More: Lucrative fintech funding rounds and an exclusive club with an odd requirement. [Read from your browser]( Daily Newsletter Hello {NAME} The importance of financial inclusion to a country is often overlooked. It helps build the key concepts of credit and savings and is a major step toward inclusive growth, i.e., growing financially stable together as a population, irrespective of age, gender, race or income. Financial inclusion is a major issue that needs to be addressed, especially among countries in Southeast Asia. For example, a staggering 47% of the Philippinesâ adult population are unbanked as of the second quarter of 2021. Yet, the topic, like most things related to banking or finance (ahem, taxes), is often met with an eye roll. The advances in fintech and digital transactions are, nonetheless, painting a brighter picture for financial inclusion in Southeast Asia. More and more startups are making financial services easily accessible. Today, we analyze how the Philippinesâ digibanks are accelerating financial inclusion in the country. -- Shravanth
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THE BIG STORY [Banking on a digital remedy in the Philippines](
Digital bank licenses were granted to six players in the Philippines, where banking is slow and inaccessible. But can the newcomers fix this pain point?
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TRENDING NEWS
[Carousell in talks for $1.5b SPAC deal for US listing](
Carousellâs merger with the blank-check firm could take its company public as early as this quarter, reported Bloomberg.
[Singapore scions forms exclusive club centered around NFTs](
Only those who hold Arcâs NFTs will have access to the social networking app.
[Grab rolls out pilot for self-pickup service in Singapore](
GrabGroupBuyâs self-pickup service is currently available in Singaporeâs Punggol area as part of a pilot project that will go on for a month.
[Beenext leads $2.6m seed round of Indonesian gaming marketplace](
The investment boosts VCGamersâ valuation to US$20 million.
[Indonesian point-of-sale firm bags $2.5m from Kejora-SBI Orbit fund](
To date, Olsera has more than 10,000 users in 300 cities in Indonesia.
[Softbank eyes $4.7b in biggest bond sale](
The proceeds of the bond sale will go toward repaying SoftBankâs debts, reported Bloomberg. --------------------------------------------------------------- EVENTS HAPPENING You can also check out a curated list of trending tech events [over here](.
- *Event* [Ask Me Anything about NFTs]( on January 14
Ask all your questions to Alan Seng, the founder of Dark Zodiac, a Singapore NFT project that made S$1.4 million (around US$1 million) after selling all of its 3,876 NFTs in 80 minutes.
- [AWS SaaS Forum]( on February 17
Join the AWS SaaS Forum on February 17 to uncover opportunities and insights on SaaS trends, outlook for 2022 and how to build your business playbook. Attendance is complimentary. --------------------------------------------------------------- WHO'S HIRING You can post a job [here]( or search for jobs [here](. - [Graphic Designer Intern]( at Populix
Jakarta, Indonesia
- [DevOps Engineer]( at Hukumonline
Jakarta, Indonesia
- [iOS Engineer Associate]( at TIXid
Jakarta, Indonesia
- [Software Quality Assurance]( at AVANA
Bandung, Java, Indonesia
- [Backend Engineer]( at Paras Digital
Jakarta, Indonesia
- [SIT Officer]( at PT. Informasi Teknologi Indonesia
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