Energy & Utilities | Consumer Products & Retail | Automotive | Banking | Insurance
Energy & Utilities
NREL, SolarWindow agree to further develop skycrapper solar technology
Smart energy technology company, SolarWindow, announced it has entered into phase 3 of its Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with the US Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). Phase 3 of the programme allows the two to continue R&D of a solar technology to enhance performance, scale and reliability at the same time obtain performance certifications for a commercial rollout. Under the CRADA, SolarWindow and NREL developed SolarWindow transparent electricity-generating coatings, which can be used by skyscrapers for solar technology power generation.
US utility plans $6m water meters upgrade project
US utility Orange Water and Sewerage Authority (OWASA), announced its plan to include in its budget $6m to fund the implementation of a water meters project. OWASA said the project will include the installation of an Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) solution including small radio transmitters on water meters. The radio transmitter will allow OWASA remote and accurate meter data collection.
Japan smart water meters: Sensus reports on Tokyo FlexNet trial
In Tokyo, Japan, global meter communication company Sensus will complete a demonstration trial of its FlexNet LRR network at the end of this month. Sensus, which has a country office in Japan, kickstarted the pilot in May 2015, working with the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communication (MIC) to demonstrate that its FlextNet communications platform is well suited to smart electricity, water and gas meter utility rollouts.
Consumer Products & Retail
Alibaba finance arm in talks to invest in Chinese media group Caixin
Alibaba’s internet finance arm Ant Financial Services is in talks to invest in Chinese news outlet Caixin Media, said two people familiar with the matter. Caixin, with its eponymous flagship magazine, is an influential business, politics and finance news media group founded by outspoken editor Hu Shuli. Caixin also possesses data and indices which could complement Ant’s financial and wealth management services, should the companies agree to a deal. In a statement on its website on Wednesday, Caixin said it was nearing completion of a funding round, introducing a number of unnamed high-quality investors, but that new and original shareholders alike will recognize the group’s editorial independence. Caixin’s statement did not say how much it was seeking to raise. The sources did not say how much Ant Financial plans to invest in Caixin.
Samsonite acquires luxury rival Tumi
Samsonite, the worlds ‘s largest luggage maker, is to acquire luxury rival Tumi as part of a £1.3bn takeover deal. Samsonite said it would pay £18.9 per share in an all-cash transaction, as it taps into the luxury market. The deal is expected to bring cost savings in sourcing, logistics, sales and marketing, as well as distribution and product development. “It is a perfect match in many aspects such as retail channels and regional mix, category mix and even price points,” Boyoung Kim, an analyst at BNP Paribas, told Reuters. “It can bring huge synergies in the long term.”The new company will list on the Hong Kong stock exchange, where Luxembourg-based Samsonite is already listed.
CEO to step down from Tesco’s One Stop chain
Tony Reed, the boss of Tesco’s convenience store empire, will be stepping down from the company. According to The Grocer, the “Tesco lifer” is set to leave the chain after 38 years. Having started stacking shelves in 1978, he eventually became CEO of One Stop in March 2011, when the Tesco subsidiary bought Mills Group. In his own words, he was “thrown in at the deep end.” Just over a year ago, Reed took charge of Tesco’s convenience store operations as part of the management shake-up instigated by Dave Lewis. For the year to February 2015, One Stop saw sales rise by 17.2% to reach £925m, despite Tesco’s falling fortunes at the time. “Tony has made a huge and varied contribution to our business throughout his 38-year career at Tesco and we wish him every success for the future,” a Tesco spokesperson said, adding that a successor would be chosen in due course.
Automotive
Goodyear reveals concept tires for autonomous vehicles at Geneva Motor Show
Goodyear has revealed two innovative new concept tires at the Geneva Motor Show that could literally reshape the future for autonomous cars. The concepts are: the spherical-shaped Eagle-360, a future-oriented tire that was designed with key features of maneuverability, connectivity and ‘biomimicry’ for autonomous mobility, while the IntelliGrip, featuring advanced sensor and treadwear technology, is a solution for the earlier adoption of self-driving vehicles.
Kia displays its self-driving tech at Geneva
Kia’s new Drive Wise sub-brand is showcasing its self-driving technologies at the ongoing Geneva Motor Show. The South Korean brand targets to fit its cars with autonomous technologies by the end of the decade. Kia’s self-driving related tech on display at the Geneva Show include Highway Autonomous Driving, Urban Autonomous Driving, Preceding Vehicle Following, Emergency Stop System, Traffic Jam Assist and a new Autonomous Parking & Out function.
Toyota extends recall over Takata’s airbags
The Japanese automaker, Toyota, announced that it was forced to call back to dealers another 331,200 cars, because of the potentially defective airbags made by Takata. There are around 29 million cars affected so far only in the United States by the explosive inflators and, in all, as many as 120 million Takata airbags in US vehicles have ammonium nitrate, the chemical substance that led to the deadly ruptures. As a result, the US safety regulators are examining whether an additional 70 million to 90 million airbags may endanger drivers.
Banking
RBS will employ an AI chat bot to handle online banking queries
In response to recent moves by rivals to incorporate more technology in their customer operations, RBS has announced it’s to deploy a new online virtual assistant to help deal with enquiries quicker. The bank says the AI, named “Luvo,” was first tested among its 1,200 staff but will soon be used to help address common customer issues like lost debit and credit cards, locked PINs and how to order in a new card reader. While RBS appears intent on reducing the amount of human interaction its customers have with staff, the company insists that Luvo’s can trawl a vast database of information “in a split second” and respond with the right answer. If it can’t, it’ll forward the request to a real person who is more qualified to help.
Barclays Bank Leaving Egypt and the Rest of Africa
British-based Barclays announced on Wednesday that it will be selling 62.3 percent of its stake in Africa in order to refocus its business. The move also means that Barclays Bank will be selling its branches, Barclays Bank Egypt and Barclays Bank Zimbabwe, in Egypt and Zimbabwe. “Another investor may be more able to develop banking business in Egypt,” said the British corporation in a statement regarding Barclays Bank Egypt. The National Bank of Abu Dhabi is one name that has been floating across Egyptian media outlets as a potential bidder for Barclays’ Egypt portfolio. The decision to exit from Egypt comes after a failed move to fold the Egypt branch into its subsidiary in South Africa.Barclays has 54 branches in Egypt and has generally seen a rise in profits despite economic turmoil in the country.
ANZ wealth chief Joyce Phillips leaves after restructure
ANZ wealth chief Joyce Phillips is departing the banking giant following a restructure of the $67 billion institution’s wealth management arm. Chief executive Shayne Elliott said the group was simplifying its approach to wealth management, and this includes the bank’s insurance, superannuation and investments products. As a result of the changes, Ms Phillips, who led ANZ’s wealth, marketing and innovation divisions, will leave. “The simplified approach also provides the opportunity to focus on improving returns and capital efficiency from our insurance, superannuation and investments product business given higher regulatory capital requirements,” Mr Elliott said.
Insurance
Macquarie to sell life insurance business to Zurich Australia
Macquarie Group has agreed to sell its life insurance business Zurich Australia for an undisclosed sum. Under the deal, Macquarie Life’s Australian-based staff will join Zurich, and its policyholders will become customers of Zurich with no change to the terms and conditions of their coverage.
Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance establishes medical stop loss division in US
Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance (BHSI) announced that it has established a dedicated medical stop loss division and appointed John Snyder to lead the effort. The company also named David Friedly as Head of Underwriting and Glenn Funk as Actuary for Medical Stop Loss.
Donegal Insurance Group deploys Guidewire solution for billing
Donegal Insurance Group, a group of insurance companies providing full lines of personal, farm, and commercial insurance, and Guidewire Software, a provider of software products to P/C insurers, announced that Donegal Insurance Group has successfully implemented Guidewire BillingCenter as its new billing solution. Following a successful ClaimCenter deployment in 2007, Donegal Insurance Group selected BillingCenter to replace three existing legacy billing systems, ultimately unifying its billing processes for agents and policyholders.
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