Daily Briefing: IMDA earmarks $20m to fund media projects; Google poaches Singapore bankers

And hotel booking provider Travel Prologue partners with Japan’s OTS.

From CNA:

Media projects in the region such as television shows, movies and animation are set to receive more financial support, as the government sets aside $20m in a call for partners to jointly fund these projects.

Whilst there are no restrictions on the types of projects, interested parties must set up in and invest out of Singapore. They must also have an established track record in media fund management.

Communications and Information Minister S Iswaran announced the financing partnership programme for media funds - touted to be the first of its kind in Southeast Asia - at the opening ceremony of the Asia TV Forum & Market and ScreenSingapore.

In his speech, he said that Singapore aims to do more to involve the private sector in developing a deeper media financing ecosystem.

Read more here.

From eFinancialCareers:

One of the former bank employees who have joined Google in Singapore since January, based on public profiles, is Tony Low, digital engagement lead APAC, a Google-owned platform for developing and managing APIs

Low spent about two and a half years at DBS as DevOps engineering lead and AWS adoption delivery lead, and also focused on enterprise API platform advisory. Low started his career in 2005 at IBM and his subsequent employers include Barclays as a product manager, and Citi as a senior architect.

In addition, Gurpreet Dhaliwal joined Google having spent about 14 months at Citi as a senior vice president in group AML for APAC payment intermediaries and digital clients, according to his LinkedIn profile. Dhaliwal was the Singapore-based head of financial crime compliance for correspondent banking for ASEAN and South Asia at Standard Chartered between 2015 and 2018.

Read more here.

From TTG Asia:

Singapore-based hotel direct booking service provider Travel Prologue has partnered with Japanese travel B2B wholesaler Overseas Travel Service (OTS). This new strategic partnership for distribution will allow OTS to broaden its distribution network and supplier base outside of Japan, said the company in a statement.

In order to tap into both the supplier and B2B channels, OTS, which supports over 6,000 agents in Japan, is partnering with TP on its B2B platform, Trip Affiliates Network (TA Network).

OTS’ managing director Mizuho Kayama said the partnership with TA Network will provide OTS with “the support to instantaneously contract dynamic rates” in excess of 300 hotels across Asia, excluding Japan.

Kayama revealed that OTS will be launching a new hotel group booking service by year-end, in collaboration with TA Network in Asia.

Read more here.