Singapore hosted the 3rd Singapore-Shanghai Financial Forum this week helping to strengthen relationships in the region; over 200 participants were in attendance; the theme of the event was "Strengthening Singapore-Shanghai Collaboration in a Changing Financial World Order" and discussions were centered around deepening financial connections between Singapore and Shanghai; Jacqueline Loh, deputy managing director of the Monetary Authority of Singapore, was a featured keynote speaker at the event and spoke about the opportunities for fintech collaboration in the region. Source
Online lending platform Crowd Genie has obtained regulatory approval from the Monetary Authority of Singapore; launched in mid-2016 the platform seeks to match accredited investors with SMEs for a fast and efficient alternative loan financing solution; the firm has been focusing on back office processing to meet regulatory guidelines and is now planning to increase its lending with the new regulatory approval. Source
Australian P2P commercial property marketplace lender LendEx has appointed two new board members to its board of directors; Brian Benger will join the board with experience from consulting firm Mercer; credit market executive Kim Jenkins will also join the board; Jenkins is currently the CEO of the Australian Retail Credit Association; Benger and Jenkins join Robert Hines, the firm's chairman, as the board's non-executive directors. Source
Bitcoin trading has become a viable income source for many Chinese cryptocurrency traders; launched in 2009 the cryptocurrency has recently reached highs of over 8,000 yuan ($1,160.65) and is currently trading at around 6,600 yuan ($957.53); with a global worth of over $14 billion, over 90% is currently in yuan and Chinese investors are actively taking advantage of the currency's gains; investor Huai Yang is reportedly earning 1 million yuan ($145,081) per month from trading bitcoin; other investors have also reported steady bitcoin trading monthly incomes of over 40,000 yuan ($5,803). Source
Singapore-based marketplace lender MoolahSense has added invoice financing; the service will provide another lending product for businesses; the firm's CEO says the product is intended to extend the business services it provides to underserved small businesses; the product will be available for short-term capital needs of up to $15,000 and is expected to target returns of 12% for investors. Source
The China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC) has issued a new guidance document titled, "Guiding Opinions on Risk Prevention and Control in the Banking Sector"; the document targets banking institutions and their risk prevention efforts related to internet finance businesses; it focuses on ten types of high priority risks and emphasizes the requirement that P2P lenders partner with a custody bank; in addition to further details on broad market rectification it also includes emphasis on student lending and microloan businesses. Source
The National Internet Finance Association has announced the establishment of a P2P Finance Association; the Association will be led by the People's Bank of China, China Banking Regulatory Commission, China Securities Regulatory Commission and the China Insurance Regulatory Commission; the Association will seek to improve the industry and promote its development. Source
Starting on April 14th consumers in India will be able to use their Aadhaar ID number to make payments; in theory this could replace payment services like PayTM and debit and credit cards; the Aadhaar Payments System (APS) will allow consumers to use their fingerprints to complete a transaction so long as they have an APS linked bank account; the system is not without drawbacks as there are privacy concerns and the entire system is based around data protection; this does fit in with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's move to a cashless society, though it remains to be seen how everyday consumers will utilize it. 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
Tradeshift operates a marketplace for businesses, allowing them to manage supply chain buying and selling; through the partnership with CreditEase, the two firms will develop a financing app that will facilitate lending to Chinese businesses on the Tradeshift platform; according to Tradeshift, the new app will provide a peer-to-peer financing option for hundreds of thousands of China-based exporters. Source