adjustments will allow the program to better support NASA’s long-term strategic goals and mission success.
The program is designed to benefit both the mentor and the protégé by fostering productive networking and contract opportunities. In a mentor-protégé agreement, mentors build relationships with small businesses, developing a subcontracting base and accruing credit toward their small business subcontracting goals. In addition, protégés receive technical and developmental assistance while also gaining sole-source contracts from mentors and additional contracting opportunities.
NASA is responsible for the administration and management of each agreement. The OSBP oversees the program and conducts semi-annual performance reviews to monitor progress and accomplishments made as a result of the mentor-protégé agreement.
To apply to be a mentor, companies must be a current NASA prime contractor with an approved small business contracting plan. Companies also must be eligible for the receipt of government contracts and be categorized under certain NAICS codes. Potential protégés must certify as a small business within NAICS size standards.
Find more information about participating in NASA’s Mentor-Protégé Program at:
https://www.nasa.gov/osbp/mentor-protege-program

MIL OSI USA News –

January 25, 2025
MIL-OSI USA: Media Alert: Low-level helicopter flights to image geology over central Nevada

Source: US Geological Survey

The survey will begin in November 2024 and is expected to be completed in February 2025, weather and flight restrictions permitting.

Flights will include areas in Humboldt, Lander, Eureka, Elko, White Pine, and Nye counties in Nevada.

Initial survey flights will be based out of Tonopah, Nevada, and are planned to move northward over the winter. The survey base and flight locations are subject to change with little warning to other parts of the survey area as necessary to minimize ferrying distances and avoid adverse flying conditions.

The purpose of the survey is to provide images of subsurface electrical conductivity that expand the fundamental knowledge of geology underpinning the Basin and Range province of Nevada. These flights are a continuation of a project that began in 2022. The survey area hosts brines and evaporation-based mineral systems that might contain lithium resources, and rock formations that may contain other critical minerals as well as base and precious metals.

The helicopter will fly along pre-planned flight paths relatively low to the ground, about 200 feet (60 meters) above the surface. Flight line spacing will vary depending on location, typically separated by about 3 miles (5 kilometers).

A sensor that resembles a large hula-hoop will be towed beneath the helicopter to measure small electromagnetic signals that can be used to map geologic features. The data collected will be made freely available to the public on ScienceBase, typically within one to two years of flight completion.

None of the instruments carried on the aircraft pose a health risk to people or animals. The aircraft will be flown by experienced pilots who are specially trained and approved for low-level flying. The survey company works with the FAA to ensure flights are safe and in accordance with U.S. law.

The surveys will be conducted during daylight hours only. Surveys do not occur over densely populated areas and the helicopter will not directly overfly buildings at low altitude.

This airborne electromagnetic survey is funded by the USGS Earth Mapping Resources Initiative as part of a national-scale effort to acquire modern high-resolution airborne geophysical data through airborne geophysical surveys like this one, geochemical reconnaissance surveys, topographic mapping using lidar technology, hyperspectral surveys, and geologic mapping projects. This survey is designed to meet needs related to mineral resource assessments, geologic framework, and mapping studies, as well as supporting geothermal energy and water resources studies.

The new geophysical data will be processed to develop high-resolution three-dimensional representations of geology to depths over 1,000 feet (300 meters) below the surface. The models and maps produced from the survey are important for improving our understanding of critical mineral resource potential, groundwater aquifer structure and salinity, geothermal resource potential, and natural hazards. These results will support detailed geologic mapping studies being conducted by USGS and the Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology, by expanding on the mapping of formations where they can be observed in the hills and mountains into the valleys, where these geologic layers become buried under sediments and volcanic deposits.

The survey fits into a broader effort by the USGS, the Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology, and many other state geological surveys and other partners, including private companies, academics, and state and federal agencies to modernize our understanding of the Nation’s fundamental geologic framework and knowledge of mineral resources.

The USGS is contracting with Xcalibur Multiphysics under Fugro Earthdata, Inc. to collect these data.

To learn more about how the USGS is investing the resources from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, visit our website. To learn more about USGS mineral-resource and commodity information, please visit our website and follow us on X.

MIL OSI USA News –

January 25, 2025
MIL-OSI Economics: Trade finance resilience and low credit risk persist amid global challenges, confirms ICC

Source: International Chamber of Commerce

Headline: Trade finance resilience and low credit risk persist amid global challenges, confirms ICC

The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), along with partners Global Credit Data (GCD) and Boston Consulting Group (BCG), has released its 2024 Trade Register Report, reaffirming the resilience of trade finance instruments and the continued low credit risk across products despite ongoing geopolitical and economic challenges .

The 2024 report confirms that trade, supply chain and export finance continue to exhibit low risk, with default rates remaining low across all regions and asset classes overall. When defaults do occur, they are generally idiosyncratic, stemming from well-known commercial, geopolitical or macroeconomic factors. As global trade faces ongoing geopolitical and economic pressures, these financial products continue to serve as vital tools for mitigating risk and maintaining liquidity, supporting the stability of trade flows.

The ICC Trade Register remains the leading, authoritative global source on credit risk and broader market dynamics in trade and supply chain finance. Its data set represents nearly a quarter of all global trade finance transactions. This 2024 edition includes extended market insights and data on global trade and trade finance. New features include insights from ICC and BCG’s practitioner survey on key trends and opportunities in trade and supply chain finance as well as a comprehensive data pack with analysis on credit risk in trade finance, available for member banks or for separate purchase through ICC.

This year, ICC and GCD demonstrated the value of high-quality, representative data in shaping trade finance regulations through their contributions to emerging regulation on Basel III capital treatment. Krishan Ramadurai, outgoing Chair of the ICC Trade Register Project, encourages more banks to participate in the project and says that more data will only reinforce the point that trade finance is a low default asset class.

The ICC Trade Register continues to look beyond credit risk, with detailed analysis on market trends and competitive dynamics across the trade and supply chain finance market.

Ravi Hanspal, Partner at BCG, said:

“Despite ongoing headwinds, we are seeing the trade and supply chain finance market continue to evolve rapidly. Banks are observing that customers are now prioritising leading service and digital capabilities more than ever, driving a step-change in investment by banks in technology to accelerate seamless trade.”

Marilyn Blattner-Hoyle, Global Head of Trade Finance and Working Capital Solutions at Swiss Reinsurance Company, said:

“ICC’s Trade Register and its deep data over many cycles is perhaps the most critical publication in the trade industry. The Register’s role in sharing quantitative and qualitative statistics underpins the power of trade as well as the stability of trade-related credit risks. It helps us to get comfortable insuring more trade with our bank clients, thus making trade and the world more resilient together. We use the Register in our actuarial assessments as well as our internal/external advocacy. We are proud to be the first insurance sponsor of the publication, affirming the important role of insurance in the global trade ecosystem.”

Christian Hausherr, Product Manager for SCF at Deutsche Bank and member of ICC Trade Register Steering Committee, said:

“In its thirteenth year after being established, the ICC Trade Register proves its relevance and importance to the trade finance community. Since then, the data approach as well as the scope of the Trade Register have been materially enhanced by the team managing the publication process on an annual basis. As of today, the Trade Register offers unique insights not only into trade finance risk, but also provides valuable macro-economic insights to its readers.”

ICC Policy Manager Tomasch Kubiak thanks member banks for their ongoing contributions.

“ICC is very appreciative of all the efforts member banks are putting in yet again for an enhanced version of the ICC Trade Register. This year’s project provides a full insight into meaningful trends in global trade finance as well as complete data collected from our members, which is now available on demand,”

he said.

Read or purchase the full ICC Trade Register Report.

MIL OSI Economics –

January 25, 2025
MIL-OSI Global: The ancient Irish get far too much credit for Halloween

Source: The Conversation – USA – By Lisa Bitel, Dean’s Professor of Religion & Professor of History, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences

The Celtic festival of Samhain celebrates a time of year when the division between Earth and the otherworld collapses, allowing spirits to pass through. Matt Cardy/Getty Images

This time of year, I often run across articles proclaiming Halloween a modern form of the pagan Irish holiday of Samhain – pronounced SAW-en. But as a historian of Ireland and its medieval literature, I can tell you: Samhain is Irish. Halloween isn’t.

The Irish often get credit – or blame – for the bonfires, pranksters, witches, jack-o’-lanterns and beggars who wander from house to house, threatening tricks and soliciting treats.

The first professional 19th-century folklorists were the ones who created a through line from Samhain to Halloween. Oxford University’s John Rhys and James Frazer of the University of Cambridge were keen to find the origins of their national cultures.

They observed lingering customs in rural areas of Britain and Ireland and searched medieval texts for evidence that these practices and beliefs had ancient pagan roots. They mixed stories of magic and paganism with harvest festivals and whispers of human sacrifice, and you can still find echoes of their outdated theories on websites.

But the Halloween we celebrate today has more to do with the English, a ninth-century pope and America’s obsession with consumerism.

A changing of the seasons

For two millennia, Samhain, the night of Oct. 31, has marked the turn from summer to winter on the Irish calendar. It was one of four seasonal signposts in agricultural and pastoral societies.

After Samhain, people brought the animals inside as refuge from the long, cold nights of winter. Imbolc, which is on Feb. 1, marked the beginning of the lambing season, followed by spring planting. Beltaine signaled the start of mating season for humans and beasts alike on May 1, and Lughnasadh kicked off the harvest on Aug. 1.

But whatever the ancient Irish did on Oct. 31 is lost to scholars because there’s almost no evidence of their pagan traditions except legends written by churchmen around 800 A.D., about 400 years after the Irish started turning Christian. Although they wrote about the adventures of their ancestors, churchmen could only imagine the pagan ways that had disappeared.

A neopagan celebration of Samhain in October 2021.
Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA

An otherworld more utopian than terrifying

These stories about the pagan past told of Irish kings holding annual weeklong feasts, markets and games at Samhain. The day ended early in northwestern Europe, before 5 p.m., and winter nights were long. After sundown, people went inside to eat, drink and listen to storytellers.

The stories did not link Samhain with death and horror. But they did treat Samhain as a night of magic, when the otherworld – what, in Irish, was known as the “sí” – opened its portals to mortals. One tale, “The Adventure of Nera,” warned that if you went out on Samhain Eve, you might meet dead men or warriors from the sí, or you might unknowingly wander into the otherworld.

When Nera went out on a dare, he met a thirsty corpse in search of drink and unwittingly followed warriors through a portal into the otherworld. But instead of ghosts and terror, Nera found love. He ended up marrying a “ban sídh” – pronounced “BAN-shee” – an otherworldly woman. But here’s the medieval twist to the tale: He lived happily ever after in this otherworld with his family and farm.

The Irish otherworld was no hell, either. In medieval tales, it is a sunny place in perpetual spring. Everyone who lives there is beautiful, powerful, immortal and blond. They have good teeth. The rivers flow with mead and wine, and food appears on command. No sexual act is a sin. The houses sparkle with gems and precious metals. Even the horses are perfect.

Clampdown on pagan customs

The link between Oct. 31, ghosts and devils was really the pope’s fault.

In 834, Pope Gregory IV decreed Nov. 1 the day for celebrating all Christian saints. In English, the feast day became All Hallows Day. The night before – Oct. 31 – became known as All Hallows Eve.

Some modern interpretations insist that Pope Gregory created All Hallows Day to quell pagan celebrations of Samhain. But Gregory knew nothing of ancient Irish seasonal holidays. In reality, he probably did it because everyone celebrated All Saints on different days and, like other Popes, Gregory sought to consolidate and control the liturgical calendar.

In the later Middle Ages, All Hallows Eve emerged as a popular celebration of the saints. People went to church and prayed to the saints for favors and blessings. Afterward, they went home to feast. Then, on Nov. 2, they celebrated All Souls’ Day by praying for the souls of their lost loved ones, hoping that prayers would help their dead relatives out of purgatory and into heaven.

But in the 16th century, the Protestant rulers of Britain and Ireland quashed saints’ feast days, because praying to saints seemed idolatrous. Protestant ministers did their best to eliminate popular customs of the early November holidays, such as candle-lit processions and harvest bonfires.

In the minds of ministers, these customs smacked of heathenism.

A mishmash of traditions

Our Halloween of costumed beggars and leering jack-o’-lanterns descends from this mess of traditions, storytelling and antiquarianism.

Like our ancestors, we constantly remake our most important holidays to suit current culture.

Jack-o’-lanterns are neither ancient nor Irish. One of the earliest references is an 18th-century account of an eponymous Jack, who tricked the devil one too many times and was condemned to wander the world forever.

Supposedly, Jack, or whatever the hero was called, carved a turnip and stuck a candle in it as his lantern. But the custom of carving turnips in early November probably originated in England with celebrations of All Saints’ Day and another holiday, Guy Fawkes Day on Nov. 5, with its bonfires and fireworks, and it spread from there.

Guy Fawkes Day, an annual celebration in Great Britain, features fireworks and bonfires and is observed on Nov. 5.
Hulton-Deutsch Collection/Corbis via Getty Images

As for ancient bonfires, the Irish and Britons built them to celebrate Beltaine, but not Samhain – at least, not according to the medieval tales.

In 19th-century Ireland, All Hallows Eve was a time for communal suppers, games like bobbing for apples and celebrating the magic of courtship. For instance, girls tried to peel apples in one long peel; then they examined the peels to see what letters they resembled – the initials of their future husbands’ names. Boys crept out of the gathering, despite warnings, to make mischief, taking off farm gates or stealing cabbages and hurling them at the neighbors’ doors.

Halloween with an American sheen

Across the Atlantic, these customs first appeared in the mid-19th century, when the Irish, English and many other immigrant groups brought their holidays to the U.S.

In medieval Scotland, “guisers” were people who dressed in disguise and begged for “soul cakes” on All Souls Day. These guisers probably became the costumed children who threatened – and sometimes perpetrated – mischief unless given treats. Meanwhile, carved turnips became jack-o’-lanterns, since pumpkins were plentiful in North America – and easier to carve.

Like Christmas, Valentine’s Day and Easter, Halloween eventually became a feast of consumerism. Companies mass-produced costumes, paper decorations and packaged candy. People in Britain and Ireland blamed the Americans for the spread of modern Halloween and its customs. British schools even tried to quash the holiday in the 1990s because of its disorderly and demonic connotations.

The only real remnant of Samhain in Halloween is the date. Nowadays, no one expects to stumble into a romance in the sí. Only those drawn to the ancient Celtic past sense the numinous opening of the otherworld at Samhain.

But who’s to say which reality prevails when the portals swing open in the dark of Oct. 31?

Lisa Bitel does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. The ancient Irish get far too much credit for Halloween – https://theconversation.com/the-ancient-irish-get-far-too-much-credit-for-halloween-239801

MIL OSI – Global Reports –

January 25, 2025
MIL-OSI Canada: Minister Valdez to make important announcement on health care for Indigenous communities

Source: Government of Canada News

The Honourable Rechie Valdez, Minister of Small Business, will make an important announcement on bringing new health care innovations to Indigenous communities across British Columbia.

October 29, 2024 – Toronto, Ontario

The Honourable Rechie Valdez, Minister of Small Business, will make an important announcement on bringing new health care innovations to Indigenous communities across British Columbia.

A media availability will follow the announcement.

Date: Wednesday, October 30, 2024

Time: Event will start at 2:30 pm (ET). Media are asked to arrive at 2:15 pm (ET).

Location:

Rogers Communications
The Velma Rogers Graham Theatre
333 Bloor Street East
Toronto, Ontario

Members of the media are asked to contact ISED Media Relations at media@ised-isde.gc.ca to confirm their attendance.

Media representatives wishing to attend must present credentials.

Callie Franson
Senior Communications Advisor and Issues Manager
Office of the Minister of Small Business
callie.franson@ised-isde.gc.ca
613-297-5766

Media Relations
Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada
media@ised-isde.gc.ca

Follow Canada Business on social media.

MIL OSI Canada News –

January 25, 2025

Category: Business

Introduction

Scene-setting

The credibility of bail-in

Flexible resolution toolkits

Loss-absorbing capacity

Liquidity for crisis management

Concluding remarks

Introduction

Patch management issues

Policy violations by employees

MSP/MSSP issues

Incomplete incident response

False sense of security

Conclusion

1. Lack of capacity

2. Won’t work for everyone

3. Obesity is a complex issue

4. Obesity stigma

5. Barriers to employment

Co-sleeping in childhood

Adults sharing beds

Industry leading performance

Lowering the cost of getting started

Deployment quantity minimums and increments for Provisioned offering

Efficiency through caching: A game-changer for high-volume applications

A new era of model flexibility and performance

Enterprise readiness in action

Beyond models: The enterprise-grade promise

Get started today

ENDS

Share this page

Updates to this page

Cutteslowe Walls

Oxford’s Inferno

Little Edens

Comment

A changing of the seasons

An otherworld more utopian than terrifying

Clampdown on pagan customs

A mishmash of traditions

Halloween with an American sheen