Asia

February 24, 2021 @ 10:39 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Tyme, a multinational digital banking group based in Singapore, has reportedly secured $110 million in capital through a Series B funding round. Tyme is focused on bringing foreign investments into South Africa. TymeBank aims to establish the foundation for its business expansion across ASEAN region,… Read More

February 24, 2021 @ 10:22 pm By JD Alois  |  

PT Amartha Mikro Fintek a peer-to-peer lender that provides access to capital to micro and small entrepreneurs (MSEs). Founded in 2010, Amartha pivoted into a peer-to-peer lending platform in 2016 and is now one of the biggest P2P lenders in Indonesia. According to Amartha, the… Read More

February 24, 2021 @ 9:46 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Pulse of Fintech H2’20, a bi-annual report on international Fintech investment developments released by KPMG, notes that global Fintech funding across mergers-and-acquisitions (M&A), private equity (PE) and venture capital (VC) stood at $105 billion across 2,861 different deals in 2020. This was reportedly the third-highest… Read More

February 24, 2021 @ 8:54 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Singapore-based DBS Bank Ltd (SGX:D05), a multinational banking and financial services corporation with over $330 billion in assets, is reportedly using facial biometrics for handling online corporate account opening processes for small businesses. This should help the bank with speeding up information authentication and verification…. Read More

February 24, 2021 @ 8:02 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

MC Payment Limited has revealed that it’s now listed on the Singapore Exchange’s (SGX) Catalist. The company claims that it’s the first digital payments platform to be listed on Catalist. With a market cap of around S$139 million (appr. $105.4 million), the listing of MC… Read More

February 24, 2021 @ 8:16 am By Omar Faridi  |  

We recently connected with Markus Jun, the founder and CEO of ICON Hyperconnect Public Representative, a leading block validator for the ICON network with $20 million in total staked value, and Hyperconnector, an official accelerator partner of the ICON Foundation & ICX Station Seoul. Markus… Read More

February 23, 2021 @ 11:35 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Islamabad-based Fintech firm SadaPay has introduced the region’s first numberless debit card. SadaPay’s management confirmed that the company’s debit card is now officially the first numberless card to be launched across all of the MENA region. The SadaPay team noted in a blog post: “This… Read More

February 22, 2021 @ 9:57 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

The reserve bank in Saudi Arabia has introduced an instant payments solution, called the “Sarie” system, in order to carry out low-value transactions within the country. The Saudi reserve bank (SAMA) noted that the new initiative will allow banking customers in the Kingdom to accept… Read More

February 22, 2021 @ 1:24 pm By Samantha Hurst  |  

Mox, Standard Chartered virtual bang that is based in Hong Kong, announced on Monday its latest progress update. The virtual bank launched in September 2020 and as previously reported, it was created in partnership with PCCW, HKT, and Trip.com “With Mox, opening an account is… Read More

February 19, 2021 @ 8:55 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

The ICON Foundation has confirmed that blockchain-enabled platform ICON, one of the largest DLT initiatives in South Korea, has introduced a dedicated audit fund. The initiative has been launched in order to support the secure development for ICON’s evolving ecosystem. The ICON Foundation noted that… Read More

February 19, 2021 @ 8:29 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Digital banking challenger BigPay has confirmed that it will be expanding its suite of financial services with the introduction of cash top up at all 7-Eleven stores based in Malaysia. BigPay’s management noted that more than 1.3 million of the firm’s Malaysian clients may now… Read More

February 19, 2021 @ 7:51 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Southeast Asia-based Funding Societies, a digital financing platform, has revealed that it has made S$2 billion (appr. $1.5 billion) in disbursals of business financing to SMEs across the region as the company enters its sixth year of offering loans. Funding Societies’ management noted that the… Read More

February 19, 2021 @ 12:29 pm By JD Alois  |  

High-performance blockchain ecosystem Zilliqa has invested in XCADEMY, described as an online and mobile YouTube academy. The investment is part of a partnership where Zilliqa and XCADEMY plan a blockchain-based influencer economy, allowing content creators to monetize their content and incentivize user engagement by tokenization…. Read More

February 19, 2021 @ 8:51 am By Omar Faridi  |  

BioCatch, a digital identity firm, has revealed that it has acquired a registered US patent for the method it uses to verify a user’s identity and for detecting fraud. According to BioCatch, the verification process is based on the manner in which the user holds… Read More

February 19, 2021 @ 7:23 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

  Deutsche Bank (XETRA: DBKGn.DB /NYSE: DB) announced on Thursday it has joined forces with Southeast Asia’s 2C2P to launch a digital payments platform in Thailand. The banking group reported that through 2C2P’s platform,  corporate clients in Thailand will be able to maximize their business… Read More

February 18, 2021 @ 11:21 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Stock trading volumes in Hong Kong have reportedly increased by as much as 4x compared to those on London’s main stock exchange, as large tech stocks continue to attract investors from other jurisdictions. Some have referred to Hong Kong’s stock trading as the “Nasdaq of… Read More

February 17, 2021 @ 11:22 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Bengaluru-based Fintech lending firm KreditBee has finalized a $75 million Series C equity round which included participation from Premji Invest, Mirae Asset Naver Asia Growth Fund, Alpine Capital and Arkam Ventures (consisting of both primary and secondary investment). Madhusudan E, Co-Founder & CEO of KreditBee,… Read More

February 17, 2021 @ 10:41 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Blockchain startup Lightnet has teamed up with MoneyGram, a leading provider of cross-border peer to peer payments and money transfer services. MoneyGram will be integrating Lightnet’s technology with its fund transfer services so that customers can access a wide range of payout services across the… Read More

February 17, 2021 @ 10:33 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Digital banking platform Revolut has launched a financial app that has been developed specifically for kids. The Fintech app is controlled by the child’s parent or their legal guardian so that they are able to monitor how the tools are being used. This new app… Read More

February 17, 2021 @ 8:06 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Malaysia-based Tranglo, a cross-border payment firm, has established four new payment channels that are connected to financial networks in Brazil, Ghana, Nigeria, and Uganda. The payment corridors mark the Fintech firm’s first entry into Sub Saharan Africa and Latin American (LatAm) regions. Tranglo’s management stated… Read More