Tag: financial

/C O R R E C T I O N — SMARTLEND FINANCIAL PTE. LTD./

SINGAPORE, June 12 -- SmartLend, a fully digital alternative financing platform, has officially launched in Singapore, offering small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) a faster, more transparent way to secure funding.  Apply Once Access All By eliminating third-party brokers and unnecessary costs, SmartLend simplifies the financing process, enabling businesses to compare and obtain loans efficiently without hidden fees. For many SMEs, securing financing from traditional banks remains challenging due to stringent credit requirements and complex application procedures. Those who explore alternative financing often rely on brokers who charge high fees—typically between 3% and 7%—or impose undisclosed costs. SmartLend removes these barriers with a free-to-use platform that provides SMEs with a clear and unbiased view of their financing options, ensuring they secure the best possible funding quickly and cost-effectively. What once took days of paperwork can now be completed in just minutes. By connecting SMEs directly with a network of trusted lenders, SmartLend ensures a transparent and cost-effective borrowing experience. Removing intermediaries benefits both businesses and lenders, creating a more streamlined and efficient financing ecosystem. Unlike traditional loan aggregators, SmartLend's intelligent matching engine prioritises the most cost-effective bank financing first, only recommending alternative lenders when necessary. This ensures businesses always receive the best possible financing terms. According to Danny Phua, CEO of SmartLend, the platform builds upon the success of Smart Towkay, a comparison platform that has helped over 5,000 SMEs secure more than S$100 million in funding. However, the process was still largely manual, requiring businesses to sift through offers and handle paperwork. SmartLend takes this further by automating the entire journey—from loan matching to application—providing businesses with a seamless, digital-first experience. By integrating automation, SmartLend makes alternative financing more accessible, efficient, and borrower-friendly. Beyond business loans, SmartLend is expanding its offerings to include property equity term loans, allowing SMEs to unlock capital using their assets, providing them with greater financial flexibility. Future features will include an instant property valuation tool, enabling businesses to assess their assets in real time, and a document vault, allowing SMEs to track and manage loans across multiple lenders from a single platform. Phua emphasised that the platform's goal is to empower SMEs by giving them full control over their financing journey without unnecessary delays or consultancy costs. With its innovative approach, SmartLend is set to transform the way businesses in Singapore access funding, making alternative financing more transparent, accessible, and cost-effective. -- PRNewswire -- Source: SMARTLEND FINANCIAL PTE. LTD. 

SINGAPORE, June 12 — SmartLend, a fully digital alternative financing platform, has officially launched in Singapore, offering small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) a faster, more transparent way to secure funding. Apply Once Access All By eliminating third-party brokers and unnecessary costs, SmartLend simplifies the financing process, enabling businesses to compare and obtain loans efficiently without hidden fees. […]

Scaled for Global Commerce: PhotonPay Reinforces Market Leadership at 2026 WAVES Summit

HONG KONG, June 22 -- PhotonPay, a next-generation financial operating system powered by stablecoins, achieved significant recognition at the 2026 WAVES Summit hosted by 36Kr, a pioneering platform dedicated to serving New Economy participants. PhotonPay's Founder and CEO Lewison Chen was selected for 36Kr's "2026 36Under36" Entrepreneurs List, while Sales VP Joey Xu joined a featured panel discussion to unpack the strategic resilience and high-conviction execution required to scale a business.     Visionary Leadership: Driving the Next-Generation Financial OS The annual "36Under36" list recognizes 108 young leaders driving innovation across AI, deep technology, globalization, and emerging industries. This year's cohort highlights entrepreneurs who are not simply pursuing market opportunities, but building the foundational systems that enable long-term economic transformation. For Lewison, this recognition underscores his strategic foresight in anticipating the deep structural shifts of global commerce. It validates his leadership in transitioning payments from a fragmented network of disconnected tools into an intelligent, unified operating system.   Under Lewison's guidance, PhotonPay has established a robust global footprint, expanding to 14 strategic operational hubs across major financial jurisdictions, with a team of over 500 professional employees. Through deep technical and commercial partnerships with world-leading financial institutions, global card networks and banks, the platform now supports more than 60 major currencies, with its full product suite covering over 200 countries and regions. Today, this institutional-grade infrastructure is trusted by more than 200,000 businesses worldwide to secure, manage and optimize their cross-market financial operations. Abstracting the friction of legacy global banking, PhotonPay operates as a unified financial operating system, which encapsulates multi-currency banking networks and stablecoin rails into a single, programmable infrastructure layer. Clients can run their capital workflows via an intuitive portal, or seamlessly extend these capabilities to their business applications via robust APIs. This modular OS coordinates the entire lifecycle of corporate capital, enabling multi-currency collections, real-time global payouts, card issuance, on/off-ramping, FX conversions and automated reconciliation within a secure and efficient ecosystem. "Long-term infrastructure is never built on static formulas — it's built on the conviction to turn macroeconomic uncertainty into operational certainty," said Lewison Chen, Founder and CEO of PhotonPay." Being recognized on the 36Under36 list reflects not just what PhotonPay has built, but what we believe the next generation of global financial infrastructure must become: programmable, adaptive, and borderless. We are investing heavily in our global network and technical architecture so that payments stop being a cost center and start being a strategic engine for growth." On the WAVES Stage: Redefining Capital Velocity for Global Businesses Addressing the summit's flagship panel, "Riding the Waves Before Anyone Believes," PhotonPay's Sales VP Joey Xu aligned these capabilities with real-world market execution. "Global financial giants and legacy banks established the foundational networks of digital trade," Joey noted during the discussion. "PhotonPay's mission is not to disrupt this baseline, but to provide precise ecosystem adaptation. We translate complex, fragmented global banking structures into a tailor-made financial operating system optimized for the exact workflows of international businesses." Joey highlighted that multi-market organizations routinely drain liquidity and lose days of transaction velocity when transferring funds across disconnected collection, FX, and disbursement applications. PhotonPay resolves this by enabling businesses to retain global earnings in a multi-currency wallet, allowing balances to be instantly deployed for real-time operational expenses — such as global digital ad spends or logistics payouts. Unified approach like this has allowed PhotonPay to reduce global capital costs for its clients by more than 75% while boosting treasury operational efficiency by 60%. When discussing long-term execution in a volatile market, Joey identified three core pillars of PhotonPay's operational ethos: Long Cycle: Building institutional-grade payment networks, technological foundations, and international regulatory licenses requires years of deliberate cultivation rather than reliance on short-term market trends. Granularity: Global infrastructure success depends on a meticulous focus on hyper-local compliance matrices, regional clearing frameworks, and real-time FX fluctuations. Continuous Listening: Sustainable growth relies on maintaining an ongoing dialogue with the market to capture the shifting realities of global commerce. Moving forward, PhotonPay will continue to anchor its strategy in long-term infrastructure evolution, expanding the boundaries where payment technology intersects with core corporate operations. By pioneering the convergence of traditional finance with programmable architecture, stablecoin and agentic commerce, the company aims to deliver sustained value to the global trade ecosystem. About PhotonPay PhotonPay is a stablecoin-powered financial operating system built for the stablecoin era. Designed for modern enterprises, PhotonPay enables businesses to send, receive, convert, and settle funds across both fiat and stablecoin rails through a single, compliance-first integration, spanning 200+ countries and territories. For more information, visit [www.photonpay.com]. -- PRNewswire -- Source : PhotonPay   

HONG KONG, June 22 — PhotonPay, a next-generation financial operating system powered by stablecoins, achieved significant recognition at the 2026 WAVES Summit hosted by 36Kr, a pioneering platform dedicated to serving New Economy participants. PhotonPay’s Founder and CEO Lewison Chen was selected for 36Kr’s “2026 36Under36” Entrepreneurs List, while Sales VP Joey Xu joined a featured panel discussion to unpack the […]

Global Supply Crisis: Selangor’s Financial Position Still Healthy — Amirudin

SHAH ALAM, June 15 -- Selangor's financial position is still at a healthy level despite the global economic uncertainties following the supply crisis and fluctuations in world markets. Selangor Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Amirudin Shari said the state government did not see the need to take emergency measures because revenue collection remains on a positive track. State revenue collection reached RM1.6 billion as of May against this year’s RM2.8 billion target, with the current collection trend showing positive development. "We have not yet pressed the 'panic button', but are monitoring weekly and monthly developments," he said at a press conference after launching the Selangor Resilience Strengthening Package Phase 1 at the Selangor State Secretary's Office (SUK) Building here today.   Amirudin added that Selangor also recorded a RM300 million surplus against total expenditure due to the state government's savings. Although this year's financial position is not as strong as last year's, the state government is confident of achieving the set revenue target, and it still has good reserve collection, he said. "At the same time, various efforts are being made, including through the land disposal process, changes to the actual conditions of land for industrial purposes and the influx of new investments into Selangor," he said. Amirudin said the real impact of global economic uncertainty is expected to be seen in the next few months, and the state government is taking a proactive approach to reduce its impact on the people and the economic sector.   -- BERNAMA

SHAH ALAM, June 15 — Selangor’s financial position is still at a healthy level despite the global economic uncertainties following the supply crisis and fluctuations in world markets. Selangor Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Amirudin Shari said the state government did not see the need to take emergency measures because revenue collection remains on a positive track. […]

KUSKOP, CGC Strengthen MSME Access To Financing – Steven Sim

KUALA LUMPUR, May 27 -- The Ministry of Entrepreneur and Cooperatives Development (KUSKOP) has welcomed the role of Credit Guarantee Corporation Malaysia Bhd (CGC) in helping micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) gain access to financing through guarantee schemes, financial advisory services and financing facilitation initiatives. Its Minister Steven Sim said the efforts were crucial in helping underserved MSMEs obtain financing and working capital amid rising operating costs and geopolitical uncertainties linked to conflicts in West Asia. “Many MSMEs, particularly micro and small enterprises, still face difficulties obtaining financing due to limited credit history and high borrowing costs,” he said in a statement today after chairing a meeting with CGC on efforts to strengthen financing and capital access for MSMEs in Malaysia. During the meeting, CGC briefed KUSKOP on ongoing initiatives, including credit guarantee schemes, financing facilities, digital marketing training, youth entrepreneur development programmes and MSME networking sessions nationwide. Sim also called on agencies under KUSKOP, particularly SME Corp Malaysia, to strengthen cooperation with CGC and enhance outreach on financing assistance through platforms such as the MyKNP financing advisory service and the imSME online financing referral platform, supported by CGC and Bank Negara Malaysia. He said KUSKOP remained committed to working closely with financial institutions, development financial institutions and ecosystem partners to improve financing access, strengthen MSME resilience and advance the ‘Empowering Malaysian Businesses’ agenda. -- BERNAMA

KUALA LUMPUR, May 27 — The Ministry of Entrepreneur and Cooperatives Development (KUSKOP) has welcomed the role of Credit Guarantee Corporation Malaysia Bhd (CGC) in helping micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) gain access to financing through guarantee schemes, financial advisory services and financing facilitation initiatives. Its Minister Steven Sim said the efforts were crucial […]

South Korea To Supply 90,000 Rental Homes In Greater Seoul Area For Youths By 2027

SEOUL, May 22 -- South Korea is planning to supply some 90,000 rental housing units for young people in the greater Seoul area by 2027, as part of broader efforts to stabilise the housing market and improve living conditions for youths, Yonhap News Agency reported. According to its Finance Minister Koo Yun Cheol, the government is seeking various ways to expand non-apartment housing, which is one of the key pillars of the public housing supply programme. “We plan to supply 90,000 rental units in Seoul and surrounding areas for the next two years, and 66,000 of them will be located in regulated zones,” Koo said during a meeting of ministers related to real estate policy. Koo said non-apartment housing, such as multifamily homes and compact studio units, can be supplied relatively quickly, helping ease housing difficulties faced by young people at a faster pace. The government will also adopt modular housing and other construction methods to shorten construction periods and reduce financial burdens on developers, encouraging earlier project launches, he added. During the meeting, officials also reviewed housing market trends and response measures and discussed plans to crack down on illegal real estate activities. --BERNAMA

SEOUL, May 22 — South Korea is planning to supply some 90,000 rental housing units for young people in the greater Seoul area by 2027, as part of broader efforts to stabilise the housing market and improve living conditions for youths, Yonhap News Agency reported. According to its Finance Minister Koo Yun Cheol, the government […]

Home Ministry To Seek RM4.3 Million To Upgrade GOF 3rd Battalion Camp In Bidor

TAPAH, May 18– The Home Ministry will submit an application for a financial allocation of about RM4.3 million to upgrade facilities at the General Operations Force (GOF) 3rd Battalion Camp in Bidor to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim. Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail said the allocation is crucial to enhance the welfare […]

Bank Muamalat Sets MBR Record With Financial Literacy Programme At Highest Altitude

KUALA LUMPUR, May 18– Bank Muamalat Malaysia Berhad (Bank Muamalat) has strengthened its commitment to empowering communities after successfully setting a national record through its ‘Jom Bijak Wang’ programme, recognised by the Malaysia Book of Records (MBR). The programme received recognition as the Highest Altitude Financial Literacy Programme in a Skyscraper following its organisation on […]

PhotonPay Completes its First Live Agentic Payment Together with Mastercard

HONG KONG, May 14, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — PhotonPay, a next-generation financial operating system, today announced a milestone in agentic transaction together with Mastercard, marking a significant step in the exploration of AI-driven financial infrastructure in Hong Kong. In a live operational demonstration, a PhotonPay tokenized card was securely provisioned for use by an AI agent, […]

Agrobank Expects 700,000 Registered Hawkers To Benefit From Agro Penjaja-i

PUTRAJAYA, May 13 — About 700,000 hawkers registered under hawker associations are expected to benefit from the Agro Penjaja-i initiative launched today, said Agrobank president and chief executive officer Datuk Tengku Ahmad Badli Shah Raja Hussin. Speaking at a press conference after the Agro Penjaja-i launch here today, Tengku Ahmad Badli Shah said the initiative […]