Asia

March 25, 2016 @ 11:25 am By Lao Zhuo, Weiyangx  |  

The property prices in China’s major cities has surged in recent months, first in Shenzhen, then Shanghai and Beijing. The rapid appreciation of property is drawing people’s attention back to the concept of real estate crowdfunding. Four types of real estate crowdfunding Real estate crowdfunding… Read More

March 21, 2016 @ 8:31 am By JD Alois  |  

FundedHere, an equity and debt based crowdfunding platform, has claimed the title of “First” as it has received a Capital Markets Services (CMS) license on March 18, 2016 to operate by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS). The license allows FundedHere to deal in securities… Read More

March 18, 2016 @ 9:22 am By JD Alois  |  

  Crowd2Fund has just revealed it is going global. According to information provided by the crowdfunding platform, Crowd2Fund has opened its platform to investors in 163 different countries to create accounts and invest in UK SMEs.  Crowd2Fund is an FCA regulated platform that offers both… Read More

March 17, 2016 @ 6:19 am By Erin Hobey  |  

TradeSocio, a fintech company founded in 2014 that aims to enable brokers, banks, and financial institutions to better utilize social trading, marketing automation, analytics and big data, announced its $1.25 million seed funding round led by Octava, a Singapore-based investment holding group, according to a statement…. Read More

March 16, 2016 @ 11:03 am By JD Alois  |  

The Asia-Pacific Alternative Finance Benchmarking Report has just been published and it highlights the largest region in the world for disruptive finance. Entitled, “Harnessing Potential”, this is the first report for the region and has been created by a partnership of researchers, including the Cambridge… Read More

March 15, 2016 @ 9:04 pm By JD Alois  |  

The China Banking Regulatory Commission is talking tough when it comes to bogus online lenders. As reported in the China Daily,  Shang Fulin, Chairman of the CBRC, explained at a news conference regulators were cracking down of dodgy platforms; “The CBRC will strengthen regulation, intensify… Read More

March 15, 2016 @ 10:41 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

On Tuesday, CoAssets (NSX code: CAX), a Singapore-based crowdfunding platform, announced it has appointed ex-chief artillery officer, Lawrence Lim, as its new COO. The COO appointment comes less than a week after CoAssets announced its expansion in Australia. Speaking about the appointment, which will go into… Read More

March 14, 2016 @ 11:56 am By JD Alois  |  

In response to the rapid increase of Fintech in Asia, a new conference has been launched to address the fast changing environment for financial firms. The 2016  Fintech Law in Asia Conference is scheduled to take place at Nagoya University in Japan this April. The… Read More

March 14, 2016 @ 11:14 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

On Sunday, the Supreme People’s Court of the People’s Republic of China (SPC) announced that the country’s court system handled approximately 1.42 million cases regarding peer-to-peer lending during 2015. As reported by Xinhua, during the annual parliamentary session, SPC President, Zhou Qiang, noted that the… Read More

March 10, 2016 @ 4:30 am By Erin Hobey  |  

2015 was the year that financial technology entered the mainstream, claims the new report “Pulse of Fintech” from KPMG and CB Insights (see also the University of Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance  seminal benchmarking surveys last year), which estimates that VC-backed fintech firms around the world secured $13.8 billion in… Read More

March 8, 2016 @ 1:43 pm By Samantha Hurst  |  

Real estate crowdfunding software provider, Katipult, announced this week it is looking to establish its compliance solution in various countries outside the U.S. including UK, Singapore, Australia & Canada.  The announcement came at a private investor event facilitated by the Global Fintech Group, where the company… Read More

March 8, 2016 @ 2:29 am By Midori Yoshimura  |  

Israel’s fintech scene is a can’t-miss these days. As a recent example, Chinese venture capital firm Pando Group has invested US$2 million (HK$15.53 million) in Israeli financial technology (fintech) hub The Floor in Tel Aviv, notes the South China Morning Post. The funds support the creation of… Read More

March 6, 2016 @ 11:06 am By JD Alois  |  

Last week global equity crowdfunding platform OurCrowd announced a significant partnership with United Overseas Bank (UOB).  The OurCrowd arrangement is part of the platforms deeper push into Asia and the robust startup scene. UOB is the third largest bank in Southeast Asia by total assets…. Read More

March 3, 2016 @ 6:57 am By Erin Hobey  |  

Thomson Reuters,  a leading source of global news and information for professional markets, announced its partnership with FinTech accelerator SuperCharger to bring technology and market data access to FinTech firms undergoing its Hong Kong based program. “Hong Kong continues to be a leading and dynamic… Read More

March 3, 2016 @ 6:07 am By Erin Hobey  |  

Mercari, a Japanese peer-to-peer marketplace, has raised around $75 million ( 8.4 billion yen) at a reported valuation of more than $1 billion, reported Red Herring. The company’s Series D investment round includes Mitsui & Co, Development Bank of Japan and Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank’s Japan… Read More

March 2, 2016 @ 11:00 pm By JD Alois  |  

  United Overseas Bank (UOB) has formed a partnership with OurCrowd to provide equity crowdfunding in Southeast Asia. UOB is a leading Asian banking with over 500 offices in 19 different countries and territories around the world. Incorporated in 1935, UOB is based in Singapore… Read More

March 2, 2016 @ 3:51 pm By Samantha Hurst  |  

Yirendai Ltd. (NYSE: YRD),  an online consumer finance marketplace in China, announced this week it will be considered as the first online consumer finance marketplace in China facilitating consumer loan products with asset-backed security (“ABS”) structure. Yirendai reported that as part of its strategy to diversify and expand… Read More

March 2, 2016 @ 11:17 am By JD Alois  |  

As Fintech heats up around the world, a growing number of government’s are looking for ways to engender a vibrant Fintech entrepreneurial ecosystem.  Finance is a profoundly important industry and the entire sector is quickly moving online.  While the UK is broadly viewed as the… Read More

March 1, 2016 @ 10:55 pm By JD Alois  |  

DANAdidik has launched Indonesia’s first peer to peer lending platform for micro student loans. The new platform was described as a step to provide an equal education opportunity for Indonesian students. DANAdidik says it facilitates: (i) students that are looking for education loan and (ii) sponsors… Read More

February 29, 2016 @ 10:43 pm By Spencer Li  |  

Following the much-talked-about Ezubao $7.6 billion Ponzi scheme collapse at the end of last year, the perception and outlook of the Chinese online lending industry has grown increasingly negative both within and outside of China. Murmurs of regulation began floating around in early 2014 but… Read More