InsurTech

Chubb and JA Assure Launch Cyber Insurance Portal for SMEs in Asia

									by Fintech News Singapore
June 2, 2022

Chubb and insurtech firm JA Assure announced the launch of HaxsafeTM, a cyber insurance portal targeting SMEs looking for accessible insurance solution.
Underwritten by Chubb, the cyber insurance product offered on the platform is a comprehensive risk management solution providing clients with pre-loss risk mitigation and incident response services.
Currently available in Hong Kong SAR, Malaysia and Singapore, Haxsafe offers instant quotes and policy issuance capabilities.
The pre-loss mitigation services include complimentary access to a password management tool and regular spam tests designed to help keep organisations cyber safe.

When a cyber incident occurs, clients can access the Chubb Incident Response Platform, an end-to-end process, developed to contain the threat and limit potential damage to their businesses.
The incident response manager assigned to the client will assist to triage the issues, develop a plan of action to contain the threat, as well as appoint specialist vendors to assist with loss prevention and business recovery.
Japhire Gopi, CEO at JA Assure said,
“Haxsafe will be a gamechanger for SMEs as it simplifies the insurance buying process for small business owners who simply do not have the time and resources to go through lengthy insurance purchase processes.

We are in the business of innovation and I’m excited to make insurance more accessible to those who need it.”
Grant Cairns
Grant Cairns, Regional Head of Property & Casualty, Asia Pacific at Chubb said,
“Our data shows that SMEs, like large organisations, are vulnerable to cyber attacks, despite the popular belief that SMEs are too small to be of interest to threat actors.

I’m pleased that we are now able to bring Chubb’s cyber risk management solution closer to SMEs, underscoring our commitment to better serve the small commercial segment.”

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Open Banking

Indonesia’s Finantier Joins Mastercard’s New Start Path Open Banking Programme

									by Fintech News Indonesia
June 16, 2022

Indonesia’s Finantier was one of the five open banking startups from around the world join Mastercard’s new Start Path Open Banking programme.
Other companies handpicked for this inaugural class include Dapi, mmob, Mono and Paywallet.
These five companies will join the network of more than 300 startups that have participated in the Start Path startup engagement programme.
They will have an opportunity to engage with Mastercard’s ecosystem of banks, merchants, partners and digital players across the globe to deliver and scale open banking solutions.

Today, Start Path alumni are entering the public markets, reaching unicorn status and pursuing extended commercial engagements with Mastercard and its customers.
Start Path is a key programme within the Mastercard Developers portfolio, a single point of entry for fintech companies in open banking and beyond to access the APIs, services and tools they need to iterate at each stage of their journey, transform bold ideas and achieve scale at a fast pace.
During the three-month programme, startups will have an opportunity to leverage Mastercard’s open banking expertise and market insights and learn more about the company’s open banking platforms through wholly-owned subsidiaries Finicity and Aiia.
Blake Rosenthal
“Open banking is a natural progression of how Mastercard has always embraced innovation and consumer trust with equal measure, and how we’ve remained a trusted partner for our customers.

We are thrilled to launch the Start Path Open Banking programme and welcome five high-growth startups from around the world to collaborate with us and accelerate open banking innovation.”
said Blake Rosenthal, Executive Vice President, Fintech & Segment Solutions at Mastercard.

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Crypto
Digital Assets

Digital Assets Wealth Management: A US$54B Opportunity for Asia’s Wealth Managers

									by Fintech News Singapore
June 24, 2022

In Asia, adoption of digital assets as an investment is growing at a staggering pace, emerging this year as the fifth largest asset class in the region. But despite soaring demand from investors, the majority of wealth management firms are still holding back from offering the asset class, turning their back on a US$54 billion market opportunity.
This is according to an Accenture study, which polled more than 3,200 affluent investors across eight Asian markets, 550 relationship managers, and 21 senior executives of wealth firms operating across the region, to understand the state of wealth management in Asia and the trends emerging out of the region.
Results from the research show rising interest and adoption of digital assets, which now represent 7% of surveyed investors’ portfolio – more than foreign exchange (FX) and currencies, commodities or collectibles. This makes digital assets the top-five asset class for affluent investors in Asia.
Current percentage allocation of investable financial wealth across asset classes in Asia, Source: Accenture’s Asia Affluent Investor Survey Q1 2022
Currently, 52% of investors in Asia hold digital assets of some sort, whether that’s cryptocurrencies, crypto tokens or crypto funds, the survey found. By the end of 2022, that figure could very well rise to 73%.

Digital asset investment penetration in Asia, Source: Accenture’s Asia Affluent Investor Survey Q1 2022
Even though investor interest is rising, most wealth management firms in Asia currently have no plans to target the asset class. Of the C-suite executives surveyed by Accenture, two-thirds said they are not planning any initiative related to digital assets.
24% indicated having plans to start offering the asset class, and only 9% already offered digital assets propositions.
Most wealth management firms in Asia are not focused on digital assets, Source: Accenture’s Asia CXO Industry Benchmark Survey, Q1 2022
Interviews with senior executives of wealth firms operating across Asia found that the reasons for not offering digital assets are multiple. Some indicated having adopted a “wait and see” approach. Others said they were skeptical about whether digital assets would be a profitable business. Regulatory concerns and operational constraints were also cited as main challenges for wealth managers.
Asia’s digital assets wealth management market
Accenture estimates that digital assets are a US$54 billion market opportunity for wealth management firms in Asia, with transaction fees representing a potential US$40 billion revenue pool, and advisory fees and custody fees, US$7 billion, each.
The bulk of the potential revenues are located in India and Japan, representing US$40.4 billion, but Southeast Asian nations, including Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand, also have a sizeable combined potential revenue pool, amounting to US$13.6 billion.
The digital assets wealth management revenue pool in selected Asian markets, 2022, US$bn, Source: Accenture Analysis, 2022
Interest in digital assets is not only growing among retail investors, but also institutional investors. A 2021 study by Fidelity Digital Assets found a positive perception of digital assets among investors surveyed, and rising intent to invest in the asset class.
70% of institutional investors surveyed globally expect to buy or invest in digital assets in the future, and more than 90% of those interested in digital assets expect to have an allocation in their institutions’ or clients’ portfolios within the next five years.
Interest was the highest in Asia, where 80% of respondents shared plans to purchase digital assets.
Year-over-year future purchase intent of digital assets, Source: The Institutional Investor Digital Assets Study, Fidelity Digital Assets, 2021

Featured image credit: Freepik

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Crypto
Digital Assets
Sponsored Post

VCs, Industry Players Bullish on Long-Term Prospects Despite ‘Crypto Winter’

									by Fintech News Singapore
August 1, 2022

The cryptocurrency market is down significantly since the end of 2021, with the overall market losing nearly 70% of its value from its last all-time-high levels of nearly US$3 trillion in November 2021. But despite what some are referring to as the beginning of a prolonged “crypto winter”, venture capitalists (VCs) and industry players remain bullish on the long-term prospects of the industry.
For Jamie Burke, CEO of Web3 accelerator Outlier Ventures, it is critical to look past the price of cryptocurrencies and consider other key indicators of the health of the industry. First, research and development (R&D) activity is persisting, founders and developers continue to join the space, and new startups are being launched at a record pace to commercialise blockchain infrastructure, he wrote in a new blog post.
Second, enthusiasm in the VC community remains high with funding still being actively allocated to new crypto specific funds and deployed. So far this year, a total of more than US$15 billion capital was raised by funds explicitly allocated for Web3 investments, Burke says, up from US$12 billion during the same period in 2021, with a new fund being launched almost every week.
Drawing parallels with previous bear cycles, he predicts that major innovations will likely emerge from this “relative period of calm” and trigger the next bull market, noting that the 2017 bull run was driven by the initial coin offering (ICO) frenzy, the 2020 market upturn, by the rise of decentralised finance (DeFi), and the 2021 crypto surge, by booming adoption of non-fungible tokens (NFTs).
Bank of America (BAC), also known as “Warren Buffett’s favourite bank”, shares the same feeling, stating in a new report that, despite failing token prices and gloomy headlines, investors continue to be interested in the sector. To date, BAC still remains as Berkshire Hathaway’s second-largest holding with a stake valued at US$42.6 billion.
The report, which follows up from its Web3 and Digital Assets Day conference that took place last week, notes that conversations with some of the 160 clients who attended the event showed bullishness in the crypto space. Most were unfazed by the recent market crash, pointing out that some of the most innovative projects were built during previous downturns in the market.
In the retail market, the current correction hasn’t deterred younger investors and newcomers from joining the crypto market, Callie Cox, US investment analyst at online brokerage platform eToro, told Cointelegraph in May. Her company, which ran a poll across age groups in March, found that 58% of investors aged 18-34 thought bitcoin would present “the best buying opportunity in crypto over the next three months.”
Luno, a leading global cryptocurrency app, said in April 2022 that it had reached the 10 million customer milestone. Three millions of these customers joined the platform between April 2021 and April 2022, showcasing rapid adoption of the asset class over the past year.
Founded in 2013, Luno operates in 40 countries including South Africa, Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore. In the city state, Luno Singapore received in-principle approval from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) to provide digital payment token (DPT) services in April.
Luno is now looking to cement its position as the go-to platform for first-time crypto investors to get access to crypto in a well regulated environment that safeguards consumer interests. With a key focus on consumer education and consumer protection initiatives, this is an ambition that’s materialised by the launch of a crypto education hub called Luno Discover where beginners have access to guides, research papers, market analysis, as well as the latest industry news.
Vijay Ayyar
” The crypto market is fast evolving and we always encourage users to stay as informed so that they can interact safely and securely in the cryptocurrency environment. At Luno, we are committed to prioritise our customers and their financial wellbeing through improving financial literacy in cryptocurrencies and providing a good customer experience. This may mean being proactive about encouraging deeper understanding of key blockchain concepts beyond surface-level and more importantly, recognising individual risk appetite and management, “
said Vijay Ayyar, VP Corporate Development & Global Expansion, Luno.
In Malaysia where Luno is licensed by the Securities Commissions Malaysia, Luno is running the “Move with Luno” campaign, which aims to empower the locals to grow their understanding of digital assets and investing as part of financial literacy. The company said its services will soon be available in Malay language, and more localised educational content will be rolled out.
Luno Will Be Available in Malay With More Localised Educational Content. Fintech News Malaysia

Disclaimer: This partnership between Fintech News & Luno is for educational purposes only. Luno Singapore has been awarded in-principle approval from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) under the Payment Services Act 2019. Cryptocurrency is a high-risk investment. The value of cryptocurrency can fluctuate significantly and you may lose the capital you invest. Before investing, we urge you to educate yourself about cryptocurrencies and to familiarise yourself with the risks involved, which are detailed in Luno’s Risk Warning: https://luno.money/24o

Featured image credit: Unsplash

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Digital Transformation
InsurTech

Singlife With Aviva Backs Local SMEs’ Digitisation With Grab, Google, Razer Fintech

									by Fintech News Singapore
July 4, 2022

Homegrown insurer Singlife with Aviva announced the launch of a cross-industry collaboration “A Better Odyssey” which will help promising startups and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Singapore to digitalise and scale their operations.
In the initial phase, A Better Odyssey looks to partner with up to 200 entities on their digitalisation and growth journey.
A Better Odyssey brings together international digital solutions partners, including Google and GrabForBusiness, homegrown fintechs such as, Razer Fintech, ShopBack PayLater, Debia, Exabytes, Pand.ai, Quickdesk, Sleek and Volopay.
These partners will work across multiple industry verticals and focus on empowering emerging businesses through innovative digitalisation and productivity solutions.

Emerging businesses will have access to free credits, preferential pricing for products and services and further networking opportunities.
They will also receive coverage from Singlife’s Group Personal Accident (GPA) insurance scheme, helping them to safeguard their early-stage growth.
According to Singlife, this is the first open architecture programme by an insurance company in Singapore, helping to provide a one-stop shop for local startups and SMEs to access a wide range of solutions, including business management, operations and payment.
Varun Mittal
Varun Mittal, Group Head, Digital & Ecosystems, Singlife with Aviva said,
“We are extremely grateful for the support from our many partners in helping us establish and lead this important ecosystem initiative.

Singlife offers consumers a better way to financial freedom and we want to help emerging businesses find a better way to grow. We look forward to this journey as their technology-empowered, financial services partner.”

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Crypto
Digital Assets

Banks Are Increasingly Embracing Crypto As It Moves into the Mainstream

									by Fintech News Singapore
July 6, 2022

The past year has seen cryptocurrency adoption and trading surge. Total transaction reached US$15.8 trillion in 2021, up 567% from 2020, and the number of crypto holders has increased to an estimated 300 million, indicating that digital currencies steadily moving into the mainstream, a new whitepaper by Banking Circle, a business-to-business (B2B) banking services provider, says.
The paper, looks at the state of crypto, highlighting the sector’s growth and demonstrating the increasing opportunity open to banks.
According to the report, while non-bank financial institutions (NBFIs) including crypto exchanges and specialist acquirers have embraced the move towards crypto relatively quickly, banks on the other hand have been slower to engage in the space despite having inherent advantages over NBFIs.
By the end of 2021 there were 1.5 million cryptocurrency transactions every day
Banks are directly engaged with the clearing and settlement system, putting them in the ideal position to act as the bridge between the fiat and crypto environments, the paper says.

All evidence point to a future where digital currencies are fully integrated into the financial landscape, it says, pointing to regulatory developments, advances in central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) research and deployment, and involvement of bigtechs in the space.
Regulators around the world continue to push ahead and release statements regarding future regulation of crypto. In parallel, central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) and cryptocurrencies linked to reserve currencies are growing in popularity.
To prepare for the widespread adoption of digital currencies, Banking Circle advises incumbents to start working with third parties as part of their ongoing digitalization strategy.
In particular, banks should consider establishing connectivity with crypto exchanges and wallets. By developing payment service infrastructures that seamlessly integrate with crypto services, banks can enable customers to access cryptocurrency funds held on exchanges from within their digital estate, adding value for their customers and potentially generating revenue by linking the two environments, the paper says.
In addition, banks can use blockchain and digital currencies themselves, applying these technologies to areas such as cross-border payments. Rising traction of products like Ripple’s RippleNet network is evidence of banks’ interest in harnessing technology to make international fund transfers more efficient.
RippleNet is a decentralized network that allows financial institutions to send money globally, instantly, reliably and for fractions of a penny. So far, more than 300 financial institutions have joined RippleNet, the company claims, leveraging Ripple’s technology and products for commercial use cases including e-invoicing, international supply chain payments, global currency accounts, real-time remittances and international peer-to-peer (P2P) payments.
Banks embrace crypto
These past years have seen banks rapidly embracing crypto and blockchain. Recent data from LinkedIn show that several major banks, including Deutsche Bank, Wells Fargo, Citigroup, Barclays, Credit Suisse and UBS, have been beefing up hiring for their digital asset teams, with three times as many crypto jobs on the social networking platform in 2021 than in 2015.
According to CNBC, JPMorgan currently has one of the largest crypto teams, with more than 200 employees working in its Onyx division, the unit responsible for researching and developing blockchain and digital currency products and services.
In Singapore, DBS has been amongst the earliest adopters of the technology. In August 2021, the bank publicly launched its DBS Digital Exchange (DDEx), a members-only digital asset exchange that provides corporate and institutional investors, accredited investors, and family offices who bank with DBS with access to digital assets, including security tokens and cryptocurrencies.
DDEx also offers an ecosystem for businesses to securitize real and financial assets into digital tokens for listing and trading, providing companies with access to alternative fundraising from qualified investors.
DBS says it witnessed strong traction for the first full year of operations of DDEx with over S$1 billion in trading value recorded.
In the public sector, Singapore’s central bank too has been engaging in a number of experiments and initiatives involving blockchain technology and digital currencies, exploring areas such as wholesale CBDCs, retail CBDCs and asset tokenization.

Featured image credit: Unsplash

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Funding
Indonesia
InsurTech

Indonesian Insurtech Rey Assurance Secures US$4.2 Million Seed Funding

									by Fintech News Indonesia
July 7, 2022

Indonesian insurtech Rey Assurance announced that it has secured US$4.2 million in seed funding to advance its digital health products and technology platform.
The funding round was joined by Trans-Pacific Technology Fund (TPTF), Genesia Ventures, and RDS.

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Rey said that it will be launching a new suite of outpatient and inpatient products that has received approval from the Indonesian insurance regulator, Otoritas Jasa Keuangan (OJK).
The new products will enable Rey’s customers to personalise services with the level of coverage that best matches their needs.

Rey’s products are linked to the company’s proprietary cashless claims system, eliminating the tedious admission and discharging processes.
The claim system includes ReyCard, a debit card that enables Rey’s customers to make payments immediately at any healthcare provider of choice, even outside the traditional hospital network.
Evan Tanotogono
“Unlike most legacy insurers, Rey prioritizes outpatient products that are affordable and painless, complemented by our best value inpatient products, which all feature experience-centric care and wellness features into our end-to-end health solution.

We are grateful for the funding and expanded partnerships which support our mission to help improve health equity for all Indonesians while also shining a spotlight for other countries seeking to create a new paradigm for providing innovative insurance solutions for their population.”
said Evan Tanotogono, CEO and Co-founder of Rey.

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Funding
InsurTech

Insurance Software Provider Ancileo Bags US$3 Million Seed Funding From Fermion

									by Fintech News Singapore
July 8, 2022

Ancileo, a Singapore-based software as a service provider (SaaS) for the insurance ecosystem, announced has raised US$ 3 million seed funding from Fermion.
According to Ancileo, it will gain access to some 230 banks and 150 insurers to offer digital transformation solutions in the area of embedded insurance with this strategic investment.
Additionally, Fermion’s global footprint will expand to 26 markets, and the company will bring its insurance ecosystems solutions into the travel and lifestyle market.
Ancileo’s SaaS platform powers embedded travel insurance distribution for global travel companies such as Etihad Airways, Scoot, One Vasco and more.

It delivers customised digital solutions that bypass existing insurer legacy systems and enabling them to partner with any distribution ecosystem for new growth opportunities.
Olivier Michel
Olivier Michel, Founder of Ancileo said,
“This seed investment is important as it will support our immediate growth needs but what we are really excited about is the prospect of pooling our respective assets together and building unique value propositions that help insurers grow their portfolio in the travel and banking ecosystem.”
Peter Miller
Peter Miller, CEO of Fermion Group comments,
“Ancileo’s entrepreneurial spirit and mindset, as well as their technologies complement and enhance our own business proposition.

Our combined strengths will enable us to serve banks and insurers everywhere such as to become more adaptive, creative, and resilient at establishing new distribution ecosystems.”

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Open Banking
Vietnam

Vietnam’s Banking Execs Call for Open Banking Framework

									by Fintech News Vietnam
July 13, 2022

In Vietnam, although financial institutions have realised the potential of open banking to enable more inclusive and accessible financial services, a patchy legal framework is hampering their efforts to join the data revolution.

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Praising the opportunities brought about data sharing, Nguyen Quoc Hung, General Secretary of the Vietnam Banks Association, told Vietnam Investment Review in a recent interview that open banking allows financial institutions to collaborate with other stakeholders, enabling them to be part of the embedded finance movement where banking services are offered in a contextual and seamless manner at the right time and at the right place.
Open banking can also drive financial inclusion by reducing barriers to access and enabling the use of alternative financial data for credit scoring and risk assessment, he added.

Can Van Luc, Chief Economist at the Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BIDV), said that although open banking remains a fairly new concept, the trend holds tremendous potential, especially considering Vietnam’s young and connected population, rising mobile banking usage, and booming e-commerce activities.
At state-owned VietinBank, Deputy General Director Tran Cong Quynh Lan, said the financial institution has been working on an open banking strategy since 2017, citing the concept as being of “utmost importance” to its digital transformation journey.
VietinBank’s head start has allowed it to amass a partner base of more than 100 companies that include superapp and ride-hailing giant Grab, as well as mobile payment leader MoMo (M_Service). These companies now use VietinBank’s iConnect open banking framework to access customers’ data and provide superior experiences as well as personalised products and services.
https://developer.vietinbank.vn/
“As of now, 148 different services from 116 partners have been made available thanks to VietinBank’s open banking platform,” Tran said. “An average of more than 12 million financial transactions are carried out on the iConnect platform each month.”
The need for a comprehensive framework
The past couple of years have seen a growing number of Vietnamese banks waking up to the open banking opportunity, introducing developer portals and providing open application programming interfaces (APIs) for third parties to use.
However, even though industry participants have made significant strides, the lack of a comprehensive regulatory framework around open banking is hindering their efforts to fully embrace the concept.
In a June 2022 guest post on Vietnamese news outlet Bao Dau Tu (Investment Newspaper), Roy Anirban, Deputy General Director of OCB’s Digital Banking and Technology division, wrote that rules and standards must be introduced to ensure interoperability, security and consumer data privacy.
Roy Anirban
“When there is no common standard for open banking, different banks will implement different API security protocols, leading to the possibility of data theft from some open banking participants,”
Anirban wrote.
“[In addition,] non-bank ecosystem partners will have to connect using different API formats from bank to bank, which will affect the quality of the system software, introduce risk for poor customer experience as different banks will provide different information.”
At the Financial Services and Open Banking Forum 2022 on June 17, 2022, a representative of consulting firm Deloitte shared a similar sentiment, deploring the lack of standards and rules.
The spokesperson said that the major challenge in implementing open banking is that there are no guidelines on open APIs and that there were no common standards on information technology systems, data storage, security, connectivity.
Pham Tien Dung, Deputy Governor of the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV), told Vietnam Investment Review that the existing legislative framework for open banking in Vietnam is in place, but is, however, insufficient in dealing with the fast pace of development the sector is witnessing.
Provisions are dispersed throughout a number of laws, ranging from electronic transactions and credit institutions, to cybersecurity and personal information rules, and no comprehensive regulatory framework currently exists.
“Involved authorities must coordinate and comment on the drafted governmental decrees on data protection, personal identification, and electronic authentication in the coming months so that the documents issued will be thoroughly updated,” Pham said.
Vietnam lags behind Southeast Asian counterparts
Compared to its Southeast Asian counterparts, Vietnam has lagged behind the likes of Singapore, the Philippines, Malaysia and Thailand when it comes to open banking adoption.
In the Philippines, the central bank has set guidelines for both banks and non-banks to engage in the digital financial marketplace under the open finance environment.
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) formally launched its Open Finance Framework in January 2022, presenting its top priorities for the years to come, including capacity building, development, and adoption of industry-accepted standards under a test-and-learn approach.
Meanwhile, Singapore has adopted an organic approach to open banking with adoption being nevertheless facilitated by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) through initiatives such as SGFinDex, an open banking platform that lets individuals retrieve personal financial information from participating financial institutions, the stock exchange, and from government housing and pension agencies, as well as by promulgating standards for APIs, data authentication and security.
Similar to Singapore, Malaysia has taken a market-driven approach by releasing a non-mandatory guideline framework for working with open data and open APIs.
Thailand, which introduced back in 2020 the Personal Data Protection Act, is currently working on new policy guidelines for the banking sector, including open banking.

Featured image: Unsplash

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Open Banking
Various

Global Embedded Banking Revenue Expected to Reach US$160B by 2025

									by Fintech News Singapore
July 19, 2022

Despite it being a relatively recent concept, embedded finance has grown rapidly in recent years.
The trend is expected to rise further moving forward, with digital consulting company Publicis Sapient forecasting an annual growth rate of 41% in global embedded banking revenues from 2021 to 2025.
Global embedded banking projections, total product revenue, $Bn, Source: Publicis Sapient, 2022
The predictions were shared in a new report released earlier this month which sought to give an overview of the sector, look at emerging trends, and share recommendations for incumbents looking to tap into the booming sector.
Embedded finance, which refers to the integration of financial services and tools within the products or services of non-financial organizations, has become one of the hottest trends in the fintech sector. It is a rise that’s been driven by customer demand for integrated experiences, expectations of openness and adoption of technology capabilities including automation and APIs.

Growing interest in embedded finance has translated into soaring venture capital (VC) funding into startups in the space, Publicis Sapient notes.
In 2021, embedded finance funding reached US$4.2 billion, up 180% from the year prior (US$1.5 billion). The sum represents 3.2% of all VC funding that went into fintech companies that year.
VC investment volumes in embedded finance and fintech overall, 2016 to 2021, $Bn, Source: Publicis Sapient, 2022
Banks dip their toes into embedded finance
While fintech startups and digital-native challengers have been early adopters of embedded, and are now leading in areas including embedded payments and buy now, pay later (BNPL), banks are starting to engage in the space, particularly in retail BNPL, but also with wholesale propositions, the report says.
In the US, Goldman Sachs is actively pursuing the embedded finance trend, having inked partnerships with the likes of Apple, General Motors and Nav Technologies, a financing platform for small businesses.
Similarly, HBSC has been looking to tap into the embedded finance opportunity, announcing last year plans to launch a new banking-as-a-service (BaaS) offering that would enable customers to create and provide business banking services through their own platforms.
In Sweden, SEB signed up in April 2022 its first customer for SEBx, the lender’s new BaaS platform. SEBx allows companies to offer financial services under their own brand, and its first client is Humla, a fintech startup part of the Axel Johnson Group. Humla said it will use SEBx to enhance its payment and loyalty offerings within the retail space.
In Australia, Commonwealth Bank launched last year its own BNPL offering called StepPay. StepPay can be added to a digital wallet or used with Mastercard partners.
Emerging applications of embedded finance
For banks, embedded finance has become a strategic priority given the size the market is expected to reach in the coming years. In Europe, embedded finance is set to account for more than 15% of the share of the revenue pool of retail banking, according to PwC.
While most applications of embedded finance have so far revolved around payments and e-commerce, many other opportunities exist in other industries. Across the travel industry, BNPL offerings are growing in popularity and attracting customers, PwC notes. Airlines, in particular, can leverage BNPL offerings to increase sales and utilization of airplanes, it says.
In mobility, embedded finance allows for new subscription solutions. Care by Volvo, for example, is a flexible subscription lease program with an all-inclusive monthly payment. This payment includes the usage of the vehicle, maintenance, and other common services related to vehicle ownership. Volvo also takes care of the insurance coverage.
Embedded finance can also be applied in the healthcare sector, enabling hospitals, for example, to offer patients solutions to finance major interventions. In these partnerships, embedded finance providers pay the hospitals upfront, while providing low interest options to the clients.
In agriculture, embedded finance can be used to offer pay-per-use solutions, enabling customers to shift away from traditional ownership of machines and instead pay only for the actual usage of the machinery.

Featured image credit: Freepik

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Regtech
Security

Advance Intelligence Group Acquires eKYB Firm Jewel Paymentech

									by Fintech News Singapore
July 18, 2022

Advance Intelligence Group, a Singapore-based AI-driven technology company, announced its acquisition of Jewel Paymentech which specialises in merchant due diligence, fraud and risk management solutions for the financial services and payments industry. Details of the deals was not disclosed.
The acquisition aims to strengthen Advance Intelligence Group’s capabilities in the Web3.0, fraud and risk management space.
Jewel’s 30-member team based in Singapore and Malaysia, including its senior leadership team, will join the group.
The company will remain as an independent business entity under the group’s enterprise business unit, ADVANCE.AI, with the former’s CEO Sean Lam, Co-founders Lee Wooi Siang and Sandra Cheim, and CIO Goh Ser Yoong joining its senior leadership team.

Jewel is focused on onboarding businesses and monitoring of fraudulent transactions, specifically in Know Your Business (KYB) and Know Your Transaction (KYT) monitoring. It also provides automated solutions to large merchants such as marketplaces, to identify illegal and counterfeit goods as part of their KYC process.
Founded in 2016, Advance Intelligence Group has built an ecosystem of AI-powered, credit-enabled products and services, including Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) platform Atome, SaaS enterprise solutions provider ADVANCE.AI, and omnichannel ecommerce merchant services platform Ginee.
Sean Lam
Sean Lam, CEO of Jewel Paymentech said,
“Being part of the broader Advance Intelligence Group ecosystem will not only serve our current clients better, but will allow us to tap on deep investor relationships, capital and technology base.

Our staff will also be able to further develop their career journey, so this coming together of our two companies is a win-win for both our existing team and client base.”
Dong Shou
Dong Shou, CEO of ADVANCE.AI said,
“We warmly welcome the addition of Jewel’s leadership team and staff.

Adding Jewel’s KYB and KYT expertise to our existing set of digital identity, fraud detection and risk management solutions means we are now even better equipped to support our clients in their digital transformation journey as they navigate an ever-evolving regulatory, compliance and security landscape, both in Web2 and Web3.”

Featured image: Umair Javed, Senior Vice President, M&A and Corporate Development at Advance Intelligence Group with Sean Lam, CEO of Jewel Paymentech.

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Digital Assets

Singapore’s Fintonia Secures Provisional Virtual Assets License in Dubai

									by Fintech News Singapore
July 19, 2022

Singaporean crypto fund manager Fintonia Group announced that it has secured a provisional virtual asset license granted by the Dubai Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA).
The license allows Fintonia to participate in Dubai’s digital assets ecosystem by operating crypto native services under full regulatory supervision.
Fintonia joins this niche ecosystem alongside FTX, ByBit, Binance, Crypto.com among others.
Moving forward, Fintonia said that it expects to expand its team in Dubai, as well as provide tailored Treasury and Balance Sheet management services to Token Foundations, protocols, Bitcoin miners and other large holders of digital assets.

In late 2021, Fintonia launched two institutional-grade Bitcoin (BTC) funds in Singapore, namely the Fintonia Bitcoin Physical Fund which provides accredited investors with direct economic exposure to Bitcoin and the Fintonia Secured Yield Fund, which gives investors access to private loans secured by Bitcoin.
Helal Saeed Almarri
Helal Saeed Almarri, Director General of Dubai World Trade Centre Authority that houses VARA said,
“We welcome the Fintonia Group to our licensing programme, even as we look to enable the most responsible and innovative global participants in the virtual asset ecosystem.

We look forward to engaging with Fintonia to build thought leadership for the virtual assets industry and their active contribution to facilitating VARA’s regime, drive the next phase of maturity for the sector.”
Adrian Chng, Founder of Fintonia Group said,

Adrian Chng
“Dubai is making significant strides towards establishing itself as a virtual assets hub and creating a conducive environment for the industry’s growth and we are very pleased to be part of this rapid growth.

The virtual asset license marks an important milestone in our aspiration to have a presence in every region where there are innovative Web 3.0 and crypto companies, enabling us to connect and collaborate with members of the crypto native ecosystem and the traditional financial services industry,”

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InsurTech
Wealthtech

Singlife With Aviva Bolsters Its Financial Advisory Services Team

									by Fintech News Singapore
August 12, 2022

Singlife with Aviva’s Navigator Investment Services has bolstered its management team as part of its plans to develop its financial advisory services.
The new appointments to Navigator’s leadership team include Wei Lin Chin, who joins as Head of Strategy and Business Management. She brings two decades of banking, compliance and legal experience. She was previously Executive Director, Group Strategy and Planning at DBS, where she was involved in strategic projects such as Digital Exchange and Evolution X.
Farooq Lone was appointed as Head of Product and Business Development. He brings a wealth of experience in product management and sales from DBS, where he was Digital Product and Business Head for Indonesia.
Also, Ghim Chua was tapped to join as the Brand Marketing Lead. He has advised and worked with various financial and technology brands across Singapore, Hong Kong and Shanghai, helping to elevate brand profiles across digital and offline channels.

The new appointments will support Navigator in expanding its capabilities with leading private banks and digital asset platforms in the region.
There has also been significant investments and enhancements in technology and product, culminating in a technology-led and client-centric wealth platform for financial advisers to sustainably serve their customers.
Singlife said that it aims to build a multi-asset, integrated platform across investments, insurance policies and retirement plans that can provide advisers with a holistic and comprehensive perspective of their clients’ financial situation.
This will allow advisers to deliver accurate insights and better financial advice to their clients at every stage of their lives.
Akhil Doegar
Akhil Doegar, Chief Executive Officer, Navigator said,
“We have big ambitions to grow and empower financial advisers to better serve their customers. We will enable them with tools, insights and products tailored to their needs.

Recruiting the best talent is critical for our mission to become a wealth platform promising greater reliability, expanded product offerings and enhanced portfolio management capabilities for all our clients”.
Pearlyn Phau
Pearlyn Phau, Group Chief Executive Officer, Singlife with Aviva said,
“We want to continue to refresh and enhance Singlife’s offerings for a diverse clientele, including the high net-worth segment, licensed family offices and retail customers.

This will allow us to accelerate our growth, expand our product suite and build on our core insurance offering to provide a better way to financial freedom for our customers. Navigator will be key to enabling this.”

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Open Banking
Security

Open Data is Key to Shaping the Future of Hyper-Personalised Banking

									by Fintech News Singapore
August 26, 2022

Despite presenting tremendous opportunities to improve customer experience and drive accessibility to financial services, innovations around open APIs and open banking also increase interconnectedness and the attack surface, introducing new cyber risks which stakeholders must address by rethinking their approach to network security and focus on the broader ecosystem, experts said during a panel discussion.
During a virtual panel hosted by banking software provider Temenos on August 17, 2022, top executives representing Standard Chartered’s banking-as-a-service (BaaS) brand nexus, incumbent bank HSBC and digital banking group Tyme Group, delved into the state of open banking adoption, as well as the opportunities and challenges brought about data sharing.
The global trend toward open banking is increasing interconnectivity among banks and third parties, creating more points of weakness and vulnerability in banks’ network security.
Aldrich Goh
“With open banking, there is more interconnectivity between different players in the market…  a lot of dependency on the external parties, … more interconnectivity and it provides new avenues for bad guys to launch attacks on,”
said Aldrich Goh, Chief Information Security Officer, Standard Chartered’s nexus.

“Whether the data is held at the bank or passed over to the fintechs, it has to be secure end-of-end for people to trust individual organizations as well as the industry as the whole. Because it just takes one player to breach and people will start to question and grow concerned.”
Designed to spur innovation and increase competition, open banking relies on the use of application programming interfaces (APIs) to establish a connection between third-party providers and users’ bank accounts, allowing for consumer banking, transaction, and other financial data to be gathered.
Use cases of open banking are multiple. In personal finance, it includes account aggregation where all of a customer’s accounts could be brought to one place for users to have a consolidated view of their income, expenses, loans, and investments.
In lending, open banking and data sharing can remove the need to rely on credit history when considering applications, providing instead lenders with instant access to customer’s financial data from other providers and allowing them to present an answer to a loan application in just a few minutes.
Open banking is fast becoming a strategic priority for financial institutions and organizations must have proper API security strategies in place, Aldrich said. Data sharing and open APIs are making perimeters porous and introducing systemic risks.
“It’s important for organizations to have API security strategies to govern the APIs, all your assets, ensure that the code is secure, etc,” he said.
“And there needs to be consideration for supply chain security as well: the partners you work with, whether they have the necessary controls that you expect of them, as well as the open source software you use. We cannot rely on preventive controls, but we also need to have proper detective controls.”
Towards open data
Since the UK and the European Union (EU) pioneered open banking, mandating banks to develop APIs for third-party providers to use, the trend has spread across the world and has started shaking up the traditional financial services industry.
According to Frankie Wai, Business Solution Director Asia Pacific (APAC), Temenos, at least 50 countries worldwide are on the path to open banking, with two main strategies emerging: the regulatory-driven approach and the market-driven approach. A few jurisdictions, including India and Singapore, have embraced a hybrid approach that combines both guidelines but no compulsory open banking regimes.
Open banking around the world, Source: Temenos
Australia stands out from the crowd, Frankie said, noting that the country has gone a step further and set the foundations for open data.

Frankie Wai, Business Solution Director Asia Pacific (APAC), Temenos
“In a similar way to the UK, the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) mandated open banking regulation for banks,”
Frankie said.
“In parallel, the Consumer Data Right is being implemented in an open data economy where citizens and financial institutions and companies in other sectors like energy or telecommunications can share their data with third parties.”
Echoing Frankie, Alvin Lim, Head of Open Banking Engagement for Wealth and Personal Banking, HSBC, said open banking will ultimately move to open data in its latest stage. Regulators around the world are already looking at open finance, including those in the Philippines and the EU.
Alvin Lim
“Australia is hitting the right note with open data,” Alvin said.
“What that means is bringing all the data that’s important for cross industries to come together. At the end of the day, we are talking about addressing customers’ needs.

We are no longer talking about campaign offers based on a segment approach, but right now it’s based on your individual profile, your lifestyle – a product that is suitable for you.”
In developing markets like the Philippines, Indonesia and South Africa, open banking holds great potential to improve financial inclusion, said Nate Clarke, President and CEO, GoTyme Bank and Founding Member, Tyme Group.
Data sharing can help create value for low-income and financially excluded customers by improving access and conditions of access to credit, as well as by facilitating access to accounts and financial products.
Although new technologies and fintech products, like e-wallets, have already substantially helped bring basic banking products to the unbanked, there’s still a long way to go.
Nate Clark
“As an industry, we’ve done pretty well on banking and e-wallet penetration over the past decade,” Nate said. “What we haven’t moved the needle is on credit, adoption of investment, adoption of insurance.”
Regulators need to step in to both encourage incumbents to open up their data, but also push the large tech players to make their own data available as well.
“I would like to see regulators do more,” Nate said.
“The reality is that there’s a lot of disincentives for large incumbents to participate. The banks see their large datasets as an asset even though customers tend to think that they own their data.

[On the other end spectrum,] open banking shouldn’t just include banks [either] because there’s much higher adoption, in the Philippines for example, of the GCash and the e-wallets. There’s actually really good data there. We also need to look beyond banking. E-commerce is really rich in these markets. These bigtech companies have a lot of data.”

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Cloud
Digital Transformation
InsurTech

bolttech Partners With AWS to Bolster Its Customer Support Platform

									by Fintech News Singapore
September 1, 2022

Singapore-based insurtech firm bolttech has built a new customer support platform on Amazon Web Services (AWS) to enhance its offerings for more than eight million customers in 30 markets globally.
As part of its digital transformation, bolttech is migrating the information technology (IT) infrastructure for 26 support centers to AWS by the end of 2022, and expects to further expand to other countries in the near future.
bolttech will enhance and reduce average customer servicing times using the breadth and depth of AWS capabilities, including machine learning and analytics to gather insights from real-time caller data such as customer sentiment.
By building on AWS, bolttech said that it can easily add new business partners to its customer support platform in less than five days, quickly launch new customer channels like chatbots, and reduce infrastructure costs by 40%.

bolttech selected Amazon Connect, an easy-to-use, scalable cloud contact center service, and built a custom user interface (UI) that incorporates various support touchpoints in a single platform that handles inquiries across multiple countries.
With Amazon Connect, bolttech can now introduce new customer services in additional countries in as little as 15 days, making the process faster and more scalable.
bolttech will also deploy Amazon Polly and Amazon Lex in the further build out of their Amazon Connect implementation.
These machine learning services are designed to convert speech to text and text to speech, helping customer support teams quickly configure as well as deploy announcements and campaigns on the go.
bolttech is also undertaking a proof of concept (POC) for Contact Lens for Amazon Connect, a feature that helps follow the sentiment and trends of customer conversations in real time to identify company and product feedback.
In using AWS, bolttech has developed an in house solution to provide customer support teams a complete view of the customer’s historical interactions at the start of a conversation, email, or chat.
This provides a holistic view of a customer’s current and past purchases, providing a more tailored customer experience and reducing the time it takes to solve queries.
David Lynch
“AWS unifies our voice, email, and chat platforms, giving customers a seamless service experience across their channels of preference.

Using advanced AWS cloud capabilities like machine learning, analytics, and cloud-based contact center services, we are well-positioned to quickly launch innovative customer services globally while taking our user experience to the next level.”
said David Lynch, Group Chief Technology Officer at bolttech.
Pete Murray
“bolttech is a modern and customer-centric insurtech leader placing their customers at the center of what they do, leveraging Amazon Connect and advanced services like Amazon Polly and Amazon Lex to build an in-house platform offering best-in-class customer experience with the highest levels of compliance.

bolttech is a role model for leveraging cloud technology to expand into new markets rapidly, and our teams are excited to continue to support bolttech’s bold vision,”
said Pete Murray, Head of FSI, ASEAN at AWS.

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Regtech

MAS and SGX Group Launch ESG Data Portal ESGenome to Streamline Sustainability Reporting

									by Fintech News Singapore
September 12, 2022

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and Singapore Exchange (SGX Group) jointly launched ESGenome, a digital Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) disclosure portal.
ESGenome is a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solution operated by World Wide Generation (WWG) that will help SGX-listed companies simplify the disclosure process using a core set of metrics that is mapped across global standards and frameworks.
Companies will be able to carry out their baseline sustainability reporting based on a set of 27 SGX core ESG metrics, make additional disclosures across more than 3,000 ESG metrics depending on business needs, and automatically generate a report from the inputs.
Furthermore, companies need only provide a one-time input for each ESG metric and these inputs can then be automatically mapped across their selected standards and frameworks to cater to different investor requirements.

Dr Darian McBain
Dr Darian McBain, Chief Sustainability Officer, MAS, said,
“We are excited to launch ESGenome together with SGX to help listed entities in Singapore reduce the effort required to report on sustainability, assess impact, and drive informed decision making in their sustainability journey.”
Michael Syn
Mr Michael Syn, Senior Managing Director and Head of Equities, SGX Group, said,
“We are optimistic that by being frontrunners in ESG data disclosure via ESGenome, our listed companies will be in a better position to raise capital and attract international investors who are actively looking for leading ESG firms.”

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InsurTech

Singlife with Aviva Now Covers Electric Vehicles Under Its Car Insurance

									by Fintech News Singapore
September 13, 2022

Financial services company Singlife with Aviva now provides cover for electric vehicles (EVs) as part of its car insurance policies, with a 10 per cent Go Green discount for EV owners.
Singlife will also provide EV-specific peripheral services such as sourcing replacement EVs in the event of an accident and breakdown assistance due to insufficient battery power. Charging cables, batteries and private charging stations will also be insurable for accidental damage.
Singlife becomes one of the few local providers of EV insurance just as Singapore’s new electric car registrations grew two-fold in 2022 from the year before. The announcement also comes ahead of Singapore’s long-term ambitions to phase out internal combustion engine vehicles by 2040.
Pan Jinglong
“We hope that our solutions will continue to provide customers with the security, reassurance and support as they seek cleaner-energy vehicles and help reduce land transport emissions,”
said Pan Jinglong, Head of General Insurance, Singlife with Aviva.

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Blockchain
Digital Assets

Tokenized Assets to Make up 10% of Global GDP by 2030

									by Fintech News Singapore
September 18, 2022

By 2030, blockchain-enabled asset tokenization is expected to grow fiftyfold into a US$16.1 trillion business opportunity, a rise which will be driven by demand for greater access to private markets and illiquid assets such as real estate and commodities, a new report by global consulting firm the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and ADDX, a digital exchange for private markets, says.
Globally, growth in tokenized assets is expected to be strong within the next couple of years. Real estate, equities, bonds and investment funds, as well as less traditional assets such as car fleets and patents, are set to make up most of tokenized assets, which, by 2030, are forecast to represent 10% of global gross domestic product (GDP).
Image: Tokenization of global illiquid assets, Source: Boston Consulting Group (BCG); ADDX, 2022
Asset tokenization, which refers to the creation of tokens on a blockchain to represent an asset, holds great potential in making illiquid assets, such as land, natural resources and fine art, more tradable and liquid, the report says.
It enables divisibility and allows investors to buy tokens representing a tiny percentage of the underlying assets. This ultimately lowers the barriers to investment and gives retail investors access to asset classes typically limited to wealthy investors and institutions due to constraints on ticket size, such as pre-IPO stocks, hedge funds and infrastructure projects.

Drivers fueling the growth of asset tokenization
According to the report, asset tokenization could be on the cusp of wide global adoption, and several trends are pointing in that direction.
First, the report notes that tokenized asset trading has risen consistently over the years and will continue to grow moving forward. In 2021, the global asset tokenization market surpassed US$2.3 billion. By 2026, it’s projected to reach US$5.6 billion, implying a 19% compound annual growth rate, according to Blockchain Council. In Asia alone, the potential of asset tokenization is close to US$3 trillion, BCG and ADDX estimate.
Another strong indicator pertaining to the rising prominence of asset tokenization is the increasingly positive sentiment stakeholders have on the trend.
A 2021 survey conducted by Deloitte, which polled financial services firms across Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA), found that a strong majority (76%) saw tokenization of securities or financial instruments as a significant potential long-term opportunity. Nearly 70% of respondents expected organizations to start offering services related to tokenization within the next two years.
Source: 2021 Deloitte EMEA financial services firms survey
In parallel, numerous pilots and projects have been successful conducted recently, further adding optimism towards tokenization.
In Indonesia, digital investment app Nanovest launched the NanoByte Token (NBT) earlier this year for users to trade US stocks and cryptocurrencies in Indonesia. The trading app quickly gained popularity, onboarding more than two million user during its beta launch. Nanovest is now planning to add asset classes including mutual funds, fractionalized bonds, and stocks.
In India, social app Chingari launched in October 2021 its own native token, GARI, to reward content creators. The app has since surpassed a total of 150 million users and growth in the usage of GARI has been strong, with 600,000 people having adopted the token within just three months of its launch.
Another key growth driver outlined in the report is the rising recognition of tokenization by monetary authorities and regulators, citing the example of the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), which launched in May 2022 Project Guardian, a collaborative initiative with the financial services sector to explore the economic potential and value-adding use cases of asset tokenization.
The report also notes that an increasing number of asset classes are now being tokenized, with examples like Agrotoken, a tokenization infrastructure from in Argentina for agricultural commodities, and Budja.io, a startup that tokenizes art for ownership on the blockchain. This showcases that entrepreneurs are still actively innovating and exploring new use cases.
Finally, it mentions the presence of a growing pool of active developers dedicated to blockchain technology, which demonstrates that the ecosystem continues to attract builders. According to the 2021 Developer Report, produced by venture firm Electric Capital, more than 34,000 new developers worked on an open source Web3 project in 2021, the highest number of new developers in history.
Ethereum continued to be the largest ecosystem, recording over 1,100 monthly active developers in December 2021, a 42% increase since January 2021.
Image: New Web 3.0 developers committing code yearly, Source: Electric Capital, 2022

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AI
Funding
India
Regtech

Indian Fintech Signzy Secures US$26 Million in Funding Round Led by Gaja Capital

									by Fintech News Singapore
September 27, 2022

India-based digital banking infrastructure enabler Signzy announced that it had raised US$26 million in a funding round led by private equity firm Gaja Capital.
The round was also joined by its existing investors Vertex Ventures and Arkam Ventures.
According to Signzy, it will use the fresh capital to enhance its ‘No-code Workflow Digitalisation’ platform and solutions.
Founded in 2015, the firm’s patented No-code AI platform, GO, is reportedly seeing significantly accelerated adoption, as banks and financial services providers accelerate their digital transformation journeys.

Signzy has filed eight patents so far in the US, and nine in India, for its innovations. The company also received a US patent for banking in the metaverse earlier this year.
The company was also recently granted an authorisation certificate by the International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA) as its fintech partner for unified KYC solution and customer on-boarding digital infrastructure.
Ankit Ratan
Ankit Ratan, CEO of Signzy said,
“The financial services industry is undergoing a massive and multi-year digital transformation and we have only seen the tip of the iceberg so far. Signzy has seen strong adoption of its No-code product by financial services companies as they start on their once-in-a-lifetime digital transformation journey.

The solution has been developed from the ground up to allow banks and financial services providers to roll out and offer fintech-like user experiences in a matter of days, not months or years.”

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Indonesia
InsurTech

bolttech Completes Acquisition of Indonesian Insurance Broker Axle Asia

									by Fintech News Indonesia
October 6, 2022

Singapore-based insurtech firm bolttech announced it has completed the acquisition of a majority shareholding in Axle Asia, an established insurance broker in Indonesia.
Axle Asia will become a subsidiary of bolttech and be subsequently rebranded. Srinath Narasimhan, General Manager for bolttech in Indonesia, will oversee the growth of bolttech in Indonesia with the addition of Axle Asia.

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bolttech said the addition of Axle Asia will accelerate the deployment of its insurance exchange capabilities and complement its existing presence as a device protection provider in Indonesia.
With a global footprint of 30 markets across three continents, North America, Asia, and Europe, bolttech has more than 800 distribution partners and 200 insurers in its network, and is licensed in 36 international jurisdictions.

Rob Schimek
Rob Schimek, Group Chief Executive Officer of bolttech said,
“Indonesia, as one of Southeast Asia’s high growth markets, represents a significant opportunity for our insurtech solutions to meet the rapidly evolving needs of local customers and business partners.

We look forward to welcoming the Axle Asia team to bolttech as they join our journey to connect people around the world with more ways to protect the things they value.”
Junaedy Ganie
Junaedy Ganie, Commissioner, Axle Asia said,
“Becoming part of bolttech will enable us together to innovate and bring more choice to customers in Indonesia at an accelerated pace.

bolttech’s pioneering insurtech platform is leading the way in shaping the future of insurance distribution and our team is incredibly excited to now play a role in this journey.”

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InsurTech

Insurance Software Provider Ancileo Appoints Soraya Essalhi as New COO

									by Fintech News Singapore
October 10, 2022

Ancileo, a Singapore-based Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platform for the insurance ecosystem, has appointed Soraya Essalhi as its Chief Operating Officer.
Her new role will be to optimise service and technology delivery and the overall customer experience at Ancileo.
A 20-year travel insurance veteran, Soraya was former Head of Transformation and Digital at Allianz Partners, where she led the global onboardings of travel partners within the insurer’s e-commerce digital solutions across all markets and sub-segments.
Prior to assuming the role, Soraya assumed leadership roles for business support and account management to help accelerate the growth of Allianz Partners business on B2B2C and ecommerce platforms.

The appointment comes on the heels of Ancileo securing US$3 million in seed funding from Fermion in July this year.
Olivier Michel
Olivier Michel, Ancileo Founder and CEO said,
“I am excited to welcome Soraya, as her track record in scaling travel insurance portfolios globally and the customer centricity it requires are a great addition to our team and our mission to be both a reliable technology provider as well as consultant and intelligence partner to insurance players who are keen to grow their business with and through us.”
Soraya Essalhi
Soraya Essalhi, the newly appointed executive based in Paris said,
“I was impressed with how Ancileo helps insurers and all its partners tap into flexible and customisable insurtech solutions. It’s a powerful, unique offer, so I’m happy to share the industry knowledge as well as partnership and implementation experience I’ve amassed over the years.”

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Cloud
InsurTech

Prudential Partners With Google Cloud to Enhance Its Pulse App

									by Fintech News Singapore
October 11, 2022

Prudential announced that it has formed a strategic partnership with Google Cloud to enhance its health and wealth platform Pulse.
This partnership will see Prudential tap Google Cloud’s data analytics capabilities, secure and sustainable infrastructure, and the broader Google ecosystem for this.
Available in 17 markets and 11 languages, the Pulse app provides users with access to services such as health risk assessment and online doctor consultation, as well as digital wealth tools.
The insurer is already using Google Maps in the Pulse application, and further projects with Google Health, Document AI and Fitbit are being explored.

Prudential expects to benefit from Google’s suite of data analytics, AI and machine learning tools, to enhance customer interactions and to provide more personalised, accurate healthcare information and education to Pulse app users.
In the longer term, Prudential will look to adopt Google’s AI across a broader digital strategy.
It is also looking to improve customer experience, by digitising the entire claims process, making submission, assessment, and approval more seamless and efficient.
Prudential has more than 530,000 agents across its 23 markets in Asia and Africa and over 170 bancassurance partners with access to circa 27,600 bank branches, serving more than 19 million customers.
Solmaz Altin
Solmaz Altin, Managing Director, Strategic Business Group, Prudential said,
“Through this strategic partnership, we will leverage new technology solutions to make the Pulse platform more intelligent and engaging with the aim of reaching out to more people across Asia and Africa, in particular those who cannot easily access health and financial information and services.”
Thomas Kurian, CEO of Google Cloud said,

Thomas Kurian
“Prudential is a significant partner of ours and a leading insurer that has been protecting lives for nearly 175 years globally.

Our work together will make it easier for people to safeguard their health and protect their finances for the long term with digital tools that are accessible.”

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Regtech

Regtank Wins the Fintech Award at Huawei’s Global Startup Competition

									by Fintech News Singapore
October 13, 2022

Regtank Technology, a provider of software-as-a-service compliance solution, was announced as the winner of the fintech category and overall 2nd runner-up at the Huawei Spark Ignite 2022 – Global Startup Competition.
By utilising Huawei’s global platform and accelerator programme, the fintech category seeks to accelerate startup companies with disruptive business models and innovative use of technology in the financial and insurance sector.
The criteria used to judge the Huawei Spark Ignite Global Startup Competition include relevance, service model, technology USP scalability and limitations among others.
Regtank’s compliance solution covers the entire AML process for fiat currency transactions and cryptocurrency transactions.

Megan Lee
“This is a very exciting win, and the team is delighted to be recognised as the Top 3 Startup and Fintech Award Winner amongst the 1,500 applicants for the Huawei Spark Ignite 2022 Global Startup Competition.

This is a testament to our commitment to our clients and we are grateful for the recognition. The team will continue to improve on our solution to live up to our vision of making compliance easy for our customers.”
said Megan Lee, Founder and CEO, Regtank Technology.

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InsurTech
Proptech
Vietnam

Igloo Rolls Out Home Content Insurance With Shopee in Vietnam

									by Fintech News Vietnam
October 13, 2022

Insurtech firm Igloo has partnered with e-commerce platform Shopee to roll out its Home Content Insurance offering in Vietnam.

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Underwritten by Bao Viet Insurance, the offering is a comprehensive protection solution for indoor assets against unexpected events such as natural disasters and fire.
Besides protection of indoor assets against natural calamities, the insurance product also has rent insurance which covers loss of rent and additional expenses incurred as a result of an insured event.

The product is currently available on Shopee starting at a premium of VND 83,999 (approximately US$3.5) for one year and up to VND 100,000,000 (approximately US$ 4200) sum insured.
Aside from property insurance, Igloo also offers other insurance products in Vietnam such as personal accident and health insurance through AhaMove, failed delivery insurance with Loship, and loan protection insurance with LOTTE Finance.
Tri Nguyen
“Our Home Content Insurance aims to address this challenge by providing a solution that helps consumers protect their most valuable assets and increases their financial resilience.

Through our partnership with Shopee, we are also making it easily accessible on a widely-used platform and building trust in the product through our incumbent partner, Bao Viet.”
shared Tri Nguyen, Country Manager for Vietnam at Igloo.
“Partnering with Igloo diversifies our lineup of insurance products to help Vietnamese consumers easily purchase protection solutions in times of disaster or accidents involving their homes.

Offering Igloo’s Home Content Insurance product is a further step in our commitment to continue to bring products and solutions that best suit the needs of consumers across Vietnam.”
shared Vu Thanh Quynh, Head of Communications, Shopee Vietnam.

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Funding
InsurTech

bolttech Now Valued at US$1.5 Billion With Series B Led by Tokio Marine

									by Fintech News Singapore
October 17, 2022

Singapore-based insurtech firm bolttech announced that Japanese multinational insurance holding company Tokio Marine, alongside other shareholders, will lead its Series B funding round. The sum was not disclosed.
According to bolttech, this financing round will push its valuation to approximately US$1.5 billion. This announcement comes one year after it closed its US$247 million Series A.
Tokio Marine’s partnership as a strategic investor will complement bolttech’s capabilities and reach, enhancing its distribution strength, product innovation, and balance-sheet capacity.
bolttech said that the proceeds of the Series B will be used primarily to fuel the business’ continued global growth.

The company is a global B2B2C insurtech with licenses to operate in more than 30 markets throughout Asia and Europe and all 50 U.S. states.
bolttech added that it now quotes approximately US$50 billion worth of annualised premiums through its technology-enabled insurance exchange.
Earlier this month, bolttech completed the acquisition of a majority shareholding in Axle Asia, an insurance broker in Indonesia.
Rob Schimek
Rob Schimek, bolttech’s Group Chief Executive Officer, said,
“Securing a lead investor of Tokio Marine’s high caliber and esteem is strong validation of international investors’ belief in the resilience of bolttech’s business model, our long-term value proposition, and our role in shaping the future of insurance distribution.

Tokio Marine will be a pivotal strategic partner as we continue to accelerate our growth strategy and global expansion.”
Masashi Namatame
Masashi Namatame, Managing Executive Officer and Group Chief Digital Officer at Tokio Marine said,
“Tokio Marine is excited to have the opportunity to lead bolttech’s Series B round, and join bolttech on its incredible growth trajectory as their strategic partner.

The scale and breadth of bolttech’s platform, coupled with its industry-leading tech and digital capabilities, and extensive insurance experience, uniquely positions the company as a clear leader within the insurtech space.”

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Digital Transformation
Open Banking

South East Asia Leaps Beyond Open Banking

									by Rebecca Oi
October 20, 2022

The core tenets of open banking are users’ financial data stored in banks are shared with third-party applications with the users’ consent. This gives users more options and the power to make their money work more.
Instead of traditionally going to a bank and being at its mercy for services ranging from payment transfers to loans, as that was the only place with the user’s information, the data can now be made available to whom the user wants via open APIs (application programming interfaces).
So instead of being limited to using the bank’s debit or credit cards, the user can utilise other payment gateways since the user’s information is permitted to be viewed by a third party.
These ‘payment gateways’ are based on the open API standard that was first established in 1997. It revolutionised retail banking by introducing an ‘open’ standard adopted by all major players, such as Microsoft and Intuit, instead of developing their proprietary APIs. This contributed to the coining of the term ‘open banking’.

Why is open banking relevant?
Open Banking is intended to promote competition in the financial services industry and give consumers more control over their data.
It is already being implemented worldwide, such as in the United Kingdom, Australia, and Canada. In 2015, the European Union also issued a directive on open banking.
In Southeast Asia, open banking is still in its early stages but rapidly gaining traction. Several countries in the region, such as Singapore, the Philippines, and Indonesia, are already making significant progress in open banking readiness.
This is a significant development as it will allow for greater competition and innovation in the banking sector. It will also make it easier for customers to compare financial products and services.
Southeast Asia’s open banking system
Southeast Asia’s open banking system is taking on its own flavour. The user data source is not derived solely from banks.
Singapore Financial Data Exchange, for instance, gives its users access to their personal financial information from SGX Central Depository, participating banks, and government agencies such as the Housing Board and the Central Provident Fund Board.
It is a government-owned and operated infrastructure. This gives a glimpse of how the other ASEAN countries could be crafting their data-sharing gateways with their goal of financial inclusion for all.
Instead of relying on financial data from banks when millions of the populace do not have a bank account, their data can be gathered from non-bank sources such as rental records and utility and mobile phone bills.
ASEAN shifting open banking strategy is driven by financial inclusion
In this matter, ASEAN is advancing from open banking to open financing and open data. Their strategy, driven by financial inclusion, is already bearing fruit.
Open banking around the world, Source: Temenos
In Indonesia, the Financial Services Authority (OJK) is developing progressive guidelines in the fintech space and has released its Integrated Payment Systems Blueprint 2025.
Bank of Indonesia (BI) also released an open API specification comprising data, technical, security, and governance standards to enable a seamless data-sharing framework.
Meanwhile, the Philippines Central Bank has approved guidelines on an open finance framework in a bid to promote financial inclusion and expand access to financial services for all Filipinos.
Adopting an open finance model will give customers uniform access to all their data and guarantee an expected level of customer protection in which their financial data will be secured.
With these guidelines in place, the Philippines is one step closer to a more inclusive financial system that will benefit all Filipinos.
In a 2021 progress report, ASEAN noted that it has already achieved its goal of reducing average financial exclusion from 44 percent to 30 percent. Four years earlier than its projected 2025 timeline. In a joint statement last April, the average now stands at 27.92 percent.
This is in line with the accelerated digital transformation the region has seen necessitated by the pandemic, supported by a young population quick to adopt new technology and plenty of start-ups eager to pave better ways to reach more customers – the banked, unbanked and underbanked – and go even further.
Acknowledging the impact of start-ups
“Start-ups are making a significant impact in the development of e-commerce, fintech, transportation and logistics, travel and hospitality, and other areas of the digital economy.
Some also support other entrepreneurs and micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) in adopting technology to enhance efficiency and market reach,” the report said.
The stakeholders, from governments and citizens to financial service providers, each play a role in inclusive growth.
Sharing financial data empowers users to have more control and choices in their monetary decision-making. It also generates more competition and creates new avenues for better products and more efficient service from traditional banks and the new players.
With ASEAN prioritising financial inclusion and each member state devising and implementing its national strategy to cater to its unique needs, open banking evolution to open finance and open data could be in the cards.

Featured image credit: freepik

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InsurTech
Thailand

Insurtech Invigorates Thailand’s US$ 36 Billion Insurance Industry

									by Rebecca Oi
October 24, 2022

Insurtech plays a significant role as Thailand turns to technology to boost its insurance industry and make it inclusive. It is embedded in the country’s Fourth Insurance Development Plan (IDP 4) for 2021 to 2025 to ensure that the industry can adapt to the new environment.
Even the latest five-year investment promotion strategy framework approved by its Board of Investment (BOI) this month puts creativity, innovation, and technology as part of its core concepts leading to the new economy for 2023 to 2027.

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Those three factors are synonymous with insurtech, and meet what the market is looking for as it demands greater accessibility, flexibility, and personalization in the products and services it seeks.
Thailand to be a leader in Insurtech
 In IDP 4, the Organization of Insurance Commission (OIC) outlined its plan to make the nation a leader in insurance technology by expanding the role of Center of InsurTech (CIT) as the Insurance One Stop Service Center, amending regulations to support insurtech and make more funding sources accessible and enabling startups to enter the insurance market more quickly

Thailand’s insurance industry is forecasted to reach THB 1373.03 billion (US$36.1 billion) by 2026, according to a GlobalData estimate.
source: GlobalData
It also noted that the country has a total insurance penetration of 5.5 percent in 2021, higher than in emerging markets like China (4.4 percent), Vietnam (3.3 percent), the Philippines (1.7 percent), and Malaysia (1.5 percent).
The pandemic paved the way for customers to have greater access to learning and purchasing insurance products thanks to accelerated digital transformation and the power of social media.
For example, there were nine million covid-19 insurance policies as of 30 December 2020. Three months later, the number jumped to 11 million by 31 March 2021, the IDP 4 report mentioned.
Familiarity with purchasing insurance online increased due to the pandemic
“The COVID-19 pandemic has made more people more familiar with purchasing insurance products online. Online channels allow them to compare the coverage and premium of each policy on their own and easily decide to buy the policy if they consider that the premium is affordable,” the OIC observed.
Insurtech can provide full-stack end-to-end solutions or focus on one or several stages in the insurance value chain. These include Marketing, Sales, and Distribution; Product Development and Actuary; Claim Management; Reinsurance; Asset Management; Data and Analytics; Risk Analysis, Pricing and Underwriting; Onboarding, Administration, and Customer Engagement; and more.
“Online services are fully utilised throughout the insurance process, including videoconferences, virtual signature, email, e-applications for policy offering, confirmation, delivery of documents, premium payment, receiving protection and even compensation payment,” insurance regulator at the OIC Thanita Anusonadisai told The Actuary Magazine last December.
“I also have seen the use of artificial intelligence (AI) technology and robotics in the value chain, such as for product development, premium rates calculation for a specific group of customers in the pool, big data or so-called risk-based pricing and services, online application consideration, claims management, and pre-and post-sales services.”
Affordable and personalised insurance protection
Insurtech FairDee, which recently raised TBH2472.21 million (US$65 million) in funding, aims to make affordable and personalised insurance protection accessible to underinsured people across Southeast Asia.
It started in its home country, as Thailand has the most significant consumer insurance market with over 150,000 general insurance brokers. More than 70 percent of them work independently.
FairDee creates mobile platforms where brokers can connect with a more extensive selection of general insurance providers.
This allows these micro-entrepreneurs to offer their customers more options and better services. The digital tools also enable brokers to stay competitive and improve their income.
With the plan to take insurtech to new heights, FairDee’s managing director Thanasak Hoontrakul said that the company is committed to working with insurers, brokers, OIC, and the ecosystem to further invest in the growth of Thailand’s insurance market.
Insurtech in Thailand paving the way
Having insurance is vital to foster financial resiliency, from individuals to businesses, and has a multiplier effect on the economy.
Making it inclusive for all is possible by having the ability to create customized insurance products and services and making them easy to get.
Armed with passion, skills, and drive while increasingly attracting interest and funding from local and international investors with their innovations, Thai insurtech companies and startups are heeding the call and working on getting it done.

Featured image credit: edited from Unsplash and Freepik

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InsurTech
Vietnam

How Well Are Insurtechs Plugging Vietnam’s Coverage Protection Gaps?

									by Rebecca Oi
October 25, 2022

The insurance market in Vietnam has grown along with the country’s surge to economic prominence in recent years. During the 1990s, only general insurance was offered by the state-owned insurance group Bao Viet. It was only in 1995 that life insurance was made available to the public.

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According to a report by Statista, in 2020, life insurance in Vietnam outperformed general insurance. The number of people participating in health insurance in the country is almost 90 percent of its population, approximately 87 million out of 97 million.
In the last decade, the total premium value of general insurance is almost three times the value recorded at the beginning of the decade, amounting to around 57 trillion Vietnamese dongs.

Despite the strong growth, traditional market penetration methods, from cold/warm calling to roadshows, have left results wanting.
Insurance companies have resorted to pop-up ads on payment apps, which customers usually ignore. Salespeople were seen sitting along highways trying to sell motorbike policies. Companies are trying to win over customers with products using the old way but to no avail.
Insurtech allowing accessible insurance in Vietnam
There has been a growing interest in the insurtech sector in Vietnam. This is due to the fact that the insurance industry is predicted to develop considerably in the coming years.
With the rapid growth of the Vietnamese economy, the demand for insurance products and services has increased significantly.
Insurtech or Insurance technology allows individuals more access and transparency in the insurance product or service they are purchasing, so customers can make more informed decisions in their selections.
It has often been thought that transparency with insurance companies or agents is limited regarding the policies offered.
With insurtech, traditional systems are replaced with new digital innovations that create more efficient management, claims, pricing, and quicker underwritings.
Customers have more knowledge and insights, thus feeling rest assured that they are covered in cases of unforeseen circumstances.
Various insurtech companies are creating an insurance ecosystem in Vietnam
Insurtech unicorn Bolttech is partnering with Viettel Telecom, one of Vietnam’s largest telecommunications network operators, to provide a new insurance product that offers a variety of coverages, from health and travel to automobile insurance. All these products are made available through Viettel’s customer app, MyViettel.

With Viettel and other reputable insurers, Bolttech says it has created an “insurance ecosystem” that offers solutions tailored towards Viettel’s customers’ specific needs, connecting businesses and their customers to 150 insurers and over 5,000 insurance products.
INSO is an insurance mobile phone application where customers can purchase and claim insurance with optimal procedures.
The goal is to improve the life security of Vietnamese people and eventually increase the insurance penetration rate. Optical character recognition (OCR) technology, computer vision technology, and deep learning technology are the technologies the company uses.
Together with their partnership with leading local insurance companies, they aim to provide innovative, affordable, and affordable insurance products accessible to customers.
Insurtech companies aim to serve uninsured Vietnamese
Vinaphone subscribers can now buy insurance at their fingertips with the insurance technology company SaveMoney, by just texting on their phones.
The Insurtech giant aims to serve millions of uninsured Vietnamese by developing digital insurance platforms that share sustainable economic benefits via strategic partnerships with banks, hospitals, and telco companies.
Launched in 2013, SaveMoney focuses on AI technology that can perform tasks that require human intelligence and behaviour, thus saving costs and offering affordable products.
E-commerce platform Shopee collaboration with Insurtech firm Igloo, offers Home Content Insurance, available to purchase on the app. The insurance product starts at a premium of VND 83,999 (US$3.50) for one year and goes up to VND 100,000,000 (US$ 4200). The policy seeks to protect indoor assets against natural disasters, fire, and other unforeseen events.

Bite-size insurance made on third-party platforms
In recent years, there has been a surge in the sale of “bite-size” insurance products sold in transactions made on third-party platforms. When customers order an item from Shopee or go on an e-hailing ride on Gojek or Grab, they can add insurance with a click.
This trend is fueled by the sharing economy and the increasing popularity of on-demand services. It is also driven by the desire of insurers to reach new customers and tap into new distribution channels.
Bite-size insurance products are typically short-term and have low premiums. They are designed to meet the needs of customers looking for protection against specific risks.
Indonesian PasarPolis saw the opportunity to tap into this burgeoning market in Vietnam by providing a one-stop insurance service that is convenient and easy to use. The company will launch a mobile app in Vietnam for people to buy policies covering a range of needs.
Demand for healthcare and insurance products is on the rise
With an aging population and an increase in spending power, demand in Vietnam for healthcare and insurance products is at an all-time high.
With more fintech and insurtech companies partnering with local and international bodies, the accessibility to more affordable and transparent insurance products is expected to grow.
Vietnam has seen an increase in internet users, which will only help to push the adoption rate of insurtech services. With government policies for developing the fintech sector, it is only a matter of time before insurtech is the preferred method to purchase an insurance policy.

Featured image credit: edited from Unsplash

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Blockchain
InsurTech

Blockchain Startup Bluzelle Eyes New Blockchain Markets With KPMG Digital Village Partnership

									by Fintech News Singapore
November 28, 2016

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Bluzelle Networks, a Singaporean company specializing in blockchain applications for the financial services industry, has been named as an Emerging Star in KPMG and H2 Ventures’ notorious Fintech 100 list. The company plans to tap into new markets with its partnership with KPMG Digital Village.
Each year, the Fintech 100 list recognizes the top 100 fintech innovators in the world. The list names the 50 leading established players and the 50 emerging fintech stars of tomorrow.
This year, Fintech 100 named Ant Financial, Qudian, Oscar, Lufax, ZhongAn, Atom Bank, Kreditech, Avant, Sofi and JD Finance as the top 10 fintech leaders.
Alongside Bluzelle, Lenddo, solarisBank, ZooZ, Hitbtc, Finova Financial, Feedzai, Digital Asset Holdings, ConsenSys and Anivo have been named as Emerging Stars.

Headquartered in Singapore and with an office in Vancouver, Canada, Bluzelle provides blockchain-powered applications for banks and insurance companies to improve their business operations. It develops products for bank-to-bank payments, identity/KYC, hospitalization insurance, usage based insurance, mobile wallets, among other solutions.
Real Time Payments Contracts
Bluzelle’s platform has real-time payments, smart contracts, and records management built in and works with multiple blockchain protocols including Ethereum and Ripple.
Co-founders Pavel Bains, a Disney and 500 Startups alum, and Neeraj Murarka, who has worked with Google, Zynga and Zeroblock, a crypto-startup that was acquired by Blockchain.info, launched the company in 2015 with the mission of “building products that enable faster movement and access to money around the world.”
“Getting into the Fintech 100 list is an honor and a testament to the hard work our team has put in over the past 2 years,” said Bains, CEO and co-founder of Bluzelle. “Over the next 12 months, we’re releasing new innovations in payments and smart contracts that will bring enormous value to the end consumer.”
Bluzelle is part of the KPMG Digital Village, an initiative by the professional services firm aimed at stimulating collaboration between corporates and the startup community.
Partnership with KPMG Digital Village
KPMG Digital Village seeks to act as a platform connecting firms that are looking to innovate with startups. The partnership with KPMG allowed Bluzelle to expand its offering to insurance firms and the medical industry.
“Blockchain is one of the bright stars in the Fintech industry, and our collaboration with Bluzelle opens up opportunities for clients to develop practical use cases for smart contracts on the blockchain,” said Lyon Poh, head of Digital + Innovation at KPMG in Singapore.
Mobile App for Insurance based on Blockchain
The startup also developed a mobile app for a KPMG client that targeted customers who may not have bought insurance. It allows the user to authentically purchase an insurance policy and do a real time claim after incurring an injury. This was all powered by the blockchain, and helped the client reduce time and operational costs around low value insurance sales and claims.
“We proved we could issue an insurance policy to the blockchain and have a smart contract manage the entire claim, including payout, without any human involvement,” Bluzelle confirms in an email statement.
A similar app was showcased at KPMG Digital Village’s lab crawl during Singapore Fintech Festival. KPMG, together with Bluzelle developed a use-case and value proposition, and built a working prototype for the ‘Bank Branch of the Future’ lab crawl, which was attended by around 300 Fintech Festival goers.
KPMG Digital Village lab crawl demo of hassle-free insurance claims via a mobile app
The mobile app showcased what the future of banking would look like, where customers can quickly and easily purchase personal accident insurance and submit hospitalization claims in a hassle-free manner. This meant speedy onboarding, no paper submissions or complicated claims processes, no lengthy disputes between insurer and customer, and quick payouts through the blockchain-based smart contract.
The startup is now also working with core banking solutions provider Temenos, Zag Bank and others in Canada, as well as insurers in Asia.
For Temenos, Bluzelle’s Altitude Gateway technology allowed for the full integration of with the Ripple protocol and the Temenos Core Banking Software to enable real-time payments.
Bluzelle has been touring around the world during the past months, attending SIBOS 2016 in Geneva, InsurTech in Singapore and Disruption in Finance in New York City.
At SIBOS 2016, Bluzelle’s CTO Neeraj Murarka participated in a number of panels and special events. Murarka noted the craze surrounding blockchain technology with nearly all major banks trying to be involved. He also noted that a number of African banks have been working together to improve financial services for people in developing countries.
At Disruption in Finance in New York City, Bluzelle did a presentation focused on its core technology stack and infrastructure and how it delivers products like KYC/identity systems and usage-based insurance.
Bluzelle’s CTO Neeraj Murarka at SIBOS 2016, via Bluzelle

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Indonesia
Lending
Open Banking

Brankas and CRIF Launch a Credit Scoring System for Borrowers With No Credit History

									by Fintech News Indonesia
October 24, 2022

Southeast Asian open finance platform Brankas and credit solutions provider CRIF have launched the New Evaluation Open Suite (N.E.O.S), a credit scoring system which analyses alternative data sources.
Under the partnership, Brankas will enable the collection of bank statement and other data sources, and CRIF will then apply its machine learning algorithm to the data to generate a credit score.

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Brankas enables the consent collection and a secure and smooth connection to bank statement data and other alternative data sources through a simple and secure user experience. CRIF then applies an advanced machine learning algorithm that enables an innovative credit score. Brankas’ open banking secure data sharing solutions unlock next generation alternative credit scoring. As a result, lenders benefit from instant and automated statement retrievals over a secure and compliant platform. Source: Brankas and CRIF (2022)
Among the 400 indicators used by N.E.O.S to understand a customer’s spending behaviour are data on groceries, bill payments, investments, memberships, insurance, loan repayments, and subscriptions.
Brankas and CRIF say that these alternative indicators were developed to provide applicants with a limited credit history — such as micro-entrepreneurs, freelance and gig economy workers — access to credit.

Husni Fuad
“Borrowers that could be financially strong but without credit history can be excluded from accessing credit by lenders’ credit policies mainly relying on traditional credit data.

As such, lenders lose out on thousands of these potential borrowers every month. To resolve this, Brankas and CRIF have joined forces to co-create N.E.O.S,”
said Husni Fuad, Country Manager of Brankas Indonesia.
Simone Lovati
“Financial institutions are lacking data to build critical knowledge and valuable insights to expand their market reach and serve the new-to-credit population.

Brankas and CRIF’s open banking suite will allow banks and fintech players to fill this gap, enabling them to make relevant and reliable credit decisions, while improving the upselling potential to existing customers,”
said Simone Lovati, Managing Director, Asia of CRIF.

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