Author: Fintech News Singapore

The Monetary Authority of Singapore’s (MAS) longest-serving chief Ravi Menon will be stepping down as this year, according to a report by Bloomberg. Ravi, who turns 59 this year, has served for 12 years at MAS and his current term would end by 31 May. Not much is known about what Ravi’s next plans are. Even though his predecessors including Heng Swee Keat, Tharman Shanmugaratnam and Richard Hu had joined politics and served as finance ministers after leaving the top chief post, Ravi told Bloomberg two years ago that he has “absolutely no intention to enter politics”. There are unverified…

Southeast Asian SME digital financing platform Funding Societies | Modalku has crossed US$3 billion (S$4.1 billion) in disbursals of financing to SMEs with over 5 million transactions. The company reported that it has disbursed loans to close to 100,000 SMEs across five countries in Southeast Asia. Additionally, Funding Societies said that it has tripled its Gross Transaction Value (GTV) year-on-year through its proprietary solution Elevate, and its integration of CardUp’s payments solutions last year. In 2022, Funding Societies had launched its virtual card Elevate in Singapore and has since has served nearly 2,000 SMEs who were able to get faster…

Pan-Asian insurance company FWD Singapore announced the expansion of its home insurance coverage by protecting homeowners from cyber fraud through its complimentary FWD Cyber insurance. Customers who now purchase or renew FWD Home insurance will receive the complimentary FWD Cyber insurance which is available for twelve months and covers online shopping fraud and fraudulent electronic transfers. FWD Cyber insurance provides coverage for some of the most common scams; up to S$5,000 in coverage for financial loss arising directly from an online marketplace fraud; and up to S$5,000 in coverage for financial loss to customers’ bank accounts or digital wallets arising directly…

UOB and Lazada Group will collaborate on retail products and banking solutions for their combined customer base in five key Southeast Asian markets, namely Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam. This will be Lazada’s first partnership with a bank across a variety of payments and financial services in Southeast Asia, as well as UOB’s first regional collaboration with an e-commerce platform. The partnership will allow both customers and sellers to get better access and enhanced benefits from payment and financial services that best meet their needs. Singapore customers will be the first to receive these benefits as UOB will offer…

Canadian payments company Nuvei has received an investment from Hollywood actor, producer and entrepreneur Ryan Reynolds. Details of the investment was not disclosed. Nuvei’s card acquiring services is available in more than 200 markets, including direct local acquiring in over 47 countries, as well as access to more than 600 alternative payment methods. The firm connects e-commerce businesses with their customers wherever they are in the world and however they want to pay. In 2023 alone, Nuvei had completed the acquisition of B2B and integrated payments technology provider Paya in a US$1.3 billion deal. The company has also made significant strides…

Global cryptocurrency company Luno announced that it will cease its operations in Singapore from 20 June 2023 onwards due to a “regular evaluation of its global strategy and presence”. The shocking news comes on the heels of Luno’s Co-founder Marcus Swanepoel stepping down as CEO and was succeeded by James Lanigan who was formerly the Chief Operating Officer. Luno said that it has withdrawn its license application from the Monetary Authority of Singapore and reassured its users that its operations in other regions are not impacted by this decision. User will need to withdraw all their cryptocurrency or SGD from…

Global cross-border payments firm Thunes announced that it has been granted a payment license by the French regulator, enabling it to send payments worldwide on behalf of its French or EU customers and partners. The latest regulatory approval in France complements Thunes’ existing license allowing the company to conduct payment acquisition services for merchants, marketplaces and payment service providers for regulated financial institutions in the region. With the new license, Thunes said that it can accelerate its expansion by onboarding new companies of all sizes in the EU and opening additional avenues for various use cases. Peter de Caluwe,…

Volopay, a Y Combinator-backed corporate cards and payable management startup, has secured in-principle approval for a Major Payment Institution (MPI) license from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS). The firm’s payment services namely account issuance, e-money, domestic money transfer and cross-border money transfers will now be regulated under the Payment Services Act. Volopay said that the approval will enable it to “strengthen its foothold and services in its home city-state of Singapore” and “maximise its existing services to Singapore-based companies that have a regional presence across APAC”. Launched in 2020, Volopay is a partner of Visa and currently offers expense…

Digital Treasures Center, a payment company based on distributed ledger technology, announced that it has rebranded as dtcpay in a bid to reflect its commitment towards digital payments. dtcpay said that the rebrand also aims to unveil its expansion roadmap which includes launching more fiat and digital currency pairings for the multi-currency swap product. The company aims to streamline the payment process for merchants with dtcpay POS+, as an all-in-one device that accepts various forms of digital payments including credit cards, QR code payments, digital currencies and more. In a further effort to make settlement even more efficient for its…

Indian digital payments company PhonePe has raised an additional US$100 million from American growth equity firm General Atlantic as part of its ongoing efforts to close an ongoing US$ 1 billion financing round. General Atlantic is an existing investor and was part of the US$450 million fundraise that was joined by Ribbit Capital, Tiger Global and TVS Capital Funds in January this year. PhonePe went on to secure an additional US$200 million from Walmart two months later in March. Currently, PhonePe has raised a total of US$750 million. The firm has plans to deploy these funds to scale up its payments…

These days the majority of our touch points are through digital channels – which is why digital experiences will likely make or break your customer attrition rates. From onboarding all the way to interacting with your digital channels, how should banks and fintechs of the future shape great user experiences? Join practitioners from leading digital first organisations as we discuss winning strategies to win the hearts and minds of Asia’s digital generation. Best practices and philosophies behind seamless user experiences Removing friction from user journeys Tech trends and developments shaping the future of user experience Panelists: Romil Sharma, Group Head…

Global payments platform Nium has announced the appointment of Anupam Pahuja as its EVP and General Manager of Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa. Pahuja will build on Nium’s success in Southeast Asia, where the fintech unicorn was founded, and work on expanding the company’s presence into additional markets within APAC, the Middle East, and Africa. He has over two decades of experience in various global roles and most recently served as the CEO of ZaloPay which is Vietnam’s second-largest e-wallet. Before joining ZaloPay, Pahuja spent over ten years at PayPal where he was responsible for managing and growing the…

BetterTradeOff (BTO), a Singaporean fintech offering online financial advisor solution, has secured an undisclosed sum from Standard Chartered’s investment arm SC Ventures, according to a report by The Edge Singapore. Standard Chartered Bank has an existing partnership with BTO in April 2021 to launch its online financial planning solution named SC Goals Planner that is available on SC Online Banking and SC Mobile. This investment will be used to help BTO make its next phase of technological enhancements as well as geographical expansion into key markets in Asia and beyond. BTO currently has a presence in seven markets namely Singapore,…

Regtech provider Know Your Customer announced that it has formed two new partnerships in Singapore with Volopay and Coda Payments. Know Your Customer’s innovative compliance platform will streamline client onboarding and periodic review tasks for both clients, delivering a more seamless due diligence experience to their vast pool of SME and corporate clients. Founded in 2020 in Singapore, Volopay offers corporate cards as well as receivable and payable management software in order to help businesses streamline approvals and expense workflows, lending complete control and visibility over their expenses. Since then, Volopay has expanded globally to Australia, Indonesia, and India as…

Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC has increased its stake in United States-Israeli fintech Pagaya Technologies from roughly 7% to 9%. The details of the transaction was not disclosed. GIC and Pagaya has also extended their existing funding agreement earlier this week for an additional 3 years on top of the original 5-year term, on the same terms as the existing agreement. GIC is one of Pagaya’s top shareholders and has supported Pagaya in delivering a comprehensive, one-stop solution for institutional investors to invest at scale in consumer credit and real estate assets originated by more than 25 financial institutions and…

Xiaomi-backed online brokerage Tiger Brokers has launched an AI-powered chatbot TigerGPT, claiming that it is the first AI investment assistant in the industry. The feature is now in user testing and will soon be rolled out on the flagship platform Tiger Trade to provide intelligent global investment decision-making support for users. TigerGPT leverages Tiger Brokers’ vast content library and access to paid sources including listed companies’ profiles and data, financial knowledge and investor education materials as well as market and stock insights, in a response to users’ investment-related queries in easily digestible conversations within a span of seconds. This feature…

Despite a global pullback in fintech funding and regulatory headwinds, investments in India remained strong in 2022, driven by large deals in lending and fintech infrastructure-focused players as well as a dynamic early-stage funding landscape in emerging segments, including insurtech, embedded lending and wealthtech, a new report by management consulting firm Bain and Company says. The India Venture Capital Report 2023, released on March 15, 2023, looks at the state of startup funding in the country, delving into trends observed in 2022 and key predictions for the year to come. According to the report, fintech funding in India in 2022…

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has halted plans for the pan-India New Umbrella Entity (NUE) for retail payment systems that was meant to rival that of the United Payments Interface (UPI). The Indian central bank had opened up bids for licenses to operate new retail payment and settlement systems across India through the NUE project. Amazon, Reliance, Facebook, Tata Group, Google, HDFC and ICICI were among the license applicants. The Economic Times quoted the Deputy Governor T Rabi Sankar saying, “Of the proposals that we have received, we did not quite see any innovative or infrastructural solution that had…

Thailand has a small and nascent startup ecosystem that’s mostly made up of early-stage ventures focusing on product development as well as securing their first group of customers. Within this small yet burgeoning ecosystem, fintech is not only the largest sector by the number of companies, but also the vertical that has secured the most funding, according to a 2023 report by consultancy Deloitte. Of the 290 tech startups identified in Thailand in 2022, 10.2% or 30 companies operated in the fintech sector. Additionally, the fintech sector had accounted for 60% of total capital funding since 2020, the report says.…

Payments giant Mastercard announced that it is accelerating efforts to remove first–use, PVC plastics from payment cards on its network by 2028. The firm said that this move further reinforces its sustainability commitments and scales the accessibility of more sustainable card offerings for consumers seeking a way to reduce the environmental impact of their wallet. Mastercard will support its global issuing partners through the transition away from virgin PVC. From 1 January 2028, all newly–produced Mastercard plastic payment cards will be made from more sustainable materials – including recycled or bio-sourced plastics such as rPVC, rPET, or PLA1 – and…