Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1361797
5 NEWS 15.4.2021 THE Malta Chamber is in talks with Government to convey industry oper- ators' feedback on the re-engineering and transformation scheme, to build further on its sound basis and align it more to their needs, Chamber Presi- dent Marisa Xuereb said yesterday. She was addressing an Enterprise Europe Network event within an in- novative digital learning and net- working platform launched by Malta Chamber, focused on aligning manu- facturing and retail businesses to the requirements of a new norm. The platform is aimed at helping op- erators restructure their operations, optimise the use of technology and business operations by bringing them in contact with service providers and facilitate their preposition to pene- trate international markets during one-to-one business meetings. Close to 200 business representa- tives from over 20 countries have so far registered in the virtual platform set up by The Malta Chamber last February. Xuereb explained the thought pro- cess behind the learning and engage- ment platform and why the Chamber has endeavoured to invest towards making best use of digital tools to continue providing value to its mem- bers during the pandemic. "The first ambition, which the Mal- ta Chamber has clearly outlined in its Economic Vision towards 2025, is that of achieving smart economic growth within the sector. Through this learn- ing and engagement platform we are responsibly showcasing what a com- pany within the industry can do to achieve its ambitions within a New Norm," she said. "Essentially, we want the industry to embrace initatives and implement actions to design and build operat- ing models around innovation and technological capabilities. We want our businesses to become knowl- edge-based enterprises, competing with cutting edge value-added manu- facturing and reinventing service sec- tors such as retail and tourism". Xuereb, a manufactur- ing operator herself, explained that even though our local industry proved to be resilient during the pandemic it is still a long way from reaping the full benefits of Industrial Inter- net of Things. She therefore under- lined the importance of reacting to market changes faster and more ef- ficiently by allowing adjustments to production capacity. She also acknowledged that the man- ufacturing industry, like the country, is in a race against time to achieve herd immunity against COVID-19 through vaccination. She explained that while remote working has pro- vided many employers and employees with new possibilities, there are many jobs that do not lend themselves to remote working. In this spirit, she repeated the call made last week to- wards prioritising the vaccination of employees who can- not work from home. "Initiatives such as work- place vaccination centres would make it easier for employees to get vaccinated and company doctors could assist in administering vaccines to get more people vaccinated within a short time frame," Xuereb said. "Such strategies would contribute to a more effective roll-out as workplac- es have been consistently the second most common source of contagion af- ter household contacts." FINXP (previously Paymentworld Eu- rope), has announced a new strategic partnership with CashtoCode, the in- stant cash payment service for online merchants. e integration means that FinXP merchants can quickly and easily connect with CashtoCode as a new pay- ment option and start accepting cash payments for online goods and services – from more than 150,000 physical lo- cations worldwide. As part of the deal, FinXP and CashtoCode will also team up to develop innovative new payment products. FinXP is a leading payment service provider based in Malta. It is known for offering merchants a large number of different and specialised payment op- tions, as well as seamless integration so that they can adopt new payment ser- vices quickly. It expects high demand for CashtoCo- de's unique cash deposit services among its merchants, especially with iGaming operators, digital entertainment brands and financial services. CashtoCode of- fers these merchants access to a new market segment of customers who pre- fer to pay by cash for privacy and secu- rity reasons. e partnership also includes a roadmap to develop innovative pay- ment solutions that combine modern e-money features with traditional bank- ing services. ese new payment products will add value to the payment experience for merchants and end-customers alike. Further details will be announced later in 2021, but customer-specific challeng- es being explored include smart usage of virtual IBANs, engagement and loy- alty schemes, and an instant custom- er payment feature that requires zero technical effort from merchants. Jens Podewski, CEO of FinXP, said that the payments industry was very crowd- ed and filled with me-too products that end up competing on price. "At FinXP, we are applying our long ex- perience in the industry to identify pre- viously unseen opportunities that allow us to add value in new ways," he said. "Innovation is key, and therefore we are proud to work alongside CashtoC- ode who share a philosophy similar to ours." Jens Bader, CashtoCode CEO, said there had been a surge in demand for cash payments for online goods, with a community of people who will always prefer to pay by cash wherever and whenever possible. "FinXP is a fantastic platform and the benefits of this partnership will be felt in many places," he said. "It offers us a great new route to mar- ket and broadens FinXP's payment op- tions even more. It will help hundreds of merchants to start accepting cash payments ASAP and give customers who prefer cash an alternative and se- cure way to pay for their favourite digi- tal products and services." Malta Chamber scaling up efforts for industry to embrace new norm FinXP partners with CashtoCode, enabling digital merchants to accept cash payments Marisa Xuereb, Chamber presidnt Jens Podewski, CEO of FinXP