Global

March 19, 2020 @ 8:07 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

There are many outstanding or unanswered regulatory questions, after the recent guidelines provided by the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission. They require virtual asset fund managers to work with licensed custodians as they are tasked with controlling or managing assets both on-chain, and on… Read More

March 19, 2020 @ 7:40 pm By JD Alois  |  

Celsius Network, a blockchain-based marketplace platform, is reporting profitability after just 18 months of operation. The crypto platform enables users to borrow or lend crypto assets. The company claims that it distributes 80% of its revenue back to the depositor community as weekly interest income…. Read More

March 19, 2020 @ 1:00 pm By JD Alois  |  

The UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is widely recognized as the leading securities regulator when it comes to fostering Fintech innovation. The FCA has engendered an innovation-friendly ecosystem due to multiple operational characteristics but one of them, the Regulatory Sandbox, has been emulated widely around… Read More

March 19, 2020 @ 11:25 am By JD Alois  |  

Linked Finance a leading peer to peer lender in Ireland, has announced a range of actions to assist borrowers impacted by the Coronavirus, or COVID-19, pandemic. Linked Finance said that an automatic 2-month payment brake will be applied to all loans to the hospitality trade…. Read More

March 19, 2020 @ 9:34 am By JD Alois  |  

Earlier this week Alexey Guznov, Director of the Legal Department of the Bank of Russia, was interviewed by Interfax on a diverse range of topics. The discussion also included the regulatory approach to digital assets and pending legislation. Currently, there is draft legislation in the… Read More

March 19, 2020 @ 9:05 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Digital asset exchange Binance has introduced peer-to-peer (P2P) cryptocurrency trading options which support five major Latin American fiat currencies. Traders that use Binance’s P2P exchange will be able to purchase and sell digital currencies directly with the Argentine peso (ARS), Brazilian real (BRL), Colombian peso… Read More

March 19, 2020 @ 8:49 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

ID Finance, the emerging markets fintech firm, announced on Thursday it has achieved revenue of €81 million in 2019. The company reported that this represents 96% growth for its business in Spain, Brazil, and Mexico. Founded in 2012, ID Finance claims to be a leading… Read More

March 19, 2020 @ 8:10 am By JD Alois  |  

The European Central Bank (ECB) Governing Council has announced a €750 billion bailout package to mitigate the economic impact of the Coronavirus or COVID-19. The ECB decided to: To launch a new temporary asset purchase programme of private and public sector securities to counter the… Read More

March 19, 2020 @ 7:42 am By Omar Faridi  |  

London-based Payhawk, a corporate expense management company, has secured €3 million in seed funding. Founded in Bulgaria, Payhawk’s paperless expense management platform aims to improve the  corporate expense management process. The Fintech firm allows companies to add funds to employee cards and automatically process transactions… Read More

March 19, 2020 @ 1:34 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Latvia-headquartered Citadele Bank has teamed up with Baltics’ non-bank factoring provider, SME Finance, and has invested €10 million in the company. The bank also noted that it would be offering a loan relief program to clients who may have been affected by the coronavirus (COVID-19)… Read More

March 19, 2020 @ 12:12 am By JD Alois  |  

Finnest, an Austria based Fintech that provides debt capital to small and medium-sized firms via a crowdfunding platform is out with a note on the Coronavirus. The online lender says that now is the time for digital platforms to show strength during the COVID-19 induced… Read More

March 18, 2020 @ 9:52 am By JD Alois  |  

Hedera Hashgraph an “enterprise-grade” distributed ledger technology (DLT) that seeks to solve many of the issues plaguing existing iterations of blockchain, has received a nice endorsement of sorts. Wipro Limited (NYSE:WIT) has joined the Hedera Governing Council.  Wipro is an India-based IT company. Wipro operates… Read More

March 18, 2020 @ 9:03 am By JD Alois  |  

OurCrowd, the largest securities crowdfunding platform in the world, has distributed a note highlighting its portfolio companies that are redirecting their efforts to help mitigate the impact of the Coronavirus pandemic. Reported earlier, Sight Diagnostics is providing its OLO blood analyzer to be utilized at Tel… Read More

March 18, 2020 @ 9:00 am By JD Alois  |  

Sight Diagnostics, an OurCrowd portfolio company, is helping to lead the response to the Coronavirus pandemic. Sight’s OLO, a compact blood analyzer that can provide rapid, lab-grade CBC [complete blood count] results, has been installed in Sheba Tel Hashomer’s (Israel’s largest hospital that is supported… Read More

March 18, 2020 @ 8:08 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Khatabook, a business app that helps micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs)  with performing digital transactions, has revealed that it has entered a partnership with former Indian Cricket captain Mahendra Singh (MS) Dhoni. MS Dhoni, the World Cup-winning skipper, will make a strategic investment in… Read More

March 18, 2020 @ 7:56 am By Omar Faridi  |  

AMTD Digital, the digital finance division of AMTD Group, has revealed that it will be acquiring a controlling stake in PolicyPal, a firm that’s licensed by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS). PolicyPal is notably the first graduate of MAS’s Fintech regulatory sandbox program. The… Read More

March 18, 2020 @ 7:45 am By JD Alois  |  

Leading UK crowdfunding platform Seedrs has distributed an email indicating it has transitioned to a virtual operation as employees are now working from home. The company said that as an online business the company was able to migrate to a remote business with “very minimal… Read More

March 18, 2020 @ 12:58 am By Omar Faridi  |  

India-headquartered PhonePe, a major digital payments platform, has been diversifying its line of products and services, which initially included only a mobile wallet (and a few other services). PhonePe is planning to become a full-fledged financial services firm, and has been working toward this goal… Read More

March 18, 2020 @ 12:15 am By JD Alois  |  

Digital bank Revolut is looking to teach the youth safe ways to manage their money. As society transitions away from physical banks to ubiquitous, app-based financial services, Revolut sees an opportunity to accelerate money management skills for life. Today, Revolut is launching “Revolut Junior” –… Read More

March 17, 2020 @ 11:36 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Oman’s Ministry of Technology and Communications (MTC) has committed to a memorandum of cooperation (MoC) with BankDhofar at the Sas Center for the 4th Industrial Revolution (4IR), in order to manage a technology innovation lab at the center. The MoC was reportedly signed by Dr…. Read More