UK-Based money transfer service TransferWise has confirmed that it will not be pursuing a digital banking license in Singapore. Venkatesth Saha, Head of Asia Pacific and Middle East expansion said in an interview (paywall) that they only have one focus — cross-border payments. Instead of expanding into different verticals like mortgage and lending, he expressed that there are still many problems within the FX and cross-border payments space they can solve. In line with that, TransferWise announced the launch of a Mastercard enabled multi-currency card. Dubbed as the “Borderless Account” it allows for individuals to hold, convert and send money…

Southeast Asia’s Internet economy is booming, driven by the ubiquity of mobile phones, rising Internet penetration and a growing middle class, according to a new report by Google, Temasek and Bain & Company. In the e-Conomy SEA Report 2019, released earlier this month, the companies say that the region’s Internet economy has hit a new milestone, reaching US$100 billion for the first time this year, corresponding to a 39% increase from 2018. The sector is on track to hit US$300 billion in 2025, the report says. The research, which explores the most significant industry trends observed in 2019 and analyzes…

Two recent studies have found Singapore to be the world’s most prepared city for the age of artificial intelligence (AI), and the global leader in terms of smart city effort. The first research, conducted by the Oliver Wyman Forum, ranks 105 international cities in terms of their preparedness for the technological and digital disruption that will be spurred by AI. The index ranks cities on four key criteria: the quality of a city’s plan (Vision); a city’s ability to execute on forward-looking plans (Activation); the extent and quality of talent, education, and infrastructure (Asset Base); and how the interplay of…

Singapore, a global transportation, commerce and financial hub, is a dynamic business events destination that hosts some of the world’s largest conventions and business events. Consistently, the city state has been ranked as one for the top meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions (MICE) destinations in the world. If you are planning on going to a business event in Singapore, here are ten hotels that should suit your needs: Studio M Hotel 3 Nanson Road Studio M Hotel is located in the heart of Singapore, minutes from Robertson Walk and close to Chinatown Heritage Center. The hotel features 360 air-conditioned…

The annual Singapore Fintech Festival (SFF), the world’s largest fintech gathering, is coming back in November for a week-long event that’s set to bring to together tens of thousands of participants representing top global financial institutions, fintech unicorns, policy makers, investors, and academia to explore the latest trends in the digital finance world. Organized by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) in partnership with the Association of Banks in Singapore (ABS) and in collaboration with SingEx Holdings, this year’s SFF will take place from November 11 to 15, 2019, and will merge with the Singapore Week of Innovation and TeCHnology…

One of Asia’s largest fintech events the Hong Kong Fintech Week is returning from November 4 to 8. This year’s program will cover key themes including artificial intelligence (AI), blockchain, fintech in China, Greater Bay Area collaboration, and virtual banking. It is expected to attract over thousands of executives, entrepreneurs, investors and regulators from China, Asia and across the world to discuss some of the industry’s biggest trends and challenges. This year’s Hong Kong week will feature over 200 speakers representing the likes of TransferWise, Kabbage, Credit Karma, Tencent, Lufax, and Ping An, as well as investors, policymakers and academics, over…

Fintech-as-a-Service platform Rapyd obtained a Remittance licence by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS). The remittance licence will enable Rapyd’s corporate customers to extend remittance capabilities to their users, allowing them to send and receive money to and from over 100 countries internationally. Historically, companies wanting to deliver either traditional personal cross-border remittances or innovative solutions, such as payments to freelancers, marketplace payments, or B2B settlements, have had to build their own remittance infrastructure by signing individual bilateral agreements in the recipient countries, or rely purely on banking infrastructure to provide bank-to-bank money transfers. Rapyd’s Fintech-as-a-service platform is uniquely built…

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and The Association of Banks in Singapore (ABS) announced today that 40 finalists have been shortlisted for the FinTech Awards to be presented at this year’s Singapore FinTech Festival x Singapore Week of Innovation and Technology (SFF x SWITCH). The finalists were selected by a panel of industry judges from a total of 245 submissions. Many of the submissions from the growing FinTech community came from sectors such as RegTech, wealth management and cybersecurity. Financial inclusion was also a key area of focus amongst this year’s finalists, with a significant number of submissions geared…

Razer Fintech, the financial technology arm of Razer Inc has appointed Koh Boon Hwee as a member of Razer Fintech’s Advisory Board. Koh was formerly the Chairman of DBS Bank. He has also served as Chairman of blue chip corporates such as Singapore Telecommunications Limited and Singapore Airlines Limited, and is the Chairman of global technology companies, Agilent Technology Inc., AAC Technologies Holdings Inc. and Sunningdale Tech Ltd. He had previously served on the board of Temasek Holdings (Private) Limited. Koh is also currently the Chairman of Credence Capital, a private equity fund focused on investing in SMEs in Southeast…

Payments focused fintech Rapyd announced that they have secured US$ 100 million of financing in round led by Oak HC/FT with participation from Tiger Global, Caotue, General Catalyst, Target Global, Stripe and Entree Capital. This follows another round earlier this year which saw the company raise US$ 40 million in Series B financing. The UK-based company already has some footprint in Singapore, in April 2019, Rapyd inked a deal with OCBC to enable retailers to receive payment immediately from OCBC Pay Anyone users. Rapyd said in a media statement that the company will use the investment to build out its unified…

Philippines’ fintech startup PayMongo recently announced that it has raised US$ 2.3 Million in its seed round. PayMongo’s investments round sees participation from an impressive list of investors including Stripe, PayPal’s co-founder Peter Thiel, Tinder’s co-founder Justin Mateen, Y Combinator, Founders Fund, Global Founders Capital, Soma Capital, and other angel investors. The Manila-based startup’s key focus is to simplify online payments, seemingly drawing inspiration from its investor, Stripe. In a media statement, PayMongo said that they have onboarded over 1,000 business since their inception in June 2019 and they claim that they have seen transaction growth at an average of…

In line with Singapore’s Smart Nation agenda, DBS Bank is collaborating with the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS) to digitalise tax payouts and collections via PayNow to encourage more businesses to go cheque-free. IRAS first introduced PayNow as an option for businesses to receive Wage Credit Scheme (WCS) payouts in March, resulting in a 20 per cent reduction in cheque volumes to-date. Before the implementation of PayNow, about half of WCS-eligible businesses, many of which are small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), chose to receive their payouts via cheques. For the next phase, both parties are working together to leverage…

European based fintech unicorn Revolut announced on Monday that they have reached a new agreement with Visa to expand its global acceptance footprint to 24 new markets for a total of 56 markets globally. Visa will power Revolut’s payments acceptance initially in markets like Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Vietnam, Philippines, Malaysia, and Singapore among others. In European markets, Revolut also works with Mastercard to issue their payment cards. The startup told Fintech News Singapore in a media statement that under the terms of this new agreement Revolut will primarily be issuing Visa cards for its global expansion indicating a preference…

In a 2019 study of companies around the world that have made the most successful strategic transformations in the last decade, DBS Bank ranks among the top 10, according to Harvard Business Review. In this achievement, DBS joins the likes of Netflix, Amazon, Microsoft, Tencent and Alibaba, who were similarly recognised. The study – “The Transformation 20: The top global companies leading strategic transformations” – by strategy consulting firm Innosight involved the screening of all companies in the S&P 500 and Global 2000 using three lenses: new growth, repositioning the core and financials. The final 2019 Transformation 20 “ranked highest…

Traveloka and Indonesia’s Bank BRI entered into a partnership to launch PayLater Card. The card can be used in Indonesia and around the world for both online and offline transactions by leveraging the network of Visa. Henry Hendrawan, President, Traveloka Group of Operations told Fintech News Singapore in a media statement that, through this partnership, they are attempting to solve the issue Indonesian consumers are forced to book their flights and hotels last minute due to lack of credit access typically provided via credit cards. PayLater Card will provide users with a simple application and verification process that will only take…

UK-based fintech startup Revolut has unveiled pricing details for its digital offerings in Singapore and we expect the official going launch in Singapore very soon. The startup, which offers banking services including a prepaid debit card, currency exchange, cryptocurrency exchange and peer-to-peer payments through a mobile app, secured its license to operate in Singapore in late-2018 and launched its services in beta earlier this year. Readers of Fintech News Singapore has tipped us that they are already onboard for this service, while many Singaporeans are still on hold on their waitlist. Revolut’s Singapore subsidiary will offer three plans: The free…

Cryptogenes, a market research firm operating out of Switzerland through the legal entity HeyDays Services, has released a report detailing the results of an audit of Singapore’s 20 centralized cryptocurrency exchanges. The audit evaluates the overall quality of all of Singapore exchanges based on a rating of their trustworthiness, trading experience, fee structure and customer support. Cryptogenes said the auditing methodology was created in collaboration with the School of Management Fribourg in Switzerland, and the scientific auditing algorithm was double-blind peer reviewed by the Global Finance Association, among others. The 20 Singaporean cryptocurrency exchanges audited for the report have a…

Estonian fintech startup Funderbeam announced today that it has secured the Capital Market Services License and Recognise Market Operator license from the Monetary Authority of Singapore, marking the startup’s entrance into the Singaporean market. Funderbeam’s marketplace enables investors to buy and sell equity stakes in private companies. Founded in Estonia in 2013, the company is headquartered in the UK and regulated in Europe by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), and it was previously highlighted as the top 10 Hottest Fintech Startups in the Baltic States by our sister publication at Fintech Baltic. The company aims to fill in the gap…

DBS announced that it aims to double its existing user base of 1.6 million to 3.5 million by 2023 for its mobile wallet DBS PayLah!. To achieve this, the bank will over the course of 2020 integrate its DBS Lifestyle rewards app into DBS PayLah!, link debit and credit cards payments to the DBS PayLah! platform so customers can choose their preferred way to pay, expand payment touchpoints across the region, and ramp up on its DBS PayLah! ecosystem partnerships. It has signed more than 10 strategic platform partnerships with merchants across key lifestyle verticals, and users can look forward…

A historically unbanked region, South East Asia’s fintech cities surge in growth have been fueled by the region’s young and digitally-savvy population, high mobile penetration and growing middle class. From small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) looking for financing, to young, active professionals wanting to invest their hard-earned money, fintech has reached all segments of Southeast Asia’s population, providing products and services that tackle various needs whether that’s digital payments, loans, wealth management, or insurance. Across the region, most governments have recognized the potential of fintech and committed to support the development of the industry to realize the many positive implications it…