The Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEX) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Saudi Tadawul Group, Saudi’s stock exchange operator. Through the MoU, both the stock exchanges will explore cooperation in fintech, ESG and cross listings, as well as a number of other areas of interest. HKEX said in a statement that […]
Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are innovative, agile and drive competition. However, they’re often shuffled to the back of the line when it comes to accessing credit. Lending to SMEs can be risky and time-consuming. Traditional financial institutions often require paperwork-heavy application processes and may find it difficult to execute credit risk decisioning without human […]
Since its inception, SoftBank Group Corp. has made a name for itself as a significant player in the tech startup industry. But it has been a tough year for the Japanese conglomerate and its CEO Masayoshi Son, as valuations for its new startup bets hit a record low last quarter. The situation is a far […]
Hong Kong’s virtual bank ZA announced the appointment of Ronald Iu as its Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director. He succeeds Rockson Hsu who has stepped down to pursue other opportunities. Ronald joined ZA International, the parent company of ZA Bank, as Chief Strategy Officer in February 2022, and later became Chief Risk Officer of […]
The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) intends to roll out new regulations on crypto-assets and stablecoins by either this year or in 2024. On 12 January 2022, the HKMA had issued a discussion paper on crypto-assets and stablecoins and invited feedback from stakeholders and received a total of 58 submissions in response from the industry, […]
South Korea’s fintech industry is set to get a boost this year onwards as the government plans to increase its financial support to the sector and launch new initiatives to help promising companies grow, scale and expand overseas. The Financial Services Commission (FSC) said in December 2022 that the size of the Fintech Innovation Fund […]
The Asia-Pacific region, with 13 countries that process US$17.8 billion in digital payments per year, tends to invite issues as big as the region itself. As we kick-start 2023, banks and financial institutions (FIs) in the region will be pleased to know that technology is addressing the region’s top-tier payments issues – and not a […]
Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase said that it will be shuttering its operations in Japan and its users has until 16 February to withdraw their assets. All customers can withdraw their fiat currency and cryptocurrency holdings to other crypto service providers, Coinbase Wallet or other self-hosted wallets. They can also liquidate their portfolio and withdraw Japanese Yen […]
South Korean peer-to-peer (P2P) lending platform PeopleFund announced that it has raised an additional US$20 million led by existing investor Bain Capital. The round, which was open only to its existing investors, was joined by Access Ventures, CLSA Capital Partners Lending Ark Asia, D3 Jubilee Partners, 500 Global, Kakao Investment, TBT Partners and IBX Partners. […]
It has been a tumultuous couple of years for the bustling fintech scene as well as Web3 startups in Hong Kong. As the world grappled with the fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic, US-China tensions, and Hong Kong itself came to terms with street protests that saw its autonomy as a critical financial hub in the […]
Hong Kong’s livi bank has launched its QR payment feature for the Mainland market, allowing its customers to make cross-border payments there as well as other popular travel destinations such as Japan, South Korea and Thailand. In mainland China, livi enables customers to make QR payments through its app at over 29 million QR-code enabled […]
In recent years, especially since 2019, there has been a noticeable shift in Asian consumers buying behaviour towards online channels. This holds true for the insurance industry as well, with customers searching for virtual policies in larger numbers. In Hong Kong, where over half the population is aware of digital insurance and premiums have been […]
Hong Kong’s virtual bank ZA has rolled out its new debt consolidation programme ‘Debt Changer’ which seeks to make it easier for customers to repay their debts in one go and improve their credit ratings. The new offering will consolidate customers’ debts with other banks, financial institutions and credit cards into a single loan within […]
Jack Ma, the billionaire founder of Alibaba Group, is giving up control of the fintech unit Ant Group after China cracked down on the tech giant. Ma, one of China’s wealthiest men, has agreed to give up his voting rights in Ant Group, the company said in a statement. The move comes after Chinese regulators […]
Hong Kong’s Transport Department (TD) will be gradually rolling out the HKeToll at all government tolled tunnels this year to replace the manual and automatic toll booths. HKeToll makes use of the Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology, with the support of the Automatic Number Plate Recognition technology, to allow vehicles to pay tolls without stopping […]
InvestHK’s Director-General of Investment Promotion Stephen Phillips has embarked on a duty visit to Jakarta, Indonesia as well as Singapore this week. The tour is part of InvestHK‘s latest efforts to promote Hong Kong’s business attractions, including the opportunities arising from the Greater Bay Area (GBA). During the visit, Phillips will be meeting with representatives […]
Financial regulations and IT changes are creating an environment where businesses must quickly adapt to stay relevant to their clients. Clients expect a secure, seamless, and efficient way of staying connected with the global markets. Companies are increasingly looking to have fintech solutions that can make a difference to their clients and businesses. In the […]
Manulife has announced the appointment of Anne-Maree Tassell as its new Chief Operations Officer for Asia effective today onwards. Anne Maree Tassell Anne-Maree will be driving the Manulife’s growth strategy and digital transformation in the region. She has more than 30 years’ experience in financial services and will play a pivotal role in shaping Manulife’s […]
Hong Kong’s virtual bank ZA announced that it has rolled out another short-term savings insurance plan starting from HKD 10,000 (approximately US$ 1,280) through the app in just 3 minutes. The ‘ZA Savings Insurance 4’ is denominated in Hong Kong dollars with an 18-month locked-in period. The maximum premium for each insured person and policy […]
Temenos announced that Next Bank , a new digital bank backed by Chunghwa Telecom, Taiwan’s largest telecom operator, has gone live on Temenos’ core banking platform. One of the first digital banks in Taiwan to receive a virtual banking license from the island’s Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC), Next Bank is aiming to build a bank […]