Author: Fintech News Singapore

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has launched the Financial Sector Artificial Intelligence and Data Analytics (AIDA) talent development programme. The programme aims to to build deep AI capabilities in the financial sector, addressing the shortage of AIDA talent which has emerged as the biggest challenge for its adoption. An AIDA Talent Consortium has been set up for key financial institutions (FIs) and training institutions to collaborate on the talent development programme. The consortium member includes AI Singapore, Arabesque Asset Management Singapore, FactSet UK, Nanyang Polytechnic, National University of Singapore, Ngee Ann Polytechnic, NTUC LearningHub, OCBC Bank, Singapore Management University,…

Indian digital payments company PhonePe has secured an additional US$100 million investment from its existing investor General Atlantic, a global growth equity firm, as part of its ongoing efforts to close an ongoing US$ 1 billion financing round. This latest tranche brings the total investment from General Atlantic and its co-investors to US$550 million. With this latest primary infusion from General Atlantic, PhonePe has now raised a total of US$850 million of primary capital in the current round. The firm has plans to deploy these funds to scale up its payments and insurance businesses in India, as well as to…

Ripple, a blockchain and crypto solutions provider, has launched a new platform to enable central banks, governments, and financial institutions to issue their own central bank digital currency (CBDC). The Ripple CBDC Platform will be leveraging the same blockchain technology used on the XRP Ledger (XRPL). The platform enables its issuers (e.g. central banks, monetary authorities or commercial banks) to manage the full life cycle of their fiat based digital currency, from minting and distribution to redemption and destruction. This allows financial institutions who are holding significant amounts of the digital currency to manage and participate in inter-institutional settlement and…

Amazon Web Services (AWS) plans to invest INR 1,05,600 crores (US$12.7 billion) in India by 2030 to meet growing customer demand for cloud services in India. This planned investment in data center infrastructure in India will support an estimated average of 131,700 full-time equivalent (FTE) jobs in Indian businesses each year. These positions, including construction, facility maintenance, engineering, telecommunications, and other jobs, are part of the data center supply chain in India. The latest announcement comes on the heels of AWS’ investment of INR 30,900 crores (US$3.7 billion) between 2016 and 2022. AWS estimates that its overall contribution to the…

Six in ten consumers in Asia-Pacific (APAC) prefer to use digital-only solutions for their remittance and money movement needs, a trend that’s emerging on the back of changing consumer preferences and demand for greater convenience, better planning and improved inclusivity, a new survey conducted by Western Union found. Results of the Western Union Global Money Transfer Index, which are based on a poll of 30,500+ consumers globally, were released on March 22, 2023 and revealed that digital transformation is progressing quickly across the region as consumers grow frustrated with slow, inefficient and burdensome traditional remittance methods. 71% of APAC senders…

The New York Federal Reserve and the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has published the report on the findings of their cross-border payments study. The Project Cedar Phase II x Ubin+ (Cedar x Ubin+) experiment found that distributed ledger technology (DLT) could be used to improve the efficiency of cross-border wholesale payments and settlements involving multiple currencies. The experiment was conducted in a test environment and the hypothetical payments were settled using simulated wholesale central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). The findings addressed three key pain points which included interoperability and autonomy. The Cedar x Ubin + experiment interlinked the distinct…

Banking software company Temenos has rolled out an AI-powered mortgage solution to will help lenders deliver a personalised digital mortgage experience while reducing their costs and time to close. The composable and highly scalable solution is said to be suitable for banks of all sizes, building societies, credit unions that want to enhance their service offering and fintech or challenger banks looking to enter the mortgage market. The Temenos Digital Mortgages enhances productivity and reduces delinquencies for the lenders through automation and intuitive workflows to make quick and prudent decisions, using AI to provide affordability assessments that are transparent and…

2C2P, a payment gateway service provider founded in Thailand, has partnered with Cambodia’s AMK Microfinance Institution to expand its international remittance service “easy2send” between Thailand and Cambodia. easy2send by 2C2P was launched in 2019, supporting real-time money transfers from Thailand to Myanmar, Singapore, Vietnam, Cambodia, and UnionPay cardholders in China and worldwide at a starting fee of 99 baht. Through this new partnership, customers can transfer funds through easyWallet, 2C2P’s proprietary mobile wallet, to over 10,000 payment points in Thailand to AMK users in Cambodia. Piyachart Ratanaprasatporn, Chief Executive Officer of 2C2P Thailand said, “This collaboration between 2C2P and AMK…

Ripple, a blockchain and crypto solutions provider, has acquired Metaco, a Swiss-based provider of digital asset custody and tokenisation technology, for US$250 million. Through this acquisition, Ripple will be able to expand its enterprise offerings by diversifying into custody solutions to provide customers with the technology to custody, issue, and settle any type of tokenised asset. Ripple will become the sole shareholder of Metaco, which will continue to operate as an independent brand and business unit led by Founder and CEO Adrien Treccani. Metaco’s primary offering Harmonize is the institutional standard for digital asset custody and tokenisation infrastructure. The company’s…

Singapore-based insurtech firm bolttech has raised US$196 million during its Series B fundraise led by Japan’s Tokio Marine with a valuation of US$1.6 billion. The firm had shared the announcement back in October 2022 that Tokio Marine will be leading its Series B but did not disclose the sum at that time. Other key investors include global life insurance giant MetLife through its subsidiary MetLife Next Gen Ventures, Malaysia’s sovereign wealth fund Khazanah Nasional, as well as new and existing shareholders. bolttech said that it will use the proceeds to further fuel its growth through investments in proprietary technology, digital…

Payments giant Visa announced that it has selected seven new startups to be a part of its Visa Accelerator Programme in Asia Pacific (APAC). The seven startups that were selected from over 450 applicants to be a part of the 2023 programme are from India, Mainland China, Thailand, Singapore and Germany. They will be working on solutions in the areas of Web 3.0, global money movement, embedded finance, merchant and small business enablers, and open banking solutions. Over a course of six months, these startups will be able to collaborate with Visa’s payment experts, business development teams and customers. They…

Singapore’s Trust Bank has launched its supplementary credit card where the application process is fully digital and will be issued instantly to its customers. The principal card holder will now be able to invite the supplementary card holder through the Trust app. Once the supplementary card holder accepts the invite, the process is done under a minute. There will be no need for any forms or signatures. The supplementary card holders can then view their spending and Linkpoint rewards in real-time within their app. Additionally, the primary card holder will also be able to manage the spending limit. Moreover, the supplementary…

Standard Chartered has partnered with Worldpay from FIS to expand the market coverage and enable new capabilities on the bank’s one-stop digital collections gateway for merchants, Straight2Bank Pay. Both entities are collaborating to develop a comprehensive suite of digital collections solutions that enables businesses to collect funds from a wider range of payment methods including cards and alternative payment methods such as e-wallets and bank transfers. It also allows Straight2Bank Pay to further grow its footprint across Asia, as well as enter into new markets across Europe, Middle East, UK and the US, and support more merchants in facilitating seamless…

Singapore-based fintech firm Jenfi announced that it has raised US$6.6 million in a Pre-Series B funding round led by Headline Asia. The round was also joined by Monk’s Hill Ventures, ICU Ventures, Granite Oak, Korea Investment Partners & Golden Equator Capital, Atlas Ventures as well as other existing early investors. Jenfi offers more flexible funding options to digital-native businesses looking to scale and claims to have deployed over US$25 million to more than 600 companies. The fintech also integrates seamlessly with a wide array of data sources to monitor and underwrite businesses, such as accounting softwares (e.g. Xero and QuickBooks),…

Revolut, a global neobank with more than 28 million customers worldwide, announced that its Singapore users will be able to exchange and store seven new currencies within the app. The additional currency accounts include Indian rupee (INR), Philippine peso (PHP), South Korean won (KRW), Chilean peso (CLP), Colombian peso (COP), Egyptian pound (EGP), and Kazakhstani tenge (KZT). Through this new offering, Revolut’s customers will now be able to conduct foreign exchange using their app for the abovementioned currencies before they complete card payments or transfers. Revolut said that it expects travel expenses and international remittance to be the top use…

Payments infrastructure provider PPRO announced that its CEO Simon Black will step down from his position on 31 December 2023, after leading the company for almost nine years. Simon will continue to work with the board for a smooth transition. The board has commenced the search for the next CEO and said that the announcement will be made in due course. This announcement follows the completion of the integration of Alpha Fintech acquired in March 2022, the reshaping of PPRO’s management team, and the strengthening of its board which commenced with the appointment of Lázaro Campos as Chairman a year…

dtcpay, a payment company based on distributed ledger technology formerly known as Digital Treasures Center, has officially opened its new office in Singapore’s Central Business District. The new office, located at Cecil Street, aims to develop local talent and partnerships with companies by providing seamless digital payment solutions for merchants across different industries. dtcpay had gone through a rebranding exercise in April this year to “reflect its commitment towards digital payments”. The firm had also appointed Kanny Lee as Group CEO and embarked on its expansion strategy as it is aims to secure the relevant licenses in Hong Kong. The…

Mastercard has expanded its partnership with end-to-end payment fraud protection platform Vesta in a bid to protect e-commerce transactions from fraud. The payments firm will be integrating Vesta’s Payment Guarantee™ and Payment Protect risk scoring solution into its Mastercard Payment Gateway Services (MGPS) platform. With Vesta Payment Guarantee™, transactions are 100% guaranteed against fraud. This means that if a fraudulent order approved by Vesta’s rigorous risk scoring engine makes it through the checkout process, Vesta said that it will absorb the full cost of the transaction. Starting in the second half of 2023, MPGS customers in the Asia Pacific region…

Australia’s digital bank Alex has gone live with its fixed term deposits offering on banking software company Temenos’ cloud platform. Temenos said that it had partnered with Alex Bank to design, test, and implement the new offering over less than four months. Leveraging Temenos, Alex Bank has been offering personal loans with applications that can reportedly be completed in three minutes or less as well as savings accounts. In December 2022, Alex Bank was granted an unrestricted license, allowing it to expand its product portfolio to include term deposits. Temenos Banking Cloud has provided Alex Bank with an end-to-end digital…

Regtech provider Know Your Customer announced that it has partnered with Choco Up, a revenue-based financing platform with offices in Singapore and Hong Kong. Through this partnership, Choco Up will be able to streamline client verification and accelerate access to capital financing for e-commerce businesses worldwide. Know Your Customer offers flexible and scalable Modular Compliance solutions to simplify and automate client onboarding and periodic reviews. Its platform features real-time connections to company registries in 127 countries, AI-based extraction of company and shareholder information from official company documents, live mapping of Ultimate Beneficial Owners across borders and periodic review automation. Choco…