What The FinTech #113 - 2 Oct 2022
Happy Sunday & Welcome back to What The FinTech, your regular FinTech & Innovation Newsletter focusing on Hong Kong & Asia!
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What The FinTech Video & Podcast - Season 5 Episode 1
Last Wednesday, I was joined by Steffanie from Endowus, for an enthralling interview about their financial technology solution, which empowers people to take control of their financial future.
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WTF- Season 5 Episode 2
On Wednesday, I'll be in an interesting interview with Allen from iPYGG. Please join us and let me know if you have any questions.
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What was the FinTech this week in: 📰
HONG KONG
BIS: World’s first CBDC pilot with four countries is completed
BIS: World’s first CBDC pilot with four countries is completed
The Bank for International Settlements – BIS Innovation Hub Hong Kong Centre, Hong Kong Monetary Authority, Bank of Thailand, People’s Bank of China and the Central Bank of The UAE announce the successful completion of the first CBDC pilot involving four jurisdictions and real-value transactions. Previously known as Project Inthanon-LionRock, the project was renamed as “m-CBDC Bridge” to explore the capabilities of distributed ledger technology (DLT) in facilitating real-time cross-border foreign exchange payment-versus-payment transactions in a multi-jurisdictional context and on a 24/7 basis. The m-CBDC Bridge project also explored business use cases in a cross-border context using both domestic and foreign currencies. 20 participating commercial banks had used the mBridge Ledger, a custom-developed DLT platform, between August 15 and September 23 to settle different kinds of payments for corporate customers with a focus on cross-border trade.
BIS: World’s First CBDC Pilot With Four Countries Is Completed | Fintech Hong Kong (fintechnews.hk)
SINGAPORE
Cryptocurrency crowd shrugs off market woes at upbeat TOKEN2049 conference in Singapore
Trulioo extends footprint to Singapore
Fidelity launches 'non-financial reports' providing ESG data on funds
Cryptocurrency crowd shrugs off market woes at upbeat TOKEN2049 conference in Singapore
TOKEN2049, the mainstay event of this year’s Asia Crypto Week in the Southeast Asian city state, stood out for its forward-looking, upbeat approach, with sessions on its first day covering issues including why the slump in cryptocurrency valuations isn’t as bad as it looks, the rise of stablecoins, how the cryptocurrency industry can drive mass adoption, and the opportunity presented by the Crypto Winter. The growth and development of the cryptocurrency industry very much formed the overarching agenda of TOKEN2049 as speakers and attendees looked to tap the innovative spirit that has undergirded the cryptocurrency experiment for the past 13 years.
Trulioo extends footprint to Singapore
Trulioo, a leading global identity verification company, has officially expanded to Singapore in response to rapidly growing customer demand in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region. The move allows Trulioo to directly serve its extensive and expanding enterprise-level APAC customer base and partner with cloud service providers such as Tencent Cloud. “As businesses in the Asia-Pacific region continue to shape the future of our digital world, Trulioo is pleased to work alongside them to establish trust online,” said Steve Munford, CEO of Trulioo. “Ivan Yang, our APAC director, and his team are excited to work closely with our customers and partners in the region as they set the stage for innovation and technical advancement across industries.”
Trulioo extends footprint to Singapore (finextra.com)
Fidelity launches 'non-financial reports' providing ESG data on funds
Asset manager Fidelity International has launched “non-financial reports” for professional investors in Singapore, covering funds’ sustainability characteristics. The reports are a result of Fidelity’s partnership with Copenhagen-based fintech company Matter. The two companies met through one of the Investment Management Association of Singapore’s digital acceleration programmes. To present environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) data, Fidelity uses Matter’s impact reporting API, which imports Matter’s environmental and social metrics. The content in a report includes a fund’s exposure to ESG-rated firms, its weighted average carbon intensity (WACI), board-level gender diversity and human rights controversies. The fund’s scores in these various areas are compared against those of the wider index.
Fidelity launches 'non-financial reports' providing ESG data on funds (theedgesingapore.com)
CHINA
Tencent introduces ‘Immersive Convergence’ to drive connections between digital and real worlds
Tencent introduces ‘Immersive Convergence’ to drive connections between digital and real worlds
Tencent and Accenture jointly published a white paper titled Immersive Convergence on 26 Sep, outlining a concept originated by Pony Ma. According to the white paper, Immersive Convergence is an innovative model that integrates the digital economy and the real world. “There will soon be a new connection that integrates digital and physical forms, transcending time and space,” said Pony Ma, Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of Tencent. “The doors to the future are open with ‘Immersive Convergence.’ It offers new solutions to users, industries, and society, and is set to bring new application scenarios, incubate a new industrial ecology, and shape a new way of life.” The white paper pointed out that key enabling technologies are either relatively mature or are under rapid development.
ASIA
SBI General team ups with WhatsApp to enhance buying journey of health insurance
GCash, other Asian e-wallets to expand into South Korea with Ant's Alipay+
SK Telecom introduces virtual human Sua to promote AI assistance platform
PPRO integrates GrabPay and Touch ‘n Go E-wallets in Malaysia Launch
ShopeePay now enables users to make instant fund transfers with DuitNow via ShopeeApp
SBI General team ups with WhatsApp to enhance buying journey of health insurance
SBI General Insurance, one of India’s leading General Insurance companies, in its effort to simplify the insurance buying process, strengthens its collaboration with WhatsApp to launch an enhanced version of its WhatsApp chatbot to enable easy access to insurance products through the popular messaging platform. It has made available a larger array of Health Insurance products and introduced Two-Wheeler Motor Insurance to customers for buying, in a simpler and secure manner. SBI General Insurance first launched its WhatsApp chatbot in 2020 with a unique buying journey for its health insurance policy on WhatsApp. This initiative was announced at Meta Fuel for India 2020. Today, it has made larger number of products available that customers can directly buy through a hassle-free interface and from anywhere, with end-to-end policy purchase on the platform itself.
GCash, other Asian e-wallets to expand into South Korea with Ant's Alipay+
Ant Group said on Monday (Sep 26) it would help 4 Asian e-wallets, including the Philippines’ GCash and Malaysia’s Touch’n Go expand into South Korea with its cross-border payment service Alipay+, as travel restrictions begin to lift across Asia. The move will allow users of e-wallets that use Alipay+, including GCash, Touch’n Go, Thailand’s TrueMoney and AlipayHK to pay at over 12,000 merchants using their local mobile payments apps when travelling in South Korea, the Chinese fintech giant said in a statement. Launched in 2020, Alipay+ provides services and technology tools to global merchants and e-wallets that enable them to offer their users the ability to make payments in overseas markets with their local e-wallets. Its e-wallet clients include its namesake Alipay.
SK Telecom introduces virtual human Sua to promote AI assistance platform
SK Telecom Co., South Korea’s No. 1 wireless carrier, on Monday introduced a virtual human model to promote its artificial intelligence (AI)-based assistance platform. The female virtual model, named Sua, developed by 3D graphics development company Onmind Inc., will make its debut as an SK Telecom model in commercials for the company’s A. (pronounced as A dot) AI assistance platform. Sua is the first-ever virtual human to be adopted as a product endorsement model in the country’s telecom industry. She will appear alongside K-pop singer Jang Won-young in A.’s latest promotional campaign material. Sua’s face image was graphically transposed over that of a real actress who performed her role during the A. commercial shoot. The voice of Sua was created using the company’s AI-based speech synthesis technology. Sua is the latest in a slate of recent virtual human development projects, mostly by gaming companies, introduced in South Korea, with most notably Rozy, a virtual influencer created by video tech company Sidus Studio X, having made headlines for starring in a number of high-profile product commercials.
PPRO integrates GrabPay and Touch ‘n Go E-wallets in Malaysia Launch
PPRO, a provider of digital payments infrastructure, has bolstered its market coverage of Malaysia with the integration of e-wallets GrabPay and Touch ‘n Go on its payments infrastructure. Fintech PPRO now offers all of Malaysia’s Independent e-wallets – Boost, Touch ‘n Go and GrabPay – to its partners which include enterprises with payments platforms, payment service providers, fintechs and banks.
PPRO Integrates GrabPay And Touch ‘n Go E-Wallets In Malaysia Launch | The Fintech Times
ShopeePay now enables users to make instant fund transfers with DuitNow via ShopeeApp
Shopee Malaysia has announced that ShopeePay users can now send or receive funds from other e-wallets or any online banking platforms using their DuitNow IDs, making money transfers simpler and more straightforward. This feature is now available for ShopeePay users that have activated their Premium accounts, with a daily and monthly limit of RM4,999 each.
BLOCKCHAIN - CRYPTO - DIGITAL ASSETS - DE FI
PointSwap collaborates with e-commerce and OMO retail solution giant 91APP to launch the largest Web3 loyalty points exchange
Crypto trading-focused blockchain Sei launches $50M ecosystem fund
SWIFT partners with crypto data provider Chainlink on cross-chain protocol in TradFi play
Punks, Apes, & Goblins - hi launches NFT customizable card
Decentralized machine learning protocol ChainML raises $4M led by IOSG Ventures
PointSwap collaborates with e-commerce and OMO retail solution giant 91APP to launch the largest Web3 loyalty points exchange
The PointSwap token exchange announced a partnership with one-stop E-commerce and OMO (online-merge-offline) SaaS retail solution giant 91APP during the Token 2049 event. PointSwap will build the largest Web3 loyalty points exchange program with its partners. As the strategic Web2 partner of PointSwap, 91APP is the leading omni-channel retail solutions provider in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Malaysia. Its platform boasts consumer brands such as Philips, 3M, Timberland, The North Face, and MAKE UP FOR EVER. As the strategic Web3 partner of PointSwap, ThunderCore will offer its expertise in core blockchain technology. People’s daily consumption is the foundation of the economy. PointSwap’s strategy is to be the Web2.5 portal that leads consumers to Web3 commerce, said Cheryl. By allowing cryptocurrencies to be converted into loyalty points, PointSwap will act as a crypto off-ramp with real-world utility.
Crypto trading-focused blockchain Sei launches $50M ecosystem fund
While many layer-1 blockchains out there were built for a general purpose, other networks were designed around very specific use cases. Sei, a layer-1 blockchain designed for trading, has launched a $50 million ecosystem and liquidity fund to support new decentralized finance (DeFi) applications on its platform, its co-founders Jeff Feng and Jay Jog exclusively told TechCrunch. “Ecosystem-wise, if you think about all of crypto, especially on-chain applications, there’s only a few apps that have gotten actual product market fit,” Feng said. So far, Sei’s ecosystem has over 50 teams, mainly coming from blockchains like Solana, NEAR, Polkadot and the defunct Terra, Feng shared.
Crypto trading-focused blockchain Sei launches $50M ecosystem fund | TechCrunch
SWIFT partners with crypto data provider Chainlink on cross-chain protocol in TradFi play
SWIFT, the interbank messaging system that allows for cross-border payments, is working with Chainlink, a provider of price feeds and other data to blockchains, on a cross-chain interoperability protocol (CCIP) in an initial proof-of-concept. CCIP will enable SWIFT messages to instruct on-chain token transfers, helping the interbank network to be able to communicate across all blockchain environments. This will help accelerate the adoption of distributed ledger technology (DLT) blockchains and benefit various institutions across capital markets, Chainlink co-founder Sergey Nazarov said at the SmartCon 2022 conference in New York City on 28 Sep.
Punks, Apes, & Goblins - hi launches NFT customizable card
Crypto exchange and mobile banking platform hi is offering users the chance to personalize the face of their debit cards with an NFT avatar they own. Available to Gold members and above, NFT customization lets users add their punk, ape, goblin or any other NFT avatar they own, as long as it complies to Mastercard design standards. The hi debit card can be used to spend fiat, stablecoins and other crypto at any Mastercard merchant worldwide, offering between one and ten per cent cashback. Not only do the NFT cards look amazing, this is a great way for people to show which online community they belong to, but in the real world,” says Sean Rach, co-founder, hi.
Punks, Apes, & Goblins - hi launches NFT customisable card (finextra.com)
Decentralized machine learning protocol ChainML raises $4M led by IOSG Ventures
ChainML, a global startup founded by experienced technology executives and machine learning experts building a tamper proof, scalable protocol for decentralized machine learning and related complex data-driven computation in Web3, is announcing a raise of $4M USD in seed funding. The funding round was led by IOSG Ventures with participation from HashKey, SNZ, Silicon Valley executives and angel investors. ChainML plans to leverage the funds from the round to create its first iteration of the ChainML protocol, simplifying the use of AI and machine learning models in smart contracts, dApps and wallets. Led by founder Ron Bodkin and co-founders Ethan Jackson and David Mueller, and CTO Arnaud Flament ChainML aims to address the emerging needs of Web3 companies and protocols to decentralize access to machine learning computation and models.
Decentralized machine learning protocol ChainML raises $4M led by IOSG Ventures (theblock.co)
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