Asia

September 7, 2023 @ 11:37 am By Omar Faridi  |  

China’s cryptocurrency crackdown continues as Weibo has reportedly banned around 80 crypto influencers. Weibo’s management stated that these decisions were made in order to comply with domestic regulatory requirements, which aim to discourage speculation, trading, and promotion of digital currencies. The Beijing-headquartered company said that… Read More

September 6, 2023 @ 10:37 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Airwallex, a global payments and financial platform for modern businesses, today announced the launch of “Airwallex for Startups”, a business readiness campaign “exclusively for Hong Kong entrepreneurs to support their global growth ambitions.” With the support of Hong Kong flagship incubators, and in collaboration with… Read More

September 6, 2023 @ 9:17 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Emirates NBD has announced it invested in Komgo, a software development and technology services company transforming the trade finance industry. The equity investment was “made by Emirates NBD‘s Innovation Fund, the bank’s corporate venture fund.” Emirates NBD’s corporate venture capital arm will “enable the Group… Read More

September 5, 2023 @ 6:22 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Tokeny and Klaytn Foundation unite for “massive” RWA tokenization adoption in Asia Tokeny, the global tokenization platform, announces its strategic alliance with Klaytn Foundation, an EVM-compatible public blockchain “developed by the renowned Korean IT giant, Kakao.” This strategic alliance is set “to catalyze the widespread… Read More

September 5, 2023 @ 5:11 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Cashfree Payments, a payments and API banking solutions company, has partnered with Jamboree, an educational consultancy, “to simplify fee payments for Indian students studying overseas.” The partnership leverages Cashfree Payments’ cross-border payment solution, which streamlines and “digitizes the entire payment process from KYC verification, payment… Read More

September 5, 2023 @ 2:46 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) announced that the President of the Republic of Singapore has appointed Chia Der Jiun “as Managing Director (Designate), MAS from 1 November 2023 to 31 December 2023, and as Managing Director, MAS from 1 January 2024 to 31 May 2026.”… Read More

September 5, 2023 @ 11:51 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Merchant commerce omnichannel platform, Pine Labs has announced the launch of Mini, a revolutionary QR and Card acceptance device. Expected to be available at nearly one-third of the cost of a regular Point of Sale (PoS) terminal, Pine Labs Mini is described as “an ideal… Read More

September 5, 2023 @ 12:40 am By Michael Wong  |  

Malaysia’s Labuan Financial Services Authority (Labuan FSA) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Bermuda Monetary Authority (BMA) to facilitate increased regulatory, enforcement, and supervisory cooperation between the two regulatory bodies. The MoU was signed virtually by Nik Mohamed Din Nik Musa, Director-General… Read More

September 4, 2023 @ 11:50 pm By Michael Wong  |  

Hong Kong’s Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po cautioned in his weekly blog on Sunday that merely lowering the tax on securities trading would not necessarily breathe new life into city’s lethargic stock market, and added that piecemeal measures could be counterproductive. This is his first… Read More

September 4, 2023 @ 10:45 am By Tony Zerucha  |  

ACE Money Transfer, a Fintech company based out of Manchester, United Kingdom, has announced an enhanced partnership with Pakistani commercial institution Bank Alfalah. The union will enable overseas Pakistanis to remit money back home. ACE Money Transfer allows expatriates to send money from 28 countries… Read More

September 4, 2023 @ 9:55 am By Tony Zerucha  |  

The Securities Commission Malaysia this week has announced the first group of award recipients for its Digital Innovation Fund. The Digital Innovation Fund was established to co-fund innovative projects that demonstrate the use of technology to allow new and competitive propositions in the Malaysian capital market. It… Read More

September 4, 2023 @ 4:43 am By Michael Wong  |  

Japan’s telecom giant IPS Inc. has committed an additional $100 million in new investments into the Philippines for 2023 to 2024 to expand the capacity of a modern and secure gateway for the archipelago. This announcement was made by the Philippine Department of Information and… Read More

September 3, 2023 @ 8:17 pm By Michael Wong  |  

Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) member countries have been urged to collaborate to maximize the region’s investment potential, estimated to reach $20 trillion by 2045, according to Arsjad Rasjid, Chairman of the ASEAN-Business Advisory Council (ASEAN-BAC). Rasjid made the statement at the ASEAN Business… Read More

September 3, 2023 @ 4:48 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

The Saudi Central Bank (SAMA) has reportedly licensed “Alhulul AlMubassatah Financial Company (SiFi)” to provide E-wallet solutions. With SiFi, there are now 25 licensed companies “offering payment services in Saudi Arabia, in addition to 7 companies that have obtained initial approval to operate within SAMA’s… Read More

September 3, 2023 @ 4:38 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

C2FO, the world’s on-demand working capital platform, is pleased to announce its collaboration with the Business 20 (B20) and inclusion in a major policy paper published at the 2023 B20 meeting in New Delhi, India. The B20 is the official dialogue forum “between the global… Read More

September 2, 2023 @ 10:10 am By Michael Wong  |  

Solarvest Borneo Sdn Bhd (Solarvest Borneo) has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Centre for Technology Excellence Sarawak (CENTEXS), Huawei Technologies (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd (Huawei Malaysia), and GreenBay CES Sdn Bhd (GreenBay) to launch a hyperscale green data center testbed and training… Read More

September 2, 2023 @ 10:07 am By Omar Faridi  |  

PhonePe announced its foray into stock broking with Share(dot)Market, under its subsidiary PhonePe Wealth Broking Pvt. Ltd. Share(dot)Market elevates discount broking by “providing market intelligence, quantitative research-based WealthBaskets, a scalable technology platform, and great customer experience for investors and traders alike.” Share(dot)Market is available as… Read More

September 1, 2023 @ 7:34 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

ZA Bank has reportedly become the first settlement bank for HashKey Exchange, Hong Kong’s first licensed retail virtual asset exchange, as it starts “offering fiat-currency deposit and withdrawal services to investors who hold a ZA Bank account.” As part of its “Banking for Web3” ambition,… Read More

September 1, 2023 @ 6:37 pm By Michael Wong  |  

About 70% of digital transformation projects carried out by mid- to large-sized banks in the Asia-Pacific region have failed due to costly and lengthy in-house efforts, according to a report released by engagement banking fintech firm Backbase. The APAC-focused IDC InfoBrief, dubbed “Accelerating Customer-Centric Transformation… Read More

August 31, 2023 @ 8:29 pm By Michael Wong  |  

Asia Carbon Institute (ACI), a voluntary carbon credit registry in Asia, was officially inaugurated at the CIC – Zero Carbon Park in Hong Kong despite a typhoon signal hoisted right before and during the event. The official launch was attended by Chan Ho Lim, Joseph,… Read More