Author: Fintech News Singapore

In a collaborative move aimed at harnessing the power of generative AI, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and Google Cloud have entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). The focus is on developing responsible solutions and upskilling technologists in this emerging technology. The MoU outlines a cooperative framework centered on three key areas: identifying use cases and co-developing solutions for MAS’ digital services; applying generative AI technology in alignment with MAS’ technology strategies; and fostering deep AI expertise among MAS technologists. Vincent Loy, Assistant Managing Director (Technology), MAS, emphasized the significance of the collaboration, stating, “This collaboration allows us…

Wallex, a B2B FX and cross-border payment platform has secured approval from Singapore’s Monetary Authority (MAS) to augment its Major Payment Institution (MPI) licence. This enhancement includes account issuance, domestic transfers, and e-money issuance services, further solidifying Wallex’s standing in Singapore. “Receiving the approval to add account issuance, domestic money transfer, and e-money issuance services to our MPI licence is a significant milestone in our journey and sends a strong signal to our present and future customers that Wallex is fully committed to empowering them through more seamless international payments and cross-border transactions,” said CEO Hiro Kiga. The Asia-Pacific economy,…

Invest Hong Kong (InvestHK) had announced today the official launch of its year-round fintech accelerator Global Fast Track 2023 (GFT). The accelerator is established through three pillars – the Global Scaleup Competition, the Business Matching Platform, and the always-on GFT Alumni Programme. InvestHK and partnering regulators of the 2023 GFT, including the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, the Insurance Authority, the Securities and Futures Commission, together with the Customs and Excise Department, set the goal and vision to facilitating the world’s most innovative fintech firms to launch and succeed in Hong Kong, across Asia, and beyond. This year, InvestHK appointed WHub…

Chinese fintech giant Ant Group announced that the four mobile wallets supported by its payment system Alipay+ are now accepted in Thailand. These include Hong Kong’s AlipayHK, South Korea’s Kakao Pay, Malaysia’s Touch ‘n Go eWallet, and Mainland China’s Alipay which has been accepted by Thai merchants since 2015. Ant said that the addition of the first three mobile wallets mentioned above will expand the seamless digital travel experience for more Asian tourists visiting Thailand. In partnership with the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT), Ant will also provide digital solutions to local businesses in areas such as digitalisation of service…

Global cryptocurrency exchange Binance has appointed Richard Teng to head its regional markets outside the United States. Teng revealed the news on LinkedIn and will begin his new role on Monday. This announcement comes on the heels of the increasing scrutiny faced by Binance in the U.S. over compliance issues. Teng, who was initially appointed as the CEO for Singapore at Binance, moved into the role leading the European and MENA regions after the crypto exchange withdrew its licensing efforts in the island state on December 2021. Prior to joining Binance, Teng was the CEO of the Abu Dhabi Global…

Deutsche Bank announced that it has nearly doubled its capital allocation in Vietnam, bringing the total to more than US$ 200 million. The bank said that the increased capital will support its growth in the country and allow it to undertake more activity for its clients. The bank has been in Vietnam for 30 years after launching its presence in the country in 1992. Deutsche Bank identified the market as a key growth driver for the ASEAN region, having doubled its revenues over the past two years. It provides a range of corporate and investment banking solutions to multinational companies, large…

Singapore’s Trust Bank announced that its customers are now able to purchase affordable travel insurance by Income Insurance within its app which takes about a minute to complete.  This latest launch combined with Trust Bank’s card with zero FX fees aims to boost its customers travel experience. Tiffany Teo, Head of Bancassurance at Trust said, “We’ve rolled out many innovations since September and we are delighted to launch fast and seamless digital travel insurance for our customers. Combined with our fee-free FX, this makes Trust your go-to travel partner this holiday season” Since its launch in September 2022, Trust bank…

XFlow, a financial services and infrastructure company that simplifies the cross-border payments for businesses, has raised a US$10.2 million Pre-Series A funding round led by Square Peg. The round was also joined by Moore Strategic Ventures and existing investors Lightspeed and General Catalyst. With the fresh funds, XFlow will be growing its team across key engineering, sales, marketing and operational roles. It is also looking to expand geographically beyond India. Founded in 2021 by Anand Balaji and Ashwin Bhatnagar, XFlow has a full-stack payments platform to simplify cross-border payments. XFlow’s clients include companies such as WeWork, Inkle and iCliniq. “With…

Bridgetown Holdings, a SPAC backed by billionaire Peter Thiel, has inked an agreement to merge with Southeast Asian fintech MoneyHero. The transaction is expected to close in the third or fourth quarter of 2023. Coming on the heels of the merger is the rebranding of MoneyHero Group from Hyphen Group which it will use as its umbrella brand going forward. The combined company will be valued at approximately US$342 million on a post-money basis, including up to approximately US$154 million of cash held in Bridgetown’s trust account. MoneyHero Group’s management team led by CEO Prashant Aggarwal as well as CFO…

Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund Temasek said that it will slash the compensation of the investment team and senior management involved in greenlighting the US$275 million funding in now-bankrupt crypto exchange FTX. Temasek’s chairman Lim Boon Heng said in a statement on following an internal review that the move was its way of taking “collective accountability” even though there was no misconduct by the investment team in reaching their recommendation. He added, “With FTX, as alleged by prosecutors and as admitted by key executives at FTX and its affiliates, there was fraudulent conduct intentionally hidden from investors, including Temasek. Nevertheless,…

Thailand’s technology-driven auto leasing company Next Capital partnered with cloud banking platform Mambu to launch a new suite of lending products in just four months. Next Capital went live on Mambu’s cloud banking and lending platform without the need to bring in a third-party system integrator. Mambu’s platform provides the Loan Management System while the Loan Origination Application and entire system design and integration efforts are handled by Next Capital’s in-house technology team. Leveraging Mambu’s API-first platform will also enable Next Capital to connect with other technology vendors to offer new products and services. Mambu has a growing in-country presence…

Cambodian commercial bank Sathapana Bank has partnered with finbots.ai, an AI-powered credit scoring software provider backed by Accel, to bolster its credit risk management. With finbots.ai’s AI- led credit modelling platform credit, Sathapana Bank will be able to better assess credit worthiness of applicants for personal, home, agriculture, and SME loans. Additionally, the bank will be able to build high accuracy behaviour scorecards on demand, to manage their portfolios in real-time, allowing it to proactively reward good customers and take mitigating action for risky customers. With this partnership, finbots.ai has expanded its footprint to now have a presence in 9…

Southeast Asian superapp Grab announced that its co-founder Tan Hooi Ling intends to step down from her operating roles, including her directorship, by the end of 2023. Tan, who had co-founded Grab with Group CEO Anthony Tan in 2012, has served as a member of its Board of Directors since its public listing in December 2021. She will be transitioning into an advisory role moving forward. Grab will be reviewing potential candidates for the board later this year and make an announcement once any changes take place. She currently leads Grab’s technology organisation, and is mentoring its tech talent including…

Episode Six (E6), a global provider of payment processing and banking infrastructure, has secured a US$48 million Series C financing led by Avenir, a growth stage investment firm. The round also included additional participation by existing investor Anthos Capital, a consumer and technology investment firm. The funds will be used to expand E6’s go-to-market efforts, build on its market presence, and scale its business. E6’s platform, TRITIUM®, allows businesses to quickly deliver payments solutions with the flexibility to adapt in real time. E6 operates globally across 38 countries with an expanding team located in the U.S., UK, Japan, Singapore, Hong…

Real-time payments software provider ACI Worldwide has teamed up with Red Hat OpenShift to enable financial institutions and payment providers to utilise ACI solutions on the platform. The collaboration will allow ACI to support both private and public cloud environments as more customers move to cloud-native solutions. The partnership comes at a time where transitioning to cloud-based infrastructure requires careful consideration, as payment systems are increasingly complex. ACI already offers a majority of its solution portfolio for financial institutions on premise, as a cloud deployment in Microsoft Azure and as a managed service. The addition of support for Red Hat…

Global private market exchange ADDX has entered into a long-term partnership with OCBC Bank that will see both parties work together to put out a wider variety of investment products. Through this partnership, ADDX will distribute OCBC’s first tokenised equity-linked structured note to accredited investors. The note is linked to shares in a US-listed tech giant and was launched on the ADDX platform at a minimum size of US$50,000. The fixed coupon note, launched in early May, is the first product issued by a Singapore bank to land on ADDX’s shelf. To date, ADDX has listed more than 70 deals…

Atome, Southeast Asian buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) platform, announced that its flexible payment option is now available for Amazon customers in Singapore during checkout. This is Amazon’s first BNPL partnership of its kind in Southeast Asia. Amazon.sg customers can now pay using Atome’s pay-in-three, zero interest payment option. They first have to bind their Atome account before selecting the pay-in-three, zero interest option. As part of the launch, Amazon customers can redeem S$15 off (minimum spend of S$150) when they select Atome at checkout from 1 June onwards. William Yang, Head of Commercial, Atome said, “We’re truly humbled by this opportunity to…

AXA Insurance Thailand has partnered with insurtech firm CoverGo to enhance its health claims processes and elevate its customer experience. CoverGo’s platform will improve the efficiency of AXA’s health insurance services with its modular architecture which provides insurers with flexibility within existing systems. It can also be easily scaled into a full-fledged health core insurance system. Furthermore, its claims module enables digital claims submission and adjudication, resulting in faster payments. The platform’s digital claims handling and processing will also reduce fraud, waste, and abuse, and create opportunities for up-selling and cross-selling various AXA products. Claude Seigne, the CEO of AXA…

Tyme, a multi-country digital banking group headquartered in Singapore, has secured funding from two new shareholders – Africa-focused tech growth fund Norrsken22 and global impact investment firm Blue Earth Capital as part of its Pre-Series C capital raise. This brings the total funds raised for this tranche from Tyme’s new and existing shareholders to US$ 77.8 million. Tyme added that is still in the midst of raising funds for the Series C which is expected to close later in the year. Tyme had previously closed it’s US$180 million Series B capital raise in December 2021. The funds being raised are intended…

ACI Worldwide, a real-time payments software provider, announced the addition of Swift Go to its cross-border payments offering. Swift Go enables consumers and businesses to send simple, fast and transparent cross-border payments straight from their bank account, combining the power of Swift gpi with domestic real-time payments infrastructure where possible. ACI Worldwide said that it will enable banks to utilise Swift Go via the ACI Enterprise Payments Platform through this partnership. The ACI technology solutions, including the ACI Enterprise Payment Platform, have been supporting various gpi services since its inception, including gpi Customer Credit Transfers, ACI gpi Data Service and…