Day: 2026年2月4日

HONG KONG, Feb 3, 2026 - (ACN Newswire via SeaPRwire.com) – FWD Group Holdings Limited (“FWD Group” or “FWD”) today unveiled findings from its consumer outlook survey, showing that majority of Asia’s middle class feel financially anxious and underprepared for retirement, as rising living costs and growing family responsibilities reshape financial priorities across generations.Nearly three-quarters (71 per cent) of middle-class consumers feel anxiety about their overall financial wellbeing, with top three concerns being the rising cost of everyday living (71 per cent); high cost of healthcare (43 per cent); and unexpected job loss or a reduction in their income (37 per cent). As a result, their primary financial goals are focused on a two-to-three-year time frame. Almost half (44 per cent) of the respondents aim to build a basic safety net for their families, while one-third (37 per cent) hope to achieve financial independence.Lee Yen Ho, Group Chief Distribution and Proposition Officer, FWD Group, said, “It’s clear that there is a shared sense of financial vulnerability across generations of middle classes in Asia. As people live longer and family structures evolve, building the financial resilience to protect loved ones and turn savings into sustainable lifetime income will become increasingly essential. Changing the way people feel about insurance has an important role to play. Insurance provides protection in difficult times, but it can also help to build resilience, secure income for retirement, and give people the confidence they need to celebrate living.”The findings also reveal clear generational pressures: - Generation X (born in 1965-1980) face the toughest balancing act – funding education, paying mortgages and preparing for retirement. Among this segment, 62 per cent worry that their savings won’t keep pace with inflation, and 52 per cent rank guaranteed lifelong income as their top retirement need.- Generation Y (born 1981–1995) juggle multiple financial responsibilities, with 49 per cent worrying about saving for their own retirement. The vast majority (85 per cent) support their parents in addition to caring for their children. Although almost half (47 per cent) are looking for a single, efficient solution to cover multiple family members, most (61 per cent) have never heard of family insurance plans.- Generation Z (born 1996–2010) face growing financial pressure, with 53 per cent expecting difficulties in the next five to 10 years due to rising daily expenses, and 46 per cent saying that insurance products feel too expensive.The pan-Asian survey, conducted with Ipsos, surveyed over 9,000 middle-class consumers aged 21-65 across the 10 markets where FWD operates: Cambodia, Hong Kong SAR, Indonesia, Japan, Macau SAR, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. FWD already offers a range of products across its markets to strengthen protection, resilience, and long-term financial security. For example, in Hong Kong, the One&All medical insurance plan provides flexible family-focused coverage with optional add-on benefits that require no underwriting. In Japan, a single-yen premium annuity product was introduced to meet the growing demand for savings and retirement planning, helping individuals and families build a steady stream of retirement income. In Thailand and Singapore, the FWD Sure pension plan and FWD Invest Flexi Elite plan help customers prepare for retirement through structured income and sustainable wealth-building options. In Indonesia, the FWD Critical First protection plan delivers affordable, inflation-conscious coverage to help families safeguard their financial well-being amid rising costs.About FWD GroupFWD Group (1828.HK) is a pan-Asian life and health insurance business that serves approximately 34 million customers across 10 markets, including BRI Life in Indonesia. FWD’s customer-led and tech-enabled approach aims to deliver innovative propositions, easy-to-understand products and a simpler insurance experience. Established in 2013, the company operates in some of the fastest-growing insurance markets in the world with a vision of changing the way people feel about insurance. FWD Group is listed on the main board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange under the stock code 1828.For more information, please visit www.fwd.comFor media inquiries, please contact: groupcommunications@fwd.comSource: FWD Group Holdings Limited Copyright 2026 JCN Newswire via SeaPRwire.com. All rights reserved. www.jcnnewswire.com

TOKYO, Japan, Feb 4, 2026 - (JCN Newswire via SeaPRwire.com) - Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (Honda) today announced plans to co-develop system-on-a-chip (SoC) for its software-defined vehicles (SDVs), with Mythic, a Texas, U.S.-based technology company.Honda has invested in Mythic, which has original technologies and a proven track record in this field of technologies, to establish technologies to enhance the computing performance and energy efficiency of AI to be used for automated driving and other features of its SDVs. Today, Honda announced plans for Honda R&D Co., Ltd., the R&D subsidiary of Honda, to co-develop automobile SoC with Mythic.In order to continue offering the “joy and freedom of mobility” in a sustainable manner, Honda has been placing the highest priority on addressing environmental and safety challenges. In particular, enhanced application of intelligent technology will be the key to addressing safety issues. This makes the advancement of high-performance SoC for SDVs essential; therefore, Honda is conducting research and development of digital computing*1 technologies.Looking ahead, as AI technologies continue to advance, further innovation is required in technologies to enhance computing performance and energy efficiency. With a view to building computing infrastructures which will contribute to the application of next-generation intelligent technologies, Honda is actively exploring neuromorphic*2 SoC technology, that draws inspiration from how the human brain works.Mythic is a startup company with strong expertise in semiconductor technologies that leverage analog computing, which achieves high-efficiency AI processing with low power consumption. For the development of neuromorphic SoC, Mythic has original analog compute-in-memory (CiM)*3 technology and a proven track record in software implementation using tools such as software development kit (SDK)*4. With its analog CiM, Mythic is working to minimize data movement for computation and achieve both high computing performance and energy efficiency.Honda has invested in Mythic to pay close attention to original technologies of Mythic and respond flexibly to future changes in the technological environment and societal trends. Moreover, Honda R&D will leverage its expertise and technologies amassed through the design of its original AI models and the research and development of electronic control units and integrate the original technology of Mythic into AI computing functions that consist of SoC. With that, Honda R&D will further accelerate the research and development of SoC for next-generation SDVs, to further enhance computing performance and energy efficiency.About Mythic- Head office location: Austin, Texas, U.S.A.- Business: Development and sales of neuromorphic NPU*5 for edge computing*6- Representative: Taner Ozcelik, CEO- Establishment: 2012*1 A computing method that repeats computations and data transfers between the processor and memory.*2 A technology that mimics the structure and function of neurons and synapses and integrates computation and memory to eliminate delays in data transfers between the CPU and memory, aiming to enhance computing performance and energy efficiency.*3 A technology that integrates memory and computing units, performing computation directly within memory to significantly reduce power consumption associated with data movement.*4 A development kit that bundles the libraries and tools necessary to develop applications for a specific OS or platform.*5 Neural Processing Unit (NPU): A computing device specialized for AI inference, capable of parallel processing of neural networks.*6 A technology that places data processing infrastructure at or near the devices where data is generated (edge) to process data with minimal latency. Copyright 2026 JCN Newswire via SeaPRwire.com. All rights reserved. www.jcnnewswire.com