Category: Commerce

MIL-OSI Asia-Pac: Taiwan, EU hold 7th Human Rights Consultations, focusing on cooperation and emerging challenges

Source: Republic of China Taiwan 3

March 7, 2025
No. 059

The 7th Taiwan-EU Human Rights Consultations were held in Taipei on March 5. The meeting was chaired by Minister without Portfolio Lin Ming-hsin, who led a group of representatives from various Taiwan government agencies. On the EU side, the consultations were attended by Nicoletta Pusterla, Deputy Head of the China, Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan and Mongolia Division of the European External Action Service, and Domenica Bumma, Policy Officer from the EEAS Human Rights Team. This regular dialogue underscores the long-standing Taiwan-EU exchanges and cooperation on human rights and the two sides’ shared commitment to global human rights development.

The consultations were conducted in an open and constructive manner, with the two sides first exchanging views on recent human rights developments, policy initiatives, actions following Constitutional Court Judgment no. 8 of 2024, and priority action plans. Taiwan shared the progress it has made on multiple national human rights action plans, emphasizing transparency and public participation to ensure an open, inclusive process that effectively responds to societal needs. The participants reaffirmed their steadfast commitment to promoting and defending human rights, democracy, and the rule of law and engaged in in-depth discussions on several key issues.
With regard to business and human rights, the EU addressed the latest developments concerning the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive. Taiwan shared updates to its National Action Plan on Business and Human Rights, which stresses a soft-law approach to promoting corporate human rights protection while also exploring potential legislative measures.

Furthermore, a working luncheon was cohosted by Minister Lin Ming-hsin and Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs François Chihchung Wu. Discussions during the luncheon extended to digital human rights and human rights education. The EU side spoke about its Artificial Intelligence Act and Digital Services Act, which emphasize the need to balance technological development with human rights and privacy protection. Representatives from the Taiwan side provided an introduction to the draft AI basic act, which highlights risk management and data governance. On human rights education, Taiwan presented efforts it has made in schools and public institutions and proposed exploring the feasibility of establishing a Taiwan-EU human rights education cooperation framework to promote academic and educational exchanges.

The consultations further explored gender equality and the rights of the elderly. The two sides reviewed the achievements under the Taiwan-EU Gender Equality Cooperation and Training Framework, and the Taiwan side proposed launching a second phase, focusing on combating online gender-based violence, protecting the rights of diverse gender communities, and deepening gender equality cooperation in the Asia-Pacific region. Regarding elderly rights, the two sides shared their policies on long-term care and age-friendly initiatives, discussing ways to safeguard the rights of older adults in an aging society, including economic security, healthcare, and social participation, while exchanging policy experiences.

On migrant workers’ rights, Taiwan outlined measures to protect foreign domestic workers and distant-water fishermen, including setting up direct hiring mechanisms, improving working conditions, and strengthening legal supervision. The two sides also discussed ways to enhance the rights of disadvantaged migrant workers.

The consultations were followed by an exchange between nongovernmental members of the Executive Yuan’s Human Rights Protection and Promotion Task Force and the EU representatives, marking the first time they engaged in dialogue on the challenges and opportunities in human rights policies faced by both sides.

Taiwan and the EU both uphold the core values of democracy, freedom, and human rights. The two sides have laid a strong foundation for cooperation in these areas. The Taiwan government will continue to enhance human rights standards and ensure alignment with international norms, with the Executive Yuan coordinating interagency efforts. Both sides have expressed that they look forward to developing more concrete cooperation initiatives, fostering experience sharing and policy dialogues to further strengthen the Taiwan-EU partnership, jointly advancing global human rights, and benefiting the international community. (E)

MIL OSI Asia Pacific News –

March 19, 2025
MIL-OSI: Struggling with High Costs and Inefficiencies in Global Gaming Support? GPTBots.ai Reinvents Customer Service with AI
Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

HONG KONG, March 19, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — GPTBots.ai has partnered with an international gaming company to transform its customer service operations. By seamlessly integrating GPTBots’ AI-powered solution into the client’s existing Livechat system, the collaboration has significantly enhanced service efficiency, reduced workload, and improved player satisfaction.

Challenges of a Growing Global Business

Initially, the gaming company relied on Livechat as its primary tool for real-time customer support. This system enabled the support team to handle inquiries related to system updates, account issues, and game events, ensuring a direct and responsive communication channel with players.

However, as the company’s global business expanded and its player base grew, the limitations of solely using Livechat became increasingly evident. The client encountered several challenges:
- High Volumes of Repetitive Inquiries: Questions about system maintenance schedules, privacy compliance, and game events overwhelmed the support team, consuming valuable resources.
- Global Player Base Demands: The need for multi-language support and 24/7 availability to cater to players across different time zones placed immense pressure on the team.
- Efficiency Bottlenecks: Despite Livechat’s capabilities, the growing workload hindered the team’s ability to maintain response speed and quality.
GPTBots’ Tailored AI Solution

To address these challenges, GPTBots implemented a customized AI-powered solution designed to complement and enhance the client’s existing Livechat system. Key features included:
- Seamless Livechat Integration: AI agents managed the majority of repetitive inquiries, escalating unresolved or complex issues to human agents when necessary.
- Advanced Intent Recognition: The AI accurately identified user intents and routed queries to the appropriate knowledge base for swift resolution.
- Efficient Knowledge Base Retrieval: Leveraging scenario-specific knowledge bases, the AI provided quick, accurate, and multilingual responses, significantly reducing response times.
Tangible Results Delivered

The deployment of GPTBots’ AI solution delivered measurable and impactful results:
- 65% Reduction in Workload: The AI bot efficiently handled repetitive inquiries, allowing human agents to focus on more complex and high-value issues.
- Faster Response Times: Players received instant, accurate answers, resulting in a smoother and more satisfying experience.
- Enhanced Global Support: Multi-language capabilities and 24/7 availability ensured seamless support for a global player base, alleviating the strain on the support team.
- Increased Player Satisfaction: Consistent and reliable responses built trust and improved overall satisfaction levels.
“By integrating seamlessly with Livechat, GPTBots enables businesses to achieve a ‘hassle-free technology upgrade,’ eliminating the need for platform replacement while rapidly improving service efficiency,” said the support team lead. “This integration reduces costs and offers flexible scalability, empowering businesses to embrace intelligent customer service with ease.”

About GPTBots.ai

GPTBots.ai is an enterprise AI agent platform that empowers businesses to streamline operations, enhance customer experiences, and drive growth. Offering end-to-end AI solutions across customer service, knowledge search, data analysis, and lead generation, GPTBots enables enterprises to harness the full potential of AI with ease. With seamless integration into various systems, and support for scalable, secure deployments, GPTBots is dedicated to reducing costs, accelerating growth, and helping businesses thrive in the AI era.

For more information, visit www.gptbots.ai.

Media Contact:
Silvia
Senior Marketing Manager
marketing@gptbots.ai

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/96aeaa2d-26ce-416d-b91b-dc4ed40300ec

The MIL Network –
March 19, 2025

MIL-OSI: BlackRock® Canada Announces March Cash Distributions for the iShares® ETFs

Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

TORONTO, March 19, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — BlackRock Asset Management Canada Limited (“BlackRock Canada”), an indirect, wholly-owned subsidiary of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE: BLK), today announced the March 2025 cash distributions for the iShares ETFs listed on the TSX or Cboe Canada, which pay on a monthly or quarterly basis. Unitholders of record of the applicable iShares ETF on March 26, 2025, will receive cash distributions payable in respect of that iShares ETF on March 31, 2025.

Details regarding the “per unit” distribution amounts are as follows:

Fund Name	Fund Ticker	Cash Distribution Per Unit
iShares 1-10 Year Laddered Corporate Bond Index ETF	CBH	$0.049
iShares 1-5 Year Laddered Corporate Bond Index ETF	CBO	$0.051
iShares S&P/TSX Canadian Dividend Aristocrats Index ETF	CDZ	$0.112
iShares Equal Weight Banc & Lifeco ETF	CEW	$0.059
iShares Global Real Estate Index ETF	CGR	$0.158
iShares International Fundamental Index ETF	CIE	$0.077
iShares Global Infrastructure Index ETF	CIF	$0.238
iShares 1-5 Year Laddered Government Bond Index ETF	CLF	$0.032
iShares 1-10 Year Laddered Government Bond Index ETF	CLG	$0.037
iShares US Fundamental Index ETF	CLU	$0.173
iShares US Fundamental Index ETF	CLU.C	$0.222
iShares S&P/TSX Canadian Preferred Share Index ETF	CPD	$0.058
iShares Canadian Fundamental Index ETF	CRQ	$0.181
iShares US Dividend Growers Index ETF (CAD-Hedged)	CUD	$0.079
iShares Convertible Bond Index ETF	CVD	$0.071
iShares Global Water Index ETF	CWW	$0.069
iShares Global Monthly Dividend Index ETF (CAD-Hedged)	CYH	$0.080
iShares Canadian Financial Monthly Income ETF	FIE	$0.040
iShares ESG Balanced ETF Portfolio	GBAL	$0.219
iShares ESG Conservative Balanced ETF Portfolio	GCNS	$0.229
iShares ESG Equity ETF Portfolio	GEQT	$0.166
iShares ESG Growth ETF Portfolio	GGRO	$0.193
iShares U.S. Aggregate Bond Index ETF	XAGG	$0.105
iShares U.S. Aggregate Bond Index ETF⁽¹⁾	XAGG.U	$0.061
iShares U.S. Aggregate Bond Index ETF (CAD-Hedged)	XAGH	$0.091
iShares Core Balanced ETF Portfolio	XBAL	$0.153
iShares Core Canadian Universe Bond Index ETF	XBB	$0.079
iShares Core Canadian Corporate Bond Index ETF	XCB	$0.069
iShares ESG Advanced Canadian Corporate Bond Index ETF	XCBG	$0.119
iShares U.S. IG Corporate Bond Index ETF	XCBU	$0.121
iShares U.S. IG Corporate Bond Index ETF⁽¹⁾	XCBU.U	$0.076
iShares Canadian Growth Index ETF	XCG	$0.071
iShares Core Conservative Balanced ETF Portfolio	XCNS	$0.135
iShares S&P/TSX SmallCap Index ETF	XCS	$0.119
iShares ESG Advanced MSCI Canada Index ETF	XCSR	$0.442
iShares Canadian Value Index ETF	XCV	$0.373
iShares Core MSCI Global Quality Dividend Index ETF	XDG	$0.061
iShares Core MSCI Global Quality Dividend Index ETF⁽¹⁾	XDG.U	$0.042
iShares Core MSCI Global Quality Dividend Index ETF (CAD-Hedged)	XDGH	$0.060
iShares Core MSCI Canadian Quality Dividend Index ETF	XDIV	$0.115
iShares Core MSCI US Quality Dividend Index ETF	XDU	$0.064
iShares Core MSCI US Quality Dividend Index ETF⁽¹⁾	XDU.U	$0.044
iShares Core MSCI US Quality Dividend Index ETF (CAD-Hedged)	XDUH	$0.059
iShares Canadian Select Dividend Index ETF	XDV	$0.114
iShares J.P. Morgan USD Emerging Markets Bond Index ETF (CAD-Hedged)	XEB	$0.057
iShares S&P/TSX Capped Energy Index ETF	XEG	$0.133
iShares S&P/TSX Composite High Dividend Index ETF	XEI	$0.111
iShares Jantzi Social Index ETF	XEN	$0.219
iShares Core Equity ETF Portfolio	XEQT	$0.090
iShares ESG Aware MSCI Canada Index ETF	XESG	$0.189
iShares Core Canadian 15+ Year Federal Bond Index ETF	XFLB	$0.111
iShares Flexible Monthly Income ETF	XFLI	$0.194
iShares Flexible Monthly Income ETF⁽¹⁾	XFLI.U	$0.135
iShares Flexible Monthly Income ETF (CAD-Hedged)	XFLX	$0.180
iShares S&P/TSX Capped Financials Index ETF	XFN	$0.140
iShares Floating Rate Index ETF	XFR	$0.063
iShares Core Canadian Government Bond Index ETF	XGB	$0.049
iShares Global Government Bond Index ETF (CAD-Hedged)	XGGB	$0.040
iShares Core Growth ETF Portfolio	XGRO	$0.111
iShares Canadian HYBrid Corporate Bond Index ETF	XHB	$0.073
iShares U.S. High Dividend Equity Index ETF (CAD-Hedged)	XHD	$0.083
iShares U.S. High Dividend Equity Index ETF	XHU	$0.080
iShares U.S. High Yield Bond Index ETF (CAD-Hedged)	XHY	$0.084
iShares Core S&P/TSX Capped Composite Index ETF	XIC	$0.273
iShares U.S. IG Corporate Bond Index ETF (CAD-Hedged)	XIG	$0.070
iShares 1-5 Year U.S. IG Corporate Bond Index ETF (CAD-Hedged)	XIGS	$0.122
iShares Core Income Balanced ETF Portfolio	XINC	$0.133
iShares Core Canadian Long Term Bond Index ETF	XLB	$0.062
iShares S&P/TSX Capped Materials Index ETF	XMA	$0.043
iShares S&P/TSX Completion Index ETF	XMD	$0.169
iShares MSCI Min Vol USA Index ETF (CAD-Hedged)	XMS	$0.102
iShares MSCI USA Momentum Factor Index ETF	XMTM	$0.070
iShares MSCI Min Vol USA Index ETF	XMU	$0.242
iShares MSCI Min Vol USA Index ETF⁽¹⁾	XMU.U	$0.168
iShares MSCI Min Vol Canada Index ETF	XMV	$0.298
iShares S&P/TSX North American Preferred Stock Index ETF (CAD-Hedged)	XPF	$0.071
iShares High Quality Canadian Bond Index ETF	XQB	$0.053
iShares MSCI USA Quality Factor Index ETF	XQLT	$0.058
iShares S&P/TSX Capped REIT Index ETF	XRE	$0.065
iShares ESG Aware Canadian Aggregate Bond Index ETF	XSAB	$0.047
iShares Core Canadian Short Term Bond Index ETF	XSB	$0.071
iShares Conservative Short Term Strategic Fixed Income ETF	XSC	$0.057
iShares Conservative Strategic Fixed Income ETF	XSE	$0.052
iShares Core Canadian Short Term Corporate Bond Index ETF	XSH	$0.060
iShares ESG Advanced 1-5 Year Canadian Corporate Bond Index ETF	XSHG	$0.119
iShares 1-5 Year U.S. IG Corporate Bond Index ETF	XSHU	$0.127
iShares 1-5 Year U.S. IG Corporate Bond Index ETF⁽¹⁾	XSHU.U	$0.080
iShares Short Term Strategic Fixed Income ETF	XSI	$0.061
iShares S&P/TSX Capped Consumer Staples Index ETF	XST	$0.130
iShares ESG Aware Canadian Short Term Bond Index ETF	XSTB	$0.047
iShares 0-5 Year TIPS Bond Index ETF (CAD-Hedged)	XSTH	$0.037
iShares 0-5 Year TIPS Bond Index ETF	XSTP	$0.042
iShares 0-5 Year TIPS Bond Index ETF⁽¹⁾	XSTP.U	$0.029
iShares ESG Aware MSCI USA Index ETF	XSUS	$0.088
iShares 20+ Year U.S. Treasury Bond Index ETF (CAD-Hedged)	XTLH	$0.117
iShares 20+ Year U.S. Treasury Bond Index ETF	XTLT	$0.125
iShares 20+ Year U.S. Treasury Bond Index ETF⁽¹⁾	XTLT.U	$0.087
iShares Diversified Monthly Income ETF	XTR	$0.040
iShares Core S&P U.S. Total Market Index ETF (CAD-Hedged)	XUH	$0.108
iShares S&P U.S. Financials Index ETF	XUSF	$0.160
iShares ESG Advanced MSCI USA Index ETF	XUSR	$0.174
iShares S&P/TSX Capped Utilities Index ETF	XUT	$0.090
iShares Core S&P U.S. Total Market Index ETF	XUU	$0.142
iShares Core S&P U.S. Total Market Index ETF⁽¹⁾	XUU.U	$0.099
iShares MSCI USA Value Factor Index ETF	XVLU	$0.148

⁽¹⁾ Distribution per unit amounts are in U.S. dollars for XAGG.U, XCBU.U, XDG.U, XDU.U, XFLI.U, XMU.U, XSHU.U, XSTP.U, XTLT.U, XUU.U

Estimated March Cash Distributions for the iShares Premium Money Market ETF

The March cash distributions per unit for the iShares Premium Money Market ETF are estimated to be as follows:

Fund Name	Fund Ticker	Estimated Cash Distribution Per Unit
iShares Premium Money Market ETF	CMR	$0.121

BlackRock Canada expects to issue a press release on or about March 25, 2025, which will provide the final amounts for the iShares Premium Money Market ETF.

Further information on the iShares Funds can be found at http://www.blackrock.com/ca.

About BlackRock

BlackRock’s purpose is to help more and more people experience financial well-being. As a fiduciary to investors and a leading provider of financial technology, we help millions of people build savings that serve them throughout their lives by making investing easier and more affordable. For additional information on BlackRock, please visit www.blackrock.com/corporate | Twitter: @BlackRockCA

About iShares ETFs

iShares unlocks opportunity across markets to meet the evolving needs of investors. With more than twenty years of experience, a global line-up of 1500+ exchange traded funds (ETFs) and US$4.2 trillion in assets under management as of December 31, 2024, iShares continues to drive progress for the financial industry. iShares funds are powered by the expert portfolio and risk management of BlackRock.

iShares^® ETFs are managed by BlackRock Asset Management Canada Limited.

Commissions, trailing commissions, management fees and expenses all may be associated with investing in iShares ETFs. Please read the relevant prospectus before investing. The funds are not guaranteed, their values change frequently and past performance may not be repeated. Tax, investment and all other decisions should be made, as appropriate, only with guidance from a qualified professional.

Standard & Poor’s® and S&P® are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor’s Financial Services LLC (“S&P”). Dow Jones is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC (“Dow Jones”). TSX is a registered trademark of TSX Inc. (“TSX”). All of the foregoing trademarks have been licensed to S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and sublicensed for certain purposes to BlackRock Fund Advisors (“BFA”), which in turn has sub-licensed these marks to its affiliate, BlackRock Asset Management Canada Limited (“BlackRock Canada”), on behalf of the applicable fund(s). The index is a product of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC, and has been licensed for use by BFA and by extension, BlackRock Canada and the applicable fund(s). The funds are not sponsored, endorsed, sold or promoted by S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC, Dow Jones, S&P, any of their respective affiliates (collectively known as “S&P Dow Jones Indices”) or TSX, or any of their respective affiliates. Neither S&P Dow Jones Indices nor TSX make any representations regarding the advisability of investing in such funds.

MSCI is a trademark of MSCI, Inc. (“MSCI”). The ETF is permitted to use the MSCI mark pursuant to a license agreement between MSCI and BlackRock Institutional Trust Company, N.A., relating to, among other things, the license granted to BlackRock Institutional Trust Company, N.A. to use the Index. BlackRock Institutional Trust Company, N.A. has sublicensed the use of this trademark to BlackRock. The ETF is not sponsored, endorsed, sold or promoted by MSCI and MSCI makes no representation, condition or warranty regarding the advisability of investing in the ETF.

Contact for Media:
Sydney Punchard
Email: Sydney.Punchard@blackrock.com

The MIL Network –

March 19, 2025

MIL-OSI: Lantronix Expands Partnership With TD SYNNEX to Distribute Its Out-of-Band, Network Infrastructure and Industrial IoT Solutions Throughout Europe

Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

IRVINE, Calif., March 19, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Lantronix Inc. (NASDAQ: LTRX), a global leader of compute and connectivity for IoT solutions enabling AI Edge Intelligence, today announced it has expanded its partnership with TD SYNNEX (NYSE:SNX), a leading global distributor and solutions aggregator for the IT ecosystem. An established major distributor for Lantronix in North America, TD SYNNEX will now distribute Lantronix’s out-of-band, network infrastructure and Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) throughout Europe, bringing expanded support to Lantronix’s global customers and channel partners.

“Designed to increase Lantronix’s market presence in Europe, the expanded relationship with TD SYNNEX provides our mutual customers and channel partners with local-market access to Lantronix’s advanced out-of-band, network infrastructure and industrial IoT solutions,” said Kurt Hoff, VP of Global Sales & Marketing at Lantronix. “We are very excited about the anticipated market growth from this expanded partnership as our solutions are an excellent fit with TD SYNNEX’s specialized AI, IoT and Integration/Automation go-to-market.”

“We are delighted to expand our partnership with market leader Lantronix. Backed by the proven success of our long-term relationship in North America, this expanded relationship brings the benefits of Lantronix’s proven products to our European customers and channel partners with the added benefit of a single-source distributor for our mutual global customers,” said Craig Smith, VP of Data, AI and Business Applications at TD SYNNEX.

About TD SYNNEX

TD SYNNEX (NYSE: SNX) is a leading global distributor and solutions aggregator for the IT ecosystem. We’re an innovative partner helping more than 150,000 customers in 100+ countries to maximize the value of technology investments, demonstrate business outcomes and unlock growth opportunities. Headquartered in Clearwater, Florida, and Fremont, California, TD SYNNEX’s 23,000 co-workers are dedicated to uniting compelling IT products, services and solutions from 2,500+ best-in-class technology vendors. Our edge-to-cloud portfolio is anchored in some of the highest-growth technology segments including cloud, cybersecurity, big data/analytics, AI, IoT, mobility and everything as a service. TD SYNNEX is committed to serving customers and communities, and we believe we can have a positive impact on our people and our planet, intentionally acting as a respected corporate citizen. We aspire to be a diverse and inclusive employer of choice for talent across the IT ecosystem. For more information, visit www.tdsynnex.com.

About Lantronix

Lantronix Inc. is a global leader of compute and connectivity IoT solutions that target high-growth markets, including Smart Cities, Enterprise and Transportation. Lantronix’s products and services empower companies to succeed in the growing IoT markets by delivering customizable solutions that enable AI Edge Intelligence. Lantronix’s advanced solutions include Intelligent Substations infrastructure, Infotainment systems and Video Surveillance, supplemented with advanced Out-of-Band Management (OOB) for Cloud and Edge Computing.

For more information, visit the Lantronix website.

“Safe Harbor” Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: This news release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of federal securities laws, including, without limitation, statements related to Lantronix products or leadership team. These forward-looking statements are based on our current expectations and are subject to substantial risks and uncertainties that could cause our actual results, future business, financial condition, or performance to differ materially from our historical results or those expressed or implied in any forward-looking statement contained in this news release. The potential risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, such factors as the effects of negative or worsening regional and worldwide economic conditions or market instability on our business, including effects on purchasing decisions by our customers; our ability to mitigate any disruption in our and our suppliers’ and vendors’ supply chains due to the COVID-19 pandemic or other outbreaks, wars and recent tensions in Europe, Asia and the Middle East, or other factors; future responses to and effects of public health crises; cybersecurity risks; changes in applicable U.S. and foreign government laws, regulations, and tariffs; our ability to successfully implement our acquisitions strategy or integrate acquired companies; difficulties and costs of protecting patents and other proprietary rights; the level of our indebtedness, our ability to service our indebtedness and the restrictions in our debt agreements; and any additional factors included in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2024, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) on Sept. 9, 2024, including in the section entitled “Risk Factors” in Item 1A of Part I of that report, as well as in our other public filings with the SEC. Additional risk factors may be identified from time to time in our future filings. In addition, actual results may differ as a result of additional risks and uncertainties about which we are currently unaware or which we do not currently view as material to our business. For these reasons, investors are cautioned not to place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements we make speak only as of the date on which they are made. We expressly disclaim any intent or obligation to update any forward-looking statements after the date hereof to conform such statements to actual results or to changes in our opinions or expectations, except as required by applicable law or the rules of the Nasdaq Stock Market LLC. If we do update or correct any forward-looking statements, investors should not conclude that we will make additional updates or corrections.

©2025 Lantronix, Inc. All rights reserved. Lantronix is a registered trademark. Other trademarks and trade names are those of their respective owners.

Lantronix Media Contact:
Gail Kathryn Miller
Corporate Marketing &
Communications Manager
media@lantronix.com

Lantronix Analyst and Investor Contact:
investors@lantronix.com

The MIL Network –

March 19, 2025
MIL-OSI: Nykredit extends the offer period concerning the recommended, voluntary public tender offer for Spar Nord Bank A/S until 3 April 2025 – Nykredit Realkredit A/S
Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

THIS ANNOUNCEMENT IS PUBLISHED PURSUANT TO SECTIONS 9(3)-(5) AND SECTION 21(3) OF EXECUTIVE ORDER NO. 636 OF 15 MAY 2020

NOT FOR RELEASE, PUBLICATION OR DISTRIBUTION, DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY, IN OR TO ANY JURISDICTION WHERE DOING SO WOULD CONSTITUTE A VIOLATION OF THE RELEVANT LAWS OR REGULATIONS OF SUCH JURISDICTION

Publication of supplement concerning extension of offer period for Nykredit’s recommended, voluntary public tender offer for Spar Nord Bank A/S until 3 April 2025

19 March 2025

Nykredit extends the offer period concerning the recommended, voluntary public tender offer for Spar Nord Bank A/S until 3 April 2025

In accordance with section 4(1) of the Danish Takeover Order¹, Nykredit Realkredit A/S (“Nykredit”) announced on 10 December 2024 that Nykredit intended to submit a voluntary public tender offer (the “Offer”) to acquire all shares in Spar Nord Bank A/S (“Spar Nord Bank”), with the exception of Spar Nord Bank’s treasury shares, for a cash price of DKK 210 per share, valuing the aggregated issued share capital of Spar Nord Bank at DKK 24.7 billion.

On 8 January 2025, Nykredit published the offer document regarding the Offer (the “Offer Document”), as approved by the Danish FSA in accordance with section 11 of the Danish Takeover Order. In the Offer Document, the offer period was set to expire on 19 February 2025 at 23:59 (CET) (the “Initial Offer Period”). On 18 February 2025, Nykredit published a supplement to the Offer Document, which extended the offer period to 20 March 2025. The background for the extension was to provide Nykredit with more time to obtain the approval from the Danish Competition and Consumer Authority required to complete the Offer.

Today, Nykredit published a supplement (the “Supplement”) to the Offer Document, which further extends the offer period for the Offer. The Supplement has been approved by the Danish FSA on 19 March 2025 in accordance with section 9(3)-(5) of the Danish Takeover Order. The Supplement should be read in conjunction with the Offer Document and the previous supplement as published on 18 February 2025.

With this Supplement, Nykredit further extends the offer period, such that the Offer will expire on 3 April 2025 at 23:59 (CEST). Subsequently, any reference to the “Offer Period” in the Offer Document or other documents relating to the Offer will refer to the period commencing on the day of publication of the Offer Document on 8 January 2025 and ending on 3 April 2025 at 23:59 (CEST) (the “Extended Offer Period”).

The purpose of the extension is to provide Nykredit with time to obtain the approval from the Danish Competition and Consumer Authority required to complete the Offer.

If the approval from the Danish Competition and Consumer Authority has not been granted by the expiry of the Extended Offer Period, Nykredit expects to extend the offer period further.

The extension of the offer period entails that the expected completion of the Offer and settlement of the offer price to the Spar Nord Bank shareholders who have accepted the Offer will be extended correspondingly. Completion is subsequently expected to take place on 11 April 2025 (provided that the offer period is not extended further than to 3 April 2025 23:59 (CEST)).

At the time of this announcement, Nykredit holds 32.79 per cent of the shares in Spar Nord Bank. A preliminary compilation of the acceptances that Nykredit has information about shows that, including the irrevocable undertakings, acceptances corresponding to more than 46 per cent of the share capital of Spar Nord Bank has been submitted, and that Nykredit’s ownership interest in Spar Nord Bank, together with the irrevocable undertakings and the binding acceptances submitted that Nykredit has information about, totals more than 80 per cent of the total share capital (excluding treasury shares) of Spar Nord Bank, indicating that the 67 per cent acceptance limit stated in the Offer has been reached. The final result of the Offer will be determined on expiry of the offer period and published in accordance with section 21(3) of the Danish Takeover Order.

Nykredit intends to delist Spar Nord Bank from trading on Nasdaq Copenhagen and complete a compulsory acquisition of the remaining Spar Nord Bank shareholders, provided that Nykredit has obtained the necessary ownership interest, and the Offer has been completed. Spar Nord Bank shareholders who have opted not to accept the Offer, should expect that Nykredit, provided that the Offer is completed, will take steps to combine Nykredit Bank A/S and Spar Nord Bank, which will result in a further increase in Nykredit’s ownership interest in Spar Nord Bank. Not later than in continuation of the combination, Nykredit thus expects to hold a sufficient ownership interest to be able to delist Spar Nord Bank from trading on Nasdaq Copenhagen and complete a compulsory acquisition of the remaining Spar Nord Bank shareholders.

The full terms and conditions of the Offer are contained in the Offer Document as amended by the Supplement. The Offer Document and the Supplement are published in the Danish FSA’s OAM database: https://oam.finanstilsynet.dk/ and can also, with certain restrictions, be accessed at https://www.nykredit.com/kobstilbud-spar-nord/ and https://www.sparnord.dk/investor-relations/overtagelsestilbud.

About Spar Nord Bank

Spar Nord Bank was founded in 1824 and is now a nationwide bank with 58 branches. Spar Nord Bank offers all types of financial services, consultancy and products, focusing its business on retail customers and primarily small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the local areas in which the bank is represented. The bank is also focused on leasing operations and large corporate customers, which are both business areas handled by the head offices.

Spar Nord Bank has historically been rooted in northern Jutland and continues to be a market leader in this region. However, in the period from 2002 to 2024, Spar Nord Bank has established and acquired branches outside northern Jutland. Over the course of the years, the bank has adjusted its branch network in an ongoing process and now has a nationwide distribution network comprising 58 branches. These 58 branches are distributed on 32 banking areas, each of which is headed by a manager reporting directly to the bank’s executive board.

The Spar Nord Bank Group consists of two earnings entities: Spar Nord Bank’s branches and the Trading Division. As an entity, the Trading Division serves customers from Spar Nord Bank’s branches as well as large retail customers and institutional clients in the field of equities, bonds, fixed income and forex products, asset management and international transactions. Finally, under the concept Sparxpres, the bank offers consumer loans to personal customers through Sparxpres’ platform as well as debt consolidation loans and consumer financing via retail stores and gift voucher solutions via shopping centres and city associations.

About Nykredit

Nykredit Realkredit A/S (“Nykredit”) is a public limited company incorporated under the laws of Denmark, company reg. (CVR) no. 12 71 92 80, having its registered office at Sundkrogsgade 25, 2150 Nordhavn, Denmark. Nykredit is a mortgage credit institution and, together with its wholly-owned subsidiary Totalkredit A/S, is a market leader of the Danish mortgage credit market with a market share of some 45.2 per cent. Nykredit offers mortgage financing for private individuals and businesses.

Nykredit is part of the Nykredit Group, which historically dates back to 1851. In addition to carrying on mortgage credit business, the Group carries on banking business through Nykredit Bank – including banking and wealth management operations – and has a total of around 4,000 employees in Denmark.

Nykredit is owned by an association of the Nykredit Group’s customers, Forenet Kredit. Forenet Kredit owns close to 80 per cent of Nykredit’s shares. Other major shareholders are five Danish pension funds: Akademikernes Pension AP Pension, PensionDanmark, PFA and PKA.

Nykredit is known for the advantages offered through the association. Forenet Kredit makes capital contributions to the Nykredit Group when times are good, and Nykredit has decided to pass these on to its customers.

Since, 2017, Forenet Kredit has paid over DKK 8 billion in capital contributions to the Nykredit Group, and in the period to 2027, Forenet Kredit has provided a further DKK 7 billion.

Questions and further information

Any questions concerning the Offer may be directed to:

Nykredit Bank A/S

Company reg. (CVR) no.: 10 51 96 08

Sundkrogsgade 25

2150 Nordhavn
Denmark

Telephone: +45 7010 9000

and

Carnegie Investment Bank

Filial af Carnegie Investment Bank AB (publ), Sverige

Company reg. (CVR) no. 35 52 12 67

Overgaden Neden Vandet 9B

1414 Copenhagen K
Denmark

E-mail: annette.hansen@carnegie.dk

For further information about the Offer, please see: https://www.nykredit.com/kobstilbud-spar-nord/.

This announcement and the Offer Document (with supplements) are not directed at shareholders of Spar Nord Bank A/S whose participation in the Offer would require the issuance of an offer document, registration or activities other than what is required under Danish law (and, in the case of shareholders in the United States of America, Section 14(e) of, and applicable provisions of Regulation 14E promulgated under, the US Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended). The Offer is not made and will not be made, directly or indirectly, to shareholders resident in any jurisdiction in which the submission of the Offer or acceptance thereof would be in contravention of the laws of such jurisdiction. Any person coming into possession of this announcement, the Offer Document or any other document containing a reference to the Offer is expected and assumed to independently obtain all necessary information about any applicable restrictions and to observe these.

This announcement does not constitute an offer or an invitation to purchase securities or a solicitation of an offer to purchase securities in accordance with the Offer or otherwise. The Offer will be submitted only in the form of the Offer Document (with supplements) approved by the FSA, which sets out the full terms and conditions of the Offer, including information on how to accept the Offer. The shareholders of Spar Nord Bank are advised to read the Offer Document and any related documents as they contain important information.

Restricted jurisdictions

The Offer is not made, and acceptance of the Offer to tender Spar Nord Bank shares is not accepted, neither directly nor indirectly, in or from any jurisdiction in which the making or acceptance of the Offer would not be in compliance with the laws of such jurisdiction or would require any registration, approval or any other measures with any regulatory authority not expressly contemplated by the Offer Document (the “Restricted Jurisdictions”). Neither the United States nor the United Kingdom is a Restricted Jurisdiction.

Restricted Jurisdictions include, but are not limited to: Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, Japan, New Zealand and South Africa.

Persons obtaining documents or information relating to the Offer (including custodians, account holding institutions, nominees, trustees, representatives, fiduciaries or other intermediaries) should not distribute, communicate, transfer or send these in or into a Restricted Jurisdiction or use mail or any other means of communication in or into a Restricted Jurisdiction in connection with the Offer. Persons (including, but not limited to, custodians, custodian banks, nominees, trustees, representatives, fiduciaries or other intermediaries) intending to communicate this announcement, the Supplement, the Offer Document or any related document to any jurisdiction outside Denmark or the United States should inform themselves about these restrictions before taking any action. Any failure to comply with these restrictions may constitute a violation of the laws of such jurisdiction, including securities laws. It is the responsibility of all Persons obtaining this announcement, the Supplement, the Offer Document, earlier supplements, an acceptance form and/or other documents relating to the Offer, or into whose possession such documents otherwise come, to inform themselves about and observe all such restrictions.

Nykredit is not responsible for ensuring that the distribution, dissemination or communication of this announcement, the Supplement or the Offer Document to shareholders outside Denmark, the United States and the United Kingdom is consistent with applicable law in any jurisdiction other than Denmark, the United States and the United Kingdom.

Important Information for Shareholders in the United States

The Offer concerns the shares in Spar Nord Bank, a public limited liability company incorporated and admitted to trading on a regulated market in Denmark, and is subject to the disclosure and procedural requirements of Danish law, including the Danish capital markets act and the Danish takeover order.

The Offer is being made to shareholders in Spar Nord Bank in the United States in compliance with the applicable US tender offer rules under the U.S. Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, (the “U.S. Exchange Act”), including Regulation 14E promulgated thereunder, subject to the relief available for a “Tier II” tender offer, and otherwise in accordance with the requirements of Danish law and practice

Accordingly, US Spar Nord Bank shareholders should be aware that this announcement and any other documents regarding the Offer have been prepared in accordance with, and will be subject to, the disclosure and other procedural requirements, including with respect to withdrawal rights, the Offer timetable, settlement procedures and timing of payments of Danish law and practice, which may differ materially from those applicable under US domestic tender offer law and practice. In addition, the financial information contained in this announcement or the Offer Document has not been prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles in the United States, or derived therefrom, and may therefore differ from, or not be comparable with, financial information of US companies.

In accordance with the laws of, and practice in, Denmark and to the extent permitted by applicable law, including Rule 14e-5 under the U.S. Exchange Act, Nykredit, Nykredit’s affiliates or any nominees or brokers of the foregoing (acting as agents, or in a similar capacity, for Nykredit or any of its affiliates, as applicable) may from time to time, and other than pursuant to the Offer, directly or indirectly, purchase, or arrange to purchase, outside of the United States, shares in Spar Nord Bank or any securities that are convertible into, exchangeable for or exercisable for such shares in Spar Nord Bank before or during the period in which the Offer remains open for acceptance. These purchases may occur either in the open market at prevailing prices or in private transactions at negotiated prices. Any information about such purchases will be announced via Nasdaq Copenhagen and relevant electronic media if, and to the extent, such announcement is required under applicable law. To the extent information about such purchases or arrangements to purchase is made public in Denmark, such information will be disclosed by means of a press release or other means reasonably calculated to inform US shareholders of Spar Nord Bank of such information.

In addition, subject to the applicable laws of Denmark and US securities laws, including Rule 14e-5 under the U.S. Exchange Act, the financial advisers to Nykredit or their respective affiliates may also engage in ordinary course trading activities in securities of Spar Nord Bank, which may include purchases or arrangements to purchase such securities.

It may not be possible for US shareholders to effect service of process within the United States upon Spar Nord Bank, Nykredit or any of their respective affiliates, or their respective officers or directors, some or all of which may reside outside the United States, or to enforce against any of them judgments of the United States courts predicated upon the civil liability provisions of the federal securities laws of the United States or other US law. It may not be possible to bring an action against Nykredit, Spar Nord Bank and/or their respective officers or directors (as applicable) in a non-US court for violations of US laws. Further, it may not be possible to compel Nykredit and Spar Nord Bank or their respective affiliates, as applicable, to subject themselves to the judgment of a US court. In addition, it may be difficult to enforce in Denmark original actions, or actions for the enforcement of judgments of US courts, based on the civil liability provisions of the US federal securities laws.

The Offer, if completed, may have consequences under US federal income tax and under applicable US state and local, as well as non-US, tax laws. Each shareholder of Spar Nord Bank is urged to consult its independent professional adviser immediately regarding the tax consequences of the Offer.

NEITHER THE U.S. SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION NOR ANY SECURITIES COMMISSION OR OTHER REGULATORY AUTHORITY IN ANY STATE OF THE U.S. HAS APPROVED OR DECLINED TO APPROVE THE OFFER OR THIS ANNOUNCEMENT, PASSED UPON THE FAIRNESS OR MERITS OF THE OFFER OR PROVIDED AN OPINION AS TO THE ACCURACY OR COMPLETENESS OF THIS ANNOUNCEMENT OR ANY OFFER DOCUMENT. ANY REPRESENTATION TO THE CONTRARY IS A CRIMINAL OFFENCE IN THE UNITED STATES.

1 Executive Order no. 636 of 15 May 2020

Attachments
- Announcement of extension of the offer period 19.03.2025
- Supplement to the offer document 19.03.2025
The MIL Network –
March 19, 2025
MIL-OSI: Capgemini accelerates enterprise adoption of agentic AI for industries with NVIDIA
Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

Press contact:
Mollie Mellows
Tel.: + 44 (0) 7342 709384
E-mail: mollie.mellows@capgemini.com

Capgemini accelerates enterprise adoption of agentic AI for industries with NVIDIA

Paris, March 19, 2025 – Capgemini today announced the introduction of customized agentic solutions designed in collaboration with NVIDIA to accelerate enterprise AI adoption. Capgemini will deliver end-to-end AI services tailored to meet the diverse needs of specific industries when implementing AI agents, from healthcare and financial services to manufacturing and telco. By leveraging the power of NVIDIA NIM and a dedicated agentic gallery, Capgemini will be able to streamline deployment and reduce complexity for enterprise clients looking to derive actionable insights to achieve agentic-driven business transformation.

With the combination of Capgemini’s deep industry expertise and NVIDIA’s state-of-the-art technology, enterprises will benefit from faster time-to-value and agile implementation of AI agents. Built on NVIDIA AI Enterprise with NVIDIA NIM™, Capgemini offers a simplified, high-performance deployment process, enabling clients to seamlessly and securely integrate agentic capabilities into their existing technology infrastructure.

Enterprises will gain access to a dedicated agentic gallery, eliminating the complexities of developing AI agents from the ground up for each business process, resulting in significant time savings and cost reductions. In addition, Capgemini brings robust governance frameworks on top of NVIDIA AI stack, allowing compliance, scalability, and consistent performance. With a focus on scalability and governance, clients will benefit from AI agents that are designed to meet industry standards and regulatory requirements, providing long-term sustainability.

Through this collaboration, Capgemini will help organizations navigate the complexities of implementing agentic AI solutions on the NVIDIA AI stack while addressing strategic objectives such as:
- Rapid prototyping and deployment: Accelerating AI agent rollouts with pre-configured workflows and optimized infrastructure, reducing time-to-market.
- Seamless integration: Combining AI agent capabilities with existing business applications to unlock new levels of process automation, efficiency and data-driven decision-making.
- Scalability and governance: Implementing AI agents with robust governance frameworks, ensuring compliance, scalability, and consistent performance. The dedicated agentic capabilities of Capgemini RAISE, including governance, real-time monitoring and orchestration, enables unified control of agentic solutions with tangible results.
“Agentic AI is changing the way we live and work. There is vast potential for AI agents to drive innovation,” said Chris Penrose, Global Head of Business Development for Telco, NVIDIA. “Capgemini has a deep understanding of the complex challenges facing enterprises and the industry-specific agentic AI use cases that can unlock significant business value. By leveraging NVIDIA NIM, together we can accelerate deployment of AI agents that enhance productivity and revolutionize the way they operate, whilst addressing critical concerns like trust, safety, security and compliance.”

Together with NVIDIA, Capgemini is building over 100 bespoke AI agent-driven solutions tailored to various industry use cases, including:
- Automotive: Smart agents to monitor and improve autonomous and human driving performance; vehicle performance in varying urban, weather, and traffic conditions; digital twin test vehicles in omniverse settings.
- Consumer: Central and interactive Edge AI access point in the home that can be used to oversee the elderly and infirm, locate mislaid items, and monitor home security.
- Financial Services: Fraud alert agents to validate fraud activity and manage response; financial planning and investment management services to dynamically monitor client portfolios in real-time and provide personalized investment strategies.
- Life Sciences: Drug discovery support to extract actionable insights from drug mechanisms, disease progression and clinical outcomes; clinical trial refinement to improve design and monitor real-time data for mid-trial adjustments.
- Manufacturing: Smart camera-based process monitoring for improved shopfloor performance and safety compliance.
- Public Sector: AI-driven assistants capable of executing various administrative and civic tasks; fraud detection and prevention agents that provide comprehensive insights and detect patterns and anomalies that may indicate fraudulent activities.
- Retail and Supply Chain: AI-driven agents that monitor shelves in-store and in warehouses, and automatically trigger SKU replenishment.
- Telco: Network automation, including AI-RAN, and contact center translation services.
Capgemini has been working with Telenor to build Norway’s first sovereign and secure AI Cloud Service in collaboration with NVIDIA. Launched in November 2024, the Telenor AI Factory is designed to accelerate AI adoption across industries while ensuring security, sustainability, and full data sovereignty within Norwegian borders. The AI Factory provides businesses with the infrastructure to develop, scale, and integrate AI into their operations — whether for internal workflows, customer-facing applications, or advanced AI-driven solutions. The service runs on 100% renewable energy, supporting responsible innovation while minimizing environmental impact.

“With the AI Factory, we are creating a secure and sustainable foundation for AI innovation in Norway,” said Jannicke Hilland, EVP and Head of Telenor Infrastructure. “Capgemini has played a crucial role in developing this service, working closely with us to build a platform that allows businesses to harness AI while maintaining full control over their data. Together, we are ensuring that organizations have access to cutting-edge AI solutions without compromising security or sustainability.”

“This new collaboration with NVIDIA marks a pivotal step forward in our commitment to bringing cutting-edge AI-powered technology solutions to our clients for accelerated value creation,” said Roshan Gya, Capgemini Invent CEO and Group Executive Board member at Capgemini. “By leveraging the power of the NVIDIA AI Stack, Capgemini will help clients expedite their agentic AI journey from strategy to full deployment, enabling them to solve complex business challenges and innovate at scale. NVIDIA’s robust platform provides the necessary infrastructure and tools to make this acceleration possible. Our work with Telenor on its AI Factory showcases how we can help an enterprise to scale generative and agentic AI to gain competitive advantage and realize business value.”

About Capgemini
Capgemini is a global business and technology transformation partner, helping organizations to accelerate their dual transition to a digital and sustainable world, while creating tangible impact for enterprises and society. It is a responsible and diverse group of 340,000 team members in more than 50 countries. With its strong over 55-year heritage, Capgemini is trusted by its clients to unlock the value of technology to address the entire breadth of their business needs. It delivers end-to-end services and solutions leveraging strengths from strategy and design to engineering, all fueled by its market leading capabilities in AI, generative AI, cloud and data, combined with its deep industry expertise and partner ecosystem. The Group reported 2024 global revenues of €22.1 billion.
Get The Future You Want | www.capgemini.com

Attachment
- 19_03_Capgemini NVIDIA Agentic AI news alert
The MIL Network –
March 19, 2025
MIL-OSI: Knocknoc Raises Seed Funding to Scale Its Just-In-Time Network Access Control Technology

Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

SYDNEY, Australia, March 19, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Sydney-based cybersecurity software company Knocknoc has raised a seed round from US-based venture capital firm Decibel Partners with support from CoAct and SomethingReal.

The funding will support go-to-market, new staff, customer onboarding and product development. The company has appointed Adam Pointon as Chief Executive Officer.

“The opportunity here is limitless,” Pointon said. “You’d be hard pressed to find an organisation that couldn’t benefit in some way from using Knocknoc.”

Knocknoc orchestrates network infrastructure to remove risk exposure by tying users’ network access to their SSO authentication status.

By selectively opening network connections to users on a just-in-time basis, Knocknoc eliminates attack surface and solves compliance challenges. Knocknoc prevents would-be attackers from being able to connect to the types of network devices and applications that are prone to falling victim to zero-day attacks.

Customers use Knocknoc to protect VPNs and firewalls, IP cameras, payroll systems, file transfer appliances, bastion hosts and other applications and network services. Knocknoc is also easy to use with cloud-based infrastructure.

It can also be used on internal networks to add multifactor authentication to legacy systems to satisfy compliance requirements.

Knocknoc has also appointed Decibel Partners Founder Advisor and Risky Business Media CEO Patrick Gray to its board of directors.

“Knocknoc is a terrific way for organisations to quickly and easily reduce their exposure to the types of attacks that are plaguing enterprises right now,” said Gray. “It’s simple, quick to implement and delivers an immediate benefit.”

Knocknoc is already in use in Australian and US critical infrastructure, large telecommunications networks and media companies.

The Knocknoc founders are Andrew Foster, David Kempe and Adam Pointon.

More information at https://knocknoc.io

Contact

Cofounder & CEO
Adam pointon
Knocknoc.io
hello@knocknoc.io

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/e67ebd9b-2f89-40e0-b0eb-df616cf39693

The MIL Network –

March 19, 2025
MIL-OSI USA: Reed Blasts Trump’s Illegal Firing of FTC Commissioners As “Abuse of Power”

US Senate News:

Source: United States Senator for Rhode Island Jack Reed

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, President Donald Trump fired the two Democratic commissioners on the five-member U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC), an independent agency charged with enforcing consumer protection and antitrust laws. The unlawful move directly contradicts nearly a century of case law that has allowed the FTC to act solely in the public interest and free from short-term political considerations.

After the firings were reported, U.S. Senator Jack Reed (D-RI), the Ranking Member of the Senate Appropriations Financial Services and General Government (FSGG) Subcommittee, which oversees funding for the FTC, issued the following statement:

“This is an abuse of power and a blatant attempt to undermine the law and public good in order for Donald Trump to consolidate power for himself and his favored cronies. It would completely undercut the independence that Congress lawfully bestowed upon the FTC and subject Americans to higher prices, more frequent scams, and will breed unchecked anticompetitive consolidation. President Trump is flouting the rule of law in favor of the wealthiest Americans, causing economic instability, and putting the welfare of Americans at risk. If President Trump gets away with this move, there is nothing to stop him from paralyzing the FTC or weaponizing it, depending on who’s in power or what company is at issue. Removal of these FTC commissioners—solely because they are Democrats and not because they have done anything wrong—follows a pattern of this White House brazenly grabbing political power for itself. President Trump has also removed Democratic members of other multi-member boards and commissions dedicated to protecting labor rights, enforcing government ethics rules, and preventing violations of civil liberties. President Trump is trying to drag the country down a dead end that endangers citizens and consumers, prevents accountability, emboldens corruption and autocracy, and could bleed taxpayers dry. He is betting on a complaisant Supreme Court to validate this blatant executive overreach. I hope the Court has some backbone, asserts itself as a co-equal branch of government, and affirms the 90 years of established legal precedent prohibiting Trump’s actions today.”

The FTC is an independent agency created by Congress and led by a bipartisan panel of five commissioners – three selected from the president’s party and two from the minority party, and staffed nearly exclusively by nonpartisan experts, lawyers, and non-partisan civil servants who help safeguard the public interest. FTC employees do the highly complex and technical work that lawmakers do not have the expertise to perform themselves like devising rules, investigating complaints, and penalizing lawbreakers.

To insulate FTC commissioners from day-to-day political influence, by law they can be removed only for good cause like neglecting their official duties. But Trump hasn’t provided any reason or cause whatsoever for removing these commissioners.

FTC commissioners are unlike appointees who run executive departments directly under the president’s control, such as the U.S. Department of the Treasury, which has a single presidential cabinet official leading the department who is confirmed by the Senate and has wide latitude to work directly with the president to determine the direction of the agency. Notably, FTC commissioners are appointed by the president and confirmed by Congress for lengthy terms at staggered intervals in order to serve across multiple administrations. That continuity of service provides stability that benefits taxpayers and industry alike.

The Center for American Progress notes: “Independent agencies exist today, in large part, thanks to the Supreme Court’s foundational opinion in Humphrey’s Executor v. United States in 1935. In that case, President Franklin Roosevelt tried to fire FTC Commissioner William Humphrey because Roosevelt worried that Humphrey would block his policies. The FTC Act, however, only allowed commissioners to be fired for inefficiency, neglect of duty, or wrongdoing while in office (i.e., “for cause”). Congress felt that FTC commissioners needed to be insulated from politics in order to serve the American people. If commissioners were replaced after every presidential election, that would lead to a constant policy back and forth that would ultimately harm American consumers and undermine the agency’s mission.

“The Supreme Court unanimously ruled that the president does not have unlimited power to fire independent agency heads. According to the court, Congress’ power to insulate independent agency heads from removal “cannot be doubted.” When agency heads perform “quasi-legislative” or “quasi-judicial” functions (i.e., policymaking or adjudicating), they are not exercising pure executive power, and thus the president does not have or need the ability to remove them at will. This case solidified independent agencies’ ability to serve the American people without fear of political reprisal.

“In 1958, the Supreme Court reinforced Humphrey’s Executor in Wiener v. United States. In another unanimous opinion, the court held that the president does not have unlimited removal powers: “no such power is given the President directly by the Constitution, and none is impliedly conferred upon him by statute.” The court again evaluated removal protections in Morrison v. Olson in 1988. In Morrison, the court approved the extension of removal protections from independent agency heads to lower executive branch officers without policymaking abilities. In a 7-1 opinion, the court held that the for-cause restriction did not violate the separation of powers because it did not “unduly trammel on executive authority.”

“Then, in 2020, the conservative-dominated Supreme Court indicated that there may be a small exception to Humphrey’s Executor. In Seila Law v. CFPB, the court narrowed Humphrey’s Executor by finding unconstitutional the for-cause removal protections for the Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, who manages the agency alone without fellow commissioners. In a 5-4 decision, the court held that removal protections for agency heads can only apply in two situations: 1) agencies with multimember commissioners and 2) agencies that do not wield substantial executive power. Seila Law adopted a more expansive vision of presidential power than Humphrey’s Executor and marked a troubling shift in the law for the millions of Americans who rely on independent agencies.”

Senator Reed noted Trump’s partisan dismissals of FTC commissioner are the latest instance of Trump wrongfully terminating critical federal employees without cause and trying to consolidate power for himself by turning independent federal watchdogs into lapdogs. The terminated commissioners indicate they plan to sue to reverse the firings. Senator Reed urged the federal courts and U.S. Supreme Court to expedite review of multiple cases moving through the system and to uphold the law.

MIL OSI USA News –

March 19, 2025
MIL-OSI Australia: Address to the Corones’ Law Competition Reform event, Sydney
Source: Australian Treasurer

I acknowledge the Gadigal of the Eora Nation. I pay my respects to Elders past and present and extend that respect to First Nations people taking part in today’s event.

Fresh out of law school, I had the privilege of working as one of Justice Michael Kirby’s High Court associates. I answered the phone, put thousands of letters in envelopes, made hundreds of cups of Ceylon Orange Pekoe tea and occasionally had the chance to do some legal research (Leigh 2016).

One of the things I learned was that lawyers would be lost without resources like Corones’ Competition Law (Svetiev 2023). Pages dog‑eared and tabbed to death, Corones is a trusted source of how the courts have ruled and how arguments have been won and lost.

Corones texts also stand as a record of reform. Over many editions, it has captured everything from judgments on the original 1974 legislation, to reforms allowing third parties to access infrastructure in the 1990s, to the introduction of criminal cartel sanctions in the 2000s.

And today, a new round of competition reforms takes shape. This includes the new merger regime – the largest shakeup of Australia’s merger settings in half a century. And it includes a revitalised National Competition Policy agenda. These are the 2 areas I want to cover today, with a focus on the microdata underpinning these macro reforms.

Building an innovative economy

Ultimately, competition reform is about improving the long‑term prosperity of the Australian people. This means getting the policy settings right if we want to build a stronger, more resilient and dynamic economy.

Think of the end‑game as more like Lego than Monopoly. In Monopoly, one person gets everything while everyone else watches in frustration. In Lego, all the players get to build something – though in both cases, stepping on a piece can be painful.

As US congressman Jake Auchincloss put it, ‘Everybody, when they think about playing with Legos, has this sense of creativity and empowerment.’ (Klein 2025)

Competitive markets help ensure Australians pay fair prices for goods and services (Leigh 2024a). Without competition, businesses can charge whatever they like – kind of like airport food courts, where a ham and cheese sandwich requires a mortgage.

Competition also promotes choice and freedom.

The challenge is Australia’s competitiveness has been declining since the 2000s, while market concentration has nearly doubled since 2010 (Chalmers and Leigh 2024).

Using microdata to get a better picture

The Australian Government’s establishment of a Competition Taskforce within the Treasury in 2023 reflects the importance we place on competition reform and finding solutions.

In just over a year, the Competition Taskforce has made significant contributions.

This includes using microdata to identify competition issues and develop tailored policy and regulatory responses (Leigh 2024b).

For example, the Competition Taskforce has relied on data to:
- develop a robust evidence base on the prevalence and use of non‑compete clauses in Australian labour contracts to inform policy (Andrews and Jarvis 2023, ABS 2024)
- provide new and powerful insights into how competition can reduce airfares (Majeed, Breunig and Domazet 2024)
- explain patterns and trends in mergers and show how competition has declined in Australia (Competition Taskforce 2024).
Understanding competition

Unit‑level records that track businesses and households over time allow granular analysis of the way policies are influencing the economy.

Using bigger datasets, more refined econometric techniques and most up to date theories, economists have provided new insights on trends in market concentration and the relationship between competition and productivity.

For example, researchers found an increase in market power partly explained Australia’s productivity growth slowdown. Industries with the greatest increase in concentration also had the greatest increases in markups (Hambur 2021).

In this context, high‑growth firms act like Lego builders in the economy – constantly assembling, adapting, and expanding their creations. Rather than dominating like a monopoly, these firms thrive by snapping together innovative ideas, new markets, and fresh talent, driving the majority of turnover and employment growth.

Typically small and young, they grow by more than 20 per cent over a three‑year period, often reshaping the landscape and challenging the older, more rigid structures of established incumbents. Think of them as the startups disrupting the economy – just as streaming services disrupted DVDs, Uber disrupted taxis, and toddlers disrupt your ability to get a full night’s sleep. As vital builders of sales and employment, a decline in high growth firms can lead to a less dynamic, less flexible economy (Majeed et al., 2021).

Concentration hot spots

The Competition Taskforce is working with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission to develop a microdata screening tool to identify concentration hot spots. This innovative tool leverages the increasingly detailed geospatial data that the Australian Bureau of Statistics has added to its microdata assets.

The resulting tool will identify regions or segments of the economy that are already very concentrated, where further market consolidation through mergers and acquisitions poses the greatest risk to competition. Concentration hotspots are like a heat map of where Monopoly is being played a little too well, allowing policymakers to find solutions before someone tries to build hotels on every property.

The Taskforce’s use of administrative data to systematically understand economic activity at the local level will be a novel approach to competition policy both in Australia and among our peers. It will complement the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s thorough knowledge of markets developed through its many inquiries and day‑to‑day experience administering the competition laws.

This hot‑spot tool should help the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission administer the new merger system and inform decisions about the sectors requiring mandatory notification. After all, if a Monopoly player already owns Park Place (or Park Lane), it’s best for the other players that they don’t own all the other dark blue properties. When monopolists dominate the board, it can be expensive for everyone else in the economy to move forward.

These examples showcase how increased availability of microdata has transformed the way we can use empirical evidence in the policy decision making process: to better identify issues, understand the problems, and develop effective and targeted solutions.

Microdata gives us the tools and understanding to target policies.

National Competition Policy

Building a more productive, dynamic and resilient economy and giving Australian consumers access to a wider range of higher quality products and services at lower prices from across the country and overseas requires collaboration and trust.

That is why Australian, state and territory governments have been working together to coordinate competition reform efforts under a revitalised National Competition Policy agenda.

Almost 30 years ago, states, territories and the Commonwealth agreed to put competition policy front and centre by agreeing to the National Competition Policy following the Hilmer Report. This was the era of economic reform, as well as grunge music, dial‑up internet, Blockbuster video rentals, Tamagotchis, and arguing over whether Ross and Rachel were really on a break.

The original Hilmer reforms outlined a set of competition principles that transformed our economy in ways we largely take for granted today. These included structural reform of public monopolies, introducing competitive neutrality so that government businesses do not enjoy unfair advantages over their private peers, arrangements for third‑party access to nationally significant infrastructure, and an obligation on all governments to review and reform laws that restrict competition.

These reforms, which focused on removing regulatory barriers in the non‑traded sector, were credited with boosting Australia’s GDP by 2.5 per cent – equivalent to around $5,000 per household per year today. That’s basically the economic equivalent of finding an extra $50 in your jeans – twice a week, every week.

Commonwealth, state and territory treasurers agreed in November to revitalise National Competition Policy to drive growth, improve choice and put downward pressure on prices (Chalmers 2024). Renewing the government’s commitment to put competition policy front and centre once again but tailored for the new challenges and opportunities of the modern economy – we’re now a digital economy, we’re looking for ways to make the transition to net zero at least cost, and we have a growing care and support economy.

We have also updated the original National Competition Principles to drive better outcomes for the community, requiring governments to consider the competition impacts of government decisions and establish protections against poorly managed privatisations, empower consumers and address remaining barriers to the movement of goods, services and workers across the country.

Competition reform isn’t straightforward. If it was easy, past governments would have done it already. Competition reform can be like assembling flat‑pack furniture – you know it’ll be worth it in the end, but along the way, there’s a lot of frustration and some pieces don’t seem to fit where they should.

Trajectory of the government’s competition reforms

This recommits governments to a new wave of pro‑competitive reforms over the next decade. Work is already underway on a first tranche of 5 priority reforms to ease the cost‑of‑living pressure and reduce regulatory complexity. The 5 pillars are:
- Streamlining commercial planning and zoning systems to improve competition by encouraging firm entry and expansion and reducing business and regulatory costs.
- Lowering barriers to the adoption of international and overseas standards in regulation. As a first step, we are fast‑tracking the recognition of equivalent or superior overseas product safety standards, rather than relying only on domestic standards, to deliver safer and cheaper products. Following this, we will be working collaboratively to identify the priority sectors for the next phase of this reform.
- Supporting modern methods of construction such as prefab and modular by levelling the regulatory playing field with traditional methods of construction, unlocking time and cost savings, overcoming labour shortages and boosting lagging construction productivity.
- A nationally consistent worker screening check to boost labour mobility for care workers.
- Developing broader rights to repair, including for agricultural products, which could reduce repair costs and waste by providing consumers and businesses more choice for repair services.
State and territory reforms are backed by the government’s $900 million National Productivity Fund. This allows for the fiscal benefits of these reforms – which mostly flow to the Commonwealth – to be shared with those states and territories that choose to implement them. The idea is to encourage states and territories to undertake meaningful reforms for the benefit of the Australian people and the economy.

And this is just the start. The government will continue to work closely with industry and state and territories to build a more productive economy through national pro‑competitive reform options.

Further reform rounds will be informed by community consultation and the Productivity Commission’s 5 new inquiries.

They include inquiries into:
- creating a more dynamic and resilient economy
- building a skilled and adaptable workforce
- harnessing data and digital technology
- delivering quality care more efficiently, and
- investing in cheaper, cleaner energy and the net zero transformation.
Significant benefits flow from National Competition Policy

Significant benefits will flow from a revitalised National Competition Policy.

To help us understand the magnitude of the benefits, the Productivity Commission modelled the impact of 19 potential competition reforms (Productivity Commission 2024).

The Productivity Commission estimated that a revitalised National Competition Policy could result in an ongoing boost to GDP of up to $45 billion, an increase of up to $5,000 for every Australian household per year as well as lower prices by an estimated 0.7 to 1.5 per cent in the long run. This is significant. It is an enduring benefit for consumers, businesses and the economy. On‑par with the highly successful reform efforts of the 1990s and 2000s.

And the benefits of the reforms extend beyond their economic effect. For example, reforms in the care and support economy would increase the quality of care in areas such as health and disability support.

There is tough reform work to be done, but the benefits of delivering meaningful reform speak for themselves.

Closing remarks

I’d like to leave you with this final thought.

When Danish carpenter Ole Kirk Christiansen created his iconic company almost a century ago, he named it LEGO after the Danish phrase ‘leg godt’, which means ‘play well’ (LEGO n.d).

Christiansen understood that openness, rather than monopolistic drive, enabled dynamic, productive and constructive play that benefitted everyone involved.

Instead of a blood sport where players knocked each other out one by one, participants benefitted when they could create, learn, collaborate and share ideas.

Today, Lego is the world’s most popular toy, with consumers buying over 30 billion blocks per year.

Raising my 3 sons, I found that an afternoon spent playing Lego inspired creativity and laughter. Our evenings spent playing Monopoly often ended in tears.

In much the same way, we are all grappling with changes that are shifting the parameters of the playing field. The digital economy and transition to net zero are equivalent to that moment in time that Congressman Auchincloss described as ‘…throwing the board’, when people ‘get so frustrated that another person – out of, frankly, pure luck – ends up on Park Place and is able to just extract rents every time you cross or you pass go’ (Klein 2025).

Through microdata‑driven analysis of market concentration, revitalised National Competition Policy, and the continuation of productive collaboration between the Commonwealth, state and territory governments, competition should foster innovation and opportunity. More Lego, less Monopoly.

MIL OSI News –
March 19, 2025
MIL-OSI China: Asian films scaling up content building with AI assistance

Source: China State Council Information Office 3

The role of artificial intelligence (AI) and technology will continue to be vital in shaping the future of the Asian film and content sectors with experts urging industry leaders to embrace the change to stay on top of their game, a Hong Kong summit heard on March 18.

In his welcome remarks at the Asia Content Business Summit (ACBS) Working Group Meeting, Wilfred Wong Ying-wai, chairman of the Hong Kong Film Development Council, said that AI is going to “speed up development” and “unite Asia” across multiple languages as content becomes accessible to a broader audience.

Wong noted that in the past, content had to be dubbed, but now with the help of AI, subtitles have been made easily accessible on-demand.

“Second, we have to look at how to distribute. The movie business is a streaming platform. (We) have to be one step ahead. Otherwise, we are just following trends,” said Wong, as he also encouraged current industry leaders to share their knowledge and “pass the sword to the next generation”.

Fred Wang Cheung-yue, chairman of Hong Kong-based pan-Asia movie services group Salon Film, encouraged attendees to “take new ideas” on the use of technology and AI in movie production from the ACBS event, where speakers from Japan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines also gave presentations on trends and initiatives in their respective countries.

Dato Kamil Othman, chairman of the National Film Development Corporation Malaysia, said his organization had prioritized the training of film producers, with special attention paid to understanding legal issues such as copyright.

Malaysia has no problems with sending films overseas and a new generation of successful movie professionals are emerging, he said. The main challenges they encounter are internal industry mechanisms, using AI and difficulties working on co-productions, he added.

“Talent is already there. We just need a good proposition to move forward,” said Kamil, as he also urged the audience to “not be afraid of AI” as it “is not a trend, but a tool and humans are still part of it”.

In Japan’s content industry, digitalization had also changed the content industry completely, according to Norihiko Saeki, director of the culture and creation industries division under Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI).

He said Japanese overseas content sales are set to achieve a market size of 20 trillion yen ($6.7 billion) by 2033, under the “New Cool Japan Strategy” adopted in 2024. METI set up 100 action plans this year in consultation with Japanese content industry leaders in order to hit that target, he added.

He also said they have a “Shooting with Japan Program” agreement with China and Italy, which gives an incentive grant of 1 billion yen.

Novie Riyadi, chief operating officer at Indonesian animation and post-production company Mocca Studio said Indonesia’s game industry has grown rapidly, driven by government support that helped firms there become “early adopters of AI”.

He said there were 156 animation companies in Indonesia in 2020 and expects the number to have tripled by now. Among these companies’ successes has been the animated children’s show Baby Zu, he added, which was created to help parents with children who were slow learning to speak.

In the Philippines, Liza Dino-Seguerra, executive director of the Quezon City Film Commission, said over 120 Filipino films were produced and released in 2023 — a notable rebound following the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Streaming has become the dominant force shaping how content is produced, distributed and consumed,” said Dino-Seguerra, who is also former chairperson of the Film Development Council of the Philippines.

She said international collaborations are also on the rise because of producers’ constant participation in international events and markets, allowing Filipino stories to reach a global audience. Her organization is looking to partner with companies in the Middle East and North Africa region, and Latin America, she added.

Sirisak Koshpasharin, vice chairman of Thailand’s National Federation of Motion Pictures and Contents Associations, said content streaming in Thailand is also a growing market.

He put the spotlight on “movie tourism” as many films have been shot in Thailand, bringing with them tourists. Japan topped the list of countries where film producers came from to shoot in Thailand, he said, followed by India, the United States, the Republic of Korea and China. Upgraded government film incentives introduced in December last year, increasing a cash rebate on movie production from 20 percent to 30 percent, had also encouraged the industry, he added.

“All the big players in the market come to Thailand, but the best spender is Hong Kong,” said Koshpasharin. Last year alone, 490 projects shot in Thailand, generating 6.5 billion Baht ($194 million). Two of the most notable movies filmed there include Jurassic World 4, and Alien: Earth.

Fred Chong, group CEO of WebTVAsia and award-winning Malaysian musician, said AI “has a face now”, and is capable of taking on real celebrities. The digital human market, he said, is expected to reach $440 billion by 2031.

When asked what steps his company has taken to fight scams, Chong said on the sidelines of the ACBS summit that content owners need to fight for their own content.

“If you are not the content owner, you cannot stop illegal uploads. So, it’s the same thing with AI. We talk about deepfake, we talk about illegal use of the face of a famous person. The original owner of the face has to copyright their intellectual property,” said Chong.

Later on Tuesday a signing ceremony was held for the joint launch of Zheng He’s Voyages to the West by parties from Malaysia, China including Hong Kong, and Saudi Arabia. Zheng, a Chinese explorer and admiral dated hundreds of years ago, is credited for leading the largest fleet in the world then on seven voyages of exploration from Asia to Africa.

Saudi World of Sounds and Visions Company President Abdullah Al Muheisen, also a Saudi pioneering filmmaker and director, inked a deal with Fred Wang of Salon Films.

MIL OSI China News –

March 19, 2025
MIL-OSI USA: Markey Blasts Trump’s Illegal Firing of Democratic FTC Commissioners

US Senate News:

Source: United States Senator for Massachusetts Ed Markey

Boston (March 18, 2025) – Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), member of the Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee, released the following statement after Trump fired the Federal Trade Commission’s only two Democratic Commissioners, Rebecca Slaughter and Alvaro Bedoya.

“For more than a century, the independent Federal Trade Commission has played a critical role in protecting American consumers and promoting competition. By attempting to illegally fire Commissioner Slaughter and Commissioner Bedoya, Trump is sending a clear message that he wants to Forget The Consumers and Fast Track Corruption. Make no mistake: These illegal actions are a sign of weakness, not strength. With the Trump administration imminently having a majority at the FTC, the only reason to fire the Democratic commissioners is to shut down dissent and hide his efforts to pad the pockets of his billionaire buddies. Trump is scared that the Democratic commissioners will unmask his radical and unpopular agenda.

“It won’t work. We won’t let the FTC stand for Favoring Trump’s Cronies—we’ll fight back against Trump’s unconstitutional actions to make sure the FTC can continue to protect all Americans from scams, fraud, and other online and offline threats.”

MIL OSI USA News –

March 19, 2025
MIL-OSI China: Better financing support urged for private sector

Source: China State Council Information Office

The China Banking Association and the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce jointly issued a proposal on Monday, calling on banking institutions to improve credit access for private enterprises, offer better financial services for private technology companies and lower financing costs for the private sector.

The association said the proposal aims to drive banking and financial institutions to make more concrete endeavors to facilitate the high-quality development of the private economy.

Banking institutions are expected to support micro and small private enterprises for debut loans, rollover loans and credit loans, it said.

According to the proposal, enhancing financing services tools, such as intellectual property pledges and receivables pledges, is crucial to actively supporting technology-driven private enterprises in research and development, commercialization of innovations, and transformation and upgrades.

Additionally, banking institutions are expected to reduce the overall financing costs for private enterprises by increasing credit supply and streamlining processes to minimize intermediary expenses, it said.

The move comes amid stronger efforts by the nation to support the high-quality development of its private sector.

Lin Zeyan, deputy secretary-general of the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce, said that based on a financing assistance program tailored for small and medium-sized enterprises, which the federation has been engaged in over the past five years, the proposal aims to provide stronger support to and cover all private economic entities, and encourage broader participation from banks.

Xing Wei, vice-president of the China Banking Association, said the proposal will serve as a guideline for banking institutions to improve financial services for private enterprises, fostering the high-quality development of the private economy in the new era.

“In recent years, the financing environment for private enterprises has significantly improved, with loan interest rates steadily declining and financing accessibility markedly enhanced,” said Wen Bin, chief economist at China Minsheng Bank.

As of June 30 last year, outstanding loans to private enterprises nationwide reached 71.8 trillion yuan ($9.93 trillion), a year-on-year growth of 9 percent — 0.8 percentage point higher than the overall loan growth rate, according to the National Financial Regulatory Administration.

Meanwhile, the average interest rate on newly issued loans to private enterprises stood at 3.9 percent, down 0.58 percentage point from a year earlier and cumulatively decreasing by 3 percentage points since 2018.

At a time when the external environment is becoming increasingly complex and uncertain, and the foundation for economic recovery is not yet solid along with insufficient effective demand, China needs to make more efforts to support its private sector, Wen said.

“Addressing the financing difficulties and high costs faced by private enterprises, especially small and micro ones, remains a long-term and systemic endeavor,” he said.

Looking ahead, efforts should be made to deepen financial services for private enterprises, provide diversified and innovative solutions, and support growth in emerging sectors to further drive the development of the private economy, Wen said.

MIL OSI China News –

March 19, 2025
MIL-OSI Economics: Over 10 Years of Fujisawa Sustainable Smart Town: Opening Up New Possibilities Towards the Future

Source: Panasonic

Headline: Over 10 Years of Fujisawa Sustainable Smart Town: Opening Up New Possibilities Towards the Future

For more than a decade, since its grand opening in 2014, Fujisawa Sustainable Smart Town (Fujisawa SST) has embodied a bold vision for life-centered, eco-conscious modern living. Presently some 2,000 people live in 566 smart town dwellings.
Designed as a model for the cities of the future, it integrates sustainability, resilience, and well-being into every aspect of daily life. By combining smart technologies, renewable energy, and community-driven initiatives, Fujisawa SST creates an efficient resident-focused environment that sets a new standard for sustainable residential development.
At the heart of Fujisawa SST is co-creation, where stakeholders actively shape the town’s evolution. From advanced mobility systems and sustainable solutions to wellness infrastructure, the town continuously refines how cutting-edge technology supports community values. This dynamic approach has made Fujisawa SST a real-world testing ground for future urban solutions, allowing it to scale innovations that enhance residents’ lives and serve as a blueprint for cities worldwide.

A Demonstration of Smart City Excellence

Since its opening, Fujisawa SST has successfully achieved its initial goals, fostering an expanding ecosystem of co-creation initiatives. The town has met its original environmental targets by reducing CO2 emissions by 70% (compared to 1990 levels) and household water consumption by 30% (compared to the 2006 standard of household equipment), while also achieving a renewable energy utilization rate of over 30% as part of its energy goals. Additionally, as part of its safety and security objectives, it has secured lifeline infrastructure for three days in case of emergencies.
Co-creation activities such as community building and business incubation have also expanded, with over 100 demonstration experiments and marketing initiatives, including mobility solutions, and 10 successful business ventures emerging from the project.
As a result, Fujisawa SST has earned high recognition as one of Japan’s leading real-world smart towns. It has received numerous domestic and international awards, and to date, has welcomed more than 41,000 visitors from 60 countries on study tours.
“From the very beginning, our approach wasn’t just about closing down a former factory site—it was about creating a new town and finding a fresh way to contribute to the local community,” explains Fujisawa SST Project Leader, Harumi Tanaka, Manager of Smart City Group, Business Solutions Division, Panasonic Operational Excellence Co., Ltd. “By incorporating environmental initiatives and cutting-edge technology demonstrations, we’ve attracted visitors not only from across Japan but from around the world. It’s exciting to see our vision for a sustainable and innovative town being recognized and appreciated.”

Expanding Renewable Energy and Circular Living

As Fujisawa SST enters its next phase of development, environmental sustainability remains a top priority. By 2034, the town aims to reduce CO2 emissions by 50% compared to 2020 levels, with over 60% of its renewable energy self-consumption rate striving towards the goal of producing and consuming energy at home. To achieve this, the town is continuously evolving its energy infrastructure, enhancing solar power networks, and adopting next-generation energy storage technologies and energy saving solutions.
One promising initiative in this transition is the deployment of Glass-based Perovskite Photovoltaic, which tested in a model home up to March of 2025. This next-generation photovoltaic offers not only high efficiency, but also flexibility in size, transmittance, and design, allowing for customization according to specific requirements, enabling power generation in places where conventional solar cells cannot be installed and making them ideal for urban environments. This so-called “energy-generating glass” aims to harmonize urban aesthetics with renewable energy generation, contributing to CO2 reduction and power resilience. By advancing such original technologies, Panasonic seeks to expand practical applications and drive the future of sustainable cityscapes.
Another pillar of the town’s sustainability vision is the Circular Town Project, which focuses on optimizing resource use and minimizing waste. Its goal is to analyze material flows within the community and identify ways to improve recycling efficiency and reduce raw materials consumption. For example, excess renewable energy generated by homes can be shared with town facilities, ensuring a balanced and consistent supply. Additionally, local businesses and residents can actively participate in reuse initiatives, fostering a circular economy that prioritizes sustainability.
Meanwhile, all single-family homes are equipped with a Home Energy Management System (HEMS), ensuring power and hot water supply through solar power and ENE-FARM (energy farming) systems in emergencies. Energy usage data collected via integrated HEMS in detached homes will not only help visualize the town’s environmental goals but also allow analysis of data tied to household demographics. This data-driven approach enables Fujisawa SST to evolve dynamically, ensuring a smarter, more resilient urban environment tailored to the needs of its residents.

Innovations in Disaster Resilience

Fujisawa SST was designed with resilience at its core, integrating advanced infrastructure and smart technologies to ensure stability in emergencies. The town’s disaster-resistant features include underground power and communication lines, earthquake-resistant gas pipelines, and decentralized energy systems that maintain reliable operations even during crises. Buildings incorporate passive design elements that enhance structural integrity while optimizing energy efficiency.
To further strengthen preparedness, Fujisawa SST looks ahead to leveraging digital twin simulations to enhance disaster response strategies. Such real-time virtual models can allow authorities to simulate emergency scenarios, optimize evacuation plans, and improve coordination. Additionally, interactive drills and training sessions will ensure the community stays well-prepared and ready to respond effectively in times of crisis.
Energy security is a key pillar of the town’s resilience strategy. The expansion of emergency energy storage solutions, including community power banks that store excess solar energy, will ensure a stable power supply during outages. AI-equipped drones will also be deployed for continuous risk management, monitoring environmental conditions, and optimizing crisis management efforts.
In the event of a disaster, Fujisawa SST is designed to remain self-sufficient. The town will sustain three days of uninterrupted essential services and maintain a seven-day stockpile of food and water, ensuring the well-being of its residents. By prioritizing self-sufficiency and proactive crisis management, Fujisawa SST sets a new standard for disaster-resilient smart cities.

Blending Smart Mobility with Community Well-Being

Fujisawa SST is dedicated to enhancing residents’ well-being by integrating smart solutions that promote health, community engagement, and sustainable mobility under the theme, “fostering life skills from ages 0 to 100 and beyond.” The Park Wellstate Shonan senior residence features AI-assisted healthcare monitoring to assist a resident’s daily routines while ensuring safety and independence. Complementing this, the Wellness Square serves as a multi-functional hub, combining serviced housing for seniors with pharmacy, nursery, and cram school, creating an intergenerational space that fosters health, welfare, and lifelong learning.
Active lifestyles and recreation also play a vital role in Fujisawa SST’s vision. The Mizuno Sports Plaza offers interactive wellness programs and community sports initiatives, encouraging residents of all ages to stay active while building social connections.
Beyond physical health, social and cultural engagement are central to the town’s identity. Fujisawa SST hosts regular workshops, arts and culture festivals, and technology showcases, bringing together residents and external collaborators. Programs like the Fujisawa Town Parent Project empower locals to organize events that welcome neighboring communities and deepen their connection to the town.
The town is also reshaping urban mobility to make daily life more convenient and sustainable. Electric vehicle-sharing services, AI-powered route optimization, and pedestrian-friendly urban design are reducing congestion and improving accessibility, while also participating in Japan’s first demonstration experiment of simultaneous operation of 10 remotely operated small vehicles in multiple areas as an operation center and driving implementation site. Looking ahead, Fujisawa SST plans to pilot low-speed electric transport for short distances and drone-assisted delivery services, further enhancing urban mobility.
By integrating smart health services, active lifestyle programs, cultural initiatives, and sustainable transportation, Fujisawa SST continues to set new standards for community well-being in the cities of tomorrow.

Expanding the Smart City Vision Beyond Borders

As Fujisawa SST celebrates its 10th anniversary, it stands as a global model for sustainable city planning. Over the past decade, the town has demonstrated how smart technologies, community-driven initiatives, and resilient infrastructure can create a thriving, future-ready urban environment.
With ambitious targets for carbon neutrality, disaster preparedness, and enhanced well-being, Fujisawa SST continues to push the boundaries of what a smart city can achieve.
Looking ahead, the next phase of Fujisawa SST’s evolution will focus on scaling its innovative urban solutions beyond its current boundaries. By refining its smart city model and collaborating with new partners, the town aims to establish a replicable framework for sustainable urban development that can inspire communities worldwide.
“With the opening of a residence for active seniors and a sports facility on October 1, 2024, we have completed the first chapter of Fujisawa SST’s development,” says Harumi Tanaka. “Now, as we enter the second chapter, we have restructured into the Fujisawa SST Consortium, welcoming new companies and organizations to further drive innovation.”
Beyond physical development, Tanaka’s group is focusing on enhancing the community experience by integrating new perspectives such as resource circulation and well-being. “With Environment, Safety and Security, and Health and Connection as our core themes, we are evolving our town services—including energy, security, mobility, wellness, and community—to expand and enrich Fujisawa SST for the future.”

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MIL OSI Economics –

March 19, 2025
MIL-OSI USA: Attorney General Bonta Issues Statement After Trump Administration Unlawfully Fires FTC Commissioners

Source: US State of California

Tuesday, March 18, 2025

Contact: (916) 210-6000, agpressoffice@doj.ca.gov

OAKLAND — California Attorney General Rob Bonta today issued a statement after the Trump Administration unlawfully fired two Federal Trade Commission (FTC) commissioners. The FTC was created by Congress in 1914 with the Federal Trade Commission Act, which allows a president to remove a commissioner only for “inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance in office.” Since then, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that the president’s removal powers do not go beyond what Congress authorized. Congress created the FTC to protect consumers and market competition — as such, the FTC is responsible for enforcing laws that touch virtually every area of commerce and targets its enforcement efforts at practices that cause the greatest harm to consumers. California regularly collaborates with the FTC to protect consumers, workers, and the market by bringing enforcement actions that check the power of corporations acting illegally.

“The Trump Administration’s illegal firing of the two Commissioners is extremely concerning. Consumer protection and antitrust are not political — they are about protecting working families and helping ensure the benefits of a vibrant economy are for everyone,” said Attorney General Bonta. “Time and time again, California has benefitted from the FTC’s collaboration and coordination in bringing enforcement actions and taking other measures to safeguard Americans nationwide, regardless of who is in the White House.”

# # #

MIL OSI USA News –

March 19, 2025
MIL-OSI China: China maintains stable trade policies, welcomes foreign investment

Source: China State Council Information Office

This photo taken from Jingshan Hill on Aug. 12, 2024 shows the skyscrapers of the central business district (CBD) on a sunny day in Beijing, capital of China. [Photo/Xinhua]

China’s Commerce Minister Wang Wentao said the country’s trade policies toward trading partners, including the European Union, have consistently been stable, and welcomed European companies to increase their investment in China.

Wang made the remarks on Monday during a meeting with Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury, according to a statement released by the ministry on Tuesday.

While the global economy faces severe challenges, the long-term positive trend of China’s economy remains unchanged as the economy enjoys strong resilience, huge potential, and vitality, Wang said, adding that China is confident in its ability to continue to achieve stable economic growth.

He said that despite changes in the external environment, China’s policies and expectations remain stable.

China will continue to advance high-level opening up, optimize the business environment, and vigorously encourage foreign investment, the minister said.

Wang expressed his hope that European companies, including Airbus, would seize opportunities to increase their investment in China and deepen industrial cooperation in a bid to contribute more quality products and services to both China and the rest of the world.

Faury said that Airbus has been in China for over 30 years and has been committed to developing its business and partnerships in the country.

As a multinational company, Airbus looks forward to stability and certainty in global economic development and does not wish to see uncertainties arising from any additional tariff policies, Faury said.

Airbus remains optimistic about the Chinese market and will continue to expand its investment and presence in the country for better development in the future, Faury added.

MIL OSI China News –

March 19, 2025
MIL-OSI China: Continued Chinese development boosts opportunities for China-UK relations: ambassador

Source: China State Council Information Office

Chinese Ambassador to the United Kingdom (UK) Zheng Zeguang has called on business communities in both countries to seize the opportunities presented by China’s continued stable development.

Zheng made the statement at an event hosted on Monday briefing the “two sessions”: the annual meetings of the National People’s Congress – China’s top legislature, and the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference.

Zheng said this year’s sessions have shown the world that China is committed to advancing the country’s modernization with high-quality development. China will firmly act as an “enabler,” providing “more stability and positive energy for the world,” in areas such as economic development, sci-tech innovation, green transition, and global peace and stability, he added.

The “two sessions” also showed the success of China’s political system, the ambassador stressed, adding that it is “the secret behind the two miracles of rapid economic development and long-term social stability” in China.

Highlighting the importance of a stable and constructive China-UK relationship in a chaotic and turbulent world full of challenges, the ambassador called on both sides to maintain the momentum of high-level exchanges, implement the outcomes of previous dialogues, and strengthen cooperation while properly handling differences between the two countries.

Sherard Cowper-Coles, chairman of the China-Britain Business Council, said that a Chinese government report released during the sessions responds to tackling serious challenges in a coherent and disciplined way.

“It talks about increasing consumption, putting more money in the pockets of the Chinese people, stimulating innovation and opening China up more to investment, and inviting visitors around the world not just commercial businesses, but the tourists and students as well, all very very important,” Cowper-Coles said.

Michael Mainelli, former Lord Mayor of the City of London, acknowledged that this is a pivotal moment for the UK in the relationship between China, and the global community. He said the sessions “have set the stage for policies that will influence not only China’s trajectory, but also its interactions with the world.”

As a global financial and technology center, London looks forward to strengthening cooperation with China in finance, green finance, artificial intelligence and other fields, Mainelli noted.

MIL OSI China News –

March 19, 2025
MIL-OSI China: 5th China Cross-Border E-Commerce Trade Fair opens in Fuzhou

Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News

5th China Cross-Border E-Commerce Trade Fair opens in Fuzhou

Updated: March 19, 2025 08:49 Xinhua

Visitors and exhibitors communicate during the 5th China Cross-Border E-Commerce Trade Fair in Fuzhou, southeast China’s Fujian Province, March 18, 2025. The 5th China Cross-Border E-Commerce Trade Fair opened here on Tuesday, attracting over 1,800 supply chain and service enterprises from various countries and regions. This year’s event coincides with the 2025 China Cross-Border E-Commerce Conference, which focuses on the upgrade of the cross-border e-commerce industry and seeks pathways for Chinese companies to expand internationally. [Photo/Xinhua]

People visit the 5th China Cross-Border E-Commerce Trade Fair in Fuzhou, southeast China’s Fujian Province, March 18, 2025. [Photo/Xinhua]

People visit the 5th China Cross-Border E-Commerce Trade Fair in Fuzhou, southeast China’s Fujian Province, March 18, 2025. [Photo/Xinhua]

People communicate during the 5th China Cross-Border E-Commerce Trade Fair in Fuzhou, southeast China’s Fujian Province, March 18, 2025. [Photo/Xinhua]

People visit the 5th China Cross-Border E-Commerce Trade Fair in Fuzhou, southeast China’s Fujian Province, March 18, 2025. [Photo/Xinhua]

MIL OSI China News –

March 19, 2025
MIL-OSI USA: Senator Peters Helps Lead Bipartisan Legislation to Improve Access to Broadband Service for Rural and Underserved Communities

US Senate News:

Source: United States Senator for Michigan Gary Peters
Published: 03.18.2025

WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senator Gary Peters (MI) helped lead bipartisan legislation to improve federal programs that help ensure rural and underserved communities have equitable access to broadband service. The Rural Broadband Protection Act – which Peters cosponsored with U.S. Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), and John Curtis (R-UT) – would require the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to certify that federal funding goes toward companies and internet service providers with proven track records in deploying broadband in rural areas. The bill recently passed the Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee.
“Access to affordable, high-speed internet is essential, whether it’s for school, work, seeing your doctor, or running a business, and I’ve been proud to secure robust federal investments in our state to help ensure every Michigander can get connected,” said Senator Peters, a member of the Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee. “This bipartisan legislation would make sure these federal resources are awarded to organizations with experience in effectively delivering broadband service to rural and underserved communities who need it most.”
The FCC’s Connect America Fund (CAF) provides funding to ensure consumers in rural, insular, and high-cost areas have access to essential broadband services. In 2022, more than $8 million in fines were filed against CAF awardees who did not meet the requirements of their funding agreements to improve service in underserved areas. The Rural Broadband Protection Act would require future applicants, either under CAF or a new high-cost universal service program, to undergo a vetting process to help ensure broadband infrastructure investments are effectively implemented in the intended communities.
Peters is committed to expanding high-speed internet access across Michigan. In June 2023, he announced that Michigan would receive more than $1.5 billion in federal funding from the Broadband, Equity, Access, and Deployment Program, known as BEAD, to increase high-speed internet access. In 2023, Peters announced a more than $38 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to support rural communities across Michigan, which was made possible by the Inflation Reduction Act and the bipartisan infrastructure law. In 2024, he secured $27 million for Northern Michigan University to upgrade their Educational Access Network, enabling the university to expand broadband access beyond the thousands of students and families they serve in communities across the Upper Peninsula.

MIL OSI USA News –

March 19, 2025
MIL-OSI USA: Klobuchar Statement on Illegal Firing of Federal Trade Commissioners

US Senate News:

Source: United States Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn)
WASHINGTON — U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), the only Democratic Senator on both the Judiciary and Commerce Committees, released the following statement on the illegal firing of Federal Trade Commissioners Rebecca Kelly Slaughter and Alvaro Bedoya.
“This is outrageous. President Trump’s dismissal of Commissioners Slaughter and Bedoya is not only illegal but also hurts consumers by undermining an independent agency that Congress established to protect consumers from fraud, scams, and monopoly power. The Federal Trade Commission has carried out this mission in a bipartisan way for more than 110 years—including returning more than $330 million to consumers last year and taking on hidden fees—but today President Trump has threatened that critical work. Illegally gutting the Commission will empower fraudsters and monopolists, and consumers will pay the price.”

MIL OSI USA News –

March 19, 2025
MIL-OSI Australia: Appointments to the Tax Practitioners Board
Source: Australian Treasurer

The Albanese Government is committed to ensuring the Tax Practitioners Board (TPB) has the expertise to effectively regulate tax practitioners and uphold professional and ethical standards.

The Government has made the following reappointments and appointments of part‑time members of the TPB:
- Reappointed Mr Steven Dobson for a one‑year period
- Reappointed Ms Debra Anderson for a two‑year period
- Appointed Ms Joanna Bird, Ms Amanda Gascoigne and Ms Merran Kelsall AO each for a three‑year period
These appointments bring a diverse range of skills and experience to support the TPB’s critical role in maintaining public trust in the tax profession.

Ms Anderson has been a member of the TPB since 18 February 2019. She is an experienced tax agent and former Business Activity Statement (BAS) agent who has operated a tax advisory business for approximately 20 years.

Mr Dobson has been a member of the TPB since 30 March 2022. He works in an associated industry to tax practitioners where he has operated a financial advisory business for over 20 years. He has experience on various Western Australian Government boards.

Ms Bird is an experienced financial services regulator, lawyer and academic. She was a senior executive at ASIC for 10 years. Currently she is a self‑employed consultant providing advice on financial market and services regulation. Ms Bird is also an Adjunct Professor in law at the University of New South Wales and Monash University.

Ms Gascoigne is an experienced tax agent, governance professional, and educator. She founded and operated a regional accounting firm for 18 years, providing tax and advisory services to small businesses. She is also actively involved in mentoring and supporting accountants in professional development.

Ms Kelsall is an experienced governance professional, CEO and academic. She was the Chair and CEO of the Auditing and Assurance Standards Board; a member of the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board; a partner at BDO; and Professor of Practice at the University of New South Wales Business School. Currently Ms Kelsall is on various boards.

The TPB is the national body responsible for the registration and regulation of tax practitioners. Its work supports public trust and confidence in the integrity of the tax profession by ensuring that tax agent services are provided to the community in accordance with appropriate standards of professional and ethical conduct.

MIL OSI News –
March 19, 2025
MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Multimillion-pound investment gives rocket boost to South West space sector
Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments

Press release

Multimillion-pound investment gives rocket boost to South West space sector

Minister Jones has announced a multimillion-pound investment in Bristol’s space sector from leading German space company OHB.
New multimillion-pound investment from leading German space company OHB to support Plan for Change by creating specialist jobs in Bristol.

OHB’s UK expansion sees job-boosting new subsidiary at Bristol & Bath Science Park to develop cutting-edge satellite and spacecraft tech.

Industry Minister Sarah Jones announces investment in keynote speech at opening of Farnborough International Space Show.

The South West will benefit from a multimillion-pound investment from leading German space company OHB, creating up to 50 specialist jobs in Bristol working on satellites and exploration spacecraft, and supporting the government’s Plan for Change in delivering more skilled jobs, higher living standards, and productivity growth in every part of the United Kingdom.

Industry Minister Sarah Jones will announce the investment in a speech to the Farnborough International Space Show today [19 March], welcoming the news as a major win for the South West’s world-leading aerospace cluster, and the latest vote of confidence in the UK’s investment environment.

The Farnborough International Space Show, supported by ADS – the trade association for the UK’s aerospace, defence, security and space sectors – will be a significant event for the space industry, with 50 different countries exhibiting and many high-value commercial deals expected to be signed.

OHB’s initial multimillion-pound investment will create a new UK subsidiary based at Bristol and Bath Science Park to develop cutting-edge tech for satellites and spacecraft, and was secured by the Department for Business and Trade working together with the Space West cluster, Invest Bristol & Bath and the UK Space Agency.

Industry Minister Sarah Jones is expected to say:

The UK is open for business, and today’s investment from OHB is a major win for Bristol’s world-leading aerospace and tech industry which will create high-skilled local jobs and ensure the UK remains a partner of choice for space agencies around the world.

This is the latest vote of confidence in our Industrial Strategy, which will give our space sector the certainty it needs to stay at the cutting edge of global innovation, driving growth and good jobs across the UK and showing our Plan for Change is working.

The British space sector generates £18.9 billion each year, supporting over 50,000 jobs, and will be a top priority in the Government’s Industrial Strategy, which has identified advanced manufacturing and digital & technologies as key growth-driving sectors.

The UK’s space workforce is also highly qualified and more than twice as productive (2.3x) as the average UK worker, while the global space market is expected to be worth over £1 trillion by 2035, according to the latest figures from global management consultancy McKinsey.

OHB CEO Marco Fuchs said:

I am truly glad that we have finally established a presence in one of Europe’s key space markets. The Bristol region, with its high-tech cluster, provides a great environment for OHB to develop innovative and competitive space products and systems from the UK for the national and European markets.

West of England Mayor Dan Norris said:

Today’s announcement means more high skilled jobs for local people – and that’s fantastic news. OHB SE setting up shop in the West of England is a big win for our region and a real rocket boost for our space industry.

I’m really proud that they’ve chosen the Bristol & Bath Science Park as their UK base. We’re proving once again that this is the place to be for world-class innovation, job creation, and serious economic growth.

Kevin Craven, CEO of ADS welcomed the announcement:

The UK space sector – a jewel in the UK’s advanced manufacturing crown – has seen impressive growth in recent years. The space economy in the UK spans a wide range of capabilities employing around 50,000 people, with strengths in small satellite technology, sustainability, and emerging areas such as in-space manufacturing, artificial intelligence, and quantum computing.

Representing more than 500 businesses operating in space, ADS wholeheartedly welcomes the ongoing commitment to developing our sector throughout the country. Space will secure the UK’s domestic, future and technological advantage!

Background:

For further details on OHB and their UK investment, please contact the company directly at timo.stuffler@ohb.de.

See McKinsey’s full research report on the projected value of the global space economy here: https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/themes/the-space-economy-is-projected-to-reach-1-8-trillion-by-2035.

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Published 19 March 2025
MIL OSI United Kingdom –
March 19, 2025
MIL-OSI: Quick Custom Intelligence Launches Advanced Real-Time Host Management Features

Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

SAN DIEGO, March 18, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Quick Custom Intelligence (QCI), the premier provider of real-time analytics and customer engagement solutions for the gaming and hospitality industries, today announced the launch of its latest enhancements to the QCI Platform. These enhancements address industry challenges related to coding and offer management, dynamic host incentive programs, and cross-platform communication—capabilities that set QCI apart from their competitors.

Comprehensive Integration with Casino Management Systems for Coding and Offer Management

QCI’s updated platform streamlines the intricate process of coding offers, importing and pushing lists, and integrating directly with casino management systems. By providing robust programmatic interfaces, the platform enables properties to seamlessly manage complex coding requirements and deliver tailored offers to guests in real time. This level of integration and flexibility empowers operators to maximize their campaign performance and guest engagement.

Lynette O’Connell, VP of Customer Success for QCI, commented “With this enhanced integration, casinos can now execute highly targeted campaigns with greater accuracy and efficiency. By simplifying offer management and streamlining complex coding, we’re empowering operators to maximize guest engagement and ROI.”

Dynamic Metrics Adjustments and Tiering for Host Incentive Programs

Building on QCI’s core principle of real-time customization, the platform now offers advanced functionality to dynamically adjust player metrics and targets—such as theo net freeplay and comps—and reassign goal parameters based on mid-quarter book changes. These new tools enable properties to create adaptive host incentive programs with tiered goals and thresholds, ensuring that every incentive structure remains both profitable and continually optimized. Targets are cascaded down to the player level, giving hosts clear direction on who to engage and how to manage their players effectively.

Nick Salemi, Sr. Customer Engagement Manager for QCI, stated “One of the biggest compliments I hear about our software is how easy it makes managing host books and their targets. Player development leaders can focus on coaching and developing their teams, knowing the math behind host targets is accurate. If player relationships change, managers can trust that the data and targets will reflect those updates. From a host’s perspective, my favorite insight to highlight is the relationship between ADT and visit frequency, showing just how valuable each guest and visit truly is.”

Seamless Host Communication and Task Management Across Platforms

Responding to the industry need for a unified host workflow, QCI’s latest enhancements centralize text message tracking, email integration (including Outlook), and real-time task assignments under one intuitive user interface. Hosts and property managers can collaborate more efficiently, gain immediate visibility into host activities, and document performance for comprehensive reporting—far surpassing capabilities offered by QCI competitors.

Julie Margeson, Sr. Customer Engagement Manage for QCI, explained “Collaboration between Hosts, Slots, and Marketing is transforming how casinos engage with their customers. Slots teams coordinate with Hosts and players when games are added or removed from the floor, Hosts gain visibility into non-redeemers for Marketing campaigns, and Marketing creates targeted campaigns to promote new Slot Floor sections—inviting select players to generate excitement around new areas or games. By working together, these teams ensure players stay informed, enhance retention, and deliver a seamless, holistic customer experience rather than addressing isolated aspects of their journey.”

Executive Commentary

“In today’s rapidly evolving gaming environment, operators need agile solutions that bridge all aspects of player development—from comprehensive coding in IGT to dynamic host management and communications,” said Dr. Ralph Thomas, CEO of Quick Custom Intelligence. “We are committed to providing these high-level capabilities in a seamless platform so that our partners can maximize their revenue and strengthen player relationships.”

ABOUT QCI
Quick Custom Intelligence (QCI) has pioneered the revolutionary QCI Enterprise Platform, an artificial intelligence platform that seamlessly integrates player development, marketing, and gaming operations with powerful, real-time tools designed specifically for the gaming and hospitality industries. Our advanced, highly configurable software is deployed in over 250 casino resorts across North America, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Latin America, and Europe. The QCI AGI Platform, which manages more than $35 billion in annual gross gaming revenue, stands as a best-in-class solution, whether on-premises, hybrid, or cloud-based, enabling fully coordinated activities across all aspects of gaming or hospitality operations. QCI’s data-driven, AI-powered software propels swift, informed decision-making vital in the ever-changing casino industry, assisting casinos in optimizing resources and profits, crafting effective marketing campaigns, and enhancing customer loyalty. QCI was co-founded by Dr. Ralph Thomas and Mr. Andrew Cardno and is based in San Diego, with additional offices in Las Vegas, St. Louis, Dallas, Denver and Phoenix. Main phone number: (858) 299.5715. Visit us at www.quickcustomintelligence.com.

ABOUT Dr. Ralph Thomas
Dr. Ralph Thomas is the Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Quick Custom Intelligence. Ralph is a product visionary in applied analytics and the founder of two companies that deliver solutions in casino gaming, education, and adult learning. As a gaming industry veteran, Dr. Thomas has substantial experience implementing analytics into single and multi-property gaming companies to drive tangible and measurable gains to the bottom line and has built business intelligence tools for multibillion-dollar casinos. Dr. Thomas is co-author of seven books and over 80 articles on applied analytics and data science in gaming, an inventor on dozens of patents, and understands gaming from raw data up through casino operations, giving him a unique, 360-degree view of the industry.

ABOUT Lynette O’Connell
Lynette’s expertise is comprised of 20 years of high-volume gaming operations experience in CRM, database marketing, analysis, and loyalty club development. She leads the QCI customer team as well as being the customer advocate at QCI, focused on customer adoption, best practices, gathering feedback, and working to ensure that the customer’s goals are achieved satisfactorily, thus helping to increase sales as well. She defines and optimizes the customer’s journey post-installation, helping them develop best practices and working with them to measure success and see the ROI in QCI products.

ABOUT Nick Salemi
Nick earned a B.S. in Business Management and followed that up with a decade working in customer related roles from hockey teams to video technology companies, eventually finding his place in the casino gaming industry. He then focused on casino operations specifically as it pertains to customer loyalty and retention by delivering a positive experience and managing these relationships. He now brings all of this experience to the QCI Customer Success Team.

ABOUT Julie Margeson
Julie is a diversely skilled Technical Engineer with over 20 years of experience helping businesses in the casino industry maintain smooth operations and an optimal workflow. She is committed to applying emerging technologies to streamline product development and business operations. Her extensive background includes several years spent at top casinos in Las Vegas including The Cosmopolitan, Wynn, Encore and The Mirage. Now she brings her exceptional industry skills to work with the QCI Customer Success Team.

Contact:
Laurel Kay, Quick Custom Intelligence
Phone: 858-349-8354

The MIL Network –

March 19, 2025

MIL-OSI: LexinFintech Holdings Ltd. Reports Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2024 Unaudited Financial Results

Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

SHENZHEN, China, March 18, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — LexinFintech Holdings Ltd. (“Lexin” or the “Company”) (NASDAQ: LX), a leading technology-empowered personal financial service enabler in China, today announced its unaudited financial results for the quarter ended December 31, 2024.

Mr. Jay Wenjie Xiao, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Lexin, commented, “The company remains committed to its prudent operating strategy and has achieved solid progress in its transformation, with key performance indicators showing continuous improvement.

For the fourth quarter, net income was RMB363 million, representing an increase of about 17% quarter-over-quarter, marking the fourth consecutive quarter of improved profitability. Total loan origination reached RMB52 billion, representing approximately a 2% quarter-over-quarter increase, and outstanding loan balance stood at RMB110 billion, all in line with our guidance.

As we advanced our risk management upgrading, we were pleased to see a continuous improvement in asset quality, evidenced by the decline in risk indicators of both newly originated and overall assets. This consistent enhancement in asset quality, along with ongoing operational refinements, has contributed to our sustainable profit growth.

Looking ahead to 2025, in light of the current macroeconomic and industry landscape, we will adhere to our prudent operating strategy, prioritizing asset quality and focusing on profitability enhancement. With this approach, we expect to sustain steady growth in our performance.

In accordance with our semi-annual dividend policy, the board of directors has approved a dividend of US$0.11 per ADS, representing 20% of net income from the second half of 2024. Effective from January 1, 2025, our cash dividend payout ratio will be raised to 25% of net income.”

Mr. James Zheng, Chief Financial Officer of Lexin, commented, “Building upon the solid foundation of the third quarter, we recorded a net income of RMB363 million in the fourth quarter, representing a 17% increase compared to last quarter and 54% increase compared to the net income adjusted for the investment losses in the same period last year, further extending our stable growth trajectory. The net income take rate, calculated as net income divided by the average loan balance, increased from 1.09% in the third quarter to 1.31% in the fourth quarter of 2024, advancing by 22 basis points.”

“Driven by the ongoing optimization of asset quality, further reduction in funding costs, a more balanced revenue mix, and improvement in customer acquisition efficiency, our revenue take rate and net income have continued to improve.”

“Having achieved substantial progress in our transformation, we will continue to execute our prudent operating strategy. Looking ahead, we expect flat to single-digit growth of total loan origination in 2025 in view of the macroeconomic conditions, alongside a significant year-over-year increase in net income driven by margin expansion.”

Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2024 Operational Highlights:

User Base

Total number of registered users reached 228 million as of December 31, 2024, representing an increase of 8.6% from 210 million as of December 31, 2023, and users with credit lines reached 45.1 million as of December 31, 2024, up by 6.8% from 42.3 million as of December 31, 2023.
Number of active users¹ who used our loan products in the fourth quarter of 2024 was 4.7 million, representing a decrease of 0.7% from 4.7 million in the fourth quarter of 2023. Number of active users¹ who used our loan products in 2024 was 8.2 million, representing a decrease of 4.3% from 8.5 million in 2023.
Number of cumulative borrowers with successful drawdown was 33.8 million as of December 31, 2024, an increase of 7.1% from 31.5 million as of December 31, 2023.

Loan Facilitation Business

As of December 31, 2024, we cumulatively originated RMB1,325.1 billion in loans, an increase of 19.1% from RMB1,113.1 billion as of December 31, 2023.
Total loan originations² in the fourth quarter of 2024 was RMB52.0 billion, a decrease of 15.2% from RMB61.2 billion in the fourth quarter of 2023. Total loan originations² in 2024 was RMB212 billion, a decrease of 15.0% from RMB250 billion in 2023.
Total outstanding principal balance of loans³ reached RMB110 billion as of December 31, 2024, representing a decrease of 11.1% from RMB124 billion as of December 31, 2023.

Credit Performance⁴

90 day+ delinquency ratio was 3.6% as of December 31, 2024, as compared with 3.7% as of September 30, 2024.
First payment default rate (30 day+) for new loan originations was below 1% as of December 31, 2024.

Tech-empowerment Service

For the fourth quarter of 2024, we served over 100 business customers with our tech-empowerment service.
In the fourth quarter of 2024, the business customer retention rate⁵ of our tech-empowerment service was over 80%.

Installment E-commerce Platform Service

GMV⁶ in the fourth quarter of 2024 for our installment e-commerce platform service was RMB969 million, representing a decrease of 25.0% from RMB1,292 million in the fourth quarter of 2023. GMV⁶ in 2024 for our installment e-commerce platform service was RMB3,633 million, representing a decrease of 31.3% from RMB5,289 million in 2023.
In the fourth quarter of 2024, our installment e-commerce platform service served over 280,000 users and 400 merchants.

Other Operational Highlights

The weighted average tenor of loans originated on our platform in the fourth quarter of 2024 was approximately 13.1 months, as compared with 12.3 months in the fourth quarter of 2023. The weighted average tenor of loans originated on our platform in 2024 was approximately 12.9 months, as compared with 13.8 months in 2023.
Repeated borrowers’ contribution⁷ of loans across our platform for the fourth quarter of 2024 was 85.3%. Repeated borrowers’ contribution⁷ of loans across our platform for 2024 was 85.7%.

Fourth Quarter 2024 Financial Highlights:

Total operating revenue was RMB3,659 million, representing an increase of 4.3% from the fourth quarter of 2023.
Credit facilitation service income was RMB2,712 million, representing a decrease of 0.5% from the fourth quarter of 2023. Tech-empowerment service income was RMB602 million, representing an increase of 41.0% from the fourth quarter of 2023. Installment e-commerce platform service income was RMB345 million, representing a decrease of 2.9% from the fourth quarter of 2023.
Net income attributable to ordinary shareholders of the Company was RMB363 million, representing an increase of over 100% from the fourth quarter of 2023. Net income per ADS attributable to ordinary shareholders of the Company was RMB2.06 on a fully diluted basis.
Adjusted net income attributable to ordinary shareholders of the Company⁸ was RMB391 million, representing an increase of 37.7% from the fourth quarter of 2023. Adjusted net income per ADS attributable to ordinary shareholders of the Company⁸ was RMB2.22 on a fully diluted basis.

Full Year 2024 Financial Highlights:

Total operating revenue was RMB14,204 million, representing an increase of 8.8% from 2023.
Credit facilitation service income was RMB11,000 million, representing an increase of 13.8% from 2023. Tech-empowerment service income was RMB1,881 million, representing an increase of 14.7% from 2023. Installment e-commerce platform service income was RMB1,322 million, representing a decrease of 24.5% from 2023.
Net income attributable to ordinary shareholders of the Company was RMB1,100 million, representing an increase of 3.2% from 2023. Net income per ADS attributable to ordinary shareholders of the Company was RMB6.49 on a fully diluted basis.
Adjusted net income attributable to ordinary shareholders of the Company⁸ was RMB1,203 million, representing a decrease of 19.0% from 2023. Adjusted net income per ADS attributable to ordinary shareholders of the Company⁸ was RMB7.09 on a fully diluted basis.

__________________________

Active users refer to, for a specified period, users who made at least one transaction during that period through our platform or through our third-party partners’ platforms using the credit line granted by us.
Total loan originations refer to the total principal amount of loans facilitated and originated during the given period.
Total outstanding principal balance of loans refers to the total amount of principal outstanding for loans facilitated and originated at the end of each period, excluding loans delinquent for more than 180 days.
Loans under Intelligent Credit Platform are excluded from the calculation of credit performance. Intelligent Credit Platform (ICP) is an intelligent platform on our “Fenqile” app, under which we match borrowers and financial institutions through big data and cloud computing technology. For loans facilitated through ICP, the Company does not bear principal risk.
Customer retention rate refers to the number of financial institution customers and partners who repurchase our service in the current quarter as a percentage of the total number of financial institution customers and partners in the preceding quarter.
GMV refers to the total value of transactions completed for products purchased on our e-commerce and Maiya channel, net of returns.
Repeated borrowers’ contribution for a given period refers to the principal amount of loans borrowed during that period by borrowers who had previously made at least one successful drawdown as a percentage of the total loan facilitation and origination volume through our platform during that period.
Adjusted net income attributable to ordinary shareholders of the Company, adjusted net income per ordinary share and per ADS attributable to ordinary shareholders of the Company are non-GAAP financial measures. For more information on non-GAAP financial measures, please see the section of “Use of Non-GAAP Financial Measures Statement” and the tables captioned “Unaudited Reconciliations of GAAP and Non-GAAP Results” set forth at the end of this press release.

Fourth Quarter 2024 Financial Results:

Operating revenue increased by 4.3% from RMB3,509 million in the fourth quarter of 2023 to RMB3,659 million in the fourth quarter of 2024.

Credit facilitation service income was RMB2,712 million in the fourth quarter of 2024 as compared to RMB2,727 million in the fourth quarter of 2023. The decrease was driven by the decrease in guarantee income, partially offset by the increases in loan facilitation and servicing fees-credit oriented and financing income.

Loan facilitation and servicing fees-credit oriented increased by 4.2% from RMB1,559 million in the fourth quarter of 2023 to RMB1,624 million in the fourth quarter of 2024. The increase was primarily driven by the increase in takerate of loan facilitation business.

Guarantee income decreased by 18.6% from RMB709 million in the fourth quarter of 2023 to RMB577 million in the fourth quarter of 2024. The decrease was primarily due to the decrease of outstanding balances in the off-balance sheet loans funded by certain institutional funding partners, which are accounted for under ASC 460, Guarantees.

Financing income increased by 11.2% from RMB459 million in the fourth quarter of 2023 to RMB510 million in the fourth quarter of 2024. The increase was primarily driven by the increase in the origination of on-balance sheet loans.

Tech-empowerment service income increased by 41.0% from RMB427 million in the fourth quarter of 2023 to RMB602 million in the fourth quarter of 2024. The increase was primarily driven by the increase of loan facilitation volume through ICP.

Installment e-commerce platform service income was RMB345 million in the fourth quarter of 2024, as compared to RMB356 million in the fourth quarter of 2023.

Cost of sales was RMB353 million in the fourth quarter of 2024, as compared to RMB344 million in the fourth quarter of 2023.

Funding cost decreased by 24.6% from RMB76.2 million in the fourth quarter of 2023 to RMB57.5 million in the fourth quarter of 2024, which was primarily driven by the decrease in the cost of funding to fund the on-balance sheet loans.

Processing and servicing costs increased by 13.4% from RMB514 million in the fourth quarter of 2023 to RMB583 million in the fourth quarter of 2024. This increase was primarily due to an increase in risk management and collection expenses.

Provision for financing receivables was RMB297 million for the fourth quarter of 2024, as compared to RMB180 million for the fourth quarter of 2023. The increase was primarily due to the increase of the outstanding loan balances of on-balance sheet loans.

Provision for contract assets and receivables was RMB154 million in the fourth quarter of 2024, as compared to RMB203 million in the fourth quarter of 2023. The decrease was primarily driven by the decrease of the outstanding loan balances of off-balance sheet loans.

Provision for contingent guarantee liabilities was RMB941 million in the fourth quarter of 2024, as compared to RMB934 million in the fourth quarter of 2023.

Gross profit was RMB1,274 million in the fourth quarter of 2024, as compared to RMB1,258 million in the fourth quarter of 2023.

Sales and marketing expenses was RMB464 million in the fourth quarter of 2024, as compared to RMB430 million in the fourth quarter of 2023. This increase was primarily due to an increase in online advertising costs.

Research and development expenses was RMB151 million in the fourth quarter of 2024, as compared to RMB136 million in the fourth quarter of 2023. The increase was primarily due to increased investment in technology development.

General and administrative expenses decreased by 12.0% from RMB108 million in the fourth quarter of 2023 to RMB95.3 million in the fourth quarter of 2024, primarily as a result of the Company’s expense control measures.

Change in fair value of financial guarantee derivatives and loans at fair value was a loss of RMB144 million in the fourth quarter of 2024, as compared to a loss of RMB248 million in the fourth quarter of 2023. The change was primarily due to the fair value loss from the re-measurement of the expected loss rates, partially offset by the fair value gains realized as a result of the release of guarantee obligation.

Income tax expense was RMB67.6 million in the fourth quarter of 2024, as compared to income tax benefit of RMB9.7 million in the fourth quarter of 2023. The change was primarily due to the increase of income before income tax expense.

Net income increased over 100% from RMB12.1 million in the fourth quarter of 2023 to RMB363 million in the fourth quarter of 2024.

Full Year 2024 Financial Results:

Operating revenue increased by 8.8% from RMB13,057 million in 2023 to RMB14,204 million in 2024.

Credit facilitation service income increased by 13.8% from RMB9,666 million in 2023 to RMB11,000 million in 2024. The increase was driven by the increases in loan facilitation and servicing fees-credit oriented and guarantee income, partially offset by the decrease in financing income.

Loan facilitation and servicing fees-credit oriented increased by 26.5% from RMB5,002 million in 2023 to RMB6,326 million in 2024. The increase was primarily due to the increase in takerate of loan facilitation business.

Guarantee income increased by 5.7% from RMB2,519 million in 2023 to RMB2,664 million in 2024. The increase was primarily due to the increase in cumulative loan origination funded by certain institutional funding partners, which are accounted for under ASC 460, Guarantees.

Financing income decreased by 6.3% from RMB2,145 million in 2023 to RMB2,010 million in 2024. The decrease was primarily due to the decrease in the origination of on-balance sheet loans.

Tech-empowerment service income increased by 14.7% from RMB1,640 million in 2023 to RMB1,881 million in 2024. The increase was primarily due to the increase of loan facilitation volume through ICP.

Installment e-commerce platform service income decreased by 24.5% from RMB1,751 million in 2023 to RMB1,322 million in 2024. The decrease was primarily due to the decrease in transaction volume in 2024.

Cost of sales decreased by 19.3% from RMB1,636 million in 2023 to RMB1,320 million in 2024, which was consistent with the decrease in installment e-commerce platform service income.

Funding cost decreased by 36.5% from RMB514 million in 2023 to RMB326 million in 2024, which was primarily driven by the decrease in the cost of funding to fund the on-balance sheet loans.

Processing and servicing costs increased by 18.4% from RMB1,935 million in 2023 to RMB2,292 million in 2024. This increase was primarily due to an increase in risk management and collection expenses.

Provision for financing receivables was RMB866 million in 2024, as compared to RMB627 million in 2023. The increase was primarily due to the increase of the outstanding loan balances of on-balance sheet loans.

Provision for contract assets and receivables was RMB718 million in 2024, as compared to RMB629 million in 2023. The increase was primarily due to the increase of the outstanding loan balances of off-balance sheet loans.

Provision for contingent guarantee liabilities was RMB3,656 million in 2024, as compared to RMB3,203 million in 2023. The fluctuation was primarily due to the re-measurement of the expected loss rates, which are accounted for under ASC 460, Guarantees.

Gross profit increased by 11.4% from RMB4,513 million in 2023 to RMB5,026 million in 2024.

Sales and marketing expenses was RMB1,787 million in 2024, as compared to RMB1,733 million in 2023.

Research and development expenses was RMB578 million in the quarter of 2024, as compared to RMB513 million in 2023. The increase was primarily due to increased investment in technology development.

General and administrative expenses was RMB374 million in 2024, as compared to RMB387 million in 2023.

Change in fair value of financial guarantee derivatives and loans at fair value was a loss of RMB979 million in 2024, as compared to a loss of RMB206 million in 2023. The change was primarily due to the fair value loss from the re-measurement of the expected loss rates, partially offset by the fair value gains realized as a result of the release of guarantee obligation.

Income tax expense was RMB253 million in 2024, as compared to RMB261 million in 2023. The change was primarily due to the decrease of effective tax rate.

Net income increased by 3.2% from RMB1,066 million in 2023 to RMB1,100 million in the 2024.

Recent Development

Semi-Annual Dividend
The board of directors of the Company has approved a dividend of US$0.055 per ordinary share, or US$0.11 per ADS, for the six-month period ended December 31, 2024 in accordance with the Company’s dividend policy, which is expected to be paid on May 16, 2025 to shareholders of record (including holders of ADSs) as of the close of business on April 17, 2025 New York time.

Outlook
Looking ahead, while our performance continues to demonstrate positive momentum, we remain prudent in light of ongoing macroeconomic uncertainties. Therefore, for full year 2025, we expect total loan origination to have flat to single-digit year-on-year growth depending on the macroeconomic conditions, alongside a significant increase in net income driven by continuing improvement in asset quality. These forecasts are subject to the impact of macroeconomic factors, and the company may adjust its performance outlook as appropriate based on evolving circumstances.

Conference Call

The Company’s management will host an earnings conference call at 10:00 PM U.S. Eastern time on March 18, 2025 (10:00 AM Beijing/Hong Kong time on March 19, 2025).

Participants who wish to join the conference call should register online at:

https://register-conf.media-server.com/register/BI6702756dbdb741f9b401c583a37bd291

Once registration is completed, each participant will receive the dial-in number and a unique access PIN for the conference call.

Participants joining the conference call should dial in at least 10 minutes before the scheduled start time.

A live and archived webcast of the conference call will also be available at the Company’s investor relations website at http://ir.lexin.com.

About LexinFintech Holdings Ltd.

We are a leading credit technology-empowered personal financial service enabler. Our mission is to use technology and risk management expertise to make financing more accessible for young generation consumers. We strive to achieve this mission by connecting consumers with financial institutions, where we facilitate through a unique model that includes online and offline channels, installment consumption platform, big data and AI driven credit risk management capabilities, as well as smart user and loan management systems. We also empower financial institutions by providing cutting-edge proprietary technology solutions to meet their needs of financial digital transformation.

For more information, please visit http://ir.lexin.com.

To follow us on Twitter, please go to: https://twitter.com/LexinFintech.

Use of Non-GAAP Financial Measures Statement

In evaluating our business, we consider and use adjusted net income attributable to ordinary shareholders of the Company, non-GAAP EBIT, adjusted net income per ordinary share and per ADS attributable to ordinary shareholders of the Company, four non-GAAP measures, as supplemental measures to review and assess our operating performance. The presentation of the non-GAAP financial measures is not intended to be considered in isolation or as a substitute for the financial information prepared and presented in accordance with U.S. GAAP. We define adjusted net income attributable to ordinary shareholders of the Company as net income attributable to ordinary shareholders of the Company excluding share-based compensation expenses, interest expense associated with convertible notes, and investment income/(loss) and we define non-GAAP EBIT as net income excluding income tax expense, share-based compensation expenses, interest expense, net, and investment income/(loss).

We present these non-GAAP financial measures because they are used by our management to evaluate our operating performance and formulate business plans. Adjusted net income attributable to ordinary shareholders of the Company enables our management to assess our operating results without considering the impact of share-based compensation expenses, interest expense associated with convertible notes, and investment income/(loss). Non-GAAP EBIT, on the other hand, enables our management to assess our operating results without considering the impact of income tax expense, share-based compensation expenses, interest expense, net, and investment income/(loss). We also believe that the use of these non-GAAP financial measures facilitates investors’ assessment of our operating performance. These non-GAAP financial measures are not defined under U.S. GAAP and are not presented in accordance with U.S. GAAP.

These non-GAAP financial measures have limitations as an analytical tool. One of the key limitations of using adjusted net income attributable to ordinary shareholders of the Company and non-GAAP EBIT is that they do not reflect all items of income and expense that affect our operations. Share-based compensation expenses, interest expense associated with convertible notes, income tax expense, interest expense, net, and investment income/(loss) have been and may continue to be incurred in our business and are not reflected in the presentation of adjusted net income attributable to ordinary shareholders of the Company and non-GAAP EBIT. Further, these non-GAAP financial measures may differ from the non-GAAP financial information used by other companies, including peer companies, and therefore their comparability may be limited.

We compensate for these limitations by reconciling each of the non-GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable U.S. GAAP financial measure, which should be considered when evaluating our performance. We encourage you to review our financial information in its entirety and not rely on a single financial measure.

Exchange Rate Information Statement

This announcement contains translations of certain RMB amounts into U.S. dollars (“US$”) at specified rates solely for the convenience of the reader. Unless otherwise stated, all translations from RMB to US$ were made at the rate of RMB7.2993 to US$1.00, the exchange rate set forth in the H.10 statistical release of the Federal Reserve Board on December 31, 2024. The Company makes no representation that the RMB or US$ amounts referred could be converted into US$ or RMB, as the case may be, at any particular rate or at all.

Safe Harbor Statement

This announcement contains forward-looking statements. These statements are made under the “safe harbor” provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Statements that are not historical facts, including statements about Lexin’s beliefs and expectations, are forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements can be identified by terminology such as “will,” “ expects,” “anticipates,” “future,” “intends,” “plans,” “believes,” “estimates,” “confident” and similar statements. Among other things, the expectation of the collection efficiency and delinquency, business outlook and quotations from management in this announcement, contain forward-looking statements. Lexin may also make written or oral forward-looking statements in its periodic reports to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”), in its annual report to shareholders, in press releases and other written materials and in oral statements made by its officers, directors or employees to third parties. Forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties. A number of factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statement, including but not limited to the following: Lexin’s goal and strategies; Lexin’s expansion plans; Lexin’s future business development, financial condition and results of operations; Lexin’s expectation regarding demand for, and market acceptance of, its credit and investment management products; Lexin’s expectations regarding keeping and strengthening its relationship with borrowers, institutional funding partners, merchandise suppliers and other parties it collaborates with; general economic and business conditions; and assumptions underlying or related to any of the foregoing. Further information regarding these and other risks is included in Lexin’s filings with the SEC. All information provided in this press release and in the attachments is as of the date of this press release, and Lexin does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statement, except as required under applicable law.

For investor and media inquiries, please contact:

LexinFintech Holdings Ltd.
IR inquiries:
Will Tan
Tel: +86 (755) 3637-8888 ext. 6258
E-mail: willtan@lexin.com

Media inquiries:
Ruifeng Xu
Tel: +86 (755) 3637-8888 ext. 6993
E-mail: media@lexin.com

SOURCE LexinFintech Holdings Ltd.

LexinFintech Holdings Ltd. Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets
	As of
(In thousands)	December 31, 2023			December 31, 2024
	RMB			RMB			US$
ASSETS
Current Assets
Cash and cash equivalents		2,624,719			2,254,213			308,826
Restricted cash		1,433,502			1,638,479			224,471
Restricted term deposit and short-term investments		305,182			138,497			18,974
Short-term financing receivables, net⁽¹⁾		3,944,000			4,668,715			639,611
Short-term contract assets and receivables, net⁽¹⁾		6,112,981			5,448,057			746,381
Deposits to insurance companies and guarantee companies		2,613,271			2,355,343			322,681
Prepayments and other current assets		1,428,769			1,321,340			181,024
Amounts due from related parties		6,989			61,722			8,456
Inventories, net		33,605			22,345			3,061
Total Current Assets		18,503,018			17,908,711			2,453,485
Non-current Assets
Restricted cash		144,948			100,860			13,818
Long-term financing receivables, net⁽¹⁾		200,514			112,427			15,402
Long-term contract assets and receivables, net⁽¹⁾		599,818			317,402			43,484
Property, equipment and software, net		446,640			613,110			83,996
Land use rights, net		897,267			862,867			118,212
Long‑term investments		255,003			284,197			38,935
Deferred tax assets		1,232,092			1,540,842			211,094
Other assets		861,491			500,363			68,549
Total Non-current Assets		4,637,773			4,332,068			593,490
TOTAL ASSETS		23,140,791			22,240,779			3,046,975

LIABILITIES
Current liabilities
Accounts payable		49,801			74,443			10,199
Amounts due to related parties		2,958			10,927			1,497
Short‑term borrowings		502,013			690,772			94,635
Short‑term funding debts		3,483,196			2,754,454			377,359
Deferred guarantee income		1,538,385			975,102			133,588
Contingent guarantee liabilities		1,808,540			1,079,000			147,822
Accruals and other current liabilities		4,434,254			4,019,676			550,691
Convertible notes		505,450			–			–
Total Current Liabilities		12,324,597			9,604,374			1,315,791
Non-current Liabilities
Long-term borrowings		524,270			585,024			80,148
Long‑term funding debts		455,800			1,197,211			164,017
Deferred tax liabilities		75,340			91,380			12,519
Other long-term liabilities		50,702			22,784			3,121
Total Non-current Liabilities		1,106,112			1,896,399			259,805
TOTAL LIABILITIES		13,430,709			11,500,773			1,575,596
Shareholders’ equity:
Class A Ordinary Shares		199			205			31
Class B Ordinary Shares		41			41			7
Treasury stock		(328,764	)		(328,764	)		(45,040	)
Additional paid-in capital		3,204,961			3,314,866			454,134
Statutory reserves		1,106,579			1,178,309			161,428
Accumulated other comprehensive income		(13,545	)		(29,559	)		(4,050	)
Retained earnings		5,740,611			6,604,908			904,869
Total shareholders’ equity		9,710,082			10,740,006			1,471,379
TOTAL LIABILITIES AND SHAREHOLDERS’ EQUITY		23,140,791			22,240,779			3,046,975

__________________________
(1) Short-term financing receivables, net of allowance for credit losses of RMB58,594 and RMB102,124 as of December 31, 2023 and December 31, 2024, respectively.

Short-term contract assets and receivables, net of allowance for credit losses of RMB436,136 and RMB409,590 as of December 31, 2023 and December 31, 2024, respectively.

Long-term financing receivables, net of allowance for credit losses of RMB3,087 and RMB1,820 as of December 31, 2023 and December 31, 2024, respectively.

Long-term contract assets and receivables, net of allowance for credit losses of RMB61,838 and RMB30,919 as of December 31, 2023 and December 31, 2024, respectively.

LexinFintech Holdings Ltd. Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Statements of Operations
	For the Three Months Ended December 31,								For the Year Ended December 31,
(In thousands, except for share and per share data)	2023		2024						2023			2024
	RMB		RMB			US$			RMB			RMB			US$
Operating revenue:
Credit facilitation service income	2,727,020			2,712,066			371,552			9,666,120			10,999,931			1,506,984
Loan facilitation and servicing fees-credit oriented	1,558,588			1,624,410			222,543			5,001,881			6,325,924			866,648
Guarantee income	709,422			577,168			79,072			2,519,284			2,663,824			364,942
Financing income	459,010			510,488			69,937			2,144,955			2,010,183			275,394
Tech-empowerment service income	426,882			601,693			82,432			1,640,453			1,881,376			257,747
Installment e-commerce platform service income	355,534			345,074			47,275			1,750,509			1,322,287			181,153
Total operating revenue	3,509,436			3,658,833			501,259			13,057,082			14,203,594			1,945,884
Operating cost
Cost of sales	(344,088	)		(352,749	)		(48,326	)		(1,635,635	)		(1,319,526	)		(180,774	)
Funding cost	(76,195	)		(57,471	)		(7,873	)		(513,869	)		(326,451	)		(44,724	)
Processing and servicing cost	(514,070	)		(583,119	)		(79,887	)		(1,935,016	)		(2,291,904	)		(313,990	)
Provision for financing receivables	(180,475	)		(296,741	)		(40,653	)		(627,061	)		(865,524	)		(118,576	)
Provision for contract assets and receivables	(202,677	)		(153,968	)		(21,094	)		(629,308	)		(718,413	)		(98,422	)
Provision for contingent guarantee liabilities	(933,854	)		(940,740	)		(128,881	)		(3,203,123	)		(3,655,548	)		(500,808	)
Total operating cost	(2,251,359	)		(2,384,788	)		(326,714	)		(8,544,012	)		(9,177,366	)		(1,257,294	)
Gross profit	1,258,077			1,274,045			174,545			4,513,070			5,026,228			688,590
Operating expenses:
Sales and marketing expenses	(429,573	)		(464,263	)		(63,604	)		(1,733,301	)		(1,787,299	)		(244,859	)
Research and development expenses	(135,837	)		(151,081	)		(20,698	)		(513,284	)		(578,243	)		(79,219	)
General and administrative expenses	(108,305	)		(95,335	)		(13,061	)		(387,387	)		(374,481	)		(51,304	)
Total operating expenses	(673,715	)		(710,679	)		(97,363	)		(2,633,972	)		(2,740,023	)		(375,382	)
Change in fair value of financial guarantee derivatives and loans at fair value	(247,526	)		(143,619	)		(19,676	)		(206,368	)		(979,234	)		(134,155	)
Interest expense, net	(10,245	)		(2,560	)		(351	)		(50,483	)		(9,007	)		(1,234	)
Investment loss	(302,128	)		(543	)		(74	)		(303,235	)		(2,417	)		(331	)
Others, net	(22,092	)		13,754			1,884			7,774			58,188			7,972
Income before income tax expense	2,371			430,398			58,965			1,326,786			1,353,735			185,460
Income tax benefit/(expense)	9,726			(67,649	)		(9,268	)		(260,841	)		(253,275	)		(34,699	)
Net income	12,097			362,749			49,697			1,065,945			1,100,460			150,761
Net income attributable to ordinary shareholders of the Company	12,097			362,749			49,697			1,065,945			1,100,460			150,761

Net income per ordinary share attributable to ordinary shareholders of the Company
Basic	0.04			1.09			0.15			3.24			3.32			0.45
Diluted	0.04			1.03			0.14			3.17			3.24			0.44

Net income per ADS attributable to ordinary shareholders of the Company
Basic	0.07			2.18			0.30			6.49			6.64			0.91
Diluted	0.07			2.06			0.28			6.34			6.49			0.89

Weighted average ordinary shares outstanding
Basic	329,297,640			333,182,976			333,182,976			328,523,952			331,403,936			331,403,936
Diluted	331,941,385			351,577,582			351,577,582			359,820,982			339,261,349			339,261,349

LexinFintech Holdings Ltd.
Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Statements of Comprehensive Income

For the Three Months Ended December 31,

For the Year Ended December 31,

(In thousands)

2023

2024

2023

2024

RMB

US$

RMB

US$

Net income

12,097

362,749

49,697

1,065,945

1,100,460

150,761

Other comprehensive income

Foreign currency translation adjustment, net of nil tax

27,841

642

7,297

(16,014

)

(2,194

)

Total comprehensive income

39,938

363,391

49,785

1,073,242

1,084,446

148,567

Total comprehensive income attributable to ordinary shareholders of the Company

39,938

363,391

49,785

1,073,242

1,084,446

148,567

LexinFintech Holdings Ltd. Unaudited Reconciliations of GAAP and Non-GAAP Results
	For the Three Months Ended December 31,							For the Year Ended December 31,
(In thousands, except for share and per share data)	2023			2024				2023			2024
	RMB			RMB		US$		RMB			RMB		US$
Reconciliation of Adjusted net income attributable to ordinary shareholders of the Company to Net income attributable to ordinary shareholders of the Company
Net income attributable to ordinary shareholders of the Company		12,097			362,749		49,697		1,065,945			1,100,460		150,761
Add: Share-based compensation expenses		32,959			27,244		3,732		117,852			94,623		12,963
Interest expense associated with convertible notes		11,943			–		–		73,807			5,695		780
Investment loss		302,128			543		74		303,235			2,417		331
Tax effects on Non-GAAP adjustments ⁽²⁾		(75,440	)		–		–		(75,440	)		–		–
Adjusted net income attributable to ordinary shareholders of the Company		283,687			390,536		53,503		1,485,399			1,203,195		164,835

Adjusted net income per ordinary share attributable to ordinary shareholders of the Company
Basic		0.86			1.17		0.16		4.52			3.63		0.50
Diluted		0.82			1.11		0.15		4.13			3.55		0.49

Adjusted net income per ADS attributable to ordinary shareholders of the Company
Basic		1.72			2.34		0.32		9.04			7.26		0.99
Diluted		1.64			2.22		0.30		8.26			7.09		0.97

Weighted average shares used in calculating net income per ordinary share for non-GAAP EPS
Basic		329,297,640			333,182,976		333,182,976		328,523,952			331,403,936		331,403,936
Diluted		345,913,435			351,577,582		351,577,582		359,820,982			339,261,349		339,261,349

Reconciliations of Non-GAAP EBIT to Net income
Net income		12,097			362,749		49,697		1,065,945			1,100,460		150,761
Add: Income tax (benefit)/expense		(9,726	)		67,649		9,268		260,841			253,275		34,699
Share-based compensation expenses		32,959			27,244		3,732		117,852			94,623		12,963
Interest expense, net		10,245			2,560		351		50,483			9,007		1,234
Investment loss		302,128			543		74		303,235			2,417		331
Non-GAAP EBIT		347,703			460,745		63,122		1,798,356			1,459,782		199,988

(2) To exclude the tax effects related to the investment loss

Additional Credit Information

Vintage Charge Off Curve¹

Dpd30+/GMV by Performance Windows¹

First Payment Default 30+¹

1. Loans facilitated under ICP are excluded from the chart.

The MIL Network –

March 19, 2025

MIL-OSI USA: Cantwell Leads Seattle Doctors and Patients in Saying No to Medicaid Cuts
US Senate News:
Source: United States Senator for Washington Maria Cantwell
03.18.25

Cantwell Leads Seattle Doctors and Patients in Saying No to Medicaid Cuts

Cantwell releases second snapshot report featuring new data about Medicaid’s crucial role in keeping Seattle-area residents healthy

SEATTLE, WA – Today, U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA), senior member of the Senate Finance Committee and ranking member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, held a press conference with Seattle-area health care professionals and patients to discuss the harms that would result from proposed cuts to Medicaid.

“This is a tsunami of cuts coming at the people of Washington and the United States of America,” said Sen. Cantwell, “And I guarantee you this is not a drill.”

Whitney Stohr, advocate and mother of Malachi, who was born with spina bifida, spoke about Medicaid’s role in her son’s treatment: “While I was taking care of him in those early days in the hospital I knew that there was no way my family could afford the care. We couldn’t pay for it then, we couldn’t pay for it now – at least not without Medicaid.”

“For families like mine, for kids like Malachi, Medicaid is the lifeline,” Stohr added.

McKenzi Fish, a childhood cancer survivor and founder of Forever Fighters, who was covered by Medicaid during her fight against Hodgkin lymphoma as a teenager, said: ”Fourteen months of my treatments, scans, medications, and tests would have cost her [single mom] $500,000 … Cancer fighters endure many challenges emotionally, mentally, and physically during their fight. Financial worries and complications should not serve as an additional stress to an already exhausting struggle.”

“Cuts of the magnitude that are being discussed are existential for Harborview,” said Sommer Kleweno-Walley, CEO of Harborview Medical Center. “We simply could not exist as we do today if the proposals being discussed were to move forward.”

On February 25, House Republicans voted to advance President Trump’s budget resolution, which proposes up to an $880 billion cut from Medicaid.

Also today, Sen. Cantwell released a second snapshot report with new data showing the crucial role that Medicaid – known as Apple Health in Washington state – plays in funding Seattle-area health care.

Medicaid funded 22.6% of inpatient care and 18.1% of outpatient care at hospitals in Western Washington in 2023. Western Washington hospitals saw 623,549 Medicaid patients in 2023.

In the Federal Way, Burien, SeaTac, and Kent areas, more than 70% of children are enrolled in Apple Health (Medicaid in the State of Washington).

Medicaid is the largest payer at Seattle Children’s, accounting for over 50% of patients. 39% of Harborview’s revenue came from Medicaid in 2024.

The State of Washington ranks 51st in the nation in patient-to-bed ratio, at 1.6 beds per 1,000 residents. By causing likely closures of hospitals in rural areas, Medicaid cuts would worsen our state’s patient-to-bed ratio.

“We need everyone to call their member of Congress and the White House and say ‘this level of massive cuts to Medicaid is not what we want,’” said Sen. Cantwell.

Last month, Sen. Cantwell released a snapshot report highlighting the impact that slashing Medicaid to fund tax cuts for corporations and the ultra-wealthy would have on the health care system statewide.

That snapshot included new data on the percentage of Medicaid patients in each of the State of Washington’s U.S. congressional districts, as well as by region. In the 7^th Congressional District, 26% of children and 12% of adults are on Medicaid. In the 9^th Congressional District, 56% of children and 21% of adults are on Medicaid.

The other speakers at today’s event were Dr. Jason Deen, Associate Professor of Pediatrics and pediatric cardiologist at the University of Washington; Dr. Ettore Palazzo, CEO of Evergreen Health; and Yi-Hui Chi, Behavioral Health Director at Neighborcare Health. Their comments can be viewed on video.

Video of today’s entire press conference is HERE; video of Sen. Cantwell’s remarks is HERE; photos are HERE; and a transcript is HERE.
MIL OSI USA News –
March 19, 2025
MIL-OSI: HTX February Performance Report: Trading Volume Surges, Secured Top 3 Ranking in EUR-Stablecoin Trading Volume

Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

SINGAPORE, March 18, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Amid February’s cryptocurrency market volatility, HTX demonstrated robust performance, delivering exceptional achievements in trading volume, user engagement, product enhancements, and global market expansion. HTX’s performance during this period has garnered recognition from prominent media outlets, underscoring the platform’s resilience and commitment to providing a robust trading environment.

Stronger Platform Growth with Industry-Wide Recognition

February witnessed a substantial surge in HTX’s trading volume, accompanied by an 8.15% month-over-month rise in HTX App logins, indicating heightened user engagement and platform appeal..

According to CoinDesk Data’s February 27th report, HTX’s global expansion has yielded impressive results, securing a top-three position in EUR-stablecoin trading volume. This achievement underscores HTX’s growing presence and influence within the international digital asset market. Furthermore, HTX has been honored by Forbes as one of the “Top 25 World’s Most Trustworthy Crypto Exchanges of 2025,” a testament to its unwavering commitment to security, regulatory compliance, and user confidence.

HTX also participated in key industry summits during February. At the 2025 HTX DAO Victoria Harbour Night – Journey of Confidence event in Hong Kong, Justin Sun, Global Advisor of HTX, discussed the decentralized stablecoin USDD, emphasizing its innovative mechanisms designed to optimize user returns and enhance the overall user experience. He reaffirmed USDD’s commitment to long-term development, emphasizing robust technology and effective community governance as pillars for sustainable growth.

Maximizing Wealth Creation for Users

In February, HTX listed six new assets, bringing significant wealth growth opportunities for its users, particularly among the high-performers. Specifically, KAITO surged 207% post-listing, BERA increased by 80%, and LAYER rose by 50%. Even amidst recent market fluctuations, HTX continues to provide avenues for wealth creation.

HTX exhibited keen market discernment by being among the first to list TST and SHELL from the BSC ecosystem. TST, a notable BSC project endorsed by CZ, saw HTX respond promptly to its burgeoning popularity, effectively capturing market trends and providing users with a distinct early-mover advantage.

HTX Ventures, recognizing emerging AI opportunities, released its latest research report in February titled “DeepSeek Sparks the AI Sector’s ‘iPhone Moment,’ and Agent Tokens’ Integration into Real Crypto Businesses Accelerates.” This insightful report explores AI technology’s extensive applications within the cryptocurrency sector, providing investors with valuable market foresight while fostering ecosystem growth and pioneering project incubation.

HTX also focused on enhancing its product offerings. The platform revamped the HTX Earn subscription interface, streamlining processes and improving operational convenience for an optimized user experience. Additionally, the USDD Flexible Earn platform was upgraded to support USDT subscriptions at a 1:1 ratio, offering users a 12% APY and ensuring stable returns during market fluctuations. HTX will remain dedicated to continuously improving product functionalities and enriching its offerings.

Safeguarding User Assets as a Priority

HTX has significantly enhanced its security infrastructure throughout February, reinforcing its commitment to protecting user accounts, transactions, and assets.These comprehensive security measures underscore HTX’s unwavering dedication to providing a secure and reliable trading environment for its global user base.

As a pioneer in implementing Merkle Tree Proof of Reserves, HTX has consistently demonstrated its dedication to transparency by publicly disclosing reserve data for 29 consecutive months. The platform recently updated its Merkle Tree Proof of Reserves for March 2025.

Users can access the monthly updated reports and view the platform’s financial status from the “Assets – PoR Reports” page on the HTX official website.

Throughout February, HTX’s customer service team provided exceptional support, assisting 33,743 users and effectively addressing 65,636 inquiries and tickets across various areas such as P2P trading, on-chain transactions, 2FA, asset management, and KYC verification. The team’s dedication to providing professional and timely solutions resulted in an 82% user satisfaction rating in February, fostering a positive and loyal user base.

HTX showcased robust growth in February, driven by significant trading volume increases, innovative product offerings, fortified security measures, and premium user service. With its global expansion and continuous improvements to products and services, HTX is well-positioned to gain a larger market share, offering an enhanced digital asset trading and investment experience to users worldwide.

About HTX

Founded in 2013, HTX has evolved from a virtual asset exchange into a comprehensive ecosystem of blockchain businesses that span digital asset trading, financial derivatives, research, investments, incubation, and other businesses.

As a world-leading gateway to Web3, HTX harbors global capabilities that enable it to provide users with safe and reliable services. Adhering to the growth strategy of “Global Expansion, Thriving Ecosystem, Wealth Effect, Security & Compliance,” HTX is dedicated to providing quality services and values to virtual asset enthusiasts worldwide.

To learn more about HTX, please visit HTX Square or https://www.htx.com/, and follow HTX on X, Telegram, and Discord. For further inquiries, please contact glo-media@htx-inc.com.

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The MIL Network –

March 19, 2025
MIL-OSI USA: U.S. Files Civil Forfeiture Complaint Against Aircraft Used by Nicolás Maduro Moros in Violation of U.S. Sanctions and Export Control Laws

Source: US State of California

Note: View the forfeiture complaint.

The United States today filed a civil forfeiture complaint in the Southern District of Florida against a Dassault Falcon 900 EX aircraft, bearing tail number T7-ESPRT, which was smuggled from the United States under false pretenses and operated for the benefit of Nicolás Maduro Moros (Maduro) and his representatives in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela (the Maduro Regime) in violation of U.S. sanctions and export control laws. The aircraft was seized last year in the Dominican Republic at the request of the United States.

Today’s filing alleges that the Dassault Falcon 900 EX aircraft was purchased and maintained in violation of U.S. sanctions against Maduro and the Maduro Regime. According to the complaint, the aircraft is forfeitable based on violations of U.S. law, including the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) and money laundering violations.

Since 2014, the United States has imposed sanctions against targeted individuals, entities, and sectors in Venezuela to address the increasing political oppression and corruption in Venezuela by the Maduro Regime. On March 8, 2015, the President found that the situation in Venezuela constituted an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States and declared a national emergency pursuant to IEEPA to deal with that threat. See Executive Order (E.O.) 13692.

In 2017, 2018, and 2019, President Trump took additional steps regarding the national emergency declared in E.O. 13692. On Aug. 5, 2019, the President issued E.O. 13884 “in light of the continued usurpation of power by Nicolás Maduro and persons affiliated with him, as well as human rights abuses, including arbitrary or unlawful arrest and detention of Venezuelan citizens, interference with freedom of expression, including for members of the media, and ongoing attempts to undermine Interim President Juan Guaidó and the Venezuelan National Assembly’s exercise of legitimate authority in Venezuela.”

E.O. 13884 prohibits the making of any contribution or provision of funds, goods, or services by, to, or for the benefit of any person whose property and interests in property are blocked pursuant to the order, including the Government of Venezuela and the Maduro Regime; the receipt of any contribution or provision of funds, goods, or services from any such person; and, any transaction that evades or avoids, has the purpose of evading or avoiding, causes a violation of, or attempts to violate any of the prohibitions set forth in the order.

The complaint alleges that on or about Jan. 23, 2023, a company purportedly based in the Caribbean island country of St. Vincent and the Grenadines (Foreign Company 1) entered into a contract to purchase the Dassault Falcon 900 EX aircraft from a company in Florida for $13,250,000. The complaint further alleges that the individual in charge of purchasing the aircraft purportedly on behalf of Foreign Company 1 was a Venezuelan national (Foreign Principal 1), who concealed the fact that he was representing or associated with the Maduro Regime.

The complaint further alleges that Foreign Company 1 merely acted as a nominee owner of the Dassault Falcon 900 EX aircraft as it was formed shortly before the purchase, in June 2022, and was struck from the register of St. Vincent companies for failure to pay annual fees two years later, in May 2024.

The complaint further alleges that funds used to purchase the Dassault Falcon 900EX aircraft were sent via multiple wire transfers from different countries, including Malaysia, using both U.S. dollars and euros, and that Foreign Company 1 used an email address with a “.ae” domain from the United Arab Emirates to correspond with the Florida-based seller even though Foreign Company 1’s representatives allegedly had Spanish names and some of the emails contained the phrase “Enviado desde mi iPhone,” or Spanish for “Sent from my iPhone.”

The complaint further alleges that the Dassault Falcon 900 EX aircraft was flown from the United States to St. Vincent on or about April 3, 2023, and approximately five hours later, it departed for Caracas, Venezuela, piloted by two members of the Venezuelan Presidential Honor Guard, and accompanied by a second aircraft that operates out of a Venezuelan military base.

The complaint further alleges that, since May 2023, the Dassault Falcon 900 EX aircraft has flown to and from Venezuela at least 21 times and Maduro has been seen traveling with the aircraft on official visits to other countries, including for a December 2023 prisoner exchange with the United States.

As alleged, in March 2024, the Dassault Falcon 900 EX aircraft was flown to the Dominican Republic for service and maintenance where Foreign Company 1 held itself out to be the owner, concealing from the Dominican-based jet maintenance company that the aircraft had been purchased and operated for benefit of the Maduro Regime.

The complaint further alleges that on at least two occasions in May 2024, Foreign Principal 1, purportedly acting on behalf of Foreign Company 1, and other Venezuelan individuals, including military personnel, attempted to retrieve the Dassault Falcon aircraft from the Dominican Republic.

Following the attempts by the Venezuelan individuals to retrieve the Dassault Falcon 900 EX aircraft, the U.S. government obtained a seizure warrant and requested that the Dominican Republic seize, detain, and transfer the Dassault Falcon aircraft. Pursuant to U.S. request, the aircraft was transported back to the United States on Sept. 2, 2024. That same day, the Maduro Regime issued a statement admitting the Dassault Falcon aircraft “has been used by” Maduro.

A second Dassault Falcon aircraft identified by the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) as blocked property of Petroleos de Venezuela, S.A. (PdVSA), the sanctioned Venezuelan state-owned oil and natural-gas company, and illegally serviced and maintained in violation of U.S. sanctions, also was seized in the Dominican Republic at the request of the United States government on Feb. 6, 2025.

The Department of Commerce Bureau of Industry and Security Miami Field Office is investigating the case, along with the Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Santo Domingo.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Joshua Paster and Jorge Delgado for the Southern District of Florida and Trial Attorney Ahmed Almudallal of the National Security Division’s Counterintelligence and Export Control Section are handling the matter.

The Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs and HSI El Dorado Task Force Miami provided significant assistance in working with authorities in the Dominican Republic. The United States thanks the Dominican Republic for its assistance in this matter.

MIL OSI USA News –

March 19, 2025
MIL-OSI USA: Attorney General Bonta Issues Legal Alert Reminding Local Jurisdictions to Streamline Permitting for Electric Vehicle Charging Stations
Source: US State of California

Tuesday, March 18, 2025

Contact: (916) 210-6000, agpressoffice@doj.ca.gov
OAKLAND – California Attorney General Rob Bonta today issued a legal alert reminding local California jurisdictions (localities) of the requirements under State law to streamline and expedite the permitting of electric vehicle (EV) charging stations. In 2015, the California Legislature adopted Assembly Bill (AB) 1236 (Chiu) (codified at Government Code section 65850.7) followed by AB 970 (McCarty) (codified at Government Code section 65850.71) in 2021, which created a state-mandated local program to streamline permits for EV charging stations. With California’s goal of transitioning the state to 100% zero-emission vehicle sales by 2035, widespread deployment of EV charging stations is key to achieving this goal and ensuring that EV charging infrastructure is available to meet growing demand. However, noncompliance with AB 1236 and AB 970 hinders California’s transition to electrification. In today’s legal alert, Attorney General Bonta highlights common compliance issues occurring statewide, as well as resources for localities to address these issues.

“The global fight against climate change requires bold action and system solutions. Deploying electric vehicle charging infrastructure is a step in the right direction, empowering communities to transition to clean energy and reduce air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions, and in California, we have state laws that do just that,” said Attorney General Bonta. “With today’s alert, we are reminding localities that they must comply with state law in streamlining the permitting of this infrastructure, as well as removing unreasonable barriers that prevent deployment statewide, which will improve air quality and mitigate climate impacts for generations to come.”

Requirements Under EV Charging Streamlining Laws

Below are key legal requirements covered by the legal alert.
- Localities Must Approve EV Charging Stations Ministerially. Localities must approve an EV charging station permit application unless the locality finds, based on substantial evidence, that the charging station would have a “specific, adverse impact upon public health or safety.”
- Streamlining Laws Supersede Local Zoning Codes and Cover All Installation Types. Localities must ministerially approve EV charging permit applications regardless of siting location and local zoning regulations, and regardless of the type or size of the proposed installation.
- Accelerated Permitting Timelines. Applications are deemed complete either 5 or 10 business days after submission depending on the number of EV charging stations proposed. Upon completion, localities have 20 or 40 business days to approve the complete permit application, depending on the number of chargers.
- Local Ordinance Requirements. Localities must adopt ordinances that create an expedited and streamlined permitting process for EV charging stations.
RESOURCES

For localities seeking additional guidance or support, resources include:
- California Building Officials, “AB 1236 Tool Kit: Electric Vehicle Charging Stations Ordinances and Staff Report Templates – Large Jurisdictions.”
- Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development (GO-Biz), “CA Electric Vehicle Charging Station Permit Streamlining Map.”
- GO-Biz, “Plug-In Vehicle Readiness.”
- GO-Biz, “Permitting Electric Vehicle Charging Stations Scorecard.”
- GO-Biz, “Electric Vehicle Charging Station Permitting Guidebook” (2d Ed.) (Jan. 2023).
- UC Berkeley Center for Law, Energy, & the Environment, “Equitable EV Action Plan Framework” (Dec. 2024).
- UC Berkeley Center for Law, Energy, & the Environment, “EV Equity Roadmap.”
A copy of the alert is available here.
# # #

MIL OSI USA News –
March 19, 2025
MIL-OSI Europe: Written question – Tackling fake reviews and building trust in digital services – E-001009/2025
Source: European Parliament
Question for written answer E-001009/2025
to the Commission
Rule 144
Dimitris Tsiodras (PPE)

Consumers increasingly rely on ratings and reviews from other consumers when buying a product or service. However, around one in two consumers[1] reported that they were unable to find information on whether a company ensures that the reviews published were submitted by real customers and on how reviews were collected. Although misleading practices relating to consumer reviews are covered by the directive on unfair commercial practices and better enforcement and modernisation of Union consumer protection rules and the Digital Services Act, the problem remains significant.

Can the Commission say:

1.What steps will it take to ensure that the sale, purchase and submission of fake reviews are banned and that such reviews are removed when found online, so as to ensure that the reviews published come from consumers who have actually used or bought the service or product?

2.How will existing legislation be implemented to address practices of altering consumer ratings, for example when only positive reviews are published and negative ones deleted?

Submitted: 7.3.2025

[1] SWD(2024) 230, Fitness check of EU consumer law on digital fairness
Last updated: 18 March 2025
MIL OSI Europe News –
March 19, 2025
MIL-OSI Europe: Economic forecast: below-average growth, high degree of uncertainty

Source: Switzerland – Department of Economic Affairs, Education and Research

The Federal Government Expert Group on Business Cycles has slightly lowered its growth forecast for the Swiss economy. In 2025, GDP adjusted for sporting events is expected to grow by 1.4%, followed by 1.6% in 2026 (December forecasts: 1.5% and 1.7% respectively). [1] This would mean the Swiss economy would continue to grow below its historical average for another two years. These forecasts presuppose that there will be no escalating global trade war. In view of the considerable uncertainty, SECO has formulated two alternative scenarios to supplement the expert group’s forecast.

MIL OSI Europe News –

March 19, 2025
MIL-OSI Security: U.S. Files Civil Forfeiture Complaint Against Aircraft Used by Nicolás Maduro Moros in Violation of U.S. Sanctions and Export Control Laws

Source: United States Attorneys General

Note: View the forfeiture complaint.

The United States today filed a civil forfeiture complaint in the Southern District of Florida against a Dassault Falcon 900 EX aircraft, bearing tail number T7-ESPRT, which was smuggled from the United States under false pretenses and operated for the benefit of Nicolás Maduro Moros (Maduro) and his representatives in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela (the Maduro Regime) in violation of U.S. sanctions and export control laws. The aircraft was seized last year in the Dominican Republic at the request of the United States.

Today’s filing alleges that the Dassault Falcon 900 EX aircraft was purchased and maintained in violation of U.S. sanctions against Maduro and the Maduro Regime. According to the complaint, the aircraft is forfeitable based on violations of U.S. law, including the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) and money laundering violations.

Since 2014, the United States has imposed sanctions against targeted individuals, entities, and sectors in Venezuela to address the increasing political oppression and corruption in Venezuela by the Maduro Regime. On March 8, 2015, the President found that the situation in Venezuela constituted an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States and declared a national emergency pursuant to IEEPA to deal with that threat. See Executive Order (E.O.) 13692.

In 2017, 2018, and 2019, President Trump took additional steps regarding the national emergency declared in E.O. 13692. On Aug. 5, 2019, the President issued E.O. 13884 “in light of the continued usurpation of power by Nicolás Maduro and persons affiliated with him, as well as human rights abuses, including arbitrary or unlawful arrest and detention of Venezuelan citizens, interference with freedom of expression, including for members of the media, and ongoing attempts to undermine Interim President Juan Guaidó and the Venezuelan National Assembly’s exercise of legitimate authority in Venezuela.”

E.O. 13884 prohibits the making of any contribution or provision of funds, goods, or services by, to, or for the benefit of any person whose property and interests in property are blocked pursuant to the order, including the Government of Venezuela and the Maduro Regime; the receipt of any contribution or provision of funds, goods, or services from any such person; and, any transaction that evades or avoids, has the purpose of evading or avoiding, causes a violation of, or attempts to violate any of the prohibitions set forth in the order.

The complaint alleges that on or about Jan. 23, 2023, a company purportedly based in the Caribbean island country of St. Vincent and the Grenadines (Foreign Company 1) entered into a contract to purchase the Dassault Falcon 900 EX aircraft from a company in Florida for $13,250,000. The complaint further alleges that the individual in charge of purchasing the aircraft purportedly on behalf of Foreign Company 1 was a Venezuelan national (Foreign Principal 1), who concealed the fact that he was representing or associated with the Maduro Regime.

The complaint further alleges that Foreign Company 1 merely acted as a nominee owner of the Dassault Falcon 900 EX aircraft as it was formed shortly before the purchase, in June 2022, and was struck from the register of St. Vincent companies for failure to pay annual fees two years later, in May 2024.

The complaint further alleges that funds used to purchase the Dassault Falcon 900EX aircraft were sent via multiple wire transfers from different countries, including Malaysia, using both U.S. dollars and euros, and that Foreign Company 1 used an email address with a “.ae” domain from the United Arab Emirates to correspond with the Florida-based seller even though Foreign Company 1’s representatives allegedly had Spanish names and some of the emails contained the phrase “Enviado desde mi iPhone,” or Spanish for “Sent from my iPhone.”

The complaint further alleges that the Dassault Falcon 900 EX aircraft was flown from the United States to St. Vincent on or about April 3, 2023, and approximately five hours later, it departed for Caracas, Venezuela, piloted by two members of the Venezuelan Presidential Honor Guard, and accompanied by a second aircraft that operates out of a Venezuelan military base.

The complaint further alleges that, since May 2023, the Dassault Falcon 900 EX aircraft has flown to and from Venezuela at least 21 times and Maduro has been seen traveling with the aircraft on official visits to other countries, including for a December 2023 prisoner exchange with the United States.

As alleged, in March 2024, the Dassault Falcon 900 EX aircraft was flown to the Dominican Republic for service and maintenance where Foreign Company 1 held itself out to be the owner, concealing from the Dominican-based jet maintenance company that the aircraft had been purchased and operated for benefit of the Maduro Regime.

The complaint further alleges that on at least two occasions in May 2024, Foreign Principal 1, purportedly acting on behalf of Foreign Company 1, and other Venezuelan individuals, including military personnel, attempted to retrieve the Dassault Falcon aircraft from the Dominican Republic.

Following the attempts by the Venezuelan individuals to retrieve the Dassault Falcon 900 EX aircraft, the U.S. government obtained a seizure warrant and requested that the Dominican Republic seize, detain, and transfer the Dassault Falcon aircraft. Pursuant to U.S. request, the aircraft was transported back to the United States on Sept. 2, 2024. That same day, the Maduro Regime issued a statement admitting the Dassault Falcon aircraft “has been used by” Maduro.

A second Dassault Falcon aircraft identified by the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) as blocked property of Petroleos de Venezuela, S.A. (PdVSA), the sanctioned Venezuelan state-owned oil and natural-gas company, and illegally serviced and maintained in violation of U.S. sanctions, also was seized in the Dominican Republic at the request of the United States government on Feb. 6, 2025.

The Department of Commerce Bureau of Industry and Security Miami Field Office is investigating the case, along with the Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Santo Domingo.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Joshua Paster and Jorge Delgado for the Southern District of Florida and Trial Attorney Ahmed Almudallal of the National Security Division’s Counterintelligence and Export Control Section are handling the matter.

The Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs and HSI El Dorado Task Force Miami provided significant assistance in working with authorities in the Dominican Republic. The United States thanks the Dominican Republic for its assistance in this matter.

MIL Security OSI –

March 19, 2025

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