Speaking at the Hong Kong Institute of Bankers Conference yesterday, Deputy Chief Executive Officer of HKMA, Arthur Yuen said that Hong Kong’s new virtual banks could potentially soft launch some of its services in the fourth quarter of this year. He did not specifically name the virtual banks who are potentially launching their services in the next few months but WeLab’s CEO Simon Loong revealed in an interview during the sidelines of the RISE conference that he’s looking to launch by this year. Meanwhile, Infinitum which is owned by Tencent, Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing, Hillhouse Capital and Perfect Ridge…

In a letter responding to German legislator, Fabio De Masi, Facebook has revealed the breakdown of its basket of global currency that will underpin its digital coin, Libra. According to a report by Reuters, the US Dollar will make up 50% of the basket, while China’s Yuan will not be included in the list. The report speculated that the exclusion of China’s yuan could potentially smooth the path for Libra in the United States where there’s a growing tension between the two economies. The report added that the rest of the global currency bucket is as follows; the euro with…

Blockchain and cryptocurrencies have been all the rage these past years. Now even central banks are looking to launch their own digital currency. So-called central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) differ from traditionally digital currencies like bitcoin and ether in the sense that the latter are not issued by the state and lack the legal tender status declared by the government. Over the past years, governments and central banks have been studying and testing CBDCs to realize the many positive implications these could contribute in the areas of financial inclusion, economic growth and technology innovation. While the Bank of England is…

UnionPay, the world largest card scheme formed a partnership with Wirecard a global player in the payments space. This agreement will see Wirecard supporting UnionPay’s ongoing international expansion and Wirecard’s growth in China. With over 7.59 billion cards issued under its brand, amounting to 57.6% of the world’s payment cards in circulation according to the Nilson Report, UnionPay leads the global card scheme market. The cooperation between Wirecard and UnionPay will focus on expanding the global acceptance of UnionPay as a digital payment method across all channels — a continuation of UnionPay’s ongoing efforts to expand outside of Mainland China.…

Hong Kong-licensed Legacy Trust Company Limited is launching a digital asset pension plan; a voluntary pension plan available to employers and the self-employed, where the contributions and underlying asset portfolio can include digital assets alongside fiat currencies. According to the company, the digital asset pension is structured as a non-vested trust, it’s fully compliant with Hong Kong regulations and it’s available to members residing anywhere in the world, provided that they are gainfully employed. The pension is funded by voluntary contributions made by an employee, employer or deducted directly from a salary, on a frequency of their choice. It is…

Lumiere and FinFabrik have joined forces bringing their business and technical expertise together to tokenise a co-investment into a film titled ‘Papicha’. By having their equity participation digitalised, investors will have the opportunity in the future to transfer or sell it to other investors who want to have access to an alternative asset. ‍‘Papicha’ is a progressive film directed by Mounia Meddour, produced by Xavier Gens and Gregoire Gensollen from The Ink Connection, and Patrick Andre from High Sea Productions, and distributed worldwide by Jour2Fête; it premiered in Cannes earlier this year and has been selected to represent Algeria for…

Line Securities Corporation, a joint venture between Asian financial services group Nomura Holdings and Line Financial Corporation, the financial services arm of Internet firm Line Corporation, has launched a new mobile investment service targeted at younger, digital-savvy generations. The new service aims to make investing more accessible to a wide range of clients by providing users with an easy and convenient securities and trading service that’s accessible from the Line messaging app. The Line platform counts some 165 million monthly active users. According to a press release, dated August 20 from Line, the service was designed to offer maximum simplicity,…

Ping An Insurance and Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEX) have entered into an agreement to develop cooperation and collaboration in fintech and data analytics. The purpose of the MOU is to enhance the financial market ecosystem of the region. Ping An Group Chairman and CEO, Peter Ma, joined HKEX Chief Executive, Charles Li, at a signing ceremony, in Shenzhen at the Ping An Finance Center, Futian. The signing of the MOU marks the beginning of a collaborative journey between Ping An Group and HKEX which seek to explore opportunities to collaborate in initiatives covering the Great Bay Area that…

Crypto.com announced the promotion of Eric Anziani to the position of Chief Operating Officer. Eric joined Crypto.com in January 2018 and was the Senior Vice President of Group Strategy. Previously known as MCO, Crypto.com is best known for their Mastercard-enabled crypto wallet. The company said in a media statement that, Eric has been instrumental in the conceptualization and implementation of the company’s major initiatives, in particular the Crypto.com Chain. As COO, Eric will provide company-wide leadership, management and vision, as he helps guide Crypto.com in the execution of growth-focused strategies. Kris Marszalek, Co-founder and CEO of Crypto.com said, “Eric leads…

Joint Electronic Teller Services Limited (“JETCO”) today announced its collaboration with  insurtech provider CoverGo to build car insurance API platforms that will offer price comparison, online applications, claiming and a range of other innovative features based on JETCO APIX, an open API (application programming interface) exchange platform.  According to government statistics there are more than 680,000 private cars and motorcycles in Hong Kong as of the end of 2018 with new registration of private cars amounting to over 40,000 annually over the past 3 years. This represents an attractive market for local car insurance providers. Yet consumers generally believe that…

China has been quick to embrace facial recognition, a technology that’s already being used for making payments at numerous shops, supermarkets and restaurants. The latest development in the field comes from China’s Internet giant Tencent, which showcased last month, at the Chongqing Smart China Expo, a new device supporting facial recognition payments, reports TechNode. Called the Frog Pro, the point-of-sale (POS) machine allows shoppers to make transactions by scanning their face at checkout. The device is equipped with 10.1-inch double-sided screen, a 3D depth-sensing camera for the facial recognition payment function, and a QR code scanner. Tencent said the double-sided…

The People’s Bank of China (PBOC), the country’s central bank, has released a three-year fintech development plan that aims to improve the quality of financial services, strengthen regulation on technology-driven innovations, and prevent financial risks. China wants to make its fintech sector a world leader and use the industry as a “new engine” for the development of its high-quality financial sector, the PBOC said in a statement. Under the plan, China will establish a framework for fintech development by 2021 that focuses on enhancing fintech application in the financial sector, enabling in-depth integration and coordinated development of finance and technology,…

Over the past years, China’s Internet giant Tencent has been expanding its strategic positioning in the insurance industry. The Chinese firm’s latest move has been to lead Xiaobang Guihua’s RMB 200 million (US$28.4 million) Series B equity funding round in August, reports Kr-Asia. Beijing-based insurtech startup Xiaobang Guihua is an insurance advisory platform running on WeChat’s Mini Program ecosystem that allows users to select and purchase insurance policies from a variety of different companies directly through Tencent’s multi-purpose app WeChat. Xiaobang Guihua also recommends insurance products via its WeChat public account and via a standalone app, and sells online courses…

As digital money grows in popularity, banks and credit card companies are facing increased competition from technology companies which are coming up with new ways to transact that are easier, more convenient and cheaper. Cash and bank deposits are battling with so-called e-money, electronically stored monetary value denominated in, and pegged to, a currency. These are offered by new private sector providers, and according to a paper by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), titled The Rise of Digital Money, their adoption could be rapid given their “attractiveness as a means of payment.” The paper notes that in countries including China…

Alibaba, Tencent, China Construction Bank, Bank of China, Industrial Bank of China, Agricultural Bank of China, and Union Pay is amongst the first organizations to receive and interact with China’s cryptocurrency, according to an unconfirmed report by Forbes. A separate source in the same report also corroborates that these 7 entities will be the first to interact with China’s cryptocurrency (or better known as central bank-backed digital currency by those in the space) and an additional unnamed 8th party will also be among the list soon. Upon the launch, these entities will be responsible for distributing cryptocurrency to China’s 1.3…

ZhongAn Online one of the leading insurtech companies in China, announced today its first six months interim results as of 30 June 2019. By harnessing the latest technologies, ZhongAn Online continues to integrate technology into every process in the insurance sector so as to reshape the entire insurance value chain. In the first half of 2019, the company invested RMB459.0 million (US$ 64 million) into research and development for insurtech . This has yielded 405 patent applications. The automation rate of claim underwriting and settlement exceeded 99% and 95% respectively. Moreover, the proportion of artificial intelligence (AI) applied in online…

2019 has been undeniably the year of Chinese commercial banks/tech companies collaborations. Incumbents have been actively pursuing partnerships with tech firms to drive fintech adoption as part of their digital strategies. Meanwhile, Chinese Internet giants have begun shifting their focus from being financial services providers to being tech providers. According to an analysis by Chinabankingnews.com, at least ten commercial banks in China have inked partnership deals with tech or fintech companies since the beginning of the year. Collaborations in July 2019 The latest to have done so is Industrial Bank, which unveiled on August 6, a strategic cooperative agreement with…

China’s State Council and the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China have released a detailed plan for wide-ranging reforms to be implemented in Shenzhen. The new guideline, released last week, outlines Beijing’s plan to turn Shenzhen into “one of the leading cities in the world in terms of economic strength and quality of development” by 2025, with a key focus put on research and development, industrial innovation, quality public services, and environmental protection, reports Chinese news agency Xinhua. By 2035, Shenzhen should become “a national model of high-quality development, as well as a hub of innovation, entrepreneurship and…

In China, online lenders are filling the credit gap, leveraging cutting edge technology including artificial intelligence (AI) to make lending decision in just a second. E-commerce giant Alibaba’s MyBank and Internet conglomerate Tencent’s WeBank, have dramatically changed the domestic financial services landscape and have lent to more than 100 million people so far, including those in rural areas and microbusiness owners, reports Nikkei Asian Review. Both companies make their lending decisions using AI, processing vast amounts of user data and information gathered from the mobile payment services they operate. Ant Financial, the financial affiliate of Alibaba, and Tencent, which operates…

As Asia goes through our own virtual banking revolution, looking to our western counterparts may provide hints as to where this journey could eventually take us. Though the first virtual bank (or internet-only bank as it was known then) was rolled out by Japan Net Bank in the early 2000’s, many would point to HKMA’s issuance of 8 virtual banking licenses as the tipping point that reinvigorated Asia’s interest in it. Soon after HKMA’s announcement, Singapore unveiled its virtual banking framework, Taiwan issued 3 virtual banking licenses, and Malaysia commits to releasing its version of a virtual banking framework by…