Lending

4 Ways Alternative Data Is Improving Fintech Companies in APAC

Various categories of fintech firms – Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL), digital lending, payments and collections – are increasingly leveraging predictive models built using artificial intelligence and machine learning to support core business functions such as risk decisioning. According to

Read More

SME Lending in APAC Is the Major Opportunity for Banking-as-a-Service

Opportunities are endless with Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS), and nowhere is this more true than in Asia Pacific (APAC). Banks in the region, particularly in hubs like Singapore and Hong Kong, have embraced and become leaders in open banking, automated services, ever-improving

Read More

Livi Bank Now Offers Instant Personal Loans up to HK$1 Million

Hong Kong’s virtual bank livi announced that it has launched its personal loan offering from HK$10,000 up to HK$1,000,000. The livi Flexi Loan is fully automated and available 24/7 where approvals reportedly takes about 2 minutes after which the funds

Read More

Livi Bank Rolls Out Financing Products, Enables Account Opening for Mainland Visitors

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

Read More

Choco Up Partners Airwallex to Power E-Commerce Merchants’ Global Expansion

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

Read More

Overhaul Needed for BNPL as Losses Mount up to US$ 5.2 Billion in APAC

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

Read More

Alibaba-Backed Hong Kong Firm Qupital Secures US$150 Million Series B

Qupital, a Hong Kong-based financing platform for cross-border e-commerce sellers, announced it has raised US$150 million in a combination of Series B equity funding and a receivables-backed securitisation facility. The Series B round was led by the Greater Bay Area

Read More

Hong Kong Consumer Credit Market Improves Amid Rising Consumption, Economic Rebound

Hong Kong’s consumer credit market improved in Q2 2021 as the local economy continued to rebound from the impact of COVID-19 and private consumption increased 6.5% year-on-year (YoY) increase, according to TransUnion’s Q2 2021 Industry Insights Report. In Q2 2021,

Read More

Mox Bank Rolls Out Instant Loans Offering

Hong Kong’s virtual bank Mox announced the roll out of its ‘Instant Loan’ offering a year after the launch of its operations in the country. This new product, which is already available in its app, allows Mox Credit customers to

Read More

PayPal Makes Japanese BNPL Play With Paidy Acquisition for US$2.7 Billion

PayPal announced that it has agreed to acquire Paidy, a Japanese buy now pay later solutions (BNPL), for ¥300 billion (approximately US$2.7 billion) and the transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2021. The acquisition will expand

Read More