The Singapore Fintech Festival (SFF) wrapped up its annual event on November 17, 2023, concluding a multi-day fintech program that attracted an estimated audience 60,000+ attendees. This year’s SFF brought together leaders and experts from around the world in finance, technology, and public policy to delve into the growth and adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) and explore how the technology can potentially be used in financial services. Like previous editions, SFF 2023 saw several corporations, startups and public agencies announce their latest initiatives, achievements and products, leveraging the visibility, audience, media coverage, and networking opportunities provided by the large-scale gathering…
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Visa has teamed up with United Overseas Bank Limited (UOB) and the Singapore-based fintech company Doxa to offer a payment solution for contractors in the Asia Pacific region. This collaboration is aimed at providing faster and more efficient access to working capital for contractors through deep-tier financing. Contractors, especially those lower in the supply chain, often experience extended payment cycles. This delay, typically ranging from 35 to 100 days, is due to cumbersome procedures involving claims submission, approvals, and payment processes, causing significant working capital challenges. The Doxa Connex platform addresses this issue by streamlining the work certification process, thereby…
Google Cloud has appointed Serene Sia as the new Country Director for its Singapore operations. Sia’s role will focus on leading the company’s go-to-market strategy and operations, including consulting, sales, and managing the partner ecosystem. She will also collaborate with teams across Google to assist Singaporean organisations in utilising enterprise-grade cloud AI solutions. Reporting to Mark Micallef, the Managing Director of Southeast Asia for Google Cloud, Sia brings a wealth of experience to her new role. Her career spans over three decades in diverse business and software technology leadership roles across Asia, with previous positions at Autodesk, Oracle, Salesforce, and…
Feedzai, a financial crime and risk management solution provider, has joined forces with Mastercard to enhance crypto fraud protection. This collaboration aims to mitigate the risk of account-to-account fraud involving cryptocurrency exchanges. Recent data reveals that approximately 40% of scam transactions originate directly from bank accounts and move to crypto exchanges. Feedzai’s latest “State of Global Anti Money Laundering (AML) Compliance Report 2023” highlights the ongoing challenge financial institutions face in effectively monitoring cryptocurrency transactions. To address this issue, Feedzai will integrate Mastercard’s advanced crypto intelligence solution, Ciphertrace Armada, into its RiskOps platform. This platform, which processes transaction data worth…
Maybank Group has officially launched its Islamic Wealth Management (IWM) regional offshore hub in Singapore. This marks a significant expansion of the group’s Islamic wealth services, which previously operated primarily in Malaysia and Indonesia. Maybank Singapore claims that it is the first bank in the city-state to provide comprehensive Islamic wealth management solutions. These services cater to various customer needs, including wealth transfer planning for future generations, and encompass five key areas; wealth creation, accumulation, preservation, purification, and distribution. The increasing demand for sustainable and values-based investment options, such as those offered in Islamic wealth management, is attracting a diverse…
In Asia-Pacific (APAC), the nascent wealthtech sector is poised to witness strong growth, a rise which will be driven by technological advancements, the region’s increasing wealth as well as its large affluent segment which has so far remained largely untapped and underserved, a new report by global consultancy McKinsey claims. The report, titled WealthTech in Asia-Pacific: The next frontier in financial innovation, discusses the rapid growth and transformation of the wealth management industry in the APAC region, stressing how this growth has been driven by technological advancements, changing customer behaviors and favorable demographics. According to the report, wealthtech solutions, which…
PayMate, a Mumbai-based digital business-to-business (B2B) payments company, announced its expansion into Singapore, Australia, and Malaysia. Within less than a year, PayMate has established subsidiaries in the Asia Pacific (APAC) and Central and Eastern Europe, Middle East, and Africa (CEMEA) regions to enhance its glbal footprint. The company aims to provide digital payment solutions tailored to the specific needs of each market while maintaining a unified global strategy. Looking ahead, PayMate is exploring potential expansion opportunities in Vietnam, Thailand, the Philippines, Hong Kong, and New Zealand. PayMate offers solutions that include digitisation and automation of financial processes, invoice discounting, and API-as-a-service…
Hong Kong’s WeLab, in collaboration with Astra Financial, has launched Bank Saqu in Indonesia, marking its second digital banking venture in Asia. This new digital banking platform, operated by PT Bank Jasa Jakarta (BJJ), a joint venture between the two companies, aims to cater to the growing solopreneur market in Indonesia. Bank Saqu primarily targets young entrepreneurs, including small business owners and freelancers, with features tailored to their financial needs and challenges. One of the standout features of Bank Saqu is the ‘Saku’ or Pocket, which allows users to create up to 20 customised sections within the app for managing…
Cambodia’s Sathapana Bank has launched new Mastercard credit cards following its successful migration to the Way4 digital payment software platform, a move that consolidates various payment systems into a single infrastructure. Powered by payments software provider OpenWay, this move enhances the bank’s operational capabilities and provides a range of benefits to its customers, including global acceptance and special offers. The Way4 platform offers comprehensive online payment processing features and a flexible, rules-based, digital-first approach. This has enabled Sathapana Bank to rapidly introduce its Mastercard credit cards, offering Cambodian consumers access to over 90 million merchants worldwide, along with cashback rewards…
The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) have unveiled a new real-time payment linkage connecting Singapore’s PayNow and Malaysia’s DuitNow. This facilitates instant person-to-person (P2P) cross-border fund transfers, allowing users to transfer funds between the two countries using only the recipient’s mobile number or Virtual Payment Address (VPA). The new linkage allows for daily transfers of up to S$1,000 or RM 3,000 and is the first to involve non-bank financial institutions from both countries, thereby expanding its reach. The Singaporean participants in this service include Liquid Group, Maybank Singapore, OCBC, and UOB, with DBS set to…
Bank Indonesia (BI) and the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) have inaugurated a cross-border QR payment linkage connecting both countries. The linkage was introduced at the Singapore Fintech Festival 2023 by BI Governor Perry Warjiyo and MAS Managing Director Ravi Menon. This linkage will enable customers of participating financial institutions to make seamless cross-border retail payments using their existing mobile banking applications to scan QRIS (Quick Response Code Indonesian Standard) or NETS QR codes displayed by merchants in Indonesia and Singapore, respectively. Participating financial institutions from Singapore are OCBC and UOB, with DBS joining at a later stage. Participating financial…
The Entrust Cybersecurity Institute has recently published the Digital-First Banking report, which is a comprehensive analysis of the evolving preferences and attitudes towards digital banking. Financial services’ cybersecurity specialists Entrust has the Cybersecurity Institute research house to curate insights for industry leaders and C-suite executives. The latest report draws on data gathered from a survey of 1,000 consumers across the United States, France, Chile, and Singapore, and it particularly underscores the increasing trend towards digital onboarding in an omnichannel environment. A significant finding of the Entrust report is the readiness of consumers to embrace the next generation of payment technology, which…
Mediacorp, a state-owned media conglomerate in Singapore, has announced the launch of The Big Spark, a new initiative designed to bridge the gap between emerging entrepreneurs and investors in Southeast Asia. The project, developed in partnership with Elevandi and TiE Global Summit, features a business reality series that will spotlight 24 early-stage startups from across the region, focusing on those that have not yet secured Series A funding. The Big Spark, co-created with Jonathan Glazier, known for his work on Asia’s Got Talent, is an eight-part series scheduled to air on Channel News Asia (CNA) platforms from February 2024. It…
JazzCash, a Pakistani-based mobile wallet and branchless banking services provider, will be collaborating with Fatima Gobi Ventures (FGV) to nurture the growth of local startups. FGV leverages conglomerate Fatima Group’s local expertise in Pakistan and Gobi Partners’ extensive experience in Asia to invest in promising startups and foster community growth. Gobi Partners and FGV have invested in over 400 companies and nurtured nine unicorns collectively. Through this partnership, JazzCash will onboard FGV’s portfolio companies onto its platform, which serves over 44 million users, over 300,000 merchants, and over 900 businesses with a nationwide network of 230,000 agents. This will provide…
UnionDigital Bank, the digital banking arm of UnionBank of the Philippines, showcased its commitment to innovation and financial inclusion at the Singapore Fintech Festival (SFF) 2023. The digital bank highlighted its efforts to provide accessible and inclusive financial services to underserved communities through AI-powered solutions, aligning with the festival’s theme of “The Application of AI in Financial Services.” The digital bank’s proprietary framework, the Customer Lifetime Prosperity Index (CLPI), a metric illustrating customers’ financial health. At the event, UnionDigital Bank also highlighted its advocacy for embedded finance, collaborating across industries to enhance access to digital bank products. The digital bank…
Mastercard Singapore and FOMO Pay have collaborated to introduce Mastercard QR within SGQR, the unified national QR code of Singapore. This initiative, in line with EMVCo Merchant-Presented QR standards, allows cardholders to use Mastercard credit and debit cards for payments by scanning SGQR codes. The integration aims to simplify the payment process for merchants by doing away with the need for traditional point-of-sale systems. This move is particularly advantageous for micro, small, and medium enterprises, helping them extend their services to a broader range of customers, including domestic and international Mastercard users. For consumers, this development offers an expanded range…
In Southeast Asia and the broader Asia-Pacific (APAC) region, green fintech is picking up steam and growing on the back of increasing climate-related regulations, growing adoption of sustainable practices among Asian businesses, and rising investors’ interest, a new report by UOB, PwC Singapore and the Singapore Fintech Association, says. The 2023 Fintech in ASEAN report, released on November 16, provides an overview of the Southeast Asian fintech landscape, highlighting emerging trends and the different developments observed across the region over the past year. According to this year’s edition, sustainability and green fintech are two sectors that are gaining traction across…
In a pivotal development within the nascent fintech sectors of both countries, Indonesian payment gateway Faspay, and Australian remittance company EzyRemit have embarked on a collaboration. This alliance was cemented with a Memorandum of Understanding at the Singapore Fintech Festival 2023, and is set to enhance the efficiency and ease of cross-border transactions between Australia and Indonesia. The MOU was formally signed by Eddy Tju, CEO of Faspay, and Elaine Tran, Chief Representative and General Manager of EzyRemit. The main objective of this strategic ollaboration between Faspay and EzyRemit is establish a comprehensive financial ecosystem to meet the evolving demands…
Ant International, Grab, and StraitsX (part of Fazz) announced a collaboration to look into the potential of Purpose Bound Money (PBM) for cross-border payments. PBM is a protocol that specifies the conditions upon which an underlying digital currency can be used and first introduced by MAS as part of Project Orchid, which has the potential to lower the cost of payment processing, and the capability for money to be directed towards a specific purpose. The industry pilot will explore functionalities and interactions of a programmable digital Singapore dollar with existing payment infrastructures to accelerate the payments integration process for merchants…
Transaction guarantee platform Vesta and financial infrastructure provider Stripe have announced a partnership to offer a comprehensive fraud prevention and risk protection solution in a move to combat fraud and protect revenue. The solution will combine Vesta’s Payment Guarantee, which provides 100% indemnification from fraudulent chargebacks, with Stripe Radar’s risk scores to help merchants increase transaction approval rates and prevent both first-party and third-party chargebacks. This partnership is particularly beneficial for merchants facing high fraud risks or excessive disputes. The Vesta Payment Guarantee will be available on the Stripe App Marketplace in the first half of 2024. Additionally, Vesta will…