Author: Fintech News Singapore

Note: We’ve update this report, the 2020 edition of the Fintech Report can be found here With a population of over 100 million, just 31% of adults having a bank account, and a mobile penetration of 58%, the Philippines is a fertile ground for fintech innovation. Currently, only 4% of all transactions are made online in the Philippines, leaving considerable growth opportunities, according to our latest Philippines Fintech Startup Report. The Philippines fintech startup map Fintech is growing steadily in the Philippines with payments currently standing as the most crowded segment, representing 33% of all fintech companies in…

Personal finance comparison website GoBear and alternative credit scoring provider CredoLab announced that they’re teaming up to launch Easy Apply, a smartphone app that enables banks, financial institutions and lenders to extend credit to a larger pool of customers while keeping risks in check. The partnership is partly aimed at making financial services accessible to the 49.5 million unbanked people in Vietnam, though the platform will also be launched in Indonesia, Philippines and Thailand. The target market for this platform are, according to a press release, between 65% to 75% of the Southeast Asian population that lack access to credit,…

Fintech is booming all round the world, including Southeast Asia, where a growing number of fintech-related businesses are emerging to fill the gap left by traditional financial institutions. With the Internet and smartphones spreading rapidly across the region, these new businesses are utilizing technology to find solutions to the region’s financial problems and serve the large populations of financially excluded individuals and businesses. Several of these fintech ventures are quickly emerging as global leaders, propelling their founders into the rank of international superstars. The followings are some of Southeast Asia’s most inspiring fintech founders: Louis Liu, 26, Singapore…

BlockShow Asia is returning this year for a week-long event part of the Asia Blockchain Week centered around blockchain and cryptocurrency. The event, taking place between November 27 and December 1, 2018, promises to gather some of the industry’s most influential entrepreneurs, thought-leaders and visionaries in the blockchain space, and will provide participants with the opportunity to network, showcase new products and share some of the industry’s latest trends. Last year’s event attracted more than 1,500 attendees, 66 sponsors and 67 international speakers of high calibre, such as Patrick Dai from Qtum, Brock Pierce from EOS, David Orban, Simon Dixon…

In DBS Bank’s quest to keep up with the ever-evolving fintech trends and stay ahead of its banking contemporaries, they have launched a programme that would play matchmaker between them or their corporate clients’ fintech problems with the right startups that can solve it. The Startup Xchange programme has been launched to the Singapore and Hong Kong markets—without coincidence, some of the biggest fintech hubs in the ASEAN region. The programme is focused on four areas of technology that will help businesses stay relevant in the long run: artificial intelligence (AI), data science, immersive media and the Internet of Things (IoT).…

Following the UK banks’ ambitious move towards open banking, fintech hubs across the globe have been following suit, leading to a banking revolution that could fast-track the development of fintech—particularly fintech based on personal wealth and spending habits. With Singapore’s authorities taking keen note of this trend, it is no wonder that Finastra named Singapore as the nation that is most ready to embrace open banking in the Asia Pacific region. Singapore ranks at 8.1/10 on the open banking readiness index, running ahead its closest competitor, Australia, at a 7.1 score. Singapore’s banks have some work to do in data…

Last year, a consortium of 61 Japanese banks banded together to test domestic fund transfers using digital currencies in hopes of gaining a low-cost alternative to traditional money transfers. At the time, the consortium tossed around the idea of using Ripple to achieve their goals. One year later, and it is announced that Fujitsu has been selected as an application development vendor development vendor for a field trial exploring the potential use of the Japanese Bankers Association’s (JBA) Collaborative Blockchain Platform as a funds transfer settlement system based on blockchain technology. The trial will be conducted by the Japanese Banks’…

As of the first half of 2018, 86% of the leading initial coin offerings (ICOs) that listed on a cryptocurrency exchange in 2017 are below their initial listing price and a portfolio of these ICOs is down by 66% since the peak of the market at the beginning of this year. 86% of the tracked ICOs in this EY report were below listing price; 30% lost substantially all their value. Based on this study by EY, the reasons could be: 1. Slow Speed of Development for Most ICO PRojects EY found that only 29% (25) of the 2017 ICO projects…

7-Eleven outlets across Asia have begun offering banking services. In Thailand, a pilot program starting October 31 will enable 20 million customers of Government Savings Bank to deposit and withdraw funds at more than 10,000 convenient stores across the country. Customers will be able to use the bank’s mobile app to authorize transactions which could then be fulfilled at the counter, explained Chatchai Payuhanaveechai, the president and CEO of the bank. Deposits of up to 30,000 baht will be possible around the clock, while withdrawals of up to 5,000 baht per transaction or 20,000 baht per day will be limited…

Singapore’s annual Fintech Festival, one of the largest fintech events in the world, will take place in less than a month from now and promises, once again, to bring together some of the globe’s most influential fintech entrepreneurs, leaders and experts. This year the program also conists of  the Global Investor Summit targeted at investors and enterprises and MATCH (Meet ASEAN’s Talents and Champions), a platform that will curate and match promising next-generation ASEAN enterprises with global private equity and venture capital. Last year, the Singapore Fintech Festival brought together more than 30,000 participants. To save you time and energy,…

Crypto.com announced that it has begun shipping MCO Visa Cards to customers in Singapore. The MCO Visa Card enables users to spend their cryptocurrencies anywhere that Visa is accepted. Reportedly, it already has more than 190,000 app downloads and 93,000 card reservations across the globe. To use the cryptocurrency for day-to-day life, users are able to convert their cryptocurrency in real-time without currency exchange fees. The MCO Visa Card is a prepaid card without annual or monthly fees, airport lounge access for select cards, free ATM withdrawals, tap-and-pay functionality, and according to the company, competitive interbank rates. Customers reserved the…

There is still a lot of space in the logistics sector to use digitisation to achieve more transparency and, particularly, more efficiency. This is perhaps why the field of logistics has been of particular interest for companies across the globe, with a specified interest in streamlining distribution and supply chains. In this context, ABN AMRO, the Port of Rotterdam Authority and Samsung SDS, the logistics and IT arm of Samsung, have joined forces to launch a pilot based on blockchain technology. The ultimate goal is for a complete, paperless integration of physical, administrative and financial streams within international distribution chains. The…

Cambodia’s startup ecosystem is experiencing growth, with tech investment on the rise. By Q2 2018, Cambodia had seen at least 12 tech startup funding announcements, or exactly a 140% increase from at five in the previous year, according to a new report by Mekong Strategic Partners and Raintree Development. The report, launched during the inaugural Cambodia Tech Summit 2018 in Phnom Penh last week, details the country’s tech startup landscape by category with fintech leading as the most crowded sector with more than 50 active startups operating. These include Morakot, Banhji, Pi Pay, BongLoy and SmartLoy. Cambodia’s growing fintech industry…

The Kazakhstan government is looking to turn its capital of Astana into an attractive destination for fintech companies as part of a broader plan to reduce the country’s dependence on the export of natural resources. Kazakhstan, the world’s largest landlocked country and the ninth largest in the world, is a dominant nation of Central Asia economically, generating 60% of the region’s GDP, primarily through its oil and gas industry. But a recent push by the government is demonstrating the country’s commitment to building a modern economy and achieve economic standards similar to those of the 34-member nations of the Organization…

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) announced that 380 participating investors who enrolled for the Singapore FinTech Festival’s deal-making platform, MATCH. Investors have indicated intentions to invest up to a total of US$6.2 billion in ASEAN enterprises next year, and an additional US$6 billion earmarked over the subsequent two years. A new component in this year’s Festival, MATCH (Meet ASEAN’s Talents and Champions) is a platform that curates and matches promising next-generation ASEAN enterprises with global private equity and venture capital. More than 17,000 matches were generated between the 380 participating investors and 840 enterprises. MATCH, powered by Ernst &…

Governments and private sectors from around the globe have caught the the artificial intelligence and machine learning bug. Reflecting the same fervor for this, the Singaporean government particularly MAS has also announced its US$ 27 Million grant for artificial intelligence. Of course that is hardly the only initiative from the Lion City, SGInnovate has also been seen doubling down on artificial intelligence as well. However, despite concerted effort Singapore is reportedly falling behind in artificial intelligence adoption in most sectors expect in fintech where it is leading. Is this a reflection of MAS’ initiatives bearing fruit? Perhaps. This list of AI startups…

SWIFT recently shared the successful test results of its new instant cross-border payments proof of concept. This news follows on the heels of their previous announcement of launching a sandbox which allows fintech players to test on Australia’s New Payments Platform network. All the payments sent during the trial were processed end-to-end within 60 seconds. This test involves banks in China, Singapore, Thailand and of course, Australia. The debut of Australia’s domestic instant payment system, the New Payments Platform (NPP), enabled SWIFT and the group of banks, to study the feasibility of enabling the gpi service in NPP and review how…

UOB Bank today announced the launch of its pan-regional engagement lab (eLab), with a goal of helping the bank converse with its consumers in a more personalised manner. eLab is a dedicated unit set up by UOB that aims to use behavioural insights to deepen customer engagement. Beyond just its home turf Singapore, UOB will be setting up eLabs across its presences in other ASEAN countries—Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam. In a banking world that is increasingly more user-centric and focused on customer experience, UOB will be utilising artificial intelligence to understand individuals based on their unique transaction patterns. The eLab…

SWIFT in conjunction with Australia’s New Payments Platform (NPP) have launched a sandbox that allows independent fintechs to test the NPP network—an Australian, industry-wide infrastructure to enable almost real-time, 24/7 payments. The network is Australia’s bid to replace the clunky legacy infrastructure that permeated the nation’s finance scene. The NPP API sandbox, hosted in the cloud, will enable independent developers to start learning and testing the benefits and capabilities of the NPP via APIs. This development follows the introduction of a new NPP API Framework, which hopes to promote standardisation, interoperability and a consistent experience for open banking APIs. Jointly developed by NPP Australia…

Singapore-based AsiaCollect moves to expand its integrated credit management services into other Southeast Asian regions, and have gone the route of local acquisitions to make this happen more quickly. This move follows a US$4.5 million fundraising round led by global technology investment firm SIG Asia Investments. They have acquired India’s CreditSeva in a bid to expand their non-performing loan (NPL) portfolio management services to customers, regardless of whether they are banks or other lending entitites. These management services would be offered through a technology-driven, customer-oriented debt collections approach powered by artificial intelligence and psychometric analysis. Basically, they allow lenders to…