Hi fintech friends, I'm Osborne, Principal at EMVC!

Happy Diwali to you and those close to you!

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 next weekend. See you post that!

🧐🏆 Posts of the Week

(Note: Neither TWIF nor I endorse any views in the tweets highlighted above.)

📈 Chart of the Week

Source: Reuters

🇮🇳 India

📰 Market Updates

1. The RBI's Centre for Advanced Financial Research and Learning (CAFRAL) released a report concluding that fintech could emerge as a substitute for the traditional banking sector in the near future.
2. Banks have reportedly been making a push for secured loans and gold loans as RBI cautioned banks on the growing unsecured credit portfolios.
3. PB Fintech, the listed parent firm of PolicyBazaar and Paisabazaar, reported INR 811.6cr revenue (+41% YoY) for the quarter ended Sep, 2023.
4. Fintech funding in India reportedly declined by 50% MoM in Oct, 2023 to $108mm in total funds raised in the month.
5. KreditBee reported INR 14,000cr ($1.7bn) in gross loans disbursed on its platform in 2023 (+2x YoY).
6. Systematic Investment Plans (SIP) in mutual funds grew to a new monthly high of INR 16.9cr ($2bn) in Oct, 2023.
7. PhonePe reportedly crossed 500mm registered users on its platforms. It also restructured its team into business units with separate CEOs.

🚀 Product Launches

1. Namaste Credit, a small business underwriting tech platform, partnered with Microsoft Azure to launch its loan management system on Azure.
2. Pidilite, an adhesives company, launched lending products for its smaller distributors and retailers.

📝 Regulatory Updates

1. RBI (central bank): Approved the in-principle payments aggregator license of PayGlobal, a cross border payments company. Notified that Central Recordkeeping Agencies (CRA) will replace pension funds as a Financial Information Provider (FIP) in the account aggregator ecosystem. Raised concerns

💰 Financing Announcements

1. Bharat Housing Network, a co-lending platform for housing finance, raised $14.5mm.
2. Bimaplan*, an insurance infrastructure company, raised $3.5mm.
3. Rio Money, a credit on UPI startup, raised an undisclosed amount.

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🌏 Asia

📰 Market Updates

1. Finfra, an Indonesian lending infra company, partnered with Xendit, a Southeast Asian payments company, to launch automated collections of revenue based financing products across Indonesia.
2. MAS asked Singaporean banks to implement anti-scam measures and protection against malware attacks for seniors.
3. Mastercard implemented e-HKD, Hong Kong's CBDC, payment rails for commercial banking in Hong Kong.
4. Elevandi, a Singaporean firm by MAS for promotion of its fintech regulations, launched its subsidiary in Japan.
5. UOB Bank in Singapore faced major service disruptions.
6. Singapore BNPL Code of Conduct is expected to be implemented by Singapore's BNPL startups by March 2024.
7. Airwallex reported its Singapore revenue grew 13x YoY and total transaction volume grew 11x YoY in H1 2023. In 2022, its Singapore revenue was $5.4mm.
8. SEBA Bank, a Swiss crypto bank, received operating license from the regulator in Hong Kong.
9. YedPay, a Hong Kong payments company, partnered with Mastercard to launch one touch payments.
10. Visa launched Real Time Visa Account Update (VAU) in Asia Pacific region except Bangladesh, Mainland China and India.
11. Ripple launched a new version of its crypto-enabled cross-border payments solution, Ripple Payments.
12. NETS Singapore launched Merchant Solutions, a payment acceptance suite for merchants.
13. HSBC partnered with Metaco to launch digital asset custody services for institutional clients.
14. The central banks of China, Hong Kong and Macau signed a joint agreement to enhance fintech collaboration and integration between the three countries.

💰 Financing Announcements

1. Singlife, a Singaporean financial firm, raised SGD 180mm ($133mm) from Sumitomo Life, a Japanese life insurance company.
2. LXA, a mortgage finance startup, raised $10mm.

🌏 International

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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