Asia

January 21, 2025 @ 9:47 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Numou, a subsidiary of ADGM the international financial centre of Abu Dhabi, announced an expansion of its lending partner network, strengthening its position as a digital lending marketplace. The platform reportedly features collaborations with institutions, including the Khalifa Fund for Enterprise Development and private credit… Read More

January 21, 2025 @ 9:11 pm By Michael Wong  |  

Skor Technologies, the Indonesian parent company of credit-education platform Skorlife and the Skorcard digital-first credit card, has raised $6.2 million in a pre Series-A funding round led by Southeast Asia-focused Argor Capital. The round also saw participation from existing backers QED Investors and Saison Capital,… Read More

January 21, 2025 @ 8:17 am By Michael Wong  |  

Amazon has signed an agreement to acquire Axio, a Bengaluru-based digital lending firm that provides credit access to underserved individuals and households across India. The acquisition, which awaits regulatory approval, is expected to bolster Amazon’s footprint in the rapidly growing digital lending market and strengthen… Read More

January 21, 2025 @ 8:13 am By Michael Wong  |  

Singapore-based Bitcoin mining firm BitFuFu Inc. has announced plans to acquire a majority stake in a 51-megawatt (MW) Bitcoin mining facility in Oklahoma. The company has signed a letter of intent for the transaction, which is expected to close in the first half of 2025,… Read More

January 20, 2025 @ 8:21 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

KuCoin, a global cryptocurrency exchange, is pleased to share the findings from its second edition of the KuCoin Campus Survey, conducted during the Vietnam Technology & Investment Summit (VTIS) 2024. With 926 participants surveyed from Dec 3 to Dec 4, 2024, the results underscore the… Read More

January 20, 2025 @ 3:23 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Binance are pleased to announce that it has reached an agreement with the National Agency of Perspective Projects of the Republic of Uzbekistan (NAPP), which confirms compliance with all applicable local regulatory requirements and authorizes the platform to “provide services to Uzbekistani residents under a… Read More

January 18, 2025 @ 12:54 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Accenture (NYSE: ACN) and Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Company have signed an agreement to collaborate on a comprehensive corporate transformation initiative that will use artificial intelligence (AI) to “reinvent how Meiji Yasuda’s workforce operates.” Under the multi-year agreement, until March 2030, Accenture will help Meiji… Read More

January 17, 2025 @ 7:11 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Thunes, the “Smart Superhighway” to move money around the world, today welcomes Hyperwallet, a PayPal service for global payouts, as a Member of Thunes’ Direct Global Network. As part of this network, Hyperwallet customers can send money in real-time to “more than 450 million mobile… Read More

January 17, 2025 @ 10:57 am By JD Alois  |  

China state-affiliated entities have been hacking both public and private organizations in the US for years now. This is part of China’s goal to usurp the US as the world’s top superpower.  In an embarrassing revelation, the US Department of Treasury was hacked, including, apparently,… Read More

January 17, 2025 @ 7:39 am By Omar Faridi  |  

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) reported “record-breaking” enforcement actions in 2024, while the value of fines issued by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) more than tripled year-on-year, according to SteelEye’s annual fine tracker. To create its annual… Read More

January 16, 2025 @ 7:01 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Fenergo, the provider of digital solutions for client lifecycle management (CLM), know your customer (KYC) and transaction monitoring, announced  the findings of its report on financial institution enforcement actions. Global regulatory fines in 2024 saw a decline in value from “$6.57 billion in 2023 to… Read More

January 16, 2025 @ 12:20 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Tokyo University of Science in Japan shares that a recent “breakthrough” will improve AI applications in finance, weather forecasting, and speech recognition. The innovation involves reservoir computing (RC). Researchers Dr. Masanobu Inubushi and Ms. Akane Ohkubo at the university have developed a “novel readout… Read More

January 14, 2025 @ 10:23 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Reap, a payment technology provider, is pleased to announce today that it has received an In-Principle Approval (IPA) from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) for its application of the Major Payment Institution (MPI) License for its Singapore entity, Reap Singapore. Obtaining the IPA marks… Read More

January 14, 2025 @ 9:22 pm By Michael Wong  |  

GCash, the leading fintech platform in the Philippines, has engaged major international banks for its upcoming initial public offering (IPO), potentially set for later this year, according to a Bloomberg report. The selected financial institutions include JPMorgan Chase & Co, Morgan Stanley, and UBS Group… Read More

January 14, 2025 @ 9:14 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Endowus, Asia’s digital wealth advisory platform has increased its total funding to over $110 million. As noted in the announcement, an additional raise of $17.5 million follows from their $35 million raise last year to take the total for this round to $52.5M. New investors… Read More

January 13, 2025 @ 10:35 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

HyperPay, the Saudi payments services provider (PSP) operating in the MENA region, reportedly obtained a license from the Saudi Central Bank (SAMA) in order to support the diversification and development of the financial services ecosystem in KSA. In line or consistent with its strategy to… Read More

January 13, 2025 @ 8:18 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

WeLab Bank announced its achievement of first-time breakeven in Dec of 2024 – which is just over 4 years after its establishment. This milestone exemplifies WeLab Bank’s ability to achieve profitability “at a pace faster than anticipated.” As mentioned in the announcement, the accomplishment was… Read More

January 13, 2025 @ 5:40 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

The combined market cap of the top 50 companies in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region surged to $8.1 trillion in 2024, reflecting a “20.6% year-on-year increase.” This, according to a report from GlobalData. Tech firms reportedly led the charge, with the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company and… Read More

January 13, 2025 @ 5:10 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Telr, the online payment gateway in the MENA, serving over 30,000 merchants across the region, announced a partnership with Apaya, the commerce automation platform. This partnership combines Telr’s comprehensive payment solutions in the UAE, KSA, Bahrain and Jordan, with Apaya’s no-code commerce automation platform, “enabling… Read More

January 13, 2025 @ 11:56 am By Omar Faridi  |  

HashKey Group, an end-to-end digital asset financial services group in Asia, announced that HashKey MENA FZE, a member of the HashKey Group, has received an In-Principle Approval (IPA) from the Dubai Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA) for its Virtual Asset Service Provider (VASP) license application…. Read More