Asia

August 4, 2020 @ 9:31 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), along with the National University of Singapore (NAS) and National Research Foundation (NRF), have joined to create a new Fintech focused entity: the Asian Institute of Digital Finance (AIDF). AIDF is expected to provide thought leadership and strengthen synergies… Read More

August 4, 2020 @ 1:09 pm By Samantha Hurst  |  

Mastercard recently announced it has partnered with Bank of Shanghai to enable better cross-border business payments in China. Mastercard reported that with its cross-border services, businesses will be able to transfer funds to local banks in China. The service will also reduce transaction costs and… Read More

August 4, 2020 @ 9:23 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

    hey, a payments and e-commerce platform in Japan that helps businesses easily create bespoke online stores and process in-store cashless payments, announced on Tuesday it secured a Series E investment, which was led by Bain Capital Tech Opportunities with participation from PayPal Ventures, Goldman Sachs, YJ Capital, Anatole,… Read More

August 3, 2020 @ 11:35 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

India based RAMSUN Network, a digital or online marketplace for supply chain finance, has reportedly joined Fintech firm MonetaGo’s secure financing network. The RAMSUN Network aims to facilitate financing for SMBs via its AI-powered technology platform – which allows many lenders to be a part… Read More

August 3, 2020 @ 11:03 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Wang Yongli, the former VP of China’s reserve bank, has argued that central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) can serve as a substitute for cash or paper money in circulation. Yongli, the director of the Haixia Blockchain Research Institute, noted that virtual currencies can effectively serve… Read More

August 3, 2020 @ 5:01 pm By JD Alois  |  

InstaReM, part of Nium, has partnered with SBM Bank India on outbound remittances from India. InstaReM says it will work closely with SBM Bank India as its licensed banking partner to facilitate international money transfers from India. As shared in a release, SBM Bank India… Read More

August 3, 2020 @ 8:51 am By JD Alois  |  

The Bank for International Settlements Innovation Hub (BISIH) Centre in Hong Kong and the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) have partnered on a trade finance project to highlight the opportunity to improve the sector of finance with technology. The “TechChallenge — Digitising Trade Finance” is… Read More

August 3, 2020 @ 12:16 am By Omar Faridi  |  

WeLab Bank has confirmed the public launch of its digital banking services. WeLab Bank is notably the only stand-alone firm to acquire a virtual bank license from the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA), the city-state’s de facto central bank that’s also responsible for promoting the… Read More

August 2, 2020 @ 11:45 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Singapore based DBS Bank Ltd, (SGX: D05), a multinational banking and financial services corporation with over $330 billion in assets, has teamed up with the Government Technology Agency of Singapore (GovTech) to test out the SingPass face verification technology system. DBS Bank aims to attract… Read More

August 2, 2020 @ 10:15 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

UK-based Fintech and stealth bank TransferWise recently revealed that it has taken an “exciting” step towards modernizing and streamlining global banking in Asia. The company confirmed that it has brought TransferWise for Banks, its “bank-friendly” API integration, to Asian markets, allowing financial institutions to surface… Read More

August 2, 2020 @ 3:29 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

In June 2020, the Ontology (ONT) team celebrated two years since the launch of the Ontology mainnet, which aims to serve as a “high-performance” enterprise blockchain or distributed ledger technology (DLT) platform. There are currently 70 decentralized applications (dApps) that are now live on the… Read More

August 2, 2020 @ 2:33 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

The Bank of Japan or BOJ (JASDAQ: 8301), the nation’s central bank that’s headquartered in Chūō, Tokyo, has reportedly appointed Kazushige Kamiyama, a prominent economist, as its head of a department that’s tasked with conducting research on central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). Reuters reports that… Read More

August 2, 2020 @ 2:01 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Digital payments experienced a surge in India during July 2020. UPI transactions increased by 11% month-over-month to $38.7 billion in July. Unified Payments Interface (UPI) is an instant real-time payment system that has been created by India’s National Payments Corporation. It aims to facilitate inter-bank… Read More

August 1, 2020 @ 10:22 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Authorities in China have reportedly arrested 27 suspects who are allegedly responsible for conducting one of the largest cryptocurrency related scams, which is now well-known as the Plus Token Ponzi scheme. The arrests were made following extensive investigations by local agencies including China’s Ministry of… Read More

August 1, 2020 @ 2:34 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

IFN Islamic Fintech, a “one-stop-shop” for industry knowledge, networking, and communication in the global Islamic financial technology space, revealed on July 30, 2020, that there are now at least 142 Fintech firms globally that reportedly provide Shariah-compliant products and services. As reported in late June… Read More

August 1, 2020 @ 1:32 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Zilliqa, a “high-performance” and “high-security” blockchain or distributed ledger tech (DLT)-based platform, recently revealed that it has chosen Singapore’s digital currency custody service, Onchain Custodian, to secure its network’s assets. As mentioned in a release shared with CI: “In working with the firm, the Zilliqa… Read More

August 1, 2020 @ 12:27 pm By Xu Gao  |  

Agricultural Bank of China Establishes Financial Technology Subsidiary On July 28th, the Agricultural Bank of China officially launched the “Agricultural Bank of China Fintech Co., Ltd.”. The new subsidiary is headquartered in Tongzhou District, Beijing with a registered capital of 600-million-yuan. Its main business is… Read More

July 30, 2020 @ 11:52 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

PT Bank Rakyat Indonesia Tbk (Bank BRI), one of Indonesia’s largest financial institutions, is reportedly integrating three core ecosystems (market, digital, village), in order to accelerate the digital transformation of the country’s micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) sector. Bank BRI is a 70% government-owned… Read More

July 30, 2020 @ 8:56 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Dr. R Seetharaman, the CEO at Doha Bank, says that cooperation between Qatar and Hong Kong in key areas such as digital commerce, supporting startups, and the development of Fintech platforms may strengthen bilateral relations between the two nations. Seetharaman, whose comments came during a… Read More

July 30, 2020 @ 8:00 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Bluzelle, which aims to serve as s “decentralized” data network, revealed on July 30, 2020, that it will be launching Phase 1 of its mainnet. The network is scheduled to officially go live on August 8, 2020. Once the network is live, Bluzelle’s BLZ token… Read More