Fintech news: May 2020
A broad catch-all collection of May 2020 fintech and banking-related technology news from across Asia and Oceania, with wider-world items as reference and points of interest.
Links below represent the ‘wide angle’ view of fintech, rather than focusing on a particular sub-area of banking-related technology news; bitcoin and cryptocurrency news is gathered separately, as is our blockchain news summary.
- ICYMI: Temenos software major with 3K bank clients partners Microsoft to open AI-driven solution to help banks tackle coronavirus-induced surge in cybercrime
- ICYMI: Mojaloop Foundation launches, aiming for free, open-source real-time payments platform for nations and central banks, backed by nonprofits and tech firms
- Mastercard unveils 12 startups selected for Mastercard Start Path program
- ICYMI: Fintech Open Source Foundation becomes a Linux Foundation organisation, with aim of accelerating software development across financial services
- Report: Fintech and Digital Banking 2025 Asia Pacific, now available to download
- Libra Association releases v2 whitepaper, addressing 4 key areas: single currency stablecoins, compliance, permissioned versus permissionless, and the reserve
- ICYMI: PayPal rolls out QR code payments in 28 markets, allowing merchants to conduct contactless transactions – finally and at long last
- Remittances and fintech: “Today, an estimated 800 million people worldwide are directly supported by remittances from loved ones abroad”
- A look at the impacts of the recent Bitcoin halving event on blockchain and digital commerce
- Cambodia: An intro to 5 of the Kingdom’s fintech startups, spanning microloans, payment processing and more
- China: ByteDance, parent company of TikTok, leads $6M investment in Lingxi, AI startup applying machine intelligence to financial services including debt collection and insurance
- ICYMI: Andreessen Horowitz unveils second $515M cryptocurrency-focused fund in addition to existing $300M crypto fund
- India: LoanAdda loan aggregator startup gains backing, offering small-ticket loans via mobile app and website
- India: Khatabook fintech raises $60M with 8M active merchants across 11 languages
- India: Rupifi digital lending startup secures pre-A funding with software-as-a-service offerings for SMEs
- India: Zaggle gains partnership with Visa to launch payment solutions for SMEs and startups, including Founders Card credit card
- Indonesia: Cashlez SME-focused platform becomes the country’s first fintech to publicly list
- Indonesia: Cashlez mobile point-of-sale system firm raises $5.8M in IPO, setting sights on using proceeds to acquire Softorb smart card and RFID tech startup
- Samsung becomes the latest tech giant to roll out a debit card, under Samsung Pay and in partnership with SoFi online personal finance startup
- South Korea: Aizen gains $4.2M with AI/ML decision-making platform focused on banking and insurance
- South Korea: MoneyGram partners E9Pay money transfer and payments firm to tap into the Korean remittances market
- Samsung Pay unveils first details of its forthcoming debit card under Samsung Money by SoFi brand, partnering with Mastercard
- Philippines: A brief look at 7 of the country’s fintech startups, working in digital banking, mobile wallets and more
- Singapore: CACHE, provider of gold-backed digital assets, partners Onchain Custodian digital assets custody service for insured safekeeping of gold-backed tokens
- Singapore’s Validus raises $20M with SEA-focused peer-to-peer lending platform to connect accredited lenders with SMEs
- Singapore: Spark Systems raises $10.5M with foreign exchange trading platform, in part from Citi and HSBC
- Singapore: GoBear fintech raises $17M to grow consumer financial services focused on consumers without credit cards and access to traditional credit-building tools
- Singapore: Atome SG app launches, enabling online and offline shoppers to purchase items in monthly installments interest-free over 3 months
- Thailand: Digio, pioneer in the country’s mobile POS platforms, raises $4M to grow presence in all aspects of cashless and digital transactions
- Vietnam: Mobile transactions forecast to grow by 400% by 2025, with 25% of banks projected to pursue digital core platforms
- Australia: Verteva raises Au$33M Series A with digitised home loan solutions
- Australia: Afterpay buy now, pay later startup gains 1M new users as online shopping booms during pandemic lockdown
- Singapore: GoBear insurance and banking marketplace acquires AsiaKredit to add consumer lending focus to over 100 bank partners SEA-wide
- ICYMI: Hong Kong Blockchain Ecosystem Map 2.0, released in November 2019 by the Fintech Association of Hong Kong
- South Korea: Daejeon University becomes latest university to redesign portions of finance and tech divisions, launching Future Convergence fintech department
- China: Advisers propose regional digital currency for trade backed by Japanese yen, Korean won, HK dollar and the yuan, essentially a knock-off of original vision for Facebook Libra
- ICYMNI: A retail digital currency is now one of the European Central Bank’s focus areas, with a preliminary report expected in the near future
- ICYMI: France’s central bank and Societe Generale tested a blockchain-based digital euro, issuing $44M of covered bonds as security tokens and then settling in digital euros
- China’s Tencent acquires 5% stake in Australia’s Afterpay buy-now-pay-later consumer lending startup
- Myanmar: Wave Money mobile financial services platform gains $73.5M investment from China’s Ant Financial, operator of Alipay
- A look at FilmChain, which collects, allocates and analyses revenues for film, TV and digital projects via a blockchain-based platform
- A primer on the approaching Bitcoin ‘halving’ event, via Mashable
- ICYMI: Minecraft partners Enjin open-source blockchain plug-in for in-game currencies, stores, collectibles, p2p trading and more
- Japan: Kyash digital banking startup raises $45M as cashless payments become the norm in response to coronavirus
- Taiwan: An overview of Japan’s LINE messaging app’s aims as a virtual bank in Taiwan, both with LINE Pay and the soon-to-launch LINE Bank
- 3rd annual Asia Blockchain Summit set for July 15-19, a virtual event presented by Asia Blockchain Alliance
- Singapore: FoodRazor lands $900K with platform providing food-and-beverage operators with invoice management, digitizing details from printed receipts
- Australia: Xccelerate 2020 Pitch Event applications close May 30th, seeking startups focused on improving financial wellbeing of micro and small businesses
- Australia: LaunchVic aids 4 angel groups with Au$1.16M boost, allowing groups to assist 40+ early-stage startups in securing seed investment
- Australia: X15 Ventures, Commonwealth Bank’s fintech investment vehicle, to run virtual pitch event for startups supporting SMEs, with $150K prize pool
- Vietnam: HDBank joins Contour blockchain-based network to extend trade financing to corporates, speeding Letters Of Credit process and gaining cost savings
- India: An intro to Walrus banking and payments app, offering teens 13 years and over a free bank account, debit card, and ability to request money from friends
- An intro to 30 of the CoinDesk 50, a selection of the most innovative, consequential and viable projects in the cryptocurrency and blockchain spaces
- Generation Crypto: To Generation X, Gen-Y and Gen Z, now add Generation C
- ICYMI: National Bank of Cambodia to launch blockchain-based central bank digital currency, named Bakong, initially focused on domestic payments
- ICYMI: Bitcoin Mining Map launched by University of Cambridge, visualising approximate geographic distribution of global hashrate
- ICYMI: Square, Twitter CEO’s payments firm, now allows users to buy Bitcoin automatically at set time intervals in Cash App via new Auto Invest feature
- ICYMI: Singapore’s Temasek joins Libra Association, Facebook’s digital currency project
- Malaysia: “…coupled with more digital stimulus packages from the government, would inevitably favor nimble e-wallet companies who are willing to go the extra mile”
- ICYMI: GK-Plug and Play, Indonesian chapter of Plug and Play accelerator, recently unveiled the 15 startups selected for batch 6
- Philippines: “Take the Philippines as an example…it’s not hard to imagine how fast Libra could become the preferred tender of Filipinos everywhere”
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