Global

December 30, 2019 @ 7:32 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Digital bank Monzo is reportedly holding discussions with various large investors about potentially raising additional funds. Following its upcoming investment round, the company might become one of the UK’s largest Fintech startups. According to sources on the matter, Monzo is in talks with investors, some… Read More

December 29, 2019 @ 8:00 pm By Rowland Park and Simon Gregory  |  

Throughout the past year, the use of artificial intelligence (AI) and other forms of technology within the financial services industry has continued apace. This will increase further as it dovetails with enriched natural language processing (NLP) through 2020 and into the coming decade and lead… Read More

December 29, 2019 @ 7:27 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Australia-based Fintech firm Groupee has introduced a real-time payment app that lets groups of people share the cost of products or services they purchase. For example, the app allows people to split the cost for a meal, gift, and tickets. Groupee provides a prepaid Visa… Read More

December 29, 2019 @ 6:24 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

India-based Vakilsearch, a legal, tax and compliance firm, has again launched the Startup Gear campaign. The campaign is conducted twice each year in order to assist emerging businesses in adhering to regulatory requirements, and to help startups with company registration procedures, getting assistance in drafting… Read More

December 29, 2019 @ 12:23 pm By Cali Haan  |  

Lawmakers in Uzbekistan have made a sudden decision to ban the purchase of cryptocurrencies in the region. Securities.io elaborated on the development, stating, “The new legislation bars all citizens from buying digital currencies, even from licensed exchanges.” Citizens can reportedly sell their cryptocurrency holdings, but… Read More

December 29, 2019 @ 10:05 am By Omar Faridi  |  

António Guterres, secretary-general of the United Nations (UN), stated recently that the organization must encourage and support the ongoing development of blockchain technology. A December 28 Forbes report noted that Guterres believes that blockchain or distributed ledger technology (DLT) should be among the emerging technologies… Read More

December 28, 2019 @ 11:33 am By Timothy Li  |  

Part 2 of a series of articles covering the fast-emerging Fintech ecosystem in Latin America. As sessions continue at the inaugural FinnoSummit by LendIt Fintech in December, I find myself in a fully packed, standing room only hall buzzing with investors and entrepreneurs. The excitement… Read More

December 28, 2019 @ 10:01 am By Omar Faridi  |  

India-headquartered Aye Finance has acquired INR 1 billion (over $14 million) in debt funding from BlueOrchard. Aye Finance’s management noted that it will use the capital raised to further expand its line of products and services (in India), which mainly include its small to medium-sized… Read More

December 28, 2019 @ 9:00 am By Cali Haan  |  

Switzerland’s finance minister and outgoing president, Ueli Maurer, says he doesn’t think Facebook’s proposed Libra cryptocurrency project can proceed in its current form, Reuters reports. This is mainly, “because central banks will not accept the basket of currencies underpinning it,” Maurer claimed. “The project, in… Read More

December 27, 2019 @ 3:57 pm By Cali Haan  |  

Noting “signs of (a) resurgence of virtual currency trading activities in the country,” four finance regulators in China (the Beijing Local Financial Supervision Bureau, the People’s Bank of China Business Management Department, the Beijing Banking and Insurance Regulatory Bureau, and the Beijing Securities Regulatory Bureau)… Read More

December 27, 2019 @ 3:49 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) of the Philippines has stripped Robocash Finance Corp.’s authority to operate as a financing company for running several branches without the necessary license. According to the SEC, the Corporate Governance and Finance Department (CGFD) issued the order of revocation… Read More

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 @ 7:51 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Malta-headquartered digital asset exchange OKEx has introduced Bitcoin (BTC) options trading for a certain group of crypto traders ahead of their official public launch, which is scheduled for January of next year. According to a release, OKEx claims it’s ranked third-largest out of all digital… Read More

December 27, 2019 @ 6:53 am By Omar Faridi  |  

The Bank of Russia, the nation’s central bank, is reportedly testing various stablecoins, which are pegged to major fiat currencies or other types of real-world assets in a regulatory sandbox environment. Head of the Russian reserve bank, Elvira Nabiullina, says that the institution does not… 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 @ 8:17 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Banco de Brasil (BB), the third largest bank in Brazil, has teamed up with local Fintech firm Bom pra Crédito (BPC) (an acronym in Portuguese for “Good for Credit”). BPC provides a marketplace that displays and compares the different conditions for personal credit among 36… Read More

December 25, 2019 @ 11:49 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Aylien, an established provider of artificial intelligence (AI)-enhanced risk intelligence and financial analytics tools, revealed on December 23 that it secured €5 million (appr. $5.5 million) in funding via a Series A round. Aylien’s investment round was led by Finch Capital. Existing investors that also… 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