Fintech funding rebounds in Q2 but deal numbers continue to fall
VC-backed fintech deals dived from 452 in Q1 to 397 in Q2.
Asia Pacific
After divorce comes engagement for banks
For a bank to engage with a customer, they need to go beyond the initial request.
Indonesian fintech Ayoconnect raises $5m in Pre-Series B funding
Firm reaches total funding of more than $10m with new round.
BIS and HKMA launch trade technology challenge
New scheme kicks off with approval from a handful of Chinese regulators.
Grab launches micro-investment, third-party loan and BNPL offerings
The firm is further cementing itself in the financial services industry.
UK leads the way in Islamic fintech ahead of Malaysia and UAE
The UK is a notable eight ahead of second-place Malaysia.
IBM, Mizuho and MUFG join Japanese quantum innovation consortium
The Quantum Innovation Initiative Consortium aims to enable cooperation between sectors.
HSBC and Microsoft partner to support Hong Kong SMEs
The two firms have signed a year-long partnership.
How can fintech rise to the new D&I challenge?
If they don’t believe they are part of the problem, nothing will really change.
Singapore’s robo-advisor StashAway lands $16m led by Square Peg
The fintech last raised funding in July 2019.
Chinese regulators consider AliPay and WeChat antitrust probe
The People’s Bank of China is serious about curbing the giants’ dominance.
Volante lands $35m, its first capital raise in two decades
The firm wants to turbocharge its offering, customer base and geographical presence.
AMTD Group teams with SME partners ahead of Singa Bank’s launch
AMTD is yet to land a licence to launch the bank.
ComplyAdvantage raises $50m in Series C funding
The new capital will be put towards international expansion.
UAE’s remittance fintech Denarii Cash expands beyond Middle East
The new corridors span the Middle East, and into South East Asia and Africa.
WeLab Bank launches in Hong Kong
The challenger is offering users a numberless debit card.
Catering to China’s small-time exporters
Bill Deng, CEO of XTransfer, unpacks how banks have snubbed a large number of long-tail customers.
Thought Machine lands another $42m for Asia-Pacific expansion
It brings the firm’s Series B round to $125 million.
Mastercard extends cross-border services in China with Bank of Shanghai
Businesses can use Mastercard to transfer to “any local bank” in China.
Report: The future of digital wealth management
A new FinTech Futures report examines the future of wealth management in a digital era.
DBS and Infor partner to offer SMEs digital trade financing
The partnership is one of a line of joint projects between Infor and DBS.
Morgan Stanley blocks remote network access for China interns
Its decision to deny remote access to its China-based interns makes it an outlier among its US peers.
Chinese fintech Lufax targets $3bn in US IPO
Sources highlight that political tensions between the US and China could affect its listing plans.
BNP Paribas joins IBM Cloud as European anchor client
French banking giant to become leading user of IBM’s cloud tech.
Singapore API firm Percipient raises $5m
The fintech plans to boost the deployment of its TWINNTM system.
Singapore FinTech Association launches new innovation lab
The Nexia InnoLab will connect start-ups with local businesses.
Third wave of COVID-19 forces Hong Kong banks to close branches
11 lenders will partially or completely shut down operations at some 58 branches.
OCBC Bank connects to Singapore Government’s identity platform
SingPass enables users to connect to a wide range of platforms and government services.
MAS completes multi-currency blockchain testing
The blockchain network is jointly developed with JP Morgan and investment firm Temasek.
China Bohai Bank plans IPO worth $1.7bn
Chinese commercial bank buoyed by good 2019 results.
Taking stock of China’s COVID-19 payments processes
If you think COVID-19 has largely been a boon to real-time payment in China, think again.
Singapore’s ADBC signs MoU with Tencent Cloud
New Singapore bank plans cloud boost.
Banking Technology July/August 2020 issue out now
Unlocking the benefits of open banking.
Alibaba’s Ant plans Hong Kong IPO
“It is looking at selling between 5% and 10% of its shares in an IPO,” according to sources.
Report: A new decade of core banking transformation
A new FinTech Futures report examining the role of core banking in the industry today.
Instapay Technologies partners with Mastercard to support Malaysian migrant workers
Instapay Technologies is looking for 100,000 new users in the first year.
South Korea reports 20m subscriptions to open banking service
Figure represents a quadrupling of registrations since an October 2019 pilot.
MFMi Group picks Mambu to power new suite of Islamic products
The Malaysian firm aims to help underbanked in the wake of COVID-19.
Vietnamese digital bank TNEX to create consumer-merchant ecosystem
“We’ve started a bit of a fintech revolution here,” says MSB’s CDO.
UK opens virtual fintech trade mission to APAC
The fintech deal follows FTA talks between the UK, Australia and New Zealand.
