Singapore FinTech Festival returned for its ninth annual edition, bringing together policy, finance and technology communities at the Singapore EXPO. As expected, innovations and announcements were rife throughout, here’s a roundup of all the news coming out of the global event.
Organised by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), Global Finance & Technology Network (GFTN) and Constellar, in collaboration with The Association of Banks in Singapore, Singapore FinTech Festival 2024 specifically focused on the potential of Artificial Intelligence (AI), quantum computing and digital assets in shaping financial services and delivering sustainable and inclusive economic growth.
Here’s our pick of the announcements made at Singapore FinTech Festival 2024.
Visa bolsters Asia Pacific product suite
Payments giant Visa showcased a range of new products and solutions at Singapore Fintech Festival, revealing plans to roll them out across Asia Pacific. These include:
Visa Flexible Credential – This enables a single card product to toggle between payment methods. Consumers can set parameters or choose between debit, credit, ‘pay-in-four’, or pay using rewards points.
New wallet payment experience – Soon, consumers will be able to use their wallets to scan and pay at merchants outside of their domestic markets that accept Visa via scanning-enabled QR codes.
Visa Payment Passkey – Enables consumers to authenticate their identity, and authorise payments, by scanning their biometrics. For online shopping, Visa passkeys replace passwords or one-time codes.
Click to Pay – Enables consumers to complete online transactions within a few clicks, powering a more seamless and secure checkout experience at scale.
Data Tokens – A new way for people to control their data and enhance their shopping experiences, powered by AI. This token can be used by the merchant’s AI models to quickly deliver recommendations.
Visa Protect for Account-to-Account (A2A) Payments – Detect and reduce fraud across immediate account-to-account payments, including P2P digital wallets and QR code payments.
“The payments landscape is changing rapidly, and it is impacting the interactions between consumers and businesses,” explained TR Ramachandran, head of products and solutions, Asia Pacific at Visa. “For Visa, this is an opportunity to deliver innovations that enhance payment experiences across Asia Pacific with greater flexibility, security, and convenience. Visa is committed to meeting the evolving demands of consumers and merchants, ensuring seamless and secure payments.”
Blockchain-enabled cross-border payments
StraitsX, a payments infrastructure provider for the digital assets space in Southeast Asia, has officially gone live in partnership with Ant International and Grab.
It aims to enable more efficient funds transfer via Purpose Bound Money (PBM) when inbound tourists use Alipay+ payment partner apps for payments at GrabPay merchants in Singapore. Ant International is also working with StraitsX to enable the efficiency and interoperability of payments made via PBM through the Whale platform, Ant International’s treasury management solution.
Tianwei Liu, deputy CEO and co-founder of StraitsX, commented: “Building a cross-border payment solution using blockchain technology to enable a seamless cross-border payment experience has been our mission since day one. Through this, we also hope to connect the diverse economies in Asia together to bring to reality a connected and inclusive digital economy.”
Opening up payment borders with QR codes
Ant International’s announcements didn’t stop there, as its cross-border mobile payment solution, Alipay+, revealed it was expanding its partnership with PayPay, Japan’s QR payment operator. to broaden its merchant coverage network across Japan.
By working with local partners including PayPay, Alipay+ plans to connect over three million local merchants to the global payment ecosystem, enabling local businesses and payment partners to provide global visitors seamless and secure payment and travel experiences with their preferred domestic e-wallets.
Douglas Feagin, president of Ant International, said: “Enabling travellers to pay with their home wallets when they see a PayPay QR code will open up the payment borders for the global tourism marketplace.”
Paying with crypto
Payment acceptance firm Ingenico announced a new partnership with crypto trading platform Crypto.com, bringing crypto payments and merchant services to its platform. Via a new ‘plug-and-play’ solution, Ingenico merchants will be able to securely accept crypto payments.
Patrick Blanc, CTO of Ingenico, remarked: “This collaboration marks a pivotal moment for merchant services worldwide, setting a new standard for innovative payment solutions that are moving commerce forward.”
“We are on a mission to make it easier for people to use cryptocurrency in real-world payment scenarios and our partnership with Ingenico will go a long way to bringing crypto out of the web and increase its adoption as a powerful payment tool,” added Eric Anziani, president and COO of Crypto.com. “Crypto.com Pay is a secure and scalable technology, offering our customers yet another innovative way to interact with cryptocurrency – as the future of payments.”
Ingenico showcased live demonstrations of its new crypto payment solution throughout Singapore Fintech Festival 2024.
Increasing payment security
Tencent also announced a strategic partnership with Visa to introduce its palm recognition technology for digital payments in international markets. It revealed that it will first roll out the service in Singapore, where Visa cardholders from participating banks, including DBS, OCBC, and UOB, will be part of the pilot programme.
In a speech during Singapore FinTech Festival’s first day, Yang Wenhui, general manager at Tencent Financial Technology Asia Pacific, detailed the principles and advantages of Tencent Palm’s palm recognition technology, showcasing the innovation of Tencent Palm in both user experience and technology application, as well as its commitment to data security and privacy compliance.
“This innovative solution represents our commitment to providing a simple, convenient, and secure way for consumers to pay,” said Adeline Kim, country manager for Singapore and Brunei at Visa. “Based on our biometrics study, close to seven in 10 Singapore consumers see this as a secure way to pay. Our aim is to enhance the payment experience and ensure that our customers can enjoy seamless transactions with the highest level of security.”
Ravi Menon delivers a keynote address at Singapore FinTech Festival 2024
GFTN appointments
GFTN also announced its new board of directors and international advisory board. Ravi Menon, former managing director, at MAS, chairs the GFTN board of directors, joined by two deputy chairs: Leong Sing Chiong, deputy managing director at MAS and Neil Parekh, Nominated Member of Parliament, Singapore; non-executive chairman at Tikehau Capital.
Other board of directors members will include:
Iqbal Jumabhoy, CEO of ProsperCap Corporation Limited
Professor Lam Khin Yong, VP (Industry) at Nanyang Technological University Singapore
Andrew Lim, partner at Allen & Gledhill
Jessica Tan, group executive vice president and president at Sunlife Canada
Sopnendu Mohanty, chief fintech officer at MAS
GTFN’s board of directors will be guided by the international advisory board, of which members include:
Hon. Paula Ingabire, Minister of ICT and Innovation, Republic of Rwanda
Eric Jing, chairman and CEO at Ant Group and chairman of Ant International
Dr Patrick Njoroge, former Governor, Central Bank of Kenya
Dr Veerathai Santiprabhob, former Governor, Bank of Thailand
Dr Axel Weber, advisor at Raisin
Dominic Barton, chairman at LeapFrog Investments
“I look forward to welcoming more members to both the board of directors and the International Advisory Board as we expand GFTN’s work in harnessing innovation in financial ecosystems to create economic opportunity, strengthen resilience, improve people’s lives, and secure a more inclusive and sustainable future for all,” said Menon.
Making real-time payments more accessible
Nium, the global infrastructure provider for real-time cross-border payments, is partnering with Partior, a blockchain-based fintech for clearing and settlement, enabling financial institutions to connect with Nium via Partior for transparent, real-time payouts, clearing, and settlement to over 100 markets worldwide.
As part of its continued expansion, Nium’s partnership with Partior enhances its ability to facilitate frictionless global transactions and unlock new services such as intra-day FX swaps, cross-currency repos, programmable enterprise liquidity management, and multi-bank payments for financial institutions.
“By integrating with advanced networks, such as Partior, we are ensuring that financial institutions can quickly and easily access our real-time payments infrastructure without the need for complex technical integrations,” said Alexandra Johnson, chief payments officer at Nium. “Recognising how resource-constrained financial institutions are, we’re eliminating barriers to using our network and increasing interoperability to deliver on our mission of having seamless and streamlined real-time payments to anyone, anywhere.”
The post Announced at Singapore FinTech Festival 2024: New Partnerships, Product Launches and Appointments appeared first on The Fintech Times.
