Daily Briefing: Pilot to reopen nightclubs, karaoke outlets delayed amidst rise in community cases; DBS to cease use of physical tokens from April

And Lupl snags $18.57m, signs MoU with Singapore's Ministry of Law.

From ChannelNewsAsia:

A pilot programme for some nightclubs and karaoke outlets to reopen with COVID-19 safety measures in place has been deferred until further notice, amid an increase in the number of community cases.

This was announced on 19 January by the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Ministry of Trade and Industry.

"To prevent the risk of further community transmission and formation of clusters in high-risk settings such as nightclubs and karaoke outlets, which entail people coming into close contact for prolonged periods of time and in enclosed spaces, the pilots have been deferred until further notice," the ministries said in a joint media release.

"It is uncertain when the pilot may be able to commence, given the dynamic public health situation. Agencies will review the commencement of the pilots at a suitable juncture."

Read more here.

From ChannelNewsAsia:

DBS customers will not be able to use their physical tokens to access the bank's online services from April.

DBS said on 20 January that it will fully transition to digital tokens after three years of progressively replacing its physical tokens.

The bank will stop issuing physical tokens on 1 February, said DBS. From April, only digital tokens can be used to access DBS’ digibank services, it added.

DBS said that about 90% of all logins currently involve DBS’ digibank mobile app, where the digital token is embedded.

Read more here.

From e27:

Lupl, a legaltech startup founded by international legal firms, announced it has raised $18.57m (US$14m) in new funding as it prepares for its public launch in April 2021. The latest investment is in addition to the more than $13.26m (US$10m) raised prior to its beta launch, taking its overall funding in excess of $33.16m (US$25m).

The US-based startup also announced it has signed a memorandum of understanding with Singapore’s Ministry of Law to leverage the platform to advance the digitalisation of the legal sector in Singapore.

This collaboration will begin with a series of industry engagement sessions in the first quarter of 2021.

Incubated through its development by a trio of international law firms—Germany’s CMS, the US’s Cooley and Singapore’s Rajah & Tann Asia—Lupl is an open industry platform for legal matters.

Read more here.