The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has partnered with regulators from Japan, Switzerland and the UK for responsible digital asset innovation. This collaboration is called the Project Guardian policymaker group, comprising the Financial Services Agency of Japan (FSA), the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA), and the United Kingdom’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). According to the regulator, the group aims to discuss legal, policy, and accounting treatment of digital assets as well as explore the potential risks and possible gaps in existing policies and legislation relevant to tokenised solutions. They will also look into setting up common standards for the…
Author: Fintech News Singapore
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E-commerce has evolved significantly in the last few years, ushering in an era of connected payments. This era is characterised by the emergence of innovative payment types, cutting-edge payment infrastructure, and novel business models. A key symptom of the connected payments era can be observed in the fact that successful businesses have started to embrace the power of payments as a revenue accelerator. Payments are no longer viewed as the cost of doing business but rather as an opportunity to accelerate revenue, reduce the overall cost of processing and improve the customer experience. Payment departments in today’s environment are focused…
Payments firm Payoneer has partnered with online marketplace Etsy to streamline payments for sellers in emerging markets. The collaboration will utilise Payoneer’s global infrastructure to offer Etsy sellers more services and seamless payouts in their preferred currency. It will initially be launched in Ukraine and Thailand, followed by India, Japan, Argentina, Chile, and Peru by the end of 2023. The partnership is expected to help Etsy create economic opportunities for more entrepreneurs in emerging markets by making it easier for them to get paid for their goods and services. Ya Wen, SVP Americas at Payoneer said, “As a leader in…
Despite the fact that identity-related breaches account for 90% of cybersecurity breaches, a new report finds that 44% of companies are still at the beginning of their identity security journeys. The report by SailPoint Technologies, an identity management solution provider, and Accenture, is based on insights from more than 375 global cybersecurity executives across the Americas, Europe and Asia. Titled “The Horizons of Identity Security 2023-24”, the report examines the current state and future direction of the identity security market. It also found that a worrying 77% of respondents indicated that “limited executive sponsorship or focus” is a primary obstacle…
Banking leaders find themselves at that pivotal time of the year when they must strategise their transformation goals for the upcoming year. In Asia, digital banking has become ingrained in consumers’ lifestyles, evolving into a core expectation and a decisive factor in their interactions and choice of financial service providers. As we approach the banking landscape of 2024 in Asia, leaders must address multifaceted challenges. These include integrating lifestyle-focused digital banking, delivering personalised offerings through AI-driven automation, providing unified customer views for customer servicing, embracing conversational banking, facilitating ease and acceleration in money transfers and cross border payments, inclusive banking,…
The London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) has opted to revamp its finance operations by replacing its 17 legacy finance systems with Oracle Cloud’s applications. With Oracle Fusion Cloud and Oracle Financial Services Applications running on a unified platform, LSEG will be able to increase its efficiency, reduce costs, as well as improve its financial planning, forecasting, and controls. The legacy systems will be replaced with Oracle Fusion Cloud Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Oracle Fusion Cloud Enterprise Performance Management (EPM), and Oracle Revenue Management, Pricing, and Billing. This will allow LSEG to automate financial processes, streamline global procurement processes, align financial and…
Barclays has named Denise Wong as its Head of Sustainable and Impact Banking for Asia Pacific where she will be based out of Hong Kong. Wong will be advising corporate and institutional clients on leveraging opportunities to meet their sustainability objectives, as they make the transition to a low carbon economy. She has over 20 years of experience, mostly with Barclays across Hong Kong and New York. Wong was most recently a Venture Capital investor at VU Venture Partners and as Chief Financial Officer at Green Monday. Prior to that, Wong was with Barclays for 12 years, her last position…
Financial institutions (FIs) and telecommunication companies (telcos) are expected to bear the full loss, if they fail to discharge their respective prescribed duties to mitigate phishing scams. This expectation was outlined in proposed a Shared Responsibility Framework (SRF) for phishing scams by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA). Under the SRF, FIs are expected to bear the full loss if they fail to discharge their prescribed duties. Telcos would stand second in line, as they play a secondary role in fostering security of digital payments. If FIs and telcos have fulfilled their duties, the…
YouTrip, a multi-currency digital payments platform, has raised US$50 million in its latest Series B fundraise, bringing its total funds raised to over US$100 million since its inception. The round was led by new investor and global venture capital firm Lightspeed. The company will use the new funds to invest in more technologies and grow its portfolio of services to help SMEs accelerate their cross-border growth plans. Additionally, YouTrip also plans to hire over a hundred new talents with the aim to expand its regional presence in new markets across Southeast Asia. The company said that it is now on track…
A new survey by Airwallex and consultancy Edgar, Dunn & Company has revealed surging demand for cloud-based financial services among small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), with more than 80% looking to switch away from traditional banks for their payment needs. The survey found that SMEs are unhappy with the traditional banking experience, with 82% feeling overlooked by banks and saying they would change their current banking provider if their existing software platform or marketplace offered a like-for-like alternative. One of the biggest pain points for SMEs is cross-border payments. 45% of SMEs globally experience lengthy processing and settlement times, while…
Thailand is home to a vibrant and rapidly evolving fintech sector, an industry that’s grown throughout the years on the back of supportive government initiatives, a growing middle class and increased digital penetration, as well as a burgeoning ecosystem of startups and established financial institutions. We’ve tracked over 107 fintechs operating in Thailand in our latest fintech startup map. Recognizing the transformative power of fintech, the Thai government has spearheaded a number of initiatives designed to nurture and foster the development of fintech. These initiatives include regulatory sandboxes, which allow financial service providers to test their innovative products and services…
The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) is proposing to streamline the regulatory framework for fund managers by repealing the Registered Fund Management Companies (RFMCs) regime. Existing RFMCs will be approved as Licensed Fund Management Companies (LFMCs) upon application. The RFMC regime was introduced in 2012 to facilitate the transition of Exempt Fund Managers (EFMs) into a fully regulated regime. However, since then, the business models and risk profiles of RFMCs and accredited or institutional investors (A/I LFMCs) have increasingly converged, making the regulatory distinction between the two less meaningful. MAS is proposing a simplified process for RFMCs that wish to…
Crypto payment gateway Triple-A announced that it has raised US$10 million in Series A funding. The round was led by repeat investors Peak XV Partners and Shorooq Partners. The company had previously secured US$4 million in seed funding in June last year from Razer’s corporate ventures arm, zVentures. Founded in 2017 by Eric Barbier, Triple-A provides digital, stablecoin, and blockchain-led payments that enable businesses to pay and get paid faster, 24/7, and without currency volatility risk. Triple-A is licensed by the Monetary Authority of Singapore as a Payment Institution and holds a Payment Institution Licence from the central bank of…
Cloud banking platform Mambu is now available in AWS Marketplace, making it one of the first core banking providers on the site. This is the next phase of Mambu and AWS’s decade-long relationship. AWS Marketplace is a digital catalog with thousands of software listings from independent software vendors. It makes it easy for businesses to find and use the software they need to run and grow their businesses. Mambu and AWS serve more than 200 mutual customers, including N26, BancoEstado, and Western Union, all of whom leverage Mambu’s cloud banking platform on AWS. Chetwood Financial, a UK digital bank, is…
Singapore banks have prevented and recovered over S$57.6 million in scams in the first nine months of 2023, thanks to enhanced security measures implemented by major retail banks, according to the Association of Banks in Singapore (ABS). This was achieved through close collaboration between ABS, its member banks, the government, and law enforcement authorities. ABS said that the banks’ recently implemented anti-malware tools have further protected customers from potential losses of at least S$18.6 million. The association added that banks will continue to introduce new anti-scam measures and enhancements in an agile manner to keep pace with ever-evolving scam tactics.…
OCBC announced that it will deploy a generative artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot to its 30,000 employees globally in November 2023. The chatbot, powered by ChatGPT’s Large Language Models, will help employees with writing, research, and ideation. The OCBC ChatGPT was developed in collaboration with Microsoft’s Azure OpenAI and is hosted in a secure and controlled environment. Information entered by OCBC staff is kept within the bank and will not be shared with Microsoft or any external parties. A six-month trial involving about 1,000 OCBC staff across multiple functions including investment research, product management and marketing showed that the chatbot can…
Cactus Custody, Matrixport’s digital asset custodian service provider, has upgraded its US$ 50 million insurance coverage to include crime protection for warm wallets. The insurance is issued by Hong Kong’s digital insurer OneDegree. This means that Cactus Custody’s clients will now be protected against losses caused by employee collusion, third-party theft, and the physical loss or damage of private keys. The new insurance covers major cryptocurrencies and NFTs, and will continue to expand as Cactus Custody extends support to more types of digital assets in the future. Cactus Custody provides custody services for over 200 institutional clients. Wendy Jiang, Head…
Singapore-based cyber insurtech company Protos Labs announced that it has raised SG$3 million (US$2.2 million) in seed funding. The seed round was joined by BEENEXT, VinaCapital Ventures, Artem Ventures in partnership with FWD Insurance, Plug and Play Silicon Valley, Investible, Gan Konsulindo, 1337 Ventures and Gobi Partners. The company said that it plans to use the funds to accelerate its global expansion and product development. Founded by Joel Lee and Simeon Tan, Protos Labs’ solutions combine artificial intelligence, statistical modeling, threat intelligence, and cyber risk management to help enterprises and insurers make informed and agile risk decisions.
Jumio, a provider of identity verification and fraud prevention solutions, has announced the launch of Jumio 360° Fraud Analytics. This new AI-powered tool can identify fraud patterns with greater sophistication and accuracy, helping businesses to protect themselves from fraud. Jumio 360° Fraud Analytics works by looking at billions of data points across Jumio’s cross-industry network to identify patterns based on behavioral similarities and other indicators. It then uses machine learning to group identity transactions into clusters based on their risk. This provides businesses with a multi-dimensional view of each transaction and the cross-customer ecosystem as a whole. Jumio 360° Fraud…
Southeast Asia is anticipating a 100% expansion in its e-commerce market over the next five years, driven by accelerated digital payments growth, led by Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL), mobile wallets, domestic payments, and credit cards. SEA leads in digital economy growth at 15.8% for the next five years, outpacing the United States and EU. South Korea (12.7%) and Japan (10.2%) follows closely, unlocking significant commerce opportunities for SEAKJ. Cross-border e-commerce revenue is primed to grow by 70% to $148.1 billion by early 2027, outpacing the growth of domestic e-commerce revenue. According to the report, BNPL is expected to grow…