How a Singapore-based marketplace helped India’s UPI solve a big problem

IN FOCUS

In today’s newsletter, we look at:

• How a MAS-founded, open-architecture API marketplace enables collaboration between financial institutions and fintech players
• Reasons for Jio Financial Services’ lackluster debut following its spinoff from Reliance Industries
• The key decision-makers behind Indonesian investment app Ajaib

Welcome to The Top Up! Delivered every fortnight via email and through the Tech in Asia website, this free newsletter breaks down the biggest stories and trends in fintech. Get it in your email inbox by registering here.

Hi there,

I took my dog Natto to the beach over the weekend. The weather was great, and Natto had fun running by the sea as the waves came crashing in.

Unfortunately, she also ingested some sand while playing, which caused her a lot of discomfort on Monday morning. I also had to wake up at an ungodly hour to clean up after her, but hopefully she’s learned from this experience.

In the world of financial services, regulatory sandboxes provide an environment where fintech innovations can be tested safely and responsibly, with the aim of minimizing the real-world discomfort – as Natto experienced – when they finally launch.

One such example of a regulatory sandbox is APIX, a cross-border, open-architecture API marketplace and sandbox founded by the International Finance Corporation, the ASEAN Bankers Association, and the Monetary Authority of Singapore.

As my colleague Rachel explores in this week’s premium story, APIX has played matchmaker between financial institutions (and even other regulators) and the fintech startups looking to offer them solutions. One of its success stories is India’s United Payments Interface (UPI), which handled 46% of all real-time transactions worldwide in 2022.

Through APIX, UPI was introduced to Tech5, the fintech firm that came up with a biometric solution to hasten UPI’s authentication process.

This week’s Hot Take also focuses on India, where Jio Financial Services (JFS) made a disappointing stock market debut after being spun off from parent Reliance Industries. Despite this, JFS has a bright future ahead, assuming it can take advantage of Reliance’s ecosystem of millions of customers and large, non-financial datasets.

— Simon

THE BIG STORY

How MAS-founded APIX is solving problems for regulators from India to Indonesia

Image credit: Timmy Loen

THE HOT TAKE

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FYI