Author: Fintech News Singapore

While the industry battles cyber threats with the latest sophisticated systems and technologies, one critical area that often doesn’t get enough attention is the threat of social engineering. As the age old adage goes, security is only as strong as your weakest links and untrained staff and customers often are the weakest link. Financial institutions need to keep up with the ever evolving techniques of cybercriminals. This webinar aims to gain insights from Asia’s leading institutions on how they protect their customers and users from the threat of social engineering. The latest social engineering attack methods Current fraud trends around…

With more Singaporeans investing now despite the uncertainty and volatility in the market, the need for investors to invest in safe-haven assets such as gold and silver to balance their portfolios is greater than ever. OCBC Bank is enabling investors to buy precious metals such as gold and silver quickly and easily. Since 25 October 2021, investors have been able to instantly set up an account to buy or sell gold and silver paper bullion on the OCBC Digital mobile banking app – OCBC said that they are the only financial institution in Southeast Asia to enable this. Investors can…

“I think it’s time for me to buy some cryptocurrency”. If you’re reading this article, chances are that this thought has occurred to you sometime in the past. Perhaps you acted on it, perhaps you have not. Regardless of this, the recent developments in cryptocurrencies has now made the space nearly impossible to ignore. Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin and a cornucopia of other coins, each with their own use cases, can sometimes be quite overwhelming. Luckily, there exists a multitude of resources where you can increase your crypto-related knowledge, like this article for example. Let us start by taking you on…

Krungsri (Bank of Ayudhya PCL), one of Thailand’s largest banks, partners with Nium to enhance their international transfer offerings for both corporate and individual Krungsri customers. Through this partnership, Krungsri and Nium will enhance the international transfer experience for millions of banking customers across Thailand. The integration offers their customers the ability to transfer money in real-time to various new countries across Europe, the UK, the US, and Asia Pacific. Frederick Crosby, Chief Revenue Officer at Nium, said: “We are proud to be partnering with another one of Thailand’s largest and most reputable banks. Like Krungsri, we believe in the…

In Southeast Asia, digital ecosystems have reached mainstream acceptance. A new research by Bain & Company found that more than 77% of surveyed consumers in the region’s six biggest economies (SEA-6), namely Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, have used at least one online-to-offline (O2O) platform in the past 12 months, while one in five micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) indicated being on O2O platforms. O2O platforms facilitate transactions with both an online and offline component. Unlike information platforms, these platforms require both physical and digital infrastructure to function. O2O platforms cut across several sectors, including e-commerce,…

Incomlend Capital, an Incomlend Group company, has received the Capital Markets Services (CMS) licence from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) to conduct fund management activities. The CMS license allows the company to set up and manage funds and collective investment schemes. Incomlend Capital now offers institutional and accredited investors a range of competitive and stable trade finance investment solutions. One of the significant funds that Incomlend Capital will be managing is the Incomlend Environment Social, and Governance (ESG) Invoice Financing Programme, an ESG-focused structured finance programme. Incomlend Capital aims to raise US$500 million for the programme and is in the advanced…

Private market exchange ADDX has launched its first cryptocurrency product, with the listing of a digital asset fund by investment manager Trovio Capital Management (TCM). The fund aims to provide accredited investors with a reliable option for crypto investing and has a minimum investment size of US$10,000. On top of core positions in Bitcoin and Ethereum, the fund invests in a set of seven other top-performing cryptocurrencies that are identified and reviewed regularly. ADDX said that the fund recorded a net return of 215% in 2020 and 205% in the first ten months of 2021. The fund is among the…

SCBx Group, the holding company of Siam Commercial Bank (SCB), announced that it has acquired a 51% stake in Thailand’s digital asset exchange Bitkub for approximately 17.85 billion baht (US$535.9 million), in a push into the digital assets business. This pushed Bitkub’s valuation to US$1 billion, making it one of Thailand’s first crypto unicorn. Under the deal, SCB Securities (SCBS), an investment broker which is a subsidiary of SCB, will become Bitkub’s major shareholder and will be responsible for driving and engaging closely with the company. The deal is expected to be completed by the first quarter of 2022 and…

DBS announced that it will invest S$300 million next year to grow the breadth and depth of its digital and intelligent banking capabilities powering all products and solutions for wealth and retail customers. This will also further bolster hyper-personalised experiences across the bank’s digital and physical touchpoints. The investment, which represents a 14% year-on-year increase, will go towards enhancing tech infrastructure and talent. For a start, DBS will further entrench its intelligent banking predictive technology in its recently launched Client Connect frontline advisory tool to empower financial advisors and relationship managers to provide hyper-personalised advisory to customers. The bank also…

Ekata, a Mastercard company that empowers businesses to enable frictionless transactions and combat fraud, announced a partnership with Singapore-based artificial intelligence (AI) and big data company ADVANCE.AI to offer B2B digital identity solutions and risk products across South and Southeast Asian markets. With this partnership, Ekata’s Account Opening solution will be integrated into ADVANCE.AI’s core suite of services comprising digital identity verification, risk and credit scoring, and digital lending. This will enable ADVANCE.AI to deliver global data and risk insights to its customers, helping them reduce friction in the customer onboarding process, improve conversions and combat fraud. ADVANCE.AI serves enterprises…

Dell Technologies is launching its financing arm Dell Financial Services (DFS) in Singapore, as part of an expansion strategy to provide financing alternatives to its regional and global customers with a local presence. DFS offers a payment solutions portfolio that allows customers to pay over time and pay as they use, similar to those that are available in the United States, Canada, Mexico, and Europe. These financing options provide customers with predictable payment programs to quickly acquire hardware, software, and lifecycle services. With DFS in Singapore, organisations can accelerate their digital transformation goals with better cash flow management and capital…

Shopping and rewards platform ShopBack announced that it has acquired hoolah, a buy now, pay later (BNPL) platform. Details of the deal were not disclosed. The deal comes on the heels of ShopBack’s recent US$40 million funding round led by Temasek. The acquisition is said to support the shared vision of ShopBack and hoolah to build a rewarding commerce enablement platform. hoolah will be able to accelerate its growth with a platform to extend its BNPL offering to over 8,000 merchants and 30 million shoppers across nine markets in the Asia-Pacific. Meanwhile, ShopBack will further enhance its suite of shopping…

Despite a growing population and a large pool of unbanked, Pakistan has been a relatively slow-mover within the digital finance space, but new opportunities brought about the COVID-19 pandemic and government-led initiatives are expected to fuel growth. Out of a population of 220 million, only 58 million mobile wallet accounts have been opened, with 53% of these being inactive, a new study by Karandaaz Pakistan, a non-profit organization focusing on financial inclusion, found. Part of the reason for the slow take up of fintech might be related to the population’s well-ingrained preference for cash, low financial literacy and relative low…

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) announced the finalists for the Global Fintech Hackcelerator, as well as the Global Fintech Awards that will be a part of the Singapore Fintech Festival (SFF). These awards are among the key highlights of SFF 2021, which will take place from 8 to 12 November 2021. Global Fintech Hackcelerator 2021 20 finalists were shortlisted for this year’s Global Fintech Hackcelerator through the Local and International Partner Programmes. The finalists, comprising fintech firms and solution providers, have submitted their unique solutions that aim to accelerate Green Finance development in Singapore and the region. They will…

Despite a slight decline, Asia-Pacific (APAC) continued to dominate the global payments landscape in 2020. With approximately US$900 billion in revenue, the region accounted for 47% of global payments revenues, according to the 2021 McKinsey Global Payments Report. This year, payments revenue in APAC is expected to grow in the 9-11% range, recouping 2020’s declines to return to pre-COVID-19 levels. Global payments revenue took a hit in 2020, sliding 5% from US$2 trillion in 2019 to US$1.9 trillion in 2020. APAC continued, nevertheless, to make up the lion’s share with China single-handedly generating US$690 billion in payments revenue. Noteworthily, India…

NTUC Income, an insurance cooperative in Singapore, made its first overseas foray into three Southeast Asian markets namely Indonesia, Vietnam and Malaysia. The company had formed partnerships with PT Central Asia Financial (JAGADIRI) in Indonesia, Post and Telecommunication Joint Stock Insurance Corporation (PTI) in Vietnam and VSure Tech Sdn. Bhd (VSure) in Malaysia. These strategic alliances are built on Income’s Insurance-as-a-Service (IaaS) model that enables the company to bring digital-first insurance business models to partners overseas. This enhances their speed-to-market, and equip them with the right capabilities and tools to capture new customer segments and revenue streams. As part of…

Singapore-based major payment institution FOMO Pay has announced a partnership with Merkle Science, a predictive blockchain monitoring and investigative platform, to enhance its compliance, risk management and threat detection measures. In September 2021, FOMO Pay was granted the Digital Payment Token (DPT) Service license by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) under Payment Services Act. As a licensed major payment institution, FOMO Pay also holds the MAS’ Merchant Acquisition Service, Domestic Money Transfer Service, and Cross-border Money Transfer Service licenses. Founded in 2015, FOMO Pay services over 10,000 merchants across a wide range of industries. Zack Yang, Co-founder at FOMO…

Gobi Partners, a Pan-Asian venture capital firm with US$1.2 billion in assets under management, has appointed Paul Ark as Partner and Head of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG). Prior to joining Gobi Partners, Ark managed a US$100 million global corporate venture capital fund for Siam Commercial Bank’s Digital Ventures group. In addition to his career in venture capital, Ark worked as an investment banker across Asia and North America for Deutsche Bank and Citigroup, and in retail development roles for multinationals such as Apple, Microsoft, and Thailand’s Central Group, leading each retailers’ market entry and store roll-out strategy in Mainland…

Validus, Southeast Asia’s peer-to-peer (P2P) lending platform for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), announced that it has acquired KlearCard’s business payments and expense management technology platform. The acquisition of the KlearCard platform will pave the way for Validus to accelerate its build-out of a credit-led and SME-focused neobank. KlearCard’s platform enables businesses to issue virtual corporate cards instantly with built-in spend control features. Validus’ neobank will offer a unified platform to provide SMEs with a fully integrated and holistic suite of financial tools and analytics to manage and grow their business. Through Validus’ integration of KlearCard’s technology, businesses can expect to…

DBS Bank has joined the Hedera Governing Council, the group of diverse organisations responsible for stewarding the Hedera network which is a sustainable, enterprise-grade public network for the decentralised economy. As the first and only bank in Southeast Asia to join the Governing Council, DBS will explore further opportunities and potential use cases to leverage the vast potential of blockchain and distributed ledger technologies. DBS has been actively leveraging blockchain to offer solutions in areas including cross-border payments and settlements as well as trade financing. With asset digitalisation and tokenisation fast gaining traction, DBS also launched its blockchain-backed digital asset ecosystem…