Asia

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

July 29, 2020 @ 10:35 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Kelvin Lee, the Southeast (SE) Asia head for Fintech firm Ripple, notes that the more businesses that begin supporting and integrating PayID into their platforms, the better off the digital payments ecosystem will be. Ripple, which is leading the Open Payments Coalition (OPC), is reportedly… Read More

July 29, 2020 @ 10:13 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

SATYA MicroCapital Ltd, a fast-growing micro-lending firm based in India, has reportedly secured INR 72.5 Crore (appr. $9.7 million) in capital from Switzerland’s impact investor, BlueOrchard Finance Ltd. This marks the second time that BlueOrchard has provided funding to SATYA since its launch in 2017…. Read More

July 29, 2020 @ 7:18 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Thought Machine, a core banking technology firm, has acquired an additional $42 million in capital as part of its massive Series B round – which brings the total funds raised during the round to $125 million. Thought Machine had secured $83 million via the Series… Read More

July 28, 2020 @ 10:14 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Singapore-based Matrixport, a company that aims to serve as a gateway to the digital economy where users can trade, custody, invest, and borrow digital assets through a single, unified platform, has launched Bit.com, a cryptocurrency derivatives exchange. Founded in February 2019, Matrixport describes itself as… Read More

July 28, 2020 @ 3:13 pm By JD Alois  |  

Dubai Economy (Dubai Department of Economic Development or DED) and Emirates NBD, a leading banking group in the MENAT region (Middle East, North Africa, and Turkey), have announced the go-live of the UAE KYC Blockchain Platform. The project is described as an initiative that facilitates… Read More

July 28, 2020 @ 2:07 pm By Samantha Hurst  |  

Deutsche Bank announced on Monday it will enable global fintech Airwallex to provide virtual account collections and API-enabled foreign exchange services in Japan and Hong Kong. According to Deutsche Bank, the solution will further allow Airwallex to seamlessly process and convert cross-border payments made to… Read More

July 28, 2020 @ 10:02 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

Alibaba Hong Kong Entrepreneurs Fund announced on Tuesday it has kicked off its annual signature startup event, JUMPSTARTER 2021 Global Pitch Competition, with an online focus to ensure safe participation for all contestants during the COVID-19 pandemic.  JUMPSTARTER 2021 is now open for applications, with… Read More

July 27, 2020 @ 11:51 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

The UK’s Fintech sector is the largest in Europe. It managed to secure $4.9 billion in total investments last year, across 359 different deals. There also appears to be some sort of consistent or coherent Fintech Sector Strategy for Saudi Arabia, and also a strategy… Read More