LONDON, Nov. 4, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Sunrate, the global payment and treasury management platform, today announced a partnership with the Association of Bonded Travel Organisers Trust (ABTOT), becoming a payment technology partner to over 450 Members. Announced on Day 2 of WTM London 2026, the partnership reflects a shared commitment to supporting travel businesses with the technology and services they need to operate and grow in an increasingly interconnected global economy.

Through the partnership, Sunrate will bring its global payment capabilities to ABTOT’s membership, helping members explore payment solutions designed to support their international business operations. Sunrate’s unified platform combines international payments, global collections, commercial cards, global acquiring and treasury solutions, helping businesses manage payments to suppliers and financial operations across markets.

The collaboration builds on ABTOT’s commitment to providing its Members with access to relevant commercial services and technology solutions alongside its established financial protection and business support offering. By connecting ABTOT’s Members with Sunrate’s payment infrastructure, the partnership aims to help travel businesses navigate the financial and operational demands of serving customers and suppliers across borders.

“Travel businesses operate in an increasingly connected global economy, where efficient and reliable payments are essential to supporting international growth,” said Paul Batchelor, Head of Business Development, Europe at Sunrate. “We are pleased to partner with ABTOT to bring our global payment capabilities closer to its members. As travel continues to evolve, we remain focused on building the payment infrastructure that enables travel businesses to operate more efficiently and pursue new opportunities across markets.”

“As our Members continue to grow internationally, access to efficient and reliable payment solutions is becoming increasingly important. We are pleased to welcome Sunrate as a partner and to provide our Members with access to a platform that supports the management of international payments, collections and treasury operations. This partnership forms part of our ongoing commitment to connecting Members with commercial solutions that help them operate more effectively, improve efficiency and support sustainable business growth.”
Julie Jones, Chief Marketing Officer, ABTOT

The partnership reinforces Sunrate’s continued commitment to the global travel industry, where payment efficiency, supplier settlement and the management of cross-border financial operations are increasingly important to business performance. Through collaborations with travel technology providers and industry organisations, Sunrate continues to expand its reach and support the evolving payment needs of travel businesses worldwide.

About Sunrate

Sunrate is a leading global payment and treasury management platform for businesses worldwide. Founded in 2016, Sunrate has enabled companies to operate and scale both locally and globally in 190+ countries and regions with its cutting-edge infrastructure, global network, and unified solutions.

Sunrate operates through offices across key markets, including Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta, Hong Kong, Shanghai, and London. The company partners with the top global financial institutions, such as Citibank, Standard Chartered, and J.P. Morgan. Sunrate is also the principal member of Mastercard and Visa. To learn more about Sunrate, visit https://www.sunrate.com/. 

About ABTOT

ABTOT is a Membership Association with over 450 specialist travel organiser Members. As an Approved Body, appointed by the UK Government Department for Business and Trade, ABTOT operates a regulated financial protection bonded scheme for Travel Organisers who need to comply with UK Travel Regulations. ABTOT is also an approved CAA ATOL Franchisee, providing financial protection solutions for both flight and non-flight packages. In 2021 ABTOT took over the Bonded Coach Holidays scheme, a consumer protection scheme exclusive to CPT coach package travel organisers. In 2025 ABTOT was awarded B Corp Certification.

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/abtot-members-gain-access-to-sunrates-global-payment-capabilities-302925014.html

Tencent Cloud expands enterprise AI capabilities and ecosystem partnerships in Singapore to help organisations deploy AI at scaleSingapore continues to play a key role in Tencent Cloud’s international AI strategy, serving as a hub for innovation, enterprise adoption and talent developmentNew technologies, customer collaborations and community initiatives reflect Tencent Cloud’s commitment to building a thriving AI ecosystem across Southeast Asia

SINGAPORE, Nov. 4, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Tencent Cloud, the cloud business of global technology company Tencent, today announced expanded enterprise AI capabilities, ecosystem partnerships and talent development initiatives in Singapore, reinforcing its commitment to supporting AI innovation and helping organisations across Southeast Asia move from experimentation to practical deployment.

In October this year, Tencent Cloud reported that its active overseas customer base had doubled over the past year, while international demand for its AI products and services had grown at a triple-digit rate. Tencent also highlighted its continued focus on practical AI adoption, expanding enterprise AI capabilities and helping organisations translate AI innovation into measurable business outcomes.

“AI is creating new opportunities for businesses, but its real value comes when it can be applied to everyday operations and adopted at scale,” said Dowson Tong, Senior Executive Vice President of Tencent and CEO of the Cloud and Smart Industries Group. “At Tencent Cloud, we’re bringing together our AI tools such as WorkBuddy, model capabilities and cloud infrastructure to help more businesses put AI to work, building on their strengths and unlocking new opportunities for growth.”

Singapore continues to play an important role in Tencent Cloud’s international growth strategy and serves as a key hub for AI innovation, enterprise adoption and ecosystem collaboration in Southeast Asia.

Supporting Enterprise AI Adoption Across Workflows

Tencent Cloud continues to expand its portfolio of AI capabilities spanning workplace productivity, software development, content creation and AI deployment.

These include solutions such as WorkBuddy, an AI office productivity agent for everyday office tasks; CodeBuddy, an AI-powered coding assistant; and Miora, an AI-native creative studio. Tencent Cloud also introduced additional specialised AI tools for key business functions:

MAGIC AI, Tencent Marketing Cloud’s agentic AI marketing workspace, helps marketing teams discover audiences, turn business goals into campaign plans and test what works — moving from insight to execution while critical actions remain subject to human approval.Tencent Cloud WAND combines leading multimodal models, including Hunyuan, with Tencent Cloud’s proprietary WAND-Vega models and over 100 in-house media processing tools to support the entire media workflow—from content creation and analysis to enhancement, encoding, and localization.Tencent Cloud Enterprise (TCE) AI Suite, a full-stack private cloud foundation powered by TI-ONE, TokenHub, and Agent Runtime, unifies compute, MaaS services and agent management, enabling organisations to modernise while retaining control over sensitive data and critical workloads.

Empowering Singapore Businesses at Home and Abroad

Beyond technology capabilities, Tencent Cloud continues to strengthen Singapore’s AI ecosystem through partnerships spanning implementation, cybersecurity, enterprise transformation and industry innovation.

New collaborations with organisations including Beyondsoft, Nexusguard and WeesWares will help support customers across AI and cloud innovation and, as well as cybersecurity resilience. These partnerships complement Tencent Cloud’s broader ecosystem strategy of bringing together technology providers, enterprises, developers and industry specialists to accelerate AI adoption across Southeast Asia.

Tencent Cloud’s work with Singapore-based customers spans healthcare, financial services, and international logistics. Through local digital healthcare company Care, Tencent Cloud powers video consultations on Raffles Connect, supporting more than 10,000 consultations a month.

“Singapore serves as an important hub for AI innovation, talent and enterprise adoption in Southeast Asia,” said Poshu Yeung, Senior Vice President, Tencent Cloud and Head of Tencent Cloud International. “Through our technology, ecosystem collaboration and talent development initiatives, we hope to contribute to a vibrant AI ecosystem that supports long-term innovation and growth in Singapore and across the region.”

Developing AI Talent Through Industry Challenges

Tencent Cloud Day Singapore also hosted the Demo Day and Awards Ceremony of the AI CAN DO IT Tencent Cloud Hackathon Singapore 2026, jointly organised by Tencent Cloud and AI Singapore.

Participants presented solutions to challenges contributed by Aspire, DBS, Keppel, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore’s Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine (NTU LKCMedicine)  and Ryde, applying AI to needs across financial services, real estate, healthcare and ride-hailing. The programme reflects Tencent Cloud’s broader commitment to supporting AI talent development and creating opportunities for aspiring builders to gain hands-on experience applying AI to real-world challenges.

In this latest edition of the hackathon, Team OeroAI took home the top prize of S$10,000 under the Digital Native Track for ‘TriVerity,’ their multi-agent AI solution designed to resolve ride-hailing rider-driver disputes within seconds rather than days.

Through training, mentorship and access to tools including CodeBuddy, WorkBuddy, and Miora, the programme gave participants experience developing and testing applications against industry requirements. The Singapore competition forms part of Tencent Cloud’s wider hackathon programme, which has brought together more than 10,000 participants across five markets and generated over 1,500 projects in the past six months.

Together, Tencent Cloud’s enterprise AI capabilities, ecosystem partnerships, customer collaborations and talent development initiatives reinforce Singapore’s role as a regional hub for AI innovation and support the company’s broader efforts to help organisations across Southeast Asia translate AI potential into practical outcomes.

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.

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/apac/news-releases/tencent-cloud-expands-ai-ecosystem-in-singapore-with-new-enterprise-ai-capabilities-partnerships-and-talent-development-initiatives-302929098.html

SOURCE Tencent Cloud

OXFORD, England, Nov. 4, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — More than 400 representatives, from government, large enterprises to SMEs, from across the UK defence supply chain gathered at the JOSCAR Live conference organised by supplier data management solutions firm Hellios.

Industry leaders highlighted the critical role of Britain’s suppliers in strengthening national defence readiness. 

Now in its fourth year and supported by BAE Systems as its Gold Sponsor and other key industry players, JOSCAR Live is an annual conference for the defence, aerospace and security industries held on behalf of its JOSCAR (Joint Supply Chain Accreditation Register) community. 

The event brought together buyers and suppliers in an immersive panel-led environment providing delegates with opportunities to network, share insight, take part in ‘meet the buyer’ sessions, and explore an exclusive buyer marketplace. 

The event also celebrated the contribution of smaller businesses through the JOSCAR SME Innovation Award, supported by BAE Systems, recognising innovation across the Defence and Aerospace community. 

The conference involved representatives from the MOD, major contractors including Boeing Defence UK, Leonardo, Ultra Maritime, Jaltek, MBDA, financial institutions such as Lloyds Banking Group, alongside mid-tier suppliers and SMEs from across the country. 

It comes as the UK Government has itself highlighted the important contribution SMEs will make in ensuring the Ministry of Defence (MOD) is equipped to face evolving global threats. Mounting geopolitical, economic and security pressures are reshaping increasingly complex, interconnected supply chains, underlining the importance of giving SMEs greater access to defence procurement opportunities. 

In July, the MOD, as part of the Defence Investment Plan, announced how it will be engaging the SME community through its Small and Medium-sized Enterprise action plan, and Business Growth Service, which is aimed at ‘delivering the most comprehensive package of support in a generation’. 

Led by the Defence Office for Small Business Growth, the department aims to increase defence spending with British firms and SMEs by £2.5 billion by summer 2028, in addition to its current £5 billion baseline. It also plans to introduce measures to simplify public sector procurement, to ensure that advice and support is easier to access, and businesses of all sizes have a fair opportunity to compete for public contracts. 

Supply chain agility critical to defence readiness

Keynote speakers, including Air Vice-Marshal Ange Baker, Director Joint Support at the Ministry of Defence, and Lord Gavin Barwell, Founder of NorthStar Advisory and former Downing Street Chief of Staff, outlined the future direction of UK defence and the MOD’s priorities for readiness, support and future capability in the face of increasingly frequent and overlapping global events. 

Throughout the event leaders discussed the need for supply chains that are resilient, agile and able to respond quickly to evolving geopolitical and security challenges. Speakers stressed the importance of compliance, supplier assurance and greater cross-sector collaboration between industry, government and prime contractors to ensure the defence sector can scale its capability, adapt to changing requirements and maintain operational readiness. 

Air Vice-Marshal Baker said: “From rocks to rockets, our defence readiness depends on the strength and resilience of the entire defence supply chain. SMEs have an increasingly important role to play, bringing vital skills, innovation and agility. Greater collaboration among all stakeholders will be essential if we are to continue to build our capability, capacity, and the robustness to respond effectively to an increasingly complex threat landscape.” 

The industry also focused on the need to invest in future skills and create clearer pathways for SMEs into defence procurement. Greater transparency between stakeholders, clearer demand signals for better visibility around future requirements, and improved access to decisionmakers were highlighted as key to helping suppliers identify opportunities, strengthen partnerships and play a greater role in supporting the UK’s defence capability. 

Dillon Padraig Harmon, Chief Operations Officer at Needles & Pins Aerospace, a SME supplying the defence industry, who also spoke on one of the panels, said: “Current geopolitical tensions have brought into sharp focus the vital role SMEs can play in strengthening the UK’s defence readiness. SMEs are the backbone of Britain, driving innovation, investing in the next generation of talent, and providing the specialist skills our defence supply chain needs. 

“By working closely with industry, education providers and government, we can help develop the skills and services needed to support future defence capability and long-term economic growth. Events such as JOSCAR Live play an important role in bringing SMEs and prime contractors together, creating opportunities to share expertise, build partnerships and strengthen the UK defence supply chain. 

“That greater connectivity across the sector is essential to ensuring the supply chain has the capability, agility and capacity to respond effectively to emerging threats.” 

JOSCAR acts as a centralised compliance and pre-qualification system connecting major contractors with thousands of suppliers. It gives buyers greater visibility, enabling them to manage supply chain risk, including third-party risk management, and meet regulatory requirements. 

Colin Maund, Chief Executive Officer, Hellios, added: “The strength of the UK’s defence sector depends on the capability of the supply chain that feeds it.  

“This year’s conference provided a platform for industry to share knowledge while exploring how all stakeholders can work more effectively together, creating an environment where UK SMEs can flourish. A stronger supply chain community will help support a more agile defence sector that is better prepared and better placed to face the challenges of tomorrow. JOSCAR has already reduced duplication and made the defence industry more efficient, but it is part of a larger and complex picture with much still to do.” 

The next JOSCAR Live conference is planned for 2027. For further information and updates, please visit: https://hellios.com.  

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/uk-supply-chain-leaders-unite-to-put-smes-at-the-heart-of-defence-readiness-302929100.html