The NETS Group today announced that it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Myanmar’s national payment network to establish a Payment Technology Exchange & Development Programme. The first project under the Programme will see NETS sharing its technical and operational knowledge around the Singapore Quick Response (SGQR) Central Repository platform with Myanmar Payment Union (MPU) with a view to implementing a similar platform in Myanmar. Launched in September 2018 by the Monetary Authority of Singapore and the Infocomm Media Development Authority, the Singapore Quick Response Code (SGQR) is a unified payment system for QR codes that combines multiple…

Citi Treasury and Trade Solutions announced a strategic partnership with Vietnam-based intermediary payment service provider Payoo to facilitate consumer-to-business collections for corporate clients in the country. Under the partnership, Citi’s corporate clients in Vietnam will be able to receive real-time payments from their customers for services including utilities, telecommunications and credit card bills through Payoo’s extensive digital network and physical footprint of over 10,000 brick-and-mortar touchpoints. “The collaboration with Payoo is exciting as it complements Citi’s capabilities to deliver last-mile digital solutions to our clients. This is in line with our strategy to leverage the potential of the thriving FinTech…

Huawei held its Cloud Summit 2019, in which the company announced the launch of its Cloud & AI Innovation Lab in Singapore. The lab aims to cultivate local AI talents and bridge Singapore with state-of-the-art AI technologies globally, and accelerate innovations in the field. Backed by a wide range of AI solutions offered by Huawei Cloud, the lab will provide powerful AI services and resources, including AI R&D robots, Traffic Intelligent Twins, and AI development kits. AI developers and companies in Singapore and the Asia-Pacific region will have the opportunity to join more research projects and cultivate more innovations on AI…

Flywire a payments firm announced that they are deploying machine learning capabilities into its payments platform. The enhancements are geared towards improving payment to settlement time, increasing security, cost reduction and to streamline reconciliation of the growing number of international payments coming from different countries in different currencies. Latest study by Refinitiv shows that majority of banks are looking towards deploying machine learning this year, therefore it is to be expected for companies like Flywire to also deploy machine learning into its payments platform to remain competitive. With the addition of machine learning-enabled deep neural networks and reinforcement learning techniques,…

The financial services industry is undergoing profound shifts facilitated by technologies including artificial intelligence (AI), robotics and the Internet of Things (IoT), but according to Refinitiv, AI will be the single greatest enabler of competitive advantage in the financial sector. Refinitiv’s newly released inaugural 2019 Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning Global Survey found that financial institutions have gone beyond experimenting with and testing machine learning, to applying machine learning models. According to the study, 90% of the C-level executives and data scientists surveyed have already deployed machine learning either in pockets or more fully across their businesses. Approximately three quarters said…

Singapore Airlines has partnered with fintech unicorn Adyen, to help in creating a more frictionless payments experience for customers booking flights online or in-app. The airline while working with Adyen reportedly saw an increase in authorization rates, flexibility on fraud risk management and richer data insights in their bid to create a more seamless payment experience. Therefore, the partnership will center on payments optimisation. This includes the use of Adyen’s direct credit card acquiring capabilities which eliminates the need to run payments across multiple third-party platforms and thus improve payment authorisation rate. There is also the unicorn’s RevenueAccelerate, which allows…

Data and research provider Fintech Global has released its inaugural Wealthtech 100 list, which features the world’s top 100 companies transforming the wealth and asset management industry. Wealthtech is one of the fastest growing verticals of fintech, which has attracted US$4.6 billion in funding since 2014, according to Fintech Global. A panel of industry experts and analysts assessed over 1,000 wealthtech companies from around the world to select the 100 most innovative companies in the field. In Asia, Singapore is represented by three wealthtech companies: BetaSmartz BetaSmartz provides business-to-business (B2B) hybrid digital investment tools. The company offers a white-label B2B…

Almost three in four banks in Asia Pacific anticipate that fraud in their country will increase in 2019, according to a recent poll by FICO. Two of the main areas of concern are card-not-present fraud and application fraud. Card-not-present payments are concerns are fueled largely by the fact that over 50% global online retail sales came from Asia Pacific in 2018. Dan McConaghy, President of FICO in Asia Pacific shared that it is precisely due to such reasons that banks need to use AI and machine learning to combat the increased fraud risk. The survey found that efforts to keep…

Philippines has been taking active steps recently to reform its regulation in efforts to position itself a crypto friendly regime . The country’s central bank, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), released its rules for domestic exchange in February 2017, seeking to lay down a foundation for the country’s nascent cryptocurrency space. The rulings require entities offering exchange services to apply for a Certificate of Registration and register with the country’s Anti-Money Laundering Council Secretariat, among other requirements. But the BSP Circular 944 on virtual currency exchanges only covers crypto-to-fiat conversion activities and vice versa, implying that companies providing virtual exchange…

Rapyd a payments focused fintech, announced a partnership with OCBC Bank to enable real-time bank payments for Singapore consumers and online retailers. The partnership leverages PayNow, Singapore’s national peer-to-peer funds transfer service, enabling OCBC Bank customers to make digital payments using the OCBC Pay Anyone app powered by Rapyd. There are two key features to this new deployment and they are as follows. Enabling instant mobile payment directly from your bank account Many customers are increasingly adopting the option to pay retailers directly from their deposit accounts using their mobile phones. Among OCBC Bank customers, such transactions have grown 4.5 times year-on-year,…

AIDA an artificial intelligence focused fintech recently announced that they have raised an undisclosed sum in their Series A round, which includes investors like Mastercard, Kuok Ventures and SGInnovate. The startup develops machine learning solutions for the banking and insurance sector, with a focus on delivering AI for risk and compliance analytics. AIDA was founded in Singapore in late 2016 by a team data scientists from Singapore based information and communications technology research institute. In 2017, it was the recipient of SG Fintech Festival’s Singaporean Founder Award and it is also placed firmly in Fintech News Singapore’s Top 29 Hottest…

The web is full of resources when it comes to personal finance and investing but what exactly are the most relevant, popular forums on the topic available out there? We look today at nine of the best personal finance and trading forums and platforms for consumers in Asia. eToro eToro is a social trading network allowing for stock trading, online investing, crypto trading and much more. The platform’s key features include CopyTrader, which allows users to automatically copy the trades of more experienced traders, and CopyPortfolios, which are investment products that use a sophisticated algorithm to aggregate the collective…

Forbes has released its fourth annual 30 Under 30 Asia list, which features 300 disruptors, innovators and entrepreneurs from the region, all under the age of 30. Across 10 categories, young entrepreneurs and rising stars have been selected from 23 countries and territories to make up 2019’s list. The following are the 19 fintech and finance superstars who made the cut: Jeremy Berger, 24, Singapore Co-Founder and COO, Arival Bank Jeremy Berger is the co-founder and COO of Arival Bank. Arival Bank is a venture-backed digital banking startup targeting the new generation of businesses. The company aims to deliver the…

It would surprise many outside of the kingdom to discover that Thailand is actually a hotbed for fintech today. Without drawing too much attention to itself globally, Thailand has produced quite a big variety of innovative fintechs, whether they are a local reproduction of an international idea tweaked towards the unique local scene, or specific solutions that foreigners won’t quite understand. With funding activity ramping up in Thailand and an increasingly progressive stance on blockchain and cryptocurrency, it’s only a matter of time before the scene grows into a strong contender, once the seedling Thai scene matures. In alphabetical order, our…

Due to a variety of reasons, Singapore’s EZ-Link and Malaysia’s Touch ‘n Go cards are synonymous with travel in their respective countries. With travel across the causeway so common among residents of both, it is about time for a new partnership between the two, slated for launch in Q4 2019. EZ-Link and Touch ‘n Go will soon issue a dual currency Combi Card—which will host both e-wallets from EZ-Link and Touch ‘n Go. For now, the Combi Card is planned for use to pay for electronic road pricing in Singapore, tolls in Malaysia, and parking, though the companies hint at potential…

Too lazy to clean your room at home, we are too. Therefore we have selected our Top 10 robot vacuum cleaner for 2019 that will help you. 1. ILIFE V5s Pro Robot Vacuum Mop Cleaner ILIFE V5s pro is specially designed for hard floors ( wood/tile/mable/laminate). With a smart water tank installed, V5s pro pull deeper dirt and grime off your floors and maintain them Gleaming every day. 2. iRobot Braava jet 240 Robot Mop The iRobot Braava jet Mopping Robot delivers fresh, clean floors every day. With its compact, smart design and iAdapt 2.0 Navigation system, Braava jet mops…

Despite being known internationally as a fintech hub here, it seems like Singapore is starting to fall behind on cashlessness in Southeast Asia. For example, only 68% of Singaporeans are confident in going cashless for a day, as opposed to Indonesia’s 76% or Philippines’ 69%. When respondents are asked about staying cashless for a full 3 days, the numbers drop dramatically to 42% in Singapore, though other regions surveyed showcase similar drops in confidence. Overall, this means that in Southeast Asia, while quite a high number of Singaporeans are exposed to cashless methods and availability, less than half think it’s…

A scant few weeks after closing its Series H led by SoftBank Vision Fund, Grab already has its eye on raising a grand total of US$6.5 billion by the end of the year. Before the ride-hailing giant embarks on its next fundraising round though, Grab said that it wants to invest aggressively; publicly committing to making at least 6 investments or acquisitions across the region this year. No doubt, Indonesia will comprise of a significant number of those investments, since Grab already expressed its intentions to focus a portion of its SoftBank cheddar into Go-Jek’s home turf. SoftBank is also…

According to a report by Business Times (paywall), Ripple will be doubling its staff strength from 12 to 24 this year. This is against the backdrop of an increased rate adoption by its customers from Asia including the likes of CIMB Bank, InstaReM and MoneyMatch. Eric van Miltenburg, SVP Global Operations attributed the decision to an increase of demand from customers from this region. He also shared that part of the focus of new talent drive to help seek out new customers, partners and ways to to work with the market. A glance at Ripple’s job openings shows that 3…

In September last year, Binance, one of the best known crypto exchanges, expressed intentions to set up fiat-to-crypto trading platforms on almost every continent. True to its intentions, Changpeng Zhao, CEO of Binance, announced at a conference in Seoul that Binance Singapore will come online in April—a fiat to crypto exchange servicing the SGD. However, no further details are provided regarding the launch, like what cryptocurrencies are supported for trading and what breadth of servicing will the SGD gain in the island nation. The revelation was also made in a tweet by Binance. https://twitter.com/binance/status/1113631273551982592 Singapore’s regulators, like the Monetary Authority…