Consumer point of sale lender, Finomena, owns India’s most downloaded fintech app and they hope to continue gaining customers in this emerging market; led by Riddhi Mittal, formerly of Microsoft, and Abhishek Garg, a private equity investor, the company has exploded serving millennials who have little or no credit; they focus on extending credit for electronics, laptops, smartphones and furniture, which they view as good and productive categories for loans; the company has also pioneered flexible monthly installments in India and are looking to raise a Series A round soon. Source
China e-commerce business JD.com has announced the sale of its finance business which is focused on payments and investments; company will sell JD Finance for 14.3 billion yuan ($2.1 billion) in cash while also retaining some share in its future profits; with the spinoff of JD Finance, JD.com's business structure will now be similar to the structure of competitor Alibaba who also focuses on e-commerce and has a stake in payments finance business Ant Financial. Source
Huo Xuewen, secretary of Beijing's Municipal Bureau of Finance, discussed potential standards for blockchain in China in a recent speech; Xuewen is a proponent of blockchain and says the country should implement a standardized approach for its development; the government's current focus is on regulatory standards for bitcoin investments and trading; Xuewen says the country can do more with blockchain across all industries. Source
Greenland Financial is expected to report a profit after one year of business; the internet finance company is a newly developed business unit of Greenland Group which is known for its focus on real estate; Greenland Financial offers three main services 1) a wealth management platform with various investment products 2) professional asset allocation and wealth management services and 3) a cloud platform for internet technology and data analysis services; contributing to the success of China's real estate conglomerate, Greenland Financial's president, Yang Xiaodong, had the following comments about the company and its future growth: "The company's revenue and profit will double each year over the next two to three years. I am confident about that. And I hope after three years, the company will seek listing on the capital market." Source
Juzhen is developing new blockchain technology for banks that will focus on privacy, biometrics and access control; the firm is the largest China-based blockchain startup; it is working with the ChinaLedger blockchain consortium and has a thorough understanding of the Chinese market's infrastructure and banking culture. Source
In an interview at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Ant Financial's CEO Eric Jing talked about his plans for growth in payments and blockchain; firm is targeting two billion users by 2027; says it will more deeply integrate blockchain and artificial intelligence. Source
Standard Chartered China's credit cards can now be added to WeChat user payment accounts, marking the first foreign capital-backed bank to cooperate with Tencent this way; according to Tencent Financial Technology Group (Tencent FiT) Payment Platform Product Manager Chen Qiru. the cooperation will help WeChat Pay to acquire more international users and WeChat Pay will strengthen cooperation with international financial institutions. Source (Chinese)
Fang Fan has reportedly disappeared leaving investors unable to withdraw their funds from eight P2P lending platforms managed by Fan and controlled by Beijing Qiyuan Fortune Network Technology Co. in China; the platforms' investors are now unable to withdraw over 1 billion yuan ($145 million) in funds; platforms operated by Fang Fan included cmtouzi.com, naipinglicai.com, zaodianlicai.com, wanerjialicai.com, qianguan360.com, lexinglicai.com, xjinfu.com and huoniu360.com; cmtouzi.com continues to operate with a plan to provide investment withdrawals for investors. Source
NTT Data, Japan's largest IT services firm, has announced a new blockchain consortium; 13 participating members including three of Japan's megabanks: the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, Mizuho and the Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation; other notable participants represent industries such as insurance, logistics, and import and export trade; the consortium's objectives include exploring the lead up to and validation of the feasibility of blockchain applications; the consortium will be officially launched on August 30 and expected to last until March 2018. Source
SoftBank is a telecommunications and internet focused business with its headquarters in Japan; the firm has announced it will be acquiring asset manager Fortress Investment Group for $3.3 billion; SoftBank owns and invests in a range of internet and digital businesses; the acquisition follows a previous collaboration between SoftBank and Fortress on a new $100 billion Vision Fund; Fortress will be run independently from SoftBank after the acquisition and will be led by existing Fortress principals Pete Briger, Wes Edens and Randy Nardone with close collaboration on the Vision Fund. Source