Day: November 17, 2021

Perpetual swap products saw the most growth, followed by spot trading

VICTORIA, Seychelles, Nov. 17, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — OKEx — a top cryptocurrency exchange and DeFi ecosystem — today reported 308% growth in total trading volumes over the past year. OKEx’s total trading volume of all listed assets grew from $1.8 trillion in October 2020 to $7.4 trillion as of October 2021.

Breaking down this massive growth, perpetual swap products on OKEx saw the highest increase, with trading volume growing by 455% year-over-year. Cryptocurrency spot and futures products also saw impressive growth in terms of trading volumes — up 365% and 209%, respectively.

In October 2021, BTC, DOGE, SHIB, OKB, ETH and SOL were among the top-10 assets with the highest trading volumes on OKEx spot markets. Total spot trading volumes for the 10 assets combined reached a monthly high of over $6.5 billion, which reflects increasing industry-level interest in dog-themed memecoins, as well as decentralized finance.

OKEx’s notable growth in trading volumes is accompanied by the firm’s market-leading push into the DeFi, GameFi and nonfungible token (NFT) spaces. This fall, OKEx launched a DeFi mode on both its website and mobile app, featuring a bespoke Web 3.0 wallet, as well as an NFT Marketplace and play-to-earn crypto gaming center. The platform also recently launched an advanced trading feature, portfolio margin, specifically designed to improve capital efficiency for professional and institutional traders.

“We are extremely pleased to witness this positive growth trajectory over the past year,” said OKEx CEO Jay Hao, adding:

“This would not have been possible without the support from our valued customers — the trusted OKEx family. In the past year, we upheld our commitment to better serve our customers with the launch of various offerings, including the new DeFi mode on OKEx, which includes a self-custodial, decentralized wallet, as well as an NFT Marketplace and blockchain game center.

To cater to institutional and professional traders, a CME-like portfolio margin system was introduced as part of our efforts to build the world’s most powerful trading platform for crypto traders. As we celebrate our fourth anniversary, we look forward to expanding our offerings and further growing our family in the global markets.”

Andrea Leung
andrea.leung@okex.com

The companies deployed the HIPAA/GDPR compliant encrypted messaging platform to stop the use of consumer-grade messaging apps and streamline internal and patient communications

CHICAGO, Nov. 17, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — NetSfere, a global provider of next-generation secure and compliant messaging and mobility solutions, today announces its partnership with Deutsche Telekom, one of the world’s leading integrated telecommunications companies, to deploy NetSfere’s secure mobile messaging platform in all St. Augustinus hospitals, a leading German healthcare group.

Quick, instantaneous communication tools offer undisputed benefits to streamline staff communication, however, St. Augustinus noticed an alarming increase in the use of personal devices and popular messaging apps like WhatsApp, which pose critical privacy and compliance risks. In response, NetSfere and Deutsche Telekom partnered to implement NetSfere’s HIPAA and GDPR compliant messaging platform that offers similar functionality to apps like WhatsApp but provides the highest level of end-to-end encryption through Deutsche Telekom’s highly secure data center.

“NetSfere is designed to meet security and compliance requirements in regulated verticals including healthcare,” says Franz Obermayer, NetSfere’s Vice President Europe. “Medical professionals do high-pressure, life-changing work, which demands a communication platform that enables them to do so more effectively. Our partnership with the St. Augustinus Group provides secure, compliant, and flexible messaging options that eliminate the need for staff members to turn to risky messaging apps. With NetSfere, the exchange of patient data is protected to the maximum.”

Unlike consumer-grade messaging apps, NetSfere provides enterprise-grade functionalities that boost collaboration and streamline communications including individual and group messaging, HD audio calling, screen sharing, and group video calling. New to the platform, the NetSfere Lifeline emergency broadcast feature allows HR and crisis teams to quickly disseminate high priority, critical alerts and emergency information to targeted teams or an entire organization in an attention-grabbing manner. St. Augustinus is leveraging NetSfere broadcasting within its hospital to keep employees up-to-date on information related to the pandemic through its “Corona Ticker” NetSfere Lifeline channel.

“In the sensitive medical environment, it must be possible to communicate quickly and securely. NetSfere is the specialist for instant messages in companies. Telekom brings its expertise in security, consulting, and service. Together, we can meet the special industry requirements, and that is quite crucial right now,” says Hagen Rickmann, Managing Director Business Customers, Telekom Deutschland GmbH. “In this way, we can directly contribute to relieving the burden on staff and support optimal patient care.”

“It is our responsibility to equip our employees with suitable tools. They must be able to do their work effectively. At the same time, the privacy of our patients must be protected,” says Rainer Pappert, Managing Director of the St. Augustinus Group. “With the introduction of NetSfere, we followed the wishes of our employees: They want to use their personal devices. And they want to do so with an easy-to-use messaging app. So, we quickly introduced NetSfere for internal communication. With it, we quickly achieved better productivity and collaboration. Between teams, but also within our entire group. And that’s about 5,600 colleagues.”

St. Augustinus was drawn to using NetSfere as a solution for its staff not only because of its robust functionality, but also its industry recognition. In 2018 and 2019, NetSfere was selected by Entscheiderfabrik, a platform for IT decision makers of over 800 German hospitals, as the winner of the “Digitization Topic of the German Healthcare Industry.”

“Key highlights from our recently published VoTE: Digital Pulse, Business Reinvention & Transformation 2021 show that information security, employee productivity and business continuity remain top of mind for IT decision-makers,” said Raúl Castañón-Martinez, Senior Analyst for Workforce Collaboration at 451 Research, part of S&P Global Market Intelligence division. These factors will drive market requirements for business communications and collaboration, particularly for mobile, remote/hybrid and frontline workers across verticals and use cases such as field workers and healthcare providers.”(1)

For more information, visit www.netsfere.com.

^1. 451 Research, part of S&P Global Market Intelligence division, “The hybrid workplace, Part 3: Emerging requirements and use cases for real-time communications and collaboration” (August 2021)

About NetSfere
NetSfere is a secure enterprise messaging service and platform from Infinite Convergence Solutions, Inc. NetSfere provides industry-leading security and message delivery capabilities, including global cloud-based service availability, device-to-device encryption, location-based features and administrative controls. The service is also offered in partnership with Deutsche Telekom GmbH, one of the world’s leading integrated telecommunications companies, and with NTT Ltd., a global information communications & technology service provider, to jointly offer NetSfere to its worldwide customers. The service leverages Infinite Convergence’s experience in delivering mobility solutions to tier 1 mobile operators globally and technology that supports more than 400 million subscribers and over a trillion messages on an annual basis. NetSfere is also compliant with global regulatory requirements, including GDPR, HIPAA, Sarbanes-Oxley, ISO 27001 and others. Infinite Convergence Solutions has offices in the United States, Germany, India and Singapore. For more information, visit www.netsfere.com.

About Deutsche Telekom
Deutsche Telekom is one of the world’s leading integrated telecommunications companies, with some 242 million mobile customers, 27 million fixed-network lines, and 22 million broadband lines. We provide fixed-network/broadband, mobile communications, Internet, and IPTV products and services for consumers, and information and communication technology (ICT) solutions for business and corporate customers. Deutsche Telekom is present in more than 50 countries. With a staff of some 226,300 (Dec 31, 2020) employees throughout the world, we generated revenue of 101 billion Euros in the 2020 financial year, about 66 percent of it outside Germany.

About St. Augustinus Group
The Christian non-profit St. Augustinus Group is one of the largest and most successful companies in the health and social sector in the Rhineland. Its focus is on somatics, psychiatry, and elderly and disabled assistance. The group has 3,000 beds, over 5,600 employees from 68 nationalities, in 85 locations and a turnover of around 345 million euros (2019).

Media Contact
Brittany Johnson
Uproar PR for NetSfere
bjohnson@uproarpr.com
312-878-4575 x246

A video accompanying this release is available at:

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/d49c9ba2-b23b-490d-8c39-7cf18d6933df

Survey finds international students rebound as women and U.S. underrepresented groups flock to full-time MBA programs

RESTON, Va., Nov. 17, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — The Graduate Management Admission Council™ (GMAC™), a global association of leading graduate business schools, today released its anticipated annual 2021 Application Trends Survey. The survey of nearly a thousand MBA and business master’s programs found that in 2021, the volume of applications for graduate business school programs grew 0.4 percent from the year before, sustaining the elevated demand since the onset of a global pandemic in 2020 when business schools worldwide saw unusually high volume of applications due to the economic uncertainty.

“Candidates looked for alternative career options during the COVID induced recession and business schools introduced more flexible admissions policies, resulting in soaring application volumes last year,” said Sangeet Chowfla, president and CEO of GMAC. “The question was whether this was a fleeting event caused by the pandemic or the start of a new uptick in applications. In this context, the 2021 application cycle indicates that the surging demand for graduate business education is not a passing fad but has staying power beyond 2020.”

Key Findings

International candidates rebound in top-ranked business schools

After years of unwelcoming immigration policies in parts of the world and months of global travel restrictions due to COVID-19, pent-up demand from international students for graduate business schools was evident in this year’s data. Weighted absolute year-on-year change in application volumes from international candidates ― the applicants whose citizenship differs from that of the country where the program is located ― shows an increase of 4.1 percent compared to a decline of 3.8 percent from domestic candidates, the applicants who are citizens of the country where a program is located. More programs in Europe, the U.S., and the U.K reported decline in applications from domestic candidates when compared across regions.

This difference between international and domestic application volume is especially apparent for full-time MBA programs among leading business schools. The share of full-time two-year MBA programs showing growth in applications from international candidates has doubled from 28 percent in 2019 to 57 percent in 2021. Furthermore, twice as many U.S. programs ranked in the top 50 according to the US News & World Report saw an increase in applications from international candidates (73%) as domestic candidates (36%).

“Business school learning is experiential and relies heavily on interactions, discussions and cohort and alumni networks. This is impossible without a diversity of perspectives and backgrounds,” said Katy Montgomery, Associate Dean of Degree Programmes at INSEAD and a GMAC board member. “As student mobility gradually returns, the diversity it brings to a classroom will only benefit and enrich campus life.”

Women, U.S. underrepresented minorities return to in-person, full time MBA programs

Full-time MBA programs continued gaining traction in 2021. Half of full-time one-year (52%) and two-year (56%) MBA programs report an increase in applications in 2021, above all programs averaged at 41 percent. On the contrary, professional MBA programs such as part-time MBA, executive MBA, and online MBA programs ― those geared toward the needs of working professionals ― saw their share in those reporting application growth at the lowest level since 2017.

This year’s application data also indicates that globally, women candidates emerging from the shadow of the pandemic refocused on their career ambitions, with three in five (60%) full-time two-year MBA programs reporting an increase in applications from female candidates compared to two in five (43%) programs reporting growth from male candidates. In comparison, a much smaller share of online MBA programs (42%) reported growth in applications from female candidates, indicating women’s preference to return to in-person, full time learning.

In the U.S., women and underrepresented minorities (URM) reported similar desire to study on campus. More full-time two-year MBA programs reported growth in URM applications in 2021 (56%) compared to pre-pandemic 2019 (37%) or the online program (30%). Even more notably, female URM candidates demonstrated an impressive 22 percent increase between 2019 (38%) to 2021 (60%) in their share of applications for full-time two-year MBA programs.

About the Report

The annual GMAC Application Trends Survey focuses on global demand for graduate management education and analyzes differences by programs and regions for the 2020-2021 admissions season (incoming class of 2021). This survey data was collected between July 8 and August 23, 2021, and garnered responses from 967 programs at 269 business schools worldwide. This is the 23^rd year the survey has been conducted, contributing to the greater understanding of the value of graduate business degrees and global and regional trends. More details of the full report, and other research series produced by GMAC, are available on gmac.com/research.

About GMAC™

The Graduate Management Admission Council™ (GMAC™) is a mission-driven association of leading graduate business schools worldwide. Founded in 1953, GMAC creates solutions and experiences that enable business schools and candidates to better discover, evaluate, and connect with each other.

GMAC provides world-class research, industry conferences, recruiting tools, and assessments for the graduate management education industry, as well as tools, resources, events, and services that help guide candidates through their higher education journey. Owned and administered by GMAC, the Graduate Management Admission Test™ (GMAT™) exam is the most widely used graduate business school assessment.

More than 12 million prospective students a year trust GMAC’s websites, including mba.com, to learn about MBA and business master’s programs, connect with schools around the world, prepare and register for exams and get advice on successfully applying to MBA and business master’s programs. BusinessBecause and The MBA Tour are subsidiaries of GMAC, a global organization with offices in China, India, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

To learn more about our work, please visit www.gmac.com

Media Contact:

Teresa Hsu
Sr. Manager, Media Relations
202-390-4180 (mobile)
thsu@gmac.com