Fractal signs strategic partnership with Seedbox to drive financial inclusion across Southeast Asia

Berlin and Singapore-based Fractal was one of the few scale-up ready startups supported by German Accelerator Southeast Asia (GASEA), a partnership between Enterprise Singapore and the German government. Fractal offers banking-grade compliant technology solutions to promote an open transnational financial ecosystem.
Seedbox is among the top ten largest online investment platform for Filipinos. It is backed by ATR Asset Management, a leading investment company with over US$1.9 billion in assets under management, and the Indivara Group of Indonesia, one of the largest technology groups in the Asia Pacific region.
Makes it easier for Filipinos to retain and invest their hard-earned savings into mutual funds, without a bank account via Fractal’s technology

Singapore - 24 October 2019 - Fractal, a Berlin and Singapore-based identification management upstart, has signed a strategic partnership with SeedBox Philippines, one of Philippines’s top online investment platforms. The partnership with Seedbox will make it easier for Filipinos to retain and invest their hard-earned savings into mutual funds via Seedbox’s online platform. This has been made possible through Fractal’s Fractal ID solution which brings bank-grade compliant ‘Know Your Customer’ (KYC) and ‘Anti-Money Laundering (AML) capabilities to Seedbox’s operations. As a result, around 40,000 Filipinos will now have access to Seedbox every month, enabling them to invest in mutual funds and other investment products without having to own a bank account.

Per the World Bank’s Global Findex Database in 2017, 45 per cent of adults in the Philippines cite documentation requirements as a major barrier towards opening a bank account. As a result, 77 per cent of Filipino adults do not have bank accounts, according to the 2017 Financial Inclusion Survey by Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), the central bank of the Philippines.

Julian Leitloff, CEO and founder of Fractal came up with the idea for Fractal’s business after witnessing the 2008 collapse of Lehman Brothers and Deutsche Bank first-hand. He saw the lack of AML/KYC control as a major barrier preventing healthier financial ecosystems and decided to work with like-minded individuals, inspiring him to co-found Fractal. In promoting a more open financial ecosystem through Fractal’s non-bank financial institution (NBFI) partners, Fractal’s vision is to promote financial inclusion at a global level. Around Fractal’s partnership with Seedbox, he said:

“Digital technologies are driving opportunities for much greater financial inclusion. By providing technology solutions to non-bank financial institutions, our ambition is to expedite the transition to a more open and interoperable financial ecosystem.”

“Fractal was created to help develop a new decentralised space for this financial community. We want to help both users and companies achieve fast and accurate global verifications wherever they are and have a hassle-free experience when it comes to AML/KYC related requirements,” added Julian.

Seedbox Philippines is an online investing service that enables users to invest in mutual funds at their convenience. Their technology is powered by ATR Asset Management, a leading investment company adviser in the Philippines worth over US$1.9 billion in assets under management, and Indonesia’s Indivara Group, one of the largest technology groups in the Asia Pacific region.

Manny Nepomuceno, Chief Architect of Seedbox said, “At Seedbox, we want to provide all Filipinos with a seamless and secure investing experience. Fractal provides a convenient and faster means for our relationship managers to identify financial crime and reputation risk, saving time and money.”

KYC and AML processes are critical components of financial institutions and other regulated entities that are required to verify identities, provide due diligence, and comply with legal requirements. However, per LexisNexis 2019 estimates, the annual true cost of compliance across Asia is around US$6.09 billion, with the Singapore market representing just over half of this amount (US$3.13 billion). The cost of AML compliance in the region has also risen by 9-10 per cent over the last 24 months.

Fractal will provide the industry’s first free tier for KYC/AML solutions from 1 November 2019. Fractal ID was conceived as a global solution to enable trusted relationships between people and organisations across borders and languages based on reliable and verifiable information. Fractal’s self-serve software-as-a-service (SaaS) product will provide an opportunity for financial inclusion while maintaining compliance. The automated verification journey is composed of four components: ID document verification, liveness detection, facial comparison, and Politically Exposed Persons/Sanction List filtering – including human intervention if one part of the automated process fails. Fractal ID is able to onboard 40% more people than the market average due to the speed and ease of the onboarding process.

Fractal was one of the few scale-up ready startups supported by German Accelerator Southeast Asia (GASEA), a partnership between Enterprise Singapore and the German government to facilitate German start-ups’ setup in Singapore in 2018. The startups were selected based on the region’s industry needs.

Since 2017, Fractal has received US$3 million in venture funding with participation from Coparion, a VC fund backed by the German government. They have also partnered with data sharing platforms, digital currency exchanges, digital asset platforms and derivatives exchanges across Hong Kong, Germany and Singapore to achieve their goal in delivering fast and accurate global verifications at a conversion rate 40 per cent higher than the industry standard for companies - big or small.

Trust Fractal GmbH
Wiener Straße 10
10999 Berlin

For media enquiries
PRecious Communications for Fractal ID
4 Ann Siang Hill, 3rd Floor
Singapore 069786
Email: fractal@preciouscomms.com
Tel: +65 6303 0567

About Fractal
Fractal ID is a user-centric KYM/AML platform specifically built for Finance 3.0 services including blockchain fintechs - internationally compliant, easy to integrate and with a conversion rate of 40 per cent above market average. Fractal was founded in 2017 in Berlin and holds additional offices in Porto and Singapore, where it has completed the German Accelerator Southeast Asia programme. The company received US$3 million in venture funding with participation from Coparion, a VC fund backed by the Germany government. Visit https://www.trustfractal.com/ for more information.

About Seedbox
Seedbox Philippines is an online investing service that enables users to invest in mutual funds at their convenience. We are powered by ATR Asset Management, a leading investment company adviser, and the Indivara Group of Indonesia, one of the largest technology group of companies in the Asia Pacific region. Visit https://www.seedbox.ph/ for more information.

This release was published on openPR.