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magnumversumcrimes · 3 years

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LADY OF THE BLADE SEASON 1 EPISODE 1: PERSPECTIVE

“Did you miss me?” Lady Daggers said into the radio.

“Lady of the Blade,” said Jessie, relieved. “Very nice to hear your voice again.”

“I dropped by to inform you of a recent resurgence in crime in the streets of New York. It might be worth checking out.”

“I’ll be right on it.” Lady Daggers fiddled with the controls of her fighter craft, and punched in a deliberate set of numbers and letters. A panel flickered on her screen. She gripped the joysticks and swerved the craft beneath the clouds. The fighter was descenting at immense speeds. Jessie’s fighter dissipated into the fog, and Lady Daggers’ jet grazed the sands of Eldebe, an island country neighboring the United States of America.

“Greetings,” said General Marlen Kanos. “I’ve been expecting your company, and so has Viceroy Bryce Challenor of the ZBC, famed entrepreneur and stock investor- but I digress. He’s popular on the market and with women. The kapamilyas of Eldebe welcome you.”

“I’m here for business, so let’s get straight to it.” Marlen guided her into his office. Piles upon piles of books were stacked on his table, and in a drawer was a specially labelled file.

He stated, “Since the outbreak of crime, alongside the global crises we’re facing, the pandemic, and the lack of protections as such due to masks, hand sanitizer, and other valuables due to wartime shortages, we’ve resorted to other means of protecting ourselves from enemy countries, and the virus.” He rifled through the file, then revealed a specially labelled set of documents. “This means warfare.” He spread the documents across the table. “Strategic warfare. But the crime rings of the Americans, the Malzamese, and the Filipinos must remain neutral in order for TASK to succeed.”

“The kapamilyas decided against fighting when Joran and I paid them a visit. Rest assured their full support lies in neutrality.”

With authority Viceroy Challenor spoke, “Medical shortages due to the pandemic enticed authoritarian dictators to pull large sums of money from the Zamar Banking Corporation. Taxation of my business once funded by the great Zamar himself is violating my freedoms. I’ve had to send out satraps to regain my wealth.”

“Excuse me, but I must interrupt,” Lady Daggers said to General Kanos. “I’m receiving intelligence from a safety officer in Manila. They’re apprehending The Pinuno as we speak. I’m receiving live footage of the encounter right now.” Lady Daggers set her phone on the table, and a video played. Men and women in blue uniforms kneeled before the rickety hideout.

A fearful officer shouted, ““Hindi! Walang makatakas at walang matutulungan! Only chaos and fighting! Sakim at barilin lang!” The phone screen fizzled out.

“What the hell’s happening?” she cried. “My phone power died.”

“Did you charge it?” asked the viceroy.

“It was fully charged when I brought it. I never used it. The hell’s going on?”

“Someone’s hacking,” General Kanos assumed. “I’ve received intel about security breaches in nearby military armories, nearby prisons, GRAIN security databases, and nuclear storages. The same one shutting off your phone.”

Lady Daggers replied, “They’ll have access to top-secret TASK catalogues.”

“They cannot have access to those catalogues-” he angrily replied. “-or some of my exploits will be exposed.”

“What exploits?”

“I’ve gotten myself into some trouble with the mafias, specifically with one of the capos, specifically Diogene Cappiello, of the Drop-Dead Motorcycle Gang, DDMG, and more importantly, a crime ring known as Hanzai, when I allied with The Archives and its daughter company, The Archives Spy Korps. Should he or one of his apprentices under his tutelage find out about my alliance with you, he’d send one of his best marksmen to kill me off. I’m in a debt crisis.”

“Your debt to the rings are not our responsibility,” said Lady Daggers. “However it is imperative we speak to the other capos of Hanzai and see if they can talk Diogene out of blowing your head off.”

Viceroy Bryce suggested, “I can speak to them. We have good relations.”

“And I have a call to make.”

“With whom?” asked the viceroy.

“A good pilot.”

LOCATION: TASK SPACE FORCE HEADQUARTERS

General Kanos produced a radio from his belt and whispered harshly, “Can anyone read me?” He repeated, “Is anybody there? Please respond as soon as possible. I have a hunch. I have a clue that they’re onto our plans.” Unbeknownst to him, what remained on the other end was a spill of bodies and a pool of blood. “Please respond. Officer Mikey, do you copy? Officer Mikey.” The radio buzzed frantically into an eerie static. He said again, “Officer Mikey… Officer Mikey do you copy?” He frantically spoke, “Officer Mikey, I need your reply. Where is Manuel Torres? Officer Mikey-”

THUMP. THUMP. THUMP

A gun clicked against his chin, and a raspy voice muttered, “Think of your next words carefully. Who’s Officer Mikey?”

“Agent-Z… I should’ve expected you to be the assailant the criminal network founded on Ben Hanzai’s crime sprees would kill me.”

“Tell me who Officer Mikey is.”

Nervously, General Kanos resumed, “Officer Mikey is my accomplice in Manila. But he turned on me- You have to understand that The Pinuno murdered Officer Mikey in cold blood because he wasn’t needed.”

Agent Z spoke harshly, “Tell the truth.” He led General Kanos outside the facility, and into an alleyway, and backed him up against a dumpster bin, and pitted the cold metal of the barrel against the of his neck. He spit cherry seeds and whispered harsh words. “Bleeding out is easier than lying for raggedy, maggot-infested dirtbags like you. Tell the truth.”

“You’re a double-crosser too,” said General Kanos. “You’ve allied with The Archives.”

“I ally with Joran and Lady Daggers.”

“You mean Dorothy Hoffs, and your ridiculous insults won’t frighten me. We both knew what we were doing being double-agents.” Agent-Z stowed his gun.

Agent-Z explained, “We’re different- you and me, we’re not the same. Because what makes you and I different is special, you’re special because you work for what is right. I work for cash.”

General Kanos said, “Cause you’re a greedy dirtbag.”

“Because we all work for something, Kanos. Because we all work for something.” Agent-Z produced his revolver again and shot down General Kanos in cold blood.

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ebizupdate · 7 years

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Twenty-two additional global banks join the SWIFT gpi blockchain proof of concept

With its global reach, SWIFT gpi is regarded by banks as the natural place to collaborate and innovate cross-border payments

SYDNEY, July 6, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- SWIFT announces today that 22 additional global banks have joined its blockchain proof of concept (PoC), designed to validate whether the technology can help banks reconcile their international nostro accounts in real time. The PoC is part of the SWIFT gpi (global payments innovation) service, the new standard for cross-border payments.

The banks that have recently joined the PoC include: ABN AMRO Bank, ABSA Bank, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, Banco Santander, China Construction Bank, China Minsheng Banking, Commerzbank, Deutsche Bank, Erste Group Bank, FirstRand Bank, Intesa Sanpaolo, JPMorgan Chase Bank, Lloyds Bank, Mashreq bank, Nedbank, Rabobank, Societe Generale, Standard Bank of South Africa, Standard Chartered Bank, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, UniCredit and Westpac Banking Corporation.

These banks will test and validate the PoC's blockchain application, currently under development by SWIFT and a group of six founding banks that launched the PoC earlier in the year. Working independently of the founding banks, the 22 institutions will act as a validation group to further test the application and evaluate how the technology scales and performs.

"Collaboration is the cornerstone of innovation," says Wim Raymaekers, Head of Banking Markets and SWIFT gpi at SWIFT. "This new group of banks allows us to greatly extend the scope of multi-lateral testing of the blockchain application and thus add considerable weight to the findings. We warmly welcome the new banks and look forward to their insights."

Launched in January 2017, the PoC aims to help banks overcome significant challenges in monitoring and managing their international nostro accounts, which are crucial to the facilitation of cross-border payments. Currently, banks cannot monitor their account positions in real time due to lack of intraday reporting coverage. As such, the PoC recognises the need for banks to receive real-time liquidity data in order to manage funds throughout the business day. At its core, the PoC builds on the rulebook defined by SWIFT as part of the recently published intraday liquidity standard.

"SWIFT's global payments innovation (gpi) studies continue to find ways to reduce time-consuming processes, as well as providing a superior experience for end customers. Combined with Westpac's other cross-border payment PoCs, this holds great promise for transformation across the entire international payments value chain," - Di Challenor, General Manager of Global Transaction Services, Westpac

"The potential business benefits ensuing from the PoC are clear," says Damien Vanderveken, Head of R&D, SWIFTLab and UX at SWIFT. "If banks could manage their nostro account liquidity in real time, it would allow them to accurately gauge how much money is required in each account at any given point, ultimately enabling them to free up significant funds for other investments."

In developing the PoC, SWIFT is leveraging the recently released Hyperledgeri Fabric v1.0 technology, and combining it with key SWIFT assets, to ensure that all the information related to nostro/vostro accounts is kept private and seen only by the account owner and its correspondent banking partner. The PoC application will use a private permissioned blockchain in a closed user group environment, with specific user profiles and strong data controls. User privileges and data access will also be strictly governed.

Moving forward, the PoC blockchain application will undergo testing over the summer months, with the results scheduled to be published in September and presented at Sibos in Toronto in October.

The PoC is being undertaken as part of SWIFT gpi, a new service that is revolutionising the cross-border payments industry by combining real-time payments tracking with the speed and certainty of same-day settlement for international payments. Since it became available in January 2017, 20 global transaction banks have begun actively using or implementing the SWIFT gpi service, with another 50 in the implementation pipeline.

To learn more, visit swift.com/gpi.

i SWIFT is a founding and board member of the Hyperledger project.

About SWIFT

SWIFT is a global member owned cooperative and the world's leading provider of secure financial messaging services. We provide our community with a platform for messaging and standards for communicating, and we offer products and services to facilitate access and integration, identification, analysis and regulatory compliance.

Our messaging platform, products and services connect more than 11,000 banking and securities organisations, market infrastructures and corporate customers in more than 200 countries and territories. While SWIFT does not hold funds or manage accounts on behalf of customers, we enable our global community of users to communicate securely, exchanging standardised financial messages in a reliable way, thereby supporting global and local financial flows, as well as trade and commerce all around the world.

As their trusted provider, we relentlessly pursue operational excellence; we support our community in addressing cyber threats; and we continually seek ways to lower costs, reduce risks and eliminate operational inefficiencies. Our products and services support our community's access and integration, business intelligence, reference data and financial crime compliance needs. SWIFT also brings the financial community together -- at global, regional and local levels -- to shape market practice, define standards and debate issues of mutual interest or concern.

Headquartered in Belgium, SWIFT's international governance and oversight reinforces the neutral, global character of its cooperative structure. SWIFT's global office network ensures an active presence in all the major financial centres.

For more information, visit www.swift.com or follow us on Twitter: @swiftcommunity and LinkedIn: SWIFT

Contacts: Chatsworth Communications Tel: +44 (0)20 74409780 [email protected]

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Read this news on PR Newswire Asia website: Twenty-two additional global banks join the SWIFT gpi blockchain proof of concept

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ebizupdate · 7 years

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SWIFT unveils industry's first ever cross-border payments tracker

Corporate treasurers can now find out where a payment is at any given time

BRUSSELS, May 23, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- SWIFT announces today the availability of its new cross-border payments Tracker that enables international payments to be traced in real-time. The Tracker is the cornerstone of SWIFT gpi – the cooperative's new payments innovation service – which is revolutionizing the industry by combining real-time payments tracking with the speed and certainty of same-day settlement for international payments.

Available since January 2017, more than 20 global transaction banks are using or implementing the SWIFT gpi service, with another 50 in the implementation pipeline. Hundreds of thousands of gpi payments have already been sent across more than 85 country corridors.

"Uptake of SWIFT's gpi service has been encouraging and the addition of the Tracker capability can only help build momentum and accelerate adoption of the service in international payments," says David Bannister, Principal Analyst, Ovum. "The most common complaint from corporates is the lack of visibility on their payments' status. With the Tracker capability, SWIFT gpi tackles that issue and will be a useful tool to help corporate treasurers to execute their core responsibilities."

SWIFT gpi enables companies engaged in international trade to get paid for services, or delivery of goods, in a more timely fashion, enabling a faster supply chain process. The highly innovative gpi Tracker provides corporate treasurers with a real-time, end-to-end view of their payments combined with a confirmation notice when the money reaches the recipient's account. It also enables a more accurate reconciliation of payments and invoices, optimizes liquidity with improved cash forecasts and reduces exposure to FX risks with same-day processing of funds in the beneficiary's time zone. The Tracker is available via an open API, making it compatible with proprietary banking systems worldwide -- helping to ensure maximum impact of gpi benefits at a greater adoption speed.

SWIFT gpi has garnered considerable industry support across the globe. More than 110 leading transaction banks have committed to the service, representing over 75% of all SWIFT cross-border payments. Recent joiners to SWIFT gpi include: Agricultural Bank of China, Bank of Communications, Banque Centrale Populaire, BayernLB, China Citic Bank, China Minsheng Banking Corporation, Commercial Bank of Kuwait, Denizbank, Ebury, Industrial Bank, Guangfa Bank, Lek Securities, Ping An Bank, Piraeus Bank, Postal Savings Bank of China, Shanghai Pudong Development Bank, Turkiye Cumhuriyeti Ziraat Bankasi, Westpac Banking Corporation and Yapi Kredi, and Zhejiang Rural Credit Cooperative Union. Click here for a full list of participating banks.

The service is also compatible with and integrated into domestic payment market infrastructures (MIs) across the globe, facilitating local clearing and settlement of gpi payments. Banks can already exchange gpi payments over the 56 SWIFT-connected MIs as well as other MIs that have established local market practices for their participants that use the gpi service. SWIFT will also continue to actively engage with additional MI communities for future gpi compatibility.

"Today's announcement is a significant step towards a game-changing experience for corporates the world over," says Christian Sarafidis, Chief Marketing Officer, SWIFT. "By taking advantage of the right technology, at the right time, with the right players behind us, SWIFT has successfully helped correspondent banking reach a significant milestone in its evolution."

Wim Raymaekers, Programme Manager for SWIFT gpi adds, "This is only the beginning for SWIFT gpi. We will continue to explore new technologies, such as blockchain, and deliver more value added payment services further transforming the international payments landscape and, in doing so, accelerating global trade."

To learn more, visit swift.com/gpi or ask your bank about SWIFT gpi.

Notes to Editors

"As one of the earliest banks participating in SWIFT gpi, Bank of China (BOC) has not only achieved good results with a leading position in the implementation of gpi, but also played an important role in rule making, pilot testing and long-term planning. In January of this year, BOC has become one of the go-live banks in the world. Up to now, our gpi business has covered 50 domestic and overseas BOC branches and 11 major currencies, with rapid growth of channels and customer coverage. Meanwhile, based on gpi, we have launched 'Bank of China, Global Payment Intelligence' (BOC-GPI). Since gpi went live in January, we have received good feedbacks from both customers and markets. SWIFT gpi is gradually becoming a preferred or even favored payment product choice for customers. Customer's praises and responses have showed us gpi's remarkable results, which are indeed the gpi aim and value. By solving the deficiencies in global payment, customer experience has been highly improved and the competitiveness of commercial banks has also increased. The gpi project is an important SWIFT initiative in promoting the innovation and development of global payment. It conforms to the needs of the market and customers, and reflects the consensus of the global banking industry. It is hoped that, based on gpi, we wish not only to be able to follow the market needs, but also to guide and create market demands in the global payment field. We also hope that GPI will soon become a new normal in global cross-border payment." - Mr. Wu Jianguang, General Manager of Clearing Dept, Bank of China

"SWIFT gpi created a new era for cross-border payments. From the perspective of commercial banks, participating in SWIFT gpi facilitates to consolidate the traditional dominance and further improves the quality and efficiency of cross-border payments. The active involvement of inter-bank multilateral cooperation among gpi members dedicates greatly to the enrichment and optimization of global clearing network. The banks will furnish superior clearing service via applying the latest technological and innovative achievements, which contributes to improve customer experience of international payments. ICBC relies on the unified clearing system, initiates integrated development strategy and achieves to deploy the rule of gpi within ICBC group. ICBC will exert the predominance of global business distribution to further expand the service network, provide more premium and efficient cross-border payment services for clients and financial institutions." - Peng Hua, Deputy Head of Clearing Center, Operation Management Department, ICBC

"SWIFT gpi is critical for the banking industry to remain relevant and competitive in the cross-border payments space. OCBC is committed to being an integral part of this initiative as we continue to bring value to our customers through enhanced payment services. SWIFT gpi will provide them with faster, greater transparency in their cross-border payments and better optimisation of their group liquidity requirements. "- Greg Trotter, Head of Cash Management, Global Transaction Banking, OCBC Bank

"In today's transactional banking business, transparency on cross border payment is probably the one the market longs for quite some time. This SWIFT global payment initiative is a key enabler for the industry to bring cross border payment services to the new level in terms of tracking and fee transparency. SCB is very pleased to participate in this initiative which also aligns with our commitment to provide our clients a better experience in cross border payment space." - Pipat Assamongkol, First Executive Vice President, Global Transaction Services Department, Siam Commercial Bank

"We believe SWIFT gpi made another critical step towards innovation in cross-border payments services. Seeing more banks taking up gpi prove the success of this initiative. SMBC is proud to be a part of this initiative from the pilot and keen to bring new experience to our customer soon." - Airo Shibuya, Senior General Manager, Transaction Business Planning Dept., Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation

"As a market leader we are investing in transformation technologies to support the needs of the financial services industry. This development is a good example that will fundamentally advance the cross boarder payments experience." - Di Challenor Westpac's General Manager, Global Transaction Services

About SWIFT

As their trusted provider, we relentlessly pursue operational excellence; we support our community in addressing cyber threats; and we continually seek ways to lower costs, reduce risks and eliminate operational inefficiencies. Our products and services support our community's access and integration, business intelligence, reference data and financial crime compliance needs. SWIFT also brings the financial community together – at global, regional and local levels – to shape market practice, define standards and debate issues of mutual interest or concern.

For more information, visit www.swift.com or follow us on Twitter: @swiftcommunity and LinkedIn: SWIFT

Contacts:

Cognito [email protected] +44 (0)20 7426 9400

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SOURCE S.W.I.F.T.SCRL

Read this news on PR Newswire Asia website: SWIFT unveils industry's first ever cross-border payments tracker

#Internet

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