Alibaba Cloud announced that it will be launching the Blockchain Node Service in the first quarter of 2023. The new Platform as a service (PaaS) aims to aid developers by reducing operational and maintenance time while they are building and deploying new products. Leveraging Alibaba Cloud’s infrastructure, the node-hosting service actively monitors the nodes and automatically switches in case of an outage. As it doesn’t require hands-on monitoring or problem mitigation, developers will be able to concentrate on product development and thus speed up the pace of the product roll-out process. Initially 100 users will be recruited in an open…
Author: Fintech News Singapore
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American Express has set up a new Decision Science Center of Excellence (CoE) in Singapore with the aim to deliver global data-driven solutions. Initially the center will be focused on data science applications in the areas of credit and fraud risk model development using artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), and natural language processing (NLP). Over time, American Express said that it will be looking to expand the focus area of the center to develop AI, ML and NLP technology use cases to support its growth. According to American Express’ job listing, the company is looking to hire those with…
5G, artificial intelligence (AI), microservices and real-time analytics are amongst banks’ top investment focuses this year. These priority areas suggest that incumbents are currently concentrating on improving customer experience, delivering a true digital banking journey and reaching greater business agility, a study by global market research company Forrester found. The Top Emerging Technologies in Banking in 2022 report, released earlier this year, draws on a survey of and interviews with more than 30 banking business and technology decision-makers and solution partners to understand their current interests and planned investments for the year to come. Results from the study revealed close…
Standard Chartered Bank has trained over 8,000 of its employees in Singapore as a part of its S$8 million investment to futureproof its talent. The bank has a growing suite of training and upskilling programmes offered through its Singapore-based global learning hub aXess academy and self-led learning portal diSCover. Together with diSCover Lab, the academy is housed in the Bank’s Changi Business Park 1 premises, where an investment of S$26 million was made to refresh the space. The portal offers over 400 courses in specialist areas, such as Cyber, Sustainability and Sustainable Finance, Data & Analytics, Leadership and New Ways…
Provenir, a provider of AI-powered data and decisioning software for the fintech industry, announced that it has appointed Colin Kum as its Sales Director for APAC. In this role, Colin will oversee all sales operations and business development activities for the region. Colin brings more than 20 years B2B enterprise sales experience within the technology and software industry as well as over eight years in sales management leading teams across APAC focused on financial services. Prior to joining Provenir, Colin held senior positions at entomo, Oracle and Experian. “Customer expectations for personalised, immediate decisions and rapidly changing economic conditions are…
Most investors prefer having a personal advisor over robo or digital solutions according to a survey conducted by Navigator Investment Services, an integrated investment platform under Singlife with Aviva, in collaboration with EY. The “Advancing the Art of Advisory: Is Advisory Still Relevant?” report examines key wealth trends that are redefining how financial advisors engage and serve their clients as well as how they can be of relevance in a digital-first era. Zennial investors as the new generation of wealth In Asia, it is projected that younger generations will inherit US$2.5 trillion (approximately S$3.36 trillion) of family wealth by 2030.…
Pan-Asian venture capital firm Gobi Partners has appointed Carlo Chen-Delantar as its Head of ESG to succeed the outgoing Paul Ark. Prior to this appointment, Carlo had served as the Head of Circular Economy for Gobi ASEAN and will continue to do so moving forward. He is also a Founding Partner for the Gobi-Core Philippine Fund (Gobi-Core), a joint-venture partnership between Gobi Partners and Core Capital investing in promising Filipino startups. Leveraging his expertise in early-stage investing particularly in the fast-growing Philippine startup ecosystem, Carlo will be taking a greater role in the company’s approach to the circular economy, underserved…
The five digital banks licensed by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) are now members of the island state’s credit bureau. This brings the Credit Bureau Singapore’s (CBS) members to 36. The two full digital banks Grab and Singtel’s GXS Bank and Sea’s MariBank are required inter alia to submit consumer data related to credit reporting to CBS. Trust Bank, a partnership between Standard Chartered and FairPrice Group which has a full bank license, will also be required to do so. These three digital banks are allowed to retrieve a consumer credit report from CBS before granting any credit to…
Singapore-based wealth and savings app Hugosave has become a Visa Principal Member Issuing Licensee under its parent company Atlas Consolidated. Hugosave will now be able to issue Visa cards directly as well as sponsor associate licenses under Visa. The firm will be issuing new Hugosave Visa Platinum Debit Cards to all existing Hugosave Plus+ Account members. Additionally, all existing clients will also receive a new Hugosave Account number. Clients’ existing Hugosave Debit Cards will remain valid until their new cards have been activated. The new Hugosave Debit Card is a numberless debit card where details such as the 16-digit card…
Shopping and rewards platform ShopBack has extended its Series F fundraise yet again with an investment of US$30 million (AU$44 million) from Australian multinational banking and financial services company Westpac. Shopback begun its Series F raise in June with US$80 million which was extended by an additional US$80 million just three months later. The firm also bagged US$10 million from several new and existing investors. This brings ShopBack’s total funds raised for this tranche to US$200 million. The company has managed to amass US$350 million so far with this latest raise. Through this partnership, more than five million Westpac credit…
Open banking is now universally and unequivocally regarded as a key part of a bank’s landscape, according to a global research by financial services software and cloud solutions provider Finastra. The ‘Financial Services: State of the Nation Survey 2022’ found that 99% of its respondents in Singapore consider open banking as ‘must have’ or ‘important’, up from 97% last year. In 2021, Singapore led other markets with agreement from 95% that open finance was important compared to the global average (91%). Additionally, three quarters (76%) of Singaporeans agree that open finance has the potential to bring about fairer and more…
Global private market exchange ADDX announced that it has fractionalised a venture debt fund by Innoven Capital which is a joint venture between a Temasek Holdings’ subsidiary Seviora and UOB. This move brings down the minimum subscription size for individual accredited investors from US$5 million to US$20,000. The Innoven SEA Fund I provides venture debt funding to high-growth startups and technology companies across Southeast Asia. The fund is anchored by a US$50 million commitment from Seviora and UOB, and it provides investors a combination of fixed income and equity return, with annual cash distributions. Venture debt is a form of…
Payments company Airwallex announced that it has appointed Kai Wu as its Chief Revenue Officer (CRO) and Asia-Pacific General Manager (APAC GM). Kai He will lead the new functions from Singapore, making this the company’s first C-suite executive in the country. In the newly created CRO role, Kai is responsible for the company’s global revenue strategy, as well as closer alignment of all revenue-related functions globally, from marketing, sales, customer success to revenue operations. Additionally, Kai will also spearhead the company’s growth plans in the region and drive greater efficiency across the markets where Airwallex operates. He has held a…
Broadridge Financial Solutions, a US-based technology solutions provider, has appointed Martin Koopman as Chief Product Officer effective 1 January 2023. In his new role, Martin will report directly to CEO Tim Gokey and lead the Product Management team working across all business units to collectively drive Broadridge’s delivery of SaaS and other service offerings to its financial services clients. Martin joined Broadridge in 2014 as Head of Strategy for Broadridge’s Investor Communication Services business. In 2017, he was named President, Bank Broker-Dealer (BBD) where he helped steer that business through a period of double-digit growth and oversaw the successful launch…
Economies worldwide are increasingly considering the viability of a digitised national currency, most commonly referred to now as a Central Bank Digital Currency, or CBDC. Eleven countries have already launched their CBDCs, but none in Asia yet. There are currently 35 countries in Asia that are in different stages – either research, development, or pilot – of CBDC exploration, according to the American think tank Atlantic Council which tracks the digital currency status worldwide. The closest to a full-scale launch is likely China next year, where it was the first to introduce the digital yuan, or e-CNY, in August 2020. Why the growing…
Payments giant Visa announced the appointment of Adeline Kim as its new Country Manager for Singapore and Brunei. Adeline will be taking over the role from Kunal Chatterjee who will take on another role at Visa to head up Innovation for Asia Pacific. She has spent over 10 years at Visa in several leadership roles where most recently she was Head of Data Solutions for Asia Pacific based in Singapore. In that role, she was responsible for leading the strategy, prioritisation, development and delivery of Visa’s data solutions including Open Data, Digital Identity, Risk Solutions and Data Products. Adeline has…
Financial services company Singlife with Aviva announced that it will migrate its entire information technology (IT) infrastructure to the Amazon Web Services (AWS) by the end of 2023. Singlife aims to enhance its digital capabilities, enabling it to meet the demands for hyper-personalised digital financial services while also supporting its environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) objectives. Prior to its merger with Aviva Singapore in 2022, Singlife built a digital-first service model on AWS to support its consumers in Singapore and the Philippines. Now, as a merged entity with Aviva Singapore, Singlife is closing its on-premises data centers and migrating…
Payments firm 2C2P has partnered with merchant commerce platform Pine Labs to expand Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) acceptance across Asia in six key markets, namely Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand. Unlike most BNPL offerings, Pine Labs works with issuing banks to enable cardholders of participating issuing banks to purchase items with multiple and longer instalment tenures, Users are not required to download any mobile application or subscribe to any additional e-wallet or payment services. Cardholders will be able to make instant instalment payments at checkout up to their pre-approved credit limit with no interest charge.…
Singaporean firm MetaComp, formerly known as Cyberdyne Tech Services, has secured a Major Payment Institution license from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) to provide digital payment token services. MetaComp will now be able to offer an end-to-end suite of digital asset services to corporates, as well as traditional and crypto-native institutional investors. The firm offers a digital asset exchange built on the cloud and powered by the Nasdaq trading engine. Its parent company MetaVerse Green Exchange (MVGX) holds the Recognised Market Operator and Capital Market Service licenses for dealings in securities and collective investment schemes as well as providing…
Temasek’s US$275 million investment in now-bankrupt crypto exchange FTX has not only caused financial loss but also reputational damage to the Singapore’s state-owned investor said Lawrence Wong, Deputy Prime Minister (DPM) and Minister for Finance, and Deputy Chairman of MAS in a parliamentary reply. The investor was forced to write down its rather hefty investment to zero. Temasek also attempted to distance itself from the FTX contagion by stating that it did not have a board seat since it held only a minority stake of less than 1% in the crypto exchange. However, following FTX’s fallout, it came to light…