Asia

May 19, 2023 @ 11:18 am By JD Alois  |  

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s New York Innovation Center  (NYIC) have published a research report sharing the results of the joint Project Cedar Phase II x Ubin+ (Cedar x Ubin+). Singapore is typically viewed as the… Read More

May 19, 2023 @ 10:58 am By JD Alois  |  

In a speech delivered today, Eddie Yue, Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA), announced the pilot program launch of e-HKD or the Hong Kong central bank digital currency (CBDC). According to Yue, 16 companies have been selected to participate in the first… Read More

May 19, 2023 @ 10:12 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Cashfree Payments, India’s payments and API banking company, has partnered with Tazapay, Singapore-based cross-border payments company to power their cross-border payments for Indian exporters. The partnership allows Tazapay “to settle all cross-border payments directly to Indian exporters’ local bank accounts in Rupees (INR) in one… Read More

May 19, 2023 @ 8:27 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Pakistan will reportedly attempt to ban cryptocurrency-related transactions and services. This is not anything new because the country has made similar announcements as far back as 2018 and even earlier. Pakistan‘s Minister of State for Finance and Revenue Aisha Ghaus Pasha recently stated that the… Read More

May 18, 2023 @ 9:27 am By Omar Faridi  |  

bolttech announced it raised $196 million in connection with its Series B with an up-round valuation of $1.6 billion. The investment round was “led by Tokio Marine – Japan’s first insurance company with a 140-year history.” Other key investors “include global life insurance giant MetLife… Read More

May 17, 2023 @ 10:17 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Matrixport, which claims to be one of the world’s largest and trusted digital assets financial services ecosystems, announced a partnership with Copper.co, an institutional digital asset custody provider, “integrating its pioneering off-exchange collateral management and settlement solution, ClearLoop.” This collaboration “enhances Matrixport’s prime brokerage offerings… Read More

May 17, 2023 @ 4:52 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

CertiK, the New York-based blockchain security company, and Alibaba Cloud, the digital technology and intelligence backbone of Alibaba Group, announced the signing of a partnership to provide blockchain security services to cloud-based Web3 projects. Web3 developers can now “accelerate their development process and secure their… Read More

May 17, 2023 @ 6:30 am By Omar Faridi  |  

The Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution Malaysia (C4IR Malaysia) was officially launched by the Prime Minister of Malaysia, Anwar Ibrahim, and the President of the World Economic Forum, Børge Brende. C4IR Malaysia will “play a crucial role in driving the advancement of the digital… Read More

May 16, 2023 @ 10:09 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Emirates Islamic, which claims to be one of the leading Islamic financial institutions in the UAE, has launched the new Emarati Absher Business Account designed exclusively “to provide a comprehensive suite of premium banking solutions for Emarati start-ups in the UAE.” The new business banking… Read More

May 16, 2023 @ 10:07 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Macau Pass has been officially approved to provide acquiring services to Alipay+ market-leading partner e-wallets from the Philippines, Malaysia, and Thailand. This means that in addition to Alipay, AlipayHK, WeChat Pay, Simple Pay and other e-wallets launched by other banks in Macau, Macau Pass payment… Read More

May 15, 2023 @ 3:41 pm By JD Alois  |  

At one point, China was the top Fintech jurisdiction in the world, dominating online lending and other Fintech verticals along with a robust digital asset sector. That was then, and this is now – Fintech has been siloed into specific, approved businesses, and cryptocurrencies are… Read More

May 15, 2023 @ 3:28 pm By JD Alois  |  

Fintech ZestMoney appears to be falling apart after its founders announced they were departing the firm. ZestMoney, is a digital EMI/  BNPL platform that has announced multiple partnerships with some pretty big firms during its brief existence. A deal with PhoneRE was in the works… Read More

May 14, 2023 @ 9:59 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

PayNearby, which claims to be one of India’s leading branchless banking and digital networks, launched PayNearby Mall—a meta commerce platform to enable easy availability of good and services, in an assisted mode at the last mile. This will soon be “integrated with the Open Network… Read More

May 14, 2023 @ 3:47 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Quantum Brilliance, the developer of room-temperature miniaturized quantum computing products and solutions, today announced the first quantum software reseller agreement through PTC, a Singapore-based provider of enterprise data management solutions and services to Asia. The agreement enables PTC customers “to explore hybrid classical-quantum computing for… Read More

May 14, 2023 @ 12:06 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

On the back of strong growth in the Middle East, Ripple, the enterprise blockchain and crypto solutions provider, is expanding its presence in Dubai by “opening a new office location in the heart of Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) and bringing Swell Global 2023, the… Read More

May 13, 2023 @ 4:07 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Last year, it was reported that late-stage tech backer Liquidity Group had raised $775M for its Fintech platform from Apollo (private equity) and MUFG (a Japanese bank). Liquidity is “part tech platform and part lender, using its technology to make decisions on deploying debt facilities… Read More

May 13, 2023 @ 9:43 am By Omar Faridi  |  

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) recently announced the re-appointment of three existing members to its Board of Directors and the re-appointment of its Managing Director. Mr Lucien Wong, Attorney-General, and Mr Chaly Mah, Chairman of NetLink NBN Management Pte Ltd, will be “re-appointed to… Read More

May 12, 2023 @ 7:05 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

ABHI, which claims to be a growing embedded finance platform in the MENAP region, announces it has made history by issuing Islamic bonds worth PKR 2 billion (US$7.1 million). The bond issue is considered to be “a significant milestone for both ABHI, and the region,… Read More

May 11, 2023 @ 1:29 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Standard Chartered (LON: STAN) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) in order “to collaborate on digital assets, including digital asset custody.” Subject to regulatory approval, Standard Chartered plans “to launch digital asset custody services, starting in DIFC and… Read More

May 9, 2023 @ 10:36 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

The Saudi Central Bank (SAMA) seeks public consultation on the draft “Rules for Regulating Buy Now Pay later (BNPL) Companies.” In the interest of transparency and wider participation, SAMA reportedly “invites stakeholders and public to provide suggestions and observations on the draft Rules by visiting… Read More