Retail News CRM

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.

  • KBank-Visa to pilot blockchain based B2B payments

    KBank-Visa to pilot blockchain based B2B payments

    Visa announced Kasikornbank is the first Thai financial institution to join the Visa B2B Connect pilot program. Visa B2B Connect is a new platform that Visa is developing to give financial institutions a simple, fast and secure way to process cross-border business-to-business payments.  The pilot is currently in the Bank of Thailand Regulatory Sandbox.

    Kasikornbank is the first Thai bank to be included in the pilot designed to simplify the cross-border payments.  Globally, Visa has partnered with several other financial institutions on the pilot.

    Suripong Tantiyanon, Country Manager, Visa Thailand said, “Visa is proud that we have a representation from a Thai financial institution in the pilot program.  Building on the enterprise blockchain technology, Visa B2B Connect is a new transaction platform designed for the exchange of high-value international payments between participating banks on behalf of their corporate clients. Managed by Visa end-to-end, Visa B2B Connect combines Visa’s core capabilities in security, governance and distributed ledger technology.”

    Siriporn Wongtriphop, First Senior Vice President, Kasikornbank said, “Kasikornbank is dedicated to delivering new and innovative solutions for our customers. Through our relationship with Visa, we are excited to be participating in the Visa B2B Connect pilot which is the first step of new paradigm in                               reimagining cross-border payment transactions. As the first mover in Thailand, we believe that KBank will be a leader in the industry which benefits for KBank’s enterprise clients in terms of more secured payment.”

    “Visa’s focus is to provide our financial institution partner with access to our products, tools and expertise that will enable their growth and success.  With our technological capability and network, we are pleased to partner with Kasikornbank to create a more efficient, transparent way for business-to-business payments to be made across the world,” Mr. Suripong added.

    With Visa B2B Connect, Visa aims to significantly improve the way international B2B payments are made by offering improved processing time and visibility into the transaction process – ultimately reducing the investment and resources required by banks and their corporate clients to send and receive business payments around the world.

  • Mastercard Signs partnership with League of Legends

    Mastercard Signs partnership with League of Legends

    Mastercard has announced a multi-year partnership with Riot Games to become the first global sponsor for League of Legends esports, the largest esport in the world and one of Hong Kong’s most popular esports. This first-of-its-kind global agreement signifies Mastercard’s support of the esports community and further diversifies the technology company’s world-class sports and entertainment portfolio.

    “Esports is a phenomenon that continues to grow in popularity, with fans that can rival those at any major sporting event in their enthusiasm and energy,” said Raja Rajamannar, chief marketing and communications officer, Mastercard. “Our Priceless platform is built around connecting with people through their passions. We are excited about the experiences and benefits we can bring to the world’s largest esport – both in-game and to the millions of League of Legends fans that watch and attend the tournaments each year.”

    “We’re thrilled to team up with Mastercard on this groundbreaking partnership that will provide meaningful and long-term value to our fans,” said Naz Aletaha, head of esports partnerships at Riot Games. “Mastercard is among the first of world-class brands to take such a big step into esports at the global level, and we’re proud to have them support League of Legends esports events alongside their other premier sports and entertainment sponsorships.”

    As the exclusive global payment services partner for League of Legends global esports events, Mastercard will focus on three annual global tournaments – the Mid-Season Invitational, the All-Star Event, and the pinnacle of all esports events, the World Championship. Mastercard will curate unforgettable Priceless experiences and offers across onsite event activations, priceless.com and through other various promotions to bring fans closer to their passion and everything they love about League of Legends events.

    The first live-event activation will take place at the League of Legends World Championship this October in South Korea, and the first experiences available on Priceless.com will include:

    • Opening ceremony rehearsal viewing and a behind the scenes tour
    • Opportunity to watch a game with a League of Legends pro player from VIP seats
    • Test the gaming PCs the pros will compete on during the World Championship final

    “We’ve long been impressed with Mastercard and their fan-focused approach to partnerships,” said Jarred Kennedy, co-head of esports at Riot Games. “Our community has made League of Legends the biggest esport in the world, and we’re excited to work with Mastercard to bring them new and innovative experiences for years to come.”

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook:

  • New crypto-exchange lets you convert Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia currencies

    New crypto-exchange lets you convert Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia currencies

    Singapore-based fiat-crypto exchange EurekaPro, led by a team consisting of Junus Eu, Douglas Gan and Lau Kin-Wai, today announced its entry into the Southeast Asian blockchain market. EurekaPro offers Asian-wide fiat-to-cryptocurrency support, allowing holders of the Singapore dollar, Malaysian ringgit, Indonesian rupiah, and other Asian fiat currencies to transact on the EurekaPro exchange.

    EurekaPro has already launched an open public beta, in which over 8,000 users have signed up in its first week.

    Eu, the exchange’s CEO, was previously the investment manager of zVentures, the venture capital arm of US- and Singapore-based gaming hardware and software firm Razer. Before that, she was an investment manager at VC firm Jafco Asia.

    On the other hand, Gan and Lau co-founded iFashion, a holding firm that invests in various fashion ecommerce sites. Gan also started beauty services marketplace Vanitee and subscription ecommerce business Vanity Trove. Lau set up FatFish Internet Group, a startup accelerator.

    Lees ook:

  • Worldpay extends real-time payouts to over 50 countries

    Worldpay extends real-time payouts to over 50 countries

    Worldpay, Inc., a global leader in payments, has announced the launch of new dynamic payout solutions that give multi-national eCommerce businesses more choices to disburse funds to partners and customers – quickly, easily and across country borders. Worldpay’s dynamic payout solutions combine the enhanced Worldpay Bankout solution, which now delivers 154 direct bank disbursement destinations (up from 65), and Worldpay FastAccess – enabled by Visa Direct.

    With these versatile payout options, partners and customers need no longer wait for days to receive funds or refunds as they now can obtain them via card in near real-time – through mobile wallet or directly to a local bank account.
    Bankout is an ideal solution for businesses needing to make a large number of global payments to – or on behalf of – their customers and suppliers. With 89 new local markets, Worldpay now provides seamless cross-border payouts for businesses in local currencies without the expense of making multiple international bank transfers.

    Dynamic payouts allow businesses to make faster, seamless card-based payouts in near-real time within a maximum of 30 minutes. Building on its launch in the United States last year, FastAccess is now available to Worldpay customers in over 50 new markets across Europe and Asia.

    A wide-range of industries benefit from these new flexible payout solutions. For example, travel and tourism companies and marketplaces can pay out funds to accommodation vendors or disbursements to travellers in a variety of countries and currencies; gaming businesses can provide near-instant payouts to customers; insurance companies can save costs by replacing local checks with bank transfers; and marketplaces can allow independent sellers to retrieve funds more quickly.

    Shane Happach, executive vice president, Head of Global Enterprise eCommerce at Worldpay, Inc., said: “As more and more companies send payments at lower values, cross-border, it will become a competitive differentiator to send quicker payouts to consumers and inexpensive disbursements to vendors and suppliers. It is estimated that by 2025, the sharing economy will generate Europe-wide revenues worth over €80bn and facilitate nearly €570bn of transactions4. At the heart are seamless, transparent, secure payouts, which can be made via card, mobile wallet or bank transfer in any currency, anywhere in the world.”

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook:

  • Visa and Fitbit launch Fitbit Pay in Thailand

    Visa and Fitbit launch Fitbit Pay in Thailand

    Visa, the world’s leader in digital payments and Fitbit, the leading global wearables brand, today announced that Fitbit Pay™ will be available to its customers in Thailand on Fitbit Ionic or Fitbit Versa and starting November 2018, on  its newest tracker, Fitbit Charge 3. Customers of Kasikornbank, KTC and Siam Commercial Bank can add their Visa credit or debit card to their device, enabling them to make payments on the go directly from their wrist.

    The continuous rise in mobile connectivity has led to the proliferation of digital payments, with Visa helping to offer more ways to pay through devices such as phones, watches and now fitness trackers. According to Visa’s Consumer Payment Attitudes Study, seven in ten Thais (67%) said they preferred using electronic payments, including cards, mobile devices and wearables, more often than cash, deliberately moving away from notes and coins.

    Suripong Tantiyanon, Country Manager, Visa Thailand said: “At Visa, we continue to provide payment experiences across a wide range of form factors and are pleased to partner with Fitbit as well as our financial partners.  There is much potential and opportunity for such wearables to create convenient and relevant payment experiences that truly change the way people make their day-to-day payments, particularly at places that are traditionally heavy on cash.  This is another step forward in the growth of Internet of Things and shows how Visa is enabling companies across the technology industry to help us all move towards a cashless future.”

    Fitbit Pay can be easily set-up on Fitbit Ionic or Fitbit Versa by following simple steps in the Fitbit mobile app on Android or iOS devices to add a credit or debit card to the Fitbit Wallet. Fitbit Pay brings convenience and freedom to users to leave their smartphone and wallet at home, and easily make purchases at thousands of stores where contactless payments are already accepted.

    Fitbit Pay provides secure payments through the Visa Token Service. Tokenization is a payment security technology that replaces card account information, such as account numbers and expiration dates, with a unique digital identifier (“token”) that is used for payment without exposing a cardholder’s more sensitive account information.  A user’s card information is never revealed or shared with merchants. Plus, a protected PIN is chosen by the user during device set-up for an added layer of protection.  Users can leave their wallet at home and pay with a touch of their wrist.

  • KBank to launch USD100-million sustainability bonds to finance green and social projects

    KBank to launch USD100-million sustainability bonds to finance green and social projects

    KASIKORNBANK (KBank) is the first Thai and ASEAN bank to issue sustainability bonds totaling USD100 million, where the proceeds will be used to finance green and social projects. Such bond issuance is aimed at supporting the development of Thai and regional capital markets and promoting investments that generate returns in parallel with driving sustainable growth of Thailand and global communities.

    Mr. Banthoon Lamsam, Chairman of the Board of KBank, said KBank has adhered to the Sustainable Development concept in relation to the economic, social and environmental aspects as a foundation of its operations, to create maximum benefits for all stakeholders. Recently, KBank issued sustainability bonds totaling USD100 million for foreign investors, which has made KBank the first bank in Thailand and Southeast Asia to offer such bonds. The proceeds of bond issuance will be used to finance projects that will bring about environmental and social benefits in accordance with international standards set up by the International Capital Market Association (ICMA) and the ASEAN Capital Markets Forum (ACMF).

    Sustainability bonds of KBank are senior, unsecured bonds, with floating interest rate based on LIBOR plus 0.95 percent. Under a five-year term, the maturity will be in 2023. The entire amount was offered to foreign institutional investors via KBank’s Hong Kong Branch. Related parties include BNP Paribas that acts as the Sustainability Bond Framework Structuring Advisor and Sole Lead Manager, and Sustianalytics – an independent global provider of ESG and corporate governance research – that has provided a second party opinion on the sustainability bond framework.

    Mr. Banthoon added that the success in the sustainability bond sale reinforces KBank’s core concept of sustainable development. The fact that the bonds were fully subscribed within only one day reflects KBank’s ability to create a balance between the return and the policy of the bond which is up to international standards, thus being widely accepted by institutional investors who have placed their trust in KBank. KBank is strongly confident that the issuance of the sustainability bonds – the first time in Thailand and in ASEAN – will set a new benchmark for domestic and regional capital markets. The initiative will be a prelude for the launch of capital products offering attractive returns to investors while also driving sustainable growth for the nation and the world.

    KBank’s business operations are based on being a bank of sustainability under appropriate risk management, good governance and balance in economic, social and environmental dimensions. Given the adherence to the Sustainable Development concept, KBank is the first bank in Thailand and ASEAN that has been granted membership of the Dow Jones Sustainability Indices (DJSI) in both their DJSI World Index and DJSI Emerging Markets 2018 for the third consecutive year. In addition, KBank has been selected as a member of the FTSE4Good Emerging Index for three straight years.

    At the national level, the Stock Exchange of Thailand has included KBank in the Thailand Sustainability Investment List 2018 (THSI List) and the SET THSI Index, the first-of-its-kind index in Thailand, among other 45 companies. In addition, KBank is the first and only commercial bank in the country that has been granted the Carbon Neutral Certification by Thailand Greenhouse Gas Management Organization (Public Organization).

    Lees ook:

  • Mastercard Takes HongKong’s Education Sector into New Milestone

    Mastercard Takes HongKong’s Education Sector into New Milestone

    Mastercard is bringing cashless payments to Hong Kong’s education sector through a seamless FinTech and EduTech platform, which enables the city’s first-ever integrated education app with multiple in-app digital payments.

    Through an exclusive partnership with local education app developer GRWTH, Mastercard will bring hassle-free, fast, safe, and convenient cashless payments experience to schools and parents. The enhanced app integrates digital payments, account reconciliation, student profiles, home-school communication, as well as school administration into one single platform.

    The partnership addresses the pain points faced by parents in daily school payments situations, such as spending a lot of time preparing cash or issuing checks, keeping track of expenses that are often paid in small amounts, and students missing out opportunities to join school activities due to losing cash or checks. All school expenses can be settled via the in-app digital payments function, thereby eliminating the need to deal with cumbersome cash or checks. Parents can also easily track their school payments anytime, anywhere, giving them greater peace of mind.

    Schools also benefit from saving massive administrative time and costs that come with handling the complex payment procedures. Teachers can also save time spent during class manually collecting payments from students. The app offers an exclusive backend reconciliation system, which provides a direct and convenient way to keep track of payments. This includes simplifying reconciliation procedures via transaction categorization and real-time transaction tracking as well as report generation. It relieves the pressure for schools in handling school expenses, allowing more quality teaching time.

    “We are proud to partner with Mastercard to attain our goal of enriching the life of our children through technology. GRWTH links up students, school administrators and parents and provide them with powerful and innovative tools for better home-school communication and organization,” said Adam Chan, co-founder and CEO, GRWTH. “By connecting the education, finance and technology sectors, we aspire to push forward the development of digital payments in Hong Kong.”

    “We are excited to turn a new chapter for the Hong Kong education sector. By bringing together EduTech and FinTech, Mastercard aspires to alleviate the pressure of handling large amounts of cash and checks for schools and parents, not only by providing them with fast, safe and convenient cashless payments experiences but also by helping them devote more time and energy into students’ growth and development,” said Helena Chen, managing director, Hong Kong and Macau, Mastercard. “Through Mastercard’s technology, we can truly lay the foundations for the future of our next generation, and push forward the development of Hong Kong as a smart city.”

    As the exclusive partner, Mastercard provides a one-click, secure digital payments solution. Parents simply need to store their Mastercard card details only once to enjoy the seamless, one-click experience for all future payments. To provide even more convenience, the new in-app payments service is not only available for Mastercard credit and debit cardholders, but also to Mastercard prepaid cardholders. With the world’s fastest and most reliable global payments network, Mastercard cardholders can enjoy the same robust, multi-layered security protections that comes with paying with a Mastercard.

    GRWTH has recently launched the service to 10 schools in Hong Kong as part of a pilot program* and plans to gradually expand the service to all kindergartens, primary and secondary schools in Hong Kong. “Our school aspires to bring changes to the education sector by leveraging technology and innovation. We are excited to be one of the 10 pilot schools to introduce a cashless payments option for parents,” said Chu Tsz Wing, chief principal, St. Hilary’s Primary School & VNSAA ST. HILARY’S SCHOOL.

    Apart from its in-app payment function, the GRWTH app includes tools for home-school communication and school administration, and will soon integrate the ability to pay vendors such as extra-curricular activities and school service providers, allowing parents to make instant and direct payment. The “GRWTH Community” is made up of over 100 NGOs and commercial organizations in Hong Kong. Parents can choose personalized extracurricular activities for their children based on the multi-intelligence analysis function in the app’s talent pool. The GRWTH app is available for free download via Apple App Store and Google Play Store.

    *The 10 pilot schools are:

     Buddhist Lim Kim Tian Memorial Primary School

     Buddhist Wing Yan School

     ELCHK Ma On Shan Lutheran Primary School

     Fung Kai No.1 Primary School

     Gloria Creative Kindergarten and Gloria Creative Kindergarten (Sheung Shui)

     Lok Sin Tong Leung Wong Wai Fong Memorial School

     N.T.W.J.W.A. LTD. Leung Sing Tak Primary School

     St. Edward’s Catholic Primary School

     St. Hilary’s Primary School and VNSAA ST. HILARY’S SCHOOL

     The ELCHK Wo Che Lutheran School

  • IFC and Alipay Announce 10×1000 Tech for Inclusion Programme to Inspire Technology Leaders

    IFC and Alipay Announce 10×1000 Tech for Inclusion Programme to Inspire Technology Leaders

    International Financial Corporation (“IFC”), a member of the World Bank Group, and Ant Financial Services Group (“Ant Financial”), the world’s leading tech company and the operator of Alipay, jointly announced the 10×1000 Tech for Inclusion programme at the 2018 Annual Meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank Group. The initiative will include a comprehensive programme that embraces interactivity and the exchange of ideas to provide training to 10,000 tech experts in emerging markets from both public and private sectors over the next 10 years.

    Alibaba Group founder and Executive Chairman Jack Ma said that the programme aims to build an interactive and open platform to increase support for tech leaders and skilled individuals who are working to alleviate poverty and make basic financial services more broadly accessible in Indonesia, which will be the first stop of the programme within emerging markets.

    “I believe that investing in people is investing for the future. Cultivating talent is one of the most significant things the Alibaba ecosystem can do. My hope is that emerging markets will benefit from the individuals that are nurtured under this new 10×1000 Tech for Inclusion programme and be able to embrace a brighter future through the digital economy,” said Ma, who is an adviser to the Indonesian government steering committee for e-commerce.

    The 10×1000 Tech for Inclusion programme will seek support from local public and private sector partners in emerging markets. A series of Techfin workshops will be held across China and various countries. The workshops will aim to inspire tech leaders and local talent to become “drivers for change” in the digital era, promoting technology inclusion and global sustainability.

    “Technology offers the largest dividend of the digital era bringing unprecedented opportunities for financial inclusion,” said Eric Jing, Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Ant Financial. “Individuals with talent in technology are the drivers for change who can inspire innovation that will lead to a better collective future. Now is the time for Alipay to share its knowledge and experience in digital financial services to broaden the tech communities and ecosystem within emerging markets.”

    IFC and Ant Financial have partnered on initiatives to extend micro-credits to small- and women-owned businesses in China and over the past year have driven collaboration on inclusive digital finance, green digital finance and business-environment enhancement. In 2016, Ant Financial signed onto the World Bank Group Universal Financial Access 2020 goal and committed to increasing access to financial services for 100 million underserved individuals.

    Philippe Le Houérou, IFC CEO, said, “Digital finance is transforming the financial landscape, creating new markets, empowering consumers and putting banking in the hands of unreached millions worldwide for the first time. The joint programme will further deepen knowledge and create new opportunities for digital financial services to expand financial access and improve lives.”

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook:

  • Mekong Capital Has Won an Award From Private Equity International

    Mekong Capital Has Won an Award From Private Equity International

    Mekong Capital announced that it was awarded the 2018 Private Equity International (PEI) Award for Operational Excellence for a Lower Mid-Market/Small Cap investment in Asia Pacific, based on the performance of Traphaco.

    This is the sixth year in a row of Mekong Capital winning an award by Private Equity International, after having won the Operational Improvement Firm of the year for the Asian Small Cap category in 2013, 2015 & 2017, and Frontier Market Firm of the year for 2014 & 2016.

    Mekong Capital is well-known for its Vision Driven Investing framework – the secret sauce for its series of consistently successful investments. Traphaco has applied certain elements of the framework and was one of the best performers in Mekong Capital’s Vietnam Azalea Fund.

    Mekong Capital worked closely with Traphaco on projects covering areas such as establishing a clear vision and organizing around achieving the vision; optimizing working capital; aggressively expanding the nationwide distribution network; bonus system; consolidation of subsidiaries by acquiring minority interests; improving corporate governance; etc.

    As a result, during the 10-year lifecycle of Vietnam Azalea Fund’s investment in Traphaco, Traphaco developed from the 5th largest into the 2nd largest pharmaceutical company in Vietnam. The company possesses one of the largest direct-to-pharmacy distribution networks in Vietnam and is #1 in traditional medicine. In 2017, Traphaco delivered $82.6 million net revenue and $11.4 million net profit.

    In November 2017, the Vietnam Azalea Fund successfully divested the entire 24.99% holding in Traphaco for $64.5 million, realizing a gross IRR of 27.7% and a gross return multiple of 6.3 times.

  • Touché and Eddits makes in-store cryptocurrency payments easier

    Touché and Eddits makes in-store cryptocurrency payments easier

    EDDITS and Touché have jointly developed a new solution that significantly simplifies in-store cryptocurrency transactions, allowing customers to make purchases and pay directly in Ether from their own Ethereum addresses in a fully decentralised way. Current in-store cryptocurrency purchases are cumbersome and costly due in part to the difficulties in accessing the buyers’ Private Key. Payment providers are required to manage their user wallets and users must send cryptocurrencies to their payment providers’ managed accounts to transact. The most common way to do so is to generate a QR Code on the merchant’s Point of Sale (POS) machine and scan it with a mobile phone that contains the user’s Private Key to generate payment.

    With the new solution, EDDITS and Touché have for the first time initiated cryptocurrency payment from a POS device that uses only the end-user wallet with a touch of two fingers. Touché’s industry leading biometric POS device authenticates the fingerprints.

    EDDITS, thanks to ERC725 and ERC735-based Smart Contract, enables a user to authorise the payment provider to initiate a payment from its identity to the merchant’s, provided that the proof of authorisation of the transaction is given.

    During the enrolment process, the user’s fingerprints are linked to its identity Smart Contract as claims issued by Touché. When a payment is requested, the user authenticates himself on the device using his fingerprints and authorise the transaction. The data are signed and sent to the payment provider’s Smart Contract. If the fingerprint proof matches the one linked to the user identity, a transaction is generated by the payment provider’s Smart Contract to move the ETH from the buyer identity to the merchant’s one.

    “This innovative payment solution will greatly simplify cryptocurrency transactions for payment providers, removing the need for them to manage user wallets,” said Sahba Saint-Claire, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder, Touché. “It will also enhance security for customers since each payment will require cryptographic proof generated on the Point of Sale device at the touch of two fingers.”

    “With EDDITS, we started by linking strong off chain identities to ERC725 Smart Contract in a trustless way in order to ease the KYC of blockchain address owners. Through this cooperation with Touché, we achieved a further step by providing an easy to use yet highly secure in-store payment solution based on the same foundation.” Said Fabrice CROISEAUX, CEO of InTech and creator of EDDITS. “ERC725/735 allows us to leverage the power of blockchain while staying compliant with current regulations.”

    Lees ook:

  • Bitcoin Cash Wallet Cointext Expands to Asia via Hong Kong

    Bitcoin Cash Wallet Cointext Expands to Asia via Hong Kong

    Hong Kong is the primary city in Asia to formally be associated by Cointext, an administration which empowers anybody to send cash to mobile numbers or Bitcoin Cash addresses without Internet, applications, or records. Notwithstanding inhabitants of the Chinese independent domain, Israelis and Palestinians likewise now approach the administration.

    Cointext, an administration which empowers digital money clients to execute transactions straightforwardly over mobile  SMS, has declared that it released bolster for its Bitcoin Cash (BCH) wallet to Hong Kong, and additionally Israel and the Palestinian regions. It is private and secure for casual use.

    “These are important regions for us to connect because they’re financial centers, and Cointext gives them a simple alternative to physical cash,” said founder and lead developer Vin Armani.

    Cointext clients get to their wallets by sending SMS directions like BALANCE, RECEIVE, and SEND to a local number. It never holds funds. Another wallet is in a split second set up the minute the beneficiary gets a message through the administration.  The system does not write data to disk and stores no information about phone numbers, keypairs, or transactions pushed through the system. There’s no database layer. All transactions are settled immediately on-chain. Citizens in the new nations get a Cointext wallet by messaging the word START to their separate numbers: 85257456744 for Hong Kong and 972526230418 for Israel.

    Propelled back in March of this year in the US, Canada, South Africa, Switzerland, Sweden, Netherlands, and the UK, Cointext is a full-highlighted wallet that doesn’t require applications, records, passwords, or even access to the Internet. The administration offers an entrance ramp to the digital money community for anybody with an SMS-empowered phone.  In order to be viable, the CoinText application requires a cryptocurrency that is committed to 0-confirmation speed and on-chain scaling to keep network fees low.

    Not long ago, it was revealed that Cointext has extended its support of six more European nations. On Oct. 1, the organization reported that individuals would now be able to utilize the application to send BCH over SMS in Portugal, Estonia, Germany, France, Austria, and Czech Republic. CoinText collects a fee of 10 Satoshi (.0000001 BCH) per byte to broadcast a SEND message through its API.  In US Dollars, the fee is about $.05 (five cents). This cost is fixed no matter how much perceived value of BCH is moved on the network. This fee may differ by region due to varying costs of SMS gateways.

    Both the Hong Kong and Israel discharges have the default information in English. However, Hebrew and Chinese dialects are in progress of development, the organization said. With this most recent extension to East Asia and in the Middle East, Cointext currently caters to over 25 nations and backings of 15 dialects.

  • Online lending booms in Vietnam, but lack of regulations

    Online lending booms in Vietnam, but lack of regulations

    It is easy these days to find a site for online lending and borrow quickly with simple procedures. Companies have entered the peer to peer (P2P) online lending realm that directly connects borrowers, whether individuals or companies, with lenders, and get up to 2,000 customers a day, Can Van Luc, chief economist of the state-owned creditor BIDV, said.

    This lending format does not require the involvement of an intermediary. It is flourishing because there are always people who have need for loans or want to lend money, and the rapid growth of technology precludes the need to go through intermediary financial institutions, he said.

    “This model has several strong points, including low cost and quick disbursement time, but the worry is it is easy for investors to make use of it for other purposes. There are many lenders who come to the P2P platform not to find borrowers but to invest in other fields and the relationship between the suppliers of the platform, borrowers and lenders is unclear due to the lack of a legal framework.”

    And because of this, lenders have been using gangs to recover their loans and put up their interest rates much higher than the legal cap set by the State Bank of Vietnam.

    Luc said there is a risk for both borrowers and lenders.

    He said authorities need to create a legal framework for this model soon to meet the strong demand in the market for credit.

    Economist Nguyen Tri Hieu argued authorities should create legal regulations related to contracts, interest rate, fees, and other aspects to avoid problems.

    Nguyen Thi Hong, Deputy Governor of the central bank, told a government meeting early this month that online lending has more or less turned into loan sharking.

    It is a no-go area for the central bank but it would monitor and make recommendations to the government to regulate the market, she said.

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook:

  • Blockchain Yet to Prove Its Use to the World according to Jack Ma

    Blockchain Yet to Prove Its Use to the World according to Jack Ma

    Alibaba chief Jack Ma thinks blockchain tech is pretty meaningless – unless it helps us transform the manufacturing industry and protect the environment.

    In a keynote at World Artificial Intelligence Conference in China, the star entrepreneur shared his beliefs that budding technologies like blockchain, artificial intelligence (AI), and the Internet of Things (IoT) have yet to prove their utility to the world.

    For the record, while he did touch on blockchain, Ma focused his speech on some common misconceptions about AI and what role the technology can play in the future.

    Although the entrepreneur stopped short of revealing whether and how Alibaba intends to integrate blockchain into its services, it appears the company is no stranger to distributed ledger tech (DLT). Indeed, reports suggest Alibaba and IBM hold 90 percent of all DLT-related patents worldwide.

    “The data age is major opportunity for manufacturers to reform the industry,” Ma said at the conference. “But blockchain and IoT will be meaningless tech unless they can promote the transformation of the manufacturing industry, and the evolution of the society towards a greener and more inclusive direction.”

    Still, it turns out that wasn’t enough to stop Alibaba – and fellow Chinese tech giants Baidu and Tencent – from banning all cryptocurrency-related activities from its platform. A search for the two forums named “Digital Currency Bar” and “Virtual Currency Bar” shows that they have been temporarily closed in accordance with relevant laws, regulations, and policies.

    On the other hand, Alibaba and Tencent are cracking down on cryptocurrency transactions on their mobile payment services.

    WeChat, Tencent’s social media, messenger services, and mobile payments app, banned a series of cryptocurrency media outlets for spreading hype in violation of Chinese law.

    Now, Tencent has said in a statement that the company will also ban cryptocurrency trading on WeChat. The company will monitor daily transactions in real-time and block any cryptocurrency trading related activity.

    Alibaba Group’s Ant Financial said that it will take similar measures on its mobile payments app Alipay. The company will restrict or block all accounts that indulge in cryptocurrency trading.

    Lees ook:

  • SBI Ripple Asia’s Moneytap Opens in Japan

    SBI Ripple Asia’s Moneytap Opens in Japan

    Japanese banks has power over more than 80% of Japan’s money-related resources. Presently, those banks have started utilizing a purchaser driven retail installments application controlled by Ripple’s blockchain innovation. A consortium of 61 Japanese banks are presently utilizing Ripple’s blockchain innovation.

    The application is called MoneyTap. With MoneyTap, Japanese banks can perform less expensive, less demanding exchanges between themselves. The framework replaces Japan’s decades-old clearing house framework and is relied upon to promptly bring down expenses and conduct less demanding exchanges among Japan’s biggest monetary organizations. Any Japanese client can download the MoneyTap application today for iOS or Android. Purchasers can utilize it to finish free exchanges. We can consider it the Venmo of Japan.

    The news was affirmed by Ripple. Amid Ripple’s Swell meeting, the organization affirmed that three monetary establishments were at that point utilizing Ripple’s XRP-fueled xRapid innovation to encourage less expensive, less demanding universal exchanges. Swell’s Japanese savings association was first declared not long ago. Back in March, the organization declared that SBI Ripple Asia would utilize Ripple’s blockchain innovation to encourage residential bank movements in Japan.

    ALSO READ:  Esports Gold ICO Investors Lock-in Ethereum Price

    The installment convention is MoneyTap. The application will empower constant, round-the-year residential cash exchanges between ledgers utilizing xCurrent, Ripple’s venture blockchain arrangement, as indicated by the SBI Ripple Asia site. The application can process installments utilizing a straightforward QR code. You can likewise enter the beneficiary’s telephone number to send installment. The MoneyTap application is accessible on the two iOS and Android.

    Be that as it may, three banks have particularly declared help for Ripple’s MoneyTap application, including Suruga Bank, SBI Net Sumishin Bank, and Resona Bank. Each of the three banks intend to utilize MoneyTap and xCurrent to encourage zero-cost exchanges between them.

    ALSO READ:  Taiwanese Airline, Far Eastern Air Transport, Accepts Bitcoin

    Clients will pay to utilize the installment exchange convention is the point at which they’re asking for an arrival of assets. In that circumstance, members will be required to pay a little expense. Other than that circumstance, notwithstanding, MoneyTap will be free for Japanese saving money clients to utilize.

    In the interim, outside of Japan, Ripple has cooperated with Banco Santander to dispatch One Pay FX, which is likewise controlled by xCurrent.

    Lees ook:

  • Julius Baer Expands in India

    Julius Baer Expands in India

    The Swiss-based bank is recruiting a total of 11 advisors. The new hires will be spread across Julius Baer’s Indian branches in Chennai, New Delhi, Calcutta, and Mumbai.

    Asia head Jimmy Lee said this summer that India is a core growth market, along with China and Indonesia, and of course major hubs Singapore and Hong Kong. Julius Baer has massively built its imprint in Asia with the 2012 acquisition of Merrill Lynch’s private bank outside the U.S. – a method the bank is keen to continue, as Lee recently said.

    Growth by M&A

    Since then, the bank has built out its business on the Indian subcontinent, including taking an entire team from now-defunct Banca Svizzera della Italiana, or BSI.

    The 11 bankers will report to Ashish Gumashta, CEO of Julius Baer Wealth Advisers in India, who took over last year following the exit of Rahul Singh last July. Gumashta was a veteran of Merrill Lynch in India, and instrumental in the integration into the Swiss private bank following the deal.

    Lees ook: