Chinese internet finance business, Lufax, is developing an online trading platform for Chinese investors that will allow them to invest in assets anywhere in the world; the firm is the world's second largest financial technology company; the trading platform it is developing will launch in 2017 and seeks to meet a demand from Chinese investors to diversify away from a depreciating yuan. Source
The partnership with Sino Guarantee will provide lending capital of RMB 500 million to China Rapid Finance also helping the marketplace lender to develop and offer lending products on wealth management platforms; Bank of Shanghai will also provide capital support as well as payment channels and fund custody services. Source
Southeast Asia’s largest bank, DBS Bank, has been one of the most innovative and profitable; while presenting at a Credit Suisse investment conference DBS CFO Chng Sok Hui said they could raise the return on equity to 14.5 percent; the digital customers are three times as valuable to the bottom line of the bank; DBS has implemented chatbots and other innovative technologies to improve the digital experience for a customer who is increasingly using their phones to bank. Source.
Toast aims to make cross-border payments easier and cheaper for migrant workers living overseas; the Singapore-based startup closed the $2.5 million pre-Series A round with Aetius Capital, 1776 and Pepper Group; historically, migrant workers have relied on services like Moneygram or Western Union to send money back to their families; company works with existing local remittance stores and kiosks and originally set out to use blockchain and bitcoin to power the service; CEO Aaron Siwoku stated they aren't going to replace banks and traditional lenders, but want to be meaningful partners with people who have distribution. Source
Timothy Li discusses the event and the interest in fintech from investors in his most recent journal entry on Crowdfund Insider; lists some of the top investors, outlines companies attending and shares some pictures from his time in China. Source
BBVA has invested in Sinovation Ventures as the fund can help to strike partnerships for the bank and they see the potential for strong return on investment; the focus on AI is helping the bank to keep innovating and offer mor potential services across their different regions. Source.
Hong Kong has approved 4 more digital banking licenses for Tencent, Alibaba, Xiaomi and Ping An; the approvals are sure...
In 2015 JD Finance recommended using the term "fintech" and in December of 2016 Jack Ma, founder of Alibaba, coined "techfin"; the use of techfin showed Ant Financial's focus on building technology instead of products; the article explores whether the two concepts of fintech and techfin are actually different and the business models of JD Finance and Ant Financial. Source
RateSetter Australia is one of the country's leading P2P lenders, introducing the first P2P lending platform in the country for retail investors in 2014; the company has announced a new addition to its Australian board of directors which serves separately from its parent company RateSetter UK; Vaughn Richtor will join the board bringing significant retail banking experience from his role as CEO of ING Direct; Richtor will help advise the company in key initiatives including improving alternative banking channels and growing market share in personal and business loans. Source
Bank account applicants must now have assets at the bank averaging 5 million yuan ($730,000) per day over the past three months, this threshold is an increase from 50,000 yuan ($7,280); the changes are being enacted to help restrict capital outflows and ease depreciation of the yuan; sources also report that the Bank of China has taken steps to set additional terms for restricting capital outflow; China Construction Bank and the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China have reported they have no intention to implement similar rules. Source