Shenzhen has demonstrated its willingness to experiment with innovative technology when it issued its first digital invoice on the blockchain last year. Part of the Greater Bay Area, Shenzen has issued close to 6 million invoice according to a report by XinhuaNet. According to local authorities on average 44,000 of these invoices are issued daily with a total value of roughly US$ 500 million. These transactions are happening across 113 sectors. The local news outlet also stated that so far 5,300 companies in Shenzhen have registered to use blockchain invoice. Shenzhen is far from the only city pushing for blockchain…

The insurance industry is on the brink of a major transformation, driven by factors such as macroeconomic development, changing consumer expectations, technological innovation and increased competition, according to a recent insurtech report by jointly published by ZhongAn and KPMG. In recent years, China’s insurance market has grown rapidly. In 2017, total primary premiums in China hit RMB 3.1 trillion, making China the second largest insurance market in the world. Online insurance has achieved even faster growth than the industry in general. Over the last 5 years, total online insurance premiums in China have increased by nearly twentyfold, from RMB 11.07…

In July, Tencent’s super-app WeChat ran a trial that enabled passengers of two Spring Airlines flights between Shanghai and Chengdu to make offline payments while flying, reports Abacus. Passengers could sign up for the trial service, called WeChat on the Machine, before boarding and successful applicants were given the ability to use the WeChat mobile app to purchase food and beverages, souvenirs, blankets and in-flight services while on the plane. Bills were stored on the app until the airplane landed, and when devices were connected back to the Internet, payments were automatically made. The new payment feature is currently restricted…

Standard Chartered Bank announced the launch of the eXellerator innovation lab in China, that brings together employees, corporate clients and fintechs to develop innovative solutions that meet the evolving banking needs of clients. Located in Shanghai, the eXellerator in China builds on the Bank’s global network of innovation labs across Singapore, Hong Kong, London, Kenya and San Francisco. These labs are part of the Bank’s SC Ventures unit, designed to drive innovation, invest in promising fintechs and implement new business models to rewire the DNA in banking. With the launch of the eXellerator, Standard Chartered aims to deepen its contribution…

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) unveiled today in a media statement, the progress of its Open API framework and its future plans. The HKMA introduced the Framework in July 2018, which aims to facilitate the development and wider adoption of APIs by the banking sector. Progress So Far – Phase 1 & 2 The Framework adopts a four-phase implementation approach. It is reported that Phase 1 was completed on schedule with 20 participating retail banks making available more than 500 Open APIs, offering access to information of a wide range of banking products and services. Websites and mobile apps are…

South Korea’s Financial Services Commission (FSC), the government’s top financial regulator, will resume a new round of procedures for granting preliminary approval for digital banks, the FSC said on July 17. Earlier this year, the FSC said it intended to approve one or two additional digital banks under the Special Act on Online-only Banks, which allows non-financial companies to own a 34% stake in an online-only bank. Two companies applied, namely Kiwoom and Toss, but neither of them was granted a preliminary approval in last May as both fell short of the evaluation committee’s standards. The regulator now said it…

Taiwan’s Financial Supervisory Commission is said to have issued it virtual banking licences to three consortiums, according to a report by Reuters. The licenses were granted to Line Financial Taiwan, Next Commercial Banking (led by local telco Chunghwa Telecom) and Rakuten International Commercial Bank. Virtual banking frameworks and licenses seems to be a major focus for many of the regulators in Asia this year, with regions like Hong Kong issuing 8 licenses, Singapore eyeing to issue 5 and Malaysia looking to finalise its version of the virtual banking framework this year.

New data from Juniper Research has found that the volume of domestic money transfers via mobiles will exceed 203 billion in 2024, up from 130 billion in 2019. Domestic P2P payments will drive this growth; accounting for 80% of all domestic transfers in 2024. According to the new research, “Digital Money Transfer & Remittances: Domestic & International Markets 2019-2024”, domestic transfers are being driven by increasingly easy mobile payment systems. In developed markets, digital wallets have made P2P payments far simpler, with services including PayPal, Venmo and Cash App enabling low cost, fast and secure payments for a rapidly growing number…

The Financial Services Commission of  South Korea has approved an additional 5 companies to be part of its fintech sandbox. At the time of publishing the regulator has approved 42 services to be tested in the sandbox, 9 of which were approved as recent as April this year. This slew of approval is part of South Korea’s concerted effort in boosting the country’s fintech sector, notably they have committed to reviewing over 200 regulations to identify which of it is hindering the industry’s innovation efforts. Below are the latest applicants granted approval for the sandbox. ZikBank Activity: Safe payment service…

As China emerges as a tech powerhouse, successful concepts from Chinese tech giants are being studied and replicated by Asian and Western counterparts, according to a new report by South China Morning and its tech-focused news site Abacus. In the China Internet Report 2019, launched at Hong Kong’s RISE conference earlier this month, the Hong Kong-based media company and its tech unit claim that China’s Internet giants, which used to be called copycats for creating clones of Western social media platforms, are now trendsetters that are being copied by Internet companies from all part of the world. The report cites…

Eddie Yue, who currently serves as the Deputy CEO of HKMA will succeed Norman Chan as the new CEO in October. The 54 year old incoming CEO Eddie Yue, started his career in civil service in 1986 and joined HKMA in 1986. A report by Bloomberg suggest that the new CEO is set to be among the best paid central banked in the world, his salary will be set at HK$7 million ($900,000), with as much as HK$2.3 million a year in performance-linked variable pay. Welcoming the succession, Norman Chan the current CEO said “Eddie is the most experienced Deputy…

In China, platforms and services like Alibaba’s Alipay and Tencent’s WeChat Pay have brought facial recognition payments to online and brick-and-mortar retail stores. But as biometrics and facial recognition technologies become mainstream, experts and regulators are concerned about the privacy and cybersecurity risks associated with these, according to a report by Abacus. Privacy concerns Li Wei, director of the technology department of the People’s Bank of China, said consumers should realize that when they are using these features, they are giving up privacy for convenience. Faces are very sensitive personal information, and it could have a critical impact on someone…

ZhongAn, a leading insurtech company in China, today announced new senior leadership appointments. Former General Manager and Joint CEO Mr. Jin Chen has resigned his positions, whilst continuing his role as an Executive Director, Chairman of the Investment Strategy Committee and the President of the Fintech Research Institute. Meanwhile, the Board of Directors appointed former Vice General Manager and Joint CEO Mr. Xing Jiang as General Manager and CEO of the company. The qualification for the appointment of General Manager is subject to the approval of the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission. ZhongAn has been streamlining its operations in…

Infinium Limited, the virtual bank jointly owned by Tencent, Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing, Hillhouse Capital and Perfect Ridge today announced that it has been renamed Fusion Bank. The Chinese name of the virtual bank, “Fu Rong”, carries an implied meaning of “connecting the globe and financially empowering the community”, according to its press release. Mr. Jim Lai, Vice President of Tencent and Chairman of Fusion Bank, said, “Renaming the business allows us to better deliver the brand concept of Fusion Bank. Fusion Bank brings together elites in various fields of FinTech to unleash the power of collaboration, drives the…

South Korea’s attempts to put itself on the map in the world of blockchain seem to be bearing fruit more and more lately. Increasingly, South Korean banks and tech firms are ramping up blockchain adoption in a big way with several deployments and initiatives announced these past months to use the technology in applications such as digital identity, payments, food distribution and entertainment. These 5 recent developments is a testament to South Korea’s blockchian ambitions. Large Banks, Telcos and “Chaebols” Team up on Digital Identity Last week, a group of tech, financial services firms, and mobile carriers that includes…

China’s central bank, the People’s Bank of China (PBoC) has revealed at the 4th Global Fintech (Beijing Summit) that it is currently drafting new policies for China’s fintech sector. This new plan, will include regulatory sandboxes for at least 10 major cities including the usual suspects like Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen according local media report. Li Wei who heads the technology department of PBoC told local media that they will be exploring a Chinese version of the fintech supervisory sandbox with focuses on “risk compensation” and “withdrawals mechanisms for the financial markets” through the pilot zones with the 10 major…

Octopus cards will soon be usable virtually via an iPhone, according to the city’s e-payments giant. With the iPhone’s Apple Pay, Octopus users would be able to use their phones to pay for travel, or other purchases, or even their Apple Watch. More details will be shared soon including the exact launch date, reported the South China Morning Post. SCMP further reported that Francis Fong Po-kiu, the president of the Information Technology Federation, said the system would be made available in Apple’s iOS 13 software for iPhone, and opines that it will come around September. He also said he learned…

KPMG and Alibaba Entrepreneurs Funds’ joint report has made it official—fintech is ranked as Hong Kong’s strongest innovation sector, beating out segments like smart city, artificial intelligence, e-commerce, big data, and many others. The conclusion was found when entrepreneurs and students were surveyed about whether they agree Hong Kong is well-positioned to be an innovation hub in a number of emerging technology areas. The results suggest a need for continued effort to drive growth across all of the government’s four key innovation sectors outlined in the Hong Kong budget and the Outline Development Plan for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay…

Artificial intelligence (AI) is set to play a key role in the future of financial services and more broadly in what UBS and the World Economic Forum refer to as the “Fourth Industrial Revolution.” The global economy is on the cusp of profound changes driven by “extreme automation” and “extreme connectivity.” In this changing economic landscape, AI is expected to be a pervasive feature, allowing to automate some of the skills that formerly only humans possessed. In the financial services industry in particular, there has been a lot of noise around the potential of AI and data supports that investors…

South Koreans are increasingly going cashless as more people turn to e-wallets in South Korea for both online and offline purchases. Figures can attest of the rapidly growing trend with 2.12 million won (US$1,800) worth of mobile payment transactions being made daily in 2017, up by a staggering 147.4% on-year, according to the 2017 Electronic Pay Service Usage report released last year. The total volume of payments facilitated by simplified mobile payment services reaching a record 67.2 billion won (US$57 million), up 158.4% from 2016. South Korea’s mobile payment and e-wallet players To tap into this growing opportunity, tech…