By John Eastman - August 10, 2012 | Tickers: BAYRY.PK, TSRX | 0 Comments

John is a member of The Motley Fool Blog Network -- entries represent the personal opinions of our bloggers and are not formally edited.

There is something to be said for slow, steady, and cerebral; especially, if you are invested in a biopharmaceutical firm. This industry does not turn out products overnight. It is a slow, long and grueling process of development, clinical trial testing, FDA maneuvering, safe (GMP) good manufacturing practice production, effective distributing and marketing, and obtaining key partners. And then there is the money! Costs of clinical trial testing are exorbitant and continue to rise.

A steady hand at the controls is a must. That includes long term commitment, persistence, and an ability to adjust to new and changing events, conditions, and regulations in theU.S. and worldwide alike. It also requires smart decision-making and skills from both sides of the brain. My observation is that the management at Trius Therapeutics (NASDAQ: TSRX) has just that.

The company released its financial results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2012. While there are increases in losses from recent comparative periods, they are attributable to common business operations and environment in this industry when at the clinical trial stage. Here is an update on the firms results and their steady progress on development:

Cash

The company reported cash, cash equivalents and investments totaling $83.8 million June 30, 2012. This is sufficient to support their operations.

Operations

For the second quarter of 2012, Trius reported a net loss of $14.4 million. This compares to a 2011 net loss of $10.0 million. For the six months ended June 30, 2012, the company reported a net loss of $22.0 million compared to $20.1 million for the same period in 2011. Note: The increase in net loss during the three and six months ended June 30, 2012 was largely due to increased clinical trial expenses as compared to the same period in 2011.

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Trius Therapeutics Holds Steady and Reports Positive Financials

Local Mom Pioneering Software Development for Organizing Personal Health Records for Medical Emergency Readiness

A new personal health record computer software program created by a local Mom. Innovation by necessity. A new way for medical record storage. Software that creates organization for caregivers, seniors, families, individuals, retirees, and businesses.

I was faced with a medical emergency regarding my mother and I was unprepared. The incident left me feeling helpless, states Julie Slayton. I made the decision to find a product that I could use to keep my familys medical history and prescription information ready and available at all times. I quickly discovered there wasnt anything out there that was easy to use, easy to manage and affordable. I also didnt want anything that was managed on the World Wide Web. Julie added. Once Julie explained to me her decision to create a software program to easily maintain family medical history, I made a few suggestions based on my career in product development and here we are, launching our first version, Susie Brock comments.

MIMI launched to the public on March 12, 2012. For more information, go to http://www.MIMImedical.com or call 256-684-3444.

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Local Mom Pioneering Software Development for Organizing Personal Health Records for Medical Emergency Readiness

Brett Chulu

WELCOME to our Bible School Business School (BSBS) series. BSBS takes insights from the Bible and applies them to business, leadership and personal development. The cause of the financial crises by many of our corporates over the past 12 months, particularly those in the financial sector, was not necessarily incompetence but poor corporate governance. The failed institutions were led by highly-qualified executives, most of whom, ironically, belonged to professional bodies that pride themselves in promoting and upholding high standards of ethical business practice. To survive in the present and harsh banking environment, highly-qualified directors seem to have deliberately seared their consciences, setting aside ethical standards. Does the threat to a businesss survival in extraordinary economic times justify casting aside personal integrity? This article mines lessons from the Biblical-historical record on the role of personal integrity in shaping outstanding executive talent. Joseph-Daniel model Two of the worlds erstwhile glorious empires, Egypt and Babylon, whose cultural legacies are integrated into our contemporary world, are tutorials in the role of personal ethics in business. From amidst the daily grind of political administration in the two ancient empires, two characters stood out, Joseph and Daniel. These two personae both started out as slaves, Joseph in Egypt and Daniel in Babylon, and rose to the centre pinnacles of power in their respective empires. This they did, not through political hugger-mugger, but through a rare amalgam of competence and personal integrity. Nevertheless, in this instalment we shall only consider the ethical exploits of Daniel, together with his three friends Shadrech, Meshach and Abednego. Three tutorials stand out. Three business ethics laws To lay the ground for understanding the three laws of ethics, namely the law of ethical intelligence, the law of ethical minorities and the law of ethical legacy, we shall explore these through the eyes of the historical locus Daniel developed and matured in. In the year 605 BC, the Babylonian empire rose to prominence. The Bible records how Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, after vanquishing the kingdom of Judah, forcibly carried away into captivity members of its defeated royal house. That group of captives included Daniel and his three friends, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, better known by their Babylonian names Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. The Babylonians were master human capital developers. As part of their human capital strategy, they sought to develop their human capital base through selecting the best brains from among their captives. It was a very rigorous selection programme. Those who went through this sieve were taken through an intensive three-year tertiary education programme. Of this human capital strategy the book of Daniel 1:3-4 records: Then the king instructed Ashpenaz, the master of his eunuchs, to bring some of the children of Israel and some of the kings descendants and some of the nobles, young men in whom there was no blemish, but good-looking, gifted in all wisdom, possessing knowledge and quick to understand, who had ability to serve in the kings palace, and whom they might teach the language and literature of the Chaldeans, (NKJV). Herein lies the shortcomings of talent-acquisition processes that have persisted to our modern day. A careful analysis of the profile of candidates earmarked for Babylons top jobs shows a bias towards expertise and intelligence. Babylons recruitment criteria for top jobs differed markedly from the executive talent development practices of the Hebrew. The executive talent development strategy of the Hebrews placed a greater premium on ethics. For instance, Hebrew education taught how accepting bribes compromised intellectual freedom. Exodus 23:8 records: And you shall take no bribe, for a bribe blinds the discerning and perverts the words of the righteous. (NKJV) This could explain why a significant number of seemingly intelligent people in our country do things that defy logic. It is the ethics premium in Hebrew education that regularly brought Daniel and his friends on a collision course with their colleagues in the corridors of power. An ethical challenge surfaced during training. The training regime included a dietary routine specially-appointed by the king. Daniel 1:5 records: And the king appointed for them a daily provision of the kings delicacies and of the wine which he drank, and three years of training for them, so that at the end of that time they might serve before the king, (NKJV). The Hebrew quartet had had deep grounding in Hebrew ethics, including shunning harmful dietary habits. A deep grounding in ethics compelled the Hebrew boys to politely ask for an alternative diet. Daniel 1:8 reads: But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the kings delicacies, nor with the wine which he drank; therefore he requested of the chief of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself, (NKJV). Daniel was a straight A student, who later became the emperors top aide and chief diplomat. From the get-go Daniel set clear ethical demarcations. The phrase purposed in his heart means he rehearsed in his mind, meaning he would envision future ethical challenges and he would then premeditate his responses. Thats one facet of ethical intelligence. The dividends of a risky ethical choice were astounding. Daniel 1:18-19 records how the Hebrew quartet outperformed the other trainees: Now at the end of the days, when the king had said that they should be brought in, the chief of the eunuchs brought them in before Nebuchadnezzar. Then the king interviewed them, and among them all none was found like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah; therefore they served before the king. And in all matters of wisdom and understanding about which the king examined them, he found them 10 times better than all the magicians and astrologers who were in all his realm, (NKJV). What is clear from this narrative is that ethics combined with intelligence result in exceptional talent. Those who are scientifically-minded would have realised that there appears to be an association between ethics and quality of talent. Simply put, among the crme la de crme, ethics give an unassailable margin of performance. Ethical intelligence is what Zimbabwes corporate world needs to turn around the fortunes of industry and our national economy. A top chief executive with a leading Zimbabwe Stock Exchange-listed entity shared with me how ethical intelligence turned around the fortunes of a top Zimbabwean company. The company needed to fill the position of finance director to arrest a deteriorating financial position. Among those interviewed for the position was a candidate who spelt out clearly their ethical values which they were not willing to compromise.

The candidate literally told the high-powered interviewing panel not to bother offering him the job if there was a possibility that his stated ethical non-negotiables would be violated. The interviewing panel, impressed by such a rare ethical stand, settled for this candidate, though in terms of experience, he was no match for the rest of the candidates. It took less than three months for the new finance director to uncover the sources of financial leakages in the company. Within a space of six months, the financial position of the company had dramatically improved. Thats what the law of ethical intelligence entails. The law of ethical minorities states that only a few ethically intelligent individuals strategically placed in the top-echelons of an organisation are needed to positively impact on the performance of an organisation. This is a simple law that we can plug into to turn around Zimbabwes corporate and national fortunes. The law of ethical legacy states that the impact of ethically intelligent talent reaches into future generations. Daniel 2:21 states: Thus Daniel continued until the first year of King Cyrus, (NKJV). Ethical intelligence can do more to safeguard our banks than strong capitalisation.

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The Human Capital Telescope: Role of personal integrity in business

Ilya Gelfenbeyn is the CEO of Speaktoit, the top-rated virtual assistant on Android, and an authority on natural language processing. We caught up with him to ask why we still have to talk down to digital personal assistants, and when exactly we might acquire a more natural relationship--and tone--with them. He answered in the most natural tone he could muster.

FAST COMPANY: This is the year the digital personal assistant has really taken off. Speaktoit has been downloaded several million times since launching last year. And Siri is a household name. But my sense is that these assistants still have a long way to go. ILYA GELFENBEYN: The field is still in a really early phase of development. Its something like the search engines in the beginning of the '90s. Theres a long way to improve--theres not yet something like the Google of this industry. Were working on some functions to make an assistant much more helpful, by working with lots of different services. Natural language is a way to combine them in one place.

Can you explain natural language processing, in brief? It means you can just tell the assistant whatever you want, and dont have to remember particular commands.

But I still feel like we have to talk down to Siri. When will she be able to understand slang, so I can just talk to her like I talk to my homies? Theres a lot of work to do. Were working on a natural language processing engine that will take into account conversation context like location, dialogue history, and user preferences. Different users can mean different things with the same words, and the assistant should understand the context.

Whats an example? A user can say, Im bored, and a personal assistant should understand what to provide to the user. For some people it can say, Lets go somewhere, I can find you a nice nightclub. For others, it will provide a joke. For others, itll say, lets call some friends.

And how long till we can talk to Siri or Speaktoit as casually as we do to our friends? You should compare it not to talking to friends, but to a real life personal assistant. With friends you can discuss general stuff, but a virtual assistant is not created for that. I would say in three years it will be much better--it will support all basic tasks, and definitely will not have problems with setting up appointments, working with your phone, working with basic features. Of course it still will not be able to replace a real personal assistant in some situations.

When will we get that Google of assistants? In the next decade? Yes, I think so. In the next decade, we should have a good combination of technologies and the features they implement.

Is some sort of breakthrough needed, the way Sergey Brin and Larry Page figured out the significance of linking? I wouldnt say theres a magic formula. It just really requires hard work. It may of course include some new algorithms, but theres no one magic formula.

Who will support this research--universities, enterprise, military? Enterprise is much more focused on this. Universities will be a good resource for fundamental knowledge.

The military had a hand in developing some of the tech behind Siri. Are they out of the picture now? They can have some role. But the personal assistant will not be focused on military purposes.

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The Digital Personal Assistant Problem Siri Still Hasn't Solved

NEW YORK, Aug. 9, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Reportlinker.com announces that a new market research report is available in its catalogue:

Global Personal Care Appliances Industry

http://www.reportlinker.com/p087269/Global-Personal-Care-Appliances-Industry.html#utm_source=prnewswire&utm_medium=pr&utm_campaign=Small_App

This report analyzes the worldwide markets for Personal Care Appliances in Thousand Units by the following Product Segments: Hair Care Appliances (Curling Brushes, Curling Irons, Hair Clippers, Hair Dryers, & Hair Setters), Oral Care Appliances, (Electric Toothbrushes, Oral Irrigators, & Plaque Removers), Hair Removal Appliances (Men's Shavers, Women's Shavers, Epilators, & Trimmers (Beard & Mustache), and Other Personal Care Appliances (Heating Pads, Whirlpool Baths (Portable), & Massagers). The report provides separate comprehensive analytics for the US, Canada, Japan, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Middle East, and Latin America. Annual estimates and forecasts are provided for the period 2009 through 2017. Also, a six-year historic analysis is provided for these markets. The report profiles 112 companies including many key and niche players such as Colgate-Palmolive, GABA GmbH, Conair Corp, Helen of Troy L.P., HoMedics Inc, Johnson & Johnson (J&J), Lion Corp, Royal Philips Electronics NV, Norelco Consumer Products Company, Panasonic Corporation, Procter & Gamble, Braun GmbH, Remington Products Company, Groupe SEB, Waterpik Technologies, Inc., and Wahl Clipper Corporation. Market data and analytics are derived from primary and secondary research. Company profiles are primarily based upon search engine sources in the public domain.

I. INTRODUCTION, METHODOLOGY & PRODUCT DEFINITIONS

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Global Personal Care Appliances Industry

by Priscilla Hiu. Posted on August 9, 2012, Thursday

SOME companies do not believe in training staff while others just send their employees for training without any proper planning or a purpose in mind.

Yet, training for employees is really an essential part of employee development. Any company that wants to develop its employees needs to set up a strategic training plan to ensure that the employees and company benefit from any training.

Training is crucial and should be included in any development plan for employees. Big organisations often send their potential leaders for personal development training in order to prepare them for a more important role. As for leaders, they provide coaching programmes in order to further enhance their leadership skills.

However, formal training programmes are only the starting point. What the employees have learnt from the training needs to be applied to their work. Only when the employees are able to practise what they have learnt and put the skills to good use in their jobs, can real training take place.

When employees go for training, do encourage them to share what they have learnt with their colleagues. This way their colleagues are also able to gain knowledge and it will also help them to recap all that they have learnt.

To develop employee problem-solving skills and the ability to think, assign work that will stretch and challenge them to go beyond their current limitations. When the employees are able to overcome their limitations and stretch themselves, they will discover how much further they can go and what their tolerance level is. The employees will also discover the areas that need improvement and the skills that they would like to acquire in the near future. They will have a better idea of the type of training that they need to attend for further personal development.

The best way to develop employees is to set an example be a role model. There is nothing more inspiring than having someone in the organisation who the employees can look up to and aspire to be. The model leaders pleasant attitude and constructive work habits will influence employees in many ways. Employees will strive to pick up the positive attributes of model leaders and seek personal development to become more like them.

When the company gives employees an opportunity to grow, they are helping to build them up to be more capable people. The employees will be more efficient in carrying out their work and achieve greater job satisfaction.

The company will also enjoy benefits as the employees are more productive and happier in the workplace. Employees are also more likely to stay on with the company as they can see opportunities to grow on a personal level as well as within the organisation.

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Continuing to focus on employee development

By Jordo Bivona - August 7, 2012 | Tickers: ABT, BMY, PFE, SNY | 0 Comments

Jordo is a member of The Motley Fool Blog Network -- entries represent the personal opinions of our bloggers and are not formally edited.

Pfizer (NYSE: PFE)recently reportedresults for the second quarter and showed a decline of 9% in revenue to $15.1 billion in line with the expectations of analysts but, surprisingly, showed a 25% increase in net income to $3.2 billion. The decline in sales had been expected because of the loss of patent protection on its best-selling drug Lipitor in November, but the strengthening of the US dollar also affected international revenues. The bottom line was however increased because of the reduced expenditure on research and development. Pfizer, which is in the business of pharmaceuticals, animal health, consumer healthcare and nutrition, is going to divest its non-core businesses to focus on pharmaceuticals.

The company entered the year 2012 without exclusivity for Lipitor and sales declined more than 50% to $1.2 billion in the second quarter from $2.6 billion for the same quarter in the previous year. In the United States, the decline in sales was 75% to an insignificant $296 million. There was loss of patent protection on other drugs such as Geodon. Primary drugs such as Celebrex and Lyrica and specialty drugs such as Enbrel and Prevenar showed encouraging growth. International sales declined because of the problems in Europe but, excluding the 6% impact of currency translation, emerging market growth was 14% being driven by Russia and China. International sales now account for some 60% of total sales. Animal and healthcare sales grew by 7% and 11% respectively and the company is preparing to spin off the animal business while the divestiture of the healthcare business is in progress. The company has been cutting costs aggressively to counteract declining sales, but it was a little surprising to see an almost 20% decline in research and development expenditure. In addition to Lipitor, the company will lose exclusivity to several other drugs in 2012 such as Viagra, Enbrel and Detrol and badly needs to find a new blockbuster drug.

Thelast partof the company's plan to focus on new drugs has now been put into place and the separation of the animal health business will start soon. Part of its agenda is to make it better at new drug development following the loss of exclusivity for Lipitor. The company has three drugs under development which could be in the market next year and each one has the potential to generate over $1 billion each in revenues. In addition to treatments for heart disease, Alzheimer's and rheumatoid arthritis, Eliquis, a blood thinner, could receive approval in the first half of 2013. In August, Pfizer will start the process of selling up to 20% of its animal care business in an IPO. In addition to cost-cutting, the company is also maintaining earnings per share through stock buybacks which amounted to $9 billion in the last year and is expected to total $5 billion in the current year. The company has plenty of cash and can satisfy its investors through dividends and stock buybacks till the R&D initiative produces results.

However, the regulators may delay approval for tofacitinib, a treatment for rheumatoid arthritis and the drug is expected to compete with Humira, the blockbuster fromAbbott Laboratories (NYSE: ABT). Bapineuzumab, a drug for Alzheimer's disease which is being developed withJohnson & Johnson (JNJ)and Elan, has not passed the first of four crucial, final-stage clinical trials; results from the next trial will be available later this month. The company is looking for marketing clearance for Eliquis, a blood thinner being developed with New York-basedBristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE: BMY).The application was rejected by the FDA in June and more information from clinical trials was sought from the companies. According to one analyst, sales from the drug, if approved, would be as much as $2.5 billion by the year 2015.

It will be interesting to see how thenew drug development modelwill work out because the new drug pipeline is a vital part of the business as existing products lose exclusivity and patent protection. Pfizer has had clinical trial failure, the latest example of which is bapineuzumab and the high rate of failure is attributed because of the lack of knowledge about the behavior of these molecules in patients suffering from the disease. The problem is being sought to be remedied by partnerships with university scientists who research the behavior of molecules. In the past 1 1/2 years, Pfizer has created 21 such partnerships. The whole pharmaceutical industry is shifting focus because acquisitions have proven ineffective at boosting in-house drug development. Other pharmaceutical companies are shifting focus as well.Novartis (NVS)is partnering with biotechs to develop drugs whileSanofi (NYSE: SNY)is investing in start-up businesses. Sanofi andMerck (MRK)have also initiated partnerships with universities and research scientists. Crucially for Pfizer, these low-cost partnerships fit in well with the company's cost-cutting plans.

The bad news for Pfizer shareholders is that Wall Street is not particularly kind to companies with low growth rates and it is difficult to see how the current new drugs under development are going to spur substantial growth. After all, the company is the largest pharmaceutical company in the world by revenues and has some $60 billion in existing sales. Aggressive cost-cutting may see growth in profitability, but a big win is required in terms of one or two blockbuster drugs. Pfizer is not substantially undervalued at the moment, unlikeSanofiorTeva (TEVA). It is nevertheless a solid company and may suit you if you are looking for a relatively low-risk investment and are content with slow and steady gains. If you have an existing investment, continue to hold because of the limited downside and the rewards will follow, even if slowly.

Jordo Bivona is a member of The Motley Fool Blog Network

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In Need of a Blockbuster Drug Now

KHABAROVSK, Russia , Aug. 7, 2012 /CNW/ - Inesoft announced the launch its new product for financial management - Inesoft Cash Organizer Desktop. The program offers a handy and efficient approach to managing personal funds and financial planning on the user's home PC. Inesoft Cash Organizer has the following differential advantages: the option to be installed on several devices with automatic synchronization in the real time as well as data storage in the cloud.

Always running short on money? How about spendings accounting and controlling your expenses? Almost every person asks this or a similar range of questions and then purchases or downloads some program for personal finances management for free. Unfortunately, most of these programs are not designed for constant use since the interface is unusable, it is difficult to properly adjust reports, and in general, many users gave up on this hopeless endeavour having failed to manage their expenses.

Inesoft Cash Organizer was specially designed by Inesoft company as the maximally intuitive solution to manage personal finances. The program supports detailed classification of money transactions split into categories, sub-categories, projects, subprojects, budget planning, unlimited number of currencies with current exchange rates, credit calculators, customized reports and many other options. Moreover, the program can be downloaded for free. In addition, with the paid Premium-subscription, the Inesoft Cash Organizer user gets access to completely new options.

First, it is possible to operate the program with multiple users (for example, spouses or several business partners). Secondly, on subscription, the data of Inesoft Cash Organizer installed on PC and mobile devices are automatically synchronized in real time. Thirdly, the program can be installed on all the users' computers with no limits to the number of copies.

Premium-subscription to Inesoft Cash Organizer also provides safe data storage in the cloud (with 256-bit encryption). Third parties' unauthorized access to the data in the cloud is completely excluded, while partners can be provided with a partial access.

Prices and terms

For personal use - free; quarterly Premium-subscription costs USD $14.95 ; annual Premium-subscription costs to USD $29.95 .

References:

Product page: http://www.cashorganizer.com/rus/

Downloads: http://www.cashorganizer.com/rus/help.html

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Inesoft Cash Organizer Desktop: A New Approach to Personal Accounts Book-Keeping

EATONTOWN Women entrepreneurs and business professionals are invited to register for the kickoff of Act Like A Lady, Think Like The Boss, a 12-part personal development workshop series.

Led by experienced networkers and successful local netpreneurs Stacey Womble and Alonna Picket, Act Like a Lady, Think Like the Boss empowers entrepreneurialminded women to gain control of their careers and financial destiny by helping them learn and refine the skills necessary to thrive in business, according to a press release.

The kickoff will take place 7:30-10 p.m. Aug. 23 at the Sheraton in Eatontown.

Included in the cost of the workshop is access to an expansive online community that features guest interviews from accomplished women in business, a discussion forum, updates on live networking events, advice on business etiquette and tips for balancing career and personal life.

Monmouth County residents Pickett and Womble developed the workshop to help other local women avoid the struggles they encountered as college graduates following the traditional career path.

When I lost my job in 2010, it forced me to reassess my life. So, I went online and began researching, connecting, and building purposeful relationships with some of the most brilliant online entrepreneurs. It wasnt easy, but I learned so much about marketing my online business and becoming a well-rounded business woman, said Womble in the press release.

In 2008, Pickett accepted a full scholarship to Northwestern University to pursue a doctoral degree in African American history but instead discovered that the traditional route of going to school and getting a good job is failing miserably, she said in the press release. Today, both women own profitable web-based businesses.

According to the press release, a portion of the proceeds from the event will be donated to 180 Turning Lives Around, a nonprofit that supports victims of domestic violence and sexual abuse.

The cost for the series is $97. For more information, call 732-984-3257 or email stacey@actlikealadythinkliketheboss.com.

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‘Act Like a Lady, Think Like the Boss’ begins Aug. 23

GENEVA, August 7, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --

Mekong Development Bank triples current account base with launch of Vietnam's first biometric debit card, through TEMENOS T24 Biometrics, at NCR ATMs across Vietnam

Temenos (SIX:TEMN), the market leading provider of banking software, today announces the launch of Vietnam's first fingerprint-enabled debit card, at Mekong Development Bank. The bank has implemented Temenos T24 Biometric fingerprint authentication to provide the 'unbanked' population of Vietnam with access to banking services. Mekong Development Bank is already running the bank on T24, this was a simple modular upgrade to incorporate biometrics into the system seamlessly.

Biometric authentication lowers the risk of fraudulent transactions, whilst providing a more convenient banking service for both the rural and urban populations of Vietnam - of a population of 86 million people, only 20% of Vietnam has a bank account. Since the initial launch in June, Mekong Development Bank's current account base has tripled, and the deposit balance per debit card account is two times higher than a regular account without a debit card. Customer fingerprints will be captured by Mekong Development Bank at the point of opening an account - and then used at any one of 33 NCR SelfServ ATMs across Vietnam. This will be extended to other touch points in the near future in line with Mekong Development Bank's proposition to make things simple for the customer.

Nicholas Chee,deputyCEO and head of consumer business,Mekong Development Bank says: "Being the first bank in Vietnam to bring biometric fingerprint authentication to its customers confirms Mekong Development Bank's commitment to providing the only truly convenient and personal banking experience available in the region. Temenos delivered us a state of the art capability in less than six months, which simply plugs into Temenos T24 - our existing core banking system. Incorporating the technology at NCR SelfServ ATMs across Vietnam ensures that customers experience consistent biometric fingerprint capabilities throughout the country. Preliminary research shows that an overwhelming 91 percent of customers surveyed after activating their debit card would recommend that their family and friends sign up for the product."

Lee Volante, director business solution group for APAC,Temenos says: "For decades, banks worldwide have used biometrics for security and access control - to access vaults, etc. But this technology is only starting to permeate the consumer experience on a mass scale in developing countries, where it has commercial value as a means to customer acquisition. Mekong Development Bank is a true pioneer in its adoption of this technology, which will help the bank to continue to build market share with its easy-to-use and convenient consumer technology. We're delighted that T24 Biometrics is enabling this new banking paradigm in Vietnam."

Mike van der Wal, managing director of NCR in Southeast Asia, comments: "More than half the world's population - concentrated in developing markets such as Vietnam - does not access formal banking services. Mekong Development Bank's biometric NCR ATMs, which identify consumers by their fingerprint in place of a personal identification number, represent a major step forward in bringing banking services to the entire population of Vietnam. Mekong Development Bank's customers can now enjoy convenient access with increased security."

Founded in 1992, Mekong Development Bank re-launched in 2009 under a new dynamic, modern, professional and convenient brand. Pivotal to this ethos is biometric authentication, which will revolutionise the way banking is undertaken in the country and grow Mekong Development Bank's market share.

Volante, Temenos continues: "Mekong Development Bank's experimental nature in the field of biometrics is something for other banks to sit up and pay attention to. With such innovative technology available, the opportunities for banks to capture market share are enormous, and the future of biometrics across multiple channels such as mobile and online banking is now a possibility."

Temenos is one of the only core banking systems with integrated biometric capability. It is a component of the T24 system, which has a larger installed base than any other banking software provider. T24 Biometrics is in use at financial institutions across Africa, with Mekong Development Bank being its first Asian customer to adopt biometric authentication.

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Vietnam's First Fingerprint-Enabled Debit Card Launches With TEMENOS Biometrics