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KUALA LUMPUR: The Employee Provident Fund’s (EPF) voluntary savings and “top-up” scheme collected RM13 billion last year, according to FMT on Monday, citing an official. According to the report, citing the official, more than 1.6 million members had contributed and of these, 1.2 million were regular contributors, and 400,000 participated in the i-Saraan scheme for self-employed and casual workers. i-Saraan contributors get a 20% government incentive, capped at RM500, on their contributions. EPF members can voluntarily add up to RM100,000 annually to their accounts. According to the official, 70% of members have not accessed their funds in the Flexible Account (Account 3), which permits unrestricted withdrawals. Approximately three million members aged 55 and above, who can withdraw all their savings, choose to retain their funds in EPF, due to its superior returns and security.–THE EDGE

SEOUL: Samsung Electronics Chairman Jay Y. Lee was acquitted today by a Seoul appeals court of accounting fraud and stock manipulation charges related to a controversial 2015 merger, which prosecutors alleged was aimed at solidifying his control over the tech giant. The case has underscored persistent legal challenges for Lee, who continues to face scrutiny over his leadership of Samsung Electronics, the world’s leading memory chip and smartphone maker, amid intensifying competition and sluggish stock performance. A lower court had previously cleared Lee of all charges, including allegations of stock price manipulation and accounting fraud tied to the US$8 billion merger between Samsung C&T and Cheil Industries. Prosecutors later appealed to the Seoul High Court, seeking a five-year prison sentence, citing an August ruling that found Samsung BioLogics—an affiliate of Cheil Industries—had inflated its assets to justify the merger. Lee has consistently denied any wrongdoing, stating in court last November, “I never intended to deceive or damage investors for personal gain.” It remains uncertain whether prosecutors will appeal the decision to the Supreme Court. — Reuters

MANILA: SAP today announced the appointment of Jill Santos as the new Managing Director for SAP Philippines. A seasoned business leader with over 15 years of experience, Santos has a proven track record in cultivating strategic partnerships, nurturing lasting client relationships and driving substantial revenue growth.   In her new role, Santos will build on SAP’s nearly 30-year legacy in Philippines, spearheading initiatives to accelerate digital transformation to empower local businesses to thrive in the digital economy. She will focus on enabling customers, partners, and communities to address key challenges such as cloud-based business transformation, adoption of AI innovation, strengthening supply chain resilience, and advancing sustainable practices for a future-ready Philippines.  Prior to this appointment, Santos served as Sales Director for Enterprise at SAP, where she led a team of senior account executives and played a crucial role in managing relationships with enterprise customers across both the private and public sectors in Philippines. Santos is also a member of SAP’s senior leadership team in the country, driving the company’s strategic direction and innovation in the local market. In her new position, Santos will report directly to Verena Siow, President and Managing Director for SAP Southeast Asia.  “The tech industry in Philippines is experiencing rapid growth, with the digital economy poised for continued expansion. We thank Rudy Abrahams for his valuable contributions over the past 2.5 years and welcome Jill to lead SAP Philippines into its next phase of growth. Her deep market understanding and commitment to delivering value to customers and partners will strengthen SAP’s position as a trusted leader and empower more organizations to accelerate to innovate and thrive in the evolving digital economy,” said Siow. “I am honored to lead SAP Philippines during this pivotal moment of technological advancement in the country. As Philippines accelerates its digital transformation agenda through initiatives like the National AI Strategy Roadmap 2.0 and the Digital Government Masterplan 2023-2028, the adoption of AI and cloud technologies is reshaping industries and opening doors to unprecedented innovation. At SAP, our mission is to enable more organizations to evolve into intelligent, sustainable enterprises, leveraging these transformative technologies to create value, drive resilience, and contribute meaningfully to the nation’s progress. By empowering businesses to harness the power of data, optimize operations, and embrace sustainable practices, we aim to support Philippines in building a future-ready economy that benefits businesses, communities, and the nation as a whole,” said Santos. Before joining SAP, Santos held senior roles at global IT companies such as Microsoft, Oracle, and IBM, where she gained extensive experience in enterprise solutions and strategic leadership. 

KUALA LUMPUR: Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim yesterday held a meeting with former Prime Minister of Thailand, Thaksin Shinawatra. Anwar said the meeting with Thaksin, who chairs the Asean Chairman’s informal advisory group, discussed various important matters including the situation in Myanmar as well as the development of cryptocurrencies. “In the evening, we continued this discussion with former Singapore Foreign Minister George Yeo,” he said in a Facebook post. On Dec 16, Anwar announced the appointment of Thaksin as an informal adviser to assist Malaysia as Asean Chair 2025. Malaysia officially assumed the 2025 Asean Chair on Jan 1, the fifth time since the establishment of Asean in 1967. Malaysia was previously the Chair of Asean in 1977, 1997, 2005 and 2015. — Bernama

SINGAPORE: Singtel’s Australian subsidiary, Optus, has secured a A$1.95 billion (S$1.64 billion) committed revolving credit facility from 12 banks to refinance existing credit lines and support general corporate purposes.   Participating banks include Australia and New Zealand Banking Group, Bank of China (Sydney), OCBC, DBS (Australia), and UOB (Sydney). The facility is guaranteed by Singtel Optus and its subsidiaries, Singtel announced on Friday (Jan 31). Optus has been facing regulatory scrutiny in Australia. In November 2023, it was fined A$12 million for failing to provide emergency call services to over 2,000 customers during a nationwide outage. The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) reported that the telecom carrier also neglected to check on 360 affected customers after service was restored. In October 2024, Optus was sued by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) over alleged sales misconduct. The watchdog accused Optus of selling mobile phones and plans to vulnerable customers, including individuals with cognitive disabilities and learning difficulties. The lawsuit also alleges that Optus hired debt collectors despite knowing some contracts were fraudulently created. The ACCC is seeking penalties, consumer redress, and compliance measures. The company has been struggling to restore its reputation after a September 2022 cyberattack compromised the data of over one million customers, sparking calls for stricter privacy regulations. Shares of Singtel (Z74) rose 1.9% (S$0.06) to S$3.26 on Tuesday.

A newly launched AI model called DeepSeek, developed by a China-based startup, is causing a major stir in the U.S. tech industry. The reason? It’s outperforming Big Tech’s AI heavyweights while reportedly operating with significantly less funding and fewer technological resources. Here’s how DeepSeek is shaking up the AI landscape and why it’s being compared to OpenAI’s flagship model, ChatGPT. When it comes to AI outputs, user preferences will always depend on specific use cases, and DeepSeek isn’t without its shortcomings. For example, some users have reported that answers on its hosted chatbot are censored due to Chinese government regulations. However, what sets DeepSeek apart is its commitment to openness—something OpenAI initially promised with ChatGPT but never fully delivered. Unlike ChatGPT, DeepSeek released its R1 model as open-source. This allows anyone to download and run the model locally on their own device, ensuring complete data privacy. Even the company acknowledges that users can bypass censorship or bias by tweaking the open-source code. DeepSeek also stands out for its affordability. While OpenAI reportedly spends tens of millions of dollars to train each model, DeepSeek claims to have trained its R1 model for just $5.5 million. This cost efficiency translates to significantly lower pricing for users. API access for DeepSeek-R1 starts at just $0.14 per million tokens (approximately 750,000 words). In comparison, OpenAI charges $7.50 per million tokens for its GPT-4 model. The stark difference in pricing could make DeepSeek a highly attractive alternative for both individuals and businesses. While ChatGPT continues to excel in areas such as conversational flow, creative writing, and staying updated on current events, DeepSeek is earning high praise for its technical capabilities. Tasks involving logical reasoning, coding, and complex mathematical equations are where DeepSeek seemingly outshines OpenAI’s model. For general queries, however, both models appear to perform on a similar level. But even parity spells trouble for OpenAI. DeepSeek offers its model entirely free for many use cases, while ChatGPT’s premium tier costs $20 per month. For businesses reliant on AI API access, the pricing gap between two comparable models may be a game-changer. If DeepSeek can deliver similar or better performance at a fraction of the cost, it could drive companies to transition away from OpenAI’s ChatGPT. With its open-source ethos, affordability, and technical strengths, DeepSeek is positioning itself as a serious competitor in the AI race—one that Big Tech can no longer ignore.