Blockchain-based startup SophiaTX establishes a presence in Chengdu, which is said to be one of the fastest growing cities in China. Chengdu has been described as one of the hot new startup hubs to emerge since 2017, thanks to rapid economic development which also happens to skew towards tech. The region also has ambitions towards becoming the finance hub of China. Some of the more notable startups hailing for Chengdu include Codoon, internationally-known Camera 360 and Tower, among others. Beyond just homegrown startups though, with a Chinathat is opening up to foreign talent, opinions have been floating that Chengdu could be…

Following the rollout of Open Banking regulations in the UK and the launch this year of the EU’s Payment Services Directive 2 (PSD2), countries across the Asia-Pacific region are following suit to establish their own frameworks to enable banks to share select customer data with third-party providers (TPPs), and TPPs to run transactions on customer accounts. Following a public consultation, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) in July 2018 published a four-phase approach to implement Open Banking in the city. Phase 1 covers “read-only” product and service information, useful for services like comparison sites; phase 2 covers new applications and…

The Chinese retail industry is entering a “new retail” era, characterized by the widespread use of technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) and big data to digitalize the entire value chain, according to PwC. China is the world’s biggest consumer market with total retail sales in Q1 2018 reaching US$1,436 billion, up by 9.8% year-on-year. China’s retail market is forecast to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 9% from 2017 to 2021. China is also the world’s biggest e-commerce market with online sales in Q1 2018 reaching US$307.4 billion, an increase of 35.4% year-on-year. According to a PwC…

CLSA, capital markets and investment group in Asia launches AlphaLabs to provide early investing or help in developing early-stage fintech startups they deem disruptive. CLSA is affiliated with China’s CITIC Group, a state-owned investment company. This decision comes from CLSA’s three-decade experience in the region’s financial services sector. The key for AlphaLabs though, are transformative ideas and tech like artificial intelligence, automation, big data, blockchain, cybersecurity, digital assets and reg tech which to the new accelerator, are increasingly dislocating all aspects of the financial services industry. CLSA CEO Jonathan Slone said: “The financial services industry is going through an unprecedented period of technological…

This year’s Discover Advanced Trends in E-Commerce Expo (DATE) event, which was held last month in Taipei, showcased the latest innovations in e-commerce and fintech and gathered some of the world’s key players on the global scene. Organized by the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) in association with the Taiwan Internet and E-Commerce Association, Chinese Non-Store Retailer Association, and the Taiwan Association of Logistics Management, this year’s DATE event focused on smart retail, cross-border e-commerce, social media marketing, mobile commerce, and innovation in e-commerce. DATE 2018, which took place between September 27 and 29, 2018 at the Taipei World…

Ground X, the blockchain subsidiary Kakao, often likened to the Korean version of WeChat; has announced the launch of the Testnet version of Klaytn. This move follows the trend of messaging apps going into blockchain with companies like Line launching it’s own cryptocurrency Klaytn UX seeks to improve the UX of existing blockchain platforms by eliminating traditional inconveniences such as wallets, private keys, and cryptograph addresses in order to lower the barriers to blockchain technology for end-users. GroundX claims to have enhanced speed and for the performance of the dApps (decentralized applications), which are readily available for mass users. According to…

Invoice financing company Capital Match, and SME current account platform Neat, announce a stronger partnership. Through this collaboration, both parties hope to provide more cost-effective account management and financing services geared towards SMEs in Hong Kong through their collaboration. Established in 2014,  Singapore-based Capital Match to date has helped SMEs in its hometown and Hong Kong to secure over US$ 78m (HK$ 600m) of funding, according to a press release. Its value proposition: it is difficult for SMEs to borrow enough from banks, which could lead to cash flow issues for SMEs with a smaller runway. Capital Match aims to fix these…

Hong Kong, an international finance center, has put a lot of effort into becoming a leading fintech hub. Today, the special administrative region is home to 48 of the world’s top 100 fintech companies, over 40 incubator and accelerator programs, and no less than three fintech sandboxes that allow financial institutions and startups to test innovative solutions. Hong Kong is also the number one location in Asia in terms of smartphone penetration, ­­­the fifth fastest growing startup ecosystem in the world, and the world’s leader when it comes to fintech adoption. Among the industry participants driving the fintech revolution in…

It is often said that fintech is one of the most regulated tech sectors in the world, and for good reason. There are dire consequences to any developing tech going wrong (Facebook’s recent privacy scandal comes to mind), but straits are particularly dire when it comes to money. Fintech regulation then becomes a tightrope act—how do we regulate an industry enough to protect its people, while still allowing enough room for it to grow? This is a problem that even the biggest fintech hubs are still struggling with, not excluding our very own. Arthur Yuen, Deputy Chief Executive, Hong Kong Monetary…

Open banking is gaining traction globally fueled by regulations like the EU’s PSD2 and the UK’s CMA Open Banking, a combination of banks’ internal efforts and market initiatives. Open banking refers to the use of open Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) that enable developers to build applications and services around financial institutions. APIs are a set of rules that govern how one piece of computer software communicates with another. If adopted, these enable banks’ customers to share their personal financial information with third parties to generate opportunities for better deals on financial products and to compare products more easily. From the…

In an effort to push Hong Kong towards a cashless society, the HKMA Faster Payment System was launched earlier this month To date 21 banks and 10 digital wallet have signed up for the system which includes well known names likes of Citibank, Hang Seng Bank, DBS, TNG Wallet, Alipay, WeChat Pay and Octopus. What is The HKMA Faster Payment System? The HKMA Faster System, introduced by the authority and operated by Hong Kong Interbank Clearing is built to enable instant payments in Hong Kong. Though it is interesting to note that not all of the banks/wallets have enabled real time…

Shanghai-based insurtech startup The CareVoice announces the launch of its mobile platform into Hong Kong, the company’s first major move outside of mainland China. Hong Kong’s insurtech scene is one of the hot tickets lately, with the total amount of revenue premiums in long-term in-force business being $441.5 billion in 2017—a 9.5% increase from values in 2016. The total amount of revenue premiums of long-term in-force business was $441.5 billion in 2017, increased by 9.5% over 2016. The Hong Kong platform incorporates the company’s offerings that helped it stake a claim in the Chinese market, such as an AI voice-based virtual…

Hong Kong will be hosting its third annual Hong Kong Fintech Week from October 29 to November 02, 2018. Hong Kong Fintech Week 2018 is set to be the world’s first cross-border fintech event that spotlights the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. Hong Kong Fintech Week 2018 will run from October 29 to November 01 at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, before moving to Shenzhen on November 02. Regulators, investors, academics and more than 200 fintech founders will be among the 8,000 attendees set to come to the event. Hong Kong Fintech Week 2018 is presented by InvestHK…

Just in March, Lufax had big aspirations towards launching an IPO that they hoped would raise its valuation to USD60 billion, a huge jump from when the company last valued at US$ 18.5 billion in 2016. Unfortunately, a rampant slew of Peer-to-Peer (P2P) scams spurred Beijing a crackdown that is slowly tanking the industry. Lufax was set up in 2011 by Ping An Insurance Group, a diversified holdings company mainly dealing in insurance, banking and financial services. Until recently, China was considered the largest P2P market in the world which helped companies like Lufax to rise, partly due to China’s lax rules…

Hong Kong, a global financial hub, has seen strong growth of its fintech industry. The city now hosts 48 of the top-100 fintech companies in the world, according to IDC Financial Insight 2015. Hong Kong has also seen a vast increase in incubation and acceleration programs over the six years, growing from three in 2010 to over 40 in 2015. The followings are some of the city’s top accelerators and incubators in Hong Kong available for fintech startups: Fintech Innovation Lab Fintech Innovation Lab Asia-Pacific is a 12-week mentoring accelerator and incubator program sponsored and managed by Accenture. The program…

UnionPay announced that it has started to offer its mobile services to customers in Hong Kong and Macau, in a move that is said to meet increasing payment needs brought by the exchanges between Hong Kong/Macau and the Chinese mainland. Today, consumers in Hong Kong and Macau can bind their locally issued UnionPay cards to the UnionPay app to use mobile payment service both in and outside the Greater Bay Area. As the mobile payment portal is jointly developed, operated and maintained by UnionPay and various commercial banks, it allows its Greater Bay Area users to bind UnionPay cards issued…

Despite the crackdown on cryptocurrency by the Chinese Government the blockchain scene is thriving in China. Over the past 3 months the government of China has invested over US $ 3 billion in blockchain focused funds. It is reported that there are over 3,000 companies in China registered with the word blockchain in their in the last 6 months alone. At the centre of this blockchain boom is Shanghai, a whitepaper published by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology dubbed Shanghai as one of the top cities for blockchain in country. The city accounts of 21% of blockchain companies in…

North Korea is exploring the possibility of introducing fintech services to its population with an initial focus on improved payments and mobile technology. Fintech has been growing rapidly around the world and yet there’s still no appreciable fintech services available in North Korea. North Korea has a poorly developed financial sector and only since recently has it been possible to make financial transactions. But changes in North Korea can take place surprisingly quickly. In recent months, North Korea has hinted desire to use mobile network as a means to provide financial services, modernize its financial services, and ensure the speed,…

Seeing the popularity of WeChat Pay and Alipay in China, it is easy for some to assume that these mobile payment apps are equally popular in Hong Kong. Unlike China, Hong Kong is still largely a very cash dominant society. When it comes going cashless Hong Kongers lean towards credit cards and the ever reliable Octopus Card. Octopus Card Remains a Popular Option for Hong Kongers Next to cash, Octopus Card is among the most popular method to pay in Hong Kong. Introduced in 1997, it has since issued more than 35 million Octopus Cards, with an impressive record of…

Designed by Magnum Research, Aqumon is a robo advisory service aimed at making wealth management more accessible to the Hong Kong public using artificial intelligence. The company recently announced that it has closed an undisclosed sum of financing from the Alibaba Hong Kong Entrepreneurs Fund, Bohai XinWang, and BOC International, a subsidiary of Bank of China. According the press release issued by Magnum Research, beyond just receiving capital from BOC International, they also aim to integrate Aqumon’s robo advisory solution to provide global asset allocation services to BOC International’s clients. Lixin Wang, Managing Director of BOCI Direct Investment Department, sharing…