October 7, 2021 – Page 3 – Cambodia News Gazette

October 7, 2021October 8, 2021

UN Rights Body Should Increase Scrutiny of Cambodia’s Rights Crackdown

Cambodia’s human rights situation has dramatically worsened since the last Council resolution on Cambodia in 2019. Human Rights Watch has condemned draconian laws adopted in the past two years under the guise of the Covid-19 pandemic that are among the most restrictive of civil and political rights in the past 30 years. The government has intensified its crackdown on the political opposition, independent media and civil society groups. There are no serious prospects for free and fair elections in upcoming communal and national elections in 2022 and 2023 since Cambodia’s main political opposition party remains dissolved and its leaders in jail, facing political trials or having fled into exile for fear of arbitrary arrest.

In the past two years, the authorities regularly used violence to break up peaceful protests; held mass trials of political opponents, youth, and environmental activists; and harassed independent media outlets, its journalists and critical social media commentors. The government stepped up its efforts to tighten control of the internet and increase online surveillance. In addition to a pending cybercrime bill and existing laws that threaten online freedoms, the government is establishing a National Internet Gateway that allows it to monitor all internet traffic and to disconnect and block internet connections of users, based on vague and undefined grounds, in violation of Cambodia’s international legal obligations.

At this 48th Council session it is imperative that the resolution: reflects the gravity of the human rights situation; renews the mandate of the Special Rapporteur; and mandates oral updates by the Rapporteur at the next two March Council sessions, ahead of the elections.

Source: Human Rights Watch

October 7, 2021

Colliers to acquire best in class Italian investment management business

Further expands Colliers Global Investors’ platform in Europe

TORONTO and MILAN, Italy, Oct. 07, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Leading diversified professional services and investment management company, Colliers (NASDAQ and TSX: CIGI), announced today it has entered into an agreement to acquire a controlling interest in Antirion SGR S.p.A., one of the largest real estate investment management firms in Italy with assets throughout Western Europe. Ofer Arbib, founder and CEO and his team will continue to lead the organization and will retain a significant equity interest in the firm going forward under Colliers’ unique partnership model. The firm will be rebranded as Colliers Global Investors shortly after closing. This investment further expands Colliers Global Investors’ growing platform in Europe and leverages its benefits for existing and new investors. The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to close in the first quarter of 2022. Details of the transaction were not disclosed.

Founded in 2009 in Milan, Antirion has become one of the most prominent and highly respected real estate investment management firms based in Italy. With more than €3.8 billion of assets under management (AUM), Antirion has consistently delivered strong returns for investors over the long-term across ten funds primarily through investments in office, hospitality, retail, and residential asset classes. The firm employs 35 professionals that cover the region from offices in Milan and Rome.

“Colliers Global Investors views growth in Italy and Western Europe as a natural progression of its business offering strong benefits for investors,” said Chris McLernon, CEO | EMEA for Colliers. “We are thrilled to be partnering with Ofer and his talented investment team, who have one of the best long-term investing track records in Italy since the firm’s founding in 2009. As partners, we will continue expanding the platform to provide existing and future clients innovative investment products within Europe.”

“Partnering with Colliers dramatically expands Antirion’s potential and offers tremendous benefits to our clients. Colliers’ global investment management platform currently manages more than $45 billion of AUM on behalf of more than 500 institutional investors around the world, giving Antirion’s clients access to a more diverse product set. In addition, we are excited to invite Colliers clients to invest in our top performing funds in Italy and Western Europe,” said Ofer Arbib, CEO of Antirion.

About Colliers
Colliers is a leading diversified professional services and investment management company. With operations in 66 countries, our more than 15,000 enterprising professionals work collaboratively to provide expert advice to real estate occupiers, owners and investors. For more than 25 years, our experienced leadership with significant insider ownership has delivered compound annual investment returns of almost 20% for shareholders. With annualized revenues of $3.3 billion ($3.6 billion including affiliates) and $45 billion of assets under management, we maximize the potential of property and accelerate the success of our clients and our people. Learn more at corporate.colliers.com, Twitter @Colliers or LinkedIn.

Colliers Contacts:

Christian Mayer
Chief Financial Officer
416-960-9500

Chris McLernon
CEO | EMEA
(44) 20 7487 7000

October 7, 2021

U.S. Polo Assn. Announces Partnership with South African Polo Association

U.S. Polo Assn.

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. & SANDTON, South Africa, Oct. 07, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — U.S. Polo Assn., the official brand of the United States Polo Association (USPA), in collaboration with its partner in South Africa, Stable Brands, have announced they will support the South African Polo Association (SAPA) through the current 2021-2022 polo season and serve as the Official Apparel Sponsor of their 2021 Nedbank International Polo Tournament.

The 2021 Nedbank International Polo Tournament event, which had been postponed last year, is hosted by the Inanda Polo Club and will take place on the shores of Sandton, South Africa on April 2, 2022. It is organized by the SAPA to highlight an international sporting event in the country while also continuing to develop the sport of polo in South Africa. The tournament has been played in South Africa for more than 50 years and is the region’s premier international tournament, bringing South Africa’s best players together annually to compete.

“South Africa is one of U.S. Polo Assn.’s emerging markets, and we are thrilled to showcase both the brand and the sport at the premier Nedbank International Polo Tournament,” says J. Michael Prince, President and CEO of USPA Global Licensing, which manages the global, multi-billion-dollar U.S. Polo Assn. brand. “And by supporting the South African Polo Association’s 2021-22 Season in such an important region, we continue to reach fans through the brand’s authentic connection to the sport of polo.”

As part of the event sponsorship, U.S. Polo Assn. will provide team jerseys, staff outfitting, field signage, and global promotion of the event across various digital platforms.

“We’d like to thank U.S. Polo Assn. for partnering with the SA Polo Association as the Official Apparel Sponsor of the Nedbank International Polo Tournament,” says Bridget Macduff of South African Polo Association. “We have the shared goal of developing awareness and interest for the sport of polo among youth players and polo fans in South Africa, and this is a wonderful step in that direction for both organizations.”

About U.S. Polo Assn.

U.S. Polo Assn. is the official brand of the United States Polo Association (USPA), the nonprofit governing body for the sport of polo in the United States and one of the oldest sports governing bodies, having been founded in 1890. With a multi-billion-dollar global footprint and worldwide distribution through some 1,100 U.S. Polo Assn. retail stores, department stores, sporting goods channels, independent retailers and e-commerce, U.S. Polo Assn. offers apparel for men, women and children, as well as accessories, footwear, travel and home goods in 190 countries worldwide. Recently ranked the fifth largest sports licensor in License Global magazine’s 2020 list of “Top 150 Global Licensors,” U.S. Polo Assn. is named alongside such iconic sports brands as the National Football League, the National Basketball Association and Major League Baseball. Visit uspoloassnglobal.com

About The South African Polo Association

The South African Polo Association (SAPA) is the official administrative controlling body of polo in South Africa. All clubs affiliate through their provincial bodies to SAPA which, in turn, affiliates to Hurlingham Polo Association (based in the UK) and Federacion Internationale de Polo (based in Argentina). SAPA has a constitution that was first formulated in 1905, making it one of the oldest sporting bodies in the country.

About Stable Brands (Pty) Ltd.:

Stable Brands (Pty) Ltd, a proudly South African company, has decades of experience working with various international apparel brands. The company recently increased its portfolio by securing the distribution rights of the U.S. Polo Assn. brand into South Africa. Stable Brands employs an array of world-class talent to ensure our collections are well-positioned in the South African market to be the lifestyle brand of choice.

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For further information contact:
Shannon Stilson – AVP, Marketing
Phone +001.561.227.6994 – Email: sstilson@uspagl.com

Stacey Kovalsky – Senior Director, Global Communications
Phone +001.561.790.8036 – Email: skovalsky@uspagl.com

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October 7, 2021

Unibuddy and Studyportals Join Forces to Bring Student Ambassadors to the Center of International Education Choice

Unibuddy x Studyportals

LONDON, Oct. 07, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — The market leader in digital student engagement joins forces with the world’s largest study choice platform to help students looking to study abroad or online. This allows them to interact authentically with their peers to make the most informed decision that they possibly can.

Universities now have the chance to present their student ambassadors to the 52 million students who use Studyportals. These students use the Studyportals platform to find and compare study abroad opportunities at 3,750+ educational institutes across 110 countries.

As the leading student engagement platform through peer-to-peer connections globally, Unibuddy knows that student ambassadors are the heart and soul of an institution.

Through this partnership, universities have the opportunity to provide a massive global pool of prospective students with real-time access to their student ambassadors. It also allows universities to nurture relationships with students and build a community from the very start of their research journey. Students can engage with ambassadors based on a similar course of study, region, or country of origin. This allows them to ask all of the questions best answered by a current student who most closely matches their own profile.

By introducing student ambassadors to Studyportals, institutions can leverage this trusted platform as a source of advice and guidance about study opportunities to increase engagement and boost conversion.

Unibuddy and Studyportals have also signed on to co-sponsor the Global Student Satisfaction Awards, the only global recognition program for universities from the perspective of students. The awards are based on more than 108,000 student reviews and highlight the universities that best support and engage students.

Diego Fanara, Unibuddy CEO, says: “We are absolutely delighted to be working with Studyportals because of their strong partnership network, unique global reach, and intense engagement with prospective students. These students have tough questions that university websites can’t always answer. Together, Unibuddy and Studyportals will help universities to support and reassure students at this initial research stage of their journey.”

Edwin van Rest, Studyportals CEO, says: “A fast-growing number of our partner institutions are using the Unibuddy platform with great satisfaction, and our students have a strong interest in connecting with people like them who’ve been in their shoes before. We are excited about this combination—together we can add a peer-to-peer layer to education choice and help universities to ‘orchestrate’ word-of-mouth.”

About Studyportals:

Studyportals is the global study choice platform. We help students find and compare all of their education options globally to make an informed choice. We also help institutions optimise their classroom from a quantity, quality, and diversity perspective on the basis of results. More than 50 million students annually from 220 countries and territories worldwide choose between 207,000+ programmes from 3,700+ universities in almost 120 countries. This allows us to help our clients all over the world with best practices on our mission to empower the world to choose education.

About Unibuddy:

Unibuddy offers smarter student recruitment to higher education institutions. We do this by enabling prospects and applicants to virtually connect with student ambassadors and school staff through the seamless web integration of our direct messaging platform. Partnering with universities around the world since 2017, Unibuddy has helped more than 770,000 domestic and international prospects make one of the most important decisions of their lives. By personalizing and digitizing students’ higher education journey through chat, live events, and top-tier partnerships with institutions worldwide, Unibuddy has humanized the student decision-making process. The company has 117 employees across New York, London, Bangalore, and Singapore.

To learn more, visit www.unibuddy.com .

For all media inquiries, please contact:

Poppy Fox | Unibuddy

poppy@unibuddy.com

Cara Skikne | Studyportals

caraskikne@studyportals.com

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October 7, 2021

Feedzai Financial Crime Report: 23% Increase in Online Fraud as Cashless Payments Take Center Stage

146% increase in peer-to-peer (P2P) Payments
Number of Online Transactions is Nearly Double the Number of In-Person Transactions
“Smishing” Joins the List of Top 5 Fraud Scams for the First Time

SAN MATEO, Calif. and LISBON, Portugal , Oct. 07, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Feedzai, the world’s leading cloud-based financial crime management platform, has released its most recent Quarterly Financial Crime Report. The report analyzes financial crime and consumer spending trends from more than 1.5 billion global transactions from April to July this year. According to the analysis, six months into the second year of a global pandemic, consumers’ shift to digital banking has only gotten stronger. The data reveals continuous move to cashless transactions, with a 146% increase in P2P payments, a 44% decrease in cash transactions, and a 109% increase in online transactions, to nearly double the number of card-present or in-person transactions. With this focus on digital payments, financial criminals have also shifted their targets online. The number of online card fraud attempts increased by 23% in this time period.

“Cashless payments were already on the rise, but the pandemic accelerated all forms of digital transactions when lockdowns hit,” said Jaime Ferreira, Senior Director of Global Data Science, Feedzai. “Millions more people experienced just how convenient digital payments and banking are when they couldn’t go to a bank branch or a restaurant or grocery store. Cashless transactions are not the future anymore, they are today. But the convenience comes with a cost. Financial institutions and retailers need to address the financial risk and higher complexity attacks that arise with the digital evolution.”

Top Fraud Scams

With fraud on the rise, the report also identified the top five fraud scams in the second quarter of 2021. Purchase scams, a type of scam where consumers pay for products or services that never arrive, took the top spot due to the overall increase in online shopping. In another indication of consumers relying more and more on their mobile phones, smishing scams made the top five list for the first time. Smishing is the SMS version of phishing, where fraudsters send text messages to trick consumers into clicking dangerous links and sharing personal information.

The top five fraud scams were:

Purchase scams
Social engineering scams
Impersonation scams
Account Takeover (ATO) Fraud
Smishing scams

Riskiest U.S. Cities for Fraud

With fraud on the rise, the report analyzed fraud rates geographically in the United States to reveal the cities with the highest increase in fraud over the past year. The riskiest cities were:

Las Vegas (with fraud up 411%)
New York (up 396%)
Charleston (up 251%)
Nashville (up 193%)
San Diego (up 97%)
Orlando (up 80%)
Chicago (up 56%)
New Orleans (up 48%)

Consumer Tips to Prevent Online Fraud

The report includes tips for consumers to get some control back and avoid being victims of online fraud. Here are three tips from the report:

Listen to Your Bank – Banks are constantly studying and learning about the latest fraud trends. And they have a vested interest in keeping their consumers safe from fraud. Your bank’s educational resources are designed to protect you. Make sure you read/watch them and heed their advice.
Use Biometrics and 2FA – Enable biometric or two-factor capabilities on your mobile devices, such as facial scans or one-time passwords. Not only do these solutions improve security, they can also ensure a much smoother experience.
Protect Your Information – Be mindful of text messages, emails or websites designed to trick you into revealing personal information. If you receive a suspicious communication claiming to be from your bank, don’t engage. Instead, report your suspicions to the bank.

Access Feedzai’s Quarterly Financial Crime Report to learn more about the latest fraud and consumer trends.

About Feedzai
Feedzai is the market leader in safeguarding global commerce with today’s most advanced cloud-based risk management platform, powered by machine learning and artificial intelligence. Feedzai is securing the transition to a cashless world while enabling digital trust in every transaction and payment type. The world’s largest banks, processors, and retailers trust Feedzai to protect trillions of dollars and manage risk while improving the customer experience for everyday users, without compromising privacy. Feedzai is a Series D company and has raised $282M to date with a current valuation of well over $1B. Its technology protects 800 million people in 190 countries. For more information, visit feedzai.com.

Media Contact:
Igor Carvalho
Head of Global Communications, Feedzai
igor.carvalho@feedzai.com