Author: Fintech News Singapore

Institutional Investor revealed a list of 2016 Fintech Finance 35, crowning leading financial experts and facilitators in the booming fintech industry. They are strategic advisers, collaborators, also funders and mostly being active as managing partners. Jonathan Korngold Managing Director, Global Head of Financial Services at General Atlantic Jonathan Korngold is head of General Atlantic’s Global Financial Services sector and is a member of the firm’s Executive and Investment Committees. He is based in New York, has worked in GA’s London office, and previously led the firm’s Global Healthcare sector. In his various capacities, he has worked closely with many of the…

The FinTech Asia 100 list of this year’s top 100 fintech movers and shakers were revealed in front of a live audience last night at the Aura Sky Lounge, at the National Gallery. It was also the opening networking event of the Singapore FinTech Festival. The FinTech Asia 100 is compiled by Next Money, in partnership with EY and supported by Visa. This 2016 list includes some familiar names of the regional fintech scene, and additional new players, such as Jun-Seong Han, CFIO (Chief Future Innovation Officer) Hana Financial Group (Korea) and Cindy Chow, Executive Director Alibaba Entrepreneurs Fund (China),…

With this year’s release of Pokémon Go, awareness of augmented reality (AR) applications soared among organizations and consumers. Despite its popularity and potential business benefits, AR adoption rates are slow among enterprises, according to a new study from global business technology and cybersecurity association ISACA. The study coincides with ISACA’s first CSX 2016 Asia Pacific conference, which opens today in Singapore. Many organizations quickly leveraged the popularity of Pokémon Go as an opportunity to attract customers. However, ISACA’s 2016 IT Risk-Reward Barometer indicates that organizations are still hesitant to use AR for business purposes, and consumers also have concerns about the possible risks of Internet of Things (IoT) devices enhanced…

SINGAPORE, 14 November 2016 – Allianz today announces the launch of its Digital Arena innovation platform, a programme that encourages start-ups and entrepreneurs to share and pitch fresh ideas that will reinvent the way insurance is delivered and experienced in Asia. With the aim of bringing together Allianz commercial teams with high-potential entrepreneurs and start-ups from the digital community, the Digital Arena platform will support Allianz in identifying new ways to meet customer needs along the insurance value chain. The platform aims to pioneer next-generation innovation and solutions in connected health, mobility, insurtech, analytics and cyber security. Robin Loh, Chief Digital Officer, Allianz Asia Pacific said, “Customer…

Requirements that banks and financial institutions comply with Know Your Customer (KYC) requirements is a global challenge. Blockchain holds potential to help address this need to prove the identity of a person or organization, source of funds, business interests, history and also monitor for changes. During the Singapore FinTech Festival, IBM announced a blockchain project with Singapore fintech startup KYCK! to help enable financial services providers to more rapidly on-board their customers in a secure environment. This and other KYC projects like it using IBM Blockchain can hold the promise to help reduce the time and expense required to…

Jack Ma, the founder and executive chairman of Alibaba Group, has been appointed as Malaysia’s digital economy advisor as the government looks to boost the country’s e-commerce and Internet sector, and create new opportunities for Malaysia. Prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak announced the appointment of Ma on November 04 during a week long visit to China for the launch of the Alitrip Malaysia Tourism Pavilion, an e-commerce platform that seeks to attract Chinese travelers to browse Malaysia’s tourism products. “We will be in partnership with Jack on the path and route to the future,” Najib said, as quoted…

OCBC Bank has become the first bank in Southeast Asia to use blockchain technology in its local and cross-border payment funds transfer services. The use of a payment blockchain solution will see increased efficiency, transparency and security as well as lower costs and a better customer experience. A successful pilot payment transaction between the bank and its subsidiaries, OCBC Malaysia and Bank of Singapore, was conducted on 8 November 2016, using a payment blockchain solution jointly designed by OCBC Bank and local banking payment solutions company BCS Information Systems (BCSIS). With the successful pilot, and after full integration of this…

The inaugural Singapore FinTech Festival kicked off today with a series of events that aim to portray the future of a financial industry transformed by innovation and technology. The week-long Festival is organised by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), in partnership with The Association of Banks in Singapore (ABS), and aims to connect the global FinTech community. The Festival is supported by various sponsors and partners which are key players in the FinTech ecosystem in Singapore and globally. Close to 11,000 participants from more than 50 countries have registered for the various events, comprising conferences on FinTech, Tech Risk,…

Singapore’s Action Community of Entrepreneurship (ACE) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Vietnam’s National Agency for Technology Entrepreneurship and Commercialization Development (NATEC) earlier this morning. The MOU seeks to establish a cooperative relationship between the two countries for nurturing their robust start-up ecosystems. This includes the provision of venture capital development and other areas of support and development. The MOU was signed by Dr Mark Hon, Chairman of ACE, and Dr Pham Hong Quat, General Director of NATEC, Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) following the opening ceremony of Techfest Vietnam 2016 in Hanoi today. The MOU outlines several…

The insurance industry is undergoing a shift in the way it operates in order to satisfy a new generation of customers – the millennial market. Millennials are demanding more high-tech processes when it comes to insurance, looking for digital interaction at all touch points. Insurance providers are rushing to adopt technology in all aspects of their operations in order to attract millennial customers and keep them engaged. Article From:  Eugene Chng, Director of Regional Sales, APAC at Hyland, creator of OnBase Spending Power Potential Millennials, also known as Generation Y, will have more spending power than any previous generation in…

MoolahSense is the first marketplace lending platform to be granted a full Capital Markets Services (CMS) licence by the Monetary Authority of Singapore. The CMS licence for “Dealing in Securities” was issued today. This marks a milestone in the development of the FinTech sector in Singapore with MoolahSense being the first platform operator to be approved by MAS to cater marketplace lending services to investors of all classes. An entity regulated by MAS is assessed to be competent and capable of putting in place investor protection measures that meet the high regulatory standards of MAS. The licence enables MoolahSense to…

ANZ has launched an innovation lab in Singapore to help accelerate innovation in Institutional Banking capability and facilitate collaboration with the financial technology – or ‘fintech’ ecosystem which includes participants from industry, academia and government. The facility, known as ANZ BlueSpace, provides an open lab environment that aims to encourage design thinking and reduce the innovation cycle through the incubation and rapid prototyping of ideas. ANZ CEO Singapore and Head of South East Asia and India David Green said: “Singapore’s emerging position as a global fintech hub makes it an ideal base and testbed for us to solve current business…

Cambodia’s monetary history can be traced back to the ancient Khmer times. According to Michael Trané, a specialist in Khmer culture and civilization and former under-secretary at the Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts, “a lot of evidence has been found, such as copper notes, mirrors, Buddhist statues, and ceramics” that hint on the progress of ancient Khmer trade and the prosperity of the country in the Nokor Phnom era, which existed since the beginning of the history until the 6th century. The empire had currency in circulation which was used to trade with businessmen from India, Malaysia, Iran, even…

The Internet of Things Security Foundation (IoTSF) has announced its starting line-up of speakers for its second annual conference and is inviting the security community to further submit talk proposals. The conference is to be held at the Institution of Engineering and Technology in London on December 6th and follows on from last year’s events at The Royal Society and Bletchley Park. The theme for this year is “Building an Internet of Trust” and strongly aligns with IoTSF’s mission to make it safe to connect. As part of the theme IoTSF will be promoting the concept of the supply chain…

CB Insights analyzed the most well-funded tech startups in Asia and the APAC region by country based on disclosed equity funding, excluded debt funding and only considered VC-backed companies that have raised at least $1M of equity funding to date. In the first quarter of this year, funding to tech startups and companies in Singapore—Southeast Asia’s startup hub—rose sharply to $199 million from $53.1 million a year earlier, according to Hong Kong-based AVCJ Research. With 8 unicorns, India ranks after China’s 37 ones in the map. Other countries with startups valued at $1B+ include: South Korea (Coupang, CJ Games, Yello…

KPMG in Singapore has announced the introduction of its Digital Ledger Services. This is a comprehensive suite of services designed to help companies, especially those in regulated sectors such as financial services, to realise the potential of blockchain capabilities such as providing faster and more secure transactions, streamlining and automating back office operations, and reducing costs by utilising blockchain-based technologies. As a service offered through the KPMG Digital Village, KPMG’s Digital Ledger Services include full lifecycle support – from ideation, market needs validation, business case development and the building of prototypes – to systems and operations integration, and ongoing management…

TrueMoney, a subsidiary of Ascend Group, announces the launch of TrueMoney Myanmar and the launch of its fund transfer solution, TrueMoney Transfer. TrueMoney Myanmar aims to be a leading financial service provider, offering bill payment, mobile topup, remittance, and cash collection services. With two offices, one in Yangon and one in Mandalay and a network of 3,000 agents nationwide, TrueMoney Myanmar is working continuously to expand its services and agent network to fulfill its mission of enabling everyone access to innovative financial services, leading to better lives because we believe that financial access should be a basic right for everyone.…

KPMG Enterprise, KPMG Fintechand CB Insights had created ‘The Pulse of Fintech’, a quarterly report highlighting key fintech deals, issues and challenges around the world, in addition to key trends and insights related to fintech in key regions, including the North America, Asia and Europe. According to The Pulse of Fintech, despite a large funding drop in Q2’16, funding and deal activity to VC-backed fintech companies in the first six months of 2016 are on pace to hit $14.8 billion across more than 820 deals by the end of 2016 at the current run rate, both of which would register…

 BNY Mellon today announced its newest Global Innovation Center will open in Singapore on 17 November 2016. As the eighth Innovation Center within a global network, the Singapore Innovation Center is designed to facilitate collaboration with fintechs and clients in Asia for the creation of data-driven market solutions that will operate within BNY Mellon’s digital ecosystem, NEXEN. Launching in conjunction with the Singapore FinTech Festival, the Innovation Center will bring together leading-edge thinkers and emerging talent from across the industry to create, disrupt and accelerate market solutions, while tackling the demands and challenges of an increasingly complex market. The Singapore Innovation Center…

Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) introduced six registered Peer-to-Peer (P2P) financing platform operators in Malaysia to widen funding avenues for small and medium enterprises (SMEs). The six registered operators are B2B FinPAL, Ethis Kapital, FundedByMe Malaysia, ManagePay Services, Modalku Ventures and Peoplender. They are expected to be fully operational in 2017. This makes Malaysia the first country in the ASEAN region to regulate P2P financing. SC was also the first to put in place a regulated framework for equity crowdfunding (ECF) in 2015. As of October 2016, 11 Malaysian SMEs have raised a total of RM8 million via the six ECF…