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50,000 Students to Participate in Season 2 of the Franklin Templeton National Mutual Fund Olympiad 2026

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MUMBAI, India, Aug. 4, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — FinX, India’s leading platform for BFSI learning and certification programmes, has announced the launch of the Franklin Templeton National Mutual Fund Olympiad (FTNMFO) 2026, a nationwide initiative aimed at strengthening financial literacy and investment awareness among students. Undergraduate and postgraduate students across academic disciplines are invited to participate, with the Olympiad expected to engage over 50,000 students from more than 1,000 colleges across India. Groww, India’s leading investment platform, has been onboarded as the education partner while the programme is also supported by the BFSI Sector Skill Council of India (BFSI SSC).

India’s financial literacy landscape has evolved significantly over the last decade, and the participation from youth has been remarkable. In fact, SEBI’s Investor Survey 2025 found that 66% of Gen Zs were aware of at least one market-linked investment product, signalling a growing interest in investing among young Indians. The Olympiad seeks to build on this foundation by helping young learners with a real-world experience to understand, access and engage with investment products such as mutual funds, ETFs, PMS, AIFs and SIFs, enabling them to participate more confidently in India’s expanding investment ecosystem.

Speaking on the launch, Avinash Satwalekar, President, Franklin Templeton Asset Management (India) Pvt., said, “The enthusiastic response to the inaugural Franklin Templeton National Mutual Fund Olympiad reaffirmed the growing interest among young Indians to build practical financial knowledge beyond the classroom. At Franklin Templeton, we believe financial literacy is an essential life skill, and initiatives like the Olympiad help equip students with the confidence to make informed financial decisions while improving their understanding of the evolving investment landscape. As we launch Season 2, we look forward to reaching many more students and continuing to promote investment awareness and financial capability across the country.”

Himanshu Vyapak, MD & CEO, FinX, said, “The Franklin Templeton National Mutual Fund Olympiad has evolved into a unique platform that brings together academia and industry to make financial education more engaging, accessible and relevant for students. The response to the first edition demonstrated a strong appetite among young learners to understand investing and personal finance in a practical manner. With Season 2, we aim to significantly expand our reach, deepen engagement across campuses and continue building a financially aware generation that is better prepared for the opportunities and responsibilities of India’s evolving financial ecosystem. This programme is also supported by the BFSI Sector Skill Council of India (BFSI SSC).”

Harsh Jain, Co-founder & COO, Groww, said, “Despite all the growth, very few Indians invest in mutual funds today. Most people haven’t even taken the first step. What we have realised over the years is that access is no longer the problem – understanding is. The best time to build that understanding is when someone is still a student, before they invest their first rupee. If young people learn how markets and mutual funds actually work early on, they carry those habits for life. That is why as part of our larger commitment to investor education, we are supporting this Olympiad, which takes this learning to college campuses across the country.”

Building on the success of its inaugural edition, which attracted more than 10,000 students from over 400 colleges, the 2026 edition aims to significantly expand its reach and impact. Within a structured, multi-level competition, participants will be assessed on their understanding of mutual funds, investment fundamentals, financial planning, market concepts and long-term wealth creation. Registrations are now open through the official Olympiad platform, while participating colleges can enrol at no cost.

Through the Olympiad, Franklin Templeton, FinX and Groww seek to strengthen financial literacy among young Indians by bringing together academic institutions and industry expertise.

About Franklin Templeton

Franklin Templeton is a global investment management organization with over 75 years of experience helping individual and institutional investors achieve their financial goals. Operating in more than 30 countries with offices across over 80 financial centres, the firm offers expertise across equity, fixed income, alternatives, multi-asset and customized investment solutions. In India, Franklin Templeton has been serving investors for more than 30 years, providing a broad range of mutual fund solutions while remaining committed to investor education, financial literacy and long-term wealth creation. The firm combines global investment capabilities with local market insights to help investors navigate evolving financial markets and pursue their long-term investment objectives.

About FinX

FinX is a leading financial education, skilling and employability platform dedicated to developing industry-ready talent for the BFSI sector. Through its career-focused certifications, industry-integrated learning programmes, national competitions and institutional partnerships, FinX equips students and young professionals with practical knowledge across banking, financial markets, wealth management, mutual funds and allied financial services. By bridging the gap between academia and industry, FinX works closely with educational institutions and leading financial organisations to promote financial literacy, enhance employability and build a future-ready workforce for India’s evolving financial ecosystem.

About Groww

Groww is India’s largest investment platform by active users. Founded in 2016, Groww’s mission is to make financial services simple, accessible and transparent for every Indian. Through its platform, customers can access a wide range of financial products including stocks, MTF, wealth advisory, mutual funds, ETFs, IPOs, commodities, derivatives, bonds, among others. With a strong focus on user experience, technology and investor education, Groww is helping build greater participation in India’s financial markets and empowering individuals to take charge of their financial futures.

About BFSI Sector Skill Council of India

Established in 2011 under the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC), the BFSI Sector Skill Council of India (BFSI SSC) is responsible for skill development in the Banking, Financial Services, and Insurance sector. Working in collaboration with the RBI, IRDAI, SEBI, PFRDA, leading banks, insurance companies and financial institutions, the Council designs industry-led qualifications and certification programs to enhance employability and productivity. BFSI SSC actively supports national skilling initiatives to build a future-ready workforce and strengthen India’s financial ecosystem.

 

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Poll finds surging demand for AI-based video encoding

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HANGZHOU, China, Sept. 21, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Hikvision has developed Guanlan Encoding, a technology that uses AI to identify more and less information-rich areas in video images and encodes every frame accordingly.

To gauge the potential impact of the new technology, asmag.com and Hikvision have teamed up for a survey of asmag readers, entitled “AI encoding technology for video security,” and asked them about their experience with the “storage challenge” and where they see potential in their projects for AI-based encoding.

Storage pressure is real and growing

When asked “How significant a challenge is video storage cost or capacity in your business or projects?” a large number of respondents—38.2%—identified storage pressure as a “major challenge.” It was the second-most given answer among all respondents, trailing closely behind 43.2% who said storage is a “moderate” challenge. When asked “Has the storage challenge changed compared to 12 months ago?” the largest share of respondents—once again 43.2%—said it has “increased moderately.” 

Guanlan Encoding—Hikvision’s solution to a growing pain point

Guanlan Encoding is built on the H.265 standard and integrates Hikvision’s Guanlan Large-Scale AI Model into continuous encoding workflows. Rather than compressing every part of a frame equally—the approach traditional codecs take—Guanlan Encoding identifies which parts of a scene matter most, such as people, vehicles and other moving objects, and allocates more detail to them. Static or low-motion background footage, by contrast, is compressed far more aggressively.

According to Hikvision, this combination of different compression rates in the same frame helps reduce storage needs by 30% to 50% on average without sacrificing details that matter for investigations and monitoring.

Guanlan is already gaining ground

Even though it was introduced so recently, over half of survey respondents expressed familiarity with Guanlan Encoding: 43.3% said they are “familiar with it” despite not yet having hands-on experience, while 8.3% said they are already using the technology.

Overall, the survey showed the severity of the storage challenge, but also that Hikvision is well positioned to offer a significant fix to the pain point. Guanlan Encoding plays a key role as it uses AI not to produce more data, but to reduce the burden of more data on storage infrastructure.

Find more reporting about the “AI encoding technology for video security” on the dedicated landing page on asmag.com, or download the full results of the survey.

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SOURCE Hikvision Digital Technology

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Noah Holdings Hosts 2026 Global Investor Summit “The Year of Realization: A New Chapter in Global Allocation”

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Serving Global Chinese Families With a Global Investment Network, Licensed Teams and AI Capabilities

HONG KONG, Sept. 21, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Noah Holdings Limited (“Noah” or the “Company”) (NYSE: NOAH; HKEX: 6686), a wealth management institution serving global Chinese families, together with its global asset allocation platform Olive Asset Management (“Olive”), successfully held its 2026 Global Investor Summit, themed “The Year of Realization: A New Chapter in Global Allocation,” in Hong Kong. Addressing the industry transformation driven by AI and the long-term wealth needs of global Chinese families, Noah discussed how it is combining the global investment network and professional expertise it has developed over the years with AI capabilities to build a wealth management system that clients can use and rely on over the long term.

Investment professionals from Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP, a part of BlackRock), Macquarie Asset Management, Bridgepoint, HarbourVest Partners and Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Asset Management attended the summit and participated in discussions. Noah’s global network of investment managers is an important foundation of its investment capabilities. Through its ongoing investments in funds globally, Noah and Olive continue to build relationships with managers and accumulate underlying research data, drawing on these resources to understand industry shifts, validate investment judgments and support clients’ long-term asset allocation.

Understanding the Responsibility of Wealth Management, Starting From Clients’ Long-Term Interests

Noah Holdings believes that the productivity shift brought by AI is changing how wealth is created and is placing new demands on families’ long-term planning. Wealth management needs to understand the long-term forces behind changes in technology, capital and family needs, while also factoring in family governance and succession. The responsibility of professional institutions is to help clients understand these changes and make judgments based on their own needs, building trust through long-term engagement.

Noah Holdings Chairwoman Norah Wang said: “Care is what expertise is for – that has always been Noah’s foundation. Our job is not to predict events, but to identify forces. Real care means using professional judgment to help clients see clearly which fluctuations they can bear, and which risks they must avoid.”

Noah Holdings CEO Zander Yin said at the summit that every technological revolution rewrites the world order and redraws the map of resources. The productivity shift now being driven by AI is no exception – it is likewise changing the path for corporate growth and investor participation.

Yin said: “The industrial revolutions of the past freed human hands; this AI revolution is further extending the human brain and human intelligence. Noah’s long-accumulated insight into GPs lets us keep observing how leading investment institutions make their choices. With AI, we are connecting this accumulated knowledge into clearer research threads – this ‘map’ is the trajectory of choices made by the world’s leading institutions. Following this map to identify companies worth deeper research is the approach we take.”

These judgments ultimately need to be embedded in a system clients can use. Noah’s three platforms operate in coordination: ARK Wealth Management handles account services and investment execution, covering the global banking system, trading channels, mutual funds and structured products; Olive Asset Management is responsible for long-term asset allocation, covering private equity, venture capital, real estate and global infrastructure; and Glory Family Heritage focuses on family protection and intergenerational planning, providing global family succession and lifestyle services. The three platforms work together within a unified framework to translate clients’ long-term needs into concrete investment, allocation and succession arrangements.

Noah Olive’s “Institutional Intelligence”: Making Judgment Evidence-Based and Experience Cumulative

Olive Asset Management Global CEO Peng Jing said at the summit that Olive is continuing to build its “institutional intelligence,” turning the research, decisions and experience accumulated through long-term investment practice into shared organizational methods and standards, so that professional judgment can accumulate over time, be tested, and improve through practice.

Observing the choices made by top-tier institutions is the starting point for research, not the conclusion. A global network of managers provides breadth of research, but institutional prestige and the number of investments alone cannot substitute for judgment. The team tracks how many genuinely independent sources of information support a given judgment, rather than simply counting how many firms have co-invested. At the execution level, Olive evaluates company quality and purchase price separately; at the research level, screening models need to be tested using only the information available at each historical point in time, with the methodology then refined based on actual outcomes. Project data, the basis for decisions, and the lessons drawn from both successes and mistakes are thereby retained within the organization over time. In this process, AI helps expand information coverage, detect anomalies and maintain ongoing tracking, while the professional team remains responsible for industry judgment, risk assessment and final decisions.

The summit also included a series of breakout sessions on topics such as cutting-edge technology in Silicon Valley, positioning in global private markets, opportunities in public markets, and family succession planning, with professionals from Noah and partner institutions taking part in the discussions.

Noah will continue to connect global investment resources, professional research and client service, working through its platforms to support the long-term investment and wealth succession needs of global Chinese families.

About Noah Holdings Limited

Noah Holdings Limited (NYSE: NOAH; HKEX: 6686) is a Singapore-headquartered wealth management institution focused on serving global Chinese high-net-worth families. Founded in 2005, Noah listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 2010 and completed a dual primary listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in 2022. The Company’s business spans nine countries and regions, with account and trading centers in Singapore, Hong Kong, China, the United States, and Shanghai, China.

Disclaimer:

This press release is for reference only and does not constitute investment advice, an offer, or a solicitation of an offer to invest. Investing involves risk; the prices of securities and funds can rise as well as fall, and past performance is not indicative of future performance. The forward-looking statements contained in this release are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties, and actual results may differ materially from these statements.

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SOURCE Noah Holdings Limited

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When Music Reads Emotion: THEi Launches Centre for Music Therapy Research to Deepen Guangdong-Hong Kong Integration and Leverage AI to Fill the Healthcare Talent Gap

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Download high-res photo here: https://bit.ly/4rcZWOx 

HONG KONG, Sept. 22, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — The fast pace of modern life and an aging population drive demand for mental health and non-pharmacological holistic wellness. In alignment with the health development priorities of the national 15th Five-Year Plan and the Healthy China Initiative, the Technological and Higher Education Institute of Hong Kong (THEi) held the launch ceremony for its Centre for Music Therapy Research (CMTR) at the Sky Concert Hall in Shenzhen on 16 September. The launch aims to address the demand for innovative healthcare talent while fostering Guangdong-Hong Kong integration.

The event gathered prominent leaders across government, business, higher education, and technology sectors, including Mr Paul CHONG Kin-lit, BBS, MH, Vice Chairman, THEi’s Board of Governors; Professor Alan LAU Kin-tak, President of THEi; Ms LIU Ying,

Adjunct Associate Professor, Department of Digital Innovation and Technology, THEi and

Director of Centre for Music Therapy Research, THEi; Mr YANG Pengda, Education Entrepreneur and Deputy Director of Centre for Music Therapy Research, THEi;  Mr WAN Kun, Deputy Director-General, Development and Reform Bureau of Futian District, Shenzhen Municipality; Ms MA Hui, Director of Tchaikovsky Conservatory (China) International Exchange Centre; Dr CAI Yuejun, Key Laboratory of AI-Enabled Music Therapy, Shanghai Conservatory of Music; Dr PANG Yan, Associate Research Professor, Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS); Doctoral Supervisor, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (UCAS).

The event featured strategic partnership signing ceremonies and a cross-industry networking reception, alongside an immersive “Emotional Healing Show” concert performed by celebrated musicians, including winners of ‘Golden Bell Awards’ and ‘Wenhua Award’, as well as former members of the renowned Twelve Girls Band. A key highlight was the live instrumental and choral performance of the iconic pop song Beneath the Lion Rock, which resonated with the Centre’s positioning of “Hong Kong’s International Connectivity”—marking a major milestone of advancing interdisciplinary mind-body wellness in the GBA.

Empowering Big Health with Applied Sciences: Nurturing “Work-Ready” Professionals in the GBA

Mr Paul CHONG Kin-lit, BBS, MH, Vice Chairman, THEi’s Board of Governors, delivered opening remarks, stating: “As an applied discipline bridging art, science, and medicine, music therapy plays a pivotal role in tackling mental stress, broader wellness demands, and specialised healthcare needs. Guided by our education philosophy of ‘applied science and immediate application,’ THEi drives industry-academia-research integration. By extending the reach of our Centre to Shenzhen, we leverage the GBA’s innovative ecosystem and expanding demand to pair global music therapy standards with cutting-edge technology—building a premier hub for scientific research, practical application, and community service.”

Professor Alan LAU Kin-tak, President of THEi, emphasised in his keynote that higher education must stay attuned to modern trends and national developments: “Music is undergoing a redefinition where sound, emotion, and AI intersect. As a pioneer in applied science and work-ready education, THEi sees growing demand in the GBA for expertise in non-pharmacological therapies, mental wellness, and the silver economy. By launching the Centre in Shenzhen, we fuse academic research with regional innovation. Through short-term and professional training programmes, we aim to fast-track market-ready, multidisciplinary talent equipped with technological, clinical, and commercial expertise to directly address key social needs.

Top Academic Talent Joins Forces

The newly launched Music Therapy Research Centre is directed by Ms LIU Ying, Visiting Associate Professor in the Department of Digital Innovation and Technology at THEi. A distinguished expert in Chinese traditional music, Ms LIU leads the Centre’s core content strategy, backed by international innovation expertise from Dr PANG Yan, Associate Research Professor, Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS); Doctoral Supervisor, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (UCAS) and his team.

As the champion of the Guzheng category at the 9th Chinese Music ‘Golden Bell Awards’, and the exclusive recipient of the gold, silver, and bronze awards in this category. Ms LIU noted that the Centre maximises synergy between Hong Kong and Shenzhen by pairing “Hong Kong’s global perspective with Shenzhen’s development speed” to construct a regional cross-disciplinary hub. Guided by the vision of “medical treatment in hospitals, healing in daily life,” the Centre uses Five-Tone theory and AI-based EEG technologies to deliver non-clinical wellness solutions. She stressed that with a clear focus on problem-solving over sheer size, the Centre will advance practical training programs, therapeutic products, and industry benchmarks through the integration of arts, science, and commercialisation.

Mr YANG Pengda, Education Entrepreneur and Deputy Director of Centre for Music Therapy Research, THEi, underscored his belief that “investing in education is a high-value commitment, not a cost,” – a vision driving his multi-year support for THEi’s research centres. Praising THEi’s work-ready degree’s programmes – which features a 100% internship placement and over 95% graduate employment, he noted that the Institute’s programmes are tailored to industry needs. He emphasised that the new Centre is grounded in societal demand, tackling issues like sleep disorders affecting 300 million individuals and elder care for 320 million seniors—effectively leveraging technology and humanity to improve the quality of lives.

The Centre signed strategic MoUs with Key Laboratory of AI-Enabled Music Therapy, Shanghai Conservatory of Music and Tchaikovsky Conservatory (China) International Exchange Centre The partnerships will foster deep collaboration across music arts research, professional talent training, and international exchange, laying a solid artistic foundation for the Centre’s ongoing development.

Moving ahead, the Centre will focus its efforts on four core strategic pillars: advancing AI-assisted music therapy research to improve personalised non-pharmacological treatments; exploring traditional Chinese music to unlock its therapeutic emotional benefits; delivering arts-based healing to support seniors and individuals with special needs; and integrating digital music with immersive technology to drive music therapy beyond traditional stages into a smart, holistic era of care.

Following the official launch of the Centre and its upcoming professional training programmes, THEi is set to reinforce its leadership in regional applied science education—accelerating sustainable innovation to support high-quality development across the GBA and nationwide.

About the Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Music Technology

The programme places a strong emphasis on cross-cultural exchange, covering three major professional domains: game music design, contemporary music composition, and film scoring. By integrating artificial intelligence and augmented reality/virtual reality (AR/VR) technologies into practical learning, the programme equips students with professional mastery in audio engineering and sound design, enhancing their ability to combine artistic creativity with technological innovation.

About Technological and Higher Education Institute of Hong Kong (THEi) 

Founded in 2012, the Technological and Higher Education Institute of Hong Kong (THEi) is a member institute of the Vocational Training Council (VTC). THEi offers over 20 professional “Applied Science-Oriented” undergraduate and postgraduate degree programmes across seven academic areas: Product and Fashion Designs, Sports and International Events Management, Digital Construction and Building Services, Horticulture, Arboriculture and Landscape Management, Chinese Medicine and Food Science, Hotel Management and Culinary Arts and Technology, and Digital Technology and Innovative Business. The programmes integrate theoretical knowledge with practical applications, and cover industries with growth potential in Hong Kong and the Asia-Pacific region, ensuring that students can apply what they learn effectively.

THEi’s undergraduate and postgraduate degree programmes are accredited by the Hong Kong Council for Accreditation of Academic and Vocational Qualifications. The curriculum emphasises the practical application of applied science, aligning with the latest developments in business and industry. The undergraduate degree programmes offer 100% work-integrated learning training to support students in building their career paths at an earlier stage.

THEi Chai Wan Campus was awarded the “Leadership in Sustainable Design and Performance Award – Institutional” of the Asia Pacific Leadership in Green Building Awards presented by the World Green Building Council (WorldGBC) in 2020.

Media Contact:

Ms Janice Lam 
Tel: (852) 3890 8227 / (852) 9718 0817
Email: janicelam@thei.edu.hk / media@thei.edu.hk

Ms  Rainbow Chiu 
Tel: (852) 3890 8520
Email: rainbowh@thei.edu.hk  / media@thei.edu.hk

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SOURCE Technological and Higher Education Institute of Hong Kong (THEi)

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