MoolahSense, a marketplace lender focused on small business loans, has received a full Capital Markets Services (CMS) license from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS); the MAS license allows the business to offer its loan investments in the country to a broad range of investors including retail investors, high net worth individuals and private funds. Source
ICICI Bank will integrate Twitter's digital customer care support features through the bank's Twitter account; Twitter business support features to be utilized by ICICI Bank include Twitter's support indicator, message button and links for customer conversations; with the new customer support features, ICICI Bank seeks to make banking more rewarding for its customers. Source
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
China-based, QuantGroup, has raised $73 million in a Series C funding round led by Sunshine Insurance Group Corporation, Fosun Capital, Guosen Hongsheng Investment Co., Ltd. and other undisclosed investors; QuantGroup is an online financial services platform offering credit products; it evolved from the Microsoft Ventures Accelerator and is led by Zhou Hao with experience at Morgan Stanley, Capital One and Barclays. Source
VeChain, Viseo and Microsoft have launched a blockchain proof of concept project for the French car maker Renault; the idea is that blockchain can be used to keep record of how a car is maintained and that information from various car service providers can build a trustworthy growth history of a car; auto giants like Mercedes-Benz, Toyota and Porsche have tried blockchain projects before as well. Source (Chinese)
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China's central bank provided its insight on fintech development initiatives for the country in a recent press conference; the press conference included four of the central bank's government officials including Zhou Xiaochuan, governor of the People's Bank of China; the central bank reported that it encourages and supports fintech development in the country; it spoke about some of its initiatives including a digital currency and other new blockchain solutions; it also noted its work to strengthen regulation specifically in the areas of unlicensed businesses and third-party payment platforms. Source
Chinese P2P lender Dianrong has announced its 2016 financial results; loan originations increased 148% from 2015 to approximately RMB 16.23 billion ($2.36 billion) in 2016; the firm's investor base grew to 3.62 million investors; loan loss rates were low overall with a 1.17% cumulative non performing loans rate and 2.46% current non performing loans rate; average interest rate earned by investors was approximately 7%; the firm says new regulations in China have helped large firms with established brands like Dianrong and sees continued growth ahead for the business. Source
Bitcoin reported substantial gains in 2016, increasing 120% and 57% in the last three months of the year; on January 1 the cryptocurrency exchange rate versus the dollar increased to over $1,000; equity strategist, Christopher Wood of CLSA notes that trading in China has concurrently been high with trading on the China BTC Bitcoin Exchange increasing from Rmb 1 billion ($140 million) in September to Rmb 27.8 billion ($4 billion) in December; in an article from Asia Times, the source also reported that China accounted for 42% of Bitcoin's trading in the first six months of 2016; one factor significantly affecting the increased trading volume has been the weakening of China's currency causing increased interest in foreign investments. Source