Zand Bank partners Alibaba Cloud and Ant Digital Technologies to drive GenAI adoption in UAE
The partnership seeks to “accelerate the applications of generative AI, blockchain and payment technology”.
China
The latest fintech news, resources and expert analysis in China by the leading intelligence provider for the worldwide fintech community.
Interview: Jason Cao on Huawei’s fintech frontier and digital transformation innovation
Cao details the best strategies for digital amid a “highly challenging time” for the global banking industry.
Sibos 2024: Real-time payments in focus with ACI Worldwide – video interview
Dive deep into the latest developments in real-time payments from across the globe with ACI Worldwide.
Sibos 2024: The evolution of payments collaboration in financial services
Day two of Sibos 2024 featured a number of insightful panels and keynotes on the future of payments.
FinVolution expands into Pakistan with Daira launch
Daira is a new lending platform offering low-interest, flexible loans for customers in Pakistan.
Bank of Hangzhou partners Malaysia’s Maybank to support cross-border businesses in China
The partnership will focus on “enhancing cross-border business and advancing digital innovation”.
Future FinTech Group promotes Hu Li to CEO
Li has served as CEO of FTFT International since January this year.
BNP Paribas partners Ant International to enhance cross-border payment solutions in Europe
The pair will also work to “explore innovations in tokenised deposits for global treasury management”.
Thailand’s SCB taps Sunline for core banking upgrade
SCB says the partnership will enhance its financial transaction processing performance for deposits and loans.
Hong Kong lender FundPark lands £250m facility led by HSBC
The loan increases FundPark’s total funding facility to $750 million.
Anext Bank in Singapore reportedly receives another $148m investment from parent company Ant Group
DealStreetAsia reports that Ant Group has now invested over $500 million in total in Anext Bank.
Bank of Singapore hires former Credit Suisse exec as Greater China COO
Ronnie Cheung will lead operations and governance for the private bank’s Hong Kong branch.
Ant Group reportedly nearing deal to acquire Dutch payments firm MultiSafepay
The potential acquisition would value the Dutch payments firm at $200 million, Reuters reports.
Mastercard’s joint venture receives approval to commence domestic payments in China
Mastercard’s JV received formal approval from the People’s Bank of China.
HSBC acquires Citi’s $3.6bn consumer wealth portfolio in China
The deal is expected to close in H1 2024, with HSBC planning to extend offers to “in-scope employees” in China.
Geely Group buys out Saxo Bank stake in joint fintech venture
Saxo Fintech was launched in 2019 to bring Saxo’s tech solutions to FIs in Mainland China.
Singapore’s MVGX launches carbon SaaS subsidiary, appoints ex-BSI exec to take the lead
Frank Zhang, “a fintech, ISO standard certification and sustainability veteran”, will lead the new subsidiary.
Hong Kong fintech Micro Connect raises $458m Series C funding
According to Forbes Asia, the funding round values the start-up at $1.7 billion, making it Hong Kong’s latest unicorn.
Vijay Shekhar Sharma buys 10% stake in Paytm worth $628m from Antfin
Sharma’s shareholdings in Paytm will increase to 19.42%, while Antfin’s shareholdings are reduced to 13.5%.
Huawei launches F2F2X data infrastructure architecture to help FSI build and manage modern data centres
F2F2X (Flash-to-Flash-to-Anything) was unveiled at the recent Huawei Intelligent Finance Summit.
Global fintech investment falls over H1 2023 amid economic turbulence but sector remains resilient
According to Innovate Finance data, $27.3bn was injected into the industry globally during H1 2023 through 1,714 deals.
UnionPay connects with Cambodia’s central bank over QR code interoperability
The agreement was confirmed by the signing of a MoU in Phnom Penh, Cambodia’s capital city, this week.
China imposes hefty fines on Ant Group and Tencent as it looks to normalise supervision
Ant Group and its subsidiaries have received a penalty of $984.3m, and Tenpay has been slapped a fine of $413m.
DBS launches e-CNY merchant collection solution in Mainland China
With the solution, corporate clients of DBS China will be able to collect payments from their customers in e-CNY.
Ant Group enables Alipay+ mobile wallet integrations in Thailand
The mobile wallets include Alipay HK (Hong Kong SAR), Kakao Pay (South Korea), and Touch ‘n Go eWallet (Malaysia).
Demystify Podcast: Demystifying China, CDBCs and cashless with Richard Turrin
Based out of China, Richard Turrin has a ringside seat on how China is transforming into a cashless society.
Jack Ma to cede control of Chinese fintech Ant Group
After the restructuring, “no shareholder, alone or jointly with other parties, will have control over Ant Group”, the firm says.
MICT completes acquisition of African agri-fintech firm Tingo
MICT owns “100% of the operating business and assets” of Tingo after snapping up Tingo Mobile.
Jack Ma’s Alibaba and Ant Financial leave Paytm Mall
The Indian firm’s valuation fell from $3 billion in 2020 to $13 million now – a drop of almost 99%.
Bank of China’s Luxembourg arm picks ERI’s Olympic Banking System
The core banking system will be used to support BOC’s custody and clearing business.
FinTech Futures: Top five stories of the week – 22 April 2022
Here’s our pick of five of the top news stories from the world of finance and tech this week.
Ant Group snaps up majority stake in 2C2P to drive digital payments adoption
Ant Group will become a majority shareholder of 2C2P.
AI-focused fintech Qraft Technologies secures $146m SoftBank investment
Qraft’s US CEO says investment management is “ripe for disruption” thanks to AI.
Finastra offloads Fusion Summit treasury business in China, Macau and Hong Kong
The buyer is CloudWing Network Technologies, a subsidiary of Hundsun Technologies.
Asia Digital Bank partners Bianjie for blockchain-powered digital banking
The bank’s new digital infrastructure is designed to bridge the gap between centralised and decentralised finance.
Goldman Sachs gets green light for total ownership of Chinese venture
Goldman becomes the second US bank to buy out its Chinese mainland joint venture partner.
BIS finds CBDC-blockchain combo outclasses correspondent banking
Its new project, mBridge, experiments with new CBDC combinations.
China Bohai Bank taps Bairong for AI-powered digital upgrade
China Bohai Bank will utilise Bairong’s fraud and loan monitoring systems.
European neobroker Scalable Capital raises $180m in Tencent-led funding round
This latest funding round brings the firm’s total capital raised to over $320 million.
Bitcoin tumbles below $37,000 following Chinese ban on crypto services
Chinese financial firms can’t offer clients products involving cryptocurrency.
