Author: Company Announcement

So far, the misuse of personal data and corresponding cybersecurity measures have been the hottest topics in 2018 – just remember what’s been in the news in March. If it happens that you live under a rock, I mean precisely the notorious Facebook’s data “partnerships” with 3rd party companies. Last week, Bloomberg published a scandalous story telling that Supermicro servers used by Apple, Amazon and other companies have Chinese hardware loopholes allegedly introduced by the manufacturer to send data to China. The news isn’t something that has come out of blue. As a matter of fact, this type of hacking…

What if we wake up one day and find that all the paper money that we are familiar with has disappeared? We might shake our empty wallets but it would do us no good. Yet all is not lost, we still have access to cryptocurrencies. Blockchain-based technology has already ushered in a myriad of cryptocurrencies that will soon fill the void left by paper money. One of the first victims of the death of cryptocurrency would be the bulky physical wallet, which would no longer be required. We would be able to carry out all our transactions through our smartphones.…

Rakuten and Techstars showcase the achievements of the ten startups participating in Rakuten Accelerator, powered by Techstars, at the Rakuten Accelerator Demo Day. The startups, who come from nine countries and regions, will pitch their business to hundreds of top VCs, founders and startup community leaders at the National Museum of Singapore, the first time a Techstars demo day has been held in Southeast Asia. Over the past 13 weeks, the startups have leveraged resources from across the Rakuten Ecosystem, including Rakuten Viber’s messaging and voice platform, and Techstars network to rapidly develop their products and business strategy around this…

Brightwell Payments, a FinTech company that helps global workers get paid as well as send and spend money safely and easily worldwide, announced a partnership with Transpay, the cross-border payment company. Brightwell users around the world can now send money cross-border to over 15,000 cash payout locations in the Philippines, from anywhere and at any time via the Brightwell Navigator mobile app, making Brightwell the choice for global money transfer across the maritime industry and 190 countries worldwide. “Because over one-third of the crew members that Brightwell serves are from the Philippines, the integration of Transpay into our mobile app is a great step…

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) announced the 60 finalists that will vie for the Global FinTech Hackcelerator and FinTech Awards at this year’s Singapore FinTech Festival. The finalists will get to showcase their innovative solutions at the Festival. This year’s finalists were selected from 514 submissions from over 40 countries, representing a cross-section of the growing FinTech community, including in insurance, digital payments, and cybersecurity. More than half of the finalists come from the ASEAN region. Mr. Sopnendu Mohanty, Chief FinTech Officer, MAS, said, “We have seen a good increase in the number of high-quality submissions from FinTech start-ups this…

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS)  issued the Guidelines on Provision of Digital Advisory Services, to facilitate the provision of these services in Singapore. The guidelines incorporate feedback from the public consultation as well as learning points from MAS’ engagements with the industry. The guidelines will improve clarity on how existing rules apply in the context of digital advisory services. To make it easier for entities offering digital advisory services to operate in Singapore, the guidelines also set out refinements in the licensing and business conduct requirements under the Securities and Futures Act (SFA) and Financial Advisers Act (FAA) as follows: a) Digital advisers…

UQPAY has launched Singapore Quick Response Code (SGQR) payments for its merchants, combining its multiple existing payment QR codes in a single QR code. This latest initiative helps businesses to manage the different in-store cashless payment scheme more efficiently and reduce the fuss of displaying QR payment labels. This announcement came days after Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) board member, Mr. Ong Ye Kung officially unveiled the SGQR on Monday, 17 September 2018, citing this launch as the newest feature of the Singapore e-payment system. As one of the invited acquirers, UQPAY is a SGQR taskforce member who had been…

BlockShow is bringing Asia Blockchain Week to Singapore. Audiences are all set to be enthralled by over 100 speakers between November 27 – December 1, 2018 at Marina Bay Sands Luxury Hotel. The first ever organised by BlockShow, the Asia Blockchain Week brings together a diverse array of investors, entrepreneurs, developers, pundits and experts together. A five day networking opportunity but also a great place to listen to insights and discover where Blockchain is headed and how it is reshaping our world. A conference that defines Blockchain Blockchain isn’t just a passing fad, it is a technology whose time has…

Singapore’s coworking phenomenon is as popular as other places in the Asia Pacific market. The country is experiencing prosperity, and this prosperity is very evident in a commercial real estate market whose office rents are still very high. As an alternative to high rents, coworking has become one of the ways in which businesses in the country can afford to lease space in some of the more affluent areas in the city. However, when one peers into any of these workspaces, it is very easy to make the assumption that these offices are doubling as a hangout for young professionals.…

The first milestone on the F10 Hackathon world tour has been accomplished, and it was a great success. Over 90 participants developed 23 prototypes within 48 hours in the modernly equipped Singapore Management University SMU, which was transformed into the temporary «Home of FinTech» for the weekend. The engagement of the participants, Hackathon partners and the Asian FinTech ecosystem was spectacular. The F10 team is delighted to announce the success of the first F10 FinTech Hackathon from the 21st to the 23rd of September in Singapore. A total of 48 hours of ideation and programming were very well used by over 90…

Grab, one of the most frequently used O2O mobile platforms in Southeast Asia, and MOCA Technology and Service Joint Stock Company (Moca), a leading digital payments service in Vietnam, today announced a strategic partnership to promote cashless payment on Grab platform and in Vietnam. Moca and Grab will leverage each others’ technology expertise and partner networks to roll out payments services to millions of Vietnamese consumers and SMEs. Grab and Moca will be able to expand payments services more quickly and efficiently across Vietnam through their strategic partnership. Moca-enabled merchants will soon be able to benefit from the Grab app’s large…

McAfee released its McAfee Labs Threats Report: September 2018, examining the growth and trends of new cyber threats in Q2 2018. In the second quarter, McAfee Labs saw the surge in cryptomining malware growth that began in Q4 2017 continue through the first half of 2018. McAfee also saw the continued adaptation of the type of malware vulnerability exploits used in the WannaCry and NotPetya outbreaks of 2017. Although less common than ransomware, cryptomining malware has quickly emerged as a factor on the threat landscape. After growing around 400,000 in the fourth quarter of 2017, new cryptomining malware samples grew…

Asia is the world’s growth factory. Two of the fastest growing economies in the world at the moment China and India are in Asia. It has been nearly 50 years since the Bangkok declaration that created ASEAN, which has emerged as one of the fastest growing economic blocs is projected to enjoy a GDP growth rate of 3-8% over the next 5 years. It is in this economic centre of the world, in it’s very heart that BlockShow Asia 2018 will be taking place as a part of the Asia Blockchain Week between November 27 – December 1 at the…

After the first full year of operation, blockchain protocol QTUM has plenty to celebrate, both for its future and its already illustrious past. In its short time on the market QTUM has achieved several transformative successes and is aiming for much grander things with new initiatives and a new roadmap for 2019 and beyond. Among the most significant milestones during QTUM’s year one was the launch of its mainnet and essential advances in the research and community development front. This includes funding several key areas of study at academic institutions such as The University of California-Berkley in the United States, Xi’an…

The National University of Singapore (NUS) announced the creation of the “Cryptocurrency Strategy, Techniques, and Algorithms” or CRYSTAL Center, an academic research lab and think tank, aiming to lead as one of the world’s foremost centers for research on blockchains. The lab is founded by a team of NUS professors. Prof. Prateek Saxena, an assistant professor in the computer science department of NUS, and Prof. Keith Carter, associate professor of practice in the department of information systems and analytics will co-direct the Center located at the School of Computing at NUS. The CRYSTAL Center aims to provide scientific clarity in shaping technical research ideas in the blockchain and cryptocurrency space. The team of experts has…

Ohmyhome, a Singapore PropTech marketplace announced that it has raised S$4 million Series A funding led by Golden Equator Capital. The investment will help Ohmyhome further strengthen its position as a PropTech company in Singapore and expand into Southeast Asia. Other investors for this round of funding include reputable individuals and family offices, while investors for previous round included K3 Ventures. Ohmyhome was launched in September 2016 by sisters Rhonda Wong and Race Wong to simplify how properties in Singapore are being transacted. Ohmyhome is a PropTech platform that makes housing transactions simpler, faster, and more affordable. The platform facilitates…

The Nordic Innovation House was soft-launched in Singapore on September 13. The House will bring together the Nordic and Singaporean ecosystems for tech scale-up’s. The Nordic Innovation House is co-funded by and established in cooperation with Nordic Innovation. Nordic Innovation is a Nordic organization working to promote cross-border trade and innovation and is funded by the Nordic Council of Ministers, which is the official inter-governmental body for cooperation in the Nordic region. First launched in Silicon Valley in 2014 and in New York in 2017, the Nordic Innovation House in Singapore is a soft-landing, community and resource centre as well…

Colliers International, a commercial real estate services and investment management, announced its 2018 class of proptech startups for the Colliers Proptech Accelerator powered by Techstars. This program is part of our focus on targeted innovation that will enable us to create solutions, shape technologies and find opportunities to advance our business and accelerate success. In our inaugural class, we have diverse technologies and entrepreneurs, including: Solutions across the real estate value chain such as commercial datasets for occupiers and investors; office services and tenant engagement; big data, analytics and artificial intelligence; space as a service; marketplaces and space utilization; and, Smart…

OCBC Bank has piloted two Fintech solutions that leverage artificial intelligence (AI) to bolster its internal controls to safeguard the interests of customers and shareholders. The AI solutions augment the bank’s competency in the detection of trading anomalies during the audit of trading activities. This is done by analyzing trade data using machine learning algorithms. The two Fintech companies – Scila and Cardabel – were among eight that were shortlisted to be part of the 2018 TOV Innovation Challenge. The annual challenge is one of the programmes run by OCBC Bank’s Fintech unit, The Open Vault at OCBC (TOV), aimed…

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) issued for consultation proposed requirements for financial institutions (FIs) in Singapore to implement essential cyber security measures to protect their IT systems. These requirements will help FIs strengthen their cyber resilience and guard against cyber attacks. FIs will be required to implement six cyber security measures: address system security flaws in a timely manner; establish and implement robust security for systems; deploy security devices to secure system connections; install anti-virus software to mitigate the risk of malware infection; restrict the use of system administrator accounts that can modify system configurations; and strengthen user authentication for…