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Category: Finance

Retail News Asia is committed to providing both local and global retailers with the latest Finance news throughout the Asian market. This on a daily base.

  • JD.Com and Thai Retailer Launch Financial App

    JD.Com and Thai Retailer Launch Financial App

    China e-commerce giant JD.com and Thailand’s top retailer Central Group have jointly launched a new financial services app, partnering with the largest Thai lenders to capitalize on the nation’s digital banking opportunity.

    The «Dolfin» app will include an e-wallet, digital lending platform, insurance and wealth management capabilities, according to a statement from the joint-venture, Central JD Fintech. A merchant version will be rolled out next year to target small businesses and Central’s mall tenants with merchant data to be used to further support bank lending.

    Major Thai lenders, Siam Commercial Bank, Kasikornbank and Bangkok Bank are currently partners with Bank of Ayudhya expected to join later.

    Central JD Fintech aims to reach 400,000 Dolfin users by year-end and 1.5 million next year.

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  • Australia Issues Full License to Digital-Only Xinja Bank

    Australia Issues Full License to Digital-Only Xinja Bank

    Independent internet-only Xinja Bank was granted full banking license by Australian regulators, furthering the growth of digital banking in the Asia Pacific region.

    We want people to have a real alternative to the incumbent banks, said Xinja Bank CEO and founder Eric Wilson in a statement, referring to major dominance of Australia’s Big Four banks: Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA), Westpac Banking Corporation, Australia and New Zealand Banking (ANZ) Group, and National Australia Bank (NAB).

    Prior to this approval, Xinja a restricted banking license. Following the new license approval, Xinja will develop its business beginning with pre-paid cards; to bank accounts; and then lending in the first quarter of 2020.

    Xinja enters the market under the oversight of a more proactive Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA), which granted its first banking license to an internet-only startup Volt Bank. Other digital players to join include  Judobank and «86 400».

  • OCBC’s Voice-Based Virtual Assistant Logs 20,000 Requests

    OCBC’s Voice-Based Virtual Assistant Logs 20,000 Requests

    OCBC’s voice-based virtual assistant has successfully resolved over 20,000 requests since its launch in mid-August, the bank said, breaking down the request types received.

    According to OCBC, half of the requests were about spending categories and budgets with another 30 percent being on inquires about past banking transactions. Other popular voice-based requests include locating ATMs, paying bills and changing PINs.

    The «OCBC Banking Assistant» can be found in the bank’s mobile app and was developed over 13 months in partnership with U.S.-based fintech firm Clinc, engaged through the bank’s Open Vault fintech and innovation lab.

    The bank notes that the development of an effective voice-based solution required local considerations or, in its case, a consideration for Singaporean English. Unstructured phrases commonly used in Singapore such as How much I spend on dining?, Can show my spending pattern? or Can pay my bill?, were stumbling blocks that had to be ironed out.

    Ordering up and carrying out commonly-used banking services just by talking to their smartphones will make it much easier for our customers to manage, move and multiply their finances on their own terms,»said Aditya Gupta, head of digital business, Singapore and Malaysia, OCBC Bank.

    We are bullish on the conversational AI and natural language processing technology and will continue to invest in enabling more voice-activated interactions over time.

  • OCBC Head of China Joins CapitaLand

    OCBC Head of China Joins CapitaLand

    The real estate company has hired a China specialist to support the firm’s development in China.

    Singapore-based real estate company CapitaLand has hired former OCBC head of China, Kng Hwee Tin to the newly created role of CEO, finance and corporate services, China.

    She will start on October 1 and will be based in Shanghai. She reports to Andrew Lim, group chief financial officer and Lucas Loh, president, CapitaLand (China). In her role, she will oversee CapitaLand’s finance, treasury, corporate finance and tax, communications, general procurement, and legal functions in China.

    Kng’s career with OCBC began more than three decades ago. During this time, she has held a range of responsibilities in risk management, and was also the bank’s head of group audit. Most recently, she was the executive director and CEO of OCBC Bank (China), a role she has held since December 2012.

    According to its website, CapitaLand owns and manages a global portfolio of S$129.1 billion ($93.56 billion), which includes 1,067 properties in 206 cities, as of 30 June 2019.

    Last week, CapitaLand opened Raffles City Chongqing, the eighth Raffles City in China. The 1.2 million square foot mixed-use development received over 900,000 visitors on its opening weekend.

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  • Credit Card spending jumps in August

    Credit Card spending jumps in August

    Retail card spending improved after a relatively flat five-month period, rising 1.1 percent over the month of August, to a total spend of $7.3 billion.

    Data from Stats NZ shows spending rose across five of the six retail industries when compared to the prior month.

    Hardware, furniture, and appliance retailing rose 1.7 percent over the month, up $22 million, while consumables (including grocery and liquor) rose 0.8 percent, up $16 million.

    Spending in hospitality rose 1.5 percent, an increase of $16 million, while apparel grew 4.5 percent ($13 million) and vehicle spending rose 4.4 percent ($7.8 million).

    The only industry that saw decreased spending was in fuel, which fell 1.4 percent – a decrease of $8.5 million.

    “Card spending in retail industries bounced back after a quiet period in the previous five months,” Stats NZ retail statistics manager Sue Chapman said.

    Overall sales were flat in July and June, fell 0.3 percent in May, rose 0.3 percent in April, and fell 0.2 percent in March.

    August’s result is the largest jump in spending that has been seen since the start of the year, when spending rose from -2.2 percent in December to 2.2 percent up in January.

    Over the month of August, Kiwi cardholders made 150 million transactions across all industries and averaged $49 per transaction.

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  • Hong Kong Stock Exchange Website Hit By DoS Attacks

    Hong Kong Stock Exchange Website Hit By DoS Attacks

    The Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited faced a day of tech hiccups, including the latest denial-of-service attacks on its website.

    According to HKEX CEO, Charles Li Xiaojia, the bourse’s website was subject to distributed denial-of-service attacks (DDoS) – a cyberattack whereby overwhelming traffic is imposed to slow or restrict access from other browsers – and was subsequently unable to display exchange prices and other financial data.

    We will continue to invest more to safeguard and improve” the information and technical infrastructure at the exchange, Li said at a press conference. We hope the public has confidence in the robustness of our system.

    The cyberattack was not the only tech hiccup the HKEX faced just in that single day. Earlier yesterday afternoon, the HKEX had to halt derivatives trading due to a bug in the system before resuming today. According to an update from its website, the issues were caused by software issues in the vendor-supplied trading system.»

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  • Indonesian Regulators Makes Fintech Startup Push

    Indonesian Regulators Makes Fintech Startup Push

    A new online registration system has been introduced by Indonesia’s financial regulator to monitor and further encourage the growth of fintech development in the country.

    The Financial Services Authority (OJK) launched the «Electronic Gateway for Digital Finance Systems» (Gesit) which allows fintech industry stakeholders to gain fintech news access and, more importantly, consult about OJK Infinity.

    OJK Inifinty is a platform the regulator created last year to act as an innovation hub, business incubator and education center for fintech startups. It currently has 121 fintech firms registered, 48 of which are ready for operation.

    Aside from leveraging domestic resources, OJK chairman Wimboh Santoso said there were plans to partner with other Southeast Asian countries to further stimulate fintech development in Indonesia.

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  • Standard Chartered Not Ruling Out Singapore Digital Bank

    Standard Chartered Not Ruling Out Singapore Digital Bank

    The bank is keeping its options open about applying for a digital bank license in Singapore, and will likely follow steps it has taken in Taiwan and Hong Kong in partnering with non-bank firms, if it were to apply.

    Standard Chartered has not ruled out participating in Singapore’s upcoming digital banking regime, a spokesperson for the bank told «The Business Times.»

    «Our experience in these markets will serve us well as we continue to explore the best digital model for our clients in Singapore,» the spokesperson said.

    The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) in June announced that it will issue up to five digital bank licenses, comprising up to two digital full bank licenses, reserved for locally-owned entities, and up to three digital wholesale bank licenses. Applications are being accepted until the end of the year, with successful license recipients to be announced in mid-2020 and the rollout of operations by mid-2021.

    Standard Chartered is among four foreign banks that have a large retail presence on the island. However, it can only apply for a digital wholesale bank license, which is open to foreign entities. Alternatively, it can look for a Singapore partner to set up a fully digital bank.

    SC Digital, the bank’s joint venture with telecoms company PCCW, Hong Kong Telecom (HKT), and Chinese travel services provider Ctrip is among eight entities that have received a virtual bank license in Hong Kong.

    Standard Chartered said it would offer travel, entertainment and telecoms products and services on its virtual banking platform, and integrate virtual banking into the services offered by its partners and leverage their customer bases to grow its reach.

    The bank also took a 5-percent stake in Line Bank, an upcoming digital bank linked to the Link messaging app, which received a virtual banking license in Taiwan in July.

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  • Wirecard Expands Partnership With Mizuho Bank

    Wirecard Expands Partnership With Mizuho Bank

    Wirecard is expanding its partnership with Mizuho Bank. The scope includes a significant geographic extension, a collaboration on new payout products, and joint digital payment solutions.

    Wirecard, a global innovation leader for digital financial technology, and Mizuho Bank announced that they are collaborating in more geographies within Asia-Pacific, including Australia, Malaysia, New Zealand, and the Philippines. Globally, the collaboration will also extend to Europe and the United States.

    To complement Mizuho Bank’s service offering, a corporate payout solution is also being planned. With Wirecard, we will develop our corporate product offering and further digitalize our services on an international scale. We are excited to continue working together with Wirecard and develop our partnership, said Kaoru Mochizuki, head of Transaction Banking Asia Oceania, Mizuho Bank.

    Overall, Wirecard will support Mizuho Bank with innovative and fully digital solutions, aimed especially at banking clients in the food and beverage, retail and hospitality industries.

    Wirecard has been collaborating with Mizuho Bank since 2018. The fintech firm provides card acquiring and issuing services for Mizuho Bank corporate clients in the Asian region. Mizuho Bank is part of Mizuho Financial Group, one of the largest financial institutions in the world present in 38 countries and regions, and holds $1.8 trillion in total assets (as of March 31, 2019).

    Since 2018, Mizuho Bank has leveraged on Wirecard’s wide range of payment acceptance and issuing solutions for their Asian corporate client base, and we are proud to expand this cooperation on a global scale,» added Laura McCracken, global EVP Financial Institutions & Fintech, Wirecard.

     

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  • UBS to Restructure Investment Bank

    UBS to Restructure Investment Bank

    UBS is going to revamp its investment banking unit along the lines of a wealth management business. The goal is to make the unit leaner and more global.

    Piero Novelli and Rob Karofsky are about to unveil their plans for a revamp of the investment banking business at UBS, according to media reports. The two managers have been in charge of the business for a little less than a year.

    The co-heads are planning to merge certain divisions within the bank in a bid to make the management structure leaner. The advisory service to companies for mergers, acquisitions and IPOs will become the responsibility of Javier Oficialdegui and Ros Stephenson. Currently, the business is led by three regional heads.

    The same brush will be applied to the equity and fixed-income trading, which has been kept separate so far. George Athanasopoulos and Jason Barron will be appointed as co-heads.

    The merger of the units will lead to duplications among managers and hence likely to a reduction of the respective headcount.

    Sergio Ermotti, the CEO of UBS, in 2018 merged North America with the rest of the world in wealth management, a move that helped the bank save $200 million a year, according to an interview with Chairman Axel Weber. By 2021, the sum will reach $600 million. And still, the business hasn’t performed according to expectations.

    Novelli and Karofsky obviously hope to cut costs and boost revenues with the help of a leaner and more efficient structure. Details of their plan will follow later today at an internal event, according to the reports.

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  • Sun Life Appoints Asia President

    Sun Life Appoints Asia President

    Sun Life Asia appoints a new president with incumbent Claude Accum to step down and retire on December 31 this year.

    Léo Grépin will become the president of Sun Life Asia in 2020 which currently encompasses life, health and wealth management businesses in seven regional markets: the Philippines, Hong Kong, China, Indonesia, Vietnam, Malaysia, and India.

    Grépin was most recently the firm’s ASEAN president since April 2019, overseeing Sun Life’s businesses in the Philippines, Indonesia, Vietnam and Malaysia, alongside regional distribution and marketing. Prior to that, he was a senior vice-president for Sun Life Canada, responsible for the insurance and wealth management product development and distribution to individuals.

    Previously, he had 20 years of experience including 15 with McKinsey, where he was a senior partner.

    Under Claude’s leadership, Sun Life Asia has gained market share and enhanced the client experience,» said Dean Connor, president and CEO of Sun Life, paying respects to Accum’s 36-year stint with the firm. «On behalf of the executive team and board of directors, I thank Claude for everything he’s accomplished over his career at Sun Life, and wish him all the best in his retirement.

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  • DBS Issues $180 Million Sustainability-Linked Loan

    DBS Issues $180 Million Sustainability-Linked Loan

    DBS has issued a S$250 million ($180 million) three-year loan to real estate group City Developments Limited with interest rate discounts linked to the firm’s sustainability-related performance.

    The loan will be used for general working capital and corporate funding focused on improving CDL’s property quality, performance and method of building.

    Interest rate discounts can be achieved by CDL when it achieves mutually agreed on sustainability-related performance targets including innovations that contribute to the United Nations «Sustainable Development Goals» as determined by an independently appointed expert panel. CDL must also remain listed on at least one «leading global sustainability index.»

    The CDL loan is part of DBS’s ongoing efforts to promote the UN SDGs with this loan aiming to tackle three of the goals: industry, innovation and infrastructure; sustainable cities and communities; and climate action. Elsewhere, DBS has poured S$6.9 billion ($5 billion) into diverse sustainable financing in the last two years to more resource-efficient firms and green industries such as green real estate development and renewable energy.

    DBS and CDL’s move is aligned with ongoing efforts by Singapore’s government to promote sustainability, including in green property development.

    The green financing initiative is a commendable effort given the increasing need to build more environmentally friendly buildings and infrastructure to mitigate the impact of climate change, said Tai Lee Siang, executive director of BuildSG at the Building and Construction Authority.

    In addition to DBS’s loan requirements, CDL itself also pledged commitment to sustainability by achieving «an average of two innovations or new technology adoptions» per year by 2030.

  • StanChart Inks Fintech Tie-Up

    StanChart Inks Fintech Tie-Up

    Digitalization in trade finance continues to gain momentum in Asia with Standard Chartered adding another industry milestone, partnering with tech firm Traydstream to leverage their trade document matching service capabilities.

    In order to help clients shift away from conventionally manual and time-consuming data matching processes, Standard Chartered’s partnership will leverage Traydstream’s platform populated by data and artificial intelligence-based matching tools. The solution aims to prevent trade financing cycle delays and potential impact to working capital needs – an issue made all the more important in the region due to an ongoing trade war.

    Standard Chartered will first offer the document matching service to clients in Singapore before rolling it out to its key trade export markets globally.

    According to Standard Chartered’s global head of documentary trade product management, Samuel Mathew, its decision to partner with Traydstream was due to the tech firm’s platform capabilities and fit with its emerging markets footprint.

    This strategic agreement further builds on the Bank’s export capabilities by allowing our clients to reduce discrepancies in their trade documents with Traydstream’s data and AI-based matching tools,» Mathew said.

    Standard Chartered’s efforts to leverage financial technology in trade finance are not limited to document matching. It is part of an eight-bank alliance that jointly developed «Voltron», a trade finance platform, on which HSBC – one of the developers – recently executed its first yuan-denominated blockchain-based transaction.

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  • UOB Completes Indonesian Asset Manager Acquisition

    UOB Completes Indonesian Asset Manager Acquisition

    UOBAM is strengthening its franchise in Southeast Asia through its expansion into Indonesia, the region’s largest market, with the acquisition of PG Asset Management.

    UOB Asset Management, a wholly-owned subsidiary of UOB, has completed its acquisition of a 75-percent stake in Indonesia’s PG Asset Management (PGAM), the bank said in a media statement on Wednesday.

    The Jakarta-based asset manager, which also has a branch in Surabaya, conducts conventional and structured fund management activities, including managing mutual funds, hedge funds, private equity and REITs, for retail and institutional investors.

    «We see immense potential in Indonesia’s asset management industry, driven by its economic development, increasing affluence and rising demand from individuals and institutions for investment solutions to protect and to grow their assets,» Thio Boon Kiat, Group CEO of UOBAM, said about the acquisition.

    The deal, valued at S$2.25 million, was previously announced in November 2018.

    In the statement, UOB said it is optimistic about Indonesia’s asset management industry, given its «favorable demographics and positive economic outlook.» It noted that the country’s mutual fund industry rose 11 percent year-on-year in 2018, with the industry valued at IDR536.88 trillion (S$52.2 billion) as of end-July 2019, citing data from the country’s Financial Services Authority

    PGAM was founded in 2011 and holds an investment management license in Indonesia. Its other shareholder is Multikem Suplindo, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Celebes Capital.

    UOB Asset Management manages 55 unit trusts in Singapore and is one of the largest unit trust managers in terms of assets under management, with S$33.6 billion ($24.9 billion) in clients’ assets as of end-June 2019, according to the bank. It now operates in eight markets across Asia: Brunei, China, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand.

  • Australian dollar back up

    Australian dollar back up

    The Australian dollar rebounded overnight and is buying 67.69 US cents Wednesday, up from 67.25 US cents on Tuesday.

    Yesterday, the local currency neared its decade low before rebounding. The Aussie dollar dipped to close to a recent 10-year low on weak retail sales figures.

    The Aussie dollar dipped as low as 66.88 US cents after the Australian Bureau of Statistics announced that retail spending fell by an unexpected 0.1 percent in July.

    But it later rebounded from that level – not far from a 10 and a half year low set of 66.77 cents set on August 7 – when the Reserve Bank of Australia announced in the afternoon that it would not to cut the cash rate for another month.

    It was buying 67.24 US cents at 1700 AEST, from 67.31 US cents on Monday.

    One Australian dollar buys 71.41 Japanese yen, from 71.46 yen ; 61.45 euro cents, from 61.28 cents ; 56.10 British pence, from 55.32 pence and 106.87 NZ cents, from 106.74 cents.

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