July 25, 2023
By Joe Pan
Earlier this week, Sumsub, a leading global verification provider, announced its plans to establish its Asia-Pacific (APAC) headquarters in Singapore, bolstering its presence in the region. The move comes as a strategic response to the increasing threat of identity fraud, which has seen a significant rise in digital startups across Hong Kong, Singapore, and beyond.
According to recent statistics, identity fraud continues to pose significant challenges to economies worldwide. In the Asia-Pacific region, including Hong Kong and Singapore, instances of passport fraud have exceeded 4% in the last quarter of 2023.
Fintech-related fraud rates have also risen sharply, with Hong Kong experiencing a surge from 0.48% in Q1 2023 to 3.82% in Q2 2023. Deepfake-related fraud has seen a 33% increase quarter to quarter in Q2 2023 in Hong Kong. Meanwhile, Singapore witnessed a 33% growth in digital fraud within the fintech industry from Q1 to Q2 2023. During the same period, ID card fraud increased 1.5 times, and passport fraud more than doubled, reaching 3.5%. Other countries in the region, such as the Philippines, Indonesia, and Thailand, have also witnessed alarming rises in identity fraud rates, highlighting the urgency of robust verification solutions.
In recent years, both Hong Kong and Singapore have emerged as prominent players in the digital assets and fintech markets in Asia and the world. While Singapore has seen a sharp rise in digital assets and fintech businesses, Hong Kong is one of the first major jurisdictions to regulate the digital assets space from an investor protection perspective, demonstrating its commitment to fintech development. By capitalizing on Singapore’s global financial stature and tapping into its vibrant startup scene, Sumsub aims to forge valuable partnerships and extend its reach to international financial centers in the wider region.
With a track record of serving over 2,000 clients in the fintech, crypto, transportation, trading, e-commerce, and gaming industries, Sumsub brings extensive experience to the APAC market. The company’s robust customer base showcases its ability to provide high-conversion verification flows while effectively countering fraud and ensuring regulatory compliance.
With years of international experience and dozens of Asian clients in its portfolio, including Binance, DiDi, Huobi, Bybit, and Bitwallet, Sumsub is a proven player in this space. The company’s product enables businesses to maintain a high level of fraud protection and stay compliant with various KYC (know your customer), KYB (know your business), and AML (anti-money laundering) regulations, catering to the needs of industries such as fintech, digital assets, trading, and mobility. As the company expands to the APAC region, it aims to target these industries where it already verifies millions of identities annually for its 2000+ global client base.
Sumsub has appointed Penny Chai as its leading representative in Singapore, responsible for business development and operations in the APAC region. Having joined Sumsub earlier this year, Penny is a veteran in the identity verification industry and a seasoned expert in fintech and IT compliance.
“We are excited to enhance our capabilities in serving our valued clients in Hong Kong with the establishment of our new headquarters in APAC. Additionally, we look forward to expanding our reach and serving new clients in the region, leveraging the proximity and connectivity offered by our APAC hub. This development marks an important milestone in our commitment to supporting our partners in onboarding more credible users and ensuring a seamless and reliable verification process within the vibrant market of Hong Kong,” said Penny Chai, VP of Business Development, APAC at Sumsub.
With its expansion to the APAC region, Sumsub aims to address the pressing need for robust identity verification solutions in the face of escalating identity fraud in the digital startup landscape. By establishing its headquarters in Singapore and extending its reach across Asia-Pacific’s financial centers, Sumsub seeks to play a crucial role in securing the user journey and providing full-cycle verification services to businesses in the region and beyond.
About the author
Joe Pan is an editor and producer at NFTMetta.com.
