HSBC and Temasek announced a partnership to establish a US$150 million debt financing platform dedicated to sustainable infrastructure projects with an initial focus on Southeast Asia, as part of efforts to reduce climate change. In a joint statement, both entities said that they seek to build a pipeline of projects to scale, with the platform dispensing over US$1 billion of loans within 5 years. A meaningful portion of the platform’s loan portfolio will target marginally bankable, sustainable infrastructure projects, providing project development expertise, technical assistance and blended finance solutions where needed. The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and Clifford Capital Holdings…
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Japanese financial group SBI Holdings, Swiss-based digital asset bank Sygnum, and European asset manager Azimut Group have jointly launched a venture capital fund of up to US$75 million based in Singapore, which will invest in startups in the digital asset sector. This new fund, incorporated as a Variable Capital Company, brings together the collective digital assets experience and leadership of the three founding partners to accelerate the growth of promising companies in this sector. With SBI Ven Capital as the primary fund manager, the fund’s investment strategy will primarily focus on Pre-Series A and Series A companies developing blockchain/distributed ledger…
Fintech and PayTech Connect is coming to Asia for the first time next week on the 5th – 7th October 2021. Taking place as a hybrid event, speakers and attendees will come together in-person at Raffles City Convention Center Singapore for the pre-day PayTech Connect (5th October), and on the virtual platform for the main conference days (6th-7th October), to discuss innovation in financial technology across merchants, financial institutions, fintechs and disruptors within Asia and the rest of the world. The inaugural Fintech Connect Asia brings together 500+ industry leading players from Asia’s biggest merchants and financial institutions in an…
Cover Genius, an Australian insurtech firm and embedded insurance specialist, announced that it has secured a strategic investment of US$50 million during a Series C funding round led by Sompo Holdings Asia. The round comprised primary and secondary capital, and was supported by G Squared, as well as Cover Genius’ early backers, King River Capital, Marinya Capital and Regal Funds Management. The insurtech said that it will use the funds to bolster its global expansion and further its digital distribution channel in the embedded insurance market. This will enable the company to offer tailored solutions to its customers by leveraging…
The trillion-dollar cross-border payments market is getting a revamp, fueled by technological advances, a changing regulatory landscape and a rush of new entrants promising to solve customers’ long-lasting pain points. During Fintech Fireside Asia’s latest panel discussion, top executives from the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), DBS Bank, Wise and Bottomline discussed the major trends emerging in the cross-border payments space, the key digitalisation efforts being undertaken, and the challenges that still lie ahead in bringing down costs while improving efficiency. Drivers behind the disruption of cross-border payments Andrew McCormack, the Centre Head of the BIS Innovation Hub in Singapore,…
UOB will invest up to S$500 million to bring together the innovation of its digital bank TMRW with the scale and product depth of its mobile app UOB Mighty on one platform dubbed as UOB TMRW. The bank will roll out UOB TMRW progressively across its key ASEAN markets, with the next markets expected to launch in the next 18 months. UOB added in a statement that it seeks to double the retail customers it serves digitally to more than seven million customers across ASEAN by 2026 with this move. As part of its rollout of UOB TMRW, the bank…
Last year, a wave of digital transformation took over the world, and along with it, so did growing concerns about fraud and financial crime. In Southeast Asia, one in every three people experienced online fraud amidst this digital transformation last year. Meanwhile, online fraud emerged as a top critical enterprise risk for Southeast Asia-based businesses. This was on top of the US$260 million that they already lost in 2019 to digital fraud. In this growing threat landscape, financial institutions (FIs) have several new, complex considerations to take into account for their fraud management systems. This was highlighted by Dev Dhiman,…
Social engineering techniques are growing in quantity and sophistication as cybercriminals capitalise on the fear induced by COVID-19 as well as consumers’ increased online presence to trick victims and defraud them. The 2021 Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report (DBIR) shows a steady rise of social engineering attempts since 2017, but indicates a surge in phishing, ransomware and web application attacks in particular since the beginning of the pandemic. During Fintech Fireside Asia’s latest panel discussion, experts from the Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC) in the Philippines, information security non-profit ISACA Singapore Chapter, KPMG Malaysia, and global cybersecurity firm OneSpan, discussed…
Marketnode, a Singapore Exchange (SGX) and Temasek digital asset joint venture, announced its partnership with ten global financial institutions ahead of its upcoming product launches. The JV’s upcoming products will be focused on digital issuance services, ESG bond data and digital asset depository infrastructure. SGX said in a statement that these components will play a key role in the buildout of an end-to-end DLT-enabled fixed income infrastructure. The financial institutions involved in the partnership include Barclays, BNP Paribas, BNY Mellon, Citi, Deutsche Bank, HSBC, Orient Securities International, Standard Chartered, Societe Generale and UOB. Beyond early adoption of Marketnode’s products, these…
Singapore is at the heart of the tech industry’s explosive popularity across Southeast Asia. The country has emerged as a hub for technology entrepreneurs, and fintech is one of its front-running sectors. With 40% of all fintech companies across Southeast Asia based in the country, Singapore has earned itself the title of the “ASEAN capital of Fintech.” The country’s robust regulatory regime, policy-level support, and ease of doing business, have resulted in it being home to over 750 fintech companies so far. A booming e-commerce and consumer services sector, with the likes of Grab, Lazada and Sea Group setting up…
Despite rising coverage demand brought about by the global pandemic, customers are being left rather unsatisfied with the convenience, advice and reach offered by their existing insurance providers, creating opportunities for new players and insurtech firms, according to Capgemini and Efma’s World Insurtech Report 2021. The report, which draws on research insights from surveys, roundtable discussions and interviews, claims that although customer intent to buy insurance rose 7% due to COVID-19, behaviors and attitudes towards insurers have changed. Today’s policyholders are looking for a frictionless digital experience throughout the entire insurance process and are increasingly turning to bigtechs for their…
Ascend Money, has hit US$1.5 billion valuation following its latest US$150 million funding, making it Thailand’s first fintech unicorn. The funds will be used to grow the user base of its e-wallet application; TrueMoney Wallet and to expand digital financial services, including digital lending, digital investment and cross-border remittances across Southeast Asia. US-based investment firm Bow Wave Capital Management has contributed to this round, joining Charoen Pokphand Group and Ant Group. Founded in 2013, Ascend Money is a fintech company with a regional presence across six SEA countries — Thailand, Myanmar, Cambodia, Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam. The company operates…
Y-Combinator-backed Aspire announced today they have raised US$ 158 million in their Series B round. Founded in 2018 by Lazada founders and former executives, Aspire provides “all-in-one financial services” to entrepreneurs and has served over 10,000 businesses across South East Asia. The oversubscribed US$ 158 Million round was led by an undisclosed global growth equity firm together with DST Global Partners, CE Innovation Fund, B Capital Partners, and global hedge fund Fasanara Capital. Existing investors, including Hummingbird Ventures, Mass Mutual Ventures, Picus Capital, and AFG also participated in the round. A series of successful fintech founders such as Taavet Hinrikus…
2C2P a payments platform today announced new partnerships in Vietnam and Cambodia to expand its Thai cross-border remittance service, easy2send. In Vietnam 2C2P will team up with Sai Gon Joint Stock Commercial Bank (SCB), one of Vietnam’s top five joint stock commercial banks by assets. Meanwhile in Cambodia 2C2P will work with eMoney Payment Solutions, one of the nation’s leading mobile wallet providers. With the latest partnerships, they said users will be able to access a convenient, affordable, secure and nearly instant money transfer service from Thailand to Vietnam as well as Cambodia. Currently, there are 1.8 million Cambodians and more than…
In Asia-Pacific (APAC), super-apps are not only redefining consumers expectations in banking; these platforms are straight out leading the digital banking race, according to a new report by Swiss digital banking tech provider Banking, Payments: Context (BPC) and Dutch fintech consultancy firm Fincog. The report, titled Digital Banking in Asia Pacific, looks at the state of digital banking in APAC, provides an overview of the sector, and takes a deep dive into APAC’s super-apps, highlighting how some of them have turned into the region’s most successful digital banks. Super-apps are a new breed of tech giants originating from APAC. Over…
The COVID-19 pandemic has forced both consumers and merchants to embrace online channels and digital payments at an accelerated pace, a shift that presented new sets of challenges, including rising fraud and security risks. Separate surveys conducted by payment network Visa and online fraud specialist Vesta found that online merchants and shoppers are most concerned about security. In Singapore, Indonesia and the Philippines, 41%, 33% and 32% of online shoppers, respectively, named safety and security amongst their top worries, according to the Vesta survey, which polled more than 4,300 online shoppers in these three markets. Similarly, the Visa Back to…
Banks across Asia Pacific are lagging behind the rest of the world when it comes to digitisation, with less than one third of banks in the region describing their digital transformation strategies as advanced or mature according to a new research report from the Financial Times Focus (FT Focus) and SaaS cloud banking platform Mambu titled “Evolve or be extinct”. The research report which surveyed 500 senior banking executives from around the world, also identified that the risk of failing to transform digitally is well understood, with two in three banks believing they will lose market share in just two…
In Asia-Pacific (APAC), embedded wealth is a US$32 billion opportunity per annum which financial institutions are eager to tap into. These are actively exploring the possibility to embed wealth services into third-party e-commerce and travel platforms to improve their revenue streams and tap into these platforms’ massive customer bases, according to a new report by Swiss digital wealth firm Additiv. Embedded wealth refers to the offering of regulated wealth products by a non-wealth entity. It translates to the integration of, for example, a third-party online wealth management service into a neobanking platform, and a savings product into a human resources…
InvestaX, a Singapore-headquartered online investment and trading platform for Digital Securities (DSO) and Security Tokens (STO), launches its exchange in the Monetary Authority of Singapore’s (MAS) sandbox. The company said that its entry in the sandbox provides a one-stop shop solution for the issuance and trading of digital securities, for global products and investors. InvestaX holds a Capital Markets Services license (CMSL) to deal in securities by MAS which allows the company to facilitate the primary offer and issuance of securities and act as an intermediary between issuers and investors. The company also holds a regulatory exemption under the Financial…
Dash PET by Etiqa Insurance, an insurance savings plan created in partnership with Singtel Dash and Etiqa Insurance, has been helping users save better by providing access to high-returns savings in a low-interest environment since February 2021. From 9 September, Dash PET users can opt in to earn additional 0.2% p.a. on their savings and get free insurance coverage for the first year of their Dash PET policy. Keenly aware that savings and protection go hand in hand, Dash PET is providing selected policyholders a headstart on their personal finance journey with a complimentary coverage of up to S$50,000 for…