What The FinTech #89: 27 Mar 2022
Happy Sunday, welcome back to What The FinTech, your regular FinTech & Innovation Newsletter focusing on Hong Kong & Asia ! Here are the selection and the top headlines for this week.
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What was the FinTech this week in: 📰
BLOCKCHAIN - CRYPTO - DIGITAL ASSETS - DE FI
Central banks develop prototypes for cross-border CBDC interoperability
ANZ mints first Australian dollar stablecoin
Malaysia's communications ministry wants crypto to be legal tender
Thailand bans use of cryptocurrencies as a method of payment
Central banks develop prototypes for cross-border CBDC interoperability
The Bank for International Settlements and the central banks of Australia, Malaysia, Singapore and South Africa have developed two prototypes for a shared platform that could enable international settlements using digital currencies issued by multiple central banks. Led by the BIS Innovation Hub's Singapore Centre, Project Dunbar proved that financial institutions could use CBDCs issued by participating central banks to transact directly with each other on a shared platform. The platform has the potential to reduce reliance on intermediaries and, correspondingly, the costs and time taken to process cross-border transactions. The project was organised workstreams: one focusing on high-level functional requirements and design, and two concurrent technical streams that developed prototypes on the Corda and Partior blockchain platforms
ANZ mints first Australian dollar stablecoin
ANZ has become the first bank in Australia to execute a stablecoin transaction through a public permissionless blockchain platform. ANZ delivered the stablecoin for a private wealth management firm who wanted to put $30 million into the crypto markets. ANZ minted 30 million of A$DC using an ANZ built Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) compatible smart contract deployed through the Fireblocks platform. The coins were transferred between the parties and later redeemed back into Fiat currency. Rather than incurring high fees for swapping $30 million Australian dollars for USDC, ANZ tapped Fireblocks' tokenisation engine to mint the $30 million as its own stablecoin.
Malaysia's communications ministry wants crypto to be legal tender
The deputy minister of Malaysia's Communications and Multimedia Ministry thinks crypto should be legal tender in the country. Malaysia's Finance Ministry would be responsible for regulating crypto as would institutions like its central bank and the Securities Commission, but he didn't say how his ministry would be involved in crypto. The central bank hasn't laid out a formal stance on the issue, although it's looking to introduce a central bank digital currency or CBDC for short. Malaysia is part of Project Dunbar, which is testing the use of CBDCs alongside a few other countries. A number of countries have legalized crypto, with Ukraine being the latest. But all countries save one have stopped short of adopting crypto as legal tender, instead only providing a regulatory framework for digital assets. El Salvador is the only country to make crypto legal tender. The country made bitcoin legal tender in a splashy announcement, including that it would use geothermal energy from a volcano to mine the cryptocurrency.
Thailand bans use of cryptocurrencies as a method of payment
Thailand will bar the use of cryptocurrencies as a means of payments for goods and services, saying the wider use of digital assets threatens the nation's financial system and economy. Business operators - including crypto exchanges - must not provide such payment services, and are barred from acting in a manner that promotes the use of digital assets to pay for goods or services. However, the new regulation won't affect trading or investments in digital assets. While the restrictions on use of digital currencies for transactions will be effective starting Apr 1, companies in South-east Asia's second-largest economy will have until the end of April to comply with the new rules.
Articles that may interest you on this subject:
Binance given nod for crypto license in Dubai => here
Under regulatory pressure, Binance to end Ontario ops => here
Goldman Sachs to offer over-the-counter crypto options trading => here
After Walt Disney, Robert Iger Heads to the Metaverse => here
Financial regulators probe DeFi markets => here
3D ads come to Facebook, Instagram in step towards the metaverse => here
HONG KONG
Airwallex teams with Choco Up for cross-border ecommerce in Asia
Airwallex teams with Choco Up for cross-border ecommerce in Asia
Australia-based fintech Airwallex has partnered with financing platform Choco Up to facilitate the growth of cross-border ecommerce in Asia. The team-up involves combining Airwallex’s global payment infrastructure with Choco Up’s funding solutions. It will offer access to cross-border payments, collections, and growth funding services, enabling the region’s ecommerce players to scale with less financial hassle. Choco Up provides revenue-based financing from USD 10,000 to USD10 million to ecommerce companies. It also has an AI-driven risk assessment solution to help business owners identify pain points and optimise their operations.
SINGAPORE
Singapore forms buy now, pay later working group to develop framework
Singapore fintech startups take off amid financial sector boom
Singapore forms buy now, pay later working group to develop framework
The Singapore FinTech Association (SFA) has formed the Buy Now, Pay Later Working Group (BNPL WG) to develop a BNPL framework for Singapore, under the guidance of the Monetary Authority of Singapore. The BNPL framework will mitigate risks of consumer over-indebtedness and ensure that BNPL offerings have “a positive impact on Singapore consumers as well as continue to benefit the system,” with aims to launch the framework during the second half of the year according to a press release. The BNPL WG is also calling out other organisations from now to 8 April 2022 whom are currently offering BNPL services or planning to do so, to bolster its ranks further and participate in the development of the BNPL Framework.
Singapore fintech startups take off amid financial sector boom
Singapore, Southeast Asia’s financial hub, has become a magnet for fintech startups. The company builds customized investment portfolios for clients that combine exchange-traded funds and other global financial products according to their asset management plans, taking risk and potential returns into account. The company has managed assets totaling SGD 1.5 billion as of November 2021. The company raised a total of SGD 67 million last year, which will be spent to branch out in Southeast Asia. At the same time, Singapore-based tech unicorn Grab and other tech startups have developed super apps, which make financial and other services available on smartphones. Better financial literacy among consumers and the rapid development of digital finance technology have created synergy, providing a springboard for fintech startups’ rapid growth.
CHINA
Tencent’s WeChat Pay Faces Fresh Regulatory Hurdles
China’s central bank encourages ‘controllable risks’ in fintech innovation in Alibaba’s home province of Zhejiang
China updates digital yuan wallet app for Apple users
Weibo launches NFT marketplace with feature to mint posts
Tencent’s WeChat Pay Faces Fresh Regulatory Hurdles
Tencent, like Ant Group, had been told last year to put its banking, insurance and other financial services into a financial holding company to be regulated like a bank. But regulators are now considering requiring WeChat Pay be included in the financial holding company, operating separately from the main social media arm. The report said WeChat Pay is an integral feature of the WeChat superapp and making it less convenient to use could reduce its appeal. The news came from report earlier this week citing sources, that Tencent may face a potentially record fine for alleged money-laundering violations by the WeChat Pay network.
Chinese financial regulators, including the central bank, and the Zhejiang provincial government are encouraging “controllable risks” in the country’s e-commerce hub to spur financial technology innovation. “The technological innovation capability of financial services should be improved,” the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) said in a draft plan released on Friday. “Under the premise of controllable risks and voluntariness, banks are encouraged to deepen cooperation with external investment institutions and actively explore diversified financial service models for scientific and technological innovation.” The remarks expressing a greater appetite for risk are seemingly a departure from the more hardline stance regulators have taken against Big Tech firms.
China updates digital yuan wallet app for Apple users
China has issued an update to the pilot version of its digital yuan wallet app for Apple users that is “adapted to the iOS 15.4 system changes” released this week, and has uncovered an attempt to use the central bank digital currency (CBDC) in a fraud and money laundering case. The updated iOS version of the app — known as 1.07 — will be made available to Apple users across the 10 cities where the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) began piloting its CBDC wallet in January. The new update “has improved accessibility services, supports ‘voice-over’ reading of passwords, improved the face recognition function, optimised the process of retrieving the login password and added more service prompts.
Weibo launches NFT marketplace with feature to mint posts
Chinese social media platform Weibo debuted its NFT marketplace called TopHolder. The Twitter equivalent is introducing an interesting feature that allows users to mint and sell their original posts as NFTs. Interested users will have to scale through internal KYC checks before they can access the new functionality, and will face penalties if found guilty of plagiarism. Another embargo set by TopHolder is the prohibition of asset flipping by users. Instead, it encourages free transfers after a 180-day holding period. encent also recently rebranded its NFT features to “digital collectibles,” against the backdrop of NFT criticism by multiple Chinese state media agencies.
ASIA
Line to launch NFT marketplace in Japan next month
Jack Ma’s Ant appoints Southeast Asia head, signalling focus is back on growth after restructuring
Google launches $6m seed fund for Asian climate tech
ADVANCE.AI partners with FinScore to boost alternative credit scoring and fraud prevention in the Philippines, SEA
Asia digital bank launches its A-bank super wallet
PVcomBank and Vemanti group sign inclusive digital banking cooperation agreement
Line to launch NFT marketplace in Japan next month
Messaging app Line will launch an NFT marketplace called “Line NFT” in Japan. Line NFT, the marketplace is affiliated with 17 content firms and will sell more than 100 types of non-fungible tokens. Those who buy tokens on Line NFT can exchange them with friends who are also registered Line users. Customers can pay for their purchases via credit cards as well as cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin. Line also has plans to roll out Dosi, a global NFT platform that will be available in 180 countries by the end of March.
Jack Ma’s Ant appoints Southeast Asia head, signalling focus is back on growth after restructuring
Ant Group, the fintech arm of Alibaba Group, has named its first regional head for the Southeast Asian market, sending a signal that the group is putting its focus back on growth as a restructuring process to meet tougher Chinese regulations nears completion. Jia Hang, a former UnionPay executive who is based in Singapore and has more than 20 years of experience in payments and financial technology sector joined the fintech giant in 2015, will take up the newly created role of regional general manager for Southeast Asia. His most recent responsibilities at Ant include the global operation of WorldFirst, an international business payments unit. Ant said it wants to “double down on talent and capability-building to better support small and medium enterprises in the region”. In its latest development, Jia said that Ant will leverage on Alipay Plus, a cross-border mobile payment service and focus on expanding partnership with other popular e-wallets and mobile payment methods with aims to serve “one billion Southeast Asia consumers”.
Google launches $6m seed fund for Asian climate tech
Google will give $6 million to Asian charities fighting climate change with technology through its philanthropic arm Google.org, while adding green options to its own products including in its search engine. The fund adds to company's in-house efforts, from using 100% clean energy to displaying flight and hotel search results based on their eco impact. The fund would "supercharge" nonprofit organizations working in air pollution, waste, biodiversity, renewables, or the circular economy. From its $6 million Sustainability Seed Fund, Google will give nonprofit groups cash, technology, and advice from engineers or other employees, said the company worth $1.7 trillion.
ADVANCE.AI, a leading AI company specialising in digital identity verification, risk management and process automation, has signed a strategic data partnership with FinScore to help boost financial inclusion and access to the unbanked and underbanked customers in the Philippines and wider Southeast Asia (SEA). The partnership will strengthen the robustness of ADVANCE.AI's credit profiling and risk management capabilities through FinScore's digital solutions, namely Telco Data Credit Scoring and Fraud Prevention Solutions. FinScore is a financial technology company in the Philippines that offers a powerful credit scoring platform and fraud detection tool based on alternative data, including telco-based data. It is the first company to determine the creditworthiness of 100% of the mobile subscribers in the country, the highest market reach in the Philippine alternative credit scoring market.
Asia digital bank launches its A-bank super wallet
Asia Digital Bank has announced the launch of its A-Bank Super Wallet, an e-wallet that integrates traditional financial services with the digital ones. The A-Bank Super Wallet utilises the concept of blockchain peer-to-peer transactions, distributed ledger and storage system, encryption algorithm and consensus protocols to provide efficient payment solutions and express transfer for cross-border trade and services. It claims to be the first e-wallet to provide the exchange function between fiat currency and digital currency which gives its users full control of all their assets on the e-wallet. Its core function allows for onshore and offshore deposits, withdrawals, and exchanges between physical currencies as well as digital currencies. The A-Bank Super Wallet supports five currencies, which include RM, SGD, USD, CNH, and HKD, as well as stablecoins such as USDT and USDC.
PVcomBank and Vemanti group sign inclusive digital banking cooperation agreement
Vemanti Group, Inc. has entered into an official 10-year agreement with PVcomBank to launch one of the first SME digital banking solutions in Vietnam. Vemanti plans to utilize cloud computing, API, automated KYC/AML, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and blockchain technologies to power its new digital-first platform. PVcomBank, is a state-owned bank. The Bank is focused on spearheading digital banking services and will now jointly share this pursuit with Vemanti Group, which will help power a unique hybrid neobanking model. This unique omnichannel banking approach will allow customers to utilize a full range of digital services at their convenience powered by the Vemanti platform, while also having the ability to take advantage of PVcomBank’s physical branch locations for in-person support if needed.
FUNDRAISING & PARTNERSHIP IN APAC
Digital accounting app Metric raises $900,000 in pre-seed funding => here
Australian expense management startup Cape raises $33.1 million => here
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