Ngulminthang Lhanghal - Financial Expert

The digital payment sector is seeking reintroduction of MDR (merchant discount rate) charges in the union budget as the absence of it is crippling the homegrown payment service providers while multinational companies benefit from levying those charges. The Payments Council of India (PCI), the industry body for the digital payments ecosystem in the country, has written to the government urging it to roll back the zero MDR regime for UPI and Rupay debit cards transactions. PCI in its request to the ministry of finance suggested either reinstating the MDR charges or incentivizing the industry with an amount of Rs 4000 crore. The payments industry hopes to have some relief which can then be used by them to further expand the digital payments infrastructure, it said. Read more: https://www.apsense.com/article/digital-payment-sector-wants-mdr-to-be-back.html

While Safe Management Measures and Business Continuity Measures continue to be in place, banks in Singapore are gradually increasing onsite employees to adequately support the increased economic activities, representatives told finews.asia. On 1 January, more employees are allowed to return to the workplace, with up to 50 percent of employees who are able to work from home can be at the workplace at any point in time. The Ministry of Manpower (MOM) also raised the capacity for Work-Related Events (WREs) to 1,000 participants, up from 50 previously.  Read more: https://ngulminthang.weebly.com/news/singapore-banks-prepare-for-post-covid-normal

A new market study reported by Global Industry Analysts Inc.(GIA), the premier market research organization, titled "FinTech Blockchain - Global Market Trajectory & Analytics", highlights the updated outlooks on opportunities and complexities in an essentially changed COVID-19 marketplace as well as states that global Fintech Blockchain Market is expected to reach US$8.7 Billion by the Year 2026. Blockchain technology is significantly advancing the activities in several sectors, especially the financial services sector. The inclusion of blockchain in fintech is emerging as the most encouraging technology blend that has possibilities of transforming the fintech industry. Fintech blockchain, the finance technology incorporation of blockchain technology, provides solutions, software, among several fintech blockchain services being utilized by organizations to achieve improved and automated finance solutions. An increase in the requirements of the global fintech blockchain ma