Hi fintech friends, I'm Osborne, investor in early stage startups.
Please enjoy all the news and updates from the past week in today’s edition. If you feel TWIF brings you value, please share it with your friends (and maybe suggest they subscribe too).
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🧐🏆 Posts of the Week
I was sending money to my son in Australia for his monthly expenses. The banking app was taking a lot of time at every step. Multiple drop downs on every page and submitting reason for sending money, source of money. Sometimes I clicked on submit and it took 3-4 seconds to move…— Amit Tandon (@amitandon) October 19, 2024
taken from MITC of a large Credit card issuing bank. 53% APR on revolve lines in CC, the landed interest cost for customer with GST is 62.50%
Pretty certain RBI is worried about such usurious interest rates by banks. WDYT?
Another note, why is Govt profiteering from Interest… pic.twitter.com/QItwc5GG05— Madhusudanan (@onlymadhoo) October 18, 2024
if anyone asks, fintech is 100% dead. pic.twitter.com/zIi4S9LCca— Rex Salisbury (@rexsalisbury) October 15, 2024
In our country, you can never miss your insurance renewal
Closer to date, you will start receiving a barrage of calls, texts, WhatsApp, emails.
It feels like the world is conspiring to make sure you don't miss the deadline.
India takes insurance renewal seriously :)— Tejeshwi Sharma 🇮🇳 (@tejeshwi_sharma) October 19, 2024
(Note: Neither TWIF nor I endorse any views in the tweets highlighted above.)
🇮🇳 India
📰 Market Updates
HDFC Bankgrew Q2 FY2025 (ended Sept, 2024) total income by 9% YoY to INR 85,500cr ($10Bn), while deposits grew 15% YoY to INR 25,00,100cr ($297Bn).
RBL Bankreported a 24% YoY decline and 40% QoQ decline in net profit in Q2 FY25 (ended Sept, 2024) to INR 223cr ($26.5M). Stress in the microfinance portfolio was attributed to causing the decline.
BharatPe, a small merchant payments startup, grew revenues by 39% YoY to INR 1,426cr ($170M) in FY2024 (ended Mar, 2024)
Indian fintech startupsraised $778M in Q3 2024, according to a report by Tracxn.
Navi, a financial startup by Sachin Bansal, emerged as the fifth largest UPI third party app, recording 120M transactions.
State-owned banks are waiving processing fees to grow demand for home loans, ahead of Diwali festivities.
Kotak Mahindra BankacquiredStandard Chartered's unsecured personal loan book worth INR 4,100cr ($488M).
Biz2X, the digital lending SaaS platform of Biz2Credit, crossed INR 9,000cr ($1.07Bn) in loan disbursements.
PayU, a payment gateway company, deferred its IPO plans to next financial year (FY26).
Acko, a general insurance startup, grew its revenue by 20% YoY to INR 2,106cr ($250M) in FY24 (ended Mar, 2024).
🚀 Product Launches
(no product launches were announced this week. did I miss any?)
📝 Regulatory Updates
RBI (central bank):
💰 Financing Announcements
Weaver Services, a non-bank home loan startup, raised $95M.
Lendingkart, a small business lending startup, raised $30M from Fullerton for a majority stake at a $100M valuation.
Slice, a consumer lending startup, raised $8.6M.
Healspan, a revenue cycle management startup for hospitals, raised an undisclosed amount.
ACQUISITIONS:
Weaver Services, a non-bank home loan startup by ex-HDFC Bank executives, acquiredCapital India Home Loans, for $32M.
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🌏 Asia
📰 Market Updates
Vietnam's Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI) released a draft proposal to develop Ho Chi Minh City as an international financial centre.
SWIFT, the financial messaging network, launched an AI-powered feature to help banks fight financial crime.
Singaporean fintech startupsraised $158M in Q3 2024, accounting for 49% of the funds raised by Southeast Asian fintech startups.
Household loan disbursals in South Koreareduced by 46% MoM, to $3.8B in new loan disbursals in Sept, 2024.
GMO Payment Gatewayinvested $3M in Helicap's credit fund.
Vietnam's debit card payments market is expected to grow by 14% CAGR to $65B by 2028.
Taiwan's credit card value outstanding grew by 1.5% MoM to $3.5B as of Aug, 2024.
The National Bank of Cambodiapartnered withAlipay+ to launch cross border QR code payments through KHQR.
The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) launchedProject Aperta, a protocol for secure cross border financial data sharing.
SCB, a Thai bank, partnered with its venture arm SCB 10X and Lightnet to launch Thailand's first cross border payment system using Stablecoins.
Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI) partnered withNium to launch real time cross border payments.
Wisereceived approval for direct access to Zengin, Japan's bank payment clearing network, to enable payment clearing by bypassing intermediary banks.
Fingular, a Singaporean neobank, launched digital lending products in Bangladesh.
Aspire, a Singaporean small business digital banking startup, received in-principle approval to operate as a Major Payment Institution in Singapore.
DBS BanklaunchedDBS Token Services, a blockchain-enabled core transaction banking platform for institutions.
💰 Financing Announcements
OneLot, a Philippine startup lending to used car dealers, raised $4M.
ACQUISITIONS:
Mitsubishi Corp, a Japanese conglomerate, acquired a 6% stake in GCash, a Philippine e-wallet startup, for $320M.
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