Author: Fintech News Singapore

With 2021 behind us, fintech experts and industry participants are sharing their predictions for the year to come, looking at the trends that shaped 2021 to predict the top fintech trends in Asia in 2022 Funding activities, industry developments, public policies and consumer adoption are amongst the key forces driving the fintech sector. Delving into recent industry researches and interviews with fintech professionals, we’ve compiled a list of the top five trends that will define the fintech ecosystem in Asia in 2022. Embracing embedded finance With many consumers embracing a mobile-first approach, digital ecosystems have become prevalent in Asia. Today,…

Brankas an open finance tech firm announced the close of its US$20m Series B investment round led by Insignia Ventures Partners with participation from existing investors Beenext and Integra Partners. Visa, AFG Partners and Treasury International (backed by veteran fintech founders Jeff Cruttenden of Acorns and Eli Broverman of Betterment) have also joined the round along with existing investors Beenext and Integra Partners. Brankas was selected as one of the 5 participants in Visa’s 2021 Accelerator Program and jointly developed with Visa, a digital credit card issuance proposition using Visa’s data capabilities. The solution was showcased at the Visa Accelerator…

Chambers and Partners, an independent research company delivering rankings and insights into providers of legal services, has released its selection of Singapore’s top fintech law firms and individual lawyers for 2022. These law firms and professionals were selected based on several factors, including their technical legal ability, professional conduct, client service, commercial astuteness, diligence and commitment. Interviews with clients and individual lawyers were also conducted by a research team. Two rankings were produced in the Fintech Legal 2022 list for Singapore: one ranking recognizing legal departments and one ranking recognizing individual lawyers. These entities and professions were ranked in bands…

Revolut announced that it will be offering customers gold and silver exposure through the app. [Editorial Note: This article previously stated that Revolut has received approval from MAS to offer commodities, which was incorrect. Revolut has interpreted MAS’ “no objection” as “approval”. At the request of Revolut, we’ve edited the article to reflect this.] Revolut expects to roll the service out to its Singapore customers in 2022. Once available, customers will be able to purchase and sell exposure to gold and silver, based on live market performance data. Exposures are backed by real, physical gold or silver. Besides being able…

The Fintech Industry in India has seen significant traction in the past year. The Industry is driven by individuals who have contributed their knowledge and expertise to enrich the Fintech and Digital Finance Ecosystem. These individuals have taken pandemic as an opportunity to increase partnerships with other financial organizations and expand digital adoption amongst the population. Their vision is driving the ecosystem and thus influencing all the stakeholders. The Digital Fifth has curated a list of India’s Top 30 Fintech Influencers from across the Fintech and BFSI sector to call out a few of these individuals and give them the…

As neobanks and digital challengers continue to advance and become increasingly more popular, incumbents must modernize their architecture by embracing cloud-native digital platforms, a new article by consulting firm Bain & Company and fintech provider Mambu says. Evolving consumers habits, advances in technology and changing regulatory landscape are revamping the banking industry, opening the door for a new generation of digital banks. Hong Kong has welcomed eight digital banks, Singapore awarded four digital banking licenses in late-2020, the Philippines has begun issuing digital banking licenses, and Malaysia is expected to issue five digital banking licenses in Q1 2022. This evolving landscape is forcing incumbents to adopt an agile…

In Singapore, the COVID-19 pandemic has acted as a catalyst for fintech adoption, driving demand for digital payment capabilities, virtual banking experiences and buy now, pay later (BNPL) arrangements. Consumers and businesses are signing up en masse to digital banking services, local BNPL players are raising massive rounds of funding, and PayNow, Singapore’s instant electronic payment service, is seeing huge volumes of transactions, demonstrating strong uptake of digital payments, a new report by Fintech News Singapore and Alibaba Cloud shows. The report, titled Singapore Fintech Report 2022, looks at the state of fintech in the city-state, highlighting the key trends…

In 2021, global fintech exits reached new heights, totaling 724 transactions comprising mergers and acquisitions (M&As), initial public offerings (IPOs) and mergers with special purpose acquisition companies (SPAC), data from CB Insights show. Though Europe and the US accounted for most of that activity, several large fintech deals were recorded in Asia. As the year 2021 comes at an end, we’ve compiled a list of the top ten largest fintech exits in Asia by valuation announced this year. Grab – US$40 billion Southeast Asian super-app Grab began trading on the Nasdaq stock exchange on December 2nd after a record US$40…

Fintech News Singapore would like to take this opportunity to wish all our readers a Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year. We will be taking a break from the 23rd December 2021 to the 2nd January 2022. Until then, you can access some of our year-end articles that may be of interest to you. We look forward to seeing you all again on the 3rd January 2021! https://fintechnews.sg/57269/singapore-fintech-festival-2021/top-10-stories-from-singapore-fintech-festival-2021/ https://fintechnews.sg/57947/blockchain/binance-singapore-drops-license-plans-suspends-key-services-immediately/ https://fintechnews.sg/57741/e-wallets/grab-to-make-nasdaq-debut-following-spac-merger-with-altimeter/ https://fintechnews.sg/56923/security/rise-of-financial-crime-4-0-calls-for-use-of-advanced-technologies/ https://fintechnews.sg/57530/fintech/what-is-behind-the-metaverse-boom/ https://fintechnews.sg/57085/singapore-fintech-festival-2021/singapore-and-the-philippines-ink-deal-for-cross-border-qr-payments-linkage/ https://fintechnews.sg/57048/singapore-fintech-festival-2021/mas-green-lights-payments-unicorn-airwallex-to-operate-in-singapore/ https://fintechnews.sg/56844/fintech/southeast-asias-o2o-platforms-reach-mainstream-acceptance/ https://fintechnews.sg/56132/lending/mas-says-bnpl-does-not-pose-significant-risk-at-this-stage/ https://fintechnews.sg/58146/sponsoredpost/to-build-or-to-buy-the-defining-payments-decision-merchants-must-confront/ Featured image edited based on photo by Konstantin Evdokimov via Unsplash

In 2021, Singapore continued to pursue its ambition to become a world leader in fintech innovation, multiplying initiatives to foster green fintech, explore opportunities related on central bank digital currency (CBDC), and lay the foundation for open finance. Leading fintech finding in Southeast Asia 2021 was a blockbuster year for fintech funding globally. In Southeast Asia, fintech companies received a record-breaking US$3.5 billion, three times the amount raised last year, according to the Fintech in ASEAN 2021: Digital Takes Flight report by the United Overseas Bank (UOB), PwC and the Singapore Fintech Association. Of that amount, 44% or US$1.6 billion…

Crypto exchange platform Binance announced that it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Dubai World Trade Centre Authority (DWTCA) to set up a virtual assets hub. Binance said that its goal was to assist crypto exchanges, businesses that offer blockchain and Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) services, and a wide range of digital currencies and assets to become licensed in Dubai. The move came as no surprise as its current CEO in Singapore, Richard Teng was previously heading the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) for several years before he was roped in to untangle the regulatory issues that Binance…

Australia’s fintech industry is thriving, creating thousands of new positions, attracting record investment and turning on revenue streams quickly. These players are now expanding globally, turning to markets including the UK, the US, Singapore, Canada and Indonesia, according to the new EY Fintech Australia Census 2021. Produced in collaboration with industry trade group Fintech Australia, and co-funded by the Australian Trade and Investment Commission (Austrade), the report gives an overview of the Australian fintech sector, looking at emerging trends. According to the research, Australia’s fintech sector has considerably grown over the past year as investors continued pouring large sums into…

Asia-Pacific is propelling the retail industry, generating about three-quarters of global growth. By 2025, Asia Pacific’s e-commerce sales are expected to nearly double and reach US$ 2 trillion. This unprecedented and accelerated growth is great news for merchants across Asia, the reality however is, that the bigger a merchant grows, the more complex the payment infrastructure becomes. The larger and more successful a merchant becomes, the more painful they find it to optimise and run their payment platform the way they want. As soon as a business expands to the point that a single payment provider cannot serve its needs,…

Indian payment gateway provider Razorpay has secured US$375 million during a Series F funding round, pushing its valuation to US$7.5 billion. This funding round was co-led by Lone Pine Capital, Alkeon Capital and TCV and also saw participation from existing partners like Tiger Global, Sequoia Capital India, GIC and Y Combinator. With this new round of funding, Razorpay said that it will look to strengthen India’s financial infrastructure for small businesses. The funds raised will also be deployed to further scale RazorpayX, its neo-banking platform. With this round, Razorpay hinted at expansion plans in South East Asian countries as well…

Issuer processors Paymentology and Tutuka announced that both entities are merging to create a new payments and card processing powerhouse. Operating under the Paymentology name, the merger creates a new force in payment solutions which gives banks and fintechs the technology, team and experience to issue and process Mastercard, Visa and UnionPay cards across 49 countries. The move brings together the ultra-advanced, multi-cloud platform of Paymentology with the global reach and experience of Tutuka. The merger creates a powerhouse of over 270 payments and technology experts, working across both developed and emerging markets, serving customers in 49 countries, across 14…

Google Cloud has announced the appointment of Sherie Ng as Country Director of Google Cloud’s business in Singapore and Malaysia. She will be responsible for leading revenue and go-to-market strategy and operations for Google Cloud Platform and Google Workspace, and working with teams across Google to help customers from all industries reimagine their business through data-powered innovation. Sherie reports to Ruma Balasubramanian, Managing Director, Southeast Asia, Google Cloud, who continues to lead Google Cloud’s all-female leadership team for the Southeast Asia region. She joined Google Cloud from Microsoft, where she was General Manager, Public Sector, Asia Pacific. During her time…

Sleek, a platform providing incorporation and accounting services for SMEs and entrepreneurs, announced that it has extended its Series A round to US$ 25 million, with the participation of Singapore-based global investor EDBI and existing investors, in a mix of equity and debt. In November, Sleek announced that it had raised US$14 million during the first closing led by White Star Capital and Jungle Ventures. Sleek said that it will use the fresh funds to bolster tech and product development, hire new talent, expand presence in existing markets, and enter new markets. The company is licensed by Singapore’s Accounting and…

Global payments platform Nium and state-owned Krungthai Bank, has announced a strategic partnership to enhance global transfer offerings for both corporate and individual customers across Thailand. Through this partnership, Krungthai will leverage Nium’s vast payment rails to enhance the cross-border payments experience for its customers. Krungthai’s customers can now make international transfers in 7 main global currencies namely USD, GBP, EUR, AUD, CAD, HKD and SGD. Customers will also benefit from cheaper rates when choosing to transfer from ‘Krungthai Inter Wallet’, a foreign currency e-wallet currently exclusively offered by the bank within its mobile app. Interested parties can register for…

Across Southeast Asia, mobile phone usage is booming, driving with it the rise of mobile commerce. In Singapore and Malaysia, more than 50% of e-commerce traffic comes from smartphones, a new survey by Stripe found. The study, which polled consumers in the region on their online shopping habits and preferences, found that 52% of respondents in Singapore and 47% of respondents in Malaysia do more than half of their shopping from a mobile device. Shifting customer preferences is forcing merchants to not only make their website mobile-friendly to provide a pleasant customer experience, it also puts greater importance on third-party…

The Singapore Exchange (SGX) has unveiled a roadmap which will require companies to provide climate reporting as well as setting board diversity policies beginning from next onwards. All issuers must provide climate reporting on a ‘comply or explain’ basis in their sustainability reports from the financial year commencing 2022. Climate reporting will subsequently be mandatory for issuers in the financial, agriculture, food and forest products, as well as energy industries from 2023. Key changes effective 1 January 2022 include requiring issuers to subject their sustainability reporting processes to internal review and all directors will have to undergo a one-time training on…