According to Hong Kong regulatory officials, two banks have applied to trial biometric technology under a recent fintech sandbox initiative; Hong Kong Monetary Authority Chief Executive Norman Chan notes that the companies want to use biometrics to authenticate securities trading; the fintech sandbox was launched in September; other banks are considering utilizing the sandbox for other areas such as blockchain and artificial intelligence. Source
China's fintech sector is growing with new technologies and companies developing solutions for payments, loans and online investing; Forbes provides details on the market and discusses challenges; while the market has been conducive to new innovation, tighter regulations could be a factor and a lack of skilled workers could also affect the market's development. Source
India has become one of the fastest and most diverse fintech markets in the world; at LendIt USA 2017 we hosted a panel featuring leading India fintech firms; panelists talk about what makes the India market unique and what is the size of the opportunity right now; banks have helped to serve the top of the credit pyramid and micro lending has helped to serve the bottom of the credit pyramid, there is a big opportunity in serving the missing middle; panelists focused on how their lending models differ, the differences in the small business and consumer markets and how India has gone from a data scarce country to a data rich country; Aadhaar has also played a key role in helping to get more people and businesses into the financial system; other areas discussed include borrower acquisition channels and leveraging third party data sources. Source
Asia fintech specialist Henri Arslanian from PricewaterhouseCoopers provides insight on Asia's fintech market; innovation and rapid adoption are factors that have helped China to be a global leader in fintech; support from Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent continue to be drivers of infrastructure growth; in Asia, demonetization and the India Stack project, which includes biometric data for consumers, are also increasingly helping the region's fintech growth; regtech is also an increasingly important trend across the region. Source
Australian based digital bank Xinja has raised a massive $260mn investment round from Dubai-based investor Emirates World Investments; Eric Wilson,...
ICOINFO, one of China's largest ICO exchange platforms, announces the suspension of new project launches, awaiting relevant regulatory rules; users will not be able to add value to their accounts during the suspension. Source
European online lender Spotcap has received A$20 million (USD$15.15 million) from New Zealand Bank, Heartland; Spotcap has also launched its platform in New Zealand and will be accelerating growth in Australia, helping to expand its business in the Asia Pacific region; Spotcap's lending targets small and medium enterprises with credit lines and loans of up to $250,000. Source
Afterpay and Touchcorp are merging to form NewCo which will provide an advanced solution for merchant network installment payments; Afterpay has steadily grown its merchant network which pays a 4% fee for the installment service; Touchcorp will help provide advancements in payments technology for Afterpay and the integrated services will allow for broader expansion. Source
Two of the Co-Founders from Google Pay in India have launched a new neo-bank aimed at millennials in India; epiFi...
Sichuan Xinwang Bank and Jilin Yilian Bank have received licensing to provide internet banking services in China; the two banks will bring the total number of digital only banks in China to four; Xiaomi is a leading Chinese shareholder in Sichuan Bank with a 29.5% stake and Meituan is a leading shareholder in Jilin Yilian Bank with a 28.5% stake; the other two digital banks in the Chinese market include Ant Financial's MyBank and Tencent's WeBank. Source