PM Edition: Top 10 Business Articles on LiveNews.co.nz for October 29, 2026 – Full Text

The Summit explored the trends reshaping customer expectations and the future of financial services. Discussions focused on rising wealth, increasing cross-border mobility, and the growing convergence of data, artificial intelligence and human expertise. Participants exchanged perspectives on how deeper partnerships can enhance customer outcomes and unlock new opportunities for the next phase of growth.

Chengdu’s history provided a fitting backdrop for the Summit. More than a thousand years ago, the city pioneered “jiaozi”, widely regarded as the world’s first paper money. Its success depended on trust in the promise behind it, a principle that remains equally important in successful partnerships today.

Dennis Tan, Regional CEO, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar; Group Partnership Distribution, Prudential plc, said: “Keeping promises sits at the heart of every partnership for Prudential. Founded on trust and strengthened through collaboration, these relationships help us meet customers’ increasingly interconnected health, protection and wealth needs.

“The Summit demonstrated the strength of Prudential’s partnership ecosystem and the opportunities ahead. By bringing together distribution expertise, digital capabilities and market insights, we are working to create better customer experiences and drive long-term, sustainable growth with our partners.”

The programme also featured guest speaker Pierluigi Collina, FIFA’s Chief Refereeing Officer and referee of the 2002 FIFA World Cup Final. Drawing on his experience at the highest level of international football, he shared perspectives on leadership, accountability and sound decision-making in complex and rapidly changing environments.

Partnership distribution at Prudential

Prudential harnesses the strength of its partnership ecosystem to translate shared priorities into action, helping more customers achieve greater financial security and confidence for the future.

Partnership distribution has long been central to Prudential’s growth strategy. Since establishing its first strategic bancassurance partnership in 1998, Prudential has built one of Asia’s largest bancassurance franchises, comprising more than 180 banking partnerships across markets. In the first half of 2026, the bancassurance channel delivered US$586 million in new business profit, up 13 per cent on a constant exchange rate basis from US$505 million in the same period last year.

Hashtag: #Prudentialplc

About Prudential plc

Assuming there will be no change in the issued share capital of the Company between 28 October 2026 and the completion of Placing, a maximum of 100,000,000 Placing Shares under the Placing represents 10.00% of the issued share capital of the Company as at the date of this announcement, and approximately 9.09% of the issued share capital as enlarged by the issue of the Placing Shares.

Assuming that all the Placing Shares are fully placed, the estimated gross proceeds and net proceeds (after deducting the placing commission and other related expenses and professional fees) from the Placing will amount to approximately HK$97.0 million and approximately HK$94.6 million, respectively.

The Company intends to apply as to 60% of the net proceeds (approximately HK$56.76 million) of the Placing for the development and expansion of the Group’s new energy business, including (i) investments and development of battery energy storage systems; (ii) integrated charging, battery-swapping and energy storage station; and (iii) other renewable energy related projects such as artificial intelligence data centre (“AIDC”) energy infrastructure; and as to 40% of the net proceeds (approximately HK$37.84 million) for financing the Group’s working capital for its construction and engineering businesses.

The Group is committed to developing sustainable clean energy system solutions, implementing the commercialisation of charging and battery swap service technologies for electric commercial vehicles and electric heavy machinery and equipment, operating “battery bank”, and targeting commercial and industrial energy storage and battery swap businesses. The Group has successfully entering into additional new energy business areas with development potential, thereby driving the sustained growth of the business scale and profitability of the relevant operations. The Board believes that the net proceeds from the Placing will enable the Group to strengthen its existing core engineering business while capturing emerging opportunities in the renewable energy sector. In particular, the Board is of the view that battery energy storage systems, charging and battery-swapping infrastructure and AIDC-related energy facilities are expected to benefit from the increasing demand for clean energy and digital infrastructure development in Hong Kong and Southeast Asia.

Hashtag: #WingLee

About Wing Lee Development Construction Holdings Limited

42 minutes ago

EIT Bachelor of Teaching (Primary) graduate Steve Burgess is the new principal of Matawai School.

Bill Deng, Founder and CEO of XTransfer, will join the management team at showcases and closed-door sessions in both cities, sharing views on AI risk control and operations, local-currency settlement in emerging markets and practical inclusive finance for SMEs. During the events, XTransfer will hold signing ceremonies for strategic cooperation with several international financial institutions, further extending its global clearing network.

A central focus will be XTransfer’s financial institution partnership model, which enables banks and payment institutions to participate as both co-builders and users. Partners can contribute local collection, payout and FX capabilities, while accessing services such as Pay-to-China, Local-Currency Collection and Local-Currency Payout through the XTransfer API.

Another focus will be XTransfer’s end-to-end local-currency settlement. In emerging markets, restricted access to foreign exchange can delay the settlement of legitimate trade payments. To address this, XTransfer has built an end-to-end B2B trade settlement network comparable to Visa and Mastercard, directly connecting paying and receiving banks. Paired with its pioneering local collection account service, it enables end-to-end local-currency settlement, a 24/7, fast, low-cost, and compliant option that lets buyers and sellers worldwide pay and receive trade funds in their respective local currencies. The service now covers nearly 60 countries and regions across Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Middle East, Europe, and North America, etc.

Today, XTransfer serves more than one million SMEs globally, with over US$60 billion in total payment volume in 2025, and is trusted by more than 170 global financial partners. Through its participation in Hong Kong and Singapore, XTransfer aims to deepen collaboration across the financial ecosystem and make cross-border payments more secure, efficient and accessible for trade businesses worldwide.
https://www.xtransfer.com
https://www.linkedin.com/company/xtransfer.cn

Hashtag: #XTransfer #SFF #HKFW #HongKong #Singapore #Crossborder #Payment #SMEs #ASEAN

As global commercial vehicle competition intensifies, international growth requires strong products and manufacturing as well as professional full-lifecycle service. BAIC FOTON’s growing African lineup creates diverse sales, maintenance and technical-support needs, making local talent development essential. Since early 2026, the company has delivered nearly 100 specialized training sessions in key markets, including heavy-duty truck engine disassembly in Argentina, all-electric bus fault diagnosis in Türkiye, and one-day intensive training for five rotating groups in Uruguay. The programs turn headquarters’ technical standards into practical frontline diagnostic and repair skills.

Lu Zhenghua said the center will support Africa’s regional operating system and deeper localization by connecting technical standards, service experience and local team capabilities, while improving coordination among product supply, after-sales support and talent development. Wang Zhuozhong, VP of BAIC FOTON INTERNATIONAL, introduced the center’s background and development plan. Local partners discussed service cooperation, support for service providers and future opportunities.

Centered in South Africa and serving the wider continent, the center will share technical standards and service experience and help dealers improve spare-parts stocking, maintenance processes and response efficiency, advancing standardized, professional services.

The 900-square-meter facility allocates 450 square meters each to theoretical and practical training. A 140-square-meter classroom seats 80, and a 35-square-meter classroom seats 24. Offices and rest areas support five practical zones: complete vehicles, engines, transmissions, electrical and electronic systems, and new-energy vehicles. The facility supports training across BAIC FOTON’s product range and job roles.

After touring the center, Lu Zhenghua and his delegation met local dealers and customers to discuss regional business. African dealers welcomed its contribution to local talent and service capability, and looked forward to deeper technical and business cooperation.

Building on local manufacturing in South Africa, BAIC FOTON is integrating manufacturing, spare-parts supply, after-sales support and professional training. It will continue working with African partners to deepen internationalization and localization and promote high-quality growth across the continent.

Hashtag: #BAICFOTON

Source: Reserve Bank of New Zealand

28 October 2026

Updated Governor media interviews

Governor Anna Breman will give the following media interviews on 28 – 29 October 2026. Please note that interview times are indicative and broadcast times are at the discretion of individual media outlets.

28 October 2026

• Bloomberg TV, Insight with Haslinda Amin from 4.30pm to 4.45pm
• NewstalkZB, Drive with Heather Du Plessis-Allan from 5.05pm
• RNZ, Checkpoint with Lisa Owen from 5:25pm to 5.35pm

29 October 2026

• Herald Now, Ryan Bridge Today from 7.05am to 7.15am
• NewstalkZB, Mike Hosking Breakfast from 7:10am

Updated speaking engagements

MPC members will undertake the following speaking engagements:

2026 Bank of Canada Annual Economic Conference

29 October 2026

Monetary Policy Committee external member Prasanna Gai will attend the 2026 Bank of Canada Annual Economic Conference in Ottawa, where he will take part in a Policy Panel on the Future of the International Monetary Financial System. The panel will be moderated by Grahame Johnson of the Bank of Canada, and the other panellists will be Kristin Forbes (MIT) and David Wolf (Fidelity Investments Canada).

Prasanna Gai’s remarks will be published on Friday 30 November.

UBS Australasia Conference 2026

10 November 2026

Chief Economist Paul Conway will speak at the UBS Australasia Conference 2026 in Sydney. His presentation titled, How Is the New Zealand Economy Tracking? Assessing Economic Conditions in an Uncertain Global Environment” will include a discussion on New Zealand’s economic conditions in an uncertain global environment, drawing on the September Monetary Policy Statement and October Monetary Policy Review. His presentation will be followed by a Q&A session. Discussion of monetary policy and the economic outlook will draw solely on published material, including the September Monetary Policy Statement and October Monetary Policy Review.

An audio recording of the presentation will be available upon request. He will also participate in a roundtable lunch held under the Chatham House Rule.

Conversation with the Governor of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand – Te Pūtea Matua

19 November 2026

Governor Anna Breman will speak to Institute of Directors Auckland Branch in a fireside chat followed by a Q&A session.

She will discuss the October Monetary Policy Review, including New Zealand’s economic outlook and conditions for households, businesses and communities. She will also discuss the Reserve Bank’s role and priorities and reflect on her first year as Governor. Discussion of monetary policy and the economic outlook will draw solely on published material, including the October Monetary Policy Review.

The event will not be livestreamed. An audio recording of the event will be made available upon request.

New Zealand Institute of International Affairs – Hawke’s Bay Branch Meeting

19 November 2026 (deferred event)

Chief Economist Paul Conway will speak at the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs – Hawke’s Bay Branch Meeting, sharing insights from the Reserve Bank of New Zealand’s October Monetary Policy Review. Using the presentation slides that will be published on 28 October, he will outline the key themes from the Review and answer questions from the audience.

No new insights beyond those contained in the October MPR will be shared. The event will not be livestreamed. An audio recording of the event will be made available upon request.

Hawke’s Bay Chamber of Commerce

19 November 2026 (deferred event)

Chief Economist Paul Conway will provide an economic update at a Hawke’s Bay Chamber of Commerce event. Drawing on the Reserve Bank of New Zealand’s October Monetary Policy Review, he will discuss the implications for the New Zealand economy and the factors influencing the regional outlook for local businesses. The presentation will use the slides to be published on 28 October and will be followed by a Q&A session.

No new insights beyond those contained in the October MPR will be shared. The event will not be livestreamed. An audio recording of the event will be made available upon request.

More information

Upcoming events – Reserve Bank of New Zealand – Te Pūtea Matua

Governor’s post-MPR media interview schedule and MPC’s speaking engagements October 2026 – Reserve Bank of New Zealand – Te Pūtea Matua

A list of media interviews with other Monetary Policy Committee members will be published on 29 October 2026.

Reflecting the theme “Beyond Business,” their achievements celebrated the expertise, ambition and leadership shaping Malaysia’s business landscape.

“These Malaysian honourees demonstrate how excellence takes shape across industries, united by the determination to move forward with purpose,” said Dr Shanggari Balakrishnan, MORS Group CEO and ACES Awards President. “Their recognition celebrates the leadership, capability and commitment that turn business ambition into lasting value.”

Sunway Medical Centre Penang was recognised among Premier Healthcare Providers in Asia, highlighting the importance of quality healthcare and the teams dedicated to serving patients and their families.

SPEED earned Innovative Tech Companies of the Year, celebrating technological ingenuity and its role in helping organisations respond to changing business needs.

Cahya Mata Sarawak Berhad received Industry Champions of the Year, placing its enterprise achievements within a wider story of Malaysian industrial capability.

Pacific Inter-Link was recognised among Asia’s Most Influential Companies, while Chairman and Group CEO Dato’ (Dr) Fouad Hayel Saeed Anam was honoured among Outstanding Leaders in Asia. These distinctions connected organisational influence with the leadership guiding its direction.

CTOS Digital Berhad and Dhaya Maju Infrastructure (Asia) Sdn Berhad each earned Industry Champions of the Year, reflecting the diversity of business capabilities recognised across Malaysia.

Mahesh Swaminathan, SVP and EXCOM Member of McDermott, was named among Asia’s Most Inspiring Executives, celebrating executive leadership within a complex global industry.

PEOPLElogy BERHAD received Leading People Development Companies in Asia, while Founder and Managing Director Allen Lee earned Outstanding Leaders in Asia. Together, these honours placed human potential at the heart of enterprise achievement.

Malaysia’s Day Two honourees demonstrated how progress depends on both organisational strength and the people who give it direction.

Hashtag: #ACESAwards

ACES Awards

Source: Workers First Union

Workers at IAG, the company behind AMI, State, NZI, Lumley and Lantern, will strike for a full day tomorrow and picket outside IAG offices in Auckland and Christchurch.

WHEN

Strike: Tuesday 27 October 2026. Strike from 12:00am to 11:59pm

Picket: from 12pm to 2pm. Media are invited to attend.

WHERE

• Auckland: 1 Fanshawe Street, Auckland 1010
• Christchurch: 14 Show Place, Addington, Christchurch 8024

WHY

• Union members’ collective agreement expired on 31 March 2025. After more than 18 months of “attempting” to bargain with the company, IAG still has no deal with its workers.
• IAG wants to introduce a 90-day trial period for new staff, which would allow it to dismiss new employees without the right to raise a personal grievance; the union says IAG wants to “fire at will.”
• IAG makes this late and “bad faith” claim at a time when changes to personal grievance law are already weakening workers’ remedies.
• IAG and Workers First have already met with the Employment Relations Authority. The union accepted the ERA’s recommendation, but four weeks later, IAG rejected it.
• Workers First representatives have agreed to drop all other outstanding claims if IAG withdraws these two “clawbacks” (reductions to existing conditions).

Comments from Callum Francis, National Organiser for Finance, Workers First

“IAG perhaps take the trophy for the most frustrating and obstructive employer that we’ve bargained with in the finance sector over the last two years,” said Mr Francis.

“Despite eighteen months of bargaining, mediation and even facilitation, the company is desperately clinging to its right to sack people without consequences.”

“IAG’s own website says its purpose is to make our world a safer place, and our members are asking for that same security at work. A 90-day trial means a new colleague can be dismissed with no reason given and no way to challenge it.”

Source: Amperity

Grounded in trusted customer profiles, Pér helps teams get answers, decide what to do next, and move approved decisions into enabled workflows.

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA – October 26, 2026 – Today, Amperity introduced Pér, an AI agent that helps brands go from a question about their customers, campaigns, and audiences to an answer, a recommendation, and, with approval, action — all inside the tools they already use. Pér replaces a process that can span dashboards, data requests, manual analysis, meetings and activation tools with one governed workflow.

For years, the central challenge in customer data was creating an accurate view of the customer. Amperity’s patented identity resolution helps brands build that trusted foundation. Pér addresses the next challenge: shortening the distance between what a brand knows and what it does. Grounded in a brand’s own customer profiles, Pér can investigate what changed, identify affected customers, explain the evidence behind a recommendation and prepare an audience or action for approval.

“Pér gives us an opportunity to move beyond broad segments and better understand each individual customer journey,” said Elise Keefe, Senior Manager, Business Intelligence at MacKenzie-Childs. “By eliminating the grunt work, it can help us reach trusted, actionable findings faster, so we can spend more time making decisions and less time searching for answers. For retention, that means identifying the moments that matter and moving from insight to approved action through one connected workflow.”

By reducing the handoffs between marketing and analytics, Pér gives teams a faster path to customer insight while allowing data analysts to focus on work that requires deeper expertise.

With Pér, teams can:

• Get answers faster: Ask questions about campaigns, audiences, and customers in natural language.
• Decide what to do next: Evaluate the customers, signals, and business rules behind a recommended response.
• Respond as outcomes change: Monitor execution results and recommend mitigation strategies in real time.
• Keep people in control: Review, refine, and approve the next step before action is taken.
• Act through existing workflows: Move an approved audience or decision into enabled marketing and business tools.

“Pér has given us the ability to identify overlaps and inefficiencies across our segments and campaigns, and to act on them at scale,” said Geoff Clark, CRM Manager at Johnnie-O. “Real-time auditing lets us make changes on the fly, which has significantly improved the accuracy and performance of segments we’ve had in place since early in our Amperity journey. Most AI tools are reactive — Pér is proactive.”

For data and technology teams, Pér works within the identity-resolved customer data, configured permissions and enabled workflows the enterprise already manages. Rather than creating another disconnected AI or data layer, Pér extends the value of unified customer profiles into the decisions that shape campaigns, audiences and customer experiences.

“The value of AI is not simply the answer it generates. It is the quality of the decision and action that follows,” said Kabir Shahani, co-founder and co-CEO at Amperity. “Pér is a teammate that works from a shared, trusted understanding of the customer and helps teams move from insight to approved action. It outperforms a generic CDP, or an AI model alone, because the data underneath it is complete, governed, and can immediately be put into action that drives measurable economic outcomes.”

About Amperity

Amperity helps brands turn trusted customer context into better decisions and action. Its AI-powered Customer Data Platform resolves identity and unifies fragmented data with real-time signals, creating a governed customer context foundation for marketing, service, analytics and AI. More than 400 leading brands worldwide, including Accent Group, Alaska Airlines, DICK’S Sporting Goods, BECU and Wyndham Hotels & Resorts, rely on Amperity to improve customer experiences and drive measurable growth. Founded in 2016, Amperity operates globally with offices in Seattle, New York City, London and Melbourne.

Learn more at amperity.com.