Author: Fintech News Singapore

Standard Chartered announced the appointment of Roel Louwhoff as its new Group Chief Digital, Technology and Innovation Officer effective from the 1st November 2021 onwards. Louwhoff, has been Chief Operations and Transformation Officer at ING since 2014 and will be based in Singapore reporting to Group Chief Executive Officer, Bill Winters. Michael Gorriz, who has served as Group Chief Information Officer since 2015, will retire in December to concentrate on his external board and advisory roles in Europe and Asia. Bill Winters, Group Chief Executive Officer at Standard Chartered said, “Roel joins us at a critical time in our transformation…

Hugo, a Singapore-based digital wealth and savings app, announced that it has raised US$2 million in a seed funding round from 1982 Ventures, prominent family offices and angels. With the new funds, Hugo said that it will launch more features to help consumers optimise their budgeting, savings and investing habits to ensure financial wellbeing. David Fergusson, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of Hugo stated, “Money is the biggest cause of stress and Covid-19 has only reinforced how financially unprepared most of us are. We are excited to introduce Hugo at a time when financial wellbeing has become so relevant.”…

Central bank digital currency (CBDC) is arguably one of the biggest developments in recent times that has the potential to reshape financial services as we know. China is of course one of the most prominent examples, since 2014 it has been working on the digital yuan. In 2020, Fan Yifei, the Deputy Governor of the People’s Bank of China (PBOC), stated that there is a need to digitalise cash and coins as the cost of producing and storing them is expensive. Meanwhile, over in Hong Kong, having completed their wholesale CBDC trials, a working group has been set up by…

Though “buy now, pay later” (BNPL) still accounts for just a small portion of the industry, the pandemic-fueled e-commerce boom could see this alternative model grow 10-15x its current volume and reach as much as US$1 trillion in gross merchandise volume (GMV) by 2025, according to Bank of America estimates. E-commerce volumes have jumped forward an estimated 4-6 years due to worldwide lockdowns, pushing consumers and merchants to look to BNPL to alleviate financial pressure and meet online shopping demand, respectively. Fintech and payment research firm Kaleido Intelligence estimates that BNPL transaction value surged 292% between 2018 and 2020 amid…

Brankas, an Indonesian open banking solution provider, announced that it has recently surpassed 10 million monthly API calls with over 80 network partners. The platform now operates in more than six countries and has partnered with more than 30 financial institutions to bring open finance to the region. Brankas provides open finance technology solutions to financial institutions and online businesses across Asia-Pacific, building the region’s supply of available financial API products while making it easier than ever for online businesses to add embedded finance to their own products. The Brankas Open Finance Suite reportedly enables any financial institution to launch…

UOB has tapped Marketnode’s digital asset issuance, depository and servicing platform to issue its latest bond offering of S$600 million, with a final orderbook of more than S$1 billion from a total of 73 accounts. Marketnode, a joint venture between Singapore Exchange and Temasek, is an exchange-led digital asset venture focused on capital markets workflows through smart contracts, ledger and tokenisation technologies. The platform leverages distributed ledger technology to connect various parties involved in the transaction, from issuers to investors,  and to tokenise the capital security, so that smart contracts can be created and conducted for greater efficiency. The digital…

The ASEAN Financial Innovation Network (AFIN) has partnered with R3, an enterprise blockchain software provider, to enable banks and fintechs to build and test Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) applications and drive its innovation and adoption globally. AFIN is a not-for-profit entity jointly formed by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), the International Finance Corporation (IFC), and the ASEAN Bankers Association. Through R3 and AFIN’s collaboration, AFIN will launch a new digital currency sandbox in APIX, and R3 will be the first partner organisation to provide APIs for building applications using digital currencies. Select APIs of R3 Sandbox for Digital…

As digitalization blurs the physical borders between countries, it is estimated that the total global cross-border payment flow can surpass USD156 trillion by 2022. In the European Union (EU), the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) is a timely solution that enables customers to make seamless cross-border payments between euro countries. But the successful implementation of SEPA could largely be attributed to the fact it is governed by the European Central Bank (ECB), who already is the financial regulator for 19 EU member states. Furthermore, the single Euro currency within the region certainly makes things smoother. Asia Pacific countries do not…

Google announced that it has selected Thales to support enhanced privacy and confidentiality capabilities for Google Workspace. Thales said that its CipherTrust Cloud Key Manager and SafeNet Trusted Access have been integrated with Google Workspace Client-side encryption with a new beta coming soon. Through this partnership, Thales provides enterprises with the tools to manage how their keys are used, the conditions they set for access and manage an identity service for Workspace users. Organisations will be able to implement conditional access, enforce the appropriate level of authentication and offer smart single sign-on for users logging onto Google Workspace. The joint…

Singapore-based digital wealth advisor Endowus has announced the appointment of Wei Mei Tan as Chief Advisory Officer. In her new role, Wei Mei will drive strategic initiatives to accelerate Endowus’ growth trajectory and provide leadership in curating the advisory and investment solutions delivered to clients across all segments. As a member of Endowus’ Investment Committee, Wei Mei will also be responsible for building portfolio strategies and fund selection. With over 20 years of financial markets experience, Wei Mei brings to Endowus an extensive background in building digital advisory platforms and investment strategies, having held senior leadership roles at top-tier private…

The transformation of consumer expectations and incumbent banks’ slowness to meet evolving consumer needs are creating significant opportunities for Southeast Asia’s new and upcoming digital banks, a Boston Consulting Group (BCG) study found. A survey of 3,250 consumers and 1,350 merchants conducted in Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam found that lack of personalized advice (58%), high fees (45%) and an unattractive image (40%) are the top reasons for consumers to shift from traditional banks in Southeast Asia. This, combined with wider economic growth, growing digital penetration and the large population of unbanked, are setting a fertile ground for digital…

LINE Financial Asia, an affiliate of LINE Corporation, announced the launch of its digital banking platform in Indonesia, in a collaboration with PT Bank KEB Hana Indonesia, a subsidiary of South Korea’s Hana Bank. This is the third market in which LINE Bank is operating in following that of Thailand and Taiwan where it has secured an operational license by Taiwan’s Financial Supervisory Commission. The strategic partnership between LINE and Hana Bank Indonesia began in October 2018, when LINE Financial Asia acquired 20 percent of Hana Bank Indonesia through a share subscription Agreement. LINE Bank aims to target the Indonesian financial…

Nomura has chosen global provider of financial market data and infrastructure Refinitiv’s wealth management platform across Singapore and Hong Kong. The Refinitiv Workspace for Wealth Advisors will be used as the strategic platform to drive timely market insights and analytics for its relationship managers and investment advisors across those two countries. Refinitiv wealth management solutions empower firms with faster time to market for digital properties. It also offers a flexible framework consisting of web-based components, pre-built pages, APIs, mobile apps, and collaboration tools such as video, co-browsing and secure chat that can be precisely configured for clients. Over the last…

Singapore-based fintech BondEvalue has raised US$6 million in its Series A round of fund raising, bringing the total funding raised by the company to US$10 million. MassMutual Ventures Southeast Asia and Citigroup were among the new investors and are expected to be represented on the board. Other investors included existing shareholders Potato Productions, a company helmed by entrepreneur Lee Han Shih, and Octava, a Singapore-based family office. BondEvalue will use the proceeds to increase its international members. It also announced its joint venture in Mexico that is headed by Jaime Zenizo, previously head trader for HSBC Mexico. The JV will…

UOB pilots the use of Government Technology Agency’s (GovTech) ‘Sign with Singpass’ where a customer’s digital signature to confirm transactions or product applications. The bank is the first in Singapore to offer this service according to a statement. Under an initial 12-month pilot, the bank will test the use of Sign with Singpass with a set of its retail and corporate customers. Some of the transactions the pilot will cover include forms for individual wealth planning services and the PayNow Corporate application. After the pilot, UOB aims to expand the use of Sign with Singpass in more of its products…

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) will be allocating US$1.8 billion into climate-related investment opportunities which was announced during the launch of its inaugural sustainability report. The funds will be managed by five asset managers, who are yet to be named, under MAS’ Green Investment Programme (GIP) to oversee the new equity and fixed income mandates focused on climate change and the environment. The GIP was first announced in November 2019 at the Singapore Fintech Festival. The asset management firms appointed under the GIP will establish their Asia Pacific sustainability hubs in Singapore and launch new ESG thematic funds for…

IT services provider Nityo Infotech has invested US$ 100 million in Singaporean fintech MatchMove Pay in return for a significant equity stake, becoming the largest shareholder in the latter’s firm. Nityo said in a statement that it values the company at US$ 500 million pre-money and US$ 600 million post money, touting it to be the the next unicorn in the fintech space in Southeast Asia. According to their press statement, with this investment, MatchMove will have access to Nityo’s executive experience in growing and expanding a global tech company, thought leadership, growth capital, large and deep talent pools around…

Broadridge Financial Solutions, a US-based technology solutions provider, has partnered with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to extend its Private Market Hub platform. The platform utilises distributed ledger technology (DLT) to better streamline and connect the private equity ecosystem and assets. The updated platform now has added connectivity to existing industry tools and technologies to help further automate workflows between front-, middle- and back-office functions providing a consistent, secure, real-time view of the data. According to a statement by Broadridge, this is said to be the industry’s first deployment of blockchain technology for the private equity market. Bringing together private equity…

ING announced that Stemly, a software as a service platform, is the first initiative to be spun out of ING Labs Singapore and will receive an investment of US$2.5 million. Venture capital fund Elev8, ING Ventures and EDB New Ventures, the corporate venture building arm of EDB, along with other investors, will invest into the venture. Stemly will be an independent entity and continue to work closely with ING benefiting from its global network and financial services expertise. One of the first initiatives to be incubated in ING Labs Singapore in 2018, Stemly was created to address the gap in…

In Singapore’s journey to becoming a Smart Nation, the financial sector is an integral component to achieve this mission. But for Singapore to maintain its competitive edge as a global financial hub, both technology and innovation play important roles. Hence, Singapore, understanding this, has created a Smart Financial Centre through the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS). Recently, Singapore added a feather in its cap when the Singapore-based bank, DBS, launched the DBS digital exchange in December 2020, making it one of the pioneers among traditional financial institutions to take such a leap. But, with the growth in the digital exchanges…