Asia

August 19, 2021 @ 7:25 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Touch ‘n Go Group (TNG) and Principal Asset Management revealed on August 18, 2021 that they’re introducing the Principal e-Cash Fund, which is the underlying fund for Touch ‘n Go’s GO+. This product is now Shariah-compliant, the update confirmed. TNG’s management noted that this makes… Read More

August 19, 2021 @ 10:14 am By JD Alois  |  

Yield Guild Games (YGG) has raised $4.6 million in a funding round led by Andreessen Horowitz (a16z). The funding was said to have been finalised prior to the YGG token sale on July 27 and was joined by Kingsway Capital, Infinity Ventures Crypto, Atelier Ventures,… Read More

August 19, 2021 @ 8:37 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Ajar, a MENA region rental collection platform, reveals that it has expanded its business operations to the Kingdom of Bahrain. With an established presence in Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the firm will be providing its property management and rent collection services in… Read More

August 19, 2021 @ 7:45 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Zilliqa, the Singapore-headquartered “high-performance,” enterprise-grade blockchain platform has unveiled its 2021-2022 cohort of ZILHive Accelerator projects. The ZILHive Accelerator is a 6-month program that’s focused on launching blockchain or DLT-powered initiatives from concept to commercialization. As mentioned in the release shared with CI: “The accelerator… Read More

August 19, 2021 @ 7:41 am By Omar Faridi  |  

European Fintech solutions provider finleap has teamed up with Bahrain-based telecom firm Batelco in order to support Open Banking in the MENA region. Recently, Batelco became the very first GCC-headquartered firm to acquire an Open Banking license. Through this latest partnership, finleap will be extending… Read More

August 18, 2021 @ 10:45 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

SATYA MicroCapital has reportedly acquired ₹135cr (appr. $18.17 million) in capital. The past year has been quite challenging for non-banking finance companies (NBFCs), especially when it comes to acquiring funds, because of the “liquidity crisis” in the sector following the Covid-19 outbreak. As mentioned in… Read More

August 18, 2021 @ 4:09 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

GOtyme, which is a joint initiative between Philippines-based conglomerate Gokongwei Group and Singapore’s virtual banking group Tyme, has reportedly acquired the fifth digital banking permit from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), the nation’s central bank. GOtyme is set to introduce its services during Q2… Read More

August 18, 2021 @ 7:07 am By Omar Faridi  |  

UnionPay International (UPI) reveals that it has teamed up with the International Bank of Tajikistan in order to introduce the nation’s first contactless digital wallet, notably making UnionPay the very first payment service to provide mobile contactless payment options in the country. The number of… Read More

August 17, 2021 @ 11:49 pm By JD Alois  |  

XDC Network, a hybrid blockchain platform for global trade and finance, has been selected as the first blockchain company to join the global Trade Finance Distribution (TFD) Initiative, according to a note from XDC. The TFD Initiative is a consortium of trade originators, credit insurers,… Read More

August 17, 2021 @ 11:12 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Uppsala Security, a provider of security tools and services for crypto AML/CTF, transaction risk management, regulatory compliance, and cybersecurity, revealed that it has rolled out its Digital Asset Tracking Service, a solution developed for ransomware victims as well as crypto crime “caused by theft, hacking,… Read More

August 17, 2021 @ 10:03 am By Omar Faridi  |  

The researchers at BitOoda have noted in a recent update that this past Friday’s Bitcoin (BTC) network difficulty reset “took the target Hashrate (or amount of computing power securing the network) to 111 EH/s, up ~7% over the prior epoch.” BitOoda, a global digital asset… Read More

August 17, 2021 @ 8:33 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Hong Kong-based digital bank ZA Bank has introduced “Salary FastPass,” which is an interest-free early payday option in Asia that lets people access their monthly salary up to 7 days in advance. ZA Bank‘s management noted that the Salary FastPass option aims to give employees a… Read More

August 17, 2021 @ 2:44 am By Priyanka Pani  |  

FalconX, a one-stop shop for institutional cryptocurrency market participants, has raised a $210 million Series C financing round led by Altimeter Capital. The new funding round valued the platform at $3.75 billion and saw Sapphire Ventures and existing investors B Capital Group, Tiger Global Management,… Read More

August 16, 2021 @ 11:18 pm By JD Alois  |  

The National Bank of Bahrain (NBB) has launched the Digital Banking Challenge in partnership with Bahrain FinTech Bay. The Challenge is open to all Bahraini youth to develop new and creative solutions focused on NBB’s new digital banking app. In line with Bahrain’s Vision 2030 objectives,… Read More

August 16, 2021 @ 9:07 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

The team at digital asset firm Gemini has released their Singapore market report, which reveals that the COVID-19 crisis led to two-thirds of investors in the Southeast Asian country to increase their cryptocurrency holdings. As noted by Gemini: “Today (August 14, 2021), we are excited… Read More

August 16, 2021 @ 8:37 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Vesta, the only “instant, end-to-end” transaction guarantee platform for making online purchases, recently revealed that it has been chosen by Bukalapak, which is one of Indonesia’s biggest tech firms. According to a release, Bukalapak will be leveraging Vesta’s extensive fraud prevention solution “to maximize approvals… Read More

August 15, 2021 @ 9:14 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

WorldRemit, a UK-based digital cross-border payments firm, recently introduced its money transfer services in Malaysia’s markets through its app and web-based platform. Clients are now able to send funds from Malaysia, in addition to 50 other nations including the United Kingdom and the US, to… Read More

August 15, 2021 @ 12:12 pm By Xu Gao  |  

Shenzhen to Pilot Chief Data Officer System According to a notice released on its official website on August 11th, Shenzhen municipal government, governments of Futian District, Nanshan District, Baoan District, Pingshan Districts, and eight city-level bureaus (including the public security bureau and human resources bureau)… Read More

August 15, 2021 @ 11:59 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Automobile lender Jet Finance reveals that it has launched on European peer-to-peer lending platform Mintos. As mentioned in a blog post by Mintos, the Jet Finance team says it’s pleased to confirm that it has officially gone live on Mintos. According to the update, Jet… Read More

August 13, 2021 @ 4:09 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

To serve residents in the Philippines that don’t have an established financial history, consumer lending firm SB Finance has teamed up with FinScore to enhance its credit scoring process using alternative data. By leveraging FinScore’s Telco Credit Scoring solution, SB Finance can reliably predict the… Read More