The Thailand Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has issued a new set of guidelines for crypto platforms including banning them from offering lending services to customers. According to the new SEC guidelines, these firms will have to disclose a warning about potential risks associated with cryptocurrency trading. They will need to state, “Cryptocurrencies are high risk. Please study and understand the risks of cryptocurrencies thoroughly because you may lose the entire investment amount.” Digital asset business operators will also provide investment suitability assessment results before customers begin trading. Additionally, customers will need to give their consent and acknowledge the risks…
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Thailand insurtech startup Roojai has agreed to acquire FWD General Insurance’s local business from bolttech to boost its market share in the country. Details of the transaction was not disclosed. Through this acquisition, Roojai will have a combined portfolio of over US$50 million (THB 1.74 billion) in annual premium. It will also be able to underwrite general insurance products. Following the acquisition, the company will be rebranded and renamed under the Roojai brand, subject to regulatory approval. According to Roojai, the deal will not affect any existing policies, claims processes or customer services. Launched in 2016, Roojai sells motor, accident,…
The Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance Lawrence Wong has been appointed as the new chairman of the Monetary Authority of Singapore’s (MAS) board of directors. His term will begin from 8 July 2023 and end on 31 May 2026. He has been Deputy Chairman of MAS since June 2021 and had previously served as a member of the board from June 2011 to August 2016. Wong will be replacing Senior Minister and Coordinating Minister for Social Policies Tharman Shanmugaratnam, who has served as Chairman of MAS for twelve years since May 2011. Additionally, Minister for Trade and Industry…
Digital Payment Token (DPT) service providers will have to segregate customers’ assets from its own assets and safekeep it under a statutory trust before the end of the year, according to several new requirements laid out by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS). Additionally, they will need to ensure that the custody function is operationally independent from other business units. This will mitigate the risk of loss or misuse of customers’ assets, and facilitate the recovery of customers’ assets in the event of a DPT service provider’s insolvency. The move comes at a time where former insiders from the beleaguered…
A new paper published by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) on June 21, 2023 introduces the concept of purpose bound money (PBM) and proposes a common protocol for digital money akin to a digital Singapore Dollar focusing on interoperability and versatility The proposed concept involves a common standard for digital money such as central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), tokenized bank liabilities and regulated stablecoins that are designed to work with different ledger technology and forms of money, and which supports interoperability and accessibility through different wallet providers. The PBM framework is outlined in a whitepaper produced in collaboration with…
Standard Chartered has appointed Dana Barsky as its Global Head of Sustainability Strategy and Net Zero where she will be based in Singapore. In her new role, Dana will drive key sustainability agenda items that include overseeing the group’s delivery of its net zero commitments across scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions. She will also be accelerating sustainability integration across the group’s global businesses while further developing sustainability-related relationships across the public and private sectors. Additionally, she will be looking into creating new sustainable partnerships that complement Standard Chartered’s strategic initiatives and enhance the bank’s engagement with civil society. Dana…
The Rwanda Imbaraga SME Ecosystem (RISE) programme has been launched to foster stronger connections between financial institutions and SMEs in both Rwanda and Singapore. RISE aims to equip SMEs in Rwanda with better capabilities to participate in domestic and cross-border trade opportunities, as well as enhanced access to trade financing. The programme’s three components include; providing SMEs with access to financial literacy courses and digital services; extending the data sets and credentials that MSMEs can use to secure funding; and creating new and expanded trade opportunities within Rwanda, as well as between Rwanda and international markets through B2B marketplaces. The…
The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) is proposing an industry code of conduct for providers of Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) ratings and data products. ESG ratings help provide an assessment of the impact of ESG factors on an entity. Meanwhile, ESG data products provide information on the various ESG factors, customised to specific needs. As the integration of sustainability-related risks and opportunities into capital allocation decisions become increasingly mainstream, the use of ESG ratings and data products for investing and capital allocation has grown. The code of conduct establishes minimum industry standards of transparency in methodologies and data sources,…
The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) is proposing to increase deposit insurance (DI) coverage per depositor from S$75,000 to S$100,000 in a public consultation paper. The paper also seeks to improve the clarity and operational efficiency of the DI scheme. The DI limit was last reviewed in 2019 when it was raised from S$50,000 to S$75,000, covering 91% of depositors at that time. The proposed increase will ensure that the vast majority of smaller depositors continue to be fully covered, keeping pace with the growth in average deposit balances. According to MAS, the proposed change will result in 91% of…
Singapore-based payables management software platform Spenmo announced that it has appointed Justin Choi as its new CEO. He succeeds Mohandass Kalaichelvan who will assume an advisory position while remaining on the company’s Board of Directors. Mohandass said, “It has been an honor to build a software platform for businesses and their finance teams and there’s so much more to be done. I remain committed to supporting Spenmo as an advisor and board member and look forward to the next phase of my journey with the company. I would also like to welcome Justin who is well-respected within Asia’s tech…
The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and Singapore Exchange (SGX Group) will collaborate with the Secretariat of the Climate Data Steering Committee (CDSC) so stakeholders around the world will have access to key climate transition-related data. This includes, but is not limited to, data on entity-level emissions, net-zero transition strategies, transition-related investment, and climate-related risks and opportunities. This collaboration will be leveraging the MAS Project Greenprint’s ESGenome disclosure portal and the CDSC’s Net-Zero Data Public Utility (NZDPU). It will allow companies that report into ESGenome to transmit to the NZDPU their data on Scope 1, 2 and 3 greenhouse gas…
In Vietnam, rising demand for digital financial solutions, supportive policies and government initiatives to nurture fintech innovation are providing tremendous opportunities which Swiss fintech players should tap into, a new Vietnam Fintech report by Switzerland Global Enterprise (S-GE) says. The report, titled Business Opportunities in Fintech in Vietnam, provides an overview of the country’s fintech sector, outlining key verticals and highlighting emerging trends arising in the market for Swiss fintech companies to capitalize on. According to the report, five major opportunities currently exist in the market. First, banks in the country are actively teaming up with fintech companies and tech…
Digital asset exchange Crypto.com announced that it will establish its first Global Innovation Lab in Singapore, making the city-state its designated global R&D hub. The new lab will be focused on identifying novel applications for blockchain, WEB3.0 and AI as well as exploring new ventures with strategic partners and hackathons. As an immediate next step, Crypto.com said that it will build a new team fully dedicated to the lab with additional roles to be established in the future. This comes on the heels of Crypto.com’s announcement that it has secured its Major Payment Institution (MPI) license for Digital Payment Token…
The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has released an open-source toolkit to enable the responsible use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the financial industry. The Veritas Toolkit version 2.0 comes on the back of an earlier version released in February 2022 that focused on the assessment methodology for fairness. The latest version, developed by a MAS-led consortium of 31 industry players, has an expanded scope to include the assessment methodologies for ethics, accountability and transparency principles as well. Accenture and Bank of China are the main developers of the toolkit while BNY Mellon, DBS Bank, OCBC, UOB contributed to the…
The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has published a report proposing a framework for designing open, interoperable networks for digital assets. The report Enabling Open & Interoperable Networks was jointly developed with the Bank for International Settlements’ (BIS) Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructure (CPMI), with contributions from DBS Bank, JP Morgan, HSBC, SBI Digital Asset Holdings, Standard Chartered and UOB. The report also considers how the CPMI and International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) principles for financial market infrastructures can be applied to evolving models of digital asset networks, taking reference from industry pilots launched under Project Guardian. Project…
Singapore-based wealth and savings app Hugosave announced that it has appointed Karl Franks as its new COO to drive its strategic growth initiatives in Singapore and Asia Pacific. Karl will also oversee the day-to-day operations and enhance its effectiveness. With over 20 years of leadership experience including 15 years gained within the financial services industry, Karl has led the delivery of strategic business management and major transformational programmes across banking divisions and consulting for major financial institutions. Before joining Hugosave, Karl was the Chief of Staff to the Asia Pacific COO at UBS Wealth Management Singapore, where he oversaw the…
The Association of Banks in Singapore (ABS) has launched the Trade Finance Registry (TFR) to ensure there will be no duplication of trade financing transactions, according to a report by The Edge Singapore. Chaired by UOB, the TFR is supported by DBS Bank, OCBC, Citibank, BNP Paribas, and Standard Chartered Bank. Other participating banks include Bank of China (Singapore), CIMB Bank Berhad, Deutsche Bank, ING Bank, MUFG Bank, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC), and State Bank of India among others. These banks will register new trade financing transactions on TFR and there will be real-time notifications if there’s a duplicate…
Homegrown financial services company Singlife has partnered with Singaporean B2B fintech Aspire to enable regional small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs) greater access to financial services. This partnership is the first to be launched under the fintech accelerator programme Singlife Connect which focuses on developing scalable market solutions to innovate insurance distribution. Singlife said that SMEs can expect seamless access to a suite of services ranging from financial-related software to affordable business insurance through this partnership. Through Aspire, Singlife will offer complementary business-related insurance products. Aspire will provide up to 8% cashback on premiums paid for customers who onboard successfully, helping SMEs combat…
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation (GLEIF) and Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) will be working together to develop digital ESG credentials for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) worldwide. MAS will deploy the ESGenome disclosure platform, presently co-piloted with the Singapore Exchange as part of MAS’ Project Greenprint, as a digital reporting tool for MSMEs to populate the ESG metrics needed to generate their basic ESG credentials. In doing so, MAS will leverage Greenprint’s partner network of AIoT and data capture solutions to pre-fill these metrics using verified data where possible, to simplify and…
In Southeast Asia, digitalization and technology are playing an important role in expanding access to financial services and fintech companies are spearheading the movement, a new research by the Centre for Impact Investing and Practices (CIIP), a non-profit established by Temasek Trust, in partnership with the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) and Helicap, found. The Financial Inclusion in Post-COVID Southeast Asia: Accelerating Impact Beyond Access report draws on an extensive study of Southeast Asian financial services providers and their clientele to assess the impact of financial access on customers’ business and livelihoods, quality of life, and household well-being. Findings…