Co-organised by MIT Technology Review and Koelnmesse Pte Ltd, the sixth edition of EmTech Asia 2019 was held on 22 and 23 January 2019 at the Marina Bay Sands Expo and Convention Centre. The two-day conference was attended by over 700 industry professionals from 30 countries. The event showcased a curated list of 50 of the world’s most influential leaders and innovators who discussed how emerging technologies will influence industries related to artificial intelligence, robotics, sustainability, blockchain, bioengineering, social media, education, virtual reality, and 3D printing. Professor Roland Chin, President and Vice Chancellor, Hong Kong Baptist University, presented a different…
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Ripple announced the latest group of partners to join its University Blockchain Research Initiative (UBRI), an initiative to accelerate academic research, technical development and innovation in related fields—blockchain, cryptocurrency and digital payments. UBRI aims to foster an increase in blockchain-based academic activity by leading faculty, post-doctoral and graduate students via partnership with now, 29 universities. In Ripple’s bid to partner with a broader selection of international universities, one of the newly announced 11 institutions includes the National University of Singapore (NUS). NUS now stands to receive academic support from Ripple, alongside contemporaries like Cornell University, Duke University, Institute for Fintech Research, Tsinghua…
In mid 2016, after sifting through copious amounts of reports, studies and our own internal evaluations we’ve come up with a definitive list of the 30 hottest fintech startups in Singapore. (an updated list for 2019 is also available here) 2.5 years laters, We thought it’d be an interesting experiment to see what has happened to them and how accurate our picks were. Here’s what they’ve been up to: Fastacash Fastacash, a social payment platform that allows users to transfer value along with digital content through social networks and messaging platforms, has disappeared from the web. The last update we got…
TransferWise is a London-headquartered international money transfer company, and it has built quite a name for itself in Singapore’s island nation in parts thanks to the efforts of its head of Asia-Pacific expansion, Lukas May. Lukas May has since resigned from his position as TransferWise’s Head of Banking to return to London for a stint working on the UK-Asia trade negotiations with the UK government, according to The Business Times. At the time of writing, TransferWise has yet to announce a replacement. Lukas May’s Time in TransferWise He led TransferWise’s expansion efforts into new markets, establishing relationships with banks and…
UOB and Grab have announced that Grab will begin offering a suite of UOB Cards solutions and privileges directly on Grab’s mobile app. This follows their earlier partnership announcement during the Singapore Fintech Festival last year For a start, consumers can now apply for UOB One Card directly from the Grab app or by scanning QR codes found in Grab cars in Singapore. UOB cardmembers will also enjoy a suite of privileges when they use Grab services. These privileges include cashback of up to 10 per cent on all Grab rides when they pay with the UOB One Card, a…
In the journey to digitalizing trade, blockchain and distributed ledger technology (DLT) have emerged as powerful technologies promising to bring tremendous new opportunities for trade finance. At the 2018 Singapore Fintech Festival, experts discussed the many opportunities that blockchain brings to the table, with Jim Sullivan, deputy assistant secretary for services at the US Department of Commerce of International Trade Administration, citing two core areas for blockchain: trade finance and supply chain. Sullivan spoke about an advisory committee for the US Secretary of Commerce that is working to evaluate different standards across the world and the feasibility of leveraging blockchain…
LINE Pay Corporation, operator of the popular smartphone digital wallet service LINE Pay, announced today plans to introduce in Japan the LINE Pay co-brand credit card in partnership with Visa, the global leader in payment solutions. The LINE Pay-Visa credit card is slated to be released later this year, significantly expanding payment options for LINE Pay users in Japan and accelerating the country’s shift to becoming a cashless society. LINE Pay-Visa co-brand credit card users will be able to make payments at Visa accepting merchants throughout Japan and globally. Once a LINE Pay-Visa card has been registered to a LINE…
Revolut, a digital-only bank from the UK, announced that it has signed an agreement with ClauseMatch. Following a trial period, Revolut is adopting the regulatory technology also from London to streamline management of internal policies, controls and regulatory compliance—including the startup’s upcoming launch in Singapore. The neo-bank anticipates a Singaporean launch within Q1 of 2019, along with other Asia-Pacific regions with nearly 100,000 customers on the waiting list hailing from these regions. Revolut is currently working in multiple jurisdictions with different rules applied to financial services companies. And across these jurisdictions it faces different financial regulations, creating challenges for a company looking…
OCBC Bank has officially launched a new business dedicated to supporting serial entrepreneurs as they establish and grow new businesses. The bank claims that this is the first offering of its kind for small businesses in Singapore. According to OCBC Bank, the potential base of the serial entrepreneur segment is sizeable, with 1 in 3 new businesses incorporated in Singapore from 2015 to 2017 belonging to an entrepreneur running at least one business. The official launch of the Serial Entrepreneur business follows the bank’s 12-month pilot programme which started in October 2017. During the pilot, over S$100 million in business loans had…
With a LinkedIn post, Neal Cross announces that he has ended his tenure as DBS Bank’s Chief Innovation Officer. He is considered thought leader in the innovation space, and is famous for evangelising fintech in Singapore before it congealed into a strong sector in its own right. Following his departure from DBS, Neal will put in more focus on his Orangutan conservation efforts, and will spend more time driving social enterprises in Indonesia. He will even launch a book on building Hotel Orangutan, detailing the philosophies learned during the process. On the fintech front, Neal will also focus more attention on co-founding a…
Hg Exchange announced today that it seeks to launch Southeast Asia’s first member-driven exchange to support the issuance and trading of private company shares, including security tokens. The exchange represents a collaborative industry effort between established capital markets intermediaries and emerging innovators from the fintech sector. It has signed a memorandum of intent with Phillip Securities, PrimePartners, RHT Capital and Fundnel, which will become the first four members of the exchange. Hg Exchange has submitted a Fintech Regulatory Sandbox application to the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS). According to the press release this provides investors access to invest into high-growth…
Is India emerging as a blockchain trendsetter? The sector has been moving in fits and starts in what’s becoming the world’s sixth-largest economy. Despite a bearish outlook on cryptocurrencies from regulators, progressive Indian states and companies are charging ahead in exploring the applications of blockchain technology. The intensity of blockchain disruption in India and the potential future that it holds, has the ability to skyrocket at the same time allowing other innovators to tap into the country. The government is already deep-diving into blockchain for land registry, judicial records, e-stamping, transportation, DBT ( Direct Benefit Transfer) and much more. For example, India’s Union Cabinet led…
NETS today announced the launch of same-day settlement for hawkers every day – which they claim to be the fastest in the industry. Despite the Singapore’s fervent push for a cashless society, there are still resistance from some segments of the society. Hawkers being among one of them have often cited to have multiple barriers to accepting cashless transactions, one such challenge is the speed of settlement — which NETS is attempting to address. As a very central part of Singaporeans’ food staple, having hawkers adopt cashless payments would go a long one in realising Singapore’s cashless ambitions. The initiative will…
Grab announced that it’s partnering up with ZhongAn, one of the biggest insurtech drivers in China, to establish a joint venture company for the digital insurance distribution business in Southeast Asia. The goal is to deliver a digital insurance marketplace for products in a range of categories with lower premiums, directly on the Grab app. The joint venture will collaborate with global insurance partners to develop products tailored for the Southeast Asian lifestyle. As part of the agreement, ZA International, the entity for overseas business development under ZhongAn, will bring technical assets to build the platform and insight into internet ecosystems to the…
Singapore’s DBS Bank and OCBC are regional leaders in fintech and pioneers in open banking according reports from Accenture and Innopay Open Banking Monitor. The positioning of these banks gives us a good sense of where Singapore stands in the global arena of Open Banking DBS Bank was the first bank in Singapore to dive into open banking, launching in mid 2015 the Innovation Plan with 1,000+ experiments in API, cloud computing, microservice, architecture and machine learning. Today, the bank has a platform of over 155 APIs across 20+ categories which it developed late 2017 through its API developer hub, DBS Developers.…
Insurtech firm Singapore Life has received a US$ 13 Million investment from Aberdeen Standard Investment. This makes it the second round of capital injection Singapore Life has received this month alone. Singapore Life has previously received a total sum of $US 26 Million from NYSE listed AFLAC, an American based insurance company. Upon completion of this round Singapore Life will have a total of US$ 83 Million raised, according to data from Crunchbase. Commenting on the investment, Aberdeen Standard Investments Co-CEO, Martin Gilbert noted that the industry is undergoing digital transformation, he added that technological innovation will be a key…
The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) will launch a new S$75 million Grant for Equity Market Singapore (GEMS) next month Mr Heng Swee Keat, Minister for Finance and MAS Board Member, highlighted Singapore’s vision to serve as Asia’s centre for capital raising and enterprise financing during the annoucement. GEMS will be a three-year initiative to help enterprises seeking to raise capital through Singapore’s equity market. GEMS will have three components: a. Listing Grant: to facilitate enterprises seeking a listing on Singapore Exchange (SGX) by defraying part of their Initial Public Offering (IPO) costs; b. Research Talent Development Grant: to strengthen Singapore’s research coverage…
 The Payment Services Bill which has recently been passed into law by the Parliament is part of the Monetary Authority of Singapore’s bid to create a regulatory framework that is more conducive for innovation in payment services. This follows their earlier public consultation which received quite a number of response, to which the regulator said they have considered the feedback carefully, and will incorporate it where they agree. Singapore’s Payment Services Bill will consolidate existing regulations The Bill proposes to consolidate and replace The Money-Changing and Remittance Business Act (Cap. 187) and the Payments Systems (Oversight) Act (Cap.222A). The proposed…
Asia Pacific regions are somewhat disjointed when it comes to banking and fintech-related regulations, with countries like China moving towards more region-specific and refined rules, while countries like Thailand and Indonesia are still trying to introduce basic, yet important regulations to help the financial tech segment grow while keeping customer and industry’s best interests at heart. Many of the standards listed below only apply to one region or another, but showcases that these regions all look to each other, and are seemingly moving towards a similar standard to answer current demands on financial services. The following is a list of initiatives, regulations and…
2018 was an exciting year for fintech around the world with many developments across Europe, Asia and the Middle East. Worldwide, fintech companies raised a whopping US$57.9 billion through 875 deals in the first six months of 2018 alone, already surpassing 2017’s results. From Switzerland to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Singapore, the following 12 infographics showcase the state of fintech around the world. The Evolution of Fintech Usually, when we talk about fintech, the first things that come to mind are the cutting edge technologies poised to transform the financial landscape such artificial intelligence (AI) and blockchain. But…