What The FinTech #109 - 4 Sep 2022
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What was the FinTech this week in: 📰
SINGAPORE
Singapore’s first digital bank Trust Bank launches
GXS Bank launches new savings account for select customers
Lightnet raises US$50 million to bolster blockchain-powered remittances
MAS may resort to suitability tests, leverage restrictions to tame crypto exuberance
Singapore’s first digital bank Trust Bank launches
The Standard Chartered Bank and FairPrice Group’s digital bank, Trust Bank launched with savings accounts and credit card offerings for retail customers. Unlike GXS Bank and Sea’s MariBank, which require approval from the Monetary Authority of Singapore to expand beyond savings accounts, Trust is able to offer a full suite of banking products having acquired a full bank licence. “With greater digital adoption in financial services, there is much potential for the banking sector to relook how to do things differently and serve customers better,” said Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong at the launch event. Who Trust is targeting is the entire NTUC ecosystem, from the FairPrice supermarkets to insurance at NTUC Income. According to Sadhu, 1 in 3 Singaporeans have interacted with FairPrice or the larger NTUC ecosystem including the NTUC LinkPoints reward system.
GXS Bank launches new savings account for select customers
The Grab-Singtel digital bank, GXS Bank, has launched a savings account – its first product for employees of Grab and Singtel and selected customers in their ecosystem. GXS is the first retail digital bank to launch, pipping Sea’s digital bank, MariBank, to the line. It has also been awarded the Data Protection Trustmark by the Infocomm Media Development Authority of Singapore. The GXS Savings Account offers a 0.08 per cent interest per annum accrued daily. GXS customers can create up to 8 Pockets from their savings account, which are designed to help customers save for specific goals. Each Pocket earns 1.58 per cent interest per annum accrued daily. The Pockets can be customised with names and photos of the saving goal. GXS says it has smart nudges to encourage customers to top up their pockets and cheer the progress they make.
Lightnet raises US$50 million to bolster blockchain-powered remittances
The Lightnet Group, a Singapore-based fintech firm with several licensed subsidiaries around the globe providing cross-border remittance services, announced that it has secured a US$50 million capital commitment from LDA Capital. According to Lightnet, it will have the option to double the investment to US$100 million over the next three years. This investment will allow the Lightnet Group to expand its operating corridors and opportunities and obtain licenses. Lightnet also intends to develop its technological partner’s (Velo Labs Technology) existing technology and contribute to the growth of its anchors, remittance partners and liquidity providers, and assist the blockchain company with enhancements of its team by hiring key management officers and developers.
MAS may resort to suitability tests, leverage restrictions to tame crypto exuberance: Ravi Menon
The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) will take further action, which may include introducing customer suitability tests and restricting the use of leverage and credit facilities, to reduce consumer harm arising from cryptocurrency trading. MAS is promoting Singapore as a hub for crypto innovation and digital asset use cases. But it views cryptocurrencies as “highly hazardous for retail investors”, said Ravi Menon, managing director of MAS, on Monday (Aug 29). The MAS will publicly consult on the proposals for regulations to protect consumer interests and on stablecoins by October this year. Cryptocurrencies are useful within a blockchain network, as they reward participants who help to validate and maintain transaction records. “But outside the blockchain network, cryptocurrencies do not serve a useful function – except, unfortunately in many cases, as a vehicle for speculation,” Menon said
CHINA
Banks link credit cards to e-payment platforms
In China, cities start piloting e-CNY payment in public transport systems
Pinduoduo uses E-Commerce to transform smallholder agricultural economics
Banks link credit cards to e-payment platforms
Chinese mobile payment platforms Alipay and WeChat Pay have begun allowing users to withdraw money online through credit card cash advances by cooperating with some banks, such as Bank of Ningbo, China Everbright Bank and Ping An Bank. Industry experts said the move will help raise the number of credit cards in use, make credit card users more active, and increase banks' business volume. They also called for more efforts to strengthen supervision of the use of funds after withdrawal. The new function is now being tested on a limited scale.
In China, cities start piloting e-CNY payment in public transport systems
Several Chinese cities have started using e-CNY payment methods in their public transport system as part of the next phase of the country’s central bank digital currency (CBDC) pilot testing. Guangzhou Public Transport has launched the payment method for use in paying bus fares. The city now provides e-CNY QR payment codes that users can scan to pay using the CBDC wallet app. More than 10 bus lines are participating in the pilot initiative, including bus services assigned to Tourism and Sightseeing lines. Similarly, Changjiang Daily reported that the city of Ningbo in Zhejiang province has also introduced the e-CNY payment method for its subway lines, allowing commuters to pay using the digital yuan at 125 stations in the eastern Chinese city.
Pinduoduo uses E-Commerce to transform smallholder agricultural economics
Villagers in Hengshan Village in Guangxi, China, have seen their average annual incomes surge by 30 times in recent years, thanks to e-commerce platforms like Pinduoduo. Before the rise of e-commerce, there was little demand for the duck eggs that the village produces, and monthly incomes hovered at around $100. That changed after some villagers decided to set up shop on Pinduoduo. With more than 880 million co nsumers and a mission to promote agricultural digitization, Pinduoduo regularly organizes online events and campaigns to highlight and showcase agricultural specialties from across China.
ASIA
Indonesia to roll out crypto bourse by year-end
Thunes partners with Alipay+ for Asian E-wallet acceptance in Europe
Indonesia and Singapore to connect national QR code standards
ADDX launches cash management tool with OCBC’s Lion Global Investors
Indonesia to roll out crypto bourse by year-end
The Indonesian government is set to launch a crypto bourse by the end of 2022 as part of efforts to protect consumers amid rising interests in digital currencies, said a senior executive on Wednesday (31 Aug). The authority had initially targeted launching the bourse in 2021 but then postponed it to the first quarter of 2022 before leaving the plan in limbo due to the complexity of the process. “We will make sure that every requirement, procedure, and the necessary steps have been taken,” said Indonesia’s deputy trade minister Jerry Sambuaga, noting that the delay cannot be attributed to any significant problem.
Thunes partners with Alipay+ for Asian E-wallet acceptance in Europe
Global cross-border payments company Thunes has partnered with Alipay+, a suite of cross-border payments and marketing solutions operated by Ant Group, to connect European merchants with hundreds of millions of Asian consumers. Through this collaboration, Thunes’ customers and merchants in Europe will now be able to accept Asia’s popular mobile wallets such as China’s Alipay, Malaysia’s Touch ’n Go and Boost, Philippines’ GCash, South Korea’s KakaoPay, as well as Thailand’s Rabbit LINE Pay and TrueMoney. Merchants that work with Thunes will be able to serve online consumers from Asian markets and accept mobile wallet payments during checkout. On top of that, consumers will also be able to use their respective mobile wallets to pay in-store purchases in Europe, using a dedicated Point of-Sale mobile application that supports QR-code payments.
Indonesia and Singapore to connect national QR code standards
The central banks of Indonesia and Singapore have commenced work on a cross-border QR payment linkage between the two countries as part of a wider ASEAN-wide connectivity effort. Targeted for launch in the second half of 2023, the project will enable interoperability between Indonesia's QRIS (Quick Response Code Indonesian Standard) and Singapore's NETS QR standard. Merchant displaying either code will be able to accept payments from customers of different participating banks and e-wallet operators using a unified QR code. The effort is expected to support tourism growth as international travel resumes. There are sizeable traveller flows between the two countries - 1.9 million arrivals in Indonesia from Singapore and 3.1 million arrivals in Singapore from Indonesia.
ADDX launches cash management tool with OCBC’s Lion Global Investors
Asian private market exchange ADDX has launched a cash management tool that allows investors with excess funds in their wallets to earn interest, instead of letting their cash sit idle while they decide on which private market product to take part in. The new tool is named ADDX Earn, the solution aims to withstand short- term volatility while preserving capital. Some of the idle capital may also have come from previous investment earnings on ADDX. Target returns for products under ADDX Earn are designed to be higher than short-term bank deposit rates – which is where many investors otherwise store undeployed capital. The first two funds to be launched under the ADDX Earn umbrella are by Lion Global Investors, a fund manager that is a part of the OCBC Group.
BLOCKCHAIN - CRYPTO - DIGITAL ASSETS - DE FI
Ethereum Foundation confirms September dates for the Merge
Wix partners with TripleA to enable crypto payments acceptance for its merchants
PayPal prioritizes stablecoins, programmable money and ‘atomic’ settlement for instant payments roadmap
SolanaFM raises S$6.3 million seed funding led by SBI Group
Ethereum Foundation confirms September dates for the Merge
Ethereum's developers have officially confirmed September 6 as the date for Ethereum's long-anticipated transition from proof of work to proof of stake, known as The Merge. "The successful upgrade of all public testnets is now complete, and The Merge has been scheduled for the Ethereum mainnet." The Merge will be split into two upgrades, called Bellatrix and Paris. Bellatrix is timed to occur at 11:34 AM UTC on September 6 and Paris will be triggered sometime between September 10 and September 20, according to the blog post.
Wix partners with TripleA to enable crypto payments acceptance for its merchants
TripleA, a licensed crypto payment gateway, announced that it has partnered with global SaaS platform Wix to help the latter create, manage, and grow an online presence. This partnership allows Wix merchants to accept cryptocurrency payments via a simple plugin without having to hold or convert digital currencies. With this integration, Wix merchants can accept payments across the major cryptocurrencies used for commercial transactions, including Bitcoin (BTC), Bitcoin Lightning (LBTC), Ethereum (ETH), USD Coin (USDC), and Tether (USDT) on both ERC-20 as well as TRC-20 networks. Merchants will get the opportunity to increase their retail reach and sales revenues by attracting buyers who wish to pay in cryptocurrencies.
PayPal is considering how to allow ‘stablecoins’ to be used for payments on its network. PayPal is confident it can deliver benefits, such as programmable money and ‘atomic’ settlement to allow asset title and payments to be exchanged simultaneously and instantly. Meanwhile, PayPal is closely watching developments in CBDCs and ‘stablecoins’, digital assets whose value is tied to a fiat currency. They might not be used for the same thing, but there is plenty of space in the ecosystem for these things to coexist. Perhaps not in its existing form but will definitely see DeFi continue to grow. One of most exciting things is programmability of tokens.
SolanaFM raises S$6.3 million seed funding led by SBI Group
SolanaFM, a Solana blockchain explorer offering indexing and analytical services, announced that it has secured S$6.3 million in a seed funding round spearheaded by SBI Group’s Digital Asset Opportunity Fund. SolanaFM is a blockchain explorer that provides many services beyond the typical explorer. The company works closely with protocols within the Solana ecosystem to index their data, and supports businesses outside the ecosystem such as banks and compliance companies to provide them with fast, equitable data. SolanaFM have partnered with GameFi and DeFi companies like GenoPets and Raydium and they are also working with the top three compliance companies worldwide to provide a suite of APIs for their monitoring services. Currently, the explorer has over 30 integrations that they launched in March including Friktion, Tulip Finance, Magic Eden and more.
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