Author: Fintech News Singapore

DBS Bank has launched the Season 3 of its critically acclaimed web series Sparks which showcases what it is like to work at the bank. The bank said in a statement that the web series showcases how DBS is a different kind of bank that embodies the agility of a startup to encourage innovation and collaboration internally. The latest Sparks season will be promoted in India, kicking off the new year with the first few episodes inspired by the bank’s work with a food solutions provider. In previous seasons, Sparks tackled urgent social and sustainability issues and highlighted the enhanced…

Over the past few years the C-suite are waking up to the importance of hyperpersonalisation in banking by investing heavily in data analytics and cloud technologies to deliver tailored products and services in a bid to retain their customers’ loyalty. Fintech News Singapore spoke with experts from Microsoft, Red Hat, digital bank group Tyme, Philippines’ UNO Digital Bank, HSBC, Brunei’s Baiduri Bank as well as banking software provider Temenos on how banks have readily embraced hypersonalisation in banking to fend off competition from bigtechs and fintechs alike. The bar for customer satisfaction has been raised significantly in the financial services…

Cross-border payments firm Tazapay announced that it has raised US$ 16.9 million in its Series A funding round led by Sequoia Capital Southeast Asia. The round was joined by new investors EscapeVelocity, PayPal Alumni Fund as well as angel investor Gokul Rajaram. Existing investors Foundamental, January Capital, RTP Global and Saison Capital also participated in this round. Tazapay said that it plans to use the funds to further scale its business across Asia and expand in other regions including the Middle East and Europe. This includes the application of payment licenses in major markets that will broaden Tazapay’s payment network…

CrediLinq.Ai, a Singaporean fintech enabling B2B online financing and payments, announced that it has raised an undisclosed sum during the extension of its seed funding round. The round was joined by MS&AD Ventures, Big Sky Capital, and existing investors 1982 Ventures, and other angel investors. CrediLinq.Ai plans to use the fresh capital to scale its operations and make strategic acquisitions across its key markets, including Indonesia and Singapore as well as signing on customers from other global regions. The firm works with digital banks and funding partners to channel volume via its platform for underwriting and giving access to SMEs…

MONIX, a Bangkok-based AI-powered digital lending platform, announced that it has secured US$20 million in the first close of its pre-IPO fundraising. The new funds raised brings its total funds raised to US$40 million. The investment was led by Siam Commercial Bank’s SCBX and a new investor Lombard Asia, a Southeast Asia’s growth-focused private equity manager. MONIX is a joint venture fintech startup between SCBX Group and China’s fintech unicorn Abakus Group that was established in 2020. According to a statement by MONIX, the company has recorded US$ 458 million in loan disbursements to over 650,000 users as of 2022.…

There is a rising need for a regulatory rethink on the impact that big techs have on the financial services sector, according to the General Manager, Bank for International Settlements (BIS) Agustín Carstens at a conference in Basel, Switzerland. Big techs such as Alibaba, Tencent, Amazon, Apple and more have extended their reach across a wide range of industries, with their existing core businesses being grounded in e-commerce and social media among others. These bigtechs are able to scale rapidly in the finance sector using the user data from their other existing businesses. However, their rapid growth could result in…

Revolut, a neobank with more than 25 million retail customers worldwide, is now offering stock trading for its Singaporean customers. They will now have the opportunity to buy and sell US-listed fractional shares through the Revolut app. The feature allows customers to invest as little as US$1 into stocks from popular listed companies. To mark the launch, Revolut Singapore is waiving all commission, custody and settlement fees until March 2023 for all customers. The Stock Trading feature includes real-time market data, stock research, stock charts, as well as price alerts, market graphs, and global market news within the app. “We’re…

General insurer MSIG Singapore has partnered with insurance ecosystem builder Fermion to combat motor insurance fraud through the use of an advanced artificial intelligence tool, TrueSight Fraud Intelligence. MSIG said in a statement that it will be able to rapidly uncover insurance fraud by cross-referencing data points with this new AI solution. The tool offers, in one glance, the information needed to accelerate the claims management process. MSIG Singapore expects to automate at least 50% of screening checks with TrueSight Fraud Intelligence, freeing claims staff to focus on higher-value work such as interviewing claimants and assessing more complex claims. MSIG…

Habitto by SJ Mobile Labs, a Japan-based startup looking to change financial habits through a mobile bancassurance platform, has raised US$3.9 million in a pre-A financing round. The round was co-led by Saison Capital and Cherubic Ventures. It was also joined by new investors DG Daiwa  Ventures, GMO Ventures, Kyokuto Securities, Epic Angels and angel investors from the finance industry across the globe. This latest financing round follows the seed round where the company raised US$3.4 million in September 2021 led by Saison Capital, bringing Habitto’s total funds raised to US$7.3 million. Habitto is looking to take on the financial…

2022 was a turbulent year for startup fundraising. In India, although fintech funding dipped 35% in 2022, the country maintained its position as one of the top three countries for fintech funding, with startups in the sector successfully securing a total of US$6.3 billion, data from Dealroom show. Against the odds, some of India’s most innovative fintech companies managed to grow in 2022, gaining more market share, expanding overseas and securing backing from top investors. To get a sense of India’s up-and-coming fintech companies, we look today at the country’s most promising fintech startups, delving in particular the top funded…

Brunei’s Baiduri Bank has selected finbots.ai, an AI-powered credit scoring software provider backed by Accel, to accelerate the bank’s financial inclusion drive for the underserved credit market. By adopting finbots’ AI credit modelling solution, creditX, Baiduri Bank will be able to develop and deploy high quality credit scorecards at a fraction of the time and cost. Baiduri aims to reduce credit risk, improve efficiency and have greater agility for retail and SME businesses through this partnership. finbots.ai had recently successfully completed A.I. Verify pilot, the world’s first AI governance testing framework and toolkit developed by Singapore Government’s IMDA (Infocomm Media…

SEBA Bank, a digital assets firm with a Swiss banking license from FINMA, has appointed Amy Yu as the CEO of its APAC division. As a deep domain expert in both crypto and traditional banking in Asia, Yu has over fifteen years of experience in financial services spanning capital markets, trading ecosystems and liquidity provision. She previously played an instrumental role in regional and institutional growth strategies for market leaders in the crypto industry, a global derivatives exchange and prime broker. Prior to her move into the digital assets space, she supported the development of JP Morgan’s Prime Services in…

Success is not final, and failure is not fatal – and there are valueable lessons that entrepreneurs can learn from unsuccesful endeavours. HelloGold had its claim to fame was their ability to offer consumers to purchase gold for as low as RM 1 (US$ 0.25) which garnered a fair bit of interest from retail investors However, last week, the startup unceremoniously announced that it will be shuttering their consumer business. What lessons can be learned here and what’s next for HelloGold? We’re joined by Robin Lee co-founder of HelloGold for a heart to heart conversation.

Visa announced two senior leadership changes in the Asia Pacific region, with Chris Clark promoted as Chairman for Asia Pacific while Stephen Karpin succeeds him as the Regional President for Asia Pacific, effective 1 April 2023. In the role of Chairman for Asia Pacific, Clark will support regional and global initiatives, including strategic engagements with government and industry stakeholders. He will also drive Visa’s market expansion strategy and continue his role as a non-executive director of the Visa Europe Board. Clark said, “Over the last ten years as Regional President for Visa Asia Pacific, I have been committed to…

Singaporean crypto fund manager Fintonia Group has secured a Capital Markets Services (CMS) license from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS). This will enable Fintonia to continue expanding and providing innovative investment solutions and products to its clients. The CMS license is part of Fintonia’s expansion plan, which includes its two institutional-grade Bitcoin funds launched in late 2021 for professional investors looking for a direct secure exposure to Bitcoin in a regulated environment. In July 2022, Fintonia received a provisional virtual asset license granted by the Dubai Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA) and is looking to clinch a full license…

Insurtech firm Igloo has appointed Liliang Zhu as its Chief Technology Officer to strengthen the firm’s tech capabilities and product innovation as it expands insurance offerings across key markets. Zhu will lead Igloo’s tech and innovation strategy and oversee the growth and operations of its tech hubs in Chengdu, China, and Pune, India where he will manage over 70 engineers and developers. He is a senior architect and product development leader with over 20 years of experience building scalable cloud solutions for the insurance industry. Before joining Igloo, Zhu led the development and optimisation of ZA Tech’s digital insurance solutions…

Harvard Business School (HBS) has published a case study focused on DBS Bank’s digital transformation journey which was put together over a span of 15 months. The DBS case study is being taught in HBS’ Master of Business Administration (MBA) programme and its executive education courses by Professor Ranjay Gulati, Paul R. Lawrence MBA Class of 1942 Professor of Business Administration. Available at Harvard Business Publishing’s repository, the case study is a result of a series of interviews between Gulati and DBS’ leadership team. Other institutions which have written case studies on DBS include INSEAD, the International Institute for Management…

The Brunei Darussalam Central Bank (BDCB) and Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to deepen cooperation in banking and insurance supervision. BDCB and MAS will look into the effective supervision of banks and insurers operating across the two jurisdictions, including through information exchange and cross border on-site inspections. During the fourth BDCB-MAS Bilateral Roundtable, both regulators had also exchanged views on recent economic and financial developments, cooperation in sustainable finance to accelerate climate change mitigation and adaptation in ASEAN. In addition to that, developments in Central Bank Digital Currencies and cross-border payments were also…

Global payments firm BPC announced the appointment of Furrukh Ali Baig as Managing Director for the South Asian region. Ali Baig has been at the helm of BPC’s business development team for the last six years and has 12 years of extensive experience in the payments sector. He has been instrumental in the successful implementation of different payment technology consultation projects at BPC and was directly involved in several major digital transformation strategies on a national and global level. BPC has a footprint spanning over 100 countries, offering real life transaction technology with its banking, payments, and commerce platform,. Angelo…

Independent Reserve, a cryptocurrency exchange licensed by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), has appointed Lasanka Perera as CEO for Singapore. As the CEO, Perera will be focused on developing Independent Reserve’s growth strategy in Asia while retaining his role as Group Chief Operating Officer. As Co-founder and COO at Independent Reserve since 2013, he leads the daily business operations in Australia and New Zealand. He also oversees the execution of company-wide strategies to drive Independent Reserve’s business goals. Perera brings with him nearly two decades of experience in the markets and trading space, including establishing several regulated consumer-facing financial…