Technology

CBSA reminds importers to submit financial security before CARM transition measure ends in April

Published

1 year ago

February 28, 2025

OTTAWA, ON, Feb. 28, 2025 /CNW/ – The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) Assessment and Revenue Management (CARM) system has been operational since October 21, 2024. Since then, a new financial security model exists whereby all commercial importers must post their financial security in CARM to benefit from the Release Prior to Payment (RPP) program. They can no longer use the financial security posted by their customs brokers. The RPP is an option that allows importers, who have posted financial security, to benefit from a fully electronic release process for the importation of commercial goods before paying duties and taxes.

The CBSA is reaching out to commercial importers to remind them to provide the financial security requirement to benefit from the RPP program prior to the end of the CARM transition period on April 19, 2025.

An importer who does not meet the financial security requirement of RPP by the end of the 180-day transition period will no longer be able to benefit from having their goods released electronically at the border prior to making payment of the duties and taxes. Presenting a commercial entry for payment at the time of release introduces longer paper-based processing times in comparison to the electronic release option. Once enrolled in the RPP program, importers are not required to visit a commercial office to pay for the duties and taxes owed at time of release of their commercial shipment.

To enroll in the RPP program, importers must follow these steps:

Obtain a Business Number (BN): Register with the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) to acquire a nine-digit BN, which serves as a unique identifier for your business.Register for an Import Program Account (RM): Using your BN, register for a 15-digit import program account (RM) through the CARM client portal.Enroll in the RPP Program: Within the CCP, navigate to the “Program Account Profile” section and select the RPP sub-program.Post Financial Security: This can be done by posting an electronic written security agreement or an electronic cash deposit. The amount is determined based on the importer’s highest monthly accounts receivable in the last 12 months, inclusive of GST.

For a list of financial security providers that are registered in the CARM system please refer to the Financial security providers web page.

Quick facts

Participating in the RPP program offers several benefits :Accelerated Goods Release: Minimizing potential costs and delaysDeferred Accounting and Payment for goods: Improving cash flow managementEnhanced Supply Chain Efficiency: Reduced border wait times and expediting customs clearanceOver the last few months, the CBSA actively communicated changes impacting procedures for importing commercial goods into Canada.In April 2024, the CBSA announced a phased approach in the implementation of CARM as the official system of record for the importation of commercial goods into Canada, starting with an internal launch on May 13, 2024, and with an external launched for trade chain partners in the Fall of 2024.In May 2024, the CBSA announced that CARM would launch externally and become the official system of records for the collection of duties and taxes for goods imported into Canada on October 21, 2024.In August 2024, the CBSA announced a series of transition measures to ensure continued border fluidity and timely submission of accounting and payment of duties after CARM implementation on October 21, 2024. One of these measures concern the introduction of a 180-day transition period to give importers and their service providers time to adapt to the new financial security model and avoid border disruptions.To support CARM users, the Agency has been publishing updates to the CARM bulletins web page, which allows users to stay informed of important updates, such as planned outages, known issues, and resolution times.The CARM Client Support Helpdesk continues to be available to provide support. To respond to the ongoing high volume of support calls the Helpdesk team has added additional resources and dedicated a work flow for CARM registration enquiries. User guides and the CARM Go-Live Playbook are also available on the User Guides web page to help clients navigate the CARM Client Portal. Clients requiring support for Electronic Data Interchange or Application Program Interface may contact the CARM Technical Support Unit.The CBSA is the second-largest revenue generator for the Government of Canada, collecting $40 billion a year in duties and taxes on all commercial goods imported to Canada. The aged technology that was being used to do this work was putting this revenue at risk. To address this risk, the CARM project was initiated to update information technology systems and processes.The transition measure for late accounting penalties (LAPs) ended on January 19, 2025. Trade chain partners are required to submit the final accounting for their releases to ensure that they maintain RPP privileges. The CBSA will resume daily monitoring of overdue releases/missing final accounting, and may issue late accounting penalties, assess duties and taxes based upon the release information provided, and post monies owing to the business number owner’s account. Importers are invited to review our Customs Notice 25-02 on late payment penalties and interest.

Associated Links

CBSA-accredited financial security providers CARM: CBSA Assessment and Revenue Management project Access the CARM Client Portal CARM client service and helpdesk Customs Notice 24-27: CARM October Implementation – Transition Measures Bulletins – CARM

SOURCE Canada Border Services Agency

Technology

Bloomberg Introduces Spread-to-Benchmark Quoting for EUR and GBP Portfolio Trading Baskets

Published

14 hours ago

June 2, 2026

LONDON, June 2, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Bloomberg today announced the launch of Spread-to-Benchmark quoting and trading for Euro (EUR) and Sterling (GBP) denominated portfolio trades through its Portfolio Trading Basket Builder (PTBB). The new functionality expands the range of quoting protocols available for European credit portfolio trading and reflects growing client demand for spread-based execution workflows, alongside increased dealer support for the convention across EUR and GBP markets.

Spread-to-Benchmark quoting is a well-established protocol for USD credit portfolio trades and is used by market participants to evaluate and execute portfolio trades. By extending this workflow to EUR and GBP portfolio trades, Bloomberg enables clients and dealers to transact using a familiar spread-based methodology across additional credit markets.

The introduction of Spread-to-Benchmark quoting for EUR and GBP baskets reflects increased client interest in evaluating portfolio trades through a spread-based lens and the growing adoption of spread-based execution workflows in European credit markets. The workflow provides market participants with an additional framework for assessing the relationship between credit spread risk and underlying government bond yields when pricing and executing portfolio trades.

Additional Workflow Flexibility 
The workflow complements Bloomberg’s existing portfolio trading capabilities, which support the full range of market-standard quoting conventions, including Price, Yield, Spread-to-Benchmark and Spread based workflows that reference Bloomberg’s evaluated pricing service (BVAL). This gives clients flexibility to compare and execute portfolio trades using the quoting methodology that best aligns with their investment objectives, execution preferences and internal risk management processes.

“European credit clients continue to look for execution workflows that reflect how they evaluate risk and monitor portfolio trading outcomes,” said Harry Street, Global Head of Credit and Equities Trading Product at Bloomberg. “By expanding dealer support for Spread-to-Benchmark quoting for EUR and GBP baskets, Bloomberg is broadening the range of workflow options available to clients trading European credit portfolios.”

“Portfolio trading workflows in fixed income continue to become more sophisticated as institutional investors look for ways to evaluate execution quality in changing market conditions,” said Kevin McPartland, Head of Market Structure & Technology Research at Crisil Coalition Greenwich. “Spread-based quoting helps market participants more clearly distinguish between the impacts of credit spread and underlying rates movements when determining how best to execute a portfolio trade.”

Bloomberg’s Electronic Markets solutions are used by leading financial institutions to trade efficiently in over 175 markets around the world. More than 9,000 client firms use Bloomberg Electronic Markets to access industry-leading depth and breadth of liquidity across asset classes from over 800 dealers globally. Bloomberg Electronic Markets provides market participants with comprehensive solutions across the trading lifecycle, including robust price transparency, analytics, automation and execution, powered by Bloomberg’s high-quality, multi-asset class data and tools.

About Bloomberg
Bloomberg is a global leader in business and financial information, delivering trusted data, news, and insights that bring transparency, efficiency, and fairness to markets. The company helps connect influential communities across the global financial ecosystem via reliable technology solutions that enable our customers to make more informed decisions and foster better collaboration. For more information, visit Bloomberg.com/company or request a demo.

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/bloomberg-introduces-spread-to-benchmark-quoting-for-eur-and-gbp-portfolio-trading-baskets-302787922.html

SOURCE Bloomberg L.P.

Technology

Dr. Sunho Kang, a senior battery-technology executive with leadership experience at major global battery and EV manufacturers, joins TeraWatt Technology as Head of Product and Technology

Published

14 hours ago

June 2, 2026

SAN FRANCISCO, June 2, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — TeraWatt Technology Inc. (Headquartered in California, USA) is pleased to announce that Dr. Sunho Kang has joined the company as Head of Product and Technology.

Dr. Kang is a globally recognized battery-technology executive with more than 25 years of leadership experience spanning the United States, Asia, and Europe, and a distinguished track record of advancing innovations from laboratory research through gigafactory-scale production. He has held senior executive positions at world-leading organizations including Samsung SDI, Apple, and Volkswagen Group of America, and brings deep expertise in lithium-ion battery materials, cell engineering, and product industrialization across a broad range of applications, including electric vehicles and energy storage systems.

At TeraWatt, Dr. Kang will lead global product development and the commercialization of TeraWatt’s battery technology platform, aiming to accelerate the delivery of TeraWatt’s competitive products as well as the technology and commercialization roadmap including manufacturing scale-up.

Dr. Kang commented:

“I am thrilled to join TeraWatt Technology as Head of Product and Technology. TeraWatt’s innovative battery platform presents a tremendous opportunity to push the boundaries of lithium-ion technology, and I look forward to working with the team to accelerate product development and commercialization to deliver meaningful impact.”

TeraWatt Technology founder CEO Ken Ogata, Ph.D. commented:

“We are thrilled to welcome Dr. Kang as our Head of Product and Technology. His deep expertise in battery materials, cell engineering, and productization will be instrumental in accelerating TeraWatt’s product roadmap and technology leadership. Together with Dr. Kang, we will continue to drive our mission forward.”

About TeraWatt Technology Inc.
TeraWatt Technology Inc. is a California-based company that produces lightweight, high-power, and safe next-generation lithium-ion batteries.

Company Overview
Name: TeraWatt Technology Inc.
Representative: Co-founder and CEO Ken Ogata
Headquarters: 28 Geary St, Suite 650, San Francisco, CA 94108, United States
Founded: January 2020
Established: December 2019
URL: https://www.terawatt-technology.com/

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/dr-sunho-kang-a-senior-battery-technology-executive-with-leadership-experience-at-major-global-battery-and-ev-manufacturers-joins-terawatt-technology-as-head-of-product-and-technology-302786854.html

SOURCE TeraWatt Technology Inc.

Technology

Tencent Cloud and Soniox Announce Strategic Partnership: Combining Advanced Speech-to-Text (STT) Technology with Global Real-Time Infrastructure

Published

14 hours ago

June 2, 2026

HONG KONG, June 2, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Tencent Cloud, the cloud business of global technology company Tencent, today announced a strategic partnership with Soniox, a San Francisco-based speech AI company that specializes in developing high-accuracy, low-latency speech AI solutions. The collaboration integrates Soniox’s speech-to-text (STT) technology with Tencent Cloud’s Real-Time Communication (TRTC) enterprise-grade global infrastructure, enabling enterprises to build and deploy multilingual voice AI applications across 200+ countries and regions.

Elevating Enterprise Voice AI at a Global Scale

In enterprise voice AI deployments, latency directly affects user experience and application reliability. The integration of Soniox’s high-accuracy, low-latency STT with TRTC’s global transmission infrastructure reduces latency across the entire pipeline, creating a comprehensive end-to-end solution for enterprises deploying conversational AI applications worldwide.

Soniox is the voice platform for every language. Unlike legacy speech AI, which was built primarily for English-speakers, Soniox delivers native-speaker accuracy across 60+ languages. Its technology can handle mid-sentence language switching — a user can switch between English and Chinese in a single utterance, and Soniox will capture every word with complete accuracy. All of this works through a single API that works for both speech-to-text and text-to-speech.

By integrating TRTC, the partnership leverages an enterprise-grade real-time communication backbone featuring more than 3,200 global nodes, sub-300 ms worldwide latency, and advanced capabilities such as AI noise suppression and weak-network resilience. These capabilities enable conversational AI applications to operate reliably across diverse network environments, including regions such as Southeast Asia and Africa.

With the roll out of this partnership, developers can integrate the Soniox STT API directly within the Tencent Cloud console. Whether targeting English-speaking markets or supporting languages such as Arabic, Hindi, and Malay, enterprises can build global voice applications — including intelligent customer service, voice assistants, real-time translation, and meeting transcription — to address the demands of expansion into emerging markets and multilingual scenarios.

Wison Xie, Head of Product at Tencent RTC, stated: “Tencent RTC has always been committed to providing reliable real-time communication infrastructure for global enterprises. Our partnership with Soniox brings together our strengths in enterprise-grade audio transmission and Soniox’s advanced speech recognition technology. Together, we are making it easier for businesses to deploy accurate, low-latency voice AI applications across any language and any market.”

Klemen Simonic, CEO at Soniox Inc., stated “At Soniox, our mission is to help businesses understand every word, in any language, with native speaker accuracy and exceptional speed. Partnering with Tencent Cloud combines our speech AI with world-class real-time infrastructure, enabling enterprises to build voice AI experiences that scale globally with low latency and reliability.”

About Tencent Cloud:

Tencent Cloud, one of the world’s leading cloud companies, is committed to creating innovative solutions to resolve real-world issues and enabling digital transformation for smart industries. Through our extensive global infrastructure, Tencent Cloud provides businesses across the globe with stable and secure industry-leading cloud products and services, leveraging technological advancements such as cloud computing, Big Data analytics, AI, IoT, and network security. It is our constant mission to meet the needs of industries across the board, including the fields of gaming, media and entertainment, finance, healthcare, property, retail, travel, and transportation.

About Tencent RTC:

Tencent RTC provides real-time communication solutions, including audio/video calling, live streaming, and in-game voice. With enterprise-grade security, AI-powered enhancements, and a global network of over 3,200 nodes, Tencent RTC powers mission-critical communication for customers worldwide.

About Soniox:

Soniox is a next-generation voice AI company bringing about the end of English-first speech AI. Most people on the planet did not grow up speaking English and often mix languages mid-sentence; and yet legacy speech AI was built for just English. Soniox is different: native-speaker accuracy across 60+ languages, true mid-sentence language switching, and flawless alphanumeric recognition that legacy providers still can’t match. For developers building global apps, Soniox is the only option. Try it for yourself at soniox.com.

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/apac/news-releases/tencent-cloud-and-soniox-announce-strategic-partnership-combining-advanced-speech-to-text-stt-technology-with-global-real-time-infrastructure-302786832.html

SOURCE Tencent Cloud