Author: Fintech News Singapore

Global cross-border payments company Thunes has partnered with Alipay+, a suite of cross-border payments and marketing solutions operated by Ant Group, to connect European merchants with hundreds of millions of Asian consumers. Through this collaboration, Thunes’ customers and merchants in Europe will now be able to accept Asia’s popular mobile wallets such as China’s Alipay, Malaysia’s Touch ’n Go and Boost, Philippines’ GCash, South Korea’s KakaoPay, as well as Thailand’s Rabbit LINE Pay and TrueMoney. Merchants that work with Thunes will be able to serve online consumers from Asian markets and accept mobile wallet payments during checkout. On top of that,…

Singapore’s newest digital bank Trust announced its official launch today and launches with a range of products for its customers, comprising a credit card, savings account and family personal accident insurance. Trust’s shareholders Standard Chartered Bank, FairPrice Group and NTUC Enterprise have invested S$400 million in the digital bank. Customers with Singpass accounts are able to sign up for a Trust account in a matter of minutes, and use their digital card immediately to generate significant savings. The Trust app also offers enhanced accessibility, with customers able to switch between English and Mandarin language based on their preference. The bank’s…

The Grab-Singtel digital bank consortium, now branded as GXS Bank, announced the roll out of its savings account ahead of its launch next Monday. The consortium was among the four successful applicants having secured a full digital bank license from the Monetary Authority of Singapore in December 2020. The GXS Savings Account offers a yearly interest of 0.08 percent that will be accrued daily and customers will be able to deposit up to S$5,000 at launch. Customers will be able to create up to eight pockets from their savings account which allows them to save for specific financial goals which…

Data science and machine learning are some of the most complex yet important business concepts today. And many companies, irrespective of their niche, rely on them to deliver a better user experience to their customers. But what role do data science and machine learning play in the development of innovative financial systems, especially in countries like Indonesia? The lack of credit history data combined with the substantial use of mobile phones in Indonesia represents a sweet spot for fintech companies to deliver advanced user-friendly consumer financial solutions. In this episode of Data Point of View, Laurie Hood, Chief Marketing Officer…

TripleA, a licensed crypto payment gateway, announced that it has partnered with global SaaS platform Wix to help the latter create, manage, and grow an online presence. This partnership allows Wix merchants to accept cryptocurrency payments via a simple plugin without having to hold or convert digital currencies. With this integration, Wix merchants can accept payments across the major cryptocurrencies used for commercial transactions, including Bitcoin (BTC), Bitcoin Lightning (LBTC), Ethereum (ETH), USD Coin (USDC), and Tether (USDT) on both ERC-20 as well as TRC-20 networks. Merchants will get the opportunity to increase their retail reach and sales revenues by…

RABC Group, a Singapore-headquartered fintech firm with subsidiaries in China and Japan, announced the successful raise of US$6.7 million in Series A funding round led by Japan’s SBI Group. Other investors that participated in the fundraise include Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC), R3, Savills, KZM & Company, and others. With this fundraise, RABC said that it will recruit talents with technology and business development expertise as well as pursue market expansion within the Southeast Asia region. Its digital banking neobank platform named banco leverages the digital capabilities of the RABC group’s expertise in Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) lending…

Fintech startup International Payments Identity (iPiD) announced a US$3.3 million seed funding round and the appointment of Alain Raes, a long-time payments industry expert and former SWIFT executive, as its Chief Commercial Officer. iPiD secured the funds from Rapyd Ventures, Jungle Ventures, 1982 Ventures, Resolution Ventures, Saison Capital, the XA Network and Wing Vasiksiri. Founded in 2021 by payment and technology experts, Damien Dugauquier, Eddie Haddad and Geertjan van Bochove, iPiD a presence in 8 countries alongside its HQ in Singapore. iPiD enables market participants to simplify the cross-border payment experience, reduce failed payments and prevent fraud attempts with its…

Southeast Asian SME growth financing platform Validus and Citibank announced the establishment of a US$100 million securitisation facility. This will be collateralised by SME loans originated by Validus in Singapore. In March this year, Validus announced that it had inked a deal to acquire CitiBusiness’ loan portfolio in Singapore. The facility is also supported by First Plus Asset Management, a Singapore-based multi-asset investment manager focused on Asia structured credit and equities. Since the facility was established in the second quarter, Validus said that it had doubled its borrower base in Singapore and grew its loan book by 60% across the…

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) said that it is considering further measures to mitigate consumer harm emerging from cryptocurrency trading at the Green Shoots Seminar yesterday. Ravi Menon, Managing Director at MAS added that the regulator had issued numerous advisories warning consumers that they could potentially lose all the monies they put into cryptocurrencies. But despite these warnings and measures, surveys show that consumers are increasingly trading in cryptocurrencies. He said, “It is very risky for the public to put their monies in such cryptocurrencies, as the perceived valuation of these cryptocurrencies could plummet rapidly when sentiments shift. …

The Lightnet Group, a Singapore-based fintech firm with several licensed subsidiaries around the globe providing cross-border remittance services, announced that it has secured a US$50 million capital commitment from LDA Capital. According to Lightnet, it will have the option to double the investment to US$100 million over the next three years. This investment will allow the Lightnet Group to expand its operating corridors and opportunities and obtain licenses. Lightnet also intends to develop its technological partner’s (Velo Labs Technology) existing technology and contribute to the growth of its anchors, remittance partners and liquidity providers, and assist the blockchain company with…

Bank Indonesia (BI) and the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has begun developing the cross-border QR payment linkage between the two countries as part of the ASEAN-wide payments connectivity effort. This linkage, which is targeted to be launched in the second half of 2023, will allow users to make instant, secure, and efficient retail payments by scanning the QRIS (Quick Response Code Indonesian Standard) or NETS QR codes displayed by merchants. This payment connectivity between Indonesia and Singapore will empower individuals and businesses, particularly micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), to conduct their cross-border trade, e-commerce, and financial activities more…

Asian private market exchange ADDX has launched a cash management tool that allows investors with excess funds in their wallets to earn interest, instead of letting their cash sit idle while they decide on which private market product to take part in. The new tool is named ADDX Earn, the solution aims to withstand short- term volatility while preserving capital. Some of the idle capital may also have come from previous investment earnings on ADDX. Target returns for products under ADDX Earn are designed to be higher than short-term bank deposit rates – which is where many investors otherwise store…

SolanaFM, a Solana blockchain explorer offering indexing and analytical services, announced that it has secured S$6.3 million in a seed funding round spearheaded by SBI Group’s Digital Asset Opportunity Fund. The seed round was also joined by Zee Prime, Spartan Group, Mirana Ventures, Petrock Capital, K3 ventures, D1 Ventures, FT capital, 3Chaps, Etherscan, and several angel investors. The funds raised will be utilised to enhance SolanaFM’s services and to expand its team. The company currently manages a workforce of 25 staff who are mainly in the engineering team, with the remaining staff focused on growing the business. Previously in December…

Global financial superapp Revolut announced that it has appointed Raymond Ng as Singapore CEO as it continues its upward growth trajectory in the country. Raymond will focus on leading and building the next chapter of Revolut’s expansion in Singapore, developing and implementing the local business strategy. The new appointment follows Revolut’s recent launch of its crypto products in Singapore. Prior to joining Revolut, Raymond was the Chief Commercial Officer at payment network company Liquid Group where he lead the product and business development as well as global expansion efforts. He also previously held senior executive roles at large global corporations…

UOB announced the launch of the UOB SME app to offer small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) a suite of solutions that addresses their financing and business needs, both on desktop and the app. Initially available to customers in Singapore, Malaysia and Vietnam, the app provides SMEs access to a suite of business management solutions that help drive efficiency. This includes digital solutions that help SMEs manage their human resources, payroll, logistics and digital marketing needs. Additionally, the UOB SME app allows business owners the flexibility to transact on the go. Through this platform, SME customers will also be able to…

Despite presenting tremendous opportunities to improve customer experience and drive accessibility to financial services, innovations around open APIs and open banking also increase interconnectedness and the attack surface, introducing new cyber risks which stakeholders must address by rethinking their approach to network security and focus on the broader ecosystem, experts said during a panel discussion. During a virtual panel hosted by banking software provider Temenos on August 17, 2022, top executives representing Standard Chartered’s banking-as-a-service (BaaS) brand nexus, incumbent bank HSBC and digital banking group Tyme Group, delved into the state of open banking adoption, as well as the opportunities…

Digital private wealth management platform Kristal.AI announced that it has crossed US$1 billion in Assets under Management (AUM), tripling its global AUM over the last twelve months. In the first seven months of this year, Kristal has grown its user base by over 50% in comparison to the existing 2021 user base. This growth has been broad-based, with both private wealth and retail businesses significantly adding to the total user count. Notably, the growth of private wealth businesses has accelerated both Kristal’s user growth and AUM per client. Kristal also saw a significant number of private wealth clients opting for…

Southeast Asia’s digital economy is booming, driven by an extraordinary shift in consumer behavior, soaring digital consumption and the rise of digital merchants. But this explosive growth is also attracting criminals and putting merchants, banks and consumers at risk of financial losses and missed revenue opportunities. Between 2020 and 2021, e-commerce gross merchandise volume (GMV) in Southeast grew by a staggering 62%, soaring from US$74 billion to US$120 billion, data from Google, Temasek and Bain’s e-Conomy SEA 2021 report show. By 2025, it’s projected that e-commerce GMV will grow 18% from 2021’s level to reach US$234 billion, implying that the…

Endowus, a digital wealth advisory platform licensed by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), announced that it has crossed S$2 billion in client assets across its private wealth and public pension (CPF & SRS) offerings. In the past year, Endowus reported that it has hit other key growth milestones with an over 120% increase in the number of clients it serves in Singapore, and a 350% increase in assets on its Fund Smart & Private Wealth platforms. The firm also received its licenses from the Securities and Futures Commission of Hong Kong (SFC) to offer its wealth management and advisory…

Vietnam is one of Asia’s most dynamic startups scenes, a burgeoning ecosystem that’s risen on the back of the country’s booming digital economy, a young population willing to test and adopt new technology consumer services, and a surge in overseas funding. In 2021, Vietnamese startups raised a total of US$1.5 billion, according to business consulting firm Nextrans Vietnam. Fintech led venture capital (VC) funding, making up 26.6% of all startup investments in 2021 and showcasing investors’ confidence in the prospects of financial innovations in the country. Soaring fintech investments came on the back of rapid adoption of digital financial services…