Daily Briefing: Fintech Nium snubs digital banking licence; Travel wallet YouTrip expands to Thailand

And a former StanChart engineer returns to firm as data analytics head in Singapore.

From Bloomberg:

Fintech startup Nium, formerly Instarem, has withdrawn from the contest for a digital wholesale banking license in Singapore, doubling down on its global business-to-business payments instead.

“Singaporean banks are extremely well entrenched in that ecosystem,” Nium CEO Prajit Nanu said in an interview, referring to wholesale banking. “Our strengths lie elsewhere and we have decided to consolidate and focus on those areas.”

Backed by Temasek unit Vertex Ventures and Rocket Internet, Nium said it was interested in a license after the Monetary Authority of Singapore announced in July it will grant as many as two digital full-bank licenses and up to three digital wholesale bank licenses. Other companies that expressed a desire to apply included Singapore Telecommunications Ltd., Grab Holdings Inc. and Razer Inc. Nium is the first to declare its withdrawal.

Read more here.

From e27:

Multi-currency travel wallet YouTrip expanded to Thailand in its international debut, through a partnership with Kasikornbank.

Claiming to be the first partnership of its kind between fintech startup and a bank in Thailand, the bank’s customers are now able to register for YouTrip’s service via the K PLUS app and will be able to enjoy zero transaction fees across over 150 currencies as they travel globally.

YouTrip aims to sign up over 400,000 users within its first year in Thailand.

“We are really excited to be launching in a new market, and cannot wait to replicate the same level of success in Thailand that we’ve enjoyed in Singapore over the past year. We see great synergies between Kasikornbank and YouTrip and are delighted that this partnership is the first bank-fintech partnership of its kind in Thailand,” YouTrip co-founder and CEO Caecilia Chu said in a press statement.

Read more here.

From eFinancialCareers:

Hussain Thameezdeen, who left a senior engineering role at Standard Chartered in 2015, has returned to the firm in Singapore as head of data quality and data analytics for retail banking, private banking and wealth management.

Thameezdeen held two leadership positions in between leaving and rejoining Stan Chart, according to his LinkedIn profile. He was head of operations at Qatar First Bank in Doha from 2015 2018, and then spent about 14 months as an executive director and head of operations change management at Bank of Singapore.

During his first stint at Stan Chart, which lasted 13 years, Thameezdeen was most recently head of product engineering for direct and sub-custody securities services within global operations.

Last month, a Singapore government framework placed data analytics in the top-five skills for achieving future career success in the local finance sector.

Read more here.