AMTD News | AMTD ASEAN Solidarity Fund Announces First Phase of Corporate Investment

On September 14, 2020, AMTD Singapore Solidarity Fund, a subsidiary of AMTD ASEAN Solidarity Fund, announced today its first round of corporate investment list, which will invest in 5 leading innovative financial technology companies, covering artificial intelligence, SME financing solutions, insurance Technology, cross-border payment platforms and card payment solutions. The first phase of corporate investment will be through a variety of innovative investment structure combinations, including financial instruments such as stocks, convertible notes, venture debt, warrants and options, with a total investment of S$11.5 million.

AMTD ASEAN Solidarity Fund was jointly established by AMTD Digital, AMTD Charitable Foundation and ASEAN Financial Innovation Network (AFIN), with an initial capital investment of S$50 million to support and relieve AFIN API during the COVID-19 epidemic. Qualified financial technology companies registered on the trading platform. AMTD Digital is a one-stop cross-market comprehensive digital solution platform of AMTD Group headquartered in Singapore; AMTD Charitable Foundation is a non-profit organization founded in 2016 by Calvin Choi, Chairman and President of AMTD Group.

Benefiting from Singapore’s strategic position as an international fintech hub, the Singapore government’s including the Monetary Authority of Singapore’s relief measures to support businesses, and the efforts of participants in the Singapore fintech ecosystem community, the Singapore fintech industry has shown strong performance during the COVID-19 epidemic. Resilience and sustainability. According to the Boston Fintech Control Center report jointly produced by Boston Consulting Group and Expand Research, Singapore's fintech companies raised a total of S$462 million (approximately US$332 million) in equity financing funds in the first half of 2020, an increase of 19% from the same period last year. %. The number of fintech companies has increased from 600 at the end of 2019 to more than 1,000.

The five companies selected for the first round of investment represent leaders in their respective professional fields in the financial technology industry, including Funding Societies (a leading digital financing platform for small and medium-sized enterprises in Southeast Asia), Active.ai (providing cloud-based intelligent conversational artificial intelligence) platform that helps financial institutions redefine their customer service and automate their processes), Cardup ​​(a credit card support platform that allows card payments and charges in places where credit cards are not accepted), Transwap (cross-border payments for regional businesses Platform) and PolicyPal (a leading insurtech company in Southeast Asia and the first graduate of the Monetary Authority of Singapore’s FinTech Regulatory Sandbox).

Eric Choi, Chairman and President of AMTD Group, said, "AMTD is very pleased to continue to provide support to Singapore's fintech community and personally help and participate in the development resilience and opportunities of Singapore's technology and innovation fields. AMTD will take advantage of Singapore's rich Talent resources, widely connected capital markets, and connecting with our globally radiating AMTD spider web ecosystem, support and promote the long-term development and sustainability of Singapore's fintech ecosystem. The AMTD ASEAN Solidarity Fund is a mutual aid community, support center and development. Anchor. We welcome more innovative companies to join APIX and more entrepreneurs to join our ecosystem to jointly provide first-class digital experiences to customers in Singapore and around the world.”

Supriya Sen, Independent Director and Chairman of the Investment Committee of the ASEAN Financial Innovation Network, said: “We are pleased to see that since its announcement, the AMTD ASEAN Solidarity Fund has received applications from more than 40 fintech and innovation companies, covering all aspects of financial services. We conducted rigorous screening in ASEAN countries with Singapore as the regional hub. These five fintech companies stood out as the first batch of investee companies. The ASEAN Financial Innovation Network is committed to supporting Singapore’s fintech community and helping them leverage Singapore’s talent pool and strong fintech ecosystem to promote financial services in Singapore and the world. of innovation.”

In addition to providing financial support, AMTD also provides these financial technology companies with an open one-stop digital platform and connectivity within the AMTD spider web ecosystem to empower entrepreneurs and maximize the benefits for Asian consumers and small and medium-sized enterprises. Enterprises provide diversified user experiences and digital products. Not only that, AMTD is also particularly committed to investing in innovative solutions to promote and support small and medium-sized enterprises to accelerate digital transformation, improve financial inclusion, and at the same time contribute to Singapore's leading position in developing and building a smart country. In August 2020, AMTD signed a strategic cooperation agreement with GlobalLinker, a major participant in the "Enterprises Without Borders" program, to promote the joint establishment of digital communities and digital tool portals for small and medium-sized enterprises in Asia.

About AMTD Group

AMTD Group is a diversified comprehensive enterprise group focusing on financial services, covering financial services such as investment banking, asset management, and digital technology, as well as non-financial fields such as education and real estate development.

AMTD International (NYSE: HKIB; SGX: HKB) is Asia's largest independent investment bank and leading independent asset management company. In 2019, AMTD International was successfully listed on the New York Stock Exchange, becoming the first Hong Kong financial institution to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange. On April 8, 2020, AMTD International completed its secondary listing on the Singapore Exchange and achieved many historic milestones, including:
• The first company in the world to be dual-listed on the NYSE and SGX;
• Singapore’s first listed company with “different rights for the same shares”; and
• The first company to hold a digital listing ceremony in Singapore.

AMTD Digital is headquartered in Singapore and is a digital solution platform under the AMTD Group. Its business covers digital financial licenses and services, digital marketing and data intelligent analysis, digital network construction and collaboration, digital economy investment, etc. AMTD Digital is committed to building a one-stop, comprehensive, cross-market, innovative digital solution platform.

About AMTD Charitable Foundation

AMTD Charitable Foundation is a charity organization founded by Mr. Calvin Choi, Chairman of AMTD Group. It adheres to the charitable spirit of "being grateful to the society and serving public welfare" and continues to promote the development of education, support disadvantaged groups, serve social welfare, and fulfill corporate social responsibilities. AMTD Charitable Foundation has long-term support for various charity activities, including supporting the "Caritas Warm Hearts" charity gala held by Caritas for 13 consecutive years, and fully supporting the research of the world's largest AIDS research organization "Foundation for AIDS Research (amfAR)" Activities etc. AMTD Charitable Foundation is also committed to promoting technological development and talent cultivation. AMTD jointly established the "AXSI Digital Finance Leadership Program" with Xiaomi, Singapore Management University and the National University of Singapore, and cooperated with the University of Waterloo in Canada to establish the "AMTD-Waterloo Innovation Center" and the "AMTD-Waterloo Global Talent Cultivation Postdoctoral Workstation" ". In addition, AMTD also co-founded the "AMTD Fintech Academy" with the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, launching Asia's first fintech doctoral degree program.

About the ASEAN Financial Innovation Network (AFIN) and APIX

The ASEAN Financial Innovation Network (AFIN) was jointly established by the Monetary Authority of Singapore, the International Finance Corporation, a member of the World Bank, and the ASEAN Bankers Association, aiming to achieve innovative finance and inclusive finance. AMTD and Mastercard are founding corporate members of AFIN.

APIX is AFIN's flagship product and the world's first cross-border, open-architecture API platform. On the APIX platform, financial institutions and financial technology companies can integrate resources and conduct innovative tests through cloud-based architecture. Through the APIX platform, financial institutions and financial technology companies can collaborate to explore emerging global market opportunities, jointly design innovative financial products and sandbox experiments, and improve innovative financial solutions at the lowest cost.

About Funding Societies

Funding Societies is Southeast Asia's leading small and medium-sized enterprise financing platform. It holds licenses in Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia, and its shareholders include Sequoia Capital, SoftBank Asia, etc. Funding Societies is committed to providing business financing to small and medium-sized enterprises, with funding sources including individual and corporate investors. Over the past five years, Funding Societies has provided more than 2.8 million business loans, totaling more than S$1.6 billion. Funding Societies won the MAS FinTech Award from the Monetary Authority of Singapore in 2016, the Global SME Excellence Award at the United Nations ITU Telecom World 2017, and the Quality Brand Award in 2019 ” (Brand for Good), was named one of the five fastest-growing financial technology companies in Singapore by International Data Corporation (IDC) in 2020, and won the Stevie® Award.

About Active.ai

Active.ai is a fintech company headquartered in Singapore, with branches in the United States and India, dedicated to using artificial intelligence to provide conversational banking services. It helps banks and credit unions create intelligent virtual assistants for automated, in-depth interactions with customers. Active.ai's conversational banking technology uses advanced natural language processing (NLP) and machine intelligence to enable natural conversations with customers via messaging, voice or IoT devices.

About CardUp

CardUp is a credit card platform that makes it possible to use credit cards to pay or charge large expenses in places where cards are not accepted today, including rent, taxes, invoices, payroll and other payments that still currently require payment by cash, check or bank transfer.

With CardUp, individual and business users can use their existing credit cards to make these large payments, earn credit card rewards, access interest-free credit, successfully complete digital payments, and get higher returns on large payments.

CardUp also helps businesses of all sizes maximize the use of credit card payments to save working capital on hand. This is particularly important in the post-pandemic era, where companies are facing significant cash flow pressures and want to manage cash on hand in a more flexible way. CardUp also equips these businesses with tools to automate and digitize their payables and accounts receivable processes, helping their finance teams work remotely and continue to thrive in a new routine of less and less face-to-face work time.

CardUp currently manages hundreds of millions of payments in Singapore.

About TranSwap

TranSwap is an enterprise cross-border payment platform dedicated to enabling users to seamlessly manage and execute payments globally while reducing foreign exchange costs and complexity. TranSwap offers the most competitive exchange rates through its proprietary online trading portal and extensive network of foreign exchange partners, enabling businesses to complete overseas payments efficiently and at the lowest cost.

As a secure platform licensed in Singapore, Hong Kong and Indonesia, TranSwap has facilitated foreign exchange payments in more than 180 countries and regions, and has offices and partner networks in many countries and regions.

About PolicyPal

PolicyPal is Southeast Asia's leading insurance technology company. It was founded by female entrepreneurial leader Val Yap and is jointly supported by the world-renowned entrepreneurial incubator 500 Startups, international payment giant PayPal and well-known angel investor Koh Boon Hwee. This is also the first Internet insurtech company in Asia to use the insurance regulatory sandbox approved by the Monetary Authority of Singapore. Since its development, PolicyPal has established long-term strategic partnerships with more than 30 insurance companies around the world, with the platform’s cumulative insured amount exceeding US$3 billion. PolicyPal is committed to using financial technology to help consumers better understand their insurance needs, empower consumers to choose the most appropriate financial solutions, and provide the best health protection and wealth protection. PolicyPal was also named one of the world's leading fintech innovators in 2019 by KPMG. Ye Jixuan was named one of the "30 under 30" in finance and venture capital by Forbes magazine, and was selected as a representative of the financial industry in Fortune magazine's "World's 40 Business Elites Under 40" list.