#HSBC, like many #banks, is taking lessons learned from social media to heart. With its new “Connection #Hub,” small and medium business clients will be able to more directly and easily connect with each other, the bank announced yesterday. The ‘hub’s’ structure resembles a cross between a #professional networking site, such as LinkedIn, and an […]
Bank Innovation
#Starling #bank in the U.K. is building from scratch. But unlike other neo-#banks, Starling sees its future as a #hub of financial products, but not necessarily the generator of every product. The bank is making a series of important and innovative partnerships to provide the best services #fintech can offer, with the security that a bank […]
Bank Innovation
SINGAPORE Singapore is rushing to reinvent itself as #Asia‘s financial #technology, or #fintech, #hub to fend off a regulatory threat to its wealth management industry and revive a sluggish economy.
State funding, light-touch regulation and a recent move to allow start-ups to test financial products in a controlled environment have put Singapore ahead of rival Hong Kong to be Asia’s fintech hotspot.
Much like Uber, Airbnb and others have harnessed technology and online social networking to disrupt taxi and hotel services, fintech firms are shaking up the traditional banking and financial services industry.
Singapore’s fintech drive comes as its role as an offshore private banking center is under threat from a multi-billion-dollar money laundering scandal in neighboring Malaysia, and as Indonesia chases undeclared money parked in the low-tax city state.
Also, Singapore’s traditional shipping and manufacturing growth drivers are faltering amid a global economic slowdown and a slump in commodity prices and demand.
South East Asian capital #Singapore is busy building a infrastructure, but Hong Kong rather serving as a base for Chinese #fintech companies, according to law firms.
Singapore is likely to be the top choice for fintech companies to start their businesses thanks to regulations, government support and funding access, said Astrid Raetze, a partner in Baker & McKenzie’s Sydney office who is leading the firm’s fintech group. A second option would be Australia and Hong Kong would be third, she said.
“Singapore is putting their money where the mouth is,” by making regulatory changes, setting up fintech bridges and encouraging talent to live there. “Other regulators in the region are not responding in the same fashion.”
The Singapore government has adopted the “regulatory sandbox”, which allows start-ups to operate businesses without having a full license, while Australia is considering it, she noted. The former has also set up a fintech bridge with UK last month. She also observed that no Asian #banks are participating in the #blockchain experiment at the moment, as compared to active development by US and European peers. Blockchain is a public ledger of all financial transactions that have been executed, which can be shared across networks.
B2B fintech
In Australia, high costs to acquire new customers online are shifting development of #robo-advisers from a business-to-customer approach to business-to-business.
The focus on the B2B side is also likely to be the trend in Hong Kong. “There is more feasibility and potential on the institutional platform in Hong Kong than on the retail side. China has a good shadow over Hong Kong and there are more opportunities there,” said Gavin Raftery, another partner based in Tokyo.
“In the SAR we are seeing fintech working together with financial institutions, as opposed to the disruptive type of fintech,” as banks are already quite easily accessible in Hong Kong compared to the mainland, said Karen Man, a Hong Kong-based partner. Hong Kong can also serve as a base, or a “launching pad” for Chinese domestic fintech players to expand overseas.
Huge domestic Chinese fintech firms try to go offshore and expand into international markets – both the developed and emerging markets. They include some peer-to-peer lending companies, but some are trying to bring the whole online platform, which includes payment, banking or wealth management, to overseas markets as well.
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[linkedinbadge URL=”https://www.linkedin.com/in/alex-bursak-18360137″ connections=”off” mode=”icon” liname=”Alex Bursak”] is ASEAN Head of Risk Information and Grading at Euler Hermes Singapore (Allianz Group) and this article was originally published on linkedin.
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