AEC Feed

Visa Vietnam reported on Thursday that the number of transactions made using its cards grew by 38 per cent year-on-year.
In its quarterly client operating certificates, the company reported that online shopping using its cards saw growth of 53 per cent.
The company attributed the sharp growth to the fact that consumers, particularly younger Vietnamese, are embracing the convenience, competitive prices and greater range of products available online.
"Electronic payments continue to show strong growth in Viet Nam despite the world economy struggling to regain momentum," Sean Preston, the company's country manager for Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos, said.
Preston said his company found that 79 per cent of Vietnamese cardholders want to increase their use of electronic payments and reduce their reliance on cash.
As of June the company had 13,500 financial institution clients and 40 million merchants globally. It had issued 2.5 billion cards. — Viet Nam News

One of Philippines' top beaches gleams again
 A massive cleanup drive was conducted in Calaguas island in central Philippines, known as one of the top tourist destinations in the country, known for its powdery white sand beach and emerald waters.
A three-day cleanup drive in the town of Vinzons in Camarines Norte collected at least two tons of trash from the famous Calaguas group of islands.
Divers and employees of the Bicol regional office of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) combed the areas in the villages of Pinagtigasan and Sogod in Calaguas from September 6 to 8.
Nonie Enolva, BFAR Bicol spokesperson, said the cleanup, conducted with the local government of Vinzons and the Camarines Norte provincial government was part of BFAR’s campaign for clean seas and coastlines.
BFAR divers, local government employees and villagers collected a total of 1,000 kg of trash from the coastline and uprooted 950 kg of venomous crown-of-thorns in the water.
Enolva said the crown-of-thorns, also called as sea stars, prey on live coral and are capable of gorging on a square meter of coral per month. - Philippine Daily Inquirer

Mida reports RM88.4 bn investments in first half
The approved direct investments in the services, manufacturing and primary sectors in Malaysia in the first half of 2016 totalled RM88.4billion.
In a statement on Thursday, the Malaysian Investment Development Authority (Mida) said this was slightly lower compared to RM125.9 billion in the same period last year.
“The investments approved in the first half were in 2,499 projects, and are expected to generate over 76,000 jobs,” it said.
Mida said the better investment performance in the first half of last year was mainly due to two big petrochemical projects approved in the manufacturing sector - Pengerang project in Johor and LNG9 project in Sarawak.
International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed said Malaysia continued to attract foreign direct investments (FDIs).
“A total of RM28.2 billion of FDIs was approved in the first half 2016. Our approved foreign investments for the period have already reached 78.2 per cent of the total foreign investments approved for the whole of last year,” he said. - The Star