Latest news with #MCB
Daily Express
19 hours ago
- Business
- Daily Express
Cocoa Board looks towards Sabah interior
Published on: Friday, June 06, 2025 Published on: Fri, Jun 06, 2025 By: Marutin Ansiung Text Size: Matbali (second right) and Abdul Karim (third from left) holding up cocoa beans. KENINGAU: The Malaysian Cocoa Board (MCB) will continue to play an active role in supporting the development of the country's cocoa industry, particularly in Sabah's Interior region. Its Chairman Datuk Matbali Musah, said various initiatives are being implemented, including the Cocoa Farm Rehabilitation Programme, agricultural input assistance, research on superior cocoa varieties, and technical guidance for farmers. Advertisement He said these efforts are important to ensure that the dried cocoa beans produced meet high quality standards, thereby increasing market value and enhancing Malaysia's reputation in the international cocoa market. Matbali, who is also the Member of Parliament for Sipitang, said this while officiating the Cocoa Cluster Strengthening Programme for the Interior Zone of Sabah held here, on Thursday. Organised by the MCB, the programme brought together more than 200 participants from various zones, including Keningau, Tenom, Sook, Tambunan, and Nabawan. 'This is a proud achievement because we are not only sharing knowledge but also fostering a sense of unity among the cocoa community in Sabah,' he said. Matbali also stressed the importance of good agricultural practices, sustainable pest and disease management, and the adoption of the latest cocoa farming technologies. He said MCB hopes cocoa farmers in Sabah will take further steps by joining cooperatives and becoming involved in downstream processing, including the production of locally made chocolate products. He expressed confidence that with support from entities such as Koperasi Koko Kluster Sabah Berhad, the cocoa industry holds great potential to stimulate the local economy and attract interest from rural youth. Also present was the MCB Director Transfer of Technology And Extension (ToTE) Abdul Karim, representing its director-general Datuk Dr Ramle Kasin. * Follow us on our official WhatsApp channel and Telegram for breaking news alerts and key updates! * Do you have access to the Daily Express e-paper and online exclusive news? Check out subscription plans available. Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express's Telegram channel. Daily Express Malaysia
Business Wire
3 days ago
- Business
- Business Wire
Metropolitan Commercial Bank Wins Prestigious "Editors' Choice" Award at the Banking Tech Awards USA
NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Metropolitan Commercial Bank (the 'Bank,' 'MCB'), a full-service commercial bank based in New York City is proud to announce that it has been recognized with the esteemed "Editors' Choice" Award at the Banking Tech Awards USA. This distinction highlights MCB's innovation in Digital Onboarding and Omnichannel Banking, reinforcing its position as a leader in financial innovation. "We are deeply honored to receive this award, which celebrates our continued commitment to advancing digital banking and delivering a seamless, intuitive onboarding experience for our clients." The Banking Tech Awards USA recognizes and honors institutions who excel and innovate in the banking technology field. Winning the "Editors' Choice" Award reflects MCB's commitment to delivering seamless, client-centric digital experiences. "We are deeply honored to receive this award, which celebrates our continued commitment to advancing digital banking and delivering a seamless, intuitive onboarding experience for our clients," said Dixiana Berrios, Chief Operating Officer at Metropolitan Commercial Bank. "Innovation is at the heart of everything we do, and this recognition showcases our commitment to the MCB digital innovation project Modern Banking in Motion." MCB's Digital Onboarding capabilities are powered by the cutting-edge solutions of ebankIT, an omnichannel digital banking platform. Their platform is a core element of MCB's Modern Banking in Motion initiative that aims to enhance the Bank's ability to deliver personalized finance solutions and adapt to future advances in banking through powerful digital tools. For more information about Metropolitan Commercial Bank's award-winning digital banking solutions, visit About Metropolitan Commercial Bank Metropolitan Commercial Bank (the 'Bank') is a New York City based full-service commercial bank. The Bank provides a broad range of business, commercial and personal banking products and services to individuals, small businesses, private and public middle-market and corporate enterprises and institutions, municipalities and local government entities. Metropolitan Commercial Bank provides specialized banking services for the EB-5 and E-2 communities. The Bank combines deep industry expertise with tailored financial products to ensure a smooth, secure and efficient journey from initial investment to project completion. Metropolitan Commercial Bank was named one of Newsweek's Best Regional Banks in 2024 and 2025. The Bank was ranked by Independent Community Bankers of America among the top ten successful loan producers for 2024 by loan category and asset size for commercial banks with more than $1 billion in assets. Kroll affirmed a BBB+ (investment grade) deposit rating on January 29, 2025. For the fourth time, MCB has earned a place in the Piper Sandler Bank Sm-All Stars Class of 2024. Metropolitan Commercial Bank operates banking centers and private client offices in Manhattan and Boro Park, Brooklyn in New York City and Great Neck on Long Island in New York State. The Bank is a New York State chartered commercial bank, a member of the Federal Reserve System and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, and an equal housing lender. The parent company of Metropolitan Commercial Bank is Metropolitan Bank Holding Corp. (NYSE: MCB) (the 'Company'). For more information, please visit the Bank's website at Forward Looking Statement Disclaimer This release contains 'forward-looking statements' within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Examples of forward-looking statements include but are not limited to the Company's future financial condition and capital ratios, results of operations and the Company's outlook and business. Forward-looking statements are not historical facts. Such statements may be identified by the use of such words as 'may,' 'believe,' 'expect,' 'anticipate,' 'plan,' 'continue' or similar terminology. These statements relate to future events or our future financial performance and involve risks and uncertainties that may cause our actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements to differ materially from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. Although we believe that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking statements are reasonable, we caution you not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. Factors which may cause our forward-looking statements to be materially inaccurate include, but are not limited to the continuing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our business and results of operation, an unexpected deterioration in our loan or securities portfolios, unexpected increases in our expenses, different than anticipated growth and our ability to manage our growth, unanticipated regulatory action or changes in regulations, unexpected changes in interest rates, inflation, an unanticipated decrease in deposits, an unanticipated loss of key personnel or existing clients, competition from other institutions resulting in unanticipated changes in our loan or deposit rates, an unexpected adverse financial, regulatory or bankruptcy event experienced by our fintech partners, unanticipated increases in FDIC costs, changes in regulations, legislation or tax or accounting rules, the current or anticipated impact of military conflict, terrorism or other geopolitical events and unanticipated adverse changes in our clients' economic conditions or general economic conditions, as well as those discussed under the heading 'Risk Factors' in our Annual Report on Form 10-K and Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q.
Daily Express
29-05-2025
- Automotive
- Daily Express
DBKK stepping up efforts on streetlight woes
Published on: Thursday, May 29, 2025 Published on: Thu, May 29, 2025 By: Sidney Skinner Text Size: Repairs were made to the faulty fixtures along several housing roads around Bandar Sierra. City Hall will step up efforts to check on the public lighting on several roads between Kolombong and Manggatal to ensure that that the common areas along these stretches are properly illuminated at night. This follows feedback from three road-users about the poor night-time driving experience on Jalan Kilang, Mile 6½ Jalan Tuaran and housing roads in Bandar Sierra. They provided Hotline with the pertinent details, related to their separate concerns, which were forwarded to the agency. A spokesman for the City Hall's Engineering Department said its electrical contractor was alerted to the streetlight woes along the affected roads. He said two inspections were made of Jalan Kilang over the span of two weeks recently. 'A faulty contactor in one the control panels was changed during the first check,' he said. Advertisement He explained that a 'contactor' was a type of switch for repeatedly opening and closing an electric circuit. 'When the technicians returned about 14 days later, they replaced two 150watt lanterns, two 250watt lanterns, five 250watt ballasts, six line taps and a 120metre length of a 16milimetre cable.' He said a skymaster was deployed to facilitate these repairs. A 'ballast' regulated the electrical current to the lanterns and provided sufficient voltage to start the lanterns, according to him. Given as how the lights had twice been rendered inoperative, he said, the contractor kept the road under surveillance for a period afterwards, before confirming that everything was in order. He said Jalan Kilang covered a distance of some 1.83kilometres from the roundabout on Jalan Mangga and another on Jalan Lintas Khidmat. 'Where the divider at Mile 6½ Jalan Tuaran was involved, the contractor and his team attended to a faulty contactor and Miniature Circuit Breaker (MCB) in the control panel for the lights.' 'We were made to understand that the U-turn on the main road in the Seri Warisan area had been unlit for some time.' He elaborated that a MCB prevented electrical hazards by detecting and interrupting abnormal currents and short circuits. 'A follow-up check was made three weeks later, during which time the lights were found to be out of order. 'The contractor replaced two 250watt lanterns, two 250watt ballasts and four line taps in this instance.' He said the individual kept tabs on the public lighting in this part of Jalan Tuaran on and off over the coming weeks to ensure that the section of the road near the U-turn was properly illuminated at night. On top of this, the spokesman said four service lines, three ballasts, four 'ignitors' and four lanterns were replaced in the residential area at Bandar Sierra. 'An 'ignitor' functions as a starter to increase the initial voltage to make the lanterns glow.' He said the related fixtures were found to be malfunctioning along Lorong Sierra 1/ 1A, Lorong Sierra 1A, Lorong Sierra 1A, Lorong Sierra 1B and Lorong Sierra 1/ 1B. 'All the lights on Lorong Sierra 1/ 1B, which extends for about 167metres, were found to have broken down.' He said the contractor did a day-time test, at the time, to ensure that these amenities were coming on as they should. 'He also went back after dark to determine if the road was adequately lit.' When asked how often maintenance was carried out on those streetlights under City Hall's jurisdiction, the spokesman said there was no fixed-schedule for this work. 'These amenities are attended to as and when it becomes necessary to do so.' * Follow us on our official WhatsApp channel and Telegram for breaking news alerts and key updates! * Do you have access to the Daily Express e-paper and online exclusive news? Check out subscription plans available. Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express's Telegram channel. Daily Express Malaysia
Daily Express
27-05-2025
- Business
- Daily Express
Research and development plays key role in cocoa competitiveness
Published on: Tuesday, May 27, 2025 Published on: Tue, May 27, 2025 By: Bernama Text Size: Malaysia must revive local cocoa production to gradually reduce the imbalance between the robust downstream sector and the upstream market. Kota Kinabalu: The Malaysian government, through the Malaysian Cocoa Board (MCB), plays a key role in driving cocoa research and development (R&D) to boost the industry's competitiveness. Plantation and Commodities Minister Datuk Seri Johari Abdul Ghani said the MCB's R&D centre specialises in cocoa cultivation, post-harvest processing, breeding and mass management, and quality control as well as product development. 'Our efforts in the upstream sector continue to bear fruit with cocoa beans production increasing by 65 per cent from 269 tonnes to 445 tonnes last year,' he said in his keynote speech at the launch of the Malaysian International Cocoa Fair (MICF) 2025 here on Monday. Also present were Deputy Plantation and Commodities Minister, Datuk Chan Foong Hin, MCB chairman Datuk Matbali Musah and MCB director-general Datuk Dr Ramle Kasin. Johari said Malaysia must revive local cocoa production to gradually reduce the imbalance between the robust downstream sector and the upstream market. He said the focus is on premium cocoa varieties such as fine flavour beans, single-origin beans and organic beans to meet global quality demands. Advertisement 'To embrace a sustainable and responsible cocoa supply chain, we will continue to work on the National Cocoa Traceability System which is currently in progress. Once complete, I encourage those who import cocoa beans to bring this system to their source countries and work with farmers there to embrace sustainability at the plantation level,' he said. Meanwhile, Johari said Malaysia is committed to achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2030, reducing methane emissions by 30 per cent, and maintaining forest cover at no less than 50 per cent. He said this is why the implementation policies prohibit deforestation and focus on good agricultural practices with quality planting materials. 'We're embarking on sustainable plantation practices that will yield higher returns and premium prices for farmers in the future while protecting our environment and forests,' Johari added. MICF 2025 is organised by the MCB from May 24-27, featuring exhibitions, conferences, cultural dinners, business matching and business talks. The event has attracted 1,000 participants from 16 countries, bringing together industry leaders, researchers, investors and government stakeholders to explore the latest trends and technologies in cocoa. * Follow us on our official WhatsApp channel and Telegram for breaking news alerts and key updates! * Do you have access to the Daily Express e-paper and online exclusive news? Check out subscription plans available. Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express's Telegram channel. Daily Express Malaysia
Barnama
27-05-2025
- Business
- Barnama
UPSI-MCB Ink Pact to Boost cocoa Research, Innovation
IPOH, May 27 (Bernama) -- Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris (UPSI) and the Malaysian Cocoa Board (MCB) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to strengthen collaboration in research, product development and training within the country's cocoa industry. In a statement today, UPSI said MCB chairman Datuk Matbali Musah and MCB director-general Datuk Dr Ramle Kasin witnessed the signing ceremony held at the Sabah International Convention Centre (SICC) in Kota Kinabalu last night in conjunction with the Malaysian International Cocoa Fair (MICF) 2025. UPSI was represented by its Academic and International Affairs director, Associate Professor Dr Ridzwan Che Rus, who said the MoU, an initiative by UPSI's Faculty of Technical and Vocational Education (FTV), aims to strengthen collaboration in research, product development and training within the country's cocoa industry.
