Asia

April 30, 2023 @ 10:47 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

The Government of Singapore announced increases in the Additional Buyer’s Stamp Duty (ABSD) rates in order to support a sustainable property market. The revised rates will “take effect from 27 April 2023.” The implementation of the property market measures in December 2021 and September 2022… Read More

April 30, 2023 @ 5:20 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Card payments in the Philippines are set to “grow by 10.1% in 2023 to reach PHP2.5 trillion ($45.3 billion) in 2023,” forecasts GlobalData, a data and analytics company. GlobalData’s Payment Cards Analytics reveal “that the card payments market in the Philippines registered a growth of… Read More

April 29, 2023 @ 12:20 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Alchemy Pay now supports India’s UPI domestic transfer payments for crypto purchases in India. By enabling users to pay by Unified Payments Interface, India’s domestic transfer system, it is possible for Indian bank account holders “to buy and sell cryptocurrency with the Indian rupee.” As a… Read More

April 29, 2023 @ 10:30 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Tide, which claims to be one of the UK’s leading SME-focused business financial platforms, announced the launch of the MSME Exchange Program (MEP) – which is described as “an initiative designed to localize entrepreneurship and foster bonds between small business owners from India and the… Read More

April 28, 2023 @ 2:01 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

PPRO, the digital payments infrastructure provider, has signed a strategic agreement with NPCI International Payments Limited (NIPL) in order “to offer global partners access to Unified Payments Interface (UPI), India’s fastest-growing, real-time payment system, for cross-border transactions.” This latest agreement, “supported by a new framework… Read More

April 28, 2023 @ 1:03 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

TapPay, which is one of the top 100 fintech companies selected by KPMG, has officially enabled Tap to Pay on iPhone in the TapPay iOS app for merchants in Taiwan. Tap to Pay on iPhone “accepts all forms of contactless payments, including Apple Pay, contactless… Read More

April 27, 2023 @ 10:12 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Together with its partners, AntChain recently unveiled a series of new Web3 initiatives, including an open-source project featuring its cross-chain technology and AntChain OpenLab, to support Web3 developer community at the 2023 Ant Group Digital Technologies Developer Conference. Web3 is commonly “known as a more… Read More

April 25, 2023 @ 10:31 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Binance Labs, the venture capital arm and accelerator of Binance, committed an investment in the seed funding round of GOMBLE, a blockchain-based casual game developer. GOMBLE will use the funds “to develop and release its first mobile game, RumbyStars, and continue to expand its gaming… Read More

April 25, 2023 @ 10:29 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

The Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) recently announced a new electronic payment hub, also known as e-PATH, which provides a more seamless and secure way “for market participants and the public to make online payments to the SC.” e-Path is reportedly “part of the SC’s digital… Read More

April 25, 2023 @ 8:19 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Maybank & Maybank Islamic have launched the You Save & Pledge, We Donate #ForYou campaign, which is described as “a unique, first-of-its-kind savings campaign that offers customers both the opportunity to win cash prizes as well as a chance to donate to charitable organizations.” This… Read More

April 24, 2023 @ 9:49 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

According to figures certified by the China Environmental United Certification Center (CEC), Ant Group has once again “achieved operational carbon neutrality (Scope 1 & 2) for the second consecutive year, following the company’s initial achievement in 2021.” This marks another concrete step for Ant Group… Read More

April 24, 2023 @ 6:37 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Life insurer Prudential Singapore announced the official launch of Prudential Financial Advisers (PFA), its financial advisory arm. With PFA, Prudential now “offers a wider range of insurance products including general insurance and wealth solutions.” This is in addition “to Prudential’s core solutions in whole and… Read More

April 24, 2023 @ 11:49 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Open finance firm Brankas has announced a new integration that will allow MPT DriveHub app users in the Philippines to reload using their active Philippine bank accounts. MPT DriveHub users can now “choose from a wider range of reloading options as they top up their… Read More

April 23, 2023 @ 5:39 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Japan’s digital lender, Rakuten Bank, announced on Friday (April 21, 2023) that the common stock of Rakuten Bank, Ltd., (securities code: 5838), a subsidiary of the Rakuten Group, has been listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Prime Market. It was “not created for the purpose… Read More

April 23, 2023 @ 1:55 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Tokio Marine Insurans (Malaysia) Berhad, an insurance company in Malaysia, has partnered with KirimMan, a one-stop logistic solution, and Finology, an Asia-Pacific fintech company that specialises in enabling embedded finance, “to offer affordable insurance products for gig economy workers, with a focus on delivery riders.”… Read More

April 23, 2023 @ 1:54 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

The team at Gemini is pleased to announce the upcoming launch of Gemini Foundation — a non-US crypto derivatives platform. Their first derivatives contract “will be a BTC perpetual contract denominated in Gemini dollars (GUSD).” An ETH/GUSD perpetual contract “will launch soon thereafter.” Gemini Foundation… Read More

April 20, 2023 @ 10:32 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Adyen (AMS: ADYEN), the global financial technology platform of “choice” for major businesses, launches its Unified Commerce solution in Malaysia to help businesses flexibly meet ever-evolving consumer expectations. Powered by Adyen’s single platform, Unified Commerce gives businesses end-to-end control of transactions across sales channels (online,… Read More

April 20, 2023 @ 10:17 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

UOB (SGX: U11) will reportedly invest more than S$500 million “to build its new global technology and innovation center in JTC’s Punggol Digital District (PDD).” With this investment, UOB claims it “becomes the first local bank to establish its presence in Singapore’s first smart and… Read More

April 19, 2023 @ 6:53 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

The team at Fintech Razorpay notes that they serve a “dynamic” country of constantly evolving, “exciting possibilities.” At Razorpay, they claim to be aware that they operate in an “equally dynamic” fintech environment. In order to adapt to this “ever-changing” world, it is imperative that… Read More

April 17, 2023 @ 7:45 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Alif, an Islamic Fintech and neobank based in Central Asia, claims it has recorded over 121% year-on-year growth. Operating as a “fully” licensed bank in Tajikistan and an e-commerce and fintech company in Uzbekistan, Alif’s total number of users has reportedly “surpassed 1.5 million, with… Read More