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WRISE Group Establishes Strategic Alliance with The Continental Group to Democratise Access to Private Banking in the UAE
Strategic alliance between two financial services leaders expands access to private banking across a broader investor base in the UAE
HONG KONG SAR – Media OutReach Newswire – 21 January 2026 – WRISE Group, one of the fastest-growing independent wealth management firms, today announced a strategic alliance with The Continental Group, one of the Middle East’s largest and most established insurance intermediary and financial services groups. The partnership marks a significant milestone in WRISE Group’s expansion strategy across the United Arab Emirates and the broader Middle East.
The UAE has rapidly emerged as one of the world’s most important global wealth hubs, driven by sustained economic growth, strong capital inflows, family office migration, favourable regulation, and a growing population of high-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth individuals. The region is also witnessing rising demand from entrepreneurs, professionals, and internationally connected families for transparent, cross-border, and technology-enabled wealth solutions — traditionally available only to private banking clients.
The strategic alliance between WRISE Group and The Continental Group democratises access to holistic, institutional-grade wealth solutions for a wider, globally mobile mass-affluent and high-net-worth client base in the Middle East.
By combining WRISE Group’s proprietary digital wealth infrastructure, global product capabilities, and institutional investment access with The Continental Group’s market-leading insurance and risk advisory expertise, strong onshore distribution network of over 250 professionals, and operations spanning the Middle East, Europe and Asia, the alliance delivers a differentiated and scalable wealth proposition for clients through an integrated suite of solutions across protection, savings, investment-linked products, structured investments, digital assets and holistic wealth planning.
It represents a shared vision for the future of wealth management, combining Continental’s deep-rooted regional presence and trusted client relationships with WRISE’s global, technology-enabled multi-family office platform.
“The Middle East, and the UAE in particular, is emerging as a pivotal hub for global wealth flows,” said Derrick Tan, Group Executive Chairman of WRISE Group. “This alliance reinforces WRISE’s role as a bridge between Asian capital, Middle Eastern wealth and global opportunities, and reflects our belief that the future of private banking lies in serving historically underserved clients through transparent, highly personalised and integrated wealth solutions that protect and grow wealth across generations.”
“This partnership represents a shared commitment to raising the standard of financial advice and wealth solutions in the region,” said Akshay Sardana, Group CEO of The Continental Group. “By combining Continental’s deep regional presence and client relationships with WRISE’s global, technology-enabled platform, we are well positioned to deliver transparent, personalised, and future-ready wealth solutions to a wider range of clients at every stage of their financial journey.”
This strategic alliance is part of WRISE Group’s broader strategy to scale its wealth management, insurance brokerage and investment distribution capabilities in the UAE in a structured, compliant and capital-efficient manner. It underscores the company’s disciplined approach to expand in high-growth markets through carefully curated strategic partnerships that deliver long-term, sustainable value for clients, partners and stakeholders.
Hashtag: #WRISE #昇世集團
The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
About WRISE
WRISE is one of Asia’s fastest-growing financial firms, driven by strategic acquisitions of companies with deep expertise and solid foundations. With a strong presence across key financial hubs including Singapore, Dubai, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Changsha and Tokyo, WRISE is home to one of the largest networks of independent qualified advisors. With over 400 employees located globally, supported by an ecosystem of over 200 financial intermediaries and access to eight booking centres worldwide, WRISE ensures unparalleled service and expertise in navigating today’s financial landscape.
WRISE Group of companies include WRISE Wealth Management (Singapore), WRISE Wealth Management (Hong Kong), WRISE Wealth Management Middle East Ltd (DIFC, regulated by the DFSA), WRISE Prestige (Hong Kong) Limited, WRISE Prestige Securities (Hong Kong), WRISE Prestige Asset Management (Hong Kong), WRISE Capital (Hong Kong), WRISE Financial Services (Hong Kong) and affiliates including WeWrise Services.
About The Continental Group
Founded in 1994, The Continental Group is a leading insurance intermediary and financial services solutions provider in the GCC, licensed and regulated by the UAE Central Bank (CBUAE), the Securities and Commodities Authority (SCA), and the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA).[i] Built on the pillars of integrity, insight, and innovation, the group has established itself as a trusted household name for financial and insurance solutions across investments, savings, wealth creation, protection, and legacy planning.
Continental Insurance Brokers LLC (Registration Number: 088) is regulated by the Central Bank of the UAE and licensed to conduct insurance brokerage activities. The registered head office is located at Office No. 505, Level 5, Bay Square 11, Dubai, UAE and the branch office is located at Office 1104, 11th Floor, Hamdan Street, (Hamdan & Salam Corner- Abdullah Darwish Building), Abu Dhabi, UAE.
Continental Financial Services LLC (Registration Numbers: 608026) is regulated by the Securities and Commodities Authority (SCA), UAE and is regulated to conduct business activities of ‘Financial Analysis, Financial Consultation’ and ‘Product Promotion’. The registered head office is located at No. 503, Level 5, Bay Square 11. Dubai, UAE.
CFS (DIFC) Limited (Registration Number: CL5696) is regulated by the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) and licensed to conduct the regulated financial services activities of ‘Advising on Financial Products’ and ‘Arranging Deals in Investments’. CFS is incorporated in the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC). The registered office is located at Unit 1102B, Level 11, Burj Daman, Dubai International Financial Centre, United Arab Emirates.
Media OutReach
Open source of the Congzi AI algorithm: Transforming ordinary artificial intelligence into physical experts
Four major modules: Strengthening the technical foundation
The Congzi AI reconfigures the AI cognitive thinking ability through four major modules and five core components. The Congzi Force-Speed Relativistic Reasoning Core constrains the causal chain within the momentum conservation, reducing the illusion rate of scientific question answering by 92%; the computing system can be arbitrarily divided into independent sub-domains for full-efficiency parallel computing; the cross-scale unified field engine covers multi-scale scenarios ranging from 10⁻¹⁵m (quarks) to 10⁻³m (materials), predicting the proton-proton repulsion force at 0.7fm with an error less than 3.6%, surpassing AlphaFold, achieving “force generation” rather than merely “structure prediction”; the quantum form memory compressor compresses the trillion-token-scale knowledge base to within 1GB, supporting cross-disciplinary mapping on ordinary servers within milliseconds, without relying on expensive H100/GPU clusters; the Soul Existence Verification Protocol (SEV Protocol) provides a verifiable path for each scientific assertion, allowing AI conclusions to be fully traceable and verifiable, completely solving the problem of AI “lying”.
Zero-barrier integration: Smooth upgrade experience
The open-source AI algorithm of Congzi adheres to the principles of “low threshold and high compatibility”. Developers only need to complete the integration in three steps and do not need to retrain the model. It is compatible with mainstream hardware such as Tsinghua Unigroup, Horus, and Intel CPU, and compatible with mainstream AI architectures such as Qwen, DeepSeek, AWS-Rufus, Llama, and GPT. It enables “zero-cost upgrade”.
Open-source ecosystem is open: facilitating technology implementation
The Congzi open-source ecosystem is fully open, providing developers with a complete set of guidance and resources, including tutorials and other materials. These resources have been launched on the designated platform. The first batch focuses on key scientific scenarios such as drug molecule prediction and chip material simulation, covering cutting-edge fields such as biomedicine and advanced manufacturing.
Official platform: https://congzisupersci.com.cn/;https://congzijdc.cc/
Open source website:https://github.com/congzijdc/CongziAIOS
Super Holographic Technology Cooperation:
[email protected];[email protected]
Optimize Baidu Wenxin video links:https://youtu.be/cYQhfq1tudM
Upgrade Qianwen video links:https://youtu.be/OMBOdLpWVzs
The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
Media OutReach
HKCERT Capture The Flag Challenge 2025 Achieves a Record 40% Surge in Participation
First-Ever Attack-Defence Simulation Aligns with Real Corporate Needs Setting a New Benchmark for Local Cybersecurity Competitions
HONG KONG SAR – Media OutReach Newswire – 13 February 2026 – As cyberattacks grow increasingly complex, cybersecurity has become a critical domain of global concern and a talent shortage. According to the latest “Hong Kong Cybersecurity Outlook 2026” released by the Hong Kong Computer Emergency Response Team Coordination Centre (HKCERT) under the Hong Kong Productivity Council (HKPC), nearly 30% of the 622 surveyed enterprises still lack dedicated cybersecurity staff. Specifically, only 26% of SMEs have a dedicated cybersecurity role, significantly lower than the 59% of large enterprises, reflecting a gap in resource allocation and technology adoption among SMEs.
To cultivate practical talent for the cybersecurity sector, the sixth “HKCERT Capture The Flag Challenge 2025” (HKCERT CTF Challenge) was successfully organised by the Digital Policy Office (DPO), HKPC, and HKCERT. This year’s competition was elevated to the first-ever adoption of an attack–defence mode, closely replicating the network setup of real enterprises. Participants experienced first-hand hacking techniques, system vulnerability analysis, threat intelligence gathering, and coordinated response in a simulated real-world environment. Through completing multiple tasks within a limited time, the competition also allowed them to break through the traditional classroom theoretical framework, gain practical experience and build confidence. The event attracted around 1,940 young contestants, an increase of nearly 40% from last year’s 1,385 participants, reaching a record high for the competition. Contestants included teams from Hong Kong, Chinese Mainland, Asia, and Europe, fostering cross-regional exchange and collaboration. In the finals, three local teams and one overseas team were awarded gold prizes in the Secondary School, Tertiary Institution, Open Category, and International Category respectively, while Sing Yin Secondary School received the “Best School Award”. The full list of awardees is available on the event website.
Participants Share Practical Experience Integrating AI into Attack and Defence
The competition was well received by contestants for its innovative format and realistic offensive and defensive environment, offering a valuable platform for learning and exchange. The winning team in the International Category, W&M, commented, “Our members are from Shanxi, Guangdong and Beijing. This was our first time competing together in the HKCERT CTF Challenge. The atmosphere and experience of the finals were excellent. The tasks were centred on an attack‑defence simulation, requiring us to find all vulnerabilities while patching our own systems and attacking other teams at the same time. Some vulnerabilities were discovered and exploited by other teams first, which kept the scores very close and made the competition incredibly tense and exciting”.
They added, “During the competition, we also applied lots of AI techniques for assistance, such as applying AI to analyse vulnerabilities and refine attack methods. In the future, AI may play a deeper role in areas like vulnerability detection and code analysis, but for now it cannot be fully relied upon—human oversight is still essential”.
HKCERT CTF Challenge has now been held for six consecutive years, with its scale expanding annually and participants showing continuous growth. Many secondary school students gain their first hands‑on exposure to cybersecurity through the competition and connect with university mentors, helping them shape their academic and career paths. Several past participants have gone on to compete in local and international events, committing to a future in the cybersecurity field. Beyond attracting overseas talent to exchange ideas in Hong Kong, HKCERT continues to build connections between cybersecurity professionals in Hong Kong and Chinese Mainland. Top‑performing teams can gain direct entry into equivalent finals in Chinese Mainland. For example, participants from the previous HKCERT CTF Challenge 2024 advanced directly to the finals of the “Greater Bay Area Cup Cybersecurity Challenge”, where they secured the top four places in the Hong Kong and Macao category. This also provided local contestants with access to world‑class cybersecurity techniques, effectively promoting cross‑regional elite collaboration and talent development.
Finals Format Upgraded: Attack-Defence Mode Mirrors Real Enterprise Operations
The finals were comprehensively upgraded this year. In addition to increase the overall technical difficulty, the competition introduced an attack‑defence format for the first time that closely mirrors real enterprise cybersecurity operations. Teams played dual roles—both attackers and defenders—in an environment created with reference to the real-world systems. The tasks simulated incident response and live attack-defence scenarios commonly encountered in the cybersecurity field. Within a limited timeframe, participants had to do penetration testing, exploit vulnerabilities and attack, while patching their own systems and monitoring threats in real time against attacks from other teams. This parallel attack‑defence setup reflects actual workflow patterns in the industry, effectively training participants’ analytical abilities and adaptability under pressure. Through hands‑on practice in a likely enterprise environment, contestants developed multifaceted, industry‑aligned capabilities—laying a solid foundation for their future careers in cybersecurity.
Ms Candy CHAN, Assistant Commissioner (Project Governance and Cybersecurity) of the DPO, highlighted the DPO’s commitment to enhancing Hong Kong’s cyber resilience, with one of its key initiatives being the nurturing of the next generation of cybersecurity professionals. She emphasised that the DPO has been collaborating closely with academia and industry partners to foster a robust talent pipeline and build a safer digital environment in Hong Kong. She noted that this year marks the sixth edition of the HKCERT CTF Challenge, which has grown into one of Hong Kong’s most respected and anticipated cybersecurity competitions over the years. Beyond being a contest of technical prowess, the Challenge serves as a dynamic platform for networking, knowledge exchange and community building among the new generation of cybersecurity experts.
Ir Samson SUEN, General Manager of Digital Trust and Transformation Division of HKPC, stated, “HKCERT CTF Challenge has consistently aimed to build an international platform for technical exchange. Through high-intensity simulated contests, we enhance participants’ cyber defence skills and promote cross-regional interaction among emerging cybersecurity talents. This cultivates a new generation of globally competitive professionals in Hong Kong and strengthens the local talent pipeline. This year’s finals first introduced a simulation of real-world cybersecurity operations, enabling teams to experience both offensive and defensive roles in a recent cybersecurity team. This hands-on approach is crucial for developing practical skills and incident response capabilities”.
Fostering Cybersecurity Awareness Across All Sectors of Society
To further enhance cybersecurity awareness across the community, HKCERT has partnered with the DPO and the Cyber Security and Technology Crime Bureau of The Hong Kong Police Force, to launch the “Building a Secure Cyberspace 2026” campaign to promote cybersecurity awareness. The initiative includes various educational activities, such as an “AI-Generated Four-Panel Comic”contest, which encourages the public to make good use of AI tools while strengthening their understanding of cybersecurity. At the corporate governance level, HKCERT will publish a series of practical guidelines addressing emerging risks —such as AI applications and supply chain security—highlighted in the “Hong Kong Cybersecurity Outlook 2026”, to support business in establishing a robust protection framework. In particular for AI governance, the guidelines will offer actionable recommendations covering AI system security assessments, compliance rules for employees using public AI platforms, controls over sensitive data input, and methods for monitoring and defending against AI‑assisted attacks. These resources aim to help enterprises systematically enhance their cyber resilience across governance, technology, and awareness.
As Hong Kong accelerates the development of innovation and technology and advances its digital economy, strengthening cyber defence capabilities has become a key talent need. HKCERT will continue to support businesses and the public through incident response, security guidance, and cybersecurity awareness programmes. The HKCERT CTF Challenge continues to play a vital role in nurturing local talent, fostering cross-regional collaboration, and advancing public education. By enhancing the overall level of protection, the competition contributes to the sustainable development of the digital economy and reinforces Hong Kong’s long‑term competitiveness.
The seventh edition of HKCERT CTF Challenge will be held in November 2026, featuring more innovative attack-defence challenges and continuing to set up an international category to provide local contestants with a platform for technical exchange with top teams from Hong Kong, Chinese Mainland, and overseas. Registration opens in September 2026, with finalists competing in the live finals in February 2027.
Hashtag: #HKCERT
The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
About Hong Kong Productivity Council
The Hong Kong Productivity Council (HKPC) is a statutory body established in 1967, dedicated to enhancing the productivity and competitiveness of Hong Kong enterprises through world-class applied R&D, innovative technology services, and integrated manufacturing solutions. As a market-oriented, international R&D organisation, HKPC leverages its deep expertise and extensive industry experience in key areas such as AI, advanced manufacturing, life and health technology, green technology and new energy to drive new industrialisation and support the growth of emerging and future industries.
HKPC focuses on addressing businesses challenges and industrial technology needs, promoting the full integration between technological and industrial innovation. Through technology transfer, product innovation, intellectual property protection and commercialisation of R&D outcomes, the Council fosters collaboration with the local business community as well as top global R&D institutions, delivering added value to industries and advancing the development of new productive forces. HKPC’s world-class R&D achievements have been widely recognised over the years, winning an array of local and overseas accolades, reinforcing Hong Kong’s role as an international innovation and technology centre and a smart city.
To help enterprises capitalise on Hong Kong’s strengths in international connectivity to expand into global markets, HKPC offers comprehensive overseas expansion services tailored to critical areas including product development, technology, manufacturing, and management, enabling businesses to successfully go global from Hong Kong.
HKPC is also committed to providing timely and practical support to SMEs and startups with timely and practical , assisting them in accessing Government funding programmes. Through its FutureSkills training initiatives, HKPC helps both industry and academia stay ahead in latest digital and STEM technologies, nurturing a future-ready talent pool for Hong Kong.
For more information, please visit HKPC’s website:
www.hkpc.org/en.
Media OutReach
Appier Delivers Record Results Driven by Agentic AI Innovation
E-Commerce and Online Travel Dual Engines Reinforce Robust Expansion. Strong Guidance Underscores Optimistic Outlook for FY26
Highlights and achievements for fiscal year 2025
- Delivered record high revenue of JPY 43.7 billion, up 28% YoY. (JPY 45.0 billion, up 32% YoY on an FX neutral basis)
- Substantial growth in E-commerce (49% YoY) and Other Internet Services (59% YoY) led by the Travel sector, reflects dual engine growth, driving high revenue quality
- All key regions demonstrate strong growth. NEA and US & EMEA both achieved 36% YoY revenue growth on an FX-neutral basis
- Profitability improved consistently, operating profit hit a record JPY 3.0 billion, up 50% YoY with a 6.8% margin (JPY 3.8 billion with an 8.5% margin on an FX-neutral basis)
- Gross profit achieved 32% YoY rise, driven by revenue scale, technology differentiations and a high-margin product mix
- Q4 FY25 revenue growth accelerated to 34% (up from 26% in Q3), reached the highest level in the past 9 quarters, fueled by a strong E-commerce peak season
Guidance for fiscal year 2026
- Core organic growth is expected to accelerate, with revenue projected to JPY 54 billion, up 24% YoY, driven by Agentic AI advancement and dual-engine market penetration
- Gross profit expected to grow 25% YoY to JPY 29.4 billion, with 54.5% gross margin, propelled by sustained technology-led efficiency and margin expansion
- Operating income is expected to grow 45% YoY to JPY 4.3 billion (8.0% margin) and EBITDA to grow 37% YoY to JPY 9.4 billion (17.4% margin)
- Proven track record in leading enterprise-wide transformations, transitioning from legacy software and manual workflows to a future of Agentic AI-driven operational excellence
Scaling new heights: A landmark year of Agentic AI–led growth acceleration
TAIPEI, TAIWAN – Wechat: Appier 沛星互动科技
The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
Appier
Appier (TSE: 4180) is an AI-native Agentic AI as a Service (AaaS) company that empowers business decision-making with cutting-edge AdTech and MarTech solutions. Founded in 2012 with the vision of “Making AI Easy by making software intelligent,” Appier endeavors to help businesses turn AI into ROI with its Ad Cloud, Personalization Cloud, and Data Cloud solutions. Now Appier has 17 offices across APAC, the US and EMEA, and is listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. Visit www.appier.com for more company information, and visit ir.appier.com/en/ for more IR information.
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