APAC FinTech Weekly Newsletter powered by Marcel van Oost

Hello FinTech Community!

Welcome back and lovely meeting you! I look forward to the insights and connections we’ll get by interacting here

?? Weekly Takeaway:

JP Morgan joins forces with Indian banks to test blockchain technology for 24/7 settlement

??What happened?

• The top 6 banks in India partner with JP Morgan to test real time, dollar based settlement blockchain technology.
• The objective is to overcome the current constraints of Swift and Nostro accounts for settlement, which are limited to US office hours only.
• JPMorgan has run a pilot with Siemens and the Central Bank of Bahrain. By working with Indian banks it will strengthen their solution further.

?? Why is this relevant?

• My hypothesis on the adoption of AI and blockchain is that it will not boom with consumer use cases, but instead it will disrupt back office processes.
• It will drive cost efficiencies, it will be more secure, and will allow real time payments.
• Once it’s proven to work, then the cost efficiencies, technology and experience of real time payments can be shifted to consumer use cases. And that is when it will get interesting for us.
• In the meantime, this pilot, in one of the countries with one of the largest populations in the world, has the potential to revolutionize cross-border payments.
• This in turn will disrupt existing players. So while it will take time, we need to be ready for the future of payments; which is now present. We need to be able to think creatively, unlearn and learn fast.

?? Read the full fintech.global article here.

Also, keep in mind the following:

?? Philippines Digital Bank Tonik reaches 1M customers!

?? Bank of China's BOCI issues first tokenised notes.

Exciting times,

Monica

Onwards to the news!

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?? NEWS HIGHLIGHT

Westpac launches a card dedicated to help the blind and visually impaired.

Prepaid credit and debit cards will be available to those who struggle with their eyesight as Westpac has featured different design elements to the cards.

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The Integrated solutions for startups and SMEs, with more than 45k merchants, achieving more than 1 million transactions per day worth $11 million.

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NOW, ON TO THE SUMMARY OF LAST WEEK'S?NEWS

?? REGIONAL HIGHLIGHTS

?? Aspire achieves profitability, eyes broader APAC and team expansion.

?? Habitto opens its first savings account to customers.

??Paymentology and Vodafone launch next-generation payment services across Fiji.

AUSTRALIA

Australian Payments Plus (AP+) states that they support the Government’s Strategic Plan for the Australian Payments System, which is critical for driving simplification, consolidation and cost efficiency while enhancing its safety and resilience.

SINGAPORE

Visa study found that nearly 9 in 10 Singapore consumers consider cashless payment methods, including cards, mobile wallets and mobile banking, to be the most eco-friendly.

Standard Chartered has begun the process of cutting more than 100 jobs across its Singapore, London and Hong Kong offices to trim costs by more than US$1 billion by 2024.

Circle Singapore obtained a Major Payment Institution (MPI) license, which allows the company to offer digital payment token services.

HONG KONG

Hong Kong eyes stablecoin regulatory regime in which exchanges must obtain licenses in order to operate in the city.

SOUTH KOREA

Viva Republica, the operator of internet-only Toss Bank, and Kakao Pay Corp. are set to join the country’s automotive finance market by launching a new car installment payment comparison service.

INDIA

Signzy said that its No-Code AI Platform and APIs have been deployed for rapid development and deployment of Sarathi, the platform for merchants launched recently by Axis Bank.

Pepper Group said it will invest $150 million over the next four years to establish a fintech in India and aims to hire a 200+ team to deliver consumer finance products

If you are a fintech startup and have over 100 questions, send me an email. Maybe I can answer a few.