Asia

September 27, 2026 @ 12:34 pm By Michael Wong  |  

Private equity firms operating in Asia are increasingly deploying artificial intelligence (AI) to boost portfolio company earnings and secure exits, executives said on Tuesday, as the region’s deal-exit environment splits sharply between favored and lagging sectors. Speaking at DealStreetAsia’s Asia PE-VC Summit in Singapore, senior… Read More

September 26, 2026 @ 3:42 pm By Michael Wong  |  

Asia-Pacific’s economic growth is expected to remain resilient as an artificial intelligence-driven technology export boom supports the region, although weak domestic demand in China, elevated energy prices, and tighter U.S. monetary policy pose risks, S&P Global Ratings said. S&P raised its baseline 2026 growth forecast… Read More

September 26, 2026 @ 12:39 pm By Michael Wong  |  

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) and Bank Indonesia (BI) have signed a memorandum of understanding to strengthen cooperation on QR code-based cross-border payments between Hong Kong and Indonesia, as both sides seek to make transactions faster and more affordable. The MoU aims to establish… Read More

September 26, 2026 @ 3:27 am By Michael Wong  |  

Singapore Exchange Regulation (SGX RegCo) will require listed companies to provide more detailed disclosures on executive remuneration, dividend policies, and investor relations as it seeks to strengthen transparency and encourage a greater focus on long-term value creation. The changes will take effect on Jan. 1,… Read More

September 25, 2026 @ 11:14 pm By Michael Wong  |  

GCash has evolved from a loss-making digital wallet into a highly profitable financial technology platform, illustrating the scale Southeast Asian fintech companies can reach, according to Warburg Pincus executive Vishal Mahadevia. The Philippine digital wallet had about 15 million monthly active users when Warburg Pincus… Read More

September 25, 2026 @ 12:11 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Two financial groups in East Asia have completed a proof-of-concept exercise designed to show how stablecoins might one day support institutional payments between Japan and South Korea without routing money through the US dollar. SBI Digital Practice, a subsidiary of Japan’s SBI Holdings (TYO: 8473)… Read More

September 23, 2026 @ 7:24 am By Omar Faridi  |  

South Korea’s Hana Bank has completed a $100 million foreign-currency digital bond on Euroclear’s distributed ledger platform, compressing a process that usually stretches across several business days into a same-day settlement. The five-year note was placed on Friday through Euroclear’s Digital Financial Market Infrastructure, or… Read More

September 23, 2026 @ 12:48 am By Michael Wong  |  

Mynt Inc., the parent company of Philippine e-wallet GCash, has received approval from the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) for an initial public offering that is set to become the largest in the exchange’s history, marking a major test for investor appetite for the country’s fintech… Read More

September 22, 2026 @ 10:13 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

South Korea’s consumer finance platforms have taken another step toward tokenized money. Kakao Pay and Kakao Bank have signed a memorandum of understanding with Fireblocks to study secure digital asset infrastructure in the country, with stablecoins at the center of the work. The non-binding pact,… Read More

September 22, 2026 @ 9:55 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

CloudTech Group has introduced RooRooEx, a digital-asset trading venue meant to give professional desks, high-net-worth clients, and individual investors in the Asia-Pacific region access to tools and pricing that have long been associated with large institutions. The Melbourne-based firm built the platform on technology from… Read More

September 22, 2026 @ 2:15 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Authorities in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Sweden have dismantled a cross-border money-laundering network that investigators say moved millions in criminal proceeds through cash and cryptocurrency, with digital trails pointing toward organized crime and paid assassinations. In a coordinated operation announced this week, UAE security… Read More

September 22, 2026 @ 4:53 am By Michael Wong  |  

The number of credit cards in circulation in Hong Kong rose 36.1% year-on-year to 31.03 million at the end of the second quarter, while the value of credit card transactions increased 6.8%, data from the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) showed. Credit card transactions reached… Read More

September 22, 2026 @ 2:30 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Saudi Arabia has stepped back from Project mBridge, a multi-central-bank digital currency platform closely associated with China, after finishing a limited testing phase last year. The move became public this month when the Saudi central bank confirmed the details to the FT, more than a… Read More

September 21, 2026 @ 9:19 pm By Michael Wong  |  

Hong Kong companies need to treat artificial intelligence governance as a board-level responsibility rather than an information technology project, with directors maintaining human accountability for AI-assisted decisions, Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) Chairman Kelvin Wong said. Speaking at the Corporate Governance Conference 2026, Wong said… Read More

September 21, 2026 @ 9:13 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

South Korea’s central bank has begun testing a new around-the-clock settlement system designed to make the won easier for overseas investors to use. The Bank of Korea started the trial of its international won wire network on Monday morning, working with four major domestic lenders:… Read More

September 21, 2026 @ 4:23 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

A Hong Kong court has imposed a four-year prison sentence on a former retail banker who accepted more than US$470,000 in Tether (USDT) to lend the appearance of legitimacy to forged standby letters of credit and related documents with a combined face value exceeding US$1.6… Read More

September 21, 2026 @ 12:40 am By Michael Wong  |  

The number of merchants using artificial intelligence to integrate payment services with Ant International has quadrupled over the past year, as the fintech company expands AI into payments, foreign exchange, treasury, and credit operations. Ant International said it expects 95% of merchants to be able… Read More

September 20, 2026 @ 9:45 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Vietnam and Austria are deepening practical cooperation on financial-market supervision, with digital assets at the center of the conversation. On September 15 in Vienna, Vietnamese Deputy Minister of Finance Nguyen Duc Chi met Mariana Kühnel, the newly appointed executive director of Austria’s Financial Market Authority… Read More

September 20, 2026 @ 1:42 pm By Michael Wong  |  

Philippine and regional financial authorities are looking to strengthen cross-border payment cooperation and regional emergency financing as ASEAN+3 economies work to improve their resilience to future financial shocks. The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), the Philippines’ Department of Finance, Japan’s Ministry of Finance, and the… Read More

September 19, 2026 @ 6:37 pm By Michael Wong  |  

Hong Kong has unveiled a five-year economic plan aimed at strengthening its role as an international financial, maritime, and trade centre while expanding its position as an innovation and technology hub and a centre for high-calibre talent. Chief Executive John Lee announced the First Five-Year… Read More