- \n
- More than half of the largest banks in the world, including Barclays, Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase, have invested in blockchain companies<\/a>.<\/li>\n
- Sifted and Checkout.com have presented<\/a> highlights of current consumer behavior trends, most notably in-app purchases, ethical brand preferences, social media shopping and demand for seamless global payments in real time.<\/li>\n
- FinTech startup BharatPe<\/a> has become India\u2019s 19th<\/sup> FinTech unicorn.<\/li>\n
- HSBC<\/a> will soon allow its clients to invest in FinTechs that are playing a key role in digitizing the financial services market.<\/li>\n
- In crypto news: (1)<\/a> IMF representatives warn about the dire consequences of accepting<\/a> bitcoin as a national currency; (2) JPMorgan Chase has launched<\/a> a bitcoin fund for wealthy clients; (3)<\/a> Robinhood plans to protect its users from high cryptocurrency volatility; (4)<\/a> Visa has recorded an increase in the volume of cross-border payments amid the growth of cryptocurrency popularity; (5)<\/a> the value of bitcoin has adjusted to an announcement that the rumors around crypto-based payments being accepted on Amazon are not true; (6)<\/a> PayPal is preparing to launch artificial intelligence (AI)-powered cryptocurrency super apps; (7)<\/a> CoinJar, one of Australia’s oldest digital asset exchanges, has launched the country’s first cryptocurrency-based Mastercard card; (8)<\/a> China will continue to put pressure on crypto community members; and (9)<\/a> Google has resumed displaying ads for crypto exchanges and crypto wallets.<\/li>\n
- Visa has entered the buy-now-pay-later<\/a> (BNPL) market by implementing a series of APIs that will allow BNPL solutions to be embedded into its products.<\/li>\n
- Mastercard has launched<\/a> the Start Path<\/em> program to support cryptocurrency and blockchain projects.<\/li>\n
- In central bank digital currency (CBDC) news: (1)<\/a> analysts from the US Federal Reserve and Yale University have proposed an alternative to CBDCs; (2)<\/a> the UK has yet to decide if it needs a national digital currency; and (3)<\/a> the Central Bank of Estonia, in collaboration with the European Central Bank (ECB) and the regulators of a number of European Union (EU) countries, has successfully tested the digital euro.<\/li>\n
- MarketsandMarkets is predicting<\/a> that the digital identity industry will grow from USD 23.3 billion in 2021 to USD 49.5 billion by 2026.<\/li>\n
- SWIFT has launched an international money transfer service<\/a>, with 7 large banks already connected to the service.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Russia<\/strong><\/p>\n
- \n
- The Central Bank of Russia has presented<\/a> its plan for the development of Russia\u2019s financial market for 2022\u20132024.<\/li>\n
- IA Banki.ru has ranked<\/a> Russia\u2019s largest banks in terms of digitalization, with Raiffeisenbank, VTB and Tinkoff Bank ranking the highest.<\/li>\n
- Samsung Pay could be banned<\/a> in Russia, although most experts don\u2019t believe it will come to this.<\/li>\n
- The second stage of testing face-pay technology (i.e. payment by biometric authentication) in Moscow\u2019s metro has begun.<\/li>\n
- Tinkoff Bank and Yandex.market have launched online customer lending, allowing marketplace users to make online purchases of between RUB 3,000 and RUS 200,000 using credit obtained during the checkout process.<\/li>\n
- In news from Sber: (1)<\/a> smartphones can now be used in lieu of cash registers; (2)<\/a> currency exchange is now easier with the use of virtual assistants; and (3)<\/a> Rosfinmonitoring allows for cryptocurrency transactions to be tracked.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Ukraine<\/strong><\/p>\n
- \n
- Government and business representatives have developed<\/a> a roadmap for the integration of cryptocurrencies in Ukraine by 2024. The roadmap forecasts that half of the country will use digital currencies by this time.<\/li>\n
- The Ministry of Finance has discovered<\/a> the current cost of Monobank as well as whether attempts were actually made to acquire the most popular neobank in Ukraine.<\/li>\n
- The Ukrainian Association of FinTech and Innovative Companies has created<\/a> a discussion platform for dialogue between financial sector players and government agencies regarding necessary changes in financial legislation.<\/li>\n
- Dmitry Dubilet (the co-founder of Monobank), Alexander Vityaz (the creator of Privat24) and Nikolay Bezkrovny have launched<\/a> FinTech Farm to launch digital banks.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Kazakhstan<\/strong><\/p>\n
- \n
- The AIFC Fintech Hub, with the support<\/a> of Mastercard and the Internet Initiatives Development Fund, has launched a global industry platform for finding and implementing open innovations in leading banks in Kazakhstan.<\/li>\n
- The AIFC Financial Services Regulatory Committee has proposed limits<\/a> for retail investors when buying cryptocurrencies.<\/li>\n
- Alfa-Bank has presented<\/a> a number of digital business solutions, including a mobile app for entrepreneurs, Alfa Pay (which allows payments to be accepted via a smartphone) and online lending.<\/li>\n
- Cool long reads: (1)<\/a> Aidar Beknazarov, chief compliance manager of Quantdart Fintech Limited, explains how the digital assets regulation rules operate in Kazakhstan and on the territory of the Astana International Financial Center (AIFC); (2)<\/a> Alibek Narimbai, CEO of Biometric, discusses the development of biometrics and (3)<\/a> Tatyana Batishcheva, financial columnist for Forbes Kazakhstan, outlines the risks<\/a> of digitalization for banks.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Tajikistan<\/strong><\/p>\n
- \n
- Alif Capital, the largest FinTech company in Tajikistan, has signed<\/a> an agreement with Refinancing Fund that will help expand access to financial services for the economically active as well as strengthen the microfinance sector.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Uzbekistan<\/strong><\/p>\n
- \n
- The Central Bank of Uzbekistan has launched<\/a> a financial literacy mobile app to complement the finlit.uz website. Content is available in Russian and Uzbek and covers topics such as lending, deposits and budgeting.<\/li>\n
- The number of users of TBC UZ<\/a>, the first neobank in Uzbekistan, has reached 500,000.<\/li>\n
- The Central Bank of Uzbekistan recently held a webinar<\/a> on national strategies for increasing the availability of financial services in 2021\u20132023.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Azerbaijan<\/strong><\/p>\n
- \n
- FinTech Farm and Unibank are launching the Leobank<\/a> FinTech service this September. More information on the service is available on their website.<\/li>\n
- Taleh Kazimov, chairman of the board of PASHA Bank, discusses<\/a> how the bank implements innovative technologies as well as how it launche online loans for businesses.<\/li>\n
- Taleh Tairli, deputy chairman of the board of the International Bank of Azerbaijan, discusses<\/a> how the digital transformation process, how their mobile app has become a mail communication channel with clients and why 90% of business clients use internet banking solutions.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
- Taleh Kazimov, chairman of the board of PASHA Bank, discusses<\/a> how the bank implements innovative technologies as well as how it launche online loans for businesses.<\/li>\n
- The number of users of TBC UZ<\/a>, the first neobank in Uzbekistan, has reached 500,000.<\/li>\n
- The Central Bank of Uzbekistan has launched<\/a> a financial literacy mobile app to complement the finlit.uz website. Content is available in Russian and Uzbek and covers topics such as lending, deposits and budgeting.<\/li>\n
- The AIFC Financial Services Regulatory Committee has proposed limits<\/a> for retail investors when buying cryptocurrencies.<\/li>\n
- The Ministry of Finance has discovered<\/a> the current cost of Monobank as well as whether attempts were actually made to acquire the most popular neobank in Ukraine.<\/li>\n
- IA Banki.ru has ranked<\/a> Russia\u2019s largest banks in terms of digitalization, with Raiffeisenbank, VTB and Tinkoff Bank ranking the highest.<\/li>\n
- Sifted and Checkout.com have presented<\/a> highlights of current consumer behavior trends, most notably in-app purchases, ethical brand preferences, social media shopping and demand for seamless global payments in real time.<\/li>\n
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