FinTech

The British Government might claim the UK is a world leader in technology, but UK banking customers are missing out on seamless online transactions enjoyed in other countries by a failure of banks, and even fintech, to fully embrace facial recognition, automated data capture and social media data analysis. According to an international study commissioned by identity data intelligence specialist GBG ... Read More »

Ant Financial has seen its consumer lending business reach 600 billion yuan ($95 billion) even as the company faces a stricter environment for securitizing loans in China. According to news from Bloomberg, citing people familiar with the matter, Ant Financial’s lending division, which provides loans to consumers through its Huabei and Jiebei units, has doubled since the start of 2017 ... Read More »

The European Commission has set out details of a 23-step ‘Fintech Action Plan’ to promote the digital transformation of the financial services sector, including the establishment of an EU Fintech Laboratory, the creation of a best-practices blueprint for regulatory sandboxes and substantial crowdfunding reforms. The Commission has spent the past year gathering views on how best to harness the opportunities ... Read More »

India’s leading online payment service provider PayU and Kreditech launches the beta phase of PayU Monedo in India. PayU Monedo will provide cardless EMIs (equated monthly installments) to finance the online purchases of consumers in India. The new offering follows the launch of a strategic partnership between PayU and Kreditech announced in May 2017 to deliver a joint proposition for cardless EMI.  The partnership ... Read More »

Kreditech, the leading technology group for digital consumer lending using machine-learning based underwriting, has experienced a successful financial year in 2017 and has announced its plans for 2018. As part of its strategy, Kreditech will focus to expand its business via Lending-as-a-Service, prepare its organization and technology for the next stage of growth and take a clear step forward towards profitability. ... Read More »

What’s Happening with China’s Fintech? As US-based card payment companies like American Express, MasterCard, and Visa strive to set up shop in China, Chinese consumers are increasingly using their mobile phones to buy goods and services. In effect, the country has leapfrogged from cash to mobile payments, bypassing the payment cards system.  Furthermore, mobile payments constitute just one of seven ... Read More »

Total fintech funding in Asia was US$3.85 billion in 2017—a drop-off from the more than US$10 billion invested in 2016 while the amount in Q4 2017 declined to US$748 million across 38 deals after a solid US$1 billion+ in Q3, said KPMG. Decreased fintech investment in China accounted for much of the decrease in investment in Asia, KPMG explained. According ... Read More »

Venture capital investment in UK fintech firms more than doubled in 2017 to reach $1.8 billion, with 54% of the total coming from overseas VCs who appear largely untroubled by the UK’s imminent break from the European Union. The figures, compiled by Innovate Finance from PitchBook data, portray a healthy landscape for the UK fintech industry, with new regulations around ... Read More »

Yirendai Ltd., a leading fintech company in China, announced today that it has connected to the Internet Finance Industry Credit Information Sharing Platform (“the Platform”) established by the National Internet Finance Association of China (“NIFA”). The Platform was established to serve as an industry wide credit data sharing database in aims of reducing credit risk, improving the credit environment and ... Read More »

Post-financial crisis regulations have forced banks to become more diligent and aggressive against financial fraud, including money laundering. In response to new rules, financial institutions in the U.K. have heightened their practice of de-risking — that is, withdrawing bank accounts or other financial services from customers deemed to be high-risk.  Financial institutions assure authorities that their increase of de-risking practices ... Read More »

London’s fintech sector remains a hotbed of investment activity, capturing the lion’s share of a £2.99 billion venture capital splurge on UK tech firms. The figures, produced by Pitchbook for promotional agency London & Partners, show VC investment into the UK’s tech sector reaching an all-time high in 2017 at almost double the £1.63 billion invested in 2016. Brexit may ... Read More »

Several internet firms have filed with the central bank to set up a credit-information platform. The new company, under the name of Baihang Credit Scoring, will be backed by Alibaba and Tencent, among others, according to the People’s Bank of China on Thursday. With 36 percent of the company, the National Internet Finance Association of China will be the largest ... Read More »

On January 4, the People’s Bank of China (PBoC) accepted a license application for consumer credit bureau led by the National Internet Finance Association of China.  The name of the credit bureau is Baihang Credit Scoring. As of now, the Credit Reference Center of the central bank is the only consumer credit bureau in China. Lending has always been the prerogative of ... Read More »

China and Australia‘s regulators have agreed to partner up on financial technology (fintech), a move that will give them oversight on new trends in each other‘s markets.  The Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) and China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) said Monday that they would cooperate on the sharing of information related to emerging themes in the fintech sector. “Cooperation ... Read More »

Consumer lending company focused on underbanked segment ranked 7th among leading fintech company worldwide and receives award as one of the fastest growing companies in Germany Kreditech, the leading technology group for digital consumer lending using machine-learning based underwriting, is celebrating the acknowledgement of its rapid business growth: KPMG and fintech investment firm H2 ventures just ranked Kreditech 7th out of ... Read More »

Rubique Ties up with CIBIL to Allow Easier Access to Credit Score Checks Fintech company Rubique has announced its partnership with CIBIL, India’s premier Credit Information Company (CIC) to provide credit scores and valuable insights on its platform, thereby increasing the transparency in the conventionally-opaque credit-seeking process for its users. This is the first ever tie-up for CIBIL with a ... Read More »

Customers without credit scores can take the digital journey to get loans Rajiv Raj and Abhishek Agarwal co-founders of CreditVidya comment why fintech companies and P2P lending platforms are looking at alternative data, and how you should take care of your digital footprints Rajiv Raj (left) and Abhishek Agarwal, co-founders of CreditVidya. Mumbai-based CreditVidya, a fintech start-up, uses alternative data ... Read More »

According to a recent article in the FT shares in Rocket Internet fell sharply, after the Berlin-based tech investor said it would take longer than planned for some its key portfolio companies to swing into profit. Some investors also voiced disappointment that the group failed to provide clarity on how and when it would deploy its €1.6bn cash pile. The ... Read More »