Digital Digest: The Latest Tech News - Temasek, Tencent

Editorial Staff

10 June 2019

Tencent, Temasek
Chinese conglomerate Tencent and Singapore-based investment house Temasek are putting $35 million into a British open banking software firm, a sign of how this approach to financial services is gaining traction worldwide.

The firm, called TrueLayer, disclosed the investment on its blog – perhaps appropriately given its image as a modern, digital organisation. TrueLayer, whose chief executive is Francesco Simoneschi, is regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, the UK watchdog.

“We are committed to grow the OpenBanking economy - and we are not going at it alone. In our journey, we welcome Denying Ma from Tencent and Ming See from Temasek,” it said.

Open banking provides a user with a network of financial institutions’ data through the use of application programming interfaces. The model is designed to improve customers’ banking experience, such as forcing established banks to be more competitive with smaller and newer banks, ideally resulting in lower costs, better technology, and better customer service. A concern sometimes voiced is whether this may be more vulnerable to cyber-security breaches than other types of banking.

Other investors in TrueLayer are Jeppe Zink from NorthZone, Yann Ranchere from Anthemis and Pietro Bezza from Connect, the firm said.