Author: Fintech News Singapore

Rapyd, a Fintech-as-a-Service company, and LytePay, a Singapore-based financial solutions provider for those who are self-employed, have announced their collaboration to launch a business wallet with a complementary Mastercard payment card for local real estate salespersons of ERA Singapore. Real estate salespersons (RES) typically wait two to six months after a deal’s closure to receive their commission payouts. The new business wallet, also known as LytePay, allows them to instantly cash out their sales commissions with the embedded service called LyteMoney, saving months of waiting. In addition, they can use the app to gain insights into income data, invoice clients,…

Changing customer expectations, the ubiquity of mobile phones and an evolving regulatory landscape are rapidly making the 3D Secure (3DS) standard obsolete. To address customers’ demand for a frictionless e-commerce experience, market participants must adopt 3DS 2.0, experts say. What is 3DS? Created by Visa and MasterCard, 3DS is a technical standard that adds a layer of security in online credit and debit card transactions. This would typically translate to cardholders having to prove their identity by entering a unique password, an SMS code or a temporary PIN. The obvious main benefit of 3DS is that it protects both users…

In just two years of commercial operation, Australian wealthtech startup PictureWealth has grown to more than AUD$2 billion in funds under advice, annualized revenues of AUD$20 million, and a client base of over 40,000 customers. This year only, the fast-growing startup has done 15 acquisitions, and just recently closed a AUD$12 million late-seed funding round to help it to pursue its ambition to reinvent the financial advisory landscape in Australia. “When we look at the market, there are a lot of robo-advisors, but they are not really dealing with people’s hopes and fears,” Neal Cross, co-founder and chairman of PictureWealth,…

The Search Engine Optimization (SEO) industry is as old as search engines themselves, but it wasn’t all that complex pre-millennium. The algorithms that determined the search engine results have become much more nuanced, with a far greater amount of variables. This has led to a need for software and agencies to help out smaller businesses who may not have the resources to compete for Google’s 1st page. The size of the SEO industry In 2018, the SEO industry was worth $80 billion. The industry has a handful of key players providing software for those performing their own SEO. This is…

Standard Chartered is working with Singapore’s National Trade Union Congress (NTUC) Enterprise on its second digital-only bank in Asia, people familiar with the matter told media. The new initiative is still at an early stage, the persons said, and has been code-named Project Phoenix. Standard Chartered would hold a majority stake in the new venture, with the remainder held by NTUC Enterprise, the holding entity and single largest shareholder of the labor movement’s social enterprises. Alex Twigg, co-founder of Judo Bank, has been hired for the new venture. Judo Bank is an Australian challenger bank that focuses on lending to…

A changing landscape requires a new mindset By providing great user experience, a variety of money management tools, lower fees and extensive security features, mobile-first fintech apps are setting a new benchmark for handling personal finances. While these apps grow in popularity and new alternatives appear every month, there’s no doubt that they will increasingly redefine our relationship with money. But with so many solutions on the online marketplace, one key question is what differentiating factors lead users to choose one banking app over the other? Bitrise has recently released a report on mobile transformation in finance and banking, in…

KASIKORNBANK and Lu International (Singapore), a subsidiary of China’s retail fintech enterprise Lufax Holding, have recently announced a partnership to establish an online wealth management platform for retail investors in Thailand. The platform named LU Global said it offers customers with round-the-clock access to a wide range of high-quality investments. The platform has instated a risk management system that adopts Know Your Product (KYP) and Know Your Customer (KYC) compliance procedures, alongside an Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and anti-fraud system. Lufax Holding will utilise its cloud-exporting model for the platform which will be jointly operated and managed by both parties. “Together…

Marc Bühler took over the management of the Singapore ti&m operations in June. He has lived and worked in Singapore for more than ten years. In an interview, he explains how he got into IT, what he does in his spare time and how he intends to use his start-up experience to help the Singapore operations You’ve been with ti&m since June, how have you found your experience there so far? My start was more than promising. The working environment is new, but it is similar to my last job where I mainly worked from home, and communicated mostly on…

DBS is taking steps to future-proof its workforce by announcing a collaboration with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to ensure its employees are equipped with fundamental skills in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) by the end of the year. The bank has set its sights on accelerating the use of AI and ML across its business. To enable this, DBS and AWS have jointly launched the DBS x AWS DeepRacer League. With this initiative, DBS employees will learn the basics of AI and ML by participating in a series of hands-on online tutorials before putting their new knowledge to…

Advances in technological fields including artificial intelligence (AI) and biometrics are providing new ways for financial institutions and startups to combat the surge in fraud and financial crime resulting from the rise of digital banking and fintech. With governments across Asia Pacific (APAC) pushing for greater adoption of digital technologies to boost financial inclusion, financial-related crimes and fraud attempts have proliferated across the region. The rapidly evolving fraud landscape The shift of banking to digital channels has not only transformed the way people access banking and manage their finances; it has also led to a revolution in banking fraud and…

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) announced that it will commit S$250 million over the next three years under the enhanced Financial Sector Technology and Innovation Scheme (FSTI 2.0) to accelerate technology and innovation-driven growth in the financial sector. Funded by the Financial Sector Development Fund, FSTI 2.0 also aims to deepen the cybersecurity capabilities in the financial sector. In the FSTI 2.0, MAS will double the maximum funding quantum, from S$200,000 to S$400,000, under the Proof-of-Concept (POC) Grant, and will increase the maximum funding support from 50% to 70% of qualifying project cost. The higher funding support will enable…

DBS Vickers (DBSV), the brokerage arm of DBS Bank, continues with digitalisation plans which they said will enable it to double its regional trading volume across its retail and institutional segments by 2025. The brokerage’s shift to digital has been in the making for the past several years, resulting in the introduction of several solutions for its customers, including online customer onboarding and direct debiting as well as crediting for trades done across 11 exchanges in core markets such as Singapore, Hong Kong, the US, and Thailand. DBSV said that this, coupled with accelerated efforts to ramp up capacity expansion…

Fueled by surging mobile and Internet penetration rates, rising fintech adoption and the huge amounts of funding being injected into the sector, Asia is rapidly emerging as a paytech powerhouse. What is paytech Like other financial verticals, the payment industry has undergone tremendous transformation over the past couple of years, fueled by new regulations, advances in technology and changing consumer habits. Today, the burgeoning paytech (payment technology) industry counts startups and firms operating in all kinds of fields and for all sorts of purposes ranging from consumer mobile payments and e-commerce payments, to cross-border remittances and blockchain-based peer-to-peer (P2P) transactions.…

Standard Chartered Bank and Microsoft announced a three-year strategic partnership to accelerate the bank’s digital transformation through a cloud-first strategy. They said this partnership marks a significant milestone for Standard Chartered in making its vision for virtual banking, next-generation payments, open banking and banking-as-a-service a reality by leveraging Microsoft Azure as a preferred cloud platform. The first set of capabilities to move to Microsoft Azure will be Standard Chartered’s trade finance systems, allowing for seamless cross-border trade for the bank’s corporate and institutional clients. Standard Chartered said will also use Azure’s artificial intelligence and data analytics capabilities to enhance and…

Formerly the Chief Innovation Officer of DBS Bank, Neal Cross is considered by many as one of the most prolific bankers in Singapore. He was recognized as the most disruptive CIO/CTO globally during his stint with DBS. He’s currently the Chairman and Co-founder of PictureWealth an Australian based wealthtech firm and also and sits in the advisory board of Razer Fintech. For the 2nd episode of Fintech Fireside Asia, we sit with Neal to reflect on his journey from banker to entrepreneur.

Orange, a telecommunications operator, and Google Cloud has partnered to build the former’s IT infrastructure and the development of future cloud services, in particular edge computing. The agreement is part of Orange’s Engage 2025 plan, to drive its internal transformation through the use of artificial intelligence (AI) and data in order to improve operational efficiency and customer experience. The collaboration will also pave the way for the development of new advanced cloud, edge computing and cybersecurity services that will open up business opportunities for both Google Cloud and Orange. In addition, Orange and Google Cloud have agreed to jointly create…

Just like in almost every other industry, financial institutions have been planning and implementing increased digitalisation for some years. However, the coronavirus crisis and resulting nationwide restrictions have undoubtedly accelerated the rate at which new tech and processes have been launched. Banking Circle research commissioned amongst financial institutions across a number of geographies just before COVID-19 closed the shutters on much of the global economy aimed to look at the changing trends in the development, delivery, and support of banking services for businesses. Once the potential impact became clearer, we adapted the research to focus on the influence COVID-19 is…

MatchMove, a Singapore-based ‘Banking-as-a-Service’ platform, announced the launch of its new remittance platform called RemitSend to enable cost-efficient, cross-border Business to Business (B2B) remittances. By offering a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) based subscription pricing model, MatchMove said it is able to help SMEs in Singapore to save up to 80% of their cost when compared to charges currently levied by most banks. RemitSend is to be able to provide companies faster access to data, transparent transactions and reasonable fees starting as low as S$8.90 per remittance, with no hidden charges or volume pricing. The price is fixed regardless of the amount being…

Osome announced a partnership with fintech startup Aspire to enable a same-day service of incorporating a company and opening a business account in Singapore fully online from anywhere in the world. Singapore-based Osome uses artificial intelligence to take care of routine tasks like company incorporation, corporate secretarial work, accounting, taxation and payroll on their platform. Meanwhile, Aspire provides business owners with an easy, fast and simple way to manage their business finances within a single platform. The Aspire Business Account can be opened online within minutes and automatically comes with a Visa debit card that allows business owners to transact…

Clik, a Cambodian fintech startup, has completed the final close of its US$3.7 million seed round led by Openway and Poems Pte Ltd along with several global angel investors, a third of which are Cambodia-based. This round of financing, which includes the US$2 million of commitments announced at the end of 2018, will enable Clik to scale its product engineering and customer service teams as it progresses towards its official launch in Cambodia by the end of 2020. Matthew Tippetts, CEO and Co-Founder of Clik said, “The closing of our seed round is a sign that investors are eager to…