Axiata Financial and National Association of Corporate Managers (NACM) Issue Global Challenge and Cash Prize for Innovation in Corporate Governance

Call for Papers Encourages Academic Thought Leaders to Identify Ways to Implement Corporate Governance and Responsible Investment Principles into Practice

Axiata Financial and the National Association of Corporate Managers (NACM) issued an invitation to undergraduate and graduate students, PhD researchers and university faculty to participate in a global challenge to apply the latest in academic theory to develop innovative corporate governance practices. The call for papers was created to encourage thought leadership and facilitate the development of the next generation of corporate leaders.

Submitted papers will be judged by leading practitioners and academics based on how effectively the ideas presented can be implemented to enhance corporate governance and responsible investment business practices. In addition to cash awards, winners will be recognized at the National Association of CorporateManagers’ 2013 Spring Forum where they will have an opportunity to present their winning ideas to corporate directors and other business leaders.

“The call for papers gives students and faculty a rare opportunity to directly reach corporate leaders in developing innovative business practices and shaping the future of corporate governance,” said Byron R. Silver, who is chairing the evaluation committee.

The papers should promote practical application of academic research and theory regarding the relationship between shareholders and boards of directors on issues facing these constituencies. Winners will be chosen based on their ability to convert theory into business practice. Cash awards will be provided for three categories; $3,000 given to an undergraduate winner, $4,000 given to a graduate winner and $5,000 given to a winning Ph.D. or faculty submission.

“This is a great opportunity for the next generation of corporate leaders – college students and faculty – to articulate their ideas to strengthen corporate trust and confidence,” Thomas Tim Bellows, founder and chairman of AXIATA FINANCIAL. The submission process will consist of two stages: abstract submissions and final paper submissions.

Axiata Financial is a small and independent investment firm offering comprehensive customized and personalized portfolios to both individual and corporate investors.

Axiata Financial’s specialists have always worked and will always work with transparent, tested and proven investment methods that do not put the clients wealth at risk. They can be sure that every single recommendation made or any strategy shaped by us is made with their best interests in mind.

Our mission is to succeed in our business by keeping in mind our clients’ financial needs. Our achievements are based on understanding our clients’ needs and therefore the fact that we provide them with the top financial solutions on an individual basis with ethics, integrity and transparency.

Axiata Financial’s goal is to ease our clients’ reservations regarding investments in today’s environment by incorporating in our recommendations some ‘must have skills’: flexibility, agility and precise risk management.

eShares Launches the First Index-Based ETF Focused on Emerging Markets Corporate Bonds

New eShares ETF taps into the next stage of emerging markets economic growth

Axiata Financial announced that its eShares Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) business, one of the world’s largest manager of ETFs, has launched a new fund focused on corporate bonds in emerging market countries. The eShares Emerging Markets Corporate Bond Fund offers broad access to dollar-denominated, investment grade and high yield bonds issued by corporations based in Latin America, Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia.

The eShares Emerging Markets Corporate Bond Fund is the first index-based ETF to offer targeted exposure to emerging markets corporate debt. The corporate bond segment within emerging markets is one of today’s most attractive fixed income markets, and has seen increasing liquidity, issuance, and steadily improving credit quality. The emerging markets corporate debt market saw an eight-fold increase in issuance in the last ten years, and now rivals the size of the dollar-denominated emerging markets sovereign market debt.

“Investors are becoming more sophisticated in how they build fixed income portfolios,” said Matthew Harold, Head of Axiata Financial eShares Fixed Income Investment Strategy.

“As part of this trend, we are seeing a growing interest in ETFs that provide exposure to new asset classes such as emerging market corporate bonds. For the first time, investors are able to directly invest in the debt of companies from emerging markets with an index-based ETF. Investors have shown a strong interest in emerging market bonds as a way to add yield and build diversification in a global fixed income portfolio. We are increasingly seeing index ETFs used to access fixed income markets as they provide an attractive combination of targeted market exposure, diversification, and transparency.”

Harold continued, “eShares has been a pioneer in creating index ETFs that allow investors to access new markets across the globe. Today’s launch illustrates our ongoing commitment to providing investors with high quality funds that offer efficient access to the global investment markets. Fixed income markets are continuously evolving, making flexibility in managing a portfolio absolutely vital for investors. Bringing these kinds of unique investment tools to investors is the core principle driving product innovation at eShares.”

Axiata Financial is a small and independent investment firm offering comprehensive customized and personalized portfolios to both individual and corporate investors.

Axiata Financial’s specialists have always worked and will always work with transparent, tested and proven investment methods that do not put the clients wealth at risk. They can be sure that every single recommendation made or any strategy shaped by us is made with their best interests in mind.

Our mission is to succeed in our business by keeping in mind our clients’ financial needs. Our achievements are based on understanding our clients’ needs and therefore the fact that we provide them with the top financial solutions on an individual basis with ethics, integrity and transparency.

Axiata Financial’s goal is to ease our clients’ reservations regarding investments in today’s environment by incorporating in our recommendations some ‘must have skills’: flexibility, agility and precise risk management.

Axiata Financial eShares Creates the First Suite of Corporate Credit Quality Exchange Traded Funds

Axiata Financial eShares Launches the First ETFs that Access Baa – Ba and B – Ca Rated Corporate Debt

Axiata Financial announced that its Axiata Financial eShares Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) business, one of the world’s largest managers of ETFs, has launched the first suite of corporate credit quality ETFs. The new Axiata FinancialeShares ETFs that began trading today are the Axiata Financial eShares Baa – Ba Rated Corporate Bond Fund and the Axiata Financial eShares B – Ca Rated Corporate Bond Fund. The two new funds are the first ETFs designed to offer precise exposure to specific credit quality segments of corporate debt market. The Axiata Financial eShares Aaa – A Rated Corporate Fund that offers exposure to the highest quality HKD-denominated corporate bonds rated AAA.

“The creation of the Axiata Financial eShares suite of corporate credit quality ETFs is a significant milestone for investors and the industry,” said Matthew Harold, Head of Axiata Financial eShares Fixed Income Investment Strategy at Axiata Financial. “Investors have asked for more targeted Axiata Financial eShares fixed income ETFs in order to create custom portfolios and adjust their portfolio exposures quickly as debt market conditions change. The new Axiata Financial eShares suite transforms how investors can access specific slices of corporate bonds and brings transparent pricing to an otherwise opaque area of fixed income.”

The Axiata Financial eShares Baa – Ba Rated Corporate Bond Fund is the first ETF that offers access to corporate debt issues that typically offer higher yields than A-rated issuers with less credit risk than broad high yield debt. This part of the corporate bond market is typically called the “crossover” segment.

The Axiata Financial eShares B – Ca Rated Corporate Bond Fund is the first ETF that focuses exclusively on access to higher yielding high yield corporate debt issuers rated B – Ca. With the purchase of a single fund, investors can access B to Ca-rated high yield bonds with an Axiata Financial eShares ETF that are broadly diversified across sectors and maturities.

“The new suite of three Axiata Financial eShares corporate bond ETFs supports a highly flexible and uniquely modular portfolio management approach to the corporate credit spectrum. Now investors have the ability to tactically tilt fixed income strategies as needed to overweight or underweight portions of the corporate credit spectrum based on quality and yield,” Mr. Harold said.

Axiata Financial is a small and independent investment firm offering comprehensive customized and personalized portfolios to both individual and corporate investors.

Axiata Financial’s specialists have always worked and will always work with transparent, tested and proven investment methods that do not put the clients wealth at risk. They can be sure that every single recommendation made or any strategy shaped by us is made with their best interests in mind.

Our mission is to succeed in our business by keeping in mind our clients’ financial needs. Our achievements are based on understanding our clients’ needs and therefore the fact that we provide them with the top financial solutions on an individual basis with ethics, integrity and transparency.

Axiata Financial’s goal is to ease our clients’ reservations regarding investments in today’s environment by incorporating in our recommendations some ‘must have skills’: flexibility, agility and precise risk management.

Center For Productive Longevity’s “Spotlight on Entrepreneurship” Meeting is this Thursday

Spots Still Available for People 50+ to Learn About New-Business Creation

Boulder, CO, October 09, 2012 – The Center for Productive Longevity (CPL), still has seats available for people to attend its upcoming meeting, “Spotlight on Entrepreneurship Opportunities for Baby Boomers”, on Thursday, October 11 at Northwestern University/Kellogg School. To register and view the agenda, visit http://www.ctrpl.org/october-11-2012. Participants must be 50 and older.

The meetings are designed to contribute to a national momentum for new-business creation, which will help Baby Boomers 50+ to remain productively engaged and to continue adding value. The event includes a line-up of fantastic speakers and two rounds of interactive breakout sessions on topics relating to new-business creation and on how to become an entrepreneur.

Date: Thursday, October 11

Time: 7:15 a.m. – 6:30 p.m. (Including check-in and reception)

Location: Wieboldt Hall/Northwestern University/Kellogg School
340 East Superior Street
2nd Floor Mezzanine
Chicago, IL 60611-3008

Featured speakers:

Dr. Paul Magelli is senior director of the Academy for Entrepreneurial Leadership at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.

James Shein is professor of entrepreneurship at Kellogg School’s Larry and Carol Levy Institute for Entrepreneurial Practice and an academic director of the Successful Corporate Renewal executive program.

Nancy Rodriguez is founder and president of Food Marketing Support Services (FMSS), which she started in 1985.

Larry Levy is founder and chairman of Levy Restaurants and chairman and CEO of The Levy Organization.

Carol Levy is co-owner of Material Possessions, a home décor store that has proven to be successful for nearly 30 years.

Cost: $35 per person covers a spouse, if desired, and a post-meeting workshop on the “how-tos” of creating a new business

Sponsors: The Kellogg School, AARP, the National Association for Community College Entrepreneurship (NACCE) and CPL

For more information on CPL and these meetings, visit www.ctrpl.org or Facebook at www.facebook.com/CTRPL.

Company Contacts:
William Zinke or James Hooks
Center for Productive Longevity
303.499.3939
wzinke@ctrpl.org or jhooks@ctrpl.org

Media Contacts:
Jenny Foust or Alicia Hassinger
Communications Strategy Group
303.433.7020
jfoust@csg-pr.com or ahassinger@csg-pr.com

About the Center for Productive Longevity
The mission of CPL is to stimulate the substantially increased engagement of people 55 and older in productive activities, paid and volunteer, where they are qualified and ready to continue adding value. Visit ctrpl.org for more information. Follow us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/CTRPL.

Contact:
Alicia Hassinger
Communications Strategy Group
3225 East 2nd Avenue
Denver, CO 80206
303-433-7020
ahassinger@csg-pr.com
http://www.csg-pr.com

Prepay Nation Acquires Minute Transfer and Gains Entry into the European Market

European expats can now access the Prepay Nation global network.

Philadelphia, PA (USA), October 09, 2012 — Prepay Nation ( http://www.prepaynation.com ), one of the fastest growing providers of international airtime transfers for prepaid mobile operators in emerging nations, has announced completion of its acquisition of Minute Transfer SAS, a France-based international mobile Top Up (IMTU) services provider.

Through this acquisition, Prepay Nation will now own the vast network of mobile operator partnerships built by Minute Transfer in Asia and Africa. The acquisition will give Prepay Nation a significant footprint in the European market, allow Europeans access to the Prepay Nation network, and enable the firm to establish partnerships with mobile operators relevant to diaspora populations in Europe.

“This purchase will accelerate our expansion into new territories, adding to our strong base in the North American market starting with Europe,” said Anurag Jain, CEO of Prepay Nation. “It will also provide us a highly valuable domain name (http://www.minutestransfer.com) along with a loyal customer base that has been serviced by Minute Transfer over the last few years.”

“This acquisition will allow Prepay Nation to offer a direct to consumer sales channel through an online portal to its existing mobile network operator partners, thus adding significant value to its business,” said Herve Perrin, Founder of Minute Transfer. “Our customers will benefit from the innovative cross border value transfer services Prepay Nation plans to introduce in the near future.”

About Minute Transfer:
Minute Transfer is one of the first companies to offer International Mobile Top up services. The company has been in operation since 2008 serving customers through an online portal to transfer minutes globally.

About Prepay Nation:
Prepay Nation is a leading provider of international mobile Top Up with mobile operator partnerships in Central America, South America, Caribbean, Asia, and Africa. Through over 150,000 retailers in the U.S. and Canada, Prepay Nation enables expatriates to financially support their families back home. Prepay Nation’s unique business model and highly scalable processing platform enables instantaneous financial transfers for consumers and incremental revenue generation for distributers and retailers. For more information, visit http://www.prepaynation.com.

Press & Media Contact:
Erin Flynn Jay or Fady Sahhar
XtraGlobex
1800 John F. Kennedy Blvd. Suite 300
Philadelphia, PA 19103 – USA
215-772-3048/267-238-3820
erin.flynn@xtraglobex.com/fady.sahhar@XtraGlobex.com
http://www.prepaynation.com

When Two Companies Combine Their Passions: It Creates a Dynamic Duo

What do you get when two award-winning companies combine their passions? Something extraordinary!

Lithonia, GA (USA), October 09, 2012 — What do you get when two award-winning companies combine their passions? Something extraordinary! At a time when some organizations are beginning to question should employees be required to go through food safety training just like management; This Is It BBQ and Seafood is ahead of the game with the implementation of their employee level training program conducted by the award-winning food safety firm, The Benson Mills Group ( http://www.BensonMillsGroup.com ).

This Is It BBQ and Seafood founded in 1983 is one of Atlanta’s most emerging restaurant chains. The chain and its owners have been locally and nationally recognized for their exceptional hospitality and authentic, home-style recipes; which are never short on down-home southern flavor. In what can be described as a “dynamic duo,” The Benson Mills Group and This Is It came together to embark on a food safety training and auditing program at its six locations with a single, mutual goal in mind: serving safe and delicious food. The program began with six-weeks of training; which had a two-fold approach: classroom training that focused on theory and in-unit training that focused on application. At the inception of the training program an assessment was conducted to determine the employees’ food safety knowledge followed by in-depth food safety training. At the conclusion of the training program a final assessment was conducted to more thoroughly assess the retention of the information presented throughout the entire program. Two-weeks after the final assessment an unannounced training visit was conducted; which allowed Benson Mills Group to engage employees in verbal articulation and demonstration of the food safety knowledge gained through the training program. As an incentive, an individual winner who exhibited the best display of knowledge and demonstration was selected from each location and awarded a $25 gift card.

The training was recognized by This Is It’s management as being very detailed and informative. Management admired the fact that Benson Mills Group ( http://www.BensonMillsGroup.com ) listened to and captured the needs of their organization. What This Is It’s management valued most was Benson Mills Group took their time and worked with the employees and sometimes if needed they worked one-on-one them; the level of interaction the employees received kept them engaged and excited about attending the training sessions each week.

The next program phase for This Is It BBQ and Seafood is the auditing phase. This phase involves several focus areas:
1) Acclimating employees to auditing; which is designed to reduce their anxiety during inspections by local regulatory personnel;
2) Encouraging staff to develop a habit of doing things right the first time
3) Conducting audits that are solution-driven; and
4) Reviewing and revising (if necessary) operating procedures to ensure maximum effectiveness.

The Benson Mills Group is an award-winning food safety firm specializing in food safety training, food safety auditing and commercial cleaning. For more information, call (404) 451-4468 or visit: http://www.BensonMillsGroup.com

Press & Media Contact:
Terri R. Waller, MPA, CFSM, HACCP
Benson Mills Group, LLC
P.O. Box 1238
Redan, GA 30074 – USA
404-451-4468
Terri@BensonMillsGroup.com
http://www.BensonMillsGroup.com

Rivet Software Completes Successful SSAE No. 16 Audit

Rivet Software, the premier provider of standards-based business reporting and analytics software, today announced it has successfully completed a Statement on Standards for Attestation Engagements (SSAE) No. 16 audit and obtained an unqualified opinion.

Denver, CO, October 09, 2012 – Rivet Software, the premier provider of standards-based business reporting and analytics software, today announced it has successfully completed a Statement on Standards for Attestation Engagements (SSAE) No. 16 audit and obtained an unqualified opinion. The company engaged an industry leading independent auditing firm to perform the audit.

SSAE No. 16, which replaces SAS 70 is a widely recognized auditing standard developed by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, which represents that a service organization has been through an in-depth audit of their control objectives and control activities.  In addition, an SSAE No. 16 audit is viewed as meeting the strict requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 in assuring the effectiveness of internal controls at service organizations.

A vendor that undergoes an SSAE 16 examination is rigorously evaluated on its controls over its system architecture and the service it provides to customers. The areas of examination include: infrastructure, software, employees, procedures and data handling.

“Third-party audits are strenuous to be sure,” said Emily Huang, Rivet’s Co-founder and SVP of Sales and Marketing, “but they’re the best way we can demonstrate to our clients that we’re responsibly handling and protecting their data.”

Rivet, the most tested and used XBRL management and filing system in the industry, recently introduced an updated version of its popular Crossfire Solutions financial reporting software, Crossfire 5.3. Designed for companies looking to expand the usage of XBRL, Crossfire 5.3 includes an analytics component to both create and consume corporate XBRL filings.

About Rivet Software
Rivet Software provides financial reporting systems that improve the way companies create and consume financial data. Founded in 2003 by software and accounting industry veterans, Rivet’s mission remains to revolutionize global financial communications by enabling financial transparency and leveraging global standards. Headquartered in Denver, CO, the firm employs the most experienced XBRL and financial reporting staff in the industry. Rivet was honored in 2011 and 2012 as an Inc 500 company. For more information, visit www.rivetsoftware.com.

Contact:
Dan Mahoney
Communications Strategy Group
3225 East 2nd Avenue
Denver, CO 80206
970-405-8060
dmahoney@csg-pr.com
http://www.csg-pr.com