Hi fintech friends, Osborne here!
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).
Note: there will not be an edition of TWIF Asia next week. We will resume regular programming on 23rd Sept, 2023.
✨ Falcon presents Mumbai Fintech Happy Hour
This past year, fintech fell out of favour and how! Unless you were in Mumbai this past week and attended our Happy Hour.
Thanks @falconfstweets @awscloud @monnai_corp
Thank you to the ~300 of you who attended! The energy was electric & infectious!
You HAD to be there!
/1 pic.twitter.com/Li3EQoasd1— Osborne Saldanha (@os7borne) September 8, 2023
🐦🏆 Tweets of the Week
🚨 NPCI launches new UPI features to achieve 100 billion transactions a month.
These products include credit line on UPI, conversational payment mode ‘Hello UPI’, BillPay Connect, UPI Tap & Pay and UPI Lite X. pic.twitter.com/0JTkV4fNWj— Indian Tech & Infra (@IndianTechGuide) September 6, 2023
Its very interesting to see a brand new regulation being issued just a day back...and live apps (that must have taken atleast 6 months to integrate) the day after.
Preferential regulatory arbitrage is a cold cold battlefield with no socks. pic.twitter.com/PtzW7JZjL0— Sandeep Srinivasa (@sandeepssrin) September 6, 2023
Few folks may not agree, but the most innovative fintech in India at this moment is …
NPCI @NPCI_NPCI— pj (@BeingPractical) September 5, 2023
Same day launch. UPI MDR is creating some good competition in the card acceptance space. pic.twitter.com/5L6dLTG7kO— Amit Bhor (@daamitt) September 4, 2023
(Note: Neither TWIF nor I endorse any views in the tweets highlighted above.)
🇮🇳 India
📰 Market Updates
RBI's Governorurged fintech startups to launch a self regulatory organisation.
HDFC Bank's personal loan segment grew 32% YoY after the merger with HDFC Ltd.
IRDAI's (insurance regulator) Chairperson said for the size of India's population, the number of insurers in the country is "grossly inadequate".
SEBI (securities regulator)was quoted saying the regulator could be ready with technology to power 1-hour settlement cycles.
Zerodhafiled two mutual fund schemes with SEBI (securities regulator).
Paytmreportedly grew its monthly active users by 20% to 94mm users.
Fintech startups are expected to generate $190bn in revenue by 2030, according to a report by BCG and Matrix Partners. The industry's revenue was $17bn in 2022.
Growwreceived SEBI approval to launch its first mutual fund scheme.
🚀 Product Launches
Paytmlaunched Paytm Card Sound Box for card payments and QR based payments.
PineLabslaunchedMini, a QR device with card acceptance for SME's.
Shivalik Small Finance Bankpartnered withFalcon, to launch various digital products for small businesses.
PayUlaunchedCommercePro, a set of commerce and payments tools for small businesses.
YES Banklaunched interoperability between CBDC and UPI.
ToneTag, a sound based payments company, launched payments through cars and conversational payments.
NPCIlaunched a UPI-based, cardless ATM cash withdrawal feature.
NPCIlaunched UPI Lite X, an NFC based offline payments product, and Hello UPI, a conversational payments product.
Gullak, an investments startup, partnered withJuspay, to launch the UPI SDK.
Aartiya Techlaunched an F&O trading product.
Thomas Cookpartnered withCard91 to launch a multicurrency forex card.
💰 Financing Announcements
Brine Fi, a crypto exchange startup, raised $16.5mm at $100mm valuation.
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🌏 Asia
📰 Market Updates
The central banks of Cambodia and Lao PDR, integrated QR based payments interfaces between the two countries.
Grablaunched a web3 crypto wallet for its users in Singapore.
GXBank, the Grab digital bank, launched in Malaysia
Robocash Group, a Singaporean lending company, rebranded to UnaFinancial.
Niumjoined the FAST and PayNow payments platforms of Singapore for real time payments.
Hana Bank, a South Korean bank, partnered withBitGo to launch crypto custody services.
Ravi Menonwill retire from MAS, Singapore's central bank, and Mr. Chia Der Jiun will take over as Managing Director.
AliPay+launched its cross border payments app in Philippines.
💰 Financing Announcements
ACQUISITIONS:
NEC, a Japanese electronics company, acquired 50.1% of Japan Asset Management, a Japanese asset management startup.
🌏 International
Please find our global coverage and consider subscribing.
US and Global, written by Nik Milanovic.
Europe and UK, written by Michael Jenkins.
Latin America, written by Christine Chang.
Africa, written by Emeka Ajene.
China written by Ning Ye.
Policy written by Mohammad Hamdy.
And of course, our podcast series - Beyond Two Percent and Hey Fintech Friends.
If you’ve made it this far - thanks! As always, you can always reach me at [email protected]. I’d genuinely appreciate any and all feedback. If you liked what you read, please consider sharing or subscribing.
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