The National Environment Agency (NEA), Housing & Development Board (HDB), Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and Smart Nation and Digital Government Office (SNDGO) have jointly issued a Request for Information (RFI) for electronic payment (e-payment) solutions to support micro-payments. Mainly at hawker centres, HDB coffee shops, and shops in the heartlands. This is in line with the national drive towards an electronic payments society in Singapore, as part of the Smart Nation vision. Smart Nation is not about the technology per se but leveraging technology to improve lives. With most Singaporeans frequenting hawker centres and HDB shops on a regular…

Fintechnews.PH picks every Friday for you the top 5 Fintech Philippines News of the week: Here we go: Fintech In The Philippines: What The Banks Are Doing? Fintech companies, which are playing an increasingly important role in the Philippines’ financial services landscape, are to complement the products and services offered by banks, opening up growth areas to lenders to expand market reach. (Read more) BSP is Closely Studying Financial Technology Sector The central bank is comfortable – for now – on how they monitor and assess the growth of Fintech or financial technology companies in the Philippines and…

Despite Vietnam’s high smartphone and mobile Internet penetration rates, consumer adoption of fintech solutions remains low with cash-payment habit being hard to change. “Vietnamese, including the unbanked, have already used their mobile for many activities in their everyday life, but not yet so much financial activities,” Nam Tran, co-founder of CEO of mobile payments startup Moca, told Fintechnews.sg. “The remaining challenges to realizing the potentials [of mobile for financial inclusion] are less about technologies, but more about understanding market dynamics and driving adoption.” Tran’s company Moca has developed a solution for mainstream retail payments that enables mobile payments from all…

On 21st August, Vietnam Prime Minister has signed the Plan to fully legalize digital assets and cryptocurrencies. According to the Plan, the Ministry of Justice and the State Bank of Vietnam are in charge of reviewing the current legal status of digital assets and cryptocurrencies; considering the US, EU and Japan approach in order to apply to Vietnam situation with appropriate regulation and conviction before August 2018. The Ministry of Finance takes responsibility to build taxation regulation before June 2019. And the Ministry of Public Security is ordered to make plan to prevent, investigate and prosecute criminal offenses in digital…

With healthcare spending at 1.5 percent of Singapore’s gross domestic product a year, , disruptive healthcare startups are shaping the industry. They are also procuring funds from some of the biggest names in venture capital. Just six months ago, Singapore’s CXA Group secured US$25 billion in Series B funding led by  Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin’s B Capital Group and government funded EDBI, the corporate investment fund of the Economic Development Board. Founded by Rosaline Koo, a veteran of Singapore’s insurance scene, CXA is upping the game on corporate insurance. Instead of the typical employee benefits package, which includes the usual…

Fintech Vietnam Meetup is back with another newsletter, July/August 2017 edition. With the fast pace of the recent developments in Fintech, there are a lot of local and international news that we would like to share with you today. A big thank you to all who turned up at our recent Fintech Vietnam Meetup featuring “ICO, Ethereum, what is it, is it a hype? And how to identify Coin Scams”. We had to close RSVP early due to the overwhelming interest. We hope that everyone went back with new learnings and friends. For those who couldn’t make it, do not fret as we have exciting Meetups…

Australia’s fintech sector has come a long way. In just a few years, the nation has seen its fintech industry mushroom and emerge as a globally recognized hub. Fintech is hot topic in Australia. A report by Startup Muster suggests that the sector is currently the most prevalent industry for Australian startups, with 15.9% of national startups operating in the space. Fintech is also among the top areas investors are looking to support, with 56.2% of investors looking at the industry. In 2016, investment in Australian fintech companies reached a record of US$656 million across 25 deals, more than tripling…

R3’s director of research Antony Lewis believes banks using blockchain for data sharing require stronger privacy regulations and guidelines. As the author of the paper Blockchains and Laws, written in collaboration with Baker McKenzie, the Singapore-based Lewis said in his blog post that banks need their technology to conform to certain standards – resilience, security and so on. “The banks (not the technology) get penalised if they can’t demonstrate high standards with technology they choose to deploy,” “But blockchains and distributed ledgers share data, and often business is conducted across borders. And many countries have data protection laws specifying that…

Fintech companies, which are playing an increasingly important role in the Philippines’ financial services landscape, are to complement the products and services offered by banks, opening up growth areas to lenders to expand market reach. At the BankTech Asia Manila event last year, bankers were unanimous to say that banks and fintech companies had everything to gain by collaborating with one another. “Things have changed around us,” Malik Khan Kotadia, the former senior vice president of Global Banking Group, now a fintech mentor and author, told the audience during a presentation. “Banking environment has been changing too. We see banks…

In December 2016, the Financial Services Authority (OJK) issued regulations on financial technology firms (Fintech) firms that run Peer-to-Peer(P2P) lending businesses. The regulations were issued in response to the rapid growth of Fintech start-ups in Indonesia, where the number of Fintech start-ups tripled from about 51 companies to 135 companies within the last quarter of 2016.  The objective of the regulation, POJK No. 77/2016, aims to support the growth of Information Technology-Based Lending Services (LPMUBTI) or Fintech Peer-to-Peer Lending platforms to service micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) to various areas in Indonesia. Supporting Local Businesses As many MSMEs lack…

The fintech ecosystem in India has evolved significantly since its emergence. Fueled by initiatives from the government to boost innovation in financial services, the sector is expected to further grow in the years to come, according to a new report by PwC and Startupbootcamp Fintech Mumbai. Despite a significant pullback in incoming global investments in the fintech space, the India opportunity remains promising. In particular, regulatory support, financial inclusion and demand for the digitalization of services will likely boost investment in the area going forward. At the same time, the adoption of emerging technologies in the financial services industry is…

BlockShow Asia 2017 powered by Cointelegraph is one of the largest platforms showcasing Blockchain solutions, bringing the hottest startups, ICOs, and unconventional sensations. It aims to demonstrate multiple new solutions for implementation and enhancement of the Blockchain and is designed to provide an exclusive look into exciting projects and ICOs, inspiration to get into the Blockchain world. The team’s aspiration is to exhibit the industry’s most groundbreaking solutions and bring businesses together with the Blockchain. What is BlockShow Asia? As an international platform, BlockShow attracts plenty of investors, venture funds and entrepreneurs from all over the world who are searching…

Every week, we bring you the best IOT news from Asia and around the world. This week, the Harvard Business Review looks into how much consumers value “smart” products. Do Your Customers Actually Want a “Smart” Version of Your Product? – hbr.org In General: The impact of the Internet of Things – information-age.com Preparing for the future by securing the Internet of Things – aei.org IoT Promises a Lot but Without Proper Security, It’s a Pandora’s Box – gadgets.ndtv.com U.S. senators to introduce bill to secure ‘internet of things’ – reuters.com Is The Rise In Technology Worth The Unemployment Side-Effect?…

With a population of over 250 million, consistent economic growth and high mobile phone penetration, Indonesia has emerged as one of Southeast Asia’s most promising markets for fintech disruption. The World Economic Forum predicts that by 2020, Indonesia will become one of the biggest digital markets in the region, and with the country’s large population of unbanked (80% according to the World Bank), Indonesia is perceived as fertile ground of digital finance. Indonesia’s challenging banking ecosystem Like other similar markets, Indonesia has historically been relatively low on banking penetration. But unlike them, one of its key particularities (and challenges)…

2017 has been yet another breakthrough year for digital payments. Alongside cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin rising to a record value, there’s been the rise of new mobile payments platforms like Grab that hope to offer us easier and safer ways to buy goods than ever before. But whilst many of these methods have obvious advantages when buying goods online, they are facing a much tougher challenge in being accepted on our city streets. It’s when we spend smaller amounts of money on items like food that there seems to be the greatest amount of opposition to the new generation of digital…

Grab, the leading ride-hailing and logistics services startup in Southeast Asia, is looking to become the top mobile payments platform in the region. In order to “solidify its leadership in digital payments,” the firm has signed in April an agreement to acquire Kudo, an online-to-offline (O2O) e-commerce platform in Indonesia, a deal that will allow the firm to tap into Kudo’s extensive network across Indonesia’s smaller cities and rural areas. Kudo’s payments platform will be integrated with Grab’s proprietary mobile payments platform, GrabPay. The move is intended to expand Grab’s payments ecosystem to support “the massive growth in online consumer…

Initial coin offerings (ICOs) have become a popular way for tech startups to raise funding and a lucrative investment opportunity for investors. Yet, regulators are warning the public about the risks associated with ICOs and cryptocurrencies, reminding investors that scams are rampant and that the practice is still unregulated. ICOs, also known as token sales, are a way for startups to raise money from users, similar to crowdfunding, by allowing them to buy a stake. In return, backers receive a token or cryptocurrency. They are not equivalent to shares in the firm. This is entirely dependent upon how the ICO…

Founded in early 2016, Maecenas is set to launch the world’s first blockchain-powered investment platform for fine art, bringing together collectors who want to raise funds, and investors looking for exposure to the art market. The platform promises to allow both sides of a traditional art deal to substantially reduce the commissions paid. In traditional transactions, these can be as high as 30% of the total value for the buyer and 50% of the total part for the seller. Maecenas uses blockchain technology to create tamper-proof digital certificates linked to pieces of art. Investors can purchase these certificates to own…

Fintech has become a global phenomenon and to help industry participants and enthusiasts to keep up with this burgeoning sector, several fintech events, conferences and trade shows are taking place this year to connect industry stakeholders and discuss the hottest trends in fintech. You want to attend some conferences? Here’s our pick of the top upcoming fintech events taking place in Asia. Fintechnews will be for sure at the Fintech Week in Hong Kong and at the Fintech Festival In Singapore end of Year. On top of that we will attend: in Singapore for: Big Data Analytics & Effective CEM Strategy…

Wave after wave of technological disruption has hit us in recent years and it looks like the insurance industry is next in line. Insurtech is the new tradename for an aggressively growing group of apps, software’s, and startups reinventing a tired and lackluster insurance industry. In fact, the Insurtech industry is already forcing traditional financial advisors to seat up and take notice. To further justify the growth of the Insurtech industry, The Monetary Authority of Singapore has committed S$225 million to the Financial Sector Technology & Innovation scheme (FSTI).  The Rise of Insurtech In a 2016 study done by New York…