The impact of Blockchain on Trade Finance and Cybersecurity
Companies in today’s ‘digital first’ ecosystem are being forced to continuously innovate in order to stay at the forefront and remain competitive in their industry, particularly in the financial services and financial technology space. Blockchain technology is already starting to reinvent the infrastructure for global finance; anything that facilitates the frictionless flow of money. Yet blockchain is frequently associated with fraudulent ponzi schemes and trading scams. Blockchain technology sits on a consensus-driven distributed ledger that facilitates and keeps a record of all historic transactions, without the need of a third party – a concept which could revolutionise global trade, and challenge the existence and purpose of intermediaries such as commercial […]
Fintech firms see huge potential in e-commerce in Indonesia
A bright yellow sign at the front of Mr Asep Hermawan’s stall in South Jakarta reads, “We accept KJP for the purchase of school uniforms, books and pencils”. KJP is short for Kartu Jakarta Pintar, or Jakarta Smart Card – a virtual wallet similar to Singapore’s CashCard. It was introduced by the Jakarta government as a welfare benefit for students from low-income families living in the capital. “Pencils and pens are the best sellers, then books and school uniforms,” said Mr Asep. “More and more people are using KJPs to pay.” The KJP system was introduced in 2012 to disperse welfare funds and also to prevent the money from being […]
Growing demand for mobile payment services across Asia
Cashless payments are growing in Asia with consumers lured by an increasing array of services, from smartphone payment apps such as e-wallets to stored value cards and cheap online interbank transfers. Many like the convenience and safety of not having to carry cash. But the growth is not universal, and, in some countries, cash remains king because of fears of identity theft as well as the lack of infrastructure and lack of knowledge of the digital world. Insurance agent Zhang Tong goes out for lunch every day without a dollar on her. She pays for her noodles by scanning a QR code with her phone, which is also how she […]
Dublin startup Touchtech Payments makes plans for international expansion
One of the first financial technology companies in Europe to develop a solution which uses fingerprinting and retinal scanning to authenticate online payments, Dublin startup Touchtech Payments is making plans for international expansion. Operating in a market where an EU directive will require all banks to improve security by introducing a two-factor authentication by the end of 2018, Touchtech co-founder and head of products, Niall Hogan sees an opportunity to make the most of the early mover advantage. Up until now, the market has been dominated by major players offering payment authentication solutions using passwords and text messages. “There was very little innovation in this space until the fintech revolution […]
South Korea’s Viva Republica taps PayPal to fund Fintech
South Korea-based financial technology services company Viva Republica announced last week that it had closed a KRW 55 billion ($47 million) Series C round of funding. Among the investors in this latest round were venture capital firm Goodwater Capital and US-based payment service PayPal. Viva Republica has found success in its home market with its peer-to-peer (P2P) mobile payment app Toss, which claims to have 6 million users in South Korea. The Nikkei Asian Review reported that Toss users transfer money via the app an average of 6.7 times per month—almost triple the average for similar services. According to data from Wiseapp, Toss was the second most used mobile payment […]
Prominent British entrepreneur Eric van der Kleij says Australian fintech companies are “world-class”
Leading British entrepreneur Eric van der Kleij says he is impressed with the “serious solutions” being built by founders in the local fintech sector, which he believes is on par with the rest of the world. “The quality of companies that we’ve met here are world-class,” he tells StartupSmart. Van der Kleij, who founded London’s largest fintech hub Level39, is in Australia this week for the UK government’s Australian Hunger Games-inspired event held in Sydney. Van der Kleij is a special adviser in fintech and blockchain for UK’s Department for International Trade, and is on a mission to help promising Australian startups with a “soft and accelerated landing into the […]
Plum announces partnership with Ratesetter
Plum, an Artificial Intelligence (AI) powered Facebook chatbot which allows consumers to start saving and investing without any effort, today announces its partnership with RateSetter. Plum’s smart algorithm understands spending patterns and identifies income and bills to create a unique profile for its users. It calculates the amount to save or invest and automatically transfers it to a Plum account to put that money to work. Plum’s partnership with RateSetter means that people who are comfortable putting capital at risk can use the peer-to-peer lending platform to earn a higher rate of interest. The average return earned by RateSetter investors to date is 4.7 per cent. Victor Trokoudes, co-founder at […]
This FinTech CEO is making money instantly available anywhere in the World
The consumer financial services industry currently boasts a $33.5 billion market cap globally, supplying consumers with various loans and lines of credit. For years, the most common and accurate way of indicating whether consumers qualify for an approved loan or credit line was by analyzing general online data and traditional credit intelligence metrics. Today, with real-time consumer data becoming easily accessible and more emphasis is placed on creating cutting edge banking solutions for a mobile generation, financial technology companies have risen and claimed a reputation for actively disrupting the traditional banking infrastructure. Consequently, the existing challenge for FinTech startups and their big bank counterparts is whether to continue operating independently, […]
