Day: January 14, 2020

There is no question that the younger generation will adopt cryptocurrency. From Tamagotchis to Neopets and in-game loot and currency, it is apparent that anyone under the age of 45 has spent their childhoods being groomed to see digital assets as having value.

There is seemingly no end to the market that already exists for digital-only assets as the generations that grew up with home video game consoles and internet connectivity continue to join the workforce. Cryptocurrency is the next logical step for generations of people who have spent their entire lives seeing value in digital assets.

This does not mean that cryptocurrency is purely the realm of the young. As society progresses so, unfortunately, do scammers. The older generations are often seen as easy targets for scammers, but they don’t have to be, not anymore.

Cryptocurrency thanks to the unchangeable and secure nature is more resistant to tampering and scams. It can be tracked easily and is difficult to use for money laundering, because of this it is quickly outstripping traditional currencies in terms of security and trust.

As the baby boomer generation heads towards retirement they will suddenly have more time for leisure, and if there’s one thing that the last couple of decades have shown us is that leisure activities are filled with technology even activities you wouldn’t normally think of as requiring technical knowledge.

Most bookings are done electronically for vacations and theme parks and resorts alike are moving towards all-inclusive experiences using digital wristbands, apps, and keycards. Television and movies are moving away from traditional releases and into the realm of digital streaming of content.

The generation that often believes that they don’t know how to use technology has slowly become completely immersed in it. There is no shortage of technology marketed towards the needs of an aging population, from digital assistants to health monitoring devices, and tablets and phones retirement will be filled with technology for baby boomers.

This immersion coupled with the increasingly user-friendly designs behind cryptocurrency means that the older generations are just as prepared to reap all the benefits that cryptocurrency has to offer.

As the world gets smaller and people think more globally in terms of both goods and lifestyle traditional currency is starting to be found lacking by many. Having to exchange paper money every time a border is crossed or calculate and remember exchange rates along with foreign travel fees to use a credit card abroad quickly becomes tedious in an age where people have grown used to streamlined and often hassle-free services.

There is no reason why in an age where you can order a new phone charger, and have it delivered to your office in the center of a city in just a few hours you shouldn’t expect the same freedom and flexibility from your money.

Humanity’s values have evolved over time, just as society has. Originally value was tied to consumable goods and from there value shifted to precious metals and the gold standard and from there to where we currently are with fiat money.

Fiat money means that the money is government-issued currency not backed by a physical commodity but instead holds value simply because of the stability and trust behind the government backing the currency.

For decades the world has accepted value simply because they have been told the value exists and it is a small leap to move from this value for values sake to value based on digital scarcity and data security.

Cryptocurrency is poised to offer modern solutions to modern problems facing our global society and economy, regardless of age. Be it the instability of changing governments, the shift towards a more global way of thinking, or data security in an age where computer science is evolving faster than we ever thought it would cryptocurrency and blockchain technology is ready to offer solutions. Putting our trust in digital assets the same way we did with gold and later government backing is simply the next step in global finance and will creep into our lives the same way that the internet did; quickly, seamlessly, and without effort regardless of age.

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Last year was all about fintech rising to the digital demands of financial services, and this year the trend will continue, but with a tweak of technologies that are developing fast.

Fintech startups have gained more traction in these parts of the world, and during the first nine months of the last year, a record of US$735 million was invested in fintech ventures for Singapore alone. 

It is indicative of the larger investment interests in the fintech industry of Southeast Asia. Though there has been a remarkable development in different fintech sectors, there is a need to tap into some new technological domains for better business prospects.

Many of the countries in Southeast Asia are still developing their bandwidth capabilities, and it is the reason why there has been a considerable lapse in digital financial growth in some parts of the region.

Let us explore some technologies that can affect Southeast Asia’s fintech industry.

Smart devices

Smart devices such as health trackers, smartwatches, smart speakers, etcetera have been in the market for quite some time now, and last year, intelligent devices saw exponential growth with US$73,719 million in 2019 with a compound annual growth rate of 16.6 per cent for the forecast period of 2019-2024.

In 2020, this market will further rise and will allow new ways to provide digital financial services.

Asian markets saw a steep soar of smart device revenues last year, with US$35,756 million and a CAGR of 15.9 per cent. But, when we look at the stats, mainly for Southeast Asia, the smart device revenue sums up to US$1,429 million. Though there is a promising growth rate of 22.5 per cent, there is still a technology gap to be overcome.

Smart devices can affect the fintech industries in the following ways:

• Smart devices can be excellent platforms to support digital transactions and payments.
• These devices can promote financial products through digital marketing.
• Smart Speakers can help encourage speech-to-text transactions.
• There has been a voice commerce market already generating buzz.
• Smart health trackers can help in digital payments and health-related financial services.

The 5G bliss

 

We all are familiar with the 5G networks to hit most of the parts of the world this year, and Southeast Asia is no different. For the Association of Southeast Asian countries or ASEAN, 5G has a potential market that can benefit both the consumers and enterprises.

For fintech platforms 5G can boost the transaction speeds to help them garner more digital financial services in the region. 

With 5G networks, businesses can look to rack up the revenues by almost 18-22 per cent for a forecast period up to 2025, and that can lift the fintech industry to the next level. 

Also Read: The proliferation of 5G will transform businesses and societies: Here’s how

The impact of 5G on the ASEAN countries can be a reason to cheer for the fintech industry, with Indonesia set to have the most revenue share followed by Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand. To deliver such 5G capabilities, operators must oblige a contribution of about US$10 billion into the region’s 5G infrastructure.

Artificial Intelligence

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning algorithms can help these fintech platforms use the digital data of users to analyse several spending patterns and spending powers to design personalised lending and credit financial products. As these products are exactly according to the needs of the consumers, they can boost digital front of transactions and money lending for the fintech industry.

ASEAN lags in AI-related technologies, and yet countries such as Singapore have made the most incredible advances in AI-based fintech and machine learning usages in the financial offerings. Still, there are other promising attempts in places like Malaysia and Vietnam. 

But, as Mckinsey’s report on Artificial Intelligence and Asia’s future suggests, there will be beneficial advancements in the computational powers of the digital infrastructure, and more data will be available for machine learning algorithms to be applied on from hyperconnectivity.

Voice bots

 

Voice bots or chatbots have already revolutionalised the customer service paradigm, and many financial institutions and banking industry are already digitising the consumer services more efficiently through the chatbots. Fintech platforms are already relying heavily on the use of such programmed software that can learn from the user data and recommend effective services through the replication of human-like interactions. 

But other than consumer support applications, how these chatbots can shape the future of fintech industry in Southeast Asia for 2020? 

• These chatbots can be used to achieve relatively important user data through a questionnaire.
• Data received can be analysed for the economic and social backdrop of a consumer.
• We can use algorithms to predict the needs of consumer design specific financial packages.
• These financial products will be an exact match to the need of users.
• And as the chatbots discover need to recommend such products during the conversation.
• It can do so in the most humanised form due to its programming.

Exploring AR

Fintechs and AR (Augmented Reality) may seem a mismatch. But that is not the case. Augmented Reality has been the prime focus for media and marketing purposes these days, and the same can be explored by the fintech industries too. Fintechs can benefit from AR in the following ways.  

• Developing apps and AR software using software development that can use AR for transactions.
• Use of AR on Social Media platforms for financial product promotions.
• AR can also be used to provide product demos and live conversations.
• Consumer support capabilities can also be achieved through interactive AR in digital platforms.

It is 2020, and the business world is already looking forward to maximising technologies for higher productivity and revenues.

In this quest for the best, there is no way that fintech can ignore the importance of technologies in their growth and exponential profits in this coming 2020.

Southeast Asian region has the potential consumer setup to explore such technologies and advance successfully.

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ZA Bank in Hong Kong derogates established banks by offering a 6 per cent deposit rate [Bloomberg News]

As eight companies are granted digital banking licenses, ZA Bank becomes the first digital bank to offer a 6 per cent deposit rate for selected clients, compared to 1.9 per cent to 2.3 per cent granted by Standard Chartered, HSBC and BOC Hong Kong, according to Bloomberg News.

ZA bank, co-owned by online insurer ZhongAn Online P&C Insurance and Sinolink Group, started a pilot programme last month and has said that it will provide users with a ‘full suite of services 24/7’, allowing customers to open an account in five minutes with just a Hong Kong identity card.

Also Read: Things startup founders can learn from the 10 most powerful people in the world

Some industry experts have expressed their concern and doubts over the low rates stressing that new banks might not be able to match it. “This is more of a gimmick, which shouldn’t become a norm,” said Terry Siu, treasurer at CMB Wing Lung Bank Ltd “But competition for funds is indeed getting higher as eight more banks are coming out.”

India’s Ankur Capital raises US$34M [press release]

Ankur Capital, an Indian early-stage venture capital fund, has raised US$34 million from CDC Group Plc, The Dutch Good Growth Fund, and SIDBI.

The VC firm was first incorporated in 2014 by Penn/INSEAD alum Ritu Verma and ex-COO of Zee e-learning Rema Subramanian and has a diversified fund investment across 14 companies covering agritech, food, healthcare and vernacular technologies. Some of the companies include Cropin, Niramai, Healthsutra, ERC, and StringBio, 

AI company from NZ, Soul Machines, raises US$40M in a round led by Temasek [DealStreet Asia]

Soul Machines, an AI company developing digital avatars has secured US$40 million in a round led by Singaporean investment company Temasek.

This funding round saw participation from European VC Lakestar, Salesforce Ventures, Horizons Ventures, University of Auckland Inventors Fund and others, according to a statement.

The fresh capital will be used by the company for research and development and global expansion.

The company in its own words which develops “life-like digital humans that can talk to people face-to-face” has been trusted and used by corporates like Procter & Gamble, Mercedes-Benz, The Royal Bank of Scotland, ANZ and Sony

Pando raises US$9M Series A round led by Chiratae Ventures [press release]

Pando, an Indian company providing networked logistics management solutions, has raised INR 64 crore (US$9 million) in a Series A funding round led by Chiratae Ventures.

Other participants of this round were Nexus Venture Partners and Next47.

Also Read: Reefknot Investments, SGInnovate enter into partnership focussing on logistics innovation

“Global Logistics is going through a disruption, and large enterprises require a platform that can help them leverage these market changes to scale faster. Pando has helped shippers and transporters address this need through a full-stack solution. Their quality of execution at marquee customers, where Pando has become indispensable within a few months of adoption is remarkable. This convinced us to partner with them,” said TC Meenakshisundaram, Founder MD, Chiratae Ventures.

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Image Credit: Nattu Adnan

The post Today’s top tech news: Hong Kong’s digital bank ZA Ltd. diminishes established banks by offering 6% deposit rate appeared first on e27.

Grab has announced the appointment of Nguyen Thai Hai Van as Managing Director of Grab in Vietnam, effective February 1, 2020.

In this role, she will oversee business strategy and operations across all of Grab’s businesses in the country. Van will continue to drive the growth of ride-hailing, on-demand food delivery, logistics and fintech across Vietnam.

Also Read: The factors driving the success of Grab and what it took to become a market leader

With Grab’s recently announced US$500 million more investment into Vietnam over the next five years, Van will tap and invest in new opportunities emerging from the fintech, mobility and logistics space. She will also drive the ‘Grab for Good’ roadmap for Vietnam.

Van joined Grab Vietnam on November 01, 2019, after a 17-year-long career at Unilever Vietnam. At Unilever, she ran P&L and marketing in Vietnam and regionally across varied product lines.

She is also Co-Chair of the Vietnam Mobile Marketing Association.

Van succeeds Jerry Lim, who will return home to Singapore-based role as Regional Head of Customer Experience. He will lead Grab’s customer experience teams across eight Southeast Asian countries, including Vietnam.

Also Read: Grab reveals details of Vietnam investment plan, to invest US$500M over 5 years

Lim is credited with building GrabFood in Vietnam from scratch, empowering Vietnamese micro-entrepreneurs and small businesses to digitize and grow.

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Image Credit: Grab

 

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The word brand or logo is often cast-off in the technological world and though it is one of the most important factors to work on digitally. Branding has been stated to companies for a long time, but nowadays almost every next person has its own brand. Not the majority of the people know about that but they’re there nonetheless.

A footmark marked digitally in the shingle of time and technology is crowdsourced by the top managers and supervisors.
In this digital world, your own branding ties you with the world and your online presence is the essence if you want to grow your brand. Besides, every company is based on branding like a brand is an identity for their business.

Making a personal brand can help you reach your goals of success but it takes a lot of enthusiasm and dedication. Marketers every so often market those services and products that are needed to be market for themselves too.

If you’re having a goal for 2020 to enhance your brand name and identity then try to stay focused. Make sure you’re paying full attention and a special dedication to your brand or blog to get success. To enlighten your brand name in google insights, polish your digital skills, and work on marketing the most.

There are 7 ways to build a better brand that can define you in 2020, let’s just make your year’s resolution and work on it:

Work with a designer

Thousands of graphic designers are working in the digital industry for sure but to make your brand worthy, try to hire a skillful designer for your brand as designing is one of the most important factors to work on.

However, very few of the designers have an understanding of branding and the importance of it for real. Consistency is one of the most critical steps to take when you’re building a brand of your own.

Convey your brand message

You know that you need to clearly define your brand’s strategy and identity to your consumers. The font you choose affects your brand and the message you want to convey through the image. The right font can help you deliver the accurate message and the wrong font can mess up the whole business of yours.

Professionally, it is a basic rule to have an authentic brand font that attracts the naked eye and catches the message that what you’re selling and what your product is all about to the clients. Use something that is high in energy and would work in a better way for your business.

Emotions are coloured

We, in this era of technology, should know this how much it is valuable to understand that colors have psychological impacts on our brain and sight. Also, they’re connected with the emotions and can give us the ultimate direction.

Certain colors convey certain emotions to the audience and a large corporate world has devoted significant resources to run the market test just to extract out accurate emotions of the audience to colors.

For instance, the red color used to show intensity, yellow is for joy, orange is for creativity, and black is all about boldness and seriousness. Try to choose the right color for your branding and take it as a top strategy to put effort into.

Use social media correctly

You’re already spending much time on social media so why not make those minutes worthy enough to give your brand the identity it requires. No matter how your clients are reaching you and what platform they are trying to find your business on the most, try your best to expel your business’s magic on all platforms.

Dedicatedly, work on consistency and maintenance of your daily activity. Customers are trying to find you or listen from you but you’re not answering them then they lose their interest in your brand and move to the place where engagement and insights are amazingly driven.

Stick to your brand specification

Start thinking about what your brand is all about and how it can change your business growth. Like, which colors should be used to convey the message with correct emotions and what font uplifts your brand identity.

Being specific about the message you want to deliver and select your targeting audience to work on the niche explicitly. This strategy will help you drive more customers towards your business and do not forget to make deals for your loyal customers.

Attract your customer’s brain not only eyes

It is necessary to drag yourself and slip into the brain of your customers. While we’re talking about the mission statement, try to figure out what values and conclusions your business is based on.

It is really to get into their brain just by prospecting your target. Whenever you figure out what your customers are thinking and why you are considered about this then your brand will make you lots of money and success. As this begins to happen, your conversion rates are going to go through the roof on top of the moon and you will spend less time talking to customers lately.

Get inspired

If you find that you are having a problem with your business that the conversion rate is not growing up and you need to target almost thousands of audiences this month then make sure to follow the correct footsteps.

You can take inspiration from any other brand but try to follow possible branding strategies that other top brands are using. More often than not, what you’re going to discover is that they have dedicated their sweats towards curtailing their brands to make it look more appealing and interesting.

Start looking for their foundation they have made and built their business on, tighten up your business, and target the audience with better connectivity.

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Editor’s note: e27 aims to foster thought leadership by publishing contributions from the community. Become a thought leader in the community and share your opinions or ideas and earn a byline by submitting a post.

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