Thomas Cook brand relaunches as online travel agency

The Chinese-owned Thomas Cook brand relaunched Wednesday as an online travel agency following the British group's collapse last year.

"The new 'COVID-ready' travel company will initially sell holidays to destinations on the government's safe travel corridor list," said Thomas Cook, which is owned by Fosun Tourism Group.

"Thomas Cook has a proud heritage and after acquiring the brand last year we wanted to quickly return it to its home in the UK," said Fosun's chairman and chief executive, Jim Qian. 

 "Supporting the growth of the brand in China and its relaunch in the UK is a big step in our plan to turn Thomas Cook into a global success story and a key milestone in the development of the Fosun Tourism Group's strategy," he said.

Fosun, which also owns France-based resort giant Club Med, acquired the brand and online assets of Thomas Cook in November.  

Thomas Cook's demise one year ago sparked 22,000 job losses worldwide and triggered Britain's biggest repatriation since World War II, with the government paying to fly home 140,000 stranded tourists.

The 178-year-old British company had declared bankruptcy after an attempt to secure $250 million from private investors fell through.

Thomas Cook's stores across the UK had struggled against fierce online competition, while the company had blamed Brexit uncertainty for a drop in bookings before its collapse.

Source - TheJakartaPost

The world after Covid

The second quarter of 2020 has seen a divergence between the investment world and real economic conditions. Despite a recent uptick, the global economy is still contracting: the IMF has just downgraded its global GDP forecast to -4.9% from -3.0%.

Yet the picture for the investment world is quite good. Stock markets have regained their feet and surged after plunging 30-40% in March. Two factors have led risky asset prices to recover:

1. Continued stimulus: Since February, the balance sheets of the four major central banks (the US, Europe, Japan and England) have swelled by US$4.5 trillion. As well, a flurry of stimulus measures by the US Federal Reserve, including the purchase of corporate bonds, has meaningfully improved liquidity in the credit market.

Notably, on June 15 the Fed said it would begin buying corporate bonds directly. We see this as a signal that it intends to do whatever it takes to support the market whenever signs of trouble emerge.

2. Rebounding economies: Many countries have begun the cautious process of reopening their economies, leading to a revival in economic indicators. The global composite purchasing managers’ index, as well as other important gauges such as US jobs and retail sales data, plus Chinese economic indicators, rebounded in May. Preliminary figures for June also look promising.

US economic growth momentum appears better than either the market or we had expected. This reflects the resilience and flexibility of the US economy and effective stimulus measures by both the government and the Fed.

On the other hand, China’s recovery, though gradual, is slower than we expected. The primary cause may be the half-hearted stimulus measures, as Chinese authorities want to see a more organic and gradual recovery.

Looking forward, we forecast that the global and Thai economy will bottom out in the second quarter, economic revival will continue in the third quarter, and the fourth quarter may bring positive year-on-year growth.

Nevertheless, we see the world economy contracting by 2.3% and Thai GDP down 5.8% this year. We may see some rebound in 2021-22, after a vaccine is found and distributed. Nevertheless, the “new normal” economic growth rate will be lower than before.

Our projection is materially different than that of the IMF. The latter’s main assumption is that there will be persistent social distancing and/or lengthier lockdowns in several economies, which will lead to a lengthier slowdown.

However, given the better knowledge health authorities now have, governments may choose to partially shut down activity in areas where they see the virus returning, while rigorously testing, tracing, isolating and treating infected patients. This will allow partial opening of the economy while actively managing and controlling the spread of the virus.

Although we see most economies bottoming out in the second quarter, looking forward, there may be some downside risks:

1. Less economic stimulus, especially in the US. Although gigantic compared with the 2008-09 crisis era, the Fed’s purchases fell to $441 billion in May from $1 trillion in March and April. Reduced bond purchases mean liquidity injected into the market and the economy may shrink. Nevertheless, we believe that whenever it sees factors that could sap market confidence, the Fed will step in to reassure investors.

2. Rising numbers of newly infected patients. Surges in Texas, Florida, California and Arizona this month have raised concerns about US economic reopening. However, we believe there is no reason to panic. In some areas, such as California, the rising figure reflects increased testing. Some states that have overcome devastating outbreaks, such as New York, are starting to restrict travel from other infected states, along with other measures such as mandatory mask wearing, to reduce risk.

3. The risk of a cold war between the US and China. As we mentioned last month, an election-year cold war could be used to boost President Trump’s popularity by stirring up nationalism. If the US economy is staggering or the president’s chances of re-election seem slimmer, he may resort to a cold war. That would hurt the economies of the US and China, as well as the rest of the world.

Against the backdrop of a gradual recovery even as economic risks linger, investors need to remain extremely cautious. The focus should be on sectors that have a long-term future, such as technology, healthcare and sectors that benefit from a low-interest-rate environment, such as real estate.

Source - Pattaya One News

Phones with outdated operating systems to lose mobile-banking access

The Bank of Thailand (BOT) has stepped up measures to ensure mobile-banking security, assistant governor Siritida Panomwon Na Ayudhya said on Friday (December 20).

The central bank has issued guiding principles for mobile-banking security, which will not allow obsolete operating systems of smartphones to access banking services.She said currently mobile banking has grown rapidly. 

 

There are about 55 million accounts registered to use mobile banking in the first nine months of this year, up from 41 million accounts last year, while financial transactions reached 3.2 billion items via mobile banking, up from 2.7 billion last year.

 

Mobile phones have become a more-important tool for financial transactions, she said.

 

However, risks stemming from malwares or fake applications also posed a threat to the system, she warned. Therefore, the central bank will require financial institutions to be more careful about the security of the system.

 

Banks will have to inform customers that they cannot use mobile phones with obsolete operating systems, such as Android software prior to version 4, and iOS of iPhone prior to version 8. 

 

These outdated operating systems are vulnerable to cyber-attacks.

 

“Mobile phones run by an obsolete operating system would have limited access to mobile-banking services or could be totally banned in the future; mobile devices that have been jailbroken or rooted would also be prohibited,” she said. 

 

The iOS latest operating version is 13.3. Mobile phones run by the obsolete Android system is less than one per cent. An estimated 10,000 mobile phones have been jail-broken and currently are used to access banking services.

 

Banks would also be required to have more complicated settings for PIN codes and passwords in order to reduce the risk of being hacked.

 

The central bank would allow banks four months to make the necessary changes before the guiding principles are enforced in May next year, she added.

Source - TheNation

High alert over global cyber-attacks

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AUTHORITIES are on high alert following a global spread of malicious software in a massive wave of cyber-attacks affecting about 100 countries including Thailand.

The government yesterday warned computer users to beware of this dangerous malware. Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha has instructed the Ministry of Digital Economy and Society to closely monitor the situation here and issue guidelines necessary to the public to curb negative impacts, Government spokesman Lt-General Sansern Kaewkamnerd said yesterday.

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Europol, the European Union’s law enforcement agency, said yesterday the cyber-attacks were causing havoc across the globe “at an unprecedented level”, AFP reported. The attacks would “require a complex international investigation to identify the culprits”, said the agency, which is working with countries and companies affected. 

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Some unidentified computers in Thailand were attacked by the WannaCry ransomware that has caused the attacks but critical sectors of healthcare, telecommunications and finance have not been affected, the Thailand Computer Emergency Response Team (ThaiCERT) said yesterday.

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 Ransomware is a type of malicious software designed to block access to a computer system until a sum of money is paid.

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“In Thailand, we found that some computers were affected by the malware. But the infection has not been widespread,” ThaiCERT said in a statement. However, it did not have details regarding particular computers, IP addresses or organisations affected, a source familiar with the matter told The Nation yesterday.

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The source said he saw a diagram that shows Thailand is among the countries targeted. 

After learning about the attack, ThaiCERT alerted leading public hospitals but so far, no hospitals in Thailand have been hit by the ransomware attack, the source said. Financial services and banks, as well as the telecommunications sector, did not appear to have been affected.

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“We had a meeting with hospitals on Saturday morning. The healthcare sector has not been affected,” the source said.

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Local mobile operator, Total Access Communication Plc (Dtac) told The Nation the firm’s telecommunication network had not been attacked by WannaCry.

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Kasikornbank said its system security team has measures to protect and closely monitor the bank’s computer systems.

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Meanwhile, Vice Minister for Digital Economy and Society Pansak Siriruchatapong said critical infrastructure organisations – hospitals and financial institutions included – must have action plans to take care of their information.

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As many as 90 per cent of computers affected by ransomware would not recover, according to the source. He said organisations could protect themselves from ransomware by updating information in an external hard disk, avoid opening attached files in emails sent from unknown senders or clicking suspicious links. They should also keep their operating system and other software updated, the source advised. 

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Organisations could help protect users from ransomware with a system to filter emails. Currently, most organisations in Thailand are aware of the risk of cyber-attacks, he added. 

“The challenge is how to deal with the risk. To deal with the cyber-attack, organisations should be reactive, have a computer emergency response team or CERT team, and proactive action plans,” he said.

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He suggested that financial, telecom, and healthcare sectors should have their own CERT – Computer Emergency Response Team.

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ThaiCERT is closely working with financial institutions, including the three main regulators of the financial, stock, and insurance sectors.

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Currently, 200 of the 283 state organisations use ThaiCERT’s security services. The Office of the Permanent Secretary for the Ministry of Public Health and King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital, were examples.

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Source - TheNation

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