Singapore hosted the 3rd Singapore-Shanghai Financial Forum this week helping to strengthen relationships in the region; over 200 participants were in attendance; the theme of the event was "Strengthening Singapore-Shanghai Collaboration in a Changing Financial World Order" and discussions were centered around deepening financial connections between Singapore and Shanghai; Jacqueline Loh, deputy managing director of the Monetary Authority of Singapore, was a featured keynote speaker at the event and spoke about the opportunities for fintech collaboration in the region. Source
B2B FinPAL, Ethis Kapital, FundedByMe Malaysia, ManagePay Services, Modalku Ventures and Peoplender have now been registered with the Securities Commission of Malaysia and plan to begin business in 2017; Malaysia is the first of the ASEAN countries to register P2P lending companies. Source
Chinese regulators are preparing new rules that target the businesses of the country's small-loan lenders; recent rules have capped P2P loans at Rmb200,000 ($28,925) for an individual and Rmb1 million ($144,626) for a company however small-loan lenders fall far below these thresholds and regulators fear the companies do not have adequate risk controls; 2016 data shows China has 8,673 small-loan companies with loans totaling Rmb927 billion ($134.1 billion) and this is in comparison to approximately Rmb673 billion ($97.3 billion) outstanding from P2P lenders; China's small-loan lenders are active in the market, offering a range of lending solutions and reporting small-loan asset securitizations of Rmb82 billion ($11.9 billion) in 2016; as the country continues its focus on tightening regulation for China's P2P lending industry, Li Junfeng, director of the financial inclusion department at the China Banking Regulatory Commission, says it will be specifically addressing new regulations that target the country's small lenders. Source
As of September 2016, WeChat had 768 million active users; the service is owned by Tencent; social cash sent to users through customized red packets or red envelopes has been one factor driving increased usage; WeChat has also been helping fuel a cashless society with 300 million users using WeChat Pay; expanding features and red packet promotional efforts have helped the company report an estimated value of $80 billion which is approximately half of Tencent's market cap. Source
Australian online lender SocietyOne is celebrating its fifth year in business with its first loan issued in August 2012; in June 2017 the platform reported cumulative originations of $300 million and since inception has helped over 13,000 customers; the firm says it has plans for expanding to new areas of lending over the long-term and will seek to obtain a 2% to 3% share of the $100 billion consumer finance market. Source
Andy Taylor previously co-founded marketplace lending platform SocietyOne; his new venture Douugh is a personal financial app; it uses a virtual assistant called Sophie to help users manage their finances; much like other apps, users input their financial accounts; users can interact with Sophie, asking questions like "How much did I spend on food this week?"; the app will also provide context around whether the amount spent is higher than usual and also aid users in setting up spending targets; the company is in beta for the rest of the year and will officially launch in February of next year; they hope to eventually make Sophie accessible via Alexa and Siri. Source
Australian marketplace lender, SocietyOne, has been growing rapidly in 2016; the firm has now originated $200 million (USD $147 million) in loans since its inception in August of 2012 after reporting a record month of originations in November with lending volume of $15.3 million (USD $11.25 million); in 2016, the firm has originated $126 million (USD $92.66 million), which accounts for the majority of its originations; the firm has hired a new chief marketing officer and has plans for continued growth with a focus on obtaining 2% to 3% of the consumer finance market by 2021. Source
SoFi is advertising job openings in Australia and appears to be planning international expansion of its mortgage lending business; firm has been expanding its mortgage lending in the US, now offering mortgage loans in 27 states; the expansion to Australia would be the first international effort for the P2P lender and one of the first marketplace loan offerings for mortgages in the country. Source
SoftBank is a telecommunications and internet focused business with its headquarters in Japan; the firm has announced it will be acquiring asset manager Fortress Investment Group for $3.3 billion; SoftBank owns and invests in a range of internet and digital businesses; the acquisition follows a previous collaboration between SoftBank and Fortress on a new $100 billion Vision Fund; Fortress will be run independently from SoftBank after the acquisition and will be led by existing Fortress principals Pete Briger, Wes Edens and Randy Nardone with close collaboration on the Vision Fund. Source
A consortium of banks including OCBC Bank, HSBC and MUFG along with Infocomm Media Development Authority completed a KYC blockchain proof of concept; the development can make KYC more secure and efficient, as well as help to crack down on money laundering. Source.