Asia

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

August 12, 2022 @ 9:19 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Invest Hong Kong (InvestHK) and the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) jointly announced the addition of the Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) track to the Global Fast Track 2022, “giving local and global firms valuable opportunities to partner with the central banking institution to boost… Read More

August 11, 2022 @ 9:53 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

The Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET), in partnership with Bloomberg, has reportedly established a “Fin Lab” in order to support the next generation of capital markets professionals. Supported with a suite of market data and analytical tools from Bloomberg, the Fin Lab has entered working… Read More

August 10, 2022 @ 9:55 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Nearly 70 female secondary students across 26 schools in Singapore got the opportunity “to develop technology solutions for real world problems” in the country’s second annual edition of GenerationTech – J.P. Morgan’s flagship youth program that “aims to close the gender gap in technology careers.”… Read More

August 9, 2022 @ 10:03 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Crypto.com, which claims to be the world’s “fastest-growing” cryptocurrency platform, announced that it has secured Electronic Financial Transaction Act and Virtual Asset Service Provider registration by “acquiring payment service provider ‘PnLink Co., Ltd.’ and virtual asset service provider ‘OK-BIT Co., Ltd.’.” Kris Marszalek, Co-Founder and… Read More

August 9, 2022 @ 9:12 am By Omar Faridi  |  

ACI Worldwide (NASDAQ: ACIW), which claims to be the global leader in mission-critical, real-time payments software, recently announced an agreement with Japan’s central domestic payment network, Japan Card Network, Inc, CARDNET, in order “to modernize its digital payments infrastructure.” The agreement will “see ACI work… Read More

August 8, 2022 @ 9:09 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

The Malaysian card payments market is “set to record a robust growth of 15.2% in 2022, supported by the gradual rise in consumer spending, government’s financial inclusion measures, and increasing preference for contactless payments,” forecasts GlobalData, a data and analytics company. According to GlobalData’s Payment… Read More

August 8, 2022 @ 10:22 am By JD Alois  |  

Hodlnaut, a Singapore-based crypto platform, has halted all withdrawals, token swaps, and deposits – effective immediately. Holdlnaut is a crypto lending and borrowing platform that was founded in 2019 by Bitcoin maximalists Juntao Zhu and Simon Lee. Hodlnaut supported seven different digital assets: BTC, WBTC,… Read More

August 8, 2022 @ 9:34 am By JD Alois  |  

ZA Bank, one of the few approved digital-only banks in Hong Kong, has announced the launch of a new investment fund service. In a company statement, Rockson Hsu, CEO of ZA Bank, stated: “Virtual banks are playing an increasingly important role under the new normal,… Read More

August 7, 2022 @ 10:22 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

BigPay, a Capital A venture firm, recently revealed that it has added 38 new countries to its global remittance services network. This reportedly includes England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales in the UK, and 34 nations across Europe, including France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, and Spain…. Read More

August 7, 2022 @ 9:27 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

SC Ventures recently revealed that it has introduced Appro, which is a Fintech that digitizes and enhances the retail banking customer experience. Supported by SC Ventures, Standard Chartered’s Fintech investment and ventures unit, the “bank-agnostic” platform intends to signifiantly reduce the time taken to finalize… Read More

August 7, 2022 @ 8:25 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

The Consumer Credit Oversight Board Task Force in Malaysia recently shared the Consumer Credit Act consultation document, which is the new act that aims to properly regulate and consolidate all consumer credit activities under its unit, and to also support “fair” lending and “responsible” conduct… Read More

August 7, 2022 @ 7:07 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Network for Electronic Transfers (NETS), which is Singapore’s payment services group, and National ITMX, Thailand’s inter-bank payment infrastructure and central data processing system, recently confirmed the expansion of their cross-border QR payment partnership. This collaboration will aim to support inbound and outbound international payments between… Read More

August 7, 2022 @ 5:20 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

ShopBack, a Temasek-supported shopping and rewards platform, recently revealed that it would be expanding its presence to Hong Kong with a “soft launch” scheduled for August 8, 2022. ShopBack‘s management noted that they’ve onboarded more than 250 merchants in Hong Kong ranging from domestic to… Read More