HSBC Q3 pre-tax profit up 7 per cent

“Reported profits were down, but adjusted profits were higher than last year’s third quarter in all four global businesses and four out of five regions,” chief executive officer Stuart Gulliver said.
The September quarter adjusted profit, which strips out one-off items, compared with the previous corresponding period’s $5.24 billion. 
It also topped the $5.29-billion average estimate of five analysts surveyed by Bloomberg News.
Reported pre-tax profit plunged 86 per cent from a year ago to $843 million, the British banking giant said in a statement.
That figure included the impact of the sale of the bank’s Brazil business and the cost of implementing a cost-reduction programme. – AFP

Thailand PayPal appoints new head
PayPal, a global leader in digital payments, has appointed Somwang Luangphaiboonsri as the leader of its Thai subsidiary.
He will be responsible for helping PayPal capitalise on the explosive growth of cross-border e-commerce in the Thai market. 
Together with the new PayPal Thailand team, he will also focus on educating Thai merchants on the growth opportunities available in the global e-commerce marketplace.
Having spent more than 16 years in the finance and technology industries, Somwang is a veteran in the e-commerce space. 
Before joining PayPal, he co-founded a domestic online payment service provider and built the company to be the platform of choice for many Thai consumers. 
He is well entrenched in the Thai payments scene, and is also a secretary of the Thai E-Commerce Association and the secretary of the Thailand e-Payment and e-Money Association.
Somwang’s appointment is one of the latest steps taken by PayPal to reinforce its position in Thailand this year. 
PayPal has been actively building its merchant portfolio to enable Thai businesses to have access to a seamless cross-border payment experience. 
In August, an agreement was signed with the Department of International Trade Promotion to promote and facilitate cross-border trade for Thailand’s small and medium-sized businesses.
PayPal is also the sole payment provider for cross-border online payments for leading travel businesses such as Centara Hotels & Resorts, Centre Point Hotels Group and Thai Airways International as merchant partners.

Programme for design thinking skills
Banpu and Thammasat University’s faculty of learning sciences and education recently signed an agreement to promote design-thinking skills in youth. 
They have set up the Thammasat-Banpu Innovators for Learning Programme at Thammasat’s Rangsit campus. 
The collaboration aims to equip high-school students and teachers with the skills of the 21st century’s innovators – critical and analytical thinking, creative communication and leadership. 
The programme has received Bt15 million in funding from Banpu to be carried over a three-year period. 
During the first year, the curriculum and study aids will be developed to help students build their design thinking and innovation design skills. 
Recruitment of students for the programme will be rolled out, with the capacity of five students and one mentor from each of the 15 participating schools. 
The second year will witness a series of workshops on design thinking through game design and creations for future innovators. The application of the resulting innovations and public sharing will take place in the third year of the programme.