Asia

March 30, 2020 @ 10:32 pm By JD Alois  |  

Airstar Bank Limited, a licensed virtual bank in Hong Kong, has announced the launch of a pilot trial. The pilot is being conducted under the watchful eye of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority’s Fintech Supervisory Sandbox. Airstar is a joint venture between Xiaomi Corporation (1810.HK)… Read More

March 30, 2020 @ 3:03 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

The Siam Commercial Bank (SCB) in Thailand will be launching its Ripple-based consumer international payments mobile app. The SCB, which is one of the country’s largest commercial banks, began using RippleNet (Ripple company’s decentralized network of financial institutions) in order to connect to major banking… Read More

March 30, 2020 @ 12:55 pm By JD Alois  |  

Kabbage, an online lender focusing on SMEs, is apparently temporarily laying off employees in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, a support center in Bangalore is said to be shuttering and executives are taking pay cuts as the Fintech struggles to adapt in a landscape… Read More

March 30, 2020 @ 12:32 pm By JD Alois  |  

CipherTrace, a cryptocurrency research and tracking platform that provides services to both the public and private sector, has distributed a note that it is meeting with Japanese financial regulators to review the relatively new FATF travel rules and its impact on “virtual asset service providers… Read More

March 30, 2020 @ 9:27 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

Singapore-based global cryptocurrency exchange KuCoin recently announced the launch of its new project “Project Pinocchio” together with 21 blockchain institutions from around the world. KuCoin describes Project Pinocchio as a neutral and credible alert platform for less trustworthy projects in the cryptocurrency industry. The platform… Read More

March 30, 2020 @ 8:40 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

TradeUp, a U.S.-based stock trading mobile app, announced on Monday it has introduced Hong Kong stock trading. According to TradeUp, the trading option will give U.S. investors access to the Hong Kong market, thus expanding their portfolios to includes international stocks. TradeUp reported that in… Read More

March 30, 2020 @ 8:26 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

Sony Bank, a Japanese commercial banking group and a subsidiary of Sony Financial, a member of the Japanese electronics giant Sony,  announced on Monday the launch of its new “English Online Banking” services. According to Sony Bank, the new banking services will provide foreign residents in… Read More

March 30, 2020 @ 8:01 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Yves Roesti, Sean Huang, Xuna Shao and Joshua Choy from Synpulse, a financial services consulting company, point out that most digital banks were launched without physical branch locations. What makes neobanks stand out from incumbents is their ability to leverage technology to differentiate their product… Read More

March 29, 2020 @ 2:50 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Several reports from media outlets have claimed that China’s Blockchain Service Network will be introduced next month. However, these reports seem to be coming from local sources, which made the announcements before China’s first fatality due to the coronavirus (COVID-19). In October of last year,… Read More

March 28, 2020 @ 9:00 pm By Xu Gao  |  

How Did the Chinese Fintech Industry Respond to COVID-19? With the outbreak of the COVID-19, more and more people and groups have joined the fight against it. Among the entities, Fintech companies are giving full play to their advantages in providing financial services, contributing technical… Read More

March 27, 2020 @ 6:06 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

National Bank of Oman (NBO), one of the largest financial institutions in the country and its first local bank, aims to raise awareness regarding the importance of practicing safe banking during the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak. The NBO has taken several measures to ensure its clients… Read More

March 27, 2020 @ 4:18 pm By Samantha Hurst  |  

China Rapid Finance Limited (NYSE: XRF), one of China’s largest consumer lending marketplaces, announced earlier this week that it has reached a non-binding letter of intent on investment and cooperation with SOS Health Rescue Services Ltd. According to China Rapid Finance, the duo may enter into… Read More

March 27, 2020 @ 10:13 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

  Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG) announced on Friday it is donating $3 million to support communities in which it serves across the U.S. Latin America and Canada, as well as clients and colleagues, that are affected by the coronavirus pandemic.  MUFG reported that in… Read More

March 26, 2020 @ 8:00 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Delta Capita, a financial services consulting company, has acquired $50 million in capital from Prytek Holdings, a Singapore-based venture capital firm. As noted on Delta Capita’s official website: “We work with the world’s [largest] financial institutions to help them comply with regulations, simplify operations, reduce… Read More

March 26, 2020 @ 6:55 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Delta Exchange, a crypto asset derivatives exchange, reports that it has maintained a stable monthly trading volume of $400-$500 million. Delta Exchange’s management revealed on March 3, 2020, that they’re introducing their options products, including BTC-MOVE and ETH-MOVE contracts. Delta Exchange is reportedly the first… Read More

March 26, 2020 @ 6:31 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Singapore-based Fintech company MatchMove has partnered with local finance firm, Singapura Finance Ltd., and two others, in order to apply for a virtual banking license in the city-state. The MatchMove-led consortium is the most recent group to reveal that it has filed an application for… Read More

March 26, 2020 @ 6:28 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

The National Payment Corporation of India (NPCI), a local, non-profit umbrella organization for operating retail payments and settlement systems in the country, has requested the nation’s residents to make digital payments in order to reduce physical contact during the deadly coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak. The NPCI,… Read More

March 25, 2020 @ 8:51 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Nearly 65% of Singapore residents say they would consider working with an all-digital bank, according to the recently published Visa Consumer Payment Attitudes Study. The study reveals that 84% of Singapore-based respondents said that they’d be willing to use virtual banking services offered by an… Read More

March 25, 2020 @ 8:45 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

SOLV, an online marketplace that matches lenders and micro-, small and medium-sized MSME borrowers, has expressed concerns regarding the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak, which has resulted in economic uncertainty and instability. SOLV, which is a B2B platform backed by the Standard Chartered Bank, expects SMEs to… Read More

March 25, 2020 @ 3:23 pm By Samantha Hurst  |  

Hong Kong-based cryptocurrency platform Crypto.com announced on Tuesday the launch of the invoicing features for Crypto.com Pay merchants to generate and send invoices to customers who wish to pay with cryptocurrency. Crypto.com reported that merchants may generate crypto invoices free of charge using Crypto.com Pay…. Read More