Author: Fintech News Singapore

Episode Six (E6), a global provider of payment processing and banking infrastructure, announced the launch of its ‘Business Now, Pay Later’ offering. This solution enables commercial banks to offer installment loans to businesses at any point in their buying journey, helping them meet their working capital needs and improve cash flow. The solution is designed to be customisable, allowing banks to tailor loan products to the specific needs of their customers based on clients’ needs and risk profiles. Payments can be made through any method, whether real-time payments, ACH, wires, or cards, and repayment options vary based on each customer…

British insurance company Aviva plc has agreed to sell its 25.9% stake in financial services company Singapore Life Holdings (Singlife) to Sumitomo Life Insurance Company in a cash deal worth S$ 1.4 billion. The transaction is expected to close in Q4 2023. Sumitomo Life is currently a 23.2% shareholder in Singlife and sees Singapore as a key market within its overall Southeast Asia strategy. Aviva sold its majority stake in Aviva Singapore to a consortium led by Singlife in 2020. The insurer said that its exit from the Singlife joint venture is part of its plan to simplify its footprint…

Crypto exchange Huobi Global announced that it has rebranded as ‘HTX’ following its 10 year anniversary. The changes have been reflected on its social media platforms. According to the exchange, the new name HTX represents “H” which stands for Huobi, “T” represents TRON which is its advisor Justin Sun’s blockchain endeavour, and “X” stands for the exchange as well as the Roman numeral for 10 for its anniversary. In line with the rebranding exercise, HTX plans to venture into new markets with promising prospects across various countries and regions. It will also partner with other projects in the cryptocurrency space.…

ADDX, a Singapore-based private market exchange platform, is planning to expand its operations to the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. Through this expansion, ADDX will be able to expand access to capital for pre-IPO companies from financial institutions and investment funds locally and worldwide. This could potentially result in new investment opportunities in high-growth companies across Asia while strengthening the economic link between Asia Pacific (APAC) and MENA economies. ADDX is currently regulated by the Monetary Authority of Singapore for the issuance, custody and secondary trading of digital securities. To date, ADDX has listed more than 80 deals…

Countries with deeper, more inclusive and more competitive banking systems are exhibiting lower levels of fintech activity than countries with less developed and less competitive banking systems, a phenomenon which could be in part explained by higher barriers to entry and fewer opportunities for digital financial services in countries with advanced banking ecosystems, a research by the World Bank reveals. In a paper titled “Global Patterns of Fintech Activity and Enabling Factors: Fintech and the Future of Finance Flagship Technical Note”, the organization shares findings of a study which sought to document patterns of fintech activity across the world and…

Indian payment gateway provider Razorpay announced that it has acquired BillMe, a Mumbai-based digital invoicing and customer engagement startup. Details of the deal was not disclosed. Founded in 2018, BillMe serves over 15,000 retail points of sale for over 4000 businesses, including McDonald’s, Decathlon, Burger King, Decathlon, Baggit, Relaxo Footwear, and Cinepolis. With BillMe’s rapid deployment and proprietary integration capabilities, businesses can go live with digital invoicing in under 10 minutes and with minimal tech involvement from the merchant’s end. This will enable businesses to analyze customer behavior to create personalized offers or product recommendations, and engage better with their…

Zodia Custody, a digital asset custodian backed by banks, has expanded to Singapore. Standard Chartered, SBI Holdings and Northern Trust are among Zodia’s shareholders. According to Zodia, it is the first entity owned by, and partnered with, banks to provide digital asset custody services for financial institutions in Singapore. The custodian added that it seeks to expand across the Asia-Pacific region to cater to increased demand from institutions to provide bank-grade custody of digital assets, and to respond to existing client demand for its services in the region. The move is also supported by the regulatory developments in Singapore, which…

Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase informed its existing Indian users who did not meet the company’s updated standards that they will have to withdraw their funds by 25 September. TechCrunch reported on 11 September that Coinbase India customers were reportedly told that all of its services would be discontinued by end of the month. This was widely circulated and picked up by other news outlets as well. However, Coinbase came forward to clarify that this move does not affect its other users who remain compliant of its new updated standards. “It is possible that during the course of a recent routine review…

Perfios, an Indian B2B Software as a service (SaaS) firm, announced that it has raised US$229 million in its Series D funding round led by Kedaara Capital. The fundraise was a mix of a primary fund raise and a secondary sale. Having an established footprint in Southeast Asia and the Middle East, the firm intends to use the funds to accelerate its global expansion plans, eyeing the North America and Europe regions. Additionally, Perfios will also use the funds to enhance its stack of decision analytics SaaS products which claims to solve the end-to-end customer journey across banking, insurance, and…

Vertex Ventures Southeast Asia and India (VVSEAI) has secured US$541 million for its fifth and biggest fund, exceeding its target of US$450 million. VVSEAI Fund V is 80% larger than VVSEAI Fund IV which was raised in 2019. A subsidiary of Temasek Holdings, Vertex Holdings has six funds are based across Southeast Asia and India, the U.S., China and Israel. The funds, which are focused on different regional markets, are managed by its own general partners and investment teams. VVSEAI will focus on early stage startups in Southeast Asia and India, with a primary focus on Singapore, India, Indonesia, Thailand,…

Regional insurtech Igloo has named John Chen as its Country Manager for Thailand with the aim to strengthen its presence in that market. Chen will be responsible for strengthening Igloo’s presence in Thailand by growing the business, establishing strategic partnerships, and launching new products. He has over 15 years of experience in both emerging and developed global markets as the former executive of Lazada, Xiaomi, as well as the co-founder of an unnamed neobank. Igloo is already partnered with several major companies in Thailand, including Capital A, AIS Insurance Service, Thai Paiboon Insurance and foodpanda. In 2022, Igloo raised a…

Southeast Asian ride-hailing super app Grab has integrated Web3.0 services into its platform, allowing users to set up Web3.0 wallets, participate in blockchain rewards programmes, and even make payments using NFTs, according to crypto journalist Wu Blockchain. Grab has yet to release an official statement regarding the launch. However, the journalist had shared snapshots of the new feature which is reportedly already available for Grab’s Singaporean users. Grab has integrated a centralised Web3.0 wallet that is similar to Binance. This wallet does not use private keys, but instead uses a PIN password and questions and answers for account recovery.…

Chinese fintech giant Ant Group has launched a new brand called ZAN, which provides a full suite of blockchain application development products and services for both institutional and individual Web3.0 developers. For institutional customers, ZAN offers a solution to help them issue and manage real world assets (RWAs) in compliance with local regulatory requirements. ZAN’s RWA solution can help efficiently bring new assets to the Web3 world, enabling more Web3 applications and use cases. ZAN also provides a series of technical products, including electronic Know-Your-Customer (eKYC), Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Know-Your-Transactions (KYT), to help Web3 businesses build up their capabilities…

OCBC’s anti-malware security feature has prevented scammers from stealing more than S$2 million from more than 30 customers in the first month since its launch on 5 August 2023. The bank received reports from these customers that their Android mobile phones were compromised by sideloaded apps, apps from sources outside of official app stores, and contained malware. However, the anti-malware security feature in the OCBC Digital app had blocked access upon detection of these malicious apps on the phone. The anti-malware security feature is also available when accessing OCBC internet banking via a web browser. A physical hard token, or…

Global payments platform Nium has joined the FAST and PayNow networks in Singapore and is now among a growing group of non-financial institutions participating in this initiative alongside 30 banks across the world. The FAST and PayNow networks enable seamless and instantaneous SGD fund transfers between accounts/e-wallets held across both banks and non-financial institutions (NFI) within Singapore. Through the direct integration with FAST and PayNow, Nium is able to eliminate additional steps and parties in the payment process. Nium will now be able to provide virtual account numbers and PayNow proxies to customers, as well as send and receive local…

AsiaNext, a digital asset exchange for institutional investors, announced that it has secured a license as a Recognised Market Operator (RMO) from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS). The license allows AsiaNext to operate an organised market for securities and collective investment schemes. It sits alongside the company’s in-principle approval for a Capital Markets Services (CMS) license from MAS, which was granted on 14 June 2023. Founded in 2021 by SBI Digital Asset Holdings and SIX Group, AsiaNext aims to serve banks, family offices, asset managers, broker dealers, prime brokers, hedge funds and market makers seeking to engage in digital…

Banking software company Temenos has rolled out a secure solution for banks using Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) to automatically classify customers’ banking transactions with a high degree of accuracy in different languages. This would help banks provide personalised insights and recommendations, offer more intuitive digital banking experiences as well as relevant products and offers. Banks can also tap this for a wide range of uses such as the development of their next best product, cashflow predictions, customer budget advice, peer grouping, customer attrition analysis among others. The Temenos Generative AI solution can be deployed as part of Temenos’ digital banking…

Asia’s increasingly digital population and the growing sophistication of bad actors is creating a perfect storm for the rapid rise in fraud. From sophisticated synthetic ID theft to account takeovers, there are no shortages of threats towards consumers in the financial services space. Arm yourself with the latest insights from industry insiders on strategies to protect your consumers from fraud. Emerging trends in Asia Pacific’s fraud landscape • Discover the latest fraud prevention strategies and technologies Striking the right balance between fraud prevention and user experience Speakers: Beaver Chua, Head of Group Financial Crime Compliance Anti-Fraud, OCBC Yeoh Chen Chow,…

Venture capital firm 500 Global has closed US$143 million in funding for its new early-stage and growth vehicles to support founders in Southeast Asia from pre-seed to pre-IPO. The VC’s third Southeast Asian early-stage fund, 500 SEA III, closed at US$100 million and will provide first checks from US$250,000 to US$500,000 in 100 pre-seed to Series A startups across Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand, Singapore, and Indonesia. 500 Global’s limited partners (LPs) include a sovereign wealth fund, public and private pension funds like Malaysia’s sovereign wealth fund Khazanah Nasional, Kumpulan Wang Persaraan (KWAP), and the Employees Provident Fund (EPF). Additionally, an…

Great Eastern has launched a new standalone electric vehicle (EV) insurance plan, GREAT EV Protect, to support Singapore’s transition to an EV-only future. The plan offers a range of benefits specifically designed for EV owners including outpatient medical claims due to electric shock from an EV charging station up to S$1,000. On top of that, EV owners will receive home contents insurance for damage caused by fire from a private EV charging station at landed properties of up to S$20,000 as well as accidental damage to the owner’s private EV charging station up to S$5,000. The launch of GREAT EV…