Financial companies in Asia are looking to catch up with the west in using financial technology, but while adoption of fintech is expected to increase, the distrust for online banking systems and the lack of regulatory support may slow down the process. As fintech becomes increasingly ubiquitous in western markets, many financial institutions in Asia are beginning to look into the sector. Ernst & Young has even established a fintech adoption index, which revealed in January a higher adoption rate of fintech by digitally active people in Hong Kong and Singapore than those in the U.S. and U.K. In Thailand,…

DBS Bank, which is at the forefront of re-imagining banking, is leading the charge in transforming its workforce for the digital age. The bank is the first Singapore bank to adopt cloud-based productivity technology, Office 365, in the workplace, enabling its employees to change the way they work, as well as make a leap forward in terms of mobility, efficiency and productivity. DBS’ early adoption of cloud among financial sector players comes amid Singapore’s smart nation drive as well as a digital revolution that is redefining the banking industry. With the increasing threat posed by fintechs, the bank believes it…

While many around the world remain skeptical that cryptocurrency can really demonstrate significant staying power, Bitcoin has had a surprisingly resilient 2016. For reference, it was priced at about $430 on December 31, 2015, and is hovering around $625 as of the time of this writing (having reached a peak of $768 in mid-June). Even the recent news that the UK would be enacting the “Brexit” plan to leave the European Union, which sent global markets into a devastating free-fall, couldn’t phase the leading cryptocurrency. One analysis pointed out that at least Bitcoin is doing OK, and that it has…

Set across 8,600 square feet on the 8th floor of High Street Centre on North Bridge Road, Collision 8 is both a community and a co-working space designed to foster innovation and build collaboration opportunities between its members. Fourth generation leader of construction conglomerate Woh Hup, Michelle Yong leads Aurum Land, the property development arm of Woh Hup, of which Collision 8 is a subsidiary. She has joined forces with John Tan, serial entrepreneur and partner at two micro VC funds, to help build the innovation ecosystem in Asia Pacific. Yong says, “The idea behind Collision 8 was to bring…

Since day one, Braintree has been focused on delivering the best and most robust commerce experiences for our merchants. A very important component of this focus is offering merchants the ability to accept any form of payment they want, wherever their customers are. Today Braintree announced that Android Pay and Apple Pay™ are scheduled to be available in the coming months for merchants in Singapore, through Braintree’s mobile SDK. With just a few lines of code, merchants in Singapore will now be able to add Android Pay and Apple Pay to their checkout flow quickly and easily. These new additions will enable…

Despite its meteoric share price rise in recent years, Apple was the worst performing stock in the Dow Jones Industrial Average over the past twelve months. What’s more, emerging threats and so-called ‘unsustainable growth’ coupled with a decline in iPhone sales and its first revenue drop in 13 years could potentially derail its market dominance. However, this may only be a short-term blip for the world’s biggest tech player, as leading financial firm IG believes Apple must look at the wider picture, which includes an expanding services division. Apple’s reliance on a product ecosystem Even though Apple has managed to…

You have the power of a financial institution in the palm of your hand with your smartphone. Digitalization is transforming financial services in a permanent way so when can you, the customer, start seeing the benefits and what will be your first thoughts? By José Díaz We can now send money with 3 clicks, we can set up a standing order, check our balances, etc. all done on a smartphone while being in the comfort of your sofa or in the back of a taxi. But what is one critical product feature that remains painful? The on-boarding process. All after which,…

Asia is rapidly evolving its Financial Services industry to reflect the local customer behaviors and operating infrastructures. Given the growth of new technologies and communications, mobile being the most powerful, there is an imperative need to implement world-class customer service that can rapidly accommodate the demands of the new generations of customers. Author: José Díaz In Singapore, startups are driving the national vision of using technology to improve the quality of life of the people in the country [1]. In addition to the Smart Nation vision, Singapore is also pursuing customer service excellence for the last few years, and not with…

Zurich Insurance recently launched DigitalResolve, a coordinated incident response service to help businesses in Asia Pacific (APAC) mitigate and recover from cyberattacks. As the World Economic Forum’s latest Global Risks Report recognises cyber dependency among the top three trends that will shape global development during the next ten years, Zurich is at the forefront of offering a co-ordinated post-cyberattack service in APAC1, servicing Zurich Security and Privacy customers. Offered through our partner Crawford & Company, DigitalResolve helps organisations to co-ordinate and manage resources so they can recover from damaging cyberattacks with minimum disruption. The new service launches at a time when…

Markus Gnirck – Co-founder @ tryb & former COO of Startupbootcamp FinTech- once again summarized the recent updates , opportunities and challenges for the Fintech Community in Asia after visiting multiple Fintech hubs. Over a year ago I wrote the first summary of the FinTech developments in Asia after I travelled to 10 countries to run Startupbootcamp FinTech Pitch Days – most of the time it was the first time ever a FinTech event has happened in each location. This year around, and as part of my recently set up firm tryb, it was good to visit multiple FinTech hubs again, deepen relationships, make new…

Access to invoice financing, an emerging asset class, where accredited investors buy yet-to-be-paid invoices and earn an attractive return when invoices are paid Backed by Centurion Portfolio Managers, London based FCA regulated investment advisors, with many years’ experience in Alternative investments Innovates how Singapore SME businesses manage their cash flow to generate faster growth Capital Springboard (S) Pte Ltd launched today a peer-to-peer financing platform for savvy accredited investors seeking high returns on short-term invoices. Investors benefit from annualised returns of 11-25% depending on the grade of risk of the invoice, during a 90 day investment window. The higher the…

KPMG in Singapore has launched “Digital Village,” an online platform aimed at stimulating collaboration between corporates and the startup community. Aimed at “matching, fostering and forging” innovation ventures between both worlds, KPMG Digital Village functions as a digital ecosystem that leverages KPMG’s global innovation network of corporates, startups and investors. The firm said that the digital platform will focus on “bridging the gap between ideation and the commercialization of innovation.” According to Lyon Poh, the head of digital and innovation at KPMG in Singapore, commercial innovation activity often lacks appropriate management support to obtain tangible outcomes. “Whether it is a…

FinTech is undeniably one of the most promising industries in recent time. Find out the most discussed topics and what you should not miss. The Blockchain Technology It is only a matter of time before the broader financial services and banking industries shift to blockchain and network-based approaches. Blockchain, as a pure platform technology, will maybe able to cut out the middlemen (or middle companies) everywhere. Because of that, many fintech entrepreneurs and experts constantly discuss topics such as: What does Blockchain matter? What are the various Blockchain concepts – sidechains, hyperledger, public or private blockchain? Who are the major…

Automated advisory platforms, also known as robo-advisors, have already caused a stir in the US and the UK, and are now winning market share in Asia. These digital platforms offer online, customized investment advice and portfolio constitution, most of the time through ETFs or mutual funds, and are starting to appear in Asia as the region is expected to drive most the private wealth’s growth for the next decade and beyond. The Boston Consulting Group predicts that Asia-Pacific (excluding Japan) will surpass Western Europe (a projected US$49 trillion) – which currently stands as the second-wealthiest region after North America -…

Often perceived as the latest phase in the ongoing digital revolution, fintech has attracted much interest from governments from around the world as none wants to pass on the multi-trillion-dollar opportunity. South Korea is no exception. Last year, the country’s financial regulator unveiled new rulings to push digital banking. The detailed plan, announced in June 2015 by the Financial Services Commission (FSC), aims at allowing private companies to launch online-only banks domestically and provide them with the ability to hold up to a 50% stake. The announcement was made a few months after the FSC established Fintech Center of Korea.…

Two Singapore startups aim to improve the accessibility and security of international payments Wells Fargo  announced today that it has selected two early stage payments companies — Alpha Payments Cloud and Jewel Paymentech — for investments of up to $500,000 for the spring 2016 class of the Wells Fargo Startup Accelerator, a non-exclusive, six-month, semiannual program where Wells Fargo mentors and helps startups refine their potential breakthrough technologies for financial services and other applications. Wells Fargo business and technology leaders will work closely with the incoming accelerator participants to test their concepts for merchants and guide them through the process…

One of the biggest expenses for migrant workers is the cost of sending money to their family abroad. Migrant workers are often taken advantage of by banks and other financial institutions where they are charged high fees and offered limited resources. Neema, in collaboration with MasterCard, is launching the first debit card that dramatically reduces the cost migrant workers pay to send money home since there are no transfer or foreign currency exchange rate fees. With the help of Neema’s mobile app, the migrant worker can monitor the use of the two MasterCards they will receive. Through this model, one card…

Next week, BlockFin Asia in collaboration with Viet Youth Entrepreneurs, will bring together regulators, bankers, investors and fintech experts to discuss the future of finance. The event, which will occur in Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) on June 15 and 16, 2016, is one of the very first conferences in Vietnam dedicated to exploring the opportunities and challenges of financial technology. Fintech is still in its early days in Vietnam, and while a great number of innovative payments services have emerged in recent years, just a few of them have managed to gain international recognition. Notably, MoMo, a service of…

Indonesia’s Financial Services Authority (OJK) is preparing new rulings for Indonesian fintech companies which the authority plans to finalize by the end of the year. Chairman of Board of Commissioners of the OJF, Muliaman Hadad, said in April that the regulator will consult foreign authorities in the region to understand the ecosystem. “We will start consulting our peers in China, Australia, Singapore, and Malaysia. I want to see their responses and suggestions first. However, we will try our best to finalize it this year,” Hadad said, quoted by DealStreetAsia. As a country with high Internet penetration, high middle-class growth, and…

BitTitan, the leader in cloud services enablement, today announced it closed a $15 million round of Series A financing led by TVC Capital, a San Diego-based growth equity firm focused on investments in enterprise software companies. The round also included participation from Tao Capital Partners, a San Francisco-based family office. The funding marks the first time BitTitan has raised any capital since its founding in 2007. BitTitan will use the financing to further establish its position as a leading cloud services enablement provider, to augment its MSPComplete platform with more managed services automation capabilities, and to aggressively expand into new geographic…