Author: Fintech News Singapore

BankGo is a financial comparison platform for personal loans (housing, car, consumer loans) and credit cards in Vietnam. They launched a close beta version on March 2016 and got 250,000 USD loan book via the platform. Through BankGo, Borrowers can be able to borrow money from Banks more easily to buy house/ car/ consumer products with best interest rate as well as other loan conditions. This is a market of $15.12 billions sales volume in Vietnam in 2015 (consumer loans only, data from Vietnam Consumer Finance Market Report 2015 by StoxPlus). BankGo is a kind of online selling arm for…

Bank Negara Malaysia today issued details of Fintech Regulatory Sandbox Framework following a one month consultation on the proposed Framework which was released on 29 July 2016. The regulatory sandbox will enable the experimentation of fintech solution in a live environment, subject to appropriate safeguards and regulatory requirements. Over 60 comments and suggestions were received from various stakeholders including financial institutions, fintech companies, associations and other corporates. Following the comments and suggestions received, the Bank has expanded the eligibility criteria to clarify the focus of innovations that the sandbox aims to support. Innovations should have clear potential to: i. improve the…

India’s fintech scene is quickly transitioning into a dynamic ecosystem for startups to grow as the government and regulators are aggressively supporting the ambition of the Indian economy to become a cashless digital economy and emerge as a strong fintech contestant. Notably, the Startup India initiative, launched by the Government of India in January 2016, has dedicated a US$1.5 billion fund to support startups. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the country’s central bank, has been actively contributing to the development of fintech. RBI has been working towards creating an environment for unhindered innovations by fintech. The authority is looking to…

Hawkers in Singapore’s Tiong Bahru and Bukit Timah centres are riding at the forefront of the revolution that will kill off cash as they begin to use a simple mobile payment system. Modern life in Southeast Asia is already technology-driven, with mobile payments available for everything from taxis to cappuccinos via restaurants and cinema tickets, but certain areas have so far remained untouched. The hawker centres which serve as the beating heart of Singapore’s culture have long been a bastion of hard cash. That has just changed. The new solution from Singapore start-up, Liquid Pay, is helping merchants do away…

Fintech services in Thailand, in recent years, are growing exponentially. In the world in general this is one of the fastest growing markets, but Asia seems to be taking up Fintech in larger numbers than ever before. In Southeast Asia in general and Thailand in particular there has always been a great love of doing transactions in cash. However, the phenomenal growth and love affair that Thais have with their smartphones has seen nothing less than a revelation in mobile payments. In a 2014 survey by Nielsen, 68% of Thais expressed a preference for dealing in cash. This figure has…

Telstra Ventures today announced a strategic investment as part of leading a Series-B funding round in C88 Financial Technologies Pte Ltd, which owns and operates the largest consumer financial websites in Indonesia and the Philippines. Matthew Koertge, Managing Director of Telstra Ventures, said the investment has been driven by the fact that as more consumers go online and digital disruption transforms the financial services sector there are some very exciting e-commerce opportunities in markets like Indonesia and the Philippines. “C88’s properties, CekAja.com in Indonesia and eCompareMo.com in the Philippines, are the largest financial sites in their respective markets, connecting banks…

Regulation compliance is time consuming and expensive for both financial institutions and regulators. According to policy analysis firm Federal Financial Analytics, the six largest banks in the US spent as much as US$70 billion on compliance in 2013. That’s twice the US$34 billion spent in 2007, a figure highlighting the continuously increasing costs. Regtech, an amalgam of “regulatory technology,” has been quick to emerge as a solution to address the challenges associated with regulation compliance. A subset of fintech, regtech implies the use of cutting-technologies, such as artificial intelligence, Big Data and distributed ledgers, to create new efficiencies and reduce…

BABYGHOST’s 2017 Spring and Summer release takes to the streets with a twist of new age oddity as the fashion brand has partnered with VeChain, a digital identity solution, to give every piece of the BABYGHOST collection a futuristic depth. BABYGHOST is an independent fashion brand conceived of the modern age of flights, hotels, fashion and hip stories of concrete jungles. BABYGHOST’s 2017 Spring and Summer collection layers BABYGHOST’s core influences and some added inspiration from the Indigo Children, an evolved group of children that embody intelligence, intuition, and supernatural abilities like shining in Indigo, which represents the power of…

Finnext Capital, an innovation ecosystem enabler announced a partnership with Cyberview, to develop Finnext Accelerator, which is a collaborative effort between government, corporates, entrepreneurs and venture capitalists to accelerate and nurture Fintech and IoT focused tech startups. Selected startups will work closely with the ecosystem players and leverage on technology and resources to implement their services at Cyberjaya which is poised as the leading Smart City in this nation. Finnext Accelerator will host batches of up to ten (10) teams over ten months in Cyberjaya, Malaysia to prepare startups to be accelerated and investment ready by providing high-quality…

Although blockchain technology could help improve efficiency and reduce risks associated with trading, clearing, settlement, and custody services, distributed ledger systems “pose certain risks and uncertainties” which market participants and regulators need to monitor, according to a group of US regulators. In its annual report released in July, the Financial Stability Oversight Council – a group that includes the US Treasury department, the Federal Reserve and the Securities and Exchange Commission -, warns that the growing popularity of bitcoin and other digital currencies is posing risks to the financial stability. The report notes that in recent months, bitcoin trade confirmation…

Forbes Philippines has published a list of the country’s leading fintech startups in the magazine’s October 2016 issue. The list includes 24 fintech startups in the country. The magazine also noted that the footprint of fintech startups is rapidly expanding in the last five years. These offer a variety of Internet-based financial services such as remittance, payments and lending. Five of the companies in the list were established just last year. Apart from the list, the issue also published articles on 2 fintech startups in the Philippines: Coins.ph and PawnHero. Coins.ph, incorporated only in 2014, offers Bitcoin-related services such as payments and remittances.…

Forty percent of 55,000 consumers (including 1,007 in Singapore, 2,025 in Malaysia and 2,053 in Indonesia) surveyed worldwide report decreased dependence on their traditional bank and increased excitement about alternatives, according to the EY 2016 Global Consumer Banking Survey. A lack of trust, changing consumer behaviors and expectations set by digital innovators and increased competition from new players are eroding traditional banks’ relevance. Globally, retail banks scored just 75.1 out of a maximum value of 100 on the inaugural EY Bank Relevance Index (BRI), which evaluates how customers interact with banks now, and how they expect to in the future.…

Only 36% of Indonesia’s population is connected to formal financial institutions, leaving an estimated 110 million unbanked citizens due to banks’ high fees, lack of consumer trust and long distances to branches. GOVERNMENT ASSISTANCE AND SUPPORT The Indonesian Government is supporting Digital Financial Services through an emerging series of new regulations which are aimed at improving fnancial inclusion and access for unbanked citizens. For example, new legislation is helping banks to reach out and assist low-income micro-consumers to open bank accounts, receive and distribute savings and achieve other fnancial activities, all without minimum deposits or monthly admin fees. Branchless banking…

With a population of over 100 million people, an Internet penetration rate of 46.5% and a mobile phone penetration rate of 87%, the Philippines is believed to be a growth area for fintech solutions and ventures, notably considering its emerging tech-savvy middle class and its large population of underbanked people. According to a research paper by Fintechnews, there are currently 48 million active social media users and 41 million mobile social users in the Philippines, who spend over 5 hours on the Internet on a daily basis. These digital trends represent an opportunity for tech startups to deliver new, innovative…

With an estimated 2 billion adults and 200 million micro, small and midsize businesses (MSMEs) worldwide considered as unbanked or underbanked, financial inclusion has emerged as a critical development challenge and an opportunity for fintechs. The unbanked are those who are not served by a bank or similar financial institution. Along with the underbanked, they may rely on alternative financial services for their financial needs, where these are available. Asia and Africa have the highest rates of unbanked population. These populations represent 21% of China’s total population, 47% in India and 64% in Indonesia. In Southeast Asia, there are 642…

Kashmi, a Singaporean social payment app, has announced it will be launching Southeast Asia’s ‘360° fully digital banking product’ in Q1 2017. Developed from its existing offering, Kashmi will become a social, mobile, all-in-one neo-banking product designed to fit seamlessly into the lifestyles of ‘banked’ and ‘unbanked’ Millennials in Southeast Asia – with features that enable spending, saving, budgeting, borrowing and investing. The innovative, customer-centric and personalised free banking app, which can also be accessed on a desktop, aims to increase Millennial uptake and engagement with a suite of financial services including bill pay, card transfers, ATM withdrawals and peer-to-peer…

PiSight, a Singapore based Fintech, is announcing the launch of PiMoney, a digital financial assistant platform powered by eWise´s patented account aggregation technology, Aegis. PiMoney helps users see a complete picture of their finances all in one place and actively control their monthly expenses and savings. PiMoney, initially launched as a web application, is now available on AppStore for iOS based mobile applications. The Android based mobile app is expected to be launched soon. Founders Rajesh Singh and Abhishek Kumar have significant experience in the Financial sector having previously worked with Barclays and Ernst & Young respectively in Singapore. They…

In the first global hackathon devoted to the banking industry of South Korea, the JB Financial Group, 2e & TESOBE/Open Bank Project are proud to announce the BiSang hackathon (‘Quantum Leap’ in Korean) aimed at global start-ups, developers and individuals. The intention of the hackathon is to find new partners to collaborate with JBFG in providing innovative services and technologies to the financial and banking worlds. In a previous hackathon in 2015, JBFG built a new business model for collaboration with winners PeopleFund. JBFG opened their core banking systems to the winners and the resulting interface and subsequent developments received…

Lighthouse Canton, an investment manager with USD400m AUM, now offer accredited investors access to hedge fund strategies without hedge fund costs, via their App Store robo-advisor. In partnership with WeInvest, a Platform-as-a-Service provider, it grants ease of access across a fully supported range of strategies, asset classes and currencies. Lighthouse Canton offer their clients access to these strategies starting from 0.4 percent versus the traditional hedge fund 2-and-20 fee structure. Executed & custodized with Pershing, a BNY Mellon company, investors will have the added security of one of the world’s largest custodian. Research from advisory PwC found that 62% of high-net-worth…

The world of fintech is exploding, and that growth means there are many discussions everyday on social media between fintech experts, entrepreneurs and other related professionals. These following Fintech groups on Facebook and LinkedIn are very active with a massive number of members where Fintech topics are discussed and exchanged everyday. FACEBOOK Fintech Singapore Fintech News Singapore covers stories about the Fintech Ecosystem – i.e. Mobile Payment, Personal Finance, Bitcoin, Blockchain, Robo Advisor and Lending – and Startups in Singapore and Southeast Asia. Fintech News Singapore also provides a bi-weekly newsletter with the most important information about the Fintech industry in…