Asia

October 4, 2020 @ 2:01 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Fady Abdel-Nour, Head of Global M&A and Investments at PayU, a Fintech firm that provides payment technology to online merchants, has noted that regulators in Southeast Asia are working hard to ensure that digital payments are adopted by consumers. Abdel-Nour has pointed out that UPI,… Read More

October 4, 2020 @ 6:50 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Fintech companies in India are now expecting to make a recovery within the next six months, after being hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic, which has led to many people losing their jobs and businesses shutting down. Indian Fintech firms including payments, lending and neobanking… Read More

October 3, 2020 @ 7:35 am By Omar Faridi  |  

The Indonesian Fintech Lenders Association (AFPI) has reportedly decided to establish a special task force to assist peer-to-peer (P2P) Fintech companies with the significant increase in bad loans – which may have resulted from the socioeconomic challenges created due to the Coronavirus crisis. Adrian Gunadi,… Read More

October 3, 2020 @ 7:32 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Fintech Saudi, an initiative that’s supported by startup accelerator, Flat6Labs, has announced that it’s launching a 3-months-long innovation and entrepreneurship program. The program will aim to bring together Fintech Saudi’s extensive MENA region market reach and Flat6Labs’ resources, in order to provide up to 10… Read More

September 30, 2020 @ 10:36 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Singapore‘s United Overseas Bank (UOB), a multinational banking organization with branches mostly based in Southeast Asian countries, has reportedly become the world’s first lender to use a new Visa API that allows clients to add cards to third-party apps without having to carry or use… Read More

September 30, 2020 @ 8:21 am By JD Alois  |  

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has told bankrupt Fintech Wirecard (WDI.DE) to halt payment services in Singapore and to return all customer funds by October 14, 2020. MAS states that it has been monitoring Wirecard’s bankruptcy proceedings and the ability of the company to provide… Read More

September 30, 2020 @ 8:19 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

Cryptocurrency exchange bitFlyer announced on Tuesday the launch of cross-border trading on its platform. bitFlyer reported that its users in Europe will be able to have access to bitcoin markets in Japan, while still using a European-regulated platform. Launched in 2018, bitFlyer describes itself as… Read More

September 30, 2020 @ 7:28 am By Omar Faridi  |  

UK-based Fintech firm Fasset, a provider of blockchain-based solutions for the financing of sustainable infrastructure, has reportedly been approved or authorized to test out its software which tokenizes hard assets. The project is part of Bahrain’s Fintech regulatory sandbox program. The permit was issued by… Read More

September 29, 2020 @ 9:26 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Philippines-based PayMongo, an online payments platform, has secured $12 million in capital through a Series A investment round led by payments processor Stripe PayMongo provides an online payments API for businesses in the Philippines. The Fintech firm has taken part in Y Combinator’s Accelerator program…. Read More

September 29, 2020 @ 8:08 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Vietnam based Timo Plus, a digital banking platform, is reportedly planning to “relaunch” its services as e-commerce activity in the country has really picked up (due to COVID). Timo Plus is Vietnam’s very first digital bank. The company’s management stated on September 28, 2020, that… Read More

September 29, 2020 @ 2:53 pm By JD Alois  |  

BukuWarung, a Fintech based in Indonesia, has received over 8-figure US dollars in funding, spread over three rounds in 2020, according to a note from the company following its graduation from Y-Combinator. Investors in this round include Partners of DST Global, GMO Venture Partners, Soma… Read More

September 28, 2020 @ 9:45 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Fintech firms in Qatar are focused on improving the customer experience by providing more accessible financial services. Fintech solutions providers are helping with enabling greater financial inclusion, lower operational costs, and offering better security for applications, according to Burak Zatiturk, the Financial Services Leader at… Read More

September 28, 2020 @ 6:34 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Razer Fintech’s management has said that the company is planning to acquire a virtual banking license and that it’s willing to work independently or as part of a consortium. The Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM), the nation’s central bank, has confirmed that it will issue five… Read More

September 28, 2020 @ 11:53 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Chainalysis, a leading blockchain analysis firm, has revealed that it will establish two new offices in Singapore and Tokyo. The company stated that it remains focused on fully supporting local crypto and blockchain companies. It’s also helping government agencies and traditional financial institutions with monitoring… Read More

September 28, 2020 @ 9:16 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Sridhar Iyer, the Executive Vice President and Head of Mashreq Neo (the digital banking division launched in 2017), recently noted that the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has one of the highest smartphone or mobile Internet penetrations rates in the world. Iyer claims that the UAE’s… Read More

September 28, 2020 @ 8:27 am By Omar Faridi  |  

OneConnect Financial Technology Co., Ltd. (NYSE: OCFT), an established technology-as-a-service platform for financial institutions, has won the Platinum Award for Digital Banking at the IFTA FinTech Achievement Awards 2019, “in recognition for the innovation of its OneConnect Bank Solution.” Daniel Ling, GM at OneConnect’s Hong… Read More

September 27, 2020 @ 7:07 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Markus Jun, founder and CEO of ICON’s Accelerator Partner and Seoul Launchpad of ICXStation, HyperConnector (online accelerator for the ICON ecosystem), recently confirmed that ICONLOOP will be working cooperatively with Pohang, POSCO and POSTECH to develop a (decentralized ID) DID ecosystem with MyID. Jun noted… Read More

September 27, 2020 @ 6:16 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Mo Ali Yusuf, the VP at Checkout.com for the MENA and Asia Pacific Region, says he’s looking forward to teaming up with NiFT and the Fintech ecosystem in Pakistan in order to support the growth of digital commerce and virtual payments in the country. Pakistan’s… Read More

September 27, 2020 @ 4:25 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Indonesia’s regulatory authorities and local Fintech firms have been focused on creating a balance that will support innovative projects in the country, while maintaining regulatory guidelines that ensure consumer protection. Triyono, the head of Indonesia’s Financial Services Authority (OJK), stated on September 25, 2020, that… Read More

September 27, 2020 @ 4:18 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Retail spending and activity levels in India have now recovered to around 90% of pre- COVID-19 levels after dropping to around 55-65% of their average back in April 2020. The pace of the adoption of digital services across major channels has accelerated due to the… Read More