The lockdown of international borders amid the pandemic directly disrupts the account opening process, particularly for overseas customers. To help our partners in the financial industry to stay in business and offer continuous services to their end users, our Identity Management Business team has successfully developed a new class of digital certificate - Personal ID-Cert Class 12, which supports remote onboarding using e-Passports and other travel documents.

The Personal ID-Cert Class 12 for which formal recognition was received from the Office of Government Chief Information Officer under the Electronic Transactions Ordinance at the end of 2020, will be issued using our electronic Know-Your-Customer (eKYC) solutions, supporting the use of e-Passports and other travel documents (such as Exit-Entry Permit for Travelling to and from Hong Kong and Macau as well as Mainland Travel Permit for Hong Kong and Macao Residents) for identification of individuals. Holders of these travel documents can digitally sign the account opening documents without the need for physical signatures on paper documents. Using this new ID-Cert, a user can conduct online transactions in a highly secured manner.

The pilot launch of this newly recognized digital certificate is scheduled for the latter half of the year. We will promote this ID-Cert Class 12 through our partners to financial institutes, such as stockbrokers for digital onboarding of their clients. Subject to the market response, we will fine tune our marketing strategy as appropriate for execution in the remaining months in 2021 and beyond.

Our Identity Management Business maintains its strong momentum amid the COVID-19 pandemic. We have entered into a strategic partnership with a newly established credit bureau that provides credit referencing and Fintech solutions built on a financial information platform.

With a view to creating a seamless and efficient end-to-end customer journey while complying with the stringent requirements of the relevant business processes, our credit bureau client will adopt our electronic Know-Your-Customers (eKYC) solution to provide to its stockbroker customers a swift and secure digital onboarding process using facial recognition for identification and verification of their identities. The security level and convenience to customers in account opening and using the bureau's financial services can be significantly enhanced.

In addition to adopting our eKYC solution, the credit bureau will act as our reseller, promoting our eKYC solution to its stockbroker customers who have online business with their end users. The bureau is also one of our partners in promoting our new ID-Cert Class 12 for use by their clients in China for account opening on its online stock trading platform.

As the pandemic began to subside towards the end of 2020, our Supply Chain Solutions Business was pleased to confirm a sizable Transportation Management System (TMS) / Warehouse Management System (WMS) project ordered by a renowned group with history more than 120 years to digitalize the management of its logistics and warehouse operations.

As a major distributor of a wide range of goods including beverages, consumer goods and industrial goods as well as a third-party logistics (3PL) provider, the client is currently using a manual distribution management process to manage its network of warehouses around Hong Kong supporting its daily B2B and B2C order delivery. The process is not only inefficient but also not cost effective.

To streamline its distribution operations and support the expansion of its 3PL business, we will deploy our TMS module to automate and optimize the client's fleet management of its own carriers and outsourced 3PL carriers. Our TMS includes smart features such as auto delivery scheduling and route planning using predefined algorithms based on variables like product volume, temperature requirement, traffic condition, etc. With the use of handheld device, our TMS also enables track and trace of delivery status and e-Proof of Delivery, providing real time monitoring, enhanced efficiency and accuracy of logistics operations and better customer experience.

For the WMS module, we will help our client to achieve a more digitalized warehousing environment to optimize its inbound/outbound management, inventory management and utilization of warehouse space. Integrated with our TMS and Billing Management System, our total solution also supports invoice reconciliation for better management of 3PL's performance.

While the project is expected to be delivered within 2021, we hope to achieve a long-term partnership with our client and explore further opportunities such as system enhancement and more.