Author: Fintech News Singapore

In Sri Lanka, fintech holds many promises, and while local banks are investing heavily in digitalization, many challenges still need to be addressed before a real, dynamic fintech ecosystem emerges. When it comes to digital finance, it is safe to say that Sri Lanka is way behind the curve. Banks across the country are struggling to bring Sri Lankans to the digital era and consumers are still reluctant of digitally driven banking services, preferring conventional banking. Indrajit Wickramasinghe, chief executive of Union Bank of Colombo, told Euromoney that Sri Lanka has been “slower to embrace digital and fintech,” because “culturally,…

More than 2800 branches were closed in the UK between 2015 and the end of 2018, and a similar trajectory can be seen across the globe. This trend is driving traditional banks to switch to expand their businesses digital channels, thanks to changing customer demands, and to answer the growing threat from disruptive challenger banks. With a more collaborative and open ecosystem brewing within the finance industry, concerns of security have risen in equal fervour. In their mad dash towards digitisation, financial institutions today seem to have two opposing forces demanding equal attention when it comes to security. These are…

DiMuto has closed a deal with Queen, Thailand’s largest durian exporter and producer to track durians on the blockchain. DiMuto will tag, track and trace around four million fresh durians from Thailand to China, Japan and other parts of Asia. The Singapore-based startup is the first in the world to transform fresh durians into traceable digital assets. Under the deal, DiMuto is expected to turn four million durians into traceable digital assets from now to December 2019, enabling each durian to be uniquely tagged, photographed, tracked at each stage of the supply chain. DiMuto’s Track & Trace blockchain platform integrates…

Philippines’ central bank reported that e-wallet penetration is growing faster in the Philippines and has surpassed credit card numbers. Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) released this information in a financial inclusion dashboard, which states that e-money accounts rose by 22% to 33 million in 2018. This is composed of five million active e-wallets and 28 million prepaid cards linked to e-money, reported NewsBytes Philippines. Meanwhile, credit cards have only penetrated 9% of the population. The numbers seems to support the narrative that digital technologies like e-wallets can help the population access basic financial services. Philippines’ central bank seem to recognize that…

The proposal of the Singapore government’s taxation agency to remove goods and services tax (GST) from cryptocurrency transactions could give a boost to the burgeoning sector, experts and industry participants claim. Earlier this month, the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS) released an e-Tax draft guide outlining the tax treatment for “digital payment tokens” and unveiled its intentions to exempt cryptocurrency transactions from GST. Under the current rules, the cryptocurrency used for payments is treated as a taxable supply of services, meaning that the sale, issue or transfer of such tokens for consideration by a GST-registered business is subject to GST.…

Singapore based digital banking software provider Moneythor has been selected as one of 10 later-stage FinTech startups to be accepted onto the renowned Mastercard Start Path program, part of Mastercard Labs. Moneythor is the only participant from South East Asia. They were also highlighted in our list of “Singapore’s 29 Hottest Fintechs in 2019”, an annual list highlighting the best that Singapore has to offer in the world of fintech. Mastercard Start Path supports FinTech firms scaling into new opportunities and markets. The program connects proven startups with leading international institutions and facilitates introductions to teams of Mastercard experts in…

sgCarMart is launching a Know-Your-Vehicle used car data marketplace, in a bid to help users make better decisions. The company will utilise a decentralised data exchange protocol by Ocean Protocol to make the vision a reality. Glenn Ong, General Manager of sgCarMart said: “Currently, customers wanting to buy a used car will need to rely on information provided by the current owner or used car dealer. There will be a natural tendency to understate or not reveal defects of the vehicle. Buyers can rely on 3rd party inspection centres to do a check but matters like odometer tampering can still go…

Smartkarma, the global investment research network, today announced it has received a strategic investment from Singapore Exchange (SGX). The company was also highlighted in our list of Asia’s Top 19 Wealthtech Solutions in 2019. The investment marks the next step in ensuring a vibrant financial research ecosystem. It further underpins Singapore’s vision of serving as Asia’s centre for capital raising and enterprise financing. Existing investors including Sequoia India and Wavemaker Partners also participated in this investment, which affirms their ongoing confidence in Smartkarma. The strategic investment cements a joint journey of collaboration between SGX and Smartkarma. Aligning with the Monetary…

Prime Minister Lee Hsien advised sober assessment of blockchain technology in a Facebook post shared earlier. Ironically on his Facebook post he was also commenting on the Facebook’s controversial cryptocurrency project, Libra. Describing Facebook’s Libra, he said it has “a lot of hype, and whether this is really the next big things remains to be seen”. He further adds that we should not be swept up by all the hype surrounding blockchain and assess the technology for what it really is, understand it’s limitations and realise not every problem needs a blockchain solution That is not to say the Prime…

Experian, a globally-known information services company, has invested into Grab and is now another notch into the ride-hailing platform’s quest to US$6.5 billion in an ongoing Series H by the end of 2019. Experian’s investment value has not been disclosed. Experian has an ongoing interest in the one billion individuals who remain unbanked. To that end, the Grab investment is its 4th in Asia, where it hopes the strategic partnership will enable both companies to harness their technologies and data analytics to customise Grab’s offerings for its users, which on the financial inclusion front, should mean improving access to loans…

Fintech and payments organisation PayU just acquired majority stake in Red Dot Payment (RDP), a Southeast Asia focused online payment solutions provider. Now, the Netherlands-based PayU will utilise the purchase to expand into Southeast Asia  in a bid to participate in high-growth markets. Under the terms of the agreement, PayU has acquired a majority stake in RDP in a transaction valuing the company at US$65 million. The founder will continue to retain a stake in the company, while the majority of other shareholders will exit. Formed in 2011 by a group of payment experts from various Fortune 500 companies, RDP has…

Digital banking solution provider Meniga announced the opening of their newest location in Singapore. Including this newest location the company now has seven locations worldwide, including Reykjavik, Stockholm, Helsinki, Warsaw, Barcelona, and London, where it is headquartered. According to the press release, the office is set up to meet the increasing demand for their data-driven digital banking offering in South East Asia. As recent as last year, Meniga bagged a contract with UOB to offer them their PFM solutions. A previous statement from them seem to indicated that Meniga’s solution was used to power UOB’s Thailand-based digital only bank named…

In Southeast Asia, Singapore has established itself as a fintech hub leading the way when it comes to investment and regulations. A combination of favorable rulings, supportive initiatives from both the private and public sector, an already dynamic startup ecosystem, and a world-renowned financial center, has allowed Singapore to emerge as a global leader in financial innovation. Considering the relatively small size of the domestic market, the Singapore fintech industry is rather large compared to its Asian neigbhours. But the city-state continues to witness developments in the local fintech scene and attract foreign entrepreneurs. The following are 7 of the…

Today, Tribe Accelerator, Singapore’s first government supported blockchain accelerator, held its first ever Demo Day at Facebook’s Asia-Pacific Headquarters in Singapore. The Demo Day is part of a global demo tour that will showcase the market-ready solutions developed by Tribe’s participating companies. Singapore’s demo day kickstarts a 2-week showcase across 4 major hubs across the world to demo their blockchain solutions. With the focus of developing blockchain solutions that can transform Smart Cities of the future, the batch one cohort will be exhibiting a diverse portfolio of use cases from verticals such as mobility and supply chain, data communications, fintech,…

soCash, the Singapore-headquartered start-up which converts shops into virtual ATMs announced that it has tied-up a partnership with ICBC Singapore. Through this new partnership, soCash will extend its services to all ICBC customers in Singapore and enable them to perform basic banking services like cash withdrawal from neighbourhood shops using the soCash app. More banking services will be rolled out progressively taking the bank closer to its growing customer base. “As virtual banks emerge in Asia and traditional banks embrace digital business models, there is a growing need of more O2O (Online to offline) networks. Our collaboration with ICBC demonstrates…

The wealth management sector is facing tremendous changes fueled by technology and changing customer expectations. Wealthtech, which stands for wealth and technology, has become one of the hottest sub segments of fintech with companies in the space raising over US$12.2 billion in funding over the last five years, according to a research by Fintech Global. Wealthtech encompasses all innovations and technologies that help wealth management related companies in their activity. Wealthtech companies leverage cutting edge technology to enable more effective portfolio management, better assets liquidity, improved customer experience, cost transparency, improved advice, and clearer transaction technologies. In Europe, there are…

22 coffee shops, 10 hawker centers and 12 industrial canteens have adopted a unified digital payment solution provided by NETS, Enterprise Singapore said on June 29. The solution combines in one point-of-sales terminal and a single SGQR label a total of 23 payment schemes across transport cards, mobile payment applications and credit cards. Supported services include Alipay, American Express, DBS PayLah!, EZ-Link, GrabPay, LifeUp Pay, Liquid Pay, Mastercard, NETS Pay, OCBC Pay Anyone, SC Mobile by Standard Chartered Bank, Singtel Dash, UnionPay, Visa and WeChat Pay. The roll out has enabled over 500 food stalls to accept digital payments. Lim…

Following the announcement and issuing of Hong Kong’s virtual banking license, Singapore has announced their intentions to launch the same; to allow entities without banking parentage to conduct banking activities. Digital banks generally refers to banking entities that operate without physical branches, Singapore’s interest in digital banks comes from a similar motivation that has pushed today’s banks into going online: ability to reach a wider segment of customers, lower costs and the potential to automate much of the blockages slowing down your typical banking operation. Depending on which part of the world you’re from it comes in many names; neo-banks,…

Singapore Life seems to be a on a streak, as they raise yet another round funding this year. In this round, the homegrown insurtech company secure US$ 90 Million investment from Sumitomo Life Insurance company. Through this transaction Sumitomo Life acquires approximately 25% of the total issued and outstanding shares in Singapore Life, and is geared toward supporting the latter’s expansion plans in offering connected, insurance-led financial services for people in Singapore and beyond.   Singapore Life is an independent homegrown company fully licensed by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) as a life insurance company since 1970. The company aims…

Speaking at the 46th Annual Dinner of the Association of Banks, Senior Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam who is also the Chairman of the Monetary Authority of Singapore announced that they will be issuing up to 5 virtual banking licenses. This announcement comes a few days after Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has confirmed that MAS is actively studying whether or not to issue virtual banking licenses. According to The Straits Times, Senior Minister Tharman said that the new digital bank licences mark the next chapter in Singapore’s banking liberalisation journey and ensure that Singapore’s banking sector continues to be resilient, competitive…