Ripple announced that it has made an investment in Mintable, a Singaporean non-fungible tokens (NFTs) marketplace that allows users to seamlessly create, buy, and sell digital items using fiat or cryptocurrency, during its US$13 million Series A funding round. The NFT marketplace backed by American billionaire Mark Cuban said that it will use the funds to expand its platform support for more blockchains. In 2020 alone, consumers spent $54 billion on NFTs. NFTs have the long-term potential to accelerate the creator economy, inspire new business models and open access to broader participation in the modern financial system. The growth and…

Singaporean insurtech firm bolttech announced the completion of an oversubscribed US$180 million series A funding round which values it at more than US$1 billion, giving it unicorn status only one year after its launch in 2020. The fundraise led by Activant Capital Group, joined by investors including Tony Fadell – Principal at Future Shape, Alpha Leonis Partners, Dowling Capital Partners, B. Riley Venture Capital and Tarsadia Investments. The investment will be used for its plans to consolidate its position in the United States. Additionally, the funds will enable its partners and customers with enhanced technology and digital capabilities, and strengthen…

Endowus, a Singaporean MAS-licensed digital wealth platform, announced that it has received an undisclosed sum from strategic investors UBS AG, Samsung Ventures and Singtel Innov8. They were joined by venture capital investors Lightspeed Venture Partners and SoftBank Ventures Asia. UBS will be an important strategic partner as the largest truly global wealth manager, while Samsung and Singtel Innov8 bring mobile technology expertise and access to the Singtel Group, extending reach and deepening engagement in Singapore and across the region. The bank is making its investment through UBS Next, a US$200 million strong strategic initiative to identify new venture opportunities and…

If extracted effectively and used properly, payment data hold immense value, allowing businesses to make smarter decisions to optimize authorization rates and increase revenue, according to a whitepaper by payment fintech Checkout.com. The paper, titled Optimizing authorization rates with access to meaningful payments data, looks at two critical payment metrics online businesses should pay attention to, delves into how businesses can improve these metrics, and provides expert advice to help online merchants boost their payment performance. Two critical payment metrics for online commerce To improve payment performance, online businesses must have access and analyze two critical data points, the paper…

Out of the 50 digital challenger banks operating in Asia Pacific (APAC), just ten operators are profitable. These providers are primarily located in China and Japan, indicating that the two nations offer the most mature and developed digital banking landscapes in the region, according to a new analysis by the Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In a new report titled Emerging Challengers and Incumbent Operators Battle for Asia Pacific’s Digital Banking Opportunity, BCG looks at the neobanking and digital banking landscape, and explores why Southeast Asia and India are emerging as the next growth markets. APAC’s most successful digital challenger banks…

Amid a rapidly changing financial landscape, incumbent banks must be open to innovation and explore opportunities to partner with non-banking partners for the benefit of their customers. One such way this can be accomplished is through the open banking system. A collaborative ecosystem between traditional banks and non-banking partners, open banking allows third-party providers to have access to consumers’ financial information held by their bank. Doing so enable banks to introduce services and products to their customers that they’ve never been able to before on their own. This is done through an application programming interface (API). A 2018 global survey…

Xiaomi-backed online brokerage Tiger Brokers Singapore announced that it has received approval-in-principle to be admitted as a clearing member of The Central Depository (CDP). Tiger Brokers has also received approval-in-principle from Singapore Exchange Securities Trading Limited (SGX-ST) as well as Singapore Exchange Derivatives Trading Limited (SGX-DT) for admission as a trading member. The brokerage expects to use these approvals-in-principle to improve the user experience and services it offers to clients. Tiger Brokers said in a statement that it looks forward to developing its partnerships with CDP, SGX-ST and SGX-DT and strengthening its presence in the Singapore market. Officially launched in…

A global study by Finastra suggests Singapore is leading the way towards the next evolution in financial services with the adoption of Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS). Almost half of respondents (47%) having deployed or improved their BaaS capabilities in the last year and a similar proportion (45%) looking to do so in the next 12 months – higher than in any other market surveyed. This investment activity is accompanied by some of the highest confidence globally in BaaS, with 87% of those surveyed expecting to see benefits in the coming year. Open Banking bears fruit The ‘Financial Services: State of the…

Simply stated, synthetic identity theft is when a fraudster combines the personal information of different real-life people to create an authentic-looking digital identity. These identities can include Personally Identifiable Information (PII) such as name, identity card number, birth date and home address (including the use of children’s IDs since they have no credit records). This data often comes from the global breaches we hear about on a near-daily basis. When these data points are combined in the right way, new identities are crafted to use the real-world parts to create a convincing online consumer. Yet, synthetic identity theft isn’t a…

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) announced the launch of a global challenge for retail Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) solutions. The Global CBDC Challenge seeks innovative retail CBDC solutions to enhance payment efficiencies and promote financial inclusion. MAS had previously said that it chose to focus its attention on wholesale CBDCs with Project Ubin as there is a limited demand for a retail CBDC given that the existing payment infrastructure already enables people to transfer money rapidly and at low cost. The challenge was launched in partnership with the International Monetary Fund, World Bank, Asian Development Bank, United Nations…

Payments platform Fave has launched its Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) service in Singapore and Malaysia to provide over 6 million users with instant access to interest-free credit to be used at over 40,000 stores as a pilot. The service is now available on the Fave app for iOS users, followed by an Android release in July 2021. With the launch of FavePay Later, offering interest-free flexible payments on its app, eligible Fave users will be able to split purchases over three equal, interest-free instalments. Fave said that repayments will be automatically drawn every month, with no fees charged for…

Chainalysis, a New York-based blockchain data platform, announced it secured a US$100 million Series E financing led by Coatue, bringing its valuation to US$4.2 billion. Previous investors Benchmark, Accel, Addition, Dragoneer, Durable Capital Partners, and 9Yards Capital increased their investment in the company, and Altimeter, Blackstone, GIC, Pictet, Sequoia Heritage, and SVB Capital also participated. This capital will be used to deepen its data advantage by covering more cryptocurrencies and focusing on emerging use cases like DeFi, and launching a global intelligence function to more quickly identify warning signs for potential threats and reduce time to response. The firm will…

Senior executives from the largest fintechs in Southeast Asia have banded together to launch Fintech Angel Operators, a network of up to 100 angel investors bringing their on-the-ground expertise to early-stage startups. The founding team, from Saison Capital and Finantier, came together with the common goal of nurturing the startup ecosystem. Saison Capital brings with it a venture point of view while Finantier lends its perspective to building Southeast Asia’s financial infrastructure for young startups and large financial enterprises. The Fintech Angel Operators network includes individuals who hold senior appointments at top-tier fintechs including Grab Financial, PayPal, Stripe, Revolut and…

Hg Exchange (HGX), a private securities exchange formed by an alliance of leading capital market intermediaries, announced its graduation from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) Fintech Regulatory Sandbox with a Recognised Market Operator (RMO) license. With this RMO license, HGX can now fully operate as a member-driven private exchange to support the issuance and trading of both digital and non-digital capital market products. According to HGX, the member-driven private exchange was established by four firms; Fundnel, PhillipCapital, PrimePartners and Zilliqa. Powered by blockchain platform provider Zilliqa, HGX technology allows for digitised securities issuance and secondary trading of digital securities.…

eRemit Singapore, a digital remittance service platform backed by Merchantrade Asia and QALA Tech, announced that it has partnered with Hong Leong Assurance Singapore (HLAS) to offer a new insurance scheme for migrant workers in Singapore. The eRemit Singapore’s Salary Protector Scheme, underwritten by HLAS, is specially designed to meet the unique coverage needs of migrant workers in Singapore. This scheme covers up to 12 times their monthly salary with a maximum cap of S$12,000. It covers on- and off-work hours for the majority of occupations and provides critical financial support in the event of accidental death and permanent disability.…

Buy now pay later (BNPL) schemes have witnessed strong growth in Singapore but for the sector to develop in a way that’s beneficial to consumers, rules and regulatory oversight are needed, a new paper says. Authored by Allen Sng, a Sheridan Fellow with the National University of Singapore (NUS), Faculty of Law, and Christy Tan, a finance lawyer, the paper looks at the state of BNPL in Singapore, explores their benefits and proposes reforms to minimize their associated risks. The paper says that while Singapore thrives to become a leading fintech hub and has made efforts to facilitate innovation and…

Standard Chartered announced the appointment of Roel Louwhoff as its new Group Chief Digital, Technology and Innovation Officer effective from the 1st November 2021 onwards. Louwhoff, has been Chief Operations and Transformation Officer at ING since 2014 and will be based in Singapore reporting to Group Chief Executive Officer, Bill Winters. Michael Gorriz, who has served as Group Chief Information Officer since 2015, will retire in December to concentrate on his external board and advisory roles in Europe and Asia. Bill Winters, Group Chief Executive Officer at Standard Chartered said, “Roel joins us at a critical time in our transformation…

Hugo, a Singapore-based digital wealth and savings app, announced that it has raised US$2 million in a seed funding round from 1982 Ventures, prominent family offices and angels. With the new funds, Hugo said that it will launch more features to help consumers optimise their budgeting, savings and investing habits to ensure financial wellbeing. David Fergusson, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of Hugo stated, “Money is the biggest cause of stress and Covid-19 has only reinforced how financially unprepared most of us are. We are excited to introduce Hugo at a time when financial wellbeing has become so relevant.”…

Central bank digital currency (CBDC) is arguably one of the biggest developments in recent times that has the potential to reshape financial services as we know. China is of course one of the most prominent examples, since 2014 it has been working on the digital yuan. In 2020, Fan Yifei, the Deputy Governor of the People’s Bank of China (PBOC), stated that there is a need to digitalise cash and coins as the cost of producing and storing them is expensive. Meanwhile, over in Hong Kong, having completed their wholesale CBDC trials, a working group has been set up by…

Though “buy now, pay later” (BNPL) still accounts for just a small portion of the industry, the pandemic-fueled e-commerce boom could see this alternative model grow 10-15x its current volume and reach as much as US$1 trillion in gross merchandise volume (GMV) by 2025, according to Bank of America estimates. E-commerce volumes have jumped forward an estimated 4-6 years due to worldwide lockdowns, pushing consumers and merchants to look to BNPL to alleviate financial pressure and meet online shopping demand, respectively. Fintech and payment research firm Kaleido Intelligence estimates that BNPL transaction value surged 292% between 2018 and 2020 amid…