Market Newsdesk

REDWOOD CITY, Calif., Dec. 10, 2020 /PRNewswire/ — AcelRx Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: ACRX) (AcelRx), a specialty pharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of innovative therapies for use in healthcare institutions, today announced it has entered into an agreement with three life sciences-focused investment funds that are existing investors and new investors in AcelRx, for the sale of 8,333,333 shares of common stock at $1.20 per share. AcelRx estimates gross proceeds from the offering of approximately $10.0 million.  The closing of the transaction is expected to occur by December 11, 2020, subject to satisfaction of customary closing conditions.

The securities described above are being offered by AcelRx pursuant to a shelf registration statement previously filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”), which the SEC declared effective on July 8, 2020. A final prospectus supplement related to the offering will be filed with the SEC, and will be available on the SEC’s website located at http://www.sec.gov.

This press release does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy the securities, nor shall there be any sale of the securities in any state in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to the registration or qualification under the securities laws of such state.

About AcelRx Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
AcelRx Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is a specialty pharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of innovative therapies for use in medically supervised settings. AcelRx’s proprietary, non-invasive sublingual formulation technology delivers sufentanil with consistent pharmacokinetic profiles. The Company has one approved product in the U.S., DSUVIA® (sufentanil sublingual tablet, 30 mcg), known as DZUVEO™ in Europe, indicated for the management of acute pain severe enough to require an opioid analgesic for adult patients in certified medically supervised healthcare settings, and one product candidate, Zalviso® (sufentanil sublingual tablet system, SST system, 15 mcg), an investigational product in the U.S., is being developed as an innovatively designed patient-controlled analgesia (PCA) system for reduction of moderate-to-severe acute pain in medically supervised settings. DZUVEO and Zalviso are both approved products in Europe.

Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to, statements related to anticipated closing of the transaction. These and any other forward-looking statements are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements may be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as “believes,” “expects,” “anticipates,” “may,” “will,” “should,” “seeks,” “approximately,” “intends,” “plans,” “estimates,” or the negative of these words or other comparable terminology. These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected, anticipated or implied by such statements, including the inability to satisfy customary closing conditions. In addition,  such risks and uncertainties may include, but are not limited to, those described in AcelRx’s annual, quarterly and current reports (i.e., Form 10-K, Form 10-Q and Form 8-K) as filed or furnished with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on any such forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date such statements were first made. Except to the extent required by law, AcelRx undertakes no obligation to publicly release the result of any revisions to these forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof, or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.

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SOURCE AcelRx Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

Santa Barbara Actuaries Inc. estimates that Newtopia’s platform can generate first year medical cost savings of up to $1,700 per Medicare Advantage plan participating member

TORONTO, ON, Dec. 10, 2020 /PRNewswire/ – Newtopia Inc. (TSXV: NEWU), a habit change platform for disease prevention, today announced results of a study that demonstrates its programs can provide significant medical cost savings when applied to Medicare Advantage (MA) populations, according to a report authored by Santa Barbara Actuaries Inc. and commissioned by Newtopia.

Newtopia’s CDC accredited hyper-personalized approach combines the best of human intervention and digital technology to improve health and prevent, reverse, and slow the progression of chronic disease.

“Using an actuarial process, we are able to estimate that Newtopia’s habit change platform could save up to $1,700 per MA member,” said Ian Duncan, PhD, FSA, President of Santa Barbara Actuaries. “We developed a high-level economic model that estimates the potential savings from the Newtopia program when applies to a given MA population with Metabolic Syndrome (MetS) prevalence. The results of the report show promise of significant savings for the MA population.”

Santa Barbara Actuaries further stipulates that, where members remain engaged with Newtopia for 12-months, the potential one-year savings to a plan with 100,000 members is an estimated $10.8 million. Analysis of existing Newtopia data for participants aged 65 years or more shows an expected one-year average body weight reduction of 5.5%. This compares favorably to the 4.3% average weight loss seen in younger Newtopia program participants, as previously reported in a published randomized controlled trial in the Journal of Environmental and Occupational Medicine.

“Our published, randomized controlled trial with Aetna and our current commercial outcomes prove that our programs make a meaningful impact on employer populations by improving overall health and cost savings,” said Jeff Ruby, founder and CEO, Newtopia. “With this model developed by Santa Barbara Actuaries, we can confidently say that our behavior change platform has a high likelihood of improving the health of populations over 65 and generating corresponding cost savings for MA payers.”

In addition, Newtopia understands there are immediate benefits with cost of care reduction for other Medicare risk-bearing entities such as Accountable Care Organizations or other provider organizations, who can also leverage our lifestyle intervention for in-year savings. Providers who are accountable for a population’s total cost of care are likely to realize similar cost savings results as Medicare Advantage plans.

Newtopia will be conducting deeper analytics on medical loss ratio and other relevant Medicare metrics to further understand the cost reduction and revenue impact potential for risk-bearing entities.

About Newtopia

Newtopia is a tech-enabled disease prevention company focused on healthy habit change. Newtopia prevents, reverses, and slows the progression of chronic disease while enriching mental health, resilience, and overall human performance. The platform leverages genetic, social, and behavioral insights to create individualized prevention programs with a focus on type 2 diabetes, heart disease, stroke, and weight. With a person-centered approach that combines virtual care, digital tools, connected devices and actionable data science, Newtopia delivers sustainable clinical and financial outcomes. Newtopia serves some of the largest nationwide employers and health plans. To learn more, visit newtopia.com.

About Santa Barbara Actuaries Inc.

Santa Barbara Actuaries is an actuarial consulting firm that assists clients in developing economic models to demonstrate the financial efficacy of healthcare devices and intervention programs.  www.sbactuaries.com

Forward Looking Information

This news release contains forward-looking information and forward-looking statements, within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation, and forward looking statements, within the meaning of applicable United States securities legislation (collectively, “forward-looking statements”), which reflects management’s expectations regarding Newtopia’s future growth, results from operations (including, without limitation, future production and capital expenditures), performance (both operational and financial) and business prospects and opportunities. Wherever possible, words such as “predicts”, “projects”, “targets”, “plans”, “expects”, “does not expect”, “budget”, “scheduled”, “estimates”, “forecasts”, “anticipate” or “does not anticipate”, “believe”, “intend” and similar expressions or statements that certain actions, events or results “may”, “could”, “would”, “might” or “will” be taken, occur or be achieved, or the negative or grammatical variation thereof or other variations thereof, or comparable terminology have been used to identify forward-looking statements. All statements other than statements of historical fact may be forward-looking ‎information. Such statements reflect Newtopia’s current views and intentions with respect to future ‎events, based on information available to Newtopia, and are subject to certain risks, uncertainties and ‎assumptions. Material factors or assumptions were applied in providing forward-looking information. While forward-looking statements are based on data, assumptions and analyses that Newtopia believes are reasonable under the circumstances, whether actual results, performance or developments will meet Newtopia’s expectations and predictions depends on a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause the actual results, performance and financial condition of Newtopia to differ materially from its expectations.  These forward-looking statements include, among other things, the estimated cost savings to plan payers associated with the use of Newtopia’s platform by plan members, the potential cost of care reduction for other Medicare risk-bearing entities, the continued engagement with Newtopia’s platform by plan members, clients continuing to offer Newtopia’s platform pursuant to agreements entered into, statements relating to Newtopia’s business plans and outlook. Forward-looking statements are not a guarantee and are based on a number of estimates and assumptions management believes to be relevant and reasonable, whether actual results, performance or developments will meet Newtopia’s expectations and predictions depends on a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause the actual results, performance and financial condition of Newtopia to differ materially from its expectations.. Certain of the “risk factors” that could cause ‎actual results to differ materially from Newtopia’s forward-looking statements in this press release ‎include, without limitation: the termination of contracts by clients, risks related to COVID-19 including various recommendations, orders and measures of ‎‎governmental authorities to try to limit the pandemic, including travel restrictions, border closures, ‎‎non-essential business closures, quarantines, self-isolations, shelters-in-place and social ‎distancing, ‎disruptions to markets, economic activity, financing, supply chains and sales channels, ‎and a ‎deterioration of general economic conditions including a possible national or global ‎recession; and other general economic, market and business conditions and factors, including the risk factors discussed or referred to in Newtopia’s disclosure documents, filed with the securities ‎regulatory authorities in certain provinces of Canada and available at www.sedar.com including Newtopia’s final long form prospectus dated March 30, 2020.

For more information on these risks please see the “Risk Factors” in Newtopia’s final long-form prospectus dated March 30, 2020. Should any factor affect Newtopia’s in an unexpected manner, or should assumptions underlying the forward- looking information prove incorrect, the actual results or events may differ materially from the results or events predicted. Any such forward-looking information is expressly qualified in its entirety by this cautionary statement. Moreover, Newtopia does not assume responsibility for the accuracy or completeness of such forward-looking information. The forward-looking information included in this press release is made as of the date of this press release, and Newtopia undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking information, other than as required by applicable law.

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

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SOURCE Newtopia Inc.

BEIJING, Dec. 10, 2020 /PRNewswire/ — China Liberal Education Holdings Limited (Nasdaq: CLEU) (“China Liberal”, or the “Company”, or “we”), an educational services provider in China, today announced that the Company has successfully provided services under four agreements (the “Agreements”) with Wuhan Wangjie Hengtong Information Technology Co., Ltd. (“WWH”), one of the service providers of State Grid Corporation of China (“SGC”), a Chinese state-owned electric utility corporation, to provide technical support services for SGC.

Pursuant to the Agreements with terms ranging from one month to one year in 2020, the Company agreed to provide technical support for the construction of the comprehensive operational capacity of SGC’s power supply command center, in order to achieve the function of multi-location video conference, which is used for scheduling meetings, consultations, discussions and training sessions. The Company also agreed to develop remote video interactive information system for SGC and optimize the operation of SGC’s service power supply supervision and management platform.

Ms. Ngai Ngai Lam, Chairwoman and CEO of China Liberal, commented, “We are excited to have worked with WWH and provided SGC with our services. This showcases the quality and popularity of our products and services as well as our strong capabilities. Through cooperation, we quickly transferred our technology and applied our experience with existing data platforms to SGC’s various business sectors. In addition, our cooperation reduced the customer’s data development and maintenance costs, realized multi-dimensional statistical analyses, improved system flexibility, and found timely solutions to address customer needs. This cooperation with SGC marked a good start, and we expect to expand our cooperation in 2021, which will not only include our data platform technology, but also our newly launched all-in-one machine AI-Space, designed to provide highly integrated visualization solutions for various scenarios with strict reliability requirements and is a good fit for smart business and exhibition halls of SGC and telecommunications companies.”

About China Liberal Education Holdings Limited

China Liberal, headquartered in Beijing, is an educational services provider in China. It provides a wide range of services, including those under Sino-foreign jointly managed academic programs; overseas study consulting services; technological consulting services for Chinese universities to improve their campus information and data management system and to optimize their teaching, operating and management environment, creating a “smart campus”; and tailored job readiness training to graduating students. For more information, visit the company’s website at ir.chinaliberal.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This document contains forward-looking statements. In addition, from time to time, we or our representatives may make forward-looking statements orally or in writing. We base these forward-looking statements on our expectations and projections about future events, which we derive from the information currently available to us. Such forward-looking statements relate to future events or our future performance, including: our financial performance and projections; our growth in revenue and earnings; and our business prospects and opportunities. You can identify forward-looking statements by those that are not historical in nature, particularly those that use terminology such as “may,” “should,” “expects,” “anticipates,” “contemplates,” “estimates,” “believes,” “plans,” “projected,” “predicts,” “potential,” or “hopes” or the negative of these or similar terms. In evaluating these forward-looking statements, you should consider various factors, including: our ability to change the direction of the Company; our ability to keep pace with new technology and changing market needs; and the competitive environment of our business. These and other factors may cause our actual results to differ materially from any forward-looking statement. Forward-looking statements are only predictions. The forward-looking events discussed in this press release and other statements made from time to time by us or our representatives, may not occur, and actual events and results may differ materially and are subject to risks, uncertainties and assumptions about us. We are not obligated to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of uncertainties and assumptions, the forward-looking events discussed in this press release and other statements made from time to time by us or our representatives might not occur.

Investor Relations Contact

China Liberal Education Holdings Limited
Email: [email protected] 

Ascent Investor Relations LLC
Ms. Tina Xiao
Email: [email protected] 
Tel: +1 917 609 0333

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SOURCE China Liberal Education Holdings Limited

BALTIMORE, Dec. 10, 2020 /PRNewswire/ — T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. (NASDAQ-GS: TROW) today reported preliminary month-end assets under management of $1.42 trillion as of November 30, 2020.  Client transfers from mutual funds to other portfolios, including trusts and separate accounts, were $0.4 billion in November 2020, and $1.5 billion for the quarter-to-date period ended November 30, 2020.  This brings total client transfers for the year-to-date period ended November 30, 2020, to $12.7 billion.  These client transfers include $0.5 billion and $8.2 billion, respectively, transferred to the target-date retirement trusts during the quarter-to-date and year-to-date periods. There were no transfers from mutual funds to the target-date retirement trusts in the month of November.

The firm’s assets under management as of November 30, 2020, and for the prior month-, quarter-, and year-end, by investment vehicle, asset class, and in the firm’s target date retirement portfolios are as follows:

Founded in 1937, Baltimore-based T. Rowe Price (troweprice.com) is a global investment management organization that provides a broad array of mutual funds, subadvisory services, and separate account management for individual and institutional investors, retirement plans, and financial intermediaries. The organization also offers a variety of sophisticated investment planning and guidance tools. T. Rowe Price’s disciplined, risk-aware investment approach focuses on diversification, style consistency, and fundamental research.

Supplemental Information

The following table reflects the data with the underlying assets under management of the multi-asset portfolios included within the equity and fixed income lines.

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SOURCE T. Rowe Price Group, Inc.

SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., Dec. 10, 2020 /PRNewswire/ — VistaGen Therapeutics (NASDAQ: VTGN), a biopharmaceutical company developing new generation medicines with the potential to go beyond the current standard of care for anxiety, depression and other central nervous system (CNS) disorders, today announced that the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) in the Republic of Korea has issued a Decision to Grant Patent Application No. 10-2015-7020176 related to methods of treating depressive disorder with VistaGen’s PH10, an investigational neuroactive nasal spray designed to have rapid-onset therapeutic potential in several neuropsychiatric indications involving depression, initially as potential stand-alone treatment for major depressive disorder (MDD). The patent is not set to expire earlier than 2034.

“The Republic of Korea is an important pharmaceutical market. With counterpart patents already issued in the U.S., Greater China, Europe and Japan, this patent enhances our patent protection for PH10 and is a key component of our global commercial protection strategy for PH10,” stated Shawn K. Singh, Chief Executive Officer of VistaGen. “Our late-stage development and commercialization strategy for PH10 is similar to our strategy for PH94B, namely, to license these rights in key pharmaceutical markets outside of North America.”

“MDD affects more than 264 million adults globally and can have significant emotional, functional and economic impact on those who suffer from the disorder and their loved ones. Recent studies have also shown that there has been an exacerbation of existing depression symptoms, with U.S. adults showing three times as many symptoms of depression during the COVID-19 pandemic we are battling, making the need for better, safer alternatives for depression treatments more imperative. We believe PH10 has the potential to transform the treatment landscape for individuals with MDD in global depression markets, and we believe this patent will help protect and propel global development,” continued Mr. Singh.

About Major Depressive Disorder (MDD)
MDD is a serious neurobiologically based mood disorder affecting more than 264 million adults globally and is a leading cause of disability worldwide. Individuals diagnosed with MDD exhibit depressive symptoms, such as a depressed mood or a loss of interest or pleasure in daily activities, for more than a two-week period, as well as impaired social, occupational, educational or other important functioning, which has a negative impact on their quality of life.

About PH10
PH10 is an innovative odorless investigational synthetic neuroactive nasal spray designed to have rapid-onset and therapeutic potential in several neuropsychiatric indications involving depression, including MDD and suicidal ideation. Following successfully completed exploratory Phase 2A clinical development, VistaGen is preparing for Phase 2B clinical development of PH10 as a potential stand-alone, rapid-onset treatment for MDD.

About VistaGen
VistaGen Therapeutics is a biopharmaceutical company committed to developing and commercializing innovative medicines with the potential to go beyond the current standard of care for anxiety, depression, and other CNS disorders. Each of VistaGen’s three drug candidates has a differentiated potential mechanism of action, has been well-tolerated in all clinical studies to date and has therapeutic potential in multiple CNS markets. For more information, please visit www.vistagen.com and connect with VistaGen on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook.

Forward Looking Statements
Various statements in this release are “forward-looking statements” concerning our future expectations, plans and prospects, including the potential for successful clinical development and commercialization of PH10 for depression disorders, including MDD. These forward-looking statements are neither promises nor guarantees of future performance, and are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties which could cause actual results to differ materially from those contemplated in these forward-looking statements, including the risks that: development and approval of PH10 may not be achieved in any market; the FDA or counterpart foreign regulatory authorities may decide that the results of the our PH10 clinical program are not sufficient for regulatory approval for  treatment of MDD or any other depression-related disorder; development of PH10 may not be successful in any indication; success in nonclinical studies or in earlier-stage clinical trials may not be repeated or observed in future studies, which may not support further development or be sufficient to gain regulatory approval to market PH10; adverse events may be encountered at any stage of development that negatively impact further development. Other risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, issues related to: adverse healthcare reforms and changes of laws and regulations; general industry and market conditions; manufacturing and marketing risks, including risks related to the COVID-19 pandemic, which may include, but are not limited to, unavailability of or delays in delivery of raw materials for manufacture of PH10; inadequate and/or untimely supply of PH10 to meet demand; entry of competitive products; and other technical and unexpected hurdles in the development, manufacture and commercialization of PH10, as well as those risks more fully discussed in the section entitled “Risk Factors” in our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended March 31, 2020, and in our most recent Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter and six months ended September 30, 2020, as well as discussions of potential risks, uncertainties and other important factors in our other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. In addition, any forward-looking statements represent our views only as of today and should not be relied upon as representing our views as of any subsequent date. We explicitly disclaim any obligation to update any forward-looking statements. 

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SOURCE VistaGen Therapeutics

NEWARK, N.J., Dec. 10, 2020 /PRNewswire/ — IDT Express, a leading digital platform provider of wholesale voice and direct inward dialing numbers (DIDs) to businesses, today unveiled a new postpaid billing plan for DIDs.  IDT Express clients can now leverage IDT Express’ affordable, global DID coverage with unprecedented financial flexibility.

“Demand for virtual numbers is escalating as businesses worldwide leverage the power and flexibility of cloud communications solutions,” said Sid Bhutani, VP – IDT Express.  “To provide businesses with the DIDs they need for their critical communications applications, we have leveraged IDT’s extensive global communications network to create a world-class programmable number service.  Now, our DID provisioning platform provides postpaid options to help businesses manage their cash-flows.”

IDT Express clients are integrating virtual numbers into a wide variety of business use cases including:

• PSTN replacement numbers for PBX/ Cloud PBX operators
• Programmable phone numbers for UCaas / CPaas companies
• Number masking services for ride share companies
• Access numbers for the PIN-less / printed calling card industry
• Affordable calling solutions for prison inmates
• Inbound and outbound numbers for contact centers
• Bundled software and voice for SaaS developers
• International numbers to businesses for CLECs
• A second phone line to consumers globally for software companies
• Program specific numbers for marketing ROI analysis and CRM integration
• Toll-free vanity numbers.

“IDT Express helped to transform the wholesale voice arena when we introduced our convenient, automated platform to provision flexible and affordable voice minutes nearly a decade ago.  Now, we are replicating that success with DID numbers to serve customers worldwide,” said Peter Broes – IDT Express’ Director – Product Management.

IDT Express postpaid DID service is available in 70+ countries and includes IDT Express’s full range of number offerings including toll free and mobile. To take advantage of the IDT Express DID product, visit us at https://www.idtexpress.com/ or e-mail: [email protected].

ABOUT IDT

IDT Corporation
 (NYSE: IDT) is a global provider of fintech, cloud communications and traditional communications services.  Our fintech businesses include BOSS Revolution® Money Transfer, an international remittance and financial services provider, and National Retail Solutions®, operator of a nationwide point-of-sale retail network providing payment processing, digital advertising, transaction data and ancillary services. net2phone provides cloud communications and collaboration solutions for businesses and organizations.  IDT’s traditional communications platform offerings include international voice and text, mobile top-up and wholesale telecom services.  

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SOURCE IDT Corporation

NEW YORK, Dec. 10, 2020 /PRNewswire/ — LivePerson, Inc. (Nasdaq: LPSN), a global leader in conversational AI, today announced the findings of its 2020 Survey of Consumer Preferences Around Insurance examining consumer attitudes and behavior around interactions with insurers, messaging, and conversational AI and commerce.

The October 2020 survey of more than 2,500 U.S., U.K., and Australian respondents reveals that the vast majority of consumers trust messaging experiences and chatbots to help them with insurance questions.

The survey results point to the need for insurers to put AI-powered messaging options front and center to accommodate evolving behaviors. Nearly half (49%) of respondents said the pandemic has made them rethink their medical and life insurance policies, and 63% say they would use an insurer’s chatbot that could instantly answer questions, including those related to COVID-19 symptoms and testing.

“The relationship between consumers and their insurers is built on trust, and the vast majority of consumers now clearly report that they trust insurance companies more if they provide the option to message to get advice, ask questions, and even make purchases,” said Robert LoCascio, founder and CEO of LivePerson. “This is a win-win for policyholders and insurance companies. Policyholders can engage whenever and wherever they want on the messaging channels they love using with family and friends, and insurers can leverage conversational AI to reduce call volume, boost self-service, and exceed customer expectations with an end-to-end digital experience tailored to their needs.”

Key findings of LivePerson’s 2020 Survey of Consumer Preferences Around Insurance are summarized below:

Consumers say conversational insurance experiences are in high demand.

• 75% of consumers say they prefer to have a conversation with someone at their insurance company before making a purchase.
• 70% say they want the ability to securely text or message with their insurance company.

Consumers express high levels of trust in Conversational AI and messaging for insurance.

• 70% of consumers say they trust an insurance company more if associates are readily available via messaging to give advice, answer questions, and help with purchases.
• 71% say they would also trust an insurance company more if it provided personalized service, which Conversational AI can help insurers deliver at scale.
• The vast majority of respondents say they trust chatbots to help them:
• Provide a quote (76%)
• Change address (75%)
• Make a claim (71%)
• Add a member to coverage (74%)
• Calculate a rate (78%)
• Provide a renewal quote (77%)
• Tell them about waiting periods (82%)
• Update billing information (76%)

Consumers are much more likely to buy and continue service if given Conversational AI and messaging options.

• 63% said they were more likely to buy insurance from a company if they had the option to message them instead of just call.
• 65% said they are more likely to stay with an insurance company that offers this service.
• More than half (51%) say they’d purchase more from an insurance company that offered a chatbot concierge to help, as opposed to strictly self-serve.

The world’s most innovative insurance brands, like Bupa and Zurich, have seen success deploying conversational experiences for their customers.

Bupa, an international health insurance and healthcare group with over 33 million customers worldwide, uses LivePerson’s Conversational Cloud to connect with customers over Apple Business Chat, WhatsApp, and SMS and complement its Australian-based call center.

“We know our customers lead busy lives, and digital messaging gives them the ability to communicate swiftly with a real person while multitasking at home, at work, or on the go,” said Daryl Niemandt, Director of Customer and Business Operations at Bupa.

Zurich Switzerland
, a division of one of the world’s largest insurers, is using AI-powered messaging to assist its customers, including fielding a digital assistant to immediately answer coronavirus-related questions. Their new assistant was created with LivePerson’s Conversation Builder in less than 24 hours and runs on LivePerson’s Conversational Cloud. It is multilingual, supporting customers in German, English, French, and Italian.

“We are very proud to be leading the insurance industry by deploying bots for several use cases. From simple automations that respond to button clicks to complex uses of natural language processing, we’re continuously improving our customer service and simplifying purchasing,” said Sara Bertone, eCommerce & Performance Manager at Zurich. 

LivePerson’s 2020 Survey of Consumer Preferences Around Insurance was conducted in October 2020 via an online survey of 2,574 consumers aged 18 and older in the United States, United Kingdom, and Australia. Respondents were asked a series of questions related to insurance and customer care topics.

Click here to view an infographic summarizing LivePerson’s 2020 Survey of Consumer Preferences Around Insurance.

About LivePerson, Inc.
LivePerson makes life easier for people and brands everywhere through trusted conversational AI. Our 18,000 customers, including leading brands like HSBC, Orange, GM Financial, and The Home Depot, use our conversational solutions to orchestrate humans and AI, at scale, and create a convenient, deeply personal relationship — a conversational relationship — with their millions of consumers. LivePerson was named to Fast Company‘s World’s Most Innovative Companies list in 2020. For more information about LivePerson (NASDAQ: LPSN), please visit www.liveperson.com.

CONTACT: Mike Tague, [email protected]

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SOURCE LivePerson, Inc.

TORONTO, NEW YORK and LONDON, Dec. 10, 2020 /PRNewswire/ – BMO Capital Markets, the investment and corporate banking arm of BMO Financial Group (NYSE: BMO) (TSX: BMO), has been named Best Bank for USD/CAD for the 10^th year in a row by the 2020 FX Markets Best Banks Awards.

“We’re very pleased to receive this recognition for the 10^th consecutive year. It’s a testament to the depth of FX expertise at BMO Capital Markets, as well as our longstanding and firm commitment to provide excellence in client service in all the regions we serve,” said Kate Stothers, Managing Director, Global Markets, BMO Capital Markets.

The FX Markets Best Banks Awards are the benchmark for performance in the global FX industry and are the most accurate indicator of leaders in the market. The winners are chosen based on votes from foreign exchange professionals from around the globe. In the 2020 survey, respondents from banks, corporate treasurers and investors – including fund managers, institutional investors and hedge funds – voted for banks, brokers and vendors in 48 categories.

BMO Capital Markets’ Foreign Exchange Products group, part of the BMO Fixed Income, Currencies and Commodities (BMO FICC) group, is comprised of a team of nearly 70 professionals operating in London, Toronto, Calgary, Montreal, Chicago, Milwaukee, New York, San Francisco, Shanghai and Hong Kong.

The BMO FICC group has received numerous awards for its market leadership. Recent recognitions include:

• Ranked #1 for U.S. Rates Strategy, Technical Analysis, and Federal Agency Debt Strategy by Institutional Investor
• Recognized as a 2019 Greenwich Quality Leader in Canadian Fixed-Income Research by Greenwich Associates
• Ranked #3 as a 2019 Greenwich Share Leader for Overall Canadian Fixed-Income Market Share by Greenwich Associates

About BMO Capital Markets
BMO Capital Markets is a leading, full-service North American-based financial services provider offering corporate, institutional and government clients access to a complete range of products and services including equity and debt underwriting, corporate lending and project financing, mergers and acquisitions advisory services, securitization, treasury management, market risk management, debt and equity research and institutional sales and trading. With approximately 2,700 professionals in 33 locations around the world, including 19 offices in North America, BMO Capital Markets works proactively with clients to provide innovative and integrated financial solutions.  BMO Capital Markets is a member of BMO Financial Group (NYSE, TSX: BMO) one of the largest diversified financial services providers in North America with $713 billion total assets as at October 31, 2020.

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SOURCE BMO Financial Group

SAN JOSE, Calif., Dec. 10, 2020 /PRNewswire/ — Like many business owners, Santa Claus faces unprecedented challenges this year. Kids worldwide can’t sit on Santa’s lap. Elves are in lockdown and he needs to find new toy sources. Plus, with Dancer and Prancer self-isolating, he needs a new way to make his worldwide rounds. To solve these challenges, Santa has called on global analytics software firm FICO and its industry-leading FICO® Decision Management Platform.

This is the scenario illustrated in a new infographic and series of videos from FICO, as “Santa’s helpers” address challenges that will seem familiar to many real businesses this year.

More information: www.fico.com/santachallenge

“As businesses go 100% digital, workforces shrink and capital becomes scarce, it’s more important than ever to improve customer engagement, automate more tasks, and optimize results down to the penny,” said Nikhil Behl, chief marketing officer at FICO. “That’s exactly what the FICO Decision Management Platform can do. The Santa Challenge is more than a bit of fun — it’s a demonstration of exactly how our platform can solve incredibly complex business problems.”

The FICO team has broken Santa’s problems down into five challenges, which is it addressing using advanced AI, machine learning, mathematical optimization and other decision management technologies:

• Challenge 1: Get the Data!
• Challenge 2: Analyze More Data Than Ever!
• Challenge 3: Match the Gifts to the Kids!
• Challenge 4: Schedule Deliveries and Meet that Deadline!
• Challenge 5: Learn and Improve!

Weekly updates will show the progress as the FICO team races to meet Santa’s immoveable deadline.

The FICO Platform is the #1 analytic decisioning platform for optimizing interactions across all customer decisions. It provides the ideal decisioning foundation companies need to successfully achieve digital transformation. Businesses use the platform to rapidly build new AI and machine learning powered applications rapidly and cost effectively. FICO announced this week that it was named a leader by Forrester Research in The Forrester Wave™: Digital Decisioning Platforms, Q4 2020.

About FICO
FICO (NYSE: FICO) powers decisions that help people and businesses around the world prosper. Founded in 1956 and based in Silicon Valley, the company is a pioneer in the use of predictive analytics and data science to improve operational decisions. FICO holds more than 195 US and foreign patents on technologies that increase profitability, customer satisfaction and growth for businesses in financial services, telecommunications, health care, retail and many other industries. Using FICO solutions, businesses in more than 100 countries do everything from protecting 2.6 billion payment cards from fraud, to helping people get credit, to ensuring that millions of airplanes and rental cars are in the right place at the right time.

Learn more at http://www.fico.com.

Join the conversation at https://twitter.com/fico & http://www.fico.com/en/blogs/

For FICO news and media resources, visit www.fico.com/news.

FICO is a registered trademark of Fair Isaac Corporation in the U.S. and other countries.

View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/can-fico-ai-help-santa-through-the-pandemic-301190349.html

SOURCE FICO

EDINBURGH, Scotland, Dec. 10, 2020 /PRNewswire/ — ION Geophysical Corporation’s Edinburgh-based Software group today announced the award of a competitive tender to supply Marlin SmartPort™ as a port management information system to CalMac Ferries Ltd.  CalMac Ferries Ltd is the UK’s largest ferry operator, managing 29 routes to over 50 destinations across 200 miles of Scotland’s west coast and operator of 27 ports and harbours across the length and breadth of Scotland.  ION’s Marlin SmartPort solution will provide port management services to 17 of CalMac’s harbours, including the major ferry port at Oban and the commercial cargo port at Perth, over an initial four-year term.

Marlin SmartPort makes ports more efficient and attractive for vessel owners and agents to use, increasing their competitive position while reducing costs and environmental impact.  The Cloud-based solution integrates systems and data to create a common operating picture that provides better real-time visibility to optimize decision-making across the port community.  For example, automating port call processes can reduce administration time by upwards of 50% while reducing errors.  

“After an extensive tender process, we are pleased to select Marlin SmartPort as a solution that not only meets all of our immediate requirements, but also provides a long-term partnership to support our evolving needs,” said Cameron MacPhail, CalMac’s Head of Ports & Harbours.  “ION has a strong reputation in the UK port community for an efficient, integrated digital system and a support team that helps drive innovation and value.  Marlin SmartPort will support our modernization program to improve operational efficiencies and enhance the customer experience as well as our on-going environmental commitment.”

Senior Vice President of ION’s Edinburgh-based Software group, Stuart Darling, said, “We are delighted to be awarded this important contract from CalMac Ferries Ltd.  The Marlin SmartPort solution received development funding from Scottish Enterprise at the start of the year, and this contract presents a great opportunity for us to deliver value from that investment across a wide range of harbours in Scotland.  This award validates the competitiveness of our offering and demonstrates the breadth of Marlin to support a wide range of applications including port and ferry management.  Marlin SmartPort was developed with input from port controllers and we continue to advance the platform to cover wide a range of use cases to deliver value to ports and harbours globally.”

To learn more, visit iongeo.com/MarlinSmartPort.

About ION

Leveraging innovative technologies, ION delivers powerful data-driven decision-making to offshore energy, ports and defense industries, enabling clients to optimize operations and deliver superior returns.  Learn more at iongeo.com.

Contacts

ION (Investor relations)

Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
Mike Morrison, +1 281.879.3615
[email protected] 

ION (Media relations)

Vice President, Communications
Rachel White, +1 281.781.1168
[email protected]

The information herein contains certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. These forward-looking statements may include information and other statements that are not of historical fact. Actual results may vary materially from those described in these forward-looking statements. All forward-looking statements reflect numerous assumptions and involve a number of risks and uncertainties. These risks and uncertainties include the risks associated with the timing and development of ION Geophysical Corporation’s products and services; pricing pressure; decreased demand; changes in oil prices; agreements made or adhered to by members of OPEC and other oil producing countries to maintain production levels; the COVID-19 pandemic; and political, execution, regulatory, and currency risks. For additional information regarding these various risks and uncertainties, see our Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2019, filed on February 6, 2020. Additional risk factors, which could affect actual results, are disclosed by the Company in its filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”), including its Form 10-K, Form 10-Qs and Form 8-Ks filed during the year. The Company expressly disclaims any obligation to revise or update any forward-looking statements.

View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/ion-wins-competitive-tender-to-supply-marlin-smartport-to-17-of-calmac-ferries-ports-and-ferry-terminals-301190413.html

SOURCE ION Geophysical Corporation