Retail News CRM

Tag: Finance

  • Ping An Signs Fintech MoU with Indonesian Insurer

    Ping An Signs Fintech MoU with Indonesian Insurer

    Ping An’s OneConnect is rapidly making inroads into the regional fintech market including the latest signing of a memorandum of understanding with Indonesian insurer Asransi Sinarmas.

    The MoU, signed by OneConnection’s insurance division CEO Bi Wei and Asuransi Sinarmas director Njoman Sudartha, includes an initial phase that will enable the insurer to launch its Smart Auto Claims solutions on the Chinese platform.

    Sudartha cited technical strength and in-depth knowledge in AI and blockchain technologies as reasons to select OneConnect as its insurtech partner which is expected to help improve operational efficiency and reduce costs.

    Ping An’s statement also details a myriad of technology from OneConnect that will be leveraged to enhance the insurer’s business.

    It has a Smart Agent app that can help insurers with agent training and incentive programs. Its agent management app aims to improve talent retention and productivity. In terms of AI, its risk control solution suite includes the usage of image recognition and big data for quick completion of car damage claim assessments.

    Asuransi Sinarmas is part of the Sinarma Group, a local conglomerate owned by Indonesian Chinese Huang Yucong, with a global portfolio of businesses spanning pulp and paper; agriculture and food; finance; and real estate.

  • UBS Appoints Co-Head of Global M&A

    UBS Appoints Co-Head of Global M&A

    UBS appoints a new co-head of global mergers and acquisitions, based in Hong Kong.

    Greg Peirce, was promoted to the new role after just becoming APAC head of M&A advisory at the bank two years ago. Peirce will co-head the global business alongside U.S.-based co-head Marc-Anthony Hourihan.

    Peirce’s 19-year career with UBS began in 2000 when he joined as a Sydney-based intern. Prior to moving to Asia, he was last jointly responsible for Australasia client coverage and advisory. He is also currently a member of the bank’s global management committee.

    It is understood the new promotion makes Peirce the most senior Australian in the UBS hierarchy offshore, the report added.

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  • UBS Appoints Riyadh Desk Head

    UBS Appoints Riyadh Desk Head

    UBS’s wealth management arm further bolsters its onshore presence in the Saudi Arabian market with the latest appointment of a new Riyadh-based desk head.

    Ghassan Soufi joined UBS, effective as of yesterday, in what the bank calls a key role in its growth plans for the Saudi market. According to a statement from the bank, Soufi will be responsible for creating and leading a team of senior advisors to some of the most important clients and families in the Kingdom.

    Soufi has more than 25 years of experience covering the market most recently with the private banking arm of major Saudi lender Samba.

    Ghassan will be crucial in identifying and hiring top talent locally and leading our onshore client acquisition strategy, said Abdallah Najia, Saudi Arabia head of wealth management at UBS.

    Soufi will help us drive growth and further his successful track record of building excellent client relationships in the Kingdom,» added Ali Janoudi, UBS’s wealth management head of Central and Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa; and vice-chairman of Saudi Arabia.

  • Hong Kong Launches Initiatives for Financial Hub Status

    Hong Kong Launches Initiatives for Financial Hub Status

    Hong Kong officials announced various plans to further promote the city’s status as a global financial center and corridor for Greater Bay Area opportunities.

    According to Hong Kong’s financial secretary Paul Chan Mo-po, measures would be introduced to encourage more private equity funds to set up and conduct fundraising for Shenzhen-based tech startups. The government will also seek to introduce measures that attract more family offices to establish in Hong Kong.

    Attracting private equity funds and family offices to come to Hong Kong will be the two future developments to allow the city’s financial sector to capture the opportunities arising from the development of the Greater Bay Area, Chan said, during a recent event, Connect Hall, hosted by 10 financial services industry bodies.

    Chan also highlighted Greater Bay Area opportunities including the expansion of «connect» programs which have thus far included stocks and bonds.

    The Greater Bay Area is going to provide more opportunities to Hong Kong,» Chan shared. «There will be more cross-border connect schemes in future. After the stock connect and bond connect, we continue to look at insurance connect and wealth management connect in future.

    Also present at the event was local chief executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor who underlined at the same event that there was «no reason to change the credit rating of Hong Kong.

    Even though Hong Kong faces overseas markets’ uncertainties and local social unrest over the past three months, the banking and financial markets work well and the exchange rate is stable,” she said. «The rule of law and free flow of capital and talent have not been affected by the recent incidents.

    Chan added to Cheng’s statements, noting that a lesson has been learned by the Hong Kong government. «The government has learned a lesson from the social events over the last two months,» he said. We will listen to different sectors to improve the economy and society.

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  • 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.

  • 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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  • 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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  • 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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  • 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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  • DBS To Launch Retail Access To Robo-Based ETF Portfolios

    DBS To Launch Retail Access To Robo-Based ETF Portfolios

    DBS’ retail clients will gain access to its robo-platform «digiPortfolio» by year-end which will generate ETF portfolios designed by its wealth management arm.

    Retail investors will have access to portfolios constructed using exchange-traded funds (ETFs) by the end of the third quarter, the bank said in a release on Monday.

    The bank will launch two portfolios made of Singapore and UK-listed ETFs, allowing retail customers to tap the investment expertise of the bank’s wealth management team.

    Technology has helped us to avail some services to our retail clients that in the past was almost impossible to do so at affordable rates, said Jeremy Soo, DBS head of consumer banking group for Singapore, at a media briefing on Monday.

    DBS digiPortfolio was first launched in March this year with two portfolios offered only to DBS Treasures clients, who have assets under management of S$350,000 and above. In contrast, the new Asia portfolio is available to customers with no prior investment experience.

    The Asia Portfolio, which requires a minimum investment sum of S$1,000, offers Singapore Exchange (SGX)-listed ETFs, the first of such portfolio for the bank. It provides the investor with exposure to Singapore, China, and India. For investors seeking global diversification, they can opt for the Global Portfolio, which offers UK-listed ETFs for a minimum investment sum of S$1,000.

  • Hong Kong Loosens Fintech Lending

    Hong Kong Loosens Fintech Lending

    The Hong Kong Monetary Authority amended its credit risk management guidelines to encourage greater application of analytic tools when providing loans, in yet another move to further fintech development in the financial hub.

    As part of the HKMA’s Banking Made Easy Initiative, lenders are now allowed to further expand personal lending based on credit analytics tools, like big data analysis, to assess and approve applications. The guideline was issued in May 2018 and initially limited such types of lending but will now liberalize the market.

    Several AIs (authorized institutions) have since rolled out new retail credit products following the guidelines and the business has been operating smoothly, said HKMA’s executive director of banking supervision, Raymond Chan, in a note.

    In view of this latest development, the HKMA considers that it is no longer necessary to set an across-the-board limit applicable to all AIs on such lending (i.e. 10% of an AI’s capital base). Instead, the HKMA expects AIs intending to develop this business to set a limit of their own, which should be commensurate with their risk appetite and risk management capability.

    Fintech continues to grow as new regulatory and market developments are picking up momentum in the region.

    As a leading financial center, Hong Kong is undoubtedly competing for market share. For example, the «Banking Made Easy Initiative» was issued last year and involved a dedicated task force to help the industry “minimize regulatory frictions” in digital banking including remote onboarding, online finance and wealth management.

    Rival hub, Singapore, is also making inroads into the space with the regulators officially taking digital banking applications last week as hopefuls vie for one of the five licenses.