Partnering with AFIN, AFTECH Deepens Its Commitment to Support Financial Inclusion during COVID-19

MEDIA RELEASE Jakarta, 15 May 2020,The Indonesia Fintech Association (“AFTECH”), a Self-Regulatory Organization (SRO) for Digital Financial Innovation players in Indonesia and an umbrella organization for all fintech verticals in Indonesia have announced the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the ASEAN Financial Institution Network (“AFIN”) aimed at establishing a long-term strategic partnership resulting in an improved cooperation on matters of mutual interest relating to the fintech industry. Headquartered in Singapore, AFIN was established as a non-profit organization in 2018 by the ASEAN Bankers Association (ABA), International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, and the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS). AMTD Foundation and Mastercard are AFIN’s Corporate Founding Members.

The cooperation puts AFTECH and AFIN on a new path, with both entities working more collaboratively to facilitate innovation and cooperation between financial institutions and fintech, in effort to digitally transform the banking and financial sectors across the ASEAN region and beyond to ultimately drive financial inclusion. COVID-19 disrupts various areas of people's lives in ways never imagined before this pandemic. Economies around the world are starting to struggle and research that shows the level of economic slowdown during the pandemic has emerged. The fintech industry in Indonesia is experiencing changes in productivity and work efficiency due to the Large-Scale Social Restrictions (PSBB) program. The MoU will also see the partners collaborate on awareness initiatives to support the introduction of the AMTD ASEAN-Solidarity Fund.

AMTD Group and AMTD Charity Foundation (collectively “AMTD”) partnered with AFIN to establish a solidarity fund with a proposed and initially available capital of SGD 50million to support and anchor eligible fintech companies registered in the API Exchange Platform (“APIX”) in ASEAN countries during this challenging time of the pandemic. “Just as how the virus has transcended boundaries, let us as come together as a global fintech ecosystem to brave through these challenging times together. This agreement opens new avenues for AFIN to offer the financial support under the oversight of a Strategic Investment Advisory Committee comprising of representatives from AFIN’s Board of Directors”, said Managing Director of AFIN, Manish Diwaan.

In addition to financial support, the Fund will offer full access to AMTD’s SpiderNet ecosystem, with opportunities to collaborate with each other across ASEAN Countries, Hong Kong and China. Financial support for the eligible applicants will be made available through two parallel program. The first program is the Singapore Fintech Association (SFA) Grant Scheme, a short-term support to FinTech start-ups to sustain their innovation under challenging economic conditions. The second program is the Sustainability Investment Scheme, long-term support to empower fintech start-ups and entrepreneurs with a proprietary ecosystem of strategic partners and funding resources “AFTECH is aware that to be able to overcome the negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the national economy, we need to work together with various relevant stakeholders and layers of society”, said Managing Director of AFTECH Mercy Simorangkir. To facilitate and further support its members during COVID-19 pandemic, AFTECH is increasing and strengthening its advocacy efforts with regulators, particularly on collaborative efforts to reduce the negative impact of pandemic to the Indonesian economy. Furthermore, AFTECH also strengthening communication and collaboration amongst members to help the community in facing current economic situation. The outlook for Indonesia’s digital economy remains promising. As Indonesia’s digital Fintech role and contribution to the economy will continuously increase. “We believe that FinTech will be able to boost financial inclusion, income, as well as economic growth in Indonesia. AFTECH is looking forward to strengthen its relationship with AFIN to deepen commitment in supporting Indonesia’s financial inclusion through digital finance innovation,” Mercy concluded.

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About AFTECH Indonesia Fintech Association (AFTECH) was appointed by the Financial Services Authority (OJK) as a Self-Regulatory Organization (SRO) for all Digital Financial Innovation players in Indonesia, based on a Letter of Appointment No S-2/D.02/2019.dated August 9, 2020. Currently, AFTECH has more than 346 members that include: 307 fintech startups, 24 financial institutions, 5 technology partners, and 4 university partners. To learn more, see http://www.fintech.id and visit us on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and YouTube.

About AFIN

The ASEAN Financial Innovation Network (AFIN) was established as a non-profit organization in 2018 by the ASEAN Bankers Association (ABA), International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, and the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS). AMTD Foundation and Mastercard are AFIN’s Corporate Founding Members.

AFIN was set up with the mission to facilitate innovation and cooperation between financial institutions and FinTechs, in effort to digitally transform the banking and financial sectors across the ASEAN region and beyond to ultimately drive financial inclusion. It brings together financial industry participants to Discover, Design and Deploy innovative digital solutions within a collaborative ecosystem.

To support this mission, AFIN has launched the APIExchange (APIX). APIX (www.apixplatform.com) architecture API marketplace and sandbox platform for collaboration between FinTechs and financial institutions in which participants can integrate and test solutions with each other via a cloud-based architecture.

To find out more, do visit https://apixplatform.com.Please also join us on our  APIX Community Forum, and follow us on LinkedIn  to get the latest and up-to-date news of APIX.