Hong Kong's Securities and Futures Commission has entered into a cooperation agreement with the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) to establish a framework to help each other develop the fintech industry; the two regulators will work together on information sharing, innovation projects and referrals of fintech firms seeking to enter one another's markets. Source
Shanghai Securities News reported on market statistics and a continued commitment by Chinese authorities this week to manage fraudulent financing activities in the country; 5,197 new criminal cases were reported in 2016 involving 251.1 billion yuan ($36.5 billion); Yang Yuzhu, a Chinese regulatory director involved with a meeting of regulators, says, "The cases severely destroyed the order of financial markets."; in 2016 China approved the arrest of over 9,000 people on suspicion of illegal solicitation of public deposits and it prosecuted over 14,000; regulators plan to continue with enforcement action; they are also considering prohibiting organizations and individuals from publishing investment-related advertisements and are requesting provincial governments to closely examine potential illegal funding activities from May to July. Source
Red envelope gifting is a Chinese New Year tradition that has become digitized as a result of advanced payment processing; the January 27 weekend marks the beginning of the Chinese New Year and the country is expected to transact over 100 billion digital envelopes, an increase from 32 billion in 2015 which reported a 1,000% increase from the prior year; payment processors integrated with social media have increasingly been gaining market share and supporting digital transaction growth; bitcoin transactions are also expected to increase for the Chinese New Year. Source
Yirendai announced the appointment of Dr. Yichuan Pei as chief credit officer; Dr. Pei was recently vice general manager of Ping An Bank in Shanghai; "Dr. Yichuan Pei is a highly regarded credit expert with extensive experience in the financial industry. We warmly welcome him to join our senior management team. With Dr. Pei assuming his roles as chief credit officer, we are very confident to further enhance our market leading capabilities of credit underwriting and risk management," said Ms. Yihan Fang, chief executive officer of Yirendai. Source
Kreditech Russia has received Microfinance Company status from the Central Bank of Russia; the approval follows new regulation in Russia that requires the status for increased transparency in the microfinance alternative lending market; Kreditech Russia was established in 2013 and is part of Kreditech Group which was founded in 2012 and has its headquarters in Germany; in 2016, Kreditech Group reported loan origination volume of EUR 125 million ($133.58 million). Source
Paytm is looking to expand beyond their Indian roots and Canada is their first test case; “Paytm Canada is our beta test, or our warhead to get an entry into new geography beyond India,” said founder and CEO Vijay Shekhar Sharma to TearSheet; while their bill pay products help top build customers their big revenue driver is when businesses pay them fees to accept payments; the current test case in Canada has Paytm signing up thousands of Canadian companies where they incentivize customers to pay bills with cash back offers; having a large Indian population in Canada has helped the company gain early success, but expanding to markets like the US is a different type of challenge. Source.
Alibaba's affiliate Ant Financial has reported an investment in payment provider Mynt which has its business focus in the Philippines; Mynt currently has three million registered customers and reports one billion pesos ($19.9 million) worth of transactions per week; it provides services for consumers, merchants, and organizations primarily through its GCash and Fuse Lending businesses; GCash serves as its micropayment service provider and Fuse Lending offers online personal and business loans. Source
WeLab is one of eight virtual banks that have received banking licenses from the Hong Kong Monetary Authority this year;...
Alibaba payment affiliate Ant Financial has announced the acquisition of helloPay; the company is based in Singapore and will help support Alipay's strategic growth initiatives in Southeast Asia; its primary payments focus is on serving e-commerce platforms; helloPay will be rebranded as Alipay following the acquisition. Source
Pi Capital International LLC has advised Money360 on a $250 million structured debt facility; the funding comes from a financial institution in South Korea; Pi Capital was able to facilitate the transaction through its global alternative capital network. Source