Asia

April 12, 2017 @ 10:44 am By JD Alois  |  

Crowd Genie, a small business lending platform, has received regulatory approval from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS). Crowd Genie was granted a Capital Markets Services (CMS) license from MAS, an important development for the peer to peer lending platform. Crowd Genie has been in… Read More

April 12, 2017 @ 10:05 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

Philippine fintech startup First Circle announced on Wednesday investments from Accion Venture Lab, the seed-stage investment initiative of Accion, and Deep Blue VC. First Circle has now reported equity funding of $2.5 million. Investors included Accion Venture Lab, Deep Blue VC, 500 Startups, IMJ, and Key… Read More

April 12, 2017 @ 9:36 am By JD Alois  |  

Global economic powerhouse Singapore is tightening its relationship with China as indicated by the 3rd Singapore-Shanghai Financial Forum (SSFF) in Singapore today.  The SSFF is an annual forum that seeks to bring together financial industry participants from Singapore and Shanghai to discuss pertinent market developments and… Read More

April 12, 2017 @ 8:08 am By Jonathan Nieh  |  

China’s Concerns with Outflowing Money China has a money outflow problem on its hands. More than US $1.2 Trillion has left China since its yuan was devalued in August 2015, according to Bloomberg. Money has been leaving China in several ways: increase in repaying foreign… Read More

April 11, 2017 @ 7:33 am By JD Alois  |  

Singapore-based MoolahSense, a marketplace lending platform, has added invoice financing as a new product line. The new service will allow SMEs to access financing to address short-term capital needs of up to $15,000. For investors, a nominal interest rate of up to 12% may be earned…. Read More

April 9, 2017 @ 4:41 pm By JD Alois  |  

Xian Yan, the Chairman of P2P Financial Information Service Company,  was fined 3.47 billion yuan (about $503 million USD) for stock market manipulation. The China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) levied that penalty that included penalties and forking over illicit profits, according to ECNS. The fine was… Read More

April 8, 2017 @ 4:34 pm By Jonathan Nieh  |  

Only a few weeks since the SEC denied two separate bitcoin ETF applications, there may be some good news coming out of Japan for supporters of Bitcoin. On April 1, a new law went into effect in Japan allowing for the country’s first officially recognized… Read More

April 8, 2017 @ 3:47 pm By Xu Gao  |  

  Ant Financial Opens its VR Pay Service Platform to Xiaomi and Huawei. On March 31, Ant Financial, the finance arm of Alibaba Group Holdings, revealed its new payment service for virtual reality shopping at the Shenzhen Innovation Week. The VR Pay system will greatly… Read More

April 7, 2017 @ 10:07 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

CreditEase Wealth Management announced on Thursday it signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the School of Business Administration, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJ) last month to jointly boost strategic cooperation in internship, educational resource sharing, cultural events and commercial exchanges.  The company reported… Read More

April 7, 2017 @ 1:36 am By Jonathan Nieh  |  

Marvelstone Capital, a data-driven asset management company located in Singapore, announced last week that it would begin rolling out robo-advisors to its family office clients in Asia. The robo-advisors, co-developed with another Singapore-based fintech startup Smartfolios, will be available on desktop and mobile. Marvelstone Capital hopes the… Read More

April 6, 2017 @ 4:54 am By Erin Hobey  |  

PayPal (PYPL) and Visa (NYSE:V) have extended their U.S. partnership to the Asian Pacific market, a move that will see them work collaboratively to accelerate the adoption of secure, reliable and convenient digital and mobile payments for consumers and merchants in markets throughout the region. This… Read More

April 6, 2017 @ 3:54 am By Erin Hobey  |  

WhatsApp seems to be laying down the groundwork for a P2P operation in India. The Facebook-owned global messaging service is currently advertising for a digital transaction lead with experience of UPI, Aadhaar and BHIM, seen as the precursor to a possible P2P payments service launch in India, according to multiple… Read More

April 5, 2017 @ 11:42 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

Business commerce platform Tradeshift announced on Wednesday it has partnered with Chinese peer-to-peer lender CreditEase to launch a trade financing app, which is aiming to bring low-cost financing to millions of businesses in China. According to Tradeshift, the goal of this partnership is to help solve… Read More

April 5, 2017 @ 9:57 am By Jonathan Nieh  |  

  Yesterday, fintech startup soCash announced it had raised another US $600K (S$ 836,697) from angel investors. soCash, located in Singapore, provides digital cash management services to banks. The platform bills itself as a better and cheaper alternative to ATMs: The solution plugs into the mobile apps of… Read More

April 4, 2017 @ 7:50 am By JD Alois  |  

As the UK moves forward with the separation from Europe, government officials are looking beyond Europe to improve bilateral relationships to improve trade and other areas. As Fintech is an emerging industry that is vital to the future of Great Britain, it simply makes sense… Read More

April 2, 2017 @ 10:44 am By JD Alois  |  

  According to a recent article in TechinAsia, 52% of Japan’s personal assets, or more than $15 trillion, are held as cash. That is incredible.  But it is also incredible in the fact that holding cash, when most current accounts pay less than inflation, means… Read More

March 31, 2017 @ 6:06 pm By Xu Gao  |  

Boao Forum for Asia Annual Conference Highlights Fintech: How will it Change Finance? Related: Boao Forum for Asia publishes “2016 Fintech Report” The four-day Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) Annual Conference 2017, themed with “Globalization & Free Trade: The Asian Perspectives”, was held from March… Read More

March 31, 2017 @ 7:17 am By Erin Hobey  |  

Do you remember using Travelers Checks when traveling? Filling out your name on individual checks and jotting down all those checks numbers? Checking into an international American Express office to exchange money, picking up mail or making a telephone call? Collect? Lugging around a Let’s… Read More

March 31, 2017 @ 6:43 am By Erin Hobey  |  

Crowdo has launched its securities crowdfunding platform today at the Singapore Exchange (SGX) hosted ‘Plugged In’ event during which Crowdo Co-Founder and CEO Leo Shimada gave the keynote address. The event was also the forum for the official announcement of Crowdo’s strategic partnership with the SGX. Crowdo’s… Read More

March 30, 2017 @ 8:39 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

Chinese marketplace lending platform Yirendai (NYSE: YRD) announced on Thursday it has entered into an agreement of intent with the Beijing branch of PICC Property and Casualty Company Limited (PICC P&C). Yirendai reported that under this new agreement, PICC P&C would provide Yirendai with a… Read More