TheFintechBuzz.com – Page 42

Chrysalis Holdings Names Anita Kwan as Chairwoman and Katherine Le as Vice Chairwoman to Board of Advisors

March 21, 2022 Published by TheFintechBuzz.com

Chrysalis Holdings LLC, an investment company focused on building and growing successful FinTech businesses including NewDay USA, proudly announces that Anita Kwan and Katherine Le have joined the Chrysalis Board of Advisors as chairwoman and vice chairwoman, respectively. Both are seasoned executives whose appointments reflect a commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion across the Chrysalis organization.

Kwan brings more than three decades of corporate and management experience to her new role. As CEO of ComplianceEase, Kwan firmly established the company as the mortgage industry’s leader in automated compliance solutions, leading to its purchase by SitusAMC Holdings in 2020. Prior to ComplianceEase, Kwan co-founded and led Integrated Capital Group, a national San Francisco-based mortgage bank that was acquired by the Money Store in 1997 and later became a subsidiary of the First Union Corporation in 1998.

Recognized by HousingWire as a HW Woman of Influence, Kwan has been widely acknowledged for her unique combination of experience in financial technology and compliance at the federal and state levels.

“Anita has been a long-time advisor and friend to me for over 26 years,” said Robert Posner, CEO of NewDay USA and CEO of Chrysalis Holdings. “NewDay was proud to be the first client for ComplianceEase back in 1999, and I’m now honored to have her lead our board. As chairwoman, Anita will have an influential role that in guiding the technology strategy of the Chrysalis family of companies,” Posner added. “Anita was the inspiration for building our elite educational institution, NewDay USA University. She will make a significant impact in developing the young leaders of our company who represent the next generation of mortgage bankers.”

“I’m thrilled to lead the Chrysalis Board of Advisors,” Kwan said. “I have great respect for Chrysalis and its companies. I look forward to contributing to the evolution of NewDay’s strategy to become the number one mortgage company serving servicemember and veteran families.”

Katherine Le, who has more than 30 years of experience in finance, operations, and technology, will serve as board vice chairwoman of Chrysalis Holdings and will also take on the role of leading NewDay’s correspondent lending business.

Le currently serves as CEO of Mortgage Service Providers, a Santa Ana, California-based family of companies that provides appraisal, verification, quality control and technology services to mortgage lenders across the country. Previously, she served as president of Stearns Lending for 16 years, where she was an integral leader in building the company into the top wholesale mortgage lender in the country.

Le has been twice named among the Elite Women in Mortgage by Mortgage Professional America magazine and was honored as an outstanding businesswoman/most prominent female executive by the Orange County Business Journal in 2011.

“The past several years have been a transformational period for NewDay, and Katherine’s leadership will help to set the foundation for the next decade and beyond,” Posner said. “She will be an invaluable coach in guiding our company’s efforts to build an industry leading correspondent lending platform.”

“It is gratifying to be part of the Chrysalis Holdings team,” said Le. “The company is at the forefront of our industry, leveraging science and information to transform the customer experience.”

“Katherine’s leadership and experience in building successful mortgage businesses will make her an enormous asset to our management team,” Chrysalis President Kimberly Browne said.

ClearBank raises £175 million led by Apax Digital to accelerate global expansion

March 21, 2022 Published by TheFintechBuzz.com

ClearBank, the largest next generation clearing and embedded banking platform in the UK, today announced a £175 million equity investment. The round was led by funds advised by Apax Digital, the growth equity arm of Apax, a leading global private equity advisory firm. Existing investors, CFFI UK Ventures (Barbados) Ltd and PPF Financial Holdings BV, also participated.

The new investment will accelerate ClearBank’s global expansion of its clearing and embedded banking offering, initially in Europe before moving into North America and Asia Pacific.

The first new clearing bank in the UK in over 250 years at launch in 2017, ClearBank is the only next generation payments provider with direct access to all banking payment schemes in the UK (e.g. Faster Payments, BACS, CHAPS). As a regulated bank, ClearBank manages transactions end-to-end from order transmission to settlement, liquidity management and clearing.

As a leading supplier of embedded banking services in the UK, ClearBank provides over 13 million accounts to the customers of leading financial brands. ClearBank is the only platform providing bank accounts, with FSCS deposit protection, at scale, bringing embedded banking services to the mass market. This product offering is complimented by a range of related value-added services, including FX and multi-currency accounts

Unlike other providers with legacy systems, ClearBank’s end-to-end offering of regulated financial services is accessed via a single API to a powerful cloud-native software platform, which delivers greater speed, efficiency, and ease-of-use. It also enables innovation, including settling payments between customers on the ClearBank platform instantaneously, removing friction and lowering cost.

As a truly cloud native bank, the platform offers a new paradigm in resilience, with industry-leading uptime with no downtime for maintenance, unlimited scalability and elasticity, and triple real-time redundancy. Operationally, ClearBank has built a financially sustainable and highly scalable, low risk, business model, with all its £3bn of deposits held securely at the Bank of England, providing complete peace of mind.

ClearBank has seen tremendous growth and has been recognised as the #1 fastest growing tech company in Deloitte’s 2021 UK Technology Fast 50 awards together with the 2021 Card & Payments Award for Best Service.

This impressive combination has led to a customer base of over 200 financial institutions and fintechs, including Tide, Coinbase, Chip and Oaknorth Bank. ClearBank is also the only financial services provider to be awarded two grants, totalling £85 million, from the Banking and Competition Remedies (BCR) fund in delivering competition and innovation to UK SMEs.

ClearBank also plans to expand its range of products and services to include direct API-based access to interbank payment schemes such as SEPA, enhanced multi-currency accounts, and additional FX services. These capabilities will allow ClearBank to support existing customers in scaling internationally and welcome new customers in multiple markets.

Charles McManus, CEO at ClearBank, said: “ClearBank is the first proven and fully regulated cloud-native clearing bank in the UK for over 250 years. Over the last five years we have demonstrated the success of our business model and through our work with leading financial service providers, helped to both unlock their potential and bring about positive and meaningful change for UK businesses and consumers.”

“Our revenue growth is the proof of the momentum we have been gathering since 2017. It is this proof point and our transformative effect on access to banking services, traditionally a space characterised by high barriers to entry, which has given us the credibility to partner with and deliver seamless and secure embedded banking for award winning financial institutions, powerful fintech disrupters and government bodies alike.”

“The next challenge is delivering this innovation globally. To achieve this, we needed a strategic partner with the right cultural fit, sector expertise and geographic experience, something we found in Apax Digital.”

Mark Beith, Partner at Apax Digital, said: “All companies are becoming fintech companies, and ClearBank is providing the clearing and embedded banking infrastructure for them – starting with fintechs themselves. We’ve seen the power of its platform first-hand, and we are excited to partner with Charles and the existing shareholders to take ClearBank global.”

Niccolo Ferragamo, Principal at Apax Digital, added: “Combining a banking license with a modern, agile and scalable embedded banking infrastructure is hard. Doing it at scale, and while delivering exceptional customer satisfaction, is truly special. ClearBank has been quietly building the clear next generation leader in the UK on all key metrics, and we are thrilled to continue innovating the category together.”

ClearBank was advised by Herbert Smith Freehills LLP. The investment remains subject to PRA and FCA approval.

LivQuik first PPI to achieve RBI’s PPI interoperability guidelines

March 11, 2022 Published by TheFintechBuzz.com

Mumbai-based Prepaid Payment Instrument (PPI) Issuer LivQuik today announced achieving full Interoperability as mandated by the Reserve Bank of India for their Prepaid payments Instruments and is also the first PPI Issuer to have achieved full interoperability thereby allowing its customers the choice of issuing a prepaid payment Instrument that can be leveraged by a card, wallet or UPI.

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) laid down guidelines for allowing Interoperability of PPI instruments to provide choice to customers. PPI Issuers are mandated to facilitate interoperability for full-KYC wallets by 31^st March 2022. With interoperability, customers of LivQuik will be able to optimise their payments and spending across wallets by attaching a card on Visa and RuPay networks and can also enable UPI.

Speaking on the occasion, Karan Talwar, Chief Operating Officer, LivQuik commented, “At LivQuik, we pride ourselves in providing the most comprehensive platform for customers to leverage our PPI capabilities and help them achieve their objective. We are very glad to be the first PPI to achieve full interoperability and are now looking to providing our capabilities to a wide array of customers. We have partnered with M2P Fintech to enable UPI on PPI to be offered along with our capabilities across cards, wallets, gift vouchers and other solutions.”

Rajesh Wadhwa, Chief Business Officer, M2P Fintech said, “Our Card + Wallet + UPI stack, along with the regulatory capabilities is the most comprehensive solution for Prepaid Payment Instrument providers and we are glad to have enabled LivQuik to be the first PPI in the country to achieve full interoperability. We do believe that LivQuik can offer several cutting-edge solutions in the market built on top of the M2P fintech stack to their customers.”

Founded in 2012, LivQuik is a RBI authorised Prepaid Payment Instrument Issuer and Full-Fledged Money Changer (FFMC). LivQuik operates three key business verticals at the intersection of Financial Services and Retail – Enterprise, Issuance, and Acquiring.

Futu Holdings Limited Q4 Financial Results: 2021 Revenues Up 114.9% YoY With 17 Million Users Worldwide

March 11, 2022 Published by TheFintechBuzz.com

Futu Holdings Limited (“Futu” or the “Company”) (Nasdaq: FUTU), a leading tech-driven online brokerage and wealth management platform that provides investment services through its proprietary digital platforms Futubull and moomoo, today announced its unaudited financial results for the fourth quarter and full year ended December 31, 2021.

The financial results show that Futu secured a solid performance in the fourth quarter, with a revenue of US$205.5 million and a Non-GAAP adjusted net income of US$68.4 million.

Revenues continued to grow, with brokerage commission and handling charge income up 19.3% to US$109.9 million, interest income up 83.3% to US$79.2 million, and other income (including wealth management and corporate services) slightly down 2.2% to US$16.4 million on a year-over-year basis.

As of year end, Futu revenues totaled US$912.3 million, up 114.9% year-over-year, and Non-GAAP adjusted net income was US$373.0 million, up 113.3% year-over-year.

As of quarter end, users of Futu’s two proprietary digital platforms, moomoo and Futubull, exceeded 17.40 million, up 45.8% year-over-year. They cover more than 200 countries and regions worldwide; the number of registered clients grew to 2.75 million, up 93.8% year-over-year; the number of paying clients reached 1.24 million, up 140.8% year-over-year. The company also maintained a high quarterly client retention rate of 97%.

What is noteworthy is that Futu exceeded its full-year paying client guidance by adding approximately 728,000 paying clients in 2021. In the fourth quarter, around 90% of new paying clients came from Hong Kong SAR, the US and Singapore. Quarter-end client assets reached US$52.3 billion, up 43.0% year-over-year.

In addition, Futu’s total trading volume was US$157.2 billion in the fourth quarter and US$787 billion for the full year, approximately 1.77 times the 2020 volume. Daily Average Revenue Trades (“DARTs”) reached 543,806, up 17.6% year-over-year.

HK Paying Clients Increased by Over 100% YoY for 7 Consecutive Quarters

Having established itself in Hong Kong, Futu is a tech-driven digital fintech company that delivers unparalleled investing services through its proprietary digital platforms, Futubull and moomoo to investors worldwide.

In Hong Kong, Futu continued to reinforce its position as the leading retail brokerage with a robust increase in market share recent years. In the fourth quarter, the number of paying clients in Hong Kong grew by 108.7% year-over-year, achieving triple-digit growth for the seventh consecutive quarter. Futu is not only popular among young investors, but also gradually gains traction among mature investors, making it the top-of-mind platform trusted by investors of all ages in Hong Kong. Among paying clients in Hong Kong, those aged 40 or above accounted for more than 30%.

Futubull Community stays the second-largest social investing community in Hong Kong in terms of active users and UGC content, leading the social investment trend. Based on trading day data in 2021, an average Hong Kong user spent as long as 38.4 minutes on the Futubull app. On an average trading day, there were 368,000 active Hong Kong users in the online Community, and 120,000 pieces of UGC content were produced.

moomoo Gained Market Share Steadily in the US and Singapore

In the fourth quarter, moomoo further increased its visibility in markets such as the US and Singapore, and won wide recognition among investors with its unique user experience and excellent customer service.

In the US, moomoo has become a popular tech-driven brokerage platform for local investors, with the number of users soaring and its local market share gradually expanding. In the fourth quarter, moomoo won the “2021 Best Active Trading App” award by Investing Simple, and was also named the “2021 Best for Active Traders” by Benzinga, a well-known US financial website.

In Singapore, moomoo’s market share grew to record high. According to Population Pyramid’s Population of Singapore 2021 data, the number of moomoo users in Singapore as of the fourth quarter has accounted for 1/10 of Singapore’s adult population over the age of 20. moomoo further penetrated among high-income and well-educated people in Singapore, and the asset management scale under Futu in Singapore increased by 25.7% quarter-over-quarter.

moomoo has been committed to helping investors enrich their investment knowledge since its inception. As of the fourth quarter, more than 300 investing videos and infographic courses have been launched on the moomoo App and website, covering stocks, options, funds, and other financial instruments in catering diversified learning objectives.

At present, moomoo has become the pioneer in promoting financial literacy in Singapore, and has established cooperation with more than 30 local financial institutions, unicorn companies, and universities to jointly enhance public awareness of gaining financial and investing knowledge. In the fourth quarter, moomoo joined hands with the Singapore Exchange, SAFRA, Nasdaq, etc., to hold online seminars in encouraging new generation to pick up financial management knowledge and skills.

In the United States, moomoo also cooperated with the financial website Finder.com to roll out stock trading tutorial videos and articles to preparing beginners to advanced level, which has won wide praise from American users.

With Australian Financial Services Licence Acquired, Futu Now Holds 44 Licences Worldwide

In the fourth quarter, Futu announced that it had successfully acquired an Australian-based company, Futu Securities (Australia) Ltd. Futu Securities (Australia) Ltd holds an Australian Financial Services License (“AFSL”). The AFSL is a license granted and regulated by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) and with AFSL, Futu Securities (Australia) Ltd is now qualified to provide one-stop online brokerage services to local investors. Australia is the third international market that moomoo enters after the US and Singapore.

As of quarter end, Futu and its subsidiaries hold 44 licenses in the US, Hong Kong SAR, Singapore, Australia, and Europe markets.

Fund investors Increased by 231% Year-over-Year

In the fourth quarter, Futu’s another promising business, wealth management, maintained a rapid growth trend and the asset under management reached HK$18.8 billion (approximately US$2.41 billion), a year-over-year increase of 83.5%. The penetration rate of investors who currently hold fund units and investors who have subscribed to funds both achieved new records. As of quarter-end, the number of investors who hold fund units was 140,000, a year-over-year increase of 231.0%.

In the fourth quarter, AUM of private investment funds in Q4 continued to expand by 621.0% year-over-year and by 120.3% on a quarter-over-quarter basis.

Since its launch, Futu’s wealth management brand Money Plus has always adhered to highly quantitative fund selection methodology, continued to establish and strengthen cooperation with world-renowned financial institutions, and provided diverse and high-quality fund products for global clients. As of quarter end, 60 prestigious financial institutions have partnered with Futu Money Plus, of which 4 were newly onboared in the fourth quarter, including Fidelity International, AXA Investment Managers, and Natixis Investment Managers.

In the Singapore market, Futu has won the favor of numerous investors with a series of selected fund products and customized services. As of quarter end, Futu Singapore Pte. Ltd. (“Futu Singapor”) has entered partnerships with 20 world-class financial institutions, and fund AUM and the number of fund investors have increased by more than 400% quarter-over-quarter.

IPO Distributions and IR Service Corporate Clients Up 125% Year-over-Year

As a well-versed industry player in providing enterprise services such as IPO distribution, IR and PR services, and one-stop ESOP equity incentive programs through its corporate business brand Futu I&E, Futu has become the go-to choice for numerous companies worth over HK$100 billion.

As of quarter end, Futu had provided IPO distribution and IR services for 236 companies, a year-over-year increase of 124.8%. In the fourth quarter, Futu participated in a number of sought-after Hong Kong IPOs such as SenseTime, SF Intra-City, ANE Inc., and MicroPort MedBot. Among the newly listed companies in Hong Kong in 2021, all of which with a market cap of over HK$100 billion chose to cooperate with Futu I&E. Futu I&E IPO and IR service execution excellence was recognized by more and more industry leaders, with its brand and reputation further sustained.

Also, Futu’s IPO distribution business in Singapore made new progress. Futu Singapore was entrusted by Nikko Asset Management and served as one of its participating dealers for the listing of NikkoAM- StraitsTrading MSCI China Electric Vehicles And Future Mobility ETF on the Singapore Exchange. The ETF subscription amount via Futu Singapore ranked the first among retail brokers.

As of quarter end, Futu Enterprise Services had served 400 ESOP clients, a year-over-year increase of 151.6%. Clients include industry leaders in consumption, healthcare, cutting-edge technologies, TMT, and other sectors, such as HEYTEA, Zihaiguo, AInnovation, Advanced Manufacturing EDA and HuiGene Therapeutics.

Drawing upon more than 17 million individual investors and an active community ecology, Futu has successfully attracted over 800 companies to open an enterprise page. Among them, well-known public companies such as Hang Lung Properties, MicroPort Medbot, Xinyi Solar Holdings, China Feihe joined in the fourth quarter. Through the moomoo and Futubull communities, Futu has built a bridge of communications between listed companies and individual investors, promoting mutual understanding and positive interactions between the two sides.

The MAIAs – NEW GLOBAL FINANCIAL LITERACY BODY LAUNCHES, DESIGNED TO SPREAD BEST-PRACTICE IDEAS WORLDWIDE

March 10, 2022 Published by TheFintechBuzz.com

The Money Awareness and Inclusion Awards (The MAIAs) today announced it has secured initial sponsorship from influential financial players, as the body heads towards the inaugural round of award-giving this spring.

Conceived to ‘Make Money Better’, the MAIAs is a new entity focused on raising awareness of the many problems poor financial literacy causes, while also finding the best solutions from all over the world – and shining a light on them via a high-profile awards system judged by leading academics, NGOs, journalists, influencers, and asset managers.

Early sponsors announced today for the 2022 inaugural MAIAs include Lanturn, a boutique fintech firm specializing in corporate and fund services; Endowus, a Singapore-headquartered digital wealth platform; Bitmex Academy, a multimedia crypto education platform and Albizia Capital, a fund management company.

Investor and industry veteran Michael Gilmore, founder of The MAIAs commented, “There’s currently no ecosystem for financial literacy – people are working on this worldwide, but with little idea of what anyone else is doing, what’s good or what’s dangerous.

“We believe the MAIAs can be like a pin in a pinwheel, connecting the work being done to the growing need for it, making things spin, making money better. We couldn’t be more grateful to our inaugural sponsors for their show of support and look forward to building things out, together,” added Gilmore.

The global pandemic recently highlighted the fragility of many people’s finances (a third of people worldwide have less than a seven-day financial cushion). This shocking reality, coupled with the fact that even in a comparatively financially literate country like the UK, nine out of ten people say their education failed to prepare them to handle money, underlines the urgent need for greater money awareness, and inclusion.

Joining the MAIAs crusade as judges for the inaugural 2022 awards are a host of luminaries from the field, including Patrick Jenkins, deputy editor of the Financial Times, Selina Flavius, award-winning financial influencer and author of “Black Girl Finance”, David Fernandez, Director of the SKB Institute for Financial Economics at Singapore Management University and Samuel Rhee, CIO of Endowus, the fastest-growing digital wealth platform in Asia.

WHAT MOVES HER® CAMPAIGN EXPANDS COMMITMENT TO COLDWELL BANKER COMMERCIAL WOMEN

March 9, 2022 Published by TheFintechBuzz.com

Coldwell Banker Commercial, a Realogy (NYSE: RLGY) brand, today announces its offering of What Moves Her, a trailblazing campaign that supports the growth of women in real estate. Utilizing the What Moves Her program, Coldwell Banker Commercial will focus on elevating careers, empowering the community and supporting the success of women within the network. The expansion marks Coldwell Banker Commercial’s ongoing commitment to celebrating women and creating new business opportunities.

What Moves Her was introduced in 2020 by Sue Yannaccone when she served as regional EVP at Coldwell Banker Realty, and later expanded across the Realogy network of brands when she assumed her current role as the President & CEO of Realogy Franchise Group. The program is designed to inspire and support all women to find their path to leadership. Additional goals of the organization include connecting brokers, showcasing Coldwell Banker Commercial’s core values and broadening the network of top talent through a new ambassador program.

“What Moves Her is exactly the kind of program Coldwell Banker Commercial needs to perpetuate continuous growth, provide support and elevate women in commercial real estate,” said Liz Gehringer, president of Coldwell Banker Affiliate Business and COO, Coldwell Banker Real Estate, LLC. “Some of the industry’s greatest female leaders proudly call Coldwell Banker Commercial home. Having represented billions in sales volume, leaders such as Leesa Harper-Rispoli, Coldwell Banker Commercial Alamo City, winner of the inaugural Women on the Move Award, Sheri Arnold, Coldwell Banker Commercial Arnold and Associates, and Molly Hamrick, Coldwell Banker Commercial Premier, just to name a few. Together, we will create new opportunities for our network and continue to celebrate the incredible achievements of women within our ranks and our industry.”

In 2022, Coldwell Banker Commercial sponsored What Moves Her activities will focus on connecting women in the commercial real estate industry to support their professional and business growth. These activities include quarterly virtual education events, networking opportunities, leveraging research and data and continued recognition for women in commercial real estate. In addition, Coldwell Banker Commercial will be hosting its third CBC Chatter event on March 31. The topic is FinTech and includes a panel of trailblazers in this space: Marissa Limsiaco, co-founder and president of Otso; Donna Salvatore, founder and CEO of Megalytics; and Poonam Sharma, founding partner at Arden Digital Ventures.

“Coldwell Banker Commercial would not be where we are today without the incredible women in our network,” said Dan Spiegel, senior vice president and managing director of Coldwell Banker Commercial. “I especially look forward to sitting alongside our impressive female panel, inspired by What Moves Her, at the next CBC Chatter event to discuss how our work is affecting emerging tech sectors. As industries collide, it’s more important than ever to educate ourselves and take active steps to improve gender representation.”

Coldwell Banker Commercial proudly boast some of the leading women commercial brokers and owners in the industry and is committed to supporting women, promoting their leadership development within the industry, representing their values, and providing resources to develop their leadership capabilities.

Please visit WomenofCBC.com or cbcworldwide.com to learn more or follow the social media conversations on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter.

Fintech startup Money View raises $75 million in series D funding

March 9, 2022 Published by TheFintechBuzz.com

Bengaluru headquartered fintech platform Money View has raised $75 million in their series D funding from Tiger Global, Winter Capital, Evolvence India, Accel along with other investors including South Park Commons, Trusted Insight and Dream Incubator. The company is now valued at $625 million.

Co-founded by Puneet Agarwal and Sanjay Aggarwal, Money View is a leading online credit platform that offers a full suite of personalized credit products like instant personal loans, cards, BNPL and personal financial management solutions. The company has partnered with over 15 financial institutions to offer credit/financial products on its platform.

With 1M+ monthly App downloads, the company is catering to 200+million underserved customers who are often ignored by banks and other financial institutions for their financial needs. Money View’s robust digital technology & frictionless user experience allows pan India reach with 75% of the users coming from Tier 2/3 cities. The company’s proprietary data models provide a 360-degree risk assessment, enabling credit for the underserved segments.

Money View has grown 4x year-over-year with strong unit economics and track record of profitability. The company is disbursing loans at an annualized run rate of $700 million and is on a trajectory to reach $1 billion AUM over the next 12 months.

The fresh funding will be used as growth capital to scale the core credit business, grow the team, and expand its product portfolio with services like digital bank accounts, insurance, and wealth management solutions

The Raine Group was the exclusive financial advisor to Money View for this round.

Cambodian Association of Finance and Technology (CAFT) Partners with the Ministry of Post and Telecommunications during CAFT 2nd Annual General Meeting

March 9, 2022 Published by TheFintechBuzz.com

The Cambodian Association and Finance and Technology (CAFT) held its 2nd Annual General Meeting and MoU Signing with the Ministry of Post and Telecommunications (MPTC) last Friday, March 4, 2022 at the SOSORO – Preah Srey ICANAVRMAN Museum.

The MoU was signed by H.E. So Visothy, Secretary of State of MPTC and Mr. Remi Pell, CAFT Board Chairman and witnessed by by H.E. Dr. Chea Vandeth , Minister of Post and Telecommunications, H.E. SOK Puthyvuth, Secretary of State of MPTC, H.E. Dr. Chea Serey and CAFT Board Director Secretary General Mr. Tomas Pokorny, CAFT Board Treasurer Frandara Khuon and CAFT Board Member Sanjay Chakrabarty.

The MoU aims to strengthen CAFTs vision of collaboration by gathering and bringing together the diverse parts of the Cambodian finance and tech public and private community, advocating for a unified voice of the Cambodian finance and tech ecosystem, facilitating a great network where people in the Cambodian finance and tech industry connects, and to teach by learning from existing and past leaders to nurture the next generation of talent.

In his welcome speech Mr. Remi Pell Chairman of CAFT mentioned that the association’s readiness in addressing the Cambodian industry’s challenges. “CAFT has conceived strategic objectives to give us guidance on how we address the challenges that we face as an industry – 1) the need the expand the tech talent pool and create opportunities for upskilling, 2) creating education of developing innovation skills for implementation and utilization, 3) increase the SME digitalization and adoption, 4) financial literacy and financial inclusion. These are the challenges that make up who we are an association and it’s our mission to address them and make progress, which at times seems incremental, but holistically its steadily forward,” he said.

H.E. Dr. Chea Serey, Assistant Governor and Director General of the National Bank of Cambodia on her collaborative remark, stated: “Fintech is believed to provide convenient and affordable access to finance that could improve financial inclusion and provide social-economic benefits to SMEs and people who have no access to financial services. The MoU between CAFT and the MPTC was an important step in building synergy between the private and public sectors to promote a diverse digital economy in Cambodia.“

Meanwhile, H.E. Dr. Chea Vandeth, Minister of Post and Telecommunications, highlighted the importance of the Memorandum of Understanding during his collaborative remark. He said, “The collaboration between MPTC and CAFT is a good example of the private and government sector coming together towards one goal in improving finance, technology, startups, entrepreneurship, commerce, marketing, networks, skill capacity building, and knowledge which would enable financial inclusion, digitalizing and digitizing technological and finance startups, transforming the current digital ecosystem, and promoting the development of infrastructure for Cambodia’s economy to be aligned with and fully benefit from Industry 4.0.”

During the AGM CAFT Board Director – Secretary General Mr. Tomas Pokorny presented the milestones of CAFT for 2021. Albeit a challenging year, CAFT was able to persevere and highlighted the success of CamTech Summit powered by Prudential with hope that it has put Cambodia on the map as a Fintech powerhouse and that this year CamTech Summit Powered by Prudential will be held in person.

As part of CAFT’s continued advocacy, Tomas Pokorny on his presentation announced the Strategic Partnership with Prudential (Cambodia) Life Assurance. The partnership will highlight Prudential’s unending and continued support of CAFT initiatives and their contribution as CamTech Summit’s Title Sponsor.

Sanjay Chakrabarty, Prudential CEO and CAFT Board Member, said, “We are pioneering digital health and insurance in Cambodia. Our efforts are aided by a thriving Fintech sector. CAFT has been doing an incredible job developing the Fintech sector in Cambodia. We’re now in our 3rd year of this strategic partnership and we’re looking forward to furthering capacity building and knowledge sharing in Cambodia through CamTech and other planned events.”

Other partnerships were also announced with Cambodia Internet Startup Association which is led by Mr. Jack Lee, International Business Chamber chaired by Mr. Paul Clements and Ecosystem Partner – 500 Global with Carrie Liauw, Regional Director, Programs, APAC. These partnerships are vital for CAFT’s future and its commitment to their members and public.

To recap his presentation Pokorny highlighted the creation of the FINTECH ASEAN roundtable which would bring together ASEAN states for collaborative meetings to examine key issues and challenges affecting the region and to determine how to further push the sector forward.

“We’re finally starting to show, through our efforts and efforts of many others, that Cambodia is ready to communicate with the rest of the world when it comes to technology, and when it comes to financing,” Pokorny said.

Also present during the event were Madam Ambassador Tina Redshaw British Ambassador to Cambodia; H.E. TOUCH Yarandy, Under Secretary of State of MPTC; H.E. CHEA Sereyvath, Advisor to MPTC; H.E. NEANG Mao, Director General of General Department of Information Communication Technology; H.E. MOK Rady, Director General of General Department of Administration; H.E. SAM Sethserey, President of Institute of Digital Research & Innovation of Cambodia Academy of Digital Technology (CADT) and Mr. Ouk Sarat, Director of Payment System Department, National Bank of Cambodia.

Lastly, the event could not have been possible without CAFT’s board‘s, executive committee‘s, members’, and partners’ continued support as well as the AGM sponsors iCare Benefits Group, Sathapana Bank, Tilleke & Gibbins and TrueMoney Cambodia.

SOURCE Cambodian Association of Finance and Technology

Moomoo Launches in Australia with One-Stop Digital Investment Services

March 8, 2022 Published by TheFintechBuzz.com

Moomoo, the next-generation one-stop digital financial service platform headquartered in Silicon Valley, announced its official launch in Australia, providing secure, professional-grade online share trading to Australian investors. This marks the third international market where Moomoo operates, after its successful launch in Singapore in 2021 and the United States in 2018.

Australian individual investors can use moomoo app to trade stocks and ETFs listed on Australian and US markets, and will be able to access Hong Kong SAR, Singapore, and China A-share markets in the future. Moomoo differentiates itself with intelligent analysis tools, real-time in-depth market data and financial information from leading media agencies such as Dow Jones and Benzinga.

Another unique feature of moomoo is its online community of global users. Enabling ‘social investing’, the online interactive community lets users support and learn from one another, sharing investing ideas and insights about stocks. Everyone, from beginners to seasoned investors can learn investment strategies and share their investment experience with other users around the world. For users who seek structured learning experiences, there are also a lot of educational courses published on moomoo as well.

“Today marks moomoo’s first anniversary in the Singapore market and the third anniversary of the listing of moomoo’s parent company on Nasdaq,” Andrew Rogan, moomoo’s Marketing Head in Australia, said. “On this special occasion, we’re happy to announce our launch in Australia. We hope to bring moomoo’s advanced features, which have already been validated in the US and Singapore, to every investor in Australia. Our vision is to help all investors with different experience levels improve trading skills, optimize investment strategies and take control of their wealth creation.”

“With one of the highest percentages of direct share ownership in the world, Australia is full of passionate, knowledge-hungry investors wanting greater control over their own wealth creation. According to the ASX investor research report^[1], in 2020, Australia had more than 9 million individual investors, most of whom are young. That number is expected to go beyond 10 million in 2022. At the same time, with the rise of the internet and the opening-up of the financial industry, more and more young Australians are entering the investment market, creating an urgent need for a sophisticated yet customer-friendly online investment platform. Moomoo’s launch in Australia meets this need with its award-winning trading app”.

Currently, moomoo has already developed highly competitive capabilities and market experience from its operations in the US and Singapore. In the US, moomoo is a leading investment platform that is widely recognized by American investors. Moomoo has been named by Benzinga as “The 2021 Best for Active Traders” for its excellent product experience and services. In the first three months since its launch in Singapore, moomoo has gained over 220,000 registered clients, among which 100,000 were paying clients. Moreover, both client quantity and quality are increasing steadily.

Super-app, moomoo, is the only investment platform to break through top five most downloaded finance apps in Singapore in 2021 since its launch

March 8, 2022 Published by TheFintechBuzz.com

Investment super-app moomoo today marks one year since its entry into the Singapore market by announcing that it is the only one-stop investing platform to break through the top five most downloaded apps in the finance category in both the Apple App Store and Google Play Store in year 2021, since its launch on 8 March, 2021.

Futu Singapore (Futu SG), a subsidiary of the Nasdaq-listed and Tencent-backed Futu Holdings (Futu), offers investment products for trading via moomoo.

The rest of the top five mobile apps in the finance category in this period (8 March 2021 to 31 Dec 2021) include digital banking apps, as well as apps for mobile payment and wallets. This makes moomoo the only investment platform that offers a range of financial products for trading to be among the top five most used apps among Singapore residents in that mix.

Official launch of moomoo in Australia

As a global brand, moomoo has been growing at high-speed in Singapore and the United States (US). It also officially debuted in the Australian market on 8 March, 2022, offering investors in Australia access to stocks and Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) trading in both the US and Australian markets. Further support will be available for trading in Singapore shares, Hong Kong shares, and A-shares.

Futu SG (moomoo) receives strong recognition from SGX and investors

Since its March 2021 launch, Futu SG (moomoo) has been expanding rapidly in Singapore, acquiring 220,000 registered users within the first three months, among which 100,000 were paying clients. There is also high-quality expansion. Its penetration into Singapore’s high-income, well-educated population has steadily increased, with assets under management (AUM) of its Singapore clients recording a 52.4% increase in Futu’s latest financial results in 3QFY21 as compared to the previous quarter.

Moomoo is now one of the fastest-growing digital investment platforms in the region, with also a rising number of young Singaporean investors. In as early as 3QFY21, moomoo already secured its place among the top three financial apps in terms of download volume in Singapore.

In its two Singapore offices at One Raffles Quay and Singapore Business Federation Centre, they house a talented team of employees across various departments from business development and marketing communications to risk and compliance. The Futu SG (moomoo) team is focused on gaining insights into the pain points of Singapore’s investors and providing services that better cater to their needs.

While gaining ground in the Singapore market, moomoo and Futu SG have also made achievements in acquiring licenses and qualifications, laying a solid foundation for product optimisation and business expansion. On 10 February, 2022, Futu SG announced that it had obtained approvals-in-principle approval for full Singapore Exchange (SGX) memberships, making it the first digital brokerage company in the industry to achieve this. In addition, Futu SG also obtained the “Exempt Financial Adviser” status.

The range of licenses and qualifications will make moomoo the first full-service digital investment platform in Singapore, as it further expands its product and service offerings to enhance the user experience.

In 3QFY21, moomoo also officially launched fund products in Singapore, partnering with internationally renowned financial institutions to meet the discerning needs of more Singaporean investors.

Innovative approaches to promoting financial literacy in Singapore

In the past year, moomoo has also made “social investing” a stir by providing an interactive, real-time online community that supports learning among Singaporean investors. Now, a growing number of Singapore investors are watching investment courses, acquiring investment knowledge, exchanging experiences and insights with other investors from around the world on the in-app “moo” community.

Futu SG is also committed to promoting investor training and has become the advocate and leader of local investor training. By 3QFY21, moomoo has posted 249 new investment training videos and illustrations, covering 40 courses and topics. At the same time, moomoo has also joined hands with SGX and many financial institutions to organise a variety of investment training events, co-organising seminars and paper trading competitions, to meet investors’ needs for practical learning.

Gavin Chia, Managing Director of Futu SG (moomoo), said: “While we look back on the many industry-leading milestones we achieved in the past year, we are not resting on our laurels. Now that we have built a strong foundation in the first year of our business in Singapore, we are better primed to offer investors in Singapore a smarter, faster, and reliable investing experience in the many years ahead. The investing landscape is still rapidly evolving in this digital era, and we will continue to lead trends as well as predict needs and wants of investors.

“As an online investment platform founded in Silicon Valley, moomoo has always been holding dear to Futu’s founding vision of ‘Make Investing Easier,’ going global by leveraging cutting-edge technologies, and providing smarter investing tools and resources to all our markets around the world. Futu will make further progress into Singapore to benefit all investors.”

Appendix

Futu Singapore’s one-year anniversary milestones (8 March 2021 to 8 March 2022)

March 2021: Official launch of Futu Singapore Pte. Ltd.

May 2021: Futu SG won the Fintech Award at Singapore Business Review Technology Excellence Awards 2021

June 2021: moomoo starts offering a dedicated local customer service hotline in Singapore to support 24-hour service on trading days and 12-hour service on non-trading days for the ultimate online product experience and localised customer service

June 2021: Futu SG gained 100,000 paying clients in Singapore market, and 200,000 residents have opened an account with moomoo

July 2021: Futu SG held an in-app paper trading competition on moomoo for a three-month period from July to Aug 2021, that saw 15,000 unique participants from Singapore each month

Aug 2021: Futu SG announced that trading of SGX stocks on moomoo is up six-fold since its March 2021 launch

Aug 2021: Futu SG employed nation-wide “Learn & Earn” campaign which encouraged creative, rewards-based learning, and it concluded with over 70,000 participants in Singapore who attempted quizzes that test their investment-related knowledge. These participants made a total of close to 1.9 million attempts at the quizzes.

Aug 2021: Futu SG released branding campaign video online and on out-of-home advertising channels, with the former recording over 1 million views on YouTube

Sept 2021: Futu SG kicked off partnership with SGX to promote financial literacy, and held first joint webinar

Sept 2021 (3QFY2021): Singapore client assets placed with moomoo increased by over 50 per cent in three months, as compared to last quarter

Sept 2021 (3QFY2021): moomoo has become one of the fastest-growing investment platforms, consistently ranking among top three finance apps by download volume on Apple App Store and Google Play Store

Oct 2021: Futu SG partnered leading e-commerce platform, Shopee, in one-of-its-kind partnership for its 10.10 campaign

Dec 2021: moomoo is the top five most downloaded finance apps on both Apple App Store and Google Play Store in year 2021, since it was launched in Singapore

Jan 2022: Futu SG raised the highest amount of capital for Nikko Asset Management for the listing of the NikkoAM-StraitsTrading MSCI China Electric Vehicles and Future Mobility ETF, which makes it the top placement agent among other brokers in Singapore

Jan 2022: Kicked off SUSS Invest x Futu SG (moomoo) Portfolio Management Challenge to promote financial literacy, that saw over 250 participants across Universities in Singapore

Feb 2022: First digital brokerage to receive approvals-in-principle for all SGX memberships

March 2022 and beyond:

Futu SG has built up a vibrant, inclusive and supportive in-app social community on moomoo over the past year, and leads the trend of social sharing in the investment world. Singapore users of moomoo are actively exchanging insights, discussing investment-related topics, and helping one another along their investment journey.

Futu SG to continue to lead the industry to revolutionise the investing landscape for all with the moomoo investment super-app.

SOURCE Futu Singapore Pte. Ltd.

Author: TheFintechBuzz.com

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