AWS opens second cloud region in China
Amazon Web Services now plans to open its second cloud computing region in China.
China
Google shows love for AI with new centre in China
Google has unveiled an AI centre in China as it searches out humans with ML talent.
Payoneer lands funding from China Broadband Capital
Cross-border payments company Payoneer announced today it has received funding from China Broadband Capital (CBC). While the amount of funding was undisclosed, the company specified that this week’s Series E-1 round follows the $220+ million Series E round received last year. This adds to the company’s total funding amount, which previously stood at $270 million.
Concur launches e-receipt solution for WeChat
Business expense management firm Concur has introduced a new receipt solution, integrated with China’s WeChat platform, that makes it easier for businesses and their employees working in China to track expenses and remain compliant, reports David Penn at Finovate (Banking Technology’s sister company). The technology, Concur e-Fapiao (it means “e-receipt”), gives employers real-time access to an employee’s […]
What WeChat’s domination in China tells us about mobile banking in the coming age of the super app
Through increasing functionality and by consistently pushing boundaries, super apps could have the power to influence, shape and even redefine m-commerce of tomorrow. Tom Wood, co-founder and managing partner of experience design agency, Foolproof, shares his insight on the opportunities that super apps could bring to m-commerce.
China CITIC Bank and Baidu launch direct bank, AiBank
China’s internet giant Baidu and one of the country’s largest lenders, China CITIC Bank, have joined forces to launch a new direct bank, AiBank.
Amazon selling part of China cloud business for $300m
Amazon is selling off a portion of its cloud computing business in China to a local partner, but the company still plans to compete in what is a growing market for cloud-based services and infrastructure, reports Enterprise Cloud News (Banking Technology’s sister publication). Beijing Sinnet Technology will buy a portion of Amazon’s cloud business for […]
China overtakes US in latest top 500 supercomputer list
The release of the semiannual Top 500 Supercomputer List is a chance to gauge the who’s who of countries that are pushing the boundaries of high performance computing (HPC). The most recent list shows that China is now in a class by itself, reports Enterprise Cloud News (Banking Technology’s sister publication). China now claims 202 […]
Geoswift partners with Bank of Shanghai for remittance services
Geoswift, a cross-border payments provider between China and the rest of the world, has unveiled its partnership with Bank of Shanghai to launch a new remittance service in 2017.
Old world aces new world
With sizeable market shares, China’s mobile payments giants Alipay and WeChat Pay are seeking international expansion. What’s next for the tech giants?
Daily News at Sibos 2017 – Day 3
Read our third Daily News at Sibos edition of the Sibos 2017 conference in Toronto – all the latest news and analysis from Swift’s premier event of the year. Free to read online or pick up a complimentary print copy if you are at Sibos!
Infographic: the world’s most cashless countries
What countries among the 20 largest economies are adapting quickest to using cashless systems like phones and contactless cards? New research (and nifty infographics) from global trading site Forex Bonuses reveals that Canada takes the top spot, narrowly edging out Sweden for the top position.
Fintechs – friends or foes?
Visa employees have a saying that “cash is our biggest competitor.” Mightier threats, however, are looming.
3 Reasons Asia Is the Perfect Incubator for Fintech Innovation
Fintech investments in Asia-Pacific reached $10.5 billion in 2016—the highest amount to date since 2010, according to CB Insights data. See what’s behind the boom and why it matters.
Ping An Securities live with Finastra’s FusionCapital tech
Ping An Securities has implemented a new front-to-back office securities brokerage platform, FusionCapital Summit, supplied by Finastra (formerly Misys).
Intel and Tencent team up for blockchain tech
Chinese investment holding company Tencent and US-based Intel have joined forces to co-operate on blockchain projects.
New state-controlled clearing house to process all payment providers’ transactions in China
Ant Financial, Tencent and 42 other payments and financial services firms in China have agreed to route their payments transactions through a new clearing house, controlled by Chinese government.
Three more Chinese banks join Swift’s global payments innovation
Three local Chinese commercial banks have joined Swift’s global payments innovation initiative (gpi), bringing the number of Chinese banks involved to 16, the most in the world, according to Xinhua. The new trio are Yinzhou Bank and Bank of Ningbo in eastern China’s Zhejiang province; and the Bank of Jiangsu, in the eastern Jiangsu province […]
China dreams of AI domination
The Chinese government has set out its bold vision to become a global leader in artificial intelligence (AI) by 2030. In a Cabinet statement, the government sees AI as integral to making China an “economic power” and is calling for the development of skills, research and educational resources to achieve “major breakthroughs” by 2025 and […]
Nvidia jumps in at the deep end with Baidu AI partnership
If Nvidia is looking to make a splash in the world of artificial intelligence (AI) it’s going about it in the right way, announcing a partnership with Baidu, one of the world’s largest internet companies. Banking Technology‘s sister publication Telecoms.com reports that cracking the Chinese market is an ambition which almost every technology company around the […]
Money20/20 Europe: Asia in the ascendant
Denmark took a back seat at Money20/20 Europe as the lively fintech scenes in China and India fell under the spotlight with a wealth of information and stats.
China’s central bank sets up fintech committee
The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) has set up a fintech committee, aimed at strengthening financial research, planning and co-ordination. On its website, the nation’s central bank doesn’t offer specifics about the new committee, but says fintech has “injected new vitality”, but also “brought new challenges” for financial security. PBOC will study the impact of […]
UK regulator calls for freedom not free-for-all
Like that lacklustre movie Braveheart, the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) says you will never take away our freedom and the chances of a free-for-all for regulations will never happen. In a speech that had more repeats than the UK TV channel Dave, Christopher Woolard, FCA’s executive director of strategy and competition, told the audience […]
Temenos expansion plans turn to China and Japan
Temenos is looking to conquer the core banking software markets of China and Japan.
HelloPay merges with Ant Financial for AliPay boost
HelloPay Group, which runs the HelloPay payment platform and online shopping and selling site Lazada, has merged with China’s Ant Financial. Ant Financial, part of Jack Ma’s Alibaba Group, runs Alipay and so HelloPay has now been rebranded as Alipay Singapore, Alipay Malaysia, Alipay Indonesia and Alipay Philippines in its respective markets. Douglas Feagin, SVP […]
Payments: how the West will be copying the East
Payments industry practitioners in the European Union are understandably obsessed with the implications of the revised Payment Services Directive (PSD2). This was evident at the recent European Payments Summit, held in the Netherlands, where PSD2 dominated many of the discussions.
WeChat Wants to Grow Payments in U.S. and Europe
WeChat is on the move again. The China-based social messaging and mobile wallet platform plans to expand its presence in Europe and the U.S., efforts that could bring it better relationships with advertisers, brands and payment providers.
China’s CredEX Fintech lending app surges past $4.3bn mark
China-based CredEX Fintech says its mobile lending app’s total credit extended has exceeded CNY 30 billion ($4.3 billion) since its launch ten months ago. According to the firm, its user base has gone beyond five million, daily credit has been extended up to CNY 100 million ($14.4 million), and the average credit extended stands at […]
China’s Chained Finance brings blockchain boost to SME funding
Chinese fintech firms Dianrong and FnConn have launched Chained Finance, the “first-ever” blockchain platform for supply chain finance. According to the pair, supply chain finance companies have been limited by existing technology and, to date, have only served about 15% of suppliers needing financial resources. They claim the vast majority of the 40 million SMEs […]
Standard Chartered China teams with Tencent FiT for e-commerce solution
Standard Chartered China is partnering with Tencent Financial Technology Group (Tencent FiT) to launch a new e-commerce solution for corporates. The deal makes Standard Chartered the “first global bank to offer a one-stop online collection solution with WeChat Pay” and combines its cash management offering with the online payment gateway. The bank says it can […]
Haier Finance opts for Bloomberg’s FX electronic trading platform
China-based Haier Finance has adopted Bloomberg’s foreign exchange (FX) electronic trading platform (FXGO) and multi-asset risk system (MARS) for trading and risk management. Bloomberg FXGO provides access to liquidity from over 300 providers worldwide and commission-free trading for financial institutions, corporations, money managers and hedge funds across “all major” FX instruments including spot, forwards, options, […]
Citi analyses VC investments in fintech for fresh insights
Citi’s global perspectives and solutions team has issued a 100-page report on digital disruption in the fintech industry. It has analysed venture capital (VC) investments in the fintech industry between 2010 and 2016, as well as the emerging technologies across the globe.
The Monday mindset: 16 January 2017
Fintech zeitgeist! Welcome to the first in a new series of brief reports. Every Monday, we might look back at last week; look ahead to this week; share a few thoughts (our own or others); or discuss anything that catches our eye. Anything goes, so here goes. Rome versus Carthage. Britain versus France. History shows […]
Shanghai Prepaid Card Association blacklists 20 merchants
The Shanghai Prepaid Card Association is warning consumers about buying prepaid cards from certain merchants because of “malpractice in managing their prepaid card schemes”, reports Paybefore. According to an announcement on Shanghai’s municipal Website, the notice includes a blacklist of 20 companies in Shanghai for committing various infractions. The association is urging consumers to quickly […]
Shinhan Bank and Streami to launch Bitcoin remittance service
South Korea’s Shinhan Bank is launching a Bitcoin remittance service between Korea and China, with Hong Kong as an intermediary. The service will be available in December.
Bolero powers Bank of China’s first-ever electronic credit
Bank of China (Hong Kong) (BOCHK) has used Bolero’s ePresentation solution for its first-ever electronic back-to-back documentary credit, reducing the time required to help a large iron ore shipment from Australia to China. The transaction was arranged jointly with NAB (National Australia Bank) and China Guangfa Bank.
East West Bancorp deploys cloud-based risk solutions from SS&C
East West Bancorp is implementing SS&C’s integrated risk and finance solution, Evolv, to manage reserving under current US GAAP and new CECL accounting standards. The solution is delivered in the cloud. The contract was signed with Primatics Financial, a subsidiary of SS&C. “Preparation for CECL is critical for our business,” Sharon Cheung, controller at East […]
Commerzbank processes first live BPO between Germany and China
Commerzbank has processed its first transaction settled by a bank payment obligation (BPO) between Germany and China. The BPO covers the export of chemicals between Commerzbank’s customer (the buyer), Trigon Chemie in Germany. The seller is an unnamed customer of Industrial and Commercial Bank of China in Beijing. Trade business between the two was previously […]
Chinese tourism inspires Ingenico and Alipay payment partnership
Payments provider Ingenico has partnered with Alipay to give Chinese tourists visiting Europe the ability to pay via their Alipay app at any store using the Ingenico solution. With this partnership, Alipay will be imbedded into Ingenico’s in-store payment gateway, which will allow acquirers across Europe to integrate and offer Alipay acceptance to their merchants. […]
China: where the digital payments action is
Earlier this year a couple of surveys were released indicating that the real action in digital payments is in China. This shouldn’t be surprising: China’s economy continues to grow (despite doomsayers predicting a coming “crash” for at least a decade) and the Chinese government is investing billions into science and technology. The fruits of this […]
