The pioneer batch of 25 students from the NUS-FinTechSG Programme, jointly developed by the NUS FinTech Lab and Strategic Technology Management Institute (STMI) graduated. All of the Singaporean students in the pioneer batch received either full-time positions or traineeships with partnering companies such as DBS and UBS. The program was launched on 6 July 2020 to nurture Singapore’s next generation of fintech talents and full-stack developers. The students graduated in a virtual ceremony after undergoing a structured two-month intensive full-time course on the fundamentals of financial services technology and business. Students enrolled in the program may choose to join full-time…
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The Bank of Thailand (BOT) launched a new platform to issue government savings bond using blockchain technology with its DLT Scripless Bond Project. It is said that fifty billion Baht (approximately US$1.6 billion) of government savings bonds have been sold out in a week. The new infrastructure successfully went live by supporting government savings bonds, “1 Baht Bond” and “Moving Forward”. It is a collaborative effort among eight institutions including Bangkok Bank, Krungthai Bank, Kasikorn Bank, and Siam Commercial Bank among other industry players. In the next phase, the infrastructure will expand to support different types of government bonds, both…
Thailand’s Standard Chartered completed its first cross-bank Letter of Credit (LC) transaction between Vietnam and Thailand conducted over blockchain between Vietnam and Thailand. The transaction was done in partnership with Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BIDV). It also marks the completion of ADB’s first credit guarantee using distributed ledger technology. The transaction was completed over Contour’s network, a blockchain-based open industry platform focused on digitising trade finance, and involved a US$50,000 shipment. ADB’s Head of Trade & Supply Chain Finance Steven Beck, said: “The coronavirus pandemic has shown that it is essential…
Since 2015, foreign investment into Southeast Asia’s fintech companies has grown seven times, according to The Future of Fintech in Southeast Asia report by Dealroom, Finch Capital and MDI Ventures. Foreign investors’ surging participation in the Southeast Asian fintech sector showcases that the region is emerging as the “fintech battleground” for financial institutions and established players, the report says. Some of the most active investors from outside of the region include Tencent, Ant Financial, Accel, Sequoia, SoftBank and Warburg Pincus. In Southeast Asia, fintech is the largest venture capital investment category by number of backed startups with 484 ventures, ahead…
AMTD has announced its first batch of investments in five fintech companies as a part of its Singapore Solidarity Fund AMTD under the purview of the ASEAN Solidarity Fund Group. The five selected companies include Funding Societies, Active.ai, Cardup, Transwap, and PolicyPal. It is worth noting that out of the 5 companies selected, AMTD had previously acquired a controlling stake in PolicyPal. In addition, AMTD-led consortium includes Funding Societies which had previously revealed plans to bid for a Singapore-based digibank named Singa Bank. This first batch of investments amounted to S$11.5 million through a variety and innovative mix of investment…
Franklin Templeton through its Singapore subsidiary, Templeton Asset Management, and Razer Fintech, the financial arm of Razer Inc, announced that they had signed a Memorandum of Understanding to foster a strategic collaboration in digital wealth management innovation, targeting youth and millennials. Through the collaboration, Razer Fintech and Franklin Templeton plan to jointly design and create what they described as a0″ next generation digital wealth management platform”, tailored specifically to the needs of Razer Fintech’s youth and millennial customers at various stages of their financial journey. They said customers can look forward to digital wealth offerings in multi-asset solutions across theme-based…
Singapore Life Pte. Ltd. (Singlife), a homegrown insurer, offering mobile savings and protection solutions, today announced it has entered into a transaction with a view to combine with Aviva Singapore. Valuing the combined Singlife and Aviva Singapore entities at S$3.2 billion, the deal marks one of the largest in the insurance sector in Southeast Asia and the largest in Singapore. Besides its insurance business, Aviva Singapore also owns a unit trust platform, Navigator, as well as two of the largest financial advisory firms in Singapore, Aviva Financial Advisers (AFA) and Professional Investment Advisory Services (PIAS). The deal intends to bring…
Singapore-based hoolah extended Buy Now Pay Later to an in-store solution that offers consumers the option of completing their purchases in three separate 0% interest monthly payments. This solution helps merchants solve some of their biggest challenges around driving conversion and basket size as well as encouraging new customers to visit and return. This is achieved by reducing the impact of price for consumers by splitting the payment into three, at no added cost. Observing a gap across Asia, hoolah was first launched in 2018 as a Buy Now Pay Later solution for online e-commerce platforms. As physical stores begin…
Mastercard announced a proprietary virtual testing environment for central banks to evaluate Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDC) use cases. The platform enables the simulation of issuance, distribution and exchange of CBDCs between banks, financial service providers and consumers. As every central bank differs in its exploration of CBDCs, and the platform can be explored to determine whether CBDCs fit with the needs of a region or country. The virtual platform can be customised to the environment in which a central bank operates. Central banks, commercial banks, as well as tech and advisory firms are invited to partner with Mastercard to…
P2P financing platform Funding Societies, announced today, key additions to its executive team including former GoBear Co-Founder, Frank Stevenaar as its first Chief Financial Officer. Frank will be overseeing Funding Societies’ finance operations, boosting its fundraising efforts, and strengthening its shareholder engagement. He has 20 years of experience in financial services where he was one of the co-founders who launched the financial services platform, GoBear, in 2015 in Singapore and Thailand. In his past role, he was responsible for developing its finance team and expanded the company across Southeast Asia. In addition, Nihit Nirmal takes on the role as Chief…
From September 10 to 12, 2020, Huawei will be hosting its annual developer conference, a multi-day event expected to bring together more than 400 industry veterans and over 500 tech firms to discuss the latest trends and technologies set to transform software and app development. For this year, the Huawei Developer Conference 2020 (Together) will delve into some of the emerging technologies and how companies and developers must prepare for the new era of intelligence and interconnectivity. It will also include an exciting line-up of announcements, with Huawei set to share the latest on HMS Core 5.0, HarmonyOS, and EMUI…
Singapore-based Thunes, a B2B cross-border payments network, raises US$60 million in Series B funding round led by Africa-focused Helios Investment Partners. Additional investors include Checkout.com as well as existing investors GGV Capital and Future Shape. Thunes was previously a part of TransferTo which has since rebranded in 2019 to form two separate company brands, the other one being DT One, a mobile top-up and rewards solution. Its network connects mobile wallet providers, banks, technology companies and money transfer operators, enabling cross-border payments to and from emerging economies. The latest round of funding will drive the continued development of Thunes’ global…
The fintech industry has been growing steadily in Vietnam, fueled by increasing smartphone and Internet penetration, the country’s young population, and its rising middle class. According to the lastes Fintech Map the number of fintech companies in Vietnam has increased from around 40 in 2016 to more than 154 in mid-2019, including 37 operating in payments and 25 in the field of peer-to-peer (P2P) lending. Transactions on Vietnam’s fintech market reached US$4.4 billion in 2017 and are set to double to US$7.8 billion in 2020, according to a research by Asia-focused corporate strategy consulting firm Solidiance. Despite the industry’s strides,…
Around the world, banks are reconsidering their trade finance business model, viewing digitalization as one of the most important trends that will shape the industry in the coming years, according to a new survey. The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) released in July a report that shares findings from its 11th annual Global Survey on Trade Finance. The survey’s results show that banks are turning to technology to modernize their trade finance business, with 77% of the 346 banking respondents considering transitioning to digital as a way to grow their business. Banks are optimistic about the prospect of technology in…
The rapidly changing regulatory landscape is pushing wealth and asset management companies to turn to specialist regtech providers, experts said. In a webinar that took place on August 25, 2020, Ralf Huber, co-founder of Swiss regtech firm Apiax, and Claire Farley, executive director of legal services firm aosphere, addressed the main data protection challenges companies are dealing with today, sharing findings from a survey of the Asian wealth management community. Farley, who’s responsible for aosphere’s product strategy and heads the group’s three online regulatory subscription services, said that the proliferation of data and data regulations are forcing companies of all…
The current pandemic situation across the world is known to many by the back of their hands. There is no doubt that major cities at this stage, some at lockdown and while others are slowly reopening up their economies, are launching digital initiatives and driving contactless transactions. According to Forbes, the usage of traffic across mobile and fixed networks has seen a sharp increase from 30% to 50%. This data shows that people will have to leverage on telecommunications to adapt to the new normal of living, working, and shopping online. In FORCS’ business, the number of searches for smart…
The COVID-19 pandemic has no doubt shifted consumer behaviours dramatically, pushing businesses from across sectors to adapt to these new changes. Banks are similarly impacted by these changes as well. In partnership with Finastra, we’re running a series of interviews with the industry’s top banking voices to understand how their organisations have responded to these changes. To kick start the “Redefining Finance for Good” series we speak to Jeremy Soo, Head of Consumer Banking at DBS Bank, which often held in high regard for its digital initiatives. New habits are here to stay “What the pandemic has proven is that…
Blockchain Valley Ventures recently welcomed Credit Suisse Private Banking’s former Global Head of Investments, Thomas Amstutz to the company as part of its growing presence in the Asia-Pacific region. Having both relocated from Switzerland to Singapore, Fintechnews.sg sat down with Leeor Groen, APAC Managing Director, and Thomas Amstutz, APAC Chairman, to learn more about their plans for the region. Blockchain Valley Ventures (BVV) is a Swiss-based venture capital firm and corporate finance advisor fully dedicated to emerging financial technology and blockchain. It has offices in Zug, Zurich, and Singapore and partnerships in London, Frankfurt and Israel. A member of the…
Finastra has topped the list on Digital Banking Processing Platforms (DBPP) for retail banking in a report released by independent research firm, Forrester. The report entitled “The Forrester Wave™: Digital Banking Processing Platforms (Retail Banking)” for the Q3 of 2020 included 10 vendors in its evaluation, and rated them according to criteria grouped into three categories; current offering, strategy and market presence. Finastra’s end-to-end core banking solution, Fusion Essence, obtained the highest score in the strategy category among all the providers evaluated. Jost Hoppermann, VP and Principal Analyst at Forrester, who authored the report, wrote in it, “Both business and…
Visa is calling on the payments industry to accelerate the availability of Tap to Phone solutions in order to bring more micro and small businesses into the digital economy. Tap to Phone enables sellers to accept Visa contactless payments directly on their own Android NFC-enabled smartphones, without the need for a separate payment acceptance terminal. This eliminates the need for expensive point-of-sale infrastructure. The Visa Asia Pacific Tap to Phone study was conducted by YouGov research between 16 to 20 July 2020, among 6,832 adults ages 18+ in Australia, Hong Kong, India, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore and Taiwan. The research found that the majority (55%) of Asia Pacific consumers would likely…