Hi fintech friends,

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: This week’s post covers updates up to 16th Dec, 2021.

Editor’s Note: If you’re an early-stage startup founder raising equity or debt, I may be able to help - reach out to osborne@thisweekinfintech.com.

Want to be a This Week in Fintech - Asia Sponsor? Reach fintech founders, industry professionals and enthusiasts. Email me at sponsor@thisweekinfintech.com.

🦉🏆 Tweets of the Week

📊 Stat of the week

404mm Indians came into the formal banking system between August 2014 to August 2020 via the government scheme PMJDY (Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojna) (Source)

🇮🇳 India

📰 Market Updates

1. PhonePe claimed to have digitised 25mm small merchants to accept digital payments.
2. PhonePe claimed to cross 1bn transactions in Nov, 2021 with offline payments growing 200% YoY.
3. Policybazaar will set up an account aggregator entity.
4. Policybazaar's board approved the acquisition of 70% of MyLoanCare, a financial product marketplace.
5. A report by CLSA estimates that digital payments in India will reach $1 trillion by FY26.
6. Klub*, a revenue based finance startup, launched a $27mm revenue based finance fund for D2C brands.
7. Indian fintech startups raised $1.93bn in funding in Q3 2021, highest in APAC.
8. India's Union Cabinet approved a $173mm incentive scheme to promote RuPay, homegrown card network, and UPI.
9. SBI Mutual Fund is expected to list on the Indian stock exchanges after approval from SBI's executive committee.
10. TATA Consultancy Service's revenue from BFSI sector is expected to touch $10bn in FY2022.
11. Indian Decentralised Finance startups have reached out to the Indian Finance Ministry to seek clarity over the new crypto law.
12. WazirX, a crypto exchange, reported 17x growth in annual trading volume to $43bn.

🚀 Product Launches

1. DBS Bank India launched digital, paperless trade financing service.

📝 Regulatory Updates

1. RBI (central bank): Introduced Legal Entity Identifier framework for cross-border transactions.

💰 Financing Announcements

1. Uni, a credit card startup, raised $70mm.
2. Juspay, a payments technology startup, raised $60mm at a $460mm valuation.
3. BharatX, an embedded credit startup, raised $250K.

Acquisition:

1. Open, a SMB neo banking startup, acquired Finin, a retail neo banking startup for $10mm.

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🌏 Asia

📰 Market Updates

1. Binance is in talks to set up a cryptocurrency exchange in Indonesia with PT Bank Central Asia, owned by the Hartonos, Indonesia's richest family.
2. Binance withdrew its Singaporean license application to set up a crypto exchange.
3. The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) is setting up a task force on defining common features of cross-border payment service levels.
4. UOB Indonesia launched ecommerce BNPL product “TMRW Pay”.
5. FOMO Pay, a Singaporean payment company, joined as a member of the DBS Digital Exchange (DDEx) to enable merchants in Singapore to accept cryptocurrency payments from consumers.
6. Bank Alfalah, Pakistan's largest private bank, launched BNPL via QR codes for offline merchants.
7. A parallel government in Myanmar recognised Tether (stablecoin) as its official currency to fundraise a campaign to topple the military regime.

💰 Financing Announcements

1. Fuse, an Indonesian insurtech startup, raised $25mm.

🌏 International

Please find our global coverage and consider subscribing.

• US and Global, written by Nik Milanovic published on Friday’s and Saturday’s.
• Europe and UK, written by Michael Jenkins published on Monday’s.
• Latin America, written by Christine Chang.
• Policy written by Ben White.

📜 Notable Nuggets

1. Don’t Overdose on VC: Lessons from 166 startup IPOs
2. What Does It Mean to Burn Ethereum?
3. The Original HDFC (must read on the origins of HDFC Bank)
4. Looking Back at the Fintech IPOs of 2021 in US
5. The yield curve: why investors are watching closely
6. Ethereum vs. Alt L1s - with Su Zhu and Hasu [VIDEO]
7. How to go from being a super hot company to lucky to get acquired in less than 24 months

If you’ve made it this far - thanks! As always, you can always reach me at osborne@thisweekinfintech.com. I’d genuinely appreciate any and all feedback. If you liked what you read, please consider sharing or subscribing.

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