The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and The Association of Banks in Singapore (ABS) announced today that 40 finalists have been shortlisted for the FinTech Awards to be presented at this year’s Singapore FinTech Festival x Singapore Week of Innovation and Technology (SFF x SWITCH). The finalists were selected by a panel of industry judges from a total of 245 submissions. Many of the submissions from the growing FinTech community came from sectors such as RegTech, wealth management and cybersecurity. Financial inclusion was also a key area of focus amongst this year’s finalists, with a significant number of submissions geared…
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Razer Fintech, the financial technology arm of Razer Inc has appointed Koh Boon Hwee as a member of Razer Fintech’s Advisory Board. Koh was formerly the Chairman of DBS Bank. He has also served as Chairman of blue chip corporates such as Singapore Telecommunications Limited and Singapore Airlines Limited, and is the Chairman of global technology companies, Agilent Technology Inc., AAC Technologies Holdings Inc. and Sunningdale Tech Ltd. He had previously served on the board of Temasek Holdings (Private) Limited. Koh is also currently the Chairman of Credence Capital, a private equity fund focused on investing in SMEs in Southeast…
Payments focused fintech Rapyd announced that they have secured US$ 100 million of financing in round led by Oak HC/FT with participation from Tiger Global, Caotue, General Catalyst, Target Global, Stripe and Entree Capital. This follows another round earlier this year which saw the company raise US$ 40 million in Series B financing. The UK-based company already has some footprint in Singapore, in April 2019, Rapyd inked a deal with OCBC to enable retailers to receive payment immediately from OCBC Pay Anyone users. Rapyd said in a media statement that the company will use the investment to build out its unified…
Philippines’ fintech startup PayMongo recently announced that it has raised US$ 2.3 Million in its seed round. PayMongo’s investments round sees participation from an impressive list of investors including Stripe, PayPal’s co-founder Peter Thiel, Tinder’s co-founder Justin Mateen, Y Combinator, Founders Fund, Global Founders Capital, Soma Capital, and other angel investors. The Manila-based startup’s key focus is to simplify online payments, seemingly drawing inspiration from its investor, Stripe. In a media statement, PayMongo said that they have onboarded over 1,000 business since their inception in June 2019 and they claim that they have seen transaction growth at an average of…
In line with Singapore’s Smart Nation agenda, DBS Bank is collaborating with the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS) to digitalise tax payouts and collections via PayNow to encourage more businesses to go cheque-free. IRAS first introduced PayNow as an option for businesses to receive Wage Credit Scheme (WCS) payouts in March, resulting in a 20 per cent reduction in cheque volumes to-date. Before the implementation of PayNow, about half of WCS-eligible businesses, many of which are small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), chose to receive their payouts via cheques. For the next phase, both parties are working together to leverage…
European based fintech unicorn Revolut announced on Monday that they have reached a new agreement with Visa to expand its global acceptance footprint to 24 new markets for a total of 56 markets globally. Visa will power Revolut’s payments acceptance initially in markets like Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Vietnam, Philippines, Malaysia, and Singapore among others. In European markets, Revolut also works with Mastercard to issue their payment cards. The startup told Fintech News Singapore in a media statement that under the terms of this new agreement Revolut will primarily be issuing Visa cards for its global expansion indicating a preference…
In a 2019 study of companies around the world that have made the most successful strategic transformations in the last decade, DBS Bank ranks among the top 10, according to Harvard Business Review. In this achievement, DBS joins the likes of Netflix, Amazon, Microsoft, Tencent and Alibaba, who were similarly recognised. The study – “The Transformation 20: The top global companies leading strategic transformations” – by strategy consulting firm Innosight involved the screening of all companies in the S&P 500 and Global 2000 using three lenses: new growth, repositioning the core and financials. The final 2019 Transformation 20 “ranked highest…
Traveloka and Indonesia’s Bank BRI entered into a partnership to launch PayLater Card. The card can be used in Indonesia and around the world for both online and offline transactions by leveraging the network of Visa. Henry Hendrawan, President, Traveloka Group of Operations told Fintech News Singapore in a media statement that, through this partnership, they are attempting to solve the issue Indonesian consumers are forced to book their flights and hotels last minute due to lack of credit access typically provided via credit cards. PayLater Card will provide users with a simple application and verification process that will only take…
UK-based fintech startup Revolut has unveiled pricing details for its digital offerings in Singapore and we expect the official going launch in Singapore very soon. The startup, which offers banking services including a prepaid debit card, currency exchange, cryptocurrency exchange and peer-to-peer payments through a mobile app, secured its license to operate in Singapore in late-2018 and launched its services in beta earlier this year. Readers of Fintech News Singapore has tipped us that they are already onboard for this service, while many Singaporeans are still on hold on their waitlist. Revolut’s Singapore subsidiary will offer three plans: The free…
Cryptogenes, a market research firm operating out of Switzerland through the legal entity HeyDays Services, has released a report detailing the results of an audit of Singapore’s 20 centralized cryptocurrency exchanges. The audit evaluates the overall quality of all of Singapore exchanges based on a rating of their trustworthiness, trading experience, fee structure and customer support. Cryptogenes said the auditing methodology was created in collaboration with the School of Management Fribourg in Switzerland, and the scientific auditing algorithm was double-blind peer reviewed by the Global Finance Association, among others. The 20 Singaporean cryptocurrency exchanges audited for the report have a…
Estonian fintech startup Funderbeam announced today that it has secured the Capital Market Services License and Recognise Market Operator license from the Monetary Authority of Singapore, marking the startup’s entrance into the Singaporean market. Funderbeam’s marketplace enables investors to buy and sell equity stakes in private companies. Founded in Estonia in 2013, the company is headquartered in the UK and regulated in Europe by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), and it was previously highlighted as the top 10 Hottest Fintech Startups in the Baltic States by our sister publication at Fintech Baltic. The company aims to fill in the gap…
DBS announced that it aims to double its existing user base of 1.6 million to 3.5 million by 2023 for its mobile wallet DBS PayLah!. To achieve this, the bank will over the course of 2020 integrate its DBS Lifestyle rewards app into DBS PayLah!, link debit and credit cards payments to the DBS PayLah! platform so customers can choose their preferred way to pay, expand payment touchpoints across the region, and ramp up on its DBS PayLah! ecosystem partnerships. It has signed more than 10 strategic platform partnerships with merchants across key lifestyle verticals, and users can look forward…
A historically unbanked region, South East Asia’s fintech cities surge in growth have been fueled by the region’s young and digitally-savvy population, high mobile penetration and growing middle class. From small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) looking for financing, to young, active professionals wanting to invest their hard-earned money, fintech has reached all segments of Southeast Asia’s population, providing products and services that tackle various needs whether that’s digital payments, loans, wealth management, or insurance. Across the region, most governments have recognized the potential of fintech and committed to support the development of the industry to realize the many positive implications it…
Stablecoins are cryptocurrencies designed to minimize price volatility, it is often praised for offering the advantages of cryptocurrencies, including transparency, efficiency and low transaction fees, while overcoming the wild price swings inherent to the likes of bitcoin and ether. Proponents say stablecoins could help blockchain and cryptocurrencies gain mainstream appeal, paving the way for adoption of blockchain and crypto-based financial products that aren’t currently practical. This includes applications in the areas of payment, and cross-border money transfers, among others. Though the very first stablecoins emerged in 2014, it wasn’t until 2018 that the trend took off. Today, there are more…
Today, Microsoft Asia and IDC Asia Pacific released findings on AI in financial services from the study Future Ready Business: Assessing Asia-Pacific’s Growth with AI, which found that organizations with AI expect to see 41% improvement in competitiveness in three years. The study also found that more than half (52%) of the region’s FSI organizations have already started on their AI journeys. This is higher than the Asia-Pacific average of 41%, indicating that the sector is more advanced than others in the region. FSI organizations that have already started on their AI journeys saw improvements in areas such as better…
According to the Fintech Employment 2019 report published by professional recruitment services firm, Michael Page Singapore, 94% of fintech companies surveyed agreed that we are facing a major shortage of fintech talent. The sample size of the study was not immediately made clear, therefore the study maybe more indicative than it is definitive of the outlook of Singapore’s fintech talent landscape. 39% of the respondents also viewed artificial intelligence and robotics as one of the most important technological advances to impact the future development of fintech in Singapore. Overall, the respondent community predicts that fintech will play a…
Ravi Menon, Managing Director of Monetary Authority of Singapore, joins a growing list of regulators around the world voicing their concerns about Facebook’s Libra. In an interview with Financial Times, he said that Facebook’s Libra raises a global financial risk that must be addressed by regulators worldwide. He noted that some of the risks that Libra poses are global in nature and that there is a need for a coordinated approach. In the past, Ravi Menon has also expressed reservations about Facebook’s Libra, adding that the key is to figure out the nature of the beast and at this juncture,…
It’s been a tumultuous year for the media industry. While companies like Vice Media and BuzzFeed have dismissed hundreds employees this year, tech media funding rounds from emerging markets have gained notable traction and raised millions of dollars to fuel growth and expansion. In particular, niche media outlets focused on tech and startups stories are gaining traction along with attention from VCs. When I started the Fintech News Network in 2014, I foresaw the explosive growth within the fintech space and the need for a dedicated fintech focused outlet. This was around the same time that a large number of…
MatchMove, a ‘Bank-As-A-Service’ platform has closed an agreement with licensed P2P lender, MoolahSense, to acquire a strategic stake with immediate effect. MoolahSense is a data-driven peer-to-peer lending platforms focused on SME lending, and operates under a Capital Markets Services (CMS) license from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS). This acquisition will enable MatchMove to further strengthen its Spend.Send.Lend™ capability and provide access to financing to SMEs within its ecosystem. Consequently, MoolahSense will be able to leverage MatchMove’s integrated regional partner network to tap new segments and extend its capability to fund creditworthy SMEs across Asia. Shailesh Naik, Founder and Group…
Singapore Life announced today the rebranding exercise to change its name from Singapore Life to Singlife. The digital insurer told Fintech News Singapore that since everyone is already referring to them as SingLife, they figured they might as well embrace the new name. Alongside its new brand identity SingLife has also announced that they have teamed up with VISA to become the first insurer to issue debit cards. The newly launched SingLife Visa Debit will be launched alongside its SingLife account. With this, customers have full, instant access to their money with no lock-in period — effectively rendering traditional old…