Asia

August 12, 2019 @ 5:19 pm By Cali Haan  |  

After five years in development, the deputy director of the People’s Bank of China’s Payments and Settlement Division, Mu Changchun, says, “(The) People’s Bank digital currency can now be said to be ready.” Shanghai Securities News (SSN) writes that  Mu made the announcement at the third… Read More

August 11, 2019 @ 10:26 pm By Samantha Hurst  |  

BitKan, an Asian-based cryptocurrency services platform, announced on Friday it has joined forces with Bitcoin.com. Founded in 2012, BitKan stated it provides a one-step integrated platform the crypto services, which includes a platform for crypto market data, a crypt wallet, and a crypto community. While… Read More

August 11, 2019 @ 8:02 pm By X.Y. Ng  |  

Thanks to the rise of peer-to-business (P2B) lending, the concept of Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) debt as an asset class has altered for the better. With low risk of default and high-interest rate returns, it is now possible to invest in SME debt at… Read More

August 10, 2019 @ 3:26 pm By Cali Haan  |  

About 15 countries are collaborating on a system to collect and share identifying data about individuals trading cryptocurrencies, Nikkei Asian Review reports. The news follows other reports this week that Japan’s Ministry of Finance and Financial Services Agency (FSA) have offered to build a regulated global network… Read More

August 10, 2019 @ 3:17 pm By Xu Gao  |  

Ride-Sharing Platform DiDi Plans to Set up a Private Bank Didi Chuxing (DiDi) is a leading ride-sharing platform in China. After making its debut in online micro-lending, insurance, payments, and financial leasing industries, Didi is aiming to acquire a banking license and establish a private… Read More

August 9, 2019 @ 10:29 am By JD Alois  |  

MERJ Exchange, formerly Trop-X Limited, has claimed the first-ever, fully compliant and regulated security token issued by a national stock exchange. MERJ is licensed by the Seychelles Financial Services Authority. As Crowdfund Insider reported last week, MERJ is an exchange for equities, debt, and derivatives… Read More

August 8, 2019 @ 10:28 pm By Cali Haan  |  

South Korean financial regulators are planning to align the country with widely adopted FATF global guidelines by directly regulating crypto exchanges in the country under a licensing regime, Business Korea (BK) reports. The new FATF guidelines require crypto exchanges to report transactions that exceed a certain… Read More

August 8, 2019 @ 10:31 am By JD Alois  |  

Regulated crypto exchange SBI VC (spun out from SoftBank), based in Japan, is now FATF compliant. Earlier this year FATF announced a set of requirements regarding “virtual asset service providers” or VASPs (mainly crypto exchanges). These new rules require the tracking and storing of all… Read More

August 8, 2019 @ 12:00 am By JD Alois  |  

Viva Republica, a payments and transfer Fintech that operates under the Toss brand, has raised $64 million in funding at a $2.2 billion valuation. The funding was led by Hong Kong-based Aspex Management. Existing investors Kleiner Perkins, Altos Ventures, Goodwater Capital, GIC, Sequoia Capital China,… Read More

August 7, 2019 @ 3:12 pm By Samantha Hurst  |  

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) announced on Wednesday it launched Sandbox Express to provide firms with a faster option to test financial products and services in the market. MAS reported that eligible applicants can begin market testing in the pre-defined environment of Sandbox Express… Read More

August 7, 2019 @ 4:03 am By Cali Haan  |  

Japan financial authorities are building a regulated global network for cryptocurrency transfers and trades similar to SWIFT, an anonymous source from the Japanese governments has told Reuters. The system will be developed in cooperation with other countries sand should launch within a few years. Reuters… Read More

August 7, 2019 @ 2:42 am By Cali Haan  |  

Kyle Bass, a fund manager who predicted the 2008 economic crisis says the troubles in Hong Kong, US-China trade tensions and Chinese debt are probably incentivizing capital flight into Bitcoin, gold, and other currencies as investors and citizens seek refuge from a depreciating yuan. “If… Read More

August 6, 2019 @ 9:22 pm By JD Alois  |  

According to a recent survey, in Singapore digital banking has some pent up demand. JD Power has published a brief retail banking satisfaction study and, according to their numbers, 65% of consumers are interested in opening digital bank accounts. This is an increase from the… Read More

August 6, 2019 @ 3:54 pm By Samantha Hurst  |  

LiquidX, a global network for illiquid assets, announced on Tuesday it has welcomed DBS Bank to its network. According to LiquidX, DBS is a financial services group in Asia that has successfully completed a primary receivables transaction with one of its key relationship clients through… Read More

August 6, 2019 @ 9:18 am By JD Alois  |  

ZhongAn Fintech Institute and KPMG China have joined together to publish a report, Insurtech: Infrastructure for New Insurance, on the fast emerging Insurtech marketplace. ZhongAn is an online-only Insurtech firm backed by some of the biggest names in China tech. ZhongAn trades on the Hong… Read More

August 6, 2019 @ 2:40 am By Cali Haan  |  

Police Major Gen Preecha Charoensahayanon, chief of Thailand’s Anti-Money Laundering Office (AMLO) says cryptocurrencies, “will be a tool of new money laundering,” in the country going forward. “That’s why we’re amending laws to prepare us for new online missions,” Charoensahayanon told The Bangkok Post. Charoensahayanon… Read More

August 5, 2019 @ 3:44 pm By Samantha Hurst  |  

Citi Hong Kong announced last week the launch of Citi PayAll, a payment solution that enables Citibank credit cardholders to settle one-off or recurring payments on the Citi Mobile App using their credit card while earning Points at the same time. According to Citi Hong… Read More

August 5, 2019 @ 9:03 am By JD Alois  |  

Bitcoin is moving higher, once again, as the trade war between the US and China escalates. Yesterday, the Yuan dropped below 7 to the dollar with the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) blaming the decline “to unilateral trade protectionism, as well as expectations of more… Read More

August 5, 2019 @ 8:24 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

Chinese fintech Pintec Technology Holdings Limited (PINTEC) announced on Monday it has formed a new partnership with Chinese travel service provider, Caissa Travel. According to Pintec, the collaboration will bring together both companies to cooperate in consumer finance and information technology to embrace the rising… Read More

August 3, 2019 @ 12:10 pm By Xu Gao  |  

People’s Bank of China Publishes Trial Regulatory Measures on Financial Holding Companies On July 26th, the People’s Bank of China (PBC) published the Trial Measures on Supervision and Regulation of Financial Holding Companies (Exposure Draft) (hereinafter referred to as the Measures) and sought for feedback… Read More