Category: South Africa

EBC Financial Group secures two global honours at the World Finance Forex Awards, part of the World Finance Awards 2026, recognising the transparency, secure market access, and consistent service its clients rely on across FX and CFD trading.

LONDON, June 23, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — EBC Financial Group (EBC) has been named Most Trusted FX Broker and Best CFD Broker on a global basis at the World Finance Awards 2026, taking two honours within the World Finance Forex Awards. For traders, the recognition is an independent signal that the conditions they depend on have been judged among the strongest in the market: transparent pricing, secure access, and dependable execution.

What the recognition reflects

The Most Trusted FX Broker award recognises the confidence EBC builds through secure market access, responsive service, and consistent operational standards across its global network. For clients, that consistency is what makes a platform dependable through changing market conditions, rather than only in calm ones.

The Best CFD Broker award reflects the strength of EBC’s CFD offering across major markets, with robust execution, professional trading conditions, and an environment built for retail, professional, and institutional clients alike. Interbank-level pricing from 0.0 pips and order execution averaging under 20 milliseconds mean lower trading costs and fewer missed fills, helping clients act on opportunities as they arise rather than after the moment has passed.

“EBC has built a reputation in this market that’s hard to ignore. Consistently transparent, consistently reliable, and clearly trusted by the clients who matter most. Both wins are thoroughly deserved, and it’s been a pleasure watching EBC’s progress this year. Congratulations to the whole team,” said Cyril Jones, Awards Director, World Finance.

Global access, backed by local support

For clients, the value of these awards lies in what they make possible. EBC provides access to currencies, commodities, indices, shares, and CFDs across more than 100 countries, supported by local teams that share market insight and respond in real time. Whether starting from a low-capital position or managing professional volume, clients reach global markets through a single regulated environment, with support close to where they are.

Raising the standard for clients worldwide

“Receiving these two global honours from the World Finance Awards is a meaningful recognition of the trust our clients place in us. Our focus remains on delivering transparent, secure, and reliable access to global FX and CFD markets, while continuing to raise the standard of service for traders worldwide,” said Christopher Stiegeler, Executive Director, EBC Financial Group (Cayman) Limited.

That focus runs through how the wider Group operates: a commitment to integrity, high-standard trading conditions, and a safer, more transparent environment in which clients can pursue global opportunities with confidence.

Building on a record of trust

Founded in London, EBC has expanded its international presence through regulated entities operating across major financial jurisdictions, including the UK, Australia, the Cayman Islands, and South Africa, among others. The Group now serves clients in over 100 countries, with more than 5 million registered users and over USD 390 billion in average monthly trading volume.

The 2026 honours extend a multi-year run of World Finance recognition and reinforce EBC’s standing as a brokerage measured by the trust, transparency, and long-term value it delivers to the clients it serves.

For more information, visit the EBC Financial Group website at www.ebc.com.

Risk Disclaimer

Trading foreign exchange (FX) and contracts for differences (CFDs) on margin carries a high level of risk and may not be suitable for all investors. Losses can exceed deposits. Past performance does not guarantee future results. Please consider your investment objectives and risk tolerance carefully before trading.

About EBC Financial Group  

Founded in London, EBC Financial Group (EBC) is a global brand known for its expertise in financial brokerage and asset management. Through its regulated entities operating across major financial jurisdictions—including the UK, Australia, the Cayman Islands, Mauritius, and others—EBC enables retail, professional, and institutional investors to access global markets and trading opportunities, including currencies, commodities, CFDs and more.

Trusted by investors in over 100 countries and honoured with global awards including multiple year recognition from World Finance, EBC is widely regarded as one of the world’s best brokers with titles including Best Trading Platform and Most Trusted Broker. With its strong regulatory standing and commitment to transparency, EBC has also been consistently ranked among the top brokers—trusted for its ability to deliver secure, innovative, and client-first trading solutions across competitive international markets.

EBC’s subsidiaries are licensed and regulated within their respective jurisdictions. EBC Financial Group (UK) Limited is regulated by the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA); EBC Financial Group (Cayman) Limited is regulated by the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority (CIMA); EBC Financial Group (Australia) Pty Ltd, and EBC Asset Management Pty Ltd are regulated by Australia’s Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC); EBC Financial (MU) Ltd is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Commission Mauritius (FSC).

At the core of EBC are a team of industry veterans with over 40 years of experience in major financial institutions. Having navigated key economic cycles from the Plaza Accord and 2015 Swiss franc crisis to the market upheavals of the COVID-19 pandemic. We foster a culture where integrity, respect, and client asset security are paramount, ensuring that every investor relationship is handled with the utmost seriousness it deserves.

EBC is a proud official foreign exchange partner of FC Barcelona and continues to drive impactful partnerships to empower communities – namely through the UN Foundation’s United to Beat Malaria initiative, Oxford University’s Department of Economics, and a diverse range of partners to champion initiatives in global health, economics, education, and sustainability.

https://www.ebc.com/ 

Media Contact:
Aldric Tinker Toyad
Global PR Lead
[email protected]

Faiz Alavi Sulaiman
Senior PR Executive
[email protected]

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/62f7e438-9268-4fdd-902a-d7b09dbf0a5b

GlobeNewswire Distribution ID 9750262

• New Zoom Virtual Agent capabilities help organizations build AI agents faster, optimize performance over time, and deliver more personalized customer experiences through a connected Zoom CX platform.

At a glance: New Zoom Virtual Agent capabilities

• Agent Architect: Generate production-ready voice and digital AI agents from a simple prompt. Create intelligent agents that can reason through requests, collaborate with other agents, and orchestrate customer interactions across systems and channels.
• Agent Performance Suite: Test, validate, and optimize AI agents throughout their lifecycle. Simulate customer interactions before deployment and track resolution rates, containment, customer satisfaction (CSAT), and cost per resolution after launch.
• Quality Management for Zoom Virtual Agent: Evaluate AI and human interactions using a common quality framework. Identify improvement opportunities, track service quality, and help AI learn from successful human-assisted resolutions.
• Enhanced customer context layer: Customer interactions create context that follows customers across Zoom CX, helping Zoom Virtual Agent, Zoom Contact Center, and Zoom AI Expert Assist deliver more personalized experiences and reduce the need for customers to repeat themselves.
• Outcome-based pricing: An optional pricing model that aligns AI automation costs with customer outcomes through resolved or successfully routed interactions across voice and chat.
• Multi-location deployments: Build AI-powered customer experiences once and deploy them across multiple locations while maintaining local phone numbers, routing, greetings, and knowledge bases.

SAN JOSE, Calif., June 22, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Zoom Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: ZM) today announced new AI capabilities for Zoom Virtual Agent (ZVA), its virtual agent that uses conversational AI to resolve customer issues end to end.

The new capabilities, including Agent Architect and Agent Performance Suite, along with enhancements to the customer context layer across Zoom CX, help organizations generate and deploy AI agents faster. They also enable teams to optimize performance over time and deliver more personalized customer experiences across channels.

The first wave of AI in CX has often focused on deployment to help increase efficiency and reduce costs. The challenge now is moving beyond launch to effectively measure AI agent performance, maintain quality, and deliver more personalized customer experiences at scale. Zoom CX connects the full lifecycle of AI automation — from agent creation and customer context to performance optimization — helping organizations deliver more effective customer experiences and better outcomes.

“AI has significantly accelerated the CX landscape, and organizations not focused on outcomes fall behind,” said Chris Morrissey, general manager of Zoom CX. “It’s no longer just about deploying it to drive efficiency, but about having the context to drive personalization at scale. But the challenge is eliminating the tradeoff between speed and sophistication, and Zoom CX bridges that gap so teams can personalize better, deliver faster, and drive stronger outcomes.”

Turn simple prompts into production-ready AI agents

Today’s way of building AI agents forces teams to choose between speed (simple agents) and sophistication (requiring advanced technical resources). The new Agent Architect is designed to eliminate that tradeoff by making AI agent creation generative. Instead of manually designing workflows, teams can start with a simple prompt and have Agent Architect expand it into a production-ready voice or digital agent. The Agent Architect interprets intent, fills in missing context, and connects the right capabilities and data sources to generate sophisticated workflows with minimal manual effort.

AI Agent Architect can generate autonomous agents that guide customers through complex requests, determine the next best action, and orchestrate work across systems and tools. Rather than following rigid scripts, agents can gather missing information, adapt to customer needs, and take action to move issues toward resolution. Before deployment, teams can review and refine agent behavior to align with business requirements, customer expectations, and compliance standards.

By transforming prompts into production-ready customer journeys, AI Agent Architect helps organizations accelerate deployment, expand self-service, and deliver faster resolutions across the customer journey.

Improved AI performance for better results

Zoom also announced the Agent Performance Suite, a new offering for Zoom Virtual Agent designed to give customer experience leaders a clearer understanding of what’s working, where automation is falling short, and how to improve customer outcomes over time.

As organizations expand AI across customer service operations, visibility becomes increasingly important. Teams need a way to evaluate performance, identify automation gaps, and confidently scale AI while maintaining service quality. The Agent Performance Suite combines Agent Performance, Quality Management for Zoom Virtual Agent, and KB Suggestions, helping organizations test, measure, and continuously optimize AI-powered customer service.

Agent Performance: Test, validate, and optimize AI agents

• Test and optimize AI agents throughout their lifecycle by simulating realistic customer scenarios before deployment and comparing simulation results with production outcomes. This helps teams identify improvement opportunities, validate performance, and expand successful use cases.
• Utilize real-time dashboards for visibility into live AI agent operational metrics, including resolution rates and containment.

Quality Management: Extend consistent evaluation standards

• Evaluate AI, human, and hybrid interactions using the same quality standards to understand what’s working, where customers are struggling, and where improvements are needed. By applying the same standards across AI, human, and hybrid interactions, organizations can deliver more consistent customer experiences regardless of how issues are resolved.

KB Suggestions: Fix knowledge gaps across agents

• Teams can also use KB Suggestions when connected with Zoom Contact Center to help expand and improve self-service content. Zoom Virtual Agent can identify successful human-assisted resolutions and draft new knowledge base articles that teams can review and publish. Over time, this helps improve resolution consistency, reduce repeat contacts, and continuously strengthen AI-powered customer service.

The Agent Performance Suite helps organizations create a continuous improvement cycle in which every interaction — whether AI, human-driven, or hybrid — can be measured, evaluated, and used to improve customer outcomes.

Separately, Zoom Virtual Agent also now offers an outcome-based pricing option that gives customers another way to simplify billing and connect AI investment to business value. With this option, pricing is tied to resolved or successfully routed interactions across voice and chat.

Scale AI-powered services across every location

Organizations with multiple locations often face a difficult tradeoff: maintain consistent customer experiences across all sites or customize experiences to local needs. Zoom Virtual Agent’s multi-location deployments eliminate that tradeoff by enabling organizations to build AI-powered customer experiences once and deploy them across an entire network.

With centralized management, teams can maintain consistent service quality, governance, and automation workflows across locations while allowing each site to customize phone numbers, greetings, department routing, and knowledge bases for local customer needs. Native Zoom Phone or Zoom Contact Center integration, along with centralized administration, helps simplify deployment while providing visibility across locations.

For example, a retailer can deploy a single AI agent across hundreds of stores while allowing each location to tailor responses based on store-specific inventory, promotions, and policies. Customers can upload a photo to identify a product, verify availability, troubleshoot a purchase, or receive personalized recommendations, while corporate teams maintain centralized management and visibility across the network.

Whether supporting retail stores, healthcare facilities, campuses, franchise networks, or other distributed operations, Zoom Virtual Agent multi-location deployments help organizations scale AI-powered service efficiently without building and maintaining separate agents for every location.

Make every customer interaction smarter

These new capabilities help organizations build, measure, and optimize AI-powered customer service. To make these experiences even smarter, Zoom CX is deepening the customer memory that powers every interaction.

Zoom CX maintains context within and across conversations, so customers don’t have to repeat themselves as they move between virtual agents and live agents. Now, that memory goes even further — dynamically capturing context from prior engagements and layering it with AI reasoning to build a richer, more intelligent understanding of each customer over time. This isn’t static data retrieval; it’s a living context layer that informs AI recommendations, agent guidance, and routing decisions across Zoom Virtual Agent, Zoom Contact Center, and Zoom AI Expert Assist.

Because Zoom CX brings together virtual agents, live agents, and AI-powered assistance on a connected platform, this accumulated intelligence flows naturally across the customer journey, so every future interaction starts informed by not just what’s happening now, but also what came before.

Connect AI automation to better customer outcomes

With these innovations, Zoom CX helps businesses create, manage, and optimize AI-powered customer service at scale. By bringing together customer context, agent creation, performance optimization, and quality management, organizations can deliver more effective customer experiences and better outcomes over time.

The next phase of AI in customer service will not be defined by how many agents organizations deploy, but by how effectively they use AI to resolve customer needs. Zoom CX helps organizations connect customer interactions, context, and action to deliver better service, faster resolutions, and measurable business impact.

The new capabilities for Zoom Virtual Agent are now available. Customers interested in learning more can contact their Zoom account representative or visit zoom.com. To hear more about these announcements, visit Zoom at booth #339 during CCW Las Vegas from June 22–25, 2026.

About Zoom
Zoom (NASDAQ:ZM) is a system of action for modern work, turning live collaboration into completed results. From entrepreneurs to global enterprises, customers choose Zoom to seamlessly collaborate, communicate, and drive outcomes across meetings, phone, contact center, and more — all with the built-in assistance of Zoom AI. Founded in 2011, Zoom is headquartered in San Jose, CA. For more information, visit zoom.com.

Zoom Public Relations
Travis Isaman
[email protected]

GlobeNewswire Distribution ID 9750293

TM Forum IG1251/IG1453-aligned, multi-agent framework that learns from NOC expertise to deliver scalable, closed-loop automation across multi-vendor, multi-domain networks. AI detects, diagnoses, recommends and resolves network issues faster, improving operator productivity and enabling autonomous network operations.

RICHARDSON, Texas, June 22, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Mavenir, the cloud-native network infrastructure provider, today announced its Agentic Service Assurance Framework: a TM Forum IG1251/IG1453-aligned, multi-agent system that automates complex network operations across multiple domains without replacing existing systems. The framework pairs an Intent Orchestrator with a multi-layer agentic ecosystem in which AI helps detect, diagnose, recommend, and resolve network faults faster, measurably improving operator productivity and accelerating the path to autonomous network operations.

AI Service Assurance: Automating Network Operations. AI detects, diagnoses, recommends and resolves network issues faster

Network operations across 5G, cloud-native, and IP domains are expensive, fragmented, and increasingly difficult to manage at scale. Assurance systems fire alarms but rarely diagnose root causes. Experienced engineers retire, taking decades of institutional knowledge with them. Multi-vendor environments generate siloed data that no single tool can correlate. AI tools that reason only over static data models cannot fill that gap. Mavenir’s answer is architectural: a multi-layer, multi-agent framework that learns from how networks are actually operated and automates what skilled engineers do.

At the core of the framework is the Intent Ops engine: a system that observes how NOC teams actually work, learns the patterns behind successful resolution, and converts proven human workflows into repeatable, explainable automation templates with built-in guardrails. Unlike approaches that reason only over static data models, Intent Ops actively captures institutional expertise from live NOC operations and from third-party vendor teams, publishing vetted automations to a continuously growing orchestration catalog. Every workflow is validated against a human baseline before autonomous execution. The result: the network runs on operators’ best knowledge, not a frozen snapshot of it.

The framework helps deliver cross-domain monitoring, context-aware correlation, and domain-intelligence-driven root-cause analysis across domains, with closed-loop remediation on Mavenir products. Integration with existing OSS AI agents is achieved via the Agent-to-Agent (A2A) protocol defined in IG1453, preserving operators’ existing investments while extending automation reach across the full network stack.

Retaining full operational control across geographically distributed, cloud-native networks is one of the most pressing challenges operators face today. Mavenir’s framework helps address this directly with AI-driven workflows spanning deployment topology, application health, interface health, and service status, each backed by trusted, auditable remediation actions.

The framework’s priorities map directly to operator demand. Recent industry research ranks AI-driven trace and log analysis, cross-domain fault correlation, and automated diagnosis of complex interconnect issues as the top operational priorities. These are precisely the capabilities Mavenir’s Agentic Service Assurance Framework delivers.

Framework Highlights

• Standards-Native Architecture (IG1251/IG1453): Multi-agent architecture and A2A communication built natively to TM Forum IG1251 and IG1453, which is the industry’s definitive specifications for autonomous networks and agent interoperability.
• Intent Orchestration: Operators express desired outcomes as natural-language or voice intent. The platform interprets, plans, executes, and validates end-to-end, continuously refining automation as network conditions evolve.
• Intent Ops Knowledge Capture: Actively learns from live NOC team workflows and third-party vendor operations, converting proven human expertise into a continuously growing, vendor-neutral automation catalog.
• Multi-Vendor, Multi-Domain: Spans L1 monitoring to L3 remediation across heterogeneous networks without replacing incumbent systems.
• Closed-Loop Validation: Every automated workflow is validated using pre-validated workflows before autonomous execution, ensuring consistency, accuracy, and a full audit trail. Mavenir closes the loop; it does not just recommend.
  

“Every operator I talk to is wrestling with the same paradox: their networks are becoming more complex while the operational expertise to run them is retiring. Intent Ops solves that paradox directly. It captures what your best engineers know, validates it, and makes it available to the entire operations organization, autonomously and at scale. This is how you build a network that genuinely runs itself.” – Bejoy Pankajakshan, EVP, Chief Technology & Strategy Officer, Mavenir

“Operators need practical routes to autonomous networks that work across complex, multi-vendor environments. Intent-based operations and knowledge capture aligned to TM Forum’s frameworks can help turn proven NOC expertise into scalable automation. Mavenir’s approach shows the direction the industry needs: open, standards-based autonomy operators can trust.” – Andy Tiller, EVP Member Products, TM Forum

Join Mavenir at DTW Ignite 2026, 23–25 June – booth #334 (#DTWIgnite2026):   
At DTW Ignite, Mavenir will be showcasing how AI-by-design software delivers tangible network outcomes: unleashing 5G Core network innovation, unlocking new service revenues on the one hand and radically improving operational efficiency on the other. Book a Demo meeting here. 

About Mavenir 

Mavenir is enabling intelligent, automated, programmable networks through the development of telco-first, cloud-native, AI-by-design software solutions for mobile operators. The company’s deep telco domain expertise has been proven through deployments with 300+ operators globally in over 120 countries, which together serve more than 50% of the world’s subscribers. Mavenir combines its deep telco experience with the cloud and IT expertise and data science skillsets essential to solving real customer challenges. Its proven software solutions are AI by design, delivering the AI-native future and operators’ evolution to TechCos. For more information, please visit www.mavenir.com

Mavenir PR Contacts:
Emmanuela Spiteri
[email protected]

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/5c7521b4-a0f7-4433-8413-14ff63facd48

GlobeNewswire Distribution ID 9750302

New leadership begins as the global allergy community advances the Vision Zero ambition of a future free from allergy and asthma burden

ISTANBUL, June 19, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — The European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (EAACI) has successfully concluded its Annual Congress 2026 in Istanbul, bringing together 7,429 delegates from 110 countries under the theme “Vision Zero: A Future Free from Allergy and Asthma Burden.”

Over four days of scientific exchange, collaboration and education, the Congress showcased the latest advances in allergy, asthma, and clinical immunology, with 2,420 scientific abstracts presented by researchers from around the world. The programme highlighted emerging developments in precision medicine, immunotherapy, disease prevention, environmental health, digital innovation and patient-centred care, reflecting the growing momentum towards reducing the global burden of allergic diseases.

A defining moment of the Congress took place during the General Assembly and Closing Ceremony, where Professor Mohamed Shamji officially assumed the Presidency of EAACI for the 2026–2028 term.

Professor Shamji succeeds Professor María José Torres, whose Presidency has been marked by a strong commitment to scientific excellence, international collaboration, and the advancement of EAACI’s Vision Zero initiative.

Mohamed Shamji

“EAACI is entering a new era,” said Professor Shamji. “My vision is to build a truly global Academy that connects experts, researchers, healthcare professionals and patients across continents, creating a dynamic ecosystem where knowledge, innovation, and collaboration flow without borders. By bringing together education, science, clinical guidance, and digital engagement on a single platform, we have an unprecedented opportunity to accelerate discovery, improve patient outcomes, and shape the future of allergy and clinical immunology worldwide.”

Maria Torres

Reflecting on her Presidency, Professor María José Torres said: “It has been a privilege to serve as EAACI President during a period of significant scientific progress and international collaboration. I am proud of the advances we have made together in strengthening our community and advancing our Vision Zero ambition. As I hand over the Presidency to Professor Shamji, I remain committed to supporting the Board and sharing my experience to help ensure that patients remain at the centre of everything we do.”

The Congress demonstrated the strength and diversity of the global allergy community, bringing together clinicians, researchers, healthcare professionals, patient representatives, and industry partners to exchange knowledge, establish new collaborations, and address some of the most pressing challenges facing patients and healthcare systems worldwide.

Throughout the meeting, discussions reinforced the importance of prevention, innovation and equitable access to care. Participants explored how advances in science and technology can be translated into meaningful improvements in patient outcomes while supporting the long-term ambition of substantially reducing the burden of allergic and respiratory diseases.

The Congress also marked the beginning of a new Executive Committee term. Now, as delegates depart Istanbul, the scientific advances, partnerships and collaborations established during the Congress will continue to shape research, clinical practice, and healthcare policy around the world. Under its new leadership, EAACI remains committed to advancing science, fostering education, supporting healthcare professionals, and improving the lives of patients affected by allergic diseases.

About EAACI

The European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (EAACI) is the leading professional organisation dedicated to excellence in allergy and immunology. EAACI works to improve the health of people affected by allergic diseases through research, education, advocacy and the promotion of high-quality patient care.

Media contact:
[email protected]

Photos accompanying this announcement are available at:

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/e96d97e9-0538-43b7-b9d4-9ca7bb15ef50

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/7b7e361e-d3e7-4222-97ab-dd49e8dd168e

GlobeNewswire Distribution ID 1001188578