Daily Briefing: CrimsonLogic unit eyes digital bank licence; Malaysia mulls social security for workers in Singapore

And digital wealth management startup Kristal.AI raises $8m in its series A funding round.

From Bloomberg:

A business unit of digital government solutions CrimsonLogic has been revealed to be part of a group applying for a digital wholesale banking license in Singapore, joining the race to shake up the city-state’s financial industry.

Other consortium partners are Chinese business-to-business e-commerce company, Zall Smart Commerce (Zall), and Japanese trading company Marubeni Corp., said in an emailed statement. The group aims to contribute to Singapore’s development as a global financial hub for trading activities, it said.

The group is led by Zall, and is the latest applicant to announce bids for a digital wholesale banking license.

A total of 14 groups made bids for digital wholesale permits, while seven applied for digital full-bank licenses, the Monetary Authority of Singapore said earlier this month.

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From Human Resources Online:

About 300,000 Malaysians working in Singapore may soon be covered under a social security protection scheme, Malaysia’s ministry of human resources has announced.

Before the scheme’s implementation, the ministry will first await the release of a study on the matter, conducted by the Social Security Organisation, said M Kulasegaran, human resources minister.

“This study to protect Malaysians working in Singapore is aimed at finding the pros and cons of the scheme, the benefits and risks they face. After that, we will see what we can do,” added Kulasegaran.

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From e27:

AI-powered digital wealth management startup Kristal.AI, has received a $8m (US$6m) million in a series A funding led by India-based VC firm Chiratae Ventures. The startup has offices in Singapore, Hong Kong, and India. 

The round brings the company’s total funding to $14.8m (US$11m) to date.

Kristal.AI said it will use the new funds to improve its back-end technology, come up with more curated “Kristals”, or strategies, and expand further into the Asia

Pacific and the Middle East markets. It also seeks to launch a new offering for its market in India.

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