Hong Kong digital tech park Cyberport announced that the Fintech Proof-of-Concept Subsidy Scheme, commissioned by the Financial Services and the Treasury Bureau, is now open for applications with the Hong Kong government earmarking HK$10 million for the scheme. The scheme aims to encourage financial institutions (FI) to partner with fintech companies, including startups, to conduct proof-of-concept projects on innovative financial services products. Each approved project will be provided a maximum grant of up to HK$100,000, while projects with greater complexity and broader usage, such as those involving cross-sector or cross-border applications may receive a grant of up to HK$150,000. Applications…

HSBC announced plans to invest over US$ 3.5 billion in the next five years to accelerate the growth of its Wealth and Personal Banking (WPB) business in Asia. These investments will focus on expanding HSBC’s wealth teams to increase distribution capabilities in Hong Kong, mainland China, and Singapore. This will enhance its digital wealth capabilities and platforms across Asia and developing new products to deliver a distinctive wealth experience across the full customer spectrum, particularly for high net worth and ultra high net worth (HNW/UHNW) clients. HSBC will also step up investments in technology to build digitally-enabled financial planning platforms…

Episode Six, the global provider of modern payment processing and banking infrastructure, today announced that it has secured an additional $30 million of investment, bringing its total capital raised to $40 million. This additional funding comes nine months after the company secured $7 million of its Series A funding. Episode Six’s investors include HSBC, Mastercard, SBI Investment Co., Ltd., and Anthos Capital. Episode Six will leverage its latest investment to continue to accelerate its global expansion across all regions and key financial markets, supporting clients across a broad range of verticals. The Company will continue delivering flexible and extensible technology…

The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and 47 states are suing Facebook, accusing the social media giant of breaking antitrust law by acquiring companies that presented competitive threats and abusing its dominance in the digital landscape. But according to Peter Morici, an economist and emeritus business professor at the University of Maryland, the suits are “without merit and bad economic policy,” he wrote in an opinion piece published on January 11, 2021. The government and regulators are seeking for Facebook (accsmarket facebook accounts) to be broken up, with officials specifically calling for two of the biggest apps in its social…

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) and the Bank of Thailand (BOT) announced in a joint statement that the central banks of China and the United Arab Emirates will be joining them for the second phase of their central bank digital currency (CBDC) project. Previously known as Project Inthanon-LionRock, the project has been renamed as “m-CBDC Bridge” which will further explore the capabilities of distributed ledger technology (DLT), through developing a proof-of-concept (PoC) prototype, to facilitate real-time cross-border foreign exchange payment-versus-payment transactions in a multi-jurisdictional context and on a 24/7 basis. The m-CBDC Bridge project will also explore business use…

CompareAsiaGroup, a Southeast Asian financial marketplace, announced it has completed its rebranding to Hyphen Group. Hyphen said in a statement that the new name, brand identity, logo and website reflects the “company’s renewed commitment to accelerate the digitisation of the financial ecosystem as well as to connect consumers to a better financial future through innovative personalised digital experiences”. The company added that the new name Hyphen, derived from the ancient Greek word “under one”, was selected to represent the relationship between its parent company and its digital finance brands. The rebrand follows its acquisition of Singaporean finance assistant platform Seedly,…

Robo-advisor AQUMON has launched an algorithm-driven fund selector platform, SmartFund, which was first adopted by Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (Asia) Limited (ICBC Asia) in Hong Kong and made available in late 2020. SmartFund is a new generation big data analytics platform developed by AQUMON that utilises multi-factor algorithms-driven analysis to provide quality fund recommendations. While the mutual fund market is surrounded by options and asymmetric information, SmartFund is able to resolve a series of fund distribution or sales problems. SmartFund can also display historical data and provide forward-looking fund rankings in its clean and simple interface after multi-dimensional…

Blockpass, a regtech platform leveraging the use of blockchain, has announced its partnership with QTUM, an open-sourced public blockchain application platform. Through this new partnership, Blockpass and QTUM will work together to support the space. This includes QTUM offering subsidies to specific members of the ecosystem looking to achieve regulatory compliance with On-chain KYC(TM) solutions. QTUM leverages the security of unspent transaction outputs and combining that with EVM smart contracts. QTUM is secured by a Proof of Stake consensus algorithm and has a Decentralized Governance Protocol (DGP), allowing specific blockchain settings to be modified by making use of smart contracts,…

Two years into the implementation of open banking and Hong Kong is now heading into Phase III and Phase IV of its strategy, which will see account information and customers’ transactions being made available to third-party providers. As the region moves deeper into open banking, government-led initiatives such as the Commercial Data Interchange (CDI) and the iAM Smart will bring new and exciting opportunities for the banking and financial services sector to tap into, experts said during a virtual panel discussion. Citing research his firm conducted in partnership with Twimbit, Clive Chan, manager of solutions engineering for Hong Kong and…

InsureTech Connect (ITC), one of the largest insurtech gathering, will be presenting the Digital Distribution & Ecosystems: virtual summit on 25th February 2021. The virtual event will dive deep into the key market trends and topics revolving around digital distribution and ecosystems.  A well-designed distribution channel allows customers to access and purchase products in the most efficient way and ecosystem partners accelerate the way distribution is conducted. Properly developing a digital insurance ecosystem will greatly benefit insurers and it’s ecosystem alike. 2020 has been a strange year for many as the COVID-19 pandemic has affected the way people engage with…

Consultancy firm KPMG has released its annual selection of China’s top fintech companies. This year, the China Fintech 50 report was extended to feature 100 companies to showcase the sector’s growth and fast-changing landscape. The 2020 China Fintech 50, which recognizes both public and private companies, as well as independent fintechs and banking incumbents’ affiliates, features some familiar names including WeLab, OneConnect, Airwallex, WeBank and JD Digits. In addition to naming China’s most promising fintechs, the report also outlines some key trends observed in the sector over the past year. These trends include for example the rapid integration of technology…

Technology has been changing behaviour of people. Many are showing significance reliance on the Internet – mobile network in particular – more than ever. At the same time, technological innovations are led by such behavioural changes. Indeed, successful innovations need more than just insights. They are reflecting how people use technology, and thus change their habits. Finance services industry is also evolving the way they are doing business, as many customers are turning online for their daily activities such as buying stocks, paying bills, or managing their savings and investments, etc. But more often than not, there is an increasing…

South Korea’s Financial Services Commission (FSC) has unveiled its work plan for 2021, outlining key areas of focus and policy tasks for the year, including promoting financial innovation by advancing open banking development and adoption, the regulator said on January 18, 2021. To promote the development and use of contactless financial services, the FSC said it will begin allowing savings banks and credit card companies to provide open banking services in the first half of 2021, which will be followed by financial investment businesses. Moving forward, the government said it will also work to allow more account types to be…

LINE Bank announced that it has been granted an operational license by Taiwan’s Financial Supervisory Commission to launch a virtual bank. LINE Bank has been working with the regulatory authorities on the due diligence process after being one of the three entities to receive a virtual banking license in 2019. The bank said that it will work with all relevant authorities to ensure the stability and reliability of its systems’ operations in preparation for the launch in the first half of 2021 to its 21 million Monthly active users (MAU) in Taiwan. LINE Bank said in a statement that it…

Taiwan is moving forward with its plan to embrace open banking. The country’s Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) recently granted approval to seven banks to enter the second stage of open banking, Regulation Asia reported earlier. The second phase of open banking, which focuses on consumer information inquiry and involves the exchange of customer data, will give customers of these seven banks access to services provided through open banking. It will include 18 APIs for customer information inquiries and low-risk service applications. Customers will be able to give consent for their information to be shared, and be able to check their…

A new report published by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) looks at six ways banks in the region have used regtech tools for anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) purposes. The report, produced in collaboration with Deloitte, details case studies and shares insights of banks which have implemented technologies such as network analytics and robotic process automation (RPA) to combat AML/CFT. The paper is part of the HKMA’s ongoing effort to encourage the adoption of regtech in the banking industry by providing practical guidance and sharing first-hand experience from industry participants. Network analytics and non-traditional elements…

Alibaba Entrepreneurs Fund’s (AEF) JUMPSTARTER 2021 Global Pitch Competition has announced their list of top ten startups where two fintech startups, IPification and FOMO Pay, managed to snag a spot each. JUMPSTARTER is a not-for-profit initiative in collaboration with Cyberport and Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation (HKSTP) that provides a platform for entrepreneurs to jump start their dreams in Hong Kong focused on showcasing startups and providing high-impact networking opportunities. The four core industry that JUMPSTARTER focuses on are fintech, deep tech, smart city and retail. These top ten startups will have the opportunity to be among the…

Digital transformation is now everywhere, as every industry is actively adopting advanced information and communications technology (ICT) while changing business practices. The digital economy is extending its presence with speed, ease of access, as well as the power penetration that continuously change the behaviors of consumers and enterprises. Such changes complicate the relations between supply and demand, making the market more segmented, diversified, whereas services and products are more personalized. That means organizations must reallocate their resources, and most importantly, rebuild their technological infrastructure to facilitate the pressing needs of agility and scalability. From IoT to BoT “Internet of Things”,…

Rakuten International Commercial Bank (RICB) announced that it has officially launched operations making it the first digital bank in Taiwan. Established in May 2020, Rakuten Bank holds 50% of ownership while IBF Holdings owns 49% and the remaining 1% is held by Rakuten Card. Following in the footsteps of its Asian counterparts, RICB was among the three entities who were granted banking licenses by Taiwan’s Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC). The other two licensees were Japanese app operator LINE Group’s LINE Financial Taiwan and Taiwan telecom operator Chungwa Telecom’s Next Commercial Bank. Both have yet to commence operations so far. The…

ConsenSys, a global blockchain software company, announced a partnership with the Blockchain-based Service Network (BSN), China’s national blockchain infrastructure, to make blockchain more accessible for enterprises and government organisations. As part of the partnership, ConsenSys Quorum, an open-source protocol layer that serves as a foundation for businesses to build Ethereum-based enterprise solutions, will be available in about 80 different cities through BSN’s public city nodes throughout mainland China. The ConsenSys Quorum will be packaged with other mainstream permissioned and public blockchain networks to sell to enterprises and governments, offering a much larger and deeper market in China. So far 108 public…