Asia

October 21, 2020 @ 11:31 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

LINE Corporation announced on Tuesday the launch of LINE BK, which is a “social banking” platform in Thailand. According to Line, LINE BK will connect Thailand’s “most popular” social media platform and one of Thailand’s leading banks. LINE BK was launched under the Wallet Tab… Read More

October 20, 2020 @ 11:13 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Triyono Gani, the head of digital finance innovation at Indonesia’s Financial Services Authority (OJK), notes that it may have taken a long time for people to understand one of Bill Gates’ quotes, “Banking is necessary, but banks are not.”  Gani points out that Gates actually… Read More

October 20, 2020 @ 10:01 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Dr. Ahmed Abdulkarim Alkholifey, the Governor of Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority (SAMA), the nation’s reserve bank, says that central bank digital currencies or CBDCs seem to be promising and are worth further exploration. Dr. Ahmed’s comments came during a recent webinar held by the International… Read More

October 19, 2020 @ 11:58 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Pondicherry University, which is located in South India (in Kalapet, Pondicherry, Union Territory of Puducherry, India), has introduced an MBA program in Financial Technology or Fintech. The new program will be offered during the 2020-21 academic year. Gurmeet Singh, Vice-Chancellor of the University, has helped… Read More

October 19, 2020 @ 10:02 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

  Dubai Economy recently brought together the main stakeholders in the country’s cashless economy ecosystem at the Future Economy Lab event (workshop). The event was conducted as part of the UAE’s ongoing efforts to address COVID-19 related challenges. The Middle Eastern country is focused on… Read More

October 19, 2020 @ 8:51 pm By JD Alois  |  

Singapore based Proptech Propseller has raised a S$1.7 million (USD $1.2m) seed round, according to a note from the company. Propseller is described as the “modern real estate agency” that facilitates sales, purchases and property rentals. Propseller reports that it is currently transacting around S$… Read More

October 19, 2020 @ 1:19 pm By JD Alois  |  

Hedera Hashgraph, an enterprise-grade blockchain platform, has announced a partnership with Onchain to provide custody services in Asia. Onchain will be providing custody for Hedera’s native digital asset HBAR. Holders of HBAR will have the option to secure their HBAR tokens with Onchain’s SAFE digital… Read More

October 19, 2020 @ 7:58 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Ant Group, which was previously known as Ant Financial, the world’s most valuable Fintech firm and subsidiary of the Alibaba Group Holding (NYSE:BABA), has reportedly received approval from Chinese regulatory authorities for the Hong Kong leg of its planned initial public offering (IPO). The Ant… Read More

October 18, 2020 @ 10:51 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

ING Bank, which is part of the ING Group (AMS: INGA), a Dutch multinational banking and financial services corporation headquartered in Amsterdam, has confirmed that it will continue supporting startups focused on Fintech solutions. ING and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) will be working… Read More

October 18, 2020 @ 8:36 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

The Philippine National Bank (PNB), one of the largest financial institutions in the country, is reportedly considering the possibility of launching a digital bank as one of its subsidiaries. Jose Arnulfo “Wick” Veloso, president and CEO at PNB, stated: “We’re discussing internally with the principals…. Read More

October 18, 2020 @ 5:45 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Bitmain, a leading manufacturer of cryptocurrency mining hardware, has sold 5,100 Antminers to Riot Blockchain (NASDAQ: RIOT). Bitmain had also finalized the sale of 8,000 additional Antminers (in September 2020) to Riot Blockchain, which is a Nasdaq-listed digital currency mining company. According to a release,… Read More

October 18, 2020 @ 5:05 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

David Jimenez Maireles, Customer Experience Officer at TNEX, a Vietnam based digital bank, claims that despite the skeptics, banks have been “no laggard when it comes to cloud adoption.” Banks have been migrating incrementally, and today “the average bank has 58% of its workloads in… Read More

October 17, 2020 @ 5:00 pm By Xu Gao  |  

Insurtech Platform Nanyan Information Technology Secures 250-million-yuan Series C Round of Financing On October 14th, Chinese Insurtech platform Nanyan Information Technology (hereinafter referred to as “Nanyan”) announced that it had secured 250 million yuan in a Series C round of financing. The investment was led… Read More

October 17, 2020 @ 2:45 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

ICICI Bank Ltd., an Indian multinational banking and financial services firm, appears to be struggling when it comes to handling payments. The bank’s customers have been complaining that their payments were not being processed. They noted via social media that they’re experiencing issues with accessing… Read More

October 17, 2020 @ 1:30 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

A Bank of Japan official recently noted that there’s no single virtual currency that will completely dominate global transactions, but only if reserve banks focus on enhancing their existing settlement systems. China, which has been leading the charge when it comes to implementing a national… Read More

October 17, 2020 @ 12:02 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Open Banking developments in Singapore could lead to more changes in traditional banking processes than those that involve digital banking and related infrastructure upgrades. Singapore’s addressable loan market for digital banks is valued at around S$220 and S$243 billion, according to estimates from the Fintech… Read More

October 16, 2020 @ 12:33 pm By JD Alois  |  

OKEx, a top 20 crypto exchange, is under investigation by Chinese authorities according to a report. OKEx provides both spot and crypto derivatives trading. It has been widely reported that the price of Bitcoin tanked as word leaked out and OKEx suspended all withdrawals. The… Read More

October 16, 2020 @ 8:22 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

Novum Group, a Singapore-based blockchain advisory and investment firm, announced on Thursday the launch of its new free trading bot, CryptoHero. According to Novum, CryptoHero is a free cryptocurrency trading bot that is simple and intuitive for crypto beginners to setup and run. “CryptoHero portfolio… Read More

October 15, 2020 @ 11:07 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

IRISnet, which aims to serve as an interchain service hub for next-generation distributed applications, is planning to integrate key services as a public chain service portal of China’s Blockchain Service Network. The integration of these services should offer a “low-threshold and convenient-access” development environment for… Read More

October 15, 2020 @ 6:35 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Qatar is now well-positioned to provide a test-bed for creating business-to-business (B2B) Fintech solutions. The Middle Eastern nation has introduced its National Vision 2030 Strategy, which includes several Fintech-focused projects that should help with expanding and diversifying Qatar’s economy. Qatar’s financial technology sector has been… Read More