SINGAPORE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov 5, 2024--
OCBC and Ant International have formed a strategic partnership to enhance the efficiency and speed of cross-border fund settlements. In a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed on 5 November 2024 by Melvyn Low, Head of Global Transaction Banking at OCBC, and Douglas Feagin, President of Ant International, both parties agreed to explore innovations in tokenised deposits for global treasury management, through Ant International’s Whale platform.
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This collaboration will focus on achieving around-the-clock cross border payments in real-time between Singapore and Malaysia through the Whale platform, a next-generation treasury management solution that utilises blockchain technology innovation, including advanced encryption and AI, to improve the efficiency and transparency of fund movements between bank accounts for better global liquidity management.
The MoU signifies an expansion of OCBC’s collaboration with Ant International, marking the first time the Singapore bank will embark on a tokenisation initiative with Ant International. In September 2023, OCBC joined Alipay+’s network, becoming the first bank in Singapore to offer customers cross-border global payments across Malaysia and South Korea.
Melvyn Low, Head of Global Transaction Banking, OCBC, said: “In this collaboration with Ant International, we will leverage our joint blockchain capabilities to enable faster, seamless multi-currency clearing and settlement for Ant International’s intra-group treasury and liquidity management. With the corporate treasury function becoming increasingly strategic and a key driver of a business’ bottom-line, this demonstration of how blockchain can help global businesses better meet their evolving treasury and liquidity needs is very timely. We look forward to developing more blockchain solutions to support our customers to navigate an increasingly complex world.”
Kelvin Li, Head of Platform Tech at Ant International, added: “We are pleased to expand our collaboration with OCBC in Singapore through this agreement. By partnering with one of the leading banks in Asia, we hope to combine OCBC’s deep knowledge of the Singapore and Malaysia markets, with Ant International’s technological expertise and innovations in blockchain, to develop more effective global treasury management solutions for businesses in Asia and beyond so they can trade and transact across borders more seamlessly.”
About OCBC
OCBC is the longest established Singapore bank, formed in 1932 from the merger of three local banks, the oldest of which was founded in 1912. It is one of the world’s most highly-rated banks, with Aa1 by Moody’s and AA- by both Fitch and S&P. OCBC is the second largest financial services group in Southeast Asia by assets. The Group offers a broad array of commercial banking, specialist financial and wealth management services, ranging from consumer, corporate, investment, private and transaction banking to treasury, insurance, asset management and stockbroking services. The Group’s key markets are Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and Greater China. It has close to 420 branches and representative offices in 19 countries and regions.
About Ant International
Headquartered in Singapore, Ant International powers the future of global commerce with digital innovation for everyone and every business to thrive. In close collaboration with partners, we support merchants of all sizes worldwide to realise their growth aspirations through a comprehensive range of tech-driven digital payment and financial services solutions.
Clockwise from left to right: Raymond Yeung, Head of China Corporates, OCBC Hong Kong, Kelvin Li, Head of Platform Tech at Ant International, Douglas Feagin, President of Ant International and Melvyn Low, Head of Global Transaction Banking at OCBC at the MoU signing ceremony (Photo: Business Wire)
WASHINGTON (AP) — Former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris notched early wins in reliably Republican and Democratic states, respectively, as a divided America made its decision in a stark choice for the nation’s future Tuesday.
Polls closed in Pennsylvania, Georgia, Michigan, Arizona, Wisconsin and North Carolina, six of the seven closely fought battlegrounds expected to decide the election, but the results there were too early to call. Balloting continued in Nevada and other parts of the West on Election Day, as tens of millions of Americans added their ballots to the 84 million cast early as they chose between two candidates with drastically different temperaments and visions for the country.
Trump won Florida, a one-time battleground that has shifted heavily to Republicans in recent elections. He also notched early wins in reliably Republican states such as Texas, South Carolina and Indiana, while Harris took Democratic strongholds like New York, Massachusetts and Illinois.
The fate of democracy appeared to be a primary driver for Harris’ supporters, a sign that the Democratic nominee’s persistent messaging in her campaign’s closing days accusing Trump of being a fascist may have broken through, according to AP VoteCast. The expansive survey of more than 110,000 voters nationwide also found a country mired in negativity and desperate for change. Trump’s supporters were largely focused on immigration and inflation — two issues that the former Republican president has been hammering since the start of his campaign.
Those casting Election Day ballots mostly encountered a smooth process, with isolated reports of hiccups that regularly happen, including long lines, technical issues and ballot printing errors.
Harris has promised to work across the aisle to tackle economic worries and other issues without radically departing from the course set by President Joe Biden. Trump has vowed to replace thousands of federal workers with loyalists, impose sweeping tariffs on allies and foes alike, and stage the largest deportation operation in U.S. history.
Harris and Trump entered Election Day focused on seven swing states, five of them carried by Trump in 2016 before they flipped to Biden in 2020: the “blue wall” of Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin as well as Arizona and Georgia. Nevada and North Carolina, which Democrats and Republicans respectively carried in the last two elections, also were closely contested.
Trump voted in Palm Beach, Florida, near his Mar-a-Lago club. He called into a Wisconsin radio station Tuesday night to say: “I’m watching these results. So far so good."
Harris, the Democratic vice president, did phone interviews with radio stations in the battleground states, then visited Democratic National Committee headquarters in Washington carrying a box of Doritos — her go-to snack.
“This truly represents the best of who we are,” Harris told a room of cheering staffers. She was handed a cellphone by supporters doing phone banking, and when asked by reporters how she was feeling, the vice president held up a phone and responded, “Gotta talk to voters.”
The closeness of the race and the number of states in play raised the likelihood that, once again, a victor might not be known on election night.
Trump said Tuesday that he had no plans to tell his supporters to refrain from violence if Harris wins, because they “are not violent people.” His angry supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, after Trump tried to overturn his loss in 2020. Asked Tuesday about accepting the 2024 race’s results, he said, “If it’s a fair election, I’d be the first one to acknowledge it.” He visited a nearby campaign office to thank staffers before a party at a nearby convention center.
After her DNC stop, Harris planned to attend a party at her alma mater, Howard University in Washington.
Federal, state and local officials have expressed confidence in the integrity of the nation’s election systems. They nonetheless were braced to contend with what they say is an unprecedented level of foreign disinformation — particularly from Russia and Iran — as well as the possibility of physical violence or cyberattacks.
In Georgia’s Fulton County, a Democratic stronghold that includes most of the city of Atlanta, 32 of the 177 polling places received bomb threats Tuesday, prompting brief evacuations at five locations, county Police Chief W. Wade Yates said. The threats were determined to be non-credible but voting hours were extended at those five locations.
Bomb threats also forced an extension of voting hours in at least two Pennsylvania counties — Clearfield, in central Pennsylvania, and Chester, near Philadelphia.
Both sides have armies of lawyers in anticipation of legal challenges on and after Election Day. And law enforcement agencies nationwide are on high alert for potential violence.
Harris, 60, would be the first woman, Black woman and person of South Asian descent to serve as president. She also would be the first sitting vice president to win the White House in 36 years.
Trump, 78, would be the oldest president ever elected. He would also be the first defeated president in 132 years to win another term in the White House, and the first person convicted of a felony to take over the Oval Office.
He survived one assassination attempt by millimeters at a July rally. Secret Service agents foiled a second attempt in September.
Harris, pointing to the warnings of Trump's former aides, has labeled him a “fascist” and blamed Trump for putting women's lives in danger by nominating three of the justices who overturned Roe v. Wade. In the closing hours of the campaign, she tried to strike a more positive tone and went all of Monday without saying her Republican opponent's name.
Voters nationwide also were deciding thousands of other races that will decide everything from control of Congress to state ballot measures on abortion access in response to the Supreme Court’s vote in 2022 to overturn Roe v. Wade.
In Florida, a ballot measure that would have protected abortion rights in the state constitution failed after not meeting the 60% threshold to pass, marking the first time a measure protecting abortion rights failed since Roe was overturned. Earlier Tuesday, Trump refused to say how he voted on the measure and snapped at a reporter, saying, “You should stop talking about that."
In reliably Democratic New York and Maryland, voters approved ballot measures protecting abortion rights in their state constitutions.
JD Jorgensen, an independent voter in Black Mountain, North Carolina, which was hit hard by Hurricane Helene, said voters should have made up their minds before Tuesday.
“I think that the candidates, both being in the public eye as long as they both have been, if you’re on the fence, you hadn’t really been paying attention,” said Jorgensen, 35.
Associated Press writers Jill Colvin in Palm Beach, Florida, Darlene Superville and Eric Tucker in Washington, Manuel Valdes in Las Vegas and Marc Levy in Allentown, Pennsylvania, contributed to this report.
Supporters cheer before Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris arrives for an election night campaign watch party, Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024, on the campus of Howard University in Washington. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
Supporters arrive at an election night watch party for Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024, in West Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
Voters cast their ballots at the Butte Civic Center in Butte, Mont., on Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Tommy Martino)
Chance Lenay waits in line to vote outside the Gallatin County Courthouse on Election Day in Bozeman, Mont., on Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Tommy Martino)
Voters wait in line and fill out their ballots at a voting center at Lumen Field Event Center on Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
An elections staffer hangs scanner tapes used in early voting at the Fulton County Election Hub and Operation Center, Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)
Howard University students watch live election results during a watch party near an election night event for Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris at Howard University in Washington, Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2023. (AP Photo/Nathan Howard)
Voters fill out their ballots at a polling site at the First Presbyterian Church of Dearborn, on Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024, in Dearborn, Mich. (AP Photo/David Goldman)
Marsha Molinari of West Hollywood, Calif., holds a cell phone at a polling place at the Connie Norman Transgender Empowerment Center on Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024, in West Hollywood, Calif. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)
Volunteers check the ballots at the Bronx County Supreme Court in New York on Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
An American flag flies in the wind as a voter leaves a polling site after casting a ballot on Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024, in Dearborn, Mich. (AP Photo/David Goldman)
Trump supporter Barney Morin, left, cheers as Democratic poll greeter Lynn Akin helps him find his polling place so he can vote, outside a voting bureau at First United Methodist Church on Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024, in Gulfport, Fla. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
Candidates for president and vice president of the United States, Democrats Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, and Republicans former President Donald Trump and Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, are seen on part of a mail-in election ballot in New York on Sunday, Nov. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Patrick Sison)
Election workers review ballots at the Denver Elections Division in Denver on Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Chet Strange)
An election worker processes mail-in ballots for the 2024 General Election at the Philadelphia Election Warehouse, Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)
Members of the Amish community, Samuel Stoltzfus and his wife Lillian Stoltzfus, vote at a polling center at the Garden Spot Village retirement community in New Holland, Pa., Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Luis Andres Henao)
Voters work on their ballots at a polling place at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library on Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024, in Simi Valley, Calif. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)
Voters wait in line to cast their ballots outside a polling station on the Navajo Nation in Chinle, Ariz., on Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Andres Leighton)
This combination of photos shows Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris, left, speaking during a rally in Charlotte, N.C., Sept. 12, 2024, and Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump, right, speaking during a rally in Warren, Mich., Nov. 1, 2024. (AP Photo)
Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris phone banks with volunteers at the DNC headquarters on Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris, right, phone banks with volunteers at the DNC headquarters on Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
People line up to vote outside Allegiant Stadium, Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher)
Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks as former first lady Melania Trump listens after they voted on Election Day at the Morton and Barbara Mandel Recreation Center, Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Voters stand in line outside a polling place at Madison Church, Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024, in Phoenix, Ariz. (AP Photo/Matt York)
People wait in line to vote on Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024, in the East Boston neighborhood of Boston. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer)
Three-year-old Zayn, sits on his father's shoulders as he inserts his ballot into a machine to vote at the First Presbyterian Church of Dearborn, on Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024, in Dearborn, Mich. (AP Photo/David Goldman)
Liza Fortt, 74, center, waits in line to cast her ballot for Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris at her polling place at Scranton High School in Scranton, Pa., on Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
Voters mark their ballots at a polling station on the Navajo Nation in Fort Defiance, Ariz., on Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Andres Leighton)
People line up to vote outside Allegiant Stadium, Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher)
Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris, left, shares a laugh with second gentleman Doug Emhoff, after reuniting in Pittsburgh, Monday, Nov. 4, 2024, aboard Air Force Two, just before taking off from Pittsburgh for her final campaign rally in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, Pool)
The crowd reacts as Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during a campaign rally outside the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Monday, Nov. 4, 2024, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during a campaign rally outside the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Monday, Nov. 4, 2024, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)
Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump gestures at a campaign rally at Van Andel Arena, Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024, in Grand Rapids, Mich. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump arrives at a campaign rally at Van Andel Arena, Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024, in Grand Rapids, Mich. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during a campaign rally outside the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Monday, Nov. 4, 2024, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)
Voters line up to enter their polling place at the Cincinnati Observatory on election day, Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024, in Cincinnati. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
Voters wait in line to cast their ballots at Scranton High School in Scranton, Pa., on Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris arrives to speak during a campaign rally in Memorial Hall at Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pa., Monday, Nov. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump embraces Patty Morin, mother of Rachel Morin, during a campaign rally at Santander Arena, Monday, Nov. 4, 2024, in Reading, Pa. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Holyn Robinson, a student at Xavier University, left, and Margie Robson, right, both first time precinct commissioners, take their oath along with fellow commissioners just before the opening of the polls, at the Hynes Charter School in New Orleans on Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
Results are posted after the midnight vote on Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024, in Dixville Notch, N.H. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
Voters wait for the polls to open at the Hynes Charter School in New Orleans on Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
Voters stand in line while waiting for a polling place to open, Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024, in Springfield, Pa. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)
This combination of file photos shows Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris, left, speaking at a campaign rally Erie, Pa., on Oct. 14, 2024, and Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaking a campaign rally in Uniondale, N.Y., on Sept.18, 2024. (AP Photo)
Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during a campaign rally at Jenison Field House on the campus of Michigan State University, Sunday, Nov. 3, 2024, in East Lansing, Mich. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during a campaign rally at Jenison Field House on the campus of Michigan State University, Sunday, Nov. 3, 2024, in East Lansing, Mich. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
Supporters react as Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during a campaign rally at Jenison Field House on the campus of Michigan State University, Sunday, Nov. 3, 2024, in East Lansing, Mich. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
A political advertisement for Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris is displayed on the Sphere, Monday, Nov. 4, 2024, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher)
An image of Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump hangs in the window of a campaign office as a pedestrian passes by, Monday, Nov. 4, 2024, in Hamtramck, Mich. (AP Photo/David Goldman)
Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally at PPG Paints Arena, Monday, Nov. 4, 2024, in Pittsburgh, Pa. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump arrives at a campaign rally at PPG Paints Arena, Monday, Nov. 4, 2024, in Pittsburgh, Pa. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
