Asia

June 25, 2020 @ 10:44 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

GREAT Eastern (Life Assurance), the largest life insurance company in Singapore and Malaysia, will be investing $70 million into Axiata Digital’s financial services business, in order to take part in the company’s Fintech-focused plans, according to Khor Hock Seng, group CEO at Great Eastern. The… Read More

June 24, 2020 @ 10:35 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Fahad Al Dosari, Commercial Attaché for the Embassy of Qatar in the US, has argued that the Middle Eastern financial hub is one of the world’s most stable economies. Dosari, whose statements came during a virtual panel discussion that covered Qatar’s evolving Fintech sector and… Read More

June 24, 2020 @ 10:13 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

IPC, a global provider of communications and networking solutions for the financial markets, has teamed up with Digital Reasoning, an established AI solutions provider that aims to better interpret human communications and behaviors. As noted in a release shared with CI: “The strategic partnership will… Read More

June 24, 2020 @ 10:02 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Chennai-based digital bank Kaleidofin has introduced a payments platform, called KaleidoPay, which lets non-bank financial company (NBFC) clients make digital payments. KaleidoPay digitizes payments, including customers’ savings contributions and insurance premiums. The platform’s software uses machine learning (ML) algorithms to process financial data. KaleidoPay can… Read More

June 24, 2020 @ 4:24 pm By Samantha Hurst  |  

Qupital, a Hong Kong-based trade finance platform, announced on Wednesday it has entered into an agreement with leading global e-commerce platform eBay as one of its officially recommended Hong Kong financing service providers. According to Qupital, the collaboration will enable the Asian fintech to provide “quality,… Read More

June 24, 2020 @ 11:16 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

Singapore-based global cryptocurrency exchange KuCoin announced on Wednesday its P2P Fiat Market added support for US Dollars (USD), allowing traders to buy cryptocurrencies like USDT, BTC and ETH with USD through PayPal and other payment methods. According to KuCoin, This is another mainstream fiat currency… Read More

June 24, 2020 @ 9:38 am By JD Alois  |  

The collateral damage of the alleged Wirecard (WDI.DE) fraud will not be fully understood for weeks or months. Earlier this week, disgraced former CEO Markus Braun was arrested by Munich Police. He was soon back out on the street after ponying up a €5 million… Read More

June 24, 2020 @ 8:00 am By JD Alois  |  

The Algorand Foundation and Circle have partnered to bring a stablecoin, USD Coin (USDC) using the Algorand blockchain. The implementation is scheduled for Q3. The move was described as a shift away for Ethereum and its congested network and affiliated high fees and performance limitations…. Read More

June 23, 2020 @ 11:42 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Over 80% of banking customers in the Middle East say they’re ready or willing to use Fintech apps, however, many traditional lenders have not started integrating financial technology products, according to a recent study by Big Four auditing firm Deloitte. The study revealed that 18%… Read More

June 23, 2020 @ 11:20 pm By JD Alois  |  

Binance China Blockchain Institute, the research institute of crypto exchange Binance, has announced a partnership with Xinyuan Group (NYSE:XIN), a Chinese real estate company working on incorporating blockchain technology in the global real estate industry including in New York City. Xinyuan Group previously launched “UPRETS,” a… Read More

June 23, 2020 @ 2:25 pm By Samantha Hurst  |  

Digital money transfer service MoneyGram (NASDAQ: MGI) announced on Tuesday it has formed a partnership with Korean fintech, Global Money Express (GME). According to MoneyGram, the partnership enables GME customers to connect to the MoneyGram platform and distribution network in more than 200 countries and… Read More

June 23, 2020 @ 11:22 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

Ping An Insurance (Group) Company of China, Ltd. (HKEx:2318; SSE:601318) announced on Tuesday that Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) has granted Lu International (Hong Kong) Limited (LUI HK), a subsidiary of Lufax Holding (“Lufax“), a Type 1 (Dealing in Securities) license. Ping An Insurance… Read More

June 23, 2020 @ 9:00 am By JD Alois  |  

  BlockFi, a digital asset financial services firm, has boosted its Asia presence with the new hire of Rishi Ramchandani as Director of Business Development, Asia. According to BlockFi, Ramchandani most recently led global and Asia equities teams for Bank of America Merrill Lynch. As crypto… Read More

June 23, 2020 @ 7:58 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Singapore’s Fintech firms continue to attract substantial investments, despite the global COVID-19 outbreak and resulting socio-economic challenges. Singapore Fintechs have been able to secure a total of $650 million in capital so far this year, which notably includes a record high of $462 million in… Read More

June 23, 2020 @ 12:36 am By Omar Faridi  |  

The Japanese Liberal Democratic Party, the nation’s ruling-party, is reportedly planning to make it easier for local banking institutions to branch out into different sectors, which could help them compete with or even push back against emerging Fintech firms and other tech startups. The party’s… Read More

June 22, 2020 @ 11:23 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Jemma Xu, co-founder and partner at RedBlock Capital, a provider of digital investment services with a presence in Asia, Australia, and the US, says that we now have many technologically advanced securities issuance platforms and secondary exchanges. However, she points out that technology alone doesn’t… Read More

June 22, 2020 @ 10:39 pm By JD Alois  |  

Sparrow, an options trading platform has raised USD$ 3.5 million in a Series A funding round, according to a company release. The round was led by HDR Group, the parent company of BitMEX – a crypto exchange. The funding also included participation from Signum Capital, Du… Read More

June 22, 2020 @ 10:38 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Narayanan Ganapathy, a financial analyst, angel investor, and the CEO at Angivest Ventures, recently noted that significantly more people are using smartphone apps and other types of software to make digital payments, because of the COVID-19 outbreak and resulting challenges. Ganapathy, whose comments came during… Read More

June 22, 2020 @ 9:21 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Thailand-based Fintech firm SYNQA, the parent company of OmiseGo (previously called Omise Holdings), has reportedly secured $80 million in capital via a Series C investment round led by SCB 10x, a subsidiary of the Siam Commercial Bank. Asia-based VC group SPARX also took part in… Read More

June 22, 2020 @ 1:38 pm By Samantha Hurst  |  

Ant Financial Services Group, the owner and operator of Alipay, has dropped the “Financial” part of its name and is set to rebrand to Ant Technology Group, according to the Wall Street Journal. Founded in 2014 by billionaire Jack Ma, Ant Group describes itself as… Read More