JULYASIA BUSINESS OUTLOOK8NEWSROOMKDDI & CIRCLES EXPAND STRATEGIC ALLIANCE TO TAKE POVO GLOBALToro, the global social trading and investment platform, has received inprinciple approval from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) for a Capital Markets Services (CMS) licence--a significant milestone in its Asia expansion strategy.With the CMS license, eToro can offer retail investors in Singapore access to stocks, ETFs, crypto, and copytrading services directly via a locally registered entity, fortifying its position in one of Asia's premier wealth management hubs. The firm has appointed Yaki Razmovich--a veteran with over 20 years of experience in APAC financial markets--as Managing Director for Singapore and Asia to lead this strategic rollout.This local approval marks a pivotal shift from eToro's prior regional operations, which operated under offshore licenses. The MAS license enables eToro to provide a full suite of regulated financial instruments with local compliance, reducing barriers for investors in the region.This development follows eToro's recent NASDAQ filing, reinforcing its ambition to scale globally. Analysts believe that the Singapore CMS license, combined with expanded product offerings and deeper local talent leadership, positions eToro for accelerated regional growth across Asia Pacific. KDDI Digital Life Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Japan's leading telecom company KDDI Corporation, and Circles, an international telco technology company, announced the enhancement of their strategic partnership to expand Japan's digital telco success to global markets.Based on Circles' entire stack, cloudnative SaaS platform, povo has already achieved strong momentum since its launch in 2021, recording Net Promoter Scores (NPS) of more than 50 points ahead of industry benchmarks, top customer satisfaction levels, and reaching 1 million subscribers in its first year, 70 percent of them being new subscribers to the KDDI network.The strengthened partnership will target launching AI-native digital telcos with the combination of povo's customercentric, agile operating model and Circles' global launch experience. Expansion markets are Southeast Asia and the Americas, where retail, digital content, and fintech partnerships will be localized strategies.Tatsuya Hamada, CEO of KDDI Digital Life, commented, "This is an exciting next step in our vision to bring povo to a broader global community. As one of Japan's most favorite digital telcos, povo has provided worldclass customer experience and demonstrated the potency of our datadriven approach. With a vision to be firmly rooted in AI-native and hyperpersonalization, our enhanced collaboration with Circles not only enables us to grow business worldwide, but also enables us to provide even smarter, more personalized, and customercentric digital experiences."Deepak Gulati, Circles President of Corporate and Industry Alliances, added, "We are excited to help KDDI bring povo to the world. Together, we've demonstrated what's possible when digital expertise and the right technology come together. And now, we are looking to take this blueprint for the future of telco to scale."The enhanced partnership also provides agile business models for operators of all sizes and phases, which helps to achieve the duo's vision of redesigning the future of telecommunication through digital innovation and transformation. ETORO WINS SINGAPORE CMS LICENSE TO EXPAND RETAIL TRADINGKey Highlights· Inprinciple CMS license from MAS allows full stock, ETF, crypto and copytrading services· Yaki Razmovich appointed Managing Director for SG & Asia expansion· Establishes local regulated entity amid ongoing NASDAQ plans
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