Tag: FIntech

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia ー United Overseas Bank (UOB) Malaysia has launched Mighty Insights, a mobile banking app based on artificial intelligence (AI)ーa first in the countryーto create simpler banking transactions for customers of the said bank.

Said app features a dashboard for the customer’s monthly expenses based on their credit card spending, app alerts for third-party subscriptions, merchant payments, or insufficient balance. A Quick Response (QR) code payment function has been also added to the app to ensure safer fund transfers or payments. 

The app also features advanced data analytics, machine learning, and pattern recognition algorithms to help customers provide financial guidance in terms of spending, life age, and lifestyle priority variances. 

Driven with the same analytics as UOB’s AI-driven predictive analytics engine and TMRW, a mobile-only bank designed for ASEAN millennials, Mighty Insights is second in the line which launched AI-driven mobile banking.

Ronnie Lim, managing director and country head of personal financial services for UOB Malaysia, expressed that the recent mobile banking app launch is just one of the bank’s strategies to further harness the technological capabilities for banking and finance for customer-centric experience.

“As technology continues to improve the way we manage our finances, we designed Mighty Insights to anticipate our customers’ banking needs and to offer them the most suitable financial solutions to help them save and spend wisely. Each insight is personalised based on the customer’s spending habits and banking behaviour. Driven by AI and machine learning, Mighty Insights enables customers to track their day-to-day spending conveniently and to view easily the categories they have been spending on the most,” Lim stated.

The app is available for download at the Google Play Store, the Apple App Store, or at Huawei AppGallery.

Perak, Malaysia – In a move towards a cashless society in the Malaysian state of Perak, Malaysian fintech startup KiplePay and local holdings Digital Perak recently collaborated for the development of a unified payment platform for cashless convenience among citizens and merchants for their government and business transactions.

For the initial phase, citizens can pay for their availed services within the locality through the Digital Perak web portal. Services include training courses, co-working space, computer lab, and office service rental on local multimedia hub Hub Innovasi and Multimedia (HiM). They can also pay for services such as asset booking, quit rent and summon payment with agencies, municipal councils, and other Government Linked Companies (GLC) within the state.

As for businesses, those that are registered under S.M.A.R.T Niaga@Perak, Digital Perak’s program for trading items locally, may now provide cashless transactions for in-store and online transactions. Merchants may also use KiplePay’s merchant app for in-store transactions, while online transactions are processed through theKipleBiz Unified Payment platform. Said platform will support multiple gateway payment services, including online banking, e-wallet, and debit/credit card.

“Today’s collaboration with KiplePay is part of our effort towards achieving the aspiration of the national policy on Industrial Revolution 4.0 to automate all services of the state government via the internet. A seamless transition is important as it involves all stakeholders in the state and this will set the benchmark for digital transformation agenda for the businesses and government services,” said Meor Rezal Fitri bin Dato’ Dr Hj Meor Redwan, chief executive officer of Digital Perak. 

Singapore – Fintech Revolut in Singapore has tied up with micro-insurance provider SNACK to offer its products to its customers. 

Developed by direct insurer NTUC Income, SNACK’s main value proposition is “bite-sized” lifestyle insurance products that can be availed through small premium contributions starting at S$0.30. It offers three main types of policies, namely, life, critical illness, and personal accident protection. 

The “lifestyle-based” in their products refers to the unique way in which SNACK enables individuals to purchase a policy whenever they perform a daily activity or its so-called “lifestyle trigger.” These activities include petrol top-ups, groceries, and dining out. Whenever an activity is completed, a micro-insurance policy will be issued and the premium will be charged to the selected payment mode on SNACK. The coverage grows each time the person completes a trigger, and the sum of all effective policies at that point in time becomes the total coverage amount.

In celebration of the partnership, SNACK will be offering a one-time free S$500 insurance coverage to all Revolut customers who will successfully register on SNACK.

On a LinkedIn post, Revolut’s Head of Growth Pam Chuang said that the partnership allows the company to create a better connected digital ecosystem that leverages the strengths of each other’s platform. 

“SNACK’s modular approach to bite-sized microinsurance fitted to lifestyle needs complements Revolut’s all-in-one personal financial super app, optimizing the customer experience to drive greater empowerment with today’s digital-first lifestyle, where convenience, customization, and flexibility are key,” wrote Chuang.

Revolut was first launched in the UK in 2015. It offers services such as money transfer and exchanges as well as budget planning.

Singapore – Google’s digital wallet platform Google Pay has made a number of enhancements exclusively for Singapore users that will see an easier and further seamless use of features on the app. 

One of the latest updates is Google pay’s integration with Singapore’s national real-time payment service PayNow, which now allows users in Singapore to send money to anybody in the country, even if they’re not on Google Pay, with users only needing the person’s phone number. 

The feature has been previously introduced for OCBC customers earlier in the year, and now Google Pay will be extending it to customers of DBS Paylah! and Standard Chartered Bank. 

Customers of the said banks can also use their linked accounts to pay any business that has a PayNow QR code displayed, allowing merchants to receive payments in their corporate bank accounts.

In addition to the improved transaction process, Singapore will be the first country where Google Pay users can form groups to organize and manage payments, as well as divide bills and other joint expenses within the app.

Googe Pay Singapore

Google Pay has also announced added features for delivery and movie bookings, anticipating that more Singaporeans will dine out and watch movies amid lesser COVID-related restrictions.

Singapore users can now browse cuisines and order takeout or delivery with the Order Food feature on the app. Meanwhile, for movie enjoyment of the users, Google Pay has just added Golden Village locations in addition to Shaw Theatres, giving moviegoers a total of 174 cinema venues to choose from across Singapore. Users can now be able to skip queuing by booking a movie ticket and reserving a seat instantly within the app.

To make it fun to use Google Pay, the app will be giving out rewards for transactions in the form of virtual scratchcards, which users can virtually ‘scratch’ to find out a corresponding prize. Users can earn scratchcards with instant cashback rewards on qualifying transactions, with bonuses when a user has successfully referred Google Pay to a friend.

Director of Engineering Patrick Teo said that the motley of enhancements in the platform were undertaken on Google’s belief that Payments don’t take place in isolation, but are part of the daily interactions users have with friends, family and local businesses. 

“We built Google Pay around these everyday relationships, to make it quick and easy to transact with the people and businesses you know. In just a few taps, you’ll be able to see a past payment with a business, or find a friend to pay. Plus, sending money to someone new is as easy as sending a chat message—just start entering their phone number,” said Teo.

Singapore – Over the past 12 months, more than half of businesses in Singapore or 67% of them have used fintech in running their operations, and within this percentage, the top three forms of fintech used emerged to be mobile payments or digital wallets, robo-advisory or chatbots, and open banking APIs, according to a report by CPA Australia.

FIntech
FIntech

Mobile payments recorded the most adoption with 47% of businesses, followed by chatbots with 34%, while 30% said they have used open banking APIs.

Singapore has been widely known for being a top technology hub, and as the coronavirus started threatening safety, the government has further encouraged the use of fintech. In April, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) urged individuals and businesses to use digital finance services and e-payments to help contain physical contact.

Amid social distancing directives, more businesses have expressed desires to adopt fintech, with 73% expecting to use at least one fintech product or service in the next 12 months, with a third of them citing COVID-19 as a reason for further usage, to operate anew amid disruptions in operations.

The most boost in adoption is seen to come from the need to increase efficiency in doing business, with nearly 6 in 10 respondents, or 59.1%, identifying it as an important factor. Meanwhile, more than 4 in 10, or 43.6%, of businesses expect to use fintech to help them better understand and improve customer experience. 

The top three most used fintech are still the same ones seen to drive the adoption for the coming months. About 42.7% of businesses believe that they will use mobile payments the most, followed by robo-advisory and chatbots with 23.6% , and open banking APIs with 19.1%.

Fintech

While the report revealed that a positive adoption of fintech is on the horizon, it also found certain factors that hinder businesses to jump in.

The top concern showed to be cybersecurity with 34% identifying it as a barrier, while a lack of fintech understanding and knowledge within the board and senior management was also a concern with 30%. Meanwhile, 26% simply did not consider fintech to be necessary for business.

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – Around 75 percent of Malaysian businesses have utilized at least one fintech product or service over the past 12 months, according to a study by global professional accounting organization CPA Australia.

Among the forms of fintech, mobile payments and digital wallets were the most widely adopted in Malaysia in the past 12 months, with 63 percent of businesses surveyed indicating such usage. 

Furthermore, the study revealed the various reasons which attracted business owners to fintech. About 56 percent cited that the main reason was the increase in business efficiency, with more than five in 10 respondents identifying it as an important benefit. Meanwhile, 40 percent said that fintech allowed them to adapt to the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, while over a third, or about 34 percent saw the use of fintech as a way of reducing costs

“The increased popularity of mobile payments and digital wallets goes hand in glove with the Government’s efforts to increase the use of e-wallets amongst the B40 and M40 through cash transfer programs, as part of its transition to a high value-added, high-income economy”, said Bryan Chung, chairman of the digital transformation committee at CPA Australia Malaysia division.

However, despite the growing trend of Malaysian businesses adopting fintech, one in four surveyed said that they do not expect to use fintech in the next 12 months, with the majority of such are companies with 50 or fewer employees.

Cybersecurity and data privacy were cited as the top concerns. 

“Small businesses may not have a sound understanding of the benefits of fintech to their organizations. More needs to be done to improve small businesses’ understanding of what fintech solutions might be good for their businesses,” said Chung.

Chung adds, “Greater consideration also needs to be given to increasing technology expertise at the board and senior management level to ensure better understanding of risks and benefits of fintech. Including fintech in the terms of reference of a board-level committee should help the highest levels of companies to stay informed of new trends in this type of technology.”

Singapore – Financial services platform GoBear has announced that it has appointed martech solutions, Netcore Solutions to power up its multi-channel marketing automation and engagement campaigns, as it eyes unparalleled customer retention

GoBear, which advocates financial health through a comparative model of financial products, currently operates in seven markets across Asia with over 55 million users. 

Netcore Smartech’s platform offers AI-powered technology which bundles the customer data platform (CDP), multi-channel campaign management, journey builder, and AI-based email delivery among others.

Go Bear’s performance marketing director Azril Arif thinks Netcore will be of valuable partner as they push their customer engagement to new heights

“GoBear is ushering in the next phase of customer engagement and we believe all engagements need to be personal in nature. Netcore Smartech will enable us to understand our users better, conceptualize engagement strategies, and deploy personalized engagement at scale. We foresee this to be instrumental in our growth,” said Arif.

Meanwhile, Netcore CEO Abithab Bhaskar believes that the collaboration is a demonstration of one of many that there’s a viable opportunity within Fintechs for customer engagement.

“GoBear is a marquee name in the Fintech space and we are thrilled to impact the key retention and engagement KPIs and contribute to their incredible growth story,” said Bhaskar.