Island Fintech Weekly (5 Apr 22)

BNPL competitors band together to influence regulation in Singapore, WadzPay’s brush with TechInAsia, GCash’s strategy: expand, then IPO.

Apr 04, 2022

Hey Islanders,

Been a while. How’s life been for you? I took a break over Christmas. That break - well - it went on for a little longer than expected. Anyways, I’m back!

I attended a fintech meetup while I was in London last week called Fintechila.

It was really cool to meet likeminded folks on similar, yet quite different, paths in the fintech space. When I lived in NYC, there were similar events that brought people together, where I really saw the power of community. Let me know here about the community events you may want to see in Singapore. If the idea takes off, we could try expanding this regionally - Jakarta, KL, Bangkok, infinity and beyond 🚀

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Note - If you are looking to raise early stage funding (seed to Series A), I may be able to help. Reach out via LinkedIn with a quick note on what you’re building, and the help you need.

🐠 Dips

① BNPL competitors band together to influence regulation in Singapore

So, it appears that competitors can be friends! Especially when it means moving the regulatory needle toward a comfortable point. Atome, Grab, and Hoolah are working together to establish a “Buy Now, Pay Later Working Group” under the local trade body for fintech, SFA. This makes strategic sense, as the clock is ticking. MAS has now spent a year (since 2021 Feb) reviewing the appropriate regulatory approach for BNPL, which has been relatively unregulated - folks have criticised the industry’s hidden fees and lack of credit checks. In similar Singapore BNPL news, Pace (a 2020 founded upstart) acquired Rely (Singapore’s first BNPL - a 2017 vintage).

② WadzPay’s brush with TechInAsia

The Singapore-based WadzPay claims to be a lot of things, and takes me back to a famous 19 year old’s brief brush with fame (and later infamy) in 2021. The article I hoped to reference was titled “WadzPay tried to fake it to make it. Then we found out”. The caption was even juicier - the crypto startup says it's a Mastercard and Visa partner. Then things got weird. I was excited to write about it.. but, when I opened my browser, it showed up, and then disappeared! Seems like there are threats of legal proceedings. Well, let’s see where this goes. I shall reserve comment (for now!)

③ GCash’s strategy: expand, then IPO

Phillipines’ favourite e-wallet, GCash, is planning to IPO at some point. But before it goes there, Ernest Cu, its CEO, wants to grow its ecosystem, and one would assume, it’s valuation. The most recently reported figures for GCash was $2 billion in 2021.
Ernest is looking to include crypto and stock trading to its current service which now include loans and insurance. In Ernest’s words - “We now have a fintech business and a telecommunications business. Eventually, we will have a health business, an e-commerce business. So it’s turning into a group of digital companies that feed on each other.” The platform enables money transfers and even online betting on cockfights. 🐓 If GCash does well, then so does Singtel - Singapore’s (almost) national telecom provider. Singtel owns about 47% of Globe Telecom’s common shares.

🐋 Dives

The Case for Open Finance in Southeast Asia (Diego Rojas, Finantier)
Singapore fintech startups take off amid financial sector boom (Fumito Akiyama, Nikkei Asia)
FinTech continues to be a hot sector in Southeast Asia after a booming 2021 (Yimei Yong, Technode Global)

🍹 Twitticisms

(P.S. Again, if anyone has SEA or Asia focused fintech Twitter accounts I should be following, tweet me. The accounts I see on my feed are overwhelmingly 🇺🇸 focused)