Investors often lack the tools necessary to finance green growth initiatives in developing countries. International Finance Corporation (IFC), in partnership with Amundi, has addressed this issue with its successful green bond fund.

Softbank’s Vision Fund is to make a $100m investment to expand the technology business of Chinese online insurer ZhongAn. The $100bn investment fund, which has shaken up the world of technology investing over the past three years, will own a majority stake in the business, with plans to use ZhongAn’s technology in a number of its global investments, such as in Uber and its Chinese rival Didi Chuxing.

Since the launch of the UK Financial Conduct Authority’s regulatory sandbox in 2016, several other global regulators have followed suit in a bid to address some of the key issues around regulatory technology. And with the influx of new regulations continuing unabated, the need for innovative solutions to the challenges facing financial institutions has also never been more pressing.

The payments industry has arguably been the focus of equally significant amounts of investment and speculation over the last few years.

Even just a few years back, most people’s experiences of sending money overseas would be the low-value/high-cost remittance services available on the High Street or facing endless queues at their bank to fill in a slew of forms to move their cash.

Asset intelligence

State Street Global Advisors (SSGA) was launched to help investors face the future with increased confidence by helping them identify where growth is happening, understand key insights from large swathes of data, and better assess which functions are better outsourced.

Biometric technology company Zwipe and Silone CardTech, a VISA, Mastercard, China UnionPay and JCB certified card manufacturer based in Shenzhen, China have announced a partnership to launch battery-less dual-interface biometric payment cards with banks and loyalty programs in China.

Zurich-based RegTech startup Apiax’ new product allows banks and asset managers to factor the tax impact of financial instruments into their investment recommendations. 

VSoft Corporation, a global provider of information and technology solutions for financial institutions, announced a partnership with Payrailz, a digital payments company offering smarter, more engaging and secure payment experiences to banks and credit unions. VSoft will integrate Payrailz’s payment services into its digital banking platform, Arya.

CGS-CIMB Securities International Pte. Ltd. (“CGS-CIMB Securities”) through its wholly-owned subsidiary, CGS-CIMB Securities (Singapore) Pte. Ltd., launches its latest offering, CGS-CIMB eWealth. The robo-advisory platform taps on the Company’s strong research capabilities to provide goal-based and thematic portfolios to help investors meet their need for investment diversification through pairing portfolios with investors’ risk profiles and investment objectives.