Asia

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

The Abu Dhabi Blockchain and Virtual Assets Committee (ADBVAC) held its first meeting, “under the chairmanship of H.E Mohamed Ali Al Shorafa, Chairman of the Abu Dhabi Department of Economic Development (ADDED) and Chairman Securities and Commodities Authority (SCA), to discuss strategy for blockchain and… Read More

August 26, 2022 @ 7:11 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Shanghai Commercial & Savings Bank (SCSB), one of the listed banks in Taiwan, has selected Temenos and IBM in order “to replace its legacy core systems with Temenos open platform for composable banking.” Part of the IBM Ecosystem, Temenos and IBM have successfully “teamed for… Read More

August 25, 2022 @ 9:21 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

valU, MENA’s Buy-Now, Pay-Later (BNPL) lifestyle-enabling fintech platform, announced that it “acquired 100% of Paynas, a full-fledged employee management and benefits company that provides financial services to micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSME) in a signing ceremony attended by Dr. Rania A. Al-Mashat, Minister of… Read More

August 22, 2022 @ 9:54 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

UnionBank continues the digital transformation of its wealth management business with the Avaloq Core Platform. This will “help the bank to stay ahead of the technology curve as the financial industry continues to digitalize in the pursuit of greater efficiency and innovation.” Avaloq is “implementing… Read More

August 22, 2022 @ 9:29 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

It would be an understatement to say that the past couple years have been disruptive for businesses, the Razorpay team noted in a blog post. The pandemic led to major changes in consumer behavior and businesses had to adapt to the new environment and “new… Read More

August 22, 2022 @ 4:56 pm By JD Alois  |  

Tamara, a Saudi Arabia-based buy now- pay later (BNPL) provider, has raised $100 million in Series B funding, according to multiple reports. Tamara operates in Saudi as well as the UAE and Kuwait. Tamara is said to be the first BNPL to make its way… Read More

August 22, 2022 @ 4:08 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Financial Services Commission of Korea has issued a warning to 16 unregistered “Virtual Asset Service Providers” or VASPs – the term utilized by the FATF for crypto exchanges. According to a statement by the Commission, the Korea Financial Intelligence Unit (KoFIU) has notified 16… Read More

August 22, 2022 @ 10:02 am By JD Alois  |  

Funding Societies, a Southeast Asian SME finance provider, has gained a USD $50 million credit facility from HSBC Singapore. The additional capital will be utilized to provide financing to underserved SMEs in the region. Funding Societies reports that commercial lending in Asia Pacific is expected… Read More

August 21, 2022 @ 9:10 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

The Communications Regulatory Authority (CRA) launched a public consultation about the “National Blockchain Blueprint for Qatar,” which was collaboratively “developed by CRA, Hamad Bin Khalifa University, and Qatar University, with the aim of receiving the views and comments of stakeholders and concerned parties in Qatar on… Read More

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