Jio and Blackrock JV for stock broking in India; Fintech funding in SEA down 44% QoQ | TWIF 20-04-2024

Life Insurance premium in India grew 2% YoY in FY24 (ended Mar, 2024) from INR 3.7tn ($44.6bn) in FY23 to INR 3.8tn ($45.8bn) in FY24. Group life insurance premium, which accounts for 60% of new business premium, drove the sectors growth by 41.5% YoY.

AngelOne, a stock broking platform, reported net profit of INR 340cr ($41mm) for the quarter ended Mar, 2024, growing 30.6% QoQ. Revenue grew 28% QoQ to INR 1,357cr ($163.5mm) during the same period.

SBIreleased a research report stating that credit outstanding grew 20% YoY whereas deposits grew 13.5% YoY.

The Central Economic and Intelligence Bureau (CEIB) wrote to the Ministry of Finance to ensure all private banks seek the Bureau's clearance before extending loans to a company to verify if there is any enforcement case pending against the company. The same provision is already in place for public sector banks.

IndusLawpublished a primer on Payment Service Provider regulations to operate payment services in International Financial Services Center (IFSC) in GIFT City.

Kreditbee, a consumer finance startup, is joining a host of other fintech firms in flipping its corporate structure to India as its domicile.

Nandan Nilekani and Bank for International Settlements (BIS) released a working paper titled "Finternet: the financial system for the future".

Jio Financial Servicesentered into a joint venture with Blackrock to set up a wealth management and broking business in India, in addition to its asset management business JV.

SBI Bankrecommended to RBI that the lender base of wholesale lenders should be capped as it "crimps the bank's ability to conduct due diligence" on wholesale lenders who have more than 50-60 NBFC lender base.

Bureau*, a fraud and identity decisioning startup, launchedMoney Mule Score to detect potential identity theft during user onboarding.

Aditya Birla CapitallaunchedABCD app, its super app for financial services. It will invest $12mm to grow the platform.

RBI (central bank): Approved CRED's application to operate as a Payment Aggregator. Released guidelines requiring lenders to issue Key Facts Statement for loans and advanced. Released new guidelines for Payment Aggregators (online and offline) to have increased KYC requirements based on size and scale of merchants onboarded. Released draft regulations for Payment Aggregators - physical POS.

Altum Credo, a housing finance startup, raised $40mm.

RupeeRedee, a consumer finance startup, raised $5mm.

ClaimBuddy, a health insurance assistance startup, raised $5mm.

Ring (fka Kissht), a consumer credit startup, raised $12mm in debt.

Aurionpro Solutions, financial services software company, acquiredArya.AI, an insurance SaaS startup for $16.5mm.

Brankas, a Southeast Asian fintech infrastructure startup, obtained a Payment Service Provider Category 2 License from Indonesia's central bank for account information services.

Moomoo, a Singaporean investments platform owned by Futu Holdings of China, claimed to have 1mm users in three years since launch.

MAS of Singapore committed SGD 35mm to sustainable finance upskilling initiatives.

Niumreceived approval from the New Zealand regulators to operate as a Financial Services Provider.

Abu Dhabi Islamic Bankis in talks withBank Syariah Indonesia to acquire a minority stake in bank for $1.1bn.

Fintech funding in Southeast Asia dropped by 44% QoQ in Q1 2024.

Seedflex, a Malaysian small business revenue based finance startup, raised an undisclosed amount.