Singapore is starting the year 2018 with some exciting news coming from its fintech sector.
Here’s our news roundup for the month of January:
InstaRem aims for 600% growth this year
InstaRem, a fintech startup originally from India that’s headquartered in Singapore, is looking to grow 600% in the financial 2018-2019 year.
InstaRem CEO and co-founder Prajit Nanu told Connected to India:
“Our company is able to transfer funds within 24 hours in Asia, compared to the average two to four days transfer by banks. We want to drive the adoption rate of technological innovations across both business as well as individual consumers.
“We have the EU and US markets in sight this year, and will be growing 600 percent in financial year 2018-19.”
InstaRem offers a platform for international money transfers to individuals and businesses. It has licenses in eight markets and covers 60 countries, reaching 3.2 billion people worldwide.
Ayondo close to Singapore listing
Fintech group Ayondo is back on track to become the first fintech venture to be listed in Singapore. An initial public offering is set to take place over the next few months, according to industry insiders.
Ayondo is seeking a listing on the Catalist board in the first quarter of 2018, the persons told Channel NewsAsia.
Ayondo sought a listing via a reserve takeover (RTO) last year with plans for the company to get acquired by Catalist-listed developer Starland Holdings for S$157.5 million. But the fintech firm announced in October last year that the RTO had fallen through after certain conditions in the sales purchase agreement could not be fulfilled.
DBS Bank launches new bill payments service for SMEs
DBS Bank in Singapore launched a new service that allows small businesses, including startups and SMEs, to send payment instructions directly from Xero to their DBS IDEAL Internet banking account, instead of entering them manually into their Internet banking.
The service is available to all Xero Singapore customers who have an active DBS Singapore bank feed. It aims to allow SMEs to manage invoicing more efficiently and spend less time on administrative tasks.
The service is currently only available for bills in Singapore dollars.
HSBC teams up with 7-Eleven
HSBC Singapore announced its partnership with 7-Eleven, the largest convenience store chain in Singapore, to offer HSBC customers access to more than 300 of 7-Eleven stores for QuickCash withdrawals.
The partnership aims to expand HSBC’s total cash access network by 30% to over cash 800 touchpoints island-wide.
It complements HSBC’s existing fleet of ATMs including those from the ATM5 network and QuickCash participating outlets including Cold Storage, Guardian Health and Beauty and Market Place in Singapore.
Launch of the first cashless cake boutique
Cake boutique Lady M has joined Singapore’s effort to become a cashless economy and the world’s first Smart Nation by making its South Beach Avenue outlet the first shop in Singapore to accept only non-cash payments for sale transactions.
Lady M boutiques at three other locations are set to adopt the cashless policy in the near future.
Singapore Life to acquire Zurich Life Singapore business portfolio
Singapore’s newest life insurer Singapore Life Pte. Ltd. signed an agreement with Zurich Life Insurance Pte. Ltd. to acquire the latter’s business portfolio.
Under this agreement, Singapore Life will become responsible for all Zurich Life Singapore’s customers’ policies, totaling approximately S$6 billion of coverage for life, critical illness, and disability benefits.
Singapore Life is a 100% digital life insurance provider launched in July 2017.
Chinese firm launches robo-advisor in Singapore
Image by Willyam Bradberry via Shutterstock.com
Chinese fintech venture Pintec Group announced the launch of Pivot Fintech Pte. Ltd. The new company will offer digital wealth management technology services powered by artificial intelligence and machine learning throughout Southeast Asia from its base in Singapore.
Pivot will provide Southeast Asian financial institutions with Pintec’s proprietary dynamic, real-time wealth management and robo-advisory technology.
