Author: Company Announcement

What does the future in Remittance look like?  Transferwise asked more than 1,000 Singaporeans and they said … 55% believe sending money abroad will one day be instant. 46% believe sending money abroad will one day be free. 52% believe a product will exist to allow consumers to withdraw money anywhere without extra charges. Singaporeans were optimistic about the future. They, like us, believed that sending money should be as easy as sending an email. However, Singaporeans were less positive about the nation’s cashless agenda. Some financial institutions will remain fundamental to daily life, and Singaporeans predict cash to be one of them. 64% of Singaporeans believe cash will…

Southeast Asia’s venture capital firm Alpha JWC Ventures announced its collaboration with global technology platform and digital payments gigant PayPal and its commitment to invest up to US$5M in 2018 participants of PayPal Incubator, a FinTech tartup incubation program in Southeast Asia. “At Alpha JWC Ventures our philosophy is to invest as a value-add partner. Given our FinTech sector focus and expertise, we seek to create value for the Southeast Asia FinTech ecosystem, and our collaboration with PayPal’s incubator program is the best way to do so,” said Will Ongkowidjaja, Alpha JWC Ventures’ Co-Founder and Managing Partner. “Through this impactful collaboration, Alpha JWC can help…

Are you a travel enthusiast who has what it takes to explore exotic destinations cash-free? Visa is searching for one travel enthusiast to send on an international adventure with the help of top social media travel pros to highlight the value of going cash-free. The international trip is a sequel to Visa’s Cashless Challenge, which awarded $500,000 earlier this year to small businesses in the United States who reduced their reliance on cash and embraced the benefits of electronic payments. Visa is partnering with social media travel personalities Arden Cho (@arden_cho) and brothers Alex & Marko Ayling (@TheVagabrothers) to serve…

E-commerce in Asia-Pacific is booming – with 71 percent of APAC consumers making an online purchase – but so is the risk of fraud, with one in five customers already falling victim. These are among the headline findings of the Digital Consumer Insights 2018, published by the world’s leading information services company Experian, and co-authored with advisory firm IDC. The report is based on a consumer survey across ten APAC markets namely Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, New Zealand, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. The study delves into how well businesses mitigate fraud risk through the eyes of their most…

Mitsubishi Corporation, MUFG Bank, Krungsri , a Thailand-based subsidiary of MUFG Bank, and Standard Chartered Bank  jointly announced the commencement of a pilot test for moving real funds over RippleNet, with the objective of making cross-border payments more convenient and further improving the capital efficiency of corporate groups. This pilot test will be carried out by MC between the accounts of MC’s subsidiaries in Thailand and Singapore, under the Bank of Thailand Regulatory Sandbox Framework. It is the first time for a Japanese company to conduct cross-border payments over RippleNet. Based on the results of this pilot test, the companies…

The Autoriti Monetari Brunei Darussalam (AMBD) and the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) signed a FinTech Cooperation Agreement (CA) to foster innovation in financial services between Brunei Darussalam and Singapore. The FinTech CA will facilitate the sharing of information on emerging FinTech trends and developments, and promote joint innovation projects between both countries. It will also establish a framework for both authorities to provide support for FinTech companies to better understand the regulatory regime and opportunities in each jurisdiction. Beyond the FinTech CA, AMBD and MAS will also work together to enhance the retail payment ecosystem between Brunei Darussalam and…

The world’s first blockchain-based platform for electronic certificates of origin was unveiled in Singapore to industry leaders by the Singapore International Chamber of Commerce (SICC) and Singapore based cross-border trade facilitation solutions provider vCargo Cloud. As the first chamber in the world to implement blockchain-based eCOs, SICC seeks to provide its members, trade-related agencies and users of complementary services such as trade financing and insurance with a trade facilitation system that offers higher security, efficiency and flexibility. The launch will see an initial group of users moving to the new system, with the remaining users transiting in subsequent phases. The…

OurCrowd, an Israel based global equity crowdfunding, announced its further expansion in Asia, with an innovative partnership with Bangkok Bank Public Company Limited. OurCrowd and BBL have already launched their cooperation in support of Thailand’s tech ecosystem which will create key relationships for Thailand’s major corporations seeking next-generation technology. The collaboration empowers OurCrowd to deliver deeper exposure for BBL’s SME and major corporate clients to Israeli and global technologies. “Thailand is the second largest economy in the ASEAN region and we are excited to partner with one of the country’s top financial institutions, Bangkok Bank,” said OurCrowd’s CEO Jon Medved. “This…

Finantix announced end of March its acquisition of smartfolios, the creators of quant-enabled investment tools that support the key stages of the digital advisory value chain. With this acquisition, Finantix is set to combine its enterprise-grade technology and its recently launched AI offering with smartfolios quantitative analysis solutions to deliver a peerless digital wealth management platform with a unique breadth of features and real-time thematic-style analytics. Finantix provides end-to-end digital wealth advisory services and hybrid robo-advisory solutions to wealth managers, top-tier private banks and insurers in more than 40 markets. Together, Finantix and smartfolios will harness the power of quantitative…

The OCBC Future Smart Programme makes it possible for a cheque processing executive to become a data scientist in three years. Lim Chee Hau who has worked in the bank’s payment operations unit for five years, processes cheques on a daily basis. Through a rigorous digital curriculum and experiential learning, he could be a part of our big data team by the third year, spotting trends in payment-related data and making business recommendations that could lead to banking’s next big innovation. With an investment of $20 million to train and develop the digital skills of all 29,000 employees of the…

The Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) launched a Blockchain Challenge to accelerate the development and adoption of innovative new solutions using blockchain technologies beyond fintech. Blockchain is a form of distributed ledger technology, with the potential to accelerate Singapore’s transformation into a Digital Economy. Through blockchain, companies from food suppliers to entertainment and media companies can lower costs, expand connections, and overhaul their business models. Blockchain technology is expected to grow quickly, with a potential compound annual growth rate of up to about 79% from 2017 – 20221. As most commercial blockchain solutions are currently in the fintech space, there…

Singaporeans are becoming increasingly confident of going cashless with 68 percent saying they can go without cash for an entire day, and almost half (42 percent) saying they can go cashless for up to three days, according to the 2017 Visa Consumer Payment Attitudes survey. The majority of Singaporeans (85 percent) prefer electronic payments over cash, representing the highest preference for electronic payments in the Southeast Asia region, followed by Indonesia (83 percent), Vietnam (77 percent) and Malaysia (71 percent). Kunal Chatterjee, Visa Country Manager for Singapore & Brunei said, “Consumers in Singapore are leading a cashless and digital lifestyle…

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) is collaborating with the Economic Development Board (EDB), Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) and Institute of Banking and Finance (IBF) to accelerate the adoption of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Singapore’s financial sector. The collaboration aims to foster a thriving AI ecosystem comprising financial institutions (FIs), research institutions, and AI solution providers. The four agencies will jointly facilitate research and development of new AI technologies and adoption of AI-enabled products, services and processes for the financial sector. The joint effort will encompass three key prongs: developing AI products, matching users and solution providers, and strengthening…

With the rapid growth in Financial Technology (FinTech) innovations in the country, the Payments and Settlements Department of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka has identified the need to provide an environment that nurtures and promotes their advancement whilst maintaining appropriate regulatory standards. Accordingly, the Central Bank aims to establish a Sri Lankan FinTech Regulatory Sandbox with the objective to encourage and enable FinTech initiatives that promote efficiency and increase access to financial products and services. Purpose Of A Fintech Regulatory Sandbox A FinTech Regulatory Sandbox provides a safe space in a controlled environment for selected innovators to test their…

Applications open for the Global Fintech Hackcelerator programme, powered by KPMG in Singapore’s Digital Village and KPMG’s Matchi fintech matchmaking platform. Finals of the programme (“Demo Day’’) will be held at the Singapore Fintech Festival taking place from 12–16 November 2018. Visit here to apply for the 2018 Global Fintech Hackcelerator – deadline for applications is 15 June 2018. Start-ups from all over the world entering the Global Fintech Hackcelerator will demonstrate how they can innovate to address problem statements collected from the financial industry in areas including financial inclusion, insurtech and reg tech/sup tech. Up to 20 start-ups will…

Tangem launches pilot sales of physical bitcoin notes at the Megafash Suntec City store in Singapore. Available immediately in denominations of 0.01 and 0.05 BTC. Tangem claims that with this notes they radically improve the simplicity and security of acquiring, owning, and circulating cryptocurrencies for both sophisticated and incoming users. Based on a recently developed S3D350A chip from Samsung Semiconductor, Tangem Note is the first hardware storage solution on the market with its entire electronics and cryptography certified to the Common Criteria EAL6+ and EMVCo security standards. Kudelski Group has completed an in-depth review of Tangem security architecture, led by…

CredoLab, a fintech provider of highly predictive, mobile-based alternative credit scoring solutions for banks, consumer finance companies, and retailers, announced it has closed a US$1 million investment from established global venture capital firm Walden International. CredoLab utilizes its proprietary mobile application, CredoApp, to extract a unique digital footprint from a consumer’s mobile phone. The company uses proprietary data science algorithms to extract and analyze close to 50,000 data points and turns these completely anonymized digital footprints into highly predictive digital credit scorecards. The use of non-traditional data and predictive data analytics enables consumers with little to no traditional credit history to access financial services.…

Helicap, a FinTech start-up operating in the fast-growing alternative lending space in South-East Asia and Australia, announced that it has successfully closed US$1.5 million in seed money. The round is led by Singapore’s former Minister of State and the Chairman of Nufin Data, Mr Teo Ser Luck, who will also join Helicap’s board of directors. Helicap’s investors and advisers include Mr Lim How Teck – Chairman of Heliconia Capital; Mr Samuel Rhee – former CEO and CIO of Morgan Stanley Investment Management Asia; and Mr. Sam Phoen – former GIC and ANZ Senior Management. There are over 2.9 million SMEs…

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) announced that the third edition of the Singapore FinTech Festival will be held from 12 to 16 November 2018 in Singapore. This year’s Festival will include two new elements. ASEAN FinTech Showcase – With Singapore’s Chairmanship of ASEAN in 2018, the Festival will highlight FinTech developments and opportunities in ASEAN and a showcase of innovative solutions from ASEAN countries. Artificial Intelligence in Finance Summit – The Summit will explore emerging AI solutions in trading, investment management, customer service, and risk management. It will also include discussions on quantum computing as well as governance and ethics in…

The Singtel Group and Razer ­signed a Memorandum of Understanding to foster strategic collaboration in the high-growth areas of e-payments, esports, gaming-related digital media and telecommunication services across Southeast Asia. Mobile payments in Southeast Asia is expected to be worth around US$32 billion by 2021, a tenfold increase from 2013 as smartphone penetration increases. PC and mobile gaming are also gaining traction on the back of Southeast Asia’s large, young and tech-savvy population, with the number of PC online and mobile gamers projected to rise from 300 million in 2017 to more than 400 million by 2021. As Asia’s leading communications group and…