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…
Author: Fintech News Singapore
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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…
A new stablecoin project called Singapore Dollar Rate (SGDR) has launched in Singapore. Created by the team behind blockchain startup Rate, SGDR is said to be the first Singapore dollar-backed stablecoin, “guaranteeing users full redeemability for Singapore dollars on demand,” according to a company’s FAQ. Rate raised US$15 million in an initial coin offering (ICO) in 2018 that saw participation from Matrix Partners China, Node Capital, and FBG Capital, as well as Fenbushi Capital founder Bo Shen. The newly launched SGDR is targeted at investors for trading and hedging purposes for their digital asset portfolio. Further down the road, the…
The World Payments Report by BNP Paribas and Capgemini highlights some interesting trends when it comes to key regulatory initiatives. Despite general global interest in embracing open banking, we still have a fragmented ecosystem of regulations and frameworks. This is in part because of how they form as it’s the norm for regulatory frameworks to gradually spread from regional up to global levels. Logistically, all of this makes sense. However, the report recommends that someone must develop standards and interoperability measures to harmonise the fragmented global scene. We can’t say there aren’t any trying right now, but getting a series of different companies and…
Though Singapore and London have all the key elements to enable the emergence of thriving fintech ecosystems, challenges remain for the two locations which shouldn’t be undermined, including the need to collaborate. In a new international research report titled Fintech innovations: perspectives from Singapore and London, ICAEW and the Institute of Singapore Chartered Accountants (ISCA) explore the strengths and challenges for Singapore and London as fintech hubs and identify the key elements that underpin successful fintech hubs. Five key features According to the research paper, the development of fintech is generally concentrated in hubs where five key elements co-exist and…
Like its ASEAN counterparts, Thailand is pushing for greater of adoption of mobile payments with industry participants, including government agencies, financial institutions and fintech companies, all actively working towards increasing awareness and accelerating adoption. Payments is the largest fintech segment in Thailand, representing 30% of the country’s total 100+ fintech companies, according to EY’s ASEAN Fintech Census 2018 report, and over the past five years the payments landscape has significantly changed, presenting consumers with an increasing number of alternative ways to pay for goods and services. Mobile wallet providers expand services in Thailand One notable trend is the evolution of…
In the recently released Fintech Ecosystem Playbook, EY gives a panoramic view of the fintech ecosystem in 26 fintech hubs in emerging markets across six clusters, namely ASEAN, Latin America, Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe and Central Asia (CESA), the Middle East, Africa, and Asia-Pacific. The report sheds light on the trends and key developments at regional and country levels across these emerging markets. The followings are 10 key takeaways from the research paper: Hub subsector specialization Though, globally, successful fintech hubs tend to have diversity in the ecosystem, some fintech hubs have identified subsectors where they have certain advantages.…
Facebook is reportedly working on a cryptocurrency for global payments on its WhatsApp messaging app. The project will first focus on the Indian remittances market, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg. Facebook is developing a stablecoin, a cryptocurrency pegged to a fiat currency, though the firm is still far from releasing it as it’s still working on the strategy, including plan for custody assets, or regular currencies that would be held to protect the value of the cryptocurrency, the people told the news outlet. Rise of the stablecoins Stablecoins have become all the rage in the blockchain space with…
Singapore Life received a US$20 million (SG$27.26 million) from New York Stock Exchange listed company Aflac. Aflac’s operating subsidiary—American Family Life Assurance Company of Columbus, will also enter into a reinsurance agreement on certain protection products with Singapore Life. The deal is the second equity announcement in a series of capital raising activities to fund Singapore Life’s growth into Southeast Asia. This series of transactions, once complete, will raise Singapore Life’s total capital raised to USD 70 million. Walter de Oude, founder and chief executive of Singapore Life said: “It is part of our strategy to include a number of…
Razer, a lifestyle brand for gamers with a recent foray into fintech, announced its plan for a long-term lease of a new location for its Southeast Asia headquarters based in the technology and media hub of Singapore. The company anticipates moving into the new facility in 2020. Razer has been on a strong growth trajectory and delivered a stellar year-on-year growth of 39% in revenues and 46% in gross profit in the first half of 2018. Leading its charge into fintech is its mobile wallet Razer Pay which was launched in Malaysia in July 2018 and slated to launch in…
Big business is getting smaller. It is all over the financial columns of the world at present. Businesses that rely on big stores with the associated expenses of large premises are suffering. Rents and rates are going up and customer footfall is dwindling. Customers are thinking: why go out to shop when you can stay at home and do it all online? Therefore, canny businesses are realising that all they really need is an Internet store which comes with two major benefits: Lower Overheads Having a predominantly online retail presence immediately saves on ground rental, rates, utilities such as gas, electricity…
Fintech has witnessed significant growth in Thailand supported by an active ecosystem of startups, financial institutions and government agencies all pushing for digitalization and innovation in the banking and financial services industry. In particular, it is the Bank of Thailand, the country’s central bank, that has taken a leading role in creating a favorable environment, undertaking several initiatives such as the 2018 Bangkok Fintech Fair in March, introducing a National e-Payment Master Plan to turn Thailand into a cashless economy, and launching a fintech regulatory sandbox in June 2017. To keep up with Thailand’s rapidly evolving fintech industry and changing financial landscape, the following 10 individuals…
Singtel’s Dash users can now make payments using Apple Pay at millions of participating online and offline merchants. This integration is made available thanks to a deepened relationship between Singtel and Wirecard a digital payments company. The inclusion of Dash into Apple Pay complements the increasing popularity of online shopping in Singapore. Wirecard’s 2018 International Holiday Shopping Report found that 67% of Singaporeans surveyed prefer shopping online, either via desktop or mobile, while 20% prefer shopping in-store. The ability to use mobile payments in-store is also a welcome innovation with 51% of respondents saying it would improve their shopping experience.…