Аsia
Crowdfund Insider, Posted September 11, 2024
JST Digital, a global financial services firm specializing in digital assets, today announced that its Singapore subsidiary, JST Digital & Technology Pte. Ltd. (JST Singapore) has received an in-principle approval for a Major Payment Institution (MPI) license from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) to provide digital payment token service.
Todd Morakis, CEO of JST Singapore & Co-founder of JST Digital, commented on the news:
“We’re proud to receive in-principle approval from the MAS allowing us to operate in one of the leading regulatory frameworks for digital assets in the region. I’ve been working in the financial industry in Singapore for more than three decades and believe that MAS has done a great job for creating a comprehensive regulatory framework for digital assets and traditional finance alike.”
JST Singapore reportedly provides market making, as well as a range of bespoke solutions & trade execution services.”
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Thai SEC Raids Bangkok Fintech Exhibition Over Illegal Investment Activities
Crowdfund Insider, Posted September 8, 2024
Thailand’sSecurities and Exchange Commission (SEC), in collaboration with the Economic Crime Suppression Division (ECD) of the Central Investigation Bureau(CIB), launched a joint operation to target unlicensed businesses soliciting investments at a Fintech exhibition in Bangkok on Saturday.
The operation followed reports from the public and stakeholders about suspicious activities at the event, where unlicensed securities companies, derivatives operators, and digital asset firms, including foreign entities, were allegedly soliciting investments.
Prior to the exhibition, the SEC had issued warnings to the venue owner and event organizer, raising concerns about the potential presence of unlicensed operators.
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Key Trends Shaping Cross-Border Payments in APAC
Fintech News Singapore, Posted September 11, 2024
A new report by Deloitte delves into the latest developments in the cross-border payment sector in Asia-Pacific (APAC), identifying four major trends reshaping the landscape and offering significant opportunities for merchants. These trends reflect the growing integration of digital payment systems, the rise of digital wallet solutions, and advancements in payment infrastructure.
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8 Southeast Asian Fintechs Featured in Forbes Asia 100 to Watch List
Fintech News Singapore, Posted September 11, 2024
Eight fintech startups from Southeast Asia have been named among this year’s Forbes Asia 100 to Watch list, recognized for capturing investors’ attention, securing substantial backing, and achieving significant success.
These companies, which represent countries such as Malaysia, the Philippines and South Korea, are tackling challenges in sectors such as lending, banking, and business finance, leveraging innovative business models and cutting-edge technologies to boost efficiency and enhance accessibility across the financial services industry.
Today, we take a look at the nine fintech startups from the region that made it onto the list, highlighting their value propositions and recent achievements.
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Europe
European A2A payments set for take off – report
Finextra, Posted September 11, 2024
EPI (European Payments Initiative) – a Europe-wide bank-backed venture that was set up specifically to build a rival to Mastercard and Visa on the continent – began rolling out its Wero mobile-first wallet and instant account-to-account payments system over the summer.
In its 20th annual World Payments Report 2025, Capgemini predicts that the EPI and other A2A payment offerings such as Pix in Brazil and the UPI in India are set to shake up the payments landscape.
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Fintech Finance News, Posted September 10, 2024
PastPay, a provider of B2B payment solutions, has announced a €12 million Series A funding round led by Platina Capital in collaboration with several leading financial institutions and high-profile private investors. PastPay’s mission is to provide innovative B2B payment solutions, enabling flexible payment terms for business transactions.
The funding round, led by private equity specialist Platina Capital aims to accelerate the B2B payment provider’s business development. Currently, PastPay operates in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), including Italy, Germany, Poland, Czechia, Slovakia, Romania, and Hungary, with expansion plans to other EU markets. Strengthening the impressive raise, PastPay’s funding round also includes participation from several leading financial institutions, including MBH Bank, Advance Global Capital, Quantic Financial Solutions, STRT and BNL Start Partners, as well as a number of high-profile private investors, such as Jared Schrieber and Mark Ransford.
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CMA confirms full completion of Open Banking Roadmap, unlocking a new era of financial innovation
Open Banking, Posted September 9, 2024
Open Banking Limited (OBL) is pleased to announce that the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has officially confirmed the full completion of the final Roadmap for Open Banking.
This milestone, building on the “substantial completion” announced in 2023, means that all nine banking providers mandated by the CMA under the Retail Banking Market Investigation Order (the CMA Order) have successfully completed the Roadmap and associated required functionality to offer the full suite of open banking payment and account information services.
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Liberis expands SME financing to 10 European countries via myPOS
The Paypers, Posted September 12, 2024
The myPOS and Liberis’ partnership will offer revenue-based financing initially to merchants in the UK, and then expand across countries, including Germany, Ireland, Iceland, and Finland. This collaboration will provide much-needed financing across Europe, at a time when it needs it.
SMEs employ 2 out of 3 people and provide 85% of new jobs in Europe, with 99% of companies falling into this category. According to one of the EIF’s working papers, SMEs rely disproportionately on bank-based debt instruments, despite one in four reporting difficulty accessing finance.
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Enfuce to launch dual-function E2 card in UK, France and Germany with Mastercard
Fintech Futures, Posted September 11, 2024
Finnish issuer processor Enfuce has partnered with Mastercard to expand its E2 card offering to card issuers in Germany, France, and the UK. For the latter market, the offering is “the first ever” of its kind, according to the vendor.
The offering combines both debit and credit primary account numbers (PANs) into one card, enabling cardholders to switch between accounts at the point of sale.
This is supported by the ability to set payment preferences for spending, and create individual designs for each PAN when stored in a digital wallet.
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PASTPAY SECURES €12M SERIES A TO ACCELERATE EUROPEAN TRANSACTIONS
Startups Magazine, Posted September 9, 2024
PastPay, a provider of B2B payment solutions, has announced a €12 million Series A funding round led by Platina Capital in collaboration with several leading financial institutions and high-profile private investors.
PastPay’s mission is to provide innovative B2B payment solutions, enabling flexible payment terms for business transactions.
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USA
Mastercard agrees $2.65bn deal to buy threat intelligence giant Recorded Future
Finextra, Posted September 12, 2024
Mastercard says the acquisition will boost its fraud prevention, real-time decisioning and cybersecurity services in the payments ecosystem and beyond.
Boston-based Recorded Future claims to be the world’s largest threat intelligence company, with more than 1900 clients across 75 countries, including the governments of 45 countries and over 50% of the Fortune 100.
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Swift to develop concrete plans for CBDC and tokenised asset exchange
Finextra, Posted September 11, 2024
Swift has spent the past couple of years running trials to test the potential for interoperability with CBDCs, private blockchain networks and tokenised assets.
The Brussels-based messaging network says it now ready to move towards real-world solutions capable of interlinking various forms of digital assets and currencies – including plans to test how to enable multi-ledger Delivery-versus-Payment (DvP) and Payment-versus-Payment (PvP) transactions on the network.
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What the Next Generation of AI Solutions for Banking Will Look Like – and How We’ll Get There
FEI Daily, Posted September 10, 2024
When it comes to integrating AI into business, the finance industry is already far ahead of most of its peers. Banks have been using algorithms and classical machine learning for decades to help streamline processes like fraud detection and credit scoring.
But that doesn’t mean that the finance industry lacks room to grow in the realm of AI. On the contrary, by taking advantage of newer types of AI technology, such as generative AI, banks can double down on the value that AI already brings to this sector – which is on course to increase overall revenues by perhaps almost 5 percent through continued AI innovation, according to McKinsey.
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DailyPay Rebrands Card as Workers Seek On-Demand Pay
PYMNTS, Posted September 9, 2024
Earned wage access company DailyPay is rebranding its prepaid Visa card.
The card, previously known as the “Friday by DailyPay Visa Prepaid Card,” will now be known as the “DailyPay Visa Prepaid Card,” and come with added capabilities to the company’s suite of money movement services.
The card “will remain a general purpose reloadable (GPR) card with an app that allows users to transfer a portion of their earned wages” to it in real time, “with no fee if the user has updated their direct deposit to the card,” Daily Pay said in a Monday (Sept. 9) news release.
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Crowdfund insider, Posted September 9, 2024
The release of Deloitte Private’s second report in its Family Office Insights Series – Global Edition, Defining the Family Office landscape, outlines the world of family offices—”what they are, how they’re growing, their future outlook, and more.”
As family offices continue rapid global expansion, Deloitte Private’s research reveals that these organizations “expect increased wealth creation and enhanced influence in the investment community.”
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LatAm
Kuady Launches Virtual Prepaid Mastercard in Peru
Finance Magnates, Posted September 12, 2024
Kuady, the leading payments service processor, for Latin America, has today announced the launch of the Kuady Card, an innovative virtual prepaid Mastercard now available to users in Peru. The new card is designed to provide a secure, flexible, and convenient way for users in the region to make payments.
Online merchants will be able to pay out directly to Kuady accounts, enabling them to build stronger relationships with their customers by providing a faster, more efficient payment method.
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Brazil preps new round of CBDC pilots
Finextra, Posted September 9, 2024
Brazil’s central bank has been working on a digital real project for several years, beginning a first pilot phase in 2023 testing privacy and programmability functionalities through the implementation of a specific use case.
Now, it has whittled down proposals for a second phase from 42 to 13, using the infrastructure already created to test “the implementation of financial services, made available through smart contracts created and managed by third parties participating in the platform”.
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Vivo receives direct credit society licence from Central Bank of Brazil
The Paypers, Posted September 5, 2024
The Central Bank of Brazil has granted Telefónica | Vivo a Sociedade de Crédito Direto (SCD) licence to expand its fintech services.
With this licence, Vivo can now offer a range of credit products through its subsidiary, Vivo Pay Holding Financeira. These services include credit analysis, digital capital distribution, insurance, and third-party credit collection. However, the SCD licence mandates that Vivo Pay must be funded solely by its parent company and prohibits the raising of capital from the public.
Vivo Pay has an initial capital investment of BRL 4.7 million (EUR 753,000), which exceeds the Central Bank’s minimum requirement of BRL 1 million for issuing an SCD licence to fintech businesses. With this authorisation, Vivo plans to expand its current financial services. According to local media reports, the company aims to reduce its reliance on partnerships with established fintech companies and focus on developing its own offerings.
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Brazil: EBANX Predicts its Payments System Pix Will Top Credit Cards for Online Purchases in 2025
Crowdfund Insider, Posted September 10, 2024
Payments platform EBANX is predicting its Pix service will top credit cards for online purchases in Brazil by 2025.
According to a company statement, by 2025 Pix will account for 44% of all value transacted in online purchases in Brazil, Credit/Debit cards will are expected to have a 41% share.
EBANX reports that Pix now has more than 168 million users, accounting for 14% of all instant payments worldwide.
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