Crypto
Digital Assets
Funding

Global Crypto Funding Slumps 42.5% Amidst Crypto Winter

									by Fintech News Singapore
January 31, 2023

Funding to cryptocurrency companies plummeted 42.5% in 2022, plunging from an all-time high (ATH) of US$37.08 billion secured in 2021 to US$21.26 billion last year, a new report by crypto data aggregator CoinGecko shows.
While the drop may appear significant, 2022’s figure indicates that crypto funding remained strong last year despite a challenging macroeconomic environment and market turmoil. In comparison, during the previous “crypto winter” of 2018-2019, crypto investments tumbled by a staggering 72.3%, plunging from US$16.2 billion to just US$4.5 billion in 2019, the report says.
Annual funding raised by cryptocurrency companies globally, Source: CoinGecko, Jan 2023
The relatively better performance in 2022 comes amid continued growth and innovation in the space and increased interest from institutional investors in segments such as decentralized finance (DeFi) and non-fungible tokens (NFTs), the report says.
In 2022, decentralized finance (DeFi) users growth averaged 44% quarter-over-quarter (QoQ), according to a separate report by crypto fund HashKey Capital. A milestone was reached in Q3 2022 when DeFi user wallets surpassed five million.

Adoption of NFTs also increased last year with monthly trading volume on Ethereum hitting a new ATH in January of US$5.6 billion, up 33.8% from its previous ATH, a report by The Block, an information services company dedicated to digital assets, says.
This growth came amid sustained support from investors in the crypto sector, in addition to increased adoption of crypto by large companies, HashKey Capital says. Instagram, for example, introduced a NFT feature in Q2 2022 and is now planning to add new capabilities such as enabling users to create their own NFTs and sell them directly to fans. Reddit says its users have opened over 2.5 million crypto wallets since its introduced its NFT marketplace in July. And Twitter is rumored to be working on integrating a crypto wallet.
2022 also saw some encouraging signs of institutional interest in crypto. The Fidelity 2022 Institutional Investor Digital Assets Study, which polled more than 1,000 institutional investors in Europe, the US and Asia during the first half of 2022, found that six-in-10 (58%) of the institutional investors surveyed had an allocation to digital assets, up six point from 2021’s 52%.
Increased interest from institutions was also evidenced last year by the slew of DeFi initiatives unveiled by traditional banking institutions and financial regulators. Huntingdon Valley Bank, a Pennsylvania chartered bank, got approved in July for a US$100 million loan on MakerDAO, a DeFi lending protocol; Project Guardian, an initiative spearheaded by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) focused on exploring the potential of DeFi and digital assets, completed its first live trades in November; and Dutch bank ING is reportedly exploring DeFi peer-to-peer (P2P) lending.
Crypto funding declines quarterly amid crypto winter, company collapses
In 2022, funding to crypto companies declined quarter-on-quarter (QoQ). Investments declined 41.8% in Q1, 32% in Q2, 38.9% Q3 and 17.1% in Q4.
The trend is in sharp contrast to 2021, during which Q1 started off with an impressive 229.2% QoQ growth, a surge that was fueled by hype from the so-called DeFi summer and greater institutional interest in 2020, the CoinGecko report says. This continued on for the rest of the year with a 33.2%, 20.9% and 66.8% QoQ increase in Q2, Q3 and Q4, respectively.
2022’s pullback in crypto funding came amid an ongoing crypto winter, which saw the total market capitalization being cut in half, starting off the year at US$2.2 trillion to hit an annual low of US$1 trillion in November, according to The Block.
Bitcoin fell below its 2017-high in June for the first time since January 2021 and extended its drawdown to -64.1% year-to-date (YTD). In fact, all the top ten cryptocurrencies by market capitalization, excluding stablecoins, generated negative returns, with Polkadot taking the biggest hit (-80.9%), followed by Cardano (-76.9%) and Ethereum (-65.6%).
Year-to-date return of top ten cryptocurrencies in 2022, Source: 2023 Digital Asset Outlook, The Block, Dec 2022
2022 also saw a series of massive company collapses and scandals that took a toll on the crypto industry.
In May, the collapse of the Terra stablecoin project and its associated Luna reserve asset cryptocurrency triggered a domino effect on the whole crypto market, ultimately contributing to insolvency troubles at both crypto lender Celsius and hedge fund Three Arrows Capital.
In November, FTX, once one of the world’s largest crypto exchanges, filed for bankruptcy protection after a dramatic series of events led to a run on deposits and a selloff of FTT, its in-house crypto token. Gross negligence has since been exposed.
FTX’s now former founder and CEO, Sam Bankman-Fried, was indicted on a range of charges, including wire fraud, commodities fraud, securities fraud, money laundering, and campaign finance law violations. Bankman-Fried pleaded not guilty. His trial is set to start on October 02, 2023 and he is facing up to 115 years in prison.

Featured image credit: edited from freepik

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Crypto
Digital Assets

Crypto Lessons From 2022 The Industry Should Avoid in 2023

									by Johanan Devanesan
February 1, 2023

As any crypto industry observer surely knows, 2022 was one of the most turbulent years since Bitcoin hit mainstream notoriety and digital asset markets became a sphere of interest for fintech companies and private investors alike.
The early part of 2022 saw the cryptocurrency markets turning bearish as the global economy soured. It was not just the crypto industry either, as CoinGecko’s 2022 Annual Crypto Industry Report highlighted how poorly traditionally major assets like crude oil and the US Dollar had performed by the end of 2022.
Still, the single worst-performing asset in 2022 was Bitcoin, shedding 64.2% of its value since the beginning of the year. On January 1st 2023, the market capitalisation of the entire crypto industry stood at US$829 billion, nearly two-thirds (64.1%) less than the US$2.3 trillion market cap that started off 2022.

The challenging macroeconomic climate, rising inflationary trends, and a close correlation between the crypto market and US equities all boded negatively for the industry overall for most of 2022 – but crypto winter truly set in with the series of scandals and exits that was catalysed by the collapse of the FTX exchange in November 2022.
The fallout is still besieging the crypto industry in 2023, but nevertheless, there were valuable lessons and cautionary measures that can be taken away by fintech startups, investors, and other participants of the digital assets ecosystem.
Here are some lessons the crypto industry should have learned from the tumultuous year that was 2022, and what are some factors to keep an eye on heading deeper into 2023.
Overspeculation will lead to contagion
The massive ripple effect did not start with the FTX contagion. Instead when the Terra Luna crypto crash happened, and Terra Luna lost 99.9% of its value, it was uncovered that FTX sister company Alameda Research had most of its assets in FTT tokens issued by FTX.
Alameda has become insolvent following the Terra Luna crash, leading largest crypto exchange Binance’s CEO Changpeng ‘CZ’ Zhao to publicly reveal that Binance was dumping its stake in FTT tokens. In a showcase of how speculation-driven the market was, CZ’s announcement triggered mass withdrawals amid fears of insolvency, causing FTX to halt withdrawals and subsequently file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
It emerged that both FTX and Alameda had borrowed heavily from cryptocurrency lending firms to prop up their investments, leading to the collapse of broker Genesis Global Trading and lender BlockFi, who said they had US$175 million and US$275 million respectively locked up in inaccessible funds on FTX.
Since then, many companies have felt the domino effect of the contagion, pausing operations or cutting back on expenditure, asking clients to withdraw funds, and generally revealing an interdependent state of creditors and debtors.
While the decentralised nature of blockchain protocols were hoped to create a more transparent investing ecosystem, the failure of one crypto institution leading to another has similarities with how other financial failures happened throughout history, including the 1997 Asian financial crisis, the dotcom bubble burst of the 2000’s, and the 2008 subprime mortgage crisis in the US.
These moments of crisis all revealed overly-optimistic investing strategies built up by the continued rise of financial assets, fueling buildups of loans to speculative investors. When the investments bottomed out, the rush for the exits revealed just how speculative the investment momentum had been.
This is not a fault of the underlying technology and protocols of the crypto industry. Rather, it is an inevitable end result of human greed and a speculation driven investment culture. It is expected that the contagion ripple effect from FTX/Alameda will continue to be felt in 2023, as more companies feel the repercussions of 2022.

Digital wallets the solution to custody problem?
It turned out that FTX had been using funds from users to keep it afloat as creditors evaporated, and many were taken aback when a judge ruled in the ongoing bankruptcy of Celsius Network that funds deposited into the Celsius’ ‘Earn’ program belong to the estate (Celsius), and not account holders.
This landmark ruling could have implications for the entire industry as bankruptcies and other crypto failures of 2022 continue to reverberate. Firstly, there are questions over who owns tokens held in custody.
Institutional investors, crypto firms, and retail investors all learned the hard way that what an organisation says is a safe investment space, where customer funds are held securely and separately from other investment funds, is not often the case.
Hence hardware wallets surged in popularity as investors pulled back from the high-profile collapses of the likes of FTX, Celsius, Voyager Digital, Three Arrows Capital and Genesis – all of which involved centralised financial institutions holding and putting customer funds at risk.
If hardware wallets are unwieldy for users who want to constantly reach their funds or use crypto as a medium of exchange, DeFi (decentralised finance) might suit better, as its decentralised nature means there is no intermediary to abuse users’ funds in between.
Yet DeFi projects by themselves, will still need a gateway custodian to store the assets in. Digital or hot wallets might hold (no pun intended) the answer: decentralised digital storage systems like MetaMask and Coinbase Wallet allow users to digitally store their virtual tokens without downloading the entire blockchain, permit access to decentralised apps (dApps), connect with cryptocurrency exchanges online, and even acquire and hold other digital assets such as NFTs.
But as the collapse of Luna Terra showed, DeFi is still vulnerable if a token has flawed principles, or if the smart contracts that bind transactions are breached, or if founders initiate a ‘rug pull’ and skip town with users’ funds.
More comprehensive audit processes are still needed for the DeFi space before it can be a reliable alternative. DeFI protocols lost more momentum last year than most of the market, with its market cap shrinking by 72.9%, as per the CoinGecko report.
Insurance and compliance
The wild events of 2022 have made it clear that some form of insurance or backstop is required to shield investor funds against abuse. What kind of product this will be has yet to be determined, as the crypto industry still faces many questions when it comes to regulations
That draws up another issue, of having stabilised compliance and industry-wide controls that prioritise cybersecurity and investor protection. This will largely depend on the regulatory environment it is found in.
In Asia, economies like Singapore and Japan have prioritised consumer protection, but interestingly there are signs of relaxing regulations for crypto companies in Japan. After several high-profile implosions out of Singapore like Terraform Labs and Three Arrows Capital, the regulatory authority there is looking to pull back even further, with proposed measures to include restricting firms from lending out retail customers’ tokens.
This might see crypto firms there being subjected to similar regulations as banks and brokers, who also provide securities lending under stringent rules, and questions arise if digital assets should be treated differently.
Hong Kong, on the other hand, looked to establish its financial autonomy from China in the wake of restrictive zero-COVID and an outright ban on cryptocurrency trading on the mainland. Hong Kong instead announced it was open to crypto firms and would look to ease restrictions on retail investors to trade using licensed exchanges.

Featured image credit: Freepik

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InsurTech

HSBC Insurance Completes Merger With AXA Singapore

									by Fintech News Singapore
February 2, 2023

The integration between HSBC Insurance Singapore and AXA Insurance is now complete and has begun operating as a combined entity – HSBC Life Singapore.
The merger and rebranding will have no impact to the terms of any of the policies in-force underwritten by either AXA Singapore or HSBC Insurance Singapore.
The bank said in a statement that this “strongly positions HSBC to grow its insurance business in Singapore and expand its customer reach in the health and wealth space”.
Announced in August 2021, the US$529 million deal was inked to double the bank’s life insurance market share and was the first major acquisition by HSBC in 10 years. HSBC then proceeded to lay off more than 20 employees at AXA Singapore.

Greg Hingston
Greg Hingston, Chief Executive Officer, HSBC Global Insurance and Partnerships said,
“The successful integration of our insurance businesses is an important and exciting milestone for us to scale up our presence in Singapore.

Leveraging the combined competitive advantages of HSBC Life Singapore and the rest of the HSBC Group, we aim to develop integrated insurance, wealth and banking offerings to cater to the entire continuum of customer needs throughout their life stages from wealth protection and accumulation to wealth transfer.”
Ho Lee Yen
Ho Lee Yen, Chief Executive Officer, HSBC Life Singapore said,
“HSBC Life Singapore is now bigger and stronger. With our increased scale, we are better placed to serve our customers wherever they are and to offer a wealth of opportunities to our employees and tied distributors.

Just as we want to be part of our customers’ lives across life stages, we aim to grow with our employees through different career milestones with the multitude of possibilities throughout the HSBC group in Singapore and beyond.”

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InsurTech

FWD Appoints Adrian Vincent as New Singapore CEO

									by Fintech News Singapore
February 2, 2023

FWD Group, a a pan-Asian life insurance business, has announced the appointment of Adrian Vincent as Chief Executive Officer for Singapore.
Vincent joined FWD Singapore in 2019 as General Manager, Life Business, successfully establishing the company’s financial adviser channel and now executing on its high-net-worth strategy.
He is an insurance industry leader with over 20 years of experience, including serving as Deputy CEO at a multi national insurance company based in Singapore.
Vincent succeeds Khor Kee Eng, who is taking on a new role in the FWD Group headquarters, and will be reporting to Binayak Dutta, Managing Director, Emerging Markets, and Group Chief Distribution Officer.

Binayak Dutta
“Adrian’s appointment as Singapore CEO reflects our commitment to nurture talent from within.

I’m confident that Adrian will continue to pioneer our customer-led approach to insurance, leveraging the talented team that we have developed in our Singapore business in recent years,”
said Binayak.

Adrian Vincent
“Together we are forging our path as a next-generation insurer in Singapore that is making protection, retirement savings, and legacy planning in the country easy, accessible, and affordable.

I look forward to continuing to work closely with the Singapore team and delivering on our vision of changing the way people feel about insurance,”
said Adrian Vincent, CEO for Singapore at FWD.

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InsurTech

Insurtech Firm Igloo Appoints New Chief Technology Officer

									by Fintech News Singapore
February 7, 2023

Insurtech firm Igloo has appointed Liliang Zhu as its Chief Technology Officer to strengthen the firm’s tech capabilities and product innovation as it expands insurance offerings across key markets.
Zhu will lead Igloo’s tech and innovation strategy and oversee the growth and operations of its tech hubs in Chengdu, China, and Pune, India where he will manage over 70 engineers and developers.
He is a senior architect and product development leader with over 20 years of experience building scalable cloud solutions for the insurance industry.
Before joining Igloo, Zhu led the development and optimisation of ZA Tech’s digital insurance solutions and held senior leadership roles at Ant Financial and eBaoTech Corporation.

The firm has also appointed Sanjiv Shah as Head of Product for Consumer and Astha Desai as Head of Product for Intermediary Platform Services (IPS), who will both drive the growth and product strategy of these respective business lines.
Igloo raised US$19 million in Series B funding round in March 2022 and has facilitated over 300 million digital insurance policies in Singapore, Indonesia, Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, and Thailand.
Raunak Mehta
“Liliang’s appointment comes at an opportune time – where we are primed to cement our position as a leading regional insurtech.

We are confident that Zhu’s leadership and expertise, together with our newly appointed product leaders, will elevate our current capabilities as we introduce more innovative digital insurance products and solutions for consumers in the region.”
shared Raunak Mehta, co-Founder and CEO at Igloo.
Liliang Zhu
“As Chief Technology Officer, I have the opportunity to work with our leadership team and lead our tech team of engineers and developers.

Seeing Igloo’s commitment to helping underserved communities, I look forward to contributing my experience and expertise in implementing tech and innovation strategies to help achieve our mission of insurance for all.”
shared Liliang Zhu, Chief Technology Officer at Igloo.

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Crypto
Digital Assets
Wealthtech

Fintonia Secures Capital Markets License From MAS

									by Fintech News Singapore
February 7, 2023

Singaporean crypto fund manager Fintonia Group has secured a Capital Markets Services (CMS) license from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS).
This will enable Fintonia to continue expanding and providing innovative investment solutions and products to its clients.
The CMS license is part of Fintonia’s expansion plan, which includes its two institutional-grade Bitcoin funds launched in late 2021 for professional investors looking for a direct secure exposure to Bitcoin in a regulated environment.
In July 2022, Fintonia received a provisional virtual asset license granted by the Dubai Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA) and is looking to clinch a full license in the future.

Adrian Chng
“We are excited about this license upgrade and the opportunity to collaborate with partners who share our belief that licensed and regulated institutions will drive the next phase of growth in the digital assets and crypto industry.

At Fintonia, we are committed to providing our clients with the highest level of security and trust in their investments, through our extensive range of services including fund products, treasury management solutions, and wealth management.”
said Adrian Chng, Founder of Fintonia Group.

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Digital Assets

Seba Bank Names Amy Yu as APAC CEO to Spearhead Growth Plans

									by Fintech News Singapore
February 8, 2023

SEBA Bank, a digital assets firm with a Swiss banking license from FINMA, has appointed Amy Yu as the CEO of its APAC division.
As a deep domain expert in both crypto and traditional banking in Asia, Yu has over fifteen years of experience in financial services spanning capital markets, trading ecosystems and liquidity provision.
She previously played an instrumental role in regional and institutional growth strategies for market leaders in the crypto industry, a global derivatives exchange and prime broker.
Prior to her move into the digital assets space, she supported the development of JP Morgan’s Prime Services in the APAC market.

The bank said that her appointment is part of its commitment to expand across the region and Yu will initially be located in Singapore.
In line with this, SEBA Bank also recently opened a Hong Kong office for its Hong Kong subsidiary.
SEBA Bank has also recently partnered with Hashkey, a provider of digital asset management and blockchain solutions, to accelerate the institutional adoption of digital assets in APAC and globally.
Franz Bergmueller
Franz Bergmueller, CEO of SEBA Bank said,
“Our appointment of Amy Yu as Chief Executive Officer APAC is a key step forward in continuing our growth in the APAC market.

Following the recent opening of our office in Hong Kong, Yu has the successful track record and expertise to capitalize on this momentum and lead our business through the next pivotal phase of development in the region.”
Amy Yu
Amy Yu, Chief Executive Officer APAC commented,
“I am proud to join the deeply talented team at SEBA and support the group’s continued global growth in this dynamic and expanding region.

SEBA plays an important role in the industry by continuing to enlarge its presence in the region as well as becoming firmly committed to the crypto ecosystem.”

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AI
InsurTech
Security

MSIG Singapore to Deploy Fermion’s AI Tool to Combat Motor Insurance Fraud

									by Fintech News Singapore
February 8, 2023

General insurer MSIG Singapore has partnered with insurance ecosystem builder Fermion to combat motor insurance fraud through the use of an advanced artificial intelligence tool, TrueSight Fraud Intelligence.
MSIG said in a statement that it will be able to rapidly uncover insurance fraud by cross-referencing data points with this new AI solution.
The tool offers, in one glance, the information needed to accelerate the claims management process.
MSIG Singapore expects to automate at least 50% of screening checks with TrueSight Fraud Intelligence, freeing claims staff to focus on higher-value work such as interviewing claimants and assessing more complex claims.

MSIG estimates that the TrueSight Fraud Intelligence solution will save over SG$ 100,000 per annum and with the potential to increase over the years.
The AI model helps to correct such errors by checking every claim against decision rules, reducing the risk of paying out fraudulent claims.
“The sheer number of claims processed daily, coupled with their interconnectedness, makes it a huge challenge for insurers to detect fraudulent activities. In the past, it has taken a combination of industry and in-house efforts to uncover fraud.

We believe that using a well-designed AI tool will enhance our success in combating fraudulent claims and help to reduce the cost of fraud,”
said Sam Tan, Senior Vice President and Head of Claims Services at MSIG Singapore.

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Blockchain
Crypto
Digital Assets
Green Fintech

Singapore’s FSI Sector Eyes Significant Investments in ESG, Embedded Finance and Defi

									by Fintech News Singapore
February 15, 2023

In Singapore, c-suite and senior finance executives are planning to invest significantly in embedded finance, environmental, social and governance (ESG) frameworks, and blockchain-related innovations in 2023, confident that these technologies will create new growth opportunities and provide them with an edge over competitors, a new study by Fidelity National Information Services (FIS), an international provider of financial services technology and outsourcing services, found.
The inaugural 2023 Global Innovation Report, released on January, shares findings of a global study of 2,000 executives which sought to uncover finance executives’ top areas of investment in 2023 and the years onwards.
Results from the Singapore survey, which saw the participation of 160 executives, show that finance executives are particularly optimistic on the prospects of embedded finance, sustainability as well as decentralized finance (DeFi), believing that these innovations will help them strengthen their brands and retain customers.
Of the Singapore finance executives surveyed, more than two-thirds of the respondents said these major innovations will impact their businesses in the next 12 months. The impact will be sustained over a three-year horizon but will accelerate for ESG, DeFi and cryptocurrencies, the research found.

Will these innovations impact your businesses in the next 12 months, three years?, Source: 2023 Global Innovation Report, FIS, Jan 2023
Addressing data challenges to tap into ESG opportunities
For financial services firms in Singapore, ESG is an important opportunity to improve their competitiveness in the market (73%) and 59% of respondents said they are currently developing new products and services to tap into this opportunity.
Respondents also said they are actively addressing the biggest challenges around ESG, which revolve around accessing and analyzing relevant data, as well as reporting on that data. 66% of respondents said they are investing in technology to improve their ESG reporting and disclosures, and 61% are investing in technology to provide more granular ESG ratings of assets and securities.
“ESG is a competitive advantage that should not be sidelined,” Kanv Pandit, Group Managing Director, APAC, Banking Solutions at FIS, said in a statement.
“A strong ESG score and the transparency to back it up is also critical to capturing the growing number of investors who are putting ESG front and center when they decide where to invest.”
Eagerness to embrace ESG standards in Singapore’s finance sector comes on the back of a push from the government to turn the city-state into a leading center for green and sustainable finance, not just in Asia but globally.
In 2019, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) introduced the Green Finance Action Plan (GFAP), complementing the Singapore Green Plan 2030 and laying out MAS’ sustainable finance strategy.
This strategy is articulated around five pillars: strengthening the financial sector’s resilience to environmental risks; enhancing sustainability-related disclosures; developing green and transition finance solutions and markets; harnessing technology to enable trusted and efficient sustainable finance flows; and building knowledge and capabilities in sustainable finance.
Sustainable finance activity in Singapore has accelerated significantly over the past few years. From 2018 to 2021, over S$39.8 billion of green and sustainability-linked loans have been issued in the city-state, according to MAS’s Sustainability Report 2021/2022. Notably, sustainability-linked loans experienced continued growth with a quadrupling of volumes from 2019 levels.
Interest in DeFi picks up despite slumping crypto markets
DeFi, a concept which refers to the provision of financial instruments without the need of intermediaries, is another emerging trend which Singapore finance executives are bullish on, the FIS study found.
Commonly described as an alternative financial system, DeFi applications use blockchain and digital assets to manage financial transactions. Participants are part of a peer-to-peer network where assets represented can be transferred automatically via so-called smart contracts.
For more than half of the Singapore financial executives surveyed by FIS (56%), DeFi represents a major growth opportunity for their organization. 59% of respondents believe DeFi will strengthen the competitiveness of fintech companies and other disruptive rivals in financial services.
Pandit said that although the ongoing, prolonged crypto winter will likely continue to challenge the industry, the blockchain and digital asset industry continues to see innovation and adoption, citing central bank digital currency (CBDC) advancements, increased institutional adoption of digital assets, and pilot launches of involving underlying technologies.
“These initiatives are driven by a long-term technology investment cycle and outlook, which most industry participants agree has not changed,” Pandit said.
“There are still pockets in which growth and investment continue at a strong pace.”
The size of the DeFi has grown exponentially over the past few years. In 2021, the sum of all digital assets deposited in DeFi protocols, also referred to as the total value locked (TLV), increased from approximately EUR 18 billion in January to over EUR 240 billion by the end of December, according to a report by the European Central Bank. During the same period, DeFi tokens, the cryptocurrencies used in DeFi protocols, experienced an almost tenfold increase.
Crypto-assets deposited in DeFi protocols (TVL) and the market capitalisation of top DeFi tokens, Source: European Central Bank, 2022
The rise of embedded finance
Another trend outlined in the FIS report is the rise of embedded finance, a growing movement which refers to the integration of financial services like lending, payments and insurance into non-financial businesses’ infrastructures.
For end users, embedded finance means a smoother and more seamless experience where financial services are integrated into their day-to-day software rather than being only accessible through standalone services from traditional financial institutions. For businesses, embedded finance means increased consumer satisfaction and improved retention. And for financial services firms, embedded finance allows them to extend their reach by reducing the cost of acquiring customers.
“Embedded finance is when consumers have unique, tailored financial services delivered to them at the point of need by non-financial companies. It is empowering non-financial firms to boost revenues (forecasted to exceed a staggering US$183 billion globally in 2027) by delivering lucrative value-added services like in-app payments, lending and insurance to customers as part of a seamless experience,” Pandit said.
“We can expect to see businesses in Singapore pick up the pace in embracing embedded finance as they seek to diversify their offerings and deepen customer loyalty through this period of economic uncertainty.”
Of the 160 finance executives polled by FIS, 41% said they will invest significantly in developing embedded finance products within 12 months. 37% of those that are already offering or developing embedded finance services believe these solutions will help them improve their brand, image and reputation.

Featured image credit: Edited from Unsplash and Freepik here and here.

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Digital Assets

BIS Unveils New Stablecoin and Defi Monitoring Platform, With Focus on CBDC

									by Rebecca Oi
February 15, 2023

The Bank of International Settlements (BIS) Innovation Hub has just unveiled its 2023 priorities, focusing on stablecoins, central bank digital currencies (CBDC), data monitoring, and cybersecurity.
Over the past years, the BIS Innovation Hub has been at the forefront of exploring and developing cutting-edge solutions to central banks’ challenges, as evidenced by the number of ongoing and completed projects.
Pyxtrial: Transparency and Stability to the Stablecoin market
The BIS Innovation Hub recently announced the launch of its new project, Pyxtrial, initiated by the London branch to ensure the financial sector’s stability.
Pyxtrial refers to a traditional British judicial process that dates back many centuries. The Trial of the Pyx is one of the oldest and most established procedures for assessing the quality of coins in the country.

The project is poised to bring transparency and stability to the stablecoin market by providing real-time visibility into their financial health.
Stablecoins such as USD Coin (USDC) and Tether USD (USDT) play a vital role in the cryptocurrency exchange market, enabling investors to transfer between digital and fiat currencies effortlessly.
However, the recent failure of TerraUSD, an algorithmic stablecoin, has highlighted some of the risks associated with these digital assets.
As a result, regulators are taking a closer look at stablecoins, particularly those not backed by physical fiat currencies, to ensure their stability and prevent similar incidents.
By developing a platform to monitor stablecoins, Pyxtrial will play a crucial role in shaping the future of financial regulation and supervision.
The bank has noted that most central banks lack the tools to monitor stablecoins and prevent asset-liability mismatches systematically, and Pyxtrial aims to fill this gap. The project will explore technological solutions to help supervisors and regulators establish policy frameworks based on integrated data.
Tools for monitoring cryptocurrencies and DeFi in real-time
The BIS Innovation Hub is a crucial player in shaping the future of regulation, supervision, and finance. The hub recognises the increasing importance of digital assets, particularly cryptocurrencies and decentralized finance, and is focused on developing real-time tools to monitor these spaces.
The Atlas project is one of the popular projects undertaken by the BIS Innovation Hub in this regard. The project is designed to be decentralized, making it easy for investors and traders to access information freely and make informed decisions.
With the use of technical tools for data vetting and analysis, Atlas aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the crypto and DeFi markets, including market trends, price movements, and other essential metrics.
Central Bank Digital Currency: Major focus for BIS Innovation Hub
The BIS Innovation Hub announced its plans to increase its focus on central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) in 2023.
The hub recognises the need to improve payment systems and is dedicating a significant portion of its efforts to exploring the potential of CBDCs. Of its various projects, 15 focus on CBDCs, and three cross-border CBDCs projects have already been concluded, including Jura, Dunbar, and Project Helvetia.

One of the most notable projects is MBridge, exploring wholesale cross-border payment solutions. The Central Banks of Thailand, China, Hong Kong, the United Arab Emirates, and over 20 commercial banks in different countries utilised MBridge cross-border payment solutions.
In addition, the BIS is also focusing on retail CBDCs, such as the two-tiered system known as Aurum, which was piloted in Hong Kong in July. Another project, in collaboration with the Bank of England, will experiment with the distribution of a retail CBDC through an open API ecosystem known as Rosalind.
Only 11 countries have fully launched a CBDC, all located in the Caribbean, except for Nigeria. Pilots are underway in 17 nations, mainly in Asia, including China, Russia, Kazakhstan, India, South Korea, Thailand, and Malaysia.
Project Sela: Exploring the cyber security and technical feasibility of retail CBDC architecture
Project Sela, a collaboration between the BIS Innovation Hub Hong Kong Centre, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, and the Bank of Israel, aims to test the technical feasibility and cyber security of a two-tier retail CBDC architecture.
This project aims to provide broader access to CBDC services by allowing intermediaries, such as commercial banks, payment service providers, and financial technology firms, to offer these services without any financial exposure. This means that the CBDC will never reside on the intermediary’s balance sheet, reducing financial risk for these entities.
However, more comprehensive access to CBDC services raises concerns about cyber security. If the project proves successful, it could lead to a more widely accessible CBDC system that is secure against cyber threats, providing greater financial stability and security to the end users.

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Blockchain
Digital Assets

Partior Sets Sights on the Future of Global Money Movement

									by Johanan Devanesan
February 16, 2023

Partior is a blockchain-based exchange platform, a fintech company operating within the exciting Web3 space that is being hailed as the future of the internet. Blockchain technology provides a secure and decentralised ledger that can be used to record and track financial transactions, including the exchange of digital assets.
Partior spun out from Project Ubin, a collaborative effort between the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and the fintech industry based in the island state. The recently concluded five-phase project helped regulators like MAS and the industry at large better understand the use of blockchain and distributed ledger technology (DLT) in practical settings.
Partior core stakeholders DBS, JP Morgan and Temasek just joined the company’s Series A investment round led by UK bank Standard Chartered, raising US$31 million for the blockchain-enabled payments clearing and settlements platform. The same investor trio also helped build up Project Ubin, so they stepped back and identified “very clear problem statements around money movement, cross-border, and how in the future of a tokenised world, things like Delivery versus Payment (DvP) capabilities would be inhibited if money continued to move as it does today,” said Jason Thompson, Partior CEO, in an exclusive chat with Fintech News Singapore.
A lot of original Ubin (it has since been succeeded by Ubin+ in November 2022) projects ended up being theoretical, with not enough value being created from all the knowledge sharing and white papers that were published, according to Jason.

By using blockchain technology, Partior aims to offer a programmable, secure and transparent platform for exchanging cryptocurrencies, multi-currencies, and other digital assets. Harnessing key attributes of DLT, smart contracts and decentralised applications (dApps), the exact features and services offered by Partior will depend on the specific implementation of their platform.
Jason Thompson
“I think the area we’re in, in a Web3 business that’s really looking at the future of value exchanges globally. It’s a complex landscape,” surmised Jason.
Partior the future of global money movement?
Besides DvP, foreign exchange Payment versus Payment (PvP), and Peer to Peer escrows, Partior will also support both central banks and commercial banks with the market infrastructure and value–added financial services that Partior’s CEO sees as the future of a Web3-based, globalised value exchange. Enabling interoperability between different asset classes, such as between commercial bank money and digitised central bank money, will be one of those key pillars for the future of money movement.
“Today, probably 80% of liquidity in somewhere like the US comes from commercial banks. So we still see that the future of money movement will be heavily reliant on the liquidity of the large clearing banks,” explained Jason. “And I think, you know, in recent months it’s become evermore clear that some of the assets that would potentially be seen as other options for liquidity, are really not evolved at a regulatory level that would allow it to be safe to do so.”
He points out that “99.9%” of money that moves around is still fiat, so tokenisation and digitalisation of existing monetary systems still needs to happen. “So today, we have a very clear five-year vision statement that we have aligned with our key partners and our investors,” he said. “But our vision is for us to become a third global ledger that underpins the world payment systems. Now, when we say payment systems, it’s really how we interoperate with all value exchanges.”
“A global network from day one”
In the coming years, money movement will be increasingly dependent on the usage model. “So for instance, we could be moving money, but that money could be because of an exchange of a tokenized bond,” Jason explained. “So money movement and value exchanges now have to happen simultaneously and atomically, that can’t be disintermediated in this new world.”
“The network itself is private and permissioned. That means we’re not a public network like other organisations, and indeed, the ledger itself is private and permissioned. We’re building a global network from day one,” he said. “We’re a global company and that network is made up of settlement banks, participating banks, central banks and liquidity providers. And it really helps us expand them into other fintechs that can support the ecosystem and how it grows.”
Partior aims to allow for secure, interoperable settlements and payments across the landscape, using DLT to eventually bridge even legacy systems and future-ready them. “I think when you look at tokenisation of assets, and when you look at the digitalisation of money movement, the financial services industry is going through a change right now that is akin to the electric vehicle market.”
Jason sees Partior right at the centre of this change, integrating every liquidity solution from CBDCs to M-zero, cash or assets that could quickly be converted into currency, on Partior’s private permissioned ledger. “This is the first generation open ecosystem; there’s nothing of its kind. So it’s a distributed network methodology,” he said.
Interoperability and decentralising risk
Partior doesn’t actually host, store or move the money, nor does it create settlement finality or acquire any data. “We provide the facility for that to happen,’ Jason explained.
“We don’t centralise risks in any way. We decentralised risk and the policy is decentralised as it is today. So we provide atomic clearing and settlement with tokenised and digitised liquidity. We provide proprietary and third party applications for things like FX PvP and intraday swaps. And we’re also in the process of building delivery versus payment, DVP. So we can integrate our payments into the transfer of assets,” he went on.
So besides multi-currency and liquidity management on a global private permissioned ledger, interoperability for DVP and the transparency of asset custodianship from A to B can all be integrated onto a single ledger. “We’re working with organisations across the world, including Big Tech, to deliver a scalable and robust network. So we’re not working in isolation. And … we’re creating interoperability through things like standard APIs, API adapters, and also network bridges. So third party organisations can also utilise the chain and serve their clients.”
Jason is very aware that he needs to build this company for the tomorrow of global value exchanges, not just today. As the former senior managing director of Grab Financial and the former CEO of OVO, Indonesia’s leading payments platform, Jason says that a similar situation could play out with Partior where it would scale and grow rather rapidly – now that their platform has evolved from a rudimentary proof-of-concept stage to “a robust platform that supports global value exchanges.”
Collaboration in innovation
Partior ’s increased funding comes at an opportune time, as it works with a broad ecosystem of technology partners to troubleshoot and ensure every asset registration, every custodian slip is immutably recorded on that ledger. Partior works closely with Microsoft on the future of secure computing,Vault by HashiCorp for identity and access management, and many others in bolstering its network.
“Obviously, the other cloud providers are massively important to us, particularly AWS, but we’re building a very large ecosystem of technology providers,” he elaborated. “Now the reason being, this is a global technology problem. You cannot do it on your own. It’s just impossible.”
Evolution of regulatory policies, AML procedures, risk and operational guidelines differ from country to country, too, and so Partior is forming partnerships with institutional bodies as well as technology allies. The system’s smart contracts facilitate the relationships between different aspects of the network, with a proportion existing within participating banks, another part completely distributed including certain applications, and a hosted part of the network where the transaction sequencing and network performance is optimised.
A global business
When it comes to fraud and risk management, Partior takes what it calls a “federated approach” as there is no “one size fits all” method to solving this internationally. “Now, the smart contract facilitates that [the AML for a transaction to clear a particular country], but essentially we take a federated approach, where in some countries will connect directly to our TGS; in some countries, will go directly to the biggest bank and the central bank,” Jason elaborated. “And that will depend on policy and also the evolution of policy.”
Essentially, in regions where Partior’s smart contracts align with local policies, the transactions can be processed much faster, and Partior upholds the policies of the most recognised entities, such as the Federal Reserve in the US.
Ultimately, while Partior is headquartered in Singapore, Jason says they are a global business. And to that end they look to be established in all the major financial markets worldwide, with a large and surprisingly senior management team facilitating the transition between traditional financial institutions and the newer Web3 world of tokenised assets.
Jason highlighted how several big announcements are coming from Partior in the next few months, but his team is very focused on first, solidifying its core business and technology. “Number two, create network density. You can see trade finance and things like that come in. And phase three, which is really around how we interact, become more interoperable, and more usable,” which will define Partior as a Web3 fintech heavyweight in the next few years, central to the global money movement and asset value exchange market.

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Funding
India
InsurTech

India’s InsuranceDekho Secures US$150 Million Series A

									by Fintech News Singapore
February 14, 2023

Indian insurtech firm InsuranceDekho has raised US$150 million in Series A funding round consisting of a mix of equity and debt.
The round was led by Goldman Sachs Asset Management and TVS Capital Funds with participation from Investcorp, Avataar Ventures and existing investor, LeapFrog Investments.
InsuranceDekho will be using the funds to scale up its product and technology functions, expand to new markets, and launch new innovative products in the health and life categories.
Additionally, the insurtech is also seeking to grow its Micro, Small & Medium Enterprise (MSME) insurance business and strengthen its leadership team.

Founded in 2016, InsuranceDekho works with most insurance providers and has direct integration with 46 insurance companies across India offering more than 380 insurance products including 175 products for health and life.
The company aims to achieve annualised premium run-rate of INR 3,500 crores (approximately US$8 million) by March 2023.
Ankit Agrawal
Ankit Agrawal, CEO and Co-founder, InsuranceDekho said,
“To realize our goal of democratising insurance for the general public, we are expanding our reach and will continue to build on our tech-based solutions and empowered advisors so that they can serve every village and region of India by the end of the year.

India is on the verge of a revolution in insurance, and InsuranceDekho is well positioned to meet the insurance needs of every Indian.”
Ish Babbar
Ish Babbar, CTO and Co-founder, InsuranceDekho said,
“Insurance distribution in India is a complex problem that needs innovative solutions.

The fundraise will enable us to deploy scalable insurtech solutions in the areas of data analytics, Artificial Intelligence, last mile servicing and claims management while keeping customer experience at the core of everything.”

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Blockchain
Digital Assets

Transforming the Alternative Asset Space: An Inside Look at Alta

									by Rebecca Oi
February 23, 2023

The alternative asset space is a complex and fragmented market with many investment opportunities, such as real estate, private equity, hedge funds, and commodities.
In the coming years, private capital markets are expected to experience robust growth. According to Preqin, global private capital markets are projected to nearly double, reaching US$18.3 trillion by 2027, up from US$9.3 trillion at the end of 2021.
This increase is attributed to the continued growth of the alternative asset market, including private equity, venture capital, and real estate. As institutional investors seek higher returns and diversify their portfolios, alternative investments have become increasingly popular.
Although investing in these assets can offer advantages such as diversification and the possibility of higher returns, the market is marked by numerous inefficiencies and opacities.

One of the most significant barriers to entry into this space is the high investment costs and illiquidity, which means that investors have to tie up their funds for extended periods and may be unable to sell their investments quickly.
Additionally, the transaction times in this space can be lengthy, discouraging investors who want to see quick returns.
Establishing a digital marketplace for alternative investments
Khai Lin Sng, Co-Founder and Chief Investment Officer of Alta witnessed first-hand the inefficiencies in the private capital markets during her time in investment banking. With only select investors accessing these markets, there is a notable lack of liquidity and transparency, leading to outsized returns for those lucky to gain access.
Moreover, many companies are now choosing to stay private longer, limiting investor opportunities. In response, Khai Lin, alongside co-founders Kelvin Lee and Benjamin Twoon, devised a solution to create a digital marketplace for alternative investments.
They aim to improve access and liquidity for investors in the private capital markets, providing more significant benefits for all.
Overcoming the biggest obstacle in founding Alta
When Alta began its journey to create liquidity in the unlisted equities market, it faced significant trade speed challenges.
In an interview with Fintech News Singapore, Khai Lin stated that each trade typically required approximately four months to complete, limiting the number of times a particular asset could be traded to no more than three times per year.
Recognising the need for increased liquidity and transparency in the unlisted equities market, Alta turned to blockchain technology to tokenize assets.
The company’s blockchain-powered exchange offers end-to-end solutions for private capital markets, fund management, custodial services, and other related offerings.
By doing so, they aimed to provide investors with greater accessibility to alternative investment opportunities, enhanced liquidity, increased transparency, and reduced transaction times and costs.
Alta’s Growth Beyond Borders
Alta has since expanded its offerings beyond access and liquidity to unlisted private equities and funds.
The company allows investors to invest and trade in diverse curated alternative assets, ranging from SpaceX and ride-hailing giants Grab and Gojek to rare whiskeys, premium wine labels, and other unique opportunities.
Since 2016, the company has enabled over 1,500 transactions amounting to over US$600 million, granting investors access to vast investment opportunities valued at over US$22 billion worldwide.
Khai Lin Sng
“Advances in platform technology and innovation by fintech players have made alternatives increasingly within reach for accredited investors, with multiple platforms offering ways to access alternative assets like a hedge fund, VC funds, alternative credit, and also hard assets like luxury assets including rare whiskeys, wines, and art, as well as real estate,” said Khai Lin.
In November 2022, Alta acquired Hg Exchange (HGX) to support further their objective of enhancing liquidity and transparency in the alternative asset market.
The acquisition facilitated the launch of their fund management division, bringing together all of their private capital markets, fund management, and exchange businesses under one roof.
“Today, we have a fund management arm that will specifically look at enhancing liquidity in secondary markets with our partners BRI Ventures and Aris Prime Partners. These funds will start at US$50 million each and focus on capitalising on the deep discounts in secondaries, especially with category leaders,” said Khai Lin.

Providing Equal Representation and Opportunities for Women
As a woman in a male-dominated industry, Khai Lin has faced unconscious biases throughout her career.
” I have learned that these struggles may be unseen or unconsidered by my male colleagues, not because they are prejudiced against women, but simply because they can’t resonate with the experiences women entrepreneurs go through, ” said Khai Lin, who is also the Vice President of the Singapore Fintech Association.
Despite these challenges, Khai Lin has continued to pursue her career and is committed to breaking down barriers and promoting diversity in her industry. She advocates for equal representation and opportunities for women, working to create a more inclusive and equitable workplace for all.
Women have a strong presence in the company’s tech teams, which means they can help push for more female representation and diversity of views within the company.
“I am glad to share that we have a nearly 50/50 gender ratio at Alta at nearly all levels of our organisation achieved through a fair recruitment process that offers candidates equal opportunities regardless of their gender,” said Khai Lin.
As the fintech industry becomes more diverse and inclusive, women entrepreneurs are breaking through and making significant contributions to this rapidly evolving space. Khai Lin, a trailblazer in the industry, has shared some valuable advice for women looking to make their mark in fintech.
“I want to share with my fellow female entrepreneurs that if you can prove your mettle, you will earn the respect you deserve from your professional counterparts,” she said.

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InsurTech

Insurtech Firm CoverGo Appoints Adrit Raha as Managing Director for APAC

									by Fintech News Singapore
February 23, 2023

Insurtech firm CoverGo announced that it has appointed industry veteran Adrit Raha as the Managing Director for the Asia Pacific region.
Adrit Raha
Adrit brings with him over 17 years of experience in insurance and tech startups. Most recently, he was the Co-founder and Co-CEO of another insurtech startup Symbo with a focus on embedded insurance.
Prior to that, he was the  CEO of health tech startup Vivant and held various leadership roles at RSA & AIG.
In May 2022, CoverGo had raised US$15 million in a Series A funding round ed by California-based SemperVirens VC.

CoverGo has developed a fully configurable, modular, no-code health insurance platform for omni-channel distribution, policy admin, and claims powered by 500+ open insurance APIs, allowing insurance companies to configure and deploy products at record speed, across any cloud. The insurtech is looking to also replicate this across P&C and Life.
The company said in a statement,
“As CoverGo expands worldwide, we welcome a new addition to our team, appointing insurtech industry veteran Adrit Raha as the Managing Director for the Asia Pacific region.”

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Funding
InsurTech

Carro Secures Investment From ZA Tech to Enhance Product Offerings

									by Fintech News Singapore
February 28, 2023

Southeast Asian used car marketplace Carro announced that it has secured an investment from Singapore-based insurtech company ZA Tech Global for an undisclosed sum.
The investment enables Carro to leverage ZA Tech’s suite of insurtech solutions to distribute personalised insurance products and process real-time claims backed by AI capabilities.
This offering is now available for Carro’s customers in Singapore and Malaysia. Insurers include Income, MSIG and DirectAsia for Singapore as well as Takaful Malaysia, MSIG, Allianz, and Zurich for Malaysia.
Carro said that it plans to expand to other insurers and markets within the next 6 months.

With an initial focus on auto insurance, Carro aims to expand its product portfolio offerings to include property, life and health insurance in the future.
Young Yang
Young Yang, General Manager of ZA Tech Southeast Asia said,
“We are thrilled to have the opportunity to work closely with a market leader to support their strategic ambitions and enable them to offer a wider set of insurance solutions to their customers and partners.

Opportunities like this allow ZA Tech to keep pushing the boundaries of our technology, support our partner’s strategic ambition, while improving the overall quality of insurance products in the market.”
Aaron Tan
Aaron Tan, CEO and Co-founder of Carro said,
“This investment with ZA Tech allows us to adopt the best practices as well as technologies from ZA Tech and bring it across Southeast Asia.

We truly want to power and transform the way consumers learn and buy insurance online.”

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Open Banking
Payments

Tazapay Offers Open Banking Payments in Europe Through Volt Tie-up

									by Fintech News Singapore
March 1, 2023

Singapore-based cross-border payments firm Tazapay has partnered with real-time payments gateway Volt to add open banking to its growing stack of payment offerings.
This is in line with its plans to accelerate its international growth across the UK and Europe. The company will also roll out the offering in Brazil later this year.
The partnership will enable Tazapay’s customers to roll out and increase their cross-border sales, especially for APAC and MENA-based merchants who are looking to expand and increase sales in the UK and Europe.
Volt’s real-time reconciliation capabilities enable businesses to track payments from end-to-end. Over 70% of all payments processed via Volt’s gateway receive instant confirmation of settlement.

Additionally, Tazapay will also leverage Volt’s fraud prevention solution to identify and block any suspicious payments by monitoring transactions via a flexible scoring system.
Tazapay currently supports over 2,000 merchants, across 30+ markets with a full-stack payment solution that includes local payment methods as well as cards globally.
The company had recently completed a US$16.9 million Series A fundraising round led by Sequoia Capital Southeast Asia and received in-principle approval for a major payment institution (MPI) licence from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS).
Rahul Shinghal
“With the advent of open banking and maturing of real-time payment networks like the PayNow service in Singapore and UPI in India, there is an increase in expectations from businesses and end consumers for payments to be done in real-time.

We are thrilled to be partnering with a like-minded company like Volt, who will support us in enabling seamless, real-time cross-border payments for our customers”,
said Rahul Shinghal, CEO and Co-founder at Tazapay.
Matt Komorowski
“This partnership demonstrates the global acceleration of real-time payments across many sectors – a complement to the acceleration of online business processes and an obvious fit for businesses now operating in a digital-first economy.

We are excited to join forces with Tazapay and support them in their ambitions to offer cross-border instant payments, as well as data-driven analytics for better decision-making, supported by our proprietary solution Connect”,
says Matt Komorowski, Chief Revenue Officer at Volt.

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Australia
InsurTech

Cover Genius Acquires Embedded Warranty Provider Clyde

									by Fintech News Singapore
March 16, 2023

Cover Genius, an Australian insurtech for embedded protection, announced that it has acquired US-based embedded warranty provider, Clyde Technologies. Details of the transaction was not disclosed.
The insurtech said that the assets acquired will assist its continued expansion into the medium-sized e-commerce segment.
Cover Genius expects there to be no impact on servicing and sales for Clyde’s partners.
Angus McDonald
“Data shows that adding protection within the checkout experience increases purchase conversion rates 8%‡, but 58% of customers were not offered warranties for their most recent purchase, a gap caused by traditional insurers who – beset by legacy systems – have been unable to meet the demands of small and medium-sized retailers.

With XCover already available at Amazon, eBay, Wayfair, Descartes ShipRush and many more, our global distribution platform has delivered outstanding growth for merchants with its AI-based pricing for any type of protection globally, and an NPS of +65‡. This strategic acquisition is a natural fit for Cover Genius in America.”
said Angus McDonald, CEO and Co-founder of Cover Genius.

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Indonesia
Open Banking
Philippines

Brankas Scores Payment Licenses in the Philippines, Indonesia

									by Fintech News Singapore
March 20, 2023

Southeast Asian open finance platform Brankas announced that it has received payment licenses from Bank Indonesia (BI) and the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).
The firm managed to secure the Payment Service Provider (PJP) Category 3 license in Indonesia and the Operator of Payment Systems (OPS) registration in the Philippines.

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The payments licenses equip Brankas to offer end-to-end open finance infrastructure to its bank partners, from local and cross-border payments, to new banking-as-a-service solutions like account opening and card issuing.
With over 100 enterprise partners worldwide, Brankas’ payment APIs are used by companies offering e-wallets, online shopping checkout, lending services, insurance, and wealth management.

Todd Schweitzer
“We understand how important trust is to our customers, that’s why it is important that we hold ourselves to the highest standards of security. As a leading open finance company globally, Brankas owes it to our customers to not only demonstrate compliance to internationally recognised frameworks, but also to contribute to the evolving risk management framework for payment systems worldwide.”
said Todd Schweitzer, CEO and Co-founder of Brankas.
Husni Fuad
“Brankas is proud to obtain the PJP license, which confirms our commitment to data security and privacy for both our customers and partners. As we expand our list of embedded finance offerings to support our customers, we want to ensure that we provide the widest bank coverage in the country.”
said Husni Fuad, Country Manager of Brankas Indonesia.

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Open Banking

Open Banking in APAC: Market-Led vs Regulator-Led Approaches

									by Fintech News Singapore
March 22, 2023

Open banking is steadily making its way into Asia-Pacific (APAC), and though the industry remains largely nascent compared with pioneers like to European Union, adoption is increasing at a stable pace, enabled by new regulatory frameworks and market-led initiatives.
A report by Asia-focused fintech consulting firm Kapronasia, in collaboration with software engineering company EPAM, looks at the state of open banking across the region, exploring the evolution of the competitive landscape and how open banking solutions are currently being served in APAC.
Southeast Asia embraces market-led approach
Snapshot of how Southeast Asian countries have approached the adoption of open banking compared to the rest of the world  Source: Temenos
According to the report, there is significant diversity across APAC on how open banking is being approached, with some embracing a regulator-driven strategy and others, a market-led approach.
In Southeast Asia, for example, governments have largely let the market decide for itself, presenting instead recommendations and non-compulsory rules.

Most notably, Singapore was the first country in ASEAN to publish guidelines on open banking and to outline a plan for banking data to be made available through open APIs back in 2016.
And since then, the government has continued pursuing open banking opportunities and encouraged banks to adopt APIs by launching numerous initiatives such as the API Exchange (APIX) in 2018, the Singapore Financial Data Exchange (SGFInDex) in 2020, and the Singapore Trade Data Exchange (SGTraDex) in 2021.
APIX is an open architecture platform for fintech and financial institutions to connect, share ideas and innovate collaboratively; SGFInDex is a platform that leverages the country’s national digital identity system to let individuals aggregate their financial data from banks and government agencies; and SGTraDex is a digital infrastructure that allows for the secure sharing of data between supply chain ecosystem partners.
Though there is no mandatory requirement for banks in Singapore to open up their data, systems, and services, a recent research by Finastra has revealed high adoption of open banking among financial institutions, with 90% of professionals in the city state considering it either a “must have” or “important” and a further 90% agreeing that open banking has also had a positive impact on the industry and made it more collaborative.
Like Singapore, Malaysia has adopted a market-led approach to open banking but has been promoting the wider use of open APIs. In 2019, the central bank published a policy document titled Publishing Open Data using Open API, outlining a set of standards which financial institutions intending to publish open data APIs should follow.
Hong Kong, Australia opt for regulator-led strategies
In contrast to Southeast Asian countries, locations like Australia and Hong Kong have seen their governments and central banks playing a much more active role in defining the open banking ecosystem by introducing compulsory open banking regimes.
In Hong Kong, for example, the central bank issued the Open API Framework in 2018, setting out a four-phase approach for banks to implement open APIs. Though banks are required to develop APIs, they are able to restrict access to third-party providers with which they choose to collaborate.
The two first phases were launched in 2019, encouraging banks to make their product information available via APIs and allowing customers to apply for financial products via third parties. The last two phases were introduced from the end of 2021 and allowed access to account information and enabled payments and transfers.
As of March 21, 2023, nearly all of the 28 participating banks had launched all API functions, including product information, customer acquisition, deposit account information and online merchant payments, data from the central bank show.
In Australia, the government has taken a step further, setting instead the stage for consumer data portability. The Consumer Data Right (CDR) framework, which came into force in 2019, provides consumers with a right to efficiently and conveniently access specified data in relation to them held by businesses, and have these data shared with whichever authorized third parties they choose.
While the CDR was first applied to the banking sector, it has also been extended to other sectors of the economy, including the energy sector in late 2022, with telecommunications being next.
Open banking still in its infancy in APAC
The Kapronasia/EPAM report notes that while efforts to encourage the adoption of open banking have accelerated over the past couple of years in APAC, the space remain at a very early stage of development. Banks are just embarking on their digital transformation journey and are focusing on complying with regulations, where these exist, it notes.
They are also been struggling with their core legacy systems and closed architectures, which aren’t optimized to take advantage of new technologies and app management approaches, the report says. These systems and setups often lack API capabilities, preventing connectivity with third parties, and are ill-equipped to integrate with easily cloud infrastructure that is capable of handling the exponentially growing data exchanges and transactions.
To stay remain and tap into new business opportunities brought about open banking and emerging distribution models such as banking-as-a-service (BaaS) and embedded finance, banks must tackle their legacy systems and underlying architecture.
To this end, they will have to choose between three options, the report says: rip-and-replace their existing core; take a gradual journey-led transition approach; build a standalone greenfield cloud-native stack alongside their existing core; or they can opt for a hybrid strategy.
Banks have three options for replacing the core, Source: Readiness of Legacy Systems for Open Banking in Asia Pacific, Kapronasia/EPAM, Oct 2022
Between 2021 and 2031, the global open banking market is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 23.4%, soaring from US$15.13 billion in 2021 to US$123 billion by 2031.
Global open banking market size growth forecast US$ billions, Source: Readiness of Legacy Systems for Open Banking in Asia Pacific, Kapronasia/EPAM, Oct 2022
In terms of the number of open banking users by region, Europe is projected to remain the world leader in the years to come, rising from an estimated 28.4 million users in 2022 to 63.8 million in 2024.
The Far East and China will remain at the second position, rising from 13.9 million users in 2022 to 28.1 million in 2024.
Number of open banking users worldwide by region 2020-2024, millions, Source: Readiness of Legacy Systems for Open Banking in Asia Pacific, Kapronasia/EPAM, Oct 2022

Featured image credit: edited from Freepik

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Digital Assets

Are CBDCs a Threat to Monetary Policy? Possibly, Says IMF

									by Johanan Devanesan
March 23, 2023

Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) represent a transformative development in the financial industry, as a growing number of countries rapidly progress from theoretical considerations to focused research and pilot programs. The compelling advantages of CBDCs have garnered the attention of even those nations initially unconvinced of their immediate necessity, prompting them to invest in the infrastructure needed for CBDC issuance.
The advent of CBDCs could have significant implications for monetary policy, according to a new working paper. While many central banks are exploring the benefits of CBDCs, few studies have examined their impact on monetary policy in depth.
A number of countries including China, Australia, South Africa, India and Thailand are experimenting with, or have already tested hybrid CBDCs that merge both retail and wholesale functionalities. Meanwhile, other governments like the US, Canada, Japan and Indonesia are at different stages of exploration and development for their own CBDCs.
Although the exact timeline for widespread adoption remains uncertain, current trends indicate that CBDCs are poised to become a prevalent component of the global financial ecosystem, underscoring their potential to reshape monetary systems and drive economic growth in the coming years.

The working paper Monetary Policy Implications Central Bank Digital Currencies: Perspectives on Jurisdictions with Conventional and Islamic Banking Systems published by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) highlights the characteristics of both retail and wholesale CBDCs (w-CBDCs) as well as the implications they could pose on monetary policy.
The Risks Associated with Poorly Designed CBDCs
To ensure the successful implementation of CBDCs, central banks must establish foundational principles that guide the design and operation of digital currencies. These principles should be aimed at promoting financial stability, enhancing payment system efficiency, and ensuring access to public money.
Source: Inutu Lukonga, Monetary Policy Implications Central Bank Digital Currencies: Perspectives on Jurisdictions with Conventional and Islamic Banking Systems, IMF
Poorly designed CBDCs could have unintended consequences on financial stability, monetary policy implementation, and payment systems. Therefore, understanding the potential risks and designing CBDCs that limit disruption is crucial.
To mitigate potential risks, the IMF argues that central banks should consider designs that limit disruptions to the financial status quo caused by CBDCs. One such design is the two-tiered unremunerated retail CBDC, which allows for controlled access to digital central bank money while preserving financial stability.
Two-tiered retail CBDCs involve the distribution of digital currencies through commercial banks, rather than direct access by the public. This design minimises the risk of deposit disintermediation, which occurs when the amount of funds being withdrawn overtakes the amounts being deposited, while at the same time maintaining the role of commercial banks in the financial system.
How CBDCs Will Impact Monetary Policy Implementation, Distribution
Retail CBDC refers to a central bank digital currency that is available for use by the general public and can be used for everyday transactions, whereas wholesale CBDC (w-CBDC) is designed for use by financial institutions and for large-scale interbank transactions.
Presently, adoption of retail CBDCs are still in its infancy, while w-CBDCs have yet to progress to any wide-scale adoption or even pilot or trial programmes. Two years after launch, the CBDC issued in the Bahamas accounts for less than 0.1% of currency in circulation, adoption of Nigeria’s e-Naira is at just 0.15%, and Jamaica’s JAM-DEX digital currency uptake is reportedly slowly rising.
Advanced pilots run by the People’s Bank of China (PBoC) show that the e-CNY digital currency represents around 0.13% of the total currency in circulation by end-December 2022. While sluggish now, in future the theoretical shift in preferences between deposits and CBDCs will have significant implications for the banking sector and the effectiveness of the monetary policy in adoptive countries.
As more individuals and businesses choose to hold CBDCs over traditional bank deposits, banks may face reduced funding sources, potentially leading to changes in the composition and cost of bank lending. This, in turn, can affect monetary policy transmission through the credit channel as banks adjust their lending practices in response to the altered funding environment.
Source: Bank of International Settlements and Atlantic Council, via Inutu Lukonga, Monetary Policy Implications Central Bank Digital Currencies: Perspectives on Jurisdictions with Conventional and Islamic Banking Systems, IMF
Furthermore, the widespread adoption of CBDCs may alter the role of commercial banks in the monetary policy transmission process, as central banks gain the ability to directly influence the public’s spending and saving behaviour through CBDC interest rates. Consequently, central banks could achieve their policy objectives more directly, bypassing the need for intermediation by commercial banks.
However, the introduction of CBDCs also presents challenges to monetary policy implementation. A rapid switch from bank deposits to CBDCs could result in disintermediation and liquidity risks for the banking sector, potentially destabilising the financial system.
To avoid these risks from the outset, central banks must carefully design and manage the issuance of CBDCs, ensuring that the transition to this new form of money remains smooth and does not inadvertently hinder the effectiveness of the monetary policy.
Future Cross-border Application of CBDCs
As they become more mainstream, cross-border usage of CBDCs can impact monetary policy in both the countries issuing the CBDCs and those receiving them.
The issuing countries may face difficulties in controlling monetary aggregates if there is high foreign demand for their CBDCs. This increase in currency outside their borders may cause capital inflows and potentially lead to appreciation pressures on exchange rates, affecting inflation and monetary policy implementation depending on the weight of imports in the consumer basket.
Recipient countries may see a decrease in control over domestic liquidity as CBDC substitution increases, states the IMF. Although CBDC substitution is similar to traditional “dollarisation” experienced in countries with high inflation and exchange rate volatility, the accessibility and ease of reserve asset CBDCs may speed up and expand the substitution process. Greater currency substitution due to foreign CBDC usage could also negatively impact seigniorage (the profit a country makes from issuing currency, after minusing the production costs) for the recipient country.
Source: Inutu Lukonga, Monetary Policy Implications Central Bank Digital Currencies: Perspectives on Jurisdictions with Conventional and Islamic Banking Systems, IMF
Both the issuing and recipient countries may experience challenges in rapid cross-border settlement. Increased speed in cross-border payments could result in higher capital flow volatility, making it more difficult for domestic monetary authorities to manage exchange rates and monetary policy.
The use of w-CBDCs for cross-border settlement will grow, and could lead to increased and potentially more volatile intraday demand for central bank money. Non-resident banks’ access to intraday w-CBDC could increase demand for overnight reserves held by resident banks acting as correspondents, potentially influencing liquidity management by market participants, the price of liquidity, and the transmission of monetary policy.
The IMF working paper outlines complex potential challenges that may become prevalent as uptake of retail and w-CBDCs increase, including those impacting regions with a sizable Islamic banking sector. But the paper is also quick to note that much of the analyses are “still largely conceptual and tentative”, owing largely to the fact empirical data is still insufficient as only a few countries have issued CBDCs thus far, and for a relatively short period of time.
But for central banks looking to avoid some of the foreseeable pitfalls of rolling out their CBDC, some can be sidestepped by staying aware of the conceptual challenges highlighted by the IMF.

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Funding
Indonesia
InsurTech

Indonesian Insurtech Qoala Extends Series B With US$7.5 Million Fundraise

									by Fintech News Indonesia
March 28, 2023

Indonesian insurtech startup Qoala announced the close of it US$ 7.5 million Series B+ funding round led by Switzerland’s responsAbility Investments. Qoala had previously raised US$ 65 million in a Series B round in May 2022.
This funding round was also joined by Appworks as well as existing investors Eurazeo and Indogen.

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Qoala said that the funds will be used to further boost its product and geographic expansion. The firm already has a presence in Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia. Qoala had acquired Thai insurtech FairDee in a bid to expand into the market in 2021.
The company distributes retail insurance products such as motor, property, travel, health coverages as well as life policies to consumers through its omnichannel platform.

It also provides several innovative micro-insurance products through its partnerships with Traveloka, Redbus, DANA, JD.ID, Shopee, Kredivo and Investree among others.
The insurtech added that its customers have benefited from over US$ 30 million in claims to date by partnering with insurers across its three markets.
Harshet Lunani
“We are thrilled and grateful to our investors for believing in us and our mission despite the current economic climate. Through this Series B+ funding, we will further simplify insurance ownership by advancing our product offerings and experience. These advancements will strengthen our position as we strive for sustainable growth in the region”,
said Harshet Lunani, Founder and CEO of Qoala.

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Funding
InsurTech
Thailand

Thai Insurtech Roojai Bags US$42 Million Series B to Fuel Expansion Plans

									by Fintech News Singapore
March 28, 2023

Thailand’s insurtech startup Roojai has raised US$42 million in a Series B funding round according to a report by The Reporter Asia.
The firm had previously raised US$20 million seed investment from Primary Group as well as an additional US$7 million Series A funding from IFC, a member of the World Bank Group. This brings Roojai’s total funds raised to US$69 million to date.

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The round was joined by new investor HDI International, a subsidiary of the German-based Talanx Group, as well as its existing investor IFC.
Having launched in Thailand in 2016, Roojai’s grew its premium income by 25% to US$38 million, expanded its customer base by 40 percent to 150,000, increased its product offerings in 2022 as well as expanded to Indonesia in 2022.

Roojai will be using the new funds to fuel its growth in its home market in Thailand while also expanding its presence in Indonesia and break into new markets in Southeast Asia especially the Philippines. The firm is also eying mergers and acquisition opportunities.

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InsurTech

Surer Enables Insurance Intermediaries to Build, Launch Their Websites in Minutes

									by Fintech News Singapore
March 29, 2023

Surer, a Singaporean cloud-based insurtech platform, has released its latest feature that allows insurance intermediaries to build and launch their personal websites within minutes.
With the Personal Website Builder, insurance intermediaries can showcase their professional profile, achievements and most importantly, the insurance products that they distribute.
Additionally, insurers who partner with Surer will be able to have their products showcased on the intermediaries’ websites, providing added reach and visibility.
Surer said that the release of this feature comes off the back of surveys and feedback from it user base – which have grown by over 2X between 2021 and 2022.

In one of such surveys, over 25% of insurance intermediaries surveyed indicated that getting leads via digital marketing as their top pain point.
The Personal Website Builder feature is now available to all licensed insurance intermediaries in Singapore with a Surer account.
Derren Teo
“The Personal Website Builder feature is like a ‘Shopify’ for insurance intermediaries where they can create and launch a digital shopfront for the insurance products they distribute within minutes. While this in itself does not generate leads, we believe it is the first step in further helping intermediaries in their digital marketing efforts.”
said Derren Teo, Co-founder of Surer.
“We believe this feature will excite our insurer partners, which include the likes of FWD, Markel, Zurich and Chubb. Each intermediary will have the ability to showcase the products of these insurers on their website; essentially driving greater reach and visibility in terms of product distribution.”

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Digital Assets
Indonesia

Mobee Launches Digital Asset Exchange in Indonesia, Raises Funding

									by Fintech News Indonesia
April 3, 2023

Mobee has launched its new digital asset exchange in Indonesia licensed by BAPPEBTI, Indonesia’s regulatory body for trading digital assets, and raised an undisclosed sum in a funding round led by 1982 Ventures.
The round was also joined by Indonesian family offices and angel investors. Mobee said that the funds will be used to expand its operations, launch new products, and bolster its hiring process.

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Mobee’s new platform offers a range of financial products for investors seeking passive income as well as more sophisticated wealth management products designed for more active investors.
Andrew Tjahyadikarta
“We are thrilled to launch this new exchange platform, which will allow Indonesian investors to effortlessly access a wide range of institutional-grade investment products in digital assets and securities.

Our focus is to bring key players and businesses in Indonesia on-chain and provide them the level of service, trust, and security they are accustomed to as they begin to allocate more capital to digital assets.”
said Andrew Tjahyadikarta, Co-founder and CEO of Mobee.

Jeff Pradan
“Indonesia is set to become one of the main crypto hubs globally. The framework the regulators have created have provided the confidence for investors to increase their exposure to digital assets.

We are currently working with major partners to help provide reliable wealth management products and services to facilitate further adoption in our country. Mobee fills a massive gap in one of the fastest growing segments in financial services in Indonesia.”
said Jeff Pradana, Co-founder and CIO of Mobee.

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Who-Is-Who Of Singapore Insurance-Tech

InsurTech

Who-Is-Who Of Singapore Insurance-Tech

									by George Kesselman
November 23, 2016

I’m excited to share with you an outcome of past few months of effort. Its a compilation of all things Insurance-Tech (InsurTech) in Singapore with an aim at proving an extra transparency and boost the collaboration between Startups and Insurance Corporates. As always, appreciate your help in spreading the word by liking and sharing this post!

INSURTECH IS COMING… AND SINGAPORE IS AT THE HEART OF IT
2016 has seen an explosion of interest in Insurance-Tech (InsurTech) globally and its not showing any sign of slowing down, unlike its much better known FinTech cousin. The world is waking up to the epic opportunity that tech is holding for insurance. Reducing various frictions that have built up in insurance is just the start.
Singapore is no exception and is in-fact quickly becoming a hotbed of InsurTech in Asia. It has a few really positive things going for it in that regard:

(1) Critical mass of insurance talent and corporate decision makers (a few Asia regional officers are based in Singapore: Chubb, AIG, AIA, Allianz, IAG, Aviva, Munich Re, Great Eastern, Direct Asia, Tokio Marine, MSIG)
(2) Supportive regulator and politically stable environment
(3) Emerging entrepreneurial ecosystem with corresponding enablers (talents, VCs)

WHY MAKE A DIRECTORY OF INSURTECH IN SINGAPORE
The idea for a country InsurTech directory came about when we’ve realized that the same questions kept coming up in pretty much every single meeting…and for those who know us, you realise that we’ve been through a lot of them! Meeting an insurer usually started with the question “WHAT’S THE LATEST STARTUP IN AN <AREA OF INSURTECH>?”.
And meeting a startup usually started with “WHICH INSURER SHOULD WE BE TALKING TO ABOUT OUR SOLUTION?”. This de ja vu question led us to believe that lack of public information was potentially hindering collaboration opportunities. Regular networking meetups and coffees helped but weren’t enough to help everyone. Hence, the directory is our attempt at promoting information transparency and further reducing hurdles to collaboration.
WHAT YOU’LL FIND IN IT
The directory is a snapshot of the Insurance-Tech (InsurTech) ecosystem in Singapore. For Startups it includes pain-points they are focusing on and how they are solving those, how they are looking to collaborate with corporates and some basic details about themselves. For Insurers, Re-Insurers, Investors the info also includes the references of existing startup relationships and what areas are they particularly focused on.
DIRECTORY: SlideShare version below and a PDF here

Please take a full advantage of it to uncover new paternal opportunities and Happy Collaborating!
Would love to hear your feedback / ideas about making it more impactful & relevant.
If you come across any info in the directory which is incorrect/missing/incomplete, please help us add/update/correct it here: Startups | Insurance | Investors
This article first appeared on LinkedIn Pulse

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Regtech
Sponsored Post

Futureproofing Fintech: Navigating AML Compliance in a Rapidly Evolving Sector

									by Fintech News Singapore
May 2, 2023

The fintech space is experiencing unprecedented challenges when it comes to anti-money laundering (AML) compliance.
From a global pandemic that shifted users online to economic downturns and sanctions resulting from geopolitical conflicts, fintech firms face daunting challenges that can harm their operations. With the fintech industry expected to grow by US$305.7 billion in 2023, compliance with AML regulations is more crucial than ever to avoid reputational damage and monetary losses.
Financial data specialist Refinitiv in collaboration with Fintrail has interviewed fintech experts to understand the AML challenges facing the industry. The resulting whitepaper delves into the cause and effect of rising AML compliance pitfalls for fintech companies.
Fintech News Singapore takes a look at just a few of the key trends and issues covered in the whitepaper.
Fintech trends weighing on AML needs
Technology, Data and Governance: Effective Risk Management
AI-based AML technology requires high-quality data to produce better outputs and support proactive risk management. Fintech companies need to strike a balance between not creating too much friction during onboarding and not attracting malicious actors.
Quality data is obtained and analysed, including underlying data which contains high quality secondary identifiers such as date of birth and gender for more pinpoint, targeted results. Successful implementation of data deduplication can eliminate copies of the same entry, while also optimising storage and minimising ineffective processes, improving the hit rates of monitoring procedures along the way.
Governance becomes a critical component of success for fintechs scaling up, requiring a shift to a more robust governance model that adapts over time as the company grows.
Scaling Fintech AML Teams: Finding the Right Talent
Fintech outfits tend to face a shortage of specialised, qualified workers. And they need to find the right talent to scale their AML operations — from the first and second line of defence to engineers and data scientists.
Financial crime compliance is largely considered recession-proof, and the demand for financial crime compliance roles is expected to remain high. Outsourced solutions can help balance a firm’s increasing alert volumes or strong customer growth with increasing regulatory scrutiny.
Even more pressing trends in fintech that affect AML efficiency can be found in the Refinitiv whitepaper, ‘AML Challenges for Fintechs: Insights for the Future’.
AML challenges facing FIs and fintech
Online Fraud: The Rising Threat
image via freepik
The shift to remote and digital banking has caused a swell in cybercriminals targeting financial institutions. One of the biggest threats is fraud, particularly the rising impersonation of individuals’ and organisations’ identities.
Fraudsters can manipulate information, including likenesses, at a rate that is extremely difficult to discern. AML compliance teams focus on awareness and education to help consumers avoid bad actors, who often use social media to promote their scams. These scams are present both in traditional fiat and cryptocurrency spaces.
Role of Digital Assets and Cryptocurrencies
Speaking of cryptocurrencies, digital asset-related legislations are advancing globally, increasing the need for all fintechs to consider the risks and exposure associated with the more widespread adoption of virtual assets.
As regulations for digital assets and cryptocurrencies evolve, fintech firms need to create and review their AML risk-rating methodology to consider the nuances of different cryptocurrencies and non-fungible tokens (NFTs). Digital asset companies must stay on top of new asset classes, functionalities, and potential risks, leveraging data and automation. Fintechs must decide which product falls within a firm’s risk appetite for buying or selling, or for assessing how they interact with virtual asset service providers (VASPs).
Sanctions
Fintechs face challenges, including asset flight risks and sanctions breaches resulting in fines. In 2022, AML teams faced the challenge of keeping up with Russia-related sanctions in response to the conflict in Ukraine.
In 2023, the exposure to sanctions risk will likely continue, stressing the need for fintechs and their sanctions teams to remain alert and agile.
More on the use of tech, regulatory guidance, and prioritising efficiency in the full Refinitiv whitepaper.
Looking to the future
Regulatory AML Opportunities and Fintech Community Collaboration
Regulatory changes and requirements are constantly evolving alongside financial crime threats. Fintechs need to remain agile in response to these upcoming changes and be aware of opportunities, adopting a “global but local” approach.
Fintechs should engage with regulators, collaborating when possible to ensure meaningful outcomes. Regulatory sandboxes demonstrate how regulatory tech firms can support the ecosystem by creating innovative solutions for greater anti-financial crime efficiency.
Balancing Customer Service and Compliance
Customers are increasingly demanding personalised, one-to-one service. Fintechs must balance customer service with the right level of friction for AML compliance. The demand for faster and more convenient customer experiences is increasing, increasing the need for frictionless onboarding journeys.
Using digital identities is one solution that can help achieve a frictionless customer onboarding journey, which has been implemented in some jurisdictions. Fintechs must remain agile and innovative while balancing compliance requirements with the common goal of meeting customers’ demands for faster and more convenient experiences.
Fintech pros interviewed in the Refinitiv whitepaper gave examples like MyInfo in Singapore, a government tech centralised KYC solution, has led to lower fraud or account takeover rates. Other practical examples of fintech firms bolstering their AML compliance processes with tech without disrupting customer experiences can be seen in the full whitepaper.
Refinitiv’s AML assistance for fintechs
Refinitiv provides comprehensive solutions to help the fintech sector tackle AML and KYC-related challenges and meet evolving regulatory obligations, prioritise customer centricity, and promote seamless digital experiences. Refinitiv’s targeted solutions include risk screening, due diligence, identity, and account verification, and digital onboarding.
Fintechs must stay alert, agile, and innovative while navigating the evolving regulatory landscape and balancing customer service with compliance requirements. Download the full Refinitiv report to learn more about the practical solutions and strategies recommended by the fintech community to futureproof your AML compliance operations.

Featured image credit: Edited from freepik

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