Global fintech platform Airwallex announced the launch of its global expenses platform that ties together with its virtual and physical multi-currency cards, both for corporates and employees. The new solution streamlines the expenses process through offering a single integrated platform to manage spending. Businesses will be able to seamlessly upload receipts for approval, reconcile expenses and gain real-time visibility over card transactions. This includes the ability to upload and track receipts, allowing businesses full visibility over purchases with all the details in one place. They would also be able to assign expenses to the right accounting categories to better track…

Hong Kong’s virtual bank livi has unveiled new financing products that serve its customers’ financial needs both in their personal and business lives. The Franchise Financing Solutions offered by livi are tailored for individuals who enter into the SME sector in Hong Kong. livi said that it is looking to support the entrepreneurial aspirations of its customers by providing exclusive financing opportunities to franchisees and potential franchisees of 7-Eleven, the city’s largest convenience store chain. By doing so, livi is leveraging its relationship with 7-Eleven operator DFI, a subsidiary of a major shareholder Jardine Matheson. Budding local entrepreneurs can avoid the…

KPMG China has released its annual selection of the country’s top 100 fintech enterprises and emerging leaders. Like previous years, the 100 companies comprising the 2021 China Leading Fintech 50 and Future 50 selection were chosen by a committee of dozens of KPMG partners and directors based on criteria such as innovation and transformation, popularization of financial services and industry development prospects. Areas of expertise and technologies applied In terms of the areas of expertise of the 100 selected companies, platform technology empowerment is the most represented segment (31% share), followed by wealthtech (17%), and inclusive technology and insurtech (both…

The 15th Asian Financial Forum (AFF) gathered around 100 startups from various tech and fintech sectors spanning from blockchain, wealthtech, regtech, AI, and more to showcase game changing solutions to address business pain points and to help corporates with their digital transformation. These startups showcased how technology can improve business processes with automation and accelerate sustainable development in industries of finance, logistics, insurance, healthcare, lifestyle, and more. This rapid pace of innovation reflects the accelerating momentum in Hong Kong’s startup ecosystem. The number of startups in the country reached a record high in 2021 despite the pandemic. According to the…

Choco Up, a revenue-based financing and growth platform, has partnered with global fintech platform Airwallex to support the growth of cross-border e-commerce. Bringing together Airwallex’s global payment technology with Choco Up’s funding platform and analytics tools, this solution will serve as a one-stop-shop for e-commerce companies looking to expand internationally. Choco Up provides e-commerce companies of all sizes with flexible funding ranging from US$10,000 to $10,000,000 to accelerate their growth. By connecting the companies’ sales and marketing accounts to their data integration platform, Choco Up can swiftly conduct artificial intelligence-driven risk assessments on applicant companies within hours. The information gathered…

The use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in financial services is all over the news, with some reports estimating it to be a US$450 billion opportunity. But what’s the real story around what AI can do? Beyond just automating certain processes, AI has the potential to improve accuracy in credit or risk decisioning workflows, encouraging financial inclusion and allowing the underbanked and unbanked access to financial services in ways that were previously unreachable. Over 3 billion people in Asia have no access to formal credit and three of the top ten ‘most unbanked’ countries in the world happen to be located in APAC (Vietnam,…

HSBC has partnered with The Sandbox, a decentralised gaming virtual world and subsidiary of Animoca Brands, to connect with an emerging generation of metaverse participants and entrepreneurs through immersive experiences. The bank said that it is acquiring a 3×3 LAND site in The Sandbox metaverse, with the intention of engaging and connecting with sports, esports and gaming enthusiasts. HSBC will be be working with its sports partners, brand ambassadors, and Animoca Brands to co-create experiences that are educational, inclusive and accessible. Suresh Balaji, Chief Marketing Officer, Asia-Pacific at HSBC said, “At HSBC, we see great potential to create new experiences…

Hex Trust, a digital asset custodian which is fully licensed in Hong Kong and Singapore, announced that it has closed its Series B funding round of US$88 million co-led by Animoca Brands and Liberty City Ventures. Hex Trust’s Series B includes US$61 million of primary capital and US$27 million from secondary investors. Participants in the round included Ripple, Terra, Morgan Creek, Primavera Venture Partners, LeadBlock Partners, Eterna Capital, Sino Global Capital, Topaz, and Adrian Cheng who is the CEO of Hong Kong real estate giant New World Development. Several blockchain companies also participated in the round including BlockFi, CoinList, Protocol Labs,…

Global blockchain software company ConsenSys announced the close of a US$450 million Series D financing round, bringing its valuation to over US$7 billion. ParaFi Capital led this raise after participating in ConsenSys’ Series C round in November 2021. New investors participating in the round includes Temasek, SoftBank Vision Fund 2, Microsoft, Anthos Capital, Sound Ventures, and C Ventures. ConsenSys’ Series C investors — Third Point, Marshall Wace, TRUE Capital Management, and UTA VC, United Talent Agency’s venture fund — also participated in this round. The funding will support the rapid expansion of ConsenSys’ Ethereum-based MetaMask wallet with a major redesign…

Over the past year, organisations in Asia have embraced the zero trust security framework at a fast pace, recognising the need to upgrade their IT security strategy to address the ongoing digital shift, according to a new survey by Okta, a publicly traded identity and access management firm. Zero trust is a security model that requires all users to be authenticated, authorised, and continuously validated for security configuration before being granted or keeping access to applications and data. It’s a framework that’s particularly relevant today as it addresses modern challenges relating to securing remote workers, hybrid cloud environments, and emerging…

Global fintech platform Airwallex announced its partnership with London-based investing app Plum to support its cross-border payments and FX needs. Airwallex was chosen as Plum’s global payments and FX partner to support the launch of the latter’s new stock investing feature that will allow for its customers to trade in 500+ U.S. stocks across a range of large tech brands and options, including major Fortune 500 businesses. With the Airwallex integration, Plum can collect, hold and convert funds in multiple currencies and more quickly bring to market new features to customers on their investing journey. Founded in 2015, Airwallex operates…

In Asia Pacific (APAC), the rapid development of cross-border e-commerce has fueled demand for cross-border payment capabilities and embedded financial solutions as small, online businesses embrace digital technologies to broaden their reach and go global, a recent report by Currencycloud shows. Embedded finance enables any company to embed pre-built financial solutions via an API integration into their offerings. These solutions can be anything ranging from payments and lending, to other specialised services such as insurance coverage, and investments. There are many reasons for the rise of embedded finance, including friendly regulations, acceleration toward a cashless society, and the growth of e-commerce. But…

Despite phenomenal growth, current buy now, pay later (BNPL) models are showing to be rather unprofitable. Quinlan and Associates, an independent strategy consulting firm, estimates that in Asia-Pacific (APAC), the largest BNPL firms, including Australia’s Afterpay and Japan’s Paidy, are currently running average profit margins of -15% per annum (p.a.), while the more nascent players operating in emerging markets like the Philippines’ Cashalo and Indonesia’s Akulaku are suffering from profit margins of -100% p.a. This means that under their current business models, APAC BNPL players are facing a combined loss of US$5.2 billion by 2025, the firm estimates. These figures…

In a fintech startup’s race to scale up, they will face challenges across many fronts, including improving product profitability, recruiting and retaining talent, managing risks as well as complying with regulations. In this article, Oracle NetSuite addresses the 9 key emerging pain points that fintech startups face. 1. Securing growth capital from investors In a slowly maturing market, one of the biggest development challenges for fintech startups is attracting and persuading investors to back them. Having a brilliant or unique product isn’t enough in itself. Investors will also look at the business infrastructure as well as its sustainability and potential to…

UCOLLEX, a Hong Kong-based NFT platform, announced that it has completed a US$10 million Series A funding round led by Animoca Brands and MCP IPX One Fund (IPX Fund), which was established by MCP Asset Management (Japan). The company runs a next-generation creators’ platform that makes NFTs available to everyone, helping creators build their fanbase economy with the best-of-class technology and community — shaping a world where fans can engage with the creator’s metaverse. The raise will enable UCOLLEX to invest extensively in blockchain technology and establish metaverse frontiers. With this expansion, UCOLLEX aims to increase its visibility and presence across…

The Asian Financial Forum (AFF) witnessed more than 66,700 viewers from 80 countries and regions on its online platform, featuring 60 speeches and panel discussions, as well as a virtual exhibition showcasing cutting edge fintech innovations and solutions with the theme “Navigating the Next Normal towards a Sustainable Future”. Heavyweight speakers share views on a range of topics Several keynote speeches were featured at the AFF 2022, including an address by Mark Carney, United Nations Special Envoy on Climate Action and Finance. Carney shared his insights on how to build a sustainable financial system as a way of mitigating the…

Payments Network Malaysia (PayNet), the national payments network and shared central infrastructure for Malaysia’s financial markets, has named Farhan Ahmad as its new Group Chief Executive Officer effective 12 April 2022, succeeding Peter Schiesser. Farhan was the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Bento for Business, a fintech company based in Chicago and San Francisco that provides payment and expense management services to small and mid-sized businesses. He has extensive experience within the payments and banking services industry, having held significant leadership roles in several financial institutions like Barclays, Discover Financial Services, JP Morgan Chase, Bank One and FirstUSA. He…

Cross border payments firm Airwallex has introduced the U.S. Airwallex Borderless Card, a virtual Visa card issued by Community Federal Savings Bank (CFSB). Airwallex’s customers domiciled in the United States can now instantly generate and issue multi-currency virtual payment cards that can be used to promptly pay third parties, such as vendors and other online merchants, wherever Visa cards are accepted. Using the Airwallex Borderless Card, U.S. companies can now transact in more than 140 currencies. Over the coming months, Airwallex plans on expanding the U.S. Airwallex Borderless Card functionality, including the issuance of physical multi-currency payment cards for business…

StockViva, a fintech company that provide real time investment analysis and education from key opinion leaders (KOLs), announced that it has raised more than US$3 million in a Series A funding round. The company received the funds from Farquhar VC from Singapore, Kharis Capital from Luxembourg, and Hong Huan Group, Angelhub, along with several individual investors from Hong Kong. Combined with the previous US$2 million investment by Alibaba Hong Kong Entrepreneurs Fund from Hong Kong, K3 Ventures founded by MX Kuok from Singapore and individual investors across Asia, StockViva has raised more than US$5 million to date. Launched in 2018,…

livi bank, one of Hong Kong’s eight virtual banks, has been granted an insurance agency license from the Hong Kong Insurance Authority. This paves the way for the bank to introduce a range of insurance products within the livi app. livi will initially partner with life insurance provider, BOC Group Life Assurance, one of its shareholder’s subsidiaries. BOC Life offers a comprehensive range of services in life insurance, wealth management and retirement protection. The bank said that it will be tailoring a range of products specifically to meet the needs of its customers by providing them with seamless access to…