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Jean-Francois Chassagneux and Camilo A. Garcia Trillos
Math. Comp. 89 (2020), 1895-1932.
Abstract, references and article information

The challenger brand launched by the high street bank will be shutting down after informing customers that it is closing down the app-only bank

L. Bernal-González, H. J. Cabana-Méndez, G. A. Muñoz-Fernández and J. B. Seoane-Sepúlveda
Trans. Amer. Math. Soc. 373 (2020), 3063-3083.
Abstract, references and article information

R. E. Maĭboroda, G. V. Navara and O. V. Sugakova
Theor. Probability and Math. Statist. 99 (2020), 169-188.
Abstract, references and article information

Banks and financial institutions taking part in providing mortgage loans for the Housing Authority Subsidised Sale Flats Scheme (SSFS) may offer a mortgage principal moratorium plan to the scheme’s mortgagors.

The authority today wrote to these institutions to confirm and agree that such a plan is applicable for SSFS flats.

Principal repayment may be deferred for a maximum 12-month period and the mortgage loan repayment period may be extended correspondingly by a maximum of 12 months.

The principal moratorium period may commence by December 31 this year at the latest.

The arrangement is applicable to the Home Ownership Scheme, the Private Sector Participation Scheme, the Buy or Rent Option Scheme, the Tenants Purchase Scheme and the Green Form Subsidised Home Ownership Scheme in the primary market and under the Secondary Market Scheme.

To encourage participating financial institutions to provide mortgage loans and better mortgage terms for SSFS flat purchasers, the authority provides a mortgage default guarantee for them.

It undertakes to meet the shortfall in repayment in the event of default by the borrowers under specified circumstances during the guarantee period.

Due to the requirements in the guarantee deed on the mortgage loan period and the monthly instalment amount, participating financial institutions may not be able to offer a mortgage principal moratorium plan to SSFS flat owners.

In light of the economic downturn arising from the COVID-19 outbreak, the authority confirmed today that a mortgage principal moratorium plan is applicable for SSFS flats.

The move will encourage participating financial institutions to offer such a plan to SSFS flat owners, reducing their burden of mortgage repayment.

Applications for the $1.3 billion in subsidies earmarked for registered owners of goods vehicles and green minibus operators under the Anti-epidemic Fund opened today, the Transport Department announced.

A one-off non-accountable subsidy of $10,000 will be provided to each registered goods vehicle owner for each goods vehicle.

From today until September 30, registered owners of goods vehicles who have received the department's letters must use the registration PIN provided in the letters for submission of registrations through GovHK.

After successful completion of registration, the subsidy will be disbursed to the designated local bank account provided in the registration through autopay in about two to three weeks.

Cross-boundary goods vehicle drivers who conduct nucleic acid tests in Hong Kong can apply for the subsidy on an accountable basis, with the maximum amount being $350 per test.

A one-off non-accountable subsidy of $30,000 per green minibus will be provided to each holder of a Passenger Service Licence-Public Light Bus (Scheduled) Service who has been approved to operate a relevant green minibus route package.

The department briefed the green minibus trade today on the subsidy arrangement and application details with the distribution of the application forms.

Green minibus operators are required to send the completed application forms to the department by post on or before September 30.

After the department has verified their submissions, the subsidy will be disbursed through autopay in about one month.

To assist the transport trades to cope with operational demands in the prevailing economic environment, the Government has rolled out the fuel subsidy and one-off subsidy measures under the first round of the Anti-epidemic Fund progressively.

As of mid-April, the department has received applications for subsidies from three franchised bus companies, 10 franchised and licensed ferry operators, Hong Kong Tramways Limited, registrations from 1,700 registered owners of non-franchised public buses, school private light buses and hire cars. Over $100 million of the subsidies have been disbursed.

Click here for details.

Property management companies and owners’ organisations which have successfully applied for an anti-epidemic support scheme were reminded today to disburse the hardship allowance to frontline workers as soon as practicable upon receiving the subsidies.

The Home Affairs Department said the workers concerned shall acknowledge receipt of the allowance using the prescribed forms.

The property management companies or owners’ organisations shall submit a report on the allowance’s overall payment to the Property Management Services Authority within three months of receiving the subsidies.

The department and/or the authority will conduct a random review and check to ensure that the frontline property management workers have received the allowance.

As of today, more than 8,160 applications have been received for the Anti-epidemic Support Scheme for Property Management Sector under the Anti-epidemic Fund.

About 2,850 applications have been approved, involving more than $100 million in subsidies and benefitting more than 17,500 building blocks and about 25,500 frontline workers.

Call 3696 1156 or 3696 1166 for enquiries.

The Commerce & Economic Development Bureau today announced that the subsidy quota for three mask production lines have been reassigned.

Three production lines, previously approved under the Local Mask Production Subsidy Scheme, have withdrawn from the scheme, the Government said.

The subsidy quota concerned has been allocated to SDL Skin (Asia), Safeguard HK and SwissTech.

SDL Skin (Asia) has been approved for obtaining a subsidy for a second production line and is expected to supply an average of 1.6 million masks every month to the Government. The production line may receive a subsidy of up to $1 million.

Safeguard HK has been approved for obtaining a subsidy for one production line and is expected to supply an average of 500,000 masks to the Government every month. The production line may receive up to $2 million.

SwissTech has been approved for obtaining a subsidy for one production line and is expected to supply an average of 2 million masks every month to the Government and produce a further 1 million masks on average monthly for the local market.

The production line may receive up to $3 million.

It is estimated that when all 20 subsidised lines under the scheme are in full production, they will collectively supply 33.85 million masks to the Government and a further 7.15 million to the local market monthly.

The companies which withdrew from the scheme were CareHK and Shang Manufactory.

The Government did not sign agreements with or make disbursements to these firms.

The Food & Environmental Hygiene Department announced that applications for the Catering Business (Social Distancing) Subsidy Scheme, under the second round of the Anti-epidemic Fund, will start from May 5.

The department said the scheme, which is estimated to benefit 16,000 catering outlets and their employees, will provide financial relief measures to the catering businesses which have been hard hit by the COVID-19 epidemic and social distancing measures.

It will provide subsidies ranging from $250,000 to $2,200,000 to eligible licence holders of general restaurants, light refreshment restaurants, marine restaurants and factory canteens in operation according to the floor area of the premises as specified on the licence.

The primary goal of the scheme is to support the payment of employees' salaries during a six-month period following application approval.

To provide immediate relief to the catering sector, the subsidy will be dished out upfront, in two tranches.

To avoid abuse, applicants should undertake that there will be no redundancy of staff for three months on receipt of the first tranche of subsidy and another three months on receipt of the second tranche.

They should also undertake that not less than 80% of the subsidies for respective months would be used to pay salaries of staff working at the premises.

Applicants should submit within a specified period a certificate issued by a Certified Public Accountant (practising) on its total staff salaries and total number of salaried staff for each of the months covered by the subsidy.

They should also submit a certificate issued by a CPA on its total staff salaries and total number of staff working at the premises for the month of March this year.

To avoid double benefits, applicants should declare that they have not and will not submit any application under the Employment Support Scheme.

Each catering outlet directed to close its licensed premises under the Prevention & Control of Disease (Requirements & Directions) (Business & Premises) Regulation, including karaoke establishments, nightclubs and bars or pubs, is eligible for a further one-off subsidy of $50,000.

Applications should be submitted to the department's District Environmental Hygiene Offices in person or by mail. Food licence holders can also submit their applications through the website.

The deadline for application is June 5.

Upon receipt of the completed application form and supporting documents and after verification, the disbursement of the first tranche of subsidies can generally be made in two to three weeks by crossed cheques to the corresponding licensed food premises.

Aldehyde oxidases (AOXs) are a small group of enzymes belonging to the larger family of molybdo-flavoenzymes, along with the well-characterized xanthine oxidoreductase. The two major types of reactions that are catalyzed by AOXs are the hydroxylation of heterocycles and the oxidation of aldehydes to their corresponding carboxylic acids. Different animal species have different complements of AOX genes. The two extremes are represented in humans and rodents; whereas the human genome contains a single active gene (AOX1), those of rodents, such as mice, are endowed with four genes (Aox1-4), clustering on the same chromosome, each encoding a functionally distinct AOX enzyme. It still remains enigmatic why some species have numerous AOX enzymes, whereas others harbor only one functional enzyme. At present, little is known about the physiological relevance of AOX enzymes in humans and their additional forms in other mammals. These enzymes are expressed in the liver and play an important role in the metabolisms of drugs and other xenobiotics. In this review, we discuss the expression, tissue-specific roles, and substrate specificities of the different mammalian AOX enzymes and highlight insights into their physiological roles.

Sulfur is essential for biological processes such as amino acid biogenesis, iron–sulfur cluster formation, and redox homeostasis. To acquire sulfur-containing compounds from the environment, bacteria have evolved high-affinity uptake systems, predominant among which is the ABC transporter family. Theses membrane-embedded enzymes use the energy of ATP hydrolysis for transmembrane transport of a wide range of biomolecules against concentration gradients. Three distinct bacterial ABC import systems of sulfur-containing compounds have been identified, but the molecular details of their transport mechanism remain poorly characterized. Here we provide results from a biochemical analysis of the purified Escherichia coli YecSC-FliY cysteine/cystine import system. We found that the substrate-binding protein FliY binds l-cystine, l-cysteine, and d-cysteine with micromolar affinities. However, binding of the l- and d-enantiomers induced different conformational changes of FliY, where the l- enantiomer–substrate-binding protein complex interacted more efficiently with the YecSC transporter. YecSC had low basal ATPase activity that was moderately stimulated by apo FliY, more strongly by d-cysteine–bound FliY, and maximally by l-cysteine– or l-cystine–bound FliY. However, at high FliY concentrations, YecSC reached maximal ATPase rates independent of the presence or nature of the substrate. These results suggest that FliY exists in a conformational equilibrium between an open, unliganded form that does not bind to the YecSC transporter and closed, unliganded and closed, liganded forms that bind this transporter with variable affinities but equally stimulate its ATPase activity. These findings differ from previous observations for similar ABC transporters, highlighting the extent of mechanistic diversity in this large protein family.