Global payments platform Nium announced a definitive agreement to acquire Socash, a Singapore-based alternative payments network platform. Socash brings together financial institutions and digital commerce merchants into a network that allows consumers to deposit, withdraw, and make payments with cash from more than 30,000 local shops, cafes, and grocery stores. The acquisition of Socash allows Nium to accept cash for online transactions. This move also provides Nium with the team and technology to enable multiple forms of local payment acceptance for digital commerce, especially in emerging markets. Together, Nium and Socash become the full-stack, platform-of-choice for global merchants with capabilities…
Author: Fintech News Singapore
Author
Read More
Manulife Singapore and DBS Bank announced the launch of their co-developed insurance starter plan, ProtectFirst, designed to help young Singaporeans kickstart their protection journey affordably at a lower premium. Customers can assess their protection gaps via the bank’s digital AI-powered financial planning tool DBS NAV Planner or consult with the bank’s wealth planning managers to find out more. After which, they can purchase ProtectFirst through internet banking or via the DBS digibank app. Customers will be able to choose from three personas that offer varied coverage across the big 5 critical illnesses (including early stage), life protection and serious accidents.…
ForgeRock, an identity and access management software company, announced the availability of its next-generation Authenticator App. The redesigned app is said to offer a quicker and simpler login process and provides improved navigation, in addition to new biometric lock options to suit a user’s security needs without diminishing their experience. The app integrates with native iOS and Android security and is now available in the Apple App and Google Play stores. ForgeRock’s Authenticator App capabilities are also provided as a software development toolkit (SDK) that ForgeRock customers can use to enhance their own mobile applications with registration and authentication features…
Over the past decade, Southeast Asia’s startup ecosystem has significantly matured with an estimated US$52 billion of venture capital (VC) invested into startups and an increasing number of large late stage deals, according to a 2021 report by investment firm Golden Gate Ventures. Despite a slight decline in the number of exits in 2019 and 2020, the next couple of years are expected to see a record number of exits in Southeast Asia, thanks to a combination of factors, including a maturing ecosystem and the emergence of special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs). Already, 2021 and 2022 have seen several noteworthy…
Stripe, a global financial infrastructure platform for businesses, announced that its Singapore-based users can begin accepting PayNow as a payment method across its integrated suite of solutions. Since its launch in 2017, PayNow has grown to over 4.9 million registered users in Singapore. Given this, Stripe’s engineering hub in Singapore – one of its four physical ones worldwide – worked closely with users, partners and stakeholders to build out the integration with PayNow. Stripe’s support for PayNow lets businesses generate dynamic QR codes per transaction, which automatically populates the exact payment amount and unique transaction reference required to avoid manual…
Deloitte and cloud banking platform Mambu have identified the five steps merchants and fintechs need to embrace to build a successful Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) offering. This is part of a new report exploring the implications of the fast-growing sector for banks and retailers. The ‘Deloitte and Mambu Guide to BNPL’ identifies five core building blocks for businesses looking to develop a BNPL solution in an increasingly competitive environment. The first would be value proposition which helps in defining and understanding what merchants and customers need and developing a model to solve their key pain points Another core building…
SEON, a London-based startup that powers online fraud prevention, announced that it has raised US$94 million in Series B funding. The round was led by Silicon Valley-based IVP with participation from existing investors Creandum and PortfoLion, as well as, angel investors including founders and senior executives from Aiven, Coinbase, DataDog, DoorDash, Figma, G2, GitHub, Public, Slack, Supercell, UiPath, Veriff, and Wise. The funding comes just a year after the company’s Series A where it had raised €10 million (close to US$13 million). SEON said that the funds will be used to expand its presence in North America, LATAM, and APAC.…
In Asia Pacific (APAC), regulators have been redrawing the regulatory perimeter to take account of new products and services emerging as a result of fintech innovation and emerging technologies. But with COVID-19 accelerating the adoption of digital financial services, financial regulators have moved fintech up the regulatory agenda, responding to the trend with a number of measures, according to a new study by the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance (CCAF), a research institute part of the Cambridge Judge Business School of the University of Cambridge in the UK. The Fintech Regulation in Asia Pacific (APAC) report reviews how regulators in…
Temasek-backed Indian cryptocurrency exchange CoinDCX announced that it has raised over US$ 135 million in an oversubscribed Series D funding round. The round was led by Pantera and Steadview with strong participation from prominent investors like Kingsway, DraperDragon, Republic, and Kindred. The latest funding round also saw existing investors such as B Capital Group, Coinbase, Polychain, and Cadenza increase their investments in CoinDCX. CoinDCX said that it will continue spreading awareness and educating Indian investors on crypto and blockchain. Additionally, the company has launched several educational initiatives and campaigns working closely with universities and through their DCXLearn platform, which fosters…
Global cross-border payments firm Thunes announced that it has taken a majority stake in the anti-money laundering (AML) and compliance technology firm, Tookitaki, by making an investment of over US$20 million. Thunes made this move in the wake of rising transaction costs for cross-border payments of which regulatory compliance forms a significant percentage. The company said that any reduction will deliver crucial savings for Thunes’ customers. Adding Tookitaki to Thunes’ global network addresses the need for payments and other financial institutions to embed automated, streamline compliance processes, and decrease risks. Thunes will be able to extend Tookitaki’s compliance and anti-money…
Payments firm 2C2P announced that Chinese fintech giant Ant Group will become its majority shareholder in a strategic partnership. Further details of the deal was not disclosed. Through the strategic partnership, 2C2P’s extensive pool of merchants inclusive of global and regional brands will be connected with Alipay+, extending its current 250 payment options offering to include even more e-wallets and local payment methods. With this, 2C2P’s merchants will benefit from a wider geographical reach. Introduced by Ant Group in 2020, Alipay+ is a suite of global cross-border digital payments and marketing solutions designed to enable businesses, especially small and medium-sized…
Before COVID-19, businesses were already moving to the cloud, but with the pandemic forcing companies to turn to remote work, adoption of cloud computing has accelerated these past couple of years. 90% of the 2,800+ executives that were polled last year by O’Reilly indicated that their organisations were using already the cloud, a 2% point increase compared to 88% in 2020. Almost half (48%) said they planned to migrate 50% or more of their applications to the cloud in the coming year. 20% plan to migrate all of their applications. US tech consulting firm Gartner estimates that a whopping 85%…
Virtual banking is one of the fastest-growing financial innovations, with a quarter of adults in some countries now having a digital-only bank account. The global total of virtual banking customers will pass 2.5 billion by 2024, with the number of accounts expected to almost quadruple for the period 2020-2026. With so many opportunities that virtual banking brings, it also raises some serious security questions. What cybersecurity challenges do modern virtual banks face? How are they dealing with them? Lets find out. Virtual banking around the world The time, when nobody will leave their house to use a bank, is just around the…
Pine Labs, an Indian merchant commerce platform, announced that it has made a significant majority investment into Mosambee, a local and fast-growing end-to-end payment solution provider. This investment by Pine Labs will now value Mosambee at upwards of US$ 100 million. Pine Labs said that it’s ability to distribute commerce products at scale, its continuous focus on improving the payment checkout experience, and emergence as the ‘omnichannel partner of choice’ for merchants is set to benefit the team at Mosambee. The company added that the leadership team at Mosambee will continue to operate independently. Mosambee had previously announced the acquisition…
Australia Treasury and the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) jointly announced that they have signed the Australia-Singapore Fintech Bridge Agreement. The commencement of discussions to develop the Fintech Bridge was announced in June 2021, when Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison met with Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. The Fintech Bridge aims to build on the overarching framework for digital economy cooperation under the Australia-Singapore Digital Economy Agreement (DEA) to deepen collaboration between the fintech ecosystems of both countries. The Australia-Singapore Fintech Bridge sets out a framework for both authorities to deepen bilateral and multilateral cooperation on fintech, to facilitate…
Indonesian digital lender JULO announced that it has secured US$80 million funding from Credit Saison, a Japanese financial services company affiliated to Mizuho Financial Group. This funding includes a mix of US$30 million in equity and US$50 million in debt financing by Credit Saison. JULO said that the US$30 million equity will be used to advance JULO’s analytics, for product development, marketing, and customer acquisition plans by hiring additional talent across their developer, data scientist and business intelligence teams. Meanwhile, the US$50 million debt financing will be used for loans on the platform. The investment from Credit Saison is part…
Southeast Asian SME digital financing platform Funding Societies announced that it has partnered Dedoco, a decentralised digital document and workflow management platform, to enable micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in Singapore to sign loan contracts via the country’s digital signing service, Sign with Singpass. Sign with Singpass allows users to digitally sign documents using their signing certificate contained in their Singpass app. The digital signature generated using the signing certificate is cryptographically linked to the signer, providing businesses with higher assurance of the authenticity and integrity of the signed documents. The ability to digitally sign with Singpass also means…
Singapore-based major payment institution FOMO Pay announced that local retailers can now accept digital payment tokens (DPT) through its new cryptocurrency payment solution. According to a statement by FOMO Pay, the new payment method targeted at retailers is the first such to be developed by a DPT licensee in Singapore. The company added that retailers will be able to accept a range of different cryptocurrencies, including but not limited to Bitcoin, Ethereum, USDT, and USDC. FOMO Pay aims to reduce the cost of transaction fees for merchants who adopt this payment solution compared to those from conventional fiat currency payment…
Homegrown insurer Singlife with Aviva has appointed European sustainability data provider Matter to provide a comprehensive view of its sustainability performance. Matter’s ESG platform will help Singlife understand the sustainability impact and performance of its global investments. With Matter’s platform, Singlife will be able to monitor key environmental risks to its investments and in future, present more extensive reports to the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) as part of its disclosure requirements. Singlife said that this aligns with its commitment to create a positive impact and support Singapore’s commitment towards Net Zero by 2050. Matter has worked with financial institutions…
New Wealth, a Singaporean B2B wealthtech company, announced that it has tied up with Switzerland’s regtech firm Apiax to embed actionable compliance knowledge into its software to ensure relationship managers are compliant at all times. This collaboration will help banks and wealth managers gain significant operational efficiencies, starting with cross-border marketing and distribution of investment funds. To meet the comprehensive needs of relationship managers in private banking and their high-net-worth clients, New Wealth will now integrate with Apiax’s API to provide cross-border compliance checks in real-time. Apiax and New Wealth added that this partnership will also allow for future deploys…