US cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase has signed a deal with banking giant Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG) to begin digital asset trading in Japan. “Our partnership with MUFG will help millions of people in Japan access our platform quickly and begin trading on our exchange by offering MUFG Quick Deposit for all customers in Japan from day one,” the firm said in a blog post. Coinbase added that it will be launching retail products first including a suite of five top assets based on trading volume, and will add more assets and products in the coming months. It also plans to…

The Union Bank of the Philippines (UnionBank) has partnered with digital asset custodian Hex Trust to pilot its digital asset custody service that is in compliance with the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP). The collaboration will start with Hex Trust providing digital asset custody as an internal service for UnionBank employees as a pilot run. This is in preparation for the next stage, to offer a fully commercialised digital asset custody service for the bank’s customers. The bank added that this move allows it to meet the needs of customers who are now looking for a trusted and regulated institution to…

Hong Kong’s virtual bank ZA Bank announced the launch of “Salary FastPass”, an interest-free early payday product in Asia that allows users to get their monthly payroll up to 7 days in advance. ZA Bank said that the Salary FastPass seeks to “give workers back a say in their salary and let them take back control of their payday”. Users can complete the application for the feature within the ZA Bank app, without the need to change their payroll bank account. “Salary FastPass” is now open for applications from a selected group of users who can apply for the product once…

Earlier this month, the Hong Kong government extended to social distancing measures in place for 14 more days starting August 25. To help prevent the importation of COVID-19 infections and the Delta mutant strain, the government said it will further build up double barriers against COVID-19 by strengthening measures on preventing the importation of cases and tightening border control measures. Against this backdrop, event organizers continue to set up online events to allow businesses and professionals to keep up with the latest industry developments as well as network with their peers despite the global pandemic. The following 6 online and…

Despite crackdowns on cryptocurrency trading and mining, China remains one of the most active cryptocurrency markets in the world, according to a new report by blockchain data platform Chainalysis. Between January and June 2021, cryptocurrency addresses believed to be controlled by Chinese users received over US$150 million worth of cryptocurrencies, second only to the US, the report says. Historically, the country is also known for dominating the cryptocurrency mining landscape, controlling at times as much as 75% of Bitcoin’s global hashrate, or the computing power that goes toward mining the cryptocurrency. This year, China has made considerable efforts to steer…

Currenxie, a Hong Kong-headquartered cross-border payments company, announced that it has successfully closed a US$10 million Series A funding round led by family office BF Belmont. Predominantly self-funded by Goldman Sachs alumni and co-founders, Riccardo and Alison Capelvenere, the latest capital injection will allow Currenxie to focus on building new products, acquiring new licenses and authorisations, expanding into new markets as well as accelerating recruitment. Currenxie will also be welcoming Gordon Kwong, a former Partner of a big four international accounting firm, to its board, as the official investor representative. Riccardo Capelvenere, Founder and CEO of Currenxie said, “From the…

BBVA has signed an agreement to integrate its cross-border payment and financing services on Trusple, a blockchain-based trading platform powered by Alibaba’s affiliate Ant Group, for greater transparency and security. Trusple aims to accelerate the digital transformation and facilitate the financing of international trade operations, with a special focus on small and mid-sized businesses. These services will be offered by BBVA Mexico and BBVA Spain so that Mexican and Spanish importers that currently import from China can pay for the operations within Trusple, without having to use external services. The system uses smart contracts which automatically execute the transactions when…

Xiaomi and AMTD’s virtual bank Airstar has launched another stage of its pilot trial which features the SME Easy Pay Loan offering to bring a faster and more convenient loan experience to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) This comes on the heels of its initial pilot trial to offer corporate banking services for SMEs following positive market response. The sandbox will accept up to 150 of Airstar Bank’s customers with loan drawdown. Interested SMEs can submit applications through the SME Easy Pay Loan website. Existing customers of the pilot for corporate banking services and new customers will be able to…

Huawei held its first virtual Asia-Pacific Intelligent Finance Summit 2021 with the theme “Accelerate Digital Transformation in Banking, New Value Together” on 29 July 2021. As economies across the Asia-Pacific region continue to recover and rebound, leading banks and financial institutions are accelerating digital transformation, seizing new digitalisation opportunities to reinvent themselves for what the future holds. This event attracted more than 1,300 financial industry customers, partners, industry experts and media across Asia-Pacific regions. Huawei invited its core customers and partners from the  financial industry which includes the likes of BDO Unibank, KASIKORN Business – Technology Group (KBTG), PwC and…

Airwallex, a cross border payment company, announced plans to establish a new venture capital fund set up by its founders named Capital 49 that will invest into early stage, high-growth technology-enabled companies powered by its infrastructure. The new fund aims to raise US$200 million through Airwallex’s founders and other investors, and will look for opportunities to invest across a number of industries including e-commerce, SaaS, digital and technology, business services and enablers, and fintech. To date, Capital 49 has completed investments into two unnamed fintech firms. Founded in 2015 in Melbourne and headquartered in Hong Kong, Airwallex has grown to…

Virtual bank Mox has launched a new Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) feature on Mox Credit called ‘Split purchase’. Mox Credit customers can split eligible transactions of HKD400 or more into equal monthly instalments, ranging from 3 to 36 months. As an introductory offer, Mox Credit customers can split an eligible transaction of up to HKD8,000 over 3 months for HKD1 in total fees and interest. Customers will be able to clearly see the applicable fees and interest in the Mox app before submitting their Split purchase application once they have selected their payment timeframes. Mox said that the application…

Since launching pilots for its central bank digital currency (CBDC) back in late 2019, China has seen 70.75 million transactions being conducted using the so-called e-CNY scheme with value totaling RMB 34.5 billion, or US$5.3 billion, new data from the People’s Bank of China (PBOC)’s working group dedicated to the project show. As of June 30, 2021, more than 20.87 million personal wallets and over 3.51 million corporate wallets had been created and used to conduct transactions in over 1 million scenarios ranging from utility payment, catering services and transportation, to shopping and government services, the working group says in…

Refinitiv released the findings of its Wealth Management report titled “The Gold Standard of Wealth Management: Redefining investor experiences in Asia-Pacific”. The firm recently surveyed over 500 investors in Asia-Pacific to understand how their trading activities, data needs and digital expectations are evolving. The study finds that investors in this region are more frustrated by their platform experiences and less loyal compared to their global counterparts. This dissatisfaction is due to the fact that wealth firms have struggled to adapt their content and digital strategies to the unique investing behaviour in the Asia-Pacific region. The failure to impress has significant…

Over the last decade, regulatory and compliance requirements have increased for all financial companies. At the same time, countries are introducing new legislation and regulatory requirements. Dealing with these evolving and ever-changing compliance expectations can be a costly ordeal. According to a report by Deloitte, operating costs spent on compliance has increased by more than 60% for retail and corporate banks compared to pre-financial crisis levels. Another report points out that compliance costs in the ASEAN region have risen by 9%-10% in 2020 alone. Additionally, policymakers, regulators and shareholders now expect firms to not only comply with emerging regulations but…

In Hong Kong, fintech will play a key role in creating a more environmentally-friendly financial system and help the city reach its green finance ambitions, experts told Fintech News Hong Kong. Technology and sustainability are quickly emerging as two key driving forces reshaping the global financial ecosystem. Given Hong Kong’s existing position as one of the world’s largest fintech hubs, the city is poised to become the next leader in green finance. Citing the example of China, which is not only the largest and fastest growing green finance market in the world, but also the most advanced fintech market, Arnaud…

Hong Kong’s digital life insurer Blue announced the launch of its WeMedi Top Up (Outpatient) Protector, a top up outpatient plan in the digital life insurance market to subsidise existing outpatient plans to help customers alleviate the financial burden of medical expenses. The plan allows customers to top up their existing group or personal outpatient reimbursement insurance plans by other insurers. Customers can be subsidised for their outstanding medical expense after being reimbursed from other insurers, helping them to reduce their protection gap. With the Blue’s WeMedi Top Up (Outpatient) Protector plan, customers will be entitled to the maximum top…

Hong Kong digital tech park Cyberport has invested a total of HK$14.87 million (US$1.92 million) in four of the startups in its network including Lynk, Rice Robotics, Dash Living and Hex Trust over the past six months through its Cyberport Macro Fund (CMF). The four startups receiving the capital injection by the CMF cover fintech and smart living clusters, including Rice Robotics which develops autonomous robots at scale, Dash Living which promotes community co-living through its platform, Hex Trust which provides institutional custodian solutions for digital assets and Lynk which manages a global expert platform using artificial intelligence and big…

Nomu Pay, a Finch Capital funded company, has completed two transactions to acquire Wirecard’s payment entities in Hong Kong and Malaysia. The firm also announced the appointment of Peter Burridge as Group Chief Executive Officer, to be based in Singapore. The acquisitions and appointment are part of Nomu Pay’s strategy to create a unified payments company focused on high-growth customer segments in Asia-Pacific, the Middle East and Europe. Nomu Pay is in the process of closing several other transactions related to different Wirecard entities in the Philippines, Thailand and Turkey. Following these deals, Nomu Pay said it will be active…

Formula 1 has announced Crypto.com, a cryptocurrency payment and exchange platform, as the Global and Inaugural Partner for its 2021 Sprint series. The Sprint series will kick-off at Silverstone, UK on July 17, ahead of the 2021 Pirelli British Grand Prix scheduled a day later. As part of the partnership, Crypto.com will have a trackside presence at every race for the remainder of the season, the official announcement noted. The startup will also become the Official Cryptocurrency Sponsor and NFT Partner of Formula 1 to offer new ways of fan engagement, it added. Crypto.com claims to have over 10 million…

Technological advances, business innovation, global competition and a major regulatory push have led to a shift in focus by Hong Kong financial institutions towards managing the complexities of change with financial regulation. According to The State of Regtech in APAC report released today by Ireland’s trade and innovation agency Enterprise Ireland, ranked one of the world’s most active VC investors, including fintech, it has prompted financial institutions to search for more innovative regtech solutions that balance technological implementation in high risk and high volume businesses. Harnessing technology and agility for rapid recovery, Covid-19 accelerated the industry towards greater efficiency and…