Asia

August 21, 2022 @ 8:52 pm By JD Alois  |  

Surge a “rapid scale up program” for Southeast  Asia, has announced its 7th cohort including 15 startups. Surge is operated by Sequoia Capital India and Sequoia Capital Southeast Asia. The accelerator actively partners with founders from a wide range of companies, across categories, including BYJUs,… Read More

August 21, 2022 @ 5:27 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

NPCI International Payments Limited (NIPL), a wholly-owned subsidiary of National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), the organization behind the largest real-time payment solution, the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) and the RuPay card Scheme, has  “signed an MoU confirming a partnership with the payments solutions provider… Read More

August 20, 2022 @ 7:36 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Standard Chartered Bank (LON: STAN) recently announced the appointment of Ayesha Abbas as Head of Consumer, Private and Business Banking, UAE. In this role, Ayesha will “report to Rola Abu Manneh, Chief Executive Officer, Standard Chartered, UAE and Bongiwe Gangeni, Regional Head, CPBB, MENA and… Read More

August 20, 2022 @ 3:57 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Verto notes that their relationship with Locusnine began in 2019 when they partnered to focus on scaling their “MVP architecture.” Since then, they’ve gone on to build a cross-border payments platform. They are excited to announce that Locusnine is now “officially part of the Verto… Read More

August 19, 2022 @ 7:29 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

UOB (SGX: U11) and Doxa are collaborating to “enable companies to move their procurement and trade financing processes online.” They signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) “with their client Kimly Construction Private Limited, for the execution of the trio’s first green trade finance transaction together.” This… Read More

August 19, 2022 @ 12:26 pm By JD Alois  |  

HUSD, a dollar-based stablecoin, lost its dollar peg yesterday during heavy trading. HUSD is a relatively small stablecoin with a market cap of around $160 million. According to Coinmarketcap, HUSD dropped to as low as $0.8483 on August 18th. As of now, HUSD has recovered,… Read More

August 18, 2022 @ 9:55 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Emirates NBD, a banking group in the MENA region an Turkey, has launched a global accelerator program for metaverse start-ups “to enhance customer experience for the new virtual economy, in partnership with the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) Fintech Hive, the largest financial technology hub… Read More

August 18, 2022 @ 4:36 pm By JD Alois  |  

FOMO Pay, a regulated major payment institution based in Singapore, has raised a $13 million Series A round led by Jump Crypto. Other investors in the round include HashKey Capital, Antalpha Ventures, Ab Initio Capital, and Republic Capital. FOMO Pay provides a host of Fintech… Read More

August 18, 2022 @ 11:52 am By Omar Faridi  |  

  We recently connected Mohammad Raafi Hossain, CEO & Co-Founder at Fasset, an international digital asset gateway. Fasset Technologies Limited recently partnered with Mastercard to expand financial services in Indonesia and create opportunities for underserved consumers The announcement follows Fasset’s $22 million Series A from… Read More

August 17, 2022 @ 11:24 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Azerbaijan-headquartered SmilePay has reportedly entered agreements with two large food retailers in the nation in order to allow consumers to purchase their groceries using their faces. SmilePay has acquired an investment from the largest acquirer bank in Azerbaijan, Pasha, and entered deals with the Bravo… Read More

August 17, 2022 @ 9:47 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

SmartCrowd Holdings, a firm focused on fractional real estate investments, has been issued a Fintech experimental license by the Saudi Capital Markets Authority (CMA). SmartCrowd is now focused on following through with business requirements for the launch of its Real Estate Funds Distribution Platform, making… Read More

August 17, 2022 @ 10:32 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Binance is pleased to announce that the firm has “received in-principle approval from the Astana Financial Services Authority (AFSA) to operate a digital asset trading facility and provide custody in the Astana International Financial Center (AIFC).” In-principle approval from AFSA still “requires Binance to complete… Read More

August 15, 2022 @ 11:47 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Atome Financial recently revealed that it has committed to a $100 million debt facility with HSBC Singapore in order to support its flexible deferred payments business across Asian markets. The Fintech firm is an umbrella business division that’s made up of two main brands; buy… Read More

August 15, 2022 @ 11:13 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Virtual payments have reportedly exceeded the use of cash for the very first time in Saudi Arabia in 2021, with these digital transactions accounting for around 94% of payments completed when measured in terms of value. This, according to a recent study carried out by… Read More

August 15, 2022 @ 10:18 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Singlife with Aviva’s Navigator Investment Services has expanded its management team as part of its goal to develop its financial advisory services. The latest appointments to Navigator’s leadership team include Wei Lin Chin, who joins as Head of Strategy and Business Management. She brings around… Read More

August 14, 2022 @ 2:05 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Google Cloud recently revealed that it intends to expand to Malaysia in order to address rising demand for Cloud services in the Asia Pacific region. Other areas that Google Cloud is considering reportedly include Thailand, New Zealand, Germany, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Mexico, Israel, and Turin…. Read More

August 14, 2022 @ 11:49 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Avelacom, the low latency connectivity, IT infrastructure and data solutions provider for financial markets, recently announced new optimized routes on its network to Istanbul (Bursa Istanbul), Riyadh (Saudi Stock Exchange, Tadawul) and Tel Aviv (Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, TASE). These routes should help with encouraging… Read More

August 13, 2022 @ 7:22 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Southeast Asia-based Regtech company Tookitaki recently revealed that it has launch operations in the Philippines via a collaboration with payment gateway provider Paymongo. Tookitaki is based in Singapore and offers comprehensive financial crime solutions to major financial institutions. Ahead of its launch, Tookitaki had teamed… Read More

August 12, 2022 @ 9:17 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Thunes, a cross-border payments company, recently announced that it is accelerating the expansion of its services in the MENA region, “setting up an office in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and appointing a new country head – Ahmad Yaacoub.” Thunes is also “in advanced stages… Read More

August 12, 2022 @ 4:51 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Transaction Network Services (TNS) is now connected to Borsa Istanbul (BIST) as a market data vendor. Opening up access to Turkey’s sole exchange with order routing and market data connectivity to the BIST matching engine in Istanbul “allows TNS’ customers to capitalize on trading activities… Read More