Fintech news headlines in Q4 2021
• October, November & December of 2021
• Technology and startup news headlines
• Quick reference for time-poor readers
• One-click access to each article
The fourth quarter 2021 collection is drawn from
Startup News Asia’s daily updates.
October 2021 | November 2021 | December 2021
October 2021 headlines
Malaysia FinTech Week 2022
- The buy-now-pay-later market: “…the big three – Klarna, Affirm and Afterpay – have a combined market capitalisation of about $100BN, almost the same as Goldman Sachs.”
- Standard Chartered invests $500M in Singapore’s digital lending unicorn Atome Financial as part of 10-year multi-product partnership to roll out BNPL services across Asia
- Asia’s tech news, issue 093: HK fintech, Singapore VC, Vietnam e-commerce, blockchain gaming, Apple & surveillance…
- Asia’s tech news, issue 094: Taiwan’s startups, VR & healthcare, blockchain in China, Indian fintech…
- ICYMI: Mastercard partners Bakkt to allow all banks and merchants to offer cryptocurrency and related services including wallets, crypto rewards and more
- ICYMI: Visa looking at creating universal payment channel for global transfers of digital currencies, connecting different blockchains to manage stablecoin and CBDC transfers
- Pakistan’s QisstPay follows recent $15M funding with plans to expand buy-now-pay-later services to Bangladesh and Sri Lanka inside 6 months
KPMG: Australian Fintech Landscape 2021 (pdf)
- ICYMI: US city of Miami has so far generated over $8M from issuing local-use MiamiCoin cryptocurrency
- Indonesia: Ajaib, investment app similar to Robinhood hits unicorn status after raising $153M Series B, allowing users to buy and sell company shares and mutual funds
- Malaysia: MyFintech Week 2022 set for January 24-28, running virtually – pre-registrations now open
- Australia: Former consumer neo bank, Archa, to launch smart business credit card and spend management platform that integrates with a firm’s accounting software
- Online event: ‘Japan’s Potential As An International Financial Hub’, part of the Nikkei Virtual Global Forum series
- ICYMI: Visa to launch Universal Payments Channel, platform enabling central bank digital currencies to transfer between blockchains, and also allowing stablecoins to operate on different blockchains
Malaysia Fintech Report
- ICYMI: Moscow Metro launches Face Pay at 240 stations, cashless, cardless and phoneless payments based on facial recognition, raising privacy and surveillance worries
- Hong Kong: Bloom lands collaboration with Visa to boost cash-back app featuring city-wide deals, rewards and brands exposure
- India: MarketWolf trading app raises $5.5M with focus on intraday options, trades confined to the same, single market day
- Stablecoins: What are they for – and how stable are they?
- India: Stripe payments giant makes first India acqusition with Recko payments reconciliation platform
- China: Tencent Cloud forms strategic partnership with Yusys Technologies fintech software firm to deliver cloud solutions to major banks in move to compete with Alibaba Cloud
- ICYMI: ‘FinTech in Singapore 1H 2021’, a brief overview from UOB, United Overseas Bank
- Fintech Australia launches Australian Fintech Regulatory Map to help with navigating the country’s legal and regulatory requirements system
Vietnam: Gimo – Earned Wage Access fintech
- EY FinTech Australia Census 2021: “…Where fintechs are three years or older, 88% are post-revenue. Following in their wake, 81% of companies two years or older are also post-revenue.”
- Australia: Commonwealth Bank to replace Android-based POS terminals with Smart platform in Verifone partnership, providing app marketplace and host of built-in features
- ICYMI: Greater financial instability, fraud and funding of terrorism likely unless governments toughen supervision of cryptocurrencies, says International Monetary Fund
- Singapore’s United Overseas Bank to spend up to $500M on new personalised digital banking app, aiming to double digital customers to over 7M across ASEAN by 2026
- Asia’s tech news, latest issue: Korea’s vertical farms, Australian agri-tech, Indonesian investing app, Huobi in China, NFTCon…
- ICYMI: “Central & Southern Asia and Oceania is the 4th largest crypto market…$572.5BN in value between July 2020 and June 2021, 14% of global transactions…”
Singapore Fintech Club
- Tech News Asia, latest issue: Adtech in China, Malaysia’s MyFintech Week, India’s women leaders, Australian drone deliveries…
- ICYMI: Hong Kong Monetary Authority publishes technical whitepaper on possible retail central bank digital currency, an ‘e-HKD’
- Australian Fintech Landscape 2021 now available to download from KPMG, a one-page snapshot of the companies in the sector
- Asia’s tech news, issue 099: Wozniak at TechSparks, Singapore SPACs, India’s Google-phone, China’s banking clouds, drones in Malaysia…
- Vietnam: South Korea’s LOTTE Card launches buy-now-pay-later service
- 93% of all Singaporeans had heard of crypto and 43% owned it, with adoption highest among 26-45 year-olds. 66% of respondents in that group said they owned some crypto’
- MP in Kingdom of Tonga, Polynesia, to propose accepting Bitcoin as legal tender to improve remittances for disapora communities
KPMG Pulse of Fintech H1 2021 (pdf)
- New Zealand: Easy Crypto raises $17M, setting sights on overseas markets including Indonesia, the Philippines and other parts of Asia
- “…stablecoins, which act as a bridge between national currencies and the cryptocurrency market, should be regulated as financial market infrastructure alongside payment systems and clearing houses…”
- ICYMI: US City of Miami plans advance to allow city employees to be paid using Bitcoin, and to let residents pay fees and potentially taxes using the cryptocurrency
- Technology Council of Australia launches ‘Roadmap to Deliver One Million Tech Jobs’ focusing on 4 key steps to be taken
- Fintech in Vietnam online launch event set for October 27th, focusing on how Australian companies can be part of the emerging fintech sector in the country
- Australia: Startmate accelerator launches Engineering Fellowship, connecting experienced engineers with networks within the Startmate community of ANZ startups, investors and partners
KPMG: Digital Wealth Management Asia-Pacific (pdf)
- Download: ‘Inthanon-LionRock to mBridge – Building a multi CBDC platform for international payments’, interim findings of Multiple Central Bank Digital Currency Bridge project (pdf)
- “India’s cryptocurrency market expanded 641% in the past year, driving growth of digital currencies in central and Southern Asia…”
- ICYMI: UK’s Action Fraud centre for fraud and cyber crime finds £146M lost to crypto fraud since the start of 2021, near 30% more than reported lost in entirety of 2020
- South Korea: Kakao Pay, country’s largest online payment service, raises massive $1.3BN in IPO
- Tokenized music royalties: “Of the $40BN in annual revenue earned by the music industry, only 12% is actually paid out to artists..”
- An overview of how Ethereum may be set to become “…the platform of choice for…Web 3.0, where a series of decentralised apps could one day challenge Big Tech’s offerings…”
- India: Chingari short-video platform to launch its own crypto token, aiming for the $GARI token to be tradeable on cryptocurrency exchanges
- China: Huawei shifts focus to mobile payments, with Huawei Pay app seen as opportunity to become competitive against giants Alipay and WeChat Pay
APAC Ecommerce Report 2021 (pdf)
November 2021 headlines
KPMG: Venture Pulse Q4 2021 (pdf) / Global analysis of venture funding
- Valora peer-to-peer cryptocurrency app lands celebrity backing, allowing users to send and receive crypto payments via text messages without needing a bank account
- Mercedes Benz builds on in-car payments with Visa partnership, authenticating proposed payments with fingerprint scan and payment then handled via Visa Cloud Token Framework
- ASEAN Financial Innovation Network launches ChekFIN, a global registry to help financial institutions find fintech firms to work with
- Central bank digital currencies: “If any, the only achievement of ‘CBDC initiatives’ will likely be to create copies of existing digital payment solutions, just worse.”
- An intro to Stretch, early-stage US fintech focused on the formerly incarcerated, a social group dealing with many financial challenges, including securing work
- “If MiamiCoin grows and coin-denominated contracts become a part of daily city life…Miami will have to decide whether to claim not only a share of MIA’s profits, but some measure of control…”
Vietnam: Gimo – Earned Wage Access fintech
- Microsoft adds buy-now-pay-later feature to Edge web browser, partnering Zip to allow purchases to instantly be split into 4 payments across 6 weeks
- Accelerating Asia accelerator and VC for pre-Series A startups unveils its 5th cohort covering 8 industries including e-commerce, fintech, healthtech and more
- Mastercard partners Hong Kong’s Amber Group, Australia’s CoinJar and Thailand’s Bitkub with plans to launch cryptocurrency-linked payment cards in APAC
- Philippines: A brief intro to Beam & Go, giving overseas Filipino workers control over remittances, allowing them to specify how much is spent by recipients on a specific purpose
- Sustainable Fintech Demo Day 2021 from StartupBootcamp and Fintech Australia set for December 9th, showcasing 10 sustainability-focused startups
- Download: November 2021 edition of Banking Technology, from Fintech Futures, looking at the metaverse, fintech influencers and more
- Philippines: CellPoint Digital payments fintech grows partnership with Cebu Pacific airline, adding split payments, real-time currency conversion and more
Singapore Fintech Club, from Singapore Fintech Assoc’n and JP Morgan
- India: A look at the growth and success of ‘fintech for teens’, apps taking the place of traditional bank accounts
- Asia’s tech news, issue 109: Australia’s sustainable fintechs, Bengaluru Tech Summit, Taiwan’s X-Pitch 2021 winners, Indonesia’s crypto ban…
- Cambodia: A brief look back at the recent CamTech Summit, a 5-day fintech and broad tech-focused event from Cambodian Association of Finance and Technology
- China’s Tencent leads $48M round in South Africa’s Ozow, fintech connecting shoppers directly to their bank accounts, gaining 70% of all instant, 3rd-party e-payments in the nation
- Australia: Commonwealth Bank to integrate retail offers into mobile banking app signals with Little Birdie partnership, likely aiming for eventual ‘super app’ status in financial services
- Singapore: Pace buy-now-pay-later fintech firm raises $40M Series A, looking to build on existing presence across more than 3000 locations in 4 SEA nations
- Indonesia: PPRO payments infrastructure provider partners Kredivo BNPL firm to integrate split payments, instant credit and more, focusing on the underbanked and unbanked
Global Islamic Fintech Report 2021 (pdf)
- Indonesia: Bareksa investment platform gains backing from Grab, gaining access to Grab users with mutual fund investment offers and payments handled by Ovo
- Australia: Australian Securities and Investment Commission raises oversight of investment side of local cryptocurrency market with licences for crypto-asset holders
- Australia: Commonwealth Bank to become the country’s first main-street bank to offer a platform for retail customers to trade crypto, partnering NY’s Gemini Trust exchange
- FinTech Australia unveils Investor Map, featuring funding sources across venture capitalists, angel funds, corporate investors, crowdfunders and incubators
- Australia’s ValAi takes overall win at Global Open Finance Challenge with financial services focus on achieving a zero-carbon, nature-positive global economy
- Australia: Ikea rolls out Mobile Checkout, allowing customers to scan products by phone as they shop, paying at fast-track checkouts without unpacking and repacking bags
- Malaysia: A brief interview intro to MoneyMatch, working in digitally-driven cross-border trade payments and individual remittances
Central Bank Digital Currency Tracker from the Atlantic Council
- ASEAN Financial Innovation Network launches ChekFIN, a global registry to help financial institutions find fintech firms to work with
- Future of DeFi Virtual Summit set for 16th December, looking at what’s shaping up to be the next era of global finance
- Vietnam: GIMO fintech firm raises $1.9M with focus on early access to earned wages
- Visa backs Australia’s Basiq, open banking platform bridging 100 banks and 150 fintechs which provides access to account data for lending, banking, BNPL and more
- Adobe partners Mastercard, using Adobe Sign to verify ID, fill out details and sign electronic documents, with Mastercard Send delivering approved near-instant payouts
- Thailand: Siam Commercial Bank takes 51% of Bitkub, country’s biggest crypto exchange operator, for $535M
Australia’s Fintech Future / Visa (pdf)
- Visa Accelerator Program applications are now open, to January 9th 2022, seeking entrepreneurs and startups in digital payments
- FinTech Australia unveils Investor Map, featuring funding sources across venture capitalists, angel funds, corporate investors, crowdfunders and incubators
- Asia’s tech news, issue 107: Edtech in Korea and Indonesia, Australian startup awards, ASEAN fintech registry, Digital Nomad Week…
- Thailand: Central Retail Corp, the country’s biggest shopping center developer, is piloting a digital currency with employees, aiming to expand to customers and the public
- Philippines: An intro to the 10 startups presenting at the Venture Pilipinas Startup Venture Fund Pitch on November 19th, part of Philippines Startup Week
- Australia: Ikea rolls out Mobile Checkout, allowing customers to scan products by phone as they shop, paying at fast-track checkouts without unpacking and repacking bags
ASEAN and the 4th Industrial Revolution (pdf)
- Australia: An intro to HelpPay, first-of-its-kind platform allowing people to securely share bills with family and friends via app, allowing others to help with payments
- Australia: CoinSpot has grown to 2M users and to celebrate, they’re giving an Australian resident a Lamborghini
- Australia: YBF innovation and tech hub has called in administrators in bid to reboot following long-term impacts of COVID-19 lockdowns in Melbourne
- H2Oai closes $100M in funding led by Commonwealth Bank of Australia, with CBA set to explore artificial intelligence-driven products and services
- Australia: Governor of Victoria Startup Awards launches to celebrate the $10.5BN sector and showcase entrepreneurs, leaders and investors across the ecosystem
- Sustainable Fintech Demo Day 2021 from StartupBootcamp and Fintech Australia set for December 9th, showcasing 10 sustainability-focused startups
- Australia: Annie Parker, Microsoft’s head of startups, to take on exec director role of the The Greater Sydney Commission’s Tech Central innovation hub
Vietnam: HCMC Innovative Startup & Tourism Competition
- Australia: Google to invest Au$1BN in infrastructure, research and partnerships over 5 years to aid development of the country’s digital economy under Digital Future Initiative
- Visa backs Australia’s Basiq, open banking platform bridging 100 banks and 150 fintechs which provides access to account data for lending, banking, BNPL and more
- Valora peer-to-peer cryptocurrency app lands celebrity backing, allowing users to send and receive crypto payments via text messages without needing a bank account
- China: Online brokerage firms operating across borders likely next targets in tech crackdown, with gov’t mouthpiece criticizing privacy and data transfer practices
- ICYMI: DCentral Miami is set for November 30-December 1, covering all things NFT and DeFi – here’s the speaker line-up
- Singapore: Coinhako platform the first local non-bank cryptocurrency exchange to receive in-principal approval from Monetary Authority to provide digital payment token services
- Google For India 2021: Google Pay adds features to support colloquial mix of Hindi and English, spoken by approximately 350M users, widening from English-language focus
APAC Ecommerce Report 2021, from Pattern (pdf)
- El Salvador to create ‘Bitcoin City’, issuing a $1BN ‘bitcoin bond’ tokenized financial instrument and powering the city – and crypto mining – with energy from nearby volcano
- Singapore’s Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp considering establishing a cryptocurrency exchange in response to customer demand
- Asia’s tech news, issue 118: Women Startup Summit, Indonesian fintech, India & semiconductors, sports-tech in Australia…
- Online event: ‘China’s Fintech Future’ set for December 2nd, looking at the country’s central bank digital currency moves and more
- South Korea: An intro to 10 K-Startup Center startups taking steps into overseas markets in Singapore program
Wild Digital Crypto Conference / April 2022
December 2021 headlines
Islands of Cool / Climate change, blockchain & NFTs
- Video: The Financial Times looks at stablecoins – what are they, how they work and why they’re a concern for regulators
- ICYMI: Klarna ecommerce giant launches web browser extension enabling buy-now-pay-later for online shoppers, generating one-time Visa ‘cards’
- Fintech Asia Summit 2022 set for January 20th, running virtually and looking at developments and trends industry-wide
- Four Pacific Island nations – Solomon Islands, Fiji, Tonga and Vanuatu – exploring issuing their own digital currencies, partnering Japan’s Soramitsu, firm behind Cambodia’s Bakong CBDC
- Asia’s tech news, issue 119: Beijing’s robotaxis, Japan’s digital currency trials, HelpPay fintech in Australia, Filipino startup success…
- Pakistan’s PostEx raises $7.1M seed round extension with fintech platform for e-commerce businesses, where 90% of the country’s online shopping is paid by post-delivery cash payments
EY: The winds of change – trends shaping India’s FinTech sector (pdf)
- India’s slice gains unicorn status with services and products including prepaid Visa card, virtual cards, BNPL and cash-backs
- ICYMI: A quick overview of the recent Hong Kong Fintech Week 2021 event
- A brief intro to the 7 startups that graduated from F10 Singapore’s Acceleration Batch II after completing the 3-month programme
- Philippines: A video intro to One Degree, fintech startup recently awarded $1M as part of the Google Impact Challenge Bay Area 2021 program
- Australia to create licensing framework for crypto exchanges, and to consider retail central bank digital currency, in biggest overhaul of payments industry in 25 years
- Indonesia: Flip secures $48M with wide range of fintech services, including focus on interbank transfers, the dominant payment method in the country’s digital economy
- Vietnam: Bizzi takes Digital Transformation Award 2021 from Swiss Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Singapore and Deloitte with accounts-payable automation systems
KPMG: Pulse Of Fintech H2 2021
- Malaysia: An intro to NeuXP, working with banks in selected markets to allow non-residents – overseas students, expats – to open and manage bank accounts via app
- Vietnam: Japan’s Netstars and local fintech Momo partner to push QR-driven non-cash payment services and digital merchant tools for grocery stores in Vietnam
- Philippines: A quick look at Investa, investment platform providing Filipinos with access to low-cost investment opportunities and financial benefits
- Fintech Asia Summit 2022 set for January 20th, running virtually and looking at developments and trends industry-wide
- Indonesia: An overview of digital banking developments in the country over 2021
- Hong Kong’s WeLab fintech unicorn raises $240M to buy Indonesia’s Bank Jasa Jakarta, aiming to launch digital bank for the country’s huge unbanked population
- A quick 101 guide to stablecoins and how they act as a bridge to the cryptocurrency economy
KPMG: Overview of Fintech Development in Central Asia
Asia’s tech news
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