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…
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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…
Opening of IBM Studios Singapore IBM today announced the opening of IBM Studios Singapore, a new design center to help clients reinvent their business for the digital age and develop individualized experiences through a combination of cognitive capabilities and experience design. The announcement was made at the launch of IBM’s Watson Center at Marina Bay in Singapore, and was officiated by Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam. IBM Studios Singapore acts as a hub for IBM iX Located in the Marina Bay Financial Centre, IBM Studios Singapore will serve as the regional hub and will host more than 100 designers…
Close to 5,000 IBM Cognitive Solution Professionals across the region co-creating with clients to drive transformation New Watson Centre at Marina Bay to house IBM Garage Singapore and IBM Studios – Singapore In less than five years, disruptive technologies such as cognitive computing and blockchain are expected to drive dramatic shifts in every industry, from healthcare, to financial services, to tourism. To help clients of all sizes in the Asia Pacific region lead in shaping the future of their industries, IBM today announced plans to assist in the rapid prototyping and commercialization of solutions based on cognitive computing and blockchain. IBM…
Banks have ignored consumer demands for too long and their legacy infrastructure needs to be fixed thoroughly. The effect of disruption is very big across the banking sub-sectors, especially for retail banks. Retail banking segments such as lending, remittances and payments have undergone disruptions while the infrastructure supporting retail banking such as bank branches and ATMs are also undergoing a transformation, thanks to the millennials’ habit of using mobile devices. Non-digital banks also face the threat of of losing customer relationships. Ease of use, fast service and positive customer experience are the advantages that FinTech companies see the opportunities in consumer…
Aimed at simplifying personal budgeting, Seedly is an app that lets you track your money in a simply and convenient manner. Based in Singapore, Seedly provides a solution that works in three simple steps. First, you need link your bank or credit cards via a secure channel. The software then analyzes and aggregates your transactions historic. Finally, you can communicate with Seedly’s artificial intelligent chatbot to receive insights, patterns and recommendations. The app utilizes behavioral machine learning to learn about your spending habits and let you know about discrepancies. According to Kenneth Lou, co-founder and CEO of Seedly, the app…
EZ-Link Pte Ltd, Singapore’s largest issuer of CEPAS-compliant cards, welcomes the full launch of the new unified Point of Sale (POS) system in Premier Taxis that accepts ez-link and other contact and contactless modes of payment including MasterCard, American Express, Diners Club, JCB, Union Pay and NETS, and soon Visa cards. EZ-Link’s integrated POS system provides more payment choices Replacing the current payment system in over 2,000 taxis under Premier Taxis Pte Ltd, this latest integrated payment solution offers high level of transactional security combined with contactless, magnetic stripe and Chip & PIN, allowing taxi commuters to choose from a wider…
As a country where cash is still the king of currency, the current state of implementation of Blockchain technology solutions in Vietnam is still very new. A few Vietnam fintech startups have been working on providing basic infrastructure layers in order to enhance the local ecosystem around these technologies, yet there has not been attempts yet to implement any advanced use cases of Blockchain technology in order to improve the efficiency and unforgeability of data & documents in the local economy. On January 25th , Bitcoin Vietnam Co. Ltd. – Vietnam’s first bitcoin exchange – and Coinify ApS – the…
The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) today released a consultation paper on proposed guidelines for a “regulatory sandbox” that will enable financial institutions (FIs) as well as non-financial players to experiment with financial technology (FinTech) solutions. The FinTech landscape is fast evolving, with a proliferation of technological innovations and solutions. MAS encourages FIs to test and introduce these innovations if they are relevant, and do their own due diligence. However, there may be circumstances where it is less clear whether a particular FinTech solution complies with regulatory requirements or poses unacceptable risks. The uncertainty may stifle promising innovations, and may…
The Philippines has one of the highest population growth in Southeast Asia and remains a strong economic performer in the region, despite slow global growth. That shouldn’t last too long, though, as HSBC predicts that in 2050, the Philippines should rank as the 16th largest economy in the world, the 5th largest in Asia, and THE largest in Southeast Asia. The future seems bright given the country’s fast growing economy, and yet 69% of the Philippines’ adult population remains unbanked, according to the World Bank. Malik Khan Kotadia, Global Banking Group senior vice president, believes that fintech companies will play…
With a population of over 90 million people, mostly composed of Millennials who are increasingly plugged in, Vietnam’s Internet economy has got great potential, and yet, fintech still remains a relatively untapped opportunity. In an updated Fintech Vietnam Startup report, Fintech Meetup Vietnam explores the current state of fintech in Vietnam and highlights the key factors that are making Vietnam an attractive market for financial technologies. Vietnam’s fintech ecosystem Vietnam’s fintech industry is still in its infancy with a little more than 30 players who are mostly tackling the payments market. Two thirds of Vietnam’s fintech startups are providing consumers…
Bambu launches market leading B2B Robo Advisor. Revenue positive within two months from incorporation; secures market leading partners. Asia’s premier B2B Robo Advisor Bambu gains 1st revenue contract Bambu announced that it has secured it’s first revenue contract within two months from it’s initial launch. While Robo Advisory, the name given to managing investors’ money in a digital environment, is still in it’s infancy in Asia, Bambu has created a product and team that brings world leading solutions to this region. Bambu has built a savings and investing mobile application that will enable companies around the region to offer their client’s the best of breed solutions. Bambu…
Southeast Asia (SEA) is the world’s fastest growing Internet region and is expected to grow to more than US$200 billion by 2025, a trend mostly driven by the growth of first-hand e-commerce market, online media and online travel, according to a new research report by Temasek and Google. The report, entitled ‘E-Conomy SEA: Unlocking the $200 billion digital opportunity in Southeast Asia,’ suggests that the total first-hand e-commerce market in SEA is expected to reach ~US$88 billion by 2025, significantly outpacing the growth of offline retail. The number of transactions should be the biggest growth driver as more people will…
In an exclusive Interview with the CEO of Vietnams first Digital Bank Timo, Claude Spiese is telling Fintechnews about their business model, the scalability and about some future plans. He explains why his mobile only bank is targeting 50 Millions Vietnamese and claims to be sexy and secure. Moreover this Vietnamese “Bank” is even more functional than US Bank Simple.
Leonteq the FinTech provider for investment and pension solutions, announces the launch of its Teqlabs innovation lab facility in Singapore’s Central Business District at Asia Square. The innovation lab will foster its FinTech research and development for the benefit of the financial services sector. The Singapore-based Teqlabs was opened in partnership with Singapore’s Economic Development Board . Teqlabs gathers the best to foster more FinTech innovation The new partnership intends to foster and grow the best minds from Singapore’s FinTech university ecosystem with the support of EDB. It enables Leonteq to add graduates of Singapore’s leading universities such as the National University of Singapore (NUS)…
Vietnam’s first digital bank Timo – which stands for “time is money” – has on-boarded 4,000 customers since launching earlier this year, highlighting the appetite of Vietnam’s millennial generation for all things mobile. Their story reminds of successful US digital only banks such as Moven and Simple- but is even more. Timo has neither branch nor offices. Instead, its only physical presence is a cafe in downtown Ho Chi Minh City. Dubbed the Timo Hangout, the place is where newcomers are introduced to the digital bank’s products and services, and where the company conducts all required KYC checks and formalities for on-boarding new…
The mobile payments industry is expected to become a US$142 billion market by 2019, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers, a trend that has led to the emergence of a great number of mobile payments systems. Apple Pay, which launched in the US over a year ago, is attracting one million new users per week, reports the Conversation. The service allows users to register credit cards on mobile devices and pay for goods and services by swiping the devices over contactless payment terminals. The service has been gaining great traction and according to Apple CEO Tim Cook, transaction volumes on Apple Pay are…
After a significant pullback in funding in Q4’15, mega-rounds lifted quarterly investment into VC-backed FinTech companies by over 150 percent, according to the Pulse of FinTech, the quarterly global report on FinTech VC trends published jointly by KPMG International and CB Insights. According to the new report, global investment in private FinTech companies totalled US$5.7 billion in Q1’16, with US$4.9 billion specifically invested in VC-backed FinTech companies across 218 deals, a 96 percent jump compared to the same quarter last year. The rise in funding was tempered by the fact that three mega-rounds accounted for 54 percent of VC FinTech…
Design thinking is a methodology used during the process of designing and a problem-solving protocol which consists in, first, defining the problem, and then, implementing the solutions, always with the needs of the user demographic at the core of concept development. User centric: design to solve an issue Design thinking is essentially about understanding the challenges that face customers and working with, observing and iterating with them to find a solution. It is also about taking a ‘human experience first’ approach to problem solving, and a customer-centered approach to end-to-end process fulfillment. In a new report released last week, Lightbulb…
Totaling 80 million individuals who are commanding US$1.3 trillion in direct annual spending in the US alone, Millennials are the largest generation in world history. The demographic represents a diverse financial services segment completely different from their predecessors and an “immense opportunity for banks,” according to a new report by Oracle Financial Services and Wharton Fintech. The document, entitled ‘The Millennial Migration: How Banks Can Remain Relevant In Their Decision-Making Eco-System,’ shares findings of a survey on over 4,500 respondents across nine markets and dives into the emergence of what it calls a “new model for lifestyle banking.” Findings suggest…