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Asia/Pac

·Jan. 25, 2017

Chart: New Fees Reduce Bitcoin Trading Volume on Chinese Exchanges

<p>China has accounted for over 90% of bitcoin's trading volume in recent weeks as no trading costs and a devaluing yuan have attracted the attention of traders; the country has approximately 10 of the world's leading bitcoin exchanges which have seen some intervention from Chinese regulators in recent weeks; beginning on Tuesday, three of the largest Chinese bitcoin exchanges implemented a flat fee of 0.2% per transaction to manage manipulation and volatility; trading volumes were significantly impacted following the new fee structure with volumes down approximately 90% on Chinese bitcoin exchanges.

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Asia/Pac Fintech News Roundup

·Aug. 30, 2017

Dianrong, FinEX Asia Launch Asia’s First Fintech Asset Management Platform

Dianrong and FinEX Asia have launched Asia's first fintech asset management platform; established in 2017, FinEX Asia connects Asian investors with US consumer lending assets, such as credit card loans, giving Asian investors access to a diverse portfolio of US consumer credit investments; FinEX Asia's fintech solutions offer risk modeling capabilities, blockchain data security, performance monitoring and secondary marketplace liquidity. Source

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Asia/Pac Fintech News Roundup

·Aug. 14, 2017

Forbes Talks with Da Hongfei from Blockchain Group NEO

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

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Asia/Pac Fintech News Roundup

·Aug. 25, 2017

Dubai Looks to Challenge for Capital of Fintech

Dubai is quickly becoming a destination for fintech companies as the country has seen a surge in startups the last three years; according to Arif Amiri, CEO of Dubai International Financial Centre Authority (DIFCA), the country hosts 1,715 companies and banking assets have risen from $50 billion to $150 billion; financial services contributes 12% to gross domestic product, by 2024 that number is set to increase to 18%; Gareth Lewis, CEO and co-founder of Delio, which helps firms getting investment, told CNBC Thursday, "there's a fantastic opportunity in the Dubai region purely around the appetite for private investment." Source

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Asia/Pac Fintech News Roundup Regulation

·Nov. 15, 2016

Australian Treasurer Promotes Regtech

Scott Morrison, Australia's treasurer, spoke about regtech at the Fintech Australia Summit; the treasurer discussed a regtech collision occurring in fintech where both crowdfunding firms and traditional banks are benefiting from increased technological innovation around regulation; likely that the marketplace lending ecosystem could see expansion in regulatory technology innovation. Source

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Asia/Pac Fintech News Roundup

·Aug. 2, 2017

Monetary Authority of Singapore Releases Report on Digital Token Offerings

The regulator says, "digital tokens in Singapore will be regulated by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) if the digital tokens constitute products regulated under the Securities and Futures Act"; if digital tokens fall under the definition of securities in the Securities and Futures Act then issuers are required to register a prospectus with MAS and other requirements may also apply to associated parties; overall the statement from the MAS increases the level of compliance needed for an initial coin offering. Source

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Asia/Pac Fintech News Roundup

·Jan. 10, 2017

Chinese Regulators Investigating Bitcoin Investments

Chinese regulators are investigating investment in the cryptocurrency bitcoin as its price is reporting high correlation with the value of the Chinese yuan; according to data from bitcoinity.org, yuan transactions have also accounted for 98% of bitcoin's trading in the past six months; regulators have met with bitcoin exchanges to monitor investment activity; they have also requested that the exchanges do not market the yuan's devaluation as an investment incentive; investors have reported that transaction volumes are limited to a few hundred thousand yuan. Source

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Asia/Pac Fintech News Roundup

·Aug. 7, 2017

Hong Kong-Based TNG FinTech Group Inc. Closing $60mn Funding Deal

TNG FinTech Group Inc. is close to closing a Series A funding deal that will add $60 million in new capital for the firm and bring its valuation to $500 million; the firm offers global money transfers, foreign-exchange transactions and bill payments; following the funding round it will be one of the highest valued fintechs in Hong Kong; it plans to use the funding to expand its business internationally through acquisition of companies with remittance licenses in Singapore, Japan, the Philippines, Indonesia and the UK. Source

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Asia/Pac Fintech News Roundup

·Aug. 31, 2017

NIFA Releases ICOs Risk Alerts

National Internet Finance Association (NIFA) of China on August 30 released ICOs risk alerts; the Association highlights two kinds of risks: 1) some projects raise money in the name of ICO with misguided publicity and this may lead to illegal fundraising; 2) the assets of some ICO projects remain unclear and the information disclosure is far from sufficient. Source (Chinese)

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Asia/Pac News Roundup Online Lending

·Nov. 16, 2016

Lufax Expanding to Hong Kong and Singapore, Also Working on IPO

Shanghai-based marketplace lender, Lufax, has announced it will be expanding its business into Hong Kong and Singapore; firm also announced plans in September for a Hong Kong-listed IPO which is expected to raise approximately $5 billion; company will leverage its relationship with Ping An for the expansion; funding for the expansion will also be supported by a $1.2 billion fundraise from earlier in the year. Source

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