Asia

October 16, 2023 @ 9:49 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

EaseMyTrip.com, one of India’s largest online travel platforms, announced its strategic partnership with Cover Genius, the insurtech for embedded protection. By integrating with XCover, Cover Genius’ global distribution platform, EaseMyTrip customers can add Cancel For Any Reason (CFAR) travel protection “along with the embedded comprehensive… Read More

October 15, 2023 @ 6:55 pm By Michael Wong  |  

Singapore-based Web3 wallet solution provider Account Labs has announced plans to launch a new wallet that will allow users to access using just a Google account following a successful fundraising of $7.7 million. Account Labs announced that funding round was backed by a number investors… Read More

October 15, 2023 @ 3:14 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Addepar opened a new office in Pune, India in March 2023 as they deepened their commitment to global expansion and R&D investment. Abhimanyu “Abhi” Prabhavalkar recently joined Addepar’s engineering leadership team during this exciting time of growth as their R&D regional lead in India, “bringing… Read More

October 15, 2023 @ 2:44 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Neo contributes almost $8M HKD to nurture start-up projects and foster the development of Hong Kong’s Web3 industry. Winners from Neo’s APAC Hackathon will join “an accelerator program alongside candidates from Hong Kong’s leading Web3 developer base.” Neo, the open-source, community-driven blockchain platform where developers… Read More

October 13, 2023 @ 10:02 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Axis Bank, one of the largest private sector banks in India and Fibe, (formerly known as EarlySalary), India’s Fintech, partnered in order “to launch India’s first-ever numberless credit card for tech-savvy Gen Zs.” With a numberless credit card, customers get “an added level of security… Read More

October 13, 2023 @ 7:09 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Fime Asia in Taiwan has been accredited by Visa (NYSE: V) in order to support vendors to validate the Level 2 compliance of their contactless payment terminals. This gives solution providers in the APAC region “a local one-stop shop for all their payment compliance needs,… Read More

October 12, 2023 @ 10:50 am By Omar Faridi  |  

The Central Bank of Jordan (CBJ) has taken a significant step towards modernizing the financial services landscape in the Kingdom by unveiling comprehensive guidelines for Open Finance services. These guidelines apply to all banks operating “within the jurisdiction of CBJ, as well as online payment… Read More

October 12, 2023 @ 6:08 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Stripe, a financial infrastructure platform for businesses, introduced its latest product innovations at Stripe Tour Singapore. Stripe products are positioning businesses of all sizes in Southeast Asia “to take advantage of surging consumer demand in the region for online goods and services.” A recent Stripe… Read More

October 11, 2023 @ 6:16 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Razorpay introduces what it claims is India’s “first” AI-powered payments Infinity Router – Razorpay Optimizer. Razorpay designed this solution “to help you make the smartest routing decisions when working with multiple payment gateways.” Using the Razorpay solution, businesses can “set up their own rules to… Read More

October 11, 2023 @ 8:21 am By Omar Faridi  |  

UnaFinancial, a Singapore-headquartered Fintech group (previously known as Robocash), has teamed up with Velexa, a UK-based wealthtech firm, in order to introduce a digital investing platform in the UAE. UnaFinancial and Velexa revealed that the collaboration aims to leverage Velexa’s expertise in investment tech and… Read More

October 10, 2023 @ 11:15 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Hong Kong’s authorities have claimed that 11 of the city’s Binance clients had been targeted in a series of phishing scams that were reportedly carried out via text messages. Hong Kong law-enforcement agencies have cautioned users of the scam as part of an October 9,… Read More

October 10, 2023 @ 9:49 pm By Michael Wong  |  

Indonesia- and Southeast Asia-focused venture capital investor East Ventures has partnered with Seoul-based SV Investment to launch the “East Ventures South Korea fund in partnership with SV Investment” with a target corpus of $100 million. The initiative’s primary goal is to bridge the investment avenues… Read More

October 10, 2023 @ 9:47 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Koan Advisory Group, a New Delhi-based public policy consulting firm released a report titled “Transit Payments in India – A Case for Choice and Interoperability.” The study highlights that India’s public transit systems should “allow integrated fare payments across different modes of transit, to provide… Read More

October 10, 2023 @ 8:33 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

During the 2019 Fintech Week, the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (HKSFC) reportedly demonstrated a stern regulatory stance towards cryptocurrency through its publications “Position Paper: Regulation of Virtual Asset Trading Platforms” and “Warning on Virtual Asset Futures Contracts,” emphasizing strict licensure and professional investor… Read More

October 10, 2023 @ 9:36 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Tarabut, MENA’s leading open banking platform, has announced a new partnership with FLOOSS, a Bahrain-based digital lending platform. FLOOSS is reportedly the “first” and fastest digital loan app in Bahrain “offering consumer loans of up to BHD 750 with a repayment period of up to… Read More

October 9, 2023 @ 12:10 pm By JD Alois  |  

OurCrowd, one of the largest global securities crowdfunding platforms in operation, has issued a statement on the ongoing war in Israel. OurCrowd’s headquarters are based in Jerusalem, and many of its investments are in the tech firms within the hot Israeli startup scene. In the… Read More

October 8, 2023 @ 6:16 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Hong Kong sees a larger share of transaction volume “coming in large institutional transactions of $10 million or more compared to other countries in the region — notably mainland China,” according to an update from Chainalysis. On the other end of the spectrum is South… Read More

October 8, 2023 @ 1:50 pm By Michael Wong  |  

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a $300 million policy-based loan to support the Philippines government in creating a stronger institutional and policy environment to help expand Filipinos’ access to financial services, particularly the vulnerable segment of the population, and to promote economic growth…. Read More

October 5, 2023 @ 10:21 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Hong Kong’s push towards blockchain enabled Web3 innovation received strong tailwind through a new fund that CMCC Global launched this week. CMCC Global, one of Asia’s earliest venture capital investors “to entirely focus on blockchain technology and Web3 innovation, announced the launch of a venture… Read More

October 4, 2023 @ 2:17 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Six months into 2023, private real estate was still “weathering ongoing macroeconomic headwinds,” according to an update shared by Pitchbook. In the US, the federal funds rate “has steadily increased since March 2022, hovering within a range of 5.0% and 5.25% as of the end… Read More