Ping An OneConnect Bank (PAOB), one of Hong Kong’s eight virtual banks, has released its financial statement for the year ended on December 31, 2020. PAOB’s activities has grown steadily since its official launch in September 2020, with total income grew by 21.3% year-on-year to HK$7.973 million. Both loans and deposits have grown at a steady pace as customer deposits amounted to HK$482 million while loans and advances to customers were HK$69.7 million respectively as of 31 December 2020. PAOB registered a loan-to-deposit ratio of 14.5% and the ratio is expected to increase in the future as loan volumes increase…

Airstar Bank, a virtual bank that began full operation in June 2020, has introduced a new foreign exchange (FX) service so that customers can capitalise on investment opportunities in the ever-changing global FX market. The virtual banks said in a statement that it is the first to introduce the 24-hour FX trading service. At the start, Airstar Bank’s FX service supports three currencies, namely Hong Kong Dollar (HKD), US Dollar (USD) and Chinese Yuan Renminbi (CNY). Through the Airstar Bank mobile app, customers can view real time exchange rates to track the latest market movements. The bank’s 24-hour instant trading…

Central banks in Asian countries including Cambodia, Thailand, Mainland China, Hong Kong and Singapore, have more advanced central bank digital currency (CBDC) projects than their global counterparts, outperforming those of Canada, the UK and Sweden, a new analysis by PwC shows. The PwC Global CBDC Index 2021, released earlier this month, measures central banks’ level of maturity in deploying their own digital currency, considering the progresses made so far, their stance on CBDC development, and public interest. The index gives a ranking of the world’s top ten most mature CBDC projects in two distinct use cases, namely retail CBDC projects,…

Hong Kong’s digital life insurer Blue has adopted the iAM Smart authentication method, providing a digital alternative for customers to verify their identity during the online policy application process. Blue claims to be the first insurer to do so. iAM Smart was launched by the Hong Kong government to allow the use of a single digital identity and authentication to conduct government and commercial transactions online. By adopting iAM Smart authentication, Blue provides customers with an option to remove the hassle of uploading an image of their identity card when they make new online policy applications. Instead, they can verify…

Accenture’s Fintech Innovation Lab Asia Pacific in collaboration with Hong Kong digital tech park Cyberport is now accepting applications for its fintech accelerator until May 17, 2021. Applicants must have at least a working beta version of their technology. The 12-week programme helps fintech startups accelerate and refine their product and business development through mentorships with senior executives from the fintech ecosystem. The 2021 programme will introduce a new challenge-based element in the form of six problem statements from financial institution partners. Startups that submit the most innovative propositions will be selected to receive mentoring by executives from 20 financial…

Ignatica, an insurance policy administration platform that offers digital self-service and intelligent automation solutions for insurers, announced that it has closed US$ 7 million in pre-series A funding round. The fund raise was led by Lingfeng Capital, with participation from the US-based SOSV Investment Funds,  Australia-based Artesian, Hong Kong-based AFG Partners Fund, as well as other investors. Ignatica said that this recent round of funding positions it to build on the growth it saw over the last 18 months where the firm reportedly tripled in size in both staffing and market traction. Ignatica’s platform lets insurers quickly and efficiently build and…

AQUMON has developed a robo advisory platform called Wealth-Tech Services for the CMB Wing Lung Bank to provide the latter’s clients with sophisticated, low-cost, and transparent investment options. The Wealth-Tech Services is embedded in CMB Wing Lung Bank Wintech mobile application. Clients will undergo risk and investment preference assessments to ascertain their risk profile. A tailor-made portfolio is then recommended according to the clients’ risk appetite, region, and sector preference. Following their purchase, monthly reports are provided to allow the clients to review their portfolio’s performance. Portfolio rebalancing and redemption options are provided to ensure that the clients’ investing preferences…

Hong Kong-based insurtech YAS announced the launch of of a NFT (Non-Fungible Token) microinsurance called NFTY, joining hands with Generali’s Hong Kong Branch to co-develop it. YAS claims that NFTY will become the world’s first microinsurance product to cover NFTs. The launch leverages the growing popularity of the advanced blockchain technology that certifies a digital asset such as media, songs, arts and collectibles to be unique and therefore not interchangeable. This microinsurance product will be first used to cover the NFT of “Nobody Gets Me”, a non-released song by Hanjin Tan, a Singaporean Chinese songwriter and music composer. The policy covers…

TransUnion’s latest quarterly analysis of global online fraud trends found that since the COVID-19 pandemic began, fraudsters in Hong Kong are increasing their digital schemes against businesses. In addition, provisional findings of TransUnion’s recent Global Consumer Pulse Study found that 36% of Hong Kong consumers have recently been targeted by digital fraud. It found the suspected fraudulent digital transaction attempts originating from Hong Kong increased 19.25% in 2021 compared to the year 2020. “Fraudsters are always looking to take advantage of significant world events. The COVID-19 pandemic and its corresponding rapid digital acceleration brought about by stay-at-home measures is a…

Taiwan’s booming startup ecosystem and recent fintech developments could be hinting at further growth in the local fintech sector. A leading global supplier of hardware, Taiwan has a vibrant startup ecosystem and is on track to grow into a global recognized hub, says a new report by Taiwan Tech Arena, a startup ecosystem development program under the Ministry of Science and Technology. Semiconductor innovation and manufacturing have been the building blocks to Taiwan’s burgeoning startup ecosystem, led by locally-founded pantheons such as AsusTek Computer, now the world’s fifth largest PC vendor by unit sales, and TSMC Taiwan, the world’s most…

In Asia Pacific (APAC), consumers are seeking customer support through social media platforms instead of making a call or sending an email, indicating that customers are expecting real-time responses to their enquiries and want shorter waiting time to solve their problems, a new survey by cloud communications platform Infobip found. Infobip’s research, which surveyed 2,760 professionals across nine APAC markets, namely China, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Taiwan, South Korea, Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines, shows that platforms such as Facebook and Instagram are emerging as the preferred channel for customer support, as consumers perceived them as a faster and more convenient…

Global blockchain software company ConsenSys announced the final close of its US$65 million funding round from the likes of J.P. Morgan, Mastercard, and UBS. Other investors include Protocol Labs, the Maker Foundation, Fenbushi, The LAO, Alameda Research, CMT Digital, Greater Bay Area Homeland Development Fund, Quotidian Ventures, and Liberty City Ventures. Several funds had invested with Ethereum-based stablecoins, DAI and USDC, as consideration. The Ethereum blockchain developer said that the funds will be used to accelerate the convergence of decentralised finance (DeFi) and Web3 applications on Ethereum with enterprise blockchain infrastructure. The funding round follows ConsenSys restructuring to form a…

OSL announced that its SFC-licensed digital asset brokerage OSL Digital Securities acted as the trade execution and custody partner for Hong Kong-listed Meitu, and facilitated its latest digital asset treasury transaction, a purchase of approximately 175 units of Bitcoin with a total value of USD10 million. The transaction follows OSL Digital Securities going live with the execution of the first customer trades via its licensed trading desk. OSL Digital Securities became the first and only firm to receive a license for Type-1 (dealing in securities) and Type 7 (automated trading service) regulated activities related to virtual assets (digital assets) from…

The Hong Kong Digital Asset Exchange (HKD.com), has announced its plans for what it described as Hong Kong’s first one-stop trading platform for NFT (Non-Fungible Token) digital artwork. The launch is scheduled for third quarter of 2021. The platform is tentatively named “HKD.com NFT Trading Platform”, they said in a statement that this will provide artists with an online platform to publish, promote, trade and exchange their works, with a variety of crypto products to include digital art, animation, music and film. Platform users can trade, buy, sell and exchange tokens through public offerings or competitive bidding, and artists can publish…

Ping An OneConnect Bank (PAOB) announced today they have partnered with JETCO to roll out cardless ATM withdrawal services. Through this partnership, PAOB customers will be able to withdraw cash from more than 1,700 JETCO ATM machines across Hong Kong. Customers will be able to withdraw up to HK$ 30,000 per day while the single withdrawal limit is set at HK$ 6,000. The cardless withdrawal service can be access directly through PAOB’s mobile banking app. Mr. Ryan Fung, Chief Executive of PAOB said, “PAOB rolls out different customer-centric services and products since the official launch in September last year, aiming…

Digital wealth management platform StashAway announced that it will now be available to Hong Kong residents and is licensed by the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC). StashAway is an investing platform that provides intelligent asset allocation with global ETFs for both retail and professional investors. Founded in 2016 in Singapore and with operations in Malaysia and now the MENA region, StashAway has clients from more than 160 countries and 190 nationalities. In January 2021, StashAway reported that it has more than US$ 1 billion of assets under management. Stephanie Leung, Head of StashAway Hong Kong said, “You’d be surprised to…

Hong Kong-based digital asset custody service provider Hex Trust announced that it has closed its Series A funding round with US$6 million led by QBN Capital. Investors also joining the round include Cell Rising, Radiant Tech Ventures, Kenetic Capital, HashKey, MD Labs, Fenbushi Capital, Borderless Capital, Genesis Block Ventures and Henri Arslanian. They further added that that the investment will enable it to scale operations and hire key talents in Hong Kong and Singapore. Additionally in 2021, they will also focus on its expansion into the European market, where the firm has already closed a strategic partnership with SIA, a…

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) announced the launch of the delivery-versus-payment (DvP) link for cross-currency securities transactions between the Hong Kong dollar (HKD) CHATS and the Bank of Japan Financial Network System for Japanese Government Bond (BOJ-NET JGB) Services. Clearing House Automated Transfer System, or CHATS, is a real-time gross settlement (RTGS) system for the transfer of funds in Hong Kong. The link would support DvP settlement of the HKD sale and repurchase transactions using Japanese Government Bonds (JGB) as collateral. This is said to help eliminate settlement risk by ensuring simultaneous delivery of HK dollars in Hong Kong…

Visa announced that it will allow the use of USD Coin (USDC), a stablecoin backed by the US dollar, to settle transactions on its payment network over Ethereum, an open-source blockchain. Visa said that it is piloting the capability with Crypto.com, a crypto platform and a Visa partner, and plans to offer the USDC settlement capability to additional partners later this year. Working with Anchorage, a digital asset bank and an exclusive Visa digital currency settlement partner, Visa has launched the pilot programme with Crypto.com. Visa’s standard settlement process requires partners to settle in a traditional fiat currency, which can…

By 2025, virtual banks could be serving a total of 1.9 million customers, or 24.9% of the Hong Kong population, and hold a combined revenue market share of 19.3%, estimates Quinlan and Associates. Though not insignificant, the consulting firm forecasts industry consolidation in the years to come with only a handful of players truly thriving. These estimates were shared in a new report titled Branching Off: The Outlook for Hong Kong’s Virtual Banks, which looks in detail at the outlook for the Hong Kong virtual bank ecosystem in coming years. According to the analysis, by 2025, there will be a…