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Tag: FinTech

  • China to Step Up Fintech Regulation

    China to Step Up Fintech Regulation

    The People’s Bank of China will introduce new standards in 17 areas, including blockchain, cloud services and artificial intelligence.

    China has plans to step up regulation in 17 areas of fintech to «guide the application of new technologies» applied across the financial industry, according to an article published by state news portal Xinhua.

    Speaking at the 2019 working conference of the National Financial Standardization Technical Committee on Wednesday, Fan Yifei, deputy governor of the People’s Bank of China, said the introduction of new standards is urgently needed to fill shortcomings in key areas, with a particular focus on data security, the publication reported.

    Fan noted that China currently has 65 national financial standards and 252 financial industry standards, which include mobile financial payment client technical specifications, voiceprint identification and more, but financial services and management standards are still weak.

    Explaining the rationale behind the regulatory push, Fan said that high-quality financial development requires high-quality financial standards.

    He also highlighted the need to expedite the internationalization of financial standards, actively carry out financial standardization research, cultivate a new generation of regulators savvy in this field, and to use fintech regulation to modernize financial governance systems and governance capabilities, the report said.

    China recently passed a new law on cryptography aimed to facilitate development concurrently with the country’s central banking efforts to launch its own digital currency, which will be effective January 1, 2020.

     

  • China to Step Up Fintech Regulation

    China to Step Up Fintech Regulation

    The People’s Bank of China will introduce new standards in 17 areas, including blockchain, cloud services and artificial intelligence.

    China has plans to step up regulation in 17 areas of fintech to «guide the application of new technologies» applied across the financial industry, according to an article published by state news portal Xinhua.

    Speaking at the 2019 working conference of the National Financial Standardization Technical Committee on Wednesday, Fan Yifei, deputy governor of the People’s Bank of China, said the introduction of new standards is urgently needed to fill shortcomings in key areas, with a particular focus on data security, the publication reported.

    Fan noted that China currently has 65 national financial standards and 252 financial industry standards, which include mobile financial payment client technical specifications, voiceprint identification and more, but financial services and management standards are still weak.

    Explaining the rationale behind the regulatory push, Fan said that high-quality financial development requires high-quality financial standards.

    He also highlighted the need to expedite the internationalization of financial standards, actively carry out financial standardization research, cultivate a new generation of regulators savvy in this field, and to use fintech regulation to modernize financial governance systems and governance capabilities, the report said.

    China recently passed a new law on cryptography aimed to facilitate development concurrently with the country’s central banking efforts to launch its own digital currency, which will be effective January 1, 2020.

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  • Singapore Launches Research Platform for Fintech Investments

    Singapore Launches Research Platform for Fintech Investments

    The Fintech Research Platform will help investors and financial institutions connect with start-ups in the industry that they can partner with or invest in.

    The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has developed a prototype for an industry-wide fintech research platform in collaboration with accounting firm Deloitte and data and analytics provider S&P Global Market Intelligence to facilitate investments in the sector, the regulator announced in a statement on Tuesday.

    The platform, which will continue to be refined and built up, is designed with several objectives in mind: to increase transparency, boost investor confidence, and accelerate decision making, the statement said.

    The partners hopes to address the information gap in the sector: many investors and financial institutions currently do not have access to reliable and up-to-date company information relating to fintech start-ups and have to rely on informal networks to source investment opportunities.

    We believe that the deployment of capital in start-ups, particularly those offering business-to-business solutions, can be vastly improved by enhancing transparency and increasing the confidence in data on early-stage companies,  Sopnendu Mohanty, MAS chief fintech officer, said in the statement.

  • Singapore Fintech Partners Visa for Instant Remittances

    Singapore Fintech Partners Visa for Instant Remittances

    The partnership, using Visa’s push payment solution and secure network, allows consumers to transfer money in a faster, convenient and more secure way.

    Singapore cross-border fund transfer startup Nium is partnering with Visa to enable instant money transfers into recipients’ bank accounts through their 16-digit Visa debit card numbers, the firm announced in a press release on Monday.

    Designed for both peer-to-peer and business-to-business transfers, the rollout of the service currently covers remittances to Southeast Asian markets like Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines.

    We understand that individuals’ and businesses’ need to receive money quickly, especially in markets where there are no instant payment solutions like FAST or IMPS, Prajit Nanu, Nium co-founder and CEO, said in the statement.

    Nium, formerly known as InstaReM, recently nixed plans to pursue a digital wholesale banking license, saying it would focus its efforts on its global business-to-business payments instead.

    The firm is part of Visa’s Fintech Fast Track program, which facilitates fintech partners to build and deliver new commerce experiences on Visa’s payments network.

  • Singapore Fintech Ditches Plans for Digital Bank License

    Singapore Fintech Ditches Plans for Digital Bank License

    Singapore cross-border startup InstaReM has withdrawn from the contest for a digital wholesale banking license, preferring to focus on its global business-to-business payments instead. It is the first firm to declare its withdrawal.

    InstaReM, which recently rebranded to Nium, has backed down from its application for a digital wholesale license because the banking landscape in the city-state looks rather crowded.

    Singaporean banks are extremely well entrenched in that ecosystem. Our strengths lie elsewhere and we have decided to consolidate and focus on those areas,» said Nium’s chief executive Prajit Nanu, who was quoted in «The Business Times.»

    Nanu said his company will focus on serving businesses in more than 40 markets. It holds regulatory licenses including in the European Union, Hong Kong, Indonesia, and Japan and is seeking new electronic money institution licenses for card issuing and stored value facilities in Mexico and Brazil. With $41 million raised earlier this year, it is one of the best-funded fintech startups in South-east Asia.

    Backed by investors including Temasek Holdings unit Vertex Ventures and Rocket Internet, Nium previously said it was interested in the digital bank license offered. Other companies that expressed a desire to apply included SingTel, Grab and Razer.

  • Chinese Fintech Investigated for Fake Government Threats

    Chinese Fintech Investigated for Fake Government Threats

    Chinese fintech firm 51 Credit Card is being investigated for threatening delinquent borrowers by pretending to be fake government officials.

    The Hong Kong-listed credit card management app allegedly hired external debt collectors acting as government officials, according to an Hangzhou police statement, and is suspected of «picking quarrels and provoking troubles».

    Complaints against the firm have been received by police since September and the firm confirmed earlier this week that an on-site investigation had been conducted by authorities.

    Our lack of training and oversight on partner companies has led to some radical behaviors in the communication with our borrowers, and it hurt certain borrowers, chairman and chief executive Sun Haitao said. «We are very sorry about that.»

    51 Credit Card noted in a statement that it was fully cooperating with the investigations and denied rumors that personal user data from the firm had leaked or been stolen. It also added that assets had not been frozen and that the firm had sufficient cash and assets to protect lenders and investors.

    51 Credit Card was founded in 2012 and the platform today boasts 83 million registered users and the management of over 138 million credit cards, according to its September interim report.

  • Mastercard Joins ASEAN Fintech Platform

    Mastercard Joins ASEAN Fintech Platform

    It will join AFIN’s board of directors and work with the platform to support the global fintech community and financial industry to foster greater financial inclusion.

    Southeast Asia’s fintech community has been given a boost with Mastercard joining the ASEAN Financial Innovation Network (AFIN) as the platform’s second corporate founding member, the two parties announced in a press release on Thursday.

    Mastercard’s participation in AFIN will enable the firm to work with fintechs to provide engagement and support, and it will bring its Start Path program members onto AFIN’s API Exchange (APIX) ecosystem, the statement said.

    «Having worked with tech start-ups around the globe, Mastercard looks forward to extending its support to ASEAN’s community of builders and change agents by providing access to its technology solutions, expertise and strategic partnerships to enable start-ups to rapidly and effectively scale up,» Rama Sridhar, executive vice president, Digital & Emerging Partnerships and New Payment Flows, Asia Pacific, Mastercard, said.

    AFIN is a non-profit network established in 2018 by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), the World Bank Group’s International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the ASEAN Bankers Association that aims to help financial institutions, fintech firms and regulators address issues of connectivity, local compliance and cross border compatibility.

    Its flagship product is a cloud-based APIX platform, an online marketplace for financial institutions to collaborate with innovative fintech solutions in areas from design to marketing.

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  • Vietnam fintech sector in the fast lane

    Vietnam fintech sector in the fast lane

    The number of financial technology companies in Vietnam has grown from around 40 in 2016 to 154, focusing on payment, peer-to-peer lending and crowdfunding, a survey has found.

    Out of the 154 fintech startups, 37 operate in payments, 25 in P2P lending and 22 in blockchain and crypto and remittance, according to a survey by the Banking Technology Development Research Institute (BTI), National University of Ho Chi Minh City, released at a fintech conference in HCMC on Monday.

    The rapid growth of fintech has transformed the financial and banking sector by offering consumers more convenient products and services.

    Fintech companies in Vietnam are likely to continue encroaching on the retail market share of traditional banks, with peer-to-peer lending, e-wallets, payment and cashless payments becoming an integral part of everyday life, the report noted.

    However, areas such as asset management, liquidity management, investment management, insurance, and automated advisory services are still in their infancy, it added.

    Hoang Cong Gia Khanh, director of BTI, said: “Because 70 percent of Vietnam’s fintech companies are still startups, it will be difficult to have large-scale fintech firms even with foreign capital.”

    Some 70 percent of them have foreign backers both from developed countries such as Singapore, Japan, the U.S., Canada, Australia, the U.K., Denmark, and France and neighboring countries such as China and Malaysia, he added.

    Vietnamese fintech companies also face challenges like cybersecurity, human resource training and others.

    Startups in fintech received more investment — $117 million — than in any other industry in Vietnam last year, according to startup accelerator program Topica Founder Institute.

    The country’s fintech market was valued at $4.4 billion in 2017 and is predicted

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  • Singapore Fintech Investments Crossed S$1 Billion

    Singapore Fintech Investments Crossed S$1 Billion

    Investment in financial technology ventures in Singapore rose sharply in the first nine months of 2019, led by fundraising with payments startups and insurtech firms and a shift toward more-mature companies.

    The total value of financial technology (fintech) deals in the nine months ended September jumped 69 percent from the prior-year period to $735 million (S$1 billion) from $435 million, and exceeded the $642 million raised in all of 2018, according to an Accenture analysis of venture-finance data from CB Insights, Pitchbook and Tracxn. The 2019 and 2018 figures included $47 million and $12 million respectively in undisclosed venture capital transaction data provided by the Monetary Authority of Singapore.

    Crossing a billion-Singapore-dollar investment threshold is a recognition from investors around the world of the potential of Singapore’s fintech ecosystem and the outlook for digital financial services not just in Singapore, but also in Southeast Asia, said Sopnendu Mohanty, chief fintech officer of the Monetary Authority of Singapore in a statement.

    Singapore’s active investments into its fintech ecosystem, alongside its annual Singapore Fintech Festival, seems to be paying off: the city-state saw a nearly six-fold increase since 2015.

    It’s encouraging to see the local startups financing their global growth from Singapore. Additionally, several global fintech companies with regional headquarters in Singapore have recently raised sizeable funds to fuel their Asian expansion, Mohanty added.

    However, the number of fintech deals fell by almost one-third (29 percent) in the first nine months of 2019, to 94 from 133 in the prior-year period showing that investors made larger bets into fewer deals as startups grow their business.

    As we’ve seen in other parts of the world, fundraising is shifting to support the scaling up of challenger and collaborative fintech, which will cause lumpiness in some rounds as the market becomes more mature, said Divyesh Vithlani, a managing director at Accenture and head of Financial Services in the ASEAN region in a statement on Monday. Investments in payments startups and those in lending took the bulk of fintech fundraising, accounting for 34 percent and 20 percent of the total, respectively, while insurtechs raked in 17 percent.

    The value of payments deals jumped 113 percent, to $251 million, making the biggest contribution to the overall gains this year. Insurtech funding nearly quadrupled, to $128 million from $35 million, and lending rose more than 50 percent, to $145 million.

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  • Singapore Fintech Festival 2019 Kicks Off in November

    Singapore Fintech Festival 2019 Kicks Off in November

    The Singapore Fintech Festival is set to kick off on the week of November 11 and will feature over 250 industry leaders to discuss the future of the financial services industry.

    The conference will feature a myriad of topics revolving around four key themes: the future of finance; sustainability; exponential technologies; and global investment and market opportunities.

    Various sessions will be joined by leading global industry names such as HSBC group CEO, Noel Quinn; Standard Chartered group CEO, Bill Winters; LGT group CEO, H.S.H. Prince Philipp von und zu Liechtenstein; and more.

    Last year’s Singapore Fintech Festival was widely attended with more than 45,000 participants from 130 different countries. To learn more about the Singapore Fintech Festival agenda for 2019, click here.

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  • BIS Plans Innovation Hub in Hong Kong

    BIS Plans Innovation Hub in Hong Kong

    The Bank of International Settlements has signed an operational agreement with the Hong Kong Monetary Authority to establish an innovation center in the special administrative region.

    The hub will identify and develop insights about technology affecting central banking; develop «public goods» in technology to improve the global financial system, and serve as a focal point for central banking innovation, according to a news release.

    The HKMA is a global leader in promoting innovation, and Hong Kong is home to a vibrant fintech ecosystem,» said BIS GM, Agustín Carstens. «The HKMA’s involvement will be a key driver of the Hub’s success.

    In addition to Hong Kong, hub centers will also be set up in Singapore and Basel, Switzerland in the initial phase.

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  • UOB Boosts Property Valuation Speed

    UOB co-launched a one-stop commercial property solution that includes instant valuation capabilities that can improve speeds by over 10,000 times compared to traditional means.

    The digital solution «RealCommerical», co-launched with property tech firm SoReal Prop, allows users to acquire a bank-backed valuation in less than one minute. This is a more than 10,000 times improvement compared to conventional processes which can take up to seven days.

    In addition, the new solution also allows SME users to see the immediate loan amount their firm qualifies for based on average monthly cash flow or affordability.

    From our experience in helping SMEs purchase their ideal commercial property, we know they want certainty and speed in the process, said Mervyn Koh, Singapore country head of business banking at UOB.

    This means not having mismatched expectations in the property’s valuation or the loan quantum, both of which could lead to the SME not being able to secure their desired property.

    According to the bank, one in two SMEs plan to invest in fixed assets including buildings and factory premises. But momentum has been building as of late with regards to fintech developments in property-related areas.

    In addition to commercial property, UOB launched a digital loan solution for homebuyers in August 2018 that reduced application duration from two and a half days to just 15 minutes. Singaporean rival DBS also recently launched a tech-enabled solution linked with payments for property management fees in Hong Kong with a subsidiary of real estate giant Sun Hung Kai.

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  • Ex-GIC Head Joins Fintech Arm of Razer

    Ex-GIC Head Joins Fintech Arm of Razer

    The fintech arm of gaming hardware manufacturer Razer has appointed the former group president of Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC as an advisory board member.

    Lim Siong Guan joins Razer Fintech as an advisory board member as the firm enters its next growth phase to expand regionally and globally.

    Lim currently is a professor at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy; a senior fell at the Singapore Civil Service College; and chairs the board of directors of Swiss Re Asia. Previously, he was the group president of GIC Private Limited from 2007 to 2016 before subsequently acting as its advisor until March 2019.

    With Mr. Lim coming on board, we will be able to leverage on his extensive experience and network in the global financial markets to scale up and successfully execute on our strategic roadmap,” said Tan Min-Liang, co-founder and CEO of Razer.

    I am a firm believer in Razer Fintech’s strategy and vision of addressing the unmet needs of underserved people, particularly the youth and the millennials who are the future consumers of the world, through technology and product innovation, Lim added.

  • 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.

  • 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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