This week’s edition of Finovate Global looks at recent fintech news from Singapore.

Open banking firm Atlas Consolidated raises $18.1 million

Open banking may be on the ropes in the US, but progress is marching on in Singapore. Open banking platform Atlas Consolidated, a Singapore-based Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS) company, announced that it had secured $18.1 million in Series B funding. The investment was led by Tin Men Capital, and featured participation from strategic investors Getz, Inc. and Woodside Holdings Investment Management.

Atlas Consolidated is the owner of Hugosave and HugoHub, and leads the consortium behind HugoBank. Hugosave is the company’s wealth and savings app with 100,000 customers in Singapore. HugoHub is Atlas Consolidated’s BaaS platform, which provides a full-suite of modular banking services via a single integration. HugoBank secured its digital banking license from the State Bank of Pakistan at the beginning of 2025.

“Banks are under immense pressure to transform digitally while still relying on decades-old core systems that are costly, rigid, and fragmented,” Tin Men Capital Co-Founder and Managing Partner Jeremy Tan said. “HugoHub’s full-stack ‘bank-in-a-box’ solution gives banks the flexibility to launch new products, integrate services where they matter most, and refine features without disrupting the wider system. In turn, they can innovate faster, compete with neo and challenger banks, and operate with radically better economics.”

HugoHub, according to the company, has reduced users’ technology spending by up to 90%, cut overall operating expenses by up to 80%, and enables higher customer-to-staff ratios than are possible with traditional banking models.

“This investment marks a pivotal step in our mission to build better banks through technology,” Atlas Consolidated CEO David Fergusson said. “With Tin Men Capital’s support, we can accelerate HugoHub’s expansion to new markets, helping traditional financial institutions create more efficient, inclusive, and sustainable systems.”

Ripple, Circle join investment in Tazapay

Speaking of funding for Singapore fintechs, Ripple (US) and Circle Ventures were among a handful of investors that participated in an investment in Singapore’s Tazapay, a cross-border payments infrastructure platform. The Series B round was led by existing investor Peak XV Partners. Norinchukin Capital (Japan), GMO VenturePartners (Japan), January Capital, and ARC180 were also involved in the funding. The amount of the investment was not disclosed.

Currently licensed to operate in Singapore, Canada, and the EU, the funding will help the Tazapay expand further into areas such as Japan. The company is presently applying for licenses in the UAE, Hong Kong, Australia, and the US, and is also applying for a Digital Payment Token (DPT) license in Singapore. Securing this license would help Tazapay meet regulatory obligations ahead of incorporating digital payment tokens, including stablecoins, into its cross-border payment offering. Company CEO and Co-founder Rahul Shinghal noted this last point in his statement on the funding.

“We’re entering the next chapter of our journey—one where modern payment technologies, regulatory compliance, and partnerships with global leaders will enable the future of cross-border commerce,” Shinghal said. “With this round, we are not just capitalizing the business; we are investing in our long-term vision to become the builder of a global payment collection and payout infrastructure built on modern rails. One of the key use cases this infrastructure serves is being the Fiat bridge for stablecoins in emerging markets.”

Founded in 2020, Tazapay offers local collection and payout capabilities in more than 70 markets around the world. The company processes more than $10 billion in annualized payment volume and is growing at 300% year-over-year. The company’s platform provides comprehensive coverage across alternative payment methods, cards, virtual bank accounts, payouts, and stablecoins.

OCBC launches billion dollar commercial paper program using the blockchain

Did someone say “stablecoins”? There’s news on Singapore’s blockchain beat, as well.

Singapore’s Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation (OCBC) has initiated a new, $1 billion digital US commercial paper program using blockchain technology. The goal of the program is to provide access to almost instantaneous short-term US dollar funding capabilities by leveraging on-chain tokenized securities and funds. In addition to issuance and settlement, the program will also feature on-chain record-keeping and servicing.

“Singapore’s blockchain ecosystem is advancing fast, and asset tokenization is gaining real momentum,” OCBC Head of Global Markets Kenneth Lai said. “Our focus is now firmly on commercialization. We have already tapped blockchain for intraday repo and reverse repo transactions—capabilities added last year—and are now expanding into the USCP market to strengthen liquidity and resilience.”

OCBC is the longest established bank in Singapore, formed in 1932 via the merger of three banks: the Chinese Commercial Bank Ltd, the Ho Hong Bank Ltd, and the Oversea-Chinese Bank Ltd. OCBC is also the second-largest financial services group in the Southeast Asia by assets. The institution offers a range of financial services including consumer, corporate, and private banking; insurance; and asset management. OCBC reported net profits of $2.88 billion (S$3.7 billion) for the first half of this year.

Here is our look at fintech innovation around the world.

Central and Southern Asia

• Mumbai-based business microservices startup TransBank raised $25 million.
• Infosys and Mastercard teamed up to scale cross-border payments.
• The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) opened applications for the first cohort for its new regulatory sandbox.

Latin America and the Caribbean

• Latin American super app Rappi teamed up with international wallet platform AstroPay to launch a new wallet-on-file integration.
• Bitso’s B2B arm Bitso Business announced a partnership with stablecoin payments provider BVNK.
• The Central Bank of Barbados picked Montran Corporation to design and deploy the country’s new instant payment system.

Asia-Pacific

• Indonesian employment and lending platform Pintarnya raised $16.7 million in Series A funding.
• Japan’s SBI Group inked a blockchain and digital assets partnership with Chainlink.
• Wise announced a full integration with Philippines’ payment systems InstaPay and PESONet.

Sub-Saharan Africa

• Nedbank announced plans to acquire South African fintech iKhokha for $94 million.
• Techeconomy looked at the importance of understanding local financial habits in scaling fintech in Nigeria.
• South African payments processor BankservAfrica rebranded to PayInc SA.

Central and Eastern Europe

• AInvest examined the recent PayPal-Germany payment crisis, in which more than €10 billion in transactions blocked due to a security system failure.
• Lithuanian regtech AMLYZE signed a partnership agreement with payment service provider Perlas Finance.
• PEAC Solutions acquired German fintech topi as part of its European expansion plans.

Middle East and Northern Africa

• UAE-based fintech Holo secured $22 million in Series A funding.
• Algeria introduced its first fintech regulations for payment service providers, digital wallets, agents, and more.
• FenanPay secured a commercialization license from the National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE).

Photo by Mike Enerio on Unsplash