Author: Fintech News Singapore

Tenity, an innovation ecosystem specialising in early-stage fintech startups, has partnered with XDC Network to introduce a new accelerator programme aimed at revolutionising the US$28 trillion global trade industry. The 12-week XDC Accelerator Programme invites startups to develop solutions using XDC Network’s advanced blockchain technology. This initiative targets startups that are working on Real World Asset Tokenisation (RWA), Trade Finance, Decentralised Physical Infrastructure (DePIN), GameFi, AI and Crypto as well as Staking. Participants in the programme will benefit from industry mentorship, networking opportunities, and the potential for an investment of up to US$100,000 in grants without equity requirements to drive…

The Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) of India has granted approval to the cryptocurrency exchanges Binance and Kucoin to operate as Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASPs) in the country, according to the Economic Times. Vivek Aggarwal, Director of FIU-IND, confirmed the approvals during a press interaction. Aggarwal highlighted that this registration would enhance transparency in the operations of these platforms, facilitating the commencement of the suspicious transaction report (STR) submission process soon. Kucoin, which had previously faced a ban due to non-compliance issues, has settled its dues by paying a penalty of Rs 35.5 lakh. The sanctions against its operations have…

XREX Singapore, a blockchain-enabled financial institution specialising in cross-border payments, has been granted a Major Payment Institution (MPI) license by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS). The license, which enables the company to provide digital payment token services, follows the in-principle approval received from MAS in November of the previous year. XREX Singapore will now be able to offer a comprehensive range of payment services, including account issuance, domestic and cross-border money transfers, merchant acquisition, e-money issuance, and digital payment token services. Focusing primarily on small and medium-sized businesses in emerging markets, XREX Singapore aims to streamline cross-border transactions. The…

Singapore’s digital bank Trust announced that it has appointed Aditya Gupta as its new Chief Product Officer. Aditya steps into this role, succeeding Michal Bialer, who had been Trust Bank’s Chief Product Officer from 2021 until recently. He brings a rich background with over twenty years of experience in spearheading business transformations at global banks and fintech companies. Aditya’s career encompasses roles at institutions such as OCBC Bank, where he was Group Head of Digital Business and Transformation, and finbots.ai, where he held the position of Chief Product and Commercial Officer before joining Trust Bank. With over 700,000 customers and…

The inaugural Money20/20 Asia conference wrapped up its three-day event at the Queen Sirikit National Convention Center in Bangkok from 23rd to 25th April, featuring fintech discussions, international networking and collaborations. The conference drew over 3,000 participants from 87 countries, including 24 nations across the Asia Pacific region. Notably, the event featured over 250 speakers from Asia, with 45% being female executives and more than 60% holding C-suite positions. Key topics addressed at Money20/20 Asia included AI, cross-border payments, open banking, digital assets, and Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs). A highlight was the announcement of a partnership between KASIKORNBANK and…

Thailand’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has reiterated that digital asset exchanges are not allowed to list meme tokens, citing a lack of fundamental value and high risk of price manipulation. This move is aimed at maintaining order in digital asset trading and safeguarding investors from potentially unfair practices. Meme tokens, which often lack clear objectives or utility and are heavily influenced by social media trends, are seen as unstable investments. The SEC’s directive is in line with the existing regulations set forth in the 10 June 2021, notification regarding the rules for digital asset businesses. While the regulations restrict…

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance and Chairman of Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) Lawrence Wong, addressed the regulatory aftermath of the Terraform Labs’ collapse in a parliamentary session yesterday (8 May  2024). Terraform Labs, the company behind the Terra stablecoin, was a Singapore-registered startup not involved in activities requiring a license from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), and thus, was not licensed. Wong noted that the fallout from the collapse of TerraUSD, the stablecoin developed by Terraform Labs, was contained within the cryptocurrency sector, with minimal impact on Singapore’s mainstream financial system and economy. He emphasised that…

DBS Group has announced the appointment of Eugene Huang as its new Chief Information Officer (CIO), effective from 10 May 2024. Huang, an experienced technologist with more than three decades of experience in the technology and banking sectors, will join the bank’s Group Executive Committee and report directly to CEO Piyush Gupta. He will succeed Han Kwee Juan, who has served as the Acting CIO and Singapore Country Head since November 2023. Following the transition, Han will focus solely on his role as Singapore Country Head starting 1 June. Previously, Huang held multiple roles at Ping An Group, including Chairman…

The United Kingdom and Singapore had convened for the 9th UK-Singapore Financial Dialogue yesterday (8 May 2024) to deepen their cooperation in sustainable finance and fintech. The dialogue focused on various pivotal areas including sustainable finance, fintech innovation, non-bank financial intermediation, and cross-border payment connectivity. Both nations reaffirmed their commitment to enhancing finance for projects aligned with the net zero agenda, focusing on establishing globally comparable transition plans and enhancing disclosure standards. They also underscored the significance of continuous efforts by international organisations such as the G20, Financial Stability Board (FSB), Basel Committee’s Task Force on Climate-related Financial Risks (TFCR),…

Visa has launched an AI-powered enhancement to its Visa Account Attack Intelligence (VAAI) solution, designed to combat the increasing number of account attacks facilitated by automated scripts and botnets. These attacks, known as enumeration attacks, have contributed to significant financial losses, amounting to approximately US$1.1 billion annually in fraud. The new feature, named the VAAI Score, aims to bolster the detection and prevention of these attacks by utilizing generative AI to analyse transaction patterns in real-time. Initially available to U.S. issuers, the tool assigns a risk score to each transaction, focusing particularly on card-not-present (CNP) transactions, to identify potential threats…

FXC Intelligence, a data platform specializing in the cross-border payment and e-commerce sectors, has released its annual selection of the world’s top cross-border payment companies, recognizing the leading publicly traded companies, startups and private companies operating in the space worldwide. From that selection we’ve listed out the top cross-border payments companies in Asia. The Top 100 Cross-Border Payment Companies for 2024 list encompasses companies operating across consumer money transfers and remittances, business-to-business (B2B) payments, e-commerce companies, payment processors, mobile payments players and beyond. These companies span all major regions, including Asia-Pacific (APAC), Europe, North America and Latin America, and were…

In Q1 2024, fintech venture capital (VC) funding experienced a notable decline, dropping by 16% compared to the previous quarter, new data released by market intelligence platform CB Insights show. The total funding amounted to US$7.3 billion, marking the lowest quarterly level since 2017. The data, presented in the “State of Fintech Q1 2024” report, illustrates the continued downward trajectory in fintech funding this year as investors continue to opt for smaller investments. In Q1 2024, the average deal size stood at US$11.1 million, down 19% from 2023. Moreover, the number of mega-rounds worth US$100 million and over declined substantially,…

Global payments service provider FIS has launched a new fintech platform named Atelio by FIS. This platform aims to provide essential tools for financial institutions, businesses, and software developers to integrate financial services into their products. Atelio by FIS offers a suite of components that allow for the easy integration of various financial operations such as deposit collection, money transfers, card issuance, invoice sending, and advanced functions like fraud prevention, cash flow forecasting, and customer behavior analytics. The platform ensures that these services are embedded in a secure and compliant manner, enhancing the ability of companies to offer financial solutions…

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance, Lawrence Wong, discussed the potential expansion of the Monetary Authority of Singapore’s (MAS) anti-money laundering platform, COSMIC, to non-banking sectors in a recent response to a parliamentary question. COSMIC, which stands for Collaborative Sharing of Money Laundering/Terrorism Financing Information and Cases, is currently utilised by participating banks to enhance the detection and prevention of significant financial crimes through shared customer information. The question raised in parliament inquired whether COSMIC could be adapted for use by “gatekeepers” such as law firms, trust and company service providers, and accounting firms. This adaptation would aim to…

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has intensified its oversight of DBS Bank following repeated disruptions to its online banking and payment services. The regulator is ensuring that DBS addresses these issues effectively, as reported by The Straits Times. Despite ongoing remedial efforts to rectify issues from 2023 disruptions, DBS and POSB’s online services faced another outage on 2 May. An MAS spokesperson highlighted that DBS had shown progress in addressing past issues, but the remediation plan remains incomplete, with further implementation needed. The recent disturbances occurred two days after MAS lifted a six-month suspension of non-essential activities for DBS…

Piyush Gupta, CEO of DBS Group Holdings, has sold 75,000 shares of the company, fetching a price of S$35.74 per share, according to recent filings on the Singapore Exchange. Before this transaction, Gupta’s holdings included 2,790,053 ordinary voting shares, equivalent to 0.098% of the company’s total shares. After the sale, his stake decreased to 2,715,053 shares, representing 0.095% of the total voting shares. This transaction was made on 3 May 2024, just a day after DBS Group announced that its net profit for the first quarter of 2024 rose 15% from a year ago, reaching a record S$ 2.96 billion.

Singapore-based technology company Dyna.Ai announced its global launch at the Dubai Fintech Summit, unveiling new AI solutions tailored for the banking and financial services sector. The company, which specialises in artificial intelligence technology, revealed plans for international expansion, including operations across Asia, the Middle East, the Americas, Europe, and Africa. Dyna.Ai’s newly launched AI platform features two key solutions: Dyna Athena for text-to-speech and language processing, and Dyna Avatar for digital human interactions. These solutions, designed for banks, fintech companies, and other businesses, enhance natural language interactions, making conversations more realistic and engaging. Dyna Avatar, which supports several languages including…

Amazon Web Services (AWS) announced that it is set to invest an additional S$12 billion into Singapore’s cloud infrastructure by 2028 during the 10th AWS ASEAN Summit, aiming to bolster its services amid increasing demand. According to a new AWS Economic Impact Study, this investment is projected to contribute S$23.7 billion to Singapore’s GDP by 2028 and support an estimated 12,300 jobs annually across sectors like construction, engineering, and telecommunications, essential to the AWS data center operations. The announcement was made in the presence of Senior Minister of State for Communications and Information, Tan Kiat How, who emphasised Singapore’s efforts…

Singapore-based cryptocurrency exchange Zipmex is set to wind up its operations, having appointed Ellyn Tan Huixian from Mazars Consulting as its provisional liquidator, according to documents filed with Singapore’s Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (ACRA). The filing, dated 29 April 2024, accessed by DealStreetAsia, comes as the company grapples with significant financial liabilities that prevent it from continuing its business, stated Zipmex founder and CEO Marcus Lim. An extraordinary general meeting (EGM) along with a creditor’s meeting is scheduled for 20 May, where a special resolution will be presented to voluntarily liquidate the company. A permanent liquidator will be appointed…

Asia’s financial sector is undergoing an evolution that promises to reshape the foundations of banking. At the heart of this transformation lies the concept of Open Finance – a paradigm shift that transcends traditional banking boundaries to usher in an era of innovation, collaboration, and customer-centricity. The Rise of Open Finance in Asia Open Finance represents a fundamental departure from the siloed approach of traditional banking. It embodies the principles of openness, collaboration, interoperability, and advocates for the seamless exchange of data and services across diverse platforms and providers. The backbone of Open Finance is a sophisticated, scalable digital framework,…