ICICI Bank will integrate Twitter's digital customer care support features through the bank's Twitter account; Twitter business support features to be utilized by ICICI Bank include Twitter's support indicator, message button and links for customer conversations; with the new customer support features, ICICI Bank seeks to make banking more rewarding for its customers. Source
Ant Financial Services Group is focused on serving small and micro enterprises as well as consumers. With the vision "to turn trust into wealth," Ant Financial is dedicated to building an open ecosystem of internet thinking and technologies while working with other financial institutions to support the future financial needs of society. Businesses operated by Ant Financial Services Group include: Alipay for payments, Yu'e Bao for money market services, Ant Fortune for wealth management, Ant Check Later and Ant Micro Loans for financing, Zhima Credit (formerly Sesame Credit) for credit reference, Zhao Cai Bao for online lending and MYBank for small business lending. Source
Hong Kong-listed Credit China FinTech Holdings led the launch of the fintech fund with 11 other partners that consist of central state-owned enterprises, provincial investment funds, trust and securities firms and private equity firms; financial gain was not the main motivation of the fund as the participants are looking at exposure to the emerging fintech space and possible partnerships in the future; "China's fintech sector was started later than the West's but is expanding at an unparalleled pace compared with the West," Credit China Executive Director Sheng Jia said at the opening ceremony. Source
The Asian Banker has awarded CreditEase Wealth Management with its first Best Non-Bank Private Wealth Product award; the award was part of the Asian Banker's awards program which has been recognizing financial services companies for 16 years; voting was done by an advisory board using detailed criteria to identify the non-bank with the best solutions for meeting the needs of high net worth customers by matching their risk profiles and investment objectives; CreditEase's CEO Ning Tang said its wealth planners focus on cross-border, cross-regional portfolios with multi-asset classes for clients and that its Toumi RA robo advisor service was created to help clients evaluate and minimize risks with a scientific portfolio. Source
The Cosun Group has told investors it will be defaulting on $45 million worth of corporate bonds issued to investors through online platform Zhao Cai Bao; the online platform is run by Ant Financial Services Group, an affiliate of China's Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.; the bonds should be insured by Zheshang Property and Casualty Insurance Co. Ltd. however China Guangfa Bank is claiming the insured documents are fake; Ant Financial is working to help investors receive the insurance payouts for the bonds and says Zheshang Insurance has no reason to refuse payment which should have been made within three days of default. Source
The Cosun Group has issued notice that it would be defaulting on its high yield debt products equal to $45 million; Cosun raised $166 million through the Ant Financial platform and is now unable to meet obligations on a portion of that amount; this leaves investors asking when they will be repaid; Ant Financial is pressing to ensure repayments are made and has stated they would help pay legal bills if investors decide to sue; the fintech giant does not share the blame as they view themselves as a platform for investors to allocate capital, but they also understand the Ant Financial name carries weight and want to help make sure there is a resolution. Source
Sources have reported that Zhongan is no longer considering an initial public offering (IPO) in Hong Kong or the US due to a shifting market perspective; international interest and competitive pressures are cited as the main factors for the change in the IPO strategy; the insurance company was planning for an IPO in Hong Kong or the US sometime in the first few months of 2017; the China listing will likely delay the offering and the firm has not disclosed its new timing. Source
CoinTribe is using advanced credit modeling to provide online lending to small and medium-sized businesses in India; it also offers personal loans; its services are leading the marketplace for small and medium-sized businesses; company provides an online marketplace for loans and also offers platform as a service digital technology to banks; CoinTribe has been originating loans since March 2016; has raised $3 million in funding and has plans to raise another $10 million to $15 million in the near-term. 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
The Hong Kong-listed company is, according to one banker at HSBC, the answer to Facebook, WhatsApp, Spotify, Kindle and ApplePay, but all under one roof; based in Shenzhen, considered the Silicon Valley of China, they employ 3,000 people where over half are focused on research and development; they also have a multi-billion dollar investment portfolio; they are one of the top three companies in China and have successfully expanded worldwide with apps like WeChat. Source