Vietnam second among ASEAN members in attracting fintech funding
Vietnam’s fintech firms secured $410 million, or 36 percent of the global capital pouring into Southeast Asia between January and September, behind Singapore. The country’s share of regional venture capital funding devoted to fintech soared from just 0.4 percent in 2018, according to a report prepared by the United Overseas Bank (UOB), PwC and the […]
HSBC to build the bank of the future by giving its 30,000 devs access to APIs
HSBC is building a new digital banking platform, with the organisation looking to power the bank of the future through the use of APIs. Turning to Salesforce-owned MuleSoft, HSBC chief architect of digital technologies Prakash Sethuraman said the bank is taking advantage of open banking to develop new, “connected” experiences for its more than 38 […]
MiddleGame Ventures announces $165m FinTech-focused fund
MiddleGame Ventures (MGV), a fintech-focused investment firm, announced today that it had raised a new fund targeting post-seed, series A and series B lead investments in Europe and North America. MGV’s Venture Fund I has achieved its first close, with a final close target size of $165MM. It will invest in and partner with B2B […]
India’s Paytm raises $1bn with SoftBank’s contribution
Indian financial technology giant Paytm has raised $1 billion in a new financing round led by U.S.-based global asset manager T Rowe Price and backed by existing investors Ant Financial, SoftBank Vision Fund and Discovery Capital, the company said Monday. The Series G funding round values Paytm at about $16 billion and comes as the […]
China is on a mission to regulate Fintech
China has now publicly voiced its desire to be the leading country in financial technology development and adoption. The president of the republic openly called for the promotion of blockchain technology across the nation and proceeded to block all the negative opinions about blockchain throughout the Chinese cyberspace. But now the Chinese government and the […]
Sweden’s Central Bank lays out its plans for its digital currency
Stefan Ingves, the Governor of Sweden’s central bank, Sveriges Riksbank, has laid out his six-step plan for the introduction of is central bank digital currency. Part one of the plans is that both large value and retail payments must be settled in the central bank digital currency anywhere around the world, at any time, all year round. […]
The latest marker of Chinese interest in African fintech is a $120 million funding round for OPay
Chinese interest in African fintech has just stepped up another gear. OPay, the payments service operating in Nigeria, has raised $120 million in a Series B round led mainly by Chinese investors including familiar names like Sequoia China, IDG Capital and Source Code Capital. The round also included participation from Softbank Ventures Asia, Meituan-Dianping, DragonBall […]
Indonesia study: P2P lenders create thousands of jobs, reduce poverty
Peer-to-peer (P2P) lending platforms have provided jobs for more than 362,000 Indonesians and reduced the poverty rate by 0.7 per cent – equal to 177,000 individuals – as they provide access to financing in cities and remote areas alike, a study said last week. The study was conducted by local think tank Institute for Development […]
