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EPAM Announces Agreement to Acquire First Derivative, Expanding Global Financial Services Practice

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Strategic Acquisition will Enhance Capabilities in Capital Markets, Banking Operations and Asset Servicing, Strengthening Client Offerings Globally

NEWTOWN, Pa. and NEWRY, N. Ireland, Oct. 7, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — EPAM Systems, Inc. (NYSE: EPAM), a leading digital transformation services and product engineering company, today announced its agreement to acquire First Derivative, a Northern Ireland-headquartered managed services and consulting business for the capital markets industry with more than 1,800 employees worldwide and major delivery capability in the U.K., Ireland, North America and APAC.

EPAM will leverage First Derivative’s strong industry experience and brand to deliver a comprehensive set of AI-enabled end-to-end capabilities to clients in banking, capital markets and other financially regulated businesses across North America, Europe and APAC. Through the acquisition, First Derivative will bring more than 100 new clients under the EPAM umbrella, offering unmatched value and setting a new standard for technology services in the financial services industry.

“We’re pleased to expand our financial services portfolio and diversify our global footprint in key regions with the addition of First Derivative’s deep expertise across capital markets, banking operations and asset servicing,” said Balazs Fejes, President of Global Business and Chief Revenue Officer, EPAM. “The combination of EPAM’s digital technology and engineering heritage with First Derivative’s business services and packaged implementation software offerings, bolstered by the transformative potential of Generative AI, will establish valuable end-to-end capabilities for our clients. This enables them to evolve and scale their digital ecosystems, gain deeper data insights, enhance operations and drive innovation, all while minimizing risks and maintaining regulatory compliance.”

First Derivative specializes in delivering engineering, technical and business services to help the world’s leading financial institutions, including the top 20 global banks, stay compliant, reduce costs and enhance efficiency through tech modernization. Through highly customizable, holistic and easy-to-integrate solutions, clients are equipped to leverage the power of data and AI to enhance decision making.

“EPAM’s commitment to engineering excellence and its transformational capabilities, including GenAI, will strengthen and expand our ability to shape the future for clients, including the world’s largest investment banks,” said David Collins, CEO, First Derivative. “As a top employer for highly skilled engineers, analysts and consultants in capital markets, we are excited to continue our momentum by joining the EPAM team and extending our mission to help organizations accelerate agility and remain competitive in an ever-evolving landscape. Together, we are positioned to be the market leading services provider with a highly differentiated capability, combining strong domain expertise and the best in modern technology. We will offer a full suite of end-to-end business and technology services to the world’s leading investment banks.”

First Derivative is a division of FD Technologies plc, which is listed on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) of the London Stock Exchange.

“For more than 25 years, First Derivative has helped the world’s largest global banks and financial services companies solve their most pressing operational, data and technological challenges,” said Seamus Keating, CEO, FD Technologies plc. “With its combination of domain knowledge and technical expertise, we are proud of First Derivative’s proven track record and long-standing relationships with blue-chip financial institutions and look forward to seeing its continued success.”

To learn more about EPAM’s growing financial services capabilities, visit www.epam.com/industries/financial-services.

Details Regarding Proposed Acquisition of First Derivative
The acquisition is subject to customary closing conditions, including the receipt of necessary regulatory clearances, and is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2024. Stone Key Partners LLC served as the exclusive financial advisor and Faegre Drinker served as the legal advisor to EPAM.

ABOUT EPAM SYSTEMS
Since 1993, EPAM Systems, Inc. (NYSE: EPAM) has used its software engineering expertise to become a leading global provider of digital engineering, cloud and AI-enabled transformation services, and a leading business and experience consulting partner for global enterprises and ambitious startups. We address our clients’ transformation challenges by fusing EPAM Continuum’s integrated strategy, experience and technology consulting with our 30+ years of engineering execution to speed our clients’ time to market and drive greater value from their innovations and digital investments.

We make GenAI real with our AI LLM orchestration, testing and engineering solutions, EPAM DIAL, EPAM EliteA™ and EPAM AI/RUN™, respectively.

We deliver globally, but engage locally with our expert teams of consultants, architects, designers and engineers, making the future real for our clients, our partners and our people around the world.

We believe the right solutions are the ones that improve people’s lives and fuel competitive advantage for our clients across diverse industries. Our thinking comes to life in the experiences, products and platforms we design and bring to market.

Added to the S&P 500 and the Forbes Global 2000 in 2021 and recognized by Glassdoor and Newsweek as a Top 100 Best Workplace, our multidisciplinary teams serve customers across six continents. We are proud to be among the top 15 companies in Information Technology Services in the Fortune 1000 and to be recognized as a leader in the IDC MarketScapes for Worldwide Experience Build Services, Worldwide Experience Design Services and Worldwide Software Engineering Services as well as a leader in the 2023 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Custom Software Development Services, Worldwide.*

Learn more at www.epam.com and follow us on LinkedIn.

*Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in its research publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner’s research organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. 

ABOUT FD TECHNOLOGIES
FD Technologies is a group of data-driven businesses that unlock the value of insight, hindsight and foresight to drive organisations forward. The Group comprises KX, which provides software to accelerate AI-driven innovation and First Derivative, providing consulting services which drive digital transformation in financial services and capital markets. FD Technologies operates from 13 locations across Europe, North America and Asia Pacific, and employs more than 2,400 people worldwide.

For further information, please visit www.fdtechnologies.com and www.kx.com

Forward-Looking Statement 
This press release includes certain statements which may constitute forward-looking statements made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, the accuracy of which are necessarily subject to risks, uncertainties, and assumptions as to future events that may not prove to be accurate. Such forward-looking statements are mainly based on our current expectations and estimates of future events and trends, which affect or may affect our business and operations. These statements may include words such as “may,” “will,” “should,” “believe,” “expect,” “anticipate,” “intend,” “plan,” “estimate” or similar expressions. Those future events and trends may relate to, among other things, the closing of the Acquisition, which may not close on the terms or timing anticipated, or at all, the satisfaction or waiver of any conditions to the closing of the Acquisition, the anticipated impacts or benefits of the Acquisition, developments relating to the war in Ukraine and escalation of the war in the surrounding region, political and civil unrest or military action in the geographies where we conduct business and operate, difficult conditions in global capital markets, foreign exchange markets and the broader economy, and the effect that these events may have on client demand and our revenues, operations, access to capital, and profitability. Other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied include general economic conditions, the risk factors discussed in our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and the factors discussed in our Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, particularly under the headings “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” and “Risk Factors” and other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Although we believe that these forward-looking statements are based upon reasonable assumptions, they are subject to several risks and uncertainties and are made based on information currently available to us. EPAM undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise, except as may be required under applicable securities law.

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Agoda Spotlights Six Scenic Road Trip Destinations in Asia

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SINGAPORE, June 15, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Digital travel platform Agoda’s latest recommendations highlight destinations where travelers can embark on scenic getaways where the journey itself becomes an integral part of the adventure. With a curated list of unique road trip destinations across Asia, Agoda’s guide offers travelers the flexibility to explore by car, cycling, or motorbike, turning every mile into a memorable experience.

Road trips captivate travelers with the allure of breathtaking views and the opportunity to savor quality time with companions or embrace the solitude of solo travel. The journey transforms into an experience in itself, offering the freedom to pause and explore hidden gems along the way. With the flexibility to start their trips whenever they choose, travelers can infuse spontaneity and adventure into their travels, making each road trip a unique story waiting to unfold.

Below are Agoda’s curated recommendations for travelers seeking a unique road trip destination in Asia.

Ha Giang Loop, Vietnam
Often explored by motorbike, travelers can expect dramatic mountain landscapes with terraced rice fields cascading down hillsides and local villages dotting the scenery. The Ha Giang Loop offers a unique blend of cultural immersion and natural beauty, making it a captivating road trip destination. The winding roads and breathtaking vistas provide an unforgettable experience for those seeking adventure.

Taroko Gorge, Taiwan
This road trip features breathtaking marble cliffs, deep gorges, and lush forests, making it one of Asia’s most spectacular drives. Travelers can marvel at the natural beauty of Taroko Gorge, where the landscape offers a stunning backdrop for exploration. The route provides numerous opportunities to stop and appreciate the serene environment, making it a must-visit for nature enthusiasts.

Shimanami Kaido, Japan
The Shimanami Kaido is a cyclist’s paradise, offering a stunning island-hopping route across the Seto Inland Sea. This journey connects six islands with a series of bridges, each providing panoramic views of the ocean and surrounding landscapes. Travelers can enjoy the unique experience of cycling over the sea, with opportunities to explore charming coastal towns, savor local cuisine, and immerse themselves in the tranquil beauty of Japan’s inland sea.

Spiti Valley, Himachal Pradesh, India
Known for its surreal, otherworldly terrain, Spiti Valley offers rugged landscapes, pristine lakes, and ancient monasteries at high altitudes. The road trip through this region promises a journey through time, with the chance to explore remote villages and experience the unique culture of the area. The dramatic scenery and sense of isolation make it a truly unique destination.

Flores Island, Indonesia
With diverse volcanic landscapes, lush rice paddies, and access to Komodo National Park’s unique scenery, Flores Island offers a road trip filled with natural wonders. Travelers can explore the island’s rich biodiversity and enjoy the vibrant landscapes that change with every turn. The journey promises an adventure through one of Indonesia’s most captivating regions.

Jeju Island, South Korea
Jeju Island’s volcanic landscapes, dramatic coastlines, waterfalls, and lava tubes create diverse natural beauty. The road trip around the island offers a chance to explore its unique geological features and enjoy the serene environment. Travelers can immerse themselves in the island’s charm and discover hidden gems along the way.

Mae Hong Son Loop, Thailand
This route offers stunning mountain scenery winding through hill tribe country with hot springs and misty peaks. The Mae Hong Son Loop provides a journey through Thailand’s cultural heartland, with opportunities to engage with local communities and enjoy the natural beauty. The road trip promises a blend of adventure and relaxation in a picturesque setting.

Krishna Rathi, Associate Vice President at Agoda, shared, “Road trips are a fantastic way to experience both the journey and the destination. Whether you’re chasing adrenaline along the Ha Giang Loop, or enjoying the captivating vistas of Taroko Gorge, Agoda empowers travelers to explore the world with ease and affordability, offering a seamless blend of accommodations and activities that enrich every road trip experience.

Travelers seeking an unforgettable road trip can browse over 300,000 activities, along with more than 6 million holiday properties and over 130,000 flight routes, all of which can be combined in the same booking. Discover the best deals on Agoda’s mobile app or visit Agoda.com for more.

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SOURCE Agoda

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fileAI Expands into Japan with Strategic Partnership with JRE VENTURES

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Partnership marks fileAI’s entry into Japan, bringing enterprise-grade agentic AI to one of Japan’s most forward-thinking infrastructure organizations

SINGAPORE, June 15, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — fileAI, the AI-native intelligence platform, announced that it has entered into a strategic partnership with JRE VENTURES PTE. LTD., the corporate venture capital arm supporting innovation and startup collaboration opportunities across the JR East Group. The collaboration marks fileAI’s formal expansion into Japan and signals the company’s commitment to building a dedicated local team in Japan – a critical milestone as the organization scales its global footprint.

The partnership will see fileAI and JRE VENTURES explore opportunities to deploy its governed AI platform for data preparation and automation within JR East Group companies, beginning with initiatives related to the digitisation and restructuring of legacy contractual and operational documents. As part of the partnership, JRE VENTURES will also make a strategic investment in fileAI, underscoring its confidence in the company’s vision and technology roadmap.

Turning Legacy Documents into a Living Intelligence Layer

At the heart of the partnership is a mission to modernise how JR East Group companies may manage vast archives of historical contracts and documentation in the future. Using fileAI’s proprietary AI agents, the parties aim to transform static, paper-based and legacy digital records into searchable and structured knowledge assets helping organizations unlock value that has long been locked in siloed files and systems. The program delivers four foundational capabilities:

Digitization of historical contracts and documents — converting physical and legacy files into high-fidelity digital assetsAI-powered extraction — automatically identifying key terms, clauses, obligations, and metadata from unstructured textCentralized intelligent repository — enabling future retrieval, search, and reuse of contractual knowledge within and potentially across organizationsContract intelligence and analytics — unlocking future reporting, risk insights, and renewal forecasting capabilities at enterprise scale

The long-term vision is to create a living contract intelligence layer – one that could reduce manual document hunting, improve knowledge accessibility, and support more intelligent operational decision-making across organizations.

Leadership Perspectives

“Japan is a pivotal market for fileAI, and JRE is exactly the kind of partner we envisioned building with here. Their appetite for innovation, combined with the scale of their operations, makes this the perfect proving ground for what AI agents can do for enterprises. We are proud to be planting our flag in Japan alongside a truly visionary organization.”

— Christian Schneider, CEO, fileAI

“At JRE VENTURES, we are continuously exploring how emerging technologies can enhance the efficiency and resilience of JR East Group operations. fileAI’s approach to AI-driven file processing represents a meaningful advancement in how enterprise data can be structured and utilised. Through this partnership, we aim to validate practical use cases and contribute to the broader adoption of enterprise AI in Japan and across Asia Pacific.”

— Junichi Eto, Managing Director, JRE VENTURES

Building for Japan: A Long-Term Commitment

The partnership with JRE VENTURES is the cornerstone of fileAI’s broader Japan strategy. The company is actively building a local team in Tokyo, with plans to hire across sales, engineering, and customer success functions over the coming months. fileAI is committed to developing deep local expertise and nurturing relationships that are grounded in an understanding of Japan’s unique enterprise landscape.

Japan represents one of the world’s largest concentrations of complex, file-heavy enterprise operations, spanning rail, finance, manufacturing, and government. fileAI sees an extraordinary opportunity to partner with Japan’s most innovative institutions as they navigate the AI transition, and is dedicated to being a trusted, long-term presence in the market.

About fileAI

fileAI is the enterprise intelligence company behind fileForge, the leading platform for complex business process automation. By turning complex files into structured, validated data with full decision traceability, fileForge gives AI agents the reasoning and confidence to act inside real enterprise operations.

Trusted by global enterprises including MS&AD, Toshiba, PwC, KPMG, Nippon Paint, and Keppel, fileAI has processed over 1 billion files across finance, insurance, supply chain, healthcare, and operations, delivering governed automation and contextual reuse for the world’s most complex workflows.

For more information, visit www.file.ai.

About JRE VENTURES PTE. LTD.

JRE VENTURES PTE. LTD. is the corporate venture capital arm established to support startup collaboration and innovation initiatives related to the JR East Group. Based in Singapore, the company works with startups across Southeast Asia and other global markets, supporting business development opportunities in areas such as retail, advertising, logistics, real estate, AI, travel, and digital transformation.

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SOURCE fileAI

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Technology Leads Insurance Education: Big Jump SEO Partners with Three Major Insurance Platforms to Enhance VHIS Information Quality with Latest Gemini AI Technology

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HONG KONG, June 15, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Leading digital marketing and search engine optimization (SEO) expert Big Jump SEO Solutions today announced a strategic partnership with three renowned local insurance education platforms: VHIS101, HKVHIS and MoneyHK101. This collaboration will fully integrate Google’s latest Gemini AI technology to optimize and elevate the quality of knowledge-sharing for the Voluntary Health Insurance Scheme (VHIS) and various insurance products, providing Hong Kong citizens with more precise, accessible, and timely insurance information.

With continuous updates to VHIS policies and rapid changes in the healthcare market, public demand for clear, objective insurance information has become increasingly urgent. Leveraging its deep foundation in digital technology, Big Jump SEO Solutions will deeply integrate Gemini AI’s powerful natural language processing and big data analytics capabilities into the content creation and optimization workflows of the partner platforms. Utilizing Gemini AI technology, the platforms can quickly untangle complex insurance terms and claims procedures while ensuring regulatory compliance and accuracy. This information will be transformed into easy-to-understand educational articles, infographic cheat sheets, and intelligent interactive Q&As, significantly lowering the barrier for the public to understand insurance products.

The three participating platforms each bring unique strengths to the partnership: VHIS101 and HKVHIS have long focused on VHIS policies, product comparisons, and enrollment strategies, while MoneyHK101 comprehensively covers personal finance and general insurance knowledge.

A spokesperson for Big Jump SEO Solutions stated: “The core of insurance education lies in ‘trust’ and ‘clarity’. We are thrilled to partner with these three outstanding platforms. By introducing the latest Gemini AI technology, we can not only enhance content production efficiency but also conduct deep optimization for search engines. This ensures that citizens in need can access the most authoritative and valuable insurance knowledge immediately when searching online, truly achieving technology-empowered inclusive finance.”

Looking ahead, Big Jump SEO Solutions and the three insurance education platforms will continue to deepen the application of AI technology in the InsurTech (insurance technology) sector. Both sides will collaborate closely to launch a wider variety of intelligent tools, driving the digital transformation of the Hong Kong insurance market and reshaping the public’s perception of personal health protection and wealth management.

About Big Jump SEO Solutions

Big Jump SEO Solutions is a comprehensive digital marketing company that focuses on providing customized Search Engine Optimization (SEO), content marketing, and online advertising solutions for its clients. With in-depth industry experience and innovative strategies, Big Jump is committed to helping brands enhance their online visibility and stand out in the online market.

Website: bigjumpseo.com

 

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SOURCE Big Jump SEO Solutions

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