Lend Academy talks with Jeffrey Chen, CEO of ZhongAn Insurance; firm has seen great success in insurtech in China, issuing billions of small dollar value insurance policies through the internet; Chen talks about the insurance products offered through the platform, how they have scaled the business, some of the innovative technologies they are using and their goals for the future. Source
Indonesia-based mobile payments and micro-loan startup Pundi-Pundi raised $4 million in a pre-A round of funding; the company plans to use the funds for user and partner growth in Indonesia and expand into other Southeast Asian markets like Singapore; they have over 100,000 users and 500 merchants in Indonesia; Pundi-Pundi translates to "wallet" and they are looking to help create a cashless society in Southeast Asia. Source
CoinTribe is using advanced credit modeling to provide online lending to small and medium-sized businesses in India; it also offers personal loans; its services are leading the marketplace for small and medium-sized businesses; company provides an online marketplace for loans and also offers platform as a service digital technology to banks; CoinTribe has been originating loans since March 2016; has raised $3 million in funding and has plans to raise another $10 million to $15 million in the near-term. Source
Blockchain is causing rapid changes across all industries and specifically financial services; Forbes talks with Da Hongfei, co-founder of blockchain group NEO, about the firm's innovative offerings; it is currently focused on smart contracts which can track the entire process of a contract with transparency and automated alerts for all parties involved; NEO also has a cryptocurrency token that is among the top 10 cryptocurrencies with a market cap of more than $1.4 billion; Forbes also discusses cross border transactions and fraud prevention where NEO is also incorporating digital identity solutions. Source
As most companies were trying to figure out how to handle the economic downturn Airwallex was able to raise $160mn;...
Ernst & Young announced its annual Fintech Asia 100 list at the Singapore FinTech Festival; Next Money, Ernst & Young and Visa all contributed to the list; statistics from the list reported 26% of the individuals were female, 38 entrepreneurs, 41 CEOs, 15 different markets, India with the most members on the list at 18, and Singapore, Hong Kong and mainland China with 15. Source
Global Times recently comments on China's unregulated internet finance sector, stating that the online finance market requires cooling through tighter regulation after years of explosive but unruly growth; due to the lack of regulation, internet finance is often associated with financial irregularities, with many players operating without obtaining any license, for one; Global Times believes only a regulated internet finance industry can serve the real economy, and that chaotic development of internet finance will only pose risks to the country's financial stability. Source
OpenTap has begun to offer marketplace loans in India targeting low to middle income consumers; company seeks to meet the market demand for borrowers who are creditworthy yet don't qualify for traditional loans; estimates the target market for low to middle income consumers at 12,000; loans will be available for up to Rs 50,000 ($730); average loan size has been approximately Rs 25,000 ($365). Source
FnConn launched Chained Finance at LendIt USA 2017; the platform is built with blockchain technology and is intended to provide alternative loans for supply chain companies; Jack Lee, CEO of FnConn, says the platform has the potential to help improve supply chain finance in a number of ways specifically through greater cost efficiency from the use of blockchain; Chained Finance will be fueled through the support of FnConn's financial subsidiary Foxconn and P2P lender Dianrong. Source
Money360-affiliate M360 Advisors has registered with the South Korea Financial Supervisory Service; the registration allows institutional investors from South Korea to invest in the firm's real estate fund; the fund invests in secured US commercial real estate properties through bridge loans and offers global investors a high yield fixed income alternative; the fund has already received $65 million from a South Korean institutional investor and is planning for investment of $250 million in the first half of 2017; the fund is managed to provide international tax efficient investing along with high yield fixed income returns and has a number of other foreign investors including investors in China, Singapore, South Africa, Europe, Canada, the Netherlands and Kuwait. Source