Asia

December 27, 2019 @ 11:44 am By Omar Faridi  |  

OneConnect recently launched SBI OneConnect Japan (in Tokyo), which is a joint initiative with Japanese financial services giant SBI Holdings. The platform offers cloud-powered and artificial intelligence (AI)-enhanced technological services to local financial institutions in order to assist them with their digital transformation efforts. In… Read More

December 27, 2019 @ 9:28 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

Euronet Worldwide (NASDAQ: EEFT), a global fintech solutions and payments provider, recently announced it has teamed up with Visa to fuel and sustain the growth of fintech companies in the Asia Pacific region. According to Euronet, the partnership utilizes Euronet’s Digital Integrated Payment Cloud (DIPC)… Read More

December 26, 2019 @ 4:08 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

India-headquartered Finly, a Fintech firm that automates accounts payable for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), has acquired capital via an investment round from Social Capital and AngelList India. Other investors that took part in Finly’s latest round include Gemba Capital, Omphalos Ventures, and 91springboard through… Read More

December 26, 2019 @ 1:41 pm By Samantha Hurst  |  

Privacy Coin Zcoin (XZC) announced on Thursday the launch of its new crowdfunding system (ZCS) in an effort to decentralizing funding and decision making of the project. The platform revealed: “The Zcoin team intends for the ZCS to serve as a transition from funding directly… Read More

December 26, 2019 @ 9:53 am By Omar Faridi  |  

China Rapid Finance Limited (NYSE: XRF), an established Chinese Fintech firm, revealed on December 24 that True North Financial, LLC has invested $8 million in a private transaction for unregistered shares of the Rapid Finance’s company stock. Shares in China Rapid Finance jumped on the… Read More

December 26, 2019 @ 8:05 am By Omar Faridi  |  

The Shenzhen Stock Exchange (SSE), the stock exchange of China’s leading technology hub Shenzhen city, has introduced an index that tracks the performance of the country’s top 50 blockchain startups. As noted in an announcement on December 24, the performance index will be based on… Read More

December 25, 2019 @ 11:30 pm By Xu Gao  |  

China to Enact Personal Information Protection Law and Data Security Law in 2020 On December 20th, the Legislative Affairs Commission of the NPC Standing Committee held its third press conference. According to the Legislative Law of the People’s Republic of China, the Standing Committee of… Read More

December 25, 2019 @ 9:28 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Malaysia now appears to be a promising market for virtual or challenger banks, according to Big Four auditing firm PricewaterhouseCoopers’ (PwC) Malaysia division. The country’s reserve bank is planning to introduce its virtual or digital banking licensing guidelines for industry consultation. In a recent interview,… Read More

December 24, 2019 @ 12:33 pm By JD Alois  |  

Earlier this year the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) revealed its intent to issue digital bank licenses. Announced in June, applicants have until the end of this year (December 31) to apply. This means a license for digital-only banks. Existing traditional banks that offer digital… Read More

December 24, 2019 @ 11:50 am By Cali Haan  |  

Police in Tangshen, a city in China’s northeastern coastal province of Hebei, have seized three privately-installed high-power electricity transformers directing stolen electricity to 790 bitcoin mining machines running in an adjacent village. The machines have also been seized, CCTV reports. Police claim the electricity commandeered… Read More

December 24, 2019 @ 11:08 am By Omar Faridi  |  

SoftBank Group-backed Grab Financial Group will reportedly be applying for an online banking license in Singapore, as the company believes that financial businesses will be a key driver for its future growth and development. If Grab manages to acquire the license, then consumers and small… Read More

December 24, 2019 @ 10:58 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Tencent, which operates the popular Chinese social media app WeChat, is reportedly planning to establish a digital currency research division in order to support the ongoing development and advancement of blockchain or distributed ledger technology (DLT) initiatives. Chinese media outlet iFeng revealed on December 23… Read More

December 24, 2019 @ 8:26 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Quantiphi, a US and India-headquartered applied artificial intelligence (AI) and Big Data analytics services firm, has raised $20 million via a Series A round from Multiples Alternate Asset Management. Quantiphi offers applied AI and Big Data solutions to Fortune 500 companies across several major sectors… Read More

December 24, 2019 @ 8:19 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Mu Changchun, deputy director at the People’s Bank of China’s (PBoC), recently stated that the digital yuan (under development) will be fundamentally different from Bitcoin (BTC), the flagship cryptocurrency. The electronic yuan will also be different from stablecoins, which are digital assets pegged one-to-one with… Read More

December 23, 2019 @ 5:32 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

ZA Bank Ltd. is reportedly testing internet-only banking solutions in Hong Kong, which notably makes it the first organization to provide such services in the city as the Asian financial hub continues to promote the development of Fintech-related projects. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority began… Read More

December 23, 2019 @ 11:51 am By JD Alois  |  

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) has published a report entitled “Reshaping Banking with Artificial Intelligence.” The Report is part of a series of publications on applying AI technology, including Robo-advisors, to the banking industry. Hong Kong has emerged as a top Asian Fintech hub… Read More

December 23, 2019 @ 10:45 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

FinVolution Group, a China-based fintech that connects underserved individual borrows with financial institutions, announced on Monday it received a license for Technology and Information-Based Financial Lending Institution (peer-to-peer lending license) from the Financial Services Authority of Indonesia.  As previously reported, FinVolution claims to be a pioneer… Read More

December 23, 2019 @ 10:43 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Foreign residents in South Korea will have the option of using the all-digital Kakao Bank and K bank beginning next year, as the country’s financial regulators will let consumers use their alien registration cards to open accounts via the internet. South Korea’s financial regulator, the… Read More

December 23, 2019 @ 10:37 am By JD Alois  |  

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), the securities regulator for the country, has commenced consultation on “E-money and digital payment tokens (DPTs).” Singapore is a well-recognized Fintech hub. Financial innovation in the country has been aided by the explicit support of policymakers including the leading… Read More

December 23, 2019 @ 9:16 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Sweden-headquartered TrueCaller, a company that runs a caller-identification system, is further expanding its financial services business. The firm is piloting a new program to offer credit to small business owners based in India, which reportedly make up around 20 million of the total 140 million… Read More