Asia

September 27, 2022 @ 9:00 am By JD Alois  |  

TokenScript, a project created by  Smart Token Labs, is reporting a funding round of $6 million at a pre-money valuation of $200 million, according to a company statement. TokenSoft is raising the growth capital in a SAFT that has the support of some well-known names,… Read More

September 26, 2022 @ 11:48 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

The Central Bank of Iran (CBI) said this past Wednesday that it will “begin the pilot launch of crypto-rial as the bank’s digital currency as of Thursday.” The CBI has said that “the aim of designing the crypto-rial is to turn banknotes into a programmable… Read More

September 26, 2022 @ 10:41 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Everimpact are partnering with STACS, a Singapore-based ESG fintech “to provide banks and corporates involved in the carbon market with greater trust and transparency.” Their partnership will “promote data-backed carbon credits with end-to-end traceability.” In the first phase of the project, Everimpact’s Digital carbon tracking… Read More

September 26, 2022 @ 9:39 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

CIMB Group Holdings Berhad strengthened its sustainability commitment by doubling its sustainable finance target to RM60 billion by 2024 “under the Group’s Green, Social, Sustainable Impact Products and Services (GSSIPS) Framework.” The increased target was announced during the opening of CIMB’s flagship The Cooler Earth… Read More

September 26, 2022 @ 9:23 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Grab Holdings Limited (NASDAQ: GRAB), Southeast Asia’s superapp, announced that it has promoted Suthen Thomas Paradatheth to Group Chief Technology Officer (GCTO), “effective October 1, 2022.” As Grab’s GCTO, Suthen will be “responsible for driving Grab’s technology vision, strategy and execution across its Deliveries, Mobility,… Read More

September 26, 2022 @ 7:37 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Pan-Asian venture capital firm Gobi Partners announced the closing of its $10 million Gobi SuperSeed II (Gobi SSII) Fund “following the participation of Allianz Malaysia Berhad (Allianz Malaysia) as a Limited Partner (LP).” Other LPs backing the Gobi SSII Fund “are institutional investors Malaysia Venture… Read More

September 26, 2022 @ 11:18 am By JD Alois  |  

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) has posted details of its “Pilot Scheme on Training Subsidy for Fintech Practitioners.” Hong Kong has long been a top global financial center so the pursuit of FIntech innovation makes a lot of sense. Recently, one measure indicated that… Read More

September 26, 2022 @ 9:27 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Ripple, the provider of enterprise blockchain and crypto solutions, announced that I-Remit, the largest non-bank remittance service provider in the Philippines, will “expand its use of Ripple’s On-Demand Liquidity (ODL) solution to improve its cross-border treasury flows.” As a partner of Ripple since 2018, I-Remit… Read More

September 25, 2022 @ 10:56 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Amid the funding winter, 128 Indian startups have managed to “raise $995.1 million in August 2022, which is a 9.7% growth compared to the previous month,” reveals GlobalData, a data and analytics company. Aurojyoti Bose, Lead Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “Although the total VC funding… Read More

September 23, 2022 @ 11:42 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Over 300 million people around the world have crypto assets in their investment portfolio, “a number that is set to double by 2025,” according to an update shared with CI. Helping them stay on top of their regulatory responsibilities, crypto tax reporting app Binocs is… Read More

September 22, 2022 @ 10:24 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Newgen Software, a global provider of digital transformation products, has introduced what it claims to be the first low code trade finance platform at the recent customer meet in Mumbai, India. Trade finance is a fairly complex process as it involves a lot of paperwork,… Read More

September 22, 2022 @ 12:15 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Binance, the global blockchain services provider, has received the Minimal Viable Product (MVP) license from Dubai’s Virtual Asset Regulatory Authority (VARA), following the issuance of its provisional license in March 2022. The MVP license “means that Binance can offer an approved range of virtual asset-related… Read More

September 21, 2022 @ 7:59 am By Omar Faridi  |  

The population’s need for affordable non-bank loans due to a low credit rating or its absence, difficulties with the registration process, etc. could be “the main driver of the American P2P market,” according to an update from Robo.cash. The national specifics are also very clearly… Read More

September 21, 2022 @ 12:18 am By Omar Faridi  |  

The Saudi Central Bank (SAMA) announces the licensing of two payment financial technology companies, including: Arab Sea Financial Company and Fatoraah in order to provide Payment services for e-commerce. This brings the total number of payment companies licensed by SAMA “to 21 companies, in addition… Read More

September 20, 2022 @ 11:57 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and the International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA) signed a Fintech Co-operation Agreement (CA) in order “to facilitate regulatory collaboration and partnership in FinTech.” The CA will promote the following: Regulatory Sandbox Collaboration – MAS and IFSCA will “leverage… Read More

September 20, 2022 @ 10:37 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

UOB Malaysia is teaming up with Syarikat Jaminan Pembiayaan Perniagaan Malaysia (SJPP) in order to introduce the U-Green Financing program, which will aim to support SMEs in prioritizing sustainability. The banking institution has reportedly allocated RM 1 billion for this initiative, and SJPP will be… Read More

September 20, 2022 @ 9:52 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

The Taiwanese card payments market will “grow by 6.2% in 2022 to reach TWD3.5 trillion ($127.5 billion), as the country’s economy gradually recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic,” forecasts GlobalData, a data and analytics company. According to GlobalData’s Payment Cards Analytics, the value of card payments… Read More

September 19, 2022 @ 11:42 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

As the first of several other planned announcements to come from the region, OpenNode intends to test a bitcoin payment processing and payouts solution via the Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB’s) Regulatory Sandbox. Bitcoin payments had “been non-existent in the island nation until now, which… Read More

September 19, 2022 @ 10:21 pm By JD Alois  |  

Machine learning (ML) startup TrueFoundry has raised USD$ 2.3 million in Seed funding led by Sequoia India, and SE Asia’s Surge with the participation of AngelList co-founder Naval Ravikant and Eniac Ventures. Other angel investors include Deutsche Bank Global CIO Dilip Khandelwal, Head of GitHub… Read More

September 18, 2022 @ 10:33 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Southeast Asia’s Fintech platform Fazz, a business account for companies of all sizes to pay, save and obtain credit, recently secured $100 million via Series C funding. The $75 million in equity reportedly includes investments from existing investors: Tiger Global, DST Investment, B Capital, Insignia… Read More