FinTech

ANEXT Bank, a digital wholesale bank incorporated in Singapore and a wholly-owned subsidiary of Ant Group, on Wednesday unveiled its latest initiative to drive further industry collaboration as part of its mission to enable effortless and inclusive financing for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

HashKey Capital Singapore Pte. Ltd., together with its affiliates, announced Friday that it has received its in-principle approval for the Capital Markets Services (CMS) license from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) as a licensed fund management company (LFMC).

Technological advancements have also led to new-fangled neobanking solutions which integrate spending, sending, and lending capabilities all from one application – making traditionally tedious financial processes a breeze for consumers. 

BigPay, a Malaysia-based FinTech firm, has partnered Singapore-based crypto payment firm TripleA, to launch its crypto top-up feature. BigPay users can seamlessly convert their crypto assets into cash to spend using their BigPay debit cards, without having to go through the typically tedious verification process.

The MOU seeks to formalize each national FinTech association’s involvement in the formation of the ASEAN FinTech Movement, with the goal of raising the region’s profile as a FinTech powerhouse, as well as providing a common networking platform for the region’s FinTech players to tap onto.

Wise, the United Kingdom-based payment firm, announced Wednesday that it has received a capital markets services licence from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), which will enable the firm to bring its new investment product, Assets, to Singapore in the coming quarters.

Weavr, a United Kingdom-headquartered technology provider that empowers businesses with plug-and-play embedded finance solutions, has set up in Singapore as part of its mission to make embedded financial services available to any digital business.

DBS on Monday announced a partnership with Open Government Products (OGP) to launch a live pilot where purpose-bound money-based vouchers (PBM vouchers) are issued using tokenised SGD to facilitate “real-world” live transactions with selected merchants.

Although there are a few challenges along the way, there’s potential for the four new Singaporean digital banks to impact the market and satisfy untapped needs. It might also push the incumbent banks to step up their game with more focus on customer experience!

Singapore and Hong Kong lead green fintech development among the five economies in the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), a report said Friday. Both Hong Kong and Singapore are in the stage of scaling up and accelerating to mature levels in terms of green fintech development compared to the past two years.