Financial Technology Weekly | Issue 19

Amazon announces completion of acquisition of primary care provider One Medical

On 22 February 2023, Amazon announced the completion of its $3.49 billion acquisition of 1Life Healthcare, the operator of the One Medical family of primary health clinics. A spokesperson for the US Federal Trade Commission said the previous day that the agency would not sue in time to block the deal, but would continue to investigate.

Information link:

http://tech.hexun.com/2023-02-23/207844554.html

Comment: One Medical operates more than 200 medical offices in 26 markets in the US, and customers pay a subscription fee to access its doctors and digital health services. With the completion of the acquisition, Amazon will significantly expand its healthcare business and enter the brick-and-mortar medical clinic space.

Indian SME SaaS platform Mintoak raises $20 million in funding led by PayPal Ventures

Mintoak, an Indian fintech company, recently announced a US$20 million funding round led by PayPal Ventures with participation from BII, Moby Dick Venture Fund, existing investor HDFC Bank and Pravega Ventures. The company said that going forward it plans to use the funding to grow its technology stack, expand its staff team and continue its market expansion in West Asia, Africa and South East Asia.

Information link: 

https://wap.stockstar.com/detail/IG2023022200002772

Comment: Founded in 2017 and headquartered in Mumbai, Mintoak is a SaaS platform that provides payment assistance services to users and currently has over 1.5 million users and has raised a cumulative $22.5 million in funding.

German corporate card platform Pliant raises $12 million in funding led by SBI

On 17 February 2023, German fintech company Pliant announced a US$28 million funding round led by Japan's SBI Investments, with participation from Carsten Maschmeyer's Alstin Capital, finleap founder Ramin Niroumand and Commerzbank's early stage fund neosfer. Pliant's services are used by invoice management software company Candis and travel and employee benefits software provider Circula. The 2022 Ernst & Young Startup Barometer report states that venture capital investment in German startups has fallen by 43% compared to the previous year. pliant's Series A round is the largest fintech funding round in Germany to date in 2023.

Information link: 

https://finance.stockstar.com/IG2023022100003011.shtml

Comment: Founded in 2020 and headquartered in Berlin, Pliant's credit card platform enables user companies to issue physical, virtual and disposable credit cards integrated into business back-end enterprise resource planning software.

Serving small and medium-sized start-ups, smart accounting software provider Puzzle secures $15 million in funding

On February 16, 2023, fintech startup Puzzle announced a $15 million Series A funding round to provide startups with smart accounting software and a real-time financial data platform to support startups' founding and finance teams with the collaboration needed for financing, taxation, business optimization and more. This comes as PYMNTS reports that more and more businesses are turning to automated solutions to remove bottlenecks from front and back-end operations and improve efficiency across verticals of operations, including finance and accounting offices, factory floors and even loading docks.

Information link: 

https://36kr.com/p/2135221876998274    

Comment: These efficiencies are particularly important at a time when inflation and interest rates are rising, investor enthusiasm for initial public offerings (IPOs) is waning and trading volumes have fallen to their lowest levels since the 2008 financial crisis.

battleface launches travel insurance product in Canada

battleface has partnered with Hunter McCorquodale to launch a travel insurance product in the Canadian market. In the future battleface plans to offer bespoke insurance products for B2B2C and B2C travel product distribution partners, as well as group travel insurance products for the corporate sector, education and not-for-profit organisations. In the future they will rely on Hunter McCorquodale's network of insurance brokers in Canada to drive further growth.

Information link:

https://www.insurance-canada.ca/2023/02/08/battleface-partnership-hunter-mccorquodale/

Comment: The product's coverage includes emergency medical benefits worth C$5 million (US$3.7 million), trip cancellation benefits of up to C$20,000 per person and personal liability coverage of up to C$500,000.

Currency exchange business TripMoney partners with embedded insurance technology Cover Genius

TripMoney, a subsidiary of Indian trip booking platform MakeMyTrip, will recommend Cover Genius' embedded no-excuse trip cancellation insurance product to its online customers. Travellers will not only be able to book tickets at any time, but will also be able to cancel their trip without any reason and get an instant refund without having to answer any questions.

Information link:

https://covergenius.com/make-my-trip-partners-with-cover-genius-to-offer-cancel-for-any-reason-protection/

Comment: The partnership will provide MakeMyTrip consumers with an automated, customer-centric claims experience.

Irish embedded insurtech Companjon partners with new European bank bunq

Irish embedded insurance technology Companjon has entered into a partnership with new European bank bunq. Under the partnership, Companjon will provide bunq consumers with a guarantee extension service and consumer protection solution to protect bunq customers from financial loss due to certain purchases.

Information link:

https://www.companjon.com/news/embedded-insurer-companjon-and-european-challenger-bank-bunq-join-forces-to-bring-users-digital- insurance/

Comment: Companjon's embedded insurance solution complements bunq's existing product insurance, strengthening its market position and creating value for the end consumer.

Verisk partners with artificial intelligence insurtech Tractable for claims processing technology

US insurance data analytics provider Verisk has partnered with artificial intelligence application company Tractable to expand its insurance claims ecosystem. Policyholders will be able to submit photos of damage using Tractable's system on a webpage, and the AI system will identify and estimate property damage based on the claims database. Verisk's Xactimate platform will then automatically generate the estimates.

Information link:

https://www.verisk.com/newsroom/tractable-teams-up-with-verisk-to-offer-ai-powered-estimates-for-property-damage/

Comment: Verisk will access Tractable's system to obtain a visual representation of the damage to the home using computer vision technology, which will help speed up the home repair and insurance claims processing process.

BOJ: Final phase of digital yen testing to start

On 17 February 2023, the Bank of Japan released a news release stating that it will conduct the third and final phase of testing the digital yen with commercial banks, third-party payment platforms and others starting in April this year. However, the currently envisaged test participation does not include brick-and-mortar shops and ordinary consumers.

Information link:

https://cj.sina.com.cn/articles/view/2258727970/m86a1742203301i58g

Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco is looking for software engineers to develop CBDC-related systems

On February 18, 2023, the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco posted a job opening for a Senior Application Developer - Digital Currency. The job posting reads, "Given the important role of the U.S. dollar, the Federal Reserve System seeks to learn more about the costs and benefits of potential technologies for central bank digital currencies and how it can better understand this emerging field." The position's primary responsibilities include developing systems related to CBDC, identifying improvements and mitigating risks. It is based in San Francisco, California and has a base salary of $110,300 to $176,300.

Information link:

https://cointelegraph.com/news/san-francisco-federal-bank-eyes-cbdc-system-development-reveals-job-posting

Singapore links with India for real-time payment system

On 21 February 2023, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) jointly announced the launch of the link between PayNow in Singapore and the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) in India. Using a mobile phone number, UPI identity or Virtual Payment Address (VPA), customers of relevant financial institutions in Singapore and India will be able to send and receive funds in real time between their bank accounts or e-wallets in both countries. This mechanism provides a secure, simple and cost-effective way for customers to transfer funds across borders.

Information link:

https://www.mpaypass.com.cn/news/202302/21143130.html

People's Bank of China and other departments: By 2025, the electronic fencing system and cross-border financial management system of Hengqin Guangdong-Macao Deep Cooperation Zone will be basically established

The People's Bank of China, the China Banking Regulatory Commission, the China Securities Regulatory Commission, the Foreign Exchange Bureau and the Guangdong Provincial People's Government have issued opinions on financial support for the construction of the Hengqin Guangdong-Macao Deep Cooperation Zone. By 2025, the electronic fence system and cross-border financial management system will be basically established, the integration of financial services between the cooperation zone and Macao will be initially realized, a financial environment that facilitates the life and employment of Macao residents will be initially formed, and a modern financial environment that helps Macao's economy to be moderately diversified will be initially formed. The development of a modern financial industry will be concentrated, and there will be early and pilot implementation in the areas of free and convenient cross-border capital flow, facilitation of investment and financing exchange, and opening up of the financial industry to the outside world. By 2035, the electronic fencing system and cross-border financial management system will be more complete, the level of financial integration between the Zone and Macau will be further enhanced, the financial environment will be more optimised, and the modern financial industry will be further developed. The Zone will be built into a new highland for the expansion and opening up of China's financial industry to the outside world, a financial services platform for China-Lusophone countries and a demonstration zone for the interconnection of financial markets in the Greater Bay Area of Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macau.

Information link:

https://news.cnr.cn/native/gd/20230223/t20230223_526162748.shtml

CAREC member countries discuss domestic revenue mobilisation and carbon taxation

On 14 February 2023, the Central Asian Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC) High Level Policy Dialogue on "Mobilizing Taxes for Development and Decarbonization" was held in Georgia. At the meeting, Yevgeniy Zhukov, Director of the Asian Development Bank's (ADB) Central and West Asia Bureau, highlighted that carbon taxes are not only an important tool to help CAREC countries implement country-owned contributions to achieve the Paris Agreement goals, but also to help raise climate awareness and ambition. The revenue generated from a carbon tax could be used to promote low-carbon technologies and renewable energy, improve energy efficiency, or to repair damage to the environment. Even though there are still design considerations and challenges to be addressed, there is significant potential for a carbon tax, and CAREC countries can learn valuable lessons from economies that have already implemented a carbon tax and seek to strengthen design and implementation to achieve optimal cost effectiveness.

Information link:

https://4g.stockstar.com/detail/IG2023022200002771

PBoC and five other departments: Support Guangzhou Futures Exchange to build electricity futures market

The People's Bank, together with the CBRC, the SFC, the Bureau of Foreign Exchange and the Guangdong Provincial People's Government, jointly issued the Opinions on Financial Support for the Comprehensive Deepening of Reform and Opening-up of the Qianhai Shenzhen-Hong Kong Modern Service Industry Cooperation Zone, proposing to support the cooperation zone to improve the green financial service system, promote the mutual recognition of green financial standards with Hong Kong and Macao, strengthen green financial cooperation in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, and encourage enterprises in the cooperation zone to use the platform of Hong Kong and Macao for green enterprises and green projects for certification and financing. Strengthen the evaluation of green financial performance of financial institutions. Support the Guangzhou Futures Exchange in building an electricity futures market to serve the development of green finance in the Cooperation Zone.

Information link:

https://www.cls.cn/detail/1275754

Global Green Finance Development Report (2022) Released, China Ranks Fourth in the World in Green Finance Development Index

On 22 February 2023, the launch of the Global Green Finance Development Report (2022) and the Blue Book on China's Local Green Finance Development Report (2022), jointly organized by the Green Finance International Institute of the Central University of Finance and Economics (hereinafter referred to as the Green Finance Institute of the Central University of Finance and Economics) and Social Science Literature Publishing House, was held in Beijing.

Information link:

https://news.sina.com.cn/zx/esg/2023-02-23/doc-imyhsmqu8548680.shtml

Green finance innovation and development "accelerates" with several first "green bonds" landing in Wuxi

Under the guidance of the "double carbon" target, the development of green finance is moving into the fast lane. The development of green finance in Wuxi is even more noteworthy. In recent years, the country's first single green dollar bond for local state-owned enterprises, the country's first single transformational carbon asset bond, the country's first zero-carbon investment fund, the province's first "environmental protection guarantee" loan, the province's first green equity investment fund.

Information link:

https://finance.sina.com.cn/jjxw/2023-02-23/doc-imyhryyy8624519.shtml

Biden calls for more tech crackdowns and a push for long-term anti-trust efforts

On 7 February 2023, President Joe Biden delivered a State of the Union address in which he urged Congress to strengthen antitrust legislation to "prevent large online platforms from giving their products an unfair advantage". Biden's comments appear to be an endorsement of the American Innovation and Choice Online Act (AICOA). This legislation aims to prevent dominant companies from giving preference to their own products or discriminating against those of their competitors. In practice, this could mean that Amazon will not be able to place its own products at the top of search results or that Google will be banned from highlighting its own services in its search engine results. This is also the first time since former President Jimmy Carter in 1979 that a president has mentioned anti-trust in a State of the Union address.

Information link:

https://www.weiyangx.com/419131.html

Encouraging innovation in the industry, the UK's financial authorities plan to set up a comprehensive data expert group

In February 2023, the UK Financial Conduct Authority's (FCA) Innovation Department established an Innovation Advisory Group (IAG) to deepen innovation collaboration with the industry and inform the FCA's forward work programme. on 15 February 2023, the FCA again announced that it will establish a subgroup within the IAG to examine issues relating to the use of synthetic data in financial markets. The role of the proposed Synthetic Data Expert Group (SDEG) is said to be to 1) identify relevant use cases; 2) develop best practice in relation to UK financial services; 3) create a mature and effective framework for collaboration between industry, regulators, academia and wider civil society on issues relating to synthetic data; and 4) act as a sounding board in relation to specific FCA projects involving synthetic data.

Information link:

https://4g.stockstar.com/detail/IG2023022300002853

FTC establishes Office of Technology to address digital marketplace technology challenges

On February 17, 2013, the Federal Trade Commission announced the launch of the Office of Technology to strengthen the FTC's ability to address the technological challenges of the digital marketplace by supporting the agency's enforcement and policy efforts. The Office of Technology will be staffed and resourced and led by Chief Technology Officer Stephanie T. Nguyen.

Information link:

https://finance.stockstar.com/IG2023022100002113.shtml

European Parliament steps up efforts to target illicit financial investigations

announced that the Civil Liberties Committee has approved rules that will help to effectively investigate illicit finance by making it easier to retrieve data from the central bank registers created by the Fifth Anti-Money Laundering Directive. It requires EU member states to ensure that information from the central registry is available through a single access point developed and operated by the European Commission.

Information link:

http://world.people.com.cn/n1/2021/0721/c1002-32164429.html

US stocks closed on Monday, FOMC meeting minutes to be released

The Federal Reserve will release the minutes of its last FOMC meeting this Wednesday EST, slowing the pace of rate hikes to 25 basis points after a year of sharp increases. And since then, a number of US economic data have also shown that the country's inflationary momentum has paused. However, by January, the US Producer Price Index PPI had again recorded its biggest rise in seven months. Moreover, the US employment report for January was also quite strong, and a series of data made investors worry that the Federal Reserve would follow up with another increase in interest rate hikes. According to interest rate futures quotes, the market now expects the federal funds rate to break through 5.2% in July. Meanwhile, the FOMC minutes may give investors an idea of the Fed's willingness to carry out a larger rate hike at its upcoming March meeting, following recent comments from some Fed officials suggesting a pro-rate hike stance.

Information link:

https://www.federalreserve.gov/monetarypolicy/fomccalendars.htm

Fed to curb inflation by means of interest rate hikes

The minutes of the US Federal Reserve's first monetary policy meeting of the year, released on 22nd local time, said there were signs that inflation was falling, but not enough to offset the need for further interest rate hikes. This means that the Fed will continue to raise interest rates to curb inflation. The minutes noted that inflation "remains well above" the Fed's 2% target. At the same time, the labor market "remains very tight", wages and prices continue to bear upward pressure. As a result, the Fed announced on February 1 that it would raise its target range for the federal funds rate by 25 basis points to between 4.50% and 4.75%, the smallest increase since the first rate hike in the tightening cycle began in March 2022. However, the minutes show that the market is highly concerned that inflation remains a threat as the Fed slows the pace of rate hikes.

Information link:

http://www.news.cn/world/2022-03/30/c_1128517064.htm

Huaxia Bank: FY2022 net profit of 25.035 billion yuan, up 6.37% year-on-year

Huaxia Bank released its 2022 annual results this evening, with operating income of 93.808 billion yuan, down 2.15% year-on-year; net profit attributable to shareholders of listed companies of 25.035 billion yuan, up 6.37% year-on-year; basic earnings per share of 1.43 yuan, up 5.93% year-on-year.

Information link:

http://bank.hexun.com/2023-02-24/207849838.html

Central Bank Shanghai Headquarters: RMB deposits in Yangtze River Delta increased by RMB2.26 trillion in January, up RMB1.11 trillion over the same period last year

The Central Bank of China (CBC) Shanghai Headquarters announced the operation of money and credit in the Yangtze River Delta region in January 2023. in January, RMB deposits in the Yangtze River Delta region increased by RMB2.26 trillion, an increase of RMB1.11 trillion year-on-year. Among them, deposits in the household sector increased by 1.95 trillion yuan, an increase of 292.8 billion yuan year-on-year; deposits in non-financial enterprises increased by 48.4 billion yuan, an increase of 230.2 billion yuan year-on-year; fiscal deposits increased by 22 billion yuan, an increase of 63 billion yuan year-on-year; deposits in non-banking financial institutions increased by 278.1 billion yuan, an increase of 378.9 billion yuan year-on-year.

Information link:

https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_22047609?commTag=true

U.S. stocks opened lower, the three major indices closed sharply lower, and fell by more than 2%

By the close, the Dow Jones index fell 2.06% to 33,129.59 points; the S&P 500 index fell 2.00% to 3,997.34 points, after less than a month lost the 4,000-point mark, the two indices are the biggest single-day decline since December 15 last year; the Nasdaq composite index fell 2.50% to 11,492.30 points. Traders are concerned that stubborn inflation in the US could lead the Federal Reserve to keep interest rates higher for longer, increasing the risk of the economy falling into recession. This was reflected in both the stock and bond markets: the 10-year US bond yield, the anchor of global asset pricing, rose to 3.9% during the day, while the yield on the 2-year Treasury note, which is more sensitive to interest rates, rose above 4.2%.

Information link:

http://m.techweb.com.cn/marticle/2023-02-22/2920392.shtml

Energy giant Saudi Aramco signs agreement with droppGroup to build Web3 technology

Recently, energy giant Saudi Arabian National Oil Company (Saudi Aramco) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Web3 technology provider droppGroup to explore the joint development of a range of Web3 technologies to benefit its workers, including onboarding, training ecosystems, and tokenised networks and reward schemes. The partnership is reportedly not the company's first foray into blockchain technology. in early 2020, the company invested US$5 million in Vakt, a blockchain-based commodity transaction post-processing platform. droppGroup is a Web3 technology provider with a technology stack that includes artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML), extended reality (XR), tokenised networks and a meta-universe environment .

Information link:

https://new.qq.com/rain/a/20230220A09O9H00

Boao Forum for Asia 2023 Annual Conference to be held from 28 to 31 March

The Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) 2023 Annual Conference is scheduled to take place in Boao, Hainan from 28 to 31 March. The theme of the conference is "An Uncertain World: Unity, Cooperation, Challenges, Openness and Inclusion for Development". This year's conference will be held entirely offline. Representatives from various sectors, including politics, business, academia and the media, will be invited to discuss the theme of the conference as well as the topics of "Development and Inclusion", "Governance and Security", "Regional and Global" and "The Present and the Future". The conference will focus on the theme "Development and Inclusion", "Governance and Security", "Regional and Global" and "The Present and the Future", to discuss the development of the post-epidemic world and promote international solidarity and cooperation.

Information link:

https://world.gmw.cn/2023-02/17/content_36373214.htm

Fintech start-up Atlantic Money launches fixed-rate foreign exchange transfer service

Atlantic Money, a fintech start-up, has recently announced the launch of its international money transfer service. Atlantic Money initially started in the UK with the pound as its base currency, supports nine different currencies and is regulated by the Belgian and UK governments. Today, the company is live in 29 European countries, supporting foreign currency exchange and cross-border transfers. What makes Atlantic Money stand out is that it charges a fixed fee for foreign exchange transactions, rather than adding a price to the exchange rate. The company charges £3 or €3 per money transfer, regardless of the size of the transaction.

Information link:

https://www.36kr.com/p/2128237673852160

Disclaimer: The content is from the Internet, WeChat official account and other public channels. We are neutral about the points in the article. This article is only for reference and exchange.